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LinKARY 


University  of  California. 


OIKT   OK 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH, 

Received  October,  1894. 
^Accessions  No..^^'^ZS*3     Class  No. 


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[So^cajlM^  tu^^tr^aJ^,  '^'   ^J 


THE 


GENTILE    NATIONS: 


OB, 


C|e  fistarj  anlr  "Jleligiott 


OF   THS 


EGYPTIANS,  ASSYRIANS,  BABYLONIANS,  MEDES, 
PERSIANS,  GREEKS,  AND  ROMANS; 

OOLLBOTBD   FBOM   ANOIBNT  AUTHDBli  A^D   HOLT  80BIPTUBB,  AND 

INOLTJDINa  THB  BBOBNT  DI800YBBIB8  IN  BGTPTIAN, 

PBBBIAN,  AND  ABBTBIAN  IN80BIPTI0NB  : 


FOBKING  A  OOMPLBTB 

CONNEXION  OF  SAORED  AND  PROPANE  HISTORY, 

A2n>  SHOWING 

THE  FULFILMENT  OF  SACRED  PROPHECY. 
BY  GEORGE  SMITH,  F.A.S., 

OF  THB  BOTAL  ABIATIO  BOOIBTT  OF  OBBAT  BBITAIN  AND  IBBLAND, 
OF  THB  BOTAL  BOOIBTT  OF  LITBBATUBB,  OF  THB  IBIBH 
ABORSOLOGIOAL  BOOIBTT,  BTO. 


y^  .rrr. 


JJ'nB-iUork: 
PUBLISHED  BY   CARLTON  &  PHILLIPS, 

•  200    MDLBBRRT-STRBET 


7-     •' 


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Sf^ifT 


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PREFACE. 


In  presentiiig  the  third  and  ooncladiog  part  of  the  "  Saored  Annals '' 
to  the  public,  the  author  feels  called  upon  to  apologize  for  the  delay 
which  has  taken  place  in  its  publication.  In  the  Prefiftoe  to  **  The 
Hebrew  People/'  he  announced  that,  so  long  since  as  1849,  he  had 
made  considerable  preparation  for  the  composition  of  this  portion; 
but,  notwithstandii]^  this  preparation,  and  his  most  diligent  exer- 
tions, it  has  not  been  found  possible  to  complete  it  at  an  earlier 
period.  This  has  been  in  part  the  result  of  unexpected  demands 
which  have  been  made  on  the  author's  time;  but  the  principal 
cause  has  been  his  anxious  wish  to  avail  himself  to  the  utmost  of 
tiie  recent  important  discoveries  in  the  East,  and  to  incorporate 
their  result,  as  far  as  practicable,  in  his  account  of  the  annals  and 
fidHi  of  the  earlier  of  the  four  great  empires. 

This  has  been  done;  and  the  history  and  religion  of  these  ancient 
Gkutile  nations  are  now  placed  before  the  reader,  with  the  full  advan- 
tage of  the  additions,  corrections,  and  corroborations,  which  have 
been  obtidned  by  the  disinterment  of  Assyrian  and  Babylonish 
sculptures,  and  the  translations  of  the  inscriptions  which  have  been 
found  in  those  countries,  and  in  Persia. 

In  this  part  of  the  work,  as  well  as  in  the  preceding  it  has 
been  the  author's  unvarying  aim  to  exhibit  an  intelligible  view  of 
the  history  and  religion  of  these  ancient  monarchies.  From  the 
size  of  the  book,  the  historical  part  can  hardly  be  expected  to  extend 
beyond  a  mere  sketch  of  each  of  the  great  empires.  Yet^  even  in 
this  limited  compass,  scarcely  a  single  difficulty  or  an  important 
event  has  escaped  notice  and  elucidation.  Especial  attention  has 
been  given  to  chronology;  and  this,  which  has  been  aptly  termed 
"the  soul  of  history,"  has,  in.  respect  of  the  early  portion  of  the 
annals  of  every  nation,  been  very  carefully  investigated,  and,  it  is 
hoped,  accurately  ascertained. 

But  the  ruling  element  of  this  volume,  and,  in  &at,  of  the  whole 
work,  is  its  religious  character.  The  maintenance  of  this  through- 
out the  series  of  researches  comprised  in  the  "  Gentile  Nations," 
has  been  a  labour  attended  with  very  great  difficulty.  To  pass 
beyond  the  ritualism  and  ceremonial  extemalisn^  everywhere  preva- 


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4  PRAFACE. 

lent,  to  penetrate  into  the  nature  and  genius  of  the  yarious  forms 
which  idolatry  assumed,  and  to  form  a  sound  judgment  respecting 
the  religious  doctrines,  practices,  and  morals  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and 
Babylon,  of  Persia,  Greece,  and  Borne,  has  been  a  most  arduous 
task.  But  it  has  been  honestly  and  earnestly  attempted;  and  the 
result  is  now  submitted  to  the  candid  consideration  of  the  Christian 
public. 

K  the  author  has  succeeded  in  these  effc»rts,  it  will  have  been 
made  plain,  that,  in  every  one  of  these  far-famed  nations,  God  left 
himseUT  not  without  an  efficient  witness.  Everywhere  is  seen 
demonstrative  evidence  of  the  existence  and  operation  of  divine 
truth,  and  of  divine  influence,  in  ancient  days ;  and  ample  proof  is 
afforded,  that  the  soul-destroying  and  mind-debasing  idolatry  of 
those  nations  wba  not  an  accident,  or  an  error,  but  a  crime  induced 
by  Satanic  agency. 

The  author  ventures  to  hope,  that  more  than  this  has  been 
effiBcted  by  these  researches ;  and  that  the  field  of  ancient  history 
has  been  wrested  from  the  power  of  infidelity  and  scepticism,  and 
made  subservient  to  the  interests  of  revealed  truth.  It  has  at  least 
been  shown,  that  an  honest  and  candid  examination  of  the  annals 
of  the  primitive  nations,  not  only  does  not  produce  any  facts  in 
opposition  to  the  records  of  Holy  Writ,  but  actually  furnishes  the 
most  important  illustrations  and  corroborations  of  their  teaching : 
and,  what  is  yet  more  remarkable,  it  has  been  clearly  shown,  that 
the  foul  and  false  systems  of  doctrine  and  worahip,  which  Satanic 
energy  fastened  at  length  on  every  part  of  the  Gentile  world,  in  all 
their  darkness  and  enormity,  bear  witness  to  the  light  from  which 
men  had  departed,  and  the  truth  which  they  had  foraaken :  so  that, 
in  future,  &e  history  and  religion  of  the  ancient  heathen  world 
may  be  numbered  among  the  most  important  of  the  external 
evidences  of  the  verity  of  divine  revelation. 

At  all  events,  the  author  has  filled  up  his  plan  in  accordance 
with  his  first  announcement.  More  than  ten  years  ago  he  formed 
the  purpose  of  writing  "  An  Epitome  of  the  History  and  Religion 
of  the  World,  from  the  Creation  to  the  Birth  of  Christ."  By  a 
steady  and  continued  course  of  exertion,  amid  the  pressure  of  many 
important  avocations,  he  has  at  length,  by  the  good  providence  of 
God,  completed  his  task;  and,  with  feelings  of  unaffected  thanks- 
giving to  the  Author  of  all  good,  he  consecrates  the  result  of  his 
toil  to 'the  cause  of  evangelioJ  godliness,  for  the  advancement  of 
Scriptural  knowledge. 

TBBTU,  GAXBOBirB, 

Octobtr  ISM,  1853. 


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CONTENTS. 


PRELOTOTARY  DISSERTATION. 

THB  O&IOIH,  OHARAOTBB,  MT8TBRIB8  AND   ORAOUft  OV  PAGAN  IDOLATBT. 

KsowuoWB  of  this  ^ubjeei  neeeaury— FalM  Religion  attests  tlie  Beligions  Tendeno j  of 
lisib— Heathen  Idolatry  must  be  studied^  ii4th  a  distinct  Beoognition  of  Satanic  Influ- 
ence—Necessity  of  admitting  the  Bvldence  of  Reyelatlon— Obxoik  or  Vdolltut-^ 
Idolatry  in  Postdilnrian  Times  arose  before  the  DiBpersion— And  emanated  from  Sabel 
^¥as  not  at  first  a  Tiolent  Introduction  of  Error,  but  a  fatal  Peryersion  of  Trath^ 
Elements  of  Tmth  liable  to  this  Pervenibn— Plttrality  of  Persons  in  one  Deity— 
Ptomised  Incarnation— Rites  of  Patriarchal  Worship— Man's  primitive  Parity  and 
Vail— Similarity  of  the  Adamic  and  Noachic  Families— Hero-Worship  considered  as 
■rising  out  of  the  promised  Incarnation,  and  taking  the  Form  of  a  Triad  from  the  Great 
Father  and  his  three  Sons— Peculiar  Case  of  Egypt— Animal-Worship^-FoIIy  of  many 
Attempts  to  account  for  it — Originated  in  the  Cherubim— Worship  of  material  Elements 
^The  Agency  under  which  all  this  Error  was  evolved  made  apparent  by  the  universal 
Worship  of  the  Serpent  Form— Ths  bxijgioub  Chasactxb  or  this  Ststbx— It  practi- 
cally obliterated  the  essential  Principle  of  the  Divine  Unity— Banished  all  Idea  of 
Divine  Purity — ^And  destroyed  at  once  the  Knowledge  of  God,  and  Confidence  in  him — 
Character  of  Idolatrous  Worship— General  Admission — ^But  the  Being  to  whom  this 
Worship  was  offered  was  not  God — ^And  the  Service,  although  often  grand  and  imposing, 
was  generally  associated  with  foul  and*  filthy  Abominations — Tem  Mt8tbiub8— The 
Theory  of  Warburton  refuted  by  Leland — Conflicting  Theories  as  to  the  Origin  of  the 
Mysteries— Their  Ol^ect  equally  contested— Their  Origin  defined— Their  Object 
explained — ^Essential  Elements  of  Heathen  Mysteries — ^Ths  Obaclbs  of  Heathen 
Worship— An  undoubted  Pririlege  of  Patriarchal  Times  to  have  Access  unto  God,  and 
to  obtain  special  and  important  Instruction  by  this  Means--<Jontest  between  the  Learned 
as  to  whether  Heathen  Oracles  were  sustained  by  Satanic  Influence— Testimony  of 
Scriptnre— Judgment  of  the  Leaned  on  the  Oharaeter  and  Credit  of  the  Oracles— 
Case  of  Gnesns,  King  of  Lydia,  from  Herodotus— The  Result  of  the  Inquiry  establishes 
the'Opeiation  of  Satanio  Inflnmira    General  Observalions  in  Oondnsion Page  15 


CHAPTER  I. 

botpt:  its  bistort. 

QfMBOLAL  View  of  Egypt— Difliculties  which  oppose  our  Acquaintance  with  its  Early 
Histoiy— Undoubted  Eridence  of  High  Civilisation  in  the  most  Remote  Times — 
Prowess  and  Reign  of  Amosis— Eightskhth  DnrAiTT- Death  of  Jacob— Wonder- 
ful Perfection  of  Mechanical  Art— Death  of  Joseph— Moses— The  Exodus— Canaanitish 
Nations  weakened  by  Egyptian  Invasion  before  the  Israelites  crossed  the  Jordan — 
Sesostris— NnrxmvTH  DnrASTT— Sethos— His  Conquests— The  Absence  of  further 


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6  C0NTBNT8. 

Allniion  to  CanuD  on  the  Monoments,  •  striking  Fhwf  of  the  Truth  of  Seriptnre— 
TwufTisTH  DmASTT— TwKHTT-nBST  DrvAnT— Effect  of  the  Commercial  Policy  of  the 
Hebrews  on  Egypt— TwrarTT-BBOOin>  Dyvabtt — Bhishak— His  InTuion  of  Jndei^- 
Twumr-THiRD  DnrABrrr-— Decline  of  Egyptian  Power— TwxBrrr-iounTH  DnrAnr— 
Bocchoris— Twnrnr-nrTH  DnrASTY— Tarkus— Twbhtt-bixth  Dtwabtt— The  Dodec- 
archy — ^Triumph  and  Reign  of  Psammiticns — ^Pharaoh-Necho— His  Victory  over  the 
Hebrews— Apries,  the  Pharaoh-Hophra  of  Scriptore— -Defeated  and  pat  to  death  by 
Amoais— Conquest  of  Egypt  by  a  Persian  Army— Twrnrrr-ssTiirTH  DnrASTT— Era  of 
Persian  Role— Snccessftil  Goyemment  of  Darios— Gallant  Effort  of  Inaros— His  Defeat 
and  Death-^Herodotns— TwiMTT-DGHTH  Dthasty— Amyrt«ns— TwEirrr-inHTH  Dr- 
gABTT— THiRTuri'H  Dtvabtt— Ohronological  Difficnltiea— Persian  Invasion  defeated— 
Slothfyil  Habits  and  Ultimate  Energy  of  Darins  Ochns— TsiBTT-fiBST  Dtvastt— 
Persian  Role  reestablished— Thibtt-8boovd  DriTASTT— Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Alex- 
ander the  Great— His  profound  and  snccessfbl  Political  and  Commercial  Policy- 
Alexandria  built— Ruin  of  the  Macedonian  House— Thibtt-thibd  DnrASTT— The 
Ptolemies— LaguB— His  finooessfbl  Rule— Power  and  Cultivation  of  Egypt  onder 
Philadelphus— Euergetes  successful  in  Waz^-Intercourse  between  Egypt  and  Rome — 
Gradual  Decline  of  Egyptian  Power— Excessive  Vices  of  the  ruling  Princes— Cleopatra, 
Cssar,  and  Antony— Egypt  a  Roman  Ptx>vinee Page  08 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  RKUOION  OF  THE   EOTTTIANB. 

RjviRnrGB  to  this  Sulgect  in  **  the  Patriarchal  Age  '*— The  Importance  of  Thmlooft  to 
Religion — ^Egyptian  Triads,  their  Relation  to  primitive  Promise  and  Noah — ^The  prob- 
able Identity  of  these  Triads — Animal- Worship  originated  in  the  Cherubim,  and 
carried  out  to  an  infamous  Extent— General  View  of  Egyptian  Mythology— The  Mobals 
of  Egypt,  recognised  in  Jurisprudence — ^Prominence  given  to  Truth  and  Justice — 
niostrations — ^The  Doctrine  of  thb  Ixxortautt  of  thx  Soul — Curious  Corruptions 
associated  with  this  Doctrine — Object  of  Embalming — The  Doctrine  of  a  future  Judg- 
ment—The Opinions  held  by  this  People  exhibited — ^Important  light  imparted  thereby 
on  the  Subject  of  Morals— The  Hall  of  Judgment  and  forty-two  Assessors— All  result- 
ing in  everlasting  Happiness  or  Punishment — Proridence— General  Accuracy  of  Doo- 
trine,  but  neutralized  by  Polytheism— General  Character  and  Influence  of  this  Relig^ 
ion — ^Morals— Divine  Siuiction — ^Future  Retribution — Spiritual  Character— Remarkable 
Juxtapoaltion  of  IVuth  and  Enror 1218 


CHAPTER  IIL 

THE  BISTORT  OF  THE  A0BTRIAN8 

Hbtokt  of  Assyria  resumed  with  the  Reign  of  Bblochus— Absence  of  predae  Informa- 
tion respecting  this  and  succeeding  Reigns— Probability  that  even  in  this  Age  the 
Power  of  Egypt  was  felt  on  the  Banks  of  the  Euphrates — ^Interference  of  Assyria  in 
the  Trojan  War — ^Fragmentary  Notices  of  ancient  Reigns  recovered  from  Inscriptions 
by  Colonel  Rawlinson— Connected  Assyrian  History  begins  about  the  Tenth  Century, 
B.  C. — ^Adbaxmblboh  L — Sabdasapalus  I.— His  military  Career  and  Successes— D^ 
TAVUBAKA — ^Tho  Auuals  of  his  Reign  from  the  Black  Obelisk  and  other  Sculptures — 
Smnf  AS  Adah — ADRAinnLBCir  n.  or  Thoitos  CoiraoLxnos — ^The  Termination  of  the 
Old  Imperial  Dynasty— ^AnsAom  the  Mede  on  the  Throne  of  Assyria— The  Mission  of 
Jonah,  and  its  Resulte— The  Assyrians  recover  their  Sovereignty— Pul  obtatns  the 
•oeptre — Menahem,  King  of  Israel,  destroys  Tiphsah— Pul  invades  Israel,  and  ex- 


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CONTBHTS. 


torte  ft  thocBMid  TaleaU  of  SilT«r  from  Uoulum— Tm.ATB>Piianft  nioeeedi  to 
iho  Thiono— At  the  Solicitation  of  Ahas,  he  invades  Syria  and  Iirael,  and  eaniee 
the  tnn»Jotdaaic  Tribes  and  the  InhabitanU  of  GalUee  into  GaptlTitj— Colonel  Raw- 
linson's  Arrangement  of  the  Information  obtained  from  the  Scnlptores  of  Khonabad 
and  Koiifni^ik— -SASoniA  usurps  the  Throne— His  Annals  and  pnblio  Woiks— Snr- 
mAcaaaa — ^His  Osmpaigns  from  the  Inscriptions— Bemarkable  Aoooidanee  between 
their  Aooonnt  of  his  War  with  Heaekiah,  and  that  given  in  the  Seriptores— Hie  De- 
struction of  his  Army^— His  subsequent  Beign— Esabhaddov— The  Buin  of  Samaria, 
and  final  Subvenion  of  the  Kingdom  of  Israel— The  Captivity  and  Bestoration  of  Man- 
aaseh— NABUOHODOVosoB-'His  Wars  in  tiie  Bast— Defeat  and  Death  of  Phraoites— An 
Army  under  Holofemea  sent  into  Western  Asia^The  General  slain  by  Judith,  and  the 
Aimy  snipriaed  and  ronted^-SAKAC,  or  Sabda«apau»  IL—AUiaace  of  Media  and  Ba- 
bylon against  Aasyrin— Nineveh  besieged  and  taken— Tho  Assyrian  Empire  sub- 
▼wted..... ^ » Page  148 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THX  HISTORY  OF  THE  BABTL0NIAK8.  * 

Babtlov  the  Sesit  of  the  first  Postdiluvian  Sovereignty— Conquered  and  subjected  to 
Assyria— Policy  of  Assyria  toward  subject  Countries— Nabonassas— The  Bra  bearing 
his  Name — He  was  independent — Naoius,  Chihzibus,  Pobus,  and  Juajros,  suocessively 
reign— ^Uabdocucfadub  or  Mbbodach-Baiadav — ^His  Embsssage  to  Hesekiah— Abohi- 
Axus— Haoiba — ^Kabadach  Baldabxs— Bkubus  defeated  by  Assyria— AsoBOABBa— 
Nabofolasbab — ^Babylon  asserts  its  Independence — Coalition  of  Babylon  and  Media 
against  Nineveh— Scythian  Invasion— Nineveh  destroyed — ^The  King  of  Egypt  de- 
feated at  Carchemish—NBBUOHADHBZ£AB— Takes  Jerusalem^  Carries  away  the  prin- 
cipal Inhabitants  into  Captivity— Makes  Zedekiah  King— He  rebels— Jerusalem  again 
taken,  and  destroyed— Tyre  taken,  after  a  Siege  of  Thirteen  Years— Egypt  conquered 
— ^Nebuchadneasar  greatly  improves  Babylon  by  many  Splendid  Erections  Nebuchad- 
nesaar's  Dream  of  the  Groat  Image— Explained  by  Daniel— Its  wonderfbl  Bevelations 
—The  Qolden  Image— Extraordinary  Measures  adopted  for  its  Dedication— Heroism 
of  the  Three  Hebrews— Glorious  Bevelation  of  the  Son  of  God— Important  Besults  of 
this  Divine  Interposition— The  Dream  of  a  Great  Tree— Its  Interpretation  and  Aocom- 
pliflkment— Noble  Acknowledgment  of  the  King— His  Prophecy  and  Death— Syil- 
Mbbodaoh  King^Liberates  Jehoiachin  from  Prison— Neriglissar  reigns— Foims  a 
Combination  against  Media— He  is  slain  in  Battie— LABOBoaABcnoD  reigns— The  Bbl- 
MAMAit  of  the  Book  of  Daniel— ^His  Youth  and  Cruelty— He  profanes  the  Sacred 
Vessels— Is  slain— Dabius  takes  the  Kingdom,  and  appoints  Labyvbtub  Viceroy  of 
Babylon— He  rules  subject  to  Media— Declares  himself  independent— Is  defeated  in 
BatUe— Babylon  taken  by  Ctbus— Labynetns  taken  at  Borstppa,  and  sent  into  Gar- 
manifr— termination  of  the  Babylonian  Monardiy 181 


CHAPTER  V. 

THB  BSUOIOH  OF  THB  ABSTRZAN8  AND  BABTLOIOAKB. 

BiMTum  the  seat  of  the  first  post-diluvian  Apostaey^Peculiar  Religious  Position  of 
Babylon  and  Assyria— -Bpiphanius  on  the  Early  Declension  of  Religion— Information 
contained  in  his  Statement— Frsgment  of  Damascius— Its  Important  Tsaohing— The 
Chaldnan  Oracles  exhibit  the  same  Fact— A  Triad  consisting  of  the  A«at  Mother, 
Father,  and  Only-begotten  Son— Further  Development  of  Chaldaan  Mythology— 
Ohaldcan  Deities— Their  Origin  and  Peculiarities- Worship  of  the  Heavenly  Bodiss, 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


8  G0NTBN3S. 

and  of  Fire-— ChalcbMUi  and  AssyriAa  Idolatry  began  with  Hero  and  Demon  Worship 
in  the  Form  of  Triads—Mr.  Faber  on  this  Snbject— Symbolical  Representation  of  the 
Great  Triad— Other  Symbols— Assarao—Ghembic  Fignres— The  Sacred  Treo— A  Oar- 
den  called  "Paradise"  attached  to  each  Boyal  Palace— The  Palace  itself  a  Saered 
Temple— Doubts  of  Layard— Elaborate  Proof  of  Feigosson— The  King  Mvered  as  a 
Divine  Person— Proof  of  this— Manner  in  which  the  Kings  evinced  their  Rum  to  this 
Character— This  Idea  shown  to  pervade  the  whole  System— BemarkaUe  Identity  of 
Ghsracter  which  the  Beligion  of  Assyria  and  Babylon  maintained  through  so  many 
Ages— General  Viewsp-Gradnal  Declension  in  Theology— Worship  of  Fire— The 
Resnlts  of  Hebrew  Intercourse  and  Divine  Interposition  on  the  Beligion  of  these 
Countries— Sabnanism  not  the  Primitive  Beligion  of  Assyria— A  large  Amount  of 
Patriarchal  History  and  Religious  Knowledge  must  have  remained  in  the  Primitive 
Nations  long  after  the  Dispersion— Patriarchal  Longevity  designed  to  prevent  a 
Deterioration  in  Beligion— Connexion  with  the  Hebrews— Divine  Interposition  more 
likely  on  this  Ground  to  be  eflbctive— Assyrian  Intercourse  with  Egypt— Assyrian 
Knowledge  of  Hebrew  History— The  Mission  of  Jonah— Its  Beligious  Results— The 
Destruction  of  the  Assyrian  Emigrants  in  Samaria  by  Lions— A  Hebrew  Priest  sent  to 
teach  them  the  Law  of  the  Lord— Babylon  elated  by  the  Ruin  of  Jerusalem— The 
King  humbled,  and  all  the  People  taught  Divine  Truth,  on  the  Plains  of  Dura — 
Kebnchadnessar's  Insanity,  Restoration,  and  Proclamation ? Page  203 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  HI8T0RT  OF  THE  MXDB8. 

LnrBAoa  and  Country  of  the  Modes — ^Bcbatana,  the  Capital — ^Revolt  of  the  Modes  against 
Assyria — ^They  recover  their  Independence — A  Season  of  Anarchy— Public  Spirit  and 
judicial  Efforts  of  Dbjocbs — ^He  is  raised  to  the  Sovereignty  of  Media— Establishes  a 
regular  Government  and  greatly  improves  the  Country — ^Pbbaobtxs,  a  martial  Prince, 
subdues  Persia,  and  extends  the  Median  Power  over  other  neighbouring  Nations- 
Invades  Assyria,  is  defeated  and  slain— Ecbatana  stormed  and  spoiled  by  the  Assyrian 
King^-OTAXASis  invades  Assyria — ^Defeats  the  Imperial  Army,  and  besieges  Nineveh 
—The  Scythian  Invasion— The  Medes  defeated— The  Scythians  overrun  Asia— Their 
Massacre  and  Expulsion — ^The  Lydian  War— It  is  suspended,  and  Nineveh  besieged 
a  second  Time,  and  taken — ^The  Lydian  War  renewed — ^Terminated  by  the  Eclipse  of 
Thales — ^Asttaob  reigns — ^Prosecutes  various  Wars — ^Belshassar  slain — ^The  Kingdom 
of  Babylon  reverts  to  Astyages- Media  conquered,  and  the  Kingdom  subverted  by 
Cyras • •....• 848 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PBR8IANB  AND  THB  MEDO-PBRSIAN  EMPIRE. 

PnaiA  a  Pn>vince  of  the  Assyrian  Empire— Peculiar  Interest  attaching  to  this  Psrt  of 
Persian  ffistory— The  Spirit  and  Prowess  of  the  Blacksmith  Kawah  obtain  the  Inde- 
pendence of  his  Country— FiBiDOOir  placed  on  the  Throne— His  long  and  Just  Reign — 
He  divides  his  Kingdom  between  his  Sons,  Sxlm,  Toob,  and  Esu^-Ery  slain  by  his 
Brothers— The  Assassins  defeated  and  slain  by  MAirucmHXR,  who  reigns  with  great 
Celebrity— Sam,  Prime  Minister— Roostum,  his  Grandson,  the  great  Persian  Hero, 
born— NouzKB  succeeds  to  the  Throne— His  cruel  Reign— He  is  slain— Zoo  expels  the 
Enemy — ^His  Son  Kkbshasp  raised  to  the  Throne,  and  afterward  deposed — ^Bnd  of  the 
Peshdadian  I)yna8ty— The  Kaianian  Dynasty— The  Median  Ascendency  concealed  by 
imaginary  Kings,  Kai  Kobad  representing  Dejoces  and  Pbraortes,  and  Kai  Koos  Cyax- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


00HTBNT8.  9^ 

ares  and  Artyages— Beferenee  to  the  Eclipse  of  Thftlet— Kai  Khosru,  or  Ctbvs, 
nceeeds  to  the  Throne— The  Account  of  GteciM  reipeoting  his  Parei^tage— The  proba- 
ble Gareer  of  this  Warrior,  until  he  defSeats  and  deposes  Astjages— -Cyrus  marries  the 
Daighter  of  Astjages— The  Death  of  the  deposed  King^jms  conquers  Lydia— 
Takes  Babylon,  and  establishes  a  universal  Empire— His  Conduct  toward  the  Hebrews 
—The  Restoration  of  Jerusalem  begun— Extent  of  the  Persian  Empire— The  Death  of 
Gyms— Cambtsis— He  prohibits  the  Progress  of  Building  at  Jerusalem— Invades  and 
conquers  Egypt— His  impolitic  Cruelty  and  Impiety— Usurpation  of  Smerdis  the 
Magian— Death  of  Cambyses— Smerdis  destroyed  by  a  Conspiracy  of  Nobles— Dabtos 
raised  to  the  Throne—His  improved  Mode  of  Government— The  Case  of  Demooedes, 
the  Greek  Physiclanr-Hakes  an  Edict  in  favour  of  the  Hebrews— Beduces  Samoa- 
Babylon  rebels— The  Belf-sacriflce  of  Zopyrus— Babylon  is  taken— Conquests  in  the 
last— A  Body  of  Greek  Troops  wage  War  in  Asia  Minor,  and  bum  Sardis— Darius 
eomtemplates  the  Invasion  of  Greece— Failure  of  the  first  Expedition  under  Mardo- 
Biaa— Battle  of  Marathon,  and  Ruin  of  the  second  Persian  Invasion— Death  of  Darius 
— F^rsepolis— Behistnn  Sculptures— Xnxxs— Subdues  Egypt^-Makes  vast  Prepara- 
tions for  the  Invasion  of  Greece— Crosses  the  Hellespont— Battle  at  Thermopyltt— 
The  Persian  Fleet  defbated  at  Salamis,  and  their  Army  destroyed  at  PUtflea— The 
Banmant  of  the  Persian  Fleet  and  Army  destroyed  at  Mycale— Horrible  Crime 
and  Craelty  perpetrated  in  the  royal  Court— Xerxes  assassinated— Abtaxxrxbs  L 
established  on  the  Throne— Marries  Esther— Esra  and  Nehemiah  sent  to  Judea— 
Revolt  of  Egypt— Peaoe  with  Athens-^XxBXBS  II^-SoGDiiiHus— Dabtos  Nothub  sub- 
does  his  Rivals— Demoralization  of  the  Persian  Courtp— Aetaxxrxxs  II.— Revolt  of 
Cyras— He  marches  into  the  East— Is  slain,  and  the  Aimy  dispersed,  at  Cunaxsr-Re- 
tnai  of  the  Ten  Thousand  Greeks— Continued  Iniquity  of  the  Court— Revolt  and  Death 
of  the  Heir-apparent— Abtaxxbxbs  m.  murders  the  royal  Family— Restores  Persian 
Anthority  in  Egypt,  Phenicia,  and  Cyprus— Dabius  m.  undertakes  the  Government — 
Alexander  invades  the  Empire— IViumph  of  the  Macedonian Page  3S1 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  RBLIGION  OF  THB  PERSIANS. 

Imfobtavcs  and  Difficulties  of  the  Subject— Great  Aid.  supplied  by  ancient  Inscriptions 
—The  Religion  of  Persia  identical  in  its  original  Elements  with  that  of  Assyria  and 
Babylon — C^inion  of  Jacob  Bryant  on  the  first  Zoroaster — Its  probable  Import— The 
Msgi— General  Elements  of  the  Persian  Faith— Deity  of  the  King^Palace-Temples — 
Paradises — Sacred  Tree — Chembic  Figures— Divine  IViad— Persian  Peculiarities  in 
this  Symbol — ^The  supreme  Deity  in  Persia  represented  with  the  Head  of  a  Bird — The 
Religious  System  of  Zoroaster— The  first  Triad :  Cronus,  Ormnzd,  Ahriman— This 
changed  to  Ormuzd,  Mithras,  Ahriman — Their  respective  Character  and  Position — ^The 
Antagonism  and  Creations  of  Ormusdand  Ahriman — ^The  Worship  of  Fire,  its  probable 
Origin— The  System  of  Zoroaster  professed  to  rest  on  Divine  Revelation— The  Creation 
of  Angels,  the  World,  and  Mankind— General  Accordance  with  Holy  Scripture— The 
FaU  of  Man— The  Prevalence  of  Eril— The  Flood— Continuance  of  Depravity— Missioni 
of  Zoroaster— The  Spiritual  Nature  of  Man— Future  Judgment— Resurrection— Doc- 
trine of  universal  Restoration— Wicked  Men,  and  even  Ahriman,  raised  to  Heaven — 
The  Priesthood— Their  Three  Orden :  Heri)oods,  Mobeds,  and  the  Dustooi^Altan  and 
Temples— Perpetual  Fire— Public  Worship— Sacred  Rites— Holy  Water— Morals- 
Sound  Principles  mingled  with  much  that  is  puerile  and  superstitious^-The  Faith  of 
Persia  flormed  a  perfect  Type  of  Papal  Superstition— Observations  on  the  Manner  in 
which  this  Inquiry  has  been  conducted — ^FoUy  of  ibrming  an  Opinion  on  this  Subject 
under  the  Infiuence  of  Grecian  Mythology — Necessity  of  recogpiising  the  Founden  of 
the  Nation  as  Members  of  the  great  patriarchal  Family— General  View  of  the  Sys- 
t«n. 287 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


10  ooirxms. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THB  HIBTORT  OF  THB  OREOIAV  8TATIB. 

AcTHOueB  oecopying  a  gmall  Goimtry,  and  not  pnnwing  Mriy  CMlisatkm,  th«  QntlkM 
•rose  to  raperUtiTe  Dirtinctioii  in  History— Hie  Qeography  of  Greeo»— The  Origin  of 
the  Ghreekt— FelaegiuiB  and  Hellenefl  kindred  Races— Legendary  Histofy— The  Aigo- 
nantic  Expedition— The  Theban  Legends^The  Trojan  War-^/The  Betnm  of  the  Hera- 
deids— State  of  the  Qreeian  States  in  the  Time  of  Lycnrgns— Diriaion  into  niUMrons 
independent  Commnnitiet— Their  Unity  of  Biood,  Manners,  and  Beligion— The  Politi- 
cal and  Civil  Institutions  of  Lycnrgns — Sparta  snbdnes  the  Messenians — ^The  State  of 
Athens— Prevalent  and  long-oontinned  Disordei^-Solon— He  regains  Possession  of 
Salamis— ^eceeds  in  the  Sacred  War  against  Cirrha— Fearful  State  of  Society— Solon 
invested  with  Supreme  Power— His  Reforming  Measures,  and  new  Political  Constitu- 
tion, established— Pisistratns  obtains  the  Chief  Authority— The  Tyrant  expelled,  and 
Democracy  established,  by  the  Aid  of  Sparta— The  smaller  Grecian  SUtet— The  Islands 
and  Colonies — Causes  which  led  to  the  First  Persian  Invasion — ^It  utterly  fails— A 
Second  prepared,  and  disembarked  at  the  Bay  of  Marathon— Completely  defiaated  by 
the  Athenians  under  Miltiades^Further  Persian  Preparations  for  the  Conqnsat  of 
Greece— Suspended  by  the  Death  of  Dariua— Xerxes  at  length  determines  on  another 
Invasion — His  immense  Preparations  and  Vast  Army— Checked  at  Thermopylie— His 
Fleet  defeated  at  Artemistum^Athens  destroyed— The  Persian  Fleet  ruined  at  Salamis 
—Xerxes  retreats— Returns  to  Asia— Mardonius  makes  the  most  flattering  Overtures 
to  the  Athenians— Which  they  nobly  n^ect^Apathy  of  Sparta— Attica  ravaged  a 
Second  Time— A  United  Greek  Army  at  length  opposes  the  Foe— The  Persian  Foroe  is 
annihilated  at  Platea— On  the  same  day  the  Persian  Fleet  is  destroyed  at  Mycale— 
Sucoessful  Prosecution  of  the  War,  followed  by  Peace  with  Persiar-The  Period,  Causes, 
and  Progress  of  Grecian  Civilisation  and  Advancement — ^Thales — ^Pythagoras — Greece 
attains  her  Highest  Intellectual  Elevation— Great  Wealth  and  Power  of  Athens— First 
Peloponnesian  Wsr — ^Mischievous  Policy  of  Alcibiades — Second  Peloponnesian  War — 
Ruin  of  Athens — Sparta  tyrannizes  over  the  other  Grecian  States — ^Restoration  of 
Athens  to  Independence-^Xenophon  and  the  Ten  Thousand — ^Thebes — ^Pelopidas  and 
Bpaminondas— Philip  of  Macedon— His  Improved  Military  Tactics— Takes  advantage 
of  the  Disunion  and  Rivalry  of  the  Greek  States  to  make  himself  Master  of  the  Coun- 

•try — ^Alexander  succeeds  his  Father — ^Prepares  for  the  Invasion  of  Persia— Battle  of 
the  Granious— His  uninterrupted  Success— In  Three  Years  he  extends  his  Sway  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  India— His  Death — State  of  Greece  during  the  Victorious  Career 
of  Alexander— Aggression  of  Spsrta  on  Macedon— Repelled—Tumults  on  the  Death 
of  Alexander,  repressed  by  Antipater— Cassander— His  Government— Interference  of 
Rome— Progress  of  her  Power— Greece  a  Roman  Province. Page  818 


CHAPTER  X. 

THS  RBLIOION  OF  GRBBOI. 

Thb  earliest  Religion  of  this  People  appears  to  have  been  a  strange  Compound  of  the 
Adoration  of  the  material  Elements  and  Powers  of  Nature ;  united  with  a  sacred  Re- 
gard for  Mythic  Legends,  which  had  been  traditionally  preserved— Expansion  of  this 
Scheme  alter  the  Return  of  the  Haracleids,  and  the  Establishment  of  the  Dorian 
Powei^-OutUne  of  Grecian  Theology  and  Cosmogony— The  Grecian  Deities— Zeua— 
Her»— Apollon*— Artemis — ^Hermes — ^Hephaistos— Aphrodite — Ares — ^Eros,  and  other 
minor  Divinitiea— The  Greek  Triad— Evident  Connexion  of  the  whole  Scheme  with 
Scriptural  Tinadition— -The  Temples— Priests— Worship— Divination— Oracles  and  Mys- 
iteries — ^The  Influence  of  Philosophy  examined— Thalis — His  Doctrines,  and  the  Ionic 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


OONTBNTB.  11 

School—PfTHAaoBAS— Hu  Syitem— -Fdilvre  fai  Greaee,  and  wonderftil  Sacoess  in  Sidly 
^-The  Ghaneter  of  hU  Teachings— SoaBA.n8— -Hit  Mode  of  IiMtnietlon—- DoctrinM—He 
daiau  a  Divine  ICiaaionr-Tlie  important  Ghancter  and  Influence  of  his  Teaehin|n_ 
Flato— <}eneral  View  of  his  Olgect— His  Doctrines— Oraad  InteUectnal  Derelopnent 
evinead  in  his  Philosophy— But  his  Eiftnte  onfavonrable  to  Morals  and  Beligion — 
ijOBVon*— Hia  brilliant  Intellectoal  Ifforta— Inefficient  in  rsqwct  of  Beligionr-nZBro 
and  the  8toic»— FhTsicaL  and  Moral  Doetrinea—UnsatisfiMtory  Result— Sprovnva— 
His  Systeofr— Ita  penudonsEffbets— (Seneral  View  of  Grecian  Faith— Importance  of 
DiTine  Inilnanoe^  and  a  reoognition  of  iti  Power->The  Effect  of  these  four  Schools  of 
Fhiloaophy  fatal  to  the  Religion  of  Greece— Uttor  failure  of  every  Influence  to  oonect 
the  SSwta  of*  vitiated  Theology. Fa«e  860 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THB  BISTORT  OF  ROME. 

iMFQBrASGB  of  Boman  History— Unusual  Extent  of  its  Legendary  Portion— Arrival  of 
Jbeaa  on  the  Banks  of  the  Tiber— Laviniumr—Alba—Bomulns  and  Bemus— Bonie— 
Dsath  of  Berana— Bape  of  the  Sabine  yizgin»-8abine  War-Political  Gonstttntion  of 
the  ifarst  Bomana— Numa— Tullus  Hostilius— Albans  removed  to  Bom»— Aneos  Martlus 
—The  Beigna  of  the  Tarquins  and  of  Servins  Tulliua— Tragic  Fate  of  Lncretia^Abolition 
of  Royalty— Junius  Brutua— War  with  Porsennar-Destmction  of  Yeii— Invasion  of  the 
Gauls— Distrsea  of  the  Bomana— Oppressive  Gharaeter  of  the  Laws  respecting  the  Poor 
-Legislative  Befbim-^tenewed  aggressive  War— All  Italy  subdued  by  the  Bomana— 
War  with  Garthaga— The  First  Punic  Wai^-^dly  added  to  Borne  aa  a  Province— Fur- 
ther Extenaion  of  Territory  on  the  Gontinent  procured  by  the  Bomana— Sardinia 
sdaed— Hannibal— His  deadly  Enmity  to  Borne— His  Meaanres  in  Spain— The  Second 
Panic  War— Hannibal  invades  Italy— His  wonderful  Success— Bepeated  Defeat  of  the 
Boman  Armies— Sdpio  leads  a  Boman  Army  into  AfHca— Obtaina  successive  Victories 
—Hannibal  recalled  to  Garthage,  and  defeated— Peace  between  Rome  and  Garthage, 
on  Terms  dictated  by  Rome— War  with  Maoedon,  in  which  Rome  is  triumphant,  Philip 
reduced  to  Submission,  and  Liberty  proclaimed  to  Greece — Antiochus  of  Syria  makes 
War  on  Rome— Is  entirely  deliMited— War  between  Rome  and  Perseus,  King  of  Maoe- 
don— He  is  completely  subdued— Bapid  Increase  and  vast  Extent  of  the  Roman  Do- 
minions—The Third  Punic  War— Destruction  of  Garthage— Gontinued  Plrogress  of 
Boman  Power — ^Results  of  these  successive  and  immense  military  Operations  on  the 
Parent  SUte— Isolation  of  the  Baling  Class  from  the  People— Great  Distress  of  the 
latter— nberius  Gracchus  endeavours  to  effect  legislative  Befarmsfor  correcting  these 
Evils— Is  circumvented,  and  murdered— Gains  Gracchus  succeeds  his  Brother  in  his 
Efforta  to  redress  the  Grievances  of  the  People— Garries  several  Meaanres— Loses  hia 
election  on  being  proposed  a  third  Time  for  the  Tribnneship— Determines  on  armed  Be- 
sistanoe— Is  defeated,  and  slain— Progress  of  Patrician  Power,  and  the  Demoralisation 
of  Boman  Governments— Jogurthine  War^-Marius  Gonsul- Termination  of  the  War, 
aad  Gaptivity  and  cruel  Death  of  Jugurtha — ^War  with  the  Cimbri— The  Bomana  sustain 
several  Defeata,  but  the  Enemy  is  ultimately  routed  and  destroyed  by  Marius— ^ivil 
Wars  in  Sicily  and  Italy— Italians  incorporated  as  Roman  Gitizena— Factious  Rivalry 
between  Harins  and  Sylla— The  former  in  a  Tumult  expels  his  rival,  and  makes  hifu- 
self  Master  of  Rome— JSyUa  at  the  Head  of  an  Army  nuorahes  to  Rome,  and  takes  Pos- 
session of  the  Gity— He  removes  his  Enemies  from  Power,  and  proceeds  to  conduct  the 
War  against  Mithridatea— The  King  of  Pontus  completely  defeated— Rome  sttl^eeted 
to  fearful  Carnage  and  Disorder  by  Marius  and  Cinna— Sylla  grants  Mithridates  Terms 
of  Peace,  and,  uniting  the  Army  of  Fimbria  to  his  own,  returns  to  Rome— Sylla  de- 
feata the  Troops  of  the  Consuls,  and  makes  himself  absolute  Master  of  Rome— Fearfbl 
Extent  of  his  Proscriptions,  and  consequent  Slaughter  of  Soldiers  and  (Stiaena-^His 
Death— Pompey  defeats  a  Marian  Faction  in  Spain— Destroys  the  Gilicii^n  Piratear- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


12  OONTBNTS. 

Defeftts  liithridfttee,  aad  annexM  his  Dominions  to  B0me--Conspiracy  of  Catiline  at 
Bome— Defeated  by  Oioero— The  First  TrinmTirate— Pompey,  Cnssns,  and  Julius 
Qatar  Crassas  slain  in  the  Parthian  War— ORsar,  commanded  by  the  Senate  to  dis- 
band his  Army,  marches  on  Bome — ^Pompey  retires  to  Qtecce  Is  followed  by  OiBsar, 
and  defeated — ^Flies  to  Egypt,  and  is  slain  there — Jnlius  Cesar  sole  Rnler  of  the  Roman 
Dominions^-Cnsai^  slain  by  Conspirators— Strange  Irresolntion  and  want  of  Unity 
etineed  by  the  Conspirators  after  the  Death  of  Cssai^The  selfish  P<dicy,  Peealati<«, 
and  Ambition  of  Antony— Prodent  Conduct  of  the  yonng  OetaTins— He  is  elected  O  n- 
sol— Flight  of  Bratns  and  Cassias— The  Second  TrinmTirate— Antony,  Lepidns,  and 
OetavioB— Defeat  and  Death  of  Bmtos  and  Cassius— Antony's  diagracefol  Residence 
in  E^^t— Lepidus  banished— Defeat  of  Antony  at  Aetinm— He  commits  snkide  in 
Egypt— Oetavins,  as  Angostns,  snpreme  Baler  at  Bome....i Page  406 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THB  REUOION  OF  ROMS. 

MoTAKn  Notion  which  obtains  of  this  Religion— Bome  greatly  indebted  to  Btroria— 
The  Religions  Institutions  of  the  Etruscans— Importanoe  of  the  Establishment  of 
these  Beligioas  Institutions  in  Italy,  before  the  Bise  of  Bome  to  Powei^-The  Etruscan 
Beligion  exhibited  much  important  l^th  and  Divine  Influence— Considerable  Befer- 
ence  to  PrimitiTC  Traditions,  and  the  Beoognition  of  a  Fntore  State  and  Judgment— 
The  Founders  of  Bome  educated  in  these  Doctrines-^All  the  Primitire  Arrangement 
and  Oiganiaation  of  Bome  formed  on  an  Etruscan  Basis— SaUne  and  Latin  Deities 
introduced  by  the  Union  of  these  Tribes— Numa  and  his  Institutions— Belgn  of  Tar- 
qaln— Senius  Tullius— Corruptions  in  Theology  and  Image-Worship  introduced— The 
Qods  of  Bome— i>t»  wu^omm—Dii  aeUoli-^JHi  minortm—Saend  Persons— Priests — 
Augurs— iMd/«t—Flaniens— The  Sacred  Places  and  Bites  of  this  Religion— Temples— 
PSaysrs — Vows — Sacrifices — Festivals — Lmpercalia — Bae^analia — SatwncUta — Gen- 
enJ  View  of  the  Roman  Religion — ^Remarkable  Unity  maintained,  notwithstanding  so 
mnich  Extension  and  Addition — Completeness  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Economy — ^Tt  an- 
swered its  Design  so  far  as  to  pervade  the  public  Ifind  with  its  Influence— Originally 
identified  with  many  important  Religious  Truths— Inquiry  into  the  Effect  of  this  System 
on  the  People— The  Knowledge  of  Ood  which  it  gave  to  the  People— The  Ojdnions  of 
Deity  entertained  by  Philosophers — ^Analysis  of  the  Beligions  Works  of  Cicero— The 
Result— The  Philosophy  of  Bome  afforded  nothing  better  than  Epicurean  or  Stoical 
Views*  of  Deity— Knowledge  possessed  by  the  Bomans  of  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul, 
and  of  Future  Bewards  and  Punishments— ^Effect  of  this  Destitution  of  Truth  upon 
Boman  Morals— The  Description  given  by  St.  Paul — State  of  Domestic  Manners— Con- 
dition of  Slaves,  and  their  Cruel  Treatment— Horrid  Cruelty  displayed  toward  the 
Ctdldren  of  Scjanut— A^vfal  Prevalence  of  Li'centionmess  and  unnatural  Impurity.  409 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

A  GBKXRAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  BISTORT  AND  REUGIOV  OF  THE  GENTILE 

NATIONS. 


HiBTAKEir  Notions  respecting  the  Accordance  of  ancient  ffistory  with  Holy  Scriptu 
The  Elevation  of  fiCan  in  his  primitive  State— Bemarkable  Corroboration  of  Scriptore 
by  Facts  in  Ancient  History— Cientile  Beligion  an  important  Development  of  Mosaic 
Teaching — ^It  contains  wonderfiil  Bevelations  of  the  Power  and  Providence  of  God — 
Ancient  History,  as  a  Fulfilment  of  Prophecy,  a  remarkable  Attestation  of  revealed 
IVutiK-Relation  of  Revelation  to  the  Teaching  of  Science — The  Testimony  of  ancient 
History  in  Bespect  of  Beligion  in  remarkable  Accordance  with  the  Bible — ^Proofs  of 


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CONTBKTS.  IS 

the  F'^i^*^  ftod  Power  of  Satanic  Influence— Infinite  Abeordity  of  Idoletry-^Tet  it 
wu  universal — ^False  Tlieories  devised  for  tlie  Purpose  of  accounting  for  the  Sxistence 
of  Idolatry,  considered  and  refuted — Satanic  Aggression  on  the  Purposes  of  God  and 
Happiness  of  Man— The  Deluge  one  of  its  Results— Corruption  of  the  patriarchal  Futh 
—Attempt  to  frustrate  the  divinely-appointed  Dispersion— Miraculously  defeated— The 
G^  of  Abraham,  and  Election  of  the  Hebrew  People,  still  further  show  the  Violence  of 
Satanic  Aggression -on  the  Purpose  of  Gbd— The  Succession  of  great  rulii^f  Empires 
displays  the  Power  of  diabolical  Influence— The  World  prepared  for  the  Introduction 
of  theKiogdomofGod P«g«  «» 


NOTES. 

AwmmjOYUM  Idolatry,  p.  536^— Was  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity  known  to  the  early 
Patriarchs?  p.  526.— The  Worship  of  Man,  p.  528.— The  Geography  and  Population  of 
Egypt,  p.  5S0.— The  Chronology  of  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  581.— The  Monumental  Names 
of  Kings,  p.  584.— Sir  Gardiner  Wilkinson  on  the  Date  of  the  Exodus,  p.  585.— The 
Providential  Preparation  for  the  Israelitish  Invasion  of  Canaan,  p.  585.— The  Martial 
Career  of  Sesostris,  p.  585.— The  Cruelty  exhibited  in  Egyptian  Sculptures,  p.  586.- 
The  Fnlfllment  of  Sacred  Prophecy  in  the  History  of  Egypt,  p.  587.— The  progressive 
Development  of  this  Idolatry,  p.  541. — The  Changes  made  in  the  Egyptian  Triad,  p.  542. 
—Glass  sent  as  an  Article  of  Tribute  from  Assyria  and  Babylon  to  Egypt,  p.  543.— The 
Army  sent  from  Assyria,  under  the  Command  of  Memnon,  to  assist  Priam  during  the 
Trojan  War,  p.  548.— The  Bemarkable  Means  by  which  the  Reading  of  ancient  Monu- 
mental Inscriptions  has  been  recovered,  p.  544.— The  peculiar  Difficulty  at  identifying 
Assyrian  proper  Names,  p.  545.->The  proper  chronological  Succession  of  the  Reigns 
exhibited  in  the  Assyrian  Sculptures,  p.  546— The  chronological  Position  of  the  lower 
Line  of  Assyrian  Kings,  and  their  Relation  to  the  Median  Revolt,  p.  547.— Eridence 
of  Sargina's  Wars  with  Egypt,  and  the  Kind  of  Tribute  sent  thence  to  Assyria,  p.  549. 
—The  Fulfilment  of  Sacred  Prophecy  in  the  History  of  Assyria,  p.  549.— The  Era  of 
Nabonaasar,  p.  658.— Probable  State  of  the  Political  Relation  of  Babylon  to  Assyria, 
prior  to  the  Reign  of  Nabopolassar,  p.  558.— The  Punishment  of  Zedekiah,  p.  554.— The 
Median  Princess  whom  Nebuchadnezzar  married, — the  Queen  Nitocris,  p.  555.— The 
Magnitude  and  Splendour  of  Babylon,  p.  555.— The  chronological  Succession  of  Baby- 
lonian Kings  after  Nebuchadnezzar,  p.  556.-^The  Geography  of  Borsippa,  where  Laby- 
netns  took  Refuge,  p.  560.— The  Fulfilment  of  Sacred  Prophecy  in  the  History  of  Baby- 
lon, p.  561^— The  Testimony  of  Herodotus  respecting  the  Temple  of  Mylitta  at  Babylon, 
p.  565^— What  was  the  true  Principle  and  Meaning  of  SabflBan  Worship?  p.  566.— The 
Assyrian  Triad,  p.  567.— The  Cherubim  of  Ezekiel,  and  their  Relation  to  the  compound 
FIgum  of  the  Assyrian  Sculptures,  p.  668.— Imitations  of  Paradise  attached  to  the  royal 
Palaces  of  the  Assyrian  Kings,  p.  569.— Babylon  the  Type  of  Papal  Antichrist,  p.  570.— 
The  'Hme  of  Anarchy,  and  the  Accession  of  Dejoces,  p.572.— The  Period  of  Scythian  Dom- 
ination over  Asia,  p.  578.— Chronology  of  the  Eclipse  of  Thales,  p.  578.— Who  was  the 
■'Dariua  the  Mede  **  of  the  Book  of  Daniel  ?  p.  578.— The  Fulfilment  of  Sacred  Prophecy  in 
the  History  of  Media,  p.  575.— The  personal  History  of  Gyrus,  p.  576.— Was  Cyrus  made 
aflquaint^  with  the  Prophecies  of  Daniel  ?  p.  577^— The  successful  Opposition  of  the 
Governors  of  Syria  and  others  to  the  Building  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  Evidence  thereby 
sfforded  of  the  Integrity  and  Perfection  of  the  national  Records  at  the  Court  of  Persia, 
p.  579.^The  Deliberations  of  the  Conspirators  as  to  the  future  Government  of  Persia, 
sod  the  appointment  of  Darius  Hystaspes  to  be  King,  p.  580.— The  Succession  of 
Xerxes  to  the  Throne  of  Persia,  p.  58L^The  Behistun  Inscriptions,  containing  Da- 
rins's  own  Account  of  his  Wars,  p.  582.— Did  the  Jews  fight  in  the  Army  of  Xerxes? 
p.  590.— The  Inscriptions  relating  to  the  Reign  of  Xerxes,  p.  591.— The  Inscriptions 
rehitSng  to  the  Reign  of  Artaxerxes,  p.  592.— The  Fulfilment  of  Sacred  Prophecy  in  the 


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24  PBSLIMINARY  mS^TATWi. 

remembered  that  the  lion  and  the  e^e  were  prominent  in  the  flarij 
stages  of  animal-worahip,  this  answer  will  sink  |lown  to  a  level  with  the. 
preceding.  Other  notions,  equally  ridiculous  and  absurd,  have  been, 
handed  down  to  us ;  but  this  diversity  of  opinion,  and  this  laboured 
effort  to  devise  any  plausible  origin  for  so  strange  a  practice,  only  prove 
the  darkness  which  rested  on  the  subject  Porphyry,  who  though  a 
cleve^  writer  was  a  bitter  enemy  to  revelation,  has  inadvertently  on  this 
point  given  us  an  important  suggestion.  In  propounding  his  theory  on 
this  subject,  he  attributes  the  origin  of  animal-worship  to  the  operation 
of  the  principle  that  the  Deity  permeates  other  beings,  as  well  as  man  ; 
that,  in  &ct,  "  nearly  the  same  spiritual  essence  pervades  all  the  tribes  of 
living  creatures."  On  this  account,  he  adds,  *^  in  feushioning  imagsss  of 
the  gods,  they  have  adopted  the  forms  of  cUl  animals;  sometimes  joining 
the  human  figure  with  those  of  beasts;  at  others,  combining  the  shapes  of 
men  and  of  birds,"  <fec. — Porpkyriua  de  Abstin^  lib.  iv,  cap.  9. 

It  it  always  important  in  investigations  of  this  kind  to  distinguish 
between  £act  and  philosophical  speculation.  In  this  instance  the  learned 
heathen,  I  have  no.  doabt,  gives  us  an  important  fact,  namely,  that 
aaimal-worship  originated  in  a  practice  which  had  grown  up,  of  com- 
bining portions  of  the  figures  of  animals,  or  of  birds,  with  parts  of  the 
human  figure.  If  we  may  rely  on  this  statement,  which  is  open  to  no 
reasonable  doubt,  we  find  that,  unlike  almost  every  other  part  of  heathen 
idolatry,  the  worship  of  animals  was  not  the  first  form  of  this  error.  The 
veneration^  of  images  preceded  that  of  the  real  animals.  Nor  were  these 
images  repre^ntations  of  complete  animal  forms,  but  of  compound  figures, 
exhibiting  different  combinations  of  the  cherubic  elements — ^man,  lion,  ox, 
and  ea^e. 

Here,  then,  we  have  an  account  of  the  origin  of  animal-worship  which 
meets  all  the  difficulties  of  the  case.  The  cherubic  figures,  we  are  sure, 
were  copied  in  the  sculptures  of  the  ancients  in  almost  every  diversity  of 
form  and  combination.  These,  like  the  teraphim  of  the.  Hebrewi^ 
became,  in  process  of  time,  objects  of  superstitious  regard,  and  ultimately 
of  idolatrous  reverence.  Tlie  next  step  produced  images  of  animals  as 
meriting  similar  devotion;  and  living  brutes  succeeded  as  objects  of  , 
worship. 

Beneath  this  depth  of  human  abasement,  folly,  and  sin,  there. is  yet  a 
lower  deep.  Men  not  only  condescended  to  worship  brute  beasts,  and 
birds,  and  creeping  things ;  they  proceeded  even  to  reverence  and  adore 
the  different  parts  of  inanimate  creation.  Reference  has  been  already 
made  to  the  causes  which  led  to  an  early  reception  of  the  false  dogma  of 
an  endless  succession  o{  worlds.  This  opinion,  however,  when  once 
accepted,  induced  a  belief  of  the  principle  involved  in  it,  namely,  the 
eternity  of  matter :  and,  eternity  being  cleariy  .recognised  as  a  divine 


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PRBKMINABT  ]»I8BSBTATK)N.  25 

afttribiitey  the  entire  natuial  creation  was  regarded  as  divine ;  and  both 
BotioiB  were  extensiT^y  propagated.  In  the  progress  of  this  errer^  how- 
ever, the  speculative  perfersily  of  the  men  who,  professing  to  be  wise^ 
sunk  into  eoch  follj^  encountered  {&  serious  difficulty.  While  admitting 
the  eternity  of  matter,  the^  could  not  repudiate  the  eternity  of  the  great-' 
&ther,  the  belief  of  whose  reappearance,  at  the  commencement  of  each 
cycle  of  the  world^s  existence,  lay  at  the  foun4ation  of  the  whole  system 
of  error.  But  dien  tbey  found  themselves  stumbling  between  the  idea 
of  two  eUmals :  one  occanonally,  and  at  great  intervals  of  time,  appear- 
ing in  human  form  ;  the  other  infinitely  diversified  throughout  the  whole 
material  worlds 

This  difficulty  was  solved,  or 'rather  theGordian  knot  cut,  by  supposing 
the  fifet  of  these  to  xepresent  the  mind  or  soul — ^the  second,  the  material 
body — of  the  world.  ''As  it  was  observed-  that  man  consisted  of  two 
parts  intimately  associated,  the  circumstance  was  analogically  extended 
to  the  world  at  large.  The  spirit  of  man  for  a  season  animated  a  body ; 
and  when  that  body  was  worn  out,  and  its  component  partides  were 
Tefidved  into  their  original  substance,  the  spirit  occupied  another  tene- 
ment; and  again,  at  a  stated  interval,  quitted  it  for  a  new  one.  In  a 
similar  manner,  the  intellectual  great  father  lor  a  season  animated  his 
body  the  world;  and  when  that  body  at  each  great  catastrophe  wab 
resolved  into  the  primeval  crude  matter  out  of  which  it  had  been  formed, 
the  soul  soon  formed  to  itself  another  body  in  a  new  world,  which  it  again 
occupied,  and  again  quitted,  at  the  close  of  the  new  period." — Faher^s 
Pagan  Idolatry^  vol.  i,  p.  103. 

Thus  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  most  extended  system  of  idolatry, 
in  which  every  part  of  nature  might  be  regarded  as  divine.  The  modifi- 
cations of  this  notion,  and  the  inferences  d^ved  from  it,  wer§  lAmberless. 
This  mystic  union  of  spirit  and  matter  was  frequently  exhibited  under  ^the 
notion  of  a  conjugal  union,  in  which  the  pervading  spirit  is  spoken  of  as 
the  great  father,  and  the  material  world  as  the  great  mother.  Another 
representation  exhibited  the  heavenly  bodies  as  embodiments,  or  residences, 
of  the  pervading  and  ruHng  spirit ;  while  the  terrestrial  world  was  regarded 
as  the  body  of  the  universal  deity. 

Another  modification  of  this  error,  which  arose  afi;erward,  taught  that 
the  intellectual  principle  wbs  light  and  goodness,  and  the  material  prin- 
ciple darkness  and  evil  And  thus  was  exhibited  the  idea  of  two  inde- 
pendent and  rival  deities :  one,  the  patron  of  purity  and  light ;  the  other, 
of  evil  and  darkness.  It  ean  scarcely  be  doubted  that  this  latter  inflexio|i 
of  the  error  was  greatly  modified  under  the  influence  of  a  tradition  respect- 
ing the  grand  tempter  and  the  Men  angels. 

Thus,  by  these  several  ifaeans,  the  great  elements  of  a  universal  idolatry 
wero  established  in  the  world.    If  it  had  been  judged  necessary^  the 


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26  PRELIMINAEY  DlfiaBSTATIOK. 

seyeral  particulars  which  have  been  noticed  might  have  been  amply 
tained  by  learned  references :  but  the  best,  as  well  m  the  most  ample  and 
convincing  proof  which  can  be  given  in  their  support  will  be  afforded  by  the 
various  developments  of  them  which  will  be.  found  in  the  chapters  exhibit^ 
ing  in  detail  the  religion  of  the  several  nations  which  have  to  come  under 
our  notice.  Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate,  in  outline  at  least,  the 
more  prominent  of  those  speculations  by.  which  men,  even  while  knowing 
the  true  God,  and  '^  professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  became  fools." 

In  proceeding  to  notice  the  object  and  character  of  idolatry,  it  may  be 
first  observed,  that,  regarded  in  the  united  light  of  reason  and  Scripture, 
it  stands  before  us  as  a  grand  effort  to  defeat  or  neutralize  the  great  ^ 
scheme  oi  redemption.  I  freely  confess,  I  know  of  no  subject  that  has 
been  treated  so  unworthily  as  this.  According  to  established  usage,  the 
youth  in  our  best  schools— the  readers  of  our  most  erudite  manuab  and 
educational  works — are  all  introduced  to  an  acquaintance  with  this  sub- 
ject as  a  curious  development  of  human  ingenuity  and  speeiilation, — as  a 
science  mainly  consisting  of  the  actions,  character,  and  worship  of  certain 
imaginary  mythological  personages.  With  these  it  is  liiought  an  accom- 
j^shment  to  have  some  acquaintance;  and  no  one  can  doubt  that  this  is 
essential  to  any  intelligent  study  of  classic  authors.  But  does  all  this 
present  to  the  mind  any  consistent  idea  of  the  object  and  character  of 
idolatry  ?  We  teach  the  rising  generation,  and  all  inquiring  minds,  the 
grreat  elements  of  man's  primeval  history  from  the  sacred  record.  They 
are  instructed  respecting  man's  innocency  add .  temptation,  his  expulsion 
from  Paradise,  and  the  promise  of  a  Redeemer.  But  when  they  are  called 
to  study  the  history  of  our  race,  to  mark  the  progress  of  a  fearful  moral 
and  mental  deterioration,  which  covered  the  world  with  gross  darkness, 
and  rendered,  the  isolation  of  the  elected  Hebrew  people  necessaiy  to  the 
msfntenance  of  the  knowledge  of  God  in  the  world,  all  this  fearful  system 
of  error  and  evil  is  exhibited  as  totally  unconnected  with  spiritual  agencies 
and  tnoral  ends.  Is  this  reasonable  or  consistent  ?  Is  it  not  certain  that 
the  same  agency  which  effected  the  &11,  and  thus  spoiled  the  purity  of 
man,1nduced  the  whole  scheme  of  idolatry,  in  order  to  defeat  the  promised 
redemption,  and  to  frustrate  the  purpose  of  God  in  the  promised  mission 
of  his  Son  ?  Can  there  be  a  doubt  in  any  reasonable  mind  <m  this  import- 
ant point  ?  Evidence  from  Scripture  has  been  briefly  adduced,  and  might 
be  extended :  but  this  is  not  necessary ;  the  whole  tenor  of  holy  writ  is 
decidedly  in  favour  of  my  argument.  I  wishy  however,  to  call  more  par- 
ticular attention  to  one  important  point — ^the  worship  of  the  serpent 

That  the  malign  Ibe  should  repeat  his  assault  on  human  happiness  after 
the  promise  of  redemption,  is  not  wonderful.  That  he  should  have  perse- 
vered ii^  his  aggression,  might  be  inferred  from  his  subtilty  and  malice. 
But  it  will  scarcely  be  believed,  that  even  Satan  should  not  only  have 


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PBrlLIMnrABY  DI8SX&TAXI0K.  27 

aimed  eo  high  as  to  supplant  the  adorable  and  eternal  God  as  the  object 
of  famnan  wofsbip,  but  diould  also  have  aspired  to  pat  hknaelf  Ibrdi  as 
the  object  of  saprome  irorship,  and  ehalknge  the  adoration  of  the  world, 
under  the  precise  form  in  which  he  had  succeeded  in  effecting  the  ruin 
of  the  race.  Yet  so  it  was.  The  derpent  ibrm  has  in  all  probability 
approached  nearer  to  universal  adoration  than  any  other. 

A  learned  aathor^  who  has  investigated  this  subject  with  great  labour 
and  research,  assures  us  that  he  has  **  traced  the  worship  oif  the  serpent 
from  Babylonia,  east  and  west,  through  Persia,  Hindustan,  China,  Meadco, 
Britain,  Scandinavia,  Italy,  Illyricum,  Thrace,  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  and 
nienicis.  Again,  we  have  observed  the  sasoe  idolatry  prevailing  north 
and  south,  through  ScytUa  on  Ibe  one  hand,  and  Afiiea  on  the  other. 
Thjs  worship  of  ths  besrpbnt  was  thsrxforb  nNiYERSAL.  For  not  only 
did  the  sacred  seipent -eater  into  the  symbolical  and  ritual  service  of  every 
religion  which  recognised  tbb  suit,  bat  we  even  find  him  in  eonntries 
where  solar  worship  was  altogether  unknown, — as  in  Sarmatia,  Scandina- 
via, and  the  Gold  Ooast  of  Africa.  In  every  known  conntiy  of  the  anoient 
world,  the  serpent  formed  a  prominent  feature  in  the  ordinary  worship, 
and  made  no  inconsiderable  figure  in  their  Hagiographa,  entering  ahke 
into  leg^dary  and  astronomical  mythology. 

'^  Whence,  th^,  did  tbis  onlt  ukiybrsal  idolatry  originate  9  That 
it  preceded  polytheism,  is  indicated  by  the  attribution  of  the  tide  Ops,  and 
the  consecration  of  the  symbdical  serpent,  to  so  many  of  the  heaiben 
deities.  The  title  Ops  was  conferred  upon  Terra,  Vesta,  Rhea,  Cybele, 
Juno,  Diana ;  and  even  Vulcan  is  called  by  Cicero  Opcu. 

"  In  Grecian  mythdogy  the  symbolical  serpent  was  sacred  to  Saturn, 
Jupiter,  Apollo,  Bacchus,  Mars,  Jl)9culiqnus,  Rhea,  Juno,  Minerva,  Diaaa, 
Geres,  and  Proserpine :— 4hat  is,  the  serpent  was  a  sacred  emblem  of 
nearly  aU  the  gods  and  gdddessei.  ^ 

**The  same  remark  mi^r  be  extended  to  the  theogonies  of  Egypt,  Hm- 
dtUtan,  and  Mexico, — ^in  all  of  which  we  find  the  serpent  emblematic,  not 
of  <me  deity,  but  of  fnafiy. 

'*  What,  then,  is  the  inference  ?  That  the  9erpent  was  the  meet  andmU 
€f  the  heathen  gods.'*— I>0an6*«  Worship  of  the  Serpent^  pp.  441-443. 

So  the  great  and  ten&le  truth  stands  clearly  attested,  not  only  by  the 
word  of  God,  but  by  authentic  records  of  eveiy  ancient  nation,  that 
the  old  serpent,  the  devi,  who  seduced  our  first  parents  from  their  alle- 
giance, succeeded  in  establishing. himself,  under  the  Tery  figure  in  which 
he  wrought  his  first  frtal  triumph,  as  the  almost  uniTenal  object  of 
human  worship, — ^  the  god  of  this  world."  *  Tes,  and  as  the  corrupt  hnKsy 
and  bewildered  speculations  diversified  modes  of  worslup,  and  multiplied 
forms  and  objects  of  adoration,  this  malign  spirit,  as  if  to  assart  his 
universal  supremacy,  and  perpetuate  his  name  and  influenoe  over^h^wide 


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28      *  PEBLHIIKART  DISABRTATION. 

world  of  bumao  nature,, stamped  the  aerpeat  name  on  eveiy  deity,  ai^d  the 
serpent  form  on  every  ritual.  To  use  the  elegant  language  of  iJbie  author 
aheady  eited,  '^The  mystic  serpent  entared  into  the  mythology  of  every 
nation;  oonsecrated  ahnost  every  temple;  symbolized  almost  every  deity; 
was  imagined  in  the  heavens^  stamped  upon  the  earth,  and  ruled. in  the 
realms  of  everUsting  sorrow.  His  MtbUlty  raised  him  into  an  emblem 
of  toMom;  he  was  therefore  pictured  upon  the  segis  of  Minerva,  and 
crowned  her  helmet  The  knowledge  of  fuiurity  wluch  he  displayed  in 
Paradise  exalted  him  into  a  symbol  of  vaticination ;  be  was  therefore 
oracular,  and  re^ed  at  Delphi  The  '  opening  cfike  eye$]  of  our  deluded 
first  parents  obtained  him  an  altar  in  .th%  temple  of  the  god  of  healing  ; 
he  is  therefore  tbe  constant  companion  of  j£scu1apius..  In  the  distribu- 
tion of  his  qualities  the  genius  of  niythelogy  did  not  even  gloss  over  his 
malignant  attributes.  The  fasdnadon  with  whicji  he  intoxicated  the  souls 
of  the  first  sinners,  depriving  thegi  at  once  of  purity  and  immortality,  of 
the  image  of  God  and  the  life  of  angels,  was  symbolically  remembered  and 
&tally  celebrated  in  the  orgies  of  Bacchus,  where  serpents  crowned  the 
heads  of  the  Bacchantes,  and  the  poculum  bom  dcemonis  drcuUted  under 
the  auspices  of  the  ophite  hieipgram,  chased  upon  the  rim.  But  the  most 
remarkable  remembrance  of  the  paradisiacal  serpent  is  displayed  in  the 
position  which  be  retains  in  Tartarus.  A  cunodraoontic  Cerberus  guards 
the  gates;  serpents  are  coiled  about  the  chariot  wheels  of  Proserpine; 
serpents  pave  the  abyss  of  torment;  and  evei^  serpents  constitute  the 
caducous  of  Mercury,  the  talisman  which  he  hoMs  when  he  conveys,  the 
soul  to  Tartarus.  The  image  of  the  serpent  is  stamped  upon  every 
mythological  fable  connected  with  the  realms  of  Pluto.'^— ^Dmim's  Wor- 
ship of  ^e.  Serpent,  pp.  448,  444.  , 

To  such  a  fearful  extent  is  the  presence  and  image  of  Satan  the  de- 
stroyer impressed  on  the  wide  range  of  idolatry !  Nor  is  the  character 
with  which  he  has  imbued  it  less  dubious  than  the  symbolism  under 
which  it  is  exhibited  to  the  world.  The  genius  of  heathen  idolatry  is 
throughout  diabolical.  It  would  be  easy  to  exhibit  this  with  the  most 
ample  proofs,  if  our  limits  would  allow  the  insertion  of  a  wide  range  of 
evidence.  But  this  is  impossible.  All,  therefore^  that  is  permitted  us  is, 
to  cite  a  proof  or  two  under  a  few  leading  particulars,  which  may  confirm 
9fid  illustrate  this  strong  assertion. 

I.  One  gresit  object,  then,  of  religion  is  to  make  known  to  man  the 
nature  and  diameter  of  God.  How  does  the  idolatry  of  the  heathen 
worid,  sustained  as  it. has  been  by  science,  intellect,  and  genius  of  the 
highest  order,  meet  tliis  grand  requirement?  The  only  answer  which 
can  be  given  is  this, — ^With  utter  and  unmitigated  disappointment  The 
fiist  law  of  revelation,  and  the  first  dictate  of  reason  respecting  God, 
dearly  ai^ert  the  divine  unity.    To  this  truth  all  idolatry  stands  directly 


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FRBLIMIKAST  DISBBBTATtOH.  29 

opposed;  for  it  exhibits  *^ lords  many  and  gods  manj."  I  am  well 
aware  that  it  has  been  boldly  asterted,  that  this  apparent  multiplication 
of  deities  and  images  is  ideal ;  that  these  poetic  and  material  repcesenta^ 
tioDs  were  only  intend^  to  shadow,  forth  the  attributes  of  Deity,  and -to 
bring  him  vividly  before  the  mind.  Do  the  persons  who  make  Uieee 
assertions  know  that  in  the  best  days  of  Greece  the  pfailoeopher  Stilpho 
was  banished  from  Athens,  by  a  decree  of  the  Areopagus,  for  alBrming 
that  the  statue  of  Minerva  was  not  a  god!  •  (Dic^nes  Laertius,  lib.  ii, 
segm.  116.)  Is  it  not  notorious  that  a  form  of  invocation  was  long  pre- 
served in  the  ritual  of  the  aupreme  pontifl^  which  was  used  by  the 
Romans  for  the  purpose  of  coaxing  the  tutelary  deity  of  a^Iace  with 
which  they  were  at  war,  by  the  promise  of  more  costly  offerings  than  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  receive,  to  come  over  to  them  f  (Valerius  Maxi- 
mus,  dted  by  Pliny,  lib.  ii,  cap.  7.)  Tes,  and  although  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  sometimes  affected  to  despise  tkis  superstition,  they  could  them- 
selves descend  to  the  absurdity  of  chaiiiing  the  images  of  gods  to  their 
pedestals.  (Plutarchus,  De  Iside  et  Onride,  Opera,  torn,  iii,  p.  897.) 
No  sarcasms  of  satirists  6r  maxims  of  philosopherB  can  be  poised,  for  a 
moment,  against  the  weight  of  this  practical  evidence. 

Next  to  the  unity  of  God,  religion  should  exhibit  his  purity.  For  all 
the  moral  ends  of  religion  this  is  unquestionably  essential.  What  heathen 
idolatry  has  done  to  matiifest  this  attribute  of  God  to  mankind, 'scarcely 
need  be  detailed.  Let  all-  mythdogy  be  examined,  the  Pantheon  of  every 
heathen  nation  be  investigated,  and  where  can  one  prominent  deity  be 
found  whose  moral  diaracter,  as  exhibited  by  his  worshippers,  would  not 
expel  any  living  individual  from  any  civilized  society  9  What  crimes  did 
not  one  or  another  of  these  celestials  commit  ?  Murder,  adultery,  incest,* 
— all  that  lust  could  su^fest,  that  rage  could  induce,  that  ambition  and 
jealousy  could  inspire, — abundantly  stained  the  conduct  of  these  imagin- 
aiy  beings.  There  is  no  point  in  the  whole  system  of  iddbtry  more 
affecting  than  this.  Hehs  the  fountain  is  polluted  at  its  source.  Can 
man  be  expected  to  present  a  purer  character  than  his  Qod  f  Yet  here 
the  teeming  multitudes  of  heathendom  have  a  concentration  of  every  vice 
presented  to  their  view  as  their  model  of  character.  Yet  our  best  UteraH 
speak  as  if  this  idolatry  was  innocuous,  and  only  presented  the  divine 
diaracter  under  another  name.  Witness  the  fieanous  stanza  of  Pope, 
which  has  been  so  often  placed  in  the  hands  of  our  childrA : — 

*'  Father  of  all,  in  evory  age, 

In  every  clime  adored, 
Bf  saint,  by  savage,  and  tj  sa^s, 
Jehovah,  Jove,  or  Lord.'' 

Is  it  true,  then,  that  the  person  and  charaeter  c^  the  great  Jehovah 
were  exhibited  of  old  by  the  foul  and  filthy  impenonations  of  Olymfua  t 


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30  PKBLIMINABY  DISSSRTATIOK. 

Above  all,  are  we  to  be  told  now  that  this  was  the  case  t  No :  the  purity 
of  (}od  was  unknown  to  idolatry.  That  o&pring  of  Satanic  influence  and 
human  depravity  produced  ideas  of  Deity  in  direct  accordance  with  die 
temper  and  spirit  of  the  mind  of  the  poet 

Nor  was  the  evil  resulting  from  this  polytheism  and  impurity  merely 
notional  and  speculative :  it  directly  tended  to  destroy  all  real  knowledge 
of  God,  and  practical  confidence  in  him.  How  could  God  be  known, 
when  only  seen  through  the  medium  of  heathen  divinities?  Or  if  these 
were  taken  as  exhibiting  the  divine  character,  who  could  confide  in  such 
a  manifestation  of  Deity?  How,  in  fact,« could  such  confidence  be  Exer- 
cised, when  the  recognised  deities  were  divided  into  factions  always  dis^ 
united,  and  frequently  decidedly  hostile  ?  He  who  sought  the  £avour  of 
Venus  excited  the  tmger  of  Juno :  he  who  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  Jove, 
rather  displeased  than  propitiated  Neptune.  Realms  and  kingdoms,  as 
well  as  individuals,  were  exposed  to  this  evil:  every  nation  had  its 
natural  patrons  and  foes  in  the  council  of  Olympus;  and  its  prosperity  or 
decline  did  not  so  much  depend  on  its  virtue  or  piety,  as  on  celestial 
favour  fortuitously  gained,  or  celestial  enmity  unknowingly  and  unde- 
servedly provoked. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  objected  that  these  were  the  sentiments  thrown  out 
in  the  poetry,  and  adopted  by  the  people,  of  heathen  lands,  but  that  the 
philosophers  and  the.  learned  knew  better.  If  this  argument  could  be 
admitted,  it  would  but  very  slightly  improve  the  case.  For,  in  a  religious 
aspect,  who  are  they  that  compose  the  masses  of  nations,  and  involve 
their  dearest  interests  and  final  destiny?  Are  they  not  the  people?  If, 
therefore,  the  literati  and  philosophers  had  entertain^  higher  or  clearer 
fiews,  it  would  be  saying  little  in  the  favour  of  this  religious  system  if  it 
required  them  to  keep  the  people  in  ignorance.  But,  notwithstanding  all 
these  allegations,  there  is  no  satisfactory  proof  that  either  learning  or 
philosophy  presented  an  efficient  antidote  to  the  evils  of  idolatry. 

I  may  cite  here  the  summary  of  a  learned  author  who  has  carefuUy 
studied  this  subject : — 

^*  On  three  points  the  theological  discords  of  the  ancient  schools  were 
softened  into  unusual  harmony.  1.  All  the  philosophers,  excepting  the 
atheistical  sects,  agreed  in  admitting  a  plurality  of  gods.  If  some  of  them 
occasionally  speak  of  deity  in  the  singular  number,  they  speedily  lapse 
into  the  error  of  the  popular  faith,  and  avow  persuasions  whidi  sufficiently 
prove  they  had  no  conception  of  the  unity  of  the  Divine  Being.  Socrates 
and  Plato,  the  best  and  purest  of  the  philosophical  theologists,  were 
scarcely  less  devoted  than  the  plebeian  disciples  of  the  popular  creed  to 
the  dogmas  of  polytheism.  2.  The  ancient  philosophers  also  agreed  in 
limiting  the  attributes  of  their  gods.  The  deity  was  said  neither  to  ^^ler- 
dse  nor  to  possess  creative  energy.    Matter,  uncreated,  eternal,  and  sdf* 


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PBWJMTWARY  DISgnTATION.  81 

oistenti  niight  be  dbaped  into  divenity  of  form  by  diviDO  skill,  but  it 
eziated  iodependentlj  of  divine  power.  It  was  thus  invested  with  the 
fundamental  qualities  of  Deity.  S.  The  popular  creed  of  Greece  and 
Rome  was  an  extravagant  Manicheisro,  in  which  demoniaoal  powers  -were 
miQ^led  witb  divine.  The  philosophers  adopted,  but  tnodified  the  doc- 
trine. An  eternal  and  disorderly  principle  was  supposed  to  interfere  per- 
petually in  the  government  of  the  world.  The  existence  of  moral  evil, 
not  to  be  accounted  for,  as  was  thought,  under  the  sole  dominion  of  a 
benevolent  deity,  was  thus  explained ;  and  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
the  ruling  god  were  subjected  to  a  counteracting  and  malignant  power." 
— AlUy*9  VindickB  ChrigHancB^  pp.  80,  31. 

It  is,  thwefore,  certain  that  the  direct  tendeiM^  of  idolatry,  as  estab- 
yshed  in  the  moei  civilized  and  refined  nations  of  the  earth,  effectually 
concealed  the  knowledge  of  God  from  almost  all  classes  of  society ;  and 
at  the  same  time  not  only  spread  over  the  whole  surface  of  religion  unmis- 
takable emblems  of  the  evil  principle,  but  actually  recognised  the  evil  one 
as  a  real  divinity,  counteracting  the  designs,  and  frustrating  the  purposes 
of  the  beneficent  God.* 

II.  We  next  turn  our  attention  to  the  general  character  of  idolatrous 
worshipw 

Of  aU  the  exercises  of  the  l)uman  mind,  the  worship  of  God  is  the  most 
noble,  and  most  intimately  allies  man  to  the  heavenly  world.  If  ever  the 
best  affections  of  human  nature  are  called  into  livdy  action,  and  the 
highest  attributes  of  the  human  mind  are  likely  to  be  employed  under  the 
highest  influence,  it  must  be  when  man,  under  a  sense  of  weakness  and 
want,  comes  in  an  acceptable  manner  to  God,  as  the  Author  and  Giver  of 
all  good,  to  receive  those  blessings  of  which  he  feels  the  need.  In  this 
devotional  duty  the  mind,  when  rightly  directed,  apprehends  the  infinite 
majesty  and  mercy  of  God,  humbly  offers  its  penitence  and  prayer,  and 
earnestly  implores  a  visitation  of  grace.  How  did  the  most  refined  sys- 
tems of  idolatry  'meet  this  requirement,  and  lead  man  into  intercourse 
with  God? 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  idolatrous  worship,  in  highly  cultivated 
countries, — ^in  Greece,  for  instance, — '^  oilen  afforded  a  beautiful  and  inter- 
esting spectacle.  The  extanaive  area  before  the  temple,  and  the  noble 
porticoes  which  generally  surrounded  it,  were  crowded  by  a  devout  and 
xealous  multitude.  The  priesta  or  priestesses,  in  splendid  garbs,  appeared 
at  a  little  distance,  in  the  vestibule,-  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  Afler  a 
solemn  pause,  one  of  the  subordinate  ministers,  in  order  to  excite  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people,  demanded,  ^  Who  are  those  that  compose  this  assem- 
bly V  and  a  universal  response  was  returned,  *  Upright  and  pions  citizens.' 
The  offieiatiBg  priest  then  slowly  advanced,  and,  in  disdnct  and  awful 
voioe^  exhorted  the  eoAgrsgatioa  *  to  offer  up  their  prayers,  and  to  suppli-- 


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32  PRBUMINART  DI88BRTAI10N. 

cate  the  gods.'  Prayen  adapted  to  the  oceaaion  were  next  reciled  by  tlie 
priest ;  or  hymoB,  in  which  the  diviDe  genius  of  the  poet  had  celebrated 
the  majesty  of  the  gods,  were  chanted  by  a  chorus  of  youths  and  vii^gins.** 
— Alley's  VindicuB^  p.  161. 

Yet  notwithstanding  the  pleasing  order  and  affecting  character  of  these 
ceremonies,  it  must,  not  be  forgotten  that  the  being  to  whom  all  this  was 
addressed  was  not  God,  but  a  creature  of  the  imagination.  In  most 
instances  these  deities  were  not  only  imaginary,  and  therefore  imperfect, 
but  highly  criminal,  cruel,  or  licentious.  In  those  cases  the  absurdity  and 
wickedness  of  the  worship  would  be  in  proportion  to  the  ignorant  zeal  of 
the  worshippers.  Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  more  certain  than  that,  so  &r 
as  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were  concerned,  this  worship  was  mere 
ceremony.  The  multiplidty  of  deities, — ^the  conlbsion  of  ideas  arising 
from  their  manifold  and  conflicting  attributes, — ^the  minute  ceremonial 
connected  with  ihe  offering  of  sacrifice, — would  effectually  prevent  any 
real  worship  of  God,  except  under  circumstances  the  most  extraordinary. 

But  the  irreligious  character  of  this,  worship  is  one  of  its  most  favour- 
able features.  It  was  irequenljy  degraded  by  (he  vilest  cruelty  and 
ferocity.  Human  beings — ^not  unfreqnently  women — were  savagely 
butchered,  and  offered  upon  the  altars  of  these  sanguinary  deities.  In 
other  cases  this  service  became  a  mere  purcl^ase  and  sale  of  sinful  licence. 
The  sacrifice  was  not  an  expression  of  contrition  and  a  means  of  pardon 
for  sin,  but  a  means  of  exemption  from  its  punishment  by  the  presentation 
of  a  costly  bribe  to  the  divinity  supposed  to  have  been  aggrieved.  At 
other  times  filthier,  if  not  fouler  consequences  resulted  from  this  adora- 
tion. The  deity  ^s,  in  many  instances,  an  embodiment  of  lieentiott»- 
ness ;  and  then  the  worship  would  be  of  a  corresponding  character. 
Bands  of  courtezans,  armed  witib  every  blandishment  of  beauly,  music, 
and  dancing,  by  a  thousand  arts  inflamed  the  excited  worshippen,  until 
they  were  prepared  to  wallow  in  pollution  from  which  the  mind  turns 
away  with  infinite  disgust 

The  cause  of  truth  demands  that  it  should  be  distinctly  stated  that 
these  abominations  are  not  accidental  circumstances,  arising  in  some  par- 
ticular age  or  country.  No;  they  are  the  natural  results  of  idolatry. 
Wherever  this  fearful  error  has  reigned,  in  andeht  or  modem  times,  it 
has  produced  similar  effects.  Gamal,  unmeaning  ceronony,— cruelty  and 
blood, — licentious  impurity,  to  an  extent  forbidding  all  description, — have 
always  been  the  natural  fruits  of  this  evil. 

When  exhibiting  the  religion  of  the  several  Gentile  nations,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  present  these  subjects^  in  greater  detail.  Enough  has  here 
been  said  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  spirit  and  genius  of  idolatry ;  and 
to  show  that,  as  a  standing  rule,  rt  has  banished  all  just  and  worthy  views 
of  God  from  the  minds  of  men,  and  has  substituted,  for  that  divine  worship 


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.     »BZ.IMINART  DISSBRTATION.  88 

wbioh  was  appoi&ted  by  God  as  the  great  means  of  raising  the  mind  and 
lenewing  the  charaoter  Of  man,  a  system  of  creatnre-worship  which  has 
debased  maoidiid,  and  become  a  iruitful  cause  of  the  blackest  crimes,  and 
of  the  most  fikhy  imparities. 

Uf  therafoM^  an  investigation  of  the  origin  of  this  compound  of  wicked- 
ness and  folly  led  to  the  opinion  that  it  arose  in  the  world  through  the 
direct  agency  and  mfioence  of  Satan,  all  that  we  hare  seen  of  its  results, 
in  r8S|>ect  of  nuia's  knowledge  and  worship, of  God,  fully  confirms  this 
view.  In  all  its '  character,  spirit,  tendency,  and  restdting  drcumstances, 
idolatry  pnsentB  itself  to  the  mind  as  the  work  of  Satanic  guile,  and  of  a 
poweifol  influence  exefcised  on  the  depraved  hearts  of  unfiuthful  men. 

Notwitfastandnig  the  overwhelming  amount  of  evidence  by  which  these 
views  of  the  origin  and  diaracter  Of  pi^n  idolatry  are  supported  aqd 
attested^  a  disposition  has  been  evinced  by  some  men  of  let^ming — espe- 
cially by  those  among  them  who  have  not  carefully  studied  the  sacred 
Seriptares^  or  the  Christian  religion — to  endeavour  to  shOw  that  the  moral 
impurity  and  intellectual  perversion,  which  obviously  resulted  in  a  fearful 
tofront  from  this  source,  were  not  univeoreal ;  that  among  certain  dasses 
or  soetione  of  heathen  society  the  doctrines  of  a  pure  theism  were  plahily 
tMght,  and  the  precepts  of  a  sound  morality  carefuHy  en^rced.  And, 
stiaage  as  it  may  appear,  an  eminent  Christian  divine  and  English  bishop 
has  mightily  promoted  these  (in  our  judgment)  erroneous  views. 

Bishop  Warburton,  in  his  *'  Divine  Leg^stion  of  Moses,"  strongly  asserts 
that  in  the  heathen  mysteries  all  the  errors  of  polytheism  were  explained 
and  neutralized;  that  here  the  initiated  were  taught,  'Hhat  Jupiter,  Mer- 
cury, Bacchus,  Venus,  Mars,  and  the  whole  rabble  of  licentious  deities,  were 
only  DBAD  MOftTALB ;  snlgect  in  life  to  the  same  passions  and  infirmities 
with  themselves ;  but  having  been  on  other  accounts  benefaetors  to  man- 
kind, g^rateful  posterity  had  deified  them,  and  with  their  virtues  had 
indiscreetly  canonized  their  vices.  The  iSftbulous  gods  being  thus  routed, 
the  Supreme  Cause  of  all  things  naturally  took  their  place.  Him  they 
were  taught  to  consider  as  the  Creator  of  the  universe^  who  pervaded  all 
things  by  his  virtue,  and  governed  all  things  by  his  providence."  But, 
acoording  to  the  judgment  of  this  learned  prelate,  not  only  were  prevalent 
errors  repudiated,  and  sterling  truth  enforced ;  a  religious  change  of  heart, 
and  a  life  of  unblemished  puri^  and  virtue,  were  also  enjoined.  He  says, 
^  The  mysteries  openly  proclaimed  it  as  their  chief  business  to  restore  the 
soul  to  its  original  purity," — '^taught  the  necessity  of  a  strict  and  holy 
life."  Henee^  "•  those  that  were  initiated,  were  obliged  by  solemn  engage- 
laeatB  to  commence  a  new  lila  of  the  strictest  purity  and  virtue :  nor  was 
a  less  degree  of  purity  required  of  the  initiated  for  their  fiiture  conduct." 
— DiwM  Legation^  book  ii,  sec.  4. 

If  these  strange  assertions  had  been  sustained  by  reasonable  proof, 

8 


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34     .  PRELIMINARY  DIS8JBRTATI0N. 

although  it  might  not  Tieoessarily  impugn  what  has  been  said  respecting 
the  Satanic  origio,  character,  and  influence  of  heathen  idolatiy,  it  would 
certainly  compel  us  to  admit  that  some  gracious  interference  bad  infused  into 
the  centre  of  this  corrupt  mass  a  counteracting  influence  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness. It  would,  therefore,  be  moat  cheering  to  find  the  specidations  of 
the  learned  prelate  of  Gloucester  on  this  subject  abundantly  verified.  It 
is  with  sincere  regret  that  we  are  compelled  to  affirm  that,  although  tliey  are 
supported  with  all  his  eneigy  and  learning,  his  reasoning  is  iuconclusif^,  and 
his  inferences  are  unaati^SM^tory.  A  careful  and  extended  raquiy  com- 
pletely dissipates  the  hopeful  scheme  which  his  ingenuity  had  raised. 
Leiand,  (Christian  Revelation,  part  i,  chap,  viii,)  by  an  elaborate  and 
learned  investigatictn,  showed  very  clearly  that  the  bishop's  conjecture  is 
entirely  unsupported,  and  falls  to  the  ground  in  the  absence  of  proof. 

It  does  not  comport  with  the  plan  of  this  work  to  give  even  a  sketch 
of  this  controversy,  or  of  the  various  opinions  which  have  been  promul- 
gated on  this  important  and  interesting  subject.  It  will,  iiowever,  be 
necessary  to  furnish  some  distinct  idea  of  these  heathen  mystenes,  and  to 
state  our  opinion  of  their  origin,  object,  and  progressive  character. 

Entering  upon  this  needful,  but  very  difficult,  part  of  our  undertaking, 
it  may  be  proper  to  premise,  that  while  our  space  forbids  great  amplifica- 
tion, and  restrains  the  ezhibitionof  our  views,  and  the  production  of  evidence, 
to  a  limited  compass;  it  will,  nevertheless,  be  attempted  to  state  the  case 
80  clearly,  and  to  exhibit  such  an  amount  of  proof,  that  in  future  this 
stronghold,  of  scepticism  may  be  deprived  of  its  power  to  counteract  the 
teaching  of  God's  holy  truth.  And,  as  the  subject  is  very  obscure,  it  will 
be  our  aim  to  be  particularly  explicit 

The  term  ^^  mysteries,"  by  which  in  our  language  these  sacred  services 
and  rites  are  designated,  comes  from  the  Greek  fivorripiov,  i|nd,  in  its 
modem  acceptation,  imports  something  above  human  intelligence;  some- 
thing awfully  obscure  and  enigmatical ;  anything  artfully  made  difficult ; 
the  secret  of  any  business  or  profession.  This  term  is  frequently  used  in 
the  New  Testament  Scriptures ;  and,  when  thus  employed,  generally  signi- 
fies those  doctrines  of  the  gospel  which  the  Jews  in  preceding  times  did 
not  understand,  in  consequence  of  the  darkness  of  their  religious  dispen- 
sation ;  or  those  profound  truths — such  as  the  Trinity  in  Unity,  the  Incar- 
nation, &Q. — which  the  weakness  of  human  reason  can  never  adequately 
comprehend. 

In  the  application  of  this  term,  however,  to  the  sacred  and  occult  rites 
of  the  heathen,  its  meaning  is  not  so  obvious.  Many  ingenious  and  con- 
flicting conjectures,  on  the  etymology  of  the  term,  and  its  application  to 
this  subject,  have  been  oflered  by  learned  writers ;  but  that  seems  most 
probable  which  derives  the  word  from  the  Hebrew  ntlDfa — ^which  means 
*'  any  place  or  thing  hidden  or  concealed.'*    As  there  can  be  little  doubt 


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PRELIMINARY  BISSKRTATIOK.  86 

that  the  ooeult  rites  to  which  this  term  was  applied,  were  imported  into 
Gieeoe  from  %y  pt  and  the  East,  and  as  in  those  regions  names  and  distinc- 
tive terms  possess  a  peculiar  signiflcanoy  and  force,  this  sense  of  the  word 
may  be  safely  received. 

On  a  subject  so  recondite  and  obscure  as  the  origin  of  these  religious 
rites,  it  might  be  expected  that  great  difference  of  opinion  would  be  found 
among  the  leanied.    This  is  the  case  in  a  more  than  ordinary  degree. 

One  able  writer  insists  that  **  the  mysteries  were  the  offspring  of  bigotry 
and  priestcraft;  they  (»iginated  in  Egypt,  the  native  land  of  idolatry." 
"They  were  inatitated  with  a  view  to  aggrandize  that  order  of  men,*^  (the 
priesthood,)  '*  to  esctend  thdr  influence,  and  enlarge  their  revenues.  To 
socomplish  these  selfish  projects,  they  applied  every  engine  toward  besot- 
ting the  multitude  with  superstition  and  entiiusiasm.  They  taught  them 
to  believe  that  themselves  were  the  distinguished  favourites  of  Heaven ;  and 
that  celestia]  doctrines  had  been  revealed  to  them,  too  holy  to  be  commu- 
nicated to  the  pro&ne  rabble,  and  too  sublime  to  be  comprehended  by 
vulgar  capacities. 

^^AU  the  orientals,  but  more  especially  the  Egyptians,  delighted  in 
mysterious  and  allegorical  doctrines.  Every  maxim  of  morality,  every 
tenet  of  theology,  every  dogma  of  philosophy  was  wrapped  up  in  the  veil 
of  allegory  and  mysticism.  This  propensity,  no  doubt,  conspired  with 
avarice  and  ambitioa  to  dispose  them  to  a  dark  and  mysterious  system  of 
religion." — Ency.  Brit,^  art  Mysteries, 

Another  and  very  opposite  opinion  respecting  the  origin  of  the  heathen 
mysteries  is  given  by  Warburton.  Instead  of  regarding  them  as  invented 
and  brought  into  use  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  priesthood,  he  considers 
"that  the  mysteries  were  invented,  established,  and  supported  by  law- 
givers." He  argues  this,  "1.  From  the  place  of  their  original;  which 
was  Egypt  This  Herodotus,  Diodorus,  and  Plutarch,  who  collect  from 
ancient  testimonies,  expressly  affirm;  and  in  this  all  antiquity  concurs. 
Now,  in  Egypt,  aU  religious  worship  being  planned  and  established  by 
statesmen,  and  directed  to  the  ends  of  civil  policy,  we  must  conclude  that 
the  mjTsteries  were  originally  invented  by  legislators." 

2.  Secondly,  it  is  urged  that  "  the  sages  who  brought  them  out  of  Egypt, 
and  propagated  them  in  Asia,  in  Greece,  and  Britain,  were  all  kings  or 
lawgivers;  such  as  Zoroaster,  Inachus,  Orpheus,  Melampus,  Trophonius, 
Minos,  Cinyraa,  Erechtheus,  and  the  Druids. 

"  3.  They  were  under  the  superintendence  of  the  state.  A  magistrate 
entitled  BA  £1  AET£,  a  *  king,'  presided  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries.  Lysias 
inibrms  us,  that  this  king  was  to  ofifer  up  the  public  prayers,  according  to 
their  country  rites ;  and  to  see  that  nothing  impious  or  immoral  crept  into 
their  celebration.  This  title  given  to  the  president  of  the  mysteries  was, 
doubtless,  in  memory  of  the  first  founder;   to  whom  wem  joined  four 


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36  PBBLIJUErARY  DISSERTATION. 

officers,  chosen  by  the  people,  called  'EHIMEAHTAI,  or  *  curators;'  the 
priests  being  only  under-officers  to  these,  and  had  no  share  in  the  directioiL : 
for,  this  being  the  legislator's  favourite  institution,  he  took  all  poBfltt)le  care 
for  its  support,  which  could  not  be  done  more  effectually  than  by  his 
watching  over  it  himself. 

'^  4.  But  this  original  is  still  further  seen  from  the  qualities  required  in  the 
aspirants  to  tlie  mysteries.  According  to  their  original  institution,  neither 
slaves  nor  foreigners  were  to  be  admitted  into  them.  Now,  if  the  mys- 
teries were  instituted,  primarily,  for  the  sake  of  teaching  religious  troths, 
there  can  be  no  reason  given  why  every  man  with  the  prc^per  qualifications 
should  not  be  admitted :  but  supposing  them  instituted  by  the  state  for 
civil  purposes,  a  very  good  one  may  be  assigned ;  for  slaves  and  foraignen 
have  there  neither  property  nor  country. 

"  5.  Another  proof  of  thia  original  may  be  adduced  from  what  was 
taught  promiscuously  to  all  the  initiated ;  which  was,  the  weesaity  of  a 
virttums  and  holy  Ufe^  to  obtain  a  happy  immortality.  Now  this,  we  know, 
could  not  come  from  the  sacerdotal  warehouses  :  Ihe  priests  could  nfhrd  a 
better  pennyworth  of  their  Elysium,  at  the  easy  expense  of  oblations  and 
sacrifices. 

"  6.  Another  strong  presumption  of  this  original  is  the  great  use  of 
the  mysteries  to  the  state ;  so  amply  confessed  by  the  wisest  writers  of 
antiquity,  and  so  clearly  seen  firom  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself. 

"  7.  But,  lastly,  we  have  the  testimony  of  the  knowing  Plutarch  for 
this  (»iginal ; '  who,  in  his  treatise  *•  Of  Isis  and  Osiris,'  expressly  tells  us, 
that  it  was  *  a  most  ancient  opinion,  delivered  down  from  legislators  and 
divines  to  poets  and  philosophers,  the  author  of  it  entirely  unknown,  but 
the  belief  of  it  indelibly  established,  not  only  in  tradition,  and  the  talk  of 
the  vulgar,  but  in  the  mtstbribs  and  in  the  sacred  offices  of  religion,  both 
among  Greeks  and  barbarians,  spread  all  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  that  the 
universe  was  not  upheld  fbrtuitously,  without  mind,  reason,  or  a  governor 
to  preside  over  its  revolution^. '  " — Divine  Legation,  book  ii,  sec  4. 

These  conflicting  views  of  the  origin  of  the  mysteries  are  sufficiently 
startling ;  but  it  will  be  necessary  to  add  to  their  number  before  proceed- 
ing to  investigate  the  subject.  We  are  told  in  a  modem  work  of  great 
merit,  "  That  the  ancient  mysteries  were  nothing  but  the  impositions  of 
priests,  who  played  upon  the  superstitious  and  ignorant,  is  an  opinion 
which,  although  entertained  by  Limburgh-Brouwer,  the  latest  writer  on 
the  subject,  certainly  cannot  satisfy  those  who  are  accustomed  to  seek  a 
more  solid  and  vital  principle  in  all  religious  institutions  that  have  ever 
had  any  lasting  influence  upon  mankind.  The  persons  united  and 
initiated  to  celebrate  the  mysteries  in  Greece  were  neither  all  priests,  nor 
did  they  belong  to  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  classes  pf  eoeiety ;  but 
they  were,  on  the  contrary,  frequently  the  most  distinguished  statesmen 


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PRBLIMINARY  DI8&BRTAT10N.  37 

and  philosophers.  It  has  been  remarked,  that  it  is  far  more  probable 
that  the  mysteries  of  the  various  parts  of  Greece  were  remains  of  the 
ancient  Pelasgian  r^igion.  The  associations  of  persons  for  the  purpose  of 
celebrating  them  must,  therefore,  have  been  formed  at  the  time  when  the 
overwhelming  influence  of  the  Hellenic  religion  began  to  gain  the  upper 
hand  in  Greece,  and  when  persons  who  still  entertained  a  reverence  for 
the  worship  of  former  times  united  together,  with  the  intention  of  pre- 
serving and  upholding  among  themselves  as  much  as  possible  of  the 
religion  of  their  fore&thers.  It  is  natural  enough  that  they  formed  them- 
selves for  this  purpose  into  societies,  analogous  to  the  brotherhood  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  endeavoured  to  preserve  against  the  profanation  of 
the  multatnde  that  whioh  was  most  dear  to  them.  Hence  the  secrecy  of 
all  the  Greek  mysteries,  and  hence  the  fact  that  the  Greek  mysteries 
were  abnost  invariably  connected  with  the  worship  of  the  old  Pelas- 
gian divinities." — SnUtk^s  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiguities,  art 
MyBien«$. 

Again  :  a  different  solution  of  this  difficult  subject  is  given  by  Mr. 
Faber.  He  first  identifies  the  mysteries,  notwithstanding  the  diversity  of 
deities  and  names  under  which  they  were  celebrated ;  and,  having  estab- 
Kshed  thdr  common  origin,  he  proceeds :  "  Bishop  Warburton,  agreeably 
to  his  system  of  deducing  everything  from  Egypt,  contends  that  they 
were  first  invented  in  that  country  ;  whence,  in  process  of  time,  they  were 
earned  into  Greece,  Persia,  Cyprus,  Crete,  Samothrace,  Lemnos,  Asia 
Ifinor,  Britain,  Hindostan,  and  all  those  barbarous  nations,  wherever 
situated,  among  which  we  find  them  established. 

"  Thi«  theory  seems  to  me  so  utterly  incredible,  that  I  feel  myself 
altogether  unable  to  adopt  it  Whatever  was  the  origin  of  the  mysteries, 
such  also  must  have  been  the  origin  of  the  whole  fabric  of  the  pagan 
mythology :  for  the  two  are  so  intimately  connected,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  sepsrate  them  from  each  other  and  to  derive  them  from  different 
sources.  If,  then,  we  subscribe  to  the  hypothesis  of  Warburton,  we  must 
prepare  ourselves  to  believe  that  the  whole  frame-work  of  Gentile  idolatry, 
wi&  the  sacred  mysteries  attached  to  it,  was  the  exclusive  contrivance  of 
the  l^yptiAn  priesthood ;  and  that  the  entire  human  race  were  but  servile 
copyists  of  one  single  nation.  We  must  believe,  not  only  that  the  neigh- 
bouring Greeks  and  Phenicians  borrowed  from  Egypt,  but  that  the  most 
remote  conamnnities,  the  British  Celts,  the  Pelasgic  Scythians,  the  Magi 
of  Penna,  the  Chaldeans  of  Babylon,  and  even  the  Brahmins  of  Hin- 
dostan, were  all  content  to  receive  their  theology  from  the  same  country. 
We  must  believe,  too,  that  this  tlniversal  obligation  to  Egypt  was  incurred 
in  the  very  earliest  ages :  for,  not  to  enter  into  a  discussion  respecting  the 
antiquity  of  Babylon,  or  Persia,  or  Hindostan,  we  find  the  orgies  of 
Adonis,  or  Baal-peor,  and  of  Astart^,  or  Lida,  completely  established  in 


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38  PRELIMINARY  DISSERTATION. 

Palestine  prior  to  the  time  of  the  Exodu^i;  and  we  observe  the  Greeks 
acknowledging  that  they  had  already  received  from  the  northern  Pelasgi, 
or  Thraciaus,  tliose  very  mystenea  which  were  again  imported*  by  the 
southern  settlers  from  Egypt 

'*The  whole  of  this  appears  to  me  perfectly  incredible.  £^pt,  no 
doubt,  was  a  civilized  and  well-regulated  state  at  a  very  remote  period ; 
and  its  established  idolatry  was,  I  believe,  coeval  with  its  very  exislence 
Hs  a  nation  :  but,  neither  was  it  the  only  civilized  community ;  nor,  even 
if  it  were,  wodd  this  satisfjactorily  account  for  the  univerud  adoption  of 
its  mysteries,  as  well  by  its  more  immediate  neighbours,  as  by  the  fai^ 
distant  colonies  of  the  extreme  east,  and  north,  and  north-east  When' 
the  earth  was  once  peopled  by  the  descendants  of  Noah,  and  when  his 
children  had  once  formed  distinct  states  in  regions  widely  separated  from 
each  other,  I  can  never  bring  myself  to  believe,  that  any  single  natioii  could 
comn)unicate  its  own  peculiar  religious  system  to  the  whole  worki ;  I  can 
never  persuade  myself,  that  all  mankind  with  one  consent  forsook  the 
worsliip  of  their  fathers,  merely  that  they  might  adopt  the  fimtastic 
inventions  of  Egypt 

^^  How,  then,  are  we  to  account  for  the  general  prevalenoe  and  identity 
of  the  pagan  mysteries  ?  and  from  what  common  origin  are  we  to  suppose 
them  to  have  sprung  ?  I  undoubtedly  account  for  the  matter  precisely 
as  I  account  for  the  identity  of  the  various  eystems  of  pagan  mythology. 
So  remarkable  and  exact  accordance  of  sentiments  and  institutiona,  which 
may  be  distinctly  traced  in  every  part  of  the  world,  leads  inevitably  to  the 
belief  that,  in  the  infancy  of  society,  when  as  yet  mankind  were  but  few 
in  number,  all  the  children  of  Noah  were  associated  together  in  one  com- 
munity ;  that,  while  they  thus  formed  but  one  empire,  a  great-  apostasy 
from  the  worship  of  the  true  God  took  place ;  that  at  that  period  the 
original  system  of  idolatrous  mythology  and  the  sacred  mysteries  attaehed 
to  it  were  first  contrived ;  and  that  afterward  these,  by  the  Dispersion, 
were  spread  over  the  world." — Pagan  Idolatry^  vol.  iii,  p.  106. 

If  it  had  been  my  object  to  exhibit  to  the  utmost  the  disoordanoe  which 
obtains  among  the  learned  respecting  this  subject,  I  should  Bext  quote  the 
opinion  of  Dr.  Hales,  who  believes  the  mysteries  to  have  had  their  origin 
in  the  Hebrew  feast  of  tabernacles,  and  then  adds  some  equally  strange 
notions  from  other  authors :  but  my  limits  forbid  an  exposure  of  the 
eccentricities  of  scholars,  which  can  yield  no  practical  advantage. 

It  may  appear  a  Utopian  undertaking  to  attempt  to  reoondle  diese 
conflicting  opinions;  although  it  may  be  candidly  acknowledged  that 
elements  of  truth  may  be  fiound  in  each  of  them.  The  prevalent  error 
into  which  these  and  other  eminent  men  have  fallen  seems  to  be  that 
they  have  not  only  studied  the  subject  each  under  different  aspects,  but 
they  have  also  confoupded  changes  introduced  into  the  institution  of 


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PBBLIHINARY  DISSBRTATION.  39 

▼hiefa  they  speak,  in  difiPerent  ages  and  counlrie>;  and,  consequently,  tliat 
which  ought  only  to  be  regarded  as  a  peculiar  and  local  feature,  has  been 
spoken  of  as  a  general  and  prevailing  characteristic. 

It  will,  however,  now  be  necessary  for  us  to  give  the  view  of  the  origin, 
object,  and  character  of  these  institutions,  whidi  we  have  formed  after  a 
careful  consideration  of  all  these  opinions.     - 

1.  As  to  their  origin,  the  argument  of  Mr.  Faber  appears  to  be  irre- 
sistible. The  learned  writer  in  Dr.  Smithes  Dictionary  may  as  reasonably 
contend  for  the  origin  of  the  mysteries  in  Greece, — although  it  is  noto- 
rious that  they  previously  existed  in  Egypt, — as  Warburton  can  for  their 
Egyptian  origin,  when  their  early  prevalence  and  general  identity  cannot 
be  denied.  Whatever,  precise  period,  therefore,  may  be  fixed  on  as 
having  produced  these  strange  ceremonies,  it  must  be  placed  before  the 
Dispersion,  in  order  to  account  for  their  general  prevalence. 

2.  The  meet  curious  and  important  section  of  the  inquiry,  however, 
respects  the  object  or  design  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  religious 
ceremonial^  that  spread  so  widely,  and  exercised  such  an  immense  influence 
over  the  world  throughout  succeeding  ages.  On  this  point  it  does  not 
become  me  to  speak  positively ;  yet  it  seems  probkble  that,  by  carefully 
reviewing  a  few  particulars,  some  definite  information  may  be  obtained 
even  on  this  recondite  topic. 

It  appears  that  in  all  these  mystei;ies  there  is  mention  made  of  a  cer- 
tain sacred  ark.  ""  Apuleius  mentions  the  ark  of  Isis ;  and  describes  it  as 
containing  the  sacred  symbols  which  were  used  in  the  mysteries :  he  also 
exhibits  Psyche,  as  de^H-ecating  Ceres  by  the  silent  orgies  of  the  ark  of 
that  goddess.  Plutarch,  in  treating  of  the  rites  of  Osiris,  speaks  of  the 
sacred  ark  which  his  long-robed  priests  were  wont  to  carry,  and  which 
contained  within  it  a  small  golden  boat  Pausanias  notices  an  ancient 
ark  which  was  said  to  Have  been  brought  by  Eurypylus  from  Troy,  and 
within  which  the  sacred  image  or  symbol  of  Bacchus  Esymnetes  was 
enclosed :  he  likewise  mentions  certain  arks  as  being  ordinarily  dedicated 
to  Ceres,  who  was  worshipped  in  conjunction  with  Bacchus,  just  as  Isis 
was  in  conjunction  with  Osiris.  Eusebius  informs  us,  that,  in  celebrating 
the  mysteries  of  the  Cabiri,  the  Phenicians  used  a  consecrated  ark. 
Clemens  says  that  a  similar  ark  was  employed  in  the  orgies  of  the  same 
Corybantic  Cabiri,  who  were  venerated  in  Mount  Olympus;  that  it  con- 
tained an  indecorous  symbol  of  Bacchus  ^  and  that  it  was  conveyed  by 
the  Cabiric  brethren  themselves  into  Etruria,  where  the  mystic  use  of  it 
was  likewise  adopted.  This  author  speaks  also  of  the  ark  of  the  Eleu- 
Hinian  Ceres,  and  ia  very  particular  in  noticing  its  contents.  Theocritus, 
in  describing  the  mysteries  of  Bacchus  as  celebrated  by  the  three  Lens, — 
Ino,  Autonoe,  and  Agave,  the  three  representatives  of  the  triplicated  great 
mother, — fails  not  to  specify  the  sacred  ark,  out  of  which  they  take  the 


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40  FBBUMINA&Y  OISBBHTAHOIT. 

hidden  symbols  that  were  used  in  the  orgies/' — Faber^s  Pagan  IdoUUry^ 
vol.  iii,  p.  119.  ^ 

Further  proof  to  the  same  effect  might  be  produced  respecting  ihe  use 
of  the  ark  for  these  sacred  purposes  in  Greece,  Bomd»  Babylon,  India, 
and  Britain.  This  important  element  may,  therefore,  be  considered  as 
fully  established. 

"'  The  question,  then,  is,"  as  Mr.  Faber  very  pertinently  pats  it,  ^  What 
are  we  to  understand  by  this  so  generally  reverenced  ark  ?"  This  learned 
writer  supplies  an  elaborate  answer,  in  accordance  with  his  theory  of 
heathen  idolatry ;  and  satisfactorily  establishes  the  fact,  that  this  sacred 
ark,  as  used  in  the  mysteries,  was  employed  in  significant  reference  to  the 
Deluge,  and  the  great  &ther  and  mother  who  were  there  preserved. 
On  one  point,  however,  I  think  it  necessary  to  suggest  an  ^tension  or 
emendation  of  this  learned  autbor^s  views.  I  cannot  divest  myself  of 
the  belief  that  the  ark  devised  for  the  purpose  of  this  idolati^y  and  these 
heathen  mysteries,  was  the  original  or  first  sacred  ark.  If  it  has  been 
established  that  the  cherubim  of  Eden  were  appointed  for  a  purpose 
similar  to  that  to  which  the  cherubim  were  applied  in  the  Mosaic  sanctu- 
ary; (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  143-148;)  and  that,  throughout  all  patri* 
arcbal  times,  the  faithful  had  a  place  of  worship,  a  seat  of  the  divine 
presence,  a  depository  for  sacred  emblems  of  the  patiiarchal  faith,  and  an 
oracle ;  (Hebrew  People,  pp.  525,  526,  528,  529 ;)  then  it  is,  to  say  the 
least,  extremely  probable  that  the  origin  of  the  mysteries,  in  the  outset 
of  postdiluvian  idolatry,  was  not  the  invention  of  a  new  ceremonial  of 
sacred  things,  but  a  perversion  of  an  old  and  pure  service. 

Intimations  of  this  may  be  discovered  -in  the  evidence  which  has  been 
already  given.  For  instance,  in  the  extract  from  Plutarch's  description 
of  the  rites  of  Osiris,  he  speaks  of  the  ^*  sacred  ark :"  but  this  is  not,  as  in 
many  other  instances,  the  symbol  of  the  itfk  of  Noah ;  on  the  ccntrary,  it 
contained  a  small  golden  boat,  which  was  evidently  intended  to  serve  that 
purpose.  « 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  measure  which  led  to  the  establishment  of 
the  mysteries  was  a  virtual  repudiation  of  the  old  pure  patriarchal  faith,  and 
the  adoption  of  a  scheme  of  idolatry  which  deified  the  gpreat  &ther  and 
mother,  as  reappearing  in  Noah  and  his  wife,  and  d&en  triplicated  in  the 
persons  of  their  children ;  and  that  the  mysteries  were  an  adaptation  of 
the  sacred  patriarchal  worship  to  this  idolatry. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  any  particular  solution  of  this  difficult 
subject  will  be  received  with  favour,  or  conunend.  itself  to  general  accept- 
ance ;  especially  as  the  most  ample  collection  of  evidence  which  could  be 
exhibited,  must,  firom  the  nature  of  the  subject  and  the  character  of  the 
testimony,  fell  to  furnish  that  absolute  proof  which  the  mind  requires,  in 
order  to  rest  with  implicit  reliance  on  the  certainty  of  the  thing. 


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PRBLIMINABY  DISBBRTATION.  41 

All,  therefore,  that  can  be  hoped,  aad  which,  indeed,  the  nature  of  the 
subject  seems  to  admit,  is,  to  supply  such  a  solution  as  shall  meet  all  the 
lequirementa  and  difficulties  of  die  case.  It  has  been  ahready  shown  that 
none  of  the  schemes  to  which  we  have  alluded,  although  propounded 
by  men  of  eminence,  have  done  this.  It  is,  for  instance,  vain  to  fur- 
nish the  moet  plausible  account  of  the  origin  of  the  mysteries  derived 
from  the  relative  influence  oi  Hellenic  and  Pelaagian  doctrines  in  Greece, 
when  it  is  an  incontestable  frict,  that  essentially  the  same  ceremonies  pre- 
viously obtained  in  Egypt.  It  is  equally  futile  to  argue,  with  Warburton, 
for  their  £^|yptian  origin,  when,  from  their  prevalence  in  such  remote 
countries  as  India  and  Britain,  it  must  be  seen  that  they  could  not  have 
emanated  from  any  single  nation,  but  must  have  originated  prior  to  the 
Dispersion.  No  arguments  can  be  'sadsfiactory  which  ascribe  these  sacred 
services  to  any  particular  -dass,  whether  priests  or  statesmen,  when  it  is 
undeniable  that  both  these  classes,  as  well  as  the  moet  profound  philoso- 
pheis,  took  a  deep  interest,  and  felt  a  vital  concern  in  the  'maintenance 
of  their  sacred  character.  Nor  is  it  possil:^  to  make  the  more  correct 
the<»y  of  Faber  meet  ail  the  requirements  of  the  case.  To  suppose  the 
ark  of  the  mysteries  to  have  had  no  other  prototype  than  the  ark  of 
Noah,  is  irreconcilable,  not  only  with  the  fact  that  in  some  instances  the 
symbols  of  the  ark  of  the  Deluge  are  found  separate  and  distinct  from  the 
sacred  chest  of  the  mysteries,  but  also  with  this  most  important  circnm- 
alanee, — ^that  the  sacred  ark  of  the  Hebrew  tabernacle,  which  could  have 
had  no  reference  to  the  Deluge,  was  almost  identical  with  those  found  in 
ancient  Egyptian  sculptures  of  religious  ceremonies. 

I  am  desirous  to  subject  to  the  same  test  which  I  have  applied  to  other 
schemes,  the  solution  which  I  have  suggested. 

1.  W»  find  a  sacred  ark  used  in  the  mysteries  of  almost  every  (if  not 
wery)  ancient  people.  This  ark  not  only  is,  in  many  iustances,  shaped 
like  a  ship,  a  boat,  or  a  lunar  crescent, — but,  in  many  others,  has  addi- 
tional figures  and  emblems  of  this  kind,  while  the  body  of  the  ark  itself  is 
almost  an  exact  copy  of  the  Hebrew  ark  of  the  tabernade.  (Eitto^s  Cyc. 
of  Bib.  Lit,  art  Ark.)  Again :  let  the  population  of  the  world  at  the  time 
of  the  Dispersion  be  fairly  considered,  and  whether  we  refer  to  the  evi- 
dence afforded  by  the  general  identity  of  all  heathenism,  or  the  Scriptural 
aeooant  of  the  pstriarchal  times,  it  must  be  believed  that  the  service  and 
w<»8hip  of  God  were  conducted  publicly,  intelligently,  and  by  the  offering 
of  saerifioe  in  or  before  a  place  sacredly  set  apart  as  the  dwelling  of  God. 
To  ascribe  the  origin  of  the  mysteries  to  a  corruption  of  this  service,  is, 
therefore,  to  obtain  the  countenance  of  all  antiquity  to  the  probability  of 
our  theory. 

2.  It  is  not  intended  here  to  expand  the  hints  which  have  been  given 
respectmg  the  sin  of  Nimrod  in  his  effort  to  make  himself  the  religious,  as 


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42  PRBLIMINART  DISSSRTATIOK. 

«\-e1l  as  the  political,  head  of  the  new  world.  It  can,  however,  scarcely  be 
doubted  by  any  who  will  carefully  peruse  the  voluminous  evidence  col- 
lected by  Faber,  that  the  establishment  of  postdiluvian  idolatry  was 
effected  by  the  deification  of  Noah  and  his  sons,  as  reappearances  of  the  great 
father,  to  the  end  that  the  aspirant  himself  might  also  claim  divinity  as 
a  descendant  from  them,  most  probably  in  the  character  of  the  promised 
Seed.  If  such  was  the  fact,  what  means  oould  have  more  certainly  carried 
out  such  a  project  successfully,  (and  carried  out  we  know  it  was,)  than 
making  those  sacred  services  of  patriarchal  worship  whieh,  from  the  rapid 
increase  of  population,  must  have  become  select,  accessible  only  to  a  few, 
who  had  entered  into  the  ambitious  and  profane  purpose;  and  then 
ingiafting  on  all  its  sacred  things,  doctrines, . and  rites,  a  refined  and 
elaborate,  but  corrupt  and  debasing  idolatry  f 

3.  It  will  be  obvious  that  the  ascription  of  special  sacredness  to  these 
religious  rites  would  allow  ample  opportunities  for  the  changes  sought,  and 
at  the  same  time  would  have  invested  these  new  rites  and  doctrines  with 
peculiar  and  important  influence.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  conceive  bow  ebe-  a 
whole  people  could  be  led  into  such  serious  errors.  It  is,  however,  certain, 
that  in  all  ages  the  introduction  of  fatal  errors  respecting  religion  has  been 
covered  with  combined  prescriptions  of  secrecy  and  mystery. 

4.  It  must  be  admitted  tliat  this  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  mysteriea 
perfecUy  accounts  for  the  essential  identity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  national 
diversity,  which  they  exhibit.  Having  had  one  common  origin,  they 
were  all  framed  on  the  same  principle  and  pattern  :  but  alterations  in  the 
detail  of  names,  rites,  and  ceremonies,  would  be  afterward  introduced, 
harmonizing  them  severally  with  the  diverse  peculiarities  of  national 
mythology. 

5.  This  theory  of  these  sacred  heathen  rites  is  no  less  important  in 
respect  of  their  object  than  with  reference  to  their  origin.  If  it  had  been 
desirable  here  to  quote  detailed  particulars,  both  these  points  might  be 
amply  sustained  and  illustrated.  This  will,  however,  be  more  suitably 
done  when  we  come  to  consider  the  religion  of  Uie  several  nations  in 
separate  chapters.  Still  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  much  confusion 
has  been  introduced  into  the  subject  by  learned  writers  speaking  of  the 
origin  and  object  of  the  mysteries  from  the  aspects  which  they  present  in 
u  particular  nation.  It  is  very  conceivable  tiiat  they  might  have  been 
introduced  into  Greece  in  a  v^  different  manner  from  that  in  which  they 
wc-re  firat  produced  at  Babel ;  and  that  priests  and  legislatore  might,  in 
difi'erent  countries  and  ages,  have  made  them  subservient  to  their  own 
purposes.  The  view  we  have  taken,  therefore,  corrects  what  is  erroneous, 
and  harmonizes  what  is  sound,  in  the  several  conflicting  theories  Vhich 
have  been  propounded  under  limited  and  local  impressions  of  the  subject 

6.  Yet  although  this  is  not  the  place  to  insert  in  detail  the  various 


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PRSLUIINART  DISSBETAtIW.  48 

ceremonies  which  were  incovporated  into  the  mjsteries  of  andeat  nations, 
it  is  necessary  to  give  some  idea  of  the  general  character  which  they 
exhibited^  and  of  the  ruling  elements  which  everywhere  distinguished  them. 

The  mysteries  were  sacred  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  which  took  place 
at  night,  or  in  secret^  within  some  sMEkCtuary,  into  which  the  uninitiated 
were  not  permitted  to  enter. 

There  were  several  particulars  essential  to  these  religions  services,  ^nd 
common  to  them  in  all  oouctries. 

(1.)  There  were  always  objects  of  worship.  The  mysteries  were,  in 
fact,  always  a  secret  worship  of  some  particular  deity  or  deities.  In 
%ypt,  Isis  and  Osiris  were  adored ;  in  the  Grecian  Eleusinian  mysteries, 
Demeter  and  Persephone ;  in  those  of  Thebes,  Bacehns ;  and  in  other 
places  other  divinities  were  the  centres  and  objects  of  these  select  and 
secret  rites.  In  each  and  every  case,  these  orgies  were  celebrated  in 
honour  of  some  deity  whose  pi&ises  were  the  special  business  of  the  offici- 
ating hierophant  This  precisely  harmonizes  with  our  view  of  their  origin 
in  the  deification  of  Noah  aad  Nimrod. 

(2.)  Another  essential  to  (he  celebration  of  the  mysteries  was,  the  use 
of  sacred  utensils.  We  have  ahready  observed,  the  principal  of  these 
was  an  ark  or  chest,  contaming  sacred  articles  whidi,  it  seems,  were 
generally  exhibited  in  the  mysteries.  Apuleius  mentkms  the  ark  of  Isis 
ss  containing  secret  symbols.  Plutarch,  trsatii^  of  the  rites  of  Osiris, 
says  that  the  ark  contained  a  golden  boat  Pausanias  notices  an  ancient 
ark,  within  which  the  sacred  image  or  ^mbol  of  Bacchus  Es^^mnetes  was 
enclosed.  Clemens  says,  that  a  Mmilar  ark  wsa  employed  in  the  orgies 
of  the  Corybantic  Cabiri,  and  that  it  contained  an  indecorous  symbol  of 
Bacchus.  Numerous  other  instances  might  be  cited  from  classic  authors ; ' 
but  these  yure  su^Scient  to  show  that  sacred  arks,  containing  religious 
symbols,  were  common  in  different  countries  in  the  celebration  of  the 
mysteries. 

(3.)  A  third  requisite  for  these  secret  services  wm  a  recital,  by  the 
hierophant^  of  ancient  traditions,  with  their  interpretation. 

Warburton  has  employed  his  mi^ly  genius  and  learning  to  show  that 
the  doctrines  taught  in  the  mysteries  were  the  human  origin,  death,  and 
sepulture  of  the  heathen  gods^ — the  real  unity  of  the  Deity, — and  the 
necessity  of  a  holy  life. 

The  sense  in  which  the  learned  prelate  undersiMids  these  points,  and 
tbe  consequences  which  he  has  drawn  from  th^n,  have  been  ably  contro- 
verted by'Leland  and  Faber.  Yet,  to  a  great  extent,  these  writers  are 
obliged  to  admit  the  accuracy  of  the  data  upon  which  the  bishop  reascns^ 
however  successfiilly  they  have  overturned  his. inductions. 

It  seems,  then,  to  be  an  undoubted  &ct,  that  Uie  mysteries  taught  the 
origin  of  the  hero-divinities  of  postdiluvian  idolatry.     Whether,  as  War- 


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44  PBKUHINAJIY  PISSBBTATION. 

burtoD  conj«oturee,  the  fragment  of  Fhenidan  hifltoiy  preserved  by  San- 
choniatho  was  the  very  aooount  read  to  the  initiated  or  not,  the  constant 
reference  to  the  mutilation  of  Oairis  and  other  deities,  combined  with  other 
circumstances,  identifies  this  teaching  with  the  story  of  Noah  beyond  any 
chance  of  mistake.  Nor  does  it  appear  at  all  improbable,  notwithstanding 
the  objections  of  Faber,  that,  in  the  origin  of  this  hero-worship,  there  was 
a  recognition  of  the  unity  of  the  supreme  God,  and  that  this  was  verbally 
proclaimed  in  these  sacred  rites,  even  wh^i  in  practice  unbounded  poly- 
theism prevailed.  In  like  manner,  it  is  very  conceivable  that  the  intro- 
duction of  this  system  of  idolatry,  and  the  establishment  of  these  sacred 
rites  for  its  promulgation,  were  connected  with  large  professions  of  purity 
and  moral  improvement :  and  this  may  account  ibr  the  existence  of  many 
passages  in  classic  authors  on  which  much  reliance  has  been  placed.  But 
if  this  was  the  case  at  first,  it  soon  gave  way  to  the  prevailing  spirit  which 
imbued  the  whole  idolatrous  system,  until  at  lengUi,  as  Gicero  says,  the 
mysteries  became  synonymous  with  *'  abomination.'' 

On  the  whole,  then,  it  may  be  regafded  as  an  established  fkct :  that 
the  mysteries  origmated  in  a  series  of  grand,  but  secret  or  covert  efforts 
to  establish  polytheism,  and  to  secure  the  great  rebellion  against  the  pur- 
poses of  God  in  tJie  days  of  Nimrod ;  that  in  the  progress  of  these  efforts 
the  pure  patriarchal  religion  was  corrupted,  and  hero-worship  established ; 
that  the  means  used  in  effecting  the  alteration  were  afterward  continued 
with  a  view  to  sustain  it,  and  the  sacred  patriarchal  symbols  were  retained, 
but  with  considerable  modificatioDB  and  additions ;  and  that,  in  harmony 
with  the  whole  desi^  and  ohject,  these  mysteries  were  open  only  to  the 
initiated,  who  were  bound  not  to  divulge  any  of  the  privileged  communi- 
ca^ns  which  they  had  received. 

ni.  We  now  direct  attention  to  thk  sacrxd  ouaclbs  of  the  heathen. 
These  were  everywhere  regarded  as  means  of  obtaining  from  the  Deity 
sonoe  solution  of  difficult  cases,  or  information  respecting  events  in  distant 
places^  or  at  future  times,  beyond  that  whidi  mer^  human  wisdom 
could  possibly  fumi^.  The  fact  of  their  institution  and  prevalence  is, 
therefore,  a  testimony  borne  by  all  antiquity '  to  the  fitct  of  the  divine 
omniscience,  and  to  ^e  certain  existence  of  a  primitive  revelation. 

If,  as  some  would-be  philosophers  are  anxious  to  make  us  believe, 
mankind  began  thdr  career  in  a  semi-bestial  state,  and  by  gradual  and 
successive  improvements  worked  their  way  up  to  their  present  elevateil 
intellectual  position,  whence  could  possibly  have  originated  a  belief  in  the 
divinity  of  oracles  t  We  might  as  reasonably  calculate  on  a  herd  of 
baboons  seeking  such  illumination,  as  that  man  would  do  so  in  such  cir- 
cumstances. No;  it  stands  confisssed,  that  heathen  oracles,  however 
vain,  or  false,  or  guileful,  were  but  oorrnptions  of  a  true  and  real  revela- 
tion from  God  to  man. 


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PRBLIMINABt  PI8SBBTATI0K.  45 

It  was,  indeed,  tiie  crowning  glory  of  tHe  pbuB  in  patriarchal  times, 
that  they  bad  aoceaa  unto  God.  The  few  elementa  of  information  which 
have  reached  us  respecting  this  period,  do  not  explain,  as  fully  as  could 
be  desired,  the  manner  and  means  by  whidi  this  boon  was  realized :  but 
it  speaks  to  th«  fact  in  Boxh.  a  way  as  to  place  it  beyond  all  doubt 
When  Rebekah  was  driven  by  her  distress  to  seek  divine  succour,  she 
was  at  no  loss  for  the  means  of  obtaining  it :  ^^She  vfent  to  inquire  of  the 
Lordr  The  puerile  exposition  of  oommentators,  that  this  was  an  appeal 
toa(Hne  patriarch,  or  a  simple  exercise  of  prayer,  is  alU^ther  inadmis* 
sible :  the  clear,  ample,  explicit,  and  prophetic  answer  which  she  received, 
decides  the  case,  and  proves  that  she  had  access  to  aa^  aracU  of  God, 
Gen.  XXV,  22,  23. 

When,  therefore,  Satanic  guile  and  power  had  succeeded  in  diverting 
the  minds  of  men  from  the  only  true  object  of  worship  to  deified  men, 
and  brutes,  and  elements,  it  became  necessary  that  the  &Ise,  idolatrous 
religion  thus  introduced  should  possess  a  real  or  pretended  power,  equiva-- 
lent  to  that  afforded  by  the  oracle  of  Jehovah  in  patriarchal  times.  Hence 
we  find  everywhere,  among  the  cultivatsd  heathen  nations  of  antiquity, 
oracles  established  which  professed  to  give  responses  dictated  by  Deity  in 
answer  to  the  inquiries  of  the  worshippers ;  and,  as  the  learned  Banier 
affirms,  ^*  every  nation  where  idolatry  prevailed  had  its  oracles.'*  ^^P^ 
Greece,  Rome,  and  other  countries,  afford  abundant  evidence  in  proof, 
of  this  assertion. 

The  important  question  is  then  suggested.  What  was  the  real  charactetr 
of  these  oracles  ?  Were  they  the  result  of  combined  fraud  and  ingenious 
cootrivance?  or  did  they  in  any  measure  emanate  from,  and  were  sus- 
tained by,  Satanic  influence?  In  the  solution  of  thia  question,  the  learned 
(rf  our  own  as  well  as  of  other  countries  are  much  at  variance  with  each 
other.  Bishop  Sherlock  is  so  confident  of  the  Si^nic  character  of  the 
heathen  oracles,  that  he  does  not  hesitate  to  state  that  he  regards  those 
who  deny  that  the  devil  gave  out  the  oracles  to  the  heatheo  world,  as 
evincing  *^  a  degree  of  unbelief"  which  deprives  them  of  all  right  to 
debate  questions  of  this  ^ind.  (Works,  vok  iv,  p.  49.  London.  1830.) 
While,  on  the  other  hand.  Dr.  Middleton  pleads  guilty  to  this  degree  of 
unbelief,  imd  maintains  that  these  oracles  were  '*  aD  mere  impostures, 
wholly  invented  and  supported  by  human  craft,  without  any  supernatural 
aid  or  interposition  whatever."  (Miscel.  Works,  vol.  v,  p.  262.  Lon.,  1 765.) 
When  such  divines  stand  thus  opposed  to  each  other,  nothing  can  be 
hoped  for  in  respect  of  authority.  Our  only  resource  is,  therefore,  to 
investigate  the  subject  for  ourselves,  under  the  guidance  of  such  aids  as  its 
nature  affords. 

It  may  be  observed  in  limine,  that  an  objection  has  been  taken  to 
supernatural  interposition  in  respect  of  oracles,  which  appears  to  be  most 


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46  PRELIVINARY  BISSBRTATION. 

unsoupd  and  unreaaonable.  It  has  been  asserted  that  numerous  proofs 
exist  of  fraud,  deceit,  and  corruption,  in  the  agency  by  which  they  were 
administered :  and  hence  it  is  ai^ued,  that  they  could  not  have  emanated 
from  diabolical  influence.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more  inconse- 
quential conclusion.  If  it  had  been  alleged  that  these  oracles  were  the 
result  of  divine  prescience^  then  the  proof  of  positive  guile  and  wickedness 
in  the  agents  might  be  held  sufficient  to  disprove  the  daim.  But  surely 
there  is  no  such  obvious  antagonism  between  Satanic  influence,  and  fraud, 
guile,  and  wickedness,  that  the  presence  of  the  one  must  necessarily 
prove  the  absence  of  the  other.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  free  to  confess, 
that  this  asserted  guile  and  fraud,  instead  of  disproving  the  presence  of 
Satanic  influence,  rather  inclines  me  to  infer  the  operation  of  such  agency. 

In  the  investigation  of  this  .subject,  then,  it  appears  to  me^  we  have  to 
decide  on  tliese  important  questions : — First,  have  we  any  -certain  knowl- 
edge that  a  fallen  spirit,  at  any  time,  or  under  any  circumstances,  has  been 
peimitted  to  dictate  superhuman  knowledge  to  mankind  t  And,  secondly, 
if  this  has  been  done,  is  the  case  of  heathen  oracles  one  which  reasonably 
justifies  the  belief  that  such  influence  was  exerted  in  respect  of  them  ? 

1.  Passing  by  other  and  more  doubtful  cases,  I  call  attention  here  to  a 
clear  and  indubitable  instance  of  the  communication  of  superhuman 
knowledge  by  a  diabolical  agency.  The  case  I  refer  to  has  been  noticed 
for  another  purpose  in  a  note ;  it  is  that  of  the  Pythoness  of  Philippi. 
We  have  here  (Acts  xvi,  16-19)  an  unquestionable  proof  of  such  a  com- 
munication of  superhuman  knowledge.  It  may  be  first  observed,  that  the 
term  used  by  the  sacred  writer  to  describe  this  woman's  occupation, 
fjtavTevofJUUy  and  which  our  translators  have  rendered  '^  soothsaying,"  sig- 
nifies "  to  foretell^  divine^  prophesy,  dklivkr  an  oraclb."  It  is  precisely 
the  same  word  which  is  used  by  Herodotus  when  referring  to  the  divina- 
tion of  the  Scythians,  (Lib.  iv,  cap.  67,)  and  which  is  also  employed  by 
him  when  speaking  of  the  famous  oracle  at  Delphi.  (Lib.  vi,  cap.  76 ; 
et  lib.  viii,  cap.  88.)     The  case  is,  therefore,  strictly  in  point 

In  this  instance,  then,  it  is  clear  that  an  evil  spirit  gave  to  the  woman 
the  power  of  making  superhuman,  or  oracular,  communications.  The 
presence. and  power  of  this  spirit  were  absolutely  necessary  to  the  produc- 
tion of  these  results :  for,  when  the  demon  was  expelled,  her  masters  '*  saw 
that  the  hope  of  their  gains  was  gone,*'  and  their  chagrin  and  rage  led  to 
a  fierce  persecution.  It  is  vain  to  urge  that  this  was  a  mere  mercenary 
afltur ;  and  that  it  is  not  t6  be  supposed  that  Satanic  influence  would  be 
peiraitted  in  such  a  case.  The  Holy  Ghost  has  declared  it  to  be  a  fact 
Whatever  fraud  or  wickedness  might  have  been  employed  in  connexion 
with  this  business,  it  is,  therefore,  an  acknowledged  truth  by  every 
believer  in  revelation,  that  oracular  answers,  communicating  superhuman 
knowledge,  were  in  this  ease  given  by  diabolical  agency. 


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PBJQJMIN^Y  J)ISSJ»TATIOH.  .  4? 

2.  We  luive  to  ioqaire,  in  the  seeond  place^  whether  the  caae  of  the 
lieathen  oracles  is  suoh  as  to  justify  the  opiiiion  that  this  diabolical  in- 
fluence was  sometimes  used  in  respect  of  them. 

(1.)  It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  if  such  Satanie  influence  was 
employed  in  what  appears  to  have  been  merely  a  private  and  mercenary 
eifort,  it  might  surely  be  ejipected  in  those  great  national  institutions 
which  stood  associated  with  idolatrous  delusions,  and  which  had  all  been 
brought  into  operation  by  the  same  infernal  power. 

(2.)  It  is  important,  to  consider  the  fact^  that  these  oracles  were  sus- 
tained in  high  credit,  and  trusted  with  implicit  confidenoe^  by  the  wisest 
statesmen  and  sovereigns  of  the  nations  of  antiquity  most  c^ebrated  for 
their  high  state  of  civilization.  Not  only  did  this  continue  under  particu- 
lar circumstances  and  for  a  season  or  an  age,  but  it  lasted  throughout 
successive  centuries.  This  is  an  atgument  which  all  candid  minds  have 
felt  Heuce  the  learned  Banier  asks,  **  Is  it„  then>  credible,  that  if  the 
oracles  had  been  nothing  but  the  oflspring  of  priestcraft,  whatever  artful 
methods  they  may  be  thought  to  have  used,  and  however  successful  in 
pumping  out  the  secrets  and  schemes  of  those  who  came  to  consult 
them ; — is  it  credible,  I  say,  that  those  oracles  would  have  histed  so  long, 
and  supported  themselves  with  so  much  splendour  and  reputation,  had 
they  been  merely  owing  to  the  foigery  of  the  priests  (  Imposture  betrays 
itself,  falsehood  never  holds  out.  Besides,  there  were  too  many  witnesses, 
too  many  curious  spies,  too  many  people  whose  interest  it  was  not  to  be 
deluded.  One  may  put  a  cheat  for  «  time  upon  a  few  private  persons, 
who  are  overrun  with  credulity,  but  by  no  means  upon  whole  nations 
for  several  ages.  Some  princes  who  had  been  played  upon  by  ambiguous 
responses, — a  trick  once  discovered, — th^  hare  curiosity  of  a  free-thinker, — 
any  of  these,  in  short,  was  sufficient  to  blow  up  the  whole  mystery,  and 
at  once  to  make  the  credit  of  the  oracles  £all  to  the  ground.  How  many 
people,  deluded  by  hatful  responses,  were  concerned  to  examine  if  it  was 
really  the  priests  by  whom  they  were  seduced !  But  why  ?  Was  it  so 
hard  a  matter  to  find  one  of  the  priests  themselves,  capable  of  being 
bribed  to  betray  the  cause  of  his  acecHnplioes,  by  the  fair  promises  and 
more  substantial  gifU  of  those  who  omitted  no  means  of  being  thoroughly 
informed  in  a  subject  of  such  ooacem?^' — Mythology,  vol.  i,  p.  328. 

Lempriere  echoes  the  same  argument,  and  says,  ^^  Imposture  and  forgery 
cannot  long  flourish,  and  falsehood  becomes  its  own  destroyer." — Diction- 
ary,  s.  v.  Oracuhim.  Yet  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that,  ^  during  the  best 
period  of  their  history,  the  Greeks,  generally  speaking,  had  undoubtedly  a 
sincere  faith  in  the  orade,  its  counsels  and  directions." — Smith's  Did, 
of  Greek  and  Roman  Aniig.,  p.  670.  Hence  Lucan,  who  wrote  his 
PharscUia  scarcely  thirty  years  after  our  Lord's  crucifixion,  laments  as 
one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  the  age,  that  the  Delphic  oracle  was  become 


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48.  PastimKAKT  DISSEBtATION. 

Sliest.  From  the  general .  credit  ^hich  the  oracles  mamtained  in  an 
enlightened  age,  and  during  a  ver^  lengthened  period,  it  is  extremely 
improbable  that  they  should  have  been  nothing  more  than  the  base 
results  of  fraud  and  fiction. 

(3.)  The  nature  of  the  communicatiooB  given  forth  by  these  oracles  is 
strongly  confirmatory  of  the  existence  of  Satanic  agency.  Our  reference 
must  be  confined  to  one  remarkable  instance ;  but  shall  be  a  case  of  such 
i>ublic  notoriety  as  to  form  a  fiiir  eiample  of  the  general  charac^  of  the 
institution. 

I  refer  to  the  case  of  Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,  aiid  the  Pythian  orade. 
Herodotus  informs  us  that  this  sovereign,  alarmed  at  the  growing  power 
of  Cyrus,  Sing  of  Persia,  and  meditating  an  attadc  on  his  dominions,  was^ 
anxious  first  to  consult  the  most  celebrated  oracles  as  to  the  issue  of'auch 
an  important  enterprise,  before  he  committed  himself  to  jt.  Prior,  how- 
ever, to  his  submitting  to  the  oracle  the  important  question  upon  which 
his  &te  depended,  he  was  determined  to  pr<^und  one  which  should 
enable  him,  as  he  thought,  to  test  the  prescience  of  the  oracle.  He 
accordingly  sent  messengers  to  Delphi ;  and  having  carefully  considered 
the  p^iriod  required  for  the  journey,  and  allowed  them  ample  time,  he 
commanded  them  at  the  appointed  hour  to  present  themselves  before*  the 
Pythoness,  and  propose  this  question  :  "  What  is  Croesus,  son  of  Alyattes, 
now  doing  ?"  They  were  to  write  the  answer  carefully  down,  and  send  it 
to  him.    The  answer  was  to  this  effect : — 

"  X  eount  the  sand,  I  measure  out  the  sea ; 
The  silent  and  the  dumb  are  heard  by  me.    . 
E'eft  now  the  odours  to  my  sense  that  rise 
A  tortoise  boiling  with  a  lamb  supplies, 
Where  brass  below  and  brass  above  it  lies." 

The  fact  was,  that  Ckbsus,  determined  to  be  occupied  m  the  most  unlikely 
and  unkingly  manner,  was  engaged  at  that  time  in  boiling  the  fiesh  of  a 
tortoise  and  a  lambiiogether  in  a  eovered  vessel  of  brass. 

Croesus  was  so  impressed  with  the  exactness^of  this  response,  that  fie 
determined  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  propitiate  this  orade,  and  to  trust 
himself  to  its  direction.  He  accordingly  sent  to  Delphi  tiie  most  costly 
presents  in  gold  and  silver, — ^amounting  altogether,  according  to  the  com* 
putation  of  Uie  Abb6  Barthelemy,  to  £8'79,64'7, — with  ordere  to  make  the 
following  inquiry :  "  Croesus,  sovereign  of  Lydia  and  of  various  nations, 
esteems  these  the  only  genuine  oracles.  In  return  for  the  sagacity  which 
has  marked  your  declarations,  he  sends  these  proofe  of  his  liberality.  He 
finally  desires  to  know  whether  he  may  proceed  against  the  Persians,  and 
whether  he  shall  require  the  asustance  of  any  allies."  The  answer  was, 
that  if  Croesus  carried  his  arms  against  the  Persians;  he  would  overthrow 
a  great  empire ;  and  that  he  would  do  well  to  make  alliances  with  the' 


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P&SLIMINARY  DIB8BBTATI0N.  49 

most  poverliil  states  of  Greeoe.    Interpreting  this  reply  to  his  own  advan- 

tsge,  but  anxious  to  put  the  case  in  another  aspect  before  the  oracle,  he 

sent  a  third  time,  to  inquire  as  to  the  duration  of  his  empire.    The  answer 

on  that  occasion  was, — 

"'Whan  o'er  ilia  Medeg  a  mide  thaU  ut  <m  high, 
O'er  pebbly  Henooa  then,  soft  Ljdiaa,  fly, 
Fly  with  aJl  haste ;  for  safety  scorn  thy  fame, 
Nor  scrapie  to  deserve  a  coward's  name.*' 

Still  giving  to  the  answers  of  the  oracle  the  interpretation  most  favour- 
able to  himself,  Croesus  regarded  the  reign  of  a  mule  over  Media^  as  an 
impossibilitj,  and  thence  inferred  the  stability  of  his  own  power.  Under 
this  impression  he  made  war  on  Persia,  and,  as  is  well  known,  was  soon 
vanquished,  stripped  of  his  dominions,  condemned  to  death,  but  ultimately 
preserved  and  supported  as  a  captive  by  Gyrus. 

Reference  will  be  elsewhere  made  to  the  history  of  these  events.  In 
this  place  I  have  simply  to  investigate  these  oracular  responses,  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  their  character.  First,  then,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
first  answer,  which  referred  to  the  strange  occupation,  of  Croesus  at  the 
time,  exhibits  remarkable  accuracy.  We  may  think  ourselves  very  wise 
in  dismissing  such  a  case  with  the  cry  of  "jugglery  and  cheating ;"  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  by  such  conduct  we  do  not  evince  great  folly.  The 
King  of  Lydia  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  intellectual  power :  he  was 
therefore  competent  to  judge  of  the  chances  of  imposition,  and  to  guard 
against  them,  much  better  than  we  can  now  imagine.  Yet  he,  by  the 
presentation  of  gifts  to  the  value  of  nearly  one  million  sterling,  gave  ample 
pnx^  that  he  regarded  the  whole  as  a  bona  fide  transaction.  Is  it  not, 
then,  reasonable  to  ask,  "  By  what  means  could  the  Pythoness  have  given 
such  a  reply  f  By  what  means  could  the  priestess  at  Delphi  have  ascer- 
tained what  the  King  of  Lydia  was  doing  at  a  given  hour,  in  his  palace  at 
Sardis,  hundreds  of  miles  away,  when  he  had  determined  to  exerdse  his 
utmost  care  and  ingenuity  in  order  to  test  her  ability!'*  Neither  captious 
querulousness  nor  unmeaning  sneering  will  meet  the  case.  Here  is  an 
undoubted  histoiical  incident^  which,  I  am  bold  to  say,  admits  of  no  satis- 
feciory  solution,  except  on  the  principle  of  diabolical  agency.  But  on  this 
principle  all  is  plain :  the  difficulty,  otherwise  insurmountable,  immediately 
vanishes. 

But  then  it  is  asked  in  the  most  triumphant  tone,  **  Why  were  not  all 
the  responses  given  in  language  equally  distinct  and  intelligible  \  Why 
the  double  meaning  and  equivocation  of  the  other  replies  ?''  It  is  truly 
astonishing  to  see  the  oonfidence  with  which  this  objection  is  urged,  when 
it  is  open  to  a  very  simple  and  rational  solution.  It  is  easy  to  oonceivQ, 
that  diabolical  agency  might  enable  the  Pythoneis  to  give  a  clear  and 
distinct  answer  as  to  what  was  transpiring  at  the  moment  in  a  distant 

4 


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50  PBSLlllINABY  DIfiSBRTATION. 

place,  which  to  all  merely  human  intelligence  would  have  been  wholly 
inscrutable ;  but  it  is  far  from  certain  that  this  agency  could  unravel  the 
mystery  of  future  contingent  events.  This  is  the  exclusive  attribute  of 
Jehovah :  he  challenges  this  power  to  himself  alone :  ^*  I  am  God,  and 
there  is  none  else ;  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  like  ^e,  declaring  the 
end  from  the  beginning;''  (Isa.  xlvi,  9,  10;)  while  to  the  idols  and  their 
worshippers  he  says,  ^  Produce  your  cause,  saith  the  Lord ;  bring  forth 
your  strong  reasons,  saith  the  King  of  Jacob.  Let  them  bring  them  forth, 
aftd  show  us  what  shall  happen  :  let  them  show  the  former  things,  what 
they  be,  that  we  may  consider  them,  and  know  the  latter  end  of  them ; 
or  declare  us  things  for  to  come.  Show  the  things  that  are  to  come  here- 
after, that  we  may  know  that  ye  are  gods.''  Isa.  xli,  21-28.  Diabolical 
aid,  therefore,  .although  it  might  ^ve  superhuman  knowledge  in  respect 
of  passing  events,  and  afford  a  means  of  conjecture  beyond  all  human 
wisdom  as  to  the  future,  could  not  communicate  the  power  of  foretelling 
future  contingencies.  Obscure,  conjectural,  aud  enigmatical  expressions, 
in  the  communication  of  orades,  would  consequently  be  as  necessary  under 
this  agency  as  without  it 

The  result  of  our  inquiry,  then,  is, — 

1.  That  we  find  the  heathen  oracles  maintaining  a  high  character  and 
general  confidence,  to  an  extent,  and  for  a  period,  beyond  that  which 
would  be  likely  to  result  from  continued  and  unaided  human  fraud  and 
falsehood. 

2.  The  accredited  declarations  of  these  oracles  exhibit  a  measure  of 
knowledge  respecting  passing  events,  and  a  sagacity  in  respect  of  futurity, 
&r  above  all  that  merely  human  ingenuity  or  contrivance  could  produce. 

3.  Yet  all  this  is  found  in  such  combined  operation  with  wickedness, 
fraud  and  corruption,  as  clearly  to  prove  that  if  superhuman  knowledge 
was  connected  with  the  oracles,  it  must  have  been  diabolical. 

4.  It  is  a  certain  fact,  based  on  the  authority  of  'New-Testament  reve- 
lation, that  diabolical  agency  was  used  in  ancient  times  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  forth  superhuman  oracular  responses. 

From  all  these  premises  we  conclude  that  the  sagacity  and  general  credit 
of  heathen  oracles  was  in  some  instances  owing  to  diabolical  agency. 

It  only  remains  to  offer  a  few  brief  observations  on  the  entire  system. 

1.  We  see  its  unity  of  character.  It  did  not  set  itself  in  positive  col- 
lision with  primitive  truth  ;  but,  incorporating  important  elements  of  this 
truth  into  the  system,  it  fell  back  on  these  for  support  and  defence.  It  was 
by  this  means  that  a  common  ground  of  union  was  established  between  the 
old  idolatrous  nations.  The  truths  idiich  they  had  incorporated  and  per^ 
verted  were  at  the  same  time  so  many  links  in  the  chain  by  which,  not- 
withstanding the  diverse  names  of  their  deities,  they  were  united,  and 
plates  of  the  armour  by  which  they  were  defended. 


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PBBLIMINARY  DI88BBTATI0N.  61 

2.  It  will  be  seen  bow  directly  all  the  parts  of  ibis  idolatroys  Bystem 
were  pointed  against  the  actual  sovereignty  of  God,  and  bis  divinely 
appointed  scbeme  of  redemption.  Wbetber  we  look  to  tbe  origin,  char- 
acter, mysteries,  or  oracles  of  tbis  idolatry,  we  find  it  specially  boetile  to 
tiie  unity,  providence,  and  religion  of  God.  Moral  truth,  on  some  occasions, 
might  be  admitted ;  the  fact  of  a  future  judgment  could  be  conceded ; 
a  general  but  vague  notion  of  providence  might  be  taught:  but  God  must 
BE  DBTHRONXD ;  men,  or  beasts,  or  material  elements,  or  heavenly  bodies, 
or  the  foul  serpent-form,  must  rule  supreme,  and  receive  divine  adoration. 
Is  not  tbis  a  deeply  instructive  &ct  ?  It  is  the  common  badge  of  the 
system,  tbe  unmistakable  endence  of  the  presence  and  power  of  the 
arch-destroyer. 

I  cannot  close  this  chapter  without  placing  on  record  my  strong  and 
decided  opinion,  that  this  subject  has  been  usually  treated  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  palliate  or  conceal  the  enormous  sinfulness  of  idolatry.  I  contemplate 
with  the  deepest  regret  the  results  flowing  to  the  religion  of  our  country 
from  4he  tone  of  teaching  imparted  by  men  of  the  most  respectable 
character.  Let  any  enlightened  Christian  mind  contemplate  the  learning 
of  our  colleges  and  academies,  our  treatises  and  manuals,  on  this  subject 
Charmed  as  we  must  be  with  the  glitter  of  genius  and  heroism,  the  philoso- 
phy and  learning,  of  classic  times  and  persons,  are  we  justified  in  allowing 
our  children  to  rise  up  into  life  with  merely  sufficient  instruction  to  enable 
them  to  infer  that  idolatry  is  an  absurdity,  when  they  ought  to  be  dis- 
tinctly taught  that  it  is  the  most  enormous  sin  ? 

With  unfeigned  and  deep  veneration  for  the  learned  of  our  land,  I  fed 
bound,  at  any  hazard,  to  assert  my  strong  conviction,  that  the  honour  due 
alone  to  the  Triune  Jehovah,  as  the  God  and  Governor  of  tbis  world,  is 
not  made  suffidently  prominent ;  and  that  the  heinous  evil  and  fearful  sin 
of  idolatry,  as  such,  is  not  adequately  enforced. 

On  this  point  we  cannot  be  too  jealous — ^we  cannot  go  beyond  the 
requirements  of  our  Bible — for  tbe  honour  of  our  God.  It  was  idolatry 
which,  aa  a  master^vil,  blasted,  and  withered,  and  ruined  the  ancient 
world,  despite  all  its  learning,  genius,  arts,  and  arms :  and  it  can  only  be 
by  a  general  and  devoted  fidelity  to  the  truth  on  tbe  part  of  Christians 
that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  can  ever  ^  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
God  and  of  his  Christ'' 


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HISTORY  AND  RELIGION 

or 

THE   GENTILE   NATIONS 


CHAPTER  I. 

EGYPT:  ITS  HISTORY. 

QsyBBAi.  View  of  Egypi— DifBculties  which  oppose  oar  Acqnftintance  with  its  Early 
Hiitoiy—- Undoubted  Evidenoe.  of  High  Civilization  in  the  most  Remote  Timei^ 
Prowess  and  Reign  of  Amosis— Eiohtekhth  Dtnastt— Death  of  Jacob— Wonder- 
ful Perfection  of  Mechanical  Art — Death  of  Joseph — ^Moses— The  Exodus — Canaanitish 
Nations  weakened  by  Egyptian  Invasion  before  the  Israelites  crossed  the  Jordan — 
Sesostris— NiTOTKBKTH  I>TyA8Ty--Sethos— His  Conquests— The  Absence  of  further 
Allusion  to  Canaan  on  the  Monuments,  a  striking  Rroof  of  the  Truth  of  Scripture — 
TwiwrnsTH  Dtnastt — ^Twesty-first  Dynasty — ^Effect  of  the  Commercial  Policy  of  the 
Hebrews  on  Egypt— TwnrTY-sscoirD  Dtitastt— Shishak— His  Invasion  of  Jndea— 
TwKSTT-TmRD  Dtnasty— Decline  of  Egyptian  Power— -Twenty-fourth  Dynasty — 
Bocchoris — ^Twekty-fifth  Dynasty— Tarkus — ^Twenty-sixth  Dynasty— The  Dodee- 
archy — ^Triumph  and  Reign  of  Psammiticus — Pharaoh-Necho— His  Victory  over  the 
Hebrews — Apries,  the  Pharaoh-Hophra  of  Scripture — ^Defeated  and  put  to  death  by 
Amosis — Conquest  of  Egypt  by  a  Persian  Army — Twenty-seventh  Dynasty— Era  of 
Peniau  Rule— Successful  Government  of  Darius — Gallant  Efibrt  of  Inaros — ^His  Defeat 
and  Death — Herodotus— Twenty-eighth  DYNASTY-Amyrtwus— Twenty-ninth  Dy- 
nasty— ^Thibtieth  Dynasty — Chronological  Difficulties — ^Persian  Invasion  defeated— 
SlothAil  Habits  and  Ultimate  Energy  of  Darius  Ochus — ^Thiety-first  Dynasty — 
Peniaa  Rule  reestablished— Thibty-seoond  Dynasty— Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Alex- 
ander the  Great — His  profound  and  successful  Political  and  Commercial  Policy — 
Alexandria  built^-Ruin  of  the  Macedonian  House — ^Thirty-thibd  Dynasty — ^The 
Ptolemies — Lagns — His  Successful  Rule — Power  and  CultivaUon  of  Egypt  under 
Philadelphns— Eueigetes  successful  in  War— Intercourse  between  Egypt  and  Rome — 
Oradual  Decline  of  Egyptian  Power — ^Excessive  Vices  of  the  ruling  Princes— Cleopatra, 
Cesar,  and  Antony— Egypt  a  Roman  Province. 

Egypt  most  always  hold  a  position  of  special  prominence  and 
interest;  in  any  investigation  into  the  history  and  religion  of  ancient 
nations. 

In  the  earliest  ages  we  find  this  country  nnder  a  powerful  politi- 
cal government  and  possessed  of  all  the  advantages  resulting  from 
a  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  consequent  civilization. 
The  colossal  prowess,  gorgeous  magnificence^  immense  wealth,  and 
ext^isive  learning  of  Egypt,  stand  out  in  the  dim  base  of  remote 


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54  THB  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

antiquity,  like  her  own  pyramids,  with  a  grandeur  of  outline,  and  a 
substantiality  of  character,  which  shame  all  scepticism  as  to  their 
existence,  and  indubitably  attest  their  magnitude  and  power; 
although  no  traces  remain  of  their  rise  and  progress,  and  none  can 
tell  us  what  wise  and  potent  agencies  produced  these  grand 
results. 

Egypt,  unlike  Rome  and  other  ancient  empires,  was  not  an 
association  of  different  tribes,  alien  from  each  other  in  blood,  lan- 
guage, and  habits.  It  was,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  strict  sense  of 
the  terms,  a  great  nation.  "We  here  see,"  as  an  eloquent  writer 
observes,  *'  a  single  people  of  pure  unmixed  race,  and  limited  both 
as  to  numbers  and  territory,  (see  Appendix,  note  4,)  preserving, 
during"  many  centuries, "  the  most  rigid  union  of  character,  custom, 
and  social  polity.  We  see  them  maintaining,  during  that  long 
period,  an  indomitable  spirit  of  political  independence,  often  in  the 
midst  of  the  severest  disasters  and  discouragements.  We  see  them 
consolidating  a  power  which,  while  its  very  essence  was  incom- 
patible with  such  an  extension  of  frontier  as  formed  the  boast  of 
their  rivals,  rendered  them  more  than  a  match  for  the  mightiest 
among  them." — Edinburgh  Review,  1845,  p.  392. 

But  while  ancient  Egypt  presents  to  our  vie^  a  fabric  of  civili- 
zation more  complete  in  itself,  and  surpassing,  in  many  essential 
points  of  excellence,  what  more  highly-gifted  races  have  since  been 
able  to  accomplish,  it  has  not  left  us  a  history  of  the  nation,  nor 
indeed  materials  for  a  history.  This  great  defect  is  not  to  be 
attributed  to  the  inability  or  indisposition  of  this  people  to  reoord 
events.  On  the  contrary,  the  Egyptians  were  "the  most  zealous 
race  of  scribes  that  ever  existed.  Their  temples,  their  houses, 
their  tombs,  their  idols,  their  portraits,  their  domestic  furniture, — 
almost  every  tangible  object  they  possessed,  was  covered  with  writ- 
ing."— Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol,  ii,  pp.  12,  13.  It  is 
probable  that  the  peculiar  character  used  in  these  inscriptions  may 
account  for  the  unsatisfactory  amount  of  information  which,  when 
regarded  as  historical  records,  they  are  found  to  communicate.  As 
&r  as  can  be  now  ascertained,  the  use  of  hieroglyphics  was  the  only 
mode  which  the  ancient  Egyptians  possessed  of  recording  events, 
or  of  communicating  ideas  to  posterity.  But  this  mode  was  so 
exceedingly  complex  and  difficult,  that  it  appears  as  if  adapted  to 
conceal,  quite  as  much  as  to  communicate,  knowledge.  The  great 
body  of  the  Egyptian  people  were,  as  might  be  expected,  ignorant 
of  the  art  of  raiding  these  strange  symbols ;  and — ^what  is  of  more 
importance,  as  accounting  for  the  scant  information  respecting 
ancient  Egypt  to  be  found  even  in  neighbouring  countries— stran- 


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THS  GSNTILB  NATIONS.  55 

gars  were  oniyersally  unaoquamted  with  the  import  of  the  Egyptian 
language  and  character.  There  is  no  evidence  which  warrants 
the  opinion,  that  any  of  the  Greeks  who  visited  Egypt,  and  wrote 
00  its  history,  understood  either  the  language  or  the  hieroglyphics 
of  that  country.  They  were  consequently  entirely  dependent  on  the 
priestly  or  learned  caste  for  all  the  information  which  they  acquired. 
This  must  have  opposed  mighty  obstacles  to  the  attainment  of  any 
correct  and  extensive  knowledge  of  early  Egyptian  history;  espe- 
cially as  the  attention  of  these  Greek  sages  was  directed  to  the 
study  of  the  antiquities  and  history  of  this  land  only  when  the  glory 
of  Egypt  had  passed  away,  and  her  priests  had  ample  reasons  for 
magnifying  and  mystifying  their  national  annals.  Even  these 
inquiries  were  conducted  by  literati,  whose  only  native  historical 
authorities  were  Homer  and  Hesiod,  and  who  were,  therefore,  but  iU 
qualified  to  test  with  critical  acumen  the  authenticity  of  the  com- 
munications and  claims  of  the  Egyptian  priesthood. 

These  circumstances  are  amply  sufficient  to  account  for  the  ad- 
mitted fact,  that  ancient  Egypt  has  been  for  centuries  an  enigma, — 
a  mystery  to  modem  Europe.  But  it  is  said,  *'  Now  the  enigma  is 
solved,  the  mystery  unravelled.  Now,  as  the  genius  and  learning 
of  the  present  age  have  mastered  Che  reading  of  the  recondite  hiero- 
glyphics, ancient  Egypt  stands  revealed  to  our  vision ;  and  we  can 
see  the  progress  of  her  great  career,  and  trace  her  wonderful  history, 
in  the  hitherto  unreadable  monuments  which  her  departed  glory  has 
bequeathed  to  us."  It  is  important  that  the  great  advantages  of  this 
discovery  be  neither  under-estimated  nor  over-rated.  Imperfect, 
even  yet,  as  is  tilie  art  of  deciphering  hierogljrphics,  it  has  cast  great 
light  upon  the  early  condition  and  history  of  Egypt.  We  can  now  not 
only  see  in  the  remaining  monuments  of  ^is  primitive  nation  an  almost 
endless  range  of  public  events  recorded,  but  also  a  pictorial  exhibi- 
tion, the  most  elaborate  and  minute,  of  their  manufactures,  sports, « 
domestic  habits,  social  manners,  private  employments,  with  the  bat- 1 
ties,  sieges,  exploits,  and  public  works  which  distinguish  the  national 
progress.  As,  by  the  recovery  of  the  knowledge  of  hieroglyphics, 
these  several  records  can  n<3W  be  at  least  tolerably  understood,  and 
the  several  sculptures  identified  as  to  their  subject,  design,  and  the 
reign  of  the  prince  under  whose  government  they  were  executed, 
valuable  means  are  placed  within  our  reach  for  acquainting  ourselves 
with  Egyptian  affidrs,  and  for  ascertaining  the  measure  of  civilisa-  ; 
tion  of  the  country,  and  the  state  of  its  manners,  science,  and  art,  mj 
difilerent  ages. 

But  notwithstanding  all  these  advantages,  and  this  profusion  of 
information,  neither  the  monumental  inscriptions,  the  accounts  fur- 


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56  THB  GBNTILB  NATI0M6. 

nished  by  Greek  visitors,  nor  the  fragments  of  native  aathon  whieh 
have  bfeen  preserved,  give  us  any  history  of  ancient  Egypt.  We 
find,  for  instance,  numerous  dynasties  of  kings ;  and  tiie  monumental 
inscriptions  prove  that  some  of  these  were  contemporaneous,  while 
others  were  successive :  but  no  friendly  hand  has  given  an  arrange- 
ment of  these  classes ;  nor  do  the  monuments,  or  any  other  authority, 
afford  an  intelligible  and  consistent  chronology  of  the  different 
reigns. 

Yet  with  all  this  lack  of  precise  information  on  im|>ortant  points, 
enough  is  given  to  prove  that  the  state  of  Egypt,  at  the  period  wh^ 
we  have  to  resume  its  history,  was  one  of  great  power,  science, 
civilization,  and  refinement.  Whatever  difference  of  opinion  may 
exist  as  to  the  chronological  arrangement  of  dynasties  and  reigns, 
it  is  certain  that  at  the  death  of  Isaac  Egypt  exhibited  indubitable 
proofs  of  mighty  genius,  abundant  wealth,  and  great  cultivaticm.  At 
this  period  Thebes  was  the  capital  of  a  district  to  which  it  gave  its 
name.  The  great  temple  of  Kamak  or  El-Usquor  stood  in  all  its 
majesty  and  glory.  The  caves  of  Beni- Hassan,  with  their  beauti- 
ful and  elegant  catacombs,  displaying  even  to  this  day  the  most 
perfect  architectural  symmetry  and  arrangement,  and  ornamented 
throughout  with  coloured  figures^and  devices,  had  been  excavated 
and  finished.  Heliopolis  was  also  founded  about,  or  prior  to,  this 
period;  and  its  splendid  obelisk,  made  out  of  a  single  block  of 
granite,  and  covered  with  the  most  exquisitely  sculptured  hierogly- 
phics, had  already  been  raised.  Such  works  prove  the  power,  wealth, 
and  energy  of  Egypt,  and  attest  the  existence  of  art  and  science  in 
great  perfection. 

A  learned  lady-traveller  has,  from  the  monumental  sculptures 
still  existing,  given  the  following  vivid  description  of  Egyptian  life 
and  manners  at  the  early  period  to  which  we  refer :  "  We  have  here 
the  art  of  writing,  as  a  familiar  practice,  in  the  scribes  who  are  num- 
bering stores  on  every  hand.  There  are  ships  which  would  look  hand- 
some in  Southampton  Water,  any  sunny  day.  There  are  glass-blowers 
who  might  be  from  Newcastle,  but  for  their  dress  and  complexion. 
There  are  flax- dressers,  spinners,  weavers, — and  a  production  of 
cloth  which  an  English  manufacturer  would  study  with  interest. 
There  are  potters,  painters,  carpenters,  and  statuaries.  There  is  a 
doctor  attending  a  patient ;  and  a  herdsman  physicking  cattle.  The 
hunters  employ  arrows,  spears,  and  ihe  lasso.  The  lasso  is  as 
evident  as  on  the  Pampas  at  this  day.  There  is  the  bastinado  for 
the  men,  and  the  flogging  of  a  seated  woman.  Nothing  is  more  extra- 
ordinary than  the  gymnastics  and  other  games  of  the  women.  Their 
various  games  of  ball  are  excellent.    The  great  men  are  attended 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  57 

by  dwarfis  and  bnfibons,  as  in  a  madi  later  age ;  and  it  is  clear  that 
bodily  infirmity  was  treated  with  contempt,  deformed  and  decrepit 
personages  appearing  in  the  discharge  of  the  meanest  offices.  It 
was  an  age  when  this  might  be  looked  for ;  and  when  war  would  be 
the  most  prominent  occupation,  and  wrestling  the  prevailing  sport, 
and  probai>ly  also  the  discipline  of  the  soldiery ;  and  when  hunting, 
&hing,  and  fowling  would  be  very  important  pursuits.  But  then, 
what  a  power  of  representation  of  these  things  is  here !  and  what 
hixury  coexisting  with  these  early  pursuits!  Here  are  harpers, 
with  their  harps  of  seven  strings;  and  garments  and  boat- sails  with 
elegant  patterns  and  borders,  where,  by  the  way,  angular  and  regular 
figures  are  pointedly  preferred ;  and  the  ladies'  hair,  disordered  and 
flying  about  in  their  sports,  has  tails  and  tassels,  very  like  what  may 
have  been  seen  in  London  drawing-rooms  in  no  very  remote  times. 
The  incident  which  most  reminds  one  of  the  antiquity  of  -these 
paintitigs  is,  that  the  name  of  bird,  bea^st,  fish,  or  artificer  is  written 
up  over  the  object  delineated." — Miss  Martineau's  Eastern  Life, 
p.  280. 

This  was  the  condition  of  Egypt  and  the  state  of  the  people 
when  "the  father  of  the  faithftd  "  visited  the  country.  These  were 
the  prevailing  customs  and  manners  when  the  youthful  Joseph  was 
carried  a  slave  to  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  Whatever  difficulty  may 
oppose  the  effort,  it  is  necessary  to  arrive  at  some  conclusion  respect- 
ing the  state  of  the  Egyptian  government  at  this  period,  and  to  make 
Ihe  most  reasonable  arrangement  of  the  several  dynasties  thencefor- 
ward, until  we  arrive  at  the  tii&e  when  the  annals  of  Egypt  can  be 
certainly  synchronized  with  those  of  other  nations. 

In  the  consideration  of  this  obscure  subject,  as  on  other  occasions, 
the  leading  object  of  this  work  must  be  kept  distinctly  in  view. 
Special  reference  must  be  had  to  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture ; 
and  special  attention  paid  to  the  intercourse  and  connexion  which 
firom  time  to  time  took  place  between  the  Hebrews  and  this  ancient 
people. 

By  a  careful  and  extended  investigation  of  all  the  monumental 
and  written  teaching  which  bears  on  this  subject,  it  has  been  made 
sufficiently  clear  that  the  Shepherds  were  expelled  from  Egypt  about 
the  year  1846  B.  C,  (see  Appendix,  note*6,)  by  Amosis,  who,  hav- 
ing thus  established  the  independence  of  his  country,  reigned  twenty- 
five  years,  and  became  the  founder  of  Manetho's  eighteenth  dynas^. 
The  chronological  table  at  the  end  of  tl^  chapter  will  place  this  and 
the  following  dynasties  in  juxtaposition  with  contemporary  events 
in  tiie  history  of  the  Hebrews  and  other  neighbouring  nations. 

At  this  stage  of  Egyptian  history  we  have  the  means  of  giving 


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58  THK  QKNTILB  NATIONS. 

the  titles  and  names  to  the  sovereigns  from  the^aiioient  monuments. 
(See  Appendix,  note  6.)  The  symbolical  title  assumed  bj  Amo- 
sis  is  "Pharaoh/'  that  is,  '*'fiun/'  "avenging  Lord  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Egypt :"  his  name,  "  Amosis,"  that  is,  "  bom  of  the  Moon." 
There  is  peculiar  propriety  in  the  assumed  appellation :  having  ex- 
pelled the  foreign  intruders  from  his  country,  he  calls  himself,  when 
entering  on  the  undisputed  government  of  Egypt,  "  the  avenging 
Lord  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Country."  This  was  the  Pharaoh 
whose  dreams  Joseph  interpreted,  and  who  received  Jacob  aod  his 
family,  and  appointed  Goshen  for  the  place  of  their  residence.  The 
immediate  descendant  of  this  prince  was  the  first  sovereign  of  &e 
eighteenth  dynasty. 

Ambnophis  1. — The  contents  of  his  first  or  titular  ring  are, 
"Pharaoh,  Director  of  Oflferings."  His  name,  given  in  the  second 
ring,  is,  "  Amenophis  (I.,)  Son  of  Amosis."  He  also  appears  to 
have  been  a  very  warlike  and  successful  prince,  although,  as  will  be 
seen  hereafter,  it  is  possible  that  he  obtwied  the  public  honour  due 
at  least  to  a  portion  of  his  father's  exploits.  Li  a  grotto  near  Aboo- 
simbel  he  is  represented  sitting  in  the  middle  of  a  small  temple, 
attended  by  an  officer  of  state,  who  holds  over  him  a  feather  fan, 
and  two  other  fly-flaps.  In  a  collection  of  Egyptian  antiquities 
now  in  the  Louvre,  are  several  small  tablets,  which  not  only  com- 
memorate the  deeds  of  this  king,  but  also  show  the  affection  with 
which  his  memory  was  cherished,  and  the  manner  in  which  this 
affection  was  evinced.  These  tablets  appear  to  have  been  intended 
to  be  worn  on  the  breast.  On  them  this  sovereign  is  represented 
grasping  captives  by  the  hair,  carrying  them  with  their  heads  down- 
ward, and  preparing  to  destroy  them  with  a  curved  battle-axe. 
Several  of  these  captives  are  clad  in  leopards'  skins,  and  are  natives 
of  the  south ;  others,  from  their  ample  drapery,  appear  to  belong  to 
colder  climates.  Conventionally  they  represent  the  Ethiopian  and 
Asiatic  people ;  and  we  may  conclude  that  Amenophis  carried  on 
wars  successfully  against  both.  It  is  curious  at  this  distance  of 
time  to  be  able  to  trace  out,  not  only  the  public  events,  but  even 
some  particulars  in  the  family  history  of  the  Pharaoh  who  reigned 
in  Egypt  while  the  patriarch  Jacob  dwelt  there.  In  a  tablet  in  the 
British  Museum  this  prince  is  represented  with  two  women,  one 
black,  and  the  other  of  a  fair  complexion.  The  first  bears  the  title  of 
"  Royal  Dame ;"  and  as  her  name  is  the  same  as  that  given  to  the 
queen  of  Amosis,  it  is  fairly  ^ferred  that  she  was  the  widow  of  that 
prince;  and  that  Amenophis  is,  in  this  instance,  placed  before  us  in 
company  with  his  queen  and  the  queen-dowager,  whose  name  was 
Ahmos  Nofre  Ari. 


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THB  GENTILE  NATI0N8.  59 

From  several  monumental  scnlptures  it  is  evident,  that  thi? 
sovereign  was  regarded  with  a  degree  of  respect  bordering  on 
religious  reverence.  In  one  of  the  little  chapels  excavated  among 
the  quarries  of  Silsilis  in  the  reign  of  Manepthah,  Amenophis  I., 
along  with  Atmoo,  and  another  Egyptian  deity,  receives  an  offering 
of  incense  from  the  king:  and  in  the  tombs  of  private  individuals  at 
Thebes  similar  honours  are  paid  to  him  on  the  part  of  the  deceased. 
One  of  these  tombs  is  of  the  age  of  Manephthah  L ;  and  it  appears 
from  the  inscriptions  that  a  special  priesthood  was  instituted  to  pay 
these  honours  to  Amenophis. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Thothmosis  I.,  whose  title  was, 
"  Pharaoh  great  in  the  World  through  his  Offerings :"  his  hiero* 
glyphical  name,  "  Thothmosis  (L,)  like  the  Sun  in  his  Rising." 
His  wife  was  Ahmos.  The  flourishing  state  of  the  kingdom 
during  his  reign  is  fully  attested  by  the  splendid  structures  which 
he  raised,  and  which  still  bear  his  nam^.  Although  some  small  and 
fragmentary  remains  have  been  found  at  Thebes  which  bear  the 
name  of  Osortasen,  it  seems  no«v^  placed  beyond  doubt  that  Thoth- 
mosis began  the  erection  of  the  great  palace  of  Kamak.  The  un- 
equalled boldness  and  grandeur  of  the  architectural  designs  for  this 
erection  will  always  be  the  wonder  of  the  world.  There  appears  to 
be  unquestionable  evidence  that  the  plan  laid  down  at  the  outset 
not  only  comprehended  the  noble  structures  and  obelisks  raised  by 
this  prince,  but  also,  in  great  measure  at  least,  those  built  by  his 
successors  on  this  site  throughout  the  following  centuries. 
/  The  advanced  state  of  the  arts  at  this  period  is  abundantly  dis- 
/  played  by  existing  remains.  There  is  a  memorial  of  Thothmosis  I. 
found  on  the  western  side  of  the  Nile,  at  El- Assasef.  A  gate  of  red 
sandstone  of  beautiful  execution  is  still  standing  amid  ruins  bearing 
his  name,  with  those  of  his  successors.  He  here  appears  accom- 
panied by  the  queen- dowager,  wife  of  Amenoph  I.,  as  that  prince 
had  been  represented  accompanied  by  the  widow  of  his  father 
Amosis.  She  is  described  as  wife  and  sister  of  a  king,  and  as  ruler 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt.  One  of  the  monuments,  recording  the 
services  of  a  military  officer,  mentions  the  wars  of  Thothmosis  I. 
in  Ethiopia,  and  also  in  the  land  of  Nakaraina,  which  is  known  to 
mean  Mesopotamia.  The  kingdom  of  Egypt  during  ihis  reign  ex- 
tended as  far  up  the  Nile  as  the  Island  of  Argo  in  Upper  Nubia, 
latitude  IQ''  12'  N.,  a  little  above  the  Third  Cataract,  where  a 
hieroglyphical  tablet  has  been  found  bearing  the  names  of  Thoth- 
mosis I.  and  Amenoph  III. 

The  reason  which  induced  these  sovereigns  to  rear  the  noble 
builings  of  Thebes  is  easily  explained.    This  place  had  afforded  a 


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60  THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

refuge  for  the  nativjd  princes  of  Egypt  during  the  long  period  that 
the  Shepherds  held  dominion  over  Uie  lower  country.  When,  there- 
fore, the  intruders  had  been  expelled,  and  all  the  resources  of  the 
kingdom  restored  to  its  legitimate  rulers,  they  were  disposed  to 
employ  their  riches  and  efforts  to  ornament  and  enlarge  their  south- 
em  capital. 

During  the  time  that  Thothmosis  I.  reigned  in  Egypt,  the  patri- 

ih  Jacob  diod  in  Goshen.  How  striking  is  the  contrast  between 
the  most  wonderful  productions  of  man  and  the  glorious  revelations 
of  God !  Here,  while  all  that  human  wisdom  and  wealth,  science 
and  skill,  genius  and  perseverance,  could  possibly  effect,  were  laid 
under  contribution  to  rear  the  gorgeous  and  imperishable  structures 
of  Thebes,  while  immense  political  power  and  unbounded  resources 
stood  out  in  glorious  array,  and  invested  Egypt  with  undying  fame, 
— an  event  occurred,  in  the  tents  of  the  humble  Hebrews,  which,  in 
intrinsic  importance  and  glorious  results,  far  outvied  all  the  lustre 
;  of  Egyptian  history.  The  patriarch  who  had  talked  with  Jehovah, 
I  and  wrestled  with  the  Angel  of  th^  Covenant, — the  dying  Jacob, 
f ,  inspired  by  the  prescient  Spirit  of  God,  was  heard  addressing  his 
twelve  sons  in  language  which,  even  at  that  time,  gave  them  wonder- 
ful intimations  of  the  divine  purpose  and  will  in  the  election  of  the 
house  of  Israel ;  and  which  continues  to  be,  in  all  succeeding  ages, 
an  illustrious  evidence  of  the  heavenly  character  of  human  redemp- 
tion,— a  splendid  proof  of  the  truth,  faithfulness,  and  goodness  of 
God. 

Thothmosis  II.  was  the  next  sovereign.  His  assumed  title  was, 
"  Pharaoh  great  in  the  World :"  his  royal  name  "  Thothmosis  (11.,) 
beneficent  King  of  the  World/'  His  sway  appears  to  have  been  as 
extensive  as  that  of  his  predecessor;  for  his  name  has  been  found 
at  Gebel-el-Birkel,  (Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  i,  p.  62, 
note,)  the  Napata  of  the  Romans.  In  his  reign  we  first  find 
mention  of  "  the  royal  son,"  or  prince,  "  of  Ethiopia,"  from  which 
circumstance  it  has  been  inferred  that  during  this  period  Ethiopia 
formed  a  vice-regal  government  dependent  on  Egypt.  Wilkinson 
seems  inclined  to  conjecture  that  this  addition  was  made  to  the 
dominions  of  Egypt  by  the  marriage  of  Amenophis  I.  with  an 
Ethiopian  princess. 

Our  means  of  sketching  the  history  of  this  country  during  the 
reign  of  Thothmosis  II.  are  exceedingly  limited :  in  fact,  scarcely 
any  records  of  his  time  have  been  preserved. 

Ambnsb,  sister  of  Thothmosis  II.,  succeeded  him.  Her  assumed 
title  was,  "  Pharaoh  devoted  to  Justice :"  her  hieroglyphical  name, 
'*  Amounsit.^'     Her  reign,  says  Wilkinson,  has  given  rise  to  more 


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THE  QBNTILB  NATIONS.  61 

doubts  than  that  of  any  other  sovereign  of  this  dynasty.  Whether 
she  was  regrat  during  the  minority  of  Thothmosis  L  or  Thothmosis 
II.,  or  reigned  supreme  betwe^m  them,  or  after  the  latter,  are  ques- 
tions whidi  have  been  fully  oanvaased  by  leanied  authors.  Gham- 
pollion-Figeac,  and  Mr.  Osbum,  have  adopted  the  laat-namedcon- 
dnsion,  which  seems  supported  by  the  greatest  weight  of  evidence. 
That  she  was  dangjhter  of  Thothmosis  I.  is  proved  by  the  obelisk 
before  the  granite  sauetnary  at  Kamak.  (Kenrick's  Egypt,  vol.  ii, 
p.  212.) 

The  state  of  the  arts  during  her  reign  is  shown  by  a  most 
remarkable  specimen,  still  extant  in  the  great  obelisks  at  Kamak. 
They  were  erected  by  this  qu^en  in  the  same  central  court  of  that 
pile  of  buildings  in  which  the  smaller  obelisks  of  Thothmosis  I.  stood, 
but  are  &r  superior  to  them  in  magnitude  and  beauty.  Of  their 
execution  Rosellini  thus  speaks:  "All  the  figures  are  delineated 
with  such  purity  and  freedom,  cut  with  such  art,  and  relieved  within 
the  excavs^  part  with  such  perfection  and  precision  of  outline, 
that  we  are  lost  in  astonishment  in  contemplating  them,  and  wonder 
how  it  has  been  possible  to  work  this  hardest  of  materials,  so  that 
every  figure  seems  rather  to  have  been  imfHressed  with  a  seal  than 
engraven  with  a  chisel.  The  fragments  of  the  companion  obelisk, 
which  are  lying  on  the  ground,  may  be  handled :  those  parts  which* 
represent  animals,  in  particular,  are  treated  with  such  accuracy  of 
design  and  finish  of  execution,  as  not  to  be  surpassed  by  the  finest 
cameos  of  the  Greeks.  The  pyramidion  re{Mresents  Amunre  seated, 
and  placing  his  hand  on  the  head  of  the  king,  whom  he  thus  inau- 
gurates. There  is  a  peculiarity  in  the  arrang^nent  of  the  hierogly* 
phical  inscriptions.  The  central  column  is  occupied  by  the  custom- 
ary form  of  dedication ;  but  the  two  lateral  columns — ^wfaich  in  some 
obelisks,  as  in  that  of  Heliopolis,  are  left  vacant^  in  others  are  filled 
by  inscriptions  of  subsequent  sovereigns — are  here  occupied  more 
than  half-way  down  with  repetitions  of  the  figure  of  Amunre  on  one 
side ;  on  the  other,  of  the  dedicating  sovereign,  who  oSeats  to  the- 
god  wine,  ointment,  milk,  perfumes,  and  sacred  insignia.  The 
dedication  and  offsring  are  usually  in  the  name  of  Ment-.Amen, 
(Amense,)  but  in  some  of  the  compartments  the  youthful  Thoth* 
mosis  nL  appears,  bringing  an  offering  to  ike  god." — Kenrick, 
vol.  ii,  p.  214. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  this  reign,  if  our  chronology  is  correct, 
that  Joseph  died ;  his  wonderful  inter(Hretation  of  Pharaoh's  dreams, 
and  consequent  advancement  to  honour,  having  occurred  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Amosis.  It  is  probable  that  for  a  long 
time  before  his  death,  although  treated  with  honourable  distinction, 


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62  THE  QBKTILE  NATIONS. 

/he  ceased  to  have  any  connexion  with  the  afiairs  of  government. 
(  Yet,  although  unconnected  with  the  administration  of  public  affairs, 
/  his  death  was  a  most  important  event  both  for  Egypt  and  for  Israel. 
...  It  severed  the  bond  which  had  long  held  the  rising  house  of  Jacob 
in  friendly  relation  to  the  imperial  power  of  the  Pharaohs.  Alien 
'^  from  each  other  in  blood,  language,  haUts,  and  religion,  as  were  the 
^two  people  V  the  Hebrew  ex-minister»  whose  inspired  wisdom  had 
saved  Egypt  from  being  desolated  by  famine,  soon  after  it  had  been 
•  delivered  from  foreign  domination,  would  stand  an  admitted  memo- 
rial of  the  obligation  under  which  Egypt  was  laid  to  Israel,  as  long 
as  he  lived :  but  his  death  removed  all  this  evidence,  and  left  the 
authorities  of  Egypt  to  act  as  state-policy  might  suggest. 

There  seems,  indeed,  reason  to  believe  that,  even  before  the  death 
of  Joseph,  the  Hebrews  had  ceased  to  be  regarded  by  the  Egyptians 
as  friendly  visitors,  who  were  at  liberty  to  retire  firom  the  country 
whenever  they  pleased.  This  appears  from  the  words  used  by 
Joseph  just  before  his  death :  ."  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  bring 
you  out  of  this  land."  Gen.  1,  24.  It  can,  therefore,  elicit  no  sur- 
prise, that,  whea  this  impediment  was  removed,  jealousy  was  soon 
engendered,  nor  that  this  should  soon  issue  in  persecution. 

Amense  had  two  husbands,  but  was  herself  queen-regnant.  We 
have  undoubted  proof  that  glass  was  known  and  used  in  Egypt 
during  her  reign,  at  least  for  ornamental  purposes;  a  large  glass 
bead  having  been  discovered  which  bears  her  name.  It  is  also  cer- 
tain, from  sculptured  representations,  that  the  mode  of  irrigating 
land  was  similar  to  that  of  the  present  day,  by  the  shadoof,  or  pole 
and  bucket  It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  the  modem  Egyptians 
have  a  tradition,  that  this  mode  of  watering  the  land  was  derived 
frt>m  their  Pharaonic  predecessors.  The  manufacture  of  linen  cloth, 
the  arch,  and  other  important  inventions  supposed  to  be  of  more 
recent  date,  are  found  delineated  in  sculptures  executed  during 
this  reign. 

Thothmosis  III.  succeeded  Amense.  Kenrick  supposes  him  to 
have  been  her  brother;  (Kenrick,  vol.  ii,  p.  212;)  but  this  notion 
appears  to  be  satisfactorily  refuted  by  the  fact,  that  in  the  sculptures 
on  the  great  obelisk  at  Kamak,  Amense  appears  witii  this  Thoth- 
mosis as  a  you&,  (ibid.,  p.  214,)  presenting  offerings.  Now,  seeing 
that  Amense  reigned  nearly  twenty-two  years,  and  that  her  brother 
Thothmosis  II.  reigned  twenty  years  before  her,  this  could  not  be, 
if  her  successor  was  also  her  brother.  There  can,  therefore,  be 
scarcely  a  doubt, that  he  was  her  son.  His  title  was,  "Pharaoh, 
Builder  of  the  World;"  his  name,  "Thothmosis  (III..)  Benefactor 
of  the  World."    This  prince  is  gen^^rally  believed  to  have  been  the 


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TBK  6KNTILB  HATIONS.  68 

Moeris  of  Herodotos  and  Manetho..^  His  reigQ  is  one  of  the  most 
glorioQB  in  the  annals  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty.  Monumental 
remains  in  great  variety,  bearing  his  name,  prove  that  the  limits  of 
Egyptian  role  had  not  been  diminished  in  any  direction. 

The  most  magnificent  erections  of  this  prince  are  those  with 
which  Thebes  was  adorned;  many  of  them  still  remain.  There  is 
a  mutilated  obelisk  at  Constantinople  which  is  of  this  reign,  and 
probably  at  first  stood  in  the  central  comrt  at  Kamak.  Another,  of 
the  same  date,  is  at  Rome,  and  was  placed  before  the  church  of  St. 
John  Lateran  by  Sixtus  Y.  This  is  the  most  lofty,  and  the  most 
perfect  in  execution,  of  all  that  are  extant;  the  central  column  of 
hieroglyphics,  which  bears  only  the  titles  of  Thothmes  III.,  was 
executed  during  his  reign,  while  the  lateral  columns  were  added  by 
his  grandson  Thothmes  lY. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  "  instructive  memorials  of  this 
reign  is  a  painting  in  a  tomb  at  Qnoomeh,  copied  by  Mr.  Hoskins 
in  his  *  Travels  in  Ethiopia.'  It  represents  four  principal  nations 
of  the  earth  bringing  their  tribute  to  the  king,  who  is  seated  on  his 
throne.  Two  obelisks  of  red  granite,  beside  which  the  various 
objects  are  deposited  by  the  bearers,  and  registered  by  the  royal 
scribes,  probably  mark  the  great  court  of  the  palace  at  Kamak  as 
the  scene  of  the  ceremony." — KenricKs  Egypt,  vol.  ii,  p.  219.  One 
part  of  this  procession  is  composed  of  negroes,  mixed  with  men  of 
a  red-brown  colour,  like  the  Egyptians.  They  bring  only  natural 
productions, — blocks  of  ebony,  tusks  of  ivory,  coloured  stones, 
ostrich-€ggS  and  feathers,  a  tree,  gold  and  silver  in  rings,  bags,  and 
ingots,  and  a  variety  of  animals.  The  name  of  the  land  has  been 
read  Fount  or  Phunt ;  but  this  gives  no  certain  information  of  its 
geognq[>hy.  Another  portion  of  the  procession  is  specifically  called 
"Nations  of  the  South.*'  From  the  products  which  they  bring, 
they  are  evidently  inhabitants  of  the  African  continent, — Libyans, 
Nubians,  and  Ethiopians.  A  third  portion  presents  persons  similar 
to  the  Egyptians  and  Libyans  in  colour,  but  differing  greatly  from 
them  in -costume.  These  bring  vases  of  silver  and  gold,  of  beauti- 
ful form  and  workmanship.  They  probably  represent  the  Phoe- 
nidans,  and  other  nations  of  Palestine.  Another  company  is  com- 
posed of  men  of  white  complexion,  with  reddish  hair  and  beards. 
They  bring  ring-money  of  gold  and  silver,  coloured  woods,  precious 
stones,  and  vases.  It  is  equally  difficult  to  fix  the  geography  of  this 
portion  of  the  procession,  as  it  is  to  specify  with  certainty  that  of 
the  preceding  parts.  Their  dress  imd  colour  agree  with  those  of 
the  dwdlers  in  Northern  Media,'0n  the  south  shores  of  the  Caspian. 
A  company  of  women  with  children,  of  this  nation,  and  of  people 


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64  THB  aiVTILB  NATIONS. 

of  the  south,  closes  the  cer^onj.  As  this  representation  can 
scarcely  be  acconnted  for  but  on  the  supposition  ^at  it  depicts  an 
historical  fact,  we  may  conclude  that  we  have  here  a  striking 
exhibition  of  the  wide  range  of  Egyptian  power  and  influence  at 
this  period. 

But  if  any  doubt  be  ^itertained  as  to  the  strict  historical  charac- 
ter of  this  representation,  there  can  be  none  as  to  the  monument 
which  is  known  as  "  The  Statistical  Table  of  Kaniak."    This  docu- 
ment is  of  the  ^ign  of  Thothmosis  III. ;  and  the  inscription  placed 
above  it  declares  its  object  to  be— to  record  the  victories  of  this 
sovereign;    It  seems  to  be  the  identical  tablet  which  the  priests 
exhibited  and  explained  to  the  Roman  Germanicus,  when  lie  was  at 
Thebes.  (Tacitus,  Annales,  lib.  ii,  cap.  60.)    It  records  a  series  of 
successful  expeditions  into  difierent  countries,  with  a  particular 
enumeration  of  the  tributes  levied  on  them  respectively.    Although 
^it  is  scarcely  possible  to  do  more  than  guess  at  the  nations  intended 
to  be  specified,  several  parts  of  tihe  tablet  having  been  mutilated, 
and  the  geographical  terms  which  remain  being  exceedingly  obscure 
and  di£Scult  of  application;  yet  the  enumeration  of  the  tribute 
V  levied  on  those  subject  nations  is  most  precisely  given.    As  Tacitus 
/observes,  "  The  inscription  further  stated  the  tribute  paid  by  the 
'  conquered  nations ;  the  specific  weight  of  gold  and  silver ;  the  quan- 
[  tity  of  arms,  ttie  number  of  horses,  the  offerings  of  ivory  and  of 
/ridi  perfumes,  presented  to  the  temples  of  Egypt;  the  measure 
•  of  grain,  and  the  various  supplies,  acbninistered  by  every  nation ; 
\  making  altogether  a  prodigious  revenue,  no  way  inferior  to  the 
/  taxes  of  late  years  collected  either  by  Parthian  despotism,  or  the 
authority  of  Rome."*— Anwa/*,  book  ii,  chap.  60. 

Whether  Thothmosis  III.  carried  on  these  successful  warlike 
operations  in  person  or  by  his  generals,  cannot  now  be  ascertained; 
but  that  at  this  period  Egypt  held  many  surrounding  countries  in 
tributary  subjection,  and  was  greatly  distinguished  among  the  na- 
tions for  wisdom  and  power,  must  be  received  as  an  undoubted  fact. 
Another  remarkable  monument  of  this  age  is  that  which  is  known 
by  the  name  of  "  The  Tablet  of  Kamak."  It  is  found  in  the  inte- 
rior of  a  chamber,  evidently  built  for  the  purpose,  in  the  palace  of 
Kamak  at  Thebes;  and  represents  Thothmosis  III.  ofiering  gifts  to 
a  series  of  sixty-one  kings,  disposed  in  four  lines  around  the  walls. 
But,  after  all,  probably  the  most  interesting  remnant  of  sculpture 
relating  to  this  reign  which  has  been  preserved  to  our  time,  is  a 
tomb,  at  Thebes,  of  a  person  named  Pekshare,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  "a  superintendent  of  great  buildings"  under  Thothmosis  III. 
On  the  walls  of  this  tomb  the  singular  representation  is  found  wtiA 


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THE  GSNTUiB  KATIOHS.  65 

is  spokeD  of  in  a  preceding  yolmae,  (Hebrew  People,  p.  30,)  and 
which  deecribes  the  labours  of  the  Hebrews  under  their  taskmasters, 
while  employed  in  making  bricks.  In  that  passage,  the  certainty  f 
of  this  application  is  fully  proved;  and  we  have  here  an  undoubted 
evidence  of  that  cruel  bondage  which  Israel  suffered  in  the  land  of 
Egypt.  This  fuUy  accords  with  the  date  ascribed  in  this  work  to 
the  Exodus,  as  may  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  Appendix,  notes 
5  and  7. 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  aUhough  our  arrangement  gives 
but  twelve  years  and  nine  months  for  the  reign  of  this  sovereign, 
some  of  the  monuments  speak  of  the  thirtieth  and  thirty-first  years 
of  his  reign;  while  at  the  same  time  the  monumental  allusions  to 
Amense  have  been  frequently  defaced.  Different  theories  have  been 
propounded  for  the  purpose  of  solving  these  difficulcies.  Bunsen 
and  Lepsius  suppose  that  Amense  was  daij^hter  of  Thothmosis  1., 
and  sister  to  the  second  and  third  sovereigns  of  this  name;  and 
that  she  exercised  the  powers  of  a  regent  during  their  minorily. 
Champollion-Figeac  and  OsburU)  on  the  other  hand,  maintain  that 
she  was  sister  of  Thothmosis  U.  and  mother  of  Thothmosis  III., 
which  seems  the  most  reasonable  hypothesis.  In  that  case  it  becomes 
likely  that  the  monuments  were,  after  the  accession  of  Thoth- 
mosis III.,  altered  so  as  to  make  his  reign  begin  with  his  birth,  thus 
cancelling  all  that  portion  of  the  reign  of  Amense  after  the  birth  of 
her  son,  and  appropriating  all  this  period  to  him. 

But  whatever  disputable  points  may  .stand  connected  with  the 
chronology  of  this  reign,  we  are  fully  entitled  to  regard  it  as  identi-  w 
fied  with  the  hard  and  cruel  bondage  of  the  Israelites.  This  was 
the  king  that  "knew  not  Joseph,"  the  Hebrew  ex-governor  having 
died  three  years  before  his  mother  ascended  the  Uirone.  Thoth- 
mosis III.  either  originated,  or  greatly  increased,  that  violent  perse- 
cution of  the  Hebrews  which  terminated  in  the  £xodus. 

Ahbnophis  n.,  the  son  of  the  preceding  monarch,  succeeded  his 
&dier  on  the  throne.  His  symbolical  title  waa,  "  Pharaoh  great  in 
aU  Lands;"  his  regal  name, ■"  Amenophis  (II.,)  Ruler  in  the  pure, 
just  Land,"  that  is  Egypt.  We  know  but  little  of  the  events  of  his 
reign,  which  lasted  neariy  twenty-six  years.  The  obelisk  at  Aln- 
wick Castle,  brought  from  Egypt  by  Lord  Prudhoe,  is  inscribed 
with  his  name;  but  it  simply  records  the  fact  of  his  having  erected 
two  obelisks  to  the  god  Kneph.  A  sculptured  representation  of 
him  is  found  ii^  an  excavated  chapel  at  Ibrim,  where  he  appears 
seated  with  two  princes  or  great  o£5cers.  One  of  them,  Osorsate, 
presents  to  him  the  animal  productions  of  the  southern  regions, — 
lions,  jackals,  and  hares ;  an  inscription  above  specifving  their  num- 

5 


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66  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

bers.  He  also  added  to  the  erections  at  Thebes ;  but  most  of  his 
works  there  have  perished. 

.Thothmosib  IY.,  son  of  Amenophis  XL,  sncceeded  his  father. 
He  assumed  as  his  title,  "  Pharaoh,  Edifier  of  all  Lands ;"  and  took 
for  his  name,  "Thothmosis  (IV.)"  'He  reigned  nine  years  and 
eight  months.  The  hierogljphical  inscriptions  of  this  reign,  which 
are  very  beantifnlly  executed,  record  the  victories  of  this  prince 
over  the  people  of  Ethiopia ;  and  a  stele,  engraven  on  a  rook  of 
granite  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile,  opposite  to  Philae,  mentions 
a  victory  gained  by  him  over  the  Libyans  in  the  seventh  year  of  his 
reign.  He  also  appears  in  the  tomb  of  an  officer  at  Quomeh,  seated 
on  a  throne ;  on  the  base  of  which  are  nine  foreigners,  apparently 
Asiatics,  bound  in  the  manner  in  which  captive  nations  are  repre- 
sented on  Egyptian  monuments. 

During  the  reign  of  this  prince  the  persecution  of  the  Hebrews 
was  at  its  height.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  he  issued  the  san- 
guinary decree  for  the  destruction  of  the  male  infants,  as  Moses  was 
bom  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign. 

Amenophis  IU.,  son  of  Thothmosis  IV.  and  his  queeh  Mantiie- 
moa,  next  ascended  the  throne.  His  title  was,  "Pharaoh,  Lord  of 
Justice ;"  his  regal  name,  "  Amenophis  (IH.)"  He  reigned  thirty 
years  and  five  months,  and  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  princes 
of  the  eighteenth  dynasty.  We  have  no  evidence,  prior  to  this 
reign,  that  Egypt  had  any  permanent  occupation  of  Nubia  higher 
Qp  the  Nile  than  Semneh ;  but  the  temple  of  Soleb,  which  stands  a 
degree  farther  south,  contains  proof  that  "under  Amenoph  HI.  the 
boundary  of  the  empire  extended  thus  far." — Kenrick^s  Egypt,  vol. 
ii,  p.  254.  This  sovereign  appears  to  be  the  same  as  the  Memnon 
of  Manetho  and  Herodotus.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the  tales  which 
have  come  down  to  us  respecting  the  exploits  of  Moses  at  the  head 
of  an  Egyptian  army  against  the  Ethiopians,  they  must  have  been 
achieved  in  this  reign.  However  this  may  be,  it  was  under  the 
government  and  patronage  of  Amenophis  III.,  the  brother  of  the 
princess  who  had  adopted  the  persecuted  infiitnt,  that  the  future 
leader  and  legislator  of  the  Hebrews  was  brought  up  and  taught 
"all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  and  became  "mighty  in  words 
and  deeds." 

As  this  portion  of  Egyptian  history  was  the  period  of  Hebrew 
persecution,  and  the  precursor  of  the  Exodus,  it  may  be  important 
to  show— as  there  is  ample  opportunity  for  doing— the  extravagant, 
superhuman  assumption  which  the  sovereigns  of  Egypt  at  this  time 
carried  to  such  an  extent  as  almost,  if  not  fully,  to  amount  to  tiie 
claim  of  proper  divinity.    In  the  case  of  Amenophis  IH.,  there  is 


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THE  GBNTILE  NATIONS.  67 

reason  to  believe  that  this  preteusion  was  advanced  in  the  most 
proniinent  and  imposing  manner.  It  was  stated  in  the  first  volume 
of  this  work,  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  476,)  that  "a  small  edifice  was 
erected  by  die  side  of  every  temple,  the  entrance  of  which  was 
through  the  adytum  or '  sanctuary ;'  so  that  it  was,  in  the  estimation 
of  the  people,  tiiie  holy  of  holies,  the  perfection  or  crowning  mystery 
of  the  entire  worship."  The, reason  for  this  is  found  in  the  preva- 
lent doctrine  that  God  created  all  things  at  first  by  the  primary 
emanation  &om  himself, — his  First-bom.  ^nd  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  their  principles  of  metempsychosis,  this  Divine  Being 
was  expected  to  become  incarnate,  and  appear  as  an  infant  in  this 
world.  As  such,  he  is  always  represented  as  the  third  person  in 
the  trinity  of  Egypt. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  this  arose  from  a  corrupted  tra- 
dition of  the  primitive  promise  of  a  Redeemer,  preserved  amoUg 
the  early  settlers  in  Egypt,  and  transmitted  by  them  to  their  de- 
scendants. In  the  application  of  these  doctrines,  a  practice  at  this 
time  obtained  of  representing  the  Egyptian  triad  by  the  figures  of 
the  royal  family,  'fhus  the  first  person  in  this  trinity  is  frequently 
exhibited  by  the  sculptured  representation  of  the  Pharaoh  who  built 
the  temple;  the  second  person,  or  the  Divine  Mother,  by  that  of  bis 
wife,  the  queen;  and  consequently  their  first  son  would  assume  the 
character  of  the  pivine  Word,  the*  promised  Seed.  This  was  the 
ease  in  a  most  remarkable  maoner  in  the  instance  of  Amenophis  III., 
the  son  and  successor  of  Thothmosis  lY .  Prior  to  the  birth  of  this 
prince,  the  queen  is  represented  in  the  character  of  the  goddess 
Athor,  in  the  presence  of  the  god  Thoth,  who,  holding  a  roll  of 
papyrus,  is,  as  the  Egyptian  Hermes,  supposed  to  be  addressing 
her  on  her  approaching  maternity.  In  the  next  scene,  the  queen  is 
conducted  by  the  god  Eneph  into  an  apartment  called  ma-en-misa, 
or  "  the  birth-place,"— the  same  appellation  as  is  given  to  the  most 
sacred  part  of  the  temple  before  described, — while  the  goddess 
Aihor,  who  stretches  toward  her  the  key  of  life,  leads  her  to  the 
bed.  Here  attendant  goddesses  await  her;  and  the  scenes  describe 
the  mystical  character  of  the  place  which  is  regarded  as  the  birth- 
place of  the  infant  god.  In  the  next  sculpture,  Amunre  is  seen 
holding  the  youthfiod  prince,  whom  a  hawk- headed  god  has  pre- 
sented to  him.  He  is  addressing  the  child,  and  declares  that  he 
bestows  upon  him  life,  stability,  purity,  and  happiness,  magnanimity, 
and  dominion  on  the  throne  of  Horus.  Afterward  follow  scenes  de- 
scribing the  purification  and  inauguration  of  the  young  prince. 

In  ihia  maimer  the  birth  of  the  Pharaoh  is  described  who  sat 
upon  ihe  throne  when  Moses  was  brought  up  at'the  Egyptian  court. 


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68  THE  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

By  these  significant  ceremonies  he  is  associated  with  divinity,  and 
not  very  obscurely  identified  with  the  promised  Seed,  the  incarnate 
Redeemer. 

HoRUS,  son  of  Amenophis  HE.,  succeeded  his  father.  His  hiero- 
glyphic title  was,  "Phanioh,  Director  of  the  Worlds,  approved  of 
the  Sun;"  his  regal  name,  **the  beloved  of  Amoun,  Horus  in  the 
Assemblies."  It  is  not  likely  that  this  prince  made  less  pretensions 
to  divinity  than  his  father.  A  sufficient  proof  of  this  is  found  in 
the  regal  name  which  he  assumed,  Horus ;  this  being  the  title  of 
the  infent  deity  who,  in  the  mythology  of  Egypt,  slew  the  great  ser- 
pent by  piercing  his  head ;  on  which  account  he  was  identified  with 
the  Grecian  Apollo,  the  Indian  Ghreeshna,  and  the  Scandinavian 
Thor.  This  prince  reigned  thirty-eight  years  and  five  months.  In 
a  grotto  near  the  Second  Cataract,  he  is  represented  in  the  form  of 
Aie  youthful  god  Horus,  suckled  by  the  goddess  Anouke.  The 
principal  monuments,  however,  of  this  reign  are  in  the  quarries  of 
Silsilis.  He  here  appears  seated '  on  a  throne,  carried  on  the 
shoulders  of  twelve  military  chiefs,  while  two  others  shade  him 
With  fims  attached  to  long  spears,  and  an  attendant,  keeping  his 
face  towards  the  king  as  he  walks,  scatters  grains  of  incense  on  a 
censer  which  he  holds  out  towards  him.  It  is  evidently  the  cele- 
bration of  a  military  triumph,  for  a  victory  which  he  gained  over  the 
Africans.  • 

It  was  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Horus  that  Moses  inter- 
posed, in  the  hope  of  rescuing  his  kindred  from  their  bondage,  and 
was  in  consequence  obliged  to  fiee  into  Midian. 

The  successor  of  Horus  was  Ramsbs  I.  His  title  was,  "  Pharaoh, 
inexorable  Avenger  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt;"  his  name, 
"  Ramses  (I.)"  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  which  strikingly 
corroborates  the  arrangement  which  I  have  made  of  Egyptian  history, 
that  we  are  here,  for  the  first  time  in  this  dynasty,  puzzled  with  a 
discrepancy  between  the  lists  aUd  the  monuments.  Little  is  known, 
too,  of  the  reign  of  this  prince.  His  tomb  has  indeed  been  found 
covered  with  rubbish,  and  utterly  destitute  of  sculpture,  but  deco- 
rated with  paintings,  which  show  that  it  was  erected,  and  that  some 
of  these  were  executed,  during  his  lifetime.  There  is,  indeed,  no 
evidence  that  any  monumental  or  other  inscription  to  his  memory 
was  made  after  Us  death.  His  whole  case  is  in  perfect  agreement 
with  his  being  the  Pharaoh  who  perished  in  the  Red  Sea.  This 
prince  sat  on  the  throne  when  Moses  returned  from  Midian.  He 
was  the  subject  of  the  plagues,  and  fella  victim  to  his  insane 
resistance  of  almighty  power.  After  this  terrible  calamity  to  the 
Egyptian  state  a  new  monarch  ascended  the  throne, — 


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THE  GBNTILS  NATIONS.  69 

SsTHOS  I.,  whose  royal  title  was,  "  Pharaoh,  firm  in  Justice ;"  his 
name,  "  the  Servant  of  Amoux^,  Sethos  (I.)"  Soon  after  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  he  undertook  a  military  expedition  against  the 
same  nations  whom  the  Thothmoses  and  Amenophis  had  previously 
reduced  to  subjection : — a  fact  which  seems  to  indicate  that  ^me  ^7 
internal  convulsion  or  weakness  had  emboldened  these  tributaries  '^ 
to  throw  oflF  the  Egyptian  yoke.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive 
of  any  events  more  likely  to  produce  this  rebellion  than  the  terrible 
humiliation  of  Egypt  under  the  plagues,  and  the  prostration  of  her 
power  by  the  triumphant  Exodus  of  Israel.  The  campaign  thus  com- 
menced was  eminently  successful ;  and  elaborate  sculptures  describe 
the  prowess  of  the  king,  the  rout  of  the  enemy,  and  the  reduction 
of  their  fortresses. 

Similar  sculptures  exhibit  other  successful  wars  in  which  this 
prince  engaged,  and  magnify  his  valour  and  triumphis.  From  these 
it  has  been  inferred  that  Sethos  carried  his  successful  arms  even 
into  Asia  Minor.  These  warlike  operations  took  place  during  the 
wandering  of  &e  Hebrews  in  the  wilderness ;  for  Sethos  reigned 
nearly  thirty-three  years.  The  tomb  of  this  Pharaoh,  discovered 
by  Belzoni  in  the  Bab-el-Melook,  is  the  most  splendid  that  has  yet 
been  unveiled  to  modem  eyes.  It  contains  a  representation  which 
is  found  repeated  with  some  variations  in  the  tombs  of  other  kings, 
of  this  and  the  following  dynasty,  and  which  seems  designed  to 
assert  the  universality  of  Egyptian  dominion.  It  would  appear 
that,  the  successful  wars  of  Sethos  having  restored  to  JBgypt  the 
political  ascendency  and  splendour  which  had  been  so  greatly  ob- 
scured by  the  persecution  of  Israel  and  its  consequences,  the  mon- 
arch assumed  claims  to  an  extent  of  dominion  which  had  not  been 
previously  contemplated. 

In  this  tomb,  "  the  god  Horus,  the  symbol  of  royalty,  is  preceded 
by  four  companies  of  men,  of  diffsrent  colour,  physiognomy,  and 
costume.  The  first  are  plainly  Egyptians :  the  third  are  l^lacks : 
the  second,  white,  with  bushy  black  hair,  blue  eyes,  aquiline  noses, 
and  reddish  beards ;  they  wear  short  party-coloured  tunics,  with 
several  tassels  at  the  lower  extremities:  the  fourth  resemble  the 
people  called  Bebo  in  the  campaigns  of  Ramesis  lY.,  wearing 
feathers  in  their  heads  and  large  cloaks,  and  having  their  bodies 
tattooed.  Taken  together,  they  appear  to  have  conventionally 
represented  the  principal  nations  known  to  the  Egyptians;  and  as 
these  wars  did  not  extend  to  Europe,  we  must  seek  the  originals  in 
Asia"  {Kertricky  vol.  ii,  pp.  264,  266)  and  Africa. 

A  short  time  since,  this  was  all  that  could  be  said  respecting  the 
wars  of  Sethos :  but  tiie  labour  and  learning  of  Mr.  W.  Oabum  have 


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70  THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

cast  much  light  oh  this  subject.  He  has  shown  that  iiie  hiero- 
glyphic sculptures  state  that  Sethos  carried  on  wars  with  the  land 
of  Canaan.  Not  only  is  this  national  name  identified,  but  others 
which  refer  to  tribes  and  districts.  In  the  pictures  which  celebrate 
the  conquests  of  Sethos,  he  has  found  Tyre  and  Zidou,  Arvad  on  the 
coast  to  the  north  of  these  cities,  and  the  Hermonites  iii  the  hill- 
country  adjoining.  The  Philistines  are  exhibited,  and  their  personal 
appearance,  dress,  and  warlike  manners  and  armour  defined.  The 
Jebusites,  Zuzim,  and  Hittites  are  also  identified  as  having  been 
vanquished  by  Sethos,  as  were  also  the  Amorites  and  Moabit^. 
There  is  no  doubt  that,  frojn  the  peculiar  nature  of  hieroglyphic 
inscription,  a  few  errors  will  afterward  be  found  in  some  of  t^ese 
solutions :  yet  it  is  an  interesting  circumstance,  and  one  which  serves 
to  elucidate  the  history  of  Egypt,  that  its  monumental  annals  gener- 
ally reco^ise  these  Scriptural  appellations,  and  refer  to  them  in  a 
manner  so  corroborative  of  the  truth  of  Holy  Writ. 

Ramses  II.  succeeded  his  father.  His  assumed  title  was,  "  Pha- 
raoh vigilant  in  Justice ;"  his  name,  "  the  beloved  of  Amoun,  Ramses 
(H.)"  He  reigned  five  years  and  five  months.  To  this  sovereign 
belong  the  historical  pictorial  representations  found  in  the  temple  at 
Brisoualli  in  Nubia;  where  the  sculptures  in  the  sacred  sanctuary 
represent  the  youthful  monarch  sucUed  by  Isis  and  Anouke;  while 
in  the  vestibule  he  is  delineated  as  mounted  in  his  chariot,  and  ac- 
companied by  his  two  sons,  also  in  chariots,  routing  the  Ethiopians, 
who  are  shown  flying  and  fisiUing  before  the  Egyptian  heroes.  In 
another  part  of  the  same  vestibule,  the  king  is  seated  under  a  rich 
canopy,  while  the  fruits  of  his  victory  are  displayed  in  a  procession, 
in  which  the  principal  productions  of  Africa  are  presented  to  the 
king.  In  another  part,  the  victories  of  this  prince  in  Asia  are  cele- 
brated in  detail  with  great  spirit. 

The  sculptures  on  the  northern  side  of  this  cave  describe  the  wars 
which  Ramses  II.  carried  on  in  Palestine.  Following  in  the  steps 
of  his  father,  he  successfully  assailed  the  Jebusites,  the  Tyrians, 
and  the  Hittites.  The  sculptures  are,  unfortunately,  much  muti- 
lated; but  eilough  rems^ns  to  identify  these  nations,  and  to  prove 
that,  just  prior  to  the  arrival  of  the  Israelites  under  Moses  on  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan,  the  power  of  the  Ganaanitish  nations  had  been 
in  a  great  measure  broken  by  the  successive  invasions  of  Sethos 
and  Ramses  II.  (See  Appendix,  note  8.) 

Ramses  III. — His  tifle,  as  given  in  the  hieroglyphic  cartouche,  is, 
'* Pharaoh  vigilant  in  Justice,  Sesostris'*  that  is,  " approved  of  the 
Sun ;"  his  name,  "  The  beloved  of  Amoun,  Ramses  (IH.)"  This 
sovereign  was  the  son  of  Sethos,  and  brother  of  the  prececUog  Pha- 


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THB  eBNTIIiE  NATI0H8;  71 

noh.  He  was  the  great  Sesostiis,  8o  cdebrated  in  the  history  of 
aaeient  times. 

It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  difiScnliy  to  reconcile  the  warlike 
exploits  of  this  Egyptian  conqueror  with  the  fact,  that  no  notice 
whatever  is.  fotmd  of  him  in  the  Hebrew  history.  Some  learned 
writers  have  been  led  by  this  circumstance  to  arrange  the  Egyptian 
dynasties  so  as  to  make  this  reign  take  place  before  the  Exodus. 
According  to  the  chronological  arrangement  adopted  in  this  work, 
no  difficulty  of  this  kind  occurs,  as  the  Hebrews  crossed  the  Jordan 
in  the  third  year  of  Sesostris ;  and  his  great  campaign,  commenced 
in  his  fifth  year,  would  happen  before  the  tribes  of  Isi^ael  had  ob- 
taiued  any  settled  location  in  Canaan,  or  had  made  themselves 
objeetB  of  jealousy  or  enmity  to  the  Egyptian  warrior. 

According  to  Herodotus,  the  first  warlike  measure  of  this  monarch 
was  a  maritime  one»  directed  against  the  coasts  of  the  Bed  Sea  and 
of  the  Persian  Gulf.  This,  to  a  certain  extent,  failed  for  lack  of 
nautical  knowledge.  On  his  return,  he  raised  a  great  army;  and, 
having  made  extensive  arrangements  for  the  government  of  the 
country  in  his  absence,  confiding  the  principal  administration  of 
affidrs  to  his  brother,  he  marched  forth  on  a  grand  carreer  of  convict 
sad  conquest  It  is  not  possible  to  define  with  accuracy  the  route 
pursued,  or  the  x^ons  vanquished,  by  this  Egyptisip  king;  some 
of  the  ancients  extending  his  conquests  from  India  to  the  north  of 
Europe,  while  some  modem  writes  would  limit  his  warlike  opera- 
tiona  almost  entirely  to  Canaan.  The  entire  scope  of  the  history 
proves  these  extremes  to  be  alike  unworthy  of  confidence. 

The  first  poiQt  of  attack  appears  to  have  been  the  people  to  the 
south  of  Canaan.  Here  Funon,  near  Mount  Hor,  was  besieged  and 
subdued.  While  engaged  in  the  reduction  of  this  place,  Sesostris 
received  ambassadors  from  the  Shetin,  with  proposals  of  peace;  but 
the  terms  were  such  that  he  rejected  them.  Having  subdued  this 
fortified  city,  and  thus  established  his  power  in  the  hilly  region  of 
Edom,  Sesostris  turned  his  arms  northward.  Here,  however,  we 
have  no  undoubted  guide  as  to  his  co^rse,  and  little  can  be  offered 
beyond  probable  conjecture.  (See  Appendix,  note  9.)  But  it 
would  appear  that  Sesos^is  passed  to  the  south-west  angle  of 
Canaan,  where,  accompanied  off  the  coast  by  a  fleet  probably  from 
Ascalon,  he  marched  through  the  land  of  the  Philistines  to  the  south 
frontier  of  the  Jebusites.  From  thence,  fighting  only  with  those 
who  obtruded  themselves  on  his  way,  by  the  same  route  and  just  in 
the  same  manner  as  Pharaoh-NedLO  did  in  afler-ages,  he  reached 
the  land  of  the  Phenicians.  This  people  had  long  before  been  in 
intercourse  with  Egypt.    Here  in  all  probability  the  king  strength- 


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V2  THB  eSNTILB  NATI0H8. 

ened  his  fnendly  relations  with  those  maritime  tribes:  nor  is  it 
milikelj  that  some  coercion  might  have  been  used  to  enforce  bis 
wishes.  That  he  came  into  this  territory  cannot  be  doubted;  for, 
in  the  extreme  north  of  Phenicia,  there  are  yet  extant  monumental 
proofs  of  his  prowess.  These  are  sculptures  in  the  solid  rock  found 
near  Beirout,  which  distinctly  bear  the  titular  shield  of  Ramses  III., 
with  the  characters,  "the  approved  of  Re."— Trafw.  o/iAc  Royal 
Soc.  of  Lit.,  vol.  iii,  p.  105. 

From  Phenicia  it  is  more  than  probable  that  Sesostris  went  to 
effect  the  great  object  of  his  campaign  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates. 
It  has  been  already  observed  that,  when  in  the  south  of  Palestine, 
he  received  ambassadors  from  the  Shetin,  and  that  be  refused  their 
terms  of  peace.  It  is  also  apparent  from  the  monuments,  that  this 
warlike  people,  finding  their  overtures  rejected,  took  tiie  initiative, 
and  besieged  th^  city  which  Mr.  Osbum  calls  Hadanaz,  and  which 
was  in  alliance  with  Egypt.  Having  in  a  great  battle  defeated  the 
enemy,  and  rescued  Ms  friends,  he  assaUs  the  capital  of  his  foes, 
which,  I  think,  stood  somewhere  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates. 
That  it  could  not  lie  in  the  hill- country  of  Judea  is  evident  from 
the  monumental  delineation  of  the  contest:  for  the  attack  is  made 
by  him  "  on  a  fortified  city  standing  on  a  river,  branches  of  which 
flow  round  its  walls^  and  serve  the  purpose  of  a  trench.  The  enemy, 
who  wear  long-sleeved  tunics,  have  generally  the  head  shaven,  with 
the  exception  of  a  lock  which  falls  over  the  back  of  the  neck,  and 
wear  mustachios.  Their  shields  are  of  diferent  forms — some 
square,  and  apparently  made  of  basket-work ;  others  with  wood,  with 
mcarved  sides.  The  enemy  are  driven  headlong  to  the  fortress, 
and  some  of  them  have  been  precipitated  with  their  horses  and 
chariots  into  the  river." — Kenrick,  vol.  ii. 

The  subject  of  these  sculptures  was  regarded  as  so  important,  that 
another  representation  of  it  is  given  at  Thebes  on  a  gorgeous  scale. 
A  circumstance  strongly  corroborative  of  the  correctness  of  the  view 
here  taken,  with  regard  to  the  course  of  this  conqueror,  is  found  in 
the  &ct,  that  the  Zidonians  are  described  as  assisting  in  this  battle 
as  allies  of  the  Egyptians ;  (Osbum's  Egypt :  her  Testimony,  p.  86;) 
:and,  further,  in  the  tribute  imposed  on  the  conquered  people :  for 
the  treaty  made  between  Sesostris  and  four  chiefs  of  the  Shetin  is 
still  extant.  In  this  document  "nothing  can  exceed  the  pompous 
arrogance  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  abject  crouching  submission  of  the 
princes  of  Shetin.  He  grants  them  peace  only  on  condition  of  entire 
submission,  and  an  annual  tribute  of  silver,  precious  stones,  and 
spicery."— O^iwrn'^  Egypt:  her  Testimony,  p.  91.  These  articles 
clearly  indicate  the  eastern  geography  of  the  country.    It  may. 


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THE  eBHULE  NATI0H8.  73 

therefore,  be  fairly  presumed,  that  Sesostris  marched  his  army  from 
Phenkia  through  the  vale  Of  Lebanon,  and  thence  to  the  banks  of 
the  Euphrates ;  and  that  by  this  means  he  not  only  TirtaaQy  extended 
the  frontier  of  £^ypt  to  tiiat  river,  but  opened  np  a  way  to  oriental 
commerce  for  Egypt^  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Phenioians. 
—a  commerce  afterward  secured  by  Solomon  on  the  same  route. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  trace  the  subsequent  progress  of  this  con- 
queror. The  priest  who  explained  the  Egyptian  monuments  of 
Thebes  to  Germanicus,  declared  that  Bameses  had  possessed  Libya, 
Ethiopia,  Media,  Persia,  Baotriana,  and  Sqrthia,  with  the  territories 
which  the  Syrians,  Armenians^  and  their  neighbours  the  Gappadoc- 
ians,  inhabit,  extending  his  dominion  from  Uie  Bithynian  Sea  on  the 
one  side  to  the  Lycian  on  the  other;  (Tacitus,  Annal^s,  lib.  ii, 
cap.  60;)  upon  which  Mr.  Kenrick  remarks,  "Now  we  know  from 
the  monuments  that  the  chum  of  dominion  over  Libya,  Ethiopia,  and 
Syria  was  well-founded  Li  the  time  of  H^odotus  its  memorials 
existed  in  Asia  Minor,  and  may  yet  perhaps  be  found  there.  The 
valley  of  the  Tigris  was  familiar  ground  to  the  military  sovereigns 
of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  dynasties.  Confirmed  in  so  many 
points,  why  should  not  the  accounts  of  the  Egyptian  priests  be 
believed,  when  they  tell  us  that  Media,  Persia,  and  Bactriana  were 
also  the  scenes  of  the  conquests  of  Barneses?" — Kenrick,  vol. 
ii,  p.  283. 

The  question  which  the  learned  writer bere  asks,  maybe  answered 
by  a  reference  to  the  undoubted  exaggerations,  not  of  the  priests, 
(their  expositions  may  on  some  points  be  sufficiently  questionable,) 
but  of  the  monumental  inscriptions  themselves.  Without,  therefore, 
making  any  claim  on  behalf  of  Sesostris  to  Media,  Persia,  and 
Bactria,— since,  even  if  tiie  amues  of  these  empires  had  been  sub- 
dued, Egjrpt  could  not  hold  military  oompation  of  such  an  extensive 
territory, — ^we  are  fuUy  justified  in  receiving  the  testimony  of  the 
monuments,  when  they  are  confirmed  by  competent  historical 
authority.  We  may  therefore  safely  conclude  that,  marching 
throu^  Asia  Minor,  Sesostris  probably  reduced  various  states  to 
subjection,  and  thus  returned  to  Egypt. 

Herodotus  mentions  a  fiict  to  which,  as  coming  under  his  own 
observation,  he  attached  great  importance.  He  £soemed  an  evi- 
dent simihrity  between  the  Golchians  and  the  Egyptians,  in  respect 
of  their  colour,  hair,  and  general  appearance;  and  on  conversing 
with  the  former,  he  found  them  possessed  of  a  distinct  traditional 
remembrance  of  their  Egyptian  origin.  It  is  well  known«that  this 
country  was  filmed  for  the  production  of  gold->~a  circumstance  very 
likely  to  tempt  the  cupidity  of  the  Egyptian  king.    To  this  we  may 


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74  THE  GRNTILB  NATIONS. 

add  ihe  oonjectore  of  Larcher,  who,  referring  ta  the  tradition  handed 
down  by  Valerius  Flaccus,  oon^idcars  ii  probable  that  Sesoatris, 
attempting  to  pass  into  Europe,  was  defeated  by  the  Thractans,  and 
in  consequence  left  a  detachment  of  his  army  in  Colchis  to  cover  his 
retreat.  One  of  the  inscriptions  on  the  rocks  of  Aboosembel  is 
important,  as  corroborating  our  opinion  as  to  the  extent  of  this 
campaign.  It  declares  that  the  king  had  employed  the  captives 
taken  in  his  Astatic  wars  on  those  works. 

On  returning  to  Egypt,  Sesostris  very  narrowly  escaped  destruc- 
tion through  the  treachery  of  his  brother,  who  caused  his  tent  to  be 
fired  in  the  night.  From  this  danger  the  king  escaped  with  the 
loss  of  two  of  his  children;  and  having  overcome  every  difficulty,  he 
devoted  the  remainder  of  his  long  reign  to  the  improvement  of  his 
country.  In  the  chief  city  of  every  mmie  he  erected  a  temple  to  the 
tutelary  deity,  and  employed  the  captives  whom  he  had  taken  in  his 
wars  to  drag  stones,  and  do  the  most  laborious  part  of  the  work :  so 
that  all  these  buildings  had  inscriptions  placed  on  them,  purporting 
that  they  had  been  raised  by  tiie  labour  of  captives,  and  not  of 
Egyptians.  The  Exode  of  the  Hebrews  had  removed  a  great  num- 
ber of  men  long  devoted  to  this  kind  of  slavery,  and  thus  rendered 
the  importation  of  these  captives  necessary  to  supply  their  place  on 
these  new  public  works.  Diodoms  (lib.  i,  cap.  4)  relates  that  a 
company  of  these  captives  who  had  been  brought  fix>m  Babylon, 
unable  to  bear  the  severe  labour  assigned  them,  rebelled,  and  seized 
a  fort  near  the  river,  where  for  a  season  they  defended  themselves, 
and  wasted  the  neighbouring  country;  that  they  afterward  obtained 
a  pardon,  and  called  the  place  by  the  name  of  their  native  land, 
Babylon. 

After  Meeting  great  improvements  in  the  country  by  his  public 
wori»  and  l^slative  measures,  Seso^tris  was  afflicted  with  blindnesa, 
which,  it  is  said,  so  affected  his  mind  that  he  destroyed  himself. 

The  successor  of  Sesostris  was  his  son,  Manbpbtha,  whose  royal 
name  was,  "  Pharaoh,  strengthened  by  the  Spirit  of  Amoun ;"  hia 
title,  '*  Manephtha,  devoted  to  Justice."  TUs  reign,  as  might  be 
expected  from  the  length  of  the  preceding  one,  was  short,  extending 
only  to  five  years.  With  Rameses  III.  we  lose  the  guidance  of  the 
Tablet  of  Abydos,  and  consequ^itiy  have  difficulty  in  giving  accu- 
rately the  names  of  the  Pharaohs.  No  proper  historical  monuments 
of  this  reign  exist.  The  Rameseion  contains  the  pcnrtraits  of  the 
twenty-three  sons  of  Rameses  III.,  with  their  names  and' offices. 
The  thirteenth,  Manephtha,  bears  the  addition  of  "  King."  He  is 
represented  at  Silsilis  in  acts  of  adoration  to  various  divinities 
J^o  great  building  appears  to  have  been  raised  by  this  sovereign 


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THB  amrriLS  nations.  75 

Whm  his  name  is  founds  it'  is  in  trifling  additions  made  to  the 
irorks  of  preceding  monarchs.  His.  tomb  at  Bab-eUMelook  is  one 
hundred  and  sixty-seren  feet  in  length,  and  has  been  ornamented 
with  great  eare  in  the  portions  near  the  entrance.  Here  one  piece 
of  Bculptare  still  remains,  of  which  the  colours  are  as  brilliant  as 
when  they  were  first  laid  on.  ManephUia,  crowned  with  a  splendid 
head-dress,  and  clad  in  a  long  transparent  robe,  fringed  at  tiie  bot- 
tom, stands  before  the  hawk-headed  god,  Phre,  who  promises  him 
length  of  days  upon  his  throne.  This  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the 
practice  of  excavating  the  tomb  daring  the  lifetime  of  the  king. 
(Kenrick,  ^yol.  ii,  p.  294.) 

After  the  death  of  Mimephtha,  his  son,  Sbthos  U.,  ascended  the 
throne.  His  regal  title  was,  '*  Pharaoh,  vigilant  in  all  Lands,  the 
Friend  of  Amonn ;"  his  name,  "  Sethos  II.,  Servant  of  Phtha."  He 
is  represented  at  Silsilis  as  making  an  offering  to  Amnnre,  accom- 
panied by  an  officer  of  his  oonrt,  who  pnts  np  a  prayer  for  the  king. 
Bat  Egypt  had  at  this  time  rapidly  declined  from  the  glory  to  which 
it  had  been  raised  by  the  brilliant  genias  Imd  prowess  of  Rameses 
UL  We  have  no  history  of  \his  reign ;  and  the  low  and  perilous 
condition  of  the  monarchy  is  indicated  at  Silsilis  by  a  carious  and 
unique  monumental  inscription.  This  Pharaoh  is  represented  as 
offering  a  prayer  to  Amunre,  that  his  son  may  sit  on  the  throne 
after  him, — a  prayer  nowhere  else  found  on  the  seulptm^  of  Egypt. 
Taosir,  or  Taseser,  the  queen  of  Sethos  II.,  is  frequently  represented 
as  making  offerings  to  the  gods,  sometimes  alone,  and  at  others  in 
company  with  her  husband.  There  is  no  date  on  any  of  the  monu- 
ments of  this  sovereign ;  and  everything  indicates  that  either  during 
his  reign,  or  afterward,  he  was  not  fiilly  recognised  as  a  le^timate 
monarch  of  Egypt ;  though  he  bore  the  title,  and  held  possession  at 
least  of  Upper  Egypt. 

The  son  of  the  preceding  Pharaoh  succeeded  him.  His  assumed 
title  was,  "Pharaoh,  the  Light  of  the  Sun,  Sesostris  (£1.0"  bis 
name,  "  Si-Ptah  Mansphtha."  Of  this  reign  even  less  is  known 
than  of  the  preceding.  He  also  appears  to  have  been  regarded  as- 
not  justly  entitled  to  sovereign  di^iity, — a  &ot  whidi  accounts  for 
the  appearance  of  his  name  on  the  n^onuments,  where,  as  possessing 
supreme  power,  he  could  compel  it  to  be  placed,  while  it  is  omitted 
from  tiie  historical  lists.  Witii  this  reign  the  eighteenth  dynasty 
terpiinated. 

In  closing  this  sketch  of  the  period  of  Egyptian  histoiy  whidi  gave 
imperishable  fame  to  this  nation,  and  stands  so  prominentiy  identi- 
fied with  the  most  interesting  events  of  Hebrew  history,  it  mayV 
possibly  occur  to  the  reader  that  there  is  here  a  seriotis  discrepancy, 


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76  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

if  not  a  direct  contradiction.  It  may  be  Bupposed  that  a  people  bo 
wise,  powerful,  and  refined, — so  poliahed  in  art;  and  abundant  in  the 
enjoyment  of  all  Inzoiy  and  elegance, — could  never  be  guilty  of  the 
atrocities  which,  according  to  the  Scriptores,  led  to  the  ditine  inter- 
position that  produced  the  Exodus!  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that 
this  notion  is  abundantly  refuted  by  secular  history.  The  exquisite 
and  imperishable  monuments  of  Egypt  bear  undeniable  and  ever- 
lasting  evidence  to  her  tyrannical,  cruel,  and  blood-thirsty  character. 
Natural  as  the  objection  appears,  it  is  perfectly  annihilated  by  ex- 
tant monumental  inscriptions.  We  have  before  our  eyes  an  abiding 
demonstration  that,  with  all  her  wisdom  and  wealth,  her  prowess 
and  art,  her  civilization  and  philosophy,  Egypt  was  the  power 
which,  above  all  other  ancient  nations,  mi^t  be  expected  to  per- 
petrate the  deeds  of  blood  and  darkness  that  the  Bible  charges 
on  her  in  the  case  of  Israel,  and  in  Consequence  deserved  to  be 
made  a  special  example  of  divine  punishment.  (See  Appendix, 
note  10.) 

In  passing  to  the  nineteenth  and  following  dynasties,  it  will  not 
be  possible  to  be  as  minute  as  heretofoiS,  inasmuch  as  great  obscurity 
rests  upon  many  reigns :  even  the  names  and  titles  can  but  seldom 
be  identified  on  the  monuments.  I  shall  therefore  give  the  lists  of 
the  dynasties,  as  fiir  as  can  be  ascertained,  with  such  information  as 
may  be  collected  with  reference  to  die  several  reigns. 

nnvrmTH  otsabtt:  wptm  luoarausAV  xnroB. 

Tmn. 

1.  Setlkos  reigned « 05 

2.  Bameaes  ..^ , 66 

S.  Amenephihes % 40 

4.  Rameses — 

Duration  of  the  dynasty v *.>  187  years. 

These  are  the  kings  of  this  dynasty,  according  to  Eusebius. 
But  no  part  of  the  Egyptian  history — witii  the  exception  of  one 
reign — is  shrouded  in  deeper  darlmess  than  this.  Neither  the 
annals  nor  the  monuments  give  any  positive  information.  Mr.  Os- 
bum  supposes  the  last' king  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty*  to  have  been 
driven  from  his  throne  by  a  second  invasion  of  the  Ganaanites  or 
*'  Shepherds,"  and  to  have  died  in  Ethiopia,  leaving  an  infant  son, 
Sethos  Ramses,  then  only  five  years  of  age.  I  confess  that  the 
reasons  assigned  by  him,  from  Manetho,  for  this  decision,  appear  to 
me  very  unsatisfkotory.  Yet,  knowing  as  we  do  the  strength  of 
numerous  warlike  tribes  residing  in  the  south  of  Canaan,  or  Edom, 
and  wandering  in  powerful  nomadic  hordes  in  the  Wilderness  of 


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THE  OBKTILB  NATIONS.  77 

Sinai  *  it  cannot  be  unreasonable  to  believe  that  a  confederation  of 
these  might  take  advantage  of  any  weakness  or  disorder  in  the 
Egyptian  state,  and,  for  a  while  at  least,  successfully  assail  and 
ravage  the  lower  and  more  exposed  part  of  the  kingdom. 

Nor  is  it  very  improbable  that  this  was  done;  and  that,  as  Manetho 
intimates,  after  a  while,  the  young  king,  supported  by  the  power  of 
Upper  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  defeated  and  expelled  these,  warlike 
intruders,  and  restored  the  integrity  of  the  kingdom ;  the  great  and 
obvious  error  which  writers,  from  Manetho  to  the  present  day,  have 
fallen  into,  being  the  attempt  to  identify  this  eruption  either  with 
the  descent  or  the  Exodus  of  the  Hebrews. 

This  Pharaoh,  however,  having  possessed  himself  of  the  throne, 
took  for  his  regal  title,  "  Pharaoh,  Guardian  of  Justice,  the  Friend 
of  Amoun;"  and  for  his  name,  "  Rameses,  Prince  of  On." 

His  reign  was  long  and  apparently  prosperous.  He  restored  not 
only  the  integrity  of  the  kingdom,  but  its  iniuence  abroad.  He 
appears  to  have  gone  over  most  of  the  lands  which  had  been  sub- 
dued by  Seihos  and  Sesostris.  We  are  distinctly  told  Uiat  he  con- 
quered the  Shetin. 

Having  finished  his  foreign  wars  successfully,  he  pursued  the 
course  usually  adopted  by  his  predecessors,  and  devoted  the  spoils 
which  he  had  acquired  to  the  erection  of  a  splendid  temple.  The 
magnificent  palace-temple  of  Medihet-Abou,  in  Western  Thebes, 
was  raised  by  him ;  and  its  vast  range  of  walla  was  covered  witii 
sculptured  repi^entations  of  his  various  wars.  In  one  of  these 
scenes,  the  king  is  represented  sitting  in  his  chariot,  with  an  air  of 
calm  dignity  on  his  countenance.  Four  great  o£5cers  stand  by 
him,  presiding  over  the  ceremony  of  counting  each  of  the  heaps  of 
hands  which  have  been  cut  from  the  enemies  who  had  been  slain. 
Each  heap  is  said  tcf  contain  three  thousand.  Close  by  are  four 
rows  of  captives,  bound  in  the  usual  manner.  Immediately  over  the 
king  is  the  address  which  he  delivers  to  his  army :  it  is  in  the  form 
of  a  short  poem  or  ode : — 

"  The  address  of  Barneses,"  dbc.,  "  to  his  royal  sons, 

And  to  hia  servants  who  commanded  his  infantrj  and  cavalry. 

Give  yourselves  np  to  joy; 

Let  it  resound  to  heaven. 

My  falchion  hath  smitten  the  Hittite. 

I  come,  (and)  terror  fills  their  hearts. 


^If  the  Amalekites  possessed  sufficient  power  to  place  in  jeopardy  a  body  of  six 
handled  thousand  fighting  men,  even  admitting  the  latter  to  have  been  to  a  great 
extent  nndisciplined  and  unarmed,  (although  this  is  not  mentioned,)  they  would  be 
formidable  foes  on  the  frtmtier  of  any  kingdom.  Bxod.  xvli. 


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78  THE  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

I  arieo,  conquering  with' the  armies  of  Upper  and  Lower  Bgjpt. 
I  manifest  yon  in  the  midst  of  them  like  springing  lions, 
Or  like  hawks  among  the  wat-er-fowL 
My  heart  is  strong  against  them,  like  a  bull  against  a'  ram. 
I  have  forded  their  rivers ; 
I  have  laid  waste  their  lands ; 
I  have  burned  their  forts  with  fire. 
■  Amoun-Be  hath  pnt  the  whole  world  nnder  my  feet. 
I  am  a  king  upon  my  throne  forever."— (Muni'*  Egjfpi^^.  101. 

I  add  one  farther  extract;  from  ^Mr.  Osbimi's  Iduned  work, 
which  has  reference  to  the  moniunentai  records  respecting  this 
reign: — 

*'  The  mutilated  state  of  these  vast  pictmres  prevents  the  possi- 
bility of  anything  like  a  connected  account  of  the  events  of  this  war. 
Two  actions  of  it  are  still  remaining.  The  one  is  the  surprise  of  a 
city  or  district  of  the  Philistines,  by  tiie  combined  armies  of  the 
Egjrptians  and  Zidonians.  The  other  is  an  attack  upon  the  fleets  of 
the  Philistines  and  Zidonians  in  harbour  by  the  Egyptians.  In  both 
these  pictures  the  defeat  of  the  enemies  of  Egypt  is  as  complete  as 
in  all  other  cases.  In  the  land-fight,  the  army  of  the  Philistines  is 
vainly  endeavouring  to  cover  the  flight  of  their  wives,  children,  and 
possessions,  in  wagons  of  wicker-work  with  solid  wheels,  and  drawn 
by  four  oxen  abreast.  Their  ranks  are  broken,  and  they  are  in  in- 
extricable confusion,  while  their  wagons  fall  a  prey  to  the  Egyptian 
soldiers.  The  sea-fight  is.  in  every  respect  a  remarkable  picture, 
and  deserves  &r  more  attention  thim  it  has  hitherto  received.  As 
it  occurs  in  the  same  series  with  the  former,  the  event  probably  took 
place  in  the  same  war.  Nothing,  of  course,  can  be  known  of  tibe 
circumstances  which  induced  the  Zidonians,  who  in  the  former  pic- 
tore  appeared  as  allies  of  Egypt,  to  join  the  ranks  of  its  enemies  on 
the  present  occasion.  Such  changes  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
war.  The  occasion  of  the  battle  appears  to  have  been  a  meditated 
descent  on  the  coast  of  Egypt,  by  t^e  combined  fleets  of  the  Zido- 
nians and  Philistines.  The  action  took  place  either  on  the  Egyptian 
coast  or  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  lUmeses,  at  the  head  of  his 
army,  repulsed  the  enemy  in  their  attempt  to  land,  while  the  Egyptian 
fleet  engaged  with  them  by  sea ;  both,  on  the  authority  of  the  picture, 
with  incredible,  yea,  impossible,  success.  The  entire  fleet  of  the 
enemy  was  taken,  and  carried  in  triumph  to  Egypt;  and  the  forces 
which  had  manned  it  graced  the  triumphal  procession  of  the  con- 
queror at  Thebes." — OsburrCs  Egypt,  p.  110. 

The  cruel  character  of  this  country  and  age  is  strikingly  displayed 
in  the  picture  of  the  king,  who  is  represented  armed  with  his  bow, 
with  each  of  his  feet  upon  the  necks  of  four  of  his  enemies;  while 


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TBB  GSNTILB  NATIONS.  79 

his  four  sons,  all  engaged  in  the  same  adi,  stand  in  line  before 
him. 

We  have  no  precise  information  respecting  other  sovereigns  of 
this  dynasty,  whose  role  extended  from  the  time  of  Othniel  to  that 
of  Deborah  and  Barak.  It  is,  however,  a  remarkable  fact,  that  as 
the  power  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  became  consolidated,  and 
its  political  inflaence  paramount  in  Canaan,  so  we  lose  all  notice  of 
the  Canaanitish  nations  on  the  monument^  of  Egypt,  where  they  are 
constantiy  recognised  previously.  Aft^r  the  reign  of  Sethos  Rame- 
ses,  the  first  king  of  the  nineteentii  dynasly,  no  allusion  to  the. 
people  of  Canaan  is  found  in  the  Egyptian  sculptures,  until  the  time 
of  Behoboam,  when,  as  if  to  prove  that  the  absence  of  these  arose 
out  of  the  altered  condition  of  Canaan,  and  not  from  any  change  in 
the  manners  and.  usages  of  Egypt,  we  have  gorgeous  sculptured 
representations  of  the  incursion  of  Shishak,  and  of  his  triumph  over 
Behoboam. 

We  proceed  to  the  twentieth  dynasty,  respecting  which  we  only 
learn  that  it  consisted  of  twelve  Diospolitan  kings,  who  reigned  one 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  years,  and  that  the  ^^eater  number  of 
them  were  called  Bameses.  Lepsius  seems  to  have  identified  on 
the*  monuments  Pharaohs  of  this  name  from  Bameses  IV.  to 
Bameses  XIY .  We  have  no  traces  of  foreign  war  or  conquest 
during  the  reigns  of  these  sovereigns.  The  prmcipal  memorials 
of  Bameses  Y.  are  the  lateral  inscriptions  of  the  obeUsk  which 
Thothmes  I.  erected  at  Kamak.  They  contain,  however,  no  his- 
torical fact.  His  tomb  in  the  Bab-el-Melook  is  small;  the  sarco- 
phagus remains  in  it,  and  has  been  broken.  Bameses  VI.  has  in 
some  instances  effiiced  the  name  of  his  predecessor ;  but  we  have  no 
memorials  of  his  reign,  and  can  only  conjecture  that  it  was  long, 
from  the  unusual  amount  of  labour  employed  in  the  preparation  of 
his  tomb.  It  is  three  hundred  and  forty- two  feet  in  length,  descend- 
ing by  a  gradual  slope  to  a  depth  of  twenty-five  feet  below  the  ground, 
and  is  divided  into  a  number  of  chambers.  The  whole  surface  of 
the  walls  and  ceilings  is  cov^ed  with  a  proftusion  of  coloured  sculp- 
tures of  minute  size,  chiefly  astronomical  and  mythical.  One  of 
them^represents  the  judgment-scene  before  Osiris,  aiid  the  supposed 
return  of  a  wicked  soul  to  the  world. 

Of  Bameses  YII.  there  is  absolutely  no  memorial,  except  his 
tomb,  whidi  is  of  much  less  finished  execution  than  that  of  his 
predecessor.  The  sarcophagus  is  excavated  in  the  rock  of  the  floor 
to  the  depth  of  four  feet,  and  covered  with  a  slab  of  granite.  Bame- 
ses Yin.  is  known  only  by  the  occurrence  of  his  shield.  The  shields 
of  the  other  sovereigns  of  this  dynasty  are  much  more  crowded  than 


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80  THE  QBNTILB  KATlOKS. 

those  of  the  ei^teenth  dynasty.  Barneses  IX.  was,  aecording  to 
Lepsius,  the  son  of  Rameses  YU.  He  began  a  temple  to  Chons, 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mile,  near  Kamak;  but  left  it  imperfect, 
except  the  sanctoary.  His  tomb  is  small,  and  appears  to  have 
remained  unfinished  at  his  death,  as  the  walls  of  some  of  the 
apartments  have  figares  and  inscriptions  traced  upon  them,  but  not 
sculptured.  The  tombs  of  Barneses  X.,  XI.,  XIL,  have  also  been 
ascertained.  That  of  Bameses  X.  is  executed  with  care,  and 
adorned  with  astrological  paintings.  The  seventeenth  year  of  the 
reign  of  Bameses  XI.  has  been  found  on  a  papyma,  and  the  second 
of  Bameses  XII.  Of  Barneses  XIU.  and  XIY.  nothing  beyond 
the  names  is  known,,  which  is  the  more  indicative  of  the  inactivity 
which  characterized  the  last  years  of  this  dynasty,  because  Bameses 
XIV.  reigned  at  least  thirty-three  years.  Bosellini  reckons  a 
ffifceenth,  by  whom  a  hypostyle-hall  was  added  to  the  temple  of 
Chons  at  Kamak,  founded  by  Bameses  IX.  (Eenrick,  vol.  ii, 
page  338.) 

According  to  the  Arundelian  Marbles,  the  fall  of  Troy  took  place  in 
1184  B.  C. :  and  Pliny  states  that  a  Bameses  then  sat  on  the  throne 
of  Egypt.  According  to  our  arrangement  this  would  happen  during 
the  reign  of  one  of  the  latter  Pharaohs  of  Ais  name  -and  dynasty. 
The  rule  of  this  line  of  kings  ranged  from  the  time  of  Deborah  and 
Barak  to  that  of  Eli.  The  Hebrews  were  at  that  time  expanding 
into  a  great  people,  and  were  gradually  displacing  all  the  old  nations 
which  had  occupied  Canaan.  The  Philistines  alone  appear  to  have 
remained  unbroken  in  strength;  and  it  is  possible  that  there  is  in 
that  fact  more  than  at  first  meets  the  eye.  This  warlike  people 
occupied  the  sea-coaat  in  the  southwest  angle  of  the  Promised 
Land.  They  stood,  therefore,  as  a  bulwark  against  Egyptian 
aggression.  The  wise  providence  of  God  seems  strikingly  dis- 
played in  the  fact,  that  the  last  remnant  of  the  martial  power  of 
^^Canaan  which  remained  in  the  land,  seemed  alike  designed  to 
^Vpunish  the  Hebrews  for  their  apostasy,  when  unfaithful,  and 
to  protect  them  firom  Egypt^  while  they  remained  devoted  to 
Jehovah. 

The  rising*  power  of  the  Hebrews,  with  that  of  Philistia,  also 
shielded  the  Phemdans ;  and  this  maritime  and  commercial  people 
rose  rapidly  into  opulence  and  pgwer,  while  the  sway  and  trade  of 
Egypt  became  more  than  ever  circumscribed.  .  Thus  did  Providence 
prepare  the  way  for  the  political  and  oommerdal  prosperity  of  the 
elect  nation  under  David  and  Solomon. 


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THB  eSNTUiB  NATIONS.  81 

THE  TWSVTT-TIBn  DTVA9TT :  SBTBI  TAHITB  KlSaB. 

YMn. 

Smendes  reigned.. i , 26 

FlBoiMenneg „ 41 

Nephercheres i ., 4 

Amenophthis 9 

Osochor.^ 6 

Pkinaches 9 

PtOQBennea. » 85 

The-djiiMtyooDtinued.. ...-. 180y<«rs. 

Tanis,  or  Zoao,  now  first  i^pears  in  Egyptian  hi8t<»7,  as  supply- 
ing a  race  of  soyereigns  to  tho  imperial  throne.  This  city  stood  on. 
a  branch  of  the  l^ile,  the  most  easterly,  and  consequently  the  near- 
est to  Palestine  and  Arabia,  with  the  exception  of  the  Pelusiac. 
Scriptore  plainly  informs  us  that  2^an  was  built  seven  years  after 
Hebron.  We  do  not,  indeed,  know  when  the  Jebusite  town  was 
founded ;  bud  it  is  mentioned  in  the  time  of  Abraham.  It  is  probable 
that  Tanis  rose  into  importance  during  the  time  when  the  shepherd- 
kings  exercised  supreme  sway  in  Lower  Egypt.  In  Psalifi  Ixxviii, 
the  miracles  which  accompanied  the  Exodus  are  said  to  have  been 
wrou^t  in  "  the  field  of  Zoan;"  (verse  43;)  an  expression  which 
indicates  that  about  the  time  of  David  this  city  was  regarded  as 
the  residence  of  the  Pharaoh  who  had  "refused  to  let  Israel  go.'' 
In  the  age  of  Isaiah  it  was  still  considered  as  the  capital  of  the  Delta. 
"  The  princes  of  Zoan,  and  the  princes  of  Noph,"  (Memptiis,)  are 
spoken  of  as  equivalent  to  "  the  nobles  of  Egypt." 

The  ruins  of  this  ancient  city,  although  tliey  have  never  been 
explored,  are  amply  sufficient  in  extent  to  attest  its  magnificence. 
Its  principal  temple  stood  within  an  area  of  fifteen  hundred  feet  by 
twelve  hundred  and  fifty,  and  appears  to  have  been  built  by  Rameses- 
Sesostris,  whose  shield  is  seen  in  various  parts  of  the  ruins.  It  was 
adorned  with  an  unusual  number  of  obelisks.  If  its  ruins  had  been 
explored  with  the  same  (Hligence  as  has  been  employed  on  those  of 
Middle  and  Upper  Egypt,  some  very  important  information  would 
probably  have  been  famished  for  the  history  of  this  dynasty.  This 
has  hitherto  been  prevented  by  the  rude  character  of  the  inbibitants, 
and  the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  the  district. 

No  sources  of  intelligence  are  at  present  accessible,  which  throw 
light  on  the  manner  in  which  the  sceptre  of  Egypt  passed  from  the 
Diospolitan  dynasty  to  the  Tanite.  The  temple  which  Rameses 
IX.  erected  to  the  god  Uhons  (to  which  reference  has  ab^ady  been 
made)  exhibits  a  priest,  "  whose  name  has  been  read  Hraihor.  or 
Pehor,  distinguishable  by  his  shaven  head  and  panther's  skin,  and 
denominated  in  his  shield,  *  High-Priest  of  Amun/  who  at  the  same 

6 


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82  THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

time  appears  to  have  performed*  the  functions  of  royalty.  In  one 
compartment  of  the  sculptures,  Horns  places  on  his  head  the  white 
cap,  and  JNebthi  the  red  cap, — acts  symbolical  of  his  investiture  with 
the  dominion  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt.  He  even  appears  in  a 
military  capacity,  with  the  title  of  *  Commander  of  the  Archers.* 
Another  priest,  whose  name  has  been  read  Pischiam,  appears  on 
the  same  building  qualified  with  the  titles  of  royalty.  These  names 
do  not  correspond  with  any  of  those  in  JMlanetho  j  and  we  are  left  to 
conjecture  that,  during  the  time  that  elapsed  after  the  expiration  of 
the  Bameside  dynasty,  and  before  the  establishment  of  the  Tanite 
in  full  authority  over  Upper  as  well  as  Lower  Egypt,  the  high-priests 
of  Thebes  assumed  the  royal  style,  and  even  military  command.  It 
would  be  agreeable  to  the  practice  of  Manetho,  not  to  include  them 
an  his  dynastic  liste,  but  to  carry  on  his  chronology  by  means  of  the 
Tanite  kings,  even  though  two  or  three  generations  elapsed  before 
•their  iiuthority  was  acknowledged  in  Thebes." — KenricKs  Egypt, 
Tol.  ii,  p.  343. 

Durmg  the  rule  of  this  dynasty  the  greatest  political  and  com- 
mercial changes  took  place  in  Palestine, — changes  which  most 
seriously  afieeted  the  sway  and  trade  of  Egypt.  The  military  and 
political  genius  ef  David  had  not  only  consolidated  the  energy  of 
the  Hebrew  people, .  and  given  to  their  hitherto  isolated  tribes  a 
national  character  and  power :  it  had  also  extended  a  commanding 
influence  over  the  Phenicians,  and,  by  dictating  to  them  the  terms 
on  which  they  should  carry  on  the  traffic  with  the  East,  (a  measure 
which  Solomon  secured  by  the  erection  of  Baa^bec  in  the  Valley  of 
Lebanon,  and  Palmyra  in  the  Wilderness,)  had  completed  their  sub- 
serviency to  the  Hebrew  government  The  conquest  of  Edom  by 
David  fulfilled  this  scheme  of  policy.  By  these  means  the  commu- 
nication of  Egypt  with  the  East  was  completely  cut  off,  and  even  the 
old-established  caravan  traffic  through  Petra,  which  had  existed  from 
the  days  of  Joseph,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign  of 
Jerusalem.  Solomon  availed  himself  of  all  the  advantages  arising 
out  of  the  geographical  position  of  his  country,  and,  by  the  aid  of 
Phenician  mariners,  secured  to  Judea  an  important  coasting- trade 
with  the  gold- coast  of  Ara1)ia  and  India. 

These  measures  of  the  Hebrew  government  had  the  effect  of  iso- 
lating the  Pharaohs  of  Egypt,  from  all  their  conquests  in  Asia,  and 
shutting  them  out  from  all  important  commercial  operations  in  the 
East.  It  is  remarkable  that,  either  awed  by  the  daring  valour  of 
the  Hebrews,  or  withheld  by  an  overruling  Providence,  Egypt  saw 
the  progress  of  the  Hebrew  power  and  policy  without  striking  a. 
blow.    A  military  junction  with  the  Philistines,  Edomites,  Am- 


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THE  QBNTILE  NATIONS.  83 

monites,  or  other  warlike  tribes,  which  were  successively  subdued 
by  Israel,  would  have  so  obviously  been  for  the  Interest  of  Egypt, 
that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  account  for  the  continued  apathy  of 
such  a  nation  in  those  circumstances,  without  attributing  it  to  provi- 
dential interposition. 

In  the  brief  notices  of  Egypt  which  are  found  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  there  is  enough  to  show  that  people  not  to  have  been 
indifferent  spectators  of  these  mighty  changes  in  their  political  rela- 
tions. When  Joab,  in  the  reign  of  David,  slaujghtered  the  males  of 
Edom,  Hadad,  one  of  the  royal  family,  having  escaped  to  Egypt,  was  not 
only  received  and  protected,  but  provided  for  as  a  royal  prince,  and 
was  &voured  with  the  queen  of  Egypt's  sister  for  his  wife :  his  son, 
too,  was  brought  up  in  Pharaoh's  house.  It  must  be  admitted  that, 
in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  Solomon  appeared  to  hold  a  very  friendly 
relation  to  the  reigning  Pharaoh,  and  married  his  daughter.  But 
even  in  the  Scriptural  notice  of  this  event  there  is  evidence,  that 
Egypt  had  not  ceased  to  regard  Palestine  as  a  theatre  for  warlike 
operations.  We  are  told  that  when  Solomon  married  the  princess 
of  Egypt,  •*  Pharaoh  King  of  Egypt  had  gone  up  and  taken  Gezer, 
and  burned  it  with  fire,  and  slain  the  Oanaanites  that  dwelt  in  the 
city,  and  given  it  for  a  present  unto  his  daughter,  Solomon's  wife." 
1  Kings  ix,  16.  This  city  stood  on  the  south  frontier  of  the  tribe 
of  Ephraim,  about  fifteen  miles  N.  W.  by  N.  of  Jerusalem :  so  that, 
even  after  all  the  martial  triumphs  of  David,  this  Canaatiitish  town 
remained  in  the  very  heart  of  the  country ;  and,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  reign  of  Solomon,  a  king  of  Egypt  led  an  army  along  the 
western  coast  of  Palestine,  and  sacked  this  city  within  a  few  hours' 
march  of  the  capital  of  Judea.  Such  a  fact  casts  important  light  on 
the  international  policy  of  ancient  times. 

When  Solomon  became  enervated  by  luxury,  and  corrupted  by 
sin.  Hadad,  Prince  of  Edom,  went  up  from  Egypt  with  the  consent 
of  Pharaoh ;  and,  he  having  formed  an  alliance  with  Rezon,  a  daring 
freebooter,  they  succeeded  in  wresting  from  the  Hebrew  monarch 
Edom  and  a  part  of  Syria.  Hadad  consequently  became  king  of 
his  native  land,  while  Rezon  reigned  in  Damascus.  It  is  not  stated 
that  these  persons  received  aid  from  Egypt  in  their  eflforts ;  but  as 
it  was  obviously  the  interest  of  this  nation  that  they  should  succeed, 
it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  they  were  favoured  with  indirect 
countenance  and  help,  if  not  with  open  and  avowed  support. 

During  the  reign  of  Solomon  an  active  commerce  in  horses, 
chariots,  and  linen  yam  was  carried  on  between  Judea  and  Egypt. 
Solomon  not  only  furnished  his  own  armies  with  horses  and  chariots 
from  this  country,  but  sold  them  again  to  the  Hittites  and  the  Syrians ; 


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84  THE  G ENTILE  NATIONS. 

and,  as  if  to  indicate  the  thorough  and  monopolizing  character  of 
the  Hebrew  king's  policy,  it  is  distinctly  stated  that  this  was  done 
by  "  the  king's  merchants,''  1  BLings  x,  28,  29. 

TWKHTT-sxcosD  dtvabtt:  niTi  BUBABULB  KUrGB. 

Ymi*. 

SesoQchia  (Shishak)  reigned 21 

OBorchon 16 

Three  other  kings  omitted  by  EuebiiiB ^ 20 

Takellothia 13 

Three  others  omitted  bj  Eiuebius 42 

The  dynasty  continued 116  years. 

The  first  of  these  kings  is  undoubtedly  the  Shishak  of  Holy 
Scripture ;  and  as  his  invasion  of  Judah  took  place  in  B.  C.  974,  it 
must  have  occurred  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign.  It  is  a  fact  no 
less  important  than  singular,  that  the  monumental  record  of  this 
event  should  exist  at  the  present  time  in  a  perfect  state,  and 
exhibit  an  undoubted  memorial  of  this  historical  event.  Although 
much  doubt  in  general  attends  the  identification  of  names  on  Egyp- 
tian monuments,  in  consequence  of  its  being  necessary  ''  to  assume 
certain  phonetic  values  for  characters  which  do  not  occur  elsewhere, 
pr  only  in  positions  equally  ambiguous;  there  appears  to  be  no 
uncertainty  respecting  the  most  important  figure  of  the  whole,"  (in 
this  monument,)  "  the  third  in  the  third  line,  which  contains,  in  well- 
known  characters,  Joudmalk,  that  is,  Joudah-Melek,  *King  of 
Judah ;'  which  being  followed  by  the  usual  character  for  *  land,'  the 
whole  will  read,  'Land  of  the  Eng  of  Judah;'  these  shields  repre- 
senting, not  persons,  but  places,  symbolized  by  a  figure  of  their 
inhabitants." — Kenrick,  vol,  ii,  p.  350.  This  monument  is  found 
on  the  external  wall  of  the  hypostyle-hall  at  Earnak. 

There  are  other  memorials  of  this  sovereign  at  Earnak  and 
Silsilis ;  but  they  are  of  a  religious,  and  npt  of  an  historical  charac- 
ter. If  Sesoncjiis  were  the  same  as  the  Sasychis  of  Diodorus  and 
Herodotus,  (which,  from  an  ingenious  conjecture  of  Bunsen,  is  ren- 
dered very  probable,)  he  was  celebrated  as  a  legislator,  as  well  as  a 
conqueror.  To  him  is  attributed  the  law  which  allowed  a  debtor  to 
raise  money  by  pledging  the  body  of  his  father,  on  condition  that,  if  . 
he  did  not  repay  the  money,  neither  he  himself  nor  any  of  his  family 
should  be  interred,  either  in  the  family  sepulchre  or  elsewhere. 

The  state  of  the  arts  had  now  evidently  declined.  There  are 
several  statues  of  the  lion-headed  goddess  Pasht  which  were  exe- 
cuted about  thi3  time ;  one  of  them  is  in  the  British  Museum.  Mr. 
Birch  pronounces  it  far  inferior  in  design  and  execution  to  the  stat- 
uary of  Thothmes  III. 


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THE  OENTILB  NATIONS.  85 

A  son  of  Sesonchis  appears  joined  with  him  in  an  act  of  worship 
at  Eamak.  As  was  sometimes  the  case  in  Egypt,  he  united  with 
the  sacerdotal  office  the  post  of  "  captain  of  the  archers."  He  did 
not  succeed  his  fisither. 

Osorchon  is  the  next  king  in  Manetho's  dynasty,  and  his  shield 
follows  that  of  Sheshonk  in  the  sculptures  of  the  court  at  Kamak. 
The  Books  of  Kings  record  no  intercourse  between  Judah  and 
Egypt,  from  the  invasion  of  Shishak  to  the  reign  of  Hoshea,  who 
made  an  alliance  with  Seva  or  So,  King  of  Egypt  The  Second 
Book  of  Chronicles,  however,  says  that  in  the  reign  of  Asa,  Zerach, 
an  Ethiopian  king,  invaded  Judah.  Critics  have  supposed  this 
Zerach  to  be  the  same  as  Osorchon,  the  successor  of  Seson6his.  All 
the  circumstances  of  the  case  render  this  conclusion  extremely  prob- 
able. Zerach  could  not  be  one  of  the  twenty-fifth  or  Ethiopian 
dynasty  of  Egyptian  kings,  since  the  earliest  of  these  lived  about 
two  hundred  years  after  Asa.  The  name  "Zerach"  is  not  very 
different  from  '*  Osorchon,"  when  reduced  to  its  consonants.  We 
can  scarcely  believe  tfiat  during  Osorchon's  reign  any  Ethiopian 
sovereign  could  have  invaded  Judah:  for  it  is  certain  that  at  this 
time  his  sway  extended  over  Upp^r  as  well  as  Lower  Egypt;  and, 
in  order  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  tiie  Ethiopian  army  must  have 
marched  through  the  entire  length  of  Egypt, — which  is  incredible. 
The  sacred  text,  indeed,  calls  the  invading  sovereign  an  "  Ethiopian :" 
but  then  this  is  foimd  only  in  the  Book  of  Chronicles,  which  was 
not  written — at  least,  in  its  present  form — till  after  the  Captivity. 
And  the  use  of  this  term  may  be  accounted  for,  even  supposing  the 
war  to  have  been  conducted  by  one  of  the  Pharaohs ;  for  at  this 
time  the  armies  of  Egypt  were  mainly  composed  of  Libyan  and 
Ethiopian  troops.  But,  in  addition  to  all  this,  the  time  exactly 
agrees.  Rehoboam  reigned  twelve  years*  after  the  invasion  of 
Sesonchis ;  Abijah,  his  son,  who  succeeded  him,  three  years ;  and 
the  victory  of  Asa  took  place  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign :  so 
that  thirty  years  elapsed  from  the  invasion  of  Sesonchis  to  the  defeat 
of  Zerach.  And  as  Sesonchis  reigned  twenty-two  years, — nineteen 
of  which  were  after  his  invasion, — and  Osotchon  fifteen  years,  his 
defeat  by  Asa  (supposing  him  to  be  identified  with  Zerach)  would 
have  taken  place  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his  reign.  When  so  many 
circumstances  unite  in  the  corroboration  of  an  historical  probability, 
in  the  absence  of  all  opposing  evidence,  it  may  be  safely  regarded 
as  an  established  fact. 

There  was  also  a  reason  for  this  war.  Sesonchis  had  humbled 
Rehoboam,  and  spoiled  Jerusalem :  Judah  would  in  consequence  be 
regarded  as  a  dependent,  if  not  a  tributary  state.     When,  therefore, 


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86  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

Asa  had  made  a  league  with  the  king  of  Syria  who  ruled'  in  Damas- 
cus, and  had  built  and  fortified  many  places  in  Judah,  Osorchon  had 
just  cause  to  apprehend,  not  merely  the  loss  of  all  Egyptian  influ- 
ence in  the  East,  but  the  probability  that  a  powerful  hostile  alliance 
would  be  maintained  against  him.  He  accordingly  assembled  a 
great  army,  and  invaded  the  south  of  Judah;  but  Asa,  strong  in 
the  protection  of  Jehovah,  went  out  against  him,  defeated  his  army 
in  a  great  battle,  andpursued  him  to  Gerar  on  the  southern  boundary 
of  Palestine.  1  Kings  xv. 

"  The  names  of  the  three  successors  of  Osorchon  L  are  not  given 
by  Manetho.  Lepsius  makes  his  immediate  successor  to  have  been 
Amunma  Pehor,  who  was  probably  his  son.  Another  son,  whose 
name  was  Sheshonk,  filled  the  office  of  high-priest ;  and  is  men- 
tioned in  a  funeral  papyrus  which  appears  to  have  accompanied  the 
mummy  of  another  high-priest  of  the  name  of  Osorchon,  the  son  of 
this  Sheshonk,  and  consequently  the  grandson  of  Osorchon  I. 
Neither  of  these  appears  to  have  ascended  the  throne.  Pehor  was 
succeeded  by  Osorchon  II.,  and  he  by  Sheshonk  11.  His  shield  is 
distinguished  from  that  of  the  founder  of  the  dynasty  by  the  addi- 
tion of  the  goddess  of  Bubastis,  Pasht.  The  name  of  Takelothis 
was  recovered  by  Champollion  from  a  fragment  of  a  piece  of  syca- 
more-wood, the  remainder  of  which  is  in  the  Vatican;  in  which  a 
priest,  dad  in  the  leopard's  skin,  is  represented  performing  an  act 
of  adoration  to  Phre,  in  behalf  of  Takelothis's  son.  It  has  since 
been  found  on  the  wall  at  Karnak,  with  the  date  of  the  twenty-fifth 
year  of  his  reign.  The  same  inscription  mentions  the  name  of  bis 
queen,  Keromana,  and  of  his  son  and  probably  his  successor,  Osor- 
chon, who  is  called  *  High-Priest  and  Captain  of  the  Archers.*  Of 
Osorchon  III.,  Sheshonk  IH.,  and  Takelothis  II.,  with  whom  the 
dynasty  became  extinct,  no  historical  fact  is  recorded." — Kenrich 
vol.  ii,  p.  356. 

From  a  remark  in  the  Canon  of  Eusebius  it  seems  probable  that 
under  the  twenty- third  dynasty  the  Egyptians  became  a  considerable 
maritime  power,  rivalling,  if  not  excelling  the  Phenicians. 

TwsNTT-THiRD  dtvabty:  fouk  taxttk  kutos. 

Ymi*. 

Petabatis  reigned .' 40 

Osorcho 8 

Psammus..'. 10 

Zet 81 

The  dynaBty  continued 89  yean. 

Of  this  entire  dynasty  no  name  had  been  found  on  the  monuments, 
until  very  lately  Lepsius  has  found  a  shield  with  the  name  of  Petse- 


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THE  eSKTILE  NATIONS.  87 

pesht,  the  Egyptian  word  whence  the  Petubastes  of  Eusebius,  and 
the  Petubates  of  Manetho,  were  derived.  A.  shield  at  Kamak,  con- 
taming  the  name  of  Psemaut,  has  been  ascribed  by  Lepsius  to 
Psammus  of  this  dynasty. 

Neither  Herodotus  nor  Diodoras  affords  any  information  respect- 
ing this  dynasty.  There  are  not  even  any  private  monuments 
which  cast  light  upon  the  state  of  Egypt  at  this  time.  Everything 
seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  a  season  of  decline  and  decay,  which 
ranged  from  the  sixteenth  year  of  Joash  King  of  Judah  to  the  thirty- 
seventh  year  of  Uzziah. 

TWBimr-roiraTH  dtnastt. 

TMtn. 

BoccborU  of  Sais  reigned 44 

I  have  here  adopted  the  numbers  of  Eusebius,  in  preference  to 
the  six  years  of  Manetho,  as  rendered  by  Julius  Africanus.  Not 
that  I  have  particular  confidence  in  this  reckoning ;  on  the  contrary, 
while  I  think  the  general  line  of  chronology  which  I  have  laid  down 
to  be  founded  on  unimpeachable  historical  data,  yet,  as  regards  the 
particular  reigns,  it  would  be  mere  affectation  to  pretend  to  undoubted 
accuracy.  In  the  present  instance  the  longer,  instead  of  the  shorter, 
term  is  selected,  because  the  brief  space  of  six  years  is  far  too  riiort 
to  work  out  a  celebrity  such  as  that  which  is  unequivocally  bestowed 
upon  Bocchoris;  and,  further,  because  the  former  arrangement  best 
agrees  with  the  general  course  of  events,  and  places  Psammitichus 
and  Nechao  IL  in  more  strict  accordance  with  Hebrew  history  than 
would  otherwise  be  the  case. 

The  dynasty  of  Sais,  as  Kenrick  truly  observes,  may  be  said  to 
have  been  in  fact  prolonged  to  the  time  of  the  Persian  conquest,  the 
Ethiopian  dynasty  being  intrusive,  and  the  Dodecarchia  only  tem- 
porary. Sais,  the  city  whence  this  dynasty  obtained  its  name,  stood 
near  the  Canopic  branch  of  the  Nile, — a  district  to  which,  as  being 
the  nearest  and  most  accessible,  the  traffic  of  the  Greeks  was  from 
the  first  attracted. 

The  name  of  this  sovereign  has  been  discovered  on  no  monuments 
which  can  be  referred  with  certainty  to  his  reign.  Diodorus  calls 
his  father  Tnephachthus.  According  to  the  same  writer  this  king 
was  small  in  person,  and  contemptible  in  appearance,  ''but  as  to 
wisdom  and  prudence  &r  excelling  all  the  kings  that  were  before 
him  in  Egypt.''  He  is  also  supposed  to  have  framed  laws,  defining 
the  prerogatives  and  duties  of  the  sovereign,  and  establishing  equi- 
table regulations  respecting  commercial  contracts,  ^lian,  indeed, 
gives  a  very  different  account  of  Bocchoris,  who,  he  says,  obtained  a 
very  false  reputation  for  the  justice  of  his  decisions.    He  alleges 


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88  THE  QEKtlLE  NATIONS. 

that,  to  grieve  the  EgyptiauB,  Bocchoris  set  a  wild  bull  to  attack 
their  sacred  Mnevis ;  but  that,  as  the  assailant  was  rushing  furi- 
ously on,  he  stumbled,  and  entangled  his  horn  in  the  tree  persea^ 
when  Mnevis  gave  him  a  mortal  wound  in  the  flank.  To  such 
accounts  not  much  credit  is  due.  Plutarch  acknowledges  the  just 
decisions  of  Bocchoris,  but  calls  him  "  a  man  of  stem  character." 
The  probability  is,  that  this  Pharaoh  reigned  in  a  time  of  great 
declension  and  disorder,  and  that  he  made  wise  and  energetic  efforts 
to  remedy  existing  evils, — efforts  which,  being  partially  successful, 
gave  him  great  celebrity ;  but  as  tfaiese  measures  painfully  affected 
those  who  were  deriving  private  gain  from  .public  wrong,  he  was,  to 
the  extent  of  their  influence,  stigmatized  by  them  as  severe  and 
cruel. 

TWKHTT-nrTR  DTITABTY :  TH&SS  BTHIOPLUr  KDTOS. 

Sabaco  reignecL S 

(He  took  Booclioris  prisoner,  and  burnt  him  alive.) 

Sebichos,  (Sevechos,)  his  son 14 

Tarkns IS 

Duration  of  the  dynasty 40  yean. 

The  term  "Ethiopian"  is  so  indiscriminately  applied  to  the  Arab 
of  Yemen,  the  Abyssinian,  the  native  of  Mubia,  as  well  as  to  the 
inhabitants  of  other  districts,  that  it  becomes  necessary,  in  intro- 
ducing this  Ethiopian  dynasty,  to  ascertain  the  seat  of  its  original 
power.  On  this  point  no  uncertainty  exists.  The  seat  of  the  mon- 
archy of  Sabaco  was  the  Napata  of  the  Romans, — the  same  as 
Gebel-Bericel,  standing  about  seven  hundred  miles  above  Syene  on 
the  banks  of  the  Nile.  Under  the  eighteenth  dynasty  Egypt  ruled 
over  the  Valley  of  the  Nile  as  far  As  this  city.  .  Its  ruins  even  now 
bear  the  name  of  Thothmes  III.  But  under  the  succeeding  dynas- 
ties, the  rising  power  of  Ethiopia  so  far  prevailed  that  the  northern 
frontier  of  this  kingdom  included  the  Island  of  Argo ;  while,  under 
the  feeble  twenty-third  and  twenty-fourth  dynasties,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  Ethiopians  occupied  Thebes,  and  that  Bocchoris 
held  his  crown  as  a  tributary  or  subject  prince.  This  supposition 
alone  accounts  for  the  statement,  that,  when  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Ethiopian  monarch,  he  was  burned  to  death.  This  is  a  conjecture 
of  Mr.  Kenrick,  and  one  which  seeins  particularly  plausible,  as 
Sabaco  is  celebrated  as  a  just  and  humane  sovereign,  and  therefore 
not  likely  to  inflict  such  a  terrible  death  on  a  captive  prince,  imless 
he  had  been  guilty  of  some  breach  of  faith  or  treachery. 

We  have  no  satisfactory  information  respecting  this  Invasion. 
Herodotus  calls  the  king  who  reigned  in  Egypt  at  this  time  Anysis; 


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THE  aENTILB  NATIONS.  89 

and  says  that  he  was  no.t  pat  to  death,  but  took  refuge  in  the  marshes 
of  the  Delta.  But  this  account  is  utterly  improbable.  He  also 
alleges  that  the  monarch  was  blind,  but  that  nevertheless  he  sue* 
oeeded  in  escaping  to  the  marshes,  where  he  constructed  an  island 
of  ashes  and  earth;  that  he  maintained  himself  here  fifty  years; 
and  that  then,  the  Ethiopians  having  retired,  he  reassumed  the 
reins  of  government 

But  whatever  might  have  been  the  manner  in  which  the  power 
of  Ethiopia  became  paramount  in  Egypt,  it  is  certain  that  it  must 
not  be  regarded  as  the  irruption  of  a  barbarous  people  op  a  highly 
civilized  country.  On  the  contrary,  Ethiopia  at  this  period  was  as 
&r  advanced  in  cultivation  as  i^^t  herself.  The  latter  country 
had,  in  fact,  proceeded  fiur  in  declension;  and  it  is  probable  that 
thus,  by  the  ordinary  operation  of  the  human  mind  in  such  circum- 
stances, the  hardy,  daring  Ethiopian  acquired  an  easy  ascendency 
over  the  enervated  Egyptian. 

The  name  of  the  first  sovereign  of  this  dynasty,  written  Shabek, 
is  found  at  Luxor,  with  the.  usual  titles  of  Egyptian  sovereignty. 
The  sculptures  on  the  internal  wall  of  the  propylcea  raised  by 
Barneses  Sesostris  having  been  injured  or  decayed  by  time,  Sabaco 
renewed  them,  and  substituted  his  own  name  for  that  of  Rameses. 
These  prove  that  Egyptian  art  still  existed  in  considerable  vigour. 
A  statuette  of  the  same  king  is  preserved  in  the  Villa  Albani  at 
Rome ;  and  his  shield  has  been  found  over  a  gate  of  the  palace  of 
Earnd^. 

Sebechus,  or  Seveohus,  son  of  the  preceding  king,  succeeded  him. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  this  Pharaoh  on  the  monuments 
from  his  £ftther,  as  their  phonetic  names  are  written  in  the  same 
characters.  This  explains  the  circumstance,  that  the  name  has  been 
found  on  firagments  with  an  indication  of  the  twelfth  year  of  the 
reign :  these  of  course  refer  to  Sebechus.  It  is  stated  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Kings  that  Hoshea,  king  of  Israel,  having  made  an  alliance 
with  So,  or  Seva,  king  of  Egypt,  (2  Kings  xvii,  4,)  refused  to  pay 
his  customary  tribute  to  Shalmaneser,  king  of  Assyria.  This  event 
happened  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Hoshea»  and  in  the 
beginning  of  that  of  Sevechus.  This  was  the  reasonable  policy  of 
the  rulers  of  Egypt, — ^to  maintain  the  power  of  Israel  and  Judah, 
the  only  barrier  between  their  kingdom  and  Assyria.  It  is»  how- 
ever, very  probable  that  in  this  instance  the  policy  of  Sevechus  was 
defeated  by  the  prompt  energy  of  the  king  of  Assyria,  who  had  an 
eflScient  ally  in  the  king  of  Judah;  and,  in  consequence,  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  was  subverted  and  destroyed. 

Tarkus  succeeded  Sevechus.    His  name,  written  Tarhak  or  Tar- 


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90  THB  QBNTILE  NATIONS. 

Juzka,  is  found  on  the  internal  face  of  ih&  pylon  of  a  building  erected 
at  Medinet-Abou  by  Thothmes  IV.  Tarkus,  or  Tirhaka,  was  a 
very  martial  prince ;  and  Strabo  speaks  of  him  a»  rivalling  Sesostris. 
There  may  be  much  exaggeration  in  this ;  but  it  is  net  improbable 
thai;  at  this  time,  when  the  whole  power  of  Egypt  and  Ethiopia  were 
united  under  one  warlike  sovereign,  the  limitation  of  its  martial 
glory  might  have  been  the  result  rather  of  the  overwhelming  power 
of  Assyria,  than  of  any  real  weakness.  The  acoount  of  Strabo  in 
fact  indicates  as  much,  since  he  says  that  Tirhaka  extended  his 
conquests  westward  even  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  At  all  events, 
it  seems  certain  that  Tarkus  dreaded  an  encounter  with  this  power. 
In  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  Judah  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  As- 
syria; but  when  his  son  succeeded  to  the  throne,  strong  in  the  holy 
confidence  that  Jehovah  would  protect  his  people,  he  threw  off  this 
allegiance,  refused  the  customary  tribute,  and  during  fbany  years 
maintained  the  independence  of  his  country.  In  the  sixth  year  of 
the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  Samaria  was  subdued,  and  the  kingdom  of 
Israel  was  soon  afterward  destroyed.  Then  there  was  no  independ- 
ent power  intervening  between  the  Assyrians  and  Egypt  but  Judah. 
Nor  was  this  state  left  long  unmolested.  We  are  not  informed  of 
the  relations  wliich  subsisted  between  Hezekiah  and  the  reigning 
Pharaoh ;  but  when,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  Hebrew  monarch, 
Sennacherib  invaded  Judah,  and  Hezekiah  had  to  purchase  a  brief 
respite  by  an  enormous  contribution,  the  officers  of  the  haughty 
Assyrian,  when  delivering  their  insolent  address  in  the  name  of 
their  master,  taunted  the  Hebrew  king  by  saying,  "  Now  on  whom 
dost  thou  trust,  that  thou  rebellest  against  me?  Now,  behold,  thou 
trustest  upon  the  staff  of  this  bruised  reed,  even  upon  Egypt." 
2  Kings  xviii,  20,  21.  This  would  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  prove 
that  some  connexion  between  the  two  countries  had  been  induced  by 
their  common  danger.  But  all  doubt  is  removed  by  the  Scripture 
&ct,  that  when  these  messengers  returned  to  Lachish  to  their  mas- 
ter, he  heard  that  Tirhakah,  the  Ethiopian  king,  was  marching 
against  him.  Chap,  xix,  9.  Upon  receiving  this  intelligence,  the 
Assyrian  sovereign  raised  the  siege  of  Lachish,  and,  fearing  to 
encounter  this  formidable  foe  in  an  enemy's  country,  marched  toward 
Egypt  to  meet  Tirhakah.  The  king  of  Egypt  in  his  turn  began  to 
fear;  Hezekiah  did  not  dare  to  pursue  the  Assyrians ;  and  Pharaoh 
retired  within  the  Egyptian  ifrontier,  while  the  whole  country  trem- 
bled in  the  prospect  of  a  sanguinary  invasion.  But  Egypt  and 
Israel  were  both  preserved  by  a  miraculous  interposition.  The  As- 
syrian army  was  all  destroyed  in  one  night  by  an  angel  of  the  Lord ; 
and  the  boastful  monarch  was  compelled  to  return  to  his  own  land 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  91 

in  weakness  and  disgrace.  This  wonderful  event  is  recorded  in 
I^yptiaii  history  as  distinctly  and  almost  as  fally  as  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptdres.  (Hebrew  Peonle,  p.  679.) 

No  satisfactory  information  can  be  obtained  respecting  the  close 
of  this  dynasty.  Herodotus  says  that  the  Ethiopian  king  was 
iiiduced  to  retire  from  the  country  by  a  dream;  and  that  he  was 
succeeded  by  Sethos.  This,  however,  cannot  be  true,  inasmuch  as 
we  know  that  Tirhakah  reigned  when  the  Assyrian  army  was  de- 
stroyed. It  is  not  improbable  Aat  the  codjeeture  of  Kenrick  is 
correct, — that  Sethos,  a  priest,  held  a  kind  of  subordinate  sove- 
reignty in  Lower  Egypt  during  the  imperial  sway  of  Tirhakah ;  and 
that  martial  mcmareh,  having  retired  from  before  Sennacherib,  per- 
haps into  Upper  Egypt,  thus  left  the  sacerdotal  and  unwariike  vice- 
roy of  Memphis  to  defend  himself;  a  task  to  which  be  felt  so  une- 
(|ual  that  he  retired  into  the  temple,  and  was  told  in  a  dream,  that 
he  should  obtain  deliverance  from  the  Assyrian  king.  This  promise 
was  almost  immediately  fulfilled  by  the  ruin  of  the  army  of  Sen- 
nacherib. 

TWMfTT-SlXTH  DTHA8TT !  KXHI  8MTS  KlVeS. 

1.  Stephanates  reigned 7 

2.  Kechepsos ;...: » 6 

3.  Kechao ,.., r...;...*^..... ; „    8 

4.  Pummitlchiu...«^ 5i 

5.  Nechao  IL     (He  took  Jerusalem) 6 

6.  Psammuthis  II; '. > 6 

7.  Uaphrw ..; 19 

8.  Amoais .^v •••• H 

9.  Psammecherites , 0  6  months. 

We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  whether  this  dynasty  stood  in 
any  relation  or  connexion  to.Bocchoris'of  Sais:  but,  as  Herodotus 
says  that  the  blind  king  who  was  driven  into  the  marshes  by  the 
Ethiopian  invasion,  returned  when  they  left  the  country,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  Stephanates  might  have  been  of  the  same  family. 
We  have,  however,  no  information  respecting  the  first  three  sove- 
reigns. Herodotus  states  that  the  Elliiopian  king,  before  he  left 
Egypt,  slew  Nechos,  the  father  of  Psammitichus ;  and  that,  on  the 
death  of  Sethos,  the  Egyptians  recovered  their  liberty ;  and  as  they 
could  not  live  without  Idngs,  they  chose  twelve,  among  whom  they 
divided  the  several  districts  of  Egypt. 

It  appears  therefore  certain,  that  at  this  period  Egypt  was  torn  by 
civil  discord,  which  terminated  in  a  dodecarchy;  the  chroniclers 
selecting  one  line  of  kings  as  legitimate,  in  whom  the  succession  is 
numbered.  The  account  which  Herodotus  gives  of  this  collateral 
sovereignty  is  as  follows :    "  These  princes  connected  themselves 


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92  THE  GBNIItB  NATIONS. 

with  each  other  by  intermarriages,  enga^png  solemnly  to  promote 
their  common  interest,  and  never  to  engage  in  any  acts  of  separate 
policy.  The  principal  motive  of  th^  union  was  to  guard  against 
the  declaration  of  an  oracle,  whidi  had  tadd,  that  whoever  among 
them  should  offer  in  the  temple  of  Vulcan  a  libation  in  a  brazen 
vessel,  should  be  sole  sovereign  of  Egypt ;  and  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  they  assembled  indiffidrently  in  every  temple. 

"  These  twelve  kingg  were  eminent  for  the  justice  of  their  admin- 
istration. On  a  certain  occasion  they  were  offering  sacrifice  in  the 
temple  of  Vulcan,  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  festival  were  about  to 
make  the  accustQmed  libation.  For  this  purpose  the  chief  priest 
handed  to  them  the  golden  cups  used  on  these  solemnities ;  but  he 
mistook  the  number,  and,  instead  of  twelve,  gave  only  eleven. 
Psammitichus,  who  was  the  last  of  them,  not  having  a  cup,  took  off 
his  hohnet,  which  hi^pened  to  be  of  brass,  and  from  this  poured  his 
libation.  The  other  princes  wore  helmets  in  common,  and  had  them 
on  the  present  occasion;  so  that  the  circumstance  of  this  one  king 
having  and  using  his  was  accidental  and  innocent.  Observing, 
however,  this  action  of  Psammitichus,  they  remembered  the  predic- 
tion of  the  oracle,  'that  he  among  them  who  should  pour  a  libation 
from  a  brazen  vessel,  should  be  sole  monarch  of  Egypt.*  They 
minutely  investigated  the  matter;  and  being  satisfied  that  this  action 
of  Psammitiohns  was  entirely  ike  effect  <^  accident,  they  could  not 
think  him  worthy  of  death.  They  nevertheless  deprived  him  of  a 
considerable  part  of  his  power,  and  confined  him  to  the  marshy 
parts  of  the  country,  forbidding  him  to  leave  this  situation,  or  to 
communicate  with  the  rest  of  Egypt 

"  This  Psammitichus  had  formerly  fled  to  Syria,  fit)m  Sabachus 
the  Ethiopian,  who  had  killed  his  father  Neclios.  When  the  Ethi- 
opian, terrified  by  the  vision,  had  abandoned  his  dominions,  those 
Egyptians  who  lived  near  Sais  had  solicited  Psammitichus  to  return. 
He  was  now  a  second  time  driven  into  exile  among  the  fens  by  the 
eleven  kings,  from  this  circumstance  of  the  brazen  helmet.  He  felt 
the  strongest  resentment  for  the  injury,  and  determined  to  avenge 
himself  on  his  persecutors.  He  sent  therefore  to  the  oracle  of 
Latona,  at  Butos,  which*  has  among  the  Egyptians  the  highealt  char- 
acter for  veracity.  He  was  informed  that  the  sea  should  avenge  his 
cause  by  producing  brazen  figures  of  men.  He  was  little  inclined  to 
bdieve  that  such  a  circumstance  could  ever  occur;  but,  some  time 
afterward,  a  body  of  lonians  and  Carians,  who  had  been  engaged  in 
a  voyage  of  plunder,  were  compelled  by  distress  to  touch  at  Egypt : 
they  landed  in  brazen  armour.  Some  Egyptians  hastened  to  inform 
Psammitichus  in  his  marshes  of  this  incident ;  and  as  the  messenger 


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THff  GENTILB  NATIONS.  9Z 

had  never  before  seen  persons  so  armed,  he  said,  that  some  brazen 
men  had  arisen  from  the  sea,  and  were  plundering  the  comitry.  He 
instantly  conceived  this  to  be  the  accomplishment  of  the  oracle's 
prediction,  and  entered  into  alliance  with  the  strangers,  engaging 
them  by  splendid  promises  to  assist  him.  With  them  and  his 
Egyptian  adherents  he  vanquished'  the  eleven  kings." — Euterpe, 
cap.  147-162. 

The  battle  which  defeated  the  confederated  kings,  and  gave  Egypt 
to  Psammitichus,  was  fought  at  Momemphis,  near  the  Ganopic 
branch  of  the  Nile,  and  on  the  shore  of  the  Lake  Mareotis.  Some 
of  the  opposing  kings  wdre  slain ;  the  rest  escaped  into  Libya. 

According  to  Herodotus,  the  dodecarchs,  while  they  ruled  together 
in  amity,  being  determined  to  leave  some  permanent  memorial  of 
their  joint  sway,  built  the  Labyrinth :  but  Diodorns  ascribes  this 
building  to  an  earlier  sovereign,  although,  from  his  account,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  primary  erection  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  that 
the  work  of  the  twelve  kings  was  reared  on  the  san^e  site. 

Psammitichus,  having  established  himself  in  power,  rewarded  his 
allies  and  native  supporters  by  allotting  them  a  district  on  the 
Pelusiac  branch  of  the  Nile,  a  little  nearer  to  the  sea  than  the  city 
of  Bubastis.  The  foreign  troops  had  a  settlement  on  one  bank  of 
the  river,  and  the  natives  on  the  other,  as,  notwithstanding  their 
association  in  the  service  of  the  same  king,  their  national  and  relig- 
ions prejudices  were  too  strong  to  allow  them  to  fratemiee  in  one 
community.  This  place  became  afterward  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  destinies  of  Egypt. 

Although  no  monument  bearing  the  name  of  this  sovereign  remains 
in  Egypt,  there  is  ample  proof  that  the  whole  country  submitted  to 
his  sway.  His  shield  is  found  in  the  palace  at  Kamak,  and  in  a 
little  island  near  Phite.  In  the  quarry  of  Tourah  the  design  of  a 
monolithal  shrine,  intended  to  be  excavated,  is  traced  on  the  rock  in 
red  paint,  the  cornice  of  which  bears  the  shield  of  Psammitichus. 
Works  of  his  reign  are  found  in  several  European  museums ;  but  the 
most  remarkable  remnant  of  the  art  of  this  era  is  the  obelisk  which 
stands  in  the  Monte  Oitorio  at  Rome.*  It  was  brought  from  Egypt 
by  the  Emperor  Augustus,  as  a  memorial  of  its  conquest  by  the 
Romans.  As  a  work  of  art,  it  is  decidedly  inferior  to  those  of  the 
age  of  Thothmes  III. ;  but  considering  that  seven  hundred  years  had 
dapsed  between  these  eras,  the  degeneracy  is  not  so  great  as  might 
be  expected. 

It  seems  to  be  an  established  fact,  that  the  reliance  of  this  monarch 
on  foreign  and  party  support  alienated  from  him  a  large  portion  of 
his  Egyptian  subjects,  although  the  precise  occasion  of  the  quarrel 


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94  THE  GSNTILE  NATIONS. 

is  not  SO  clearly  ascertainable.  From  the  combined  statements  of 
Herodotus  and  Diodorus,  it  appears  that  the  king  of  Egypt  wished 
to  subdue  Ashdod,  which  had  been  taken  and  garrisoned  by  the 
king  of  Assyria;  that  for  this  purpose  he  invested  it  with  an  army, 
composed  of  native  troops  and  his  foreign  auxiliaries ;  and  that,  he 
having  given  the  latter  the  post  of  honour  in  the  war,  the  former 
deserted  him,  and  retired  into  flthiopia.  Herodotus  ascribes  this 
defection  to  the  fact,  that  the  garrisons  in  Upper  Egypt  had  not  been 
relieved  for  three  years.  But,  whatever  the  cause  might  be,  after 
this  desertion  had  taken  place,  the  king  applied  himself  more  dili- 
gently than  ever  to  perfect  the  internal  policy  of  his  kingdom,  and 
the  cultivation  of  a  friendly  intercourse  with  Greece.  Egypt,  for- 
merly the  most  inhospitable  of  all  nations,  now  opened  her  harbours 
freely.  To  promote  this  intercourse,  the  king  encouraged  the  study 
of  Greek  literature,  and  caused  his  own  sons  to  be  instructed  in  that 
language. 

Toward  the  flatter  part  of  this  reign  Egypt  was  threatened  with 
a  foreign  invasion.  During  the  time  that  Gyazares  and  his  allies 
were  besieging  Nineveh  an  overwhelming  army  of  Scythians  entered 
Asia.  Gyaxares  attempted  to  arrest  their  progress,  but  was  defeated. 
After  ravaging  the  east,  this  terrible  host  marched  toward  the  west. 
The  prophet  Zephaniah,  who  wrote  a  few  years  previously,  is  sup- 
posed to  have  predicted  their  character  and  progress  with  great 
spirit  and  fidelity.  If,  indeed,  the  passages  referred  to  (Zeph.  i,  4, 
5,  6,  and  ii,  1)  apply  to  this  invasion,  their  appropriateness  is  un- 
doubted: but  notwithstanding  the  weighty  support  which  Hitzig, 
Gramer,  and  Eichhom  have  given  to  this  opinion,  it  does  not  seem 
to  be  established.  However  this  may  be,  after  the  Scythians  had 
ravaged  Media,  they  marched  into  Palestine,  and  menaced  Egypt. 
They  had  advanced  as  far  as  Ascalon  on  the  coast  of  Palestine, 
when  Psammitichus  met  them,  and  by  presents  and  entreaties  pre- 
vailed on  them  to  return.  This  took  place  about  618  B.  G.,  and 
consequently  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  Psammitichus. 

Necho,  or  Nechao,  son  of  the  preceding,  succeeded  his  father 
615  B.  G.  His  first  public  work  appears  to  have  been  an  attempt  to 
unite  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea  by  a  canal :  but  this  effort,  after  an 
enormous  expenditure  of  wealth  and  life,  was  at  lepgth  relinquished. 
Herodotus  observes  that  "when  Necho  abandoned  his  plan  of  join- 
ing the  Nile  and  the  Bed  Sea  by  a  canal,  he  engaged  in  military 
operations."  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  peculiar  aspect  of 
political  affairs  in  Asia  induced  him  to  forego  his  jia.vourite  project, 
and  turned  his  attention  to  martial  pursuits.  On  the  expulsion  of 
the  Scythians,  (612  B.  C.,)  Gyaxares  resumed  the  siege  of  Nineveh ; 


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THB  GBNTILE  NATIONS.  95 

and  Pharaoh-N«cho  regarded  this  as  a  fayoorable  opportunity  for 
recovering  the  power  which  Egypt  had  formerly  possessed  on  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates.  He  accordingly  b^an  the  necessary 
preparations,  and,  608  B.  C,  transported-  an  army  into  Palestine, 
for  the  purpose  of  recoyering  military  possession  of  Garchemish. 
But  Josiah,  the  Hebrew  king,  drew  togettier  the  whole  strength  of 
his  Idngdom,  and  marched  out  to  oppose  his  progress.  The  Egyp- 
tian sovereign  earnestly  dissuaded  him  &om  his  purpose,  but  in 
vain.  .  The  armies  met  at  Megiddo.  The  result  is  well  known. 
The  good  king  of  the  Hebrews  was  completely  defeated,  and  fatally 
wounded ;  so  that  he  was  taken  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  died.  This 
event  appears  to  have  totally  deranged  the  plans  of  Kecho.  He 
was  at  Ribkh  in  Hamath,  when  he  heard  that  the  people  of  Judea 
had  made  Jehoahaz,  son  of  Josiah,  king.  Necho  immediately  sent 
for  the  newly-appointed  sovereign  to  Hamath,  when  he  was  deposed 
and  imprisoned,  after  a  reign  of  three  months.  Necho  then  sent 
Jehoahsus  to  Egypt,  where  he  ended  his  days,  and  made  a  younger 
son  of  Josiah,  Eliakim,  king,  changing  his  name  to  Jehoiakim ;  im- 
posing on  him  a  tribute  of  a  hundred  talents  of  silver  and  a  talent 
of  gold.  Whether  Necho  on  this  occasion  did  go  on  to  Carchemish, 
is  not  certain.  He  might  have  thought  it  more  important  fully  to 
establish  his  supremacy  over  Judea.  We  find  him,  however,  four 
years  afterward,  proceeding  to  Oarchemish  with  an  army  of  Egyp- 
tians, Ethiopians,  and  Libyans.  Jer.  xlvi.  He  was  then  signally 
defeated.  The  sacred,  prophet  tersely  states,  that  Nebuchadnezzar 
'*  smote  the  army  of  Necho ;"  and  the  decisive  effect  of  this  strolce  is 
indicated  by  the  statement  of  another  inspired  writer:  "  The  king 
of  Egypt  came  not  again  any  more  out  of  his  land :  for  the  king  of 
Babylon  had  taken  from  the  River  of  Egypt  unto  the  River  Euphrates 
all  that  pertained  to  the  king  of  Egypt"  2  Kings  xxiv,  7.  This 
decided  the  supremacy  of  Babylon.  Egypt  in  future  had  to  study 
the  most  effectual  means  of  defence. 

During  this  reign,  according  to  Herodotus,  Africa  was  circum- 
navigated by  a  Phenician  fleet;  of  which  the  historian  give::i  tlic 
following  account :  "For  as  to  Libya,  it  shows  itself  to  be  circum- 
navigable,  except  where  it  borders  on  Asia.  This  was  first  proved, 
so  far  as  I  know,  by  Necho,  King  of  Egypt.  When  he  gave  up  ex- 
cavating the  canal  that  runs  from  the  Nile  to  the  Arabian  Gulf,  he 
sent  out  some  Phenicians  in  ships,  giving  them  orders  on  their  way 
back  to  sail  through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  into  the  Northern  Sea, 
and  thus  return  to  Egypt.  Setting  out,  then,  from  the  Red  Sea, 
they  sailed  into  the  Southern  Sea.  As  often  as  autumn  returned 
they  landed  in  Libya,  and  planted  some  com  in  the  place  where  they 


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96  THE  GBin'ILE  NATI9KS. 

happened  to  be.  When  this  was  ripe,  and  they  had  cut  it  down,  they 
again  departed.  Having  thus  consomed  two  years,  they,  in  the  third, 
doubled  the  Columns  crif  Hercules,  and  returned  to  Egypt.  Their 
relation  may  obtain  attention  from  others,  but  to  me  it  seems 
incredible ;  for  they  afibrmed  that,  having  sailed  round  Libya,  they 
had  the  sun  on  their  right  hand.  Thus  was  Libya  for  the  first  time 
known." — Melpomene^  cap.  42.  In  this  relation  -of  the  father  of 
history,,  it .  is  observable  that  the  di£Sculty  which  provoked  his 
incredulity  is  the  most  satisfactory  demonstration  of  the  truth  of 
the  narrative.  For,  as  Larcher  observes,  the  phenomenon  must 
have  appeared  as  stated;  '*and  this  curious  circumstance,  which 
never  could  have  been  imagined  in  an  age  when  astronomy  was  yet 
in  its  infancy,  is  an  evidence  of  the  truth  of  a  voyage  which,  without 
this,  might  have  been  doubted." — Larcher'a  Notes  to  Herodotus, 
vol.  ii,  p.  34. 

Itecho  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Fsammitichus  11.,  whom  Herod- 
otus calls  Fsammus,  and  Manetho  Fsammnthis  11.  But  as  we  do 
not  meet  with  this  latter  name  previously,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Eusebius  is  correct,  when  he  gives  the  name  aS'  above.  This  sov- 
ereign began  to  reign  599  B.  C.  No  public  building  erected  by  him 
remains :  but  his  name  is  found  on  several  fragments  of  sculpture ; 
Xis,  for  instance,  in  the  citadel  of  Cairo,  under  the  base  of  Pompey's 
Pillar  at  Alexsmdria.  His  titular  shield  is  also  found  oh  the  obelisk 
of  the  Piazza  Minerva  at  Borne,  which  was  executed  under  his  son 
and  successor  Apries ;  and  his  name  and  titular  shield  also  appear 
on  a  part  of  an  intercolumnar  plinth  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
He  is  here  delineated  presenting  an  offering  to  the  gods,  who  give 
him  all  power  and  victory,  and  put  all  lands  under  his  sandals. 
Toward  the  end  of  his  reign,  Psammitichus  II.  made  an  expedition 
into  Ethiopia:  but  as  to  the  object  or  result  of  this  war  we  are  not 
informed.  His  shield  is  found  at  the  Island  of  Snem,  near  the  Cata- 
racts of  Syene.  He  died  almost  immediately  after  this  expedition, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son. 

Uaphris,  the  Apries  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  Hophra  of  Scripture, 
nscended  the  throne  693  B.  C.  Until  the  beginning  of  his  reign, 
Egypt  had  made  no  aggressions  on  Asia  for  the  purpose  of  repairing 
the  consequences  of  the  defeat  of  ISecho  at  Carchemish.  But 
Apries,  perceiving  the  gradual  and  steady  progress  of  Babylonian 
ascendency  in  Western  Asia,  determined  to  make  another  effort  to 
check  this  influence,  and  to  extend  the  power  of  Egypt.  He  accord- 
ingly collected  an  armament,  and  invaded  PhenicSa.  From  ihe 
information  supplied  by  Herodotus  and  Diodorus,  it  seoms  that  he 
took  Sidon,  defeated  the  Cyprians,  (who  appear  to  have  been  allies, 


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THE  OKNTILE  NATIONS.       '  97 

if  not  subjects,  of  the  Phenicians,)  and  reduced  the  whole  sea-coast 
of  Phenicia.  There  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt  that  this  was  the  over- 
flowing flood  predicted  by,  Jeremiah.  Chap,  xlvii.  Its  coming  from 
"the  north"  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  Phenicia  Proper  was  the 
first  scene  of  conflict.  To  this  place  the  Egyptian  army  was  con- 
veyed in  a  fleet;  and  having  gained  several  victories  over  the  Phe- 
nicians,  A  pries  marched  his  army  toward  the  south,  subduing  all 
the  strongholds  on  the  sea-coast.  He  accomplished  these  objects, 
and  produced  on  the  king  and  court  of  Jud^  a  deep  impression  of 
die  great  military  power  of  Egypt.  Zedekiah,  having  sent  ambas- 
sadors to  Apries,  and  obtained  a  promise  of  support,  felt  embold- 
ened to  violate  his  oath  of  fidelity  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  relying  on 
obtaining  succour  from  Egypt.  This  led  the  king  of  Babylon  to 
invest  Jerusalem,  when  Apries  proceeded  with  an  army  to  relieve 
his  ally.  But  Nebuchadnezzar  was  too  good  a  general  to  remain 
before  Jerusalem  until  the  arrival  of  the  Egyptians,  tfnd  thus  to 
place  himself  between  two  foes.  He  accordingly  raised  the  siege, 
and  proceeded  to  meet  the  host  of  Egypt.  Apries  did  not  venture, 
unaided,  alone,  and  in  the  desert,  to  resist  the  Babylonish  king: 
he  retired,  without  hazarding  a  conflict,  into  his  own  land.  Up<m 
this  Nebuchadnezzar  returned,  and  took  and  destroyed  the  royal 
dty  of  Jiidea ;  and  thus  were  fulfilled  the  predictions  of  the  prophets, 
that  the  apostate  Hebrews  would  find  no  efficient  aid  in  Egypt. 
(See  Ez€k.  xii.) 

After  this  storm  had  passed  over,  and  Oedaliah,  who  had  been 
left  by  Nebuchadnezzar  as  governor  of  Judea,  had  been  slain,  all  the 
people  that  remained  took  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  and  fled  into  Egypt. 
Here  they  were  kindly  received  by  Apries ;  for  we  find  them  located 
with  the  prophet  in  the  royal  city. 

After  the  ruin  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy,  and  the  deportation  of 
the  survivors,  who  were  carried  into  Ohaldea,  the  king  of  Babylon 
prosecuted  the  war  against  the  Phenicians  and  other  inhabitants  of 
the  sea-coast.  Whether  Tyre,  in  consequence  of  the  military  meas- 
ures of  Apries,  was  avowedly  subject  to  Egypt  or  not,  it  was  hos- 
tile to  the  advancing  power  of  Babylon:  but  it  fell,  after  a  long  and 
desperate  struggle,  beifore  the  prowess  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Nor  can 
there  be  a  question  that  the  conqueror  swept  the  whole  coast,  and 
ravaged  Egypt,  in  the  same  campaign.  This  was  distinctly  pre- 
dicted by  Ezekiel ;  and  although  Herodotus  does  not  mention  the 
fact,  all  probability  is  in  favour  of  its  having  taken  place.  The 
language  of  the  sacred  seer  is  remarkable:  *' Nebuchadrezzar  King 
of  Babylon  caused  his  army  to  serve  a  great  service  against  Tyrus  : 
every  head  was  made  bald,  and  every  shoulder  was  peeled :  yot  had 


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9S  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

he  no  wages,  nor  his  army,  for  Tyrus,  for  the  service  that  he  had 
served  against  it :  therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  God ;  Behold,  I  will 
give  the  land  of  Egypt  unto  Nebuchadrezzar  king  of  Babylon :  and 
he  shall  take  her  multitude,  and  take  her  spoil,  and  take  her  prey ; 
and  it  shall  be  the  wages  for  his  army.  I  have  given  him  the  land 
of  Egypt  for  his  labour,"  6ce.  Ezek.  zxix,  18-20.  Jeremiah,  also, 
while  in  Egypt^  asserts  the  same.  After  having  hidden  stones  in 
the  clay  in  the  brick-kiln,  hear  the  palace  of  Pharaoh  at  Tahpanhes, 
he  says,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel;  Behold, 
I  will  send  and  take  Nebuchadrezzar  the  king  of  Babylon,  my  ser- 
vant, and  will  set  his  throne  upon  these  stones  that  I  have  hid;  and 
he  shall  spread  his  royal  pavilion  over  them."  It  was  also  dedared 
that  he  would  "break  the  images  of  BethshemeBh,"-'HeIiopoli8. 
Jer.  xliii,  8-13.  That  Nebuchadnezzar  invaded  Egypt,  is,  however, 
not  only  probable,  and  asserted  by  the  voice  of  sacred  prophecy; 
but  it  is  also  stated  as  a  fact  by  Megasthenes,  who  says  that  he  con- 
quered a  great  part  of  Libya,  which  he  could  not  do  without  passing 
through  Egypt.  The  absence  of  any  notice  of  this  event  by  tiie 
Greek  writers  may  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  that,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  Babylonian  monarch  merely 
marched  through  and  plundered  Lower  Egypt,  without  locating  an 
army  in  the  country,  or  extending  his  conquest  to  Upper  Egypt. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  observe  that,  prior  to  this  period,  the 
colony  of  Cyrene  had  been  founded,  and  had  grown  into  consid^ia- 
ble  opulence  and  power.  Battus,  its  founder,  governed  it  forty 
years.  Arcesilautf,  his  successor,  ruled  sixteen  years.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Battus  II.,  under  whose  government  an  invitation  was 
sent  to  all  Greeks  to  come  and  aid  the  Cyrenians  in  colonizing 
Libya.  The  Pythian  oracle  recommended  compliance,  and  warned 
the  people  against  delay.  The  result  was  that  a  multitude  of  per- 
sons from  aJl  parts  of  Greece  soon  congregated  at  Cyrene.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  these  could  not  be  provided  with  allot- 
ments of  land,  without  removing  the  native  Libyans  from  their 
property,  and  treating  them  with  great  injustice.  In  those  circum- 
stances the  king  of  Libya  sent  to  solicit  aid  of  Egypt.  Apries, 
who  saw  it  to  be  his  interest  to  extend  his  influence  over  Libya,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  check  the  progress  of  a  dangerous  and  increas- 
ing power  in  his  neighbourhood,  complied  with  the  request,  and 
sent  an  army  into  that  country.  But  on  this  occasion  he  could  not 
venture  to  employ  his  Greek  mercenaries  against  their  own  coun- 
trymen :  the  troops  were  entirely  native  Egyptians.  This  was  the 
first  time  ihsi  the  free  Greeks  had  to  conflict  with  the  troops  of  an 
old  despotic  monarchy.    Here,  as  elsewhere,  a  contempt  for  the 


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THB  aSNTlLE  NATIONS.  99 

limited  numbers  and  nnostontatious  appeanmce  of  tbe  Greeks 
seems  to  have  caused  the  rain  of  their  enemies.  The  Egyptians 
marched  negligently  to  the  field,  and  were  not  only  completely  de- 
feated, but  almost  entirely  destroyed.  Few  of  them  returned  to 
their  own  countiy. 

The  news  of  this  calamity  produced  a  general  insurrection  in 
Egypt.  The  few  who  returned,  joined  by  the  relatives  and  friends 
of  those  who  had  fallen,  immediately  revolted.  On  bearing  of  this, 
Apries  sent  Amasis,  qne  of  his  favourite  officers,  to  restore  order 
.  among  the  disaffected ;  but,  while  he  was  haranguing  them  for  that 
purpose,  a  soldier  came  behind  him^  and  placed  a  crown  on  his  head, 
upon  which  the  crowd  saluted  him  as  sovereign.  Accepting  the 
proffered  dignity  and  danger,  Amasis  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  revolt,  and  prepared  .to  march  against  Apries.  This  monarch, 
on  being  informed  of  bis  conduct,  sent  Paterbemis,  an  officer  of  high 
rank,  to  bring  Amasis  alive  into  his  presence.  The  rebel  chief  bade 
him  return,  with  a  contemptuous  refusal ;  and  when  with  this  mes- 
sage he  appeared  before  the  king,  the  infatuated  sovereign  ordered 
his  ears  and  nose  to  be  cut  off.  This  decided  the  fate  of  Apries. 
The  Egyptians  who  had  hitherto  supported  him,  disgusted  at  his 
cruelty  and  injustice,  went  over  to  Amasis.  Apries,  was,  in  conse> 
quence,  left  idone  with  his  Carian  and  Ionian  auxiliaries.  With 
tiiese,  however,  he  marched  to  meet  Amasis.  The  armies  met  on 
the  banks  of  the  Lake  Mareotis ;  and  in  the  contest  which  ensued, 
Apries  was  defeated  and  takesi  prisoner;  and  Amasis,  although  of 
low  origin,  was  then  raised  to  the  sovereignty  of  Egypt. 

From  the  manner  in  which  Herodotus  records  these  events,  the 
conclusion  is  warranted,  that  Apries,  by  relying  for  the  maintenance 
of  his  power  on  his  thirty  thousand  hired  Greek  troops,  had  griev* 
ously  offiBuded  the  native  soldiery,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the 
general  defection  that  followed,  when  .the  defeat  before  Gyrene  ex- 
cited the  public  mind,  and  became  a  pretext  for  the  rebellion,  which 
hurled  him  from  the  throne  after  a  reign,  according  to  Eusebius,  of 
twenty-five  years. 

Amasis,  or  Amosis,  a  native  of  a  small  town  in  the  Saitic  Nome, 
and  of  plebeian  birth,  ascended  the  throne  B.  C.  568.  He  is  the 
first  king  of  Egypt  of  whose  personal  character  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge. Of  him  we  are  told,  that  he  appropriated  the  early  part  of 
eveiy  day  to  the  duties  of  his  station;  that  he  gave  audience  to  all 
that  required  it,  and  thus  earned  the  reputation  of  a  wise,  just,  and 
good  num.  Yet  afler  he  had  discharged  these  duties,  he  devoted 
the  rest  of  the  day  to  pleasurable  recreation.  On  being  remon* 
strated  with  on  this  unkingly  conduct,  he  is  said  to  have  replied, 


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100  THB  OBNTILK  NATIONS. 

"  They  who  have  a  bow  bend  it  only  at  the  time  they  want  it ;  when 
not  in  use,  they  sufibr  it  to  be  relaxed ;  it  would  otherwise  break,  * 
and  not  be  of  service  when  exigence  required.  It  is  precisely  the 
same  with  a  man:  if,  without  some  intervals  of  amusement,  he 
applied  himself  constantly  to  serious  pursuits,  he  would  impercepti- 
bly lose  his  vigour  both  of  mind  and  body.  It  is  the  conviction  of 
this  truth  which  influences  me  in  the  division  of  my  time."  He 
thus  silenced  those  who  objected  to  his  manner  of  life.  He  adopted 
another  mode  with  those  who  despised  him  on  account  of  his  ple- 
beian origin.  Having  "  a  gold  vessel  in  which  he  and  his  guests  • 
were  accustomed  to  spit,  and  wash  their  feet,  of  the  materials  of  this 
he  made  the  statue  of  some  god,  which  he  placed  in  the  most  con- 
spicuous part  of  the  city.  The  Egyptians,  assembling  before  it, 
paid  it  divine  honours ;  on  hearing  of  which,  the  king  caUed  them 
together,  and  informed  them  that  the  imajge  which  they  thus  ven- 
erated was  made  of  a  vessel  of  gold  which  he  and  they  had  formerly 
used  for  the  most  unseemly  purposes.  He  afterward  explained  to 
them  the  similar  circumstances  of  his  own  fortunes,  who,  though 
formerly  a  plebeian,  was  now  their  sovereign,  and  entitled  to  their 
reverence.    By  these  means  he  secured  their  attachment." 

During  this  reign  Egypt  continued  in  great  prosperity.  The 
regular  rise  of  the  Nile  difiiised  plenty  throughout  the  land.  A 
fiiendly  treaty  was  established  with  Cyrene.  The  danger  which 
threatened  Babylon  from  the  rising  power  of  Media,  took  off  all 
apprehension  from  that  quarter.  Amasis  entered  into  an  alliance 
with  the  king  of  Babylon,  to  support  Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,  against 
Cyrus ;  but  the  rapid  movements  of  the  Persian  warrior  rendered 
their  intended  interference  nugatory.  In  consequence  of  the  ravages 
of  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  Fhenicians  were  so  crippled  in  their  re- 
sources that  Amadis  subdued  Cyprus,  and  laid  it  under  tribute. 
Although  he  was  at  first  disposed  to  regard  the  Greeks  with  disfa- 
vour, as  they  had  so  strenuously  supported  his  predecessor,  yet  he 
afterward  manifested  a  friendly  bearing  toward  that  nation.  He 
allowed  them  a  free  location  in  the  city  of  Naucratis ;  and  to  those 
who  came  only  for  commercial  purposes  he  gave  sites,  on  which  they 
might  build  altars  to  their  gods. 

Amasis  was  for  a  while  on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  with  the 
Greek  tyrant  of  Samos,  Polycrates ;  but  afterward  renounced  bis 
friendship,  on  the  plea  that  the  Greek  had  enjoyed  such  uninter- 
rupted good  fortune  as  foreboded  a  melancholy  termination  of  his 
career.  Such  is  the  poetic  account  of  Herodotus.  Diodorus,  in  all 
probability,  comes  nearer  the  truth.  He  states  that  Amasis  renounced 
the  friendship  of  Polycrates,  because  the  latter  paid  no  regard  to  an 


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THE  QBNTILB  STATIOHS.  101 

embaasy  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by  the  Egyptian  king,  exhort- 
ing him  to  abstain  from  outrages  on  his  fellow-citizens,  and  on 
strangers  who  resorted  to  Samos.  It  was  under  the  influence  of 
this  friendship  that  Pythagoras,  who  was  of  Phenician  extraction 
and  a  native  of  Samos,  visited  Egypt.  Whatever  may  be  doubtful 
as  to  the  wide  range  of  travel  and  research  attributed  to  this  philoso- 
pher,— that  he  resided  long  in  Egypt,  and  obtained  a  great  acquaint- 
ance with  its  philosophy  and  religion,  must  be  regarded  as  an  estab- 
lished fact. 

Architectural  works  of  great  splendour  and  magnitude  were  erected 
by  Amasis ;  among  which  the  propylcsa  of  the  temple  of  Minerva  at 
Sids  hold  a  distinguished  rank.  These,  "  for  height  and  size,  and 
the  magnitude  and  quality  of  the  stones  employed,  surpassed  all 
others.  These  he  brought  from  the  quarries  of  Memphis,  as  well 
as  the  colossal  figures  and  andro- sphinxes  with  which  the  dromos 
was  adorned.  A  monolithal  shrine  of  granite,  from  the*  quarries  of 
Elephantine,  excited  the  especial  admiration  of  Herodotus.  Two 
thousand  men  were  employed  to  bring  it  down  the  Nile.  From 
Elephantine  to  Sais  was  an  ordinary  navigation  of  only  twenty 
days ;  but  in  this  case  three  years  were  occupied,  probably  because 
the  immense  weight  made  it  impossible  to  float  it,  except  during  the 
season  of  the  high  Nile.  Its  height  was  above  thirty  feet;  its 
depth,  from  front  to  back,  twelve  feet;  its  breadth,  twenty-one. 
After  all  the  cost  and  labour  bestowed  on  its  extraction  and  convey- 
ance, it  was  not  erected  in  the  temple  of  Minerva.  As  they  were 
drawing  it  in,  the  superintendent  of  the  works  uttered  a  groan, 
through  weariness  of  the  labour,  and  the  thought  of  the  time  that 
had  been  expended;  and  Amasis,  either  because  he  deemed  this 
ominous,  or  because  one  of  the  workmen  had  'been  killed  in  the 
process  of  moving  it  on  levers,  would  not  allow  it  to  be  drawn  any 
fiurther.  When  Herodotus  visited  Egypt,  it  remained  lying  before 
the  temple." — KenriclCs  Egypt,  vol.  ii,  p.  441.  Amasis  also  erected 
a  colossus,  seventy-five  feet  high,  at  Memphis,  before  the  temple  of 
Pthah ;  and  two  of  granite,  twenty  feet  high,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
inner  sanctuary.  He  also  built  a  temple,  of  great  size  and  magnifi- 
cence, at  Memphis :  it  was  dedicated  to  Isis. 

His  reign,  according  to  Herodotus  and  the  lists,  lasted  forty-four 
years ;  aoeordiDg  to  Diodorus,  fiffy-five ;  but  I  have  thought  it  safest 
here,  as  in  the  last  reign,  to  adopt  the  numbers  of  Eusebius,  who 
makes  it  forty-two  years.  Amasis  died  B.  C.  526,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son. 

Psammenitns,  on  ascending  the  throne,  was  placed  in  circum* 
stances  of  great  di£Scnlty  and  danger.     Gyrus  the  Great  had  taken 


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102  THE  OXIITILB  KATI0N8. 

Babylon  daring  ihe  reign  of  Amasis ;  bat  the  nomadic  tribes  of  tiie 
north  having  provoked  him  by  their  restless  daring,  he  led  an  army 
against  them,  and  perished  in  the  enterprise.  His  son,  Cambyses, 
on  ascending  the  throne,  immediately  planned  an  expedition  against 
Egypt.  This  was  in  course  of  preparation  when  Amasis  died;  and 
to  his  successor  was  consequently  bequeathed  the  defence  of  the 
kingdom.  This  would  under  any  circumstances  have  been  a  difficult 
task.  The  Medo-Persian  empire  was  now  paramount  in  Asia.  The 
army  of  Cambyses  was,  therefore,  composed  of  the  best  troops  of 
the  age. 

It  must  have  cast  gloom  on  the  prospects  of  Egypt,  to  remem- 
ber that  in  eveiy  contest  that  had  occurred  between  the  armies 
of  Egypt  and  those  of  the  east,  for  several  centuries,  the  former 
had  invariably  been  worsted.  The  case  of  Sennacherib  cannot  be 
regarded  as  an  exception,  because  in  that  instance  there  was  no  con- 
flict, and  the  ruin  of  the  Assyrians  was  confessedly  miraculous. 
The  great  difficulty  which  the  Persian  monarch  had  to  encoun- 
ter was,  to  cross  the  desert  from  Palestine  to  Egypt.  Here  was  a 
distance  of  about  one  hundred  geographical  miles  in  which  no  v^- 
tation  or  water  fit  for  drinking  was  to  be  found.  If  the  land-marks 
had  been  removed  from  this  desert,  and  no  aid  been  afforded  by 
neighbouring  nations,  it  would  have  been  a  serious  obstacle  to  the 
advance  of  an  invading  army.  But  all  this  advantage  to  Egypt  was 
neutralized  by  the  treachery  of  a  Greek  officer  in  the  Egyptian  ser- 
vice. Before  the  death  of  Amasis,  that  king  had  oflfended  Phanes 
of  Ualicamassus,  one  of  the  commanders  of  the  mercenary  troops. 
This  person,  knowing  that  Cambyses  was  preparing  to  invade  Egypt, 
fled  from  his  post,  and,  though  hotly  pursued  and  placed  in  great 
danger,  he  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Persian  courts  where,  by  the 
aid  and  information  he  afforded,  Cambyses  succeeded  in  placing  his 
army  in  great  strength  before  Pelusium. 

It  is  said  by  an  ancient  author,  that  the  Persians  captured  this 
key  to  Egypt  by  practising  on  the  superstition  of  the  Egyptians. 
Knowing  in  what  veneration  they  held  cats,  dogs,  sheep,  and  other 
animals,  the  Persian  king  collected  a  great  number  of  these  crea- 
tures, and  drove  them  in  the  front  of  the  army,  as  they  proceeded 
to  assault  the  city.  The  Egyptians,  not  daring  to  endanger  the  life 
of  beings  which  they  adored,  allowed  them  to  advance  unopposed, 
so  that  Cambyses  took  the  place  without  loss.  Soon  after  this  event 
the  Egyptian  king  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  army ;  the  Persians 
marched  out  to  meet  him ;  the  fate  of  Egypt  trembled  in  the  bal- 
ance. Before  the  batde  began,  the  Greek  mercenaries,  to  show  their 
detestation  of  the  treacheiy  of  Phanes,  brought  his  children  into  the 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  103 

fiont  of  ihe  army,  cat  their  throats,  drank  their  blood,  and  then 
proceeded  to  the  conflict. 

A  singular  omen  is  -said  to  have  portended  ill  to  the  cause  of 
EgTpt^  just  before  this  stru^le  took  place.  Bain  fell  at  Thebes, — 
a  prodigy  never  known  to  have  happened  but  in  that  single  instance. 
The  battlie  was  long  and  desperate :  but  Persia  triumphed,  and  Cam- 
byses  pursued  the  wreck  of  the  Egyptian  army  to  Memphis.  De- 
sirous of  avoiding  further  slaughter,  he  sent  a  Mitylenian  vessel  to 
Memphis  to  treat  with  the  Egyptian  authorities.  But,  en^ed  be- 
yond measure  at  their  defeat,  the  Egyptians  no  sooner  saw  the  vessel 
approach,  than  they  assailed  it,  and  slaughtered  all  on  board,  being 
two  hundred  persons.  Memphis  was  at  once  invested :  it  held  out 
for  a  while,  but  was  compelled  to  submit  to  the  conqueror.  Gam- 
byses  took  a  terrible  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  crew,  by  causing 
ten  times  as  many  of  the  noble  youths  of  Memphis,  including  the 
eldest  son  of  the  king,  to  be  put  to  death.  From  Memphis  Gam- 
byses  went  to  Sais,  where  he  disgraced  himself,  and  outraged  the 
feelings  of  both  Egyptians  and  Persians,  by  treating  the  mummy 
of  Amasis  with  every  indignity,  and  afterward  burning  it  with  fire. 
With  the  taking  of  Memphis  the  authority  of  Gambyses  was  estab- 
lished over  Egypt,  and  the  reign  of  Psammenitus  terminated,  having 
lasted  but  six  months. 

Libya  and  Gyrene  bowed  to  the  conqueror  without  a  struggle,  sent 
gifts,  and  submitted  to  tribute.  The  ambition  of  the  proud  Persian, 
however,  extended  beyond, — to  Ethiopia  in  the  south,  and  Carthage 
in  the  west.  The  first  he  endeavoured  to  reach ;  but  the  ihter- 
venii^  desert  defeated  his  purpose.  Aftier  having  decimated  his 
army,  in  order  to  support  the  living  on  the  flesh  of  their  dead  com- 
rades, he  was  forced  to  retreat.  Garthage  was  accessible  only  by 
sea;  and  as  he  could  not  induce  the  Phenicians  to  act  against  their 
own  colony,  and  had  no  sufficient  means  of  transporting  his  army 
independently  of  them,  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  his  project. 

TtntXTT-BETSVTH  DTVASTT  :  SOBT  PBBSUK  KOTOS. 

Ymb.  Months. 
1.  Gftmbjees  (who  in  the  fifth  ye»r  of  his  reign  in  Peni*  be- 

came  king  of  Egypt)  reigned 6 

Z  Darius  (son  of  Hystaspel).... 86 

3.  Xerxes  the  Great 21 

4.  Artabanns 7 

5.  Artazerzes I 41       0 

8.  Xerxes 9 

7.  Sogdianns... /....  7 

a.  Darius  (son  of  Xerzes) 19 

Duration  of  the  djnasty 184       4 


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104  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

Much  trifling  conjecture  has  been  employed  to  explain  the  cause 
of  the  Persian  irruption  into  Egypt:  hut  this  is  unnecessary. 
When  all  western  Asia  had  been  subdued,  the  invasion  of  an  old 
and  wealthy  kingdom  like  Egypt  followed  as  a  matter  of  course. 

It  will  be  necessary  here  to  regard  the  whole  time  of  this  dynasty 
as  one  reign*  The  succession  of  the  several  sovereigns,  and  their 
history,  will  be  narrated  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  Persia. 

As  far  as  our  information  goes,  Gambyses,  on  obtaining  possession 
of  Egypt,  ]t)ehaved  toward  the  people  with  great  moderation  and  for- 
bearance The  slaughter  of  the  two  thousand,  in  reprisal  for  the  mur- 
der of  the  crew  of  the  Mitylenian  vessel,  must  ever  be  regarded  as  an 
act  of  monstrous  cruelty  and  injustice.  But  this  was  not  the  deed 
of  Gambyses :  Herodotus  is  careful  to  inform  us  that  it  was  the 
deliberate  decision  of  "  the  king's  counsellors."  But,  after  the  proud 
Persian  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  his  attempt  on  Ethiopia,  and 
had  suffered  the  loss  of  fifty  thousand  men  whom  he  had  despatched 
to  bum  the  temple  of  Ammonium,  he  returned  to  Memphis  filled  with 
grief  and  rage.  On  the  pretence  of  his  having  stirred  up  the  Egyp- 
tians to  revolt,  (which  he  might  possibly  have  done  in  consequence 
of  these  disasters,)  Psammenitus  was  put  to  death;  and  the  magis- 
trates of  Memphis  suffered  in  all  probability  in  a  similar  way.  On 
the  return  of  Gambyses  to  that  city,  he  found  the  people  engaged  in 
public  rejoicings,  upon  which  he  immediately  summoned  the  magis- 
trates before  him,  and  demanded  the  cause :  they  told  him  that  their 
god  Apis  had  appeared  to  them,  as  was  his  custom  to  do ;  and  that 
when  this  happened,  the  Egyptians  always  held  a  festival.  The  king, 
however,  persisted  in  regarding  these  manifestations  as  connected 
with  the  defeat  of  his  attempt  on  Ethiopia,  and  accordingly  con- 
demned the  magistrates  to  death.  Unsatisfied  with  this  vengeance, 
he  sent  for  the  priests ;  and  as  they  gave  him  the  same  account,  he 
insisted  on  seeing  the  god,  and  ordered  Apis  to  be  brought.  When 
he  saw  the  young  steer  with  some  strange  marks  on  his  body,  he 
reviled  their  superstition ;  ordered  the  priests  to  be  scourged,  with 
every  Egyptian  who  had  participated  in  the  festivities ;  and,  drawing 
a  short  sword,  he  aimed  a  blow  at  the  belly  of  Apis,  but  struck  him 
on  the  thigh.  Herodotus  regards  the  conduct  of  the  Persian  king  as 
proving  his  insanity :  but  it  is  more  probable  that  he  was  afflicted 
with  epilepsy,  which  rendered  him  irritable,  and  incapable,  at  certain 
times,  of  self-control. 

Gambyses  reigned  over  Egypt  six  years.  No  memorial  is  found 
of  him  in  any  temple;  but  his  shield  is  seen  on  the  road  to  Cosseir, 
near  the  Red  Sea. 

Under  Darius,  who  bent  the  energies  of  his  vigorous  mind  to  con- 


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THB  GBNTILB  KATIOKS.  105 

solidate  and  goyern  the  great  empire  which  his  predecesaors  had  by 
their  military  genioB  and  energy  won,  Egypt  was  made  one  of  the 
twenty  satrapies  into  which  the  Medo-Persian  dominions  were 
divided.  This  satn^y  included,  l^esides  Egypt  Proper,  Libya,  as 
far  as  Cyrene,  the  Oases  of  the  Libyan  Desert,  and  the  country  be- 
tween the  !Nile  and  the  Bed  Sea.  Aryandes,  who  had  been  left 
goyemor  of  Egypt  by  Gambyses,  was  made  the  first  satrap ;  and, 
when  Dariufl  introduced  the  gold  daric  ioto  this  kingdom,  be  sup- 
plied a  silver  coinage  to  Egypt  His  government  was,  however,  so 
disagreeable  to  the  Egyptians,  that  when  Darius  visited  Egypt^  he 
conciliated  the  people  by  offering  a  reward  for  the  discovery  of  Apis, 
whosei  place  was  then  vacant^  and  ordered  Aryandes  to  be  put  to 
death.  Darius  is  the  only  Persian  king  whose  name  is  accom- 
panied by  a  titular  shield,  and  whose  phonetic  shield  bears  the 
Pharaonic  crest  of  the  vulpanser  and  disk,  "  Son  of  the  Sun." 
})  either  his,  nor  that  of  any  other  Persian  king,  is  found  on  a  public 
monument  within  the  limits  of  Egypt. 

Darius  is  supposed  at  this  time  to  have  obtained  possession  of 
the  Great  Oasis  and  of  the  Oasis  of  Sirvah,  the  temples  in  both 
bearing  his  inscriptions.  lie  also  resumed  the  excavation  of  the 
canal  between  the  Nile  and  the  Bed  Sea;  and  although  he  did 
not  complete  the  underaking,  he  left  a  very  small  space  unaccom- 
plished. It  is  said  that  he  was  deterred  from  finishing  the  work  by 
the  discovery  that  the  level  of  the  Bed  Sea  was  higher  than  Lower 
Egypt 

We  know  little  of  the  history  of  Egypt  at  this  period :  the  pro- 
jected invasion  of  Greece  by  the  Persians  seems  to  have  fully  occu- 
pied the  mind  of  Greek  historians ;  but  it  is  certain  that  these  events 
had  a  most  important  influence  on  Egypt.  In  490  B.  C.  the  Persian 
anny  was  defeated  at  Marathon ;  and  this  decisive  blow  so  encour- 
aged the  patriots  iii  Egypt,  that  in  486  the  whole  country  was  in 
open  revolt  against  the  authority  of  Persia.  We  do  not  know  who 
led  this  movement,  nor  what  Idnd  of  government  was  established 
daring  the  time  that  the  dominion  of  Persia  was  in  abeyance ;  but 
the  interval  of  independence  was  short.  In  two  years  after  this 
revolt  Xerxes  marched  his  army  into  Egypt,  and,  with  scarcely  a 
struggle,  reduced  it  to  entire  submission,  and  left  his  brother 
AchsBmenes  satrap  of  the  country.  In  consequence  of  this  success, 
two  hundred  Egyptian  vessels  w^re  engaged  on  the  side  of  the 
Persian  king  in  his  attack  on  Greece.  Nothing  further  is  known 
of  the  internal  history  of  Egypt^  until  the  deatti  of  Xerxes,  which 
took  place  465  B.  G. 

Artaxerxes,  having  ascended  the  throne,  found  the  empire  in  a 


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106  THB  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

state  of  great  disorder  and  weakness,  from  the  effects  of  the  Greek 
campaigns.  While  he  was  engaged  in  repairing  this  disorder,  and 
punishing  revolted  satraps,  a  gleam  of  hope  was  cast  on  the  destiny 
of  Egypt.  At  this  time  Inaros,  a  son  of  Psammitichns,  probably 
a  descendant  of  the  Saitic  princes,  had  obtained  the  sovereignty  of 
that  part  of  Libya  which  bordered  on  Egypt ;  and,  encouraged  by 
the  difficulties  which  surrounded  the  king  of  Persia,  he  raised  an 
army,  crossed  the  frontier,  and  entered  Egypt.  He  was  immediately 
received  as  the  deliverer  of  the  country,  and  almost  all  iJie  power  of 
Egypt  flocked  to  his  standard.  The  Persian  executive  and  tax- 
gaiiierers  were  immediately  expelled,  and  the  whole  country  sub- 
mitted to  Inaros.  But  this  chief,  well  aware  that  he  could  not  long 
maintain  himself  in  this  authority,  unless  able  to  resist  all  the  power 
of  Persia,  lost  no  time  in  soliciting  aid  from  Athens ;  and  this  power, 
hailing  the  opportunity  with  joy,  sent  him  forty  vessels  with  a  force 
of  about  six  thousand  men. 

In  the  mean  time  Artaxerxes  had  employed  all  the  resources  of 
his  empire  to  collect  a  fleet  and  an  army,  for  tiie  purpose  of  establish- 
ing his  authority  in  the  west.  He  intended  to  commence  his  opera- 
tions by  the  reduction  of  Egypt,  and  to  command  the  army  in  person. 
His  friends,  however,  advised  him  to  give  the  command  to.Ach»- 
menes,  who  had  returned  to  Persia  in  consequence  of  the  revolt 
The  king  consented,  and  the  satrap,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  speedily 
entered  Egypt. 

Inaros,  fully  acquainted  with  the  ground,  and  anxious  to  avail 
himself  to  the  utmost  of  his  resources,  retired  to  the  western  frontier, 
where  he  had  not  only  the  Egyptian  forces  and  Athenian  auxiliaries, 
but  also  the  strength  of  Libya,  congregated  to  meet  the  enemy. 
Here  a  great  battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  Persians  were  defeated 
mainly  by  the  prowess  of  the  Greek  troops,  and  Achssmenes  fell  by 
the  hand  of  Inaros.  Immediately  after  this  defeat  the  Persians 
retired  to  Memphis,  whither  they  were  followed  and  besieged  by 
Inaros.  He  was,  however,  unable  to  reduce  the  citadel ;  and  while 
he  was  thus  occupied,  another  Persian  army  was  equipped  and  sent 
into  Eg3rpt  under  the  command  of  Megabyzus.  This  completely 
altered  the  aspect  of  afiairs.  The  siege  of  Memphis  was  raised ;  the 
Greeks  were  compelled  to  bum  their  vessels  and  retire  to  Gyrene ; 
Inaros  and  many  others  were  taken  prisoners,  and  carried  to  Susa, 
where  the  gallant  chief  was  crucified  five  years  afterward  at  the 
instigation  of  the  mother  of  Achiemenes.  By  these  means  the 
greater  part  of  Egypt  was  again  brought  under  the  dominion  of 
Persia.  The  low  and  marshy  lands  about  the  moutiis  of  the  Mile, 
inhabited  by  a  warlike  population  which  had  frequently  been  brought 


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THS  aiKTILB  NA110N8.  107 

ittto  oonteet  with  the  Greeks,  alone  maintaiiied  their  independence. 
Here  Amjrtseas,  who  was  descended  from  the  Saitic  dynasty,  roled 
in  defiance  of  all  foreign  opposition. 

Egypt  was  in  this  condition  when  Herodotus,  the  Greek  historian, 
Tisited  the  country.  It  was  then  in  a  state  of  peace,'' and  the  Greek 
traveller  passed  in  safety  from  the  sea  to  the  limits  of  Ethiopia. 
The  frontier-towns  and  Memphis  were  occupied  by  Persian  troops ; 
but  the  worship  in  the  temples  went  on  as  usual.  Greeks  were  found 
in  all  the  principal  towns  actively  employed  in  commerce,  and  min- 
gling freely  with  the  Egyptians,  notwithstanding  the  barrier  which 
difference  in  manners  and  religion  interposed  between  them.  It  is 
evident^  however,  that  this  subjection  to  Persia,  although  compara- 
tively light,  was  very  repugnant  to  public  feeling  in  Egypt;  bo  that, 
as  soon  as  opportunity  offered,  it  was  ready  to  throw  off  the  yoke. 
The  situation  of  the  country  contributed  to  encourage  such  an  effort. 
Far  removed  from  the  centre  of  government,  and  connected  with  the 
rest  of  the  empire  only  at  a  single  point,  whatever  disturbed  the 
peace,  or  threatened  the  power  of  the  dominant  state,  held  out  hopes 
to  Egypt  of  recovering  that  political  independence  whidi  she  had 
maintained  for  many  centuries.  The  death  of  Artazerxes  afforded 
such  an  opportunity.  During  the  disputes  and  murders  connected 
with  the  succession,  tliere  were  some  commotions  in  Egypt.  These, 
however,  led  to  no  serious  attempt  to  restore  the  national  independ- 
ence, untU  the  second  year  of  Darius,  and  even  then  it  was*  either 
partially  suppressed,  or  kept  in  check  for  eight  years :  for  it  was  not 
until  the  tenth  year  of  Darius  Nothus,  that  the  Persian  rule  was 
broken,  and  Egyptian  independence  secured. 

TWIVTT-KIOHTH  DTVA8TT. 

Y«Mi. 

AmjrtfleoB  the  Saite  reigned , '. 6 

It  has  been  supposed  that  this  sovereign  is  identical  with  the 
Amyrtseus  who,  when  Inaros  was  defeated,  and  Egypt  subdued  by 
Megabyzus,  established  himself  in  the  marshes  of  the  Delta^  and  still 
maintained  his  independence.  But  the  similarity  of  the  name  is 
insufficient  to  establish  this  identity,  especially  when  it  is  considered 
that  more  than  forty  years  elapsed  between  that  event  and  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Twenty-eightib  dynasty.  In  all  probability  Ken- 
rick's  conjecture  is  just :  that  this  Amyrtoeps  was  grandson  of  the 
former,  and  son  of  Pausiris,  who  is  said  to  have  succeeded  his  father 
in  his  independent  sovereignty. 

We  have  scarcely  any  information  from  ancient  authors  respecting 
this  reign,  except  that  it  is  known  that  Amyrt»us  maintained  friendly 
relations  with  Athens,  and  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Arabians, 


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108  THB  QKNTXLB  NATIOXS. 

in  order  to  strengthen  himself  against  any  aggressicm  on  the  part  of 
Persia. 

The  monuments,  howeyer,  bear  testimony  to  the  works  of  Chis 
sovereign.  In  the  temple  of  Ghons  at  Karnak  is  an  inscription, 
stating  that  it  -had  been  repaired  by  him, — the  first  notice  of  the 
kind  since  Thebes  was  destroyed  by  Cambyses.  There  is  a  similar 
record  in  a  temple  dedicated  to  Sevek  in  Eilithyia :  and  Mr.  Kenrick 
states  that  the  sarcophagos  in  the  British  Museum,  which  Dr.  Edward 
Daniel  Clarke  belieyed  to  have  been  that  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
was  made  for  this  monarch,  and  bears  his  shield. 

TWBnr-NIHTH  DTKABTT  :   TOUE  ]IBirDE8IA>  KOTOB. 

T«u«.     MoKlbik 

1.  Nepherites  reigned ^ 6 

2.  Achorig , 13 

8.  PBammuthis 1 

4.  Nepherites » 4 

Duration  of  the  dynasty .>  20         4 

It  seems  at  first  sight  straHige  that  the  Saite  dynasty  should  close, 
and  a  new  one  be  established  on  the  throne  of  Egypt^  without  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  Persia  to  reduce  it  again  to  subjection.  The 
circumstances  of  the  imperial  government,  however,  expliun  the  case. 
Just  at  this  time  the  Modes  revolted :  soon  afterward  Darius  Nothus 
died;  and  Cyrus,  with  the  aid  of  the  famous  "  Ten  Thousand"  Greeks, 
endeavoured  to  wrest  the  throne  from  his  elder  brother.  Persia 
was,  in  consequence,  in  no  condition  to  carry  her  arms  into  Egypt. 

The  name  of  the  first  sovereign  of  this  dynasty  is  not  found  on 
any  building  in  Eg3rpt,  but  is  inscribed  on  a  statue  in  the  Museum 
at  Bologna.  He  sent  substantial  aid  to  the  LacedsBmonians,  when 
they  were  engaged  in  resisting  the  Persian  arms  in  Asia  Minor;  but 
it  happened  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

After  the  death  of  Nepherites,  Evagoras  of  Salamis  solicited  the 
aid  of  Achoris  against  Persia,  and  obtained  supplies  of  com,  and  fifly 
vessels.  The  name  of  this  Pharaoh  is  found  at  Medinet- Abou,  and 
among  the  ruins  of  Karnak.  The  quarries  of  Mokatlam  also  contain 
his  shield ;  and  there  is  a  sphinx  in  the  Museum  of  Paris,  on  the 
base  of  which  his  name  is  found  hieroglyphically  written,  with  the 
addition,  "  the  beloved  of  Kneph." 

Of  the  short  reign  of  Psammuthis  there  are  no  records ;  but  his 
shield  has  been  found  at  Kamaik. 

TKCBTnETH  DTKABTT :  TBBXB  BKBEITVTTIO  KIKOB. 

Tmh. 

1.  Nectanebns  reigned ^ 18 

2.  TcoB 3 

8.  NeetMielmB t% 

The  dynasty  lasted 88  yeara. 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  109 

There  ig  considerable  difficulty  in  fixing  with  precision  the  chro- 
nology of  these  reigns.  It  seems  a  settled  point,  that  the  Saite 
dynasty  terminated  B.  C.  408.  The  lists  give  but  twenty  years  and 
four  months  for  the  twenty-ninth  dynasty ;  and  yet  there  are  many 
reasons  for  placing  the  accession  of  the  thirtieth  dynasty  B.  G.  380, 
instead  of  388  or  387  B.  G.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these 
re^ons  is  the  circumstance,  which  has.  been  strongly  urged,  that 
Nectanebus  II.  was  only  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his  reign  when 
Ochus,  B.  G.  350,  expelled  him  from  the  kingdom,  and  again  subdued 
Egypt  to  the  dominbn  of  Persia.  Yet  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile 
this  with  the  fact,  that  all  the  lists  state  the  reign  of  the  last  of  the 
Pharaohs  to  be  eighteen  years :  and  as,  throughout,  the  authority  of 
the  ancient  records  has  been  admitted,  so  here  I  have  adopted  them 
as  the  safest  guides. 

The  first  event  of  consequence  in  the  history  of  !Bgypt  under  this 
dynasty  which  meets  our  notice,  is  a  Persian  invasion  of  a  most 
formidable  character:  the  more  so,  because  the  oriental  troops  were 
strongly  supported*  by  an  army  of  Greeks  under  Iphicrates.  The 
Persian  commander  was  Phamabazus.  With  means  quite  sufficient 
to  subdue  the  whole  country,  this  expedition  was  rendered  perfectly 
useless  by  the  jealousy  and  suspicion  which  existed  between  the  two 
generals. 

The  name  of  Nectanebus  is  found  at  Philn  on  a  temple  dedicated 
to  Athor;  and  also  at  MeditietAbou  in  a  small  building  of  elegant 
workmanship,  in  which  he  appears  presenting  offerings  to  Amun  Re 
and  the  other  Theban  deities.  The  thirteenth  year  of  this  king  is 
mentioned  on  a  stele  preserved  at  Rome. 

Teos,  or,  as  he  was  named  by  the  Greeks,  Tachos,  was  the  next 
sovereign.  He  had  scarcely  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  when 
he  was  alarmed  by  the  menacing  attitude  assumed  by  the  court  of 
Persia.  He  immediately  applied  to  Sparta  for  assistance;  and  Age* 
silauB,  willing  to  assist  a  nation  friendly  to  the  LacedsBmonians,  went 
himself  to  Egypt  with  a  strong  force  of  Greek  auxiliaries.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  Egyptian  king,  having  heard  much  of  the  fame  of  the 
Spartan  warrior,  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  him  a  feeble  and 
dhninutive  old  man.  He  therefore  refused  to  fulfil  the  intimation 
which  had  been  given,  by  placing  him  in  command  of  the  army ; 
but  allowed  him  only  the  direction  of  the  Greek  force,  while  he  put 
the  fleet  under  the  orders  of  Chabrias  the  Athenian.  Nor  was  this 
the  only  instance  in  which  the  famed  Spartan  found  himself  griev- 
ously disappointed  in  the  prosecution  of  this  enterprise.  Tachos, 
in  raising  funds  for  the  war,  as  well  as  in  the  appointment  of  his 
officers,  appears  to  have  been  guided  by  the  advice  of  the  sage  Athe- 


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110  THB  aBNTXU  ITATIONS. 

nian.  But  this  proved  fatal  to  his  cause.  While  his  military  policy 
rendered  the  Spartan  his  enemy,  his  financial  measures  were  not 
only  generally  unpopular  in  Egypt,  but  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the 
priesthood.  The  Egyptian  armament  had,  in  consequence,  scarcely 
commenced  operations  in  Phenicia  and  Syria^  before  Nectanebus, 
nephew  of  the  king,  who  commanded  a  section  of  the  army, — ^ad- 
vised by  his  father,  who  held  an  important  post  in  Egypt, — revolted; 
and,,  being  joined  by  Agesilaus  and  the  Greek  troops,  compelled 
Tachos  to  fly  to  Sidon.  The  insurgents  then  defeated  Mendasius, 
who  had  been  named  as  heir  to  Tachos,  and  secured  possession  of 
the  throne.  Tachos,  after  having  been  thus  driven  into  exile, 
repaired  to  the  palace  of  the  Persian  monarch,  where  he  was  well 
received ;  and,  having  counselled  a  Persian  invasion  of  Egypt,  shortly 
after  died. 

Nectanebus  II.,  having  usurped  the  throne  of  his  uncle,  adminis- 
tered the  afijairs  of  the  kingdom  with  considerable  ability  and  suc- 
cess. Artaxerxes  died  in  the  ninth  year  of  Nectanebus,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Darius  Ochus.  This  prince  was  et  once  cruel 
and  unwarlUce.  At  first  he  gave  way  to  indolence,  and  directed 
several  attacks  .to  be  made  on  Egypt,  which  were  always  easily 
repelled;  until,  at  last,  roused  by  the  ridicule  which  these  feilures 
excited,  and  especially  by  the  defection  of  the  rulers  of  Cyprus  and 
Phenicia,  who,  in  consequence  of  his  sloth,  had  despised  his  power 
and  revolted,  he  prepared  himself  for  action,  and  marched,  at  the 
head  of  a  formidable  force,  into  Western  Asia. 

He  commenced  his  operations  by  reducing  Cyprus  and  Phenicia; 
after  which,  having  added  to  his  army  ten  thousand  Thebans,  Arr 
gives,  and  Asiatic  Greeks,  he  proceeded  toward  Egypt.  In  passing 
the  desert^  he  sustained  a  serious  loss  of  troops  in  the  quicksands; 
but  he  succeeded  in  reaching  Pelusinm  with  a  powerful  anny. 
Mectanebus  had  made  every  possible  provision  for  the  defence  of 
his  kingdom,  and  the  first  operations  of  the  war  were  conducted  on 
both  sides  with  great  spirit.  It  appears,  however,  that  the  Greek 
auxiliaries  in  the  service  of  Persia  managed  to  out*general  the 
Egyptian  king,  and  establish  themselves  in  force  in  the  rear  of  his 
position.  This  forced  Nectanebus  to  retire  to  Memphis, — a  meas- 
ure which  compelled  the  garrison  of  Pelusium  to  surrender,  and  led 
to  the  subjugation  of  the  whole  country.  For  Ochus,  having  be- 
haved with  great  moderation  to  the  Egyptians  who  had  fallen  into 
his  power,  and  having  punished  with  death  some  Persian  soldiers 
who  had  attempted  to  spoil  the  garrison  of  Pelusium,  contrary  to 
the  articles  of  capitulation,  produced  an  impression  that  those  who 
submitted  first  would  be  treated  best.     The  people,  therefore, 


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THE  OBNTILE  NATIONS.  Ill 

eagerfy  received  him;  and  Nectanebus  was  compelled  to  fly  into 
Ethiopia.  Thos  was  Egypt  again  completely  reduced,  and  made  a 
province  of  the  Persian  empire,  B.  G.  350. 

THIBTT-FIB8T  DTVA8TT  :  PKB8IAV  KIXGS. 

Tmi«. 

1.  Darius  Ochos  reigned 12 

2.  Anes « 2 

3.  BiuriiiB  QodoinAnnuB < 4 

The  fair  promise  of  leniency  and  conciliation  which  the  conduct 
of  Ochus  gave  to  Egypt  during  the  war,  completely  vanished  when 
his  power  was  established  over  that  kingdom.  He  not  only  imitated 
the  outrages  of  Cambyses,  but  greatly  excelled  him  in  wanton  cruelty. 
He  caused  Apis  to  be  killed,  dressed,  and  served  up  to  a  banquet, 
he  and  his  friends  feasting  on  his  flesh.  He  commanded  an  ass  to 
receive  the  honours  due  to  the  god.  He  spoiled  the  temples,  taking 
away  gold,  silver,  and  sacred  records.  The  latter  were,  indeed, 
restored,  but  only  after  extorting  a  large  sum  from  the  priests  as 
the  price  of  their  redemption.  The  walls  of  the  principal  towns 
were  razed,  to  prevent  their  being  formidable  in  fature.  Wanton 
injustice,  murders,  profanations  of  sacred  rites,  and  continual  perse- 
cutions characterized  his  government;  and  thus  Egypt  groaned  in 
affliction  until  he  retired  from  the  country.  To  show  their  abhor- 
rence of  his  memory,  the  Egyptians  substituted  for  his  name,  in 
their  catalogue  of  kings,  the  figure  of  a  sword,  as  the  emblem  of 
destruction. 

Nothing  is  known  of  the  internal  government  of  Egypt  from  the 
departure  of  Ochus  to  the  invasion  of  Alexander.  The  severe 
diaracter  of  the  administration  may,  however,  be  inferred  from  the 
fact,  that  the  Macedonian  conqueror  was  hailed  with  great  joy  by 
the  people  of  that  country. 

THIBTT-SBOOto  DTK A8TT :  If  AOBDOHIAXB. 

Tmi*.      B.  C. 

Alexuider  reigned ;.. 9       8S2 

AlexLder  (sou  of  the  Great)  I  ^^^'"^^  «^"^"'  I _6       817 

Duration  of  the  dynasty ,..  21  years. 

Alexander,  having  established  his  power  in  Egypt,  had  to  leave 
it,  for  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  .his  gigantic  schemes  of  foreign 
conquest.  But,  prior  to  doing  this,  he  planned  the  building  of  a 
new  city  on  the  sea-coast,  to  be  called  after  his  own  name,  Alexan- 
dria. He  made  Cleomenes  general  overseer  of  this  great  work,  and 
Dinocrates — who  had  become  famous  by  rebuilding  the  temple  of 
Diana  at  Ephesus,  after  it  had  been  burned  down  by  Eratostratus — 
architect  of  the  buildings.    He  also  settled  the  government  on  a 


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112  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

plan  as  original  as  might  be  expected  from  his  genius.  Wishing 
that  the  land  might  be  governed  by  its  own  established  laws  and 
customs,  he  appointed  Doloaspes,  an  Egyptian,  the  civil  governor 
of  the  who%  country.  But,  not  wishing  to  intrust  him,  or  any  other 
individual,  with  all  the  military  power  of  such  an  important  king- 
dom, he  divided  it  into  districis,  and  placed  the  military  force  of 
each  in  the  hands  of  a  separate  lieutenant.  These  were  all  inde- 
pendent of  each  other ;  and  their  power  was  limited  to  the  several 
sections  over  which  they  were  called  to  preside.  Egypt  was  gov- 
erned in  this  manner  during  the  life  of  Alexander.  On  his  death 
his  four  principal  generals  agreed  to  place  his  natural  brother  AridaBus 
on  the  throne  under  the  name  of  "  Philip,"^— at  the  same  time  appoint- 
ing themselves  to  the  government  of  four  great  divisions  of  the  em- 
pire, which  they  were  to  rule  in  the  name  of  the  new  king.  Under 
this  arrangement,  Ptolemy  obtained  Egypt,  Libya,  Arabia,  Palestine, 
and  Coele- Syria,  and  fixed  the  seat  of  his  government  in  Egypt. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  this  period  incessant  plots  and  coun- 
ter-plots, wars,  treasons,  and  murders,  prevailed.  In  all  of  these,  how- 
ever, Ptolemy  maintained  his  ground  in  Egypt.  From  the  first,  be 
aimed  at  ruling  with  justice  and  moderation,  and  adopted  such 
measures  as  not  only  endeared  him  to  the  Egyptians,  but  induced 
many  of  the  Greeks  to  go  and  reside  in  Egypt.  But  this  anoma- 
lous state  of  things  could  not  continue  long.  In  317  B.  C,  Olym- 
pias,  the  mother  of  Alexander,  having  returned  to  Macedonia,  and 
got  the  principal  power  into  her  hands,  caused  Aridaeus  and  his  wife 
to  be  put  to  death.  The  youthful  Alexander,  the  son  of  Boxana, 
was  now  called  "  king,"  and  continued  to  bear  that  title  until  31 1  B.  C, 
when  Cassander,  who  had  for  a  long  time  shut  him  and  his  mother 
up  in  prison,  had  them  both  privately  murdered.  Thus  was  termin- 
ated even  the  nominal  rule  of  the  family  of  the  great  Macedonian. 

THIBTT-THIBO  DTSASTT  :  THE  FTOIJEMIBS. 

Ymh.  Begaa  B.  C. 

Lagus  or  Soter  reigned 27  811 

SiladelphiM 88  284 

Euergeteg 26  246 

?hilopator 17  221 

Epiphanes , 24  204 

Philometer 35  180 

Buergetes  II ; 29  145 

Soter  II 10  116 

Alexander  I.  (Soter  deposed) 18  106 

Soter  II.  restored 7  *      88 

Berenice 6  months.  81 

Alexander  IL 15  80 

Neus  Dionysus i 14  66 

Ptolemy  the  Elder 4  61 

Ptolemy  the  Younger 8  47 

Cleopatra 14  44 

Egypt  a  Roman  province 80  80 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  113 

As  the  reader  has  been  already  informed,  Ptolemy  ruled  Egypt 
firom  the  date  of  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  aJthough  he  did 
not  assume  the  royal  style  and  title  until  B.  G.  305.  For  some  years 
indeed  after  the  death  of  the  younger  Alexander,  there  were  inces- 
sant wars  between  those  generals  who  had  divided  the  empire  among 
them.  In  the  course  of  these  conflicts  Antigonus  had  wrested 
Phenicia,  Judea,  and  Syria  from  Ptolemy;  while  Demetrius,  the 
son  of  Antigonus,  succeeded  in  subduing  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  not- 
withstanding the  utmost  efforts  of  Ptolemy  to  retain  it.  But  the 
restless  ambition  of  Antigonus  compelled  the  other  generals  to 
form  a  combination  against  him ;  in  consequence  of  which  a  great 
battle  was  fought,  near  Issus,  a  city  in  Phrygia,  B.  G.  301,  in  which 
Antigonus  was  slain,  and  his  son  Demetrius  compelled  to  fly  at  the 
head  of  only  five  thousand  men.  This  confirmed  Ptolemy  in  his 
gOYcmment,  and  enabled  him  to  consolidate  his  power,  and  devote 
his  energies  to  the  internal  improvement  of  his  kingdom. 

In  these  efforts  he  displayed  great  moderation  and  practical 
wisdom.  Notwithstanding  his  intense  partiality  for  Greek  manners, 
he  did  not  attempt  to  Hellenize  Egypt.  On  the  contrary,  he  revived, 
as  £eu:  as  altered  circumstances  would  allow,  its  ancient  religion  and 
form  of  government.  He  restored  the  priesthood  to  a  large  portion 
of  their  pristine  power  and  privilege ;  renewed  the  division  of  the 
country  into  nomes ;  declared  Memphis,  although  not  the  usual  resi- 
dence of  the  sovereign,  the  capital  of  the  country ;  and  its  temple 
of  Pthah  the  national  sanctuary,  where  alone  the  kings  could  receive 
the  crown. 

These  prudent  measures  were  accompanied  by  a  wise  and  liberal 
scheme  of  commercial  policy.  Under  its  fostering  influence  Alex- 
andria rose  into  great  power  and  prosperity.  Merchants  from  all 
the  neighbouring  nations  traded  thither.  Nor  did  Ptolemy,  in  his 
martial,  civil,  and  commercial  cares  and  plans,  overlook  the  higher 
and  more  elevating  pursuits  of  learning  and  philosophy.  He  plan- 
ned or  erected  a  splendid  museum,  or  college  of  philosophy,  and 
supported  its  professors  and  teachers  from  the  public  frmds.  These 
measures  were  too  grand  in  their  scope  and  character  to  produce 
much  immediate  benefit ;  but  the  basis  was  laid  for  friture  prosperity : 
a  seed  was  sown  which  produced  fruit  through  succeeding  centuries. 
Another  element  which  contributed  in  no  insignificant  degree  to  tlie 
welfare  of  Egypt  was  the  large  influx  of  Jews  who  were  introduced 
into  the  kingdom.  This  importation  was  begun  in  the  early  part  of 
his  government.  Enraged  that  the  Jews,  who  had  sworn  allegiance 
to  Laomedon,  afterward  refused  to  submit  to  himself,  Ptolemy 
assaulted  Jerusalem  on  the  Sabbath-day,  and  carried  away  nearly 

8 


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114  THB  GBNTILE  NATIONS. 

one  hundred  thousaad  of  the  inhabitaats  into  Egypt.  (Hebrew 
People,  p.  411.)  But  afterward,  considering  that  the  fidelity  of  this 
people  ought  to  have  entitled  them  to  his  respect,  he  treated  them 
kindly,  and  trusted  seyeral  important  posts  to  their  keeping,  and 
allowed  them  the  same  privileges  as  they  had  enjoyed  under  Alex- 
ander. By  these  means  many  of  this  nation  were  induced  to  go 
voluntarily  and  settle  in  Alexandria  and  other  parts  of  Egypt,  where 
their  industry  and  talents  made  them  an  important  portion  of  the 
community.  By  this  means  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  and  a 
large  amount  of  revealed  truth  were  placed  prominently  before  the 
Egyptian  people. 

Another  most  valuable  result  of  the  establishment  of  a  Greek 
sovereignty  in  Egypt,  was  the  impulse  whidi  real  learning  and  sound 
philosophy  thweby  received.  With  a  sovereign,  Greece  gave  Egypt 
her  literature.  The  &r-famed  wisdom  of  Egypt  had  long  before  this 
become  obsolete,  and  exhibited  at  best  a  kind  of  mummy-existence, — 
a  lifdess  resemblance  of  its  former  glory.  But  the  patronage  which 
Ptolemy  gave  to  philosophy  and  art,  opened  up  one  of  the  greatest 
revivals  of  science  and  learning  which  the  world  has  seen.  By  a 
remarkable  coincidence,  Egypt,  although  but  the  shadow  of  her  former 
self,  contributed  most  essentially  to  tiiis  important  result.  While 
Greece  gave  her  learning,  Egypt  presented  in  return  the  papyrus, — 
a  boon  at  that  day  only  inferior,  as  a  means  of  communicating 
knowledge,  to  the  invention  of  printing.  Before  this  time  books  had 
been  written  on  linen,  wax,  or  the  bark  of  trees ;  and  public  records 
on  stone,  brass,  or  lead.  But  the  papyrus  afibrded  a  medium  so 
modi  more  convenient  and  cheap,  that  it  gave  an  immense  impetus 
to  learning,  so  that  many  persons  then  possessed  books  who  had 
never  previously  seen  them.  Even  in  Greece  and  Rome  this  sub- 
stance was  almost  exclusively  used,  as  long  as  it  could  be  pro- 
cured. 

Under  these  influences  Egypt  arose  into  new  life  and  vigour,  and 
again  assumed  a  most  important  position  among  the  independent 
nations  of  the  world.  '  Ptolemy  had  married  Eurydice,  the  dauber 
of  Antipater,  and  had  by  her  his  eldest  son  Ptolemy  Geraunus. 
But,  having  been  greatly  fiMcinated  with  Berenice,  who  came  into 
Egypt  as  a  companion  to  Eurydice,  he  married  her  also,  and  was 
ever  after  so  much  under  her  influence,  that,un  order  eflfectnally  to 
exclude  his  eldest  son  from  succeeding  to  the  throne,  he  associated 
Ptolemy  Phikdelphus,  the  son  of  Berenice,  with  him  in  the  govern- 
ment during  his  lifetime.  During  the  year  of  their  joint  rule,  the 
&mous  watchtower,  or  light-house,  of  Pharos  was  finished.  It  was 
a  large  square  buildmg  of  white  marble,  on  the  top  of  which  fires 


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THB  GBKTILS  NATIONS.  115 

were  kept  burning,  as  a  guide  to  shipping  entering  the  port  of 
Alexandria. 

Ptolemy  Philadelphns  succeeded  to  the  undivided  dominion  if 
S^ypt,  B.  C.  284,  on  the  death  of  his  father.  Under  his  gbvem- 
ment  Egypt  attained  the  summit  of  power  and  fame.  Here  com- 
merce was  unrivalled;  learning  acquired  an  influence  and  honour 
unknown  in  any  other  nation  of  the  day.  The  Museum  of  Philoso- 
phy and  the  Royal  Library  would  have  been  the  glory  of  any  age 
or  nation.  Euclid,  Conon,  and  Hipparchus  had  imparted  to  the 
schools  all  the  weight  of  their  great  character.  Manetho,  the  great 
!^yptian  historian,  wrote  at  this  period;  while  Aristarchus,  as  « 
critic,  and  Apollonius  Rhodius,  as  a  poet,  adorned  and  strengthened 
tiiis  galaxy  of  science. 

But  pertiaps  one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  this  age  was  the 
translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  into  Greek,  at  the  instance  of 
the  sovereign.  Thus  the  inspired  books  became  patent  to  the 
world,  and  all  the  glorious  truths  of  Old- Testament  revelation 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  learned.  No  other  language  could 
at  that  time  have  obtained  such  currency  for  the  sacred  volume  as 
the  Greek. 

It  is  a  singular  and  significant  fact,  that  just  at  the  time  when 
this  Ptolemy  was  securing  a  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
he  was  also  engaged  in  the  removal  of  the  idol  Serapis  from  Pontus 
to  l^ypt.  For  this  image  a  most  magnificent  temple  was  erected  in 
one  of  the  suburbs  of  Alexandria.  Here,  too,  was  deposited  that 
fiunous  library  which  grew  to  be  one  of  the  most  extensive  collec- 
tions of  writings  which  the  world  ever  witnessed. 

Under  Ptolemy  Philadelphns,  Egypt  became  the  first  maritime 
and  commercial  power  of  the  age,  and  was  scarcely  second  to  any 
in  military  strength.  By  building  a  city  on  the  western  bank  of 
the  Red  Sea,  and  another,  named  after  his  mother  Berenice,  almost 
on  the  frontiers  of  Ethiopia,  he  succeeded  in  engrossing  all  that 
trade  which  had  successively  enriched  Judea  and  Phenicia.  Like 
these  nations,  also,  he  added  to  this  maritime  traffic  the  overland 
caravan-trade  with  Arabia  and  the  East. 

This  monarch,  having  heard  that  the  Romans  had  succeeded,  after 
a  struggle  of  six  years,  in  driving  Pyrrhus,  King  qf  Epirus,  out  of 
Italy,  sent  ambassadors  to  Rome,  congratulating  the  senate  on  their 
success.  This  being  the  first  time  that  any  Egyptians  had  appeared 
in  Rome,  and  the  Romans  being  flattei^  by  the  attention  of  a 
nation  so  celebrated  as  Egypt,  they  sent  ambassadors  in  return,  and 
thus  established  friendly  relations  between  the  two  countries.  It 
seems  probable  that  this  may  have  had  considerable  influence  on 


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116  THB  GENTILS  NATIONS. 

the  destiny  of  the  rising  republic.  For  when,  twenty  years  after- 
ward, the  Carthaginians  sent  to  request  Ptolemy  to  lend  them  two 
thousand  talents,  to  aid  them  in  their  war  with  Rome,  the  king  of 
Egypt  replied,  "  I  will  assist  you  against  enemies  or  indifferent  per- 
sons ;  but  cannot,  without  a  breach  of  fidelity,  lend  one  friend  any 
aid  against  another." 

The  tranquillity  of  the  country  was  for  a  while  disturbed  during  this 
reign  by  Magus,  the  king\^  half-brother,  to  whom  he  had  intrusted  the 
government  of  Libya  and  Cyrene.  But  Ptolemy  repelled  the  aggres- 
sion, and  defeated  all  his  efforts,  and  was  ultimately  reconciled  to 
him.  This  prince  died  B.  C.  246,  having  reigned  thirty-eight 
years. 

Ptolemy  Euergetes  succeeded  his  father.  He  was  scarcely  seated 
on  the  throne  when  he  was  drawn  into  a  war  with  Seleucus  Callini- 
cus,  King  of  Syria,  in  consequence  of  the  murder  of  Berenice,  sister 
of  Ptolemy,  who  had  been  a  wife  to  the  father  of  Seleucus.  Having 
collected  a  numerous  army,  Ptolemy  crossed  the  desert ;  but  instead 
of  directing  his  march  immediately  to  Syria,  as  might  be  expected 
from  the  peculiar  cause  of  the  war,  he  overran  Palestine,  Babylonia, 
Persia,  and  the  rich  provinces  of  Upper  Asia,  and  came  back  laden 
with  an  enormous  amount  of  spoils.  On  his  return  he  attacked 
Seleucus,  defeated  him  with  great  slaughter,  and  compelled  him  to 
take  refuge  in  Antioch.  The  Egyptian  army  then  returned  home, 
having  gained  immense  booty,  but  no  real  addition  of  territory,  by 
the  war.  Not  only  was  the  wealth  thus  acquired  prodigious,  but  we 
hear  on  this  occasion,  and,  I  think,  for  the  first  time,  of  works  of  art 
and  virtu  being  carried  off  by  the  conqueror.  Ptolemy,  we  are  told, 
brought  back  with  him  two  thousand  five  hundred  pictures  and 
statues,  among  which  were  many  of  the  Egyptian  idols  which  Cam- 
byses  had  taken  from  Egypt.  This  greatly  pleased  the  Egyptians, 
and  they  in  consequence  gave  Ptolemy  the  name  of  Euergetes, 
*•  the  Beneficent." 

Having  concluded  this  war,  and  made  peace  with  the  king  of 
Syria,  Euergetes  devoted  himself  to  the  promotion  of  learning,  and 
the  completion  of  his  father's  object  in  the  formation  of  a  national 
library.  With  this  design  he  sent  learned  men  into  distant  coun- 
tries, to  purchase  at  any  price  such  books  as  they  thought  desirable; 
and  thus  he. greatly  added  to  the  literary  treasures  previously  col- 
lected. Upon  the  death  of  Zenodotus,  who  had  been  librarian  from 
the  time  of  Ptolemy  Soter,  Euergetes  invited  from  Athens  Eratos- 
thenes, a  learned  Gyrenian,  to  take  this  duty  on  him, — a  trust  which 
he  discharged  with  honour  to  himself  and  great  benefit  to  the  insti- 
tution. 


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THB  QBKTILB  NATIONS.  117 

Toward  the  dose  of  his  reign,  Ptolemy  Euergetes  again  directed 
his  attention  to  martial  pursnits ;  and  having  led  an  army  soathward, 
he  made  himself  master  of  both  sides  of  the  Red  Sea,  as  far  as  the 
straits  which  connect  it  with  the  ocean.  Having  perfectly  succeeded 
in  his  object,  he  found  on  his  return  to  Egypt,  that  Gleomenes,  King 
of  Sparta,  was  involved  in  a  Grecian  war.  At  first  Ptolemy  felt  dis- 
posed to  aid  the  Achseans ;  but  taking  ofience  at  their  application  to 
Antigonus,  King  of  Macedon,  he  sent  considerable  support  to  Gleo- 
menes. Notwithstanding  this  aid,  the  Spartan  king  was  completely 
defeated  in  the  battle  of  Salasia,  and  compelled  to  take  reftige  in 
Egypt,  where  Ptolemy  allowed  him  a  yearly  stipend  of  twenty-four 
talents,  and  promised,  as  soon  as  an  opportunity  offered,  to  assist 
him  to  recover  his  throne.  But  before  any  favourable  occasion  pre- 
sented itself,  Ptolemy  died,  and  left  the  government  to  his  son. 

During  this  reign  Egypt  was  restored  to  the  zenith  of  prosperity. 
Her  power  secured  the  respect  of  every  other  nation ;  her  civiliza- 
tion equalled,  if  not  exceeded,  that  of  all  surrounding  countries ;  while 
her  commerce,  far  beyond  that  of  all  her  contemporaries,  filled  the 
public  treasury  with  wealth,  and  diffused  plenty  and  contentment 
throughout  the  country.  In  looking  back  on  the  state  of  Egypt  in 
those  times,  it  seems  as  if,  under  the  first  three  Ptolemies,  it  had 
arisen  from  the  prostration  of  ages  into  an  intelligence  and  power 
equal  to  that  possessed  by  any  nation  of  the  day.  But,  alas !  this 
exaltation  was  very  short-lived.  With  Ptolemy  Euergetes  the  sun 
of  Egyptian  prosperity  sank  from  its  meridian  altitude,  and  began 
to  verge  toward  decline.  The  authors  of  the  "  Universal  History  " 
say  of  him,  '*He  was  the  last  of  his  race  in  whom  any  virtue, 
humanity,  or  moderation  appeared."  Though  we  are  hardly  dis- 
posed to  adopt  this  language,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  in  scarcely 
any  other  instance  do  we  see  such  striking  results  flow  to  a  country 
firom  the  individual  character  of  its  sovereigns.  Here  is  a  nation 
rescued  from  a  chaos  of  confusion, — apolitical,  commercial,  general ; 
for  this  was  the  condition  of  Egypt  when  conquered  by  Alexander. 
Tet  under  three  successive  rulers  it  rises  into  a  proud  preeminence 
in  all  respects  over  every  neighbouring  country.  Again  we  look ; 
and  under  the  descendants  of  these  kings  the  same  land,  without 
any  external  or  other  prominent  cause,  is  seen  reduced  once  more 
to  weakness,  confusion,  and  subjection.  This  circumstance  will 
render  the  further  account  of  its  history  more  brief  than  might 
otherwise  be  expected. 

Ptolemy,  called  Philopator,  "  a  Lover  of  his  Father,"  ascended 
the  throne  B.  C.  221.  He  was  a  ifeak  and  wicked  prince,  and  ren- 
dered his  government  odious  and  mischievous  by  resigning  himself 


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118  TUB  aSNTILE  NATIONS. 

generall;  to  the  direction  of  unworthy  favourites.  By  the  instigation 
of  his  minister,  Sosibius,  he  caused  his  brother  Ma^us  to  be  mur- 
dered, lest  he  might  endeavour  to  secure  the  kingdom  to  himself. 
The  death  of  Clefmenes,  the  exiled  King  of  Sparta,  who  had  been 
protected  and  provided  for  by  the  preceding  king,  soon  followed. 
Antiochus  the  Great,  who  at  this  time  ruled  in  Syria^  perceiving  the 
disorder  and  licentiousness  which  prevailed  in  the  court  of  Egypt^ 
thought  it  a  favourable  time  to  declare  war  against  that  country. 
Ptolemy,  who  seems  not  to  have  lacked  courage,  roused  himself  to 
the  emergency,  collecjbed  a  great  army,  and  proceeded  to  meet  the 
enemy.  In  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Antiochus  obtuned  some 
advantages  over  the  Egyptian  troops :  but  shortly  after,  in  a  great 
battle  fought  at  Baphia^  near  Gaza,  he  was  completely  defeated,  with 
great  loss ;  and  Ptolemy  obtained  a  large  extension  of  influence  in 
Palestine  and  Syria.  Humbled  by  this  defeat,  and  alarmed  at  the 
progress  of  AchsBus  in  Asia  Minor,  Antiochus  was  anxious  to  make 
peace  with  Ptolemy ;  and  the  Egyptian  king,  although  he  had  every 
inducement  to  prosecute  the  wsur,  being  equally  anxious  to  return  to 
his  licentious  pleasures,  was  ready  to  receive  his  overtures.  A  peace 
was  in  consequence  concluded,  by  which  Coele- Syria  and  Palestine 
were  confirmed  as  belonging  to  Egypt.  This  being  done,  Ptolemy 
went  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  well  received,  and  treated  the 
inhabitaDts  kindly,  until,  having  made  a  fruitless  attempt  to  enter 
the  inner  sanctuary,  (Hebrew  People,  p.  414,)  he  retired  &om  the 
city  threatening  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews  with  extermination. 
It  does  not  appear  that  he  dared  to  assail  the  sacred  city ;  but,  on 
returning  to  Egypt,  he  published  a  decree,  which  he  caused  to  be 
engraved  on  a  pillar  erected  at  the  gate  of  his  palace,  excluding  all 
who  did  not  sacrifice  to  the  gods  whom  he  worshipped.  By  this 
means  the  Jews  were  virtually  outlawed,  being  prevented  firom  suing 
to  him  for  justice,  or  from  claiming  his  protection.  But  this  was  not 
the  extent  of  his  infliction.  By  ano^er  decree  he  reduced  them 
from  the  first  rank  of  citiasens — to  which  they  had  been  raised  by  the 
favour  of  Alexander — to  the  third  rank.  They  were  in  consequence 
degraded  so  far  as  to  be  enrolled  among  the  common  people  of  Egypt. 
When  commanded  to  appear  for  this  enrolment,  they  were  ordered 
to  have  an  ivy-leaf,  the  badge  of  Bacchus,  branded  on  their  faces ; 
those  thus  marked  were  consigned  to  slavery.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
the  offering  of  sacrifice  to  the  heathen  gods  presented  a  ready  ex- 
emption from  these  dreadful  penalties,  but  very  few,  out  of  many 
thousands  of  Jews,  were  induced  thus  to  apostatize.  The  reaolnte 
firmness  of  the  people  in  resisting  the  king's  will  being  construed 
into  factious  obstmacy,  he  determined  to  destroy  them  altogether. 


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THB  eSNTILB  KATI0N8.  119 

All  the  Jews  in  Egypt  were  in  consequence  collected  and  friint  up 
together  within  the  hippodrome,  with  a  view  to  their  execution. 
Five  hundred  elephants  were  drawn  up  to  execute  the  king's  wrath. 
Meantime  the  persecuted  Hebrews  betook  themselves  to  earnest 
prayer ;  and  we  are  told  that  when  these  animals  were  let  loose,  in- 
stead of  slaughtering  the  Jews,  they  turned  upon  the  soldiers  and 
spectators,  and  destroyed  great  numbers  of  them.  This  circum- 
stance induced  the  king  to  forego  his  purpose,  and- to  restore  the 
Hebrews  to  all  the  dignity  and  privilege  which  they  before  en- 
joyed. 

During  this  reign  the  Romans,  being  again  at  war  with  Carthage, 
sent  ambassadors  to  Egypt,  to  renew  their  ancient  friendship,  who 
brought  magnificent  presents  to  Ptolemy  and  his  queen. 

At  the  death  of  Philopator,  B.  C.  204,  Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  being 
then  a  child  of  five  years  old,  ascended  the  throne.  In  the  early 
part  of  his  reign  another  Roman  embassy  visited  Egypt,  when  the 
king's  counsellors  took  the  opportunity  of  placing  the  young  prince 
under  the  guar&ianship  of  the  powerful  republic.  The  senate  of 
Rome  accepted  the  charge,  and  sent  Marcus  Lepidus  to  act  as 
guardian, — a  trust  which,  after  a  jshort  stay  in  Egypt,  he  conferred 
upon  Aristomenes,  an  Acarnanian,  who  discharged  the  duties  of 
this  important  office  with  integrity  and  ability  for  several  years,  until 
the  king  had  attained  the  age  of  fourteen,  when,  according  to  the 
usage  of  the  country,  he  was  entitled  to  take  the  administration  of 
the  kingdom  into  his  own  hands.  The  folly  of  investing  a  person  so 
young  with  absolute  power  was  in  this  instance  made  fully  apparent. 
The  youth,  who  had  been  universally  popular  while  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Aristomenes,  was  no  sooner  enthroned  than  he  placed  him- 
self under  the  influence  of  worthless  men,  by  whose  advice  he  was 
led  to  the  adoption  of  measures  through  which  great  disorders  were 
introduced  into  every  branch  of  the  government ;  and  at  length  his 
former  able  and  honest  minister  was  put  to  death. 

Epiphanes  married  Cleopatra,  daughter  of  Antiochus  the  Great. 
This  marriage  appears  to  have  taken  place  when  the  young  king  was 
but  about  seventeen  years  old.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  he  was 
taken  off  by  poison,  administered  by  his  nobles,  to  prevent  him  from 
entering  on  a  war  with  Syria,  to  which  he  had  committed  himself, 
when  the  national  finances  were  so  low  that  they  feared  they  should 
have  to  contribute  largely  toward  the^expenses  of  the  contest.  He 
left  two  sons,  Philometer  and  Physcon;  and  a  daughter,  Cleopatra, 
who  was  successively  married  to  her  two  brothers. 

Philometer,  the  elder  of  the  two  sons,  then  but  six  years  old,  was 
placed  on  the  throne  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  Cleopatra, 


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120  THE  OBNTILE  NATIONS. 

who  for«eight  years  conducted  the  affiiirs  of  the  kingdom  with  great 
judgment  and  success.  After  her  death,  Lannseus,  a  nobleman  of 
distinction,  and  Eulaeus,  a  eunuch,  were  charged  with  the  govern- 
ment  of  the  country.  One  of  their  earliest  measures  was  to  insist 
on  the  restoration  of  Coele-Syria  and  Palestine  to  Egypt, — these 
provinces  having  been  i^rested  from  the  dominion  of  Egypt  by 
Antiochus  the  Great.  This  demand  led  to  a  violent  contest,  which 
tended  more  than  any  preceding  event  to  demonstrate  the  rapid 
decline  of  Egyptian  power,  and  the  rising  sway  of  Rome. 

The  Syrian  army,  under  the  command  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
prosecuted  the  war  with  such  vigour  and  success  that  it  penetrated 
to  the  walls  of  Alexandria,  and  actually  secured  the  person  of  the 
Egyptian  king.  Whether  he  was  taken  in  war,  or  placed  himself 
willingly  in  the  hands  of  the  Syrian  king,  does  not  clearly  appear. 
But,  however  this  may  be,  the  Syrian  monarch  gained  little  by  his 
acquisition.  For,  although  he  induced  Philometer  to  enter  into  a 
treaty  with  him,  this  was  instantly  disallowed  by  the  nation,  who, 
regarding  a  sovereign  in  the  power  of  an  enemy  as  lost  to  his  coun- 
try, immediately  raised  Physcon,  the  king's  brother,  to  the  throne. 
This  led  to  a  second  Syrian  invasion,  which  resulted  in  the  expulsion 
of  Physcon ;  Antiochus  restoring  Philometer  to  the  government, 
but  retaining  Pelusium,  the  key  to  the  country,  in  the  possession  of 
Syrian  troops.  From  this  and  other  indications  of  the  Syrian  king's 
intentions,  Philometer  rightly  judged  that  it  was  his  design,  by 
setting  the  two  brothers  in  continued  collision  with  each  other,  to 
retain  Egypt  virtually  in  his  own  power.  Acting  on  this  judgment, 
Philometer  invited  his  brother  to  t^rms  of  reconciliation,  which,  by 
the  aid  of  their  sister  Cleopatra,  was  happily  effected. 

The  measures  adopted  by  the  two  brothers  to  restore  Egypt  to  an 
independent  and  prosperous  condition  induced  Antiochus  again  to 
march  an  army  into  that  country.  He  was  on  this  occasion,  how- 
ever, compelled,  by  the  prompt  and  energetic  interference  of  the 
Romans,  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  By  agreement  between  the 
two  brothers,  they  were  to  reign  jointly ;  but  they  were  no  sooner 
freed  from  the  danger  of  foreign  aggression  than  they  began  to 
quarrel  among  themselves.  This  quickly  produced  an  open  rupture, 
in  which  Physcon  succeeded  in  driving  his  brother  out  of  the  king- 
dom. He  was,  however,  soon  after  restored  by  the  power  of  Rome, 
which  at  the  same  time  assigned  Libya  and  Cyrene  to  Physcon. 
New  disputes  arose,  and  various  contests  took  place  between  them, 
in  all  of  which  Rome  regarded  herself  as  entitled  to  act  as  the  para- 
mount ruler  of  Egypt,  and  to  award  its  sovereignty  according  to  her 
wUl 


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THB  GBNTIUS  NATIONS.  121 

Philomeier  was  soon  after  proYoked  into  a  war  with  Alexander 
Bala,  who  had  been  raised  to  the  throne  of  Syria  mainly  by  his  sup- 
port. In  the  prosecution  of  this  contest,  the  king  of  Egypt  marched 
into  Syria»  where  he  completely  routed  the  army  of  Alexander  near 
Antioch,  but  died  a  few  days  after  of  wounds  received  in  the  battle. 
He  left  behind  him  a  high  reputation  for  wisdom  and  clemency.  It 
was  in  his  reign,  and  by  his  favour  and  that  of  his  queen,  Cleopatra, 
that  the  Jews  under  Onias  were  permitted  to  build  the  famous 
Jewish  temple  at  Heliopolis. 

On  the  death  of  her  husband,  Cleopatra  endeavoured  to  secure  the 
crown  for  their  son :  but  some  of  the  leading  men  inclined  toward 
Physcon,  and  invited  him  from  Cyrene,  where  he  then  reigned,  into 
E^pt.  The  queen  raised  an  army  to  oppose  him,  and  a  civil  war 
was  imminent,  when  an  accommodation  was  arranged,  through  the 
mediation  of  Rome,  by  which  Physcon  married  Cleopatra,  who  was 
his  sister  and  his  brother's  widow,  on  the  understanding  that  they 
were  to  reign  with  joint  authority,  and  that  Cleopatra's  son  by 
Philometer  should  be  declared  next  heir  to  the  crown.  This  agree- 
ment was  no  sooner  completed  than  it  was  violated.  On  the  day  of 
his  marriage  Physcon  miurdered  the  son  of  Philometer  in  the  arms 
of  his  mother,  and  commenced  a  career  of  iniquity  and  slaughter  of 
which  this  was  a  fitting  prelude.  Ue  indeed  assumed  the  name  of 
Euerrfetes,  or  *'  Benefactor,"  which  the  Alexandrians  changed  into 
Kakergetes,  or  **  the  Evil-doer,"— an  epithet  which  he  justly  merited; 
for  he  was  the  most  cruel  and  wicked,  the  most  despicable  and  vile, 
of  all  the  Ptolemies.  To  the  Jews  he  evinced  unmitigated  enmity 
and  cruelty,  because  they  had  espoused  the  cause  of  Cleopatra.  To 
the  Alexandrians  he  was  no  less  cruel,  because  they  had  supported 
him, — and  he  feared  lest  those  who  had  raised  him  to  the  throne 
should  by  the  same  power  remove  him. 

During  this  reign  three  Roman  ambassadors  visited  Egypt,  while 
making  a  tour  of  the  countries  dependent  on,  or  in  alliance  with, 
Rome.  Their  stay  induced  a  cessation  of  Physcon's  barbarous 
conduct,  which,  however,  was  renewed  on  their  leaving.  He  then 
divorced  Cleopatra  his  wife,  and  married  her  daughter,  of  the  same 
name,  who  was  his  own  niece ;  but  not  before  he  had  subjected  the 
young  princess  to  the  vilest  indignity. 

Such  conduct  excited  the  disgust  of  his  subjects,  and,  accompa- 
nied as  it  was  with  excessive  cruelty,  produced  a  revolt  which  drove 
him  from  the  kingdom.  He,  however,  succeeded  in  recovering  his 
position,  and  at  length  died  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age, 
having  reigned  twenty-nine  years. 

It  is  a  fiELCt  as  singular  as  unaoootmtable,  that  this  most  licentious 


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122  THB  GBNTILB  NATIOir& 

and  bloody  prince,  whose  name  is  infamous,  as  associated  with 
almost  every  crime,  is  notwithstanding  celebrated  by  the  most 
respectable  ancient  writers  as  a  great  restorer  of  learning,  a  patron 
of  learned*  men,  and  withal  an  author  of  some  celebrity  himself. 
According  to  the  testimony  of  Athensdus,  it  was  his  practice  during 
the  short  intervals  between  his  debaucheries,  to  apply  himself  zeal* 
ously  to  the  study  of  the  polite  arts  and  sciences;  and  he  thus 
acquired  so  extensive  a  knowledge  of  all  kinds  of  literature  that  he 
obtained  the  hame  of  "  Ptolemy  the  Philologist."  The  same  author 
adds  that  he  wrote  a  History  in  twenty-four  books,  and  a  learned 
Commentary  on  Homer.  His  History,  Epiphanius  informs  us,  was 
in  great  repute  among  the  ancients :  and  Galen  says  that  he  enlarged 
and  enriched  the  Alexandrian  library  by  the  purchase  of  valuable 
books  at  a  great  expense.  Physcon  left  three  sons, — Apion  by  a 
concubine,  and  Lathyrus  and  Alexander  by  his  wife  Cleopatra.  By 
his  will  he  left  the  kingdom  of  Cyrene  to  Apion,  and  the  crown  of 
Egypt  to  his  widow  in  conjunction  with  either  of  her  sons  whom 
she  should  choose. 

In  the  exercise  of  this  discretionary  power,  the  queen  would  have 
preferred  Alexander,  the  younger  son :  but  this  was  so  distasteful 
toiihe  people  that  she  was  compelled  to  admit  Lathyrus  to  the  joint 
sovereignty,  and  placed  Alexander  in  the  kingdom  of  Cyprus.  Here 
we  have  a  repetition  of  the  mean  and  unnatural  policy  which  at  this 
period  disgraced  the  government  of  this  country.  By  repeated 
efforts  the  queen  induced  the  people  to  withdraw  their  confidence 
from  Lathyrus,  and  to  consent  to  the  return  of  Alexander.  After 
reigning  ten  years,  the  former  prince  was  obliged  to  leave  Egypt, 
to  which  his  brother  immediately  returned ;  Lathyrus  repairing  to 
Cyprus,  and  taking  upon  himself  the  government  of  that  country. 
It  was  at  this  period  that  Lathyrus  invaded  Judea,  then  governed 
by  Alexander  Janneus,  and  obtained  such  advantages  over  him  that 
the  Jewish  state  was  only  saved  from  ruin  by  the  aid  sent  to  it  by 
Cleopatra  from  Egypt.  (Hebrew  People,  p.  443.) 

In  the  mean  time  the  younger  brother,  Alexander,  having  for 
nearly  eighteen  years,  while  bearing  the  name  of  "  king,"  submitted 
as  a  slave  to  the  violent  and  capricious  will  of  his  mother,  became 
quite  we&ry  of  her  intolerable  tyranny,  and  put  her  to  deatL  This 
fact  being  made  public,  he  was  driven  from  the  throne,  and  Lathyrus, 
or  Boter  11..  restored,  who  reigned  seven  years  longer.  During  this 
period  the  ruin  of  Thebes  took  place.  Lathyrus,  freed  from  the 
power  of  his  rivals,  undertook  U>  restore  the  government  of  the 
kingdom  to  its  former  state.  This  led  to  an  insurrection,  of  which 
Thebes  was  the  centre.    That  ancient  city  not  only  refused  to  sub* 


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THB  aSKTILl  If  ATI0H8.  128 

mit  io  the  presoribed  laws,  bat  even  struggled  to  regain  its  lost  inde* 
pendence.  The  effort  wae  vain.  The  king,  haying  defeated  the 
rebels  in  several  battles,  besieged  Thebes,  which,  having  held  out 
for  three  years,  was  at  length  subdued,  and  was  in  consequence 
given  up  to  the  ravages  of  the  soldiery,  who  committed  such  devasta- 
tion that  this  noble  capital  was  never  afterward  repaired,  and  conse- 
quently sank  into  ruin. 

Lathyrus  was  succeeded  by  his  only  legitimate  child,  Cleopatra, 
whose  proper  name  was  Berenice.  This  princess,  however,  had 
scarcely  assumed  the  sovereigpty,  when  she  was  called  to  submit  to 
the  dictation  of  Roman  power.  Syll%  then  perpetual  dictator  of 
the  imperial  city,  no  sooner  heard  of  the  death  of  Lathyrus,  than 
he  conferred  the  crown  of  Egypt  on  Alexander,  a  son  of  the  king 
of  that  name  who  had  been  driven  out  of  the  country  for  having 
murdered  his  mother ;  he  was  consequently  a  nephew  of  the  deceased 
king.  On  his  arrival  in  Egypt^  where  Berenice  had  reigned  six 
months,  his  presence  occasioned  great  consternation.  The  Alexan- 
drians were  unwilling  to  create  a  rupture  with  Bome,  and  equally 
so  to  set  aside  a  reigning  sovereign  on  the  nomination  of  another 
ruler  by  a  foreign  power.  To  avert  the  diflSculty,  they  succeeded 
hi  persuading  Alexander  to  marry  Berenice,  and  reign  jointly  with 
her.  This  he  did ;  but,  in  nineteen  days  afterward,  caused  her  to 
be  murdered.  He,  however,  continued  on  the  throne,  and  reigned 
fifteen  years  in  a  manner  which  might  be  expected  from  the  atrocity 
of  the  commencement.  At  length  the  people,  worn  out  by  his  exac- 
tions, and  goaded  to  desperation  by  his  cruelties,  rose  with  common 
consult,  and  drove  him  from  the  throne.  He  made  some  fruitless 
efforts  to  induce  Pompey  to  aid  him  to  recover  his  crown,  but  died, 
a  few  months  after  his  expulsion,  in  banishment  at  Tyre. 

The  Egyptians,  having  driven  out  this  tyrant,  selected  a  natural 
son  of  Ptolemy  Lathyrus  to  fill  the  vacant  throne.  This  prince,  by 
a  gift  of  six  thousand  talents  (about  £500,000)  to  Julius  Gsesar  and 
Pompey,  was  recognised  as  king  of  Egypt  in  alliance  with  Rome. 
He  was  named  Ptolemy  Auletes,  or  "the  Flute-player;"  but  took 
on  himself  the  title  of  Dionysus  Neos,  or  '*  the  New  Bacchus."  He 
was  a  fit  representative  of  the  fiillen  condition  of  the  Egyptian  state. 
More  effeminate  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  priding  himself  on 
dancing  in  a  female  dress  in  religious  processions,  he  was  at  the 
same  time  equal  to  his  grand&ther  Physcon  in  the  violence  and 
viciousness  of  his  conduct.  After  some  time  he  was,  like^his  pre- 
decessor, expelled  from  the  throne.  He  succeeded,  however,  by 
immense  gifts,  in  inducing  Gabinius,  the  Roman  governor  of  Syria, 
to  attempt  his  restoration,  which  was  at  length  accomplished ;  Arch- 


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124  THE  GBlffTILE  NATIONS; 

elans,  who  had  been  invested  with  the  government,  having  been  de- 
feated, and  slain  by  the  Romans.  Anletes  was  thns  restored  to  the 
throne,  and  died  in  peaceable  possession  of  his  dignity  about  four 
years  after  his  restoration. 

Auletes,  on  his  restoration,  had  put  to  death  his  daughter  Bere- 
nice; and  at  his  demise  left  two  daughters,  Cleopatra  and  Arsinoe, 
and  two  sons.  The  first  of  these,  Ptolemy  the  Elder,  otherwise 
called  Dionysius  U.,  was,  according  to  his  father's  will,  married  to 
his  eldest  sister,  then  about  seventeen  years  old :  and  the  juvenile 
couple  were  invested  with  the  sovereignty  of  Egypt,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Roman  republic.  It  appears  that  this  most  celebrated 
Egyptian  princess  evinced  considerable  vigour  and  talent,  even  at 
that  early  age.  So  clever,  indeed,  was  she,  that  the  ministers  who 
had  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  national  afiairs  were  very  anxious 
to  get  rid  of  her,  and  at  length  deprived  her  of  her  share  in  the  sove- 
reignty, and  expelled  her  from  the  kingdom.  .Cleopatra,  however, 
had  a  spirit  equal  to  the  occasion.  She  retired  into  Syria,  raised  an 
army,  and  in  a  short  time  marched  upon  Pelusium,  prepared  to  dis- 
pute with  her  brother  the  sovereignly  of  the  nation.  It  was  while 
the  hostile  armies  of  the  brother  and  sister  lay  within  sight  of  each 
other,  that  Pompey,  after  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  reached 
Egypt,  expecting  protection  and  support,  but  was  put  to  death  by  the 
ministers  of  Ptolemy.  Soon  after  this  event,  Julius  Csesar  arrived 
in  pursuit  of  his  rival,  and  was  presented  with  his  head  and  his  ring. 

Cleopatra,  whose  licentiousness  was  quite  equal  to  her  talent  and 
energy,  caused  herself  to  be  secretly  conveyed  to  the  quarters  of 
Caesar,  where  she  succeeded  in  captivating  that  mighty  conqueror, 
and  commencing  an  intimacy  which  resulted  in  the  birth  of  a  son, 
called,  after  his  father,  Neoosesar.  The  scandal  of  this  conduct  ena- 
bled Ptolemy  and  his  ministers  to  rouse  the  public  spirit  of  the 
Alexandrians,  and  of  Lower  Egypt  generally,  against  the  mighty 
Roman,  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  placed  in  most  imminent 
peril.  Caesar,  however,  disposed  the  handful  of  soldiers  which  he 
had  with  hiin  in  such  a  manner  as  to  keep  the  Egyptians  in  check, 
until  the  arrival  of  Mithridates  witii  large  reinforcements,  when  he 
defeated  the  Egyptian  forces  with  great  slaughter.  In  the  course 
of  this  conflict  Ptolemy  was  drowned  in  the  iNile. 

Caesar  soon  adjusted  the  affiiirs  of  Egypt  to  his  own  mind,  placing 
Cleopatra  on  the  throne.  But  as  the  Egyptians  had  a  great  antipa- 
thy to  female  sovereignty,  he  compelled  Cleopatra  to  submit  to  the 
fiirce  of  marrying  her  younger  brother,  a  lad  eleven  years  old.  She, 
however,  held  the  power  in  her  own  hand,  until  he  reached  the  age 
of  fourteen,  when  by  the  laws  of  the  country  he  was  entitled  to  enter 


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THE  OENTILB  NATIONS.  125 

upon  the  joint  administration  of  afiiedrs.  She  then  caused  him  to  be 
poisoned.  Arsinoe,  who  had  been  carried  to  Rome  by  Julius  Caesar, 
and  compelled  to  walk,  bound  in  chains  of  gold,  before  his  triumphal 
chariot,  was  also  assassinated  at  the  instigation  of  Cleopatra. 

The  death  of  CsBsar  convulsed  the  whole  empire  of  Rome  and  all 
its  dependencies,  and  swept  away  the  last  feeble  figment  of  Egyptian 
monarchy  and  independence.  On  this  occasion  Cleopatra  instantly 
decided  to  support  the  triumvirs  agamst  the  murderers  of  Julius.  On 
a  charge  of  being  unfaithful  to  this  purpose,  she  was  summoned  to 
appear  before  Antony  at  Tarsus.  Confident  in  the  power  of  her 
charms,  she  obeyed,  and  effectually  seduced  that  great  captain.  In 
fiict,  so  besotted  was  he  by  this  intercourse,  that  he  neglected  his 
a&irs,  and  was  at  length  so  completely  ruined,  that,  having  inflicted 
on  himself  a  mortal  wound,  he  died  in  the  arms  of  his  wanton  mis- 
tress. Cleopatra  had  two  sons  by  Antony,  and  soon  after  his  decease 
she  shared  the  fate  which  she  had  brought  on  him.  To  avoid  being 
made  a  spectacle  at  the  triumph  of  Augustus,  as  he  was  proof  against 
her  seductive  charms,  she  procured  her  own  death  by  the  bite  of  an 
asp.  Egypt  then  became  a  province  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  con- 
tinued in  this  state  until  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  long  afterward. 

Thus  Egypt  flourished,  and  fell.  Her  history  affords  ample  proof 
of  the  cultivation  of  the  human  mind  in  early  times,  and  forms  the 
great  connecting  link  between  European  annals  and  the  primitive 
nations.  If  our  limits  would  allow,  the  subject  would  furnish  rich 
materials  for  extended  disquisition.  We  can,  however,  only  observe 
that  the  chapter  of  history  which  has  been  thus  sketched  shows  a 
most  uncommon  identity  of  character.  In  times  so  remote  that  the 
light  of  history  scarcely  renders  objects  visible,  we  just  perceive 
colossal  forms  of  civilization,  learning,  wealth,  and  power,  standing 
out  before  us  in  wondrous  array.  As  we  descend  the  stream  of 
time,  when  everything  becomes  well  defined,  Egypt  appears  equal  in 
every  respect  to  the  proudest  of  her  contemporaries.  Yes,  and 
strange  to  say,  when  her  martial  prowess  had  declined,  and  she  fell 
beneath  the  sword  of  the  invincible  Macedonian,  his  genius,  by  the 
erection  of  Alexandria,  laid  new  foundations  for  the  stability  and 
resources  of  Egypt,  and  made  her,  amid  the  waning  of  every  other 
ancient  kingdom,  the  mart  of  commerce  and  the  seat  of  wealth. 
Notwithstanding  the  lengthened  rule  of  the  Ptolemies,  who  had  been 
placed  on  the  throne  by  Grecian  power,  and  the  overwhelming  influ- 
ence of  Rome  in  the  time  of  Caesar,  the  adherence  of  the  people  to 
their  old  usages  continued  intact,  and  marked  the  last  struggle 
which  placed  Egypt  at  the  feet  of  imperial  Rome.  (See  Appendix, 
note  11.) 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


A  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  KINGS  OF  EGYPT. 


1816  The  Hykflos  expelled  from 
Egypt  hy  Amoeis,  who 
reigned 35  — 

zvm.  DinABTY.— HULTJuur  BOTaaaan^ — 

848  TXAB8. 

1820    (1)  Amenophis  1 80    7 

1789     (2)  ThothmoBU  L 18  — 

1776     (8)  Thothmosis  II 90    7 

1765     (4)  Amente  {ntter  of  tha  kut 

king) ai    9 

1784     (6)  Thothmosis  m.    (won  of 

Amentt) 19    9 

1791     (6)  Amenophis  IL 86  10 

1896     (!)  Thothmosis  IV 9    8 

1686     (8)  Amenpphis  m.  {Memum)  80    6 

1665    (9)  Horus 88    5 

1617  (10)  BAmses  1 9  — 

1608  (11)  SethosI 89    8 

1676  (19)  Ramses  n 6    5 

1609  (18)  Runses  m.  {SstoHrU)..,,  88    9 

1601  (14)  Manephthft 6  — 

1486  (16)  Bethos  n 19    6 

1477  (16)  Sethos  m 6    8 

XEL  DTHABTT.— nVS  XniG8.~187  TSAB8. 

1479  (1)  Sethos 66  — 

1417  (2)  Runpses 66  — 

1861  (8)  Amenepthes 40  ~ 

1311  (4)  Rameses 

1811  (6)  Ammenemnes 98  — 

XZ.  DTVASTT.— TWKLyX  KHrOfw— 178  TXAB8. 

1986  This  was  a  Diospolitan  S^pnas- 
ty,  most,  if  not  all,  of  whom 
were  called  Rameses ;  hut  the 
length  of  the  reigns  is  not 
givuk. 


XXL  DYSABTTrf^-nEVnT  THIllTK  XniO&r>- 
9  180TfeAB8. 

1107  (1)  Smendee.. 96  — 

1061  (8)  Psooaennes 41  — 

1040  (3)  Nepheroheres 4  — 

1066  (4)  Amenophthis 9  — 

1027  (6)  Osochor 6  — 

1021  (6)  Psinaches  (H.) 9  — 

1012  (7)  Psousennes 86  — 

XXn.    DTVASTY^ — WOn    BVBABTILB  MJMQB. — 
116  TXABS. 

977  (I)  Sesonchis  {Shithak)...  21  — 

966  (2)  OsortHon 16  — 

941  (3,4,5)  Three     other    kings, 

names  omitted 95  — 

916  (6)  T^M»lothis 18  — 

906  (7,8,9)  Three  other  kings, 
whose  names  are  not 
giTen 42  — 

XZm.  DTKASTT^— lOUn  TAXITB  KDraB.*— 
89TSAJt8. 

861  (1)  Petubatis 40  — 

821  '  (2)  Osorcho 8  — 

813  (3)  Psammus 10  — 

803  (4)  Zet 31  — 

XXIT.  DTVABTT.— OH>  SAITK  XIVO.— 44  TXABS. 

772     (1)  Bocchoris 44  — 

XXY.  DTVA8!pr.— THBSB  BTHIOniO  COraS.— 
40  TXAU. 

798    (1)  Sahaco 8  - 

790    (2)  Sehichos  (Sevechtt) 19  — 

708    (3)  Tarkns 18  — 

XXVI.  DTVASTT.— NIKX  SAITB  XISOS.— 
164  TSAS8,  6  M 0HTB8. 

690    (1)  Stephlnates 7  — 

683    (9)  Nechepsos 6  — 


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THB  OHKTILB  HATIOini. 


127 


677 
669 
615 
099 
098 
068 
0W 


■■gwaMt  qf  Py  ■!!■>  ami  Bdy. 

Nechao  I 

Pununittelias 

Nechaon 

Psammuthis 

Uaphris  {Aprietf  BopKm) 


Pttmmeeh«ritet.. 


Lngth 

of 
RdgB. 

T.     11. 

8  — 
M  — 
16  — 

6  — 
25  — 
42  — 
—    6 


xivu.  DniASTT.- DGHT  pxBaiAH  Kivae.— 

Ill  TBABS,  4  MOVTHB. 


026 


486 
465 

404 
423 
423 

428 


(1)  Cambyaea  (in  the  fifth  year 

of  his  Persian  reign)....    S  — 

(2)  Darine  Hjstaspis. 86  — 

(8)  Xerxes  (the  Great) 21  — 

(4)  ArUbaniu —    7 

(5)  Artaxerzes 41  — 

(6)  Xerxes  II —    2 

(7)  Sogdianns -.    7 

(8)  Darias(«mo/Xmee«) 9  — 


eTiaai. 

414    (1)  Amyrtsoi 6  — 

im.  DTTASTTd — worm,  xivDiaiAjr  Koiea. 

—90  TXAX8,  4  X0HTH8. 

406  Q)  Nepherites  1 6  — 

402  (2)  Achoria 18  — 

388  (3)  Psanmrathis 1  _ 

888  (4)  Nepherites  IL —    4 


888    (1)  Neetanehiu  1 18  — 

810    (2)  Teos 2  — 

868    (8)  NeetMiabu  n 18  — 


800    (1)  Darius  Ochus 12  — 

338    (2)  Arses 2  — 

386    (8)  Darins  Godomannus 4  — 

XXXn.  DTVASTT. — THBXl  MACXDOnASSw— 
SlnABB. 

382     (1)  Alexander  (the  Great) 9  — 

823     (2)  Philip  Aridens  (Ptolemj, 

governor) 6  — 

317  (3)  Alexander  (ton  of  tke 
Ortat:  Ptolemy,  gOTer- 
nor) 6  — 

XXXm.  DTVASTT.— THX  FT0LE1IB8. 

311  (1)  Lagas,  Soter  (who  had 
preriously  governed 
Ejypt  12  yesrs,  and,  on 
the  death  of  Alexander, 

isstyledUng) 27  — 

284    (2)  PhUadelphns 38  — 

246    (3)  EuergetesI 25  — 

221     (4)  Philopater 17  — 

204     (5)  Epiphanes 24  — 

180     (6)  PhUometer 85  — 

145     (7)  Energetes  n 29  — 

116    (8)  Soter  n 10  — 

106    (9)  Alexander  I.    {Soter  de- 

poMd) 18  — 

88    .(8)  Soter  IL  (rutored^ 7  — 

81  (10)  Berenice —    6 

80  (11)  Alexander  n. 15  — 

65  (12)  Neus  Dionysus 14  — 

51  (IS)  Ptolemy  (the  Elder) 4  — 

47  (14)  Ptolemy  (the  Younger)....    8  — 

44  (15)  aaopatra 14  — 

80  acfZFT  A  lOKAV  FBornrci. 80  — 


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128  THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  EGYPTIANS. 

Referbvox  to  tliis  Subject  in  "  the  Pfttriarclkal  Age  ''—The  Importance  of  Thkoloot  to 
Beligion— Egyptian  Triads,  their  Relation  to  primitive  Promise  and  Noah— The  prob- 
able Identity  of  these  Triads— Animal-Worship  originated  in  the  Cherubim,  and 
carried  out  to  an  infamous  Extent— General  View  of  Egyptian  Mythology — ^The  Mobals 
of  Egypt,  recognised  in  Jurisprudence — ^Prominence  given  to  Truth  and  Justice — 
Illustrations — ^The  Doctrine  of  the  Ivmobtiutt  of  the  Soul— (jurious  Corruptions 
associated  with  this  Doctrine — Object  of  Embalming — ^The  Doctrine  of  a  future  Judg- 
ment—The Opinions  held  by  this  People  exhibited- Important  Light  imparted  thereby 
on  the  Subject  of  Morals — ^The  Hall  of  Judgment  and  forty-two  Assessors — All  result- 
ing in  everlasting  Happiness  or  Punishment — Providence--^)eneral  Accuracy  of  Doc- 
trine, but  neutralized  by  Polytheism — General  Character  and  Influence  of  this  Relig- 
ion— Morals — ^Divine  Sanction — ^Future  Retribution — Spiritual  Characters-Remarkable 
Juxtaposition  of  Truth  and  Error. 

Some  reference  has  been  made  to  this  subject  in  a  preceding  volume. 
(Patriarchal  Age,  p.  469,  et  seq.)  To  the  brief  sketch  there  given 
the  reader  is  requested  to  turn,  as  an  outline  of  the  primitive 
Egyptian  faith  which  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  repeat,  but  which 
it  will  now  be  our  aim  to  expand  into  a  succinct  account  of  Egyptian 
idolatry,  and  its  religious  and  moral  influence  upon  the  nation. 

In  the  passages  to  which  I  refer,  it  was  stated,  on  the  authority 
of  a  learned  and  religious  writer,  that  "  the  religion  of  Egypt  under- 
went no  alteration  from  the  time  of  its  establishment  by  Menes,  to 
that  of  its  abolition  by  Christianity."  This  sentiment  is  fully 
adopted  in  this  work,  in  the  sense  in  which,  it  is  believed,  the  author 
intended  it  to  be  received ;  but  in  this  sense  it  does  not  preclude 
progressive  development  and  expansion,  but  specially  refers  to  the 
principle  and  genius  of  the  entire  system.  (See  Appendix,  note  12.) 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  purpose  it  is  proposed  to  investigate 
in  order  the  theology,  morals,  doctrines,  and  general  influence  of  this 
religion. 

The  centre  and  soul  of  any  religious  system  is  its  theology. 
Religion,  as  the  term  imports,  unites — or,  rather,  re-binds  (from 
the  Latin  verb  re-ligo) — ^man  to  God.  It  is  based  on  the  presump- 
tion of  man's  alienation  from  his  Maker,  and  therefore  treats  of  the 
means  and  manner  of  his  reunion  with  Deity.  But  then  it  inevi- 
tably follows,  that  the  truth  or  falsehood,  the  purity  or  depravity,  of 
the  representation  which  is  thus  given  of  God,  affbcts  the  entire 


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THE  GBNTILE  NATIOKS.  129 

character  of  the  religion.  Notwithstanding  the  numerous  and  minute 
delineations  of  deities,  acts  of  worship,  and  religious  rites,  which  we 
find  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt,  wo  have  no  native  account  of  the 
religion  of  the  country,  much  less  of  its  primitive  state.  Not  even 
a  fragment  of  Manetho  has  come  down  to  us  on  this  subject :  all  we 
know  from  him  has  been  given  to  us  through  Plutarch.  Yet  from 
the  traditions  which  have  been  thus  preserved,  one  fact  stands  out 
most  unmistakably, — namely,  that,  "  prior  to  the  empire  of  Menes/' 
the  Egyptians  "had  their  temple-service  regularly  .organized;" 
iBunsen,  vol.  i,  p.  358;)  and  consequently  the  whole  frame- work  of 
their  reli^ous  system  was  designed  and  brought  into  operation. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  anciently  this  people  believed  in 
the  unity  of  the  supreme  God ;  ai^d  that  human  representations  or 
incarnations  of  him  were  at  first  regarded  as  divine,  rather  by  union 
with  him,  or  emanation  from  him,  than  from  their  intrinsic  nature;, 
and  hence  had  the  name  of  the  Supreme  added  to  their  ovm.  Pass- 
ing by  all  the  speculation  of  Oreek  writers,  and  ascending  to  the 
primitive  state  of  the  Egyptian  faith,  there  appears  abundant  reason 
for  identifying  its  theology  with  the  great  departure  from  patriarchal 
religion  which  took  place  at  Babel.  Hence  the  triad, — Osiris,  Isis, 
Horus.  Again,  we  have  Amout,  Mout^  Chons.  In  both  these 
instances  the  triad  consists  of  father,  mother,  and  son.  From  what 
has  been  already  stated,  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  475,)  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  these  deities  arose  out  of  a  corrupted  tradition 
of  the  first  pair,  in  combination  with  the  promised  incarnate  Seed, 
given  under  diflferent  names.  (See  Appendix,  note  13.)  It  is,  how- 
ever, sufficiently  evident  that  the  circumstances  of  Noah,  the  second 
great  father  of  the  world,  and  bis  sons,  had  a  great  influence  in  the 
formation  of  the  original  idolatry  of  Egypt. 

We  have  sufficient  proofs  of  this  in  the  obvious  identity  of  Osiris 
and  Noah, — a  het  confirmed  by  the  mutilation  common  to  both,  and< 
the  manner  in  which  it  was  made  prominent,  and  sacred  in  the  case 
of  the  Egyptian  deity.  It  is  observable  that  Osiris  and  Isis  are  cele- 
brated as  the  only  deities  worshipped  in  every  part  of  Egypt;  the 
birth  of  the  son  being  sometimes  regarded  as  prospective  and  ap* 
preaching. 

This  allusion  to  the  Arkite  family  is  further  corroborated.  Kn  eph, 
according  to  Wilkinson,  represented  the  idea  of  "  the  Spirit  of  God, 
,as  it  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  He  was  commonly  ex- 
hibited with  a  ram's  head,  and  regarded  specially  as  the  god  of  the 
Nile.  But  this  deity  was  supposed  to  merge  into  three  r-x-first, 
Kneph,  the  Spirit;  then  Pthah,  proceeding  from  him,  and  thence 
regarded  as  his  son;  and  lastly,  Khem,  (whose  name  is  identical 

9 


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130  THE  GENTILE  NAnODTS. 

witli  the  Scriptural  Ham,)  who  was  fiupposed  to  rale  over  ihe  pro- 
creation of  the  (luman  species. 

Probably  all. these  triads  were  at  &8t  identical,  and  intended  to 
exhibit  a  personification  of  the  supreme  God  under  allusive  repre- 
sentations of  man's  primitive  history,  and  that  of  tiie  Noachic  family. 
But  the  moving  agent  in  this  process,  ailthough  insidious,  was  not 
^concealed.  The  asp  was  sacred  to  Kneph,  The  most  poisonous 
i^inged  serpent  in  the  land  was  made  the  personification  of  the  crea- 
tor and  ruling  spirit !  In  fact,  the  serpent  was  the  type  of 
dominion!  Its  figure  was  in  consequence  affixed  to  the  head-dress 
of  Egyptian  kings ;  and  a  prince,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  was 
entitled  to  wear  this  distinctive  badge  of«roya]ty.  This  Satanic  as- 
sumption is  embedded  in  the  language  to  a  considerable  extent. 
^'M.  Champollion  has  satisfactorily  accounted  for  the  name  Urceus, 
given  to  the  snake,  by  suggesting  that  the  word  derives  its  origin 
and  signification  from  Ouro^  in  Coptic, '  a  king,'  answering,  as  Hora- 
poUo  tells  us,  to  tShe  Greek  fiaaiUoito^,  'royal;'  and  it  is  from  this 
last  word  that  the  name  '  basilisk '  has  been  applied  to  the  asp." — 
Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  iv,  p.  240.  Of  Pthah  it  may 
be  necessary  to  observe,  that  he  was  re^urded  as  the  Lord  of  truth, 
imd  is  said  to  have  been  produced  in  the  shape  of  an  egg  from  the 
mouth  of  Kneph,  and  represented  the  creative  power  of  Deity.  It 
•cannot  escape  observation  how  closely  this  resembles  the  Divine 
Word.  Wilkinson  says,  *'  The  form  of  this  deity  is  generally  a 
mummy;''  (Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  iv,  p.  252;)  but  Cory  shrewdly 
suspects  that  the  bandaged  figure  rather  represents  "an  inftnt 
swathed,  as  is  the  custom  in  the  Mediterranean." — Mythological 
Inquiry,  p.  42. 

The  principle  of  idolatrous  substitution  and  representation  having 
been  once  adopted,  it  was  susceptible  of  infinite  expansion  and  change. 
Hence,  in  the  classic  age,  we  find  the  great  triad  represented  as  com- 
posed of  Osiris.  Horus,  Typhon ;  and  Horus  is  set  forth  by  Plutarch 
as  the  son  of  Osiris  and  isis,  begotten  before  they  themselves  were 
bom,  and  bom  with  them:  a  singular  but  remarkable  allusion  to  the 
preexistence  of  the  promised  Seed. 

Typhon  is  the  destroying  principle;  and,  according  to  Plutarch, 
his  proper  name  is  Setili.  Some  Imve  supposed  this  deity  to  be  an 
introduction  of  later  times  after  the  great  reformation  in  Persia.  His 
name  and  character  are,  however,  so  involved  in  the  legends  of  Osiri^ 
and  Isis,  that  there  seems  reason  for  believing  that,  to  some  extent 
at  least,  even  in  early  times  the  evil  principle  was  recognised  as 
divine, — ^an  opinion  confirmed  by  the  appearance  of  his  name,  Seth. 
on  the  oldest  monuments. 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  181 

Our  limits  will  not  allow  an  enun^eration  of  all  the  Egyptian 
deities ;  nor  would  any  good  purp^^se  be  served  by  it.  Indeed,  dif- 
ferent opinions  prev^  e^en^am^ng  scholars,  as  to  their  nomber  and 
character.  Bunsen  gives  eight  gods  of  the  first  order,  twelve  of  the 
second  order,  and  seven  of  the  *lurd  order,  with  four  genii  of  the 
dead. 

It  is  essential,  however,  to  pay  special  attention  to  that  which 
fomft  the  most  extraordinary  element  of  Egyptian  idolatry,  namely, 
animal- worship.  On  this  subject  a  learned  writer  has  expressed 
himself  in  language  so  strikingly  corroborative  of  the  views  main- 
tuned  in  this  work,  that  we  quote  him  at  length :  '*  It  is  matter  of 
very  curious  inquiry  how  mankind  degenerated  into  the  worship  of 
animals,  and  the  abominations  of  idolatry.  It  will  have  been  ob- 
served in  the  preceding  remarks  that,  among  the  heathens,  the 
SAGLB  was  the  token  of  the  ethereal  power;  the  LION,  of  the  light; 
and  the.  bull,  of  Jire,  heat,  or  the  solar  orb ;  though  these  distinc- 
tions are  not  always  very  accurately  maintained.  These  animals 
are,  in  fact,  no  other  than  the  animals  that  composed  the  cherubim, 
which,  in  the  antediluvian,  patriarchal,  and  Jewish  dispensations, 
were  placed  at  the  entrance  of  Paradise,^  and  afterward  upon  the 
mercy-seat  of  the  ark.  They  were  deemed  oracular;  and  above 
them  rested  the  Shekinah,  the  cloud  of  glory,  the  visible  symbol  of 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,  who  is  represented  as  sitting  between  them, 
or  flying  upon  them.*  The  form  of  the  cherubim  was  that  of  a  bull, 
from  which  arose  a  human  body,  as  ^  centaur,  with  four  heads, — that 
of  a  bull,  of  an  eagle,  of  a  lion,  and  of  a  man,  with  wings  and  hands, 
and  covered  with  eyes.  In  the  heathen  cherubim,  amoQg  other  re- 
markable variations,  the  head  of  the  serpent  is  oft^  substituted  for 
the  human  head.  The  seraphim  are  considered  to  have  been  simi- 
lar; and  the  teraphim  were  of  the  same  form,  but  smaller  figures, 
which  were  set  up  by  individuals  in  their  own  house,  and  to  which 
they  resorted  for  answers.  Zech.  x,  2. 

"  The  cherubim  constituted  the  place  of  worship  for  all  believers : 
they  were  termed  the  pheni  Elohim,  *  the  faces,'  (Zech.  vii,  2,  pas- 
sim,) or  'presence  of  God;'  and  from  between  them  issued  oracles. 
Exod.  XXV,  22.  It  would  have  been  a  singular  omission,  if  the 
heathen,  as  they  went  off  from  the  patriarchal  worship,  had  not  car- 
ried with  them  an  institution  so  remarkable :  accordingly  we  find 
the  figures  worked  up  into  all  their  religious  institutions,  and  the 
memory  of  them  retained,  even  to  the  present  day.    The  cherubim 

^  In  thU  case  our  learned  author  is  incorrect.  The  Lord  is  never  represented  as  fly- 
ing on  the  eh«nihim  but  in  one  mistranslated  passage  in  the  Old  Testament.  See  my 
*'Doetrine  of  the  Clierubim,"  p.  3T. 


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132  THE  GBKTILE  NATIONS. 

may  be  found  in  erery  part  of  the  heathen  world ;  and  to  the  abuse 
of  them,  I  believe,  may  be  traced  the  worship  of  animals." — C(yn/s 
Mythological  Inquiry,  pp.  90-104. 

It  is  observable  that  the  curious  compound  figures  which  abound 
in  Egypt  and  in  the  East,  are  almost  always  found  at  the  entrance 
of  sacred  places,  [f  anything  is  necessary,  beyond  what  is  given  in 
the  Preliminary  Dissertation,  to  identify  the  animal- worship  of  Egypt 
with  that  of  the  cherubic  figures,  it  is  supplied  by  the  fact — ^thlt  the 
living  Apis  was  required  to  have  marks  of  this  cherubic  combination. 
The  selected  animal  must  have  not  only  a  white  crescent  on  his  side, 
and  a  partfcular  lump  under  his  tongue,  but  also  the  "  resemblance 
of  an  eagle  on  his  shoulders.''  And  this,  explained  by  antique  bronse 
figures  of  Apis,  gives  not  the  addition  of  an  eagle  to  the  ox,  but  the 
form  of  eagle  wings  on  his  shoulders,  similar  to  those  of  the  Kimroud 
sculptures.  These  marks,  as  Wilkinson  observes,  were  undoubtedly 
supplied  by  the  priests :  but  this  rather  corroborates  the  opinion 
that  the  cherubic  form  was  the  model  to  which  the  living  animal  was, 
as  far  as  possible,  to  be  conformed. 

These  corruptions  having  been  introduced,  they  were  carried  out 
to  an  amazing  extent.  "  Among  the  Eg3rptians,''  says  Clemens  Alex- 
andrinus,  "  the  temples  are  surrounded  with  groves  and  consecrated 
pastures ;  they  are  furnished  with  propyltBa,  and  their  courts  are 
encircled  with  an  infinite  number  of  columns ;  their  walls  glitter  with 
foreign  marbles  and  paintings  of  the  highest  art;  the  naos  is  resplen- 
dent with  gold  and  silver,  and  electrum,  and  variegated  stones  from 
India  and  Ethiopia;  the  adytum  is  veiled  by  a  curtain  wrought  with 
gold.  But  if  you  pass  beyond  into  the  remotest  part  of  the  enclosure, 
hastening  to  behold  something  yet  more  excellent,  and  seek  for  the 
image  which  dwells  in  the  temple,  a  pastophorus,  or  some  one  else, 
who  ministers  in  sacred  things,  with  a  pompous  air,  singing  a  paean 
in  the  Egyptian  tongue,  draws  aside  a  small  portion  of  the  curtain, 
as  if  about  to  show  us  the  god,  and  makes  us  burst  into  a  loud  lau^. 
For  no  god  is  found  witiiin,  but  a  cat,  or  a  crocodile,  or  a  serpent 
sprung  from  the  soil,  or  some  such  brute  animal :  the  Egyptian  deity 
appears  a  beast  rolling  himself  on  a  purple  coverlet." — Fcedag.  iii, 
2,  p.  258.     Potter. 

Diodorus  (lib.  i,  cap.  84)  bears  similar  testimony:  **The  tem- 
ples of  Egypt  are  most  beautiful;  but  if  you  seek  within,  you  find 
an  ape  or  ibis,  a  goat  or  a  cat."  These  animals  were  treated  wiA 
the  utmost  tenderness,  and  supplied  with  the  most  delicate  and 
luxurious  food.  Nor  was  this  attention  and  reverence  confined  to 
the  priesthood.  In  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Auletes,  when  it  was  his 
special  interest  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the  Roman  people,  a  sub- 


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THE  GKXTILB  NATIONS.  133 

ject  of  the  imperial  republic,  residing  in  Egypt,  had  nnintentionallj 
killed  a  cat, — an  accident  which  excited  the  popular  feeling  to  such 
an  extent,  that  neither  the  awe  of  the  Roman  name,  nor  the  utmost 
efforts  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  could  save  the  unhappy  man  from  death. 
The  character  and  intensity  of  this  insane  devotion  do  not  rest  on 
the  mere  testimony  of  anci^t  historians.  These  animals,  after 
being  adored  all  their  lives,  were  embalmed  after  death;  and  anti- 
quarians have  in  recent  times  by  their  discoveries  abundantly  con- 
firmed all  that  the  ancients  reported.  "  The  embalmed  bodies  of 
bulls,  cows,  and  sheep,  dogs  and  cats,  hawks  and  ibises,  serpents  and 
beetles,  and,  in  short,  nearly  the  whole  zoology  of  Egypt,  except 
the  horse  and  the  ass,  have  been  found  in  excavations." — Kenrick, 
vol.  ii,  chap.  6. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  pause,  and  ponder  on  this  exhibition  of 
Egyptian  theology.  It  may  be  said  that  this  people  retained  some 
knowledge  of  the  supreme  God,  and  cherished  the  idea  of  his  unity, 
power,  and  prescience.  To  some  extent,  in  ancient  times  at  least, 
this  was  undoubtedly  the  fact.  Yet  how  all  these  views  must  have 
been  defiled,  corrupted,  and  debased  by  this  idolatry !  To  exalt 
human  nature,  character,  and  passions  to  divinity,  was  to  bring  the 
Deity  down  to  the  level  of  manhood.  To  adore  a  brute,  was  to  de- 
grade the  ideas  of  the  worshipper  respecting  God  to  that  contemptible 
measure.  And  this  astounding  degradation  is  a  fearful  fact.  At 
a  date  prior  to  the  monarchy  of  Menes,  the  founders  of  this  nation 
made  the  fii4»l  experiment.  Although  "they  knew  God,  they  glori- 
fied him  not  as  God,  but  became  vain  in  their  imaginations.''  They 
made  men  representatives  of  Deity,  and  r^arded  eminent  departed 
worA  with  idolatrous  veneration.  They  perverted  the  pure  rites 
of  patriarchal  worship,  until  every  element  of  it  was  merged  into 
a  vile  idolatry.  The  natural  consequence  of  this — ^nay,  1  am  not 
sure  that  the  consequence  is  simply  natural — the  religious  conse- 
quence of  this  was  fully  realized :  "  Professing  themselves  to  be 
wise,  they  became  fools.  Wherefore  God  gave  them  up  to  "  their 
vanity  and  folly,  so  that  every  luminary  in  the  heavens,  and 
almost  every  element  on  •arth,  were  worshipped  as  divine.  But, 
amid  all  this,  one  fact  stands  out  conspicuous  in  the  whole  scheme : — 
the  author-mind  is  fully  exhibited.  The  unfailing  badge  of  Egyptian 
idolatry  is  the  sign  seen  in  the  centre  of  every  temple,  and  paraded 
in  every  conceivable  manner  in  the  rites,  ceremonies,  sculptures, 
and  pictures  of  Egypt.  I  allude  to  the  winged  globe  and  serpent. 
These  are  thus  explained :  "  The  globe  denotes  the  Divine  Na- 
ture ;  the  serpent,  his  Word,  which  animates  and  impregnates  the 
world ;  and  the  wing,  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  vivifies  it  with  his 


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134  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

motion."*  Here,  as  in  profane  parody  on  such  views  of  the  Trinity 
as  then  obtained,  we  have  a  triad  constnicted,  of  which  the  Satanic 
form  is  the  centre  and  ruling  agent  in  respect  of  this  world. 

This  theology,  therefore,  while  it  preserved  many  important 
truths  respecting  the  nature  of  God,  and  his  promises  of  mercy  to 
the  fallen  race  of  man,  completely  overlaid  them  with  a  gross  and 
elaborate  idolatrous  machinery,  which,  if  it  did  not  entirely  conceal, 
must  to  a  fearful  extent  have  neutralized  their  influence.  The  great 
deceiver  of  man  had  pervaded  this  corrupt  scheme  with  such  multi- 
plied exhibitions  of  the  form  in  which  he  successfully  urged  the  first 
temptation  of  mankind,  that  it  appears  as  if,  while  the  first  object 
of  the  system  was  to  isolate  man  &om  God  by  substituting  anything, 
from  the  image  of  a  man  to  a  live  cat  or  beetle,  as  an  object  of  wor- 
ship, its  secondary  design  was  to  induce  a  recognition  of  the  serpent- 
form  as  the  highest  exhibition  of  Deity.  One  important  point  is, 
therefore,  evident :  The  theology  of  Egypt,  instead  of  elevating  the 
mind,  and  sheddinj;  on  the  spirit  of  the  worshipper  a  clearer  and 
purer  light  than  human  reason  can  afibrd, — which,  in  fiict,  is  the 
proper  province  of  this  divine  science, — darkened  the  intellect,  and 
prostrated  the  man  before  dogs,  cats,  and  beetles. 

We  direct  attention,  in  the  next  place,  to  the  morals  inculcated  by 
this  system :  and  here  it  is  cheering  to  observe,  that,  vile  and  con- 
temptible as  were  many  of  the  objects  of  worship,  this  system  was 
free  from  the  reproach  resting  on  many  so-called  reli^ous  schemes; 
it  did  not  repudiate  all  connexion  with  morals.  On  the  contrary, 
moral  character  was  deemed  an  integral  element  of  religion.  It  was, 
indeed,  the  great  merit  of  the  religion  of  Egjrpt,  that  it  taught  the 
observance  of  moral  law  with  reference  to  a  future  judgment.  While 
making  this  statement,  as  an  opinion  which  appears  to  be  fully  war- 
ranted by  a  general  review  of  the  system,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that 
others  have  frcmi  the  same  premises  reached  an  opposite  conclusion. 
Probably,  however,  if  we  had  more  ample  means  of  information,  it 
would  be  found  that,  while  the  religion  of  Egypt  taught  the  doctrine 
of  future  retribution  as  an  article  of  faith,  the  multipliciiy  and 
various  character  of  their  several  divinities  almost  entirely  neutral- 
ized this  doctrine  as  a  popular  element  of  religion,  and  left  the  public 
to  a  great  extent  unafiected  by  its  salutary  influence. 

In  respect  of  times  so  remote,  and  a  country  of  which  we  have  such 
imperfect  knowledge,  it  is  very  likely  that  we  can  glean  the  best 
information  on  the  subject  of  public  morals  by  considering  the 
character  of  their  laws. 

^This  exposition  is  derived  from  a  Syriac  MS.  attribated  by  Kircher  to  Sanohoniatho. 
(Cory's  Mvth( 'logical  Inquiry,  p.  99.) 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  186 

Here  it  may  be  observed  that  special  attention  wfls  paid  to  the 
jurisprudence  of  the  country.  Ten  persons,  the  most  upright  and 
learned  that  could  be  found,  were  selected  from  eacl^  of  the  three 
principal  cities,— Thebes,  Memphis,  and  Heliopolis.  "  These  thirty 
individuals  constituted  the  bench  of  judges;  and  at  their  first  meet- 
ing they  elected  the  most  distinguished  among  them  to  be  president, 
with  the  title  of  '  arch-judge.'  His  salary  was  much  greater  than 
that  of  the  other  judges,  as  his  office  was  more  important ;  and  the 
city  to  which  he  belonged  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  returning  another 
judge,  to  complete  the  number  of  the  thirty  from  whom  he  had 
been  chosen."  They  all  received  ample  allowances  from  the  state, 
in  order  that,  possessing  a  competency,  they  might  be  inaccessible  to 
bribes. 

When  engaged  in  his  judicial  duties,  the  arch-judge  wore,  sus- 
pended by  a  chain  from  his  neck,  a  small  figure  ornamented  with 
precious  stones.  This  was  a  representation  of  the  goddess  worship- 
ped under  the  two-fold  character  of  Truth  and  Justice,  and  was 
called  ThmeL  It  has  been  supposed  with  good  reason,  that  this  was 
a  corruption  of  the  same  patriarchal  element,  afterward  developed 
in  the  Hebrew  religion  as  the  Thummim  of  the  high  priest. 

The  laws  of  the  Egyptians  were  said  to  have  been  dictated  by  the 
gods,  or  more  immediately  by  Thoth.  This  notion  was  common  to 
many  heathen  nations ;  but  it  should  not  on  this  account  be  always 
treated  as  pretence  and  imposture.  No  doubt  this  was  frequently 
the  case.  Legislators  often  gave  out  that  they  had  received  their 
laws  from  some  deiiy,  in  order  to  secure  for  them  acceptance  and 
reverence.  But  it  was  not  so  in  Egypt.  No  historical  research  can 
reach  the  origin  of  the  Egyptian  laws :  "  they  were  handed  down  from 
the  earliest  times."  The  plea  of  their  divine  origin  was  not,  there- 
fore, set  up  to  procure  their  sanction,  but  was  in  all  probability 
virtually  true,  inasmuch  as  they  might  have  been  founded  on  real 
revelations  made  to  the  early  patriarchs  by  Grod. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  throughout  their  code,  truth  was  always 
identified  with  justice ;  and  this  combination  was  considered  to  be 
the  cardinal  virtue  among  the  Egyptians.  It  was  regarded  as  much 
more  important  than  prudence,  temperance,  fortitude,  and  other 
virtues,  which  only  affect  the  individual  who  possesses  them,  while 
truth  Qnd  justice  relate  more  particularly  to  others,  and  therefore 
act  upon  society  at  large.  *!  Falsehood  was  not  only  considered 
disgraceful,  but,  when  it  entailed  an  injury  on  any  other  person,  was 
punishable  by  law.  A  calumniator  of  the  dead  was  condemned  to 
a  severe  punishment ;  and  a  false  accuser  was  doomed  to  the  same 
sentence  which  would  have  been  awarded  to  the  accused,  if  the 


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136  THE  OBNTILB  NATIOKB. 

offence  had  been  proved  against  him.  But  to  maintain  a  falsehood 
by  an  oath  was  deemed  the  blackest  crime,  and  one  which,  from  its 
complicated  nature,  could  be  punished  by  nothing  short  of  death." — 
Wilkinson's  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  ii,  p.  32. 

Murder,  whether  committed  on  a  freeman  or  a  slave,  was  punished 
with  death.  In  this  respect  the  Egyptians  were  in  advance  of  Greece 
and  Rome.  In  all  instances  in  wliich  a  woman  was  capitally  con- 
victed, great  care  was  taken  to  ascertain  whether  the  condemned 
was  in  a  state  of  pregnancy,  in  which  case  punishment  was  deferred 
until  after  the  birth  of  the  child. 

Theft  was  sometimes  punished  with  great  severity.  The  nose  of 
the  criminal  was  cut  off,  and  he  was  banished  to  a  town  built  on  the 
borders  of  the  desert,  and  called,  from  the  nature  of  the  punish- 
ment, Rhinocolura.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this,  there  was  a  recog- 
nised official,  called  **  the  chief  of  the  robbers."  Every  one  prac- 
tising the  profession  of  a  thief  gave  in  his  name  to  this  person ;  and 
every  robbery,  with  all  the  detail  of  time,  place,  quantity,  and  value 
of  stolen  goods,  was  reported  to  him,  as  soon  as  the  theft  was  effected* 
The  party  robbed,  therefore,  had  always  the  option  of  applying  to 
this  chief,  and  receiving  bade  his  goods  by  paying  one  quarter  part 
of  their  value. 

Unlike  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  Egyptians  did  not  allow  to 
fathers  absolute  power  over  the  life  of  their  o£fopring;  nor  did  they 
punish  the  murder  of  a  child  by  its  parent  as  a  capital  ofience.  But, 
as  a  medium  course,  they  adopted  a  mode  of  punishment  adapted  to 
prevent  the  crime,  and  to  lead  the  criminal  to  repentance.  The 
person  convicted  of  this  offence  was  condemned  to  have  the  dead 
body  of  the  child  fastened  to  his  neck,  and  was  compelled,  under 
the  care  of  a  public  guard,  to  spend  three  days  and  nights  in  its 
embrace. 

A  woman  convicted  of  adultery  was  punished  with  the  loss  of  her 
nose ;  a  man,  to  receive  a  bastinado  of  one  thousand  blows.  If  it 
was  proved  that  the  man  used  force,  he  was  subjected  to  a  terrible 
and  inhuman  punishment. . 

If  we  now  examine  the  doctrines  taught  by  this  religious  system, 
especially  those  respecting  future  retribution  and  providence,  further 
light  will  be  cast  on  the  subject  of  the  morality  of  ancient  Egypt. 

The  doctrine  of  the  soul's  immortality  appears  to  have  been  always 
known  and  believed  in  Egypt.  But  then,  this  tenet  was  held  in  con- 
nexion with  that  of  transmigration.  All  our  authorities  concur  in 
stating  it  to  be  the  general  belief  among  the  Egyptians,  that  the 
souls  of  men  survive  their  bodies,  and  return  to  life  again  in  ani- 
mals.    "  Herodotus  fixes  the  period  at  three  thousand  years,  when 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  137 

tbe  Boul  returned  to  the  human  form :  and  Plato  says,  if  any  one's 
life  has  been  virtuous,  he  shall  obtain  a  better  fate  hereafter;  if 
wicked,  a  worse.  But  no  soul  will  return  to  its  pristine  condition 
till  the  expiration  of  ten  thousand  years,  since  it  will  not  recover 
the  use  of  its  wings  until  that  period;  except  it  be  the  soul  of  one 
who  has  philosophixed  sincerely,  or,  together  with  philosophy,  has 
loved  beautiful  forms.  These,  indeed,  in  the  third  period  of  one 
thousand  years,  if  they  have  thrice  chosen  this  mode  of  life  in  suc- 
cession, shall  in  their  three- thousandth  year  fly  away  to  their 
pristine  abode :  but  other  souls,  being  arrived  at  the  end  of  their 
first  life,  shall  be  judged.  And  of  those  who  are  judged,  some,  pro- 
ceeding to  a  subterraneous  place  of  judgment,  shall  there  sustain  the 
punishments  they  have  deserved;  but  others,  in  consequence  of  a 
&vourable  judgment,  being  elevated  into  a  certain  celestial  place, 
shall  pass  their  time  in  a  manner  becoming  the  life  they  have  lived 
in  a  human  shape.  And  in  the  thousandth  year,  both  the  kinds  of 
those  who  have  been  judged,  returning  to  the  lot  and  election  of  a 
second  life,  shall  each  of  them  receive  a  lot  agreeable  to  his  desire. 
Here,  also,  the  human  soul  shall  pass  into  the  life  of  a  beast;  and, 
from  that  of  a  beast,  again  into  a  man,  if  it  has  first  been  the  soul 
of  a  man.  For  the  soul  which  has  never  perceived  the  truth,  cannot 
pass  into  the  human  form." —  WilkinsorCs  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  v, 
p.  442.  This  curious  notion  of  successive  transmigrations  of  the 
soul  has  been  so  explained  as  to  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  order 
observed  was,  *'  that  the  same  soul  enters  the  body  of  a  man,  an  ox, 
a  dog,  a  bii'd,  and  a  fish,  until,  having  passed  through  all  of  them,  it 
returns  to  that  from  which  it  set  out." 

From  this  it  has  been  inferred  that  the  object  of  the  Egyptians  in 
the  embalmment  of  deceased  relations  was,  to  preserve  the  body 
entire  until  the  return  of  the  soul.  The  fieu^t  that  the  lower  animals 
were  also  sometimes  embalmed,  has  been  regarded,  if  not  as  con- 
futing this  notion,  at  least  as  Uirowing  considerable  doubt  upon  it. 
More  has  been  made  of  this  objection  than  it  merits.  2<(otwith- 
standing  the  circumstance  of  animal  embalmment,  which  may  not 
admit  of  satisfactory  explanation,  it  seems  probable  that  the  notion 
of  the  return  of  the  spirit  to  the  same  body  might  have  had  much 
influence  in  introducing  the  general  practice  of  embalming  human 
bodies. 

Respecting  the  interesting  subject  of  the  future  judgment^  numer- 
ous exhibitions  and  illustrations  are  found  on  the  monuments.  But 
it  is  our  misfortune  to  have  to  elicit  the  doctrine  from  these  pictures. 
We  are,  therefore,  in  danger  of  resting  an  essential  doctrine  upon 
some  merely  poetic  pictorial  appendage.    No  sufficient  literal  de- 


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138  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

scription  has  reached  us.  It  remuns,  therefoTe,  for  us  to  draw  the 
soundest  inferences  from  the  data  placed  before  us.  "  The  judg- 
ment scenes,  found  in  the  tombs  and  on  the  papyri,  sometimes  repre- 
sent the  deceased  conducted  by  Horus  alone,  or  accompanied  by  hi» 
wife,  to  the  region  of  Amenti.  Cerberus  is  present  as  the  guardian 
of  the  gates,  near  which  the  scales  of  justice  are  erected;  and 
Anubis,  '  the  director  of  the  weight/  having  placed  a  yase,  in  the 
form  of  the  human  heart,  and  representing  the  good  actions  of  the 
deceased,  in  one  scale,  and  the  figure  or  emblem  of  Truth  in  the 
other,  proceeds  to  ascertain  his  claims  for  admission.  If,  on  being 
'weighed,'  he  is  found  'wanting,'  he  is  rejected;  and  Osiris,  the 
judge  of  the  dead,  inclines  his  sceptre  in  token  of  condemnation, 
pronounces  judgment  upon  him,  and  condemns  his  soul  to  return  to 
earth,  under  the  form  of  a  pig,  or  some  other  unclean  animal.  Placed 
in  a  boat,  it  is  moved,  under  the  charge  of  two  monkeys,  from  the 
precincts  of  Amenti,  all  communication  with  which  is  figuratively 
cut  off  by  a  man  who  hews  away  the  earth  with  an  axe  after  its  pas- 
sage ;  and  the  commencement  of  a  new  term  of  life  is  indicated  by 
those  monkeys,  the  emblems  of  Thoth.  But  if,  when  the  sum  of  his 
deeds  is  recorded  by  Thoth,  his  virtues  so  &r  predominate  as  to 
entitle  him  to  admission  to  the  mansions  of  the  blessed,  Horus, 
taking  in  his  hand  the  tablet  of  Thoth,  introduces  him  to  the  pres- 
ence of  Osiris ;  who,  in  his  palace,  attended  by  Isis  and  Nepthys^ 
sits  on  his  throne  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  from  which  rises  tiie 
lotus,  bearing  upon  its  expanded  flower  the  four  genii  of  Amenti. 

"  Other  representations  of  this  subject  differ  in  some  of  the  de- 
tsuls.  In  the  judgment  of  a  royal  scribe,  whose  funeral  proces- 
sion is  described  on  the  monuments,  the  deceased  advances  alone,  in 
an  attitude  of  prayer,  to  receive  judgment.  On  one  side  of  the 
scales  stands  Thoth,  holding  a  tablet  in  his  hand ;  on  the  other,  the 
goddess  of  justice ;  and  Horus,  in  lieu  of  Anubis,  performs  the  ofBce 
of  director  of  the  balance,  on  the  top  of  which  sits  a  cynocephalus, 
the  emblem  of  Thoth.  Osiris,  seated  as  usual  on  his  throne,  hold- 
ing his  crook  9,ndflagellum,  awaits  the  report  from  the  hands  of  his 
son  Horns.  Before  the  door  of  his  palace  are  the  four  genii  of 
Amenti,  and  near  them  three  deities,  who  either  represent  the  asses- 
sors, or  may  be  the  three  assistant  judges,  who  gave  rise  to  the 
Minos,  ^acus,  and  Rhadamanthus  of  Greek  fable." — Wilkinson's 
Ancient  Ei^yptians,  vol.  v,  p.  448. 

In  another  MS.,  preserved  at  the  Louvre,  the  deceased,  Amenham, 
addresses  a  prayer  to  the  god  of  light  coming  from  heaven,  whose 
eyes  enlighten  the  material  world,  and  dissipate  the  darkness  of 
night.    The  picture  which  accompanies  it  represents  many  souls  and 


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THB  GBNTILB  KATIOKS.  189 

men  adoring  a  luminous  disk.  He  next  prays  to  Phre,  the  great 
god,  manifested  in  the  two'  firmaments  mider  his  two  forms  of  Re, 
the  rising  smi,  and  Atmoo,  the  setting  san ;  then  again  to  Phre  and 
Thoth,  as  gods  of  the  smi  and  moon.  Afterward  he  invokes  Netphe, 
the  mother  of  the  gods;  by  whose  bent  body,  covered  with  stars,  all 
spaoe  was  circumscribed:  she  was  the  impersonation  of  heaven. 
The  bark  of  the  sun  is  represented  as  sailing  thereon,  under  the 
guidance  of  Moui,  or  light.  His  next  petitions  are  presented  to 
Osiris,  the  lord  of  Totou,  the  region  of  stability.  The  emblems  of 
this  divinity,  and  those  of  the  ibis-headed  Thoth,  are  enclosed  in  a 
serpent  biting  its  own  tail,  the  symbol  of  eternity.  Afterward  he 
prays  to  all  the  divinities  presiding  over  the  judgment  of  souls,  and 
concludes  with  short  ejaculations  to  Osiris,  Nofre  Tmoui,  and  the 
sacred  cow  of  Hathor  or  Venus.  (Antiquities  of  Egypt,  p.  154.) 

In  order  to  a  proper  understanding^ of  the  Egyptian  notions 
respecting  the  future  judgment,  it  is  necessary  to  state  that  they 
supposed  the  final  judgment  to  be  conducted  by  forty-two  judges  or 
assessors,  each  of  these  being  imagined  to  take  cognizance  of  a  par- 
ticular crime,  so  that  the  departed  spirit,  in  passing  before  tiiem  in 
order,  had  to  clear  itself  of  the  several  sins  in  regular  succession. 
Over  these  assessors  Osiris  presided,  as  the  arch-judge  did  in  the 
temporal  courts. 

The  assessors  appeared  in  a  human  form,  with  difierent  heads.  The 
first  had  the  head  of  a  hawk ;  the  second,  of  a  man ;  the  thhrd,  of  a 
hare ;  the  fourth,  of  a  hippopotamus ;  the  fifth,  of  a  man ;  the  sixth, 
of  a  hawk ;  the  seventh,  of  a  fox ;  the  eighth,  of  a  man ;  the  ninth, 
of  a  ram ;  the  tenth,  of  a  snake ;  the  others,  according  to  their  pecul- 
iar character.  It  is  proper  to  observe,  that  the  appearance  of  these' 
assessors  differs  in  difierent  rituals;  but  in  all  of  them  it  appears 
that  they  were  intended  to  represent  the  accusing  spirits,  each  having 
a  separate  moral  district  under  his  particular  care.  (Wilkinson's 
Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  v,  p.  76.) 

In  another  ritual,  a  transcript  of  whidb  is  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum,  the  deceased  dedicates  his  heart  to  his  mother  and  his 
ancestors,  immediately  after  his  adoration  of  the  god  Pthah.  The 
second  part  of  the  ritual  consists  of  eleven  liturgical  prayers  to 
Thoth,  the  guide  of  souls,  and,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  imper- 
sonation of  the  divine  wisdom.  The  soul  implores  this  divinity  to 
undertake  for  him,  to  cast  down  his  enemies,  to  plead  his  cause  with 
the  gods  of  the  various  regions  through  whidi  he  has  to  travel,  and 
finally  to  open  for  him  the  gates  of  the  great  hall  of  judgment,  that 
he  may  pass  through  them  in  safety. 

This  formidable  array  of  gods  and  monsters,  however,  was  but 


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140  THB  aSNTILB  NATION0. 

introductory  to  a  still  more  fearful  ordeal  that  awaited  the  soul  on 
its  arrival  at  the  terrible  portal  of  the  judgment-hall,  where  all  the 
actions  of  its  life  while  in  the  body  were  examined.  This  scene  is 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  ritual  which  we  are  now  considering. 
Its  frequent  occurrence  on  mummy-cases,  votive  tablets,  boxes,  and 
funeral  remains  of  every  description,  sufficiently  attests  the  very 
high  importance  that  was  attached  to  it  by  the  Egyptians,  and  the 
conspicuous  place  that  it  occupied  in  their  creed.  Many  of  these 
pictures  are  much  curtailed  and  abbreviated,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  scribes  on  all  occasions.  In  the  most  perfect  of  them  the 
deceased  is  represented  as  standing  immediately  before  the  entrance 
of  a  vast  hall  in  the  attitude  of  supplication,  and  addressing  a  long 
prayer  to  the  divinity  who  presides  in  it,  Osiris,  the  supreme  judge. 
He  has  for  his  assessors  the  two  goddesses  Thmei.  The  first  of 
them,  who  was  called  *'  the^  Themis  of  the  Left,"  because  she  occu- 
pied the  left  side  of  the  hall,  was  president  over  the  first  twenty-one 
avengers :  the  other,  '*  the  Themis  of  the  Right,"  had  the  charge  of 
the  other  twenty-one  assessors  The  prayer  to  Osiris  at  the  entrance 
of  the  hall  reads  thus :  "  0  thou  avenger,  lord  of  justice,  great  god, 
lord  of  the  two  Themes,  (Justice  and  Truth,)  I  worship  thee,  0  my 
lord.  I  have  spoken,  speak  thou  to  me  thy  name:  tell  me  the 
names  of  the  forty-two  gods  who  are  with  thee  in  the  great  hall  of 
justice  and  truth,  living  guardians  of  the  wicked,  fed  with  their 
blood:  bring  forward  my  righteousness,  search  out  my  sins."  The 
deceased  then  proceeds  to  enumerate  the  moral  (fences  of  which  he 
has  not  been  guilty :  "  I  have  defrauded  no  man ;  I  have  not  slaugh- 
tered the  cattle  of  the  gods ;  I  have  not  prevaricated  at  the  seat  of 
justice ;  1  have  not  made  slaves  of  the  Egyptians ;  I  have  not  defiled 
my  conscience  for  the  sake  of  my  superior ;  I  have  not  used  violence ; 
I  have  hot  famished  my  household ;  I  have  not  made  to  weep ;  I 
have  not  smitten  privily ;  1  have  not  changed  the  measures  of  Egypt ; 
/  have  not  grieved  the  spirits  of  thje  gods ;  I  have  not  committed 
adultery ;  I  have  not  forged  signet-rings ;  1  have  not  ftlsified  the 
weights  of  the  balance;  I  have  not  withheld  milk  from  the  mouths 
of  my  children."  The  offences  that  follow  are  peculiar  to  the  climate 
and  to  the  idolatry  of  Egypt :  "  I  have  not  pierced  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  in  its  annual  increase;  1  have  not  separated  to  myself  an  arm 
of  the  Nile  in  its  advance."  These  passages  render  it  probable  that, 
in  ancient  as  in  modem  times,  an  important  part  of  the  revenue  of 
Egypt  was  raised  by  imposing  a  tribute  upon  the  lands  overflowed 
by  the  annual  inundation ;  so  that  to  obtain  any  portion  of  these 
fertilizing  waters  secretly,  was  to  defirand  the  state.  This  singular 
disavowal  concludes  thus :  "  I  have  not  disturbed  the  gazelles  of  the 


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THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS.  141 

gods  in  their  pastorage;  I  hare  not  netted  the  water-fowl  of  the 
gods;  I  have  not  caught  the  sacred  fishes ;  I  hare  not  despised  the 
gods  in  their  offerings  f  (in  other  words,  "  I  have  not  given  to  the 
gods  that  which  is  imperfect ;")  "  I  have  not  bonnd  the  cattle  of  the 
gods;  1  have  not  pierced  tiie  god  in  his  manifestation/'  as  a  sacred 
animal.  The  prayer  conclades  with  petitions  for  purification  and 
illumination. 

The  deceased  then  entered  the  great  hall  of  judgment,  and  kneel- 
ing before  the  forty-two  assessors,  pro'tested  to  each  his  innocence 
of  the  sin  of  which  he  was  the  minister  of  vengeance.  The  names 
of  these  terrible  beings  are  descriptive  of  their  appearance  or  quali- 
ties. The  soul  says  to  the  first  of  them,  "  0  thou  that  hast  long 
legs,*'  (art  swift  to  pursue,)  "  I  have  not  sinned."  To  the  second, 
"  0  thou  that  dost  try  with  fire,  I  have  not  been  gluttonous."  To 
the  fourth,  "  O  thou  that  devourest  tranquillity,"  (that  is,  with  whom 
there  is  no  peace,)  "  I  have  not  stolen."  To  the  fifth,  "  0  thou  that 
smitest  the  heart,  I  have  done  no  murder."  To  the  sixth,  "  O  thou 
with  the  two  lions,"  (heads,)  "  I  have  not  falsified  measures."  To 
the  seventh,  '*  0  thou  that  hast  piercing  eyes,  I  have  not  acted  the 
hypocrite."  To  the  ninth,  *'  0  thou  that  dost  make  limbs  to  tremble, 
I  have  not  lied."  To  the  sixteenth,  '*  0  thou  that  dost  delight  in 
blood,  I  have  not  slain  the  cattle  of  the  gods."  To  the  twenty- 
second,  "0  thou  that  dost  consume  creation,  I  have  not  been 
drunken."  The  foregoing  may  suffice  as  specimens  of  what  has  gen- 
erally been  termed  "  the  negative  confession."  Some  parts  of  it 
remain  still  in  much  obscurity  as  to  their  import ;  others  allude  to 
offences  of  which  it  is  a  shame  even  to  speak.  (Osbum's  Antiqui- 
ties of  Egypt,  p.  157.) 

We  have  stated  that  the  forty-two  assessors  are  ministers  of 
vengeance,  whose  wrath  is  to  be  deprecated  by  the  deceased.  The 
names  of  all  the  forty-two,  and  the  particular  regions  over  whidi 
they  preside,  occur  in  the  entire  copies  of  this  scene.  In  other 
eopies  they  are  represented  sitting  before  their  presidents.  In  the 
presence  of  the  judge  Osiris,  these  and  other  divinities,  or  genii, 
rigorously  examined  the  conduct  of  the  soul  while  incarnate  on  earth. 
The  sentence  which  resulted  from  this  jwigment  was  full  of  joy  to 
the  good,  and  of  woe  to  the  wicked.  They  who  by  a  faithful  dis- 
cKarge  of  all  their  moral  obligations,  as  children,  as  parents,  as 
masters,  as  servants,  as  kings  or  subjects,  and  by  the  conscientious 
avoidance  of  vice  under  all  its  grosser  forms,  luid  been  enabled  to 
pass  the  ordeal,  were  permitted  to  go  throu|^  the  Hall  of  Themis ; 
whence  embarking  on  the  infernal  Nile,  th^are  privileged  to  behold 
once  more  the  disk  of  the  sun, — a  blesswg  for  which  the  gods  are 


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142  THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

very  frequently  supplicated  on  behalf  of  the  deceased.  With  that 
luminary  it  \^'ould  seem  that  they  arose  to  heaven,  and  in  his  bark 
they  navigated  the  oelestial  Mile,  or  primordial  ether.  At  the  fifth 
hour  they  were  landed  in  the  habitations  of  blessedness,  where  they 
rested  from  their  labours.  Here  they  reap  the  oom,  and  gather  the 
fruits  of  Paradise,  under  the  eye  and  smile  of  the  "  lord  of  joy  in  the 
heart,''  that  is,  the  sun,  who  exhorts  them  thus :  **  Take  your  sickles, 
reap  your  grain,  carry  it  into  your  dwellings,  that  ye  may  be  glad 
therewith,  and  present  it  as  a*  pure  oflbring  unto  Grod."  There  also 
they  bathe  in  the  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life  tibat  flows  past  their 
habitation :  from  which  it  is  evident  that  the  Elysium  of  this  religion 
was  no  more  than  a  celestial  Egypt.  Over  them  is  inscribed, 
**  They  have  found  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  great  God ;  they  inhabit 
the  mansions  of  glory,  where  they  enjoy  the  life  of  heaven ;  the 
bodies  which  they  have  abandoned  shall  repose  forever  in  their 
tombs,  while  they  rejoice  in  the  presence  of  the  supreme  God." 

But  a  terrible  fate  impended  over  tho9e  who,  being  weighed  in  the 
balance  of  Amenti,  were  found  wanting.  In  the  first  instance,  as  has 
been  already  observed,  their  sools  were  driven  back  to  earth  again 
by  ministers  of  vengeance  in  the  form  of  baboons,  to  transmigrate 
into  that  animal  to  which  their  besetting  sin  had  assimilated  them. 
The  glutton,  driven  from^  the  tribunal  with  heavy  blows,  became  a 
hog;  the  cruel  man  a  wolf;  and  so  of  others. 

If,  after  their  transmigrations,  the  soul  remained  polluted,  its  hope 
perished  forever.  It  was  then  transported  to  the  regions  of  dark- 
ness and  eternal  death,  symbolized  by  the  twelve  houts  of  the  night, 
and  the  lower  hemisphere.  God,  under  the  symbol  of  the  sun,  is 
here  also ;  but,  as  the  avenger  and  tormentor,  he  makes  the  dark- 
ness his  pavilion ;  his  disk  is  black;  no  ray  of  light  issues  from  him 
to  illume  their  (Cheerless  abodes.  His  object  in  visiting  them  is  to 
superintend  and  preside  over  the  punishments  endured  by  the  wicked 
in  the  seventy-five  zones  into  which  the  lower  hemisphere  was  divided. 
Each  zone  has  an  attendant  spirit  attached  to  it^  who  is  also  the 
executioner.  In  one  of  the  zones  the  lost  souls  are  bound  to  stakes, 
covered  with  wounds,  which  their  executioners  are  still  inflicting, 
brandishing  their  bloody  swords,  and  at  the  same  time  reproaching 
them  with  the  crimes  they  have  committed  while  on  earth.  In  an- 
other they  are  suspended  with  the  head  downward :  elsewhere  they 
walk  in  long  and  melancholy  procession,  with  their  hands  bound 
across  their  breasts,  and  their  heads  nearly  severed  from  their 
bodies ;  or  with  their  hands  tied  tightly  behind  their  backs,  and  their 
hearts  torn  from  their  bosoms,  and  dragging  after  them  on  the  ground. 
In  other  zones,  souls  in  the  form  which  they  bore  when  on  earth,  or 


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THS  GBNTILE  NATIONS.  143 

in  that  of  a  hawk  or  crane,  are  plunged  into  boiling  caldrone,  along 
with  the  symbol  of  divine  felicity,  the  fan,  which  they  have  forfeited 
forever.  In  the  great  representations  of  these  fearfol  scenes,  which 
are  repeated  in  many  of  the  tombs  of  the  kings,  the  offences  for 
which  they  endure  tiiese  torments  are  specified  over  each  zone,  and 
it  is  declared  concerning  all  the  inhabitants  of  these  abodes  of  misery, 
'*  These  souls  are  at  enmity  with  our  God,  and  do  not  see  the  rays 
which  issue  from  his  disk ;  they  are  no  longer  permitted  to  live  in  the 
terrestrial  world,  neither  do  they  hear  the  voice  of  God  when  he  trav- 
erses their  sone." — Antiquities  of  Egypt,  p.  163. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  justifies  this  extended  information 
respecting  the  doctrines  of  future  retribution  held  in  ancient  Egypt; 
and  to  every  intelligent  believer  in  the  truth  of  revelation  it  will 
surest  many  important  arguments  corroborative  of  the  teaching  of 
Jude, — that  even  the  early  patriarchs  were  acquainted  with  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  judgm&t,  and  made  it  a  prominent  dement  of 
their  religious  teaching.  Jude  14,  15. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Egyptian  reli^on  on  the  subject  of  providence 
will  next  briefly  engage  our  attention. 

Here  the  paralyzing  and  destructive  influence  of  polytheistic 
theology  is  plainly  seen.  As  a  general  doctrine,  providence  was. 
clearly  and  fuUy  recognised  by  the  ancient  Egyptians.  This  was 
done  to  an  extent  which  ought  to  confound  not  merely  avowed  infidels, 
but  many  who  call  themselves  Christians. 

Not  only  did  this  people  consecrate  each  month,  and  even  each 
day,  to  a  particular  divinity,  but  all  nature  was  by  them  supposed 
to  be  pervaded  with  the  essence  of  God.  Almost  every  town  and 
river,  every  tree  and  shrub,  as  well  as  every  animal,  was  regarded  as 
divine.  The  shining  beams  of  the  sua  were  looked  on  as  divine 
influences :  the  mild  radiance  of  the  moon  was  invested  with  divine 
power.  The  sovereign  was  invariably  regarded  as  the  beloved 
of  Deity:  and  divine  interposition  in  human  afiairs  was  fully 
recognised  and  believed.  We  may  adduce  one  proof  of  this,  which 
is  at  onoe  interesting  and  decisive.  When  Sennacherib  the  Assyrian, 
fearing  the  advance  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  while  he  was  engaged  in 
the  conquest  of  Judea  during  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  brought  his 
army  to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  the  Egyptian  monarch  repaired,  as 
Hezekiah  had  done,  to  the  temple  of  his  god,  and  spreading  his 
deplorable  case  before  his  deity,  sought  refuge  in  prayer.  He  was, 
the  account  informs  us,  assured  in  a  dream  that  he  should  sustain 
no  injury  from  the  invading  army.  So  it  came  to  pass ;  for,  as  is 
well  known  from  Hebrew  history,  the  enemy  was  ruined  without  a 
conflict.     The  Egyptian  account  of  this  event  has  already  been 


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144  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

given ;  (see  Appendix,  note  11 ;)  and  ifc  clearly  shoe's  the  ruHng  idea 
of  Egyptian  sovereignty,  that  God  not  only  interposed  in  the  afiairs 
of  mankind,  but  that  he  did  so  specially  in  answer  to  prayer.  This 
important  fact  demonstrates  that,  among  the  superior  classes  of 
Egypt,  the  priesthood  at  least,  (for  we  are  specially  informed  that 
this  sovereign  was  a  priest,)  there  remained  a  conviction  of  the 
divine  unity,  sufficiently  clear  and  strong  to  induce  them  to  repose 
confidence  in  the  powerful  interposition  of  the  Supreme  God,  and  in 
his  gracious  government  of  the  human  &mily.*  But  then  it  is  equally 
apparent  that  the  masses  of  the  people,  ignorant  of  those  important 
truths,  and  bewildered  in  the  multitude  of  imaginary  deities,  would 
be  strangers  alike  to  confidence  and  consolation. 

This  assumption  of  the  ignorance  of  the  people  is  well  founded. 
Wilkinson,  their. most  assiduous  apologist,  is  compelled  to  admit 
that,  "  though  the  priests  were  aware  of  the  nature  of  their  gods,  and 
all  those  who  understood  the  mysteries  of  t^he  religion  looked  upon  the 
Divinity  as  a  sole  and  undivided  being,  the  people,  as  1  have  already 
observed,  not  admitted  to  a. participation  of  these  important  secrets, 
were  left  in  perfect  ignojance  respecting  the  objects  they  were 
taught  to  adore ;  and  every  one  was  not  only  permitted  but  encour- 
aged, to  believe  the  real  sanctity  of  the  idol,  and  the  actual  existence 
of  the  god  whose  figure  he  beheld."  {Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  iv, 
p.  175.)  What,  then,  could  be  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the 
providential  interposition  or  protection  of  Deiiy?  When  the  grand 
destinies  of  the  people  wef  e  confided  to  a  deified  lion,  crocodile,  cat, 
or  dog,  how  could  such  their  trust  yield  consolation?  What  could 
have  been  the  real  amount  of  rdiance  which  liiose  of  a  particular 
locality  reposed  in  their  gods,  when  they  knew  that  the  men  of  a 
different  nome,  but  a  short  distance  off,  were  killing  and  feeding 
on  the  same  kind  of  animals  as  by  them  were  considered  to  be 
divine  ? 

To  those,  therefore,  who,  knowing  the  true  character  of  the 
inverted  theology,  held  fast  to  the  patriarchal  elements  of  revealed 
truth  which  had  been  preserved,  to  them  divine  providence  might 
have  been  an  important  and  efficient  doctrine.  But,  with  ilie 
people,  who  were  left  in  ignorance,  and  who  consequently  regarded 
the  bull  Apis  as  being  just  as  sacred  as  the  Divinity  of  which  it  was 
the  type, — with  these  tihere  could  be  no  rational  confidence  in  provi- 
dential government. 

We  hasten  to  make  a  few  observations  on  the  character  and  extent 
of  the  religious  influence  which  this  system  imparted  to  the  nation, 
as  well  as  to  individuals. 

This  is  the  most  interesting  and  important  aspect  in  ^vhich  the 


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THE  aSNTILB  NATIONS.  145 

religion  of  any  people  can  be  regarded.    And  here  the  religion  of 
Egypt  presented  much  to  admire,  and  much  to  lament. 

1.  The  morals  of  this  system  were,  on  the  whole,  somid.  Vice 
was  prohibited  and  condemned;  tnith  and  justice  were  sanctioned 
and  enforced.  In  fact  all  the  precepts  already  noticed  (Patriarchal 
Age,  p.  217)  as  pure  patriarcheJ  laws  were  found,  with  one  excep- 
tion only,  in  the  statute-code  of  Egypt.  It  must  be  admitted,  not- 
withstanding the  apologies  which  learned  writers  have  urged,  that 
there  is  great  reason  to  fear  that  Phallic  ifforship  produced  even 
in  Egypt  impure  and  demoralizing  results;  but  if  such  conse- 
quences arose,  they  occurred  not  with  the  sanction,  but  in  violation, 
of  Egyptian  law. 

2.  This  morality  was  enforced,  not  simply  as  conducive  to  human 
welfare,  and,  as  such,  necessary  to  individual  and  general  happiness ; 
it  was  enforced  as  of  divine  authority.  The  laws  were  regarded  as 
of  divine  origin  and  obligation.  The  fact  that  this  assumption  has 
been  falsely  made  in  other  countries,  no  more  militates  against  the 
moral  fiiith  of  Egypt,  than  it  does  against  that  of  Christianity. 

3.  The  propriety  of  moral  conduct  was  not  only  urged  as  by 
divine  authority,  but  by  the  explicit  teaching  of  a  future  retribu- 
tion; and  a  rekibution,  be  it  observed,  which,  after  all  the  fanciful 
interposition  of  transmigration,  finally  issued  in  eternal  misery  to 
the  wicked,  and  everlasting  felicity  to  the  righteous.  Whatever 
doubts  may  exist  as  to  the  origin  of  any  particular  moral  law,  it  is 
certain  that  these  doctrines  could  only  be  adduced  in  sanction  of 
morals  by  divine  revelation:  so  that,  in  this  instance,  we  have  an 
unmistakable  proof  that  important  elements  of  Egyptian  faith  were 
derived  from  early  divine  revelation. 

4.  It  is  observable  that  this  moral  code  was  understood  and  taught 
in  a  truly  spiritual  sense.  It  was  not  merely  mechanical  action 
which  was  prohibited  by  the  &ith  of  Egypt.  Neither  conventional 
religious  rites,  ending  in  mere  extemalism,  nor  a  compliance  with 
the  mere  letter  of  a  written  law,  met  the  demands  made  on  the  con- 
sciences of  Egyptians.  Let  me  quote  in  proof  that  remarkable  ex- 
pression found  in  "  The  Book  of  the  Dead,"  used  by  a  departed  spirit 
even  before  it  could  have  access  to  the  assessors :  "  /  have  not  grieved 
the  spirits  of  the  gods.**  This  phrase  implies  the  deep  and  com- 
passionate interest  which,  according  to  Egyptian  theology,  the  dei- 
ties took  in  the  well-being  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time 
expresses  the  sincere  and  devout  service  which  the  people  were 
required  to  render  to  their  gods. 

It  appears,  therefore,  clear  to  my  mind,  that  in  Egypt  an  uncom- 
mon amount  of  pure  patriarchal  truth  was  preserved.    Nor  does  it 

10 


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146  THB  GBNTILE  KATIOKS. 

8eem  to  admit  of  a  doubt,  that  it  ifas  this  which  preeminently  con- 
stituted the  boasted  wisdom  of  Egypt.  However  lightly  esteemed 
by  learned  modem  writers  it  may  have  been,  this  class  of  subjects  ' 
attracted  the  attention  of  Pythagoras,  Herodotus,  and  Diodoms, 
more  than  any  other :  and  it  was  on  these  points  that  Egypt  yielded 
to  those  sages  the  most  important  harvest  of  information.  Here 
they  read  divinity  which  recognised  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and 
the  hope  of  a  fiiture^camation  of  God.  Here  they  found  a  system 
of  ethics  based  upon  the  tenet  of  the  immortaliiy  of  the  soul  of 
man,— upon  his  responsibility  to  his  Maker  for  his  deeds  on  earth, — 
and  upon  his  appearance  after  death  at  the  judgment-seat  of  God, — 
and  also  upon  the  infinitely  important  truth,  that  God  himself  is  the 
exceeding  great  reward  of  the  righteous,  and  will  surely  punish  the 
wicked ;  that  his  favour  is  everlasting  life,  that  his  wrath  is  death 
eternal.  (Antiquities  of  Egypt,  p.  164.) 

This  country  stands  immortalized  on  this  account.  Amid  all  its 
follies  and  sins,  the  truth  which  Egypt  preserved  from  age  to  age 
affords  the  brightest  and  the  best  collateral  proof  of  the  reality  and 
power  of  patriarchal  religion.  But  if  this  is  conceded,  it  may  be 
asked,  "  Why,  then,  so  severely  condemn  this  religion  ?"  The  an- 
swer is,  On  the  ground  of  its  vile,  impure,  and  contemptible  theology. 
While  the  native  Egyptians  held  with  wonderful  tenacity  great  ele- 
ments of  patriarchal  fidth,  they  with  equal  devotedness  clung  to  tiie 
master-error  which  had  been  promulged  at  Shinar.  They  conse- 
quently sank  into  an  abyss  of  idolatrous  infamy,  such  as  was  scarcely 
the  fate  of  any  other  nation. 

Ancient  Egypt,  therefore,  stands  before  us  as  an  intelligible  and 
perpetual  monument  of  the  vital  importance  of  the  knowledge  of 
God.  Possessing  an  amount  of  revealed  tmih  which  in  other 
respects  might  have  made  her  the  envy,  and  which  did  constitate 
her  the  teacher,  of  surrounding  nations,  she  was,  in  one  grand  ele- 
ment of  religion,  the  special  victim  of  Satanic  guile.  God  was 
shut  out  from  the  knowledge  of  the  people.  If  the  glorious  doc- 
trines of  his  unity,  omnipotence,  and  omniscience,  were  preserved 
at  all,  they  were  held  as  corporate  treasure  by  the  priesthood  and 
the  initiated.  The  people  were  left  to  offer  devotion  to,  and  seek 
hope  and  consolation  from,  crocodiles,  lions,  asps,  and  beetles;  while, 
over  all  this  bestial  array,  the  image  of  the  serpent  constituted  the 
established  sign  of  power  and  dominion. 

In  the  case  of  this  people,  the  saying  of  the  apostle  is  preemi- 
nently true :  They  "  knew  the  judgment  of  Gk>d,  that  they  who  com- 
mitted such  things  were  worthy  of  death  ;*'  and  yet,  unchecked  by  a 
just  perception  of  the  divine  character,  they  did  these  very  things. 


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THB  OSNTILE  NATIONS.  147 

Rom.  i,  32.  How  grand,  how  trnly  snblime,  is  the  subject  here  pre- 
floited  to  our  contemplation !  God  excluded,  his  honour  given  to 
Tile  reptiles,  nay,  even  to  the  Satanic  image, — ^the  Eternal  Okb 
thus  scorned  and  rejected;  while,  nevertheless,  his  Spirit  strives; 
every  element  of  truth  which  the  mind  will  consent  to  receive,  is 
invested  with  special  vigour  and  energy,  and  made— as  far  as  divine 
oversight  and  providential  arrangement  (perhaps)  could  make  it — 
permanent  in  its  teaching  and  generally  influential;  the  debasing 
consequences  of  their  idolatry  being,  all  the  while,  equally  apparent. 
Well  may  the  religious  man  exclaim, "  0  the  depth  of  the  riches  both 
of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  Ood !  How  unsearchable  are  his 
judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out!"  Rom.  xi,  38. 


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148  THB  QBNIIILB  NATIONS. 


CHAPTER  UI. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  ASSYRIANS. 

HiBTOBT  of  ABsyria  regained  wiih  the  Reign  of  BiiiOCHVS— Absence  of  precise  Infonna- 
iion  respecting  this  and  succeeding  Reigns— Probability  that  eren  in  this  Age  the 
Power  of  Egypt  was  felt  on  the  Banks  of  the  Euphrates— Interference  of  Assyria  in 
the  Trojan  War— Fragmentary  Notices  of  ancient  Reigns  recorered  from  Inscriptions 
by  Colonel  Rawlinson— Gonnocted  Assyrian  History  begins  about  the  Tenth  Century, 
B.  C— Adkammklsoh  L— Sabdutapalus  I.— His  military  Career  and  Successes— Ih- 
YAVUBARA— The  Annals  of  his  Reign  from  the  Black  Obelisk  and  other  Sculptures— 
Shbmab  Adar— Adbakmelkch  H.  or  Thonob  Cohooubos— The  Termination  of  the 
Old  Imperial  Dynasty— Abbaobs  the  Mede  on  the  Throne  of  Assyria— The  Mission  of 
Jonah,  and  its  Results — ^The  Assyrians  recover  their  Sovereignty — ^Pcl  obtains  the 
sceptre— Menahem,  King  of  Israel,  destroys  Tlphsah— Pul  invades  Israel,  and  ex- 
torts a  thousand  Talents  of  Silver  from  Menahem— Tiolath-Pilbsbb  succeeds  to 
the  Throne— At  the  Solicitation  of  Ahaz,  he  invades  Syria  and  Israel,  and  oanies 
the  trans-Jordaaic  Tribes  and  the  Inhabitants  of  Galilee  into  Captivity — Colonel  Raw- 
linson*s  Arrangement  of  the  Information  obtained  firom  the  Sculptures  of  Khorsabad 
and  Kouyunjik — Sabgiha  usurps  the  Throne— His  Annals  and  public  Works — Sev- 
hachbbib — ^His  Campaigns  from  the  Inscriptions — ^Remarkable  Accordance  between 
their  Account  of  his  War  with  Hezekiah,  and  that  given  in  the  Scriptnrea— The  De- 
struction of  his  Army— His  subsequent  Reign— Ebabhaddoh— The  Ruin  of  Samaria, 
and  final  Subversion  of  the  Kingdom  of  Israel — The  Captivity  and  Restoration  of  Man- 
asseh — Nabuohodohobob— His  Wars  in  the  East — ^Defeat  and  Death  of  Phraortes — ^An 
Army  under  Holofemes  sent  into  Western  Asia^-The  General  slain  by  Judith,  and  the. 
Army  surprised  and  routed— Sabac,  or  Sabdahapali78  H.— Alliance  of  Media  and  Ba- 
bylon against  Assyria — Nineveh  besieged  and  taken-^The  Assyrian  Empire  subverted. 

The  origin  and  early  progress  of  this  empire  were  stated  in  a  pre- 
ceding Tolume.  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  434-441.)  It  will  now  be 
necessary  to  resume  its  history  with  the  reign  of  Belochus,  which 
began  B.  G.  1857.  This  sovereign  continued  to  direct  the  affiurs  of 
his  country  at  the  time  when  Isaac  died. 

Unfortunately,  however,  no  records  of  this  and  of  several  succeed- 
ing reigns  have  been  preserved.  A  dry  chronicle  of  the  names  of 
kings,  with  the  period  during  which  they  respectively  governed, 
copied  from  the  national  archives  by  Gtesias,  the  Greek  physician, 
is  all  that  has  been  transmitted  to  us  in  a  verbal  and  authentic 
manner. 

In  a  preceding  chapter,  when  treating  of  Egyptian  history,  it  was 
stated  as  a  probable  fact  that,  in  the  time  of  Thothmes  III.  of  the 
eighteenth  dynasty,  the  power  of  Egypt  had  been  felt,  and  tributary 
gifts  elicited,  as  far  north  and  east  as  the  banks  of  the  Caspian,  and 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  149 

the  borders  of  Media.  Farther  resdeurches  have  rendered.it  all  but 
certain  that,  even  at  that  early  period,  Egypt  and  Assyria  had  been 
brought  into  close  contact,  and  probably  into  hostile  collision.  A 
learned  writer,  (see  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Lit.,  New  Series,  vol.  ii,  p.  227,) 
firom  the  same  monumental  materials,  elicits  the  information,  that 
this  Egyptian  warrior  stopped  at  Neniiev,  or  Nineveh,  and  "  set  up 
his  tablet  in  Naharina,  (Mesopotamia,)  on  account  of  his  having 
enlarged  the  frontiers  of  Egypt.  Twenty-four  ingots  of  glass  were 
brought^  as  the  tributes,  by  the  chief  of  Saenkar  or  Singara,  and  as 
many  from  Bebel  or  Babylon.  (See  Appendix,  note  14.)  These 
wars  could  scarcely  have  been  carried  on,  without  bringing  these  two 
ancient  empires  into  an  adverse  position  toward  each  other.  When 
it  is  remembered  how  strenuously  Egypt,  in  later  times,  struggled 
for  the  possession  of  Garchemish  on  the  Euphrates,  the  fact  that 
this  district  was  then  visited  by  an  Egyptian  army  will  seem  more 
probable  than  it  might  at  first  sight  appear.  But  the  facility  with 
which  nations  then  sought  to  avoid  worse  treatment  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  gifts,  and  the  readiness  with  which  they  threw  off  all  sense  of 
obligation  as  soon  as  the  danger  had  passed  away,  will  cause  us  to 
hesitate  before  we  infer  anything  positive  from  such  information 
respecting  the  proper  extent  of  the  territory  of  any  empire. 

Colonel  Rawlinson  has  ascertained  from  the  Assyrian  sculptures, 
that  a  sovereign  named  after  the  goddess  Derceto,  or  Semiramis, 
reigned  in  Assyria  about  1250  B.  G.  His  exact  title  has  not  been 
deciphered.  But  it  seems  likely  that  he  built,  rebuilt,  or  greatly 
enlarged  the  city  of  Nineveh  on  the  Tigris,  immediately  opposite  to 
the  present  town  of  Mosul 

We  are  further  informed,  that  Teutames,  the  twenty- sixth  king 
of  tliis  list,  sent  Memnon,  who  was  the  son  of  Tithonus,  prefect  of 
Persia,  with  an  army,  to  assist  Priam,  King  of  Troy,  when  his  city 
was  besieged  by  the  Greeks.  This  warrior,  it  appears,  after  having 
greatly  distinguished  himself,  fell  in  that  war.  The  statement  of 
Herodotus,  that  the  issue  of  this  protracted  conflict  was  regarded  as 
suflicient  to  constitute  the  Greeks  hereditary  enemies  of  the  para- 
moimt  rulers  of  Asia,  seems  to  countenance  this  tradition.  (See 
Appendix,  note  15.) 

Great  expectation  has  arisen,  among  the  learned,  from  the  recent 
wonderful  discoveries  which  have  been  made  in  the  ruins  of  the  cities 
of  this  ancient  country,  and  from  the  no  less  wonderful  recovery  of 
the  art  of  reading  the  monumental  inscriptions.  Yet,  although  our 
knowledge  of  the  power,  manners,  warfare,  civilization,  and  lurts  of 
the  Assyrians  has  been  much  increased,  neither  the  great  talent  and 
perseverance  which  have  been  exerted  abroad,  nor  the  devoted  in- 


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150  THE  aSNTILE  NATIONS. 

quiry  which  has  been  excited  at  home,  has,  as  yet,  given  us  sadi 
information  respecting  the  history  and  chronology  of  this  mighty 
empire  as  we  should  desire  to  possess.  They  have,  indeed,  enabled 
us  to  solve  important  problems  respecting  the  history  of  the  Assyri- 
ans, to  verify  many  statements  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  to  fonn  at  least 
a  tolerable  idea  of  the  national  spirit,  progress,  and  power  of  this 
empire  during  the  last  and  most  interesting  period  of  its  existence. 

It  is  justly  to  be  ranked  among  the  most  wonderful  phenomena 
of  divine  providence,  that  here,  as  well  as  in  Egypt,  the  extent  to 
which  the  curse  of  Babel  was  carried,  in  the  multiplication  of  dia- 
lects, should  have  so  signally  wrought  its  own  cure.  (See  Appendix, 
note  16.)  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  rapid,  extensive,  and  surprising 
success  which  has  crowned  the  labours  of  learned  and  skilful  men 
who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  elucidation  of  the  characters 
and  language  of  the  early  Assyrian  inscriptions,  great,  and,  in  many 
respects,  unexpected  difficulties  have  been  found,  which  have  much 
retarded  a  clear  and  positive  identification  of  individual  reigns.  (See 
Appendix,  note  17.)  It  has,  however,  been  ascertained  that,  in  the 
twelfth  century  before  Christ,  a  sovereign  reigned  whose  name  has 
been  rendered  Divanukha.  He  built  the  city  of  Galah,  upon  the  site 
which  is  now  called  "  Nimrud."  The  identification  of  these  two  cities, 
Nineveh  and  Galah,  is  quite  positive.  Their  names  are  found  upon 
every  brick,  and  almost  on  every  slab,  excavated  firom  the  ruins 
which  cover  their  sites.  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed,  when 
we  read  of  the  building  of  a  city  of  a  certain  name,  that  no  city  of 
that  name  or  on  that  site  existed  before.  Veiy  frequently  what  is 
celebrated  as  the  building  of  a  city  was  only  the  rebuilding  or  en- 
larging of  it,  which  is  believed  to  have  been  the  fact  in  respect  both 
of  Nineveh  and  CaJah. 

A  royal  cylinder  has  been  recently  discovered  in  a  temple  of  Nep- 
tune near  Nineveh,  which  appears  to  give  the  names  of  the  two  im- 
mediate successors  of  Divanukha.  Colonel  Rawlinson  compares 
these  names  with  Mardokempad  and  Messimordacus,  preserved  in 
the  Canon  of  Ptolemy.  The  titles  would  certainly  be  thus  read  at 
Babylon ;  but  the  learned  explorer  is  not  quite  satisfied  that  the 
planet  Mars  was  called  Merodach  at  Nineveh,  as  it  certainly  was  at 
Babylon.  (See  Appendix,  note  17.) 

The  next  king  of  whom  we  have  any  account  must  have  reigned 
in  the  eleventh  century  before  Christ,  following  at  no  great  distance 
of  time  the  grandson  of  Divanukha.  His  name  signifies,  "the 
Servant  of  the  Prince,"  or,  "the  Servant  of  the  Son  of  the  Noble 
House  ;**  and,  if  expressed  phonetically,  may  be  read  as  Akak-bab- 
BETH-HIKA.    The  terms,  however,  "  the  Noble  House."  and  "  Son 


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THB  eBNTILS  NATIONS.  161 

of  the  Noble  House,"  oocor  so  freqaently  in  the  inscriptions,  both  in 
proper  names  and  in  addresses  to  the  gods,  that  they  probably  allude 
to  some  deified  hero,  or  at  any  rate  to  some  object  of  worship,  of 
which  the  special  title  would  in  speaking  replace  the  written  periph- 
rasis. 

This  king  seems  to  be  £he  first  of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge, 
as  carrying  the  Assyrian  arms  into  foreign  countries.  His  exploits 
are  recorded  on  a  slab  which  was  found  at  l^imrud,  a  relic  of  some 
ancient  palace ;  and  they  are  of  value  in  defining  the  limits  of  the 
Assyrian  empire  at  that  early  period.  The  king  boasts  that  he  had 
extended  his  sway  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Mediterranean ; 
but  it  is  evident,  from  his  lists  of  conquests,  that  neither  Syria  to 
the  west,  nor  Asia  Minor  to  the  northwest,  nor  Media  to  the  east, 
had  yet  been  visited  by  the  armies  of  Nineveh.  At  this  time  the  em- 
pire comprised  Mesopotamia,  Assyria,  and  Babylonia ;  and  incursions 
seem  to  have  been  then  first  made  into  Armenia,  and  the  mountain- 
ous countries  about  the  sources  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates. 

Connected  Assyrian  history  may  be  said  to  commence  in  the 
tenth  century  before  the  Christian  era,  with  the  reign  of  Adram- 
MBLECH  I.,  as  the  appellation  has  been  read  by  Colonel  Rawlinson, 
— the  first  element  being  the  name  of  the  god  Adar,  and  the  second 
a  royal  title.  This  sovereign,  in  the  judgment  of  the  learned  trans- 
lator, must  have  ascended  the  throne  shortly  after  the  death  of  Solo- 
mon. Neither  of  this  king,  nor  of  his  son,  have  any  monuments  been 
yet  discovered.  But  the  latter  was  certainly  a  warrior  of  note :  for 
his  conquests  are  often  alluded  to  by  his  son,  the  great  Sardanapalus. 
His  name  signifies,  "the  slave  of  Mars  f  and  Colonel  Rawlinson 
suggests  that  it  should  be  read  Anaku-Merodach,  (so  in  He- 
brew D25,  "  a  collar,")  and  compared  with  the  ^AvaKwdapd^jg  of  the 
Greeks. 

Sardanapalus  appears  to  have  begun  his  reign  about  930  B.  C, 
in  which  case  he  would  be  the  Ephecheres  of  Ctesias.  He  repaired 
the  city  of  Calah,  which  had  been  founded  by  his  ancestor  Divanukha, 
building  at  that  place  the  famous  palace  which  has  supplied  our  national 
Museum  with  the  best  specimens  of  Assyrian  sculpture.  He  also 
erected  at  Calah  temples  both  to  Assur  and  to  *'Mar8;"  and  he 
built  a  third  to  Uranus,  or  "the  Heavens,"  at  Nineveh;  some  relics 
of  this  latter  building,  which  was  repaired  by  Sennacherib,  having 
lately  been  discovered.  As  a  warrior,  his  achievements  were  well 
known  to  the  Greeks;  and  these  exploits  he  recorded  in  an  inscrip- 
tion of  about  four  hundred  lines,  engraved  upon  each  face  of  an 
enormous  monolith,  which  was  placed  in  the  vestibule  of  the  temple 
of  Mars  at  Calah.    By  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  fragments 


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152  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

of  this  monolith,  Colonel  Rawlinson  has  obtained  a  complete  and 
continuous  copy  of  the  whole  inscription;  and  a  translation  of  it  is 
promised  to  the  world  at  an  early  period.  It  describes,  in  most 
elaborate  detail,  the  various  expeditions  of  the  king,  and  enables  us 
to  identify  a  multitude  of  cities  and  countries  which  are  named  in 
the  historical  and  prophetical  books  of  Scripture,  but  of  which  the 
positions  have  been  hitherto  unknown.  Gozan,  Hanan,  and  Rezeth, 
Eden  and  Thelaser,  Gabo  and  Carchemish,  Hamath  and  Arpad, 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  Gebel  and  Arpad,  are  all  distinctly  named. 
So  are  the  Arab  tribes  of  Kedar  and  Hazor,  Sheba^  Teman,  and 
Dedan.  For  the  illustration  of  the  general  geography  of  Western 
Asia  this  inscription  is  not  less  important.  The  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates, the  two  Zabs,  the  Hermas  and  the  Khaboor,  are  designated 
almost  according  to  their  modem  names ;  and  we  have  further  the 
true  native  forms  of  Cilicia,  Comagene,  Sophene,  and  Gogarene,  and 
of  most  of  the  other  provinces,  both  north  and  south  of  the  Taurus, 
which  are  named  by  the  Greek  geographers. 

Other  inscriptions,  relating  to  this  reign,  have  been  discovered, — 
one  in  the  nortiiwest  palace  of  Nimrud,  which  is  repeated  more  than 
a  hundred  times.  It  contains  a  certain  formula  of  royal  commemo- 
ration, which,  in  regard  to  the  titles  employed  and  the  general  charac- 
ter of  address,  was  adopted  by  all  the  succeeding  kings  of  the  dynasty 
in  the  dedication  of  their  palaces.  It  thus  begins :  "  This  is  the 
palace  of  Sardanapalus,  the  humble  worshipper  of  Assarac  and 
Beltis,  of  the  shining  Bar,  of  Ani,  and  of  Dagon,  who  are  the  princi- 
pal of  the  gods,  the  powerful  and  supreme  ruler,  the  King  of  Assyria; 
son  of  the  servant  of  Bar,  (Kali-bar,')  the  great  king,  the  powerful 
and  supreme  ruler,  the  King  of  Assyria ;  who  was  son  of  H^enk  the 
great  king,  the  powerful  and  supreme  ruler.  King  of  Assyria." 
After  this  introduction,  the  inscription  goes  on  apparently  to  notice 
the  efforts  made  by  the  king  to  establish  the  worship  of  the  Assyrian 
gods  generally  throughout  the  empire ;  and,  in  connexion  with  this 
subject,  incidentally,  as  it  were,  occurs  a  list  of  the  nations  tributary 
to  Nineveh,  which  is  of  considerable  interest,  as  affording  a  means 
of  comparing  the  extent  of  the  kingdom,  as  it  was  constituted  at  that 
time,  with  the  distribution  given  in  later  inscriptions,  when  the  em- 
pire was  enlarged  by  conquest. 

A  brief  outline  of  this  can  alone  be  given.  First  are  mentioned 
the  people  of  Nahiri,  (or  Northern  Mesopotamia,)  of  Lek,  (perhaps 
the  Lycians,  before  they  moved  westward,)  of  Sabiri.  (the  Sapires,) 
and  of  the  plains  sacred  to  the  god  Hem.  There  is  then  an  allusion 
to  the  countries  beyond  the  River  Tigris,  as  far  as  Syria:  and  after 
several  other  names,  Rabek  is  mentioned,  which,  from  many  points 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  153 

of  eTidence  in  other  inscriptions,  Colonel  Bawlinson  believes  to  be 
Heliopolis,  the  capital  of  Lower  Egypt.  The  inscription  adds : 
''I  received  homage  from  the  plains  of  Larri  to  Ladsan ;  from  the 
people  beyond  the  River  Zab  as  fSur  as  the  city  Tel-Biari ;  from  the 
city  of  Tel-Abtan  to  tiiie  city  of  Tel-Zabdan;  from  the  cities  of 
Akrima  and  Karta,  and  the  sea-coast  dependent  on  Taha-Tanis, 
to  the  frontiers  of  my  country.  I  brought  abundance  from  the 
plains  of  Bibad  as  far  as  Tarmar;  I  bestowed  (all)  upon  the  people 
of  my  own  kingdom." 

Our  learned  author  pertinently  observes,  "This  list  is  no  less 
remarkable  for  what  it  omits  than  for  what  it  mentions.  It  would 
seem  as  if  the  sea-coast  of  Phenicia  had  not  yet  fallen  under  the 
power  of  Assyria,  nor  the  upper  provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  nor  the 
high  land  of  Media;  and  if  Susiana  and  Babylonia  were  included, — 
as  the  mention  of  Taha-Tanis  would  seem  to  indicate, — they  were 
not  held  of  sufficient  account  to  be  noticed ;"  or  rather  were  regarded 
as  such  essential  elements  of  the  empire  as  not  to  require  mention. 
In  a  subsequent  inscription,  namely,  that  on  the  monolith  already 
noticed,  the  period  when  Phenicia  came  under  the  Assyrian  power 
is  mentioned.  It  is  there  stated,  that  when  Sardanapalus  was  in 
Syria,  he  received  the  tribute  of  the  kings  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  of 
Acre,  of  Byblos,  of  Berytus,  of  Gaza,  of  Barza,  (?)  and  of  Aradus, 
— a  complete  list  of  the  maritime  cities  of  Phenicia. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  wars  of  Sardanapalus  issued  in  a 
considerable  extension  of  the  Assyrian  empire  in  Western  Asia. 
It  was  this,  unquestionably,  which  made  his  name  so  celebrated  in 
Greece.  The  inscription  in  the  I^imrud  palace,  made  in  the  early 
part  of  his  reign,  although  evidently  designed  to  set  forth  the  extent 
of  his  dominions,  omits  all  mention  of  the  sea-coast  of  Phenicia; 
while  the  monolith  which  was  reared  to  perpetuate  his  triumphs, 
parades  all  the  cities  of  this  country  as  rendering  tribute  to 
Assyria. 

Sardanapalus  was  contemporary  with  Ahab,  King  of  Israel ;  and 
received  tribute  from  Ethbaal,  King  of  Sidon,  whose  daughter 
Jezebel  was  married  to  the  king  of  Israel. 

The  military  career  of  this  great  warrior  affords  a  most  remark- 
able instance  of  the  special  providence  which  Jehovah  exercised  over 
the  Hebrew  people.  While  Sardanapalus  was  encompassing  Pales- 
tine with  his  armies,  and  extending  his  power  over  every  neighbour- 
ing people,  God  did  not  permit  him  to  touch  even  apostate  Israel, 
until  every  merciful  means  of  restoring  them  had  failed.  The 
wicked  Ahab,  therefore,  is  left  to  the  reproofs  of  Elijah,  and  not 
hauded  over  to  the  proud  and  cruel  Assyrian. 


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154  THB  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

Sardanapalus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Divanubara  ;  a  name 
which  signified,  "the  beloved  of  Divan"  or  "Hercules."  Of  the 
actions  of  this  sovereign;  who  throughout  a  long  reign  appears  to 
have  displayed  unfailing  vigour  and  incessant  activity,  we  have  a 
remarkably  extended  and  perspicuous  account  recorded  on  the  Black 
Obelisk  which  Layard  discovered  at  Nimrud,  and  which  is  now  in 
the  British  Museum.  Indeed,  Colonel  Rawlinson  declares  that  "  by 
comparing  the  obelisk  inscription  with  the  writing  upon  the  votive 
bulls  belonging  to  the  centre  palace,  which  were  dedicated  appar- 
ently at  an  earlier  period  of  Divanubara's  reign,  and  with  the  legend 
on  the  statue  found  at  Kileh  Shergat,  which  was  designed  especially 
to  commemorate  the  king's  southern  expedition,  we  have  as  complete 
a  register  of  the  period  as  could  well  be  desired.  Of  this  register 
I  will  now  accordingly  undertake  to  give  an  explanation,  merely  pre- 
mising that,  although  considerable  difficulty  still  attaches  to  the  pro- 
nunciation of  proper  names,  and  although  the  meaning  of  particular 
parts  is  still  unknown  to  me,  I  hold  the  accurate  ascertainment  of 
the  general  purport  of  the  legend  to  be  no  more  subject  to  contro- 
versy than  my  decipherment  of  the  Persian  inscriptions  of  Behis- 
tim." — Jour,  of  the  Roy.  Asiatic  Soc,  vol.  xii,  p.  431.  ^ 

The  inscription  on  the  obelisk  commences  with  an  invocation  to 
the  gods  to  protect  the  empire.  This  occupies  fourteen  lines  of 
writing.  The  whole  cannot  be  read ;  but  among  other  phrases  are 
the  following :  "  The  god  Assarac,  the  great  lord,  king  of  all  the 
great  gods;  Ani,  the  king;  Nit,  the  powerful,  and  Artenk,  the 
supreme  god  of  the  provinces ;  Beltis,  the  protector,  mother  of  the 
gods; — Shemir,"  (perhaps  the  Greek  Semiramis,)  "who  presides 
over  the  heavens  and  the  earth ; — Bar,  Artenk,  Lama,  and  Horus ; — 
Tal  and  Let,  the  attendants  of  Beltis,  mother  of  the  gods."  The 
favour  of  all  these  deities,  with  Assarac,  the  supreme  god  of  heaven, 
at  their  head,  is  invoked  for  the  protection  of  Assyria.  Divanu- 
bara then  goes  on  to  give  his  titles  and  genealogy.  He  calls  him- 
self "  king  of  the  nations  who  worship  Husi,"  (another  name  for  the 
god  Shemir,)  "and  Assarac;  king  of  Mesopotamia;  son  of  Sar- 
danapalus, the  servant  of  Husi,  the  protector,  who  first  introduced 
the  worship  of  the  gods  among  the  many-peopled  nations  of  Per- 
sepolis." 

Divanubara  then  says,  "At  the  commencement  of  my  reign,  after 
that  I  was  established  on  the  throne,  I  assembled  the  chiefs  of  my 
people,  and  came  down  into  the  plains  of  Esmes,  where  I  took  the 
city  of  Harida,  the  chief  city  belonging  to  Nakhami. 

"  In  the  first  year  of  my  reign,  1  crossed  the  Upper  Euphrates, 
and  ascended  to  the  tribes  who  worshipped  the  god  Husi.    My  ser- 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  165 

yants  erected  altars  *'  (or  tablets)  "  in  that  land  to  my  gods.  Then  I 
went  on  to  the  land  of  Ehamana,  where  I  founded  psJaces,  cities,  and 
temples.  I  went  on  to  the  land  of  M&lac ;  and  there  I  established 
the  worship"  (or  laws)  "of  my  kingdom. 

"  In  the  second  year,  I  went  to  the  city  of  Tel-Barasba,  and  ocoa- 
pied  the  cities  of  Ahuni,  son  of  Hateni.  I  shat  him  up  in  his  city. 
I  then  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  occupied  the  cities  of  Dabagn 
and  Abarta^  belonging  to  the  Sheta,  together  with  the  cities  depen- 
dent on  them. 

*'In  the  third  year,  Ahuni,  son  of  Hateni,  rebelled  against  me, 
and,  having  become  independent,  established  his  seat  of  government 
in  the  city  of  Tel-Barasba.  The  country  beyond  the  Euphrates  he 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  god  Assarac  the  Excellent,  while 
he  committed  to  the  god  Rimmon  the  country  between  the  Euphrates 
and  the  Arteri,  with  its  city  of  Bother,  which  was  held  by  the  Sheta. 
Then  I  descended  into  the  plain  of  Elets.  The  countries  of  Shakni, 
Dayini,  Enim,  Arcaskdn,  the  capital  of  Arama,  King  of  Ararat,  La- 
ban  and  Httbiska,  I  committed  to  the  charge  of  Detarasar.  Then  I 
went  out  from  the  city  of  Nineveh,  and,  crossing  the  Euphrates,  I 
attacked  and  defeated  Ahuni,  the  son  of  Hateni,  in  the  city  of  Sitrat, 
which  was  situated  upon  the  Euphrates,  and  which  Ahuni  had  made 
one  of  his  capitals.  The  rest  of  the  country  1  brought  under  sub- 
jection; and  Ahuni,  the  son  of  Hateni,  with  his  gods  and  his  chief 
priests,  his  horses,  his  sons  and  his  daughters,  and  all  his  men  of 
war,  I  brought  away  to  my  country  of  Assyria.  Afterward  I  passed 
through  the  country  of  Shelar,"  (or  Kelar,)  **  and  came  to  the  dis- 
trict of  Zobah.  I  reached  the  cities  belonging  to  Nikti,  and  took 
the  city  of  Gedi,  where  Nikti  dwelt."  From  the  confusion  evident 
on  this  part  of  the  obelisk  sculpture,  and  the  parallel  bull  inscrip- 
tion, it  seems  probable  that  what  is  given  above  includes  the  third 
and  fourth  years. 

We  therefore  pass  on :  "In  the  fifth  year,  I  went  up  to  the  country 
of  Abyari.  I  took  eleven  great  cities ;  I  besieged  Akitta  of  Eni  in 
his  city,  and  received  his  tribute. 

"  In  the  sixth  year,  I  went  out  from  the  city  of  Nineveh,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  country  situated  on  the  River  Belek.  The  ruler  of  the 
country  having  resisted  my  authority,  I  displaced  him,  and  appointed 
Tsimba  to  be  lord  of  the  district;  and  I  there  established  the  As- 
syrian sway.  I  went  out  from  the  land  on  the  River  Belek,  and 
came  to  the  cities  of  Tel-Atak  and  Habaremya.  Then  I  crossed 
the  Upper  Euphrates,  and  received  tribute  from  the  kings  of  Sheta. 
Afterward  I  went  out  from  the  land  of  Sheta^  and  came  to  the  city 
of  Hmen.    In  the  city  of  Umen  I  raised  altars  to  the  great  gods. 


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156  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

From  the  city  of  Umeu  I  went  out,  and  came  to  the  city  of  Barbara. 
Then  Hem-ithra  of  the  comitry  of  Atesh,  and  Arhulena  of  Hamath, 
and  the  kings  of  Sheta,  and  the  tribes  which  were  in  alliance  with 
them,  arose ;  setting  their  forces  in  battle  array,  they  came  against 
me.  By  the  grace  of  Assacac,  the  great  and  powerfiid  god,  I  fought 
with  them,  and  defeated  them ;  twenty  thousand  five  hundred  of  their 
men  I  slew  in  battle,  or  carried  into  slavery.  Their  leaders,  their 
captains,  and  their  men  of  war  I  put  in  chains. 

"In  the  seventh  year,  I  proceeded  to  the  country  belonging  to 
Khabni  of  Tel-ati,  which  was  his  chief  place;  and  the  towns  which 
were  dependent  on  it  I  captured  and  gave  up  to  pillage.  I  went  out 
firom  the  city  of  Tel-ati,  and  came  to  the  land  watered  by  the  head- 
streams  which  form  the  Tigris.  The  priests  of  Assarac  in  that  land 
raised  altars  to  the  immortal  gods.  I  appointed  priests  to  reside  in 
the  land,  to  pay  adoration  to  Assarac  the  great  and  powerful  god, 
and  to  preside  over  the  national  worship.  The  cities  of  this  region 
which  did  not  acknowledge  the  god  Assarac,  I  brought  under  sub- 
jection; and  I  here  received  the  tribute  of  the  country  of  Nahiri. 

"In  the  eighth  year,  against  Sut-Baba»  King  of  Taha-Dunis, 
appeared  Sut-Belherat  and  his  followers.  The  latter  led  his  forces 
against  Sut-Baba»  and  took  from  him  the  cities  of  the  land  of  Beth- 
Takara. 

"  In  the  ninth  year,  a  second  time  I  went  to  Armenia,~and  took 
the  city  of  Lunanta.  By  the  assistance  of  Assarac  and  Sut,  I  ob- 
tained possession  of  the  person  of  Sut-Belherat.  In  the  city  of 
Umen  I  put  him  in  chains.  Afterward  Sut-Belherat,  together  with 
his  chief  followers,  I  condemned  to  slavery.  Then  I  went  down  to 
Shinar;  and  in  the  cities  of  Shinar,  of  Borsippa,  and  of  Ketika^  1 
erected  altars,  and  founded  temples  to  the  great  gods.  Then  I  went 
down  to  the  land  of  the  Ghaldees,  and  I  occupied  their  cities,  and  I 
marched  on  as  far  even  as  the  tribes  who  dwelt  upon  the  sea-coast. 
Afterward,  in  the  city  of  Shinar,  I  received  the  tribute  of  the  kings 
of  the  Ghaldees,  Hateni,  the  son  of  Dakri,  and  Baga-Sut,  the  son 
of  Aukni, — ^gold,  silver,  gems,  and  pearls. 

"  In  the  tenth  year,  for  the  eighth  time  I  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and 
took  the  cities  belonging  to  Ara-lura^  of  the  town  of  ShaJumas;  and 
I  proceeded  to  the  country  belongiii^  to  Arama"  (who  was  king  of 
Ararat.)  "I  took  the  city  Amia»  which  was  the  capital  of  the 
country;  and  I  gave  up  to  pillage  one  hundred  of  the  dependent 
towns.    I  slew  the  wicked,  and  I  carried  off  the  treasures. 

"At  this  time  Hem-ithra,  King  of  Atesh,  Arhulena,  King  of 
Hamath,  and  the  twelve  kings  of  the  tribes  who  were  in  alli9nce 
with  them,  came  forth,  arraying  their  forces  against  me.    They  met 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  157 

me,  and  we  fought  a  batile,  in  which  I  defeated  them,  making  pris- 
oners of  their  leaders,  and  their  captains,  and  their  men  of  war,  and 
pnttmg  them  in  chains. 

"In  the  eleventh  year,  I  went  out  from  the  city  of  Nineveh,  and 
for  the  ninth  time  crossed  the  Euphrates.  I  took  the  eighty-seven 
cities  belonging  to  Ara-lura,  and  one  hundred  cities  belonging  to 
Arama;  and  I  gave  them  up  to  pillage.  I  settled  the  country  of 
Ehamana;  and,  passing  by  tiie  country  of  Yen,  I  went  down  to  the 
cities  of  Hamath,  and  took  the  city  of  Esdimak,  and  eighty-nine  of 
the  dependent  towns,  slaying  the  wicked  ones,  and  carrying  off  the 
treasures.  Again,  Hem-ithra,  King  of  Atesh,  Aiindena,  King  of 
Hamath,  and  the  twelve  kings  of  the  tribes,"  (or  *'  the  twelve  kings 
of  Sheta,")  "  who  were  in  alliance  with  them,  came  forth,  levying 
war  upon  me.  They  arrayed  their  forces  against  me.  I  fought 
with  them  and  defeated  them,  slaying  ten  thousand  of  their  men,  and 
carrying  into  slavery  their  captains,  and  leaders,  and  men  of  war. 
Afterward  I  went  up  to  ihe  city  of  Habbarie,  one  of  the  chief  cities 
belonging  to  Arama"  (of  Ararat) ;  *'and  there  I  received  the  tribute 
of  Berbaranda,  the  king  of  Shetina, — gold,  silver,  horses,  sheep, 
oxen,  &c.  I  then  went  up  to  the  country  of  Kham&na,  where  I 
founded  palaces  and  cities. 

"  In  the  twelfth  year,  I  marched  forth  from  Nineveh,  and  for  the 
tenth  time  I  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  went  up  to  the  city  of 
Sevenahuben.  I  slew  the  wicked,  and  carried  off  the  treasures  from 
thence  to  my  own  country. 

"  In  the  thirteenth  year,  I  descended  to  the  plains  dependent  on 
the  city  of  Assar-Animet.  I  went  to  the  district  of  Tdta.  I  took 
the  forts  of  the  country  of  Tata,  slaying  the  evil-disposed,  and  car- 
rying off  all  the  wealth  of  the  countiy. 

"  In  the  fourteenth  year,  I  raised  the  country,  and  assembled  a 
great  army :  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  warriors  I  crossed 
the  Euphrates.  Then  it  came  to  pass  that  Hem-ithra,  King  of  Atesh, 
and  Arhulena,  King  of  Hamath,  and  the  twelve  kings  of  the  tribes  of 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Country,  collected  their  forces  together,  and 
came  before  me,  offlering  battle.  I  engaged  with  them,  and  defeated 
them;  their  leaders,  and  captains,  and  men  of  war  I  cast  into  chains. 

"  In  the  fifteenth  year,  I  went  to  the  country  of  the  Nahiri,  and 
established  my  authority  throughout  the  country  about  the  head- 
streams  which  form  the  Tigris. 

"  Afterward  I  descended  to  the  plain  of  Lanbuna,  and  devastated 
the  cities  of  Arama,  King  of  Ararat,  and  all  the  country  about  the 
head- water  of  the  Euphrates ;  and  I  abode  in  the  country  about  the 
rivers  which  form  the  Euphrates ;  and  there  I  set  up  altars  to  the 


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J 


158  THE  OENTILB  NATIONS. 

supreme  gods,  and  left  priests  in  the  land  to  superintend  the  worship. 
Hasd,  King  of  Dayini,  then  paid  me  his  homage,  and  brought  in  his 
tribute  of  horses;  and  I  established  the  authority  of  my  empire 
throughout  the  land  dependent  on  his  city. 

"  In  the  sixteenth  year,  I  crossed  the  Zab,  and  went  against  the 
country  of  the  Arians.  Sut-Mesisek,  the  king  of  the  Arians,  I  put 
in  chains,  and  I  brought  his  wives,  and  his  warriors,  and  his  gods, 
captives  to  my  country  of  Assyria;  and  I  appointed  Tanvu,  the  son 
of  Khanab,  to  be  king  over  the  country  in  his  place. 

"  In  the  seventeenth  year,  I  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  went  up 
to  the  country  of  Kham&na»  where  I  founded  palaces  and  cities. 

"In  the  eighteenth  year,  for  the  sixteentii  time  I  crossed  the 
Euphrates.  Khazakan  of  Atesh  came  forth  to  fight :  one  thous- 
and one  hundred  and  twenty-one  of  his  captains,  and  four  hundred 
and  sixty  of  his  superior  chiefs,  with  the  troops  they  commanded, 
I  defeated  in  this  war."  This  campaign  is  not  only  thus  briefly 
noticed  on  the  obelisk,  but  was  also  commemorated  by  the  setting 
up  of  two  colossal  bulls,  which  were  found  in  the  centre  of  the 
mound  at  I^imrud.  On  these  is  an  inscription,  giving  a  more 
elaborate  account  of  this  war,  and  stating  the  numbers,  as  above,  of 
the  prisoners  taken,  together  with  thirteen  thousand  fitting  men  who 
were  sent  into  slavery. 

"  In  the  nineteenth  year,  for  the  eighteenth  time  I  crossed  the 
Euphrates.  1  went  up  to  Kham4na,  and  founded  more  psdaces  and 
temples. 

**  In  the  twentieth  year,  for  the  nineteenth  time  I  crossed  the 
Euphrates ;  I  went  to  the  country  of  the  Ber&hui.  I  took  the  cities, 
and  despoiled  them  of  their  treasures. 

"  In  the  twenty-first  year,  for  the  twentieth  time  I  crossed  the 
Euphrates,  and  again  went  up  to  the  country  of  Khazakan  of  Atesh. 
I  occupied  his  country ;  and,  while  there,  received  tribute  from  the 
countries  of  Tyre,  of  Sidon,  and  of  Gubal."  This  latter  name  is 
the  same  with  the  Greek  hvdkog.  The  form  occurs  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible  bDa.    See  Ezek.  zxvii,  9 ;  and  1  Kings  v,  18. 

*'  In  the  twenty-second  year,  for  the  twenty-first  time  I  crossed  the 
Euphrates,  and  marched  to  the  country  of  Tubal.  Then  I  received 
the  submission  of  the  twenty-four  kings  of  Tubal;  and  I  went  on 
to  the  country  of  Atta,  to  the  gold  country,  to  Belni  and  to  Ta- 
Esfereon. 

"In  the  twenty-ihi^  year,  I  again  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and 
occupied  the  city  of  Huidra,  the  strong-hold  of  EUal  of  Melada ;  and 
the  kings  of  Tubal  again  came  in  to  me,  and  I  received  their  tribute. 

"  In  tlie  twenty-fourth  year,  I  crossed  the  river  Zab ;  and,  crossing 


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THS  aBNTILB  NATIONS.  159 

away  from  the  land  of  Kharkhar,  went  up  to  the  country  of  the 
Arians.  Yanvu,  whom  I  had  made  king  of  the  ArianB,  had  thrown 
off  his  allegiance;  so  I  put  him  in  chains.  I  captured  flie  city  of 
Esaksha,  and  took  Beth-Telabon,  Beth-Everek,  and  Beth-Treida^  his 
principal  cities.  I  slew  the  eyil-disposed,  and  plundered  the  treas- 
ures, and  gave  the  cities  over  to  pillage.  I  then  went  out  from  the 
land  of  the  Arians,  and  received  the  tribute  of  twenty-seven  kings 
of  the  Persians.  Afterward,  I  removed  from  the  land  of  the  Persians, 
and  entered  the  territory  of  the  Medes,  going  to  Batsir  and  Kharkhar. 
I  occupied  the  several  cities  of  Kdkhidra,  of  Taiz&nem,  of  Irleban, 
of  Akhirablud,  and  the  towns  which  depended  on  them.  I  punished 
the  evil-disposed.  I  confiscated  the  treasures,  and  gave  the  cities 
over  to  pillage ;  and  I  established  the  authoriiy  of  my  empire  in  the 
city  of  Kharkhar.  Yanvu,  the  son  of  Khaban,  with  his  wives,  and 
his  gods,  and  his  sons  and  dau^ters,  his  servants,  and  all  his  prop- 
erty, I  carried  away  captive  into  my  country  of  Assyria. 

'*  In  the  twenty-fifth  year,  I  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  received 
the  tribute  of  the  kings  of  tike  Sheta.  I  passed  by  the  country  of 
Kham&na,  and  came  to  the  cities  of  AJkti  of  Berhui.  The  city  of 
Tarbura,  his  strong-hold,  I  took  by  assault.  I  slew  those  who  resisted, 
and  plundered  the  treasures ;  and  all  the  cities  of  the  country  I  gave 
over  to  pillage.  Afterward  in  the  ciiy  of  BarhunK  the  capital  city 
of  Aram,  son  of  Hagus,  I  dedicated  a  temple  to  the  god  Rimmon ; 
and  I  also  built  a  royal  palace  in  the  same  place. 

"  In  the  twenty-sixth  year,  for  the  seventh  time  I  passed  throu^ 
the  country  of  Kham&na.  I  went  on  to  the  cities  of  Akti  of  Ber- 
hui ;  ^d  I  inhabited  the  ciiy  of  Tanaken,  which  was  the  strong-hold 
of  Etlak.  There  I  performed  the  rites  which  belong  to  the  worship 
of  Assaiac,  the  supreme  god ;  and  I  received  as  tribute  from  the  coun- 
tiy,  gold  and  silver,  com  and  sheep  and  oxen.  Then  I  went  out  from 
the  city  of  Tanaken,  and  1  came  to  the  country  of  Leman.  The 
people  resisted  me,  but  I  subdued  the  country  by  force.  1  took  the 
cities,  and  slew  their  defenders  ;.>and  the  wealth  of  the  people,  with 
their  cattle  and  com  and  movables,  I  sent  as  booty  to  my  country 
of  Assyria.  I  gave  all  their  cities  over  to  pillage.  Then  I  went  on 
to  the  country  of  Methets,  where  the  people  paid  their  homage ;  and 
I  received  gold  and  silver  as  their  tribute.  I  appointed  Akharriya- 
don,  the  son  of  Akti,  to  be  king  over  them.  Afterward  I  went  up 
to  Kham&na^  where  I  founded  more  palaces  and  temples,  until  at 
length  I  returned  to  my  country  of  Assyria. 

"In  the  twenty-seventh  year,  I  assembled  the  captains  of  my 
army,  and  I  sent  Detarasar  of  Ittdna,  the  general  of  the  forces,  in 
command  of  my  warriors  to  Armenia;  he  proceeded  to  the  land  of 


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160  THB  GBNTILK  NATIONS. 

Kham&na,  and  in  the  plains  belonging  to  the  city  of  Ambaret  he 
crossed  the  river  Artseni.  Asiduri  of  Annenia^  hearing  of  the  in- 
vasion, collected  his  cohorts,  and  came  forth  against  my  troops, 
offering  them  battle.  My  forces  engaged  with  him,  and  defeated 
him ;  and  the  comitry  at  once  submitted  to  my  authority. 

**  In  the  twenty-eighth  year,  while  I  was  residing  in  the  city  of 
Calah,  a  revolt  took  place  on  Hie  part  of  the  tribes  of  the  Shetina. 
They  were  led  on  by  Sherila,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  on 
the  death  of  Labami,  the  former  king.  Then  I  ordered  the  general 
of  my  army,  Detarasar  of  Ittana,  to  march  with  my  cohorts  and  all 
my  troops  against  the  rebels.  Detarasar  accordingly  crossed  the 
Upper  Euphrates,  and,  marching  into  the  country,  established  him- 
self in  the  capital  city,  Kanal&.  Then  Sherila,  who  was  seated  on 
the  throne,  by  the  help  of  the  great  god  Assarac,  I  obtained  pos- 
session of  his  person,  and  his  officers,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes 
of  the  Shetina,  who  had  thrown  off  their  allegiance,  and  revolted 
against  me,  together  with  the  sons  of  Sherila,  and  the  men  who  ad- 
ministered afiairs ;  and  imprisoned  or  punished  all  of  them ;  and  I 
appointed  Ar-hasit,  of  Suzakisba,  to  be  king  over  the  entire  land. 
I  exacted  a  tribute  also  from  tho  land,  consisting  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  precious  stones,  and  ebony,  6cc. ;  and  I  established  the  national 
worship  throughout  the  land,  making  a  great  sacrifice  in  the  capital 
of  KanaM,  in  the  temple  which  had  been  there  raised  to  the  gods. 

"  In  the  twenty-ninth  year,  I  assembled  my  warriors  and  captains, 
and  I  ascended  with  them  to  the  country  of  the  Lek.  I  accepted 
the  homage  of  the  cities  of  the  land,  and  I  went  on  to  Shen&ba. 

"In  the  thirtieth  year,  while  I  was  residing  in  the  city  of  Galah, 
I  summoned  Detarasar,  the  general  of  my  army;  and  I  sent  him 
forth  to  war  in  command  of  my  cohorts  and  forces.  He  crossed  the 
river  Zab,  and  first  came  to  the  cities  of  Hubiska;  he  received  the 
tribute  of  Daten  of  Hubiska;  and  he  went  out  from  thence,  and 
came  to  the  country  belonging  to  Mekadal  of  Melakari.  He  then 
went  on  to  the  country  of  Haelka  of  Minni.  Haelka  of  Minni  had 
thrown  off  his  allegiance,  and  declared  himself  independent,  estab- 
lishing his  seat  of  government  in  the  oily  of  Tsiharta.  My  general, 
therefore,  put  him  in  chains,  and  carried  off  his  flocks  and  herds  and 
all  his  property,  and  gave  his  cities  over  to  pillage.  Passing  out 
from  the  country  of  Minni,  he  next  came  to  the  territory  of  Selshan 
of  Kharta.  He  took  possession  of  the  city  of  Maharsar,  the  capital 
of  the  country,  and  of  all  the  towns  which  depended  on  it ;  and  Sel- 
shan and  his  sons  he  made  prisoners,  and  sent  to  his  country,  de- 
spatching to  me  their  tribute  of  horses,  male  and  female.  He  then 
went  into  the  country  Sardera,  and  received  the  tribute  of  Ataheri 


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THE  QSNTILB  NATIONS.  161 

of  Sardera.  He  ftft^rward  marehed  to  Persia,  and  obtained  the 
tribate  of  the  kings  of  the  Persians ;  and  he  captured  many  more 
chies  between  Persia  and  Assyria^  aad  he  brought  all  their  riehes 
and  treasures  with  him  to  Assyria. 

"  In  the  thirty-first  year,  a  seoond  time,  while  I  abode  in  the  city 
of  Calah,  occupied  in  the  worship  of  the  gods  Assarac,  Hem,  and 
Nebo,  1  summoned  the  general  of  my  army,  Detarasar  of  Ittana. 
aad  I  sent  him  forth  to  war  with  my  troops  and  cohorts.  He  went 
out  accordingly,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  territories  of  Daten  of  Hu* 
hiska,  and  received  his  tribute;  then  he  proceeded  to  Anseri,  the 
capital  city  of  the  country  of  Basatsera;  and  he  occupied  the  city 
of  Anseri,  and  the  thirty-six  other  towns  of  the  country  of  Basat- 
aera.  He  continued  his  march  to  the  land  of  Armenia;  and  he 
gave  oyer  to  pillage  fifty  cities  belonging  to  that  territory.  He 
afterward  proceeded  to  Ladsdn,  and  received  the  tribute  of  Hubu 
of  Lads&n,  and  of  the  districts  of  Minni,  of  Bariana,  of  ELharran, 
of  Shammi,  of  Audi, — sheep,  oxen,  and  horses,  male  and  female. 
And  he  afterward  penetrated  as  fiur  as  the  land  of  the  Persians^ 
taking  possessicm  of  the  cities  of  Baiset,  Shel-Kham&na,  and  Akeri* 
Khamitna,  all  of  them  places  of  strength,  and  of  the  twenty- three 
towns  which  depended  on  them.  He  slew  those  who  resisted,  and 
he  carried  off  the  wealth  of  the  cities.  And  he  afterward  moved  to 
the  country  of  the  Arians,  where,  by  the  help  of  the  gods  Assarac 
and  Sut,  he  captured  their  cities,  and  Continued  his  march  to  the 
country  of  the  Eherets,  taking  and  despoiling  two  hundred  and  fifty 
towns,  until  at  laigth  he  descended  into  the  plains  of  Estnes,  above 
llie  country  of  Umen." 

This  monarch  appears  to  have  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Shxmas 
Adab,  who  was  followed  by  Adbammslboh  H.  As  these  were  the 
last  sovereigns  of  the  old  imperial  dynasty,  the  only  mode  of 
reeonciEng  the  teaching  of  the  inscriptions  with  the  list  of  Ctesias 
is,  to  identify  Sardanapalus  with  Ophratieus,  Divanubara  with  Ephe- 
eheres,  Shemas  Adar  with  ^raganes,  and  Adrammelech  II.  with 
Thonos  Goncoleros.  "Sot  does  this  arrangement  involve  any  dis- 
crepancy. The  second  of  these  sovereigns,  according  to  the  list, 
reigned  the  unusual  pmod  of  fifty-two  years;  while  the  inscrip- 
tions record  a  aeries  of  annual  campaigns  extending  to  his  thirty- 
eighth  year. 

No  doubt  can  be  entertained  as  to  the  fiict,  that  with  Adramme- 
lech II.,  or  Th<»08  Goncoleros,  the  old  imperial  dynasty  termi- 
nated, and  that  Aebaoss  the  Mode  next  succeeded  to  the  throne. 
This  is  confirmed  alike  by  the  testimony  of  all  ancient  history,  and 
is  fully  wanranted  by  the  inscriptions.    The  manner  in  which  this 

11 


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162  THE  GSNTILB  NATIONS. 

was  done  is,  however,  one  of  the  most  disputed  questions  in  ancient 
history.  (See  Appendix,  notes  18, 19.)  We  have  by  careful  inquiry 
into  the  subject  been  convinced,  that  Arbaces,  being  a  Median 
officer,  appointed  in  regular  course  with  others  to  command  the 
garrison  of  l^ineveh,  took  advantage  of  his  period  of  office  to  sup- 
plant his  licentious  and  effeminate  master,  and  seat  himself  oa  his 
throne. 

No  inscriptions  have  been  found  recording  the  actions  of  this  kin^ 
although  Colonel  Rawlinson  has  discovered  from  damaged  slabs  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  of  a  sovereign  who  reigned  between  Adram- 
melech  II.  and  Pul.  If  our  arrangem^t  of  these  reigns  is  correct, 
this  will  be  the  sovereign  who  itiled  Assyria,  when  Jonah  went  there 
on  his  mission  from  Jehovah.  It  is  not  improbable  that  future  re- 
searches into  the  ancient  mounds  of  that  country  may  yet  produce 
some  native  evidence  of  the  preaching  of  the  Hebrew  prophet  and 
its  great  results.  It  is,  however,  clear,  that  this  period  is  as  suita- 
ble to  the  circumstances  detailed  in  the  Scriptural  account  as  any 
that  can  be  found.  If  we  had  heard  that  one  of  Ihe  last  rulers  of 
the  old  imperial  line  had  then  reigned,  we  might  have  been  struck 
with  the  improbability  that  a  person  so  steeped  in  sensuality  and 
sloth,  as  by  universal  consent  these  princes  are  said  to  have  been, 
should  promptly  submit  to  the.  divine  message,  and  unite  with  his 
people  in  self-denial,  penitence,  and  prayer.  But  fi^m  a  man  who 
had  dared  to  aspire  to  a  throne  to  which  he  was  not  entitled,  who 
had  succeeded  in  reaching  that  dangerous  elevation,  and  who  was 
probably  open  to  every  sound  of  alarm  in  his  own  mind,  and  anx- 
ious to  avail  himself  of  any  opportunity  of  blending  his  own  with 
the  general  sympathies  of  his  people, — ^from  such  a  monarch  the 
course  pursued  by  the  king  of  Nineveh,  as  recorded  by  the  prophet^ 
was  just  what  might  be  expected. 

Yet  the  subject  of  this  narrative  must  always  be  regarded  as  a 
most  extraordinaiy  event.  What  could  have  induced  a  whole  peo- 
ple to  such  instant  and  universal  humiliation  ?  The  simple  answer 
is  alliirded  by  the  Scripture :  "  The  people  of  Nineveh  believed 
God,''  Jonah  iii,  5.  It  is,  however,  probable  thAt  the  men  of  Nine-^ 
veh  were  familiar  with  the  wonderfrd  interpositions  of  Jehovah  on 
behalf  of  Israel.  Having  for  centuries  had  intercourse  with  Egypt, 
this  degree  of  religious  knowledge  would  be  inevitable;  and  hence 
wc  find  that  it  was  not  until  the  Israelites  had  fallen  into  idolatry, 
and  had  assimilated  their  worship  to  that  of  the  surrounding  nations, 
that  the  Assyrians  dared  to  assail  them.  Compare  2  Kings  xviii,  22, 
with  verses  33-35. 

Pul  succeeded  Arbaces  in  the  government  of  Assyria.    The 


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THE  6ENXILB  NATIONS.  16S 

name  of  this  monarch  has  not  yet  been  found  on  the  inscriptions ; 
but  fragments  have  been  identified  as  referring  to  his  reign.  Raw- 
linson  believes  Pal  to  have  been  connected  with  the  old  Assyrian 
line  of  kings;  and  Mr.  Sharpe  aflBrms,  (Bonomi's  Nineveh  and  its 
Palaces,  p.  69,)  that^  *'  after  the  death  of  Arbaces  the  Mede,  the  As- 
syrians were  able  to  make  themselves  again  independent."  It  seems 
probable  that  after  his  decease  the  throne  of  Kineveh  was  secured 
by  a  native  Assyrian,  inasmuch  as  all  the  sculptures  referring  to 
this  and  the  following  reign  indicate  a  return  to  the  usages  of  the 
former  dynasty. 

Under  this  sovereign  we  meet  with  the  first  confiict  between  the 
Hebrews  and  the  Assyrians,  which,  strangely  enough,  was  begun  by 
the  former  people.  Menahem,  having  slain  Shallum,  King  of  Israel, 
and  seated  himself  on  his  throne,  was  so  fpol-hardy  as  to  lead  an 
army  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  where  he  stormed  Tiphsah,  a 
city  belonging  to  Assyria,  and  destroyed  its  inhabitants  with  the 
most  atrocious  barbarity.  2  Kings  zv,  16. 

This  assault  was  not  long  left  unavenged.  In  the  following  year 
Pul  marched  an  army  into  Samaria»  of  such  magnitude  and  power 
that  the  affirighted  king  did  not  dare  to  meet  it ;  but  purchased  a  peace 
by  the  payment  of  ten  thousand  talents  of  silver.  This  circum- 
stance is  mentioned  in  an  inscription  found  on  a  fragment  of  a  slab 
in  the  south- west  palace  of  Nineveh.  Another  fragment  of  Pul's 
annals,  which  is  still  lying  in  a  passage  of  the  same  palace,  seems  to 
have  contained  a  particular  account  of  the  expedition  of  this  Assyrian 
king  against  Samaria;  but  the  writing  is  so  mutilated  that  little  can 
be  made  out,  except  the  name  of  the  city. 

TiOLATH-PiLBSBB  was  the  next  king  of  Assyria.  He  also  was 
brought  into  contact  with  the  Hebrews  by  their  own  act.  We  have 
scarcely,  in  the  whole  history  of  that  nation,  a  more  striking  instance 
of  the  evil  consequences  of  their  impiety  and  unbelief.  Israel,  und^r 
the  reign  of  Pek^,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Bessin,  King  of  Syri% 
against  Judah.  The  main  object  of  this  confederacy  was  the  dethronOr 
meat  of  the  house  of  David,  and  the  establishment  of  a  son  of  Tabeal 
as  sovereign  of  Judah.  This  produced  a  profound  sensation  at  Jeru- 
salem, when  God  sent  Isuah  the  prophet  to  King  Ahaz,  assuring  him 
that  this  conspiracy  should  fail,  and  inviting  him  to  ask  any  sign  for 
the  truth  of  this  promise.  The  impious  king  declined  to  ask,  on  the 
plea  that  he  would  "  not  tempt  God ;"  upon  which  the  Lord  gave,  by 
the  prophet,  the  glorious  prophecy  of  the  birth  of  Immanuel.  Isa.  vii. 

But  although  Ahaz  would  not  ask  a  sign  of  God,  he  was  so  alarmed 
at  tiie  union  of  these<two  powers  against  him,  that  '*  he  took  the  silver 
aod  gold  that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  trea- 


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164  THE  OBNTILE  NATIONS. 

sores  of  the  king's  house,  and  sent  it  for  a  present  to  the  king  of 
Assyria,"  with  this  servile  message  to  Tiglath-Pileser:  ''I  am  thy 
servant  and  thy  son :  oome  up  and  save  me  out  of  the  hand  of  H^ 
king  of  Syria,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Israel,  whidi  rise 
up  against  me."  2  Kings  xvi.  This  course  precisely  falling  in  wiih 
the  policy  of  flie  king  of  Assyria^  he  complied  with  the  request,  and 
proceeded  to  Syria,  which  he  subdued,  killing  Rezin  the  king  in  the 
war,  and  taking  Damascus.  He  then  entered  the  kingdom  of  Israel, 
which  he  idso  subjected  to  his  will ;  and,  leaving  the  humbled  king 
only  the  province  of  Samaria^  he  took  all  the  cities  on  ihe  east  bank 
of  the  Jordan,  and  Galilee  in  the  nortii,  and  carried  the  inhabitants 
away  as  captives  to  the  extreme  portion  of  his  own  kingdom  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Kir.  Ahaz  went  in  person  to  Damascus,  to  thank 
the  Assyrian  for  his  aid.  Thus  began  the  long-threatened  deporta- 
tion of  the  idolatrous  Hebrews  into  the  land  of  their  conquerors. 

At  the  close  of  this  reign  we  have  again  the  light  of  recovered  and 
translated  inscriptions,  to  guide  us  in  our  way.  In  the  next  kii^ 
we  meet  with  the  builder  of  Khorsabad,  and  have  the  aid  of  the 
inscriptions  found  in  this  city,  and  also  in  that  of  Koyunjik,  to  assist 
us  in  this  and  the  following  reigns. 

These  literary  treasures,  so  strangely  brought  to  light,  have  been 
arranged  by  Colonel  Rawlinson  in  four  classes : — 

"  1.  First,  the  standard  inscriptions,  which  contains  the  names  and 
titles  of  the  king,  and  a  list  of  the  principal  tribes  and  nations  sub- 
ject to  Assyria;  with  occasional  notices  of  the  building  of  the  city 
of  Khorsabad  '  near  to  Nineveh,  after  tiie  manner  of  Egypt,'  together 
with  a  prayer  to  the  gods  for  its  protection. 

"  2.  The  second  class  consists  of  the  long  inscriptions  on  the  votive 
bulls,  which,  without  being  strictly  historical,  go  into  much  greater 
detail  regarding  the  constitution  of  the  empire,  and  name  the  various 
kings  and  chieftains  subdued  by  the  Assyrian  monarch.  There  are 
also  in  those  inscriptions  very  elaborate  notices  of  the  Assyrian 
Pantheon. 

"  3.  The  third  or  historical  class  consists  of  the  sMw  surrounding 
the  sculptured  halls,  interposing  between  the  bas-reliefs  which  repre- 
sent the  battles  and  sieges  recorded  in  the  inscriptions.  Some  of 
these  records  are  in  the  form  of  regular  yearly  annals,  while  in  others 
the  entire  history  of  the  monarch's  reign  is  given  as  a  contifnuons 
narrative,  without  being  interrupted  by  divisions  of  time.  In  Bome 
of  these  insciptions  the  geographical  details  are  quite  bewildering. 

"  4.  The  inscriptions  of  the  fourth  class  are  tiiose  on  tiie  back  of 
the  slabs,  which  were  never  intended  to  be  seen.  They  are  strictly 
religious,  containing  no  geographical  notices  whatever,  but  mere^ 


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THE  OENTILE  NATI0K8.  U& 

notiemg  the  bmlding  of  Ehorsabad  by  the  king,  and  invoking  the 
gods  to  extend  protection  to  that  city." — Jour,  of  the  Roy,  Asiatic 
Soc.,  ToL  xii,  p.  458. 

It  will  only  be  necessary  here  to  present  the  reader  with  a  tolerably 
copioos  abstract  of  the  historical  inscriptions  relating  to  this  period. 
The  name  of  the  founder  of  E^orsabad,  as  given  in  a  phonetic  form 
in  the  inscriptions,  is  Abko-tsin.  He  calls  himself  ''  King  of  As- 
syria and  Babylonia^"  and  of  two  provinces  of  wtudi  the  titles  are 
usually  given  as  Saberi  and  Hekti,  and  which  may  be  understood  to 
denote  that  portion  of  Upper  Asia  immediately  to  the  eastward  of  the 
valley  of  the  Tigris.  His  three  special  divinities,  who  are  named  in 
every  inscription  immediately  after  the  proclamation  of  his  own  titles, 
are  Assarac^  Nebu,  and  Sut  Then  follows  a  catalogue  of  geographi- 
cal names,  which  appears  intended  to  mark  out  the  limits  of  the  Assy- 
rian empire,  and  not  to  give  a  list  of  the  merely  tributary  provinces. 

It  commences  with  the  passage,  "  From  Yetnan,  a  land  sacred  to 
the  god  Husi,  as  far  as  Misr  and  Misek,''  (or  Lower  and  Upper 
Egypt,)  "  Martha  or  Acarri,"  (Acre, — which  was  the  sea-coast  of 
Phenicia^)  "and  the  land  of  Sheta."  The  countries  of  Media, 
Yakanay  (perhaps  Hyrcania,)  Ellubi,  Basi,  and  Susiana,  are  after- 
ward mentioned  in  succession;  and  the  list  closes  with  a  multitude 
of  names  of  tribes  and  cities  which  belong  to  Susiana,  Elymais,  and 
Lower  Ohaldea^  and  the  positions  of  which  are  illustrated  by  their 
contiguity  to  the  great  rivers  Tigris,  Eulaeus,  and  Pasitigris.  After 
these  geographical  notices,  which  are  important  as  indicating  the 
extent  of  the  empire  at  the  time,  follow  the  annals,  which  extend 
from  the  commencement  of  the  king's  reign  to  his  fifteenth  year. 

Before  entering  on  the  details  of  the  next  reign,  it  must  be 
observed  that  we  have  here  another  change  of  dynasty, — a  revolu- 
tion. SABeiNA,  the  Sargon  of  Isaiah,  and  the  Shalmaneser  of  the 
Book  oi  Kings,  who  succeeded  Tiglath-Pileser,  was  not  his  son,  nor 
in  any  way  connected  by  relationship  with  the  royal  line,  but  a  sub* 
ordinate  officer  in  the  palace.  "  Polyhistor,  in  Agathius,  calls  him 
'  the  head  gardener ;'  and  it  is  very  possible  that  this  may  have  been 
his  real  condition." — RawlinsorCs  Outlines  of  Assyrian  History, 
p.  29.  But,  being  a  man  of  great  daring,  energy  and  capacity,  he 
succeeded  in  grasping  the  reins  of  government,  immediately  after 
they  had  fallen  from  the  hands  of  Tiglath-Pileser. 

Having  established  himself  on  the  throne,  Sargina  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  army,  and  proceeded  to  consolidate  the  power  of 
the  empire  by  enforcing  the  entire  subjection  of  those  provinces 
which  had  evinced  symptoms  of  insubordination,  and  to  extend  be* 
yond  itf»ionner  limits  tiie  authority  of  Assyria. 


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166  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

The  first  campaign  noticed  on  the  sculptures  was  against  Helubi- 
nerus,  King  of  Susiana,  who  was  defeated ;  and  twenty-seven  thousand 
eight  hundred  of  his  men,  two  hundred  of  his  captains,  and  fifty  of 
his  superior  officers,  were  carried  into  captivity. 

The  second  campaign  was  against  certain  tributaries  of  the  king 
of  Egypt ;  and  as  in  this  passage  (which  is  repeated  several  times 
in  the  hsdis)  occurs  the  only  mention  of  the  Egyptian  monarch's 
name,  Colonel  Rawlinson  gives  the  clause  as  literally  as  possible : 
"  Ehanan,  King  of  the  city  of  Khazita,  and  Shelki,  of  the  tribe  of 
Khalban,  belonging  to  the  country  of  Misr,"  (or  Egrpt,)  "  prepared 
their  forces  for  battle  in  the  city  of  Babek.  They  came  against  me; 
and  I  fought  with  them,  and  defeated  them."  This  passage  the 
learned  translator  applies  to  the  frontier- towns  of  Egypt,  (see  Ap- 
pendix, note  20,)  and  adds  from  the  inscriptions,  "  1  received  the 
tribute  of  Biarku,"  or  Biarhu,  "King  of  Misr, — gold,  asbatera," 
(perhaps  tin,)  "horses  and  camels,''  together  with  certain  unknown 
articles,  coming  from  Harida  and  Arbaka. 

The  next  campaign  presents  some  very  interesting  allusions.  It 
was  carried  on  against  Kehek,  the  King  of  Shenakti,  a  city  which 
is  usually  mentioned  in  connexion  with  Ashdod,  and  which  must 
therefore  be  situated  on  the  sea-coast  of  Palestine,  being  perhaps 
the  same  place  as  Askalon.  Here  occurs  in  the  record  a  notice  of 
peculiar  interest.  After  the  city  of  Shenakti  was  taken  firom  Kehek, 
it  was  presented  by  the  Assyrian  king  to  Methati,  King  of  Atheni. 
Colonel  Rawlinson  believes  this  to  refer  to  Melanthus  of  Athens; 
and  is  supported  in  this  judgment  by  the  fact,  that  in  the  general 
inscriptions,  which  give  a  synopsis  of  the  historical  data,  the  city 
of  Shenakti  is  sidd  to  be  held  by  the  Yavana,  That  this  term  refers 
to  the  lonians  seems  certain.  It  is,  therefore,  likely  that  we  have 
here  an  account  of  the  presentation  of  a  city  by  the  king  of  Assyria 
to  the  Athenians,  for  naval  assistance  rendered  by  them  during  his 
wars.  Colonel  Rawlinson  is  disposed  to  think  that  many  of  the  pre- 
dictions and  notices  found  in  Isaiah  (chap,  xix  and  xx)  were  verified 
in  this  campaign. 

The  fourth  campaign  was  against  Amris,  King  of  Tubal,  who 
seems  to  have  been  supported  by  Arab,  King  of  Ararat,  and  by  Meta^ 
King  of  Misek,  and  also  by  the  tribe  of  the  Amorites,  here  called 
Amari 

These  campaigns  are  remarkable  for  their  identity  of  character, 
and  are  almost  all  described  in  the  same  terms.  The  king  of  Assyria 
defeats  the  enemy  in  the  field,  subjugates  the  country,  sacrifices  to 
the  gods,  and  then  generally  carries  the  people  into  captivity,  sup- 
plying their  places  by  colonists  drawn  from  other  parts  of  his  empire. 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIOVS.  167 

and  appointing  his  own  governors  or  prefeote  to  mleiheee  new  com- 
munities.  This  nniformity  is  clearly  attributable  to  the  circumstance, 
that  nothing  was  inscribed  which  could  prove  unacceptable  to  the 
royal  warrior. 

The  following  campaigns  relate  to  wars  successively  carried  on 
against  Hamath  and  its  dependencies, — ^Ararat  and  Miimi, — ^Khark- 
har  and  Media» — Syria» — and  Susiana,  Elymais,  and  Babylonia. 
In  this  list  we  find  no  notice  of  the  capture  of  Samaria.  Indeed, 
the  year  before  this  event  is  the  last  recorded  in  the  annals  which 
have  been  recovered.  But  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  conquest 
was  one  of  the  triumphs  of  that  reign.  In  a  former  campaign 
Sai^gina  had  subjected  the  king  of  Israel  to  tribute.  2  Kings  xvii,  3. 
But  finding  afterward  that  Hoshea  was  forming  an  alliance  with 
the  king  of  Egypt,  he  sent  an  army  to  invest  his  capital,  which 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Assyrians  after  a  siege  of  three  years, 
when  the  conquerer  "  took  Samaria,  and  carried  the  people  of  Israel 
away  into  Assyria,  and  placed  them  in  Halah  and  in  Habor,  by  the 
river  of  Gozan,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes."  2  Kings  xvii,  6. 
From  this  time  Israel  ceased  to  be  a  kingdom. 

Although  no  inscriptions  have  as  yet  been  discovered  which 
famish  an  account  of  these  events,  others  very  clearly  prove  that 
they  actually  took  place  in  this  reign.  It  seems  that  soon  after  the 
conquest  of  Syria  and  Israel,  Sargina  turned  his  arms  against 
Carchemish,  the  city  of  the  Hittites,  on  the  Euphrates ;  and  having 
spoiled  this  city,  and  brought  from  thence  a  great  amount  of  wealth 
into  the  royal  treasury,  he  set  up  a  tablet  in  the  palace  of  Sardana- 
pains  at  Galah,  in  celebration  of  the  event.  On  this  monument  he 
for  the  first  time  assumes  the  title  of  •'  the  Conqueror  of  the  remote 
Judea;"  so  glorious  in  the  estimation  of  the  princes  of  the  east  was 
the  subjugation  even  of  a  part  of  the  Hebrew  nation. 

Not  content  with  his  success  on  the  continent,  it  is  asserted  that 
Sargina  sailed  to  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  and  reduced  it  to  subjection. 
There  is  still  extant,  in  tde  Museum  at  Berlin,  a  statue  of  this  king, 
with  a  suitable  inscription,  which  was  found  in  that  island. 

But  Menander,  quoted  by  Josephus,  (Antiquities,  book  xi, 
chap,  xiv,  sect.  2,)  says  that  Sargina  failed  in  his  efforts  to  subdue 
Tyre,  although  his  army  was  employed  against  that  city  for  five 
years. 

Sargina  makes  no  motion  of  his  ancestors ;  but  upon  a  clay 
tablet,  of  the  date  of  Sennacherib,  the  name  of  Sargina's  father  is 
given  as  Nabosiphuni,  and  that  of  his  grandfather  as  Kilapel. 
This  sovereign  was  the  builder  of  Khorsabad,  from  whence  so  rich 
a  harvest  of  sculptured  treasures  has  been  procured,  and  which 


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168  IS£  QBNTILI  NATIOHS. 

stands  identified  with  the  lower  line  of  Assyrim  kingp.  This  city, 
named  in  the  common  idiom  of  the  country  after  its  founder,  retained 
among  the  inhabitants  the  title  of  Sarghan,  until  the  period  of  the 
Arab  conquest. 

It  appears  certain  that  Sbnnaghbrib  succeeded  his  father  Sar- 
gina»  or  Shalman,  on  the  throne  of  Assyria.  Respecting  him  the 
sacred  Scriptures  give  us  a  considerable  amount  of  information; 
but  the  monuments  have  as  yet  furnished  no  complete  copy  of  the 
annals  of  his  reign.  Yet  the  patient  and  unwearied  industiy  of 
those,  to  whose  researches  the  world  is  so  greatly  indebted  for  im- 
portant notices  on  this  interesting  subject,  has  brou^t  together  the 
materials  for  a  tolerable  account  of  the  early  part  of  Sennacherib's 
career.   . 

It  will  serve  to  show  the  remarkable  manner  in  which  this  knowl- 
edge has  been  obtained,  if  we  notice  the  sources  ivrtience  this  account 
has  been  derived.  The  first  is  a  clay  cylinder,  covered  with  inscrip- 
tions, which  was  found  by  Mr.  Rich  at  I^ineveh;  and  which,  after 
lying  for  the  last  thirty  years  almost  unnoticed  in  the  British 
Museum,  has  been  recently  published  in  fac'simile  by  Ghrotefend  at 
Hanover.  This  cylinder  furnishes  ample  details  of  the  first  two 
years  of  Sennacherib's  reign,  and  further  contains  a  very  interestii^ 
account  of  the  king's  early  buildings  at  Nineveh.  The  second  docu- 
ment is  an  inscription  on  a  pair  of  bulls  in  Sennacherib's  palace  at 
Nineveh.  Throughout  aU  the  historical  portion  of  this  inscription, 
which  extends  to  the  king's  sixth  regnal  year,  the  writing  is  much 
mutilated;  but,  by  the  aid  of  the  other  texts,  and  a  very  carefiil 
examination  of  the  slabs  under  every  possible  light,  Colonel  Rawlin- 
son  has  succeeded  in  effecting  an  almost  ccm&plete  restoration. 
The  third  document — ^which  is  the  most  valuable  of  all,  as  it  extends 
to  the  king's  eighth  year,  and  contains  abundance  of  detail  omitted 
on  the  bulls — is  an  inscription  upon  a  day  cylinder,  which  was  found 
at  Nineveh  many  years  ago,  and  was  conveyed  to  England  by  Colonel 
Taylor  in  1846.  The  original  cylinder  is  said  to  be  lost;  but  casts 
of  it  are  extant, — one  taken  on  paper  by  Colonel  Rawlinson  in  1835 ; 
and  another  taken  in  plaster  by  M.  Lottin  de  Lavel,  about  ten  years 
later :  of  these  casts  a  great  portion  of  the  inscription  can  be  re- 
covered. From  such  materials,  so  wonderfully  preserved,  and  so 
strangely  brought  into  juxtaposition,  the  following  account  has  been 
arranged  according  to  Cokmel  Rawlinson's  translations. 

Sennacherib  adopts  the  ordinary  royal  epithets  assumed  by  his  pre- 
decessors ;  but  he  also  on  many  occasions  takes  the  especial  title  of 
Ebidu  Malki, "  the  Subduer  of  Kings ;"  and  he  further  styles  himself, 
**  he  who  has  reduced  under  his  yoke  all  the  kings  of  Asia,  from  the 


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THB  eSNTILX  NATIOHB.  169 

Upper  Forest  whidi  is  under  the  setting  son,"  (Lebanon,)  "to  the 
Lower  Ocean  which  is  under  the  rising  son,"  (the  Persian  Gnlf.) 

His  annals,  as  presented  in  those  monnmental  remains,  thus  com- 
menoe :  '*  In  the  first  year  of  my  rugn  I  fought  a  battle  with  Mere- 
dach-Baladan,  King  of  Kar-duniyas,  and  the  troops  of  Susiana,  who 
formed  his  army ;  and  I  defeated  them.  He  embarked  on  board  his 
ships,  and  fled  across  the  sea ;  concealing  himself  in  the  comitry,  to 
Onsamman,  the  Rirer  Agammi,  and  the  parts  beyond  it,  he  fled. 
His  ships  savckl  him.  His  standards,  his  chariots,  his  horses,  his 
mares»  his  camels,  and  his  mules,  whidi  he  abandoned  on  the  field 
of  battle,  fell  into  my  hands.  I  then  marched  to  his  palace,  which 
was  near  the  city  of  Babylon ;  I  opened  the  royal  treasure-house, 
and  rifled  it  of  the  gold  and  silver  vessels,  the  hoards  of  gold  and 
silver,  altogether  a  vast  booty;  his  idols,  the  women  of  his  palace, 
all  his  chief  men,  &c.,  &c.,  each  and  all  I  seized  and  carried  off  into 
captivity.  By  the  grace  of  Assur  my  lord,  seventy-nine  of  the  prin- 
dpal  fortified  cities  of  the  Chaldseans,  and  eight  hundred  and  twenty 
of  the  smaller  towns  which  depended  on  them,  I  took  and  plundered. 
The  nomade  tribes  of  the  Aramaeans  and  Ghaldseans,  who  inhabited 
the  Mesopotamian  country,  I  subdued  and  carried  off  into  captivity. 

**  A  man  of  the  name  of  Bel-adon,  the  son  of  one  of  my  confi- 
dential officers,  who  had  been  bred  up  in  my  palace,  I  appointed  to 
be  king  of  the  country,  attaching  to  his  government  the  provinces 
of  the  north  and  east. 

"  At  the  same  time  I  subjugated  the  Aramtean  tribes,  who  lined 
the  Tigris  and  Euphrates : — the  Tehaman,"  (Teman  of  Scripture,) 
the  Bikis,  the  Yetukh,  the'  Hnbad,  the  Kiheim,  the  Melik,  the  (Jurum, 
the  Huba],  the  Damun,  the  Tebal,  the  Kindar,"  (Kedar  of  Scripture,) 
''the  Buhua,  the  Bakud,  the  Kamran,  the  Rhagurin,"  (Hagarenes,) 
''the  Nabaat,"  (the  Nebaroth  or  Nabatseans,)  "the  Lihata,  aud  the 
Aramseans  Proper.  I  carried  off  to  Nineveh  two  hundred  and  eight 
thousand  men  and  women,  eight  thousand  two  hundred  horses  and 
msres,  eleven  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty  head  of  cattle,  five 
tfaonsand  two  hundred  and^tiiirty  camels,  one  million  and  twenty 
thousand  one  hundred  sheep,  eight  hundred  thousand  three  hundred 
goats, — altogether  an  enormous  booty." 

It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the  king  of  Babylon,  Merodach* 
Baladan,  spoken  of  in  this  campaign,  was  the  same  who  afterward 
sent  an  embassy  to  Hezekiah.  This  war  is  mentioned  both  by 
Polyhistor  and  Abydenus.  It  is  further  remarkable  that  the  As- 
syrian annals  speak  of  Ear-duniyas  in  the  Lower  Country,  and  not 
Babylon,  as  the  capital  of  the  nation. 

The  second  year  of  Sennacherib's  reign  found  him  occupied  among 


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170  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

the  mountains  to  fche  nortii  and  east.  He  seems  to  have  crossed  the 
Taurus  into  countries  to  which  his  anoestors  had  never  penetrated; 
and  his  annals  contain  the  usual  amount  of  burning  and  plundering, 
sweeping  o£f  the  old  population,  and  phmting  fresh  colonies  in  their 
place. 

For  the  rest  of  the  year,  Sennacherib  says,  he  was  occupied  in 
reducing  Ellibi, — a  name  by  which  Northern  Media  is  usually 
designated.  The  title  of  the  king  of  the  country,  Aspabara,  shows 
that  he  was  of  Arian  extraction ;  and  one  of  his  cities,  Marukarta^ 
is  well  known  in  Armenian  history.  A  large  portion  of  Aspabara's 
territory  was  attached  directly  to  Assyria;  another  of  his  principal 
cities  was  rebuilt,  and,  under  the  name  of  Beth- Sennacherib,  was 
peopled  by  an  Assyrian  colony,  and  placed  under,  the  charge  of  the 
governor  of  Kbarkhar  (Van).  From  EUibi,  Sennacherib  went  on 
to  Media,  and  received  tribute  from  that  nation,  "  which  had  never," 
he  adds,  *' submitted  to  the  kings  my  ancestors." 

The  annals  of  the  third  year  are  more  important,  and  require  to 
be  given  with  more  particular  detail.  *'  In  my  third  year,''  says 
Sennacherib,  "  I  went  up  to  the  country  of  the  Khetta ''  (or  Hittites). 
"  Suliya,  King  of  Sidon,  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  allegiance.  On 
my  approach  from  Abiri,  he  fled  to  Yetnan,  which  was  on  the  sea- 
coast."  Mr.  Bawlinson  supposes  Yetnan  to  be  the  same  as  the 
Bhinocolura  of  the  Greeks,  since  it  is  always  spoken  of  as  a  mari- 
time city  south  of  Phenicia,  which  formed  the  extreme  limit  of  the 
Assyrian  territory  toward  Egypt.  He  believes  that  we  have  here  a 
remarkable  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  of  Balaam  against  the  Kenite, 
(Num.  xxiv,  21,  22 ;)  and  proposes  the  following  as  a  more  correct 
reading  for  the  former  of  these  verses : "  Thy  dwelling-place  is  Ethan,*' 
(Yetnan,)  "  and  thou  puttest  thy  nest  in  Sela  "  (Petra).  After  which 
the  learned  translator  asserts,  "  The  transportation  of  the  Kenites 
to  Assyria,  foretold  in  the  next  verse,  is  duly  related  in  the  inscrip- 
tions." 

Sennacherib  thus  proceeds  with  a  narrative  of  his  annals :  "  I  re- 
duced the  entire  country ;  the  places  which  submitted  to  me  were 
Sidon  the  Greater  and  Sidon  the  Less,  Beth  Zitta,  Sariput,  Mahallat, 
Hussuva,  Akzib,  and  Akka.  I  placed  Tubaal  on  the  throne  in  the 
place  of  Suliya  "  It  seems  probable  that  this  person  was  related  to 
the  chief  who  in  the  preceding  reign  was  intended,  by  Bezin,  King  of 
Syria,  and  Pekah,  King  of  Israel,  to  supersede  the  house  of  David 
on  the  throne  of  Judah.  Isuah  vii.  The  annals  proceed:  "The 
kings  of  the  sea-coast  all  repaired  to  my  presence  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  city  of  Husuva,"  or  Tyre,  "  and  brought  me  the  accus- 
tomed tribute.     Sitka  of  Ascalon,  who  did  not  come  to  pay  me 


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THE  GSNTILB  NATIONB.  171 

homage,  the  gods  of  his  house  and  his  treasures,  his  sons  and  his 
daughters,  and  his  brothers  of  the  house  of  his  father,  I  seized,  and 
sent  off  to  Nineveh.  I  placed  another  chief  on  the  throne  of  Asca- 
lon,  and  I  imposed  on  him  the  regulated  amount  of  tribute." 

We  are  now  brought  to  the  point  at  which  Sennacherib  gives  his 
own  version  of  the  campaign  narrated  in  Holy  Scripture,  which  ter- 
minated so  disastrously  for  Assyria.  We  will  give  the  account 
from  the  annals.  The  Assyrian  monarch  goes  on  to  say :  "  In  the 
autumn  of  the  year,  certain  other  cities,  which  had  refused  to  sub- 
mit to  my  authority,  I  took  and  plundered.  The  nobles  and  the 
people  of  Ekron,  having  expelled  their  King  Haddiya,  and  the 
Assyrian  troops  who  garrisoned  the  town  attached  themselves  to 
Hezekiah  of  Judea,  and  paid  their  adorations  to  his  God.  The  kings 
of  £gypt  also  sent  horsemen  and  footmen,  belonging  to  the  king  of 
Mirukha,"  (Meroe  or  Ethiopia,)  "  of  which  the  numbers  could  not  be 
counted.  In  the  neighboulrhood  of  the  city  of  AUakis  "  (Lachish) 
"  I  joined  battle  with  them.  The  captains  of  the  cohorts,  and  the 
young  men  of  the  kings  of  Egypt,  and  the  captains  of  the  cohorts  of 
the  king  of  Meroe,  I  put  to  the  sword  in  the  country  of  Lubanah" 
(Libnah).  "  Afterward  I  moved  to  the  city  of  Ekron ;  and  the 
diiefs  of  the  people  having  humbled  themselves,  I  admitted  them 
into  my  service ;  but  the  young  men  I  carried  into  captivity  to  in- 
habit the  cities  of  Assyria.  Their  goods  and  wealth  also  I  plundered 
to  an  untold  amount.  Their  Eang  Haddiya  I  then  brought  back 
firom  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  again  placed  in  authority  over  them, 
imposing  on  him  the  regulated  tribute  of  the  empire ;  and  because 
Hezekiah,  King  of  Judea,  did  not  submit  to  my  yoke,  forty-six 
of  his  strong  fenced  cities,  and  innumerable  smaller  towns  which 
depended  on  them,  I  took  and  plundered :  but  I  left  to  him  Jerusa- 
lem, hia  capital  city,  and  dome  of  the  inferior  towns  around  it.  The 
cities  which  I  had  taken  and  plundered,  I  detained  from  the  govern- 
ment of  Hezekiah,  and  distributed  between  the  kings  of  Ashdod,  and 
Ascalon,  and  Ekron,  and  Gaza ;  and  having  thus  invaded  the  territory 
of  these  chiefs,  I  imposed  on  them  a  corresponding  increase  of  tribute 
over  that  to  which  they  had  formerly  been  subjected.  And  because 
Hezekiah  still  continued  to  refuse  to  pay  me  homage,  I  attacked  and 
carried  off  the  whole  population,  fixed  and  nomade,  which'  dwelt 
around  Jerusalem,  with  thirty  talents  of  gold  and  eight  hundred  talents 
of  silver,  the  accumulated  wealth  of  the  nobles  of  Hezekiah's  court, 
and  of  their  daughters,  with  the  officers  of  his  palace,  men-slaves 
and  women-slaves.  I  returned  to  Kineveh,  and  I  accounted  this 
spoil  for  the  tribute  which  he  refused  to  pay  me." 

How  marvellous  is  this  record !     ^How  strange  that  we  should 


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172  rax  asNTiLB  nationb 

juat  at  this  time  reoover  the  Assyrian  king's  account  of  his  own 
wars !  I  will  briefly  note  the  points  of  agreement  and  of  discrepancy 
found  to  exist  in  the  Scriptural  and  monumental  versions  cf  this 
campaign. 

It  may  be  observed,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  general  scope  of  the 
inscriptions  perfectly  accords  witk  the  Scriptural  account.  We  read 
in  the  Scriptures,  (2  Kingp  xviii,  8,)  that  Hesekiah,  in  the  early 
part  of  his  reign,  "  smote  the  Philistines,  even  unto  Oasa."  Colonel 
Jlawlinson,  with  great  plausibility,  supposes  that  this  defeat  of  the 
maritime  tribes  of  Philistia  is  spoken  of  in  the  inscriptions  as  a 
defection  of  the  Ekronites ;  and  the  £m^  that  the  Assyrian  governor 
of  Ekron  was,  on  the  approach  of  Sennacherib,  found  at  Jerusalem, 
seems  to  a£ford  sufficient  proof  of  this. 

It  was  to  this  district  that  Sennacherib  directed  primary  attention, 
when,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  Hezekiah's  reign,  he  marched  into  Pal- 
estine. He  was  there  when  he  heard  of  the  approach  of  the  Egyptian 
army.  Whether  the  statement  of  the  inscriptions,  that  he  engaged 
and  defeated  the  Egyptian  army  before  Ladiish,  is  a  grave  fact  or 
an  Assyrian  boast,  camiot  now  be  satisfactorily  determined,  although 
it  seems  probable  that  some  collision  between  these  forces  took  place. 

There  is  a  singular  agreement  between  the  Scriptures  and  the  As- 
syrian records  respecting  the  amount  of  gpld  which  Sennacherib 
received  from  Hezddah.  Both  state  it  to  have  been  thirty  talents 
of  gold.  2  Kings  xviii,  14.  With  respect  to  the  sum  contributed  in 
silver  there  is  a  discrepancy;  the  sacred  records  mentioning  three 
hundred,  but  the  inscriptions  eight  hundred,  talents.  It  seems,  how- 
ever, from  the  manner  in  which  this  is  told  in  the  inscriptions,  that 
in  the  latter  amount  was  included  a  portion  of  the  plunder  of  the 
surrounding  country. 

It  is  true  that  the  Scriptures  do  not  assert  that  any  considerable 
number  of  Hebrews  were  sent  into  captivity  by  this  sovereign ;  while 
the  sculptures  say  that  not  less  than  two  hundred  thousand  were  at 
this  period  sent  into  Assyria.  But  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  De- 
metrius the  Jew,  who  lived  about  two  hundred  and  twenty  years 
before  Christ,  and  is  quoted  by  Clemens  of  Alexandria^  assigns  to 
this  reign  the  great  Assyrian  captivity  of  the  Jews :  so  that  it  is 
probable  some  considerable  deportation  of  the  Jews  then  took  place. 
The  reduction  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  towns  of  Judea,  so  osten- 
tatiously claimed  in  the  inscriptions,  seems  to  be  virtually  admitted 
by  the  sacred  writer,  who  briefly  observes,  '*  Now  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  King  Hezekiah  did  Sennacherib  King  of  Assyria  come  up 
against  all  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them."  2  Kings 
xviii,  13. 


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THE  QSVTILS  NATIONS.  173 

StiU  the  fact,  iihe  great  mdiBpniable fact^  is  admitted: — Jenualem 
was  not  subdued.  "  I  left  to  him  Jerusalem  his  capital  city,  and 
some  of  the  inferior  toims  around  it,"  says  the  boastful  monarch. 
And  why?  Certainly €Mt  because  of  the  military  strength  of  the 
king  of  Judah; — ^for,  had  he  been  able,  he  would  have  defended  the 
whole  of  his  country ; — ^but  simply  because  the  city  of  David  was  at 
that  time  protected  by  the  power  of  God.  How  glorious  is  this 
proof  of  the  truth  and  fidthfulness  of  Jehovah  I 

Tet  how  singularly  do  the  style  and  manner  of  the  inspired  writer 
and  of  the  inscriptions  contrast^  when  cavefully  cdlated  with  each 
other!  We  feel  as  if  called  to  compare  the  cool  and  truthful  state^ 
ments  of  an  authentic  history  of  a  war  with  the  gasconading  bul- 
letins of  the  unscrupulous  warrior  who  was  the  aggressor  in  tiie 
conflict 

The  inscriptions  do  not,  of  course,  say  a  word  respecting  the 
miraculous  destruction  of  Sennacherib's  army.  It  may  be  ques- 
tioned whether  the  truth  respecting  that  wonderful  event  was  ever 
fnUy  made  known  in  ABsyria.  Besides  the  troops  actually  march- 
ing as  the  army  of  aggression,  there  must  have  been,  to  the  west  of 
the  Tigris,  an  immense  military  force,  spread  over  the  several  coun- 
tries, and  occupying  various  garrisons  and  important  military  and 
political  posts.  And  a  man  of  mind  and  energy,  as  Sennacherib 
undoubtedly  was,  would  easily  be  able  to  collect  from  these  a  respect- 
able body  of  troops,  with  whidi  to  return  to  his  coital.  It  must 
not,  therefore,  be  imagined  that  the  Assyrian  warrior  fled  as  a  fugi- 
tive to  Nineveh,  on  the  ruin  of  his  grand  army.  It  is  much  more 
probable  that  the  inscriptions  give  the  plan  on  whidi  he  acted ;  and 
that  he  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  sustain  the  character  of  a 
conqueror,  and  to  go  back  to  his  capital  as  one  returning  from  a  con- 
tinued course  of  success.  Yet  the  complete  change  of  tone  in  the 
annals  of  the  king  immediately  after  the  termination  of  this  cam- 
paign, is  as  perfect  a  corroboration  of  the  Scriptural  account  of  the 
miraculous  destruction  of  his  army,  as  could  have  been  given  with- 
out an  explicit  notice  of  the  fact.  As  an  instance,  it  may  be  stated 
that  the  events  of  his  fourth  year  present  a  marked  contrast  to  the 
detailed  and  magniloquent  descriptions  of  tiie  preceding  periods. 
They  are  confined  to  a  few  meagre  lines,  and  refer  exclusively  to  an 
expedition  against  the  CSialdees,  undertaken,  as  Colonel  Rawlinson 
fonjecturee,  in  order  to  punish  Merodach-Baladan  for  having  sent 
ambassadors  to  Heaekiah.  Sennadierib  does  not  appear  to  have 
conducted  this  war  in  person :  he  does  indeed  say  that  he  went  to 
the  country  of  Beth-Yakini^  (at  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates^) 
"  where  Suznbi  the  Chaldsean,  who  dwelt  in  the  ciiy  of  Bittuth,  sus- 


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174  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

tuned  a  defeat.  Mj  troops  purraed  him ;  but  he  fled  away,  and  his 
place  was  not  found."  The  rest  of  the  year  was  occupied  in  the 
reduction  of  Beth- Yakina.  Sennacherib  goes  on  to  narrate,  "  Mer- 
odach-Baladan,  whom  I  had  defeated  in  the  course  of  my  first  year, 
he  fled  before  my  chief  officers,  and  concealed  himself  beyond  the 
sea.  His  brothers,  the  ofibpring  of  his  father's  house,  whom  he  had 
left  on  this  side  of  the  sea,  together  with  the  men  of  the  country,  I 
ordered  to  be  conveyed  from  Beth-Yakina.  The  rest  of  the  cities 
of  Merodach-BalacUui  I  destroyed  and  burned,  aind  placed  my  son 
AsBur  Nadun  over  the  government  of  the  country  in  an  independent 
position." 

It  has  been  generally  assumed,  that  Sennacherib,  immediately 
aflier  the  ruin  of  his  great  army,  hastened  to  Nineveh,  where  he  was 
almost  immediately  afterward  slain  by  his  two  sons.  But  that  this 
assassination  took  place  immediately,  or  within  fifty-five  days,  after 
his  return  to  Nineveh,  is  only  taught  in  a  doubtful  passage  in  the 
apocryphal  Book  of  Tobit.  Chap,  i,  18-21.  The  account  given  by 
the  sacred  writer  would  rather  lead  to  the  opinion,  that  he  survived 
the  destruction  of  his  army  some  considerable  time :  for  it  is  said 
that,  after  this  catastrophe,  he  "  departed,  and  went  and  returned, 
and  DWELT  at  Nineveh;"  (2  Kings  xix,  36;)  an  expression  which 
would  certainly  indicate  that  he  continued  to  reside  there  more  than 
a  few  days. 

This  is,  however,  fully  established  by  the  inscriptions,  which  record 
the  annals  of  five  years  after  that  memorable  event. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  Sennacherib,  there  were  two  expeditions, — one 
against  the  tribes  of  Takhari ;  and  the  other  against  Manigama,  King 
of  the  city  of  Yakku :  but  the  geography  of  these  places  has  not 
been  clearly  ascertained.* 

The  inscriptions  on  the  bulls  at  Nineveh  close  with  an  account  of 
a  maritime  expedition,  conducted  by  Sennacherib  against  the  Ohal- 
dsBans,  who,  to  escape  Assyrian  tyranny,  had  embarked,  with  thenr 
gods  and  wealth,  in  vessels,  and  taken  refuge  beyond  the  sea  in  the 
city  of  Nagiat.  Unable  to  reach  them  with  his  own  people,  Sennach- 
erib brought  artisans  and  mariners  from  Tyre  and  Sidon.  These 
he  assembled  on  the  Upper  Tigris,  and  thence,  on  rafts  or  vessels, 
floated  them  down  to  Beth-Yakina.  Here  they  constructed  and 
manned  a  sufficient  number  of  ^ips,  and,  after  sacrificing  to  the 
gods,  crossed  over  to  the  city  of  Nagiat,  which  they  destroyed,  asd 
returned  laden  with  much  booty.  Nagiat  was  probably  some  im- 
portant harbour  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  annals  of  the  seventh 
and  eighth  years  of  Sennacherib's  reign  are  also  found  on  Colonel 
Taylor's  cylinders :  but,  in  consequence  of  the  damaged  state  of  die 


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.    THS  GBKTILB  NATI0H8.  176 

castas  CSolonel  Bawlinson  is  at  presmit  unable  to  fornish  a  transla- 
tion of  this  part  of  the  annals.  • 

Besides  these  historical  documents,  the  inscriptions  referring  to 
the  reign  and  actions  of  Sennacherib  are  very  nnmerons,  and  afford 
very  important  information  respecting  the  disinterred  buildings  of 
Assyria.  We  are  by  these  means  instructed  that  it  was  before  his 
Syrian  campaign,  that  this  sovereign  began  the  embellishment  of 
Nineveh.  There  were  at  that  period  four  important  buildings  on 
the  mound  of  Eoyunjik: — the  original  royal  palace;  a  temple  to 
"the  heavens/'  buUt  by  Sardanapalus ;  and  two  smaller  edifices: — 
but  these  had  all  suffered  from  injury  or  decay,  and  Sennacherib 
undertook  their  repair.  For  this  purpose  he  collected  a  host  of 
prisoners  from  the  Chaldaean  and  Aramaean  tribes  upon  one  side, 
and  firom  Gilicia  and  Armenia  on  the  other.  The  prisoners  he  dis- 
tributed in  four  bodies,  assigning  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
men  for  the  repw  of  the  great  palace,  and  employing  women  almost 
to  the  same  number  in  restoring  the  other  buildings.  The  account 
given  by  Herodotus  of  the  building  of  the  tomb  of  Alyattes,  the 
&ther  of  Croesus,  in  Lydia,  has  excited  surprise,  on  account  of  the 
prominent  share  which  he  ascribes  to  young  women  in  the  work. 
But  tiie  employment  of  females  in  such  operations  is  very  phunly 
recorded  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions. 

The  palace  excavated  by  Mr.  Layard,  whence  he  took  the  bass- 
reliefs  of  which  such  beautiful  drawings  have  been  recently  published, 
was  built  in  a  later  period  of  Sennacherib's  reign.  It  was,  in 
Colonel  Rawlinson's  opinion,  executed  for  the  most  part  after  his 
retain  from  his  maritime  expedition  against  the  Ghaldaeans.  Sen- 
nacherib also  erected  a  palace  on  the  mound,  now  called  Nebi  Yunus, 
in  the  centre  of  Nineveh ;  and  another  in  the  city  of  Tarbisi,  three 
miles  to  the  north  of  the  capital. 

The  length  of  this  reign  is  uncertain,  and  can  at  present  be  only 
^^proximately  estimated.  Further  discoveries  among  the  interred 
dironicles  of  Assyria  may  soon  remove  all  doubt  on  the  subject. 
The  manner  of  Sennacherib's  death  is  clearly  stated  in  Scripture. 
While  worshipping  in  the  temple  of  his  god  Nisroch,  he  was  assassi- 
nated by  two  of  his  sons,  who  afterward  fled  into  Armenia. 

EsABHADDON  Succeeded  his  father.  His  name  and  title  are 
found  in  the  inscriptions.  On  a  Babylonian  clay  tablet  in  the  British 
Museum  the  name  is  distinctly  written  as  Assur-AkhAdana. 

This  sovereign  appears  to  hx^re  devoted  himself,  with  great  ability, 
energy,  and  success,  to  repaur  the  losses  sustained  by  his  father.  He 
had  in  the  first  place  to  resist  the  spread  of  revolt  in  the  different 
provinces  of  his  empire ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  Media,  he  seems 


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176  TBB  QBNTILB  NATI0V8.  . 

to  have  Buoceeded:  bat  he  does  not  appear  to  have  thought  the 
redaction«of  that  nation  practicable,  with  the  forces  whidi  he  coald 
command. 

At  Babylon — which  also  took  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  the 
imperial  state  to  assert  its  independence— he  had  better  success. 
Having  reduced  that  refractory  province  to  obedience,  Esarhaddon 
placed  his  son  in  command  of  it,— a  situation  in  which  he  himself  had 
been  placed  by  his  father  Sennacherib, — and  secured  his  government 
from  further  trouble  in  that  quarter. 

Having  thus  established  his  afiairs  in  the  east,  the  Assyrian 
sovereign  proceeded  to  strengthen  his  interests  in  the  west.  His 
first  step  appears  to  have  been  to  remove  a  considerable  number  of 
his  subjects  from  Babylon,  Guthah,  Ava»  Hamath,  and  Sepharvaim, 
to  Samaria  and  the  other  cities  formerly  occupied  by  the  Ten  Tribes 
of  Israel. 

This  importation  of  people  is  spoken  of  in  connexion  with  the 
capture  of  Samaria,  as  if  it  immediately  followed  that  event 
2  Kings  xvii,  24.  But  the  authority  of  Bzra  is  decisive  as  to  this 
being  the  act  of  Esarhaddon.  Ezra  iv,  2.  It  was  most  probably  in 
connexion  with  this  colonising  of  the  land  of  Israel,  that  the  king  of 
Assyria  discovered  reason  to  distrust  the  fidelity  of  Mannasseh, 
King  of  Judah :  upon  which  he  sent  the  captains  of  his  host  against 
him,  and  took  him  captive,  "  and  bound  him  with  fetters,  and  carried 
him  to  Babylon."  2  Ohron.  zxxiii,  11.  The  Hebrew  king  deeply 
humbled  himself  before  God  in  his  captivity,  and  the  Lord  heard  hk 
prayer,  and  turned  the  heart  of  the  Assyrian  monarch,  so  that  he 
released  Manasseh  from  his  prison  and  his  fetters,  and  restored  him 
again  to  his  throne,  where  be  evidenced  the  genuineness  of  his  re- 
pentance bjM^  godly  life  and  a  righteous  reign. 

It  was  this  sovereign  who  ruined  the  old  palaoes  of  Oahh, 
which  had  been  raised  by  a  preceding  dynasty,  in  order  to  obtain 
materials  for  the  construction  of  a  pidace  for  himself  Of  Esar- 
haddon's  annals  very  important  portions  can  be  recovered  fit)m  two 
cylinders  placed  in  the  British  Museum  by  Mr.  Layard,  as  well  as 
from  numerous  clay  tablets  more  recently  found ;  but  this  has  not 
yet  been  done.  Nothing  has  hitherto  been  discovered  that  refers  to 
that  most  important  part  of  his  reign  which  includes  the  captivity 
of  Manasseh,  and  the  transfer  of  tribes  from  the  east  to  occupy  die 
land  of  Israel,  although  records  of  these  events  may  be  expected  yet 
to  be  brought  to  light. 

Esarhaddon  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  whom  Mr.  Bawlinson  calk 
Sardanapalus  IIL,  but  who  is  known  in  history  as  II  abuohodonosob. 
A  vast  number  of  relics  referring  to  his  reign  have  been  found.    In 


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THE  GINTILB  NATIONS.  177 

fact,  the  debris  of  the  temples  bnilt  by  fa^m  in  Nineveh  to  Mars  and 
to  Diana  are  literally  filled  with  clay  tablets,  broken  cylinders,  and 
other  similar  relics,  covered  with  inscriptions.  Besides  the  hoards 
ahready  in  the  British  Mnseum,  thousands  yet  remain  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  this  country. 

That  portion  of  these  inscriptions. which  has  been  deciphered 
refers  to  the  wars  which  this  monarch  waged  in  Susiana.  It  is 
extremely  probable  that^  Babylon  being  held  in  doubtful  subjection, 
and  Media  being  avowedly  independent,  *it  required  the  utmost  ex- 
ertion of  the  imperial  power  to  keep  the  neighbouring  provinces  in 
quiet  submission.  We  consequently  hear  nothing  of  this  monarch's 
power  in  Western  Asia,  until  he  had  humbled  the  strength  of  Media. 
In  this  instance  he  was  not  the  aggressor,  but  stood  upon  the  de- 
fensive. Phraortes,  King  of  the  Modes,  being  confident  in  his  martial 
prowess,  marched  against  Assyria,  with  the  avowed  design  of  sub- 
duing that  empire.  The  army  of  Nabuchodonosor  mjet  him  in  the 
plain  of  Ragau :  for  the  Assyrian  king  had  so  fully  prepiared  him- 
self to  meet  the  coming  danger,  that  he  actually  entered  the  Median 
territories  before  his  enemies  had  left  them.  In  this  great  battle  &e 
king  of  Media  was-taken  prisoner,  and  his  army  completely  defeated. 
Intoxicated  with  his  triumph,  Nabuchodonosor  slew  his  royal  captive 
the  same  day.  He  then  led  his  army  against  Ecbatana,  the  Median 
capital,  which  he  subdued  and  spoiled ;  and  having  completely  suc- 
ceeded in  this  campaign,  he  returned  to  Nineveh,  where  he  feasted 
his  troops  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  days.  Judith  i,  16 ;  ii,  1. 

Having  thus  recovered  his  supremacy  in  the  east,  Nabuchodonosor 
in  the  following  year  sent  a  great  army,  under  Holofemes  as  com- 
mander-in-chief^ into  Syria  and  Palestine,  to  establish  his  authority 
in  those  parts,  and  to  chastise  those  provinces  which  had  refused  to 
furnish  their  stipulated  contingent  of  forces  for  his  Median  war. 
The  first  object  of  attack  by  the  Assyrian  commander  was  the  sea- 
coast  of  Phenicia,  which  he  completely  reduced,  and  compelled  the 
people  to  send  reinforcements  to  his  army.  After  this,  he  was  de- 
tained with  his  huge  host  a  month  in  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  for  the 
provision  of  sufficient  carriages  and  materiel  for  his  army.  He  then 
proceeded  to  invest  Bethulia,  the  key  of  all  the  hill-coun<ary  of  Judea. 
By  enforcing  a  strict  blockade,  and  cutting  off  the  water,  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  reducing  this  little  city  to  great  straits,  when  Judah  was 
saved,  and  the  Assyrian  army  ruined,  by  the  address  and  energy  of 
a  Hebrew  heroine.  Judith,  having  found  admission  to  the  tent  of 
Holofemes,  so  fascinated  him  with  her  charms,  that  she  obtained  an 
opportunity  of  killing  him ;  which  having  effected,  she  returned  to 
the  city  with  his  head  in  her  possession.    Early  on  the  following 

12 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


178  THK  OENTILB  HATIOITB. 

morniiig,  the  Hebrews,  displaying  to  the  Assyriaiis  the  head  of  their 
general,  sallied  ont  to  attack  them,  when,  panic-Btmck  and  without 
leadership,  the j  fled  in  the  utmost  disorder ;  so  that^  instead  of  a 
battle,  it  was  the  rout  and  slaughter  of  the  Assyrian  host. 

Sarag  or  Sard ANAP ALUS  II.  next  ascended  the  imperial  throne, 
and  had  to  direct  the  sffairs  of  government  at  a  most  disastrous  crisis. 
By  the  death  of  Holofemes,  aod  the  rout  of  his  army  in  the  west, 
the  martial  power  of  the  empire  was,  of  course,  reduced  to  the  lowest 
state.  But  what  greatly  aggravated  the  danger  of  the  new  monarch 
was  the  &ct,  that  Gyaxares,  who  had  succeeded  his  &ther  Phraortes 
on  the  throne  of  Media,  proved  to  be  a  man  of  great  capacity  and  an 
able  warrior.  Having  recovered  and  restored  Ecbatana,  and  re- 
organized the  Median  army,  he  took  advantage  of  the  loss  of  the 
Assyrian  host  at  Bethulia,  and  the  accession  of  a  new  sovereign,  to 
renew  hostilities  with  Assyria. 

On  this,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  the  Assyrian  king  met  his 
foes  in  the  field.  But  the  decay  of  imperial  power  was  now  manifest : 
the  Modes  triumphed ;  and  the  Assyrian,  having  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing Kineveh,  was  immediately  shut  up  and  besieged  in  his  ci^ital. 
The  operations  of  this  siege  were,  however,  socm  afterward  com- 
pletely deranged  by  an  irruption  of  Scythians,  who,  pouring  from  the 
northwest  into  Asia,  defeated  the  Median  army,  and  completely 
overran  all  the  neighbouring  countries.  For  eight  years  these  bar- 
barians spread  themselves  through  the  east,  and  ravaged  several 
nations  in  succession,  until  such  excesses  produced  the  inevitable 
results  of  disorder  and  disorganization.  Availing  himself  of  these 
indications,  Cyaxares  took  advantage  of  a  festival,  and  caused  all  the 
leaders  of  the  Scythians  to  be  invited  to  the  houses  of  the  Medea, 
and  there  to  be  simultaneously  destroyed.  Then,  attacking  the  dis- 
ordered and  confounded  troops,  he  drove  them  out  of  the  country. 

Delivered  from  this  evil,  the  Median  king  turned  again  to  the 
great  object  which  fill^  his  mind,— the  conquest  of  Nineveh.  But, 
previously  to  the  renewal  of  his  attack,  he  formed  an  alHance  with 
Nabopolassar,  King  of  Babylon,  who  had  also  declared  his  country 
independent  of  Assyria.  This  alliance  was  ratified  by  a  marriage 
between  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  son  of  Nabopolassar,  and  Amytis,  the 
daughter  of  Cyaxares.  Immediately  afterward  the  confederate 
armies  proceeded  to  renew  the  siege  of  Nineveh.  According  to 
Justin,  the  Assyrian  king  betrayed  the  utmost  cowardice;  and  afta 
a  feeble  resistance  burnt  himself  and  all  his  treasures,  on  a  pile 
which  had  been  prepared  for  the  purpose  in  one  of  his  palaces. 

But  Diodorus  has  given  a  much  more  probable  account  of  this 
prince.     He  states  that,  relying  upon  an  ancient  prophecy  that 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


THE  QSirriLB  NATIONS.  179 

ISineveh  shonld  never  be  taken  until  the  river  became  its  enemy, 
Sarac  did  everything  which  prudence  and  courage  could  suggest  to 
resist  the  power  of  his  foes.  He  sent  off  a  great  part  of  his  treas- 
ures, with  his  children,  to  the  care  of  his  most  intimate  friend  Gotta^ 
Governor  of  Paphlagonia ;  stored  up  ammunition  and  provisions  in 
abundance  for  the  siege,  and  for  the  support  of  the  inhabitants ;  and 
set  his  enemies  at  defiance.  For  nearly  two  years  this  state  of 
things  continued,  the  besiegers  being  unable  to  make  any  impres- 
sion on  the  city,  and  the  king  of  Assyria  being  too  feeble  to  drive 
them  from  their  post;  until  at  length  anr unusual  quantity  of  rain 
having  fallen  on  the  Mountains  of  Ararat,  where  the  Tigris  has  its 
head,  that  river  became  so  swollen  that  it  rose  above  its  banks,  and 
the  flood  threw  down  about  twenty  furlongs  of  the  city  wall.  The 
king,  struck  with  dismay  and  despair  at  this  unexpected  fulfilment 
of  the  propliecy,  had  a  pile  prepared  in  his  palace,  and  burnt  him- 
self, his  concubines,  and  his  treasures,  to  prevent  them  from  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  who,  having  entered  the  city  by  the 
breach  in  the  wall,  sacked  it,  and  razed  it  to  the  ground. 

Thus  perished  Nineveh,  after  it  had  stood  about  nineteen  hun- 
dred years  from  the  time  of  Asshur,  and  had  been  the  capital  of 
one  of  the  most  extended  empires  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

It  is  impossible  to  turn  away  the  mind  from  the  contemplation 
of  a  political  and  military  fabric,  so  venerable  for  its  antiquity,  so 
distinguished  by  its  martial  prowess,  so  wonderful  in  the  literary 
and  historic  treasures  of  its  ruined  cities,  without  a  thought  respect- 
ing the  great  purposes  of  Divine  Providence  in  the  prolonged  exist- 
ence of  this  remarkable  empire,  and  its  connexion  with  the  elect 
people  of  God,  and  the  prophecies  of  Holy  Scripture.  (See  Ap- 
pendix, note  21.) 

Having  arisen  out  of  the  emigration  of  Asshur  from  his  own  ap- 
pointed territory,  in  consequence  of  the  usurpation  of  Nimrod,  As- 
syria not  only  maintained  her  existence,  but  established  her  supremacy 
in  Asia; — ^was  the  appointed  agent  of  Providence  in  the  subversion 
and  captivity  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel ; — humbled  in  the  dust  an 
apostate  king  of  Judah ; — and,  after  recognising  and  bowing  before 
the  authority  of  one  of  Jehovah's  prophets  in  sackcloth  and  peni- 
tence, became  an  illustrious  subject  of  divine  prophecy,  and  verified 
in  her  histoiy  some  of  the  most  sublime  predictions  which  ever  ema- 
nated from  the  prescience  of  Jehovah.  Wonderful  was  Assyria  in 
her  rise, — her  power, — ^her  continued  supremacy ;  still  more  wonder- 
ful in  her  fulfilment  of  sacred  prophecy,  and  in  sending  forth  from 
her  ruined  cities,  after  an  entombment  of  twenty-four  centuries,  her 
records  and  annals  for  the  instruction  of  the  world. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  ASSYBIAN  HISTORY. 


B.C. 


KiDgt'  NaiDM  nd  EtmU.  < 


Ymh. 

RctgiMd. 


OLD  ASSTSLUr  IJKX. 

1821  Balceus 

1769  Sethos  Altadas 

1734  Mamythns. 

1704  Ascolius ; 

1674  Sph»ru8 

1646  Munylus 

1616  Sparthsus 

1574  Ascatadeg 

1534  AmynUs .*. 

1484  Belochus  n 

1459  Baletores 

1425  Laniprides 

1888  Sosares 

1868  Lampares 

1838  Panyaa 

1293  Sosarmus 

1231  MithneuB 

1214  Teutames 

(Who  Beut  an  army,  under  Mem- 

non,  to  assist  Priam  in  the 

Trojan  war.) 

1182  Teutwus 

1188  Thinens 

1108  Dercylns 

1068  Eupacmes 

1030  Laosthenes 

985  Pertiades. 

955  Ophratspus 


B.C. 


ReigMd. 


OLD  A86TBIAK  LUTE  OOVTUIUED. 

934  Ephecheies 08 

882  Acragaiies ; 43 

(Whose  deeds  are  recorded  on  the 
Obelisk.) 
841  Thonos  Concolerot 9d 


lODiur  Knro. 


821  Arbaces.. 


17 


ASsntiAJr  £m  rxstorbd. 

804  Pul 51 

753  Tiglath-Pil^ser. 19 

(Who  probably  built  the  centre 

pal«ce  at  Nimroud.) 

LOWKB  UHS  OF  KJHGS. 

734  Sai^ina  (Sargon) 90 

(The  builder  of  EJioraabad.) 

714  Sennacherib 9 

705  Esarhaddon 38 

(Builder  of  the  south-west  palace 
at  Nimroud.) 

687  Nabuchodonosor 4S 

(Who  sent  Holofemes  into  Jo- 
dea,  where  he  perished.) 

626  Sarao , 19 

(Who  built  the  south-east  palaoe 
at  Nimroud.) 
606  Nineveh  destroyed  by  the  Modes 
and  Babylonians. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


THB  GEMTILB  NATIONS.  181 


CHAPTEll  IV. 

THE  mSTORT  OF  THE  BABYLONIANS. 

Babtlov  the  Seat  of  the  first  Postdiluvian  Sovereignty— Conquered  and  subjected  to 
Aisyriar— Policy  of  Assyria  toward  subject  Countries— Nabomassab— The  £ra  bearing 
his  Name — ^He  was  independent— Nadius,  Chotzzbus,  Pobus,  and  Juojius,  successively 
reign — ^Mabdocempadus  or  MEBODACH-BAiiADAV— His  Embassage  to  Hezekiah — Abchi- 
AJrus— Haoisa— Mabadach  Baldanes— Bbubus  defeated  by  Assyria— Abobdakbs — 
Nabopolassab— Babylon  asserts  its  Independence— Coalition  of  Babylon  and  Media 
against  Nineveh — Scythian  Invasion — ^Nineveh  destroyed — The  King  of  Egypt  de- 
feated at  Carchemish — ^Nebuchadkezzab — ^Takes  Jerusalem— Carries  away  the  prin- 
cipal Inhabitants  into  Captivity — ^Makes  Zedekiah  King— He  rebels — Jerusalem  again 
tsJken,  and  destroyed— Tyre  taken,  after  a  Siege  of  Thirteen  Years— Egypt  conquered 
— Nebnchadneszar  greatly  improves  Babylon  by  many  Splendid  Erections — ^Nebuchad- 
nezzar's Dream  of  the  Great  Image — ^Explained  by  Daniel — Its  wonderful  Revelations 
—The  Golden  Image — ^Extraordinary  Measures  adopted  for  its  Dedication — Heroism 
of  the  Three  Hebrews — Glorious  Revelation  of  the  Son  of  God — ^Important  Results  of 
this  Divine  Interposition*^The  Dream  of  a  Great  Tree — Its  Interpretation  and  Accom- 
plishment— ^Noble  Acknowledgment  of  the  King — His  Prophecy  and  Death — ^Evil- 
Mebodacu  King — ^Liberates  Jeholachin  from  Prison — Neriglissar  reigns — Forms  a 
Combination  against  Media — He  is  slain  in  Battle — ^Labobosabchod  reigns — ^The  Bbl- 
SHAZZAB  of  the  Book  of  Daniel— His  Youth  and  Cruelty— He  profanes  the  Sacred 
Vessels— Is  slain— Dabius  takes  the  Kingdom,  and  i^points  Labtnbtus  Viceroy  of 
Babylon — He  rules  subject  to  Media— Declares  himself  independent — Is  defeated  in 
Battle — Babylon  taken  by  Ctbus — ^Labynetus  taken  at  Borsippa,  and  sent  into  Car- 
mania — ^Termination  of  the  Babylonian  Monarchy. 

The  history  of  Babylon  stands  invested  with  special  and  peculiar 
mterest,  in  consequence  of  its  immediate  connexion  with  the  most 
terrible  calamity  inflicted  on  the  Hebrew  people,  daring  the  extended 
period  to  which  this  volume  refers. 

This  country,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous  volume,  (Patriarchal 
Age,  pp.  431-434,)  was  the  seat  of  the  first  kingly  government 
established  in  the  world  after  the  flood.  But,  as  there  detailed, 
Babylon  was  conquered  by  Belus  or  Ninus,  and  added  as  a  province 
to  the  Assyrian  empire.  It  was  in  this  state  at  the  period  when  we 
are  called  to  resume  its  histoiy. 

It  must,  however,  be  remembered,  that  in  these  ancient  times  the 
conquest  and  subjugation  of  a  country  did  not  prevent  its  retaining 
its  separate  national  existence  and  government.  No  attempt  ap- 
pears to  have  been  made  to  merge  all  the  countries  subdued  by  As- 
syria into  one  united  and  compact  government.  The  kings  of  the 
several  lands  were  allowed  to  reign,  on  their  declaring  their  allegiance 


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182  TH^QBNTILS  NAnOBS. 

to  the  imperial  throne,  and  furnishing  to  the  sovereign  the  required 
tribute.  When  this  promise  was  not  kept;  and  the  contumacy  of 
the  vassal  king  brought  down  upon  him  the  irresistible  power  of  the 
imperial  army,  no  chjmge  was  made  in  the  ruling  policy.  The 
rebellious  chief,  with  his  family  and  firiends,  if  not  put  to  death,  was 
removed  in  chains,  and  another  person  appointed  king  of  the  subject 
country  in  his  stead. 

This  practice  renders  it  extremely  difficult  to  elicit  with  accuracy 
the  precise  times  when  important  countries,  such  as  Babylon,  Media, 
and  others,  really  obtained  their  independence,  as  it  is  possible  that 
they  may  have  claimed  this  privilege  long  before  the  imperial  state 
would  recognise  it.  This  was  the  case  in  respect  of  Babylon;  and 
many  writers,  overlooking  this  circumstance,  have  been  led  into 
serious  errors.    . 

The  first  of  those  kings  who  ruled  in  Babylon,  after  its  subjection 
to  Assyria,  of  whom  we  have  any  definite  information,  was  Nabo- 
NASSAR.  He  ascended  the  throne  B.  G.  747 ;  and  made  the  period 
of  his  accession  to  the  regal  dignity  the  commencement  of  the  famous 
Nabonassarean  Era-;  (see  Appendix,  note  22;)  which,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Greek,  Roman,  and  Christian,  completes  the  four  great 
cardinal  eras  of  sacred  and  profane  history.  The  principle  of  this 
era  was  an  avoidance  of  intercalary  days.  The  year  consisted  of 
twelve  months  of  thirty  days  each,  with  five  supernumerary  days ; 
and  was  in  consequence  very  convenient  for  astronomical  calculations, 
and  for  this  reason  was  adopted  by  the  early  Greek  astronomers. 

As  Babylon  rose  into  prominence  and  power  under  the  rule  of 
this  sovereign,  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  led  to  conjecture  that  Nabo- 
nassar  was  a  younger  son  of  Pul,  King  of  Assyria,  who,  it  is  sup- 
posed,  left  theMmperial  crown  to  his  eldest  son,  Tiglath-Pileser,  and 
the  throne  of  Babylon  to  Nabonassar.  But  this  conjecture,  whidi 
has  been  partially  adopted  by  Hales  and  other  learned  men,  has  no 
solid  foundation  in  history.  It  is  unquestionably  true,  and  is  attested 
by  Alexander  Polyhistor  and  the  Astronomical  Canon,  that  Babylon 
had  always  kings  of  her  own  from  the  earliest  times.  And  as  Clin- 
ton truly  observes,  "  These  kings  were  sometimes  subjected  to  the 
Assyrians,  and  sometimes  independent;  but  they  never  acquired 
extensive  dominion  till  the  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Nabonassar 
was  independent." — Fasti  HeUenid,  vol.  i,  p.  273.  Respecting  this 
reign  no  further  information  of  importance  can  be  obtained. 

Nabonassar  was  succeeded  by  Nadius,  who  is  said  to  have  reigned 
two  years;  and  he  was  followed  by  Ghinzibus  and  PoRUS,  each  of 
whom  ruled  five  years.  Jugaus  then  ascended  the  throne,  and 
reigned  five  years.    Nothing  whatever  has  been  handed  down  to  ns 


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THE  OBNTILS  NAXIOIIS.  18S 

reBpeefeiiig  the  public  or  p^raonal  hifltoiy  of  these  kings.  Nor  is  it 
probable  that  their  names,  as  here  given,  are  those  by  which  they 
were  known  in  their  own  country,  since  these  bear  no  aflinity  to  the 
Chaldee  or  Assyrian  names. 

Makdocbmpadxjs  sncceeded  Jugseus.  He  is  certainly  the  Mero- 
dach-Baladan  of  Holy  Scripture;  and  is  the  first  king  of  Babylon 
who  is  noticed  in  the  Old  Testament  as  having  had  any  intercourse 
with  the  Hebrew  nation.  It  seems  more  than  probable  that,  up  to 
this  time,  Nabonassar  and  his  successors  had  ruled  in  Babylon  vir- 
tually independent  of  Assyria;  although  it  is  equally  probable  that 
this  independence  was  never  proclaimed  at  Babylon,  nor  acknowl- 
edged at  Nineveh.  This  prince  appears  to  be  the  first  Babylonian 
ruler  who  directed  his  att^tion  to  the  extension  of  his  dominion  in 
Western  Asia.  Having  informed  himself  of  the  state  of  the  coun- 
tries bordering  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  having  heard  that 
Hezekiah  King  of  Judah  had  recovered  from  a  dangerous  illness,  he 
sent  ambassadors  to  the  Hebrew  monarch,  congratulating  him  on 
his  restoration  to  health.  The  king  of  Babylon  alleged  that  he  wag 
induced  to  send  this  embassy  mainly  by  a  desire  to  have  some  ex- 
planation of  the  sun's  wonderful  retrocession,  as  a  sign  of  the  Hebrew 
king's  recovery.  2  Chron.  xxxii,  31. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  motives  which  prompted  the 
Ghaldsean  monarch  to  this  step  went  far  beyond  mere  kindly  compli- 
ment or  scientific  curiosity.  Babylon  at  this  time  was  beginning  to 
feel  a  rivalry  with  Nineveh ;  and  undoubtedly,  in  this  visit  to  Judea» 
it  was  intended  to  cultivate  a  good  understanding  with  the  most 
powerful  king  of  Western  Asia.  The  sculptures  recently  discovered 
among  the  Assyrian  ruins  cast  important  hght  upon  this  event. 
They  inform  us  that  after  Sennacherib  had  lost  his  great  army  in 
his  celebrated  campaign  in  Palestine  and  Egypt,  he  prosecuted  a 
series  of  wars  against  this  Babylonish  monarch,  until  he  had  driven 
him  out  of  the  country,  and  compelled  him  to  seek  refuge  "  beyond 
the  sea."  The  juxtaposition  of  these  events  is  remarkable.  Sen- 
nacherib's army  is  destroyed,  and  he  returns  in  disgrace  and  confu- 
sion. Hezekis^  is  taken  sick,  and  recovers.  Merodach-Baladan 
sends  his  messengers  to  the  Hebrew  court: — while,  the  Assyrian 
king  having  in  some  measure  repaired  his  loss,  and  organized  a 
military  force,  the  first  object  to  which  he  directs  his  attention  is  a 
war  with  this  king  of  Babylon,  whom  he  succeeds  in  driving  out  of 
the  country. 

The  Assyrian  inscriptions  state  that,  having  driven  out  Merodach- 
Baladan,  Sennacherib  appointed  his  son  Esarhaddon  to  rule  in 
Babylon, — a  fact  which  stUl  further  confirms  the  jealousy  which  the 


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184  THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

intercourse  between  Babylon  and  Judah  had  excited  in  the  imperial 
court.  The  name  of  Archianu^,  however,  stands  in  the  list  as  the 
next  king ;  but  no  account  whatever  of  his  reign  has  been  preserved. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Hagisa,  who  reigned  thirty  days:  then  fol- 
lowed Maradach  BaldAnbs.  a  fh^ent  of  Berosus,  in  the 
Chronicle  of  Eusebius,  casts  some  light  on  this  period.  It  says  that 
Archianus  was  brother  of  Esarhaddon,  and  ruled  in  Babylon  as  his 
viceroy;  but  that  Hagisa,  or  Acises,  expelled  him  from  the  country, 
and  seized  the  reins  of  government;  and  that  this  usurper,  after  a 
brief  rule  of  thirty  days,  was  slain  by  Maradach,  who  maintained 
himself  in  possession  of  power  six  months,  when  he  was  in  turn  cut 
off  by  Bblibus. 

After  the  expiration  of  three  years,  the  king  of  Assyria,  having 
resolved  to  reduce  this  refractory  country  to  obedience,  collected  his 
forces,  defeated  Belibus,  l^e  usurper  of  Babylon,  and  carried  him 
prisoner  into  Assyria.  Babylon  was  thus  again  fiilly  brought  into 
subjection  to  the  supreme  state.  It  appears,  from  isolated  notices 
of  the  fact,  that  Esarhaddon,  in  order  to  secure  this  noble  city  and 
wealthy  province  to  his  dominion,  sent  his  son  Apronaditjs,  or 
AsoRDANBS,  to  govem  Babylon.  His  rule  is  set  down  as  having 
continued  six  years. 

From  this  period  to  the  accession  of  Nabopolassar,  we  have  no 
further  information  beyond  a  mere  list  of  the  names  of  the  kings 
and  the  length  of  their  reigns.  (See  Appendix,  note  23.)  It  seems 
highly  probable  that,  during'  most  of  the  intervening  period,  Baby- 
lon was  subject  to  Nineveh.  This  was  certainly  the  case  B.  G.  675, ' 
since  about  this  time,  when  the  king  of  Assyria  subdued  Manasseh, 
King  of  Judah,  and  led  him  into  captivity,  he  took  him,  not  to  Nine- 
veh, but  to  Babylon.  2  Chron.  xxxiii,  11. 

The  accession  of  Nabopolassar  to  the  throne  of  Babylon  was 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  political  progress  and  power  of 
this  state.  This  fact  is  so  prominent  in  ancient  annals,  that  Jack- 
son calls  him  "the  first  king  and  founder  of  the  state."  It  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  that  this  progress  was  greatly  favoured  by  ex- 
ternal causes.  At  this  period  the  rising  power  of  the  Medes  had 
rendered  them  formidable  enemies  to  the  Assyrian  sovereign.  Baby- 
lon took  advantage  of  this  to  assert  its  independence. 

As  described  in  a  preceding  chapter,  the  siege  of  Nineveh  was 
interrupted  by  the  sweeping  incursion  of  the  Sc^ians,  which  com- . 
polled  tiie  king  of  Babylon  to  turn  his  whole  attention  to  the  defence 
of  his  own  country.  Afler  this  storm  had  passed  away,  he  again 
joined  his  forces  with  those  of  the  Medes,  and  effected  the  entire 
destruction  of  Nineveh.    This  event  occurred  B.  C.  606.    Herodotus 


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THE  OENTILB  NATIONS.  186 

does  not  mention  the  presence  of  the  Babylonians  in  this  siege ;  but 
Tobit  distinctly  refers  the  capture  of  I^ineveh  to  the  joint  forces  of 
Media  and  Babylon.  Tobit  xiv,  15. 

Fending  these  preparations  against  Nineveh  by. the  united  Medes 
and  Babylonians,  the  king  of  Egypt  thought  this  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity to  make  an  effort  to  recover  his  ascendency  in  the  east.  He 
accordingly  transported  an  army  into  Palestine,  where  he  was  reluct- 
antly compelled  to  fight  his  passage  through  a  Jewish  army  under 
Josiah,  King  of  Judah.  The  result  of  this  conflict  has  been  already 
detailed.  (Hebrew  People,  p.  342.)  Having  overcome  this  oppo- 
sition, the  king  of  Egypt  marched  against  Carchemish  on  the  Eu- 
phrates. The  united  army  before  Nineveh  could  not  be  diverted 
from  their  purpose  by  this  invasion,  and  this  very  important  city 
and  military  station  was  consequently  suffered  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  Pharaoh-Necho.  2  Kings  xxiii,  29;  2  Chron.  xxxv,  20.  After 
this  success,  the  Egyptian  sovereign,  returned,  securing  Syria  and 
Palestine  in  subjection  to  his  authority  by  the  way.  In  order  to 
this,  he  appeared  before  Jerusalem  within  three  months  after  Jehoa- 
haz  had  ascended  the  throne,  and,  removing  him  from  the  govern- 
ment, he  placed  his  brother  Eliakim,  whose  name  he  changed  to  Jehoi- 
akim,  on  the  throne  in  his  stead,  and  carried  Jehoahaz  in  chains  to 
Egypt. 

Nineveh  having  fallen  before  the  power  of  the  combined  forces, 
and  the  territories  west  of  the  Euphrates  being  assigned  to  the 
king  of  Babylon,  as  his  portion  of  the  empire,  Nabopolassar  sent 
his  son  with  a  great  army  to  establish  his  power  in  these  parts. 
The  king  of  Egypt,  being  informed  of  this  purpose,  hastened  to 
maintain  the  ascendency  which  he  acquired  in  the  east.  But  his 
efibrts  were  vain.  His  army  was  smitten  by  Nebuchadnezzar, 
(Jer.  xlvi,  2-10,)  who  pursued  his  enemy  through  Syria,  Palestine, 
and  even  unto  the  borders  of  Egypt.  The  complete  success  of  the 
youthful  Babylonish  chief  in  this  campaign  is  described  with  equal 
brevity  and  force  by  the  sacred  writer :  "  The  king  of  Egypt  came 
not  again  any  inore  out  of  his  land :  for  the  king  of  Babylon  had 
taken  from  the  river  of  Egypt  unto  the  river  Euphrates  all  that 
pertained  to  the  king  of  Egypt"  2  Kings  xxiv,  7.  It  was  during 
this  progress  of  the  Babylonish  army  that  the  Rechabites  took 
reftige  within  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  Jer.  xxxv. 

We  have  not  very  ample  particulars  of  this  campaign.  But  it  is 
frilly  apparent  that  Nebuchadnezzar  on  this  occasion  became  master 
of  Jerusalem,  and  put  Jehoiakim  in  chains,  with  the  purpose  of 
taking  him  as  a  captive  to  Babylon ;  and  that  the  king  of  Judah  in 
this  distress  so  humbled  himself  in  the  presence  of  his  conqueror, 


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186  THE  aBNTILB. NATIONS. 

that  Nebuchadnezzar  restored  him  to  the  government  as  his  vasaal, 
haying  first  exacted  an  oath  of  fealty  from  him.  Daniel  and  his 
companions,  with  many  others  of  the  noble  fiomilies  of  Judea,  were 
at  this  time  carried  away  into  Babylon. 

Whilst  Nebuchadnezzar  was  thus  employed  in  establishing  the 
power  of  Babylon  in  Western  Asia,  he  received  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  his  father :  upon  which,  leaving  the  main  body  of  his  army 
under  the  command  of  his  officers,  and  giving  into  their  care  the 
captives  whom  he  had  taken  from  the  Syrians,  Phenicians,  and 
Jews,  that  they  might  conduct  them  to  Babylonia^  he  hastwed 
across  the  desert  by  the  nearest  course,  with  only  a  few  attendants, 
to  his  capital.  Here  he  found  that  order  had  been  preserved;  and 
he  immediately  entered  upon  the  government  of  the  kingdom.  Hq 
now  dispersed,  into  several  parts  of  the  kingdom,  the  captives  whom 
he  had  taken,  and  adorned  the  temple  of  Belus  with  the  spoils  of  the 
war.  (Berosus  apud  Josephum,  Contra  Apion.,  lib.  i«  cap.  19.) 

For  three  years  Jehoiakim  faithfully  sent  his  promised  tribute; 
but  afterward,  being  encouraged  to  resistance  by  a  new  alliance  with 
Fsammuthis,  King  of  Egypt,  who  had  just  then  succeeded  his 
£Bkther,  he  refused  any  further  submission  to  the  king  of  Babylon, 
it  does  not  appear,  from  either  sacred  or  profane  history,  that 
Nebuchadnezzar  was  able  at  the  moment  to  chastise  this  insub- 
ordination of  the  Hebrew  king.  But  it  seems  probable,  that  he 
ordered  his  lieutenants  in  those  quarters  to  assail  and  harass  the 
refractory  sovereign.  This  seems  clearly  indicated  by  the  sacred 
writer.  2  Kings  xxiv,  2.  While  engaged  in  this  warfare,  Jehoiakim 
died ;  but  in  what  manner  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  respecting  him 
was  fulfilled  does  not  appear.  Jer.  zxii,  18,  19;  zxzvi,  80. 

On  the  death  of  Jehoiakim,  his  son  Jehoiachin  succeeded  him. 
This  prince  had,  however,  ruled  but  three  months,  when  Nebuchad- 
nezzar appeared  in  person  at  the  head  of  a  great  army  before  Jeru- 
salem. Hopeless  of  resisting  such  power,  the  Hebrew  submitted, 
and  "  went  out  to  the  king  of  Babylon,  he,  and  his  mother,  and  his 
servants,  and  his  princes,  and  his  officers."  2  Kings  xxiv,  12.  By 
this  ready  submission  he  saved  his  life :  for  Nebuchadnezzar  "  car- 
ried away  Jehoiachin  to  Babylon,  and  the  king's  mother,  and  tiie 
king's  wives."  Verse  15.  On.  this  occasion,  also,  *'  all  the  princes, 
and  all  the  mighty  men  of  valour,  even  ten  thousand  captives,  and 
the  craftsmen  and  smiths  a  thousand,  and  all  that  were  strong  and 
apt  for  war,"  were  carried  captive  to  Babylon.  2  Kings  xxiv,  passim 
Hebrew  People,  p.  349. 

Having  thus  prostrated  the  power  of  the  Hebrew  state,  and  car- 
ried away  all  the  principal  inhabitants,  with  all  the  treasures  of  the 


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THK  aSNTIU  NATI0V8.  187 

temple  and  ihe  palaoe  and  (he  spoil  of  tiie  city,  leaving  none  behind 
but  "  the  p6<Nrest  sort  of  the  people  of  the  land,"  Nebuchadnezzar 
took  Mattaniah,  the  unde  of  the  deposed  king,  and,  changing  his 
name  to  Zedekiah,  made  him  swear  by  the  name  of  the  Lord  not  to 
rebel  against  him.  nor  to  help  the  Egyptians.  2  Ghron.  jaxvi,  13 ; 
Ezek.  xvii,  13-15;  Esdras  i,  48;  2  Kings  xz,  17. 

It  does  not  clearly  appear  in  what  martial  enterprises  the  king  of 
Babylon  was  employed  during  several  years  after  this  event.  It  is 
probable  that  he  was  occupied  in  the  conquest  of  some  of  those  nations 
80  signally  set  forth  in  the  predictions  of  Jeremiah,  Jer.  xxv,  18-26 ; 
— most  likely,  those  nearest  to  Babylon. 

No  portion  of  the  wonderful  incidents  connected  with  this  reign 
is  more  remarkable,  than  the  precision  with  which  the-  rising  power 
of  Babylon  is  made  the  subject  of  sacred  prophecy.  A  collection  of 
these  predictions  in  order  is  well  worthy  of  very  serious  attention; 
and  shows  how.  wonderfully  the  prescience  of  Jehovah  was  mani- 
fested in  the  providential  government  of  the  world  at  this  period. 
Jeremiah,  indeed,  announced  with  the  most  wonderful  exactness  the 
exploits  of  this  king ;  and  that  not  only  verbally,  but  on  some  occa- 
sions by  the  most  significant  types  and  figures.  For  instance :  wh«[i 
the  kings  of  the  Moabites,  Ammonites,  Tyrians,  and  Zidonians  were 
using  all  their  influence  to  induce  Zedekiah  to  join  them  in  a  coali- 
tion against  Nebuchadnezzar,  Jeremiah  sent  to  each  of  the  ambas- 
sadors of  these  nations,  then  at  the  court,  of  Jerusalem  for  this 
parpose,  yokes  and  bonds,  as  a  present  to  their  sovereigns,  with  this 
declaration:  ''Thus  saitb  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel; 
Thus  shall  ye  say  unto  your  masters;  I  have  made  the  earth,  the 
man  and  the  beast  that  are  upon  the  ground,  by  my  great  power  and 
by  my  outstretched  arm,  and  have  given  it  unto  whom  it  seemed  meet 
unto  ma  And  now  have  I  given  all  these  lands  into  the  hand  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  the  King  of  !^abylon,  my  servant.  And  all  nations 
shall  serve  him,  and  bis  son,  and  his  son's  son,  until  the  very  time  of 
his  land  come.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  the  nation  and  kingdom 
which  will  not  serve  the  same  Nebuchadnezzar  the  King  of  Babylon 
and  that  will  not  put  their  neck  under  the  yoke  of  the  King  of 
Babylon,  that  nation  will  I  punish,  saith  the  Lord,  with  the  sword, 
and  with  the  famine,  and  with  the  pestilence,  until  I  have  consumed 
them  by  his  hand."  Jer.  xxvii,  4-8. 

Such  interposition  mtist  not  only  have  greatly  affected  the  amount 
of  resistance  opposed  to  the  progress  of  the  Chaldaean  conqueror, 
bat  also  have  given  him  great  encouragement  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  plans  for  the  consolidation  and  extension  of  his  dominions. 

Yet  all  this  was  insufficient  to  induce  even  Zedekiah  to  render  a 


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188  THB  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

willing  subjection  to  Nebuchadnezzar.  The  diviners  and  sorcerers 
of  these  neighbouring  countries,  and  the  false  prophets,  who  sur- 
rounded the  person  of  Zedekiah,  tmited,  on  the  contrary,  to  assure 
the  confederate  princes  of  success  in  their  effort.  Jer.  xxvii,  9,  14. 
Under  this  influence,  after  the  lapse  of  several  years,  when  the  king 
of  Egypt  joined  them,  measures  were  taken  by  these  princes  for  the 
promotion  of  their  object.  This  was  soon  made  known  to  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who  immediately  collected  an  army  and  marched  into  Syria. 
Here,  when  arrived  at  the  place  where  the  roads  diverged  to  Rab- 
bath,  the  capital  of  Ammon,  and  to  Jerusalem,  the  king  of  Babylon 
halted,  and  proceeded  to  ascertain  by  divination  which  way  he  should 
take.  Arrows,  teraphim,  and  sacrificial  victims,  were  all  employed ; 
(Ezek.  xxi,  21, 22;)  and  the  result  of  this  process  was  a  determination 
to  advance  upon  Jerusalem.  In  his  progress  the  Babylonian  king 
took  several  of  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah ;  after  which  he  laid  siege 
to  Jerusalem,  simultaneously  investing  Lachish  and  Azekah  with 
other  divisions  of  his  army. 

Pharaoh- Hophra,  who  now  reigned  in  Egypt,  was  at  the  same 
time  inordinately  vain  of  his  power,  (Herodotus,  Euterpe,  cap.  169 ; 
Ezek.  xxix,)  and  the  most  important  member  of  the  alliance  of 
western  states,  which  had  united  to  resist  the  ambitious  projects  of 
the  Chaldean  king.  On  hearing  of  this  invasion  he  immediately 
marched  an  army  to  the  relief  of  Jerusalem.  But  in  this  instance, 
also,  the  repeated  predictions  of  the  prophets  were  verified :  for  no 
sooner  had  Nebuchanezzar  raised  the  siege,  and  marched  to  meet 
the  Egyptians,  than  Pharaoh  at  once  retreated  before  him,  without 
striking  a  blow,  and  returned  into  his  own  country. 

Nebuchadnezzar  hastened  back  to  the  Hebrew  capital,  which,  after 
holding  out  for  eighteen  months,  was  taken.  Zedekiah  endeavoured 
to  escape  by  night  with  his  sons  and  chief  ofiScers ;  but  he  was  pur- 
sued, overtaken  in  the  plains  of  Jericho,  and  carried  into  the  presence 
of  the  king  of  Babylon  at  Riblah,  in  Syria ;  where  the  conqueror 
caused  his  two  sons  to  be  slain  before  his  eyes,  and  then  punished 
him,  in  a  way  frequently  employed  toward  rebellious  vassals,  by 
putting  out  his  eyes,  and  sending  him  in  chains  to  Babylon.  (See 
Appendix,  note  24.)  Having  completely  destroyed  the  city  and 
temple  of  Jerusalem,  carried  off  all  the  wealth  of  the  land  as  spoil, 
with  the  great  body  of  the  people  as  captives,  Nebuchadnezzar 
directed  the  operations  of  his  army  against  the  surrounding  countries. 
Rabbath,  too,  was  destroyed,  and  its  princes  carried  into  captivity, 
while  the  Philistines,  Moabites,  Edomites,  Arabs,  and  Syrians  were 
also  devastated  and  spoiled ;  according  to  the  declarations  which  had 
been  made  by  the  sacred  prophets  respecting  these  nations.     See 


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THB  QBNTILS  19ATI0KS.  189 

Mahum  iii,  8-10;  Jeremiah  diii,  8-13;  xliv,  2Y-80;  xlvi,  13-26; 
Esekiel  xxix,  30-82.  Retarning  to  Babylon,  Nebuchadnezzar 
dedicated  the  spoil  to  his  idol  deities,  distributed  his  captives  in 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  recruited  his  army  for  the  next 
campaign. 

The  following  year  Nebuchadnezzar  began  his  military  operations 
by  the  si^  of  Tyre.  In  this,  as  in  other  parts,  the  conqueror's 
progress,  the  di£Scalty  of  his  undertaking,  and  his  ultimate  success, 
were  distinctly  foretold  by  the  Prophet  Ezekiel  two  years  before  he 
entered  upon  it.  Szek.  xzyi ;  zzviii.  This  is  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable sieges  on  record,  and  exhibited  equal  determination  and 
constancy  in  the  attack  and  defence.  Thirteen  years  of  unavailing 
effi>rt  were  expended  on  this  wealthy  commercial  city;  bui  in  the 
fourteenth  year  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  its  unwearied  foe.  The  city, 
thus  taken  and  totally  destroyed,  stood  on  the  mainland :  it  was  never 
rebuilt. 

The  attention  of  Nebuchadnezzar  wii^  now  tamed  to  Egypt, 
which  he  ravaged,  as  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter.  (Page  97.)  Ab 
this  fact  was  so  discreditable  to  their  nation,  the  Egyptian  annalists 
did  pot  record  it ;  and  in  consequence  we  have  no  mention  of  the  event 
by  Herodotus,  Diodorus,  or  Stnibo.  A  similar  silence  is  maintained 
respecting  the  catastrophe  of  the  Red  Sea.  Berosus,  however,  affirms 
that  Nebuchadnezzar  "  subdued  Egypt,  Syria,  Phenicia,  Arabia,  and 
excelled  in  warlike  exploits  all  the  Babylonian  and  Chaldaean  kings 
who  reigned  before  him."  As  already  mentioned,  (page  98,) 
Megasthenes  asserted  his  conquest  of  Libya;  (Josephns,  Contra  Api- 
onem,  lib.  i,  cap.  19;)  and  Syncellus  says  that  the  ancient  Phenician 
historians  related  that  Nebuchadnezzar  conquered  Syria,  Egypt,  and 
all  Phenicia.   (Syncellus,  Chronog.,  p.  221.) 

Having  thus  completely  subdued  all  Western  Asia,  and  freed 
himself  from  every  apprehension  of  trouble  on  the  side  of  Egypt, 
the  king  of  Babylon  returned  with  his  army,  laden  with  spoils,  to 
his  capital.  He  had  now  attained  the  summit  of  his  ambition. 
Everywhere  his  power  prevailed.  In  the  east,  if  the  Medes  main- 
tained a  show  of  independence,  it  was  merely  nominal ;  and  was 
allowed,  because  of  the  intimate  family  relationship  subsisting  be- 
tween the  two  sovereigns,  Nebuchadnezzar  having  married  a  sister 
of  the  king  of  Media.  (See  Appendix,  note  25.)  In  every  other 
direction,  from  Egypt  and  the  Mediterranean  to  the  extreme  east, 
the  Babylonish  power  prevailed.  Nebuchadnezzar  had  commenced 
great  alterations  and  improvements  in  his  capital,  even  before  he 
entered  upon  the  siege  of  Tyre.  He  now  completed  these  stupendous 
works,  which  have  always  been  considered  among  the  most  remark- 


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190  TUB  aSNTILS  NATI0K8. 

able  erectioDB  of  the  world.  Berosos  tfaiu  speaks  of  diem : ''  When 
he  had  thus  admirably  fortified  the  city,  and  had  magnificently 
adorned  the  gates,  he  added  also  a  new  padaoe  to  those  in  whi<A  his 
forefathers  had  dwelt,  adjoining  them,  but  exceeding  them  in  hbi^ 
and  splendour.  Any  attempt  to  describe  it  would  be  tedious.  In 
this  palace  he  erected  very  high  walks,  supported  by  stone  pillars; 
and  by  planting  what  was  called  a  *  pensile  paradise,'  and  replenishing 
it  with  all  sorts  of  trees,  he  rendered  the  prospect  an  exact  resem- 
blance of  a  mountainous  country.  This  he  did  to  gratify  his  queen, 
because  she  had  been  brought  up  in  Media,  and  was  fond  of  a 
mountainous  situation." — Can/s  Fragments,  p.  40.  (See  Appendix, 
note  26.) 

Having  thus  fortified  and  beautified  his  capital,  Nebuchadnenar 
resolved  to  take  the  most  effective  measures  for  the  consolidation 
of  his  power  and  the  perpetuation  of  his  empire.  While  occupied  in 
this  manner,  lying  on  his  bed,  and  revolving  these  matters  in  his 
mind,  he  fell  asleep,  and  Jiad  a  very  remarkable  dream,  which,  on 
his  awaking,  rested  with  unusual  weight  on  his  mind.  Fully  believ- 
ing, in  accordance  with  the  national  fiuth,  that  such  visions  were 
intended  to  convey  important  information  respecting  future  events, 
the  king  immediately  summoned  to  his  presence  the  chief  of  lus 
soothsayers,  astrologers,  and  magicians,  and  required  them  to  tell 
him  his  dream  and  its  interpretation.  The  policy  of  the  king  in 
this  instance  is  fully  explained  by  his  language.  He  distrusted  the 
fidelity  of  these  sages,  and  felt  convinced  that  the  same  amount  of 
supernatural  wisdom  which  would  enable  them  to  give  an  authorised 
interpretation,  would  be  suffici^t  to  qualify  them  to  declare  the 
dream ;  while,  in  the  latter  case,  his  knowledge  would  enable  him  to 
test  their  fidelity;  but,  in  the  former,  he  would  have  no  proof  that 
their  interpretation  was  anything  more  than  mere  pretence. 

The  wise  men  were  confounded  by  this  strange  procedure,  and 
promptly  confessed  their  utter  inability  to  comply  with  his  demand. 
This  so  incensed  the  disappointed  monarch,  that  he  ordered  all  the 
wise  men  to  be  slain.  Prior  to  this,  Daniel  and  his  three  Hebrew 
companions,  having  greatly  distinguished  themselves  in  the  attain- 
ment  of  knowledge,  were  enrolled  among  the  numb^  of  the  members 
of  this  sage  body.  When,  therefore,  the  officer  of  the  guard,  in  obe* 
dience  to  the  king*8  command,  was  collecting  all  the  wise  men  of  Bab- 
ylon preparatory  to  their  execution,  he  had  to  include  Daniel  and  his 
friends,  informing  them  at  the  same  time  of  their  danger  and  of  its 
cause.  Daniel  expostulated  respecting  the  hastiness  of  the  measure, 
and  begged  for  time,  that  he  might  endeavour  to  furnish  the  required 
information.    This  respite  was  granted ;  and  the  prophet  aiKl  his 


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THB  GSNTUJI  HATIOHS.  191 

aaaoeiateB  gave  themselyes  to  eaniest  prayer  to  God,  that  he  wonld 
^Te  to  Daniel  the  knowledge  necessary  to  save  them  from  the 
impending  doom.  Their  prayer  was  answered.  The  secret  was 
revealed  unto  Daniel  in  a  night*  vision ;  and  he  accordingly  presented 
himself  before  the  king,  and  told  him  that  he  had  seen  in  his  dream 
a  great  and  terrible  image,  the  head  of  which  was  of  fine  gold,  the 
breast  and  arms  of  silver,  the  belly  and  thighs  of  brass,  and  the  legs 
<tf  iron,  while  the  feet  were  partly  of  iron  and  partly  of  clay.  Aston- 
ished as  the  king  was  at  hearing  this  exact  description  of  his  dream, 
he  was  still  more  so  at  its  interpretation.  Daniel— having  assured 
him  that  it  Was  not  by  his  own  wisdom  that  he  had  attained  the 
knowledge  of  this  secret;  but  by  the  special  gift  of  God,  who  had 
j^ven  the  dream  and  the  inteipretation  thereof,  that  he  might  make 
Imown  to  the  king  what  should  come  to  pass  hereafter— proceeded 
to  unfold  the  divine  teaching  thus  symbolically  conveyed. 

Addressing  Nebuchadnezsar  as  a  king  of  kings,  possessing  bound- 
less power,  dignity,  and  glory,  by  the  direct  and  immediate  gift  of 
the  God  of  heaven,  Daniel  told  him  that  hb  was  the  head  of  gold; 
that^  after  him,  another  kingdom  should  arise,  inferior  to  him,  as  silver 
is  to  gold ;  and  afterward  a  third  kingdom,  of  brass,  should  bear 
rule  over  the  earth ;  that  at  last  a  fourth  kingdom,  strong  as  iron, 
should  put  forth  its  power,  and  should  be,  at  the  same  time,  remark* 
able  for  invincible  power  and  incurable  intestine  disunion ;  and  that, 
during  the  period  and  rule  of  this  fourth  kingdom,  the  God  of  heaven 
should  set  up  a  kingdom,  which,  unlike  all  these  successive  transitoiy 
thrones,  should  embrace  the  whole  earth,  and  continue  to  the  end  of 
the  world. 

It  is  scarcely  possible,  at  this  distance  of  time,  to  form  any  reason- 
able conception  of  the  amount  of  information  thus  conveyed  to  the 
mind  of  this  proud  king.  He  must,  at  least,  have  heesi  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  magnitude  of  the  divine  wisdom  and  power.  He 
must  have  felt  that  a  prescient  and  omnipotent  Power  ruled  in  this 
earth,*  before  whom  all  human  policy  and  martial  prowess  were  as 
nothing ;  and  that  this  Power  had  decreed  but  a  temporary  duration 
to  his  kingdom,  extensive  and  elevated  as  it  was ;  that  there  should 
be  a  succession  of  four  prevailing  monarchies,  which  should  exercise 
paramount  supremacy  in  the  earth ;  and  that,  under  the  last  of  these, 
the  kingdom  of  God  should  be  established  in  the  world. 

Ho  notion  respecting  antiquity  is  more  unfounded  than  the  sup- 
position, that  the  king  of  Babylon  and  his  courtiers  would  be  at  a 
loss  to  understand  this  announcement.  From  the  earliest  ages,  the 
primitive  promise  lived  in  the  memory  and  hope  of  mankind:  and 
the  form  it  assumed  throughout  successive  generations^as, — thata 


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192  THE  OSNTILB  NATIONS. 

divine  person,  or  "  Son,"  should  appear,  who,  subduing  all  evil  powers, 
would  establish  one  united  and  perpetual  sovereignty  in  the  earth. 
The  interpretation  of  the  king's  dream,  therefore,  was  calculated— 
aftd,  very  probably,  was  designed — ^to  remove  those  vain-glorious 
thoughts  which  had  occupied  his  mind,  and  to  assure  him  that,  so 
far  from  his  own  being  the  great  and  long-expected  sovereignty,  his 
kingdom  was  destined  to  be  succeeded  by  three  others,  each  wielding 
universal  dominion,  before  the  promised  kingdom  of  God  would 
come ;  and  that,  when  at  length  it  was  set  up,  it  should  be  so  diverse, 
in  its  character  and  constitution,  from  all  these,  that  it  would  break 
in  pieces  and  destroy  all  these  kingdoms,  and  stand  forever. 
Dan.  ii. 

The  revelations  thus  given  by  Daniel  to  the  king  were  so  satis- 
factory, that  he  raised  the  prophet  to  the  highest  honour,  gave  him 
great  gifts,  and  appointed  him  Rab  Mag,  or  chief  of  all  the  wise 
men,  and  ruler  over  the  province  of  Babylon.  Daniel  immediately 
promoted  his  three  friends  to  offices  of  trust  and  honour  in  the 
government  of  the  province  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted. 

Our  next  information  respecting  this  reign  announces  the  erection 
by  I^ebuchadnezzar  of  a  golden  image,  of  great  height  and  splendour. 
This  was  set  up  in  the  plains  of  Dura  in  the  province  of  Babylon. 
The  simple  addition  of  an  image,  even  a  large  and  golden  one,  to  the 
objects  already  worshipped  in  a  country  so  devoted  to  idolatry  as 
Babylonia,  would  of  itself  excite  no  surprise,  and  scarcely  call  for 
observation.  In  this  case,  however,  there  are  many  extraordinary 
circumstances.  In  the  first  place,  the  king  summoned,  to  meet  him 
at  the  dedication  of  this  image,  "  the  princes,  the  governors,  and  cap- 
tains, the  judges,  the  treasurers,  the  counsellors,  the  sherifiEs,  and  all 
the  rulers  of  the  provinces."  Now,  in  an  empire  so  extensive  as  that 
of  Babylon,  and  so  recently  constituted,  a  measure  of  this  kind  must 
not  only  have  involved  great  cost,  inconvenience,  and  waste  of  time, 
but  must,  especially  in  recently-subdued  countries,  have  been  con- 
nected with  some  danger.  This  is  so  evident  that  it  must  be  uni- 
versally admitted,  that  nothing  but  a  great  and  urgent  reason  would 
have  led  to  such  an  abstraction  of  all  the  government  staii^  and  the, 
elite  of  all  the  officers  of  the  empire  firom  their  post  of  duty,  that 
they  might  meet  together  on  this  occasion. 

The  motive  which  operated  in  the  mind'  of  Nebuchadnezzar  was, 
however,  sufficient  to  induce  him  to  adopt  this  course :  and  this  is 
conclusive  evidence  that  he  aimed  at  something  more  than  the 
addition  of  one  more  image  to  the  Pantheon  of  Babylonia.  Whether 
the  exposition  given  in  a  preceding  volume  (Hebrew  People, 
pp.  396,  586-589)  be  received  or  rejected,  I  think  it  must  be 


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THB  OKNTILB  NATIONS.  193 

admitted  that  the  king  was  moved  to  adopt  this  course  by  some 
strong  desire  to  bring  the  united  religious  faith  and  feeling  of  his 
oflScers  eveiywhere  to  bear  upon  their  fealty  to  him,  and  to  promote 
the  consolidation  of  his  empire  by  this  means. 

Whatever  mi^t  have  been  the  king's  motive  in  all  this  great 
effort,  it  led  to  marvellous  consequences.  The  pious  determination 
of  the  three  Hebrew  youths  was  formed ;  imd  they  refused  com- 
pliance with  the  royal  mandate,  to  "  fall  down  and  worship  the  golden 
image."  They  were  in  consequence  cast  into  a  fiery  furnace. 
Struck  with  such  remarkable  conduct,  and  enraged  at  this  resist- 
ance to  his  authority,  Nebuchadnessar  carefully  watched  the  execu- 
tion of  the  punishment.  While  thus  occupied,  he  was  amaeed  beyond 
measure  to  find  that  the  fire  had  no  power  on  the  bodies  of  the  con- 
demned men.  Their  bonds,  indeed,  were  burned  of^  but  their  per- 
sons and  their  dotihes  remained  unharmed  by  the  destroying  element ; 
and  they  walked  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  the  fire.  Stranger 
even  than  all  was  the  appearance  of  a  divine  person,  walking  in 
company  with  them  through  the  fire,  whom  the  terrified  king,  either 
struck  by  the  display  of  some  well-known  sign  or  appearance,  or 
taught  by  an  immediate  afflatus  firom  heaven,  at  once  recognised  as 
THE  Son  of  God. 

Whatever  personal,  political,  or  religious  design,  then,  was  con- 
templated in  the  collection  of  this  great  assembly,  it  could  have  been 
but  partially  secured,  and  was  probably  entirely  frustrated.  This 
great,  and  at  the  same  time  select,  concourse  of  the  official  and  ex- 
ecutive bodies  of  all  the  provinces  of  this  immense  empire  are  seni 
back  to  their  localities,  not  only  under  a  deep  impression  of  the 
faithfulness  and  almighty  power  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  but 
with  an  assurance  tiiat,  notwithstanding  the  hopes  and  expectation 
of  every  people  looked  each  to  its  own  several  country  for  his 
appearance,  ihe  Son  of  God  was  eminently  the  God  of  the  He- 
brews. 

The  religious  efi^  of  this  miracle  on  this  Hebrew  multitude  will 
be  noticed  elsewhere :  we  simply  observe  here,  that  its  political  influ- 
ence must  have  been  great.  What  though  Jerusalem  lay  in  ruins, 
and  the  Hebrews  were  scattered  throughout  GhaldsBa  in  abject  cap- 
tivity? their  fortunes  could  not  be  regarded  as  hopeless,  their  politi- 
cal interests  cotild  not  be  desperate,  while  an  almighty  God  was  thus 
present  to  interpose  in  their  behalf.  When,  therefore,  "  the  princes, 
governors,  and  captains,  and  the  king's  counsellors,  being  gathered 
together,  saw  these  men,  upon  whose  bodies  the  fire  had  no  power, 
nor  was  a  hair  of  their  head  singed,"  they  saw  before  them  living 
proofs  of  the  vitality  of  the  Hebrew  state, — a  certain  pledge  that  it 

13 


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194  THB  QKNTILB  NATIONS. 

also  should  be  delivered  from  the  furnace  of  affliction  in  whidi  it  theo 
was,  and  rise  again  to  honour  and  power. 

As  no  heathen  monarch  had  oyer  before  been  the  subject  of  such 
a  large  amount  of  prophecy  and  promise  as  Nebuchadnessar,  so  no 
one  was  distinguished  by  such  remarkable  interpositions.  JNot 
only  was  he  permitted  to  overthrow  the  Hebrew  state,  which  had 
arisen  under  the  special  and  immediate  protection  of  Heaven,  and 
had  been  miraculously  sustained  for  many  centuries;  but  universal 
sovereignty  was  in  distinct  terms  promised  to  him,  and  he  was 
4M)tually  put  in  possession  of  it.  While  he  remained  a  proud  and 
haughty  heathen,  although  influenced  by  a,  mad  ambition,  he  is 
called  a  "  servant "  of  Jehovah,  and  direct  punishment  from  God 
is  denounced  on  all  who  refiise  to  submit  to  his  authority. 
Jer.  xxvii,  6-8.  The  result  of  this  unparalleled  success  and  eleva- 
tion was  intolerable  pride,  which  subjected  him  to  a  most  remarkable 
afflictive  visitation.  • 

Our  information  respecting  this  fact  is  brought  before  us  in  an 
extraordinary  manner,  being  contained  in  a  long  and  important 
proclamation  or  edict,  issued  by  the  king,  which  details  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  with  his  solemn  judgment  thereon.  It  recites 
that  the  king  saw  in  a  dream  a  great  and  lofty  tree,  of  unequalled 
strength,  size,  and  beauty;  that  while  he  gazed  on  it  a  holy  one 
came  down  from  heaven,  and  cried  aloud :  "  Hew  down  the  tree,  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 : 
oievertheless  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  d^w  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  imto  him;  and  let  seven  times  pass 
over  him."  The  king  said,  that  the  dream  made  him  a&aid,  and 
.troubled  him.  He  then  called  in  his  wise  men ;  but  they  could  not 
afford  him  any  satisfactory  solution  of  the  dream.  Daniel  was  then 
summoned:  and,  on  hearing  the  strange  recital,  stood  wrapt  in  mute 
astonishment  for  an  hour;  until  the  king  said,  "  Belteshazzar,  let  not 
the  dream  trouble  thbe."  The  prophet  then,  in  a  speech  full  of 
tenderness,  power,  and  fidelity,  told  his  master  that  the  dream 
betokened  the  greatest  personal  calamity  to  the  king.  Identifying 
the  sovereign  with  the  tree,  he  thus  explained  its  cutting  down,  d&c. : 
"  This  is  the  interpretation,  0  king,  and  this  is  the  decree  of  the 
Most  High, which  is  come  upon  my  lord  the  king :  that  they  shall 
drive  thee  from  men,  and  thy  dwelling  shall  be  with  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  and  they  shall  make  thee  to  eat  grass  as  oxen,  and  they  shall 


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THE  QBNTILB  NATIONS.  196 

iret  thee  with  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  seven  times  shall  pass  over 
thee,  till  tiioa  know  that  the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of 
men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomsoever  he  will."  The  prophet  closed 
his  address  by  earnestly  exhorting  the  king  to  repentance,  that,  if 
possible,  the  infliction  of  this  terrible  evil  might  be  delayed.  Qr 
averted. 

No  immediate  prospect  of  the  folfilment  of  this  prophetic  doom 
appeared.  Nebndiadnezzar  still  proceeded  in  his  nsual  course,  until 
twelve  months  after  he  had  had  this  dreun,  when,  while  standing  in 
his  palace,  admiring  the  splendour  ^of  his  dwelling,  and  the  magnifi-  ' 
cenoe  and  extent  of  his  capital,  he  said,  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon, 
that  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom  by  the  might  of  my 
power,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty  ?*'  Instantly  a  voice  frotif 
heaven  arrested  his  ear,  and  announced  that  the  predicted  infliction 
would  now  take  place.  And  so  it  was :  the  same  hour  the  king's 
reason  left  him:  insanity,  in  its  most  humiliating  form,  afi^cted  his 
mind;  and  from  this  time  he  herded  with  beasts,  and  was  a  stranger 
to  the  comforts  of  humanity,  until  seven  years  had  passed  over  him. 
It  is  possible  that  during  these  years  Nebuchadnezzar  had  intervals 
sufficiently  lucid  to  enable  him  to  appreciate  the  extent  of  his  loss, 
and  the  misery  and  degradation  to  which  he  was  reduced.  At  the 
end  of  seven  years  he  recovered  his  reason,  and  was  restored  to  his 
kingdom.  He  immediately  published,  as  a  proclamation,  that  which 
is  now  found  in  the  fourth  diapter  of  Daniel's  prophecy,  and  which 
was  perhaps  drawn  up,  at  his  request,  by  the  hand  of  the  prophet. 
It  contains  a  noble  aclmowledgment  of  the  truth,  wisdom,  goodness, 
and  power  of  the  true  God. 

Soon  after  this  event,  Nebuchadnezzar  died,  and  left  the  kingdom 
to  his  "Son.  We  cannot^  however,  dose  the  account  of  this  extra^ 
ordinary  reign  without  observing,  that  it  was  in  fact  the  Babylonian 
empire.  The  prophetic  explanation  given  by  Daniel  of  the  first  uni- 
veraal  monarchy  was  as  strictly  accurate  as  it  was  bold  and  terse, 
when  he  said  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  "  Thou  art  this  head  of  gold." 
Like  Alexander  of  Greece,  this  king  of  Babylon,  under  God,  gave 
power  to  his  country.  All  before  liim  was  slow,  almost  impercepti- 
ble, growth: — all  after  him,  rapid  decay. 

It  may  further  be  observed,  that  the  numerous  predictions  respect- 
ing the  future  history  of  the  world  which  this  sovereign  had  received 
through  the  medium  of  Daniel,  had  given  him  a  knowledge  of  suc- 
ceeding evests  which  have  left  traces  on  the  page  of  profane  history. 
In  a  fragment  of  Megasthenes,'*'  preserved  by  Ai)ydenus,  it  is  stated, 

*  Megaithenes  was  a  Greek  author  who  wrote  B.  C.  800.  He  was  sent  hj  Aeleucus  to 
India,  to  renew  a -treaty  with  SaatfvooottiiB. 


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196  THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

"  It  is  moreover  related  by  the  Ghaldadans,  that  as  Hebufihadaezsar 
went  up  into  his  palace,  he  was  possessed  by  some  god;  and  he 
cried  out  and  said,  '  0  Babylonians,  1  Nebuchadneassar  foretell  unto 
you  a  calamity  which  must  shortly  come  to  pass,  which  neither  Belos 
my.  ancestor  nor  his  queen  Beltis  haye  power  to  persuade  .the  Fates 
to  turn  away.  A  Persian  mule  shall  come,  and  by  the  assistance 
of  your  gods  shall  impose  upon  you  the  yoke  of  alav^ ;  the  author 
of  which  shall  be  a  Mede,  the  Tain-«glory  of  Assyria.  Before  he 
should  thus  betray  my  subjects,  0  that  some  sea  or  whirlpool  might 
receive  him,  and  his  memory  be  blotted  out  forever;  or  that  he 
might  be  cast  out,  to  wander  through  some  desert,  where  there  are 
neither  cities  nor  the  trace  of  men,  a  solitary  exile  among  rocks  and 
caverns,  where  beasts  and  birds  alone  abide  I  But  for  me,  before 
be  shall  have  conceived  these  mischiefs  in  his  mind,  a  happier  end 
will  be  provided.'  When  he  had  thus  prophesied,  he  expired." — 
Cort/s  Fragments,  p.  45. 

It  will  be  fireely  admitted,  that  if  Daniel  had  folly  communicated 
his  several  visions  to  Nebuchadnezsar,  he  would  have  been  in  pes- 
session  of  all  the  information  given  in  the  above  extract:  and  noth- 
ing seems  more  probable  than  that,  although  from  motives  of  policy 
he  might  keep  the  import  of  these  to  himself  during  his  life,  he 
might,  just  before  his  death,  unburden  his  mind  in  such  language  as 
Megasthenes  has  given  us, — ^language  which  will  be  found  in  perfect 
keeping  with  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  character  of  the. speaker. 
(Prideaux's  Connexion,  vol.  i,  p.  117.) 

On  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Eyil-Mbrodach  ascended  the 
throne.  We  have  but  slender  information  respecting  this  sovereign. 
The  first  act  of  his  which  is  mentioned  in  Holy  Scripture  is  the 
liberation  of  Jehoiachin,  the  captive  king  of  Judah,  from  the  prison 
in  which  he  had  been  confined  for  thirty-seven  years.  2  Kings 
XXV,  27.  A  Jewish  tradition,  already  noticed,  supposes  the  Baby- 
lonian prince  to  have  been  imprisoned  by  his  father,  and  thus  to 
have  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  captive  Hebrew.  A  cause 
is  suggested  for  this  imprisonment  of  the  Babylonish  prince  by  a 
statement  of  Xenophon  to  this  effect,  that  during  a  hwrting  excur- 
sion he  entered  the  Median  territory,  but  was  encountered  and 
repulsed  by  a  party  of  Modes  under  the  command  of  Ojrrus,  idio 
was  then  a  youth. 

Whether  either  of  these  traditions  has  any  foundation  in  fiiot  can- 
not now  be  ascertained:  but  it  is  sufficiently  evident  that  his  kind- 
ness to  the  captive  king  of  Judah  is  the  most  prominent  action  of 
this  sovereign's  government  which  has  come  to  our  knowledge.  He 
was  slain,  after  a  brief  reign  of  three  years,  by  a  con^iracy,  at  tlie 


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THE  QBNTILB  NATIONS.  107 

head  of  which  was  his  broth^-in-Iaw,  Meriglissar,  who  had  married 
a  dandier  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 

MsRiGLissAR  succeeded  to  the  throne  on  the  ietA.  of  Evil- 
Merodach,  and  was  greatly  esteemed  by  his  snbjects  for  his  justice 
and  bravery. 

He  saw  in  the  rising  poww  of  the  Medes,  and  iheir  close  con- 
nexion with  Persia,  danger  to  the  independence  of  his  country :  and 
it  is  highly  probable  that  this  apprehension  was  greatly  strengthened 
by  the  predictions  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  received  from  Daniel, 
and  which  would  be  preserved  in  the  court  of  Babylon,  as  important 
guides  to  direct  the  policy  of  the  state.  He  accordingly  exerted 
himself  to  promote  a  powerful  confederacy  against  Media.  This 
was  composed  of  the  Lydiatis  under  Croesus,  the  King  of  Cappa- 
dooia,  iihe  Phrygians,  the  Carians,  the  Paphlagonians,  the  Cilicians, 
and  some  Indians. 

The  Median  monarch,  in  order  effectually  to  resist  this  aggressive 
combination,  first  marched  into  Armenia,  where  the  king,  encour- 
aged by  these  appearances  of  hostility,  had  thrown  off  his  allegiance, 
and  withheld  his  accustomed  tribute.  Having  subdued  and  pardoned 
this  prince,  he  proceeded  to  meet  the  confederated  chiefs,  who  did 
Qot  shrink  from  the  conflict.  A  great  battle  was  the  result,  in  which 
<he  Medes  were  conquerors,  and  Neriglissar  was  slain.  Croesus  of 
Lydia  assumed  the  command  of  the  defeated  army,  and  retreated 
toward  his  own  country ;  while  the  son  of  Neriglissar,  Laborosar- 
CHOD,  being  a  very  young  man,  ascended  the  throne  of  Babylon. 

This  prince  was  the  Belshazzar  of  Daniel :  he  reigned  but  nine 
months ;  in  consequence  of  which,  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the 
Astronomical  Canon  of  Ptolemy.  Short  as  was  his  reign,  he  gave 
ample  proof  of  his  cruelty  and  dissipation.  He  wantonly  slew  the 
son  of  Gobrias,  one  of  his  principal  nobles,  because,  while  hunting, 
be  successfully  threw  a  dart  at  a  wild  beast  which  the  king  had 
hoped  to  kill.  He  also  subjected  another  of  his  nobility  to  the  most 
infamous  and  cruel  treatment,  because  one  of  the  royal  concubines 
had  praised  his  appearance.  The  crowning  act  of  his  short  and  in- 
glorious reign  was  his  pro&nation  of  the  vessels  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord  at  Jerusalem ;  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  taken  away,  and 
placed  in  the  temple  of  his  idol  deity  at  Babylon. 

This  young  and  vsdn' prince  having  assembled  a  thousand  of  hi6 
lords  to  a  grand  banquet, — ^while  they  were  feasting  with  unbounded 
revelry,  it  occurred  to  him,  that  it  would  greatly  add  to  the  interest 
of  the  scene,  and  to  his  own  honour,  if  he  introduced  these  sacred 
vessels  to  his  guests.  The  desire  was  immediately  gratified.  The 
saered  teasels  were  introduced.    He  drank  wine  out  of  them,  and 


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198  THB  GBNXILB  NATIONS. 

handed  them  to  his  gaeets,  who,  following  his  example,  all  united  in 
extolling  their  own  gods,  bj  whose  &vour  such  trophies  were  placed 
in  their  hands. 

While  thus  employed,  the  finger  of  a  man's  hand  was  seen  writing 
on  the  wail  opposite  to  the  royal  seat.  To  apprehend  this  fully,  it 
must  be  stated  that  these  royal  halls  were  coTered  with  sculpture 
and  inscriptions.  Eveiy  national  triumph,  and  all  the  splendid 
actions  of  their  several  kings,  were  thus  emblasoned  before  the  eyes 
of  all  beholders.  The  finger  of  a  man's  hand  thus  miraculously 
adding  to  these  records,  of  course,  filled  the  assembly  with  con- 
sternation and  alarm,  and  most  of  all  dismayed  the  king,  who  in 
trembling  haste  summoned  his  wise  men  to  his  aid;  but  they  could 
not  read  the  writing.  The  queen,  Nitocris,  now  appeared.  She 
was  the  king's  grandmother,  and  had  been  the  wife  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar,  and  was  therefore  perfectly  familiar  with  the  histoiy  of  that 
king's  reign,  and  with  the  character  and  wisdom  of  Daniel.  She 
accordingly  suggested,  that  the  sacred  seer  should  be  called;  who, 
when  he  appeared,  after  a  faithful  reprehension  of  the  Idng  for  his 
impiety,  announced  that  the  sentence  so  maryellously  added  to  the 
inscriptions  of  the  royal  palace,  was  simply  this:  "Thou  abt 

WBIGHED  IN  THB  BALANOBS,  AND  ART  FOUND  WANTING.  ThY 
kingdom  is  NUMBBRBD  AND  FINI8HBD,  AND  GIVBN  TO  THB  MbDBS 

AND  Fbrsians."  (See  also  Hebrew  People,  pp.  354,  355.) 

That  same  night  Belshazzar  was  slain  by  conspirators ;  and,  as 
the  sacred  record  informs  us,  "  Darius  the  Median  took  the  Idng- 
dom,  being  about  threescore  and  two  years  old."  Dan.  v,  31. 

Ho  portion  of  ancient  history  is  more  complicated  or  beset  with 
greater  difiSculties,  than  this:  and  for  further  information  respecting 
the  chronology  and  order  of  this  succession  the  reader  must  be  re- 
ferred to  another  place.  (See  Appendix,  note  27.)  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  stated  here,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  condusion  to  which 
we  have  come,  or  in  the  Scriptural  account  which  we  fully  receive, 
contrary  to  the  highest  probabiUty. 

The  sovereign  of  Media,  with  whom  the  Persians  were  in  strict 
alliance,  was  brother  of  JNitocris,  the  wise  and  enei^etic  queen- 
mother  of  Babylon.  The  race  of  I4ebuchadnezzar  was  now  extinct 
Darius  was  the  nearest  of  kin  to  the  late  royal  line.  The  power  of 
the  Modes  and  Persians  was  in  the  ascendant.  But  a  few  months 
previously,  the  king  of  Babylon  had  fallen  in  battle  against  them,  and 
all  the  confederate  host  had  been  routed  by  the  Medo-Persian  army. 
At  this  moment  the  young  Gyrus  was  pursuing  his  career  of  con- 
quest in  the  west  of  Asia.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  known  that 
tilie  Median  supremacy  was  just  and  clement.    The  king  of  Armenia 


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THS  GENTILB  NATI0K8.  199 

had  a  short  time  before  been  pardoned,  and  aUowed  to  retain  the 
sovereignty  of  his  country,  even  after  he  had  been  convicted  of  infi- 
delity. Above  all,  the  queen  was  well  aware,  that,  with  the  deceased 
monarch,  Ood's  prophet  had  declared  that  the  royal  line  of  Babylon 
should  cease,  and  the  country  become  subject  to  the  Medes  and 
Persians.  This  was,  indeed,  not  only  known  to  the  queen  by  pre- 
vious predictions,  but  had  aJso,  on  that  eventful  night  of  revelry, 
been  heralded  forth  to  all  the  assembled  aristocracy  by  the  venera- 
ble Daniel. 

Can  it,  then,  excite  any  surprise  that  this  course  was  taken,  now 
that  there  was  no  royal  ambition  to  gratify  ?  Need  we  wonder  that 
thd  Babylonians  did  not  decide  upon  appointing  a  king,  and  enter- 
ing, under  every  disadvantage,  upon  a  new  Median  war,  rather  than, 
by  a  ready  submission  to  Darius,  securing  to  themselves  a  mild  and 
tolerant  government? 

The  king  of  Media,  on  these  terms,  took  possession  of  the  king- 
dom, and  treated  it  as  the  rest  of  his  dominions.  The  sacred  writer 
proceeds  to  say,  that  "  it  pleased  Darius  to  set  over  the  kingdom  a 
hundred  and  twenty  princes."  The  person  he  appointed  as  vicerby 
of  Babylon  was  Nabonnedus,  or  Labynbtus,  as  he  is  sometimes 
named.  It  would  seem,  from  the  accounts  of  ancient  authors,  that 
he  was  the  choice  of  the  Babylonish  people;  it  being  extremely 
probable  that,  in  those  circumstances,  the  Median  monarch  would 
allow  them  a  governor  in  whom  they  had  the  fullest  confidence. 
Having  made  this  appointment,  and  having  heard,  perhaps  by  public 
report,  and  possibly  more  fully  from  his  sister,  the  fame  and  char- 
acter of  Daniel,  Darius  took  him  to  his  own  capital  of  Ecbatana, 
and  made  him  the  first  minister  of  his  great  empire. 

Labynetus  reigned  seventeen  years.  We  have  no  information 
respecting  the  early  part  of  his  government :  but  it  seems  that,  hav- 
ing become  accustomed  to  rule,  he,  after  some  years,  turned  his 
attention  to  the  feasibility  of  obtaining  the  independence  of  Babylon. 
His  first  efforts  were  directed  toward  greatly  improving  the  fortifi- 
cations of  his  capital.  At  length,  taking  advanti^e  of  the  conquest 
of  Media,  and  the  troubled  state  of  the  afeirs  of  Cyrus,  Labynetus 
assumed  entire  independence.  How  long  he  was  permitted  to  enjoy 
this,  does  not  appear.  But  at  length  the  indefatigable  Persian 
marched  toward  Babylon.  Too  confident  in  his  strength,  the  king 
went  forth,  and  met  him  in  the  field,  but  was  completely  defeated. 
Still  the  king  of  Babylon,  relying  on  the  strength  of  the  city  walls, 
refused  to  submit;  and  Cyrus  was  long  detained  by  the  siege,  until 
at  length,  taking  advantage  of  a  public  festival,  he  diverted  the  river 
firom  its  bed,  and  caused  his  troops  to  enter,  on  each  side  of  the 


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200  THE  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

city,  in  the  nighC  which  was  thus  takea  bj  surprise,  and  completely 
reduced  to  subjection.  Labynetos,  on  the  capture  of  the  city,  re- 
treated to  Borsippa,  the  sacred  palace  and  citadel,  which  were 
strongly  fortified.  (See  Appendix,  note  28.)  Cyrus  destroyed  the 
principal  part  of  the  lofty  walls  of  Babylon,  before  he  left  it. 

Having  subdued  the  capital,  Gyrus  proceeded  to  inyesi;  Borsippa; 
but  Labynetus,  seeing  his  circumstances  desper^,  submitted  him- 
self to  the  conqueror,  and  was  sent  into  Garmania,  where  he  ended 
his  days.  Thus  terminated  the  glory  and  power  of  Babylon.  We 
cannot,  however,  dismiss  the  history  of  this  country  without  observ- 
ing, that  we  have  here  the  first  of  those  four  remarkable  nations 
which  were  raised  up  by  the  special  providence  of  Grod,  made  the 
subjects  of  wonderful  prophetic  revelations,  and  placed  in  singular 
proximity  to  the  people  of  God.  There  is  nothing  in  the  history 
of  the  world  comparable  to  the  magnitude  of  this  divine  interposition. 
Its  effect  on  the  religious  character  and  knowledge  of  the  several 
countries  will  be  elsewhere  shown :  but,  as  a  grand  element  in  God's 
government  of  the  world,  this  divine  vocation  of  nations  to  peculiar 
political  power  is  truly  wonderful.  Babylon,  after  ages  of  subjec- 
tion to  Assyria^  suddenly,  and  exactly  when  the  Hebrew  state  was 
tottering  to  its  &11,  started  up  to  the  summit  of  martial  power  and 
political  grandeur ;  and,  having  fulfilled  her  destiny  in  the  ruin  and 
captivity  of  the  Hebrews,  and  verified  the  numerous  predictions 
which  had  been  delivered  respecting  her,  she  with  equal  rapidity, 
and  almost  without  a  struggle,  descended  first  into  her  former  subor- 
dinate position,  and  thence  into  absolute  and  perpetual  desolation. 
(See  Appendix,  note  29.) 


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CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  BABYLONIAN  HISTORY. 


B.  C.  NsmM  and  ItsbIi.  j^j 

747  NabonassftT 14 

(Who  made  the  dAte  of  hia  acces- 
•ion  the  beginning  of  the  Na- 
bonassarian  Era.) 

783  Nadins 2 

731  ChinzinxB 5 

726  Jugens 5 

721  Mardocempadus 12 

(The  Merodadi-Baladan  who  sent 
an  embassy  to  Hesekiah.) 
700  Archianes,  brother  to  Esarhaddon...    5 

704  Ha^isa 30  days 

(Who  killed  the  preceding  Assy- 
rian viceroy,  and  ruled  inde- 
pendftttly.) 

Maradok 6  months 

Jtutn  f^H  un  m 

702  Belibtts 8 

609  ApronadioB 6 

(Babylon  being   again  anbdned 
to  Assyria,  this  king,  another 
brother  of  Esarhaddon,   gov- 
erns.) 
6BS  Regibalns 1 


B.  C.  N«me«  and  ETCnti.  lUijtDSd- 

692  Meseslmordacns 4 

.688  Second  Interregnum 8 

680  Asaridin 13 

667  Saosduchin. 20 

647  Chinladin 22 

625  Nabopolassar..! 21 

(En  conjunction  with  the  Medei, 
destroys  Nineveh,  B.  C.  606, 
and  sends  his  son,  Nebnchad- 
nezzar,  to  snbdue  Western 
Asia.) 

604  Nebuchadnezzar 48 

(Destroys  Jerusalem,  B.  C.  586.) 

661  Kvil-Merodach 3 

558  Nerigliasar 5 

Laborosarchod 9  months 

(The  Belshazzar  of  Daniel ;  his 
feast  and  death.) 

553  Labynetus 17 

(Rules  at  first  as  viceroy  under 
Darius ;  but  at  length,  assum- 
ing independence,  is  subdued 
by  Cyrus.) 
536  Babylon  taken  by  Cyms. 


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202  THB  GBNTILE  NATIONS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  BfiLIGION  OF  THE  A8S7RIANS  AND  BABYLONIANS. 

Babtloh  the  seat  of  the  first  post-diluTian  Apostftcy— Peculiar  Religious  Position  of 
Babylon  and  Assyria — ^Epiphanlus  on  the  Early  Declension  of  Religion — Information 
contained  in  his  Statement — ^Fragment  of  Damascius — ^It-s  Important  Teaching — ^The 
Chaldeean  Oracles  exhibit  the  same  Fact— A  Triad  oonsisting  of  the  Great  Mother, 
Father,  and  Only-begotten  Son — ^Further  Development  of  Chaldaean  Mythology— 
Chaldsan  Deities — ^Their  Origin  and  Peculiarities— Worship  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies, 
and  of  Fire — Chald«an  and  Assyrian  Idolatry  began  with  Hero  and  Demon  Worship 
in  the  Form  of  Trlads^-Mr.  Faber  on  this  Subject — Symbolical  Repretentatton  of  the 
Great  Triad— Other  Symbols— Assarao— Cherubic  Figures— The  Sacred  Tree— A  Gai^ 
den  called  **  Paradise  "  attached  to  each  Royal  Palace — The  Palace  itself  a  Sacred 
Temple — ^Doubts  of  Layard — Elaborate  Proof  of  Fergusson — ^The  King  revered  as  a 
Divine  Person — ^Proof  of  this — Manner  in  which  the  Kings  evinced  their  Claim  to  this 
Character — This  Idea  shown  to  pervade  the  whole  System — ^Remarkable  Identity  of 
Character  which  the  Religion  of  Assyria  and  Babylon  maintained  through  so  many 
Ages — General  Views — Gradual  Declension  in  Theology — ^Worship  of  Fire — ^The 
Results  of  Hebrew  Intercourse  and  Divine  Interposition  on  the  Religion  of  these 
Countries — Sabfeonism  not  the  Primitive  Religion  of  Assyria— A  large  Amount  of 
Patriarchal  History  and  Religious  Knowledge  must  have  remained  in  the  Primitive 
Nations  long  after  the  Dispersion — ^Patriarchal  Longevity  designed  to  prevent  a 
Deterioration  in  Religion — Connexion  with  the  Hebrews — ^Divine  Interposition  more 
likely  on  this  Ground  to  be  effective — Assyrian  Intercourse  with  Egypt— Assyrian 
Knowledge  of  Hebrew  History — ^The  Mission  of  Jonah — ^Its  Religious  Results — ^The 
Destruction  of  the  Assyrian  Emigrants  in  Samaria  by  Lions — ^A  Hebrew  Priest  sent  to 
teach  them  the  Law  of  the  Lord — Babylon  elated  by  the  Ruin  of  Jerusalem— The 
King  humbled,  and  all  the  People  taUght  Divine  Truth,  on  the  Plains  of  Dork- 
Nebuchadnezzar's  Insanity,  Restoration,  and  Proclamation. 

When  the  antiquity  and  extensive  dominion  of  these  great  empires, 
Assyria  and  Babylon,  are  considered,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
attach  too  much  importance  to  an  acquaintance  with  their  religion. 
Here,  unquestionably,  the  first  post-diluvian  apostacy  was  carried 
into  effect,  and  recognised  as  the  established  faith  of  a  particular 
nation.  Regarding  Mr.  Faber's  induction — ^that  the  great  princi- 
ples of  heathen  idolatry  were  evolved,  and  generally  adopted,  before 
the  Dispersion — as  an  established  fact,  we  b»ld  that  these  must 
have  been  incorporated  into  the  national  faith  of  Assyria  and  Baby- 
lon, before  any  other  people  would  have  obtained  a  settled  location, 
and  assumed  a  national  form.  Another  circumstance  serves  to 
confirm  this  opinion :  by  the  universal  consent  of  ail  antiquity,  the 
founder  of  the  Babylonftin  state  was  one  of  the  leaders,  if  not  the 
prime  mover,  in  the  origination  and  development  of  this  apostacy. 


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THB  GXKTILE  NATIONS.  208 

To  Nimrod  has  been  awarded,  in  all  ages,  tiie  position  of  arch- 
apostate  in  this  departure  from  the  truth  of  God :  and  this  being 
admitted,  there  cannot  be  a  donbt  that  he  enforced  the  adoption 
of  this  perverted  faith  as  a  part  of  the  policy  of  his  own  govern- 
ment. 

Bat  while  these  drcamstances  clearly  indicate  the  existence  of 
some  important  facts,  and  the  operation  of  certain  principles,  we 
must  recollect  that  they  prove  the  period  to  which  our  inquiry  is 
directed  to  be  exceedingly  remote.  We  have  here  to  discuss  the 
nature  of  religious  changes  efibcted  four  thousand  five  hundred  years 
ago,  and  to  trace,  as  far  as  possible,  their  operation,  influence,  and 
development  for  the  twenty  centuries  which  ensued;  and  to  attempt 
aU  this,  under  the  great  disadvantage  arising  from  the  circumstance 
that  this  people  has  perished  from  the  earth,  and  been  unknown 
among  men  during  the  last  two  thousand  years.  Much,  therefore, 
eannot  be  expected  in  such  an  effort,  beyond  general  heads  of 
information.  Accuracy  in  detail  must  in  this  instance  be  almost 
impossible.  What  can  be  gleaned,  however,  from  authentic  sources, 
it  will  be  our  aim  to  furnish ;  and  from  these  data  to  supply  general 
views  of  the  character,  morals,  influence,  and  policy  of  this  religious 
system. 

In  the  absence  of  precise  information  respecting  the  early  opera- 
tion of  idolatry  in  Assyria,  it  might  be  fairly  presumed  that  those 
great  errors  which  have  been  shown  to  have  originated  before  the 
Dispersion,  and  to  have  wrought  a  total  corruption  in  the  theology 
of  ^e  world,  had  obtained  in  that  country,  and  produced  similar 
results  to  those  which  meet  the  eye  of  religious  research  in  Egypt 
and  other  ancient  nations. 

We  are  not  totally  left  to  this  barren  induction,  in  respect  of  a 
subject  of  so  much  interest  and  importance.  There  are  several 
fiicts  connected  with  it,  handed  down  to  us  by  ancient  Greek  authors, 
who  had  opportunities  of  collecting,  from  the  literature  of  Assyria 
and  Babylon,  important  elements  of  information,  which  were  current 
in  their  day,  respecting  the  religion  of  those  countries.  These 
stores  of  instruction  are  largely  supplemented  by  the  extensive  dis- 
coveries recently  made  in  the  sculptures  and  inscriptions  of  these 
ancient  nations;  which  have  shed  a  flood  of  light  on  the  religious 
usages,  rites,  worship,  sacred  persons,  and  divinities  of  Assyria  and 
Babylon.  These  sources  of  information,  when  studied  under  the 
direction  of  the  general  teaching  of  history,  and  with  a  due  regard 
to  the  influence  exercised  by  the  numerous  divine  interpositions  and 
communications  of  religious  truth,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
the  Hebrew  people  and  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  will,  it  is  hoped, 


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204  THB  QEKTILB  NATI0V8. 

eniible  ua  to  form  a  tolerably  correot  and  fidl  idea  of  the  religion  of 
these  countries. 

It  may  be  desirable  to  call  attention,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the 
following  extract  from  Epiphanius :  for  although  a  part  of  it  refers 
to  a  preceding  period,  altogether  it  shows  the  opinions  which  pre- 
vailed, at  an  early  age,  respecting  ike  decknfton  and  deterioration 
of  religion  which  took  place  at  different  times,  and  probably  the 
account  of  the  changes  which  it  records  is  accurate : — 

"  The  parents  of  all  the  heresies,  and  the  prototypes  from  which 
they  derive  their  names,  and  fix>m  which  all  other  heresies  originate, 
are  these  four  primary  ones. 

"  The  first  is  Barbarism,"  (Patriarchism,)  "  which  prevailed  with* 
out  a  rival,  from  the  days  of  Adam,  throng  ten  generations,  to  the 
time  of  Noah.  It  is  called  <  Barbarism,'  because  men  have  no  rulers, 
nor  submitted  to  any  particular  discipline  of  life ;  but  as  each  thought 
proper  to  prescribe  to  himself,  so  he  was  at  liberty  to  follow  the  dio^ 
tates  of  his  own  incUiuition. 

"  The  second  is  Scythism,  which  prevailed  from  the  days  of  Noah, 
and  thence  downward  to  the  building  of  the  tower  and  Babylon,  and 
for  a  few  years  subsequently  to  that  time,  that  is,  to  the  days  of 
Fhalec  and  Bagar.  But  the  nations  which  incline  upon  the  bord^n 
of  Europe  continued  addicted  to  the  Scythic  heresy,  and  the  cus- 
toms of  the  Scythians,  to  the  agp  of  Tharra,  and  afterward.  Of  this 
sect  also  were  the  Thracians. 

"  The  third  is  Hellenism,  which  originated  in  Uie  days  of  Seme 
with  the  introduction  of  idolatry :  and  as  men  had  each  hitherto  fol* 
lowed  some  demonolatrous  superstition  of  his  own,  they  were  now 
reduced  to  a  more  established  form  of  polity,  and  to  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  idols.  And  the  followers  of  this  began  with  the  use 
of  painting,  making  likenesses  of  those  whom  they  had  formerly 
honoured, — either  king|3  or  chiefs,  or  men  who  in  their  lives  had 
performed  actions  which  they  deemed  worthy  of  record,  by  strength 
or  excellence  of  body. 

*'  And  from  the  times  of  Tharra,  the  &ther  of  Abraham,  they  intro- 
duced images  and  all  the  errors  of  idolatry ;  honouring  their  fore- 
fathers and  their  departed  predecessors  with  effigies  which  they 
&shioned  after  their  likenesses.  They  first  made  these  effigies  of 
earthenware,  but  afterward,  according  to  their  different  arts,  they 
sculptured  them  in  stone,  and  cast  them  in  silver  and  gold,  and 
wrought  them  in  wood,  and  all  kinds  of  different  materials. 

"  The  Egyptians  and  Babylonians,  the  Phiygians  and  Fhenicians, 
were  the  first  propagators  of  this  superstition,  of  making  images, 
and  of  the  mysteries;  from  whom  it  was  transferred  to  the  Greeks, 


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T81  QWnUR  NATIONS.  205 

fix>in  the  time  of  Gecrops  downward.  But  it  was  not  until  after- 
ward, and  at  a  considerable  intenral,  that  Gronus  and  Rhea,  Zeus 
and  Apollo,  were  esteemed  and  honoured  as  gods." — Cory*s  Frag^ 
menis,  pp.  53-55. 

Although  this  statement  is  not  regarded  as  detailing  the  potent 
causes  which  produced  these  changes,  nor  as  specifying  the  exact 
times  when  these  causes  began  to  operate,  we  accept  it  as  an  import- 
ant communication  of  the  great  stages  of  degeneracy,  and  of  the 
order  and  time  when  these  changes  were  so  fully  effected  as  to  become 
open  to  public  observation,  and  to  stand  patent  to  the  world  as  accom- 
pUshed  facts. 

Regarded  in  this  aspect,  it  teaches  that  no  great  religious  change, 
subsequent  to  the  Deluge,  was  so  fully  effected  as  to  be  openly  ob< 
servable  in  the  state  of  society,  until  the  time  of  Peleg  and  Reu. 
The  first  of  these  was  bom  about  two  years  before  the  death  of 
Nimrod.  Further,  we  are  informed  that  iddatry  was  reduced  to  an 
established  form  of  polity  in  the  time  of  Serug,  who  was  bom  B.C. 
2452,  or  two  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  ibe  death  of  Nimrod. 
We  are  also  told,  that  at  this  period  idol-worship  had  become 
invested  with  special  Htes  and  ceremonies,  and  that  it  began  with 
painting  the  objects  of  idolatrous  regard ;  but  theft,  in  the  days  of 
Terah,  it  had  become  so  developed  that  images  were  common.  It  is 
added,  that  it  was  not  until  some  time  afterward  that  Cronus,  Rhea, 
Zeus,  and  Apollo,  were  esteemed  and  honoured  as  gods.  And, 
lastly,  we  are  informed  that  Babylon  was  one  of  the  first  of  the 
nations  which  adopted  and  promulgated  these  errors.  Indeed,  we 
know  from  other  evidcDee  that  the  Babylonians  were  the  first  people 
that  fully  committed  themselves  to  this  national  sin  and  folly. 

Thus  in  Chaldsea  was  (Ms  master-evil  introduced,  and  the  true 
knowledge  of  (rod  assailed  by  the  rise,  progress,  and  general  preva- 
lence of  this  &tal  superstition.  But  it  will  be  asked,  "  How  did 
this  scheme,  in  its  systematic  action,  affect  the  knowledge  of  the  one 
true  God  ?"  There  can,  indeed,  be  little  doubt  that  the  extract  from 
E{nphanius  is  perfectly  correct  in  stating  that,  before  this  time,  indi- 
viduate had  been  addicted  to  demonolatrous  superstitions.  It  was, 
in  fact,  this  which  made  practicable  the  impious  attempt  to  intro* 
doce  idolatry  as  an  established  form  of  polity,  and  which  brought 
it  into  general  operation. 

It  may  be  safely  assumed,  that  at  the  beginning,  as  we  have 
abeady  stated,  this  error  was  not  put  forward  as  an  avowed  antago- 
nist to  the  truth,  but  rather  in  the  character  of  an  addition,  an  aux* 
ihary  to  it.  The  first  notice  we  have  of  the  operation  of  this  system 
is  in  perfect  accordance  with  this  general  ride.    "  The  Babylonia 


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206  THE  GBNTILB  NATIOHB. 

ana,"  we  are  told,  '*like  the  rest  of  the  barbarians,  pass  over  in 
silence  the  one  principle  of  the  universe ;  and  they  oonstitate  two, — 
Tauthe  and  Apason ;  making  Apason  the  husband  of  Tauthe,  and 
denominating  her  '  the  Mother  of  the  Gods.'  And  from  these  pro- 
ceeds an  only-begotten  son,  Moymis." — Confs  Fragments,  p.  318. 

In  this  brief  but  important  passage  there  are  aome  points  which 
deserve  especial  notice.  We  are  told  that  the  Babylonians — and 
not  they  only,  but  the  Gentile  nations  in  general — preserved  a  strict 
silence  with  respect  to  the  one  true  Gt>d,— "  the  one  prindple  of  the 
universe."  They  did  not  deny  this :  it  would  not  have  answered 
their  purpose.  This  truth  was,  in  that  early  age,  too  deeply  imbed- 
ded in  the  faith,  traditions,  and  jud^ent  of  all  people.  A  denial 
of  this  cardinal  doctrine  would  have  raised  resistance,  and  called 
forth  startling  proofs  of  its  certain  verity.  No;  but  they  were  tac- 
iturn respecting  the  glorious  unity  of  the  true  God ;  while  other 
objects  of  veneration  and  worship  were,  with  the  utmost  diligence 
and  energy,  spread  before  the  mind,  and  by  every  sacred  association 
urged  on  the  acceptance  of  the  people.  Thus,  while  perfect  silence 
was  maintained  respecting  the  divine  unity,  two  persons  are  at  first* 
exhibited  as  divine;  and  then  the  triad  is  completed  by  the  addi- 
tion of  their  only-begotten  son !  Is  it  not  truly  astonishing  that  the 
two  oldest  primitive  nations,  Babylon  and  Egypt,  should  not  only 
have  adopted  the  first  pair,  with  the  promised  incarnate  Seed,  as 
their  divine  triad,  but  that,  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  ages,  such 
unmistakable  proofs  of  this  should  yet  remain  to  attest  tiie  cer- 
tainty of  the  fact  ? 

That  this  was  the  case  here,  as  in  Egypt,  cannot  admit  of  a  doifbt-; 
or  if  such  existed,  it  would  be  dispelled  by  the  significant  terms 
"  ONLY-BBGOTTEN  SON."  It  is  not  merely  a  son, — a  regal,  a  ruling 
son ;  but  he  is  to  be  euch  a  son  as  can  have  no  equal,  no  parallel, — 
an  only-begotten,  divinely-promised  son.  It  is  farther  observable, 
that  the  wdman  is  made  the  first  of  the  triad,  and  called  "  the 
Mother  of  the  Qt)ds."'*  (Tovri/r  6k  firiripa  i9ewv  ^wofid^ovreg,)  This 
arises  out  of  the  fact  contained  in  the  primitive  promise,  namely, 
that  the  incarnate  Son  was  to  be  emphatically  "  the  Seed  of  the 
woman :"  and  if  this  ChaldsBan  dogma  had  not  come  down  to  us 
through  the  language  and  medium  of  a  nation  of  polytheists,  we 
certainly  should  not  have  found  the  female  parent  of  an  onZ^-b^ot- 
ten  son  called  *'the  Mother  of  the  Gods;**  but  rather,  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  language  employed  by  the  Babylon  of  gospel 
times,  "  the  Mother  of  Godr 

The  celebrated  Chaldsean  orades  are  full  of  similar  teaching. 
Mr.  Cory  says  of  them,  "  We  meet  eveiywhere  with  the  doctrine 


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THE  GEITTILB  KATI0N8.  207 

of  a  triad."  And  although,  with  this  learned  and  lamented  author, 
I  am  disposed  to  make  considerable  allowance  for  the  forgeries  and 
corruptions  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  the  later  Platonists 
introduced  into  these  oracles,  I  quite  agree  with  him  in  believing 
'  that  in  them  many  of  the  remnants  of  the  ancient  system  have 
been  preserved ;"  «nd  that  "  the  fundamental  tenet  which  they  set 
forth  is,  that '  a  triad  shines  through  the  whole  world,,  over  which  a 
monad  reigns.' " — Con/s  Fragments,  p.  318. 

But  while  the  fragment  of  Damascius  gives  us  this  important 
information  respecting  the  origin  of  the  Ghaldaic  triad,  it  proceeds 
further  to  develop  the  progress  of  Chaldsean  idolatry.  Although 
it  had  been  stated  so  distinctly,  that  Moymis,  the  third  person  of 
the  triad,  was  an  only-hegotten  son,  the  account  proceeds  thus : 
"  From  them,  ako,  another  progeny  is  derived, — Daohe  and  Dachus ;  , 
and  again,  a  third, — Kissare  and  Asorus ;  from  which  last  three 
others  proceed, — Anus,  and  Illinns,  and  Aas.  And  of  Aus  and 
Dauce  is  bom  a  son  called  Belus,  who,  they  say,  is  the  fabricator  of 
the  world,  the  Demiurgtis" — Con/s  Myth.  Inq.,  p.  63 ;  and  Cud- 
worths  Intel.  Sys.,  vol.  i,  pp.  488-492.  Thus  it  appears  that, 
having  ms^e  the  first  pair  and  the  promised  Seed  the  triad  which 
stands  at  the  head  of  their  theogony,  the  Babylonians  had  to  exhi- 
bit a  series  of  sacred  persons,  terminating  with  their  hero-divinity 
Belus  or  Nimrod,  who  sustained  the  character  of  the  great  God, 
was  their  principal  national  deity  in  after- times,  and  is  celebrated  as 
(he  DemvurguSy  or  "  Creator  of  the  world."  It  seems  extremely 
probable  that  this  ancient  fragment  has  preserved,  and  now  presents 
to  our  view,  an  outline  at  least  of  the  general  plan  upon  which  the 
idolatrous  system  of  these  countries  was  framed,  and  the  order  in 
which  the  more  prominent  errors  were  evolved  and  brought  into 
operation. 

But  our  taBk  goes  far  beyond  this.  We  have  also  to  ascertain 
the  extimt  to  which  this  was  carried,  and  the  further  progress  of  this 
fearful  corruption,  until  it  had  reared  up  a  system  so  full  of  impur- 
ity, and  so  opposed  to  divine  truth,  that  it  deserved  to  be  ^called 
"Babylon  the  Great,  the  Mother  of  Harlots  and  Abominations  of 
tiie  Earth." 

The  first  step  in  this  inquiry  should  be  directed  to  the  theology 
of  this  religion.  The  names,  number,  and  respective  character  of 
Assyrian  and  Ghaldsean  deities  must  be,  as  far  as  possible,  ascer- 
tained. Hitherto  little  has  been  known  on  these  subjects ;  and  even 
now  the  means  available  for  supplying  this  information  are  very 
lunited,  although  firom  the  resuscitated  sculptures  and  inscriptions 
some  valuable  aid  has  been  procured.     The  best  arrangement  and 


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208  THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

condensation  of  what  has  been  thus  obtained  is  given  by  Col.  Raw- 
linson  in  his  valuable  "Oatlines  of  Assyrian  History,"  pages 
xviii-xzi,  and  is  here  subjoined  entire  in  his  own  words : — 

"  The  most  important,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  difSenlt, 
branch  of  study  connected  with  the  Cuneiform  Inscriptions,  is  l^at 
which  relates  to  the  t^antheon; — important,  because  the  names  of 
the  kings,  and  sometimes  even  the  names  of  the  countries  which 
they  rule  over,  are  composed  of  the  names  of  the  gods; — difficult, 
because  these  names  of  the  gods  are  usually  expressed  by  arbitrary 
monograms,  because  several  monograms  often  apply  indifferently  to 
the  same  god,' and  because  many  of  the  gods  have,  to  all  appearance, 
distinct  and  independent  titles,  in  Syria,  in  Assyria,  and  in  Baby- 
lonia. Colonel  Rawlinson  has  bestowed  much  labour  on  this  intri- 
.  cate  branch  of  inquiry,  but  he  has  only  in  a  partial  degree  overcome 
its  difficulty :  he  has  identified  most  of  the  deities  worshipped  by  the 
Assyrians  with  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  the  Greek  mythology,  but 
in  a  few  instances  only  has  he  satisfied  himself  of  the  vernacular 
pronounciation  of  the  title. 

''  He  presents,  however,  the  following  brief  sketch  of  the  Pan* 
theon: — 

"(1.)  Assur,  the  patriarch  *Asshur'  defied;  Biblical  ^Nisrodi;* 
the  tutelar  divinity  of  Assyria,  and  the  head  of  their  Pantheon,  but 
unknown  to  the  Babylonians. 

"  (2.)  Ann,  the  patriarch  'Noah*  deified;  'Cannes'  of  Berosus: 
the  name  occurs  frequently  in  composition:  compare  the  nymph 
Anobret  of  Sanchoniathon,  'beloved  of  Anu;'  Telani,  *hill  of  Anu,' 
native  place  of  the  Assyrian  monarchs ;  and  the  name  of  Shalman, 
or  *  Shalmaneser,'  which  in  the  Inscriptions  is  Sallam  i4mf,  'the 
likeness  of  Anu' 

"  (3.)  Bel,  Belus  or  Jupiter,  called  on  the  obelisk  '  husband  of 
Derceto,'  and  '  father  of  the  gods,'  but  not  easily  to  be  recognised  in 
the  later  Inscriptions,  as  the  title  Bel\  with  a  qualificative  adjunct, 
was  applicable  to  several  other  divinities. 

"  (4.)  Derceto,  or  Semiramis,  '  mother  of  the  gods.*  The  native 
name  was  perhaps  Tarkat,  for  which  our  copies  of  the  Bible  have 
Tarkat,  as  the  deity  of  the  Avites.  2  Kings  xvii,  81.  A  famous 
temple  of  'Atargatis'  is  thus  described  by  Isidore,  at  'Besechan,' 
or  *  Ava/  on  the  Euphrates,  near  Hit;  and  all  that  part  of  Babylonia 
is  distinguished  in  the  Inscriptions  by  the  name  of  the  goddess. 
Tarkat  was  the  special  divinity  of  the  first  Assyrian  dynasty,  her 
name  being  usually  attached  to  that  of  the  king;  and  hence  the 
family  were  named  Dercetades  by  the  Qreeks.  This  fact  also  ex- 
plains the  pretended  descent  of  the  Assyrian  kings  from  Semiramis. 


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THB  eBNXILE  NATIONS.  209 

"  (5.)  '  Saturn,'  whose  name  is  perhaps  to  be  read  '  Moloch,*  and 
who  is  sometimes  placed  -at  the  head  of  the  PantiieoD,  being  styled 
the  chief  of  the  Ibiu*  thousand  gods  who  inhabit  the  heavens  and  the 
earth. 

"  (6.)  The  planet  'Mars/  called  Merodach  by  the  Babylpnians, 
(whence  the  Mirrikh  of  the  Arabs,)  but  distinguished  perhaps  by 
another  name  at  Nineveh.  (The  Greeks  say  Thurras  or  7\ir,) 
He  is  called  'tfie  god  of  battles/  and  temples  and  memorial 
tablets  to  him  abound  both  in  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  Merodach 
and  Nebo,.  or  'Mars'  and  'Mercury/  were  the  tutelary  gods  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the  long  Inscription  at  the  East  India  House  is 
almost  entirely  devoted  to  their  glorification. 

"  (7.)  '  The  Sun,'  one  of  whose  names  was  Shamas,  as  in  Hebrew 
and  Arabic,  but  who  seems  to  have  been  knowii  by  several  other 
titles.  He  is  called  '  the  guardian  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,' 
and  temples  were  erected,  in  his  honour  in  all  the  chief  cities  of 
Babylonia. 

"  (8.)  The  god  San,  whose  title  is  found  in  the  names  of  Senna- 
ckerib^  Sanballat,  ioc.,  but  whose  chairacter  has  not  yet  been 
identified. 

"  (9.)  '  Diana,'  associated  with  Derceto,  of  whom  she  seems  to 
have  been  the  daughter,  and  represented  everywhere  by  a  naked 
female  figure.  She  was  called  Tanath  or  Alath,  ('Alitta/)  in 
Syria^  as  in  the  title  of  Vabalathus  on  the  coins,  for  '  Artemidorus; 
and,  according  to  Herodotus,  her  Assyrian  name  was  Mylitta,  But 
though  her  monograms  can  be  everywhere  recognised  and  her  attri- 
butes partially  explained,  nothing  has  yet  been  found  in  the  Inscrip- 
tions to  show  how  the  name  was  pronounced  either  at  Nineveh  or 
Babylon. 

"  (10.)  Hadad,  or  Adar,  'the  god  of  fire,'  son  of  Anu  or  Noah, 
represented  symbolically  hj  flames,  and  called  '  the  vivifier  of  man- 
kind,' '  the  life  of  heaven  and  earth/  d&c.  That  the  Syrian  designa- 
tion of  this  deity  was  Hadad  is  shown  by  the  Biblical  title  of  '  Ben 
Hadad/  King  of  Damascus,  of  whose  name,  as  it  is  found  on  the 
obelisk,  the  monogram  of  the  *  fire-god'  forms  the  principal  element. 
Josephos,  however,  and  the  Greeks,  firequently  write  '  Ader,'  instead 
of 'Hadad/  and  'Ador' is  the  true  Babylonian  word  for  'fire/  as  in 
the  names  of  Adrammelech,  Adrameles,  Atropates,  <S6c.  The  Sep- 
harvites  worshipped  ttiis  god  when  they  burned  their  children  in  the 
fire  to  Adrammelech,  'Hadad,'  who  is  called  by  Sanchoniathon 
'  king  of  the  gods,'  was  principally  worshipped  in  Syria,  and  thus, 
according  to  Nicolaus,  all  the  kings  of  the  Damascus  family  assumed 
the  name.    His  figure,  as  it  is  des<»*ibed  by  Macrobius,  with  rays 

14 


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210  THE  GENTILE  NATIOHS. 

darting  downward  to  express  beneficence,  is  frequently  seen  on  the 
Assyrian  monuments. 

"(11.)  Ashteroth,  or  *  Venus;'  the  name  is  written  Yastara  in 
the  Inscriptions,  and  is  frequently  used  as  a  generic  appellation  for 
all  the  goddesses  of  the  Pantheon,  like  the  Baalim  and  Ashtaroth 
of  Scripture.  In  Babylonian  she  is  called  *  the  queen  of  heaven 
and  earth,'  and  seems  to  be  confounded  with  Nana,  the  Nannaia 
of  the  Greeks,  and  Nani  of  the  Syrians,  which  is  the  name  still 
applied  in  Syriac  to  the  planet '  Venus.'  Where  Nana  is  mentioned 
in  the  Nineveh  Inscriptions,  she  is  usually  named  '  queen  of  Baby- 
lon.' The  name  of  Nanabius,  King  of  Babylon,  cited  by  Nicolaus, 
signifies  '  beloved  of  Nana.' 

"(12.)  *Rhea,'  or  *Cybele,'  whose  name  in  Assyrian  means 
'  queen  of  the  gods ;'  she  is  usually  associated,  with  '  Saturn.' 

"  (13.)  Neho,  or  *  Mercury,'  a  deity  held  in  great  veneration  both 
in  Assyria  and  Babylonia;  he  is  termed  *the  king  of  heaven  and 
earth,'  or  '  the  ruler  of  heaven  and  earth,'  and  was  the  tutelar  divinity 
of  the  family  of  Nebuchadneszar. 

"Among  the  other  gods  who  have  been  identified  with  more  or 
less  of  certainty,  are  (14.)  the  Succoth  Benoth  of  Scripture;  (16.) 
Nit,  or  'Minerva,'  adopted  probably  firom  Egypt;  (16.)  Dagon; 
<17.)  Martu,  or  '  Neptune,'  the  god  of  the  sea,  who  was  also,  like 
Hadady  the  go^  of  fire,  a  son  of  Anu,  or  '  Noah,'  and  whose  temple, 
erected  by  Sennacherib,  is  now  being  excavated  in  a  mound  near 
Nineveh;  (18.)  'the  Moon,  of  whose  native  name,  however,  no  indi- 
cation has  been  yet  found. 

"  (19.)  Divan  or  Diman,  whom  it  is  proposed  to  identify  with  the 
Greek  Herctdes,  for  Syncellus  has  preserved  a  tradition  that  this 
deity  was  called  ^i66dv  by  the  Phoenicians,  the  Cappadocians,  and 
the  Ilians ;  and  a  further  argument  that  Divan  must  represent  a 
deified  hero  rather  than  a  god  is  furnished  by  the  fiict  that,  although 
the  name,  expressed  phonetically,  and  preceded  by  the  determinative 
of  divinity,  enters  into  the  composition  of  many  Assyrian  royal 
titles,  it  is  yet  never  found  in  any  invocation  or  list  of  gods,  nor 
does  there  ever  seem  to  have  been  a  temple  erected  in  his  honour. 
We  find  also,  (20.)  *the  Heavens'  personified  and  worshipped  as  a 
deity  both  at  Babylon  and  Nineveh;  and  we  further  recognise  a 
god,  named  Dala,  (21,)  whose  title  is  to  be  found  in  the  AeXatdora^og 
of  Josephus,  in  Deleboras, '  beloved  of  Da/o,'  the  name  of  an  Assy- 
rian king  preserved  by  Macrobius,  in  Aek&pdr,  explained  by  Hesy- 
chius  as  '  the  star  of  Venus,'  in  Dalphon,  the  name  of  a  son  of 
Haman,  &c.;  and  there  are  perhaps  ten  or  twelve  more  of  the 
Assyrian  gods  whose  names  and  attributes  are  altogether  obscure. 


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XHB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  211 

"The  Aesyrianfl  have  likewise  preserred  the  tides  of  mtsij 
Btranger  gods,  whom  they  do  not  seem  to  have  admitted  into  their 
own  Pantheon.  They  were  tiius  acquainted  with  the  tme  God 
Jehovah,  marking  the  term,  wherever  it  occnrred  in  proper  names, 
with  the  sign  of  a  divinity ;  and  they  distinguish  in  die  same  man- 
ner the  gods  of  Susiana,  Khumba  and  Dimiyas,  and  the  gods  of 
Armenia^  HcUdi  and  Bakbarta" 

Dr.  Layard,  in  his  new  work  (J^ineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  629)  has 
given  a  list  of  thirteen  deities;  but  it  affords  no  additional  informa- 
tion of  importance,  beyond  what  is  above  cited  from  GoL  Bawlinson. 

We  find  in  the  deification  of  Asbhur  in  Assyria,  and  in  the  cir- 
comstance  of  his  being  unknown  at  Nineveh,  %  striking  confirmation 
of  the  views  advocated  in  this  work  respecting  the  building  of  Nin- 
eveh. (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  344,  345.)  If  Nimrod,  of  the  fiunily 
of  Ham,  had  been  the  founder  of  this  city  and  empire,  it  is  very 
improbable^  that  Asshur,  of  the  family  of  Skem,  would  liave  been 
the  first  and  tutelar  deity  of  the  country.  But  if— as  we  have 
done — we  take  the  words  of  the  sacred  writer  in  their  plain  and 
obvious  sense :  *'  Out  of  that  land,"  Shinar,  "  went  forth  Asshur, 
and  builded  Nineveh,  and  the  city  Rehobotli,  and  Galah,  and. Re- 
sin;" tihien  it  might  be  expected  that,  as  in  almost  every  other 
idolatrous  country,  he  would  be  the  tutelar  divinity  of  the  nation : 
while,  as  Nimrod  reigned  at  Babylon,  Asshur  would  not  be  recog- 
nised there  in  that  character :  so  that,  in  this  instance,  the  position 
which  Asshur  occupies,  as  the  first  deity  of  the  Assyrian  Pantheon, 
may  be  fiurly  taken  as  a  demonstration  that  our  view  of  the  origin 
of  file  empire  is  correct. 

This  deity  is  the  Biblical  Nisroch, — ^the  Assarac  of  the  sculptures. 
He  was  the  great  god  of  the  nation ;  and,  in  fact,  he  represented  in 
his  person  and  worship  the  national  fiedth  of  the  Assyrian  people. 
(Layard's  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  637.)  • 

The  position  of  Noah  in  this  catalogue  is  in  accordance  with  the 
usual  course  of  idolatry  in  other  ancient  nations ;  and  the  prevalence 
of  his  divine  appellation  shows  the  early  age  at  which  his  worship 
was  introduced. 

Bel,  or  Bslus,  is  a  most  important  el^n^t  in  this  list  of  idol 
deities.  It  is  difiSoult  to  ascertain  the  precise  manner  in  which  this 
deity  was  added  to  the  Pantheon.  Two  &et8  are  unquestionable : — 
first,  that  this  term  has  always  been  associated  with  the  worship  of 
the  sun ;  and,  secondly,  that  Bel,  or  Belus,  was  equally  adored  at 
Nineveh  and  Babylon.  It  is  further  to  be  observed,  that  the  Assy- 
rian Belus  is  said  to  have  been  the  husband  of  Derceto,  or  Semi- 
ramis, — which  would  identify  him  with  Ninus.    From  this  it  seems 


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212  THE  OSNTILB  NATIOKS. 

reMonable  to  infer,  thaiin  each  country  some  distinguiehed  warrior  or 
hero  was  deified  under  this  name;  and  that  this  apotheosis  took  place 
with  reference  to  the  worship  of  the  solar  orb.  •  Further  discoveries 
of  inscriptions  may  possibly  clear  np  this  point. '  At  all  events  it 
may  be  regarded  as  siifficiently  evident,  that  Nimrod  at  Babylon' and 
Belus,  the  &ther  of  Ninus,  at  Nineveh,  (or  probably  Minos  himself,) 
were  the  persons  thus  raised  to  be  objects  of  profane  adoration. 

Of  Dbrcbto,  or  Sbmibxhis,  we  have  nothing  to  add  to  what  has 
been  found  on  the  inscriptions,  and  already  recorded  of  their  his- 
tory.  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  489^441.) 

The  name  of  Saturn  on  the  inscriptions  is  Molooh, — a  circum- 
stance which  opens  up  a  curious  subject  for  inquiry,  for  which  it  is 
to  be  feared  there  are  as  yet  no  very  available  materials  to  work  out 
a  satisfactory  solution.  I  allude  to  the  fact,  that  this  divinity  is 
known  to  have  been  worshipped  in  connexion  with  the  batbarous 
immolation  of  young  children.  Has  this  anything  to  do  with  the 
Greek  &bles  of  his  destroying  his  own  ofGspring?  Or  is  fhere  some 
common  substratum  of  fact  which  will  account  for  both  ? 

Besides  the  personification  of  the  buk  in  the  royal  Belus,  this  orb 
was  worshipped  as  C  glorious  luminary. 

Diana,  or  Mtlitta,  appears  to  have  sustained  «  very  different 
character  in  Assyria  from  the  virgin  purity  associated  with  her 
name  in  Europe.  Herodotus  has  given  an  account  of  usages  that 
obtained  in  the  temple  of  this  goddess  at  Babylon,  when  he  visited 
that  city,  which  it  is  necessary  here  to  adduce  :— 

*'  The  Babylonians  have  one  custom  in  the  highest  degree  abom- 
inable. Every  woman  who  is  a  native  of  the  country  is  obliged, 
once  in  her  life,  to  attend  at  the  temple  of  Venus.  Such  women  as 
are  of  superior  rank  do  not  omit  even  this  opportunity  of  separating 
themselves  from  their  inferiors.  These  go  to  the  temple  in  splendid 
chariots,  accompanied  by  a  numerous  train  of  domestics,  and  place 
themselves  near  the  enhance.  This  is  the  practice  with  many; 
while  the  greater  part,  crowned  with  garlands,  seat  themselves  in 
the  vestibule ;  and  there  are  always  numbers  coming  and  going. 
The  seats  have  all  of  them  a  rope  or  string  annexed  to  them,  by 
which  each  stranger  may  determine  his  choice.  A  woman,  having 
once  taken  this  situation,  is  not  allowed  to  return  home  till  some 
stranger  thtows  her  a  piece  of  money,  and  leads  her  to  a  distance 
from  the  temple.  It  is  usual  for  a  man,  when  he  gives  the  money, 
to  say,  'May  the  goddess  Mylitta  be  auspicious  to  thee!' — Mylitta 
being  the  Assyrian  name  for  Venus.  The  money  given  is  applied 
to  sacred  uses,  and  must  not  be  refused,  however  small  it  may  be. 
The  woman  is  not  sufibred  to  make  any  distinction.    She  afterward 


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THE  GIBNTILE  NATIONS.  218 

makes  some  oonciliatorj  oblation  to  the  goddess,  aod  returns  to  her 
hoase,  never  afterward,  to  be  subjected  to  similar  forms.  Such  as 
are  eminent  for  tiieir  elegance  and  beauty  do  not  continue  long ;  but 
those  whc  are  of  less  engaging  appearance  hare  sometimes  been 
known  to  remain  for  three  or  four  years,  unable  to  accomplish  the 
terms  of  the  law.  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Cyprus  have  a  similar  observance." — Herodotus,  Clio,  cap.  199. 
(See  Appendix,  note  SO.) 

The  fiither  of  history,  from  the  similarity  of  their  rites,  identified 
this  goddess  with  Venus :  but  Colonel  Rawlinson  has  found  another 
Asqrrian  female  divinity  to  whom  he  applies  that  term.  This  is 
AsHTABOTH,  whom  the  Babylonians  called  "  the  queen  of  heaven,'^ 
and  who  is  the  same  that  is  spoken  of  by  Jeremiah,  and  to  whom 
the  apostate  Israelites  burnt  incense,  and  poured  out  drink-offerings. 
Jer.  xliv,  17-26. 

I^BBO  is*  supposed  to  embody  the  attributes  afterward  ascribed 
to  Mercury.  This  divinity  was  revered  in  Assyria,  as  well  as  Baby* 
knia ;  but  in  the  latter  country  he  was  specially  regarded  as  the 
tutdar  deity  of  the  &mily  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the  term  is 
accordingly  found  incorporated  in  the  names  given  to  many  of  the 
princes  of  this  line.  The  other  deities  do  not  call  for  particular 
observation. 

Passing  from  the  Pantheon  of  Assyria,  we  have  to  notice  some  of 
the  idol  deities  of  Babylon.  The  first- of  these  is  Bblus,  or  Baal. 
Berosus,  the  Ghaldsean  priest  orf  this  deity,  says,  that  when  Chaos 
reigned, — who  was  described  by  the  cosmogony  of  this  people  as  a 
woman,  presicfing  ov€t  the  embryo  elements  of  nature, — then  "  Belus 
came,  and  cut  her  asunder :  and  of  one  half  of  her  he  formed  the 
earih,  and  of  the  otiber  half  the  heavens."  Afterward  this  deity  is 
described  as  taking  off  his  head ;  "  upon  which  the  other  gods  mixed 
the  blood;  as  it  gushed  out,  with  the  earth ;  and  from  thence  were 
formed  men,  who  on  this  account  became  rational,  and  partakers  of 
divine  knowledge.  This  Belus,  then,  divided  the  darkness,  and  sepa- 
rated the  heavens  fit>m  the  earth,  and  reduced  the  universe  to  order." 
The  acoomit  then  proceeds  to  state  that  the  animals  which  previ- 
ously existed,  *'  being  unable  to  bear  the  light,  died.  Belus,  upon 
this,  commanded  one  of  the  gods  to  take  off  his  head,  and  to  mix 
die  blood  with  the  earth,  and  from  thence  to  form  other  men  and 
animals.  Belus  formed  also  the  stars,  and  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
and  the  five  planets." 

The  statue  of  this  deity,  as  seen  in  his  temple  at  Babylon,  is 
described  by  Diodorus  as  in  the  attitude  of  walking.  His  words  are : 
**  Open  the  top  she  placed  three  statues  of  beaten  gold, — of  Jupiter. 


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214  THB  QBNTILE  KATI0N8. 

(whom  the  BabylonianB  call  Bolus,)  Juno,  and  Rhea.  Thai  to 
Jupiter  stood  upright,  in  the  posture  as  if  h^  were  walking ;  he  was 
forty  feet  in  height,  and  weighed  a  thousand  Babylonish  talents." 
It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  we  have  now  before  us  a  representation  of 
this  figure.  In  the  Epistle  attached  to  the  Book  of  Baruoh,  and 
which  Jeremiah  is  supposed  to  hare  written- to  the  captive  Hebrews, 
when  they  were  being  carried  unto  Babylon,  he  says,  "  Now  shall  ye 
see  in  Babylon  gods  of  silver  and  of  gold  and  of  wood  borne  upon 
shoulders,  which  cause  Uie  nations  to  fear."  Verse  3.  A  reference 
to  this  Epistle  in  the  Second  Book  of  Maccabees  (ii,  2,  3)  proves 
that  the  ancient  Jews  regarded  it  as  genuine;  (compare  Isa.  vi,  6, 
7 ;)  while,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  Sicilian  historian  and  the 
Hebrew  prophet,  on  one  of  the  slabs  disinterred  at  Nineveh  we  have 
a  representation  of  several  idols  carried  on  men's  shoulders,  and  one 
of  them  erect  in  a  walking  attitude.  But  what  seems  decisive  as  to 
the  identity  of  the  prophet's  description  with  the  sculpture  is,  the 
veiy  singular  circumstance  that  the  prophet,  in  describing  the  image 
of  this  deity,  says,  "  He  hath  also  in  his  right  hand  a  dagger  and 
an  axe,^'  These  will  be  allowed  to  be  very  unusual  implements  to 
be  carried  by  a  divinity ;  yet  in  the  recently  recovered  bskss^reUef  he 
is  represented  "  with  an  axe.'' 

In  the  same  chapter  Diodorus  describes  a  goddess  as  seated  in  a 
chair  of  state,  made  of  gold,  with  two.  Uons  at  her  knees,  and  near 
her  two  very  large  silver  serpents.  She  has  been  supposed  to  be  the 
same  with  the  Greek  Rhea;  but  the  Babylonish  name  has  not  yet 
been  obtained.  Another  female  deity  is  also  mentioned  in  this  con- 
nexion. She  has  been  believed  to  be  identical  with  Here.  She 
appears  standing,  holding  in  her  right  hand  a  serpent  by  the  head, 
and  in  her  left  a  sceptre  ornamented  with  precious  stones. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  notice  the  worship  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  which  extensively  prevailed  in  those  countries.  It  has  been 
generally  believed  that  Uiis  was  the  primitive  and  universal  religion 
of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians.  But  although  the  opinion  has 
obtained  such  general  acceptance,  it  does  not  appear,  on  examina- 
tion, to  be  sustained  by  such  weight  of  evidence  as  amounts  to 
rational  proof.  It  may,  indeed,  be  admitted  as  highly  probable,  that 
an  idolatrous  regard  for  the  heavenly  bodies  began  even  before  the 
Flood;  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  23&,  236;)  and  that  many  of  the  un- 
divided community  which  journeyed  to  Shinar  were  greatly  affected 
by  this  heresy.  But  it  seems  to  be  an  undoubted  fact,  that  the 
prime  apostasy  of  Nimrod  was  of  another  kind,  and,  although 
stealthily  and  insidiously  introduced,  issued  in  the  establishment  of 
hero  and  demon  worship,  mainly  in  the  form  of  triads  of  divinities. 


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THB  QENTILE  NATIONS.  215 

It  loay,  however,  be  regarded  as  certain,  that  the  adoration  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  was  afterward  ingrafted  upon  this  system  of  hero 
and  demon  idolatry. 

Mr.  Faber  has  thus  stated  this  subject :  "  The  hierophants  of  old 
appear  to  have  been  very  early  addicted  to  the  study  of  astronomy; 
though,  unfortunately,  instead  of  pursuing  their  researches  in  a 
legitimate  manner,  they  perverted  them  to  the  vain  reveries  of 
magic,  and  prostituted  them  to  the  purposes  of  idolatry.  As 
they  highly  venerated  the  souls  of  their  paradisiacal  and  arkite 
ancestors,  considering  them  in  the  light  of  demon^gods,  who  still 
watched  and  presided  over  the  affairs  of  men,  it  was  an  easy  step 
in  the  way  of  apostate  error,  to  imagine  that  they  were  translated  to 
the  heavenly  bodies,  and  that  from  these  lofty  stations  they  ruled 
and  observed  all  the  passing  events  of  this  nether  world.  When 
such  a  mode  of  speculation  was  once  adopted,  whatever  virtues 
might  afterward  be  attributed  to  the  planets,  and  in  whatever  man- 
ner the  stars  might  be  combined  into  mythological  constellations, 
the  first  idea  that  must  obviously  have  ocQurred  to  the  astronomical 
hierophants,  would  undoubtedly  be  t)us : — Since  they  perceived  the 
sun  and  the  moon  to  be  the  two  great  lights  of  heaven,  and  since 
they  worshipped  with  an  especial  veneration  the  Great  Father  and 
the  Great  Mother,  they  would  naturally  elevate  tbose^two  personages 
to  the  two  principal  luminaries.  Such  accordingly  was  the  plan 
which  they  adopted.  Those  ancient  writers  who  have  treated  on 
the  subject  of  Pagan  mythology  assure  us,  that,  by  what  was  called 
'the  mystic  theocrasia!  all  the  gods  of  the  Gentiles  ultimately 
resolved  themselves  into  the  sii^gle  character  of  the  Great  Father ; 
and,  in  a  similftr  manner,  all  their  goddesses,  into  the  single  character 
of  the  Great  Mother:  and  they  further  declare  that,  as  all  their  gods 
melt  insensibly  into  one,  they  are  all  equally  the  sun ;  and  as  all 
their  goddesses  no  less  melt  into  one,  they  are  all  equally  the 
moon. 

"Yet  notwithstanding  these  avowed  and  recognised  doctrines, 
the  gods  of  the  Gentiles  arc  allowed  to  have  been  the  souls  of  their 
ancestors,  and  are  described  as  having  once  acted  a  conspicuous 
and  sufficiently  intelligible  part  upon  earth.  •  The  only  conclusion 
that  can  be  drawn  from  these  apparently  opposite  declarations  is, 
that  the  demon-gods  were  wordiipped  in  the  heavenly  bodies; 
and,  agreeably  to  such  a  conclusion,  we  are  unequivocally  told,  that 
the  souls  of  certain  deified  mortals  were  believed  to  have  been 
elevated  a^r  their  death  to  the  orbs  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  the 
planets,  and  the  stars.  Hence  originated  the  notion,  that  all  these 
celestial  bodies,  instead  of  being  mere  inert  matter,  were  each  ani- 


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216  THE  GENTILE  ITATIOKS. 

mated  by  a  divine  spirit, — ^were  each  a  wise  and  holy  intelligence/' 
Origin  of  Pagan  Idolatry,  vol.  i,  pp.  31,  82.  (See  Appendix, 
note  31.) 

While  these  profound  expositions  apply  geneirally  to  the  whole 
range  of  idolatry,  they  do  so  with  peculiar  force  uid  exactitude  to 
the  religion  of  Assyria  and  Babylon.  But'  even  in  respect  of  these 
countries  there  is  a  perceptible  difference  in  the  development  of 
those  cardinal  doctrines.  In  Babylon,  for  instance,  the  ramification 
of  this  system  inclined  to  the  solar  form,  while  in  Assyria  it  was 
decidely  in  the  astral  direction. 

There  is,  however,  no  more  striking  feature  in  the  whole  of  this 
idolatrous  system,  ihan  the  multiplicity  of  compound  human  and 
animal  forms  which  everywhere  meet  the  eye.  The  first  of  these 
which  deserves  notice  is  the  figure  of  a  man,  with  the  wings  and  tail 
of  a  bird,  enclosed  in  a  circle.  Mr.  Layard  observes  of  this  symbol, 
"  We  may  conclude,  from  the  prominent  position  always  given  to* 
this  figure  in  the  Nimroud  sculptures,  and  from  its  occurrence  on 
Persian  monuments  as  the  representation  of  Ormuzd,  that  it  was 
also  the  type  of  the  supreme  deity  among  the  Assyrians.  It  will 
require  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  inscrip- 
tions than  we  at  present  possess,  to  determine  the  name  by  which 
this  divinity  was  known.  It  may  be  conjectured,  however,  that  it 
was  Baal,  or  some  modification  of  a  name  which  was  that  of  the 
Great  God  amoiig  nearly  all  nations  speaking  the  cognate  dialects 
of  a  Semitic  or  Syro- Arabian  language.  According  to  M.  Layard, 
this  symbol  is  formed  by  a  circle  or  crown— to  denote  time  without 
bounds  or  etemity-^encircUng  the  image  of  Baal,  with  the  wings 
and  tail  of  the  dove,  to  show  the  association  of  Mylitta,  the  Assyrian 
Venus, — thus  presenting  A  complete  tkiad  "-^Nineveh  and  its 
Remains,  vol.  ii,  p.  449,  and  note.  Have  we  not  here  the  key  to  this 
recondite  symbol  ?  All  kinds  of  puerile  conjectux^s  have  been  put 
forth  on  this  point :  but  this  is  one  every  way  consistent  and  satis- 
fiwtory.  Nettling  is  more  certain  than  that  the  Great  Father  was, 
from  the  introduction  of  idolatry,  worshipped  as  Cronos  or  Saturn, 
or  Time,  in  all  its  wide  and  boundless  range  of  duration.  Then  we 
have  Mylitta,  or  perhaps  rather  Derceto, — "the  Mother  of  the 
Gods"  according  to  this  system,  and  eminently  the  Great  Mother, 
(Ibid.,  vol.  ii,  pp.  464,  455,)  who  was  fabled  in  her  youth  to  have 
been  sustained  by  doves  for  a  whole  year,  and  after  her  death  to 
have  been  changed  into  a  dove;  and  under  this  symbol  was  univer- 
sally worshipped  in  Assyria.  Thirdly,  Baal  is  presented  as  the 
Son,  the  Great  God  descending  from  the  Great  Father  and  Moth^, 
and  with  them  forming  the  Assyrian  triad.  (See  Appendix,  note  82.) 


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THK  OENTILB  KATIONB.  217 

In  fiict,  we  have  here  Tanthe,  Apasan,  and  Mojmis,  symbolically 
e<^bined  as  the  great  object  of  worship. 

Dr.  Layard's  further  discoveries,  published  since  the  above  was 
written,  greatly  strengthen  these  conclusions.  In  the  mbbish  at  the 
foot  of  one  of  tiie  gigantic  hnman- headed  ^nlls,  in  the  grand  entrance 
to  the  palace  of  Khorsabad,  were  found  four  engraved  cylinders. 
On  one  of  these,  made  out  of  green  felspar,  "  which,"  says  the 
teamed  explorer,  "I  believe -to  have  been  the  signet  or  amnlet  of 
Sennacherib  himself,  is  engraved  the  king  standing  in  an  arched 
frame,  as  on  the  rock-tablets  at  Bavian,  and  at  the  Nahr-el-Kelb  in 
Syria.  He  holds  in  one  hand  the  sacrificial  mace,  and  raises  the 
other  in  the  act  of  adoration  before  the  winged  figure  in  a  circle, 
here  represented  as  a  triad  with  three  heads.  This  mode  of  portray- 
ing this  emblem  is  very  rare  on  Assyrian  relics,  and.  is  highly  in- 
teresting, as  confirming  the  conjecture  that  the  mythic  human  i^ure, 
with  the  wings  and  tail  of  a  bird,  enclosed  in  a  circle,  was  the  symbol 
of  the  Triune  God,  the  supreme  deity  of  the  Assyrians,  and  of  the 
Persians,  their  successors  in  the  empire  of  the  east." — Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  p.  I6a. 

The  importance  of  this  discovery  can  scarcely  be  overestimated. 
The  triadic  figure,  or  symbol,  in  this  instance,  is  precisely  the  same 
as  those  so  frequently  seen  on  the  early  Assyrian  and  Persian  sculp* 
tares.  Here  is  the  human  form,  the  circle,  and  the  expanded  wings ; 
but  from  each  of  these  wings  another  head  is  represented  as  rising, 
as  if  to  mark  out,  in  the  most  unmistakable  manner,  the  great  fact, 
that  this  syfobolical  representation  was  intended  to  exhibit  the  union 
of  three  personalities.  Well  may  Layard  say,  that  this  confirms  the 
opinion,  that  we  have  here  "  the  symbol  of  the  Triune  God."  The 
fdither  prosecution  of  the  subject,  when  we  have  specially  to  treat 
of  the  objects  and  manner  of  worship,  will  greatly  enlarge  and 
strengthen  this  view  of  the  case. 

But,  passing  beyond  this  symbolical  i*epresentation  of  the  primi*' 
tive  triad,  we  find  the  architecture  and  sculpture  of  these  countries 
filled  with  figures  compounding  parts  of  the  human  body  with  those 
of  birds  and  animals. 

One  of  the  most  remaikable  of  these  combinations  occurs  in  the 
en^le-headed  human  figure.  This,  executed  in  colossal  proportions, 
18  not  only  found  sculptured  on  the  walls,  and  guarding  the  portals 
of  the  chambers,  at  Nimroud :  it  is  also  embroidered  on  the  royal 
robes,  and  introduced  in  almost  every  possible  variety  of  manner, 
connexion,  and  arrangement.  It  is  supposed  to  represent  Assarac, — 
the  Nisroch  of  the  Scriptures. 

Besides  this,  numerous  human-headed  lions  and  bulls  are  met 


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218  THB  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

with,  many  of  them  being  of  such  gigantic  dimensions  and  beantifbl 
workmanship  as  to  impress  the  mind  with  a  strong  conviction  of  the 
immense  importance  which  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians  attached 
to  these  curious  and,  to  our  view,  unnatural  compounds. 

Directing  our  attention  (o  these,  in  the  hope  of  ascertaining  their 
design  and  character,  we  are  struck  with  the  fact  that,  except  when 
embroidered  on  raimient,  they  «re  always  found  in  pairs,  on  each 
side  of  an  entrance,  as  if  guarding  it.  Another  circumstance  is 
very  significant :  with  few  and  unimportant  exceptions,  these  figures 
are  combinations  of  the  four  cherubic  creatuveB,-r-the  man,  the 
bull,  the  lion,  and  the  eagle.  These  facts  liave  led  every  careful 
student  of  Assyrian  .antiquities  to  regard  these  compound  sculp- 
tured figures  as  standing  in  some  connexion  with  the  Mosaic  cheru- 
bim, which  were  in  a  similar  manner  sculptured  foj  the  taberna- 
cle and  temple  of  the  Hebrews,  and  embroidered  on  the  curtains 
of  both.        , 

Layard  says,  "  The  resemblance  between  the  symbolical  figures  I 
have  described,  and  those  seen  by  Ezekiel  in  his  vision,  can  scarcely 
fail  to  strike  the  reader.  As  the  prophet  had  beheld  the  Assyrian 
palaces,  with  their  mysterious  images  and  gorgeous  decorations,  it 
is  highly  probable  that,  when  seeking  to  typify  certain  divine  attri- 
butes, and  to  describe  the  divine  glory,  he  chose  forms  that  were 
familiar  not  only  to  him,  but  to  the  people  he  addressed, — captives, 
like  himself  in  the  land  of  Assyria." 

I  have  given  the  learned  explorer's  view,  (much  mistaken  as  I  be- 
lieve it  to  be  in  its  reasoning,  see  Appendix^  note  33,)  for  the  sake 
of  obtaining  his  countenance  to  the  undoubted  fact^  that  the  com- 
pound Assyrian  figures  and  the  cherubic  elements  were  identical. 

Mr.  Bonomi,  who  has  most  elaborately  and  successfully  investi- 
gated these  remains,  observes,  "  These  symbolical  combinations  we 
regard  as  derived  from  the  traditional  descriptions  of  the  cherubim, 
which  were  handed  down  after  the  deluge  by  the  descendants  of 
Noah ;  to  which  origin,  also,  we  are  inclined  to  attribute  their  situa- 
tion as  guardians  of  the  principal  entrances  of  the  palaces  of.  the 
Assyrian  kings.  The  cherubim  guarded  the  gates  of  Paradise :  the 
cherubic  symbols  were  placed  in  the  adytum  of  the  tabernacle,  and 
aflerward  in  the  corresponding  sanctuary  of  the  temple:  and  here 
in  the  Assyrian  palaces  they  are  never  found  except  as  guardians 
of  portals." — Nineveh  and  its  Palaces,  p.  133. 

To  cite  one  more  authority  on  this  point,  I  give  the  following 
from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Blackburn:  "  We  have  glanced  at  the  temples  of 
the  heathen,  and  seen  these  compound  creatures,  in  various  forms 
of  debasement,  placed  in  tiie  avenues  and  the  portals  of  tiieir  most 


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THB  OBNTILV  NATIONS.  219 

oelebrated  fiuies,  as  sentmels  and  gnards;  just  as  we  see,  in  the 
sacred  writings,  the  cherobim  attending  upon  the  throne  of  Jehovah, 
from  the  first  cloudy  pavilion  that  was  pitched  before  the  approaches 
to  Eden,  down  to  the  celestial  visions  of  Ezekiel  in  the  plains  of 
Assyria.  These  forms,  I  think,  the  Assyrians  must  have  borrowed 
from  the  Jews,  or  rather  from  ^e  .earlier  patriarchs :  the  doctrine,  it 
may  be,  was  lost  in  superstitions  traditions ;  but  the  form  and  the 
symbol  remained,  as  we  see  them  in  the  present  di»y" — Nineveh: 
its  Rise  and  Ruin,  pp.  176,.  177. 

This  subject  mi^t  be  further  elucidated,  and  those  views  sus- 
tained, if  it  were  necessary;  but  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Layard  ap- 
pears to  be  inevitable.  "  It  will  be  observed,"  he  says,  *"  that  the 
four  forms  (and  those  only)  chosen  by  Ezekiel  to  illustrate  his 
description, — the  man,  the  lion,  the  bull,  and  the  eagle, — ^are  pre- 
cisely those  which  are  constantly  found  on  Assyrian  monuments  as 
reli^ous  types.  These  coincidences  are  too  marked  not  to  deserve 
notioe,  and  do  certainly  lead  to  the  inference  that  the  symbols  chosen 
by  the  prophet  were  derived  from,  or  rather  identical  with,  these 
Assyrian  sculptures,'* — Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vd.  ii,  p.  445. 

Begarding  this  identity  as  an  established  fact,  we  might  now  pro- 
ceed to  the  interesting  inquiry,  as  to  the  object  and  design  of  the 
Assyrians  in  the  adoption  and  general  use  of  these  curious  figures. 
But  this  will  be  better  accomplished  after  we  have  investigated  some 
other  elements  of  this  religious  system. 

Another  symbolical,  object  which  meets  the  eye  in  all  the  religious 
ritos  and  services  of  this  people  is  the  sacred  tree.  This  is  the  vine, 
the  pahn,  or  the  fir;  generally  the  last,  which  is  highly  ornamented 
with  el^antly  arranged  groups  of  honeysuckle. 

It  may  serve  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  character  of  this  sym- 
bolism, if  we  give  a  sketch  of  the  sacred  tree  as  it  occurs  in  the 
large  work  of  iJr.  Layard, — •*  The  Monuments  of  l^ineveh." 

Plate  7  exhibits  two  winged  females  standing  one  on  each  side  of 
the  sacred  tree,  with  their  left  hands  holding  a  garland,  and  their 
right  hands  raised  as  if  engaged  in  some  act  of  worship.  Plate  7  (A) 
exhibits  two  winged  human  figures,  kneeling  one  on  each  side  of  the 
sacred  tree :  they  are  evidently  engaged  in  an  act  of  devotion. 

Plate  25  is  an  interesting  and  striking  exhibition.  In  the  centre 
stands  the  sacred  tree,  ornamented  with  honeysuckle :  on  each  side 
is  a  king,  holding  a  sceptre  in  this  left  hand,  and  raising  the  right, 
as  if  making  some  solemn  covenant  or  engagement.  Immediately 
above  the  tree,  the  celestial  triad  is  represented  by  the  circle,  wings, 
and  deity  in  human  form :  on  this  symbol  of  divinity  the  kings 
seem  to  be  gazing  with  solemn  interest ;  while  behind  each  sovereign 


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220  XHB  GIKTIL8  KATIOIIB. 

stands  a  winged  human  figure  with  the  xumal  basket  in  the  left  hand, 
and  raising  a  fir-cone  over  the  shoulder  of  the  king  with  the  right 
hand.  This  is  clearly  intended  to  exhibit  a  most  important  religious 
oeremonj. 

But  it  is  not  only  on  the  sculptures  that  the  sacred  tree  is  found : 
it  entered  into  their  architectunJ  deoorations ;  and  to  this  we  are 
undoubtedly  indebted  for  that  beautiful  omaanent,  the  Ohreeian 
honeysuckle.  It  equally  pervaded  all  their  designs  for  embroidery. 
One  plate,  (8,)  showing  the  upper  part  of  Ae  king's  robe,  is  nearly 
covered  with  figures  of  the  sacred  tree  in  almost  every  variety  of 
form.  Another,  (plate  6,)  giving  the  embroid^  worn  on  the  breast 
of  the  sovereign,  contains  the  same  sacred  symbols  in  equal  abun- 
dance and  variety ;  the  centre  being  the  sacred  tree,  over  which  is 
the  symbolic  triad  of  divinities ;  and  on  each  side  a  royal  figure,  the 
borders  being  filled  with  numerous  devices  of  honeysuckle  and  other 
parts  of  these  sacred  emblems.  This  is  not  an  unimportant  cireum* 
stance.  Dr.  Layard,  indeed,  observes  on  this  point,  ''From  the 
constant  introduction  of  the  tree,  ornamented  with  them,  into  groups 
representing  the  performance  of  religious  ceremonies,  there  cannot 
be  a  doubt  that  they  were  symbolical,  and  were  mvested  with  a 
sacred  character.  The  sacred  tree,  or  tree  of  Ufe,  so  universally 
recognised  in  eastern  systems  of  theology,  is  cniled  to  mind;  and 
we  are  naturally  led  to  refer  the  traditions  connected  with  it  to  a 
common  origin.'* — Nineveh  and  its  Remains;  vol.  ii,  p.  472. 

The  allusive  range  of  Assyrian  sacred  types  to  Edenie  ori^nals 
did  not  terminate  here,  but  actually  included  the  garden  itself 
This  was  placed  in  immediate  proximity  to  the  royal  palace,  and 
seems  to  have  been  arranged  more  after  the  fashion  of  an  English 
park,  containing  numerous  large  trees,  with  a  great  number  of  ani- 
tnals  of  different  ^nds.  Respecting  this  Dr.  Layard  speaks  thus : 
"  To  the  palace  was  attached  a  park,  or  Pababisb,  as  it  was  called, 
in  which  was  preserved  game  of  various  sorts  for  the  diversion  of 
Ae  king.'' — Idem,  vol.  ii,  p.  246.  *  It  cannot,  however,  be  admitted 
that  the  preservation  of  game  was  the  principal  object  in  the  prep^ 
aration  of  a  place  like  this.  The  name  given  to  it, — one  consecrated 
to  the  highest  realities  of  divine  revelation, — ^the  association  of  such 
a  garden  with  the  various  Edenie  symbols  to  which  we  have  referred, 
(see  Appendix,  note  34,)  and  especially  its  immediate  connexion 
with  a  consecrated  temple  and  a  sacred  person, — all  clearly  show  a 
higher  and  deeper  design  for  suA  an  appointment  than  that  of  a 
small  enclosure  for  a  royal  hunt.  The  primitive  intention,  however 
passing  ages  might  have  obscured  it,  must  have  been  in  accordance 
with  the  genius  of  the  whole  system  of  Assyrian  faith  and  practice. 


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QIMTILB  NATIONS.  221 

We  shall  be  indiioed  the  suwe  readily  to  afisent  to  this  indaction, 
when  we  perceive  that  the  reyal  reeidenoe  was  a  saored  temple,  and 
tiie  person  of  the  king  reyered  as  a  divinity. 

On  the  first  head,  we  may  not  be  able  to  produce  evidence  so 
satisisBMstory  as  might  be  desbed.  Indeed,  it  has  not  satisfied  Lay- 
ard  himself  as  will  be  seen  from  the  blowing  words  of  that  learned 
anthor :  ^'  Wwe  these  magmfioent  mansions  palaces  or  temples  ?  Or, 
while  the  king  combined  the  idiaracler  of  a  temporal  ruler  with  that 
of  a  high-priest  or  type  of  the  religion  of  the  people,  did  bis  residence 
Quite  the  palace,  the  temple,  and  a  national  monument  raised  to  per- 
petoate  the  triumphs  and  conquests  of  the  nation  ?  These  are  ques- 
tions which  cannot  yet  be  satis£M^rily  answered." — Nineveh  and 
iti  Remains,  vol.  li,  p.  267. 

No  one  will  dispute  the  dictum  of  such  a  man,  on  such  a  point  as 
this.  But  if  these  questions  have  not  been  satisfactorily  answered, 
aU  that  is  possiUe  seems  to  be  done  by  Mr.  Fergusson,  who,  writing 
two  yeais  after  Layard,  and  availing  himself  of  the  important  dis- 
eoveries  made  in  this  interval,  has  given  a  careful  and  elaborate 
investigation  of  this  difficult  question  :-- 

"*  Were  these  buildings  palaces  or  temples  ?— a  difficulty,  however, 
not  peculiar  to  this  phee,  as  the  same  uncertainty  exists  in  Egypt: 
in  Thebes,  for  instance,  where,  according  to  our  usual  nomenclature, 
it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  the  gr^at  buildings  there  ware,  properly 
speaking,  mere  places  of  worship  or  residences  of  the  sovereigns. 
That  the  king  did  generally,  if  not  always,  reside  within  these  halls, 
seems  nearly  certain ;.  and  that  all  the  great  ceremonies  and  minis- 
tntioiis  of  governnient  took  place  within  these  halls,  are  facts  that 
cw  scarcely  be  doubted.  Indeed,  they  seem  at  first  sight  to  have 
been  built  almost  wholly  for  these  kingly  purposes ;  whereas,  on  the 
ether  hand,  tiie  portion  set  apart  for  the  image  of  tiie  god,  or 
exclusively  devoted  to  religious  ceremonies,  is  so  small  and  insig- 
nificant as  scarcely  to  deserve  notice  in  comparison  of  the  rest ;  yet 
these  buildings  were  as  certainly  temples,  .and  the  <mly  ones,  of  the 
most  theocratic  religion  theworldever  knew,  though,  at  the  same 
tune,  they  were  the  palaces  of  the  most  absolute  kings  of  whom  we 
have  any  record.  To  name,  therefore,  these  palace-temples  or 
temple-palaceB,  as  well  as  our  Persepolitan  buildings,  we  must  re- 
define our  words,  and  come  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  terms 
we  use,  befiwe  we  can  explain  what  the  buildings  of  which  we  are 
urn  treating  reaUy  were. 

"When  we  speak  of  a  Qreek  or  Roman  temple  we  perfectly 
understand  the  term  we  use.  It  was  a  building  simple  in  plan  and 
eotline,  meant  to  contain  the  image  of  the  god  to  whom  it  was 


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22*2  THE  QE^TILB  KATI0N8. 

dedicated,  and  wholly  devoted  to  tibe  religioiis  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  prescribed  worship  of  that  deity.  A  Christian  church,  in 
like  manner,  was  in  all  ages  a  temple,  wholly  devoted  to  religions 
worship,  without  any  secular  use — a  hall,  in  short,  tfhere  people 
may  congregate  to  worship  the  great  God  himself,  or  the  saint  to 
whom  it  is  dedicated ;  but  with  the  distinct  idea  that  it  is  the  house 
of  God,  sacred  to  the  purposes  of  religion,  and  the  fit  and  proper 
plaoe  in  which  to  ofibr  up  prayer  and  sacrifice. 

"  In  like  manner,  a  palace  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe  is,  and 
always  has  been,  merely  a  krge  house.  It  possesses  tiie  sleeping, 
eating,  and  state  and  festival  apartments  which  are  found  in  the 
dwellings  of  all  men  of  the  middle  and  even  the  lower  classes, — 
larger,  more  numerous,  and  more  splendid,  of  course,  but  dedicated 
to  the  same  uses,  and  to  them  only.  In  modem  times,  a  king  is 
only  a  chief  magistrate ;  in  the  middle  ages,  he  was  a  leader ;  and 
neither  Greece  nor  Home  ever  had  kings  in  the  Asiatic  sense  of  the 
word,  at  least,  certainly  not  after  Rome  ceased  to  be  Etruscan,  or, 
in  other  words,  Asiatic,  in  her  form  of  gotemment.  In  Persia^  bow- 
ever,  and  indeed,  throughout  the  east,  the  king  is  an  essential  and 
principal  part  of  all  forms  of  government,  and  virtually,  also,  the 
chief-priest  of  his  people,  and  head  of  the  religion  of  his  country. 
We  should  havea  far  more  distinct  idea  of  the  eastern  kingly  offices 
and  functions  in  ancient  days,  if  we  called  him  '  caUph,'  or  *  popb,' 
instead  of '  king;'  and  were  it  not  that  with  us  the  latter  tide  is  ap- 
plied to  only  one  potentate  on  earth,  and  we  can  scarcely  understand 
the  idea  of  l^ere  being,  or  having  been,  another,  the  t^rm  is  just  such 
a  one  as  would  directly  define  that  union  of  temporal  and  spiritnal 
power  which  we  find  united  in  the  Persian  monarch ;  and  -at  the 
same  time,  as  a  necessary  corollary,  the  term  hacilica,  in  its  original 
Roman  sense,  would  as  correctly  describe  the  buildings  we  havebe^i 
examiiung  at  Persepolis." — Nineveh  and  Persepolis,  pp.  186-188. 

Although  this  passage  more  directly  refers  to  the  ruins  of  Perse- 
polis  than  to  those  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  it  so  strictly  applies  to 
cognate  usages  in  other  eastern  countries,  and  is,  in  the  express 
terms  of  the  author,  so  applicable  to  the  royal  residences  in  Asia^ 
and  the  east  generally,  that  I  feel  great  pleasure  in  pbdng  it  before 
the  reader.  And  here,  it  may  be  observed,  we  have  no  mere  theo* 
rist, — no  writer  studying  eastern  antiquities  for  the  purpose  of 
deducing  evidence  in  support  of  any  peculiar  religious  dogmas ;  but 
a  learned  and  intelligent  man  of  science,  investigating  with  intense 
diligence  the  remains  of  the  ruined  cities  of  ancient  Asia  for  archi- 
tectural purposes.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  labour,  he  educes 
the  object  and  design  for  which  the  wonder&l  palace-edifices  of  the 


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THB  GBNTILB  SATIONB.  228 

east  were  erected :  and  his  condnaion  ia,  that  **  the  actual  dwelling- 
places  of  the  king  they  certainly  were  not;''  {Ibid.,  p.  188;)  and 
further,  that  if  *'  these  buildings  were  not  palaces,  according  to  our 
usual  acceptation  of  the  term,  still  less  were  they  temples ;"  {Ibid., 
p.  189 ;)  but  that  they  were  the  seat  and  centre  whence  the  king,  in 
his  compound  character  of  political  ruler  and  religious  head  of  the 
people,  administeved  the  government,  and  prescribed  for  the  faith 
and  ecclesiastical  ^polity  of  the  country;  where  in'fiict  a  heathen 
pope  sat  in  all  the  plenitude  of  his  power. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  when  we  hear  temples  mentioned  as 
existing  in  Assyria  or  Babylonia,  that  such  statemetits  militate 
against  what  has  been  advanced.  Although  uniform  in  the  great 
first  principles  of  faith,  the  several  nations  and  cities  greatly  differed 
in  the  details  of  their  buildings.  As  an  instance,  Mr.  Fergussbn 
believes  tiiat  he  has  discovered  at  Khorsabad,  not  only  a  building 
which  he  calls  *'  the  temple,"  but  also  the  ruins  of  a  range  of  house^^ 
which  he  regards  as  the  residence  of  priests.  But  then  this  temple 
is  not  only  small  in  sise,  compared  with  the  whole  fabric,  but  was 
"  situated  in  the  very  innermost  recesses  of  the  palace ;"  so  that,  in 
fact,  it  was  part  of  the  «ame  pile  of  buildings.  Of  the  celebrated 
temple  of  Bel  at  Babylon  we  really  know  but  little,  and  cannot  elicit 
any  additional  information  from  tihe  meagre  accounts  which  have  come 
down  to  us :  but  it  is  highly  probable  that  future  explorations  wiU 
bring  to  view  proofs  that  in  this  respect  Babylon,  like  Assyria  and 
Persia,  followed  the  same  general  rule. 

It  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  the  iact,  that  these  palace-temples 
were  surrounded-  with  Paradises,  and  that  a  stream,  or  streams,  of 
water  flowed  through  the  latter,-^rising,  where  that  was  possible, 
within  the  precincts  of  the  temple.  This  was  so  universal  in  the 
east,  that  Larcher,  in  his  If  otes  on  Herodotus,  (vol.  i,  p.  221,) 
observes,  **  We  must  bear  in  mind,  that  a  temple  of  the  anciekits  was 
very  different  from  one  of  our  churdies.  It  comprised  a  considera- 
ble extent  of  ground,  endosed  by  walls,  within  which  there  were 
courts,  a  grove,  pieces  of  water,  sometimes  habitations  for  the 
priests,  and  lastly  the  temple  properly  so  called,  and  into  which, 
most  usually,  the  priest  only  was  admitted" 

It  may,  indeed,  be  safely  gathered  from  all  the  information  attain- 
able in  respect  of  these  buildings,  that  they  were  the  official  resi- 
dence of  the  sovereign;  and  tiliat  he  stood  so  identified  with  divinity 
in  the  national  belief,  that  they  at  the  same  time  were  r^rded  witii 
ail  tiie  reverence  and  sanctify  of  oonsecrated  temples.  (Layard, 
vd.  ii,  pp.  201,  267.) 

We  should  here  observe,  that  although  the  serpent-form  does  not 


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224  THE  eBNTXIiB  NATIOHTB. 

appear  so  often  ftad  so  prominently  in  the  scdpturei  of  Asayria  as 
in  those  of  Egypt,  it  is  seen  in  such  poBitions,  and  is  repeated  with 
such  frequency,  as  to  indicate  very  clearly  its  Satanic  original. 

It  will  be  hereafter  observed,  that  serpents  are  associated  with  the 
worship  of  fire  on. the  sculptures  of  Koyunjik:  and  we  have  seen 
that  the  female  divinitiea  of  Babylon,  as  described  by  Diodoms,  are 
accompanied  by  images  off  this  reptile.  The  stotue  supposed  to  be 
that  of  Bhea,  the  Mother  of  the  Gods,  had  two  colosoftl  serpents 
standing  before  it;  while  that  named  "Juno''  was  exhibited  holding 
a  serpent  in  her  right  hand.  A  learned  author,  who  has  carefully 
studied  this  subject,  inclines  to  the  opinion  that  live  serpents  wore 
kept  to  be  worshipped  at  Babylon,  as  at  Thebes  in  Egypt;  and  that 
this  led  to  the  fiftble  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon.  (Deane's  Worship  of 
the  Serpent,  pp.  41-47.)  Further,  it  has  been  generally  believed, 
that  the  serpent  was  the  emblem  borne  aloft  on  the  banners  of  Aasy- 
ria^  and  the  sign  under  which  all  their  battles  were  fought ;  and  that 
the  emperors  of  Constantinople  derived  their  dragon-standard  from 
this  people.  When  it  is  remembered  with  what  devotion  the  soldiers 
of  heathen  countries  regarded  their  chief  ensign,  the  position  of  the 
serpent-form  in  the  religious  estimation  of  this  peeple  is  easily 
ascertained. 

Attention  must  now  be  directed  more  particularly  to  the  character 
which  the  sovereigns  of  Assyria  and  Babylon  sustained,  or  assumed, 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  this  politico-religious  government. 

On  this  subject  Mr.  Layard  writes  as  follows :  '*  A  very  superficial 
examination  of  the  sculptures  will  prove  the  sacred  character  of  the 
king.  The.  priests,  or  presiding  deities,  (whidiever  the  winged 
figures,  so  frequently  found  on  the  Assyrian  monuments,  may  be,) 
are  represented  as  waiting  upon,  or  ministering  to,  him :  above  his 
head  are  the  emblems  of  the  divinity, — the  winged  figure  within  the 
circle,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  planets.  As  in  Egypt,  he  may 
have  been  regarded  as  the  representative,  j>n  earth,  of  the  Deity; 
receiving  bis  power  directly  from  the  gods,  and  the  organ  of  com- 
munication between  ihem  and  his  subjects.^-^iVineveA,  vol.  ii,  p. 
267.  And  again  the  same  author  remarks,  "  The  residence  of  the 
king,  as  I  have  observed,  was  probably  at  the  same  time  the  tem* 
pie;  and  that  he  himself  was  either  supposed  to  be  invested  with 
divine  attributes,  or  was  looked  upon  as  a  type  of  the  supreme 
Deity,  is  shown  by  the  sculptures.  The  winged  figures,  even  that 
with  the  head  of  the  eagle,  minister  unto  him.  All  his  acts,  whetiber 
in  war  or  peace,  appear  to  have  been  connected  with  the  national 
religion,  and  were  believed  to  be  under  the  special  protection  and 
superintendence  of  the  Deity.     When  he  is  represented  in  battle, 


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THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS.  225 

the  winged  figive  in  the  circle  hovers  above  his  head,  bends  his  bow 
agauisi  his  enemies,  or  assumes  his  attitude  of  triumph.  His  con< 
tests  with  the  lion  and  other  formidable  animals  not  only  show  his 
prowess  and  skill,  but  typify  at  the  same  time  his  superior  strength 
and  wisdom.  Whether  he  has  overcome  his  enemies,  or  the  wild 
beasts,  he  pours  out  a  libation  from  the  sacred  cup,  attended  by  his 
courtiers  and  the  winged  figures/' — Ibid.,  p.  474. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Assyrian  sovereign  was  not  only 
personally  identified  with  the  religion  of  his  country,  and  occupied 
the  position  of  sacred  head  of  his  people ;  but  that  he  passed  even 
beycmd  this  dignity,  and  assumed  an  eminence  as  lofty  as  it  was 
peculiar.  The  winged  figure  with  an  eagle's  head  has  been  identi- 
fied by  Uawlinson  as  Assarac,  or  the  deified  Asshur,  the  tutelar  gpd 
of  the  Assyrian  people;  yet  even  he  is  seen  on  the  sculptures  min- 
istering  to  the  king.  But,  what  is  still  more  remarkable  and  signifi* 
cant,  the  winged  figure  in  the  circle  has  been  shown  tp  represent  the 
primitive  triad,  and,  of  course^  the  centre  figure  in  human  form  the 
divine  son;  yet  this  symbol,  whenever  it  occurs,  is  placed  over  the 
head  of  the  king,  and — what  is  most  striking — always  appears  to  be 
in  the  same  attitude  as  the  sovereign. 

1  may  notice  two  or  three  instances  from  Layard's  "  Monuments 
of  NineveL"  One  of  the  sculptures  gives  a  vivid  description  of  an 
attack  on  a  fortified  city.  The  ramparts  »re  lined  with  bowmen,  and 
the  Assyrians  are  surrounding  the  walls,  while  the  king  in  bis  chariot 
is  bending  his  bow  against  the  men  on  the  walls,  and  is  on  the  point 
of  shooting.  Above  his  head  is  the  symbolic  triad,  with  the  centre 
figure  directing  the  point  of  his  arrow  against  the  dty,  and  exhibit- 
ing precisely  the  same  action  as  the  king.  (Plate  13.)  In  another 
sculpture  we  see  the  great  king  returning  in  triumph  from  a  cam- 
paign :  he  rides  in  his  chariot,  with  his  bow  unbent  in  his  1^  hand, 
and  his  right  hand  raised.  Precisely  such  is  the  attitude  of  the 
human  figure  in  the  symbol  of  the  divine  triad  above  him.  (Plate 
21.)  Again,  we  see  two  kings,  one  on  either  side  of  the  tree  of  life, 
with  their  right  hands  raised :  such  is  the  attitude  of  the  figure 
above."^  (Plate  26.)  What  could  be  done  to  give  a  more  clear  and 
expressive  dechtration,  that  the  king,  throughout  the  whole  of  this 
system,  was  regarded  as  acting  on  earth  in  the  character  and  power 
of  the  divine  son  above?  For,  be  it  observed,  this  figure  is  never 
Men  over  any  one  but  the  king. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  glance  at  the  manner  in  which  these 
kings  sustained  and  acted  out  this  sacred  character:  and  for  this 

^  This  has  been  supposed,  with  greftt  probability,  to  represent  two  riews  of  the  great 
king,  and  not  two  several  kings. 

15 


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226  THB  OENTILE  NATIONS. 

purpose  the  Babylonish  kingdom  will  be  regarded  as  succeeding  to 
all  the  pretensions  and  powers  of  the  Assyrian  empire.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar and  his  successors  will  consequently  be  spoken  of  as  if  they 
had  followed  the  last  king  of  Nineveh  on  the  Assyrian  throne;  the 
religion  of  the  two  countries  being  so  similar  as  to  render  any  dis- 
tinction for  our  present  purpose  unnecessary. 

Referring  to  the  chapter  on  the  History  of  Assyria,  we  call  atten- 
tion to  the  annals  of  Divanu-bara,  son  of  the  great  Sardanapalas, 
which  are  recorded  at  length  on  the  Black  Obelisk.  There,  in  the 
account  of  his  first  campaign,  it  is  said,  ''I  crossed  the  Euphrates, 
and  ascended  to  the  tribes  who  worshipped  the  god  Husi.  My  ser- 
vants erected  altars  in  that  land  to  my  gods.  Then  I  went  on  to  the 
land  of  Khamdna,  where  I  founded  palaces,  cities,  and  temples.  I 
went  on  to  the  land  of  Mdlar ;  and  there  I  established  the  worship 
of  my  kingdom."  Our  limits  forbid  the  mention  of  similar  instances 
in  detail.  But  here  is  one,  and  the  first  that  meets  us.  Tt  is  a  record 
of  the  first  campaign  of  a  young  warrior-king.  Yet,  in  scarcely 
more  lines,  there  are  three  several  declarations  that  he  prosecuted 
his  wars  for  the  extension  of  his  religion  in  other  lands.  This  is 
described  as  the  prime  object  in  every  case.  Again,  in  the  seventh 
year  of  his  reign,  having  subdued  Tel-ati,  he  says,  "1  appointed 
priests  to  reside  in  the  land,  to  pay  adoration  to  Assarac,  the  great 
and  powerful  god,  and  to  preside  over  the  national  worship."'  In  his 
fifteenth  year,  having  subdued  the  country  of  the  king  of  Ararat,  he 
**  set  up  altars,  and  left  priests  in  the  land,  to  superintend  the  wor- 
ship." In  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  reign,  having  reduced  the 
Shetina  to  obedience,  he  "  established  the  national  religion  through- 
out the  land." 

These  extracts  are  sufficient  to  show  the  religious  authority 
assumed  by  the  sovereigns  of  Nineveh  in  the  early  period  of  her 
history.  We  have  ttie  means  of  proving  that  in  the  later  period  of 
her  annals  the  monarchs  of  Assyria  had  not  abated  one  jot  of  their 
profane  assumption.  Let  the  latter  part  of  the  message  which  Sen- 
nacherib sent  to  the  nobles  of  Jerusalem  be  read  as  ample  evidence 
of  this  fact :  "  Hearken  not  unto  Hezekiah,  when  he  persuadeth  you, 
saying,  The  LORD  will  deliver  us.  Hath  any  of  the  gods  of  the 
nations  delivered  at  all  his  land  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of 
Assyria ?  Where  are  the  gods  of  Hamath,  and  of  Arpad ?  Where 
are  the  gods  of  Sepharvaim,  Hena,  and  Ivah  ?  Have  they  delivered 
Samaria  out  of  MIKB  BAND  ?  Who  are  they  among  all  the  gods  of 
the  countries,  that  have  delivered  their  country  out  of  mine  hand, 
that  the  Lord  should  deliver  Jerusalem  out  of  mine  hand?"  2  Kings 
xviii,  82-85. 


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THB  aBNTILB  NATIONS.  227 

Let  this  part  of  the  address  be  carefuDy  penised,  and  the  reader 
will  perceive  that  it  does  not  discuss  the  relative  military  power  of 
the  parties.  That  matter  was  finished,  when,  with  infinite  contempt^ 
Babehakeh  offered  the  Hebrews  a  truce,  and  a  present  of  two  thou- 
sand horses,  if  the  king  of  Judah  could  set  riders  on  them.  Verse 
23.  The  point  in  that  part  of  the  address  which  I  have  quoted  has 
not  respect  to  military  strength,  but  to  the  relative  power  of  deities. 
It  was  spoken  in  accommodation  to  the  general  polytheistic  opinion, 
that  certain  gods  presided  over  particular  nations.  But  in  this  con- 
test for  divine  power,  who  represents  Assyria?  We  read  of  the 
gods  of  Hamath,  Arpad,  Sepharvaim,  Hena^  Ivah,  and  the  Lord  of 
Jerusalem ;  and  others  are  mentioned  in  the  version  of  the  speech 
as  given  by  Isaiah :  but,  strange  to  say,  we  hear  nothing  of  the  gods 
of  Assyria.  The  pontiff-king  of  Nineveh  arrogated  this  dignity  to 
himself,  if  he  had  trusted  in  his  god,  the  case  had  been  altogether 
diffisrent :  but  the  power  poised  against  ail  the  deities  of  the  lands 
which  he  had  conquered,  and  even  against  the  Lord  himself  was  his 
OWN.  "  Who  shall  deliver  out  of  mine  hand  V*  is  the  profime  boast 
with  which  he  challenges  to  himself  a  power  above  all  gods.  It  was 
this  which  called  forth  the  word  of  the  Lord :  *'  Whom  hast  thorn 
reproached  and  blasphemed,  and  against  whom  hast  thou  exalted  thy 
voice,  and  lifted  up  thine  eyes  on  high?  Even  against  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel."  2  Kings  xix,  22.  it  was  this  pro&ne  darbg  to 
equal  or  excel  the  power  of  Jehovah  which  led  to  the  fearful  doom 
denounced  against  Idm :  "  Therefore  will  I  put  my  hook  in  thy  nose, 
and  my  bridle  in  thy  lips,  and  i  will  turn  thee  back  by  the  way  by 
which  thou  earnest.''  Verse  28. 

It  is  certain,  therefore,  that  the  spirit  of  reli^ous  zeal,  proud 
intolerance,  and  profane  assumption,  which  characterized  the  sove- 
reigns of  Assyria  in  the  early  part  of  its  history,  was  not  merely 
continued,  but  rather  increased^  until  the  termination  of  the  empire. 

We  have  now  to  direct  attention  to  Babylon,  as  exhibiting  an 
embodiment  of  this  religion.  And  here  it  may  be  observed  that 
diis  was  unquestionably  the  original  seat  of  this  system  of  faith,  and 
the  centre  whence  it  emanated.  Here,  under  the  auspices  of  Nim- 
rod,  this  fearful  apostasy  was  est^iblished  in  connexion  with  kingly 
rale :  here  for  a  while  both  flourished ;  until,  overwhelmed  by  the 
superior  military  power  of  Nineveh,  Babylonia  became  a  province 
of  the  Assyrian  empire.  After  a  very  extended  period  of  supremacy, 
this  power  in  her  turn  fell  before  the  combined  army  of  Modes  and 
Babylonians ;  and  then  that  part  of  the  old  Assyrian  empire  aiHl 
influence  which  lay  to  the  west  of  the  Euphrates  naturally  passed 
into  the  hand  of  the  sovereign  of  Babylon. 


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228  THB  GBNTILR  NATIONS. 

Not  only  did  this  tnnBitioii  take  place  aa  the  result  of  Ae  ever- 
recarring  changes  in  the  martial  power  of  nations :  it  was  distin- 
guished and  consummated  in  a  manner  and  by  an  agency  of  tke  most 
extraordinary  character.  Nebnchadneszar,  who  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  Babylon  just  two  years  after  the  destruction  of  Nineveh, 
was  one  of  those  men  so  distinguished  for  martial  genius,  daring 
ambition,  and  invincible  energy,  as  to  insure  themselves  the  most 
prominent  position  in  the  age  in  whidi  they  flourish.  In  succeeding 
to  tbe  throne  of  Babylon,  he  succeeded  to  all  the  pretensions  of  the 
impious  founder  of  that  state,  and  to  all  those  claims  and  powers 
which  many  centuries  had  sealed  as  the  undoubted  prerogative  of 
the  imperial  sovereign  of  Assyria.  A  reference  to  a  few  points  in 
his  history  will  show  whether  he  also  assumed  to  be  divine. 

We  have  the  advantage  of  pursuing  this  part  of  our  inquiry  under 
tiie  guidance  of  sacred  writ.  We  find  this  sovereign,  immediately 
after  he  had  established  himself  in  the  empire,  and  extended  his 
sway  A'om  Nineveh  to  Egypt,  gathering  together  all  the  chirf 
officers,  civil  and  military,  from  ev^  part  of  his  dominions,  for  a 
special  and  important  purpose.  But  this  was  not,  as  might  be  at 
frst  surmised,  either  for  a  militaiy  or  a  civil  object,  but  for  one 
decidedly  religious.  The  king  had  caused  a  great  image  of  gold  to 
be  made,  and  set  up;  and  the  assembled  multitudes  were  command- 
ed at  a  given  signal  to  bow  down  and  worship  this  image.  Reasons, 
which  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  repeat,  have  been  adduced,  in  a 
preceding  volume,  (Hebrew  People,  pp.  586-589,)  for  believing  that 
this  image  represented  Nebuchadneszar  himself  in  the  character  of 
the  divine  Son,  the  promised  incarnate  Seed ;  but,  iq^art  from  this, 
there  are  important  facte  bearing  on  our  subject  in  the  inspired  nar- 
rative of  this  event.  Nebuchadne»ar,  without  pre&ee  or  apology, 
prescribes  an  object  of  worship  to  his  people.  He  does  this  as  if  it 
lay  as  much  within  his  own  legitimate  authority,  as  to  prescribe  the 
boundary  of  a  province,  or  the  terms  of  military  service.  At  the 
given  signal  all  are  required  to  fall  down  and  worship  the  image. 
Dan.  iti,  4,  5.  Then  this  command  is  enforced  by  a  threat,  and  by 
actual  punishment.  Verses  15,  21.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the 
stupendous  miracle  which  saved  the  three  yoimg  Hebrews,  appears 
to  have  elicited  from  the  king  language  which  may,  at  first,  be  taken 
to  imply  a  withdrawal  of  his  assumed  power,  verse  28 :  but  imme- 
diately after,  he  issues  a  decree,  which,  although  in  support  of  truth, 
and  in  vindication  of  the  true  God,  is  marked  by  the  unchanged 
character  of  pro&ne  assumption :  '*  Every  people,  nation,  and  lan- 
guage, which  speak  anything  amiss  against  the  G-od  of  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abed-nego,  shall  be  cut  in  pieces,  and  their  houses 


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THK  GEKTILfi  NATIONS.  229 

8hall  be  made  a  diinghill."  Verse  29.  The  whole  conduct  of  Nebn- 
chadnezzar,  throughout  the  entire  narrative,  is,  in  fact,  a  positive 
assumption  of  the  divine  prerogative  of  prescribing  an  object  of 
&ith  and  worship  for  mankind. 

But  tiiie  existence  of  this  assumption  of  divine  attributes  and 
powers  is  perhaps  still  more  clearly  seen  in  the  following  chapter. 
This  gives  an  account  of  the  king's  vision  of  a  great  tree,  with 
Daniel's  interpretation  of  it,  and  the  actual  accomplishment  of  the 
predictions  which  it  contained.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  this  well* 
known  portion  of  Scripture  has  not  received  the  attention  which  it 
merits.  Let  me  ask,  What  was  the  precise  object  of  all  this  won- 
derful interposition?  It  was  simply  this, — that  Nebuchadnezzar 
might  be  brought  fully  to  acknowledge  the  existence  and  supremacy 
of  the  most  high  God :  *'  Till  thou  know  that  the  Most  High  ruleth 
in  the  kingdom  of  men,  and  gtveth  it  to  whomsoever  he  will."  Dan. 
iv,  25.  And  it  is  certain  that  the  indisposition  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
to  know  and  acknowledge  this  did  not  arise  from  a  high  reverence 
for  any  other  god.  As  in  the  case  of  Sennacherib,  the  contest  was 
b^ween  the  claims  of  Jehovah  and  his  own  assumed  dignity  and 
power.  This  is  rendered  certain  by  the  fact,  that  the  culminating 
point  of  his  crime  was  the  inflated  inquiry,  *'  Is  not  this  great  Baby- 
lon, that  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom  by  tiie  might  of 
MY  power,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty  f  Verse  30.  And 
we  may  well  attach  the  strongest  meaning  possible  to  these  terms, 
when  it  is  known  that  they  were  immediately  followed  by  a  miracu- 
lous punishment,  instant  and  terrible. 

All  this  Serves  to  show,  that  the  principles  and  spirit  which  dic- 
tated the  first  great  rebellion  against  God  at  Shinar,  remained  in 
active  and  powerful  operation  at  the  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  But, 
after-  all,  perhaps  the  strongest  proof  we  have  of  this  fact  is  the 
predictive  declaration  of  the  Prophet  Isaiah  respecting  this  king. 
In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  his  prophecy,  this  sacred  seer  has 
given  one  of  the  most  splendid  prophetic  odes  to  be  found  in  the 
whole  scope  of  holy  Scripture.  This  prophecy  is  directed  against  a 
king  of  Babylon  who  was  a  great  conqueror,  who  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  and  grandson,  after  which  the  race  was  "  cut  off."  This  king  of 
Babylon  must  therefore  have  been  Nebuchadnezzar :  the  terms  used 
by  the  prophet  do  not,  and  never  have  been  supposed  to,  apply  to  any 
other  person.  In  this  prophecy  we  have  not  an  account  of  this  king's 
actions,  but  an  exhibition  of  the  thoughts  and  purposes  of  his  heart, 
set  fortii  under  the  guidance  of  that  omniscient  power  which  seeth 
what  is  in  man :  "  Thou  hast  said  in  thine  heart,  I  will  ascend  into 
heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the  stars  of  God :  I  will  sit 


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280  THB  QENTIU  NATIONS. 

also  upon  the  moont  of  the  congregation,  in  the  sides  of  ihe  north: 
I  will  ascend  aboye  the  heights  of  the  clouds ;  I  will  be  like  the 
Most  High."  Isaiah  xiv,  13, 14.  .  My  view  of  the  purport  of  this  text, 
sustained  by  the  authority  of  the  Rer.  G.  S.  Faber,  has  been  given 
in  the  place  already  referred  to :  (Hebrew  People,  p.  588 :)  it  will 
therefore  be  only  necessary  to  add  h^e,  that  these  words  fully  teach 
that  I^ebuchadnezsar  would  aspire  to  diyinity ;  that  he  would  not  be 
content  with  being  regarded  merely  as  one  of  the  local  hero-deities 
of  heathen  nations ;  that  he  would  claim  an  equality  with  the  Most 
High;  that  he  would-be  supreme;  further,  that  he  would  daim  this 
as  the  incarnate  Seed,  who  was  to  recover  the  seat  in  Paradise, 
which  is  here  indicated  by  "  the  mount  of  the  congregation  in  the 
sides  of  the  north." — Faber's  Origin  of  Pagan  Idolatry,  vol.  i,  p.  850. 

It  will  be  necessary  now  to  place  before  the  reader  a  brief  re- 
capitulation of  the  results  to  which  we  have  been  led  in  this  portion 
of  our  inquiry. 

It  has  been  ascertained  that  the  sacred  places  of  this  people  were 
filled  with  figures  combining  the  human  with  animal  forms;  that 
these  combinations  are  always  made  by  the  union  <^  two  or  more  of 
the  creatures  spoken  of  as  found  in  the  Scriptural  cherubim;  and 
that  this  is  done  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind 
that  the  human-headed  and  eagle- winged  lions  and  bulls,  which  are 
now  seen  in  the  museums  of  London  and  Paris,  and  which  still 
abound  in  the  mounds  of  Assyria^  were  desigpied  firom  traditional 
notions  of  the  primitive  cherubim. 

We  find  a  sacred  tree  associated  with  all  the  sacred  rites  of  this 
people,  and  placed  in  such  juxta-position  with  these  cherubic  sculp- 
tures as  to  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  it  was  incorporated  into  tUs 
religious  system  as  a  memorial  of  the  tree  of  life  in  Eden. 

It  is  certain  that,  attached  to  the  royal  palaces  of  Assyria,  diere 
were  large  enclosed  gardens  or  parks ;  and  the  universal  presence 
of  trees  and  a  river,  and  especially  the  peculiar  adopti<m  of  the 
name  and  its  application  in  holy  Scripture,  warrant  the  opinion,  that 
these  were  memorial  imitations  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  the  scene  of 
man's  primitive  happiness  and  fearful  &11. 

Furdier,  it  has  be^  ascertained  that  the  royal  residence  contiguous 
to  this  Paradise  had  a  sacred  character,  and  was  as  much  a  temple 
as  a  house,  and  thus  appeared  as  a  place  consecrated  to  Deity. 

•Again,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  sovereign  was  regarded  as 
divine ;  that  all  the  sculptures  identify  him  in  a  remarkable  manner 
with  the  divine  Son  in  the  sacred  triad ;  that  he  assumed  the  care 
of  the  national  religion,  exerted  himself  to  make  it  universal,  and 
fireely  put  forth  the  power  of  enforcing  canons  of  faith  on  the  people, 


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TH8  aSNTILB  NAT10I7S.  281 

and  of  dictating  to  them  aathoritatively  on  all  points  relating  to 
religion. 

If ow,  let  it  be  remembered  that  all  this  took  place  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood where,  and  arose  oat  of  the  people  among  whom,  Nimrod, 
the  great  apostate  leader,  laboured  to  fimstrate  the  puiposes  of  the 
Mopt  High  by  preventing  the  diviaely  appointed  dispersion  of  the 
people,  by  his  proud  claim  to  be  a  universal  sovereign,  and  his  pro- 
&ne  assumption  of  divine  attributes.  It  is  admitted  on  all  hands 
that  the  promise  of  an  incarnate  Deity  would  form  the  most  plausible 
basis  for  such  a  scheme  of  operation.  For  a  moment  let  this  be 
assumed,  and  it  wUl  be  seen  that  all  these  elements  of  Assyrian 
religion  are  precisely  those  which  under  the  circumstances  might  be 
expected.  Here  is  the  promised  divine  ruler  and  high-priest,  sur- 
rounded with  paradisiacal  emblems,  in  a  consecrated  dwelling, 
adapted  to  his  two-fold  character,  in  close  proxity  to  a  Paradise, 
made  as  nearly  as  possible  after  popular  traditions  of  the  original, 
labouring  to  fulfil  his  mission  by  bringing  all  the  world  under  his 
sway,  and  inducing  them  to  receive  terms  of  faith  from  his  word. 

The  substratum  of  this  system  was  historic  truth  and  pure  revela- 
tion. The  thrilling  events  of  man's  primitive  history  were  carefully 
brought  out ;  every  sacred  place  and  sacred  emblem  were  critically 
elaborated ;  ideas  of  primitive  history  and  religion,  hallowed  by  the 
lapse  of  ages,  were  brought  into  operation ;  the  natural  veneration 
due  the  man  and  woman  whom  God  made,  and  placed  in  purity 
upon  this  earth,  were  all  employed;  and,  more  than  all  thesQ,  the 
ItuDguage  in  which  the  antidote  for  man's  misery  in  Heaven's  mercy 
was  first  whispered  into  the  ear  of  sinning  mortals, — the  promise  of 
an  incarnate  Redeemer, — was  added,  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the 
religion  of  Assyria  and  Babylon. 

But  all  this  truth  was  neutralized,  perverted,  and  made  the  foun- 
dation on  which  was  reared  a  superstructure  full  of  evil.  This  was 
not  done  by  rude  opposition,  but  by  insidious  addition  and  vitiation. 
A  proud,  daring  ambitious  man,  urged  on  by  the  great  author  of  all 
evil,  having  entrenched  himself  in  those  hallowed  records  of  man's 
early  history,  daringly  claimed  divine  honour,  and  thus  prepared  the 
way  for  unlimited  idolatry. 

Thus,  as  far  as  patient  research  can  penetrate  the  obscurity  of 
the  subject,  this  system  arose:  and  perhc^s  there  is  nothing  in 
human  history  more  remarkable  than  the  identity  of  character 
which  it  maintained  throughout  two  thousand  years.  In  all  the 
alterations  of  national  prosperity  or  adversity,  whether  the  seat  of 
imperial  power  was  at  Nineveh  or  Babylon,  the  same  system  was 
maintained  in  respect  of  religion :  so  that,  when,  during  the  reign 


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282  THE  GBNTILB  KATIOKS. 

of  Nebuchodonosor,  Assyria  was  hastening  to  her  fall^  it  is  distinctly 
said  of  that  king  that  "  he  had  decreed  to  destroy  all  the  gods  of 
the  land,  that  all  nations  should  worship  Mebuchodonosor  only." 
Judith  iii,  8.  So  intense,  even  then,  was  Uie  claim  to  divinity  made 
by  the  kings  of  Assyria.  We  have  seen  that  this  did  not  abate, 
when  the  seat  of  empire  was  restored  to  Babylon.  Then  Jehovah 
had  to  reduce  Nebuchadnezzar  to  the  condition  of  a  beast,  and  to 
continue  him  in  that  abject  state  for  seven  years,  before  he  would 
recognise  the  existence  of  any  divine  power  beyond  that  which  he 
claimed  to  centre  in  himself. 

It  has  been  found  necessary  to  go  more  into  detail  with  regard  to 
this  subject,  than  has  been  usual  in  this  work,  for  two  reasons.  In 
the  preceding  volumes  I  was  compelled  to  assume  the  existence 
of  the  facts  and  doctrines  here  developed ;  and  it  therefore  became 
important  that  these  assumptions  should  be  fully  justified.  This 
course  was  also  demanded  by  the  circumstance,  that  this  branch  of 
the  subject  comes  before  us  not  only  as  an  important  element  in  the 
religion  of  those  countries,  but  also  as  being  equally  identified  with 
the  religion  of  the  world.  The  facts  elicited  in  respect  of  Assyria 
and  Babylon  more  or  less  illustrate  and  explain  the  religion  of  every 
other  idolatrous  country.  At  the  same  time  they  shed  no  unim- 
portant light  upon  very  interesting  portions  of  the  sacred  record. 
(See  Appendix,  note  35.) 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  add  such  general  observations  about 
this  system  of  religion  and  its  influence  on  the  people,  as  may  arise 
out  of  the  limited  information  which  has  been  handed  down  to  us 
by  history,  or  gleaned  from  a  study  of  the  disinterred  sculptures. 

Here,  as  in  other  primitive  heathen  countries,  there  is  found  a 
gradual  but  marked  deterioration  in  theology  and  objects  of  religious 
worship.  In  the  earliest  sculptures  of  Nimroud,  the  only  object 
which  the  king  is  seen  to  worship  is  the  winged  figure  in  the  circle, 
— ^tbe  divine  triad.  He  has,  indeed,  before  him  the  sacred  tree ;  but 
it  does  not  appear  that  this  is  an  object  of  adoration.  It  seems 
much  more  probable  that  this  is  employed  only  as  a  symbol  of  the 
tree  of  life.  And  this,  the  primitive  form  of  worship  among  the 
Assyrians,  as  far  as  our  means  of  information  extend,  strikingly 
confirms  our  view  of  the  gradual  and  insidious  manner  in  which  the 
patriarchal  faith  was  superseded  by  all  the  abominations  of  idolatry. 
Here  was  a  symbolic  representation  of  the  true  Ood,  in  his  triune 
character,  containing  allusive  representations  of  the  great  Father  and 
Mother,  with  the  promised  Saviour  as  the  incarnate  Son,  prominently 
exhibited  as  the  centre  and  substance  of  Deity.  The  fi^re  of  the 
sacred  tree  would  illustrate  all  this ;  and,  by  presenting  to  the  mind 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  283 

an  emblem  of  the  happy  seat  from  which  man  had  h^n  expelled,  and 
to  which  it  was  believed  he  would  be  restored  by  the  Saviour,  the 
past  history  and  future  hopes  of  the  world  were  concentrated  to  a 
focus,  and  that  point  was  made  the  object  of  the  earliest  Assyrian 
adoration. 

But  truth  alone  is  permanent  and  abiding;  error  is  always  subject 
to  variation  and  change,  and  generally  to  a  fearful  progression  from 
bad  to  worse.  This  is  seen  in  the  slender  information  supplied  by 
the  Assyrian  sculptures  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Although  no 
worship  is  represented  on  the  ruins  of  Nimroud  'but  that  which  is 
offered  to  the  sacred  triad,  it  is  certain  that  idolatrous  error  had  be- 
come widely  extended  and  greatly  diversified  prior  to  the  ruin  of  this 
ancient  city.  There  has  been  found  in  the  remains  of  that  palace 
what  has  been  called  "  the  Hall  of  Nisroch.''  It  is  a  chamber  one 
hundred  feet  long  and  twenty-five  broad :  its  entrance  is  by  a  door- 
way guarded  on  each  side  by  one  of  those  colossal- winged,  human- 
headed  bulls,  now  in  the  British  Museum.  With  one  exception,  this 
room  is  covered  with  sculptured  representations  of  Assarac,  the 
deified  patriarch,  Asshur,  the  tutelar  god  of  Assyria,  called  in  Holy 
Scripture  Misroch.  The  exception  to  this  rule  is  one  slab,  on  which 
there  is  a  representation  of  the  king  wearing  a  kind  of  necklace,  con- 
sisting of  emblems  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  such  as  "  the  sim,  the 
moon,  a  cross,  a  three-homed  cap,  and  a  symbol  like  two  horns," 
(Bonomi^s  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces,  p.  261,)  which  Layard  calls  "  a 
trident." 

This  Assarac — ^we  know,  firom  the  annals  of  kings  recorded  on  the 
sculptures  generally,  and  especially  from  those  on  the  Black  Obelisk 
— ^was  held  forth  as  the  great  national  deity.  EBs  worship  was 
introduced  wherever  the  Assyrian  arms  prevailed.  Altars  for  his 
service  were  raised  in  every  conquered  country.  It  does  not  appear 
why  he  is  thus  represented.  The  wings  and  the  eagle-head  may, 
indeed,  be  regarded  as  cherubic  emblems,  ahhough  no  reason  has 
been  assigned  for  their  peculiar  application  in  this  instance.  It  is, 
however,  probable  that  this  selection  was  devised  as  a  representation 
of  the  deified  patriarch,  under  the  influence  of  the  maxims  of  mythic 
philosophy  which  obtained  in  the  east  at  this  time.  This  notion 
seems  justified  by  the  fact,  that  a  fragment  of  the  Oracles  of  Zoro- 
aster, preserved  by  Eusebius,  states  that  "  God  is  he  that  has  the 
head  of  a  hawk.  He  is  the  first,  indestructible,  eternal,  unbegotten, 
indivisible,  dissimilar;  the  dispenser  of  all  good;  incorruptible;  the 
best  of  the  good,  the  wisest  of  tiie  wise :  he  is  the  father  of  equity  and 
justice,  self-taught,  physical,  and  perfect,  and  wise,  and  the  only 
inventor  of  the  sacred  philosophy." — Eusebii  Prcep.  Evang.,  lib.  i. 


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234  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

cap.  10 ;  Con/s  fragments,  p.  289.  Tet,  although  Assarac  was  the 
deified  patriarch  of  the  country,  and  uniformly  re<M)gDiBed  as  the  head 
of  the  Pantheon  in  all  the  royal  annals,  and  withal  dignified  with 
such  elevated  attributes ;  and  though  his  figure  occurs  so  frequently 
on  the  sculptures ;  yet  in  no  instance  is  the  reigning  king  seen  offer- 
ing adoration  to  him ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  Assarac  is  seen  minis- 
tering to  the  monarch.  This  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  convincing 
proofs  that  can  be  furnished  of  the  accuracy  of  the  view  which  we  have 
taken  concerning  the  direct  assumption  of  the  highest  divinity  by 
the  kings  of  Nineveh. 

In  the  latter  ages  of  the  empire,  howeyer,  we  find  considerable 
changes  in  the  religious  rites  and  objects  of  worship.  At  Khorsabad 
the  primitive  symbol  of  the  trinity — the  man  with  wings  in  a  cirde 
— ^has  altogether  disappeared.  No  visible  type  of  this  primeval  doc- 
trine remains.  Here  is  found  a  colossal  figure,  which  Mr.  Bonomi 
shows  good  reason  for  believing  to  be  Nimrod:  but  whether  this 
conjecture  is  well  founded,  and  this  mighty  warrior  was  deified  in 
Assyria,  we  have  not  as  yet  the  means  of  deciding  with  satisfactory 
certainty.  Here  is  also  a  human  figure  with  four  wings,  which  is 
conjectured  to  be  Ilus  or  Cronos. 

Whatever  uncertainty  may  attach  to  the  identification  of  the 
deities  of  this  latter  period  of  the  empire,  it  is  certain  that  the  wor- 
ship of  fire  had  been  introduced  and  become  general.  Although 
there  are  no  traces  of  this  in  the  earlier  inscriptions,  undoubted 
evidence  of  its  existence  is  found  on  the  sculptures  of  Khorsabad 
and  Kouyunjik. 

Among  the  ruins  of  the  former  city  is  a  striking  instance  of  this 
species  of  idolatry.  Two  eunuchs  are  seen  standing  before  an  altar, 
engaged  in  some  religious  service.  They  have  the  square  basket^ 
or  utensil,  seen  on  the  older  bass-reliefs.  This  sculpture  casts  im- 
portant light  on  the  singular  ceremony  so  frequently  seen  on  the 
Nimroud  sculptures, — the  presentation  of  the  pine-apple,  or  fir-cone, 
— to  which  it  has  been  found  very  difiicult  to  attacli  any  meaning. 
Here  the  fir-cone,  painted  red,  as  if  to  represent  fire,  is  placed  on  the 
hi^  stand  or  altar;  a  delineation  which  seems  to  justify  the  sur- 
mise that  this  cone  was  r^arded  as  sacred,  on  account  of  its  figure 
and  inflammable  qualities. 

From  the  ruins  of  Kouyunjik  there  has  been  brought  a  still  more 
curious  representation  of  fire-worship.  Two  figures  *'  appear  stand- 
ing before  an  altar,  on  which  is  the  sacred  fire.  Two  serpents  appear 
to  be  attached  to  poles,  and  a  bearded  figure  is  leading  a  goat  to  the 
sacrifice.'* — Layard,  vol.  ii,  p.  463.  This  seems  to  prove  that  this 
form  of  idolatry  originated  in  Assyria,  and  was  carried  from  thence 


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THB  QBlfTIUI  NATIOKS.  285 

inio  Persia.  Mr.  Layard  also  describes  a  aingakr  altar  found  at 
Khorsabad,  which  is  supported  on  three  lions'  feet;  and  which  re* 
sembles  so  strikingly  the  Greek  tripods,  that  the  learned  explorer 
conjectures  that  many  of  the  forms  and  religious  types,  hitherto 
re^rded  as  peculiar  to  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  had  their  origin  in 
Assyria. 

Before  I  proceed  to  a  genttnl  summary  of  the  morab  and  religion 
of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  I  will  endeavour,  as  briefly  as  possible,  to 
glance  at  the  e£fects  likely  to  be  produced  on  tiie  goTemments  and 
people  of  these  countries  by  their  intercourse  with  the  Hebrews,  end 
the  divine  interpositiims  which  arose  out  of  this  connexion. 

Here  the  reader  should  be  reminded  at  the  outset^  that  whatever 
errors  might  have  been  concocted  and  disseminated  by  the  rebellious 
Gcmspiracy  at  Shinar,  the  masses  of  the  population  at  that  day  must 
have  been  fully  informed  as  to  the  great  facts  of  the  world's  previous 
history.  The  Creation, — the  Fall, — the  promise  of  redemption, — 
the  sin  and  violence  of  the  old  world, — the  piety,  the  righteousness 
of  Noah, — the  doom  of  the  antediluvians, — ^the  preparation  of  the 
ark, — the  Flood, — the  accepted  sacrifice  of  the  arkite  patriarch, — 
and  the  sin  (whatever  it  was)  which  led  to  the  malediction  of  Noah 
on  Ham  or  Canaan, — all  these  fiftots^  and  a  tiiousand  more,  unl^pily 
lost  to  us,  deep  iasignificanoe,  full  of  instruction,  had  been  handed 
down  from  fftther  to  son,  and  had  pervaded  the  public  mind,  and 
given  a  colour  and  a  character  to  the  opinions,  the  feelings,  and  even 
the  prejudices  of  the  people. 

When,  therefore,  erudite  authors  describe  the  people  of  Assyria 
and  Babylon  as  occupying  a  level  country,  and  seeing  the  heavenly 
bodies  through  a  clear  atmosphere,  and  as  thus  being  led  to  worship 
them  as  types  of  the  power  and  attributes  of  the  supreme  Deity; 
and  allege  that  this  was  their  original  theology;  they  must  not 
expect  their  inferences  to  be  believed  by  those  who  venerate  the 
authority  of  Holy  Scripture. 

Do  these  writers  really  believe  that  the  grandson  of  Noah  sur- 
vived the  Dispersion  ?  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express  my  firm  belief, 
that  Divine  Providence  wisely  ordained  the  longevity  of  mankind, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  postdiluvian  period,  for  the  set  purpose  of 
making  defection  from  the  service  of  God  as  difficult  as  possible. 
My  meaning  will  be  fully  apprehended  by  an  inspection  of  the  syn- 
chronistical  chart  in  a  preceding  volume.  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  431.) 
From  this  it  will  be  seen  that,  until  after  the  Dispersion,  the  number 
of  lineal  descendants  living  contemporaneously  was  generally  five : 
that  is,  a  man's  grandson  was  always  bom  and  arrived  at  manhood, 
before  the  man's  own  grandfather  died. 


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286  THB  GBNTILB  BATI0K8. 

In  this  state  of  sodety,  and  wi(|h  such  grand  historical  ev^ts — 
inyolying  the  mightiest  operations  of  divine  power,  the  most  won- 
derful revelations  of  God's  justice  and  mercy — ^living  in  the  memory 
of  the  people,  the  notion  that  any  great  division  of  them  could  dis- 
possess themselves  of  all  this  knowledge  and  its  cognate  ideas,  and 
adopt  Sabaeanism  as  a  general  and  original  religious  system,  is 
utterly  absurd,  because  it  is- impossible.  The  only  way  open  to  the 
tempter  at  that  early  age  for  the  introduction  of  idolatiy  on  a  large 
scale,  was  in  the  way  of  insidious  corruption  of  the  truth. 

So  much  of  this  same  historical  and  religious  knowledge  as  re- 
mained, would  also  serve  to  give  effect  to  the  salutary  influence 
which  an  intercourse  with  the  Hebrews  was  calculated  to  afford.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact, — at  least,  it  will  be  so  esteemed  by  those  who 
study  the  divine  government  of  this  world  in  relation  to  its  bearing 
on  tiie  spiritual  and  immortal  interests  of  mankind, — which  Dr. 
Layard.  (Nineveh,  vol.  ii,  p.  206)  adduces,  when  he  asserts  that  "  a 
dose  intercourse"  had  existed  between  Egypt  and  Assyria,  from 
the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty.  This  was  the  period, 
it  will  be  remembered,  when  Joseph  was  carried  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mil^ :  so  that  this  connexion  was  established  just  in  time  to  render 
all  the  thrilling  events  of  the  Hebrew  history  in  Egypt  known  in 
Assyria.  And  as  this  intercourse  continued  to  increase  during  the 
succeeding  dynasties,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  such  events  as  the 
nfiraculous  Exodus  of  Israel,  the  fame  of  which,  it  is  certain,  was 
extended  far  and  wide,  (Josh,  ii,  9-11,)  must  have  been  well  known 
in  Assyria.  It  is  important  to  mark  such  facts  as  are  thus  brought 
to  our  knowledge  by  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  proving,  as  they  do, 
that  the  position  of  the  Hebrews,  as  the  elect  people  of  Jehovah, 
and  as  saved  by  him  through  the  most  miraculous  interposition,  was 
known  among  the  principal  nations  of  the  ancient  world. 

The  mission  of  Jonah  next  calls  for  attention.  But  of  this  we 
have  no  detailed  information,  beyond  the  simple  statement  of  fact. 
A  question,  indeed,  arises, — Would  the  message  of  Jonah  itself  have 
produced  the  results  which  followed,  in  the  absence  of  all  knowledge 
by  the  Assyrians  of  the  Hebrew  people?  This  does  not  seem  prob- 
able. The  facts  are  clearly  these: — Jonah  entered  the  city,  and 
proclaimed,  "Yet  forty  days,  and  Nineveh  shall  be  overthrown." 
The  people  regarded  this  communication  as  the  word  of  God :  for  it 
is  said,  "  The  people  of  Nineveh  believed  God,  and  proclaimed  a 
fifcst,"  &c.  This  humiliation  was  universal,  from  the  sovereign  on 
the  throne  to  the  meanest  subject:  and  God  accepted  this  peni- 
tence, and  turned  away  the  evil  which  he  had  threatened  to  do,  and 
did  it  not. 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  237 

Taken  in  a  religions  aspect,  it  is  impossible  not  to  regard  this  as 
a  most  important  eyent.  It  dearly  implied  the  entire  absence  from 
the  minds  of  the  Ninevites  of  all  real  confidence  in  their  own  gods. 
This  message  did  not  come  from  them : — that  must  have  been  fully 
known.  The  result  also  implied,  I  think,  some  considerable  ac- 
quaintance with  Jehovah  as  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the  mighty 
miracles  of  judgment  and  mercy  which  he  had  wrought.  The  brief 
antecedents  of  the  history  also  serve  to  countenance  this  view  of  the 
matter.  Without  someliung  of  this  kind  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
conceive  of  a  great  and  powerful  people,  through  all  its  ranks  and 
ages,  submitting  to  such  a.  course. 

Yet,  if  this  supposition  is  correct,  it  must  follow  that,  notwith- 
standing the  continued  practice  of  idolatrous  corruptions,  the  As- 
syrian people  retained  a  large  portion  of  patriarchal  truth;  which, 
supplemented  by  the  knowledge  they  had  obtained  of  the  God  of 
Israel,  was  suflBcient  to  point  them  out  a  way  of  escape  from  the 
tiureatened  infliction.  At  any  rate,  they  were  then  found  possessed 
of  such  religious  knowledge  as  enabled  them  on  that  occasion  to 
engage  in  four  of  the  most  vitally  important  duties  of  practical 
religioB. 

First:  They  exerdsed  faith  in  God:  they  believed  the  truth  of 
the  message  ddhv^red  by  the  prophet,  and  admitted  it,  in  all  its  ful- 
ness of  meaning.  Then  they  humbled  themselves  in  sackcloth,  and 
by  fasting.  This  is  most  remarkable.  In  all  that  the  Bible  contains 
respecting  patriarchal  religion,  fasting  is  not  mentioned ;  nor  does 
Moses  enjoin  any  particular  fast,  except  that  on  the  great  day  of 
eq^iation.  The  sacred  records,  from  Moses  to  Jonah,  mention  but 
two  or  three  instances  of  fasting  on  account  of  some  grievous 
calamity;  and,  I  believe,  but  one  of  these  included  any  considerable 
number  of  people :  yet  here  we  have  a  fast  enjoined  with  the  utmost 
rigonr,  throughout  a  great  dty  like  Itineveh !  Again,  the  injunction 
to  this  people  was,  "  Cry  mightily  unto  God."  How  deeply  expres- 
sive is  this  of  earnest  and  ccmtinued  prayer !  Further,  to  this  faith, 
penitence,  and  prater,  was  added  amendment  of  life:  ''Let  them 
torn  eveiy  one  from  Us  evil  way."  It  is  not  possible  to  ascertain 
whether  the  communication  of  the  prophet  went  beyond  the  procla- 
mation of  the  threatening;  but,  taking  the  fact  as  it  stands  on  the 
sacred  record,  this  course  of  submission  and  obedience  argues  the 
possession,  by  the  Assyrians  of  that  day,  of  a  large  amount  of  sound 
religious  knowledge,  however  extensively  this  might  have  been  neu- 
tralised by  idolatrous  error.  But  even  admitting  the  existence  of 
all  this  knowledge,  we  cannot  account  for  the  ready  and  general  sub- 
mission of  the  Ninevites,  without  supposing  them  on  that  occasion 


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238  THE  QBKTILB  NATIONS. 

to  have  been  visited  by  a  very  gracious  and  prevalent  inflaence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

When  the  idolatrous  kingdom  of  Israel  was  given  into  the  hand 
of  the  king  of  Assyria,  this  divinei  interposition  did  not  entirely 
cease.  The  Ten  Tribes  having  been  carried  into  Media,  and  none 
but  the  lowest,  weakest,  and  poorest  of  the  people  being  left  in  the 
land;  and  the  men  of  Babylon,  Guthah,  Hamath,  and  other  places 
in  the  east,  being  brought  to  supply  a  population  for  Samaria  and 
its  neighbouring  districts;  these  heathens  introduced  their  own 
idolatry  with  themselves:  in  consequence  of  which,  we  are  told, 
''the  Lord  sent  lions  among  them,  which  slew  some  of  them." 
Indeed,  so  terrible  did  this  plague  become,  that  a  formal  representa- 
tion of  the  case  was  made  to  the  imperial  court;  and  one  of  die 
priests  who  had  been  carried  into  captivity  was  sent  back  again,  to 
teach  all  the  people  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  Thus,  even  after 
Israel  was  ruined,  and  when  the  pride,  cruelty,  and  idolatry  of  As- 
syria had  brought  that  mighty  empire  to  the  verge  of  destruelion, 
did  Jehovah  interpose  to  assert  his  proper  sovereignty  over  the  land 
which  he  had  given  to  his  people :  and  this  was  done  in  a  manner 
which  elicited  from  the  haughty  conqueror  an  acknowledgment  of 
the  fact,  and  a  submission  to  the  consequence,  in  the  return  of  a 
captive  Hebrew  priest  to  teach  the  people  the  law  of  the  Lord.  In 
all  this  were  attested  an  admission  of  the  Deity  of  Jehovah,  and  a 
belief  of  his  paramount  power. 

We  pass  on  to  the  case  of  Babylon.  The  first  instaiioe  of  inti- 
mate intercourse  between  the  Hebrews  and  this  state  was  of  an 
unfavourable  character.  It  arose  out  of  the  subversion  of  the 
kingdom  of  Judah,  and  the  destruction  of  the  temple  and  city  of 
Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  Here  was  the  centre  and  seat  of 
Hebrew  power  and  polity.  Miracle  and  prophecy  had  been  united 
for  many  centuries  in  the  defence  of  this  metropolis ;  and  whatever 
knowledge  respecting  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  and  his  wonderful 
interpositions  on  behalf  of  his  people,  might  have  reached  Babylon, 
they  would  all  refer  to  the  throne  of  the  house  of  David,  and  to  the 
sacred  sanctuary  at  Jerusalem.  When,  therefore,  these  had  been 
swept  away  by  ibe  martial  power  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the  tem- 
ple had  been  burned  with  fire,  and  Jerusalem  was  a  heap  of  ruins, 
then  would  the  king  and  people  of  Babylon  regard  their  own  gods  as 
paramount  in  power,  and  the  Crod  and  people  of  Jerusalem  as  alike 
subdued  before  them.  This  unquestionably  accounts  for  the  inordi- 
nate vanity  of  the  king  of  Babylon.  If  the  king  of  Assyria,  after 
having  subdued  the  Israelites  of  Samaria,  gloried  in  the  title  of 
"  Conqueror  of  the  remote  Judea,"  need  we  wonder  that  Nebuchad- 


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THB  OBNTILB  NATIONS.  239 

nezzar  should  be  yain,  after  he  had  subverted  the  throne  of  David, 
and  destroyed  his  city  and  the  temple  of  his  son  ? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  inflated  with  this  success,  and  augur- 
ing therefrom  the  confirmation  of  his  proudest  purposes, — his  own 
recognition  as  a  divine  religious  and  political  head  of  his  vast 
empire, — he  made  the  golden  image,  and  congregated  the  multitude 
of  his  officials  on  the  plains  of  Dura.  But,  alas !  what  a  defeat  was 
that !  How  clearly,  and  publicly,  and  fully  did  Jehovah  testify  to 
this  numerous  host  of  the  Babylonish  aristocracy,  that  his  arm  was 
not  shortened, — ^that,  for  those  who  were  faithfiil  in  his  service,  he 
was  still  able  and  wiUing  to  exert  his  almighty  power !  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  overrate  the  amount  of  knowledge,  which  the  events  of 
this  day  gave  to  the  spectators,  of  the  infinite  wisdom,  goodness,  and 
power  of  the  Hebrews*  God.  This  would  scatter  to  the  winds  all 
the  profane  assumptions  of  their  king, — at  least,  so  far  as  the  people 
were  concerned.  Those  who  saw  the  aflrighted  liionarch  standing 
aghast  at  the  sight  of  the  Son  of  God  walking  in  the  midst  of  the 
flames,  were  not  likely  to  recognise  him  again  as  a  real  divinity. 

The  wonderful  vision  of  this  king,  and  his  predicted  insanity, 
recovery,  and  consequent  proclamation,  must  have  largely  contrib- 
uted to  open  the  eyes  of  the  Babylonish  people  to  the  vanity  of 
idols,  and  to  an  acknowledgment  of  the  true  deity  and  power  of 
Jehovah.  The  decrees  published  by  this  sovereign,  (Dan.  iii,  29 ; 
iv,  1-37,)  must  have  fallen  as  a  glorious  light  on  the  darkness  of 
Babylonish  idolatry.  Who  can  estimate  the  effects  of  such  procla- 
mations? Who  can  conceive  of  the  besotted  state  of  mind  which 
would  be  necessary  to  impel  men  to  neglect  these,  and  trust  in  dumb 
idols?  But,  perhaps,  nothing  which  occurred  during  this  reign 
tended  more  folly  to  show  the  glorious  perfections  of  Jehovah,  than 
the  prophecieB  of  Daniel  respecting  the  king's  vision  of  the  great 
image,  which  was  explained  as  referring  to  the  four  great  monar^ies. 

At  first  sight  we  perceive  in  the  conduct  of  the  king  respecting 
his  wonderful  dreams  nothing  but  a  cool,  calculating  prudence.  He 
would  not  be  imposed  on  by  the  wise  men,  and  therefore  insisted  on 
their  telling  him  the  particulars  of  the  vision  which  had  given  him 
so  much  alarm.  Terrified  at  the  demand,  they  shrank  from  the 
effort, — when  the  enraged  king  doomed  them  all  to  instant  execution. 
These  measures,  however,  efiected  one  thing  of  the  utmost  conse- 
quence, which  they  were  never  intended  to  do.  They  fixed  public 
attention  on  this  case.  The  dream,  and  the  interpretation,  that  had 
placed  the  sacred  college  under  sentence  of  deatii,  from  which  all 
the  members  had  been  saved  only  by  the  revelations  of  the  Hebrew 
prophet^  could  not  be  concealed :  and,  when  made  known,  what  did 


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240  THB  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

thej  declare?  The  iofimte  presciesce  and  glorious  soyereigniy  of 
the  true  God  were  asserted;  the  prevalent  notion  of  local  and 
national  divinities  was  exploded ;  the  great  purpose  of  Jehovah  to 
direct  the  entire  government  of  the  world,  so  that  in  his  own 
appointed  time  the  kingdom  of  God  might  be  set  up,  was  declared. 
Truly  Jehovah  left  not  himself  without  witness.  Babylon,  in  all 
her  apostasy  and  guilt,  had  glorious  revelations  of  the  wisdom,  truth, 
mercy,  and  power  of  the  true  God. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  amount  of  divine  interposition,  and  the 
consequent  communication  of  much  religious  knowledge,  Assyria 
and  Babylon  remained  idolatrous  and  corrupt.  We  have  not  the 
means  of  tracing  here,  as  distinctly  as  we  could  in  regard  of  Egypt, 
the  remains  of  pure  patriarchal  truth.  But  from  the  general  analogy 
observable  between  the  religion  of  these  countries  and  that  of  ancient 
Persia,  it  may  be  safely  assumed,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's 
immortality,  and  of  a  final  judgment,  were  firmly  and  generally 
believed.  On  the  subject  of  morals  but  little  can  be  said :  but  if 
we  apply  here  a  rule  which  generally  holds  good, — namely,  that  the 
laws  and  usages  respecting  women  form  the  clearest  indication  of 
the  moral  condition  of  any  people, — our  estimate  of  the  state  of 
these  nations  will  be  low.  The  testimony  of  Herodotus,  as  to  the 
prostitution  of  females  of  all  ranks  in  the  temple  of  Mylitta,  is 
appalling ;  and  yet  it  is  the  testimony  of  an  intelligent  and  credible 
eye-witness.  This  practice  was  continued  to  the.  last  period  of  the 
Babylonish  history;,  and  its  prevalence  is  rather  confirmed  by  an- 
other and  independent  statement  of  the  same  author.  He  says  that 
no  man  was  at  liberty  to  make  a  matrimonial  engagement  for  his 
daughter ;  but  that  all  the  marriageable  females  were  periodically 
put  up  to  public  sale;  and  that,  after  the  most  beautiful  had  been 
first  sold  at  high  prices,  a2)d  others  less  favoured  at  lower  rates,  the 
money  so  raised  was  distributed  to  portion  such  as  were  plain  or 
deformed,  so  that  all  were  thus  disposed  of  It  is  added  that  each 
man  was  bound  to  marry  the  woman  whom  he  thus  obtained. 
(Herodotus,  Clio,  cap.  zcvi.)  The  Greek  historian  apphiuds  this 
institution ;  but  he  will  have  no  echo  to  his  sentiments  finom  any 
Christian  mind. 

On  the  whole,  the  religion  of  Assyria  and  Babylon  does  not  pre- 
sent to  our  observation  any  wonderful  range  of  invention,  eiUier  in 
its  theology,  doctrines,  or  modes  of  worship.  Less  prominence  is 
here  given  to  these  than  in  other  heathen  countries.  In  fact^  the 
religion  is  marked  by  one  great  peculiarity,  one  grand  distinguishing 
feature:— it  was  an  enormous  despotism.  This  was  its  character, 
its  essential  and  distinguishing  quality.    A  thorough  investigation 


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THS  08NTILB  NATIONS.  241 

of  this  snlgect  would  require  a  dissertation.  We  can  only  ^anoe  afc 
this  primevsl  attempt  to  reduce  the  great  body  of  mankind  into  a 
bondage  of  the  most  grieyons  kind,— a  thraldom  of  soul, — a  vassal- 
age of  spirit, — a  subjection,  perfeot  and  ^tire,  not  only  in  civil  and 
political  affiurs,  bat  also  in  essentially  religious  matters,  to  the  judg- 
ment and  will  of  one  man,  misnamed  ''divine." 

There  is  here  presented  to  our  attentive  consideration  a  most 
important  phase  in  the  progressive  development  of  human  impurity. 
The  antediluvian  world  perished  through  sins  engendered  in  the 
absence  of  efficient  political  and  religious  government :  "  The  earth 
was  filled  with  violence."  To  prevent  a  recurrence  of  this  evil,  and 
its  consequent  suffering,  the  divine  purpose  appointed  the  dispersion 
of  the  postdiluvian  population  over  the  earth,  under  the  heads  of 
the  several  tribes.  The  sin  of  Nimrod  was,  at  first,  a  vain  attempt 
to  counteract  this  purpose,  by  assuming  to  himself  a  divine  charac- 
ter, and  in  this  character  claiming  universal  sovereignty  over  man- 
kind. The  miraculous  intervention  at  Babel  frustrated  his  impious 
purpose,  and  ^forced  the  dispersion. 

But,  defeated  in  the  extent  of  his  great  design,  he  clung  to  its 
principle  and  spirit  with  invincible  tenacity.  The  results  we  see  in 
the  religion  of  Assyria  and  Babylon.  Here  we  find  every  paradisi- 
acal element  exhibited  with  the  most  gorgeous  profusion, — every 
primitive  fact  emblazoned  with  the  greatest  prominence,^— all  the 
essentials  of  a  national  faith  brought  out  in  pompous  array.  But 
when  we  come  to  investigate  the  operation  of  this  system,  and  its 
influence  upon  the  human  mind,  we  find  a  dreary  chasm.  Viewed 
in  tills  aspect,  it  loses  its  character  as  religion.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  see  a  mortal  man  assuming  divinity,  and  affecting  to  tyrannize 
over  the  fiuth  and  feeling,  the  judgment  and  conscience,  of  his  fel- 
lows ;  we  hear  the  voice  of  an  earthworm  outrage  reason  and  heaven 
by  tiie  profane  challenge,  "I  will  bb  lies  the  Most  Hiqh  :"  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  countiess  numbers  of  men  and  women  by 
whom  he  is  surrounded  are  all  regarded  as  called  into  being  to  do 
him  homage,  and  live  and  think  and  feel  in  subjection  to  his  will. 

The  withering  curse  of  this  profane  subversion  of  all  human  right 
blasted  the  happiness,  and  paralyzed  the  intellectual  development, 
of  these  nations.  Men  subjected  to  such  domination  might  be  fit 
tools  for  a  military  despotism ;  they  might  be  better  adapted,  in 
consequence  of  the  blind  devotion  to  their  king,  to  sustain  him  in 
his  martial  aggression  on  other  nations :  but  for  all  the  great  and 
elevating  purposes  to  which  human  nature  is  called,  and  for  the 
aooomplisfament  of  which  it  is  prepared  by  the  possession  of  the 
noblest  attributes,  they  were  latterly  disqualified.    A  military  sub- 

16 


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242  THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

ordination  was  therefore  reared  up  and  maintained;  an  extenaivo 
empire  was  conquered,  and  by  the  same  means  long  continued:  but 
here  was  the  end  of  its  powers.  Saving  accomplished  this,  it  in 
turn  sunk  into  subjection,  and  thence  into  perpetual  desolation. 

Such  were  the  character,  the  doings,  and  the  end  of  the  first  great 
antichristian  aggression  on  the  purposes  of  God  and  the  liberties  of 
man  1  Such  were  the  spirit,  the  power,  and  the  doom  of  the  pm- 
Christian  Popery  I 


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THK  QBKTILB  NATIOHB.  248 


CHAPTER  VL 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  MEDES. 

liDrxAGB  and  Conntrj  of  the  Medei— EcbatanfK  Che  Capital— Bevolt  of  the  Medea  against 
Assyria — ^They  recover  their  Independence — ^A  Season  off  Anarchy — ^Public  Spirit  and 
judicial  Efforts  of  Dvocss— He  is  raised  to  the  Sovereignty  of  Media—Establishes  a 
regular  Government  and  greatly  improves  the  Country  — Phr^obtks,  a  martial  Prince, 
subdues  Persia,  and  extends  the  Median  Power  over  other  neighbouring  Nations — 
Invades  Assyria,  is  defeated  and  slain — Ecbatana  stormed  and  spoiled  by  the  Assyrian 
King — Cyatabms  invades  Assyria — Defeats  the  Imperial  Army,  and  besieges  Nineveh 
-^The  Scythian  Invasion — ^The  Modes  defeated — ^The  Scythians  overrun  J^aia, — ^Their 
Massacre  and  Expulsion— The  Lydian  Wai^-It  is  suspended,  and  Nineveh  besieged 
a  second  Time,  and  taken— The  Lydian  War  renewed— Terminated  by  the  Eclipse  of 
Thalea^AaTTAOxs  reigns — ^Prosecutes  various  Wars — ^Beishazsar  slain— The  ^dngdom 
of  Babylon  reverts  to  Astyages— Media  conquered,  and  the  Kingdom  snbvertedby 
Cyrus.  • 

The  Medes,  who  were  descended  from  Madai,  the  third  son  of 
Japhet,  occupied  an  important  territory  on  the  south  coast  of  the 
Caspian  Sea.  It  extended  to  Persia  and  Assyria  on  the  south,  and 
was  bounded  by  Parthia  and  Hyrcania  on  the  east,  and  Armenia  on 
the  west. 

This  country  was  generally  mountainous,  and  a  great  part  of  it 
cold  and  barren.  Its  chief  city  was  Ecbatana,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  erected  by  Dejoces.  The  walls  of  this  capital  are  greatly 
celebrated  by  ancient  writers,  and  are  minutely  described  by  Herod- 
otus. They  are  seven  in  number,  all  of  a  circular  form,  and  gradu- 
ally rising  aboye  each  other  by  the  height  of  the  battlements  of  each 
wall.  The  situation  of  the  ground,  sloping  by  an  easy  ascent;  was 
rery  favourable  to  the  design  of  building  them,  and  perhaps  first 
suggested  it.  The  royal  palace  and  treasury  were  within  the  inner- 
moat  circle  of  the  seven.  The  Book  of  JudQth  states  that  the  walls 
of  this  metropolis  were  seventy  cubits  high  and  fifty  cubits  broad ; 
that  the  towers  on  the  gates  were  a  hundred  cubits  in  height,  the 
breadth  in  the  foundation  sixty  cubits,  and  that  the  walls  were  built 
of  hewn  and  polished  stone,  each  stone  being  six  cubits  in  length 
and  three  in  breadth.  Of  this  noble  city  not  a  vestige  now  remains 
to  mark  the  site  on  which  it  stood.  (Ancient  Universal  History, 
vol.  iv,  p.  3.) 

The  Medes  were,  in  the  remotest  antiquity,  celebrated  as  a  brave 
and  hardy  race,  possessing  all  the  requisites  for  making  excellent 


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244  THS  GKNTILB  HATIOna 

soldiers.  Their  government  was  originally  monarchical ;  and  they 
seem  to  have  had  kings  of  their  own  in  the  earliest  times.  Accord- 
ing to  Lactantius,  one  Hydaspes  reigned  long  before  the  Medes 
were  conquered  by  the  Assyrians :  and  Diodorus  says,  that  Phamus, 
King  of  the  Medes,  was,  with  his  seven  sons,  defeated  and  taken 
prisoner  by  ^Ninus  in  the  beginning  of  the  Assyrian  empire. 

At  the  period  when  this,  volume  resumes  the  history  of  these 
nations,  the  Medes  were  subject  to  the  Assyrians,  and  their  country 
formed  a  most  important  province  of  that  vast  Empire.  But  in  this 
state  of  subjection,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  continued  to  be 
governed  by  their  own  kings ;  either  hereditary  descendants  of  their 
former  rulers,  or  persons  raised  to  this  dignity  by  the  imperial 
sovereigns  of  Nineveh. 

It  is  impossible  now  to  ascertain  the  line  of  succession  of  these 
sovereigns,  or  to  mark  out  even  then:  names,  and  the  respective  periods 
of  their  rule.  It  is  known,  however,  that,  during  the  time  they  were 
labouring  under  all  the  disadvantages  of  foreign  domination,  Media 
continued  to  hold  a  most  important  position,  and  to  ijmk  as  one  of 
the  most  martial  and  powerful  provinces  of  the  empire.  In  the 
Appendix  of  this  volume  (note  19,  p.  547)  reasons  have  been  given 
for  believing  thai,  the  influence  and  power  of  this  province  were  so 
great,  that,  at  the  termination  of  the  reign  of  the  feeble  Assyrian 
monarch,  Thonos  Concoleros,  a  Median  prince  obtained  possession 
of  the  imperial  throne.  The  infusion  of  new  life  and  vigour  whidi 
was  thus  communicated  to  the  government  of  Assyria,  doubtless 
contributed  to  the  successive  conquests  obtained  during  that  and  iht 
fallowing  reigns.  This  was  in  fact  the  most. glorious  period  of 
Assyrian  history. 

.  But  it  is  apparent  that  the  elevation  of  a  Median  prince  to  the 
throne  of  JNineveh  did  not  satisfy  the  aspirations  of  the  Median 
people  or  sufficiently  gratify  the  ambition  of  its  chiefs..  We  ac* 
oordingly  find  that,  on  the  humiliation  of  Sennacherib,  after  the 
nuraoulous  ruin  of  his  ^eat  army  between  Palestine  and  £gypt» 
efibrts  were  made  to  obtain  the  independence  of  Media.  From  ihe 
maimer  in  which  Herodotus  states  the  case,  it  appears  that  the 
Medes  were  the  first  of  all  thie  nations  of  Upper  Asia  who  asserted 
their  national  liberty,  and  revolted  against  the  Assyrian  power, 
^his  revolt,  according  to  that  historian,  did  not  take  place  under  the 
direction  of  the  8overeigia>or  totrap  of  the  conntrjr,  but  by  a  general 
efibrt  of  the  people;  which  proving  successful,  the  Assyrian  govern- 
or was  expelled,  and  the  paramount  supremacy  of  that  power  was 
dfostroyed.  For  we  are  told,  that,  having  secured  their  liberty,  no 
national  government  was  established ;  but  the  six  several  tribes  of 


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THB  6SNTILB  HATIONS.  246 

which  the  nation  we3  composed  lived  apart^  and  according  to  their 
individual  pleaeore.  The  conBequence  of  this  was  universal  disorder. 
Injustice  and  rapine  prevailed,  while  no  e^ctual  authority  existed, 
sufficient  to  restore  order,  and  conduct  a  government. 

This  great  want  was,  however,  soon  supplied.  Dbjoobs,  a  Me* 
dian,  although  living  in  a  private  station,  was  so  distinguished  for 
his  wisdom  and  integrity,  that,  in  this  period  of  anarchy,  many  per- 
sons resorted  to  him  for  the  settlement  of  their  disputes,  and  the 
adjustment  of  their  differences.  He  discharged  this  office  with  so 
much  equity  and  intelligence,  that  at  length  his  decisions  were 
generally  recognised,  and  his  judgment  appealed  to,  even  by  persons 
from  the  other  Median  tribes. 

These  public  services  were  continued  with  so  much  zeal  and 
talent,  and  receired  with  such  popular  favour,  that  at  length  the  whole 
people  acknowledged  him  as  their  sovereign,  built  him  a  noble  palace, 
and  invested  him  with  supreme  authority.  Dejooes  appears  to  have 
fWly  justified  the  popular  choice.  He  either  founded,  or  greatly 
improved,  Ecbatana,  the  capital  of  the  country.  His  most  earnest 
endeavours  were  devoted  to  elevate  the  manners  and  habits  of  his 
people ;  and  having  greatly  improved  their  condition,  he  turned  his 
thoughts  toward  the  enlargement  of  his  dominions,  and  succeeded 
by  force  of  arms  in  extending  his  authority  over  some  of  the  neigh- 
bouring tribes. 

The  length  of  the  reign  of  Dejoces  cannot  be  accurately  asoer«> 
teined.  The  open  revolt  of  Media  took  place  just  after  the- ruin  of 
the  Assyrian  army  under  Sennacherib,  about  710  fi.  G. ;  but  no  infor- 
mation has  come  down  to  us  showing  how  long  the  state  of  anarehy 
continued,  nor  what  period  of  time  elapsed  while  Dejoces  was  serving 
the  cause  of  his  country,  before  he  was  raised  to  the  throne.  (See 
Appendix,  note  36.)  It  seems,  however,  to  be  admitted  that  this 
prince,  after  greatly  benefiting  his  nation,  by  serving  it  in  different 
ways  for  more  than  forty  years,  died  B.  C.  651,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son 

Phraortbs,  the  son  of  Dejoces,  was  a  vei^  martial  -prince.  He 
is  called  Aphraartes  by  Eusebius  and  Syncellus ;  and  is  certainly 
the  Arphaxad  of  the  Book  of  Judith.  Some  have  hastily  doubted 
this,  because  it  is  said  in  that  apocryphal  book  that  he  built  a  vei^ 
strong  city,  and  called  it  Ecbatana, — a  work  universally  ascribed  to 
his  finther  Dgoces.  This  error  is  fully  corrected  by  the  Vulgate 
Version,  which  says  that  "  Arphaxad  added  new  buildings  to  Ecba- 
tana." This  is  unquestionably  tiie  recorded  fact.  A  single  reign 
is  clearly  too  limited  a  period  to  build  and  perfectly  to  finish  a  noble 
capital :  so  the  son  completed  what  the  father  had  began. 


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246  THB  QBI^TILE  NATIONS. 

This  sovereigD,  being  ^'mly  seated  on  the  throne,  and  having 
improved  his  capital,  proceeded  to  extend  his  dominions.  He  over- 
ran, and  brought  into  subjection  to  Media^  several  of  the  neighbour- 
ing countries.  Herodotus  says  that  "  he  singled  out  the  Persians 
as  the  objects  of  his  ambitious  views,  and  reduced  them  first  of  all 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Modes." — Clio,  cap.  cii.  It  has  been 
objected,  that  Persia  was  subdued  by  his  son  and  successor  Cyaxares. 
(Ancient  Universal  History,  vol.  iv,  p.  18.)  This,  however,  is  no 
valid  objection.  It  h&s  been  repeatedly  stated  in  the  preceding 
pages,  that  the  effect  of  conquest  in  those  days  was  neither  the 
annexation  nor  the  military  occupation  of  the  conquered  country, 
but  rather  the  carrying  away  of  valuable  spoil,  or  of  large  gifts  in 
lieu  thereof,  with  a  promise  of  annual  tribute ;  and  that,  in  conse- 
quence, if  the  subject  power  felt  sufficient  confidence,  it  would  throw 
off  the  yoke,  and,  as  the  result,  would  probably  be  subdued  a  second 
or  even  a  third  time.    This  was  perhaps  the  case  with  Persia. 

Favoured  with  success  in  these  enterprises,  Phraortes  dared  to 
assail  the  imperial  state,  and  turned  his  arms  against  Assyria. 
Kabuchodonosor  prepared  for  the  threatened  attack  with  becoming 
spirit.  He  summoned  aU  his  vassal  kings  to  meet  him,  with  their 
promised  contingent  of  warriors.  Many  of  these,  however,  seeing 
his  precarious  condition,  refused  compliance.  Undaunted  by  this 
defection,  he  collected  as  large  an  army  as  possible,  and  boldly 
marched  to  oppose  the  Median  king.  The  conflict  took  place  in  the 
plain  of  Bagau,  in  which,  notwithstanding  his  desperate  valour,  the 
Median  chief  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  his  army  utterly  routed.. 

Flushed  with  victory,  the  Assyrian  sovereign  marched  into  Media, 
stormed  and  took  Ecbatana  the  capital,  demolished  its  fortifications 
and  most  splendid  buildings,  and  returned  with  all  the  spoil  he  could 
collect  unto  Nineveh,  where  *'he  rested,  and  feasted  his  own  army 
a  hundred  and  twenty  days."  Judith  i,  14-16. 

Although  greatly  weakened  and  distressed  by  these  reverses,  the 
spirit  of  the  Modes  was  not  broken ;  and  while  the  imperial  victor 
was  revelling  in  luxury  at  Nineveh,  they  gathered  the  wreck  of  the 
army  together,  and  placed  Ctaxarbs,  the  son  of  the  late  sovereign, 
on  the  throne.  The  new  king  was  in  some  measure  relieved  from 
apprehension  by  the  march  of  the  great  Assyrian  army  under  Hole- 
femes  into  Western  Asia ;  and  being  a  brave  and  prudent  prince,  he 
devoted  himself  with  great  talent  and  energy  to  repair  the  losses 
which  his  country  had  received,  and  to  prepare  for  taking  advantage 
of  any  favourable  change  which  might  occur  in  the  fluctuations  of  the 
imperial  power.  The  death  of  Holofernes  by  the  hand  of  Judith, 
and  the  surprise  and  rout  of  the  Assyrian  army  before  Bethuliah, 


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XHB  OBNTILS  NATIONS.  fUtI 

Boon  after  presented  sadi  an  opportunity.  Cyazares  aooordingly 
hastened  Ids  preparations ;  and,  anxious  to  revenge  the  death  of  his 
fiUher,  and  to  retaliate  on  the  Assyrian  capital  for  the  recent  spoil- 
ing of  Echatana^  he  led  his  army  toward  Nineveh.  Pending  these 
events  Nabuchodonosor  died,  and  left  the  defence  of  his  country  to 
his  son. 

The  new  Assyrian  monarch  had  to  oppose  this  invasion  with  the 
wreck  of  the  great  army  which  had  just  returned  broken  and  dis- 
pirited from  Syria.  Yet  he  boldly  marched  out^  and  gave  battle  to 
the  Median  forces.  On  this  occasion  he  was  doomed  to  defeat : 
his  troops  gave  way,  and,  in  despite  of  every  effort,  he,  and  those 
who  escaped,  were  driven  to  take  refoge  within  the  walls  of  Nineveh, 
which  was  immediately  afterward  invested  by  the  victorious  Medes. 
Cyazares  vigorously  pressed  the  siege,  and  would  in  all  probability 
have  speedily  reduced  that  great  city,  formidable  as  were  its  forti- 
fications ;  but  his  design  was  frustrated,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
raise  tixe  siege,  by  an  aggression  as  resistless  as  it  was  unexpected. 

A  formidable  and  countless  host  of  Scythians,  having  driven  the 
Cimmerians  out  of  Europe,  were  in  full  pursuit  of  their  flying  ene- 
miesy  whom  they  had  followed  to  the  borders  of  Media.  Cyaxares, 
ahrmed  at  this  irruption,  left  Nineveh,  and  marched  to  meet  this 
new  eitemy.  In  the  battle  which  ensued  the  Modes  were  defeated; 
and  the  Scythiims,  finding  no  other  power  to  oppose  them,  spread 
their  ravages  over  all  Upper  Asia,  and  even  marched  to  the  confines 
of  Egypt.  The  king  of  that  country  diverted  them  from  their  pur- 
posed invasion  by  costly  presents.  They  then  returned  into  Pales- 
tine, where  some  of  them  plundered  the  ancient  temple  of  Venus  at 
Ascalon,  while  others  seized  Bethshan,  a  city  of  the  tribe  of  Manas- 
geh  on  this  side  Jordan,  which  from  them  was  afterward  called 
Scythopolis. 

For  eight  years  the  Scythians  held  possession  of  Asia,  (see  Ap* 
pendix,  note  37,)  and  revelled  at  pleasure,  spreading. desolation  in 
every  direction.  At  length  the  Medes  devised  the  means  of  shaking 
off  this  destroying  incubus,  and  putting  an  end  to  the  evil.  This 
was  accomplished  ip.  the  following  manner:  The  Medes,  perceiving 
that  their  enemies  had  in  this  lapse  of  time  lost  all  military  order, 
and  had  sunk  into  licentiousness  and  sloth,  took  advantage  of  a 
general  feasts  and  by  mutual  concert  invited  as  many  Scythian 
leaders  as  possible  to  their  several  houses,  where,  fireely  indulging 
in  drink,  the  guests  were  all  cut  off  in  their  intoxication.  The 
remaining  Scythians  were  soon  driven  out  of  Media. 

The  destruction  and  expulsion  of  the  Scythians  from  Media  were 
immediately  followed  by  a  war  between  that  country  and  Lydia. 


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348  THE  aSNTlLB  KATIOtTS. 

Herodotus  assigns  a  fanciful  cause  for  this  contest,  which  has  not  been 
generally  received.  It  has  been  supposed  that  when,  after  the  mas- 
sacre, the  remaining  Scythians  were  driven  from  Media^  they  found 
refuge  with  Halyattes,  King  of  Lydia;  and  were  protected  by  him. 
Whatever  occasioned  the  war,  it  was  carried  on  with  equal  vigour 
and  determination  on  both  sides,  and  for  some  considerable  time 
without  any  material  advantage  to  either  party. 

Pending  this  war,  Gyaxares  having  efiboted  an  alliance  vrith 
Kabopolassar,  King  of  Babylon,  resumed  the  siege  of  Nineveh, 
which  after  a  lengthened  struggle  fell  before  the  power  of  its  ene- 
inies,  as  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter.  This  event  made  the  Medes 
the  preponderating  power  in  Asia,  while  the  Babylonians  occupied 
a  position  scarcely  inferior  to  them  in  martial  strength  and  political 
influence.  These  nations  being  in  close  alliance  with  each  other, 
they  were  able,  without  diflBculty,  to  subjugate  the  neighbouring 
states,  and  to  extend  their  national  and  territorial  aggrandise- 
ment. ** 

The  first  step  in  Hxis  course,  after  the  conquest  of  Kineveh,  was 
the  defeat  of  the  Egyptian  army  at  Oarchemish.  The  king  of 
Egypt  had  taken  advantage  of  the  conflict  between  Assyria  and  the 
united  arnlues  of  Babylon  and  Media^  to  renew  and  extend  the  power 
of  Bgypt  in  the  east.  He  accordingly  mardied  «  great  army  through 
Judea,  and,  having  defeated  and  slain  King  Josiah,  proceeded  to  the 
Euphrates,  where  he  was  totally  routed  by  the  combined  forces, 
and  compelled  to  relinquish  all  his  possessions  in  Asia. 

Having  thus  far  efiected  his  purpose,  Cyaxares  renewed  the  Lydian 
war.  As  before,  this  stni^le  wate  for  some  time  indecisive.  At 
length,  both  parties  having  prepared  for  a  desperate  conflict^  it  had 
commenced,  and  was  being  prosecuted  with  the  utmost  ardour,  when 
the  two  armies  became  suddenly  enveloped  in  the  shades  of  dark- 
ness. (See  Appendix,  note  38.)  Terrified  by  this  uncommon  cir- 
cumstance, they  retfared  as  by  mutual  consent,  regarding  the  prodigy 
as  a  sign  of  the  anger  of  their  gods.  The  truce  thus  unexpectedly 
occasioned  was  followed  by  a  peace,  arranged  between  the  contend- 
ing parties  by  the  mediation  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  Eling  of  Babylon, 
on  the  part  of  the  Medes,  and  of  Syennesis,  King  of  Cilicia,  on  the 
part  of  the  Lydians. 

Media  apd  Babylon  oontinued  to  carry  out  Uieir  ambitious  designs, 
sometimes  acting  in  concert,  and  sometimes  separately,  subduing 
other  countries  formerly  subject  to  Assyria.  Cknlesyria,  Samaria, 
Chdilee,  Jerusalem,  Persia,  and  Susiana  were  thus  reduced,  and 
Media  raised  into  a  powerful  empire.  Cyaxares  and  Nebuchadnez- 
nr  were  the  principal  agents  in  these  suecessfbl  wars.    The  king  of 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  !249 

Media  having  thus  realised  tbe  object  of  his  ambition,  died,  after  a 
reign  of  forty  years,  and  vtm  sncceded  by  his  son, — 

Abttagbs,  "whose  first  effort  appears  to  haye  been  directed 
toward  effecting  a  more  solid  onion  with  Persia^  and  to  reconciling 
that  numerous  and  powerful  people  to  yield  a  willing  obedience  to 
his  authority.  They  had  suffered  severely  in  the  conquest  of  their 
country,  and  smarting  under  a  deep  sense  of  injury,  were  very  un- 
willing subjects.  To  remove  this  feelings  Astyages  is  said  fco  have 
given  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Cambyses,  a  prince  of  the  family 
of  the  AchsemenidBd,  and  of  the  royal  tribe  of  Pasargadce. 

Of  the  reign  of  this  sovereign,  although  it  extended  over  thirty- 
five  years,  very  few  incidents  have  been  recorded.  He  was  brother 
of  Nitocris,  the  celebrated  queen  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  In  the  early 
part  of  his  reign,  he  had  to  subdue  an  insurrection  which  broke  out 
in  the  province  of  Mazandran,  bordering  on  the  Caspian  Sea. 
Having  besieged  the  rebellious  diief  in  his  capital,  he  counterfeited 
a  great  want  of  provisions,  and  by  his  emissaries  in  the  city  pur- 
chased food  of  the  keeper  of  the  stores  at  an  exorbitant  price,  until 
they  were  exhausted.  He  then  summoned  the  citizens  to  surrender ; 
which  they  were  compelled  to  do  by  the  discovery  of  this  treachery. 
(Hales's  Analysis  of  Ancient  Chronology,  vol.  iv,  p.  85.) 

Astyages  is  said  to  have  prosecuted  other  wars,  with  various  suc- 
cess, against  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  and  Arabia. 

While  Cyrus  was  carrying  on  his  Lydian  war,  the  great  nephew  of 
Astyages,  Belshazzar,  King  of  Babylon,  was  slain  by  conspirators, 
who  immediately  proffered  their  submission  to  Astyages,  as  the 
nearest  of  kin  to  the  royal  house  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  which  had  thus 
become  extinct.  Astyages  accordingly  assumed  the  sovereignty  of 
this  country,  (see  Appendix,  note  89,)  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of 
his  reign.  He  did  not,  however,  on  this  account  remove  the  seat  of 
his  government  to  Babybn;  but,  taking  from  thence  Daniel  the 
profritiet,  of  whose  &me  he  had  heard,  to  be  his  prime  minister,  and 
such  other  persons  as  he  required,  he  treated  Babylon  as  a  province 
of  the  great  empire,  the  administration  of  which  was  carried  on  at 
Ecbatana,  the  Median  capital ;  the  local  affairs  of  Babylon  being 
placed  under  the  direction  of  a  viceroy,  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
(See  Appendix,  note  40.) 

Here,  in  the  Median  capital,  it  was  that  the  conspiracy  was  formed 
a^nst  Daniel  which  proved  his  fidelity  to  Grod,  and  led  to  his  being 
cast  into  the  den  of  lions,  from  which  he  was  miraculously  delivered. 

Astyages  in  his  old  age,  with  a  large  unwieldy  empire,  was  not 
equal  to  resist  the  rising  genius  of  Cyrus  of  Persia.  This  prince, 
having  subdued  Lydia  and  other  surrounding  countries,  turned  his 


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250  THB  aSNTILB  NATIONS. 

arms  agamst  the  Median  king.  In  this  war,  (as  is  more  partica- 
larly  detailed  in  the  ohapter  on  Persia,)  Gyros  defeated  and  impiis- 
oned  Astyages,  and  established  the  Medo-Persian,  or  second  great 
universal  empire. 


CHRONOLOaY  OF  THB  MBDIAN  KINGDOM. 

B.a 

Bevout,  and  War  of  Independence 710 

Thd  Beveral  Tribes  under  Self-government,  7  Yeara. 

Duocxs  enters  on  Pablio  Life 704 

After  serying  his  Coontry  in  a  judicial  Capacity,  and  in  other  Waya,  lie  is 

raised  to  the  Throne,,  his  whole  Period  of  pabUc  Serrlce  being  63  Tears. 

Phxaortks  or  Akphaxad  (22  Years)..... 651 

He  subdues  Persia,  and  other  neighbouring  Countries ;  and,  having  invaded 

Assyria,  is  slain  in  a  Battle  with  that  Nation. 

Ctaxabbs  reigned  40  Years 029 

Siege  of  Nineveh,  and  Scythian  Invasion '. SSO 

Expulsion  of  the  Scythians 612 

Lydian  War,  and  second  Siege  of  Nineveh 606 

Nineveh  taken : : : 606 

Second  Lydian  War  terminated  by  Thales'  Eclipse 60S 

AsTYAQiBS  reigned  88  Years 589 

Babylon  added  to  the  Median  Kingdom  on  the  Death  of  Belshaszar 553 

Me^  invaded,  conquered,  and  its  King  deposed  by  Cntus,  who  reigned  38 

Years 051 

Medo-Persian  Empire. 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  261 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PERSIANS  AND  THE  MEDO-PERSIAN  EMPIRE. 

PxRSiA  a  Province  of  the  Assyrian  Empire— Peculiar  Interest  attaching  to  this  Part  of 
Persian  History — ^The  Spirit  and  Prowess  of  the  Blacksmith  Kawah  ohtains  the  Inde- 
pendence of  his  Conntry — ^Fxbidook  placed  on  the  Throne^-His  long  and  just  Belgn — 
He  divides  his  Kingdom  hetween  his  Sons,  Sblm,  Toor,  and  Eru— Ery  slain  hy  his 
Brothers — ^The  Assassins  defeated  and  slain  by  Makochbhbb,  who  reigns  with  great 
Celebrity — Sam,  Prime  liiuister — ^Roostum,  his  Grandson,  the  great  Persian  Hero, 
bom — ^NouzKS  succeeds  to  the  Throne — ^His  cruel  Reign — ^He  is  slain — Zoo  expels  the 
Enemy — His  Son  Ekrshasp  raised  to  the  Throne,  and  afterward  deposed — End  of  the 
Peshdadian  Dynasty — ^The  Kaianian  Dynasty — The  Median  Ascendency  concealed  by 
imaginary  Kings,  Kai  Kpbao  representing  Dejoces  and  Phraortes,  and  Kai  Koob  Cyax- 
ares  and  Astyages — Reference  to  the  Eclipse  of  Thales— Kai  Kbosbu,  or  Ctbus, 
succeeds  to  the  Throne — ^The  Account  of  Ctesias  respecting  his  Parentage — ^The  proba- 
ble Career  of  this  Warrior,  until  he  defeats  and  deposes  Astyages — Cyrus  marries  the 
Daughter  of  Astyages — ^The  Death  of  the  deposed  King--Oyrus  conquers  Lydia — 
Takes  Babylon,  and  establishes  a  universal  Empire— His  Conduct  toward  the  Hebrews 
—The  Restoration  of  Jerusalem  begun — ^Extent  of  the  Persian  Empire — The  Death  of 
Cyrus — Caicbtsbb — He  prohibits  the  F^gress  of  Building  at  Jerusalem — ^Invades  and 
oonquers  £^pt — His  impolitic  Cruelty  and  Impiety — Usurpation  of  Smerdis  the 
Magian — ^Death  of  Cambyses — Smerdis  destroyed  by  a  Conspiracy  of  Nobles — ^Darius 
raised  to  the  Throne— His  improved  Mode  of  Government— The  Case  of  Democedes, 
the  Greek  Physician— Makes  an  Edict  in  favour  of  the  Hebrews— Reduces  Samos— ' 
Babylon  rebels — ^The  Self-sacrifice  of  Zopyrus — Babylon  is  taken — Conquests  in  the 
East— A  Body  of  Greek  Troops  wage  War  in  Asia  Minor,  and  bum  Sardis— Darius 
contemplates  the  Invasion  of  Greece — Fulure  of  the  first  Expedition  under  Mardo- 
nius — ^Battle  of  Marathon,  and  Ruin  of  the  second  Persian  Invasion — ^Death  of  Darius 
— Persepolis — Behistun  Sculptures — Xerxxs — Subdues  Egypt — Makes  vast  Prepara- 
'tions  for  the  Invasion  of  Greece — dosses  the  Hellespont — ^Battle  at  Thermopyle — 
The  Persian  Fleet  defeated  at  Salamis,  and  their  Army  destroyed  at  Plattta— The 
Remnant  of  the  Persian  Fleet  and  Army  destroyed  at  Mycale  —  Horrible  Crime 
and  Cruelty  perpetrated  in  the  royal  Court — ^Xerxes  assassinated — Abtaxxrxbs  I. 
established  on  the  Throne— Marries  Esther— Ezra  and  Nehemiah  sent  to  Jndea— 
Revolt  of  Egypt — ^Peace  with  Athens — Xbwtbw  II. — Soodiakub— Dabtos  Nothub  sub- 
dues his  Rivals — ^Demoralization  of  the  Persian  Court — ^Artaxebxbs  H. — ^Revolt 'of 
Cyrus — ^He  marches  into  the  East — ^Is  slain,  and  the  Army  dispersed,  at  Cunaxa — ^Re- 
treat of  the  Ten  Thousand  Greeks — Continued  Iniquity  of  the  Court — ^Revolt  and  Death 
of  the  Heir  apparent — ^Artaxbbxbs  IQ.  murders  the  royal  Family — ^Restores  Persian 
Authority  in  Egypt,  Phenicia,  and  Cypras — ^Darius  m.  undertakes  the  Government — 
Alexander  invades  the  Empire — ^Triumph  of  the  Macedonian. 

On  resuming  the  history  of  Persia,  we  find  it  a  province  of  the 
great  Assyrian  empire,  having  been  subdued  by  H'mnB  or  his  imme* 
diate  successor,  and  placed  in  entire  subjection  to  the  imperial 
government.  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  453-455.)  This  period  of 
subjection  is  shrouded  from  public  view,  and  its  disparaging  influ- 
ence on  the  national  fame  concealed,  by  the  Persian  historians 
describing  it  as  the  reign  of  a  tyrant  sovereign,  Zohauk,  who  is 
fabled  to  have  ruled  for  a  thousand  years. 


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252  THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

The  history  of  Persia,  especially  during  the  time  which  has  now 
to  pass  under  review,  will  always  possess  the  deepest  interest.  This 
nation  stood  in  intimate  and  peculiar  relation  to  the  elect  people  of 
Jd:iovah,  in  the  most  eventful  period  of  their  career, — placed  in 
trembling  jeopardy  the  fate  of  Greece,  in  the  outset  of  her  glorious 
course, — and  by  its  fall  immortalized  the  greatest  military,  genius 
the  world  ever  .produced.  This  portion  of  Persian  history,  there- 
fore, cannot  fail  to  excite  deep  and  serious  attention.  A  knowledge 
of  the  real  facts  of  this  period  is,  however,  a  very  difficult  acquire- 
ment. Sir  William  Jones  calls  the  season  of  Assyrian  domination 
over  Persia  the  "  dark  and  fabulous  "  age ;  and  that  which  we  have 
now  to  review  he  designates  the  "  heroic  and  poetical "  a^e.  And 
this  is  its  true  character,  since  we  have  to  collect  our  injformation 
from  the  conflicting  statements  of  ill-informed  Greeks  on  the  one 
hand,  and  from  native  writers,  who  disfigured  all  their  annals  with 
fable  and  poetry,  on  the  other. 

Amid  this  general  darkness,  however,  we  have  clear  and  explicit 
information  respecting  the  deliverance  of  Persia  from  her  vassalage 
to  Assyria,  and  her  restoration  to  independence.  As  this  foreign 
domination  was  described  in  the  Persian  annals  as  the  tyranny  of  a 
monster  king^  named  Zohauk,  whose  rapacity  and  cruelty  were  fast 
'spoiling  and  depopulating  the  land ;  so  the  emancipation  of  Persia 
is  spoken  of  as  the  defeat  and  death  of  this  tyrant.  This  event  was 
effected  by  the  spirit  and  prowess  of  an  humble  blacksmith  named 
Kawah.  Zohauk  having  selected  Kawah's  two  sons  to  be  victims  of 
his  cruelty,  Kawah  rose  in  bold  resistance.  Having  armed  himself, 
and  succeeded  in  rousing  the  spirit  of  his  countrymen,  he  raised  his 
blacksmith's  apron  on  a  pole  as  his  banner ;  and,  proceeding  with 
the  force  thus  collected,  he  defeated  the  royal  troops.  Kawali  being 
afterward  joined  by  great  numbers  of  Persians,  who  now  saw  the 
dawn  of  hope  for  their  country,  the  insurrection  was  continued,  and 
extended,  until  Zohauk  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  Persia  restored 
to  liberty  and  independence. 

Fbkidqon — a  young  prince  descended  from  the  ancient  royal 
family  of  the  kingdom,  who  had  hitherto  lived  in  seclusion — ^joined 
the  victorious  blacksmith,  and  was,  on  the  termination  of  the  war, 
raised  to  the  throne.  The  first  act  of  the  new  sovereign  was  to 
appoint  the  old  apron  of  Kawah  as  the  royal  standard  of  Persia; 
and  as  suoh  it  continued  to  be  recognised  during  all  the  fluctuations 
of  the  national  history,  until  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  by  the 
Mohammedans,  when  it  was  taken,  and  studded  with  gems,  with 
which  it  had  been  from  time  to  time  enriched. 

This  prince  is  said  to  have  ruled  with  great  justice  and  modera- 


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THB  QBNTILB  NATKOTS.  2bZ 

tion.  But,  he  having  Iked  to  a  great  age,  his  laat  days  were  imbit- 
tered  by  &mily  feuds.  When  growing  infirmities  obliged  him  to 
lelinqaiah  the  cares  of  royalty,  he  divided  his  dominions  between 
his  three  sons,  Selm,  Toor,  and  Erij.  But  as  tiie  home-country  of 
Persia  was  given  to  Erij  the  youngest  son,  the  elder  brothers  de- 
manded a  new  division,  which  the  aged  monarch  refused;  a  course 
by  which  they  were  so  greatly  incensed,  that  they  soon  after  put 
&ij  to  death:  and,  not  satisfied  with  this  act  of  cruelty,  they 
embahned  his  head»  and  sent  it  to  his  father.  The  aged  sovereign 
was  seised  with  frantic  grief  for  the  loss  of  his  favourite  son,  and 
implored  heaven  to  spare  his  life  until  a  descendant  of  Erij  should 
avenge  his  death.  His  wish  was  granted.  Mandcsiehbr,  the  son 
of  a  daughter  of  Erij,  became  the  hope  of  the  aged  king.  When 
grown  to  manhood,  he  commenced  a  war  with  the  murderers  of 
his  fiiither,  who  were  both  slain  by  his  hand,  and'  their  forces  de- 
feated. Soon  after  this,  Fendoon  died,  having  previously  placed 
the  crown  on  the  head  of  Manucheher,  who  reigned  with  great 
celebrity.  In  con^pliance  with  the  advice  of  Feridoon,  he  took  for 
his  prime  minister  Sam,  a  Persian  nobleman  of  .great  talents  and 
integrity.. 

Duxing  this  reign  Boostum,  the  greait  martial  hero  of  Persia,  was 
bom.  He  was  the  grandson  of  the  prime  minister  Sam.  Nothing 
can  be  more  extravagant  and  romantic  ^than  the  accounts  given 
of  the  birth  and  prowess  of  this  warrior  by  the  poets  of  his 
country. 

After  a  lengthened,  period  of  rule,  Manucheher  died,  leaving  his 
son  NouZBR  to  succeed  him  in  the  government;  whom  he  charged, 
on  his  deat^-bed,  to  be  guided  in  all  his  conduct  by  the  wise  advice 
of  Sam  and  of  his  sons.  The  youthful  sovereign  neglected  this 
counsel,  and  pursued  a.  course  equally  impolitic  and  unjust.  In  con* 
sequence  of  his  cruel  and  oppressive  conduct,  his  subjects  were 
driven  to  the  verge  of  rebellion.  While  in  this  state,  the  kingdom 
was  invaded  by  a  neighbouring  potentate,  Pushung,  King  of  Turan; 
and  the  results  of  this  contest  were  unfavourable  to  Persia.  In 
(me  single  combat^  Eobad,  a  son  of  the  famous  Kawah,  was  killed 
by  his  adversary;  and  in  another  Nouser  himself  fell  by  the  hand 
of  Afrasiab,  the  son  of  Pushung,  who  commanded  the  invading 
army. 

ZaI,  a  son  of  Sam,  is  said  to  have  made  a  furliier  eflbrt  to  save  his 
country  from  foreign  rule.  He  raised  a  prince  of  the  royal  house, 
named  Zoo,  to  the  throne,  who  succeeded  in  expelling  the  enemy, 
and  restoring  the  integrity  of  the  kingdom.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  SOB  Ebbsbasp,  who  was  soon  after  set  aside  by  Zal,  as  in-* 


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254  THB  QBNTILE  NATIOVS. 

competent  to  govern.  He  was  the  last  prince  of  the  Peshdadian 
dynasty. 

Haying  thns  given  the  most  probable  aocomit  that  can  be  extracted 
from  the  mass  of  fiction  and  fable  handed  down  to  us  by  Hie  professed 
historians  of  this  age,  it  will  be  necessary  to  observe  that  scarcely 
any  part  of  it  can  be  regarded  as  established  historic  fact,  except 
that  which  exhibits  the  insorrection,  prowess,  and  success  of  Kawah. 
These  are  fiilly  attested  by  ample  evidence.  Sufficient  indications 
of  the  extravagance  of  these  annals  generally  will  be  found  in  the 
circumstance,  that  Feridoon  is  said  to  have  reigned  five  hundred 
yeai^,.  and  Manucheher  one  hundred  and  twenty.  It  is,  neverthe- 
less, probable,  that  in  all  this  romancing  there  is  a  substratum  of 
fact,  which  it  has  been  cvlt  object,  as  far  as  possible,  to  elicit,  and  to 
exhibit  in  the  preceding  account. 

The  reign  of  Kershaep  was  followed  by  the  Kaianian  dynasty, 
which  continued  to  rule  until  the  subversion  of  the  kingdom  and 
empire  by  Alexander. 

It  may  be  observed  here,  that,  although  the  reign  of  Kai  Khosru, 
or  Gyrus,  places  us  in  the  region  of  history,  and  we  have,  after  that 
period,  ample  and  authentic  information ;  yet,  down  to  the  reign  of 
the  great  Persian,  the  annals  of  this  kingdom  continue  to  be  shrouded 
in  darkness.  The  Persian  lists  give  but  two  reigns  between  Ker- 
shasp  and  Kai  Khosru,-^those  of  Kai  Kobad  and  Kai  Koos. 
Sir  John  Malcolm  conjecture  that  the  two  reigns  of  Cyaxares  and 
Astyages  are  represented  by  the  Persian  account  of.  Kai  Koos. 
This  is  probable.  In  fact,  it  seems  almost  beyond  doubt,  that,  in 
order  to  conceal  the  subjection  of  their  country  to  Media,  the  Per- 
sian annalists  identified  those  Median  sovereigns  who  had  ruled  over 
their  land  as  their  own  kings;  and,  as  such,  had  placed  them  in 
their  lists,  and  given  them  an  extravagant  length  of  rule,  sufficient 
to  fill  up  the  intervening  space ;  following  the  same  course  in  respect 
of  Media  as  they  had  done  in  regard  to  Assyria.  Hence  the  first 
king  of  the  Kaianian  dynasty  is  described  as  a  descendant  of  Manu- 
cheher, of  the  Peshdadian  dynasty.  We  are  warranted  in  this 
hypothesis  by  the  fact,  that  the  same  vuiity  actually  induced  the 
Persian  scribes  to  invent  a  Persian  lineage  for  Alexander  of  Maoe- 
don.  (Malcolm's  Persia,  vol.  i,  p.  78.) 

According  to  this  supposition,  Kai  Kobad  will  fill  up  the  space 
occupied  by  Dejoces  and  Phraortes.  But  the  accounts  left  of  his 
reign  are  so  few,  that  they  do  not  furnish  any  meakis  of  identifi- 
4»tion. 

It  is,  however,  not  so  with  his  successor,  Ejii  Koos«  He,  while 
engaged  in  a  great  battle  is  said  to  have  been,  with  his  whole  army, 


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THB  OBNTILB  NATIOHS.  266 

strack  wiUi  blindneBs, — a  curious  poetic  yersion,  after  the  eastern 
style,  of  the  memorable  eff^t  of  the  eclipse  of  Thales  on  the  army 
of  Oyazares. 

Kai  Khosbu,  the  next  sovereign,  appears  to  be  satisfactorily 
identified  with  Ctrus.  Sir  William  Jones,  a  hi^  authority  on 
sach  a  subject,  has  used  the  strongest  terms  to  express  his  opinion 
on  this  point.  He  Says»  "I  shall  only  doubt  that  the  Kai  Khosru 
of  Firdausi  was  the  Cjtna  of  the  first  Greek  historian,  and  the  hero 
of  the  oldest  political  and  moral  romance,  when  I  doubt  that  Louis 
Quatorze  and  Lewis  the  Fourteenth  were  one  and  the  same  French 
king."— H^or As,  vol.  iii,  p.  106-. 

In  the  case  of  this  Persian  hero,  we  are  embarrassed  by  another 
of  the  great  discrepancies  which  are  found  in  the  writings  of  Herod- 
otus and  Xenophon.  And,  as  in  other  instances,  so  here  I  am 
compelled  to  take  the  Father  of  History  as  my  guide.  I  do  not 
come  to  this  conclusion  because  I  regard  him  as  having  furnished  a 
clear,  complete,  and  consistent  account  of  the  founder  of  the  Medo- 
Persian  empire;  but  because,  with  inuch  that  appears  to  be  artificial 
and  romantic,  he  seems  to  have  supplied  an  outline  of  fiiets  more 
consistent  in  themselves,  in  better  accordance  with  the  history  of 
neighbouring  nations,  and  more  strongly  supported  by  Persian  tra- 
dition^ than  the  narrative  of  Xenophon  or  any  other  writer.  (See 
Appendix,  note  41.) 

Bespecting  the  early  years  of  this  prince,  it  is  probable  tiiat  we 
have  a  key  to  his  true  history  in  the  outline  of  the  work  of  Ctesias 
which  has  been  handed  down  to  us.  According  to  the  account  of 
the  Greek  physician, — who,  having  resided  seventeen  years  ^t  the 
Persian  court  in  the  reign  of  Darius  Nothus,  had  important  means 
of  procuring  information,— Cyrus  was  a  Persian  in  no  way  related 
to  ^e  royal  house  of  Media;  but  having  succeeded  in  securing  the 
sovereignty  of  Persia,  and  in  vanquishing  Astyages,  Eling  of  Media, 
he  gave  out  the  story  of  his  relationship  to  the  deposed  king,  that 
he  might  by  this  means  more  easily  secure  the  submission  of  the 
distant  parts  of  the  Median  empire.  To  give  effect  to  this  report^ 
and  to  secure  his  object,  he  soon  after  married  Amyntas,  tiie 
daughter  of  Astyages.  This  appears  to  be  the  most  probable  ao* 
count;  and  the  romantic  tales  of  Herodotus  and  Xenophon  must  be 
regarded  as  the  stories  propagated  by  the  Persian  courtiers  to  feed 
the  national  vanity. 

As  it  was  the  usual  practice  in  the  East  at  this  period  to  select 
governors,  or  viceroys,  from  the  royal  fitmilies  of  the  dependent 
countries,  so  it  is  probable  that  Cyrus  was  intrusted  with  the  admin- 
istration of  afiiftirs  in  Persia,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  train  up  a  nn- 


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266  THB  QWTILB  NATIONS. 

merous  body  of  bmre  and  hardy  soldiers.  Nor  is  it  improbaUs 
that  the  aocoimt  of  Xenophon  is  so  far  true,  that  Jbe  might  be  em- 
ployed as  a  general  in  the  imperial  service,  and  have  become  a 
&vourite  with  the  soldiers  by  his  pmdence  and  daring;  and  that^  as 
Herodotus  states,  Astyages  had  greatly  alienated  the  hearts  of  his 
people  from  him  by  his  excessive  cruelty. 

The  information  thus  supplied  by  Ctesias  may  afford  a  key  to 
many  of  the  statements  given  by  Herodotus  and  Xenophon,  which 
are  probably  for  the  most  part  facts  founded  on  a  fiilde  theoiy. 
Gyrus  is  said  to  have  ascended  the  throne  of  Persia  B.  C.  559.  It 
does  not  follow  that  he  then  asserted  his  independence,  or  declared 
war  against  the  imperial  state.  It  might  have  been  at  this  time 
that  Cambyses  his  father  died,  the^hereditary  chief  of  the  nation  or 
province.  In  the  following  year,  B.  0.  558,  the  united  army  of 
Babylonians,  Lydians,  and  their  dlies  are  said  to  have  been  defeated 
by  the. Medea  and  Persians  under  Astyages  and  Gyrus,  and  Nerigr 
lissar  was  slain.  This  may  be  true.  Gyrus,  as  viceroy  of  Persii^ 
might  have  been  employed  on  such  a  service,  and  have  greatly  dis* 
tinguished  himself  in  it. 

How  the  Persian  warrior  was  occupied  in  the  succeeding  years  is 
not  known, — ^probably,  in  organising  his  army  in  Persia,  It  could 
not  be  in  tixe  Lydian  war,  which  Xenophon  makes  to  follow  the 
abover  battle,  as  the  capture  of  Sardis  did  not  take  place  until  al  least 
ten  years  afterward. 

Having  aspired  to  supreme  dominion,  Gjrrus,  B.-  G.  553,  com* 
menced  his  war  of  independence.  From  the  hints  thrown  out  by 
Xenophon  in  his  Anabasis^  this  struggle  ceotinued  some  time.  The 
empire  was  not  wrested  from  the  Modes  without  some  difficulty. 
The  Persian  was,  however,  crowned  with  success*  Astyag^  was 
defeated  and  taken  prisoner,  B.  G.  551.  The  empire  of  the  Modes 
was  thus  terminated,  and  the  Medo-Persian  empire  established  by 
the  junction  of  both  nations,  with  their  dependencies.  Herodotus 
says  that  Gyrus  treated  his  captive  kindly.  The  account  of  Gtesias, 
however,  wears  an  aspect  more  like  the  political  transactions  ai 
those  times.  He  says,  that  Gyrus  propag^tted  the  story  of  his  ro- 
lationship  to  the  deposed  monarch,  and  actually  sent  him  to  be  rukr 
of  the  Barcanians ;  that,  having  married  the  daughter  of  Astya^Qas, 
Gyrus  after  some  time  sent  for  him  to  see  his  daughter  and  himself; 
and  that  by  the  way  the  eunuch,  who  had  the  deposed  king  in  charge, 
murdered  him.  Gyrus,  to  show  his  indigiaation  of  the  crime,  gave 
up  the  eunuch  to  the  severest  punishment.  Bat  aa  he  was  by  the 
act  freed  from  a  dangerous  rivdL  the  innocenioe  of  Gyrus  in  the  affiHr 
has  been  seriously  impeached. 


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THE  GXNTILB  NATIONS.  257 

All  the  aocoants  of  this  era  taken  together  show,  that  Gyni^  had 
to  act  with  the  most  consummate  policy,  in  order  to  effect  a  fusion 
of  the  two  nations,  that  they  might  be  fully  available  for  cooperation 
in  the  working  out  of  the  vast  ambitious,  projects  which  he  had 
formed.  At  first  he  gave  the  Persians  no  distinction  in  preference 
to  the  Modes,  but  earnestly  cultivated  the  friendship  and  confidence 
of  many  nobles  of  tiie  latter  nation.  Indeed,  comparing  all  that  has 
oome  down  to  us  respecting  the  Persian  conqueror,  it  woukl  seem 
that  he  owed  his  great  success  to  his  profound  sagacity  and  con* 
snmmate  statesmanship,  quite  as  much  ba  to  his  military  genius  and 
prowess. 

Having  sufiSciently  effected  these  objects,  Gyrus  marshalled  his 
troops^  and  proceeded  to  e](tend  his  sway  over  the  neighbouring 
ooontries.  Aroused  by  his  progress,  Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,- be- 
came exceedingly  concerned ;  and  having  taken  the  utmost  pains  to 
procure  informa^on  from  the- most  celebrated  oracles,  and  constni- 
iag  these  responses  favourably  to  himself^  he  crossed  the  River 
Halys,  which  separated  Lydia  from  the  provinces  of  the  Medi«ik 
empire,  and  invaded  Cappadocia.  Cyrus,  as  soon  as  possiUe, 
marched  to  meet  him ;  and  it  appears  that  a  great  battle  was  fbu^t 
with  no  deeisive  effect.  Yet  Croesus  perceived  his  army  to  be 
'inferior  in  numbers  to  that  of  the  enemy;  and  finding  that  Cyrus 
did  not  renew  the  engagement  on  the.  following  day,  he  returned 
immediately  to  Sardis,  and  instantly  sent  messengers  in  every 
direction,  soliciting  the  aid  of  his  allies^ — a  request  which  appears 
to  have  been  promptly  responded  to :  for  soon  afterward  we  find 
CroBsus  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  consisting  of  Egyptians,  Baby- 
lonians,  &c.,  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  River  Pactolus  in  Lydia. 
Cyrus  had  been  equally  diligent  in  preparing  for  this  encounter,  and 
hastened  his  attack,  in  order  that  the  battle  might  be  fought  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Lacedaemonians.  He  succeeded  in  this  object,  and 
obtained  a  great  victory,  principally,  we  are  told,  by  opposing  camels 
to  the  Lydian  cavalry, — the  horse,  we  are  informed,  having  so  great  a 
dislike  to  the  odour  of  the  camel,  that  this  manoeuvre  prevented  the 
effective  action  of  the  most  important  section  of  the  Lydian  army. 

Croesus  immediately  retreated  to  Sardis,  whither,  next  morning 
at  day-break,  Cyrus  followed  him.  While  directing  his  engines  of 
war  ag^nst  the  walls,  as  though  he  had  determined  on  a  regular 
siege,  he  at  the  same  time  employed  some  of  the  most  expert 
dimbers  in  his  army,  under  the  direction  of  a  Persian  who  had 
formerly  lived  at  Sardis,  to  endeavour  to  scale  those  parts  of  the 
fortifications  which  appeared  to  be  almost  inaccessible.  These 
succeeded  in  their  attempt;  and  the  Persian  troops  thus  obtained 

17 


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-258  THK  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

possession  of  th^  walls ;  upon  seeing  which  the  Lydians  fled,  and 
^ardis  was  taken. 

We  shall  not  detail  what  is  said  of  the  treatment  of  Greesus  by 
Oyrus  in  the  conflicting  statements  of  Herodotns  and  Xenophon. 
It  will  suffice  that  the  Lydian  king  was  saved,  and  afterward  was 
generally  found  in  personal  attendance  on  the  conqueror,  who 
appears  to  have  attached  importance  to  his  opinions  and  advice. 
In  the  war  that  followed,  the  troops  of  Cyrus  subdued  the  remainder 
of  Asia  Minor  and  Ionia,  including  Halicamassus,  the  native  city  of 
Herodotus,  who  might  in  consequence  feel  disposed  to  speak  harshly 
of  Cyrus,  when  occasion  ofiered,  as  of  one  who  had  enslaved  his 
•country. 

Having  secured  his  conquest  in  the  west,  Cyrus  reduced  all 
Syria  and  Arabia,  and  at  last  invested  Babylon.  On  the  deposition 
of  Astyages,  Labynetus,  his  viceroy,  assumed  an  independent  power, 
and  joined  in  the  confederacy  with  Croesus.  He  was  now  deprived 
of  the  assistance  of  his  allies,  and  had  to  sustain  alone  a  war  wiUi 
the  overwhelming  Medo-Persian  host.  Yet  the  king  of  Babylon 
did  not  shrink  from  the  contest;  but  when  Cyrus  appeared  before 
the  city,  he  marched  out  and  gave  him  battle.  The  effort  was  fruit- 
less ;  the  Babylonians  were  defeated  and  pursued  into  the  city. 

Cyrus  immediately  invested  this  proud  metropolis ;  but  its  walls 
were  of  such  height  and  strength,  that  the  reduction  of  the  place  by 
the  ordinary  engines  of  war  seemed  a  hopeless  task.  It  is  said  that 
nearly  two  years  were  consumed  in  this  siege.  At  length  Cyrus 
^opted  the  extraordinary  expedient  of  diverting  the  waters  of  the 
Eij^phrates  from  their  channel.  Having  employed  his  soldiers  in  cut- 
ting a  deep  trench  or  canal  in  a  place  suitable  for  the  purpose,  he  took 
advantage  of  a  public  f^tival,  when  general  revelry  prevailed  in  the 
city,  and  connecting  his  canal  with  the  river,  he  let  the  waters  run 
off,  so  as  to  leave  the  bed  of  the  river  fordable.  A  select  body  of 
troops  were  then  marched  into  the  city,  through  the  arched  opening 
in  the  walls  by  which  the  river  entered  it;  and  another  through 
that  by  which  it  left.  These  forces,  meeting,  took  Babylon  by  sur- 
prise :  the  gates  were  soon  thrown  open,  and  Cyrus  was  made  master 
of  this  otherwise  impregnable  place. 

There  can  scarcely  be  conceived  a  more  circumstantial  and  com- 
plete fulfilment  of  sacred  prophecy,  than  was  ftunished  by  this 
•conduct  and  success  of  the  Persian  king. 

Cyrus  had  now  established  a  universal  dominion.  Media,  and  all  its 
dependencies — Lydia,  with  all  her  surrounding  and  attached  states,  and 
Babylon,  with  every  tributary  country,  together  with  his  native  Persia 
— ^were  subject  to  his  sway.    And  his  mighty  mind  appeared  equal  to 


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THE  OBNTHiB   NATIONS.  259 

the  burden  of  this  vast  empire.  He  consolidated  its  power,  directed 
its  general  policy,  and  prosecnted  his  career  of  aggrandizement  as 
though  but  a  single  nation  depended  on  his  will.  • 

The  most  remarkable  part  of  this  extraordinary  reign  is  the  lan- 
guage and  conduct  of  Cyrus  toward  the  Hebrew  people.  We  are 
tersely  informed  in  Scripture  that  "  Daniel  prospered  in  the  reign 
of  Darius,  and  in  the  reign  of  Cyrus*  the  Persian."  Dan.  vi,  28. 

With  the  successive  acquisitions  of  territory  and  power,  Cyrus 
had  a  threefold  accession  to  the  honours  of  sovereignty.  He  was 
truly  independent  king  of  Persia  B.  C.  559.  He  conquered  Asty- 
ages,  and  added  the  empire  of  Media  to  his  dominions,  B.  C.  551 ; 
and,  fifteen  years  afterward,  B.  C.  536,  he  subdued  Babylon,  and 
completed  the  establishment  of  his  empire.  This  sovereign  died 
B.  G.  529.  The  period  of  his  actual  sovereignty  twas  therefore 
thirty  years.  But  as  Media  was  previously  the  supreme  state,  the 
period  of  its  conquest  is  that  given  in  the  Chronicles  to  the  accession 
of  Cyrus,  who  then  su<!sceeded,  not  merely  to  a  sovereignty,  but  to 
tie  imperial  government;  while  the  Hebrew  writers,  who  stood  in 
80  peculiar  a  relation  to  Babylon  as  the  destroyer  of  their  native 
laud,  (the  king  of  that  city  ojiill  ruling  over  a  great  part  of  the  He- 
J)rew  captives,)  did  not  regard  Cyrus  as  beginning  to  reign  until  he 
had  reduced  that  country  to  subjection.  Consequently.  "  the  first 
year  of  Cyrus,"  spoken  of  in  the  Book  of  Ezra,  is  B.  C.  536, — the 
first  year  of  his  universal  rule. 

When  Cyrus  deposed  Astyages,  and  succeeded  him  in  Media,  he 
unquestionably  found  Daniel  at  Ecbatana,  one  of  the  most  able  and 
honoured  ministers  of  state.  The  deliverance  of  the  prophet  from 
the  den  of  lions,  which  had  a  short  time  previously  taken  place, 
must  have  occurred  in  Media;  and  not  at  Babylon,  because  the 
punishment  was  inflicted  under  the  rigid  appilication  of  Median  law, 
which  could  noi  have  been  done  at  Babylon,  since  it  was  not  usual  to 
alter  the  internal  economy  and  social  laws  of  subject  states,  so  as  to 
make  them  precisely  similar  to  those  of  the  supreme  kingdom.  We 
are  further  informed,  that  "  Daniel  prospered  in  the  days  of  Cyrus ;" 
and  the  word  is  used'so  as  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  he  "pros- 
pered" in  the  same  mailner  as  he  had  done  under  Darius,— namely, 
by  holding  those  elevated  offices  of  trust  and  honour  with  which  he 
had  been  invested  by  the  Median  monarch.  It  can  scarcely  be 
doubted,  therefore,  that  in  the  confidential  communications  which 
took  place  between  the  king  and  his  aged  minister,  Daniel  would 
make  known  to  Cyrus  the  wonderful  revelations  which  had  been 
given  to  him  respecting  the  successive  great  monarchies  which  were 
appointed  by  Divine  Providence  to  succeed  each  other  in  the  earth. 


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2(M)  THB  QBNTILB  KATI0N8. 

It  is  a  remarkable  &ci,  that  Nebuchadnessar  was  fally  informed  of 
this  succession,  by  special  divine  appointment,  almost  immediatelj 
after  he  had  completed  his  conqneets.  It  is  equally  certain,  that 
Alexander  of  Greece,  when  setting  out  on  his  career  of  conquest, 
had  these  predictions  read  to  him  by  the  high-priest,  at  Jemaales. 
It  would,  then,  be  maryellous  indeed  if  Gyms,  coming  into  daily 
and  confidential  communication  with  the  prophet,  should  have 
remained  in  ignorance  of  these  glorious  revelations.  Aaiong 
numerous  other  proo&  that  he  did  receive  such  information,  we 
refer  to  his  edict  in  favour  of  the  Jews. 

Having  put  down  all  opposition,  and  extended  his  empire  "  from 
the  River  Oxus  to  the  frontiers  of  Egypt,  embracing  Lydia  and  Amib 
Minor  no  doubt  as  fis^  as  the  mountains  of  the  Afghans  which 
separate  Chor^an  from  India^  (JSiebuhr's  Lee.  on  Ane.  Hist, 
vol.  i,  p.  1 10,)  Cyrus  turned  his  attention  to  the  government  of  these 
vast  dominions.  One  of  the  edicts  published  by  him,  in  the  first 
year  of  this  universal  reign,  was  the  following :  "  Thus  saith  Gyrus» 
King  of  Persia,  The  Lord  God  of  heaven  hath  given  me  all  tiie 
kingdoms  of  the  earth;  and  he  hath  charged  me  to  build  hia  a 
house  at  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  JudaL,  AVho  is  there  among  yon 
of  all  his  people  ?  his  God  be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, which  is  in  Judah,  and  build  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of 
l9rael,  (he  is  the  God,)  which  is  in  Jerusalem."  Esra  i,  2,  3.  (He- 
brew People,  pp.  362-364.) 

At  first  sight  this  would  appear  a  most  extraordinary  docoment 
Cyrus  had  been,  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life  up  to  thia  year, 
engaged  in  war.  He  was  bred  in  Persia,  and  of  course  a  bdiever  in 
the  religion  of  that  country.  We  have  no  definite  information  of  his 
having  had  any  intercourse  with  the  Hebrew  nation,  with  the  single 
exception  of  his  minister  Daniel.  It  must  be  readily  admitted,  that 
under  the  ordinary  impulses  and  calculations  of  worldly  policy,  the 
restoration  of  the  Jews — of  whom  it  may  be  fairly  presumed  that 
Cyrus  had  heard  but  little,  and  known  still  less — would  not  have 
been  one  of  the  first  acts  of  his  imperial  sovereignty.  But  this  is 
not  only  undertaken  by  him,  but  he  explicitly  states  that  he  does  it 
in  obedience  to  a  divine  command.  Kay,  he  does  not  scruple  to 
ascribe  all  his  extended  power  and  dominion  tp  the  gift  of  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  whose  injunction  he  thus  obeys.  Taking  all  the  aceoift* 
panying  circumstances  into  account^  this  is  a  most  remarkable  edie^ 
and,  I  am  bold  to  say,  can  Qnly  be  accounted  for  in  any  reasonaUe 
manner  by  supposing  that  Daniel  had  commumeated  to  Cyma  tbe 
prophetic  revelations  of  God  respecting  him,  and  his  preordained  in- 
terference on  behalf  of  the  Hebrew  people.    (See  Appendias,  iM>ta  42.) 


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THB  eSHTILB  NATIONS.  261 

This  measure  was  effectual.  A  great  number  of  the  Jews,  from 
diflerent  parts  of  the  kingdom,  gathered  together  their  families  and 
their  substance ;  and,  encouraged  b j  the  royal  countenance,  went  in 
a  body  to  Judea,  where  they  proceeded  to  lay  anew  the  foundations 
of  a  Hebrew  state,  and  rebuild  the  holy  city  and  temple,  which  hcKl 
80  long  lain  in  ruins. 

It  is  also  remaricable,  that  this  event  affords  one  instance  of  the 
exact  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah, — ^that  the  captivity 
should  last  seventy  years;  and  one,  too,  peculiarly  interesting  to 
the  prophet  Daniel.  As  it  was  exactly  seventy  yoirs  from  586  B.  C, 
when  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  were  destroyed,  to  516  B.  C,  when 
the  second  temple  was  finished ;  so  it  was  precisely  seventy  years 
fiom  604  B.  C,  when  Daniel  And  his  companions  were  carried  into 
captivity,  to  534  B.  C,  when  the  first  body  of  Hebrews,  by  virtue 
of  this  edict,  reached  Judea,  appointed  Joshua  high-priest,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  second  temple. 

Thus  did  the  continued  exertions  of  the  Persian  hero,  while  aim- 
ing at  the  gratificatioii  of  his  own  inordinate  ambition,  carry  into 
effect  the  great  purposes  of  Divine  Providence  respecting  the  govern- 
ment of  t^e  nations  of  this  world.  The  kingdom  symbolized  by  the 
head  of  gold  had  fulfilled  its  destiny,  and  passed  away«  that  indi- 
cated by  the  breast  and  arms  of  silver  had  now  extended  her  power 
orer  the  nations.  The  "  lion  with  eagles'  wings  " — which  so  strikingly 
represented  the  power  of  Babylon,  where  these  identical  figures 
guarded  every  approach  to  the  palace-temples  of  her  pontiff-kings — 
had  perished ;  and  now  the  Medo-Persian  bear  had  arisen  to  devour. 

How  intensely  fraught  with  teaching  of  the  highest  order  is  such 
history,  regarded  in  the  light  of  revealed  truth !  Here  we  look  into 
the  sacred  page,  and  find  the  purpose  of  Qt>d  clearly  expressed  in 
plain  terms,  and  forcefully  illustrated  by  the  most  energetic  sym- 
bolical imageiy.  We  look  abroad  in  the  nations  of  the  earth :  Baby- 
lon is  triumphant  in  martial  power,  sitting  as  a  queen  among  the 
nations;  Media,  possessing  hereditary  distinction  for  bravery  and 
military  prowess,  is  second  only  to  the  paramount  state;  while 
Persia,  uncultivated  and  almost  unknown,  has  scarcely  yet  made  an 
impression  on  a  page  of  history.  Yet  a  series  of  contingent  evolu- 
tions begins,  involving  the  utmost  energy  of  individual  minds,  and 
the  most  strange  and  unexpected  collisions  and  associations  of 
nations.  Universal  clamour,  confusion,  and  war  succeed :  at  length 
the  storm  is  hushed, — ^peace  reigns.  We  look;  and  out  of  this 
chaos  of  national  strife  has  come,  in  all  its  predicted  perfectness, 
the  very  event  which  the  prophets  of  Qod  had  foretold.  Cyrus, 
having  erganized  Persia,  and  associated  its  rude  hardihood  with  the 


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262  THB  OKNTILB  NATIONS. 

mUitary  discipline  and  tactics  of  Medio,  by  these  onited  powers 
extends  his  dominion  over  Asia,  and  reigns  supreme.  And,  to 
fulfil  to  the  letter  the  utmost  range  of  sacred  prophecy,  no  sooner  is 
he  found  in  possession  of  this  sway  than  he  says  "to  Jerusalem, 
Thou  shalt  be  inhabited,  and  to  the  cities  of  Judab,  Ye  shall  be 
built."  Thus  the  Hebrew  people  were  placed  in  the  way  of  working 
out  their  national  and  ecclesiastical  polity,  and  of  attaining  a  posi- 
tion in  which  all  the  purposes  of  redeeming  grace,  as  predicted  by 
their  holy  prophets,  might  be  fully  accomplished. 

The  empire  thus  established  by  Cyrus,  and  over  which  he  reigned 
in  peace  for  seven  years,  was  immense  in  its  extent.  Bounded  on 
the  east  by  the  Indus,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
on  the  north  by  the  Caspian  and  Euxine,  and  on  the  south  by 
Ethiopia  and  the  Arabian  Sea,  the  vast  range  of  Central  and 
Western  Asia  was  subject  to  his  sway. 

The  accounts  which  speak  of  the  death  of  Cyrus  are  of  the  most 
conflicting  description.  Some  affirm  him  to  have  been  slain  in  war: 
Herodotus  and  Justin  say  the  catastrophe  took  place  while  he  was 
fighting  against  the  Scythians ;  but  Ctesias  places  this  war  at  an 
earlier  date,  and  says  that  he  was  killed  by  the  javelin  of  an  Indian. 
Xenophon,  however,  makes  him  die  peacefully  in  his  bed,  while  dis- 
coursing with  his  friends.  On  one  point  there  seems  to  be  a  mutual 
agreement  Among  ancient  authors : — ^they  all  assert  that  Cyrus  was 
buried  in  Pasargadse,  and  that  hijs  tomb  was  found  two  centuries 
afterward  by  Alexander  the-  Great.  This  fact  seems  decisive  in 
favour  of  the  statement  of  Xenophon.  It  is  not  likely  that,  if  killed 
in  Scythia  or  in  India,  he  would  have  been  interred  in  Pers^ 

Cyrus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambysbs,  whom  on  his  death- 
bed he  appointed  heir  to  the  throne.  The  first  incident  of  govern- 
ment that  we  meet  with  in  this  reign  is  the  successful  effort  of  the 
Ammonites,  Moabites,  and  others,  to  prevent  the  further  progress 
of  the  Hebrews  in  building  the  city  and  temple  of  Jerusalem.  Ezra 
has  recorded  this  fact;  (Ezra  iv,  6;)  and  Josephus  (Antiquities, 
book  xi,  chap,  ii,  sect.  1,  2)  has  preserved  the  correspondence  at 
length,  and  concludes  his  account  with  the  statement,  "Accordingly, 
these  works  were  hindered  from  going  on,  till  the  second  year  of  the 
reign  of  Darius."  (See  Appendix,  note  43.) 

The  principal  object  which  seems  to  have  filled  the  mind  of  this 
king  was  the  conquest  of  Egypt.  Various  tales  have  been  circulated 
for  the  purpose  of  accounting  for  this  strong  desire.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  his  motive  was  simply  ambition.  Cambyses  saw,  all 
around  him,  nations  bowing  to  his  sway,  which  had  been  conquered 
by  his  father  and  the  preceding  sovereign,  and  he  longed  to  add  to 


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THB  OBNTILB  KATI02fB.  269 

the  empire  a  conquest  of  his  own.  Egypt,  an  old  and  wealthy  king- 
dom, offered  the  greatest  incentive  to  this  pa8si6n.  He. accordingly 
began  a  series  of  preparations'  on  a  grand  scale,  which  occupied  him 
during  the  first  four  years  of  his  reign. 

At  length  the  Persian  king,  proceeded  to  carry  put  his  long- cher- 
ished purpose.  He  had  obtained,  just  before  his  setting  out  on  this 
expedition,  the  greatest  possible  advantage,  in  th^  friendship  of 
Phanes,  a  Greek  officer  of  great  capacity  and  courage,  who  had  been 
previously  employed  by  the  king  of  Egypt  as  the  commander  of  the 
Grecian  auxiliaries  in  his  servicei  but  who,  on  receiving. some  affront 
from  Amasis,  had  fled,  and  found  succour  in  the  court  of  Persia. 
This  officer  not  only  explained  to  the  Persian  king  the  resources  of 
Egypt,  and  the  nature  of  the  country,  but  also  put  him  in  the  way 
of  obtaining  water  for  his  army  while  crossing  the  desert  from  Pal- 
estine to  the  Nile.  Without  a  supply  of  this  necessary,  the  transit 
of  an  army  would  have  been  impracticable :  but  this  was  secured, 
und^  the  advice  of  Phanes,  by  an  alliance  into  which  Oambyses 
entered  with  the  Arabian  prince  who  ruled  over  the  intervening 
eountry.  Pending  these  arrangements,  Amasis,  King  of  Egypt,  died, 
leaving  to  his  son  Psammenitus  the  kingdom,  and  the  duty  of  de- 
fending it. 

By  the  assistance  which  he  had  obtained,  Cambyses  appeared 
with  his  vast  army  before  Pelusium, — the  key  to  Egypt  on  the  east. 
As  noticed  in  the  chapter  on  Egypt,  it  has  been  said  that  Cambyses 
obtained  possession  of  this  important  post  by  collecting  together  a 
great  number  of  cats,  dogs,  sheep,  and  other  animals  held  sacred  by 
the  Egyptians,  and  by  driving  them  before  his  army,  when  it  ad* 
vanced  to  attack  the  city.  The  Egyptian  troops,  not  daring  to  raise 
a  weapon  against  creatures  which  they  revered  as  divine,  allowed  the 
Persians  to  come  on  without  opposition,  until  it  was  too  late :  and 
thus  the  city  was  taken  without  loss. 

The  king  of  Egypt,  on  hearing  of  this  movement,  immediately 
led  his  troops  to  the  Pelusiac  mouth  of  the  Nile,  and  encamped 
opposite  the  Persian  army.  Here  a  great  battle  was  fought,  which 
terminated  in  the  defeat  of  the  Egyptian  king,  and  the  ruin  of  his 
army.  A  very  small  proportion  of  his  troops  escaped,  and  took 
refuge  in  Memphis. 

The  further  progress  of  Cambyses  in  Egypt,  his  conquest  and 
cruelty,  his  fatal  attempt  on  Ethiopia,  and  vain  desire  to  wreak  his 
vengeance  on  Carthage,  have  all  been  briefly  detailed  in  the  history 
of  Egypt. 

Cambyses  was  accompanied  into  Egypt  by  a  brother  named 
Smerdis.     This  prince  appears  to  have  possessed  more  musculfo: 


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264  THB  aBHTILB  KATIOifS. 

strength  than  any  other  man  in  the  Persian  army:  for,  when  the 
Ethiopian  king  senl  his  bow  as  a  derisive  present  to  Cambyses, 
Smerdis  was  the  only  one  in  his  army  who  could  bend  it.  Tliis 
greatly  enraged  Cambyses :  a  mind  so  limited  and  jealdns  as  his 
conld  brook  the  presence  of  no  superiority.  He  therefore  devised 
an  excuse  for  his  brother's  return  to  Persia.  But,  having  soon 
afterward  a  dream,  in  which  a  messenger  informed  him  that  Smerdis 
had  ascended  the  throne,  and  touched  the  heavens  with  his  head,  ho 
became  so  alanned  and  excited  that  he  sent  his  favourite  courtier 
Prexaspes  into  Persia,  with  orders  to  put  his  brother  to  death ;  which 
bloody  command  was  fully  carried  into  effect,  although  authors  differ 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  this  noble  prince  was  assassinated. 

From  this  period  the  life  of  the  Persian  king  exhibited  a  con- 
tinued series  of  acts  of  brutality  and  butchery.  Cambyses  had  a 
sister  named  Meroe,  whose  name  he  gave  to  a  celebrated  island  in 
the  Nile.  This  princess  he  married;  but,  suspecting  that  she 
lamented  the  death  of  her  brother  Smerdis,  he  brutally  kicked  her 
when  pregnant,  so  as  to  occasion  her  death.  His  character  at  this 
time  evinced  a  degree  of  cruelty  almost  surpassing  belief:  he  caused 
several  of  his  nobles  to  be  buried  alive,  and  scarcely  a  day  elapsed 
without  some  of  his  courtiers  being  sacrificed  to  his  fury. 

Prexaspes,  who  had  murdered  Smerdis  at  the  command  of  the 
king,  was  now  called  to  feel  the  violence  of  his  temper.  He  was 
one  day  asked  by  Cambyses,  what  the  Persians  thought  of  him. 
The  courtier  replied,  that  they  admired  his  wisdom,  but  regretted 
that  he  indulged  to  excess  in  wine.  "  They  think,  then,"  said  the 
king,  "  tiuki  wine  disturbs  my  understanding ;  but  you  shall  judge." 
Then,  after  drinking  tnore  freely,  he  ordered  the  son  of  Prexaspes, 
who  was  his  cup-bearer,  to  stand  upright  at  the  ftirther  end  of  the 
room.  "Now,"*. turning  to  the  father,  he  said,  " if  I  shoot  this  arrow 
through  the  heart  of  your  son,  the  Persians  have  slandered  me :  but 
if  I  miss,  I  will  allow  that  they  have  spoken  the  truth."  He  drew 
the  bow;  the  youth  fell:  and,  on  the  body  being  opened,  it  was 
found  that  Hkt  arrow  had  pierced  his  heart.  Cambyses  then  asked 
Prexaspes  whether  he  had  ever  seen  any  one  shoot  with  a  steadier 
hand :  to  which  the  servile  courtier  replied,  that  **  Apollo  himself 
couM  not  have  aimed  more  correctly."  Such  are  the  results  of  the 
oontaot  of  brutiJ  tyranny  with  crouching  slavery ! 

Cyrus  had  commended  his  oaptive,  Crossus  of  Lydia,  to  the  kind- 
ness of  his  son ;  but  about  this  time,  being  displeased  with  an  answer 
which  he  had  received  from  Croesus,  the  king  commanded  him  to  be 
put  to  death.  The  oourtiers  delayed  the  execution,  thinking  that  he 
would  relent,  which  he  soon  did,  and  rejoiced  to  find  that  Croesua 


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THB  GENTILE  NA1I0N8.  266 

UBS  Btill  alive ;  bat  he  devoted  to  instant  death  those  who  had  dis- 
obeyed his  order. 

Oambyses  had  entered  on  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  when  he 
left  Egypt  to  return  to  Persia.  On  his  arrival  in  Syria,  he  met  a 
herald  sent  from  Snsa  to  apprize  the  Persian  army  that  Smerdis, 
the  eon  of  Cyrud,  was  proclaimed  king,  and  to  command  their  obe- 
dience. This  revolution  arose  out  of  the  following  circumstances: 
When  Cambyses  left  Persia  for  the  invasion  of  Egypt,  he  com- 
mitted the  government  of  the  country  to  Patizithes,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal Magi,  who  had  a  brother  very  much  resembling  in  person 
Smerdis,  the  brother  of  Cambyses,  and  called  by  the  same  name. 
Although  the  death  of  this  prince  had  been  kept  from  the  public, 
the  Magian  had  obtained  intelligence  of  the  event;  and  knowing 
tiiat  the  tyranny  and  extravagance  of  Cambyses  had  become  insup- 
portable, and  that  the  name  of  Smerdis  was  popular,  he  placed  his 
brother  on  the  throne,  as  the  son  of  Cyrus,  and  sent  heralds 
through  the  einpire  proclaiming  his  accession ;  trusting  mainly,  for 
tiie  success  of  his  attempt,  to  the  odium  attaching  to^the  govern- 
ment of  Cambyses. 

The  king,  having  assured  himself  by  a  careful  interrogation  of 
Prexaspes,  that  his  brother  Smerdis  was  really  dead,  and  that  the 
usurper  was  Smerdis  the  Magian,  ordered  the  immediate  march  of 
his  army  to  Persia.  But  when  he  was  moimting  his  horse  for  this 
purpose,  his  sword  slipped  from  the  scabbard,  and  inflicted  a  serious 
wound  in  his  thigh.  The  Egyptians,  who  recollected  that  it  was  by 
a  wound  in  this  part  of  the  body  that  Cambyses  had  killed  the  sacred 
Apis  of  Egypt,  regarded  this  as  a  judgment  from  heaven  on  his  pro- 
&ne  impiety;  and,  strange  to  say,  our  learned  Prideaux  entertained 
a  similar  opinion.  During  his  stay  in  Egypt,  the  king  had  consulted 
the  oracle  of  Butus  respecting  his  destiny,  and  was  tfild  that  he  would 
die  at  Ecbatana.  Knowing  no  place  of  this  name  but  the  capital  of 
Media,  he  regarded  himself  safe  in  Western  Asia.  But  while  lying 
ill  from  the  effects  of  his  wound  in  a  small  town  in  Syria,  he  asked 
the  name  of  the  place,  and  learned  to  his  dismay  that  it  also  was 
ealled  Ecbatana :  upon  which  he  abandoned  himself  to  despair,  and 
died  about  twenty  days  after  the  accidental  infliction  of  the  wound. 

Before  his  death,  Cambyses  had  charged  the  nobles  and  officers 
of  his  army  not  to  submit  to  the  Magian  Smerdis,  who  was  undoubt- 
edly a  usurper.  But  after  his  death  this  statement  was  disbelieved : 
for  Prexaspes  faltered  in  his  story,  and  admitted  that  he  had  not 
slain  Smerdis  with  his  own  hand,  being,  it  is  supposed,  bribed  to  do 
80  by  the  Magi :  so  that  the  army  and  the  nation  for^some  time 
submitted  to  the  new  ruler. 


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266  THB  aSNTILB  KATIONS. 

The  suspicions  of  the  nobles  were,  however,  soon  excited  by  ihe 
scrupulous  care  which  the  Magi  took  to  prevent  the  new  sovereign 
from  being  seen.  This  induced  one  of  them,  named  Otanes,  to 
attempt  to  discover  whether  Smerdis  was  the  son-  of  Cyras  or  an 
impostor.  He  possessed  an  advantage  for  prosecuting  this  inquiry 
peculiar  to  himself  His- di^ughter  had  been  the  wife  of  Cambyses, 
and  had  after  his  death  passed  in  the  same  capacity  to  his  successor. 
0 tapes,  therefore,  went  to  his  daughter;  but  as  she  had  not  seen 
Smerdis  the  son  of  Cyrus,  and  was  only  admitted  to  the  presence  of 
the  king  at  night,  she  could  not  resolve  the  doubt.  It  then  occurred  to 
Otanes,  that  Smerdis  the  Magian  had,  for  some  great  crime  committed 
during  the  reign  of  Cyrus,  been  deprived  of  his  ears:  he  therefore 
charged  his  daughter  tQ  ascertain,  when  next  called  to  the  bed  of  the 
king,  whether  he  had,  or  had  not,  been  deprived  of  his  ears.  Ddicate 
and  dangerous  as  was  the  task,  so  anxious  was  she  to  meet  her  father*s 
wishes,  and  to  ascertain  whether  she  was  the  wife  of  a  king  or  of  an 
impostor,  that  the  next  time  she  found  her  husband  fast  asleep,  she 
made  sure  of  the  fact  that  his  ears  had  been  removed.  The  princess 
lost  no  time*in  communicating  this  fact  to  Otanes,  who  presently  in- 
formed a  friend.  These  two  ultimately  associated  five  other  noble- 
men in  the  plot ;  and,  having,  by  the  dignity  of  their  position,  obtained 
access  to  the  palace,  they  slew  Smerdis  and  his  brother  Patizithes^ 
and  thus  put  an  end  to  this  impudent  usurpation.  It  is  said  that 
the  death  of  these,  impostors  was  followed  by  a  general  massacre  of 
the  Magi,  and  that  nothing  but  the  cover  of  night  prevented  their 
extermination. 

Having  effected  their  purpose,  the  conspirators  deliberated  as  to 
the  kind  of  government  which  should  be  established;  (see  Appendix, 
note  44 ;)  and  they  having  ultimately  decided  on  continuing  an 
hereditary  mon^chy,  and  having  agreed  on  the  means  by  which  the 
next  sovereign  should  be  appointed,  in  the  prosecution  of  their  plan, 
Darius  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  of  the  Achaemenean  family  of  Persia^ 
was  raised  to  the  throne. 

Before  his  elevation  to  the  sovereignty,  Darius  had  married  the 
daughter  of  Gobryas,  one  of  the  most  daring  of  his  associates  in  the 
destruction  of  the  Magian  impostor.  To  this  wife  he,  after  his 
accession,  added  the  two  daughters  of  Cyrus, — ^Atossa^  who  had  been 
the  wife  of  her  brother  Cambyses, . and  afterward  of  the  Magian; 
and  Artystona,  who  had  not  previously  been  married,  and  who  be- 
came the  most  favoured  of  his  wives.  He  also  married  Parmys,  the 
daughter  of  Smerdis,  the  son  of  Cyrus ;  and  Phsedyma,  the  daughter 
of  Otanes,  who  had  been  married  to  Smerdis  the  Magian,  and  was  the 
means  of  his  being  detected. 


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THB  GBNTILS  19ATI0NS.  SfiDY 

Having  strengthened  his  position  by  these  marriages,  Danns 
proceeded  to  improve  the  government  of  his  vast  empire.  He 
effected  this  by  dividing  it  into  twenty  sepai:ate  governments  or 
satrapies,  over  each  of  which  he  placed  a  governor  or  satrap.  X  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  we  have,  in  this  measure  of  Darius,  the  first  really 
practical  movement  toward  the  organization  and  establi9hment  of 
an  empire,  in  the  strict  and  proper  sense  of  the  term.  Every  pre- 
ceding conqueror  had  either  left  the  several  nations  intact,  under 
some  new  prince  or  king;  or.  else  transported  the  inhabitants  from 
one  country  to  another ;  a  plan  which  appears  to  have  been  resorted 
to  when  the  former  arrangement  was  not  likely  to  prevent  them  from 
struggling  to  recover  their  independence.  The  first  mode  werS  very 
defective^  and  allowed  the  continuance  of  every  national  partiality 
and  prejudice,  feeling  and  desire;  while  the  latter  destroyed  the 
wealth,  and  all  the  productive  agencies— social,  commercial,  political, 
and  military — in  order  to  prevent  future  insurrection.  The  course 
pursued  by  Darius  secured  a  much  larger  amount  of  good,  with  none 
of  this  sacrifice  and  loss.  By  associating  several  distinct  nations 
into  one  government,  the  manners  t^d  customs  of  each  were  assimi- 
lated; the  caution  of  one  people  acted  as  a' check  on  the  daring  of 
another;  so  that  good  government  grew  to  be  not  only  possible,  but 
easy,  and  the  chances  of  rebellion  and  intestine  war  became  very 
slender  indeed. 

A  circumstance  occurred  about  this  time  which  is  worthy  of 
notice,  it  having  first  directed  the  attention  of  the  Persian  court  to 
the  invasion  of  Greece.  Darius,  having  hurt  his  foot  while  hunting 
found  that  the  Egyptian  physieians,  to  whose  care  he  intrusted  him- 
self^ were  making  no  progress  with  the  cure  of  the  wounded  limb; 
and,  apprehensive  of  being  disabled  for  life,  he  inquired  for  other 
medical  aid.  As  the  result  of  this  inquiry,  he  learned  that  there 
was  in  the  city  a  Greek  slave,  named  Democedes,  who  had  been 
brought  from  Samos.  Darius  having  sent  for  him,  and  induced  him 
to  undertake  the  cure  of  his  foot,  his  skiU  was  successful ;  and  after 
a  short  time  the  foot  was  perfectly  restored.  The  king  load^  him 
with  gifts,  and  introduced  him  to  his  wives  as  "the  man  who  had 
restored  the  king  to  life.''  Democedes  had  now  a  sumptuous  house, 
and  in  fact  everything  but  that  which  he  so  ardently  desired, — 
namely,  his  liberty.  At  length  Atossa,  the  king's  wife,  was  afflicted 
with  a  desperate  disorder,  and  in  her  distress  she  applied  to  the 
Greek  physician,  who  engaged  to  cure  her,  provided  she  would  use 
her  influence  with  the  king  in  favour  of  an  object  on  which  his  own 
heart  was  set.  The  queen  promised,  and  Democedes  cured  her; 
and  then  he  claimed  her  good  offices  to  enable  him  to  visit  Greece. 


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d0S  THB  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

She  acted  under  his  instracfcion ;  and,  not  daring  to  apply  for  his 
release,  she  urged  the  king  to  inyade  Greece,  telling  him  that  the 
Greek  physician  could  procure  every  information  for  him,  and  that 
she  greatly  desired  some  wom^i  of  Sparta,  Athens,  Argos,  and 
Corinth  in  her  service ;  and  that  it  became  Darius,  in  the  prime  of 
his  manhood,  to  attempt  some  gneat  enterprise. 

Darius  was  roused  by  the  queen's  speech,  and  soon  afterward  seot 
fifteen  trusly  Persians  with  Democedes,  to  travel  in  Greece,  and 
bring  him  a  particular  account  of  the  coast  and  the  military  position 
of  the  countA'y.  A  great  part  of  this  survey  had  been  completed, 
when  Democedes  escaped  £rom  his  companions,  who  had  to  return 
to  the  mortified  and  incensed  king  with  the  communication  tiiat  he 
had  been  duped  and  deceived. 

In  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  Darius  rendered  very  essential 
service  to  the  Hebrews.  After  the  death  of  Smerdis,  the  edict  of 
that  king  had  lost  its  force:  but  the  Jews,  disheartened  by  repeated 
interruptions,  did  not  resume  the  reedification  of  the  city  and  tern* 
pie ;  and  in  consequence -of  this  apathy  they  were  subjected  to  divine 
chastisement.  Their  vintage  and  harvest  fiiiled;  and  they  were 
specilally  informed  by  a  prophet,  that  their  negligence  in  not  re- 
building the  house  of  G^d  was  the  cause  of  this  providential  visita- 
tion. Hag.  i,  6,  8-11.  Boused  to  diligence  by  these  inflictions,  the 
Hebrews  resumed  their  appointed  work.  This,  as  usual,  called 
forth  the  opposition  of  the  Samaritans,  who  on  this  occasion  did  not 
apply  directly  to  the  royal  court,  but  to  Tatnai,  the  governor  whom 
Darhis  had  appointed  over  the  province  of  Syria.  This  officer 
appears  to  have  behaved  on  the  occasion  with  great  judgment  and 
discretion.  He  proceeded  to  Jerusalem,  and  demanded  of  the  Jews 
by  what  authority  they  acted ;  and  on  their  producing  the  decree  of 
Cyrus  in  their  frvour,  Tatnai  wrote  to  Darius  to  inquire  whether 
this  document  was  genuine,  and  to  learn  iiie  king's  wishes  in  the 
natter. 

Darius  caused  a  search  to  be  made ;  and  on  this  occasion  Ezra  is 
carefiil  to  inform  us,  that  this  record  was  found  at  Ecbatana,  or,  as 
he  writes  it,  "  Achmetha,  the  palace  that  is  in  the  province  of  the 
Medes.'^  Ezra  vi,  1-12.  Darius  renewed  this  decree;  and  ordered 
that  the  remaining  vessels,  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  taken  from 
the  house  of  God,  should  be  restored ;  and  that  resources  for  carry- 
ing on  the  work  should  be  supplied  to  the  Jews  out  of  the  revenues 
of  the  province;  at  the  same  time  threatening  with  instant  death  nil 
who  might  hereafter  obstruct  this  important  work.  Prideaux  ob- 
serves, on  the  authority  of  Lightfoot,  that,  in  gratitude  for  this 
decree,  which  was  dated  from  the  palace  at  Shushan,  the  eastern  gate 


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TH8  OSKTILE  NATIONS.  269 

in  the  outer  watt  of  the  temple  was  called  "  the  Gate  of  Shoshan.!' 
Josephus  (Antiquities,  book  xi,  chap.  3)  has  given  a  diiierent  ver- 
sion of  the  reason!^  which  induced  Darius  to  evince  this  favour  to 
the  Jews ;  but  it  appears  rather  too  fanciful  for  sober  history. 

During  tins  period  ihe  empire  bad  been  maintained  in  peace. 
The  first  war  in  which  Darius  was  engaged  was  connected  with  the 
reduction  of  Samos.  But  while  this  was  being  carried  on  under  the 
direction  of  Otanes,  a  more  important  rupture  occurred  nearer  home, 
in  the  revolt  of  the  Babylonians.  It  is  probable  that  the  lengthened 
absence  of  Cambyses  and  his  army  in  £gypt»  and  the  numerous 
difficulties  which  Darius  had  encountered  aftor  bis  accession,  had 
given  the  inhabitants  of  this  proud  city  hopes  of  retiiering  their 
independence.  On  the  first  intelligence  of  this  revolt^  the  king  cd- 
lected  an  army,  which  greatly  terrified  the  rebellious  Babylonians. 
They  saw,  from  the  power  of  the  imperial  force,  that  their  only  hope 
was  to  sustain  a  lengthened  siege:  and  in  order  to  do  this,  they 
adopted  the  horrible  expedient  of  strai^ling  the  great  body  of  their 
women  and  children,  tiuit  tiieir  provisions  might  last  for  the  longest 
possible  period. 

Darius  soon  appeared  beforatiie  city,  and  closely  invested  it :  but 
the  Babylonians  were  so  confident  in  the  str^gth  of  their  defences, 
that  they  danced  upon  the  walls,  and  treated  the  king  and  his  army 
with  ihe  greatest  possible  contempt.  Nor  did  they  miscalculate 
thmr resources.  Aftera  siege  of  nineteen  months,  Darius  seemed 
as  far  from  the  attainment  of  his  object  as  when  he  began.  But 
what  no  amount  of  military  daring  or  energy  could  effect,  the 
self-sacrifice  and  dnpHcity  of  one  of  his  nobles  enabled  him  to 
secure. 

The  name  of  this  officer  was  Zopyms.  He  appeared  before 
Darius  with  his  nose  and  ears  cut  off,  his  back  lacerated  with  scouig- 
VRg^  and  presenting  a  most  pitiable,  mangled,  and  bloody  spectaacle. 
He  soon  removed  the  astonishment  of  the  king,  by  telling  him  that 
he  had  inflicted  these  injuries  on  himself  for  the  purpose  of  procur- 
ing the  success  of  the  royal  enterprise;  that  in  his  mangled  and 
Uoody  condition  he  was  goii^  to  Babylon,  and  would  say  that  he 
had  been  thus  cruelly  treated  by  Darius,  and  was  therefore  his  bit- 
terest enemy.  He  then  concerted  a  series  of  measures  which  Darius 
was  to  carry  out^  and  which  would,  as  he  expected,  enable  him  to 
admit  the  Persian  troops  into  the  city. 

This  explanation  being  given,  Zopyrus  hastened  as  a  deserter. to 
Babylon.  He  being  seen  from  the  walls  running  and  looking  behind 
him,  as  with  great  anxiety,  the  guard  descended  and  admitted  him. 
Zopyrus  told  his  concerted  tale ;  upon  whidi  he  was  presented  io 


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270  THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

the  Babylonish  assembly,  when  the  wily  Persian  told  thetn  that  he 
had  adrised  Darius  to  raise  the  hopeless  siege,  and  that  for  this 
fault  the  king  had  treated  him  so  cruelly  as  to  reduce  him  to  the 
miserable  condition  in  which  he  appeared  before  theiti.  He  con- 
cluded his  tale  of  woe  by  imploring  them  to  allow  him  to  fight  in  the 
front  rank  against  his  former  master.  Deceived  and  deluded  by 
these  specious  representations,  the  Babylonians  took  him  into  their 
confidence. 

Zopyrus  now  told  them,  that  on  a  particular  day  D^us  would 
march  a  body  of  a  thousand  troops  against  a  certain  post ;  and  that 
if  they  would  place  a  corresponding  force  under  his  direction,  he 
would  destroy  them.  The  Babylonians,  taking  every  reasonable 
precaution,  complied.  As  had  been  told  them,  they  saw  a  body  of 
one  thousand  men  approach  the  gate  of  Semiramis.  Acting  under 
the  direction  of  Zopyrus,  the  Babylonians  sallied  out,  and  completely 
destroyed  them.  He  then  said,  that  about  a  certain  day  he  expected 
a  larger  body  to  assail  the  gate  of  Nineveh,  when  he  would  in  like 
manner  effect  their  destruction.  This  promise  also  he  fiilly  re- 
deemed. Afterward  he  warned  them  that  a  troop  of  four  thousand 
men  would  about  such  a  time  attempt  the  Chaldnean  gate.  Again 
Zopyrus  led  the  assault,  and  agnn  the  whole  body  of  the  invading 
force  was  destroyed.  .  The  sacrifice  of  these  seven  thousand  men 
had  been  fully  arranged  between  Darius  and  Zopyrus.  This  success 
filled  the  Babylonians  with  unbounded  joy.  They  saw  in  these  vic- 
tories the  prospect  of  destroying  the  invading  force  in  detail.  Their 
confidence  in  Zopyrus  was  at  its  height,  and  he  promised  them  a 
complete  triumph.  Soon  afterward  Darius  ordered  a  general  assault. 
Zopyrus  promised  to  repeat  his  victories ;  but  in  the  heat  of  the 
struggle,  instead  of  destroying  the  Persians,  he  by  a  preconcerted 
signal  admitted  them  into  the  city.  The  result  of  this  treadiery 
was  fatal.  Babylon  fell  prostrate  beneath  the  power  of  the  con- 
queror. Darius  stained  his  triumph  by  crucifying  three  thousand 
of  the  most  distinguished  Babylonians.  He  also  reduced  the  height 
of  the  walls,  carried  away  the  gates,  and  prohibited  the  use  of  arms 
by  the  inhabitants;  tiiese  being  precautions  against  any  future 
attempt  at  insurrection. 

Immediately  after  the  complete  reduction  of  Babylon,  Darius 
commenced  his  invasion  of  Scythia^ — an  effort  remarkable  for  noth- 
ing more  than  the  madness  of  the  enterprise,  the  number  of  troops 
employed, — nearly  700,000,-^and  the  distance  to  be  marched,— 
about  dne  hundred  and  fifty  days'  or  nearly  five  months'  journey. 
If  the  project  of  Miltiades  to  destroy  the  bridge  across  the  Danube 
had  been<;arried  into  eflfect,  but  few,  if  any,  of  this  vast  host  would 


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THB  QBNTILE  NATIONS.  271 

have  retamed.    The  enterprise  was  begun  in  ignorant  precipitancy, 
and  finished  under  consummate  disgrace. 

Darius  appears  now  to  faa?e  turned  his  attention  to  the  east,  in 
the  hope  of  retrieying  his  fame  and  extending  his  territory.  In  this 
he  seems  to  have  been  successful,  although  we  are  not  in  possession 
of  the  details  of  the  expedition.  Herodotus  says,  "  A  very  consid- 
erable part  of  Asia  was  discovered  by  Darius.  That  prince,  wishing 
to  ascertain  whether  the  Indus  flowed  into  the  ocean,  sent  out  ships 
with  persons  in  whom  he  had  confidence,  especially  Syclax  of  Galy- 
andria.  They  embaijced  at  Caspatyras,  in  the  Parthian  territories, 
following  the  eastern  course  of  the  river  toward  the  ocean.  Hence 
sailing  westward,  they  arrived,  after,  a  voyage  of  thirty  months,  at 
the  same  point  from  whence  the  Phenicians  sailed  to  circumnavigate 
Libya.  In  consequence  of  this  voyage,  Darius  subdued  the  Indians, 
aad  became  master  of  that  ocean." — Melpomene,  cap.  xliv.  In  con- 
nexion with  these  discoveries,  acquisitions  were  made  in  India  which 
formed  the  twentieth  satrapy  of  the  empire,  and  produced  a  yearly 
revenue  of  six  hundred  talents  in  golden  ingots.  (Thalia^  cap.  xciv.) 

From  the  period  of  the  Scythian  invasion,  the  Persian  interest  in 
the  west  had  been  in  a  state  of  continual  oscillation.  Thrace  and 
Macedon  had  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  Persia  by  giving  the 
ambassadors  of  Darius  **  earth  find  water :"  but  no  real  subjection 
was  shown  to  the  imperial  court.  At  length  Aristagoras — a  nephew 
and  son-in-law  of  Histiseus,  who  had  "^aved  the  royal  army  in  the 
Scythian  campaign  by  preserving  the  bridge  across  the  Danube — 
commenced  an  insurrection  of  the  Greeks  against  Persia.  Sparta 
declined  to  take  part  in  it,  but  Athens  joined  the  confederacy.  This 
united  army  crossed  over  to  Ephesus,  and  succeeded  in  laying  the 
dty  of  SardiB  in  ashes.  But  their  measures  were  hastily  taken  and 
ill  supported;  and^  on  encountering  the  Persian  forces,  they  were 
completely  defeated. 

This  led  Darius  seriously  to  contemplate  the  entire  reduction  of 
Greece.  He  was  so  enraged  against  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital 
of  Attica,  that  he  implored  Jupiter  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  be 
revenged  on  them,  and  employed  an  attendant  to  remind  him  three 
times  a  day  of  the  Athenians. 

The  first  .armament  sent  on  this  service  was  commanded  by  Mar- 
donius.  the  king's  son-in-law.  But  this  army  was  surprised  by  the 
Thracians,  and  suffered  great  loss,  the  Persian  general  himself  being 
wounded  in  the  conflict,  while  the  Persian  fleet  encountered  a  storm 
m  doubling  Mount  Athos^  by  which  they  lost  three  hundred  ships 
and  twenty  thousand  men.  Mardonius  returned  into  Asia  with  the 
wreck  of  this  great  army. 


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272  THB  Q£NTILE  NATIOKS. 

But  Darius,  with  the  reBoorces  of  an  immense  empire  at  his 
disposal,  could  not  brook  the  complete  firustration  of  his  purpose. 
While  preparing  another  army,  he  sent  heralds  to  the  several  states 
of  Greece,  demanding  their  submission.  iEg^na.  and  many  of  the 
smaller  cities  signified  their  compliance ;  but  Athens  and  Sparta 
felt  so  outraged  at  the  demand,  that,  forgetting  the  sacred  character 
of  the  messengers,  they  instantly  put  the  heralds  to  death.  This 
violent  measure  hastened  the  departure  of  the  Persian  army. 
Darius  had  on  this  occasion  intrusted  the  command  to  Datis,  a 
Median  officer,  and  Artaphemes,  his  own  nephew.  On  reaching  the 
sea-coasts  of  Ionia,  they  collected  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand 
men,  and  a  fleet  of  six. hundred  ships.  This  immense  force  com- 
menced the  war  by  taking  I^axos.  Eretria  was  next  subdued,  and 
the  inhabitants  sent  captives  to  Susa.  The  Persian  army  then 
passed  over  to  Attica;  when,  at  Marathon,  ten  miles  from  Athens, 
this  mighty  host  of  two  hundred  thousand  m^i  and  ten  thousand 
horse  were  entirely  routed,  and  those  who  escaped  with  life  were 
chased  in  confusion  to  their  ships.  Thus  terminated  the  second 
Persian  attempt  to  invade  Greece. 

The  rage  of  Darius  at  this  defeat  was  unbounded.  He  imme- 
diately commanded  preparations  to  be  made  for  an  invasion  on  a 
larger  scale :  but  while  these  were  going  on,  Egypt  revolted.  The 
Persian  monarch,  whose  mind  rose  with  the  emei^ency,  determined 
to  astonish  the  world  by  simultaneously  conducting  two  wars,— one 
in  Egypt  and  the  other  in  Greece.  Before  his  arrangements  were 
completed^  he  had  to  settle  a  dispute  in  his  family  respecting  his 
successor.  The  claimants  were  Artobazanes,  who  daimed  the  crown 
by  virtue  of  his  birthright;  and  Xerxes,  the  son  of  Atossa,  the 
daughter  of  Gyrus,  who  asserted  his  right  to  the  throne  because  he 
was  the  first  son  bon[i  after  his  father  was  a  king,  and  should  there- 
fore have  the  precedence  of  a  son  bom  when  his  fisither  was  a  private 
citizen.  By  the  advice  of  Demaratus,  the  exiled  king  of  Sparta, 
Darius  decided  in  fiivour  of  Xerxes,  and  appointed  him  his  suc- 
cessor. This  was  the  last  public  act  of  Darius :  he  soon  after  died, 
leaving  the  prosecution  of  his  vast  projects,  in  the  recovery  of  Egypt 
and  the  conquest  of  Greece,  as  a  legacy  to  his  successor.  (See  Ap- 
pendix, note  45.)  Darius  had  acquired  the  reputation  of  an  able 
military  commander;  and  he  did  much  to  foster  the  rising  interests 
of  the  Hebrew  people. 

Before  dosing  our  account  of  this  reign,  some  reference  must  be 
made  to  the  great  city  Persepolis,  the  ruins  of  which  cast  important 
lif^t  on  the  history  and  the  religion  of  Persia.  Of  the  origin  of  this 
capital  we  know  literally  nothing.    It  is  not  mentioned  either  by 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIOirS.  273 

Herodofciis,  Ctesias,  Xenophon,  or  Nehemiab,  although  they  all  fre- 
qaentlj  allade  to  Suaa^  Babylon,  and  Ecbatana.  This  silence  may 
perhaps  be  accounted  for,  by  the  fact  that  this  city  does  not  appear 
at  any  time  to  have  been  the  settled  residence  of  the  Persian  kings, 
although  there  was  at  Persepolis  a  magnificent  palace.  This  edifice, 
glorious  even  in  its  nuns,  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  noblest 
stouctores  that  art  ever  reared.  A  question  has,  indeed,  been  raised 
as  to  whether  Persepolis  and  Pasar^tdsQ  were  not  two  names  for  the 
same  city.  Scholars  generally,  however,  have  decided  that  these 
were  different  places. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  refer  to  an  account  of  the  early  part  of  this 
rogn^  of  a  very  extraordinary  character.  On  the  western  frontiers 
of  Media^  onthe  great  road  leading  from  Babylon  to  the  east,  stands 
the  sacred  rock  of  Behistun.  Rising  abruptly  from  the  plain  to  a 
height  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  feet,  it  was  approached  with 
reverence,  aad  regarded  as  consecrated  to  the  Supreme  God.  On 
the  fiice  of  this  rock,  which  was  smoothed  down  for  the  purpose, 
about  three  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ground,  there  stands 
an  elaborate  sculpture.  It  is  so  inaccessible,  on  account  of  its 
height  and  the  perpendicular  form  of  the  rock,  that  it  is  difficult  and 
dangerous  to  approach  sufficiently  near  to  read  it. 

The  nature  of  this  sculpture  is  peculiar.  It  contains  pictorial  rep- 
resentations of  Darius  as  the  great  king,  with  two  attendants  stand- 
ing behind  him;  and  before  him — one  being  prostrate  under  his 
right  foot-^are  ten  men,  with  a  rope  round  their  necks,  thus  con- 
fining  them  together  in  a  line,  and  their  hands  bound  behind  their 
backs.  Above,  just  before  the  king,  is  the  symbol  of  the  divine  triad, 
as  seen  in  the  sculptures  of  Assyria.  Above,  around,  and  beneath, 
m  separate  columns,  are  numerous  cuneiform  inscriptions.  After 
this  ancient  record  had  taxed  the  labour  and  learning  of  many 
scholars,  all  of  whom  made  some  progress  toward  its  decipherment, 
we  have  now  before  us  a  complete  translation  of  it,  the  fruit  of  the 
learning  and  industry  of  Colonel  Bawlinson.  The  origin,  manner, 
and  contents  of  this  record  are  all  so  peculiar,  that  it  was  not  thought 
desirable  to  incorporate-  it  in  fragments  with  the  history,  but  to 
place  it  entire  and  at  once  before  the  reader  in  a  note.  (See  Appen- 
duB,  note  46.) 

On  ascending  the  throne,  Xbrxbs  entered  heartily  into  the  mar- 
tial measures  which  had  been  begun  by  his  father,  and  hastened  the 
preparations  for  the  reduction  of  Egypt.  Before  he  proceeded  with 
diis  undertaking,  he  confi:rmed  the  Jews  in  possession  of  all  the 
privileges  confiBrred  on  them  by  Darius.  At  length  he  marched  his 
army  toward  Egypt,  and  effected,  almost  without  a  straggle,  the 

18 


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274  THB  GENTILE  NATIOHS. 

entire  subjugation  of  that  country^  leaving  his  elder  brother  Achsa* 
menes,  as  satrap,  to  administer  the  goyeniment  of  that  nation. 

The  three  following  years  were  fully  employed  in  preparations 
for  the  invasion  of  Greece.  This  measure  was  opposed  by  Arta- 
banus,  the  surviving  brother  of  Darius,  and  other  eminent  officers: 
but  a  great  number  of  Grecian  refugees,  who  had  found  succour  at 
the  Persian  court,  by  practising  on  the  ambition  of  the  king,  urged 
him  onward  in  this  insane  project ;  Mardonius,  wb6  longed  to  repair 
the  injury  done  to  his  military  fame  in  the  first  invasion,  exerting 
himself  to  the  utmost  to  promote  the  attempt. 

At  length,  the  preparations  were  complete;  and  Xerxes,  with 
perhaps  the  largest  army  ever  assembled  on  earth,  proceeded  toward 
the  Hellespont. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  serious  attention,  not  to  say  credence,  to  the 
tales  which  are  reported  of  the  intolerable  arrogance  of  this  king; 
such  as  his  sending  an  epistle  to  Mount  Athos,  his  flogging,  and 
casting  fetters  into,  the  Hellespont,  and  other  acts  equally  extrava- 
gant and  improbable.  At  lei^th,  however,  a  bridge  was  erected 
across  the  straits,  over  which  the  many-nationed  host  passed  for 
seven  days  and  nights  without  intermission,  their  speed  being  Elo- 
quently hastened  by  the  lashes  of  whips  ;-^as  if  men  who  needed 
such  a  stimulus  to  action  would  be  of  any  worth  when  opposed  to 
the  best  soldiers  in  the  world. 

Having  made  a  grand  review  of  his  army,  Xerxes  proceeded 
through  Thrace  toward  Greece,  while  the  fleet  followed  the  line  of 
the  coast.  During  this  march,  the  most  particular  attention  was  paid 
to  religious  services,  sacrifices  being  offered  at  every  suitable  place 
according  to  the  rites  of  the  Persian  religion*  In  fact,  throughout 
the  whole  of  these  preparations  and  arrangements,  everything 
appears  to  have  been  done  that  human  sagacity  could  devise.  BytOBL 
large  sums  of  money  had  been  sent  to  Carthage,  to  induce  that 
nation  to  invade  the  Greek  settlements  in  Sicily,  that  Magna 
Gr<Bcia  might  derive  no  aid  in  this  struggle  from  her  colonieB. 
Thus  was  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  fully  verified :  *'  There  afaail  stand 
up  yet  three  kings  in  Persia;  and  the  fourth  shall  be  far  richer 
than  they  all :  and  by  his  strength  through  his  riches  he  shall  stir 
up  all  against  the  realm  of  Grecia."  Dan.  xi,  2.  Indeed,  every  part 
of  the  dominions  of  Xerxee  appears  to  have  contributed  to  this 
multitudinous  host  (See  Appehdix,  note  47.) 

The  Persian  anny  now  approached  the  Pass  of  Tfa^mopybB, 
where  Xerxes  found,  as  had  been  before  reported  to  him,  a  small  body 
of  Spartans  in  possession  of  the  defile.  After  waiting  four  days  in 
the  expectation  that  tiiey  would  fly  from  his  presence,  the  king  sent 


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THB  OBNTILB  KATIOHS.  27& 

agunst  them  a  detachment  of  Medes  and  Gissiana,  with  ordoti  to 
biing  them  prisoners.  It  was,  however,  repulsed,  although  continn* 
ally  reinforced  with  fresh  men ;  until  Xerxes  ezclumed,  that  he  had 
many  men,  but  few  soldiers,  in  his  army.  At  length  the  Medea 
were  saperseded,  and  the  Immortal  Band  of  Persians,  commanded  by 
Hydames,  were  sent  against  the  Greeks,  but  with  no  better  success. 
Xiearxes,  who  witnessed  the  encounter,  thrice  leaped  from  bis  horse, 
in  apprehension  of  the  rain  of  his  whole  army  from  this  handfhl  of 
men.  At  length,  by  the  treachery  of  a  Greek,  the  Persians  were 
conducted  by  a  narrow  path  over  the  mountains,  so  that  a  body  of 
the  army  was  enabled  to  pass,  and  completely  enclose  the  Spartan 
troops.  Seeing  his  desperate  condition,  Leonidas  sent  away  his  aux- 
iliary forces,  and,  with  his  three  hundred  Spartans  and  seven  hun^ 
dred  Thespians,  not  only  withstood  the  attack  of  these  hunclreds  of 
thousands,  bat  became  the  assailant,  and  actually  penetrated  to  the 
royal  pavilion  of  Xerxes,  from  which  the  monarch  had  hastily  escaped. 
But  numbers  at  length  prevailed,  and  the  gallant  Greeks  fell,  rather 
wearied  with  their  own  exertions,  than  vanquished  even  b;^  multitudes. 
Aeoording  to  Herodotus,  the  Persians  lost  in  this  contest  two  of  the 
king's  brothers,  and  twenty  thousand  men. 

Having  obtained  this  passage,  the  Persians  kid  waste  Phocis,  and 
marched  on  Athens.  This  city  they  found  almost  entirely  aban- 
doned; the  citizens  having,  by  the  advice  of  Themistocles,  taken 
refuge  on  board  their  fleet.  The  few  who  remained  defended  their 
bomes  until  they  were  all  slain;  and  then  Xerxes  obtained  the 
-ratification  of  destroying  this  capital. 

i5efore  this  event,  there  lyul  been  a  naval  engagement  between  the 
Persian  and  Greek  fleets  near  Artemisium,  in  which  the  Greeks  had 
the  advantage,  although  the  victory  was  not  decisive.  After  the 
niin  of  Athens,  the  Greek  fleet  having  retreated  to  the  Straits  of 
Salamis,  the  Persians  followed  them :  and  it  was  on  the  next  course 
of  proceeding  that  the  issue  of  the  war  clearly  depended.  The  pliui 
which  wisdom  and  prudence  dictated  to  the  Persians,  was  the  one 
strongly  urged  in  the  council  of  the  brave  Queen  Artemisia, — namely, 
for  the  Persian  fleet  to  beleaguer  that  of  the  Greeks,  while  the  great 
Persian  army  should  proceed  to  the  reduction  of  the  Peloponnesus. 
If  this  course  had  been  taken  the  results  of  the  war  might  have  been 
different.  Instead  of  this,  however,  Xerxes  adopted  the  unwise 
determination  of  attacking  the  Grecian  fleet.  Compelled  to  do  so 
under  every  disadvantage,  on  account  of  the  contracted  space,  the 
Persians  were  completely  defeated ;  two  hundred  of  liieir  ships  were 
destroyed,  and  the  rest  driven  on  the  coaat  of  Asia^  never  again  daring 
to  appear  in  the  waters  of  Qreeee. 


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276  THl  GBNTILI  KATIOH0. 

Xarxes  witnessed  this  battle  from  an  eminence,  where  he  sat  sur- 
rounded by  scribes  to  record  the  deeds  of  the  day :  bat  these  had 
nothing  to  write  except  the  min  of  their  roaster's  hopes.  On  the 
completion  of  this  disaster,  Xerxes  trembled  lest  the  Greek  fleet 
should  sail  to  the  Hellespont,  break  down  his  bridge,  and  cut  off  hia 
retreat  to-  Asia.  Leaving,  therefore,  three  hundred  thousand  men 
under  Mardonius  to  continue  the  war,  he  hastened  his  return  with 
the  remainder  of  his  surviying  troops.  These  endured  terrible  hard- 
ships during  their  march ;  and  the  king  at  length,  worn  out  with 
disappointment  and  apprehension,  left  his  army,  and  with  a  small 
retinue  hurried  to  the  Hellespont.  Here  he  found  the  bridge  de- 
stroyed :  and  he  who  had  passed  over  with  such  a  host  returned  in 
a  single  skiff. 

But  the  disasters  of  Persia  did  not  terminate  here.  Their  Car- 
thaginian allies  were  totally  defeated  in  Sicily,  where  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  were  slain,  and  nearly  as  many  sold  into  slay^. 
Mardonius  passed  the  winter  in  Thessaly :  and,  before  opening  the 
next  campaign,  made  the  most  liberal  offers  to  the  Athenians,  if 
they  would  accept  the  friendship  of  Persia.  He  engaged  to  make 
good  all  they  had  lost  in  the  war,  to  extend  their  possessions,  to 
guarantee  them  their  own  laws,  and  make  them  the  most  favoured 
of  the  tributaries  of  Persia.  Athens  was  deaf  to  every  overture,  and 
both  parties  prepared  for  a  renewal  of  hostilities.  Pausanius,  King 
of  Sparta,and  Aristides  of  Athens,  led  the  Greek  army  to  meet  the 
Persians.  The  former  had  about  on^  hundred  and  twenty  thousand, 
the  latter  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  men.  The  opposing 
forces  met  at  Plataea,  where  the  Persians  .were  not  only  defeated  but 
destroyed.  Mardonius  fell  in  the  battle.  Artabazus,  who  appears 
to  have  anticipated  the  result,  made  good  his  retreat  with  a  body  of 
forty  thousand  men :  besides  these  it  is  said  that  not  four  thousand 
of  the  Persian  army  survived  that  fatal  day. 

On  the  same  day  another  terrible  defeat  was  inflicted  on  Persia. 
The  remains  of  the  naval  imperial  force  had  assembled  near  Mycale 
on  the  coast  of  Asia.  The  Greeks,  having  ascertained  their  position, 
proceeded  to  attack  them.  On  their  approach  the  Persians  drew 
their  vessels  ashore,  where  they  had  an  army  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand soldiers,  and  had  formed  a  strong  rampart  for  their  defence. 
But  such  terror  was  inspired  by  the  Greek  name,  and  such  were  tiie 
daring  confidence  of  the  one  party,  and  the  trembling  apprehoiision 
of  the  other,  that  the  Greeks  stormed  the  rampart^  defeated  the 
army,  and  utterly  destroyed  the  fleet.  . 

Xerxes,  who  had  halted  at  Sardis  to  learn  the  suooess  of  his 
generals,  was  no  sooner  told  of  these  accumulated  calamities,,  than  he 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  277 

fled  from  Sardifl,  with  as  mach  haste  as  he  had  from  Athens  after 
the  battle  of  Salamis,  giving  orders  for  the  destruction  of  all  the 
Greek  temples  in  Asia  Minor. 

The  remainder  of  this  reign  was  distinguished  by  nothing  but 
what  covered  the  monarch  with  infamy.  After  plundering  the  tem- 
ples of  Babylon,  while  passing  through  tbat  city,  in  order  to  replenish 
his  exhausted  exchequer,  and  thereby  verifying  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  (Isaiah  xlvi,  1 ;  Jer.  1,  2,)  he  returned  to  his 
court  at  Susa. 

Here  he  sought  to  seduce  the  wife  of  his  brother  Masistes. 
Finding  her  inflexible,  he  hoped  to  conciliate  her  by  marrying  her 
daughter  to  his  son;  but  this  had  no  influence  on  the  virtuous 
matron.  The  licentious  king  then  turned  his  desires  toward  the 
daughter,  now  the  wife  of  his  own  son ;  and  her  he  succeeded  in 
debauching.  In  consequence  of  this  wickedness  Artaynta,  the 
daughter,  became  possessed  of  a  rich  mantle,  which  Hamestris,  the 
wife  of  Xerxes,  had  wrought  for  him.  This  she  displayed  in  public, 
80  that  the  fact  became  known  te  the  queen. 

Enraged  at  the  drcumstance,  and  attributing  all  the  blame  te  the 
innocent  mother,  Hamestris  waited  until  the  king's  birthday  came, 
when  the  kings  of  Persia  were  accustomed  to  grant  the  most  ex- 
travagant favours  te  their  friends ;  and  then  the  queen  asked  her 
husband  that  the  wife  of  Masistes  should  be  given  into  her  power. 
Xerxes,  suspecting  the  object,  and  knowing  the  innocence  of  the 
woman,  for  a  while  refused,  until,  conquered  by  her  importunity,  he 
complied.  He  then  immediately  sent  for  his  brother,  and  asked  him 
to  divorce  his  wife,  and  oflered  him  one  of  his  own  daughters  instead. 
Masistes  respectfully  declined  the  honour,  and  urged  that  his  wife 
was  flie  mother  of  his  children,  and  was  in  every  way  agreeable  to 
him.    Xerxes  in  a  rage  threatened,  and  his  brother  left  him. 

While  this  conference  was  proceeding,  the  queen  was  working 
out  her  horrible  revenge.  She  had  given  the  wife  of  Masistes  to 
the  royal  guards,  and  made  them  cut  off  her  breasts,  her  nose,  her 
ears,  her  lips,  and  her  tongue ;  and,  thus  horribly  mutilated,  she 
sent  her  to  her  house.  Masistes  on  his  return  found  her  in  this 
condition.  He  immediately  collected  his  family,  and  fled  toward 
Bactria,  of  which  he  was  governor,  intending  to  rouse  that  warlike 
people  to  revenge  his  wrongs.  But  Xerxes,  penetrating  his  design, 
sent  a  body  of  troops  after  him,  by  whom  the  injured  prince,  every 
pember  of  his  family,  and  all  his  followers,  were  put  to  death. 

This  tragedy  was  soon  followed  by  another,  involving  the  fate  of 
its  guilty  author.  Xerxes  was  soon  afterward  assassinated  by 
Artabanus,  the  captain  of  his  guards ;  and  his  eldest  son  shared  the 


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278  THB  aBNTILB  NATIONS. 

same  fiite.  A  few  inscriptions  belonging  to  this  rei^  hav^  been 
preserved  and  translated.  They  have  chiefly  a  religions*  bearing 
and  cast  no  new  light  on  the  history.  (See  Appendix,  note  48.) 

After  the  death  of  Xerxes  and  his  eldest  son,  the  regicide  con- 
ferred the  crown  on  Artaxerxbs,  the  third  son  of  Xerxes,  hoping 
to  reign  in  the  name  of  the  yonng  prince.  But  the  new  king  seized 
the  first  opportunity  of  revenging  the  death  of  his  father  and  brother, 
by  the  execution  of  tiie  assassin  with  his  confederates. 

Artaxerxes,  although  raised  to  the  throne,  and  delivered  from  the 
faction  of  Artabanus,  was  far  from  secure  in  the  possession  of  power. 
His  elder  brother  Hystaspes  was  governor  of  Bactria  ;  and  he  not 
only  possessed  a  valid  titie  to  the  throne,  but  was  supported  in  his 
claims  by  the  martial  province  over  which  he  ruled.  Artaxerxes, 
therefore,  raised  an  army,  and  led  them  to  Bactria,  where  a  battle 
was  fought  between  the  two  claimants  for  the  crown,  without  any 
decisive  result.  Both  parties  retired,  to  prepare  for  a  second 
encounter.  But  Artaxerxes  having  the  resources  of  the  ^npire  at 
his  command,  while  Hystaspes  was  shut  up  in  a  single  kingdom, 
the  former  in  the  ensuing  campaign  obtained  a  complete  victory, 
and  the  undisputed  possession  of  the  throne. 

Having  thus  obtained  his  object,  and  his  whole  dominions  being 
in  a  peaceful  condition,  the  king  returned  to  Susa,  where  he  appointed 
a  series  of  feastings  and  rejoicings  to  extend  over  a  period  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  days.  It  was  during  this  season  of  revehry  that 
the  events  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Esther  took  place ;  the  fair  Jew- 
ess of  that  name  being  then  nused  to  the  dignity  of  queen  of  the 
empire,  as  the  wife  of  Artaxerxes.  As  the  Scriptural  account  is  so 
well  known,  it  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  give  even  an  outline  of 
that  narrative.  It  will,  however,  be  desirable  to  refer  to  some  of  the 
results  of  this  marriage. 

This  queen  has  been  justly  spoken  of  as  "  one  of  the  very  few  that 
resist  the  allurements  of  splendour,  that  cherish  kindness  for  their 
poor  relatives,  and  remember  with  gratitude  the  guardians  of  their 
youth."  When,  therefore,  we  read  of  the  appointment  of  Ezra,  and 
afterward  of  Nehemiah,  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  invested  with  plenaiy 
powers  under  the  royal  authority  to  restore  the  city,  and  recon- 
struct the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  we  see  clearly  the  results  of  the 
queen's. influence.  And  when  the  difficulties  which  these  devoted 
men  had  to  encounter  are  taken  into  account,  it  may  be  fairly  pre- 
sumed that  nothing  short  of  the  favour  with  which  they  were  sup- 
ported by  the  imperial  court  could  have  enabled  them  to  succeed 
in  their  pious  and  patriotic  objects.  To  the  appointment  of  these 
officers,  under  God,  we  have  to  attribute  the  second  series  of  Hebrew 


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TBB  eiVTILB  NATIONS.  279 

nAtional  histoiy ;  uid  their  being  called  to  high  stations  appears  with 
equal  clearness  to  be  attributable  to  the  elevation  of  Esther.  So 
wonderful  are  the  evolutions  of  Divine  Providence! 
.  In  the  early  part  of  this  rei^  the  Egyptians  revolted  under 
Inaros,  as  already  related;  but  this  effort  totally  failed.  At  length 
Artazerxes,  wearied  of  war,  commanded  his  oflScers  to  make  peace 
with  Athens  on  the  best  terms  that  they  could  obtain:  and  although 
these  were  sufficiently  humiliating  to  the  pride  of  Persia,  the  treaty 
was  completed.  By  this  compact  it  was  agreed,  1.  That  all  the 
Greek  cities  of  Asia  should  be.  made  free,  and  allowed  to  live  under 
their  own  laws.  2.  That  no  Persian  ships  should  enter  the  ^gean 
Sea.  3.  That  no  Persian  army  should  approach  within  three  days' 
march  of  these  waters.  4.  That  the  Athenians  should  commit  no 
hostilities  within  the  territories  of  the  king  of  Persia.  These  arti- 
cles being  sworn  to,  peace  was  proclaimed. 

The  cruel  death  of  Inaros,  after  an  imprisonment  of  five  years, — 
the  revolt  of  Megabyzus,  and  his  restoration  to.  favour, — and  the 
efibrts  made  by  Lacedsemon  to  enlist  the  Persians  on  their  side 
when  the  war  broke  out  between  Sparta  and  Athens, — occurred  in 
the  latter  part  of  this  reign;  but  do  not  require  to  be  mentioned  at 
length. 

Artaxerzes  died  in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  reign.  Besides  the 
substantial  aid  he  afforded  to  the  Hebrews,  the  peace  with  Greece 
was  the  great  political  event  of  this  period — a  measure  which, 
undoubtedly  desirable  as  it  was  for  Persia,  clearly  indicated  the 
decline  of  that  empire,  and  foreboded  the  rapid  downfal  which 
immediately  succeeded. 

Xebxes  II.,  the  only  legitimate  son  of  Artaxerxes,  succeeded  his 
&ther.  He  had,  however,  to  contend  against  the  wild  disorder  of 
seventeen  sons,  whom  bis  father  bad  by  his  concubines, — a  post  of 
dauger  for  which  his  dissolute  habits  rendered  him  peculiarly 
unsuited.  After  a  reign  of  forty-five  days»  having  retired  to  rest 
drunk,  he  was  murdered  in  his  sleep  by  SoaniANUS,  one  of  hki 
illegitimate  brothers,  who  at  once  succeeded  to  power. 

Sogdianus  was,  however,  scarcely  seated  on  the  throne,  before  he 
evinced  a  very  cruel  disposition,  commencing  with  the  death  of 
Bagorazus,  a  most  respectable  eunuch,  and  one  of  the  confidential 
servants  of  Artaxerxes.  This  conduct  so  disgusted  the  nobility, 
that  when  his  brother  Ochus  returned  with  an  army  from  Hyrcania^ 
of  which  he  was  governor,  Sogdianus  found  himself  completely 
deserted.  Oohub  was  in  consequence  ndsed  to  the  throne,  and 
Sogdianus  put  to  death. 

On  assuming  the  government  of  the  empire,  Ochus  took  the  name 


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280  THE  GBNTQJB  NATIONB. 

of  Darius,  to  which  historiaiiB  generally  have  attadied  the  term 
Nothus,  or  "  Bastard,"  on  account  of  his  illegitimate  birth.  Arsites, 
a  brother  of  Darius,  perceiving  the  facility  with  which  Sogdianus 
had  displaced  Xerxes,  and  Darius  had  supplanted  Sogdianus, 
thought  that  he  might  serve  Darius  in  the  same  manner.  Having, 
therefore,  obtained  the  counsel  and  support  of  Artyphius,  the  son 
of  Megabyzus,  he  broke  into  open  rebellion.  As  the  usurping 
prince  and  his  prime  supporter  appeared  in  arms  in  different  parts, 
Darius  marched  against  his  brotfier,  while  Artasyras,  one  of  his 
generals,  proceeded  against  Artyphius.  By  the  aid  of  his  Greek 
mercenaries,  Artyphius  twice  defeated  the  imperial  troops:  but, 
these  bemg  at  length  bought  over  by  large  gifts  to  the  royal  cause, 
he  was  reduced  to  such  a  desperate  condition  as  to  be  compelled  to 
surrender  himself,  and  rely  on  the  mercy  of  Darius.  The  king  was 
disposed  to  order  his  immediate  execution ;  but  he  was  restrained 
by  his  wife  Parysafeis,  a  daughter  of  Artaxerxes  by  another  mother, 
and  a  very  clever  and  crafty  woman.  By  her  advice  the  king  gener- 
ally suifered  himself  to  be  guided.  Under  this  influence,  Artyphius 
was  treated  with  clemency,  while  Darius  proceeded  with  great 
energy  against  Arsites.  This  prince,  seeing  himself  deprived  of 
the  principal  support  on  which  he  had  relied,  and  that  his  general, 
although  a  stranger,  had  been  kindly  treated  on  his  submission, 
resolved  to  lay  down  his  arms,  and  surrender  to  his  brother,  not 
doubting  but  that  he  should  in  a  higher  degree  partake  the  royal 
clemency.  The  king,  indeed,  felt  disposed  to  save  his  brother;  but 
the  same  influence  which  had  dictated  a  clement  policy  toward  the 
general,  now  insisted  on  the  destruction  of  both.  At  the  instance 
of  the  queen,  therefore,  Arsites  and  Artyphius  were  put  to  death. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  this  reign,  the  court,  and  in  fact  the 
whole  empire,  were  involved  in  plots  and  counter-plots,  murders, 
insurrections,  and  intestine  wars.  The  principal  direction  of  public 
afijedrs  had  been  left  in  the  hands  of  three  eunuchs,  who  were  influ- 
enced more  by  selfish  and  factious  motives  than  by  a  desire  to  pro- 
mote the  public  good.  Not  a  few  of  these  troubles  were  owing  to 
the  restless  disposition  of  Gyrus,  the  king's  youngest  son,  who  had 
been  appointed  governor  of  Syria,  and  had  used  the  influence  of  his 
position  to  foment  war  in  Greece :  besides  which,  he  had  put  to 
death  two  noble  Persians,  nephews  of  the  king  his  father,  for  no 
other  reason  than  because  they  did  not  ofier  him  the  salutation 
usually  given  to  royalty.  This  conduct  displeased  Darius,  who 
required  his  attendance  at  court,  and  was  disposed  to  remove  him 
from  his  government.  On  the  other  hand,  the  queen  laboured  to 
induce  the  king  to  make  him  his  heir.    This,  however,  Darius  po^i- 


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THB  GBNTILE  NATIOKS.  281 

tivdy  refused  to  do :  eo  the  interview  which  took  place  between  them 
issued  in  the  confirmation  of  Gyrus  in  the  government  of  Syria. 

Soon  after  this  interview  Darius  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
8<m  Artaxbbxes,  commonly  sumamed  Mnbmon.  The  new  king, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  Persian  monarchs,  proceeded  to 
Pasargada  to  be  inaugurated  by  the  priests  of  Bellona.  He  was 
there  informed  by  one  of  the  priests,  that  his  brother  Gyrus  had 
formed  a  conspuracy  against  him,  with  a  design  to  murder  him  in  the 
veiy  temple.  Having  received  this  information,  the  king  commanded 
Gyrus  to  be  seized,  and  sentenced  to  death.  But  even  then  Pary- 
satis,  his  mother,  had  sufficient  influence  with  the  king  to  have  this 
sentence  revised,  and  to  get  Gyrus  sent  back  to  his  government  in 
Syria. 

Having  reached  his  seat  of  government,  and  being  enraged  at  the 
defeat  of  all  his  plans,  and  especially  that  he  had  been  sentenced  to 
death.  Gyrus  resolved  to  attempt  the  ruin  of  the  king  his  brother, 
and  the  attainment  of  his  crown.  Finding  it  impossible  to  make 
the  necessary  preparations  for  such  a  great  enterprise  while  his 
province  was  in  perfect  peace,  he  seduced  the  cities  which  had  been 
placed  under  the  government  of  Tissaphemes,  so  that  they  revolted 
firom  him,  and  submitted  to  Gyrus.  This  led  to  a  war  between  the 
two  governors ;  whidi  being  rather  agreeable  to  the  king  than  other- 
wise, he  allowed  them  to  raise  what  forces  they  pleased.  Gyrus 
fiodly  availed  himself  of  this  advantage;  and  having  made  great  sac- 
rifices and  exertions,  he  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army 
of  thirteen  thousand  Greeks,  and  one  hundred  thousand  regular 
troops  of  other  nations. 

With  this  armament  Gyrus  left  Sardis,  giving  out  the  report  that 
he  was  directing  his  arms  against  the  Pisidians.  Bnt  Tissaphemes, 
rightly  judging  that  the  preparations  were  on  too  large  a  scaAe  for 
such  an  object,  set  out  with  all  possible  speed  to  give  the  king  a  true 
account  of  the  doings  of  Gjrrus;  which  information  enabled  the 
king  to  collect  a  great  army,  and  march  out  to  meet  his  rebellious 
brother.  The  battle  took  place  at  Gunaxa  in  the  province  of  Baby- 
lon, where  Gyrus,  after  having  furiously  assailed  and  twice  wounded 
the  king,  was  slain,  and  his  forces  in  consequence  were  totally  re- 
pulsed and  dispersed. 

After  this  battle,  efibrts  were  made  by  the  royal  forces  to  cut  off 
the  Greeks  who  had  fought  on  the  side  of  Gyms;  and  their  principal 
oflicers  were  treacherously  destroyed.  But,  electing  others  in  their 
stead,  they  beat  off  their  assailants,  and  then  commenced,  and  suc- 
cessfully accomplished,  that  masterly  retreat  of  which  Xenophon 
has  given  an  eloquent  and  inimitable  account  in  his  Anabasis. 


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282  THB  eENTILX  NATIONS. 

At  this  period  of  the  history,  the  mind  sickens,  and  turns  ainry 
in  intense  disgnst,  at  the  recital  of  the  treacheries,  murders,  and 
horrible  atrocities  perpetrated  by  means  of  the  royal  females  of  the 
Persian  court. .  These  seem  generally  to  be  presented  to  the  mind 
by  the  history  of  the  age  as  the  Furies  of  the  country,  waiting  on 
every  change  of  the  royal  &mily,  or  when  any  new  aspect  of  politi- 
cal relations  appeared,  to  interpose  with  veng^anoe  and  blood. 
During  this  reign,  one  officer  after  another  was  dddvered  to  the  im- 
placable Parysatis,  for  having  claimed  the  honour  of  killing  Cyrus; 
and  these,  instead  of  being  rewarded,  were  put  to  death  with  un- 
heard-of torments. 

Even  Statira,  the  beautiful  and  beloved  wife  of  the  king,  after 
having  put  Udiastes  to  a  horrible  death,  was  herself  poisoned  by 
Parysatis,  who,  pretending  to  be  reconciled  to  her,  had  invited  her 
to  supper,  and  divided  between  them  a  delicate  bird,  with  a  knife 
which  had  been  poisoned  on  one  side  only ;  so  that,  while  she  ate 
one  half  with  impunity,  her  victim  died  in  convulsions  in  a  few 
hours.  Such  atrocities  prepare  the  mind  for  the  ruin  of  the  countiy 
in  which  they  take  place.  In  fact,  when  such  crimes  become  com- 
mon, as  they  were  in  Persia  at  this  period,  they  afford  indubitable 
evidence  that  the  country  is  already  ruined. 

While  the  court  was  thus  the  scene  of  malice  and  bloodshed,  the 
provinces  were  convulsed  with  anarchy  and  misgovemment.  Agesi- 
laus,  King  of  Sparta,  having  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Asiatic 
Oreeks,  prosecuted  a  series  of  rapid  conquests  in  Western  Asia; 
and  if  he  had  not  been  recalled,  in  consequence  of  the  lavish  distri- 
bution of  Persian  gold  in  Greece,  would  in  all  probability  have  dis- 
membered the  Persian  empire,  if  he  had  not  altogetlier  anticipated 
ttie  work  of  Aleicander. 

The  latter  years  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerzee  Mnemon  were  pecu- 
liarly unfortunate.  He  had  no  sooner  got  rid  of  Agesilaup  and  the 
Spartan  Greeks,  than  he  was  harassed  with  an  insurrection  in  Egypt^ 
which,  notwithstanding  the  great  efforts  he  made  for  the  purpose,  he 
could  not  put  down,  owing  to  a  disagreement  between  Uie  Persian 
general  and  his  Athenian  auxiliaries.  Then  Cyprus  regained  its 
independence.  Worse  than  all,  domestic  troubles  of  the  most  afflict- 
ing character  pressed  on  the  mind  of  the  king.  Darius,  who  had 
been  declared  his  heir,  conspired  against  the  life  of  his  father,  and 
Ar^Mf fifty  of  his  brothers  into  the  treason :  (the  king  had  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  children  by  his  several  concubines :)  but  the  sover- 
eign was  apprized  of  his  danger,  the  conspirators  were  seized,  and 
all,  including  the  fifty-one  sons  of  the  king,  were  put  to  death. 

This  melancholy  event  raised  a  new  question  as  to  the  succession 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIOSB.  288 

to  the  thrcme.  For  this  dignity  there  vere  three  candidates,— 
Ariaspes  and  Ochus,  sons  of  the  king  and  queen,  and  Arsames,  the 
son  of  the  king  by  a  coaoabine,  but  greatly  beloved  by  his  father  on 
account  of  his  princely  virtues.  Ochus  succeeded  in  terrifying  his 
elder  brother,  who  was  of  a  weak  and  yielding  temper,  to  sudi  an 
extent  that  he  poisoned  himself:  shortly  after  which,  the  prince  pro- 
cured the  assassination  of  Arsames.  These  calamities  were  too 
much  for  the  aged  monarch,  who  died  under  &e  pressure  of  his 
domestic  troubles. 

Ochus  succeeded  his  father;  and  on  his  accession  assumed  the 
name  of  Artaxbbxbs  III.  No  sooner  did  the  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  the  king  reach  Western  Asia,  than  there  was  a  general 
revolt.  This  wodd  have  been  fiital  to  the  empire,  had  not  the  lead- 
ers of  the  insurrection  soon  quarrelled  among  themselves,  and  so 
neutralized  all  their  efTorts.  The  danger,  however,  was  sufficient  to 
alann  ttie  new  king,  and  to  excite  his  cruel  disposition.  Deter- 
mined that  no  revolted  province  should  have  any  of  the  blood-royal 
to  set  up  against  him,  and  that  none  of  his  relatives  should  conspire 
against  his  authority,  he  adopted  the  horrid  expedient  of  putting  them 
all  to  death.  The  Princess  Ocha,  his  own  sister  and  mother-in- 
law, — for  he  had  married  her  daughter, — ^he  caused  to  be  buried 
alive.  He  shut  up  one  of  his  uncles,  and  one  hundred  of  his  sons 
and  grandsons,  in  a  court  of  the  palace ;  and  then  caused  them  to 
be  shot  at  by  archers,  until  they  were  all  slaiu. 

But  even  these  wholesale  murders  did  not  suffice  to  keep  his  sub* 
jectfl  in  awe :  Artabazus,  the  satrap  of  Asia  Minor,  rebelled,  and, 
having  procured  the  assistance  of  an  Athenian  army,  obtained  sev- 
eral victories  over  the  royal  troops.  The  king,  however,  by  large 
presents  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Athenians  to  withdraw  their 
forces  from  the  contest.  Artabazus  then  procured  aid  from  the 
Thebans,  and  by  their  help  was  again  successfiil;  but  again  the 
influence  of  Persian  gold  induced  these  auxiliaries  to  return  home. 
Thus  left  to  his  own  resources,  Artabaeus  was  vanquished,  and  forced 
to  take  refuge  at  the  court  of  Philip  of  Macedon.  The  king,  flushed 
with  this  success,  marched  against  the  leaders  of  an  insurrection 
which  had  been  promoted  by  Phenicia,  Egypt,  and  Cyprus.  He 
first  proceeded  to  Sidon,  which  city  was  treacherously  thrown  open 
to  him,  and  instantly  destroyed.  This  severity  so  terrified  the 
other  cities  of  Phenicia,  that  they  submitted  to  the  Persian  king, 
who  forthwith  proceeded  toward  Egypt,  which  was  completely  sub- 
dued, and  treated  by  the  conqueror  with  the  greatest  tyranny  and 
cruelty.  Cyprus  was  also  recovered,  and  made  a  Persian  province; 
after  which  the  king  rewarded  Mentor,  his  able  military  com- 


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284  THB  GBimLS  KATIQHS. 

mander,  acoording  to  his  meiitSy  and  gave  himself  up  to  ease  and 
dissipation. 

This  conduct  afforded  his  confidential  emmch  Bagoas  opportunitjr 
to  effect  a  purpose  which  he  appears  to  haye  formed  in  consequence 
of  the  king's  impious  attacks  on  the  religion  of  Egypt.  Bagoas  was 
a  native  of  that  country;  and,  when  he  saw  the  sacred  Apis  slain, 
dressed,  and  served  up  for  a  feast,  might  well  bum  with  intense 
indignation.  Whatever  might  be  the  cause,  it  is  certain  that  Bagoas 
poisoned  his  master ;  and  it  is  said  that,  burying  another  body 
instead,  he  actually  gave  the  flesh  of  the  king  for  food  to  animals. 
Having  despatched  the  king,  the  guilty  eunuch  raised  his  youngest 
son  Absbs  to  the  throne,  aiid  put  all  the  others  to  death,  that  he 
might  thus  retain  the  power  of  governing  in  his  owir  hand.  (See 
Appendix,  note  49.) 

Arses  did  not  long  retain  even  a  nominal  sovereignty :  Bagoas^ 
finding  him  less  tractable  than  he  expected,  put  him  to  death  also; 
and,  not  yet  daring  to  assume  the  sovereignty  himself,  placed  Dabius 
sumamed  GonoMAKNUS  on  the  throne.  This  person,  although  of 
the  blood-royal,  was  not  the  son  of  a  king,  but  a  junior  member  of 
the  family,  who  escaped  in  an  unaccountable  manner  when  Artax- 
erxes  UI.  destroyed  the  members  of  the  royal  house.  In  the  war 
which  that  king  waged  with  the  Gadusians,  one  of  those  barbarians 
challenged  the  whole  Persian  army  to  find  a  man  to  fight  him  in 
single  combat.  When  no  one  else  oflfered,  Godomannus  accepted  the 
challenge,  and  slew  the  Gadusian.  For  this  noble  act  he  was  re- 
warded with  the  government  of  Armenia,  from  whence  he  was  called 
by  Bagoas  to  accept  the  imperial  crown. 

Darius  Godomannus,  on  entering  upon  the  government  of  the 
empire,  evinced  even  less  disposition  than  his  predecessor  to  be  the 
servile  creature  of  Bagoas,  and  was  consequently  doomed  by  that 
unscrupulous  murderer  to  the  same  fate.  The  king,  however,  pene- 
trated his  design;  and  when  the  deadly  potion  was  presented  to 
him,  he  compelled  Bagoas  to  drink  it  himself, — ^thns  disposing  of 
the  traitor  by  his  own  means.  Having  accomplished  this,  he 
acquired  possession  of  imperial  power  without  further  danger.  The 
throne  of  Persia,  however,  at  tUs  time  was  of  little  worth.  Alex* 
ander  of  Macedon  ascended  the  throne  the  same  year  with  Darius, 
and  found  ready  to  his  hand  all  the  preparations  which  Philip  had 
made  for  the  invasion  of  Persia.  By  the  time,  therefore,  that  Darius 
had  fairly  entered  upon  the  govenmient  of  his  great  empire,  the 
ambitious  Greek  was  marshalling  his  host  for  its  invasion. 

Darius  appears  to  have  done  all  that  the  disorganized  and  effem- 
inate state  of  his  dominions  rendered  possible :  but  to  resist,  with 


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THB  GBKTILB  KATI0K8.  285 

the  means  at  his  command,  the  genius  and  energy  of  Alexander,  and 
the  armour,  discipline,  and  overwhelming  power  of  the  Macedonian 
phalanx,  was  impossible.  In  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  these 
kings,  the  battle  of  the  Granicus  was  fought,  and  won  by  Alexander ; 
and  from  that  day  everything  pertaining  to  Persia  really  belongs  to 
the  history  of  Greece,  which  actually  passed  under  the  government 
of  Alexander,  as  soon  as  the  immense  range  of  territory  permitted 
him  to  take  possession  of  it. 

Thus  perished  the  Persian,  or  Medo-Persian  empire,  which  arose 
into  power  by  the  military  genius  and  indomitable  energy  of  Cyrus, 
like  a  meteor  among  the  nations  of  the  East, — obtained  an  extent  of 
territory  and  a  consolidation  of  political  and  military  power  beyond 
any  nation  that  had  previously  existed, — and,  having  fulfilled  its 
destiny  in  the  accomplishment  of  sacred  prophecy,  (see  Appendix, 
note  50,)  and  especially  in  the  restoration  of  the  captive  Hebrews 
to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  at  length  rapidly  declined  in  all  the 
elements  of  national  strength,  as  it  increased  in  disorganization, 
impiety,  and  crime. 

As  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  annals  of  this  empire 
present  to  our  view  the  introduction  of  that  system  of  policy  by 
which  one  nation  aggregated  others  into  social,  political,  and  mili- 
taiy  union  with  itself  Assyria  stalked  through  the  earth  as  a 
miurtial  giant,  robbing  and  crushing  all  by  its  immense  power. 
Persia  first  expanded  the  grand  idea  of  making  an  empire  consist 
of  united  nations,  just  as  a  nation  consists  of  associated  districts. 
In  the  accomplishment  of  this  result,  the  talents  and  energy  of 
Darius  were  scarcely  second  to  the  genius  of  Gyrus.  But  how 
short-lived  is  the  power  of  any  people,  unless  continuously  sus- 
tained by  the  influence  of  intelligence,  morals,  and  religion ! 


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CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  PERSIAN  HISTORY. 


Ha  NAamandBTmto.  B«igaML 

PenU,  a  province  of  the  Aisjiiui 
empire.  Eawah  restores  its  in- 
dependence, and  raises  Feridoon 
to  the  throne. 

Fbbidoov. 

Manuchshsr. 

NOVZBB. 

Zoa 

KSBSHASP. 

^e  chronology  of  these  reigns 
is  unicnown.) 
Persia  in  subjection  to  Media. 
500  Cyrus  reigns  in  Persia.    Snbdoes 
Media,  B.  C.  551 ;  and  Babylon, 
•  RC.636. 

By  these  and  other  oonquests  Cy- 
rus establishes  the  Medo-Persian 
empire. 

529  Cambyses 8 

Conquers  Egypt 


B.C.  NuiMMldlfVBlk 

Smerdis   the   Magian  reigned  7 

months. 
521  Darius  Hystaspis 86 

Promotes  building  of  Jemsalem. 
485  Xerxes 21 

Invades  Qreece. 

46i  Artaxerxes , 41 

428  Darius  Nothus 19 

404  Artaxerxes  Mnemon 46 

Cyrus,  the  king's  brother,  rebels, 

aided   by   the   Ten   Thousand 

Greeks. 
858  Ochus,  or  Artaxerxes  IIL.. 
887  Arses  is  placed  on  the  ihroae  by 

the  eunuch  Bagoas,  and  after 

two  years  is  put  to  death. 
835  Darius  Codomannus. 

Persia  invaded  by  the  Maeedoniaa, 

and,  after  a  short  straggle,  is 

subdued  by  Alexander. 


...*    21 


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!EHB  GSETTILE  NATIONS.  287 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

T*HE  RELIGION  OF  THE  PERSIANS. 

LooBTAjrox  and  DiiBoolties  of  the  Sabjeci--Ore*t  Aid  gapplied  bj  ancient  Inscriptioni 
—The  Religion  of  Peni*  identical  in  its  original  Biementt  with  that  of  Assyria  and 
Babylon — Opinion  of  Jacob  Bryant  on  the  first  Zoroaster— Its  probable  Import — ^The 
Msgi— General  Elements  of  the  Persian  Faith—Deity  of  the  King— Palace-Temples — 
Paradises — Sacred  Tree— Cherubic  Fignres— Divine  Triad— Persian  Peculiarities  in 
this  Symbol— The  supreme  Deity  in  Persia  represented  with  the  Head  of  a  Bird— The 
Beiigions  System  of  Zoroaster— The  first  Triad :  Cronns,  Oimnzd,  Ahriman— This 
changed  to  Ormuzd,  Mithras,  Ahriman — ^Their  respective  Character  and  Position — ^The 
Antagonism  and  Creations  of  Ormnzd  and  Ahriman— The  Worshi))  of  Fire,  its  probable 
Origin — ^The  System  of  Zoroaster  professed  to  rest  on  Divine  Revelation— The  Creation 
of  Angels,  the  World,  and  Mankind — General  Accordance  with  Holy  Scripture — ^TIm 
Fall  of  Bian — ^The  Prevalence  of  Evil — ^The  Flood — Continuance  of  Depravity — ^Mission 
of  Zoroaster— The  Spiritual  Nature  of  Man — ^Future  Judgment — ^Resurrection — ^Doo- 
trine  of  nnlversal  Restoration — ^Wicked  Men,  and  even  Ahriman,  raised  to  Heaven — 
The  Priesthood— Their  Three  Orders:  Herboods,  Mobeds,  and  the  Dnstoor— Altars  and 
Temples— Perpetual  Fire— Public  Worship— Sacred  Rites— Holy  Water— Morals- 
Sound  Principles  mingled  with  much  that  is  puerile  and  superstitious — ^The  Faith  of 
Persi*  fonned  a  perfect  Type  of  Papal  Superstition— Observations  on  the  Manner  in 
which  this  Inquiry  has  been  conducted — ^Folly  of  forming  an  Opinion  on  this  Subject 
under  the  Influence  of  Grecian  Mythology — ^Necessity  of  recognising  the  Founders  of 
the  Nation  as  Members  of  the  great  patriarchal  Family — General  View  of  the  System. 

The  authors  of  the  "  Uniyersal  History,"  in  the  beginning  of  a  very 
imsatisfactory  chapter  under  a  title  similar  to  that  which  stands  f^ 
the  head  of  this,  say,  "There  is  hardly  any  subject  which  hath 
employed  the  pens  of  authors,  ancient  or  modem,  that  deserves  to  be 
treated  with  greater  accuracy,  or  to  be  read  with  more  attention,  than 
this  which  we  are  now  about  to  discuss."  In  these  sentiments  we 
cordially  concur;  and  may  add,  that  there  is  hardly  any  subject 
which  presents  a  wider  or  more  formidable  range  of  difficulties  than 
those  with  which  the  religion  of  Persia  is  encompassed. 

It  may  be  freely  acknowledged  that  this  has  not  been  a  neglected 
topic.  On  the  contrary,  scarcely  anything  connected  with  the  con- 
dition of  the  ancient  world  has  excited  more  attention,  or  provoked 
more  violent  controversy.  The  collision  of  opinion  thus  educed 
constitutes,  in  ftct,  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  which  embarrass  a 
dispassionate  inquiry  into  the  religion  of  ancient  Persia.  The 
reader  will  scarcely  require  to  be  informed,  that  every  investigation 
of  this  subject  must  begin  with  the  person  and  doctrines  of  2ioroa8- 
ter,  (see  Appendix,  note  51,)  and  that  the  results  of  the  inquiry  will 


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288  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

mainly  depend  on  the  conclusions  arrived  at  respecting  the  character 
and  teaching  of  this  sage. 

All  that  labour  and  learning  can  do  has  been  done,  to  coUect  and 
explain  the  passages  bearing  on  this  subject,  which  are  found  scat- 
tered through  the  pages  of  ancient  authors.  But,  unfortunately,  all 
these  come  to  us  through  the  agency  of  aliens  or  enemies.  No 
native  Persian,  of  the  most  brilliant  period  of  her  history,  has  left 
us  a  page  respecting  the  religion  of  his  country.  Strangers,  inquir- 
ing after  the  manners  and  customs  of  an  ancimit  people, — hostile 
scribes,  employed  by  those  who  had  conquered  the  kingdom, — or  the 
literati  of  other  lands,  picking  up,  at  second-hand  at  best,  what  they 
could  collect  on  this  subject, — are  the  chief  sources  whence  European 
scholars  have  had  to  draw  their  information  respecting  the  faith  of 
ancient  Persia.  It  will  readily  occur  to  the  reader,  that,  when  placed 
in  such  circumstances,  foreign  authors  do  not  afford  us  the  best  data 
from  which  to  elicit  sound  information  respecting  ar  system  of  re- 
ligious doctrines.  Too  much  reliance  must  not,  therefore,  be  placed 
on  deductions  from  such  sources. 

In  one  respect  we  approach  this  inquiry  furnished  with  important 
aids  to  which  the  authors  of  preceding  times  were  strangers.  The 
historical  information  supplied  by  all  the  remaining  literary  fragments 
of  antiquity  can  only  lead  to  probable  conjecture  on  many  important 
points.  We  have,  however,  in  our  hands  the  recovered  sculptures 
of  the  east ;  and,  by  the  light  they  afford,  can  not  only  form  sound 
opinions  respecting  the  meaning  of  these  fragments,  but  actually 
enlarge  the  information  which  they  communicate,  and  even  correct 
their  statements,  when  partial  or  mistaken. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  it  is  an  undoubted  fiict,  that  the  reli^on 
of  Persia  was  reared  on  precisely  the  same  foundation  as  that  of 
Assyria.  That  the  palace-temples  were  built  on  the  same  general 
plan  in  both  countries  is  unquestionable,  and  has  been  proved 
beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt  by  Mr.  Fergusson  in  his  very 
valuable  work.  (See  Palaces  of  Nineveh  and  Persepolis,  passim,) 
And  this  is  not  a  mere  isolated  circumstance,  remotely  connected 
with  the  subject,  as  might  at  first  appear  to  us  under  the  influence 
of  our  European  habits  and  ideas :  it  stands  in  immediate  relation 
to  ihe  ruling  element  of  this  great  religious  system.  It  involves  the 
character  of  the  whole  structure  of  the  religious  fabric.  As  was 
shown  in  the  case  of  Assyria, — the  peculiar  compound  of  divine  and 
regal  dignity  sustained  by  the  king  was  really  the  centre  of  the 
whole  system  of  faith.  He  was  emphatically,  by  divine  right,  the 
religious,  as  well  as  the  political,  head  of  the  people.  His  person  was 
sacred:  his  official  residence  united  the  characters  of  palace  and 


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tenq^la.  In  teidb,  we ,  Iiaye  in  this  sii^Ie  oireonsti^e  a  comauHi 
principle  which  substantially  identifies  the  great  scheme  of  Persiw 
religion  with  that  of  the  more  ancient  kiagdoma  of  Assyi'iift  and 
Babylon. 

Lest,  however,  iH should  be  sqpposed.that  I  bosld  toc^  mucbon » 
stBgle  drcamstance,  I  will  satisfy  the  i>eader  by  quoting  a  passage 
firom  Dr.  Layaid,  which  will-  be  foupd  cendusiTe.  **  Although." 
observes  that  indefatigable  explorer,  "  we  may  not  at  present  possess 
sufficient  materials  to  illustrate  the  most  andent  S^bsoanism  of  the 
Assyrians,  we  may,  I  tbink,  pretty  confidently  judge  of  the  nature 
of  the  worship  of  a  later  period.  The  symbols  and  religious  eeremo* 
nies  represented  at  Khorsabad  and  Kouyunjik,  and  on  the  cylinders^ 
are  identical  with  those  of  the  ancient  monuments  of  Persia:  at  th^ 
same  time,  the  sculptures/of  Persepotisy  in  their  mythic  charaoter^ 
resemble  in  every  respect  those  of  the  Assyrians.  We  have  (he 
same  types  and  groups  to  embody  ideas  of  the  divinity,  and  to.  con- 
vey sacred  subjects.  When  the  dose  connexion,  in  early  ageSr 
between  reli^on  and  art  is  borne  in  mind,  it  will  be  at  once  con*' 
ceded,  that  a.  nation  like  the  Persian  would  not  borrow  mere  forma 
irithout  attaching  to  thorn  their  original  signification.  The  connexion^ 
as  exhibited  by  art,  between  Assyria  and  Persia,  is  suflicient^  I  think, 
to  prove  the  origin  of  the  symbols  and  myths  of  the  Persians." — 
Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  ii,  p.  441,  and  note. 

There  appears,  therefore,  sufficient  reason  for  believing  that 
Persia  adi^ted  the  religious  system  and  symbols  of  the  Assyrian 
cmipire,  as  the  foundation  of  her  faith  and  ceremonial  rites.  This 
will  affi>rd  us  better  means  for  fully  apprehending  the  general  scope 
and  particular  elements  of  this  economy,  than  we  should  otherwise 
possess. 

it  may  also  be  £Eurly  questioned  whether  this  is  not  what  we  are 
to  understand  by  "  tb€(  first  Zoroaster.''  The  learned  Jacob  Bryant 
says:  "  Of  men  called  .Zoroaster,  the  first  was  a  deified  personage, 
reverenced  by  some  of  liis  .posterity,  whose  worship  was  styled 
MagiOj  and  the  professors  of  it  Magi ;  and  the  institutors  of  those 
rites  which  related  to  Zoroaster.  From  them  this  worship  was 
imparted  to  the  Persians,  who  likewise  had  their  Magi.  And  when 
the  Babylonians  sunk  into  a  more  complicated  idolatry,  the  Persians, 
who  succeeded  to  the  sovereignty  of  Asia^  renewed  under  their 
princes,  and  particularly  under  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  these 
rites,  which  had  been,  in  a  great  degree,  e&ced  and  forgotten.  That 
king  was  devoted  to  the  religion  of  the  Magia,  and  looked  upon  it 
as  one  of  his  most  honourable  titles  to  be  oaDed  a  professor  of  those 
doctrines.    By  Zoroaster  was  denoted  both  tiiie  deity,  and  also  his 

19 


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^90  THB  GBNTILB  NATI0H8. 

priest.  It  was  a  name  conferred  Upon  many  personages/'-^Ana/ynir 
of  Ancient  Mythology,  vol.  ii,  p.  389.    See  note. 

It  seems  therefore  to  be  very  probable,  that  the  antiquity  and 
Ghaldadan  origin  of  what  is  called  "  the  first  Zoroaster,"  is  nothing 
more  than  an  oriental  mode  of  covering  the  foreign  origination  of 
the  religion  of  Persia ;  just  as  the  period  of  Assyrian  domination  wb0 
represented  under  the  figure  of  the  reign  of  the  tyrant  Zohank  for  a 
thousand  years.  Hence  Layard  says :  "  The  identity  of  the  Assyrian 
and  Persian  systems  appears  also  to  be  pointed  out  by  the  uncertainty 
which  exists  as  to  the  birthplace  and  epoch  of  Zoroaster.  Accord- 
ing to  the  best  authorities  he  was  a  Ghald^Ban,  who  introduced  his 
doctrines  into  Persia  and  Central  Asia.  The  Persians  themselves 
may  be  supposed  t6  have  recognised  the  Assyrian  source  oi  their 
religion,  when  they  declared  Perseus,  the  founder  of  their  race,  to 
have  been  an  Assyrian." — Nineveh  and  its  Remains,  vol.  ii,  p.  448. 
While,  therefore,  all  exact  information  respecting  the  person  spok^:t 
of  as  "  the  first  Zoroaster,"  and  the  origin  of  this  fiiith,  is  lost  in  the 
obscurity  of  remote  antiquity,  there  can  still  be  little  doubt  that  it 
^nanated  from  Assyria,  and  from  thence  passed  into  Persia. 

Another  circumstance  is  worthy  of  notice,  as  casting  some  li^t 
on  the  nature  and  progress  of  this  religion.  The  priests  were-caOed 
Magi ;  and,  according  to  Herodotus,  during  the  most  flourishing  period 
of  the  Medo-Persian  empire  they  were  regarded  as  the  only  minis- 
ters of  the  national  religion.  (Clio,  cap.  cxxxii.)  But  they  consti- 
tuted one  of  the  six  tribes  of  the  nation  of  Modes.  (Clio,  cap.  ei.) 
It  seems  that,  even  after  they  were  regarded  as  sustaining  this 
isacred  character,  they  had  not  altogether  lost  their  sense  of  national 
identity  and  partiality.  For  it  is  evident  that  Cambysea  regarded 
the  reign  of  the  Magian  Smerdis  as  equivalent  to  the  restoration  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  empire  from  Persia  to  Media;  and  hence  we 
find  th^  son  of  Cyrus,  in  his  last  illness,  entreating  the  Persian 
nobles  in  his  army  to  resist  the  usurpation  of  the  Magi,  and  not  to 
''permit  the  empire  to  revert  to  the  Modes."  (Thalia,  cap.  Iv.) 
The  government  of  the  Magi,  then,  was  regarded  as  a  Median  gov- 
ernment,— a  fact  which  is  further  proved  by  the  wholesale  slaughter 
of  these  priests  after  the  death  of  Smerdis ;  of  which  it  is  said,  that 
if  night  had  not  interposed  its  darkness  just  at  the  time  when  it  did, 
the  Magi  would  have  been  all  destroyed.  (Thalia^  cap.  Ixxix.)  But 
we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  manner  in  which  this  Median 
tribe  obtained  their  sacerdotal  character  and  ascendency ;  nor  have 
we  any  information  as  to  the  way  in  which,  or  the  period  when,  the 
Ghaldiean  mystic  faith  was  deposited  with  this  race  of  priests. 

It  will  now  be  neoessaxy  to  notice  some  of  the  leading,  original. 


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THB  GENTtLS  NATI0K8.  291 

snd  eseential  elements  of  this  religion.  We  will  then  {iimish  a 
general  view  of  it,  after  it  had  been  reformed  and  remodelled  by 
Zoroaster. 

It  has  been  already  observed,  that  the  palaee-temples  of  Persia 
were  precisely  similar  in  their  general  character  to  those  of  Assyria 
and  Babylon ;  and,  as  was  intimated,  this  fact  shows  the  general 
identity  of  the  two  systems.  This  view  is  confirmed  by  a  reference 
to  all  the  essential  features  of  this  religious  scheme.  The  divine 
character  assumed  by  the  king,  under  the  direction  of  the  Magi,  is 
shown  by  the  decree  of  Darius,  that  for  a  certain  time  ho  prayer 
was  to  be  offered  to  any  god  or  man,  save  unto  the  king  only.  This 
waa  also  attested  by  the  rigid  religious  reverence  with  which  ap- 
proach to  the  person  of  the  king  was  prohibited,  so  that  neither  man 
nor  woman  was  permitted  to  enter  "the  inner  court"  of  the  palace, 
unless  specially  invited  to  do  so,  on  pain  of  death.  Esther  iv,  11. 
Those  who  were  privileged  with  admission,  were  not  permitted  to 
smile  or  spit  in  the  royal  presence.,  (Clio,  cap.  xcix.) 

But  we  are  assured  iiiat  this  respect  and  reverence  issued  in 
actual  adoration ;  thaik,  in  fact,  the  king  stood,  in  the  estimation  of  his 
subjects,  "  on  the  same  level  with  the  gods."  The  real  worship  of 
the  sovereign  was  therefore  a  public  duty  of  universal  obligation. 
*•  None  durst  appear  before  the  king  without  prostrating  themselves 
cm  the  ground ;  nay,  they  were  all  obliged,  at  what  distance  soever  the 
king  appeared,  to  pay  him  that  adoration.  Nor  did  they  exact  it 
only  from  their  own  vassals,  but  also  from  foreign  ministers  and  am* 
bae^dors ;  the  captain  of  the  guard  being  charged  to  inquire  of  those 
irho  asked  adMssion  to  the  king,  whether  they  were  ready  to  adore 
him.  If  they  refused  to  comply  with  that  ceremony,  they  were  told 
that  the  king's  ear  was  open  to  such  only  as  were  willing  to  pay  him 
tiiat  homage ;  so  they  were  forced  to  transact  the  business  with  which 
they  were  diarged,  by  means  of  the  kings  servants  or  eunuchs.  (Plu- 
tarch, in  Vitd  Themistoclis.)  Indeed,  the  Persians  gloried  in  this. 
Hence  we  find  Artabanus,  in  his  conference  with  Themistocles, 
observing,  'Among  those  many  excellent  laws  of  ours,  the  most 
excellent  is  this,  that  the  king  is  to  be  honoured  and  worshipped 
religiously,  as  the  image  of  that  God  which  conserveth  all  things.' " 
— Ancient  Universal  History,  vol.  iv,  p.  77. 

In  all  other  respects,  the  similarity  between  the  ancient  religion 
of  Persia  and  that  of  Assyria  holds  good.  The  palace>temple  of 
this  adored  sovereign  was  attached  to  a  paradise  with  a  sacred 
stream  and  trees.  The  compound  cherubic  figures  are  found  in  the 
sculptures  of  Persepolis  and  other  ruins  of  Persia,  as  they  are  at 
I^imbrod,  Ehorsabad,  and  Eouyunjik.     The  sacred  tree  occurs 


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898  THB  eSNTILS  NATL0K8. 

^th  all  the  promineoce  in  Persia  that  it  does  in  Assyria.  Tbm 
triadic  figure  of  the  mao,  wings,  and  oircle,  is  foond  over  the  bead  of 
Darius  Hystaspis  on  the  sacred  rock  at  Behistun,  as  over  the  head 
<^  Sennacherib  in  his  capital.  All  this  indubitably  attests  the  iden- 
tity of  these  systems  beyond  the  possibility  of  mistake. 

There  are,  indeed,  peculiarities  in  some  of  these  cases,  which  it 
may  be  necessary  to  mention. 

The  triadic  figure,  with  the  circle,  wings,  and  human  form,  is  found 
nowhere  more  frequently,  or  in  greater  perfection,  than  in  Persia. 
And  this  is  by  Layard,  and  other  respectable  authors,  frequently 
called  Ormuzd,  that  being  the  name  usually  g^ven  to  the  supreme 
god  by  the  ancient  Persians.  I  rather  incline,  however,  to  tho 
opinion  that  the  human  figure  in  this  symbol  represented,  {loeording. 
to  times  and  circumstances,  both  Ormuzd  and  Mithras.  The  Zen- 
davesta  recognises  as  a  fundamental  principle  Zerwan^—^  term 
which  is  understood  to  denote  *'time," — time  in  its  widest  range, 
without  beginning  and  without  end.  This  will  be  perceived  to  bo 
identical  with  the  first  personality  in  the  Ghald»an  triad,  which  was 
stated  to  be  Cronos,  or  "  Time."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in 
.  both  countries  this  was  a  title  given  to  the  great  father,  or  the 
patriarch  of  the  tribe  or  nation.  How  far  the  most  ancient  triad  of 
Persia  represented  three  hero-gods — Oromasdes,  Arimanius,  and 
Mithras — I  shall  not  undertake  to  decide :  but  the  learned  Moshdm 
has  supported  this  opinion  with  great  skill  and  erudition.  (See  Ap- 
.  pendtx,  note  52.) 

The  human  figure  with  the  head  of  a  bird,  which  on  the  Assyrian 
sculptures  was  called  !Nisroch  or  Assarac,  is  here  represented  as 
setting  forth  the  great  God.  The  first  of  the  triads  of  Zoroaster 
preserved  by  Eusebius  is  to  this  effect :  "  But  god  is  he  that  has  the 
head  of  a  hawk.  He  is  the  first,  indestructible,  eternal,  unbegptten, 
indivisible,  dissimilar ;  the  dispenser  of  all  good ;  incorruptible;  the 
best  of  the  good,  the  wisest  of  the  wise :  he  is  the  fiither  of  equity 
and  justice,  self-taught,  physical,  and  perfect,  and  wise,  and  the  only 
inventor  of  the  sacred  philosophy."  This  seems  to  render  it  oer^ 
tain  that,  whatever  usage  obtained  in  Assyria,  this  form  was  chosen 
to  represent  the  supreme  Deity  in  Persia 

The  Dabistan  (Shea  and  Troyer's  Trans.,  vol.  i,  p.  36)  confirms 
this  view.  It  states :  "  The  image  of  the  r^ent  Uormazd  (Jupiter) 
was  of  an  earthly  colour,  in  the  shape  of  a  man  with  a  vulture's  face : 
on  his  head  a  crown,  on  which  were  the  faces  of  a  cock  and  a  dragon; 
in  the  right  hand  a  turban,  and  in  the  left  a  crystal  ewer."  On  this 
passage  Mr.  Fergnsson  remarks :  " '  Pitcher 'would  be  a  more  cor- 
rect word  than  '  ewer/  to  judge  from  the  form  of  the  vessel  he  carries 


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THB  QBKTILB  MAtlORS.  *29B 

on  the  Bcolptiirefl ;  but  from  the  same  aatbority,  we  ghould  read  'fir- 
cone* foi*  *  turban.'  Oan  it  be  an  error  of  description  by  8ome  one 
miataking  one  object  for  the  other?  The  fir-cone  is  not  unlike  the 
Persian  lamb-skin  or  Parsee  cap." — Nineveh  and  Persepolis,  p.  295. 

We  see,  tiierefore,  that  as  fiir  as  any  light  has  been  cast  on  the 
pfrae-Zoroasterian  period  of  the  Persian  religion,  although  it  bears 
evident  marks  of  a  local  and  national  character,  it  nevertheless 
aceords  in  all  its  essential  elements  with  that  whidi  had  previously 
obtained  in  Babylon  and  Assyria. 

The  more  important  part  of  our  task  is,  however,  to  exhibit  this 
religion  after  its  reformation.  Our  first  attempt  will  be  directed 
to  the  attainment  of  some  definite  idea  of  its  theology. 

At  first,  as  1  have  already  intimated,  Zoroaster  assumed  the 
existence  of  a  primary  principle  or  deity  named  Zefivan,  or  "  Time." 
From  tiiis  incomprehensible  being,  we  are  told,  there  arose  the  two 
great  active  powers  of  the  imiverse — Ormdzb,  the  principle  of  aH 
good ;  and  Ahbiman.  the  principle  of  all  evil.  '*  And,"  observes 
Bfr.  Fraser,  in  his  judicious  outline  of  this  faith,  "the  question  why 
light  and  darkness,  good  and  evil,  were  mingled  together  by  a  benefi- 
cent and  omnipotent  Creator,  has  been  as  much  controverted  among 
Ike  Magian  priesthood  as  by  modem  metaphysicians." — Histcry  of 
Persia,  p.  150.  These  three  appear  to  have  formed  the  primitive 
Peinaa  triad,  and  to  have  been  represented  by  the  circular  ring, 
denoting  the  boundless  Eternal  as  Cronos  or  Time ;  Ormnzd,  in  a 
lunnaD  form,  in  the  centre ;  Ahriman  being  set  forth  by  a  serpent 
which,  eneompassing  the  figure  in  its  folds,  passes  his  head  out  on 
one  side  and  his  tail  on  the  other. 

Ab  it  is  utterly  impossible,  at  the  present  day,  to  separate  the 
netaal  tenets  of  the  Persian  reformer  from  the  elements  of  the 
HMsient  faith  previously  received,  no  positive  assertion  can  be  ad- 
vanced on  this  point,--aIthough  1  have  little  doubt  that  some  close 
approximation  to  this  triad  was  common,  long  before  Zoroaster.  If 
we  may  rely  on  the  induction  of  Mosheim,  it  would  seem  that  in 
die  early  and  isolated  position  of  ancient  Persia,  Oromasdes,  Ari^ 
manius,  and  Mithras  formed  the  national  triad  of  hero-gods.  Sub- 
sequently, an  intercourse  with  other  countries  having  made  more 
prominent  the  great  eternal  God,  and  the  author  of  all  evil,  these 
were  introduced,  one  as  the  first,  and  the  other  as  the  third,  of  the 
triad,  which  accordingly  was  exhilHted  as  the  combination  of  a  circle, 
a  human  figure,  and  a  lierpent,  under  tiie  names  of  Zerwan,  Ormuzd, 
and  Ahriman.  Whether  the  last-menticmed  triad  was  the  produc- 
tion of  Zoroaster,  or  otherwise,  it  was  not  the  last  efibrt  of  his 
reforming  genius  in  respect  of  theology.    For  we  are  informed,  that 


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294  THE  OIBNTUJI  NATIONS. 

when  the  malignity  of  Ahriman  led  him  to  put  forth  all  hia  powen 
to  frustrate  the  benevolent  deaigna  of  Ormuzd  toward  mankind, 
Mithras  was  brought  into  being,  as  a  mediator  between  the  Deitj 
and  his  creatures. 

It  is  not  perfectly  clear  to  what  extent  this  new  creation  affected 
the  divine  kiad,  but  it  seems  very  likely  that  the  first  cause  of  all 
things,  or  Zerwan,  was  in  this  respect  lost  sight  of)  and  Mithras 
placed  in  the  centre,  as  the  mediator  embodied  in  human  form. 
This  change  seems  to  be  indicated  in  the  Zoroastrian  Orade:  "  The 
Father  perfected  all  things,  and  delivered  them  over  to  the  Second 
Mind,  whom  all  nations  of  men  call  the  First :" — a  remarkable  con- 
fession of  the  fact  that,  by  the  multiplication  of  deities,  the  great 
eternal  God,  although  once  recognised  as  the  first  cause  of  all  things, 
was  ultimately  lost  sight  of,  and  superseded  by  othw  deities.  Ac- 
cording to  Psellus,  a  Greek  commentator  on  this  oracle,  it  would 
seem  that  this  was  supposed  to  arise  from  the  ignorance  of  people 
generally  respecting  the  plurality  of  hypostases  in  the  Deity.  For 
his  gloss  upon  the  oracle  just  quoted  is  to  this  effect:  "The  first 
Father  af  the  Trinity,  having  produced  this  whole  creation,  deliv- 
ered it  to  Mind,  or  Intellect :  which  Mind  the  whole  generation  of 
mankind,  being  ignorant  of  the  paternal  transcendency,  commonly 
caU  •  the  First  God.'  " 

Ormuzd,  Mithras,  and  Ahriman  became,  therefore,  the  recognised 
divine  triad  of  the  Magi,  the  First  Great  Cause  having  dropped  out 
of  their  code.  This  supposition  is  fully  confirmed  by  Plutarch,  the 
earliest  and  ablest  writer  who  has  given  us  any  account  of  this 
religious  system.  He  observes :  "  They  say  that  Zoroaster  made  a 
threefold  distribution  of  things ;  and  that  he  assigned  the  first  and 
highest  rank  of  them  to  Oromasdes,  who  in.  the  oracles  is  called 
'  the  Father ;'  the  lowest  to  Arimanes ;  and  the  middle  to  Mithraa, 
who  in  the  same  oracles  is  likewise  called  '  the  Second  Mind.' " 
— De  hide  et  Osiride,  p.  370. 

Thus  did  the  genius  of  Zoroaster  modify  the  ancient  theology  of 
Persia,  and  introduce  corresponding  changes  into  the  national  sym* 
bols  of  this  triad  of  divinities.  It  now  becomes  necessary  that  we 
form  some  definite  conception  of  these  several  personalities. 

Ormuzd  is  spoken  of  as  the  supreme  god,  and  invoked  in  this 
diaracter  on  all  occasions.  The  term  Ormuzd  signifies  "great 
king ;''  and  he  is  called  ''  luminous,  brilliant."  His  attributes  are 
perfect  purity,  intelligence,  justice,  power,  activity,  and  beneficence. 
He  is,  indeed,  regarded  as  a  perfect  image  of.  the  Sternal,  "the 
oentre  and  author  of  the  perfections  of  all  nature,  the  first  creative 
agent  produced  by  the  Self-ezistent." 


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THX  aBl^;^JB  nations.  ^5 

!Now  it  has  been  coniended  that  the  Persians  believed  in  and 
worshipped  only  the  one  trae  God.  The  authors  of  the  "  Universal 
History''  roundly  assert  this;  and  Dr.  Prideaux  joins  with  them,  as 
a  disciple  of  Hyde,  to  this  extent  also ;  but  with  this  difference,-^ 
that  while  the  former  omit  all  mention  of  Ormuzd,  the  learned 
author  of  the  "Connexion"  alludes  to  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman  as 
"  two  angels."  Happily  we  can  now  correct  the  speculations  of 
these  eminent  scholars  by  the  words  used  by  the  Persians  them- 
selves. We  have  the  language  dictated  by  Darius,  Xerxes,  and 
Axtaxerxes,  in  our  hands.  We  know  their  thoughts  and  sentiments 
from  their  words,  and  of  course  have  the  means  of  ascertaining  the 
objects  of  their  worship.  What,  then,  is  the  fact  ?  Did  the  kings 
and  people  of  ancient  Persia  worship  the  eternal  Qod,  whom  they 
are  supposed  to  have  known,  and  treat  Ormuzd  as  a  created  angel  ? 
On  the  contrary,  Darius  Hystaspis,  the  contemporary  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah,  in  his  inscription  on  the  sacred  rock  at  Behistun,  invokes 
Ormuzd  as  the  supreme  god.  **  Says  Darius  the  king : — Ormuzd 
hsi&  granted  me  the  empire.  Ormuzd  has  brought  help  to  ine,  until 
I  have  gained  this  empire.  By  the  grace  of  Ormuzd,  I  hold  this 
empire." — Column  I,  par,  9.  And  on  the  tomb  of  Darius  at 
Makhsh-i-Rustam  is  inscribed :  "  The  great  god  Ormuzd,  (he  it 
was)  who  gave  this  earth,  who  gave  that  heaven,  who  g^ve  mankind, 
who  g^ve  life  to  mankind,  who  made  Darius  king,  as  well  the  king 
of  the  people  as  the  lawgiver  of  the  people."  This  is  decisive  as 
to  Ormuzd  being  regarded  not  merely  as  an  angel,  but  as  a  real 
divinity. 

The  following  sentence,  taken  from  an  inscription  of  Xerxes,  not 
only  confirms  this  opinion,  but  proves  that  while  Ormuzd  was 
regarded  as  a  god,  he  was  not  worshipped  as  the  only  deity  revered 
by  the  ancient  Persians:  "  The  great  god  Ormuzd,  the  chief  of  the 
gods,  (he  it  is)  who  has  given  this  world,  who  has  given  that  heaven, 
who  has  given  mankind,  who  has  given  life  to  mankind,  who  has 
made  Xerxes  king."  Ormuzd  was,  therefore,  regarded  as  a  god,  and 
as  the  chief  of  the  gods.  The  pure  theism  of  the  Persians,  then,, 
under  the  Achaemenian  dynasty,  vanishes  before  the  knowledge 
supplied  by  the  ancient  inscriptions. 

Mithras,  according  to  this  system,  was  created  or  produced  by 
Ormuzd,  to  act  aa  mediator  between  him  and  his  creatures,  and  thus 
to  counteract  the  malevolent  designs  of  Ahiimaa.  The  mediatorial 
character  of  this  deity  was  so  strongly  marked,  and  so  universally 
recognised,  that  Plutarch  aflBrms  that  "  the  Persians,  from  their  god 
Mithras,  called  any  mediator,  or  middle  betwixt  two,  Mithras.** 

It  has  been  conjectured  that  this  introduction  of  Mithras  into  the 


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396  THB  GBHTILl^  NATIOITS. 

Persian  theology  was  ike  great  reforming  work  of  Zoroaster  in  tiiis 
direction;  and  that  the  old  triad — whether  composed  of  Time, 
Ormuad,  and  Ahriman,  as  the  great  God,  with  two  others  proceed* 
ing  from  him ;  the  first,  the  author  of  all  good ;  the  second,  of  all 
evil ;  or  of  Oromasdes,  Arimanins,  and  Mithras,  as  national  herb- 
deities^-was  by  this  reforming  Magian  made  to  accord  with  the  new 
views  which  he  promulgated  respecting  the  promised  Redeemer  and 
the  great  spiritual  adrersary  of  mankind,  and  exhibited  as  Ormuzd, 
Mifchras,  and  Ahriman.  Hence  Porphyry  refers  to  this  Mithras  as 
the  great  object  of  Zoroaster's  labour,  and  at  the  same  time  as  the 
creator  of  the  world :  "  Zoroaster  first  of  all,  as  Eubulus  testifieth, 
in  the  mountains  adjoining  to  Persia,  consecrated  a  native  orbicular 
cave,  adorned  with  flowers,  and  watered  with  fountains,  to  the  honour 
of  Mithras,  the  maker  and  father  of  all  things ;  this  cave  being  an 
image  or  symbol  to  him  of  the~  whole  world,  which  was  made  by 
Mithras." — Porphyrias,  De  Antro  Nymph,,  p.  254. 

We  can  scarcely  doubt  from  this  description  that  the  cave  of 
Zoroaster  was  so  devised  as  to  represent  not  only  the  creation  of 
the  world,  but  also  the  garden,  the  primitive  residence  of  man.  But, 
however  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  this  last-described  form  of 
the  theologic  triad  in  Persia  assumed  precisely  the  same  position  as 
that  of  Assyria  occupied  in  the  national  estimation.  Indeed,  the 
professed  identity  of  person  between  the  king  and  the  second  person 
of  this  triad  is  rather  more  strongly  marked  than  was  the  case  in 
the  older  country.  For  not  only  did  the  Persian  monarchs  make  a 
more  open  and  absolute  claim  to  divinity  than  the  Assyrian  kings : 
they  also  made  their  identity  with  the  second  person,  or  human 
form,  in  the  sacred  triad,  more  fully  apparent.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  in  Assyria  the  human  figure  in  the  triad  was  always  rep- 
resented in  precisely  the  same  attitude  as  the  king.  On  the  monu- 
ments of  Persia  this  resemblance  is  carried  much  further.  The 
human  figure  which  arises  from  the  winged  circle  it  here  "  the  very 
miniature  of  the  monarch  below ;"  (Landseer's  Sabaean  Researches, 
p.  268 ;)  so  that,  in  the  language  of  sculpture,  this  &ct  seems  to 
say,  **  He  who  now  walks  the  earth  and  reigns  below,  is  identical 
with  the  second  divine  personality  which  shines  in  the  sacred  triad 
above." 

Ahriman,  the  third  personality  in  this  triad,  and  the  personifica- 
tion of  the  evil  one,  must  be  next  noticed.  He  is  described  as 
essentially  wicked :  but  it  seems  doubtful  whether  he  was  originally 
00.  In  one  place  he  is  represented  "  as  a  power  originally  good, 
but  who,  like  Lucifer,  fell  from  that  high  estate  through  rebellion 
and  disobedience.    Ormuzd  gives  the  following  metaphorical  picture 


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THB  aSNTILB  NATIONS.  297 

of  his  rival  :^-He  is  alone, — wicked,  impure,  accursed.  He  has 
long  knees,  a  long  tongue,  and  is  void  of  good.  He  is  called  a 
king,  however,  and  said  to  be  without  end," — Fraser's  History  of 
Persia,  p.  162. 

"  M.  du  Perron  concludes,  that  Zoroaster  meant  to  iasigri  priority 
of  existence  to  Ahriman ;  and  that,  full  of  his  own  perfections,  and 
blinded  as  to  the  extent  of  his  power,  when  he  beheld  in  Ormuzd  a 
being  of  equal  might,  jealousy  rendered  him  furious,  and  he  rushed 
into  evil,  seeking  the  destruction  of  everything  calculated  to  exalt 
his  rival's  glory.  The  Great  Ruler  of  events,  displeased  at  his  arro- 
gance, condemned  him  tofDhabit  that  portion  of  space  unillumined 
by  light.  Ormuzd,  as  he  sprang  into  existence,  saw  his  malicious 
adversary,  and  made  vain  cMSbrts  to  annihilate  him.  The  Eternal 
bestowed  on#him  ttie  power  of  calling  into  being  a  pure  world; 
while,  as  if  the  impulses  of  good  and  evil  were  simultaneous,  Ahri- 
man immediately  opposed  to  it  a  world  of  impurity." — Fraser's 
History  of  Persia,  p.  151. 

It  is,  however,  important  to  observe  that  this  malignant  being  was 
worshipped  in  the  best  days  of  Persia  as  truly  divine.  Hesychius, 
following  the  usual  practice  of  the  Greeks  in  giving  their  own 
names  to  foreign  deities  of  a  similar  character,  says,  "Arimanius 
among  the  Persians  is  Hades,"  or  Pluto.  And  Plutarch  observes 
tiiat,  on  the  arrival  of  Themistocles  at  the  Persian  court,  Xerxes 
"prayed  to  Arimanius,  that  his  enemies  might  ever  be  so  infatuated 
as  to  drive  from  among  them  their  ablest  men ;  that  he  offered  sacri- 
fices to  the  gods," — and  undoubtedly  to  the  god  to  whom  he  had 
prayed,  as  the  most  prominent  of  them. 

Besides  this  triad  of  deities,  the  Persians  are  said  to  have  adored 
the  sun  and  fire,  as  real  gods ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  con- 
tended that  neither  of  these  was  regarded  as  truly  divine,  but  both 
as  the  tabernacles  of  the  Deity,  or  as  the  fairest  and  best  exhibitions 
of  his  character.  However  this  may  have  been,  the  ever-burning 
fire  was  kept  flaming  on  the  Persian  altars.  There  were  certain 
places  consecrated  to  this  purpose,  which  were  called  by  the  Greek 
writers  Pyrcetheia.  Each  of  these  contained  an  altar  enclosed  with 
gratings,  within  which  none  but  the  Magi,  who  had  the  charge  of 
fiiese  fires,  were  permitted  to  enter.  Thither  these  went  every  day, 
with  a  bundle  of  rods  in  their  hands,  when  they  remained  an  hour 
in  adoration,  and  in  supplying  the  everlasting  fire.  This  element 
of  the  Persian  religion  is  one  of  great  importance,  and  deserves  atten- 
tive consideration.  Its  origin  is  described  by  Firdusi  in  a  strain  of 
romantic  poetry :  but  little  real  light  has  been  cast  by  ancient  writers, 
or  oriental  authors  generally,  on  this  recondite  subject. 


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898  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

It  has  for  a  long  time  been  fashionable  to  describe  the  adoration 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  as  the  primitive  worship  of  mankind,  on 
account  of  their  glorious  appearance ;  and  the  worship  of  fire,  as  the 
next  step  in  the  progress  of  idolatry,  fire  being  the  most  natural  and 
active  representative  of  the  solar  orb.  But  all  this  is  unsupported 
by  the  slightest  historical  evidence.  The  account  given  by  Maimo- 
nides,  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  235,)  and  by  Sanchoniatho,  (Cory's 
Fragments,  p.  7,)  referring  as  they  do  to  antediluvian  times,  cannot 
be  said  to  bear  on  this  subject.  Looking,  then,  to  the  fire-worship 
of  Persia,  it  appears  that  nothing  like  ancient  evidence  of  the  man- 
ner or  period  of  the  introduction  of  this  idolatry  is  attainable.  We 
are  therefore  left  to  a  reasonable  induction  from  admitted  facts. 

It  has  been  already  intimated,  that  the  general  opinion  of  authors 
on  this  subject  has  been  given  in  favour  of  the  origin  o(  this  practice 
in  the  way  of  scientific  or  philosophical  reasoning:  as  if  in  primi- 
tive times  mankind  were  found  without  any  idea  of  God,  and  were 
thus  led  to  the  most  likely  natural  objects  for  exhibiting  to  their 
minds  the  divine  character  and  attributes.  I  am  compelled  fully  and 
frankly  to  declare  that  I  altogether  dissent  from  this  opinion.  I  do 
not  believe  that  mankind  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world  were  ever 
found  in  this  state,  or  ever  formed  their  theological  notions  on  such 
grounds.  On  the  contrary,  the  whole  scope  of  our  researches  into 
the  history  and  religion  of  the  eastern  nations  establishes  the  judg- 
ment, that  the  details  of  the  ancient  idolatry,  beyond  the  grand 
system  of  apostasy  devised  at  Shinar,  did  not  arise  from  philosophi- 
cal reasoning,  but  from  a  corruption  of  primitive  tradition. 

l^or  does  there  appear  to  be  any  reasonable  doubt  that  the  wor- 
ship of  fire  was  introduced  in  this  manner.  It  is  a  known  fact,  that 
the  first  manifestation  of  God  to  the  fallen  pair  was  connected  with 
an  infolding  fire ;  and  that  this  was  continued  in  some  manner 
throughout  patriarchal  times.  It  seems  to.  follow  as  a  natural 
result,  that  when  the  minds  of  men  were  perverted  to  idolatrous 
practices,  fire,  which  had  from  the  beginning  stood  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  manifestations  of  God  and  his  worship,  should 
itself  be  held  sacred,  and  become  an  object  of  adoration.  (See  Ap- 
pendix, note  63.) 

This  exposition  accounts  for  the  conflicting  opinions  which  have 
been  expressed  respecting  the  nature  of  the  reverence  entertained 
for  the  sacred  fire ;  some  asserting,  with  the  authors  of  the  "  Universal 
History,"  that  the  "  fire  before  which  the  Persians  worship, — taking 
that  word  in  an  extended  sense, — they  acknowledge  nothing  of 
divinity  therein;  but,  esteeming  it  a  symbol  of  the  Deity,  they 
prostrate  themselves  before  it,  and  then,  standing  up,  they  pray  to 


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i 


THS  aENTILS  NATIONS.  299 

God;"  (AnQient  Univttrsal  History,  vol.  iv,  p.  86;)  while  others 
allege  that  "fire  held  a  distinguished  rank  among  the  Persian  gods. 
The  fire  was,  therefore,  in  that  country,  the  holiest  of  all  things.  It 
was  always  carried  about  with  their  kings,  wherever  they  went; 
they  addressed  their  prayers  chiefly  to  it;  and  even  when  they 
attended  the  service  of  any  other  god,  they  first  ofiered  up  a  prajer 
to  the  fire." — Christmas^s  Universal  Mythology,  p.  136.  Both 
these  opimons  may  be  perfectly  correct,  if  taken  to  apply  to  different 
times  and  circumstances. 

Among  the  primitive  patriarchs  there  might  have  been  a  reveren- 
tial remembrance  of  the  infolding  Jire  cherished  for  a  long  time; 
and  the  Persian  faith,  as  reformed  by  Zoroaster,  might  in  this 
particular,  as  it  was  unquestionably  in  many  others,  have  been  made 
to  approach  so  nearly  to  that  of  the  Hebrews,  as  to  have  a  perpetual 
fire  maintained  on  the  altar,  which  was  to  be  always  used  for  sacred 
purposes,  but  not  as  in  any  measure  in  itself  divine :  while  it  is  equally 
possible,  and  even  probable,  that,  under  the  operation  of  this  insti- 
tution, the  sacred  fire  might  in  process  of  time  become  an  object  of 
profane  adoration. 

Having  said  thus  much  on  the  theology  of  this  system,  it  will  be 
necessaiy  to  proceed  to  detail  other  elements  of  this  religion. 

It  may,  then,  be  observed,  in  the  next  place,  that  this  system,  as 
reformed  by  Zoroaster,  professed  to  be  sanctioned  by  divine  revela> 
tion.  The  stated  object  of  this  sage  was  "to  revive  the  original 
purity  of  the  law,  to  perfect  its  doctrines,  and  to  enforce  its  observ* 
ances :" — a  scheme  as  grand  in  its  design,  and  as  clearly  defined  in 
its  means,  as  was  ever  propounded  by  mortal  man.  To  crown  the 
whole,  the  Persian  reformer  declared  that  he  had  not  only  diligently 
collected  and  arranged  the  fundamental  parts  of  the  pure  primitive 
creed,  separating  these  firom  all  the  errors  which  had  been  introduced, 
but  that  he  had  also  received  from  Ormuzd  new  revelations,  which 
greatly  added  to  the  sacred  code,  and  improved  the  institutions  of 
religious  worship:  so  that  the  religion  of  Zoroaster  professed  to 
rest  on  the  basis  of  the  clear  and  explicit  teaching  of  divine  revela- 
tion. 

.  As  we  have  already  intimated,  this  system  distinctly  taught,  as  a 
first  principle,  '*that  God  existed  from  all  eternity,  and  was  like 
infinity  of  time  and  space ;"  but  that,  besides  this  supreme  Deity, 
there  were  two  great  principles  essentially  opposed  to  each  other, 
as  light  and  darkness,  good  and  evil,  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman.  Of 
these  we  have  already  spoken :  but  it  is  important  to  add  that  the 
agent  employed  by  the  Almighty  in  the  production  of  these  opposite 
principles  is  his  Word,— a  sacred  aild  mysterious  being  frequently 


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800  THE  OBKXILE  NATIONS. 

mentioned  in  the  Avesta,  tinder  the  appellations  of  Honover  and 
lam.  This  being  is  said  to  possess  *'  inefiable  light,  perfect  activity, 
and  unerring  prescience ;"  and  is  the  agent  by  whom  every  creative 
act  of  the  Eternal  is  performed. 

The  first  act  of  antagonism  between  the  principles  of  light  and 
darkness  which  this  system  reveals,  was  the  creation  by  Ormuzd  of 
the  nniverse  and  its  celestial  inhabitants.  These  were  the  Ferohers, 
or  the  spiritual  prototypes,— the  **  unembodied  angels," — of  eveiy 
reasonable  being  destined  to  live  upon  earth. 

Ahriman,  alarmed  and  enraged  at  these  productions  of  his  rival, 
iSew  with  malign  intent  toward  the  light ;  but  a  single  intimation 
from  the  Word,  or  Iam,  sent  him  howling  back  into  darkness, 
where  he  immediately  called  into  being  a  host  of  deeves  and  evil 
spirits,  which  were  designed  to  oppose  the  works  of  Ormuzd. 

According  to  this  scheme  of  faith,  at  that  period  a  proposal  was 
made  to  Ahriman  of  peace  and  amity,  accompanied  by  an  exhorta- 
tion to  return  to  the  paths  of  virtue.  This,  however,  he  rejected 
with  scorn  and  defiance.  Ormuzd  then  created  six  superior  guardian 
angels :  Bahnlan,  to  whose  charge  was  intrusted  the  animal  creation ; 
Ardibehesht,  the  genius  of  fire  and  light,  the  guardian  of  all  fires; 
Shahriwar,  the  spirit  of  the  metal  and  the  mine;  Espendermad,  the 
female  guardian  of  the  earth;  Kourdad,  who  presides  over  running 
streams ;  and  Amerdad,  who  watches  over  the  growth  of  plants  and 
trees.  (Dabistdn,  vol.  i,  pp.  241-243.)  Immediately  when  these 
six  angels  arose  into  being  to  further  the  holy  designs  of  Ormuzd, 
six  deeves  were  produced  from  the  darkness  by  the  voice  of  Ahriman, 
to  promote  his  malignant  purposes.  In  those  contests  a  fabulous 
period  of  time  is  said  to  have  elapsed,  at  the  end  of  which  "  Ormuzd 
called  into  being  the  heavens  and  their  celestial  systems,  the  earth 
with  its  complicated  productions ;  and  fire  was  given  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  that  divine  and  original  element  which  animates  all 
nature.  Serooch,  the  guardian  of  the  earth,  and  Behram,  armed 
with  a  mighty  club  and  arrows,  were  formed  to  repel  the  attacks  of 
Ahriman.  Mythra,  the  mediator  between  Ormuzd  and  his  creatures, 
and  Rash  Rast,  the  genius  of  justice,  with  multitudes  of  spirits, 
were  called  forth  to  assist  in  repelling  the  powers  of  darkness :  and 
angels  were  appointed  to  protect  every  being.  The  stars  and  planets, 
the  months  of  the  year,  the  days  and  even  watches  of  the  day,  had 
each  their  attendant  spirit :  all  nature  teems  with  them ;  all  space 
is  pervaded  by  them."— Fraser**  History  of  Persia,  p.  156. 

Through  the  agency  of  these  spiritual  beings  a  long  period  of 
peace  and  tranquillity  is  supposed  to  have  been  maintained,  until 
the  purpose  of  Ormuzd  to  create  man  awakened  afresh  the  malignant 


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THB  dSNTlLX  NATIONS,  80} 

activity  of  Ahriman.  The  Feroher  being  delighted  with  the  traii- 
qnillity  which  prevailed  on  earth,  Ormozd  sent  It  thither,  that  it 
might  assist  in  eradicating  evil,  promisbg  that  the  souls  of  huioan 
beings  should  finally  return  to  their  diviite  mansions.  The  Feroher 
consequently  descended,  and  was  embodied  in  the  form  of  the  sacred 
bull,  Aboudad,  the  man-bull,  the  excellent,  the  pure,  the  principle 
9f  all  good. 

Ahriman,  in  the  depths  of  hell,  trembled  at  these  proceedings,  and, 
mustering  all  his  evil  spirits,  ascended  to  the  earth  in  the  form  of  a 
monstrous  serpent,  when  he  covered  the  surface  of  the  world  with 
noxious  animals ;  and,  in  the  shape  of  a  huge  fly,  he  polluted  every- 
thing by  insinuating  the  poison  of  evil  into  all  nature.  By  means 
of  a  burning  drought  he  parched  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  and 
caused  his  deeves  to  inflict  a  &tal  woupd  on  the  sacred  bull.  *  But 
Ormuzd  had  taken  care  that  his  benign  purposes  should  not  be  so 
defeated.  ''  From  the  right  limb  of  the  dying  beast  issued  Kayommra^ 
the  first  man;  and  firom  the  rest  of  its  members  sprung  a  multitude 
of  those  vegetable  productions  destined  to  render  the  earth  fruitful. 
Its  seed,  carried  to  the  moon,  and  purified  by  Ormusd,  produced  a 
bull  and  a  cow,  from  whence  all  animals  took  their  origin." 

Eayomurz  was  beautiful,  pure,  and  intended  to  be  immortal 
But  neither  his  virtue  nor  the  power  of  Ormuzd  could  save  him 
fipom  the  malignant  energy  of  Ahriman,  who,  after  a  severe  conflict, 
succeeded  in  destyoying  him.  Still  Ormuzd  was  steady  to  his  pur- 
poee.  The  principle  of  regeneration,  being  preserved,  and  confided 
to  the  tutelar  genius  of  fire,  was  purified  by  the  light  of  the  sun,  and 
after  forty  years  |Mroduced  a  plant,  or  tree,  representing  two  human 
bodies :  these  were  Maschia  and  Maschiana^  the  parents  of  the  human 
rMe. 

In  the  whole  of  this  narrative  of  creation  we  find  a  very  interest- 
ing analogy  to  the  history  of  Moses :  and  it  is  not  improbable  that 
tone  of  the  apparent  extravagance  and  fable  with  whidi  we  now  find 
it  invested,  were  originally  patriarchal  traditions,  not  altogether 
devoid  of  truth  and  meaning.  .At  all  events,  we  have  here  an 
account  of  the  existence  and  pursuits  of  holy  and  evil  angels :  a 
ftnciful  account^  it  is  true,  but  yet  one  which  strongly  asserts  the. 
fiwt,  and  proves  it  to  have  been  an  undoubted  element  of  popular 
beli^  Here  also  is  a  statement  of  the  elevated  condition  in  which 
human  nature  was  first  formed, — man's  name  signifying  immortality, 
and  his  condition  being  conformed  to  the  mind  of  Ormuzd.  Equally 
significant  is  the  account  of  the  fatal  wound  inflicted  by  the  evil 
o»e.  Nor  should  we  regard  as  mere  fable  the  reproduction  of 
human  nature  in  a  vegetable  form;  especially  as  we  are  told«  in 


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802  TBB  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

explanation,  that  the  names  given  to  the  pair  of  mortalB,  according 
to  M.  Du  Perron,  signify  "death,"  and  that  they  were  regarded  as 
the  children  of  earth  just  in  like  manner  as  a  tree  wfaidi  is  nourished 
by  the  soil  in  whidh  it  grows,  and  the  heavens  by  which  it  is  be- 
dewed. 

But  the  effects  of  the  ¥b1\,  and  the  progress  of  depravity,  are 
carried  by  the  Avesta  stiil  further.  For  although  Maschia  and 
Maschiana  were  supposed,  notwithstanding  their  humble  condition, 
to  have  been  created  pure,  we  are  toM  that  they  were  tempted  to 
rebel,  and  even  to  worship  Ahriman.  In  consequence  of  this  crown- 
ing iniquity,  they  were  cut  off,  and  consigned  to  hell,  there  to  remain 
until  the  resurrection,  while  the  earth  was  overrun  with  incarnate 
evil  spirits.  These  were  destroyed  by  a  general  flood.  Still  the 
descendants  of  tlye  first  human  pair  increased  in  number ;  and  the 
activity  and  power  of  the  evil  principle  also  increased;  until  at 
length,  to  defeat  the  malice  of  the  evil  one,  and  to  shield  human 
beings  from  the  effects  of  his  power,  Ormuzd  decreed  to  give  a  new 
and  authorized  promulgation  of  his  law  through  Zoroaster. 

It  is  observable  here,  that  the  genius  of  this  entire  system  is  the 
antagonism  of  two  opposite  and  equally  potent  principles, — ^good 
and  evil.  The  intimate  union  of  these  in  everything  render^  it 
impossible,  according  to  this  theory,  to  destroy  the  works  of  Ahri- 
man, who  was  himself  indestructible.  Consequently  the  entire 
ground- work  and  argument  of  this  fidth  were  the  incessant  coUisions 
and  alternate  preponderance  of  these  rival  influences  on  human  and 
rational  agents. 

The  nature  of  man,  by  this  scheme,  is  exhibited  in  a  peculiar 
aspect.  Kayomurz  is  described  in  glowing  terms,  as  of  lofty  aspect^ 
pure  and  ds^zling  substance.  His  body  was  composed  of  the  four 
elements, — ^fire,  air,  water,  and  earth;  and  was  united  to  an  immor- 
tal spirit,  by  which  it  was  animated. 

But  the  soul  of  man,  instead  of  being  considered  as  a  simple 
essence  and  individual  spirit,  was  regarded  by  Zoroaster  as  com- 
pounded of  five  separate  parts,  each  having  its  distinct  and  peculiar 
office. 

First,  the  Feroher,  or  principle  of  sensation.  This  was  regarded 
as  having  existed  previously.  In  fact,  it  seems  that  this  system 
taught  that  Ferohers  were  created  by  Ormuzd  for  every  individual 
destined  to  appear  upon  earth ;  «id  that  they  remained,  until  the 
birth  of  the  body,  in  their  spiritual  abode. 

Secondly,  the  Boe,  or  principle  of  intelligence. 

Thirdly,  the  Rouh,  oft  Rouan,  Hie  principle  of  practical  judgment^ 
imagination,  volition. 


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THB  OBNTILIS  NATIONS.  808 

FotnrtUy,  the  AkhOy  or  pritioiple  of  coDB«uenee. 

Fifthly,  the  Ja;?^  or  principle  of  animal  life. 

The  four  principles  named  first  in  order  cannot  sabsiBt  in  the 
body  without  the  last.  When,  therefore,  they  leave  their  earthly 
abode,  the  Jan  mingles  with  the  winds,  and  is  thus  separated  from 
the  other  principles  and  dispersed.  At  death  the  Akho,  also,  is 
sep^rat^d  from  the  other  elements  of  the  soul :  for,  as  its  office  led 
it  always  to  urge  the  mind  to  do  good,  and  to  avoid  evil,  it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  partakipg  in  the  guilt  of  the  soul,  or  as  punishable  for 
its  crimes :  so  that,  when  the  body  ceases  to  exist,  the  Akho  returns 
to  heaven,  where  it  continues  in  a  state  of  separate  existence  similar 
to  thfl^  of  the  Feroher  before  the  birth  of  the  individual. 

According  to  this  system,  the  Boe,  the  Rouan,  and  the  Feraher, 
united  together,  form  the  responsible  soul,  and,  as  such,  are  held 
accountable  for  the  deeds  of  the  man,  and  will  accordingly  be 
examined  in  respect  of  them  at  the  last  judgment.  But,  according 
to  the  tenets  of  Zoroaster,  nothing  is  annihilated  at  death ;  the 
materials  pf  the  body  rejoin  their  respective  elements; — earth  to 
earth,  water  to  water,  fire  to  fire,  and  the  life  to  air.  It  is  believed 
that,  for  three  days  after  death,  the  soul  hovers  around  the  body, 
hoping  to  be  again  united  to  it.  On  the  fourth  the  angel  Seroch 
comes  and  conducts  it  to  the  bridge  of  Chinevad,  where  it  is  ap- 
pointed to  its  destiny  until  the  resurrection.  On  this  bridge,  which 
connects  earth  with  heaven,  sits  th.e  angel  of  justice,  Rash  Rast,  to 
weigh  the  actions  of  mortals ;  and  according  to  his  decision  the  soul 
is  permitted  to  pass  along  the  bridge  into  heaven,  or  is  cast  over, 
and  falls  into  the  gulf  of  hell,  which  yawns  beneath. 

If  the  good  deeds  of  the  individual  preponderate,  the  soul  is  met 
on  the  bridge  by  a  dazzling  figure,  which  thus  addresses  it :  "I  am 
thy  good  angel  (Kherdar):  I  was  pure  originally,  but  thy  good 
dcM^ds  have  rendered  me  purer ;"  and,  passing  his  hand  over  ihe 
neck  of  the  blessed  soul,  the  angel  leads  it  to  paradise.  If,  how- 
ever, the  sins  of  the  deceased  person  preponderate,  he  is  met  on  the 
bridge  by  a  hideous  spectre,  which  howls  out,  ''I  am  thy  evil 
Kherdar:  impure  myself,  thy  sins  have  rendered  me  more  foul; 
through  thee  we  shall  be  miserable  until  the  resurrection ;"  on  which 
it  drags  the  condemned  spirit  to  hell,  where  Ahriman,  as  a  perfect 
Satan,  taunts  it  with  its  folly  and  its  crimes.  In  this  system  the 
body  is  not  regarded  as  subject  to  future  retribution,  being  consid- 
ered as  a  mere  instrument  in  the  power  of  the  Rouan,  and  therefore 
not  responsible  for  its  acts. 

The  doctrine  of  a  future  judgment  is  prominent  among  the  tenets 
of  Zoroaster.    During  the  last  ages  of  the  world  the  power  of  Ahri- 


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904  THK«  6SNTII.B  KATIQH8. 

mwi  will  prevail,  fkod  in  oonflequea<$e  deftob^on  and  wiaerj  be 
extended  over  the  earth.  .  Then  the  three  prophetB  will  appear;  the 
last  of  whom,  SoBioch,  will  be  the  precursor  of  th^  general  judgment 
aiid  the  renewal  of  nature.  Strange  ae  it  may  seem,  the  judgment 
shall  be  preceded  by  a  general  resurrectiDn.  Although  the  human 
body  was  not  thought  sufficiently  identified  with  the  moral  conduct 
of  the  person  to  make  it  a  partaker  of  its  sorrow  or  joy  in  the  inter- 
mediate period  between  death  s^d  judgment,  yet  the  material  frame 
was  destined  to  be  restored  and  reunited  to  the  soul. 

Accordingly  the  Avesta  taught  that  the  genii  of  the  dements,  who 
had  received  the  various  component  parts  of  all  human  bodies  in 
charge,  will  on  this  great  day  of  account  be  called  upon  to  render 
up  their  trust.  "  The  soul  will  recognise  its  earthly  companion,  and 
reenter  it.  The  juice  of  the  herb  Horn,  and  the  milk  of  the  bull 
Heziosk,  will  restore  life  to  man,  who  then  becomes  immortal. 
Then  begins,  the  final  separatioa  of  the  good  from  the  evil.  Sinners 
who  have  not  in  the  intennediate  state  expiated  their  &uljbs»  are 
again  sent  to  hell,  but  not  for  eternal  punishment.  Tbe  tortures  of 
three  awful  days  and  nights,  equal  to  an  agony  of  three  thousand 
years,  suflBce  for  the  punishment  of  the  most  wicked.  The  voice  of 
the  damned,  ascending  to  beaven,  will  find  mercy  in  the  soul,  of 
Ormuzd,  who  will  withdraw  them  from  the  place  of  torment.  The 
world  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat;  and  the  liquid  and  Rowing 
metals  shall  purify  the  universe^  and  fit  all  beings  for  everlasting 
felicity.  To  the  just,  this  ordeal  proves  a  pleasant  bath  of  milk- 
warm  water :  the  wicked,  on  the  other  hand,  diall  suffer  ex(»*uciating 
agonies ;  but  it  shall  be  the  last  of  their  miseries.  Hell  itself  and 
sJI  its  demons  shall  be  cleansed.  Ahriman,  no  longer  irreclaimable, 
will  be  converted  to  goodness,  and  become  a  ministering'  spirit  of 
the  Most  High." — Fraser's  History  of  Persia,  p.  161. 

These  kindred  sentiments  as  to  the  final  salvation  of  lost  m^ 
and  devils,  ^e  most  unequivocally  taught  in  the  sacred  books  of  tiius 
religious  system.  We  read,  *'  But  above  all  he  (Zardasht)  has  siud, 
*  God  has  commanded  me :  Sa^  thou  to  mankind,  they  are  not  to 
abide  in  hell  forever;  when  their  sins  are  expiated,  they  are  deliv- 
ered out  of  it.'  ''—Dabistdn,  vol.  i,  p.  263.  The  ultimate  fiftte  of 
Ahriman  is  stated  in  the  Zend  Avesta  as  follows:  "That  unjust^ 
that  impure  bemg,  who  is  a  Div  but  in  his  thou^ts ;  that  dark  king 
of  the  Darwands,  who  understands  nothing  but  evil ;  he  shall  at  ih» 
resurrection  recite  the  Avesta,  and  not  only  himself  practise  the 
law  of  Ormuzd,  but  establish  it  even  in  the  habitations  of  the  Dar- 
wands. Moreover,  it  is  said  that  Ahriman,  that  lying  serpent,  shaill 
at  the  end  of  ages  be  purified  by  fire,  as  well  as  the  earth  be  freed 


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THE  QINTILE  NATIONS.  305 

from  the  dark  abode  of  hell.  Ormuzd  aad  Ahriman,  accompanied 
by  all  the  good  and  evil  genii,  shall  sing  the  praises  of  the  Author 
of  all  gpod^'—Dabistdn,  vol.  i,  p.  358. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  afford  some  information  respecting  the 
priesthood,  and  the  ceremonies,  rites,  and  worship  of  this  system. 
The  priesthood  were  the  Magi,  originaUy  a  tribe  of  the  Median 
nation,  (see  p.  290,)  but  who,  by  means  now  inscrutable,  bad  secured 
to  themselves  the  influential  and  honourable  position  of  religious 
teachers  and  priests,  not  only  among  their  own  people,  but  also 
throughout  Persia.  This  ofiSce,  even  after  it  became  so  widely  ex- 
tended, did  not  merge  into  the  general  mass  of  the  community,  but 
continued  to  be  hereditary  in  the  same  tribe. 

Of  this  priesthood  there  were  three  gradations,  or  orders, — Her- 
boods,  or  ordinary  priests ;  Mobeds,  or  superior  priests ;  and  the 
Dostoor,  or  superintending  priest! 

The  Herboods  were  the  lowest  class  of  the  Magi ;  and,  as  far  as 
we  can  now  form  any  conception  of  their  duties,  it  would  seem  that 
fheir  office  bore  some  analogy  to  that  of  the  Hebrew  Levites,  except- 
ing that  the  Herboods  were  competent  to  sacrifice.  Unlike  other 
ancient  nations,  the  Persians  did  not  allow  a  layman  to  sacrifice. 
The  presence  of  one  of  the  Magi  was  essential  to  the  performance 
of  this  rite. 

Above  this  lower  grade  of  Magi  were  the  Mobeds ;  which  term 
seems  to  have  comprehended  the  ideas  of  *'  prefect,  judge,  superior." 
They  held  a  superior  rank  to  the  Herboods,  and  were  subordinate  to 
the  Dustoor, — a  hind  of  intermediate  superintendents  of  the  afBsdrs 
of  reli^on  in  their  several  localities. 

There  was  never  but  one  Dustoor,  or  high-priest,  at  the  same  time. 
He  held  a  position  somewhat  similar  to  an  "archbishop,  or  rather  a 
metropolitan,  who  was  acknowledged  the  successor  of  Zoroaster,  and 
deemed  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church." — Ancient  Universal  His- 
tory, vol  iv.,  p.  93. 

Some  authors  have  expressed  considerable  gratification  at  the 
similarity  which  they  have  perceived  between  the  regulations  of  this 
priesthood,  and  that  which  obtains  in  Episcopal  Churches.  In  one 
particular,  however,  tiie  parallel  does  not  hold;  for  the  Magian 
priesthood  had  no  fixed  salaries,  being  paid  voluntarily  for  each 
service  as  it  occurred.  Some  writers  have  given  copious  rules  which 
were  established  for  the  regulation  and  direction  of  the  Magi ;  but  it 
seems  more  than  probable  tiiat  these  were  drawn  firom  the  practice 
of  the  modem  Parsees,  rather  than  from  the  institutes  of  Zoroaster. 
Yet,  at  the  same  time,  since  this  religion  has  been  continued  from 
Uie  CTa  of  Darius  Hystaspis  to  the  present  day,  as  the  settled  relig- 

20 


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306  THE  QBKTILB  NATIOKS. 

iou8  belief  and  practice  of  the  same  people,  even  the  images  of  the 
present  time  may  in  some  measure  illustrate  ancient  observances. 

Before  the  time  of  Zoroaster,  their  worship  was  conducted  in  the 
open  air;  but  he  directed  them  to  enclose  and  cover  their  altars,  so 
(hat  they  might  with  the  greater  certainty  maintain  the  perpetual 
fire,  which  was  before  so  often  extinguished  by  accident,  ttnxMigh 
the  weather  or  other  causes.  It  is  expressly  asserted,  that  these 
buildings  were  by  no  means  intended  as  the  residence  of  Deity, 
or  in  any  way  to  limit  his  omnipresence,  but  simply  as  places  for 
the  shelter  of  their  fire-altars. 

The  priesthood  appear  to  have  been  subject  to  very  minute  rules 
of  discipline,  and  to  have  been  compelled  to  an  exact  observance  of 
order  in  the  conduct  of  public  worship.  The  religious  services, 
according  to  this  system,  were  generally  conducted  in  the  pi/reay  or 
"  fire- temples."  In  each  of  these' stood  an  altar,  on  which  the  sacred 
fire  was  kept  perpetually  burning  by  the  officiating  Magi.  When 
the  people  assembled  for  public  worship,  the  priest  put  on  a  white 
yestment  and  mitre,  with  a  gauze  or  cloth  passing  before  his  mouth, 
that  he  might  not  breathe  on  the  holy  element.  Thus  he  read  cer- 
tain prayers  out  of  the  liturgy,  which  he  held  in  one  hand,  speaking 
very  softly,  and  in  a  whispering  sort  of  tone ;  holding  in  his  left 
hand  certain  small  twigs  of  a  sacred  tree,  which,  as  soon  as  the  ser- 
vice was  over,  he  threw  into  the  fire.  At  these  times,  .all  who  were 
present  put  up  their  prayers  to  God,  for  such  things  as  they  stood 
in  need  of;  and  when  prayers  were  finished,  the  priest  and  people 
silently  withdrew,  with  every  appearance  of  awful  respect. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  we  have  a  specimen,  to  say  the  least,  of 
this  Magian  ritual  in  the  Zend  Avesta.  For  this  celebrated  work 
does  not,  as  many  have  supposed,  contain  a  treatise  on  the  Magian 
faith,  or  even  a  synopsis  of  the  articles  of  their  belief;  hot  it  is 
rather  a  series  of  liturgical  services  for  various  occasions ;  and,  as  Ae 
Abbe  Foucher  well  remarks,  "  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  doc- 
trinal works  of  Zoroaster,  that  breviaries  and  missals  do  to  the  Bible." 

The  ancient  Persians  kept  six  religious  festivals  in  the  year,  in 
memory  of  the  six  periods  of  time  in  which  all  things  were  created. 
But  on  one  point  connected  with  these  there  is  oonsiderable  dif- 
ference of  opinion  among  authors,  some  saying  that  these  festivals 
were  each  followed  by  five  days  of  fasting,  in  memory  of  Qod's  resting 
five  days,  as  they  believe,  after  each  of  these  periods ;  while  others 
contend  that  they  had  no  fi&sts,  and  rejected  eyerything  of  the  nature 
of  penance.  ''God,  they  say,  delights  in  the  happiness  of  his 
creatures ;  and  they  hold  it  meritorious  to  enjoy  the  best  of  every- 
thing they  can.  obtain." 


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THE  QKNTILB  NATIONS.  807 

In  their  religious  rites  much  use  was  made  of  a  kind  of  holy  water 
named  zor,  which  was  regarded  as  powerful  in  repelling  evil  spirits; 
and  the  consecrated  juice  of  a  particular  shrub  called  the  horn,  pre- 
pared with  many  ceremonies,  was  regarded  as  possessing  wonderful 
efficacy,  and  is  often  spoken  of  in  the  sacred  books.  (See  the  Dabis- 
tan,  vol.  i,  p.  345.)  A  drop  of  this  juiee  was  given  to  infants,  to 
deanse  them  from  the  impurities  of  the  womb;  and  also  to  persons  i 

at  the  point  of  death.  < 

A  variety  of  other  customs  of  a  religious  character  were  observed. 
On  naming  a  child,  a  sacred  ceremony  was  p^ormed;  but  atill 
more  importance  was  attached  to  putting  on  the  sacred  cord  (kusti)^ 
and  the  equally  sacred  shirt  {sadra).  This  was,  indeed,  a  most 
solemn  act,  as  these  articles  were  supposed  to  form  an  armour 
against  Ahriman.  According  to  the  Dabistdn  the  sacred  cord  was 
a  woollen  cincture,  girded  round  the  waist,  in  which  they  made  four 
knots : — the  first,  to  signify  the  unity  of  God ;  the  second,  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  faith ;  the  third,  that  Zardasht  was  the  prophet  of  God ; 
the  fourth,  to  imply  "  that,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  I  will  ever 
do  what  is  good." — Dabistdn,  vol.  i,  p.  344.  As  often  as  they  ate 
flesh,  fish,  or  fowl,  they  carried  a  small  part  of  it  to  the  temple,  as 
an  offering  tQ  God,  praying  at  the  same  time  that  he  would  forgive 
them  for  taking  away  the  lives  of  his  creatures  for  their  subsistence. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  direct  attention  to  the  moral  influence 
of  this  religion.  And  in  respect  of  this  important  point,  we  have 
here,  as  elsewhere,  great  scarcity  of  information.  Almost  every  other 
matter  was  thought  worthy  of  being  recorded,  except  the  moral 
character  of  the  great  body  of  the  people.  It  must  be  fully  ad- 
mitted, that  this  faith  inculcates  general  benevolence;  to  be  honest 
in  bargains,  to  be  kind  to  one's  cattle,  and  faithful  to  masters;  to 
give  the  priests  their  due,  physicians  their  fees.  But  with  these 
sound  precepts  others,  fanciful  and  superstitious,  are  regarded  of 
equal  importance ;  for  instance, — physicians  are  enjoined  to  practise 
their  sanitary  experiments  on  infidels,  before  applying  them  to  the 
followers  of  the  faithful  Zoroaster.  Dogs  and  cats  are  held  in  great 
regard,  as  animals  that  watch  the  approach  of  evil  spirits,  against 
wUch  the  disciples  of  Zoroaster  are  constantly  on  their  guard.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  meritorious  to  kill  serpents,  frogs,  toads,  and 
other  reptiles,  as  being  the  creatures  of  Ahriman. 

But,  perhaps,  we  shall  obtain  the  most  accurate  and  forcible  expo- 
sition of  the  morals  of  this  system  by  noting  at  some  length  the 
virtues  which  secured  to  persons  admission  to  the  splendours  and 
joys  of  paradise,  and  the  sins  for  which  others  were  shut  up  in  hell. 

From  this  review  it  will  be  dear,  that  while  real  virtues  are 


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308  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

extolled,  and  positive  vice  pimislied,  the  most  childish  puerilities  are 
placed  on  a  level  with  either.  A  catalogue  of  the  blessed,  for  in- 
stance, would  comprise  the  spirits  of  the  munificent  and  noble- 
minded  ;  those  who  observed  Nau  Roz,  the  great  festival  on  the  first 
six  days  of  the  year ;  just  princes ;  priests  and  high-priests ;  women 
obedient  to  their  husband?;  attendants  on  fire- temples ;  champions 
who  fought  in  the  ways  of  God ;  slayers  of  noxious  animals ;  hus- 
bandmen ;  heads  of  families  who  have  improved  the  world  by  gar- 
dens and  water-courses ;  and  those  who  solicited  money  of  the 
wealthy  for  the  cduse  of  religion,  or  to  relieve  pious  poverty.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  inhabitants  of  hell  were  held  to  be, — men  of  vile 
passions ;  a  shedder  of  innocent  blood ;  he  who  seduced  the  wives 
of  other  men ;  a  man  who  had  omitted  to  perform  one  peculiar  mode 
of  worship ;  an  adulteress ;  those  who  had  not  adopted  the  sacred 
cincture;  one  who  had  betrayed  his  trust;  a  cruel  and  unjust  king; 
a  man  who  had  slain  four-footed  animals ;  one  who  had  neglected 
both  the  concerns  of  time  and  those  of  eternity ;  a  slanderer  and 
liar;  a  false  witness;  a  man  who  had  amassed  wealth  by  unlawful 
means;  hypocrites;  a  man  who  had  killed  dogs;  a  woman  who, 
while  combing  her  head,  allowed  some  hairs  to  fall  into  the  fire,  6ce, 
(See  Appendix,  note  54.) 

This  crude  and  unreasonable  operation  of  law,  when  taken  in  con- 
nexion with  the  certain  deliverance  from  suffering  which  the  vilest 
sinner  was  assured  of  at  the  last  day,  must  have  operated  most  per- 
niciously on  the  conduct  of  the  whole  people.  Nor  must  it  be  quite 
fbrgotten,  in  the  consideration  of  this  subject,  that  the  laws  of  nature 
were  publicly  outraged  by  the  incestuous  marriages  which  took  place 
constantly  in  the  Persian  court ;  and  that  the  most  inhuman  cruelty 
and  savage  barbarism  coexisted  there  with  the  height  of  oriental 
refinement,  wealth,  and  luxury.  The  morals  of  Persia  appear,  there- 
fore,  at  a  disadvantage,  when  compared  with  those  of  other  ancient 
heathen  countries. 

But  there  is  one  feature  of  this  whole  system  which  deserves 
special  and  peculiar  notice.  If  Babylon  had  the  unenviable  distinc- 
tion of  introducing  and  establishing  the  great  prae-Ghristian  Anti- 
christ, Persia  appears  to  have  carried  out  his  development  to  the 
utmost  limits ;  so  that  we  can  scarcely  find  an  essential  element  of 
Popery  that  did  not  form'a  part  of  this  system  of  Persian  fiuth. 

In  the  illustration  of  this  point,  the  Scriptural  Christian  will  not 
misapprehend  my  meaning,  when  I  speak  of  any  divinely- appointed 
rite  as  pertaining  to  Popery;  since  all  must  admit  that  while  there 
is  a  true  and  proper  application  of  these  terms,  there  is  a  thoroughly 
Popish  sense  in  which  they  are  used;  and  it  is  in  the  latter  sense, 


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THS  GfiNTILB  KATI0N6.  309 

wid  o&en  in  regpurd  of  the  opus  operatum  doctrines^  that  the  refer- 
ence is  here  made.  ^ 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  divine  character  of  the  sover- 
eign was  here  put  avowedly  and  prominently  forward.  So  fully 
was  this  done  that  his  beings  worshipped  as  divine  was  enacted  by 
absolute  law,  and  not  only  enforced  on  his  subjects,  but  regarded  as 
essential  even  on  the  admission  of  a  foreign  ambassador  to  the  royal 
presence.  Besides  this,  it  must  be  noticed  that  the  intrinsic  merit 
of  good  works  was  clearly  taught.  Kirfah,  the  term  used  to  desig- 
nate the  meritorious  character  of  an  action,  is  defined  to  mean  "  a 
good  work,->a  merit  which  absolves  from  sin."  How.  fully  this 
accords  with  the  great  doctrine  of  the  antichristian  apostasy  on  this 
subject,  I  need  not  stay  to  demonstrate. 

Agjdin  I  the  great  principles  of  priestly  authority  and  efficacy  were 
My  taught  and  enforced.  In  reading  the  following  remarkable 
proof  of  this  point,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  term  Dustur 
stands  for  "high-priest,"  "archbishop,"  or,  perhaps  even  more  accu- 
rately, "supreme  pontiff:" — "It  is  manifest,  from  the  principles  of 
religion,  that  we  must  concede  due  authority  to  the  Dustur,  and 
must  not  deviate  from  his  cominands,  as  he  is  the  ornament  and 
splendour  of  the  faith.  Although  thy  good  works  may  be  countless 
as  the  leaves  of  the  trees,  the  grains  of  sand,  the  drops  of  rain,  or 
the  stars  in  the  heavens,  thou  canst  gain  nothing  by  them,  unless 
they  be  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  the  Dust(ir.  If  he  be  not  content 
with  thee,  thou  shalt  have  no  praise  in  this  world.  Therefore,  my 
son,  ihou  shalt  pay  to  the  Dust6r  who  teaches  thee,  the  tithe  of  all 
thou  possessest,  (wealth  and  property  of  every  kind,  gold  and  silver.) 
Therefore  thou,  who  desirest  to  enjoy  paradise  to  all  eternity,  pay 
tithes  to  the  Dustiar:  for  if  he  be  satisfied  with  thee,  know  that 
paradise  is  thine;  but  if  he  be  not  content  with  thee,  thou  canst 
derive  no  portion  of  benefit  from  thy  good  works;  thy  soul  shall  not 
find  its  way  to  paradise;  ihou  shalt  have  no  place  along  with  angels; 
thy  soul  can  never  be  delivered  from  the  fiends  of  hell,  which  is  to 
be  thy  eternal  abode:  but  pay  the  tithes,. and  the  Dusturs  will  be 
pleased  with  thee,  and  thy  soul  shall  get  to  paradise  without  delay. 
Truly  the  Dusters  know  the  religion  of  all  (faithful)  men." — Dabis- 
fun,  vol.  i,  p.  313,  Hyde's  Trans. 

Can  priestly  claims  be  carried  beyond  this?  And  then,  this, 
priesthood  was  divided  into  regular  gradations,  until  the  series 
terminated  in  the  Ihistiiur,  or  "  supreme  pontiff." 

In  addition  to  these  elements,  analogous  rites  were  established. 
As  soon  as  a  child  was  bom,  it  was  purified  by  the  sacred  horn. 
The  priest  was  present  when  the  child  received  its  name :  immo- 


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310  THE  GBNTILB  NATIOK0. 

diately  after  which  the  infant  was  taken  to  the  fire-temple,  when  the 
priest  poured  water  into  the  rind  of  a  holy  tree,  and  from  thenoe 
into  the  mouth  of  the  child,  at  the  same  time  offering  up  a  prayer. 
At  seven  years  of  age  the  child  was  confirmed,  after  receiving 
instruction,  passing  through  certain  abjutions,  and  being  dressed  in 
a  particular  costume,  one  part  of  which  it  was  necessary  for  the 
priest  to  make  with  his  own  hand.  The  zor,  or  "holy  water,'*  wag 
also  an  important  element  in  these  rites.  Finally,  the  sacred  Aom 
was  administered  by  the  priest,  just  in  the  manner  of  extreme  unc- 
tion, immediately  before  the  death  of  a  believer. 

Truly  there  is  little  originality  in  the  superstitious  adulterations 
which  have  been  usied  tu  paralyze  and  corrupt  the  gospel.  There 
were  precisely  the  same  errors  in  doctrine;  the  same  vain  and 
absurd,  but  proud  and  profane,  elaims  of  the  priesthood ;  and  nearly 
identical  unmeaning  or  pernicious  rites  were  attached  to  the  form  of 
worship.  In  fact,  the  same  round  of  means  was  employed,  under 
the  same  influence,  and  with  the  same  success,  to  corrupt  the  pure 
patriarchal  faith  of  God's  appointment,  as  we  have  seen  operating  to 
the  perversion  of  the  gospel :  so  that  the  apparent  paradox  is  per* 
fectly  true, — that,  whereas  Popish  superstition  is,  in  respect  of  the. 
gospel,  a  novelty,  it  is,  at  the  same  time,  only  a  re-cast  of  errors  and 
superstitions  of  a  much  more  ancient  period. 

As  our  conclusions  respecting  the  religion  of  Persia,  and  that  of 
her  more  ancient  neighbours,  Assyria  and  Babylon,  difi^  in  many 
important  particulars  from  those  of  preceding  writers,  whose  investi- 
gations have  been  received  with  great  attention  and  respect^  I  think 
it  necessary  to  observe,  that  I  altogether  disclaim  a  wish  to  estab- 
lish any  theory  of  my  own,  or  to  introduce  any  novelty  into  this 
very  important  subject.  But  I  candidly  confess  that  I  have  felt  it 
necessary  to  adopt  a  rather  novel  course  in  respect  of  this  inquiiy. 
On  this  point  I  will  speak  freely, — though  fully  open  to  correc- 
tion. 

Until  the  recent  discovery  of  the  inscriptions,  our  knowledge  of 
the  religion  of  the  ancient  eastern  nations  was  mainly  derived  from 
Greek  writers.  They,  as  is  perfectly  well  known,  coloured  all  their 
accounts  according  to  the  principles  of  their  own  mythology.  If, 
for  instance,  a  Greek  writer  saw  a  statue  of  an  Assyrian  deity,  or 
.  heard  an  account  of  a  Persian  religious  ceremonial,  he  would  natu- 
rally give  the  first  the  name  of  the  Greek  deity  who  came  nearest  to 
it  in  attributes  and  character,  and  would  identify  the  second  with 
the  most  similar  rites  to  be  found  in  his  own  religious  system. 
The  consequence  has  been,  therefore,  that  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  see  the  religion  of  the  primitive  eastern  nations  through  a  Gre- 


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THX  OBNTILB  NATION&    .  811 

cian  medium.  And  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  read  in  Herodotas 
of  Rhea»  Juno,  and  Mars,  as  if  they  were  Persian  deities,  and  of 
Myhtta  as  the  Babylonian  Venus ;  that  Diodorus  speaks  thus  of 
Jupiter,  Rhea,  and  Juno;  and  that  Xeiiq)hon  makes  Cyrus  always 
offer  his  prayers  to  Jove.  These  names  were  unknown  in  the  east, 
and  are  not  translations,  but  applications  of  the  names  of  Greek 
deities  to  those  of  eastern  countries,  on  account  of  some  real,  or  sup- 
posed, resemblance  between  their  respective  attributes. 

Thia  has  not  only  led  to  embarrassment  and  confusion :  it  has 
altogether  misrepresented  oriental  religion,  by  putting  it  forth  under 
a  Crrecian  form,  and  associated  with  Grecian  names.  If  Greece 
had  been  the  parent  of  these  nations, — if  Assyria,  Babylon,  and 
Persia  had  received  their  civilization  and  religion  from  Greece, — 
this  would  be  a  correct  course :  but  it  was  quite  otherwise.  These 
nations  flourished  in  civilization,  and  had  their  religious  systems 
matured,  when  Greece  lay  prostrate  in  barbarism.  Grecian  tenets, 
manners,  and  doctrines  could  by  no  possibility,  therefore,  have 
afiected  these  oriental  systems.  All  that  is  Grecian  in  the  accounts 
which  reach  us  of  their  religions  must,  in  consequence,  be  mis* 
leading. 

But  while  all  the  efforts  to  assimilate  the  religion  of  the  primitive 
eastern  nations  to  a  Grecian  model  must  have  a  pernicious  tendency, 
it  is  evident  that  there  was  a  more  ancient  faith,  and  an  earlier  sacred 
history,  with  which  these  eastern  nations  were  acquainted ;  a  history 
which  brought  down  to  them  the  great  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  and 
whidi  stood  associated  with  the  most  wondrous  operations  of  al- 
mighty power ;  and  a  &ith  which  arose  out  of  glorious  and  imme- 
diate revelations  made  by  God  to  man,  and  had  been  impressed  on 
all  their  traditions,  opinions,  habits,  and  history.  Now  I  maintain 
that  while  the  course  which  I  impugn  must  be  injurious,  it  is  equally 
so  to  study  these  religions  without  any  reference  to  man's  primitive 
history,  and  while  ignoring  the  faith  and  doctrines  of  the  patriarchs; 
as  though  Assyria,  Babylon,  and  Persia  had  not  derived  their  exist- 
ence, knowledge,  and  religion  from  the  men  who  had  been  congre- 
gated together  at  Babel.  Whatever  defects,  therefore,  may  be  found 
in  the  sketch  which  has  been  given  of  the  religion  of  these  countries, 
I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  an  approximation  to  sound  views  on  this 
important  subject. 

What,  then,  was  the  character  of  the  religion  of  Persia,  as  a 
system ?  and  what  were  its  results  on  the  national  mind? 

Like  its  predecessor  and  prototype  in  Assyria,  it  was  the  soul  of 
despotism.  All  that  was  said  on  this  subject  at  the  close  of  the  fifth 
chapter  might  be  repeated  here.     The  profane  assumption  of  the 


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312  THE  GBNTILB  KAnONS. 

sovereign  led  to  the  intelleetiial  and  moral  ddMis^nent  of  the  people, 
as  an  inevitable  result.  Beyond  this  it  may  be  observed,  that  the 
difference  between  the  faith  of  Persia  and  that  of  Assyria  and  Baby* 
Ion  appears  to  have  arisen  from  two  opposite  and  conflicting  causes, — 
the  revival  of  primitive  truth,  and  the  introduction  of  monstrous  and 
pernicious  error. 

Here  was  a  dearer  knowledge  of  man,  in  his  true  relation  to  Crod, 
than  obtained  in  the  mord  ancient  nations.  The  primitive  purity 
and  fall  of  man, — Satanic  power  and  malevolence,  with  their  results, 
— ^the  appointment  of  a  mediator,  and  his  position  in  the  trinity, — 
the  certainty  of  a  future  judgment,--^the  resurrection,  and  immortal 
life, — all  these  are  prime  articles  of  religious  faith,  of  great  import- 
ance in  any  religious  code ;  and  these,  associated  with  an  immense 
amount  of  primitive  and  paradisiacal  tradition,  were  found  as  recog- 
nised articles  of  faith  among  the  ancient  Persians.  But  then  they 
were  fearfully  neutralized  by  additional  errors.  Not  only  was  the 
Persian  theology  corrupted,  as  in  Assyria,  by  polytheistic  adultera- 
tion; the  profane  assumption  of  the  priesthood  must  also  have  been 
a  frightful  evil.  It  divested  moral  actions  of  their  proper  character 
and  quality,  by  making  them  entirely  contingent  for  acceptance  on 
the  will  of  the  priest.  The  multiplied  ritual  services,  in  which 
priestly  efficacy  was  the  only  virtue,  would  tend  to  the  same  result^ 
and  introduce  many  childish  distinctions,  calculated  to  confound  the 
understanding  and  pervert  the  mind ;  while  the  doctrine  of  a  uni- 
versal restoration  to  heavenly  happiness  and  glory,  not  only  of  wicked 
men,  but  even  of  devils,  would  neutndize  the  influence  of  i^  future 
judgment,  and  render  that  doctrine  of  little,  if  of  any,  effect. 

The  combined  result  was,  that  in  Persia,  even  more  than  in  As- 
syria and  Babylon,  religion  was  a  royal  and  priestly  monopoly.  The 
people  were  not  taught,  and  scarcely  considered :  every  sacred  rite 
required  the  presence  of  a  Magian  priest ;  and  the  public — save  in 
their  attendance  on  their  fire-temples,  where  they  heard  something 
frequently  of  prayer — were  left  to  the  fearful  and  ruinous  influence 
of  moral  putrefaction. 


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THB  eBNXILB  KTATIOHS.  818 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  GRECIAN  STATES. 

AismooQM  ooenpjing  *  small  Conntrj,  and  not  posseKiiig  early  CiviliMiion,  the  Qreeka 
•roM  to  taperlatire  Distinction  in  History— 'Die  Geography  of  Greece— The  Origin  of 
the  Greeks — ^Pelasgians  and  Hellenes  kindred  Races — ^Legendary  History— The  Argo- 
naatio  Expedition— The  Thehan  Legends— The  Trojan  Wai^The  Return  of  the  Hera- 
cleids — State  of  the  Grecian  States  in  the  Time  of  Lycurgua — ^Division  into  numerous 
independent  Communities — Their  Unity  of  Blood,  Manners,  and  Religion— The  Politi- 
cal and  Ciril  Institutions  of  Lycurgus— Sparta  subdues  the  Messenians— The  State  of 
Alhena — ^Prevalent  and  long-continued  Disorder — Solon — ^He  regains  Possession  of 
Salamis — Succeeds  in  the  Sacred  War  against  Cirrha — Fearful  State  of  Society — Solon 
inyested  with  Supreme  Power — His  Reforming  Measures,  and  new  Political  Constitu- 
tion, established — ^Pisistratus  obtains  the  Chief  Authority — ^The  Tyrant  expelled,  and 
Democracy  established,  by  the  Aid  of  Sparta— The  smaller  Grecian  States— The  Islands 
and  Colonies — Causes  which  led  to  the  First  Persian  Invasion — ^It  utterly  fails — A 
Second  prepared,  and  disembarked  at  the  Bay  of  Marathon — Completely  defeated  by 
the  Athisnians  under  Mlltiades — ^Further  Persian  Preparations  for  the  Conquest  <^ 
Greece — Suspended  by  the  Death  of  Darius — ^Xerxes  at  length  determines  on  another 
Invasion — His  immense  Preparations  and  Vast  Army — Checked  at  Thermopylae — His 
Fleet  defeated  at  Artemisium — Athens  destroyed — ^The  Persian  Fleet  mined  at  Salamis 
— Xenes  retreats — ^Returns  to  Asia— Mardonius  makes  the  most  flattering  Overtures 
to  the  Athenians — Which  they  nobly  reject — ^Apathy  of  Spartsr— Attica  ravaged  a 
Second  Time — ^A  United  Greek  Army  at  length  opposes  the  Foe — ^The  Persian  Force  is 
annihilated  at  Platca — On  the  same  day  the  Persian  Fleet  is  destroyed  at  Mycale — 
Soeoessful  Prosecution  of  the  War,  followed  by  Peace  with  Persia— The  Period,  Causes, 
and  Progress  of  Grecian  Civilization  and  Advancement — Thales — Pythagoras— Greece 
attains  her  Highest  Intellectual  Elevation — Great  Wealth  and  Power  of  Athens — First 
Peloponnesian  Wai^^Mischievous  Policy  of  Aloibiadte— Second  Pel<^aaesian  War — 
Ruin  of  Athens— Sparta  Tyrannizes  over  the  other  Grecian  States— Restoration  of 
Athens  to  Independence — ^Xenophon  and  the  Ten  Thousand — ^Thebes — ^Pelopidas  and 
Epaminondas — ^Philip  of  Maoedon — His  Improved  Military  Tactics — Takes  advantage 
of  the  Disnnion  and  Rivalry  of  the  Greek  States  to  make  himself  Master  of  the  Conn- 
try— Alexander  succeeds  his  Father— Prepares  for  the  Invasion  of  Persia— Battle  of 
the  Granicus — ^His  uninterrupted  Success — ^In  Three  Years  he  extends  his  Sway  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  India — ^His  Death — State  of  Greeee  during  the  Victorious  Career 
of  Alexander— Aggression  of  Sparta  on  Macedon — ^Repelled — ^Tumults  on  the  Death 
of  Alexander,  repressed  by  Antipater — Cassander — His  Government — ^Interferenoe  of 
Borne — ^Progress  of  her  Power — Greece  a  Roman  Province. 

In  approaching  the  history  of  Greece  we  are  brought  into  contact 
with  a  people  of  the  most  extraordinary  character  and  destiny.  It 
was  not  because  of  early  greatness,  or  ancient  splendour,  that  this 
people  stood  preeminent  among  the  nations  of  the  world:  for,  many 
centuries  after  Assyria,  Egypt  and  Persia  were  possessed  of  wealth, 
power,  luxury,  and  learning,  Greece  was  occupied  by  semi-barbarous 
tribes,  with  very  imperfect  political  institutions,  who  Were  strangers 
even  to  the  knowledge  of  letters.  Hot  was  it  because  of  the  ex- 


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314  THB  QBKXIIA  NATIONS. 

tended  territory:  for  Greece,  properly  so  called,  is  scarcely  lai^ger 
than  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Yet  with  this  limited  geography,  and 
with  a  celebrity  of  so  recent  a  date  that  the  national  records  do  not 
afford  materials  for  a  history  of  the  nation  until  the  eighth  century 
before  Christ,  it  had  then  established  a  character  in  the  world,  and 
has  exerted  a  more  potent  influence  on  mankind  at  large  than  any 
other  people. 

Rising  into  prominence  and  power  at  this  late  period  of  the  ancient 
world,  Greece,  in  the  progress  of  five  hundred  years,  accomplished 
all  that  seems  possible  of  attainment  by  giant  intellect  and  culti- 
vated genius.  In  all  the  elegant  arts — architecture,  painting,  stat- 
uary— the  Greeks  distanced  all  their  predecessors,  and  created  a 
school  which  it  has  been  the  glory  of  every  subsequent  age  to  imi- 
tate. Every  branch  of  literature — poetry,  history,  and  the  drama^ 
was  carried  to  perfection.  Science,  philosophy,  and  logic  were  culti- 
vated with  eqyiai  success.  And,  what  is  yet  more  strange,  having 
thus  evinced  a  rare  combination  of  intellectual  power,  cultivated 
taste,  and  brilliant  genius,  the  sons  of  Greece  successfully  repelled 
an  invasion  of  their  country,  although  assailed  by  the  united  forces 
of  the  most  mighty  nations  of  the  world ;  and,  having  triumphed  in 
this  effort,  they  went  forth  in  irresistible  martial  power,  and  bowed 
the  world  to  their  will.  Every  nation  that  could  be  reached  was 
subdued;  and  Grecian  power  ruled,  and  the  Greek  language  and 
manners  pervaded^  the  civilized  world. 

Mor  is  the  waning  glory  bf  this  wonderful  people  less  remarkable 
than  the  rise  and  progress  of  their  power.  For,  when  Greece,  in 
her  turn,  fell  before  the  military  might  of  imperial  Borne,  it  was  the 
proud  boast  of  the  conquered,  that  they  imparted  to  their  conquer- 
ors more  advantage  in  the  communication  of  arts  and '  elegance, 
literature  and  learning,  than  the  Romans  had  obtained  in  martial 
honours  or  territorial  aggrandizement  by  the  conquest  of  the  coun- 
try. Thus  Greece,  as  she  fell  into  ruin  and  obscurity,  enlightened 
and  elevated  the  most  powerful  nation  on  earth. 

There  has  been  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  extent  of 
Greece  in  respect  of  its  northern  boundary;  some  writers  includiag, 
and  others  excluding,  Epirus  and  Macedonia.  The  inhabitants  of 
these  countries  owned  the  same  origin  as  the  Greeks ;  were  of  sim- 
ilar manners,  language,  and  religion ;  yet,  in  the  progress  of  ages, 
they  became  so  alienated  from  the  great  body  of  the  Greek  nation, 
that  our  best  writers  agree  in  describing  Greece  Proper  as  bounded 
on  the  north  by  Olympus,  and  the  Gambnnian  Mountains,  which 
divide  it  from  Macedonia. 

Greece,  so  limited,  ext^ds  from  north  to  south  about  two  hundred 


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THB  dBNTlI.B  NATIOKS.  816 

and  fifty  miles ;  and  its  greatest  breadth,  from  the  western  coast  of 
Acamania  to  Marathon  in  Attica,  is  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles. 
This  country  is  about  half  the  size  of  England, — a  geographical  com- 
pass by  no  means  proportionate  to  the  martial  power  of  the  people, 
or  to  the  influence  which  they  exerted  on  the  world. 

As  it  seems  neoessaty  to  give,  a  very  brief  sketch  of  this  territory, 
it  may  be  first  observed  that  it  was  naturally  divided  into  two  parts 
by  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth.  That  part  which  lay  below  this  neck 
of  land  was  anciently  called  the  Peloponnesus,  and  recently  the 
Morea ;  and  that  beyond,  on  the  continent,  contained  Attica,  Boso- 
tia,  Phocis,  ^tolia,  and  Acamania. 

The  Peloponnesus — so  called  in  honour  of  Pelops— forms  the 
southern  region  of  Greece.  It  is  a  peninsula,  surrounded  by  the 
sea,  excepting  where  it  is  joined  to  the  main-land  by  the  Isthmus  of 
Corinth.  It  has  in  its  centre  the  far-famed  Arcadia  of  poetical  tra- 
dition. This  is  an  elevated  and  hilly  district,  its  highest  peak  being 
Mount  Cyllene.  It  is  an  excellent  pasture-country,  and  in  its  geti- 
eral  features  greatly  resembles  Switzerland ;  while  its  inhabitants 
as  strikingly  exhibit  the  Swiss  character, — ^being  equally  fopd  of 
liberty  and  money.  The  god  Pan  is  said  to  have  resided  here,  and 
to  have  invented  the  flute  with  seven  reeds.  Here  he  was  worship- 
ped, and  delivered  oracles.  Around  Arcadia  were  seven  other 
districts,  or  territories,  all  of  which  were  well  watered  by  streams 
that  descended  from  its  higUands. 

Of  these,  Corinth  lay  immediately  in  the  Isthmus,  having  a 
harbour  on  each  side.  It  was  thus  possessed  of  immense  maritime 
advantages,  and  facilities  for  commerce  perhaps  equal  to  any  port  of 
the  world.  To  the  south  of  Corinth  lay  Argolis,  so  named  from 
Argos,  its  chief  town.  Here  stood  Tiryns,  whence  Hercules  depart- 
ed to  begin  his  labours ;  and  Mycenas,  the  city  of  Agamemnon ; 
Nemea,  celebrated  for  its  games  in  honour  of  Neptune ;  and  Nau- 
plia,  now  the  celebrated  Mapoli  di  Romania.  To  the  southwest  of 
Argolis  lay  Laconia,— a  country  rough  and  mountainous,  watered 
by  the  Eurotas,  on  whose  banks  arose  the  celebrated  Sparta ;  yet, 
although  this  was  one  of  the  principal  cities  in  Greece,  its  site  can- 
Dot  now  be  identified. 

To  the  north  and  west  of  Laconia  was  Messenia.  Pylos,  one  of 
the  cities  claiming  to  have  given  birth  to  Nestor,  was  situated  in 
this  district.  Elis,  the  Holy  Land  of  Greece,  lay  immediately  to 
the  north  of  Messenia.  There  rolled  the  Alpheus,  on  whose  banks 
the  Olympic  Games  were  celebrated :  and  here  stood  Olympia,  with 
its  glorious  temple,  and  colossal  statue  of  Jupiter,  the  masterpiece 
of  Phidias.    Temples  to  Jupiter  and  Lucina  also  adorned  the  neigh- 


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31:$  THfi  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

boorhood.  On  this  spot  Pausamas  ooimted  two  hundred  and  ihivtj 
statues ;  and  in  the  days  of  Pliny  they  had  increased  to  three  thou- 
sand,— ^and  all  these  the  vork  of  eminent  artists.  What  are  all  our 
museums,  and  collections  of  statuary,  compared  to  this?  To  the 
northeast  of  Elis  we  find  Achaia,  watered  by  the  mountain-streams 
from  Arcadia;  and  between  thisand  Corinth  lay  the  ancient  city  and 
small  territory  of  Sicyon. 

From  this  rapid  glance  at  the  Peloponnesus,  we  turn  to  notice  that 
part  of  Greece  which  is  situated  beyond  the  Corinthian  isthmus. 
Immediately  to  the  east  of  this  lay  Attica;  its  form  was  nearly  tri- 
angular. This  has  generally  been  regarded  as  the  most  beautiful 
part  of  Greece,  although  the  soil  was  by  no  means  remarkably  fruit- 
ful. Athens,  the  city  of  Pallas,  the  centre  of  Grecian  civilization, 
learning,  and  refinement,  was  the  capital  of  the  district.  On  the 
top  of  a  hill  close  to  the  city,  stood  the  Acropolis,  which  in  the  days 
of  her  glory  was  covered  with  the  most  beautiful  architecture. 

To  the  northwest  of  Attica  lay  Bceotia  and  Phocis,  separated 
frdhi  Thessaly  by  the  mountain  range  of  CSta^  through  which  the 
fisonous  Pass  of  Thermopylae  alone  afforded  easy  communication. 
The  renowned  Parnassus  divided  Boeotia  from  Phocis.  Delphi, 
noted  for  its  oracle  of  Apollo,  stood  on  the  south  side  of  Parnassus. 
Here  excellent  pieces  of  statuary  were  exhibited  in  countless  num- 
ber; and  the  contents  of  treasuries,  received  from  neighbouring 
princes  and  kings,  astonished  the  beholder.  Here,  also,  in  the  Am- 
phictyonic  Council,  the  first  maxims  of  law  were  taught,  and  the 
principles  of  policy  laid  down  and  matured.  The  Pythian  Games, 
surpassed  only  by  the  Olympic,  were  celebrated  in  this  neighbour- 
hood ;  and  here,  above  all,  the  Castalian  Fountain  poured  forth  her 
streams  sacred  to  the  Muses. 

It  would  have  been  scarcely  necessary  to  notice  Thessaly  in  this 
sketch,  but  on  account  of  some  very  ancient  recollections.  loloos, 
whence  the  Argonauts  sailed,  was  in  this  province.  This  was  also 
the  country  of  Achilles.  To  the  west  of  Thessaly  we  find  ^tolia 
and  Acamania. 

Having  thus  glanced  at  the  geography  of  Greece,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary, before  proceeding  to  trace  its  history,  to  notice  its  early  inhab- 
itants, and,  if  possible,  discover  its  primitive  settlers.  Without 
presuming  to  speak  positively  on  a  subject  so  full  of  difficulty,  we 
may  venture  to  observe  that  there  appears  reason  to  believe  that,  in 
the  general  dispersion  of  the  descendants  of  Noah,  this  portion  of 
the  world  was  occupied  by  Javan,  the  fourth  son  of  the  arkite  patri- 
arch, and  afterward  principally  by  the  family  of  his  son  Elishah. 
As  it  is  not  intended  to  maintain  this  opinion  at  length,  it  will  be 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  S17 

sufficient  to  obBerve  in  support  of  it,  that  <3ontinental  Greece  was 
originally  called  Ionia,  which  term  our  best  scholars  have  supposed 
to  have  been  derived  from  the  name  Javan ;  with  which,  they  con- 
tend, it  nearly  agreed,  according  to  ancient  Greek  pronunciation.  It 
is  also  a  curious  fact,  corroborative  of  this  opinion,  that  the  Septua- 
gint  Version  of  Holy  Scripture  always  renders  the  Hebrew  term  "^t^ 
Javan  by  the  word  "  Greece."  This  feet  not  only  proves  the  origin 
generally  attributed  to  the  Greeks  by  the  learned,  in  the  third  cen- 
tury before  Christ :  it  does  more :  for,  inasmuch  as  it  is  scarcely 
possible  generally  to  substitute  the  name  of  any  other  countiy  wtthr 
out  doing  violence  to  the  consistency  of  the  sacred  writer,  (as,  for 
instance,  in  an  important  passage  in  Daniel  viii,  21,)  so  we  have  the 
authority  of  the  inspired  Hebrew  text  itself  in  favour  of  this  opinion. 

This  is  also  the  case  in  respect  of  Elishah ;  for  Ezekiel  Speaks  of 
the  "  isHbs  of  Elishah  *'  in  such  a  connexion  as  almost*  certainly  to  fix 
tte  designation  upon  itie  Greek  islands.  In  conformity  with  this 
evidence,  the  peninsula  and  isles  of  Greece  have  been  regarded  as 
peopled  by  the  descendants  of  Elishah,  while  Tiras  is  supposed  to 
have  been  the  feiher  of  the  Thracians. 

But  whateveip  truth  there  may  be  in  these  conjectures,  it  appears 
to  be  an  nndoubted  fact;  that  considerably  more  than  a  thousand 
years  elapsed  from  the  first  occupation  of  Greece  to  the  time  when 
we  obtain  materials  for  a  history  of  its  inhabitants.  It  cannot,  then, 
be  a  matter  of  surprise,  that  it  has  been  found  utterly  impossible  to 
trace  up,  by  any  satisfactory  historical  induction,  to  any  particular 
primitive  root,  the  people  who  are  the  subject  of  Grecian  history. 

There  is,  however,  one  question,  lying  at  the  foundation  of  Gre- 
(nan  history,  which  must  be  noticed  and  <lisposed  of,  before  we 
fehrly  enter  on-  the  subject.  The  earliest  occupants  of  the  countiy 
are  always  spoken  of  by  ancient  writers  as  Pelasgians ;  while  the 
great  body  of  the  Greek  nation  in  historical  times  are  called  Hel- 
lenes. The  debatable  points  are, — Whether  these  were  difierent 
tribes  speaking  different  languages,  or  in  their  origin  essentially  the 
same  people? — and,  secondly.  By  what  means,  or  in  what  manner, 
did  the  Hellenes  ultimately  acquire  universal  ascendency  in  Greece? 
On  these  subjects  the  learned  have  been  long  divided,  nor  can  it  yet 
be  said  that  the  question  is  settled.  While  such  men  as  Professor 
Wachsmuth  and  Dr.  Thirlwall  advocate  one  view  of  the  subject,  and 
Mr.  Grote  the  opposite,  it  becomes  us  to  express  ourselves  with 
great  diffidence.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  conviction,  we  must  be 
allowed  to  say  that  we  fully  agree  with  the  first-mentioned  authors, 
Ihat  the  Pelasgians  and  Hellenes  were  originally  the  same  people. 

The  general  prevalence  of  the  Pelasgic  people,  or  rather  the 


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318  THB  QKNTILB  KATIONB. 

Pelasgie  name,  Beems  ft  &ot  constanily  admitted  by  ancient  writers. 
"  AH  are  pretty  well  agreed,"  obaervee  Strabo,  .'that  the  Pelasgians 
were  an  ancient  race  which  prevailed  throughout  all  Greece,  and 
especially  by  the  side  of  the  ^olians  in  Thessaly." — ThirlwaWs 
History  of  Greece,  vol.  ii,  sect.  4.  This  statement  must  not,  indeed, 
be  so  construed  as  to  exclude  the  eziBtence  of  other  and  distinct 
tribes  in  ancient  Gree^; — ^for  Strabo,  as  well  as  Herodotus  and 
Thucydides,  speaks  of  several  of  these ; — ^but  it  clearly  shows  that  the 
Pelasgians  were  the  most  powerful  and  widely-diffused  people  of 
Greece,  whose  language  and  manners  g»ve  a  character  to  the  whole 
country.  Traces  of  their  residence  have,  indeed,  been  distinctly 
found  in  Thessaly,  Epirus,  Boeotia^  Attica,  and  the  Peloponnesus, — 
especially  in  Argolis,  Achaia,  and  Arcadia. 

With  respect  to  the  Hellenes,  it  has  been  supposed  that  they 
originated  from  Hellen,  who  is  sometimes  called  "  tke  son  cC  Zeus," 
but  is  generally  regarded  as  the  immediate  descendant  of  Deucalian 
and  Pyrrha,  although  he  is  often  mentioned  as  the  brother  of  the 
Grecian  hero  of  the  Deluge.  But  whether  such  a  person  as  Hellen 
ever  existed,  except  in  mytholo^cal  &ble,  or  not,  it  is  a  settled  mat- 
ter that  no  historical  researches  can  carry  up  the  Hellenic  tribe  or 
people  to  this  individual.  Historically  we  only  know  the  Hellenes 
as  deriving  their  name  and  character  from  a  people,  or  tribe,  which 
anciently  resided  in  Epirus.  There  were,  in  fact,  two  kibes  bearing 
this  name,  resident  near  Dodona^  who  were  probably  nearly  related 
to  each  other  and  to  the  ancient  Pelasgians.  Mr.  Grote,  indeed, 
joins  his  weighty  judgment  with  that  of  preceding  writers,  in  decid- 
ing,  upon  the  authority  of  a  passage  in  Herodotus  which  rrfers  to 
the  language  of  the  Pelasgians,  that  they  were  essentially  a  distinct 
people  from  the  Hellenes.  We  think  Dr.  Thirlwall's  statement 
remains  in  all  its  strength,  notwithstanding  this  objection ;  (Thirl- 
wall's Greece,  vol.  i^  p.  60,)  and,  such  being  the  case,  the  general 
current  of  evidence  naturally  leads  to  the  belief  that  the  Pelasgians 
and  Hellenes  were  kindred  races. 

By  what  means,  then,  or  in  what  manner,  was  that  great  change 
effiBcted  which  spread  the  Hellenic  name  and  influence  so  generally 
over  Greece  ?  One  point  is  clear :  it  is  undoubted,  that "  the  pecnl- 
iar  stamp  which  distinguished  the  Greeks  from  every  other  nation 
on  the  earth,  was  impressed  on  them  by  the  little  tribe  which  first 
introduced  among  them  the  name  of  Hellenes." —  ThirlwaWs  Greece, 
vol.  i,  p.  97.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  the  decided  opinion  of  this 
learned  writer,  that  this  change  "  was  not  effected  simply  by  the 
conquests  or  migrations  of  this  new  people." — ThirlwalVs  Greece, 
vol.  t,  p.  97.    The  alternative  inference  appears  inevitable, — ^that 


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THB  QfiNTILS  NATIONB.  B19 

the  HeUenio  aseoideiioy  was  &at  whioh  a  faigUy  martial  caste, 
raised  by  their  daring  energy  above  the  need  of  labour,  impatient  of 
repose,  and  eager  for  warlike  adv^itures,  obtained  over  a  weaker, 
but  perhaps  an  equally  civilized,  people. 

The  late  era  at  which  Greeoe  appears  before  us  as  a  subject  of 
history,  is  in  some  measure  compensated  by  the  length  and  grandeur 
of  what  may  be  called  "  the  traditional  period."  The  greatest  labour 
and  learning  have  been  expended  on  this  topic ;  but  they  have  failed 
alike  to  elicit  with  any  certainty  the  exact  chronology,  and  the  pre- 
cise historical  character,  of  the  important  events  which  are  supposed 
to  have  transpired  during  the  thousand  years  which  elapsed  prior 
to  800  B.  G.  It  will,  however,  be  necessary  to  mention  the  princi- 
pal of  these  occurrences. 

The  Argonautic  Expedition  may  be-  referred  to  as  the  first,  in 
order  of  time,  of  these  notable  .events.  If  from  the  immense  mass 
of  poetry  and  legend,  bearing  on  this  subject,  anything  definite  can 
be  inferred,  it  may  be  supposed  that  about  1800  B.  0.  Jason,  a 
prince  of  Theesaly,  having  collected  together  a  number  of  the  most 
diivabrous  spirits  of  Greece,  sailed  on  an  expedition,  partly  oom- 
mercial  and  partly  martial,  to  the  shores  of  tiie  Euxine  Sea;  and, 
having  fought,  conquered,  and  plundered,  on  their  return  home  they 
planted  a  colony  at  Golctus,  carrying  with  them  a  princess  of  the 
country  which  they  had  invaded.  (See  Appendix,  note  65.) 

The  Theban  legends  may  also  be  adduced,  as  of  a  similar  charao- 
ter.  As  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  subject  of  these  arose  out  of 
the  introduction  of  the  Phenician  or  Asiatic  worship  into  Thebes  by 
Cadmus.  But  it  involved  the  singular  and  melancholy  fate  of  (Edi- 
pus,  a  protracted  war;  ending  in  the  capture  of  Thebes,  and  the  con- 
sequent isolation  of  this  district,  in  sympathy  and  interest,  from  tbe 
general  concerns  of  Greece.  (See  Appendix,  note  56.) 

The  Trojan  war  may  be  noted  next  in  order.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  there  was  ever  such  an  extended  account,  given  to  the 
world  with  such  exquisite  and  unsuspecting  simplicity,  and  so  gen- 
erally regarded  as  actual  history,  without  any  independent  evidence 
of  its  historical  existence,  as  that  which  we  find  in  the  Homeric  epic. 
Perhaps,  as  Mr.  Grote  conjectures,  such  an  efibrt  as  that  of  Homer 
would  never  have  come  into  existence  in  an  age  in  which  historical 
records  existed.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  an  unquestionable  fact, 
that  the  narrative  of  Homer  was  <nirreiidy  received  and  reverentially 
cherished  throughout  Greeoe ;  and  it  is  equally  dear  that  all  which 
can  be  said  respecting  even  the  basis  of  the  story,  (omitting  all  the 
dramatic  machinery  of  gods,  goddesses,  and  heroes,)  is  that  it  is 
possible.    But  then,  as  an  eipineiit  writer  «&  the  subject  observes, 


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820  THB  QBNTILB  NATI0K6. 

"  As  the  possibilitj  cannot  be  denied,  neithw  can  the  reality  of  it  be 
affirmed/'  (See  Appendix,  note  67.) 

A  further  reference  to  Grecian  legend  is  necessary,  because  it 
both  relates  to  an  important  revelation  in  the  government  of  the 
conntry,  and  in  a  great  deg;ree  acconnts  for  the  numerons  and  power- 
ful Greek  colonies  which,  at  the  commencement  of  the  historical 
period,  we  find  established  in  different  parts  of  Asia  Minor.  This 
legend,  or  series  of  l^nds,  relates  to  the  descendants  of  Hercules. 
After  the  death  of  this  hero,  his  children  were  driven  from  Pelopon- 
nesus, and  found  refuge  at  Athens ;  and  their  descendants,  after 
many  ineffectual  efforts,  succeeded,  in  connexion  with  a  powerful 
army  of  Dorians,  in  subduing  the  peninsula.  In  consequence  of 
this  irruption,  num^ous  bodies,  led  by  those  who  had  previously 
possessed  power  and  distinction,  emigrated^  and  formed  Greek  colo- 
nies in  various  islands,  and  in  different  parts  of  Asia  Minor.  (See 
Appendix,  note  58.) 

Passing  over  the  legendary  period  of  Grecian  annals  without 
further  notice,  we  enter  upon  the  times  when  this  wonderful  people 
stand  before  our  view  in  the  light  of  history;  and  select,  for  the 
commencement  of  our  research,  the  era  when  Lycurgus  introduced 
his  scheme  of  legislation  into  Sparta.  This  occurred,  according  to 
Thucydides,  B.  C.  817.  At  this  time  Amaziah  reigned  in  Judah 
and  Jeroboam  11.  in  Israel,  it  being  just  one  year  before  the  death 
of  Elisha  the  prophet. 

In  endeavouring  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  peculiar  position  of 
Greece  at  this  time  within  the  narrow  limits  of  a  chapter,  our  atten- 
tion must  be  directed  to  two  or  three  particulars.  We  find  Greece, 
unlike  every  other  ancient  nation,  not  only  without  any  political  unity 
and  national  sovereignty,  but  actually  divided  into  just  as  many  free 
states  as  it  had  cities.  It  is,  indeed,  true  that  in  some  districts  die 
most  powerful  city  held  a  kind  of  supremacy  over  the  smaller  ones, 
which  was  called  by  tiie  Gredcs  ''hegemony:''  but  this  extended 
only  so  far  as  to  merge  the  foreign  political  relations  of  the  minor 
places  in  those  of  the  capital;  so  that  the  whole  district,  in  all 
peaceful  treaties  and  warlike  measures,  would  act  together.  It  did 
not  allow  the  principal  city,  however  powerful,  to  interfere  in  the 
internal  administration  of  the  several  minor  civil  communities. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  Greek  people  was  the  character  of  ihe 
union  which  subsisted  throughout  the  ^tire  nation.  This  was 
maintained,  first,  by  the  common  bond  of  nationality.  The  whole 
Hellenic  race  regarded  themselves,  however  subdivided,  as  (ne 
people.  A  family  feeling  pervaded  the  entire  extent  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  induced  a  mutual  fraternal  recognitioix  among  ail  its 


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THB  GENTILE  NATIONS.  821 

members.  This  miion  was  greatly  promoted  by  the  Olympian, 
Pythian,  Memean,  and  Isthmian  Qames.  All  these — which  main- 
tained a  powerful  influence  on  the  public  mind,  not  only  throughout 
Greece,  but  in  all  neighbouring  countries,  for  many  centuries— were 
greatly  conservative  of  Grecian  unity.  At  these  games,  although 
strangers  might  be  epectators,  none  but  Hellenes  could  enter  the 
lists,  as  candidates  for  the  prize.  As  this  privilege  was  highly 
valued,  the  limitation  was  greatly  conducive  to  the  unity  of  national 
feeling  and  r^ard. 

But,  after  all,  the  great  secret  of  the  identity  subsisting  between 
the  numerous  cities  and  clans  of  Greece  lay  in  her  religious  institu* 
tions.  Apart  from  their  common  object,  as  mere  festivals,  the 
games  above  mentioned,  to  some  extent,  partook  of  a  religious 
character,  and  in  this  respect  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  the 
public  mind.  This  was,  howe^ir,  but  a  single  and  comparatively 
unimportant  element  The  Hellenes  everywhere  worshipped  the 
same  gods,  held  tiieir  sacrificial  services  in  common,  and  regarded 
themselves,  through  their  heroes^  as  descended  from  these  deities. 
The  intensity  of  the  unity  of  feeling  thus  produced  cannot  be 
exhibited  more  forcibly  than  was  done  by  the  Athenians.  When 
tiieir  city  lay  in  ruins,  and  they,  and  their  wives  and  children,  found 
refuge  only  on  board  their  ships,  or  in  the  Isle  of  Salamis;  at  the 
time  tiiey  were  deserted  by  the  Spartans,  and  received  the  most 
tempting  overtures  from  Persia,  the  principal  reajson  set  forth  by 
them  for  their  noble  conduct  is  thus  stated  by  their  envoys  to  Lace- 
daemon:  "We,  however,  though  deserted  and  betrayed  by  tiie 
Greeks,  have  steadily  refused  all  his^  ofiiers,  [those- of  the  king  of 
Persia^]  through  reverence  for  the  Grecian  Jupiter,^' — Herodotus, 
lib.  ix,  cap.  7. 

The  success  of  the  Heracleids,  by  means  of  their  Dorian  auxiliaries, 
established  that  people  as  a  ruling  caste,  and  reduced  the  greater 
portion  of  the  former  inhabitants  to  slavery.  But  this  victorious 
aggression,  instead  of  introducing  strength  and  consolidation  into 
the  country,  caused  disunion  and  weakness.  The  unequal  distribu- 
tion of  property  produced  domestic  quarrels,  while  the  unsettled 
state  of  afUrs  at  home  embroiled  the  state  in  a  tedious  and  harass- 
ing war  with  the  Argives.  This  condition  of  things  continued,  sub- 
ject to  various  fluctuations  and  changes,  for  more  than  two  hundred 
years,  wh^  at  length,  a  man  arose  into  influence  and  power,  whose 
genius  moulded  the  institutions  of  Sparta  into  a  permanent  form, 
and  rendered  that  state,  small  as  it  was  in  geographical  extent,  one 
of  the  most  powerful  of  its  day. 

It  had  long  been  the  custom  in  Sparta  for  two  kings  to  reign  at 

21 


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822  THB  OBNTILS  NATIONS. 

the  same  time,  with  coDJoint  power.  This  originated,  according  to 
Paasanias,  in  the  accession  of  the  two  sons  of  Aristodemos.  Eurjs- 
thenes  and  Proclos,  and  continued,  notwithstanding  the  mutnal 
jealousy  and  suspicion  inseparable  firom  a  diarchy,  throogh  thirty 
princes  of  the  former  line  and  twenty-seven  of  the  latter.  In  the 
early  part  of  these  dynasties,  strug^es  were  frequent  between  the 
kings  and  the  people.  In  one  of  these  a  sovereign  was  killed:  his 
son,  succeeding  to  the  throne,  soon  after  died,  and  was  followed  by 
his  brother  Lycurgus.  But  this  prince,  discovering  that  his  brother's 
widow  was  pregnant,  held  the  supreme  authority  in  trust,  until  the 
birth  of  the  infJEmt,  which  proving  to  be  a  son,  he  presented  the  child 
to  the  magistrates  of  the  city  as  their  king,  and  exercised  dominion 
only  in  his  name  as  regent  Notwithstanding  this  nobility  of  con- 
duct, the  mother  of  the  infant  prince,  and  her  brother,  having  thrown 
out  suspicions  respecting  the  intentions  of  Lycurgus,  he  deemed  it 
prudent  to  retire  a  while  from  Sparta,  and  travelled  into  Crete  and 
Other  lands,  observing  their  institutions,  and  forming  his  opinion  as 
to  the  best  political  basis  for  the  constitution  of  his  own  country. 

The  absence  of  Lycuigus  was  severely  felt  at  Sparta.  Those 
who  were  invested  with  authdrity  evidently  lacked  the  power  to 
maintain  it;  difSculty  and  danger  beset  the  state  on  every  side.  In 
this  emergency,  earnest  and  importunate  entreaties  were  sent  to 
Lycurgus  to  hasten  his  return.  He  complied,  and,  on  arriving  at 
home,  was  hailed  with  delight  by  all  parties,  since  he  was  regarded 
as  the  only  man  able  to  heal  the  disorders  whidi  prevailed.  He 
undertook  the  task :  but,  perceiving  the  magnitude  of  the  engage- 
ment, he  made  use  of  every  precaution.  In  the  first  place,  he 
obtained  the  unambiguous  approbation  of  the  oracle  at  Delphi  for 
his  measures.  He  then  secured  the  aid  of  a  number  of  the  principal 
citisens  of  Sparta^  who  engaged,  if  necessary,  to  su(^rt  him  with 
their  arms. 

These  precautions  taken,  Lycurgus  introduced  his  new  system 
of  government  and  polity  Our  sketch  of  this  system  most  be  as 
brief  as  possible. 

As  a  political  code,  it  was,  in  the  most  strict  sense  of  the  term,  a 
mixed  goyemment.  The  monarchical  principle  was  maintained,  but 
in  a  weak  form ;  as  the  rule  of  two  contemporaneous  kings,  reigning 
with  joint  power,  was  continued.  The  aristocracy  was  represented 
by  a  senate  of  twenty-eight  persons ;  while  every  Spartan  of  thirty 
years  of  age.  and  of  unblemished  character,  had  a  voice  in  the 
a8semt)l7  of  tlie  people.  In  addition  to  this,  the  commons  were 
represented  by  the  Ephori,  These  corresponded  to  tiie  tribunes 
among  the  Romans.    At  first  they  appear  to  have  been  appointed 


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THB  GSNTILB  NATIONS.  823 

as  minor  oflBcers  connected  with  police  and  courts  of  law.  In  con- 
sequence, however,  of  the  divided  and  enfeebled  condition  of  the 
monarchy,  these  gradually  assumed  a  ceusorial,  inquisitorial,  and 
judicial  power,  which  enabled  them  frequently  to  overawe  and  con- 
trol both  the  kings  and  the  senate. 

This  alteration  in  the  mode  of  goverument  was,  however,  accord- 
ing to  Plutarch,  the  least  of  the  innovations  of  Lycurgus.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  more  important  measures  which  are  ascribed  to  him. 
He  ordered  an  equal  partition  of  the  land  among  all  the  citizens ; 
so  that  those  who  had  been  rich  had  to  divide  their  landed  property 
with  the  poor.  The  entire  territory  of  Sparta  was  partitioned  into 
nine  thousand  lots,  and  the  re^t  of  Laconia  into  thirty  thousand, — 
the  number  of  their  respective  citizens.  Having  succeeded  thus  far, 
the  lawgiver  proceeded  to  enforce  an  equal  division  of  all  movable 
property.  Finding  this  measure  to  be  impracticable,  he  assailed 
distinctions  of  rank  and  the  indulgence  of  luxury  by  more  indirect 
means.  Gold  and  silver  currency  was  prohibited,  and  an  iron  coin 
substituted,  of  such  small  value  that,  to  lay  up  ten  mincB,  (about 
£32  5s.  sterling,)  a  whole  room  was  required,  and  a  yoke  of  oxen 
necessary  to  remove  it.  This  alteration  cut  up  avarice  and  luxury 
by  the  roots,  and  at  the  same  time  isolated  Sparta  from  the  rest  of 
Greece,  and  in  great  measure  interdicted  commercial  intercourse; 
for  this  money  would  not  pass  current  out  of  Sparta.  The  conse- 
quence was,  the  greatest  simplicity  in  all  the  houses,  furniture,  and 
manner  of  living. 

These  statements  of  Plutarch  must,  however,  be  taken  as  exhibit* 
ing  the  general  character  of  Spartan  policy  and  practice,  rather  than 
the  measures  which  were  introduced,  and  fully  carried  into  effect,  by 
the  personal  exertions  of  the  lawgiver.  It  is  certain  that,  in  the 
days  of  Lycurgus,  the  whole  of  Laconia  was  not  subject  to  Lace- 
daemonian rule ;  and  it  is  open  to  serious  doubt,  whether  an  equal 
division  of  land  was  ever  fully  effected,  even  in  Sparta  itself  As 
early  as  B.C.  600,  we  hear  complaints  made  respecting  the  influence 
of  wealth,  and  the  degradation  of  the  poor,  even  in  the  capital. 

A  further  arrangement  of  this  legislator  was  the  establishment  of 
public  tables,  where  all  were  required  to  eat  in  common.  The  rich 
offered  great  opposition  to  this  regulation ;  but  it  was  notwithstand- 
ing carried  into  effect.  To  it  Lycurgus  added  a  public  arrangement 
for  the  education  of  youth.  All  children  were,  according  to  his 
institutions,  regarded  as  the  property  of  the  state,  and  treated 
accordingly.  Yet  it  is  a  singular  fact,  that  while  the  men  were 
trained  to  this  practice,  and  dined  on  plain  fare,  their  wives  at  home 
not  unfreqjaently  maintained  a  luxurious  establishment. 


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824  THK  OENTILB  NATIONS. 

The  resulfc  of  all  these  measures  was  to  make  the  Spartan  state 
thoroughly  martial  in  its  character.  The  city  was  like  a  great 
camp :  every  man  was  a  soldier ;  bodily  strength  and  mental  rigour 
were  chiefly  prized,  as  they  rendered  the  man  a  more  efficient  war- 
rior. It  will  be  seen  that  these  laws  could  not  be  made  operative  on 
the  whole  population.  Husbandry  and  tillage,  handicraft  arts  and 
menial  service,  necessarily  require  a  large  proportion  of  every  peo- 
ple. To  provide  for  these  without  diverting  the  Spartan  citizen 
from  his  martial  exercises,  a  system  of  wholesale  slavery  was  estab- 
lished. The  victims  of  this  oppression  were  called  Helots.  It 
seems  they  were  originally  captives  taken  in  war,  whose  posterity 
were  ever  afterward  doomed  to  this  cruel  bondage ;  while  further 
conquests  increased  their  number. 

The  laws  and  institutions  of  Lycurgus  were  not  given  in  a  written 
code,  but  reduced  to  short  sentences  like  proverbs,  called  Mrpai, 
rhetrai.  All  these  were  confirmed  by  the  oracle  of  Delphi,  and 
committed  to  memory  by  the  people. 

The  first  important  war  in  which  the  Spartans  were  engaged  was 
with  their  neighbours  the  Messenians.  After  a  very  protracted 
struggle,  this  contest  terminated  in  the  subjection  of  that  territoTy 
to  the  Spartan  dominion ;  but  the  sacrifices  and  efforts  put  forth  to 
attain  this  end  greatly  weakened  the  power  of  the  victors  for  a  con- 
siderable period. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  direct  attention  to  Athens.  The 
political  history  of  this  state  may  be  carried  back  to  the  time  of 
Theseus.  Among  his  successors  the  most  eminent  were  Mnestheus, 
who  fell  before  Troy,  and  Codrus,  whose  generous  devotion  (as 
already  stated)  led  to  the  abolition  of  monarchy.  After  the  intro- 
duction of  this  change,  thirteen  archons  of  the  royal  family  ruled  in 
succession.  From  the  year  B.  C.  752,  the  archons  were  chosen  every 
ten  years  from  the  family  of  Codrus  There  were  seven  of  these, 
reaching  to  the  year  B.  C.  682.  Nine  annual  archons  were  then 
elected  by  the  nobility.  All  these  changes,  however,  did  but  little 
to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  state.  The  people  were  reduced 
to  a  miserable  condition.  The  equestrian  order, — so  called  from 
their  fighting  on  horseback, — having,  in  the  infancy  of  martial  tac- 
tics, infinite  advantage  over  a  rabble  on  foot,  secured  to  themselves 
all  authority,  civil,  religious,  and  military.  The  ancient  laws,  being 
few  and  simple,  were  insufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  age : 
consequently  much  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  magistrates, 
who  too  frequently  decided  according  to  their  class-interests  oi 
prejudices. 

Li  these  circumstances  the  very  firamework  of  society  was  shaken. 


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THB  QENTILB  NATIONS.  826 

md  Athens  seemed  to  tremble  on  the  brink  of  ruin.  To  avert  this 
calamity,  Draco,  the  archon,  was  selected  to  prepare  a  system  of 
laws  for  the  reformation  of  the  state.  He  undertook  the  task,  but 
supplied  a  code  of  soch  unexampled  severity  that  it  was  said  to 
have  been  written  in  letters  of  blood.  Death  was  the  punishment 
for  idleness,  as  well  as  for  n^urder.  At  first  these  penalties  were 
enforced,  but  they  gradually  sunk  into  disuse ;  and  the  legislator 
was  obliged  to  withdraw  to  ^gina,  where  he  died. 

This  unsuccessful  efibrb  was  followed  by  a  series  of  disorders  and 
crimes,  until  at  length  a  legislator  arose,  who  by  his  brilliant  genius 
and  wisdom  introduced  an  efficient  measure  of  social  and  political 
reform.  Solon  was  of  purest  heroic  blood,  and  possessed  a  moderate 
fortune.  In  his  earlier  years,  owing  to  the  improvidence  of  his 
father,  he  found  it  necessary  to  engage  in  commercial  pursuits,  by 
which  means  he  added  to  his  substance  and  his  knowledge.  The 
energy  of  his  mind,  and  his  habit,  in  accordance  with  the  prevalent 
custom  of  the  times,  of  expressing  his  thoughts  in  simple  verse, 
made  him  known  throughout  Greece ;  and  he  was  classed  with  other 
six,  as  one  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men.     (See  Appendix,  note  59.) 

The  first  political  event  of  importance  in  which  Solon  engaged 
was  the  recovery  of  the  Isle  of  Salamis.  Megara  had  long  success- 
fully disputed  with  Athens  the  possession  of  this  island ;  and  her 
citizens  had  actually  established  themselves  upon  it;  while  the 
Athenians  had  suffered  so  much  in  the  struggle,  and  felt  so  annoyed 
at  the  result,  that  they  decreed  the  punishment  of  death  to  any  one 
who  should  propose  any  further  effort  for  its  recovery. 

Solon  determined  to  remove  this  dishonour  from  his  country.  To 
effect  this  object,  he  composed  an  earnest  poetic  address ;  and,  feign- 
ing a  state  of  ecstatic  excitement,  he  rushed  into  the  agora,  and, 
taking  his  stand  on  the  stone  usually  occupied  by  the  official  herald^ 
he  recited  his  elegiac  address  to  the  surrounding  crowd  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Salamis.  He  so  fully  succeeded  in  this  attempt  that  they 
rescinded  the  prohibitoiy  law,  determined  to  renew  the  war,  and 
intrusted  Solon  with  the  conduct  of  the  enterprise.  He  accepted 
the  command,  and  conducted  the  invasion  with  so  much  prudence 
and  valour,  that  he  restored  that  important  island  to  the  government 
of  Athens. 

Another  circumstance,  which  occurred  soon  after,  greatly  added 
to  the  reputation  of  Solon,  and  secured  to  him  countenance  and 
support  the  most  important,  in  respect  of  his  future  career.  Cirrha 
was  a  small  seaport  in  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,  offering  ready  access  to 
Delphi.  The  inhabitants  of  this  place  obtained  enormous  riches  by 
levying  exorbitant  tolls  on  the  passengers  who  landed  there  on  their 


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326  THE  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

way  to  the  temple.  This  was  felt  to  be  a  national  grievance ;  and 
Solon  not  only  moved  the  Amphictyonic  Council  to  ingist  on  the 
removal  of  the  evil,  (see  Appendix,  note  60,)  but,  when  the  Girrlue- 
ans  refused  to  reform  the  abuse  at  his  instance,  a  band  of  Athenians 
accompanied  a  joint  force  of  Thessajians  and  Sicyonians,  and,  after 
a  Sacred  War  of  two  years'  duration,  accomplished  the  desired 
object  by  completely  subduing  and  destroying  the  town,  except  just 
what  was  necessary  to  make  it  a  suitable  landing  place ;  and  dedi- 
cated the  whole  plain,  from  the  sea  to  the  temple,  to  the  Delphian 
god. 

While,  however,  Solon  saw  his  efforts  crowned  with  success  in 
these  external  measures,  he  found  the  internal  condition  of  the 
country  rapidly  approaching  a  crisis  which  threatened  to  issue  in  a 
frightful  disruption  of  all  society.  The  people  of  Attica  were 
divided  into  three  factions :  the  Pedieis,  or  "  men  of  the  plain," 
comprising  Athens,  Eleusis,  and  the  neighbouring  territory ;  among 
whom  were  the  richest  and  noblest  families  of  the  land;  the  Diak- 
rii,  the  mountaineers  in  the  north  and  east,  who  were  very  poor; 
and  the  Paralii,  whose  means  and  Social  position  were  intermediate. 
Among  these  there  appears  to  have  existed  a  long- continued  class- 
struggle.  But  this  was  greatly  aggravated  by  a  still  more  fearful 
evil, — a  general  outburst  of  feeling  of  the  poor  against  the  rich, 
arising  out  of  deep  misery,  acted  upon  by  great  oppression.  The 
rich  had  hitherto  dictated  the  laws :  these  were  partial  and  unjust 
The  needy  man  borrowed  money  on  the  security,  not  merely  of  his 
substance,  but  ilso  of  his  own  body.  Nay,  more :  not  only  might 
the  insolvent  debtor  be  sold  to  pay  Ids  debts,  but  even  his  minor 
sons,  unmarried  daughters,  and  sisters  also,  might  be  sold  with  him. 
In  this  manner  great  numbers  had  been  reduced  from  freedom  to 
slavery ;  some  had  been  ^old  for  exportation ;  and  others  had  main- 
tained  their  own  liberty  by  the  sale  of  their  children. 

It  was  when  Solon  had  by  his  talents  and  integrity  commended 
himself  to  all  classes,  as  possessing  every  requisite  for  a  great 
reformer,  that  this  mutinous  feeling  had  reached  its  height.  This 
so  alarmed  the  rich,  that  although  it  was  known  he  had  severely 
condemned  their  cruelty  in  his  poems,  they  consented  that  he  should 
be  invested  with  supreme  power,  in  the  hope  that  he  would  thus  con- 
serve the  state,  and  relieve  them  from  the  impending  danger.  He 
was  therefore  appointed  archon,  nominally  as  the  colleague  of  Philom- 
brotus,  but  with  authority  substantially  dictatorial. 

Solon  began  his  reforms  by  a  measure  which  satisfied  neither  the 
rich  nor  the  poor.  In  his  first  effort  he  cancelled  at  once  all  those 
contracts  in  which  the  debtor  had  borrowed  on  the  security  either  of 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  827, 

his  person  or  of  his  laad ;  forbade  all  futiure  loans  or  contracts  in 
wbidi  the  person  of  the  debtor  was  pledged  as  security ;  and  de- 
prived the  O'editor  of  all  further  power  to  imprison,  or  enslave,  or 
extort  woriL  from  his  debtor,  confining  him  to  an  effective  judgment 
at  law,  which  would  authorise  the  seizure  of  the  property  of  the 
latter.  This  regulation  swept  off  the  numerous  mortgage-pillars 
(see  Appendix,  note  61)  from  the  landed  properties  in  Attica,  and 
lefk  the  land  free  from  all  past  claims.  It  liberated  and  restored  to 
their  full  rights  all  those  debtors  who  were  actually  in  slavery  under 
previous  l^al  adjudications ;  and  it  even  professed  to  provide  means 
for  the  restoration  of  those  who  had,  for  a  similar  reason,  been  sold 
into  foreign  slavery.  (Grote*s  History  of  Greece,  vol.  iii,  p.  135.) 

By  this  extensive  measure  poor  debtors  and  small  tenants, 
together  with  many  others  in  needy  circumstances,  were  greatly 
relieved.  But  this  relief  placed  another  important  class  in  great 
difficulty.  These  were  they  who,  while  they  stood  in  the  relation 
of  creditors  to  the  poorest  classes,  were  themselves  debtors  to  the 
richest.  To  meet  the  case  of  such,  Solon  had.  recourse  to  the  des- 
perate expedient  of  debasing  the  money-standard  of  the  country  to 
the  extent  of  more  than  twepty-five  per  cent.  The  middlemen  con- 
sequently obtained  relief  to  this  amount,  while  their  rich  creditofs 
had  to  submit  to  an  equivalent  loss. 

Again :  Solon  decreed  that  all  those  who  had  been  condemned  by  the 
archons  to  civil  disfranchisement,  exceptmg  only  those  who  had  been 
convicted  by  other  legal  courts  for  murder  or  treason,  should  be  free. 
The  necessity  for  such  measures — indeed,  the  possibility  of  intro- 
ducing them — clearly  shows  the  diseased  and  disorganized  state  of 
the  Athenian  commonwealth.  The  policy  of  Solon,  however,  not 
only  warded  off  the  imminent  convulsion  which  had  long  threatened 
the  country ;  it  virtually  depressed  the  political  power  of  the  rich, 
and  restored  the  poorer  classes  to  extensive  influence  in  public 
afiairs. 

Having  succeeded  thus  far,  Solon  was  requested  to  prepare  a  new 
constitution  for  the  country ;  which  task  he  also  accepted,  and  carried 
into  effect  thus  : — He  divided  the  whole  population  into  four  classes, 
without  reference  to  their  tribes  and  families,  but  regulated  entirely 
by  their  possession  of  property.  The  first  of  these,  comprising  the 
hcbest  portion  of  the  people,  whose  annual  income  was  equal  to  five 
hundred  medimni  of  com  or  above,  were  alone  eligible  to  be  archons, 
and  to  military  and  naval  commands.  A  second  class  was  composed 
of  persons  whos^  income  ranged  from  five  hundred  to  three  hundred 
medimni.  These  were  called  "  knights,"  or  "horsemen  of  the  state," 
they  being  supposed  to  possess  sufficient  substance  to  keep  a  horse, 


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328  THB  GENTILB  NATI0K6. 

and  to  perform  military  service  in  that  capacity.  The  third  dan, 
possessing  an  aonoal  income  of  from  three  hundred  to  two  hundred 
medimni  of  com,  constituted  the  heayy-armed  infantry  of  the  Athe- 
nian army,  and  were  bound  to  serve  as  such,  each  with  his  bwn 
equipment  of  complete  armour.  Five  hundred  medimni  were  equal 
to  about  seven  hundred  imperial  bushels;  and  one  medimnus  was 
equal  to  a  drachm,  and  of  the  same  value  as  a  sheep. . 

These  three  classes  paid  all  the  direct  taxes  that  were  levied 
Of  course  duties  on  imports  and  other  articles  of  consumption  would 
be  paid  in  common  by  all.  These  direct  taxes  were  levied  in  the 
form  of  a  graduated  income-tax,  so  far  as  the  several  classes  aane  re- 
garded; but  as  an  equal  tax,  when  considered  with  reference  to  the 
several  individuals  composing  each  class.  Thus  the  poorest  mem- 
ber of  the  first  class,  with  an  income  of  five  hundred  drachms,  would, 
on  a  levy  of  one  per  cent.,  pay  fifty  drachms.  Every  other  mem- 
ber of  that  class,  whatever  his  wealth,  would  pay  a  pro  rata  sum. 
The  poorest  member  of  the  second  class,  with  an  income  of  three  hun- 
dred, would  on  the  same  levy  pay  thirty -drachms ;  while  the  poorest 
member  of  the  third  class  would  be  required  to  contribute  only  ten. 

The  fourth  class,  composed  of  all  persons  whose  annual  income 
was  less  than  two  hundred  drachms,  or  about  forty  dollars,  (which 
would  then  purchase  about  two  hundred  sheep,  or  about  two  hundred 
and  eighty  imperial  bushels  of  corn,)  were  exempt  from  all  direct 
taxes,  disqualified  from  holding  any  individual  post  of  dignity,  and 
only  served  in  war  as  light-armed  troops,  in  armour  provided  by 
the  state.  Although,  by  these  institutions  of  Solon,  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  who  were  comprised  under  this  fourth  class,  were  de- 
prived of  the  privilege  of  holding  office,  their  collective  importance 
was  in  other  ways  greatly  increased.  For,  though  ineligible  to  official 
dignities,  they  had  to  elect  the  archons  and  magistrates  out  of  the 
first  class;  and,  what  is  still  more  important,  these,  after  having 
served  their  term  of  office,  were  responsible  to  the  assembly  of  the 
people,  and  might  be  impeached  and  punished  in  case  of  mis- 
behaviour. 

Another  of  Solon's  institutions  still  remains  to  be  noticed.  He 
created  a  senate  separate  and  distinct  from  the  Areopagus,  and  with 
different  powero.  In  the  institution  of  this  body  the  object  was 
to  prepare  subjects  for  discussion  in  the  general  assembly,  to  con- 
voke and  superintend  its  meetings,  and  to  insure  the  execution  of 
its  decrees.  This  senate,  as  appointed  by  Solon,  consisted  of  four 
hundred  members,  taken  in  equal  proportions  from,  the  four  tribes. 
Persons  of  the  fourth  or  poorer  class  were  not  eligible  to  sit  in  this 
senate ;  they  were,  however,  entitled  to  vote  on  the  election  of  every 


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7HB  0ENTILB  JJTATIONS.  329 

member ;  and,  being  by  far  the  most  ^lumerous  section  of  Athenian 
dtizens,  they  invariably  held  in  their  bands  the  virtual  appointment 
of  the  senatorial  body. 

At  the  same  time  that  these  new  institutions  were  called  into 
being,  the  old-established  Council  of  Areopagus  (see  Appendix, 
note  62)  was  recognised,  and  its  powers  enlarged ;  it  being  endowed 
with  ample  supervision  over  the  execution  of  the  laws  generally, 
together  with  the  duty  of  a  censorial  inspection  of  the  lives  and 
occupations  of  citizens,  as  well  as  the  power  to  punish  men  of  idle 
and  dissolute  habits. 

These  measures  of  Solon,  although  they  did  not  establish  a 
democracy,  had  a  most  decided  and  efficient  democratic  tendency. 
They,  in  fact,  formed  the  foundation  and  framework  of  the  vigorous 
democracy  which  afterward  so  long  reigned  supreme  at  Athens. 
When,  however,  we  speak  of  Grecian  democracy,  we  feel  as  if  using 
a  figure  of  speech;  for  while  we  read  that  all  the  people  were  in- 
vested with  political  rights,  and  allowed  to  take  a  part  anpi  exercise 
an  influence  in  the  afbirs  of  the  state,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  term  *'  people  "  is  limited  to  the  Hellenic  part  of  the  popidation. 
The  greater  number  of  the  inhabitants — ^perhaps  as  many  as  three- 
fourths  of  the  whole — ^were  slaves,  and  regarded  as  utterly  destitute 
of  all  political  functions,  and  without  any  interest  in  the  state. 

It  seems  scarcely  credible  that,  after  all  these  institutions  of  Solon 
had  been  introduced  and  established,  the  lawgiver  should  have  lived 
to  see  the  whole  constitution  placed  in  abeyance  Arough  the  sue-, 
cessful  usurpation  of  supreme  power  by  an  individual.  Yet  so  it 
was.  The  ti/rant  Pisistratus,  as  such  sovereigns  were  always  called 
in  Greece,  exercised  the  power  which  he  had  unjustly  obtained  with 
great  wisdom  and  moderation.  His  accession  to  this  dignity,  how- 
ever, led  to'  various  factions  and  intrigues,  by  which  he  was  twice 
driven  from  Attica.  Yet  he  again  succeeded  in  establishing  him- 
self in  supreme  power,  and  continued  to  hold  it  until  his  death. 

Hipparcbus  and  Hippias  succeeded  their  father  in  the  government 
of  Athens ;  but  they  did  not  inherit  his  prudence  and  ability.  Yet, 
favoured  by  the  prestige  of  his  character,  and  the  actual  possession 
of  power,  they  succeeded  in  maintaining  their  joint  dominion  four- 
te^  years,  when  Hipparchus  was  slain  by  two  young  Athenians, 
whom  he  had  provoked  by  an  atrocious  insult.  The  excessive 
cruelty  with  which  Hippias  punished  all  who  took  any  part  in  the 
murder  of  his  brother,  and  even  those  who  were  suspected  of  having 
any  knowledge  of  the  plot,  produced  such  intense  disgust  in  the 
public  mind,  that  various  efforts  were  made  to  expel  the.  tyrant  from 
the  country.     These,  however,  would  in  all  probability  have  been 


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330  THB  QBNTILB  KATKHRI. 

imsnocessful,  bat  for  the  peculiar  influence  whidi  the  Alcnudonicb 
had  just  now  obtained  at  Delphi. 

This  family,  haying  been  driven  from  Athens  by  Pisistratus^ 
retired  from  Attica;  and  as  the  temple  of  Delphi  was  just  then 
to  be  reerected  after  its  destruction  by  fire,  they  undertook  the  con- 
tract, which  they  executed  in  a  style  of  splendour  far  beyond  the 
design.  By  this  meai^s,  supplemented  by  costly  donatives,  the 
oracle  was  induced  to  denounce  the  tyranny  of  Hippias,  and  to  insist 
on  the  return  of  the  Alcmasonids.  This  was  brou^t  about  mainly  by 
the  instrumentality  of  Sparta.  Whenever  any  citizen  of  that  counti^ 
appeared  before  the  oracle,  either  on  puUic  or  on  private  business, 
the  answer  always  included  the  injunction,  "  Athens  must  be  de- 
livered." The  constant  repetition  of  this  mandate  .overcame  at 
length  the  friendly  feeling  which  the  Spartans  felt  toward  the  house 
of  Pisistratus.  Pious  reverence  for  the  god  prevailed;  and  an  expe* 
dition  was  sent  to  Athens  to  cooperate  with  the  Alcmsoonids,  which, 
although  defeated  in  the  .first  campaign,  succeeded  in  the  second, 
under  the  conduct  of  Gleomenes,  the  Spartan  king. 

Hippias  being  thus  expelled,  democracy  was  established  at  Athens. 
Galisthenes  the  Akmaeonid  not  only  restored  the  Solooian  constitu- 
tion in  all  its  integrity,  but  greatly  enlarged  it.  For,  whereas  pre- 
viously the  free  citizras  of  Athens  were  comprised  in  the  four  Ionic 
tribes,  by  which  regulation  a  great  number  of  free-bom  Hellenes 
were  excluded  from  all  influence  in  state-afiairs,  Galisthenes  abolished 
these  four  tribes,  and  divided  Ae  countij  into  several  demes  ix 
cantons.  These  he  afterward  arranged  into  ten  tribes,  so  that  no 
entire  tribe  corresponded  to  any  given  district.  By  this  means  he 
destroyed  local  feuds^  and  introduced  an  orgainization  by  which  the 
whole  country  was  &irly  represented.  In  each  of  these  tribes  he 
enrolled  all  the  free  native  Athenians,  the  most  respectable  resident 
strangers  who  had  immigrated  into  the  country,  and  even  some  of 
the  superior  order  of  slaves.  By  such  measures  the  whole  body  of 
the  Ionic  population  were  placed  under  the  inspiring  influence  of  in- 
stitutions calculated  to  employ  all  their  intelligence  and  to  elicit  all 
their  energy:  and  their  future  history  shows  how  they  responded  to 
the  call. 

Having  thus  depicted  the  condition  of  Sparta  and  Athens,  tilie 
leading  powers  of  Greece,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a  rapid  review 
of  the  minor  states. 

Thebes.— The  Boeotians,  who  had  been  expelled  by  the  Thra- 
cians,  after  having  found  refuge  in  Thessaly,  returned  to  the  land  of 
their  fathers  about  the  time  of  the  Dorian  migration,  and  became 
united  with  the  iEolian  tribes.    Royalty  was  abolished  here  as  early 


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T9B  QBl^ILB  NATIONS.  881 

M 1126  B.  C,  and  the  BoBotiaos  formed  as  many  states  as  they  had 
dties.  The  pditioal  oonstitations  of  these  diminutive  dominions 
were  yagae  and  msdefined,  and  firequently  fluctuated  between  a  loose 
democracy  and  a  tyrant  oligarchy.  Thebes  always  stood  at  the 
head,  and  exercised  a  paramount  influence  over  these  associated 
tribes.  Their  general  affiurs  were  decided  in  councils,  held  in  each 
of  the  four  districts  into  which  the  province  was  divided ;  and  these 
assemblies  united  to  elect  four  chiefs,  who  were  supreme  magis- 
trates in  peace,  and  generals  in  war. 

Of  the  civil  constitution  and  political  government  of  AoarnaniA, 
^TOLIA,  and  LoGRiB  at  this  time,  little  is  known.  It  is  probable 
that  their  institutions  were  principally  aristocratical.  The  states  of 
Thbssalt  were  generally  ruled  by  individual  chiefs  with  arbitrary 
power.  Epirtjs  was  subject  to  a  family  of  kings  called  iEacidaa» 
who  claimed  descent  from  one  of  the  sons  of  Achilles. 

In  peninsular  Greece,  CeRiNTH  was,  next  to  Sparta,  the  principal 
state.  Commanding  by  its  position  the  Ionian  and  jEgean  Seas, 
and  holding  the  keys  of  the  Peloponnesus,  Corinth  rose  rapidly  into 
opulence  and  power.  From  the  time  of  the  Dorian  migration  to  the 
year  B.  C.  684,  it  was  subject,  with  little  intermission,  to  three  suc- 
cessive dynasties  of  kings.  At  this  period,  Psammitichus,  after  a 
reign  of  three  years,  was  driven  out  by  his  subjects  With  the  aid  of 
Sparta,  when  an  aristocratical  goverment  was  formed. 

SiCTOK,  and  the  other  Achsean  states,  were  subject  to  a  series  of 
revolutions  very  similar  to  those  of  Corinth.  In  Arcadia,  Argos, 
and  £Lid,  monarchical  institutions  had  successively  given  way  to 
republican  govenments. 

A  similar  change  had  taken  place  in  the  principal  Grecian  islands. 
Corcyra,  which  was  occupied  by  a  Corinthian  colony  about  753  B.  C, 
had,  prior  to  the  Persian  war,  an  aristocratical  government.  iBgina 
was  peopled  at  a  very  early  date  by  Myrmidons  from  Thessaly,  and 
at  first  was  ruled  by  kings ;  but  subsequently  adopted  a  republican 
government.  Eubcea  had  received  many  colonies  firom  the  main-land 
of  Greece,  and,  probably  as  a  consequence,  its  several  cities  were 
not  united  by  any  political  confederacy,  each  possessing  a  separate 
constitution.  Its  principal  towns  were  governed  by  an  aristocracy. 
Crete  was  greatly  celebrated  even  in  the  heroic  ages.*  After  the 
death  of  Cleanthus,  B.  C.  800,  republican  institutions  were  estab- 
lished in  the  principal  cities,  which  thenceforth  became  independent 
states. 

The  Grecian  colonies  demand  a  passing  notice.  They  were 
greatly  instrumental  in*  the  difiusion  of  knowledge,  in  accelerating 
tiie  progress  of  civilisation,  and  in  facilitating  commercial  inter- 


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332  TUB  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

course  between  different  nations.  In  this  notice  it  is  not  intended 
to  refer  to  the  early  settlements  of  the  Pelasgi  in  Italy,  which  prop- 
erly belong  to  the  history  of  Western  Europe;  nor  to  the  martial 
colonies  established  by  the  successors  of  Alexander,  which  pertain 
to  a  subsequent  period ;  but  to  those  founded  by  the  Hellenic  race 
between  the  time  of  the  Dorian  migration  and  the  Persian  war. 

Soon  after  the  subjection  of  Peloponnesus  to  the  HeraclidsB  and 
their  Dorian  allies,  a  great  number  of  .^olians  quitted  their  native 
land  in  small  companies,  headed  by  different  Pelopid  princes ;  and, 
after  staying  some  time  in  Attica  and  Thrace,  they  passed  over  into 
Asia,  and  occupied  the  coasts  of  Mysia  and  Garia.  They  also 
obtained  possession  of  the  islands  of  Lesbos,  Tenedos,  and  the  clus- 
ter called  the  HeccUonnesi,  or  "  Hundred  Islands."  Twelve  cities 
were  erected  by  these  colonies  on  the  Asiatic  continent,  the  prin- 
cipal being  Cyme  and  Smyrna.  These  maintained  their  inde- 
pendence until  the  age  of  Gyrus,  when  they  were  subdued  by  the 
Persians. 

The  gr^t  emigration  from  Ionia  took  place  some  years  after  Uie 
iBolian,  about  B.  G.  1044.  It  was  the  largest  that  ever  left  Greece, 
and  was  occasioned  by  the  abolition  of  royalty  at  Athens  on  ihe 
death  of  Godrus.  His  sons,  disdaining  to  live  as  private  citizens  in 
a  country  over  which  their  father  had  reigned,  and  which  they 
regarded  themselves  as  justly  entitled  to  govern,  declared  their 
resolve  to  emigrate  into  Asia.  They  were  readily  joined  by  a 
numerous  train  of  followers ;  and,  having  procured  a  fleet  and  suit- 
able munitions  of  war,  they  took  their  course  to  Asi%  Minor,  and 
landed  on  the  south  coast  of  ^olis.  After  a  series  of  sanguinary 
wars,  they  succeeded  in  expelling  the  barbarian  natives,  and  obtain- 
ing possession  of  the  country  firom  Miletus  to  Mount  Sipylus.  The 
result  of  Ionian  emigration  was  the  establishment  of  twelve  cities  in 
this  district, — Ephesus,  Erythrae,  GlazomensB,  Colophon,  Myus^ 
Miletus,  Priene,  Phocaea,  Lebedos,  Samos,  Teos,  and  Chios. 

Of  these  the  last  three  were  insular  stations.  Miletus  was  the 
chief  of.  these  colonies,  and  Ephesus  the  most  renowned.  Phoc»a 
was  one  of  the  latest  cities  founded  by  the  lonians.  It  obtained  its 
name  from  a  later  immigration  of  Phocseans,  induced  by  the  Suc- 
cess of  preceding  adventurers.  This  city  rapidly  rose  into  com- 
mercial importance,  and  was  particularly  remarkable  for  its  exten- 
sive trade  with  the  remote  parts  of  Western  Europe,  while  Miletus 
engrossed  the  principal  portion  of  the  traffic  to  the  Euxine  and 
Black  Seas.  Having  these  separate  sources  of  wealth,  and  main- 
taining a  commercial  intercommunication,  these  cities  became,  prior 
to  600  B.  C,  important  rivals  to  Tyre  and  Carthage.    Fhoc»a 


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THB  GENTILE  NATIONS.  838 

fonnded  several  colonies,  the  principal  of  which  was  Marseilles. 
Colophon  attained  special  distinction  for  its  formidable  cavalry, 
whose  resistless  charge  became  proverbial.  Samos  was  the  most 
noted  of  the  insular  cities,  and  was  distinguished  by  the  extent  of 
its  trade  and  naval  power.  All  these  Ionian  colonies  Were  united 
by  an  Amphictyonic  confederacy.  Representatives  of  the  several 
cities  met  at  stated  times  in  the  temple  of  Neptune  at  Mycale :  here 
they  deliberated  on  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  general  interests  of 
the  union,  but  never  interfered  with  the  internal  government  of  par- 
ticular cities.  This  was  by  far  the  largest  and  most  successful  of 
the  Greek  colonies. 

After  the  conquest  of  Peloponnesus,  the  Dorians  still  desired  a 
more  enlarged  range  of  territory ;  and  being  checked  by  the  Athe- 
nians at  Megara,  they  departed  in  sejparate  companies  to  the  coast 
of  Garia,  and  to  the  islands  of  Cos  and  Rhodes.  This  migration 
appears  to  have  been  made  without  any  concerted  plan  or  direct 
union  between  the  parties.  It  resulted  in  the  erection  of  six  cities, 
which  afterward  fohned  the  Doric  confederation  called  Hexapolis. 
This  comprised  Halicarnasstis,  Cnidus,  Cos,  lalysus,  Camirus,  and 
Lindus. 

Besides  the  preceding,  the  Greeks  established  several  flourishing 
colonies  on  the  shores  of  the  Euxine  Sea,  on  the  coasts  of  Thrace 
and  Macedon,  and  in  Africa  and  Sicily. 

The  citizens  of  Miletus  were  most  prominent  in  the  establish- 
ment of  colonies  on  the  shores  of  the  Euxine  Sea,  the  Propontis, 
and  the  Palus  Maeotis.  This  enterprise  was  carried  out  from  800 
B.  C.  to  600  B.  C.  Mifetus,  indeed,  acquired  and  sustained  the 
immense  trade  which  filled  the  four  harbours  pertaining  to  that  city, 
and  provided  and  equipped  a  naval  armament,  amounting  to  nearly 
one  hundred  galleys  of  war,  principally  by  means  of  these  northern 
colonies  and  their  trade.  Having  established  these  important  towns, 
— ^Lampsacus,  near  the  Hellespont ;  Cyzicus,  an  ancient  city,  of 
which  they  obtained  possession  about  761  B.  C,  on  the  coast  of 
Asia;  Perinthus,  on  the  coast  of  Thrace,  just  opposite  to  it ;  Hera- 
clea,  on  the  Black  Sea;  Sinope,  in  Paphlagonia;  Amisus,  in  Pon- 
tus;  and  Phasis,  and  other  cities,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
Euxine, — they  not  only  extended  their  commerce  into  southern 
Russia,  but  even  penetrated  overland  into  the  countries  now  known 
as  Khiva  and  Bokhara. 

The  coasts  of  Thrace  and  Macedon  were  nearly  covered  with 
Greek  colonies,  principally  founded  by  Corinthians  and  Athenians. 

On  the  coast  of  Africa  stood  the  celebrated  city  of  Cyrene, 
founded,  in  obedience  to  the  Delphic  oracle,  by  a   company  of 


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884  THE  OENTILK  NATIONS. 

Dorians  from  the  Isle  of  Thera^  B.  C.  651.  This  city  rose  into 
great  conaaercial  power  and  importance,  and  was  long  a  rival  to 
Carthage.  The  government  was  at  first  monarchical;  but,  like  all 
other  Greek  states,  it  afterward  became  a  republic,  and  ultimately 
merged  into  the  kingdom  of  Egypt^  in  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies. 

In  Sicily,  Syracuse,  founded  by  a  body  of  Corinthians  B.  C.  736, 
took  the  lead,  and  ultimately  became  the  metropolis  of  the  island. 
Here  also,  as  elsewhere,  royalty  was  established  at  first,  but  soon 
gave  way  to  republican  institutions. 

Even  this  very  brief  review  of  the  early  history  of  the  Greek 
tribes,  and  of  the  practical  development  of  their  institutions  and 
resources,  will  enable  ud  to  form  some  idea  of  this  extraordinaij 
people.  Their  progress  in  civilisation,  and  successful  cultivation 
of  the  useful  arts  of  life,  enabled  them  to  provide  for  all  their  wants, 
and  promoted  a  rapid  increase  of  population ;  while  their  restless 
energy  and  daring  spirit  of  enterprise  led  them  to  grasp  at  the  com- 
merce of  the  western  world.  Their  colonies  covered  the  coasts  of 
Asia  Minor  and  the  Archipelago,  studded  the  shores  of  the  Euzine, 
and  extended  even  to  Africa  and  Sicily ;  pursuing  everywhere  a 
liberal  policy,  and  carrying  on  extensive  commercial  operations. 
Perhaps  no  ntktion  ever  resembled  our  own  so  much  as  Greece, 
B.  C.  050.  Impelled  by  a  dominant  spirit  of  daring  and  thirst  for 
gain  and  authority,  and  sustained  by  equal  wisdom  and  prowess,  the 
Grecians  outgrew  the  limited  territory  of  their  fathers,  and,  while 
they  carried  their  language  and  institutions  to  distant  lands,  drew 
from  every  quarter  means  of  progress  and  elements  of  power. 

In  one  striking  peculiarity,  they  were  unlike  every  other  people. 
With  a  perfect  identity  of  national  lineage  and  character,  they 
were  divided  into  nearly  as  many  independent  states  as  they  had 
respectable  towns.  Their  colonial  and  commercial  progress  was, 
therefore,  the  result  of  local  or  individual  effort.  This  state  of 
things,  while  it  gave  the  utmost  encouragement  to  private  enterprise, 
prevented- the  possibility  of  any  great  national  movetaent.  in  the 
way  either  of  commerce  or  of  war,  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own 
land. 

At  this  period  of  her  history  Greece  had  to  sustain  an  invasion, 
equal,  perhaps,  in  violence  and  power  to  any  which  ever  assailed  an 
independent  nation.  This  was  the  first  Persian  war.  It  seems  to 
have  arisen  out  of  several  circumstances  as  proximate  causes.  The 
first  of  these  occurred  before  the  abolition  of  monarchy  at  Athens 
by  the  expulsion  of  the  family  of  Pisistratus.  Democedes,  while  a 
captive  in  Persia,  having  cured  Atossa,  the  wife  of  Darius,  of  a  dan- 
gerous tumour,  induced  her  to  propose  that  he  should  be  sent  to 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  386 

Burvey  Greece,  ostensibly  for  the  parpose  of  snbjeoting  it  to  Feraia, 
but  really  that  he  might  find  the  means  of  retuming  to  his  own 
country.  The  king  of  Persia  consenting,  the  wily  Greek  efifected 
his  escape,  and  sent  back  a  most  offensive  message  to  his  late  mas- 
ter. This  rankled  in  the  mind  of  Darius,  and  led  him  to  meditate 
the  means  of  reyenge.  There  seems  every  human  probability  that 
this  warlike  prince,  under  the  influence  of  these  feehngs,  would  have 
attempted  an  invasion,  and  have  effected  his  purpose,  if  his  mind 
had  not  been  previously  filled-  with  a  determination  to  subdue 
Scythia.  (Grote's  History  of  Greeee,  vol.  iv,  p.  355.)- 

At  this  period  the  paramount  influence  of  Persia  appears  to  hare 
been  acknowledged  throughout  all  eastern  Europe  and  the  neigh- 
bouring islands.  For  when  Darius  crossed  the  Hdlespont,  and 
marched  through  Thrace  to  ike  Danube,  on  his  insane  attempt  on 
Scythia,  we  find  a  bridge  constructed  for  him  over  this  broad  river 
by  the  lonians.  In  &ct  we  may  always  notice,  that  those  operations 
which  require  particular  intelligence  or  energy  are  performed  for 
him  by  Greeks  or  Phenicians.  The  lonians  who  had  constructed 
tiiis  bridge  were  left  to  guard  it  during  the  absence  of  the  Persian 
king  on  his  expedition ;  during  which  time  they  were  instigated  by 
bands  of  Scythians  to  destroy  it,  and  thus  shut  up  the  Persian 
invader  to  inevitable  destruction.  Miltiades,  at  that  time  sovereign 
of  the  Thracian  Chersonese,  strongly  urged  Hbe  adoption  of  this 
policy.  But  he  was  overruled  by  the  influence  of  HistisBus ;  and 
the  Persian  army,  having  titterly  failed  in  their  attempt,  returned  in 
safety.  In  the  mean  time  Hippias,  the  son  of  Pisistratus,  having 
found  refuge  in  the  Persian  court  after  being  exiled  from  Athens, 
solicited  the  aid  of  that  nation  to  secure  his  return  to  power. 

While  all  these  circumstances  tended  to  bring  about  a  rupture 
between  Persia  and  the  powerful  states  of  Greece,  that  event  was 
hastened  by  the  violent  conduct  of  Histiieus,  who  had  saved  Darius 
and  his  army  by  preserving  the  bridge  across  the  Danube.  He  soon 
discovered,  that  an  essential  service  rendered  to  an  absolute  monarch 
is  oflien  as  dangerous  as  an  offence.  Finding  himself  exposed  to 
great  peril  on  this  account,  he  concerted  with  his  nephew  Arista- 
goras,  and  excited  the  Grecian  colonies  in  Asia  to  revolt  against 
Persia.  In  this  effort  he  was  aided  by  twenty  ships  from  Athens., 
At  first  the  insurrection  was  successful.  SardUs,  the  capital  of 
Lydia,  was  taken,  and  great  wealth  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  captors. 
But  Aristagoras  did  not  possess  the  genius  and  prudence  necessary 
to  a  great  commander.  Reverses  soon  followed ;  the  Persians  tri- 
umphed; Aristagoras  fled  into  Thrace,  where  he  was  murdered; 
and  Uistiseus,  after  desperate  attempts  to  resist  Persian  power,  and 


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836  TH«  GBNTILE  NATIOVB. 

establish  himself  in  different  cities,  was  taken  and  cruoified  at  Sardis 
by  the  Persian  satrap. 

Darius,  acting  nnder  the  influence  of  the  feelings  of  resentment 
called  forth  by  this  revolt,  manifested  his  anger  against  those  who 
had  in  any  way  promoted  it.  He  accordingly  sent  ambassadors  to 
the  Grecian  states,  demanding  from  them  severally  their  homage, 
but  requiring  from  Athens  in  addition  that  she  should  receive  back 
the  exiled  Hippias.  '  All  the  states,  except  Athens  and  Sparta^  com- 
plied with  his  request;  but  these  republics  returned  ahaughty  defi- 
ance.. This  reply,  as  might  be  expected,  induced  the  proud  Persian 
to  prepare  for  the  invasion  of  Greece.  As  mentioned  in  a  preced- 
ing chapter,  Mardonius  was  accordingly  sent  with  a  large  army  to 
carry  out  his  purpose.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  fleet;  and  suc- 
ceeded in  subduing  the  Island  of  Thasos  and  the  kingdom  of  Mace- 
don;  and  was.  advancing  toward  Thessaly,  when  the  fleet,  while 
proceeding,  that  it  might  cooperate  with  the  army  in  the  Thermaic 
Gulf,  encountered  a  terrible  storm  as  it  was  passing  Mount  Athos, 
by  which  300  ships  were  destroyed,  and  at  least  20,000  men  drowned, 
or  cast  on  the  desolate  shore,  to  die  a  still  more  terrible  death  from 
cold,  hunger,  or  wild  beasts.  This  catastrophe  rendered  the  advance 
of  Mardonius  on  Greece  impossible.  The  remains  of  the  fleet  and 
army  returned  to  the  Hellespont,  and  passed  over  to  Asia. 

Darius,  still  intent  on  his  purpose,  while  preparing  a  vast  arma- 
ment for  another  invasion,  sent  heralds  to  the  several  cities^  to 
demand  from  each  the  formal  tokens  of  submission, — earth  and 
water.  This  demand  was  generally  complied  with ;  but  at  Athens 
and  Sparta  it  was  not  only  rejected  with  intense  indignation,  but 
even  the  heralds  bearing  the  message,  notwithstanding  the  sacred- 
ness  of  their  character,  were  instantly  put  to  death. 

This  threatened  danger  led  to  ^e  puUic  acknowledgment  of 
Sparta  as  the  leading  state  of  Greece,  and  to  her  acceptance  of  this 
distinction.  This  ie  important,  inasmuch  as^  according  to-the  hi^- 
est  authority^  '*  it  is  the  first  direct  and  positive  historical  manifes- 
tation of  Hellas  as  an  aggregate  body,  with  Sparta  as  its  chief,  and 
obligations  of  a  certain  sort  on  the  part  of  its  members,  the  neglect 
or  violation  of  which  oonatitutes  a  species  of  treason.*' — Grottfs 
History  of  Greece,  vol.  iv,  p.  431.  This  result  was  oocasioned  by 
an  appeal  from  Athens  to  Sparta,  as  the  head  of  Greece,  against  the 
iEginetans,  for  having  given  earth  and  water  to  the  Persians,  which 
they  regarded  as  treason  to  Hellas.  The  Spartans  responded  to 
this  appeal.  Their  two  kings  went  to  iBgina,  and  not  only  insisted 
upon  the  inhabitants  continuing  faithful  to  Greece  in  the  coming 
straggle,  but  actually  selected  ten  of  the  most  eminent  citizens,  and 


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THB  anTILB  NATIOirS.  88T 

took  them  to  Athens  to  be  kept  as  hostages  for  the  performance  of 
'  the  promise. 

Meanwhile,  as  the  result  of  two  years'  preparations,  the  Persians 
assembled  a  great  army  and  fleet.  This  armament,  having  passed 
along  the  ooast  of  Asia  to  Samos,  stmck  adross  the  iBgean  Seta, 
ravaging  several  islands  in  their  oonrse.  They  landed  in  the  Bay 
of  Marathon,  on  the  east  coast  of  Attica.  Hippias,  the  former 
tyrant  of  Athens,  retomed  with  the  Persian  army.  He  had  landed 
at  the  same  place  forty-seven  years  before,  then  a  veiy  young  man, 
with  his  father  Pisistratus ;  and,  although  accompanied  by  a  com- 
paratively small  force,  soon  obtained  tiie  government  of  Athens. 
Ko  doubt,  he  expected  on  this  occasion,  by  the  aid  of  the  immense 
Persian  host,  a  still  easier  acquisition  of  pow^.  These  hopes  would 
be  greatly  strengthened  by  the  fact,  that  up  to  this  time  the  tide  of 
Persian  success  had  been  uninterrupted ;  for  the  campaign  of  Darius 
in  Scythia  did  not  present  the  aspect  of  defeat.  (Grote,  vol.  ix, 
P..481.) 

But  the  character  of  the  Athenians  had  greatly  ehanged  during 
the  interval.  More  than  eighteen  years  the  political  arrangements 
of  Gleisthenes  had  been  in  operation.  The  ten  tribes,  each  with  its 
constituent  demes,  had  become  a  part  of  the  established  institutions 
and  habits  of  the  people.  The  tendency  to  intrigue  and  cabals  had 
been  in  great  measure  cut  off.  The  people  were  now  accustomed  to 
exercise  a  genuine  and  self-determined  decision  in  their  assemblies. 
They  r^arded  themselves  as  identified  with  the  state ;  and  conse* 
qnently  the  Persian  invasion  wa»  an  aggression  on  the  personal 
liberty  and  property  of  every  individual.  • 

Besides  this  great  improvement  in  the  public  character  of  the 
Athenians,  it  happened  that  at  this  time  this  city  boasted  tiie  pres- 
ence and  aid  of  three  stateffinen,  each  of  whom  would  hare  immor- 
talized any  country  in  any  age.  *  Miltiades,  who  had  so  earnestly 
urged  the  destruction  of  the  bridge  across  the  Danube,  while  Darius 
WBB  engaged  in  his  .S^^tiiian  expedition,  had  been  compelled  to 
retmm  to  his  native  city,  where  his  eminent  bravery  and  well-known 
decision  of  character  raised  him  to  an  important  command.  Thbhis- 
TO0LB3  and  Abistides  were  younger  men.  The  former,  in  addition 
to  ether  high  qualities,  possessed  boundless  sagacity  and  invention, 
and  was  what  would  now  be  called  a  consummate  diplomatist.  The 
latter,  together  with  great  talents,  always  evinced  an  inflexible  and 
universally  acknowled^d  integrity. 

At  this  juncture,  with  the  immense  host  of  Persia  but  a  short 
distance  firom  Athens,  and  supported  by  a  vast  fleet  on  the  coast, 
the  Adienians  first  despatched  a  messenger  to  solicit  the  immediate 

22 


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888  m  eBVTItB  KATXOVS. 

aid  of  Sparta.  A  Btrange  saperetition,  or  a  stiH  more  calpabk 
motive,  induced  this  most  powerful  state  to  decline  marching  a^unst 
the  enemy  until  after  the  full  moon, — a  delay  of  at  least  five  days. 

.  The  peculiar  manner  in  which  the  Athenian  forces  were  com- 
manded also  offered  serious  obstaol^  to  a  successful  prosecution  of 
the  war.  The  army,  being  collected  from  the  ten  tribes,  was  oom- 
maqded  by  ten  generals,  oi^  from  each  tribe,  with  equal  powers; 
every  one  of  them  having  the  direction  of  the  whole  army  a  mo^e 
day  in  regular  rotation.  When  these  generals  met  to  ccHosult  on  the 
best  course  of  resisting  the  enemy,  they  were  equally  divided  in 
opinion ;  five  voting  for  marching  at  once  to  attack  the  enemy,  die 
other  five  for  delay.  Fortunately,  however,  the  polemarch  Gallim- 
acfaus,  who  had  the  casting  vote,  mflueoced  by  the  powerful  argu- 
m^ts  of  Miltiades,  supported  the  proposal  for  an  immediate  attack. 

We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  with  precision  the  nnmbNTB 
engaged  iki  this  conflict.  The  Athenian  army  appears  to  have 
comprised  about  10,000  men,  and  the  Persian  at  least  ten  times  that 
number.  The  reputation  of  Miltiades  was  such,  that  all  the  generals 
waived  their  right  to  commuid  in  his  favour.  He  accordingly  led 
his  troops  against  the  Persian  army  near  Maraithon;  and,  after  a  short 
but  severe  encounter,  routed  it,  and  pursued  the  invaders  to  their 
ships.  Notwithstanding  this  terrible  defeat,  the  power  of  the  Per- 
sian host  was  so  great  that  it  was  proposed-  at  onoe  to  sail  to  the 
harbour  of  Athens,  and  attack  the  city  in  the  absence  of  the  army. 
Miltiades,  however,  peroerved  the  object  of  the  enemy's  movement, 
and  effected  a  rapid  return  to  the  city,  before  the  arrival  ef  the  fleet 
Being  thus  defeated  on  -the  field  and  in  his  strategy,  the  Persian 
comnoander  returned,  to  Asia^  and  the  liberties  of  Greece  were 
maintained. 

Perhaps  no  successful  warrior  ever  occupied  a  higher  position  in 
the  estimaticm  of  hk  country  than  Miltiades,  after  the  battle  of 
Marathon ;  but  it  was  of  short  duration.  Intoxicated  with  success^ 
he  urged  the  preparation  of  a  great  armament,  with  which  he  attadced 
the  Island  of  Pares,  but  was  defeated  itnd  wounded;  and,  returning 
in  4isgrace,  he  was  tried,  fined,  and  cast  into  pris<»,  where  he  died. 
.  Themistodes  and  Aristides  now  conducted  the  aiGtirs  of  Athens, 
and  greatly  extended  the  influence  of  the  state  by  martial  prowess 
abroad,  and  by  the  improvement  of  its  jurisprudence  at  home. 
Their  rivalry,  however,  issued  in  the  banishment  of  Aristides  by 
ostracism;  (see  Appendix,  note  68;)  after  which,  Themistocles 
largely  added  to  the  naval  power  of  his  country,  and  secured  the 
complete  aacendency  of  Athens  in  the  Grecian  seas. 

Aithough  Dforkis,  <m  the  return  of  his  expedition  from  Greece^ 


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THB  GBNTHiB  NATI0H8.  839 

^ts  gratified  to  behold  the  long  line  of  captives  which  Datis  his 
general  had  taken  at  Eretria,  he  was  exceedingly  mortified  that  his 
attempt  on  Athens  had  not  only  failed,  but  that  the  arms  of  Persia 
had  been  ooYered  with  defeat  and  disgrace.  Under  this  strong 
feeling  agunst  Athens  in  particular  and  Greece  generally,  Darius 
resolved  upon  collecting  the  entire  strength  of  his  empire  for  the 
aooomplishment  of  his  purpose  and  the  gratification  of  his  revenge. 
For  three  whole  years  the  various  governors  and  satraps  were 
employed  in  making  the  necessary  preparation  for  this  war.  Nor 
did  tha  revolt  of  Egypt  intimidate  this  martial  prince.  He  had 
collected  such  an  immense  array  of  force,  that  he  felt  able  to  under- 
take the  reduction  of  Egypt  and  the  conquest  of  Greece  at  the 
same  time.  Death,  however,  sudden  and  unexpected,  compelled  him 
to  bequeath  his  ph&ns  and  prospects  to  Xerxes,  his  son  and  suo- 
eessor. 

This  prince  did  not  immediately  enter  into  the  designs  of  his 
&ther.  It  required  the  utmost  efforts  of  Grecian  exiles,  (Grote, 
vol.  y,  p.  5,)  and  the  Persian  counsellors  who  were  partial  to  the 
project,  to  induce  him  to  undertake  this  long-threatened  invasion. 
But  he  was  at  length  persuaded  to  enter  upon  the  enterprise,  as  it  is 
said,  as  a  religious  duty.  (Grote,  vol.  v,  p.  18.) 

It  is  doubtful  whether,  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world,  an 
armament  equal  in  magnitude  to  this  one  ever  proceeded  to  make 
war  on  any  kingdom.  It  comprised  levies  from  forty-six  different 
nations,  constituting  a  total  of  about  1,700,000  foot  soldiers,  besides 
80,000  horse,  numerous  war-chariots,  from  Libya,  and  camels  from 
Arabia,  with  an  estimated  total  of  20,000  additional  men.  (See 
Appendix,  note  64.)  Besides  this  land-army,  eight  other  nations 
furnished  a  fleet  of  1,207  triremes,  or  ships  of  war  with  three  banks 
of  oars,  on  board  of  which  Persians,  Medes,  and  Sacse  served  as 
marines.  The  real  leaders  of  this  vast  host  were  native  Persians  of 
noble  blood,  who  were  distributed  throughout  all  the  divisions  of  the 
army. 

This  estimate  has  been  by  many  able  writers  thought  extravagant ; 
but  as  it  is  that  given  by  Herodotus,  who  had  the  advantage  of  con- 
versing with  those  who  were  eye-witnesses  of  the  enumeration  of 
thip  vast  host,  it  may  be  taken  as  the  best  approximation  to  the 
correct  number  that  can  be  now  obtained. 

The  measures  devised  for  the  transit  of  this  army  were  commen- 
surate with  its  magnitude.  A  bridge  of  boats,  fastened  together 
and  to  either  shore  by  strong  cables,  was  thrown  across  the  Helles- 
pont. This,  however,  was  destroyed  by  b  storm  before  it  was  used; 
at  which  the  Persian  monarch  was  so  incensed,  that  he  is  said  to 


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340  THE  GEMTILB  NATIONS. 

have  descended  to  the  childish  absurdity  of  upbraiding,  flogging,  and 
casting  fetters  into  the  waters  of  the  strait,  as  a  punishment  for  their 
insubordination.  Afterward  two  other  bridges  were' prepared;  and 
over  these  the  vast  military  array  of  Persia  marched,  taking  up  seven 
whole  days  in  their  transit  over  this  distance  of  about  an  English 
mile  in  length.  Besides  this  great  work,  Xerxes  had  a  ship-canal 
out  through  the  isthmus  which  connects  Mount  Athos  with  the  main- 
land, so  wide  that  two  of  his  large  war- vessels  could  pass  through  it 
abreast.  By  this  means  the  fleet  was  saved  from  the  danger  of 
rounding  that  stormy  promontory. 

When  Greece  became  fully  acquainted  with  the  magnitude  of 
these  preparations,  universal  alarm  prevailed ;  and  a  congress  of  the 
representatives  of  all  the  Grecian  statea  who  were  determined  to 
maintain  their  freedom,  was  held  at  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth.  Al- 
though this  meeting' did  not  result  in  any  settled  plan  of  operations, 
it  did  much  to  heal  the  feuds  existing  between  the  several  states, 
and  to  induce  a  general  union  of  feeling  and  a  nationality  of  purpose. 
Meanwhile  the  oracles  gave  most  appalling  intelligence,  and  the  pre- 
vailing sentiments  were  apprehension  and  distrust. 

The  first  active  measure  toward  repelling  the  invasion  was  the 
defence  of  the  Pass  of  Thermopylae.  This  was  undertaken  by  Sparta, 
as  the  leading  state  of  Greece.  The  force  appointed  for  this  service 
was  led  by  Leonidas,  one  of  the  kings  of  that  state,  al  the  head  of 
a  band  of  three  hundred  citizen- warriors  of  Lacedsemon,  with  five 
hundred  hoplit(B  of  Tegea,  five  hundred  from  Mantinea,  four  hun- 
dred from  Corinth,  and  about  two  thousand  one  hundred  from  other 
places ;  besides  four  hundred  Thebans,  whose  fidelity  to  the  cause 
of  Greece  was  very  questionable.  This  famous  pass  consisted  of 
two  narrow  openings  at  each  end,  just  broad  enoiigh  to  drive  a 
single  chariot  through:  between  these  two  extremities  there  was 
an  interval  of  about  a  mile  of  wide  open  road,  on  the  sides  of  which 
were  several  hot  springs.  This  combination  of  circumstances  gave 
it  the  name  of  Thermopylce,  or  "  the  Hot  Gates." 

Another  consideration  led  the  Greeks  to  adopt  this  position.  The 
Persian  fleet  accompanied  the  army,  coasting  its  way  as  it  advanced. 
Here,  however,  the  large  island  of  Euboea  lay  immediately  off  the 
mainland,  forming  in  the  intermediate  space  the  Meliac  and  Opon- 
tian  Gulfs ;  so  that  the  Persian  fleet  had  to  encounter  the  dangerous 
navigation  outside  the  inland,  and  to  be  separated  to  a  great  distance 
from  the  army,  or  to  sail  through  the  narrow  channel,  where  the 
small  but  effective  Greek  fleet  would  fight  at  nearly  as  great  an 
advantage  as  was  possessed  by  the  soldiers  who  defended  the  pass. 
This  position  was  accordingly  occupied  by  the  united  navy  of 


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.     THB  OBNTII4S  NATIONS.  341 

Greece.  When,  howeTer,  the  Persian  fleet  arrived,  their  numhers 
and  strength  were  so  imposing  that  the  Greeks  were  terrified  into 
an  immediate  retreat  into  the  narrowest  part  of  the  channel, — a 
movement  which  neutraliaed  entirely  the  defence  of  Thermopylae, 
since  it  a£R>rded  an  opportunity  for  the  fleet  to  advance,  and  land 
troops  in  the  rear  of  the  Greek  army.  But  before  the  Persians  had 
sofBcient  information  or  time  to  avail  themselves  of  .this  advantage,  a 
terrible  storm  or  snccession  of  storms  made  frightful  havoc  of  their 
ships.  According  to  the  lowest  estimate,  four  hundred  large  vessels 
of  war,  besides  numerous  transports  and  small  craft,  with  a  countless 
number  of  men  and  an  immense  amount  of  stores  and  treasure,  were 
lost.  The  Greeks  attributed  this  storm  to  the  interposition  of  their 
deity  Boreas*  The  hurricane  certainly  had  so  damaged  the  Persian 
fleet  that  the  Greeks  felt  emboldened  to  resist  its  progress,  and  for 
that  purpose  returned  to  Artemisium. 

Xerxes  at  first  could  pcarcely  credit  the  report  that  a  small  band 
of  Spartans  would  dare  to  resist  the  march  of  his  army  through  the 
pass :  he,  however,  soon  found  it  to  be  true.  Not  only  did  they 
resist,  but  for  two  successive  days  hurled  back  in  confusion  and  dis- 
grace all  that  survived  of  the  best  troops  in  the  Persian  army  who 
were  sent  against  them.  The  proud  Persian,  maddened  by  this  defeat 
and  loss,  thrice  leaped  from  his  horse  in  frantic  agony.  All  his  efforts, 
however,  would  have  been  vain,  had  not  a  Greek  deserter  told  him 
of  a  narrow  path  across  the  mountain,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to 
march  a  body  of  troops  to  the  other  side  of  the  pass,  and  thus,  tak- 
ing Leonidas  in  the  rear,  completely  hemmed  him  in.  The  Spartan 
king  was  aware  of  this  path,  and  had  intrusted  the  defence  of  it  to 
the  Phocians,  who,  basing  assailed  by  the  Persian?  at  midnight,  sought 
safety  in  flight.  On  hearing  of  this  misfortune,  Leonidas  sent  away 
his  auxiliary  forces,  and  retained  with  him  but  one  thousand  chosen 
troops.  He  did  not  wait  for  the  attack,  but,  sallying  forth  into  the 
broad  space,  he  assailed  the  Persian  host,  and  inflicted  a  terrible 
slaoghter  on  the  invaders,  until,  wearied  rather  than  vanquished,  the 
Spartan  king  feU,  and  his  brave  companions  were  destroyed. 

About  this  time  the  Greek  fleet  obtained  a  great  victory  over 
that  of  the  enemy  at  Artemisium ;  but  this  was  rendered  of  no  effect 
by  the  &tal  loss  of  Thermopylee,  since  there  was  no  other  tenable 
position  to  the  north  of  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth.  The  career  of 
Xerxes  was  now  marked  with  fire  and  blood.  The  Greeks  in 
general  abandoned  their  towns,  and  all  the  property  which  they 
oould  not  remove ;  while  the  Persian  host,  after  pillaging  all  that 
they  could  take,  burned  and  destroyed  the  remainder.  This  was 
even  the  case  with  Athens.     That  noble  people,  knowing  that  it 


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842  THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

would  be  impossible  to  defend  their  city,  removed  thdir  women  uA 
children  to  places  of  refuge  in  the  adjacent  islands,  while  all  able  to 
bear  arms  passed  over  to  Salamis,  to  resist  the  enemy  to  the  utmost. 

Xerxes  was  allowed  to  gratify  his  revenge  in  the  entire  destruc- 
tion of  the  Attic  capital.  This  was,  indeed,  his  prime  object  in  tiie 
invasion  of  Greece ;  and  it  was  the  limit  of  his  success.  Intoxicated 
with  this  gratification,  he  decided  on  attacking  the  Greek  fleet  in  the 
harbour  of  Salamis,  and  had  the  intense  mortification  of  seeing  his 
great  navy  completely  ruined.  The  fleet  being  mainly  composed 
of  Phenicians,  Egyptians,  Gilicians,  Cyprians,  ^z>c.,  difiering  in 
language  from  each  other,  and  having  no  plan  for  acting  in  concert, 
the  battle  had  no  sooner  begun  in  the  narrow  straits,  than  the  whole 
fleet  was  thrown  into  confusion,  and,  hemmed  around  by  the  skilfully 
managed  Greek  ships,  was  destroyed,  to  an  immense  extent,  without 
the  possibility  of  successful  defence.  Xerxes  was  an  eye-witness 
of  the  combat ;  and,  on  perceiving  the  result,  he  resolved  to  secure 
his  personal  safety  by  an  immediate  return  to  Asia.  Leaving  Mar- 
donius  with  three  hundred  thousand  chosen  troops,  the  Persian 
monarch,  with  the  residue  of  the  army,  hastily  retreated  by  the  way 
by  which  he  came :  but  on  reaching  the  Hellespont,  he  found  his 
bridge  destroyed,  and  had  to  cross  the  strait  in  a  comm<m  fishing- 
boat. 

The  progress  and  result  of  this  invasion  thus  far  yield  very  im- 
portant information  on  the  character  and  relations  of  the  Gredan 
states.  It  is  almost  incredible,  yet  it  is  an  undoubted  fiict,  that, 
while  this  immense  army  was  marching  through  Thessaly,  Greece 
had  not  seriously  begun  to  prepare  measures  for  the  defence  of  the 
country ;  that  when  Leonidas  and  his  devoted  band  took  their  station 
at  Thermopylae,  not  only  was  there  no  general  and  well-organised  plan 
of  resistance,  but  the  most  insane  and  criminal  neglect  of  national 
interests  existed.  It  was  just  then  the  time  of  celebrating  the 
Olympic  Games  on  the  banks  of  the  Alpheus,  and  the  Gameian 
festival  at  Sparta  and  in  most  of  the  other  Dorian  states ;  and  thus, 
while  not  merely  the  freedom,  but  even  the  existence,  of  Greece  was 
at  stake,  a  mere  handful  of  men  are  sent  to  withstand  myriads,  that 
the  body  of  the  nation  may  enjoy  these  solemnities.  This  course  is 
the  more  extraordinary,  inasmuch  as  the  frontier  of  Thessaly  was 
clearly  the  proper  place  for  the  defence  of  Greece.  If,  by  a  wise 
arrangement,  the  strength  of  tiie  several  states  had  marshalled  there, 
the  attack  of  the  proud  Persian  must  have  proved  an  unmitigated 
failure.  But  when,  in  consequence  of  the  defeat  of  Leonidas,  the 
Persians  poured  their  troops  into  Greece,  there  was  then  no  tenable 
position  for  the  Greek  army  but  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth;  and  con- 


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THK  OBNTILB  NATI0H8.  348 

Bequeniij  aU  Dork,  Bcoolia^  and  Attica  trere  left  to  be  rayaged  by 
the  enemy. 

But  while  all  the  disgraoe  and  loss  cgnnected  with  the  conquest 
of  these  states  and  the  boming  of  Athens  were  caused  by  the  fault 
of  the  Greeks,  the  entire  failure  of  4he  expedition  arose  out  of  an 
equally  false  moTement  of  Xerxes.  If,  instead  of  the  foolish  attack 
on  the  Greek  fleet  in  the  harbour  of  Salamis,  he  had  pushed  on  his 
troops  against  Corinth,  it  is.  more  than  probable  that,  according  to 
the  opinion  of  the  sagacious  and  brave  Queen  Artemisia^  the  ships 
of  the  Peloponnesian  states  would  have  retired  from  the  fleet  to 
protect  their  own  homes ;  and  thus,  instead  ef  one  united  Greek 
naval  armament,  there  would  bare  been  opposed  to  the  Persian 
navy  only  a  number  of  small  and  ineflfective  squadrons. 

After  the  flight  of  Xerxes,  Mardonius  with  his  army  retired  to 
Thessaly,  where  he  wintered.  Before  renewing  the  war  the  follow- 
ing spring,  he  sent  to  the  Athenians,  offering  to  rebuild  their  city, 
and  to  give  &em  the  friendship  of  Persia,  if  they  would  secede  from 
the  Gkeek  allianoe.  This  measure  greatly  alarmed  Sparta,  who 
immediately  sent  ambassadors  to  Athens,  imploring  that  people  to 
reject  the  proposal.  The  Athenians  nobly  declared  that  great  aa 
were  their  sufferings  and  difficulties,  they  would  maintain  the  war 
with  Persia,  .while  a  single  Athenian,  remained  alive.  They  at  the 
same  time  urged  the  immediate  presence  of  a  Peloponnesian  army 
in  BoBotia,  to  resist  the  advancing  foe.  This,  in  defiance  of  all  sound 
policy  and  just  principle,  was  refused ;  and  Attica  was  once  more 
desolated  with  fire  and  sword,  the  Athenians  again  taking  refuge  in 
Salamis.  At  this  juncture  Mardonius  renewed  his  offers  of  friend- 
ship to  the  Athenians,  wUdi  they  rejected  with  scorn  and  contempt* 

At  length  the  Spartans  were  roused  to  action,  fearing  the  defec«* 
tion  of  the  Athenians  or  the  return  of  the  Persian  fleet,  either  of 
which  events  would  create  a  danger  which  no  fortifications  at  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth  could  avert.  The  Spartan  force  was  commanded 
by  Pausanias.  On  the  approach  of  the  Greek  army,  Mardonius 
retired  to  Bc&otia,  where,  he  could  fight  at  considerable  advantage. 
Thither  he  was  followed  by  the  Greeks ;  and,  after  numerous  evolu- 
tioDS  and  skirmishes,  a  great  and  decisive  battle  was  fought  near 
Plataea.  This  was  brought  about  in  great  measure  by  accident 
Pausanias,  finding  his  post  on  the  Asopus  rerj  favourable  for  the 
Persian  cavahry,  retired  in  the  night  to  a  position  on  higher  ground 
near  Platiea.  Mardonius,  mistaking  this  movement  for  a  retreat^ 
ordered  an  immediate  and  general  attack.  The  result  was  the  total 
defeat  of  the  Persians :  Mardonius  and  two  hundred  thousand  of  his 
men  lay  dead  on  the  field,  and  of  the  remainder  of  the  army  only 


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944  THB  aENTILB  HATIOBrS. 

forty  thoQsand  escaped  under  Artabaaus  to  the  Hellespont  The 
iavading  legions  were  thus  annihilated,  Greece  deliyered,  and  a 
countless  booty  of  wealth  realized  from  the  Persian  camp. 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  on  the  same  day  that  the  battle  of 
Plataea  was  fought,  the  Persian  navy,  although  drawn  ashore  at 
Mycale,  and  protected  by  sixty  thousand  men,  was  stormed  and 
destroyed  by  the  Greek  fleet.  These  yiotories  decided  the  issue  of 
the  conflict.  PaUsanias,  enabled  to  assume  the  aggressive,  con- 
tinued the  war  against  all  the  Persian  dependencies  in  the  jSigean 
Sea,  and  consummated  his  triumph  by  the  cloture  of  Byzantium, 
which  was  even  then  an  important  dty. 

Although  this  celebrated  general  allowed  himself  to  be  so  intoxi- 
cated by  his  success  and  consequent  wealth  that  he  miserably 
perished,  and  Themistocles  by  the  artifice  of.  the  Spartans  was 
involved  in  his  crime  and  died  in  banishment,  the  war  was  ccmtinued 
against  Persia,  principally  under  this  direction  of  Oimon,  the  son  of 
Miltiades,  until,  in  449  B.  C,  after  a  conflict  of  more  than  fiffy 
years'  duration,  a  peace  was  negotiated,  which  confirmed  the  inde- 
pendence of  Greece,  and  of  the  Greek  cities  in  Lower  Asia^  shut 
out  all  Persian  vessels  from  the  JEgeafi  waters,  and  prohibited  any 
Persian  army  from  coming  within  three  days'  march  of  the  sea.  To 
this  successful  issue  did  the  valour  of  Greece  bring  a  war  with  the 
most  powerful  empire  of  the  world  at  that  time. 

As  our  limits  prevent  our  going  into  detail  of -the  events  con- 
nected with  the  rebuilding  and  fortification  of  Athens  on  an  extended 
scale,  (see  Appendix,  note  65,)  in  defiance  of  the  petty  jealousy  of 
Sparta;  as  well  as  of  the  various  political  measures  by  which  the 
former  state,  through  daring  maritime  amd  commercial  enterprise, 
became  the  leading  power  of  Hellas  .^  it  will  be  necessary  to  direct 
particular  attention  to  the  real  condition  of  Greece  in  this  tjie  most 
glorious  period  of  her  career. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  ascertain  whence  the  peculiar  and 
distinguishing  excellence  of  the  Greek  character  arose,  and  to 
trace  the  combination  of  fostering  influences  under  which  it  grew 
up  to  such  maturity  and  power.  But  it  is  certain  that  this  growth 
was  as  rapid  in  its  progress  as  it  was  remarkable  in  its  extent, 
and  grand  in  its  results;  It  was  after  B.  0.  66Q  that  the  Greeks 
are  known  to  have  cultivated  the  art  of  writing.  Even  the  poems 
of  Homer  were  unwritten  at  this  period;  and  it  was  some  time 
later  that  prose  composition  began  to  be  cultivated.  Pherecydes 
of  Scyros,  B.  C.  550,  is  by  several  authors  r^arded  as  the  first 
Greek  prose  writer;  nor  did  any  one  acquire  eminence  in  this  depart- 
ment of  literature  until  fifty  years  afterward. 


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TUfi  OENTILB  NATIONS.  346 

It  IB  also  remarkable  that  inventions  necessary  to  the  existence 
6f  works  of  art  in  any  tolerable  measure,  were  introduced  at  an 
equally  late  period.  The  art  of  welding  iron  was  unknown  in 
Greece  until  just  before  600  B.  C,  when  it  was  discovered  by  Glau- 
cos  of  Chios :  and  about  the  same  time  the  art  of  casting  copper  or 
brass  in  a  mould  was  invented  at  Samos. .  Prior  to  this,  all  Grecian 
statuary  consisted  of  rude  and  ill-formed  representations.  Even  the 
*'  memorial  erected  in  honour  of  a  god  did  not  pretend  to  be  an  image, 
but  was  often  nothing  more  than  a  pillar,  a  board,  a  shapeless  stone, 
a  pQSt^'*  filled  so  as  to  mark  a&d  consecrate  a  particular  locality. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  there  was  a  real  image,  but  of  the  rudest  char- 
acter, formed  of  wood,  and  always  made  for  eaqh  separate  divinity 
after  a  particular  type  or  figure.  About  580  B.  0.,  a  disposition 
was  evinced  to  alter  the  material,  and  to  correct  the  rudeness  of  the 
figure.  Marble  was  introduced,  and  some  artists  of  Crete  acquired 
renown  by  working  with  this  material.  Ivory  and  gold  were  also 
used,  to  cover  and  adorn  images  made  of  wood. 

It  is  also  observable  that  about  this  period  we  meet  with  the 
earliest  architectural  monuments  of  Greece.  The  greatest  Grecian 
temples,  known  to  Herodotus,  were  built  about^  or  soon  after 
600  B.  C. 

In  tracing  the  primitive  development  of  the  Greek  mind,  it  must 
not  be  forgotten,  that  in  the  early,  times,  when  prose  literature  was 
unknown,  poetry  and  music  were  extensively  cultivated.  Grote, 
indeed,  supposes  music  to  have  first  led  to  this  poetic  cultivation. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  certoin  that  poetry  was  a  most  important 
agent  in  the  development  of  Grecian  greatness.  This  was  perhaps 
as  much  owing  to  the  manner  in  which  it  was  used,  as  to  the  peculiar 
power  and  influence  which  it  is  adapted  to  communicate.  It  was  not 
confined  to  works  of  imagination^  and  wasted  in  rhapsody,  but  was 
made  to  adorn  and  inspirit  the  most  important  public  and  private 
duties.  Itot  only  were  the  minds  of  this  people  excited  and  elevated 
by  the  sublime  conceptions  of  Homer,  and  instructed  by  the  Theogo- 
nies  of  Hesiod ;  but  the  same  agent»  strange  as  it  may  sound  in  our 
ears,  was  used  to  propound  political  constitutions  and  systems  of 
law.  Solon  announced  his  various  reforms,  and  gave  forth  his 
canons  of  government  in  verse.  .  A  metrical  work  on  astronomy 
was  ascribed  to  Thales. 

The  immense  development  of  Grecian  art,  from  600  B.  G.  to  the 
days  of  Pericles,  forms  a  wonderful  phenomenon  in  human  history. 
It  could  only  result  fh>m  an  uncommon  diffusion  of  genius ;  and 
genius  is  a  providential  gift.  While,  therefore,  we  refer  to  means 
which  promoted  intellectual  progress,  we  regard  it  as  impossible  for 


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346  THB  QBNTILB  KATIONB. 

any  consistent  believer  in  divine  revelation  to  consider  the  varied 
talent  and  the  noble  intellectual  achievements  of  Greece  in  any  othei' 
aspect,  than  as  divinely-appointed  means  for  accomplii^ing  the  pre- 
determined purposes  of  the  great  Governor  of  the  world. 

It  may,  however,  be  observed,  that  one  cause  of  this  rapid  impinge- 
ment was  evidently  the  result  of  the  eminently  practical  tendency  of 
Grecian  effort.  If  we  refer,  for  an  instance,  to  the  Seven  Wise  Men, 
whose  talents  and  genius  have  consecrated  their  names  to  the  highest 
Jionour,  as  great  agents  in  the  world's  civilization ;  we  do  not  find 
them  to  have  been  remarkable  for  their  researches  into  abstract 
science;  fbr,  as  a  celebrated  contemporary  of  Aristotle  declared, 
they  were  not  "  wise  men,"  or  "  philosophers,"  in  the  sense  which 
those  words  bore  in  his  day,  but  persons  of  practical  discernment  in 
reference  to  man  and  society. 

The  peculiar  political  constitution  of  the  Grecian  states  must  have 
greatly  fostered  the  art  of  public  speaking;  and  it  is  probable  that 
nothing  more  effectively  contributed  to  the  general  intellectual  culti- 
vation of  the  people  than  this  practice.  After  the  close  of  the  Persian 
war  especially,  the  requirements  of  public  speaking  called  forth  a 
class  of  rhetorical  teachers,  whose  united  eff[)rts  greatly  luded  die 
enlargement  and  refinement  of  the  Grecian  mind. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  this  great  mental  develop- 
ment which  immortalized  Greece,  was  the  spontaneous  result  of 
mere  native  energy.  On  the  contrary,  perhaps  no  country  ever 
gained  so  much  from  foreign  teaching.  Thales,  the  most  celebrated 
rf  the  Seven  Wise  Men,  the  father  both  of  Grecian  science  and  of 
the  Ionic  philosophy,  is  acknowledged  to  have  obtained  his  informa- 
tion from  abroad.  He  is  known  to  have  visited  Egypt  and  Asia; 
and  it  is  extremely  probable  that  a  mind  so  energetic  and  inquisi- 
tive would  lose  no  opportunity  of  seeking  knowledge  at  the  fountain- 
head.  He  might,  therefore,  have  seen  the  wonderful  Babylon  in  its 
glory,  with  its  temple^ observatory  of  the  Chaldaean  priesthood,  and 
all  the  treasures  of  knowledge  and  research  which  it  contained.  He 
might  also  have  surveyed  the  still  more  wonderful  Nineveh,  before 
its  destruction  by  the  Medes^,  and,  in  these  primitive  seats  of  life 
and  learning,  might  have  acquired  the  principles  of  scienee,  and  the 
results  of  enlightened  and  long- continued  observation, 

This  supposition  reconciles  what  else  appears  contradictory  in 
the  accounts  which  have  come  down  to  us  respecting  this  sage. — 
namely,  that  while  all  that  is  reported  of  his  mathematical  knowledge 
consists  of  some  problems  which  are  contained  in  the  first  book  of 
Euclid,  he  is  said  by  Herodotus  to  have  predicted  an  eclipse  which 
actually  occurred.     It  is  easily  conceivable  that  he  might  hare 


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THB  QBNXILB  NATIONS.  847 

obtained  the  latter  mformation  from  the  learned  Ghaldseans,  wfele 
his  o'wn  scientific  attainments  were  on  a  oomparatiyely  limited 
scale. 

Pythagoras  was  another  snch  instance.  He  is  said  to  have  spent 
thirfy  years  in  travels  which  extended  from  Gaul  to  India.  The 
time  and  extent  of  these  journeys  may  be  over-estimated ;  but  it  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  that  he  visited  Egypt,  Phenicia  and  Babylon. 
These  countries  at  that  period  retained  their  primitive  character 
and  national  independence.  Ainasis,  the  last  of  the  native  kings, 
reined  in  Egypt;  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  his  immediate  successor, 
ruled  in  Babylon,  where  the  remains  of  the  Hebrew  people  were  then 
held  in  captivity. 

Pythagoras  returned  with  much  important  scientific  treasure. 
He  was  the  first  European  who  traced  in  outline  the  true  theory  of 
the  universe,  which,  two  thousand  years  later,  was  revived  and  more 
fully  taught  by  Copernicus.  His  principal  tenets  will  be  shown  in 
the  chapter  which  treats  of  the  religion  of  Qreece :  but  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that,  besides  carrying  out  his  religious  and  political 
objects,  he  greatly  enlarged  the  general  knowledge  and  the  mathe- 
matical and  physical  sdenoe  of  Greece. 

Our  limits  forbid  enlargement  on  this  topic :  reference  to  an 
epitome  of  this  intellectual  progress  must  therefore  suffice,  in  the 
observation  that,  from  the  time  of  Pythagoras  to  the  days  of  Peri- 
cles, cultivated  genius  and  the  elegant  arts  rapidly  rose  to  the  highest 
perfection  ever  attained  in  any  age  or  nation  of  the  world. 

The  era  succeeding  th^"  Persian  war,  which  was  rendered  so 
glorious  to  the  Greeks  by  the  noblest  triumphs  of  intellect  and  art, 
Was  followed  by  one  so  full  of  calamity  and  disgrace  to  the  national 
diaracter,  that  the  mind  recoils  from  the  recital  of  such  events ;  and 
we  therefore  purposely  give  but  a  very  brief  outline  of  them. 

Athens  attained,  under  thegovemmentof  Pericles,  the  summitof  her 
greatness.  Not  only  did  she  stand  foremost  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  science,  literature,  and  art,  but  in  other  respects  her  acqui- 
sitions were  equally  wonderful.  Unbounded  wealth  had  been  gained^ 
an  unrivalled  extent  of  commerce  secured,  and  a  corresponding  naval 
force  and  colonial  empire  organized.  In  the  short  period  between 
the  battle  of  Mycale  and  the  first  Peloponnesian  war,  Athens  had 
established  her  authority  over  more  than  one  thousand  miles  of  the 
coast  of  Asia;  had  taken  possession  of  forty  islands,  together  with 
the  important  straits  which  joined  the  Euxine  and  the  .Sgean ;  had 
conquered  and  colonized  Thrace  and  Macedon;  and  had  extended 
her  powerful  influence  over  the  countries  and  tribes  still  further 
northward. 


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B48  THB  GBNTHiS  NATI0M8. 

9his  amount  of  sucoess  rendered  St)arta  and  the  othw  Grecian 
states  extremely  jealous  and  enyiou^  of  Athens.  To  snch  a  degree 
was  this  feeling  carried,  that  nothing  but  a  pretext  was  wanting  to 
create  a  formidable  confederacy  against  Attica.  A  dispute  with 
Corinth  respecting  some  colonial  possessions  induced  that  state  to 
seek  the  aid  of  Sparta, — a  request  which  was  immediately  granted, 
and  produced  a  general  war  between  the  two  great  sections  of  the 
Greek  nation.  The  parties  to  this  contest  were  singularly  balanced 
in  their  power  to  maintain  it.  Athens,  with  her  commercial  and 
colonial  resources  and  maritime  strength,  seemed  far  more  than  a 
match  for  Sparta  and  all  her  allies :  but  while  this  power  was  over- 
whelming at  sea,  the  large  extent  of  coast  and  scattered  countries 
from  which  it  was  drawn  prevented  Athens  from  bringing  an  army 
into  the  field  sufficient  to  meet  that  of  her  associated  enemies.  Eadi 
of  the  belligerents  prosecuted  the  war  according  to  their  means. 
Sparta  invaded  and  ravaged  Attica  by  land,  and  the  Athenian  fleet 
desolated  the  coasts  of  Sparta.  This  unnatural  contest  was  con- 
tinued for  about  nine  years  with  varying  success,  when  it  terminated 
in  a  peace,  or  rather  truce,  for  fifty  years,  made  on  the  basis  of  a 
mutual  restitution  of  the  captures  made  by  each  party  during  the 
war.    This  took  place  B.  0.  422. 

One  short  year  sufficed  to  terminate  this  hopeful  return  of  the 
Greek  people  to  a  pacific  policy.  Corinth,  regarding  her  interests 
as  neglected  in  this  treaty,  privately  incited  the  Argives  against 
Sparta.  This  in  itself  might  have  been  harmless,  had  not  Alcibi- 
ades,  a  nephew  of  Pericles,  induced  the  Athenians  to  afford  secret 
support  to  this  aggression.  This  man,  although  possessing  talent^ 
lacked  principle,  and  was,  moreover,  the  slave  of  an  ungovernable 
ambition.  His  influence  was  sufficient  to  place  the  leading  states 
of  Greece  again  in  an  antagonistic  position. 

Having  effected  this  object,  he  persuaded  the  Athenians  to  aend  a 
great  armament  against  Sicily.  Although  the  object  was  not  dis- 
tinctly avowed,  it  was  intended  by  this  means  to  establish  the 
supremacy  of  Athens  over  that  island.  This  was  the  culminating 
point  of  Athenian  greatness  and  daring.  The  expedition  entirely 
fiuled :  the  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  ships  of  war,  besides 
transports  and  tenders,. were  either  taken  or  destroyed.  The  army, 
after  terrible  defeats  and  privations,  was  compelled  to  surrender  at 
discretion ;  after  which  the  generals  were  put  to  death,  and  the  com- 
mon soldiers  sold  for  slaves. 

In  the  mean  time  Alcibiades,  who  had  been  at  first  one  of  the 
commanders  of  this  expedition,  but  who  had  fled  from  his  post  and 
his  country,  to  avoid  trial  on  a  charge  of  impiety,  at  first  aided  the 


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THB  OBNTILB  NATIONS.  849 

Spartans  by  his  advice  and  connsel  in  their  aggressiobe  on  Athens ; 
but,  haying  proToked  their  resentment  by  his  vices,  and  being  wish- 
ful to  return  to  his  native  country,  he-  negotiated  witii  the  Persian 
satrap  of  Western  Asia,  and  thus  effected  an  entire  revolution  in 
Athens,  by  whidt  the  demo<;racy  was  destroyed,  and  the  government 
confided  to  four  hundred  of  the  aristocracy.  These,  however,  dread- 
ing the  ambition  and  wiles  of  AlciUades,  refused  to  recall  him ; 
whUe  their  cruelty  and  rapacity  soon  disgusted  their  wannest  parti- 
sans. Alcibiades,  finding  them  unsuitable  for  his  purpose,  prose- 
cuted his  intrigues  in  another  direction,  and  soon  effected  the  resto- 
ration of  democracy,  and  his  own  recall  and  return  to  power. 

These  events,  followed  by  the  efforts  of  Alcibiades  after  his  return, 
delayed,  but  could  not  prevent,  the  fall  of  Athens.  Spme  reverses 
in  their  naval  warfare  induced  the  Athenians  to  doom  him  to  a 
second  banishment.  Then  the  Spartan  fieet  held  the  mastery  of 
the  sea ;  and,  after  a  brief  season  spent  in^  preparations,  Athens  was 
simultaneously  assailed  by  land  and  sea ;  the  Spartan  King  Agis 
commanding  the  army,  and  Lysander  the  fleet  The  Athenians 
made  an  obsdnate  defence,  but  their  cause  was  hopeless ;  they  were 
compelled  to  surrender.  The  conditions  were  sufficiently  humilia- 
ting. The  democracy  was  abolished,  and  the  government  of  Athens 
given  to  thirty  persons  named  by  the  Spartans.  All  their  ships  but 
twelve  were  surrendered;  all  claim  to  their  colonies  and  foreign 
possessions  was  given  up ;  and  the  Athenians  were  bound  to  follow 
the  Spartan  standard  in  war.  Harsh  as  these  terms  were,  the 
Thebans  and  Corinthians  clamoured  for  far  more  severe  measures. 

The  Spartans,  however,  did  not  regard  their  triumph  as  complete 
without  the  death  of  Alcibiades.  To  the  eternal  infamy  of  Sparta^ 
a  party  of  assassins  was  despatched  to  a  remote  viUage  in  Phrygia, 
where  the  illustrious  Athenian  r^esided  in  solitude.  Afraid  to  assail 
him  openly,  they  set  fire  to  his  house ;  and  althou^  he  nobly  rushed 
through  the  flames,  and  slew  the  foremost  of  the  assassins,  he  fell, 
overwhelmed  by  numbers:  and  with  him  perished  the  hope  of 
Athens. 

The  triumph  of  Sparta  in  the  ruin  of  Athens  did  not  consolidate 
the  power  of  the  former  atat6.  If  the  result  of  this  success  had  been 
the  union  of  all  Greece  under  one  strong,  wise,  and  liberal  govern- 
ment, it  might,  notwithstanding  the  sacrifice  and  the  suffering  which 
it  involved,  have  promoted  the  great  cause  of  civilization  and  human 
improvement.  But  this  was  not  the  case :  the  different  states  of 
Greece  still  remained  separate  and  independent ;  and,  after  the  &11 
of  Athetos,  they  severally  found — especially  the  minor  ones — ^ihat 
they  had  fought  and  bled  to  rear  up  an  enormous  tyranny.    This 


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860  THB  QBNTILB  NATIOHB. 

conviction  wad  greatly  j^moted  by  the  oondact  of  Lysander,  the 
Lacedaemonian  general,- who  prov^  to  be  the  greatest  oppreaaor 
that  Greece  had  ever  raised  to  power.  Independently  of  the  feel- 
ings elicited  by  his  oondact,  it  was  found  that  no  sooner  had  the 
fury  of  martial  pdding  passed  away,  than  those  who  had  been  die 
mostin  vetisrate  enemies  of  Athens  reprobated  the  continued  injustice 
of  the  Thirty  Tyrants,  and  the  cold-blooded  cruelty  and  unlimited 
rapacity  with  which  they  conducted  the  government  of  that  city. 
Even  the  Thebans  deeply  commiserated  the  sujffisrings  of  the  Athe- 
nians, and  afforded  a  safe  asylum  to  all  who  preferred  exile  to  confis- 
cation or  death. 

The  result  was  soon  seen  in  the  assembling  of  a  considerable  band 
of  these  refugees  at  Thebes,  under  the  direction  of  Thrasybulus. 
They  first  seized  Phyle,  and  afterward  the  PirsBus.  Lysandw 
quickly  sailed  to  the  aid  of  the  government,  and  blockaded  the 
insurgents.  But,  by  this  time,  wiser  and  more  liberal  counsels 
obtained  even  in  Sparta ;  and  Pausanias,  the  most  popular  of  the 
Lacedaemonian  princes,  marched  with  an  armed  force  to  counteract 
the  designs  of  Lysander.  It  is  but  seldom,  even  in  the  crafty  ma- 
noduvres  of  Sparta,  that  we  find  one  army  so  efiectively  employed 
to  circumvent  the  operations  of  another.  The  liberal  views  of  the 
Pausanias  party  were,  however,  most  triumphantly  sustained.  The 
Tyrants  were  expelled  from  Athens,  the  ancient  constitution  was 
restored,  and  a  general  amnesty  -decreed.  These  important  meas- 
ures gave  fresh  existence  to  the  fallen  republic,  and  rendered  possi- 
ble a  renewal  of  its  glory  and  prosperity. 

Soon  after  the  restoration  of  democracy,  the  trial,  conde^ination, 
and  death  of  Socrates  took  place.  His  remarkable  character  will  be 
reviewed  in  another  chapter ;  in  which  some  observations  will  be 
made  on  his  course  of  action,  and  on  the  treatment  which  he 
received. 

Another  event  happened  about  the  same  time,  of  whidi  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  whether  the  military  talent  or  the  literary  excellence 
which  it  called  forth,  is  most  to  be  admired.  On  the  death  of 
Darius  No  thus.  King  of  Persia,  he  left  the  crown  to  his  eldest  son, 
Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  as  has  been  already  related.  His  brother 
Gyrus,  having  been  previously  governor  of  the  western  provinces  of 
the  empire,  had  greatly  served  the  Spartans,  by  supplying  them 
with  money  to  carry  on  the  war  with  Athens.  He  now  hoped  to 
obtain  from  them  in  return  such  aid  as  would  enable  him,  with  the 
troops  which  he  could  collect  in  bis  province,  to  dispossess  his 
brother,  and  secure  the  throne.  Thirteen  thousand  Greeks  re- 
sponded to  his  call,  and  among  them  Xenophon  the  Athon^uL 


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TH«  GBNTILB  KATIOlfS.  861 

After  the  defeat  and  death  of  Cyrus,  and  the  treacheroiiB.inasBacre 
of  the  principal  Greek  officers,  this  noble  band  of  soldiers  dected 
other  leaders ;  and,  although  in  the  centre  of  an  enemy's  country,  and 
hundreds  of  miles  from  their  own  land,  menaced  as  they  were  by  the 
power  of  the  whole  Persian  army,  they  determined  to  resist  all 
aggression,  and  to  retreat  in  martiid  order  to  Greece.  Xenophon, 
who- was  one  of  the  commanders,  has  given  us  an  eloquent  account 
of  this  successful  and  masterly  Retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand. 

Nothing  is  moreevident  from  the  history  of  Greece  at  this  period, 
than  that  the  division  of  this  beautiful  country  and  its  richly-endoWed 
inhabitants  into  many,  independent  states  was  the  prolific  cause  of 
innumerable  evils.  It  was  this  which  prevented  Greece  from  taking 
any  important  position  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  This  was 
in  fact  the  plague-spot  of  Gicecian  history.  If  Athens  or  Sparta 
assumed  an  imposii^  attitude  in  resp^ot  of  Persia,  that  empire,  by 
the  influence  of  gold,  could  instantiy  raise  up  a  power  in  other 
Grecian  states  to  thwart  and  defeat  the  effort;  while  the  tyranny 
exercised  by  the  pTincipal  of  those  states  over  the  smaller  ones  was 
the  cause  of  ever-changing  combinations  and  wars,  in  which  the 
national  energies  and  wealth  were  squandered  in  suicidal  contests. 

Thus,  when,  after  the  triumph  over  Athens,  Agesilaus,  the  Spartan 
king,  had  greatly  increased  the  Laeedsemonian  navy,  and  made  him- 
self formidable  to  Persia  by  some  operations  on  the  coast  of  Asia, 
the  Persian  king  supplied  Oonon,  an  Athenian  admiral,  with  funds 
to  equip  a  fleet  of  even  superior  power,  with  which  he  defeated  the 
Spartans,  and  utterly  destroyed  their  naval  power,  and  thus  not  only 
rcMudered  Athens  really  independent,  but  gave  her  again  complete 
supremacy  in  the  .Slgean  Sea.    . 

In- the  mean  time,  the  proud  and  unjust  conduct  of  Sparta  toward 
Thebes  called  forth  the  energies  and  talents  of  two  of  the  best 
statesmen  and  military  commanders  ever  produced  by  Greece. 
Pelopidas  and  Epamiuondas  not  only  rescued  their  country  from 
aulgeotion,  but  broke  the  proud  yoke  of  Sparta  from  the  neck  of 
Greece,  and.  aspired  to  place  Thebes  at  the  head  of  the  Greek 
people.  At  length,  these  great  men  having  perished  in  battle,  a 
general  peaccv  was  established  by  the  mediation  of  Artaxerzee,  on 
the  single  condition  that  each  state  should  retain  its  own  possessions. 
Thus  ended  the  third  Peloponnesian  war,  B.  0.  362. 

For  a  short  season  after  the  decline  of  Theban  poorer,  Athens 
ei^ercised  a  leading  influence  over  the  Grecian  states.:  but  the  harsh 
injustice  of  her  policy  toward  her  colonies  drove  the  most  wealthy 
of  them  into  rebellion,  which  crippled  her  reaouroes,  and  destroyed 
her  supremacy. 


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852  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

Long  before  this  time,  Philip,  King  of  Maoedon,  who  had  been 
educated  in  the  arts  of  war  and  state-policy  by  the  great  Epaminon- 
das,  had  aspired  to  the  supreme  government  of  Greece.  Having 
vanquished  all  opposition  to  his  rule,  and  established  tranquillity  in 
his  own  country,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the 
military  tactics  and  discipline  of  his  army.  Having  noticed  the 
success  with  which  Epaminondas  had  used  a  massive  column  against 
the  long  slender  lines  of  his  foes,  Philip,  improving  on  the  genius  of 
his  teacher,  introduced  the  celebrated  Macedonian  phalanx.  These 
measures  made  him  more  than  a  match  for  any  of  his  neighbours: 
and,  though  he  carefidly  concealed  his  intentions  respecting  Greece 
generally,  he  took  occasion  of  every  pretext  for  assailing  the  several 
nei^bouring  states  in  succession. 

He  first  subdued  Paeonia,  and  made  it  a  province  of  Macedon. 
He  then  vanquished  the  Syrians,  and  brought  them  completely 
under  his  power.  H6  next  took  advantage  of  the  war  between 
Athens  and  her  colonies,  and  added  Amphipolis,  Potidaea,  and 
Pydna  to  his  conquests;  and  thus  obtained  the  command  of  the 
coast  from  the  mouth  of  l^e  river  Strymon  to  Mount  Olympus.  A 
large  portion  of  Thrace  Was  next  added  to'  his  dominions ;  and,  by 
turning  his  arms  against  the  tyrants  of  Thessaly,  and  marrying  a 
princess  of  Epirus,  he  secured  an  unbounded  political  ascendency  in 
these  countries. 

The  Argus  of  Greece,  who  with  intense  dUigenoe  watched  eveiy 
step  of  this  progress,  who  detected  the  covert  designs  which  influ- 
enced the  conqueror,  and  who  with  matchless  genius  and  power 
warned  his  countrymen  against  the  fatal  result,  was  Demosthenes, 
the  most  eloquent  of  the  Greeks.  He  devoted  life  to  this  task :  but 
&e  martial  spirit  of  Athens  had  departed ;  and  the  eloquence  of 
this  master  of  speech,  failing  to  rouse  his  countrymen  to  resist  Ma<^ 
don  with  effect;  has  become  practically  useful  only  as  a  model  of 
public  speaking  for  the  world. 

While  Philip,  having  thus  prepared  himself,  stood  waiting  for  an 
opportunity  to  exert  his  power  in  southern  Greece,  a  favourable  one 
presented  itself  in  the  second  Sacred  War.  This  arose  out  of  a 
collision  of  feeling  between  Phocis  and  Thebes.  Unable  alone  to 
secure  its  object,  the  latter  state  solicited  the  aid  of  Philip,  who  joy- 
fully responded  to  the  call.  It  was  just  the  opportunity  which  he 
had  long  desired.  He  soon  overran  Phocis,  destroyed  its  cities, 
distributed  its  population  mto  villages,  and  deprived  it  of  its  vote  in 
the  Amphictyonic  Council,  Which  was  transferred  to  the  king  of 
Macedon.  Philip  thus  obtained  a  status  in  the  great  assembly  of 
the  Greek  nation,  and  that  at  a  time  when  this  council  was  at  the 


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THB  QBNTILB  NATIOMB.  3SS 

WDifth  of  its  power.  This  was  a  most  important  gain  to  the  ambi- 
tions Macedonian:  the  semi-barbarian  origin  of  his  people  was  thus 
coTered,  and  he  and  they  were  identified  as  elements  of  the  Hellenic 
nation. 

Stimulated  alike  by  these  successes,  and  by  some  reverses  and 
losses  which  he  sustained  at  the  same  time,  Philip  steadily  ptirsued 
his  object.  He  destroyed  Olynthus;  subdued  the  Thracian  Cherso- 
nese, and  added  the  whole  Chalcidian  peninsula,  with  its  valuable 
commercial  marts  and  seaports,  to  his  dominions.  At  lengtii  the 
third  Sacred  War  gave  him  another  occasion  of  appearing  as  the 
dttmpion  of  the  reUgton  of  Greece..  He  again  entered  Phocis,  and 
totally  destroyed  the 'city  of  Amphissa. 

Feeling  himself  now  sufficiently  strong  to  avow  his  purpose,  he 
took  possession  of  Elatea,  the  most  important  city  of  the  Phocians 
after  Delphi.  As  this  measure  could  not  be  mistaken,  so  it  did  not 
allow  procrastination :  it  was  seen  at  once  that  Greece  must  either' 
now  submit  to  Philip,  or  at  once  resist  him.  Roused  by  the  elo- 
qaence  of  Demosthenes,  the  latter  alternative  was  chosen ;  and  the 
Athenians  and  Thebans  marched  their  united  forces  against  the 
invader.  They  met  at  ChsBronea,  where;  after  a  contest  which 
brought  no  honour  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  Philip  obtained  a  complete- 
triumph.  Demosthenes  himself,  ^aliant  as  he  was  in  speech,  threw 
away  his  shield,  on  which  he  had  inscribed  in  golden  letters,  *'  To. 
Good  Fobtunb,"  and  abandoned  the  contest  even  at  the  onset. 
Thebes  suffered  a  terrible  infliction  as  the  result  of  this  victory ;  but 
veiy  lenient  measures  were  dealt  out  to  Athens. 

The  great  object  and  result  of  tiiis  Macedonian  success  were  soon 
apparent.  The  very  next  year,  in  a  general  convention  of  the  Gre^- 
dan  states  held  at  Corinth,  it  was  resolved  that  all  should  unite  in  a 
war  against  the  Persians,  and  that  Philip^  should  be  appointed 
captain-general  of  the  confederate  forces. 

It  is  a  very  remarkable  circumstance,  and  one  well  worthy  the 
attention  of  the  Christian  philosopher,  that  this  triumph  of  Philip, 
which  has  been  universally  deprecated  as  the  ruin  t)f  Greek  liberty, 
and  the  establishment  of  an  unprincipled  tyranny,  was  the  very 
event  that  placed  the  Hellenic  nation  before  the  world  in  precisely 
the  position  that  had  been  predicted  by  inspired  prophets,  and  which 
issued  in  the  exact  fulfilment  of  some  of  the  most  glorious  prophe- 
cies that  w^e  ever  delivered,  under  divine  inspiration,  to  mankind. 

Philip  did  not  survive  to  begin  thd  war  upon  whidi  he  had  so  long 
and  so  ardently  desired  to  enter.  He  was  assassinated,  while  en- 
gaged in  making  preparations  for  the  contest,  by  Pausanias,  a  Mace- 
donian nobleman,  B.  C.  336.    Alexander  succeeded  his  &iher :  and 

23 


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354  THB  GKKTILB  NATIOKg. 

although  all  the  Deighboaring  states  arose  in  simvltaaeoiiB  resistaaoe 
to  the  pover  of  Macedon,  the  yevAfol  sovereigii,  with  equal  daring 
and  prucfenoe,  soon  reduced  them  to  subjeotioiL  Thrace,  Illjria^ 
and  Thebes  were  in  an  incredibly  short  time  completely  subdued, 
and  the  latter  city  entirety  destroyed.  The  aeveriiy  of  this  punish- 
ment spread  terror  throughout  Gveece :  the  other  states  immediately 
submitted ;  and  Alexander  was  soon  pi^epared  to  eater  (m  the  war 
which  ba4  been  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  &11ker,  and  which  fOled 
his  whole  soul. 

Having  marshalled  his  army,  the  kii^  of  Macedon  proceeded  to 
the  Hellespont,  which  he  crossed  wiliiout  opposition.  His  fbrce^ 
we  are  told,  consisted  of  but  five  thousand  horse,  and  thirty  thousand 
foot, — a  mere  handful  of  men  in  comparison  to  the  mighty  armies 
which  Persia  frequently  sent  into  the  field.  .  Yet  with  this  well- 
trained  and  highly-disciplined  band  Alexander  proceeded  to.  assail 
the  myriads  of  Asia,  formidable  as  they  were  not  only  in  numbers, 
Imt  in  union  and  the  prestige  of  past  success,  and  supported  bj 
boundless  resources  of  wealth  and  population^  The  whole  progress 
of  this  conflict,  from  the  first  action  on  the  banks  of  the  Gianieus, 
where  the  Macedonian  completely  defeated  a  numerous  Persisn 
army,  forms  a  very  remarkable  fulfilment  of  sacred  prophecy. 

.  Elated  with  this  success,  the  Qrecian  conqueror  marched  to  the 
Lydian. capital,  and  occupied  Sardis.  He  then  returned,  and  secured 
Ephesus  and  Miletus;  after  which,  pursuing  hie  course  unchecked, 
he  reduced  Cappadocia,  Paphlagonia,  and  GiUcia;  and  at  lengtfi  opened 
his  way  to  the  hieart  of  Asia,  by  defeating  Darius  in  person,  at  tiie 
head  of  a  numerous  army,  in  the  decisive  battle  of  Issus.  Alexan- 
der then  in  .rapid  succession  subdued  Tyre,  Palestine,  and-  Egypt 
Having  spent  one  year  in  accomplishing  these  preliminary  measures^ 
he  proceeded  in  tiie  spring  of  831  B.  G.  to  attempt  securing  the 
grand  object  of  the  war.  In  this  campaign  Alexander  defeated 
Darius  A  second  time  at  Arbela,  occupied  Babylon,  conquered  Media 
and  Persia,  and  established  his  dominion  over  Parttua  and  Hyrcania. 
In  the  following  year  he  added  Bactria  to  his  conquests,  and  con- 
solidated his  rule  over  his  Asiatic  possessions.  The  three  years 
next  ensuing  sufficed  to  extend  his  sway  to  India,  and  to  estaUish 
his  government  from  Greece  aAd  Egypt  in  the  west  to  the  banks  of 
the  Indus. 

This  colossal  power,  however,  was  destined  to  be  of  short  dura- 
tion :  and  its  decline  was  as  striking  a  fulfilment  of  prophecy  as  its 
rise  had  been.  Alexander  died  at  Babylon,  R  0.  823,  of  a  disease 
generally  supposed  to  have  been  induced  by  intemperance.  For 
several  years  after  his  death,  some  member  of  his  fiunily  was  in- 


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THB  eWTILS  NATira«.  866 

Tested  with  the  form  of  royaltj,  while  his  generals  ruled  in  the  ser- 
eral  sections  of  the  empire,  professedly  as  lieulienanU  or  satraps,  bat 
really  exercising  absolute  power.  Between  these,  on  different  pre- 
texts, a  war  was  continually  waged  for  more  than  twenty  years, — 
a  season  replete  with  treachery,  asssssinations,  and  e^ery  form  of 
violence.  At  length,  B.  G.  306,  four  of  the  priadpal  generals,  having 
raised  themselves  to  prominence  and  power,  partitioned  the  empire 
between  them.  By  this  treaty  Seleucus  became  sovereign  of  Upper 
,Asia;  Ptolemy  governed  Egypt,  with  Syria  and  Palestine;  Lysima- 
chus  obtained  the  northern  proyinces  .of  Asia  Minor,  in  addition  to 
the  kingdom  of  Thrace;  and  to  Gassander  were  assigned  Macedon 
and  Greece,  with  the  addition  of  the  rich  province  of  Gilicia. 

During  the  progress  of  Alexander's  war  in  Asia^  Greece  remained 
in  tolerable  quiet,  under  the  government  of  the  several  states,  sub- 
ject generally  tor  his  lieutenant,'  Antipater.  Sparta  was  the  only 
exception.  Unable  to  arrest  the  process  of  her  rivaPs  success,  this 
state  for  a  considerable  time  maintained  her  independence  in  sullen 
quietude.  When,  however,  the  Macedonian  king  bad  subdued 
Darius,  and  was  .preparing  to  march  on  India,  the  Lacedaemonians, 
urged  on  by  their  martiftl  King  Agis,  declared  war  against  Macedoa 
This  contest  was  of  short  duration.  One  decisive  battle  su£Bced  to 
terminate  the  war  and  the  life  of  the  Spartan  king,  and  to  compel 
the  Spartans  to  send  an  embassy,  soliciting  the  clemency  of  the 
Macedonian  monait^  which  was  generously  given. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  contests  recorded  in  the  pages  of 
history  took  place  about  this  time, — ^namely,  that  between  the  rival 
orators,  Demosthenes  and  JBschines.  Gtesiphon  having  proposed 
that  a  golden  crown  should  be  presented  to  Demosthenes,  as  a  testi- 
mony pf  the  rectitude  of  his  political  career,  Machines  impeached 
Gtesiphon  for  the  proposition,  assailing  the  whole  course  of  poliey 
recommended  by. Demosthenes,  and  declaring  that  it  had  issued  in 
the  ruin  of  Grecian  independence.  Demosthenes  defended  himself 
so  triumphantly  that  iBschines  was  sent  into  banishment, — a  measure 
which  Alexander  allowed  out  of  respect  to  the  ancient  states  of  Greece, 
althou^  .Sschines  was  the  old  and  earnest  friend  of  Macedon,  and 
his  rival  quite  the  reverse. 

Notwithstanding  the  awe  inspired  by  the  vast  conquests  of  Alex* 
ander,  and  the  immense  resources  which  he  consequently  possessed, 
a  very  considerable  commotion  was  produced  by  a  decree  which  he 
issued, — that  the  exiles  from  the  several  states  should  be  restored 
to  their  respective  countries  and  possessions.  While  this,  uneasiness 
was  spreading  and  producing  indications  of  i^proaching  violence, 
intelligence  arrived  of  the  death  of  Alasander.    The  revolt  which 


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356  THB  GENTILE  NATION. 

had  just  begun,  soon  became  general.  Demosthenes,  who  had  been 
exiled,  was  recalled;'  and  a  powerfnl  army  of  confederate  Greeks, 
under  the  Athenian  commander  Leosthenes,  mardied  against  An- 
tipater.  The  effort  was  vain.  The  Macedonian  general,  reinforced 
by  a  section  of  the  yictorious  army  of  Alexander,  soon  put  down  all 
opposition,  and  established  one  ruUng  goyemment  over  Gieece. 
The  democracy  was  again  abolished  in  Athens;  and  the  aristocratical 
government,  as  it  had  existed  in  the  days  of  Solon,  was  restored, 
while  a  Macedonian  garrison  was  placed  in  the  port  of  Munychia.. 
Similar  changes  were  made  in  other  states,  which  at  first  produced 
clamorous  complaints ;  but  the  people  soon  found,  that,  under  a  strong 
and  general  government,  they  realized  a  largej*  share  of  real  liber^ 
than  they  had  formerly  possessed,  and  saluted  Antipater  as  "  the 
Father  and  Protector  of  Greece." 

After  the  death  of  this  able  ruler,  Greece  shared  in  the  dissensions, 
revolutions,  and  wars,  which  for  many  years  afflicted  almodt  every 
part  of  the  empire  of  Alexander.  In  these  strokes  some  of  the 
Grecian  states  suffered  severely.  Polysperchon,  who  had  been  joined 
With  Cassander  in  the  regency  of  Macedonia,  being  engaged  in  a  con- 
test with  his  colleague;  and  anxious  to  secure  the  Greeks  to  his 
interests,  ordered  the  removal  of  the  governors  appointed  by  An- 
tipater, and  the  restoration  of  democracy.  Athens  exulted  in  the 
change,  and,  under  the  excitement  of  the  occasion,  put  to  death 
several  citizens,  on  the  plea  that  they  were  firiends  of  Antipater. 
Among  these  perished  the  greatest  ornament  of  his  age  and  nation, 
— the  great  Phocion ;  a  man  who  had  served  hie  country  with  con- 
summate ability  and  incorruptible  integrity  until  above  eighty  years 
of  age. 

Cassander,  having  obtained  aid  from  Antigonus,  soon  recovered 
paramount  authority  in  Greece ;  and,  reversing  all  that  Polysperchon 
had  done  at  Athens,  he  appointed  Demetrius  Phalereus  governor  of 
that  city.  This  officer  discharged  the  duties  of  his  station  with  so 
much  wisdom  and  moderation,  that  the  ten  years  of  his  government 
were  exceedingly  prosperous  to  the  people  over  whom  he  ruled. 
The  power  of  Cassander  extended,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  few 
cities,  throughout  Peloponnesus ;  so  that  Greece  was  again  subjected 
to  Macedonian  rule. 

During  the  convulsions  which  agitated  the  country  on  the  death 
of  Cassander,  Greece  suffered  from  a  desperate  invasion  of  a  host 
of  Gauls,  who  were  at  length  repulsed,  the  remainder  proceeding  to 
Asia.  Soon  after  this  calamity,  it  was  invaded  by  Pyrrhus,  King 
of  Epirus.  who,  having  subdued  a  great  part  of  Macedonia,  proceeded 
to  invade  Greece.    He,  however,  perished  in  the  attempt.     Antigo- 


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THB  aSKTILB  NATIONS.  857 

mis,  haying  secorod  the  Macedonifoi  throne,  next  laboured  to  annex 
Greece  to  his  dominions;  hut  he  also  died  during  the  war. .  His 
son  Demetrius  exercised  a  commanding  influence  in  the  a&irs  of 
Greece,  without  claiming  sovereignty  over  it;  while  his  successor 
avoided  all  interference  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  country. 

Thus  released,  from  foreign  aggression,  ihe  several  cities  of  Greece 
sought  to  recover  their  long-lost  independence.  During  the  troubles 
and  political  convulsions  which  raged  in  Macedonia  unde*  Lysima- 
chus  and  Ptol^ny  Geraunus,  the  cities  of  Achaia  gradually  recovered 
their  liberties.  Sicyon,  Corinth,  and  Megalopolis  were  by  different 
means  delivered  from  foreign  domination,  and  attached  to  the 
Adissan  confederacy.  This  fair  promise  for  Grecian. liberty  was 
dieeked  by  the  ambition  of  the  Spartan  King  Cleomenes,  who,  having 
murdered  the  Ephori,  and  revolutionized  his  country,  restored  the 
code  of  Lycurgtts,  and  turned  his  arms  against  the  Achaeans :  aided 
by  Antigonus  Doson,  King  of  Macedon,  they  so  completely  defeated 
him  at  the  battle  of  Salasia,  that  he  abandoned  the  contest,  advised 
his  people  tp  submit  to  their  conquerors,  and  took  refuge  in  Egypt, 
where  at  length  he  destroyed  himself.  This  was  the  expiring  effort 
of  Sparta.  The  successor  of  Cleomenes  was  the  last  ruler  descended 
from  the  Heraclidse. 

Although  this  danger  had  again  introduced  the  Macedonian  power 
into  Greece,  the  AchsBan  Le'ague  was  maintained  entire  and  powerful; 
and,  under  the  able  conduct  and  prudent  measures  of  its  chief,  Ara- 
ins,  promised  at  length  to  accomplish  its  object  in  the  restoration  of 
Greece.  Unhappily,  however,  the  League  being  pressed  by  their 
old  enemies  the  ^tolians,  Aratus  again  sought  aid  of,  Macedon ; 
which  was  granted  by  Philip,  the  son  of  Antigonus.  This  ambitious 
aDy,  conceiving  a' design  to  subject  the  states  of  Greece  to  his 
power,  and  regarding  Aratus  as  an  invincible  obstacle  to  his  pur- 
pose, had  that  noble  chief  removed  by  poison.  This  was  not  the 
greatest  of  the  calamities  which  arose  out  of  this  alliance.  Philip 
had  just  before  become  the  active  ally  of  Hannibal  of  Carthage ;  the 
Romans  in  revenge  formed  an  alliance  with  the  ^tolians;  thus 
faringing  the  arms  of  this  mighty  republic  to  bear  on  Greece  in  its 
decline,  weakness,  and  distraction 

Philopoemen,  who  succeeded  Aratus  as  leader  of  the  League, 
did  his  utmost ;  but,  after  the  termination  of  the  second  Punic  war, 
Titus  Quinctius  Flamininus,  Roman  consul,  succeeded  by  his  power, 
and  especially  by  his  policy,  in  detaching  the  AchsBans  from  all 
connexion  with  Macedon,  and  then  most  pompously  proclaimed 
liberty  to  Greece.  This  nominal  independence,  however,  continued 
a  very  brief  spac  \     The  country  being  soon  after  invaded  by  An- 


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358  THB  QBNTILE  17ATION8. 

tigonuB  of  Syria,  a  Roman  army  iDtei*poBed.  A  series  of  tedious 
operations  took  place,  daring  which  Philip  of  Mlicedon  died,  and 
Persens  his  son  sacceeded  to  the  throne.  This  prmoe  was  equally 
obnoxious  to  the  Romans  and  to  his  own  subjects.  A  collision  with 
Rome  followed,  terminated  by  the  dedsive  battle  of  Pydna,  in  which 
twenty  thousand  Macedonians  were  slain,  and  Perseus  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  led  in  chains  to  Rome. 

Still  the  Romans  pretended  to  recognise  the  independence  of 
Greece,  although  at  one  time  they  summoned  one  thousand  of  the 
most  eminent  Achaeans  to  Rome,  where  thq^  were  kept  in  prison 
seventeen  years,  without  being  admitted  to  an  audience  or  brou^ 
to  trial.  Some  of  these  <m  their  return  induced  their  oountry- 
men  to  insult  the  Roman  ambassadors,  who  had  been  sent  to 
Corinth  to  arrange  some  disputes  between  the  Aqhaeans  and  Spar- 
tans. This  of  course  produced  a  war,  which  in  all  its  stages  was 
disastrous  to  Greece.  Corinth  was  taken  and  destroyed;  and 
thenceforth  Greece,  under  the  name  of  Achnia,  became  a  province 
of  the  Roman  empire. 

Thus  perished  the  political  existence  of  that  people,  who  had  by 
force  of  arms  efilBcted  the  grandest  conquests  which  the  world  had 
ever  seen,  established  the  widest  empire  that  had  existed  up  to 
tiiat  time,  and  realized  the  highest  literary,  poetic,  and  artistic 
elevation  ever  attained  by  any  people.  Kor  is  there,  periiap%  any- 
thing more  remarkable  in  the  history  of  tiiis  wonderful  countiy, 
than  that,  when  conquered  and  subjected  to  foreign  rule,  she  should 
still  have  maintained  the  majesty  of  her  intellectual  superiority  and 
cultivated  power,  and  have  become  the  recognised  preceptress  of  her 
ccmquerors  in  all  liirarature  and  science,  civiUa»tion  and  art,  the 
el^andes  and  refinements  of  manners  and  life;  so  that^  while 
prostrate  at  thcfeet  of  her  mighty  rival,  Greece  was  the  director  of 
the  world's  intellect, — Athens  was  the  university  of  Rome. 

Thus  the  third  universal  empire  passed  away,  (see  Appendix. 
note  66,)  and  introduced  the  fourth  great  dominion.  The  reader 
will  acknowledge,  without  hesitation,  that  the  rise,  the  progress,  and 
the  ruin  of  Greece  present  one  of  the  most  remadkable  diapters  in 
this  world's  history. 


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CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  GRECIAN  HISTORY. 


817  LTonrgns  leglilatet  tat  Bpuia. 
779  Gommencement  of  the  Olympiads. 
663  Sparta  conquers  Messenia,  seizes 'the 

country,  and  redacts  the  people  to 

slavery. 
5M  Solon  reforms  the  law  at  Athens. 
060  Pisistratus  usurps  the  government  of 

Athens,  and  places  In  abeyance  the 

laws  of  Solon. 
fl27  Hipparchtts    and    Hippias    reign    at 

Athens. 
610  The  Pisistratidtt  expelled  fnm  Athens. 
497  Death  of  Pythagoras. 
490  The  Persians  defeated  at  Marathon. 

480  Invasion    of    Xerxes — ^his    defeat    act 

Salamis. 
479  The  Greeks  victors  at  Platiea  and  My cale. 
478  Athens  rebuilt  and  fortified  by  The- 

mistocles  in  defiance  of  Sparta. 
444  Pericles  rules  at  Athens. 

481  First  Peloponneslan  War. 

404  Athens  taken  by  the  Spartans,  and 
governed  by  Thirty  Tyrants. 

400  Iktani  of  the  Ten  Thousand  Greeks 
from  Persia. 

399  Death  of  Socratet. 

897  Plato  and  Aristotle. 

887  Sparta  the  paramount  power. 


871  Battle  of  Lonetra^-Thebesbeoomes  the 

ehief  power  of  Greece. 
862  Battle  of  Mantinea.— Death  of  EpaiQi- 

nondas. — Decline  of  Thebes. 
357  First  Sacred  War. 
350  General  corruption  of  manners,  and 

decline  of  Grecian  power. 
844  Macedonia,  by  the  genius  of  Philip, 

obtains  the  ascendency. 
333  Alexander  conquers  Persia,  and  reigns 

supreme. 
323  Death    of    Alexander  ^Athens    oon- 

tinues  the  chief  maritime  power. 
322  Alliens    makes  a  vigorous   effort  to 

throw  off  Macedonian  supremacy. 
301  Democracy     again     established  '  at 

Athens. 
244  Agis  III.  attempts  the  reformation  of 

Sparta.— He  at  first  succeeds,  but  it 

eventually  cut  off. 
243  The   formation    and    efforts   of    tho 

Achean  League. 
227  Cleomenea    effects    a    revolution    in 

Sparta. 
146  The  power  of  the  Grecian  iifcatei  gradu- 
ally declines,   until  the  power  of 

Rome  prevails,  and  they  form,  the 

province  of  AcHAia. 


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380  THS  Q8NTILB  NATI0F8. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  REUQION  OF  GREECE. 

Thx  earliest  Religion  of  this  Feopls  appears  to  have  "been  a  strange  Gomponnd  of  the 
Adoration  of  the  material  Elements  and  Powers  of  Nature ;  united  with  a  sacred  Be- 
gard  for  MTthic  jLegends,  which  had  been  traditionally  preaerred^-Ekpanaion  of  this 
Scheme  after  the  Return  of  the  Heracleids,  and  the  Establishment  of  the  Doiian 
Power — Outline  of  Qrecian  Theologj  and  Cosmogony— The  Qrecian  Deities — ^Zena^ 
Hera — Apollon — ^Artemis — Hermes — ^Heph'aistos — Aphrodite — Ares — ^Eros,  and  other 
mhior  Divinities— The  Greek  Triad — ^Evident  Connexion  of  the  whole  Scheme  with 
Scriptural  Tradition — The  Temples — ^Priests — ^Worship— Divination— Oracles  and  Mys* 
teries — ^The  Influence  of  Philosophy  examined— Thaucs — His  Doctrines,  and  the  Ionic 
School— PTTiTAOOiua— His  System— Failure  in  Greece,  and  wonderful  Success  in  Sicily 
^-The  Character  of  his  Teaching^SocBATxs— His  Mode  of  iBstmotion— Doctrines— He 
claims  a  Divine  Mission— The  important  Character  and  Influence  of  his  Teaching— 
Pulto — General  View  of  his  Object — His  Doctrines — Grand  Intellectual  Development 
erinced  in  his  Philosophy — ^But  his  Efforts  unfavourable  to  Morals  and  Religion — 
AaXBTOTLB— His  brilliant  Intellectual  Efforts— Inefficient  in  respect  of  Religion — Zeko 
and  the  Stoics— Physical  and  .Moral'  Doctrines— Unsatisfutocy  Resnlt-^Staccrmim— 
His  System— lis  pernicious  Efitects— General  View  of  Grecian  Paithp— Importance  of 
Dirine  Influence,  and  a  recognition  of  its  Powei^-The  Effect  of  these  four  Schools  of 
Philosophy  fatal  to  ihe  Religion  of  Greece— ytter  Failure  of  every  Influence  to  coireot 
tl^e  Effects  of  a  vitiated  Theology. 

The  inquiring  mind  can  scarcely  have  presented  to  it  a  more  in- 
teresting or  important  subject  for  investigation  than  the  religion  of 
Greece.  Limited  as  was  the  national  territory  occupied  by  this 
people,  their  numbers,  energy,  cultivation,  wonderful  attainments  in 
all  the  polite  and  elegant  arts,  as  well  as  their  amazing  prowess  in 
war,  and  range  of  conquest,  bring  them  before  the  mind  as  the  aris- 
tocracy of  the  world's  intellect  and  art.  When  we  add  to  these  con- 
siderations the  important  fact,  that  the  eleyation  and  empire  of  this 
people  were  the  subjects  df  some  of  the  grandest  predictions  ever 
uttered  by  the  sacred  prophets  in  holy  writ, — and  that  their  language 
was  the  medium  through  which  the  truths  of  the  Old  Testament 
reyelation  were  first  conveyed  to  the  world,  and  the  tongue  in'  which 
the  New  Testament  was  originally  given  to  mankind, — it  cannot  but 
be  a  matter  of  interest  and  importance  to  obtain  answers  to  these 
questions :  What  were  the  theological  doctrines- and  worship  of  this 
remarkable  people?  What  was  the  religious  condition  of  the  Gre- 
cian communities? 
In  entering  on  this  subject,  it  will  be  necessary  first  to  glance  at 


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THB  GEKTILB  NATIONS.  361 

it  in  an  historical  aspect,  in  otAbt  to  point  out  the  prominent  changes 
which  were  made  in  the  religion  of  tiie  country  during  the  progress 
of  its  history. 

As  fax  as  any  informatioA  has  oome  down  to  us  respecting  the 
religion  of  the  first  occupants  of  Greece  in  the  traditions  of  the 
ancient  Pelasgi,  it  appears  that  their  system  of  faith,  if  such  it  can 
be  called^  was  very  similar  to  that  ascribed  to  the  earliest  era  of  the 
world  by  the  Phenidan  Sanehomaihon.  .  It  being  generally  believed 
that  the  intercourse  between  these  countries,  so  earlyas  1300  B.  C, 
was  such  as  to  introduce  the  Phenician.  alphabet  into  Greece,  we 
cannot  feel  surprised  at  an  ajqparent  uniformity  of  religion.  The 
foundation-principle  of  this  system  seems  to  have  been,  a  supersti- 
tious reverence  of  the  productive  and  destroying  powers  of  nature, 
as  being  replete  with  a  spiritual  life  and  energy,  which  was  supposed 
to  pervade  the  universe.  Thus  the  earl^  (Gaia)  was  worshipped  as 
a  goddess,  from  whose  womb  sprung  the  fruits  engendered  by  the 
creative  power  of  the  atmosphere  (Zeus);  and  in  volcanic  regions 
people,  on  the  same  account,  paid  divine  honours  to  the  fire  which 
desolated  their  fiields. 

The  idea  generally  entertained  by  the  ancients, — and  evidently 
arising  out  of  the  traditions  respecting  creation,  and  the  action  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  chaotic  mass, — ^that  the  whole  material  world 
was  pervaded  by  a  divine  spirit,  imparted  a  religious  character  to 
all  the  fanciful  imaginations  put  forth  with  respect  to  these  sup- 
posititious beings,  and  at  the  same  time  gave  a  personal  identity  to  all 
the  phenomena  of  mature  and  the  vicissitudes  of  human  life.  With 
these  elements  of  early  error  at  the  foundation  of  their  faith,  it 
appears  to  be  now  an  admitted  fact  that  the  ancient  Pelasgi  held 
the  doctrines,  and  celebrated  among  them  the  mysteries,  of  the 
Gabiri ;  which,  as  Mr.  Faber  has  conclusively  shown,  mainly  con- 
Bisied  in  superstitious  reverence  for  the  eight  p^ sons  preserved  in 
the  ark. 

This  mixture  of  natural  powers  and  mythic  legends  was,  however, 
Sound  too.  narrow  a  basis  for  a  system  of  religion  adapted  to  the  taste 
of  an  energetic  community,  rising,  by  means  of  civilization,  agricul- 
ture, and  commerce,  into  prominence  and  power.  An  expansion 
and  adaptation  of  the  elements  of  this  -early  faith  are  therefore  per^ 
oeived  to  be  in  gradual  operation.  For  instance:  Demeter  was 
originally  Gaia,  the  divine  mother  Earth;  but  was  afterward  re- 
g^ed  as  the  patroness  of  settied  habitations,  marriage,  and  juris- 
prudence. This  change  was  gradual  in  its  progi;e8s,  and  was  not 
completed  until  the  ascendency  of  the  Dorians  had  been  fully  estab- 
lished in  Peloponnesus.    Prior  to  this,  Greece  can  hiurdly  be  said  to 


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362  THE  aSKTILB  NATIONS. 

have  been  devoted  to  idolatry;  for  a<)tiial  idohilry,  as  denoting  the 
worship  of  Tisible  objeets,  was  unknown..  Prayers  were  addressed 
as  to  invisible  deities ;  and  sacrifices — the  only  decidedly  religions 
dnty  which  was  reoognieed-^were  offered  npon  altars  in  the  open 
air.  A  few  heinous  crimes' were  sometimes  denounced,  as  exposing 
the  guilty  party  to  the  vengeance  of  the  gods ;  but  morality  during 
this  period  derived  very  slender  support  from  religkni..  Sooth* 
sayers,  who  pretended  to  foreteQ  future  events^  were  numerous; 
but  local  oracles  had  not  attained  any  great  celebrity. .  It  is  import- 
ant to  add,  that  the  doctrines  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  were*  t«igh^  in  those  days; 
but  the  ridiculous  absurdities  with  which  these  were  accompanied, 
tended,  when  men  had  leanied  to  despise,  the  fables,  to  throw  dis- 
credit also  upon  the  momentous  truths  which  tiiey  had  veiled. 

After  the  close  of  &e  Heracleid  war,  under  the  aseendoicy  of 
Dorian  power,  the  new  and  enlarged  system  of  Ghrecian  idolatry  was 
established  throughout  Greece :  and  it  is  a  curious  foot,  that  tiie 
principal  agents  in  its  introduction  have  been  also  the  means  of  per* 
petuating  a  knowledge  of  the  system  to  the  present  day.  For,  at 
tiie  time  that  the  old  and  new  systems  were  struggling  for  the 
mastery  over  the  public  mind,  Homer  arose,  and  by  his  unrivalled 
invention  and  brilliant  genius  so  used,  exhibited;  and  adorned  the 
new  sdieme,  that  it  thenceforth  triumphed  over  all  opposition. 
(B.  G.  1000.)  Hesiod  followed,  about  one  hundred  years  tater,  and 
still  further  illustrated  its  principles,  and  strengthened  its  hold  on 
the  Grecian  mind.  Herodotus,  the  highest  possible  authority  on  the 
subject,  assures  us  that  the  Greeks  were  indebted  for  their  gods  to 
Homer  and  Hesiod.  We,  may,  therefore,  look  to  the  productions  of 
these  poets  for  an  exhibition  of  the  theology  of  Greece  during  the 
principal  period  of  her  history ;  and,  indeed,  until  the  teaching  of 
philosophers  shed  an  influence  over  the  religious  opinions  of  the  people. 

When  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  subject  under  discussion  is,  the 
theological  dockines  of  the  most  intellectual,  energetic,  and  enlight- 
^ed  of  the  ancient  nations,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  painful  interest 
to  perceive  one  startling  fact  at  the  very  threshold  of  our  inquiry, — 
namely,  that  the  Greeks  had  no  idea  whatever  of  the  eternity  of  the 
deities  they  worshipped.  On  the  contrary,  they  believed  tiiat  the 
supreme  power  was  held  by  other  divine  beings,  long  before  these 
whom  they  now  worshipped  were  called  into  existence.  Although  it 
does  not  come  within  tiie  plan  of  this  work  to  give  any  extended  list 
of  divinities,  with  their  myihological  extraction  imd  history,  it  seems 
necessary  to  furnish  a  brief  account  of  the  origin  of  the  gods,  the  world, 
and  mankind,  according  to  the  principles  of  this  reli^ous  system. 


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THB  lOIRTILB-  NATIONS.  868 

Aococding  to  Hesiod,  in  the  begimung  was  OhaioB,  then.  Gkda,  (the 
Earth,)  Tartann,  <the  Babtemmeasi  Abyss,)  and  Eros  (Love). 
Ghkia'bringB  forth  Dranttfl,  (the  Heavens,)  the  Mountains,  and  Pon* 
tos,  (the  Sea).  Oaia  and  Uranus  are  the  parents  of  the  Titans, 
Oceanns,  Oosos,  Ork»,  Hyperion,  lapetas,  Theia,  Rheia,  (or  fihea,) 
Themis,  Mnemosyne,  Phoebe,  Tcthjs,  and  Oronon;  also  the  Cyclo- 
pes, and  the  Hecatonoheires,  ("hundred-handed"  giants,)  Gottus, 
BriareoB,  and  •Gyes.  OuraiioB,  or  Uranus,  however,  hated  his  off- 
spring, and  prevented  them  from  coming  forth  into  the  light  of  day. 
J(iidignant  at  this  unnatural  behaviour,  Gkda  persuaded  his  son  Cronos 
to  matifaite  his  fikther,  and  usurp  I)is  throne.  Cronos  and  Rhea 
then  became  the  parents  of  Hestia,  Demeter,  Hera,  Hades,  Poseidon 
and  Zeus.  Toprevent  any  of  his  diildren  deposing  hiin;  as  he  had 
deposed  his  fatiier,  Cronos  swallowed  them  immediately  after  tibejt 
birth.  As  soon  as  Zeus  was  bom,  Rhea  presented  to  the  father  a 
stone,  whidi  he  swaHow-ed  instead  of  his  child.  Zeus  was  concealed 
in  Crete,  where  he  remained  uAtil  he  was  full-grown;  when  he  sallied 
forth,  deposed  his  father,  and,  aided  by  the  arts  of  Gaia  or  Metis, 
oompelled  Urn  to  disgorge  the  children  whom  he  bad  swallowed,  and 
whose  bodies,  on  recount  of  tiieir  divine  nature,  wei^  imperishable. 
The  stone  which  he  had  swallowed  last  of  all,  was  the  first  object 
discharged  from  his  stomach.  This  was  set  up  by  Zeus  in  the  glori- 
ous Pytho,  <De)phi,)  as  a  sign  and  a  wonder  for  mortal  men. 

Zeus  now,  in  conjunction  with  his  brothers  and  -sisters/  makes  war 
on  Cronos  and  the  Titans.  By  the  advice  of  Oaia,  he  releases  the 
Cyclopes,  who  had  been  imprisoned  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
receives  from  their  hands  the  thunder  and  the  deadly  lightning. 
He  also  releases  the  Hecatoncheires,  and  bringp  them  back  to  the 
upper  worid.'  The  battle  had  already  raged  ten  years  between  the 
Titans  and  the  Olympic  gods,  when  these  giants  appeared  to  aid  the 
Olympians.  Earth  trembled  to  its  centre,  and  ev^i  Tartarus  shook, 
as  these  combatants  fought,  while  huge  rocks  were  hurled  on  either 
side,  and  Zeus  with  flaming  thunderbolts  mingled  in  the  war.  The 
Titans  were  at  length  defeated,  loaded  witii  chains,  and  thrown  into 
ttie  depths  of  Tartarus,  where,  being  closely  imprisoned,  they  were 
earefully  guarded  by  the  mi^ty  Hecatbncheites.  But  even  this 
Tictory  did  not  establish  the  throne  of  Zeus.  Gaia  brings  forth 
Miother  monster,  of  immense  sise  ttnd  power,  who  is  at  length  struck  , 
down,  by  the  thunderbolts  of  Zeus,  into  the  lowest  depths  of  Tar- 
tarus. Bj  this  last  success  Zeus  and  his  brethren  and  sisters  be- 
came rulers  of  the  universe.* 

^  I  am  connderably  indebted  for  this  Bummarj  to  Abvoij>'8  Translation  of  Stoll'i 
"  Handbook  of  the  Region  and  Mythology  of  the  0reek8,*'*Hui  able  and  excellent  work. 


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864  THK  ORNTILB  NATIONB. 

It  is  well  known  that  ibis  mythic  Theogony  has  been  subjected  to 
several  modes  of  interpretation, — ^the  physical,  the  historical,  the 
theological,  &c.  It  is  also  genmlly  admitted  that  neither  of  these 
supplies  a*  complete  key  to  them.  In  fact^  tiie  Theogony  of  Hesiod 
is,  to  use  the  words  of  a  learned  writer,  "  a  farrago,  composed  of  the 
most  heterogeneous  ingredients." 

Without  pretending  to  a£R)rd  a  solution  to  tibis  crude  poetic  ver- 
sion of  numerous  myths,- 1  may  venture  to  express  an  opinion  that 
the  broad  substratum  upon  which  the  whole  rests,  is  a  union  of  cor- 
rupted traditions  of  the  scenes  which  took  place  at  Babel,  termina- 
ting in  the  proud  supremacy  of  the  house  of  Gush.  (See  Appendix^ 
note  67.) 

,  According  to  this  system,  after  the  defeat  of  the  rival  Titans,  the 
sniverse  was  governed  by  the  heads  of  the  triumphant  tribe.  And 
scarcely  anything  is  more  worthy  of  observation  in  this  whole  case, 
than. the  &mily  character  subsisting  unong  these  deities.  They 
c(»nprised  the  brothers  Zbus,  Possidon,  and  Hapbs  ;  the  sisters 
Hbra,  Hestia,  Dshbter,  with  her  daughter  Gora;  and  the  diil- 
dren  of  Zeus,— Athene,  Apollon,  Aatbhis,  Hbphaistos,  A&bs, 
Aphrobitb,  and  Hbbmbs.  Of  these  individually  a  brief  notice 
n^ust  be  given. 

I.  The  gods  of  Oltmfus. 

Zeus,  or  Jupiter,  the  son  of  Qronos  and  Rhea»  wad  regarded  as 
the  great  sovereign  of  the  universe,  the  father  of  gods  and  men.  He 
chums  to  exercise  unlimited  authority,  not  only  over  men,  but  even 
over  every  other  god,  and  boasts  a  sway  greater  than  the  united 
power  of  all  other  divinities.  (Homer's  Iliad,  viii,  18;) 

Yet^  notwithstandii^  .the  strong  terms  in  whidi  these  claims  to 
supremacy,  if  not  to  onmipotent  power,  are  put  forth,  when  the  sys- 
tem is  fully  investigated  it  is  found  that  the  absolute  government  of 
the  world  is  not  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Zeus.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
Polythdism  of  Greece  had  invested  so  many  deities  with  divine 
powers  and  freedom  of  action,  that  no  one  individual  deity  could 
possess  absolute  sway.  Zeus,  therefore,  although  the  most  perfect 
and  most  potesnt  of  the  Grecian  deities,  was  frequently  thwarted  in 
his  purpose,  and  controlled  in  his  actions,  by  Moira  (Fate).  And 
as  the  inventive  faculties  of  man  had  already  done  their  utmost  in 
the  personification  of  divine  powers,  this  Moira  was  allowed  to 
remain,— a  dark,  vague,  and  incomprehensible  influence. 

The  whole  order  of  nature  is  ordained  by  Zeus ;  he  is  the  source 
and  fountain  of  rule  and  government.  Kings  are  his  representa- 
tives, employed  by  him  to  administer  justice  to*  mortals,  and  deriv- 
ing their  authority  from  his  commission.    He  is  the  guardian  of 


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THB  GSHTILB  NATIONS.  366 

populaor  assemblies  and  oonncils :  he  punishes  those  who  pervert  the 
right,  and  enforces  the  obligaticm  of  oaths.  The  rights  of  hospital- 
ity, and  the  case  of  th^  exile  and  suppliant,  are  under  his  special 
care;  and  he  ia  the  guardian  of  the  family  and  house. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  notice,  that  this  system  not  only  recognised 
the  birth  of  this,  the  principal  of  their  deities ;  it  even  admitted  that 
he  diedr  and  his  gravd  was  shown  in  Crete:  so  that  one  who  had 
been  dead  yet  lived  to  veignand  rule  over  gods  and  m^n. 

Zeus  not  only  held  this  place  in  the  national  faith,  but  was  also,  in 
many  instances,  localized.  Hence  we  meet  with  the  Cretan  Zeps, 
the  Boeotian  Zeus,  the  Arcadian  Zeus,  d&c.  The  most  ancient  wor- 
ship of  Zeus  in  Greece  was  at  Dodona  in  Epirus:  the  principal 
statue  was  that  executed  by  Phidias,  forty  feet  high,  of  ivory  and 
gold,  to  look  on  which  was  regarded  as  an  antidote  to  pain  and 
sorrow. 

A  full  knowledge  of  fdture  events,  and  the  power  of  making  them 
known  to  mortals  by  signs,  omens,  and  prophecies,  were  attributed 
to  this  deity.  His  mora)  character,  however,  was  far  beneath  these 
ascriptions  of  dignity.  By  his  wife  he  had  three  diildren,  Ares, 
Hephaistos,  and  Hebe.  Athene  sprung  from  his  head.  His  children 
by  other  goddesses  were  ApoUon  and  Artemis  by  Leto,  Hermes  by 
Maia,  Persephone  by  Demeter,  Aphrodite  by  Dione^  the  Hor»  by 
Themis,  the  Graces  by  Eiirynome,-  the  Muses  by  Mnemosyne.  By 
mortal  women  he  had  many  children :  the  principal  were  Hercules 
by  Alcmene,  IKoDysus  by  Semele,  Perseus  by  Danae,  Castor  and 
Polydeucas  by  Leda. 

Hera  (Juno)  was  eldest  daughter  of  Cronos  and  Rhea,  and  sis- 
ter to  Zeus.  This  god,  having  formed  a  clandestine -engagement 
with  his  sister,  kept  their  marriage  secret  three  hundred  years. 
Hera  was  then  acknowledged  as  his  wife,  and  proclaimed  queeli  of 
heaven.  In  this  character  she  reeeives  tike  deference  of  al^  other 
divinities. 

Her  marriage  with  Zeus  is  the  most  prominent  event  in  her  his- 
tory. As  his  wife,  she  shares  the  counsels  of  her  husband  beyond 
what  is  permitted  to  other  deities.  This  union  was.  not,  however, 
the  most  happy:  Zeus  and  Hera  frequently  quarrelled;  and  the 
extreme  licentiousness  of  the  husband,  not  to  mention  other  causes, 
ftally  accounted  for  these  dissensions. 

As  Hera  was  the  only  lawful  wife  among  the  female  deities  of 
Olympus,  she  was  the  special  patroness  of  married  women,  whom 
she  protected  and  assisted  in  all  their  perils. 

Athens,  or  Pallas  Athene,  (Minerva,)  is  the  daughter  of  2^s. 
Homer  does  not  mention  her  mother ;  but  Hesiod  says  that,  Zeus 


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THB  amiTILB  NATIQBg. 

having  devoured  Metis,  (Wisdom,)  Athene  sprang  fidl-anned  firtm 
his  head  As  Hera  seems  to  be  a  female  impersonatioii  of  Zeus,  so 
Athene  stands  before  us  as  an  embodiment  .of  bis  wisdom.  This 
goddess  exercises  considerable  influence  in  the  coundl  of  the  gods. 
Although  she  is  described  in  the  IHad  as  sometimes  opposing  the 
designs  of  Zeus,  she  generally  acts  in  accordance  with  his  will ;  and, 
even  when  her  wishes  go  beyond  his,  the  affection  with  which  he 
regards  his  favourite  child  generally  enables  her  to  secure  her  object. 
She  is  always  represented  as  a  virgin  deity,  full  of  sagacity  and 
prudence,  skilled  in  all  the  arts  cultivated  by  both  sexes,  and  always 
ready  to  act  as  a  leader  and  teadier  in  military  manqduvres,  and  even 
to  mingle  in  the  fight.  She  gives  the  patriot  strength,  for  the  pro- 
teetion  of  his  country,  and  leads  the  warrior  to  victory. 

Phcbbos  Apollon  (Apollo)  is  the  son  of  Zens  and  the  femak 
Titan  Leto  (Latona).  This  amour  being  known  by  Hera^  she  per- 
secuted Leto  from  place  to  place,  until  she  found  an  asyinm  in 
Deles,  where  she  brought  forth  twins,  Apollon  and  Artemis. 
.  Apollon  was  the  favourite  son  of  Zeus,  and  always  acted  in 
accordance  with  his  &ther's  wishes/  while  many  other  of  the  Olyn* 
pian  -diviqitie?  frequently  opposed  the  wi}l  of  their  sovereign.  He 
is  especially  the  prophet  of  Zeus,  and  the  god  of  soothsayers  and 
oracles ;  and  to  him  in  this  character  the  Greeks  attributed  some  of 
the  most  important  events  in  their  history.  These  prophecies,  op 
oracles,  were  delivered  in  a  poetical  form ;  the  poet,  like  the  seer, 
announcing  the  will  of  the  gods  to  mankind.  Apollon  is  also  the 
god  of  song  and  music,  protects  flocks  and  cattle,  and  delights  in 
the  foundation  of  towns  and  the  establishment  of  civil  constitutions. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  a  divinity  of  such  a  mild,  benefioentb 
imd  elevating  character  should  be  termed  Apollon, — the  same  as  the 
Scripture  ApQllyon, — "the  Destroys."  This  is  supposed  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  legend  thf^t  Themis  bad  an  oracle  in  Delphi, 
the  way  to  which  was  guarded  by  the  dragon  Python.  Here,  too, 
we  have  veiy  evident  allusion  to  the  "  old  serpent :" — Python,  from 
nniD  pythe,  "  to  over-persuade,  to  deceive."  This  monster  Apollon 
slew,  and  took  possession  of  the  oracle,  which  thenceforth  became 
the  most  celebrated  in  Greece,  or  in  the  whole  world. 

It  may. serve  to  show  the  confusion  produced  by  the  application 
of  conflicting  traditions  of  primitive  history  and  religion,  to  observe 
that  although  'Apollon  was  regarded  as  personating  the  promised 
Seed  in  the  ori|^nal  promise  ai  redemptioqi,  and  was  celebrated  as 
6  26)T]7(),  "  the  Saviour,"  in  consequence  of  this  his  great  viotoiy 
over  the  serpent,  yet  the  true  diaracter  of  this  idolatrous  imagery 
is  shown  by  the  sacred  writer  calling  the  evil  spirit  which  Panl  cast 


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rax  eSNTILS  NATIONS.  867 

out  of  the  dftma^I  sfc  Philinpi  "  a  spirit  ol  Python,"— the  very  title 
'  which  ApoUon  had  earned  by  this  viotoiy,  and  used  a  thousand  years. 

Artsmis,  (Diana,)  the  dan^ter  of  Zens  and  Leto,  and  sister  of 
ApoUo,  was  originally  an  ideal  being  pf  precisely  the  same  character 
as  her  brothuer ;  he  being  a  masculine,  and  jihe  a  feminine  imperson- 
ation of  the  same  attributes.  In  process  of  time,  however,  other 
and  extraneous  ideas  were  introduced  into  the  religion  of  Greece 
under  this  name.  As  an  instance,  it. may  be  stated  that  the  Ephe- 
sian.Diaoa  was  originally  an  Asiatic  deity,  having  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  the  Greek  Artemis,  which,  under  the  rising  power  and 
prevalent  influence  of  Greece,  at  length  inerged  into  this  character 
and  title.  At  Sparta  this  goddess  was  worshipped  under  the  name 
of  fi  'Opeia,  "  the  Upright,."  and  boys  were  whipped  at  her  altar  until 
it  was  sprinkled  with  their  Mood. 

Herhss,  or  Merciury,  was  the  &(m  of  Zeus  and  Maia,  a  daughter 
of  Atlas.  Homer  describes  hinr  as  the  acute,  witty,  active  messenger 
of  Z^9, — one  who  brings  every thijig  to  a  happy  conclusion.  He  is 
not  to  be  regarded  simply  as  a  messenger,  but  as  a  god  who,  charged 
with  executing  the  bdiests  of  the  supreme  Zeus,  also  exercised  his 
own  judgment  and  power,  by  which  he  rendered  many  very  import- 
ant services  to  gods  and  men.  .  Yet,  while  aeting  in  this  independent 
diaracter,  he  was,  besides,  the  executor  of  the  will  of  Zeus,  just  as 
Apollo -was  its  interpreter  and  propounder  to  mankind. 

Hermes  may,  therefore,  be  r^^skrded  as  a  divinity  with  rather 
mnltifiirious  attributes  and  offices.  He  is  the  guardian  of  flocks  and 
herds,  which  he  renders  prosperous.  .He  is  god  of  inventions,  and 
of  heralds,  being  himself  ^he  herald  of  the  gods.  He  imparts  the 
gift  of  eloquence;  and  is  the  god  of  commerce.  In  this  aspect  his 
moral  influence  is  not  particularly  sound,  since  he  is  always  ready 
to  patronize  thieves  and  cheats,  provided  they  effect  their  purposes 
with  skill  and  dexterity.  He  is  the  -patron  of  roads,  and  the  pro- 
tector of  travellers ;  he  conducts  the  souls  of  the  dead  to  the  lower 
world :  and  he  is  the  god  of  gymnastics.  In  all  this  wide  range  of 
offices,  Hermes  is  regarded  by  this  system  as  equally  clever  and 
beneficent,  always  the  giver  of  wealth  aad  prosfimtj. 

Hephaistos,  (Vulcan.) — Before  the  days  of  Hom«,  this  deity 
was  regarded  as  a  mighty,  creative  being;  but  after  the  genius  of 
the  father  of  poetiy  had  established  the  supremacy  of  Zeus,  he 
occupied  a  more  subordinate  position.  He  is  tiie  son  of  Zeus  and 
Hera,  and  was  in  consequence  of  his  ugliness  ca^  out  of  heaven  as 
soon  as  he  was  bom.  *He  was  kindly  received  and  brought  up  by 
Thetis  and  Eurynome.  He  was  afherward  readmitted  to  Olympus; 
but,  having  taken  part  with  his  mother  against  Zeus,  he  was  again 


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hurled  from  heayen  by  the  mighty  thunderer,  imd,  after  whirling  the 
whole  day,  fell  on  the  island  of  Lemnos. 

He  was  the  great  patron  of  artificers,  especially  in  metals ;  and  is 
sometimes  associated  with  Athene,  a  deity  of  much  hi^^  rank,  as 
the  instructer  and  protector  of  artificers.  His  marvellous  workshop 
was  on  Olympus,  where  he  made  two  golden  female  figures,  on  whidi 
he  is  represented  as  leaning.  He  built  brazen  palaces  for  himself 
and  other  deities  on  Olympus.  For  Achilles  he  made  a  wonderful 
shield ;  for  Piomedes,  a  suit  of  armour.  His  wife  was  Aphrodite, 
the  goddess  of  beauty,  who  hapd,  however,  less  attachment  to  har 
husband  than  to  the  strong  and  handsome  Ares,  which  was  the  occa- 
sion of  much  scandal. 

Aphrodite  (Venus)  was,  according  to  Homer,  the  daughter  of 
Zeus  and  Dione ;  but,  according  toanother  myth  adopted  by  Hesiod, 
she  was  the  o&pring  of  the  foam  of  the  sea.  She  is  the  goddess  of 
love  and  beauty.  Paris  awarded  her  the  prize  of  beauty,  in  prefer- 
ence to  Hera  and  Athene.  By  her  favourite,  Anchises,  she  became 
the  mother  of  ^ixeas,  and  for  his  sake  greatly  aided  the  Trojans  in 
their  famous  war^ 

Aphrodite  was  origmally  an  Asiatic  divinity,  like  the  Syrian 
Astarte, — one  of  the  gods  of  nature,  who  creates  out  of  water  all  the 
fNToductions  of  the  eartii,  and  is  therefore  hers^  said  to  have  bem 
bom  from  the  foam  of  the  sea.  The  worship  of  this  goddess  was 
imported  from  the  east  into  Greece,  where  she  was  soon  adored  as 
«  Grecian  divinity.  By  her  power  gods  and  men  were  enshived. 
All  living  things  feel  her  influence. 

Abbs,  (Mors,)  the  son  of  Zeus  and  Hera,  is  represented  as  the 
fierce  god  of  war :  he  was  the  paramour  of  Aphrodite.  Their  chil- 
dren were  Deimos,  Phobos,  Eros,  Anteros^  and  Eburmonia.  Ares 
appears  to  have  been  designed  to  set  forth  the  violence,  ferocity, 
and  brute  courage  exhibited  in  war,  as  Athene  represented  its 
genius,  strategy,  and  intellectual  requisites.  Ares  was  not  egcten- 
sively  worshipped  in  Greece,  and  very  few  statues  were  raised  to  his 
honour. 

Eros,  (Cupid,)  the  son  of  Mars  and  Venus,  in  the  early  mythology 
of  the  Pelasgi,  is  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  tiie  gods. 
Hence  Hesiod  says :  "First  of  all  was  Chaos,  then  the  broad  Earth, 
and  Tartaros,  and  Eros,  the  fiiirest  ot  the  immortal  gods."  This 
ancient  god  was  worshipped  at  ThespisB  in  Boeotia,  where  the 
Erotidia  were  celebrated  in  his  honour  once  in  five  years.  The  son 
of  Aphrodite  and  Ares,  however,  absorbed 'attention  and  devotion 
during  the  best  ages  of  Grecian  history.  And  whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  dubious  and  abstract  character  of  .some  other  minor 


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TBK  GBNTHJI  NATIONS.  869 

divinities,  it  is  an  nndonbted  &ct  that  this  Eros  "  was  the  living, 
breathing  ecabodiment  of  popular  belief." 

According  to  this  universal  faith,  neither  Zens,  the  lord  of  the 
nniverse,  nor  even  Eros's  own  mother,  is  safe  from  his  attacks.  In 
heaven  and  earth,  in  the  sea  and  the  lower  world,  he  reigns  supreme 
as  the  all-conquering  god.  Bome  aloft  on  golden  pinions,  armed 
with  a  bow  and  anrows,  which  he  carries  in  a  golden  quiver,  he 
shoots  according  to  his  will;  and  whoever  is  pierced  with  his  shafts, 
becomes  instanidy  sensible  of  the  pangs  and  raptures  of  love. 

Besides  these,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  the  names  of  other 
dmnities  more  or  less  connected  wiUi  the  sacred  halls  of  Olympus, 
al&ough  many  of  them  occupy  there  a  subordinate  position. 
Among  these  may  be  reckoned  Hestia,  (Vesta^)  the  goddess  of  the 
hearth  and  its  fire,  the  patroness  of  domestic  harmony,  the  guardian 
of  the  bouse,  and  the  protectress  of  strapgers  and  suppliants. 
Moi&A,  {ParcOr  Fate,^)  the  goddess  who  spins  the  thread  of  man's 
destiny.  The  word  is  sometimes  used  in  the  plural;  and  Hesiod 
speaks  of  three  Moirse,  who  were  the  daughters  of  Night.  Although 
ibis  divinity  generally  appears  in  a  subordinate  character,  as  watch- 
ing over  and  predicting  individual  destiny,  at  other  times  she  seems 
to  exercise  unlimited  power  over  all  the  gods,  even  binding  Zeus 
himself  to  her  wiU,  however  much  against  his  incHnation.  Ttchb, 
CFortuna,)  the  goddess  of  accident  and  luck. 

Hbmbsis,  the  goddess  who  apportions  to  men.  the  measure  of 
happiness  or  misery  whidi  their  actions  merit;  although  she  more 
frequently  assumes  the  aspect  of  an  avenging  than  of  a  beneficent 
deity.  Atb,  a  personification  of  the  in&tuation  or  perversion  of  the 
understanding  whidk  leads  men-  to  sin.  Dxeb,  ( Ju8tice.)'the  pro- 
tectress of  the  just,  and  the  enemy  of  injustice  and  wrong.  When 
a  judge  passes  an  unjust  sentence,  she  carries  her  complaint  to  the 
throne  of  Zens.  Themis,  the  goddess  of  law  and  order.  She  is 
represented  as  a  divine  being,  who  in  conjundJon  with  Zeus  protects 
the  right,  and  convenes  and  dissolves  the  assemblies  of  men.  Her 
peculiar  oflice^  however,  is  to  restore  peace  to  Olympus,  and  check 
all  insubordination  and  disorder  among  the  gods.  She  is  the  coun- 
sellor and  auziliaiy  of  Zeus,  and,  like  Dike,  is  sometimes  called  his 
assessor. 

The  MusBS,  the  nine  goddesses  of  song.  Their  names  and 
oflBces  were  as  follows :^Clio,  ("the  Recorder,")  the  goddess  of 
history;  Euterpe,  ("the  Delighter,")  of  lyric  song;  Thalda,  ("the 
blooming,")  of  comedy;  Melpomene,  (the  muse  "of  song,'*)  the 
goddess  of  tragedy;  Terpsichore,  ("she who  delights  in  dande,")  the 
goddess  of  dance;  Erato,  (the  muse  "of  love,")  presiding  over 

24 


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870  THB  QKSTILK  MAtlOm. 

amorous  poel^;  Polyhymnia^  ("ricli  in  hymns/')  the  goddesB  of 
hymn;  Urania,  (*' the  celestial/')  the  muse  of.astronomy;  Calliope^ 
('*  the  melodious/')  the  goddess  of  epic  poetry. 

Chaeitbs  (the  Cfraees)  are  g6ddes8e6  who  preside  cfftac  ih« 
charms  of  social  life,  the  nnion  of  individiialft  in  civiliied  oommnni- 
ties,  and  the  unrestrained  joTiaUty  of  the  hanqmet 

Besides  these  there  wa«  the  Hor^z,  the  goddesses  of  the  weadier, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  open  and  shut  the  gates  of  Olympus, — ^to  sead 
rain  and  sunshine,  oold  and  heat,  rendering  the  earth  fruitful.  The 
Htadbs,  or  goddesses  of  rain.  The  Plbiapks,  the  daughters  of 
Atlas,  seven  stairs  favourable  to  navigation.  Ikis,  the  mnbow,  and 
the  female  messenger  of  the  gods  to  eartii  and  the  lower  world. 
Hblios,  the  sun, — the  son  of  Ae  Titan,  Hyperion.  ScLrnvB,  (^Luna,) 
"the  moon."  Eos,  the  goddess  of  the  dawn.  The  WiNiys,  too^  are 
divine  beings,  four  in  number:  Burns,  the  blasting  east  wind;  Notes, 
the  moist  south;  Zephyros,  the  dark,  rainy  west;  and  Boreas,  the 
blustering  north. 

On  Olympus,  whose  lofty  peak  rises  above  ttie  doods,  dwell  the 
gods  in  palaces  erected  by  Hephaistos.  Around  and  above  them  is 
a  cloudless  sky.  No  rain  or  snow  Ms  in  those  happy  regions ;  no 
rude  wind  disturbs  the  everlasting  ealm.  On  the  highest  pinnade 
of  the  mountain  is  the  palace  of  Zens,  where  the  other  gods  assemble 
at  the  feast  or  in  the  council.  Hebe,  the  'ever^youthfitl,  and  Gany- 
medes,  the  Phrygian  boy,--whom  Zeus  stole  from  earth,  and  en- 
dowed with  immortality, — offer  them  nectar  iind  SEmbrosia,  while  the 
Muses  delight  their  ears  with  melodious  strains,  and  the  CharUes 
display  their  celestial  charms.  Iris  conveys  the  messages  of  the 
gods  from  heaven  to  earth;  the  Horse,  goddesses  of  the  seasonSi 
open  and  shut  the  gate  of  Olympus;  and  Helio%  the  all-seds^ 
brings  to  gods*  and  mortals  the  che^ful  light  of  day.  In  the  mom- 
isig  he  rises  from  the  eastern  Oceanos,  heralded  by  therosy-fingered 
Eos,  (the  Dawn,)  and  at  night  sinks  to  rest-  beneath  its  western 
wave;  for  Oceanos,  the  mighty  stream  of  the  universe,  flows  around 
the  earth  and  the  sea.  But  all  these  divinities  of  nature  are  sob^ 
ordinate  to  the  gods  of  Olympus,  and  obey  the  command  of  the 
sovereign  Zeus.  (See  Stoll's  Religion  and  Mythology  of  the 
Greeks,  p.  10.) 

It  was  an  essential  element  of  this  faith,  that,  when  Zeus'  had 
completed  the  overtfaiow  of  Cronos  and  the  Titans,  the  government 
of  the  uuvtrse  was  divided  between  himself  and  his  two  brothers. 
Zeus,  with  the  deities  previously  named,  retained  the  sovereignty  of 
heaven,  Poseidon  that  of  the  sea,  and  Hades  the  lower  regions.  It 
will  foe  necessary  to  notice  briefly  these  two  remaining  governments. 


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THB  GBimLB  KATIOVS.  871 

P06BIDON  (Neptune)  was  the  son  of  Cronos  and  Rhea,  and 
jonnger  broiiber  of  Zeus.  He  obtained  the  rale  of  the  sea  as  his 
portion  of  nniverstd  empire.  His  palaee  was  in  the  depths  of  the 
oeean  near  ^gsB.  Although  younger  and  less  powerful  than  Zieus, 
he  felt  sometimes  disposed  to  resist  the  supremaoj  of  his  elder 
brother.  His  temper,  like  the  .element  subject  to  his  authority,  was 
boisterous  sad  uneertain ;  and  when  any  indi^dual  had  excited  his 
anger,  the  god  was  sure  to  pursue  him  witii  the  most  relentless 
hatred.  On  some  aoeount,  whidi  has  never  been  satisfiMstorily  ex- 
plained, Poseidon  was  regarded  as  the  divinity  to  whom  mankind 
is  indebted  for  the  invaluable  services  of  the  horse.  Over  the  seas 
he  exercised  unlimited  power.  As  he  glides  along  the  sur&ce  of  the 
water  in  his  chariot,  drawn  by  blrazen-footed  horses,  the  waves  are 
stilled,  and  the  monsters  of  the  deep  arise  to  do  him  homage,  while 
all  the  divinities  of  the  water  acknowledge  him  as  their  sovereign . 
lord.  All  the  phenomena  of  the  ocean  are  dependent  on  his  will. 
At  his  fiat,  the- waves  rise  in  all  the  fury  of  their* power;  before  his 
anger,  the  earth  trembles :  he  dashes  ships  in  pieces,  inundates  whole 
countries,  opens  fountains  on  the  dry  land,  and  breaks  the  rocks  in 
pieces.  In  andent  times  his  dominion  extended  over  all  fountains, 
rivers,  and  lakes;  but  when  Hie  system  of  mythology  was  folly 
developed,  his  sway  was  more  particulariy  confined  to  the  sea.  The 
Isthmian  Games  were  celebrated  once  in  three  years,  near  Corinth, 
in  honour  of  this  deity.  The  prise  was  a  crown,  made  of  branches 
of  the  fir-tree.  Besides  thd  horse,  the  dolphin  was  sacred  to 
Poseidon. 

AMPHiTRrni,  the  daughter  of  Kerens,  was  the  wife  of  Poseidon. 
Her  name  signifies  that  she  surrounds  the  earth  with  water.  She 
was  therefore  ori^nally  the  sea;  but  Hesiod  incorporated  her  into 
his  Theogony  as  the  wife  of  the  principal  marine  deity. 

OcBAisros,  the  mighty  stream  which  surrounds  the  earth  and  the 
sea,  and  from  whence  spring  the  gods,  the  rivers,  and  the  fountains ; 
NsBBUS,  the  old  man  of  the  sea,  the  father  of  the  fiifty  beautifol 
nymphs  named  £<BRBn>s,  among  whom  we  find  Thetis,  the  mother 
of  AohiUes;  LbucotSba,  the  companion  of -the  Nereids,  the  pro- 
tectress of  the  shipwrecked  mariner ;  Protbtjs,  the  ancient  sooth- 
saying deity,  who  feeds  the  seals  of  Amphitrite;  Phorcus,  ("the 
gray,"^  another  aged  dea  deity ;  OlauCOB,  a  god  of  sailors  and 
fishermen ;  TRiroir,  a  powerful  deity,  son  of  Poseidon  and  Amphi- 
trite; the  BrVBRS  and  Acbbi:.oios  ;  were  minor  deities  attending  on 
Poseidon,  and  Amphitrite. 

The  third  grand  division  of  this  system  of  divinities  was  presided 
over  by  Hadbs,  (or  Pluto,)  the  son  of  Cronod  and  Rhea,  brother  of 


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872  THS  aXNTILB  NATIOKS. 

Zeos,  and  husband  of  Persephone.  He  is  the  sovereigQ  of  ihe 
lower  world,  where  his  power  is  aa  su|H:eme  as  that  of  his  brother 
Zeus  in  heaven,  althonf^  as  younger  brother,  he  is  in  rank  inferior 
to  the  Olympian  deity.  This  dark  and  mysterious  sovereign  of  the 
infernal  kingdom  has  a  helmet  which  renders  him  invisible:  his 
terrible  voice  summons  mortals  to  the  realms  of  death :  he  is  stem 
and  inexorable,  and  more  dreaded  by  mankind  than  any  other  deity. 
As  the  residence  of  this  divinity  was  situate  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth,  he  was  commonly  regarded  as  the  dispaiser  of  vegetable  life, 
and  ihe  bestower  of  mineral  wealth.  His  sovereignty  extended  over 
all  mankind ;  if  not  fuUy  during  their  life,  yet  certainly  at  their 
death  he  was  sure  to  establish  his  dominion  over.  all. 

Pebssphone,  the  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Demeter,  is  the  wife  of 
Hades.  While  en^pged  with  her  companions  in  gathering  flowers  in 
the  Kysaean  meadows,  the  earth  was  cleft  asunder,  and  Hades,  rising 
out  of  the  abyss  in  his  chariot  drawn  by  immortal  horses,  seised  on 
the  terrified  maiden  by  the  permission  of  Zeus,  and  carried  her  (AS 
with  him  to  the  infernal  regions,  where  she  became  his  wife.  In  the 
Grecian  frith  she  is  always  exhibited  as  enthroned  with  her  husband, 
and  sharing  with  him  the  government  of  the  infernal  regions,  just  as 
Hera  does  with  Zeus  above.  In  hasi,  Persephone  seems  to  possess 
more  than  a  feminine  part  of  this  dark  sovereignty ;  for  she  exer- 
cises an  especial  authority  over  the  ghosts  of  the  departed,  while 
Hades  seems  more  concerned  with  the  affiurs  of  the  living.  She 
was,  indeed,  a  female  counterpart  of  her  dark  and  terrible  consort 

The  subordinate  deities  and  divine  attendants  at  this  gloomy 
court  were  the  following :— Thanatos  and  Hypnos,  Death  and 
Sleep,  the  sons  of  Ni^t;  the  Kerbs,  >a  plural  feminine  personifica- 
tion of  Fate, — dark,  malignant,  inexorable  goddesses,  objects  of 
universal  hatred;  the  Erinntbs,  produced  by  Gaia  (the  Earth) 
from  the. blood  of  Ouranos,.when  he  was  mutilated  by  his  son  Cro- 
nos. These  are  immortal  representations  of  the  vexation  and  anger 
of  those  whose  rights  hikve  been  violated.  On  Ae  fifth  day  of  every 
month  they  sally  forth  from  their  infernal  habitations,  to  punish 
those  who  have  violated  their  oaths,  and  to  inflict  vengeance  on  fla- 
grant sinners ;  which  they  administer,  not  only  by  direct  penalty,  but 
also  at  other  times  by  perverting  the  judgment  of  men,  so  as  to  lead 
them  to  pursue  a  course  which  issues  in  their  own  ruin. 

Hecate  is  sometimes  mentioned  in  connexion  with  the  Erinnyes, 
and  en  other  occasions  as  a  separate  and  independent  divinity.  She 
was  the  dark  and  terrible  ruler  of  the  world  of  phantoms  ai^d  super- 
natural appearances,  the  patroness  and  teacher  of  witches. 

Besides  these  three  divisions  of  deities,  there  was  another,  com- 


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THB  ^BNTILB  NATIOITS.  d7S 

peeed  entirely  of  subor£nate  divinities,  which  pertained  to  the  earth 
afl  the  tsommon  seat  and  centre  of  divine  government  and  providence. 
The  principal  of  these  were:  1.  Gaia,  the  Earth,  who  brings  forth 
and  nourishes  everything  that  has  life, — ^the  ail-producing,  all-sus- 
taining.mother.  2.  The  Ntmphs,  goddesses  of  inferior  rank.  They 
were  the  daughters  of  Zeus,  and  were  divided  into  four  classes, — 
Mountains,  Meadows,  Fountains  And  Woodlands.  They  are'  evi- 
dently personifications  of  the  beneficent  powers  of  nature.  3.  Rhea, 
Gybele,  the  sister  and  wift  of  Cronos,  and  mother  of  Zeus  and  his 
brother  deities.  She,  too,  was  often  confounded  with  the  Great 
Mother,  and  not  unfrequently  mistaken  for  Gaia.  Her  priests  in 
Galatia  and  some  other  places  exercised  a  kind  of  ecclesiastical 
dominion  over  the  land.  4.  Dioirrsos,  (Bacchus,)  the  son  of  Zeus 
and  Semele ;  the  god  of  wine.  He  was  the  patron  of  song  and 
festiye  poetry,  of  the  drama,  and  of  a  peculiar  species  of  lyric,  called 
dithyrambus.  But  he  was  specially  a  god  of  nature ;  and  his  care 
extended  not  only  to  the  culture  and  production  of  the  vine,  but  to 
all  the  v^etable  world.  At  first  his  worship  corresponded  to  the 
oharaeter  of  a  beneficent  and  friendly  beitag;'  but  afterward  such 
riotous  oigies  were  introduced,  that  the  rites  became  disgusting  and 
demoralising.  ^ 

6.  The  Satyrs,  companions  of  Dionysos.  They  represent,  in  a 
lower  degree,  the  life  of  nature,  whose  best  and  noblest  productions 
are  symbolized  by  Dionysos.  Silenus,  Marsyas,  and  Midas,  are 
gross  individual  representations  of  this  class.  6.  Pan,  the  son  of 
Hermes  and  of  the  daughter  of  J>ryop(s,  was  a  pastoral  and  sylvan 
deity,  who,  from  his  similarity  to  the  Satyrs,  was  numbered  among 
the  attendants  of  Dionysos,  where  he  figures  as  a  dancer,  and  perse- 
eates  the  Nymphs  with  his  importunities.  7.  Priapus,  son  of 
Dionysos  and  Aphrodite,  the  god  of  fertility,  generally  worshipped 
by  means  of  most  disgusting  symbols.  6.  Centaurs,  being  half 
men  and  half  horses.  Satyr^ike  in  their  appearance  and  character, 
they  were  also  regarded  as  attendants  upon  Dionysos.  9.  Deme- 
tbr  (Geres.)  This  goddess  was  in  early  times  identical  with  the 
divine  Mother  Earth ;  but  was  afterward  worshipped  as  an  individ- 
ual deity,  presiding  oyer  herbs  and  flowers,  with  com,  and  every 
otter  T^table  requisite  for  sustaining  the  life  of  man. 

Having  thus  given,  in  tolerable  detail,  an  outline  of  the  theology 
of  Greece,  it  will  be  evident  that  while  there  are  clear  and  distinct 
substrata  of  Scriptural  tradition,  moulding  and  directing  the  active 
energies  which  brought  this  system  into  operation,  these  are  not  of 
the  same  kind,  nor  used  in  the  same  manner,  as  those  which  were 
found  in  the  faith  of  the  primitive  nations  whose  history  and  religion 


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874  THB  eSNXILB  NATIOm. 

have  beep  referred  to  in  llie  pteeedisg  ohapterB.  In  the  cam  ef 
G^reece,  there  was  a  far  greater  chrotidiogieal  and  'geographical 
removal  from  the  season  and  seat  of  the  events  recorded  by  Moses 
as  the  foundation  of  human  history,  and  of  the  divine  revelations 
made  to  mankind  in  connexion  with  the  Creation,  the  Fall,  and  the 
Flood,  than  existed  in  the  case  of  older  and  more  eastern  nations. 
There  is,  consequently,  in  this  theology  a  less  distinct  reoognitioQ 
of  the  first  promise  of  redemption, — of  the  Seed  of  the  woman,  and 
of  the  Divine  Son,— than  we  find  in  Asayiia,  Persia^  and  Egypt 
Kor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  when  it  is  coiuddered  th»t  at  least 
twelve  hundred  years  ebqpsed  firom  the  Dispersion  to  the  eariiest 
time  at  which  we  can  obtiJn  any  .information  respecting  the  reli^on 
of  the  Hellenes;  and  that,  during  a  great  part  of  this  period,  their 
progenitors  had,  by  leading  a  wandering  and  unsettled  life,  and  firam 
other  causes,  descended,  to  say  the  least,  to  the  verge  of  extreme 
barbarism. 

Yet,  even  in  these  circumstances,  so  strongly  was  the  idea  of  a 
triune  personality  in  the  Deity  inwrought  into  all  the  traditions  of 
the  religion  of  antiquity, — and  so  fully  was  it  countenanced  by  the 
tbeology  of  those  ancient  countries  which  .were  preceptors  to  Ghreeae 
in  this  branch  of  knowledge, — that  the  triad  became  neariy  as 
prominent  in  Grecian  theology  as  in  that  of  more  ancient  nations. 
But  this  triad  is  clearly  the  three -sons  pf.Noah,  as  has  been  shown 
in  a  preceding  volume.  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  271.)  But  the  cmrioos 
manner  in  which  this  is  -  described  merits  notice.  First,  we  are 
informed  that  Saturn  destroys  his  oibpring,  and  that  Zeus  is  alone 
preserved  by  a  trick  of  his  mother.  Then  it  is  said  that  this  deity, 
having  grow^  .up  in  conceahnent,  afterward  succeeds  in  defeating 
the  purposes  of  his  father,  and,  by  a  desperate  but  triumphant  con- 
flict, secures  paramount  authority ;  while  his  two  brothers,  ,wfao  had 
been  destroyed  by  their  father,  are  marvellously  restored,  and  have 
each  a  separate  but  iuferior  portion  of  the  universe  placed  under 
their  individual  government; 

However  extravagant  the  terms  in  which  this  mythic  aceount  has 
reached  us,  they  are  not  sufiSciently  so  as  to  conceal  alt(^ether  the 
basis  of  Scriptural  and  historical  tradition  on  whidi  it. rests.  The 
arkite  patriarch  had  announced  the  divine  purpose,  that  the  thiee 
primitive  tribes  should  separate,  and  their  fieunilies  spread  over  the 
eartL  The  head  of  the  house  of  Ham  resists  this,  and  in  violent 
conflict  compels  the  Shemitie  clan  to  retire  from  the  seat  whidi  had 
been  assigned  to  them ;  and  the  Cuthite  race  thus  acquired  d<munioD, 
and  for  a  season  effected  their  purpose  of  securing  paramount  rule. 
Yet,  although  the  traditions  of  this  feud  and  consequent  stragj^e 


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THB  QVNTILB  NATI0K8.  875 

a»e  deariy  reoognised  as  tkmente  in  Orecian  mythology,  true  to 
the  ruling  idea  of  the  primitiFeerrw,  their  chief  deities  form  a  triad, 
and  that  triad  is  composed  of  the  three  sons  of  Saturn  or  I)4)ah. 

We  proceed  to  notice  the  temples,  priests,  worship,  oracles,  divina- 
tion, and  festivals  of  this  rel^ion.  We  shall  then  be  prepared  to 
form  some  opinion  respecting  the  general  character  and  influence  of 
thiff  system  of  faith  and  morals. 

Temples  appear  io  have  existed  in  Greece  from  the  earliest 
times:  they  were  always  regarded  as  consecrated* enclosores.  At 
first  the  ground  thus  set  apart  for  sacred  purposes  was  distinguished 
by  being  encompassed  by  a  string  or  rope;  afterward  stone- walls 
were  built  around  the  whole  space.  The  temple  itself  was  called 
woo^,  (Attice,  veu)^,)  and  at  its  entrance  fonts  (neptf^vr^ia)  were 
generally  placed,  that  those  who  entered  tiie  sanctuary,  to  pray  6r 
oS&r  sacrifices,  might  first  purify  themselves. 

In  eariy  times  the  templed  were  of  the  simplest  construction,  and 
fiequently  made  of  wood :  but  afterward  exceedingly  elaborate  and 
costly  stone  buildings  were  erected  for  this  purpcse.  Temples  were 
always  consecrated.  The  original  idea,  evidently  traceable  in  the 
progress  of  tem^e*building,  is,  that  these  sanctuaries  were  at  first 
not  designed  for  places  of  worship  so  much  as  for  a  residence  of  the 
Deity.  The  character  of  the  early  Greek  t«mp)es  was  dark  and 
mysterious,  no  light  being  admitted  but  through  the  doorway :  afters- 
ward  apertures  in  tiie  roof  partially  remedied  this  defect.  The 
larger  temples  were  generally  divided  into  three  parts : — ^the  (frgovao^^ 
or  ngddofw^)  "  vestibule ;"  the  i^a6^,  <w?«^Cf  or  cella)^*  nave,"  and 
ti^e  {bmaSddofio^)  **  storehouse.^'  It  does  not  appear  that  the  inner 
part  was  regarded  by  the  Greeks  as  a  place  of  more  peculiar  sanctity, 
as  was  the  case  in  Egypt. and  some  other  countries,  since  it  Was 
usually  the  place  {or  depositing  the  treasures.  The  cella,  or  "  nave," 
was  the  locality  where  the  image  of  ihe  god  was  fixed,  and  was  prop- 
erly "the  temple."  Yitmvius  states  that  tiie  entrance  of  Greek 
temples  was  always  toward  the  west;  but  most  of  the  ruins  Aai 
remain  in  Attica,  Ionia,  and  Sicily,  have  ^eir  entrance  toward  iAie 
euL  The  architecture  employed  in  the  erection  of  these  edifices 
was  the  first  emanation  of  Grecian  art,  and  preceded  painting  and 
statuary,  as  it  also  secured  an  earlier  and  equally  glorious  triumph 
in  the  perfection  to  which  it  attained. 

The  priests' of  Greece  were  admitted  to  this  oflSce  by  different 
means.  There  were  in  some  of  the  cities  (as  at  Athens)  sacred 
fiuniliee,  in  whom  the  priesthood  was  hereditary.  On  some  occa- 
sions the  sovereign,  or  chief  of  the  state,  appointed  the  priest,  while 
at  other  times  he  was  elected  by  the  sufirages  of  the  people,  or 


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376  THB  OBIITILS  SAtlOm. 

appointed  by  lot.  All  those  modes  are  diatuioUy  pefeired  to  by 
EostathiuB,  when  giving  a  comment  on  that  passage  in  Homei^s 
Iliad  (vi,  800) :  '*  By  appointment  pnblic  at  that  time  priestess  of 
Pallas."  The  arohbislM^p  observes  that  "ahe  waa  neidier  appointed 
by  lots,  nor  by  right  of  inheritance,  nor  by  the  designation  of  any 
single  person,  but^  as  the  ancients  say,  ele^ed  by  the  people." 

It  was  a  standing  rule,  that  all  who  entered  on  the  priestly  office 
should  be  perfectly  free  from  every  bodily  defect  or  superfluity. 
Hot  was  bodily  soundness  alone  sufficient :  uprightness  of  mind  was 
equally  necessary,  as  it  was  an  admitted  principle,  that  nothing 
ought  te  approach  the  gods  but  what-is  pure  and  uncorrupt.  It  was 
also  thou^^t  that  sexual  intercourse  militated  against  the  efficiency 
of  the  priestly  office ;  and  hence  the  priests  of  tiie  Mother  of  Gods 
at  Samos  dismembered  themselycQ, — an  example  which  was  followed 
by  some  others  in  different  parts  of  Qreece.  As  a  milder  form  of 
procuring  the  same  result,  the  "  hierophanUR  at  Athens,  after  their 
admission,  enfeebled  themselvea  by  a  draught  of  ib»  juice  of  hem- 
lock. In  short,  it  was  very  customary  for.  those  that  attended  on 
the  more  sacred  and  mysterious  rites,  by  using  oertain  herbs  and 
medicaments, .  to  unman  themselves,  that  they  might  worship  the 
gods  with  greater  chastity  and  purity." — Potter's  Antiq,,  vol.  i,  p.  242. 

They  also  frequently  retired  from  the  world  and  idl  its  business, 
that,  being  free  from  cares,  they  might  wholly  devote  themselves  to 
the  service  of  the  gods.  But  though  most  of  them  were  obliged  to 
strict  diastity  and  temperance,  others  were  allowed  to  marry;  and 
Enstathius  t^^s  us  that  it  was  but  an  institution  of  the  later  ages  that 
the  priestesses  should  be  virgins ;  to  confirm  whioh.  Homer  (Iliad  i, 
99)  may  be  cited  to  prove  that  Chryseis,  the  cause  of  the  subject  of 
the  Iliad,  was  daughter  of  Ghryses,  Apollo's  priest,  and,  again,  that 
Dar^s,  the  priest  of  Vulcan,  had  two  sons.  Nor,  indeed,  was  this 
iidhei:ence  to  chastity  the  uniform  practice  of  later  times ;  for  in 
some  cases  a  plurality  of  Jbusbands  or  lovers  was  a  necessary  quali- 
fication for  a  priestess. 

In  small  cities  all  the  sacred  offices  were  fr^uently  performed  by 
one  person.  But  where  worshippers  were,  numerous,  sev^ul  prieste 
wene  appointed,  and  inferior  officers,  suoh  as  sacrifioers,  keepers  of 
the  temple,  treasurers  of  the  sacred  revenue,  and  others.  Of  the 
different  orders  of  prieste  no  definite  information  can  be  obtained: 
for  not  only  the  several  deities,  but  even  the  same  god,,  had  different 
orders  of  priests,  in  difierent  localities  and  under  diverse  circum- 
stances. It  may,  however,  be  observed  that  in  all  places  of  note 
there  was  a  high-priest,  whose  .office  it  was  to  superintend  the  other 
sacred  officers,  and  to  execute. the  most  holy  rites  and  mysteries  of 


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THB  GBNTtLB  NATI0H6.  877 

religion.  At  Aih^s  they  had  muiy  high-priesto;  every  deity  al« 
most  having  one,  who  presided  over  the  rest.  At  other  places  they 
had  two  classes  of  priests, — one  devoted,  to  the  celestial  gods,  and 
the  other  to  inferior  deities  and  demigods,  with  a  high-priest  over 
each  class.  At  Delphi  there  were  five  high-priests,  who  with  the 
prophets  had  the  chief  management  of  all  parts  of  divine  worship. 

The  religious  worship  of  Greece  mikinly  consisted  of  sacrifices, 
sacred  gifts,  prayers,  and  imprecations. 

The  sacrifices  were  of  four  kinds : — 

1.  Vows  or  free-will  ofieringg:  such  as  those  promised  to  the 
gods  before,  and  tendered  after,  a  victory ;  or  those  offered  by  hus- 
bandmen after  harvest. 

2.  Propitiatory  offerings;  intended  to  avert  the  anger  of  an 
offended  deity.  Of  this  kind  were  all  the  sacrifices  used  in  ex- 
piations. 

3.  Petitionary  sacrifices;  oblfttions  presented  to  the  gods  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  success  in  any  enterprise.  So  devoted  were 
the  Greeks  in  general  to  their  religious  faith,  that  they  seldom 
undertook  anything  of  moment  without  first  having  asked  the 
advice,  and  implored  the  assistance,  of  the  gods  by  sacrifices  and 
prayers. 

4.  Such  sacrifices  as  were  imposed  or  commanded  by  an  oracle  or 
a  prophet. 

The  origin  of  these  sacrifices  was  unknown  to  the  Greeks,  and 
lost  in  unexplainable  myths, — at  Jeast^  with  one  solitary  exception; 
namely,  tibat  which  asserts  "propitiatory  sacrifices  to  h^tve  been  first 
begun  by  Chiron  the  pentaur ;"  (Potter's  Antiquities,  vol.  i,  p.  248 ;) 
which,  if  we  are  correct  in  assigning  all  these  fabulous  compound 
beings  to  traditions  of  the  primitive  cherubim,  afbrds  an  intelligible 
hint  of  the  connexion  between  the  origin  of  sacrifii^  and  the  presence 
of  the  cherubim  in  the  primitive  family. 

Some  have  laboured  to  show,  that  in  ancient  times  sacrifices 
were  confined,  to  vegetable  products ;  and  Ovid  has  been  cited  in 
proof.  This  theory  is,  however,  very  unsatisfactory ;  especially  a8» 
from  the  manner  in  which*  Pausanias  mentions  the  vegetable  sacri- 
fices of  Gecrops,  (Pausanius,  lib.  viii,  cap.  2,)  it  would  seem  that 
this  practice  was  a  departure  from  established  rule  rather  than  a 
primitive  rite.^ — an  idea  which  is  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  the 
laws  of  TriptolemuB  prohibited  the  Athenians  from  offering  bloody 
sacrifices.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  primitive  custom  obtained 
in  the  earliest  ages  in  Greece ;  but,  its  nature  not  being  understood, 
it  was  for  a  time  laid  aside,  and  afterward  resumed. 

Three  things  appear  to  have  been  regarded  as  essential  to  a 


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878  TBB  BKSnLB  VATIOirS. 

solepofn   and  complete  sacrifice :—(TTr^deiy,    '* libation;"   ^vfdofim^ 

"incense;"  Upelov^  "theTictim." 

The  term  by  which  the  first  of  these  is  set  forth  literallj  meaos 
no  more  than  "to  pour  forth,"  and  is  liierefore  synonymons  vidi 
"  libation."  Tt  evidently  refers  to  what  in  the  language  of  Scripture 
would  be  called  "  drink-offbrings."  The  liquid  generally  used  for 
this  purpose  was  pure  wine,  u:nmixed  with  water;  Yfhea  the  tenns^ 
"  mixed  wine,"  occur,  they  refer  to  the  use  of  more  than  one  kind  of 
wine,  and  not  to  wine  mixed  with  water.  But  although  wine  was 
most  usually  employed,  it  was  not  the  only  thing  employed  in 
libations,  which  also  comprehended  water,  honey,,  nilk,  and  <»L 
Water,  we  are  told,  was  always  used  on  the  AAeniao  altars  to 
Jupiter  the  Supreme.  Honey  was  ppnred  oat  to  the  Sun ;  oil,  to 
Pluto;  and  wine  mixed  with  hcmey,  to  the  infernal  gods.  One 
thing  wafl  regarded  as  essential  in  all  these  libations,  namely,  that 
they  should  be  ofiRsred  in  cups  fell  to  the  brim ;  it  being  regarded  as 
irrererence  to  the  gods  to  offar  anything  4iiat  was  not  whole  and 
perfect. 

.  The  second  thing  necessary  to  a  complete  saorifioe  was  compva- 
kended  under  the  general  term  "incense ."  not  that  this  odoriferoua 
compound  was  always  used,  but  something  bearing  some  analogy  or 
resemblance  thereto.  Branches  of  odoriferous^  trees,  and  sometimes 
the  vine,  the  fig,  and  the  myrrh,  were  employed  for  this  purpose: 
barley  and  other  grain-,  widi  salt,  also  frequently  made  a  part  of  this 
portion  of  the  sacrifice.. 

The  third  and  principal  part  of  the  sacrifice  was  "the  victim." 
The  kind  (^atiimal  to  be  sacrificed  depended  upon  the  circumstances 
and  condition  of  the  person  offering,  and  the  nature  of  ike  deity  to 
be  propitiated.  In  respect  of  the  former,— a  shepherd  would  sacri- 
fice a  sheep';  a  neat-h^rd,  an  ox;  a  goat-herd,  a  goat;  and  a  fisher, 
after  a  plentifel  draught,  would  offer  a  fish  to  Neptene ;  and  so  with 
others,  according  to  their  vocation  and  property.  The  nature  and 
position  of  the  god,  als(5,  in  some  measiure  regulated  the  kind  of 
sacrifice  to  be  presented.  Thus,  to  infernal  and  ^vil  gods  they 
offsr^d  black  victims;  to  the  b^eficent,  white;  to  the  deities  pre- 
siding over  fruitfnlness,  pregnant  victims ;  and  to  the  bairen,  baireo 
ones.  To  the  tnasculine  gods  they  presented  males,  and  to  the 
feminine  defties  they  gave  females.  Besides  these  distinctions, 
others  obtained,  since  almost  every  ddty  was  siqvpoaed  to  have  a 
partiality  for  certain  living  creatures,  from  which  sacrifices  to  each 
were  generally  selected,  or  oertain  creatures  were  thought  to  possess 
qualities  that  rendered  them  specially  fitting.  Hence  to  Hecate  they 
sacrificed  a  dog,  to  Venus  a  dove  or  pigeon.    To  Mars  they  give  a 


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XHB  aBETTILS  KATIOXS.  879 

bull,  and  to  Geres,  a  sow.  But»  wtwifliatftiidiag  all  these  ii^neiioes, 
the  animals  most  frequently  offered  in  saorifioe,  besides  the  two  last* 
mentioned,  were  the  goat,  ox,  cow,  sheep,  aad  lamb ;  and,  of  birds,  the 
d<»ne8tic  cock  and  hen.  Some  of  these  were  more  acceptable  if  of  a 
certain  age ;  as,  for  instance,  a  heifer,a  year  old,  that  had  never  been 
put  to  the  yoke,  was  most  grateful  to.  the  gods ;  and  tiius  Diomedes 
promises  Athene,-— 

■  «  A  youtUiil  itoer  ahall  ftdl  UmaOi  the  itnke, 
Uniftmed,  vacoosciou  of  the  gnUing  yoken" 

But  not  only  were  animals  thus  selected  and  samiced:' human 
beings  were  sometimes  immolated  in  a  similar  manner.  Lycaon  of 
Arcadia  offered  a  htmian  sacrifice  to  Jupiter;  and  at  that  time  this 
aci  was  regarded  as  so  atrociot»,  that  he  was  said'^to  have  been 
transformed  to  a  wolf  on  the  spot.  Tet  in  later  ages  Aristomenee 
sacrificed  three  hundred  men,-H>ne  of  whom  was' Theopompus« 
King  of  Sparta, — tO  Jupiter  Ithomssus.  (?)  Themistodes  sacrificed 
three  Pei^ians  to  Bacchus,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Salamis; 
(Plutarch's  Life  of  Themistocles ;)  not  to  menti<m  other  cases 
occorring  in  Grecian  history. 

Some  particulars  respecting  the  manner  of  conducting  sacrifice 
deserve  notice.  Qreat  care  was  taken  that  &e  priests  tend  priest- 
esses were  pure.  Sometimes  an  oath  was  administered  to  them, 
referring  not  only  to  defil^sient  in  general,  but  also  -specially  to  sex- 
ual connexion. 

After  this,  all  the  parties  were  purified  with  wliter,  which  had  been 
previously  consecrated  for  this  purpose.  Particular  care  was  taken 
not  only  in  the  selection  of  ttie  animal,  but  also  to  avoid  aft  appear- 
ance of  force  in  bringing  tibe  victim  to  the  altar,  as  any  demonstra- 
tion of  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  animal  was  fatal  to  the  accepta- 
bility of  the  sacrifice. 

When  the  animal  stood  accepted  by  the  altar,  the  priest,  turhing 
to  the  right  hand,  sprinkled  it  with  meal  and  holy  water:  he  also 
sprinkled  those  who  were  present.  After  tiiis  he  prayed :  he  then 
took  a  cup  of  ^ne,  which  he  tasted,  and  then  iJbwed  the  company 
to  do  so,  wnen  he  poured  the  remainder  between  the  horns  of  the 
animal.  Frankincense,  or  incense,  was  then  placed  on  the  altar,  and 
also  on  the  forehead  of  the  victim.  Then  the  animal  was  slain ;  and, 
if  by  any  chance  it  leaped -after  it  had  received  the  stroke,  or  bel- 
lowed, or  did  not  fall  immediately  to  the  ground,  or,  after  the  fall, 
kicked,  stamped,  was  restless,  did  not  bleed  freely,  or  appeared  to 
die  with  difficulty,  it  was  thought  unacceptable  to  the  gods ;  these 
beii^  evil  omens,  as  the  contraries  were  tokens  of  the  divine  favour 
and  good- will 


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880  THB  GfflrrruE  natiohs. 

An  impression  prevailed  in  Greeoe,  that  anciently  fiie  trhole  of 
tiie  animal  was  consumed  on  the  altar.  If  this  practice  ever  obtained, 
it  was  early  laid  afiide;  and  a  part  only,  the  tJiighs,  was  burnt  on 
the  altar  as  the  portion  of  the  gods.  While  this  portion  of  the 
victim  was  being  consumed;  the  priest,  and  tibe  person  who  provided 
the  sacrifice,  ofibred  up  prayer  to  the  god.  At  this  time,  on  some 
occasions,  instrumental  music  would  be  uaed ;  at  others,  the  people 
would  danoe  round  the  .altar,  singing  sacred  hymns;  the  first  of 
which,  called  the  strophe,  was  sung  in  turning  firom  east  to  west; 
the  ottier,  named  the  antistrophe^  in  turning  from  west  to  east- 
Then  they  stood  befidre  the  aH^,  and  sang  the  epos,  which  was  tiie 
last  part  of  the  song.  The  sa<aifioe  b^ng  ended,  the  portion  of  the 
priest  was  given  to  him ;  a  tenth  part  waci  also  due.  to  the  magis- 
trates at  Attiens.  A  portion  of  the  remainder  was  generally  appro- 
priated as  a  festal  meal  for  the  parties  present;  and  the  residue 
would  bp  taken  home  by  the  parly  providing  it,  or  sold,  as  he  mi^ 
choose. 

Another  important  part  of  Grecian  worship  was  prayer  and  eup- 
plicationr  and  a  review  of  the  conduct  of  the  Grecian  people  in 
respect  of  this  particular,  will  perhaps  produce  a  result  more  favour- 
able to  their  religious  character  than  any  other  branch  of  the  inquiry. 
Plato  bears  very  decided  testimony  to  the  devotional  habits  of  his 
countrymen  by  saying,  "  This  at  any  rate  is  true, — that  those  .who 
have  even  the  least  share  of  wisdom,  always,  invoke  the  deity  on 
ent^ng  upon.every  undertaking,  whetiier  small  or-great/' — TimtBus, 
Davis's  Trans.,  p.  831.  As  we  have  already  noticed,  prayer 
always  accompanied  sacrifice,  but  was  not  confined  to  these  solemn 
occasions:  on  the  contrary,  the  whole  history  of  Greece  shows  that 
in  public  and  private,  by  kings  and  princes,  as  wdl  as  by  common 
persons,  in  respect  of  matters  of  national  moment,  commercial  enter- 
prises, or  individual  concerns,  prayer  to  the.  gods  was  the  general, 
daily  practice  of  the  people.  Sometimes  the  suppliant  approached 
the  temple,  and  prostrated  himself  on  the  threshold :  at  others  the 
most  humiliating  position  would  be  taken,  like  that  described  by 
Homer: —  * 

'*  Oft  would  the  smite  the  earth,  whil^,  on  her  kneei 
Seated,  she  flll'd  her  bosom  with  her  tears, 
And  cull'd  on  Pinto  and  dread  Froaerpine 
To  slay  her  won.*'- JUad^  i,  d0O. 

Iji  may  appear  strange  to  associa^  oaths  and  imprecations  with 
worship,  even  in  a  secondaiy  meaning  and  in  a  remote  manner ;  but, 
according  to  the  religious  sense  of  the  Greek  mind,  these  frequently 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  881 

partook  of  all  the  force  and  character  of  solemn  adcbresses  to  the 
deity.  The  use  of  oaths  aad  imprecations  was  sanctified  by  the 
jmi^ceof.the  gods.  Even  Jupiter  scarcely  expected  his  solemn 
asseveration  to  be  received  as  trath,  unless  confirmed  with  »n  oath 
by  the  river  Styx.  This  deity  was  regarded  as  thp  divine  being 
who  presided  ovto  oaths,  and,  as  such,  had  the  whole  range  of  swear- 
ing and  imprecation  placed  under  his  own  immediate  government. 
This  must  not  be  understood  as  conveying  the  notion,  that  the 
Greeks  only  swore  by  Jupiter, — a  supposition  totally  incorrect. 
Plato  refers  to  Apollo,  Minerva,  and  Jupiter,  as  being  thus  appealed 
to.  Demosthenes,  in  his  oration  against  Midas,  swears  by  these 
three  deities;  but  in  another  oration  he  takes  an  oath  by  Jupiter, 
Neptune,  and  Geres.  The  Athenians  very  often  swore  .by  divers 
gods,  sometimes  by  all  the  gods,  at  others  by  the  twelve  great  gods. 
The  Spartans  usually  swore  by  Castor  and  Pollux.  Women  gener- 
ally referred  in  their  oaths  to  Hera,  Artemis,  or  Aphrodite;  or  else 
Demeter  and  Persephone.  The  most  solemn  manner  of  taking  an 
oath  was  by  laying  the  hand  on  the  altar,  or  by  lifting  up  the  right 
hand.  The  utmost  importance  was  attached  to  the  fSuthful  ad- 
herence to  an  oath,  insomuch  that  eboe&rjig^  or  *^  ope  that  keeps  hia 
oaths,"  was  a  phrase  regarded  as  equivalent  in  meaning  with  "a 
pious  person :"  and,  on  the  contrary,  knlapKog,  ''  perjurious,"  was 
the  most  infamous  appellatton  that  oouldbe  given  to  a  Greek. 

We  pass  on  to  a  consideration  of  Grecian  divination  and  orades. 
It  was  a  current  opinion  among  the  Greeks,  thkit  the  gods  frequently 
and  &miliarly  conversed  with  some  men,  whom  tibey  endowed  with 
an  extraordinary  perception  of  their  counsels,  and  a  ccmsiderable 
'  acquaintance  with  future  events.  These  were  called  ftdvreig,  and 
liovTucTJ  was  the  general  term  for  expressing  all  sorts  of  divination. 

The  fjLdvrei^  were  the  prophets,  seers,  or  soothsayers  of  Greece. 
They  either  gave  forth  their  predictions  spontaneously,  or  responded 
to  the  inquiries  of  the  heads  of  the  people  on  great  emergencies. 
At  AiheoB  especially  thesoxwere  as  a  class  tolerated,  protected,  and 
honoured;  and,  according  to  Cicero,  were  always  present  in  the 
public  assemblies  of  the  people.  As  eitfly  as  the  days  of  Homer,  the 
pretensions  of  these  persons  to  announce  the  divine  will  were  fully 
recognised;  and  we  see  in  Calchas  an  instance  of  the  force  and 
authority  with  which  their  communications  were  made. 

A  striking  peculiarity  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Greek 
tnanteis  was  their  hereditary  character.  For  not  only  did  indi- 
viduals claim  to  communicate  the  divine  will  by  the  special  gift  of 
some  god,  but  in  some  fiimilies  this  gift  was  held  to  be  hereditary, 
probably  on  account  of  their  supposed  descent  from  some  deity,  as 


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382  THB  U9TILB  NATIOBB. 

the  lamids  tnnced  their  desoent  finom  Apollo.  (Pausanias,  lib.  n, 
cap.  2.)  This  &milj  spread  .from  Olympia  oirer  a  great  part  of 
Greece,  exercising  everywhere  the  prophetic  office.  The  Branohids 
near  Miletus,  the  Sumolpids  at  Athens  and  Eleasis,  the  Clytiads,  tiie 
TelUads,  and  the  A^nianian  seers,  with  others,  were  of  this  class. 

These  prophets  hare  been  divided  into  three  ^ds  or  classes, 
according  to  the  manner  of  (be  inspiration  which  tiiej  daimed  to 
exercise.  The  first  were  called  6<u(Aov6Xjrf7nxu,  or  U'C^ove^,  These 
were  believed  to  be  possessed  with  prophesying  demons.  Their 
communications  were  sometimes  not  even  made  by  the  ordinary  nse 
of  the  bodily  organs,  but  the  demon  spoke  from  tiie  breast  or  belly 
of  the  prophet :  at  other  times  the  possessing  demon  dictated  to  the 
prophet  the  answer  which  he  should  ^ve.  The  Septuagint  trans- 
lators of  the  Old  Testament  believed  these  men  to  be  referred  to  by 
Isaiah;  (vii,  19;)  and  they  accordingly  rendered  4ihe  phrase  which 
the  authorized  translation  reads,  "  And  when  they  sIiaII  Say  unto 
you,  Seek  unto  them  that  have  fiimiliar  spirits,  and  unto  wizards 
that  peep,  and  that  mutter,"  d&c,  by- language  equivalent  to,  "And 
if  they  say  unto  you,  Seek  unto  them' whose  speech  is  in  dieir  bdly, 
and  those  that  speak  out  of  the  earth,  and  those  that  utter  vain 
words,  that  speak  out  of  the  belly,"  &c.  It  was  to  this  class  that 
the  damseLat  Ptiilippi  belonged,  who  was  possessed  witii  "a  spnrit 
of  divination ;"  (Trvevfia  UvSiOfog*)  which  spirit  Paul  cast  out,  and 
thus  prevented  the.  further  continuance  of  her  soothsaying.  This 
ease  affords  undoubted  proof,  that,  however  numerous  false  pretend- 
ers to  this  gift  might  be,  demons-  did  sometimes  really  occupy 
individuals  of  the  sootiMaying  profession,  and  enable  them  by  this 
means  to  exercise  supemi^tural  powers.  The  claim,  therefore,  wa« 
not  universally  a  pretence:  it  was  certainly  in  some  instances  a 
sterling  reality. 

A  second  kind  of  theomanteis  were  called  "enthusiasts,'^  kv&ov^ 
aiaoTcd.  These  did  not  profess  to  be  so  possessed  that  the  deity 
himself •  spoke  in  them;  but  to  be  so  influenced  that,  governed, 
actuated,  and  impired  by  him,  they  gave  forth,  under  his  exerting 
power,  the  sentiments  with  which  he  had  imbued  their  mind.  Of* 
this  sort  were  Orpheus,  Amphion,  Musssus,  and  several  of  the  sibyls. 
It  seems  more  ttian  probable  that  at  a  very  early  period  super- 
human communications  were  delivered  by  some  of  these  manteis  or 
sibyls. 

A  third  kind  of  prophets- were  the  iMraruooi,  or  those  who  weve 
cast  into  trances  or  ecstasies,  in  whidi  tiiey  lay  like  men  dead  or 
asleep,  without  sense  or  m^on;  but  afterward  revived^  and  gMre 
forth  revelations  ef  what  th€fy  had  seen  or  heard  during  these  i 


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THS  GBNTILB  SATIONB.  S88 

We  cannot  diflmiss  thifl  important  eubject  of  prophecy  withoat  a 
farther  inveatigation  into  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  powers  which 
were  thus,  in  reality  or  pretence,  exercised* 

Whence  came  it  to  pass  that  in  all  nations  there  was  a  rooted  and 
general  belief,  that  certain  persons  were  gifted  with  the  power  of 
foretelliDg  future  events  ?  And  whence  arose  the  equally  general 
persuasion,  that  this  gift  ordinarily  stood  associated  with  an  ability 
and  anthority,  in  other  respects  also,  to  communicate  the  divine 
will?  Thus  Galchas,  the  seer  of  the  Grecian  army-before  Troy,  was 
hi^- priest  to  the  expedition,  and  was  specially  consulted  in  every 
emergency^  as  fiuniliar  with  the  will  of  God.  Hence,  during  the 
plagues  sent  by  Apollo  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  his  priest  Ghry ses, 
Achilles  eounselled,  "Let  us  consult  some  prophet  or  priest,  wh6 
would  tell  us  on  what  account  Phoebus  Apollo  is  so  enraged  with  us." 
Upon  this  Calchas  rose, — he  "who  knew  the  present,  the*past,  and 
the  future,  and  who  guided  the  shipd  of  the  Greeks  to  Ilium  by  his 
prophetic  art," — and  said,  "  O  Achilles,. dear  to  Jove,  thou  biddest 
me  declare  the  wrath  of  Apollo,  th^  far-darting  king.  And  I  will 
declare  it.  ^({either  is  he  en^raiged  for  a  vow,  (unperformed,)  nor  a 
hecatomb,  (unofibred,)  but  on  account  of  his  priest,  whom  Agamem- 
non, dishonoured;  neither  did  he  liberate  his  daughter,  nor  did  he 
receive  her  ransom.  Wherefore  has  the  far-darter  given  woes,  and 
still  will  he  give  them ;  nor  will  he  withhold  his  heavy  hand  from 
the.  pestilence,  before  that  Agamemnon  restore  to  her  dear  father  the 
bright-eyed  maid,  unpurchased,  unransomed,  and  conduct  a  sacred 
hecatomb  to  Ghrysa;  then,  perhaps,  having  appeased,  we  may  per- 
suade him."7-/iiac/,  book  i.  Bucklet^s  Litercd  Translation.  Al- 
thouglii  this  is  an  extract  from  an  epic  poem,  and  of  no  historkat 
authority  whatever  as  to  fact,  it  is  nnquestionaMy  a  clear  and  per- 
fect exhibition  of  the  universal  belief  and  practice  of  the  early 
Greeks  respecting  this  particular  doctrine. 

It  seems  reasonable,  in  these  circumstances,  to  ask,  Whence  did 
this  strong  and  prevalent  faith  arise  ?  Did  the  troe  God  vouchsafe 
any  measure  of  the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit  to  select  individuals  in 
idolatrous  Gentile  nations?  This  question  assumes  a  startling 
aspect ;  and  ttie  possibility  of  its  receiving  an  answer  in  the  affirma^ 
tive  n^y  alarm  some  readers.  But^  on  the  other  hand,  does  it  not 
seem,  an  equally  serious  matter  for  us  to  shut  out  from  nations  so 
situated  the  only  remedial  means  which  (as  far  as*  we  are  instructed 
respecting  the  divine  porpose  in  the  dispensations  of  grace)  could 
be  used  for  their  instruction  and  elevation?  It  is,  however,  a 
remarkable  fSsM^t,  that  in  respect  of  Greece,  which  was  peculiarly 
separated  from  other  modes  of  procuring  a  knowledge*  of  divine 


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884  THE  aBNTILB  NATIONS. 

things,  we  find  9  general  recognition  of  prophets,  in  the  character  of 
expounders  of  the  divine  :wiU,  beyond  what  is  discovered  in  eastern 
and  more  favoured  nations. 

On  this  subject  the  learned  Mosheim  observes:  "It  is  well  known 
that  no  nation  in  times  past  was  so  barbarous,  and  so  forsaken  of 
God,  that  he  did  not,  now  and  then,  raise  up  in  it  good  and  wise 
men,  especii^ly  before  the  promulgation  of  the  law  by  Moses,  who 
abominated  ihd  popular  superstitions  and  the  worship  of  idols,  and 
both  recommended  to  the  people,  and  themselves  followed,  a  better 
and  more  holy  religion.  Even  the  Jews  by  universal  consent  allow 
that,  prior  to  the  time  of  Moses,  other  nations^  as  well  as  themselves, 
had  their  prophets.  Wherefore,  if  those  who  think  with  Dr.  Cud- 
worth  simply  mean  that  no  nation  was  altogether  destitute  of  divinely- 
inspired  men,  from  whence  all  who  were  so  disposed  might  learn  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  the  way  of  eternal  salvation,  there 
would  be  nothing  in  this  opinion  to  be  found  fault  with.  But  these 
learned  men  wish  us  to  concecle  something  more,  and  require  us  to 
believe  that  the  Supreme  Being  sometimes  disclosed  his  will,  and  a 
knowledge  of  future  events,  even  to  tiiiose  whose  minds  were  utterly 
devoid  of  true  religion,  and  contaminated  with  the  most  perverse 
sentiments  concerning  God.  Are  we,  therefore,  to  assent  to  this 
opinion  ?  For  my  part,  I  consider  we  ought  to  decide  that  generaHy 
God  can  do,  and  sometimes  for  most  just  and  holy  resons  did  do. 
the  thing  in  question." — Intellectual  Si/stem^  vol.  iii,  p.  26.  (See 
Appendix,,  note  68.) 

If  this  general  admission  be  applied  to  the  early  ages  of  Greece, — 
and  it  might  be  easily  shown  that  the  denial  of  it  presents  still  more 
formidable  difficulties  to  our  view, — ^then  at  least  one  great  peculiar- 
ity in  the  religion  of  this  people  is  accounted  for.  I  allude  to  the 
deep  and  general  conviction  which  pervaded  them  in  all  ages  of  their 
history,  that  the  divine  will,  and  a  knowledge  of  future  events,  were 
specially  communicatejl  to  favoured  individuals  by  direct  revelation, 
and  thus  made  known  generally.  Unhappily,  even  in  that  land  of 
intellect  and  science,  we  have  no  means  of  gathering  up  any  particles 
of  these  ancient  communications.  For  amid  all  the  sciences  of 
Greece^  divinity  had  no  place.  Fragments  of  truth  were  certainly 
orally  communicated,  and  in  some  cases  preserved,  but  generally  in 
ill-understood  and  inoperative  fragments.  This  fact,  however,  so 
clearly  set  forth  God  as  the  only  source  of  divine  knowledge,  that 
the  Greeks,  whenever  at  a  loss  for  information  on  the  subject,  applied 
to  the  deity  to  obtain  it. 

But,  while  by  this  means  the  prophetic  institute  was  as  fiiDy 
established  in  Greece  as  it  was  even  in  Judea^  it  became  fearfully 


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THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  385* 

pollated  and  debased.  Not  only  did  it  frequently  sink  into  the 
action  of  human  crafty  jugglory,  and  falsehood,  but  in  some  instances 
it  was  certainly  imbued  with  Satanic  guile,  and  sustained  by  demon 
power;  (See  Appendix,  note  69.)  Thus  did  the  malign  ieigency 
under  which  idolatry  arose  to  curse  the  nations,  in  thad  country  as 
in  others,  poison  the  veiy  fountain  of  divine  knowledge,  and  turn 
what  was  mercifully  designed  as  a  channel  fojr  the  communication  of 
divine  truth,  into  a  means  of  disseminating  Satanic  error. 

Of  other  methods  of  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  future  events, — 
such  as  divination  by  dreams,  by  sacrifices,  birds,  lots,  ominous 
words  and  things,— -our  limits  will  not  allow  us  to  treat.  We  wil 
therefore  proceed  to  notice  the  veiy  important  subject  of  Grecian 
oracles. 

The  unbounded  respect  which  the  ancients  entertained  for  these 
oracles,  and  the  cpnfidMce  with  which  they  relied  on  them,  caA 
scarcely  be  exceeded.  However  modem  philosophy  may  discard 
their  authority,  and  denounce  the  superstition  which  led  men  to  be 
guided  by  them,  the  fiict  remains  patent  to  the  whole  world,  and 
stands  foremost  in  the  most  brilliant  period  of  the  history  of  this 
most  enlightened  of  ancient  nations,— 'that  the  declarations  of  the 
oracles  were  fully  believed  to  be  really  and  truly  divine  revelations. 
Not  only  did  the  most  powerful  kings,  as  Oroesus,  and  the  wisest 
lawgivers,  as  Minos  and  Lycurgus,  consult  these  oracles,  and  act 
under  their  guidance,  as  they  believed;  but  in  matters  of  the  highest 
national  importance  the  oracular  authority  was  decisive,  and  in  those- 
of  the  most  vital  interest  to  individuals  the  arbitrament  of  the  Pyth- 
oness was  held  to  be  conclusive.  Thus  much  is  undoubted ;  and 
it  must  have  been  something  more  than  low  crafb,  or  priestly  jug* 
glery,  which  could  rear  up  such  a  universal  conviction/-^embedded 
as  it  was  in  the  common  faith  and  religious  principles  of  the  most 
enlightened  people-  of  the  ancient  world, — and  Maintain  it  in  full 
vigour,  credit,  and  efficiency  for  a  thousand  years. 

Our  opinion  of  the  moving  influence  ^ich,  while  associated  with 
much  ciaft,  intrigue,  and  policy,  was  the  real  cause  of  the  great 
ascendency  whidb  the  Grecian  oracles  maintained  for  so  long  <i 
period  over  the  human  mind,  has  been  already  given.  And  these 
views  have  been  greatly  confirmed  by  subsequent  researeh>  and  by 
numerous  opinions  expressed  by  men  best  qualified  to  decade  on  the 
subject,  of  which  the  following  may  be  tak^n  as  &  specimen  t^-"  Not- 
withstanding the  general  obscurity  and  ambiguity  of  most'  of  the 
oracles  given  at  Delphi;  there  are  many  also  which  convey  so  clear 
and  distinct  a  meaning,  that  they  could  not  posvibly  have  been  mis^ 
understood ;  so  that  a  wise  agenq/  at  the  bottom  ttf  the  oracles  caft- 

25 


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886  THS  QESTILB  MATI0H8. 

not  be  denied.  The  early  Ghristiaa  writers,  seting  thit  sdme 
extraordinary  power  must  in  several  cases  have  been  at  work, 
re]»^eBted  it  as  an  institalioii  of  the  erii  spirit." — Die.  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Antiq.,  p.  670.  And  who  had  better  means  of  investi- 
gatiog  the  subject?  Who  were  erer  so  adrantageonsly  situated  for 
forming  a  sound  judgment  as  to  these  premises?  And  who  from 
such  data  can  rationally  draw  any  other  oondnsion  ? 

It  has  been  a  subject  of  smrprise  that  Zeus  should  have  had  so  fern 
oracles.  This,  however,  does  not  lessMi,  but  rather  enhance,  the 
religious  character  of  the  Greek  oracles.  For  it  ww  not  because 
they  were  regarded  as  unworthy  of  the  supreme  god,  that  his  name 
was. 80  seldom  associated  with  them:  on  the  contrary,  Zeus  was 
accounted  the  great  source  of  all  oracular  revelations ;  but  he  was 
eonsidered  to  be  too  highly  exalted  to  beoomer  the  immediate  chan- 
nel of  commuQioation  with  mankind  Other  deities,  therefore,  and 
especially  ApoUon,  and  even  heroes^  were  supposed  to  act  as  medi- 
ators between  Zeus, — ^who  alone  possessed  the  books  of  &te,  and  was 
the  grand  repository  of  a  knowledge  of  the  future, — and  men,  by 
communicating  to  them  his  will.  We  append  a  hief  notice  of  die 
most  noted  ondes  of  Oreece. 

The  oracle  of  Delphi. — The  temple  in  which  this  orade  resided 
was  built  over  a  small  natural  chasm  in  the  eartt,  fr^m  which,  from 
time  to  time,  an  intoxicating  smoke  arose.  Over  this  chasm  there 
stood  a  high  tripod,  on  which  the  Pythia,  or  priestess,  when  the 
oracle  was  to  be  consulted^  took  her  seat.  The  smoke  arising  was 
supposed  to  affect  her  brain  with  a  kind  of  deUrioos  intoxication; 
and  the  sounds  which  she  uttered  while  in  this  state  were  believed 
to  contain  the  revelations  of  the  god.  They  were  earefrtHy  wntten 
down  by  the  prophetess,  and  given  as  the  oracular  response  to  the 
party  inquiring  of  the  <Hrade.  The  Pythia  was  always  a  female 
native  of  Delphi,  and  generally  selected  from  a  poor  eoontry  fiunily. 
During  the  great  popularity, of  the  oracle,  .there  were  two  of  diese, 
who  took  their  seats  alternately.  At  first  the  cracks  were  given 
only  once  A  year,  but  afterward  certain  days  in  every  mouth  were 
set  apart  for  this  purpose ;  and  the  order  in  whiefa  the  parties  inquir- 
ing shoidd  be  allowed  access,  was  carefully  regulated. .  The  Pythia 
always  spent  .three  days  in  preparation  before  she  ascended  the 
tripod.  During  diis  time  She  bathed  in  the  Castalian  well.  All 
persons  inquring  of  the  god  had  first  to  oflfer  in  saerifios  a  goat^  an 
ox,  or  a  sheep.     . 

Most  of  the  oracular  aosw^w  which  are  extant  are  in  hexameters^ 
and  in  the  Ionic  dialect.  Some  of  these  verses  had  metrical  defects 
which  exposed  them  to  the  criticism  of  the  leamed.    At  lenickh 


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XHB  BmjLB  JTATIOM.  887 

poetio  MqK>B06e  were  entirely  laid  aside,  aad  the  aneirars  giTen  in 
l^amJ>(Hric. prose. 

This  ortole  duriog  its  best  period  was  befieved  to  grre  aDSwers 
and  adviea  to  every  one  who  came  with  a  pure  heart,  and  had  no  eril 
design*  If  he  had  committed  a  crime,  the  answer  was  reused  tiU 
he  had  atoned  for  it ;  and  he  who  consolted  the-  god  for  bad  pur- 
poses was  sure  thereby  to  has^wn  his  own  ruin.  Vo  religious  insti- 
iation  in  all  aatiqnity  obtained  sneh  a  paiamonnt  ininence,  not  only 
in  (rreece,  but  in  all  coontries  aronnd  the  Mediterranean,  in  all 
matters  of  importaAoe, — ^whether  relating  to-rdigion  or  to  politica, 
to  private  or  to  pnbHc  life, — as  the  orade  at  Delphi.  On  the  estab- 
lishment of  colonies,  in  all  disputes  between  these  and  tho*  parent 
state,  and  in  all  questions  bearing  on  retigious  institutions,  as  welt 
as  a  thousand  others,  the  decisions  of  the  Delphio  god  were  held  to 
be  final  and  concluoive. 

The  first  manifest  decline  of  this  authority  was  on  the  oocasion 
of  the  great  struggle  between  Sparta  and  Athens^  when  the  partial- 
ity <tf  the  oracle  for  the  former  state  becameiM)  manifest,  that  all  the 
idluei^  of  Athens  waa  j^stranged  firom  it ;  ahd  it  thenceforth  dwin- 
dled away,  until,  having  sunk  into  neglect,  it  was  abolished  by  the 
Bmperor  Theodosius.    . 

Besides  the  oraoie  at  Delphi,  there  wereueveral  others  in  which 
Apollon  was  believed  to  utter  predictions.  The  principal' of  these 
were  at  Aboe  in  Phocis,  at  Didyma,  on  the  hill  Ptoon,  <fec. 

The  oracles  of  Zeus  must  be  mentioned  next  in  order.  In  these, 
however,  the  god  did  not  make  Jus  revelations  by  direct  inspiration, 
as  was  the  case  with  ApoUon.  H^  merely  gave  signs,  whidi  men 
had  to  interpret. 

The  first  of  these  was  at  Olympia.  Those  who  came  to  consult 
this  orado  had  to  of^  a  victim'  in  sacrifice ;  and  the  priest  gave  his 
answers  from  the  appearance  of  the  dead  animal.  This  was  mush 
frequented  in  ancient  times,  but  did  not  long  retain  its  influence^ 
exoept  in  respect  of  the  Olympic  Games. 

.  The  most  important  of  the  oracles  ,of  Zeus,  in  Greece  was  at 
Dodona.  Here  the  oracle  was  given  from  sounds  produced  by  the 
wind.  The  sanctuary  was  built  on  an  eminence,  and  in  immedicie 
proximity  to  a  grove  of  oak  and  beech'  trees.  The  sound  of  the 
wind  passing  through  this  foliage  was  interpreted  as  a  revelaticm  of 
the  mind  of  the  deity.  In  later  days  altwations  were  introduce 
and  in  historical  times  this  oraoie  lost  the  importanee  which  it  had 
previously  enjoyed^ 

Other  gods,  and  even  heroes,  had  oracles;  butibwe  was  nothing 
in  them  to  justify  an  account  of  them  in  these  pages. 


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/ 


THS  GBHTILB  KATIOHS. 

Before  passi&g  on  to  other  topics,  it  will  be  neoeBsary  here  to 
notice  those  peculiar  and  important  ritee  which  were  asBookted  with 
the  religion  of  the  Greeks  tinder  the  title  of  ''mysteries."  The 
general  chietfaoter  and  design  of  this  institution,  as  an  eiemesA  of 
heathen  idolatry,  have  been  already  discussed.  We  have  now  to 
direct  particular  attention  to  those  which  were  celebrated  in  connex- 
ion with  the  religiob  of  Qreeee.  Of  these  there  were  8eyeral,-^4boBe 
of  Zeus  in  Crete,  of  Hera  in  Aigolis,  of  Athene  and  Dionysos  at 
Athens,  of  Artemis  in  Arcadia,  and  oUiers ;  but  the  most  important 
and  remarkable  were  the  mysteries  of  Samothrace  and  Eleusis. 

The  oomtnon  character  of  these  Gvecian  mysteries  consisted  in 
their  being  services  connected  wiih  particular  sacrifices  periodically 
offered  during  the  night-i^eason,  and  to  which  none  but  the  initiated 
were  permitted  to  hare  access.  In  these  select  servicee  not  only 
were  sacrifices  offered  and  devotional  rites  p^ormed,  but  explana- 
tions of  ancient  traditions  were  given ;  and,  in  some  cases,  most 
affecting  exhibitions  of  the  divine  ai;tributes  and  works  were,  by 
scenic  representatiofi  and  verbal  eacpofdtion,  communicated  to  the 
assembled  company.  No  religions  institution  in  Greece  exerj^ised  a 
wider  nmge  of  influence  on  the  puMic  mind  than  this ;  but  unfortu- 
nately, as  it  was  a  capital  crime  to  divulge  anything  seen  or  heard 
on  those  occasions  to  the  multitude  without,  it  is  extremely  difBcuU 
to  collect  any  definite  information  respecting  them.  Our  limits 
restrict  us  to  a  brief  notice  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries;  and  we 
submit  to  this  the  more  readily,  inasmuch  as  tbe^  were  by  far  the 
most  important  of  all  the  Grecian  sacred  rights,  and,  as  such,  have 
called  forth  continued  investigation,  which  has  at  leligth  elicited  a 
tolerable  amount  of  information  respecting  these  occult  and  recon- 
dite services. 

There  were  minor  mysteries  celebrated  under  the  same  name; 
but  our  attention  will  be  exclusively  confined  to  the  greater  mys- 
teries* These  ai^  supposed  to  have  originated  about  1400  B.  C,  and 
were  celebrated  at  Eleusis,  a  borough-town  in  Attica,  situated  be- 
tween Megara  and  the  Pineeos,  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Salamis. 
This  service  was  celebrated  annually,  but  with  special  pomp  and 
importance  every  fifth  year.  The  rites  began  on  the  15ti[i  of  Sep- 
tember, and  continued  during  nine  days.  On  tfie  first  day  the 
company  merely  assembled,  no  one  being  eligible  to  take  a  part  in 
this  great  service  who  had  not  been  initiated  in  the  lesser  mysteries, 
although  crowds  of  mere  spectators  who  were  not  tiius  qualified 
visited  Athens  on  these  occasions.  On  the  second  day,  the  persons 
who  were  to  take  a  part  in  the  solemn  service  went  in  procession  to 
the  sea,  where  they  purified  themselves  by  ablutions  in  two  small 


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THE  aBNTIItK  NATIONS.  B80 

Streams,  which  there  fell  into  ttie.Gulf  of  Salamis.  On  the  third 
day,  caUed  "the  day  of  sacrifices,"  a  mullet,  and  barley  grown  in 
the  field  of  Bharos,  were  solemnly  consecrated  to  Demeter,  to  whose 
honour  the  mysteries  were  dedicated.  This  ceremony,  by  bringing 
the  crowd  into  association  with  the  deity,  led  them  to  assume  a  seri- 
ous and  reverential  air,  whereas  previously  joy  and  hilarity  prevailed. 
On  the  fourth  day,  a  procession  was  formed,  in  which  a  basket  called 
KoXdOiov,  containing  pomegranates  and  poppy-seeds,  was  carried  on 
a  wagon  dr%wn  by  oxen.  This  was  followed  by  females  termed 
Ktaawftdpoi,  with  osier  panniers :  into  these  the  Athenians  poured 
their  offeringg  of  poppy,  carded  wool,  grains  of  salt,  sesamura,  pome- 
granates, ivy,  reeds,  cakes  called  <p66ei^,  snakes,  and  branches  broken 
firom  neighbouring  bay-bushes.  The  fifth  day  was  called  "  the  day 
of  torches,"  because  in  the  evening  the  comp'any  roamed  over  the 
fields  with  lighted  flambeaux ;  after  which  they  repaired  to  the  tem- 
ple of  Demeter  at  Eleusis.  This  ceremony  was  supposed  to  repre- 
sent the  search  of  the  goddess  for  her  daughter  Proserpine.  The 
sixth  day  was  termed  "  the  day  of  Bacchus,"  when  a  small  statue  of 
tills  divinity  was  borne  in  triumphant  procession  toward  'tiie  great 
temple,  over  what  was  called  "  the  Holy  Way."  In  this  procession 
the  crowd  were  crowned  with  vine-leaves,  and  danced  to  the  melody 
of  music,  until,  arriving  at  the  mystical  entrance,  they  passed  into 
the  sacred  enclosure,  and  spent  the  night  in  exercises  and  services, 
which  were  universally  regarded  as  more  holy  and  solemn  than  any 
other  element  of  the  religion  of  Greece.  (See  Appendix,  note  YO.) 
After  this  night,  those  who  had  taken  part  in  its  service  were  called 
kn&nrai,  or  "  the  fully  initiated." 

On  the  seventh  day,  the  athletic  pastimes  took  place;  and  the 
strong  distinguished  themselves  by  ieeA/A  of  masculine  prowess,  and 
the  agile  by  tiieir  dexterity  and  fleetness.  !Ehe  eighth  day  was,  it 
is  said,  added  when  iBsculapius  visited  x\ttica.  On  this  day  the 
ceremonies  of  the  lesser  mysteries  were  repeated.  The  ninth  day 
was  called  '*  the  day  of  eartiben  vessels,"  because  on  it  bowls  of  wine, 
sanctified  by  the  consecration  of  the  hierophant,  were  dashed  upon 
tlie  ^ound  as  libations  to  Demeter ;  and  the  festival  closed  amid 
the  wild  and  exulting  shouts  of  those  who  had  witnessed  the  mys- 
teries of  Eleusinia. 

Even  this  rapid  sketch  of  the  mysteries  may  serve  to  show  that 
all  the  intellectual  and  artistic  resources  of  Greece  werb  called  into 
requisition  to  sustain  the  national  faith, — a  fact  that  accounts  for 
ihe  strong  hold  which  suchi  theologic  absurdities  had  on  the  mind  of 
this  cultivated  and  polished  people. 

It  now  becomes  necessary  to 'direct  our  inquiries  to  the  religious 


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890  1KB  &BKTILB  KATIOITS. 

character  of  the  several  philoflophieal  seets,  or  '^scImmiIb/'  cf  Or^eoe: 
for  even  a  partial  aoqaaintance  with  this  remaifabMe  people  is  silf- 
fident  to  diow  that,  with  tiieaa,  relif^  was  not  so  maoh  studied 
under  the  mode  of  diyinity,  theology,  and  laotais,  as  under  the  fona 
and  name  oS  "  philosophy."  We  shaU  not,  therefore,  greatly  err  if 
we  direct  attention  to  the  »oet  iaaportabt  of  diese  philosopideal 
schools,  as  holding  nearly  ihe  sitme  relation  to  the  national  rdigion 
of  Greece  as  our  several  seotarian  denMninations  hold  to  the  general 
veligioas  oharacter  of  our  own  country.  ^ 

The  first  of  the  philosophic  teaches  whom  it  may  be  neoessaiyto 
mention  in  this  c^egory,  is  Thalbs,  who  has  been  abeady  noticed 
a9  one  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men.  He  is  oelefahitod  as  the  {bonder  of 
the  Ionic  school  of  philosophy ;  and  he  was  unqnestaonably  tlie  firsts 
and  the  leader,  of  a*band  or  succession  of  philosophers,  of  whom 
Pherecydes, . Anazimander,  Anazimenes,  and  Anazagoras  were  the 
most  eminent  But  this  was  not  properly  a  ''  school,"  since  they 
held  no  class  of  doctrines  in  common.  In  one  important  inatM*^ 
however,  they  introduced  a  great  novelty  into  the  popular  reli j^ous 
belief.  It  had  been  a  standing  dogom  from  the  days  of  Hesiod,  that 
the  world  originated  by  divine  gmieration:  Dranus  and  Chda  pro- 
duced Grdnus,  or  Time,  when  the  universe  was  complete.  In  oppo- 
sition to  this  notion,  Thales  tau^t  that  water  was  the  first  principle 
or  basis  of  all  things.  But  to  what  extent  he  recognised  God  aa  the 
Supreme  Artificer,  does  not  clearly  appear.  This  single  step  was, 
however,  of  vast  importance.  It  stripped  creation,  and,  thro«^  it^ 
material  existence  in  general,  of  ijutt  uMmbns  of  quasi-divinity  wMch 
had  been  supposed  to  affect  all  its  operations ;  and  placed  the  mate- 
rial world  before  the  mind  as  a  sulgect  for  rational  and  scientific 
investigation.  It  must  be  confessed  that  when  Thales  had  exploded 
the  old  scheme  pf  cosmogony,  as  a  series  of  personal  histoiy  and 
divine  intermarriages,  he  did  not  carry  out^  his  principle  to  all  «og- 
nate  subjects,  or  lay  down  any  solid  rule  for  «li<^ing  the  truth,  in 
morals,  as  well  as  in  respect  of  physios,  tidd  phil^opher  is  cele- 
brated as  having  made  a  great  advance  on  his  predecessors.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  the  author  of  the  golden  rule, "  Not  to  do4o  others 
what,  if  done  to  us,  we  should  re^nt."  We  see  here,  therefi)re,  the 
earliest  influence  of  Grecian  philosophy  on  religion,  in  assailing  the 
absurdities  of  its  theogony,  and  extending  its  moral  influence. 

We  have  now  to  direct  attention  to  the  teaching  of  Ptthaoobas. 
This  extraordinary  man  was  eminent  in  almost  evety  respect;  but 
it  is  only  Qonceming  the  influence  of  his  doctrine  and  practice  <m 
morals  and  religion  that  we  shall  refer  to  him.  It  seems  that  he 
established  a  society,  which  was  eng^iged  partly  in  the  study  of 


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THB  CUBNTHiB  NATIOBS,  891 

political  subjects,  aad  partly  in  those  which  were  scientifio.  But 
this  brotherhood  was  mainly  distinguished  as  being  held  together  by 
a  religious  seutiment  or  influ^ce.  Whether  this  was  framed  on 
any  model  which  the  industrious  Greek  discovered  during  his  exten- 
sive travels,  or  was  an  invention  of  his  own,  cannot  now  be  ascer- 
tained. But  it  has  been  sufficiently  shown  that  this  brotherhood 
was  distinguished  by  many  observanoes  which  approached  very 
nearly  to  a  monastic  character.  But  Pythagoras  did  not  hesitate  to 
put  himself  forward  as  "an.  inspired  teacher,  prophet,  and  worker 
of  miracles, — employing  aU  these  gifts  to  found  a  new  special  order 
of  brethren,  bound  together  by  religious  rites  and  observances, 
peculiar  to  themselves.  In  his  prominent  vocation,  analogous  to 
that  of  Epimenides,  Orpheus,  or  Melampus,  he  appears  as  the 
revealer  of  a  mode  of  life  calculated  to  raise  his  disciples  above  the 
level  of  mankind,  and  to  recommend  them  to  the  favour  of  the  gods ; 
the  Pythagorean  life,^  like  the  Orphic  life,  being  intended  as  the  ex- 
dusive  prerogative  of  the  brotherhood, — approached  only  by  proba- 
tion and  initiatory  ceremonies,  which  were  adajited  to  select  enthu- 
siaAs  rather  than  to  an  indiscriminate  crowd,  and  exacting  entire 
mental  devotion  to  the  master." — Grate's  History  cf  Greece,  vol.  iv« 
p.  634.  When  we  read  this  account  of  an  ancient  sage,  ^ven  not 
by  a  novice,  or  for  any  particular  purpose,  or  by  irreligious  enthu- 
siast, but  by  the  hand  of  a  master,  we  feel  intensely  desirous  of 
knowing  more  of  his  doctrine  and  character.  But,  alas !  this  lauda- 
ble curiosity  can  be  gratified  only  to  a  limited  extent.  Pythagoras 
left  no  writings;  unless  we  receive  "  the  Golden  Verses,"  on  whidi 
Hierodes  wrote  a  learned  Commentary,  as  possessing  some  tradi- 
tionary authority,  and  embodying  the  moral  principles  which  he 
inculcated.  If  we  could  be  certain  that  .they  exhibit  a  summjuy  of 
his  ethical  system,  he  would  be  entitled  to  occupy  one  of  the  highest 
places  among  Pagan  philosophers.  When  want  of  success  induced 
him  to  leave  Greece,  he  located  himself  in  Italy;  where  the  inhab- 
itants of  Grotona  among  whom  be  resided  called  him  ''  the  Hyper- 
borean Apollo,",  and  the  satirical  Timon  ridiculed  him  as  one  **  en- 
gaged in  fishing  for  men." 

Grote  well  observes,  that "  there  is  no  reason  for  regarding  Pythag- 
oras as  an  impostor,  because  experience  seems  to  show,  that  while 
in  certain  ages  it  is  not  difficult  for  a  man  to  persuade,  others  that  he 
Is  inspired,  it  is  still  less  difficult  for  him  to  contract  the  same  belief 
himself.  Looking  at, the  general  type  of  Pythagoras,  as  conceived 
by  witnesses  in  and  near  his  own  age,  we  find  in  him  chiefly  the 
religious  missionary  and  schoolmaster,  with  little  of  the  politician. 
The  primitive  Pythagoras  is  inspired  by  the  gods  to  reveal  a  new 


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392  THB  OBKTILK  NATIONS. 

mode  of  life,— the  Pythagorean  life." — History  of  Greece,  vol  ir, 
p.  586. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  form  any  idea^  at  tiiis  time,  of  the  effect 
produced  by  soch  a  man,  with  his  powers  of  mind  and  religions 
professions,  on  the  character  and  opinions  of  his  comitrymen.  The 
fact  as  to  his  doctrine  seems  clear : — ^he  taught  the  doctrine  of  the 
metempsychosis  or  transmigration  of  souls.  We  might  think  this 
dogma  would  be  a  sufficient  antidote  to  every  other,  and  render  the 
teaching  of  the  philosopher  repnlsive.  However  it  might  have  been 
in  Greece,  it  was  far  otherwise  in  Italy ;  and  it  may  be  fairly  ques- 
tioned whether  the  annals  of  the  world  contain  a  similar  account  of 
the  religious  results  following  the  efforts  of  any  heathen  philosopher. 
I  quote  again  the  words  of  Grote : — On  the  arrival  of  Pythag<»M 
at  Grotona  in  Italy,  *'  his  preaching  and  his  conduct  produced  an 
effect  almost  electric  upon  the  minds  of  the  people,  with  an  extensive 
reform,  public  as  well  as  private.  Political  discontent  was  repressed, 
incontinence  disappeared,  luxury  became  discredited,  and  the  women 
hastened  to  change  their  golden  ornaments  for  the  simplest  attire; 
No  r6ss  than  two  thousand  persons  were  converted  at  his  first  preach- 
ing ;  and  so  effective  were  his  discourses  to  the  youth,  that  the  supreme 
Council  of  One  Thousand  invited  him  into  their  assembly,  solicited 
his  advice, and  evfn  offered  to  constitute  him  their  prytanis,  or  presi- 
dent, while  his  wife  and  daughter  were  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
religious  procession  of  females.  Nor  was  his  influence  confin^  to 
Grotona:  other  towns  in  Italy  and  Sipily, — Sybaris,  Metapontum, 
Bhegium,  Gatana,  Himera,  d&c, — all  felt  the  benefit  of  his  exhorta- 
tions, which  extricated  some  of  them  even  fi*om  slavery."  Our 
learned  author  adds :  '*  To  trace  these  tales  to  a  true  foundation  is 
impossible;  but  we  may  entertain  reasonable  belief  that  the  success 
of  Pythagoras,  as  a  person  favoured  by  the  gods,  and  a  patentee 
of  divine  secrets,  was  very  great ;  that  he  procured  to  himself  both 
the  reverence  of  the  multitude,  and  the  peculiar  attachment  and  obe- 
dience of  many  devoted  adherents,  chieiBy  belonging  to  the  wealthy 
and  powerful  classes."— ffwiory  of  Greece,  vol.  iv,  p.  546. 

We  have  preferred  giving  the  above  extracts  from  this  learned 
author,  although  rather  disposed  to  demur  to  some  of  his  words, 
and  believing,  with  him,  that  tfie  accounts  of  the  effects  produced  by 
the  ministrations  of  Pythagoras  are  in  many  respects  overcharged. 
Yet,  with  all  this  concession,  we  ask  the  intelligent  Christian, — How 
is  the  admitted  residuum  of  truth  to  be  accounted  for  ?  Under  what 
influence,  and  by  what  light,  did  the  heathens  of  Grotona  discern 
the  error* and  evil  of  factious  complaint,  incontinence,  and  luxury? 
How  did  they,  who  had  so  long  been  the  slaves  of  these  vices,  now 


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THB  aXNTILB  NATIONS.  398 

in  snoh  numbers  acquire  a  power  to  resist  their  fascinations,  and  to 
alter  their  conduct  and  habits  ?  *  But  it  is  allied,  "  This  is  false : 
partial  and  untruthfU  biographers  have  merely  adorned  the  character 
of  their  hero  with  these  additions."  We  ask,  then,  with  eqnal  con- 
fidence,— What  led  those  lying  heathens  to  discern  this  elevated 
morality  ?  Is  it  in  the  nature  of  things  that  heathens,  under  the  full 
influence  of  vicious  habits,  should  sketch  even  in  idea  such  purely 
moral  reforms?  -  We  confess  we  think  not;  and  without  admitting 
the  claim  of  Pythagoras  to  "  inspiration,"  in  the  proper  sense  of  that 
term,  we  feel  disposed  to  r^ard  him  as  a  man  who,  with  many  and 
serious  errors,  possessed  a  considerable  amount  of  sound  morality 
and  sterling  truth,  under  the  influence  of  Him  who  "  enligbteneth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world ;"  and  we  believe  that,  faith- 
ful to  this  teachii^  he  was,  under  the  same  influence,  made  the  in- 
strument of  a  great  moral  reformation.  Nor  does  anything  in  the 
future  history  of  this  people  militate  against  sudi  an  opinion.  They 
were  lured  into  politick  action  and  influetnoe,  and  severely  suflered 
the  consequences  of  such  indiscretion  in  the  loss  of  many  of  their 
principal  members :  but,  taught  by  this  error,  they  existed  long  after- 
ward in  their  proper  eharacter  as  a  moral  and  religious  body. 

Since  it  id  our  main  object  to  exhibit  the  agencies  afforded  by 
Grecian  philosophy,  and  adapted  to  promote  sound  morality  and 
enlightened  religion,  we  may  pass  over  the  teacfamg  of  the  Sophists 
and  of  the  £leatic  school,  and  proceed  to  direct  attention  to  the  per- 
son that  fills  the  lai^est  spaee  as  an  efficient  teacher  in  Jihese  depart- 
ments.   We;  of  course,  refer  to  Socratbs, 

This  extraordinary  man  was  the  son  of  a  sculptor,  comparatively 
a  poor  man,  but  of  pure  Hellenic  blood.  For  some  considerable  time 
he  worked  at  his  father's  trade,  until,  at  length,  he  fully  devoted 
himself  to  public  instruction.  In  adopting  this,  he  did  not  estab* 
lish  a  school,  or  gather  about  him  a  number  of  young  men  who  paid 
for  their  instruction,  and  to  whom  he  delivered  set  discourses.  On 
the  contrary,  Socrates  went  continually  into  places  of  public  resort^ 
and,  by  entering  into  conversation  witii  people  of  all*  ages  and  ranks, 
imparted  instruction  unto  all.  The  principal  means  by  which  .he 
eflfected  this  was  by  propounding  a  series  of  questions,  which  were 
all  studiously  directed  to  some  important  endi  and  designed  to  im- 
part a  knowledge  of  some  essential  truth.  More  than  this,  indeed, 
was  intended^  the  adoption  and  continuance  of  this  mode  of  teach- 
ing. Socrates  had  a  very  low  estimate  of  the  real  acquirements  of 
his  countrymen,  and  indulged  in  extravagant  ideas  of  the  efiect  of 
knowledge:  in  fSewjt,  with  him  "wisdom",  was  synonymous  with 
"  virtue."    By  tUb  mode  of  questioning  whidi  he  adopted,  he  was 


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3M  THE  OBITTILB  NATIONCL 

able  to  oonirict  of  ignorance  almost  all  with  whom  be  conr^iiei. 
Indeed,  to  a  great  extent,  this  was  his  object,  in  order  th»t  he  mi^t 
lead  them  to  aoqmre  knowledge. 

One  instance  of  this  course  of  action  may  be  related,  since  it  is 
not  only  amosiilig,  but  casts  considerable  light  «pon  die  character 
and  conduct  of  this  phUoaopher.  One  of  his  intbnate  friends  and 
ardent  admirers,  when  at  Delphi,  had  propounded  tiiis  qaestion: 
"  Whether  any  other  man  was  wiser  than  Socrates?"  and  reeayedirom 
the  oracle  the  response  that  no  oilman  was  wiser.  Socrates  says 
that  he  was  greatly  perplexed  on  hearing  this  answ^,  as  he  wished 
to  respect  ih»  truthfolness  of  the  oracle,  but  found  it  difficult  to  do 
so,  congous  as  he  felt  of  so  much  ignorance.  He,  however,  resolved 
to  apply  a  very  simple  test  to  this  difficulty.  Selecting  a  distinguished 
individual,  of  great  reputation  for  wisdom,  he  entered  into  conversa- 
tion with  him,  and  propounded  questions,  the  answers  to  which  soon 
convinced  Socrates  that  the  wisdom  of  his  interlocutor  had  been 
greatiy  overstated,  though  he  himself  fully  shared  Ae  popular 
opinion  as  to  his  own  acquirements,  and  could  not  by  any  means 
be  brought  to  doubt  ite  extent  of  his  wisdom.  This  reconciled 
Socrates  to  the  decision  of  the  oracle;  for,  said  he,  " The  result  I 
have  acquired  is,  that  I  was  a  wiser  man  than  he :  for  n^ith^  he  nor 
I  knew  anything  of  what  was  truly  good  and  honourable;  but  the 
difference  between  us  was,  that  he  fancied  he  knew  them,  while  I  was 
fully  conscious  of  my  own  ignorance :  I  was  therefore  wiser  than  he^ 
inasmuch  as  X  was  exempt  from  that  capital  ^rror." — Gratis  HiS' 
tory  of  Greece,  vol.  viii,  p.  562. 

Socrates,  throughout.  Us  life,  evinced  an  exact  regard  for  all- the 
religious  duties  imposed  by  the  national  iftith.  As  respects  the 
subject-matter  of  his  teaching,  he  dilfered  from  all  the  philosophers 
who  had  preceded  him,  and  especially  from  Thales.  That  sage  made 
the  first  assault  on  the  mythdogio  dogmas  of  Greece,  by  propounding 
a  separate  study  of  the  physical  system  of  the  universe :  and  this 
course  was  followed  by  all  succeeding  philosophers,  who  confounded 
morals  and  physics  in  strange  combination.  Socrates  repudiated 
this  method.  Declaring  that  "  the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man,'' 
be  recognised  the  security  and  happiness  of  man  both  as  the  sin^e 
end  of  study,  and  as  the  limiting  principle  by  which  it  ought  to  be 
circumscribed.  He  objected  to  any  study  of  astronomy  more  than 
might  be  gathered  from  pilots  and  watchmen ;  he  even  set  limitations 
to  the  learning  of  arithmetic;  and  as  to  physical  science,  it  was  out 
of  the  question.  It  is  curious  to  look  back  and  trace  such  idiosyn- 
crasies in  the  giant  intellects  of  old.  But  Socrates  evidently  regarded 
these  branches  of  knowledge  as  being  in  such  a  state  as  to  promise 


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TBI  eiMTILl  KATKOTB.  895 

BO  pfBi6tie»l  redult ;  and  thif  ww  Us  ruling  idea.  He  oonseqnenily 
UQged  a  doae  and  earefnl  study  of  human  msticn,  in  opposition  to 
those  whioh  he  regarded  as  shot  o«t  from  our  research  hy  the  divine 
wiU. 

It  is,  however,  as  a  moraUst»  and  as  a  rel^oua  teadier,  thai  we 
hare  speeially  to  regard  Socrates.  He  not  caoij  introduoed  the 
umovation  mentioned  above,  of  extending  his  teaching  generally  and 
gratuitously,  and  of  shutting  out  speeulatiTe  soiencie,  and  limiting 
his  discourses  to  rimple  ethics;  he  went  fmtiier,  and  prosecuted  Ais 
work  not  as  a  profession,  or  merely  as  an  ordinary  duty  of  life,  but 
in  the  spirit  of  a  religious  missionary.  In  this  respect  he  stood 
alone  among  the  teachers  of  Greece ;  neitber  Farmenides  and  Anax- 
agoras  before  him,  nor  Plato  and  Aristotle  after  him,  assumed  this 
character,  which  Socrates  most  distincdy  claimed,  upheld  by  his 
life,  and  asserted  in  his  death.  Nor  are  we  at  liberty  to  constme 
this  divine  misrion  as  meaning  no  more  than  an  ordinary  provi- 
dential appointment,  or  such  a  conviction  of  the  divine  will  as  may 
rest  upon  and  direct  the  mind  of  any  good  man.  Boerates  asserted 
the  presence  with  his  mind  of  a  special  visitation  from  God..  He 
teUs  us  that  he  had  been  accustomed  constantly  to  hear,  even  from 
his  diiMhood,  >  divine  voice,  interfering,  at  moments  when  he  was 
about  to  act,  in  this  way  of  restraint,  but  never  in  the  way  of  insti- 
gation. Such  prohibitory  warning  was  wont  to  coilie  upon  him  very 
frequently,  not  merely  on  great,  but  even  on  seemingly  trivial,  occa- 
sions, intercepting  what  he  was  about  to  do  or  to  say.  Of  thiri 
spiritual  monitor  he  was  accustomed  to  speak  familiarly  to  his 
friends,  assuring  them  that  he  always  most  implicidy  obeyed  it 
All  those  who  were  about  him  knew  that  this  prevented  him  from 
entering  upon  public  life,  and  hindered  his  preparing  a  defence  when 
he  was  indicted  for  a  capital  crime.  This  has  been  spc^en  of  by 
later  writers  as  "the  demon  of  Socrates;"  and  modems  hove  argued 
against  it  under  that  aspect  with  great  eloquence  and  force.  But 
all  this  is  beside  the  mark.  Socrates  never  spoke  of  it  as  a  person- 
ality, but  always  as  "a  divine  sign,  a  prophetic  or  supernatural 
voice." 

But,  besides  this  retarding  and  guiding  influence  with  which  Socra- 
tes regarded  himself  as  inspired,  he  believed  himself  specially  com- 
missioned to  pursue  a  particular  course  of  teaching.  In  dreams,  by 
oracular  intimations,  and  by  oth^  means;  he  considered  himself  as 
set  apart,  by  the  special  mandate,  of  the  gods,  to  detect  and  expose 
the  superficial  wisdom  of  the  Greeks,  and  to  lead  them  to  sound 
practical  knowledge.  The  weight  with  which  this  impression  rested 
on  his  mind;  and  the  spirit  in  which  he  aimed  at  discharging  such  a 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


896  THB  QBHTILX  NATIONS. 

dbaty,  may  be  seen  in  the  following  extracto  from  his  address  to  his 
judges :  "  Whatever  be  the  danger  and  obloquy  which  I  may  incur, 
it  would  be  monstrous  indeed,  ii  having  maintained  my  place  in  the 
ranks  as  an  hoplite  under  your  generals  at  Delium  and  Potidaea,  I 
were  now,  from  fear  of  death  or  anydiing  else,  to  desert  the  post 
which  the  Qod  has  assigned  to  me, — the  duty  of  living  for  philoso- 
phy, and  cross-questioning*  myself  and  others.  And  should  you 
even  now  offer  to  acquit  me  on  condition  of  my  renouncing  this  duty, 
I  should  tell  you,  with  all  respect  and  affiaction,  that  I  will  obey  the 
God  rather  than  you;  and  I  wiU  persist  until  my  dying  day  in  cross- 
questioning  you,  exposing  your  want  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  and 
reproaching  you,  until  the  defect  be  remedied.  My  mission  as  your 
monitor  is  a  mark  of  the  spedal  favour  of  the  GK>d  to  you.  P^haps 
you  will  ask  me,  '  Why  cannot  you  go  away,  Socrates,  and  Hve 
among  us  in  peaee  and  silence?'  This  is  the  hardest  of  all  ques- 
tions for  me  to  answ^  to  your  satisfaction.  If  I  tell  you  that  silence 
on  my  part  would  be  disobedience  to  the  God,  you  will  not  believe 
me.  Nevertheless,  so  stands  the  fact,  incredible  as  it  may  be  to 
you." 

It  is  only  neeessary  to  add,  that  while  this  great  man'  evidently 
placed  his  system  of  ethics  on  too  narrow  a  base  in«  comprising  all 
virtue  in  wisdom,  his  practice  was  far  more  sound  than  his  tli^es; 
for  none  could  urge  more  diligently  or  forcibly  thain  he  did  the 
necessity  of  maintainii^  control  over  the  passions,  the  regulation  of 
the  afRsctions,  and  the  exercise  of  constant  self-denial.  But  one  of 
the  most  important .  principles  of  Socrates  was,  that  although  he 
affirmed  virtue  to  be  essentially  wisdom  and  knowledge,  he  at  the 
same  time  argued  that  it  could  not  be  taught,  but  that  virtoe  was 
vouchsafed  or  withheld  according  to  the  special  volition  and  grace 
of  th^  gods ;  so  that,  while  he  made  well-doing  the  noblest  pursuit 
of  man,  he  regarded  the  best  man  as  most  beloved  by  the  gods ;  and 
thus  human  weakness  and  waut  were  placed  in  dependence  on  divine 
goodness  and  strength. 

A  full  analysis  of  the  teaching  of  this  age,  and  a  complete  investi- 
gation of  its  influence  on  Greece,  would  require  a  volume.  Our 
limits  will  only  allow  us  to  add  a  few  words  on  the  latter  topic. 
Here  we  have  not  only  the  assertion  of  divine  influence  on  the 
human  heart,  as  necessary  to  virtue, — and  tiie  condemnation  of  all 
vice  as  .folly,-r-but  a  living  embodiment  of  these  doctrines  in  the 
person  of  the  teacher,  who  professed  to  Jive  under  such  a  deep  con- 
viction of  a  divine  impelling  call  to  this  duty,  that  he  determined  to 
die  rather  than  swerve  from  Hbe  course  to  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed.   And  this  active  obedience  was  continued  in  «n  incessant 


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THI  eUNHLB  NASI0X8.  397 

ooone  of  instmotion  for  thiitj  or  forty  years,  (for  Socntes  was 
serenty  when  put  to  death,)  until  the  Qnek  mind,  was  so  imbued 
witii  these  doctrines*  that  it  was  urged  on  his  trial  by  Xenophon, 
that  erery  good  man  believed  in  the  neoessity  of  living  under  im- 
mediate divine  influence;  and  all  were  taught  that  the  gods  were 
deeply  concerned  in  the  lutppinees  and  virtue  of  man,  and  had  there- 
f<m  spedaUy  called  Socrates  to  Hie  mission  which  he  thus  ful- 
filled. 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  assuming  this  case  to  exhibit  a  very 
giteious  divine  interposition.  We  regard  die  conduct  of  Socrates 
as  that  of  a  man  enlightened  and  guided  by  the  Author  of  all  good, 
to  lead  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  most  intdlectual  heathen  nation 
of  the  earth  back  to  himself.  It  may  be  objected  that  Socrates  did 
not  denounce  Greek  polytheism,  norlive  an*  immaculate  life.  This 
is  admitted :  but  he  did  enunciate,  and  by  every  energy  of  argument 
enforce  the  adoption  o(  great  Sfnrttnal  truths,  which,  if  practically 
received,  would  have  superseded  the  absurd  and  widced  system  cS 
Oreek  theology,  by  bringing  the*  people  into  an  intelligent  obedi- 
ence to  the  Spirit  of  God.  And  he  did  evince  his  personal  obedi- 
ence, so  far  as  his  mind  was  enli^tened,  in  choosing  to  die  with  a 
good  conscience,  rather  than  to  live  in  neglect  of  known  duty. 

Plato;  the  disciple  and  successor  of  Socwtes,  followed  his  master 
as  the  leading  philosopher  of  Greece.  Tei  although  this  sage  exer- 
cised a  more  extensive  influence  oveivthe  Greek  mind  than  any  other 
individual  before  or  after  him,  our  notice  of  his  teaching  will  be 
brief  Unlike  Socrates  in  his  object,  Plato  did  not  direct  his  great 
energies  to  the  promotion  of  individual  wisdom  and  virtue.  He  evi- 
dently r^rded  it  as  his  m(Hre  immediate  vocation  to  establish  the 
science  of  politics  on  great  moral  principles.  His  principal  efiEerts 
were  accordingly  directed  to  the  disseminaticm  of  such  views  of  God 
and  man,^f  the  mutual  relation,  and  common  interest,  and  relative 
duties  of  the  humi^n  fiunily, — as  should  contribute  toward  the  forma- 
tion of  a  model  political  community.  So  far  as  thia  design  is  con- 
cerned, we  altogether  overlook  it  pbut  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a 
brief  sketch  of  his  religious  and  moral  teneta. 

The*  teadung  of  Plato  respecting  the  divine  nature  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  tiieology  of  his  age  and  country ;  but  it  is,  neverthe- 
less, not  an  easy'task  to  stato  precisely  what  were  his  exact  opinions 
on  this  important  subject.  For  it  seems  ihat»  with  the  fate  of  his 
master  present  to  his  mind,  Plato  steadily  kept  his  personal  safety 
in  view,  and  expressed  himself  with  cantionv  if,  indeed,  he  did  not 
withhold  much  that  he  fully  believed.  Hence  he  'says^  "  It  is  a  difli- 
cok  thing  to  discover  Ae  nature  of  the  Greater  of  the  universe ;  and, 


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VMM  aaSTOM  KATIOM, 

being  discovered,  it  is  impossible,  and  would  ereai  be  imi)io«i,'to 
expose  the  diseovery  to  vvlgar  ondenitandinffi."  Cooflideriiig  this 
reeerye, — oonpled  as  it  was  with  Plato's  adopting  the  theoretical  part 
of  the  teaching  of  Socrates,  in  preference  to  the  j^aotical,— ^e  can 
only  hope  to  attain  an  approximate  estimate  of  his  theology.  It 
seems  that  he  maintained  the  eadstenoe  of  two  kmds  cf  being : — one^ 
self-existent,  the  potent  cause  of  the  worid's  creatiom  out  of  preez* 
istent  matter,  which  he  regarded  as  coetemal  with  God;  and  the 
other,  man.  The  world  was  framed  out  of  this  matter,  JUstributed 
into  four  principal  elements,  into  whidi>  after  the  creation,  A» 
divinilrf  infused  a  rational  sonl.  Mm  was  fbrmed,  as  to  his  body^ 
cot  of  this  material  sabstaoce,  while  hnman  aools  were  made  ont  oS 
the  residue  of  the  soul  of  the  world.  The  hmnan  mind  was  there- 
fere  supposed  to  exist  preyioiis  to  the  body,  as  an  emanation  from 
]>eity.  Invisible  gods  and  demons  had,  according  to  this  system, 
been  previously  created  by  the  same  canse  out  of  the  same  q;»iritaal 
substance.  Plato,  theref(»«,  carried  o«t  the  teaohing  of  Socrates 
into  theory,  by  supposing  the  existence  of  one  Cheat  First  Cause, 
the  Creator  of  the  polytheistic  deities  of  Qreece;  while  the  world, 
thus  endowed  with  a  rational  soul, — an  emanation  from  God, — ^was 
spoken  of  as  '*  the  son  of  (jh>d." 

This  brief  sketch  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  statement  of  Grote, 
that  "  Plato  was  a  great  speculative  genius ;"  which  is  furth^  proved 
by  the  consideration,  that  in  none  of  his  works  does  he  maj^e  the 
remotest  allusion  to  the  existence  of  malignant  spirits,  but  accounts 
for  the  origin  and  existence  of  evil  by  reference  to  the  intractable 
nature  of  matter.  In  consequence  of  Plato's  ruling  idea  of  political 
tiieorizing,  his  most  explicit  declarations  of  moral  virtue  are  given 
in  a  figurative  form,  the  man  beic^  represented  as  a  political  body. 
But  it  is  sufficiently  apparent  that  he  exhibits  thia  perfect  virtoe 
as  comprised  under  four  distinet  heads :  1.  Prudence,  or  wisdom ; 
2.  Courage,  constancy,  or  fortitude;  8.  Temperanee,  cUacretion,  or 
self-control;  and^  4.  Justice,  or  righteeoaness.  To  aU  tbis  the 
teacher  of  tiie  Academy  added  the  doctrine  of  meietApsychosis,  or 
the  transmigration  of  souls,  believing  that  the  soid  of  a  man  some- 
times  passed  into  the  body  of  a  brute,  until,  by  occupying  succes- 
sive bodies,  its  moral  character  was  chained,  or  confinned.  (See 
Appendix,  note  71.) 

Before  proceeding  to  fonn  an  opinion  of  the  teaching  of  Plate 
generally,  a  few  other  partieuhirs  must  be  briefly  added.  He  allawed 
men  to  drink  to  excess  in  the  Bacchanalian  feetivals,  but  not  at  other 
times.  (Diogenes  Laertius,  lib.  iit,  cap.  89.)  He  did  not  reoommciid 
the  worship  ef  the  one  true*  God,  but  that  of  the  twelve  goda  ef 


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XHB  QSVniil  KATions. 

Oreeee,  to  whom  he  propoBed  to  Bolemnize  twelve  monflilj  festivals. 
(De  Le^lras,  cap.  8.)  He  says,  "  He  may  lie  who  knows  how  to  do 
it  in  a  fitting  or  needfol  season."  He  advises  governors  to  make 
use  of  lies  toward  both  enemies  and  citizens,  "  when  it  is  oonveni«- 
ent."  But^  what  perhaps  will  be  regarded  as  still  more  strange,  in 
his  sketch  of  a  model  repnblic, — ^which  is  intended  to  exhibit  a  oom- 
mnnity  formed  in  the  most  rational  and  perfect  manner, — Plato 
recommends  that  women,  as  well  as  men,  should  appear  perfectly 
naked  at  public  exercises;  that  the  wives  of  the  rulers  should  be 
commcm  to  all ;  and  that  young  men  who  have  distinguished  them- 
selves as  warriors  should  be  rewarded  by  having  a  greater  liberty  of 
commerce  with  women. 

Looking,  then,  at  the  whole  matter,  it  is  difficult  to  give,  in  a  sen- 
tence or  two,  an  opinion  of  the  efieot  of  Plato's  teaching  on  Greece. 
His  merits  as  a  great  man,  a  profound  genius,  are  undisputed.  He 
contributed,  perhaps,  more  than  any  other  man  to  place  sound  learning 
on  a  substantial  basis,  and  to  promote  its  general  cultivation.  But, 
r^arded  as  a  monJ  and  religious  teacher,  his  influence>on  the  state 
of  Greece  must  have  been  most  injurious.  Whatever  the  faults  of 
Socrates  might  have  been,  his  doctrines  and  practice  had  an  evident 
tendency  to  lead  men  to  a  careful  and  conscientioas  obedience  to  ih» 
teadiing  and  influence  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  *  This  we  ste  inclined 
to  regard  as  the  only  conceivable  means  by  which  Greece  at  that 
period  could  have  been  regenerated,  and  restored  to  religious  truth 
and  sound  morals.  The  course  of  teadiing  and  general  conduct  of 
Plato  did  more  than  anything  else  to  prevent  such  a  regeneration. 
The  glitter  of  his  science  fascinated  the  Grecian  intellect ;  his  broad 
scheme  of  philosophy,  and  profound  dements  of  logic,  dazzled  tfie 
mind  even  of  the  sedate  and  serious;  and  individual  subjection  of 
mind  to  dime  influence  is  scarcely  beard  of  after  the  death  of  Soc- 
rates. In  our  judgmoit,  a  great  and  gracious  dispensation  was  thus 
vqfwlled ;  and  Greece,  instead  of  rising,  sunk  in  respect  bo&  of 
morala  and  of  religion. 

As  we  do  not  investigate  the  philosophy  of  Greece  in  order  to 
trace  its  subtie  transmutations,  nor  to  detail  its  intellectual  conflicts, 
but  to  ascertain  its  moral  and  religious  results,  our  further  reference 
to  this  subgect  may  be  condse.  Aribtotlb,  who  had  long  been  a 
pupil  of  Plato,  after  having  been  preceptor  to  Alexander  of  Mace- 
don,  returned  to  Athens,  and  established  a  school  of  philosophy  at 
the  Lyceum,  in  opposition  to  the  Academy  which  had  been  founded 
by  Plato.  Periiaps  nothing  in  human  history  can  exceed  the  intel- 
lectual grandeur  of  this  seminary.  But  for  one  purpose  it  was 
firuiil^.    Aristotle  cast  no  additional  li^t  on  the  divine  character; 


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400  THB  GBNTIUB  KATIONS. 

bufc,  by  teaching  the  eternity  of  the  world,  obscured  what  had  been 
preyiously  known.  His  opinions  of  providence  were  donbtfiil  in 
th0  extreme :  ''Ifr  says  he,  "  the  gods  exercise  any  care  at  all  about 
men,  m  it  seem$y  He  recommended  the  destruction  of  all  weakly 
or  deformed  children,  and  counselled  other  measures  respecting  pop- 
ulation of  a  reyolting  kind.  He  spoke  of  one  supreme  God,  but 
asserted  the  stars  to  be  true  eternal  diyinities.  The  greatest  efforts 
and  highest  success  of  such  a  philosophy  could  not  be  promotive  of 
sound  morality  or  enlightened  religion ;  but,  by  drawing  away  the 
most  energetic  and  cultivated  minds  into  a  kind  of  intellectual  idol- 
Iktry,  exercised  rather  a  detmiorating  and  withering  influence. 

We  have  next  to  notice  the  tenets  and  influence  of  the  Stoics; 
and,  in  so  doing,  must  keep  to  the  doctrines  of  the  sect  as  taught  by 
Zbko.  The  dogmas  of  this  philosophic  sect  with  respect  to  creation 
were  very  confoised.  They  taught  that  a  chaos,  containing  the  first 
principles  of  all  future  being,  existed  from  eternity ;  that  this  diaos, 
being  at  length  arranged,  and  emer^g  into  variable  forms,  became 
the  world  as  it  now  subsists.  This  change  was  efibcted  by  the 
agency  of  two  principles ;  it  being  distinctly  taught  that  everything 
which  operates,  as  well  as..that  which  is  operated  upon,  is  corporeal. 
The  acting  principle  is  s^nnetimes  spoken  of  as  fire;  at  others,  it  is 
called  "  reason,"  or  "  God:''  so  that  this  fire  must  have  been  r^^ard- 
ed  as  idfflitical  with  deity.  And  this  deity  was  d^ned  to  be  "that 
law  of  nature  which  ever  accomplishes  what  ia  right,  and  prevents 
the  opposite ;''  and  Zeno  identified  it,  or  Zeus,  wi^  spirit  and  pre- 
destination, or  unconditioned  necessity.  Zeno  seems  to  have  refer- 
red the  several  chief  duties  of  the  Greek  Pantheon  to  the  difierent 
modes  in  which  the  great  primary  divine  power  was  manifested. 

On  the  subject  of  divine  provid^ce,  this  sect  taught  that  God 
governed  the  world  by  a  gmeral  providence,  which  did  not  extend 
to  individuals,  xsities,  or  people :  it  was  therefore  only  another  name 
for  necessity  or  &te,  to  which  God  and  matter,  or  the  universe  which 
consists  of  both,  are  according  to  this  doctrine  inevitably  sulyected. 

In  reference  to  morals,  the  disciples  of  Zeno  have  claimed,  and 
have  been  usually  allowed  to  occupy,  an  elevated  position :  and  in 
respeqt  of  mere  external  action,  and  of  some  of  the  principles  incul- 
cated, this  award  is  jusi  Zeno  considered  virtue  as  the  result  of 
the  perfect  dominion  of  reason.  All  actions  were  regarded  as  good 
or  bad,-^-even  impulses  and  desires, — ^because  they  rest  upon  free 
consent ;  and  consequently  passive  conditions  or  oflfections,  when  not 
influenced  by  the  dominion  of  reason,  are  immoral,  and  become  the 
source  of  immoral  action.  Raising  this  lofby  standard,  they  assumed 
a  perfect  equality  in  the  morality  of  actions  of  each  class :  ti}at  is, 


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THB  GSNTILE  NATIONS.  401 

all  virtaous  actions  were  equally  virtuous,  and  all  vicious  ones 
equally  vicious.  They  thus  described  a  wise  man  as  raised  above 
the  instincts  of  nature,  experiencing  neither  pleasure  nor  pain, — 
filling  no  fianlt,  exercising  no  pity, — ^in  fact,  as  divine.  Hence  one 
of  them  says,  "  As  to  the  body,  thou  art  but  a  small  part  of  the  uni- 
verse;  but  in  respect  of  the  mind,  or  reason,  neither  worse  nor  less- 
than  the  gods." 

This  morality  lacked  essential  support.  The  immortality  of  the 
soul  was  denied :  or,  if  admitted,  the  resurrection  with  which  it  was 
associated  was  marked  by  an  oblivion  of  all  preceding  existence. 
"  This  restoration,"  says  Seneca,  "  many  would  reject,  were  it  not 
that  their  renovated  life  is  accompanied  with  a  total  oblivion  of  past 
events."  The  whole  system  tended  to  raise  man  to  a  state  of  inde- 
pendence. Hence,  in  opposition  to  the  threat,  "  I  will  fetter  thee, 
Epictetus,"  the  sage  replies,  "  Thou  wilt  fetter  my  feet,  but  Jupiter 
himself  cannot  fetter  my  choice."  But  these  lofty  lessons  fidled  in 
their  object.  Even  Zeno  himself  allowed  a  community  of  women, 
tolerated  incest,  was  guilty  of  the  most  unnatural  impurity,  and 
ultimately  committed  suicide. 

The  tenets  and  influence  of  this  sect  cannot  be  regardedas  afibrd- 
ing  any  additional  religious  light,  or  moral  purity,  to  the  people  of 
Greece.  On  the  contrary,  they  tended  to  confuse  the  understand- 
ing, and,  under  the  pretext  of  seeking  elevated  moral  virtue,  to 
alienate  man  still  further  from  Qod. 

We  have  yet  another  religious  sect  to  consider,  in  its  teaching  and 
influence  on  the  mind  of  Greece, — the  foUowers  of  Epicukus. 

It  will  first  be  necessary  to  notice  the  ethical  doctrines  of  this 
sect.  The  foundation-principle  of  this  scheme  was,  that  pleasure 
constitutes  the  highest  happiness  of  man,  and  should  therefore  be 
aimed  at  as  the  supreme  good.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this 
system  arose  in  opposition  to  the  philosophical  scheme  of  Zeno. 
For,  as  that  philosopher  began  with  necessity  and  fate,  and  proceeded 
to  cany  out  his  views  by  ascetic  and  repulsive  severity ;  so  Epicurus 
commenced  with  the  freedom  of  the  human  will,  and'  chose,  as  the 
object  to  be  aimed  at,  supreme  pleasure  or  ninrufikd  happiness. 
From  the  terms  in  which  this  thesis  was  propounded,  many  have 
supposed  that  the  system  gave  licence  to  the  gratification  of  unbri- 
dled desire.  But  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  Epicurus 
used  the  term  in  this  sense.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  told  that 
"pleasure  with  him  was  not  a  mere  momentary  and  transitory  sen- 
sation; but  he  conceived  it  as  something  lasting  and  imperishable, 
consisting  in  pure  and  noble  enjoyments.  It  was  accordingly  ex- 
hibited by  the  union  of  two  terms,^Tapa^fo,  '  freedom  from  pas- 

26 


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402  THB  GBHTILK  H^TIOHS. 

sion,  coolness,  calmness/  and  drravla, '  exempti<m  from  bodily  pain;' 
thos  showing  a  freedom  from  pain,  and  from  all  influences  whidi 
disturb  the  peace  of  oar  mind,  and  thereby  oar  happiness,  which  is 
the  result  of  it.  The  ^ummum  bonum,  or  'diief  good'  of  man, 
according  to  this  system,  consisted  in  this  peace  of  mind;  and  the 
great  problem  of  his  ethics  was  therefore  to  show  how  it  might  be 
attained."  It  is  said  that  of  all  the  ancient  systems  this  has  been 
most  violently  opposed,  and  most  extensiTely  misunderstood;  and, 
probably,  it  mi^t  with  eqnal  truth  be  added,  that  no  system  has 
been  explained  with  so  much  latitude,  and  has  led  to  sudi  diiteent 
results  in  its  professed  followers. 

But  it  will  now  be  necessary  to  notice  otiier  ports  of  this  schema 
Epicurus  not  only  adopted  the  atomic  theory  of  physics  in  respect 
of  the  formation  of  the  world,  but  even  supposed  the  gods  to  be  in 
like  manner  composed  of  atoms.  They  were  conoeiTed  to  lire  in 
the  enjoyment  of  perfect  peace  and  happiness.  They  had  nothing 
to  do  with  creation,  nor  with  the  government  of  the  world,  or  ailbrd- 
ing  influence  to  man.  The  system  was  consequently  objected  to  as 
atheistic;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  theory,  it  had  undoubtedly  this 
practical  result.  A  farther  essential  defect  of  the  Epicurean  philos- 
ophy is  found  in  the  utter  absence  of  any  autiiorised  law.  Piety 
toward  God,  submission  to  his  authority,  resignation  to  his  will,  or 
trust  in  him,  could  not  exist.  The  essential  principle  of  the  whole 
scheme  was  selfishness.  Every  man  was  counselled  to  avoid  every- 
thing that  would  occasion  him  trouble,  pain,  or  disturbance.  Hereby 
all  efforts  toward  the  public  good,  and  all  offices  of  friendship,  were 
cut  up  by  the  roots.  The  result  of  the  system  was,  therefore,  the 
destruction  of  religious  principles, — the  removal  of  man  fr*om  all 
divine  teaching,  influence,  favour,  or  responsibility;  and  the  ^foct 
of  it  on  its  author  and  his  more  eminent  scholars  was  indulgence  in 
gross  sensuality. 

The  system  of  Epicurus,  therefore,  appears  like  the  last  effiirt 
of  human  reason  to  separate  man  from  his  God,  and  to  remove 
from  his  mind  all  really  religious  influence,  and  all  efficient  moral 
principle.        * 

Although  these  several  systems  of  philosophy  have  been  noticed 
in  the  order  in  which  they  arose,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  they 
thus  succeeded  and  superseded  each  other.  On  the  contrary,  eadi 
school  continued  a  separate  and  independent  centre  of  instruction 
and  influence,  after  the  last  had  been  frilly  established :  so  that  the 
Greek  mind  had  to  make  its  election  between  these  several  develop- 
ments of  the  national  faith;  while  these  sects  coexisted,  as  has  been 
already  intimated,  as  so  many  religious  denominations.    But,  al- 


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THB  gbhtils  hatiosb.  4M 

tfaoii^  this  was  the  caae,  the  oounie  of  time  olewly  showi  the  pro- 
gtemve  degeneracy  of  Greece,  in  religion  ae  in  other  respects. 
Prior  to  the  Christian  era,  the  scheme  of  Bpienrus  had  obtained 
Tcry  eztensiye,  if  noi  indeed  a  highly  paramount,  influence  over  the 
Grecian  people. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  give  a  brief  review  of  this  religion. 
We  perceive  in  Greece  a  want  of  that  rich  amount  of  patriarchal 
tradition  found  to  pervade  older  countries.  There  is  also  the  ab- 
sence of  the  profane  monarcMcal  assumption  so  prominent  in  the 
religion  of  the  Asiatic  nations.  Looking  at  the  history  and  political 
condition  of  Greece,  nothing  is  more  anomalous  and  strange  than 
the  existence  of  such  numerous  petty  independent  states  as  ob- 
tained in  Greece  among  a  people  of  the  same  blood,  language,  and 
religion.  But,  observing  what  occurred  in  almost  every  ancient 
kingdom,  we  see  in  this  multiplicity  of  states  perhaps  the  only 
measis  of  saving  that  oountiy  from  the  curse  of  the  pre-Christiaii 
Antichrist. 

It  will  further  be  noticed,  that  the  early  ages  of  Greece  e2thibit»  in 
connexion  widi  her  ireligion,  a  deep  and  general  re^gnition  of  divine 
influence.  It  may  be  agreeable  to  many  minds  to  repudiate  the  im* 
portance  of  this  fact;  but  it  must  havt^  been  something  more  tiian 
political  finesse  which  led  the  Athenians,  in  the  depth  of  their  dis- 
tress,— with  the  ashes  of  iheir  homes,  and  the  charred  walls  of  theh* 
temples,  under  their  eyes, — to  refuse  l^e  most  flattering  overtures 
of  Persia^  from  pure  devotion  to  their  god.  And  it  is  remarkable, 
that  it  was  under  this  aspect  of  the  national  religion,  (notwithstand* 
ing  all  their  idolatry  and  the  absurdity  of  their  notions  in  many 
other  respects,)  that  Greece  attained  her  preeminent  intellectucd 
superiority.  It  was  in  the  age  in  which  Anaxagoras  was  banished 
for  denying  that  the  heavenly  bodies  were  deities,  and  asserting  that 
they  were  inanimate  bodies,  that  Grecian  genius  shed  her  mightiest 
energy  on  the  world.  It  w^  in  the. time  of  Pericles  that  Socrates 
perished,  a  martyr  to  the  doctrine  of  divine  influence  on  the  humaci 
mind.  And  as  if  to  teach,  in  the  most  impressive  manner,  the  utter 
inefficiency  of  the  highest  intellectual  efforts  to  promote  the  eleva- 
tion of  man  without  a  recognition  of  the  existence  of  dirine  teach- 
ing, aakd  an  experience  of  its  power,  it  was  when  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle brought  tjieir  unparalleled  genius  and  intellectual  power  to 
bear  on  their  countiy,  that  Greece  began  to  descend  from  her  high 
elevation. 

It  is  a  remarkable  tei^,  that,  however  differing  or  antagonistic,  in 
other  respects,  the  four  great  religious  sects— the  Academy,  the 
Peripatetics,  the  Porch,  and  the  Epicnreans—mi^t  be,  they  dis- 


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464  THB  GHHTILB  NATIONS. 

played  a  regular  gradation  of  departure  fiom  a  recognitiiHi  of  divine 
iDflaence,  grace,  responBibility  to  {utore  judgment,  and  tnie  moral 
principle,  as  arising  out  of  diyine  oommand. 

Another  fact  un&7onrable  to  the  candour  and  justice  of  Athenian 
administration  is  seen  in  the  difi^rence  of  treatment  evinced  toward 
real  and  pretended  cases  of  impiety.  Anaxagoras  was  banished, 
Socrates  slain,  and  Plato  swerved  from  his  course  of  duty,  throng 
the  determination  of  the  ruling  body  to  punish  the  sli^test  infrac- 
tion of  the  national  fidth.  But  then  this  severity  was  only  ahown 
toward  those  who  propounded  views  and  dodaineB  of  purer  theology 
and  sounder  mondity.  Aristophanes  might  hold  up  to  ridicule  all 
that  the  national  faith  regarded  as  divine :  and,  when  this  was  really 
done  in  an  impious  manner,  and  for  the  purposes  of  levity,  folly, 
and  vice,  it  obtained  perfect  toleration. 

To  those  who  talk  of  progressive  intellect  and  advancing  civilisa- 
tion, as  synonymous  with  an  increasing  acquaintance  witii  reli^ua 
truth,  the  declarations  of  learned  authors  in  the  following  language 
should  be  admonitory:  "In  the  more  enlightened  periods,  in  the 
times  even  of  Plato  and  his  disciples,  the  clearest  principles — we  do 
not  say,  of  moral  purity,  but — even  of  moral  integrity  were  not 
better  understood,  and  still  less  better  observed,  than  in  the  days  of 
Homer.  Philosophy  relaxed  the  hold  of  superstition  upon  the  con- 
scienoe,  without  substituting  any  efficacious  restnant  in  its  place; 
and  '  it  is  evident/  to  use  the  words  of  Mitford, '  from  the  writings  of 
Xenophon  and  Plato,  that  in  their  age  the  boundaries  of  right  and 
wrong,  justice  and  injustice,  honesty  and  dishonesty,  were  little  de- 
termined by  any  generally  received  principle.'  The  philosophy  of 
Epicurus  had  completely  gamed  the  ascendency  in  the  age  preceding 
the  Christian  era;  and  the  greatest  characters  and  most  learned 
scholars  wavered  between  the  tenets  of  the  theistical  and  atheistical 
systems.  Corruption  of  manners,  and  the  subtilties  of  scepticism, 
had  reached  a  height  of  extravagjinoe  which  it  seemed  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  exceed.  Human  reason  had  lost  itself  in  the  labyrinths  of 
philosophical  speculation,  and  human  virtue  had  been  abandoned  to 
the  wayward  direction  of  the  fancy  or  the  passions." — Edinburgh 
Encfjc,  vol.  X,  p.  479. 

We  have  in  these  evolutions  of  the  rdigion  of  Greece  the  solution 
of  a  difficulty  otherwise  inexplicable, — ^namely,  the  prevalence  of 
unbounded  licentiousness  of  manners  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest 
triumphs  of  wisdom,  genius,  and  art.  Who  can  read  of  the  courte- 
zans of  Athens  and  Corinth  without  amazement?  Who  can  hear  of 
the  visits  of  Pericles,  and  even  of  Socrates,  to  the  dissolute  Aspasia, 
without  feeling  all  his  notions  of  propriety  and  congruity  outraged? 


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THB  6BNTILB  NATIONS.  406 

But  the  depths  of  this  iniquity  cannot  be  written.  The  religion  of 
Greece  coidd  not  and  did  not  sustain  the  moral  dignity  of  female 
virtue.  It  was  cloistered  and  crushed  by  cold  austerity  and  cruel 
neglect;  while  unbridled  licentiousness  reigned,  and  the  most  aban- 
doned of  women  rolled  in  wealth,  and  rioted  in  the  acme  of  honour. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  add,  that  before,  as  it  is  said,  dissoluteness  of 
manners  was  introduced  into  Athens,  the  great  Themistocles  was 
drawn  in  a  chariot  across  the  Geramicus,  in  the  sight  of  a  multitude 
of  persons  there  assembled,  by  four  naked  courtezans.  (Plutarch, 
in  Vita  Themistoclis.)  So  nearly  did  the  manners  of  Ashantee  find 
a  parallel  in  the  wisest  city  of  the  world !  So  ineffectual  is  enlightened 
intellect  to  sustain  moral  virtue,  in  the  absence  of  religious  truth  I 


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406      .  TBI  anmxiB  STAXioirs. 


CHAPTER  2CI. 

THB  HISTORY  OF  ROH£. 

Ijcpobtavos  of  Boman  History— Uniuiul  Extent  of  its  LegendArj  Portion— ^AzriYal  gf 
.Aneas  on  the  Banks  of  the  Tibex^-Lavinium— Alba— Ecanuliis  and  Remus— Borne- 
Death  of  Remus— Rape  of  the  Babine  Yirgins— 8alnne  Wai>— Political  Oonstitation  of 
the  first  Ramans— Nnmar^-Tnllas  HostUins— Albani  removed  to  Rome— Anew  HUrtios 
—The  Reigns  of  the  Tarquins  and  of  Serrins  TuUia»— Tragic  Fate  of  Lucretia— Abolltian 
of  Royalty— Junius  Brtftus— War  with  Porsenn^— Destruction  of  Yeii— InVasion  of  the 
Oauls— Distress  of  the  Bomans— Oppressive  Character  of  the  Laws  respecting  the  Poor 
—Legislative  Reform— Benewed  aggressive  War— All  Italy  subdued  by  the  Bomana— 
War  with  Csrthage— The  First  Punic  Wai^-Slclly  added  to  Rosse  as  a  Province— Pui^ 
.ther  Extension  of  Territory  on  the  Continent  procured^  by  the  Romans— Sardinia 
seized— Hannibal— His  deadly  Enmity  to  Rome— His  Measures  in  Spain— The  Second 
Punic  War— Hannibal  invades  Italy— His  wonderful  Success— Repeated  Defeat  of  the 
Roman  Armies — Scipio  leads  a  Roman  Army  into  Africar-Obtains  successive  Victories 
—Hannibal  recalled  to  Carthage,  and  defeated— Peace  between  Rome  and  Carthage, 
on  Terms  dictated  by  Rome— Wsr  with  Macedon,  in  which  Rome  is  triumphant,  FhiUp 
reduced  to  Submission,  and  Liberty  proclaimed  to  Oreeoe— Antiochus  of  Syria  makes 
War  on  Rome— Is  entirely  defeated— War  between  Rome  and  Perseus,  King  of  Maoe- 
don — ^He  is  completely  subdued — ^Rapid  Increase  and  vast  Extent  of  the  Roman  Do- 
minions—The Third  Punic  War— Destruction  of  Carthage— Continued  IVogrets  of 
Roman  Power— Results  of  these  successive  and  immense  military  Operations  on  ths 
Parent  State— Isolation  of  the  Ruling  Class  from  the  People-^Great  Distress  of  the 
latter — ^Tiberius  Gracchus  endeavours  to  effect  legislative  Reforms  for  correcting  these 
Evils— Is  circumvented,  and  murdered — Cains  Gracchus  succeeds  his  Brother  in  Us 
Efforts  to  redress  the  Grievances  of  the  People— Carries  several  Measures — ^Loses  his 
election  on  being  proposed  a  third  Time  for  the  Tribuneship — ^Determines  on  armed  Be- 
sistance— Is  defeated,  and  slain— Progress  of  Patrician  Power,  and  the  Demoralisation 
of  Boman  Governments— Jugurthine  War — ^Blarius  Consul— Termination  of  the  War, 
and  Captivity  and  cruel  Death  of  Jugurtha— War  with  the  Cimbri— The  Bomans  sustain 
several  Defeats,  but  the  Enemy  is  ultimately  routed  and  destroyed  by  Marius— Civil 
Wars  in  Sicily  and  Italy — Italians  incorporated  as  Boman  Citizens-^Factious  Bivaliy 
between  Marius  and  Syllar^The  former  in  a  Tumult  expels  his  rival,  and  makes  him- 
self Master  of  Bome — Sylla  at  the  Head  of  an  Army  marches  to  Bome,  and  takes  Pos- 
session of  the  City — He  removes  his  Enemies  from  Power,  and  proceeds  to  conduct  the 
War  against  Mithridates— The  King  of  Pontus  completely  defeated— Rome  sul^eeted 
to  fearful  Carnage  and  Disorder  by  Marius  and  Cinna — Sylla  grants  Mithridates  Tenns 
of  Peace,  and,  uniting  the  Army  of  Fimbria  to  his  own,  returns  to  Rome — Sylla  de- 
feats the  Troops  of  the  Consuls,  and  makes  himself  absolute  Master  of  Rome — Fearful 
Extent  of  his  Proscriptions,  and  consequent  Slaughter  of  Soldiers  and  (Stixens— <His 
Death — Pompey  defeats  &  Marian  Faction  in  Spain— Destroys  the  Cilician  Pirates- 
Defeats  Mithridates,  and  annexes  his  Dominions  to  Bome — Conspiracy  of  Catiline  at 
Bome— Defeated  by  Cicero— The  First  Triumvirate— Pompey,  Crassus,  and  Julius 
Csesar--Crassus  slain  in  the  Parthian  Wai^-Csesar,  commanded  by  the  Senate  to  dis- 
band his  Army,  marches  on  Bome — ^Pompey  retires  to  Greece — ^Is  followed  by  Cesar, 
and  defeated — Flies  to  Egypt,  and  is  slain  there — Julius  Cesar  sole  Buler  of  the  Boman 
Dominions— Cesar  slain  by  Conspirators— Strang^  Irresolution  and  want  of  Unity 
evinced  by  the  Conspirators  after  the  Death  of  Cesai^-The  selfish  Policy,  Peculation, 
and  Ambition  of  Antony — ^Prudent  Conduct  of  the  young  Octavius — ^He  is  elected  Con- 


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THB  GBNTILS  NATIONS.  407 

snV— night  of  Bratnt  aad  Cmslh*— The  Second  TriamTirate— Antony,  Lepidos,  and 
Octavius — ^Defeat  and  Deiath  of  Bmtns  and  Cassina — ^Antonj'i  disgraceful  Residence 
in  Egypt— -Lepidns  banished— Defeat  of  Antony  at  Actitun— He  oommlts  suicide  iat 
BgyptH-Oetaviiu,  as  Augnstiis,  supreme  Bnler  at  Boba. 

Wb  now  approach  the  oalminating  point  of  anoient  history. 

Rome  wae  the  last  and  the  most  extraordinary  empire  of  pre- 
Christian  times.  Commanding  a  larger  geographical  territory, — 
wielding  a  greater  amount  of  martial  power, — possessing  a  more 
oomplete  political  organization, — and  rising  with  baoyancy  and 
triumph  over  more  terrible  calamities,  than  those  of  any  preceding 
central  government^ — this  empire  stands  before  the  mind' as  the 
most  glorious  embodiment  of  political  aggrandizement  and  prowess 
which  the  annals  of  the  ancient  world  ever  recorded. 

In  one  other  respect  Rome  exhibits  a  unique  appearance.  Rich 
as  are  the  records  of  Greece  iu  the  incorporation  of  ancient  legends 
mto  its  primitive  history,  the  Latin  annals  very  far  excel  them, — not 
<mly  in  the  extent  of  their  range,  their  copiousness,  and  their  minute- 
ness of  detail, — ^but  also  in  respect  of  their  close  approximation  to 
the  period  when  the  Roman  power  obtained  a  complete  ascendency 
over  every  other  nation. 

What  may  be  properly  termed  "the  legendary  portion''  of  this 
history,  stretches  over  five  centuries,  from  the  age  immediately  suc- 
ceeding the  Trojan  war,  about  eleven  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  down  to  500  B.  C.  Yet  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to 
obtain  an  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  Rome,  to  acquire  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  accounts  furnished  by  the  Roman  histo- 
rians of  this  period.  Indeed,  this  is  no  less  imperative  than  if  these 
reoords  stood  before  us  attested  by  the  most  ample  historical  evi- 
dence. The  progressive  light  which,  dawning  on  the  foundation  of 
the  eternal  city,  continued  to  increase  until,  at  the  period  mentioned 
above,  the  national  history  is  fully  authenticated,  is  always  sufficient 
to  indicate  the  occurrence  of  great  and  important  events,  that  in  some 
manner  were*  identified  with  the  national  existence;  although  it 
is  insufficient  to  define  with  precision  all  their  causes  and  circum- 
stances, or  to  aff[>rd  valid  attestation  to  the  accuracy  of  their  respec- 
tive details.  Yet^  as  the  &bulous  and  doubtful  are  so  interwoven 
with  national  manners  and  indubitable  &cts,  there  is  no  point  at 
which  we  can  begin  our  inquiries  but  at  the  very  incunabula  regni, — 
ranging  our  research  over  the  whole  period ;  distinguishing,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  fiict  firom  the  &ble,  the  certain  from  the  doubtful ; 
and  thus  obtaining. the  best  possible  view  of  this  important,  but 
very  obscure,  portion  of  history. 

It  may,  to  a  cursory  reader,  appear  very  strange  that  the  story  of 


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408  THB  0BNTILB  NATI0K8. 

80  large  a  portion  of  time,  embracing  events  of  the  most  thrilling 
interest,  with  which  from  our  childhood  we  have  been  familiarized 
as  undoubted  verities,  should  be  set  down  as  being,  to  a  great  extent, 
doubtful  and  uncertain.  Yet  a  careful  and  dispassionate  investiga- 
tion of  the  claims  to  credibility  possessed  by  the  earliest  historians 
of  ancient  Rome,  (see  Appendix,  note  72,)  inevitably  conducts  us  to 
this  judgment,  and  compels  us  to  doubt  the  truth  of  their  annals  for 
the  first  six  himdred  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  city,  and  their 
narrative  respecting  many  important  events  even  subsequent  to  that 
period. 

The  earliest  information  we  can  obtain  respecting  ancient  Italy 
tells  us  that  it  was  inhabited  by  several  distinct  races  or  tribes, 
which  occupied  di£Ferent  districts,  and  were  frequently  found  engaged 
in  warlike  contests  with  each  other.  Among  these,  the  Pelasgians, 
Latins,  and  Tuscans  held  a  prominent  rank ;  but  they  have  little  to 
do  with  the  accounts  given  of  the  origin  and  rise  of  Rome.  The 
foundation  of  that  city  is  ascribed  to  ^neas  and  a  band  of  Trojans, 
who,  having  escaped  &om  Troy,  are. supposed,  after  much  voyaging 
and  many  disasters,  to  have  reached  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  (See 
Appendix,  note  73.)  Here  the  legends  state  that  under  supernatu- 
ral guidance  they  built  a  city,  called  Lavinium :  and  that  their  rising 
power  provoked  an  attack  &om  the  Rutulians  and  Etruscans,  under 
Tumus  and  Mezentius.  The  former  of  these  chiefs  fell  by  the  hand 
of  iSlneas ;  the  latter,  by  that  of  the  son  of  the  Trojan  chiefs  Asca- 
nius,  whose  descendants  became  sovereigns  of  Latium. 

Our  authorities  proceed  to  state  that,  thirty  years  after  the  Tro-^ 
jans  had  obtained  peaceful  possession  of  the  country  around  Lavin- 
ium, they  deserted  their  city  for  the  more  elevated  and  secure 
position  of  Alba,  which  henceforth  became  the  centre,  where  the . 
thirty  confederate  cities  of  Latium  o£Fered  their  united  sacrifices  to 
the  gods.  (See  Appendix,  note  74.^ 

The  foundation  of  Rome — which,  amid  all  the  clouds  of  fiction 
and  fable,  we  must  regard  in  itself  as  a  fact — ^next  presents  itself  to 
our  notice :  but  beyond  the  mere  fact  itself  we  can  obtain  little  infor- 
mation that  can  be  relied  on.  At  some  undefined  time  after  the 
removal  to  Alba,  Procas,  the  king  of  the  city,  died,  leaving  two 
sons,  and  bequeathing  the  kingdom  to  Numitor,  the  ejder,  and  his 
treasure  to  Amulius.  The  latter,  possessing  more  enterprise  and 
energy  than  his  elder  brother,  and  having  the  means  of  employing  a 
numerous  band  of  adherents,  deposed  Numitor,  slew  his  son,  and 
made  his  daughter  Ilia  or  Rhea  Sylvia  a  vestal  virgin.  Having 
thus,  as  he  believed,  prevented  his  brother  from  having  issue  to  suc- 
ceed him,  Amulius  ascended  the  throne. 


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THE  QENTILB  NATIONS.  409 

This  pturpose  was,  howeyer,  defeated.  Sylvia  beeame  pregnant 
by  the  god  Mars ;  and  was,  in  consequence  of  her  sacred  character, 
put  to  death.  Her  twin  sons  were  also  exposed  as  if  to  certain 
destmction,  but  were  miracnloosly  presenred,  and  finally  slew  the 
usurper,  and  restored  their  grand&ther  to  the  throne.  (See  Appen^ 
dix,  note  75.) 

Having  been  made  acquainted  with  their  previous  imminent  dan- 
ger and  wonderful  deliverance,  the  two  brothers  applied  to  the  king 
dieir  grandfather  for  leave  to  build  a  city  on  the  spot,  near  the 
Tiber,  where  they  had  been  saved.  T^eir  request  was  granted. 
But  disputes  arose  between  the  two  bifothers,  which  issued  in  the 
death  of  Remus  by  the  hand  of  Romulus  or  of  one  of  his  partisans. 
This  event  is  placed  by  the  best  chronologers  on  the  21st  of  April 
in  the  third  year  of  the  sixth  Olympiad;  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
one  years  after  the  destruction  of  Troy,  and  seven  hundred  and 
fifty- three  before  the  Christian  era. 

Finding  it  diflBcult  to  obtain  inhabitants  for  his  di^,  Romulus 
oiered  an  asylum  and  protection  to  all  persons  whose  misfortunes  or 
crimes  induced  them  to  leave  their  native  residence :  and,  haying  by 
this  means  collected  a  sufficient  number  of  individuals,  he  became 
the  king  of  the  new  state.  But,  according  to  the  poetic  traditions 
which  are  here  our  only  guides,  it  was  easier  to  procure  restless  and 
hardy  men  for  this  new  city  than  to  induce  women  to  accompany 
them.  To  supply  this  evident  necessity,  he  resorted  to  a  desperate 
expedient.  Romulus  appointed  .splendid  games  in  honour  of  Nep- 
tune :  crowds  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  cities  assembled 
as  spectators.  In  the  midst  of  the  sport,  a  host  of  young  Romans 
rushed  on  the  multitude,  and  carried  off  a  sufficient  number  of 
maidens,  whom  they  afterward  compelled  by  force  to  becqme  their 
wives. 

This  outrage  led  to  a  desperate  war.  Some  of  the  minor  cities 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  having  been  successively  defeated  in  their 
efforts  to  punish  the  authors  of  this  violence,  Titus  Tatias,  King  of 
the  Sabines,  led  his  forces  against  Rome.  Romulus,  unable  to  meet 
this  formidabk  foe  in  the  field,  retired  within  the  walls  of  the  city; 
leaving  a  strong  force  to  guard  an  important  post  on  the  Capitoline 
Hill.  Tarpeia,  the  daughter  of  the  commander  of  this  position, 
fascinated  with  the  bracelets  worn  by  the  Sabine  soldiers,  offered  to 
admit  them  if  they  would  give  her  what  they  wore  on  their  arms. 
This  condition  was  accepted,  and  she  opened  the  gate  of  the  fortress : 
but  the  Sabines,  either  misapprehending  her  meaning,  or  determined 
to  defeat  her  object,  are  said  to  have  thrown  their  shields  on  her  as 
they  passed,  until  she  fell,  crushed  to  death  beneath  their  weight. 


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410  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

(See  Appendix,  note  76.)  This  treason  broa^  on  a  general  ea^ 
gagament,  which  continned  for  a  long  time,  victory  appearing  to 
alternate  from  one  army  to  the  other.  This  conflict  waa  at  length 
terminated  by  the  interpoaition  of  the  Sabine  women.  They  had 
by  this  time  become  reconciled  to  their  husbands,  and  felt  eqnally 
unwilling  that  either  these  or  their  fathers  and  brothers  shonld  be 
destroyed.  They  therefore  rushed  to  the  scene  of  conflict^  and 
implored  the  combatants  to  cease.  This  led  to  a  treaty,  by  which 
the  two  nations  agreed  to  live  in  amity  under  their  own  chiefs  in  the 
same  locality.  This  purpose  was  carried  out  by  the  building  of  a 
new  city  on  the  Quirinal  and  Oapitoline  Hills,  to  which  the  Sabines 
removed;  while  a  comitium,  or  "place  of  common  assembly"  for 
both  nations,  was  erected  in  the  space  between  the  Palatine  and 
Gapitoline  Hills.  This  state  of  aflldrs  continued  until  the  murder 
of  Tatius  the  Sabine  king,  some  time  afterward  at  Iiayinium,  lelt 
Romulus  sole  monarch  of  the  united  nations. 

The  wars  between  the  Romans  and  the  Tuscans,  with  which  the 
Latin  historians  have  crowded  more  than  thirty  years  of  the  life  of 
Romulus,  are  equally  romantic,  and  do  not  merit  recital.  If,  indeed, 
any  real  historic  information  has  reached  us  respecting  this  period, 
it  seems  to  refer  to  the  political  constitution  and  form  of  government 
which  were  adopted  and  maintained  even  daring  the  reign  of  the 
founder  of  Rome.  It  appears  that,  from  the  beginning,  there  was  a 
classification  of  the  inhabitants.  The  wealthiest  and  nobly  bom 
were  styled  "Patricians;"  those  of  inferior  rank,  "Plebeians." 
The  dignity  of  the  Patricians  was  hereditary,  and  they  alone  wane 
eligible  to  all  offices  in  the  state.  From  these  a  senate  of  one  hun- 
dred was  taken,  to  aid  the  king  by  their  counsel,  who  were  called 
Patres,  "  Fathers."  In  order  to  unite  the  two  separate  classes  of 
Patricians  and  Plebeians  together,  every  Plebeian  was  allowed  to 
choose  a  Patrician  as  his  "patron,"  to  whom  he  became  a  "client." 
The  effect  of  this  relation  was,  to  afford  the  client  protection  and 
friendly  aid ;  the  patron  being  his  counsellor  and  sidvocate  in  all 
suits  of  law,  and  his  adviser  and  assistant  on  all  occasions ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  clients  held  themselves  bound  to  respect  and 
defer  to  their  patrons,  and  to  show  them  every  attention.  It  also 
seems  that  the  power  of  the  crown  was  considerably  limited  by  the 
agency  of  the  senate :  so  that,  trom  the  beginning,  Rome  exhibited 
a  combination  of  monarchical  and  aristocratical  government. 

The  fate  of  Romulus  is  as  uncertain  as  every  other  portion  of  the 
history  of  this  period.  One  heroic  legend  states,  that  after  a  long 
reign  he  disappeared  from  earth,  and  became  a  god,  under  the  name 
of  the  deity  Quirinus.    Another  tradition  ascribes  his  death  to  a 


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XHB  GBETTHiB  NATIOM.  411 

tamnlt  in  the  senate-hotiBe,  where  he  is  Baid  to  have  been  destroyed 
by  an  aristoortttie  foedon. 

The  latter  of  these  rumoiurB  deriyea  support  from  the  fact  that,  on 
the  death  of  the  king,  the  senate  endeayonred  to  retain  in  its  own 
hands  the  entire  administration  of  affiurs.  Eaoh  senator  was  to 
exercise  supreme  power  one  day  in  rotation.  It  is  said  that  this 
form  of  goyemment  lasted  one  year,  when  its  defects  became  so 
manifest  that  the  people  insisted  that  the  senate  should  elect  a  king. 
Bat  when  this  was  resolyed  upon,  a  difficulty  arose  as  to  the  nation 
from  which  he  should  be  takeo, — ^ihe  Romans  or  the  Sabines.  It 
was  at  length  decided  that  the  new  soyereign  should  be  selected 
from  the  Sabines  by  the  Roman  senators.  By  this  arrangement 
Kuma  Fompilius,  the  son-in-kw  of  Tatius,  the  last  king  of  the 
Sabines,  was  unanimously  raised  to  the  throne.  '  As  the  history  of 
this  reign  is  entirely  legendary,  it  will  not  be  necessaiy  to  say  more 
respecting  it,  than  that  this  soyereign  is  reputed  to  haye  eyinced 
great  wisdom  and  prudence  in  his  goyemment  It  is  said  that  he 
framed  the  entire  ritual  law  of  the  national  religion,  greatly  improyed 
the  internal  policy  and  jurisprudence  of  the  country,  and  maintained, 
throughout  a  reign  of  forty  years,  peace  and  tranquillity  between  his 
country  and  the  surrounding  states. 

After  the  death  of  Numa,  another  interregnum  followed,  after 
which  Tullus  Hostilius,  the  son  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
soldiers  of  Romulus,  was  raised  to  the  throne.  Although  the  chro- 
nology of  this  period  remains  exceedingly  obscure,  we  now  approach 
the  dawning  of  historical  hght.  Niebuhr  speaks  of  this  reign  as  the 
beginning  of  a  "  mythioo*historical "  age.  In  the  early  part  of  it  we 
hear  of  a  war  between  Rome  and  Alba,  occasioned  by  mutual  acts 
of  yiolenoe  and  consequent  recrimination. 

The  historians  state  that^  war  being  declared,  the  riyal  forces  met 
on  the  frontier  of  the  Roman  territory ;  but  that,  instead  of  deciding 
the  quarrel  by  a  general  engagement,  it  was  agreed  to  stake  the 
supremacy  of  the  two  nations  on  the  issue  of  a  combat  between  six 
heroes,  three  to  be  furnished  by  eadi  army.  As  a  striking  eyidence 
of  the  poetry  whidi  peryades  the  national  annals  of  this  period,  it 
may  be  sufficient  to  state,  that  it  is  alleged  that  there  were  then  in 
the  Roman  army  three  brothers,  bom  of  the  same  mother  at  the 
same  birth,  named  the  Uoratii ;  and  in  the  Alban  army,  three  other 
brothers,  bom  in  a  similarly  extraordinary  way,  caDed  the  Coriatii ; 
and,  to  complete  the  catalogue  of  wonders,  the  Roman  mother  and 
the  Alban  one  are  said  to  haye  been  sisters.  These  six  men  adyanced 
in  front  of  their  respectiye  armies :  and,  it  baring  been  solemnly 
agreed  that  the  nation  whose  heroes  were  defeated  should  in  future 


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412  THE  OBNTILB  HATIOMS. 

be  subject  to  the  other,  the  combat  began.  After  a  while  one  of  the 
Horatii  fell  dead ;  and  soon  after  another  mmk  lifdess  on  the  body 
of  his  brother.  The  Albans  on  this  raised  loud  shouts  of  joy,  fully 
expecting  the  victoiy.  It  was,  however;  soon  apparent  that  the  three 
Curiatii  were  severely  wotinded,  but  that  the  surviving  Horatius  was 
unhurt.  The  latter  aware  of  the  disadvantage  of  contending  singly 
against  three,  turned  his  back  and  fled,  until,  perceiving  his  pur- 
suers separated  from  each  other,  he  returned,  slew  the  foreniost^  and 
afterwanl  the  other  two,  in  succession.  In  consequence  of  this 
triumph,  Alba  became  subject  to  Rome. 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  Alban  diief  was  fiur  from  being  recon- 
ciled to  this  result ;  and  accordmgly,  when  the  Romans  were  engaged 
in  a  war  with  the  Fidenates,  and  the  Alban  forces  were  summoned 
as  auxiliaries  of  Rome,  the  Alban  dictator  drew  off  his  army  just 
as  the  battle  commence  and  took  no  part  in  the  conflict.  The 
Roman  sovereign  at  first  concealed  his  indignation  at  this  breach  of 
&ith;  but,  taking  advantage  of  the  timidity  which  the  Albans  after- 
ward evinced,  he  put  the  dictator  to  death,  dismantled  the  city,  witii 
the  exception  of  tiie  temples,  and  removed  the  whole  of  the  inhabit- 
ants with  their  property  to  Rome,  where  he  provided  them  willi 
habitations  on  the  GsBlian  Hill.  The  abandonment  of  Alba,  and  die 
removal  of  its  inhabitants  to  Rome,  may  be  regarded  as  well-es- 
tablished historical  facts.  But  whether  this  was  effected  solely  by 
the  power  of  Rome,  or  by  the  troops  of  that  city  in  conjunction 
widi  the  Latins,  as  suggested  by  Niebuhr,  is  a  matt^  of  uncertainty. 
The  fact,  tiiat  while  Rome  removed  the  inhabitants,  the  Latins  occu- 
pied the  territory  of  Alba,  seems  to  corroborate  to  a  great  extent  the 
conclusion  of  the  German  historian. 

The  wars  which  TuUus  is  said  to  have  waged  with  the  Latins,  and 
the  peculiar  manner  of  his  death  by  lightning  from  the  anger  of  the 
gods,  are  altogether  full  of  improbabilities,  as  well  as  destitute  of 
historical  authority. 

Ancns  Martins,  alleged  to  have  been  the  grandson  of  Numa,  is 
placed  on  the  list,  as  the  next  king  of  Rome.  Like  his  ancestor,  he 
is  most  celebrated  for  his  legislative  improvements  and  ecclesiastical 
reforms ;  in  respect  of  which,  he  displayed  great  wisdom  and  spirit 
He  could  not,  however,  like  his  progenitor,  by  maintaining  continual 
peace,  devote  his  entire  energies  to  the  internal  regulation  of  his 
kingdom.  A  war  with  the  Latins  called  off  the  attention  of  Ancus 
from  peaceful  pursuits.  In  this  he  appears  to  have  been  successful ; 
and  pursued,  in  respect  of  those  whom  he  subdued,  the  same  policy 
which  had  been  exercised  toward  Alba.  He  destroyed  their  towns, 
and  removed  the  inhabitants  to  Rome,  where  he  prepared  dwellings 


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THB  aiSNTILB  NATIOKB.  418 

for  them  on  the  Aventine  Hill.  He  also  obtained  gome  succesBes  in. 
war  over  Veii,  and  built  Ostia  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber, — ^the  first 
seaport  town  possessed  by  Borne.  He  also  threw  the  first  bridge 
across  the  river.  These  conquered  Latins  have  been  supposed  by 
some  authors  to  have  constituted  the  original  Plebeians  of  ancient 
Rome.  The  death  of  this  king  is  said  to  have  been  occasioned  by 
violence. 

The  following  reigns  belong  to  a  most  interesting  and  important, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  exceedingly  obscure,  period  of  Roman  history. 
The  first  of  these,  that  of  Tarquinius  Priscus,  deserves  especial 
notice.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Damaratus,  who  fled  from  Gprinlh 
when  Gypselus,  having  obtained  power,  was  wreaking  his  vengeance 
on  the  citizens,  whom  he  had  proscribed.  Carrying  his  great  wealth 
with  him,  Damaratus  settled  at  Tarquinii;  where  he  took  an  Etrus- 
can wife,  and  brought  up  his  children  in  the  manner  of  the  country, 
adding  to  their  education  all  the  elegance  and  refinement  of  Greece. 
The  poetic  authority,  which  is  here  our  only  guide,  proceeds  to  state, 
ttiat  Lucumo,  the  younger  son  of  this  Greek,  having,  by  the  death 
of  his  elder  brother,  become  sole  heir  to  his  father's  wealth,  was 
induced  by  his  wife,  who  had  studied  augury,  to  remove  to  Rome, 
where  he  was  admitted  to  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  adopted  the 
name  of  Lucius  Tarquinius,  to  which  Livy  adds  Priscus:  The  state 
in  which  he  lived,  and  the  amiable  character  which  he  evinced,  pro- 
cured  for  him,  at  the  same  time,  the  friendship  of  the  king,  and 
extreme  popularity  with  the  peoi^e :  so  much  so,  that  the  king,  prior 
to  his  death,  appointed  Tarquinius  guardian  of  his  children ;  and 
the  people,  when  that  event  occurred,  with  common  consent  raiQed 
him  to  the  throne.  (See  Appendix,  note  77.) 

The  reign  of  this  sovereign  is  given  in  great  detail  by  Dionysius, 
and  is  narrated  at  considerable  length  by  Livy :  but  their  accounts 
are  so  confused  and  contradictory,  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on 
their  accuracy.  It  seems,  on  the  whole,  probable,  that  the  object  of 
the  martial  conflicts  of  this  long  reign,  which  is  stated  to  have  ex- 
tended to  thirty-eight  ^ears,  was  to  place  the  Etruscans,  Latins,  and 
Sabines  in  subjection  to  Rome;  and  also  that  the  first  Tarquin 
greatly  improved  Rome,  by  public  buildings,  and  works  of  much 
utility  and  importance. 

Tarquin  was  assassinated  by  the  emissaries  of  the  sons  of  Ancus 
Martins,  in  the  hope  of  preventing  him  from  bequeathing  the  king- 
dom to  his  son-lur-law,  Servius  TuUius,  who  was  a  great  favourite 
of  the  Roman  people.  This  wicked  attempt  entirely  &iled.  Servius 
concealed  the  death  of  the  king,  until  he  had  taken  effective  measures 
for  insuring  his  own  accession  to  the  throne.    He  then  declared  the 


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414  THB  OUrriLB  KATIOHB. 

murder  of  his  fiith6r-iii*I»w.  pad  called  aa  assembly  of  the  people  to 
elect  a  new  king,  when  he  was  imommously  chosen  to  sucoeed  to  the 
vacant  office. 

Notwithstanding  the  extravagant  fiiblee  and  romantio  legends, 
which  profess  to  detail  the  wonderful  birth  and  divine  paternity  of 
this  monarch,  we  have  sufficient  evidence  that  his  talents  and  energy 
were  such,  that  he  may  be  said  to  have  laid  the  fomidations  for  Uie 
future  power  and  prosperity  of  Borne.  He  is  reported  to  have  con* 
ducted  several  snccessfol  wars ;  bat  his  fane  oudnly  rests  on  his 
political  institutions.  He  formed  a  federal  muon  between  the  Latin 
cities,  placing  Rome  at  the  head  of  the  united  body ;  and  he  consoli- 
dated and  confirmed  the  union,  by  instituting  common  sacrifices  for 
the  whole  body  on  Mount  Aventine.  He  also  instituted  a  census, 
or  record  of  the  citizens,  and  of  the  property  possessed  by  them; 
and  distributed  the  right  of  suffinage  to  centuries,  according  to  the 
property  possessed  by  the  six  classes  into  which  the  people  wer# 
divided.  All  his  legislation  aj^Mars  to  have  been  designed  and 
adapted  to  limit  the  prerogatives  of  the  Patricians,  or  aristogratiG 
class,  and  to  extend  general  freedom  under  wise  and  prudent  regu- 
lations. This  generous  policy,  however,  oost  him  his  Ufe.  TuUia, 
die  daughter  of  the  king,  had  been  married  to  Lucius  Tarquinius^ 
the  son  of  the  preceding  sovereign.  The  Patricians,  impatient  of 
the  restraint  which  the  wise  measures  of  Serrius  had  imposed  on 
their  tyranny  and  injustice,  entered  into  a  conspiracy  with  Ludus 
against  the  aged  sovereign, — Ae  unnatural  TuUia  being  also  a  party 
to  the  plot  against  her  father.  By  tUs  means,  Bervius  Tullius  was 
murdered  in  the  senate-house ;  and  his  son-in-law,  sumamed  Tar- 
quin  the  Proud,  ascended  the  tibrone  in  his  stead,  by  the  force  and 
favour  of  the  patrician  body  alone,  the  ooncurrence  of  the  people  not 
being  sou^t 

The  romantic  poetry  so  generally  imbuing  the  best  aooounte  which 
we  have  of  these  reigns,  abounds  here  to  ttn  unusual  extent,  and 
spreads  doubt  and  uncertainty  over  every  fiftct  which  is  reported. 
It  will,  therefore,  be  sufficient  to  say,  that  it  is  generally  believed 
Tarquin  confirmed  the  supremacy  of  Rome  over  the  latins,  and 
extended  the  Roman  influenoe  and  territory.  But  tiiis  success  was 
able  to  afford  very  transient  prosperity  to  his  house.  While  he  was 
engaged  with  a  Roman  army  in  besie^ng  Ardea,  his  son  Sextus 
violated  Lucretia^  a  noble  Roman  lady.  Finding  resistance  una* 
vailing,  she  submitted  to  the  outrage ;  but  as  soon  as  an  opportunity 
<^red,  she  summoned  her  relatives,  told  them  her  tele  of  woe,  and 
immediately  stebbed  herself.  Lucius  Junius  Brutus,-^who  had,  up 
te  this  period,  concealed  the  workings  of  a  mighty  and  daring  spirit 


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rax  GBKTILa  NATIOm.  415 

under  fhe  appeanmee  of  eccentricity,  bordering  on  madnees,— roused 
beyond  all  measure  by  this  atrocity  and  its  tragic  consequences, 
immediately  convoked  an  assembly  of  the  people,  and,  exposing  the 
bleeding  body  of  Lucretia  to  the  multitude,  obtained  a  decree  for 
expelling  the  whole  family  of  the.  Tarquins,  and  abolishing  royalty 
in  Rome. 

This  revolution  may  be  regarded  as  a  purely  patrician  movement. 
It  made  scarcely  any  change  in  the  condition  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  people,  but  placed  the  executive  government  in  the  hands  of  the 
aristocracy,  who  now  possessed,  in  addition  to  all  their  legitimate 
influence,  the  superadded  powers  of  royalty.  In  order  to  make 
this  acquisition  secure  to  the  order,  the  administrati<m  of  affairs  was 
intrusted  to  two  supreme  magistrates,  who  were  at  firdt  called  "prae- 
iors,"  but  afterward  "  consuls."  The  first  persons  selected  to  fill 
this  important  office  were,  Junius  Brutus,  and  GoUatinus,  the  hus- 
band of  Lucretia. 

The  deposed  king  and  his  family  did  not  relinquish  their  elevated 
station  without  a  determined  struggle. '  The  Tarquins  took  refuge 
in  Etruria^  and  induced  that  state  to  send  ambassadors  to  Rome,  to 
plead  on  their  behalf.  These  persons,  although  entirely  failing  in 
their  object  by  the  usual  public  and  avowed  efforts  employed  on 
such  occasions,  had  well-nigh  accomplished  their  design  by  indirect 
means.  In  consequence  of  their  having  access  to  the  junior  branches 
of  many  patrician  families,  a  conspiracy  was  organised,  which,  but 
for  a  singular  accident,  might  have  issued  in  the  restoration  of  the  ex- 
pelled sovereign.  A  slave,  having  overheard  the  deliberations  of 
the  conspirators,  gave  information  to  the  consuls.  Brutus  imme- 
diately proceeded  to  convict  ^d  punish  the  traitors ;  and,  finding 
hia  own  sons  implicated  in  the  crime,  he  instantly  sacrificed  parental 
aifection  to  public  duty,  and  ordered  their  immediate  execution.  As 
a  result  of  this  discovery,  recourse  was  had  to  the  most  stringent 
measures  agamst  the  Tarquins.  The  property  of  the  whole  family 
was  confiscated,  and  every  individual  condemned  to  perpetual  ban- 
ishment. Even  GoUatinus,  the  consul,  being  related  to  the  family, 
and  having  evinced  some  vacillation  with  respect  to  the  conspirators, 
was  included  among  the  proscribed.  Publius  Valerius  was  elected 
successor  to  GoUatinus ;  and  soon  afterward,  the  Etruscans  having 
in  support  of  Tarquin  made  war  on  Rome,  Junius  Brutus,  and 
Ancus,  the  eldest  son  of  the  late  king,  assaUed  each  other  with  so 
much  fury,  that  both  feU  dead  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  victory, 
however,  was  won  by  the  Romans,  and  9&rrei  to  secure  the  safety 
of  the  infant  republic. 

Valerius  soon  became  one  of  the  most  popular  rulers  of  Rome; 


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416  THB  QBNTILB  NATIOITB. 

and,  as  such,  was  distingoished  by  ike  Barname  of  Pqplicola,  **  the 
Friend  of  the  People."  The  first  year  after  the  banishm^it  of  the 
Tarquins  was  rendered  reiharkable  by  two  important  eyent8,~one 
relating  to  foreign,  and  the  other  to  domestic,  policy.  In  this  year 
the  first  treaty  was  made  between  Rome  and  Carthage,  having 
respect  to  navigation  and  commerce.  This  treaty  remained  to  the 
time  of  Polybius,  engraved  on  the.  base  of  a  column,  in  the  old  Bo- 
man  language.  The  other  measure  was  the  lex  de  provocatione,  or 
"law  of  appeal."  The  Patricians  had,  up  to  tUs  time,  always 
enjoyed  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  jui^ment  of  the  supreme 
magistrate  to  the  general  assembly  of  their  own  order:  and  it 
was  by  this  law  declared,  that  Plebeians  ought  to  have  a  similar 
privilege. 

Even  in  this  obscure  period,  when  Rome  prospered,  her  annals 
seem  tolerably  authentic;  but,  on  the  contrary,  when  she  suffered 
serious  reverses,  we  are  enveloped  in  all  the  darkness  of  the  most 
improbable  legendary  tales.  We  now  enter  upon  the  annals  of  one 
of  these  seasons.  Driven  for  refuge  and  support  from  one  state  to 
another,  the  Tarquin  family  wandered  up  send  down,  until  at  length 
they  secured  the  aid  of  Porsenna^  the  most  powerful  of  the  Tuscan 
princes.  It  is  vain  to  attempt  a  narration  of  the  war  which  ensued, 
as  we  have  but  the  most  scanty  elements  of  authentic  information 
respecting  it ;  yet  it  may  be  safely  inferred,  that  although  the  Tus- 
can  warrior  failed  to  restore  his  client  to  the  Roman  throne,  he  had 
such  manifest  advantage  in  the  war  as  to  reduce  the  Romans  to  a 
tributary  condition,  and  to  take  hostages  firom  them  for  the  perform- 
ance of  their  engagements  under  the  treaty. 

A  series  of  wars  with  surroundii^  states  followed,  which  had 
various  results,  and  were  accompanied  by  incessant  struggles  be- 
tween the  Patricians  and  the  Plebeians ;  the  aristocracy  invariably 
oppressing  the  people,  when  relieved  from  external  aggression;  and 
being  compelled  to  make  great  concessions  in  answer  to  their  de- 
mands, in  seasons  of  public  difficulty  and  peril.  This  succession 
of  conflicts  led  to  the  banishment)  and  ultimately  to  the  death,  of 
Goriolanus.  The  retirement  of  the  plebeian  soldiers,  in  time  of 
great  danger,  and  the  consequent  appointment  of  tribunes, — ^the  fatal 
defeat  of  the  Fabii,— all  these  events  are  fully  narrated;  but  they 
come  to  us  more  in  the  character  of  legendary  tales  than  of  authentic 
history,  and  therefore  require  only  this  passing  allusion. 

The  siege  and  destruction  of  Yeii  require  more  distinct  mention. 
This  was  the  largest  and  richest  city  of  Etruria,  and  had  frequently 
been  a  formidable  enemy  to  Rome.  The  sovereign  of  this  city  hav- 
ing put  to  death  some  Roman  ambassadors,  and  refused  to  make  any 


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THB  GENTILE  NATIONS.  41T 

satisfaotion  for  ihe  outrage,  the  Bomans  determined  on  the  entire 
destruction  of  his  capital.  After  the  siege  had  continued  seyerai 
years,  Camillus  was  appointed  dictator;  (see  Appendix,  note  78;) 
and  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  the  place.  Its  richea 
were  transferred  to  the  victorious  soldiery,  its  citizens  were  enslaved, 
its  idols  were  sent  to  Rome,  and  the  city  itself  was  destroyed. 
Notwithstanding  the  lustre  of  this  success,  Camillus,  on  the  charge 
of  having  embezzled  a  part  of  the  spoil,  was  sentenced  to  exile. 
(See  Appendix,  note  79.) 

This  successful  warrior  had  but  just  left  the  city  in  disgrace,  when 
the  Romans  became  involved  in  the  most  terrible  conflict  which  they 
had  ever  seen.  An  immense  host  of  Gauls,  under  their  king,  Bren- 
nus,  are  said  to  have  crossed  the  Alps,  and,  after  spoiling  the  coun- 
try, to  have  laid  siege  to  Glusium,  a  city  of  Etruria.  That  people 
immediately  apprized  the  Bomans  of  the  invasion ;  who,  being  much' 
concerned  at  the  event,  sent  three  noble  citizens  to  ascertain  the 
nature  and  extent  of  this  incursion.  These  persons  joined  the 
besieged  in  a  desperate  sally,  and  greatly  distinguished  themselves^ 
in  the  conflict.  Brennus,  on  being  made  aware  of  the  circumstance, 
immediately  sent  to  Borne  to  demand  satisfaction  for  this  irregular 
aggression  on  the  part  of  her  dtizens ;  and,  net  receiving  satisfactory 
redress,  he  at  once  raised  the  siege  of  Glusium,  and  marched  to- 
ward Bome.  The  imperial  city  was  in  no  condition  to  oppose  such 
a  host.  An  army,  hastily  gathered  and  inefficiently  provided,  pro- 
ceeded to  meet  the  enemy,  about  ten  miles  from  Bome  ;  but  it  was 
totally  defeated.  The  victorious  Gkiuls  now  approached  the  capital 
of  the  republic  with  irresistible  power.  The  Bomans  in  this  emer- 
gency did  all  that  was  possible.  They  selected  the  most  able  body 
of  men  that  could  be  collected ;  and,  providing  them  with  as  large  a 
store  of  provisions  as  could  be  got  together,  they  shut  them  up  in 
the  Capitol.  The  rest  of  the  inhabitants,  with  all  the  wealth  that 
they  could  carry,  abandoned  the  city,  and  sought  refuge  in  the 
neighbouring  towns.  It  is  stated  that  about  eighty  of  the  principal 
pontiffs  and  Patricians  remained  in  passive  dignity  in  the  senate- 


On  the  arrival  of  the  Gauls,  no  defence  was  made :  they  marched 
into  tiie  deserted  city,  slew  the  senators  who  had  remained,  ravaged 
the  public  and  private  edifices,  and  invested  the  Capitol.  After 
making  vain  attempts  to  reduce  this  stronghold,  Brennus — finding 
that  his  army  was  rapidly  becoming  disorganized  through  irregular 
living,  and  the  effect  of  the  climate,  to  which  they  were  unaccus- 
tomed— agreed  to  evacuate  the  city  on  receiving  a  great  ransom. 
The  Roman  historians  state,  that  before  this  sum  was  actually  paid, 

27 


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418  THB  GENTILE  NATIOHS. 

Camillas  retained  at  Hie  head  of  an  army,  defeated  the  Gaols,  and 
compelled  them  to  retire.  Bat  the  account  of  Polybius  is  mach 
more  probable ;  namely,  that,  while  engaged  in  this  war  with  Rome, 
the  Gauls  heard  that  the  Yeneti  had  invaded  their  coontay ;  where- 
upon they  oonduded  a  treaty  with  the  Romans,  and  proceeded  to 
protect  their  own  land.  (See  Appendix,  note  80.) 

After  the  departnre  of  the  Gauls,  the  condition  of  the  Romans 
was  truly  desperate.  A  city,  mean  at  first,  and  now  destroyed  by 
rapine  and  fire,-^walls  which  had  been  rudely  constructed,  and  now 
partly  demolished, — all  the  moyable  propw^  that  violence  could 
seize,  having  been  carried  off;  and  all  that  barbarian  cruelty  could 
destroy,  having  been  consumed, — these  fragments  of  ruin  remained 
to  this  people  as  their  only  portion.  It  need  not,  therefore,  be 
matter  of  surprise,  that  there  was  a  great  indisposition  among 
the  people  to  undertake  the  restoration  of  the  cily.  Many  urged 
that  the  city  of  Veii,  which  had  been  abandoned,  could  be  more 
easily  restored  to  a  habitable  condition ;  and  it  seems  that  it  was 
only  by  an  accident,  or  a  mean  preconcerted  manceuyre,  tiiat  the 
purpose  of  removal  was  checked,  and  the  restoration  of  the  dtj 
begun. 

The  great  talents  and  energy  of  Gamillus  soon  restored  Rome  to 
a  respectable  position  with  relation  to  the  surrounding  states,  many 
of  which  had  altogether  thrown  off  all  recognition  of  her  supremacy, 
in  consequence  of  the  Gallic  invasion.  But  no  sooner  was  the  city 
repaired,  and  the  military  power  of  the  state  in  a  tolerable  degree 
reorganized,  than  the  old  dissensions  between  the  Plebeians  and 
Patricians  became  as  rife  as  before,  in  consequence  of  the  almost 
unlimited  power  which  the  existing  laws  gave  the  rich  over  the  poor. 
(See  Appendix,  note  81.)  These  political  and  social  evils  were  now 
absolutely  unendurable ;  and  the  only  question  which  seemed  to  arise 
respecting  them  was, — whether  they  would  issue  in  the  entire  demor- 
alization of  the  community,  or  lead  to  furious  and  bloody  collision. 

A  careful  review  of  the  history  of  this  period  induces  the  convic- 
tion that  scarcely  any  agency  which  ministered  to  Roman  greatness, 
throughout  the  entire  period  of  her  advancement,  contributed  more 
essentially  to  rear  the  colossal  fabric  which  afterward  rufed  over  the" 
world,  than  that  of  those  energetic  and  discreet  men  who  at  this 
period  introduced  the  most  important  legislative  reforms.  These 
were  Gaius  Licinius  Stole,  and  Lucius  Sextius  Lateranus^-  aided  by 
an  influential  Patrician,  Marcus  Fabius  Ambustus,  the  fiiiher-in-lav 
of  Licinius.  These  men  propounded  a  series  of  laws  adapted  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  times.  The  first  enabled  Plebeians  to  be  elect- 
•ed  to  the  consular  digpity.    The  second  prohibited  any  person  from 


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THE  GBNTILB  NATIONS.  ^9 

holding  more  than  five  hundred  acres  of  public  land  for  tillage  and 
plantations,  and  from  having  more  than  a  hundred  large,  or  five  hun- 
dred small,  cattie  feeding  on  the  common  pasture.  This  law  also 
specified  the  rents  of  the  public  as  not  to  exceed  a  tenth  of  the  com 
produced,  and  a  fifth  of  the  produce  of  fiTiit-trees.  The  third  law 
enacted  that,  in  all  cases  of  outstanding  debts,  the  interest  which 
had  been  paid  should  be  deducted  from  the  principal,  and  the  balance 
paid  by  equal  annual  instalments  during  three  years. 

The  opposition  offered  by  the  Patricians  to  these  laws  was  very 
general  and  intense,  and  was  carried  through  the  long  period  of  five 
years.  Yet,  during  this  whole  time,  the  advocates  of  reform  never 
allowed  themselves  to  sink  into  supineness  or  despair  on  the  one 
hand,  or  to  rush  into  sedition  and  violence  on  the  other ;  but,  steadily 
keeping  to  their  object,  and  directing  their  energies  within  the  limits 
of  the  constitution,  they  ultimately  succeeded  in  their  wise  and 
benevolent  design.  The  only  alteration  effected  in  the  project  was, 
that  the  consuls  should  not  act  as  civil  judges  in  future ;  but  that 
magistrates,  under  the  name  of  ''praetors,"  should  be  appointed  to 
perform  this  duty. 

Relieved  from  intestine  discord,  the  Roman  people  put  forth  their 
power  in  taartial  aggression  on  the  neighbouring  states.  In  a  series 
of  wars,  during  which  they  sustained  some  very  severe  reverses,  they 
proceeded  to  subdue  in  succession  the  Samnites,  Umbrians,  Etruri- 
ans, Sabines,  and  Tarentines.  The  latter  state  was  powerfully  sup- 
ported by  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Macedon,  who  vainly  hoped  to  rival  the 
great  Alexander;  but  he  was  completely  defeated  by  the  Romans 
under  Dentatus,  their  consul.  Rome  by  these  efforts  became  the 
mistress  of  all  Italy,  from  the  northern  frontiers  of  Btruria  to  the 
Str9.it8  of  Sicily,  and  from  the  Tuscan  Sea  to  the  Adriatic. 

At  this  period  we  have  to  mark  the  progress  of  Rome  in  a  contest 
with  a  rival  republic  of  first-rate  power  and  immense  resources. 
Carthage,  originally  a  Tyrian  colony,  had  acquired  extensive  domin- 
ions in  Africa,  conquered  a  considerable  portion  of  Spain,  occupied 
Sardinia,  Corsica,  and  all  the  islands  on  the  coast  of  Italy,  and,  in 
addition  to  all  these,  had  subdued  a  great  part  of  Sicily.  With 
possessions  so  numerous,  this  mighty  republic  was  unequalled 
throughout  the  world  for  her  commercial  enterprise,  and  was  in  con- 
sequence mistress  of  the  sea.  With  such  a  power  it  would  seem 
impossible  for  the  Italian  state  successfully  to  contend.  But  in  one 
essential  particular  the  advantage  was  wholly  in  favour  of  Rome. 
The  (Carthaginians  were  not  soldiers ;  they  depended  on  mercenaries 
for  military  strength ;  while  the  Italian  republicans  were  a  daring, 
hardy,  and  martial  race. 


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A 


42d  THB  OBNTILS  NATIONS. 

These  two  repablics  had  been  united  by  suecessiTe  treaties  of 
amity  from  an  early  period  of  Roman  history.  Their  first  collision 
arose  professedly  out  of  a  dispute  respecting  the  city  of  Messana  in 
Sicily,  but  reaUy  for  the  political  ascendency  in  that  important 
island.  The  Carthaginians  having  obtained  possession  of  the  citadel 
of  Messana^  a  large  section  of  the  people  solicited  aid  from  Rome; 
and  the  Romans,  although  reluctant  to  engage  in  such  a  quarrel,  yet, 
rather  than  see  their  rivals  in  possession  of  the  whole  of  Sicily, 
embarked  an  army  for  that  island.  Here  their  arms  were  as  suc- 
cessful as  on  the  Italian  peninsula.  They  defeated  the  Carthagini- 
ans in  several  battles ;  and,  although  meeting  ¥rith  some  reverses, 
they  soon  secured  the  alliance  of  Hiero,  King  of  Syracuse,  and  laid 
siege  to  the  important  city  of  Agrigentum.  Carthage  sent  a  large 
army  to  the  relief  of  this  place,  but  in  vain ;  for,  after  a  severe  con- 
flict, they  were  compelled  to  retreat,  and  the  garrison  abandoned 
the  city,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  This  was  the 
largest  and  most  important  place  which  had  been  taken  by  Rome. 
An  immense  amount  of  spoil  was  secured,  and  more  than  twenty- 
five  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  were  sold  into  slaverjr. 

The  capture  of  this  city  filled  the  Carthaginians  with  rage,  and 
inspired  the  Romans  with  new  motives  for  exertion.  Conscious 
that  they  could  not  dii^y  out  this  war  with  any  hope  of  ultimate 
success,  while  their  enemies  remained  masters  of  the  sea,  the  Romans 
turned  their  attention  to  the  immediate  construction  of  a  fleet 
Nothing  more  strikingly  displays  the  characteristic  energy  and  tact 
of  this  people,  than  their  success  in  this  enterprise.  Although  they 
were,  up  to  this  time,  so  ignorant  of  the  art  of  ship-building,  and  of 
maritime  affairs  in  general,  that  they  could  not  construct  a  vessel, 
until  they  had  secured  the  hull  of  a  Carthaginian  galley  which  had 
been  stranded  on  the  coast;  (Niebuhr's  History  of  Rome,  vol.  iii. 
p.  575 ;)  yet  they  proceeded  to  work  on  this  model  with  such  dili- 
gence and  ability,  that  in  a  short  time  they  sent  to  sea  a  fleet  with 
which  they  ventured  to  encounter  that  of  the  Carthaginians.  In  this 
engagement,  the  Romans  succeeded  (mainly  by  means  of  a  newly- 
invented  mode  of  boarding  enemies'  ships)  in  capturing  fifty  Cartha- 
ginian vessels.  After  this  victory  the  Romans  prosecuted  'with 
advantage  the  war  against  the  Carthaginian  possessions  in  Sicily, 
although,  from  the  resolution,  resources,  and  naval  experience  of 
their  enemies,  they  made  but  small  progress,  even  during  ei^t 
years  of  conflict,  toward  the  reduction  of  the  island. 

In  those  circumstances  the  daring  spirit  of  Rome  could  brook  no 
further  delay;  and  it  was  therefore  determined  to  carry  the  war  into 
Africa.    For  this  purpose  a  fleet  and  an  army  were  prepared,  and 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  421 

embarked  for  the  African  coast.  The  Roman  fleet  consisted  of  three 
hundred  and  thbrty  vessels,  manned  with  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  fighting  men, — a  portion  of  them  being  specially  selected, 
as  the  flower  of  the  Roman  army.  The  Carthaginian  fleet,  sent  out 
to  oppose  this  armament,  carried  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men.  The  opposing  forces  met  in.  the  narrow  straits 
between  Sicily  and  Africa,  where  a  long-continued  and  desperate 
battle  was  fought.  This  was  probably  the  greatest  naval  conflict 
which  had,  up  to  this  period,  taken  place  in  the  world.  For  many 
hours  the  success  alternated  in  nearly  an  equal  degree;  but  at 
length  victory  declared  for  the  Romans,  who,  although  they  had 
twenty-four  of  their  galleys  sunk,  inflicted  a  much  more  severe  loss 
on  their  enemies,  destroying  thirty  of  the  Carthaginian  vessels, 
and  capturing  sixty- three.  Utterly  unable  to  continue  the  conflict, 
after  sustaining  such  a  loss,  the  Carthaginian  fleet  fled,  and  left  their 
foes  in  possession  of  their  prizes. 

Rather  incited  to  fresh  efforts  than  satisfied  with  this  success,  the 
Romans  returned  to  their  harbour  in  Sicily,  repaired  and  equipped 
their  fleet  with  all  possible  expedition,  and,  embarking  a  further  body 
of  troops  on  board  the  vessels  which  they  had  taken,  sailed  for 
Afirica.  Having  effected  a  landing,  and  taken  the  city  of  Clupejei, 
near  Carthage,  on  its  eastern  side,  the  Roman  commander  sent 
home  for  further  instructions.  The  senate  recalled  the  consul  Man- 
lius,  who  was  ordered  to  return  to  Rome  with  the  fleet ;  and  com- 
manded the  other,  Regulus,  with  the  army  to  conduct  the  war  in 
Africa.  This  was  done.  Manlius  took  with  him  twenty-seven 
thousand  prisoners  to  Rome ;  and  Regulus  carried  on  the  war  with 
such  spirit,  that  he  soon  shut  up  the  Carthaginians  in  their  capital, 
and  drove  them  to  sue  for  peace  in  very  humble  terms.  If  the 
Roman  commander  had  not  prevented  it  by  the  most  extravagant 
demands,  a  peace  highly  honourable  and  beneficial  to  Rome,  and 
disastrous  to  Carthage,  might  then  have  been  concluded.  But  the 
conditions  of  Regulus  were  equivalent  to  the  utter  ruin  of  the  Punic 
state,  and  were  therefore  resisted.  Meanwhile,  it  happened  that 
Xanthippus  the  Spartan  arrived  at  Carthage;  and,  observing  the 
conduct  of  the  opposing  parties,  he  declared  that  the  humiliation  of 
Carthage  and  the  success  of  Rome  were  not  owing  to  the  relative 
strength  of  the  two  armies,  but  to  the  conduct  of  the  generals.  He 
enforced  this  opinion  with  so  much  i:eason,  that  the  Carthaginian 
people  insisted  that  he  should  be  appointed  to  take  the  command  of 
their  army.  The  result  justified  the  choice.  The  Spartan  chief, 
having  organized  his  troops,  and  arranged  the  several  bodies  suit- 
ably, marched  out,  offered  battle  to  the  Romans,  and  won  a  splendid 


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422  THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS. 

victory.  The  Roman  army  was  annihilated;  the  consul  Regains 
and  five  thousand  troops  were  taken  prisoners,  and  thirty  thousand 
men  were  left  dead  on  the  field.  Indeed,  but  two  thousand  escaped, 
who  effected  their  retreat  to  Glupea. 

After  this  victory  both  parties  made  preparations  for  carrying  on 
the  war  on  a  larger  scale  than  before.  The  first  i:enewal  of  tiie  con- 
test was  in  a  sea-fight  off  the  coas't  of  Sicily,  in  which  the  Romans 
obtained  a  complete  victory,  destroying  above  one  hundred  Cartha- 
ginian galleys,  capturing  thirty,  and  destroying  fifteen  thousand 
men.  After  this  success  the  Roman  fleet  proceeded  to  Clupea, 
where  they  had  no  sooner  landed  their  troops  than  the  Carthaginian 
army  appeared  before  the  place.  The  two  Hannos  commanded, 
Xanthippus  having  returned  to  Greece:  but  notwithstanding  the 
improved  tactics  introduced  by  the  noble  Greek,  nothing  could  com- 
pensate his  loss;  the  Romans  were  victorious,  and  their  enemies 
were  routed  with  the  loss  of  nine  thousand  men. 

With  such  alternate  successes  and  reverses,  the  war  was  con- 
tinued. Obliged,  notwithstanding  their  victory,  to  retire  from 
Africa  by  scarcity  of  provisions;  the  Roman  commanders,  returning 
with  a  large  fleet,  wished  to  signalize  their  voyage  by  some  exploit, 
and  for  that  purpose  coasted  Sicily,  where  they  were  almost  anni- 
hilated by  a  storm.  Out  of  three  hundred  and  seventy  ships,  only 
eighty  escaped  shipwreck.  To  repair  this  disaster,  anottier  fleet  was 
prepared,  and  some  important  successes  were  obtained  in  Sicily: 
but  of  this  armament  one  hundred  and  sixty  galleys  were  destroyed 
by  another  tempest ;  on  which  the  Romans  abandoned  their  purpose 
of  being  a  first-rate  naval  power,  and  limited  their  fleet  to  fifty  gil- 
leys.  But  this  resolve  was  soon  laid  aside,  further  fleets  were  pre- 
pared, and  the  war  was  prosecuted  with  such  success,  that  the  Car- 
thaginians took  their  captive  Regulus  from  his  dungeon,  and  sent 
him  to  Rome  to  negotiate  a  peace.  But,  when  there,  the  noble 
Roman  strongly  advised  tlie  continuance  of  the  war, — advice  which 
the  senate  adopted ;  on  which  Regulus  was  sent  back  to  his  prison, 
where  he  soon  after  died. 

On  the  renewal  of  the  war,  the  Romans  suffered  some  severe 
losses.  Another  fleet  was  destroyed  by  a  storm,  and  Uamilcar 
Barca  conducted  the  war  in  Sicily  with  great  success.  But  all  this 
was  counterbalanced  by  a  navaJ  victory  obtained  by  the  consul  Lu- 
tatius  over  Hanno,  which  forever  destroyed  the  supremacy  of  Car- 
thage at  sea,  and  placed  Hamilcar  in  a  position  which  compelled  him 
to  solicit  a  termination  of  the  conflict.  These  circumstances  led  to 
the  establishment  of  peace  between  the  two  nations,  on  terms  highly 
favourable  to  Rome. 


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THS  GfiNTILB  NATIONS.  423 

At  the  oloBe  of  the  first  Pnnic  war,  the  Romans  enjoyed  a  short 
season  of  tranquillity.  The  temple  of  Janus  was  shut  for  the  second 
time,  and  there  was  quiet  at  home  and  abroad.  But  it  is  sufficiently 
apparent  that  this  war  seriously  injured  the  best  interests  of  the 
Boman  state;  and  I^iebuhr  sagely  observes,  that  it  "  was  one  of  the 
first  causes  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  Boman  people."  But,  inde^ 
pendently  of  its  moral  effects  on  the  citizens  of  the  Italian  capital,  it 
led  to  serious  results  both. at  Borne  and  at  Carthage.  At  the  latter 
place,  the  rapacity  and  tyranny  of  Borne  produced  such  an  effect  on 
the  mind  of  the  great  Hamilcar,  that  he  took  his  son  to  the  altar  of  his 
god,  and  there  taught  the  young  Hannibal  to  swear  eternal  enmity  to 
the  Bomans,— an  exercise  of  parental  influence  which,  in  its  operation, 
brought  Bome  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  On  the  return  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian mercenary  soldiers  from  Sicily,  the  state  was  unable  to  pay 
all  the  arrears  which  were  due  to  them;  and  the  negotiations  hereby 
occasioned  led  to  a  desperate  war,  in  which  Carthage  stood  opposed 
to  other  old  Tyrian  colonies  in  Africa,  combined  with  the  barbarous 
tribes  of  Libyans  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  rulers  of  the  Punic 
capital,  however,  after  seeing  their  city  brought  to  the  brink  of 
destruction,  were  able  to  cut  off  their  enemies,  and  establish  their 
supremacy.  But  this  measure  feariully  weak^ied  the  martial  re- 
sources of  the  state. 

The  results  of  the  war  were  no  less  remarkable  on  Bome.  At 
its  close  Sicily  was  declared  to  be  a  Boman  province.  It  was  the 
first  country,  out  of  Italy,  thus  associated  with  the  central  govern- 
ment, and  exhibited  the  origination  and  first  action  of  that  principle 
which  led  to  the  aggregation  of  numerous  nations  under  one  h^ul, 
as  the  great  Boman  empire. 

While  Bome  was  recovering  from  the  financial  and  general  ex- 
haustion occasioned  by  this  war,  and  Carthage  was  struggling 
through  her  conflict  with  her  revolted  mercenaries,  a  similar  rebell- 
ion took  place  in  the  Punic  towns  on  the  seacoast  of  Sardinia. 
Having  extinguished  the  rebellion  in  Africa,  a  Carthaginian  force 
was  sent  to  put  down  the  insurrection  in  Sardinia :  but  here  Bome 
interposed,  and  not  only  protected  the  rebels,  but  compelled  Carthage 
to  abandon  the  island,  and  to  pay  one  thousand  two  hundred  talents. 
as  the  price  of  continued  peace, — conduct  which  has  been  truly  char- 
acterized as  "  one  of  the  most  detestable  acts  of  injustice  in  the  his- 
tory of  Bome." — Niebuhr's  History  of  Rome,  vol.  iv,  p.  56. 

The  Bomans  took  advantage  of  this  season  of  tranquillity  to 
extend  their  power  in  Northern  Italy,  where  they  subdued  the 
Ligurians  and  some  Gallic  tribes.  They  also  determined  to  punish 
the  notorious  piracies  of  the  Illyrians.    A  fleet  and  an  army  were 


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424  THE  6BNTILB  NATIONS. 

soon  equipped;  and,  as  the  result  of  this  saccessfol  invasion,  the 
greater  part  of  Ulyricum  was  ceded  to  Rome. 

In  the  mean  time,  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Hamilcar  Barca,  had 
grown  up  to  manhood,  and  entered  on  public  life  with  all  the  spirit 
and  energy  of  his  father.  Filled  with  hatred  to  Rome,  and  shut  out 
from  the  Mediterranean  islands  by  the  terms  of  his  father^s  treaty 
with  that  nation,  he  <!ast  an  anxious  eye  around,  to  discover  a  coun- 
try from  which  he  might  obtain  a  martial  force,  aud  the  necessary 
means  for  assailing  the  obnoxious  rival  of  his  fatherland.  What  he 
sought  for,  he  found  in  Spain.  The  southern  parts  of  this  country, 
yielding  all  the  products  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  being  besides 
rich  in  silver  mines,  formed  a  very  natural  object  of  attraction  to 
Carthaginian  rulers,  after  the  loss  of  those  important  islands. 

Accordingly,  when  Hamilcar  was  driven  from  Sardinia,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Spain,  where  he  encouraged  the  prosecution  of  the  silver 
mines,  and  made  himself  very  agreeable  to  the  natives.  On  the 
death  of  this  great  man,  his  son-in-law,  Hasdrubal,  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  troops  and  country,  and  either  entirely  built,  or 
finished  the  building  of,  Carthagena,  (or  JNew  Carthage,)  which  is 
supposed  by  some  to  have  been  begun  by  Hamilcar.  By  these 
measures  the  Carthaginians  acquired  a  political  ascendency  over  a 
population  numbering  millions,  firom  which  they  could  recruit  and 
extend  their  army,  without  being  compelled  to  hire  faithless  mer- 
cenaries on  exorbitant  terms.  Rome  unquestionably  viewed  all 
these  operations  with  dislike  and  suspicion;  but  the  intermediate 
Gauls  prevented  her  from  attempting  any  coercive  measures.  Aft» 
Hasdrubal  had  conducted  the  affairs  of  Carthage  in  Spain  for  nine 
years,  he  was  assassinated,  and  Hannibal  succeeded  to  the  govern- 
ment. 

This  general  was  not  long  possessed  of  power  before  he  determined 
to  adopt  measures  of  aggression  against  Rome.  He  accordingly 
marshalled  his  troops,  and  laid  siege  to  Saguntum,  a  Greek  city  and 
•colony  on  the  Iberus ;  which,  after  a  siege  of  eight  months,  he  cap- 
tured. Having  thus  acquired  am  immense  booty  he  sent  rich  presents 
to  Carthage,  and  proceeded  to  place  his  army  in  a  state  of  prepara- 
tion for  an  effort  on  a  much  grander  scale.  The  Romans,  displeased 
at  the  success  of  Hannibal,  sent  ambassadors  to  remonstrate  against 
his  conquest  of  Saguntum.  The  wily  general  immediately  referred 
them  to  Carthage,  where  he  well  knew  that  hi^  success  had  placed 
his  influence  in  the  ascendimt.  When  they  appeared  before  the 
Punic  rulers,  the  Romans  blamed  Hannibal  for  his  aggression  on 
Saguntum;  The  Carthaginians  insisted  that  he  was  justified  in  the 
course  he  had  taken ;  and  that  it  did  not  becon>e  Rome,  wfiile  ex- 


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THE  aBNTILB  NATIONS.  425 

tending  her  oonquesis  on  every  side,  to  complain  of  their  acquisitiong 
in  Spain.  Offended  at  this  discourse,  the  Romans  bade  them  choose 
peace  or  war;  to  which  they  responded,  that  they  would  choose  nei- 
ther, but  take  whichever  was  offered  them.  Hereupon  the  Romans 
said,  "  Then  take  war,"— an  announcement  which  was  received  by 
the  Carthaginians  with  acclamations. 

An  ample  field  was  now  opened  for  the  daring  energy,  wonderful 
genius,  and  indomitable  spirit  of  Hannibal.  He  immediately  sub- 
dued the  remainder  of  Spain,  and  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  to  march 
on  Italy.  Scipio,  who  was  then  consul,  was  sent  with  an  army  into 
Spain,  to  find  employment  for  Hannibal  in  that  country.  But 
when  he  arrived  as  far  as  Marseilles,  he  found  that  his  enemy  had 
already  reached  the  banks  of  the  Rhone.  He  accordingly  disem- 
barked his  troops,  and  proceeded  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  river : 
but  Hannibal  was  too  quick  in  his  ibotions  to  be  arrested  by  this 
force.  Before  Scipio  arrived  Hannibal  had  passed  the  river,  and, 
disregarding  every  other  object,  crossed  the  Alps,  and  descended  on 
the  plains  of  Italy.  Here  he  immediately  captured  Turin,  and  was 
soon  informed  that  Scipio  had  arrived  to  oppose  him,  and  was 
encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  Po.  It  is  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the 
Carthaginian  general  suffered  a  severe  loss  of  troops,  hordes,  and 
elephants,  in  crossing  the  mountains ;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that 
the  Alpine  Gauls,  who  bore  a  deadly  hatred  to  Rome,  flocked  to  his 
standard,  and  greatly  recruited  his  army.  The  Roman  forces,  being 
greatly  augmented  by  the  arrival  of  the  consul  Sempronius  and  his 
troops,  were  prepared  for  active  operations.  By  various  irritating 
measures,  Hannibal  provoked  his  enemies  to  pass  the  river,  and  attack 
him ;  when  a  desperate  battle  was  fought,  which  issued  in  the  total 
defeat  of  the  Romans.  Those  who  escaped  took  refuge  in  Placentia ; 
while  Hannibal  went  into  winter-quarters,  and  established  an  alliance 
with  the  Gauls  of  Northern  Italy. 

The  next  campaign  was  opened  by  Flaminius  and  Servilius,  who, 
having  been  appointed  consuls,  proceeded  at  the  head  of  two  Roman 
armies  against  the  invaders.  Servilius  occupied  Ariminum,  to  op- 
pose the  progress  of  the  Carthaginians,  in  case  they  should  choose 
to  proceed  along  the  eastern  side  of  the  peninsula ;  while  Flaminius 
took  his  position  at  Arretium,  to  guard  the  approach  to  the  capital 
through  Etruria.  Hannibal  adopted  the  latter  course,  and  conse- 
quently came  in  contact  with  the  forces  of  Flaminius.  Having 
offered  him  battle  on  the  plains  in  the  neighbourhood  without  effect, 
he  proceeded  toward  Rome,  leaving  the  consul  and  his  army  in  his 
rear.  This  measure  roused  the  ire  of  the  Roman  commander,  and 
he  immediately  followed  the  Punic  army.    Hannibal,  however,  took 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


426  THE  OBNTILB  HATIONS. 

advantage  of  a  thick  fog,  and  a  narrow  defile  in  the  mountains,  to 
turn  ou  his  pursuers,'  when  a  brief  conflict  Bu£5oed  to  destroy  the 
consul  and  his  army  together. 

When  the  intelligence  of  this  action  was  proclaimed  in  B<Nme  by 
the  praetor,  in  these  words, — "We  are  vanquished  in  a  great  battle; 
the  consul,  with  great  part  of  his  army,  is  slain," — general  dismay 
filled  the  heart  of  the  people,  and  the  voice  of  the  officer  was  drowned 
in  lamentation.  In  this  calamity  the  Romans  appointed  Quintus 
Fabius  Maximus  dictator;  and  bis  prudence,  sagacity,  and  talent 
amply  justified  the  choice  of  his  constituents.  Immediately  oa  his 
appointment  he  proceeded  to  organize  a  force  sufficient  to  repel  the 
invader.  Meanwhile  Hannibal,  not  deeming  it  safe  to  advance  on 
Rome,  recrossed  the  Apennines,  and  directed  his  course  to  Apulia 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  peninsula,  where  he  did  his  utmost  to  lay 
waste  the  Roman  settlements,  and  to  detach  the  natives  firom  their 
allegiance  to  Rome.  Fabius,  having  raised  four  new  l^ons,  and 
organized  the  troops  that  had  served  under  the  consul  Servilius, 
proceeded  to  meet  the  enemy.  While  on  his  march  he  issued  a 
proclamation,  requiring  the  inhabitants  of  all  unfortified  places  within 
the  range  of  the  enemy's  operations,  to  retire  with  all  their  movable 
wealth,  and  to  bum  and  destroy  their  granaries,  houses,  and  eveiy- 
thing  that  could  not  be  removed.  Fabiiis  then  proceeded  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Hannibal's  quarters.  The  Punic  chief  at  once 
offered  him  battle ;  but  the  wary  Roman  knew  that  his  strength  was 
delay.  He  therefore  took  advantage  of  every  opportunity  to  harass 
the  enemy,  to  cut  off  stragglers,  and  to  engage  in  any  skirmish  on 
advantageous  terms  But  he  steadily  refrained  from  a  general  battle; 
and,  much  to  the  annoyance  and  distress  of  the  Carthaginian  general, 
he  maintained  this  cautious  and  prudent  policy  throughout  his  term 
of  office.  By  this  time,  however,  the  Roman  spirit  had  recovered  its 
tone;  but  the  conduct  of  Fabius,  although  eminently  successful,  was 
stigmatized  as  mean  and  cowardly. 

In  this  state  of  public  feeling  the  time  arrived  for  the  election  of 
consuls,  when  G.  Terentius  Yarro  and  L.  ^milius  Paulus  were 
raised  to  that  dignity.  The  first  seems  to  have  been  appointed  on 
account  of  his  bold  and  daring  spirit, — a  qualification  regarded  as 
essential  to  the  adoption  of  energetic  measures  for  the  expulsion  of 
Hannibal  from  Italy.  The  latter  officer  had  obtained  a  triumph  for 
his  victories  in  Illyricum,  and  waa  supposed  to  possess  sufficient 
coolness  and  judgment  to  prevent  the  rashness  of  his  colleague  from 
being  injurious.  With  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  foot,  and  more 
than  seven  thousand  horse,  these  officers  proceeded  against  the  CSar^ 
thaginians. 


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THB  GBNTILB  N^TIOHB.  487 

By  this  time  Hannibal  had  possessed  himself  of  the  fortress  and 
small  town  of  Cannae,  on  the  Aufidus,  where  the  Romans  had  stored 
considerable  quantities  of  warlike  ammunition  and  food.  This 
acquisition,  together  with  the  faot  that  the  Roman  troops  had  ob- 
tained the  advantage,  over  the  Carthaginians  in  some  recent  skir- 
mishes, induced  a  strong  disposition  at  Rome  to  hazard  a  battle ;  and 
instructions  to  this  effect  were  forwarded  to  the  consuls.  These 
officers  proceeded  to  carry  their  orders  into  effect.  Yarro,  being 
eager  for  the  contest,  availed  himself  of  his  day  for  commuiding,  to 
place  the  army  directly  before  the  position  of  Hannibal,  who  imme- 
diately crossed  the  river,  and  arranged  his  forces  in  order  of  battle. 
The  Roman  troops  were  the  most  numerous ;  but  they  liad  not  suffi- 
dent  room  to  act  with  effect ;  while  the  superior  genius  and  inex- 
haustible military  resources  of  Hannibal  gave  him  overwhelming 
superiority.  The  result  was  a  defeat  more  terrible,  in  its  extent  and 
results,  than  any  which  Rome  had  received,  except  in  the  conflict 
with  the  Gauls  on  the  Allia.  The  consul  Paulas  was  left  dead  on 
the  field;  the  consuls  of  the  preceding  year  were  also  slain;  and, 
with  the  exception  of  ten  thousand  men  who  had  been  posted  to 
guard  the  camp,  and  three  thousand  who  fled  from  the  carnage,  the 
Roman  army  appears  to  have  been  destroyed.  Out  of  six  thousand 
horse  only  seventy  escaped  with  the  consul  Yarro.  This  officer  in 
some  measure  compensated  his  haste  in  beginning,  and  lack  of  judg- 
ment in  directing,  the  battle,  by  the  indomitable  spirit  which  he 
evinced  under  the  full  pressure  of  the  calamity.  Despairing  neither 
of  himself  nor  of  his  country,  he  carefully  collected  the  wreck  of  his 
troops,  and  manfully  took  up  his  position  at  Yenusia>  between  the 
victorious  Carthaginians  and  Rome,  to  resist  to  the  utmost  their 
approach  to  the  capital. 

The  intelligence  of  this  disaster  filled  Rome  with  deep  affliction. 
But  the  spirit  of  this  remarkable  people  rose  with  the  emergency ; 
they  again  appointed  Fabius  dictator,  and  he  at  once  resumed  his 
old  cautious  policy,  which  had  obtained  for  him  the  surname  of 
Cunctator^"  the  Delayer."  Meanwhile,  Hannibal,  crossing  over  to 
the  western  side  of  the  peninsula,  occupied  the  city  of  Capua.  Here 
the  relaxing  influence  of  the  sohthem  climate,  and  the  indulgences 
and  licentious  practices  into  which  his  soldiery  plunged,  rapidly 
deteriorated  their  military  strength,  and  prepared  the  way  for  that 
change  in  the  relative  power  of  the  belligerents  which  soon  took 
place. 

Nothing  more  fully  shows  the  lofty  and  daring  spirit  of  the  Roman 
people,  than  the  fact,  that  while  Hannibal  was  ranging  through  Italy, 
ravaging  their  towns,  and  destroying  their  troops,  they  maintained 


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428  THB  GEKTILB  NATIONS. 

an  army  in  Spain,— which  cut  off  the  supply  of  further  reinforce- 
ments to  Hannibal  from  that  country, — and  another  in  Sicily;  and, 
hearing  that  their  great  enemy  had  formed  an  alliance  with  Philip 
of  Maoedon,  they  actually  sent  a  third  army  into  Greece. 

It  was  in  Sicily  that  military  success  first  dawned  on  the  arms  of 
Rome  after  her  terrible  defeats.  There,  the  pnetor  Metellus  took 
Syracuse,  which  had  been  defended  not  only  by  the  bravery  of  its 
citizens,  but  also  by  the  wonderful  talents  and  mechanical  resources 
of  the  great  Archimedes,  who  was  slain  in  the  capture  of  the  place. 
Soon  afterward  Agrigentum,  the  last  Garihaginian  fortress  on  that 
important  island,  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  who  thus 
became  masters  of  the  country,  which  was  thenceforth,  in  its  whole 
extent,  a  proyince  of  Rome. 

As  Hannibal  received  no  reinforcements  from  Carthage,  he  sum- 
moned his  brother,  who  had  long  resisted  the  Scipios  in  Spain,  to 
join  him  in  Italy.  Hasdrubal  obeyed,  and  crossed  the  Pyrenees 
and  the  Alps  in  safety ;  but,  while  proceeding  to  join  Hannibal,  he 
was  misled  by  his  guides,  and  compelled  at  great  disadvtuitage  to 
hazard  a  battle  with  the  Romans  under  the  consuls  Livius  and  Nero, 
in  which  he  perished  with  his  whole  anhy.  The  first  tidings  that 
Hannibal  received  of  this  great  disaster,  were  by  the  bloody  head  of 
his  brother  being  thrown  into  his  camp.  Harassed  by  these  reverses, 
Hannibal  made  earnest  application  to  Carthage  for  more  troops ;  but 
the  rival  factions  of  that  devoted  republic  were  deaf  to  his  applica- 
tions. They  neither  aided  him  to  continue  the  contest,  nor  took 
any  means  of  obtaining  peace.  Yet,  under  all  these  disadvantages, 
the  heroic  Carthaginian  prosecuted  the  war;  and,  without  any  ex- 
ternal resources,  while  shut  up  in  the  heart  of  an  enemy's  country,  he 
maintained  the  struggle  for  sixteen  years. 

At  length  Scipio,  who,  notwithstanding  his  youth,  had  earned  a 
high  military  reputation  in  Spain,  was  raised  to  the  consulship,  and 
earnestly  solicited  leave  to  invade  Africa.  At  first  the  senate 
regarded  the  proposal  as  extravagant :  but,  moved  by  th^arguments 
and  solicitations  of  the  young  and  successful  soldier,  they  assigned 
him  the  province  of  Sicily,  leaving  it  to  him,  if  he  could  obtain 
resources,  to  make  a  descent  on  the  African  coast,  while  they  refused 
to  provide  him  with  any  more  troops  than  could  be  raised  in  Sicily. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  senate  was  at  this  time  greatly  em- 
barrassed by  the  straitened  condition  of  Rome;  but  it  seems  equally 
certain  that  in  this  instance  it  manifested  a  mean  and  unworthy 
opposition  to  Scipio,  who  was  the  darling  of  the  people. 

After  spending  one  year  in  Sicily,  making  preparations, — which 
he  did  mainly  by  receiving,  on  account  of  his  great  popularity, 


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THB  GENTILE  NATIONS.  429 

nmneroos  volunteers  and  munitions  of  war  fiom  Italy, — ^he  passed 
over  to  Africa.  Here  he  found  himself  opposed  by  three  armies, — 
one  Carthaginian  under  Hasdrubal,  and  two  l^umidian  under  Masin- 
issa  and  Syphax.  Scipio  had  previously  detached  Masinissa,  the 
legitimate  kmg  of  Numidia,  from  his  allegiance  to  Carthage ;  and 
the  latter  now  showed  his  treachery  by  leading  the  Carthaginians 
into  an  ambuscade,  where  many  of  them  were  destroyed,  after  which 
he  openly  went  over  to  the  Romans.  The  consul  then  entered  into 
a  correspondence  with  Syphax;  and,  having  gained  sufficient  time 
by  amusing  the  Mumidian  usurper,  he  broke  off  the  negotiation,  sud- 
denly surprised  their  camp  in  the  night,  set  it  on  fire,  and  thus 
routed  and  destroyed  a  great  part  of  the  army.  After  this  success, 
Scipio  laid  siege  to  Utica.  To  save  a  place  of  so  much  importance, 
the  Carthaginians  mustered  all  their  available  forces.  Bjit  Scipio 
again  assailed  the  combined  army  of  Carthaginians  and  Numidiiuis^ 
before  they  were  fully  prepared  for  action,  and  obtained  a  second 
victory  of  such  magnitude,  that  the  Punic  army  was  completely 
driven  from  the  field,  and  Utica  and  Tunis  were  simultaneously 
invested. 

The  government  of  Carthage,  alarmed  and  confounded  by  these 
defeats,  sent  off  expresses  to  Mago  and  Hannibal,  commanding  their 
immediate  return  for  the  defence  of  their  own  country.  The  former 
general  died  on  the  voyage,  of  wounds  received  in  battle :  the  latter, 
with  his  army,  returned  in  safety.  Prior  to  his  arrival,  the  Cartha* 
gjmians  had  entered  into  negotiations  with  Scipio  for  a  treaty  of 
peace :  but  they  no  sooner  saw  the  veteran  general  and  brave  troops, 
who  had  so  long  set  at  defiance  the  armies  of  Rome  even  in  tiie 
heart  of  Italy,  than  they  broke  off  their  correspondence  with  the 
Roman  oonmiander,  and  resolved  once  more  to  try  the  fortune  of 
war.  The  Carthaginians  arrived  at  this  determination  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  judgment  of  Hannibal.  He  would  have  made  peace  on 
reasonable  terms ;  but  his  countrymen  were  so  elated  by  his  pres- 
ence that  .they  refused.  With  secret  misgivings  as  to  the  result, 
ibis  brave  man  made  the  best  possible  preparation  for  meeting  the 
enemy  in  the  field. 

The  battie  took  place  on  the  plains  of  Zama,  where — after  a  des- 
perate and  long-oontinued  conflict,  during  which  the  Punic  veteran 
did  all  that  military  genius  and  experience,  directing  the  operations 
of  determined  bravery,  could  effect — the  Romans  were  completely 
victorious.  Hannibal  escaped  fi^m  the  field  of  carnage  with  a  small 
body  of  horse,  and  soon  reached  Carthage.  When  the  rulers  of  the 
city  saw  their  idolized  chief  without  an  army,  and  heard  that  intrepid 
wanrior  declare  that  "  Carthage  had  no  resource  but  peace,"  their 


Digitized  by  LjOOQ IC 


4S0  THB  GEKTILE  NATIONS. 

spirit  sunk  into  abject  submission,  and  they  accepted  the  terms  of 
peace,  or  rather  of  subjection  to  Rome,  which  were  dictated  by 
Scipio.  By  these  terms  Carthage  had  to  deliver  up  all  Roman 
prisoners  and  deserters ;  to  surrender  all  her  ships  of  war,  except 
ten,  and  all  her  elephants ;  to  pay  toward  the  expenses  of  the  con- 
flict about  two  millions  sterling;  to  agree  not  to  make  war  without 
the  consent  of  Rome ;  and  to  give  one  hundred  hostages  for  the  due 
performance  of  the  treaty.  When  the  Roman  general  returned 
home,  he  was  honoured  with  a  most  magnificent  triumph,  and  digni- 
fied with  the  surname  of  Africanus, 

The  successful  termination  of  this  war  placed  the  Roman  state  at 
the  head  of  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  as  a  military  power.  And  it 
lost  no  time  or  opportunity  of  availing  itself  of  this  advantage  for 
the  extension  of  its  dominions.  The  Athenians,  having  suflered 
greatly  from  the  attacks  of  Philip,  King  of  Macedon,  sou^t,  and 
reiadily  obtained,  the  aid  of  Rome.  The  consul  Sulpicius  at  first, 
and  afterward  Quinctius  Flamininus,  at  the  head  of  the  Roman 
legions,  carried  the  war  to  the  shores  of  Epirus. 

Yet  although  the  Romans  had  now  obtained  a  great  extension  of 
territory,  having  established  their  supremacy  over  all  Italy,  Sicily, 
and  the  Carthaginian  dominions  in  Spain,  they  had  at  the  same  time 
been  reduced  to  the  lowest  extremity  of  financial  distress,  by  their 
efforts  to  maintain  the  war.  Indeed,  this  appears  to  have  been  the 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  Roman  character :  for  no  ancient  nation 
ever  made  such  sacrifices  to  maintain  a  military  struggle,  as  did 
Rome  on  this  occasion.  When  every  mode  of  taxation  failed,  the 
state  called  for  the  voluntary  contributions  of  its  members,  and 
received  gold  and  silver  ornaments  and  plate,  which,  together  with 
a  great  debasement  of  the  currency,  enabled  them  to  carry  on  the 
war  to  a  euocessful  termination. 

Although  the  Roman  army  under  Sulpicius  succeeded  in  protect- 
ing the  Athenians,  it  eflfbcted  nothing  decisive  against  Macedon. 
During  two  years  the  war  languished,  and  the  Roman  arms  obtained 
but  little  respect  in  the  east  of  Europe.  At  length  T.  Quinctius 
Flamininus  was  sent  to  take  the  command  of  the  Roman  army  in 
Qreece.  He  immediately  altered  the  seat  and  the  character  of  the 
war.  Having  completely  defeated  the  design  of  the  Macedonian 
king  in  guarding  a  strong  pass  between  Epirus  and  Thessaly,  the 
Roman  general  compelled  him  to  retire,  throwing  open  to  Rome 
almost  the  whole  of  the  Peloponnesus. 

At  the  opening  of  the  next  campaign,  the  opposing  armies  encoun- 
tered each  other  in  Thessaly.  Here  the  advanced  guard  of  the  two 
nations  met  by  accident  in  a  thick  fog ;  when  a  struggle  immediaMy 


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THB  GBKTILB  NATIONS.  481 

took  place,  which  extended  to  the  whole  of  the  troops,  and  became  a 
general  battle.  Victory  declared  for  the  Romans;  and  Philip,  de- 
feated and  humbled,  sned  for  peace.  This  was  granted  with  a  great 
show  of  liberality:  for,  while  the  Romans  compelled  the  king  of 
Macedon  to  surrender  his  ships  of  war,  to  reduce  his  army  to  five 
hundred  men,  to  discontinue  the  training  and  use  of  elephants,  and 
to  pay  one  thousand  talents  toward  the  expenses  of  the  campaign, 
they  professed  to  have  no  design  of  aggrandizing  themselves,  but 
most  pompously  proclaimed  liberty  to  Greece.  When  this  proda* 
mat  ion.  was  made  at  the  Isthmian  Ghimes,  as  Dr.  Taylor  well  ob- 
serves, "  it  fiDed  the  foolish  spectators  with  so  much  delight,  that 
they  virtually  became  slaves  to  the  Romans  through  gratitude  for 
freedom." 

The  Romans  hastened  the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  having  heard 
that  Antiochus,  King  of  Syria,  was  advancing  at  the  head  of  a  great 
army  along  the  seacoast  of  Asia  Minor  toward  the  Hellespont; 
which  induced  the  Roman  deputies,  who  had  been  chained  with  the 
conduct  of  the  arrangements  consequent  on  the  close  of  the  war 
with  Philip,  to  meet  the  Syrian  monarch,  and  to  protest  against  his 
proceeding  to  Europe.  To  this  address  the  haughty  warrior  replied 
with  scorn,  that  he  knew  his  own  rights,  and  did  not  require  teach- 
ing from  the  Romans ;  and  that  they  had  better  set  some  bounds  to 
their  own  ambition,  before  they  presumed  to  dictate  moderation  to 
other  states.  Tet,  notwithstanding  this  angry  meeting,  no  imme- 
diate hostilities  took  place. 

It  must  not  escape  observation,  that  these  wars  in  Greece  bring 
Rome  under  notice  as  a  subject  of  sacred  prophecy,  and  of  that 
peculiar  providential  interposition  which  the  fulfilment  of  divinely- 
revealed  and  publicly-recorded  predictions  so  clearly  implies.  Mace- 
don was  the  hereditary  kingdom  of  Alexander,  and  the  seat  of  his 
first  sovereignty.  Antiochus  was  one  of  the  successors  of  that 
great  warrior,  and  ruled  over  a  large  part  of  the  empire  which  he 
had  reared  up.  A  victory  over  these  powers  would  consequently,  in 
the  Ham  state  of  other  countries,  have  placed  the  conqueror  as  the 
fourth  monarchy  which  had  been  so  clearly  predicted  by  the  prophet 
Daniel.    This  was  soon  afterward  obtained. 

The  Romans,  notwithstanding  their  military  strength,  still  felt  a 
latent  dread  of  the  rising  power  of  Oarthage,  cultivated  and  directed 
by  the  indomitable  Hannibal.  They  accordingly  availed  themselves 
of  some  little  difibrence  which  arose  between  ^  king  of  Numidia 
and  the  Punic  rulers,  to  send  a  commission  to  Carthage :  the  real 
object,  however,  was,  if  possible,  to  get  the  veteran  general  into 
their  power.    When  we  consider  the  violence  of  the  rival  foctions  in 


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482  THB  QSNTILB  NATIONS. 

that  city,  it  seems  probable  that  they  might  have  carried  this  plan 
into  effect,  had  not  the  experieDced  warrior  sought  safety  in  fli^t 
On  the  arrival  of  the  Roman  commissioners,  he  received  them  in  his 
state  costume,  and  conducted  himself  with  his  usual  ease  and  self- 
possession;  but  that  night  he  abandoned  the  city,  and  embarked  for 
the  east,  where  he  was  soon  found  at  the  court  of  Antiochus. 
Rightly  judging  that  this  sovereign  was  the  only  one  who  possessed 
militaiy  means  and  martial  spirit  su£Scient  to  offer  any  diance  of 
success  in  a  struggle  with  Rome,  the  brave  old  Gartha^nian,  faith- 
ful to  his  youthful  oath,  determined  to  do  his  utmost  to  induce  the 
Syrian  king  to  attempt  the  arresting  of  the  progress  of  Roman  power. 

Antiochus  readily  entered  into  the  views  of  Hannibal ;  and  a  plan 
of  operations  was  devised,  by  which  the  Romans  were  to  be  assailed 
simultaneously  in  Italy  and  ,6reeoe, — in  the  former,  by  an  army 
under  the  Punic  general ;  in  the  latter,  by  Antiochus.  Messengers 
were  actually  despatched  to  Carthage,  to  bring  that  power  into  oo* 
operation  with  the  design;  but,  this  fact  being  made  known  to  the 
faction  opposed  to  Hannibal,  they  betrayed  the  secret  to  the  Ro- 
mans. War  thus  became  inevitable,  and  Antiochus  passed  over  to 
Greece.  The  Romans  made  vast  preparations  for  this  contest,  and 
sent  their  consul  Glabrio,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  into  Greece. 
Antiochus,  who  had  brought  with  him  but  ten  thousand  men,  felt 
unequal  to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  open  field,  and  took  his  position 
at  the  celebrated  Pass  of  Thermopylae.  Here  he  was  attacked  and 
dislodged,  and  his  army  almost  entirely  destroyed.  The  king  him- 
self, with  only  five  hundred  men,  escaped.  At  first  he  took  refuge 
in  Gbalcis,  from  whence  he  passed  over  into  Asia. 

The  Romans,  elated  with  this  success,  prepared  to  prosecute  the 
war  with  increased  spirit;  and,  having  elected  L.  C.  Scipio  (brother 
of  the  conqueror  of  Carthage)  consul,  sent  him,  with  his  able  brother 
as  second  in  command,  to  conduct  the  war  in  Asia.  Antiochus 
possessed  vast  resources,  and  might  have  been  a  most  formidable 
enemy  of  Rome.  He,  however,  devoted  himself  far  more  to  sensual 
pleasures  than  to  the  stem  duties  of  military  life.  But  when  he 
was  aware  of  the  approach  of  the  Roman  forces,  he  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men,  and  waited  the 
arrival  of  the  enemy  near  Magnesia,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sipylus. 
Here  he  suffered  a  severe  defeat :  his  army  was  destroyed,  and  he 
compelled  to  secure  his  personal  safety  by  a  precipitate  flight.  The 
result  of  this  victory  gave  to  Rome  all  the  possessions  which  Anti- 
ochus had  previously  held  in  Europe,  nearly  the  whole  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  a  sum  equal  to  about  three  millions  sterling,  in  addition 
to  the  spoil  taken  in  the  battle,  which  was  immense. 


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THE  OBNTILE  NATIONS.  488 

Tke  tone  of  oomnuuid  now  assumed  by  the  Boman  functionaries 
in  Greece  gave  great  umbrage  to  tbe  native  rulers ;  and  they  eag^ly 
desired  to  throw  off  the  yoke,  which  had  been  almost  imperceptibly, 
but  with  ultimate  rigour,  imposed  on  them.  None  felt  this  foreign 
domination  so  keenly  as  Perseus,  who  had  succe^ed  to  the  Mace- 
donian  throne ;  and  he  cautiously,  but  diligently,  proceeded  to  bus* 
band  his  ftiaoces,  augment  his  army,  and  make  alliances  with  his 
nei^bours,  with  the  view,  in  due  time,  of  asserting  and  maintain* 
ing  his  independence.  In  making  these  preparations  for  resisting 
Boman  domination,  he  did  not  fail  to  correspond  with  the  naturphi 
enemy  of  that  power, — Oarthage ;  and,  as  usual,  ftom  the  fsM^tious 
character  of  the  government  of  tiiat  republic,  this  step  was  soon 
known  in  the  It^an  capital.  An  army  was  consequently  sent 
i^gainst  Perseus,  who  entered  Thessaly  at  the  head  of  his  forces, 
cqptnred  several  important  towns,  and  encountered  the  Bonan 
troops  on  the  banks  of  the  Biver  Peneus,  where,  in  an  engagement 
between  the  cavahry  and  light  iu&atry  of  the  two  armies,  the  Mace- 
donians had  the  decided  advantage,  and  the  Boman  consul  was 
compelled  to  retreat  Perseus,  however,  was  not  by  this  success  led 
away  from  a  just  consideration  of  the  dangers  of  his  position. 
Taking  advantage,  therefore,  of  this  success,  be  immediately  made 
proposals  for  peace,  which  the  Bomans,  according  to  their  invariable 
custom,  refused  to  entertain  after  a  defeat.  The  war  was  accord- 
ingly recommenced,  and  continued  for  tiuree  years,  without  giving 
tibe  Bomans  any  advantage  over  their  ^aemies.  At  length  ^milius 
Panlus,  son  of  the  commander  that  was  slain  at  Cannae,  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  army.  This  general,  by  his  pru* 
dent  conduct  and  wise  strategy,  soon  altered  the  aspect  of  the  war. 
Having  fonnd  the  Macedonian  army  intrendied  on  the  banks  of  the 
finipeus,  he  carefully  examined  the  ground,  and  made  a  successful 
effort  with  a  company  of  his  troops,  by  which  a  pass  was  forced  in 
the  mountain,  and  a  way  opened  to  the  rear  of  the  Macedonian  camp. 
This  measure  compelled  Perseus  to  retreat,  and  take  up  a  position  on 
the  Haliacmon,  near  Pydna.  Here  the  Macedonian  king  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Boman  army,  and  compelled,  by  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  either  to  hazard  a  battle,  or  to  separate  his  forces.  He  chose 
the  former  alternative :  a  severe  conflict  ensued,  in  which  the  Bomans 
obtained  a  complete  victory.  Perseus  fled, — ^but  was  pursued,  and 
ultimately  compelled  to  surrender  to  the  Boman  consul.  About  the 
same  time,  a  Boman  army,  under  the  prsator  Anicius,  invaded  Illyr- 
icom,  and  completely  subdued  it  in  a  campaign  of  thirty  days. 
Thus  Maoedon,  Epims,  and  Illyricum'  were  added  to  the  Boman 
dominions. 

28 


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484  THE  GENTILE  KATI0K8. 

The  result  of  these  wars  places  Rome  before  the  mind  of  every 
believer  in  the  truth  of  divine  revelation,  as  the  fourth  kingdom,  the 
first  having  been  that  of  Nebachadnezsar  of  Babylon.  The  head 
of  gold  had  fallen ;  the  Medo-Persian  empire,  symbolized  by  the 
breast  and  arms  of  silver,  had  perished ;  and  now  the  sway  of  "  the 
brazen-coated  Greeks"  was  terminated  by  the  subjection  of  Alex* 
ander's  direct  successor  in  the  paternal  kingdom,  and  of  his  most 
powerfd  successor  in  Asia,  to  the  dominion  of  Rome.  The  further 
progress  of  this  power  should,  therefore,  be  considered  under  an 
abiding  recognition  of  this  providential  arrangement.  It  will  be 
found  that  the  future  history  of  Rome  rapidly  phiced  it  in  the  pre- 
cise position  in  which  it  was  spoken  of  by  the  prophet, — ^namdy,  as 
under  the  rule  of  "kings."  Dan.  ii. 

Released  from  the  Grecian  war  by  the  conquest  of  Macedon,  tiie 
Romans  looked  around  on  every  side  with  unquenchable  ardour, 
seeking  for  territory  to  seize,  and  nations  to  subdue.  After  various 
intrigues,  which  greatly  extended  their  influence  in  Spain,  Transal- 
pine Gaul,  and  Asia  Minor,  it  was  resolved,  at  the  instigation  of 
Cato,  to  destroy  Carthage.  The  rulers  of  this  rq;>ublic  althouj^ 
possessing  a  considerable  increase  of  wealth  and  power  since  <he 
close  of  the  last  war  wiUi  Rome,  had  nevertheless  conducted  their 
afllurs  with  so  much  sagacity  and  prudence,  that  when  the  Roman 
senate  had  determined  on  its  destruction,  they  were  at  a  loss  for  any 
reasonable  ground  for  renewing  the  war,  and  at  last  had  recourse  to 
the  cruel  and  absurd  decision,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Carthage 
should  remove  with  all  their  effects  from  that  city  to  another  resi- 
dence, ten  miles  from  the  sea.  The  rulers,  and,  in  &ct,  the  whole 
population  of  Carthage,  perceived  that  their  ruin  was  determined 
on ;  and  that  the  proposed  measure,  although  it  might  produce  that 
result  more  slowly  than  the  operations  of  war,  would  with  equal  cer- 
tainty effect  it.  They  therefore  resolved  on  a  determined  resistance ; 
and  never  was  a  resolution  more  manfully  carried  into  effect.  Rich 
and  poor  vied  with  e&ch  other  in  their  efforts  to  defend  their  city  to 
the  utmost.  Even  the  ladies  cut  off  the  long  hair  of  which  they 
were  so  proud,  to  make  strings  for  bows  and  slings. 

This  unexpected  unanimity  and  energy  rendered  the  destruction 
of  Carthage  a  work  of  greater  difficulty  than  was  anticipated.  For 
more  than  two  years  they  made  a  successful  resistance  to  every 
effort  of  their  enemies.  But  at  length  the  Romans  appointed  Scipio 
^milianus,  the  adopted  son  of  Scipio  Africanus,  to  the  command 
of  their  army  in  Africa;  and  his  energy  and. genius  soon  brou^t 
the  war  to  a  close.  He  at  first  devoted  himself  to  restore  the  disci- 
pline of  the  army,  which  had  been  allowed  by  former  commanders 


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THB  QSNTILfl  NATIONS.  435 

to  degenerate  into  disorder  and  licentionsness.  Having  removed 
this  evil,  and,  by  the  justice  of  his  measures,  and  the  blandne^s  of 
his  manner,  secured  tiie  confidence  and  respect  of  the  neighbouring 
African  nations,  he  proceeded  to  assail  Carthage  with  all  his  power. 
The  defence  was  able  and  obstinate,  but  vain.  The  Roman  general 
stormed  the  outer  wall,  cut  his  way  to  the  principal  square  of  the 
city,  spent  six  days  in  preparing  for  the  reduction  of  the  strong 
fortresses  which  guarded  it,  and  at  length  obliged  the  garrison  to 
surrender  at  discretion ;  whereupon  Carthage  was  consigned  to  the 
flames,  and  great  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  perished  in  the  ruins 
of  the  place,  rather  than  submit  to  their  cruel  enemies. 

During  the  progress  of  the  Third  Punic  war,  fresh  disturbances 
broke  out  in  Greece.  These  were  principally  raised  by  an  impostor, 
who  pretended  to  be  the  son  of  Philip.  The  Achaeans  entered  into 
die  strife;  but  resistance  to  the  legions  of  Rome  was  fruitless. 
Corinth,  Thebes,  and  Colchis  were  completely  destroyed,  and  Greece 
was  fully  subjected  to  the  Roman  government.  About  the  same 
time,  the  Roman  arms  were  equally  successful  in  Spain,  which 
henceforth  became  a  province  of  Rome. 

The  unscrupulous  rapacity,  and  boundless  gracfping  at  power, 
which  impelled  the  Roman  senate  to  these  continued  sanguinary 
wars,  were  equally  evinced  in  the  government  at  home.  The  rapid 
succession  and  vast  extent  of  these  military  operations,  the  numer- 
ous ofSces  which  they  called  into  existence,  and  the  means  of  highly 
lucrative  employment  for  the  nominees  of  the  senate,  raised  that 
body  to  an  inordinate  measure  of  power  and  wealth ;  while  the  taxes 
and  duties,  for  the  maintenance  of  these  extended  straggles,  falling 
on  the  people,  reduced  them  to  the  direst  poverty  and  wretchedness. 
The  government,  therefore,  while  it  exulted  in  territorial  aggrandize- 
ment and  martial  power,  became,  through  the  operation  of  these 
causes,  a  proud  and  violent  aristocracy,  isolated  from  the  people  by 
class  feelings,  privileges,  and  powers,  and  hated  by  them  in  propor- 
tion to  this  isolation. 

This  state  of  things  was  perceived  end  lamented  by  the  best  and 
greatest  Romans  of  the  day ;  but  the  first  who  boldly  attempted  to 
check  the  oppression,  and  redress  the  grievances,  of  the  people,  was 
Tiberius  Gracchus.  The  son  of  a  consul, — his  mother  the  daughter 
of  Scipio  Africanus, — he  had  access  to  the  highest  offices  of  state, 
and  might  have  shared  in  the  pow>er  and  plunder  enjoyed  by  the 
great,  had  he  chosen  to  ally  himself  .with  them.  He  nobly  aspired 
to  higher  aims.  His  soul  was  moved  with  indignation  at  the  un- 
checked progress  of  corruption ;  and  he  resolved  to  devote  his  best 
efforts  to  remedy  the  evils  which  prevailed.    With  this  object,  he 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


486  THB  ammsM  irATiows. 

offered  himself,  and  was  eketed,  as  a  kibime  of  tfie  people.  Invested 
with  the  authority  of  this  office,  he  soon  perceived  that  one  proni- 
nent  part  of  the  prevailing  cormption  lay  in  the  conduct  of  inemberB 
of  the  aristocracy  with  respect  to  the  pnhlic  lands ;  as  an  individual 
would  frequ^tly  undertake  the  management  of  an  extensive  and 
valuable  tract  of  country,  wUch  he  would  sub-let  in  small  portions 
to  numerous  needy  d^ndants,— making  tfiereby  an  enormooB  profit 
to  himself  at  the  expense  of  the  pubKo.  Oraechtts,  tlierefore,  after 
consulting  with  the  wisest  and  most  virtuous  of  the  citizens,  and 
obtaining  their  concurrence  in  his  proceeding,  determined  to  enforce 
the  Licinian  prohibition-  against  any  individual  holding  more  than 
five  hundred  acres  of  the  public  land.  This  measure  roused  die  ire 
of  the  sordid  and  oppressive  aristocracy,  who,  althoi^h  they  did  nd 
dare  openly  to  resist  the  operation  of  an  admitted  law,  were  resolved, 
if  possible,  to  prevent  it  from  being  carried  into  efibct.  The  patri- 
otic tribune,  however,  not  satisfied  with  this  measure,  and  seeing  ^e 
poverty  and  distress  of  the  people,  and  that  the  resources  of  tlie 
state,  after  its  recent  successftd  wars,  were  quite  equal  to  its  wants, 
proposed  that  the  treasures  bequealbed  to  Rome  by  Attains,  King 
of  Pergamus,  should  be  distributed  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  poorest 
citizens. 

While  the  enactment  of  these  and  other  similar  measures  was 
being  carried  into  effisct,  the  year  of  ofiice  for  which  Gracchus  was 
appointed  tribune  expired.  He  was,  indeed,  proposed  for  reelec- 
tion ;  and  would  doubtless  have  succeeded,  bad  not  a  combination 
of  patricians  and  place-holders  determined  to  risk  all  the  crimes  and 
hazard  of  a  bloody  tumult,  rather  than  allow  this  intrepid  advocate 
of  the  people  to  proceed  in  his  course  of  reform.  Nasica,  a  large 
holdw  of  public  lands,  with  oUiers  equally  interested,  daringly 
assaulted  the  unarmed  multitude  who  supported  Gracchus.  In  this 
commotion  the  earnest  reformer  of  public  abuses  was  slain,  with 
many  of  his  friends. 

The  cause  for  which  Tiberius  Gracchus  died,  did  not  perish  with 
him.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  a  brother,  a  mere  boy,  named 
Caius ;  who,  undaunted  by  the  &te  of  his  relation,  determined  to 
devote  himself  to  a  similar  line  of  conduct.  When  he  arrived  at  a 
proper  age,  he  was  elected  quaestor,  and  dischai^ed  the  duties  of 
that  office  in  Sardinia  with  great  ability  and  integrity.  On  return- 
ing to  Rome,  he  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  tribune.  In  this  office 
he  proposed,  and  carried  into  effect,  some  measures  which  bore  witt 
peculiar  force  against  the  murderers  of  his  brother.  He  them  turned 
his  attention  to  the  enforcement  of  the  agrarian  law.  When  a  second 
time  elected  tribune,  he  procured  the  enactment  of  a  statute  whidi 


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Ttked  the  equeetrian  order  fco  the  dignity  of  judges,  and  proportiou- 
ately  diminished  the  power  of  aenatorB. 

To  neatralise  the  operation  of  his  influence,  the  patricians  sot  up 
Druflus,  aaother  trihune,  je  a  riral  to  Gains  Gracchus  in  the  popuk^ 
esteem.  For  this  purpose  he  was  enabled,  with  the  sanction  of  the 
soiate,  to  remit  taxes,  and  make  large  grants  of  public  money,  to 
the  people.  The  mean  design  of  this  measure  was,  indeed,  so  sue- 
oessfol,  that,  when  proposed  for  tribune  the  third  time,  Caius  lost 
his  election.  This,  however,  did  not  deter  him  from  the  prosecution 
of  his  great  object.  But,  with  the  loss  of  his  office,  he  had  lost  his 
legal  pow»  to  stem  the  torr^t ;  while,  by  the  same  influence  which 
dmt  out  Caius  from  oflke,  Opimius,  the  most  &otious  and  violent 
of  the  patricians,  was  dected  consul.  In  this  state  of  things  a 
furious  collision  was  inevitable,  and  soon  occurred.  One  of  the 
lictors,  engaged  in  some  sacrificial  service,  having  made  a  coarse 
remark  to  the  crowd  which  surrounded  Caius  and  Fulvius,  some 
of  the  party  mshed  on  him  with  such  force  that  he  was  slain  in  the 
broil. 

This  impolitic  violence  afforded  the  aristocracy  the  opportunityx 
vAiich  thqr  had  long  desired :  the  senate  was  convened,  and  Opimius 
declared  dictator.  Gains  Gracchus  and  his  friends,  determined  to 
carry  their  resistance  to  the  utmost,  took  possession  of  Mount 
Aventine.  But  they  had  miscalculated  their  power,  under  the 
iaflaenee  of  their  own  ardent  feelings.  The  people  were  neither 
auffieiently  organized,  nor  proof  against  the  seductions  of  the  power- 
fill  and  wealthy  party  arrayed  against  them.  Consequently,  even 
before  they  were  attacked,  great  numbers  who  had  at  first  sur- 
rovnded  Gniflohus,  departed  from  his  side ;  so  that  when  the  dicta- 
tor assailed  the  poptdar  party,  it  was  completely  routed.  Above 
tiiree  thousand  were  slain.  Gains  himself  fell,  at  his  own  request, 
by  the  sword  of  a  faithful  slave,  rather  than  come  into  the  hands  of 
his  enemies. 

With  the  death  of  the  Gracchi  perished  the  last  remnant  of 
constitutional  liberty  at  Rome.  Henceforth  the  government  was 
condncted  by  an  oligarchy,  until  at  length  it  became  an  absolute 
monarchy. 

We  now  approach,  in  the  progress  of  this  mighty  nation,  the 
period  in  whidi,  notwithstanding  the  utmost  d^eneracy  into  which 
their  institutions  had  fallen,  they  succeeded,  through  the  genius 
and  energy  of  a  series  of  most  extraordinary  men,  in  placing  Rome 
on  the  pinnacle  of  power,  and,  in  &Gt,  reigning  supreme  in  the 
world. 

We  l»ve  the  first  development  of  this  extraordinary  cycle  in  the 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


438  THE  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

Jugarthine  war.  Micipsa,  King  of  Numidia^  and  son  of  Masmisaa^ 
divided  his  dominions,  on  his  death-bed,  between  his  two  sons^ 
Hiempsal  and  Adherbal,  and  his  illegitimate  nephew,  Jngurtha. 
The  latter,  possessing  an  nnscrupulons  and  .daring  mind,  determined 
to  seize  the  whole  kingdom.  He  accordingly  procured  the  mm-der 
of  Hiempsal;  and  when  Adherbal  prepared  to  assert  his  own  right, 
and  punish  his  brother's  murderer,  he  was  soon  defeated,  and  com- 
pelled to  fly  to  Rome  to  solicit  aid.  Jugurtha,  who  knew  the  char- 
acter of  the  nation  with  which  he  had  to  deal,  sent  emissaries  to  the 
imperial  city  with  such  large  sums  of  gold,  to  be  employed  in  brib- 
ing the  rulers,  that  he  prevented  any  effective  interference  from  that 
quarter.  The  senate,  indeed,  decreed,  that  the  Numidian  dominions 
should  be  equally  divided  between  Jugurtha  and  Adherbal;  but 
when  the  latter  had  taken  possession  of  his  portion,  Jugortha  de- 
dared  war  against  him,  took  him  prisoner,  and  put  him  to  death 
This  atrocity  induced  the  Romans  to  send  a  prsetor  to  Africa,  pledg- 
ing the  public  faith  for  the  personal  safety  of  Jugurtha,  bat  com- 
manding him  to  repair  to  Rome  to  answer  for  Ms  conduct.  He 
obeyed  the  summons ;  but  the  power  of  gold  prevailed :  for,  while 
one  tribune  questioned  the  African  king,  another,  with  equal  author- 
ity, forbade  him  to  reply ;  and  thus  the  ostensible  object  of  the 
Romans  was  defeated. 

Jugurtha  by  these  means  not  only  obtained  exemption  from  pun- 
ishment, but  actually  dared,  even  in  the  capital,  to  perpetrate  new 
crimes.  Learning  that  another  cousin  of  his  was  in  the  Roman 
capital,  and  regarding  it  as  probable  that  he  would  obtain  fi*om  the 
senate  some  portion  of  the  Numidian  dominions,  he  procured  his 
assassination.  When  this  murder  became  known,  and  had  been 
fully  traced  to  its  author,  it  was  regarded  as  such  a  flagrant  insult 
to  the  Roman  power,  that  although  the  pledge  of  personal  safety 
was  held  sacred,  and  he  was  allowed  to  return  to  Africa^  the  consul 
Albinus  was  instructed  to  proceed  with  an  army  to  make  war  upon 
him.  Jugurtha,  however,  was  as  wary  in  war  as  he  was  daring  in 
crime ;  and  he  managed  to  foil  the  operations  of  the  Romans  for  the 
first  year  without  coming  to  any  decisive  stn^le.  When  the  con- 
sul returned  to  Rome  to  hold  his  comitia,  he  left  the  army  under 
the  command  of  his  brother  Aulus,  whose  mind  seems  to  have  been 
filled  with  an  intense  desire  to  gratify  his  avarice  by  seizing  the 
treasures  of  the  Numidian  king.  Rashly  adopting  a  series  of  meas- 
ures for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  he  enabled  his  antago- 
nist to  surprise,  defeat,  and  capture  fais  whole  army  The  proud 
Numidian  determined  to  avail  himself  to  the  utmost  of  this  success ; 
so  he  made  his  captives  pass  under  the  yoke, — a  practice  adopted 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


IHB  GBNTILE  NATIONS.  439 

by  the  Romans  themselves  for  symbolizing  the  total  national  subju- 
gation of  a  conquered  country. 

All  Rome  was  roused  by  this  infamy.  The  senate  disavowed 
this  dishonourable  surrender;  while  the  tribunes  demanded  the 
sending  of  a  commission  to  Africa,  to  make  inquiries,  and  to  punish 
those  who  had  received  bribes  from  Jugurtha.  But  this  virtuous 
efR)rt  was  poisoned  at  the  beginning  of  its  operation.  Scaurus,  one 
who  had  been  most  flagrantly  guilty,  got  himself  appointed  on  the 
commission  of  inquiry;  so  that  this  notorious  criminal  presided  over 
the  trial  and  condemnation  of  four  consulars  and  a  pontiff  Among 
them  was  Opimius,  who  had  been  the  cause  of  the  death  of  Cains 
Gracchus. 

At  this  time  Rome  suffered  most  severely  from  several  defeats 
which  she  received  from  the  barbarous  tribes  of  the  Gimbri  on  the 
northern  frontier  of  their  empire.  This  foe  had  destroyed  one  con- 
sular army  on  the  borders  of  lUyricum,  whence  they  marched  west- 
ward, until  they  were  found  again  in  prodigious  strength  at  Nar- 
bonne  in  Transalpine  Gaul.  Here,  again,  they  were  met  by  the 
greatest  army  that  Rome  could  command,  under  the  proconsul 
CsBpio  and  the  consul  Manlius :  but  the  barbarians  were  again  vic- 
torious, and  it  is  said  that  eighty  thousand  of  the  Roman  troops 
were  left  dead  on  the  field. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  war  was  carried  on  against  Jugurtha  by 
Metellus  with  great  success;  and  the  usurper  was  eompelled  to 
solicit  aid  from  Bocchus,  King  of  Mauritania,  and  to  take  refuge  in 
his  dominions.  The  Roman  general  commanding  in  this  war  derived 
great  assistance  in  these  struggles  from  Caius  Marius, — a  young 
officer  of  mean  birth,  who  had  risen  from  the  lowest  grade  of  the 
service  to  be  lieutenant  of  the  army.  As  the  war  seemed  drawing 
to  a  close,  Metellus  was  surprised  to  hear  Marius  solicit  leave  of 
absence,  that  he  might  go  to  Rome,  and  offer  himself  for  the  consular 
office  the  ensuing  year.  The  general  at  first  refused,  with  some 
contemptuous  expressions  respecting  the  youth  of  the  aspirant. 
Afterward,  however,  when  there  was  scarcely  time  for  him  to  reach 
Rome  before  the  day  of  election,  leave  was  given.  Marius  improved 
the  opportunity :  he  fled,  rather  than  travelled,  to  Rome,  and  made 
such  good  use  of  the  brief  interval  that  he  was  not  only  elected,  but, 
notwithstanding  Metellus  had  been  confirmed  by  the  senate  in  the 
command  of  the  army  of  Africa,  he  had  that  country  assigned  him 
by  the  assembly  of  the  people  as  his  province.  Utterly  disregard- 
ing the  appointment  made  by  the  senate,  he  collected  fresh  levies, 
and  organized  an  army,  to  proceed  to  his  appointed  province. 

In  doing  this,  perhaps  chiefly  by  the  daring  energy  of  his  own 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


440  THE  QfiNTILB  KATIOHB. 

eiample  and  chanoter,  Marias  oo&tunied  to  work  oat  a  oomplela 
reyolution  in  Rome.  Prior  to  this  tiine  tiie  Roman  legiona  were 
sapplied  from  the  respectable  classes  of  society :  mea  who  posseaaed 
some  property,  and  conseqaently  had  a  stake  in  tide  coontry,  ware 
alone  deemed  eligible  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the  heavy-armed  infantry. 
Bat  neither  Latins  nor  Italians  had  yet  been  enrolled  as  Roman 
citizens,  while  the  free  population  had  been  diminished  by  saccessive 
wars.  In  these  drcamstances,  Marias  induced  the  senate  to  conear 
in  his  recmiting  from  the  lowest  of  the  people ;  and  he  soon  found 
himself  surrounded  by  a  hardy  and  daring  body  of  men,  ready  to 
follow  his  standard  to  meet  any  enemy.  But  then,  as  an  able  writer 
observes,  they  were  led  forth  "  without  a  prejudice  or  a  principle, 
ready  at  his  bidding  to  tarn  their  arms  upon  either  friends  or 
enemies."  Uninfluenced  by  the  patriotic  feelings  and  conservative 
restraints  which  were  sure  to  affect  men  in  the  position  of  the  old 
legionaries,  these  newly-formed  soldiers  became  the  creatures  of 
their  chief;  and  in  consequence  w^  henceforth  find  Rome  ruled  over 
by  military  power. 

Marius  hastened  to  Africa,  where  Metellus  had  carried  on  the 
campaign  very  successfully,  but,  hearing  that  he  had  been  super- 
seded, retired  to  Rome,  where  he  was  honoured  with  a  triumph. 
Marius  prosecuted  the  war  with  ability  and  spirit;  and  although 
Jugurtha  defended  himself  with  consummate  genius,  and  seemed 
inexhaustible  in  resources,  Marius  at  length  defeated  him  in  a  great 
battle,  and  Jugurtha  was  afterward  delivered  up  to  the  Romans  by 
his  faithless  allies.  It  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  this  man  had  been 
guilty  of  the  most  enormous  crimes ;  but  the  barbarity  of  his  victors 
seems  equally  detestable.  After  being  led  in  chains  tibroogh  the 
land  which  ho  had  governed,  and  exposed  before  the  triumphal 
chariot  of  Marius,  on  the  day  when  he  was  rewarded  for  the  glorious 
termination  of  the  war,  the  wretched  captive  was  cast  headlong  into 
tiie  subterranean  prison  on  the  Capitoline  Rock,  and  left  to  perish 
of  cold  and  hunger  through  a  mortal  agony  of  six  days. 

When  Marius  triumphed  for  his  success  in  Africa,  he  had  just 
been  chosen  consul  for  the  second  time,  and  was  at  once  appointed 
to  conduct  the  war  against  the  Cimbri  in  Gaul.  Thither  he  pro- 
ceeded ;  but  he  found  his  raw  levies  unequal  to  subdue  these  hardy 
barbarians.  Acting,  therefore,  on  the  defensive,  inuring  his  troops 
to  discipline  and  exertion,  he  patiently  prepared  for  the  work  which 
had  been  assigned  him.  It  was,  however,  not  until  he  had  been 
appointed  consul  the  fourth  time,  that  he  felt  sufficient  confidence 
in  his  legions  to  risk  a  pitched  battle.  The  prudent  delay  of  Marius 
inspired  the  Cimbri  with  contempt  fbr  his  troops ;  but,  at  length,  in 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


THE  QMNTILH  TXATIOVB.  441 

two  SQccesaiYe  conflicts^  he  defeated  ihis  huge  liott  with  immense 
slaughter.  Tet,  notwithstanding  these  suocesses,  a  great  army  of  the 
Gimbri  still  suniTed,  crossed  the  Alps,  and  descended  to  the  banks 
of  the  Po.  Tho  forces  sent  ont  to  meet  them  retired  in  confusion  at 
their  approacL  Fortonatelj  Mariiis  arrived  jusfc  at  this  moment, 
effected  a  junction  of  his  yictorious  legions  with  the  army  of  Gatnlus, 
his  colleague  in  the  consulship,  and  in  a  great  battle  routed  and 
destroyed  this  terrible  host.  It  is  said  that  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  were  slain,  sixty  thousand  taken  prisoners,  and  great  num- 
bers of  both  men  and  women  destroyed  themselves  rather  than  fM 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  Thus  ended  the  third  perilous  inva- 
sion of  the  Roman  state.  Marius  was  instantly  counted  with  Romu- 
lus and  Camillus,  as  the  third  founder  of  the  city,  and  the  preserver 
of  his  coontiy. 

About  this  time  a  second  servile  war  in  Sicily  was  terminated 
with  a  fearfol  loss  of  life.  A  much  more  dangerous  one,  of  a  v^ 
similar  kind,  also  broke  out  in  Italy.  It  arose  out  of  the  gross  injus- 
tice with  which  the  Romans  persisted  in  treating  the  Italian  allies. 
After  a  murderous  contest  of  three  years,  it  was  ended  by  the 
Bomane  granting  the  freedom  of  their  city  to  all  the  Italians  who 
laid  down  their  arms. 

Amid  all  these  conflicts,  it  became  very  evident  that  the  most 
imminent  danger  of  the  state  arose  from  the  rivafary  of  two  great 
generals.  Marius,  now  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  still  retained 
ambition  and  energy  of  character.  His  rival  was  Sylla,  a  soldier 
of  noble  extraction,  about  forty-five  years  old,  who  had  served  under 
Marius  as  quaestor  in  Africa^  and  greatly  distinguished  himself  in  the 
last  victory  over  the  Gimbri.  Both  these  warriors  had  been  engaged 
in  the  war  waged  by  Rome  against  the  Italians,  although  Marius 
retired  before  its  close,  while  Sylla  was  actively  and  honourably 
employed  to  the  ^d. 

Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  one  of  the  most  formidable  enemies 
that  Rome  ever  had  in  the  east,  had  taken  advantage  of  these  com- 
motions in  Italy  and  Sicily  to  extend  his  power  throu^out  Asia 
Minor,  and,  in  fact,  to  make  himself  paramount  in  Western  Asia. 
Considering  the  position  which  Rome  had  assumed,  a  war  with  this 
power  was  unavoidable.  The  command  of  the  enterprise  was  looked 
for  by  Sylla  as  an  object  of  intense  desire :  and  Marius,  old  as  he 
was,  felt  no  less  anxious  to  obtain  the  distinction.  But  the  latter 
was  always  regarded  by  the  senate  with  dislike ;  and  he  had  recently 
made  himself  specially  obnoxious  by  a  covert  connexion  with  a  &c- 
tious  tribune,  Satumius,  who  had  occasioned  an  insurrection,  in 
which  he  and  many  others  had  been  slain.    Under  such  circum- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


442  THB  araxiLE  natiohs. 

stances  the  senate  appointed  Sylla  to  undertake  the  war  against 
Mithridates. 

Marius,  enraged  at  being  deprived  of  this  command,  obtained  the 
active  aid  of  Sulpidns  Galba,  one  of  the  tribunes,  and  commenced 
an  active  agitation  against  the  government.  Availing  himself  of  all 
the  elements  of  discontent  arising  out  of  the  recent  arrangement 
between  Rome  and  the  Italians,  and  holding  out  hopes  to  his  parti- 
sans of  their  sharing  in  the  spoil  of  Mithridates,  if  successful,  he  by 
these  means  gathered  a  party,  raised  a  tumult,  and  assailed  the 
consuls:  blood  was  shed,  and  Sylla  had  to  seek  safety  in  flight 
Meanwhile,  Sulpicius,  having  cleared  the  forum  of  his  principal 
opponents,  proposed  to  an  assembly  of  the  people  the  appointment 
of  Marius  to  the  command  in  Asia,  which  was  carried.  Marius  was 
now,  in  fact,  the  master  of  Rome;  and  prsetors  were  sent  to  inform 
Sylla,  who  had  proceeded  to  his  camp,  that  he  was  sup^:9eded  in  his 
command;  and  required  to  deliver  up  the  army  to  Marius.  But  the 
factious  leaders  of  this  movement  had  mistaken  the  character  of  die 
man  with  whom  they  had  to  deal.  Sylla  immediately  appealed  to 
his  troops,  told  ihem  of  the  indignity  to  which  he  had  been»snbjected, 
and  persuaded  them  that  they  were  no  less  insulted  and  injured  than 
himself  The  great  number  of  his  ofScers,  men  of  fieunily  and  property, 
refused  to  unite  in  any  violent  measure;  but  the  soldiers,  to  the  ex- 
tent of  six  legions,  declared  their  readiness  to  follow  their  general; 
and,  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  these,  he  marched  toward  Rome. 

The  Marian  &ction,  as  well  as  the  senate  and  the  people  of  Rome^ 
were  alarmed  and  confounded  at  this  measure :  they  hsA  no  troops 
to  meet  this  army  in  the  field.  Officers  were  sent  to  Sylla,  forbidding 
his  approach  to  the  city.  These  were  slain,  and  the  legions  advanced: 
by  an  artful  manoeuvre  Sylla  obtained  possession  of  one  of  the  gates 
of  the  city,  and  entered  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  The  people  as- 
sailed the  advancing  soldiers  from  the  windows  and  house-tops;  but 
a  threat  to  set  the  city  on  fire  soon  put  down  this  opposition,  and 
Sylla  in  turn  was  paramount  at  Rome.  He,  however,  preserved 
strict  discipline  among  his  troops,  but  insisted  on  the  proscription 
of  twelve  of  his  enemies.  Sulpicius  was  betrayed  and  slain.  Marius 
narrowly  escaped  by  flight. 

Sylla  then  assembled  the  people,  and  caused  them  to  abrogate 
those  laws  by  which  the  tribunes  had  been  able  to  excite  such 
formidable  seditions,  leaving  the  people  in  foil  possession  of  their 
sufirages.  He  then  allowed  them  to  elect  two  consuls :  Octavius,  a 
firm  supporter  of  the  senate,  was  one;  and  Cinna,  a  decided  partisan 
of  Marius,  was  the  other.  It  is  remarkable  that,  possessing  sndi 
power,  Sylla  should  have  permitted  this  last  appointment;  but  he 


Digitized  by  LjOOQ IC 


THE  OBNTILE  NATIONS.  448 

satisfied  himself  with  requiring  Cinna  to  take  a  religions  tow  to 
maintain  and  administer  faithfully  the  new  laws  which  had  been 
made. 

Having  effected  these  objects  Sylla  returned  to  the  camp,  and 
proceeded  to  his  appointed  sphere  of  action  against  Mithridates. 
Here  he  had  a  difiBcult  part  to  act ;  but  he  succeeded.  After  afibrd- 
ing  his  soldiers  ample  opportunities  for  obtaining  booty,  in  order  to 
secure  their  adherence  to  himself,  he  stormed  Athens,  which  had 
been  in  alliance  with  Mithridates,  slaughtered  the  inhabitants  with- 
out mercy,  and  defeated  the  ahnies  of  the  king  of  Pontus  in  two 
decisiye  engagements. 

While  these  events  transpired  in  the  east,  a  strange  revolution 
had  been  wrought  in  Rome.  Sylla  had  scarcely  left  Italy  before 
Oinna  avowed  a  determination  to  annul  all  the  regulations  which  he 
had  so  religiously  sworn  to  ma^itain.  He  accordingly  insisted  on 
the  recall  of  the  exiles,  and  the  restoration  of  the  laws  of  Sulpicius. 
These  propositions,  however,  met  with  violent  opposition  from  the 
senate,  from  his  colleague  in  the  consulship,  and  also  from  the 
tribunes;  and  when  these  found  that  Cinna  was  determined,  to 
attempt  carrying  his  measures  by  force,  they  anticipated  his  move- 
ments, flew  to  arms,  expelled  him  from  the  consulship  and  the  city, 
and  elected  Morula,  a  fiamen  of  Jupiter,  consul  in  his  stead. 

But  Cinna,  when  thus  cast  as  a  fugitive  on  the  world,  did  not 
despair.  He  immediately  proceeded  to  the  newly-created  citizens 
in  Campania;  and,  exciting  their  compassion  for  him,  and  their 
fears  that  their  newly*  acquired  dignity  was  likely  to  be  wrested 
from  them,  he  induced  great  numbers  to  rally  round  him,  together 
with  many  exiles  of  the  Marian  party,  and  among  them  Sertorius, 
an  officer  of  distinction.  He  then  went^  clothed  in  black,  to  the 
Roman  camp,  and  appealed  to  the  soldiers.  The  sight  of  a  consul 
in  such  distress  so  moved  these  men,  that  they  insisted  on  march- 
ing under  his  orders.  At  the  head  of  a  Roman  army  Cinna  pro- 
ceeded to  Rome.  In  the  mean  time,  Marius,  who  was  well  informed 
of  all  that  was  passing,  suddenly  landed  on  the  coast  of  Etruria,  where 
he  was  soon  joined  by  many  of  his  party,  and  a  large  body  of  dis- 
contented slaves;  so  that  he,  also,  gathering  strength  as  he  went, 
approached  Rome.  Other  sections  of  the  army  joined  the  insurrec- 
tion ;  and  Rome  was  completely  beleaguered  by  her  own  rebellious 
subjects.  After  some  considerable  dehiy,  during  which  a  pestilence 
raged  with  fearful  violence,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  camp,  the 
senate  was  compelled  to  submit.  Marius  and  Cinna  entered  the 
city  triumphant ;  and  a  fearful  scene  of  cainage  and  plunder  ensued. 
Marius  glutted  his  rage  against  all  who  had  opposed  his  party  without 


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444  THB  GBzrriLB  HAXIOIie. 

any  limitiUdon ;  while  the  soldiers,  who  had  crowded  to  his  aiandaid 
for  the  hope  of  plunder,  eagerly  grasped  the  opportunity  now  afibrded 
them,  and  Borne  was  filled  with  blood  and  rapine. 

Haying  gratified  ilie  revenge  of  his  partisans,  Marios  appointed 
himself  consul,  without  even  the  formality  of  an  election;  and,  with 
Oinna^  undertook  the  goTemmeot  of  the  state.  It  was  arranged  that 
the  latter  should  direct  the  afeirs  of  Italy,  while  the  aged  general 
should  coHeet  an. army,  proceed  to  the  east,  and  supersede  Sylla  in 
the  war  with  Pontus.  Daring  as  he  waa^  it  is  generally  tliought 
that  Marius  dreaded  an  encounter  With  his  younger  rival  in  arms; 
it  is,  however,  certain  that  he  died  soon  after  his  appointment^ — as 
is  supposed,  by  suicide.*  Valerius  f  laoous  was  now  appointed  con- 
sol,  as  colleague  of  Ginna. 

Order  being  somewhat  restored  in  Italy,  Ilaecus  collected  an 
army,  and  marched  to  the  east,  to  ;sratch  the  motions  of  Sylla:  but 
iriiile  manoeuvring  his  army  in  Greece,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  an 
advantage  over  his  able  opponent,  he  was  assassinated  in  his  camp, 
and  JB'imbria,  a  violent  and  factious  tribune,  who  may  be  supposed 
to  have  had  some  participation  in  the  murder,  succeeded  to  the  com* 
mand  of  the  army.  TUs  new  general,  not  willing  to  measure  his 
strength  against  Sylla  at  the  head  of  Roman  legions,  passed  over  into 
Asia,  in  the  hope  that  he  should  distinguish  himsdf  by  the  conquest 
of  Mithridates.  With  this  view,  he  attacked  the  troops  of  Pontus 
wherever  he  could  find  tfiem,  ravaging  every  wealthy  city  in  his  way.; 
and  he  would  actually  have  captured  the  great  king  himself,  if  Sylla, 
determined  not  to  allow  his  rival  such  a  glory,  had  not  afibrded 
Mithridates  the  means  of  escape.  Mithridates  was,  by  these  re- 
verses, led  to  be  anxious  for  peace,  which  SyUa,  in  his  peculiar 
position,  was  equally  disposed  to  grant.  A  peace  was  therefore 
concluded,  by  which  Mithridates  delivered  up  a  large  portion  of 
his  fleets  and  treasures,  and  Was  limited  in  his  government  to  the 
dominions  which  he  possessed  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war. 
Having  secured  this  settlement,  Sylla  turned  his  forces  against  the 
army  of  Fimbria,  where  the  use  of  his  gold  was  so  effectual,  that  that 
tribune,  abandoned  by  his  army,  committed  suicide;  and  Sylla,  at 
the  head  of  the  united  forces,  marched  toward  Rome. 

After  a  severe  struggle  against  the  forces  H)f  the  consuls,  and  the 
armies  which  had  been  raised  in  Italy  to  oppose  him,  Sylla  made 
himself  absolute  master  of  Rome,  and,  to  a  fearful  extent,  surpassed 
l^e  most  sanguinary  cruelty  of  Marius.  Citizens  of  every  rank 
were  proscribed,  and  murdered,  in  i^e  most  reckless  manner. 
These  murders  were  extended  to  the  provinces.  Tyrant  power 
reigned,  and  wUd  disorder  ranged  unchecked  throughout  the  Roman 


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T&B  0BNTILX  NATIONS.  445 

stetos.  Having  gratified  his  lost  for  blood  to  the  iitmoet»  Sylla 
caused  himself  to  be  deeted  dictator  for  an  nnliBiited  time ;  but, 
three  years  after,  he  retired  into  pirivate  life, — a  measnre  which 
surprised  every  one,  tmtil,  after  a  brief  period,  it  was  explained  by 
his  dying  of  a  loatiisome  disease,  brought  on  by  intemperance  and 
debauchery. 

On  l^e  abdication  of  Sylla;  the  consul  Lepidus  endeavoured  to 
grasp  the  power  which  had  feUen  from  his  hands :  bat,  unequal  to 
ihe  task,  he  was  defeated  and  abandoned,  Mid  perished.  Delivered 
firom  this  danger,  the  senate  was  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  a  Marian 
insurrection  in  Spain,  where  Sertorius  had  collected  an  imposing 
force  in  the  interest  of  that  Ihction.  Pompey  was  sent  against  Um ; 
and,  although  the  veteran  warrior,  Sertorius,  was  ait  first  more  thftn 
a  match  for  the  daring  young  officer,  the  latter  contrived  to  bring 
the  war  to  a  siiccessfiil  dose.  Sertorius  was  murdered;  and  hn 
troops,  deprived  of  his  talent  and  energy,  were  soon  reduced  by 
Pompey. 

Before  this  result  had  been  secured,  Italy  was  convulsed  by  a 
revolt,  as  dangerous  as  it  was  unexpected  and  daring.  Spartacus,  a 
Radiator,  became  the  head  of  an  army,  which  either  defeated  or  kept 
at  bay  all  the  forces  of  Rome,  and  held  all  Italy  in  fearful  excite- 
ment and  apprehension,  for  more  than  three  years.  This  insuirec- 
tion  arose  out  of  the  practice  of  coercing  slaves,  captives,  and  crimi- 
lials  to  butcher  each  other  in  the  arena,  for  the  amusement  of  Roman 
spectators.  A  large  troop  of  these  swordsmen,  maintained  for  this 
purpose,  had  plotted  together,  thinking  that  war  in  another  form 
would  be  as  pleasing,  and  as  profitiftble,  as  that  which  they  had  been 
compelled  to  wage*  oni  each  other.  They  accordingly  meditated 
escaping,  and  seventy-eight  of  them  succeeded ;  and,  after  taking  a 
temporary  refilge  in  an  extinct  crater  of  Vesuvius,  they  procured  an 
accession  of  numbers,  seized  a  neighbouring  fortress,  made  Spar- 
tacus their  chief,  and  prepared  to  defend  themselves.  They  did  this 
With  such  effect,  and  their  numbers  swelled  so  rapidly,  that  at  one 
period  it  is  said  they  formed  a  body  of  one  hundred  thousand  men. 
But  the  veteran  legions  of  Rome  at  length  prevailed;  Spartacus 
Was  slain,  and  his  troops  were  dispersed  or  destroyed. 

Cirassus  and  Pompey  were  now  chosen  consuls.  Both  being 
anxious  to  seize  supreme  power,  they  paid  extravagant  court  to  the 
people, — the  former,  by  large  donations  of  com ;  the  latter,  by  restor- 
ing the  power  of  the  tribunes.  Pompey,  having  obtained  the  com- 
mand of  the  forces  sent  against  the  Cilician  pirates  and  Mithridates, 
proceeded  on  his  mission.  By  measures  equally  spirited  and  saga- 
cious he  contrived  to  induce  these  daring  plunderers  to  collect  their 


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446  THB  GBNTILB  KATI0H6. 

Tessels,  which  were  distributed  orer  every  part  of  the  MediterraneaD, 
into  one  body ;  and  he  then  defeated  them  in  a  single  battle.  After- 
ward he  proceeded  against  th^m  so  effectually  on  shore,  that  he  broke 
their  strength,  and  put  an  end  to  their  depredations.  He  also  con- 
ducted the  war  against  Mithridates  with  equal  effect  After  trav- 
ersing Asia  beyond  the  range  of  any  previous  Roman  army,  the 
king  of  Pontus  was  completely  subdued,  and  destroyed  himself 
rather  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  conqueror. 

While  Porapey  was  extending  the  Roman  dominions  and  gloiy  in 
the  East,  Rome  herself  was  brought  to  the  brink  of  ruin  by  the  con- 
spiracy of  Catiline, — a  daring  and  dissipated  noble,  who  had  several 
tim$s  been  defeated  in  attempting  to  procure  elevated  offices  in  the 
state,  and  at  length  determined  to  secure  the  object  of  his  ambition 
by  violence.  For  this  purpose  he  had  drawn  into  his  designs  some 
of  the  influential  nobles  of  Rome,  and  had  prepared  such  an  ex- 
tended scheme  of  revolt  as  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  successful.  The 
vigilance  and  ability  of  Cicero,  who  was  then  consul,  saved  Rome. 
He  with  boundless  sagacity  penetrated  all  the  schemes  of  the  con- 
spirators, and  at  length  so  forcibly  charged  Catiline  with  treason  in 
the  senate,  that  the  guilty  man,  overwhelmed  with  confusion,  left  the 
city.  The  consul  then  took  his  measures  so  adroitly,  that  he  appre- 
hended the  chief  conspirators,  and  confronted  them  with  written 
proofs  of  their  guilt.  They  were  promptly  placed  on  their  trial, 
condemned  to  death,  and  immediately  executed.  Catiline,  perceiv- 
ing that  nothing  more  could  be  done  by  policy,  now  took  up  arms, 
and  assembled  a  body  of  about  twenty  thousand  men :  but  he  was 
defeated  and  slain  by  a  consular' army  near  Pistoria.  In  gratitude 
for  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  Cicero  was  saluted  by  the  people,  on 
the  motion  of  Cato,  with  the  title  of  *'  Father  of  his  Country." 

Rome  had  now  reached  a  point  of  political  and  moral  disorganiza- 
tion which  rendered  the  effective  operation  of  any  popular  govern- 
ment impossible.  Pompey  had  returned  from  Asia,  and  enjoyed 
the  most  splendid  triumph  which  had  been  seen  in  Rome.  But  he 
was  on  ill  terms  with  Crassus,  who  was  perhaps  the  most  powerful 
man  in  the  state.  A  collision  between  these  great  men  would  have 
been  fatal  to  Rome.  It  was  prevented  by  him  who  was  afterward 
destined  to  rule  supreme  over  the  Roman  dominions.  Julius  Csesar 
now  possessed  considerable  influence.  He  was  forty  years  of  age, 
and  had  never  commanded  an  army,  or  flUed  any  public  oflice  of 
especial  responsibility,  except  that  of  supreme  pontiff.  He  had, 
however,  by  the  exercise  of  his  great  talents,  in  the  ordinary  public 
business  of  the  state,  acquired  so  much  popular  favour  and  general 
influence,  that  his  position  in  the  Roman  councils  was  one  of  distin- 


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THE  OBNTILB  NATIONS.  447 

gaished  emineBce.  Caesar  availed  himself  of  the  present  emergency 
to  use  this  influence  with  effect.  He  reconciled  Pompey  and  Gras- 
sus,  and,  imiting  himself  with  them,  formed  what  is  called  "the 
First  Triumvirate."  According  to  the  terms  of  this  partnership  of 
power,  Caesar  led  an  army  into  Gaul ;  Crassus  was  elected  consul, 
and  proceeded  to  Syria;  and  Pompey,  also  consul,  went  to  Spain. 

Caesar  continued  his  command  in  Gaul  eight  years,  during  which 
time  he  not  only  subdued  the  whole  of  that  country,  but  also  brought 
under  the  dominion  of  Rome  all  the  territory  between  the  Pyrenees 
and  the  German  Ocean ;  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  defeated  the  Ger- 
mani  in  their  own  country;  and  passed  over  into  Britain,  and  at 
least  brought  a  portion  of  this  island  into  professed  subjection  to 
.Rome.  While  Caesar  was  prosecuting  these  conquests,  Crassus 
perished,  with  a  great  part  of  his  army,  in  a  war  against  Parthia. 
Pompey  became  envious  of  his  colleague's  fame ;  and  the  death  of 
Julia,  Caesar's  daughter,  whom  Pompey  had  married,  dissolved  the 
last  link  of  union  between  these  two  great  men.  It  then  became* 
evident  that,  with  their  ambition  and  power,  a  collision  between 
them  would  soon  be  inevitable. 

The  crisis  was  hastened  by  Caesar's  asking  permission  to  hold  the 
ofBce  of  consul  during  his  absence.  He  had  previously,  by  lavish 
gifts,  secured  the  most  influential  adherents  at  Home,  and  among 
them  the  powerful  and  popular  Caius  Curio.  This  able  and  ener- 
getic tribune,  perceiving  that  the  senate  would  soon  be  induced  to 
recall  Caesar,  took  advantage  of  a  proposition  of  the  consul  Mar- 
cellus  to  that  effect,  to  submit  a  distinct  motion, — that  both  Pompey 
and  Caesar  should  lay  down  their  military  command.  This  propo- 
sition was  carried  in  the  senate  by  a  great  majority,  and  applauded 
with  enthusiasm  by  the  people  without ;  but  was  not  carried  into 
effect.  The  senate  feiu-ed  Caesar,  and  trusted  in  Pompey,  and  would 
not  consent  to  place  their  idol  in  a  private  position.  After  consider- 
able time  had  been  wasted  in  negotiation,  the  senate  passed  a  decree, 
by  which  Caesar  was  commanded  to  disband  his  army  before  a  speci- 
fied day,  on  pain  of  being  declared  a  public  enemy.  Antony  and 
Gassius,  as  tribunes,  interposed  their  veto  against  this  vote.  At 
first  their  right  to  interpose  was  disputed;  but  at  length  the  diffi- 
culty was  obviated  by  a  vote  which  suspended  the  constitution  for 
this  purpose,  and  the  proposed  measure  was  carried,  the  opposition 
of  the  tribunes  being  thus  set  aside.  The  principal  adherents  of 
Caesar  in  Rome  immediately  left  the  city,  and  fled  to  his  camp. 

Caesar,  on  receiving  this  intelligence,  acted  with  a  promptitude 
and  energy  which  astonished  his  enemies.  He  immediately  sent 
forth  his  troops  toward  the  Rubicon, — the  small  river  which  divided 


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448  THB  GSNTILB  NATIOHS. 

Us  provmoe  6oni  die  Italiaa  penm8iila,*-eiitertamed  ids  {nends  as 
Bsval  though  tiie  day,  and  at  ot^t  followed  his  men  in  their  line  of 
march.  It  is  said  that  he  hesitated  for  a  moment  on  the  bridge  over 
the  narrow  river ;  and  then,  exclaiming,  *'  The  die  is  oast,"  he  passed 
over.  Pompey,  who  had  previously  boasted  that  he  had  only  to 
stamp  with  his  foot  to  raise  legions  in  any  part  of  Italy,  found  him- 
self utterly  unprepared  to  meet  the  daring  spirit  of  his  rival  in  the 
field,  supported  as  he  was  by  those  legions  at  whose  head  he  had 
passed  on  in  an  uninterrupted  course  of  conquest  during  the  pre- 
ceding eight  years.  It  is  beyond  comprehension  how  the  imperator, 
with  all  the  power  and  resources  of  the  vast  Roman  dominions  at 
his  beck,  and  witii  all  his  experience  and  personal  influence,  should 
have  allowed  himself  to  be  taken  so  completely  by  surprise,  as  not 
to  be  able  for  a  mom^t  to  meet  his  rival.  As  soon  as  he  heard 
that  Caesar  had  passed  the  Rubicon,  he  immediately  declared  that 
he  had  no  force  in  Italy  equal  to  cope  with  him ;  and  he  and  the 
'  >8en»te  retired  from  the  ci^ital  with  such  precipitation,  that  they 
even  forgot  to  secure  the  public  treasures  lodged  in  the  temple  of 
Saturn.  This  neglect  was  not  thou^t  of  until  they  arrived  at 
Capua,  when  no  one  dared  to  return  and  fetch  them.  All  Italy  was 
subdued  in  sixty  days.  Pompey  sailed  from  Brundisium  for  Greece, 
to  collect  an  army  from  the  legions  of  that  country  and  of  Asia; 
while  Caesar  marched  in  triumph  to  Rome. 

This  revolution — ^for  such  it  undoubtedly  was — differed  essantially 
from  every  preceding  assumption  of  absolute  power  in  Rome. 
Caesar  evinced  no  disposition  to  shed  blood.  Even  captives  who 
fell  into  his  hands  while  in  armed  resistance  to  him,  he  spared. 
This  clemency  produced  a  general  feeling  in  his  favour :  nobles  and 
senators  returned  to  Rome ;  and,  after  a  brief  interval,  the  chief  who 
had  accomplished  these  wonders  found  the  capital  in  such  an  ord^y 
condition,  that  he  felt  quite  at  liberty  to  prosecute  the  war  against 
his  enemies  in  the  provinces.  He  first  proceeded  to  Spun,  which 
had  been  Pompey's  province,  and  where  he  had  many  partisans 
among  the  officers.  These  collected  their  strength,  but  were  soon 
compelled  to  surrender  to  Caesar.  Marseilles  held  out  awhile 
against  him;  but  it  was  reduced.  Here,  too,  he  spared  the 
lives  of  all  c^>tive6,  taking  only  their  munitions  of  war  and  treas- 
ures. Having  thus  reduced  all  the  Roman  dominions  in  the 
west  to  his  sway,  Caesar  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  was  created 
dictator, — an  office  whidi  he  held  only  eleven  days.  Causing  him- 
self and  Servilius  Isauricus  to  be  elected  consuls,  and  the  other 
great  offices  to  be  filled  with  his  devoted  friends,  confiding  the 
government  of  the  dty  to  Lepidus,  and  placing  the  troops  in  Italy 


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THB  GSNTILB  NATIOKB.   «  449 

under  the  command  of  Maxc  Astony,  GsBSor  followed  Pompej  into 
Qieeoe. 

This  general  had  not  wasted  the  time  which  had  heen  bo  oppor- 
tonelj  given  him.  All  his  influence  in  the  east  was  called  into 
requisition ;  and  a  large  army — ^indeed,  one  Cbot  exceeding  in  number 
that  of  his  opponent — ^was  gathered,  And  prepared  to  defend  his 
came.  On  the  arrival  of  Caesar,  both  generals  seemed  relucjbant  to 
stake  the  issue  on  a  decisive  battle.  After  much  manoeuvring,  a 
combat  was  fought^  in  which  Gsasar  was  forced  to  retire  with  some 
loss,  and  which  inspired  the  troops  of  Pompey  with  unbounded  de^ 
light,  and  gave  them  a  very  false  confidence  as  to  the  future. 

After  this  conflict,  Gsesar,  whose  army  greatly  ^needed  provisions, 
proceeded  to  Thessaly;  upon  which  the  advisers  of  Pompey  ui^ged 
him  to  cross  the  narrow  sea,  and  seize  Italy ;  but  that  veteran  did 
not  dare  to  make  a  movement  of  such  c(Misequence.  He  preferred 
eflfiscting  a  junction  with  a  body  of  troops  under  the  command  of 
Sdpio,  which  plaoed  the  hostile  armies  again  in  immediate  proximity 
to  eadi  other.  At  l^gth  Pompey,  who  had  evidently  feared  to 
oppose  his  raw  levies  to  the  veteran  troops  of  Caesar,  confiding  in 
his  vast  numerical  superiority,  offered  battle  on  a  plain  near  Pharaa- 
lia.  The  battle  was  neither  very  long  contested,  nor  very  bloody, 
although  it  decided  the  empire  of  the  world.  The  cavalry  of  Pom* 
pey  fled  before  the  German  horsemen  o{>poBed  to  them ;  and  the 
in&ntiy,  assailed  in  front  and  flank,  numerous  as  they  were,  could 
not  resist  the  veteran  legionaries  of  Caesar.  It  is,  indeed,  probable 
that  the  real  cause  of  this  victory  is  found  in  the  fiu^t,  that  while 
the  soldiers  of  Caesar  loved  their  general,  felt  personally  interested 
in  his  cause,  and  were  prepared  to  die  in  his  servioe^  those  of  Pom- 
pey, being  hastily  collected,  had  no  sympathy  or  confidence  in  eaeh 
other,  or  in  their  duef 

This  victory  made  Caesar  the.  sovereign  of  the  Roman  empire. 
Pompey  fled  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  slain.  Caesar  followed,  too 
late  either  to  destroy,  or  to  save  the  life  of,  his  great  rival,  but  in 
tune  to  subdue  Egypt  after  a  desperate  struggle.  Having  consoli- 
dated his  conquest^  he  proeeeded  to  Tarsus,  passed  through  Cilicia 
and  Gappadocia,  and  completely  defeated  the  unnatural  son  of  the 
great  Mitfaridates  in  Pontus,  in  a  war  so  short  and  effective,  that  it 
occasioned  the  celebrated  despatdi,  Veni,  vidi,  vici,  "I  game,  I 
SAW,  I  OONQUBBBD."  Having  established  the  dominion  of  Rome  in 
the  east,  he  retoned  to  Italy,  when  he  was  again  named  dictator. 

Returning  to  Rome,  Caesar  found  the  public  business  deranged^ 
and  the  city  fuD  of  confusion,  through  the  violent  quarrels  of  Anto- 
ny and  Dolabella.    Having,  after  some  £fSculty,  reconciled  them, 

29 


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460  '     THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

'the  dictator  s&iled  to  Africa,  where  Gato  with  an  army  still  main- 
tained the  cause  of  the  fallen  Pompey.  His  arrival  was  soon  after 
followed  by  that  of  Cneius  Pompeyl  with  the  r^nains  of  the  host 
which  had  fought  at  Pharsalia.  The  troops  of  Gato  and  Pompey 
were  then  combined  under  the  command  of  Scipio,  so  that  it  seem^ 
as  if  the  contest  had  yet  to  be  decided,  especially  as  Gsssar  had  not 
more  than  half  the  number  of  soldiers  that  were  marching  under  the 
banners  of  his  opponents.  Strangely  enough,  this  most  perilous 
conquest  was  begun  without  the  general's  command.  The  celebrated 
tenth  legion,  which  had  been  but  just  before  aknost  mutinous  at 
Rome,  and  had  been  disbanded,  but  afterward  restored  to  favour,  on 
.this  occasion  was  so  determined  to  distinguish  itself,  that,  when  both 
armies  were  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle,  this  body  of  troops  rushed 
headlong  on  the  enemy;  and  the  dictator,  finding  it  impossible  to 
restrain  them,  gave  the  word,  "Good  luck,"  and  led  on  the  other 
legions  to  the  conflict.  The  struggle  was  very  short.  The  African 
elephants,  on  receiving  the  first  shower  of  arrows,  gave  way,  and 
threw  the  infantry  into  conftision,  so  that  Scipio's  legions  made  little 
resistance.  This  decided  the  fate  of  the  world.  Gato  soon  after 
killed  himself  at  Utica;  Scipio  was  taken  and  slain;  Juba  and 
.Petreiiis  fought,  imtil  the  former  fell,  and  the  latter  slew  himself 

Gaesar  now  returned  to  Rome,  and  was  received  with  the  most 
extravagant  adulation.  In  his  triumph,  his  ohariot  was  drawn  by 
four  white  horses,  like  those  of  Jupiter.  He  w^s  also  declared  dic- 
tator for  fen  jWs,  and  had  his  statue  placed  in  the  capitol,  with  a 
globe  under  his  feet,  bearing  the  inscription,  "To  G^sar  thb 
Dbmi-god."  After  staying  awhile  at  Rome,  the  dictator  found  it 
necessary  to  lead  his  legions  again  to  Spain,  where  the  sons  of  Pom- 
pey were  in  arms ;  but  the  star  of  Gsdsar  was  still  in  the  ascendant, 
and  the  last  elements  of  the  Pompeian  party  were  crushed. 

While  the  means  by  which  Gsssar  acquired  uncontrolled  dominion 
at  Rome  proved  him  to  be  the  first  soldier  of  his  age,  the  fact  that 
he  managed  to  wield  this  power  without  assuming  a  title,  or  intro- 
ducing a  usage,  unknown  to  the  republic,  or  at  variance  with  the 
precedents  of  its  history,  exhibits  him  as  a  profound  statesman.  He 
was  created  dictator,  tribune,  supreme  pontiff,  inspector  of  morals, 
and  prince  of  the  senate:  so  that  the  possession  of  all  these  legiti- 
mate ofiices  gave  him  the  command  of  the  army, — a  veto  on  all 
legislation,>-the  distribution  of  national  finances.  Even  the  order 
of  society  and  the  regulation  of  manners  were  placed  under  his  cog- 
nisance ;  as  were  augury  and  religion,  the  direction  of  debate  in  the 
senate,  as  well  as  all  executive  and  judicial  power. 

Having  thus  raised  himself  to  absolute  rule  over  the  largest  aggre- 


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THB  OSNTILB  HATI0K8.  461 

gaiion  of  nations  ever  formed  into  one  goyemment,  this  wonderful 
man  contemplated  vast  plans,  worthy  of  his  genius  and  power.  He 
prepared  to  revenge  the  defeat  of  the  Romans  under  Grassus  in  a 
war  with  Parthia,  and  to  make  great  improvements  in  Italy  by 
colossal  public  works.  But,  notwithstanding  the  extent  to  which 
sncoessive  revolutions  had  prepared  the  Roman  people  for  an  autoc- 
racy, and  although  absolute  rule,  either  in  the  hands  of  one  indi- 
vidual, or  by  a  domineering  oligarchy,  had  actually  governed  Rome 
from  the  times  of  the  Gracchi,  there  were  many  able  and  honest 
Romans,  who  mourned  over  the  elevation  of  Csesar,  as  the  ruin  of 
their  country,  and  the  total  loss  of  its  civil  liberty.  Brutus  and 
Oassius  were  at  the  head  of  this  party.  After  much  deliberation,  it 
was  agreed  to  put  an  end  to  this  absolute  rule,  and  to  restore  the 
conntry  to  freedom  by  the  assassination  of  Gaasar,  on  the  fifteenth  of 
March.  So  many  persons  were  parties  to  this  conspiracy,  that  the 
plot  was  in  imminent  danger  of  exploding  before  the  hour  arrived; 
and  even  on  the  morning  of  the  day  appointed  for  the  murder,  it 
seemed  scarcely  possible  to  prevent  the  whole  project  from  being 
communicated  to  the  intended  victim.  The  plot  was,  however,  con- 
cealed. Caesar  went  to  the  senate-house,  was  there  surrounded  by 
the  assassins,  and  fell,  pierced  by  numerous  wounds,  at  the  foot  of 
Pompey's  statue. 

Perhaps  no  man  fills  a  larger  space,  or  occupies  a  more  prominent 
position,  in  the  general  history  of  the  world,  than  Julius  C^sar. 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  his  annbition,  it  is  certain -that  he  reduced 
the  conflicting  elements  of  Roman  society  to  order  and  harmony. 
He  incorporated  the  most  worthy  and  distinguished  foreigners  with 
the  citizens,  and  even  with  the  senate  at  Rome.  He  magnanimously 
rose  above  the  cruel  and  cowardly  practice  of  putting  political  op- 
ponents to  death :  and,  as  if  military  operations  and  the  ordinary 
detail  of  government  were  insufficient  to  employ  his  unftdling  energy, 
he,  as  supreme  pontiff,  prepared  and  published  a  correction  of  the 
calendar,  which,  of  itself,  would  have  immortalized  his  name. 

Nor  were  the  projects  of  Csesar  less  in  advance  of  his  age  than 
his  actual  achievements.  He  contemplated  a  system  of  legislation, 
and  a  condensed  and  harmonious  arrangement  of  statutes,  as  a  code 
of  law,  which  would  have  anticipated  the  work  of  Justinian  by  six 
hundred  years.  He  designed  an  elaborate  survey  of  the  vast  regions 
subject  to  Roman  dominion;  and  actually  appointed  a  commission 
of  geographers  and  mathematicians  to  construct  a  map  so  large  in 
scale,  and  so  full  of  detail,  that  it  required  no  less  than  thirty-two 
years  to  complete  the  work.  In  addition  to  these,  he  projected 
emptying  the  Lake  Fucinus,~-drainmg  the  Pontine  Marshes,— mak- 


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462  XHS  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

ing  a  canal  from  Rome  to  Terracma, — opening  a  nevr  road  aeroas  Hxd 
Apennines, — ^and  cutting  through  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth.  The 
man  who  could  do  what  GaBsar  ddd,  and  project  what  he  planned,  was 
a  man  far  too  great  to  be  simply  a  tyrant.  That  he  had  great  fiuilts^ 
is  undoubted ;  that  he  pursued  a  selfish  and  ambitious  policy,  is  un- 
questionable:  but,  notwith8tan<Ung  this,  hewilierer  stand  befere 
the  worid  as  the  greatest  man  whom  Rome  produced  throu^out  tbe 
whole  of  her  history. 

On  the  death  of  GsMwr,  all  Borne  was  filled  with  terror.  So  one 
knew  to  what  danger  the  public  peace  was  exposed;  nor  on  what 
principles  those  who  had  slain  the  dictator  were  prepared  to  govern 
the  state,  nor  whether  they  were  disposed  to  involve  in  the  min  of 
Caesar  his  partisans  and  firiends.  But  as  he  had  contrived  to  grasp 
absolute  power  without  any  violation  of  established  law,  all  the 
elements  of  government  remained  intact,  and  tranquillity  and  order 
were  maintained  until  the  day  of  Caesar's  funeral.  On  that  occasion 
Marc  Antony,  by  a  studied  oration  over  the  dead  body,  a  recital  of 
Caesar's  will,  and  the  exhibition  of  an  image  of  the  hero  with  his 
twenty- three  wounds,  as  in  the  agonies  of  death,  managed  to  inflame 
the  passions  of  the  people  to  such  an  extont,  that  they  tore  up  the 
benches  of  the  senate-house,  to  burn  the  body  on  the  spot ;  after 
which  they  attacked  the  houses  of  the  principal  conspirators,  who 
were  obliged  to  secrete  themselves,  in  order  to  secure  their  personal 
safety. 

Antony  was  ambitious  to  step  into  the  position  occupied  by  his 
departed  patron;  and  his  being  consul  at  the  time  gave  him  an 
immense  advantage  in  carrying  out  his  views.  In  the  mean  time 
the  conspirators  evinced  the  greatest  timidity  and  indecision,  and 
the  utter  absence  of  all  unity  of  purpose.  Instead  of  regarding  the 
death  of  Caesar  as  the  beginning  of  a  course>of  measures  which  were 
to  issue  in  the  renovation  of  the  vast  republic,  they  acted  as  though 
it  was  the  only  result  at  which  they  aimed,  and  consequently  gave 
their  opponents  the  opportunity  of  defeating  the  object  whid^  they 
meant  to  accomplish.  Antony,  as  Caesar's  executor,  possessed  all 
his  papers,  and,  in  addition,  gained  over  to  his  service  the  late  dicta- 
tor's secretary.  He  then  induced  the  senate,  on  the  plea  of  prevent- 
ing universal  disorder,  to  confirm  all  Caesar's  acts  and  appoint- 
ments; and  managed  to  include  in  this  confirmation  the  projects 
which  Caesar  contomplated.  This  measure  invested  Antony  with 
almost  unlimited  power.  He  sold  appointments,  gave  donations, 
conferred  magistracies,  did,  in  fact,  anything, — bringing  his  authority 
for  all  out  of  the  pretended  papers  of  Caesar.  By  these  means  he 
not  only  repaired  his  own  shattered  finances,  but  was  able  to  give  a 


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THB  aBNIILE  NATIONS.  453 

bonus  to  the  sddiers,  and  to  8e<nire  to  himself  important  military 
inflaence.  He  at  the  same  time  introduced  a  state  of  things  which 
mdnced  Cicero  to  say,  "  The  tyrant  is  dead;  but  tyranny  still  lives/' 

While  Antony  was  pursuing  this  course,  a  new  hero  appeared  on 
the  stage.  Octaviuo,  a  young  man,  eighteen  years  of  age,  a  nephew 
of  Julius  GsBsar,  had  been  adopted  as  his  son,  and  left  his  heir,  by 
the  last  will  of  the  dictator.  His  friends  strongly  advised  him,  on 
account  of  his  youth|  to  forego  the  perilous  distinction  which  had 
been  bequeathed  to  him ;  but  Ootavius  possessed  spirit  equal  to  die 
emergency.  He  aocordmgly  came  to  Rome,  and  boldly  claimed  the 
position  which  his  uncle  had  assigned  him :  and  when  he  found  that 
he  could  not  obtain  from  Antony,  as  his  uncle's  executor,  a  sufficient 
sum  to  pay  the  legacy  which  had  been  bequeathed  to  the  Boman 
dtixens,  be  sold  the  residue  of  the  late  dictator's  estate,  together 
with  his  own,  borrowed  what  more  was  necessary,  and  paid  thie 
amount.    This  conduct  rendered  the  young  man  extremely  popular. 

At  length,  the  long-impending  crisis  approached.  Brutus  and 
Cassius,  perceiving  that  Antony  was  preparing  to  sustain  the  posi- 
tion which  he  had  assumed  by  force  of  arms,  departed  to  the  east,  in 
die  hope  of  inducing  the  Boman  legions  in  Greece,  Macedonia,  and 
the  neighbouring  provinces,  to  assert  and  defend  the  cause  of  liberty. 
Antony  retired  into  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  levied  an  army  of  veterans 
to  support  him ;  while  Octavius,  jealous  of  the  pride  and  power  of 
Antony,  professed  to  adhere  to  the  senate;  and  that  august  body, 
inflamed  by  the  fiirious  harangues  of  Cicero,  sent  the  two  consuls 
with  their  forces,  accompanied  by  Octavius,  against  Antony.  Be- 
tween these  armies  two  battles  were  fought.  In  the  first,  the  con- 
sular army  had  the  advantage ;  in  the  latter,  Antony  was  entirely 
defeated,  but  both  of  the  consuls  were  slain.  This  event  placed 
Ootavius  at  the  head  of  the  united  armies  of  the  state ;  while  Antony 
fled  to  Lepidus,  who  commanded  a  formidable  force  in  Spain. 

In  this  state  of  afiifkirs  a  negotiation  took  place,  which  reflects 
infamy  on  all  the  parties  concerned.  Octavius,  who  had  been  elected 
consul  before  he  was  twenty,  opened  a  correspondence  with  Antony 
and  Lepidus,  which  issued  in  the  formation  of  a  second  Triumvirate. 
These  men  partitioned  the  power  of  Bome  between  them,  on  the  basis 
of  sadrificing  individual  friends  to  the  blood-thirsty  animosity  of  each 
other.  By  this  sanguinary  agreement,  seventeen  of  the  most  eminent 
men  in  Bome,  including  the  venerable  Cicero,  and  great  numbers  of 
inferior  note,  were  basely  murdered.  This  Triumvirate  was  boldly 
proclaimed,  and  its  terms  read  and  ratified,  in  the  camps  of  &e 
respective  officers.  By  this  covenant,  Antony,  Ootavius,  and  Lepi- 
dus were^  under  the  title  of  "  triumvirs,"  to  rule  over  the  Boman 


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454  THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS. 

dominions  conjointly.  They  were  to  have  the  appointment  of  all 
magistrates ;  and  their  decrees  were  to  have  the  force  of  law,  withoat 
the  sanction  of  the  senate  or  the  people.  By  this  treaty,  the  two  Granls 
were  assigned  to  Antony;  the  two  Spains  to  Lepidos;  and  Africa 
and  the  Mediterranean  Islands  to  Octavius;  Italy  being  regarded 
as  held  in  common  between  them^  Greece  and  the  east  were  to  be 
divided  when  Brutus  and  Cassias,  who  held  them  at  the  time  with 
a  republican  army,  should  be  defeated.  Lepidus  was  then  left,  with 
his  soldiers,  in  charge  of  the  government  at  home;  while  Antony 
and  Octavius,  each  at  the  head  of  twenty  legions,  marched  into 
Greece  against  the  forces  of  Brutus  and  Gassius. 

Here  the  cause  of  liberty,  which  had  previously  perished  in  Italy, 
was  staked  on  the  issue  of  the  war.  The  armies  met  at  Philippi; 
and,  in  two  great  battles,  the  cause  of  the  conspirators  was  rained. 
Brutus  and  Cassius  fell  by  their  own  swords ;  Antony  and  Octavius 
were  triumphant,  and  added  to  their  previous  atrocities  by  their  bar- 
barous and  bloody  treatment  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the  captives 
who  fell  into  their  hands. 

After  these  victories,  Antony  proceeded  to  Asia,  to  reward  his 
soldiers  with  the  spoils  of  that  country,  while  Octavius  returned  to 
Italy.  On  entering  Asia,  the  former  plunged  into  a  course  of  sen- 
sual dissipation,  fatal  to  his  military  success.  But,  on  his  going  to 
Egypt,  the  wanton  Cleopatra  met  him ;  and  he  at  once  became  an 
unresisting  captive  to  her  charms,  and  fully  g»ve  himself  up  to  a  life 
of  voluptuous  indolence  and  unbridled  dissipation.  In  the  mean  time 
Octavius  returned  to  Italy.  Here  he  found  Fulvia^  the  wife  of 
Antony,  a  proud  and  daring  woman,  exercising  a  powerful  aso^d- 
ency  over  the  consuls,  and  virtually  directing  tiie  government.  Dis- 
putes of  a  serious  nature  soon  arose  between  the  young  triumvir  and 
the  wife  and  brother  of  his  absent  colleague.  Octavius,  with  his 
usual  policy,  first  bestowed  large  gifts  upon  the  soldiery,  and  then 
proposed  to  submit  to  their  arbitration  the  matters  in  dispute  be- 
tween himself  and  Antony.  The  veterans,  of  course,  accepted  the 
offer,  and  cited  the  triumvirs  to  meet  before  them  at  Gabii.  Octa- 
vius appeared ;  Antony  was  absent,  being  in  Egypt :  the  a^Gedr,  how- 
ever, mightily  increased  the  influence  of  Octavius  with  the  army. 
Lucius  Antonius,  as  consul,  adopted  a  bold  course,  and  drove  the 
indolent  Lepidus  before  him ;  but  he  was  soon  defeated  by  the  troops 
of  Octavius,  and,  being  compelled  to  surrender,  was  sent  into  a  kind 
of  honourable  exile,  being  appointed  to  a  command  in  Spain.  By 
this  means  Octavius  obtained  &e  entire  direction  of  the  affidrs  of 
Italy,  and  the  command  of  all  the  legions  in  the  west. 

These  events  at  length  roused  Antony  from  his  besotted  crime 


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IHB  ailNTILB  NATIOBS.  455 

and  folly  in  Egypt.  He  returned  to  Italy,  and  the  state  of  afl^irs 
betokened  a  bloody  struggle.  But  the  veteran  legions  again  insisted, 
on  an  accommodation  between  their  quarrelling  commanders;  and 
accordingly  a  new  partition  of  the  empire  was  agreed  upon.  An- 
tony received*  Egypt  and  the  east,  with  the  charge  of  the  Parthian 
war ;  Octavius  was  placed  in  possession  of  Italy  and  all  the  west ; 
and  Lepidus  obtained  Africa;  while  to  Seztus  Pompey,  the  only 
surviving  son  of  the  great  triumvir,  who  had  made  himself  formida- 
ble at  sea,  were  assigned  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Corsica. 

This  hollow  peace  was,  like  many  other  of  the  Roman  alliances  of 
this  period,  cemented  by  a  marriage.  On  his  return  from  Egypt^ 
Antony  had  treated  his  wife  Fulvia  with  such  neglect,  that  this 
high-spirited  woman  died  of  grief  and  vexation.  In  order,  there- 
fore, to  secure  a  family  union  between  Octavius  and  Antony,  as  the 
leading  members  of  this  alliance,  it  was  arranged  that  the  latter 
should  marry  Octavia,  half-sister  of  Octavius.  This  being  done, 
Antony  repaired  to  the  east,  to  conduct  the  threatened  war  against 
Parthia. 

The  first  inroad  on  this  alliance  was  a  quarrel  between  Sextus 
and  Octavius.  The  former,  seeing  how  dependent  Rome  was  on  the 
sea  for  supplies,  availed  himself  of  his  maritime  power  to  cut  these 
ofl^  by  which  means*  the  price  of  provisions  at  Rome  was  doubled. 
With  considerable  difficulty  Octavius,  having  obtained  the  aid  of 
Lepidus,  drove  Sextus  out  of  Sicily,  and  compelled  him  to  take 
refuge  in  the  east,  where  he  was  soon  after  put  to  death  by  one  of 
Antony's  officers.  Meantime,  Lepidus  determined  to  attempt 
acquiring  undivided  sway  in  the  west,  and,  at  the  head  of  twenty 
legions,  took  possession  of  Messana.  Octavius  marched  against 
him,  and,  as  he  had  frequently  done  before,  secured  more  by  policy 
than  by  war.  Proceeding  alone  and  unarmed  into  the  camp  of  his 
rival,  Octavius  so  wrought  on  the  soldiers,  that  they  came  over  to 
him  in  a  body;  upon  which  Lepidus,  finding  himself  abandoned, 
threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  victor,  and  in  the  most  abject  terms 
begged  his  life.  Octavius  could  alFord  to  be  merciful ;  so  he  sent 
his  former  rival  into  banishment,  where  he  lived  in  obscurity  more 
than  twenty  years. 

While  the  adopted  son  and  successor  of  the  great  Julius  was  thus 
making  himself  supreme  master  of  all  the  western  part  of  the  Ro- 
man dominions,  Antony,  after  spending  some  time  in  Greece,  sent 
back  his  new  wife,  Octavia,  to  Rome,  determined  to  devote  himself 
to  the  Parthian  war.  But  no  sooner  was  this  done,  than  he  sum- 
moned Cleopatra  to  meet  him  in  Syria ;  where  he  commenced,  in  her 
company,  a  fresh  career  of  dissipation  and  folly.    He  had,  indeed. 


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456  THB  eiNTILB  NAtlONS. 

80  fully  committed  himself  to  the  innwion  of  Parthia^  that  he  oonld 
not  withdraw  from  it ;  so,  leaTing  his  lioentioiis  mislxess  bdiind  him, 
he  proce^ed  to  the  east.  But  this  war,  whidi  had  been  so  long 
projected,  and. for  which  ample  preparations  had  been  made,  was 
rashly  begun,  miwisely  condncted,  and  terminated  with  defeat  and 
disaster  to  the  Roman  aAns. 

Antony  proceeded  with  such  haste  to  the  Parthian  territory,  in 
order  to  commence  opeiations  before  winter,  that,  when  he  reached 
the  first  fortified  city  of  the  country,  he  found  that  he  had  out- 
stripped the  transit  of  his  siege  apparatus ;  and  that,  while  he  could 
not  reduce  the  place  without  it,  he  could  neither  adyance,  leaving 
this  strong  fortress  of  the  enemy  in  his  rear,  nor  hope  to  receive  the 
requisite  materiel  before  winter.  The  Roman  veteran  had,  there- 
fore, no  alternative  but  to  retreat;  and  this  inglorious  movement 
was  not  effected  without,  great  difficulty  and  immense  loss.  At 
length,  however,  the  Roman  frontier  was  gained,  when,  instead  of 
distributing  his  forces,  and  preparing  for  a  more  successful  campaign 
in  the  ensuing  spring,  Antony  hastened  again  to  the  arms  of  Cleo- 
patra, and  abandoned  alike  his  public  duty  and  his  honour  for  the 
gratification  of  his  vices. 

Octavia  did  all  that  a  virtuous  matron  could  effect.  Hearing  of 
the  reverse  her  husband. had  sustained,  and  knowing  how  he  was 
employed,  she  obtained  her  brother's  consent  to  visit  him  with  such 
presents  as  were  deemed  suitable  to  his  circumstances.  Antony, 
informed  of  the  coming  of  his  wife,  sent  a  message  to  meet  her  at 
Athens*  forbidding  her  to  proceed  further;  while  he  and  the  partoer 
of  his  guilt  went  on  to  Alexandria.  Octavia  felt  she  could  do  no 
more  to  save,  a  worthless  husband  from  the  fate  be  merited ;  so  she 
returned  to  Rome,  and  devoted  her  time  to  the  care  of  her  childreo, 
and  of  those  of  her  husband  by  Fulvia^  his  former  wife.  This 
sealed  the  fate  of  Antony ;  for  it  filled  the  Roman  mind  with  disgust 
for  the  man  who  could  act  in  such  a  vicious  and  contemptible  man- 
ner. But,  not  satisfied  with  this  conduct,  he  sent  his  wife  a  bill  of 
divorce,  and  appoLuted  his  children  by  Cleopatra  to  kingdoms  in  the 
east,  sending  the  notifications  of  this  to  Rome,  and  demanding  their 
formal  enrolment  there. 

It  did  not  require  this  excessive  amount  of  insult  and  injury  to 
induce  Octavius  to  prepare  for  war :  his  interest  and  his  inclination 
led  him  to  this  course ;  and  both  parties  saw  that  the  sword  must 
soon  decide  the  fate  of  these  rivals  for  power.  Immense  prepara- 
tions were  made  on  each  side,  and,  as  in  a  previous  instance,  Greece 
was  again  selected  as  the  theatre  of  war.  For  a  considerable  period 
the  armies  lay  encamped  on  opposite  sides  of  the  little  gulf  of  Am- 


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THB  QBKTILB  NATIONS.  457 

brads.  Antony,  inflnenced  by  Cleopatra,  who  dreaded  not  being 
able  to  escape  in  case  of  defeat,  determined  to  stake  the  issne  on  the 
result  of  a  8ea-%ht,  which  took  place  in  the  straits  leading  to  the 
golf.  Here,  while  the  battle  was  still  raging,  Cleopatra  hoisted  her 
sails  and  fled:  Antony,  renouncing  his  fame,  and  abandoning  the 
troops  who  were  shedding  their  blood  in  his  cause,  followed  the 
guilty  woman,  and  both  reached  Egypt  in  safety.  But  this  conduct, 
more  than  the  result  of  the  battle,  placed  the  l^ons  of  Antony  in 
the  power  of  Oetavius.  The  oonqueror  proceeded  into  Asia»  and, 
after  a  short  period,  to  Egypt,  where,  after  scarcely  a  struggle, 
Antony  fell  by  his  own  sword,  and  Cleopatra  perished  by  the  bite  of 
an  asp,  which  she  procured  for  the  purpose. 

Henceforth  Octayius  was  absolute  sovereign  of  Borne.  As  he  did 
not  ascend  to  this  dignity  by  grasping  an  aggregation  of  republican 
offices,  like  his  uncle,  but  as  the  successor  of  a  Triumvirate  which 
had  formally  assumed  a  power  to  rule  irrespectively  of  the  senate 
and  the  people,  the  oonstitntion  of  the  government  became  in  theory, 
as  in  &ct,  an  autocracy.  With  the  fate  of  his  uncle  before  him, 
Octavius  took  special  care  of  his  personal  safety. 

The  Boman  people  seemed  divested  alike  of  all  desire  to  retain 
their  former  liber^,  and  of  all  apprehension  of  tyranny.  They 
showered  every  honour  on  Octavius, — dignified  him  with  the  appel- 
lation of  Augustus, — actually  enrolled  his  name  in  the  list  of  deities 
to  whom  public  prayers  were  addressed, — and  in  other  respects 
treated  him  as  divine.  This  wonderful  man  obtained  this  full 
amount  of  sway,  B.  C.  30 ;  and  in  the  following  year  he  had  so 
consolidated  his  power  that,  amid  universal  peace,  the  temple  of 
Janus  was  shut.  Augustus  still  reigned,  when,  according  to  the 
divine  purpose,  the  Son  of  God  was  incarnated  among  men,  and  the 
Qod  of  heaven  set  up  his  kingdom  in  the  earth.  (See  Appendix, 
note  82.) 


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CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OP  ROMAN  HISTORY. 


758  Rome  founded. 

—  BomiLus  king 86 

716  KuxA  folly  eBtoUished  the  Etni*- 

can  religion. 
679  TCTLLUS  HoBTiLtns. 
640  Airous  Maktiub. 
618  Tabqudtius 

Sibylline  Books  bought. 
W8  Skbtius  Tullius. 
084  TABQunnus  Supebbus. 

Rome  exerciies  snpremftcy  orer  the 

Latins. 
Death  of  Lncratia. 
009  Expnlsion  of  Tarqnin. 
End  of  the  monarchy. 
606  First  commercial  treaty  with  Car- 
thage. 
498  First  Dictator  appointed. 
498  Tribunes  of  the  people  created. 
440  Military  tribunes. 
405  Siege  of  Veil  begun,  whieh  lasted 
ten  years,  and  led  to  the  eetab- 
lishment  of  a.standing  army. 
890  Rome  sacked  by  the  Gauls. 
866  Plebeian  consuls  appointed. 
853  First  Plebeian  dictator. 
298  Census,  272,800  Roman  citizens. 

364  First  Punic  War  lasted 38 

Rome  becomes  a  naval  power. 

318  Second  Punic  Wax ;....  17 

Hannibal,    from    Spain,    inrades 
Italy,  and  threatens  Rome. 
316  The  ScipioB  carry  on  war  in  Spain. 
203  Battle  of  Zama;  Carthage  compel- 
led  to  submit  to  peace. 

300  War  with  Philip  of  Macedon 8 

192  War  with  Antiochus  of  Syria. 

The  power  of  Rome  supreme. 

171  Macedonian  war  with  PerseuB. 


B.a  Kmmmt 

168  ^Hie  battle  of  Pydna,  when  the  Mao- 
edonian  kingdom  is  destroyed. 

165  Rome  so  enriched  by  the  spoils  of 
conquered  nations  that  the  citi- 
zens no  longer  pay  taxes. 

149  Third  Punic  War. 

146  Carthage,  after  a  desperate  strog- 
gle,  destroyed. 

188  Tiberius  (hacehus,  endeavouring  to 
introduce  reforms  on  behalf  of 
the  people,-  is  slain  in  a  tvmnli. 
•128  Gaius  Graochns,  attempting  to  carry 
out  his  brother's  designs,  is  also 
slain. 

107  Marius  six  times  consul. 

106  Cicero  and  Pompey  bom. 
100  Julius  C»sax  bom. 

88  Bloody  civil  wars  between  the 
Actions  of  Marina  and  Sylla, 
in  which  150,000  Romans  perish. 

68  Pompey  triumphs  as  conqueror  of 
fifteen  nations  and  four  hundred 
cities. 

60  First    Triumvirate,— Caesar,    Poss- 
'  pey,  and  Crassus. 

49  Civil  war  between  Cesar  and 
Pompey. 

48  Pompey  slain ;  Cesar  master  of  the 
Roman  empire. 

46  Reformation  of  the  Roman  Calendar. 

44  Julius  Cesar  slain. 

48  Second  Triumvirate, — ^Antony,  Octa- 
vius,  and  Lepidus. 
Bloody    proscriptions;    death    of 

Cicero. 
Wax  between  Octavius  and  Antony. 

81  Octavius,  under  the  title  of  Augos- 
tus,  reigns  supreme  over  Rome. 

39  Temple  of  Janus  shnU 


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THB  GBNTIIiB  NATIONS.  459 


CHAPTER  Xn. 

THE   RELIGION    OF   ROME. 

MiSTAKBV  Notion  which  obtains  of  this  Religion— Rome  greatlj  indebted  to  Etrnria— 
The  Religions  Institutions  of  the  Etmseanfr— Importance  of  the  EstabUslunent  of 
these  Religions  Institntions  in  Italy,  before  the  Rise  of  Rome  to  Power— The  Stniscan 
Religion  exhibited  much  important  Truth  and  Dirine  Influence — Considerable  Refer- 
ence to  Primitive  Traditions,  and  the  Recognition  of  a  Future  State  and  Judgment — 
The  Founders  of  Rome  educated  in  these  Doctrine^— All  the  Primitiye  Arrangement 
and  Organisation  of  Rome  formed  on  an  Etruscan  Basis— Sabine  and  Latin  Deities 
introduced  by  the  Union  of  these  Tribes — ^Numa  and  his  Institutions — ^Reign  of  Tar- 
qnin — Serrius  Tullius — Corruptions  in  Theology  and  Image-Worship  introduced — ^The 
Gods  of  Rome — Dii  mc^ontm — JHi  tdeetir—Dii  minorum — Sacred  Persons — ^Priests-^ 
Augun— J%(tMi^M— Flamens— The  Sacred  Places  and  Rites  of  this  Religion— Temples- 
Prayers  — Yows — Sacrifices  —  Festivals — LvKperoodiok—Bobodumalia^Satunialia—^^ 
end  View  of  the  Roman  Religion — Remarkable  Unity  maintained,  notwithstanding  so 
much  Extension  and  Addition— Completeness  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Economy— It  an- 
iwered  its  Design  so  far  as  to  pervade  the  public  Mind  with  its  Influence — Originally 
identified  with  many  important  Religious  Truths— Inquiry  into  the  Efiect  of  this  System 
on  the  People— The  Knowledge  of  God  which  it  gave  to  the  People— The  Opinions  of 
Deity  entertained  by  Philosophers — Analysis  of  the  Religious  Works  of  Cicero — ^The 
Result— The  Philosophy  of  Rome  afforded  nothing  better  than  Epicurean  or  Stoical 
ywm%  of  Deity— Knowledge  possessed  by  the  Romans  of  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul, 
and  of  Future  Rewards  and  Punishments — ^Effect  of  this  Destitution  of  Truth  upon 
Roman  Morals — ^The  Description  given  by  St.  Paul — State  of  Domestic  Manners — Con- 
dition of  Slaves,  and  their  Cruel  Treatment — ^Horrid  Cruelty  displayed  toward  the 
Children  of  Sejanu»— Awftil  Prevalence  of  Lioentiousness  and  unnatural  Impurity. 

The  religion  of  the  ancient  Romans  has  generally  been  regarded  as 
merely  a  recast  of  the  Grecian  mythology,  with  the  names  of  its 
deities  rendered  into  Latin,  and  its  sacred  ceremonies  and  rites 
adapted  to  the  genius  and  state  of  the  people.  A  very  limited 
search  is  snfficient  to  0how  the  fallacy  of  this  notion,  and  the  real 
original  of  this  system  of  futh. 

In  tracing  the  early  history  of  Rome,  it  was  observed,  that  this 
grand  ruling  power  arose  by  the  daring  prowess  and  indomitable 
military  energy  and  genius  of  a  rude,  but  hardy,  race,  who  did  not 
locate  themselves  in  a  previously  unoccupied  country,  but  obtained 
a  settlement  among,  and  gradiuJly  acquired  paramount  autiiority 
over,  a  more  ancient  and  civilized,  but  less  martial,  people. 

It  is  to  this  people  that  we  are  to  look  for  the  fundamental  ele- 
ments of  the  religion  of  Rome.  For,  as  certainly  as  Rome,  toward 
the  close  of  her  grand  career,  obtained  a  rich  amount  of  knowledge 


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460  THB  GENTILB  NATIONS. 

and  refinement  from  the  conquered  Greeks ;  so,  in  the  early  part  of 
her  course,  did  she  receive  an  equally  import^int  schooling  in  all  the 
arts  of  civilization,  and  the  principles  of  religion,  from  the  ancient 
Etruscans. 

Our  limits  will  not  allow  us  to  go  into  the  disputed  question  of 
the  origin  of  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  Etruria.  A  highly  accom- 
plished lady  of  our  own  country  has  succeeded  in  casting  very  im- 
portant light  on  this  obscure  subject;  and  argues  with  great  force  in 
favour  of  the  opinion,  that  this  part  of  the  Italian  peninsula  was 
first  colonized  by  a  body  of  people  who  emigrated  originally  from 
Resen  in  Assyria^  located  for  some  time  in  Egypt,  and  ultimately 
crossed  the  sea,  and  took  up  their  residence  in  the  province  after- 
ward called  Etruria.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  an  undoubted  ftct, 
and  one  which  will  be  hereafter  considerably  illustrated,  that  bmn 
hence  Rome  obtained  her  theology,  ecclesiastical  polity,  and  relig- 
ious ceremonial. 

It  becomes  important,  therefore,  as  far  as  our  scanty  means  of 
information  will  enable  us,  to  form  some  definite  idea  of  the  reli^on 
of  the  ancient  Etruscans. 

The  founder  and  patriarchal  chief  of  Etruria  was  Tarchun :  his 
origin  and  country  are  very  doubtful;  but  he  is  celebrated  as  the 
founder  of  this  ancient  and  cultivated  state.  The  highly  poetic  tra- 
dition preserved  by  Cicero  says,  that,  "  while  Tarchun  was  plonk- 
ing at  Tarchunia, — ^most  probably,  ploughing  the  sacred  foundation 
of  its  walls, — a  genius  arose  from  the  deep  furrow,  with  a  child's 
body  and  a  man's  head,  who  sang  to  him  the  divinely-inspired  laws 
of  his  friture  government,  and  then  sank  down  and  expired.*' — Mrs. 
Gray's  History  of  Etruria,  vol.  i,  p.  141.  Further  information  has 
been  gleaned  respecting  this  legend,  from  which  it  appears,  that 
this  was  the  means  employed  for  asserting  the  inspiration  and 
consequent  divine  authority  of  the  primitive  laws  of  the  ancient 
Etruscans. 

Cicero  calls  this  genius  Tages,  and  says,  )ie  was  the  son  of  Jupi- 
ter, or  the  supreme  god.  It  has  been  supposed  that  he  was  identical 
with— or,  at  least,  an  embodiment  of— the  same  ideal  representa- 
tion which  we  find  in  the  Phenician  Tapates,  or  Tanates,  and  the 
Egyptian  Thoth, — "the  Coptic  word  which  expresses  *hand.'  and 
the  man  who  was  the  first  and  greatest  scribe,  the  deified  writer  and 
lawgiver  of  the  wisest  of  nations."— /6?c/,  p.  142.  The  representation 
that  Tages  appeared  with  the  head  of  a  man  and  the  body  of  a  child, 
seems  of  easy  interpretation.  It  clearly  indicates  the  maturity  of 
the  wisdom  which  dictated  the  law,  and  the  in&ncy  of  the  colony 
which  received  it.    At  the  same  time,  it  showed  the  local  seat  of  the 


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THB  aBNTILB  BATIONB.  461 

legislftiion.  The  body  politic,  to  irhom  this  code  was  addressed,  was 
in  a  state  of  infancy;  but  the  laws  propounded  were  ancient,  ma- 
tured, and  perfect.  Yet  these  inspired  commands  were  not  Phe- 
nician,  Egyptian,  or  Assyrian,  but  Etruscan.  The  mysterious 
legifdator  arose  firom  the  soil  of  Etruria.  Yet  was  he  not  a  juve- 
nile in  intellect  and  experience :  his  head  was  that  of  a  sage,  ''show- 
ing forth  that  his  laws,  full  of  mature  wisdom  and  sound  judgment, 
were  yet  of  in&nt  date  to  the  land  of  Tarchun.  He  was  not '  Tages 
xransplanted  from  Egypt,'  but  *  Tages  bom  again  in  this  new  coun- 
tiy.'  He  belonged  to  the  Besena,  notwithstanding  his  gray  hairs; 
he  rose  from  their  soil,  and,  while  he  appeared  as  the  ruler  of  all 
their  chiefs*  he  was  adopted  by  the  nation  as  their  own  child.  He 
unbodied  himself  in  their  spirit,  he  adi4>ted  himself  to  their  situa- 
tion, and  he  bade  them  live  henceforward  as  a  new  people,  in  the 
land  which  God  had  given  them." 

Cicero  and  Gensorinus  say  tiiat  Tarchun,  on  hearing  the  voice  of 
Tages,  at  first  screamed  in  fear,  but  afterward  received  the  genius 
in  his  arms>  learned  his  laws,  which  were  delivered  in  verse,  and 
then  wrote  them  down.  Hence  arose  the  Books  of  Tages,  whidi 
were  twelve  in  number. 

Some  authors  have,  indeed,  doubted  whether  these  laws  were  im- 
mediately written,  and  suppose  them  to  have  been  committed  to 
memory,  and  thus  disseminated.  But  this  hypothesis  is  at  variance 
with  such  a  broad  ran^  of  facts,  that  it  is  quite  inadmissible. 
Etrm-ia  was  not  simply  one  state,  but  twelve;  yet,  throughout  all 
these,  there  was  a  perfect  uniformity  of  reli^ous  doctrine,  and  an 
entire  unity  of  ceremony  and  discipline, — a  state  of  things  which 
continued  throughout  successive  ages.  This  could  not  have  been 
the  result  of  merely  vocal  traditions.  Variations  in  different  states 
would  inevitably  arise,  and  time  would  as  certainly  produce  changes 
and  corruptions.  Nothing  but  the  existence  of  a  written  code  could 
have  maintained  this  uniformity. 

The  laws  of  Tages  were  received  with  great  reverence,  diligently 
studied  and  guarded,  and  so  implicitly  obeyed,  that  they  not  only 
gave  a  character  and  spirit  to  the  faith  of  ancient  Rome,  but  main- 
tained their  ascendency  in  Italy,  until  supplanted  by  Christianity. 
In  fact,  to  the  Bomans  Tages  was  the  same  as  Menu  to  the 
Hindus,  and,  so  far  as  the  apprehension  of  the  people  extended, 
what  Moses  was  to  the  Hebrews.  Muller,  indeed,  calls  his  institu- 
tions "  the  Leviticus  of  the  Romans."  Senrius  states,  that  a  nymph 
received  Tages  before  he  disappeared;  bnt  this  is  understood  to 
refer  to  a  celebrated  priestess,  named  Bygoe,  who  afterward  wrote  a 
commentary  on  some  of  these  laws ;  and  so  greatly  distinguished 


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462  THB  GBNTILB  NATI0F8. 

herself  by  piety,  learning,  and  seal,  that  she  was  in  consequence 
said  to  have  nourished  Tages,  and  song  to  him. 

We  feel  a  great  desire  to  give  an  explicit  statement  of  the  theology 
tanght  by  the  institutions  of  Tages ;  but  we  fear  that  onr  informa- 
tion is  less  satisfactory  respecting  this  particular  than  on  any  other 
part  of  this  religious  system.  We  are  told  that  "  the  Etruscans 
acknowledged  only  one  Supreme  Gk>d ;  but  they  had  images  for  his 
different  attributes,  and  temples  to  those  images.  But  it  is  most 
remarkable,  that  the  national  divinity  was  always  a  triad  under  one 
roof" — Mrs,  Gra^s  History  of  Etruria,  vol.  i,  p.  147.  Here  we 
have  again  a  further  proof  of  the  spread  of  primitive  tradition,  and 
the  power  which  its  truth  had  upon  the  minds  of  men,  although 
separated  to  the  greatest  distance  from  the  common  centre  of  the 
world's  primitive  population.  The  Etruscan  names  for  the  three 
elements  of  this  sacred  triad  were  Tina,  '*  Strength,"  Talna, 
"Riches,"  and  Minerva,  "Wisdom;"  God  being  regarded  as  a 
supreme  union  of  these  prevailing  attributes. 

Notwithstanding  the  explicit  manner  in  which  thiit  triad  is  said  to 
represent  these  divine  attributes,  it  seems  certain  that  an  impression 
of  distinqt  personality  was  equally  recognised.  Tina,  and  the  other 
gods,  were  called  to  witness  on  the  most  solemn  occasions.  He  was 
specially  invoked  in  sacred  ceremonies,  as  at  the  election  of  Numa: 
"  Father  Tina,  if  it  be  thy  will."  From  the  expressions  used  on  this 
occasion,  it  is  certain  that  the  Tina  of  the  Etruscans  became  the 
Jupiter  of  Rome.  But  that  people  had  other  deities.  Janus  was  their 
god  of  war ;  and  is  supposed  to  have  included,  not  only  the  attributes 
of  Mars,  but  also  those  of  Saturn  and  Hercules.  Sethlans,  the  god 
of  protection  against  fire  and  other  evils,  very  nearly  corresponded 
to  Vulcan.  Pales  was  the  Etruscan  god  of  shepherds ;  Slortia,  the 
goddess  of  fortune ;  Fides,  the  god  of  good  faith :  beside  which,  we 
meet  with  the  names  of  other  deities,  such  as  Viridianus,  Yalentia^ 
Yertumnus,  Yolumnus,  Yolumna,  Yoltumna,  Pilumnus,  and  others, 
whose  attributes  are  not  now  ascertainable.  (Ancient  Universal 
History,  vol.  xviii,  p.  206.) 

Augury  was  an  essential  element  of  this  religion.  Cicero  spedcs 
of  it,  in  connexion  with  divination,  as  the  ars  Etnisca,  and  disciplina 
Etrusca,  Ovid  affirms  that  Tages  was  the  first  who  taught  the 
Etruscans  a  knowledge  of  the  future;  and  Miiller  says,  "  Augory 
was  considered  as  a  covenant  between  God  and  man,  where  each 
must  act  his  part ;  and  the  augur,  in  those  early  days,  firmly  believed 
that  his  thoughts  and  words  were  inspired."  The  most  ancient  and 
remarkable  manner  of  Etruscan  augury  was  by  lightning.  For 
Tarchun  clearly  had  the  means  of  drawing  lightning  from  the  clouds : 


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THE  aSNTILB  NATIONS.  463 

a&d  the  wide  range  of  information  coUectod  by  Miiller  proves  that  a 
command  over  the  electric  element  was  essential  to  Etmscan  angnry. 
Another  important  feature  of  this  divine  science  was,  that  no  augur 
could  consult  the  gods,  or  ascertain  their  will,  except  in  a  place  pre- 
viously consecrated ;  and  any  spot  so  consecrated  was  r^arded  as  a 
fiwe  or  temple.  Bui  no  place  was  considered  as  a  temple  without 
such  consecration.  The  responses  obtained  by  lightning  were 
always  either  simply  affirmative  or  negative ;  while  the  omens  fur- 
nished by  the  flight  of  birds  were  supposed  to  give  more  general 
information. 

The  Vestal  virgins  were  another  part  of  the  institutions  of  Tar- 
chun.  These  were  appointed  to  guard  and  maintain  the  sacred 
flame,  which  was  originally  kindled  by  celestial  fire, — either  an  elec- 
tric spark,  or  a  solar  ray.  This,  according  to  some  authors,  was 
renewed  every  year  on  the  first  of  March,  and  was,  in  the  popular 
notion,  a  symbol  of  pure  divinity.  Those,  however,  who  have  care- 
fully considered  the  manner  of  divine  revelation  to  the  primitive 
patriarchs,  will  easily  discern,  in  this  part  of  these  sacred  usages,  a 
reference  to  the  infolding  fire  of  the  primitive  cherubim.  If  this 
sacred  fire  should  by  any  neglect  or  accid€fnt  be  extinguished,  it 
must  be  again  relit  by  being  drawn  from  heaven.  These  virgins 
weret  endowed  with  special  privileges.  They  had  the  highest  seats 
assigned  them  in  places  of  public  resort,  and  enjoyed  the  power  of 
phoning  criminals  whom  they  might  meet  on  their  way  to  the 
temple.  They  had  the /a^cc^  carried  before  them,  and  were  subject 
to  no  authority  but  thi^t  of  the  pontifex  maximuSf  or  "  sovereign 
pontiff.*'  These  females  were  devoted  to  virginity  during  their  term 
of  office,  which  extended  over  thirty  years;  ten  of  which  were 
employed  in  learning  the  duties  of  the  office, — ten,  in  a  performance 
of  its  duties,'^and  ten  more,  in  teaching  the  art  to  their  successors. 
IC  during  this  term  of  thirty  years,  they  were  known  to  violate  their 
vow  of  chastity,  they  were*  on  conviction  buried  alive. 

Every  city  and  town  had  «  principal  temple,  consecrated  to  the 
national  triad  of  deities.  Every  city  might  have  as  many  more 
gods,  temples,  and  gates,  as  the  inhabitants  might  choose ;  but  it 
was  obligatory,  wherever  the  laws  of  Tages  were  received,  to  have 
one  temple  consecrated  to  this  threefold  divinity,  and  three  sacred 
gates  to  the  city.  The  most  sacred  of  all  the  Etruscan  temples  was 
that  in  his  own  capital  of  Tarchunia. '  This,  although  dedicated  to 
the  triad,  was  usually  called  "  the  temple  of  Tina,"  he  being  the  first 
of  the  three.  Miiller  has  given  us  the  manner  of  selecting  the  site, 
and  appointing  the  limits  of  the  sacred  spot.  Tarchun,  having 
chosen  the  most  elevated  spot,  as  best  adapted  to  his  purpose,  close 


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464     '  THB  aBNTILH  NATIOITB. 

to  the  fortress  of  the  city, — ^thst  the  one  might  bless,  and  the  other 
defend,  the  capital, — then  obtained  his  omen  that  this  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  divine  will.  The  omen  was  most  probably  a  flash  of 
lightning,  which,  ^  chief  augor  and  pontifex  maximus,  he  had  the 
power  of  procuring.  "  He  then  pronounced  with  a  lond  voice,  in 
the  presence  of  a  multitude  of  his  people,  tbese  solemn  words»  in 
the  name  of  Tina  of  the  Resena:  '  My  temple  and  my  sacred  land 
shall  extend  so  far  as  1  please  to  make  it  holy,  and  to  dedicate  it  by 
the  mouth  that  now  speaks.  That  holy  object '  (tree,  or  some  other 
limit  named)  '  which  I  name,  shall  boimd  my  temple  to  the  east 
That  holy  object  which  I  name,  shall  bound  my  temple  to  the  west. 
Between  them  I  limit  this  temple  with  the  drawing  of  lines,  having 
surveyed  it  with  the  sight  of  mine  eyes,  after  reflecting  therenpcm, 
and  establishing  it  according  to  my  good  will  and  pleasure.'  The 
augur  then  drew  his.  lituus  upon  the  ground,  and  was  silent. 

*'  This  is  probably  what  Plutarch  and  Tacitus  call  *  the  prayer  of 
consecration ;'  and  it  took  place  whenever  the  av^ur  was  called  upon 
to  make  ground  holy.  The  Etruscan  lines,  both  en  the  ground  and 
in  the  air,  were  in  the  form  of  a  +,  and  were  named  cardo,  or  'merid- 
ian,' decumanus,  or  'horizon,'  The  four  regions  marked  out  by 
these  lines  were  called  cardines;  and  hence  our  word  *  cardinal,' 
and  our  denomination  'cardinal  points.'  Each  region  was  again 
divided  into  four ;  so  that  the  ground  occupied  by  the  building  con- 
tained sixteen  points,  each  giving  its  peculiar  augury ;  of  which  the 
north-east  was  the  most  fortunate;  and  wh^i'  the  augur  was  con- 
sulted or  o£Sciated,  he  placed  himself  in  the  position  of  the  gods, 
who  were  supposed  to  inhabit  the  north. 

"  After  the  dedication  of  the  ground  was  completed,  the  founda- 
tions which  were  marked  out  for  the  temple  were  surrounded  with 
fillets  and  crowns,  and  then  the  soldiers  who  had  happy-sounding 
names  went  in,  and  threw  into  the  enclosed  space  bnuiches  of  olive 
and  other  sacred  trees.  Then  came  the  Vestads,  and  the  childroi 
whose  parents  were  alive;  and  they  bathed  the  place  in  fountain 
and  river  water.  Tarchun  then  sacrificed  a  bull,  a  sheep,  and  a  pig ; 
and,  laying  the  entrails  on  the  grass,  he  prayed  to  Tina,  Talna,  and 
M.  !N.  y./a,  to  bless  the  place.  Then  he  touched  the  garlands  in 
which  the  sacred  comer-stone  was  bound,  and  raised  it  by  a  cord, 
while  all  the  people  shouted,  and  helped  him.  They  then  threw  in 
metals,  both  worked  and  raw,  of  gold,  silver,  and  dbpper,  which  were 
not  dedicated  to  other  gods,  or  rather  to  other  attributes ;  and  the 
ceremony  was  ended." — Mrs.  Gray's  History  of  Etruria,  vol.  i, 
pp.  151-163. 

It  will  now  be  necessary  to  direct  more  particular  attention  to  the 


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THB  6SNTILB  NATIONS.  465 

SMred  persons  employed  in  connexion  with  this  system  ot  re- 
ligioD. 

The  first  and  principal  of  these  was  the  aagor.  He  was,  in  fact, 
in  a  religious  sense,  the  human  head  of  the  people,— the  visible 
representative  of  deity  on  earth.  It  was  his  high  vocation  to  declare 
with  absolute  and  despotic  power  the  divine  will.  It  was  blasphemy 
to  contradict  him, — ^rebellion  to  disobey  him.  The  augur  ascer- 
tained the  divine  will  by  means  prescribed  in  the  sacred  books,  and 
then  authoritatively  declared  and  expounded  it  to  the  people. 
Without  him  there  could  be  no  election  to  any  sacred  or  civil  office ; 
no  king,  dictator,  pontifeaf.  Vestal,  fetial,  or  priest^  could  be  called 
into  office,  or  enter  on  its  duties,  but  thrx)ugh  the  instrumentality  of 
the  augur.  The  foundation  principle  of  all  Etruscan  civil  and  relig- 
ions policy  appears  to  be  best  expressed  in  the  Scriptural  maxim, 
**  There  is  no  power  but  of  God :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of 
God.''  Rom.  xiii,  1.  It  is  necessary  to  add  that  the  character  of 
the  deity,  as  exhibited  by  the  augur,  was  of  a  highly  elevated  nature; 
but  he  was  especially  represented  as  having  a  fatheriy  regard  for  all 
the  people,  without  distinction  of  rank  or  degree, — always  open  to 
their  prayers,  watching  over  their  interests,  punishing  their  crimes, 
rewarding  their  virtues,  rendering  it  equally  obligatory  upon  all  to 
walk  by  one  law,  to  observe  one  rule. 

The  person  of  the  augur  was  sacred,  and  his  office  endured  for 
life.  He  was  thus  raised  above  fear  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty ; 
while  he  was  supported  at  tiie  public  expense,  that  he  might  have  no 
temptation  of  yielding  to  bribery.  He  was  always  of  a  noble  family, 
no  person  of  mean  condition  or  low  extraction  being  eligible  to  the 
office.  It  was  necessary,  not  only  that  the  augur  should  possess 
high  birth,  but  also  that  he  should  be  a  man  of  sound  judgment, 
considerable  knowledge,  and  varied  acquirements:  for  no  general 
could  march  his  army  over  a  frontier,  or  across  a  river,  engage  in 
battle,  or  make  a  division  of  spoil,  without  the  augur's  permission. 
There  could  be  no  marriage  or  adoption  in  noble  families  without 
his  consent.  He  could  dissolve  any  assembly,  nullify  any  election, 
and  exercise  a  veto  on  all  public  business,  by  a  declaration  that  such 
wte  the  divine  will.  The  power  of  the  augur  was,  indeed,  so  great, 
that  the  danger  to  the  state  was  only  obviated  by  multiplying  the 
number  of  them,  and  thus  interposing  the  power  of  one  as  a  check  on 
the  action  of  his  colleague.  W  hen  an  augur  died,  his  place  was  filled 
by  the  remaining  aiignnK  either  with  or  without  the  approval  of  the 
nobility.  There  was  at  least  one  augur  in  every  city,  and  generally 
three  in  the  most  important  arid  populous  places.  From  a  considera- 
tion of  the  great  deference  paid  by  all  classes  oi  society  to  this  office, 

30 


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466  THB  6RNTILB  KATI0N8. 

and  the  length  of  time  the  institution  was  maintained  in  paramoimt 
influence  in  Italy,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  deep  religious  con- 
viction pervaded  the  people  that  the  augur  was,  in  truth,  the  authorized 
exponent  of  the  divine  mind. 

The  institutions  of  Tages  in  one  particular  greatly  resembled 
the  Hebrew  dispensation.  All  that  pertained  to  the  national  pohcy 
and  institutions, — indeed  the  whole  range  of  political  economy  and 
regal  power, — ^were  as  much  elements  of  divinely-appointed  and 
reUgiously-regulated  matters,  as  the  most  sacred  services  ^f  augury 
or  sacrifice. 

Tarchun  was  the  sovereign  of  the  Etruscan  nation.  But  afterward, 
when  large  cities  arose  as  the  capitals  of  the  difiei^t  provinces,  a 
king  was  appointed  to  each  of  them :  so  that,  while  a  common  bond 
of  nationality  was  recognised,  each  state  was  virtually  independent^ 
and  each  king  absolute  ruler  in  his  own  dominions,  except  so  fieu: 
as  he  was  limited  by  the  national  statute-code  of  Tages. 

Tarchun,  with  each  sovereign  after  him,  was  also  pontifex  maxi- 
mus,  or  "  chief-priest."  The  priesthood  were  not  a  separate  caste, 
or,  indeed,  a  separated  body  from  the  rest  of  the  people.  In  fact, 
every  Lucumo,  or  noble  of  Etruria,  was  a  priest,  and  could  take 
auspices,  being  at  the  same  time  equally  eligible  to  conduct  affiurs 
of  stat6  or  to  command  an  army  in  war. 

From  these  statements  it  will  appear  that  the  institutions  of 
Tages,  as  brought  into  operation  by  Tarchun,  and  made  the  basis 
of  the  civil  and  religious  statute-code  of  Etruria,  exhibited  a  very 
remarkable  variety  of  that  great  spiritual  assumption  which  we  have 
already  found  to  pervade  all  the  eastern  nations.  Here,  as  well  aa 
in  Assyria,  Babylon,  and  Persia,  we  have  a  divinely«appointed  and 
absolute  sovereign, — one,  too,  who,  in  addition  to  regal  dignity,  not 
only  holds  in  his  own  person  the  national  high-priesthood,  but  is 
specially  consecrated  the  representative  of  Deity  on  earth, — an 
authorized  revealer  and  expounder  of  the  will  of  Ood.  We  hear 
nothing,  indeed,  of  the  grounds  on  which  these  claims  to  reverential 
regard  and  divine  knowledge  are  made  to  rest, — nothing  of  the 
promised  Son,  or  expected  incarnation  of  Deity ;  but,  in  every  other 
respect,  we  have,  in  the  combination  of  those  three  offices,  all  the 
powers  and  claims  so  proudly  put  fordi  by  the  sovereigns  of  the 
primitive  nations  of  the  east. 

Yet,  while  this  identity  is  clearly  seen,  it  is  equally  apparent  that 
it  is  brought  before  us  in  Etruria  in  a  manner  which  seemed  likely 
to  neutralize  the  pernicious  effects  of  these  claims,  at  least  to  a  very 
considerable  extent.  For^  although  all  these  offices  centered  in 
Tarchun,  and  thus  gave  him  a  stattis  nearly  similar  to  that  of  an 


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THE  GBNTILE  NATIONS.  467 

Aflsyrian  or  Persian  potentate,  the  most  sacred  office  of  the  three, 
namely,  that  of  angur,  was  afterward  given  to  another  individual, 
and  thus  separated  from  the  head  of  the  state.  The  division  of  the 
n&tion  into  small  states,  or  royal  dominions,  operated  in  the  3ame 
direction :  so  that,  while  we  perceive,  in  the  essential  elements  of 
the  Etruscan  faith,  a  great  similarity  to  the  profane  assumption 
of  the  east,  we  see  it  so  modified  hy  future  arrangements  as  to  be 
prevented  from  working  out  that  intolerant  spiritual  despotism 
which  we  have  had  to  contemplate  in  those  countries. 

It  will  only  be  necessary  to  notice  one  other  class  of  the  sacred 
persons  of  Etruria, — the  fetiales.  These  were  always  Lucumones,  or 
nobles,  and  consequently  priests.  Their  special  function  was  to 
preside  over  and  direct  national  treaties,  and  to  seek  reparation  for 
national  injury  prior  to  the  declaration  of  any  war.  When  one 
tribe  of  the  Etruscan  nation,  or  any  foreign  state,  had  o£fended  or 
injured  any  Etrurian  government,  the  practice  was  to  send  to  the 
offending  party  a  deputation  of  fetiales^  who,  attired  in  a  state-dress, 
and  crowned  with  vervain,  applied  for  admission  to  the  senate. 
Here  they  stated  their  grievance,  and  asked  for  redress  within  « 
limited  time.  At  the  end  of  this  period,  if  their  representations  were 
not  attended  to,  they  took  Tina  and  the  other  gods  to  witness  that 
they  had  performed  their  duty,  and  it  was  for  their  country  to  decide 
upon  the  event.  On  their  return  home,  they  announced  to  their 
own  senate  that  war  was  now  lawful.  If  this  were  resolved  on,  the 
fetiales  returned  to  the  frontier  of  the  oflfending  country,  arid  then, 
casting  a  spear  into  the  territory,  called  the  gods  to  witness  against 
the  want  of  justice  in  that  people,  and  their  obstinacy  in  refusing  to 
make  reparation. 

The  Etruscans  were  a  highly-civilized  and  well-educated  peopje. 
Their  arts  and  sciences  are  even  now  attested  by  imperishable  monu- 
ments in  eveiy  part  of  western  Europe.  But,  more  than  this,  the 
Etruscans  were  a  religious  people.  They  possessed,  perhaps,  as 
pure  a  theology  as  any  Gentile  nation  of  that  period.  For,  although 
recognising  a  plurality  of  deities,  they  appear  to  have  still  retained 
tlieir  knowledge  and  reverence  of  one  supreme  governing  God,  whose 
will  they  professed  to  seek,  and  by  whose  laws  they  sought  to  walk. 
To  what  extent  their  devotion  and  obedience  were  sincere  and 
effectual,  we  cannot  now  pretend  to  determine ;  but  thus  much  is 
evident, — that  they  regarded  God  as  the  Father  and  Governor 
of  men.  They  recognised  his  watchful  care,  believed  in  his  ever- 
pervading  providence,  and  continually  taught  the  necessity  of  doing 
everything,  public  and  private, — things  of  the  least  concern,  and  of 
the  greatest  magnitude, — ^in  direct  accordance  with  the  divine  will. 


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468  THE   GENTILE  NATIONS. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  that  has  been  too  much  OTer- 
looked,  in  the  providential  dispensations  of  Opd  toward  mankind, — 
that,  prior  to  Uie  rise  of  Borne  to  &me  and  dominion,  this  people 
were  broiight  to  Italy,  established  in  power,  and  permitted  to  eztjsnd 
the  influence  of  their  civiliaation,  science,  and  religion  thronghont 
that  peninsida.  From  the  Tiber,  the  southern  frontier  of  Etmria 
Proper,  their  authority  extended  to  Cisalpine  Gaul ;  and  their  influ- 
ence, potent  in  every  respect,  had  a  far  wider  range. 

It  was  not  by  accident  or  chance  that  the  band  of  martial  spirits 
who  began  to  rear  up  the  fourth  great  monarchy, — which  was  to 
extend  its  rule  over  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  ai^d  usher  in  the 
glorious  kingdom  of  God, — laid  the  foundation-stone  of  their  politi- 
cal power  in  immediate  proximity  to  this  civilized  and  religious 
people.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  influefuce  of  Etruscan  civili- 
zation and  religion  formed  the  manners,  and  moulded  the  character, 
of  Rome.  This  being  the  fact,  it  would  be  very  desirable  to  form  a 
correct  estimate  of  the  Etruscan  system  of  faith :  but  we  have  not 
information  sufficient  for  this  purpose.  It  is  certain  that  this  peo- 
ple retained  among  them  a  large  portion  of  patriarchal  truth ;  that 
by  it  they  were  led  to  a  general  and  effective  recognition  of  the 
government  and  providence  of  God,  and  the  vital  importance  of 
entire  subjection  to  the  divine  will ;  that  prayer  was  a  well-ascer- 
tained and  frequently-practised  duty ;  and,  indeed,  that  they  acknowl- 
edged that  man's  whole  course  of  life  on  earth  should  be  shaped 
according  to  the  will  of  Heaven.  14ow  it  is  impossible  to  account 
for  the  knowledge  of  such  doctrines,  and  the  existence  of  such  prac- 
tices, without  admitting  the  action  of  a  considerable  amount  of 
divine  truth,  and  the  presence  of  a  large  measure  of  divine  influence. 
It  is  true  that  the  theology  of  the  people  was  becoming  corrupt^  and 
a  multiplicity  of  inferior  deities  had  begun  to  be  introduced ;  but, 
prior  to  the  foundation  of  Rome,  it  does  not  appear  that  this  defec- 
tion had  beco^ie  cither  so  extensive,  or  had  so  fatally  infringed  on 
the  prerogatives  of  the  Supreme  Deity,  as  to  have  materially  affected 
the  faith  of  the  people,  or  their  confidence  in  the  divine  adminis- 
tration. 

There  is  abundant  evidence,  in  the  pictures  and  sculptures  of  the 
early  Etruscan  tombs,  to  attest  the  prevalent  belief  of  the  people  in 
the  primitive  traditions,  and  in  the  doctrines  of  the  immortality  of 
the  human  soul,  and  of  a  future  judgment.  No  eye  familiar  with 
Layard's  "Monuments  of  Nineveh"  can  look  over  the  elegant 
coloured  plates  of  Mrs.  Gray's  "Sepulchres  of  Etruria"  without 
perceiving  the  constant  recurrence  of  the  symbolical  tree  of  life. 
Between  every  pair  of  figures  in  the  painting  or  sculpture,  in  every 


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THB  aSKTILB  NATIONS.  469 

variety  of  fonn,  in  the  frieza  and  o&er  ornamental  portions  of  the 
architecture,  the  tree,  its  fruit  and  foliage,  are  always  to  be  dis- 
cerned. 

Then,  as  to  the  future  existence  of  the  soul,  numerous  most  sig- 
nificant pictures  convey  the  ideas  entertained  by  this  ancient  people. 
One  or  two  instances  will  be  sufficient  to  prove  thiSv  •  In  the  Grotto 
del  Gardinale  there  is  a  remarkable  frieze,  representing  a  procession 
of  souls  to  judgment,  attended  by  good  and  evil  angels ;  the  former 
being  represented  white,  and  the  latter  black.  In  one  instance,  a 
singular  struggle  is  seen  between  a  good  and  an  evil  angel  for  the 
possession  of  a  person,  whose  character  was  of  such  doubtful  quality, 
that  while  the  evil  angel  endeavours  to  draw  off  the  car  on  which  the 
spirit  sits,  the  other  interposes  his  power;  and  the  group  is  seen 
standing  still  during  the  progress  of  the  contest.  In  the  Grotto  del 
Tifone  there  is  another  remarkable  painting,  exhibiting  a  procession 
of  souls.  This  is  led  by  a  good  angel  with  a  flambeau,  who  is  fol- 
lowed by  several  spirits.  Then  comes  an  evil  angel,  whose  com- 
plexion is  black,  and  whose  features  are  an  ugly  distortion  of  a  negro 
countenance.  Other  souls  follow  this  figure ;  and  the  procession  is 
closed  by  another  black  evil  angel,  similar  to  the  former.  All  the 
angels,  good  and  bad,  have  living  serpents  about  their  heads,  or  in 
their  hands.  These  have  been  supposed  to  Symbolize  eternity ;  but 
we  rather  incline  to  think  them  an  intelligible  and  living  exhibition 
of  that  form  under  which  the  great  tempter  introduced  death  and  all 
its  fearfrd  consequences  into  the  world. 

However  this  may  be,  the  angelic  contest  for  the  possession  of  a 
spirit,  and  the  joyous  appearance  of  the  souls  near  the  good  angel, 
and  the  agonized  aspect  of  those  in  proximity  to  the  bad  ones,  clearly 
evince  a  firm  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments. Surrounded  with  a  civilized  population  imbued  with  these 
reEgious  views  and  doctrines,  Rome  was  founded,  and  rose  up  into 
power. 

We  will  proceed  to  notice  those  stages  in  the  progress  of  Roman 
history  which  had  a  special  influence  on  the  foundation  of  the  national 
fiiith. 

If  we  may  rely  on  Plutarch,  it  seems  that  Numitor  brought  up 
Romulus  and  Remus  at  an  Etruscan  college,  and  gave  them  all  the 
instruction  usually  imparted  to  princely  Lucumones.  They  would, 
therefore,  be  tau^t  everything  necessary  to  the  performance  of  the 
service  of  the  priesthood,  of  which  every  Lucumo  was  a  member. 
When  the  two  brothers,  with  their  band  of  followers,  went  forth  from 
Alba  to  found  a  new  settlement,  they  were  attended  by  augurs ;  and 
the  site  of  Rome  was  selected  by  the  divination  of  augury,  according 


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470  THE  QBNTILE  NATIONS. 

to  the  Etruscan  usage.  It  has  been  remarked  as  a  lingular  fact, 
that  the  religious  guides  bf  the  new  settlers  should  not  be  Alban 
augurs,  or  Latin  priests^  but  Etruscans.  Plutarch,  in  Vita  Bomoli, 
adds,  that  Romulus  sent  to  Etruria  for  special  assistance,  and  had  the 
whole  city  and  its  arrangements  and  poUcj  directed  according  to  the 
religious  mysteries,  ceremonies,,  and  written  laws,  of  that  people. 
So  exact,  indeed,  was  this  attention  to  sacred  guidance,  that  Borne 
from  the  first  was  called  "  the  Holy  City.*' 

After  the  singular  junction  of  the  Romans  and  Sabines,  as  had 
been  distinctly  stipulated  in  the  treaty,  the  Romans  were  bound  to 
adopt  the  Sabine  theology,  laws,  and  customs,  wherever  these  dif- 
fered from  those  previously  in  use :  and  as  the  religion  of  the  Sabines 
was  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  Etnuria,  it  followed  that  in  future 
the  religion  of  Rome  must  be  entirely  Etruscan,  tinder  this  ar- 
rangement, twelve  altars  were  built,  on  which  Sacrifices  were  ofiered 
to  the  following  deities, — Yidius,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Sethlans,  Sum- 
manus,  Vesta,  Terminus,  and  Yertumnus.  These  were  all  Etruscan 
gods.  To  these  were  added  Quirinus,  or  Mars, — a  deity  peculiar  to 
the  Sabine  people, — with  Ops,  Hora,  Sol,  Luna»  Diana»  and  Lucina, 
which  were  divinities  common  to  the  Sabines  and  the  Latins. 

From«this  statement  it  wiU  be  seen  that  while  Rome  secured  all 
the  advantages  derivable  from  the  civilization,  learning  and  relij^oua 
doctrines  of  Etruria,  she  also  received,  at  the  very  outset  of  her 
national  career,  an  increased  tendency  to  polytheism,  by  the  incor- 
poration of  Sabine  and  Latin  gods  with  those  of  Etruria. 

Romulus  also  appointed  two  Yestals,— one  from  the  Jloman,  and 
the  other  from  the  Sabine  nation, — who  were  installed  priestesses 
of  Yesta.  He  abo  established  a  college  of  the  Salii,  or  dancing 
priests  of  Mars ;  and  he  dedicated  the  Campus  Martins  without  the 
walls  to  Mars,  who,  as  Quirinus  Mavors,  or.  Marte,  was  common  to 
the  three  nations.  Temples  were  also  built  to  the  Etruscan  Seth- 
lans and  Janus,  the  latter  of  whom  had  henceforth  two  heads,  to 
represent  the  union  of  the  two  nations. 

The  prevalence  of  Etruscan  institutions  at  Rome  during  the  early 
part  of  its  history  may  be  inferred  from  another  important  fact. 
Neither  Plutarch  nor  any  other  author  of  credit  ascribes  one  single 
invention  to  Romulus :  yet  it  is  certahi  that  in  his  time  there  were 
kings,  palaces,  colleges,  augurs,  priests,  temples,  shrines,  ceremonial 
services,  and,  in  short,  all  the  elements  of  a  state-religion  in  the  full 
development  of  a  broad  and  efficient  economy. 

I^uma,  the  Sabine,  succeeded  Romulus.  He  was  an  eminently 
pious  prince,  and  would  not  adorn  himself  with  the  ensigns  of  roy- 
alty, even  when  fuU;^  elected  by  the  senate  and  people,  until  the 


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THB  aBNTILB  NATIONS.  471 

augurs  declared  his  appointment  to  this  supreme  office  to  be  in 
accordance  with  the  divine  will.  Uq  instituted  a  body  of  priests, 
called  pontifices,  who  were  to  have  special  charge  of  a  bridge  which 
he  caused  to  be  built  across  the  Tiber,  and  who  were  bound  to  keep 
a  feast  of  union  on  this  bridge.  Numa  established  a  college  of 
feiiales,  twelve  in  number.  He  also  instituted  several  other  col- 
leges, and  appointed  flamens,  or  hereditary  priests,  of  particular 
gods :  such  as  the  flamen  of  Quirinus  and  Bomulus,  the  flamen  of 
Jupiter,  the  flamen  of  Mars, — whose  wives  were  priestesses.  This 
sovereign  also  doubled  the  number  of  the  Vestal  virgins,  and  built  a 
circular  temple  to  the  goddess  Vesta,  where  the  fire  was  ever  kept 
burning.  JNumerous  other  additions  were  made  by  him  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  religion  of  Rome;  and  all  these  were  done  in  the 
spirit  of  the  original  books  of  Tages,  that  is,  by  professed  revelation. 
Numa  alleged  that  he  was  divinely  taught  through  the  medium  of 
the  nymph  Egeria;  and,  to  render  the  laws  which  he  founded  on 
these  revelations  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  his  people,  he  had  them 
imtten,  and  caused  the  priests  of  Rome  to  get  diem  by  heart.  It  is 
a  singular  fact,  and  one  which,  fsdrly  considered,  greatly  confirms  the 
view  which  has  been  taken  in  the  foregoing  pages, — that,  although 
Kome'was  a  martial  state,  and  acquired  her  supremacy  by  success- 
ful wars,  yet  the  most  prosperous  of  her  early  reigns,  and  those 
wiiich  did  most  to  consolidate  the  national  power,  were  those  of  the 
most  peaceful  and  religious  of  her  k^lgs :  and  of  these  the  rule  of 
Numa  is  a  remarkable  example. 

Some  readers  may  imagine  that  the  manner  in  which  we  speak 
of  this  subject  is  in  contradiction  to  the  doubts  whidi  are  expressed 
in  the  preceding  pages  with  respect  to  the  history  of  Rome  at  this 
period.  We  beg,  however,  to  observe,  that  we  think  those  doubts 
to  be  perfectly  warranted,  and  in  fact  imperatively  called  for,  by  the 
nature  of  the  evidence  upon  which  the  history  of  this  period  rests. 
But  it  is  very  evident,  that  the  civilized  and  religious  condition  of 
Sitruria  prior  to  the  foundation  of  Rome,  and  the  influence  of  this 
civilization  and  religion  on  the  condition  of  Rome,  and  the  religious 
institutions  brought  into  operation  during  the  early  period  of  Roman 
history,  are  much  more  clearly  authenticated  than  the  names  of 
kings,  or  the  marvellous  and  improbable  exploits  frequently  ascribed 
to  them.  If,  therefore,  it  should  be  proved  that  no  such  prince  as 
Numa  ruled  in  Rome,  we  should  nevertheless  be  compelled  to 
believe  that,  about  the  time  ascribed  to  his  reign,  the  religion  of 
Borne,  which  had  been  previously  raised  on  an  Etruscan  basis,  was 
0^^1y  developed,  extended,  and  strengthened  by  the  addition. of 
msny  important  rites  and  institutions. 


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472  THB  QBlTTILB  KA9I0NS. 

Plutarch  mentions  a  tradition  of  this  king,— that,  irfaile  engaged 
in  a  religions  service,  he  was  informed  that  tiie  enemy  was  at  the 
gates;  to  which  he  simply  replied,  "I  am  sacrificing,'' — as  if  to 
intimate  that,  while  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  gods,  he  felt  per- 
fectly secure  of  divine  protection.  The  same  authority  states,  that 
at  this  period  there  were  no  images  Of  any  deity  in  Borne ;  from 
which  it  has-been  inferred,  that  such  images  were  common  at  that 
time  in  other  parts  of  Italy.  But  this  isaltogether  unwarranted  by 
the  language  of  this  eminent  biographer.  His  words  are  -.  "  Numa 
forbade  the  Bomans  to  represent  the  Deity  in  the  form  either  of 
man  or  beast.  Nor  was  there  among  them  formerly  any  image  or 
statue  of  the  Divine  Being.  During  the  first  hundred  and  seventy 
years,  they  built  temples,  indeed,  and  other  sacred  domes,  but  placed 
in  them  no  figure  of  any  kind ;  persuaded  that  it  is  impious  to  repre- 
sent things  divine  by  what  is  perishable,  and  that  we  can  have  con- 
ception of  God  but  by  the  understanding.  His  sacrifices,  too, 
resembled  the  Pythagorean  worship;  for  they  were  without  any 
eflhsion  of  blood,  consisting  chiefly  of  flour,  libations  of  wine,  and 
other  very  simple  and  unexpensive  things." — Plutarch,  in  Vita 
NumcB. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  absence  of  image-worship  at  Borne 
arose  from  elevated  views  of  the  divine  nature;  that  the  several 
deities  worshipped  were  regarded  more  as  separate  attributes  than 
as  truly  divine  personalities ;  and  that  there  is  every  probability 
that  these  views  extended  as  wide  as  the  influence  of  the  £tru8oan' 
faith.  The  degeneracy  of  image- worship  was  brought  into  Borne 
by  Lucius  Tarquin;  who  introduced  figures*in  human  form  as  objects 
of  adoration. 

The  remark  of  Plutarch,  as  to  tiiere  being  no  bloody  sacrifices  at 
Bome  in  the  time  of  Numa,  must  be  taken  with  some  limitation: 
for  the  offerings  of  a  bull,  a  sheep,  and  a  pig  were  coeval  with  the 
foundation  of  Bome,  and  were  used  under  the  sway  of  all  her  Latin 
and  Sabine  kings.  It  was  probably  only  meant  to  intimate  that 
Numa  did  not  introduce  any  new  sacrifices  of  this  kind,  notwiih^ 
standing  his  extensive  additions  to  the  ritual  code  in  other  respects. 

The  first  Tarqdinian  dynasty  is  only  remarkable,  in  respect  of 
religion,  for  the  gliiSipse  which  it  affords  of  the  story  of  the  Sibylline 
Books.  The  account  of  the  circumstance  is  as  follows : — An  old  woman 
presented  herself  before  the  king  and  offBred  to  sell  him  nine  books  for 
three  hundred  pieces  of  gold.  Being  repulsed,  she  went  away,  burnt 
three,  and,  returning,  demanded  the  same  price  for  the  six  which 
remained.  Being  again  refused,  she  burnt  three  more,  and  demanded 
the  same  sum  for  the  remaining  three,  threatening  to  destroy  those, 


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THE  OBHTILE  NATI0N6.  47S 

Qsless  the  money  was  paid.  Struck  with  her  maimer,  the  king 
repented,  and  purohased  the  books;  after  whidi  the  prophetess 
yanished. 

The  reign  of  Serrius  Tullius  exhibits  the  further  progress  of 
change  in  the  primitive  elements  of  the  national  faith.  We  fii^d 
that  at  this  period  the  simple  Etruscan  triad  had  sunk  into  oblivion, 
and  Uie  idea  was  only  retained  in  ^ving  the  designation  of  "  the 
triune  Jupiter"  to  the  great  god  whom  the  Tuscans  and  Albans 
united  to  worship,  both  at  Alba  and  Laurentum.  •  It  is  further 
observable,  that  in  the  space  of  a  little  more  than  a  c^tury,  which 
elapsed  from  the  death  of  Numa  to  that  of  Servius,  the  progress  of 
image-making  and  of  respect  for  images  was  such,. that  at  the  latter 
period  there  was  an  image  of  the  reigning  monarch,  made  of  wood 
and  richly  gilt»  standing  in  one  of  the  temples  of  Fortune  in  the  city 
of  Rome. 

It  would  be  vain  to  attempt  to  trace  in  detail  the  further 
change  and  extension  of  the  religion  of  Rome.  That  state  having 
entered  on  a  career  of  conquest,  every  new  province  increased  the 
number  of  national,  divinities,  and  added  to  the  common  stock  of 
mythologic  fable  and  religious  doctrines,  until  at«length,  when  the 
Roman  power  became  paramount  throughout  ^gypt,  the  north  of 
Africa^  and  a  great  part  of  Asia,  the  religion  of  the  Romans  was,  in 
the  widest  sense,  the  religion  of  the  world.  In  treating  on  this 
subject,  we  must  of  course  limit  our  consideration  to  that  aggregate 
of  religious  elements  which  had  become  recognised  by  the  state^  in 
the  imperial  city,  as  the  national  religion.  Of  this  it  will  be  our 
endeavour  to  convey  some  idea.  But  the  subject  is  full  of  difficulty, 
-*4iot  only  ff  om  the  immensity  of  its  range,  and  from  the  fact  that 
the  Romans  themselves  never  reduced  their  religion  to  a  system,— 
but  also  because  the  information  actually  procurable  can  only  be 
collected  in  detached  fragments,  and  is  but  seldom  found  coimected 
with  any  recognition  of  real  religious  principle  or  truth. 

In  proceeding  to  sketch  the  principal  elements  of  this  religion,  it 
will  be  necessary,  as  in  other  instances,  to  commence  with  its  the-. 
ology .  But  this  at  once  presents  to  our  consideration  a  range  of  poly- 
theism beyond  anything  witnessed  in  any  other  nation  of  the  world. 

The  Romans  divided  their  deities,;  as  they  did  their  senators,  into 
several  sections  or  classes.  The  first  or  highest  rank  of  divinities 
were  called  dii  majorum  gentium.  These  were  the  great  celestial 
gods :  they  were  twelve  in  number.  Of  these,  1.  The  first  and  chief 
was  JupiTBR ;  2.  His  wife  and  sister,  Juno  ;  3.  Minerva  or  Pal- 
las; 4.  Vesta ;  5.  Geres;  6.  Neptune;  7.  Venus;  8.  Vul- 

CANUS;  9.  MaRS^  10.  MiROURIUS;  11.  APOLLO;  12.  DlANA. 


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i 


47^  THB  GBNTILB  NATIONS. 

These  are  generally  given  with  the  genealogy  according  to  the 
Greek  system  of  mythology ;  but  it  is  very  certain  that  this  hypoth- 
esis neither  explains  the  origin  of  these  deities,  nor  the  opinions 
of  the  Romans  on  that  subject.  Jupiter  is  set  down  as  the  son  of 
Saturn  and  Rhea,  and  is  said  to  haye  been  bom  and  educated  in 
Crete,  where  he  dethroned  his  father,  and  divided  his  kingdom  with 
his  brothers.  But  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  Roman 
Jupiter  had  his  origin  in  the  Tina  of  the  Etruscans,  sometimes  wor- 
shipped as  the  triune  Jupiter,  and  evidently  the  patriarchal  deity  of 
Etruria.  JuNO,  according  to  the  faith  of  ancient  Rome,  was  merely 
a  female  impersonation  of  the  attributes  of  Jupiter.  It  does  not 
appear  that  those  from  whom  the  Romans  received  the  elements  of 
their  religious  system  had  any  deity  corresponding  to  MiHSRVA ; 
so  that  this  divinity  was  probably  imported  from  Greece.  Vksta 
was  an  Etruscan  goddess,  patroness  of  the  sacred  fire.  Gebbs  is 
identical  with  the  Greek  goddess  Demeter.  !Nbptunb  seems  to  be 
equally  an  importation  from  Greece ;  and  Venus  is  another  of  the 
same  class.  There  is  not  the  slightest  trace  of  any  such  Uoentious 
impersonation  in  the  Etrurian  Pantheon.  The  Roman  original 
YuLOANUS  was  Sethlans,  the  Etruscan  god  who  gave  protection 
against  fire  and  other  cognate  evils.  Mars,  the  martial  deity,  was 
worshipped  by  the  Etruscans  as  Janus,  and  by  the  Sabines  under 
the  name  Quirinus.  These  appear  to  have  been  united  by  the 
Romans,  and  adored  linder  the  name  of  Mars,  to  whom  were  ascribed 
the  attributes  and  origin  of  the  Greek  Ares.  Mercurius  was  the 
Greek  Hermes.  Apollo  was  introduced  from  Greece.  Diana,  as 
a  goddess,  was  common  to  the  Sabines  and  Latins ;  but,  after  the 
introduction  of  Greek  manners,  the  worship  of  this  divinity  was 
associated  with  the  mythological  adsount  of  the  Greek  Artemis,  as 
a  female  impersonation  of  the  attributes  of  Apollo. 

These  twelve  constituted  the  principal  deities  of  Rome :  they  were 
in  fact  the  great  gods  of  the  nation,  during  the  later  period  of  its 
history.  They  were  also  called  dii  consentes, — an  epithet  which 
seems  to  cast  light  on  the  origin  of  Etruscan  polytheism.  The  term 
'  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  verb  conso,  that  is,  consulo,  and 
to  have  been  originally  applied  to  the  twelve  Etruscan  deities  who 
formed  the  council  of  the  supreme  god.  It  seems,  therefore,  that 
the  notion  of  a  council  subservient  to  the  will  of  the  great  god  hav- 
ing obtained  currency,  the  supposed  members  of  this  body  were,  in 
process  of  time,  worshipped  as  divine,  and  termed  dii  consentes, — 
a  term  which  was  afterward  applied  to  the  twelve  superior  deities 
of  Rome.  The  first  ruling  power  ascribed  by  the  Etruscans  to  these 
deities,  was  the  government  of  the  world  and  of  time;  a  fact  which 


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THE  GENTILS  NATIONS.  47S 

perhaps  accounts  for  the  attributes  ascribed  to  the  Roman  deities  in 
after-times. 

The  Roman  gods  of  the  second  section  were  termed  dii  seiecti,  and 
were  eight  in  number: — 1.  Saturnus,  the  god  oif  time;  2.  Janus, 
the  god  of  the  year,  who  presided  oyer  the  gates  of  heaven; 
3.  Rhba,  the  wife  of  Saturn,  who  was  also  caUed  Ops,  Cybele, 
Magna  Mater,  <fcc. ;  4.  Pluto,  brother  of  Jupiter,  and  sovereign  of 
the  infernal  regions ;  5.  Bacchus,  the  god  of  wine ;  6.  Sol,  the 
Sun,  who  was  sometimes  regarded  as  identical  with  Apollo,  and  at 
others  as  of  totally  diflferent  origin ;  7.  Luna,  a  female  imperson- 
ation of  the  moon,  the  daughter  of  Hyperion,  an^l  sister  of  Sol; 
8.  Genius,  the  tutelary  god  supposed  to  preside  over  and  protect 
an  individual,  from  his  birth  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  remark  further  on  this  section  of  Roman 
theology.  Saturn,  although  generally  identified  with  the  family  of 
Olympus,  was  an  Etruscan  deity.  Janus,  who  is  here  set  over  the 
year  and  the  gates  of  heaven,  was  originally  the  Etruscan  god  of 
war;  and  hence,  although,  after  the  Romans  conformed  to  the  Greek 
mythology,  Janus  is  superseded  by  Mars  as  the  deity  of  war,  and 
retires  to  the  more  peaceful  presidency  of  rolling  time,  he  is  still,  in 
accordance  with  his  primitive  character,  so  far  recognised  as  con- 
cerned in  the  peaceful  or  warlike  condition  of  the  nation,  that  his 
temple  was  open  in  time  of  war,  and  shut  during  the  season  of  peace. 
Rhea  was  generally  described  as  a  pregnant  matron;  but,  in  the 
later  {{ortion  of  Roman  history,  she  was  worshipped  under  the  name 
of  Cybele,  and  was  represented  by  the  figilre  of  a  cubical  block  of 
stone,  which  was  brought  with  great  pomp  from  Fessinus  in  Fhrygia 
to  Rome  during  the  second  Punic  war. 

Pluto  was  the  brother  of  Jupiter,  and  husband  of  Proserpine,  the 
daughter  of  Ceres,  whom  he  carried  ofT,  as  she  was  gathering  flowers 
on  the  plains  of  Sicily.  Associated  with  this  infernal  deity  were 
other  divinities  of  an  inferior  rank,  such  as  the  Fates  or  Destinies, — 
Clotho,  Lachesis,  and  Atropos;  the  Furies, — Alecto,  Tisiphone, 
and  Megaera,  represented  with  wings,  and  snakes  twisted  in  their 
hair,  holding  in  their  hands  a  torch  and  a  whip  to  torment  the 
wicked;  Mor^,  "Death,"  and  Somnus,  "Sleep;"  and  others  of  less 
note. 

Bacchus,  the  son  of  Jupiter  and  Semele,  was  attended  by  Silenus, 
his  nurse  and  preceptor,  and  by  Bacchanals  and  Satyrs.  Priapus, 
the  god  of  gardens,  whose  worship  was  celebrated  by  emblems  of  the 
most  gross  indecency,  was  the  son  of  Bacchus  and  Venus.  Sol, 
"  the  Sun,"  was  painted  in  a  juvenile  form,  attended  by  the  Hora, 
or  four  Seasons, —  Fer,  "the  Spring;"  jEstas,  "the  Summer;" 


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476  TEB  QBNTJXE  KATI0H8. 

Auctumnus^  "the  Autumn;"  and  Hiems,  "the  Winter."  Luna, 
"the  Moon/'  is  represeAted  as  the  sister  of  Sol. 

Genius,  the  demon  or  protecting  god,  was  at  first  regarded  as  a 
tutelary  spirit,  which  was  supposed  to  preside  over  and  to  direct  the 
actions  of  each  individual.  Some,  indeed,  held  that  there  were  two 
such, — one  good  and  the  other  bad; — attending  each  person  through- 
out his  whole  life ;  so  that  under  this  term  we  have  a  multitude  of 
spiritual  existences.  Although,  in  the  early  ages,  these  spirits  were 
regarded  only  as  subordinate  ministers  of  the  gods,  they  were  at 
length  elevated  to-be  the  objects  of  adoration,  had  altars  and  statues 
reared  to  them,  and  extensively  received  divine  honour. 

Of  the  same  kind  as  the  Genii  were  the  Lares  and  Penates,  house- 
hold gods  who  presided  ove;:  families.  These  have,  frequently  been 
confounded,  aa  if  they  were  identical ;  but  this  is  an  error.  The 
Lares  were  human  spirits,  who  were  at  first  treated  with  reverence, 
and  afterward  receivecl  adoration,  either  from  members  of  their 
fiunily, — and,  as  such,  were  called  Lares  domestici, — or,  on  the  con- 
trary, from  the  people,  who  awarded  them  national  honour  for  their 
noble  and  patriotic  conduct :  these  latter  were  consequently  desig- 
nated Lares  publicL  The  name  Lar  is  Etruscan,  and  signiQes 
"  lord,"  "  king,"  or  **  hero.."  The  Lares  were,  therefore,  the  honoured 
or  deified  spirits  of  men  who,  after  their  death,  were,  either  from 
fraternal  regard,  or  patriotic  gratitude,  revered  or  worshipped. 

The  Penates,  however,  wer6  divine,  and  must  be  regarded  strictly 
as  household  gods.  Although  sometimes  spoken  of  as  sustaining 
the  same  character,  the  Lares  and  Penates  differed  in  this  important 
particular : — there  was  never  but  one  Lar  revered  in  one  family, — 
the  hero-deity  of  the  family ;  while  the  Penates  sSte  almost  always 
spoken  of  in  the  plural,  th^e  being  several  deities  revered  as  Qie 
g^idi^g  and  protecting  gods  of  the  house. 

We  have  next  in. order  to  mention  the  third  section  of  Roman 
deities, — the  dii  minorum  gentium,  or  inferior  gods.  These  were 
of  various  kinds,  and  ranged  over  so  wide  an  expanse  of  imaginative 
creation,  that  only  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  can  have  individual 
notice. 

The  first  portion  of  these  were  the  d,ii  indigetes^  or  heroes  who 
had  been  raised  to  the  rank  of  deities. 

Hercules  may  be  named  as  one  of  the  first  of  this  class.  His 
name,  character,  and  labours  are  well  known,  and  require  no  par- 
ticular elucidation.  Castor  and  Pollux,  sons  of  Jupiter  and  Leda; 
^neas,  sometimes  called  Jupiter  Indiges;  and  Romulus  Quirinus, 
with  a  host  besides,  belong  to  this  class.  Indeed,  during  the  later 
a^es  of  Roman  history,  it  was  regarded  as  a  usual  and  necessary 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIOKS.  477 

compliment  to  an  emperor,  to  declare  him  a  god  immediately  on  his 
death. 

Another  section  of  the  dii  indigetes  were  termed  Semones,  proba- 
bly from  Semi-homines.  Among  these  were  Pan,  the  god  of  shep- 
herds, and  inventor  of  the  flute,  represented  with  horns  and  goafs 
feet;  Faunus  and  Sylvanus;  Vertumnus,  an  old  Etrnscai^  deity, 
who  presided  over  the  change  of  seasons  and  merchandise ;  Pomona, 
the  wife  of  Vertumnus,  the  goddess  of  gardens  and  fruits ;  Flora, 
goddess  of  flowers;  Terminus,*  an  Etruscan  deity,  the  god  of  boun- 
daries, whose  temple  was  always  open  at  the  top;  Pales,  a  deity 
who  presided  over  flocks  and  herds ;  Hymen,  the  god  of  marriage ; 
and  Lavema,  the  patroness  of  thieves.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  and 
unnecessary  to  enumerate  all  these  imaginative  creations.  Respite 
from  business  was  adored  as  a  deity;  bad  smells, — common  sewers, 
— were  each  represented  in  this  section  of  divinities.  Here,  also, 
the  Nymphs,  who  presided  over  every  part  of  the  earth,  are  found. 
Every  river  had  its  presiding  deity,  and  the  head  or  source  of  each 
was  particularly  sacred.  Mountains  and  woods  were  equaHy 
fevoured. 

The  judges  of  hell  also  belong  to  the  Semones. '  The  Romans 
worshipped  in  the  same  category  all  the  virtues  and  {Sections  of  the 
mind, — ^Piety,  Faith,  Hope,  Fortune,  Fame;  and  even  bodily  dis: 
eases,  such  as  Fever,  &c.,  were  adored  as  divine.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  conceive  of  a  more  widely  spread  polytheism  than  this ; 
which  reached  to  such  an  extent  that,  notwithstanding  the  immense 
population  of  the  imperial  capital  in  the  season  of  its  glory,  it  was 
said  that  the  gods  were  in  Rome  more  numerous  than  men. 

We  proceed  to  notice,  in  the  next  place,  the  several  orders  of 
sacred  persons,  or  ministers  of  religion,  who  were  appointed  to  ccfn- 
duct  the  services  of  this  religion." 

Here  it  may  be  observed,  as  a  preliminary  remark,  that  in  Rome 
there  was  no  holy  caste.  No  man,  however  elevated  the  religious 
office  or  appointment  which  he  held,  was  thereby  precluded  from 
pursuing  the  ordinary  avocations  bf  life.  The  chief  of  the  augurs, 
or  the  first  priest  of  the  nation,  might  at  the  same  time  be  a  soMier, 
an  advocate  in  courts  of  law,  or  fill  any  other  public  or  private  office. 
It  should  be  further  noticed  that  the  priesthood  of  Rome  was  -of  two 
]unds, — the  first  being  common  to  all  deities,  and  tiie  other  being 
limited  to  the  service  of  some  particular  divinity.  The  superior 
priests  of  Rome  were  called  pontifices;  those  of  a  more  ordinary 
character,  sacerdotes. 

The  origin  of  the  word  pontifex  is  extremely  doubtful.  The  most 
probable  solution  is  that  it  is  formed  from  pons  and  facere,  (in  'the 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


478  TBB  GBNTILE  NATIONS. 

signification  of  the  Greek  pi^eiv,  "  to  perfonn  a  sacrifice,")  and  that 
it  consequently  signifies  "  the  priests  who  performed  sacrifices  upon 
the  bridge."  The  ancient  sacrifice  to  which  this  alludes  was  that  of 
thirty  men,  or  in  later  ages  images  of  men,  which  were  cast  from  the 
sacred  or  Sublician  bridge,  just  after  the  vernal  equinox,  on  the  Ides 
of  May.  (Dionysius  Halicamasseus,  lib.  i,  cap.  38.) 

These  sacred  officers  were  the  most  illustrious  among  the  great 
colleges  of  the  priests.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  institution 
had  an  Etruscan  origin.  The  first  time  we  hear  of  it  in  Roman 
history  is  in  the  reign  of  Numa,  who,  having  built  the  Pons  Sub- 
licius  across  the  Tiber,  appointed  pontifices  to  take  charge  of  it,  and 
to  offer  annual  sacrifices  there.  At  first  there  were  four  pontifices, 
JNuma  being  the  first,  or  pontifex  maonmus,  and  Marcius,  one  of  the 
noblest  of  the  Sabines,  being  one  of  the  other  four.  ,For  a  long 
time  after  the  iustitution  of  this  order,  when  one  of  the  pontifb 
died,  (for  the  office  was  always  conferred  for  life,)  the  remwiing 
pontifices  filled  up  the  vacancy.  In  300  B.  C,  the  Ogulnian  law 
raised  the  number  of  pontifices  to  eight  besides  the  pontifex  maxi- 
mus,  four  of  whom  were  plebeians.  This  number  was  continued 
until  the  dictator  Sylla  raised  the  number  to  fifteen,  and  Julius 
Caesar  afterward  to  sixteen.  In  both  these  changes  Uie  pontifex 
maximus  is  included  in  the  number. 

The  vocation  of  the  pontifices  is  explicitly  stated  by  Dionysius 
and  Livy.  It  was  their  duty  to  act  as  judges  in  all  matters  pertain- 
ing to  religion,  whether  private  men,  magistrates,  or  ministers  of  the 
gods  were  concerned.  The  first  pontifices  received  a  code  of  writt^i 
laws  from  Ituma.  What  was  not  thus  exacted  for  every  religiooa 
cereinonial,  the  pontifices  had  to  supply.  They  had  to  inquire  into 
the  conduct  of  ail  persons  to  whom  tlie  performance  of  any  sacrifice 
or  religious  service  was  intrusted.  The  priesthood,  of  every  order 
or  kind,  were  subject  to  their  authority.  Besides  which,  they  were 
the  teachers  of  religious  law,  and  the  interpreters  of  everything  con- 
nected with  the  ceremonial  service  of  the  gods.  They  had  also  to 
take  cognizance  of  all  disobedience  of  religious  rule,  and  inflict  such 
punishment  as  they  might  think  fit.  They  were  accordingly  called 
"teachers,"  "ministers,"  "guardians,"  and  "interpreters,  of  holy 
things." — Dionysius  Halicarnasseus,  lib.  ii,  cap.  73;  Ltvy,  lib.  i, 
cap.*20.  In  the  execution  of  this  important  range  of  duties,  the 
pontiffs  were  entirely  independent^  and  were  not  responsible  either 
to  the  senate  or  to  the.  people. 

The  original  sacred  laws  of  Numa»  having  received  considerable 
additions,  were  in  process  of  time  published, — at  least,  such  parts 
of  them  as  related  to  ritual  law.    At  first,  the  pontifex  maximus. 


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THB  GENTILE  NATIONS.  479 

although,  like  the  other  members  of  the  college,  be  might  hold  any 
civil  or  military  employment,  was  not  allowed  to  leave  Italy :  but 
F.  Licinius  Grassus  violated  this  usage;  and  his  example  was  fre- 
quently followed  with,  impunity,  as  by  Julius  Caesar  when  he  went 
to  his  province  of  Gaul. 

The  great  body  of  the  Roman  priesthood  may  be  considered  under 
two  distinct  heads, — the  first  including,  besides  the  pontifices,  the 
augurs  and  the  feiiales ;  the  second,  the  flamines.  The  augurs 
were  in  Etruria  called  auspices,  or  haruspices.  This,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  an  Etruscan  institution,  and  in  Rome  was  coeval  with  the 
first  reign.  Romulus  appointed  three  augurs;  Servius  Tullius 
added  one  more;  the  tribunes  increased  the  number  to  nine,  and 
Sylla  to  fifteen.  The  practice  continued  long  after  the  introduction 
of  Christianity,  and  was  with  difficulty  set  aside  by  the  influence  of 
the  gospel. 

The  duty  of  the  augurs  was  to  ascertain  and  make  known  the 
will  of  the  gods,  mainly  for  the  purposes  of  state,  or  the  direction 
of  national  af&irs.  The  several  augurs  formed  together  a  separate 
sacred  college,  under  the  presidence  of  the  chief  augur,  who  was 
called  magister  collegii.  The  augur  usually  made  his  observations 
at  midnight,  or  during  twilight.  Taking  his  station  on  an  elevated 
place,  he  offered  up  sacrifice  and  prayer,  and  then  sat  down  with  his 
head  covered,  and  his  face  turned  toward  the  east.  Then  he  fixed 
his  mind  ^n  the  space,  before  he  decided  on  the  limits  within  which 
he  would  look  for  the  expected  signification  of  the  divine  will.  This 
was  gathered,  according  to  their  belief  and  practice,  from  five  several 
sources: — 1.  Thunder,  lightning,  meteors,  comets,  dec. ;  2.  The  chirp- 
ing or  flying  of  birds;  3.  The  manner  in  which  the  sacred  chickens 
took  or  refused  their  food ;  4.  The  peculiar  appearance  of  certain 
animals;  5.  Sundry  other  particulars,  termed  dira.  They  were 
directed  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  by  a  threefold  body  of 
law  and  instruction:  1.  The  formularies  and  traditions  of  the  col- 
lege, which  in  ancient  times  met  on  the  Nones  of  every  month; 
2.  The  Augurales  Libri,  which  were  regarded  as  divinely-authorised 
directions  for  this  sacred  service ;  3.  The  Commentarii  Augurum, 
such  as  those  of  Messala  and  of  Appius  Claudius  Pulcher.  These 
were  studied  as  the  best  directions  which  the  researches  of  wise  men 
could  afford  for  the  proper  discharge  of  these  duties. 

The  power  of  the  augurs  with  regard  to  these  supposed  manifesta- 
tions of  the  divine  will  wjent  far  beyond  that  of  the  highest  civil 
magistrates.  The  first  had  the  power  to  interdict  any  public  pro- 
cedure by  declaring  the  auspices  to  be  un&vourable ;  the  latter  could 
only  do  so  by  giving  previous  notice  of  their  intention.    The  influ- 


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480  THE  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

ence  of  the  augurs  was  greatest  in  the  early  ages  of  Boman  hiatory. 
In  later  times,  the  power  of  the  tribunes  frequently  int^ered  iritfa 
their  authority;  and  in  many  other  respects  the  augurs  were  ooereed 
'  by  the  civil  power. 

The  fetiales  composed  another  sacred  college,  wbidi  was  estab- 
lished on  an  Etruscan  basis,  and  acted  as  protectors  of  the  public 
&ith.  -  In  Rome,  as  before  in  £truria,  this  section  of  the  priestiiood 
was  charged  with  the  duty  of  conducting  a  kind  of  religions  negotia- 
tion prior  to  any  declaration  of  war.  This  was  done  just  in  the 
same  manner  as  that  previously  described  as  obtaining  among  the 
Tuscans.  The  presence  of  \iiei  fetiales  ^as  so  indispensable  in  the 
ratification  of  a  treaty  of  peace,  that,  on  the  termination  of  the 
second  Punic  war,  fetiales  were  sent  over  to  Afirioa,  who  carried 
'  With  them  their  own  verbencB,  and  their  own  flint-stones,  for  smiting 
the  victim  to  be  sacrificed. 

>  These  several  kinds  of  priests  were  not  devoted  to  any  particular 
deity.'but  were  common  to  all  the  gods,  and  consequently  stood  con- 
nected with  the  whole  range  of  the  national  faith,  and  identified  witii 
all  its  wide  scope  of  worship  and  ceremonial  service. 

On  the  contrary,  the  flamens  were  priests  individually  devoted  to 
the  service  of  some  particular  divini^.  The  name  was  given  them 
from  a  cap,  or  fillet,  which  they  wore  on  their  head.  The  principal 
of  these  were  the  following : — 

1.  Flamen  Dialis,  "priest  of  Jupiter."  This  or^pr  was  first 
appointed  by  Numa;  but  the  priests  were  afterward  elected  to 
office  by  the  people;  after  which  they  were  solemnly  inaugurated, 
and  admitted  to  the  performance  of  sacred  functions,  by  the  pontifex 
maximus.  The  flamen  of  Jupiter  held  an  office  of  great  dignity,  but 
one  associated  with  many  inconvenient  restrictions.  He  was  not 
allowed  to  ride  on  horseback,  nor  to  stay  one  night  without  the 
city,  nor  to  take  an  oath,  nor  to  wear  a  ring.  He  was  forbidden  to 
touch,  or  to  name,  a  dog,  a  she-goat,  ivy,  beans,  or  raw  flesh ;  with 
many  other  restrictions  of  an  equally  incomprehensible  kind.  The 
regulations  respecting  the  flaminica,  or  flamen's  wife,  were  no  less 
stringent.  He  Was  required  to  wed  a  virgin  according  to  the  most 
sacred  rites  of  religion;  and  he  was  not  allowed  to  many  a  second 
time:  consequently,  as  the  assistance  of  the /^xmmica  was  essential 
to  the  proper  performa^nce  of  some  parts  of  the  flamen's  religious 
duties,  on  the  death  of  his  wife  he  was  obliged  to  resign  his  office. 

2.  Flamines  Salii  were  priests  similar  to  the  preceding,  lut 
devoted  to  the  service  and  worship  of  Mars.  They  were  twelve  in 
nii-mber,  and  were  instituted  by  Numa.  They  received  this  name 
1  rciiuie  they  were  accustomed,  in  some  of  the  sacred  services,  to  go 


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THB  aSNTILS  NATIONS.  481' 

througb  the  streets  of  the  city  dancing,  dressed  in  an  embroidered 
tonic,  bound  with  a  brazen  belt,  having  on  their  head  a  cap  rising  to 
a  considerable  height  in  the  form  of  a  cone,  with  sword,  spear,  and 
one  of  the  andlia,  or  shields  of  Mars.  They  used  to  go  to  the 
capitol,  through  the  forum  and  other  public  parts  of  the  city,  sing- 
ing sacred  songs  as  they  went.  The  most  solemn  procession  of  the' 
Salii  was  on  the  first  of  March,  in  commemoration  of  the  time  when 
the  eaored  shield  was  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven  in  the  reign 
of  Noma.  No  one  could  be  admitted  into  the  order  of  the  Salii, 
unless  he  were  a  native  of  the  place,  free-bom,  and  one  whose  father 
and  mother  were  alive.  After  the  close  of  their  solemn  procession, 
the  Salii  had  a  splendid  entertainment  prepared  for  them.  Tullus 
Hostilius  doubled  the  number  of  these  priests. 

3  Flamines  Luperci  were  the  priests  of  Pan,  and  so  called  because 
they  were  supposed  to  protect  the  sheep  from  wolves.  Hence  the 
place  where  thisdeity  was  worshipped  was  called  Lupercal,  and  his  fes- 
tival Lupercalia,  celebrated  in  February ;  at  which  time  the  Luperci 
ran  up  and  down  the  city  with  only  a  goat-skin  about  their  waists, 
and  thongs  of  the  same  in  their  hands,  with  which  they  struck  those 
whom  they  met^  especially  married  women,  who  were  supposed  there- 
by to  be  rendered  prolific.  There  were  three  companies  of  Luperci, 
two  of  them  of  very  ancient  origin,  named  Fabiani  and  Quintiliana; 
and,  in  more  recent  times,  the  third  was  added  in  honour  of  Julius 
Osssar.  The  first  chief- priest  of  this  section  was  Marc  Antony; 
and  it  was  while  acting  in  that  capacity  at  the  Lupercalia,  that  he 
went  almost  naked  into  the  Forum  Julii,  and,  having  delivered  an 
address  to  the  people,  tendered  to  GiBsar  a  golden  crown.  The 
Luperd  were  one,  of  the  most  ancient  orders  of  priests,  it  being  said 
that  they  were  instituted  by  Evander. 

The  flamens  of  these  three  orders  were  also  selected  from  Fatricians; 
At  first  they  were  appointed  by  Numa;  but  afterward  they  were 
elected  by  l^e  people.  It  is  supposed  that  the  pontifex  maximvs, 
when  there  was  a  vacancy,  selected  three  persons,  of  whom  the  people 
chose  one. 

4.  The  fourth  order  of  flamens  were  called  Politii  and  Pinarii, 
and  were  priests  of  Hercules.  These  are  also  said  to  have  been 
instituted  by  Evander.  They  jointly  conducted  the  worship  of 
Hercules  for  a  long  time,  until  the  Pinarii,  by  either  the  advice  or 
the  authority  of  Appius  Claudius,  delegated  their  ministry  to  public 
slaves,  soon  after  which  the  whole  race  became  extinct. 

6.  Flamines  Galli  were  the  priests  of  Oybele,  Mother  of  the 
Oods.  They  were  so  called  because  they  were  all  mutilated. 
They  used  to  carry  the  image  of  Gybele  through  the  streets  of  the 

31 


Digitized  by  LjOOQ IC 


482  THB  OBMTILB  NATIONS. 

city,  imitating  the  actions  and  gestures  of  madmen,  rolling  their 
heads  and  beating  their  breasts  to  the  music  of  the  flute,  and  making 
a  great  noise  with  drums  and  cymbals.  Sometimes  they  would  gash 
their  flesh,  and  utter  dreadful  predictions.  The  rites  of  Cybele 
were  characterised  by  gross  indecency. 

The  last  sacred  class  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  mention,  as 
devoted  to  the  worship  and  service  of  a  partictdar  deity,  ia  ihe 
Vestal  virgins.  Their  original  appointment  and  vocation  have  been 
already  noticed :  they  were  priestesses  of  Vesta.  At  first  they  were 
nominated  by  the  king ;  but,  after  the  subversion  of  royalty,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  vacancy,  the  pontifex  maximus  selected  twenty  girls, 
between  the  age  of  six  and  sixteen ;  and  from  these  one  was  chosen 
by  lot  to  the  vacant  office  of  Vestal. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  Vestals  to  keep  the  sacred  fire  always 
'burning,  watching  it  alternately  day  and  night.  Whoever  allowed  it 
to  go  out  was  scourged;  and  the  extinguishing  of  the  fire  was 
esteemed  a  great  public  calamity,  and  could  only  be  expiated  by 
extraordinary  sacrifices.  The  fire,  after  being  extinguished,  was  lit 
firom  the  sun's  rays,  as  it  always  was  on  the  first  of  March  in  eadi 
year.  The  senior  or  principal  of  the  virgins  was  called  Vestalis 
maxima ;  and  to  her  care  it  is  supposed  the  Palladium  was  con- 
fided. The  sacred  rites  of  the  goddess  were  wholly  performed  by  the 
Vestals ;  and  their  prayers  and  invocations  were  always  regturded 
as  having  efficient  influence  with  the  gods. 

When  a  Vestal  violated  her  vow  of  chastity,  she  was  tried  by  the 
pontifices,  and,  being  convicted,  was  buried  alive  with  due  funeral 
eolemnities.    Her  paramour,  if  discovered,  was  scourged  to  death. 

These  were  the  ministers  of  the  national  faith  who  held  a  leading 
position  in  the  metropolis,  and  were  consequently  regarded  as  pos- 
sessing an  important  religious  character.  But,  necessary  as  it  is  to 
understand  their  office  and  duty,  it  is  even  more  important  to  have 
a  clear  idea  of  the  means  adopted  to  pervade  the  public  mind 
throughout  the  land  with  religious  sentiments,  and  to  direct  them 
in  their  worship.  In  this  respect  the  religion  of  Rome,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  city,  presents  an  aspect  of  peculiar  importance. 
Here,  as  in  many  other  instances,  Romulus,  adopting  an  Etruscan 
institution, — by  which,  under  the  laws  of  Tages,  the  people  and  ter- 
ritory of  Etruria  were  regularly  divided  into  tribes  and  cuHcb, — ^first 
parted  his  citizens  into  three  tribes,  and  then  each  tribe  into  ten 
curi(B, — thus  separating  the  people  into  thirty  sections.  Having 
done  this,  we  are  told  that  "  he  divided  the  land  into  thirty  equal 
portions,  and  gave  one  of  them  to  each  curia,  having  first  set  apart 
as  much  of  it  as  was  sufficient  for  the  sacrifices  and  temples,  and 


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THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS.  488 

also  reserved  some  part  of  the  land  for  the  use  of  the  public." — 
Dionysius  Halicamasseu^,  lib.  ii,  cap.  7. 

This  series  of  divisions  of  both  the  land  and  the  people  was  not 
made  merely  for  civil  or  political  purposes,  but  also  with  a  view  to 
the  establishment  of  efficient  religious  institutions.  Indeed,  Romu- 
lus is  celebrated  as  being  without  an  equal  in  his  care  for  the  religion 
of  his  people.  "  No  man  can  name,"  says  the  author  of  the  "  Roman 
Antiquities,"  "  any  newly- built  city  in  which  so  many  priests  and 
ministers  of  the  gods  were  ordained  from  the  beginning :  for,  without 
mentioning  those  who  were  invested  with  family  priesthoods,  three- 
score were  appointed  in  his  reign  to  perform  divine  service,  both  in 
the  tribes  and  the  curiee.  Whereas  others  generally  make  choice 
of  such  as  are  to  preside  over  religious  matters  in  a  mea^  and  in- 
considerate manner;  some  thinking  fit  to  make  public  sale  of  this 
honour,  others  disposing  of  it  by  lot;  he  would  not  suffer  the  priest- 
hood to  be  either  venal  or  distributed  by  lot ;  but  made  a  law,  that 
each  curia  should  choose  two  persons,  both  above  fifty  years  of  age, 
of  distinguished  birth  and  virtue,  competent  fortune,  and  without  any 
bodily  defect.  These  were  not  to  enjoy  their  honours  during  any 
limited  time;  but  for  life,  freed  from  military  employments  by  their 
age,  and  from  the  cares  of  civil  government  by  this  law." — Dio>- 
nysitts  Halicamasseus,  lib.  ii,  cap.  21. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  overrate  the  importance  of  this  statement 
We  have  here,  at  the  very  outset  of  Roman  history,  a  geographical 
division  of  that  country,  and  two  ministers  of  religion  placed  in 
special  charge  of  the  religious  interests  of  the  people  of  each  dis^ 
trict.  It  must  be  freely  admitted  that  this  usage  was  adopted  from 
fitraria ;  but  whencesoever  it  was  derived,  is  it  not  the  first  time  we 
ever  meet  with  a  territorial  appointment  of  ministers  of  religion  ? 
Here  we  have  unquestionably  the  origin  of  parishes  and  of  a  paro- 
chial clergy.  Nowhere  else,  either  among  the  Hebrews  or  the  Gen- 
tiles, do  we  find  anything  approaching  to  this  geographical  division 
of  the  people  into  religious  cures. 

It  does  not  appear  that  these  priests,  or,  in  fact,  those  of  any 
other  order,  received  any  regular  stipend  for  the  performance  of  their 
religious  frinctions.  It  rather  seems  that  the  honour  and  the  status 
thus  obtained,  were  regarded  as  a  sufficient  remuneration.  Romulus 
is  said  to  have  set  apart  sufficient  land  to  provide  for  the  sacrifices 
and  sacred  rites  which  were  enjoined;  and  Livy  also  states  that 
Numa,  who  appointed  the  greatest  number  of  priests  and  sacrifices, 
provided  a  find  for  defraying  these  expenses.  But  this  outlay, 
except  in  jbhe  case  of  the  Vestal  virgins,  who  had  a  regular  jsalary, 
must  not  be  taken  to  include  anything  more  than  the  repairs  of  the 


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484  THS  GBNTILH  NATIONS. 

temples,  and  the  oost  of  sacrificial  animals.  In  later  times,  indeed, 
the  priests  claimed  exemption  from  the  payment  of  taxes,  and  the 
pontifices  and  augors  for  a  while  enjoyed  this  privilege;  but  at 
length  they  were  compelled  to  forego  it.  Augostus  increased  both 
the  honour  and  the  emoluments  of  the  priests.  It  seems  to  be 
ascertained  that  everything  necessary  to  the  respectable  maintenance 
of  religious  institutions  was  provided,  bat  that  the  private  fortune  of 
the  men  elected  to  the  priesthood  rendered  their  having  a  salary 
unnecessary.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  wages  of  the  ser- 
vants and  assistants  who  waited  on  the  temple,  and  the  oost  of  sae- 
rifices,  were  defrayed  out  of  the  public  funds. 

We  have  next  to  direct  attention  to  the  sacred  places  and  rites  of 
the  Roman  religion. 

Even  in  the  early  portions  of  Roman  history,  we  frequently  hear 
of  the  worship  of  numerous  deities ;  while,  in  much  later  times,  we 
are  informed  of  temples  being  erected  to  these  same^ods ;  and  the 
information  is  given  in  a  manner  which  leads  to  the  impression  that 
no  temple  had  previously  been  erected  to  these  divinities.  The 
solution  of  this  apparent  difficulty  is  probably  found  in  the  fact  tha^ 
adopting  nearly  the  terms  of  Greece  with  her  religious  ideas,  the 
Romans  called  any  place  set  apart  for  the  sacred  service  of  religion 
a  "  temple,"  even  although  it  contained  nothing  more  than  an  en- 
closed space  and  a  simple  altar.  This,  in  &ct,  seems  to  have  been 
the  primitive  idea.  For  "  temple,"  Latin,  templum,  comes  from  the 
Greek  rifievog^  from  re/xv6),  "to  cut  off;"  templum,  according  to 
Servius^  being  any  place  which  was  circumscribed  and  separated  by 
the  augurs  from  the  rest  of  the  land  by  a  certain  solemn  formula. 
So  that,  in  the  sense  of  the  early  Romans,  a  temple  was  not  an 
ecclesiastical  building,  but  a  consecrated  place,  whether  containing 
a  building  or  not.  The  act  of  consecration  by  the  augurs  was,  in 
&ct,  the  great  essential  necessary  to  constitute  a  place  sacred.  The 
Roman  temples  in  later  times  were  built  in  the  Greek  style;  the 
entrance  being,  if  possible,  toward  the  west,  while  the  statue  of  the 
deity  was  always  placed  in  the  interior  opposite  the  entrance.  It 
was  also  regarded  as  an  important  point,  when  practicable,  to  have 
the  eiltrance  to  the  temple  by  the  side  of  a  street  or  road ;  so  that 
passers-by,  without  being  diverted  from  their  course,  could  offer  their 
salutations  to  the  god. 

The  worship  of  the  Romans  consisted  chiefly  in  prayers,  vows, 
and  sacrifices. 

Prayer  was  essential  to  every  act  of  worship ;  and  the  order  of 
lirords  employed  in  the  supplications  to  deity  was  regarded  as  of  the 
utmost  importance.    These  forms  of  prayer  varied,  of  course,  with 


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TBB  GSNTILB  NATIONS.  485 

the  nainre  of  the  sacrifice.  The  great  importance  attached  to  pre* 
cision  in  the  forms  of  speech  nsed  in  prayer,  is  supposed  to  have 
given  rise  to  the  notion,  that  some  special  virtue  pervaded  certain 
collocations  of  language ;  and  hence  sprung  belief  in  the  efficacy  of 
charms  and  incantations.  Those  who  prayed  stood  usually  with 
their  heads  covered,  lookiog  toward  the  east.  A  priest  pronounced 
the  words  before  them :  they  often  touched  the  altars,  or  the  knees 
of  the  images  of  the  gods,  turning  themselves  round  in  a  circle 
toward  the  right,  sometimes  putting  their  right  hand  to  their  mouth, 
and  not  unfrequently  prostrating  themselves  on  the  ground. 

Vows  were  presented  to  the  gods  by  the  ancient  Romans  with  the 
same  solemnity.  In  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  desired  good,  they 
vowed  temples,  games,  sacrifices,  gifts,  a  certain  part  of  the  plunder 
of  a  city,  and  also  what  was  called  ver  sacrum,  that  is,  all  the  cattle 
which  were  produced  from  the  first  of  March  to  the  end  of  April. 
Among  the  Samnites,  men  were  included  in  the  things  vowed. 
Sometimes  they  used  to  write  their  vows  on  paper  or  waxen  tablets, 
to  seal  them  up,  and  fasten  them  with  wax  to  the  images  of  the 
gods ;  that  being  supposed  to  be  the  seat  of  mercy. 

Thanksgivings  used  always  to  be  offered  up  to  the  gods  for  benefits 
received,  and  upon  all  fortunate  events.  It  was  believed  that  the 
gods,  after  remarkable  success,  nsed  to  send  on  men,  through  the 
agency  of  Nemesis,  a  reverse  of  fortune ;  to  avoid  which,  it  is  said, 
Augustus,  influenced  by  a  dream,  was  in  the  habit  of  begging  alms 
of  the  people  once  a  year,  in  the  hope  that  this  feigned  humiliation 
and  adversity  would  satisfy  the  resentment  of  the  malign  goddess, 
and  ward  off  real  distress. 

There  was  one  peculiar  manner  in  which  the  Romans  testified 
their  gratitude  to  the  gods  for  any  signal  deliverance  or  special  vic- 
toiy.  When  the  senate  decreed  a  lectistemium,  as  this  service  was 
caUed,  tables  were  provided,  which  were  covered  with  the  choicest 
viands,  as  prepared  for  a  sumptuous  feast..  Around  these  tables  the 
images  of  the  gods  and  goddesses,  removed  from  their  pedestals,  and 
reclining  on  couches,  were  placed,  as  if  enjoying  a  repast.  The 
splendid  triumph  of  Cicero  over  the  -conspiracy  of  Catiline  was 
honoured  with  a  public  thanks^ving  of  this  kind, — the  only  instance, 
as  that  great  orator  used  to  boast,  of  its  having  been  conferred  on  a 
person  without  his  having  laid  aside  his  robe  of  peace. 

The  most  important  part  of  worship  consisted  in  sacrifice ;  and 
it  was  always  necessary  that  those  who  offered  it  should  be  chaste 
and  pure ;  that  they  should  previously  bathe,  be  dressed  in  white 
robes,  and  be  crowned  with  the  leaves  of  that  tree  which  was  thou^t 
most  aooeptable  to  the  god  whom  they  worshipped.    It  was  essential 


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486  THB  GBNTILB  NATI0K8. 

that  the  animal  should  be  wiihont  spot  and  blemish,  one  never 
yoked,  but  chosen  from  among  a  flock  or  herd  approved  by  the 
priests,  and  marked  with  chalk.  It  was  then  adorned  with  fillets^ 
ribbons,  crowns,  and  gilded  horns. 

When  these  necessary  preparations  had  been  made,  the  victim 
was  led  to  the  altar  by  the  assistants  of  the  priests,  called  the  pqp(B, 
with  their  clothes  tucked  up,  and  naked  to  the  waist.  The  animal 
was  conducted  by  a  rope,  which  was  not  to  be  drawn  tight,  since  it 
was  necessary,  as  far  as  possible,  for  it  to  appear  to  come  willingly, 
and  not  by  force,  which  was  always  regarded  as  a  bad  omen.  For 
the  same  reason  it  was  allowed  to  stand  loose  before  the  altar ;  and 
if  it  ran  away,  it  was  regarded  as  a  most  calamitous  circumstance. 

These  preparations  having  been  made,  and  silence  commanded, 
bran  and  meal,  mixed  with  salt,  were  spiinkled  on  the  head  of  the 
animal,  and  frankincense  and  wine  were  poured  between  its  horns, — 
the  priest  first  tasting  the  wine  himself,  and  giving  it  to  those  near- 
est him  to  taste  it  also.  This  was  called  the  "libation."  The 
priest  then  plucked  a  few  hairs  from  between  the  horns  of  the  victim, 
and  threw  them  into  the  fire.  This  being  done,  the  animal 'was 
struck  with  an  axe  or  mall,  by  the  order. of  the  priest;  the  assist- 
ant asking,  Agone  ?  "  Shall  I  do  it  ?"  to  which  the  priest  replied, 
Hoc  age,  "  So  do."  The  victim  was  then  stabbed  witti  knives ;  and 
the  blood,  being  caught  in  goblets,  was  poured  on  the  altar.  It  was 
then  flayed ;  and  the  carcass  sometimes  was  wholly  consumed  with 
fire :  the  sacrifice  was  then  called  holocaustum.  Usually,  however, 
only  a  part  was  burnt,  and  the  remainder  divided  between  the  priest 
and  the  person  providing  the  animal.  Upon  this  division  of  the 
sacrificed  animal,  the  haruspices  inspected  the  entrails,  of  which  the 
liver  was  the  most  prominent  element,  and  supposed  to  afford  the 
most  certain  omens  of  future  events.  If  the  signs  were  favourable, 
then  it  was  said  that  an  acceptable  sacrifice  had  been  ofiered  to  God: 
if  the  contrary,  then  another  animal  was  ofiered ;  and  so  sometimes 
several  creatures  were  devoted  before  the  desired  appearances  were 
realized.  After  this  inspection,  the  part  of  the  sacrifice  which  was 
devoted  to  the  god  was  sprinkled  with  meal,  wine,  and  frankin- 
cense, and  burnt  on  the  altar.  When  the  sacrifice  was  finished, 
the  priest,  having  again  washed  and  prayed,  formally  dismissed  die 
assembly. 

At  the  close  of  the  sacrifice  followed  a  feast.  If  the  rite  was  a 
public  one,  the  feast  was  provided  by  the  epulones,  who  were  oflicers 
specially  appointed  to  prepare  banquets  given  in  honour  of  the  gods. 
In  private  sacrifices  the  person  offering  feasted  with  his  friends  on 
the  parts  assigned  them.    The  victims  ofiered  to  the  celestial  gods 


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THX  GBNTILB  JTATIONS.  48T 

were  genanlly  white;  tiieir  neck  was  bent  upward,  and  the  knife- 
was  applied  from  above,  the  blood  being  afterward  sprinkled  on  the 
altar.  On  the  contrary,  the  animals  sacrificed  to  the  infernal  deitiea 
were  black,  their  heads  were  bent  downward,  the  knife  was  applied 
from  beneath,  and  the  blood  was  poured  into  a  ditch.  There  was  a 
corresponding  difference  in  the  di^s  and  demeanour  of  the  persons 
ofiering.  Those  who  presented  a  sacrifice  to  the  celestial  gods  came 
dressed  in  white,  having  bathed  the  whole  body :  they  made  libations 
by  tossing  the  liquor  out  of  the  cup,  and  prayed  with  their  hands 
raised  to  heaven,  l^hose  who  sacrificed  to  the  infernal  gods  were 
dressed  in  black,  only  sprinkled  their  bodies  with  water,  made  liba- 
tions by  turning  the  hand,  threw  the  cup  into  the  fire,  and  prayed  with 
their  palms  turned  downward,  and  striking  the  ground  with  their  feet 

The  ancient  Romans  sometimes  offered  human  sacrifices.  By 
a  law  enacted  by  Romulus,  which  has  been  called  lex  perditionis, 
persons  guilty  of  certain  crimes,  such  as  treachery  or  sedition,  were 
devoted  to  Pluto  and  the  infernal  gods,  and,  in  consequence,  any 
one  might  kill  them  with  impunity.  Afterward  a  dictator,  consul, 
or  prsBtor,  might  devote,  not  only  himself,  but  any  one  of  a  particular 
l^on  which  was  composed  entirely  of  Romans,  and  slay  him  as  an 
expiatory  victim.  It  seems  that,  in  the  early  ages  of  Rome,  human 
sacrifices  were  offered  annually.  Pliny  mentions  a  law  made 
A.  U.  0.  657,  for  prohibiting  this  horrid  practice ;  but  it  is  reasonably 
believed  that  this  enactment  referred  only  to  private  and  magical 
rites ;  for  fifty  years  after  the  enactment  mentioned  by  Pliny,  in  the 
time  of  Julius  Gsssar,  two  men  were  slain  and  sacrificed  with  the 
usual  solemnities  in  the  Campus  Martins,  by  the  pontifices  and 
flamen  of  Mars.  And,  as  a  proof  that  this  savage  practice  was  not 
renounced  in  the  most  glorious  period  of  Roman  history,  it  may  be 
stated,  that  Augustus,  after  having  compelled  L.  Antonius  to  sur* 
render  to  Penisia,  ordered  four  hundred  senators  and  equites,  who 
had  supported  Antony,  to  be  sacrificed  as  victims  at  the  altar  of 
Julius  Csesar,  on  the  Ides  of  March,  A.  [J.  C.  713. 

It  will  be  necessary  here  to  refer  to  some  of  the  Roman  festivals, 
as  they  were  intimately  connected  with  religion,  and  exerted  a  very 
considerable  influence  on  the  manners  and  morals  of  the  people. 
Our  notice,  however,  will  only  extend  to  three  of  the  principal  of 
these, — ^the  Lupercalia,  the  Bacchanalia,  and  the  Saturnalia. 

The  Lupercalia  was  a  festival  appointed  to  the  honour  of  the 
Lycian  Fan,  and  was  celebrated  in  Rome  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
February.  It  was  one  of  the  most  ancient  Roman  feasts,  and  was 
celebrated  on  the  spot  where  Romulus  and  Remus  were  supposed  to 
have  been  suckled  by  the  she- wolf ;  and  where  a  temple  was  erected^ 


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488  THB  GENa:iLS  natiohs. 

and  a  grove  planted,  in  honoiir  of  this  deity.  The  entire  {nrooeed- 
ingp  of  this  festival  derived  their  character  from  the  fact,  that  they 
were  appointed  in  honour  of  Pan  as  the  deity  presiding  over  fer- 
tility. On  this  occasion  goats  and  young  dogs  trere  sacrificed,  and 
two  noble  youths  selected,  to  whose  foreheads  the  blood  of  these 
victims  was  applied,  and  afterward  wiped  off  with  soft  wool  dipped 
in  milk;  during  which  process  the  youths  were  required  to  laugh. 
After  the  sacrifice,  the  Luperci  partook  of  a  meal,  and  were  plenti- 
fully supplied  with  wine.  They  then  cut  the  skins  of  the  saonfioed 
animals  into  pieces;  some  of  which  they  tied  around  their  bodies^ 
and  the  others  they  used  as  thongs.  They  then  ran  naked  .through 
the  streets  of  the  city,  touching  or  striking  all  whom  they  met  in 
their  way.  Women  rather  sought  than  avoided  these  blows,  as  they 
were  supposed  to  promote  fertility,  and  to  diminish  the  pains  of 
child-bearing.  The  grossest  impurity  was  practised  in  connexion 
with  these  rites  in  Egypt;  and  even  in  Rome  they  were  promotive 
of  vile  indecency,  and  were  sometimes  connected  with  displays  of 
shocking  depravity. 

The  Bacchanalia  was  not,  properly  speaking,  a  Roman  festival 
established  by  law,  although  it  evidently  sustained  that  character, 
and  produced  the  same  efiects  as  if  it  luui  been  so  authorized.  It 
was,  in  fact,  an  adaptation  of  the  mysteries  of  Dionysus,  or  Bacchus, 
to  Rome.  It  is  said  that  they  were  introduced  into  Italy  at  an  early 
period;  although,  from  the  assertion  of  Livy,  it  would  seem  that 
they  were  not  known  at  Rome  until  a  later  date,  and  that  even  then 
their  celebration  was  kept  a  profound  secret.  When,  however,  we 
state  the  natujre  and  frequency  of  these  orgies,  this  account  will  be 
received  with  great  suspicion.  The  Bacchanalia  were  celebrated,  at 
first,  three  days  in  every  year,  and  that  in  the  day-time,  when  women 
only  were  admitted,  and  matrons  performed  the  necessary  priestly 
offices ;  until,  at  length,  !^aculla  Minia,  a  Campanian  matron,  being 
priestess,  professed  to  have  received  a  mission  from  the  god,  by  which 
she  was  charged  to  alter  the  time  of  celebration  from  throe  days  in  the 
year  to  five  days  in  the  month,  and  also  to  allow  men  to  be  initiated 
and  to  celebrate  these  orgies  at  night-time.  Thenceforward,  accord- 
ing to  Livy,  these  rites  became  scenes  of  the  most  abominable  pro- 
ceedings, of  which  the  licentious  intercourse  between  the  sexes  was 
the  least  evil.  In  fact,  the  account  of  the  Roman  author  is  filled 
with  sickening  details  of  the  most  revolting  and  abandoned  villany. 
(Hist.,  lib.  xxxix,  cap.  9-17.)  How  seven  thousand  persons  (for 
tiiat  is  the  number  stated)  could  be  initiated  into  a  fraternity  of  this 
kind,  and  hold  nocturnal  meetings  monthly,  five  nights  in  succession, 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  public  authorities,  seems  incredible. 


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IHB  GSNTILE  NATIONS.  489 

I 

When  these  orgies  were  denounced  by  the  senate,  B.  C.  186,  it  is 
said  that  Borne  was  almost  deserted, — so  many  persons,  feeling 
themselves  implicated  in  those  proceedings,  sought  safety  in  flight. 
From  this  period  these  practices  were  forbidden  by  explicit  law, 
except  in  case  of  special  application  to  the  senate.  The  Liberalia 
was  devised  as  a  pure  and  innocent  festival  in  honour  of  Bacchus, 
instead  of  that  which  had  been  abolished :  but  there  is  reason  to  fear 
that  the  new  institution  soon  sunk  into  all  the  abominations  of  the 
old  one;  for  St.  A^ig^^i^o  denounces  the  extreme  licentiousness 
of  this  festival  in  his  day.  (De  Civitate  Dei,  lib.  vii,  cap.  21.) 

The  Saturnalia  was  a  festival  to  Satumus,  to  whom  was  attrib- 
uted the  introduction  of  agriculture  and  the  arts  of  civilized  life 
into  Italy.  The  whole  of  the  month  of  December  was  regarded  as 
consecrated  to  this  deity:  but  the  feast  was  at  first  celebrated  dur- 
ing one  day,  was  afterward  extended  to  three,  and  again  by  Caligula 
to  five.  During  the  period  assigned  to  this  festival,  universal  feast* 
ing  and  merriment  prevailed;  no  public  business  was  transacted; 
the  law-courts  were  dosed;  the  schools  kept  holiday;  to  commence 
war  was  impious;  to  punish  a  criminal  involved  pollution.  The 
scourge  kept  for  the  punishment  of  slaves  was,  during  this  time, 
lodged  up  under  the  seal  of  the  master.  All  distinction  between 
master  and  slave  was  laid  aside:  even  public  gambling  was  allowed 
by  the  ssdiles ;  and  presents  were  generally  interchanged  between 
firiends.  In  fact,  many  of  the  circumstances  attendant  on  the 
Italian  Carnival,  and  on  the  Popish  mode  of  celebrating  Christmas, 
are  evidently  borrowed  firom  the  Roman  Saturnalia. 

It  vow  becomes  necessary  to  take  a  general  view  of  this  great 
ecdesiastical  establishment,  in  connexion  with  its  theology,  doc- 
trines, and  rites,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  some  definite  opinion 
of  its  moral  and  religious  results  upon  the  nation  at  lai^. 

It  is  but  just  to  admit,  that  we  find  in  ancient  Rome  an  ecdesi- 
astical  institution  which,  for  breadth  of  range,  combined  influence, 
power,  and  coxnpleteness  of  detail,  has  no  parallel  in  the  ancient 
Gentile  world.  The  political  isolation  of  the  several  Gredan  states, 
to  a  great  extent,  destroyed  the  unity  of  the  national  religious  estab- 
lishments, by  introducing  not  only  division,  but  diversity.  In  Rome, 
on  the  contrary,  the  very  reverse  was  the  case.  Small  in  the  begin- 
ning as  were  the  Roman  population  and  territory,  the  daring  energy 
of  that  state  went  forward  in  a  continued  career  of  aggression  and 
extension,  until  the  world  lay  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  proud 
republic.  Remarkable  as  this  extensive  range  of  conquest  is,  it  is 
equally  so  that,  while  islands  and  continents  submitted  to  the  Ro- 
man power,  the  imperial  government  maintained,  throughout,  the 


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490  THB  GENTILE  NATIONS. 

paramount  influence  of  the  seat  of  rule,  and  the  identity  and  unity 
of  its  religious  system.  Aggregating  to  itself,  with  equal  facility, 
territorial  dominion  and  religious  elements,  grasping  at  the  same 
moment  the  kingdoms  and  the  gods  of  the  conquered,  the  whole  was 
still  Rome,  and  all  its  adjuncts  Roman.  Whether  in  Greece  or 
Judea,  Egypt  or  Britain,  the  highest  attainable  civil  privil^e  wa8» 
to  be  a  citizen  of  Rome.  So,  when  Greece,  Egypt,  and  Phenida 
had  extended  the  Pantheon  of  Rome  by  the  addition  of  their  divini* 
ties,  the  religion  of  Rome  was  as  united  as  before.  The  imperial 
state,  exercising  an  irresistible  power,  moulded  all  these  additions 
into  the  Roman  character,  and  folly  fused  them  into  the  great  body 
of  its  ecclesiastical  economy. 

Looking  at  the  external  structure  of  this  religious  system,  we  can 
scarcely  find  anything  of  the  kind  more  grand  or  complete : — the 
pontifices,  headed  by  the  pontifex  maximus ;  the  augurs,  by  the 
chief  augur;  the  flamens  of  the  superior  triad  of  deities,  and  of  the 
other  gods  and  goddesses.  When  we  contemplate  these,  composed 
of  the  aristocracy  of  the  power,  intellect,  wealth,  and  genius  of 
Rome, — supplemented  by  a  weighty  and  influential  parochial  cleigy, 
spread  over  the  whole  extent  of  Italy,  and  laying  hold  on  the  man- 
ners, judgment,  and  sympathy  of  the  people  in  every  locality, — ^we 
/have  brought  under  review  a  mighty  ecclesiastical  agency.  And 
when  it  is  further  considered  that  all  the  elements  and  powers  of 
this  system  were  identified  with  the  imperial  government, — that  the 
martial  prowess  of  Rome  looked  to  her  religion  for  guidance,  direc- 
tion, and  support, — that  the  national  councils  were  always  held  in 
the  presence,  and  subject  to  the  interposition,  of  the  highest  minis- 
ters of  the  national  faith, — that  the  sacred  persons,  rites,  and  usages, 
throughout  the  land,  were  recognised  by  the  jurisprudence  of  the 
state,  and  incorporated  into  the  entire  policy  of  the  empire: — ^when 
all  this  is  considered,  it  will  appear  that  the  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tions of  Rome  were  designed  and  carried  into  efl^ect  on  a  scale  of 
grandeur  and  completeness  commensurate  with  the  colossal  power 
and  extent  of  that  mighty  empire. 

Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  these  religious  arrangements,  and  this 
system  of  ecclesiastical  order,  answered,  to  a  great  extent,  the  in- 
tended object.  Under  these  influences,  the  Romans  became  a  veiy 
religious  people.  No  afibir  of  state  was  prosecuted,  no  enterprise 
entered  upon,  without  a  diligent  inquiry  as  to  the  divine  will  respect- 
ing it.  No  private  individual  of  repute  would  build  a  house,  take  a 
journey,  or  enter  upon  any  important  business,  without  sacrifice  and 
prayer.  Religion,  in  fact,  was  continually  recognised  in  all  public 
and  private  a£BBiirs.    The  nation  had  its  temples,  deities,  and  state 


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THB  6BNTILB  NATIONS.  491 

hierarchy.  No  office  could  be  filled  without  the  aid  and  action  of  a 
minister  of  religion.  Nor  was  this  practical  piety  confined  to  public 
affiiirs:  on  the  contrary,  it  pervaded  the  community;  every  family 
had  its  gods,  every  house  possessed  its  Lar  and  Fen'ates.  Marriage 
was  contracted  with  religious  services;  every  social  and  relative 
change  and  incident  brought  the  parties  into  connexion  with  relig- 
ious rites;  and  at  death  the  funeral  solemnities  were  equally  asso- 
ciated with  sacred  ceremonies. 

There  is  another  important  fact  which  deserves  to  be  fully  recog- 
nised and  carefully  considered  in  a  review  of  the  religion  of  Rome. 
That  religion  was,  as  we  have  seen,  based  on  many  pure  and  sound 
doctrines  of  patriarchal  faith.  It  may  be  regarded  as  an  undoubted 
fact,  that  the  religion  introduced  into  ancient  Etruria  taught  ihe 
existence  of  one  supreme  God,  insisted  on  the  doctrine  of  his  provi- 
dential government  of  the  world,  recognised  the  influence  and  power 
of  his  Spirit  on  the  mind  and  circumstances  of  man,  admitted  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and,  to  a  considerable  extent  at  least,  indi- 
cated the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  It 
was,  therefore,  the  every-day  doctrine  of  this  people,  that  the  divine 
will  is  the  only  proper  rule  of  action ;  and  that  every  one,  both  in 
his  private  and  in  his  public  capacity,  is  bound  to  act  in  obedience 
to  the  will  of  God. 

Rome  was  founded,  and  its  institutions  established,  under  the  per- 
vading influence  of  these  doctrines :  and,  as  a  proof  that  Romulus, 
Numa,  and  their  successora  adhered  to  the  spirit  of  these  truths,  it 
must  be  remembered  that,  for  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  the  foundation  of  the  city,  no  image- worship  was  seen  within 
its  walls. 

Still  the  question  returns  upon  us, — What  was  the  result  of  the 
operation  of  such  circumstances  and  doctrines  upon  the  mind  of  the 
Roman  people,  after  their  career  of  military  conquest  had  filled 
them  with  afBuence  and  the  pride  of  power?  In  other  words.  What 
was  the  real  religious  condition  of  Rome  when,  sitting  as  a  queen 
among  the  nations,  she  had  appropriated  to  herself  the  wealth  of 
many  peoples,  as  well  as  the  learning,  refinement,  and  genius  of 
Greece? 

It  is  feared  that  a  clear  and  candid  solution  of  this  question  will 
communicate  most  humiliating  information.  First,  in  regard  of 
theology,  what  did  the  Romans  know  and  believe  respecting  the 
divine  nature  and  government  ?  It  will  be  obvious,  that  we  must 
here  discriminate  between  the  learned  and  the  ignorant, — the  philos- 
ophers and  the  educated  classes  of  society,  and  those  who  had  no 
information  on  these  important  subjects,  beyond  what  was  afforded 


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492  THE  GBNTILB  KATIOKS. 

by  the  traditionB  floating  in  pablic  report  and  the  tales  of  ttie  poets. 
Of  the  latter  we  can  say  bat  little:  they  either  believed  the  fictions 
of  Ovid  and  Virgil,  and  the  corresponding  legends,  -which  had  been 
handed  down  from  antiquity,  or  they  did  not.  If  they  did,  what 
notion  ooald  they  have  of  Ood?  or,  rather,  of  the  endless  variety 
of  gods?  To  believe  in  the  nniveinal  pantheism  of  Roman  legends 
and  Latin  poetry,  would  be  to  entertidn  such  notions  of  the  divine 
nature  as  must  inevitably  prevent  the  mind  from  realizing  any  sound 
opinion  respecting  the  nature,  government,  providence,  or  attributes 
of  Deity:  while,  on  the  other  hand,  to  disbelieve  .these,  was  to  sink 
into  all  the  darkness  and  absurdity  of  atheism :  for  they  had  access 
to  no  further  information,  nor  any  means  of  obtaining  additional 
enKghtenment.  This,  it  must  be  admitted,  presents  a  deplorable 
picture  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Roman  people.  If  anything  on 
earth  deserves  the  name  of  superstition,  it  is  a  steady  attention  to 
religious  requirement  in  utter  ignorance  of  Grod.  This  was  the  con- 
dition of  the  Romans.  With  a  host  of  deities,  a  regularly  consti- 
tuted hierarchy,  countless  temples,  multifarious  rites,  and  general 
devotion,  the  people  had  no  accurate  knowledge  of  God,  or,  rather, 
were  utterly  ignorant  of  his  nature  and  attributes. 

But  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  learned  and  philosophical  portion 
of  the  Roman  people  must  at  least  have  had  some  tolerably  clear 
conceptions  of  the  divine  nature,  and  a  reasonable  faith  in  the  good- 
ness and  power  of  God.  It  is  an  unquestionable  &ct,  that  such 
knowledge  and  affiance  are  very  generally  ascribed  to  them  by  the 
educated  classes  in  our  own  country.  It  is  of  importance,  therefore, 
that  we  obtain  a  solution  of  this  difficulty,  and  ascertain  what  were 
the  views  entertained  on  this  subject  by  the  best-informed  among 
the  Romans  in  the  later  period  of  their  histoiy.  Fortunately  we 
have  ample  means  for  the  prosecution  of  thifr  inquiry.  On  no  por- 
tion of  the  religion  of  the  ancient  world  have  we  such  full  and  satis- 
factory information  as  on  this.  Oicero,  who  held  for  a  .long  time 
one  of  the  most  important  offices  in  the  ancient  Romish  hierarchy, 
as  being  the  chief  of  the  augurs,  and  who  was  evidently  one  of  the 
best-informed  men  of  his  age,  has  written  copiously  on  the  subject 
under  discussion,  and  thus  placed  in  our  hands  the  knowledge  so 
much  needed. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  sketch  an  outline  of  the  works  referred  to, 
and  then  to  give  the  substance  of  the  information  whic^i  they  com- 
municate. 

Cicero  treats  of  this  subject  in  three  works,  which  appear  to  have 
been  designed  as  a  series  of  treatises  on  theology.  The  first  is 
entitled  De  Natura  Deorum,  "Of  the  Nature  of  the  Gods;"  the 


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THB  QBNTILB  NATIONS.  493 

second,  De  Dwinatione,  "  Goncenung  DivinaiioD ;"  and  the  third, 
De  Fato,  "  On  Fate." 

In  the  first  of  these  Cicero  introduees  three  eminent  philosophers^ 
who  argue  at  great  length  the  subject  indicated  by  the  title.  The 
weighty  matter  is  discassed  in  a  brilliant  smes  of  addresses.  Vel- 
leios  opens  the  debate.  He  gives  a  brief  but  forcible  review  of  the 
leading  philosophers,  beginning  with  Thales ;  prooeeds  to  enumerate 
the  schemes  and  creeds  of  twenty-seven  of  the  most  prominent  teach- 
ers of  different  ages  and  countries ;  and  then  exhibits  and  lauds  the 
system  of  Bpicums,  because,  as  he  contends,  that  philosopher  placed 
the  existence  of  the  gods  on  its  proper  foundation, — the  belief  im- 
planted by  nature  in  the  hearts  of  mankind ;  and,  secondly,  because 
he  lightly  pronounced  their  attributes  to  be  happiness,  immortality, 
apathy ;  represen^g  them  as  '*  doing  nothing,  feeling  nothing  firom 
without,  rejoicing  in  their  own  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  being,  aldiough 
of  mighty  power,  and  infinite  in  their  nature,  as  numerous  as  men." 
— De  Nature  Deorum,  lib.  i,  cap.  19.  Gotta,  who  was  pontifex 
maximus  at  the  time,  is  next  introduced,  as  representing  the  New 
Academy.  Ue  forcibly  assails  every  part  of  the  system  advocated 
by  the  preceding  speaker;  shows  "that  the  reasons  assigned  by 
Epicurus  for  the  existence  of  the  gods  are  utterly  inadequate; 
secondly,  that^  granting  their  existence,  nothing  can  be  less  dignified 
than  the  forms  and  attributes  ascribed  to  them ;  and,  thirdly,  grant- 
ing these  forms  and  qualities,  nothing  more  absurd  than  that  men 
should  render  homage  or  feel  gratitude  to  those  from  whom  they 
have  not  received,  and  do  not  hope  to  receive,  any  benefits." 

The  second  book  contains  an  investigation  of  the  subject  by  Bal- 
bus.  By  him  the  matter  is  divided  into  four  sections :  1.  The  exist- 
ence of  gods ;  2.  Their  nature;  3.  Their  government  of  the  world ; 
4.  Their  watchful  care  of  mankind,  or  providence.  The  existence 
of  gods  he  advocates  from  the  universal  belief  of  mankind, — ^the 
well-authenticated  accounts  of  their  appearances  on  earth,— from 
prophecies,  presentiments,  omens,  and  auguries,— fr<om  the  evident 
proofs  of  design,  and  of  the  adaptation  of  means  to  a  beneficial  end, 
in  the  arrangements  of  the  material  world, — ^from  the  nature  of  man 
himself  and  his  mental  constitution, — ^from  certain  physical  con- 
siderations, which  tend  clearly  and  unequivocally  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  system  of  pantheism, — and  from  the  gradual  upward 
progression  in  the  works  of  creation,  from  plants  to  animals,  and 
from  the  lower  animals  to  man ;  which  leads  us  to  infer  that  the 
series  ascends  from  man  to  beings  absolutely  perfect.  In  treating 
of  the  nature  of  the  gods,  the  pantheistic  principle  is  again  broadly 
asserted: — €h>d  is  the  universe,  and  the  universe  is  Qod;  whence 


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494  THE  GENTILE  NATI0K8. 

is  derived  the  condnsion,  that  the  deity  most  be  spherical  in  fonit, 
because  the  sphere  is  the  most  perfect  of  figures.  But  while  the 
universe  is  Ood  as  a  whole,  it  contains  among  its  parts  many  gods, 
among  the  number  of  whom  are  the  heavenly  bodies.  Then  follows 
a  curious  digression  on  the  origin  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  Pantheon, 
and  on  the  causes  which  led  men  to  commit  the  folly  of  picturing  to 
themselves  gods  differing  in  shape,  in  age,  and  in  apparel,  of  assign- 
ing to  them  the  relationships  of  domestic  life,  and  of  ascribing  to 
them  the  desires  and  passions  by  which  mortals  are  agitated. 
Lastly,  the  government  and  providence  of  the  gods  is  deduced  from 
three  considerations: — 1.  From  their  existence;  which  being  granted, 
it  necessarily  follows  that  they  must  rule  the  world.  2w  From  the 
admitted  truth,  that  all  things  are  subject  to  the  laws  of  nature ;  but 
nature,  when  properly  defined  and  understood,  is  another  name  for 
God.  3.  From  the  beauty,  harmony,  wisdom,  and  benevolence 
manifested  in  the  works  of  creation.  This  last  section  is  handled 
with  great  skill  and  effect :  the  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  which  tau^t 
that  the  world  was  produced  by  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms,  is 
forcibly  exposed.  The  whole  is  wound  up  by  demonstrating  that 
all  things  serviceable  to  man  were  made  for  his  nse ;  and  that  the 
deity  watches  over  the  safety  and  welfare,  not  only  of  the  whole 
human  race  collectively,  but  of  eveiy  individuid  member  of  the 
family. 

In  the  third  book,  Cotta  resumes  the  discourse,  for  the  purpose, 
not  of  absolutely  demolishing  what  has  been  advanced  by  Balbos^ 
but  of  setting  forth,  aft«r  the  manner  of  the  sceptics,  that  the  reason- 
ings employed  by  the  last  speaker  were  unsatisfactory,  and  not  cal- 
culated to  produce  conviction. 

The  second  work,  De  Divinatione,  was  intended  as  a  continuation 
of  the  treatise  on  the  nature  of  the  gods,  out  of  which  the  inquiiy 
naturally  arises.  It  exhibits  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the  Stoics 
and  the  Academy  upon  the  reality  of  the  science  of  divination,  and 
the  degree  of  confidence  which  ought  to  be  reposed  in  its  professors. 
In  the  first  book  Q.  Cicero  defends  the  doctrine  of  the  Stoics.  He 
divides  divination  into  two  branches, — ^the  divination  of  nature,  and 
the  divination  of  art.  To  the  first  he  ascribes  dreams,  inward  pres- 
ages and  presentiments,  and  the  ecstatic  frenzy,  during  which  the 
mind  inspired  by  a  god  discerns  the  secret's  of  the  future,  and  pours 
forth  its  conceptions  in  prophetic  words.  In  the  second  are  compre- 
hended the  indications  yielded  by  the  entrails  of  the  slaughtered 
victim ;  by  the  fiight,  the  cries,  and  the  feeding  of  birds ;  by  thunder 
and  lightning,  by  lots,  by  astrology,  and  by  all  those  strange  sights 
and  sounds  which  were  regarded  as  the  shadows  cast  before  by  corn- 


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THB  GSKTILB  NATIOKS.  496 

Jng  events.  Numerous  examples  are  adduced  to  establish  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  various  methods,  cases  of  failure  being  explained  away 
by  supposing  an  error  in  the  interpretation  of  the  sign,  while  the 
truth  of  the  general  principles  is  confirmed  by  an  appeal  to  the  con- 
curring belief  of  philosophers,  poets,  and  mankind  at  large.  Hence 
it  is  maintained  that  we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  the  future  is 
revealed  to  us  both  from  within  and  from  without,  and  that  the 
information  proceeds  from  the  gods,  from  fate,  or  from  nature. 

In  the  second  book  of  this  work,  Cicero  himself  adduces  the  argu- 
ments of  Gameades,  who  held  that  divination  was  altogether  a  delu- 
sion, and  that  the  knowledge  which  it  pretends  to  convey,  if  real, 
would  be  a  curse,  rather  than  a  blessing,  to  men.  He  then  proceeds 
to  confute  each  of  the  propositions  enunciated  by  the  preceding 
speaker,  and  finishes  by  urging  the  necessity  of  upholding  and 
extending  the  influence  of  true  religion,  and  of  waging  a  vigorous 
war  in  every  quarter  against  superstition  in  every  form. 

In  the  third  of  the  works  referred  to,  De  Fato,  it  seems  to  have 
been  the  object  of  the  eloquent  author  to  give  a  review  of  the  opin- 
ions entertained  by  the  chief  philosophic  sects  upon  fate,  or  destiny, 
and  the  compatibility  of  the  doctrine  of  predestination  with  free- 
will ;  in  which  the  most  prominent  place  is  assigned  to  the  Stoics,—- 
who  maintained  that  fate,  or  destiny,  was  the  great  ruling  power  of 
the  universe,  the  ^og,  or  anima  mundi;  in  other  words,  the  divine 
essence,  from  which  all  impulses  were  derived; — and  to  the  Aca- 
demics, who  conceived  that  the  movements  of  the  mind  were  volun- 
tary, and  independent  of,  or,  at  least,  not  necessarily  subject  to, 
external  control.* 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  overrate  the  importance  of  these  works 
in  assisting  us  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  the  theology  of  heathen 
Rome.  We  have  here  brought  under  our  inspection  all  that  the 
most  profound  learning,  exalted  genius,  and  devoted  research  of 
imperial  Rome  could  discover  respecting  the  gods  which  it  wor- 
shipped, and  the  sacred  services  in  which  it  took  a  part,  as  the  most 
essential  elements  of  the  national  faith.  And  to  what  does  all  this 
amount?  What  is  the  substantial  information  thus  obtained  ?  We 
learn,  indeed,  that  the  philosophy  of  Greece  had  b^en  imported  into 
Rome,  and  that  its  results  abundantly  justify  the  estimate  given  of 
its  influence  in  a  preceding  chapter.  But,  in  respect  of  the  theology 
of  Rome,  we  find  that  the  doctrines  of  Epicurus  had  obtained  such 
an  ascendency  over  the  Roman  mind,  that  an  advocate  of  this  sys- 
tem is  put  forth  by  Cicero  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  representa- 

*6ee  a  rery  able  analysis  of  the  vorks  of  Cicero  in  Dr.  Wiujak  Smtth's  "  Dictionary 
of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography  and  Mythology,"  to  which  we  have  been  indebted. 


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496  THE  aSNTILB  NATIOITS. 

tires  of  the  natioiial  religion :  and  this  advocate  maintains,  "  that 
the  gods  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  of  human  form ;  yet  that  form 
is  not  body,  but  something  like  body;  nor  does  it  contain  blood,  bnt 
something  like  blood." — De  Naturd  Deorum,  lib.  i,  cap.  18.  lie 
ridicules  the  idea  of  providence,  as  entailing  too  much  labour  on 
God,  insisting  on  the  dogma,  that  ease  is  essential  to  happiness; 
and  he  sneers  at  divine  oversi^t  and  government^  saying :  "  You 
have  imposed  on  us  an  eternal  Master,  whom  we  must  dread  day 
and  night.  For  who  can  be  free  from  fear  of  a  Deity  who  foresees, 
regards,  and  animadverts  on  everything ;  one  who  thinks  all  things 
his  own;  a  curious,  ever-busy  QoAT'—Idem,  cap.  20.  He  closes, 
exulting  in  a  host  of  gods  who  take  no  thought  of  men :  "  Epicurus, 
having  freed  us  from  these  terrors,  and  restored  us  to  liberty,  we 
have  no  dread  of  those  beings,  whom  we  have  reason  to  think  en- 
tirely free  from  all  trouble  themselves,  and  who  do  not  impose  any  on 
others."— Jfeid. 

From  this  near  approach  to  atheism,  we  turn  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Stoics,  as  advocated  by  Balbus :  and  what  does  he  give  us, 
instead  of  this  inert  Epicurean  deity?  He,  indeed,  insists  upon 
divine  providence  and  government ;  but  when  we  come  to  look  at 
the  deity  who  governs,  we  are  told  that,  "  as  the  idea  we  have  of  the 
deity  comprehends  two  things, — ^the  one,  that  he  is  animated ;  the 
other,  that  nothing  in  nature  exceeds  him, — I  do  not  see  anything 
more  consistent  with  this  idea  than  to  attribute  mind  and  divinity 
to  the  world,  the  most  excellent  of  all  beings.  Nor  is  it  to  be 
doubted  that  whatever  has  life,  sense,  reason,  and  understanding, 
must  excel  that  which  is  destitute  of  them.  It  follows,  then,  that 
the  world*  has  life,  sense,  reason,  and  understanding,  and  is  conse- 
quently a  deity." — De  Naturd  Deorum,  lib.  ii,  cap.  17.  But, 
although  the  world  is  a  god,  it  is  not  the  only  one.  The  philosopher 
proceeds :  '*  I  cannot,  therefore,  conceive,  that  this  constant  course 
of  the  planets, — ^this  just  agreement  in  their  various  motions,  throu^ 
all  eternity, — can  be  preserved  without  a  mind,  reason,  and  con- 
sideration ;  and  since  we  perceive  them  in  the  stars,  we  cannot  but 
place  them  in  the  rank  of  the  gods."  This  applies  to  the  planets ; 
but  of  the  fixed  stars  he  adds :  "  The  fixed  stars  have  their  own 
sphere,  separate  and  free  from  any  conjunction  with  the  sky.  Their 
perpetual  courses,  with  that  admirable  and  ineredible  constancy,  so 
plainly  declare  a  divine  power  and  mind  to  be  in  them,  that  he  who 
cannot  perceive  their  divinity  must  be  incapable  of  perception." — 
Ibid,,  cap.  21. 

Our  limits  forbid  further  quotations :  these  simple  facts  are  suf- 
ficient for  our  purpose.    They  inf<Mrm  us,  that  a  man  of  the  most 


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T9B  QSMTIIfS  NATI01I9.  40T 

emiaeDi  aUition,  leiunuBg,  wisdom,  and  genius,  while  Julius  Omw 
held  the  reins  of  empire,  devoted  himself  of  set  purpose  to  present 
to  the  world  a  fiiir  exhibition  of  the  opinions  aolertained  by  his  oonn 
trymen  on  the  most  important  and  ^fficult  of  all  subjects, — the 
nature  and  atiaributes  of  God.  And  what  are  the  great  results  of 
thi^  inquiry?  After  the  most  profound  and  extensive  researoh,  it 
comes  to  this, — that  Cicero  oould  find  nothing  better  than  the  ab^ 
straot^  inert  divinity  of  Epicurus,  or  the  wild  pantheism  of  Zeno,  to 
exhibit  as  the  theology  of  liome  at  the  dawn  of  the  Auffustan  era. 
It  is  true  that  Cotta^  the  pontifeoc  maximua,  is  introduced  as  <Hie  of 
the  interlocutors;  but  he  advocates  no  system:, he  demolishes  the 
arguments  of  the  Epicurean,  and  doubts  the  conclusions  of  the  Stoic, 
but  he  has  nothing  better  to  give. 

.  Let  the  reader  mark  with  care  the  inevitable  conclusion  to  whick 
these  facts  conduct  us.  They  show,  first,  that  th^  gr^at  system  of 
religion — sustained  as  it  was  by  gorgeous  temples,  and  elevftted 
hierarchy,  a  countless  priesthood,  continually  recurring  solemn  rites 
and  ceremonies — ^was  virtually  repudiated  by  the  intelligent^  the 
learned,  and  the  cultivated  classes  throughout  the  land.  They  saw* 
they  saactioned,  they  sustained  a  gorgeous  system  of  faith  as  an 
engine  of  government^  and  for  political  purposes;  while  they  did 
not  really  believe  in  a  single  divinity  whom  they  taught  the  people 
to  worship,  and  whom  they  pretended  themselves  to  worship. 

But  in  what  respect  were  these  educated  and  elevated  classes 
better  informed  than  the  ignorant  and  deluded  masses  upon  whom 
they  looked  down?  In  no  respect  whatever.  The  deity  of  Epicur 
rus,  or  the  conception  of  Zeno,  was  no  more  an  object  of  rational 
worship  than  the  Capitoline  Jupiter.  It  must  be  added,  that  the 
manner  in  which  Cicero  presents  the  subject  to  our  view,  suggests 
even  a  darker  shade  than  has  been  yet  expressed.  1  allude  to  the 
general  prevalence,  of  doubt  as  to  all  these  doctrines.  On  every 
band  a  wide-spreading  scepticism  prevailed;  and  Borne,  when  at 
the  Eenith  of  her  glory,  was  rapidly  gliding  into  the  darkness  of* 
atheism.  What  a.  fearfol  commentary  does  this  afford  to  the  asser- 
tion of  the  apostle  respecting  this  people!  "Professing  themselves 
to  be  wise,  they  became  fools."  Bom.  i  22.  The  primitive  theology 
of  Borne  contemned,  with  some  admixture  of  error,  much  patriarchal 
truth.  But,  elevated  to  the  highest  point  of  wealth  and  power,  and 
possessing  every  means  of  acquiring  information,  instead  of  humbly 
tracing  out  these  simple  truths,  and  adhering  to  them  as  grand  way- 
marks  in  their  iheolo^eal  researches,  they  fell  into  the  snare  which 
had  ruined  Oreece : — ^they  idolized  human  intellect.  They  adopted,, 
with  great  zest,  the  various  systems  of  Grecian  philosophy.    The 

8^ 


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408  THI  GBNTUiS  HATIOHS. 

resiiU  ve  have  seen:  theology  became  a  subject  of  human  specida- 
tion ;  and  thus,  with  the  highest  professions  of  wisdom,  they  descended 
to  the  folly  of  worshipping,  the  world,  the  stars,  the  universe,  as 
divine. 

Our  reference  to  other  religious  doctrines  shall  be  brief:  for,  with 
such  theological  doctrines,  or  to  speak  more  correctly,  with  such 
entire  absence  of  sound  theological  knowledge,  it  is  very  evident 
there  can  be  no  hope  of  finding  clear  views  on  any  religious  subject. 
But  it  becomes  important  that  we  ascertain  what  were  the  opinions 
entertained  by  the  Roman  people  respecting  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  and  future  rewards  and  punishments. 

On  this,  as  on  the  former  subject,  it  is  easy  to  say  what  were  the 
opinions  of  the  ignorant  and  uneducated.  It  is  admitted'  on  all 
hands,  that  the  fables  and  legends  which  were  the  staple  of  the  poets 
floated  on  the  public  mind,  and  gave  them  the  only  ideas  they  entertained 
as  to  religion.  If  the  Roman  populace,  therefore,  believed  these, 
they  would  look  forward  to  Tar1»irus  and  the  Elysian  fields  as  the 
future  habitations  of  departed  spirits ;  and  a  more  gloomy  and  less 
influential  result  than  that  which  would  thus  be  obtained,  can  scarcely 
be  imagined.  For,  while  the  punishments  of  Tartarus  were  everlast- 
ing, the  pleasures  of  Elysium  were  terminated  by  the  drinking  of  the 
waters  of  Lethe ;  after  which  the  spirit,  perfectly  oblivious  of  all  past 
events,  returned  to  this  world  to  inhabit  another  body.  And  as,  in  a 
continual  recurrence  of  trials  and  temptations,  it  may  be  supposed 
that  the  spirit  would  in  some  one  instance  fail,  there  seemed  no  ra- 
tional ground  of  expectation  for  any,  but  that  they  would  ultimately 
terminate  their  career  in  Tartarean  misery  and  darkness. 

But  the  extent  to  which  this  view  of  future  existence  would  influ- 
ence the  public  mind,  must  be  measured  by  the  hold  which  it  had  on 
ihe  judgment  and  feeling  of  the  people.  And  this  would  be  greatly 
affected  by  the  opinions  entertained  by  the  upper  and  educated  classes 
of  society.  It  is  not  difficult  to  state  their  views  oq  this  subject  A 
passage  in  Cic^ro*s  Oration  for  Gluentius  casts  important  light  on 
them.  Referring  to  the  fables  of  the  poets,  he  says,  "  If  these  are 
&lse,  as  all  vien  see  they  are,  what  has  death  deprived  him  of,  besides 
A  sense  of  pain?"*  It  is  clear  from  this  statement,  1.  That  the 
fiibles  of  the  poets  constituted  the  only  foundation  accessible  to  the 
Romans  for  &  belief  in  future  rewards  and  punishments.  For  the 
entire  scope  of  the  writer's  argument  is  this, — that  if  there  is  no 

^  1916  pMf age  in  the  original  is :  A^oiii  tmmo  ^idtm,  tfmd  tmdtm  UU  wttdi  mmn 
mtttdit  t  Nisi  forte  in^ggUit  ae  fabulit  dutiwinr^  Mt  tadtAimitmus  illmm  apmd  u^moe  imfi^- 
^im  mpplicki  per/a  r«,  <fe.  Qua  ti/aUa  moiI,  id  quod  omras  nTELUOuar,  qmd  m  fm- 
Jam  mlimd  mort  eripmU  pntUr  mimwm  deiorU  f 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


THK  OBNTILH  KATIONB.  4M 

fiitare  punishment,  then  death  ean  only  deprive  us  of  atl  sense  of 
pain,  and  not  inflict  any.  And  to  the  fiftbles  of  the  poets  he  refers, 
as  the  only  authority  on  the  snbject.  If  these  are  false,  then  he 
concludes,  as  of  unavoidable  necessity,  that  death  is  a  prelude  to 
no  painfiod  infliction.  So  that^  according  to  this  high  authority, 
those  who  by  education  or  intellect  were  raised  above  a  belief  in 
these  fishbles,  together  with  all  those  who  by  ignorance  or  scepticism 
were  strangers  to  their  influence^  had  no  ide»ef  future  existence, 
and  simply  regarded  death  bA  a  release  firsK  Aa  ifia  of  life.  But^ 
2.  Oicero  in  this  passage  inttimates  that  tkif^lMitbA' general- con- 
dition of  his  counfxymen :  "  If  these  are  falst^tM^t  ^U.men  see  they 
are, — then  death  can.Hlo  nothing  but  affdd  veiM-iram  a  sense  of 
pain."  .  '    i. 

Lest  the  reader  should  feel  a  difficulty  in  conckifing  that  the  great 
body  of  the  Roman  people  were  thus  ignorant  of  all  the  restraints 
and  motives  afforded  by  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  I  adduce  fur* 
ther  and,  l.think,  cenolusive  evidence.  In  the  debate  in  the  senate 
on  the  punishment  to  be  inflicted  on  the  criminals  convicted  of  being 
concerned  in  the  conspiracy  of  GatUine,  Julius  Gsesar  argued  against 
the  infliction  of  capital  punishment.  In  the  course  of  his  argument 
he  boldly  advanced  the  Epicurean  dogma,  "that  death  was  no  evil, 
as  they  who  inflicted  it  for  a  punishment  imagined ;"  and  thence 
proceeded  to  insist  on  the  doctrines  pf  that  sect  respecting  the  mor- 
talily  of  the  soul.  Now,  when  Gate  and  Gieero,  who. were  on  the 
other  side,  came  /to  reply  to  this  speech,  how  did  they  meet  this  pro- 
fane dogma  ?  Here,  in  a  challenge  so  publicly  and  prominently  put 
forth,  was  a  fine  opportunity  for  these  able  and  Sequent  men  to 
uphold  their  own  immediate  opinions  on  this  subject,  and  the  inter- 
ests of  morality  at  the  same  time.  How  did  they  answ^  this  ? 
They  did  not  venture  to  vindicate  a  state  of  future  rewards  and 
punishments  either  by  urging  the  doctrines  of  any  <philosophicid 
sect,  or  by  appealing  to  the  judgment  of  their  country.  Their  only 
resource  was  the  replication,  that  "  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of 
rewards  and  punishments  was  delivered  to  them  from  iheir  ances- 
tors." This  most  illogical  reply,  as  Bishop  Warburton  observes,  is 
a  sufficient  proof  that  there  was  not  in  the  recognised  philosophy  of 
Rome  any  clear  assertion  of  a  future  life ;  so  that  the  licentious 
dogma  of  Goesar  could  only  be  met  by  a  reference  to  doctrines  prev- 
alent in  ancient  times.  Notiiing  can  more  clearly  illustrate  the  real 
state  of  the  case  can  this.  Rome  had  enjoyed  clear  view«  on  this 
subject;  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments 
had  made  a  prominent  element  in  the  national  faith :  but  labile  this 
knowledge  yet  remauied  on  Tcoord  as  an  historicai  laet,  to  be  ap- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


MO  THX  Qmmim  vatiovs. 

pealed  to  by  Oieeto,  h  had  paiaed  sway  from  4he  pnblie  BmL 
Wild  speculation  and  Ghreeian  phibsophy  had  united  their  influenoe 
to  obliterate  the  trath;  and  Romans  in  the  tine  of  Cawar  saw, 
feared,  hoped  for  nothing  beyond  the  grave. 

What  were  the  oonaequeneee  of  thii  fearful  change  on  the  mamh 
and  social  life  of  this  mi^rty  and  talented  people^  neither  onr  limits 
nor  our  inclination  allow  us  ftilly  to  detail  Without  the  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  a  future  life,  man  sunk  to  the  lerel  of  H  bmte,  or  was 
only  distinguished  from  mere  animal  nature  by  an  intellectual  power 
whioh  enabled  him  to  develop  his  impurity  mto  an  afanost  infinite 
range  of  vice  and.foUy. 

The  inq>ired  apostle,  desorifaing  the  moral  condition  of  the  Roman 
people,  has  placed  on  the  sacred  record  a  passage  which  so  iUly 
exhibits  the  depths  of  impurity  into  which  they  sunk  after  having 
renounced  GK>d,  that  it  is  seldom  read,  and  it  is  to  be  lamented  that 
its  reading  should  be  necessary.  Yet  such  glitter  and  gaudy  colour- 
ing has  been  thrown  over  the  moral  condition  of  Rome  by  its 
acknowledged  patronage  of  elegance  and  art^  and  posseaaion  of 
wealth  and  power,  that  it  becomes  needful  to  state  enough  to  justify 
the  strong  language  of  the  q>ostle.  This  is  also  necessary,  since  it 
will  show  that  the  inevitable  consequences  of  apostasy  from  God, 
combined  -wiili  unlimited  idohitTy,  are  in  &0t  a  surrender  of  the 
human  mind,  individually  and  collectively,  not  only  to  the  operation 
of  the  vilest  human  passions,  but  also  to  the  uncontrolled  domini<m 
of  Satanic  power;  and  this  notwithstanding  the  utmost  inflnence  of 
science,  civilization,  and  martial  prowess. 

The  first  result  of  this  general  impiety  that  will  be  notioed,  was 
the  effect  produced  on  the  family  economy  of  Rome.  The  edocalien 
and  cultivation  of  the  female  mind  was  ahnost  universally  neglected. 
And  this  can  scarcely  be  regretted,  as  the  Roman  lady  did  net 
require  cultivation  for  the  part  she.had  to  act.  The  wife  was  placed 
completely  in  the  power  of  her  husband:  he  could  divorce  her  at 
will,  or,  without  that  formality,  lend  her  to  a  flriend,  receive  her 
back  for  a  while,  and  then  hand  her  to  another.  Such,  in  fact,  was 
the  absence  of  interest  and  affection,  in  their  proper  sense,  between 
husband  and  wife,  that  the  copious  language  of  Rome  had  no  word 
tb  express  jealousy.  Theso  facts  are  important :  they  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  all  the  bonds  of  society, — all  the  fhbric  of  morals. 
This  unnatural  and  irreligious  character  of  matrimonial  life  was 
productive  of  an  extensive,  system  of  adopting  children, — a  practice 
which  showed  the  weakness  of  At  parental  afibotions,  and  led  to 
cither  extensive  evils. 

Not  the  least  of  tii^se  ills  was  slavery,  which,  although  not  ocoa> 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


TBE  QEXTILB  KATIOJfB.  501 

sioned  by  these  vicioas  domestic  arrttngements,  was  greatly  aggra- 
Tsted  by  thein.  This  political  vice  did  in  Borne  most  extensively 
what  it  most  always  do  to  a  certain  extent, — it  demoralised  society. 
The  number  of  slaves  in  Rome  was  so  great  that,  when  debating  the 
propriety  of  enacting  a  peculiar  dress  by  which  slaves  might  be 
known,  the  senate  rejected  the  proposition,  lest  the  badge,  if  adopt- 
ed, should  make  the  slates  aware  of  their  number  and  their  power. 
Slaves  at  Rome  mast,  in%ct,  have  made  a  large  portion  of  the  pop- 
ulation. An  mdividual  sometimes  held  above  four  thousand ;  it  was 
by  no  means  imcommon  for  one  person  to  have  two  hundred;  and  it 
seems  to  have  been  a  oonventi<mal  role,  that  a  person  was  regarded 
as  having  no  daims  to  gentility,  unless  he  had  at  least  ten  slaves. 
These  persons  coold  not  mtfrry,  nor  hold  property,  and  were,  in  fact, 
notwithstanding  mndi  legislation  on  the  subject,  in  the  absolute 
power  of  their  owners.  And,  perhaps,  in  no  age  or  country  was  this 
power  used  with  more  barbarous  cruelty.  The  whip  which  was 
generally  employed  for  their  punishment  {horrihile  fiagellum)  is 
described  as  a  terrible  instrument.  It  had  several  tiiongs,  firmly 
&stened  to  a  strong  handle :  each  of  the  thongs  was  weighted  with 
pieces  of  bone  or  bronze  throughout  most  of  their  length,  and  some- 
times terminated  with  hooks,  and  were  therefore  significantly  called 
'*  soorpions."  The  application  of  this  to  the  naked  back  of  the 
sufferer  lacerated  die  flesh  fearfully,  and  sometimes  occasioned  death. 
These  inflictions  were  as  frequent  as  ttiey  were  severe ;  so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  it  was  common  for  a  slave  to  be  nicknamed  according  to 
the  kmd  of  flog^ng,  or  other  punishment,  to  which  he  had  bee^ 
subjected. 

The  cruelty  of  Yedius  PoHio  in  throwing  slaves  into  his  fish- 
ponds to  be  devoured  is  well  known,  and  often  cited  in  proof  of  .the 
barbarities  exercised  by  the  Romans  toward  their  slaves.  But  the 
motives  which  induced  tiiis  abominable  conduct  are  not  so  gener^ly 
miderstood.  It  was  not  to  feed  his  fi8hes,^-^or  merely  to  inflict  the 
punishment  of  death  upon  calprit6,-^that  this  course  was  adopted ; 
but  rather  to  gratify  an  exquisite  taste  for  a  peculiar  mode  of  inflict- 
ing torment.  I  will  give  the  acconnt  in  a  literal  translation  of  the 
words  of  Pliny :  "  He  caused  certam  slaves,  condemned  to  die,  to  be 
put  into  the  stews  where  these  lampreys  or  mursenes  were  Jcept,  to 
be  eaten  and  devoured  by  them :  not  that  there  were  not  wild  beasts 
enough  upon  the  land  for  this  feat,  but  because  he  took  pleasure  to 
behold  a  man  torn  and  plucked  to  pieces  all  at  once,  which  pleasant 
sight  he  could  not  see  by  any  other  beast  upon  the  land."— fTtsf. 
Nat,  lib.  ix,  cap.  23.  Is  it  possible  to  conceive  of  a  more  diabolical 
ptsskon  ^n  this  ?    It  might  be  supposed  that  to  see  a  fellow-orea- 


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502  THK  ttlMTILl  NATIOHS. 

tore  lashed  to  dealh,  or  torn  limb  from  limb  by  irUd  beMis  in  the 
amphitheatre,  would  be  a  sufficient  gratification  for  any  savage ;  but 
this  did  not  meet  the  cultivated  taste  for  a  sight  of  mortal  agony, 
which  aaimated  the  refined  Roman  in  tiie  days  of  Angaatas :  he 
must  see  erery  part  of  the  victim  aimultaneoasly  assailed,  and  the 
fle^h  rent  from  the  whole  body  at  the  same  moment.  To  gratify 
this  horrid  taste,  a  naked,  slave  was  occasionally  thrown  into  hia 
fidi-ponds,  when  the  ravenous  lampreys  Would  instantly  fasten  on 
every  part  of  the  body,  and,  by  devouring  the  flesh  of  the  devoted 
wreteh,  gratify  the  fiendish  passion  of  his  inhuman  master. 

Nor  did  female  slaves  fare  better  at  the  hands  of  their  mistressea. 
Their  being  punished  severely,  and  even  flogged  to  death,  became  so 
frequ^t,  that  laws  were  at  length  enlisted  to  prevent  these  atrocities. 
It  will,  however,  sufficiently  indicate  the  feelings  which  influenced 
Roman  ladies,  and  the  treatment  which  those  unfortunate  females 
received,  who  were  entirely  subject  to  their  will,  to  state  tfaait  &e 
poets  represent  it  as  the  common  practice  for  the  mistress  to  sit  at 
her  toilet  to  have  her  hair  dressed,  with  instruments  of  punishment 
at  her  side ;  and  for  the  female  slave  charged  with  performing  this 
office,  to  be  made  to  strip  quite  naked  above  the  waist  befcHre  com- 
mencing the  operation,  so  that  any  faulty  delay,  or  mistake  in  the 
procejss,  might  be  instantly  punished  with  stripes,  inflicted  by  leather 
or  twisted  parchment  scourges  on  the  naked  shoulders  or  bosom  of 
the  sUve.  (Ovid,  Artis  Aman.,  lib.  iii,  239,  240;  Martial,  lib.  ii. 
epig.  66 ;  Juvenal,  lib.  vi,  498,  ice.) 

•  If  it  be  necessary  to  add  aught  more  to  show  the  want  of  moral 
feeling  and  prevalent  cruelty  which  imbued  the  Roman  inatitntioDS 
under  the  first  emperors,  it  may  be  supplied  by  the  manner  in  which 
the  children  of  Sejanus  were  treated  after  the  death  of  their  father. 
This  man  was  the  favourite  minister  of  the  Emperor  Tibmos. 
Afl^r  revelling  in  the  pomp  and  power,  scarcely  less  tiian  imperial, 
with  which  his  master  endowed  him,  he  was  suspected,  and,  by  a 
sudden  and  artful  stroke  of  policy  of  the  same  sovereign,  charged 
with  high  treason,  and  strangled  in  prison.  His  two  children,  a  boy 
and  a  girl,  although  too  young  to  partake  of  their  feither's  crimes, 
were,  on  his  account,  also  doomed  to  die.  But  what  was  called  "  Uie 
religion"  of  Rome  forbade  the  execution  of  a  virgin:  so  the  child 
was  first  ravished  in  prison,  and  then  brother  and  sister  were  put  to 
death,  and  their  bodies^  after  being  dragged  by  hooks  through  the 
streets  of  the  city,  were  cast  into  the  Tiber.  This  took  place  dur- 
ing the  life  of  our  Saviour,  and  n^  long  before  his  crucifixion. 

But  the  culminating  point  of  Roma<i  iniquity  and  pollution  is 
found  in  that  abominable  lic^tionaness  so  forcibly  described  by  the 


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TH«  OflHTILB  NATIONS.  508 

apostle.  The  Bomaii  laws  of  marriage  afi^rded  no  guarantee  of  per* 
manent  union.  The  sacred  tie  might  be  dissolved  at  the  whim  or 
caprice  of  either  party;  Irhich  in  practice  gave  a  licence  to  libertin- 
ism in  men,  and  also  produced  its  effects  on  the  female  character. 
This  was  stimulated  by  their  religion.  Little  attention  was  paid  to 
the  true  character  of  deity ;  but  the  inceist  and  amours  of  the  objects 
of  i^rorship  were  gloated  over  with  fatal  avidity.  Numerous  services 
of  religion  also  strengthened  this  vicious  bi.as.  Laws  had,  indeed, 
been  made  ta  check  vice  in  females;  but  then  a  married  woman 
might  avert  the  effect  of  all  these  by  appearing  before  the  aediles, 
and  registering  herself  as  a  common  prostitute.  This  wa9  actually 
done;  and  it  was  not  until  a  ma|.Tied  lady  of  rank  publicly  appeared, 
tendered  her  name  for  registration,  and  claimed  the  legal  privilege 
of  living  a  life  of  46battchery,  that  the  senate,  interposed  to  check 
this  almost  universal  a-bomination.  But  then  the  new-made  law 
was  no  protest  against  the  immorality  of  prostitution,  but  simply  a 
declaration  that  "  no  woman  whose  grandfather,  father,  or  husband, 
was  a  Roman  knight,  should  make  her  person  venal." — Tacitus^ 
AnnaL,  lib.  ii»  cap.  86.  We  shall  sufficiently  exhibit  the  awful  ex- 
tent of  Roman  licentiousness  by  giving  the  sentiments  of  two  of 
their  most  eminent  men.  Gato,  the  stem  moralist^  encouraged 
young  men  to  licentiousness,  provided  they  abstained  from  adul- 
teiy ;  and  Cicero,  chief  of  the  augurs  of  Rome,  thus  pleads,— that 
"to  find  fault  with  meretricious  amours,  was  an  extraordinary  sever- 
ity, abhorrent  not  only  from  the  licentiousness  of  that  i^  but  from 
the  customs  and  constitutions  of  their  ancestors  ;'^'  adding,  '*  When 
was  not  this  done?  When  was  it  found  fault  with?  When  was  it 
not  allowed?  Can  the  time  be  named  when  the  practice  which  is 
now  lawful  waa  not  accounted  so?" — Cicero,  Oral,  pro  M.  Cadio, 
cap.  20.  . 

But,  accordifig  to  the  apostle  and  to  fact,  merely  gross  Ueentioua- 
ness  did  not  constitute  the  reigning  sin,  the  deadly  plague-spot  of 
Roman  manners.  A  lower  deep,  in  fact,  the  lowest  depth  of  infa- 
mous and  unnatural  lust,  fearfully  prevailed ;  but  on  this  most  disa- 
greeable subject  a  few  words  must  suffice.  It  must,  then,  be  stated 
that  slave  boys  were  reared  for  the  express  purpose  of  unnatural 
impurity,  and  that  handsome  ones  sold  at  most  enormous  prices. 
So  prevalent,  indeed,  was  this  detestable  vice,  that  Gotta,  who  wi» 
pontifex  maximus,  and  is  introduced  by  Cicero  as  one  of  the  ablest 
debaters  on  the  nature  of  the  gods,  voluntarily,  and  without  any 
reason  for  doing  so,  in  that  very  debate  admits  himself  to  be  guilty 
of  this  iniquity,  and  speaks  of  othet  eminent  men  as  doing  the 
same,  as  though  it  called  forth  neither  shame  nor  remorse.    But  the 


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A 


604  THB  O^BNTILB  HAtlOflfl. 

language  which  most  fully  proclfumd  the  unbounded  nmge  of  tins 
turpitude  throughout  Roman  society,  coines  from  the  lips  of  Epic- 
tetus.  That  philosopher,  contemplating  the  character  of  Socrates, 
breaks  forth  into  the  following  eulogy :  ."  Gh)  to  Socrates  :^onsider 
what  a  Tictory  he  was  ccmscious  of  obtaining!  What  an  Olympic 
prize !  so  that,  by  Heaven,  one  might  justly  salute  him  *  Hail ! 
inciiedibly  great,  uniTcrsal  victor!'"— £pic/««(«.  Dm.,  lib.  ii,  cap. 
xviii,  sect.  4.  Mow  what  had  the  Grecian  -sage  done  to  call  forth 
this  extravagant  laudation?  Will  the  reader  believe  it? — he  had 
remained  in  the  same  room  with  the  young  and  beautiful  Alcibiades 
without  committing  the  vilest  iniquity  which  could  disgrace  human 
nature.  How  common — ^how  all  but  universal^must  this  vile  con- 
duct have  been  among  the  Roman  people,  to  have  made  a  single  act 
of  continence  the  theme  of  such  extravagant  praise!  ' 

Dark  and  terrible,  therefore,  as  St.  Paul's  picture  of  Roman 
society  confessedly  is,  it  is  not,  and  scarcely  could  be,  -beyond  the 
reality.  Grod  and  his  truth  iiad  been  renounced,  and-  Satan  reigned 
in  all  the  plenitude  of  his  power.  Religion,  in  its  wide  range  of 
operation,  became  an  instrument  of  evil;  religious  rites, and  cere- 
monies sunk  into  agencies  promotive  of  vice ;  men  of  notoriouBly 
abandoned  character  filled  the  highest  places  in  the  priesthood:  and 
thus^  in  the  midst  of  unbounded  power  and  wealth, — while  Livy  and 
Plutarch  wrote  history,  Cicero  fascinated  the  world  by  his  oratory, 
and  Virgil  and  Horace  charmed  all  by  the  sweetness  of  their  num- 
bers,— Satanic  influence  prevailed ;  vice  triumphed,  and  preyed  so 
destructively  on  the  vitals  of  the  state,  that  an  eminent  living  writer 
observes,  **  Such  a  state  of  society  ahready  trembled  on  the  v^^  of 
dissolution ;  and  reflecting  men  must  have  shuddered  at  the  fraUness 
of  the  bands  which  still  held  it  together." — Merivale*s  FaU  of  the 
Roman  Republic,  vol.  i,  p.  228.  Truly,  "the  world  by  wisdom 
knew  not  God" 


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TUB  ftBlTTniC  NATIOm.  605 


CHAPTER  XUL 

A  T&mraRAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  HtSTORT  AND  RELiaiON  OF  THE 
GENTILE  NATIONS. 

IlfigTAZJDr  NoUona  Nipecting  the  Acoordaiioe  of  uicieai  Hlstorj  with  Holy  Scfiptare— 
The  elevation  of  Man  in  his  primitiyo  State — ^Remarkable  Coiroboration  of  Scripture 
by  Facts  in  Ancient  History — Gentile  Keligion  an  important  Development  of  Mosaic 
Teachimg-<It  eontains  wonderfol  BteveiatiotiB  of  the  Power  and  Providence  of  God— 
Ancient  Hittory,  as  a  Fulfilment  of  Prophecy,  a  remarkable  Attestation  of  revealed 
Truth — ^Relation  of  Revelation  to  the  Teaching  of  Science — ^The  Testimony  of  ancient 
History  in  Respect  of  Religion  in  remarkable  Accordance  with  the  Bible — Proofs  of 
the  Existence  aad  Power  of  Satanic  InHuence — ^Infinite  Absurdity  of  Idolatry — ^Yet  it 
was  universal— False  Theories  devised  for  the  Purpose  of  aocoontingfor  the  Bxistenoe 
of  Idolatry,  considered  and  reftited — Satanic  Aggression  on  the  Purposes  of  God  and 
Happiness  of  Man — ^The  Deluge  one  of  its  Results — Corruption  of  the  patriarchal  Faith 
—Attempt  to  frustrate  the  divinely-appointed  Dispersion — Miraculously  defeated— The 
CaU  of  Abraham,  and  Election  of  the  Hebrew  People,  still  farther  show  the  Violaaoe  of 
Satanic  Aggression  on  the  Purpose  of  God — ^Tbe  Succession  of  great  ruling  Empires 
displays  the  Power  of  diabolical  Influence — ^The  World  prepared  for  the  Introduction 
ot  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Tbjb  history  of  the  ancient  heathen  nations  has  been  gtoefally 
regfurded  aa  entirely  separate  from  and  unconnected  with  the  Hebrew 
people  and  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures ;  and,  being  investigated, 
especially  in  their  most  ancient  periods,  by  the  unaided  light  of 
their  own  imperfect  records  and  trends,  has  not  unfrequently  been 
placed  in  an  attitude  hostile  to  the  ezplioit  declarations  of  revealed 
truth.  This  seems  to  hare  produced  an  opinion  which,  if  not  often 
avowed,  has  nevertheless  obtained  extensive  currency  and  influence, 
— ^namely,  that  the  whole  experience,  knowledge,  imd  power  of  the 
G^tile  world,  prior  to  the  birth  -of  Christ,  must  be  regarded  as 
totally  isolated  from  the  Bible,  if,^  indeed,  it  does  npt  stand  out  in 
open  protest  against  its  teaching. 

In  some  works  of  great  talent  and  learning,  eflbrts  have  been 
made  to  disseminate  such  views :  but  even  where  nothing  of  this 
kind  is  discernible,  the  history,  chronology,  learning,  and  prowess 
of  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylon,  Persia^  and  other  anrient  nations,  are 
spoken  of  as  though  they  had  nothing  in  common  with  the  Hebrews, 
aiid  consequently  aa  if  the  truth  of  revelation  had  no  bearing  or 
relation  whatever  to  them. 

The  collection  of  fibcts,  both  histbrical  and  religious,  furnished  in 
this  work,  will,  it  is  hoped,  form  an  effectual  antidote  to  this  preva- 


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506  THB  eSNTILB  NATIOHa 

lent  error.  The  history  of  the  great  primitive  and  powerM  nationa 
has  been  carried  up,  in  this  and  a  preceding  volume,  to  immediate 
proximity  with  the  dispersion  of  the  l^oachic  tribes,  as  described  in 
the  Book  of  Genesis ;  and  it  has  been  clearly  and  fully  shown,  that, 
instead  of  these  peoples  having  subsisted  throughout  lengthened 
periods,  which  bid  defiance  to  any  reconcilement  with  Scripture 
chronology,  they  are  all  found  to  have  arisen  from  patriardis  named 
by  Moses  as  descendants  of  Noah,  their  lineage  and  posterity  being 
thus  fully  identified  with  the  sacred  record.  This  result,  it-  should 
be  observed,  has  not  been  obtained  by  a  forced  application  of  the 
text  of  Scripture  to  these  national  histories,  but  has  been  mainly 
elicited  froin  the  ancient  and  incorruptible  monuments  of  those 
nations.  The  pictorial  literature  extant  on  the  monuments  of  Egypt, 
and  the  disinterred  sculptures  of  Assyria,  Babylon,  and  Persia, 
have  been  carefully  studied ;  and  found  to  teach  lessons  of  history, 
religion,  manners,  and  morals,  in  perfect  harmony  with,  and  in  strong 
corroboration  of,  the  Scriptural  account.  Nor  must  it  be  overlooked, 
in  the  consideration  of  this  subject,  that^  brief  as  our  sketches  of 
national  history  confessedly  and  necessarily  are,  they  are  not  merely 
one-sided  selections  of  matter,  but  impartial  condensations  of 
national  annals.  No  facts  of  an  opposite  tendency  have  been  i^ored; 
nor  can  any  arrangement  of  authorized  data  set  aside  or  neutraliie 
the  efEeot  of  the  account  which  has  been  here  given.  What^  then,  is 
the  general  view  which  has  been  obtiuned  of  the  history  of  tiiese 
Gentile  nations? 

It  has  been  found  that,  instead  of  the  speculation  being  fane. 
whidi  obtaiqed  so  much  favour  sometime  ago, — ^that  man  began  his 
career  in  barbarism,  and  gradually  worked  his  way,  through  suooes- 
sive  ages  of  toilsome  eflfort,  to  an  acquaintance  with  the  useful  arts, 
moral  comfort,  and  intellectual  dignity, — the  earliest  ages  of  every 
primitive  nation  display  a  state  of  intelligence  and  civilization. 

We  have  also  found,  in  many  points  of  conformity  and  agreement 
between  the  annals  of  these  ancient  nations  and  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures, unmistakable  proofs  of  the  authenticity  and  integrity  of  the 
Bible.  Who  can  read  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  descent  of  Abraham 
to  the  country  of  Ham,  and  that  of  the  sojourn  of  Jacob  and  his 
descendants  there, — and  compare  the  institutions,  usages,  national 
laws,  habits  of  thought,  and  conventional  arrangements  which  they 
exhibit  with  the  disclosures  of  the  hieroglyphics,  and  tiie  revelations 
afEbrded  by  the  picture-sculptures  of  the  Egyptian  tombs, — ^without 
being  compelled  to  believe  that  he  is  pondering  over  truthful  col- 
lateral accounts  of  the  same  people  ?  Let  any  candid  person  carefully 
look  at  the  representation  of  brick-making  by  datives  on  the  tomb  of 


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THB  ^BKTILB  NAUONB,  597 

Rek-sharg;  snd  then,  reftdingthe  Mosaic  aooomnt  of  the  Hebrews 
under  their  taskmasters,  and  observing  the  physiognomy  of  eirea  a 
modern  Jew,  let  him  say  if  he  has  not  before  him  a  most  striking 
pictorial  illostration  of  the  historical  fact. 

The  record  of  the  triumph  of  Shishak,  still  eximi  on  the  external 
wall  of  the  hypostyle-hall  at  Kamak,  where  the  "  king  of  Judah  "  is 
read  among  the  names  of  those  subdued  by  the  prowess  of  the  aon- 
queror,  is  another  proof  of  the  same  fact.  Nor  are  tbe  omissions  of 
reference  to  Palestine  on  Egyptian  monuments  less  in  point  than 
those  existing  records.  Although  the  several  tribes  which  inhabited 
that  country  prior  to  its  invasion  by  Joshua,  are  frequently  found 
figuring  on  Egyptian  monuments  before  that  time;  yet,  from  the 
period  when  the  Hebrews  possessed  themselves  of  the  land,  nothing 
of  the  kind  occurs,  until  we  meet  with  the  triumph  of  Shishak  over 
the.  king  of  Judah  in  the  days  of  Rehoboam.  Facts  like  these, 
while  they  attest  the  verity  of  Hebrew  history,  equally  show  the 
truthftil  accordance  of  it  with  a  sound  interpretation  of  heathen 
annals,  and  the  suppression  of  truth  in  the  latter. 

Sennacherib's  account  of  his  wars  with  Hezekiah,  and  the  auto- 
biography of  the  martial  career  of  Darius  on  the  Sacred  Rock  at 
Behistun,  might  be  referred  to,  as  similar  striking  examples  of  the 
concurrence  and  truth  of  these  collateral  histories ;  but  we  prefer 
here  to  dwell  more  particularly  on  those  whidi  identify  the  origin, 
institutions,  and  usages  of  the  primitive  nations,  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  postdiluvian  world  according  to  the  inspired  record. 

We  may  first  refer  to  the  similarity  of  names,  which,  to  the  extent 
it  is  known  to  have  existed,  cannot  have  been  accidental.  In  Assyria^ 
for  instance,  we  not  only  find  the  Scriptural  names  of  the  patriarch 
Asshur  on  the  sculptures,  as  giving  a  designation  to.  the  whole  land, 
it  being  thence  called  **  the  country  of  Asshur ;"  but  this  father  of  the 
race  stands  before  us,  in  these  exhumed  sculptures,  as  the  deified  hero 
of  the  people,  and,  as  such,  worshipped  as  "  Asshur,  the  king  of  the 
circle  of  the  'great  gods." — Layard's  Nineveh  and  Bayhn,  pp.  629, 
637.  We  have  a  similar  case  at  Babylon.  •  The  pame  of  Nimrod 
is  as  current  in  native  history  and  legend,  as  in  the  pages  of  Scrip- 
ture. Berosus,  from  the  preserved  records  of  that  city  at  the  time 
of  Alexander,  speaks  of  him  as  the  first  king  of  the  oountry.  His 
figure  sttmds  in  majestic  attitude  on  the  walls  of  the  royal  palace 
at  Khorsabad.  The  Birs-Nimroud  evidently  derives  its  appellation 
from  the  same  source.  In  fact,  the  name  of  this  great  usurper  and 
arch-apostate  is  alike  imprinted  on  the  soil  of  his  country,  and 
embedded  in  all  the  traditions  and  legends  of  its  inhabitants  to  the 
present  day. 


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508  THB  aBNTILB  KATIOHB. 

But  the  most  elidb(Nrate  and  decisive  evidenee  tlmi  th^  Moteie 
account  of  the  origin  of  nations  is  tiie  only  true  one,  is  found  in  tiie 
&ct»  that  undoubted  referenee  to  the  scenes  of  Paradise,  to  the 
incidents  of  man's  primeval  history,  and  to  the  oircumslances  oon- 
neeted  with  the  Deluge,  enter  into,  and  form  the  more  prominent 
elements  of,  the  religion  of  the  early  era  of  these  primitive  nations. 
To  dte  these  instances  in  detail,  would  he  to  re- write  a  great  part  of 
some  of  the  preceding  chapters.  In  respect  of  Paradise,  we  have 
not  only  the  perpetuation  of  the  thing,  but  even  the  name,  in  its 
application  to  the  sacred  park-like  grounds  which  surrounded  the 
palace-temples  of  the  eastern  kings ;  while  the  water  Sowing  from 
the  threshold,  and  meandering  tiirough  the  garden, — ^the  trees  whidi 
grew  in  it,  and  which,  represented  in  gorgeous  sculpture,  adorned 
the  interior  of  the  sacred  place, — ^the  cherubic  figures  which  stood 
at  every  doorway,  and  elaborately  ornamented  all  its  parts, — ^with 
the  serpent-form,  as  the  type  of  dominion  and  sovereign  sway, — all 
attest  the  undoubted  origin  of  the  people,  and'tke  foundation  of  their 
dvil  and  religious  polity,  to  be  a  striking  confirmation  of  tte  teach- 
ing of  Moses,  and  of  the  general  tenor  of  the  word  of  Ood. 

On  this  point  I  am  bold  to  say,  that  the  history  and  religion  of 
die  primitive  nations,  as  detailed  in  this  volume,  taken  in  connexion 
with  what  was  adduced  in  a  preceding  one  of  a  cognate  eharaotcr, 
so  fully  accord  with  the  statements  c^f  Scripture,  and  are  of  such  a 
peouliar  nature,  entering  into  the  vital  elements  of  the  constitution 
of  nations,  and  afi^ting  the  most  sacred  verities  of  their  faith,  tiiat 
the  eariy  Grentile  nations  thus  stand  before  the  mind  as  a  grand 
development  of  Mosaic  teaching,  and  present  to  us  a  wide  range  of 
important  and  undoubted  foets,  which  are  utterly  irrecondlable  with 
a&y  ottier  account  of  the  origin  and  eariy  history  of  mankind :  so 
that^  setting  aside  Hebrew  history  altogether,  the  Oentile  nations 
alone,  ^rly  considered,  from  an  irreflrtigd[>le  confirmation  of  the 
verity  of  Holy  Scripture. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  Bible  not  only  extorts  this  evidence  of 
its  truth  from  the  most  remote  and  the  daricest  period  of  Crentile 
history :  it  brings  us  in  contact  with  displays  of  divine  power,  in 
respect  of  several  of  those  nations,  of  a  kind  equally  remarkable. 
Who  can  estimate  the  effects  which  the  plagues  and  the  Exodus  pro- 
duced in  Egypt?  It  is  admitted  that  these  events  are  not  named 
in  Egyptian  monumentd  :-^it  is  not  likely  that  such  a  national 
humiliation  would  be  thus  recoiled: — ^but  they  are  clearly  recog- 
nised as  a  part  of  Egyptian  history  by  Manetho,  as  well  as  preserved 
in  the  traditions  of  other  countries.  The  punishment  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar by  the  immediate  power  of  Jehovah,  is  another  instance,  and 


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TflB  eiimiiB  NATI01I8.  609 

one  clearly  referred  to  in  Babylonish  annals.  The  defeat  of  Sen- 
nacherib in  his  attempt  to  capture  Jemsalein,  most  have  been  known 
by  him  to  be  of  God.  Peihaps  sculptured  monument  was  never 
charged  with  a  heathen  teetimony  to  the  interposition  and  power 
of  Jehovah,  more  important  as  aki  attesisstion  of  revealed  truth,  than 
when  the  Assyrian  wcnrkman  received  the  dictation  of  his  proud 
sovereign,  and  chiselled  in  the  ^during  slab  the  weighty  words, 
"  Heaekiah  King  of  Judah  did  not  submit  to  my  yoke ;  but  I  left  to 
him  Jerusalem  his  capital,  and  some  of  the  iufi&rior  towns  around  it/' 
It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  tiiat  the  predictions  respecting  Cyrus 
brought  him  equally  into  contact  with  the  divine  word,  and  the 
infinite  wisdom  and  power  of  Grod.  Thus,  to  each  of  the  old  mighty 
nations  of  the  world  did  Jehovah  glcMriousIy  reveal  himself,  while 
they  stood  iniJl  the  pride  of  their  power,  and  in  poesession  oi  thmr 
wide  range  of  dominion ;  showizig  himself  to  be  the  only  true  Grod, 
whoee  will  no  earthly  potentate  could  successfully  resist :  and — for 
this  is  important  to  our  aigument — ample  evidence  of  the  certainty 
of  such  interposition  remains  to  the  present  time. 

More  than  this :  not  only  do  the  early  history  and  religion  of  these 
nations  accord  with  Scriptural  truth ;  not  only  does  their  meridian 
^lendour  stand  associated  with  miraculous  interposition ;  but  God 
ID  his  wisdom  adc^ted  a  course  of  action  and  plan  of  government 
which  brought  Greece  and  Bome  equally  within  the  range  of  his 
influence,  and  completed  the  manifestation  of  his  providence  to  the 
Gentile  world.  How  glorious  is  the  prospect  I  See  the  sacred  seer 
of  God  standing  before  Nebnohadnezaar,  or  placing  on  record  his 
wondrous  revelations  in  the  palace  of  Shushan.  See  him  pointing 
out,  with  a  ray  of  heavenly  light,  the  fate  of  empires,  the  destiny  of 
nations,  from  the  day  in  which  he  speaks,  through  future  ages. 
Becognising  all  the  glory  and  power  of  Babylon,  tbe  revealed  pie- 
•  science  passes  on,  and  .treats  it  as  an  extinct  thing.  Persia  rises  in 
her  strength,  symbolized  by  animal  forms  and  the  silver  portion  of 
the  greait  image,  until  it  also  has  accomplished  its  destiny,  and  the 
heraldic  representation  of  the  nation — the  ram — is  trodden  down  by 
ike  rough  goat  of  Grecia,  and  the  Macedonian  conqueror  rules  the 
world.  The  prescience  of  God  falters  not  aflier  reveling  the  grand 
contingencies  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years :  onward  the  prophet 
leads:  the  great  horn  of  this  power,  **the  first  king,"  is  tM-oken. 
His  empire  is  divided  into  four  leas  powerful  states ;  but  they  exist 
only  for  a  while :  the  prophet  points  out  in  the  distance  the  rising 
power  of  Bome,  shows  its  diversity  from  the  other  kingdoms  by  its 
republican  form  of  government,  exhibits  its  want  of  unity  in  ocmse* 
quenoe  of  consular  rule  and  intestine  division,  even  indicates  the 


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510  THB  GBKTIU  NATIONS. 

means  resorted  to  in  vain  for  removing  this  erH  by  mtermarriages 
between  the  families  of'  the  chiefs  and  the  heads  of  factions ;  and, 
abore  all,  he  predicts  the  iron  power  of  tiiis  martial  people,  which 
breaks  in  pieces  and  bruises  aU  other  nations,  and  spreads  its  colos- 
sal rule  throughout  the  world.  And  then,  as  if  to  place  before  man- 
kind the  grand  object  of  this  providential  arrangement,  this  succes- 
sion of  empires,  this  overruling  and  governing  of  heavenly  power, 
it  is  written,  "Ih  flie  days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God^f  heaven 
set  up  a  kingdom,  which  shall  never  be  destroyed :  it  shall  stand 
forever." 

The  sacred  record  is,  therefore,  seen  to  lldad  us  back  to  the  dawn- 
ing day  of  time, — to  read  to  us  an  outline  of  man's  primitive  history, 
•-40  inform  us  respecting  the  wonderful  influences  to  which  he  was 
subjected,  and  their  great  results  in  his  character  and  history.  We 
then  turn  from  this  teaching  to  the  legends,  records,  and  sculptures 
of  these  ancient  nations,  and  find  everywhere  undoubted  proofs 
exhibited  by  them  in  facts,  doctrines,  systems,  and  ceremonies, 
which  must  have  been  derived  from  the  circumstances  which  the 
Bible  records.  The  inspired  volume  conducts  us  to  each  of  these 
ancient  kingdoms,  and  asserts,  that  in  them  G-od  wonderfully  inter- 
posed, by  revealing  his  omnipotent  power  and  omniscient  wisdom, 
in  support  of  his  own  truth :  and  we  find  even  these  humiliating 
events  recognised  in  their  national  histories,  and  proved  by  ^* 
lateral  facts.  Again,  we  see  divine  truth  taking  its  stand  amid  aU 
the  splendour  and  power  of  the  first  great  monarchy,  and  predicting 
its  fate,  and  the  rise,  character,  progress,  power,  sxii  destiny  of  every 
other  great  nation  until  the  advent  of  the  kingdom  ef  God.  We  go 
to  the  histories  of  these  empires,  and  we  find  these  wonderful  prophe- 
cies true  to  the  letter  in  every  instance,  and  so  exactly  exhibiting 
the  wonderfol  changes,  revolutions,  and  conquests  which  took  place 
during  this  period,  as  to  form  an  accurate  outline  of  its  general,  his- 
tory. 

We  direct  attention  td  this  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  remarka- 
ble accordance  between  the  sacred  record  and  profane  history,  and 
of  proving  that  the  origin,  progress,  and  fate  of  ancient  nations  har- 
monise with  the  teaching,  and  both  corroborate  and  illustrate  the 
history,  contained  in  the  sacred  pages  of  the  Bible.  But  we  do 
more  than  this.  Finding  in  the  Bible  tiie  germs  of  every  heathen 
institution, — seeing  here  the  truth,  which  is  found  perverted  and 
distorted  into  frightful  forms  in  their  mythologies, — discovering  his- 
tory which  is  the  parent  of  all  theirs,  and  which  accords  with  it  in 
every  essential  element, — ^we  are  bold  to  claim  for  the  Bible  a  power 
to  afford  men  some  information  respecting  the  ancient  Gontile 


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TSB  GINTILB  KATIOHS.  511 

natioiis.  We  fearlessly  assert  that  no  man,  whatever  his  learning, 
or  intellectual  power,  or  station  may  be,  when  speaking  of  ancient 
history^  has  any  right  tc$  ignore  the  Bible, 

Bat  it  is  confidently  urged,  that  the  information  afforded  by  the 
Scriptures  on  subjects  of  science  is  incomplete;  «nd  that  therefore 
we  are  not  to  go  to  their  pages  for  instniction  respecting  astronomy, 
geology,  or  even  chronology.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is  freely 
admitted,  and  no  man  of  information  will  go  to  t&e  Bible  hoping  to 
find  an  authorized  catalogue  of  the  dynasties  of  Egypt^  or  a  list  of 
the  kings  of  Assyria.  But  men  of  science  must  not  presume  on  the 
ignorance  of  deyout  students  of  the  sacred  volume,  so  far  ad  to  hope 
to  lead  them,  for  this  reason,  to  the  wild  inference,  that  what  the 
Bible  says  on  these  subjects  is  false,  or  undeserring  of  attention. 
It -is  freely  and  fully  admitted  that  the  Bible  does  not  afford  a  com- 
plete system  of  chronology;  and  it  may  be  difScult  to  proneunce 
with  certainty  which  of  the  three  systems,  founded  on  its  different 
versions,  is  undoubtedly  correct.  Our  opinion,  and  the  reasons  on 
which  it  is  based,  have  been  elsewhere  given.  But,  however  this 
may  be,  therd  is  a  Irange  within  which,  if  the  Bible  is  true,  the  truth 
must  be  found.  A  shorter  period  than  the  Hebrew  numbers,  or  a 
longer  one  than  those  of  the  Septuagint,  cannot  accord  with  Scrip- 
ture teaching;  and  men  cannot  travel  beyond  these  limits  without 
impugning  the  integrity  of  revealed  truth. 

But  we  have  sketched  the  history  of  these  andent  nations  to  ascer- 
tain, not  BO  much  their  political  and  civil,  as  their  religious,  condi- 
tion. And  what  has  b^en  the  result  of  our  researches  in  tiiis  respect  ? 
Man  is  found  everywhere  in-  possession  of  important  elements  of 
truth.  In  fiftctv  if  one  undoubted  conclusion  more  than  another  is 
clearly  deduced  by  our  researches  into  the  primitive  history  of  man, 
it  is  that^  instead  of  being  a  stranger  to  revelation,  man  derived  his 
knowledge  of  civil,  relative,  and  religious  duty  immediately  from 
God.  The  circumstances  respecting  his  food  and  clothing,  and  the 
means  of  providing  them, — the  sacred  institution  of  marriage  and 
its  obligations, — the  truth  relating  to  Deity,  and  the  manner  of 
serving  him, — ^must  all  have  been  subjects  pf  revelation.  Hence, 
we  everywhere  find  man  in  possession  of  a  substratum  of  divine 
tenth,  forming  the  basis  or  platform  on  whidi  all  his  individual  hopes 
and  motives  to  action  resl^  and  affording  the  great  principle  which 
holds  him  in  civil  society, — relationship  to  his  fellows. 

Another  general  axiom  may  be  propounded.  '  Men  everywhere  are 
found  to  be  the  subjiBcts  of  divine  influence.  This  is,  indeed,  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  features  in  the  condition  of  mankind.  The 
influence  of  God  upon  the  mind,  circumstances,  and  destiny  of  man 


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51^  THB  dBNTXLB  HATIQIB. 

was  everywhere  fully  a(lmitted,-^at  leaet^  UBtU  in  the  latter  agei, 
under  the  teaching  of  a  false  philosophy,  atheism  and  scepticiBin 
began  to  obtain  in  Greece.  Nothing  is  imore  manifest  tiian  this : 
we  find  it  in  Homer  aad  Virgil, — ^in  the  autobiographies  and  bulle- 
tins of  IHvanubara,  Sardanapalus^  and  Seonaeherib, — in  the  sacred 
inscriptions  of  the  Persian  kings,  as  well  as  in  the  native  records  of 
those  of  Egypt  It  was  in  this  manner,  more  especially,  that  when 
God,  "  in  times  past,  suffered  all  nations  to  walk  in  their  own  ways» 
nevertheless  he  left-  not  himself  without  witness,  in  that  he  did 
gpod;"  (Acts  xiv,  16, 17 ;)  from  which  it  must  not  be  supposed  that 
unaided  human  nature  was  left  to  draw  the  inference  of  God  and  his 
goodness ;  but  rather  that  his  Spuit  taught  them  by  his  internal 
operation  on  their  mind.  Hence  it  is  said  that  they  were  *'  without 
excuse,  because  that  which  may  be  knowp.  of  God  is  manifest  in 
thesis;  FOB  Gon  hath  showed  it  umto  them."  Bom.  i,  19,  20. 
Destitute  of  outward  teaching,  they  had  more  ample  spiritual  in- 
fluence. 

The  nature  of  man,  however,  was  so  eorrupt^  that,  whatever  Hiig^ 
be  the  case  in  individual  instances,  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening 
and  renewing  men  in  general  the  means  were  insufficient  to  the  end. 
It  is  true  that,  under  these  circumstances,  human  nature  flourished, 
and  the  natural  powers  of  man  were  cultivated  and  adorned ;  so  that 
military  prowess,  intellectual  culture,  works  of  genius,  and  eveiy 
branch  of  science,  elegance,  and  art,  attained  perfection.  But  th^ 
man's  moral  and  spiritual  condition  was  one  of  darkness,  degrada- 
tion, and. ruin.  And  this,  notwithstanding  the  ordinary  influences 
of  the  Spirit  were  sometimes  seconded  by  marvellous  interpositions 
from  heaven.  Thus  Egypt  was  fiftvoured  with  the  miracles  of  Moses ; 
Nineveh,  with  the  preaching  of  Jonah ;  Babylon,  with  the  prophecies 
of  Daniel,  and  the  miracle  of  tho  three  HelM'ew  youths ;  Media,  with 
the  deliverance  of  Daniel  from  the  den  of  lions;  Persia^  with  the 
revelations  respecting  Cyrus ;  and  Greece  and  Italy,  with  the  preach- 
ing of  Pythagoras  and  other  philosophers.  Yet,  amid  so  much 
divine  influence,  acting  on  this  human  greatness,  man  descended 
into  moral  ruin.    Why  was  this  ? 

It  was  because  there  was  an  agent  at  work  more  potent  for  evil 
than  human  infirmity,  or  even  human  depravity.  If  this  had  not 
been  the  case, — if  man  in  moral  degradation  and  spiritual  rain  had, 
untouched  by  other  influence,  resisted  the  merciful  impulses  of 
Heaven,  and  resolved  to  the  utmost  to  gratify  his  base  and  wi<^ed 
propensities, — we  might  expect  to  find  him  wallowing  in  sensuaHty 
and  licentiousness :  he  might  riot  in  rapine  and  blood ;  deceit^  lyinft 
pride,  passion,  malignity,  nd  violence,  might  be  expected  to- pollute^ 


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TBS  G%I7TIL8:  NATIONS.  SIS^ 

disoyder,  and  spread  misery  and  gaik  over  mankind:  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  coneeive  that  mere  humanity  would  hare  devised  such  an 
aggression  on  the  honour  due  only  to  God,  and  at  the  swne  time 
involving  its  own  most  extreme  degradation,  as  is  found  to  exist  in 
the  practice  of  idolatry.  There  is  something  so  opposed  to  all  rea- 
son, so  very  absurd,  in  the  idea  that  any  natural  object,  or  product 
of  human  art  or  labour,  can  be  divine,  or  that  there  can  be  a  plural- 
ity of  divinities,  that  the  existez^ce  or  prevalence  of  such  opinions 
in  the  ancient  world  has  been  generally  r^rded  as  an  inexplicable 
enigma.  Hence  writers  have  contented  themselves  with  giving  a 
history  and  description  of  this  great  moral  aberration,  and  its  re- 
sults, rather  than  attempted  to  account  for  its  origin. 

One  talented  author,  whose  recent  production  is  before  us,  specii- 
liatea  in  this  manner:  " Man  feels  himself  small  and  weak  amid  the 
forces  of  nature :  he  sees  a  power  in  operation  which  even  the  wisest 
cannot  combat ;  and  the  more  ignorant,  the  more  brutalized  he  is, 
the  more  he  feels  his  utter  helplessness.  But  the  wise  man  investi- 
gates causes,  finds  that  the  greater  the  force,  the  less  it  is  visible 
and  tangible ;  and  therefore  soon  arrives  at  the  oonviction  that  the 
Oreat  First  Cause  must  be  still  more  remote  from  the  grasp  of  the 
senses.  The  philosopher  of  all  ages,  as  far  as  we  can  trace  back 
with  any  certainty,  has  been  a  pure  theist.  Such  was  Zoroaster 
among  the  Persians ;  such  were  the  great  founders  of  the  Greek 
philosophy ;  and  such  were  the  patriarchs  described  in  the  Hebrew 
records.  But  the  ignorant  man,  unable  to  follow  the  steps  of  the 
philosopher,  but  equally  sensible  of  the  presence  of  a  superior 
power,  looks  only  to  the  force  in  action,  whatever  it  may  be,  and 
holds  that  to  be  divine ;  for,  to  the  ignorant  man,  whatever  or  who- 
ever is  stronger  or  wiser  than  himself,  is  an  object  of  veneration." 

We  should  feel  much  disposed  to  question  the  last-mentioned 
premiss, — ^that  "to  the  ignorant  man,  whatever  or  whoever  ia 
stronger  or  wiser  than  himself^  is  an  object  of  veneration."  It  ap* 
pears  equally  probable,  and  even  more  so,  that  it,  or  he,  would  be  an 
object  of  envy.  But  not  to  dwell  on  this  objection,— does  not  this 
theory  of  the  origin  of  idolatry  assume  a  startling  aspect  from  the 
fact,  that  it  would  lead  to  the  impression  that  all  the  wise  and  en- 
lightened of  mankind — those  who,  from  their  endowments  and  posi- 
tion, have  always  been  the  leaders  of  the  public  mind— are  guided 
and  led  by  the  ignorant  and  the  obscure  ? 

Such  a  proposition  seems  utterly  incredible.  Here  are  the  wise, 
the  cultivated,  the  influential,  with  right  and  truth  on  their  ^ide; 
and  here  are  the  ignorant  and  vulgar,  who  have  adopted  a  monstrous 
and  ridicubua  absurdity :  yet  it  is  supposed  that  the  latter  induced 


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514  THE  GENTILB  NATIOKS. 

the  former  to  adopt  their  views;  or,  at  least,  that,  against  the  opinion 
and  influence  of  the  wise  and  great- minded,  a  grand  system  of  doc- 
trines, rites,  and  usages  was  brought  into  operation,  in  every  part  of 
the  world,  among  every  people.  It  may  be  regarded  as  bold  to  saj 
that  such  an  hypothesis  involves  a  positive  impossibility :  but  we  de 
not  shrink  from  asserting  that  such  a  mighty  and  universal  revolu- 
tion was  never  known  to  result  from  such  influence. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  principal  objection  which  we  have  4o 
urge  against  this  scheme.  In  common  with  all  the  theories  of  its 
class,  it  overlooks  the  most  important  body  of  facts  relating  to 
primeval  history.  Tet  it  is  a  great  advance  on  the  theories  of  the 
cognate  schools  of  the  last  century ;  it  does  not  place  the  first  race 
-of  mankind  among  the  brutes,  but  allows  them  to  have  been  culti- 
vated, civilized,  and  rational ;  yet  it  leaves  them  titterly  without 
religion.  Now  we  take  leave  to  say,  this  was  never  the  condition  of 
any  human  community ;  and  we  challenge  an  investigation  into  all 
history  for  the  decision  of  the  question.  A  civilized  community, 
composed,  on  the  one  hand,  of  cultivated  intellectual  philosophers, 
and,  on  the  other,  of  sober,  thoughtful,  ignorant  men,  altogeAer 
without  religious  views,  practices,  or  opinions,  but  setting  itsdf,  in 
its  vanous  individuals,  according  to  their  respective  information  and 
powers  of  mind,  to  excogitate  some  definite  idea  of  Deity. — one 
•class  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  God  is  one  invisible  and  mighty 
l>eing ;  the  other,  that  the  powers  of  nature,  in  dl  their  wide  vari- 
ety, are  to  be  reverenced  as  divine, — this,  I  say,  has  no  countenance 
in  actual  fact ;  nothing  approximating  thereto  has  ever  been  seen  in 
history ;  and  it  can  only  exist  in  the  dreamy  speculations  of  those 
who  prefer  to  give  prominence  to  the  wildest  vagaries,  rather  than 
submit  to  receive  substantial  information  from  the  word  of  God. 

No !  the  truth  is,  that  man  entered  on  his  career  of  existence  more 
fully  identified  and  imbued  with  religious  truth,  and  duty,  and  priv- 
ilege, than  with  aught  else.  And  after  his  terrible  fall,  instead  of 
baving  the  elements  of  Teligion  diminished  in  number,  or  removed 
further  from  him,  he  became  still  more  intimately  associated  with 
them.  Then  the  promise  and  great  purposes  of  redemption  were 
brought  under  his  notice,  and  urged  on  his  attention  and  observance 
with  redoubled  force.  He  had  before  this  time  learned,  by  bitter 
experience,  the  existence,  subtilty,  and  power  of  his  adversary  the 
devil ;  and  had  been  taught  to  apprehend  somewhat  of  the  spiritual 
and  endless  ruin  to  which  he  stood  exposed.  He  was  informed  of 
the  new  relation  of  the  woman,  as  the  predicted  mother  of  the  great 
Deliverer — of  the  promised  Son,  who  was  to  endure  suffering,  and 
finally  to  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent.     With  the  tree  of  life,  and 


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THB  GENTILE  NATI0K8.  616 

with  whatever  of  a  sacramental  character  was  connected  with  it,  he 
was  well  acquainted ;  and  the  tree  of  knowledge,  with  the  dire  con- 
seqaences  of  eating  its  forbidden  fruit,  would  be  fully  present  to 
his  mind.  Then  he  would  understand  the  promise  of  redemption, 
as  it  affected  individual  man  in  that  day,  on  which  Abel  exercised 
fidth,  and  secured  salvation;  and  the  newly-appointed  means  of 
access  unto  God,— the  infolding  fire,  the  cherubim,  and  the  sacrifice, 
— all  these  Migious  elements  were  known  to  the  first  race' of  men; 
and  no  believer  in  the  verity  of  Holy  Scripture  can  doubt  that  these 
had  a  hold  on  the  human  mind,  far  beyond  any  ordinary,  fact  or 
communicated  truth.  These  had  all  been  ingrafted  on  human  his-* 
tory,  and  embedded  in  the  memory,  judgment,  and  feelings  of  man, 
amid  the  pressure  of  the  most  fearful  calamity  that  affected  our 
nature,  in  connexion  with  the  most  wondrous  revelations  of  Ood, 
and  the  mightiest  efforts  and  triumphs  of  the  powers  of  darkness. 

It  is  equally  clear  that  the  immediate  survivors  of  the  Flood,  in 
commencing  their  new  course  of  life  and  action,  as  the  fathers  of  a 
new  world,  and  the  progenitors  of  a  new  population,  would  have  all 
these  religious  realities  impressed  anew  on  their  minds  in  the  most 
weighty  and  affecting  manner.  That  this  was  so, — that  they  lived 
in  the  memories  of  their  descendants,  influenced  their  character  and 
conduct,  gave  a  tone  to  their  views,  were  immortalized  in  their  in- 
stitutions, and  referred  to  in  their  most  solemn  traditions,  sacred 
persons,  and  sacred  places,  until  long  after  the  establishment  of 
idolatry, — is  proved  most  incontestably  by  the  records,  religions, 
and  undoubted  remains  of  the  most  ancient  heathen  nations.  It  is 
demonstrable,  therefore,  that  idolatry  did  not  arise  out  of  such  a  state 
of  society,  and  in  such  a  manner,  as  is  supposed  by  the  author 
whom  we  have  quoted;  and  it  seems  to  be  scarcely  less  than 
demonstrable,  that  it  arose  as  a  perversion  of  truth  under  the 
immediate  agency  and  influence  of  Satanic  power.  The  origin  of 
idolatry,  indeed,  forms  the  most  prominent  result  of  that  great  and 
continued  antagonism  between  truth  and  error,  spirituail  light  and 
spiritual  darkness,  which  is  discerned  in  every  part  of  the  history 
of  mankind  in  pre-Christian  times.  With  our  views  of  this  con- 
flict and  its  results, — ranging  as  the  subject  does  over  the  times 
and  persons  whose  histoiy  and  religion  have  been  treated  of  in  the 
present  and  the  preceding  volumes  of  this  work,-^ur  labours  may 
very  suitably  be  brought  to  a  conclusion. 

That  human  history  commenced  as  the  battle-field  of  these 
antagonistic  powers  is  an  established  fact,  to  which  every  believer 
in  the  Bible  will  yield  ib  ready  assent.  Man  and  the  partner  of  his 
life,  in  pristine  purity,  innocence,  and  peace,  enjoying  hallowed  in- 


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516  THB  0XNTILB  NATIOXS. 

terooorae  with  Ood,  lived  in  Paradise.  Here  they  were  aeeailed  by 
a  gpiritaal  adversary,  who  is  spoken  of  in  the  saored  record  as  tiie 
"  old  serpent, — the  devil"  By  his  sabtilty  they  were  seduced  from 
their  allegianoe,  and  plunged  into  sin;  by  which  aot  man's  innocent 
and  peacefiil  condition  was  terminated. 

We  here  state  most  ezplictly,  that  this  portion  of  the  holy  record 
is  underptood  by  us  as  a  detail  of  certain  matter  of  h^t  It  is  no 
figurative,  imaginative,  or  enigmatical  account,  but  a  plain  narratioii 
of  histoiy.  As  it  ha^  to  do  with,  and  to  speak  of  spiritoal  beings, 
whose  attributes^  appearances,  and  volitions  must  be  expressed  with 
some  measure  of  accommodation,  when  described  in  the  langoage'c^ 
men,  it  may  not,  perhaps,  be  wise  in  us  to  serutinise  too- critically  the 
import  of  such  phrases  as,  '*  The  voice  of  the  Lord  waUdng  in  liia 
(P^rden,"  and,  "  The  serpent  was  more  subtle  than  any  beast  of  the 
field  which  the  Lord  God  had  made.  And  he  said  unto  the  woman,'' 
in  regard  of  the  exact  appearances  which  they  represent:  but  tiiat 
they  truly  speak  of  the  presence  of  the  Lord  Jehovah,,  and  of  Satan, 
no  doubt  whatever  is  entertained ;  and  the  eflRadr  of  thor  communica- 
tion and  influence  on  the  human  mind  is»  of  course,  r^^arded  by  im 
a|i  unquestionably  real. 

£Io  sooner  had  this  fearful  aggression  on  human  happiness  ano- 
ceeded,  than  the  predetermined  and  prepared  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion was  propounded.  The  man  and  woman  are  punished,  yet  are 
cheered  by  a  glorious  promise :  Satan  is  assured  duit  his  victory, 
although  giving  him  a  short-lived  power  to  inflict  suffering  bn  human 
nature,  shall  ceitainly  issue  in  his  own  preeminent  abasement  and 
BDOSery. 

The  leading  elements  of  the  new  economy,  in  so  far  as  they  re- 
ferred to  the  instruction,  faith,  and  practice  of  mankind,  were  then 
propounded.  Man,  rraaK>ved  from  ttie  tree  of  life,  to  which,  in  his 
new  relative  .position  as  a  sinner,  he  could  no  longer  have  access,  is 
made  acquunted  with  a  new  way  of  approach  unto  Qod, — ^by  the 
eherubic  emblems,  the  Shekinah,  jsnd  animal  sacrifice. 

Under  this  teaching,  and  in  this  practice,  the  first  pair  proceeded, 
until  their  children  attained  maturify,  and  their  two  sons  had,  on 
their  own  account,  and  according  to  their  own  mind  and  judgment^ 
to  approach  Ood  in  worship.  Here  again  we  see  the  aggressions 
of  Satan,  and  the  gracious  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Ood.  Abel, 
coming  in  the  appointed  way  with  his  mind  spiritually  enlightened, 
oflered  his  sacrifice  in  faith,  and  by  that  &ith  found  salvataon. 
Gain,  led  away  by  the  wicked  one,  rejected  the  appointed  oblation, 
and  would  do  no  more  than  present  a  thank-ofiering.  His  oflMng 
was  rejected;  and  the  result  is  well  known.    Enraged  at  his  rejee- 


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THB  aSKTILS  NATI0K8.  617 

1ion«  still  farther  urged  on  by  the«uiflaeiice  which  he  had  followed, 
he  killed  his  pious  brother.  Although  we  have  in  this  period  but 
few  historic  incidents,  we  must  take  these  as  types  of  the  history  of 
Ae  time.  Other  men  grew  up;  and  while  some  were  obedient, 
many  rejected  the  influence  of  Heaven,  and  followed  that  which  was 
in  more  accordance  with  their  own  corrupt  hearts.  At  length  one 
appeared  whe  was  fully  devoted  to  God.  Bo  entirely  did  he  subject 
his  heart  to  divine  guidance,  that  he  is  said  to  have  "  walked  with 
Ood.''  But  Ihe  brief  notice  of  this  holy  man  does  not  seem  to  be 
recorded  so  much  to  make  us  acquainted  with  his  character,  as  to 
show  ike  results  of  this  spiritual  antagonism  at  that  day.  Men  now 
becane  to  a  great  extent  ungodly :  their  ungodly  deeds  were  mani- 
fest and  general.  They  had  gone  beyond  this :  their  conversaticA 
was  not  only  wicked,  but  directed  against  God;  they  made  "hard 
speeches  agunst  him."  Jude  16.  Enoch  endeavoured  to  stem  this 
torrent.  He  proclaimed  the  truth;  he  denounced  the  evil  conduct 
and  language  which  prevailed ;  and  he  predicted  a  future  judgment, 
when  the  Lord  should  come  to  punish  sinners.  As  if  to  give  the 
highest  sanction  to  such  a  character,  and  the  fullest  attestation  to 
such  a  proclamation  of  truth,  this  saint  of  G^d  was  removed  directly 
to  glory. 

Onwiurd  rolled  the  course  of  time,  until  another  model  of  right- 
eousness and  faith  was  presented  in  the  person  of  Noah.  But,  by 
this  time,  Satanic  influence  had  so  affected  the  world's  population, 
that  God  announced  his  purpose  to  destroy  mankind  by  a  Flood. 
Noah  was  commanded  to  prepare  an  ark  to  save  his  house:  he 
entered  upon  the  arduous  task,  and,  during  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  this  wonderful  structure  was  being  raised,  he  ceased 
not  to  preach,  the  truth,  and  warn  the  surrounding  multitude  of  their 
danger.  But,  unchecked  in  their  career  of  sin,  they  went  on,  until 
tiie  day  that  he  entered  his  appointed  refbge :  no  fbrther  respite  was 
granted;  the  Flood  came,  and  the  population  of  the  world  Was 
destroyed. 

Who  can  contemplate  this  event  without  seeing  in  it  a  fearful 
result  of  this  spiritual  antagonism  ?  Satan  tempts ;  yet  God  reigns. 
Men  sin ;  but  God  will  punish.  The  continued  success  of  the  de- 
stroyer is  cut  short  by  this  terrible  judgment;  while  the  signal 
fidelity  of  Noah  is  honoured  by  signal  and  miraculous  preservation. 
Under  the  Amile  and  benediction  of  Heaven,  the  redeemed  family 
commence  their  new  career.  But  here  again  Satanic  guile  and 
power  are  felt.  Whatever  may  be  the  precise  meaning  of  the  lan- 
guage which  describes  that  dark  day  in  the  life  of  the  arkite  patri- 
arch, tbtfre  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  ^recording  a  successful  Satanic 


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518  THB  QBXTILS  NATI0K8. 

aggrescdon.  Nothing  short;  of  this  could  have  called  forth  saeh  a 
malediction  as  Noah  pronounced  on  that  occasion. 

It  seems,  from  a  general  review  of  the  whole  narrative,  that  the 
antediluvian  population  of  the  worid  lived  in  one  general  body,  and, 
as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  without  the  institution  of  any  regular 
government,  subject  simply  to  the  efiect  of  communicated  truth  and 
spiritual  influence.  In  those  circumstances,  "men  loved  d^rlp^ftjw 
rather  than  light ;"  evil  passions  and  desires  engendered  evil  actions ; 
and  *'  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence/'  until  universal  depravity 
ensued.  It  appears  from  several  passages  in  Holy  Scripture,  and 
from  the  tracQtions  of  the  ancient  world,  that  it  pleased  God  to 
command  a  totally  different  general  economy  for  the  new  world. 
As  soon  as  a  sufficient  population  was  provided,  it  was  divinely  ap- 
pointed that  the  several  tribes  and  families  should  separate,  and 
travel  to  the  geographical  districts  which  had  been  assigned  them, 
(Deut.  xxxii,  8,)  and  which  they  were  respectively  called  to  occupy, 
under  the  direction  of  their  hereditary  chirfs.  In  accordance  with 
this  providential  arrangement,  the  fkmily  of  Noah  dwelt  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ararat  for  some  centuries,  until,  having  sufficiently 
increased,  they  appear  to  have  journeyed  to  Shinar,  as  a  more  eli^- 
ble  locality  for  the  appointed  separation. 

Prior  to  this,  there  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  important 
innovations  had  been  effected  in  the  faith  of  this  united  body.  Rep* 
resentations  of  paradisiacal  scenes  and  figures  had  been  made,  and 
incorporated  into  the  place  and  manner  of  patriarchal  worship; 
while  influential  notions  had  been  entertained  respecting  the  prom- 
ised Incarnate  Seed,  and  his  appearing  in  a  priestly  and  regal  char- 
acter among  men ;  and  a  religious  veneration  was  cultivated  for  the 
first  Oreat  Father  and  his  three  sons,  who  were  regarded  as  reap- 
pearing in  the  arkite  patriarch  and  his  three  sons.  These,  with 
many  other  errors  in  doctrine  and  practice,  seem  to  have  been 
induced  by  the  active  agency  of  the  evil  one,  prior  to  the  arrival  of 
the  human  host  at  Shinar. 

There  a  grand  aggression  was  made  on  the  preordained  purpose 
of  God.  Nimrod,  the  son  of  Cush,  stirred  up  by  the  sf^ritual  ad- 
versary, arose  in  proud  rebellion  against  Heaven,  and  succeeded  in 
persuading  the  multitude  to  set  aside  the  idea  of  dispersion,  and  to 
locate  in  those  plains,  and  to  build  a  capital  and  a  tower,  which 
should  perpetuate  their  unity,  smd  be  the  centre  of  their  location. 
There  appears  from  Scripture  and  ancient  tradition  abundant  reason 
for  concluding  that  Nimrod  induced  the  people  to  adopt  this  course, 
by  putting  himself  forth  as  the  Promised  Seed,  and,  as  such,  entitled 
to  rule  over  the  whole  race  of  mankind.    In  this  assumption,  aa  in 


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THE  GENTILE  NATIONS.  519 

other  instances,  the  Satanic  aggression  only  professed  to  aim  at  an 
alteration  in  respect  of  one  part  of  the  divine  ^pointment :  govern- 
ment was  to  be  established,  and  professedly  by  divine  authority ;  bat 
the  Dispersion  was  to  be  prevented. 

It  pleased  Jehovah  by  a  miraculous  interposition  to  defeat  this 
Satanic  opposition:  and  the  manner,  brief  as  it  is,  i|i  which  this 
interposition  was  put  forth,  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  done  by 
some  peculiar  manifestation  of  the  Holy  Trinity, — perhaps  similar 
to  that  which  we  find  made  to  Abraham  when  Sodom  was  destroyed. 
*'  Let  us  go  down,"  said  the  Lord,  **  and  confound  their  language  :*' 
and  thus  the  Dispersion  was  enforced,  and  the  several  tribes,  miracu- 
lously prevented  from  acting  in  concert,  went  forth  to  occupy  their 
respective  territories.  Still  Nimrod  and  his  adherents  continued  at 
Babel,  and  there  established  a  kingdom,  dispossessing  Asshur;  to 
whom,  of  right,  that  territory  belonged,  and  who,  in  consequence, 
went  forth  and  built  Nineveh  on  the  River  Tigris,  and  there  founded 
a  sovereignty. 

But  the  divine  purpose  was  not  only  infringed  by  the  disobedience 
of  Nimrod  in  remaining  at  Babel, — it  was  in  great  measure  neutral- 
ized by  the  corruptions  in  religion  which  had  been  previously  dis- 
seminated, and  which,  carried  into  every  quarter,  produced  one 
wide- spread  range  of  wicked  idolatry.  By  a  subtil ty  and  energy 
which  Satan  alone  could  infuse,  all  the  religious  promises,  circum- 
stances, and  facts,  connected  with  God's  revelations  to  man  and  with 
man's  early  history,  were  so  systematically  perverted,  that  they  de- 
throned and  dishonoured  .God,  filled  man  with  vain  imaginations 
and  proud  assumptions,  and  virtually  handed  over  the  several  sec^ 
tions  of  the  human  family  to  the  overwhelming  power  of  Satanic 
error.  It  is  a  circumstance  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  mighty  in- 
fluence which  gave  this  profane  conceit  energy  and  power,  that  we 
find  all  the  most  ancient  kingdoms  of  the  earth  fully  adopting  it, 
and,  indeed,  making  it  the  basis  of  their  political  constitutions.  Not 
only  so,  but  the  plan,  as  it  appears  to  have  been  originally  sketched, 
is  enlarged  and  rendered  practicable;  so  that,  when  the  several 
primitive  seats  of  human  settlement  were  covered  with  national  in- 
stitutions, everywhere  idolatry  prevailed.  Although,  in  every  in- 
stance, one  common  family  type  is  discernible  in  this  &lse  religion 
in  all  places,  this  was  filled  up  and  modified  into  an  almost  infinite 
variety  of  detail :  and,  as  if  to  show  forth  the  real  author  of  this  foul 
dishonour  to  God,  and  wickedness  and  folly  in  man,  everywhere  the 
serpent- form  was  made  a  special  object  of  adoration,  and  worshipped 
as  the  symbol  of  power  and  dominion. 

To  rear  up  a  standard  of  truth  in  opposition  to  this  aggressive 


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S20  THB  OBHTItE  NATIONS. 

error,  Jehovah  selected  a  pious  individaal,  and  called  him  oat  of  the 
very  centre  of  this  idolatrous  population.  Abraham  obeyed,  and 
went  forth,  receiving  great  promises  and  wonderful  spiritual  instnic- 
tion  from  God.  He  journeyed  far  into  iiie  west,  went  down  even 
into  Egypt,  and  everywhere  raised  an  altar  to  the  true  God,  and 
worshipped  him  alone.  To  him  the  prcgnise  of  an  Incarnate  Re- 
deemer, from  his  own  seed,  was  made;  and  a  covenant  of  mercy 
was  established  with  him,  that  he  should  be  the  progenitor  of  this 
great  Saviour.  Isaac  and  Jacob  followed  in  the  same  footsteps: 
heirs  of  the  same  promise,  they,  too,  maintained  fidelity  to  God,  and 
each  received  fuller  assurance  of  the  coming  of  the  Promised  Seed. 

The  descendants  of  the  latter  patriarch,  after  having  sufiered 
grievous  persecution  in  Egypt,  were  delivered  by  the  mighty  power 
of  God.  Here  commenced  a  great  and  prolonged  struggle  between 
the  powers  of  darkness  and  the  Spirit  of  God.  Here,  for  the  first 
time  on  record,  did  the  energy  of  Satan  dare  avowedly  to  meet,  and 
endeavour  to  match,  the  might  of  the  Omnipotent.  The  issue  cov- 
ered the  gods  of  Egypt  with  shame,  inflicted  grievous  calamity  on 
that  unhappy  country,  and  wrought  out  a  wondrous  deliverance  for 
Israel.  This  people,  now  a  mighty  host,  are  taken  under  the  spedal 
care  of  Jehovah.  They  are  miraculously  fed  in  the  desert ;  water 
is  brought  for  them  from  the  granite  rocks  of  Sinai.  There  also 
they  receive  a  religious  economy,  an  ecclesiastical  system,  and  a 
political  and  moral  code  of  laws,  immediately  from  Heaven.  In- 
deed, God  not  only  made  wonderful  revelations  of  himself  to  the 
Hebrews  in  the  communication  of  this  system,  but  actually  came 
down  and  dwelt  among  them  in  the  &rm  of  a  visible  glory  in  the 
holy  tabernacle.  By  these  means  he  led  them  forty  years  throng 
the  wilderness,  and  at  length  brought  Hxern  into  the  land  which  he 
had  promised  to  their  fathers. 

In  this  career  of  mercy,  the  po^er  of  the  evil  one  was  frequently 
.and  fully  apparent.  Even  while  Moses  was  in  the  mount  receiving 
the  law  from  God,  Aaron  was  led  to  make  a  golden  image  for  the 
people  to  worship ;  and  afterward,  so  rebellious  had  they  become, 
that  it  seemed  impossible  to  keep  them  from  returning  to  Egypt, — 
a  folly  from  which  they  were  prevented  only  by  special  revelations 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  given  to  seventy  prophets,  whose  spiritual 
ministry  seems  to  have  met  the  case. 

When  the  children  of  Israel  were  located  in  Canaan,  this  dia- 
bolical aggression  was  renewed  with  fearful  effect.  The  Hebrews, 
who  had  been,  by  promise,  prophecy,  and  miracle,  wonderfully  raised 
up  to  bear  before  all  the  world  a  testimony  for  God  against  idola- 
try, themselves  plunged  into  the  vile  practice  to  a  great  extait 


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THB  GBNTILE  KATIOHS.  621 

Thronghont  the  rale  of  the  Judges,  their  history  is  one  contmued 
series  of  idolatrous  apostasy,  and  repentance  under  the  pressure  of 
galling  affliction.  At  length,  by  the  instrumentality  of  Samuel  and 
David,  the  evil  seemed  to  be  extirpated.  Piety-  and  prosperity 
reigned  in  Jerusalem ;  the  Hebrew  people  rose  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  national  greatness.  Ood  gloriously  manifested  his  presence 
among  them ;  and  the  victory  orer  Satanic  influence  seemed  to  be 
complete.  Tet  when  the  religion  of  God  appeared  to  be  most 
secure,  it  was  successfully  assailed  in  what  might  have  been  thought 
its  strongest  fortress.  Solomon,  the  &youred  of  the  Lord,  sunk  into 
sensuality  and  pride,  thence  into  licentiousness,  and  at  length  into 
idohitry. 

From  this  period,  tiiat  foul  sin  was  a  plague-spot  which  destroyed 
the  vitals  of  Hebrew  weal.  From  the  time  when  the  kingdom  of 
Israel  was  formed,  its  policy  directly  tended  to  the  promotion  of 
idolatry.  This  evil  influence  was  not  allowed  to  reign  unchecked : 
the  demon  destroyer  was  frequently  arrested  in  his  fatal  progress 
by  divine  interposition.  This  was  in  general  most  efficiently  accom- 
plished by  the  ministry  of  inspired  prophets.  On  one  occasion 
particularly  these  antagonistic  powers  seemed  fairly  brought  into 
collision,  and  nothing  human  could  present  a  more  noble  aspect  than 
the  intrepid  Elijah  confronting  the  four  hundred  prophets  of  Baal, 
and  challenging  the  devotion  of  Israel  for  Jehovah  as  the  only  true 
(rod.  The  triumphant  issue  is  well  known;  but  it  failed  to  destroy 
the  evil.  Onward  rolled  the  fatal  influence  of  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness :  Israel  became  incorrigibly  idolatrous,  and  was  destroyed. 

Judah,  still  enlightened  by  a  glorious  succession  of  prophets,  and 
held  in  check  by  the  divinely-appointed  services  of  the  temple,  fell 
by  slower  degrees ;— ^but  it  did  fieJI.  Although  Satanic  influence  was 
repelled  by  numerous  interpositions,  and  checked  by  several  reform- 
ations of  religion,  all  these  agencies  offered  a  vain  resistance  to  ite 
action  on  the  corruption  and  depravity  of  the  human  mind.  The 
people,  as  a  body,  (for  we  do  not  at  all  in  this  review  refer  to  indi- 
vidual faith  or  conduct,)  gradually  became  pervaded  by  this  delu- 
sion ;  iheir  princes  took  the  lead  in  the  fearful  apostasy ;  and  even 
the  priesthood  became  corrupt ;  until,  at  length,  when  the  prescience 
of  God  revealed  the  secrets  of  the  sanctuary  to  the  prophet  Ezekiel, 
every  form  of  idolatry,  with  its  foolish  and  filthy  objects  of  adora* 
tion,  in  all  their  multitudinous  detail,  was  found  depicted  on  the 
walls  of  the  chambers,  even  in  the  sanctuary  of  Jehovah!  This 
appears  to  have  been  the  culminating  point  of  diabolical  ascend* 
ency.  The  glorious  Shekinah  would  no  longer  occupy  a  tem]ple 
where  Satan  had  his  seat^  and  so  abandoned  the  sanctuary  to  its 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


622  THB  GBKTILE  NATIONS. 

&te.  The  terrible  catastrophe  came :  JeroBalem^.  "  the  city  of 
David,"  "  the  holy  city,"  was  polluted,  destroyed,  and  trodden  down 
by  the  heathen.  The  temple,  which  had  been  filled  with  the  divine 
glory,  and  whose  sacred  sanctuary  had  for  centuries  been  irradiated 
with  the  glorious  Shekinah  of  God,  was  burned  with  fire.  Ichabod 
was  engraven  on  every  Hebrew  institution,  and  the  success  of  the 
destroyer  seemed  complete,  in  blotting  from  the  earth  such  an  illus- 
trious witness  for  the  truth  and  power  of  Ood  as  the  Hebrew  faith 
and  temple-service  had  been. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more  completely  successful  aggres- 
sion on  a  divinely-appointed  economy  than  that  which  is  here  pre- 
sented to  the  mind, — ^not  only  as  it  respected  the  Hebrew  Church 
itself,  but  also  in  its  bearing  on  the  covenant-mercy  of  God,  and  the 
great  scheme  of  redemption.  All  the  promises  and  prophecies 
which  had  been  given  subsequent  to  the  Deluge  respectmg  the  great 
Redeemer,  his  work,  and  kingdom,  and  glorious  salvation,  had 
identified  these  with  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  and  the  house  of 
David,  and  Mount  Zion.  The  Hebrew  sacred  s^rice  had  been 
instituted  with  evident  and  marked  typical  allusion  to  the  appointed 
Saviour.  Indeed,  the  entire  political  arrangements,  the  origin  and 
succession  of  the  royal  family  of  JuAah,  with  the  whole  Mosaic 
ecclesiastical  and  religious  appointments  among  the  people,  seemed 
designed  to  prepare  the  way  for  Messiah,  and  to  unite  their  various 
agencies  into  one  complete  pledge  and  precursor  of  his  coming. 
And  yet  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  subversion  of  the 
throne  of  David,  all  these  foreshadowings  perished,  and  not  a  visible 
type  remained;  not  an  element  was  left  of  this  elaborate  and  com- 
plete typical  economy,  to  adumbrate  the  promise,  of  redemption. 

But  although  Satan  seemed  to  have  fully  accomplished  his  pur- 
pose, it  was  soon  manifest  that  the  grand  scheme  of  redemption 
rested  not  on  the  obedience  of  man,  but  on  the  unchangeable  fidth- 
fulness  of  God.  Never  did  the  world  witness  more  glorious  revela- 
tions of  Jehovah  in  support  of  bis  Church  and  his  truth,  than  when 
his  faithful  remnant  were  captives,  hanging  their  harps  on  the  wil- 
lows of  Babylon :  never  were  more  wonderful  attestations  given  to 
the  promise  of  redemption,  or  more  gracious  displays  of  the  divine 
prescience  afforded,  than  there.  So  gloriously,  indeed,  did  Jehovah 
work,  that  before  a  century  had  passed  away  the  Hebrews  were 
again  located  in  their  own  land,  worshippuoig  again  on  the  sacred 
mount,  in  a  newly-erected  temple,  with  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and 
their  general  polity  in  progress  to  entire  restoration. 

But  while  the  goodness  and  power  of  God  had  thus  wrought 
deliverance  for  his  captive  people,  the  power  of  the  wicked  one  was 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


THB  QRNTILE  NATIONS.  523 

being  m^tily  exerted  in  the  Gentile  world.  Idolatry  becune  every- 
where fully  established.  Babylon,  intensely  devoted  to  this  Satanic 
superstition,  passed  away:  Persia  arose  to  rule  the  nations;  but  it 
was  under  the  same  malign  influence.  The  king  there,  too,  was 
worshipped  as  divine ;  and  although  the  good  Spirit  had  given  a 
large  communication  of  truth,  it  was  so  completely  overlaid  with  the 
profeme  assumption  of  king  and  priests,  that  the  people  were  left 
blindly  to  worship  the  sun,  or  the  sacred  fire. 

Greece  then  arose  to  exercise  supremacy  over  the  world,  and  pre- 
sented a  marked  display  of  the  continued  collision  between  these 
antagonistic  powers.  Highly  endowed  with  intellectual  might,  richly 
&voured  with  divine  influence,  possessing  every  element  of  human 
greatness  in  most  abundant  measure,  Greece  was  unfaithful  to  the 
li^t  of  truth  and  the  influ^ce  of  God.  "  Sin  reigned  unto  death ;" 
a  low,  corrupt,  sensual,  and  debased  idolatry  prevailed;  until  the 
reasoning  mind  turned  away  in  disgust,  and  disowned  even  the  exist- 
ence of  God. 

Rome  was  but  an  unworthy  representation  of  Greece.  Starting 
on  her  career  of  progress  with  much  of  truth  and  divine  teaching 
Rome  became  infinitely  corrupt.  Her  idolatry  was  as  vast  in  its 
range  and  as  vile  as  was  possible.  Never  rising  so  high  in  intellect, 
or  genius,  or  art,  as  Greece,  Borne  plunged  deeper,  if  it  could  be,  in 
infamous  impurity,  until  the  inspired  apostle  declares,  "  God  gave 
them  up."  Thus  Satan  reigned,  during  successive  centuries  grasp- 
ing authority  over  the  physical  nature  of  man ;  (Acts  xix ;)  directing 
and  endowing  the  human  mind,  until,  notwithstanding  the  possession 
of  boundless  power  and  immense  learning,  human  nature  in  Bome 
sunk  to  the  lowest  level  of  infamous  degradation,  so  that  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  in  any  part  of  the  world  it  can  now  be  found  so 
very  vile.  So  vast,  indeed,  was  the  acquired  influence  and  power  of 
Satan,  that  he  ostentatiously  challenges  universal  sovereignty  over 
the  world,  and,  exhibiting  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the 
glory  of  them,"  he  proudly  tells  even  the  Son  of  God,  "  All  this 
power  and  glory  is  delivered  unto  me."  Luke  iv,  5,  6. 

But  does  the  reader  ask,  "  What  has  become  of  th^  restored 
Hebrews?  those  for  whom  Jehovah  had  done  so  much,  and  to  whom 
he  had  given  the  most  precious  of  his  gifts, — the  word  of  Gk>d?" 
Alas!  they  no  longer  bear  an  efficient  testimony  for  God.  They 
renounced  the  spirituality  of  his  covenant ;  they  made  even  "  the  law 
of  God  of  none  eflfect  by  their  traditions;'*  they  perverted  the 
promises  of  redemption ;  they,  while  still  professing  to  acknowledge 
and  worship  God,  exhibited,  with  a  few  solitary  exceptions,  as  fearful 
an  instance  of  the  triumph  of  Satanic  guile  over  saving  truth  as 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


524  THB  GBNTILB  KATI0K8. 

aay  othmr  people.  Hence,  oter  them  also  Sfttan  eatereiees  a  ftarfid 
power,  and  reigns  as  "  the  god  of  this  mnrld." 

Thus  we  see  Hie  human  family,  after  bo  much  rerelation  of  truth 
and  meroj,  so  lai^e  an  amount  of  difine  inflnence  and  divine  inter- 
position, proving  the  depth  of  human  depravity  by  showing  the 
ineffioacy  of  all  these  means,  not  for  individual  salvation, — that  these 
means  could  and  did  accomplish* — but  to  rear  up  and  maintain  in 
the  world  a  living,  conquering,  enduring  church,  which  should  per* 
manently  exhibit  the  power,  the  purity,  and  the  truth  of  God. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  this  grand  result^  the  world  was  driven 
to  the  last  great  crowning  promise  of  grace, — the  establishment  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.  For  this  it  panted,  as  in  agony,  under  the 
tyrant  power  of  the  destroyer.  And  the  mtroduction  of  this  prions 
dispensation,  by  the  manifestation  of  the  Bon  of  God,  broke  the 
power  of  Satan,  brought  in  everlasting  righteousness,  and  opened  a 
fountain  of  mercy,  whidi  shall  flow  on  until  the  whole  earth  is  filled 
with  his  glory.    Amen. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


APPENDIX. 


Non  1,  p«ge  18. — JnUdUuvitm  JUolgtry, 

The  idolatry  of  the  antedilUTians  is  not  only  taught  in  the  traditionB  preserred 
by  Maimonides ;  "  the  ABsnmption  of  Enoch  *'  also  says,  that  this  patriarch 
"  prejudged  both  the  worshippers  and  makers  of  idols  and  images,  in  his  oom- 
mination  against  them."  The  apocryphal  character  of  this  book  is  fally  admit- 
ted ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  regarded  by  TertulHan  with  so 
much  respect,  that  he  thought  it,  with  other  authorities  extant  in  his  time, 
decisire  on  the  subject  of  which  this  passage  speaks.  In  addition  to  this,  we 
most  can  attention  to  the  interpretation,  given  in  a  preceding  Tolnme,  of  Gen. 
It,  26.  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  164-167.)  In  connexion  with  the  obsenrations 
referred  to,  it  may  be  remarked  that  this  text  was  not  read  by  the  Hebrew 
scribes,  **  Men  profanely  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,"  as  Kimchi  and  other 
Hebrew  scribes  render  it, — ^with  which  reading  the  Jemsalem  Targum  agrees : 
mm  Kin  "  That  was  the  age  in  the  days  of  which  they  began,  to  err,  and  made 
themselres  idols,"  (*^*^9t3  idola,  erroru,)  **  and  called  their  idols  by  the  name  of 
the  word  of  the  ^rd."  (See  Paulus  Fagins  in  loc.    Owen  On  Images,  p.  21.) 

An  argument  to  the  sflme  effect  has  been  drawn  from  the  language  used  by 
Moses,  when  writing  on  the  subject  of  antediluvian  wickedness.  In  Gen.  yi,  12, 
we  are  told,  "  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and,  behold,  it  was  corrupt"  (htDniDS). 
Hie  same  term  is  used  in  this  and  the  following  Terse  three  times  to  specify  the 
eril  of  this  age.  It  is  worthy  of  obserration,  that  Moses  in  many  other  places 
uses*  this  word  as  descriptiye  of  idolatrous  practices.  When  speaking  of  the 
defisction  of  the  people  in  the  case  of  the  golden  calf,  he  says,  using  the  same 
word,  "  They  have  corrupted  themselves."  Exod.  xxxii,  7.  It  is  again  used  in 
the  same  sense,  Beut.  iv,  25 :  **  And  shall  corrupt  yourselYcs,  and  make  a  graven 
image."  Deut.  xxxi,  29,  and  xxxii,  5,  may  be  also  cited  as  additional  instances ; 
thus  'aifording  strong  preramptlve  evidenoe  that  the  great  corruption  of  the 
antediluvian  age  consisted  of  idolatry. 

This  conclusion  is  supported  by  Arabian  traditions.  The  Koran  makes  the 
existence  of  antediluvian  idolatry  an  article  of  faith.  Chapter  IxxL  It  is  taught 
that  in  the  days  of  Noah  five  false  deities— Wadd,  Sowa,  Taghuth,  Yauk,  and 
Nesi^-were  generally  adoredr  and  that  this  wickedness  occasioned  the  Deluge. 
(See  also  Sale's  Preliminary  Dissertation,  sect.  1.) 

Nor  must  it  b^  forgotten  that  the  earliest  Gentile  writer,  Sanchoniatho,  details 
tarious  particulars  which  unite  to  sustain  the  auth(»rity  of  these  traditions.  He 
ascribes  the  introduction  of  the  worship  of  the  sun  to  the  second  generation, 
intimating  tliat  Cain  himself  indulged  in  this  practice.  Of  the  fifth  generation 
from  the  first  man  tUs  writer  sitySrThey  "consecrated  two  pillars  to  fire  and 
wind,  and  worshipped  them,  and  poured  <mi  upon  them  the  blood  of  the  wild 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


526  APPENDIX. 

beasts  taken  in  hunting :  and  when  these  men  were  dead,  those  that  remained 
consecrated  to  them  rods,  and  worshipped  the  pillars,  and  held  anniTorsary 
feasts  in  honour  of  them."  Again,  in  the  eighth  generation  we  are  told  that 
Ghysor,  who  daring  his  life  had  **  exercised  himself  in  words,  and  charms,  and 
diTlnations,"  was  after  his  death  "  worshipped  as  a  god."  Thna  does  CTery 
available  souroe  of  information  confirm  the  opinion  that  idolatry  was  introdnoed 
before  the  Flood. 


Note  2,  page  20.— Witu  the  Doctrine  of  the  TVintty  known  to  the  early  Pairiarehi  7 

There  is  scarely  any  question  which  can  be  propounded  respecting  the  religion 
of  mankind  in  remote  antiquity  of  more  deep  and  general  interest  and  import- 
ance than  this.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  this  subject,  (PatriarduJ 
Age,  pp.  266-272,)  when  reasons  were  assigned  for  believing  that  the  assertion  of 
this  doctrine  having  been  held  by  the  disciples  of  Plato,  is  not  to  be  relied  upon, 
and  that  the  notions  which  prevailed  among  the  Platonists  arose  rather  from  the 
prevalence  of  idolatrous  triads  among  heathen  nations  than  from  "  any  divinely 
revealed  knowledge  of  the  true  nature  of  the  divine  hypottatU."  Thus  far 
a  careful  and  extended  subsequent  examination  of  the  subject  has  served  to 
confirm  the.views  previously  advanced.  If,  however,  this  language  is  construed 
not  merely  to  apply  to  the  origination  of  the  Platonic  dogmas,  but  to  deny  the 
fact  of  any  divinely  revealed  knowledge  on  this  doctrine  having  been  communi- 
cated to  the  early  patriarchs,  then  I  must  be  allowed  to  say  that  in  this  sense  it 
does  not  express  the  opinions  which  a  careful  and  more  mature  investigation  of 
the  evidence  bearing  on  this  sulject  has  fully  established  in  my  mind.  On  the 
contrary,  there  does  not  at  present  occur  to  me  any  reasonable  cause  for  doubt 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  made  one  of  the  important  religious  revelations 
to  the  first  men,  and  that  it,  in  connexion  with  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation, 
(respecting  which  also  some  knowledge  was  communicated,)  led  to  the  worship 
of  human  nature,  and  the  adoration  of  the  three  sons  of  each  great  father  as  a 
sacred  triad.  This  gave  a  distinctive  colouring  to  the  whole  system  of  heathen 
idolatry.  It  must  not,  however,  from  thence  be  inferred  that  Plato  possessed  a 
knowledge  of  this  doctrine.  This  philosopher,  in  fact,  never  taught  the  exist- 
ence of  "  three  subsistences  in  one  divine  essence."  Consequently  Cudworth  is 
compelled  to  say,  "  We  freely  acknowledge,  that  as  this  Divine  Cabala  was  but 
little  understood  by  many  of  those  who  entertained  it  among  the  Pagans,  so  was 
it  by  divers  of  them  much  depraved  and  adulterated  also.  For,  first,  the  Pagans 
universally  called  their  trinity  •  a  trinity  of  gods,' — rdv  irpurov,  tov  SevtepoVf 
and  rplrov  ^e6v,  *  the  first,  the  second,'  and  the  *  third  god ;'  as  the  more  philo- 
sephical  among  them  called  it  also  '  a  trinity  of  causes,'  and  '  a  trinity  of  prin- 
ciples,' and  sometimes  *  a  trinity  of  opificers.'  Thus  is  this  cabala  of  the  trinity 
styled  in  Produs,  ^  ritv  rpujv  t^euv  Tropddofftf,  *  the  trudition  of  the  three  gods.' " 
—Intellectual  Syetem,  vol.  ii,  p.  3U. 

If,  therefore,  we  apply  the  results  of  modem  research  into  oriental  countries 
and  religious  doctrines  to  the  data  collected  by  Cudworth,  the  rseult  will  be, 
that,  instead  of  beliering  with  that  eminent  man  that  "  this  mystery  ws3 
gradually  imparted  to  the  world,  and  that  first  but  sparingly  to  the  Hebrews 
themselves,  either  in  their  written  or  oral  cabala" — Intellectual  System,  yoL  ii, 
p.  314 — we  shall  find  reason  for  concluding  that  some  distinct  intimation  of  the 
triune  nature  was  given  to  man  at  the  beginning, — a  knowledge  which  was 
maintained  in  the  Hebrew  Church,  increased  by  successive  revelation,  and  finally 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPENDIX.  527 

'perfeeted  by  ihe  disooTeries  of  the  gospel :  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Gen- 
tiles, although  reoeiTing  the  tradition,  prior  to  the  general  Dispersion,  with 
suffieient  distinctness  to  impress  a  character  upon  all  their  idolatrous  systenis, 
neyertheless  in  process  of  time  lost  sight  of  the  true  nature  of  the  doctrine, 
and  at  the  period  of  the  birth  of  Christ  were  destitute  of  all  sound  knowledge  on 
the  subject. 

It  is  too  much  to  ask  the  reader  to  reoeiTe  our  ipse  dixit  on  this  important 
case ;  nor  will  space  allow  our  citing  the  wide  range  of  eyidenoe  which  has  led 
-us  to  this  conclusion.  In  these  drcumstances  a  rery  brief  abstract  must  be 
supplied. 

The  learned  Dr.  Allix  has  elaborately  argued,  (Reflections,  chap.  xTiii,)  that 
Moses,  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  mentioned  nothing  but  what  was  then  generally 
known.  If  this  proposition  had  been  satisfactorily  established,  the  case  would 
hare  been  settled,  as  it  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  Moses  in  this  book  uses  lan- 
guage which  clearly  teaches  a  plurality  of  persons  In  the  Divine  Nature ;  and, 
when  the  promise  of  the  incarnation,  and  the  mention  of  the  "  Word  of  the 
Lord  "  as  a  person,  are  considered,  is  such  as  could  scarcely  be  used  by  these 
who  were  ignorant  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  But  eyen  if  this  proposition 
is  not  fully  sustained,  there  yet  remidns  sufficient  eyidenoe  tiiat  some  important 
measure  of  knowledge  on  this  sulject  was  communicated,  either  to  the  first  man, 
(which  is  most  probable,)  or  to  the  early  patriarchs. 

This  will  be  seen  if  it  be  remembered  that  there  exists  ample  reason  for 
belieying  that  Moses  compiled  the  beginning  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  from  pre- 
existent  records;  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  67-70;)  and  that  these  contain  the 
allusions  to  a  diyiiie  plurality  to  which  reference  lias  been  made.  The  knowl- 
edge of  this  doctrine  which  these  passages  display  cannot,  therefore,  be  ascribed 
to  reyelations  made  to  Moses,  but  to  some  age  long  prior  to  the  date  of  his  writ- 
ing. But  then  it  must  be  recollected  that  Moses,  while  writing  for  the  purpose 
of  rooting  out  of  the  minds  of  men  all  notion  of  polytheism,  yet  transcribes  these 
singular  solecisms  in  language,  " In  tAe  beginning"  &*^nbM  K^  {bara  Elohim) 
**  the  Gods  created."  He  might  haye  said,  Jehovah  baroj  or  Eloah  bara,  and 
thus  haye  used  a  singular  noun  as  the  name  of  Deity.  Instead  of  this,  howeyer, 
he  transcribes  this  plural  appellation  of  God  thirty  times  in  the  history  of  the 
Creation.  But  then  this  plural  noun  is  used  in  connexion  with  (bara)  a  singular 
yerb,  thus  clearly  indicating  that  this  dirine  plurality  is  one  God.  Nor  is  it  to 
be  supposed  that  this  was  a  peculiarity  of  manner  or  style  of  writing  used  by 
Moses;  for  in  other  places  he  uses  the  singular  Etoah,  (Deut.  xzxii,  15, 17,)  and 
frequently  connects  the  plural  Elohim  with  plural  yerbs  and  a4jectiyes.  Gen. 
XX,  13,  &c. ;  xxxy,  10,  &c.  This  conclusion  is  supported,  and  the  knowledge 
of  tiie  triune  personalities  rendered  still  more  probable,  by  the  language  used  in 
other  parts  of  the  Book  of  Genesis.  We  are  told  (xy,  1)  *'  that  *  the  Word  of  the 
Lofrd  came  unto  Abram  In  a  yision,  saying.  Fear  not,  Abram ;  I  am  thy  shield 
and  thy  exceeding  great  reward.'    Here  the  Word  of  the  Lord  is  the  speaker: 

*  The  Word  came,  saying.'  A  mere  word  may  be  spoken  or  said ;  but  a  personal 
Word  only  can  say, '  I  am  thy  shield.'  The  pronoun '  I '  refers  to  the  whole  phrase, 

*  The  Word  of  Jehoyah ;'  and  if  a  personal  Word  be  not  understood^  no  person  at 
aliis  mentioned  by  whom  this  message  is  conyeyed,  and  whom  Abram,  in  reply, 
inyokes  as  *Lord  God.'"— Wateon'x  In9tiitUe$,  yol.  i,  p.  568.  Again,  Gen.  xix, 
24 :  **  Then  the  Lord  "  (Jehovah)  "  rained  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  brimstone 
and  fire  from  the  Loan"  (Jehovah)  "  out  of  heayen."  We  haye  here  the  yisible 
Jehorah,  who  had  talked  with  Abraham,  raining  the  storm  of  yengeanoe  ftom 


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528  APPENDIX. 

another  JehoTah  ont  of  heareii,  and  who  vm  thenfom  laTirtbla.  Thvs  two 
JehoYfiiis  are  expreaglj  mentioned :  **  The  Lobd  rained  firom.  the  Loan."  Tldi 
language  proves  that  a  plurality  of  persons  in  the  Peity  iras  known  to  the 
writer  of  the  Book  of  Qeneeis :  and  that  one  of  them  held  the  peculiar  relation 
or  title  of  "  the  Word  of  Jehovah :"  and  the  manner  in  which  this  inlbrmfttion 
is  communicated  demonstrates  that  the  persons  spoken  of^  who  lived  long  before 
Moses,  were  familiar  with  this  language. 

As  decisive  evidence  on  this  latter  point  we  maj  re&r  to  the  words  used  bj 
Abraham  to  the  king  of  Qerar :  "  When  God  caused  me  to  wander,"  4cg.  Gen.  zz,  13. 
In  the  original  it  is,  "When"  Q'^H^K  (Elohim)  "the  Gods  caWl,"  &c.  Jacob 
uses  similar  language,  Gen.  xxxv,  7 :  "  Jacob  built  an  altar,  and  called  the  place" 
bvrt\^^  itk  *'El-Betk^l,  because  there  God"  in  the  origmal,  tiVtbtt  Elohim, 
<'  Gods  ")  "  appeared  unto  him."  These  passages,  regarded  in  their  connexion 
and  scope,  will  be  sufficient  to  prove  that  a  Trinity,  or  at  least  a  plurali^, 
of  persons  in  the  Deity  was  known  to  the  early  patriarchs,  and  probably  even 
firom  the  beginning.  The  opinions  formed  under  the  guidance  of  this  evidence 
are  greatly  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  important  information  was  communi- 
cated to  the  first  pair  immediately  after  the  Fall  respecting  the  incarnation 
and  redemption  through  a  Mediator :  and  throughout  all  ancient  idolatry  ire  find 
this  information  blended  with  ideas  of  a  Trinity,  forming  the  leading  elements 
of  every  system. 

It  is,  indeed,  "  generally  agreed  among  divines  that  Adam  in  the  state  of 
perfection  knew  Qtod  in  Trinity  and  Unity."— jDc  Gol's  Vindieatiim,  page  106. 
Epiphanius  is  most  positive  on  tMs  point ;  and  Jerome,  Justin,  Irenseus.  Tertnl- 
Han,  and  many  others,  entertained  and  defended  the  same  opinion.  It  therefore 
seems  reasonable  to  conclude,  that  some  knowledge  of  a  Trinity  was  oommuni- 
cated  to  the  early  patriarchs,  and  probably  to  Adam,  either  in  his  state  of  inno- 
oenee,  or  immediately  after  the  FalL 

I 

Note  3,  page  20. — The  Wortkip  of  Jfan. 

Few  perversions  ■  of  the  truth  by  the  corrupt  imagination  of  &llen  man  afe 
more  strange,  in  their  nature  and  results,  than  that  of  worshipping  some  of  his 
own  race.  That  an  intelligent  and  rational  creatune  should  ascribe  divine 
honour  and  power  to  one  of  the  same  species  seems  an  unaeoountable  folly.  Tet 
when  it  is  examined,  like  every  other  wicked  aberration  of  the  human  mind,  it 
is  found  to  arise  firom  a  perversion  of  truth.  The  revelations  of  Paradiae,  in 
their  use  or  abuse,  coloured  and  formed  the  religious  doctrines  of  mankind  in  aU 
aftcpages.  The  primitive  promise,  that  the  Seed  of  the  woman  should  broin 
the  head  of  the  serpent,  was  evidently  understood,  not  only  so  far  as  to  form  a 
solid  Ibundation  for  human  hope,  but  also  to  some  'extent  as  it  respected  the 
means  by  which  the  deliverance  was  to  be  effeoted.  On  one  psfticular  there  can  be 
no.  doubt,  namely,  that  the  promised  Redeemer  would  be  an  incarnation  of  Deity. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  such  an  idea  as  this  could  have  obtained  a  place 
in  the  human  mind,  had  it  not  been  revealed.  This  topic  has  not  received  the 
attention  which  it  merits.  An  incorporation  of  the  divine'  with  human  nature! 
AU  analogy  and  all  reason  are  against  it  Yet  we  find  this  notion  not  simply 
propounded  by  any  particular  class  of  philosophers,  but  generally  pervading  the 
heathen  wodd. 

It  is,  however,  the  manner  and  connexion  in  which  this  singular  sentiment  is 
found  among  all  heathen  nations  which  so  lucidly  indicates  its  origin.    In  a 


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APPXirDix.  529 

pmoeAng  Toltune,  tiie  principal  saored  penons  of  iieftihezi  mjihology  are  olearly 
identified  with  traditions  of  Paradise.  (Pfttriarohal  Age,  pp.  132,133.)  Bnt  if 
ApoUo,  Ghrishna,,  Herenles,  Orpheus,  Thor,  and  others,  derived  their  reli^pioas 
and  mythological  charaoter  from  oorrupted  private  tradition,  how  clelirly 
this  shows  that  we  hare  here  the  leading  idea  of  the  adoration  of  human 
natnre! 

In  all  these  instanoes  it  was  believed  that  a  union  of  the  divine  and  the  human 
natures  existed ;  a  union  the  most  intimate  and  natural  whioh  the  perverted 
reason  of  man  eould  comprehend.  On  this  basis  was  reared  every  kind  of  pio- 
fkne  presumption,  politioal  and  religious.  Alexander,  when  greatly  pressed  foot 
time,  thought  it  expedient  to  trayerse  Eg3rpt,  and  cross  the  desert,  in  order  to 
have  his  diTine  pateamity  attested  by  the  oracle, — ^believing  this  necessaiy  to  his 
success  7  while  to  this  day  the  head  of  the  Scythian  Ohurch  claims  the  chaoraoter 
of  God  incarnate.  Numerous  exan^les  of  a  similar  kind,  in  cTcry  age  and 
country,  might  be  adduced,  (Patriarchal  Age,  pp.  831-333,)  showing  that>  the 
original  and  ruling  idea  in  aU  this  assumption  was  the  promised  Incaznation. 
It  seemed,  indeed,  to  hare  been  an  admitted  fttct,  that  a  claim  to  the  diaraoler 
of  the  Incarnate  One  was  essential  alike  touniyersal  soTereignty  and  human 
adoration.  The  sovereigns  of  Babylon  united  both  these  claims,*  and  led  the  way 
in  this  career  of  insane  foUy  and  awftil  guilt  Hence  the  word  of  inspiration 
has  said,  "  Babylon  is  a  golden  cup.  The  Gentiles  haye  drunk  thereof.  Ilierefore 
are  the  GentileB  tnad.'' 

Nor  us  it  wonderful  that  such  notions  should  have  pervaded  the  heathen  world, 
when  we  find  the  expectation  of  the  Incarnation  so  strongly  asserted  by  our  fixet 
parents,  and  remember  that,  under  Satanie  influence,  almost  every  element  of 
primitire  fnth  was  perverted  in  heathen  idolatry. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  we  attach  sufiScient  impoitanee  to  the  perfect 
humanity  which  was  evinced  in  the  earliest  manifestations  of  the  Word  of  Ood. 
The  text,  (Gen.  iii,  8,)  *'  And  they  heard  the  Toioe  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  the 
garden,"  is  rendered  by  the  Targumists,  **They  heard  the  Ward  of  tke  Lord  Qod 
walking;'*  and  the  Jerusalem  Targum  paraphrases  the  beginning  of  the  next 
verse,  "Tft«  Ward  of  the  Lord  catted  unto  Mam."  The  Word  therefore  that  called, 
was  the  W-ord  or  Toice  that  walked.  Vox  enim  re$  eetittot  de  ^td  dicUur,  g%tdd 
ambtUaverit  in  horto.  Maim.,  Jlfor.  Nevoch.,  par.  1,  ^p.  24.  See  also  Tteror  Ham- 
mor,  sect.  Bereeh,  apud  Owen,  Exero.  x,  in  Heb.  vi,l.  The  gloss  of  this  last  work 
is  perftotly  unequivocal :  **  J%ey  heard  hie  voice  vfaUemg,"  Now  this  dearly 
shows  that  the  Divine  Word  came  to  the  first  pair  immediately  after  their  sin, 
possessing  the  attributes  of  Godhead  for  judgment  and  punishment,  and  at  the 
same  time  appearing  as  a  man.  So  A&Uy  was  this  the  caee  that  the  sound  of 
his  footsteps  first  terrified  the  culprits,  and  they  fled.  (Faber's  Eight  Dis., 
VOL  i,  p.  28.) 

Bve  mfide  a  singular  confession  of  her  expectatfon  of  this  Incamate.One,  when, 
on  the  birth  of  her  ilrst-bom,  she  exclaimed,  *<  I  have  gotten  that  man  whi^  Is 
Jehovah  the  Lord."  Gen.  iy,  1.  Here,  as  Dr.  lightfoot  observes,  *'  the  mother 
shows  her  apprehension  of  the  promise:  'For,'  said  she,  *l  have  obtained 
the  Lord  to  become  man.' " — Worke,  yoL  ii,  p.  12.  "And  it  is  yery  remark- 
able that  Adam  did  not  call  his  wife  Chavoy  or  Eve,  *the  Mother  of  all 
liying,'  till  after  he  had  receiyed  the  promise  of  the  Messiah.  Before,  he  called 
her  lecha,  'Woman ;'  but  when  God  had  assured  him  of  a  Bayionr,  a  Deliverer, 
then  he  oalhi  her  Eve,  or  *  Life ;'  for  so  the  LXX.  rendered  it :  Koi  kKdUaev  *A6dfi 
T^  bvofia  T7C  yvpoiKhf  aibrov,  Zufi.    And  why  so?   Why  mi(st  she  be  called  *  life ' 

34 


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530  APPSSDHL 

-wbo  WM  the  intarMluoer  of  ^oaih  ?"  Evidently  in  xeferenoe  to  the  (Seed  of  th* 
woman  who  should  give  life  to  the  world. 

Ab  the  Word  of  the  Lord  appe«red  in  Paradiee  as  a  man,  bo  he  oane  to  Abmr 
ham  as  a  man ;  eo  he  wrestled  with  Jaeob  as  a  man.  Upon  whieh  a  learned 
author  remarks :  '*  In  each  case,  we  may  oheerre  the  Angel  of  Jehorah,  appear- 
ing indeed  in  the  form  of  a  man,  but  yet,  though  he  in  nBually  epoken  of  as  §mi 
hy  Jehovah,  deolared  to  be  the  God  Jehovah  himm^.  By  vaj  of  cvtting  off  all 
oooaeion  of  dispute,  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  ^at  tiie  humAn  figure  whieh 
was  thus  exhibited,  was  no  mere  aerial  phantom,  hat  a  sabetaotial  body  pre- 
"dded  with  the  same  organs  that  our  bodies  are.  The  MMr-JsaoTAa,  who  eon- 
versed  with  Abraham,  suffered  his  feet  to  be  washed  by  that  patriaroh,  and 
literaUy  ate  of  the  butter,  and  the  milk,  and  the  ca&t  which  was  set  before 
<hi]ix,«-4he  Mam-Jirotah,  who  wrestled  with  Jacob,  was  pelpable  to  the  toooh."-^ 
Faber't  Eight  Dif.,  vol.  i,  p.  84.  It  was  under  the  inflaenee  of  su<^  fhets  that 
the  aneients  formed  their  ideas  of  the  ezpeoted  incamatioiL 

These  impressions,  which  were  perpetuated  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  at 
oaee  predisposed  men  to  aoknowledge  and  adore  deified  humanity,  and  afforded 
opportunity  for  presumptuous  and  ambitious  indiTidoals  to  elaim  this  divine 
eharaeter,  and  to  demand  this  adoration.  (De  Gol's  Yiadioation,  p.  108.) 

Note  4,  page  54. — The  Gtography  and  Population  of  Egypt. 

Of  all  the  eountries  whioh  have  obtained  poUtioal  power  and  importance, 
Bgypt  seems  the  most  peculiar  in  situation  and  geographiesi  outline.  Extend- 
ing southward  from  the  Mediterranean  where  the  Nile  fialls  into  the  sea,  follow- 
ing the  course  of  that  river,  Egypt  reaches  to  Philas,  in  the  Cataraoto  of  E'Soosn 
or  ^yene,  a  length  of  about  five  hundred  miles.  This  was  the  extent  of  the 
eountry  according  to  Strabo ;  and  it  has  the  advantage  ef  having  been  oraenlar^ 
decided  by  the  high*prieet  at  the  temple  of  Ammon.  (HeiwiotaB,  Eotecpe, 
eap.  IS.)  The  breadth  is  very  unequal.  At  the  oSast  what  may  be  propsi^y 
sailed  Egypt  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  wide;  but  this  part,  whieh 
Includes  the  Delta,  diminishes  in  breadth,  until,  reduced  to  the  Valley  of  the 
Jfile,  it  becomes  veiy  narrow.  Wilkinson  has  oompttted  Lower  Egypt,  inoludiBg 
•the  irrigated  land  on  each  a^icle  of  the  Delta,  as  containing  four  thousand  five 
hundred  square  miles,  although  the  whole  arable  land  of  Bgypt  Proper  does  ntt 
mudi  exceed  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  square  miles.  The 
Valley  of  the  Nile,  formed  by  a  narrow  slip  of  land  on  each  side  of  the  river, 
and  bounded  either  by  rooky  mounteins  or  sandy  deserts,  is  about  eight  er  ten 
-miles  in  average  width,  as  nearly  as  such  an  irregular  outline  can  be  nirtiwatrit' 
Besides  this,  there  are  many  spots  between  the  roeky  hills  suitable  for  ealtiiva- 
don,  which  would  greatly  add  to  the  capability  of  the  country  to  provide  for  a 
large  population,  esjpeeially  in  Upper  Egypt  The  Oases  have  also  been  aeme- 
times  included :  but  there  is  no  evidence  to  shew  that  theif  were  oconpied  by  the 
Egyptians  in  «neieBt  time. 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  complexion  of  the  popnlaticii.  They  weiu  ear- 
tainly  not  negroes,  although,  firom  the  proximity  of  Nnbia,  there  is  nodeeht 
that  intermarriages  frequent]^  took  plaoe  between  the  two  nations.  One  of  the 
early  sovereigns  of  Egypt,  Amenophis  L,  is  aoeompasded  on  the  aeulptures  with 
two  wives,  one  of  whom  is  always  represented  black.  If  the  skin  ef  the  muBuay 
.retains  ito  original  edour,  the  qnestaon  of  eemplezion  would  he  easily  aettied : 
bat  we  do  not  know  what  eftct  embalmiBg  and  the  lapse  of  centuries  have  had 


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APPENDIX.  631 

in  tUs  respeei.  It  is  a  singalar  ftct  that  on  the  exterior  caMs,  as  in  the  ancient 
paintings,  the  men  are  represented  of  a  red-brown  and  the  women  of  a  green- 
yellow.  Bnt  this,  as  Eenrick  obserres,  must  be  coiiTentional.  The  real  colour 
was  probably  brown  with  a  tinge  of  red. 

It  is  difficult  to>  speak  with  iuscuracy  as  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  who 
were  fonnd  in  Egypt,  since  it  is  not  always  possible  to  ascertain  whether  ancient 
writers  refer  to  Egypt  Proper,  or  to  the  entire  territory  which  at  the  time  was 
brought  under  sul^ection  to  the  Egyptian  government.  Theocritus  reckons  the 
number  of  Egyptian  towns  as  thirty-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine;  but  then  he  includes  in  his  calculation  Ethiopia,  Libya,  Syria,  Arabia, 
Pamphylia,  Cilicia,  Calra,  and  Lycia,  which  were  at  that  period  sulijject  to 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  Herodotus  gives  no  precise  information  on  the  sulject 
Diodorus  states  the  population  of  ancient  Egypt  to  hare  reached  seven  millions ; 
bnt  the  text  is  obscure,  as  it  is  doilbtfhl  whether  he  intended  to  say  that 
it  continued  so  large  to  his  own  time,  or  was  reduced  to  half  the  number. 
Josephus  reckoned  the  Valley  of  the  Nile  to  contain  seven  millions  in  the  time 
of  Vespasian,  besides  the  population  of  Alexandria,  which  would  make  three 
hundred  thousand  more.  Tacitus  informs  us  that  when  Germanicus  visited 
Egypt,  he  was  told  by  a  priest  at  Thebes,  that  this  city  formerly  contained 
within  its  walls  seven  hundred  thousand  fighting  men.  But  this  probably 
applied  to  the  whole  country,  and  the  passage  is  so  understood  by  Kenrick. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  population  of  Egypt  may  have  been  overrated 
on  aoooont  of  the  number  and  magnitude  of  the  public  works  which  were  exe- 
cuted in  this  country.  The  ability  to  construct  these  buildings  would  depend 
not  upon  the  number  of  men  in  the  country,  but  rather  upon  the  proportion  of 
time  which  each  individual  would  requirb  to  provide  for  his  own  subsistence 
and  that  of  his  family :  and  it  is  very  probable  that  the  necessary  provision  for 
individual  existence  could  be  procured  with  more  ease  in  Egypt  than  in  any 
country  of  the  ancient  worid.  Diodorus  says,  **  It  costs  not  a  parent,  to  bring  up 
a  child  to  man's  estate,  above  twenty  drachmas,"  which  sum  amounts  to  about 
twelve  shillings  and  sixpence.  Sonte  writers  have  supposed  that  Diodorus 
meant  the  annual  expense ;  but  even  then  the  necessaries  of  life  must  have  been 
exceedingly  cheap.  Probably  Egypt  in  her  greatest  glory  might  have  contained 
about  eight  millions. 

This  estimate  of  population  would  justify  the  apprehension  which  was  fblt 
from  the  rapid  increase  of  the  Israelites.  It  has  been  shown,  in  a  preceding 
volume,  that  the  Hebrews  at  the  Exodus  were  probably  far  above  three 
millions.  Such  a  number  of  persons,  rendered  enemies  by  oppression,  at  one 
extremity  of  a  kingdom  five  hundred  miles  long,  would  give  great  reason  for 
apprehension :  hence  the  bloody  measure  adopted  to  check  their  increase. 
(IModorus  Siculus,  lib.  i,  cap.  80 ;  Tacitus  Ann.,  lib.  ii,  cap.  60 ;  Kenrick's 
Andent  Egypt,  vol.  i,  chap,  viii;  Wilkinson,  vol.  i,  p.  217  ;  Hamilton's  ^gypti- 
aea ;  D'Anville's  Ancient  Geography,  &c.) 

NoTji  6,  page  67, ^The  Chronology  of  jincient  Egypt. 

It  is  not  intended  here  to  go  into  any  critical  analysis  of  those  pretensions  to 
remote  antiquity  which  appear  to  have  been  either  designedly  or  ignorantly 
made  by  the  Egyptian  priesthood,  and  which  have  been  urged  in  modem  times, 
as  placing  Egyptian  history  in  opposition  to  revealed  truth.  What  was  thought 
necessary  on  this  sul^ect  was  said  In  the  first  part  of  this  work.    (The  Patri- 


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532  APPENDIX. 

archal  Age.)  And  althougli,  since  the  publication  of  that  Tolume,  a  ooDtinental 
scholar  has  laboured  to  sustun  the  cause  of  Egyptian  antiquity  a|;Binst  the 
Bible,  it  is  belleyed  that  a  dispassionate  consideration  of  a  few  simple  fiusts  wiH 
be  sufficient  to  vindicate  revealed  truth.  When  it  is  considered  that  we  have  the 
works  of  no  Egyptian  author  preserved  to  our  day ;  that  the  fragments  of 
Mahetho  were  written  B.  C.  260 ;  that  the  dynasties  prior  to  the  eightemth 
are  in  some  instances  known  to  be  contemporaneous ;  that  even  in  respect  to  the 
eighteenth  dynasty,  the  best  Egyptian  scholars  are  disputing  as  to  it3  chrono- 
logical position,  differing  in  opinion  to  the  extent  of  two  or  three  oenturies ; 
and  that  the  first  event  in  Egyptian  history  which  certainly  synchronizes  with 
that  of  any  neighbouring  nation,  is  the  invasion  of-Judea  by  Shishak^B.  C.  974: 
— ^I  say,  when  all  these  admitted  &ct8  are  considered,  it  may  be  safely  asserted, 
that  no  reasonable  claim  can  be  raised,  from  such  materials  as  exist,  respecting 
early  Egyptian  history,  of  any  weight  against  the  explicit  testimony  of  Moses, 
even  if  we  receive  him  only  in  the  character  of  an  authentic  uninspired  histo- 
rian. If  Herodotus,  or  any  other  heathen  author,  had  given  the  world  sjb 
explicit  an  account  of  the  origin  of  nations,  and  fixed  as  accurately  the  genera- 
tion in  which  it  took  place,  as  Moses  has  done,  the  question  would  be  regarded 
as  settled :  but  the  pride  of  man  will  not  submit  to  the  teaching,  of  God.  If, 
however,  any.  further  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Mosaic  teaching  reapecting  this 
country  is  required,  it  may  be  found  in  the  remarkable  agreement  which  sub- 
sists between  it  and  the  history  of  Egypt,  when  the  latter  is  adjusted  on  sound 
chronological  principles. 

With  the  eighteenth  dynasty  we  enter  upon  the  most  flourishing  era  of 
Egyptian  greatness ;  and  at  the  invasion  of  Judea,  B.  C.  974,  we  have  a  sure 
test  of  Egyptian  chronology,  as  that  event  unquestionably  took  place  in  the 
eaarly  part  of  the  reign  of  Shishak.  Besides  tiiese  points,  the  expulsion  of  the 
{^hepherd-kings,  and  the  Exodus  of  the  Israelite^  must  be  recognised.  It  is  no 
more  possible  to  ignore  these  facts,  than  it  is  to  ignore  the  Boman  invasion  or 
the  Norman  conquest  of  Britain ;  and^  admitting  them,  they  must  more  or  less 
influence  any  arrangement  of  Egyptian  dynasties.  In  £Gu;t,  as  Mr.  Cory  says, 
**  the  great  problem  of  Egyptian  chronology  is,  to  find  the  position  of  the  eight- 
eenth dynasty.  But  in  doing  this,  any  attention  to  Holy  Scripture  is  constantly 
open  to  censure  as  unscientific  and  unphilosophical ;  although  it  cannot  be 
denied,  that  neither  Egypt  nor  any  other  ancient  nation  has  given  us  a  chro- 
nology so  consecutive,  intelligible,  and  authentic  as  the  Bible.  It  is  thus  that 
Eusebius  is  reflected  on  for  attempting  to  reduce  the  chronology  of  other  nations 
to  the  standard  of  the  Jews.'*  It  will  be  necessaiy  briefly  to  give  an  outline  of 
the  facts.  Manetho  was  high-priest  of  the  temple  of  Isis  at  Sebennytus  in 
Lower  Egypt  about  284  B.  C.  He  was  well  versed  in  Greek  learning,  and  cer- 
tainly had  access  to  all  the  literary  treasures  of  Egypt  then  extant^  He  wrote 
a  History  of  £!gypt  in  three  volumes,  in  each  of  which  he  gave  in  detail  the 
dynasties  of  the  kings  of  whom  the  history  treated.  The  work  itself  has  per- 
ished, but  the  lists  have  been  handed  down  to  us  in  a  tabular  form.  It  is 
uncertain  whether  Manetho  wrote  them  in  this  manner,  or  whether  they  were 
extracted  by  Christian  writers  from  the  body  of  the  work,  and  arranged  by 
them  in  their  present  form.  This  work,  by  Uie  confession  of  the  author,  was 
not  only  derived  partly  from  the  sacred  books,  but  also  in  part  frcm  popular 
tradition. 

The  first  Christian  author  who  treated  of  Manetho's  History  was  Julius,  & 
native  of  Africa,  bishop  of  Nicopolis,  commonly  called  Julius  Africanus.    He 


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APPENDIX.  688 

wrote  earlj  in  the  third  century,  and  Beema  to  have  aimed  at  exhibiting  the 
connexion  which  had  snbsisted  between  the  histoijies  of  the  Babylonians,  the 
Egyptians,  and  the  Jews.  His  works  are  also  lost,  except  a  few  fragments. 
About  one  hundred  years  later  Eusebius  followed  Africanus.  •  His  was  a  more 
oomprehensive  work,  although  similar  in  object  to  that  of  his  predecessior.  FlTe 
hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Eusebius,  George  the  Soyncellus,  a  Byzantine 
monk,  wrote  a  general  Chronology,  which  has  c6me  down  to  us  in  almost  a 
perfect  state.  '  This,  together  with  an  Armenian  copy  of  Eusebius,  is  the  only 
means  we  at  present  possess  of  examining  the  dynasties  of  Manetho.  Eusebius, 
as  bas  been  already  intimated,  has  been  censured  because  he  regarded  Scrip- 
tural chronology  as  a  standard,  and  endeayoured  to  bring  that  of  Egypt  into 
agreement  with  it :  and  it  has  been  alleged  that  **  this  could  be  effected  on  no 
sound  principles  ; — ^that  he  api>ear8  not  to  hafe  scrupled  at  arbitrary  and  even 
unfair  expedients  to  attain  this  end." — Kenrick*$  Andmt  Egypt,  vol.  ii,  p.  91. 
But  when  we  inquire  into  the  gravamen  of  this  heavy  charge,  it  is  found  to  be 
this : — ^Eusebius  regards  some  of  the  early  dynasties  as  reigning  contemporane- 
ously in  particular  nomes.  And  this,  we  9^  told,  is  of  **  no  authority,"  and 
countenanced  by  "  no  other  ancient  author."  {Ibid.^  pp.  96, 97.)  But  what  is  the 
fact  ?  In  1849  a  European  scholar,  writing  fh>m  Egypt,  and  Terifying  his  state- 
ments by  actual  inspection  of  the  monuments,  before  he  transmitted  them  to 
Europe,  ayers,  that  he  has  found  actual  proof  that  two  or  more  of  these  dynas- 
ties existed  at  the. same  time.  (R.  S.  Pole's  Hone  iEgyptiaciB.  See  Literary 
Gazette  for  1829,  p.  262.)  The  limits  of  this  note  do  not  admit  the  production 
of  this  proof  in  detail ;  but  it  is  amply  sufficient  to  justify  the  conduct  of 
Eusebius. 

For  the  purpose,  then,  of  testing  the  accuracy  of  this  author,  I  take  his  num- 
bers entire.  The  eighteenth  dynasty,  as  corrected  by  the  old  chronicle,  lasted 
three  hundred  and  forty-eight  years ;  and  in  the  chronicle  of  Eusebius,  after  the 
ninth  soTereign  there  is  a  note  to  this  effect:  "Under  him  Moses  led  the  Jews  in 
their  Exodus  from  Egypt"  *'  If,  then,  this  dynasty  were  arranged  on  this  prin- 
ciple, and  it  w«re  admitted  that  Amosis,  after  having  expelled  the  Shepherd- 
kinga,  reigned  twenty-five  years  before  the  oonunenoement  of  the  eighteenth 
dynasty,  the  eariy  chronology  of  Egypt  would  stand  as  follows : — 

B.O. 

Expulsion  of  Shepherd-kings  by  Amosis 1845 

He  reigned  afterward  twenty-five  years. 
ConmieneemaBt  of  eighteenth  dynasty  at  his  death *..  1820 

CoBtUiued  three  honcbred  and  forty-eight  years. 
Gommenoeaaent  of  nineteenth  dynasty ; 1472 

Lasted  one  hundred  and  eighty-aeven  years. 
Twentieth  dynasty  began 1285 

Buration  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  years. 
Twenty-first  dynasty  began 1107 

Continued  one  hundred  and  thirty  years. 
Twenty-second  dynasty  began  .....' 977  ' 

The  first  sovereign  of  this  dynasty  was  Sesonohis,— the  fibishak  of  Soriptnrs ; 
and,  a4Wording  to  this  scheme,  he  invaded  Judea  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign, 
B.  G.  974.  Besides  this,  other  important  requirements  are  net  by  this  acQuBt- 
ment  The  Amndelian  Marbles  state  the  fall  of  Troy  to  have  taken  place  B.  G. 
1184,  and  Pliny  asserts  that  a  Barneses  then  reigned  in  Egypt  Such  was  the 
fact  at  that  period,  according  to  the  preceding  reckoning.    The  Exodus  took 


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534  APPENDIX. 

place,  aocQrding  to  RoBsel  and  the  chronology  adopted  in  this  work,  K  C  1608 ; 
and  hy  the  above  plan  Achenchases,  the  son  of  Horus,  died  in  that  year.  Again: 
there  is  a  monumental  sculpture,  representing  the  Israelites  under  their  task- 
masters making  bricks,  in  the  reign  of  Thothmosis  HL  According  to  the  scheme 
I  have  adopted,  this  would  take  place  about  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  before 
the  £xodu8 :  and  as  the  Israelites  had  been  long  oppressed  before  the  birth  of 
Moses, — BO  long,  indeed,  that  it  became  evident  that  i^eir  numbers  rapidly 
increased,  notwithstanding  their  oppression,  and  the  savage  measure  of  destroy- 
ing Hie  male  infants  was  adopted  in  consequence, — and  the  Exodus  took  place 
in  the  eightieth  year  of  Moses,  this  is  also  a  corroborating  incident.  Further : 
the  date  of  Joseph's  going  down  into  Egypt  falls  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign 
of  Amosis,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Shepherds,  and  the  descent  of  Jacob,  three 
years  before  the  death  of  this' Pharaoh.  In  this  instance,  also,  the  Scriptural 
account  which  supposes  the  prince  who  made  Joseph  governor  to  be  the  same 
Who  received  his  patriarchal  father,  is  justified.  And,  lastly,  this  arrangement 
places  the  accession  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  only  two  years  later  than  the 
time  fixed  by  ChampoUion  Figeac  from  independent  astronomical  and  historical 
datot  which  date  is  also  supported  by  the  authority  of  Mr.  Osbum. 

It  would  display  a  childish  affectation  to  rest  upon  any  exactitude  of  date  to 
a  year  or  two  in  a  case  of  this  kind ;  but  confidence  may  certainly  be  challenged 
for  this  scheme,  on  the  ground  of  its  general  accordance  with  historical  and 
Scriptural  fact,  while  it  does  not  appear  to  be  open  to  any  serious  objection- 
Nor  is  it  unworthy  of  observation  that  other  schemes  of  chronological  arrange- 
ment either  altogether  overlook  the  date  of  the  Exodus,  or  place  it  in  dreum- 
stances  atlogether  irreconcilable  with  the  Scripture  narrative  and  with  the  fkcts 
of  the  ease.  (Eenrick's  Ancient  Egypt ;  Cory's  Chronological  Inquiry ;  Wilkin- 
son's Ancient  Egyptians ;  Hora  ^gyptiaosB ;  Literary  Gazette  for  1829 ;  Osbuxn's 
Ancient  Egypt,  and  his  Egypt :  her  Testimony  to  the  Truth.) 

NoCT  6,  page  56.^Tlu  Momtmenial  iVamei  ofKmgt, 

In  the  oldest  monuments,  as  those  of  the  Pyramids  and  tombs  of  Oizeh,  the 
names  of  Egyptian  kings  are  enclosed  in  oval  shields  or  rings,  and  each  king 
has  only  one.  The  characters  included  in  the  oval  «re  phonetic,  and  exprass 
the  name  of  the  king  as  it  was  then  pronounced.  In  later  times,  that  ia,  in  the 
eighteenth  and  succeeding  dynasties,  each  king  has  usoaJUy  two  such  ahields  or 
oval  rings.  Over  the  first  there  are  generally  delineated  the  figure  of  a  bee, 
and  a  branch  of  a  plant ;  over  the  second,  a  vulpanser,  and  the  disk  of  the  sun, 
which  are  read,  **  Son  of  the  Sun."  Where  two  shields  are  found,  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  the  second  contains  the  proper  name  of  the  prinoe  in  phonetic 
characters.  As  to  the  contents  of  the  first  of  these  rings,  there  has  been  some 
little  difference  of  opinion.  ChampoUion  conside^red  these  signs  as  symbolical 
titles ;  but  perhaps "Osburn  has  caught  the  correct  idea,  in  re^rding  them  as 
the  inaugural  and  distinctive  title  assumed  by  each  king  on  his  accession  to  the 
throne.  The  name  found  in  the  second  ring  is  that  which  correapoiidB  to  the 
lists  of  Manetho.  (Kenriok's  Andent  Egypt;  Oebani's  Egypt:  herTestiuciiy  to 
the  Truth.) 


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AFPunDix.  586' 

HoTB  7,  page  65.— 5tr  Gardiner  Wilkinton  on  the  Date  of  the  Exodus. 

NoHdng  BeeouBMre  •zftrAorduiwy  th«i  the  opimons  ezprnsed  by  tlpfl  learned 
Egyptologist  on  this  eulyeetb  He  laainiaine  that  t^  Exodus  took  plaoe  dvriiig 
the  xeign  of  ThothmoMS  UL^  although  he  ooafesieB  that  if  it  did,  it  must  ha^e 
been  in  the  oarij  part  of  his  reien.  Without  raising  any  question  as  to  the  date 
of  this  oTent,  irhie)i  of  itself  would  be  sufficient  to  refute  this  notion,  or  relto- 
ring  to  the  guieral  interpretation  of  Biblical  critics,  that  the  Pharaoh  who 
ruled  Egypt  at  die  time  of  the  Exodus  was  destroyed  with  his  army  in  the  Bed 
Sea,— which  will  by  most  persons  be  regarded  as  a  ftttal  olgeetion  to  this  learned 
writer's  theory, — ^I  rest  simply. on  the  undoubted  fact,  IJiat  the  deliTerance  of 
Israel,  and  the  consequent  plagues  of  Egypt,  arose  out  of  a  controTersy  which 
Jehovah  had  with  the  idolatry  of  Sgypt ;  and  that  the  resuH  was  a  great  pun- 
ishment of  that  psoud  and  wudced  kingdom.  This  was  notorious  for  ages,— wiu 
patent  to  the  world.  Hence  the  prophet^askad  so  confidently.  **Art  thou  not  he 
which  smote  Bahab,  and  wounded  the  dragon  ?"  Can  it,  then,  be  believed,  as  Sir 
J.  O.  Wilkinaon  teachesi  that  the  Exodus  occurred  just  as  Egypt  was  rising  to 
Its  greatest  i^oiy;  that  this  event  released  Egypt  from  inconvenienoe,  and 
fneiMaed  her  strength?  Sorely  this  is  impossible!  The  Exodus,  with  ita 
prworsory  jdagues,  must  hav«  been  a  fearful  infliction  on  tUs  land,  and  coiild 
not  h»ve  ooeoived  just  prior  to  a  series  of  unexampled  triumphs  and  national 


KoM  8,  page  70. — 7%e  Protideniieil  Preparation  for  the  ItradStkh  Invaeion  of 

Canaan, 

When  the  host  of  Israel  encamped  at  Kadesh-Bamea,  and  spies  were  sent  to 
asoertain  the  condition  of  the  people  occupying  the  land  of  Canaan,  their  fienced 
flities  and  martial  power  overwhelmed  the  Haeble  faith  of  the  Hebrews,  and  they 
said,  "We  were  in  our  own  sight  as  grasshoppers;  and  so  we  were  in  their 
sii^t."  Thus  the  purpose  of  Ckd,  that  th^  should  at  that  time' take  possession 
of  the  land,  was  frustrated*  and  the  conqnest  of  Canaan  delagred  more  than 
thirty-eight  years. 

To  insure  tiio  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  at  that  penod,  two  measures 
were  devised,  and  carried  into  execution,  both  displaying  marvellous  oondescen- 
sion  and  mercy.  In  order  to  teach  Israel  to  rely  more  ftilly  on  Jehovak,  and  to 
have  confidence  in  the  word  of  his  power,  they  were  led  through  the  vrildemess 
during  this  long  period,  and  had,  on  many  moat  oritioal  oocaaions,  to  obtain  de- 
liverance ttom  ruin  by  a  sole  and  simple  trust  in  the  promise  of  Ood.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  nations  of  Palestine,  so  proud  in  their  martial  glory,  wens  mX 
the  same  time  assailed  in  successive  campugns  by  Sethos  and  his  son  Barneses 
XL  with  all  the  military  force  of  Egypt;  so  that  many  of  their  strongest  fortresses 
were  destroyed,  and  their  military  power  greatly  diminished.  J^  these  means 
the  Lord  graciously  paved  the  way  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes, — ^the 
judicial  destruction  of  the  Canaanitish  nations,  and  the  establishment  of  Israel 
as  a  separate  and  independent  nation. 

Note  9,  page  7\.—The  Martial  Caretr  «f  Setoatrit, 

Mr.  Osbum— •  seholaar  whose  immense  learning,  especially  in  respect  of 
Egyptokgy,  coupled,  as  it  is,  with  a  deep  religious  reverence  for  Scripture 


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536  APPraDix. 

trath,  entitles  him  to  great  deference*  and  respect— has  kere  adraaeed  a  ; 
which,  after  the  most  careful  investigation,  appears  open  to  insnperabl^  olgeo^ 
tions  with  regard  to  his  Tiew  of  the  rovte  of  this  monarch,  and.  the  scene  of  his 
oonqnests.  Mr.  Osbnm,  guided  hj  his  reading^  of  the  hieroglyphic  soalpinies, 
supposes  the  Egyptian  army,  after  the  reduction  of  Punon,  to  go  northward  by 
the  Wady-el-Eraboii,  expelling  the  Arradites  and  Jebusites ;  and  that  they  then 
embarked  on  the  Bead  Sea,  probably  in  the  riiips  of  the  Arradites.  Having 
reached  the  southern  end  of  the  seCK  it  is  said,  **the  hieroglyphics  aeem  to 
indicate  that  the  march  of  ^sostris  lay  through  the  countries  of  the  JebuMtea 
and  Hittites.''  flavlng,  in  fact,  sailed  from  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  the 
north,  he  is  considered  to  have  made  a  double,  and  returned  southward  again  to 
Hadessah,  which  is  supposed  to  lie  near  Jerusalem.  This  city  he  captured ;  and 
the  conquest  is  spoken  of  as  the  moBt  glorious  event  of  the  war.  Having  effected 
this  object,  he  is  supposed  to  have  gone  north'  again,  to  embark  on  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  thus  to  return  to  Egypt  The  following  appear  to  be  serious  and  valid 
ol^jections  to  this  scheme : — ^1.  It  is  a  notorious  fact,  attested  not  only  by  all 
ancient  history,  but  also  by  reoent  Assyrian  discovery,  that  long  before  the  days 
of  Sesostris  the  kings  of  Egypt  had  ezten4ed  their  conquests  to  the  borders  of 
Assyria ;  and  that  Sesostris  is  both  by  Egyptian  monumenta  and  general  hiatDKy 
regarded  as  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  of  his  predecessors.  2.  The  Sham 
with  whom  Sesostris  fotight  the  great  battle  of  this  campaign,  and  whoee  anbjeo- 
tion  was  his  greatest  triumph,  are  always  on  the  monuments  associated  with 
Nahaiina,  or  Mesopotamia,  and  are  so  mentioned  on  the  Assyrian  Obelisk. 
S.  The  manner  in  which  both  the  monuments  and  the  Greek  writers  speak  of  the 
passage  of  Sesostris  tlurough  Canaan,  forbids  the  opinion  that  this  was  the  great 
scene  of  the  war.  On  the  monuments  the  king  is  described  as  forcing  his 
passage  through  the  country ;  and  Herodotus  speaks  of  it  as  if  he  molested  none 
but  those  who  opposed  him.  Mr.  Osbum,  also,  distinctly  says,  "  It  is  sufficiently 
apparent  that  nothing  of  great  importance  took  place  during  the  progress  of 
Sesostris  to  the  land  of  the  Shttin ;"  and  certainly  this  was  not  in  Palestine. 
4.  It  seems  altogether  incredible  that  the  Egyptian  king  should  find  a  fleet  able 
to  transport  his  amy  on  the  Dead  Sea.  Who  ever  heaj?d  of  ships  pn  that  sea? 
This  fleet,  too,  belonged  to  his  enemies,  who  are  supposed  in  each  instance  to 
have  made  a  peaoe  with  him,  just  exactly  in  time  to  place  their  fleet  ai  his 
disposal.  For  these  reasons  I  feel  compelled  to  differ  in  opinion  firom  such  an 
aocomplished  scholar  as  Mr.  Osbum,  and  to  lay  down  in  the  text  a  difierent  and, 
as  I  believe,  a  more  probable  route  ibr  this  conqueror.'  (Oebum's  Egypt:  her 
Testimony  to  the  Truth ;  Kenrick's  Egypt  under  the  Pharaohs,  vol.  ii,  pp.  2G0, 
278,  288 ;  Papers  by  Mr.  Birch  on  Egyptian  ObeliskSy  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Sodety  of  Literature,  New  Series.) 

NoTB  10,  page  TS^^Tht  CrueUy  exhibited  tn  Egyptian  Scu^prw-ai. 

The  importance  of  Egyptian  sculptures  to  any  extensive  acquaintanoe  with 

the  early  history  of  the  country  is  universally  acknowledged ;  but  it  is  not  so 

^generally  known  as  it  should  be  upon  what  principles  these  representations,  so 

far  as  relates  to  warlike  triumphs,  are  constructed,  nor  the  cruel  and  sanguinaiy 

spirit  which  pervades  them. 

The  walls  of  the  temples  and  palaces  which  are  covered  with  these  immense 
pictures  are  often  sixty  to  eighty  feet  high,  and  fix»m  six  hundi^  to  eight  hun> 
dred  feet  long.    A  general  rule  may  be  laid  down  In  respeet  of  those  which  refer 


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APPENDIX.  687 

to  military  aflfain.  The  first  soene  usually  depicted  is  the  battle  and  the  Ticioiy 
The  oonqaeror,  who  is  always  one  of  the  Phaxfohs,  is  represented  of  gigantic 
stature,  acoompanied  by  as  many  of  his  warriors  as  oan  be  introduced.  These 
an  pictured  as  slaughtering  multitudes  of  their  enemies,  trampling  upon  the 
iUlen,  driving  orer  heaps  of  slain,  taking  and  sacking  their  strong-holds,  and 
leading  off  male  and  female  captiTcs.  This  exhibition,  which  represents  slaught- 
ering rather  than  fighting,  is  sufficiently  coaarse  in  its  sanguinaiy  character. 

The  next  scene  is  the  repope  after  Tiotoiy.  The  conqneior  sits  in  his  chariot,  and 
calls  upon  his  troops  to  rejoice ;  while  the  prisoners  are  brought  bound  to  his 
fiset,  and  the  number  of  the  en^my  which  hare  been  slain  ere  estimated  by  the 
number  of  their  right  hands  whu^  haTC  been  cut  off,  brought  to  the  soTcreign, 
and  counted  over  in  his  presence. 

The  next  scene  is  laid  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  temple  where  the  picture  is  found. 
Here  the  conqueror  offen  to  the  gods  the  spoils  which  he  has  obtained, 
and  drags  to  their  feet  long  lines  of  captires.  These  are  represented  nearly 
naked,  tied  together  by  one  cord,  which  passes  round  the  necks  of  all  of  them. 
A»  if  this  did  not  inflict  sufficient  degradation  and  suffering,  their  anns  are 
bound  in  a  Tariety  of  ways,  all  calculated  to  produce  intense  agony.  In  fact, 
this  is  done  in  a  manner  which  plainly'denotes  an  intention  to  infliet  torture  ^-- 
•a  if,  says  a  learned  writer,  "  the  cries  of  the  wretohed  sufferers  fanned  an  im- 
portant accessory  to  the  diabolical  ceremony.'' 

Then  we  must  not  fqrget  the  oommen  pictorial  appendage  to  almost  erery  one 
of  these  representations,  and  which  may  be  regarded  as  t^e  title-page  or  table  of 
contents^-or  even  as  both  combined— of  the  entire  picture.  In  this  part,  one  er 
more  of  each  of  the  conquered  nations  or  tribes  is  placed  in  a  kneeling  posture 
in  a  circular  form,  as  if  tied  to  a  stake  in  the  centre ;  while  a  gigantic  figure 
of  the  king  gathers  a  portion  of  the  hair  of  each  into  his  left  hand,  and  destroys 
them  with  a  scipdtar  or  club,  which  he  brandishes  in  his  right  hand. 

The  atrocious  cruelty  thus  exhibited  is  magnified  by  other  representations. 
When  Sethos,  who  reigned  ^ext  after  the  Exodus,  is  represented  as  returning  to 
Egypt  ia  triumph  from  his  wars  in  Canaan,  he  is  seen  seated  in  his  chariot* 
leading  in  four  separate  cords  as  many  strings  of  captiTos  from  the  Tanquished 
tribto,  whose  arms  are  tied  into  forms  which  must  have  given  exquisite  torture. 
Two  of  them,  chiefs,  have  had  their  hands  cut  off;  while  three  heads,  reeking  in 
gDve,  are  suspended  about  the  chariot ;— a  rcTOesentation  by  no  means  nncom* 
men  in  the  sculptures  of  Egypt.  When  the  great  fiesostris  is  depicted  as 
returning  in  triumph  to  Egypt  from  his  wars,  not  only  is  he  accompanied  by 
tKe  usual  strings  of  captlTCS  bound  in  the  most  unmerciftil  manner,  but  three 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  Tanquished  tribes  are  represented  suspended  beneath  the  axle 
of  his  chariot,  in  a  posture  of  the  greatest  pain  and  utmost  degradation. 

It  is,  therefore,  oertun  that  the  art,  science,  philosophy,  and  religion  of  the 
Egyptians,  in  all  their  combined  influence  upon  their  great  monarchs,  failed  to 
inspire  eyen  common  humanity,  or  to  saTo  them  fr«m  the  most  enormous  and 
detestable  acts  of  cold-blooded  cruelty :  and  what  giTes  the  deepest  stain  to  their 
national  morals  is,  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  record  and  emblazon  this  diabol- 
ical torture  in  connexion  with  their  noblest  triumphs. 


Note  II,  page  l25,^Th€  Ful/Umint  oftacred  Prophecy  in  thi  Hiitory  of  Egypt. 

PnopmcT  L— The  first  of  these  wonderftil  manifestations  of  .the  divine  pre- 
sence respecting  this  nation,  taking  them  in  the  order  of  their  fulfilment,  was 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


538  APPBNDIX. 

the  interpretetion  given  by  <^0Mph  to  the  dreams  of  flianurii;  tram  whlah 
he  foretold  the  seTeii  years  ^f  plen^,  and  the  snheeqnent  sOTsn  yMsre  of 
fhmine.  Qen.  zH. 

These  predietiOBS  were  literally  Terified :  a&d  all  the  eKtraordiaaxy  operattons 
of  these  fourteen  years  mnst  have  made  known  to  thi  people  at  lavge  the  power 
of  Jehoyah,  and  have  chaDenged  the  recognition  of  ill  Egypt,  aa  a  standing 
proof  of  the  infinite  presoienoe  of  the  God  of  the  Helffews. 

PnoPHBOT  n  we  have  in  the  divine  deolaration  given  to  Abraham :  "  Know  of 
a  surety  that  thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  and  diall 
Merve  them;  and  they  shall  aflliot  them  four  hnndredyean;  and  also  that 
nation,  whom  they  shail  serve,  will  I  judge :  and  afterward  shall  they  oorae  <mt 
with  great  substance."  Gen.  zv,  13-16. 

The  long  and  painfVil  bondage  of  Israel,  and  their  trinmphant  Szodw,  won- 
derftdly  fulfilled  these  prophecies. 

Prophecy  III  refers  to  the  signal  defeat  ef  Pharaoh-neoho  at  Garvhemiah.  A 
more  spirited  and  graphic  picture  can  scarcely  be  found  than  that  whidli  ia 
given  by  Jeremiah  -  (chap,  zxvi,  1-12)  of  the  martial  parade  of  Egypt  in  this 
campaign,  and  of  its  total  ftdlure.  Our  sketch  of  Egyptian  history  shows  how 
exactly  this  ^prediction  came  to  pass. 

PaopHBOT  IT.— We  have  here  an  important  class  of  predlctionB,  which  fbretoM 
the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  Nebuchadneszar.  When  Jeremiah  was  fisrcibly  carried 
into  E^t  after  the  rebellious  Jews  had*  slain  Oedaliah,  the  word  of  the  Lord 
came  unto  him ;  and  having,  in  obedience  to  the  divine  commend,  hidden  great 
stones  in  the  approach  to  the  royal  residence  at  Tahpanhes  in  the  sight  of  ^e 
men  of  Judah,  he  said,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel; 
Behdld,  I  will  send  and  take  Nebuchadrezzar  the  King  of  Babylon,  my  servant» 
and  will  set  his  throne  upon  these  stones  that  f  have  hid;  and  he  shall  spread 
his  royal  pavilion  over  them."  Jer.  zliii,  10.  Again :  the  prophet,  having,  as 
above,  predicted  the  defeat  of  Pharaoh  at  Carohemish,  adds:  ** The  word  that 
the  Lord  spake  to  Jeremiah  the  prophet,  how  Nebtichadrezzar  King  of  Babylon 
should  come  and  smite  the  land  of  Egypt."  Chap,  zlvi,  18-16.  Esekiel  iterates 
the  same  predictions.  Far  away  in  the  east,  on  the  banks  of  the  Chebar,  he 
declared,  **  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  will  also  make  the  multitude  of  Egypt  to 
cease  by  the  handof  Nebuchadrezzar  King  of  Babylon.  He  and  his  people  with 
Mm,  the  terrible  of  the  nations^shall  be  brought  to  destroy  the  land."  Eiek. 
^zz,  10, 11.  The  same  prophet,  also,  by  divine  ooikimand,  announces  in  ezpress 
terms  ^e  singular  fkot,  that  the  spoil  of  the  land  should  recompense  the 
Babylonish  army  for  their  long  and  unproductive  siege  and  ruin  of  Tyre. 
Chap,  zxix,  18,  19. 

Of  the  manner  and  extent  in  which  these  prophecies  were  fUfilled,  we  have 
but  slender  information ;  but  the  fkct  is  unquestionable.  Berosus  declares  that 
Nebuchadrezzar,  as  soon  as  he  had  received  intelligence  of  his  other's  death, 
set  in  order  the  affairs  of  Egypt,  and  hastily  crossed  the  desert  to  Babylon ; 
(Cory's  Fragments,  p.  89 ;)  clearly  implying  that  Nebuchadnezzar  had  obtained 
the  government  of  that  country  prior  to  this  period.  Megaathenes,  also, 
expressly  affirms  that  this  Chaldean  warrior  conquered  the  greatest  part  of 
Africa ;  and  it  is  evident  that  no  conquests  could  at  that  time  have  been  made 
in  Aftioo,  ezcept  through  Egypt.  On  this  point  the  testimony  of  Josephus  is 
decisive.  He  says,  "Nebuchadnezzar,  having  subdued  Coele-Syria,  waged  war 
against  the  Ammonites  and  Moabites:  and,  having  conquered  then,  he 
invaded  Egypt,  slew  the  king  who  then  nigned,  and  appointed  another."— 


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APPBNDIX.  589 

7o9iphu^9  JntiqiiUUit  1)ook  x,  chap,  iz,  seo.  7.    Thus  were  theie  prophecies  also 
ftilfiUed. 

PitopHaoT  y  exhibits  seTeral  important  partioolars.  tsaiah  zlz.  First,  it  is 
foretold  that  greiit  and  ruinous  discords  and  dTil  dis^nsions  shall  arise. 
Secondly,  a  complete  conquest  of  the  country  is  predicted,  which  is  to  be  effected 
by  a  very  fierce  and  cruel  warrior,  who  should  be  peculiarly  seyere  against  the 
idols  of  Egypt  Thirdly,  an  extensire  introduction  and  establishment  of  tite 
worship  of  JehoTah  in  the  land  of  Egypt  are  set  fbrth.  See,  on  the  first  point, 
verse  2 :  ''And  I  will  set  the  Egyptians  against  the  Egyptians :  and  they  shall 
fight  every  one  against  his  brother,  and  eveiy  one  against  his  neighbour ;  city 
against  city,  and  kingdom  against  kingdom."  This  discord  was  uncommon  in 
Egypt.  Usually  they  were  a  united  people :  but  here,  not  only  was  it  predicted 
that  they  should  come  extensively  into  warlike  collision  with  each  other,  but, 
even  in  Egypt,  kingdom'  is  to  be  arrayed  against  kingdom.  Tet  this  description 
was  verified  to  the  letter,  under  the  twenty-«ixth  dynasty,  when  the  country 
was  parcelled  out  between  twelve  different  kings ;  and  again,  after  a  bloody  war, 
united  into  one  sovereignty.  The  chronological  relation  of  these  civil  Wars  Is  no 
less  remarkable  than  the  fact  of  their  existence.  This  dynasty,  in  precise  agree- 
ment with  the  prophecy,  is  followed  by  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses.  Of 
this  the  prophet  speaks  thus:  "And  the  Egyptians  will  I  give  over  into  the 
hand  of  a  cruel  lord ;  and  a  fierce  king  shall  rule  over  them.''  Isa.  xix,  4. 
This  was  abundantly  fulfilled  in  the  entire  success  and  atrocious  cruelties  of 
Cambyses.  But  this  conquest  was  predicted  to  stand  associated  With  a  terrible 
aggression  on  the  idols  of  Egypt :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God ;  I  will  also  destroy 
the  idols,  and  I  will  cause  their  images  to  cease  out  of  Noph."  Ezek.  xxx,  18.  Oinr 
history  of  the  Persian  invasion  has  shown  hoW  fiercely  Cambyses  carried  into 
effect  these  threatenings.  He  slew  Apis,  burnt  and  demolished  their  temples, 
and  to  a  great  extent  proscribed  the  religion  of  Egypt. 

Lastly,  these  predictions  speak  of  the  introduction  of  the  Hebrew  Tisll||^on  into 
Egypt  It  has  been  already  shown  that  this  actually  took  place.  ("Hebrew 
People,''  p.  4fi0.)  It  is  a  most  remarkable  fkct,  that  all  the  old  powerftil  mon- 
archies were  thus  placed  in  Immediate  proximity  with  revealed  truth  and  the 
pure  worship  of  Jehovah : — ^Babylon,  Persia,  and  Media  were  thus  fk^oured, 
through  the  deportation  of  the  Hebrews  into  these  eDuntri'es,^«nd  Egypt, 
through  the  permission  to  erect  a  temple  for  the  celebration  of  Hebrew  worship, 
and  through  the  authorized  transladon  and  circulation  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
the  Greek  language. 

pROPHzcT  VI  is  a  general  prediction,  wliich,  for  breadth  of  meaning  and 
extent  of  application,  has  but  few  parallels  even  in  sacred  prophecy.  Ezekiel 
declared,  "They  shall  be  there  a  base  kingdom.  It  shall  be  the  basest  of  the 
kingdoms ;  neither  shall  it  exalt  itself  any  more  above  the  nations :  for  I  will 
diminish  them,  that  they  shall  no  more  rule  over  the  nations.''  Ezek.  xxi±,  14, 15, 
Again  he  says,  "  I  will  make  her  rivers  dry,  and  sell  the  land  into  the  hand  of 
the  wicked :  and  I  will  make  the  land  waste,  and  all  that  is  therein,  by  the 
hand  of  stran^rs :  avd  thsrb  shaxi.  \b  ho  Mon  a  ikuxce  of  tbb  LAitn  of 
Egypt."  Chap,  xxx,  12, 18. 

How  wonderfdl  is  this  prophetic  revelatfon !  Egypt,  the  proud,  the  martial, 
the  wealthy  nation !  Egypt,  renowned  for  her  wisdom,  her  commerce,  her  legisla- 
tion I  Egypt  is  to  become  the  basest  of  nations, — ^is  to  exercise  no  longer  dominion ' 
over  other  nations :  and,  stranger  still,  there  is  no  longer  to  be  a  prince  of  the 
hind  of  Egypt  I  It  is  to  be  sold,  with  all  it  contains,  into  the  hand  of  Strangers. 


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640  APPENDIX. 

But  hoir  do  the  facts,  detailed  Yjy  authentic  histoiy,  and  which  even  at  this 
moment  exist,  agree  with  these  strange  prophecies  ?  The  only  reply  which  can 
be  given  to  this  inquiry  is,  The  aooordanoe  is  perfect 

These  rerelations  were  uttered  about  580  B.  C.  In  626  B.  t.  Cambyses  con- 
quered the  whole  country,  and  brought  it  into  entire  subjection  to  Persifk  Thus 
it  remained,  with  the  exception  of  some  brief  interrals,  in  which  an  effort  was 
made  to  recoTer  its  independenoe,  until  again  fiilly.  subjugated  by  Darina  Ochus. 
It  was  afterward  seized  by  Alexander,  and  continued  under  his  goTemment  until 
his  death,  when  it  passed  to  the  Ptolemies,— a  succession  of  Grecian  rulers.  The 
Romans  followed,  and  made  it  a  part  of  that  great  empire.  Thus  it  remained, 
until  a^bout  A.  D.  641,  when  it  was  subdued  by  the  Saracens.  It  -afterward 
passed  under  the  power  of  the  Mamelukes,  and  is  now  governed  by  t^  Turkish 
viceroy.  Here,  then,  is  the  fact,  that  a  countfy  possessing  the  finest  geograph- 
ical position  in  the  world,  has  for  the  last  2,200  years  been  in  uninterrupted 
sulyection  to  foreign  government,  and  that  government  frequently  conducted  by 
slaves,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Mamelukes,  and  administered  with  the  utmost 
tyranny  and  rapacity.  Thus  has  Sgypt  been  sold  to  strangers,  and  become 
the  basest  of  nations ;  nor,  during  this  lengthened  period,  has  a  really  native 
prince  filled  the  throne  of  Sgypt 

Our  limits  only  allow  the  citation  of  one  more  instance  :^ 

Pbopheot  VIL-^This  clsss  refers  to  the  total  ruin  and  desolation  of  the  land. 
Ezekiel,  speaking  in  the  name  of  the*  Lord,  said,  **  I  will  also  destroy  the  idols, 
and  I  will  cause  their  images  to  cease  out  of  Noph.  And  I  wiU  make  Pathros 
desolate,  and  will  set  fire  in  Zoan,  and  will  execute  judgments  in  No.  And  I 
will  pour  my  fury  upon  Sin,  the  strength  of  Bgypt ;  and  I  will  cut  off  the  mul- 
titude of  No.  And  I  will  set  fire  in  Egypt  Sin  shall  have  great  pain,  and  No 
shall  be  rent  asunder,  and  Noph  shall  have  distresses  diuly.  The  young  men  . 
of  Aven  "  (Heliopolis)  "  and  of  Pi-beseth  "  (Pelusium)  "  shall  fall  by  the  sword: 
and  these  cities  shall  go  into  captivity.  At  Tehaphnehes  also  the  day  shall  be 
darkened,  when  I  shall  break  there  the  yokes  of  Egypt  And  they  shall  know- 
that  I  am  the  Lord."  Ezek,  xxx,  13-19.  Again,  we  find  it  said,  **  The  waters 
shall  fail  from  the  sea,  and  the  rivers  shall  be  wasted  and  dried  up,  and  they 
shall  turn  the  rivers  far  away ;  and  the  brooks  of  defence  shall  be  emptied  and 
dried  up;  the  reeds  and  flags  shaM.  wither.  The  paper  reed  by  the  brooks,  by 
the  mouth  of  tiie  brooks,  and  everything  sown  by  the  brooks,  shall  wither,  be 
driven  away,  and  shall  not  be/'  Isaiah  xix,  5-7.  "I  will  make  the  rivers  dry; 
and  I  will  make  the  land  waste."  Ezek.  xxx,  12. 

In  this  summary  of  universal  ruin  and  desolation,  we  have  three  prominent 
particulars  set  forth : — 

1.  The  total  ruin  of  the  great  and  ancient  cities  of  Egypt  And  here  let  it  be 
observed  that  no  other  nation  ever  employed  such  a  massive  and  durable  style 
of  architecture  as  the  Egyptians  did.  Yet,  in  defiance  of  all  that  human  art  and 
energy  could  accomplish,  the  Scriptures  are  in  this  instance  fully  verified.  I 
cannot  do  better  than  give  the  following  passage  in  proof:  "  Though  Herodotus 
numbered  the  cities  of  Egypt  by  thousands,  yet  all  those  which  existed  in  the 
days  of  the  prophets  have  long  been  in  ruins.  Egypt,  of  old  exceedingly  rich 
and  populous,  is  now— except  where  sUU  partially  watered  by  the  Nile,  and 
cultivated— bare  and  depopulated.  Its  two  great  cities,  Cairo  and  Alexandria, 
.  are  bordered  by  the  desert.  And,  with  the  exception  of  Rosetta  and  Damietta, 
and  a  few  miserable  villages,  not  a  single  town  is  to  be  met  with,  in  traversing 
Lower  Egypt  fh>m  Alexandria  to  El-Ariah,  or  firom  one  extremity  to  the  other. 


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APPBKBIX.  641 

Thebes,  once  famed  for  its  hmidred  gates,  may  be  called,  from  tbe  magnificence 
of  its  remains,  *  The  Metropolis  of  Ruins.'  The  mummies  so  abundant  at  Mem- 
phis reuiaTn,  though  the  city  has  perished.  HeliopoUs  has  now  a  single  erect 
obelisk,  to  tell  that  the  mounds  around  it  were  once  the  City  of  the  Sun.  At 
Bubastis,  the  Pi-beseth  of  Scripture,  ai%  lofty  mounds  and  some  remains  of  the 
ancient  city  of  Pasht.  A  single  street,  with  its  central  square,  of  the  city  of 
Alexandria,  biiilt  after  the  era  of  the  prophets,  occupied  a  greater  space  than 
the  modem  city ;  while  a  small  fishing-Tillage,  built  of  mud  and  brick,  is  the 
only  representation  of  the  royal  ZoanI" — Dr.  Keith*i  Evidence  of  Prophecy, 
p.  378. 

2.  These  predictions  announce  a  great  alteration  In  the  geographical  confor> 
m&tion  of  the  country.  And  this,  too,  is  exactly  verified.  So  greatly  are  the 
extent  and  course,  even  of  branches  of  the  Nile,  altered,  that  an  ancient  bed 
now  dry  is  shown  at  a  distance  of  eighty  miles  fh>m  the  nearest  branohes  of 
that  riyer.  The  Pelusiac  branch  of  the  Nile,  once  so  famous,  is  now  choked  up. 
In  fatft,  to  a  great  extent,  "  the  land  is  waste,  and  eTerything  is  withered, 
where  the  riyers  have  been  turned  far  away,  and  the  brooks  are  emptied  and 
dried  up.'^' 

3.  It  is  predicted  that  these  changes  shall  haye  a  ruinous  effect  upon  seyeral 
articles  of  commerce,  and  especially  on  the  paper  reed.  This  is  most  precisely 
foilfilled.^  The  papynu,  which  for  centuries  afforded,  not  merely  the  best,  but 
almost  the  only  material  suitable  for  writing,  and  which  accordingly  constituted 
a  royal  monopoly  of  great  value,  has  become  utterly  useless.  So  minute  and 
exact  has  been  the  falfilment  of  the  diving  word  in  every  particular  respecting 
this  ancient  and  wonderful  country ! 

NOTB  12,  page  l2S»'^Vu  progre$$W€  Devtlopnunt  of  this  Idolatry, 

That  the  religion  of  Egypt,  while  it  remained  in  all  its  great  principles 
essentially  the  same,  was  marked  in  its  details  by  progressive  development,  is 
proved  by  a  careful  inquiry  into  any  part  of  this  remarkable  system. 

On  this  subject  Mr.  Kenrick  says :  **  Herodotus  observes  that  *  all  the  Egyp- 
dai^s  do  not  worship  the  same  gods  in  a  sinular  manner,  e^Lcept  Isis  and  Osmis, 
the  latter  of  whom  is  said  to  be  Dionusos ;  these  all  worship  in  a  similar  manner.' 
His  words  do  not  imply  that  then  Was* a  diversity  of  belief,  bul  of  worship, 
maaifestiiXg  itself  in  the  sacrifice  of  certain  animals  in  some  of  the  nomes,  which 
in  others  were  held  sacred  to  particular  gods,  and  therefore  never  used  for  vic- 
tims.^' The  learned  author  prbceeds  to  show  that  this  difference  did  not  arise, 
as  has  been  supposed,  fk>m  the  fact  that  Osiris  and  Isis  were  national  deities, 
and  others  merely  local  ones.  This  notion,  he  asserts,  *'is  not  warranted"  by 
the  words  of  the  father  of  history ;  but  that'  this  difference  of  worship  was 
rather  to  be  attributed  to  "  the  later  origin  of  tiie  OsiriAn  worship,  which  was 
diffused  ftrom  some  one  point,  with  a  rapid  development  and  a  uniform  system." 
—Egypt,  vol.  i,  p.  398. 

Another  evidence  of  this  development  is  found  in  the  introdudon  of  the  deity 
Serapis.  The  historical  account  of  this  event  states  that  the  first  Ptolemy 
brought  from  Slnope  in  Pontus  a  statue  of  Jupiter  IMs.  On  its  arrival  in  Egypt, 
the  famous  Manetho,  the  high-priest  of  Sebennytut,  not  Irishing  to  refuse  com- 
plianoe  with  the  king's  command;  nor  to  admit  a  foreign  deity  into  an  Egyptian 
temple,  pronounced  the  image  to  be  the  statue  of  Serapis.  It  seems  erident  from 
this,  that  Serapis' waft  a  deity*  previously  knota  in  Egypt.    But  as  it  is  not 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


542  APPSHDIZ. 

found  on  any  qionnment  of  the  er»  of  the  Fhanohs,  it  oovld  not  hare  been  an» 
of  the  gods  of  primitiTe  times. 

It  is  further  observable  that  this  Osirian  worship,  which  was  introduced  in  the 
medisBTal  period  of  Egyptian  history,  stood  intimately  connected  with  the  Syrian 
myth  of  Thammos  and  Adonis;  and  as  both  exhibit  the  same  "fdndamental 
idea  of  the  suffering,  dying,  and  resuscitated  god,''  It  becomes  a  question  whether 
we  are  to  regard  this  simply  as  a  result  of  primitive  tradition,  or  whether  the 
Ught  of  subsequent  reyelation  was  used  to  embody  a  more  perfect  exhibition  of 
suffering  divinity. 

However  this  may  be,  it  serves  to  show  the  development  of  this  idolatrous 
system.  This  is  Airther  seen  in  the  following  extract  fhnn  a  letter,  which  was 
some  time  since  placed  in  my  hands,  by  a  learned,  talented,  and  pious  lady,  long 
resident  in  £gypt,  She  says :  '*  Among  the  tombs  we  entered  belonging  to  the 
early  pyramidal  group,  although  curious  and  diligent  in  search,  we  could  not 
find  an  instfuioe  of  idolatrous  worship ;  not  even  an  image  of  Ptha  or  Vulcan, 
nor  of  Apis,  nor  of  Lhem,  nor  any  of  the  primitive  gods  of  the  Egyptians. 
Amun  or  the  Bam,  Thoth  or  the  Ibis,  were  not  to  be  found ;  neither  Mnevis  or 
the  Calf,  nor  Athor  or  the  Cow.  No  form  or  similitude  occurred  to  indicate  that 
they  were  deified.  In  fact  no  oljciCt  met  our  ^ye  that  could  in  the  slightest  way 
offend  against  the  second  commandment, — ^much  less  those  compound  bestial 
forms  which  so  deform  the  temples  and  tombs  of  the  later  dynasties  in  Upper 
Egypt.  The  multiplied  trinities  of  Egypt  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  sepulchres 
of  the  earliest  race  of  the  Phsx aohs.  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horus,  with  the  rest  of  the 
vast  hierarchy  subsequently  worshipped  by  this  wisest  of  nations,  were  no- 
where to  be  seen.  We  carefully  sought  for  some  clew  to  identify  the  worship  of 
the  eighteenth,  nineteenth,  and  subsequent  dynasties  with  the  era  of  the  pyra- 
mids, but  found  none." 

It  seems  therefore  certain  that  the  pemidoua  errors  which  the  apostasy  at 
Shinar  engendered,  and  shed  forth  to  poison  the  nations,  were  not  Ibr  a  very 
oonaidsarable  time  so  fully  carried  out  to  their  final  consequences  as  to  pande  a 
risible  and  tangible  idolatry  before  the  eyes  .of  the  Egyptian  public. 

NoTB  13,  page  129. — The  Changes  made  in  the  Egyptian  TWoiL 

In  no  instance  are  identity  of  principle,  and  external  titular  change  .and 
expansion,  more  observable  than  in  the  multiplicity  of  the  J^gyptian  triads.  On 
this  point  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  Mr.  Osbum :  "  The  primary  form,  or 
antitype,  of  the  entire  mythology,  is  a  triad  of  divinities  composed  of  Aicouir 
the  father,  MouT  the  mother,  and  Chons  the  infant  son.  This  triad  passes 
through  an  immense  number  of  intermediate  triads,  until  it  reaches  the  earth, 
where,  under  the  forms  of  Qsiris,  Isis,  and  Horus,  it  bec<mies  incarnate.  But  a 
curious  derice  exhibits  the  unity  and  identity  of  the  wl^ole  of  this  circle  of 
monadic  triads.  Horus,  the  lowest  link,  returns  upward  under  a  new  emana- 
tion, Amoun  Hor,  and  assumes  the  Amonian  title,  husband  of  his  moth^*.  Isis 
is  blended  with  Mout,  and  their  son  MalouU  is  invested  with  the  attributes  of 
Chons,  the  infant  son  in  the  first  triad. 

"  The  triads  intermediate  to  tM^w  t^wo  extremes  presided  over,  and  were  wor- 
shipped in,  the  several  noi^^  or  provinces,  into  which  Egypt  was  ancientiy 
dirided.  Sevek-rorHaihor^  the  Egyptian  Venus,  and  Chons-Hor  fonn  the  triple 
dirinity  of  the  Ombitic  nome.  That  of  the  nome  of  Edfou,  or  Apollinopolis,  was 
Har-hat,  (the  thrice  great  Hermes,)  Hathor,  and  Harsout-tho  (Horus  the  sua- 


L 


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APPBHPIX.  648 

taaaer  of  tlie  irorUL)  The  triad  adoced  at  Sane  iraa  Enepli,  Neitli,  and  the  young 
god  Hake,  mder  the  form  of  an  inCEu&t ;  at  Hennonthia,  aa  Mouthou,  Ritko,  and 
Ilari)^ ;  while  at  Thebea,  the  eodesiaatical  capital  of  Egypt,  the  deity  mani- 
fested himself  under  his  primary  and  proper  form  of  Amon-ra,  Neith,  and  Chona. 
Thus  each  of  the  nomes  into  which  £gypt  was  divided  had  its  own  religion/'  and 
exhibited  a  separate  triad  under  different  names,  and,  in  some  instances,  with 
different  attribatea.  And  thus  we  have  before  us  a  proof,  that  the  essential 
principle  of  the  system  was  inyariably  maintained,  while  in  names  and  details 
changes  and  adaptationa  to  eiroumstanoes  are  oonatantly  found.  (Antiquities  of 
Sgyp^  PP^  136»  137.) 

Nora  14,  page  148.— GIom  tpU  a*  an  ArXkU  of  2Wfruteyrom  J2«fyria  omi  Bab^hm 

toEgypL 

Tlie  ftust  mentioned  in  the  text  was  regarded  by  the  learned  translator  as  so 
strange  and  improbable,  that  he  marked  the  term  *'  glass  "  with  a  note  of  inter- 
rogation between  brackets  [?]  to  indieate  his*  doubt  of  its  aocuraoy. 

Subsequent  disooTeries  have  done  much  to  remoTe  this  apparent  improba- 
bility. At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  AdTancemont 
of  Science,  Si'r  David  Brewster  said,  **  he  had  to  bring  befbre  the  seetion  an 
object  of  so  increcBble  a  nature;  that  nothing  short  of  the  strongest  evidenoe  waa 
necessary  to  render  the  statement  at  all  probable  :^t  was  no  less  than  the  findr 
ing  in  the  treasure-house  at  Nineveh  of  a  rock  crywtal  2«rw,  where  it  had  ftr 
centuries  lain  entombed  in  the  ruins  of  that  once  magnificent  cAty,"  After 
giving  the  exact  size  of  this  curious  article,  and  describing  its  state,  Sir  David 
ooncluded  by  expressing  his  opinion  that  this  should  **  not  be  looked  on  as  an 
ornament,  but  a  true  optical  lens." 

ffir  David  then  proceeded  to  exhibit  some  specimens  of  decomposed  olasb  found 
in  the  same  ruins,  and  expressed  himself  as  prepared  to  describe  the  process  of 
decomposition ;  he  having  directed  his  attention  to  the  subject  some  years  ago, 
on  the  occsjBion  of  haring  found  a  piece  of  decomposed  glass  at  St  Leonard's. 
Thus  the  fact  of  the  manufacture  and  use  of  glass  by  the  ancient  Assyrians  is 
clearly  established. 

No^  16,  page  149.— 7%c  Jtrmy  $$nt/rom  Msyria,  under  thi  Command  of  Memnont 
to  ouiMt  Priam  during  the  Trojan  War, 

This  statement  has  afforded  matter  for  much  cavil  and  disputation,  aliboo^ 
H  appears  to  be  sustained  by  as  ample  an  amount  of  evidenoe  aa  can  be  expeoted 
to  be  adduoed  in  respect  of  an  era  of  snob  remote  antiqaity,  and  in  connexion 
with  events  which,  on  the  whole,  rest  on  a  veiy  slender  historical  basis. 

It  may  firat  be  noted,  tiiat  Herodotus  states  that  the  reaaon  why  the  Trqjan 
war  was  regarded  as  an  aggression  on  the  rulers  of  Asia  was,  because  the  whole 
of  Asia  waa  considered  as  one  country,  while  Greece  and  every  other  part  of 
Bni«pe  were  regarded  as  entirely  separate  and  unoonneoted  with  it.  (CUo, 
cap.  4.)  This  statement,  coming  from  such  an  authority,  renders  the  aUegati^n, 
that  llemnon  waa  sent  by  the  Assyrian  Court  with  aa  army  to  aid  Priam,  much 
less  improbable  than  it  would  otherwise  appear  to  be. 

But,  on  the  other  side  of  the  argument,  great  strasa  has  been  laid  on  the  silanoe 
of  Homer,  who,  in  his  enumeration  of  the  Tnjaii  forces  and  their  allies,  makes 
no  mention  of  Memnon,  or  his  Assyrian  oontingenl  It  doM  not,  however,  seem 
reasonable  to  construe  this  omission,  in  a<oatalogne  made  at  a  certain  period 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


544  APPEKDIX. 

of  the  war,  into  an  argument  of  snfficient  Weight  to  rebat  a  poritlve  Btaiement 
avowedly  copied  by  Ctesias  flrom  the  national  records ;  especially  as  Homer  in  the 
Odyssey  not  only  mentions  tiie  presence  of  Memnon  in  the  war,  hut  says  that  he 
icilled  Anlilochns,  the  son  of  Nestor.  (Odyssey,  iv,  260.) 

This,  howcTer,  is  not  the  only  eTidehce  to  the  tmth  of  this  statement.  Pblyg- 
notns,  who  flourished  as  a  first-rate  painter  in  Greece,  ahont  440  R  C,  depicted, 
on  the  walls  of  the  Hall  of  Strangers  at  Delphi,  the  oaptnre  of  Troy.  In  this 
great  work  of  art,  with  most  of  the  heroes  of  the  TrojaA  war,  we  find  Memn<»i, 
who  is  painted  with  his  hand  resting  on  the  shoulder  of  Sarpedon,  another  emi- 
nent ally  of  Priam.  Near  Memnon  was  delineated  an  Ethiopian  boy,  becavae  all 
tradition  represents  Memnon  as  an  Ethiopian.  Paiuuinias  reconciles  the  tra- 
dition with  the  statement  of  Ctesias,  by  saying  that,  although  an  Bthiopian  by 
descent,  Memnon  did  not  go  to  Troy  ftrom  Ethiopia,  but  fh>m  Susa  in  Persiai 
And,  to  complete  the  chain  of  eTidence,  Diodorus  Siculus  fully  adopts  the  state- 
ment of  Cteaias,  and  asserts  that  Memnon  was  sent  on  that  serrice  by  Teutames, 
King  of  Assyria  j  and  that  he  was  the  son  of  Tithon,  QoTemor  of  Persia,  and 
marched  firom  Suslana,  his  father's  proYinoe,  with  ten  thousand  Ethiopians,  as 
many  Persians,,  and  two  hundred  chariots. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  reception  of  this  account  has  arisen  from 
the  confounding  of  this  Memnon  with  the  eminent  man  of  that  name  who  erected 
eeyeral  palaces,  called  itf«mm>nta,  at  Thebes,  Abydos,  &c,  and  whose  statue  is  at 
present  in  the  British  Museum.  If,  however,  the  plausible  ooigecture  of  Jackson 
be  admitted,  namely,  that  the  great  Memnon  was  ancestor  of  Tithonua, — prefect 
of  Persia  under  Teutames, — who  named  his  son  after  his  eminent  progenitor, 
the  whole  entangled  mass  of  tradition  is  unravelled,  and  all  cause  for  scepticism 
appears  to  be  removed.  (Russel's  Connexion,  voL  ii,  p.  536 ;  Jackson's  Antiqui- 
ties, voL  i,  p.  252,  note ;  Pausamas,  Phods,  cap.  xxxi. ;  Diodoryis  Siculus,  liU  ii, 
oap.  2.) 


N<yrE  16,  page  150. — The  remarkable  Meant  by  which  the  Reading  of  ancient  j 
mental  Inecriptiont  hat  been  recovered. 

The  statement  in  the  text,  that,  to  this  extent  at  least,  the  magnitude  of  the 
curse  of  Babel  has  wrought  its  cure,  is  fully  borne  out.  It  may  be  necessary  to 
inform  some  readers  how  this  has  been  effected.  The  knowledge  of  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  Egypt  which  we  now  possess  is  mainly  attributable  to  the  famous 
Rosetta  Stone.  This  is  a  block  of  dark^xiloured  granite,  which  was  found  in 
Egypt  by  the  tavant  who  accompanied  Napoleon  in  his  great  expedition  to  that 
country.  Perceiving  that  ii  contained  an  hieroglyphic  inscription,  together  with 
another  in  the  Egyptian  enchoral  character,  and  a  third  in  Greek,  they  attached 
great  importance  to  the  acquisition,  and  proposed  to  send  it  to  France.  Mean- 
time, however,  the  victory  of  the  Nile,  and  the  surrender  of  Alexandria  to  tha 
British  army,  placed  this  precious  relic  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  author 
of  the  JEgyptiaca,  by  whom  it  was  sent  tO'England  ;  and  thus  this  curious  block 
of  granite  was  transferred  to  the  British  Museum. 

It  immediately  attracted  attention ;  and,  on  the  obvious  principle  of  proceed- 
ing ftt)m  the  known  to  the  unknown,  the  Greek  inscription  was  trandated, 
when,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  translator,  the  last  clause  was  fbund  to  run 
thug :  "This  decree  shall  be  Inscribed  on  a  tablet  of  hard  stone,  m  the  tatr^d, 
the  vernacular,  and  in  the  Greek  eharaeUr,"  It  was  thus  made  known,  that  theee 
three  inscriptions  contained  the  same  subject-matter :   and  Aram  this  hint  the 


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APPBN&IX.  645 

penerenaoe  aad  takat  of  Dr.  Y^oiig  and  others  elicited  a  key  to  the  hiero- 
glyi^oal  records  of  Egypt. 

The  seme  thing  sabsta&tiAUy  took  pUwe  vith  respeet  to  the  numuments  of 
Assyria.  They  were  found  to  be  almost  always  trilingnal  and  triliteral :  that  is, 
they  were  on  the  same  monnment  engrayed  in  three  different  hmguages,  each 
language  having  .its  own  peenliar  alphabet  The  object  of  this  was;  of  course,  to 
make  the  inscription  intelligible  to  the  indiriduals  of  different  races,  to  whom 
these  seyeral  alphabets  and  languages  were  familiar.  Just  as,  in  the  present 
day*  adyertisements,  and  even  the  names  of  streets,  in  the  city  of  Brussels,  are 
posted  or  painted  in  French  and  Dutch ;  and  just  as  now  a  goyemor  of  Bagdad 
would  haye  to  publish  a  proclamation  in  Persian,  Turkish,  and  Arabic ;  so,  in  the 
days  of  Cyrus  and  Darius,  the  same  course  was  pursued.  And  as  t&e  Qreek 
translation  on  the  Rosetta  Stone,  by  giving  a  known  exponent  Of  eveiy  hiero- 
glyphic which  it  contained^  led  to  the  decipherment  of  these  obscure  symbols ;  so 
the  Persian  text  of  these  trilingual  inscriptions  has  enabled  genius  and  ihdustiy 
to  obtain  a  tolerable  aoquaintance  with  the  recondite  matter  yeiled  under  the  pre- 
Tiously  unknown  arrow-headed,  or  cunneiform  characters  of  ancient  Assyria. 
Thus  the  extensiye  multiplication  of  languages  lias  aJfbrded  means  of  deciph'ttv 
.  ing  unknown  inscriptions,  whic^  Could  not  have  been  obtained,  had  this  yanety 
of  language  been  less  abundantly  diffused. 

Nora  17,  page  l60.-^T%i  peeuUar  DiffieuUy  of  identifying  Auyrian  proper  Namt%. 

No  portion  of  the  vast  range  of  inquiry  opened  up  to  us  by  the  discoyery  of  the 
ancient  Assyrian  sculptures  is  more  interesting  than  the  attempt  to  identify 
these  exhumed  reyelations  with  persons  and  things  preriously  known  to  us 
through  the  medium  of  sacred  or  profane  history.  The  temptation  is,  indeed, 
almost  irresistible  to  endeavour  to  fix  on  certain  portions  of  personal  or  national 
history  from  the  monuments,  and  to  regard  these  as  identical  with  the  sovereigns 
spoken  of  in  Scripture,  or  mentioned  by  ancient  historiana  But  perhaps  nothing 
is  more  detrimental  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  sound  learning  than  a  hasty  yield- 
ing to  this  impulse.  -  It  is  su£Scient  to  deter  any  f^om  this  course,  to  know  that 
Mr.  Rawlinson,  after  a  most*  elaborate  and  suocessftil  investigation  of  th6  subject, 
confidenUy  asserts,  that  "beyond,  however,  a  mere 'string  of  titles  difficult  to 
understand,  and  possessing  probably,  if  understood,  but  little  interest,  we  know 
nothing  of  those  kings  forming  the  early  Assyrian  succession  but  the  names." 
This  is  sufficiently  discouraging,  but  is  rendered  much  more'so  by  what  fellows': 
"  When  I  say,  too,  that  we  know  the  names,  I  merely  mean  that  suofa  names  are 
recognisable  wherever  they  occur :  their  definite  phonetic  rendering  or  pronund- 
ation  is  a  matter  of  exceeding  difficulty,  hay,  as  I  think,  of  impossibility ;  for, 
strange  as  it  may  appear,  I  am  convinced  that  the  early  Assyrians 'did  not  dis- 
tinguish their  proper  names  by  the  toumd^  but  by  the  Hin$e;  and  that  it  was  thus 
allowable,  in  alluding  to  a  king  by  name,  to  employ  synonymes  to  any  extent, 
whether  those  synonymes  Were  terms  indifferently  employed  to  denote  the  same 
deity,  or  whether  they  were  different  words  used  to  express  the  same  idea." 

In  all  probability,  we  have  an  instance  of  this  in  the  alteration  of  the  names  of 
Daniel  and  his  three  companions.  The  new  appellations  stated  to  have  been 
given  to  these  four  persons,  seem  to  convey  essentially  the  same  sense  as  their 
proper  names,  having  in  every  instance  the  title  of  a  Babylonish  deity,  instead 
of  ^e  Hebrew  word  used  to  designate  God,  combined  with  some  other  terms  which 
appear  to  express  a  similar  sense  to  the  parallel  words  in  the  original  names/ 

85 


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546  APP8NIIX. 

In  iBuch  drcvmetaaees^  Bothtng  but  dettr  and  iiiTiiicitlie  ^vidnoe  wiU  inMf 
any  identification  of  the  names  of  the  monnments  with  doripiuxld  or  histotiaal 
kings.  (Rawlinson  On  the  Instripiiofns  of  Assyxi*  and  Bal^7iaBla»  in  19m  Journal 
of  the  Royal  Asiatie  Society,  ToL  zii) 

Note  18,  page  150. — The  proper  ehnmoiogieal  Sueetmon  <f  tiu  Meigna  eskibUai 
in  the  jSeeyrian  Scu^tur$$. 

In  making  the  statement  in  the  tezt^  confirming  the  superior  antiquity  of  the 
Nimmd  sculptures,  I  am  aware  that  I  place  myself  in  opposition  to  the  opinions 
which  Mr.  Bonomi  has  adyanoed  in  a  learned  and  yeiy  useful  work  on  the  same 
sulject.  1  do.  so  adyisedly,  beliaying  that  he  has  reasoned  from  false  premisea 
in  tiie  argument  to  which  I  refer.  (Nineyeh  and  its  Palaces,  pp.  d02-S04w)  The 
most  weighty  of  the  arguments  adyancedin  his  work  for  the  superior  antiquity 
.of  ^horsabad,  are  based  upon  the  general  idea,  that  the  arts  of  social  life,  delinea- 
tion, sculpture,  &c.,  were  roug^,  and  coarse,  and  rude,  in  the  early  portions  of 
history ;  but  that  they  gradually  adyanced  here,  as  iheydld  in  Rome  andOreeoe, 
until  they  attained  perfection.  I  regard  this  notion  as  altogether  faUadous.  1 
am  of  opinion  that  tne  earliest  ages  of  the  really  primitiye  nations  (that  is,  thooe 
founded  soon  after  the  Dispersion,  and  whose  founders  had  not  sunk  into  barbar- 
ism by  a  long  course  of  wandering  and  unsettled  life)  will  be  inyariably  found 
highly  cultiyated.  It  was  so  in  £gypt  and  Assyria :  and  this  faxst  is  in  striking 
accordance  with  Boripture. 

In  a  question  of  this  kind,  howeyer,  I  would  not  rely  (xh  any  general  indno- 
tion — ^muoh  Ipss  on  a  mere  opinion  of  my  own.  I  cite  in  proof  of  my  yiews  the 
following  judgment  of  a  competent  authority,  Br.  Layard.:  "  It  is  impossible  to 
examine  the  monuments  of  Assyria  without  being  conyinced,  that  the  people  who 
raised  theni  had  acquired  a  skill  in  sculpture  and  painting,  and  a  knowledge  of 
d^gn  and  even  composition,  indicating  an  adyanced  state  of  ciyilization.  It  it 
very  remarkqbUy  thai  the  mott  ancient  ruins  thow  thit  knowledge  in  the  ^reatett  per- 
festion  attained  by  the  Mtyriane.  The  bas-relief  representing  the  lion-bunt,  now 
in  the  British  Museum,  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  earliest  sdiool  of  Assyrian 
art  yet  known.  It  far  exoeeds  the  sculptures  of  Khorsabad  and  Kouyuigik.  or 
the  later  palaces  of  Nimroud,  in  the  yigour  of  the  treatment,  the  elegance  of  the 
forms,  and  in  what  the  French  aptly  term  mouvemenL  At  the  same  time  it  is 
eminently  distinguished  fh)m  them  by  the  eyident  attempt  at  composition — by 
the  artisUcal  arrangement  of  the  groups.  The  sculptors  who  worked  at  Khorsabad 
and  Kouyunjik  had  perhaps  acquired  more  skill  in  handling  their  tools.  Their 
work  is. frequently  superior  to  that  of  the  earlier  artists  in  delicacy  of  execution — 
in  the  details  of  the  figures,  for  instance — ^and  in  the  boldness  of  the  reUef ;  but 
the  slightest  acquaintance  with  Assyrian  monuments  will  show,  that  they  were 
greatly  inferior  to  their  ancestors  in  the  higher  branches  of  art,  in  the  treatment 
of  a  Bubj.ect,  and  in  beauty  and  yariety  of  form.  This  decline  of  art,  after  sud- 
denly attaining  its  greatest  perfection  in  its  earliest  stage.  Is  a  fact  presented  by 
almost  eyery  people,  ancient  and  modem,  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  In 
Egypt  the  most  ancient  monuments  display  the  purest  forms»  aj^d  the  most  ele- 
gant decorations.  A  rapid  retrogression,  after  a  certain  period,  is  apparent; 
«nd  t^  state  of  art  seryes  to  indicate  approximately  the  epoch  of  most  of  her 
remains.''— Amcveft  and  iu  Remaintf  yoL  ii,  pp.  280,  281. 


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APPENDIX.  647 


Hon  19,  page  162. — J%e  chronohgical  PotUion  of  the  hwer  Liiu  of  JhtyHem 
Kingt,  and  their  Relation  to  tAe  Median  RevoU. 

ISM  only  aathoritj  worlhy  of  velianoe  irho  haa  fhraisKed  ti8  inHfk  a  Hat  of 
AflBjTian  kings  is  Ctosias,  who,  whaierer  be  his  defects  as  an  author,  in  this 
instance  merely  acted  as  a  transcriber  of  pnblio  records  which  were  ftillj  open 
to  his  inTeetigation.  His  list  has  been  adopted  in  this  work,  and  it  terminates 
with  Thonos  Ooncoletos,  who  ceased  to  r^gn  B.  0.  821. 

Besides  this  line  of  Assyriah  kings,  Otesias  gives  a  Ust  of  the  kings  of  Media, 
nine  in  number,  whose  united  sovereignty  extended  from  the  former  epoch,  B.0. 821, 
antil  alter  the  capture  of  Nineveh,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  empire^ 
B.C.606. 

As  it  is  a  weR4cnown  ttMi,  that  during  this  latter  period  the  Modes  reroHed, 
and  declared  themselves  -  independent  of  Asi^ria,  many  authors  have  hastily 
inferred  that  Thonos  Concoleros  w«b  the  SaMaaapalus  who  reigned  wh^tn 
Nineveh  was  taken'  by  the  united  forces  of  Media  and  Babylon.  The  learned 
Bollin,  following  Diodorus,  has  fallen  into  this  error,  in  common  with  many 
others.  He  makes  Arbaces,  the  first  Median  king  in  the  list  of  Otesias,  take  and  . 
destroy  Nineveh,  and  give  liberty  and  independence  to  tiie  Modes.  (Ancient 
mstoi7,  voL  i,  P..280.    8vo.) 

But  all  this  is  in  opposition  to  the  fact,  that  Nineveh  subsisted  as  an  empire, 
in  all  its  power  and  dignity,  uid  with  sway  over  Media,  long  after  this  dateu  In 
feet,  all  its  aggression  on  Israel  and  Judah,  its  oonquest  of  the  former,  and  omel 
deportation  of  the  Ten  Tribes  to  the  mountains  of  Media,  took  place  subsequently 
to  the  time  of  Arbaces.  It  i<i,  indeed,  certain  that  the  Assyrian  empire  was  not 
dissolved,'  nor  the  Median  kingdom  sepiarated  firom  it,  until  a  considerable  period 
aiter  the  reign  of  Thonos.  To  say  nothing  of  the  doubtftil  course  to  which  this 
hypotheris  in  other  respects  leads,  (such  as  two  destructions  of  Nineveh,  under 
two  kings  with  similaf.  names,  by  the  same  nations,  at  times  far  removed  firom 
each  other,)  it  is  altogether  inadmissible.  ' 

Russel  has,  I  think,  solved  this  problem,  by  suggesting  that  Arbaces,  a  Mode 
by  birth  or  office^  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Nineveh,  not  by  the-  subversion  of 
the  empire  and  the  destruction  of  the  city,  but  by  securing  to  himself  the  reins 
of  goyemment,  as  they  fell  flrom  the  hands  of  Thonos  Concoleros,  and  that  he  in 
feet  was  a  Median  sovereign  on  the  imperial  throne. 

This  supposition  reconciles  all  the  otherwise  conflicting  Elements  Of  the  history 
of  this  portion  ot  the  Assyrian  annals,--accounts  for  the  rising  power  and  mar^ 
tial  glory  which  the  kings  of  Assyria  who  are  mentioned  in  Scripture  <fisplayed,«- 
and  unites  the  otherwise  oonflicting  statements  of  Herodotus  and  Otesias  into 
one  homogeneous  narratives 

There  was  enough  to  justify  this  conjecture  of  Russel  in  the  fragments  of  his^ 
toiy  which  lay  open  to  him ;  bnt  these  are  strikingly  corroborated  in  an  import- 
ant particular  by  the  monumental  inscripttona 

From  these  Layard  concludes  that  he  has  ascertained  the  «zistence  of  "  two 
distinct  periods  of  Assyrian  history ;"  that  the  people  inhabiting  the  country  at 
those  periods  were  of  different  races,  or  that,  by  intermixture  with  foreigners, 
great  change  liad  taken  place  in  their  language,  religion,  and  customs ;  and  that 
this  alteration  took  place  between  the  building  of  tiie  palaces  of  Nimroud  and  the 
erection  of  those  of  Ehorsabad  and  Kouyu^jik.     (Layard's  Nineveh,  vol.  ii,  p.  232.) 

Bawlinson,  too, .thus  speaks  on  this  interesting  point:  ** Owing  to  domeatio 


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A 


548  APPBKi>]!!c. 

troubles,  or  to  foreign  invasion,  there  appears  after  tliis  king  (Adraramelech  H) 
to  haye  been  an  interruption  of  the  royal  line ;  and  In  the  interyal  wMch  elapsed 
before  the  succession  was  restored,  a  very .  considerable  change  may  be  shown  to 
haye  taken  place  in  the  manners  and  customs  pf  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
So  complete,  indeed,  does  the  social  revoliLtion  appear  to  Mr.  Layard,  that  he 
conjectures  a  new  race  to  have  peopled  the  country,  or,  at  any  rate,  a-new  dytiotly, 
with  a  new  religion,  to  have  acquired  the  kingdom.  On  thie  point,  however,  I 
am  not  altogether  of  Mr.  Layard's  opinion.  I  am  .willing  to  admit  an  mUrrtg- 
num  ;  and  I  think  it  even  pfobaUe,  as  the  king  who  restored  the  empire  is  entiTely 
silent  as  to  his  genealogy,  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  Old  Imperial  tuaSHj 
in  the  line  of  distinct  descent :  but  at  the  same  time  I  feel  pratty  oertsiii,  thai 
no  veiy  long  period  of  time  could  have  elapsed  between  Svechios  IL.  and  the 
builder  of  Khorsabad." — Journal  of  the  Aoyal  jisiaiie  Society^  voL  xii,  p.  449. 
.  Thus  remarkably  do  the  inscriptions  confirm  this  induction  from  history.  Thus 
do  Rawlinson  and  Russel,  each  studying  his  own  distinct  souroe.of  information, 
pronounoe  in  favour  of  these  sepsj^te  and  succeeding  dyuAsUes.  And  what  is 
equally  remarkable,  both  of  these  scholars  identify  this  second  line  of  kings  with 
the  sovereigns  of  Assyria  of  whom  we  read  in  Holy  Scripture. 

The  establishment  of  a  Median  ruler,  in  the  person  of  Arbaees,  on- tlse  imperial 
throne,  may  therefore  be  received  as  an  undoubted  foct  But  fiirther  difficulties 
meet  us  in  respect  of  the  succeeding  reigns.  It  seems  equally  certalA  firam  the 
concurring  testimony  of  the  numerous  sculptures  of  Khorsabad  and  Eouyuiyik 
that  the  founder  of  the  former  dty  had  been  an  officer  of  the  palaoe,  in  no  way 
related  ta  the  imperial  line  of  kings,  but  who  succeeded  in  seating  himself  «n  the 
throne,  and  bequeathing  the  government  of  the  empi^  to  his  son  Sennacherib. 

The  difficulty  of  the  case  is,  properly  to  adjust  the  intennediate  reigns.  We 
know,  ^m  the  express  teaching  of  Scripture,  that  certain  kings  ruled  over 
Assyria  «t  given  times ;  ^d,  even  setting  aside  the  Authority  of  its  inspiratioD, 
the  sacred  record  has  in  so  many  instances  been  abundantly  confirmed  by  the 
sculptures,  that  its  testimony  cannot  be  doubted.  But  while  we  know  that  ^ese 
kings  reigned,  we  neither  know  their  lineage,  nor  even  the  names  by  which  they 
were  distinguished  in  their  own  country.  While,  therefbre,  th^  Scriptures  rscoid 
Ikots,  they  do  not  afford  sufficient  information  tp  solve  the  difficulty.  I  am  Ailly 
satisfied  that  we  must  wait  ftirther  revelations  firmn  the  historic  treasure-houses 
of  the  Assyrian  mounds. 

But  until  this  additional  light  shines  upon  the'  suljeot,  the  caf^jeoture  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Sharpe  appears  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  case  better  than  any 
other  I  have -seen  or  can  devise,'-namely,  that  **  after  the  death  of  Arbaees  the 
Jtlede,  the  Assyrians  were  able  to. make  themselves  again  independent." — Boma- 
tnili  Nintoeh  and  tte  Palaca,  p.  69. 

On  this  principle  our  Chronological  Table  is  fpunded,  and  the  history  of  ths 
several  reigns  written :  and  thus,  while  the  upper  and^  lower  lines  of  Assyrian 
kings  occupy  their  unquestionable  position,  the  reigns  of  Pul  and  Tiglath-PUeoer 
harmonize  fully  with  the  teaching  of  sacred  and  profiuie  history. 

It  may  indeed  be  objected  to  this  scheme,  that  the  list  g^ven  by  Ctesias  of  the 
successors  of  Arbaees  is  hereby  repudiated.  It  is  not  so.  It  is  jirobable  that 
these  really  or  professedly  remained  kings  of  Media.  Indeed,  this  hypothesis 
seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  D^oces,  who  led  what  was,  properly  speak* 
ing,  the  Median  revolt,  and  asserted  the  independsaoe  of  that  kingdom,  with  his 
successors,  is  placed  in  the  list  as  succeeding  Arbaees,  although  none  of  them, 
before  Cyaxares,  ruled  over  As^ria.    It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  when  the 


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APPBNBDL  649 

Medea  obtained  the  aeoendenej  under  tlie  last-named  king,  they  hacT  the  names 
of  those  who  had  ruled  in  Media  firom  the  time  of  Arbaees  entered  on  the  recordB 
as  imperial  monarohs. 

NoTB  do,  page  l66:^Evidenee  of  8argina*t  Wan  vfitk  Egypt^  and  the  Kind  of 
Tribute  itnt  thence  to  Mtyria. 

There  is  nothing  in  the-  term  Rabeic  which  would  lead  an  English  reader  to 
suppose  it  to  be  in  anj  way  eonnected  with  Egypt ;  and  yet  the  ei^planation 
which  Colonel  Rawlinson  giyes  in  a  yery  fbw  words,  renders  this  connexion 
scarcely  open  to  question.  That  the  Ra-bek  of  the  inscriptions  must  n^pre- 
Bent  On  or  Heliopolis,  is  rendered  almost  certain  by  the  name  of  the  Syrian 
^eliopolis,  which  was  yemacularly  termed  Baal-bek,  the  Phenician  BatU  beipg 
exactly  equiyslent  to  the  Egyptian  Rd  or  "  the  Sun.'' . 

On  the  subject  of  the  animals  receiyed  from  Egypt  in  tribute, — ^^". horses  and 
camels,"— the  latter  is  eyidently  a  doubtf\il  translation,  and  may  refer  either  to 
camels,  el^hants,  or  any  other  large  animal.  But  it  is  strange  to  find  the 
learned  translator  c^  the  inscriptions  doubt  the  exportation  of  horses  from  Egypt, 
when  we  know  that,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  this  time  Egypt  was  ^e 
great  mart  whence  Solomon  procured  these  animals  in  abundance.  1  Kings  x,  28. 
(Rawlinson  on  the  Inscriptions  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Boyal  Asiatic  Society,  yoL  xii,  pp.  462,  4Q3.) 

NoTB  21,  page  l7d,-^The  FiUfilmeiU  of  Sacred  Prophecy  in  the  Hittory  of  Aawpia, 

This  kingdom  was  the  sulgeot  of  numerous  predictions,  peculiarly  explicit  in. 
Aeir  language,  and  equally  so  in  the  manner  of  their  accomplishment  We  shall 
g^Te  a  brief  summary  of  the  principal  of  these. 

pRorBBCT  L  respects  the  Kenites  and  their  eaptiyity  by  the  Assyrians :'  *'  And 
he  looked  on  the  Eenites,  and  took  up  his  parable,  and  said,  Strong  is  thy  dwell- 
ing^lace,  and  thou  puttest  thy  nest  in  a  rock.  Neyertheless,  the  Kenite  shall  be 
wasted,,  until  Asshur  shall  carry  thee  away  captiye."  Num.  xxiy,  21,  22.  This 
prediction  was  uttered  by  Balaam  just  before  the  people  of  Israel  crossed  the  Jor^ 
dan.  About  1568  B.  C,  eight  hundred  years  afterward,  this  prediction  was  yeri- 
fied;  and,  stranger  still,  two  thousand  fiye  hundred  years  after  that,  Assyrian 
ioiilptures  are  dug  from  ruined  cities,  which  'spread  before  our  eyes  the  manner 
in  whioh  this  prediction  was  accomplished,  and  the  agency  by  which  it  was 
effected !  The  peculiar  juxtaposition  in  whidh  this  prophecy  stands,  is  worthy 
of  notice.  Balaam  had  just  said,  **  Amalek  was  the  first  of  the  nations ;  but  his 
latter  end  shall  be  that  he  perish  foreyer ;"  while  the  Kenite  was  to  be  wasted, 
until  carried  into  eaptiyity  by  the  Assyrian.  Now,  these  tribes  dwelt  in  imme- 
diate proximity  to  each  otiier ;  and  there  seemed  eyery  human  probability  that 
they  would  share  the  same  fate.  Yet,  on  the  contrary,  when  Saul  went  to  de- 
stroy the  Amalekites,  he  issued  this  proclamation  to  the  Kenites :  "  Go,  depart, 
get  you  down  from  among  the  Amalekites,  lest  I  destroy  you  with  them.— So  the 
Kenites  departed  firom  among  the  Amalekites ;''  (1  Sam.  xy,  6 ;)  and  Amalek  was 
destroyed.  The  Kenites  remained  subject  to  the  term's  of  the  prophecy.  They 
were  wasted  by  seyeral  incursions  and  attacks^  until  at  length,  in  the  third  year 
of  the  reign  of  Sennacherib,  they  were  completely  reduced,  and  carried  captiyes 
to  Assyria:  Colonel  Kawlinson  declares,  "  The  transportation  of  the  Kenites  to 
Assyria—- is  duly  related  in  the  inscriptions." — Outlines  of  jSssyrian  History. 

FmorBBor  H  The  predictions  respecting  Sennacherib. — This  remarkable  manl- 


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550  APPSHBIX. 

festttfcion  ot  cBTine  praicienoe  and  poirar  wm  p,ym  tluroai^  thA  prophei  IniaL 
'Th«  Assyrians  haTing  completely  subtwrted  the  kingdom  Of  IbtmI,  and  oamed 
the  Ten  Triloes  into  captinty^  Sennacherib  marched  into  Jndea  in  all  the  pride 
of  his  power ;  and,  haring  taken  most  of  the  strong  dties  of  Jndah  and  the 
principal  fortified  toirns  of  the  Phiii0tiBQS»  regardless  of  the  immeniie  sum 
which  Hezekiah  had  giyen  him  as  the  purchase  of  his  favour  and  peace,  he  sent 
his  officers  to  Jerusalem,  demanding,  in  the  most  insulting  and  profane  terms, 
the  insiant  submission  of  the  Hebrew  king-  and  his  capital  Hezekiah  imme- 
diately preferred  his  earnest  prayer  to  Jehovah,  and  Isaiah  was  oommissioned  to 
£^ve  him  an  answer  in  the  following  terms:  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Be  .not  afinid 
of  the  words  that  thou  hast  heard,  wherewith  the  servants  of  the  king  of  Absj- 
ria  have  blasphemed  me.  Ifehold,  I  will  send  a  blast  upon  him,  and  he  shaU 
hear  a  rumour,  and  return  to  his  own  land;  and  I  will  cause  him  to  fall  by  the 
sword  in  his  own  land.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  tyf  Israel,  Whereas  thou  hast 
prayed  to  me  against  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria ;  this  is  the  word  which  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  concerning  him;  The  virgin,  the  daughter  of  Zion,  hath 
despised  thee,  and  laughed  thee  to  scorn ;  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem  hath 
shaken  her  heiad  at  thee.  Whom  hast  thou  reproached  and  blasphemed;  and 
against  whom  hast  thou  exalted  thy  voice,  and  lifted  up  thine  eyes  on  high? 
even  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  But  I  know  thy  abode,  ai\fl  thy  going  out, 
and  thy  coming  in,  and  thy  rage  against  me.  Because  thy  rage  against  me,  and 
thy  tumult,  is  come  iip  into  mine  ears,  therefore  will  I  put  my  hook  in  thy  nose^ 
and  my  bridle  in  thy  lips,  and  I  will  turh«thee  back  by  the  way  by  which  thou 
earnest.  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  concerning  the  king  of  Assyria,  He  shall 
not  coipe  into  this  city,  nor  shoot  an  arrow  there,  nor  come  before  it  with  shields, 
nor  cast  a  bank  against  it.  By  the  way  that  he  oame,  by  the  same  shaU  he  re- 
turn, and  shall  not  come  into  this  city,  saith  the  I^rd."  Isa^  xxxvii,  6, 7, 21-28^ 
28,  29,  33,  34. 

Let  the  reader  mark  the  tone  of  unqualified  assurance  whieh  pemdes  this 
address,  and  remember  that  the  person  spoken  to  was  virtually  the  master  of  the 
world.  All  the  east  had  submitted  to  his  power:  Egypt  trembled  at  his  approadu 
as  he  ranged  like  a  destroying  lion  over  Syria  and  Palestine,  while  the  Hebrew 
king  and  God's  sacred  seer  were  shut  up  in  Jerusalem.  Let  this  be  notioed,  and 
prophecy  will  stand  before  us  in  all  the  power  and  sublimity  of  divine  truth. 

It  will  not  be  neoessary  to  go  into  any  detailed  proof  of  the  ftilfilment  of  this 
prophecy :  that  has  been  suJficiently  done  in  -the  history  itsel£  But  it  may  be  de- 
sirable to  point  out  some  of  the  most  important  particulars  in  this  wondexfol  case. 

1.  The  extended  terms  of  the  prediction  clearly  prove  its  divine  origin.  If  the 
strongest  possible  confidence  in  the  resources  of  Hezekiah,  and  in  the  impregna- 
bility of  Jerusalem,  had  induced  the  prophet  to  indulge  in  the  bitter  irony  whiok 
he.  penned,  he  would  certainly  have  confined  himself  to  the  safety  of  Uie  atj. 
But  he  said,  "He  shall  not  shoot  an  arrow  there,  nor  come  before  it  with  shields, 
nor  cast  a  bank  against  it.''  Isa.  zxxril,  33.  Now  no  confidence  in  the  strength 
of  the  fortifications  of  Jerusalem  would  have  justified,  or  oould  have  i^alled  forth, 
this  lan^age.  As  nothing  but  the  power  of  God  could  have  prevented  the  ^vnt 
Assyrian  fh)m  doing  this,  so  nothing  but  the  presdenoe  of  God  oould  have  dic- 
tated the  declaration.    Yet  all  waa  exactly  fulfilled. 

2.  Attention  is  called  to  the  manner  in  which  Jehovih  declarea,  that  he  will 
lead  away  the.  haughty  warrior  from  the  acoomplishment  of  his  purpose :  "  I  will 
put  my  hook  in  thy  nose,  and  my  bridle  in  thy  lips,  and  I  will  turn  thee  back." 
Verse  29.    This  must  not  be  read  as  mere  poetic  imagery.    It  was  the  bvbarous 


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APPIBBIZ..  551 

wage  of  this  age  ftxr  ^ ooaqveror  wluhlkad  Biibdiud  a  MbeUSoiifl  Tassal^king  or 
chief,  to  insert  a  ring  in  tke  vpper  Up  or  noee  of^the  irretehed  esptiTe»  sad,  fuit> 
ening  a  oord  to  this  ring,  to  lead  him  aboai  aMordfing  to  his  pleasure  in  tide 
state  of  suffering  and  degradation.  To  this  custom  the  torms  of  the  text  refer  :^ 
and  how  exactly  were  they  fulfiUed!  Surely  no  oapfeiTe  thus  farutally  treated 
CTer  suffered  nore  than  this  proud  king,  when,  after  the  loss  of  his  great  army, 
he  returned  to  his  capita]*  and  inscribed  upon  the  imperiahaiblq'  record  which  we 
can  now  read,  **  Jhtf  J  Uft  to  him  [Hesekiah]  Jtnuakm,  and  •omt  0/  tfu  infmor 
towns  around  itj* 

3.  The  entire  prophecy  was  fuUllled.  He  heard  a  rttmcmr  of  the  approach  4)f 
the  Egyptian  anny,  and  marched  to  meet  it.  The  Egyptians  retreated :  he  pur- 
sued, until  in  the  desert  the  blast  of  God  came  over  hia  hugs  host,  and  they  be- 
came dead  corpsea  (Hebrew  People,  p.  579.)  He  returned  to  his  own  land,  as 
had  been  Iforetold ;  and  thsare,  where  it  mi^t  least  be  expected,  according  to  the 
exact  tonne  of  the  prophecy,  he  perished  by  the  iword.  Who  can  trace  such  won- 
derful developments  without  feeling  himself  brought  into  contact  with  the  arm 
of  Him  who  reigns  in  heaven,  and  doth  what  he  will  among  the  nationi  of  the 
earth? 

PaoPHBOY  nL  The  predictious  respecting  the  destruction  of  NincTsh.— Oa 
this  particular  we  mi^t  quote  the  whole  book  of  the  prophet  Nahum,  which,  ift- 
a  style  as  pure  as  ita  spiril  is  earnest  and  well  sustained,  breathes,  ftpom  begl^ 
ning  to  end,  the  doom  of  this  great  eapltaL    We  notice  a  few  pointos — 

1.  The  cause  of  its  ruin.    This  was  twofold. 

(1.)  Ita  idolatry :  •*Out  of  the  house  of  thy  gods  will  I  cut  off  the  graTen  * 
image  and  the, molten  image;  I  will  make  thy  graTe;  fo^  thou  art  Tile."    N»> 
hum  i,  14. 

(2.)  Ita  cruelty  and  iajusdce:  **  Woe  to  the  bloody  dty !  It  is  all  ftiil  of  Mes  and 
robbery ;  the  prey  de|)artoth  nof  Nahum  iii,  1. 

A  glance  at  the  history 'Of  this  country  in  any  age,  or  under  any  reign,  wftt 
prove  tbis  foot  Ita  idolatry  was  imprinted  on  all  the  usages  of  society,  strongly 
impregnated  the  «ntire  nati<mal  policy,  and  so  Ailly  entered  into  individual 
affiUrs,  that  scarcely  a  man  could  be  Ibund  wlioee  name  did  not  exhibit  the  ap- 
pellation of  one  or  more  of  the  national  idol  deitiesw  The  cruelty  and  iigustice 
of  Asflyria  were  as  patent  as  its  Idolatry.  Srery  nation  and  city  and  people 
were  regarded  as  lawful  ol^ecte  of  plunder  and  rapine.  To  assail  a  weaker 
power,  rob  them  of  their  goods  and  wealth,  and  carry  all  who  did  not  perish*  in 
WUK  into  captivity,  WW  the  ordinary  course  of  Assyrian. policy  Reward  every  sur> 
rounding  country.  The  terms  of  tile  divine  accusation'  against  this  people  are» 
therefore,  fully  borne  out  by  the  facte  given  in  their  history. 

-2.  The  positive  terms  in  which  the  ruin  of  this  city  was  foretold. 

**  The  burden  of  Nineveh. — God  is  jealous,  the  Lord  revengeth,  and  is  ftirious ; 
the  Lord  will  take  veiigeance  on  his  adyersaries.  The  Lord  is  slow  to  anger,  and 
great  in  power.''  Nahum  1, 1-3.  "  Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hoste ; — and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  all  tkey  that  look  upon  thee  shall  flee 
from  thee^  and  say,  Nineveh  is  laid  waste:  who  will  bemoan  her;  whence  shall 
I  seek  comforters  for  thee?  There  is  no  healing  of  thy  bmise;  thy  wound  is 
grievous :  all  that  hear  the  account  of  thee  shall  clap  their  handa  over  thee :  for 
upon  whom  hath  not  thy  wickedness  passed  continually  V*  Ghap^  iii,  5,  7, 19. 

Thus  spoke  Nahum,  and  thus  declared  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  to  destroy  this 
proud  and  wicked  people.  Nothing  can  be  more  explicit  than  the  assertion  that 
these  evento  were  not  to  arise  as  ordinary  operations  of  human  policy,  but  by 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


552  APPSBCMX. 

the  immediate  iiiterpoaiti<m  of  ^Tine  power.  The  teni0>  "The  Loid  is  slow  to 
anger,  and  great  in  power/^  ma^  have  a  pointed  referenoe  to  the  readinefle  with 
which  he  tamed  aside  the  threatened  punishment  on  aeoonnt  of  the  hwuiliation 
of  the  people  on  thepreaohing  of  Jonah.  In  all  piobahllity,  it  was  aftoirard 
urged  tiiat  Jonah's  prediction  would  never  have  been  f^ilfilM,  if  no  repentance 
or  hnmiliation  had  taken  place.  To  mbnt  this,  God  acfanits  his  slowness  to  pnn- 
ish,  and  at  the  ssme  time  asserts  his  infinite  power :  sad  the  whole  issue  of  the 
prediction  stands  out,  in  aU  its  details,  an  abiding  proof  of  the  yerity  and  aooom- 
plishment  of  this  diTinelj-declared  purpose. 

3.  We  cell  attention  to  the  preiUctionB  which  specify  the  agencj  \iy  which  stt 
this  ruin  should  be  effected.  Here  we  hare  several  particulars  to  notice,  inas- 
much as  there  are  sevetal  agents  distinctly  specified. 

(1.)  Water  is  spoken  of  as  the  first  and  -prominent  agent :  "  With  an  0Ter> 
running  flood  shell  the  Lord  make  an  utter  end  of  the  place  thereof  Nahnm 
i,  S.  **  The  gates  of  th«  river  shall  be  opened,-  and  the  palace  shall  be  dis- 
solved.'' Chap,  ii,  6.  This  was  verified  to  the  letter:  for  the  history  states 
that  the  combined  armies  of  Media  and  Babylon  had  invested  the  place  two 
years,  and  were  stiU  unable  to  take  it,  until  the  Tigris,  swollen  by  unusual 
floods,  washed  down  many  ftirlongs  of  the  wall,  and  threw  the  city  open  to 
its  enemies.  What  makes  this  the  more  remarkable  is  .the  fibct,  that  the 
king  of  Nineveh  is  asserted  to  have  relied  on  a  prediction  that  the  city  should 
not  be  taken  until  the  river  became  its  enemy.  This  auggests  an  interesting 
inquiry :  Did  the  Hebrew  prophets  communicate  the  sulgect  of  their  predictions 
to- those  heathen  nations  which  were  affected  by  their  insj^red  revelations?  Aaid 
was  the  prophecy  of  Nahum  the  prediction  referred  to,  as  giving  confidence  to 
the  king  of  Nineveh  ? 

(2.)  Secondly,  a  noblo  snray  of  martial  t)rowe8s  is  spoken  oC  as  engaged  in 
war  against  Nineveh  and  spoiling  it :  "  He  that  dasheth  in  pieces  is  come  up 
befere  thy  fkoe :  the  shield  of  his  mighty  men  is  made  red,  the  valiant  men  are 
is  scarlet :  the  chariots  shall  be  with,  flaming-torches  in  the  day  of  his  prepara- 
tion. The  chariots  shall  rage  in  the  streets,  they  shall  jostle  one  against  another 
in  the  broad  ways :  they  shall  seem  like  torches,  they  shall  run  like  the  ii^i- 
nings. — ^Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver,  take  the  spoil  of  gold:  fiir  there  is  none  end 
of  the  store  and  glory  out  of  all  the  pleasant  ftimitvre.  She  is  empty,  and  void, 
apd  waste :  and  the  heart  melteth,  and  the  knees  smite  together,  and  the  ftees 
of  them  all  gather  blackness."  Nahum  ii.  The  history  shows  that  the  anay  of 
the  beaiegers,  the  attack,  and  ruin  of  the  dty  by  the  Modes  and  Babylonisos, 
perfectly  accomplished  these  graphic  predictiona 

(3.)  Fire  is  also  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  agents  employed  in  the  consummation 
of  this  ruin  :  <*  The  gates  of  thy  land  shall  be  set  wide  open  unto  thine  enemies: 
the  fire  shall  devour  thy  bars.— There  shall  the  fire  devour  thee."  Chap,  iii, 
13, 15.  The  history  states- that  this  was  also  accomplished;  the  king  himselt 
with  Ms  concubines  and  treasures,  being  burnt  in  the  centre  of  his  palace. 
Besides,  the  fact  of  an  extensive  conflagration  is  proved  by  Mr.  Layard's  first 
discoveries  among  the  ruins  of  this  andent  dty.  He  says :  **  We  came  almost 
Immediately  to  a  w%ll,  besiing  inscriptions  in  the  same  character  as  those  already 
described ;  but  ^he  slabs  had  evidently  been  ezpoaed  to  intense  heati  srere  cracked 
in  every  part,  and,  reduced  to  lime,  threatened  to  fall  to  pieces  as  soon  as  uncov- 
ered."— NvHiveh  and  its  RemainSt  voL  i,  p.  27. 

We  see,  therefore,  that  the  manner  of  the  ruin  of  Nineveh  was  thus  exactly 
described  by  the  prophet. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBNPIX.  553 

VwrBtm  iy.-*We  here  refcr  to  those  prophecies  whieh  speak  t>f  the  total  and 
Hveoof^toable  rain  of  the  city  and  empire,  gereial  passages  in  the  Book  of 
Nahnm,  many  of  which  have  been  Uready  refenred  to,  are  ezplidt  on  this  point : 
**  With  an  OTeminning  flood  He  will  make  an  utter  end  of  the  plaoe  thereof. — 
Thus  shall  they  be  out  down.— The  palaoe  shall  be  dissolved.— ^e  is  empty,  and 
▼old,  and  waste.-— All  they  that  look  upon  thee  shall  flee  from  thee,  and  say, 
Ninereh  is  laid  wa8te.^-There  is  no  healing  of  thy  bruise."  Jims,  under  the 
plenary  influence  of  Ae  Diyine  SpiriC,  Nahum  wrote,  while  Nineveh  sat  as  a 
qneen  among  cities,  and  Assyria  was  the  most  potent  empire  on  earth.  Some 
time  afterward  Zephamiah,  n^th  equal  point  and  power,  foretold  the  doom  of  this 
proud  nation  :— 

**  The  Lord  will  stretch  forth  his  hand  against  the  north, 
And  will  destroy  Assyria,  and  will  make  Ninereh 
'  A  desolation,  a  dry  place  like  the  desert : 
And  the  flocks  shaU  lie  down  in  the  midst  of  her ; 
And  every  kind  of  letM  6«oM<,  the  |Mi{»oaii, 
And  the jMrmiiMM,  shall  lodge  in  her  carved  doors; 
■Their  cry  shall  resound  in  the  windows ; 
The  rayen  shall  be  found  in  the  porch. 
For  he  hath  laid  bare  her  cedar-work, 
ts  this  the  joyous  city  ?  that  sat  in  security ; 
That  said  in  her  heart,  lam,  and.  There  ia  none 
BeeuU  int  f    How  is  she  become  a  desolation  I 
A  place  for  wild  beasts  to  couch  in  I 

Brery  passenger  shall  hiss  at  her,  and  shake  his  hand  I"  \ 

Dr.HilM*STrsiiBfaitlm. 

Can  anything  be  more  explicit,  pointed,  or  full,  than  th^se  predictions?  A 
roin,  entire,  universal,  perpetual !  And  it  should  be  observed  that  a  doom  like 
this  is  not  the  usual  fate  of  cities  and  naUons.  'On6  or  two,  specially  marked  out 
by  God's  providence,  have  met  this  fate ;  b^t  their  number  is  very  smalL  Tet, 
against  all  probability,  these  express  revelations  of  the  Holy  .Spirit  were  com- 
pletely verified.  Zephaniah  prophesied  about  640  B.  0. :  in  606  B.  0.  Nineveh 
was  destroyed :  and  so  perfect,  so  utter  were  its  abaotdonment  and  ruin,  that  it 
never  in  any  measure  recovered  from  its  fUl;  but  Continued  to  moulder  in 
solemn  silence,  uUtil  in  a  short  time  its  aite  became  unknown,  and  for  two  thou- 
sand years  it  has  lain  in  thorough  desolation. 

Nora  2^  page  182.— 37k<  Bra  of  Naboruutar, 

The  origin  of  this  era  is  thus  represented  by  l^ynoellus,  from  the. accounts  of 
Polyhistor  and  Berosus,  tlie  earliest  writers  extant  on  Chaldsean  history  and 
antiquities:  /* Naix>nassar,*  (King  of  Babylon,)  having  collected  the  acts  of  his 
predecessors,  destroyed  them,  in  order  that  the  reigns  of  the  Ghalds^an  kings 
might  be  made  as  from  himself." 

if  this  statement  may  be  relied  on,  it  at  the  same  time  accounts  for  the 
absence  of  all  definite  Information  respecting  the  preceding  reigns,  and  shows 
the  lax  manner  in  which  the  progress  of  events  had  hitherto  been  recorded. 

Note  23,  page  ISi.— Probable  State  of  the  Political  Relation  of  Babylon  to  Auyria^ 
prior  to  the  Reign  of  Nabopolauar, 

AH  the- aooounts  which  have  jeaehed  us  oonceming  theae  oountEiea,  taad  to 
perplex  and  conftise  the  mind  in  respect  to  this  question. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


554  APPSRDIX. 

The  duronicleB  of  tliA  Imperial  etaie,  as  given  fnym  the  acvlpfcares  in  tt»  lut 
chapter,  clearly  prove  that  ilie  paramoojit  power  of  ijaeyria  was  maJntained  Itj 
periodical-  yisitations  of  an  overwhelming  mlliUry  foree^  No  pdUtieal  orgaaixa- 
tion  had  been  intx^iiped»  by  which  the  diffarent  nations  were  placed  in  social 
proximity  with,  and  assimiUted  to,  each  other.  Kings  rnled  by  sufEeranoe  in 
all  the  conquered  countries;  and  while  they  paid  the  required  tribate,  and 
evineed  a  suitable  respect  for  the  supreme  goTemor,  they  appear  to  have  been 
allowed  to  govern  their  respective  countries  in  their  own  way. 

Babylon  must  have  stood  in  the  first  rank  of  all  these  conquered  nations 
dependent  on  Assyria.  Its  revenues  were  calenlated  at  one-third  of  those  of  the 
whole  Persian'  empire :  and  the  ezoeeding  fertility  of  the  seilt  combined  with  the 
situation,  wealth,  and  importance  of  the  city,  fUUy  justifies  this  estimate.  (He- 
rodotus, Clio,  cap.  192 ;  Niebuhr's  J^ectures  oi^  Ancient  Histoiy,  vol.  i,  pp.  107, 108.) 
To  ifetain  the  ascendency  over  this  country,  great  efforts  would  lie  made ;  while 
at  the  same  time  a  kingdom  possessed  of  such  .resources  must  have  had  ample 
means  of  asserting  its  independence,  except  when  -coeroed  by  the  united  power 
of  the  other  parts  of  the  empire.  As  this  eoi^ld  only  be  done  on  particular  oocsr 
sions,  and  sul^ect  to  frequent  interruption,  throughout  the  period  of  her  nominal 
suljection  to  Assyria,  Babylon  would  frequently,  and  sometimes  for  a  long  period 
together,  be  really  ind^>endent. 

NoTB  24,  page  188.-— 7%«  Punkkment  of  ZtdikkJu 

The  remarkable  akid  appacently  conflicting  prophecies  delivered  to  Zedekiah 
have  seemed  very  enigmatical  to  general  readers,  and  have  afforded  to  ignorant 
critics  some  imaginary  ground  for  caviL  Jeremiah  had  told  the  king  that  he 
should  s|irely  be  taken  prisoner ;  that  his  eyes  should  see  the  king  of  Babylon ; 
and  that  he  should  be  carried  captive  to  Babylon,  and  should  die  there,  not  with 
the  sword,  but  in  peace,  and*  with  the  burnings  (or  mode  of  ^terment)  of  .his 
fathers,  the  kings  of  Judah.:  (Jer.  xxzii,  4,  5 ;  xxxiv,  8-^5 :)  while  Eiekiel  had 
with  equal  explicitness  declared,  that  he  should  be  brought  captive  to  Bak^lon, 
yet  should  not  see  it,  though  he  should  die  there.  Ezek.  xii,  l^ 

fio  tax  from  these  predicUons  being  contrary  the  one  to  the  other,  they  were 
sufficient,  if  properly  considered  in  relation  to  the  usages  of  the  Assyrians  and 
Babylonians,  to  have  indicated  the  fate  to  which  the  Mthless  king  would  be 
sulgeoted  in  consequence  of  his  apostasy  and  perjury. 

Although  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Zedekiah  was  well  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject, it  is^nly  lately  that  the  punishment  usually  inflioted  on  rebellious  vassal 
kings  has  been  brought  before  our  own  observation.  Among  the  recent  discover- 
ies in  Assyria  we  have  a  sculptured  slab,  taken  from  the  ruins  of  Khorsabad. 
In  the  centre  of  this  there  is  represented  the  figure  of  the  great  king ;  and  before 
him  are  three  persons,  the  foremost  of  whom  is  on  his  knees  imploring  mercy, 
and  the  two  others  are  standing  in  an  humble  posture.  The  king  holds  in  his 
left  hand  three  cords,  which  are  fastened  at  the  other  end  to  three  rings,  which 
are  severally  inserted  into  the  under-lips  of  these  three  captives.  The  cords 
attached  to  the  standing  figures  are  held  loosely ;  but  that  fastened  to  the  ring 
in  the  lip  of  the  kneeling  figure  is  drawn  tight :  by  which  means  his  fiMse  is 
brought  nearly  into  a  horizontal  position  ;  and  while  he  is  held  in  this  posture, 
with  his  hand  raised  supplicating  mercy,  the  king,  with  his  right  hand,  is  delib- 
erately thrusting  the  point  of  a  spear  into  the  eye  of  the  wretohed  snffirer. 
(Bonomi's  Nineveh  and  its  Palaces,  p.  169.) 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


^FFHNDIX.  566 

li  WM  thQfl,  there  osn  be  liitie  doabt,  that  the  last  Ipng  of  Judah  was  preaented 
to  the  king  of  Babylon  at  Riblah ;  and  thus  that  he  reoeWed  that  punishment 
which,  in.  80  remarkable  a  manner.  Verified  the  apparently  oonflioting  prophedes 
which  had  been  delivered  by  Jeremiah  and  BzekieL 

NoTS  26,  page  189. — 7fu  Meduin  Prineea  whom  Nebuchadnezzar  married, — thi 

Q^een  NUocrit, 

Thie  wonderftil  female  was  dau^ter  of  Cyazares,  ^e  King  of  Media,  who,  in 
•o^nnetion  with  Nabopolassar,  destroyed  NineTeb.  As  she  was  aliTe  at  the 
death  of  Belshazsar  her  graadson»  it  is  probable  that  she  wim  betrothed  to 
Nebaohadnezsar  when  a  child.  She  is  oekbrafed  in  all  ancient  history  for  the 
vigour  of  her  intellect,  and  the  number  and  magnitude  of  the  works  which  she 
aeeomplished  for  the  improTcment  and  defence  of  Babylon.  She  perfected  the 
works  begun  by  her  husband^  and  ezecnted  many  others  of  a  stupendous  nature^ 
especially  the  alteration  of  the  course  of  the  Euphrates,  which  she  changed  so  as 
to  make  it  oAr  great  obetaeles  to  any  militeopy  operations  against  the  city.  £▼&!- 
Merodach  was  her  son  x  and  it  is  probable  that  the  qu^n-mpther  directed  many 
of  the  operations  of  the  goyemment  during  his  reign. 

But  the  stormy  period  which  elapeed  firam  the  death  of  Nebochadnezzar  to 
that  of  Belshanar,  must  have  afforded  ample  scope  for  the  talents  of  such  a  eel* 
ebrated  queen :  and  the  position  in  which  she  appears  at  the  awful  moment 
when  the  hand-writing  on  the  wall  could  not  be  reati^  by  the  wise  men,  clearly 
shows  that  xm  every  emergency,  even  when  far  advanced  in  age,  Nitocris  was 
always  ready  to  interpose  her  connsel  and  advice.  (Clinton's  Fasti  Hellenid, 
voL  i,  p.  278 ;  Ancient  Universal  History,  voL  iii,  p.  434 ;  Herodotus,  Olio,  cap^ 
18&.188.). 

NoTB  26,  page  190.i— TA«  Magfutude  and  Splendour  of  Bakylon. 

The  accounts  which  have  been  givoi  of.  the  size  and  magnificence  of  this  city 
will  naturally  be  received  with  caution:  yet  enough  appears  to  be  undoubtedly 
true  to  excite  astonishment  and  admiration.  Babylon  was  laid  out  and  built 
upon  a  perfect  plan.  Considering  that  this  was  the  first  seat  of  the  postdiluvian 
population,  and  the  site  of  their  first  monarchy,  this  fiict  argues  the  advanced 
civilisation  of  mankind  in  that  age,  and  clearly  indicates  that  the  barbarism  and 
ignorance  which  afterward  became  so  general,  did  not*  result  from  the  original 
condition  of  human  nature^  but  was  produced  by  the  divisions,  the  journeying, 
and  the  difficulties  wMch  many  sections  of  mankind  had  to  contend  with,  befoM 
they  reached  the  destination  which  Proyidenioe  asrigned  them. 

The  city  of  Babylon  Was  a  perfect  square.  Each  of  its  sides  was  fifteen  mfles 
long :  its  compass  was,  therelbre,  sixty  miles,  and  the  extent  of  ground  included 
within  the  exterior  line  of  walls  two  hundred  and  twenty'^ve  square  miles.  It 
stood  on  a  level  plain.  The  River  Euphrates,  passing  through  the  middle  of  the 
city«  divided  it  into  two  equal  parte,  parallelograms  in  figure.  The  wi^ls  were 
built  of  bricks,  cemented  with  bitumen.  Outside  the  outer  wall  was  a  deep  broad 
ditch,  lined  with  a  brick  wall  on  each  side,  and  filled  with  water ;  .over  whieh 
were  bridges,  to  afford  access  to  the  several  gates.  The  walls  were  eif^fcy-seven 
feet  ihick,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  In  these  walls  every  side  had 
twenty-five  gates,  which  led  to  as  many  streets.  These  ran  in  a  straight  line 
quite  through  the  city,  at  right  angles  to  each  other:  so  that  Babylon  contained 
fifty  streets,  each  fifteen  miles  long,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  broad. 


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656  APPSHI>IZ. 

The  interseotioii  of  theoe  stveete  divided  the  city  into  a  gnat  nmaber  of  MfiiajreB, 
which  were  built  ea  the  fonr  rides,  leaviiig  the  inner  parte  of  the  eqnaree  for 
oonrts,  yards,  and  gardens.  On  eaoh  side  of  the  riTsr  were  qnajs,  enoloeed  firoB 
the  city  with  high  walls.  In  these,  at  the  end  of  each  street,  were  gates  of  brass, 
and  from  them  steps  descending  to  the  rirer.  'Spanning  this  riTor,  and  forming 
a  communication  between  the  two  parts  of  the  city,  was  a  bridge  of  very  elegant 
construction,  thirty  feet  wide.  There  were  two  palaces,  one  on  eash  side  of  the 
rlTer,  of  great  size  and  splendour.  These. Communicated  with  each  other  by  a 
subterranean  passage,  tunnelled  under  the  bed  of  the  river.  Of  the  wondsrfnl 
pensile  gardens  mention  has  been  already  made^  The  ^tes  of  ^e  dty  wtsre  if 
very  massy  and  splendid  manufaotuxe,  and  wove  constructed  of  brass. 

The  temple  of  Belus  was  one  qf  ihe  moet  wonderfU  emaments  of  this  dty. 
At  its  foundation,  according  to  H«rodotus,  it  stood  on  a  square  ftirlong.  Boohart 
is  of  opinion,  that  it  occupied  the  same  rite  and  foundation  as  the  primitive 
tower,  begun  before  the  confusion  of  tongues.  It  had  eight  stories,  approached 
by  stairs,  or  ajfi  inclined  plane,  on  the  outride.  In  each  of  these  stpriee  were 
many  large  rooms  with  arched  roofii,  supported  by  piUars.  Above  the  whole 
stood  a  tower,  ^n  the  top  of  which  was  an  observatory  for  astronomical  pnr- 


The  aocounto  of  the  ancients  respecting  the  great  extent  of  this  city  w«re- 
fbrmerly  dlKredited :  they  are,  howeveK,  fdlly  sustained  by  modem  investigation 
and  research.  But  there  is  one  observation  necessary,  in  explanation.  It  does 
not  appear  that  the  whole  of  this  plan  was  filled  up.  Much  of  the  givond  laid 
out  for  building  Was  unoccupied,  even  in  the  days  of  ito  greatest  g^ory.  Qnintos 
Ourtius  tolls  us,  that  when  Alexander  took  Babylon,  a  Uurge  portion  of  the  space 
within  the  walls  was  ploughed  and  sown :  and  there  is  rnson  for  believing  that 
such  was  always  the  case.  There  was,  indeed,  even  with  some  deduction,  space 
enough  left  for  streets  and  palaces  to  form  one  of  the  largest  and  most  populous 
dties  of  the  world.  (Niebuhr's  Lectures  on'  Ancient  History,  vol.  I,  pp. -'26,  27; 
Ancient  Universal  History,  voL  ill,  p.  424;  Hales's  Chronology,  vol.  i,  p.  468; 
Herodotus,  Clio.) 

Nom  27,  page  1Q8. — T%e  chronological  Succession  of  Biibylonian  Kingt  cfit/r 
Nebuchadntxzar. 

As  this  is  the  question  of  Babylonian  history,  it  is  thought  necessary  to  add  to 
what  has  been  already  advanced  on4ihe  sulgect  in  a  preceding  Tolume.  (Hebrew 
People,  p.  582.)  The  print  at  issue  is  just  this,— Was  Babyh>n  taken  by  Cyrus 
at  tiie  death  of  Belshaxsar,  or  seventeen  years  after  that  event?  It  might  be 
safely  said,  that  tl^e  learning  and  talent  of  modem  times  had  derided  upon  giving 
a  verdict  in  favour  of  the  latter  proporition,  had  not  Fynes  Clinton  dissented, 
and  placed  the  wright  of  his  authority  on  the  ride  of  the  former  one..  This  render^ 
it  more  necessary  to  investigate  the  subject  at  greater  length,  esperiaUy  as  this 
learned  writer  has  fiuled  to  produce  oonviotion  in  our  mind  in  fiBivQur.of  his  oenr 
riurions.  Clinton  observes^  "The  sum  of  the  whole  is  this:  If  we  adopt  the 
systom  of  Jackson  and  Hales,  we  suppose  Herodotus  and  Xenophon  to  be  both  in 
error,  in  order  to  sustain  the  cr^t  of  Berosus  and  Megasthenes ;  and  we  obtain 
a  result  not  very  conformable  to  the  tenor  nf  Scripture.  If  we  adopt  t^e  arrange- 
ment founded  upon  Joeephus,  we  saorifioe  the  account  of  Berosus  as  erroneous, 
but  we  find  the  narratives  of  Herodotus  and  Xenophon  perfeetiy  oonsistent  with 
each  other  and  with  Scripture.*  I  have  therefore  ifo  hesitation  in  adheiing  to 
this  arrangement,  as  the  least  beset  with  diffionlties,  and  in  sacrificing  Berosus 


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APPBNDIX.  567 

rather  than  Herodotus  and  XeiioplioiL"-r- JVuti  HdUmci^  toL  ii,  p.  878.  To  this 
judgment  I  demur,  and  think  an  examination  of  the  points  00  prMninoitly  set 
forth  \sj  the  learned  writer  will  place*  the  readw  in  possession  of  satisfactorj 
infbrmation  on  the  subject.  The  limits  of  a  note  will  not  allow  an  extended  dis- 
oussion;  but  I  will  first  inquire,  whether  "tiie  nanratiTes  of  Herodotus  and 
Xenophon  "  are  ^  perfectly  consistent  with  each  other  and  with  Soripture."  It  is 
notorious  that  these  historians  are  eminently  diTerse  in  their  history  of  Gyrus. 
Herodotus  deedribes  this  prince  as  exposed  to  death  in-  his  infknoy,  in  eonse^uenoe 
of  the  superstitious  fears  of  Ms  gruidfather;  and  alleges  that  the  person  who 
preserved  him  was  compelled  to  eat  the  flesh  of  his  own  murdered  son,  in  punish- 
ment for  having  saved  him.  (Clio,  cap..  119.)  Xenophon,  on  the  other  hand* 
states  that  this  same  gran^ther  carefiilly  and  kindly  brought  up  Cyru& 
(Cyropndia,  lib.  i,  cap.  4.)  Hemxlotus  relates  that  Gyrus  invaded  Media,  defeated 
and  deposed  his  grand&ther,  and  kept  hhn  in  prison  un«il.he  died.  <GUo,  cap.  180.) 
Xenophon,  on  the  contrary,  says,  that  his  grandfather  always  patronised  him,  and 
added  a  Median  foree  to  tha  Fsrsiaa  troops  under  the  comi^snd  of  Gyrus,  and 
employed  him  in  a  war  against  Armenia.  (Gyrop.,  Ub.  ii.  cap.  8, 4.>  These,  it  will 
be  seen,  are  not  unimportant  ^cidents,  but  facts  of  such  magnitude  as  to  affect 
the  structure  ef  the  entire  histoiy. 

But  I  attach  even  mete  importance  to  the  allegation,  that  these  writers  per- 
ftetly  agree  with  Scripture.  Is  this  the  case?  Holy  Scripture  states,  that,  on 
the  death  of  Belshassar,  the  kingdom  of  Babylon  was  to  pass  to  "  the  Modes  and 
Persians.''  Dan.  v,  28.  How  does  this  agree  with  Herodotus,  who  asserts  that, 
hmg  before  the  capture  of  Babylon,  Media  was  subdued  by  Gyrus  ?  Daniel  affirms 
that,  on  the  death  of  Belshauar,  Darius  the  Median  took  the  kingdom ;  when* 
according  to  the  Halicamassean  historian,  at-  this  time  there  was  no  king  in 
lledia^but  a  deposed  captive  in  a  prison.  How,  according  to  Herodotus,  are  the 
reign  of  Darius,  and  the  affecting  circumstances  in  which  Daniel  was  placed,  to 
be  accounted  for?  Glinton  supposes  the  two  years  of  Darius  to  be  included  in 
the  reigH  of  Gyrus:  (Fasti,  voL  ii,  p^  369 :)  but,  aooording  to  Herodotus,  there 
was  no  such  king  ^  Gyrus  was  himself  the  sovereign. 

Nor  do  I  thinks  that  Xenophon  comes  much  nearer  the  Scripture  account.  Is 
tiksre  anything  in  the  Gyropsidia  of  this  learned  Greek  to  warrant  the  supposi- 
tion, that,  on  the  taking  of  Babylon  by  Qyrus,  Gyaxares  of  Media  assumed  a^j 
power  or  authority  over  the  conquered  country^  According  to  Daniel*  this  Median 
king  took  tkt  kingdom.  Let  any  one  carefully  peruse  the  last  chapter  of  book  vii, 
and  chapters  1-4  of  book  viii,  of  Xenophoa's  "  Institution  of  Gyrus/'  and  judge 
whether  his  account  is  at  all  compatible  with  the  supposition  of  a  Median  kii^ 
•dminiBterittg  the  government  of  a  great  empin,  and  ruling  over  Babylon.  Ac- 
cording to  Xenophon,  Gyrus,  on  the  conquest  of  Babylon,  stayed  there  a  consideP* 
able  time ;  and  there  and  then  he  assumed  the  stateand  oonduot  of  a  king;  and 
in  that  city  he  remained,  vntil  he  had  made  a  settlement  of  his  empire ;  nor  was 
it  until  he  thought  that  his  affairs  were  well  settled  in  Bal^kn  that  he  ventured 
to  leave  it,  and  then  it  was  not  to  visit  Media,  but  Peirsia !  It  is,  indeed,  said. 
that  when  Gyrus  entered  the  Median  territory,  "  he  turned  off  to  visit  Gyaxares." 
But  does  this- language  indicate  that  Gyaxares  was  regarded  as  the  paramount 
sovereign,  and  Gyrus  his  commander-in-chief  ?  On  the  contrary.  Gyrus  told  him 
<«  that  there  were  domestics  and  palaces  set  apart  for  him  in  Babylon,  that,  when 
he-  went  thither,  he  might  have  what  wom  his  own  to  come  to.''  Is  this  the  lan- 
guage of  a  general  to  his  sovereign  9  Nor  does  anything  take  place  in  this  inter- 
view incompatible  with  tiie  meeting  of  two  independent  sovenlgns.    How,  then, 


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558  APPBNBIX. 

it  oan  be  Bud  that  there  is  «iioh  an  aeoordaiioe  betweea  these  authors  and  florip- 
tare,  I  cannot  understand. 

Bnt  then  we  are  told,  that  the  result  obtained  bj  adopting  Berosvs  and  Megaa- 
thenes  is  *'  not  Tery  oonftmnable  to  the  tenor  of  SoriptnH.^'  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  disguise  the  diffionUies  of  this  Tery  intricate  p<^on  of  history.  I  think  I 
hare  already  shown,  that  Just  thus  much  may  be  predicated  of  the  aooonnls  of 
Herodotus  and  Xenophon.  Then  this  becomes  the  question :  "Which  has  the 
greatest  measure  of  conformity  to  Scripture  V  I  will  enable  the  reader  to  decide. 
The  account  of  Beroeus  is  as  follows :  *'  Nebuchadnenar  died  after  he  had  reigned 
forty-three  years;  whereupon 'his  son,  Eril-Merodaehus,  succeeded  him  in  his 
kingdom.  His  gotemment,  however,  was  conducted  in  an  illegal  and  improper 
manner,  and  he  fell  a  Tlctim  to  a  conspiracy  which  was  Ibrmed  against  his  11& 
by  Keriglissooras,  his  sister's  husband,  after  he  had  reigned  about  two  yean. 

*'  Upon  his  death  NerigUssooras,  the  chief  of  the  conspirators,  obtained  posses- 
sion of  the  kingdom,  and  reigned-'four  years. 

**He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Laborosaavohodus,  wh6  was  but  a  child  and 
reigned  nine  months.  *  For  his  misconduct  he  was  seised  by  conspirators,  and  pwt 
to  death  by  torture. 

"  After  his  death,  the  conspirators  assembled,  and  by  common,  consent  placed 
the  crown  upon  the  head  of  Nabonnedus,  a  man  of  Babylon,  and  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  insurrection.  It  was  in  his  reign  that  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Babylon, 
which  defend  the  banks  of  the  lirer,  were  eurlously  baiU  with  burnt  brick  and 
bitumeh.- 

**  In  the  seyenteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Nabonnedus,  Cyrus  came  out  of  Persia 
with  a  great  army ;  and,  having  conquered  all  the  rest  of  Asia,  adransed  hastily 
into  the  country  of  Babylonia.  As  soon  as  Nabonnedus  perceived  that  he  was 
advanoing  to  attack  him,  he  assembled  his  forces,  and  opposed  him ;  but  was 
defeated,  and  fled  with  a  few  of  his  adherents,  and  was  shut  up  in  the  city  of 
Borsippos. .  Upon  this  Cyrus  took  Babylon,  and  gave  orders  that  the  outer  walls 
should  be  demolished,  because  the  city  appeared  of  such  strength  as  to  render  a 
siege  almost  impracticable.  From  thence  he  marched  to  Borsippus,  to  besiege 
Nabonnedus;  but  Nabonnedus  delivered  himself  into  his  hands  without  holding 
out  the  place.  He  was  therefore  kindly  trehted  by  Cyrus,  who  provided  him  with 
an  establishment  in  Cs.rmania,  but  sent  him  out  of  Babylonia.  Nabcmnedus  accord- 
ingly spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  that  country,  where  he  <Ued." — Jottphm 
Contra  .^^iofwm,  lib.  i,  cap.  20;  Eutebim^  Prop.  Etang.t  lib.  iz. 

The  brief  account  supplied  by  Megasthenes,  and  preserve  by  Abydenusv  is  to 
the  same  effect  It  states  that  Nebuchadneszar  "  was  succeeded  by  his  son  SvU- 
Maluruchus,  who  wSiS  slain  by  his  kinsman  Neri^isares:  and  Nerlglisares  left 
Labassoarasous  his  son  :  and  when  he  also  had  suiSMred  death  by  violenoe,  they 
crowned  Nabonnidochus,  who  had  no  connexion  irith  the  rbyal  ftunUy ;  and  in 
his  reign  Cyrus  took  Babylon,  and  granted  him  principality  in  Carmaala."— 
Cory's  FragmenUt  p.  45.* 

We  have  in  these  accounts  an  6utllne  of  history,  which  I  do  not  say  perftedg 
aooovde  with  Scripture,  since  the  Book  of  Daniel  speaks  of  the  third  year  of  Bal- 
shaszar,  while  one  of  these  annalists  gives  him  a  reign  of  less  than  one  year :  b«t 
they  nevertheless  exhibit  a  general  agreement  with  the  Bible.  Here  the  Baby- 
lonian monarchy  is,  according  to  the  explicit  terms  of  Scripture,  limited  to 
Kebuchadnezsar,  his  sen,  Imd  his  grandson.  Then  Darius  succeeds,  with  Nabon- 
nedus as  his  vassal :  and  if  we  admit  the  statement  of  Herodotus  as  to  the  eon- 
quest  of  Media  by  Cyrus,  (add  if  we  do  not  we  destroy  the  authoElty  of  the 


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JkPPBNBIZ.  659 

fi^th«r  of  history  in  ntpooi  of  tlus  cue,)  then  the  oonquest  of  Media  by  Cyme 
would)  by  the  labjeotion  ofvhis  lord  paramoant,  release  Nabonnedus  ftom  his 
aliegiaiioe,  and  make  him  independent.  Nor  are  the  other  o1:(}ection8,  nrged 
against  this  Tiew,  of  more  weight  The  surmise,  that  the  dynaity  of  Nebnehad- 
nesaar  should  continue  serenty  years,  is  groundless.  The  difficulty  of  interposing 
a  reign  of  seTenteen  years  between  Darius  the  Mode  and  Cyrus,  is  not  insuper- 
able. According  to  our  scheme,  Darius  was  acknowledged  the  supreme  sovereign 
at  the  death  of  Belshassar,  and  Nabonnedus  his  Tassal.  This  relation  was  eon- 
tinued  down  to  the  conquest  of  Media.  Daniel  at  Eobataaa  would,  therefore,  see 
aoiiiing  interpMed  between  the  Median  soyereignty  and  Cjhrns. 

•If  I  were  disposed  to  take  any  liberty  with  the  tables,  I  should  feel  inclined  to 
add  two  years  to  the  reign  of  Belshazzar,  thus  bringing  it  up  to  the  Scriptural 
number, — a  course  which  the  aeoount  of  Berosus  would  seem  to  justify ;  since, 
as  it  is  asserted  that  he  was  slain  for  misgoTemment,  it  can  scarcely  be  believed 
that  he  exposed  himself  to  this  riolence  in  a  reign  ef  nine  months.  This  emen- 
dation would  conform  the  chronology  to  the  sum  of  these  reigns  giren  in  the 
Astronomical  Canon  and  to  Scripture.  As,  howeyer,  it  would  betray  a  silly 
alfeotation  to  attempt  extreme  accuracy  in  the  dates  of  such  a  period  ef  history, 
I  have  followed  Hales  and  Jackson  in  the  length  of  these  reigns. 

Undjie  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  authority  of  Josephus.  It  is,  indeed,  true 
that  he  calls  Nabonnedus'  **  iSaltaser,"  and  ascribes  to  him  the  erents  of  the 
fearful  night  when  the  miraculous  hand  wrote  on  the  wall.  But  thbn,  in  other 
respects,  the  Jewish  historian  is  incorrect  and  contradictory.  He  makes  the 
reign  of  £Til-Merodach  eighteen  years,  and  that  of  Neriglissar  forty  years.  He 
says  that  the  former  was  the  son,  the  latter  the  grandson,  of  Nebuchadnexzar, 
and  that  Labosoardoduis  was  the  great-grandson  of  that  king.  He  does  not 
state  whether  Labynetus  was  of  this  line,  or  otherwise.  But  this  is  deddedly  at 
TBriance  with  Scripture,  which  expressly  limits  the  Babylonish  soTereignty  to 
Nebnohadneiiar,  his  son,  and  his  grandson.  Jer.  xxrii,  7.  Besides  this,  Jose- 
phus makes  the  capture  of  Babylon  to  follow  Belshasiar's  feast  at  some  distance 
of  time.  His  words  are :  "  Now,  after  a  little  iphiU,  both  himself  and  the  dty 
were  taken  by  Cyrus." — jirUiquitiee,  book  x,  chap,  ii,  sec  4.  It  is  obeervable,  he 
does  not  say  that  he  was  slain ;  while  the  Scriptures  tell  us  that  it  was  in  the 
iatne  night  that  the  catastrophe  happened.  Again :  haying  given,  in  his  work 
against  Apion,  the  account  which  I  have  quoted  from  Berosus,  in  which  Nabon- 
nedus is  said  to  have  been  taken  at  BorSippus,  and  sent  to  spend  the  residue  of 
his  life  in  Carmaaia,  Josephus  adds :  **Thet$  aee&unU  hgree  wiA  the  true  history  in 
our  hooka," — Contra  Jpton.^  lib.  i,  cap.  21.  It  is,  therefore,  scarcely  fkir  to  place 
Josephus  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  statement  ef  Berosus. 

But  if  Herodotus  and  Josephus  are,  to  a  great  extent,  reconciled  with  Berosus, 
Xanophen  lemaiBS  opposed  to  him.  -  I  would  seriously  ask,  however,  Is  this  a 
great  objection?  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  attach  just  the  same  an^unt  of 
importance  to  it,  as  if  it  were  urged  that  a  statement  in  any  ef  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
novels  oontravened  Robertson  and  Hume;  That  I  may  not  be  accused  of  a  hasty 
judgment^  I  will  give  the  opinion  of  a  competent  judge  respecting  the  historical 
credit  due  to  this  author.-  The  Abbe  Millet  says  on  this  subject :  *•  Who,  then,  is 
to  be  believed  ?  Xenophon's  Cyrop»dia  is  plainly  the  work  of'  a  philosopher 
rather  than  a  historian,  a  kind  of  moral  and  political  romance.  Is  it  not  singu 
lar,  that  people  will  expect  to  find  truth  with  certainty  in  a  work  which  is  inter- 
woven with  fables?  After  the  learned  Freret  I  must  add,  that  Xenophon's  con- 
formity with  the  Scripture  is  imaginaiy.^'^GVn.  fiuf.,  vol  i,  )».  92.    Indeed, 


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560  APPUtDDL 

XenophoDt  by  %  paasage  in  his  Anftbaais,  eoi^niiB  thie  Btatoment  of  Hendoliu 
reepecting  the  oo&qoeBt  of  Media  by  Cynu  the  Great,  and  therefore  entirely 
destroys  the  anthori^  of  his  QyTopodis^ 

Our  limits  forbid  the  produotien  of  farther  endenoe.  But  it  is  necessary  te 
obeerre  the  diiferenoe  between  the  weight  of  the  autherities  who  are  adopted, 
and  of  thoee  whom  we  repudiate.  Berosus  and  Megasthenea  wrote  from  the 
authentic  annals  found  in  the  arehires  at  Babylon ;  while  Herodotus  set  down 
what  he  could  collect  as  a  trayelle^,  and  was,  in  oonsequenoe«  often  misled  by 
popular  reports :  which  was  th^  csm  in  respect  of  this  portion  of  history ;  for 
he  knew  nothing  of  Bril-Merodach  or  NerigUssar,  and  made  Labynetus  the  soil 
of  Nebuchadnexsar.  (Clio,  cap.  187,  188.)  Now,  it  is  perfectly  true,  as  Clinton 
obserres,  that  despots  might  tamper  with  and  talafy  the  records  of  preceding 
reigns :  end  it  is'  to  this  cause  probably  thai  we  should  attribute  eome  of  the 
ohronobgical  difficulties  Which  beset  these  sutgeots.  But,  admitting  all  this, 
these  annals  must,  after  all,  obtain  a  broad  mbatratum  of  fact,  which  commends 
them  to  our  regard  as  the  safest  general  guides. 

Muph  might  be  added  here  as  to  the  views  taken  by  eminent  critics  and  chn>- 
nologers  on  these  points ;  such  as  that  Scaliger  and  Petarius  both  thought  that 
Laborosarohod  was  Belshaszar.  Ancient  Christian  writers  generally  seemed  to 
regard  Neriglisssr  as  the  Belshazzaii  of  Slaniel.  *  This  was  the  opinion  of  Euse- 
biuB,  Cedrenus,  Sulpicius  Seyems,  Zonaras,  and  Syncellus.  These  are  followed 
by  Dr.  Hales.  But  this  scheme,  although  it  obriates  some  difficulties,  departs 
more  from  the  accounts  giyen  by  the  ancient  annaliste ;  although,  in  common 
with  that  whieh  I  haye  adopted,  it  recognises  the  reign  of  Darius  before  the 
taking  of  Babylon,  whieh  I  regard  as  the  master-truth  to  be  maintained 
throughout  this  yery  intricate  part  of  history.  It  is  not,  howeyer,  by  minute 
ehronological  criticisms,  so  much  as  by  a  comparison  of  the  histories  of  Bal^lon, 
Media,  and  Persia  during  this  period,  that  a  sound  judgment  can  be  formed ; 
and  I  hop^  a  reference  to  the  chapters  on  these  seyeral  monarehies  will  exhibit 
so  much  harmony  of  historical  statement  as  to  induce  a  general  reception  of  the 
news  which  I  adyoeate. 

Nora  28,  page  200.r-Tft«  Otography  of  BoriippcL,  v>\trt  LdbynttuM  took  Rejugt, 

Niebuhr,  and  seyeral  other  authors,  have  spoken  of  this  place,  as  if  it  had  been 
a  sacred  dty  not  for  firom  Babylon, — ^perhaps  misled  into-  this  notion  by  the 
phraseology  of  Berosus.  Dn  Hales,  howeyer,  ooiijectttred  that  this  Borsippa, 
where  Labynetns  took  reftige  after  the  capture  of  Babylon,  was  no  other  than 
the  fortified  citadel  of  that  dty. 

This  opinion^  appears  to  be  amply  confinned  by  the  researches  of  recent  explo- 
rers and  trayellers.  Those  who  haye  paid  particular  attention  to  the  Assyrian 
and  Chald^aan  ruins,  are,  I  belieye,  unanimous  in  the  opinion,  that  the  Birt  Nm- 
roud  is?the  remains  of  this  Borsippa.  And  this  appears  to  be  confirmed  by  all 
trayellers.  Buckingham  says,  while  inspecting  this  identical  ruin :  **  L  inquired 
particularly  after  the  ruined  site  called  Broma,  or  Bowtmo,  by  the  natiyes,  and 
supposed  to  mark  the  place  of  the  andent  Boradppa  of  Strabo,  the  Barsita  of 
Ptolemyr.and  the  Byrsia  of  Justin, — the  place  to  which  Alexander  retired  when 
he  was  warned  by  the  Chaldeans  not  to  enter  Babylon  by  Uie  east.  Near  as 
this  place  was  to.  us,  howeyer,  and  commonly  as  it  was  thou^t  to  be  known 
among  the  people  of  the  countiy,  there  was  but  one  of  all  our  party  who  did  not 
absolutely  deny  its  ezistenos,  contending  that  Bowtul,  or  ^tri ,  were  but  diiTcrent 


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APPENDIX  66t 

wayt  of  ptonoimeing  the  same  word,  which  was  no  other  than  the  name  of  the 
place  on  which  we  stood.''  From  this  statement  I  am  inclined  to  conclnde,  ffiat 
Dr.  Hales  is  perfectly  correct  in  his  coxgectnre,  that-  Labynetns  took  refdge  in 
his  fortified  palace-temple,  called  Borsippa,  at  Babylon,  which  was  regarded  as 
the  citadel  of  the  place,  being  strongly  fortified ;  and  that  modem  authors  have 
been  led  into  an  error,  confounding  this  fortress  with  a  small  city  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. (Buckingham's  TraTcls  in  MesopotaniLia,  p.  476;  Hales's  Analysis  of 
Ancient  Chronology,  toL  i/p.  468,  and  toL  iy,  p.  98.) 

NonflS^  pag^  a00.-p«2%«  F^fUmint  of  Sacred  Prophic^  in  tlU  Hutory  Q/Bahylan, 

The  predictions  respecting  this  kingdom  and  city  are  equally  remarkable  for 
their  great  number,  peculiar  point  and  perspicuity,  and  wide  range  of  applica- 
tion.   It  will  be  necessary  to  notice  them  under  seyeral  heads. 

L  Predictions  respecting  the  exaltation  and  power  of  Babylon,  deliyered  when 
it  was  a  slate  dependent  on  Assyria^ 

Isaiah  speaks  of  the  early  weakness  and  obscurity  of  this  people :  <*  Behold 
the  land  of  the  Chaldsaans :  this  people  was  not,  till  the  Assyrian  founded  il  for 
them  that  dwell  in  the  wilderness :  they  set  up  the  towers  thereof;  they  raised 
up  the  palaces  thereof."  Isa.  zziii,  13.  Tet,  while  it  lay  in  this  state  of  obscu- 
rity and  ya^salage,  the  diyinely-illuminated  seer  realizes  all  the  abundant 
wealth  and  military  glory  which  it  afterward  acquired,  and  calls  Babylon  '*  the 
glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the  Chal'dees'  excellency,"  (ziii,  19,)  "  the  golden 
dty,"  (liy,  4,)  "  the  lady  oflLingdoms."  (xlvii,  6.)  Eyen  the  yai'n  confidence  of 
Babylon,  and  her  inorcUhate  pride  in  yast  military  power,  are  at  this  early  day 
graphically  portrayed :  **  0  yirgin  daughter  of  Babylon, — thou  saidst,  I  shall  be 
a  lady  foreyer.  I  am,  and  none  else  besides  me ;  I  shall  not  sit  as  a  widow, 
neither  shall  I  know  the  loss  of  children."  Isa.  llVii,  1,  7,  8.  What  can  surpass 
the  point  and  power  of  these  prophecies  ?  . 

n.  Prophetie  declarations  that  Nebuchadneziar  should  possess  unlimited 
power  oyer  the  nations  of  Western  Asia. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  while  he  was  yet  struggling 
to  consolidate  his  kin^om,  and  to  cooperate  with  the  Medes  in  the  subyersion 
and  diyision  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  Jeremiah  thus  wrote :  "Therefore  thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts ;  Because  ye  haye  not  heard  my  words,  Behold,  I  will 
send  and  take  all  the  families  of  the  north,  saiih  the  Lord,  and  NebuclLadrezzar 
the  king  of  Babylon,  my  seryant,  and  will  bring  them  against  this  land,  and 
against  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  against  all  these  nations  round  about, 
and  will  utterly  destroy  them,  and  make  them  an  astonishment,  and  a  hissing, 
and  perpetual  desolations.  Moreoyer  I  will  take  from  them  the  yoioe  of  m|rth, 
and  the  yoice  of  gladness,  the  yoice  of  the  bridegroom,  and  the  yoioe  of  the  bride, 
the  sound  of  the  millstones,  and  the  light  of  the  candle.  And  this  whole  land 
shall  be  a  desolation,  and  an  astonishment ;  and  these  nations  shall  i^rye  the 
king  of  Babylon  seyenty  years.— For  thus  saith  the  Lord  6tod  of  Israel  unto  me ; 
Take  the  wine-cup  of  this  fury  at  my  hand,  and  cause  all  the  nations,  to  whom  I 
send  thee,  to  dijnk  it  And  they  shall  drink,  and  be  moyed,  and  be  mad,  because 
of  the  sword  that  I  will  send  among  them.  Then  took  I  the  cup  at  the  Lord's 
hand,  and  made  all  the  nations  to  drink,  unto  whom  the  Lord  had  sent  me :  to 
wit,  Jerusalem,  and  the  cities  of  Judah,  and  the  kings  thereof,  and  the  princes 
thereof,  to  make  them  a  desolation,  an  astonishme^it,  a  hissing,  and  a  curse : 
as  it  is  this  day ;  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  and  his  senrants,  and  his  princes,  and 
'36 


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562  APPBNDIX. 

•U  Ms  people ;  aAd  all  the  mingled  people,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  land  of  Uf, 
and  all  the  kings  of  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and  Ashkelon,  and  A%z$h,  and 
Ekron,  and  the  remnant  of  Ashdod,  Edom,  and  Moab,  and  the  children  of  Aju' 
mon,  and  all  the  kings  of  Tyrus,  apd  all  the  kings  of  Zidon,  and  the  kings  of 
the  isles  which  are  beyond  the  sea,  Dedan,  and  Tema,  and  Bnz,  and  all  that  are 
in  the  utmost  comers,  and  tAl  the  kings  of  Arabia,  and  all  the  kings  of  the 
mingled  people  that  dwell  in  the  desert,  and  all  the  kings  of  Zimri,  and  all  the 
kings  of  Elam,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  Medes,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  north, 
ftr  and  near,  one  with  another,  and  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  which  are 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth :  and  the  king  of  SheAaiefa  shall  drink  after  thcan. 
Therefore  thon  shalt  say  onto  them,  Thns  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Qod  of 
Israel ;  Drink  ye,  and  be  drunken,  and  spew,  and  fall,  and  rise  no  more;  because 
of  the  sword  which  I  will  send  among  you.  And  it  shall  be,  if  thej  refuse  to 
take  the  cup  at  thy  hand  to  drink,  then  shalt  thou  say  unto  them,  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts  ;  Ye  shall  certainly  drink."  Jer.  xxy,  8-11, 15-28. 

Again :  "  In  the  beginnix\g  qt  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim  the  son  of  Josiah  king  of 
Judah,"  or  of  ^edekiah,  (for  the  text  is  doubtfiil,)  this  same  prophet  decUured 
to  the  ambassadors  of  Edom,  Moab,  Ammon,  and  Tyre^  **Thu8  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  the  God  of  Israel :  Thus  shall  ye  say  unto  your  masters ;  I  have  made  the 
earth,  the  man  and  the  beast  that  are  upon  the  ground,  by  my  great  power  and 
by  my  outstretched  arm,  and  have  given  it  unto  whom  it  seemed  meet  unto  me. 
And  now  have  l^yen  all  these  lands  into  the  hand  of  Nebuchadnezzar  the  king 
of  Babylon,  my  serraiit ;  and  the  beasts  of  the  field  haye  I  given  him  also  to 
serve  him.  And  all  nations  shall  serve  him,  and  his  son,  and  his  son's  son, 
until  the  very  time  of  his  land  come :  and  then  many  nations  and  great  kings 
shall  serve  themselves  of  him.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  the  nation  and 
kingdom  which  will  not  serve  the  same  Nebuchadnezzar  the  king  of  Babylon, 
and  that  will  not  put  their  neck  under  the  yoke  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  that 
nation  will  I  punish,  saith  the  Lord,  with  the  sword,  and  with  the  famine,  and 
with  the  pestilence,  until  I  have  consumed  them  by  his  hand."  Jer.  zxyii,  i-8. 
False  prophets,  indeed,  endeavoured  to  counteract  the  effect  of  these  prophedee : 
"  And  Hananiah  spake  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people,  saying,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord ;  Even  so  will  I  break  the  yoke  of  Nebuchadnezzar  king  of  Babylon  from 
the  neck  of  all  nations  within  the  space  of  two  full  years."  Jer.  xxviii,  11.  But 
the  falsehood  was  soon  repelled  with  terrible  effect :  "  For  thus  saith  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the  Qod  of  Israel ;  I  have  put  a  yoke  of  iron  upon  the  neck  of  all  these 
nations,  that  they  may  serve  Nebuchadnezzar  king  of  Babylon ;  and  they  shall 
serve  him :  and  I  h^ve  given  him  the  beasts  of  the  field  also.  Then  said  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  unto  Hananiah  the  prophet.  Hear  ndw,  Hananiah ;  the  Lord 
hath  not  sent  thee ;  bu^  thou  makest  this  people  to  trust  in  a'  lie.  Therefore 
thus  saith  the  Lord';  Behold,  1  will  cast  thee  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth :  this 
year  thou  shalt  die,  because  thou  hast  taught  rebellion  against  the  Lord.  So 
HanaAiiah  the  prophet  died  the  same  year* in  the  seventh  month/'  Verses  14-17. 
The  entire  history  shows  how  ftilly  these  predictions,  in  all  their  detail,  wen 
fulfilled. 

in.  We  refer  to  that  range  pf  symbolical  imagery  by  which  the  position  and 
power  of  Babylon,  as  a  universal  monarchy,  were  set  forth.  It  may,  indeed,  be 
objected,  that  ^n  respect  of  this  nation  these  were  scarcely  prophetic,  as  they 
were  all  enunciated  after  the  rise  of  Babylon  into  power.  But  even  then  it  must 
be  admitted  that  they  were  all  of  them  predictive  of  the  decline  of  this  power. 
They  all  stand  as  the  first  term  of  a  series,— the  first  link  of  a  chain :  thdr 


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APPBNDIX.  ,  568 

Juxtaposition  with  the  prophetic  annoonoement  of  a  succeeding  monarchy,  thevs- 
fore,  clearly  inyests  them  here  with  a  predictiye  character. 

The  first  of  these  is  "  the  head  of  gold  "  of  the  grefCt  image  which  Nebuchad- 
nezzar saw  in  his  dream.  Each  part  of  this  predictive  figure  has  receiyed  the 
most  careful  anU  critical  attention ;  but  I  am  not  sure  that  the  unity  of  the 
whole  has  been  safllciently  noticed.  Here,  indeed,  in  the  person  and  power  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  we  see  this  "  head  of  gold."  Tet  is  this'but  the  first  element 
in  a  grand  series  of  providential  evolutions,  which  are  all  ultimately  to  be 
crowned  with  the  falnes's  -of  the  glory  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Dan.  ii. 

The  next  announcement  of  a  similar  kind  is  that  in  which  the  fonr  great 
monarchies  are  represented  as  four  great  beasts,  of  which  "  the  first  was  like 
a  lion,  and  had  eagles'  wings."  Until  recently,  this  seemed  to  be  altogether  an 
arbitrary  representation  of  Babylonia.  We  now  know,  from  its  being  an  exact 
description  of  the  most  remarkable  colossal  sculptured  figures  found  in  the 
mined  palaces  of  this  country,  that  it  sets  forth  a  most  notable  national 
type  or  emblem.  In  fact,  no  one  who  has  seen  those  gigantic  sculptures  in 
the  museums  of  London  or  Paris,  will  doubt  for  a  moment  that  these  words  set 
forth  the  kingdom  and  power  of  Nebuchadnezzar  in  that  da5r,  as  clearly  as  the 
most  careful  account  of  the  royal  arms  of  England,  would  at  this  time  represent 
our  own  monarchy. 

IV.  We  refer  to  the  prophecies  which  relate  to  the  termination  of  this  king- 
dom, and  the  destruction  of  its  power. 

While  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  respecting  the  rise  of  this  kingdom  are  so 
remarkable,  Jeremiah  with  equal  explicitness  foretells  her  ruih :  '*  1  will  punish 
the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  will  make  It  perpetual  desolations.  And  I  will 
bring  upon  that  land  all  my  words  which  I  have  pronounced  against  it,  eten 
all  that  is  written  in  this  book,  which  Jeremiah  hath  prophesied  against  all  the 
nations.  For  many  nations  ahd  great  kings  shall  serve  themselves  of  them 
also :  and  I  will  recompense  tHem  according  to  their  deeds,  and  according  to  the 
works  of  their  own  hands."  Jer.  xxv,  12-14.  "For,  lo,  I  will  raise  and  cause  to 
come  up  against  Babylon  an  assembly  of  great  nations  from  the  north  country ; 
and  they  shall  set  themselves  in  array  against  her ;  from  thence  she  shall  be 
taken :  their  arroi|s  shall  be  as  of  a  mighty  expert  man ;  none  bhall  return  in 
vain.  And  Chaldea  shall  be  a  spoil :  all  that  spoil  her  shall  bie  satisfied,  saith 
the  Lo'td.  Tour  mother  shall  be  sore  confounded ;  she  that  bare  you  shall  be 
ashamed :  behold,  the  hindermost  of  the  nations  shall  be  a  wilderness,  a  dry 
land,  and  a  desert.  Because  of  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  it  shall  not  be  inhabited, 
but  it  shall  be  wholly  desolate :  every  one  that  goeth  by  Babylon  shall  be  aston- 
ished, and  hiss  at  all.  her  plagues."  Jer.  1,"9, 10,  12,  18.  "The  word  that  the 
Lord  spake  against  Babylon  and  against  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans  by  Jeremiah 
the  prophet,  lyeclare  ye  among  the  nations,  and  publish,  and  set  up  a  standard  ;• 
publish,  and  conceal  not :  say,  Babylon  is  taken,  Bel  is  confounded,  Merodach  is 
broken  in  pieces ;  her  idols  .are  confounded,  her  images  are  broken  in  pieces. 
For  out  of  the  north  there  cometh  up  a  nation  against  her,  which  shall  make 
her  land  desolate,  and  none  shall  dwell  therein :  thepr  shall  remove,  they  shall 
depart,  both  man  and  beast."  Jer.  1, 1-3. 

y.'  It  will  be  desirable  to  notice  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  ruin  of  Baby- 
lon which  were  prophetically  set  forth. 

1.  The  manner  of  its  first  capture  by  Cyrus  was  exactly  described  by  Isaiah, 
and  even  .the  name  of  the  conqueror  was  given :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his 
anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose  right  hand  I  have  holden,  to  subdue  nations  before 


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564  APPENDIX. 

him ;  and  I  will  loose  the  loins  of  kings,  to  open  before  him  the  two-Ieayed  giites ; 
and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut ;  I  will  go  before  thee,  and  make  the  crooked  places 
straight :  I  will  break  in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass,  and  cat  in  sunder  the  ban 
of  iron :  and  X  will  giye  thee  the  treasures  of  darkness,,  and  hidden  riches  of 
secret  places,  that  thou  majest  know  that  I,  the  Lord,  which  call  thee  bj  thy 
name,  am  the  God  of  Israel"  Isa.  zIt,  1-^.  And,  as  if  to  point  out  precisely  the 
diyersion  of  the  Euphrates  from  its  bed,  the  expression  is  used,  *'  That  saith  to 
the  deep,  Be  diy,  and  I  will  dry  up  thy  riyers.''  Isa.  xliy,  27.  Thus  did  Jehoyah 
declare,  nearly  two  hundred  years  before  the  eyent  occurred,  that  he  would  neu- 
tralize all  the  efforts  which  the  soyereigns  of  Babylon  had  made  to  render  the 
riyer  a.  defence  to  the  city.  It  was  also  predicted  that  the  city  should  be  taken 
by  surprise  during  a  festiVal :  "  I  haye  laid  a  snare  for  thee,  and  thou  art  also 
taken,  0  Babylon,  and  thou  wast  not  aware :  thou  art  found,  and  also  caught'' 

'  Jer.  1,  24.  '*  And  I  will  make  drunk  her  princes,  and  her  wise  men,  her  cap- 
tains, and  her  rulers,  and  her  mighty  men :  and  they  shall  sleep  a  perpetual 
sleep,  and  not  wake,  saith  the  King»  whose  name  is  the  Lou>  of  hosts."  Jer. 
li;  57.  These  scriptures  were  so  exactly  fulfilled,  that  Herodotus  says :  ^*  They 
who  liyed  in  the  extremities  were  made  prisoners. before  any  alarm  wsa  oom- 

.  municated  to  the  centre  of  the  place.  It  was  a  day  of  festiyity  among  them ; 
and  while  .the  citizens  were  enga,ged  in  (lance  and  merriment,  Babylon  was  ibr 
the  first  time  thus  taken/' — Clio,  cap.  xoL  Thus  exactly  does  the  prophecy  ao- 
oord  with  the  history. 

2.  The.  remnant  of  the  Hebrews  were  charged  by  Jehoyah  to  leaye  Babylon, 
that  they  might  not  be  inyolyed  in  its  ruin :  **  Go  ye  forth  of  Babylon,  flee  ye 
from  the  Chaldeans,  with  a  yoioe  of  singing."  Isai  xlyiii,  20.  "  Remoye  out  of 
the  midst  of  Babylon,  and  go  forth  out  of  the  land  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  be  bb 
the  he-goats  before  the  flocks.  For,  lo,  I  #ill  raise  and  cause  to  come  up 
against  Babylon  an  assembly  of  great  nations  fh)m  the  north  counfczy:  and 
they  shall,  set  themseWes  in  array  against  her;  from  thence  she  shall  be 
taken :  their  arrows  shall  be  as  of  a  mighty  expert  man ;  none  shall  return  in 
yain.  And  Chaldea  shall  be  a  spoil :  all  that  gpoil  her  shall  be  satisfied,  saith 
the  Lord."  Jer.  1,  8-10. 

3.  The  melancholy  consequences  to  the  city  of  its  second  siege  under  Darius. 
—Of  the  city  that  said,  "I  shall  not  sit  as  a  widow,  neither  shall  I  know  the 
loss  of  children,"  the  prophet  of  God  declared,  "  These  two  things  shall  oome  to 
thee  in  a  moment,  in  quo  day,  the  loss  of  children,  and  widowhood :  they  shall 
come  upon  thee  in  their  perfection."  Isa.  xlrii,  9.  The  manner  in  which  this 
was  ftilfiUed  is  manrellous.  Herodotus  says,  that  when  Darius  inyested  the 
place,  determined  to  husband  their  proyisions,  ".they  took  this  measure, — 
excepting  their  mothers,  eyery  man  chose  from  his  family  the  female  whom  he 
liked  best:  the  remainder  were  all  of  them  assembled  together  and  strangled. 
Their  reserye  of  one  woman  was  to  bake  their  bread ;  the  rest  were  destroyed,  to 
preyent  a  famine." — Thalia^  cap.  cl.  Thus  did  *'  the  loss  of  children  and  widow- 
hood "  oome  on  them  in  all  their  "  perfection  in  one  day." 

YL  We  notice  some  of  the  propheaes  which  declared  the  Ml  and  flnal  min 
oi  Babylon. 

"  Come  down,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  0  yirgin  daughter  of  Babylon,  sit  on  the 
ground."  Isa.  xlyii,  1.  "  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of  the 
Chaldees'  excellency,  shall  be  as  when  God  oyerthrew  Sodom  and  GomorraL  It 
shall  neyer  be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  genera> 
tioA:  neither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there;  neither  shall  the  shepherds 


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APPBITDIX.  565 

make  their  fold  there.  But  wild  beaete  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there ;  and  their 
housed  shall  be  Aill  of  doleftd  creatures ;  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs 
shall  dance  there.  And  the  wild  beasts  0/  the  islahds  shall  cry  in  their  desolate 
houses,  and  dragons  in  their  pleasant  palaces :  and  her  time  is  near  to  oonre, 
and  her  days  shall  not  be  prolonged.'^  Isa.  ziii,  19-22.  **  I  will  rise  up  against 
them,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  cut  off  from  Babylon  the  name,  and  remnant, 
and  son,  and  nepheW,  sarth  the  Lord.  1  will  also  make  it  a  possession  for  the 
bittern,  and  pools  of  water :  and  I  will  sweep  it  with  the' besom  of  destruction, 
taith  the  Lord  of  hosts.''  Isa.  xIt,  22,  23.  "Because  of  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  it 
shall  not  be  inhabited,  but  it  shall  be  wholly  desolate :  every  one  that  goeth  by 
Babylon  shall  be  astonished,  and  hiss  at  all  her  plagues.  How  is  the  hammer  of 
the  whole  earth  cut  asunder  and  broken !  how  is  Babylon  become  a  desolation 
among  the  nations !  Call  together  the  archers  against  Babylon :  -.  all  ye  that' 
bend  the  bow,  camp  against  it  round  about ;  let  none  thereof  escape :  recom- 
pense her  according  to  her  wgrk :  according  to  all  that  she  hath  done,  dO  unto 
her :  for  she  hath  been  proud  against  the  Lord,  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. 
Therefore  the  wild  beasts  of  the  desert ,with  the  wild  beasts  of  the  islands  shall 
dwell  there,  and  the  owls  shall  dwell  therein :  and  it  shall  be  no  more  inhabited 
fbreyer ;  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation.  As  6ed 
OYerthrew  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  the  neigbouring  cities  thereof,  saith  the  Loid ; 
so  shall  no  man  abide  there,  neither  shall  any  son  of  man  dwell  therein."  Jer. 
1,  18,  23,  29,  39,  40.  *«  0  thou  that  dwellest  upon  many  waters,  ab<lndant  in 
treasures,  thibe  end  is  come,  and  the  measure  of  thy  ooTetousness.  And  they 
shall  not  take  of  thee  A  stone  for  a  comer,  nor  a  stone  for  foundations ;  but  thou 
shalt  be  desolate  foroTor,  saith  th^  Lord.  And  the  land  shall  tremble  and  sor- 
row :  for  eyery  purpose  of  the  Lord  shall  be  performed  against  Babylon,  to  make 
the  .land  of  Babylon  a  desolation  without  an  inhabitant.  And  Babylon  shall 
become  heaps,  a  dwelling-place  for  dragons,  an  astonishment,  and  a  hissing, 
without  an  inhabitant  The  sea  is  come  up  upon  Babylon :  she  is  coyered  with 
the  multitude  of  the  wayes  thereof  Her  cities  are  a  desolation,  a  dry  land,  and 
a  wilderness,  a  land  wherein  no  man  dwelleth,  neither  doth  any  son  of  man  pass 
thereby."  Jer.  li,  13.  26.  29,  |jf,  42,  43. 

The  yast  range  of  prophecy  concerning  this  nation  and  city  has  compelled  us 
to  make  a -selection— and,  considering  their  number,  a  yery  brief  selection — ^from 
these  predictions.  But  sufficient  has  been  adduced  to  show  to  the  most  sceptical 
mind  that  Jehoyah  reigns  in  heayen,  and  rules  among  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  We  see  hei«  proofii  of  eyery  kind,  that  the  rise,  progress,  power,  con- 
quests, decline,  foil,  and  final  ruin  of  this  proud  nation,  were  all  the  results  of 
diyine  appointment ;  that,  arising  out  of  ten  thsusand  operations  of  the  human 
nUnd,  purely  contingent  in  their  character,  the  whole  Ibries  of  Babylonish  his- 
tory which  resulted  from  these  was,  neyertheless,  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
announced  purposes  of  He&yen,  and  thus  attested,  at  eyery  stage  of  its  progress, 
the  infinite  protidenoe  of  the  eternal  Jehoyah. 

Nora  30,  page  219,-^1%*  Tettimony  of  Htrodokt$  rnptOimg  the  Temple  of  Mylitta 

ai  Babylon, 

Mneh  oayil  has  been  raited  against  this  statement  of  the  Father  of  EQstory ; 
some  arguing  on  the  general  ground  of  its  improbability :  and  eyen  Dr.  Layard 
throws  doubts  on  it,  because  we  find  no  indeoent  symbols  on  the  Assyrian  or 
Babylonish  inscriptions.    The  judicious  remarks  of  Larcheir  on  the  place  afford 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


506  APPBKDDL 

«&  ample  reply  to  all  this  aoepticisin :  "  If  this  custom  be  hostile  to  monds,  it  is 
'  no  less  at  yarlanoe  with  modem  usages.  But  that  circumstance  does  not  consti- 
tute a  reason  for  reproaching  Herodotus  as  a  p^inulgator  of  falsehood.  This 
author  had  been  to  Babylon,  and  had  been  an  ocular  witness  of  it.  Jeremiah 
had,  a  century  before,  spoken  of  it  Strabo,  who  is  as  lEaithfiil  an  historian  as 
he  is  an  exact  geographer,  has  subsequently  mentioned  it ;  and  it  would  be  rather 
'  presuming,  were  we,  two  thousand  years  afterward,  to  insinuate  a  doubt  as  to 
the  fiict    But  to  proceed  to  some  details. 

**  I  hare  observed,  in  the  course  of  these  Notes,  that  the  temples  of  the  ancients 
were  not  like  ours.  -  They  comprised  courts,  ^proTos,  pieces  of  water,  sranetimes 
pieces  of  cultivated  land  for  the  support  of  the  priests,  and,  lastly,  the  temple 
properly  so  called,  into  which  no  one  but  th^  priest  could  epter.  The  whole  was 
enclosed  by  a  wall,  and  was  termed  '  the  sacred  place.' 

**  This  brings  me  to  an  ol^eotion  raised  by  Voltaire,  who  remarks,  *  It  must 
certainly  have  been  a  rare  festival,  to  see  crowds  flock  together  to  have  intei^ 
course  before  the  altar  with  the  principal  ladies  of  the  city.' 

**  To  this  it  n^ay  be  answered,  1.  It  apt)ears  from  Herodotus,  that  the  women 
did  not  wait  in  the  temple  properly  so  called.  2.  Our  historian  has  himself 
anticipated  the  oljection  of  Voltaire,  by  saying  that  the  men  took  out  of  the 
consecrated  precinct  the  women  that  pleased  them.  Strabo  affirms  the  same 
thing ;  *  He  has  commerce  with  her,  after  having  taken  her  out  of  the  sacred 
enclosure.' 

"  *3ut,'  continues  Voltaire,  *can  so  infamous  a  practice  have  formed  part  of 
the  civil  policy  of  any  people  ?  Could  the  magistrates  of  one  of  the  greatest 
cities  in  the  world  have  maintained  such  a  regulation  ?  Could  the  husbands 
have  consented  to  the  prostitution  of  their  wives  ?  That  cannot  be  true- which  U 
contrary  to  nature.' 

"  This  shameiful  practice  was,  in  all  probability,  established  among  the  Baby- 
lonians before  they  became  a  civilized  people.  It  became  afterward  a  point  of 
theif  religion.  The  magistrates,  as  superstitious  as  the  rabble,  would  have 
esteemed  it  a  crime  to  abolish  it:  and  the  less  credulpus  among  them  were 
doubtless  restrained  from  an  expression  of  their  o^ion  by  the. force  of  popular 
pr^udice. 

*'  Volture  proceeds  to  insist  on  the  jealousy  of  the  oriental  nations :  but  to 
this  it  mAj  be  answered  in  his  own  words,  '  Superstition  reconciles  9II  sorts  of 
contradictions.' 

"Jeremiah  clearly  enough  alludes  to  this  custom  in  the  letter  which  he  irrites 
to  the  Jews,  who  were  about  to  be  led  captive  to  Babylon.  Baruch  vi,  42,  4S. 
By  these  women  encircle^  with  cords,  we  may  understand  those  whoi,  as  Herodo- 
tus relates,  sat  in  the  alleys  of  the  sacred  precinct,  enclosed  with  cords :  or  per- 
haps the  prophet  meant  to  say,  that  their  heads  were  bound  with  cords,  as  both 
Strabo^  and  Herodotus  assert. 

"But,  however  this  may  be,  I  know  of  no  historical  fact  that  appears  better 
established,  or  which  we  have  less  reason  to  doubt."— Xarcii^'«  NoUt  on  Beroi- 
otMff,  vol.  i^  pp.  245,  246. 


Note  31,  page  ^l^.-^Whdt  tpa$the1rtu  PrimipU  tmd  Mkammg  of  I 
Worship  f 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  arrive  at  a  clear  and  distinct  idea  of  the  purpose 
and  intention  of  those  who  introduced,  and  continued  to  practise,  the  worship  of 


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APPBNBIX  567 

the  heaytely  bodies.  If  the  opinion  of  Mr,  Faber,  quoted  in  the  text,  may  be 
depended  on,  the  case  is  snfficiently  intelligible.  The  quotation  from  Maimonides, 
howeyer,  giyen  in  another  yolnme,  (Patriait;hal  Age,  p.  236,)  would  lead  to  a 
different  conclusion ;  namely,,  that  God  had.  created  the  heayenly  bodies,  to  act 
as  his  agents  or  ministers  in  the  goyemment  of  the  world ;  and  that  hence 
they  w«re  regarded  with  idolatrous,  deyotion ; — ^the  error  of  Sabsaanism  being, 
according  to  this  theory,  the  attributing  to  the,  agent  or  minister  the  posses- 
sion of  intelligent  and  independent  powef^s,  which  reside  alone  in  the  great 
Creator. 

In  deciding  this  question,  howeyer,  we  must  not  forget  that  the  Chaldseans, 
who  are  .oyer  celebrated  for  the  worship  of  the  heayenly  bodies,  are  equally 
funous  for  their  knowledge  and  practice  of  astrology ;  and  that  this  waiis  made 
by  them  the  means  of  unrayelling  mysteries,  and  of  foretelling  future  eyents. 
nils  science,  therefore,'  In  its  profession,  would  be  a^  fathoming  of  those  powers 
with  which  the  iieayenly  bodies  were  supposed  to  be  imyested ;  and  the  power 
of  so  calculating  the  result  of  their  combined  influences  as  to  be  abld  to  penetrate 
the  secrets  of  their  goyemment,  and  thus  to  elicit  a  knowledge  of  future  eyents. 
It  is  probable  that  both  these  solutions  hold  good  in  respect  of  different. cases. 
In  respect  of  Assyiia  and  Babylon,  we  incline  to  the  opinion  that  both  of  these 
were  combined  in  the  formation  of  their  system  of  the  worship  of  the  heayenly 
bodies,  and  of  astrology.  But  whether  Mr.  Faber  has  succeeded  in  detecting  and 
explaining  the  cause?  which  led  to  the  origination  of  astrolo^,  or  otherwise^  it 
is  certain  that  his  representation  accords  with  the  latest  manifestation  of  it.  In 
the  last  days  of  Paganism  it  was  currently  belieyed  that  the  heayenly  bodies  were 
animated  and  directed  by  certain  deified  mortals.  Even  Philo  yentured  to  adopt 
a  philosophical  notion  almost  amounting  to  this ;  and  Origen  was  induced  to 
assent  to  his  opinion.  (Faber's  Origin  of  Pagan  Idolatry,  yol.  i,  p.  '32,  and  note.) 

Nprx  32,  .page  216.— 2%«  ^ftyrton  Triad. 

Much  additional  infbrmation  may  be  expected  on  this  recondite  subject,  when 
we  come  to  inyestigate  the  religion  of  the  Persians.  They  adopted  and  expanded 
the  same  symbol;  and  as  they  unquestionably  receiyed  it  from  their  more 
ancient  neighbours,  the  Assyrians,  and  haye  left  us  much  more  ample  accounts 
respecting  their  religious  rites  than  that  people,  we  may  calculate  on  .receiting 
through  them  further  light  on  the  subject.  But  it  seems  certain,  that  the 
earliest  Gentile  fragments  which  we  possess  contain  allusions  to  the  elements 
found  in  this  symbol.  We  are  told  in  the  remains  of  Sanchoniatho  which  haye 
been  preseryed  by  Eusebiiis,  that  "  before  these  things  the  gOd  Tauutus,  baring 
portrayed  Ouranus,  represented  also  the  countenances  of  the  gods  Cronus  and 
Dagon,  and  the  sacred  characters  of  the  elements.  He  contriyed  also  for  Cronus 
the  ensign  of  his  royal  power,  haring  four  eyes  in  the  parts  before,  and  }n  the 
parts  behind,  two  of  them  closli^  as  in  sleep ;  and  upon  the  shoulders  four 
wings,  ijro  in  the  act  of  flying,  and  two  reposing  aa  at  rest.  And  the  symbol  of 
Cronus,  while  he  slept,  was  watching,  and  reposed  while  he  was  awake.  And  in 
like  manner  with  respect  to  the  wings, — ^that  he  was  flying  while  he  rested ;  yet 
rested  while  he  flew.  But  for  the  other  gods,  there'  were  two  wings  only  to 
each  upon  his  shoulders,  to  intimate  that  they  flew  under  the  control  Of  Cronus; 
and  there  were  also  two  wings  upon  the  head — the  one  as  a  symbol  of  the 
intellectual  part,  the  mind,  and  the  other  for  the  senses."— ^Pr«p.  Evang.,  lib.  1, 
cap.  10.    This  ancient  extract  renders  it  certain  that  it  had  become  usual  to 


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568  APPSNDIX. 

depict  emblematic  representations  of  t^e  deities ;  and  tliat  Cronus,  or  lime, 
was  more  partioolarly  and  prominently  set  forth  in  connexion  with  expanded 
wings. 

Nont  83,  page  2ia— 75U  ChirMm  ttfEiukid,  omd  their  ROmthk  to  tki  nn^utmi 
Fig%iru^f  the  Jitiyrum  Sculptutu, 

The  hypothesis  of  Dr.  Layard— that  Eiekiel,  being  well  acquainted  with  the 
Assyrian  figures,  i^oee  these  forms  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  an  imagery 
familiar  to  his  fellow-captiTes  in  Assyria— is  so  yeiy  extrayagant,  that  it  calls 
for  special  notice. 

In  t(he  first  place,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  either  Kzekiel,  or  the  other  Jew- 
ish captiTes,  were  well  acquainted  with  the  gorgeous  sculptures  found  in  the  rt^yal 
palaces  of  the  great  dties^of  Assyria.  They  were  located,  it  is  true,  on  the  riyer 
Chebar,  (now  Khaboor^  which  runs  through  the  western  part  of  Mesopotamia, 
and  foils  into  the  Euphrates  at  KarkUia,  the  Carchemish  of  Holy  Scripture. 
Nineyeh,  then  in  ruins,  was  one  hundred  English  miles  distant,  and  Babylon 
aboTe  three  hundred.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  country  towns,  there  might  haye 
been  imitations  of  these  figures  on  a  smaller  scale :  but  certainly  the  fact  is  not 
so  clear  ba  to  allow  of  its  being  made  the  foundation  of  an  argument. 

But,  howeyer  this  may  be,  the  hypothesis' alluded  to  iff  utterly  untenable  ;  for 
'  neither  J^zekiel  nor  the  other  prophets  composed  their  sublime  discourses  in  a 
spirit,  of  cool,  calculating  accommodation  to  the  circumstances  and  yiews  ef  those 
to  whom  they  were  immediately  addressed ;  but  rather,  borne  along  by  the  Holy 
Ghostk  they  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  that  diyine  agent  (Hebrew  People,  p. 
586.)  And  in  this  particular  instance  such  was  peculiarly  the  case.  The  prophet ' 
opens  his  book  abruptly  with'  the  declaration :  **  Now  it  came  to  pass  in  the 
thirtieth  year,  in  the  fourth  month,  in  the  fifth  day  of  the  month,  as  I  was 
among  the  captiyes  by  the  riyer  of  Chebar,  that  the  heayens  were  opened,  and 
I  saw  yisions  of  Ck)d.".  Surely  one  who  has  dome  so  much  toward  the  eluci- 
dation of  sacred  history  as  Dr.  Layard,  does  not  mean  to  say  that  this  is  mers 
poetic  imsgery,  carefully  contriyed  preyiously  in  the  mind  of  the  prophet,  and 
specially  adapted  to  the  case  of  those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded*  And  this  is 
the  manner, — or,  if  possible,  with  increased  solemnity  and  the  assertion  of 
more  special  reyelation— in  which  the  prophet  records  the  account  of  his  yision : 
**  The  word  of  the  Ijord  came  expressly  unto  Eze^iel  the  priest:  and  the  hand 
^  the  Lord  was  there  upon  him.  And  I  looked,  and,  behold*  a  whirlwind  came 
out  of  the  north,"  &c.  Esek.  i,  ,1-4.  Then  follows  the-  account  of  the  cherubic 
appearances.  Afterward  the  prophet  states  that  "  he  was  carried  in  the  yisions 
of  Qod  to  Jerusalem,''  and  that  th^  he  saw  the  same  glorious  appearances 
which  he  had  seen  on  the  ban^KS  of  the  Chebar.  In  the  process  of  the  wonderfol 
reyelations  that  followed,  Ezekiel*  who,  as  #  priest  must  haye  been  well 
acquainted  with  the  interior  of  the  Hebrew  temple,  and  consequentiy  with  the 
form  of  the  eherubic  figures,  says,  **  I  knew  tiiat  they  were  the  ehenUnnu," 
Etek.  X,  20. 

It  is  dear,  then,  fh>m  the  whole  ecope  of  the  sulgect  that  the  forms  presoited 
to  the  eye  of  the  prophet  were  the  results  of  pure  reyelation ;  that  he  knew  they 
were  cherubim,  from  their  identity  with  the  figures  seen  in  the  temple ;  and 
that  their  resemblance  to  the  Assyrian  sculptures  could  only  arise  out  of  the 
likeness  of  both  to  the  primitiye  Edenic  cherubim,  the  form  of  wiiioh  had  been 
preseryed  throughout  the  patriarchal  age. 


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APPIHDIX.  669 

Jfon  Z4^  pa0B  220.— Imitad'ofif  of  Paradue  attaekt^  to  th€  royal  PalaetB  of  the 

jSuyrian  Kingt, 

It  hu  been  already  skoirn  that  the  dUferent  aadent  Qentile  nationi^,  when 
leatteied  oTer  the  fitoe  of  the  eartif,  appointed  and  preserred,  in  oonnexion.  with 
their  temples  or  sacred  places,  gardens,  with  two  trees  in  the  midst;  and  having 
a  riyer  frequently  divided  into  fonr  streams, 'in  imitation,  or. as  memorials,  of 
the  primitiye  Paradise.  (Patriarohal  Age,  pp.  129^131.)  And  if  (as  we*  know  to 
haye  been  the  case)  this  was  done  in  Spain,  Epirns,  Campania,  and  other  places 
fkr  remote  fh»m  the  seat  of  the  earliest  postdilnyian  population ;  what  may  be 
expected  firom  those  who,  locating  at  Shinar,  or  settling  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris,  would  have  no  temptation — scarcely,  indeed,  the  opportunity-- ^to  throw 
off  the  recoHeotions  and  associations  arising  out  of  the  primitiyd  history  of  man- 
kind, which  had  been  instilled  into  their  minds  by  the  patriarchs  ? 

To  say  the  least  of  these  fiwts,  they  lead  us  to  expect  to  find  some  paradisiacal 
enoloBures  in  Chaldna  and  Assyria,  rather  than  the  reyerse.  This  expectation 
is  juatified  by  the  statement  in  the  text  But  it  is  important  that  the  certainty 
of  the  allusiye  or  memorial  character  of  these  paradises  should  be  fUly  estab- 
lished.   I  will  attempt  this  as  fully  as  the  limits  of  a  note  will  allow. 

In  the  first  instance,  we  may  cBrect  attention  tojkhe  name  given  to  these  places, 
Paradige,  This  is  not  a  native  Greek  term  fbr  *'  garden,  shrubbery,  or  park.'' 
It  is  of  oriental  origin ;  and,  as  far  as  I  can  leam,  was  introduced  into  Grecian 
^terature  by  Xenophon,  who  mentioned  it  as  the  name  applied  to  the  grounds 
attached  to  the  residence  of  the  Persian  king.  "  Here  Cyrus  had  a  palace,  and  a 
large  paradUtt  full  of  wild  beasts,  which  he  hunted  on  horseback,  when  he  wished 
to  exercise  both  himself  and  his  horses.  And  the  river  Meeander  flows  through 
the  midst  of  th^  paradise ;  the  springs  of  it  come  out  of  the  palace,  and  it  flows 
through  the  city  of  CelsBnee."  Was  this  done  without  design  ?  The  palace  built 
near  the  fountftin  which  fed  the  river,  and  flowed  from  the  residence  of  the  king 
into  the  midst  of  the  paradise,  and  from  thence  into  the  city : — ^is  there  not  here 
a  studied  imitation  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  ?  Had  Ezekiel  any  reference  to  these 
local  paradises,  when  he  said  to  the  king  of  Tyre  ? — *'  Thou  sealest  up  the  sum, 
ftall  of  wisdom,  and  perfect  in  beauty.  Thou  hast  been  in  Eden  the  garden  of 
God."  Ezek.  zxviii,  12, 13.  Or  had  the  prophet  reference  to  the  primitive  para- 
dise, and  to  thf  imitations  of  it 'remaining  in  the  land  of  his  oaptirity,  when  he 
gaye  his  beauliAil  description  of  the  river  of  God,  which  flowed  fh)m  the  right 
side  of  the  altar,  and  **  issued  out  from  under  the  threshold"  of  the  temple ;  as 
the  river  flowed  from  the  sacred  residence  of  the  oriental  monarch  to  irrigate  his 
paradise,  and  thence  ran  through  the  city?  Esek.  xlvii,  1. 

The  Greek  word  UapddEiaoc,  **  Paradise,^  comes  from  an  oriental  root,  proba- 
bly the  Persic.  But  an  equivalent  Hebrew  term  is  found  in  Several  texts  in  the 
Old  Testament  Nehem.  ii,  9;  Eccles.  ii,  5 ;  Canticles  iy,  13.  In  the  first  of 
these  passages  it  is  rendered,  in  our  authorized  version,  **  forests-:"  in  the  two 
following,  **  orchards." 

Thus  stood  the  ease  in  a  philological  point  of  view,  when  the  translation  of  the 
Seventy  Was  begun.  These  men,  Ailly  versed  in  Hebrew  literature  and  oriental 
learning,  and  possessing  a  perfect  acquuntance  with  Greek,  proceeded  to  render 
the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  intp  the  Greek  tohgue,  and  came  in  due 
course  to  the  text  which  states  that  **  the  Lord  God  planted  a' garden  eastward  in 
Eden.  In  what  terms  do  they  give  this  passage  ?  They  had  the  Greek  word, 
K^oct  "  a  garden  or  plantation," — ^whioh  had  been  in  use  by  their  best  writer* 


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570  APPUDIXi 

from  the  days  of  Homer,— and  other  cognate  expressions.  Not  one  of  them,  hoir- 
erer,  is  employed  to  designate  in  the  Greek  language  the  primlti-re  Pandise; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  the  newly  imported  word  ftim  Persia,  or  that  used  so 
sparingly  by  the  writers  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptnresi,  rondeved.  into  Gveek  letters, 
is  adopted  and  employed  for  this  purpose.  This  in  itaelf  is  a  oivrioua  and  im- 
portant philological  fact 

But  the  extnundinary  aspeet  of  the  <:aee  does  not  termiBtto  here.  This  is  the 
werd  used  by  our  lUdeemer  to  denote  the  separate  abode  of  happy  redeemed 
spirits.  Luke-  xxiii,  43.  The  inspired  apostle  employed  this  tem  to  designate 
that  state  of  glory  in  the  third  heayen,  to  which  his  rapt  spirit  was  taken  by  the  . 
mighty  power  of  God :  and,  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  the  ssme  word  is  emr 
ployed  in  the  Apocalypse  to  set  forth  that  glorious  antitype  ef  the*eartUy  Edeii» 
where  the  true  and  spiritual  "  tree  of  life"  stands  **in  the  midst  of  the  para- 
dise of  God."  Rev*  ii,  7. 

I  do  not  wish  to  attach  undue  importance  to  any  isolated  fact,'  muoh  less  to  aoy 
opinion  of  my  own.  But  I  submit  it  to  the  serious  judgment  of  OTery  one  who  holds 
the  inspired  character  of  Holy  Scripture,  whether  the  plain  statement  of  fiuts 
giyen  aboye  does  not  clearly  identify  the  royal  gardenrUke  enclosures  of  eastern 
monarchs  as  memorial  imitations  of  the  primitiye  Paradise  ?  On  what  othei-  prin- 
ciple ead  the  Septuagint  use  of  the  term,  and  the  New  Testamei^  adoption  of  it,  be 
accounted  for?— to  say  nothing  of  its  obriously  intentional  similarity  in.  ewetj 
essentiiil  feature.  In  the  absence  of  direct  proof,  I  scarcely  think  it  possible  to 
obtain  stronger  inferential  eyidenoe. 

Note  35,  pag&  232.— Babylon  the  T\fpe  of  Papal  jSntickrist. 

In  the  Apocalypse  we  haye  the  following  scriptures :  "  And  great  Babyl<yi 
came  in  remembrance  before  Gk)d,  to  giye  unto  her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the 
fierceness  of  his  wrath."  Bey.  xyi,  19.  **'I  saw  a  woman  sit  upon  a  scarlet 
coloured  beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  haying  seyen  heads  and  ten  horns. 
And  the  woman  was  arrayed  in  purple  and  soarlet  colour,  and  decked  with  gold 
and  precious  stones  and  pearls,  haying  a  golden  cup  in  her  hand  full  of  abomi- 
liations  and  filthiness  of  her  fornication :  and  upon  her  forehead  was  a  name 
written*  MYSTERY,  BABYLON  THE  GREAT,  THE  MOTHER  OF  HARLOTS 
AND  ABOMINATIONS  OF  THE  EARTH.  And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken  with 
the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus :  and  when  I 
saw  her,  I  wondered  with  gj^t  admiration."  Rey.  xyii,  3-6.  **I  saw  an- 
other angel  come  down  from  heayen,  haying  great  power,  and  the  earth  was 
lightened  with  his  glory.  And  he  cried  mightily  with  a  stroQg  yoipe,  sayin|^ 
Babylon  the  great  is -fallen,  is  fallen,  and  is  become  the  habitation  of  deyils,  and 
the  hold  of  eyery  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage  of  eyery  unclean  and  hateful  bird."  Rey. 
.  xTiii,  li  2.  "  Ajid  a  mighty  angel  took  up  a  stone  like  a  great  millstone,  and  cast 
it  into  the  toa^  saying,  Thus  with  yiolence  ^hall  that  great  city  Babylon  be 
thrown  down,  and  ^all  be  found  no  more  at  alL"  Verse  21. 

These  predictions,  taken  in  connexion  with^the  general  scope  of  the. book, 
clearly  refer  to  the  great  antichristian  heresy  introduced  and  maintained  by  the 
Romaa  Popedom.  ££E6rt8  haye,  indeed,  beux  made  to  apply  these  pasaages  to 
Pagan  Rome,  and  to  other  heathen  states:  but  these  haye  signally  failed.  In 
addition  to  the  arguments  which  have  been  generally  used  to  rebat  such  aUega- 
tioaa,  it  may  be  oonolusiyely  observed,  that  the  chuge  against  this  Babylon  is 
not  idolati^,  or  cruel  paraeoutian»  merely.    This  might  hare  been  alleged  against 


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APPIEHDDL  671 

other  heathen  naiioni;  atf  a^aln^Pftgui  Rcone.  The  gMat  aJlegation  here  is 
whoredom,  frmteakoH :  th«  state  urndgned  is  tlu  MoUur  of  HarloU,  Now,  in  the 
spiritual  sense  in  which  these  terms  are'nsed  in  the  prophetic  fieriptues,  they 
aimply  mean  apoetAsj.  Moab  and  Ammon,  Tyre,  Egypt*  and  DamaseuB,  were 
threatened  and  doomed  to  ndn  by  the  Old  Testament  prophets;  but  they  were 
not' charged  with  spkitual  wh<kredom ;  and  for  this  obrioos  reason,---they-  were 
not  by  pednlte  reUgionS  piivUege  ealled'  into  a  speeial  eoyenant  relation  to 
Jehorah.  these  did  not,  therefore,  aTow  their  detotedness,  and  pledge  their 
fealty  to  him,  ss  their  spiritnaL  Lofd.  Bat  Jndah  «and  Israel,  who  wero  esponind 
nnto  the  Lord,  and  afterward  relapsed  into  idolatry,  an  charged  in  the  Scrip* 
tares  with  spiritual  aduHeiy  in  the  strongest  terms.  It  (s  so  here.  The  laagasfps 
quoted  amounts  dearly  to  a  charge  of  the  meet  vile  and  agprayaled  apostasy. 

The  question  to  be  settled,  then,  does  not  so  mnoh  respect  the  means  and  ezteat 
to  which  Papal  Rome  has  exposed  heraelf  to  the  impotstion  of  this  character, 
and  its  consequent  malediction ;  but  is  rather, — ^What  was  there  so  peculiar  in 
ancient  Babylon,  that  it,  aboye  erery  other  heathen  nation,  was  made  a  standiiig^' 
type  of  the  great  New  Testament  apostasy?  I  will  endeayour  to  answer  this 
inquiry,,  and  thus  afford  a  brief  comparison  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament 
Babykn. 

i.  The  apostasy  at  fihinar  began  with  a  profession  of  adyancing  religion,  and 
was  carried  out  by  a  most  carefhl  attention  to  all  the  rites,  sacred  things,  and 
consecrated  practices  of  that  dispensation. 

The  first  clause  of  this  statement  has  Hen  suffieiently  established  in  tho  Pr^ 
liminary  Dissertation :  the  second  and  third  are  maniftst  ftom  the  whole  scope 
of  tMs  religion.  Let  the  reader  consider  how  exact  and  comprehensiye  the 
attention  to  primitive  history  and  early  religion  must  hayo  been,  when  its  results 
wei«  so  permanently  impressed  on  the  thith  and  practice  of  Assyria  and  Babylon' 
for  twenty  centuries.  Sacred  places,  persons,  and  things, — ^Paradise,  with  the 
tree  of  life,  and  all  their  accompanying  emblems, — the  cherubic  figures,  in  en^ 
less  yariety,— were  all  carefully  treasured  up  as  the  means  of  spreading  before 
the  public  eye  the  elements  of  religion. 

Was  not  this  eminently  the  case  with  the  Papal  apostasy?  Here  is  the  i 
attention  to  extepial  things,  the  sam^  yeneration  fbr  ancient  emblems,  the  i 
risible  and  tangible  religious  matirUl 

2.  The  apostasy  at  ancient  Babylon  was  established  by  the  union  in  one  person 
of  the  religious  and  political  goyemment  of  the  country,  with  a  claim  to  extend 
its  power  throughout  t^e  w6rld. 

litis  was  unquestionably  the  fact.  It  stands  attested  by  eyery  page  of  Assyrian 
and  Chaldsean  history.  The  palaoe^temples,  or  templ^palacee,— the  oidinaiices 
of  goyemment, — and  the  cool  and  familiar  manner  in  which  projects  for  the 
inyasion  of  peaceful  and  unofTei^ding  nations  were  put  forth,  and  executed,— all 
show  that  this  claim  to  politico-religious  uniyersal  dominion  was  not  an  accident 
sometimes  occurring,  btlt  a  ruling  characteristic  of  this  goyemment 

It  is  so  at  Rome.  Earthly  goyemment  and  religious  Supremacy  centre  in  one 
mind :  although  Christ  said,  **  My  king(%)m  is  not  of  this  world,"  the  Papacy 
unites  both.  And  if  this  political  rule  is  not  folt  throughout  the  whole  world, 
it  is  well  known  that  the  hinderanee  does  not  arise  fr6m  the  limitation  of 
pOntiif  pretension,  but  from  what  is  called  '**the  heresy  arid  disobedience  of 
nnfkithftil  states.'^ 

8.  The  grand  element  in  the  apostasy  of  Babylon  was  the  claim- to  diyinify 
which  was  set  up  by  the  king,  as  the  promised  incarnate  Seed. 


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572  APPBHDIZ. 

This  fact  is  Mlj  altoeted,  so  fiw  M.tlie  elaim  to  <finBitj  is  conoerned.  Tha 
manner  in  whidi  tha  claim  to  identity  with  the  Diviae  Son  was' put  forUi  m  liot 
so  folly  explained.  In  the  case  of  one  king  of  Babylon,  it  was  undoubtedly 
unqualified  and  absolute.  F^bably,  in,  other  instanoes,  it  was  %  claim  to  be  the 
▼ioegerent,  or  earthly  representatiye,  ot  this  diTine  person. 

We  hieiye  this,  too,  at  Bome.  Aeoofrding  to  Papal  language,  God  upon  earth 
sits  enthroned  at  the  Vatican.  Dirine  powers  afe  professedly  exercised,  and 
divine  aets  are  there  ostensibly  perfonaed. 

Our  limits  oompel  us  to  great  breyity.  But  we  may  ask  with  oonfidence,-T 
Do  the. extenaiTe  range  of  history,  the  world-^de  geography  of  earth,  afford- 
another  such. psjpaUel?  Other  naUons  have  followed  Babylon:  other  Churches 
haye,  in  the  mosi unaocountable  manner,  iiHitated  Borne:  but  these  two  powers 
stand  out  as  the  bold  and  daring  briginatorq  of  parallel  apostasies,  which,  in 
their  respectiye  times,  have  perverted  truth,  propagated  error,  and  cursed  the 
world  with  perseoutioi^  and  bloodshed,  beyond  any  other  evil  known  to  mankind. 
Here  they  stand,  type  aind  antitype,  as  pencilled  out  by  the  revelation  of  God, — 
alike  in  sin,— to  be  aUke  in  ruin. 

Nora  36,  page  24tS»^^The  Tinu  of  Jnarchy,  and  the  Jepnawn  ofDejoett, 

The  chronology 'of  this  nation,  from  the  period  of  its  revolt,  is  universally 
allowed  to  be  one  of  the  most  obscure  and  perplexing  to  be  found  in  history.  It 
is  clear  that  the  revolt  of  Media  cou|i  not  have  taken  place  before  711  K  C. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  an  admitted  fiaot  that  Xerxes  ascended  the  throne  K  C. 
486 ;  and  that  there  were  at  least  eight  reigns  firom  the  accession  of  D^ocea  to 
that  of  the  son  of  Darius,  and  that  these  occupied  at  least  two  hundred  and 
sixteen  years :  so  that  the  accession  of  D^ooes  cannot  be  brought  lower  than 
701  Bb  d  The  entire  margin  for  discrepancy  or  discussion  is  thus  reduced  to 
ten  years. 

One  impjortant  element  in  the  ac^ustment  of  the  chroiVDlogy  of  tl^ese  reigns  ap- 
pears to  have  been  generally  overlooked, — ^namely,  the  period  which  elapsed  f^-cm 
the  begiiining  of  the  revolt  to  the  reign  of  Dcyooes.  Clinton  very  properly  states, 
"Herodotus,  Indeed,  implies  an  interval  of  *8ome  space  between  the  revolt  of  the 
Modes,  and  the  election  of  Dejoces  to  be  king." — Fasti  MeUenici,  voL  i,  p.  259.  But 
this  learned  author  is  clearly  unwarranted  in  the  assertion,  that  "these  amd 
aB(UflXevT9i  oould  not  have  been  prior  to  the  fifty-three  years  of  Dejoces."  The 
contrary  is  as  deary  implied  by  the  ancient  historian,  as  is  the  interval  itselt 
He  aays,  "  The  Medes  first  of  all  revolted  from  their  authority,"  (the  Assyrians,) 
"  and  eoatended  with  such  obstinate  bravery  against  their  masters  that  they 
welre  ultimately  successful,  and  exchanged  servitude  for  fireedom.  Other  nations 
soon  followed  their  example,  who,  after  living  for  a  time  under  the  protection  of 
their  own  laws,  were  again  deprived  ,of  their  freedom  on  the  following  occasion. 
There  was  a  man  among  the  Medes  of  the  name  of  Dejoces,  of  great  reputation 
for  his  wisdom,"  $m, — Clio,  cap.  95,  96.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  reasonably  sup- 
posed that  the  time  of  the  struggle  for  liberty,  and  th^  period  in  which  it  was 
ei^joyed,  can  be  included  in  tha  reign  of  the  man  who  is  said  by  the  writer  to 
have  agatA  deprived  them  of  their  liberty.  I  have  therefore  placed  the  begin- 
ning of  the  revolt  B.  C.  710,  allowing  nine  years  to  elapse  from  thenoe  to  the  ao- 
cession  of  D^oces.  This  arrangement  will  place  the  subsequent  reigns  in  perfect 
aocord^ce  with  the  well-asoertaaneddates  which  follow. 


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APPBNBIX.  578 

NoTB  37,  page  247. — Tht  Ptriod  of  SofthianJOommation  aver  Jtia, 

This  Lm  generallj  been  set  down  at  twentj-eight  years,  on  the  authority  of  a 
passage  in  Herodotus.  (Melpomene,  eap.  41.)  But- that  appears  to  be  a  Yvry  un- 
reasonable length  of  time.  After  so  many  years,  they  woold  certainly  haye  set- 
tled in  some  district.  It  is,  therefore,  much  more  probable  that  Trogod  and  Jus- 
tin are  correct,  who  limit  the  period  to  ei^t  years,  and  who  most  likely  obtained 
a  knowledge  of  the  true  period  ih>m  Ctesias. 

This  tenn  also  agreee  much  better  with  the  incident  recorded  by  Herodotus  as 
the  principal  element  in  the  story.  He  'says  that,  during  the  absence  of  the 
Scythians  in  Sytia,  their  wiyes  had  associated  with  their  slaves ;  and  that,  on 
the  return  ef  -the-  Pythian  army,  the  trait  of  .this  Interoourse,  now  grown  to 
manhood,  appeared  in  arins.  to  oppose  its  entry.  Haying  sustained  some  skir- 
mishes with  spirit,  they  felt  prepared  to  continue  the  contest ;  yntil  one  of  the 
Scythians  adyised  that  ikey  should  lay  SJide  their  arms,  and  approach  iheir  op- 
ponents with  horsewhips;  saying,  <^ While  they  see  us  with  arms,  they  think 
tfiemselyes  our  equals  in  birth  and  importance:  but  as  soon  as  they  shall  per- 
ceiye  the  whips  ^l  our  hands,  they  will  be  impressed  with  a  sense. of  their  n^le 
condition,  and  resist  no  longer,^  They  did  so,  and  their  opponents  fled  before 
them.  Now  tlus  romantic  aoiMunt  might  be  applicable  to  slayes  cohabiting  with 
their  mistresses  for  a  fow  years,  but  seems  to  b»  incredible  when  applied  to  men 
who  had  grown  up.  to  n^anhood.  in  fireedom.  In  foot,  other  passages  in  our  author 
ciearly  point  out  the  shorter  numlier  torbe  the  correct  one}  which  is  also  adopted 
and  ably  defended  by  Jackson*    (Gkron.  Antiq.,  yoL  i,  p.  341,  note.) 

^NoTB  38|  pag«  24S.^Chronology  of  Hu  Bct^e  (\f  Thaie$, 

There  has  been  much  mistake  and  cqnfiision  introduced  into  the  accounts  gen- 
erally giyen  of  this  Lydiaa  war.  It  has  been  stated  that  this  war  arose  out  of 
the  massacre  and  ezpjulsion  of  the  Scythians  from  Media ;.  that  it  was  terminated 
by  the  oecfurence  of  the  total  eclipse,  which  had  been  predicted  by  Thales,  ex- 
actly as  the  armies  began  to  engage  in  a  great  and  flnal  struggle ;  and  that,  im- 
jaediately  afterward,  the  siege  of  Nineyeh  was  renewed,  and  the  city  taken,  B.  G. 
606. 

The  first  of  these  statements,  relating  to  the  origin  of  the  war,  is  undonbtedly 
founded  in  fact:  but  the  -order  of  eyents  subsequently  needs  correction.  Br. 
HalevB  has  Mly  proved  that  the  eclipse  predicted  by  Thales  could  not  have  oc- 
curred earlier  than  B.  C.  603.  (Analysis'of  Ancient  Chronology,  yol.  i,  p.  76.)  The 
battle  which  was  terminated  by  it  must,  in  consequence,  have  taken  place  after 
the  fall  of  the  Assyrian  capital. 

It  seems  certain,  therefore,  that  after  the  Ly^lan  war  had  begun,  Cyazeres, 
haying  formed  an  alliance  with  Nabopolassar  king  of  Babylon,  suspended  its  op- 
erations, and  resumed  the  siege  of  Nineyeh ;  and,  haying  succeeded  in  effecting 
the  ruin  of  that  city,  afterward  prosecuted  his  warlike  enterprise  against  Lydia, 
which  led  to  the  remaj^able  ciroumstances  mentioned  in  the  text. 

Norrs  39,  page  249.^  W%d  wutJu**  Darvu  the  3i§de"  of  the  Book  of  Daniel? 

In  the  iiistory  of  a  nation  which  filled  a  yery  brief  space  in  story,  but  which 
neyertheless  abounds  in  historical  and  chronological  difficulties,  this  is  after  all 
the  great  difficulty.  On  its  solution  hinges  the  entire  arrangement  of  the  Telgn8» 
and  the  Judgment  to  be  formed  of  some  of  the  moat  important  dates  of  the  pe- 


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574  APPWDOL 

riod.  The  question  simply  is,  whether  Astjages  was  the  last  king  of  Media, 
who  was  deposed  by  Cyrus ;  or  whether  he  was  snoeeeded  on  the  Median  throne 
by  a  son,  Cyaxai^s  IL,  who  was  **  Parivi  the  Mede,"  and  rated  two  years  in  Bab- 
ylon iflter  the  death  of  Belshassar.  Tbh^  like  many  other  difficulties  of  this  his- 
tory, arises  ont  of  the  diaarepancy  whioh  exists  between  the  statements  of  flero- 
dotus  and  Xenophon,— or  rather  from  the  interpretation  which  learned  modems 
have  pnt  on  the  words  of  these  authors.  Herodptw  states  that  Cyms  inTaded 
Media,  defeated  and  deposed  his  graAd&ther,  and  kept  him  in  prison  nntU  his 
death ;  and  that  this  took  plao»  long  before  the  capture  of  Babylop.  (Oio,  cap. 
180.)  Aooording  to  the  Fafiher  of  Histgiy,  tb«refor^  Astya^^  was  the  last  king 
of  the  Modes,  and  there  is  no  room  for  any  other  Darius ;  while,  aooording  to 
Xenophon,  when  Gyrus  took  Babylon,  his  unele  Cyaxares  IL,  son  of  Attyagea, 
reigned  in  Media.  It  is  therefore  oontended  on  the  one  hand  1^  the  authors  of 
the  **  Universal  Hutory,"  Dr.  Hales,  Dr.  PrldesAX,  send  BoUin,  that  Astyages  was 
succeeded  by  a  son,  Cyazares  II.,  who  was  the  Darius  of  the  Book  of  Daniel; 
while  the  Abbd  Millot,  Lempriere,  Jackson,  Malcfrfmn,  and  Dr.  Busael  hold  that 
Astyages  was  the  last  Median  soyere^^,  and  in  consequence  the  person  spoken 
of  as  **  Darius  the'  Mode  "  by  the  'Hebrew  prophet 

I  have  been  compelled  to  adopt  the  la8t-mentioi)ed  theory,  both  from  its  general 
accordance  with  the  scope  of  history,  ^Bd  the  eridonoe  by  which  it  is  supported. 
On  the  firA  head,  the  readei'  will  fonn  the  best  opinion  by  a  comparison  of  the 
scTeral  chapters  bearing  on  the  history  of-  this  age.  In  respectof  the  authorilj 
of  the  conflicting  authors,  it  may  be  saftly  affirmed  in  the  language  of  iJlie  JLbbi6 
MiUot,  that  Senophon'sOyropedia  is  plaiidy  the  work  of  a  philosopher  zather 
than  of  an  historian, — k  kind  of  moral  and  political  romance :  and  eyen  his  Gyro- 
psedia  is  inyalidated  (m  regard  of  this  su^ect)  by  his  history  of  the  Expedition 
of  Cyrus  the  Younger,  where  he  says  tbiat  the  great  Cyrus  got  possesrion  of  the 
empire  of  Media  by  gaining  a  riotory  oyer  his  grandfather  Astyages, — a  state- 
ment in  accordance  with  the  histories  of  Herodotus  and  Ctesias.  (Qeneral  His- 
tory, yd  i,  p.  92.)  Clinton  coincides  in  this  judgment,  declaring,  "  In  ih»  nana- 
tiye  of  Xenophon,  where  historical  facts  are  mingled  with  romance,  the  true 
chronology  of  the  reign  of  Astyages  is  not  obseryed.^' — FtuH  HetUmei,  yol.  i, 
p.  268,  note  i. 

"^he  indefatigable  Jackson  has,  howeyer,  placed  before  us  a  condensaUon  of 
.the  evidence  on  this  subject,  which  must  be  conclusiye :  *'No  ancient  historian 
or  Qreek  writer,  besides  Xenophon,  whose  credit  is  questioned  by  Plato  and 
CSioero,  appears  to  have  known  anything  of  this  Cyaxares :  and  all  i^gree  that  Asty- 
ages was  the  last  king  of  the  Medes,  who  was  dethroned  by  Cyrus,  and  succeeded 
by  him  in  the  Median  kingdom:  so  that  we  may  conclude  that  the  second 
Qraxares  is  a  merely  fictitious  king,  and  that  Darius  the  Mode  was  another 
person.  Herodotus  says  that  Astyages  left  no  son ;  and  Ctesias  agreed  with 
Hexpdotus,  that  Astyages  was  not  sacceeded  in  the  Median  kingdom  by  a  son; 
but  was  conquered  and  d.epriyed  of  his  kingdom  by  Cyrus :  nor  does  even  Xeno- 
phon say  that  Cyaxares  ever  reigned  at  Babylon;  so  that,  by  even  Xenophon's 
account,  Cyaxares  could  not  be  Darius  the  Mede.  The  ancient  Jewish  ffistoiy 
of  Bel  and  the  Dragon,  says,  that  Cyrus  succeeded  Astyages,  and  JEschylus 
makes  Qyrus  the  third  kiag>  from  that  king  of  the  Medes  who  took  Snsa,  and 
oenquered  Persia;  and  ha-iru Cyaxares  the  father  of  Astyages;  and  so  Cyrus 
mutt  succeed  Astyages  in  the  Persian  and  Median  kingdoms.  Dionysius  of  Hali- 
eamassussaysy  that  the  Median  kingidom  was  destroyed  under  the  fi;>urth  king: 
the  four  kings  were  Dctiooes,  Phraprtes,  Cyaxares,  and  Astyages :  so  he  knew 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBKDIX.  676 

nothing  of  «h«  seooBd  CyazAres.  Dinon  in  his  Penio  History  nlated,  that  Cyrus 
made  #ar  upon  Astyages.  Diodonis  says,  that  Cyrus  oonqnered  and  deposed 
Astyages.  Plato  and  Aristotle  agree  in  the  same  relation :  and  so  do  Strabo  and 
others,  and  with  them  Afiicanas,  Eusebius,  and  other  Christian  writ6rs.  Lastly, 
it  was  foretold  by  Jeremiah,  (chap,  xxy,  25,)  that  the  Median  kingdom  should 
be  destroyed  befbre  the  fall  of  the  Babylonian  empire ;  but  which  was  not  true 
If  Cyaxares,  son  of  Astyages,  was  king  of  Media  when  Babylon  was  taken  by 
Cyrus;  and  it  is  certain  ^at  the  Modes  were  never  conquered  unless  by  Cyrus, 
when  he  dethroned  Astyages;  and  all  historians  agree  that  this  was  seTeral 
years  before  the  taking  of  Babylon.  It  is,  therefor^,  clear  and  undoubted,  that 
the  Cyaxares  of  Xenophon  was  not  Darius  the  Mode,  nor  king  of  Media.''— 
Chron.  Antiq.,  voL  i,  pp.  411,  412. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  add,  that  the  term  '*  Darius''  was  not  a  Median  proper 
name,  but  a  title,  Darawtsh,  **  King."  As  used  by  the  prophet  Daniel,  theveAMne, 
It  simply  means  "the  king  of  Media."  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  oldest 
extant  cq^s,  Dortet^  which  are  supposed  to  hare  been  made  in  the  reign  of -^he 
last  king  of  Media,  bear  a  name  precisely  similar  to  that  of  our  principal  gold 
coinage.  They  were  from  the  royal  title  called  Darict,  which  is  exactly  sqid¥a- 
lont,  in  derivation  and  im(K)rt»  to  our  term  **  sovereigns." 

NoTB  40,  page  2i9,—Tke  FSil/UmefU  oftacred  Prophtey  in  th§  HUtory  of  Mdia, 

As  Media,  in  its  individual  nationality,  had  but  little  intercourse  with  the 
Hebrew  people,  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  a  large  amount  of  predictions  in 
Holy  Scripture  relating  to  this  nation.  Accordingly,  we  find  a  few,  and  'but  a 
few,  prophecies  of  this  class.  Tet  even  these  are  worthy  of  attention,  as  show- 
ing the  perfection  of  the  providential  government  of  Jehovah,  and  the  extent  to 
which,  in  that  age,  his  will  was  revealed  to  mankind  through  his  holy  prophets. 

L  We  have  a  prediction  that,  to  some  extent,  Media  would  be  brought  inta 
subjection  or  subserviency  to  Babylon. 

This  could  not  have  been  expected.  Media  took  the  lead  in  the  subversion 
of  the  Assyriah  empire.  Babylon  was,  indeed,  associated  with  Media ;  but  the 
Ghsldseans  had  never,  like  the  Modes,  dared  alone  to  meet  the  fall  power  of  the 
Imperial  state.  Tet  when  the  Lord  so  fully  proclaims  the  ascendency  to  which 
he  has  appointed  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  directs  the  prophet  to  give  the  cup  of  his 
fhry  to  till  the  surrounding  nations,  that  they  may  di^k,  and  serve  the  king 
of  l)abylon,--among  tho^ '  enumerated  we  find  **  the  kings  of  the  Modes." 
Jer.xxv,  25. 

We  have  no  precise  infbrmation  respectiiig  the  conquest  of  Media  by  Babylon 
under  Nebuchadnezzar ;  but  we  know  that  he  subdued  Persia,  which  had  been 
subject  to  MecHa.  In  fkct,  during  the  supremacy  of  the  great  Babylonian  con- 
queror, we  hear  nothing  of  Media  in  history.  It  perhaps  owed  its  exemption 
from  a  harsher  fate  to  the  fiaxit,  that  Nebuchadnezzar's  wife  was  sister  of  the  king 
of  Media.  It  is,  however,  certain,  that  this  kingdom  was  by  Nebuchadnezzar. not 
only  checked  in  its  career  of  conquest,  but  stripped  of  its  tributary  states^  and 
shut  «p  within  the  limits  of  its  own  territory,  in  timid  and  servile  inaction, 
during  the  period  referred  to  by  the  prophecy ,--wh!ch  thus  received  an  ample 
aooomplishment. 

n.  It  was  predicted,  nevertheless,  that  Media  should  assist  in  the  ruin  of 
Babylon.  Isaiah  said  when  denounoing.  In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  burden 
of  Babylon,  "Behold,  I  will  stir  up  the  Modes  against  them:"  and  agiin,  «Go 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


576  APPXNDIZ. 

up,  0  Elam;  ^fiiege,  0  Media."  Isa.  zii,  17;  zzi,  2.  And  Jeraaiali,  in  tbe 
n«me  of  JehoTah,  calls  this  nation  (o  this  dntj:  "Make  bright  the  arrows; 
gather  the  shields :  the  Lord  hath  raised  np  the  spirit  of  the  kings  of  the  Modes : 
for  his  dsTice  is  against  Babylon  to  destroy  it ;  becanse  it  is  the  Tengeance  of  the 
Lord,  the  yengeanoe  of  his  temple." 

These  predictions  also  were  exactly  falfiUed.  Qyras,  having  Qonqnered  Media, 
before  he  took  Babylon,  associated  Persia  (or  Elam)  and  Media  in  the  enterprise 
of  inyestiag  and  subduing  it.  In  fiEM^t,  it  was  by  the  disdpline  and  bravery  of 
the  Modes,  united  with  the  Persians,  that  both  Cyrus  and  Darius  took  BabyleiL 

in.  Again,  Media  is  designated  by  the  prophet  as  one  of  the-  elements  oon- 
stituting  the  second  great  universal  empire.  Hence  the  angel  said  to  Daniel, 
"  The  ram  whiph  thou  sawest  having  two  horns  are  the  kings  of  Media  and 
Persia,"  Dan.  viii,  20 :  so  that,  according  to  the  laws  of  Divine  Providence,  Media 
and  Persia  stood  associated  as  Integral  elements  of  this  great  empire,  even  to  the 
time  when  it  was  assailed  and  subdued  by  "  the  king  of  Greece."  Consequently 
all  the  prophecies  referring  to  the  rise,  progress,  and  power  of  this  second  king^ 
dom-*such  as  'that  respecting  "the  breast  and  arms  of  silver"  of  the  great 
image,  and  the  second  beast  like  a  bear — ^had  a  distinct  and  ezpUdt  reference  to 
Media  in  common  with  Persia — ^although  it  has  been  thought  best  to  deto  a 
special  citation  of  them  to  the  next  chapter. 

NoTB  41,  page  256. — The  personal  Hiatory  of  Cyrut, 

The  personal  history  of  this  conqueror  is  involved  in  mueh  obscurity.  Reasons 
have  been  already  given  for  distrusting  the  statements  of  Xenophon ;  but  it  docs 
not  follow  fh>m  thence,  that  we  can  fully  rely  upon  Berodotus.  As  hinted  in 
the  text,  there  is  much,  in  the  account  of  Cyrus  given  even  by  this  writer,  which 
appears  to  be  romantic,  and,  without  good  evidence  to  the  contrary,  would  be  set 
down  as  the  result  of  his  imagination. 

It  is,  however,  true,  that  we  have  the  means  of  comparing  the  account  of  the 
Greek  Father  of  History  with  a  native  author,  who  had  access  to  the  same  records 
or  traditions ;  and  the  similarity  in  their  statements  is  mch,  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
whatever  of  their  general  accuracy,  as  respects  the  prominent  events  recorded. 

Herodotus  wrote  about  456  B.  C.  He  had  not  tJie  advantage  of  a  residence  in 
Persia ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be  believed  Uiat  he  understood  any  oriental  language. 
He  was,  howevw,  an  intelligent,  persevering,  and  learned  traveller,  who  visited 
various  countries  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information  for  the  composition  of  a 
general  history.  He  had  a  great  advantage  in  respect  of  the  date  of  his  inquiries. 
He  was  at  Babylon  about  seventy-five  years  after  Cyrus  had  ceased  to  reign  over 
that  country.  It  could  not,  therefore,  be  very  diffioult  for  such  a  man,  in  such 
a  dty,  so  soon  after  the  death  of  a  mighty  conqueror,  and  the  founder  of  an 
empire,  to  have  collected  some  authentic  information  respecting  the  principal 
events  in  the  life  of  C)yrus. 

On  the  other  hand,  Firdusi  was  a  native  Persian,  a  poet  of  remarkable  genius 
and  learning,  who  wrote  in  A.  D,  1009,  about  1445  years  after  Herodotus.  Having 
displayed  unoonunon  powers,  while  residing  in  his  native  village  of  Shadab,  he 
was  summoned  to  the  court  of  Ghazni,  where,  at  the  command  of  the  great  Sultan 
Mahmud,  he  composed  in  verse  his  famous  work  of  Shah  iVafmA,  which  has  been 
preserved,  and  is  to  this  day  read  by  all  well-educated  Persians  with  equal 
admiration  for  the  recondite  information  which  it  communicates,  and  the  bril- 
liant poetry  and  purity  of  language  in  which  its  narrative  is  conveyed. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBITDIX.  57T 

In  tlds  work  we  have  a  poetical  history  of  the  kings  of  Pereia,  from  KaiomarSr 
tlie  first  BOTereign,  to  the  oonqnest  of  the  nation  by  the  Mohammedan  powers. 
In  such  eir^mstaaoee,  and  writing  under  suoh  anspiceS,  the  writer  would  haye 
aeoess  to  all  ayallable  soilroes  of  information.  We  know  that  records  of  every 
partioular  relating  to  the  Persian  sovereigns  were  oareifoUy  preserTed.  Esther 
X,  2.  Whether  these  remained  to  the  time  of  Firdnsi  may  be  doubted;  but,  at 
aU  events,  being  a  native  of  the  oountry  and  a  perfect  master  of  its  language, 
he  would  have  every  advantage  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  th^  early  historjr 
and  antiquities  of  his  nation ;  and  it  is  strongly  asserted  by  all  Persian  ln6- 
gtaphers,  that  Mahmud  placed  in  the  liands  of  the  poet  the  ancient  chronicles  of 
the  kings  of  Persia,  and'  that  firom  these  he  collected  materials  for  his  great  work. 

Whatever  opinion  may  be  formed  as  to  the  truth  of  these  allegations,  we  have 
to  oompare  the  story  lef  Herodotus  with  that  which  is  collected  ttqm  the  poetry 
of  FirdusL  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  reader  will  agree  with  the  learned 
author  who  has  collected  the  prominent  points  common  to  both  in  the  following 
judgment  >  *'  It  is  utterly  incredible,  that  two  different  princes  of  Persia  should 
each  have  been  bom  in  a  foreign  and  hostile  territory;  should,  eaeh  have 
been  doomed  to  death  in  his  infancy  by  his  maternal  grandfather,  in  consequence 
of  portentous  dreams,  real  or  Invented ;  should  eaeh  have  been  saved  by  the 
remorse  of  Ids  destine<)  murderers;  and  should  each,  after  a  similar  education  . 
among  herdsmen,  as  the  son  of  a  herdsman,  have  found  means  to  revisit  his 
paternal  kingdom,  and,  having  delivered  it,  after  a  long  and  triumphant  war, 
firom  the  tyrapt  who  had  invaded  it,  should  have  restored  it  to  the  summit  of 
power  and  magnificence." — Sir  WiUiam  Jones's  Works,  vol.  iii,  p.  106., 

In  all  these  essential  particulars  the  statements  of  Herodotus  and  Firdnsi 
agree, — an  agreement  which,  considering  the  difilsrent  circumstances  and  eras 
of  the  authors,  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  here  is  a  substraimn  of  facts  which  may 
be  relied  on  as  the  basis  of  an  authentic  history,  of  Cyrus. 

Bespeoting  the  other  point  of  differenee,  pamely,  whether  Oyrus  conquered 
Media,  and  forcibly  d^iosed  Astyages,  according  to  Herodotus,— or  lived  in  har- 
mony with  him«  and  succeeded  to  his  throne  on  his  death,  agreeably  to  Xen<^on's 
QyropsBdia, — ^there  can  scarcely  be  a  question ;  for,  first,  the  Father  of  History 
is  in  this  instance  not  only  sqpported  by  Plato,  Aristotle,  Isocrates,  Anaximenes, 
IHnon,  and  Amyntas,  but  even  Xenophon^s  own  Anabasis  may  be  quoted  in 
contradiction  of  his  Gyroptedia.  In  the  former  work,  speaking  of  the  city  Larissa, 
he  observes,  "This  city,  when  besieged  by  the  king  of  Persia,  when  the  Persianr 
were  wresting  the  empire  firom  the  Medes,"  &c. :  and,  agada,  when  speaking  of 
the  city  of  Mespila,  and  its  extraordinary  fortifications,  he  states  that  **  here^ 
Media,  the  king^s  consort,  is  said  to  have  taken  reftige  When  the  Modes  were 
deprived  of  the  empire  by  the  Per8ians."-*^^^rnaid«»f ,  lib.  iii,  cap.  4.  Now  as  it  is 
certain  that  Cyrus  Was  the  person  who  raised  the  Persians  to  supremacy  over 
Media,  these  statements  are  directly  contrary  to  the  romantic  statement  of  the 
Cyropssdia,  where,  without  any  struggle  or  contest,  Cyrus  is  represented  as 
living  in  perfect  harmony  with  his  grandfather  Astyages,  King  of  Media,  and 
quietiy  suooeeding  to  his  kingdom  on  the  death  of  hid  unele,  Qyazares. 

Note  42,  page  '260.~Waj  Cynu  made  acquainted  with  the  Prophecies  of 
Daniel? 

We  have  ^ven  in  the  text  primd/ade  eridence  that  Daniel  would  make  Cyrus 
acquainted  with  those  wonderfiil  revelations  which  Qod  had  given  to  the  world 

87' 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


578  APPBKDIX. 

through  him  respecting  the  iluooession  of  the  fbnr  great  empires  that  were 
appointed  to  exercise  uniyersal  mle,  before  the  introduction  of  the  kingdom  of 
Qod.  Many  ooUateral  proofs  might  bcr  found  in  the  histoiy  of  this  monarch 
oonfirmatory  of  this  view ;  but  attention  will  here  be  confined  to  two;  nsmely» 
the  inscription  on  his  tombj  and  his  edict  in  faronr  of  the  Jews. 

"  Hiny  notices  the  tomb  of  Cyrus  at  Pasargsdaa  in  Penia.  Airian  and  8trabo 
describe  it }  and  they  agree  with  Oortius  that  Alexander  offered  ftmeral  honoun 
to.his  shade*  there;  that  he  opened  the  tomb,  and  fonndrttot  the  tzeasnres  he 
expected,  but  a  rotten  shield,  two  Scythian  bows,  and  a  Persian  scimitar. 
And  Plutarch  records  the  following  inscription  thereon,  in  his  Life  of  Akx- 
ander:  *0  man,  whoeyer  thou  art,  and  whencTer  thou  comest,  (for  come  I 
know  thou  wilt,)  I  am  Cntus,  the  founder  of  the  Persian  eminre.  Envy  me 
not  the  little  earth  that  coT^rs  my  bones.'  "r^HaU$*B  Jbuint  Ckronologff,  tqL 
It,  p.  102. 

It  may  be  obeerred  here,  that  the  fact  of  the  tomb  of  Qyms  bong  found  in 
this  identical  spot  cannot  be  open  to  doubt.  I  presume,  no  statement  supported 
by  the  iknanimous  testimoi^  of  Pliny,  Arrian,  Strabo,  Curtius,  and  Plutardi, 
would  be  questioned  by  any  person  at  all  competent  to  gi^e  an  opinion  on  snoh 
a  suljiject  as  this.  Then  comes  the  inscription.  What  does  it  mean  ?  Who  is 
the  person  addressed,  and  addressed,  too,  as  having  the  power  of  dspriTing  tiie 
occupant  of  the  tomb  of  earth  to  cover  his  bones ;  .and  whose  ooming  is  spokHt 
of  as  such  an  established  certainty  ?  Plutarch  says  that  "Alexander  wsa  mufih 
aifeoted  at  these  words,  which  placed  before  him  in  so  strong  a  light  the  unesr* 
tainty  and  vicissitude  of  things.''  This  might  be  the  best  solution  wbich  the 
keathen  biographer  could  offer  respecting  the  emotion  of  Alexander.  But  to  the 
person  who  has  carefully  studied  the  predictions  of  Daniel,  and  to  the  great 
Macedonian  who  had  these  prophecies  z^ad  to  him  by  the  high-priest  at  Jerusa- 
lem, would  the  words  of  the  inscription  appear  to  indicate  not  unceriamty,  b«t 
rather  the  certainty  of  the  divine  appointmmtt — the  obvious  and  undoubted  opera- 
tion of  a  supreme  over^ruling  Providence,  before  whose  power  all  -earthly  poten- 
tates are  as  nothing. 

In  short,  no  pointed  sense,  no  worthy  meaning,  can  be  given  to  this  inaerip- 
tion,  except  we  suppose  Gyrus  to  have  been  informed  of  the  sueoession  of  fefae 
four  great  empires,  and  the  consequent  subversion  of  Persia  by  Crreeoe.  Tbsn« 
we  see  who  is  addressed  by  him  as  the  man  certainly  ooming :  then  the  ref- 
erence to  his  power  is  intelligible.  In  fact,  on  this  principle  of  interpretation, 
the  inscription  is  worthy  of  Cyrus ;  and  the  emotion  of  the  conqueror,  worthy 
oi  Alezsnder. 

The  edict  issued  in- favour  of  the  Hebrews  is  a  similar  proof  of  the  aoquaia^ 
ance  of  Cyras  witii  these  predictions.  In  the  first  Instance,  we  cannot  bring 
ourselves  to  believe  that  the  language  of  this  edict  ran  in  the  nfmaX  terms  of  tha 
royal  Persian  proclamations,  namely,  **  By  the  grace  of  Qrmuid."  £sra  wonld 
never  have  rendered  such  a  phrase  by  the  terms  "  the  JamnrAH  God  of  heaven." 
In  fact,  he  never  could  have  rendered  such  words  into  '^  Jbhovah  G^ofltrmeL" 
It  would  be  impossible  for  any  Hebrew— not  to  say,  a  pious  and  inspired  priest^ 
thus  to  prostitute  the  most  glorious  and  ineffable  name  of  the  EtemaL  Besides, 
it  has  been  shown  that  the  Hebrew  name  of  God  was  recognised  as  a  divine 
appellation  both  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  and  it  would  undoubtedly  be  so  like- 
wise in  Persia, 

We  have,  therefore,  in  this  passage  precisely  the  same  recognition  of  the  true 
•God  as  we  find  extorted  from  Nebuchadnexsar.  Dan.  iii,  28 ;  iv,  37.    An^  it 


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APPINPIX.  579 

aeems  oertain  that  this  was  done  bj  the  same  meanSi^amely,  a  oommunioation 
of  those  glorioiis  reTelatii>ii8  which  God  had  made  to  Daniel  reepecting  the  pioii- 
dential  appointment  of  a  Buooeasion  of  great  empiTes  to  role  oTer  the  world; 
accompanied,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  by  thoee  parts  of  Isaiah's  prophecies  in 
which  Cyms  was  pointed  oat  by  name,  long  belbre  he  was  bom,  as  a  ohoeeif 
inatrnment  for  the  aooompliahment  of  the  diyine  psrpose. 

The  mind  loTes  to  dwell  on  the  interoonrse  between  the  martial  Persian— with 
the  world  lying  at  his  feet  and  waiting  his  commanda— and  the  aged  prophet, 
who  had  taught  Nebuchadneuto*  and  warned  Belshazsar,  and  reoeiyed  ftrom  the 
all-prescient  Jehovah  an  outline  of  the  world's  destiny,  firom  the  day  of  Jerusa- 
lem's tnin  to  the  end  of  time.  When  will  history  be  Kairly  and  ftilly  studied  in 
the  light  of  revealed  truth? 

Note  43,  page  2Q2,— The  tuccettfid  Oppontion  of  the  Governors  of  Syria  <md 
othert  to  the  Building  of  Jenitalem,  <md  the  Evidence  thereby  afforded  of  the 
Integrity  and  Perfection  of  the  national  Records  at  the  Court  of  Persia, 

The  correspondenoe  on  this  sulyect  preserred  by  Jose'phus  is  important,  not 
only  as  easting  light  on  the  position  and  difficulties  of  the  pious  Hebrews  during 
the  times  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  but  also  as  evincing  the  oompletenesji  with 
which  historic  registers  were  kept  at  the  court  of  Persia.  The  Jewish  historian 
says:  "But  when  Cambyses,  the  son  of  Cyrus,  had  taken  the  kingdom,'  the  gOT- 
emors  in  Syria,  and  Phenicia,  and  -in  the  countries  of  Ammon,  and  Moab,  and 
Samaria,  wrote  an  epistle  to  Cambyses,  whose  contents  were  as  follows:  'To 
our  lord,  Cambyses:  we  thy  servants,  Rathumus  the  historiographer,  and  Semel- 
lius  the  scribe,  and  the  rest  that  are  thy  judges  in  Qyria  and  Phenicia,  send 
greeting.  It  is  fit,  0  king,  thai  thou  shouldst  know,  that  those  Jews  which  were 
carried  to  Babylon  are  come  into  our  country,  and  are  building  that  rebellious 
and  wicked  city  and  its  market-places,  and  setting  up  its  walls,  and  raising  up 
the  temple.  Know,  therefore,  that  when  these  things  are  finished,  they  will  not 
be  willing  to  pay  tribute,  nor  will,  they  submit  to  thy  commands,  but  will  resist 
kings,  and  will  choose  rather  to  rule  over  others,  than  be  ruled  over  themseives. 
We,  therefore,  thought  it  proper  to  write  to  thee-,  O  king,  while  the  works  about 
the  temple  are  going  on  so  fast,  and  not  to  overlook  this  matter,  that  thou  may- 
eat  search  into  the  books  of  thy  fathers :  for  thou  wilt  find  in  them,  that  the  Jews 
have  been  rebels,  and  enemies  to  kings,  as  hath  their  dty  been  also,  which,  for 
that  reason,  hath  been  till  now  laid  waste.  We  thought  proper  also  to  inform 
thee  of  this  matter,  because  thou  mayest  perhaps  be  otherwise  ignorant  of  it, — 
that  if  this  dity  be  once  inhabited,  and  be  entirely  encompassed  with  walls,  thou 
wilt  be  excluded  from  thy  passage  to  Coele-Syria  and  Phenicia.' 

"  2.  When  Cambyses  had  read  the  epistle,  being  naturally  wicked,  he  was 
irritated  at  what  they  told  him :  and  wrote  back  to  them  as  follows :  *  Cambyses, 
the  king,  to  Bathumus  the  historiographer,  to  Beeltethinus,  to  Semeltius  the 
scribe,  and  the  rest  that  are  in  commiadon,  and  dwelling'in  Samaria  and  Pheni- 
cia, ailer  this  manner :  I  have  read  the  epistle  that  was  sent  from  you ;  and  I 
gave  order  that  the  books  of  my  forefathers  should  be  searched  into ;  and  it  is 
there  found  that  this  city  has  always  been  an  enemy  to  kings,  and  its  inhabitants 
have  raised  seditions  and  wars.  We  also  are  sensible  that  their  kings,  have  been 
powerfol  and  tyrannical,  and  have  exacted  tribute  of  Coele-J^yria  and  Fhenlda 
Wherefore  I  give  Ofder,  that  the  JeWs  shall  not  be  permitted  to  build  that  city, 
leai  sneh  mischief  as  they  used  to  bring  upon  kings  be  greatly  augmented.' 


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580  APPBNDIX. 

When  this  epistle  Wlks  read,  Bathattiu,  and  SemelUiis  the  soribei  and  thdr  asao- 
oiates,  got  suddenly  on  horsebaok,  and  made  haste  to  Jerusalem :  they  also 
brought  a  great  company,  with,  them,  and  forbade  th»  Jews  to  build  the  dty  and 
the  temple.  Accordingly  these  works  were  hindered  from  going  on  till  the 
seoond  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius,  for  nine  yean  more :  for  Gambysea  rugned 
six  years,  and  within  that  time  OTorthrew  B|grpt ;  and  when  he  was  come  baek, 
he  died  at  Damascus."— ^tiSt^iM^ws,  book  xi,  chap,  ii,  see.  1,  2. 

Josephus  endently  attaches  greater  eflbot  to  this  correspondfence  than  it 
merits :  for  it  is  clear  thai  this  is  the  interference  referred  to  by  Entt ;  (chap, 
iy,  6 ;)  and  thrae  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  ayailed  during  the  reign  of  Gam- 
byses.  But  the  same  sacred  writer  distinoUy  refers  to  other  efforts  to  ataj  the 
proceedings  of  the  Hebrews,  which  were  made  in  th^  following  reign ;  and  a 
letter  of  the  opponents  is  given  by  him  at  length,  addressed  not  to  "  Ahasuems," 
as  Gambyses  is  called  by  Ezra,  but  .to  "  Artaxerzes,"  who  must  have  been 
Smerdis  theMagian.  Either,  therefore,  Josephus  has  misstated  the  case  in  refer- 
ring the  correspondence  which  took  place  wfth  Smerdis  to  the  preceding  sover- 
eign ;  or,  which  scarcely  seems  probable,  such  communications  took  place  in 
both  reigns,  one  being  cited  by  the  iiistorian,  and  tiie  other  by  the  sacred  writer. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  by  "Ahasuerus"  Bsra  means  GambySes,  as  he  imme- 
diately followed  Gyrus ;  and  it  seems  equally  certain  that  Artaxerxes  was  the 
Magian,  he  having  preceded  Darius,— all  four  bekkg  specifically  spoken  of  bj  the 
sacred  scribe. 

But  the  correspondence,  as  given  both  in  the  Soiiptures  and  by  the  historiaii, 
affords  important  information  respecting  the  national  reoords.  TM  complain- 
ants appeal  to  these' in  proof  of  the  independence,  valour,  and  determined  spirit 
of  the  Hebrews,  in  their  previous  history.  Now,  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  before 
Persia  had  existence  as  a  paramount  state.  Indeed,  wliatever  records  had  been 
made  of  the  resistance  of  the  kingdom  of  Judabr  to  the  imperial  power  must  at 
latest'  liave  been  made  at  Babylon.  But  the  seat  of  empire  had  been  removed 
flram  this  city  to  Ecbatana  in  Media,  and  again  firom  Bobatana  to  Susa  in 
Persia :  and  yet  so  carefully  had  the  imperial  archives  been  transferred  and  pre- 
served, that  the  sovereign,  on  an  appeal  from  a  distant  province,  oould  instantly 
asoertain  its  character  previously  to  its  beings  subdued  by  the  imperial  power. 
This  fact'  speaks  volumes  as  to  the  means  which  Beroeus,  Gtesias,  Firdusi,  and 
others,  who  in  their  respective  ages  had  access  to  these  records,  would  have  of 
oolleoting  authentic  foots  respecting  the  early  timet  of  the  empire. 

Note  44,  page  26^.-7^  Deliberationt  of  the  Compiratort  as  to  thtjutwre  Govern- 
ment  of  Pertia^  and  the  jSppointment  of  Darius  Hystaspes  to  be  King. 

It  is  curious  jto  find,  in  the  deUberatiDns  of  these  seven  Perrian  nobles,  every 
kind  of  govemment^  advocated  which  has  obtained  among  men.  According  to 
Herodotus,  Otanes  argued  in  favour  of  democracy,  as  aealously  as  could  any 
American  of  modem  times,  and  testified  the  sincerity  of  his  address  by  with- 
drawing altogether  f^m  any  claim  to  govern,  when  he  found  that  none  of  his 
oompanions  shared  his  8entikBent».  Megabyius  advocated  an  oligarchy,  and 
strongly  urged  the  propriety  of  intrusting*  ^e  ruling  power  to  a  select  number 
of  individuals  eminent  ibr  their  talents  and  virtues.  iWiua,  on  the  other  hand, 
argued  in  favour  of  monarohy ;  and  adduoed  various  reasons  for  maintaining 
the  same  kind  of  government  which  had  previously  existed  in  the  country. 

It  cannot  escape  observation,  that  although  the -advocates  for  these  different 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPENDIX.  581 

kinds  of  government  4Beem  to  have  been  fiodly  conTeniant  with  aU  the  argu- 
ments sinoe.arged  in  fayour  of  these  seTeral  sohemes  of  national  polity,  not 
one  of  them  appears  to  have  had  the*  remotest  idea  of  that  happy  blending  of 
each  which  is  so  directly  adapted,  to  neatralise  their  respeotiTe  eyil  tendencies, 
and  to  elicit  the  good  qualities  of  all ;  as  is  seen  in  the  oonstitntional  gOTern- 
ments  of  modem  times. 

The  result  was,  that  of  the  seyen,  four  were  in  &Tonr  of  monarchy,  two  oi 
oligarehy,  and  one  of  demoenu^.  It  was  therefore  decided  that  monarchy  should 
be  continned,  and  that  one  of  the  seven  shonld  be  the  first  king.  HaTing  pre- 
Tionsly  made  sundry  regulaUonsj  conferring  special  priyilege  on  Otanes,  as  the 
first  instigator  <of  the  measures  taken  against  the  impostor  Smerdis,  and  on  the 
members  of  their  own  body,  "  they  agreed  to  meet  on  horseback  ut  sunrise  in 
the  Tidnity  of  the  city,  and  to  make  him  king  whose  horse  should  neigh  first. 
Darius  had  a  groom,  whose  name  was  (Ebares,  a  man  of  oonsiderable  ingenuity, 
for  whom  en  his  return  he  immediately  sent.  *  CEbsres/  said  he,  *  it  is  deter- 
mined that  we  are  to  meet  at  sunrise  on  horseback,  and  that  he  among  us  shall 
be  king  whose  horse  shall  first  neigh.  Whateyer  acuteness  you  haye,  exert  it  on 
this  occasion,  that  no  one  but  myself  may  attain  this  honour.'  *  Sir,!  replied 
(Ebares,  *  if  your  being  king  or  not  depend  on  what  you  say^  be  not  afhiid.  I 
haye  a  kind  of  charm,  which  will  preyent  any  one's  being  prejferred  to  yourself' 
*  Whateyer,'  replied  Darius,  '  this  charm  may  be,  it  must  be* applied  without 
delay,  as  the  morning  will  decide  the  matter.'  (Ebares,  therefore,  as  soon  as  the 
evening  came,  conducted  to  the  place  before  the  city  a  mare,  having  previously 
ordered  Darius's  horse  to  be  taken  there. 

"  The  next  morning,  as  soon  as  it  was  light,  the  six  Persians  assembled,  as 
had  been  agreed,  on  horseback.  After  riding  up  and  down  at  the  place  appoint- 
ed, they  came  at  length  to  the  spot  where,  on  the  preceding  evening,,  the  mare 
had  been  brought :  here  the  horse  of  Darius  instantly  began  to  neigh,  which, 
though  the  sky  was  remarkably  clear,,  was  immediately  succeeded  by  thunder 
and  lightning.  The  heaven/i  thus  seemed  to  favour,  and,  indeed,  to  act  in  oon- 
oert  with,  Darius..  Immediately  the  other  noblemen  dlsmonttted,  and,  fUling  at 
his  feet,  hailed  him  king.'' 

Bnoh  is  the  account  given  by  Herodotus  of  the  election  of  Darius  to  the  sover- 
eignty of  Persia.  (ThaUa,  cap.  80-84.)  The  truth  of  this  statement  is  attested 
by  an  equestrian  statue,  on  which  was  placed  an  inscription  oelebrating  his  ele- 
.vation  to  the  throne,  and  oontaining  the  name  of  the  groom  and  also  of  the  horse. 

Nora  46,  page  272.— T^  Succunon  of  Xtrxe$  to  ths  Thrwu  of  Ptnia. 

The  account  given  in  the  text  is  taken  firom  Herodotus.  Plutarch  and  Justin 
give  a  different  version  of  the  ease,  which,  as  being  received  by  the  emperor  Ju- 
lian as  authentic,  is  worthy  of  notice.  According  to  this  statement,  the  case  was 
not  decided  by  Darius ;  but  on  his  death  both  brothers  claimed  the  sovereignty, 
and  eaoh  was  supported  by  numerous  friends.  Pending  the  settlement  of  this 
question,  Ariamenes  (called  by  Herodotus  Artobazanes)  Went  into  Media,  but 
not  in  a  hostile  manner.  WUle  he  was  there,  Xerxes  assumed  the  crown  and 
robes  of  royalty.  But  on  the  return  of  his  brother  he  put  these  off,  and  sent  him 
presents,  with  a  friendly  message  to  this  effect:  "  Thus  your. brother  Xerxes  hon- 
ours you ;  and  if  the  Persians  should  declare  me  king,  I  will  place  you  next  to 
myself."  Ariamenes  replied,  "I  accept  your  gifts,  but  presume  that  I  am  enti- 
tled to  the  throne  of  Persia.  Yet  for  my  brothers  I  shall  have  posts  of  distino- 
tion,  and  for  Xerxes  the  first." 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


582  APPBKPIX. 

On  tlie  daj  fixed  for  the  deCemiiiiatloiL  of  the  right  to  the  erown,  the  Peniwu 
appointed  Artabantfs,  the  brother  of  Darint,  to  make  the  deeielon.  Xerxes  ex- 
cepted to  this,  and  preferred  leaviAg  it  to  the  popnlar  will:  but  his  mother  re- 
proved  him  for  the  objection,  and  he  withdreir  it.  ArtaAmnns  then,  after  re- 
viewing the  oonflioting  olaims  «f  the  candidates,  deeided  in  fhTonr  of  Xerxes ;  upon 
which  Ariamenes  rose  np  immediately,  did  homage  to  his  brother,  and  plaoed 
him  on  the  throne. 


NoTX  46,  page  278. — J7u  BthUtifn  In$enption»,  jeonUtimmg  Dwrku^M  own  Jhtmmd 

of  hit  Wart, 

The  following  Ineeriptions  possess  great  interest,  as  b^g  to  some  extent  an 
autobiography  of  Darius  Hystasps.  Referenoe  will  be  made  to  their  contents 
mainly  in  the  chapter  treating  of  the  Religion  of  Persia :  but  the  reader  win 
find,  that  besides  the  light  which  they  throw  on  Persian  theology,  they  present 
some  historical  notices  of  importance,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  daim  of  Darius 
to  the  crown  of  Persia  on  hereditary  grounds,  which  will  be  recognised  aa  a  ca- 
rious piece  of  state-policy. 

"  1.  I  am  Darius  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the  king  of  Perria,  the 
king  of  (the  dependent)  provinces,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  the  grandson  of  Arsames 
the  AchsBmeniaa. 

**2.  Says  Darius  the  king:— My  fitther  was  Hystaspes ;  of  Hystaspes  the  fa- 
ther was  Arsames ;  of  Arsames  the  father  was  Ariyaramnes ;  of  Ariyaramnes 
the  fi^ther  was  Teispes ;  of  Teispes  the  father  was  Acluemenes. 

"  3.  Says  Darius  the  king :— (hi  that  account  we  have  been  called  AchSBmeniaBS ; 
firom  antiquity  we  have  been  unsubdued;  (or,  we  have  descended;)  fhmi  anti- 
quity those  of  our  race  have  been  kings. 

**  4.  Says  Darius  the  king: — ^There  are  eight  of  my  race  who  haTo  been  kings 
before  me ;  I  am  the  ninth :  for  a  very^  long  time  we  have  been  kings. 

"5.  Says  Darius  the  king:«-By  the  grace  of  Ormaid  I  am  (I  hare  become) 
king ;  Ormazd  has  granted  me  the  empire. 

**  6.  Says  Darius  the  king: — ^These  are  the  countries  which  have  IhOen  into  my 
haAds : — ^by  the  |(race  of  Ormasd  I  have  become  king  of  them :— Ferma,  SusiaBak 
Babylonia,  Assyria,  Arabia,  Egypt;  those  which  are  of  the  sea,  Sparta  and 
Ionia;  Armenia,  Cappadooia,  Parthia,  Zarangia,  Aria,  Ghorasmia,  Bactria,  Seg- 
diana,  the  Sacss,  the  Sli.ttagydes,  Arachosia,  and  the  Meoians ;  the  total  amount 
being  twenty-one  (twenty-three?)  countries. 

*'  7.  Says  Darius  the  king:-^These  are  the  countries  which  have  oone  to  me; 
by  the  grace  of  Ormaid  they  have  become  suljeot  to  me ;  they  have  brought  tri- 
bute to  me.  That  which  has  been  said  unto  them  by  me,  both  by  night  and  l(y 
day,  it  has  been  performed  by  them. 

"  8.  Says-  Darius  the  king : — ^Within  these  countries  whoever  was  of  the  true 
faith,  him  have  I  cherished  and  protected ;  whoever  was  a  heretlo,  him  I  have 
rooted  out  entirely.  By  the  grace  of  Ormazd  these  countries,  therefore,  being 
given  to  me,  have  rejoiced.  As  to  them  it  has  been  said  by  me.  Thus  has  it  been 
done  by  them. 

"  9.  Says  Darius  the  king : — Ormazd  has  granted  me  the  empire.  Onnaid  has 
brought  help  to  me  until  I  have  gained  this  empire.  By  the  grace  of  Ormaad  I 
hold  this  empire. 

"10.  Says  Darius  the  king:— This  (or  the  following)  fis)  what  waa  done  by 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPral>IX.  588 

ne,  belbfe  I  be«UM  king.  He  who  was  iitm«d  OambyBes,  (Kabi^Ta,)  the  son 
of  Qyras,  of  oar  raee,  he  wm  here  king  before  me.  There  was  of  that  Cambyses 
a  brother  named  Baititw;  he  was  of  the  same  father  and  mother  as  Oambyses. 
Oambjses  slew  this  Bartius.  When  Cambjses  slew  that  Bartins,  the  troubles  of 
the  state  oeased  whioh  Bartias  had  excited.  (?)  -Then  Cambyses  proceeded  to 
Sgypt.  When  Cambyses  had  gone  to  Egypt,  the  state  became  heretical;  then 
the  lie  became  abonnding  in  the  land,  both  in  Penda  and  in  Media,  and  in  the 
other  proTinoes. 

**  11.  ^ys  Darias  the  king :— Afterward  there  was  a  certain  man,  a  Magian, 
named  Oom&tes.  He  arose  fh>m  Pissiach4d&,  the  mountains  named  Arakadres ; 
from  thence,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  Yiyekhna,  then  it  was,  as  he 
arose,  to  the  state  he  thus  lUsely  declared :  *  I  un  Bartius,  the  son  of  Gyrus,  the 
brother  of  Cambyses.'  Then  the  whole  state  became  rebellious ;  ftom  Cambyses 
it  went  oyer  to  that  (Bartius),  both  Persia  and  Media,  and  the  other  proTinoes. 
He  Mixed  the  empire ;  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  month  Oarmapada,  then  it  was  he 
thus  seixed  the  empire.  Afterward  Cambyses,  unable  to  endure  his  (misfor- 
tnnes),  died. 

**  12.  Says  Darius  the  king  >-That  crown,  or  empire,  of  which  Gom&tes,  the 
Magian,  ddspossessed  Cambyses,  that  crt)wn  had  been  in  our  ftunily  fh>m  the 
olden  time.  After  Qomatee  the  Magian  had  dispossessed  Cambyses  of  Persia 
and  Media  and  the  dependent  proTincee,  he  did  according  to  his  desire,— he 
became  king. 

**  13.  Says  Darius  the  king  I'^There  was  not  a  man,  neither  Persian,  nor  Median, 
nor  any  one  of  our  family,  who  would  dispossess  of  the  empire  that  Gomfttes  the 
Magian.  The  state  feared  to  resist  him.  He  would  frequently  address  the 
state,  which  knew  the  old  Bartius ;  for  that  reason  he  would  adress  the  state, 
•aying,  *  Beware  lest  it  regard  me  as  if  I  were  not  Bartius  the  son  of  Cyrus.' 
There  was  not  one  bold  enough  to  oppose  him  ;  eyery  one  was  standing  obediently 
around  Gon^tes  the  Magian,  until  I  arriyed.  Then  I  abode  in  the  worship  of 
Ormaad ;  Ormasd  brought  help  to  me.  On  the  tenth  day  of  the  month  B&gay&- 
dish,  then  it  was,  with  the  men  who  were  my  well-wishers;  I  slew  that  Oom&tes 
the  Magian,  and  the  chief  men  who  were  his  followers.  The  fbrt  named  Siktak> 
botes,  in  the  district  of  Media  named  Nisssa,  there  I  slew  him ;  I  dispossessed 
hioi  of  the  empire.  By  the  grace  of  Ormasd.  I  became  king ;  Ormaxd  granted 
me  the  sceptre. 

**  14.  Says  Darius  the  king : — The  orown  that  had  been  wrested  from  our  race, 
that  I  recoyered ;  I  established  it  firmly,  as.  in  the  days  of  old ;  this  I  did.  The 
rites  which  Qom&tes  the  Magian  had  introduced,  I  prohiUted.  I  re-instituted 
for  the  state  the  sacred  diants  and  (sacrificial)  worship,  and  confided  them*  to  the 
fbmilies  which  Gomates  the  Magian  had  depriyed  of  those  offices:-  I  firmly  estab- 
Uahed  the  kingdom,  both  Persia  and  Media,  and  the  other  proyinces,  as  in  the 
days  of  old ;  thus  I  restored  that  which  had  been  taken' away.  By  the  grace  of 
Ormasd  I  did  t]^s.  I  laboured  until  I  had  firmly  established  our  family  as  in 
the  days  of  old.  I  laboosred,  by  the  grace  of  Ormaid,  ^  order)  that  Gon»&tee  the 
Magian  might  not  supersede  our  family. 

"  16.  Says  Darius  the  king-^~This  is  that  which  I  did  after  ihat  I  became 
Ung. 

**  16.  Says  Darius  the  king :— When  I  had  slain  Gom4tes  the  Magian,  then  a 
oertain  man,  named  Atrines,  the  son  of  Opadairmes,  he  arose ;  to  the  state  of 
Susiana  he  thus  said :  *  I  am  king  of  Susiana.'  Then  the  people  of  Susiana 
became  rebellious;  they  went  oyer  to  that  Atrines ;  he  became  king  of  Susiana. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


584  APPENDIX. 

And  a  oertain  man,*  a. Babylonian,  named  Natilabinu,  the  son  of  JEda*..,  he  arose. 
The  state  of  Babylonia  he  thus  fiJBely  addreeaed :  *  I  am  NabokhodTOflsor,  ihe  wsm 
ef  Nabonidns/  Then  the  entire  Babylonian  state  went  otbt  to  that  NatitabiniflL 
Babylon  became  rebellious.    He  (Natitabiras)  seized  the  government  of  Babylonia. 

"  17.  Says  Darius  the  king  :-p-Then  I  sent  to  Susiana ;  that  Atrines  was  brought 
to  me  a  prisoner.    I  slew  him. 

*'  18.  Says  Darius  the  king: — ^Then  I  proeeeded  to  Babylon  (marching)  against 
that  Natitabiras,  who  was  called  NabokhodrosSor.  The  forces  of  Natitabiras 
held  the  Tigris;  there  they  had  oome,  and.  they  had  boats.  Then  I  pU^oed  a  de- 
tachment on  rafts ;  I  brought  the  enemy  into  diffioulty ;  I  assaulted  the  enemy's 
position.  Ormazd  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  grace  of  Ormazd  I  succeeded  in 
passing  the  Tigris.  Then  I  entirely  defeated  the  anny  of  that  Nalitabirus.  On 
the  twenty-seven^  day -of  the  month  of.Atriy&ta,  then  it  was  that  we  thus 
fought. 

"19.  Says  Darius  the  king:— Then  I  inarohed  against  Babylon.  When  I 
arrived  near  Babylon,  the  city  named  Z4z4na.upon  the  Euphrates,  there  that 
Natitabiras,  who  was  called  Nabokhodrossor,  came  with  a  force  before  me,  offer* 
ing  battle.  (Then  we  fought  a  batUe.  Orpiazd  brought  help  to  me :  by  the  grace 
of  Ormasd,  I  entirely  defeated  the  force  of  Natitabirus.  The  enemy  was  driven 
into  the  water;  the  water  destroyed  them.  On  the  second  day  of  the  month 
An&maka,  -then  it  was  that  we.  thus  fought  the  battle." 

[End  of' column  I,  which  extends  to  ninety-six  lines,  and  the  writing  of  which 
is  generally  in  good  preservation.] 

"  1.  Says  Darius  the  king : — Then  Natitabirus,  with  the  horsemen  who  were 
faithM  to  him,  fled  to  Babylon.  Then  I  proceeded  to  Babylon ;  I  took  Babylon, 
and  seized  that  Natitabirus.    Afterward  I  slew  that  Natitabirus  At  Babylon. 

"  2.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^While  I  was  at  Babylon,  these  are  the. countries 
which  revolted  against  me :  Persia,  Susiana,  Media,  Assyria,  Armenia,  Parthiai 
MargisEna,  Sattagydia,  and  Sacia. 

"S.  Says  Darius  the  king : — A  oertain  man,  named  Martins,  the  son  of  SIsicres; 
a  city  of  Persia,  named  Gyganaca,  there  he  dwelt ;  he  rose  up ;  to  the  state  of 
Susiana  he  thus  said :  *  I  am  Omanes,  the  king  of  Susiana.' 

"  4.  Says  Darius  the  king : — Upon  this  (?)  I  was  moving  a  little  way  in  the 
direction  of  Susiana :  then  the  Susians,.  fearing  (?)  from  me,  seized  that  Martins, 
who  was  their  chief,  and  they  slew  him.  (?) 

"5.  9ays  Darius  the  king: — ^A  oerta^  man  named  Phraortes,  a  MetUan,  he 
rose  up;  to  the  state  of  Media  he  thus  said:  I  am  Xailirites,  of  the  race  of 
Qyaxsres.'  Then  the  Median  forces^  which  were  at  home,  (?)  revolted  against 
me.    Tlkey  went  over  to  that  Phraortes ;  he  became  king  of  Media. 

"6.  Si^s  Darius  the  king:— The  army  of  Persians  and  Modes  that  was 
with  me, (on -service)  that  remained  ftithM  to  me.  Then  I  sent  forth  these 
troops.  Hydarnes  by  name,  a  Persian,  one  of  my  subjects,  him  I  appointed  their 
leader.  I  thua  addressed  them :  *  Happiness  attend  ye ;  smite  that  Median  state 
which  does  not  acknowledge  me.'  Then  that  Hydarnes  marched  with  his  army. 
When  he  reabhed  Media,  a  city  of  Media,  named  Ma...,  there  he  engaged  the 
Modes.  He  who  was  leader  of  Uie  Modes  could  not  at  all  resist  him.  (?)  Ormasd 
brought  help  to  me :  by  the  grace  of  Ormazd,  the  troops  of  Hydarnes  entirely 
defeated  the  rebel  army.  On  the  sixth  day  of  the  month  An&maka,  then  it  was 
that  the  battle  Was  thus  fought  by  them.  Afterward  my  forces  remained  at 
Kapada,  a  district  of  Media,  according  to  my  order,  (?)  until  I  myself  arrived  in 
Media. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPTODIX.  585 

"  7.  fl»ys  Darini  tke  king :— Then  Dadanes,  by  fiame  an  Armenian,  one  of  my 
serranto,  him  I  sent  to  Aimenla.  I  thne  eaid  to  him:  'Greeting  to  thee:  the 
rebel  atate  that  does  not  obey  me,  smite  it.'  Then  Badarses  marehed.  When  he 
reached  Aimenia,  then  the  rebels,  haying  ooUected,  eame  before  Dadarses,  array- 
ing their  battle.  -— ^  by  name,  a  Tillage  of  Armenia,  there  they  engaged. 
Ormiiid  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  grace  of  Ormaid,  my  forces  entirely  defeated 
that  rebel  army.  On  the  eighth  day  of  the  month  Thnrav&hara,  then  it  was  a 
battle  was  thus  fought  by  them. 

"  8.  Says  Barius  the  king:— For  the-  sepond  time  the  rebels  having  collected, 
returned  before  Dadarses  arraying  battle.  The  fort  of  Armenia,  named  Tigra, 
there  they  engaged.  Ormasd  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  grace  of.Ormaxd,  my 
troops  entirely  defeated  that  rebel  army.  On  the  eighteenth  day  of  the  monlJi 
of  Thnraw&hara,  then  it  was  a  battle  was  thus  fought  by  thenu 

"  9.  Says  Darius  the  king:— For  the  third  time  the  rebels  having  assembled, 
returned  before  Dadarses  arraying  battle.  A  fort  of  Armenia  named  -i-^,  there 
they  engaged.  Ormaid  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  grace  of  Ormazd,  my  forces 
entirely  defeated  the  rebel  troops.  On  the  ninth  day  of  the  month  Thaigarchish, 
then  it  was  a  battle  was  thus  fouj^t  by  them.  Affeerwaord  Dadarses  remhined 
away  firom  me  . . .  until  I  reached  Media. 

'^10.  Says  Darius  the  king:— Then  he  who  was  named  Yomiaes,  a  Persian, 
one  of  my  servants,  him  I  pent  to  Armenia.  Thus  I  said  to  him :  *Hail  to  thee: 
the  rebel  state  which  does  not  acknowledge  my  authority,  bring  it  under  submis- 
sion.' Then  Vomises  marched  forth.  When  he  had  reached  Armenia,  then  the 
rebe^t,  having  assembled,  came  again  before  Vomises  in  order  of  battle.  A  dis- 
trict^ Assyria  named  — -^  there  they  engaged.  Ormazd  brought  help  to  me ; 
by  the  grace  of  Ormaxd,  my  forces  entirely  defeated  that  rebel  army.  On  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  month  Animaka,  then  it  was  a  battle  was  thus  fought  Jt>y 
them. 

.  **  U*  ^ys  Darius  the  king :— For  the  second  time  the  rebels  having  assembled, 
came  before  Vomises  in  battle  array.  The  district  of  Armenia  named  Otiira, 
th^ve  they  engaged.  Ormasd  brought  help  to  me :  by  the  grace  of  Ormazd,  my 
forces  entirely  defeated  that  rebel  army.  In  the  month  Thuraw6hara,  upon  the 
&itival,  (?;  then  was  a  battle  fought  by  theuK  Afterward  Vomises  remained  in 
Armenia  apart  from  me,  until  I  reached  Media. 

*M2L  Says  Darius  the  king:~-Then  I  departed:  from  Babylon  I  proceeded  to 
Media.  When  I  reached  Media,  a  city  of  Media  named  Gudrusia,  there  that 
Phraortes,  who  was  called  *  king  of  Media,'  came  with  an  army  before  me  in 
battle  array.  Then  we  joined  battle.^  Ormazd  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  grace 
of  Ormazd,  I  entirely  defeated  the  forces  of  Phraortes.  On  the  twentynsixth  day 
of  the  month  of  Askhama,  (?)  then  it  was  we  thus  fought  in  battle. 

*«ld.  Says  Darius  the  king:— -Then  l^at  Phraortes,  with  the  horsemen  who 
were  falthftil  to  him,  fled  from  thenoe  to  the  district  of  Media  named  Rhages. 
Subsequently  I  despatched  forces  in  pursuit,  by  whom  Phraortes  was  taken  and 
brought  before  me.  I  out  off  both  his  nose  and  ears  and  his  lips,  (?)  and  I 
brought  him  to  ^-— .  He  was  held  chained  at  my  door ;  all  the  kingdom  beheld 
him.  Afterward,  at  Ecbatana,  there  I  had  him  crucifled ;  (?)  and  the  men  who 
were  his  chief  followers  at  Ecbatana,  in  the  citadel  I  imprisoned  (?)  them. 

"  14.  Says  Darius  t]>e  king : — ^AceHain  man  named  Sitratachmes,  a.Sagartian; 
he  rebelled  against  me.  To  the  state  he  thus  said :  *  I  am  the  king  of  Sagartia, 
I  am  of  the  race  of  Cyaxares.'  Then  I  sent  forth  an  army,  composed  of  Fersians 
and  Medians.    A  man  named  Camaspates,  a  Median,  *one  of  my  suljects,  him  I 


Digitized  by  LjQOQIC 


686  APPEKDIX. 

appointed  their  leader.  Thus  I  addreeeed  them :  '  Hail  to  ye :  tiie  etaie  which  is 
in  roTolt,  which  does  not  acknowledge  me,  smite  it.'  Then  Camaspates  mardied 
with  his  army.  He  fought  a  battle  with  Sitratachmes.  Ormaad  brou^t  help 
te  me ;  by  the  grace  of  Ormaad,  my  troops  entirely  defeated  the  rebel  army,  and 
took  Sitratachmes,  and  brought  him  before  me.  Then  I  cut  off  his  nose  and  his 
ears,  and  I  brought  him  to  o^^— ^  EJb  was  kept  chained  at  my  door.  (?)  All  the 
kingdom  beheld  Mm.    Afterward  I  had  him  cmoified  at  Arbela. 

"  15.  Says  Darius  the  king; — ^This  is  that  (which)  was  dene  by  me  in  Media. 

•*  16.  Says  Darins  the  king:— -[The  rest  of  this  paragraph  is  illegible  in  the 
Persian  inscription,  except  in  a  fi»w  detached  words.  A  connected  translation  is 
given  from  the  Median  transcript,  which  is  perfect]  Parthia  and  Hyreania  ** 
(Wark&n  in  the  Persian,  Yehktoiya  in  the  Median)  **reyolted  against  me !  th^ 
declared  for  Phraortes.  Hystaspes,  who' was  my  ftktiier,  the  Parthian  forces  rose 
in  rebellion  against  him.  Then  Hystaspes,  with  the  troops  who  remained 
fidthful  to  him,  marched  forth.  Hyspaostlsa,  a  town  of  Parthia,  there  he 
engaged  the  rebels.  Ormazd  brought  help  ....  by  the  grace  of  Ormaad, 
Hystaspes  entirely  defeated  the  rebel  army  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  the 
month  Viyakhna:"  (Viyahnas  in  the  Median:)  «*then  it  was  the  battle  was 
fought  by  them." 

[End  of  Column  II,  which  extends,  like  the  preceding,  to  ninety-six  Hnes.  The 
writing  is  a  good  deal  injured  by  a  fissure  in  the  rock,  whidi  exteiids  the  whole 
length  of  the  Ublet.] 

"  Says  Darius  the  king :— Then  I  sent  from  Rhages  a  Fiersian  army  to  Hys- 
taspes. When  that  army  reached  Hystaspes,  he  marched  fbrth  with  those 
troops.  The  city  of  Parthia  named  Patigapana,  there  he  feu^t  with  the  rebels. 
Ormazd  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  grace  of  Ormazd,  Hystaspes  entirely  defeated 
that  rebel  amy.  On  the  first  day  of  the  month  of  Qarmapada,  then  it  was  the 
battle  was  thus  fought  by  them. 

"  2.  Says  Darius  the  king :— Then  the  prorince  submitted  to  me.  This  is  what 
was  done  by  me  in  Parthia, 

*'  3.  ^ys  Darius  the  king :— The  proTinoe  named  Mariana,  that  revolted  (?) 
against  me.  A  certain  man  named  Phraates,  the  Margians  made  him  their 
leader.  Then  I  sent  to  him  one  who  was  ivamed  Dadarses,  a  Persian,  one  of  my 
subjects,  and  the  satrap  of  Bactrla  Thus  I  said  to  him:  *  Hall  to  thee :  nMtuck 
that  proTince  which  does  not  acknowledge  me.'  Then  Dadarses  marched  with 
his  forces ;  he  joined  battle  with  the  Margians.  Ormazd  brought  help  to  me ;  by 
the  grace  of  Omasd,  my  troops  entirely  defeated  the  rebel  army.  On  the  twen^- 
third  day  of  the  month  Atriy&tiya,  tlien  it  was  the  battle  was  thus  Anight  1^ 
them. 

*'  4.  Says  Darius  the  king  ^— Then  the  province  submitted  to  me.  Tliis  Is  what 
was  done  by  me  in  Bactria. 

*<5.  Says  Darius  the  king:—- A  certain  man,  named  Veis^tes;  a  city  named 
T&rba,  in  the  district  of  Persia  named  Tutiya,  there  he  dwelt  He  rose  up  a 
second  time ;  to  the  state  of  Persia  he  thus  said :  *  I  am  Bartius,  the  son  of  Cyrus.' 
Then  the  Persian  feroes  which  were  at  home  being  remoTcd  (?)  from  connexion 
with  me,  they  revolted  against  me.  They  went  over  to  that  Yeisd&tes;  he 
became  king  of  Persia 

**  6.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^Thea  I  sent  forth  the  Persian  and  Median  forces 
which  were  with  me.  Artabardes  by  name,  one  of  my  serrants,  him  I  appointed 
their  chief.  Another  Persian  force  proceeded  after  me  to  Media.  Then  Arta- 
bardes, i^th  his  troops,  marched  to  Perria.    When  he  reached  Persia,  a  city  of 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPXHDQL  587 

Fenia  named  Baoha,  there  that  VeiBd&tes,  who  was  called  Bartius,  came  with  a 
force  before  Artabardes  in  battle  array.  Then  they  joined  battleu  Qrmaid 
brought  help  to  me;  by  tibe  graoe  of  Onnasd,  my  -troops  entirely  defeated  the 
army  of  Veisddtes.  On  the  twelfth  day  of  the  month. Ihvrawihara^  then  it  was 
the  battle  was  thus  fought  by  them. 

"7.  Bays  Darins  the  king:— Then  that  Veisdfites,  with  the  horsonen  who 
remained  staunch  to  him,  fied  from  thenoe  to  Pi8siach4d4.  From  that  plaoe, 
with  an  army,  he  came  back  arraying  battle  before  Artabardes.  The  mountains 
named  Parga,  there  they  fought.  Ormasd  l«0LUght  help. to  me;  by  the  grace  of 
Ormasd  my  troops  entirely  defeated  the  army  of  Veisd&tes.  On  the  sixth  day  of 
the  month  of  Qarmapada,  then  it  was  that  the  battle  was  thus  fought  hj  them. 
Both  that  Yeisdites  they  took*  and  .also  they  took  the  ijaen  who  were  his  prin- 
cipal adherents. 

'*  8.  Bays  Darius  the  king: — ^Then  that  Veisddtee  and  the  men  who  were  his 
chief  fonowers,  the  town  of  Persia  named  Chadidia»  there  I  impaled  (?) 


"9.  Says.Darius  the  king: — ^That  Yeisdites,  who  was  called  Bartius,  he  sent 
troops  to  Araohotta,  against  one  named  Vibdnns,  a  Persian,  one  of  my  semuita, 
and  satrap  of  Arachotia;  and  he  appointed  a  pertain  man  to  be  their  leader. 
He  thus  addressed  them:  *Hail  to  ye:  smite  Vibtous,  and  that  state  whidi 
obeys  the  rule  of  King  Darius.'  Then  those  forces  maxched  which  Veisdites  had 
sent  against  Yibinus,  preparing  for  battle.  A  fort  named  Giq>iscania,  there 
they  fought  an  aotion.  Ormasd  brought  help' to  me ;  by  ^e  grace  of  Ormasd,  my 
troops  entirely  defeated  that  rebel  army.  On  the  thirfeeeoth  day  of  the  mentii 
Anijnaka,  then  it  was  the  battle  was  thus  fought  by  them. 

"  10.  Says  Darius  the  king :— Another  time,  the  rebels  haTing  assembled  oame 
before  Vib&nus,  offering  battle.  '  The  district  named  Gadytia»  there  they  fought 
an  action.  Ormasd  brought  help  to  me ;  by  the  graoe  of  Onnasd,  my  troops 
entirely  defeated  the  rebel  army.  On  the  seyenth  day  of  the  month  Yiyakhna, 
then  it  was  the  battle  was  thus  fought  by  them. 

"  11.  Says  Darius  the  king : — Then  that  man  who  was  the  leader  of  those 
troops  whioh  Yeisd&tes  had  sent  against  Yib&nns,  that  leader,  withthe  horsemen 
who  were  faithftil  to  him,  fled  away.  A  fort  of  Araohotia,  named  Ar8h4da,  he 
went  beyond  that  place.  Then  Yib&Aus  with  his  troops  marched  in  pufsxdt  (or, 
to  Nipatiya).  There  he  took  him,  and  slew  the  men  who  were  his  chief  fol- 
lowers. 

"12.  Bays  Darius  the  king: — ^Then  the  prorince  subi^itted  to  me.  This  is 
what  was  done  by  me  in  Araohotia. 

**  13.  Says  Darius  the  king : — While  I  was  In  Persia  and  Media,  for  the  second 
time  the  Babylonians  roTolted  against  me-  A  certain  man  named  Aracus,  an 
Armenian,  the  son  of  Naiiditus,  he  arose  up ;  a  district  of  Babylon  named  Dob&fta, 
from  thence  he  arose ;  he  thus  falsely  proclaimed :  *  I  am  Nabokhodrossor,  the 
son  of  Nabonidus.'  Then  the  Babylonian  state  reydted  agafast  me ;  it  went  over 
to  that  Aracus ;  he  seised  on  Babylon ;  he  became  king  of  Babylonia. 

"  14.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^Then  I  sent  troops  to  Babylcm.  A  Median  of  the 
name  of  Intaphres,  one  of  my  seryants,  him  I  appointed  their  leader.  Thus  I 
addressed  them:— Hall  to  ye:  smite  that  Babylonian  state»  which  does  net 
acknowledge  me.'  Then  Intaphres  with  his  forces  marched  to  Babylon.  Ormasd 
brought  help  to  me;  by  the  graoe  of  Ormasd  Intaphres  took  Babylon... On  the 
second  day  of  the  month...  then  it  was  he  thus  "...[The  three  last  lines  are 
entirely  lost  in  the  Persian,  with  the  exception  of  the  concluding  words^  "Then 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


588  APPSNDIX. 

he  was  killed ;"  aad  I  haye  not  the  Median  iraaslatioa  of  this  part  of  the 
inseription.] 

•*2.  Says  Darius  the  king: — [This  colmnn  is  throughout  greatly  defaoad: 
in  many  parts  the  writing  is  wholly  obliterated,  and  oan  only  be  ooi^eoturally 
restored;  the  translation,  therefore,  is  giren  with  muoh  lees  oomiidenoe  than  that 
of  the  preceding  oolmnns.]  This  is  what  (hare  done.  Ify  the  grace  of  Ormaad 
haye  I  done  OTorything.  As  the  proTinoes  rerolted  against  me,  I  fought  nineteen 
battles.  By  the  grace  of  Ormasd,  I  smote  them,  and  I  made  nine  kings  captive. 
One  was  named  Gom4tes,  the  Magian :  he  was  an  impostor :  he  said,  *  I  am  Bar- 
tius,  the  son  of  Cyrus  :*  he  threw  Persia  into  re^lt  One,  an  impostor,  was 
named  Atries,  the  Susian :  he  thus  said,  <  I  am  the  king  of  Susiana:'  he  caused 
Busi&na  to  roTolt  against  me.  -  One  was  named  Natitabirus,  a  native  of  Babylon : 
he  was  an  impostor :  he  thus  said,  *  I  am  Nabokhodrossor,  the  son  of  Nabonidus :' 
he  catased  Babylonia  to  rcTolt.  One  was  an  impostor  named  Martins,  the  Per- 
sian :  he  thus  said, '  I  am  Omanes,  the  King  of  Susiana:'  he  threw  Susiana  into 
rebellion.  One  was  named  Phraortes,  the  Median :  he  assumed  a  false  charaetei^: 
he  thus  said,  *l  am  Xathrites,  of  the  race  of  Cyazajres:'  he  persuaded  Media  to 
rerolt.  One  was  an  impostor  named  Sitrafcohmes,  a  native  of  Sagartia:  he  thus 
said, '  I  am  the  king  of  Sagartia,  of  the  race  of  Cyazares :'  he  headed  a  rebellion 
in  Sagartiia.  One  was  an  impostor  named  Phraates,  a  Margian :  he  threw  Mar- 
giana  into  reyolt  One  was  an  impostor  named  Veisd&tes,  a  Persian :  he  thus 
said,  *I  am  Bartius,  the  son  of  Gyrus :'  he  headed  a  rebellion  in  Persia.  One 
was  an  impostor  named  Araous,  a  native  of  Armenia :  he  said  thus, '  I  am  Nabok- 
hodrossor, the  son  of  Nabonidus :'  he  threw  Babylon  into  revolt. 

«'  3.  Says  Darius  the  king  z^These  nine  kings  I  have  Uken  in  these  battles. 

**  4.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^These  are  the  provinces  which  became  rebellious. 
The  ejil  one  (?)  created  lies,  that  they  should  deceive  the  state:  afterward... 
caused... to  be  subdued  by  Uie.  (?)    As  it  was  desired  by  me,  thus... did •(?) 

"  5.  Says  Darius  the  king:— /Thou,  whoever  may  be  king  hereafter,  exert  thy- 
self to  put  down  lying:  the  man  who  may  be  heretical,  him  entirely  destroy. 
If  it  shall  be  thus  kept  up,  (?)  my  country  shall  remain  entire  (or  prosperous.) 

**  6.  Says  Darius  the  king : — This  is  what  I  have  done.  By  the  graoe  of  Ormaid, 
have  I  achieved  the  performance  of  the  whole.  Thou,  whoever  hereafter  mayeat 
peruse  this  tablet,  let  it  be  known  to  thee,  that  whidi  has  been  done  hy  me,  that 
it  has  not  been  fklsely  related.  (?) 

"  7.  Says  Darius  the  king: — Ormasd  is  my  witness,  (?)  that  this  record  (?)  I 
have  ftuthftdly  made  of  the  performance  of  the  whole. 

"  8.  Says  Darius  the  king :— By  the  grace  of  Ormasd,  there  is  much  else  that 
has  been  done  by  me  that  upon  this  tablet  has  not  been  inscribed.  On  that 
account  it  has  not  been  inscribed,  lest  he  who  may  hereafter  peruse  this  tablet, 
to  him  the  many  deeds  (?)  that  have  been  done  by  me  elsewhere,  it  should  seem 
that  they  are  flilsely  recorded.  (?) 

**  9.  Says  Daiius  tho  king  ^— Those  who  have  been  ftrmer  kings  in  Persia  in 
succession,  (?)  to  them  it  is  done,  as  by  me ;  by  the  grace  of  Ormaxd  has  been  the 
performance  of  the  whole ;  so  It  has  been  reeoffded.  (?)  • 

"  10.  Says  Darius  the  king :— Be  it  known  to  thee,  my  successor,  (?)  that 
which  has  not  been  done  by  me,  thus  publicly,  (?)  on  that  account  that  thou  con- 
ceal not.  It  thou  publish  this  taMet  to  the  world,  (?)  Ormasd  shall  be  a  fHend 
to  thee,  and  may  thy  ofbpring  be  numerous,  and  mayest  thou  be  long-lived. 

**  11.  Bays  Darius  the  king : — ^If  thou  conceal  this  record,  thou  shalt  not  be  thy- 
self recorded ;  (?)  may  Ormasd  be  thy  enemy,  and  mayest  thou  be  ohildlesSb 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPENDIX.  689 

<*  12.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^This  is  what  I  hare  done ;  the  pecfonuanoe  of  the 
whole,  by  the  grace  of  Ormaid,  I  have  achieted  it.  Qnaasd  has  brought  help  to 
me,  and  the  other  gods  which  are  (brought  help  to  me.) 

'^IS.Sajrs  Darius  the  king: — On  that  aooount  Otmasd  brought  help  io  me, 
and  the  other  gods  which  are,  (because)  that  I  was  not 'a  heretic,  nor  was  I  a 
liar,  nor  was  I  a  tyrant. v.My  offspring  above  their  place  •(?)  aboye...b7me  with 
the  tribes... was  don^  Whoever  was  an  eril-doer,  (?)  him  I  entlrelj  destroyed. 
[These  lines  are  much  defaced.] 

*^  14.  Says  Darius  t^e  king  :«^Thou,  whatsoever  king  who  mayest  bo'  hereafter 
the  man  who  may  be  a  Uar,  or  who  may  be  an  eril-doer,  (f)  do  not  cherish  them ;  (?) 
oast  them  out  into  utter  perdiiiou. 

"  15.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^Thou,  whosoeyer  hereafker  mayest  behold  this 
tablet  which  I  have  inscribed,.and  these  figures,  bewaie  lest  thou  dishonour  them : 
as  long  as  thou  preserrest  them,  so  long  shalt  thou  be  preserved.  (?) 

"  16.  Says  Darius  the  king : — As  long  as  thou  mayest  behold  this  tablet  and 
these  figures,  thou  mayest  not  dishonour  them ;  and  if  firom  iajixTj  thou  shalt 
preserve  them,  (?)  may  Ormazd  be  a  friend  to  thee,  and  may  thy  offspring  be 
numerous,  and  mayest  thou  be  long-lived ;  and  that  which  thou  mayest  do  may 
Qrmsad  bless  for  thee  in  after  times. 

**  17.  Says  Darius  the  king: — ^If,  seeing  this  tablet  and  these  figures,  thou  shalt 
dishonour  them,  and  if  firom  iignry  thou  mayest  not  preserve  them,  may  Onnazd 
be  thy  enemy,  and  mayest  thou  be  childless ;  and  that  which  thou  mayest  do, 
may  Ormazd  spoil  thee. 

"  18.  Says  Darius  the  king : — ^These  are  the  men  who  alone  (7)  were  there 
when  I  slew  Gom&tes,  the  Magian,  who  was  called  Bartius.  These  alone  (?)  are 
the  men  who  were  my  assistants : — [The  names  aise  almost  obliterated  in  the 
Persian,  and  several  of  them  are  imperibot  in  the  Median.  I  have  been  able, 
however,  to  recover  the  following:]  Intaphemes  by  name,  the  son  of  Hys...a 
Persian ;  Otanes  by  name,  the  son  of... a  Persian;  Gobry&s  by  name,  the  son  of 
Mardonius,  a  Persian;  Hydames  by  name,  the  son  of.. .a  Persian;  Megabyzus 
by  name,  the  son  of  Zopyrus,  a  Persia* ;  Aspathlnes  by  name,  the  son  of...a 
Persian." 

[There  is  one  more  paragraph  in  Column  IV,  consisting  of  six  lines,  which  is 
entirely  obliterated  in  the  Persian,  and  appears  t»  be  without  any  Median  trans- 
lation.] 

Of  the  thirty-five  lines  which  compose  a  supplementary  half-column,  it  is  impoa- 
Mble  to  give  a  complete  translatiotf,  one  side-of  the  tablet  being  entirely  destroyed. 
From  such  portions  as  are  decipherable,  it  appears  to  contain  an  acoount  of  two 
other  revolts;  one  in  Susiana,  conducted  by  a  man  named...imin;  and  the  other 
by  Saruk'ha,  the  chief  of  the  SacsB,  who  dwelt  upon  the  Tigris. 

Darius  employed  Gubar'uwa,  (Gobryas,)  the  Persian,  against  the  former  rebel : 
and  he  marohed  in  person  against  the  latter,  having  previously  returned  firom 
Media  to  Babylon.  The  details  of  the  campaigns  cannot  be  recovered,  but  they 
both  terminated  successfully. 

The  inscription  then  concludes  with  fiirther  thanksgivings  to  Ormatd,  and 
ii^nnetions  to  the  posterity  of  Darius  to  preserve  uniigured  the  memorial  of 
his  deeds. 

The  events  described  in  the  supplemental  column  must  have  taken  place  during 
the  process  of  engraving  the  preceding  record,  and  after  the  tablet  containing 
the  sculptured  figures  was  finished;  By  a  further  smoothening  of  the  fihoe  of  the 
rook,  Darius  was  enabled  add  the  Sacan  Samk'ha,  whom  he  had  defeated  in  per- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


690  APPIENBIX. 

sob,  to  Ids  ezhibition  of  oaptiTo  figures ;  but  there  iraui  no  room  in  the  tablet  for 
the  figare  of  the  SobIaii  rebel,  who  waa  discomfited  bj  his  lieutenant  Oobryas. 

TBllf  BLATIOV  OF  TBM  ZntBAaBHI  IMSOUmOVS  WBIOH  ABS  APFBNnSD  TO  BAOH  OF  THB 
.FIOUBBS  EZBIBIXSD  OV  THB  UVIBB  TBITOEPHiX  TAUT. 

AboTO  the  head  of  Darios  is  an  inseriptlon  of  eighteen  lines,  marked  A  in  the 
engraTing,  oontaining  an  exact  oopy  of  the  fbrst  four  paragraphs  of  Column  I, 
which  have  been  already  g^Ten.  The  writing  is  perfect;  and  the  portions,  theie- 
fere,  of  the  lower  tablet,  whieh  hame  been  eflhoed,  ean  be  determinately  restored. 
It  is  needless,  I  oonoeiTe,  to  repeat  the  translation.  A  Median  translation,  also 
quite  perfeot,  adjoins  the  Persian  original,  bnt  the  Babylonian  transoript  is 
wanting. 

B.  TaJi)let  attached  to  the  prostrate  figure  on  which  the  liotor  king  tramples  :— 
"This  Gom&tes,  the  Magian,  was  an  impostor :  he  thns  declared,  *I  am  Bartins. 
the  son  of  Cyrus ;  I  am  the  king."* 

C.  Adjoining  the  first  standing  figare: — ''This  Atrinee  was  an  impostor;  he 
thns  declared, '  I  am  king;  of  Susiana.'  '^ 

D.  Adjoining  the  second  standing  figure: — **Thi8  Natitabiras  was  an  impo** 
tor:  he  thus  declared,  *  I  am  Nabokhodrossor,  the  son  of  Nabonidns ;  I  am  king 
ofBal^lon.'" 

R  Adjoining  the  third  standing  figare  (the  Persian  legend  is  engraTcd  <m  the 
body  of  the  figure)  :~**  This  Phraortes  was  an  impostor :  he  thus  declared,  *  I  am 
Xathrites,  of  the  race  of  Cyazares ;  I  am  king  of  Media.' " 

F.  AboTe  the  fourth  standing  figure: — *'Thi8  Martins  was  an  impostor:  he 
thns  declared,  *  I  am  Omanes,  the  king  of  Susiana.' " 

G.  AcQoining  the  fifbh  standing  figure  i—** This  Sitratachmes  was  an  impostor: 
he  thus  declared,  *  I  am  king  of  Sagartia,  of  the  race  of  Cyazares.' " 

H.  Adjoining  the  sixth  standing  figure :— '*  This  Yeisdites  was  am  impostor :  he 
thus  declared,  *  I  am  Bartius,  the  son  of  Cyrus.    I  am  king.' " 

L  Aoyoining  the  seventh  standing  figure :— ^'  This  Aracus  wm  an  impostor:  he 
thus  declared,  *I  am  Nabokhodrossor,  the  son  of  Nabonidns.  I  am  the  king  of 
Babylon.'" 

J.  Adjoining  the  eighth  standing  figare : — "  This  Fhraates  was  an  impostor :  he 
thns  declared,  *  I  am  the  king  of  Margiana.' " 

K.  Aboye  the  ninth,  or  supplemental  figure  with  the  high  cap : — **Thi8  is  8a- 
rak'ha  the  Saean." 

[The  name  of  Nebuehadressar  is  written  iiidliferently  Nabokhadraohar  and 
Nabukhudraehar.] 

NoTB  47,  page  274.— Did  the  JewB  fight  in  the  jirmy  ofXerxeef 

This  question  l^as  beeh  largely  debated  by  the  learned;  but  it  seems  scaroely 
open  to  reasonable  doubt  It  is  perfectly  probable  that,  in  a  general  draft  on  the 
seyeral  provinces  of  the  empire,  the  Jews,  few  in  number  as  they  were  compara- 
tirely  at  this  time,  would  be  include  And  this  probability  almost  amounts  to 
certainty,  when  it  is  considered  that,  from  the  geographical  podtion  of  the  seat 
of  war,  the  principal  levy  of  troops  must  have  been  from  Western  Asia. 

Besides,  Josephus  explicitly  deoIareB  that  this  was  the  case,  and  quotes  in  fli^ 
Tour  of  his  opinion  the  statement  of  Cheulus  the  poet,  who,  in  the  enameration 
of  this  army,  says,  "  At  last  there  passed  over  a  people,  wonderful  to  be  bdield ; 
for  they  spake  the  Phenidan  tongue  with  their  mouths ;  they  dwelt  in  the  Soly- 


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APFBirpiz.  591 

neaa  Momitaiiis,  near  a  broad  lake ;  their  lieada  were  sooty."— Cotrira  jSpi&m, 
lib.  i,  seo.  22.  The  learned  Prideanz  thna  explains  and  defends  the  passa^ : 
"  JeTasalem  haying  also  had  the  name  of  Soljma,  (by  abbroTiation  for  Hieio^ly- 
ma,)  and  all  the  oountiy  thereabonts  being  monntainons,  and  lying  near  the 
great  Lake  AsphaHitis,  oommonly  called  *  the  Lake  of  Sodom ; '  this  deacriptioQ 
seems  plainly  to  snit  the  Jews,  especially  since  it  is  also  mentioned  thai  they 
spake  the  Phenician  language,  the  Syriac  being  then  the  vulgar  language  of  the 
Jews."^- Connexion,  yol.  i,  p.  264.  It  is  admitted  that  Soaliger  and  Booharbus 
attribute  this  to  Solyme  in  Pisidia :  but  Busebius  and  Salmasius  being  on  the  side 
of  Josephns,  the  baLasnee  of  authority,  as  well  as  endenoe,  )s  dearly  in  his  &Tour. 

NoTB  48,  page  278. — The  Inscriptions  relating  to  the  Reign  of  Xerxes. 

These  inscriptions  relating  to  the  reign  of  Xerxes,  although  tolerably  nume- 
rous, possess  no  great  Tariety  or  particular  interest.  They  are  found  at  Rama- 
dan, at  Persepolis,  and  Van.  We  here  g^re  them  ftDm  the  translation  of  Col- 
onel RawUnson : — 

•«  The  great  god  Ormazd,  the  chief  of  the  gods,  (he  it  is)  who  has  given  this 
world,  who  has  given  that  heayen,  who  has  giyen  mankind,  who  has  giyen  life 
(?)  to  mankind,  who  has  made  Xerxes  king,  both  the  king  of  the  people,  and  the 
lawgiver  of  the  people.  (2.)  I  am  Xerxes  the  king,  the  great  king,  the  king  of 
kings,  the  king  of  the  many-peopled  countries,  the  supporter  also  of  this  great 
world,  the  son  of  KingJ)arius  the  Achsomenian.'' 

"  Xerxes,  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the  son  of  King  Darius  the  Ach»- 
menian." 

"  The  great  god  Ormaid,  the  chief  of  the  gods,  (he  it  is)  who  has  giyen  this 
world,  who  has  giyen  that  heayen,  who  has  given  mankind,  who  has  given  Uft 
(?)  to  mankind,  who  has  made  Xerxes  king,  both  king  of  the  people,  and  law- 
giver of  the  people.  (2.)  I  am  Xerxes  the  king,  the  great  king,  the  king  of 
kings,  the  king  of  the  many-peopled  countries,  the  supporter  also  of  this  great 
world,  the  son  of  King  Darius  the  Achsamenlan.  (3.)  Says  Xerxes  the  great 
king :— By  the  grace  of  Qrmazd  I  haye  made  this  house.  May  Ormaxd  protect 
me,  togetiier  with  the  (other)  gods,  and  my  empire,  and  that  which  has  been 
done  by  me.'' 

"  The  great  god  Ormazd,  (he  it  is)  who  has  given  this  world,  who  has  given 
that  heaven,  who  has  given  mankind,  who  has  ^ven  life  to  mankind,  who  has 
made  Xerxes  king,  both  the  king  of  the  people,  and  the  lawgiver  of  the  people, 
(2.)  I  am  Xerxes  the  king,  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the  king  of  the 
many-peopled  countries,  the  supporter  also  of  this  great  world,  the  son  of  King 
Darius  the  Acluemenian.  (3.)  Says  Xerxes  the  great  king : — ^That  which  has 
been  done  by  me  here,  and  that  which  has  been  done  by  me  elsewhere,  all  of  it 
have  I  accomplished  by  the  grace  of  Ormazd.  May  Ormazd  protect  me,  together 
with  the  (other)  gods,  both  my  empire  and  my  works''  (literally,  "that  which 
has  been  done  by  me.") 

**The  great  god  Ormazd,  (he  it  is)  who  has  ^Tsn  Una  world,  who  has  given 
that  heaven,  who  has  given  mankind,  who  has  given  life  to  mankind,  who  has 
made  Xerxes  king,  both  king  of  the  people,  and  lawgiyer  of  the  people.  (3.)  I 
am  Xerxes  the  king,  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the  king  of  the  many- 
peopled  countries,  the  supporter  also  of  this  great  world,  the  son  of  King  Darius 
the  Aohwmenian.  (8.)  Says  Xerxes  the  king:—- By  the  grace  of  Ormazd  I  have 
made  this  gate  of  entrance  (or,  this  puUio  portal)    There  is  many  another 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


592  APPENDIX. 

noble  work  besides  (or,  in)  this  Persepolis  wMcb  I  hare  executed,  and  "whiisti  my 
fatlier  has  exeonted.  Whatsoeyer  noble  works  are  to  be  seen,  we  hare  executed 
all  of  them  by  the  grace  of  Ormasd.  (4.)  Says  Xerxes  the  king: — ^May  Ormasd 
protect  me  and  my  empire.  Both  that  which  has  been  executed  1^  me,  and  that 
which  has  been  executed  by  my  father,  may  Ormasd  protect  it." 

The  great  .god  Ormasd,  the  chief  of  the  gods,  (he  it  is)  who  has  giren  this 
world,  who  has  giren  that  heaven,  who  has  given  mankind,  who  has  given  life  (?) 
to  mankind ;  who' hap  made  Xerxes  king,  both  king  of  the  people,  and  lawgiver 
of  the  people.  (2.)  I  am  Xerxes  the  king,  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the 
king  of  the  many-peopled  countries,  the  supporter  also  of  this  great  world,  the 
son  of  King  Darius  the  Achesmenian.  (3.)  Says  Xerxes  the  king : — King  Darius, 
who  was  my  father,  he  by  the  grace  of  God  executed  many  a  noble  work ;  he 
also  visited  this  place ;  in  celebration  (?)  (of  which)  why  did  he  not  cause  a 
tablet  to  be  engraved?  After  that  I  arrived  here,  I  caused  this  tablet  to  be 
Written."  ... 

Note  49,  page  284.—- 21^  Intcriptions  relating  to  thi  Reign  of  Artaxerxa, 

**  The  great  god  Ormasd,  (he  it  is)  who  has  giinen  this  world,  who  has  given 
that  heaven,  who  has  made  mankind,  who  has  given  life  to  mankind,  who  has 
made  me  Artaxerxes  king,  both  the  king  of  the  people,  and  the  lawgiver  of  the 
people.  (2.)  Says  Artaxerxes,  the  great  king,  the  king  of  kings,  the  king  of  the  na- 
tions, the  king  of  this  world : — ^I  am  the  son  of  King  Artaxerxes,  Artaxerxes  (being) 
the  son  of  King  Darius,  Darius  (being)  the  son  of  King  Artaxerxes*  Artaxerxes 
(being)  the  son  of  BCing  Xerxes,  Xerxes  (being)  the  son  of  King  Darius,  Darius 
(being)  the  son  of  one  named  Hystaspes,  (and)  Hystaspes  (being)  the  son  of 
one  named  Arsames,'  an  AchsBmenian.  (3.)  Says  King  Artaxerxes : — I  have 
made  this  well-sculptured  piece  of  masonry  for  my  own  convenience.  (4.)  Says 
King  Artaxerxes ; — ^&f ay  Ormasd  and  the  god  Mithra  protect  me :  (may  they 
protect)  both  this  province  and  that  which  I  have  done. 

**AbTAXXRXE8   the  ORSAT  KIMOb" 

It  will  be  sufficient  to  observe  of  this  inscription,  that  the  orthography  of  the 
name  of  Ai^taxerxes,  regardless  altogether  of  etymological  precition,  and  fol- 
lowing to  a  certain  extent  the  corrupted  pronunciation  by  which  the  Modes  and 
Babylonians  sought  to  adopt  the  compound  Persian  articulations  to  their 
peculiar  organs  of  speech,  is  decisive,  I  think,  as  to  the  foreign  origin  of  the 
legend ;  and  i  would  infer  also  flrom  the  same  circumstance  that  the  relic  must 
be  assigned  even  to  a  later  date  than  that  of  the  latest  Achasmenian  inserip* 
tions  at  Persepolis. 

NoTB  60,  page  285. — The  IStlfilmeni  ofeacred  Prophecy  m  the  History  of  Perna, 

In  a  brief  review  of  the  predictions  accomplished  in  the  histoiy  of  this  nation, 
it  may  be  best  to  notice,— 

1.  The  predictive  xepredbntation  of  the  second  universal  empire  given  to  the 
prophet  Daniel  under  diiferent  symbols ;  and,  first,  as  "  the  breast  and  arms  of 
silver,"  in  the  great  image  which  Nebuchadnessar  saw  in  his  dream.  This  pre- 
dictive aymbolism  was  explained  by  the  prophet,  "  Thou  art  this  head  of  gold. 
And  after  thee  shall  arise  another  kingdom  inferior  to  thee.^'  This,  thereftve, 
could  refer  to  no  power  but  the  Medo-Persian  empire  of  Cyrus,  which  succeeded 
the  Babylonian  monarohy.    Various  conjectures  have  been  put  forth  respecting 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBITDIX.  693 

the  mftnoritif  ^  this  kingdom  to  the  preceding,  which  »sf  g^necally  of  a  moet 
onsatiflfiLotory  kind.  It  wai  certainly  not  inferior  in  extent,  nor — ^if  the  expla- 
nation of  Dsaniel  with  respect  to  the  first  kingdom  is  reoeiVed-^in  duration :  and 
no  argument  can  be  drawn  with  propriety  (although  it  has  frequently  been 
attempted)  from  the  Talue  of  the  metals ;  for  the  kingdoms  represented  by  brass 
and  iron  are  in  some  respects  distinctly  stated  to  be  superior  to  those  set  forth 
by  gold  and  siWer. 

I  freely  confess  I  feel  doubts  as  to  whether  the  term  **  inferior,"  used  by  our. 
translators  here,  oonyeys  the  true  sonde  of  the  originaL  It  Is  the  only  instance 
in  which  the  word  is  thus  rendered,  although  it  frequently  occurs  in  Scripture. 
In  eighteen  other  places  in  this  Book,  it  is  translated  "  the  earth."  If  some- 
thing of  this  kind,  howcTer,  is  the  meaning  of  the  term.  I  presume  it  must 
be  understood  as  referring  to  the  unequalled,  magnificence  of  the  Babylonian 
kingdom  during  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  The  fact  is,  however,  specially 
worthy  of  attention.  There  was  Nebuchadnezzar  in  all  the  pride  of  his  power ; 
yet  to  him  the  prophet  says,  "  After  thee  shall  arise  another  kingdom^"  And 
80  it  was.  Babylon  sunk  into  ruin,  and  Persia  rose  into  powarin  her  place. 
Dan.  ii,  39. 

Secondly,  the  Persian  empirer  is  described  as  the  second  beast,  "like  to  a 
bear."  Thid  appears  to  haye  been  intended  to  signify  the  inordinate  rapacity 
and  cruelty  of  Persia.  For  "  it  had  ribs  between  the  teeth  of  it : — and  they 
said  thus  unto  it,  Arise,  dcTour  much  flesh."  And  surely  no  nation  oyer  dis- 
played more  of  these  qualities  than  did  this.  From  India  to  Bgypt  and  Qreece, 
it  went  forth  to  deyour ;  and  the  punishments  systematically  inflicted  by  these 
kings  were  of  unequal  seyerity.  Dan,  Vii,  d. 

Thirdly,  this  emjnre  is  set  forth  under  the  symbol  of  a  ram  with  two  horns. 
**Then,"  says  the  prophet,  "I  lifted  up  mine  eyes,  and  saw,  and,  behold,  there 
stood  before  the  riyer  a  ram  which  had  two  horns :  and  the  two  horns  were 
high ;  but  one  was  higher  than  the  other,  and  the  higher  came  up  last.  I.  saw 
the  ram  pushing  westward,  and  northward,  and  irauthward;  so  that  no  beasts 
might  stand  before  him,  neither  was  there  any  that  could  deliyer  out  of  his 
hand :  but  he.  did  according  to  his  will,  and  became  great"  Dan.  yiii,  3,  4. 
This  symbolism  is  thus  explained  to  the  prophet  by  the  angel:  '*The  ram 
which  thou  sawest  haying  two  horns  are  the  ^ings  of  Media  and  Persia." 
Terse  20. 

Remarkable  as  is  this  prophetic  symbolism,  it  is  so  plain  as  to  leaye  little  room 
toot  comment.  Of  all  the  great  monarchies,  this  alone  was  distinguished  as  a 
Junction  of  two  kingdoms.  One  of  thefte.  Media,  was  the  most-  ancient  and 
fiunous  in  history ;  the  other,  Persia,  of  recent  rise  to  power,  yet  of  surpassing 
potency.  Hence  the  two  horns  of  unequal  heights— the  last  being  the  highest. 
Here,  as  in  the  case  of  Babylon,  it  seems  yery  probable  that^the  figure  emfdoyed 
was  a  well-known  symbol.  The  ram's  head,  with  two  horns  made  of  gold,  was, 
we  are  told,  worn  by  the  Medo-Persian  kings  instead' of  a  crown.  The  national 
banner  was  a  ram ;  and  rams  sculptured  with  two  horns*  one  higher  than  the 
other,  are  found  on  the  ruins' of  Persepelia  The  rapid  conquests  of  this  power 
are  yiyidly  set  forth  by  the  ram  ^*  pushing  westward,  and  southward,  and 
northward,"  while  therto  was  no  ability  in  aiiy  people  to -stand  before  him.  It 
is  not  possible  to  oonoeiye  of  a  more  exact  prOphetio  symbolism  than  thia 

11  We  notice  the  special  predictions  relating  to  Gyms,  the  founder  and  hero 
of  this  empire.  The  adaptation  of  this  prophecy  to  Babylon  has  been  alrea^ 
noticed.    It  will,  therefore,  here  be  only  necessary  to  mention  the  dates,  and^ta 

38 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


694  APPENDIX. 

quote  %  few  lines  of  this  wonderful  jsedietion.  Ottos  Moeaded  the  throne  of 
Persia  B.  C.  ^9 ;  Isaiah  oeased  to  prophesy  B.  C.  699 1  so  that^^  at  leaist  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  years  before  the  aooesslon  .of  this  warrior  to  the  throne  of  his 
natiye  country,  the  Hebrew  seer -published  these  lema^able  lines:*- 

**  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  thy  Redeemer,  (0  Jaeob,) 

And  he  that  formed  thee  from  the  womb,  (0  larsel :) 

I  am  the  Lord  who  made  all  things ; 

Who  stretch  Out  the  heavens  alone. 

And  spread  oat  the  earth  by  myself : — 

Who  saith  to  Cteub,  He  is  my  lUiepherd, 

And  shall  perform  all  my  pleasure : 

Who  saith  to  Jerusalem;  Thou  shalt  be  built ; 

And  to  the  temple.  Thou  shalt  be  founded/'  1ml  xUt,  24, 28. 

"  l!hus  saith  the  Lou>  to  his  anointed, 

To  Gnus,  whom  I  held  by  the  righi  hand. 

To  subdue  before  him  nations. 

And  nngird  the  loins  of  kings ; 

To  open  before  him  (palace)  fiolding-doors ; 

Even  (river)  gates  shall  not  be  shut.*'  Isa.  xlv,  1. 

Dr.  Hales'fe  Traoolatko. 

WkeBL  it  is  considered  that  this  was  not  only  written  before  Pyros  was  bora, 
but  while  Jerusalem  stood  in  all  her  glozy,  and  the  temple  in  all  its  beauty,  we 
see  the  full  force  of  the  prophecy.  The  sacred  seer— realising,  under  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit,  coming  events — places  hiq^self  in  the  midst  of  the  deso- 
lations of  the  captivity,  and  calls  Gyms  to  the  work  whiqh  Divine  Providence 
had  assigned  him. 

nt  We  refer  to  the  predicted  invasion  of  Greece  by  Persia. 

Daniel  g^ves  this  prophecy  in  the  following  language:  ".Behold,  there  shall 
stand  up  yet  three  kings  in  Persia ;  and  the  fourth  shall  be  fSar  richer  than  th^  all: 
and  by  his  strength  through  his  riches  he  shall  stir  up  all  against  the  reahn  of 
Qreeia."  Dan.  xi,  2.  The  prophet  is  careful  to  tell  us  that  this  was  spok^  in 
"  the  first  year  of  DariUs  the  Mode ;"  and  consequently  when  Cyrus  was  reigning 
.in  Persia,  it  being  the  year  before  he  subdued  Media.  Those  tkni  kings  must 
therefore  be  Cambyses,  Smerdis,  and  Darius;  and  the  fourth,  Xerxes.  The  his- 
rtory  shows  the  boundless  extent  of  hir  resources^  aud  the  intensity  with  which 
*'  he  stirred  up  all  against  the  realm  of  Qrecia.^'  There  are  few  predictions  on 
the  sacred  record  more  full  and  exact  in  terms,  or  which  have  l^en  fulfilled  in  a 
more  complete  and  elaborate  development  of  historical  events. 

IV.  We  glanoe  at  predictions  which  set  forth  the  defeat  and  captivi^  of  Persia. 

Here  we  might  cite  the  invimrible. prowess  of  the  Grecian  goat,  and  his  un- 
qualified success.  Dan.  viii,  6^7.  But  this  belongs  rather  to  the  history  of  Greece^ 
It  will  here  be  only  necessary  to  refer  to  a  prophecy  of  Jeremiah :  *«  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts ;  Behold,  I  will  break  the  bow  of  J^am,  the  chief  of  their  mights 
And  upon  Elam  will  I  bring  the  four  winds  firoln  the  four  quarters  of  the  heaven, 
and  will  scatter  them  toward  all  those  winds;  and  there  shall  be  no  nation 
whither  the  outcasts  of  Elam  shall  not  come.  For  I  will  cause  £lam  to  be  dis- 
mayed before  their  enemies,  and  befbre  them  that  seek  their  life :  and  I  will  bring 
eril  upon  them,  even  my  fierce  anger,  saith  the  Lord;  and  I  will  send  the  sword 
after  them,  till  I  have  consumed  them :  and  I  will  set  my  throne  in  Elam,  and  will 
^^troy  from  thence  the  king  and- the  princes,  saith  the  Lord.''  Jer.  xlix,  35-38. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBNDIZ.  595 

BlaA' genevall J  fiignifies  Persia;  and  that  it  does  so  here,  is  eTident  by  the 
TefeTenee  to  the  bowct  EUun, — the  fttTonrite  and  most  formidable  weapon  of  Per- 
sian warfare.  Here,  then,  eren  'before'  Persia  is  raised  to  power,  does  Jehovah 
predict  her  min.  80  it  was  with  Babylon.  Thns  did  the  Lord  gnard  the  parity 
of  his  government,  and  show  that,  however  nations  or  individ«als  might  be 
raised  by  providential  appointment  to  elevated  power,  this  formed  no  sanctioii 
for  their  sin,  whi<A  was  sure  to  bring  upon  them  divine  judgment. 

The  exactitnde  with  which  these  prophecies  were  fulfilled  by  the  oonquests  of 
Alexander  is  so  obvious,  that  they  do  not  call  fbr  special  remark. 


Nona  61|  page  287.—- 21k<  cot^fUeHng  Opiniem  and  CoN^ov«r«y  ruptetin^  Zoroaater 

ami  kit  Docbrmu. 

For  the  reasons  stated  in  the  text,  it  becomes  necessaxy  to  present,  in  as 
condensed  a  form  as  possible,  an  outline  of  the-  opinions  promulgated  by  the 
learned  respecting  the  character  and  teaching  of  this  person. 

To  begin  with  a  statement  sufficiently  startling : — ^it  may  be  observed  that  M. 
Huet,  a  celebrated  French  bishop,  put  forth  the  opinion  that  Moses  was  Zoroas- 
ter ;  or  that  the  latter  was  a  fictitious  personage,  invented  by  the  Persian  Magi, 
for  the  purpose  of  introducing  into  their  country  the  theological  system  which 
they  had  borrowed  from  the  Jewish  lawgiver. 

The  controversy  respecting  this  sage,  however,  arises  out  of  the  statements 
advanced  by  the  learned  Dr.  Thomas  Hyde  in  his  elaborate  work  on  this  subject 
(Yeterum  Persamm  et  Parthorum  et  Medorum  Religionis  Historia.)  In  this 
work  it  is  maintained,  that  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Persians  arose  out  of  the 
doctrines  taught  by  Zoroaster,  a  Ma^n  sage  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Darius 
Hystaspis ;  and  that  this  was  the  only  person  of  that  name. 

Dean  Prideauz,  who  has  given  in  his  valuable  "  Connexion  "  a  lengthened 
epitome  of  Zoroaster^s  life  and  doctrines,  adopts  and  defends  the  sentiments  of 
Hyde,  and  is  quoted  as  the  great  authority  on  that  side  of  the  question  to  the" 
present  day.  This  is  done,  however,  with  singular  impropriety,  and  exhibits  a 
remarkable  instance  of  neglect  in  the  continued  publication  of  a  standard  work 
without  correction.  It  is  true  that  Prideaux  in  his  **  Gopnexion "  maintained 
that  there  had  been  but  one  Zoroastc^r  \  but  it  is  equally  true  that,  being  pressed 
l^  the  arguments  of  his  en^ite  cousin,  Walter  Moyle,  Esq.,  of  Bake,  in  Cornwall,, 
he  was  led  to  alter  his  opinion,  and  ailmit  the  existence  of  two  Zoroasters. ' 
"But  your  other  answer,"  says  the  learned  dean,  "is  far  better,  and  I  think  you 
are  extremely  in  the  right  to  tuppoae  two  Zoroastree^  I  think  it  impostibU  to  ream- 
eiie  the  iSrecian  and  Persian  accounts  upon  any  other  hypotheite" — MoyWs  Works, 
voL  ii,  p.  75.  Surely,  after  this,  some  notice  of  this  change  of  sentiment  should 
have  been  inserted  in  the  subsequent  editions  of  Prideaux's  great  work.  But 
this  has  not  been  done ;  and  the  learned  dean  stands  before  the  world,  to  this 
day,  in  direct  contradiction  to  himself,  and  with  this  disaidvautage, — ^that  his 
error  is  in  a  popular  work,  but  its  correction  is  one  very  little  known. 

It  is,  however,  argued  in  opposition  to  this  opinion,  that  the  Greek  and  Latin 
writers  speak  of  several  Zoroasters.  Some  of  these  are  placed  in  such  remote 
antiquity  as  to  be  altogether  fahulous.  PUny  says  tliat  Eudoxus  placed  Zoroas- 
tres  six  thousand  years  before  the  death  of  Plato,  alleging  that  Aristotle  concur- 
red in  that  opiuion.  Herttippus  and  others  say,  that  ^is  sage  was  taught 
magie  five  thousand  years  before  the  siege  of  Troy ;  while  Pliny  himself  expresses 
an  opinion  Huit  Zoroastres  lived  many  thousand  years  before  Moses.    Xanthus 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


596  APPHNDIX. 

of  Lydia  reokons  six  hundred  yean  ihmt  ZoroaBives  to  ihe  time  of  Xarkes ;  and 
Justin  says  that  he  flourished  ei|^t  hundred  and  fifty  yean  before  the  Trojan  war. 

There  is  no  less  dlTersity  of  opinion  M  to  the  aumber  of  persons  of  this  name 
than  there  is  m  to  the  times  when  they  liTod.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  obeerTee* 
"  Of  Zoroastres  there  is  muoh  dispute.  Amobius  remembereth  four  to^  ifhioim 
the  name  of  Zoroaster  or  Zoroastres  was  giren :  the  fint,  AmobtuB  oaUeth  the 
Bactrian,  which  may  be  the  same  that  X^inus  oyerthrew ;  the  seoond,  a  Chaldean, 
and  the  astronomer  of  Ninus ;  the  third  was  Zoroaster  Pamphylius,  who  liTed  in 
the  time  of  Cyrus,  and  his  familiar ;  the  fourth,  Zoroaater  Armenius,  the  n^fihev 
of  Hostianes,  whioh  followed  Xerxes  into  Oreeoe." — HUtory  of  Hu  WorldL,  book  i, 
chap,  zi,  see.  1. 

Again:  "Some  eaatem  writers,"  says  Vht.  BiBhardaon,  "plaoe  Zerduht 
thirteen  hundred  yean  after  the  Flood.  Some  make  him  the  disciple  of  El^ah,  or 
fiUsha ;  others  Ozair,  Esra^  or  Ezdras.  Some  consider  him  as  Abraham ;  othen, 
as  the  usurper  Zohah ;  and  some  hare  ooneeiTed  him  to  be  Smerdis  Magus."— 
Di99,,  p.  231. 

And,  lastly,  Dr.  Thomas  Burnet  says,'  "Zoroaster  was  the  prince  and  chief  of 
the  Magi,  as  many  authon  testify ;  but  they  differ  much  in  the  history  of  this 
Zoroaster,  or  of  the  Zoroasters.  Some  reckon  one,  some  two,  and  some  aoTeraL 
It  seems  to  be  certain,  first,  that  there  were  at  least  two  ^roasters,  both  emi- 
'  nent  for  wisdom  and  Magism ;  one  a  Ghalda»an  or  Bactrian,  mentione4  by  many 
authon ;  tiie  other  a  Penian,  or  Medo-Persian,  oonoeming  whom  there  is  no 
doubU  Secondly,  I  dearly  perceive  that  the  affain,  ages,  opinions,  countries, 
writings,  of  these  two  are  often  confounded  and  blended  together,  both  by  the 
ancients  and  modems." 

Thus  much  respecting  the  personality  of  this  sage,  and  the  period  when  he 
liTed.  We  append  a  few  worda  concerning  his  doctrines.  Here,  too,  we  find 
equal  difference  of  opinion.  The  authors,  of  the  "  Uniyenal  History,"  following 
in  the  steps  of  Dr.  Hyde,  earnestly  cohtend  that  after  the  reformation  of  2U>roas- 
ter  the  Persians  were  pure  theists, — "zealous  adoren  of  the  one  all-wise  and 
omnipotent  God,  whom  they  held  to  be  infinite  and  omnipresent ;  ao  that  they 
could  not  bear  that  he  should  be  represented  by  either  grayen  or  molten  images; 
or  that  the  Creator  and  Lord  of  the  uniTorse  should  be  circumscribed  within  the 
narrow  bounds  of  temples."— -.iiicieni  Univtrtal  History^  toL  iv,  p.  84.  Dr.  Hyde, 
indeed,  goes  further  than  this,  contending  that,  taught  by  Zoroaster,  the  Per- 
sians not  only  maintained  "  the  wonhip  of  the  true  God,"  but  alaa  "  a  rightly 
constituted  Church,  with  a  well-regulated  hierarchy,  with  its  triple  order  of 
priests  and  prelates,  and  also  arch-prelatea."  This  piece  of  ruUveU  strongly 
reminds  me  of  the  reply  of  a  gentleman  of  Girgenti,  (the  ancient  Agrigentum,) 
in  Sicily,  to  a  friend  of  mine.  When  asked  if  Girgenti  was  not  an  ancient  bish- 
opric, he  answered,  "Yes,  sir ;  it  was  a  bishopric  some  centuries  before  Ckriet  !'* 

On  the  other  hand,  many  erudite  authon  contend  that  Zoroaster  introduced  er 
continued  the  worship  of  fire,— the  adoraticm  of  two  ccmflicting  independent  prin- 
ciples, the  one  perfectly  good,  the  other  equally  eriL  thus  antagonistio  are  the 
sentiments  of  authon  nspecting  the  Penian  sage  and  his  doctrines. 

NoTB  62,  page  292,--Probabk  Theology  of  Periia  before  Zoroatter. 

The  learned  Mosheim  is  of  opinon  that  at  fint  the  Penian  triad  waa  fomed 
of  three  hero-gods ;  and  that  afterward  Zoroaster,  in  order  to  carry  out  hia  nllg- 
ioua  nformation,  applied  the  namea  of  these  hennlirinities  to  other  ol(ja0ta; 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBUDIX.  597 

namelj,  Oromasdes  to  tbe  divine  pri|icipl6  of  purity  and  goodness,  Ahrimanius 
to  the  e?il  principle,  and  Mithras  to  the  mediator  deity.  Wc  insert  his  views  at 
length : — 

**  Iii  the  -first  plaoe,  then,  I  lay  it  down  that  the  gods  of  the  most  ahcient  Per- 
eians  were  three :  Oromaadeif  tdrimaniks,  and  Mithras :  secondly,  that  these  three 
were  heroes,  kings,  and  leaders,  illnstrious  for  good  deeds  and  for  the  greatness 
of  their  achierements,  and  exalted  to  the  rank  of  gods  by  the  faToor  and  rever- 
enoe  of  the  j>eople.  For,  as  all  nations  paid  divine  honours  to  the  first  founders 
and  ancestors  of  their  race  after  death,  I  see  no  reason  why  w«  should  not  sup- 
pose the  same  of  the  Persians.  That  Arimanius  and  Oromasdes  [on  the  etymology 
of  whose  names  see  Beausiobre,  Hist  de  Manich.,  p.  169]  were  mighty  men  and 
mo0t  renowned  leaders  in  war,  is  shown  by  G.  Wil.  Leibnitz  among  others,  Essais 
de  Th^odic^,  par.  i,  sec.  188,  p.  280.  Add  the  recent  German  edition  of  Casp. 
Abel's  Teutonic  and  3azon  Antiquities,  cap.  i,  sec.  6,  p.  22.  I  shall  therefore 
confine  my  inquiry  to  Biithras.  In  my  opinion,  he  was  a  strong  and  mighty  man 
or  king,  who  delighted  chiefiy  in  horses,  dogs,  and  hunting,  and  who  gave  peace 
and  security  to  his  countrymen  by  ridding  the  Persian  province  of  wild  beasts, 
robbers,  and  other  pests.  His  soul  they  imagined  to  have  been  transferred  after 
death  to  the  sun,  and,  from  a  grateM  recollection  of  past  benefits,  paid  to  it 
divine  honours,  so  as  to  seem  to  worship  the  sun  itself.  That  this  is  not  a  rash 
assumption,  but  an  opinion  resting  uj>on  no  slight  foiudation,  will,  I  think,  be 
shown  by  the  arguments  I  am  now  about  to  adduce.  I  pass  over  what  I  liave 
alteady  more  than  once  intimated,  that  the  ancestral  gods  of  every  country  were 
no  other  than  the  authors  and  founders  of  the  race ;  nor  shall  I  dwell  upon  the 
well-known  fact,  that  Mithras  belongs  to  those  names  which  in  Persia  and  the 
neighbouring  countries  were  appropriated  to  men,  [Mi£hra,  the  son  of  Labd»* 
cos, — ^Pisp.  of  Archelaus  with  Manes,  in  Zacagnius's  Monum.,  p.  67 ;  Hagenbuch's 
Epistel.  Epigraph.,  pp.  241,  242,  246,]  because  many,  I  know,  suppose  it  to  be 
probable,  tiiat  those  who  bore  this  name  received  it  from  their  -parents  from 
motives  of  religion  toward  the  god.  But,  in  order  to  establish  my  point,  I  shall 
appeal  to  the  evidence  of  the  images,  mysteries,  and  sacrifices  of  Mithras.  In 
the  first  place,  the  ancient  Persians  represented  Mithras  as  a  strong  and  power- 
fVil  man',  guarded  with  a  sword  and  wearing  the  Persian  turban,  who,  seated  on 
the  back  of  a  bull,  restrains,  overpowers,  and  despatches  the  fierce  beast,  which 
11$  at  the  same  time  attacked  by  dogs.  (See  some  representations  of  the  kind  in 
Anton.  Van  Dale's  IHss.  Novem  in  Anliq.  et  Marmora,  diss,  i,  p.  18,  &c.)  In 
some  images  there  ar6  also  a  tame  lion,  a  serpent,  and  a  scorpion.  [The  ancients  . 
say  that  Mithras  was  a  stealer  of  oxen,  and  a  robbei*.  See  Hist,  de  V  Acad,  des 
Insoript.,  tom.  vi,  p.  365,' &c.,  where  Maffeius  also' attempts  an  explanation  of  the 
words  Noma  SebtsUm^  found  on  some  stones  dedicated  to  Mithras.]  Now,  I 
ask  of  any  one  possessing  even  a  slight  acquaintance  with  such  matters,  whether 
anything  could  better  represent  a  hunter  and  tamer  of  wild  beasts.  If  there  was 
nothing  else,  this  imagiB  alone  would  in  my  mind  suflScfiently  show  the  origin  and 
exploits  of  Mithras.  Very  learned  men,  I  am  aware,  following  the  elample  of 
the  ancient  scholiast  of  Statins,  contend  that  these  are  symbols  of  natural  things ; 
namely^  that  tiie  man  signifies  the  sun,  the  bull  the  moon,  and  that  the  whole 
group  represents  the  superiority  of  the  snn  to  the  moon.  <9o{;  saya  this  scholiast, 
lunam  minorem  potmtid  tud  et  humiliorem  docsna,  tattrum  insideru  comiitu  tarquet 
*  The  sun  riding  on  a  bull  turns  it  by  the  horns,  showing  thereby  that  the  power 
of  the  moon  is  inferior  to  his  own.'  (See  Vossius,  De  Iddlolatrid,  lib.  ix,  p.  776 ; 
Martini,  Religion  des  Gaulois,  lib.  ii,  cap.  34,  p^  466.)    But  'let  those  who  are 


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698  APPBNDIX. 

onvilling  to  employ  their  reason  «Ment  to  Interpretatioiw  like  thete.  For  iqj 
part,  I  conceiye  we  ought  to  aim  at  almplicity  in  expounding  the  religions  of  an- 
tiquity, nor  do  I  consider  that  ancient  nations  possessed  so  refined  and  subtle  an 
intellect  as  to  conceal  things  whj,ch  are  obvious  to  eyeiy  one,  under.  I  know  not 
what  symbols  and  images.  The  superiority  of  the  sun,  to  the  moon  is  eTident  to 
the  sight,  and  known  eyen  to  the  most  ignorant  and  uninformed.  What  man  in 
his  senses,  then,  would  belieye  that  the  Persians,  to  impart  a  knowledge  of  this 
truth,  with  which  all  but  the.  blind  must  be  familiar,  had.  recourse  to  so  far* 
fetched  a  symbol?  And  what  relation  does  a  bull  bear  to  the  moon?  What  is 
meant  by  the  dogs  that  are  at  the  same  time  attac^i^g  the  bull?  What  by  the 
rest  ?  If  the  bull  be  a  symbol  of  the  moon,  beoause,  like  the  moon,  it  has  horns, 
others,  I  fear,  by  the  same  rule,  may  take  it  to  be  represented  by  a  ram  or  a  goat 
And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  notion  itself  imagined  to  be  oonyeyed  in  this  sym- 
bol ?  X  ask  whether  it  be  possible  for  any  reasonable  man  to  suppose  that  »  man 
slaying  a  bull  is  an  apt  image  to  show  the  sun  to  be  superi<H:  in  dignity  to  the 
moon.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  explications  of  this  image.  It  is  a 
custom  a^ong  the  later  philosophers  and  grammarians  to  make  their  own  oon- 
ception  the  standard  in  judging  of  the  notions  of  antiquity ;  hence,  they  insist  that 
their  monuments  are  symbols  of  other  things,  lest,  forsooth,  the  ancients  should 
appear  to'haye  entertained  absurd  and  foolish  notions  respecting  the  godff,  or  ai 
least  cherished  different  opinions  from  their  own..  And  yet  learned  men  set  the 
highest  yalue  upon  these  interpretations :  whence  it  yery  often  comes  to  pass, 
that  they  altogether  misrepresent  the  ancient  solemnities,  and.  exhibit  those  bar- 
barous nations  as  much  wiser  than  they  really  were.  Whereas,  if  they  had  duly 
sifted  and  examined  the  whole  matter,  they  would  no  doubt  haye  peroeiyed  that 
there  are  f^w  of  the  explications  afforded  by  Plotinus,  Produs,  Jamblichna,  and 
so  many  others,  which  do  not  tbemselyes  betray  their  own  weakness  and  insuffi- 
ciency. The  yictims  recorded  to  haye  been  sacrificed  by  the  Pernans  to  Idithras 
flimish  me  with  another  argument.  Horses  were  sacred  to  this  god,  and  publicly 
offered  to  him,  as  is  manifest  from  innumerable  testimonies  of  the  ancient 
authors,  Xenophon,  Philostratus,  Herodotus,,  and  others.  (Se6  Yosaiiis,  De 
Idololatrii,  lib.  xi,  cap.  9,  p.  132  ;  Sam.  Dochart.  Hierozoia,  lib.  ii,  cap.  10,  p.  132.) 
This  1  interpret  as  foUows ;  Mithras  in  his  lifetime  was  passionately  fond  of  horses, 
as  their  aid  cannot  well  be  dispensed  with  either  in  subduing  sayage  animals  or 
encountering  with  enemies.  Hence  the  Persians,  after  his  death,  decreed  that 
horses  should  be  held  sacred  to  his  memory.  Moreoyer,  it  was  the  popular  belief 
in  antiquity,  that  the  shades  of  ^e  dead  retain  in  another  world  a  fondness  for 
the  objecta  which  they  prized  in  this  life.  .  Among  the  Germans  and  other  nations, 
as  is  well  known,  horses  were  slaughtered  at  the  funeral  piles  of  chieftains  and 
warriors,  to  be  employed  by  them  for  pomp  or  pleasure  in  the  eternal  abodes. 
In  like  manner,  the  Persians,  knowing  their  king  Mithras  to  haye  delighted  in 
horses,  judged  it  right  to  sacrifice  to  him,  from  time  to  time,  f^resh  troope  of 
horses,  to  enable  him  still  to  eigoy  his  ancient  gratification  in  the  empire  of  the 
sun.  This  yiew,  indeed,  is  yery  far  fh>m  being  in  accordance  with  those  either 
of  the  ancients  or  modems.  Herodotus,  Oyid,  and  others,  suppose  horses  to  have 
been  consecrated  to  the  sun  on  account  of  their  swiftness. 

Plaoat  c9»o  Arm  radiU  J^fpenona  etnoNim, 
Ne  d^ur  oeUri  tfietima  tarda  deo^-OriD.  Ik$l^  lib.  i,  885. 

But  this  reason  I  hold  to  be  altogther  out  of  the  question,  and  neyer  once  thou^t 
of  till  all  memory  of  by-gone  times  had  become  obliterated.    For  If  the  Persians 


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APPBMBIX. 

had  XQgavdad  only  the  •wiftnus  of  the  yiotim,  it  would  have  been  mnoh  more  ap« 
propiiate  to  sacrifioe  to  their  god  Mithras  an  eagle  or  some  other  bird,  as  in  that 
respect  far  superior  to  horses. ,  Or  why  shonld  they  not  hare  selected  the  hare 
or  Uie  stag,  proverbial  for  their  swiftness,  or  some  other  more  worthless  animal, 
in  preference  to  the  generous,  yaluable,  and  most. useful  horse?  The  longer, 
indeed,  I  ponder  oyer  this  matter,  the  more  rooted  is  my  conyiction,  that  no  more 
probable  cause  can  be  assigned  for  this  worship  of  Mithras,  than  the  one  I  hare 
hazarded.  I  can  easily  fiBncy,  howeyer,  that  the  Persians  themselyes  by  degrees 
naturally  lost  sight  of  the  true  reason  why  their  ancestors  oifered  this  sacrifice ; 
and,  in  the  jcohfusion  in  which,  ft-om  yarious  causes,  ancient  religions  became 
inyolyed,  came  to  substifote  a  spurious  one  in  its  stead. 

"  Such  was  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Persians  before  the  time  of  Zoroaster. 
Arimanius,  Oromasdes,  and  Mithras,  men  illustrious  for  their  achieyements,  and 
supposed  to  haye  been  translated  after  death  to  the  stars,  were  the  popular  gods, 
and  receiyed  public  homage  and  worship.  Among  these,  Mlthz^as  held  the  hi^- 
est  place,  whose  soul,  owing  to  his  pre-eminent  yirtues,  was  belieyed  to  haye  mi- 
grated to  the  sun.'' — Cudworth^B  Intellectual  Sy$tem^  Mosheim^i  Notes,  yoL  i,  pp. 
476-477,479. 

NoTB  63,  page  298.-7^  Origin  of  Fire-Worship. 

Few  particulars  connected  with  the  abstruse  subject  of  ancient  idolatry  seem 
more  strange  than  the  entire  absence  of  all  reference  to  patriarchal  tradition  or 
Scriptural  truth  in  the  efEbrts  to  account  for  the  origin  and  object  of  fire-worship. 
Herodotus,  Plutarch,  and  Strabo,  with  their  entire  ignorance  of  primitive  history, 
would,  when  considering  the  elements  of  oriental  religion,  naturally  reason  out 
to  their  own  satisfiBu;tion  the  probable  motiyes  that  led  to  certain  obseryances. 
But  that  these  speculations  should  have  been  adopted  and  followed  by  those  who 
hold  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  and  who  possess  a  far  more  broad  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  early  history  of  Asia  than  those  sages  could  obtain,  appears 
yery  remarkable. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  refer  to  the  appointment  of  the  cherubim  and  the  infolding 
fire  before  Paradise,  as  intimately  associated  with  the  worship  of  mankind  im- 
mediately after  the  Fall.  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  147.)  Obserye  that  the  prominent 
elements  connected  with  this  fire, — the  ark,  the  cherubim,  the  sacred  tree,  the 
Paradise,  &c., — were  all  preseryed  in  traditional  remembrance,  and  incorporated 
into  the  religion  of  the  primitiye  nations,  after  their  fall  into  idolatry.  I^et  it 
be  f^her  remarked,  that  this  luminous  appearance,  identical  with  the  Shekinah 
of  Hebrew  history,  was  so  prevalent  in  the  patriarchal  age  that  Jehovah  was  in 
consequence  called  "  the  God  pf  olory.''  Acts  vii,  2.  Let  all  these  unquestion- 
able facts  be  considered,  and  it  will  surely  appear  more  probable  that  this  cause, 
led  to  the  adoration  of  this  element,  than  that  it  resulted  from  abstruse  philoi 
Bophieal  induction. 

The  account  of  the  origin  of  fire-worship,  as  given  by  Firdu8i,.is  as  follows: 
**  One  day  the  king  (Houshang)  retired  to  the  mountains,  accompanied  by  some 
of  his  attendants:  something  appeared  at  a  distance,  of  enormous  magnitude, 
black,  tremendous,  and  glossy.  Its  two  eyes  seemed  fountains  of  blood:  the 
smoke  which  issued  fh>m  its  mouth  obscured  the  air.  The  prudent  Houshang 
contemplated  it  circumspectly ;  he  seized  a  stone,  and  prepared  to  assail  it.  He 
«hrew  it  with  the  force  of  a  hero,  and  t&e  serpent  no  longer  annoyed  the  world. 
The  stone  struck  upon  a  rock,  and  both  fell  to  pieces  by  the  percussion.    A  bril- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


600  APPBNDIX. 

Hant  flame  Bpraag  firom  the  oeniaet ;  and  time  fire  became  the  prodaotion  of 
stone.  The  king  prostrated  himeelf  before  God,  and  offered  deTont  rapplicatlon 
ibr  having  thus  obtained  the  saored  fire ;  for  irhleh  he  erected  a  sanctuary  in 
that  spot.  He  sud,  *  This  fire  is  a  dirinity :  let  it  be  worshipped  by  all.'  Night 
eame ;  the  mountain  Iras  ooyered  with  fire ;  it  was  surroanded  by  the  king  and 
his  attendants.  The  event  was  oelebrated  by  a  feast,  the  name  of  which  became 
^at  of  the  auspicions  hero." — Malcolmn'i  Ptrtia,  toL  i,  p.  185.  It  may  not  be 
possible  to  elicit  mnch  tmth  fh>m  a  statement  so  romantic  in  its  texture ;  yet 
we  hare  here  many  of  the  usual  elements  of  paradisiacal  tradition.  The  royal 
hero, — the  gpgantlo  serpent,  the  attack  of  the  latter  by  the  former, — the  destruo- 
tion  of  the  serpent, — and  the  saored  fire, — all  these  would  lead  us  to  suppose  an 
allusion  to  man's  primitive  history  in  this  ease,  however  adorned  with  fiction  and 
fable.  It  must  be  added,  that  while  this  exhibits  the  account  furnished  by  the 
Persian  historian  of  the  origin  of  the  worship  of  fire  in  that  nation,  the  Zendo- 
vMte  deelareff  that  Zoroaster  received  the  sacred  firo  in  heaven,  when  he  received 
that  divine  volume  flrom  Ormuzd,  and  that  he  brought  both  at  the  same  time  to 
the  earth. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  wide  range  of  this  worship — ^in  fkct,  its  almost,  if  not 
entire,  universality — ^is  in  favour  of  my  position.  In  GhaJdea,  Indiai  Asia  Minor, 
even  in  Mexico,  as  well  as  in  Greece,  Borne,  and  Persia^  this  superstition  is 
known  to'  have  prevailed.  The  sacred  fire  of  Hestia  in  Greece  was  never  allowed 
to  be  extinguished;  or  if  by  accident  it  expired,  it  was  not  to  be  rekindled 
by  ordinary  fire,  but  by  that  produced  by  friction;  or  drawn  by  burning-glasses 
from  the  sun.  And  the  origin  of  this  veneration  of  fire  is  not  obscurely  intimated 
1^  the  fiic't,  that  the  goddess  Hestia,  who  presided  over  it,  was  alsfo  the  patroness 
of  sacrifices ;  and  on  that  account  was  the  first  deity  invoked  during  these  sacred 
rites. 

EKmilar  opinions  prevailed  in  Rome  in  connexion  with  Yesta.  wSneaa  was  said 
to  have  brought  the  sacred  fire  Arom  Troy,  along  with  the  images  of  the  Penates. 
No  statue  of  this  goddess  stood  in  her  temple ;  but  the  eternal  fire  on  the  altar 
was  regarded  as  her  living  symbol,  and  was  kept  up  by  the  Vestal  vir^ns,  her 
priestesses.  Every  house,  indeed,  had  a  fire-altar  of  its  own ;  and  if  we  may 
trust  Ovid,  (Fast,  vi,)  it  is  from  het  name  that  we  derive  our  term  "  vestibule,'' — 
that  being  the  place  where  the  sacred  fire  pf  the  fiunily  was  continually  burning. 

All  these  customs  appear  to  me  to  have  had  their  origin  in  one  and  the  same 
thing, — the  infolding  fire  which  stood  connected  with  the  primitive  cherubim. 
The  worship  of  the  Ghaldsaans  and  Persians,  as  we  have  seen,  was  made  up  of 
continual  allusions  to  man's  primitive  history;  and  the  early  patriarchs  had 
aooess  to  God  by  some  means  analogous  to  the  primitive  oherubim  and  the  Hebrew 
sanctuary.  Even  Balaam,  when  he  went  to  meet  the  Lord,  "  went  to  meet  the 
appearanoes  in  fire."  (Bee  my  Doctrine  of  the  (^erublm,  p.  59.)  A  traditional 
regard  for  the  manner  of  primitive  worship,  therefore,  led  men,  when  they  had 
turned  away  their  hearta  from  the  true  God,  to  adore  the  -several  subsidiary  ele- 
ments which  had  been  connected  with  the  appointed  way  of  access  unto  him ; 
and  fire,  as  one  of  the  principal  of  these,  was  thus  made  the  object  of  worship. 

Norx  64,  page  308.— 2%<  Rtwarda  of  Heaven,  amdUu  Ptmi9kmnUi  o/HtU,  aieord- 

ing  to  Zorooiter, 

<*Snrush  then  bore  me  off  to  Kurutaman,  ot «.  Paradise,'  in  tiie  light  of  which 
I  beoame  bewildered  in  astonishment:  I  kaew  none  of  the  precious  stones  of 


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APl'BNBIX.  601 

wliioh  it  i^M  oottpoMd.  The  angels,  by  the  oommand  of  the  Almij^ty,  took  me 
Brand  eyery  part  6f  it.  I  next  eame  to  a  place  where  I  beheld  an  illustrious 
aseengiblage  enyeloped  in  Khurak,  that  is,  *radianoe  ttnd  pomp.'  Surdsh  Ashti 
said :  *  These  are  the  spirits  of  the  muniiloent  and  nqble-minded.'  After  this  I 
saw  a  great  multitude  in  all  magnificenoe.  Surdsh  explained  to  me :  '  These  are 
the  spirits  ef  all  who  hare  obeerred  the  KoA  Rox,'  Next  them  I  beheld  an  a«- 
MiBblage  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  magnificenoe  and  happiness.  SurtSsh  obserred : 
*  These  are  the  spirits  &t  Just  princes.'  After  this  I  beheld  blessed  spirits  in 
boundless  joy  and  power.  Sunish  explained :  *  These  are  the  Dusters  and  Mobeds : 
my  duty  is  to  conrey  that  class  to«  this  honour/  I  next  beheld  a  company  of 
women  rejoicing  in  the  midst  of  great  pomp.  Sordsh  Ashu  and  Ardibah^st  ob- 
serTcd :  *  These  are  the  spirits  of  women  who  were  obedient  to  their  husbands.' 
I  then  beheld  a  multitude  of  migestic  and  beautiful  persons,  seated  along  with 
ai^gels.  Bunish  said :  '  This  class  consists  of  Hirbuds  and  Mobeds,  the  attendants 
on  fire  temples,  and  tiie  obserrers  of  the  Yaiht  and  Yazisht  of  the  Amshasfands.' 
After  thebe  I  saw  aA  armed  assemblage  in  a  state  of  the  highest  joy.  Surdsh 
informed  me:  *  These  are  the  spirits  of  the  champions  who  fought  in  the  ways 
of  Gk)d,  maintaining  their  country  and  the  husbandmen  in  a  state  of  prosperity 
and  tranquillity.'  I  next  beheld  a  great  assemblage  in  the  e]]joyment  of  all 
delight  and  gladness,  Surdsh  obseryed :  '  these  are  the  spirits  of  the  slayers  of 
the  Khurdstdr  (or  noxious  animals).'  After  this,  I  witnessed  a  people  giyen  up 
to  sporting  and  happiness.  Surush  obseryed :  *  These  are  thid  spirits  of  the  hus- 
bandmen, oyer  whom  Safdndarmuz  is  set;  he  consequently  presides  oyer  this 
class,  as  they  haye  propitiated  him  by  their  acts.'  I  next  beheld  a  great  com- 
pany surrounded  by  all  the  appliances  of  enjoyment.  Surush  said :  *  These  are 
the  spirits  of  shepherds.'  After  this^  I  beheld  great  numbers  in  a  state  of  repose 
and  joy,  and  the  elemental  principles  of  Paradise  standing  before  them,  fluriish 
obseryed :  *  These  are  the  heads  of  families,  friends  to  building,  who  haye  im- 
proyed  the  world  by  gardens  and  water-couVses,  and  held  the  elements  in  reyer- 
ence.'  I  next  came  to  another  class,  endowed  with  prophet-like  radiance,  of  whom 
Sutiish  remarked :  ' These  are  the  spirits  of  JdddngdU*  By  Jdddngdis  is  meant 
one  who  solicits 'money  from  the  wealthy  to  promote  the  way  of  tiie  Lord,  and 
who  expends  it  on  noble  foundations  and  holy  indigent  persons. 

"  What  can  I  say  concerning  the  black-eyed  nymphs, — the  palaces,  offspring, 
and  attendants, — ^the  drinks  and  yiands  ? — anything  like  which  I  know  not  of  in 
this  elemental  world. 

"After  this  Sunich  and  Ardibeh^st,  taking  me  out  of  t'aradise,  bore  me. off  to 
behold  the  pqnishments  inflicted  on  those  in  hell.  First  of  all,  I  beheld  a  black 
and  gloomy  riyer  of  fetid  water,  with  weeping  multitudes  falling  in  and  drown- 
ing. Surush'  sud :  *  This  water  is  collected  firom  the  tears  shed  by  relatiyes  on  the 
death  of  a  person ;  and  those  who  are  drowning  are  they  whose  relatiyes  after 
their  death,  break  out  into  mourning,  weeping,  and  tears.'  I  next  proceeded 
toward  the  bridge  of  judgment,  where  I  beheld  a  spirit  rent  fh)m  the  body,  and 
mourning  for  its  separation:  there  arose  a  fetid  gale,  out  of  which  issued  a 
gloomy  figure,  with  red  eye-balls,  hooked  nose,  hideous  lips,  teeth  like  columns, 
a  head  like  the  kettle  of  a  minaret,  long  talons,  spear-like  Ikngs,  snaky  locks, 
and  yomiting  out  smoke.  The  alarmed  spirit  baying  asked,  *  Who  art  thou?*  he 
answered,  *  I  am  the  personification  of  thy  acts  and  deeds.'  On  saying  this,  he 
threw  his  hands  around  the  spirit's  neck,  so  that  his  lamentations  came  te  the 
bridge  of  Judgment,  which  i^  sharper  than  a  razor:  on  this  the  epirit  haying 
gone  a  little  way  with  gnat  difficulty,  at  last  fell  into  the  infernal  regions.    I 


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602  APPENDIX. 

then' followed  him,  aeoompanied  by  Snrtich  and.  Ardibeh^st :  our  road  Uiy  through 
snow;  ice,  stormg,  Intefaae  ooldj  mephitio  exhalations,  a^d  obeooritj,  along  a 
re^on  full  of  pits :  into  theee  I  kioked,  and  there  beheld  eonntleae  myriads  of 
spirits  suffering  tortures.  They  all  wailed  bitterly,  and  the  darkness  was  so 
thick  that  one  was  unable  to  peroeive  the  other,  or  to  disdnguish  his  lamenta- 
tion: three  days'  snch  punishment  is  equal  to  nine  thousand  years,  and  the 
same  circulation  applies  to  the  other  pits,  ia  all  of  whioh  were  serpents,  soor^ona, 
stinging  and  noxious  creatures :  whatever  spirit  falls  into  them 

Ws8  stung  by  one  and  torn  by  another, 
Was  bit  by  this,  and  pierced  by  that. 

"  Surush  having  taken  me  below,  I  there  beheld  a  spirit  with  a  human  head 
and  serpent-like  body,  surrounded  by  many  demons,  who  were  applying  the  tor- 
tuie  to  his  feet,  and  smiting  him  in  every  direction  with  hatchets,  daggers,  and 
maces,  while  noxious  creatures  were  biting  him  on  all  sides. '  Surush  observed : 

*  This  was  a  mah  of  vile  passions.'  I  then  beheld  a  man  wailing  piteously, 
whose  head  they  were  scalping  with  a  poniard.  Surush  said :  *  This  was  a  shed- 
der  of  innocent  blood.'  I  next  saw  a  man  who  was  forced  to  swallow  blood  and 
corrupted  matter,  with  which  they  were  continually  supplying  him.  The  demons 
in  the  mean  time  tortured  him,  and  placed  a  heavy  mountain  on  his  breast* 
Surusli  stated  this  to  be  *  the  spirit  of  a  dissolute  man,  who  seduced  the  wives  of 
other  men.'  After  this,  I  beheld  a  spirit  weeping  through  hunger  and  thirst :  so 
intense  was  his  craving,  that  he  drank  his  own  blood  and  devoured  his  own  flesh. 
Surush  stated :  '  This  is  the  spirit  of  one  who  observed  not  the  Baj,  (religious 
silence,)  when  partaking  of  food,  and  who  on  the  day  of  Aban  partook  of  water, 
fhiit,  and  bread,  so  that  the  angels  Khurddd  and  Murddd  were  displeased  with 
him.'  I  next  beheld  a  woman  suspended  by  her  breasts,  and  noxious  creatures 
fijling  on  her.  Surush  said  :  '  This  is  a  woman  who  deserted  her  husband,  and 
went  after  another  man.'  I  then  saw  a  great  multitude  of  spirits,  fiiriously 
assailed  by  rapacious  animals  and  noxious  creatures.    Surush   stated  thus: 

*  These  are  persons  who  adopted  not  the  Kashti  or  sacred  cincture,  as  worn  by 
professors  of  the  excellent  faith.'  I  next  beheld  a  woman  hung  up,  with  her 
tongue  protruding  from  the  hind  part  of  her  neck.  Surush  observed :  '  This  is  a 
won^n  who  obeyed  not  her  husband,  and  replied  to  him  with  harsh  answers  and 
opposition.'  I  then  saw  a  man  eating  with  a  ladle  the  most  nbxious  things ;  of 
which  if  he  took  too  small  a  portion,  demons  smote  him  with  wooden  clubs. 
Surtish  observed :  :  This  is  the  spirit  of  one  who  betrayed  his  trust'  I  after  this 
beheld-  a  man  hung  up,  surrounded  by  seventy  demons,  who  were  lashing  him 
with  serpents  instead  of  scourges ;  and  meanwhile  the  serpents  kept  gnawing 
his  flesh  with  their  fangs.  Surush  Ashu  said :  *  This  is  a  king  who  extorted 
money  from  his  subjects  by  torture.'  I  next  beheld  a  man  with  wide-opened 
mouth  and  protruding  tongue, 

With  serpents  and  scorpions  covered  all  over, 

The  one  lacerating  with  fangs,  the  others  lashing  inrith  their  tails. 

Surush  said :  *  This  was  a  tale>bearer,  who  by  his  Ilea  caused  dissension  and 
strifo  among  mankind.'  After  this  I  saw  a  man,  every  ligature  and  joint  of 
whoae  body  they  were  faxing  asunder.  Surtish  said:  *This  person  has  slain 
many  four-footed  animals.'  I  next  beheld  a  man  exposed  to  body-rending 
torture,  ooneeming  whom  Sun&sh  said :  *  This  was  a  wealthy,  avaricious  man, 
who  employed  not  his  riches  for  the  useftil  purposes  of  either  world.'  I  then 
saw  a  person  to  whom  were  offered  all  sorts  of.  noxious  creatures,  while  one 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBNDIX. 

foot  WM  frM  from  aU  kind  of  suffering.  Sorush  said  oonoeniing  kirn :  'This  is 
the  spirit  of  a  negligent  person,  who  (Ud  not  in  the  least  attend  to  the  ooncems 
of  this  world  or  the.  world  to  oome.  As  he  onoe  passed  along  the  road,  he 
obserred  a  goat  tied  up  in  such  a  manner  that  it  was  upable  to  get  at  its  Cood : 
'  with  that  foot  he  tossed  the  forage  toward  the  animal ;  in  reoompense  of  which 
good  act  that  foot  is  exempt  from  suffering.'  I  next  beheld  a  person  whose 
tongue  was  laid  on  a  stone,  and  demons  kept  beating  it  with  another.  Concerning 
him  Surush  obserred :  *  This  person  was  an  habitual  slanderer  and  Uar,  through 
whose  words  people  fell  into  nuschief.'  I  then  saw  a  woman  whose  breasts  the 
demons  were  grinding  under  a  millbtone.  About  her  Surdsh  observed :  '  This 
woman  .produces!  abortion  by  meana  of  drugs.'  I  next  beheld  a  man  in  whose 
BOTon  members  worms  had  fixed  tkemeelyes.     Conoeming  him  Surush*  said: 

*  This  person  gave  false  witness  for  money,  and  deriyed  his  support  from  that 
resource.'  After  this  I  saw  a  man  deyourlng  the  flesh  of  a  corpse  and  drinking 
human  gore.*  Sunlsh  obserted :  *  This  is  the  spirit  of  one  who  amassed  wealth 
by  unlawM  means.  I  afterward  beheld  a  great  multitude  with  pallid  faces,  fetid 
bodies,,  and  limbs  covered  with,  worms.    About  these  Surush  Ashu  observed: 

*  These  are  hypocrites  of  3atanio  qualities,  whose  hearts  were-  not  in  aocordaooe 
with  th^  words,  and  who  led  astray  the  professors  of  the  excellent  faith,  divest- 
ing themselves  of  all  respeot  for  religion  and  morality.'  I  next  saw  a  maUi  the 
members  of  whose  body  hell-hounds  were  rending  asunder.  Concerning  him 
Smri&sh  said :  *  This  man  was  in  the  habit  of  slaughtering  water  and  land  dogp.' 
I  next  beheld  a  woman  hurled  into  .snow  and  smitten  by  the  guardians  of  fire. 
About  her  Surush  said :  *  When  this  woman  combed  herself,  her  hairs  fell  into 
tlw  fire.'  After  this  I  beheld  another  woman  tearing  off  with  a  poniard  the  flesh 
of  her  own  body  and  devouring  it.  Surush  said :  '  This  is  an  enchantress  who 
used  to  fascinate  men.'  Next  her  I  saw  a  man  whom  ihe  demons  forced  by 
blows  to  swallow  blood,  corrupted  matter,  and  human  flesh.  Concerning  him 
Burdsh  said :  '  This  man  was  in- the  habit  of  casting  dead  bodies,  corrupted  mat- 
ter, nails,  and  hair  into  fire  and  water.'  I  afterward  beheld  a  person  devouring 
the  flesh  and  skin  of  a  dead  body.  Surdsh  said :  *  This  person  defrauded  the 
labourers  of  their  hire.'  I  next  beheld  a  man  with  a  mountain  on  his  back, 
whom  with  his  load  they  forced  through  terror  into  the  midst  of  snows  and  ioe. 
Surush  observed  *  This  was  an  adulterer,  who  took  the  wife  from  her  husband.' 
I  afterward  »aw  a  man,  the  flesh  of  whose  shoulders  and  body  they  were  scraping 
off  with  a  comb  of  iron.  ConDoming  him  Suriish  said : . '  This  man  was  an  egre- 
gious violator  of  promises  and  breaker  of  engagements.'  I  then  beheld  a  great 
multitude  whose  hands  and  feet  they  were  smiting  with  bludgeons,  iron  maoeSk 
And  such  like.  Concerning  these  Surush  observed :  *  This  class  is  composed  of 
promise-breakers  and  the  violators  of  covenants,  who  maintained  friendship  with 
Darwands,  or  those  hostile  to  the  faitL'  "^Tfu  Dalnit4n,  or  Sthool  ofMamun, 
tronalaUd  from  the  Persian  by  Skeaand  2Voycr,  voL  i,  pp.  290^801. 

Note  66,  page  319. — The  ArgonautU  Expedition, 

The  substance  of  this  legsnd  in  brief  is  this.  Pelias  was  the  repated  son  of 
Neptune  by  Tyro,  who  ooncealed  his  birth,  and  was  afterward  married  to  Cre- 
theus,  King  of  lolohis,  by  whom  she  had  three  children,  of  whom  iEBso  was  the 
eldest.  Pelias  visited  his  mother,  and  was  received  into  her  family ;  and,  after 
the  death  of  the  king,  expelled  the  children,  and  seised  the  throne.  In  order  to 
guard  as  moch.  a^  possible  against  losing  this  priie,  he  consulted  an  oracle, 


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604  APPBKBHt. 

wMoh  told  him  to  hewnre  of  a  ma&  who  ahoald  oome  to  him  iritk  oaly  «m  ftui- 
dal.  When  Jason,  a  son  of  iBso,  aniTecl  at  matcdrity,  he  came  to  Ibtohie  to  de^ 
maad  his  fkther's  throne,  send  on  his  way  lost  one  sandal  in  erosrtng  a  rirBr. 
This  circumBtanee  excited  the  apprehension  of  Pelias,  who^  while  appearing  dis- 
posed to  comply,  urged  Jason  first  to  gO  to  Golehia,  and  reoo^w  the  Golden  Fleeoe. 
This  fleece  had  helonged  to  Phryxns,  a  prince  of  Thebes,  who  had  fled  to  Goldiit, 
married  the  daughter  of  the  king,  and  was  murdered  by  his  fkther-in-law,  that 
he  might  possess  this  treasure.  Jason,  fall  of  yotithftil  ardour,  consented,  and 
gathered  tp  himself  the  most  daring  spirits  of  Greece  fbr  his  oompaaions  on  the 
expedition. .  The  details  are  of  tike  most  extraragant  and  mythological  ohanc- 
ter.  The  ship  Argo,  in  which  they  sailed,  was  built  by  Argus,  the  son  of  Fhryx- 
ua,  dBreoted  by  the  goddess  Athene.  A  piece  of  the  celebrated  oak  of  Dodona 
was  inserted  in  the  prow,  and  this  was  endued  with  the  faculty  of  speech. 
Among  the  Argonauts  we  And  the  names  of  the  principal  demigods  and  heroes  of 
ancient  Greece ;  gamely,  Hercules,  Theseus,  ^sculapiua.  Castor  and  Pbllux,  Ttl- 
amon  and  Peleus,  Zetes  and  Calais,  Nestor,  Laertes,  and  others.  Typhys  was  the 
pilot;  Idmon  the  son  of  Apollo,  and  Mopsus,  attended  as  prophets {  while  Or- 
pheus cheered  and  harmdnized  his  companions  with  his  harp. 

The  incidents  of  the  Toyage  are  as  strange  as  the  equipment  of  the  expedition. 
Lemnos  was  the  first  place  at  which  they  touched.  Here,  it  is  said,  at  this  time 
there  were  no  men.  The  women,  maddened  by  jealousy  and  ill-treatment,  had 
put  to  death  all  their  ftbthers,  husbands,  and  brothers.  The  Argonauts  wer^ 
after  some  difficulty,  kindly  received,  and  admitted  to  such  intimacy  that  they 
supplied  a  fdture  population  for  the  island.  They  then  proceeded  along  tiie 
coast  of  Thrace,  up  the  Hellespont,  to  the  southern  coast  of  the  Propontis,  in- 
habited by  the  Doliones  and  their  king  Cy^cus.^  Here  they  were  hospitably  en- 
tertained ;  but  afterward  in  an  accidental  night^tffray,  Cyzicus  was  killed  by 
Jason.  The  Argonauts  thence  proceeded  along  the  coast  of  Mysia,  where  Her- 
cules was  separated  from  his  companions,  haring  gone  in  search  of  his  Mehd 
Hylas.  Jason  with  his  crew  next  stopped  in  the  country  of  the  BebryeiaiiB, 
where  a  boxing  contest  took  place  between  the  king  Amyous  and  Pollux. 

The  Argo  then  sailed  to  Bithynia,  where  the  blind  prophet  Phineus  resided. 
He  had  been  struck  blind  by  Poseidon,  because  he  told  Phryxus  the  way  to  Col- 
chis :  he  had,  besides,  been  tormented  by  harpies.  From  the  latter  he  was  d»> 
liTcred  by  Zetes  and  Calais,  the  winged  sons  ef  Boreas.  Grateful  for  this  deii^ 
enuioe,'-the  prophet  forewarned  the  Argonauts  of  the  dangers  which  opposed 
their  progress,  and  informed  them  of  the  measures  necessary  to  their  safety ;  by 
which  means  they  were  enabled  to  effect  the  terrible  passage  between  the  rocks 
called  Simplegades.  These  rocks  alternately  opened  and  shut  with  great  force,  so 
that  it  was  difficult  even  for  a  bird  to  fly  through.  When  the  Argb  arrived  at  this 
dangerous  passage,  Euphemus.let  loose  a  doTe,  which  flew  through,  and  escaped 
with  the  loss  of  a  few  feathers  of  her  tail.  This  was  regarded  by  the  Argonauts 
as  a  happy  presage,  according  to  the  prediction  of  Phineus.  Encouraged  by  the 
omen,  tiiey  rowed  With  all  their  might,  Athene  aiding  them  by  interposing  her 
powerftil  arms  to  retard  the  closing  of  the  rocks,  which  came  together  Just  in 
time  to- crash  the  ornaments  on  the  stemf  of  the  Tessel.  As  the  gods  had  decreed 
that  when  ayessel  should  pass  through  in  safi»ty,  the  rocks  should  cease  to  move; 
they  immediately  afterward  beccone  ilxed  in  their  separate  places,  and  thus  in 
future  affbrded  a  sal^  and  easy  passage  between  them. 

After  a  short  stay^n  the  country  of  the  Mariandynians,  and  another  in  that 
of  the  Amasons,  they  passed  by  Mount  Caucasus, — ^where  tiiey  saw  the  eagle 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


AFPSITDIX.  806 

that  gnaired  the  liTer  of  Promefcheiu,  a&d  heud  the  groans  of  the  BaffenBr,^-«iid 
at  length  arriyed  at  Oolohis.  Application  was  immediately  made  to  the  king 
.Setee,  that  he  would  grant  the  Argonanta  poaseesioa  of  tba  Golden  Pleeoe,  the/ 
promising  in  retnm  their  aid  against  his  enemies.  This  appUoation  was  urged 
on  the  ground  that  the  Argonauts  were  heroes  of  diYiae  parentage,  and  had  been 
sent  fbrth  on  this  mission  by  the  mandate  of  the  gods.  ^«t6B  reoeived  this 
-  prayer  in  great  anger;  but,  although  he  did  not  absolutely  reject  it,  he  clogged 
his  consent  with  conditions  which  seemed  to  render  their  sucoess  impossible. 
These  olwtacles  were,  howeyer,  interposed  with  some  show  of  reason,  as  tests  of 
their  diriae  origin  and  mission.  Two  untameable  bulls,  whioh  Hephs^stos  had 
glren  toiBeies,  were  to  be  yoked;  and  with  these  a  large  fteld  was  to  be  plough- 
ed, and  sown  with  dragons'  te<$th.  Although  nothing  could  be  more  dreadAil 
than  the  appearance  of  these  animals,  with  brasen  feet  and  fiery  breath,  Jason 
undertook-  the  task.  Hera  and  Aphrodite  greatly  aided  him :  but  he  is  said  to 
have  owed  his  suoeess  mainly  to  the  passion  with  which  Medea,  the  daughter 
of  .fietes,  was  inspired,  when  she-  saw  him  in  audience  with  her  father.  This 
princess  had  been  endowed  by  Hecate  with  pre-eminent  magical  powers,  wliich 
she  exerted  to  the  utmost  to  promote  l^e  suoeess  of  Jason.  By  powerftd  un- 
gaeuts  prepfljred  by  her,  hia  body  was  rendered  iuTulnerable ;  and,  thus  protect- 
ed, he  yoked  the  balls,  ploughed  the  field,  and  sowed  it  with,  dragons'  teeth. 
And  when  hosts  of  armed  men  sprang  flrom  the  ftirrows,.  acting  upon  the  in- 
atniotions  of  Medea,  he  cast  a  rook  into  the  midst  of  them ;  upon  which  they  be- 
gan to  fight  with  eaeh  other,  so  that  he  was  easily  gabled  to  sabdue  t^em  aU. 

Tet  although  the  prescribed  conditions  were  compU^d  with,  the  king  not.  only 
valued  to  give  Jason  the  Qolden  Fleece,  but  actually  took  measures  for  destroy- 
ing the  Argo,  and  murdering  the  Argonauts.  The  watchfUl  care  of  Aphrodite 
prerented  him  from  aooompUshing  his  design;  while  Medea»  haTing  lulled  to 
siMp  by  a  magic  potion  the  dragon  who  guarded  the  fleece,  placed  the  prize  on 
board  the  ress^,  and,  taking  her  younger  brother  wit^  her,  accompanied  Jason 
and  his  companions  in  their  flight 

On  hearing  of  this,  JEetes  was  afflicted  and  enraged,  and  immediately  put  to 
sea  in  pursuit.  He  soon  overtook  the  Argo ;  but  Media  again  interposed.  She 
sleir  her  brother,  and  scattered  his  limbs  aronnd  on  the  sea^  .£etes  stayed  to 
father  up  the  flragments  of  his  son's  boc^y,  and  meanwhile  the  Argonauts  escaped. 
The  fratricide  of  Medea,  howerer,  was  so  offensiTe  to  Zeus,  that  he  doomed  the 
Argonauts  to  a  long  and  perilous  i^age  before  they  were  pexvadtted  to  return 
home.  The  Argo  had  in  consequence  to  sail  up  the  river  Phasis  into  the  ocean, 
whieh  was  supposed  to  surround  the  earth  as  far  as  its  junction  with  the  Nile. 
Bjy  this  river  they  sailed  to  Egypt,  firom  whence  the  hero-crew  carried  the  Argo 
on  their  shoulders  to  the  Lake  Tritonis  in  Libya.  .After  having  been  kindly 
treated  here  by  the  god  Triton,  they  departed,  being  once  more  on  the  waters  of 
the  Mediterranean.  After  staying  a  while  with  Circe  at  the  Island  of  Mbbsl, — 
where  Medea  was  purified  from  the  murder  of  her  brother, — enduring  various 
▼ifiissitades  at  sea,  and  encountering  great  danger  on  the  coast  of  Crete,  the  ship 
and  erew  safely  reached  lolohis. 

Here  Jason  was  infioiined  that  Pelias  had  put  to  death  the  father,  mother,  and 
infisnt  brother  of  Jason  duiing  his  alieenoe;  These  crimes  he  resolved  to  avenge ; 
but  he  saw  that  this  could  only  be  done  by  stratagem.  He  aoooidingly  remained 
some  short  distance  f^m  the  town,  while  Bfedea^  as  if  the  victim  of  his  ill-usage, 
entered  the  place  alone  as  a  fugitive,  and  soon  procured  aoeess  to  the  daughters  of 
PeUaa,  over  whose  ndnds  she  obtained  an  unlimited  asoendenqy.    Bent  on  the 


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606  APPENDIX. 

ficcompliBbmcnt  of  her  object,  she 'selected  ftrom  the  flocks  of  Pelias  a  mm  in  the 
extremity  of  old  age,  out  him  ut>,  and  boiled  him  in  a  oaldron  with  herbs,  and  by 
her  magical  powers  brought  him  out  in  the  shape  of  a  young  and  Tigorous  lamb. 
From  this  the  daughters  of  Pelias  were  made*  to  belieye  that  their  father  could 
in  like  manner  be  restored  to  youth.  They  accordingly  cut  him  up  with  their 
own  hands,  and  placed  him  in  the  caldron;'  upon  which  Media  pretended  that 
she  must  go  to  the  house-top  to  «frer  an  inToeation  to  the  moon,  which  she  de- 
scribed as  a  necessary  part  of  the  ceremony.  When  there,  she  kindled  the  fire- 
signal  agreed  on  between  herself  and  the  Argonauts,  who.immediately  burst  in, 
and  possessed  themselves  of  the  place.  Satisfied  -with  this  revenge  on  the  guilty 
person,  Jason  allowed  Acastus,  the  son  of  Pelias,  to  rule  the  principality  ^ 
lolchis,  and  retired  with  his  wift  Media  to  Corinth,  where  they  lived  many  years 
in  great- prosperity. 

It  seems  now  to  be  admitted  by  scholars  that  no  baiit  of  fact  can  be  satisfoo- 
torily  elicited  firom  the  entire  mass  of  these  poetical  afid  mythological  legends: 
all  that  can  be  given  is  mere  coi^ecture.  That  which  appears  to  be  most  proba- 
ble has  been  indicated  in  the  text ;  to  which -we  now  add  a  brief  abstract  of  the 
principal  opinions  propounded  by  the  learned. 

^TaCob  Bryant  regards  the  account  a»  a  manifest  tradition  from  the  ark  of  Noah. 
Str  Isaac  Newton  traces  it  to  the  expedition  sent  by  the  Greeks  to  Amenophis, 
or  Memnon,  Ring  of  Egypt.  Dr.  Gillies  supposes  that  it  arose  out  of  the  wish  of 
the  young  chieftains  of  Greece  to  visit  foreign  parts,  and  to  retort  on  the  inhabit- 
ants the  iiguries  which  thb  Greeks  had  suiFered  from  strangers.  Dr.  Hager  con- 
jectures, that  the  fleece  was  law  silk,  which  often  resembles  fine  threads  of  gold. 
Knight  regards  the  whole  as  a  fable,  derived,  *'  not  from  yague  traditions  of  the 
Deluge,  but  some  symbolical  composition  of  the  plastic  spirit  on  the  waters,  signi- 
fied in  so  many  various  ways  in  the  emblematical  lan^age  ofancient  art."  The 
opinion  which  we  'have  ventured  to  express,  though  it  be  opposed  to  all  these 
authorities,  is  not  destitute  of  andent  and  modem  support  Strabo,  being  fiilly. 
aware  of  the  geographical  impossibilities  of  the  narrative,  nevertheless  believed 
that  the  Golden  Fleece  was  typical  of  the  great  wealth  of  Colchis,  arising  from 
the  gold  dust  washed  down  by  the  river ;  and  that  the  Toyi^  of  Jason  was  in 
reality  an  expedition  at  the  head  of  an  army,  with  which  he  plundered  the 
country,  and  made  extensive  conquests  in  the  interior.  And  this  surmise  has 
been  countenanced  by  Justin,  (xlii,  2,  8,)  and  Tadtna  (Annal.  vi,  34).  Dr. 
Leonard  Schmitz  observes,  ^  The  story  of  the  Argonauts  probably  arose  out  of 
accounts  of  commercial  enterprises  which  the  wealthy  Minyans  made  to  the 
coasts  of  the  Euxine."  (Strabo,  roL  i,  p.  45 ;  Smith's  Die  of  Oreek  and  Roman 
Blog.  and  Myth.;  Lempriere's  Classical  Die.,  art  Jtrgonautm;  Grote's  Hist  of 
Greece ;  and  Thirlwall's  Hist  of  Greece.) 

.  Note  66,  page  319.— Ti^  T%eban  Legendt, 

In  the  later  period  of  the  reign  of  Cadmut  at  Thebes,  we  are  told  that  Dionysus 
arrived  there,  in  company  with  a  troop  of  Asiatic  females,  to  obtain  divine 
honours,  and  establish  his  peculiar  riles  in  his  natire  city.  The  reimable  Cad- 
mus, his  daughters,  and  the  prophet  Tlresias,  at  once  acknowledged  the  god, 
and  joined  in  the  worship  which  he  eigoined.  But  Pentheus,  the  grandson  of 
Cadmus,  and  son  of  his  daughter  Agav^,  who  had  married  oner  of  the  Sparti,  and 
who  now  reigned  at  Thebes,  violently  opposed  the  new  ceremonies,  and  ill-treated 
the  god  who  had  introduoed  them.    Persisting  in  this  ecmdnct  notwithstanding 


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APPBNDIX.  607 

the  miraelet  wrought  by  Dionysus,  Pentheus  folloired  the  Ibinale  company  which 
had  gone  to  Mount  CithsaroUi  and,  in  order,  to  witness  their  sacred  solemnities, 
ascended  a  tall  pine.  There  he  was  discorered  by  the-  feminine  multitude,  who, 
under  the  influence  of  .the  Baoehio  frenzy^  pulled  down  the  tree,  and  tore  him  to 
pieces.  Eren  his  mother  joined  in  this  outrage ;  and,  losing  all  consciousness  of 
maternal  relationship  under  the  madness  of  the  excitement,  she  carried  back  to 
Thebes  the  head  of  her  murdered  son.  Upon  this  Cadmus  and  his  wife  retired 
among  the  niyrians,  and  Polydorus  and  Labdacus  suoeessiTely  reigned  at  Thebes. 

The  last 'of  these  at  his  death  left  an  infant  son,  Laius,  who  was  depriyed  of 
his  throne  by  Lyons.  He  also  was  slaini  and  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  by  his 
nephews,  Amphion  and  Zethus.  The  first  of  these  died  of  grief  for  the  loss  of 
his  wife",  the  secend  either  killed  himself,  on  the  destruction  of  all  his  children 
by  Apollo,  or  was  slain  by  thi^  deity ;  'after  which  Laius  obtained  the  crown, 
and  married  Jocasta,  daughter  of  Menosoeus.  This  king  was  fbrewamed  by  the 
oracle,  that  any  son  whom  he  might  beget  would  kill  him.  In  conseqneiice 
of  this,  on  the  birth  of  his  son,  whom  he  called  (Bdipus,  he  caused  him  to  be  ex- 
posed on  Mount  Githnrcm,  where  the  child  was  fbund  by  the  herdsmen  of  Polybus, 
King  of  Corinth.  They  took  him  to  -their  master,  who  brought  him  up  as  his 
own  child.  When  arrived  at  manhood,  finding  himself  exposed  to  taunts  in  oour 
sequenee  of  his  unknown  "parentage,  he  went  to  Delphi,  and  consulted  the  oraole 
on  the  subject.  He  receiyed  inHiiswer  an  admonition  not  to  return  to  his  country, 
as,  in  case  he  did  so,  it  was  his  destiny  to  kill  his  father,  And  become  t^e  husband 
of  his  mother.  Knowing  no  country  as  his  but  Corinth,  he  determined  not  to 
return  to  that  city,  and  departed  from  Delphi  by  the  way  leading  to  Boeetia  and 
Phocis.  On  arriring  at  the  spot  where  the  road  divided  toward  those  countries, 
he  met  Laius  in  a  chariot  The  insolence  of  the  king's  servant  produced  a  quar- 
rel, in  which  (Edipus  killed  Laius,  being  utterly  ignorant  that  he  was  his  father. 

On  the  death  of  Laius,  Oreon,  the  brother  of  Queen  Jocasta,  succeeded  to  the 
kingdom  of  Thebes.  At  this  time  time  the  kingdom  was  under  the  displeasure 
of  the  geds,  and  in  consequence  laid  waste  by  a  monster  called  Sphinx,  which 
had  the  face  of  a  woman,  the  wings  of  a  bird,  and  the  tail  of  a  lion.  '  This  creature 
had  obtained  flrom  the  Muses  a  riddle,  which  she  proposed  to  the  Thebans:  and 
on  their  being  unable  to  resolve  it,  she  took  away  one  after  another  of  the  citi- 
sens,  and  ate  him.  This  continued  cruelty  reduced  the  king,  to  such  distress, 
thact  he.  offered  the  orown  and  the  queen  to  any  one  who  would  deliver  the 
country  from  this  monster.  At  this  junctiire  (Edipus  arrived,  undertook  the 
task,  and  solved  the  riddle;  upon  which  the  Sphinx  threw  herself  from'  the  Acro- 
polis, and  disappearejl  (Edipus  thereupon  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  Thebes, 
and  became  the  husband  of  his  mother. 

On  one  part- of  this  personal  narrative  these  legends  afford  oonfiieting  informa- 
tion. It  is  on  all  hands  admitted  that  (Edipus  had  four  children,— Bteoolefe, 
Polynices,  Antigone,  and  Ismene.  The  question  is,  whether  they  were  the  chit 
dren  of  JooasJta,  or  of  a  subsequent  wife.  Sophooles  .and  other  Attio  poets  adopt 
the  former  opinion ;  and  Homer,  and  an  andent  epic  called  (EUpodia,  the  latter. 
The  gods,  it  is  stated,  made  known  to  mankind  the  relationship  existing  between 
(Bdipus  and  Jocasta.  Aooording  to-the  Attie  tragedians,  this  was  done  "  quiokly '' 
after  their  marriage :  if  the  opposite  opinion  is  adopted,  it  must  have  been  revealed 
only  afker  the  lapse  of  some  years.  On  receiving  this  information,  Jocasta,  in  an 
agony  of  sorrow,  hanged  herself;  and  (Edipus  sulbred  a  series  of  miseries,  in- 
flicted by  the  Erinnyes,  while  a  ourse  of  deep  and  weighty  woe  rested  on  his 
children;  and  even  this  appears  to  have  been  aggravated  by  the  denunciation 


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608  APPBNDIZ. 

of  (Edipus  on  his  mbs,  in  oanseqvenoe  of  their  oondoot  toward  him  in  hia  M 

On  the  death  of  their  fiither,  the  eons  of  (Edipns  quarrelled  respecting  the  sno- 
cession.  Polynioes  was  in  oonsequence  obliged  ta  flee  from  Thebes»  upon  which 
he  sought  refuge  at  the  oo\irt  of  Adrsstus,  King  of  Argos.  Here  he  was  kindlj 
reoeiTed,  and  married,  to  a  daughter  of  the  king,  who  at  the  same  time  engaged 
to  establish  Polynioes  on  the  throne  of  Thebes  by  force  of  arms. 

When  Adrastns  propoeed  this  enterprise  to  the  chieftains  of  Argos,  he  found 
most  of  them  ready  to  join  in  the  war.  Amphiaraus,  who  had  distinguiahed 
himjralf  as  jan  Argonaut,  and  at  the  Calydonian  hunt  alone  dis^nted,  and  de- 
nounced the  project  as  unjust  and  impious :  and,  being  of  a  prophetic  stock,  he 
predicted  the  &ilure  of  the  attempt,  and  the  death  of  the  principal  parties  who 
undertook  it.  .  Full  of  this  conviction,  Amphiaraus  endea?oured  to  secrete  him- 
self, that  he  might  take  no  part  in  the  war.  But  Pdynioea  having  bribed  his 
wife  by  presenting  her  with  the  gorgeous  robe  and  necklace  given  by  the  gods  to 
Harmonia  on  her  marriage  with  Cadmus,  the  sordid  wife  for  this  showy  prise 
betrayed  the  retreat  of  her  husband ;  and  he,  after  charging  his  s<m8  to  revenge 
him,  accompanied  t^  expedition.  It-was  led  by  seven  noble  chiefo,  each  of  whom 
assailed  one  of  the  ^ven  gates  of  Thebes.  The  prediction  of  Amphiaraus  was, 
however,  justified :  the  attempt  failed :  all  the  leaders  perished,  ezo^  Adrastns^ 
who  escaped  by  the  fleetness  of  his  steed.  In  this  war  the  two  sons  of  Edipns 
kiUjod  each  other  in  single  combat. 

.  After  this,  Creon  again  assumed  the  reigns  of  government,  and  decreed  that 
the  Argives  who  had  fallen  in  the  war,  and  especially  Polynices,  should  remain 
unburied ;  and  that  any  one  detected  in  violating  this,  edict  should  be  buried 
alive.  Antignone,  sister  of  Polynioes,  dared  the  danger,  and  attempted  to  inter 
her  brother;  but  was  detected  in  the  effort,  and  wa^  buried  alive  on  the'si>ot. 
HsBDMmi  the  son  of  Creon,  baring  endeavoured  in  vun  to  save  her,  killed  him- 
self on  her  tomb ;  in  consequence  of  which,  his  mother  perished  by  her  own  hand. 
Adraetus,  moved  by  the  inhumanity  which  deprived  his  fallen  comrades  of  the 
rites  of  sepulture,  applied  for  aid  to  Theseus,  King  of  Athens.  This  hero  com- 
plied with  hie  request,  invaded  Thebes^  killed  Creon,  and  effected  his  otgect. 

The  calamities  of  Thebes  did  not  terminate  with  this  war.  The  sons  of  the 
aeien  chieft  who  had  been  defeated  determined  to  avenge  the  £ate  of  their  sires. 
Adrastus,  who  still  surrived,  took  the  command ;  ^gialeus,  his  son,  Thereander, 
spa  of  Polynices,  Alcmsson  and  Amphiloohus,  sons  of  Amphiaraus,  Diomedes,  son 
of  Tydeus,  Sthenelus,  son  of  Capaneus,  Promachus,  son  of  Parthenopnus,  and 
Euryalus,  son  of  Medstheus,  under  the  title  of  Epigani,  took  part  in  this  assault. 
They  were  aided  by  Corinth  and  Megara^  as  well  as  Messene  and  Arcadia.  On 
reaohisg  the  river  EUssas,  they  were  opposed  by  the  Theban  army  under  Laoda- 
mas,  son  of  Eteooles,  who  now  ruled  in  Thebee.  Here  a  battle  took  place,  in 
which  the  Theban  leader  killed  iBgialeus,  son  of  Adrastus,  but  was  himself 
totaUj  routed. with  his  army,  and  driven  within  the. walls,  principally  by  the 
valour  and  energy  of  Alerasson.  After  this  defeat,  the  Thebana  conaulted  the 
privet  TiresiaSf'Who  informed  them  that  the  gods  had  decreed  the  success  of 
the  aasailanlis.  By  his  advise  they  aent  a  herald  to  the  Epigoni,.  offering  to  sur- 
render the  town,  while  they  conveyed  away  their  wives  and  children,  and  fled 
under  the  command  <^  Laodamas  to  the  lUyrians.  The  Epigoni  then  entered 
Thebes,  and  eatabliahed  Thersander,  son  of  Polynloeat  on  the  throne. 


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ed9 


Note  57,  page  S20.— The  Trojan  Wan. 


This,  m^  Ifr.  6fole,  i»  *'tli0  oapital  and  enhniBaliBg  pci&t  of  ilie^  Chreolaa 
6]pAo, — «h«  two  tiege»  and  aapiiure  of  Troy,  wiih  tho  destuues  of  tike  ^apenod 
hoNML"  *'  It  wonld/'  obMonrot  tlda  pnotoimd  ami  okgMDit  a«tlM>r,  "  reqvire  a 
largo  TolTuae  to  oootoj-  aay  tolerable  ido»  of  tbe  ^ast  extent  and  ezpaanea  of 
tide  itttereftiitg  ftibte,  first  lumped  liy  so  many  poeio,  epio;  iyrio,  and  tragio,  witi 
t Mr  eadlese  additions,  tranafbriiiations,  and  oontradiotioiisr-tben  purged  and 
neast  by  historical  inquirers,  irho,  wider  odlonr  of  setting  amde  the  eacagger»> 
tlms  of  the  poets,  Introdneed  a  now  Tain  of  prossio  JaTontionr-lastly  movaliied 
and  allegorised  by  philoeophert."~-lfift.  of  Qtuve,  toL  i,  p^  866.  We  can  only 
attampt  a  brief  ootliae  of  this  in  a  note. 

•Tlio  Trqjan  Ungs  reckoned  tiieir  desoent  flmn  Dardamia,  the  son  of  Zona  by 
Elsetvar  da^hter  of  Atlas.  Tros,  the  grandson  of  Dardaans,  gare  his  name  to 
T^.  Zevs,  halting  taken  the  beantifnl  son  of  9Yos,  Ckknymedes,  to  bo  his  onp- 
bearer,  gaTo  to  tho  ftbther  in  retom  a  team  of  immortal  horsey  Bendee  Gtany^ 
modes,  Tros  had  two  sons,  Hns  end  Assoraens.  The  first  beoamo  tho  fhther  of 
the  Trojan  line  of  kings,  Laomedon,  Priam,  and  Hector;  the  seooad,  of  the  Dar- 
danian  soTorsigns,  Oapys,  Anohises,  and^fin^as.  Dos  founded  in  the  plain  of 
Troy  tiie  holy  city  of  Ilium.  His  brother  and  his  deseendants  remained  sovev- 
eigne  of  Dardaniak 

While  Laomedon,  son  of  Das,  reigned  at  Troy,  Poseidon  and  Apollo  were  snl^ootr 
«d  to  a  temporary  serTitude  by  oommand  of  Zeus,  during  which  the  former  boUt 
the  walls  of  tho  town,  and  the  latter  tended  the  herds.  When  the  stipulated 
period  had  expn«d,  they  claimed  tho  promised  reward ;  instead  of  paying- whieh, 
the  king  treated  the  gods  with  indignity,  and  threatened  to  sell  them  for  slaves. 
To  ayenge  this  ill-treatment,  Poseidon  sent  a  sea-monstbr,  which  ravaged  the 
fields,  and  destroyed  the  subjoets  of  Trpy.  This  infiietion  reduced  Laomedon  to 
auch  straits  that  ho  offered  the  immortal  horses  as  a  reward  to  any  one  who 
would  destroy  the  monster.  -  But  an  oraele  deciaxod  that  a  virgin  of  noble  blood 
must  first  be  given  to  him ;  and  the  lot  fell  on  Hesione,  the  daughter  of  Laome- 
don. Herades  snived  at  the  moment  when  tho  princess  stood  exposed  to  de- 
strudioQ ;  and  by  the  sad  of  Athene  and  the  Trqians  ho  killed  the  monster,  and 
delivered  both  Hesione  and  the  oountry.*  Tet  Laomedon  gave  him  mortal  horses^ 
instead  of  those  which  had  been  promised.  Heracles^  thus  defrauded,  equipped 
Biz  ships,  sailed  to  Troy,  stormed  the  city,  and  killed  Laomedon^  giving  Hesione 
to  bis  flathfiil  and  brave  ally,  Telamon,  by  whom  she  had  Teubros,  the  celebrated 
atcher. 

As  Priam  was  the  only  one  of  all  tho  sons  of  Laomedon  who  had  protested 
against  the  ligustioe  of  his  fether,  Heracles  placed  him  on  the  throne  of  Troy. 
This  king  was  blessed  with  a  numerous  progeny.  Among  his  sons  we  find  Hec- 
tor, Paris,  Deiphobus,  Helenas,  TroUus,  Polites,  Polydorus;  and  among  the 
daughters,  Laodice,  CreAsa,  Polyzena,  and  Cassandra. 

The  birth  of  Paris  was  acCompakkied  with  such  terrible  omens,  that  his  father 
oensnlted  tho  soothsayers  on  the  subject :  they  infermed  him  that  this  son  would 
prove  fetal  to  him.  Priam  in  consequence  ordered  the  dhild  to  be  expoeed  on 
Blbont  Ida,  as  soon  as  he  was*  bom.  The  gods,  however,  prestfved  him ;  and  he 
grew  up  very  bamttfeil  in  person,  fostered  by  the  shepherds,  and  specially  loved 
by  Aphrodite.  It  was  to  this  prinoo,  while  living  in  this  rural  solitude  that 
the  tiiree  goddesses,  H6i^  Athene,  and  Aphrodite,  wereoonducted,  in  oxder  thai; 
he  might  determine  the  dispute  which  had  arisen  between  thorn,  at  the  mafftage 

89 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


610  APPnmix. 

of  Peleu^  respeciing  their  comparatiye  beanty.  Paris  awarded  the  priae  of 
beauty  to  Aphrodite,  who  promised  him  in  return  the  most  beautiful  woman  of 
the  age,— Helen,  the  dataghter  of  Zens,  wife  of  Menelans,  King  of  Sparta.. 

The  maimer  in  which  this  promise  was  ftilflUed^ia  too  well  known  to  need  va* 
eitation.  Paris  went  to  Gieeoe,  and  yirited^  Bfenelans,  who  had  at  that  time  to 
leaTe  his  home  for  Crete.  During  his  absence  Paris  carried  off  Helen  and  a 
large  amount  of  treasure,  and  safely  reached  Troy.  The  i]^)ared  husband  was 
informed  in  Crete  of  the  perfidious  conduct  of  Paris,  and  the  infidelity  of  his 
wifb>* '  and  hastened  home  to  consult  his  brother  Agamemnon,  King  of  Mycenn 
and  Argios,  and  the  Tcnerable  Nestor.  The  result  was  a  determinatloD  to  aaaem- 
YjHb  the  entire  strength  of  the  Qredan  states,  and  avenge  this  outrage  on  the 
rites  of  hospitality.  This  was  the  more  easily  efiieeted,-  because  in  her  youth 
Helen  had  been  sought  for,  on  account  of  her  beauty,  by  thir^-one  of  the  princi- 
pal ohieftains  of  Greece,  who,  seeing  they  had  indiTiduiJly  aTery  slender  chance 
of  securing  the  desired  prise,  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  oatJk  to  leave  Helen 
to  her  free,  unbiassed  choice  in  respect  of  her  selection  of  a  partner,  and,  when 
married,  to  defend  her  person  and  character  against  any  attempts  to  snatch  her 
ttom  the  arms  of  her  husband. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  this,  purpose,  Kester,  PaJamedea,  and  others  went 
round  to  solicit  the  aid  of  the  Qreek  chieft.  The  result  is  known:  eleven  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six  ships,  and  above  one  hundred  thousand  men,  were  at  length 
assembled  at  Aulis,  and  sailed  for  Troy.  This  expedition  contained  all  the  Mt 
•of  the  warriors  of  Greece ;  foremost  among  whom  stood  Palamedes,  Ajax,  Di- 
omedes,  Nestor,  Ulysses,  and  Achilles.  The  first,  although  not  mentioned  by  Ho- 
mer, is  celebrated  by  other  early  Greek  writers  as  one  of  the  wisest  and  bravest 
4>f 'his  day.  He  is  even  supposed  on  this  account  to  have  been  treacheroufl^  eat 
off  by  the  envy  and  malignity  of  Ulysses  and  Diomedes. 

The  Trojans  had  assembled  a  great  army  of  auxiliaries,  to  oppose  this  inva- 
^on ;  but  the  attempt  to  pvevent  the  landing  of  the  Greeks  was  vain.  The  Tro- 
jans and  their  allies  were  routed,  mainly  by  the  valour  of  Achilles,  and  driven 
within  the  walls  of  the  city.  But  these  were  invulnerable;  great  delay  was  a 
'  necessary  consequence ;  a  large  portion  of  the  invading  army  was  engaged  in 
•providing  supplies  of  provision  for  themselves  and  their  companions :  years  of 
siege  and  casual  warfare  therefore  rolled  on. 

At  length,  however,  in  the  tenth  year  of  the  siege,  the  Greeks,  baring  stormed 
and  sacked  some  towns  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Troy  and  in  alliance  with  that 
city,  dirided  the  prisoners  among  the  principal  chiefi.  Achilles,  for  his  prom- 
inence and  valour  in  this  exploit,  received  a  beautiful  damsel, — the  fkir  BrisriS; 
while  another,  a  daughter  of  a  priest  of  Apollo,  Ghiyseis,  was  awarded  to  Aga- 
memnon. -  The  father  of  the  latter  lady,  distressed  by  the  loss  of  his  daughter, 
besought  the  deity  to  avenge  his  ii^iiry.  Apollo  complied,  and  sent  a  pla^^ 
among  the  Greeks.  In  a  great  council  the  cause  of  the  evU  was  revealed  by 
Calchas  the  seer.  The  resdlt  was  the  sending  back  of  ChryseEs  to  her  fhther; 
and,  to  repair  his  loss,  Agamemnon  demanded  BrisOis  from  Aohllles, — a  require- 
ment which  so  offended  that  hero,  that  he  immediately  withdrew  himsrif  and  his 
troops  from  the  Grecian  army. 

The  loss  of  Achilles  subjected  the  Greek  army  to  terrible  reverses.  Diomedes, 
Ulysses,  Agamemnon,  and  other  heroes  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost,  but  in 
vain.  Hector  led  his  oonquering  Trq^ans  to  successive  rictories,  until  at  length 
he  actually  set  fire  to  the  vessel  of  Protesilaus,  the  first  Greek  who  had  landed 
•t  Troy.    The  deaperato  cowfitfen  to  which  the  Greeks  wen  thus  reduced  kd 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


AP^BNDIX.  611 

Pifttrooliu,  the  frieiid  of  Aohille^  to  obtain  that  hero's  leaye  to  lead  his  troops 
•gainst  the  Trqjans.  This  reinforoement  for  a  while  tamed  the  tide  of  yiotory, 
until  Patroelua  was  slain  hy  Hector.  This  melancholy  e^ent  at  once  diyerted 
the  flow  of  the  anger  of  Achilles,  and  directed  it  against  the  Trojan  prince.  He 
aooordingly  returned  to  the  war,  defeated  the  Trojans,  and  killed  Hector. 

The  hopes  of  Troj,  which  seamed  to  die  with  the  death  of  Hector,  were  reyiyed 
hj  the  arrival  of  soooessiye  bands  of  auxiliaries.  Penthesilea,  Queen  of  the  Ama- 
Mns,  first  arriyed,  at  the  head  of  her  troop  of  female  warriors.  She  yras*  the 
daughter  of  Ares,  and  had  been  hitherto  inyincible.  At  first  her  efforts  were 
SQOoessftil ;  but  she  fell  by  the  hand  of  Achilles.  Memnon  next  came  to  sustain 
the  cause  of  Troy.  He  was  the  son  of  Tithonus  and  Eos,  and  the  most  stately  of 
men.  He  destroyed  great  numbers  of  the  Grecian  troops,  and  slew  the  noble  and 
popular  Antilochu&  But  after  a  desperate,  and,  for  a  long  tiuie,  doubtfiil  con* 
test*  he  also  perished  by  the  prowess  of  Achilles. 

The  Ihte  of  this  hero  now  approached.  As  Achilles  was  chasing  a  troop  of 
routed  Trojans  into  the  town,  he  was  slain  by  an  arrow  firom  the  bow  of  Paris, 
which  had  been  guided  by  Apollo,  and  struck  the  mighty  Greek  in  the  only  yu^ 
nerable  part  of  his  body, — his  heeL  The  faXi  of  Achilles  occasioned  still  further 
loss  to  the  Greeks.  Ajax  and  Ulysses  haying  quarried  as  to  which  shoak| 
possess  the  armour  of  the  deceased  hero,  and  the  decision  haying  been  giyen  in 
fiftyour  of  ihe  latter,  Ajax  slew  himself  in  a  frenzy  occasioned  by  grief  and  disap- 
pdntinent. 

The  crisis  of  the  war  now  drew  near.  Ulysses,  haying  captured  Helenus,  the 
son  of  Priam«  who  possessed  the  gift  of  prophecy,  learned  from  him  that  Troy 
oould  not  be  taken  unless  Philootetes,  who  held  the  bow  and  arrows  of  Heraoles, 
and  Neoptolemuii,  son  of  Achilles,  could  be  persusded  to  join  the  Greek  army. 
This  was  effected  by  the  address  of  Diomedes  and  Ulysses.  Fhiloctetes  soon 
after  killed  Paris  in  single  combat ;  while  Neoptolemus  killed  Eurypylus,  King 
of  Mysia,  who  had  marched  an  army  to  the  succour  of  Troy. 

But  although  the  Trojans  were  now  so  weakened  by  successiye  losses  that  they 
dared  no  more  to  meet  their  enemies  in  the  field,  the  city  could  not  be  captured 
while  the  Palladium — a  statue  giyen  by  Zeus  himself  to  Dardanus — ^remained  \ml 
the  dtadeL  Great  care  had  been  taken  of  this  statue  by  the  Trojans :  they  not 
only  did  their  utmost  to  conceal  this  valuable  gift,  but  made  many  others  so  like 
it  as  to  mislead  any  person  who  might  attempt  to  stetd  it.  UlysseA,  however, 
the  unfailing  resource  of  th^  Greeks  when  craft  and  cunning  were  required,  jn 
union  with  great  daring,  essayed  this  di£Scult  task.  Disguising  himself  in  loia- 
erable  clothing  and  with  self-inflicted  iiguries,  he  succeeded  in  entering  the 
dty,  and  carrying  off  the  Palladium.  It  is  said  that  Helen  recognised  him, 
while  thus  engaged ;  but  that  she,  now  anxious  to  return  to  her  bqsband,  not 
only  did  not  betray  him,  but  actually  concerted  with  him  the  means  of  cap- 
turing the  city. 

To  accomplish  this  object,  the  Greeks  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  At  the  sug> 
gestion  of  Athene,  Epeus  made  a  large  wooden  horse,  sufficiently  capacious  to 
contain  one  hundred  men  in  the  inside  of  it  Here  were  placed  that  number  of 
the  most  celebrated  warriors  of  the  Greek  army,  including  Neoptolemus,  Ulysses, 
Menelaus,  and  others.  This  being  done,  and  the  horse  placed  before  the  gates 
of  Troy,  the  Greek  army  pretended  that  they  had  abandoned  the  siege,  burned 
their  tents,  and  saUed  away^— remaining,  however,  at  Tenedos.  The  inhabitants 
of  Troy,  oveqoyed  at  this  deliverance,  sallied  out,  and  were  amazed  at  the  huge 
wooden  stmoturs  whioh  their  enemies  h^d.left  behind  them. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


612  APPMTDIX. 

VaiioiiB  opinions  were  proponttded  rMpeetiiig  it.  Some  proposed  drawing  it 
info  tlie  city,  and  dedicating  it  to  tlie  gods,  as  a  th>ph7  of  rietory :  ofiiers  di»- 
trusted  the  gift  of  an  enemj.  Laocodn,  the  priest  of  Neptnne,  sharing  in  this 
fteiing,  lannched  a  spear  against  the  side  of  the  horse,  when  the  sound  rerealed 
the  hollowness  of  the  eottstniotion.  But  eyen  tliis  warning  was  lost  on  the 
infttnated  Trojans ;  while  Laocodn,  with  one  of  his  sons,  perislicd  by  two  ser. 
pentd,  wliich  were  sent  ont  of  the  sea  expressly  to  destroy  him.  The  Trojans 
were  seized  on  by  the  artifices  of  Sinoh,  a  perfldions  traitor,  who  had  been  left 
by  the  Greeks  to  promote  their  object.  He  told  Priam  that  he  had  fled  from  his 
countrymen  because  they  had  determined  to  ofl^  him  a  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  in 
order  to  insure  themselTSs  a  safe  royage  to  Greece.  Being  ftiTourably  reoeiyed 
by  the  kind  king,  he  strongly  urged  him  to  bring  the  wooden  horse  into  the  city, 
and  cdnsecrate  it  to  Athene.  This  adyioe  was  fbllowed.  A  breach  was  made  in 
the  walls,  and-  the  horse  brought  into  the  city  with  tumultuous  joy,  the  Trojans 
deToting  the  night  to  riotous  fbstiyity.  While  they  were  tiius  engaged,  SEnon 
made  the  appointed  fire-signal,  which  being  seen  by  the  Greeks  at  Tenedos,  they 
immediately  returned.  He  then  unlvftrred  the  entrance  to  the  hdrse,  and  allowed 
the  Greek  heroes  to  come  forth.  Ilie  city  was  thus  assailed  'from  within  and 
without.  The  aged  Priam  perished  by  the  hand  of  Neoptolemus,  haying  sought 
rMtige  in  vain  at  the  altar  of  Zeus.  Beiphobus,  who,  ftfter  the  death  of  Paris,  had 
beoome  the  husband  of  Helen,  died,  after  a  desperate  resistance,  by  the  hands 
of  Ulysses  and  Menelaus.  Antenor  and  iEneas  escaped,  as  it  is  said,  by  the 
<Amniyanoe  of  the  Greeks.  Thus  was  the  city  totally  sacked  and  destroyed. 
Astyanaz,  the  inftmt  son  of  Hector,  was  cast  from  a  high  wall,  and  killed ;  and 
Polyzena  was  immolated  on  the  tomb  of  Achilles.  Helen  was  restored  to  her 
husband,  who  appears  to  haye  receiyed  her  yery  cordially.  Andromache  and 
Helenus  were  both  giyen  to  Neoptolemus ;  Cassandra  was  awarded  to  Aga- 
nemnod.   . 

The  utter  improbability  of  the  legend,  especially  in  the  part  respecting  the 
wooden  horse,  led  to  other  yersions  than  that  of  Homer.  The  principal  of  these 
is  that  related  by  the  Egyptian  priests  to  Herodotus,  to  this  efi^ect, — that  when 
Fu4s  fied  flram  Chreece  with  Helen,  he  was  driyen  by  adyerse  winds  on  the  coast 
of  Egypt,  where  the  king,  learning  the  baseness  of  his  conduct,  sent  him  away, 
detaining  Helen ;  and  that  consequently,  when  the  Greeks  demanded  Helen  at 
Troy,  the  Trojans  could  not  giye  her  up,  as  she  wad  not  there.  At  the  same 
thne  they  could  not  conyince  the  Greeks  of  this  truth,  the  gods  haying  decreed 
theruinof  Hium. 

The  return  of  the  heroes  to  Greece  wotdd  requiris  extended  notice.  We  can 
only  obserye  that  Nestor,  Biomedes,  Neoptolemus,  'Idomeneus,  and  Phlloctetefl 
soon  reached  their  homes  in  safety.  Agamemnon  also  reached  his  palace  at 
Argos,  but  to  perish  by  the  hand  of  his  wifb  Clytemnestra.  The  adyentures  of 
Ulysses  haye  been  .fully  giyen  by  Homer  in  a  separate  epic  Eyery  part  of 
Gnece,  Italy,  and  of  the  surrounding  countries,  bears  names,  or  stands  identi- 
il^  with  circumstances  relating  to  this  war.  (Grote's  History  of  Greece ;  Thirl- 
will's  History  of  Greece ;  Homer ;  Virgil ;  Herodotus ;  Thucydides,  &c^  Ac.) 

Note  69,  page  820.— 7%<  Return  of  the  HeraOida. 

Th^r^  is  scarcely  any  portion  of  the  legendary  history  of  Greece  which  so 
dearly  and  so  ftilly  deyelops  the  peculiar  character  of  its  mythology,  and  at 
the  same  time  seryes  as  a  key  to  abme  of  tiie  most  curious  problems  in  the  sulh 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


^PPSNDIZ.  .613 

M%ii0Bt  aimalfl  of  tbo  eoontfy,  as  the  aooount  fuBiah«4  ^7  ^«  po^ts  reapeoting 
Heraoles  and  Us  desoeBdmts. 

linens,  son  of  ZeoB  and  Panae,.  having  aoeidentaUj  kiUad  hia  graadfother,  wd 
Iwing  unwilliiig  to  remain  ar  the  Borereign  of  iho  oonntry,  exchanged  the  king- 
dom of  Argos  with  Megapenthea  ftur  that  of  TirTna ;  and  allerwaid,  fijdng  on  a 
apot  abont  ten  milea  from  Argoa,  he  fonndiBd  the  fiunona  dtj  of  Myoeun,  seating 
lk«M  hla  deaoendanta  as  the  oelebrated  Ftoneid  I>)rnaatj,  Penena  left  a  nomer- 
ooa  fajnilj :  of  theae,  Alonna  was  fhiher  of  Amphitiyon ;  Eketryon,  of  Alcmene ; 
and  filhenelofl,  of  Enrysthens.  After  the  death  of  hie  grandfather,  Amphitryon, 
in  a  fit  of  pawien  oooaaianed  bj  a  quarrel  abont  eome  cattle,  kiUed  his  nncle 
Electryon.  The  sons  of  this  chief  haring  been  killed  by  some  pirate  Taphiahe, 
Aknene  wiaa  the  only  BurriTer  of  this  fiunily.  She  was  engaged  to  marry 
Amphitryon,  bat  refused,  to  do  so  until  he  had  ayenged  the.  death  of  her  brothers. 
Compelled  to  leaTC  his  conntxy  on  aooonnt  of  the  mvaedst  of  his  nncle,  AmpUt- 
xyon  sought  raftige  in  Thebes,  whither  he  was  aocompimied  by  Alomene,thns 
leaving  Stheoielofl,  the  only  surriTing  son  of  Perseus,*  King  of  Tiryns.  Amphit- 
ryon, having  obtained  the  aid  of  the  Cadmeians  and  others,  chaatised  the  Taphi- 
ana,  and  returned  to  claim  his  wife.  On  the  wedding-night,  however,  Zens, 
living  eonceived  a  passion  for  the  bride,  -had  intercourse  with  her  before  the 
huaband.  The  reeidt  was  that  Alcmene  bore  twins,— Heracles,  the  aon  of  Zeua, 
and  IphicLes,  the  oiliipring  of  Amphitryon.  When  the  time  drew  near  for  deliv- 
eny,  Zens,  who  had  detenained  that  this  offspring -of  his  should  be  superior  to 
all  his  other  human  children,—**  a  specimen  of  invinoible  power  both  to  gods  and 
inan,"—- boasted  in  the  Olympian  assembly,  that  there  was  that  day  to  be  bom 
on  earth  a  descendant  of  hia  who  should  role  over  all  his  neighbours.  Stung 
with  theTemai^,  his  wife  H«r6  pretended  to  make  light  of  it,  and  provoked  Zei)s 
to  oonlirm  hia  daolaration  by  an  oath.  This  being  done,  H^ro  instantly  descended 
to  the  earth,  and,  by  the.  aid  of  the  goddesses  presiding  Over  parturition,  delayed 
Ihe  delivery  of  Alomane,  and  haatened  that  of  the  wife  of  Sthenelos,  wbo  waa 
aeven  montha  advanced  in  pregnancy.  Thia  feat  accompUshed,  Herd  returned  to 
Olympus,  and  announced  the  fact  to  Zeus,  saying,  "  Ilie  good  man  Euiystheus 
Oa  thia  day  bom  of  thy  loins,  and  the  sceptre  of  the  Axgeians  worthily  belongs  to 
Jiim/'  Zeus  was  intensely  astonished  and  afflicted  at  the  news ;  but  his  wocd 
had  passed,  and  he  could  not  prevent  its  acoomplishment.  Hercules  was  thee^- 
fovs  throughout  his  lift  subject  to  Eurystheus,  and  compelled  to  do  his  bidding. 

It  will  not  be  neoeasary  to  detail  the  exploits  of  Heracles,  under  the  designa- 
tion <^  his  "  Twelve  Labours."  The  principal  of  them  are  now  universally 
known.  It  may  suffice  to  aay,  that  he  always  evinced  irresistible  power,  whether 
on  behalf  of  frienda,  or  agabut  declared  foes  and  the  most  savage  beasts,  ffis 
deeds  were  spread  over  all  parte  of  the  world  then  known  to  the  Greeks,— from 
Qadea  in  Spain  to  the  banks  of  the  Eoxine,  and  even  to  Seythia ;  while  their 
magnitude  was  such  as  to  fill  the  world  with  their  fame,  and  to  vary  them  into 
an  endless  range  of  poetic  myths. 

After  the  death  ef  the  hero,  and  his  apotheosis,  his  son  Hyllos,  and  his  other 
children,  were  expelled  and  severely  persecuted  by  Eurystheus.  So  violent  was 
hia  animosity,  that  the  Thebans  and  other  neighbouring  states  feared  to  afford 
them  reftige.  Athens  alone  evinced  sufficient  humanity  .and  daring,  and  pro- 
tected the  refegees.  To  punish  this  generous  conduct,  Eurystheus  inviuled 
Attiea,  and  not  only  foiled  in .  the  effort,  but  perished  with  all  his  sons  in  the 
contest  In  oonsequence,  the  sons  of  Heracles  became  the  only  representatives 
of  the  Perseid  fomily.    Hyllos,  the  eldest  son  of  Heraclta,  regaroUng  Pelopon- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


614  APPBNDDC. 

nesus  u  his  rightftil  inberiiaao6>  gathered  together  en  umy,  tad  endemToaved 
to  enforoe  his  claim  by  arms.  This  inTesion  was  met  by  the  umted  troops  of 
lema,  Achaia,  and  Arcadia;  npoa  which  Hyllos  proposed  that  the  eoafeet 
should  be  deoided  by  single  combat  between  himself  and  any  hero  of  the  opposing 
army.  •  The  challenge  was  aooepted,  and  the  terms  arranged,  which  prodded 
that  in  «ase  Hyllos  triumphed,  the  Heraoleids  should  be  restored  to  their  pos- 
sessions ;  but  that,  m  case  he  fell,  they  should  abandon  all  their  elaima  for  a 
given  period,  which  is  yariously  stated  by  different  authors  as  haTing  been  three 
generations,— fifty  years,— and  one  hundred  years.  Hylloe  was  slain  in  this 
conflict  by  Echemos,  the  Arcadian  hero;  and  the  Heradeids  in  oonsequenee 
retired,  and  dismissed  their  army, 

It  is  said  that,  in  Tiolation  of  this  engagement,  Clodnus,  son  of  Hyllos,  made 
an  attempt  to  recover  the  territory,  which  was  equally  unsuooessfizl ;  and  that 
his  son,  in  a  similar  effort,  perished  on  the  field  of  battie. 

The  time  specified  in  the  engagement  which  issued  in  the  death  ofHylloa,  at 
length  passed  away,  and  left  the  Heracieids  flree  to  assert  their  claim  to  their 
ancient  and  rightAil  patrimony.  The  manner  and  means  by  which  this  was 
•effected  are  worthy  of  attention.  It  appears  that  when  the  Dorian  King 
JEgimius  was  severely  pressed  by  the  Lapithsd,  Heracles  interposed,  defeated  the 
inyading  force,  and  killed  their-  King  Coronus.  In  gratefiil  return  for  this  aet 
of  heroism,  ^gimius  assigned  to  his  deliverer  one-third  part  of  the  whole  terri- 
tory of  his  state,  and  adopted  Hyllos  as  his  son.  Heracles  desired  that  this  gift 
should  be  retained  until  his  children  stood  in  need  of  it  After  the  death  of 
Hyllos,  this  boon  was  claimed  and  allowed.  The  Heraoleids  became  thus  inti- 
mately associated  with  the  Dorian  race.  When,  therefore,  Hyllos,  his  son  Clo- 
dSBus,  and  grandson  Aristomachus,  were  all  dead,  and  the  Heraoleids  were 
represented  by  Temenus,  Cresphontes,  and  Aristodemus,  they  resolved,  with  the 
aid  of  the  Dorians,  to  make  anothcir  attempt  on  the  peninsula.  In  this  oase  a 
new  mode  of  attack  was  adopted.  Instead  of  a  long  and  haaardous  land-mareh 
along  the  coast  and  through  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  they  resolved  to  prepare 
vessels,  and  cross  over  firom  Antirrldum  on  the  southern  promontory  of  JEtoliai 
to  Rhiam  on  the  north  coast  of  Achaia.  This  attempt  was  completely  suooessftd. 
Tisamenes,  the  grandson  of  Againemnon  through  Orestes,  then,  the  great  sever' 
eign  of  the  peninsula,  and  the  representative  of  .the  Pelopid  race,  fell  in  the 
conflict  Ozylus,  who  had  efficiently  served  the  expedition  as  a  guide,  was 
rewarded  with  the  fertile  territory  of  Ells;  while  the  three  Heraoleid  fhmilies 
oast  lots  for  the  remainder  of  the  oountry.  In  this  distribution  Argos  fell  to 
Temenus,  Messene  to  Cresphontes,  and  Sparta  to  the  sons  of  Aristodemus.  It  is 
alleged  that  Cresphontes  obtained  his  more  eligible  portion  by  fhiud.  Aa  each 
ftunily  offered  solemn  sacrifices  upon  this  division,  it  is  said  that  a  miraculous 
sign  appeared  on  each  altar, — a  toad  on  that  belonging  to  Argos;  a  serpent  on 
that  of  Sparta ;  and  a  fox  on  the  altar  representing  Messene.  The  prophets,  on 
being  consulted,  thus  explained  these  omens :  The  toad,  being  a  creature  slow 
and  stationary,  imported  that  Argos  would  not  succeed  in  enterprises  beyond  its 
own  limits :  the  serpent  denoted  the  formidable  and  aggressive  character  which 
Sparta  would  sustain :  and  the  fox  set  forth  the  career  of  wily  and  deodtftil 
policy  which  Messene  would  pursue.  However  historical  ftbot  may  be  obseored 
by  ancient  legend,  it  is  evident  that  the  entire  subjugation  of  Peloponnesus  to 
the  sway  of  the  Heraoleids  and  Dorians  must  have  occupied  a  very  considerable 
portion  of  time,  during  which  extended  period  the  vanquished  were  oontiniiaUy 
seeking  reAige  in  norihem  Greeoe,  Asia  Minor,  or  the  islands. 


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APPurDiz.  016 

Note  69,  page  325.— 7Ae  Seven  WUe  Mien  of  Greece. 

'Although  ih«0e  Grecian  worfchiee  are  uBoallj  said  to  hare 'been  mtoii,  aadent 
writen  are  by  do  means  agreed  as  to  their  niunber  or- their  names.  Piemurohui 
oonnted  ten;  Hermippns,  soTonteen ;  and  Flato,  seyen.  The  names  of  Solon  the 
Athenian,  Thales  the  Milesian,  Pittaoos  the  Mitylenian,  and  Bias  the  Prienean, 
are  found  in  aU  the  lists.  The  remaining  names  giTen  b/  Flato  are  Cleobalna 
of  lindus,  Myson  of  Chene,  and  Chile  of  Laoedmnon.  (Protagoras,  sec.  82;) 

It  will  be  neoessaary  to  giye  a  brief  sketch  of  these  IndiTidnals,  in  ord^  to  con- 
vey a  general  idea  of  their  character  as  the  Wise  Men  of  Greece. 

SoLOM  in  his  youth  dcToted  hipiself  to  the  .study  of  philosophy  and  political 
science.  In  consequence  of  the  reduced  'state  of  his  fomily  through  the  prodi- 
gality of  his  father,  he  was  for  some  time  engaged  in  trade;  but  he  at  length 
doToted  his  life  to  the  good  of  his  countiy,  and  introduced  those  political  and 
fiscal  reforms  which  laid  the  foundation  for  the  future  .glory  of  Athens.  Like  all 
the  cultivated  G^eks  of  his  day,  he  studied  poetry,  and  propounded  his  political 
reforms  in  Terse. 

Thalbs  was  bom  at  Miletus,  of  Phenician  parents.  Like  Solon  and  others,  he 
tr»Telled  in  pursuit  of  knowledge ;  and  visited  Crete,  Phenida,  Egypt,  and  the 
Ea8t,-~acquiring  in  his  progress  a  knowledge  of  geometry,  astronomy,  and  phi- 
losophy. He  is  said  to  have  made  additions  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Greeks  in 
mathematical  science, — ^most  likely  f^om  information  he  obtained  in  the  East. 
He  is  also  said  to  hare  been  the  first  who  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  scientific 
proof,  and  attempted  it  in  philosophy  and  Mathematics.  He  is  known  to  have 
predicted  the  occurrence  of  an  eclipse ;  but  Whether  he  possessed  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  mathematioal  astronomy  to  make  the  calculation  himself,  or 
obtained  the  result  of  it  in  the  East,  has  been  doubted.  Thales  is  said  to  have 
displayed  great  political  sagacity,  and  to  have  used  his  scientific  acquirements 
in  diverting  the  course  of  the  river  Halys  at  the  request  of  Croesus.  He  also 
instituted  a  federal  council  at  Teos,  to  unite  and  strengthen  the  lonians,  when 
threatened  by  the  Persians.  He  was  the  founder  and  fother  of  the  lonie  school 
of  philosophy,  which  produced  Anazimand«r,  Anaximenes,  Anaxagoras,  and 
Archelaus,  the  master  of  Socrates. 

PiTTAouB  of  Mitylene  was  highly  celebrated  as  a  warrior,  a  statesman,  a  phi- 
losopher, and  a  poet.  He  is  first  mentioned  in  history  as  an  opponent  of  the 
tyrants  who  had  succeeded  in  fastening  their  rule  on  his  country.  In  conjunc- 
tion with  the  sons  of  Alceous,  he  succeeded  in  delivering  the  island  firom  this 
oi^ression.  He  afterward  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  countrymen,  to  resist  the 
Athenians,  when  they  made  war  on  Lesbos.  In  this  struggle  he  challenged  the 
Athenian  general  to  single  combat,  and  slew  him.  He  was  afterward  made  gov- 
ernor of  his  native  city,  with  unlimited  authority.  After  holding  this  dignity 
for  ten  years,  governing  with  justice  and  moderation,  devising  and  enforcing 
salutary  laws,  and  greatly  promoting  the  public  good,  he  voluntarily  retired  Into 
private  life. 

Bias  of  Priene. — ^little  is  known  of  this  sage,  except  that  he  appears  to  have 
attained  his  distinguished  reputation  by  the  long-continued  exercise  of  his  skill 
as  an  advocate,  and  by  his  uniform  and  generally  successftil  maintenance  of  the 
cause  of  right  and  justice.  He  died  at  a  very  advanced  age,  after  pleading  suc- 
cessfully in  behalf  of  a  friend.  Just  as  the  judges  gave  Oieir  decision,  the  ven- . 
erable  advocate  fell  dead  into  the  arms  of  his  grandson.  The  case  of  Bias  is  an 
onquestionable  proof  that  the  fSune  of  the  Wise  Men  was  derived,  not  from  the 


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616  Appmn. 

possession  of  abstract  soienoe,  but  firom  the  exercise  of  practical  irisdooi  and 
jadidoos  experience  in  respect  of  moral  and  political  affairs. 

CuoBULus  of  lindos  was  remarkable  for  tke  beaoi^  of  hk  psnon.  fiisikme 
as  a  Wise  Man  seems  to  rest  on  the  snoeess  with  whitdi  he  goremed  lindna  in  a 
season  of  peculiar  difficulty.  He  is  also  oelebcated  for  lumng  aoquiied  aa 
aequaantance  with  the  phUosoiriiy  of  Bgjpi,  and  fer  luvfing  writtea  sobm  lytm 
poems,  as  well  as  riddles  in  Terse. 

Mtbon  of  Cheae.— 6caroel7  anything  is  known  ef  Ahis  penon,  exeept  that  he 
was  in  humble  ciroumstances ;  and  that  when  Anaehaisis  ooasulted  the  oraele  at 
Delphi  to  know  which  was  the  wisest  man  in  Greece,  he  was  told  in-  aaswcTt  **  He 
who  is  now  ploughing  his  fields :"  this  was  Mysen.  In  some  of  the  lists  the 
aame  of  Periaader  stands  instead  of  Myson. 

CHtt<o  of  8parta.^Nothing  is  known  of  this  person  hat  his  naou. 

NoTB  00,  page  S26. — Tke  Amphidyonie  CounciL 

This  institution  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  influential  ef  aaoiflBt 
Qfeece.  It  appears  to  haye  arisen,  in  remote  times,  out  of  the  Teiy  peenBar 
p<4itioal  disunion  and  religious  unity  which  preTsiled  among  the  Grecian  people: 
Since,  from  the  beginning,  it  was  customary  for  the  seTeral  cities  and  eTtn 
towns,  as  well  as  states,  to  be  eelf-goTeming,  while  they  were  closely  allied 
together  by  a  national  feeling  and  a  common  ftith,  it  became  neoessaiy  to  estab- 
lish some  means  of  communication  between  these  independent  bodies,  and  man/t 
efficient  mode  of  atQudicatlon,  in  the  event  either  of  the  national  interests  being 
infringed,  or  of  the  ordinances  of  the  established  religien  being  yiolated.  This 
was  effected  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  Amphictyonio  CounciL  There  were 
consequently  seTeral  of  these  confederations  in  different  districts,  and  among 
the  Grecian  settlements  in  Asia  Minor ;  but  the  principal,  and  that  which  was  a 
model  for  all  the  others,  was  celled,  by  wey  of  eminenoe,  "fie  Amphictyonio 
League."  This  body  met  either  in  the  temple  of  Demeter  in  the  Tillage  of 
Antheln  near  Thermopylse,  or  in  that  of  Apollo  at  J>ttlphL 

We  haTo  but  a  small  amount  of*  information  on  which  reliance  can  be  placed 
respecting  the  origin  of  this  institution.  That  it  asnsa  Tery  early,  is  clear  frma 
the  fact  that  neither  cities  nw  states,  but  tribes,  were  jwpresented  in.  it  These 
were  originally  twelTc :  lonians,  Dorians,  Ferrhmbians.  Boeotians,  Magnasiaas, 
Achsaans,  Phthians,  Melians,  Dolopians,  ^nianiaos,  Delnhians,  and  PhooaBS. 
In 'process  of  time,  cities  and  states,  as*  they  rose  into  importance,  were  admitted 
into  the  League ;  so  that  in  the  age  of  Antonius  Pius  the  nomber  of  represented 
tribes  was  increased  to  thirty.  The  priaiitiTe  nature  of  thiA  impact,  and  the 
simplicity  of  manners  and  of  means  which  then  obtained,  are  (Nearly  shown  by 
the  terms  of  the  oath  which  was  administered  to  the  membens  of  this  League 
seTcrally,  as  preserTcd  by  iBsehines :  *'  We  will  not  destroy  any  Amphictyonio 
town :-  we  will  not  cut  off  any  Amphictyonio  town  from  ruaninir  water."  It 
seems,  at  least  in  later  times,  that  the  members  sent  to  this  council  veve  of  two 
kinds  or  grades ;  which  has  led  to  the  opinion  that  two  assemblies  wore  held, — 
one  a  larger,  and  the  other  a  smaller,  body.  This  distinction  is  indicated  in  the 
preamble  of  a  decree  preeerTcd  by  Demosthenes:  "When  Oleinagorus  was  priest 
at  the  spring-meeting,  it  was  resoWed  by  the  Prlagorm  and  their  sssessore-  and 
the  general  body  of  the  Amphictyons,"  &c.  It  was  this  body  which  decreed  those 
soTere  and  generally  cruel  crasades  whioh  are  fooad  in  Greek  histoiy,  under  t^ 
name  of . "  Sacred  Wars." 


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AppflNDxx.  %n 

It  WKB,  in  faoftk  tiie  f peoiAl  ftinotioii  of  Une  Aaphietyonio  Union  to  wstoh  «w 
•ad  proteet  tho  a«IMgr,  inteiMto,  and  tceMurss  of  the  Delphian  temple.  This 
point  is  Bet  fbrth  In  another  oaih  taken  bj  the  memben  of  this  ooimeil,  aad 
preaerred  by  iBeohines :  "  If  any  one  shall  plnader  the  pioperi^  -of  the  ged, 
or  shall  be  eognixant .  thereof,  or  shall  take  treaoherons  oonnsel  against  the 
things  in  the  temple,  we  will  punish  him  bj  foot,  and  hand,  and  Yoiee,  and  oTOfy 
means  in  our  power/'  At  the  same  time,  the  tn4y  national  oharaeter  of  this 
esnnoil  is  proTodby  the  IJMt,  that,  on  the  death  of  I^onidas  and  his  braye  oom- 
panions  at  Thermopyln,  this  eooMil  held  an  exteaovdinary  meeting,  and  offered 
a  rewaid  for  the  liife  of  Bphialfees  the  traitor.  They  also  afterward  set  op 
pillars  in  the  Strsits.  to  the  memory  of  the  Spartans  who  fell  there* 

This  institation  rwiained,  as  the  last  vestige  of  HeUeolo  niiiionaUty,  until  tha 
seoond  oentnxy  of  the  Ohristian  era;  but  its  power  and  impovtaaoe  imd  long 
been  lost.  ETon  in  the  days  of  Demosthenes,  the  great  orator  complained  that 
ii  was  then  only  the  shadow  of  its  former  sell 

Nofni  6|,  page  327.— Jfer^^e  PUUtn. 

These  were  stone  pillars,  which  were  required  to  be  set  up  in  a  field,  or  some 
other  conspicuous  part  of  the  mortgaged  property.  They  serred  instead  of  a 
legal  instrument  or  bond :  but  they  answered  this  purpose  in  the  most  objection- 
able manner  that  can  be  conoelyed.  It  was  essentisl  that  these  pillars  should 
bear  a  legible  inscription,  stating  the  amount  of  the  debt  with  which  the  prop- 
erty was  burdened,  and  setting  forth  the  name  of  the  creditor  to  whom  the 
money  was  owing.  These  erections  were  abundantly  numerous  in  Attica  at  the 
time  referred  to,  and  were  so  many  public  adyertisements  that  the  former  owner 
of  the  Boll  had  lost  his  independence, -and  was  in  danger  of  sinking  into  a  still 
more  degraded  and  miserable  condition. 

NoTB  62,  page  829. — The  Judicial  Court  of  Areopagus, 

This  celebrated  judicial  body  usually  held  its  sittings  in  an  open,  uncoyered 
space  on  the  top  of  a  small  eminence  at  Athens,  called  Mars'  Hill,  because  Mars 
was  said  to  haye  been  tried  there  for  the  murder  of  HaUrriiothius,  the  son  of 
Keptone.  The  origin  of  this  court  is  lost  in  remote  antiqui^ :  some  ascribe  its 
institution  to  the  time  of  Cecrops.  The  number  of  the  judges  is  equaUy  uneer- 
tain.  But  we  know  that  they  were  Ibr  a  long  period  pernms  of  the  highest  pro* 
bity  and  religious  eharaoter ;  and  that  any  one  of  them  who  was  eonyioted  of 
immorality,  had  been  seen  sitting  in  a  tayem,  or  was  known  to  haye  used  iade- 
oent  Isnguage,  was  expelled  firom  the  assembly.  They  took  oognisanoe  *'of 
murders,  impiety,  and  immoral  behayiour ;  partionlarly  of  idleness,  the  cause  ef 
all  yice.''  They  possessed  power  to  reward  the  yirtuous,  and  to  puush  crime, 
particularly  blasphemy  against  the  gods,  and  all  sins  against  the  national  fhlth. 
Their  authority  continued  until  the-  time  of  Pericles.  At  a  later  period  the 
Areopagites  lost  muoh  of  their  respectability  of  oharacter,"-to  sudh  an  extent^ 
indeed,  that,  haying  censured  the  conduct  of  a  citizen,  they  were  toU  that  **  if 
they  wished  to  reform,  tliey  must  begin  at  home." 

N<yTi  63,  page  338.— BomtAmeia  hy  Ottraciim, 

This  was  a  peculiar  mode  of  enforcing  exile,  which  obtained  in  ma^y  of  the 
Gieeian  states,  and  was  seyeral  times  carried  Into  elbot  at  Ath»s.    BtxkOy 


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618  APfBlTDIZ. 

speaking,  it  was  not  a  pnniBfament,  but  %  preoantioBarf  meaanm,  damanded,  as 
was  supposed,  by  the  public  saHety.  Ostracism  diffeied  ftom  ordinary  banisb- 
ment  in  tbat  it  did  not  affect  the  property  of  the  indiTidual  exiled ;  and  also, 
that  it  always  fixed  the  time  when  the  pajrty  wonld  hare  liberty  to  return.  It 
was,  in  fSeict,  a  means  devised  for  removing  from  the  repnblio,  Ibr  a  giTen  time, 
any  indiTidnal  whose  position,  energy,  Irealth,  or  ambition^  might  render  him 
an  object  of  enyy,  distrust,  or  danger  to  the  government  The  mode  of  eanying 
it  into  effect  was,  by  convening  the  tribes,  when  each  citizen  wrote  the  name  of  the 
man  whom  he  wished  to'  have  ostracised.  The  bearer  ifi  the  name  which  ooeurred 
most  frequently,  in  case  it  had  been  written  by  six  thonsaad  oitisens,  vras  com- 
manded to  leave  the  state  within  ten  days.  The  greatest  men  of  Athens  were 
eilled  by  this  means, — ^Themistocles,  Aristides,  Cimon,  and  Aldbiadea.  Plntaieh 
oaUed  ostradsm  **  a  good-natured  way  of  allaying  envy.'' 


NoTB  64,  page  839. — TTu  eurious  Mode  employed  to  cowU  tfu  Jrmif  of  Xerxn. 

The  account  famished  by  Herodotus  of  this  enumeration  is  so  terse  and  fiill, 
that  it  may  be  given  in  the  language  of  his  popular  translator :  **  I  am  not  able 
to  specify  what  number  of  men  each  nation  supplied,  as  no  one  has  recorded  'it 
The  whole  amount  of  the  land-forces  was  1,700,000.  Their  mode  of  ascertaining 
the  number  was  this  :  they  drew  up  in  one  place  a  body  of  ten  thousand  men; 
making  these  stand  together  as  compactly  as  possible,  they  drew  a  circle  round 
them.  Dismissing  these,  they  enclosed  the  circle  with  a  wall  breast  high :  into 
this  they  introduced  another  and  another  ten  thousand,  till  they  thus  obtained 
the  precise  number  of  the  whole.  They  afterward  ran^  each  nation  apart" — 
Polyhymnia,  cap.  9.  Tet,  notwithstanding  the  particularity  of  this  account, — 
coupled  with  the  important  fact,  that  Herodotus  might  have  conversed  with  those 
who  saw  the  army  numbered, — ^it  is  generally  believed  that  the  numbers  ^ven 
above  are  far  too  great 

Ko^  66,  page  Sii.— The  Rebuilding  of  the  City  of  Athene  and  ite  Fortificatunu. 

There  is  scarcely  any  circumstance  in  the  whole  period  of  the  suffering  and 
peril  to  which  Greece  was  exposed  during  the  Persian  invamon  which  makes  a 
more  painful  impression  on  the  mind,  or  produces  a  conviction  more  disparaging 
to  Greece,  than  the  mean,  the  atrocioos  conduct  of  Sparta  toward  Athens.  This 
it  sufficiently  apparent  in  the  studied  delay  which  abandoned  Attica  to  the  mer- 
ciless ravages  of  the.  enemy. 

But  even  this  is  exceeded  by  the  opposition  offered  by  Sparta  to  the  restora- 
tion of  Athens.  No  city  or  state  in  Greece  had  either  done  or  suffered  so  mndi 
to  defeat  the  object  of  the  common  enemy  as  the  inhabitants  of  Athens ;  and, 
after  this,  they  persisted  in  rejecting  the  most  splendid  offers  of  a  Persian  alli- 
ance ;  and,  iniuenced  by  a  patriotic  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Grecian  nationality, 
they  returned,  after  all  their  sufferings  and  losses,  to  the  charred  walls  and  ruins 
of  their  temples  and  their  dwellings,  to  restore  and  rebuild  them  by  their  own 
efforts  and  means.  On  a  review  of  all  the  circumstances,  the  reader  will  ftdly 
expect  that  Sparta  and  other  states — which  had  suffered  nothing  by  the  war 
but  the  loss  of  a  few  citizens,  while  they  had  obtained  their  share  of  the  booty 
—would  have  spontaneously  offered  liberal  aid  to  restore  the  capital  of  Attica 
to  its  former  condition.  Instead  of  this,  however,  it  is  certain  that  the  .figi- 
netans  and  Spartans  were  prepared  to  resist  the  proper  restoration  of  Athens 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBNDIX.  619 

by  a  panriddAl  war»  and  woiild,  in  all  proliabiUty,  have  snooeeded,  bad  iliej  not 
been  eiroamtented  by  tiie  anperior  policy  and  oraft  of  Themietooles. 

Note  66,  page  858.— 2%^  FtdJUment  of  Scripturt  Prophecy  in  the  HUtory  of 

Greece, 

The  bistovioal  erents  of  this  eotrntzy  do  not  fill  a  Tory  large  place  in  the  pre- 
dictions of  Holy  Scriptare ;  but  the  inspired  propheoios  relating  to  them  are, 
nevertheless,  exceedingly  ihteresting  and  important. 

L  We  will  notice  the  reference  to  this  people  in  the  prophetic  exposition  of 
Nebnchadnezzar's  dream  respecting  the  great  image. 

Haying  preyiously  spoken  of  the  head  of  gold,  and  the  l»reast  and  arms  of 
aHver,  Daniel  proceeded  to  say,  *<And  another  third  kingdom  of  brass,  which 
shall  bear  rale  orer  all  the  earth.''  Dan.  ii,  89.  The  position  of  this  passage  deter- 
mines its  meaning  and  application.  As  the  head  of  gold  is  explicitly  stated  to 
represent  the  Babylonian  powei^,  and  the  breast  and  arms  of  silver  to  exhibit  the 
Persian  monarchy,  by  which  the  Babylonian  was  superseded  and  followed ;  so  the 
belly  and  thighs  of  brass  mnst  refer  to  the  Macedonian  Greeks,  by  whom  the 
Persian  empire  was  subdued,  and  whose  dominion  was  extended,  not  only  over 
all  the  countries  fbrmerly  subjeet  to  Persia,  but  also  over  a  great  part  of  Europe 
in  addition.  On-  this  subject  there  can  be  no  dispute.  Hence  Bishop  Newton 
says,  **That  this  third  kingdom  therefdre  was  the  Macedonian,  every  one  allowB, 
and  most  allow."  And  the  ftilfilment  of  this  prophecy  will  be  regarded  by  every 
oonsiderate  reader  as  one  of  the  most  wonderful  displays  of  the  prescient  wisdom 
and  almighty  power  of  an  overruling  and  directing  Providence.  When  Nebo- 
ohadnezzar,  inyested  with  paramount  power,  and  surrounded  with  every  earthly 
glory,  received  this  prediction,  the  Chrecian  states  were  scarcely  known'  among 
the  -nations  of  the  world ;  and,  for  centuries  afterward,  they  were  so  isolated 
troni  each  other,  that  any  extensive  military  or  political  combination  among 
them  seemed  all  but  impossible.  Tet,  Just  precisely  at  the  time  when  thia 
prophecy  had  to  be  accomplished,  a  military  genius  arose,  who,  with  maj^o 
celerity,  extended  his  sway  over  Greece ;  and  then,  arming  himself  with  its 
united  power,  he  went  forth  and  subjected  the  eastern  world  to  his  will  The 
accomplishment  of  this  prophecy  was  as  oiroamstantially  exact  and  complete,  as 
the  means  by  which  it  was  effected  were  uhUkely  and  unexpected. 

n.  There  is  fdrther  prophetic  reference  to  the  Grecian  monarchy  of  Alexander, 
in  Daniel's  yision  of  the  four  great  beasts. 

After  haying  symbolized  the  Babylonian  kingdom  by  a  lion  with  eagle's  wings, 
•and  the  Persian  by  a  bear  with  three  ribs  in  its  month,  the  following^  or  Mace- 
donian, monarchy  is  represented  as  a  beast  "like  a  leopard,  which  had  upon  the 
back  of  it  four  wings  of  a  fowl ;  the  beast  had  also  four  heads ;  and  dcmiinion 
was  given  to  it."  Dan.  yii,  6.  The  principal  features  of  this  'figurative  repre- 
sentation are  suffieiently  eyident^  although  they  have  been  sometimes  applied  to 
an  extent  which  seems  rather  fanciful  than  solid. 

The  leopard  form  seems  very  dearly  to  indicate  the  daring  courage  which  die^ 
tinguished  the  Macedonian  conquests.  Small  as  the  leopard  is,  it  will  sometimes 
attack  even  a  lion :  and  when  the  limited  resources  of  Alexander,  aad  the  small- 
ness  of  his  army,  are  consklered,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  ihe  figure  exactly 
predicted  the  character  of  the  Greek  sovereignty.  This  leopard  had  "  fbur  wings," 
-^  circumstance  that  jnarks  with  peculiar  force  the  rapidity  with  which  Alex- 
ander, in  the  short  space  of  twelve  years,  subdued  the  vast  range  of  territaix 


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020  APPWOPL 

tKDk  lUyrienoi  lo  (lie  Indiet.  Agun:  the  beast  liMr'^fimr  luMds:''  tfMfe  un- 
doubtedly refer  to  (he  four  greei^  diTieioBB  into  whkii  the  en^pize  of  Maxwider  wM 
diyided  soon  alter  his  death.  This  interpretation  is  not  arbitrary,  but  in  perfect 
acoordanoe  with  inspired  authority.  So,  in  the  following  part  <tf  the  sakne  chap- 
ter, the  ten  horns  of  the  fourth  beast  are  explained  to  mean  **  ten  kings  that  shall 
arise :"  (verse  24 :)  and  here  the  four  heads  are  four  kings  who  arose  after  the 
death  of  t^e  great  founder  of  the  kingdom,  and  who  divided  the  dgnHniftBS  among 


in.  A  third  remarkable  prediction  respeQ(ing  the  Qreeian  emigre  is  oontaii^ 
in  .the  eighth  chapter  of  Daniel's  propheoiy,  where  the  Persian  power  is  repre- 
sented as  a  ram  with  two  horns,  standing  on  (he  banks  of  a  river ;  and  the  Qre- 
e&SA  king -as  a  he-goat  with  a  **  notable  horn  between  his  eyesw".  Verse  6.  Bisre 
iMso  we  have  an  unerring  guide  to  the  interpretation  of  (his  prophecy ;  for  the 
aaiigsl  ii^brmed  the  prophet  "  that  the  ram  which  thou  eawest  having  two  horns 
are  the  kings  of  Jdedia  and  Persia,  and  th«  rough  goat  is  the  kingof  Qreeia ;  and 
4^e  great  horn  that  is  between  his  eyes  is  the  arst  king."  Venes  20,  21.  Ilieie 
can,  therefore,  be  no  mistake  in  applying  thi^  prophecy  to  Alexander.  While 
this  is  undoub(ed,  it  ip  most  remarkable  (hat  the  fi^ra(ive  predic(ion  of  Daniel 
should  so  exactly  represent  the  conduct  of  the  two  kings,  and  the  issue  of  their 
first  collision.  The  ram  stood  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  **  pushing  westward,  and 
northward,  and  southward;  so  that  no  beasts  might  stand  before  him,  neither 
was  there  any  that  could  deliver  out  of  his  hand ;  but  he  did  according  to  his 
will."  Verse  4.  How  graphically  these  words  show  the  state  of  Persia,  and  the 
unquestioned  power  of  her  kings  before  the  Macedonian  invasion !  The  following 
Is  equally  truthful  in  description :  *'  A  he^p)at  came  from  the  west  en  the  ftoe 
of  the  whole  earth,  and  touched  not  the  ground ;.  and  the  goat  had  a  notable  hom 
between  his  eyes.  And  he  came  to  the  ram  that  had  two  horns,  which  I  had 
seen  standing  before  the  river,  and  ran  unto  him  in  the  fiuy  of  his  power.  And 
I  saw  him  come  close  unto  the  ram,  and  he  was  moved  with  oholer  against  him,  and 
«Bote  (he  ram,  and  brake  his  two  horns :  and  there  was  no  power  in  the  ram  to 
itand  before^  him,  but  he  cast  him  down  to  the  ground,  and  stamped  upon  him, 
4»d  there  was  none  that  could  deliver  the  ram  out  of  his  hand."  Verses  6-7. 
How  foroefully  does  this  set  before  us  the  power  of  Darius,  arrayed- on  the  banks 
of  the  Granious,  the  impetuous  onslaught  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  entire  prostra- 
tion of  Persia,  from  that  day,  before  her  irresistible  conqueror ! 

JBqaally  remarkable  is  the  conclusion  of  this  prediction  as  to  the  uKimate  des- 
tiny of  the  Macedonian  monarchy :  "  Therefore  the  he-goat*  waxed  very  great : 
and  when  he  was  strong,  the  great  horn  was  broken;  and  for  it  came  up  four 
notable  ones  toward  the  fourwiuds  of  heaven."  Verse  S.  Clearly  as  this  teaches 
(he  same  truth  as  we  found  indicated  by  the  four  heads  of  the  beast,  in  this  case 
^  the  interpretation  is  rendered  undoubted  by  explicit  inspired  explanation.  With 
reference  to  this  part  of  the  vision  the  angel  said :  "The. great  horn  that  is  be- 
tween his  eyes  is  the  first  king.  Now,  that  being  broken,  whereas  four  stood 
up  for  it,  four  kingdoms  shall  stand  up  out  of  the  nation,  but  not  in  his  power." 
Verses  21,  22.  We  have  here  a  speaking  picture  of  the  results  of  Alexander's 
death  upon  the  empire  which  he  had  created.  A  few  years  after  the  death  oi 
the  great  Macedonian,  all  his  family  were  cut  off,  and  his  dominions  divided  into 
four  portions.  Casssnder  held  Macedon  and  Greece;  Lysimachus  had  Thrace, 
Bithynia,  and  the  north ;  Ptolemy  ruled  Egypt  and  the  south ;  and  Seleucus 
governed  Syria  and  the  east.  So  literally  did  (he  division  into /our  parts  stretch 
tawavd  **  the  four  winds  of  heaven." 


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Appm^ix.  621 

How  wonderfully  does  alt  tMsiUsplay  th6  presoieiioe  and  the  power  of  God! 
Here  is  a  proof  that  he  knows  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  that  he  oan  AiUj 
acoompliflh  the  purpose  of  his  wilL 

NoTB  67|  page  864. — Tfu  Grecian  Theogonyt  a  p<jlku  and  eorrvpied  VenUm  of 
primitive  History  and  of  the  Scenes  at  Babel 

The  odsmogony  of  the  poet  is  simply  a  repetition  of  tho  Scripture  narratiTe, 
with  tlds  alteration :  here  the  powerfni  operating  canse  is  supposed  to  be  the 
energy  of  natoral  elements,  and  their  allinity  for  one  another,  in  the  place  of  the 
potency  of  the  Dirine  Word.  With  this  ezct^ption,  the  Scriptural  order  is  mainly 
adhered  to :  first  chaos,  then  the  e^rth,  the  deep,  the  hearen,  the  mountains,  amd 
the  sea.  . 

Ooranos  is  unquestionably  Koah.  This  myth  giyes  an  extended  yersion  of  the 
conduct  of  Ham  toward  the  arkite  patriarch.     (Bee  Patriarchal  Age,  p.  811.) 

The  principal  part  of  these  legends  refer  to  the  war  of  the  Titans,  and  many 
conflicting  views  have  obtained  on  this  sutject.  Professor  StoU  asserts  that  this' 
war  **  represents  the  struggle  between  the  rough,  unbridled  -powers  of  nature, 
and  the  gods,  who  introduced  order  and  eiTilization  into  the  world."  The  Rer. 
George  Stanley  Faber  maintains  that  the  Titanic  war  "relates  to  the  erents  of 
the  Deluge.''  And  the  learned  Jacob  Bryant  supposes  it  to  be  the  war  of  the 
Pentapolis  spoken  of  by  Moses,  in  which  Lot  was  taken  prisoner,  and  rescued  by 
Abraham.  The  principal  ancient  authority  bearing  on  this  subject  i^  found  in  a 
fragment  of  sibylline  poetry,  which  is  referred  to  by  Josephus,  and  quoted  by 
Athenagoras  and  Theophilus  Antiochenus,  and  of  which  Jacob  Bryant  says,  "  It 
18  undoubtedly  a  translation  of  an  ancient  record  found  by  some  Grecian  in  an 
Egyptian  temple."— Brydnf'f  Ancient  Mythology,  toI.  It,  p.  99. .  A  portion  of  this 
was  printed  in  a  preceding  volume.  (Patriarchal  Age,  p.  825.)  The  remaindes 
is  here  g^ven : — 

**  *T  was  the  tenth  age  tocoetiiTe,  sinoe  the  Flood 
Buin'd  the  former  world ;  when  forenofl  far, 
Aaiid  the  tribes  of  their  deseendaate  stood 
Gronnt,  and  Titan,  and  Iapetas» 
Oflbpring  of  heaven  and  earth.    Hence  in  return 
For  their  superior  exoellence  they  shared    ' 
High  titles,  taken  both  from  earth  and  heaven. 
For  they  were  surely  far  supremf ;  and  each 
Ruled  o'er  his  portion  of  the  vassal  world, 
Into  three  parts  divided ;  for  the  earth 
Into  tliree  parts  had  been  by  Heaven's  decree  • 
Sever'd ;  and  each  his  portion  held  by  lot. 
No  fbads  had  yel,  no  deadly  fray  arose : 
For  the  good  sire  with  provUeatial  cave 
Had  bound  them  by  an  oath :  and  each  well  knew 
That  all  was  done  in  equity  and  truth. 
But  soon  the  man  of  justioe  left  the  world, 
^  Matured  by  time,  and  ftill  of  years.    He  died : 
And  his  three  sons,'  the  barrier  now  removed; 
Rise  in  defiance  of  all  human  ties, 
Nor  heed  their  plighted  faith.    To  aims  they  fly, 
Eager  and  fierce :  and  now,  their  bands  complete, 
Cronus  and  Titan  join  in  horrid  fraj ; 
Rule  the  great  object,  and  the  world  Ae  prise. 


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622  APPSKDIX.  \ 

"This  WW  the  flnt  lad  otertan  to  blood, 
.  When  W0  diadoied  iti  horrid  front,  and  men 
Inured  their  hftnde  to  ilMighter.    From  that  hoar 
The  gods  wrought  evil  to  the  Titan  race : 
.  They  ne?er  uospered." 

BrynWt  Ameieid  Ifythology,  toL  It,  pp.  lOl-lOB. 

The  greatest  difllcnlty  which  nriees  in  (he  ftppUcation  of  these  Tones  is  found 
in  the  phrase,  "The  tenth  age  socoessiTe  sinoe  Uie  Flood."  If  the  original 
requires  us  to  understand  by  this  ten  generations,  as  the  learned  Analyst  of 
Mythology  seemed  to  suppose,  then  it  will  be  scaroely  possible  to  cite  any  events 
which  will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  whole  case.  It  would  even  then  be 
impossible  to  apply  these  lines,  as  he  did,  to  the  war  of  the  *'  four  kings  against 
fiye."  For  nothing  is  more  evident  than  that  the  war  here  described  was  between 
the  three  primitiYe  postdiluvian  tribei  or  dant ;  while  this  was  not  the  6ase  wit|i 
the  i^ar  of  the  PentapoUs,  any  more  than  in  the  case  of  the  invasion  of  Jndea 
bj  Pharaoh-Hophra. 

If,  however,  we  are  at  liberty  to  construe  this  phrase  less  rigid^,  as  applica- 
ble to  a  decade  of  stages  in  the  progress  of  society,  of  indetermihate  periods,  or 
of  half-centuries,  then  we  find  the  other  parts  of  this  ancient  piece  capable  of  a 
dear  and  consistent  sense. 

In  that  case  we  find  the  three  tribes,  after  the  Confusion  of  Tongues,  coming 
into  oollisipn  with  each  other :  for  one  of  them,  having  failed  in  the  proud  and 
irreligious  attempt  to  prevent  the  appointed  dispersion  by  policy,  now  endeavours 
to  acquire  universal  dominion  by  conquest.  It  is  worthy  of  observadon,  that 
although  in  general  terms  the  three  tribes  are  spoken  of  as  parties  to  the  war, 
Cronus  and  Titan  are  alone  mentioned  as  mixing  in  "  horrid  fray."  This  is  in 
precise  accordance  with  the  Scripture  account.  For  when  the  purpose  of  Nimrod 
was  defeated  by  the  Confusion  of  Tongues,  he  did  not  abandon  his  design,  but 
made  "  Babel,  and  Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar,"  the 
"beginning  of  his  kingdom."  Qen.  x,  10.  Now  it  is  well  known  that  this  was  in 
the  land  assigned  to  the  tribe  of  Shem,  or  Titan.  It  was  therefore  taken  by  vio- 
lence ;  and  Asshur,  the  head  of  that  house,  unable  to  retfist  the  power  of  his 
more  martial  opponent,  was  obliged  to  go  fbrth  "out  of  that  land,  and  builded 
Nineveh."  Verse  11.  Thus  the  sibylline  verses  and  the  writings  of  Moses  are  in 
exact  accordance. 

The  humiliation  of  the  Titans,  or  Shemitic  trilby  and  the  dominant  power  of 
Cronus,  or  the  Cuthic,  is  in  equally  exact  correspondence  with  every  account  of 
the  early  ages. 

At  the  same  time  these  legends,  by  showing  that  the  heads  of  the  tribe  of 
Ham,  after  this  triumph,  were  reverenced  as  divine,  stands  In  direct  eonfirma- 
*tion  of  all  that  has  been  said  as  to  the  plaoe  where  idolatry  originated,  and  also 
as  to  the  profane  and  idolatrous  assumption  of  Nimrod,  whose  extravagance  in 
this  respect  equalled  his  violence  and  worldly  ambition.  (Bee  Patriarchal  Age, 
pp.  395-^9a) 

Nan  68,  page  38i.— 7%e  Divine  Itupiration  qf  Gtniik  PropktU. 

The  conclusion  which  has  been  adopted  in  the  text, — that  Qod  does  on  some 
occasions  specially  reveal  his  will  to  wicked  men,  and  even  to  idoUtera,— may 
require  some  fWher  proof,  which  it  has  seemed  best  to  give  in  this  nofeeu 

First,  it  may  be  shown  thai  this  divine  g^ft  has  been  oommonicated  to  wioked 


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APPBNDIX.  628 

men.  The  owe  of  B«laam  is  here  fully  in  point  Hib  wiokedneas  does  not 
reqnire  to  be  detailed :  yet  his  predictions  are  among  the  most  glorious  to  be 
found  in  the  book  of  God ;  and,  what  is  specially  worthy  of  note,  he  was  known 
and  recognised  as  an  inspired  prophet.  Indeed,  so  fully  was  this  the  fiust,  that 
Ids  fame  had  extended,  from  Mesopotamia  to  Canaan.  BalaJc  sent  for  him  flrom 
tliis  distant  oonntry,  that  he  might  come  and  curse  Israel  The  objection,  that 
this  inttannfomu  a  very  tpceio^  exuption  to  the  gtmral  ndt^  cannot  be  received  as 
of  any  weight;  for  the  sacred  narrative  does  not  indicate  it  to  be  an  exception. 
ThercK  on  the  contrary,  we  find  the  whole  affair  detailed,  as  though  the  inspira- 
tion of  Balaam  had  nothing  in  it  of  a  remarkable  character.  His  access  unto 
the  oracle  of  Jehovah  is  spoken  of  as  an  undoubted  fkot,  and  as  a  privilege 
which  he  conid  exeroise  at  wUL  Here,  then*  is  one  undeniable  case  of  Qentile 
inspiration,  by  which  undoabfced  intercourse  with  Jehovah  is  maintained,  and 
splendid  proi^etie  revelations  uttered,  although  the  prophet  is  a  wicked  man, 
loving  the  wages  of  iniquity.  The  prophecy  of  Gaiaphas  might  also  be  men- 
tioned. It  was  certainly  enunciated  as  a  divine  prediction ;  and  such,  in  the 
highest  sense,  it  certainly  was.  Then  we  call  attention  to  the  persons  spoken  of 
by  Micah,  (m^  11,)  as  '*  the  prophets  "  that  "  divine  for  money."  Indeed,  our 
Saviour  himself  fully  bears  out  this  opinion  by  teaching  us  that  he  will  say  to 
some  who  **  have  prophesied  in  his  name,"  '*  I  never  knew  you :  depart  from  mei 
ye  that  work  iniquity."  Matt,  vii,  22^  23.  Proofii  of  this  point  might  be  multi- 
plied; but  they  cannot  be  necessary,  it  being  abundantly  manifest  that  the  gift 
of  prophecy  has  been  frequently  communicated  to  very  wicked  men. 

*'Bat  then,"it  is  alleged,  «*not  to  idolaters."  We  do  not  exactly  see  the  foroe 
of  this  otjeetton.  On  the  principle  that  "  to  obey  is  better  thsa  sacrifice/'  we 
might  conclude  that  a  deliberate  rebellion  against  the  divine  will,  as  in  the  case 
of  Balaam,  would  form  as  powerful  a  barrier  to  the  reception  of  such  divine 
influence  as  any  act  of  idolatry.  Let  us,  however,  pursue  our  Scriptural  inquiry. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  God  was  pleased  to  make  wonderftil  revelations  tnm 
himself  to  the  mind  of  Nebuchadnezxar.  It  is  true,  he  required  the  teaching  of 
the  inspired  Daniel:  but  this  in  no  respect  alfeots  the  truth,  that  God  made 
direct  revelations  to  the  mind  of  the  idolatrous  king.  The  case  of  the  king  of 
Gerar  is  sloiilar.  But  what  we  regard  as  most  important  is  the  fact  that  the 
earliest  of  the  Christian  Fathers  not  only  saw  no  difficulty  in  this  matter,  but 
fbUy  recognised  the  doctrine  for  which  we  contend.  Justin  Martyr,  having  asked 
the  question,  '*  Since  there  were  true  prophets  among  the  Gveeks  as  well  as 
among  the  Christiatts,  and  divinations  of  future  events  were  given  by  both  pap- 
tlee,  by  whut  marks  can  we  distinguish  the  Christian  prophets  to  be  niere  excel- 
lent?" He  replies,  **  All  these,  the  prediction  of  words  as  well  as  the  event  of 
things;  are  of  the  same  God ;  who  both  foretold  by  the  holy  prophets  and  apostles 
what  he  was  about  to  do,  and  in  like  manner  foreshadowed  friture  events  by  those 
who  were  strangers  to  the  true  worsMpb"  After  other  remarks  on  the  subject, 
he  adds,  "In  like  manner  he"  (God)  «« foreshadowed  by  the  Greek  prophets 
whatever  was  ftilfilled  by  the  event." 

Without  pressing  unduly  on  any  branch  of  the  argument,  it  does  i^ipear  to  be 
an  eetablished  verity,  that  Gentile  prophets  were  sometBnes  endowed  with  the 
divine  gift  of  prof^eey ;  and  that  this  laid  a  broad  and  firm  foundation  of  opin- 
i<«  in  the  Greek  mind,  that  God  spake  to  men  by  man. 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


624  APPBmnx. 

Nan  69,  page  385.— JAf  etrtain  Prettnee  of  Saianie  Energy  m  Grtcimi  SooU^ 
MOjfing  and  OracU$, 

Perhaps  in  no  instaaoe  is  the  derout  student  at  the  present  day  oalled  upon  to 
etinoe  a  more  self-saorificmg  deTotion  to  the  oanse  of  trath  than  when  diBonssing 
the  doctrine  of  the  inflnence  of  the  OTil  one  on  the  moat  intelleotnal  and  refined 
of  th«  ancient  nations.  ThaA  which  would  fain  pass  tar  philosophy  and  rapidlj- 
progressing  intelligence,  hnt  which  is  really  either  a  low  l&titndinariaxdsm  or 
direct  neology,  cannot  endnre  the  presence  of  supematoral  agency.  Ood  mnat, 
as  far  as  possiblei  be  excluded  f^m  the  providential  goremment  of  hia  own 
world ;  and  if  that  cannot  be  ftiUy  effected,  there  must  be  no  recognition  of  the 
existence  and  energetic  influence  of  Satan.  We  muat,  howcTer,  endearonr  dili- 
gently to  ascertain  the  truth,  and  firmly  to  declare  it 

That  the  polrer  of  otiI  sinrlts  to  work  wonders  in  support  of  their  lying  dehh 
dons  is  clearly  taught  in  Holy  Scripture,  seems  plain  fh>m  the  following  argument 
of  the  learned  Oudworth :  *'  Accordingly  in  the  New  Testament  do  we  read  thai 
our  SaTioor  Christ  forewarned  his  cdsciples,  that  *flalse  prophets  and  ftlse 
Ohrists  should  arise,  and  show  great  signs  or  wonders,  insomuch  that,  if  it  were 
ptossible,  they  should  seduce  the  very  elect'  And  St  Paul  furetelleth  concerning 
the  Man  of  Sin,  or  Antichrist,  that  'his  coming  should  be  after  the  working  of 
Saltan,  with  all  power,  and  signs,  and  wonders'  (or  *  miracles')  'of  a  lie.'  For 
wo  conceiTe,  that  by  ripara  ^feifSw^  in  this  place  are  not  properly  meant '  feigned 
and  counterfeit  miracles,'  that  is,  mere  cheating  and  juggling  tricks,  but '  tnie 
wonders  and  real  miracles,'  (viz,,  of  the  fbtmer  sort  mentioned,)  done  for  the 
confirmation  *of  a  lie,'  as  the  doctrine  of  this  Man  of  8La  is  afterward  called; 
for  otherwise  how  could  his  coming  be  said  to  be  *  according  to  the  working  of 
Satan  with  all  pow«r?'  In  like  manner  also,  in  St  John's  Apocalypse,  where 
the  coming  of  the  same  Man  of  Sin,  and  the  mystery  of  iniquity,  is  again  da* 
Nrihed,  we  read  (chap,  xiii)  of  a  two-homed  beast,  like  a  hunb,  that  he  *  shall  da 
great  wonders,  and  deceiTo  those  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  by  means  of  those  mii«> 
aolts  which  he  hath  power  to  do  in  the  sight  of  the  beast ;'  and  again,  (chap. 
XTi,)  of  certain  '  unolean  spirits  like  frogs,  coming  out  of  the  mouth  of  tho 
dragon,  and  of  the  beast,  and  of  the  fhlse  prophet,  whioh  are  the  spirits  of  derlls 
working  ndraeles,  that  go  fbrth  to  the  kings  of  the  earth ;'  and,  lastly,  (ehap. 
xix,)  of  '  the  fliklse  prophet  that  wrought  miracles  before  the  beast.'  All  which 
seems  to  be  understood,  not  of  feigned  and  counterfeit  miraoles  only,  but  of  true 
SBid  real  also»  eflbeted  by  the  working  of  Satan  in  confirmation  of  .a  lie,  that  ia, 
of  idolatry,  lUse  rtoliglon,  and  imposture."-- Oudwof^'f  JnUUeehml  Soften,  yvL 
iii,  p.  6.  And  that  the  same  rule  applied  to  the  pr^Christian  idolatry  as  tc  that 
which  afterward  arose  from  the  working  of  Antichrist,  .is  plain  firom  the  en* 
phaitic  eommand  giten  to  the  Hebrews:  "  If  there  arise  aiftiottg  yon  a  prophet,  or 
a  dreamer  of  dreoons,  and  giyeth  thee  a  sign  or  a  wonder,  and  the  sign  or  the 
bonder  come  to  pass  whereof  ho  spake  unto  thee,  saying,  Let  us  go  alter  other 
gods,  which  thou  has  not  known,  and  let  us  serre  them ;  thou  shalt  not  heariten 
unto  the  words  of  that  prophet,  or  that  dreamer  of  dreams :  for  the  Lord  jour 
Ood  proTsth  you,  to  kifow  whether  ye  love  the  Lord  your  Qod  with  all  your  heart 
and  with  all  your  souL"  Deut  xiU,  l-a^  It  is  dear  ftom  this  passage  that  the 
reality  of  some  superhuman  oommunloation  or  work  is  here  distinofely  assnmsdi 
And  it  is  obserrable  that  the  word  here  rendered  "  prophet "  (tt'^33)  is  preoisely 
the  same  as  that  which  is  applied  to  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Exekiel,  and  the  other  proph- 
ets of  Qod.    It  cannot,  therefore,  be  maintained  that  mere  Jugglery  is  intended. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPXNDIX. 

From  a  rotiew  of  the  whole  argamenl,  Moaheim  admits,  **  I  do  not  andentand 
haw  a  man  is  to  be  related  who  reasons  in  this  manner :  With  some  predictions 
of  the  ancients  the  fthots  and  eyents  corresponded ;  with  othera  they  did  not  cor- 
respond :  some  oracles  were  elear  and  perspicnous ;  others,  again,  doabtfUl  and 
amhignons :  therefore  sometimes  demons,  with  the  permission  of  God,  predicted, 
bj  means  of  their  slayes,  the  OTcnts  which  were  about  to  happen  to  nations  and 
individuals ;  but  at  others  the  priests  and  soothsayers  beguiled  and  imposed  upon 
the  unwary  Tulgar.  Those  responses  of  the  gods  and  oracles  which  were  con- 
ftrmed  by  the  oTeni,  I  consider  to'ha^e  proceeded  from  demons ;  but  those  which 
I  obserre  tq  be  of  another  character,  I  ascribe  to  the  impostures  of  men." — 
CmiworWs  Intdkchtal  Syttm,  toL  iii,  p.  21,  note. 

It  is,  in  foot,  freely  admitted  on  all  hands,  that  demons,  or  evil  spirits,  supe- 
rior to  man  in  intellect,  aiplity,  the  knowledge  of  recondite  causes,  and,  indeed, 
of  many  other  things,  exist  and  act ;  and  that,  by  these  means,  with  the  divine 
permission,  they  may  communicate  through  their  human  derotees  a  knowledge 
which,  in  respect  of  time  and  qpaoe,  may  be  altogether  superhuman ;  although 
it  is  equally  agreed  that  they  possess  neither  omnipotence  nor  omniscience, 
and  therefore  cannot,  like  JehoTah,  "  see^the  end  fropi  the  beginning,''  and  are 
consequently  circumscribed  as  to  the  limits  of  their  power  and  intelligence.  The 
Jndieions  author  aboTO  quoted  finds  but  one  flaw,  as  he  alleges,  in  the  argument; 
which  is  this,— that  whereas  many  cases  of  fraud  have  been  clearly  proTed,  no 
case  of  demon  agen^  has,  either  by  argument  or  example,  been  made  erident. 
We  meet  the  learned  writer  on  this  his  chosen  ground,  and  contend  that  no  case 
of  fraud  or  guile  has  been  more  clearly  proTed  than  that  of  demon  agents  in  the 
soothsaying  Pythoness  of  Philippi.  We  put  oup finger  on  this  case,  and  claim  its* 
reoeption  as  a  type  of  general  demon  agency  in  the  heathen  world,  in  accordance 
with  the  teaching  of  Soriptuve  and  history. 


Norn  70y  page  389. — The  $aered  nocturnal  Scenti  of  th«  EUutinian  Mysteries, 

The  procession  on  this  day  was  formed  after  a  particular  inyestigation  into- 
the  claims  of  each  indiridual ;  strict  care  being  taken  that  none  joined  but  those 
who  had  been  preriously  initiated,  or  had  at  least  borne  a  part  in  the  lesser 
mysteries,  and  were  therefore  called  mytte.  As  these  successiTely  passed  the 
barrier  which  excluded  the  rejected  applicants,  their  ears  were  saluted  by  the 
sweetest  sounds  of  music  and  song.  Following  on  by  the  narrow  path,  they  soon 
emerged  to  an  open  space,  where  stood  a  beautiftil  marble  altar,  on  which  lay  a 
slaughtered  pregnant  sow, — ^the  symbol  of  fruitfulness  and  parturition,— the 
appointed  sacrifice  to  Demeter.  This  animal  had  been  slain,  and  lay  on  the  altar 
oonsuming  with  fire,  and  covered  with  fragrant  herbs.  A  troop  of  rirgins  danoed- 
around  the  altar ;  while  the  chief  priestess,  habited  in  gorgeous  attire,  scattered 
showers  of  holy  water  over  the  crowds  of  worshippers.  Here,  amid  the  smoke 
of  the  victim,  &nd  the  rolling  peals  of  music,  a  hymn  in  sweetest  strains  was 
chanted  to  Demeter,  while  every  heart  seemed  excited  to  enthusiasm,  as  libations 
of  wine  were  poured  on  the  consuming  rictim. 

Engaged  in  this  service  of  sacrifice  and  song,  the  multitude  lingered,  until  the 
shades  of  evening  gathered  over  the  sCene,  and  each  individual  prepared  to  enter 
upon  the  nocturnal  serrice,  which  was  at  once  invested  in  their  thoughts,  feelings, 
and  expectations,  with  tlie  most  holy  awe  and  sacred  solemnity.  Removing 
from  their  dress  all  the*  appendages  suitable  to  the  joyous  employments  of  the 
morning,  with  their  feet  covered  with  sandals  of  skins  instead  of  shoes,  each 

40 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


626  APPBSrBDL 

|>Maed  nnder  the  gloomy  portal  of  ihe  saered  tewpk;  and,  as  he  dipp^  ^^  huid 
into  the  bowl  of  holy  water  at  the  entrance,  and  endeaTovred  to  throw  his  yinxoi 
into  the  darknees  of  the  interior,  a  Bhndder  of  inTolwxtary  homr  pervaded  each 
indiTidnaL  Some  hesitated  a  moment ;  bvt,  gatlMiing  strength  for  the  grand 
occasion,  one  after  another  passed  into  the  sacred  sanetoaiy. 

At  first  nothing  was  seen, — intense  darkness  reignad ;  and  mything  was  heaid 
but  the  footsteps  on  the  floor.  After  proceeding  a  short  diatanoe,  some  |^iimmer> 
ing  rays  of  light  were  observed;  but  these  were  scarcely  sofiSciMt  to  aAnrd  aay 
idea  of  the  oharaoter  of  the  stmotnre.  It  seemed  rather  an  excavatioik  tlkaa  a 
building ;  green  moisture  dripped  from  the  walls ;  an  earthy  smell  affeotod  the 
atmosphere;  creatures  like  bate  or  winged  lizards  flitted  to  aad  fico,  and  sone- 
times  struck  the  body  of  the  person  to  be  initiated.  On  each  side  of  this  glociay 
place  were  arranged  what  appeared  fo  be  all  kinds  of  beasts^  remarkalile  ftr 
ezoessiTO  ugliness  of  form,  or  repalsireness.of  manner;  while,  to  add  to  the 
horror  inspired  by  these  appearances,  OTery  oonoeiTaUs  discordant  sound  echoed 
in  constant  succession  through  the  yanlted  temple.  At  one  time  shrieks  were 
heard;  these  would  be  succeeded  by  yells  as  of  derision;  then  would  oome  the 
most  strange  combination-  of  disagree^le  animal  sounds ;  aad  amid  the  whole 
it  ieemed  as  if  illusory  phantoms  incessantly  glided  about. 

At  length  all  this  ceased,  and  the  noTioe  seemed  impelled  fhrwacd  through  an 
apeiH^ure,  which  led  into  an  enormous  building.  Here  were  pillars  of  vast  h«i^t 
and  site,  supporting  a  concave  roof,  Uke  interior  of  which  was  striped  with  bur- 
nished metal,  and  adorned  with  stars  and  oonstollatioiis  of  polished  eopper.  In 
the  far  interior  of  this  vast  building,  the  smiouldering  embm  of  an  almost  con- 
sumed sacrifice  still  glowed  on  the  sltar,  and,  irhen  fhnned  by  the  breeae,  would 
emit  a  transient  flame,  which  gave  a  momentary  illumination  to  the  whole  struo- 
tore.  By  this  means  the  mysta  discovered  that  they  stood  in  the  great  temple  ef 
Demeter.  In  the  centre  wss  the  colossal  statue  of  the  goddess ;  around  it  the 
worshippers  gathered,  and  knelt  in  silent  awe.  Dimly  visible  amid  the  gloom 
were  perceived  the  figures  of  the  sacred  servante  of  this  sanctuary,— the  torch- 
bearer,  with  his  flambeaux, — ^the  sacred  herald,  in  armour, — ^the  altar-priest» 
habitec^in  white;  while,  high  above  sll  his  assistants,  distinguished  as  mush 
by  his  lofty  bearing  as  by  the  elevation  of  hi*  stature,  stood  the  gre»t  hiero- 
phant, — ^the  revealer  of  secrets, — ^the  chief  priest  of  Demeter, — ^the  holiest  person 
in  the  consecrated  assembly.  Besides  these,  other  ofilcera  and  magistrates 
appeared,  engaged  in  their  several  peculiar  duties,  as  the  expiring  flame  shot 
up  flrom  the  altar ;  and  as  it  died  away,  the  whole  was  enveloped  in  thickest 
darkness. 

As  soon  as  this  took  place,  the  sacred  herald  sent  his  voiee  through  the  build- 
ing, in  the  loud  and  earnest  inquiiy,  "  Who  is  here  f"  To  which  the  crowd,  ib 
a  subdued  tone,  said  in  reply,  "  Biany,  and  good."  The  hi«ephaot  immediateljr 
added,  *^  Let  us  pray."  No  sooner  were  these  words  uttered,  than  a  noise  like 
that  of  a  great  hunioane  shook  the  building ;  the  flcwr  trembled,' as  if  in  ageny ; 
the  people  staggered  with  overwhelming  dread.  A  siloBoe,  like  that  of  death, 
succeeds  for  a  moment:  again  the  building  trembles;  thunder  rolls  in  fearAil 
clamour  above ;  ririd  lightnings  shoot  through  the  Ihne,  and  plagr  among  the 
gigantic  oolumna  Amid  this  unearthly  clamour,  yells  and  bowlings  are  heard ; 
and  phantom  forms  of  every  classic  apparition  appear  in  all  their  savage  de- 
formity,—Briareiks  with  his  hundred  hands,  the  Centaurs,  Ilydra,the  skeleton  of 
Gy  ges,  the  Dirsi,  Ghnrgon,  and  Cerbeius ;  while  the  Ghimsura  vomito  flaming  poison, 
and  Minotaur  wildly  tramples  in  every  dinstaoo. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBHDtX.  637 

Terrible,  howeTor,  m  w«re  thMe  lOHidt,  ihoy  were  but  prehidefl  to  what  fol- 
lowed. While  the  crowd  stood  trembliag,  the  floor  divided ;  a  chasm  yawned  at 
the  feet  of  the  awe-stridcen  worahippers,  rerealiag  all  the  sights  and  scenes  of 
the  infernal  regions.  Peep  In  the  vast  profoond  are  seen  the  waters  of  Phlege- 
thon,  washing  the  foonda^ons  of  a  tower  of  steel, — the  palace  of  Plnta  There 
Tisiphone  and  Bhadamanthus  are  seen  dispensing  judgment  and  ministering 
pnnishment  to  the  lost  in  Tartarus.  Here  are  discernible  Cocytus,  Lethe,  Ache- 
ron, and  Styx.  Charon  is  seeh  in  his  boat ;  and  Pluto,  with  all  the  pomp  of 
infernal  dominion ;  and  Persephone,  as  beautiful  as  when  taken  ftom  the  side  ef 
her  mother.  Thus  the  multitude,  from  the  edge  of  the  yawning  gnlf,  realized  all 
that  their  religion  had  taught,r-that  their  poets  had  sung, — that  their  minds 
had  conceived,— of  the  unseen  world,  and  ail  its  horrors:  and  while  they  gaied 
again  and  again,  the  thunders  again  rolled,  the  building  shook,  the  disparted 
floor  dosed,  and  all  was  silence  and  darkness. 

A  second  time  the  Toice  of  the  hierophant  was  heard,  proclaiming,  <*Let  us 
pray;"  and  on  the  utterance  of  these  magic  words,  another  change  comes  over 
the  place.  The  darkness  is  removed :  the  gorgeous  building  is  gloriously  irradi- 
ated with  the  richest  sunlight :  firom  tempestuous  night  they  are  translated  into 
a  serene  and  brilliant  day.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  principal  reyelations 
were  made  to  the  votaries  of  Demeter.  Here  the  great  divinities  were  revealed 
to  the  spectators,  surrounded  with  a  divine  radiance,  and  inverted  with  surpass- 
ing glory.  Jupiter,  ApoUo,  Neptune,  Bfars,  Mercury,  Vulcan,  Juno,  Minerva, 
Diana,  Demeter,  Venus,  and  Vesta,  were  seen,  each  attended  by  symbols  of  their 
power,  and  risible  exponents  of  their  attributes.  After  these  deities  had  passed 
in  panoramic  rision  before  the  crowd,  while  they  stood  enraptured  at  the  celes- 
tial sight,  other  inferior  deities  followed, — ^the  Naiads,  Potamides,  Oreads,  Bac- 
chus, Cupid,  and  Aurora.  During  the  progress  of  the  visions,  revelations  were 
made  respecting  these  dirinities,  the  exact  purport  of  which  must  always  be 
matter  of  conjecture.  But  whether  this  was  eulogistic  or  derogatory  to  the  char- 
acters of  these  deities, — as  the  learned  have  argued  on  both  sides, — ^it  cannot 
be  doubted  that  it  wa«  strongly  in  support  of  the  great  system  of  national  idol- 
atry which  these  rites  tended  so  greatly  to  consolidate  and  conserve.  After  this 
was  exhibited  the  story  of  Demeter  and  Persephone.  Then  followed  strains  of 
the  sweetest  music ;  after  which  the  hierophant  ascended  a  rostrum  in  front  of 
the  pedestal,  and  read  from  a  sacred  book  what  is  supposed  to  have  been  con* 
densed,  and  given  at  least  in  substance,  by  Virgil,  as  follows : — 

"Know  first,  that  heaven,  and  earth's  eoetpaeted  frame, 
And  flowing  waters,  and  the  stany  flame,  . 
And  both  the  radiant  lights,  one  common  loal 
Inspires,  and  feeds,  and  animates  the  whole. 
This  active  mind,  infased  through  all  the  space. 
Unites  and  mingles  with  the  mighty  ;na8S. 
Hence  men  and  beasts  the  breath  of  life  obta^ ; 
And  birds  of  air,  and  monsters  of  the  main. 
The*  ethereal  vigonr  is  in  all  the  same, 
And  every  soul  is  fiU'd  with  eqaal  flaaae ; 
As  much  as  earthy  limbs,  and  gross  allay 
Of  mortal  members,  subject  to  decay, 
'  Blunt  not  the  beams  of  heaven  and  edge  of  day. 
¥tom  this  coarse  miztore  of  terrestrial  parts. 
Desire  and  fbar,  by  turns  possets  their  hearts; 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


828  APPBKDIX. 

And  grief,  and  Joy :  nor  can  the  groTeUing  mind. 

In  the  dark  dungeon  of  the  limhi  confined, 

Aisert  its  natiye  skies,  or  own  its  heaTsnly  kind. 

Nor  death  itself  can  wholly  wash  their  stains ; 

But  long-contracted  filth  ey'n  in  the  sool  remains: 

The  relics  of  inveterate  vice  they  wear ; 

And  spots  of  sin  obscene  in  e?ery  fa^  appear. 

For  this  are  yarions  penances  enjoin*d ; 

And  some  are  hnng  to  bleach,  tipon  the  wind ; 

Some  plunged  in  waters,  others  purged  in  fifes, 

Till  all  the  dregs  are  drained,  and  all  the  nut  expiret. 

All  have  their  humm,  and  those  numet  bear : 

The  few  so  cleansed  to  the'  abodes  repidr, 

And  breathe,  in  ample  fields,*,  the  soft  Elysian  air. 

Then  are  they  happy,  when  by  lea^  of  time     . 

The  scurf  is  worn  away  of  each  oommitted  crime. 

No  speck  is  left  of  their  habitual  stains : 

But  the  pure  ether  of  the  soul  remains. 

But  when  a  thousand  rolling  years  are  past, 

(So  long  their  punishments  and  penance  last,; 

Whole  droyes  of  minds  are,  by  the  dHying  god. 

Compelled  to  drink  the  deep  Lethean  flood ; 

In  large  forgetful  draughts  to  steep  the  cares 

Of  their  past  labours  and  their  irksome  years : 

that,  unremembering  of  ite  former  pain, 

The  soul  may  suffer  mortal  flesh  again." 

JSfmd,  Ub.  yi,  734-761,  Jhydm*9  Tnmt, 

WhHe  the  peopte  listened  in  wonder  to  these  reyelations,  the  surronnding  sun- 
light passed  away ;  darkness  and  thunder  succeeded,  until,  amid  its  fearful  din 
and  the  rumbling  earthquake,  the  hierophant  gave  the  word,  "Bepart;''  when 
they  emerged  fh)m  the  grand  portal  By  which  they  had  entered,  and  found  it 
early  morning,  with  the  dew  hanging  on  the  green  leayes  around  them. 

On  no  subject  connected  with  the  religion  of  Greece  has  more  labour  or  more 
learning  been  employ^  than  on  this ;  and  the  above  is  the  substance  of  what  has 
been  thus  elicited.  Our  limits  forbid  extended  comment  on  a  sul^ect  so  tempt- 
ing to  speculation.  Thus  much  Is  clear, — that,  whatever  science  and  scenery 
might  have  done  here,  or  whether  anything  beyond  physical  agency  was  called 
into  requisition,  or  otherwise,  it  was  found  necessary  to  forbid  all  discussion  of 
the  subject  on  pain  of  death.  No  one  was  permitted  to  speak  of  what  took  plaoe 
within  the  sacred  enclosure ;  and  we  are  told  that,  as  oertaiQly  as  this  law  was 
violated,  the  body  of  the  criminal  might  be  seen,  soon  after,  hanging  dead  firam 
one  of  the  neighbouring  pinnacles,  with  an  announcement  stating  that  the  dead 
man  had  perished  for  divulging  the  mysterious  secrets  of  the  celebration. 

For  an  able,  accurate,  and  eloquent  account  of  the  subject  sketched  in  this 
note,  see  Blackwood's  Magazine,  February,  1853 ;  to  which  we  have  been  to  some 
extent  indebted. 

Note  71,  page  398.— TA^  Doctrima  of  Plato  retpeetmg  the  Soul  and  it$  Tninsmt- 

gratian. 

Plato  appears  to  have  ta.ken  up,  andjg^ven  the  saaotion  of  his  great  name  and 
oharaoter  to,  a  notion  which  prevailed  in  the  moat  aaeient  times  among  the 
Greeks ;  namely,  that  man  had  tiro  souls :  ooe,  the  seat  aad  reaidenoe  of  animal 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPENDIX.  629 

life,  the  senaes  and  dedres,  ttnlient;  the  other,  partaking  of  reawm  and  intelli- 
genoe,  or  rational:  the  latter,  of  divine  origin,  and  therefore  immortal;  U^e 
fbimer,  of  a  &r  inferior  nature,  and  consequently  not  incapable  of  utterlj  per- 
ishing. The  first  was  the  part  which  is  spoken  ot  as  made  of  the  ethereal  sub- 
stance of  which  the  soul  of  the  world  is  composed ;  the  second,  as  the  immortal 
emanation  firom  Deity.  The  opinion  reoeiyed  all  kinds  of  modification  from  the 
allegc^sing  tendencies  of  the  poets,  and  was  entertained- 1^  the  common  people 
in  connexion  with  many  gross  additions  and  corruptions. 

It  is  these  semi-spiritual  and  semi-oorporeal  souls  which  assume  the  human 
figure,  and  render  the  departed  risible^as  shades  in  the  regions  of  Pluto's  reign. 
But  one  of  the  most  curious  results  of  this  doctrine  is,  the  notion  that  Tice  de- 
fonned,  discoloured,  and  disfigured  this  external  sentient  soul,  and  philosophy 
and  virtue  purified  and  cleansed  it.  Plutarch  states  this  doctrine :  **  But  the 
soars  and  seams  remain  from  the  seTeral  vices,  in  some  greater,  in  some  less. 
Now  behold  those  various  and  diversified  colours  of  souls.  The  dark  and  squalid 
are  the  taint  of  illiberality  and  avarice ;  the  blood-red  and  fiery,  of  cruelty  and 
barbarity;  the  green,  of  intemperance  in  pleasures;  the  violet-coloured  and 
livid,  like  the  ink  of  the  cuttle-fish,  of  envy  and  malignity.  For  there  the  wick- 
edness of  the  soul,  influenced  by  the  passions,  and  influencing  the  body,  produces 
the  colours :  here  it  is  the  end  of  purification  and  punishment.  When  these 
colours  are  thoroughly  purged  away,  the  soul  becomes  bright  and  unsullied." 
See  a  poetic  version  of  this  in  VnoiL,  Mneid,  lib.  vi,  735,  quoted  in  the  preced- 
ing pages.  ^ 

Plato  frdly  adopts  and  uses  this  doctrine.  It  is  on  this  ground  that  he  toys, 
**  The  bodies  of  the  dead,  (that  is,  their  outer  or  more  corporeal  souls,)  we  must 
suppose,  are  rightly  called  '  images.' " — De  Legihut,  11.  Plaito  also  agrees  with 
Plutarch  in  respect  of  the  Judgment  of  the  soul :  **  All  things  are  visible  in  the 
soul  when  it  is  denuded  of  the  body,  both  those  of  nature,  and  the  affections 
which  a  man  has  implanted  in  the  soul  by  the  pursuit  of  each  particular  olject. 
When  they  come,  therefore,  before  the  judge,  he  inspects  the  soul  of  each,  but 
knows  not  to  whom  it  belongs ;  but  oftentimes,  taking  that  of  the  great  and 
potent  king,  (of  the  Persians,)  he  finds  no  soundness  in  it,  but  sees  it  lashed  all 
over,  and  frill  of  scars,  through  perjuries  and  ii\juatioe,  such  as  the  practice  of 
each  vice  has  Impressed  upon  the  soul,  and  all  made  crooked  by  falsehood  and 
vanity." — Oorgia$.  These  marks  of  sin  it  was  the  province  and  power  of  phi- 
losophy to  remove :  hence  we  read  a  description  by  Ludan  of  the  final  judgment 
of  a  philosopher,  a  cobbler,  and  a  tyrant  The  philosopher  bring  first  placed 
naked  before  Bhadamanthus,  he  is  considered  to  be  pure,  but  nevertheless  has 
three  or  four  marks  of  healed  ulcers ;  and,  on  seeing  these,  the  Judge  asks  how 
he  had  managed  to  efface  the  imprints  of  crime*  To  this  he  replies,  **  Having 
been  formerly  depraved  and  wicked  through  ignorkmce,  and  by  that  means 
marked  with  many  spots,  as  soon  as  I  began  to  philosophize,  I  gradually  wiped 
away  all  stains  from  the  souL"  The  cobbler  is  fi)und  pure  and  free  fi^mi  spots. 
But  when  the  tyrant  is  stripped,  the  judge  says,  "  Why,  reallyT  this  man  is  all 
over  livid  and  spotted ;  nay,  is  rather  black  with  spots."        * 

Plato,  in  accordance  with  all  this,  observes,  "  The  Judge,  therefore,  having 
inspeeted  the  soul  so  affected,  straightway  commits  it  with  ignominy  into  custo- 
dy,  where  it  is  to  undergo  the  merited  punishment."  But  this  sage  clearly 
teaches  that  this  punishment  is  intended  to  be  meliorative;  hence  he  adds, 
**  Those  who  profit  by  the  punishment  they  suffer,  bo^  among  gods  and  men,  are 
I  as  have  committed  remediable  sins ;  who  are  benefitted  by  pains  and  tor- 


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680  APPENDIX. 

mente  both  hi&n  and  in  Orevs ;  ftir  it  is  impoedble  oihenrhe  to  be  fireed  firam 
iiguBtioe.  But  whoeyer  are  guilty  of  the  wont  of  crimes,  and  by  leason  of  SQoh 
crimes  beoome  incurable,  of  these  examples  are  made,  and  they  no  longer  are 
benefitted  themselTes,  as  being  inonrable :  but  others  are  benefllted,  who  behold 
them  suffering  for  their  sins  the  greatest,  and  most  painftil,  sad  most  fHghtfU 
poniehmeats  lor  eyerlasting,  and  held  up  there,  in  their  prison  in  hell,  as  exam- 
ples, and  spectacles,  and  warnings,  to  the  uigust  that  tram  time  to  time  oome 
thither." 

A  peculiar  feature,  in  this  system  was  the  energetic  ▼irtae  of  philosophy.  It 
not  only  purged  away  sin,  bat  insured  consummate  blessedness.  Henoe  Plato 
says,  "  Those  who  are  found  to  haTc  lived  a  preeminently  ]^ous  and  holy  lift^ 
being  tned  sud  released  from  terrestrial  places,  as  from  a  prison,  asoend  upward 
into  a. pure  habitation,  and  dwell  aboTe  the  earth ;  and  among  these  whoerer  have 
been  sufficiently  purified  by  philosophy,  Uyo  altogether  without  bodies  heresfter, 
and  obtain  habitations  oTcn  more  beautiful  than  the  other8."»PA«(io.  That  is, 
those  who  are  thus  purified  lose  altogether  the  lower  sentient  soul,  and  Hto  ever- 
lastingly in  the  bliss  of  perfect  intellectuslity.  To  this  effect  is  another  passage 
of  our  author:  "No  one  is  allowed  to  enter  into  the  family  of  the  gods  (after 
death)  but  the  loyer  of  learning  alone,  who  has  doTotod  himself  to  philosophy, 
and  died  perfectly  pure." — Ibid, 

A  part  of  this  remedial  punishment  was  belieyed  to  arise  tnm  the  location  of 
the  soul  in  successiye  human  and  animal  bodies.  But  with  regard  to  this  doth 
trii\e  there  was  an  important  difference  between  Pythagoras  and  Plato.  The 
fonaer  thou^^t  that  the  successiye  transition  of  the  soul  into  other  bodies  was 
physical  and  necessary,  and  exdusiye  of  all  moral  designation  whatsoeyer.  But 
Plato,  on  the  contrary,  taught  that  "  these  changes  and  transmissions  were  the 
purgations  of  impure  minds,  unfit,  by  reason  of  the  poUutioiis  they  had  oontraotr 
ed,  to  reasoend  to  the  place  from  whenoe  they  came,  and  n^join  that  substanoe 
fi(om  whenoe  they  were  discerped;  and  consequently  that  pure,  immaonlate 
souls  were  exempt  from  this  transmigration." 

Note  72,  page  408. — The  CredihUity  of  the  earlUit  Roman  Hutoriatu, 

In  the  inyestigation  of  history,  two  opposite  errors  must  be  steadily  ayoidsd, 
if  we  would  arrive  at  a  olear  and  trustworthy  knowledge  of  faots.  These  are,— 
general  scepticism,  on  the  one  hand, — and  an  indiscriminate  reception  of  reports, 
on  the  other.  ThejM  errors  are  not  Imaginary,  but  have  been  actually  adopted 
and  acted  on  to  a  great  extent.  We  have  seen  the  most  undoabted  historical 
ihots  cayilled  at  and  questioned,  while  the  meet  extravagant  legends  and  idle 
tales  have  been  reoeived  as  authentic  history. 

In  order  to  our  maintaining  the  safe  via  media,  in  respeot  of  the  early  Roman 
historians,  it  will  be  neoessary  to  inquire  into  their  means  of  obtaining  aeeurats 
information,  and  their  ability  and  disposition  to  make  sa  honest  and  intelUgnl 
use  of  what  the^  secured.  This  investigation  need  not  be  a  very  extended  one. 
lavy,  and  Dionysius  of  Halicamassus,  are  the  only  andent  writers  who  pretend 
to  give  detailed  and  connected  histories  of  the  early  ages  of  Borne.  Plutaroh,  in 
his  biographies  of  Romulus,  Numa,  Publioola,  Coriolanus,  Camillas,  and  Pyrrhus, 
affords  some  information  respecting  particular  periods;  while  Pdybius  and  Cic- 
ero give  incidental  notices  of  independent  and  isolated  facts.  No  other  author, 
living  at  a  period  when  authentic  information  was  accessible,  has  hsaded  down 
his  produotions  to  posterity.    Of  course,  poets  have  been  excluded  in  this  sum- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


AFPBimix.  681 

x^fixj,  as  the  nature  of  their  prodnetiona  preTeats  our  reljing  on  them  fiur  sober 
historical  detaiL 

Let  us  first  examine  the  claims  of  IAtj.  He  wrote  during  the  reign  of  Augus- 
tus, nearly  three  hundred  jears  after  the  dose  of  the  period  whose  annals  we 
question:  and  this  period,  be  it  remembered,  ranged  oyer  five  precoding  cen- 
turies. Liyy  must  therefore  have  collected  the  materials  for  his  history  firom 
the  seTeral  sources  of  information  to  which  he  had  access.  These  were  four  in 
number : — the  works  of  preceding  authors ;  inscriptions  remaining  on  ancient 
monuments ;  the  genealogical  records  of  private  families ;  and,  probably,  smne 
public  registers  preserved  in  the  care  of  officers  of  state.  From  such  documents 
this  celebrated  writer  must  have  gathered  his  information ;  and  the  credibility 
of  his  history  must  depend  on  the  judgment  and  discretion  with  which  he  made 
hia  selection.  But  he  has  unfortunately  left  us  no  means  of  judging  on  this 
head,  inasmuch  as  he  very  seldom  informs  his  reader  whence  he  has  obtained 
his  information,  or  on  what  authority  he  relies. 

Our  limits  forbid  an  extended  examination  of  the  use  which  IAyj  made  of 
these  several  sources  of  knowledge,  as  indicated  by  his  works ;  but  it  may  be 
briefly  observed  that  Fabius,  the  most  ancient  writer  and  his  favourite  authority, 
is  very  slightingly  spoken  of  by  Polylaus.  Nor  does  Livy  appear  to  have  exer- 
cised a  sounder  judgment  in  regard  to  the  quoting  of  other  authors.  From  in- 
aoriptions  and  monuments  he  could  not  have  obtained  much  information;  the 
caaualities  to  which  Rome  was  frequently  exposed,  and  the  burning  of  the  oapi-. 
tol,  must  have  greatly  limited  his  resources  of  this  kind.  Family  records  are 
not  unArequently  of  the  greatest  assistance  to  the  historian.  But  then  they  can 
only  be  useful  when  faithfully  drawn  up  and  honestly  guarded.  Unfortunately 
there  is  ample  evidence  that  family  vanity  had  corrupted  these  records,  so  as  t6 
ascribe  exploits  and  honours  entirely  fictitious  to  their  ancestors.  There  is 
too  much  reason  for  believing  that  even  public  documents  were  corrupted  from 
the  same  motive. 

Nor  have  we  any  proof  that  Livy  made  the  best  use  of  the  slender  materials 
that  lay  within  his  reach.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  evident  that,  instead  of  com* 
pensating  for  the  scarcity  of  information  by  caution  in  arriving  at  conclusiona, 
and  brevity  in  the  detail  of  particular  incidents,  his  history  is  as  replete  with 
minute  particulars  and  full-length  speeches,  as  if  he  had  been  writing  an  auto* 
biography,  and  describing  events  which  came  under  his  personal  observation. 
Nor  does  he  afford  better  evidence  of  possessing  any  correct  acquaintance  with 
the  state  of  his  country  in  the  early  period  of  its  history. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  quite  agree  in  the  judgment  which  an  able  writer  has  pro* 
nounced  on  this  sul]|)ect :  **  Considering,  then,  the  deficiency  of  all  good  materials, 
the  very  indifferent  character  of  those  which  were  in  his  power,  and  the  instanoea 
given  of  his  own  ignorance,  carelessness,  and  deviation  from  truth  in  points 
of  importance,  it  is  not  too  much  to  assert,  that  Livy's  evidence,  as  far  as  oon- 
oems  the  first  ten  books  of  his  History,  is  altogether  unworthy  of  credit  Many 
of  the  facts  reported  by  him  may  be  true,  and  many  are  probal^ei  but  we  have 
no  right  to  admit  them  aa  real  ooeurrences  on  his  authority.  The  story  of  many 
well-written  novels  is  highly  probable,  yet  we  do  not  the  leas  .regard  it  as  a 
fiction ;  and  the  narrative  of  Livy,  even  where  its  internal  evidence  is  moat  in 
its  ftkvour,  is  so  destitute  of  external  evidence,  that  although  we  would  not  assert 
that  it  is  everywhere  false,  wo  should  act  unwisely  were  we  anywhere  to  argue 
upon  it  as  if  it  were  ixoB^-^'Eneffelopadia  MttropoUUma^  art  **CrtdibUity  of 
early  Roman  JROoryJ' 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBKDIX. 

I>toHT8ii7B  CMP  H1UOABNA88TJS  Stands  next  to  lArj  as  an  historian  of  andent 
Borne,  and  was  oontemporary  with  him.  His  means  of  information  would,  there- 
fore, be  the  same :  it  will,  then,  onlj  be  necessary  to  notice  his  individual  abili- 
ties. And  in  this  respect  we  certainly  cannot  find  in  him  anything  of  a  more 
trustworthy  character  than  was  discoyered  in  Liyy. 

DiODOBus  evinces  even  greater  prolixity,  pretending  to  fbmish  the  minutest 
details  respecting  the  most  remote  and  obscure  periods  of  histoiy ;  while  his 
judgment  and  opinions  on  subjects  that  are  well  known, — such  as  his  critidsm 
on  Thucydides, — are  even  ridiculously  absurd ;  and  he  confidently  quotes  author* 
whom  other  writers  of  credit  speak  of  as  notoriously  untrustworthy.  Indeed, 
Diodorus,  as  an  historian,  scarcely  equals  Livy,  whose  authority  has  been  found 
open  to  vexy  serious  exception. 

PtuTABOH  lived  more  than  a  hundred  years  ajfter  these  two  authors,  and  was 
consequently  so  much  further  removed  from  the  sources  of  original  information. 
He  appears  to  have  been  equally  ready  with  them  to  adopt  and  propagate  cur- 
rent reports,  however  distored  by  personal  prejudice,  or  suggested  by  national 
ambition.  Reasoning  here  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  we  can  have  no 
confidence  in  his  statements.  For,  in  the  compilation  of  his  Qredan  biographies, 
he  has  certainly  used  in  common  the  best  and  the  worst  authorities,  without 
exercising  any  soimd  judgment  or  carefril  discrimination. 

PoLTBius  presents  to  the  mind  a  totally  different  character.  Few  historical 
works,  of  either  ancient  or  modem  times,  will  bear  a' comparison  with  his.  He 
prosecuted  his  preparatory  studies  with  great  energy  and  perseveranoe.  He  ool- 
lected  with  the  utmost  care  the  best  accounts  of  the  events  which  he  intended  to 
narrate;  investigated  with  laborious  ardour  the  nature  of  the  Roman  oonstitu- 
tion,  that  he  might  be  able  to  understand  its  early  history;  and  made  long  and 
dangerous  voyages  and  travels,  that  he  might  have  the  best  means  of  knowing 
the  countries  of  which  he  had  to  write.  And,  above  all,  he  is  allowed  to  have 
excelled  in  the  greatest  of  all  qualities, — ^truthftilness.  He  did  not,  like  many 
others,  write  merely  to  amuse  his  readers  by  the  strangeness  of  his  facts,  or  to 
fiuscinate  them  by  the  elegance  of  his  diction,  but  to  instruct  them  in  the  com- 
munication of  a  thie  exhibition  of  past  history ;  that  a  knowledge  of  the  fiture, 
and  those  lessons  of  practical  wisdom  which  its  exigencies  required,  might 
thenee  be  deduced.  Tet,  notwithstanding  these  great  qualities,  we  cannot  expect 
from  Polybius  anything  like  a  complete  exhibition  of  early  Roman  history.  He 
was  a  foreigner,  and  was  in  consequence  placed  at  very  considerable  disadvan- 
tage on  that  account.  But,  what  is  of  much  greater  importance,  he  does  not  pro- 
fess to  narrate  the  events  of  tbe  eafly  ages  of  Rome.  Of  his  own  time,  and  the 
:age  immediately  preceding,  he  has  written  ably  and  frilly;  but  of  the  antique 
•  era  of  Roman  history  he  only  spoke  briefly  and  incidentally.  He  cannot,  there- 
ifore,  be  relied  on  as  furnishing  a  fiill  and  connected  account  of  this  period, 
although  in  several  instances  his  si^acity  and  veracity  have  corrected  the  popu- 
lar legendary  reports,  which  earlier  and  less  scrupulous  authors  incorporated 
into  their  narratives. 

As  an  instance,  reference  may  be  ma4e  to  the  heroism  of  Horatius  Cocles, 
Tecorded  by  Polybius,  lib.  vi,  cap.  55,  and  Livy,  lib.  ii,  cap.  10.  The  former 
describes  this  hero  as  keeping  the  enemy' in  check,  until  the  bridge  was  broken 
down  behind  him,  when,  armed  and  wounded  as  he  was,  he  leaped  into  the  river 
.and  perished,  "haring  preferred  the  safety  of  his  country,  and  the  future  fame 
ihat  was  sure  to  follow  such  an  action, '  to  ^  his  own  present  existence."  Livy, 
however,  says  that  be  succeeded  in  swimming  across  the  stream,  and  that  he 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


.  APPKNBDL  688 

KTed  to  reeave  applanse  «nd  rewud.  It  is  in  such  additions  as  these,  which  set 
all  probability  at  defiance,  and  conyert  pretended  history  into  romantic  legends, 
that  the  real  difficulty  lies.  And  such  cases  abound  so  frequently  in  the  best 
amounts  of  this  period,  that  its  incidents,  while  probably  affording  a  tolerably 
correct  outline,  cannot  be  receiTed  as  historical  detail. 

NoTB  73,  page  408,— Tke  Legend  of  JEneoM, 

Perhaps  nothing  in  ancient  history  is  more  remarkable  than  the  extent  to 
Vhidh  traditions  haTc  prcTailed  of  settlements  being  formed  in  western  Europe, 
by  fugitives  that  had  been  engaged  in  the  Trojan  war.  Tacitus  mentions  the 
opinions  of  the  Germans,  that  Ulysses  was  driven  into  the  Northern  Ocean,  and 
built  there  Asciburgium ;  and  that  an  altar  dedicated  to  Ulysses,  with  the  name 
of  Laertes  his  &ther,  had  been  found  there.  Solinus  notices  a  tradition  of 
Ulysses  having  reached  a  bay  in  Caledonia,  *'  which,''  he  adds,  '*  an  altar  with  a 
Qreek  inscription  shows."  A  Trojan  colony  is  stated  to  have  founded  Trapani  in 
Italy:  Yirgil  intimates  that  Antenor  founded  Padua,  and  led  his  Trojan  follow- 
ers into lUyriaa^d  Libumia,  and  to  the  springs  of  the  Timavus,  or  into  Sclavo- 
nia,  Croatia^  and  Friuli.  PUny  stations  Dardaui  in  Moesia,  whidli  he  extends  from 
the  Pontus  Euxinus  to  the  Danube;  and  Strabo  enumerates  the  Dardanidn 
among  the  Illyrians ;  while  Pindar  ascribes  the  settlement  of  Cyrene  in  Africa 
also  to  Antenor.  Another  tradition  connects  Ulysses  with  Lisbon.  Livy  de- 
scribes Antenor  as  likewise  founding  the  Venetian  population.  Ammianus  Mar- 
oellinus  states  that  some  Trojans,  flying  from  the  Greeks,  occupied  parts  of  the 
coast  of  Ganl  which  were  previously  uninhabited ;  while  Nennius,  the  andent 
British  historian,  says  that  Brutus,  the  grandson  of  Ascanius,  driven  from  Italy 
and  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  went  to  Gaul,  and  founded  Tours,  and  frtmi  thence 
came  to  Britain,  which  he  colonized,  and  gave  it  his  own  name,  about  the  time 
that  Eli  was  judge  in  Israel.  (Turner's  History  of  the  Anglo^axons,  voL  i, 
pp.  64,  66.) 

The  legend  which  teaches  the  descent  of  the  Bomans  from  .£neas,  whatever 
may  be  its  claims  to  historical  truth,  was  unquestionably  received  and  believed 
at  Borne  at  an  early  period.  One  thing  is  certain, — ^that  the  preservation  of  a 
remnant  of  the  Trojan  race,  which  was  ruled  over  by  this  hero,  is  tiught  by  the 
Homeric  poems.  9ut  then  this  teaching  goes  no  florther  than  the  existence  of 
this  secUon  of  the  Bardan  race  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Troy,  after  the  departure 
of  the  Greeks.  But,  with  respect  to  the  settlement  of  iBneas  and  his  descend- 
ants in  Latium,  Niebuhr  has  satisftustorily  established  two  points :— first,  that  the 
notion  was  not  imported  into  Roman  history  from  Grecian  literature,  but  arose 
among  the  Roman  people  themselves  in  an  eariy  age ;  and,  secondly,  that,  how- 
ever specious  and  plausible  it  may  appear,  it  has  not  the  least  historical  truth. 
(History  of  Rome,  vol.  i,  p.  189.) 

It  is,  however,  a  question  of  some  interest,^-What  is  the  light  in  which  this 
legend  should  be  regarded  ?  Dr.  W.  G.  Taylor  states,  that  wherever  Pelasgio 
settlements  are  fbund,  there  we  find  a  ci^  named  .£nus,  which  he  from  hence 
regards  as  a  generic,  rather  than  an  individual,  name.  From  hence  it  is  infer- 
red, that  '*  if  any  of  the  Pelasgi  on  the  hills  at  the  south  side  of  the  Tiber  came 
from  ^nus,  they  most  probably  retained  their  ancient  name  of  JSneadsa ;  and 
the  signification  of  that  patronymic  being  forgotten  in  pvooess  of  time,  it  was 
confounded  with  another  similar  name  preserved  by  an  independent  tradition,— 
the  .£neadflB,  or  followers  of  iBneas,  who  survived  the  destrnctioa  of  their  conn* 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


684  APPENDIX.  . 

try/'— .AicwfU  ffittof^,  p.  39a  Niebuhr  says  tk«fc  tkk  legend  ud  ite  oogBale 
tnuUtioiis  "  maj  ealiBly  be  interpreted  ee  dengaating  nothing  more  than  national 
affinity  i"  (History  of  iU»ii6,  toL  i,  p.  190 :)  and  Dr.  L.  Schndts  apparently  ooin- 
cidee  in  this  judgment ;  for  he  obserres,  that  "^neas  himself,  snoh  as  he  anpeus 
in  his  wanderings,  and  final  settlemeni  in  Tjtttum,  is  nothing  else  b«t  the  persoa* 
ified  idea  of  one  common  origin." — Smith's  JHeL  of  Grtek  and  Roman  Mytk.,  ^ 
art.  .£nea8. 

Non  14,  page  408.-^7^  Legend  ^JilbtL 

This  is  so  intimately  interwoven  with  the  account  of  .^neas,  that  what  is  elicited 
respecting  the  historical  character  of  the  one,  must  be,  in  great  measure,  true 
of  the  other.  On  this  point  Niebuhr  observes,  "I  am  not  bringing  forward  an 
hypothesis,  but  the  plain  resuH  of  unprejudiced  observation,  when  I  remark  that 
Lavinium,  as  its  name  implies,  was  the  seat  of  congress  for  the  Latins,  who  were 
also  called  Lavines,  as  Panionium  was  that  of  the  lonians  in  Asia.  When  a 
legend  contains  names  supposed  to  belong  to  individuals,  this  goes  fl&r  toward 
giving  it  the  look  of  being  something  more  than  fiction.  Hence  many  who 
otherwise  might  still  insist  that  the  Trojan  legend  ought  not  to  be  absolutely 
rejected,  may  perhaps  change  their  opinion,  when  they  didoem  that  Lavinia  and 
Tumus  are  only  personifications  of  two  nations,  and  that  Lavinium  was  a  more 
recent  city  than  Alba." — History  of  Rome^  vol.  i,  p.  201. 

Note  76,  page  409. — The  Legends  of  Romulus  and  Remus. 

We  cannot  do  better  here  than  transcribe  the  brief,  aocurato,  and  eloquent 
aommary  of  these  legends,  given  by  Niebuhr  :— 

**  Prooas,  King  of  Alba,  left  two  Bon&  Numitor,  the  elder,  being  weak  and 
apiritleas,  snifered  Amulius  to  wrest  the  government  Arom  him,  and  reduce  him 
to  his  father's  private  estates.  In  the  ei^ioyment  of  these  he  lived  rioh,  and,  as 
he  desired  nothing,  more,  secure :  but  the  usurper  dreaded  the  claims  that  might 
be  set  up  by  heirs  of  a  different  character.  He  had  Numitor's  son  murdered,  and 
ai^rainted  his  daughter  Sylvia  one  of  the  Vestal  virgina 

**  Amnlins  had  no  ohil(k«n,  or  at  least  only  one  daughter :  so  that  the  race  of 
Anehises  aad  Aphrodite  seemed  on  the  point  of  expiring,  when  the  love  of  a  god 
prolonged  it,  in  despite  of  the  ordinances  of  man,  and  gave  it  a  lustre  worthy  of 
Its  origin.  Sylvia  had  gone  into  the  sacred  grove,  to  draw  water  from  the  spring 
for  the  service  of  the  temple.  The  sun  quenched  his  rays ;  the  sight  of  a  wolf 
made  her  fly  into  a  cave ;  there  Man  overpowered  the  timid  virgin ;  and  then 
oonaded  her  with  the  promise  of  noble  children,  as  Poseidon  consoled  Tyro,  the 
daughter  of  Salmeneua.  Bat  he  did  not  protect  her  from  the  tyrant;  nor  oould 
her  protestations  of  her  innooenoe  save  her.  Vesta  herself  seemed  to  demand 
the  condemnation  of  the  unfortunate  priestess ;  for,  at  the  moment  when  she  was 
delivered  of  twins,  the  image  of  the  goddess  hid  its  eyes,  her  altar  trembled,  and 
her  fire  died  away.  Amulius  ordered  that  the  mother  and  her  babes  should  be 
drowned  in  the  river.  In  the  Anio,  Sylvia  exohanged  her  earthly  life  for  ihat 
of  a  goddess.  The  river  carried  the  bole,  or  cradle,  in  which  the  children  were 
lying,  into  the  Tiber,  which  had  overflowed  its  banks  far  and  wide,  even  to  the 
fbot  of  the  woody  hills.  At  the  root  of  a  wild  fig-tree, — the  Ficus  RuminaUi, 
which  was  preserved  and  held  sacred  for  many  oenturies, — at  the  foot  of  the 
Palatine,  the  cradle  overturned.  A  she-wolf  oame  to  drink  of  the  stream :  she 
heard  the  whimpering  of  the  children,  carried  them  into  her  den  hard  by,  made 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPiiii>ix.  685 

a  bed  Ibr  th«n,  lieked  and  nidkled  tkem.  Wken  they  wanted  oHier  food  than 
milk,  a  woodpacker-^the  bird  aaered  to  Mam^bronc^t  ic  to  them.  Other  birda 
ooneecarated  to  augnriM  hoTered  over  tham,  to  driTe  awa^  inseotft.  This  marrelloas 
spectacle  was  seen  by  Faustalus,  the  shepherd  of  the  rc^al  flodu.  The  she-wolf 
<b«w  back,  and  gave  up  the  children  to  human  nurture.  Aeea  Larentia,  his 
wife,  became  their  foster^SMther.  They  grew  up,  akmg  with  her  twelve  soas»  on 
the  Palatine  Hill,  in  straw  huts  which  thej  built  for  themselYos.  ^That  of  Rom- 
ulus was  preserred  by  Continual  repairs,  as  a  sacred  relic,  down  to  the  time  of 
Nero.  They  were  the  stoutest  of  the  shepherd  lads, — ^fought  brayely  against  wild 
beasts  and  robbers,  maintaining  their  right  against  erery  eat  by  their  mig^t, 
and  tnnung  might  inta  right.  Their  booty  they  shared  with  their  comrades. 
The  followers  Of  fiomulus  were  called  Qainotilii ;  those  of  Ramus,  Fabii.  The 
seeds  of  discord  were  soon  sown  among  them.  Their  wantonness  engaged  them 
in  disputes  with  the  shepherds  of  the  wealthy  Numitor,  who  ftd  their  flocks  <m 
Mount  AYenUne ;  so  that  here,  as  in  the  story  of  Eyander  and  Gacus,  we  find 
the  quanal  between  the  Palatine  and  the  Aventine  in  the  tales  of  the  remotest 
times.  Ramus  was  taken  by  a  stratagem  of  these  shephedrds,  and  dragged  to 
Alba  as  a  robber.  A  secret  foreboding*-tke  remembrance  of  his  grandsoaa, 
awakened  by  the  stoiy  of  the  two  brothers — kept  Numitor  trom  pronouncing  a 
hasty  sentence.  -  The  culprit's  fosterfather  harried  with  Bomnlus  to  the  oify, 
and  told  the  old  man  and  the  youths  of  their  kindred.  They  resolved  to  aTonga 
their  own  wrong,  and  that  of  their  house.  With  their  ftithful  comrades,  whom 
the  danger  of  Remus  had  brought  to  the  city,  they  slaw  the  Idng ;  and  the 
people  of  Alba  again  beoame  sul^eot  to  Numitor."— iVicAuAr'f  ifistory  of  Romt, 
▼oL  i,  ppw  220-222. 

Note  76,  page  410. — The  Legend  of  Tarpeia, 

It  is  vain  to  question  the  allegations  of  pure  poetry  and  fable,  or  we  might 
stay  to  iuTestigate  the  relative  probability  of  the  conflictiDg  versions  which  are 
given  of  this  legend.  That  which  is  given  in  the  text,  although  generally 
received,  is  sufficiently  absurd.  That  an  invading'force,  just  prepared  to  occupy 
an  important  military  post,  should  oast  away  their  shields  at  the  very  moment 
irhen  they  would  most  need  them  for  their  personal  protection,  is  manifestly 
improbable.  Bat  it  is  not  more  improbable  than  the  version  given  by  Niebnhr, 
^that  the  Sabines  fulfilled  their  engagement  by  throwing  on  the  traitress  sndh 
an  immense  quantity  of  jewelry  and  gold  ornaments,  that  it  was  beneath  the 
weight  of  these  that  she  perished.  The  faot  is,  that  we  have  here  no  approxima- 
tion to  historical  data. 


Note  77,  page  413. — Tke  Etnucan  Origin  of  Roman  Power  and  Civilization, 

From  this  particular  incident,  taken  in  oonnezion  with  the  tanor  of  the  pra- 
oeding  history,  it  can  scarcely  be  open  to  reasonable  doubt*  that  Etruria  was  the 
real  parent  of  Roman  greatness.  We  have  everywhere  in  the  ancient  records 
and  legends  proofs  that,  long  prior  to  tha  foundation  of  Rome,  the  Etruscans 
were  a  highly  civilized  and  powerful  people.  In  immediale  proximity  with  their 
country,  and  oopying  their  political  code  and  religions  institutions,  Rome  grew 
up  to  maturity,  until  sufficiently  powarftil  to  assert  an  independent  position,  and 
finally  to  subue  its  former  patron. 

This  fact  forms  a  key  to  tha  principal  ixvrtions  of  the  legendary  history  of  tha 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


686  APPiirpix. 

riniig  empire.  It  was  to  oonoeel  the  dependent  condition  of  Home  in  tlie  eiriy 
ages  of  itB  career,  and  to  mystify  very  obTiona  indioationa  of  its  Etnuoaa  thmt- 
aoter  and  inatitutions,  that  facta  have  been  distorted  or  concealed,  and  the  meat 
puerile  fancies  haye  been  incorporated  into  the  hiAory.  It  is  deeply  to  be  regrstr 
ted,  that  a  nation  poesesaing  so  mnoh  real  power  and  greatnesa  ahoold  have 
stooped  to  such  means  of  misrepresenting  its  true  origin. 

NoTB  78|  page  417.— 7%«  Origin  and  CharacUr  of  the  Diaalonkip, 

The-  frequent  appointment  of  an  officer,  iuTested,  for  a  limited  time,  with 
absolute  power,  in  a  state  professedly  republican,  is  an  anomaly  which  merits 
attention.  Niebnhr  seems  to  haTO  shown  clearly,  that  the  office  was  of  Latin 
origin,  and  was  found  in  some  of  these  states  at  a  Tory  early  period.  He  also 
places  the  appointment  of  the  first  dictator  of  Bome  ten  years  after  the  appmnt- 
ment  of  the  first  consuls. 

The  power  of  the  dictator  continued  only  six  months,  whether  the  bumness 
iriiich  occasioned  his  election  was  finished,  or  not  But  usually  the  office  ceased 
after  being  held  a  Tory  short  period.  Cinoinnatus  and  Mamereus  JSmilius 
resigned  their  power  on  the  sixteenth  day,  and  Q.  Serrilius  on  the  eighth.  Tlie 
powers  with  which  the  dictator  was  intrusted  were  Tery  extenslTe,  and,  in  cer- 
tain respects,  absolute.  He  knew  no  superior,  and  was  not  CTen  limited  by  the 
laws  of  the  country.  He  oould  proclaim  war,  levy  forces,  lead  them  against  the 
enemy,  and  disband  them,  at  his  pleasure.  During  his  sway,  all  other  officers, 
except  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  were  regarded  as  suspended ;  and  the  dictator, 
with  power  to  punish  at  his  will,  with  no  appeal  from  his  judgment^  was  master 
of  the  republic  While  holding  this  office,  he  was  not  allowed  to  leaye  Italy,  or 
to  ride  on  horseback,  without  the  permission  of  the  people ;  and,  on  retiring  ftxna 
the  dig^ty,  he  might  be  called  to  account  for  the  manner  in  which  he  had  con- 
ducted the  goTemment  This  was,  in  fact,  the  principal  check  against  the  abuse 
of  such  extended  powers. 

The  object  aimeid  at  in  the  appointment  of  this  officer  was,  eridently,  to  affisrd 
the  Patricians  an  etfootive  power  oyer  the  Plebeians,  especially  in  seasons  of 
excitement  and  turbulence.  Hence,  we  find  that  the  dictator  was  not  appmnted 
by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  as  the  other  magistrates  were ;  but  one  of  the 
consuls,  by  order  of  the  senate,  named  as  dictator  whateyer  person  of  consular 
dignity  he  thought  proper.  The  choice  usually  took  place  after  a  religious  ref- 
erence to  the  auspices. 

Note  79,  page  417.— 7%<>Srfl  tiamiing  Army  of  Romg. 

In  the  first  effinrts  of  Rome  to  obtain  political  existence  and  territorial  soTer- 
eignty  by  martial  prowess,  the  military  operations  were  conducted  by  the  body 
of  the  people  under  the  conduct  of  their  hereditary  leaders ;  the  troops  being 
supported  by  their  own  resources,  or  by  the  patriotic  aid  of  their  generals.  In 
the  war  with  Veil,  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  ftiture  warlike  greatness  of 
the  mighty  republic  by  the  incorporation  of  a  standing  army,  paid  by  the  state 
firam  taxes  leried  on  the  people.  As  this  city  was  well  fortified,  it  oould  only  be 
reduced  by  being  regularly  and  permanently  iuTested.  And  this  could  not  be 
done  by  troops  who  were  fed  by  such  precarious  means  as  obtaining  prorisions 
flrom  their  own  homes.  For,  during  the  interrals  in  which  they  would  be 
obliged  to  return  to  obtain  f^h  supplies,  the  besieged  would  not  only  be  able 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBNDIX.  687 

to  destroy  the  workB  raised  against  their  town,  bnt  also  to  eazry  min  and  deyas- 
tation  into  the  Roman  territory. 

In  order  to  oounteraot  this,  the  Romans  levied  an  inoome-taz,  and  thus  pro- 
vided means  for  affording  regular  pay  to  the  soldiers.  They  irere  thus  enabled 
to  proeeoute  the  war  without  intermission,  and  to  seeure  an  entire  oonquest  oTer 
the  devoted  city* 

NoTB  80,  page  418.—.^  general  View  of  the  legendary  Hittory  of  Rome,  to  the 
Capture  of  the  CUy  by  the  Gauls, 

It  is  with  great  reluotaaoe  that  we  are  bound  to  admit,  that  in  the  whole  of 
this  period  we  have  the  few  grand  separated  facts  of  the  history  supplemented 
and  adorned  by  poetry  and  fable.  As  such  we  are  compelled  to  regard  the 
accounts  furnished  by  the  most  respectable  authorities  concerning  Tullus,  and 
his  wpTB  with  the  Latins  and  Sabines ;  Anons  Martins,  his  legislation  and  his 
eonqnests ;  the  Tarquins,  their  pride  and  power,  oriittes  and  punishment,  together 
with  their  allies,  and  efforts  to  reooTor  the  throne  of  Rome ;  Porsenna,  and  Ms 
rietory  and  subjugation  of  Rome ;.  the  wars-  with  the  Yolscians,  uSIquians,  and 
Yeii ;  the  conquest  and  abandonment  of  the  latter  city ;  the  irruption  of  the 
Qanls,  their  success  and  departure  fron  Italy.  In  all  these  nairations  there  is 
an  erident  stabttraiwn  of  historical  fact  Most  of  them  refer  to  eyents  which 
certainly  happened,  and  the  certainty  of  which  is  attested  by  indubitable  eyi- 
denoe ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  as  erident  that  the  account  furnished  by 
the  historians  is  so  distorted  by  the  dictates  of  national  vanity,  political  artifioe, 
and  looaL  partiality,  that  what  we  read  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  political  novel, 
reared  on  a  basis  of  historical  fhot. 

Nom  81,  page  418. — The  oppreteive  Lawt  of  ancient  Rome  reepecHng  the  Poor. 

<*  It  was  only  when  the  debt  assumed  the  form  of  a  nexum,  that  a  creditor 
oould  exact  it  summarily.  Care  was  taken,  however,  to  protect  his  right  in  all 
other  eases,  and  to  afford  Imn  the  means  of  converting  a  oommon  debt  into  a 
nemim;  We  meet  with  a  very  great  variety  of  instances  of  such  debts,  arising 
out  of  serrioes  performed,  out  of  commercial  transaotions*  out  of  a. settlement 
of  accounts,  out  of  inheritances :  it  is  impossible  to  enumerate  them  all.  But  to 
these  the  law  likewise  added  judicial  sentences,.— not  merely  those  which  estab- 
lished debts  contracted  in  any  of  the  afore-menlioned  wi^s,  but  also  those  which 
imposed  damage*  or  fines  for  any  crime  or  trespassL  On  this  head  the  decemvirs 
enacted,^what  again  was  probably  a  mere  repetition  of  an  old  law, — ^that  for 
such  debts  a  respite  of  thirty  days  should*  be  granted.  When  this  term  was  over, 
the  creditor  was  authorized  to  arrest  his  debtor  and  bring  him  into  court.  If  he 
did  not  discharge  }kiB  debt  then,  or  find  some  one  to  be  security  for  him,  the^red- 
itor  was  to  take  him  home,  and  put  him  in  fetters  or  chains,  which  were  not  to 
weigh  less  than  fifteen  pounds,  but  might  be  hearier.  The  prisoner  was  allowed 
to  proride  himself  with  food :  if  he  did  not  do.so,  the  creditor  was  bound  to  give 
him  a  pound  of  com  a  day ;  which  he  might  increase,  if  he  pleased.  This  impris- 
onment lasted  sixty  days,  during  which  the  debtor,  or  his  friends,  might  take 
measures  for  procuring  his  release.  If  it  was  not  effected,  the  prisoner  was  to 
be  led  belbre  the  prmtor  in  the  comUium  on  three  consecutive  market<iays,  and 
the  amount  of  his  debt  was  to  be  proclaimed.  Should  no  one  take  compassion  on 
Idm  eifen  then,  his  master  might  put  him  to  death,  or  sell  him  on  the  other  side 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


6S8  APPBHBIZ. 

of  the  Tiber.  If  tiiei«  were  eereral  erediton,  they  n^jki  share  hU  body  wmoog 
them :  nor,  if  any  one  chopped  off  a  larger  part  than  waa  proportionate  to  hia 
debt,  was  he  punishable  for  doing  so. 

"  This  last  provision  obviates  the  diffionlty  which  stood  in  Shylodc's  way  mider 
a  similar  legal  title :  and  it  shows  how  oompletely  in  earaest  the  legislatmra  were 
that  the  law  should  be  executed.  Sren  in  case  that  among  soTeral  ereditora  one 
was  inexorable,  his  right  was  secured  to  him.  He  was  allowed,  if  not  to  slay 
the  common  debtor  at  a  blow,  yet  so  to  mutilate  him  that  death  was  sure  to 
ensue.  Every  attempt  to  explain  away  the  inhumanity  of  this  law  is  a  Waste 
of  labour  in  the  cause  of  falsehood.  It  was  quite  as  revolting  as  its  literal 
meaning."— AtV^nAr't  Biitary  ofRmni,  voL  M,  pp.  669,  66a 

NoTB  82,  page  467. — The  Fulfilment  of  iaered  Prophecy  in  the  JSftofy  of  Rome, 

As  all  the  other  great  kingdoms  were  the  sutjeets  of  divine  prophecy,  and 
had  their  character,  prominent  events,  and  ultimate  deatiay,  predicted  in  the 
word  of  Ood,  it  might  be  expected  that  Borne,  the  last  and  the  largeat  empirs, 
and  the  one  which  exercised  universal  sway  through  the  longest  period  of  time, 
would  also  be  noticed  in  the  prophetic  reoord.  This  expeetation  is  amply  juati- 
fled.  The  inspired  seer,  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  placed  belbre  us  veiy 
clear  and  precise  prophecies,  which  mark  out  the  character,  power,  and  ftte  of 
this  mighty  nation. 

I.  The  iirst  prediction  to  which  we  relbr  is  that  whieh  has  been  quoted  with 
regard  to  the  other  universal  governments, — ^namely,  Daniers  expoaitioB  of  Neb> 
uchadnenar's  dream  of  the  great  image :  **  His  legs  of  iron,  his  feet  part  of  irsn 
and  part  of  clay.  Thou  sawest  till  that  a  stone  was  oat  out  withoat  hands, 
which  smote  the  image  upon  his  feet  that  were  of  iron  and  clay,  and  brake  them 
to  pieces.  And  whereas  thou  sawest  the  feet  and  toes,  part  of  potters'  clay,  and 
part  of  iron,  the  kingdom  shall  be  divided ;  but  there  shall  be  in  it  of  the 
strength  of  the  iron,  forasmuch  as  tliou  sawest  the  iron  mixed  with  miry  elay. 
And  as  the  toes  of  the  foet  were  part  of  iron,  and  part  of  olay,  so  the  kingdoM 
shall  be  partly  strong,  and  partly  broken.  And  whereas  thou  sawest  iron  mixed 
with  miry  clay,  they  shall  mingle  themselves  with  the  seed  of  men :  but  they 
shall  not  cleave  one  to  another,  even  as  kon  is  not  mixed  with  day.  And  in  the 
days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom,  which  ahaU  never 
be  destroyed:  and  the  kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall 
break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  forever. 
Forasmuch  as  thou  sawetft  that  the  stone  was  oat  out  of  the  mountain  witheat 
hands,  and  that  it  brake  in  pieoes  the  iron,  the  brass,  the  olay,  the  silver,  and 
the  gold ;  the  great  God  hath  made  known  to  the  king  what  shall  come  to  pass 
hereafter:  and  the  dream  is  certain,  and  the  interpretation  thereof  sure."  Dan. 
ii,  SS,  84,  41-46. 

This  portion  of  saered  prophecy  will  be  found  to  eonvcy  very  important  inf^ 
nation.  It  first  asserts  the  unequalled  power  of  tliis  empirs :  **  Strong  as  iron, 
forasmuch  as  iron  breaketh  in  pieoes  and  subdueth  ail  Udngs."  The  whole  his- 
tory of  Rome  is  a  ftdfihnent  of  this  prophecy.  The  martial  power  of  this  peo- 
ple, unlike  the  meteor  flashittgs  of  M asedoaian  conquest,  went  forth  In  aggros- 
sion  on  every  sunrounding  state,  quietly  poising  its  power  against  neighbonring 
nations,  and  doing  this  with  Buch  daring  skill  and  steady  determination  that  it 
wse  seldom  forced  to  relinquish  its  prey,  but  persevered  in  its  olQeot,  until, 
after  a  steady  progress  in  power  fbr  Use  hundred  yeain»  it  ultimately  best  ta  te 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBNDIX,  689 

TXiU  eTery  other  natian,  bo  that  it  was  in  ftust  what  the  Roman  irriters  delighted 
to  call  it,  Urrarum  9rbi$  impiriym,  **  the  empire  of  the  world.'' 

A  second  important  element  of  this  prophecy  is  the  oo^xistenoe  of  disunion 
and  stren^  In  the  Roman  goyemment. '  This  was  not  an  aoddent,  affecting  any 
particalar  period,  but  rather  the  character  of  the  national  administration.  From 
the  days  of  Romulus  and  Remus  to  those  of  Augustus,  Rome  was  proyerbtal  for 
intestine  disunion  and  ditision.  Under  the  sway  of  the  early  kings,  the  Latin 
and  Sabine  fhctions  were  always  in  opposition,  sometimes  one  preponderating, 
and  sometimes  the  other.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  Tarquins,  and  the  abolition 
of  royalty,  the  appointment  of  two  oonsuls  with  equal  power  perpetuated  this 
diyision,  which  was  greatly  aggravated  by  other  oauses.  And  even  when  Rome 
stood  forth  before  the  world  as  on  the  threshold  of  uniTersal  empire,  this  singu- 
lar fatality  was  more  than  usually  displayed.  What  other  nation  ever  surviTod 
such  suicidal  contests,  proscriptions,  and  slaughter,  as  were  connected  with  the 
factions  of  ^lla  and  Marius, — the  establishment  of  the  two  triumvirates, — ^the 
struggles  between  Pompey  and  Ceeear,  Antony  and  Rrutus  and  Cassius,  and  Au- 
gustus and  Antony?  I  am  not  aware  of  anything  in  the  whole  range  of  saered 
prophecy  more  striking  than  the  continued  disunion  which  reigned  in  Rome  In 
Juxtaposition  with  boundless  power.  That  which  was  fatal  everywhere  else, 
here  rioted  with  the  greatest  fury,  up  to  the  moment  when  Rome  sat  down  the 
queen  of  the  world. 

But,  strange  as  was  the  fltct  of  this  internal  discord,  and  remarkable  as  was 
its  prediction,  no  less  so  was  tiie  utter  ftulnre  of  the  means  adopted  to  prevent 
it:  "They  shall  mingle  themselves  with  the  seed  of  men."  This  reads  more 
like  literal  histoiy  than  prophecy.  How  many  intermarriages  took  place  in 
Rome,  to  cement  the  heads  of  the  body  politic  into  union !  and  how  fruitless  did 
they  prove !  Pompey  married  Julia,  the  daughter  of  Julius  Gessar, — Antony, 
Octavia,  sister  of  Augustus, — and  Augustus  himself  fint  married,  and  afterward 
divoroed,  Soribonia.  Numerous  other  political  alliances  might  be  mentioned; 
but  they  invariably  failed  to  secure  the  object  aimed  at,^union  in  the  Roman 
government 

Lastly,  this  prediction  is  remarkable  for  specifying  most  distinctly,  that,  un- 
der the  prevalence  of  this  dominion,  the  kingdom  of  Ood  was  to  be  set  up  in  the 
world:  '*  In  the  days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom." 
Nothing  can  exceed  in  importance  the  truth  enunciated  in  these  words.  When 
Nebuchadnezzar  reigned  in  Babylon, — ^while  Jerusalem  was  in  ruins,  and  Judea 
was  a  desert,  and  the  remnant  of  Israel  were  captives,  groaning  in  bondage  be- 
neath the  rod  of  the  oppressor, — the  prescience  of  God  marked  out  to  human  ob- 
servation that  chapter  of  his  providential  government  which  was  to  be  evolved 
during  the  snooeeding  six  or  seven  oentnries.  The  fall  of  Babylon,  the  rise  of 
Persia,  the  prowess  and  conquests  of  the  Macedonian  king,  with  the  subversion 
of  the  Persian  empire,— the  progress  of  the  Roman  power,  and  the  establishment 
of  its  supremacy, — all  these  great  events,  arising  out  of,  and  connected  with,  ten 
thousand  remote  contingencies,  are  thus  explicitly  predicted,  as  preparing  the 
way  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  We  do  not  speak  of  this  as  displaying  a  wonderftil 
amount  of  knowledge  in  the  eternal  Jehovah.  He  could  as  easily  have  predicted 
the  whole  history  of  the  world  from  its  creation  to  its  ilnal  conilagration,  as  have 
specified  this  small  portion  of  it.  But  this  text  is  of  grand  consequence,  as 
showing  the  great  religious  object,  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  the  govern- 
ment of  this  world  has  always  been  directed ;  and  proving  that,  during  all  these 
successive  revolutions  of  empires,  the  kingdom  of  God  was  the  great  institution 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


640  APPBNDIX. 

to  which  the  Bympfrthy  and  design  of  Heaven  were  direoted.  ijid  how  perfeel 
was  the  fulfllment  of  this  part  of  the  prophecy !  Although  Borne  won  uniTersal 
empire  under  a  republican  form  of  government,  it  reigned  supreme  as  a  mon- 
archy :  it  was  therefore  under  the  '*  kinqs  "  of  this  nation  that  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  was  founded. 

Again,  it  should  be  observed,  ^at  the  changes  in  Hebrew  history  during  the 
interval  between  the  publication  of  this  prediction  and  its  fulfilment  were  no 
less  remarkable  than  those  which  took  place  in  the  empires  of  the  world.  Yet 
all  were  made  to  harmonixe,  and,  during  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Cnsar,  the  Mes- 
siah's forerunner  was  heard  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  procluming,  **  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand :  repent  ye,  and  beliove  the  gospeL"  And  soon  aflep- 
ward  the  glorious  announcement  was  made  by  the. Son  of  God  himself:  "The 
time  is  fulfilled,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Mark  1, 15.  And  Jesus, 
having  died  a  ransom  for  the  world's  sin,  and  risen  again  from  the  dead,  com- 
missioned his  disciples  to  preach  his  gospel  under  the  constant  guidance  of  his 
own  Spirit  and  power.    Thus  was  the  kingdom  of  God  set  up  in  the  world. 

n.  We  notice,  fiirther,  Daniers  prophecy  of  the  fourth  beast:  "After  this  1 
saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  behold  a  fourth  beast,  dreadful  and  terrible,  and 
strong  exceedingly;  and  it  had  great  iron  teeth:  it  devoured  and  brake  in 
pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it :  and  it  was  diverse  flrom  all 
the  beasts  that  were  before  it :  and  it  had  ten  horns.  I  considered  the  horns, 
and,  behold,  there  came  up  among  them  another  little  horn,  before  whom  there 
were  three  of  the  first  horns  plucked  up  by  the  roots :  and,  behold,  in  this  honi 
were  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  man,  and  a  mouth  speaking  great  things.  Then  I 
would  know  the  truth  of  the  fourth  beast,  which  was  diverse  from  all  the  others, 
exceeding  dreadful,  whose  teeth  were  of  iron,  and  his  nails  of  brass ;  which  de- 
voured, brake  in  pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  his  feet ;  and  of  the  ten 
horns  that  were  in  his  head,  and  of  the  other  which  came  up,  and  before  whom  three 
fell ;  even  of  that  horn  that  had  eyes,  and  a  mouth  that  spake  veiy  great  things, 
whose  look  was  more  stout  than  his  fellows."  Dan.  vii,  7,  8,  19,  20.  In  thtm 
words  we  have  clearly  another  important  class  of  predictions  of  the  Roman  empire. 

In  the  first  instance,  it  may  be  observed,  that  this  prediction  asserts  the  pecu- 
liar character  of  this  fourth  dominion,  in  respect  of  the  preceding  empires. 
These  were  so  much  in  the  usual  order  of  nature,  although  remarkable  for  great 
power,  that  they  were  represented  by  well-known  animal  figures,  with  such  ad- 
ditions to  their  natural  conformation  as  were  adapted  to  mark  out  their  extra- 
ordinary qualities.  Hence  the  lion  had  eagle's  wings ;  the  bear  had  three  ribs 
in  its  mouth ;  and  the  leopard  had  four  wings  of  a  fowL  But,  in  the  case  of  the 
fourth  beast,  it  seemed  that  the  monstrous  creation  defied  description,  being  alto- 
gether so  unlike  everything  previously  known.  This  was  wonderfully  fulfilled 
in  the  Roman  empire ;  arising  not  from  an  old  primitive  tribe  or  family,  nor 
owing  its  transcendent  gilory  to  the  genius  and  energy  of  a  single  sovereign. 
Rome  began  as  a  petty  minor  state,  surrounded  by  many  others  of  greater  power, 
even  in  the  Italian  peninsula,  and  progressed  by  assimilating  these  to  itself; 
and  thus,  either  by  power  or  policy,  gradually  aoquired  preponderance  in  Italy. 
Then,  again,  another  important  point  of  diversity  in  the  Roman  state  was  its  re- 
publican form  of  government.  Nothing  like  this  had  been  seen  in  the  preceding 
great  powers :  they  were  monarchies  of  the  most  absolute  and  autocratic  charac- 
ter. Rome,  diverse  from  all,  arose  into  power  under  the  legislation  of  the  senate, 
and  through  the  administration  of  a  succession  of  pairs  of  consuls,  ruling  with 
equal  powers. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


APPBHBIX.  641 

Seoottdly,  a  yery  remarkable  oharaeteriBtio  of  this  empire  is  its  amaiing 
ttrength,  fieroeneBs,  and  implacable  disposition.  It  was  **dreadM  and  ierrlble, 
and  strong  exoeedingly ;  and  it  had  great  iron  teeth :  it  devonred  and  brake  in 
pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it,"  How  graphically  does  this 
portray  the  conduct  of  the  Romans  toward  Carthage,  Greece,  and  many  other 
oonntries  I  No  roTerses  quenched  their  ardour ;  no  success  satisfied  their  am- 
bition. Steady  to  their  purpose,  they  endured  every  disaster,  and  dared  all 
resiBtance,  until  they  triumphed  oyer  alL  The  imperishable  words,  Delenda  tit 
Carthago^  form  a  striking  comment  on,  and  fulfilment  of,  this  prophecy.  When 
the  Punic  dty  had  renounced  all  pretensions  to  supremacy,  and  even  to  goTem- 
ment,  so  insatiable  was  the  rabid  power  of  the  dreadM  and  terrible  Roman 
beast,  that  Oarthi^  was  denied  even  existenoe.  The  subdued  and  powerless 
''residue  "  was  deToured,  broken  in  pieces,  and  stamped  under  the  feet  of  the 
beast. 

The  farther  portion  of  the  propheoy  relates  to  a  period  later  in  the  world's 
history  than  that  to  which  our  iuqqiries  refer.  But  it  may  be  briefly  stated,  that 
it  was  most  minutely  and  circumstantially  fulfilled.  Rome  having  accomplished 
its  destiny  as  a  great  empire,  its  dominions  were  divided  into  ten  kingdoms. 
These  have  been  fifferently  enumerated  by  learned  men,  according  to  the  date  to 
which  their  inquiries  have  been  directed ;  but  these  differences  are  not  import- 
ant. The  following  statement  may  be  regarded  as  substantially  correct :  1.  The 
senate  of  Rome;  2.  The  Greeks  in  Ravenna;  8.  The  Lombards;  4.  The  Huns; 
5.  The  Alemans  in  Germany;  6.  The  Franks;  7.  The  Burgundians;  8.  Spain; 
9.  The  Britons ;  10.  The  Saxons. 

But  the  most  striking  and  important  portion  of  this  prediction  relates  to  the 
little  horn.  According  to  the  prophecy,  one  new  and  separate  horn,  or  power, 
arose  up,  as  it  wete,  unobserved  among  these  ten  horns ;  and,  having  attained 
power,  it  plucked  up  three  of  the  horns  by  the  roots,  and  ruled  in  thdr  stead,^ 
"  having  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a  man,  and  a  mouth  speaking  great  things.'' 
Nothing  can  exceed  the  exactitude  with  which  this  sets  forth  the  rise  of  the 
papal  power.  By  successive  claims,  well  covered  with  humble  pretences,  the 
bishops  of  Rome  attained  a  Btatus  as  possessing  temporal  rule.  They  then  pro- 
ceeded onward,  until  the  government  of  Rome,  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  and 
the  kingdom  of  Lombardy,  were  entirely  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  pontiif,  in 
referenoe  to  which  possessions  he  to  this  day  wears  a  tripU  crown,  as  if  to  point 
himself  out  to  the  whole  world  as  the  subject  of  this  part  of  the  prophe<7.  As 
to  the  greatness  of  his  claims,  professions,  and  requirements,  nothing  need  be 
said,  when  it  is  known  that  *'  as  God  he  sits  in  the  temple  of  God,  claiming  to  be 
God." 

Surely  Rome,  wonderftil  in  her  origin,  her  power,  and  her  extent  of  dominion, 
is  no  less  wonderful  as  the  olject  of  great  and  glorious  Scripture  prophedes, 
which  were  fulfilled  in  her  history  and  ruin. 

41 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


Digitized  by  VjOOQ IC 


GENERAL  CHRONOLOGICAL  INDEX. 


B.O. 

Creation  of  the  world 6607 

Enoch  translated  to  heayen 4020 

Noah  born 8845 

The  uniTorsal  Delvge » 81I4& 

Death  of  Noah ^ 2895 

The  Diepenion,  about ^ 2780 

Nimrod  established  kinglj  goTemment  at  Babel.^* 2718 

The  Misraim  settle  in  Egypt ^ 2618 

Job's  trial  took  plaoe  about 2850 

Kaiomarsking  in  Persia » 2258 

Abraham  bom ^ ..„ 2118 

Isaac  bom « 2018 

Esau  and  Jacob  bom 1958 

The  Shepherds  expelled  from  Egypt.^. 1845 

Joseph  governor  in  Egypt « i 1882 

Jaoob  and  his  family  settle  in  E^^t ; 1828 

Moses  bom 1688 

The  Exodus... 1608 

The  spies  sent  into  Canaan 1606 

The  rebellion  of  Korah i 1588 

RamesisIIL  (Sesostris)  reigns  in  Egypt ^ 1569 

Israelites  pass  the  Jordan ^ .,.  1568 

Tabernacle  set  up  at  Gilgal 1561 

Death  of  Joshua 1548 

Israelites  brought  into  subjection  to  Mesopotamia 1588 

Israelites  deliyered  by  Othniel 1525 

Sethos  king  of  Egypt 1472 

Ehud  and  Shamgar  judges  in  Issael 1895 

Teutames  reigns  in  Assyria '.„  1214 

Troy  taken  and  destroyed ., ;.., 1188 

Samson  and  Eli  judges  in  Israel.. 1152 

Return  of  the  Heracleids  to  Pekponaesas ', 1108 

Saul  anointed  king  oyer  the  Hebrews 1099 

David  king  over  all  Israel 1052 

The  ark  of  God  placed  in  the  tabernacle  of  David 1048 

Solomon  bom 1089 

The  temple  begun 1016 

The  temple  finished.. 1009 

Solomon  carries  out  his  great  scheme  of  commercial' policy  and  navigation    995 

Shtehak,  king  of  Egypt,  plunders  Jerusalem 974 

Ab^ah  suooeeds  Rehoboam  in  Judah »«    962 

The  king  of  Israel  defeated  by  AbQah 961 

Jehoshaphat,  King  of  Judah,  provides  for  the  instmctiott  of  his  people 915 

The  Philistines  and  Arabians  ravage  Judea; 887 

Arbaoes,  a  Mede,  asoends  the  throne  of  Assyria 821 

Lycurgus  legislates  in  Sparta 817 

Jonah  prophesies  against  Nineveh » 806 

Bra  of  the  Olympiads 776 

Tiglath-Pileser  king  of  Assyria 758 

Era  of  the  building  of  Rome ^ 

Ehk  of  Nabonassar 747 


Digitized  by  LjOOQ IC 


C44  CHRONOLOGICAL  INDBX. 

A.  0. 

Ueiekiah  king  of  Judah 726 

NOma  king  of  Rome 716 

Sennacherib  invades  Judah..... 713 

Samaria  taken,  and  the  kingdom  of  Israel  deetroyed 710 

Joaiah,  King  of  Judah,  slain  at  Megiddo 690 

Tarquinius  king  of  Rome  (Sibylline  Books) 618 

NinoTeh  taken,  and  Assyrian  empire  destroyed 606 

Nebuchadneszar  king  of  Babylon 604 

Solon  reforms  the  constitution  of  Athens 694 

Jerusalem  taken  and  destroyed.    Gaptiyity  of  Judah 586 

Cyrus  king  in  Persia 660 

Belshauar's  feast  and  death, 568 

Cyras  subdues  Media,  and  reigns  there 551 

Cyrus  isonquers  Babylon,  and  establishes  the  Medo-Persian  empire 586 

The  first  caravan  of  Hebrews  return  to  Jerusalem.^ 685 

The  second  temple  begun 584 

Cambyses  reigns  in  Persia.... 529 

Darius  Hystaspis.king 581 

The  second  temple  finished...- 516 

Tarquin  expelled,  and  monarchy  abolished  at  Rome 509 

Pythagoras  dies 497 

The  Persians  defeated  at  Marathon 490 

Xerxes  invades  Greece 486 

Xerxes  is  completely  defeated—  - 479 

Artaxerxes  ascends  the  throne  of  Persia 464 

Artaxerxes  sends  £zra  to  Judea 457 

Artaxerxes  marries  Esther — 

First  Peloponnesian  Wat v 431 

The  Romans  besiege  Yeii 405 

Joiada,  high  priest  of  Jerusalem,  murders  his  brother  in  the  temple — 

Athens  taken  by  the  Spartans 404 

Death  of  Socrates v.. ...  399 

Plato  and  Aristotle  flourish  at  Athens 897 

Alexander  conquers  the  Persian  empire 838 

Alexander  dies  at  Babylon < 3SS 

Simon  the  Just  high  priest  at  Jerusalem 300 

Septuaglnt  translation  made 278 

Agis  in.,  attempting  the  reformation  of  Sparta,  is  slain 244 

Second  Punic  War.— Hannibal  in  Italy 218 

Jerusalem  sacked,  and  the  temple  plundered,  by  Antioohus.   170 

Maoedonian  kingdom  destroyed  by  the  Romans 168 

Mattathias  and  his  sons  resist  the  Antiochian  persecution 167 

Carthage  destroyed... 146 

The  Jews  obtain  their  Independence 143 

Tiberius  Gracchus  slain 183 

Idumeans  subdued  and  incorporated  with  the  Jews 129 

Caius  Gracchus  slain 123 

Aristobulus  assumes  the  title  and  state  of  a  king  at  Jerusalem 106 

Julius  Csasar  born : 100 

Civil  war  in  Rome  between  the  factions  of  Marius  and  Sylla 88 

Civil  war  in  Judea  between  A.lexander  Janneus  and  the  Pharisees.. 86 

Pompey  the  Great  triumphs  at  Rome  for  Ms  numerous  oonq^ests 62 

First  Roman  Triumvirate,— CsBsar,  Pompey,  and  Crassus 60 

Julius  Cassar  rules  supreme  at  Rome 48 

Julius  Csosar  slain 44 

Herod  made  king  of  Judea.... 40 

Ootavius,  under  the  title  of  Augustus,  rules  the  Roman  empire 31 

The  temple  of  Janus  shut  at  Rome 29 

Herod  begins  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple m.....'. 17 

The  temple  finished 7 

JesQs  Christ  bom * 4 

Vulgar  Christian  Era 0 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURES 

VmOH  ABE  MORE  OB  LESS  ILLUSTBAIXD. 


f^ 

QKNB 
.  Tom 

1.2 

2-6 

BIB. 

i,    101 

6-8 

i,    108 

9^13 

L    108 

20-25 

i,    106 

26 

i,    107 

27,28 

i»    122 
i,    107 

ii 

3 

i,    108 
i,    122 
i,    141 
i,    142 
i,    141 
i,    149 

7-9 

^26,15 

9 

10-14 



19 

21-26 

i,    122 
i,    128 

!ii 

11 

i,    216 

21 

i,    162 

24 

i.    148 

147 

i,    200 

i,    162 

iT 

1 ..... 

2.  8.  4.17.... 

8-7,... 

i,    203 

8-12 

8 

i,    213 
i,    283 

19-24 ,..., 

i,    168 

20,21 

i,    177 

22 

L    178 

23,24. 

26 

1,      66 
i,    862 

26 

i,    164 

T 

1 

L      66 

2-26 

i,      18 

i,    214 

24 

vi 

8 



237 
i,    164 
i,      86 
i,    199 

4 

i,    187 

5,  r,  12,  18, 
12,18 

17,  19, 
20,29 

189 

i,      69 
i,    240 

18-21 

i,    244 
i,    249 

vii 

1-3 

W 



1.      69 

Chntar.  Ymml  YoL  Pin. 

▼u         2 i,  170 

11 i,  18 

16,19,21 i,  266 

Tiii        18 i,  298 

14-19 i,  262 

19 i,  299 

20-22 i,  80* 

ix          8 i,  223 

8,4 i.  228 

4 i,  399 

11-17 i,  806 

18,19 i,  311 

20-27 i,  309 

X           8-10.., i,  330 

9 i,  329 

11,12 i,  436 

21,24 i,  62 

26 1,  821 

80...... i,  846 

xi          1,2 i,  322 

1—9  •■....  ••.........•.»..•.  1,  60 

2 i,  801 

8-9 i,  824 

4 i,  386 

6 i,  826 

837 

12 ^. i,  22 

26,32 I,  870 

xii         1,2 ii,  14 

6 i,  876 

xiii        14-17 a,  15 

XT         13-21 U,  15 

13,14,16 ii,  26 

18-16 Ui,  688 

18 i,  883 

XTi        11,12 i,  888 

18 i,  421 

xtU      -2-8 ii,  15 

16-21 ii,  16 

xviii      6,7 ii,  21 

xxi        17-20 i,  889 

xxiu      17 i,  66 

xxiv      7 i,  407 

XXT       9 i,  891 

16-18 i,  892 

18 i,  499 

22 i,  396 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


646 


INDBX  TO  8C&IPTURBS  ILLU8TRATBD. 


Gbaptar.  YevM. 


OBNESia 


ToLFMa. 


xzz 
xxzi 

xzzii 


BXODXJS. 


fii 
It 

▼U 

z 
zU 


ziii 

ZiT 
ZT 

zH 


8 

9,10... 
13.  14.. 

16 

80.31.. 
8,9., 


ii. 
ii, 
ii. 
.ii. 
ii, 
ii, 


11,12 ii, 


ZTii        d, 


zz 
zziv 


zzriii 
zzz    . 

zzziil 

zzzviil 


22. 

30.  33,  37, 38. 

19 

21 

1.2 ..., 

1-21 - 

4,  22"'^''26^is^Z 

9-12 

9,33,34 — 

16 

14...  .• 

8-8 

4-8 

2 -. 

9-11 

1-8 

10-22.. ..„ 

30 ;...., 

6 .....^M  ...... 

24^i'r."  !V. v.r.™!  z 


LBVITICUa 


ii. 
ii. 

1. 
ii. 
ii. 
U. 
ii. 
ii. 
ii, 

i. 
U. 
ii, 
ii, 
ii. 
ii. 

i. 
ii. 
ii. 
ii. 
U. 
ii. 

i, 
ii. 
ii. 
ii. 
ii. 
ii. 


zzYi      9-11 ii,  98 

zzTii     1-4 U,  19 

zzYitt   13-16 .' Ii, 

18,19 ii, 

20.21 ii, 

3 i, 

2 ii,  23 

3,14-16 ii,  24 

1,2 U,  26 

24-29 Ii,  26 

11,12 U,  17 

18 i.  424 

zzzyU  8,4 ii,  26 

zJi         1^6 iU,  638 

zl¥ii      11 ii,  47 

1            29 iii,  62 


▼iU 

z 
zi 
z& 
ziU 
383JzTi 


iz          23,24 Ii, 

ztU       7 iii, 

11 ii, 

zziil      16-20 ii. 

34-44 U, 


91 

30 

56 

36 

36 

37 

44 

46 

23 

469 

29 

47 

48 

60 

66 

220 

68 

94 

69 

60 

61 

64 

116 

62 

466 

63 

103 

146 

107 

466 

96 

116 

66 


67 

18 

111 

112 

ni 


zzi 


zzir 

ZZT 

ZZTli 

zzTiU 
zzziii 


hr 
zi 
zvi 
zvH 

ZZTii 

zzzi 

zzzii 

zzziii 
zzzIt 


i 

▼i 
z 

ziU 
ZTiii 

ZZlT 


Zl 

Ziii 

ZTi 

zrHi 


NUMBEBa 

Yem.  YoLPtaa. 

4 ii,  99 

2,3.7,8 ii,  246 

12,16^16,21,23 ii.  70 

1 ii.  71 

27,28,88 ii,  78 

2, 3, 6-7...  • . ii,  76 

2JM0 ii,  76 

9-12; ii,  77 

4,  6 ii,  79 

13 ii.  79 

28,29 i,  67 

21,22 iii,  649 

4 ii,  81 

16,17 ii,  83 

11,12 ii,  113 

41 iii  79 

16 .•  ii,  64 

16,  17 Ii,  279 

21 i,  130 

2-^ ii,  92 

16,17 .•  ii,  220 

4 i,  29 

4-26 Ii,  188 

26 i,  16 

16,17 Ii,  92 

43 i,  30 

8 ii,  108 

poMMi i,  91 

10 ii,  97 

J06HITA. 

6 11,  126 

9-11 a,  60 

3-6 ii.  129 

8 U,  181 

1^ ii,  134 

1,2 ii,  138 

1 ^ ii,  243 

14 u,  92 

JUBGEa 

1,2 ii,  142 

7 ii,  232 

7 ii,  236 

12 ii,  147 

1 a,  147 

2 ; ii,  149 

24 ii.  160 

34 ii,  160 

9-H ii,  164 

19,20 ii,  166 

3 Ii,  169 

6,6,19,20 ii,  233 

27,28 ii,  243 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


HOWL  TO  BQRIPTDBaS  HJimaifEBD. 


64T 


IfiAMUBL. 

VT      7-10 ; ii,  iSl 

18 i,  224 

T           10 ii,  167 

Ti          18,19 ,  ii,  244 

21 a,  168 

▼U         1,2 ^  ii,  244 

Ix          13 i,  224 

X           1 ^  ii,  172 

26.27 ii,  178 

xU         12 .,  ii,  178 

XT         28 ii,  177 

XTi        fi,ll i,  224 

1,2. ii,  177 

xix        24.. ii,  180 

xxiii      16-19 ii,  181 

2  SAMUEL 

T           19 ii,  187 

▼ti         6 ii,  95 

X           2 ii,  189 

xiT        82 : u,  192 

xix       43 „ U,  194 

XX         26 U,  244 

IKINGa 

a           16 U,  197 

2a U,  205 

▼m        12-60 ii,  268 

ix          17,18 a,  212 

26-28 ; a,  214 

X  6.7 ii,  216 

16-19 ii.  220 

28 a,  220 

28.29 ai,  84 

XI  4 a,  269 

27,28 a,  222 

31-38 a,  22^ 

38 a,  271 

xa         28,29 a,  273 

Xlv        6 ^....  a.  276 

22-24 a,  803 

XT         17 ^ a,  276 

XTli       1 a,  279 

xix        10,14,18 a,  283 

xxi        19,23 a,  286 

xxU       7,8 a,  286 

2KING& 

Tm     9 a,  290 

ix          81 a,  277 

xia       7 a,  293 

XiT        24 ii,  296 

XTi        7 -.  ai,  164 

16-18 a,  830 

XTa       4 m,  89 

XTai      4 a,  332 

82.«6.4 ai,  226 

XX         1 a,  833 


T 
Ti 
XT 
XTi 


xxi 

XXTai 


1 

T 

Ti 
tH 

Tui 

ix 

X 

xi 

XiT 
XTti 

zx 
xxi 

XZiT 
XXT 
XXTi 

xxTia 
xxza 
zxzm 

xxziT 


Ti 
Tfl 


T 
X 

za 
zai 


T 
Ti 

Tii 

ix 

zai 

ziT 

XT 


ICHBOMICLES. 
Vane. 

1.2 : 

81-48 

2-16... ^ .,. 


^"'SS 


40 

1 

12 


ii, 
ii. 
ii. 
ii. 
ii, 
U. 
ii. 


2CHR0NIGUBS. 


7-10 

11-14 

1-42 

1 ^ 

17,18  — 

1-9 

26 

4,  10,  11. 
16.17...... 

8.4 

6 


10.  13-19.. 

86-37 

11 

18 

27 

16 

20 

81 

11 

12 

14 


EZRA. 


1-12.. 
23.... 


NEHEBOAH. 


8 

29 

82.36.86. 

27-48 

4.5 ... 


JOB. 


1 

6 

8 

8,9.... 

4 

16-21., 

17 

4-10... 

16 

•10-16.. 
8 


244 
244 
246 
244 
244 
40i 
KM 


ii.  206 

a,  249 

a.  268 

a,  t60 

ii.  217 

a,  217 

a,  220 

a,  224 

ii,  273 

a,  806 

ii.  310 

■a,  811 

a,  287 

a,  316 

a,  -318 

ii,  324 

a,  323 

a,  330 

ui,  188 

iii,  176 

a,  337 

a.  389 


tii,  268 
a,  869 


a.  372 

a,  872 

ii,  878 

a,  872 

a,  373 


867 

404 

402 

400 

489 

486 

414 

400 

411 

412 

426 

Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


u% 


niDSZ  TO  SOKIPTUBIB  ILLVSTRATH). 


JOB. 

rvi"       12-14 i,  490 

xrUi      i,  4»1 

ziz       23,24 i,  66 

28-27 i.  400 

zx         24 U  489 

xxi       28^80 i,  412 

xxui     10 i,  416 

xxri      6.22,26 i,  401 

7,8 i,  499 

xxTu     22....* , i,  401 

xxviU    i,  486 

xxxi      13,14 i,  418 

26.27 t  866 

28 ii,  98 

xjaiU    23.24 i,  414 

.  xxxiii   24 i.  416 

xxxviU4-ll i,  403 

.   F8ALIC& 

Tiu       6,6 i,  122 

6 i,  149 

xxxiT    22 ii,  264 

M         10-18 ii,  264 

Ux        16,17 ii,  264 

lxx¥iii60,67 ii.  244 

OS         1 ii,  463 

ISAIAH. 

i           29 i.  129 

iy..       6 U,  331 

tU         14 ii.  329 

▼itt        19.. iU.  382 

ix          6 U.  463 

xiii        17 iii.  676 

19-22 iii,  666 

xiT        13.14 i.  384 

22,28 iU.  666 

xix        2-4 iii.  639 

6-7 iii,  640 

xxi        2 Ui,  676 

xxifi      13 iii,  661 

xxxTii  6,  7,  21-28,  28,  29, 

38,34 ^..  iU,  660 

xU        21-23 ul,  60 

xUt      24.28 • U,  360 

iii,  694 

27 iu,  664 

xlT        1-3 ui,  664 

1 iii,  694 

1-6 ii,  360 

xlTu      1,6,7,8 ui,  661, 

1 iu,  664 

liv         9 i,  296 

Ixiii      9,10 ii,  97 

JEREBflAH. 

i            16,18,19 tt,  381 

Til         12. H.  248. 


JBRISIQAH. 

Gbtttar.  Yflneu  y«L  Aai. 

x3i    18 : I,  a? 

XXT       8-11 iii,  663 

18,26 ill.  187 

26 iii,  676 

xxTi      1-12 ill,  638 

XXTU     4-8 iii.  187 

662 

6-« iii.  194 

xxTiu    11 iii,  662 

xxxil    4 ii,  346 

xxxiT    3 ii,  846 

xliu      10 iii.  688 

xUt       17-26 iii,  213 

xlTi       18 iii,  688 

xlTiu    46,46 i.  67 

1            8-10 iii,  664 

24 iii,  664 

U          67 iii,  664 

7,17 ui.  19 

IS,  26,  29,  37,  42,  43  iii,  666 

27 i,  803 

EZEKIEL 

Tiii        7 Ii,  883 

X           4.  19 ii,  886 

20 i,  146 

xi          22,28 ii,  386 

XiT        14,20 i,  296 

XX         7,8 ii,  92 

xxTiii    13.14 i.  148 

xxix      14,16 iu,  639 

18,19 iii,  638 

18-20 iii,  98 

XXX       10,11 ui,  688 

13 iii,  689 

13-19 iii,  640 

xxxTiU2,16 i,  348 

DANIEL. 

i            1 ii,  849 

17-20 ii,  362 

ii           2S-46 ii,  862 

868 

81-46 ai,  663 

83,34,41-46 Iii,  688 

89 Hi,  603 

619 

iU          4,6 ., iii,  228 

iT          7,8,19,20 iU.  640 

26,80 iii,  229 

T           26-28 ii,  367 

31 ui.  198 

Ti          6 ii,  368 

Til         6,20 iii,  693 

6 m.  619 

9,  10 i,  427 

Tiii        6-7 iu,  694 

xi          2 iii.  274 

14 ii,  415 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


INDBX  TO 

JOEL, 
ii  2^-S2 

AMOa 
ix  11,  12 

MIGAH. 
T  6 

NAflUM. 

i  8 

a  6,  7 

ill  18-16 

ZEPHAIOAH. 
zi  18-16 

HAOGAL 

I  6,8-11 

H  7,9 

ZECHABIAH. 

Ui         8.9 

▼i  12 

BIALACHL 

i  11 

m         1 

It  5 

MATTHEW. 

xii        42 

Dli       42,  46 

xxiT      37.89 

LUKE. 

iii  86.  86 

xi  81 

T^       26,27 

JOHN. 
Ti  61,68-66 

ACTS. 

Hi  21* 

Tii         2-4 


BO&IPTURBS  ILLUSTKATBD. 
ACTS. 


649 


Vol 
ii. 


i,      80 
i,    846 


iii,  662 
iii,  662 
iii,    662 


iii,    668 


iH,    268 
tt,    471 


ii,    461 
ii,    462 


ii,  462 
ii,  462 
ii,    462 


ii,  216 
tt,  470 
i,    296 


i,  22 
ii,  216 
i,    296 


i     227 


i,    216 
i,    370 


Chanler.  Yflneu  YoL  F|Ml 

▼U         22 ii,  88 

XT         16,  17 i,  80 

XTi        16 i,  181 

100BINTHIAK& 

▼iii        10 ^ i,  224 

GALATIAN& 

m          17 i,  28 

EPHESIAN& 

▼           2 i,  899 


1  THESSALONIANa 

16-17 i,  82 

HEBREWS. 

9 i,  202 

8 ii,  106 

12 i,  202 

6 I,  30 

4 i,  166 

4,6 ii,  90 

6 i,  197 

7 i,  297 

8-10 i,  4M 

9 ii,  * 

10 i,  226 


ii 
ix 

X 

xi 


xiii 


xiii 

XTii 


IFETraL 
10-12 i,    416 


2PETEB. 


6 

2-13. 
8 


i,  248 
i,  29 
i,      97 


JUDE. 


14 ii,  474 

I  66 

14,16 iH,  148 

BEVELATION. 

6-11 i,  146 

8 i,  202 


xrUi      8.. 


41« 


1. 

Hi, 
Hi, 


827 
19 
19 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


Digitized  by  VjOOQIC 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


^orofi,  appointed  Mgh-prieBt,  ii,  105 — 
Mb  death,  79. 

JbimeUehf  king  in  Sheohem,  ii,  152. 

Abrahatn,  history  of,  i,  369^87~-the 
promises  made  to  him,  ii,  14. 

Abtalonif  his  rebellion,  ii,  192— is  defeat- 
ed and  slain,  193 — his  treason,  &64u 

AckoHt  his  sin  and  punishment,  ii,  129. 

^fUM,  legend  of,  iii,  633. 

Ahab,  his  reign  over  Israel,  ii,  278 — his 
death,  and  the  Mfilment  of  £l\}ah's 
prophecy,  287. 

Ahax  succeeds  to  the  throne  of  Judah, 
ii,  328— IsiUah's  mission  to  him,  329 
— his  inveterate  idolatry,  330 — 
mighty  prophetic  influanoe  employed 
to  sustain  true  religion  during  his 
reign,  830. 

Ahaziah  suooeeds  his  &ther  Jehoram  aa 
king  of  Israel,  ii,  316. 

4t,  the  city  of,  taken,  ii,  130. 

Mta,  legend  of;  iii,  634. 

jHcimiu,  the  apostate  high-priest,  his 
remarkable  death,  ii,  430. 

JUxandtr  the  Great,  his  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem, where  he  is  informed  of  the 
prophecies  of  Daniel,  ii,  409. 

AUxcmdir  Janneus  succeeds  to  the  He- 
brew throne,  ii,  442 — saved  from  ruin 
by  Cleopatra  of  Egypt,  443— defeated 
by  the  combined  Pharisees  and  Syr- 
ians, 444— recovers  his  strength,  and 
completely  destroys  the  rebellious 
Phj^sees,  445. 

AUpumdra  reigns  queen  in  Jerusalem, 
u,  446. 

Alphabtt^  its  origin  discussed,  i,  46,  et 
«9.— early  traditions  respecting  it, 
54— proof  of  the  early  knowledge  of 
an,  58— Hartwell  Home's  opinion  of, 
59. 

AmaUkiits^  Israelites'  conflict  with,  ii,  61 
—their  origin,  519. 

Amaziaht  King  of  Judah,  invading  Is- 
rael, is  defeated  and  taken  prisoner, 
ii,  294— reigns  over  Judah,  320. 

Ammomtu  tyrannise  over  Israel,  ii,  153. 


Amon  reigns  over  Judah,  ii,  338. 

Amoriiei  resist  Israel,  and  are  destroyed 
ii,  80 — ^two  tribes  expelled  by  hornets 
545. 

Amo$  prophecies,  296. 

Amphictyonic  Council,  tlie,  iii,  616. 

Ammal  figures,  the  compound,  of  As- 
syria, derived  firom  the  ehembim,  iii, 
218. 

AttimalSf  miraculously  led  into  the  ark, 
i,  250— worship  of;  aooording  to  Diod- 
orus,  iii,  23. 

Anointing  of  kings,  publio  and  private, 
ii,  551. 

AnUdiluviant,  first  generation,  i,  159 — 
second,  162— third,  163— fourth,168— 
fifth,  167— sixth,  168— seventh,  168— 
eighth,  177— ninth,  180--tenth,  180 
— their  religion  not  destitute  of  la^ 
or  revealed  truth,  196 — were  ac- 
quainted with  the  being  and  govern- 
ment of  Qod«  197— and  the  fall  and 
depravity  of  man,  197 — had  the 
means  of  believing  on  a  promised 
Bedeemer,  and  oifered  saorinoes  typ- 
ical of  his  death,  199— believed  in  « 
state  of  future  existence,  210 — ^pos-* 
sessed  divine  laws,  215— observed  the 
Sabbath,  220— intellectual  character 
of;  228-231— addition  to  their  histoiy 
fVom  the  Targums,  233. 

Antigomu  plaoMl  on  the  Hebrew  throne 
by  an  anti-Roman  parly,  ii,  455, 

Antioehut  proscribes  the  Hebrew  fkith, 
and  persecutes  the  faithful  to  death, 
ii,421. 

AntipateTt  his  origin  and  character,  ii, 
448— he  supports  Hyroanus,  448 — 
rules  under  the  nominal  direction  of 
Hyrcanus,  and  extricates  Cesar  f^om 
great  peril  in  Egypt,  453. 

Ationp,  Marc,  appcnnted  exeontorx^f 
Julius  CflBsar's  will,  iii,  452— seduced 
by  Cleopatra,  454— is  defbated,  and 
kills  himself,  457. 

ApoMtaty  of  the  Hebrews,  cause  of  na- 
tional ruin,  ii,  d9a 

Apparition  of  Samuel,  ii,  562. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


662 


aSNB&AL  INDBZ. 


jiraratf  the  ark  rested  on,  i,  SOO — ^its 
geography,  802. 

jirckUectural  skill  of  the  patriarchal 
age,  i,  502. 

Artopagua,  the  judicial  court  of,  iii,  617. 

ArgonoMiic  expedition,  the,  iii,  603. 

ArUububu  wrests  the  government  from 
his  mother,  whom  he.  imprisons  and 
starves  to  death,  11,  441^-Hlefeats  his 
brother  Hyrcanns,  and  becomes  king 
of  the  Hebrews,  447. 

AriitotU,  his  character  and  doctrine,  ili, 
899. 

Ark  of  Ood,  taken  by  the  Philistines,  U, 
163— wonders  wrought  before  it  in 
PhiHstia,  167— motored  to  the  Israel- 
ites, 167 — ^bnt  not  returned  to  the 
tabernacle,  243. 

Jrk  of  Noah,  strange  opinions  held  re- 
specting, i,  246<— a  wonderAil  stmo- 

•  tuire,  247. 

Jhny,  first  standing,  of  Rome,  iii,  636. 

jirtaxerxet,  inscription  relating  to  his 
reign,  iii,  592. 

jha  reigns  over  Judah,  ii,  806— effects 
a  religions  reformation,  807 — induces 
the  ^ans  to  invade  Israel,  308— is 
reproved  by  a  prophet,  whom  he 
easts  into  prison,  809 — the  burning 
for,  387. 

Amarac,  the  great  national  idol  deity  of 
Assyria,  iii,  217. 

Aatkwr^  his  deification  in  Assyria,  im- 
]>ortaace  of,  iii,  211. 

wteyrio,  foundation  of  the  kingdom  of, 
i,  486--early  history  of,  437, 441— the 
king  of,  at  the  instigation  of  Ahaz, 
Invades  Israel,  ii,  299— connexion  of 
sacred  histoiy  with  the  history  of,  578 
•--4urmy  of,  miraculously  destroyed, 

*  6T9— early  intercourse  with  Egypt, 
111,  149— history  of,  150— important 
aid  afforded  by  recovered  sculptures 
of,  150— commencement  of  oonneotod 
hijBtory,  151— Sardanapalus,  his  reign 
and  exploits,  151— account  ftimished 
by  the  Obelisk,  154— tormination  of 
the  old  line  of  kings,  162 — ^Arbaces, 
a  Mede,  ascends  the  throne,  162 — 
reigns  of  Pul  and  Tiglat^-Pileser,  163 
— AawUneen's  arrangement  of  the 
seolpfiures  which  refer  to  the  later 
period,  164 — Sargon  (of  Isaiah)  his 
reign,  166 — account  of  it  from  the 
sculptures,166— Sennacherib,  account 
of  his  reign  from  the  sculptures,  168 
-^his  own  account  of  his  campaign 
against  Hezekiah,  171— Esarhaddon, 
his  reign,  172— conquers  Israel,  and 
sanries  the  Teh  Tribes  into  captivity, 
176— Nabuchodonosor,  his  reign,  176 
— Sarac,  his  reign,  178— assailed  by 


the  Modes,  178-«ubdued  by  the 
Modes  and  Babylonians,  179— ^ruling 
element  of  its  religion,  241 — pecu- 
liar difficulty  of  deciphering  proper 
names,  545. 

Jsayrian  sculpture,  ohronologieal  suo- 
cession  of  kings,  iii,  546. 

ABsyriam  invade  Judah  under  Holofer- 
nes,  ii,  dd8-Hhe  general  slain  by 
Judith,  and  the  army  routed,  888. 

AMtronomieal  science,  early  knowledge 
of,  in  China,  i,  75— Persia,  75— Chal- 
dea,  76— Bailly's  and  Brewster's  opin- 
ion of  the  early  existence  of,  77,  78 — 
general  riew  of  the  eridence  respect- 
ing the  esriy  knowledge  of,  80,  81. 

Jltkaiiah,  daughter  of  Jezebel,  reigns 
wickedly  in  Judah,  ii,  316— is  slain, 
817. 

AthenM,  the  rebuilding  of,  iii,  618. 

Atonement,  great  day  of,  ii,  109— neoea- 
sity  for,  believed  by  the  later  He- 
brews, 48a 

Auguitui,  left  heir  to  his  undo  Julius 
Cffissr,  iii,  452— elected  consul,  468— 
with  Antony  defeats  Brutus  and  Gas- 
sius  at  Philippi,  454— supreme  sover- 
eign of  the  Roman  empire,  457. 

B 

Baalfteor,  plague  at,  ii,  81. 

BatulM,  his  reign  over  Israel,  ii,  276. 

Babel,  kingdom  of  Nimrod  at,  i,  481. 

Babflon,  kings  of,  succeeding  Nimrod, 
i,  431 — ^history  of,  possesses  special 
interest,  iii,  181— subject  to  Assyria, 
182 — ^Nabonassar,  king  of,  his  reign, 
182 — ^Nadius,  Chinarus,  Pbms,  and 
JugSBus  successively  reign,  182— Mar- 
docempadue  reigns,  and  rerists  As- 
syria, 188 — again  subdued  by  Assyria, 
184 — ^Nabopolassar  king,  184 — ^in  con- 
junction with  the  Medes,  takes  Nin- 
eveh, 184— Nebuchadnezzar  king,  186 
—his  reign.  186-195— Eril-Merodach 
king,  19^fiivour8  the  captive  king 
of  Judah,  196— Neriglissar,  having 
slain  Eril-Merodach,  succeeds  him, 
197 — Laborosarchod,  the  Belshassar 
of  Daniel,  king,  197 — his  cruelty,  pro- 
fane feast,  and  death,  198 — ^becomes 
subject  to  Media,  199 — ^Labynetus, 
the  governor,  revolts,  but  is  subdued, 
and  the  city  taken  by  Cyrus,  200— 
probable  state  of  political  relation 
to  Assyria  before  the  reign  of  Nabo- 
polassar,  508 — ite  magnitude  and 
splendour,  555 — chronological  succes- 
sion of  kings  after  Nebuchadnezzar, 
556 — fulfilment  of  sacred  prophecy 
in  the  history  of,  561 — ^the  type  of 
Papal  Antichrist,  570. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


GBNH&AL  INDHX. 


653: 


Bmeeha$tmUa,  infiaioiui  rItM  oC  iil»  488., 

J^oZMfti,  his  oondoot,  ii,  81. 

Barak  defeats  SiseTft»  King  of  Canaan, 
u,  148. 

Bdt  the  Behis  of  Assyria,  iii»  211-Hif 
Babylon,  213. 

B^hazxar's  feast  and  death,  li,  857— 
his  ease  move  part&oolarly  consider- 
ed, 582. 

Bmdiadad  invades  Israel,  and  is  nirao- 
vloosly  repulsed,  ii,  284~besiege8  Sa- 
maria, and  reduces  it  to  great  straits ; 
bat  his  army,  by  the  interpontton  of 
Ood,  is  dispersed,  288— in  his  sick- 
ness consults  the  prophet  Elisha,  290. 

Bttktl  taken,  ii«  188. 

B^ik^shemahf  sin  and  punishment  at,  ii, 
646. 

Bandttg9  of  the  Israelites  in  Sgypt,  ii, 
70. 

JBooib,  Chaldnan  traditions  of  the  early 
existenoe  of,  i,  71 — ^Persian,  71 — ^In- 
dian, 72. 

Borrowing  by  the  Israelites  from  the 
Egyptians,  11,  514. 

Bornppa^  where  Labynetus  took  r^tige, 
its  geography,  iii,  560. 

Bcwi^  made  of  steel  or  brass,  mentioned 
in  Job,  i,  489. 


C«Mr,  Julius,  policy  of,  in  Egypt  and 
Judea,  U,  45d-«abdues  Oaul,  iii,  447 
-^marches  on  Rome  in  defiance  of  the 
senate,  448— defeats  Pompey,  and 
beoomee  master  of*  the  Roman  em- 
pire, 449 — ^is  adored  at  Rome  as  a 
deml-god,  450— is  assassinated,  451 
— ^his  vast  designs,  452. 

CaUb^  his  fiuthful  conduct  as  one  of 
the  spies,  ii,  74— his  brave  behaviour, 
142. 

Caift  the  golden,  of  Aaron,  ii,  85— no- 
ue  and  pious  ooadufit  of  Moses  re- 
specting, 65. 

CamiJOuM  delivers  Rome  fh>m  the  Gauls, 
and  restores  the  city,  iii,  418. 

Coffip,  order  of  the  Inaelites  in  their, 
U,  68— described,  87. 

CwMon^  promised  to  Abraham,  ii,  14 — 
to  Isaac,  22— -to  Ja4sob,  46 — ^thirty-one 
ktDgdoms  of;  subdued,  183 — provi- 
dential preparation  forlsraelitish  in- 
vasion of,  iii,  535. 

CarovoiM  in  use  in  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham, i,  484.   ' 

Car€h«mi^,  route  of  Pharaob-Necho  to, 
u,  581. 

Carthage,  first  war  of  Rome  with,  iii, 
420— destroyed,  435. 

ChaUman  oradee,  the  infonnation  they 
afford,  iii,  207. 


ChmnAie  elements,  foundation  of  animal 
worship,  iii,  24— figures  of,  orijpn  of 
animal  worship  in  Egypt,  132. 

Ckentbim  in  Paradise,  nature  of;  i,  143; 
ii,  529— <tf  Ezekiel,  their  relation  to 
Assyrian  sculpture,  iii,  568. 

China,  early  history  of;  i,  442— religion 
of,  447. 

Chrimological  arrangement  of  Nebu- 
chadnexiar's  dreams,  ii,  582. 

Chronological  position  of  the  lower  line 
of  Assyrian  kings,  iii,  547. 

Chronological  table  of  Egyptian  histwy, 
iii,  126— Asi^rian,  180— Babylonian, 
201— Median,  250— Persian,  286— 
Grecian,  359— Roman,  458. 

Chronology,  importance  of  a  knowledge 
of,  i,  12— of  the  early  ages,  discuss- 
ed, 13-«-of  the  Israelites'  scgoum  im 
Egynt,  ii,  515— of  the  Judges,  164— 
of  the  Hebrew  monarchy,  270— of 
Hebrew  history  dwing  the  Captivity, 
376— of  Hebrew  history  firom  restora- 
tion to  independence,  433— from  in- 
dependence to  time  of  Christ,  450— 
of  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem  by 
Judith,  5d0-of  Daniel,  587. 

Cka^uHfk-Riahalhaim,  tyranny  and  defeat 
of,  ii,  146. 

Cicero,  his  exposiiion  of  Roman  theolo- 
gy, iii,  494. 

Ciramuision,  its  divine  appointment, 
ii,  509. 

CiviUxaiion  of  first  early  population  of 
the  world,  191, 192. 

Clothing,  moral  effect  of  its  origin,  i,  162. 

Cloudy  pillar,  wonderful  effect  of  the, 
ii,  47. 

Coim  of  Simon  Maoeabeus,  ii,  596.      \ 

Commerce,  extensive  range  of  ancient,  i, 
492. 

Commereial  voyages,  early  date  of  Phe- 
nidan,  i,  493 — policy  of  Solomon,  ef- 
fect of,  on  the  conduct  of  Egypt  toward 
Israel,  ii,  560. 

Cofrfueion  of  Tonguee,  the  Mosaic  aecount 
of,  i,  387 — ^the  Scriptural  account  oon- 
firmed  by  learned  investigation,  838 
—a  great  miracle,  844. 

Coemogomf  of  the  Phenioians  from  San- 
choniatho,  i,  109— of  the  Chaldeans, 
by  Beroeus,  110— the  Hindus,  Ill- 
Persia,  112— Pythagoras,  116— Grid, 
117— reriew  of  the  Gentile  account  of, 
in  comparison  with  the  Mosaic,  118. 

Couno/ofGod,  i,  426. 

Creation,  sublimity  of,  i,  89— not  known 
by  reason,  but  by  revelation,  90— 
importance  of  the  knowledge  of,  91— 
geological  and  Scriptural  accounts  of, 
considered,  97— state  of  the  case,  97 — 
Mesaio  narration  of;  considered,  100, 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


«54 


GBNBRAL  Iin>BZ. 


CyriM,  Ifluah's  proplieoy  oonoenLiiig,  ii, 
369— his  tomb,  impoftant  inBcription 
on,  363 — ^hU  proclamation  of  Hebrew 
emancipation,  363 — personal  history 
of,  iii,  576 — was  he  acquainted  with 
Daniel's  prophe<7  ?  577. 


J)emul  carried  to  Babylon,  and  enrolled 
among  the  Magi,  ii,  802 — propheti- 
cally declares  and  explains  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream,  362 — ^made  chief 
of  the  Magi  and  governor  of  Babylon, 
363— delivered  from  the  den  of  lions, 
368 — ^his  notation  of  prophetic  time, 
690. 

Dantlcf,  the,  prepare  the  way  for  idola- 
try, ii,  232. 

Duruu  Hystaspis,  his  own  account  of 
his  wars,  iii,  682. 

DarvM  the  Mode,  who  was  he  ?  iii,  673. 

DwM^  anointed  king,  ii,  178— 'builds 
a  tabernacle  on  Mount  Zion  for  wor- 
ship, and  places  the  ark  there,  244 
—Ms  religious  conduct  and  experi- 
ence, 263— kills  Goliah,  179— made 
king  of  Judah  and  Israel,  186 — takes 
Jerusalem,  and  makes  it  his  capital, 
18&— prosecutes  extensive  and  suc- 
cessful wars,  188 — ^is  guilty  of  mur- 
der and  adultery,  190— is  convinced, 
and  repents,  191 — sins  by  numbering 
the  people,  196— greatness  of,  display- 
ed in  his  final  arrangements,  198— 
difficulties  in  the  Scripture  narrative 
of  his  entrance  on  public  life,  661. 

IMtdrah^  prophetess  and  judge,  ii,  148 
— ^her  noble  ode,  238. 

Decalogue^  proper  division  of,  ii,  627. 

Deity,  neither  the  unity  nor  the  purity 
of,  shown  by  idolatry,  iii,  29 — ^lan- 
gua|^  used  by  the  Hebrews  when 
speiJiing  of,  ii,  679. 

D^oeeSt  his  accession  to  the  Median 
throne,  iii,  672. 

Deluge^  history  of  the,  i,  241 — a  punish- 
ment for  sin,  242 — ^not  to  be  repeated, 
399— Scripture  narrative  of,  explain- 
ed, 242  —  peculiar  circumstances 
which  preceded  it,  261 — objection  to 
the  Scriptural  account  of,  considered, 
264 — its  universality  proved,  266 — 
philosophical  refutation  of  olgections, 
260-^heatheIk  traditions  respecting, 
267 — commemorated  in  the  heathen 
world,  272 — ChaldsBan  tradition  of, 
276 — Greek,  276 — ^ApamsDn  medal, 
278— Hindu  traditions,  279-284— 
Chinese,  286— Persian,  286— Egyp 
tian,  286— Edda,  of  the,  286— Jewish, 
287-^modem  traditions  found  in 
heathen  nations:    PenivianB»  289— 


Cuba,  290— Branl,  290-Otah«ite,  291 
—Britain,  291,  292— manner  of  its 
infliction  intended  to  teach  the  ftiture 
races  of  mankind,  298. 

Demon  agency,  the  means  by  which  the 
magicians  of  Egyp^  wronipit  wonders, 
ii,612. 

Dietator$kip,  origin  and  character  of, 
among  the  Romans,  iii,  636. 

Diepernon,  history  of  the,  1,  324— the 
earth,  by  divine  appointment,  divided 
among  <Um  sons  of  Noah,  322 — Scrip- 
tural account  of,  attested  by  heathen 
traditions,  326-^he  location  of  the 
several  tribes,  344— date  of  the.  479. 

Divition  of  Canaan  among  the  tribes,  ii, 
138— of  the  Hebrew  kingdom,  divine 
purpose  in,  670. 

Divine  influence  essential  to  reHgious 
prosperity,  ii,  240. 

E 

Edomitee  reftise  to  allow  the  Israelites 
to  pass  throng^  their  territory,  ii,  78w 

Eglon  slain  by  Ehud,  ii,  147. 

Egypt,  early  history  of,  i,  468,  469— 
religion  of,  470-477— the  Israelites' 
sojourn  in,  ii,  28— monumental  proof 
of,  47— its  history,  iii,  63 — ^was  a  na- 
tion, not  an  empire,  64 — ^has  not  left 
materials  for  a  complete  history,  64 
— outline  of  its  early  state,  66— Eigh- 
teenth dynasty  of,  its  government,  68 
—advanced  state  of  the  arts,  69— 
warlike  operations  of  Thothmosis  IIL, 
64— exodus  of  Israelites  from,  69-^ 
Ramses  III.  ascends  the  throne,  70 — 
his*  suooessftil  martial  career,  71 — 
combination  of  elegance  and  excessive 
cruelty,  76— Nineteenth  Dynasty : 
Rameses,  monun^ental  record  respect- 
ing! 78— Twentieth  Dynasty,  79— 
Twenty-first  Dynasty,  81— Tania  or 
Zoan,  81— oontemporary  with  Darid 
and  Solomon,  82 — ^Twenty-second  Dy- 
nasty, 84— Judea  invaded  by  Shishak, 
84  — Twenty-third  Dynasty,  86— 
Twenty-fburlh,  87— Twenty-fifth,  88 
— Ethiopian  power  paramount,  89 — 
Twenty-sixth  Dynasty,  91— The  Dode- 
carchy,  91 — ^Psammetichus,  92 — ^Pha- 
raoh-Necho  defeats  Josiah,  and  exer- 
cises the  power  of  appointing  a  king 
at  Jerusalem,96— architectural  works 
of  great  splendour  built,  101— Twenty- 
seventh  Dynasty,  or 'rule  of  Persian 
kings,  108— cruelty  of  Cambyses,  104 
— ^risit  of  Herodotus,  107 — ^Twenty- 
eighth  Dynasty,  native  rule,  107— 
Twenty-ninth,  native  kings,  108— 
Thirtieth  Dynasty,  native  kings,  108 
—Thirty-first,  Persian  kings,  in- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


aiNBRAL  INDBX. 


666 


ThktT-seoond,  Maoedomaaa,  lll^Al- 
exandria  built,  111— Thirty-third  Dy- 
nasty, the  Ptolemies,  112 — ^wise  gov- 
emment  of  Ptolemy  Soter,  118 — a  Ro- 
man pronnoe,  125~-great  degeneracy 
of,  under  the  later  Ptolemies,  121 — 
its  geography  and  popalation,  5dO — 
chronology  of  its  ancient  history,  581 
-^monumental  names  of  its  kings,  634. 

Egyptian  idolatry,  progressiTe  develop- 
ment of,  iii,  541. 

Egyptian  sculptures,  cruelty  exhibited 
on,  iii,  536. 

Elakt  his  reign  over  Israel,  11,  277. 

EUu$inian  mysteries,  nocturnal  scenes 
of,  iii,  625. 

El*  judges  Israel,  ii,  160 — ^his  history, 
161. 

Elyah  prophecies,  ii,  279— his  letter  to 
Jehoram,  577 — ^his  conduct  and  mira- 
cle at  Carmel,  282 — anoints  Haaael 
king  of  Damascus,  and  Jehu  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  throne  of  Israel,  288. 

Elitn,  Israelites  arriTe  at,  ii,  57. 

EUsha  enters  upon  the  prophetic  office, 
a,  287. 

£mptr0<,  their  origin,  i,  481. 

Enoek,  history  and  prophe<7  of^  i,  171-^ 
pety  and  end  of,  237. 

Epicurut^  his  character  and  doctrines, 
iii.  401. 

Etau  sells  his  birthright,  ii,  510. 

JSMcnet,  the  origin  and  e^araoter  of  the 
sect,  ii,  485— were  they  Christians  ? 
605. 

Either,  queen  of  Persia,  ii,  375. 

Etruscan  ori^n  of  Roman  power  and 
dTilization,  iii,  635. 

Etrtucans,  primitire,  iii,  460 — andent 
fiuth  of,  460— theology  of,  462— re- 
Ucious  doctrines  of,  467. 

Ev^Merodach  succeeds  to  the  throne  of 
Babylon,  ii,  356 — ^king  of  Babylon, 
iii,  196. 

Exodut,  wonderAil  character  of  the,  ii, 
46 — ^knowledge  and  effect  of,  on  sur- 
rounding nations,  50 — Sir  Oardiner 
Wilkinson  on  the  date  of  the,  Ui,  535. 


Faber,  the  Rev.  G.  S.,  his  account  of  the 
origin  of  idolatry,  iii,  22. 

Faith  of  the  Hebrews,  violent  aggres- 
sion on,  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  ii,  396. 

FaU  of  man,  Scriptural  account  of^  i, 
142  —  Hindu  tradition  respecting,' 
136 — ^Persian,  136^religious  conse- 
quences of,  149— direct  agency  of 
Satan  in  respect  of,  156. 

Fetichitm,  unsoripturally  and  absurdly 
called  "  the  original  reUgion  of 
kind/'  iii,  17. 


Fire-^wcr$kip,  Assyrian,  iii,  234r-origin 

of,  599. 
Fohee,  first  sovereign  of  China,  whether 

the  same  as  NoiJi,  i,  480. 
Future  judgment,  believed  in  Assyria, 

iii,  240 — ^rewards  and  punishments 

according  to  Zoroaster,  GiDO. 
Future  rewards  and  punl^menrts,  why 

mention  of  them  omitted  by  Moses  in 

the  law,  ii,  85. 
Future  state  of  existenoe  believed  by 

the  postdiluvian  patriarchs,  i,  412. 


Gauit,  the,  sack  Rome,  iii,  417. 

GedaUah  appointed  governor  of  Judea 
alter  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
ii,  350. 

Gems  and  precious  stones  in  use  in  Job's 
time,  i,  487. 

Geographical  extent  of  the  kingdoms 
of  Jndah  and  Israel,  ii,  574. 

Geography,  knowledge  of,  in  patriarchal 
times,  1,  499. 

Geologists,  their  oljeotions  to  the  De- 
luge met,  i,  294. 

Giants,  meaning  of  the  term  in  Gnosis, 
i,  165,  187. 

Gibeonitei,  their  craft  and  doom,  ii, 
131 — ^their  case  investigated,  142— 
their  slaughter  and  its  punishment, 
554. 

Gideon,  his  call  and  conduct,  ii,  149 — 
his  call  clearly  shown  to  be  of  God, 
234— following  the  example  of,  234— 
his  ephod,  563.  - 

Glass  sent  as  tribute  from  Assyria  and 
Babylon  to  Bgypt,  iii,  543. 

God,  manifestation  of,  in  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  ii,  96. 

Goliath,  his  profane  challenge  and 
death,  ii,  179. 

Crt)odnes»,  compassion,  and  love  of  €k)d, 
believed  by  postdiluvian  patriarchs, 
i.403. 

Gracchus,  Caius,  his  public  conduct  and 
death,  iii,  437. 

Gracchus,  Tiberius,  his  reforms,  iii,  436 
—his  death,  436. 

Greece,  history  of,  iii,  313— wonderful 
character  of,  314 — geographical  out" 
line  of,  315— patriarchal  origin  of, 
317— Pelasgians  and  Hellenes,  317— 
traditional  period,  319 — ^peculiar  state 
of  Greece,  820 — ^in  early  times  divid- 
ed into  many  and  dependent  states, 
religiously  united,  320— institutions 
of  Lycurgus  at  Sparta,  323 — of  Solon 
at  Athens,  325— the  Solonian  code  in 
abeyance  at  Athens  while  Pisistratus 
reigned,  329 — ^laws  of  Solon  restored, 
33(>— condition  of  the  states  and  oot 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


656 


0BNBRAL  IBRDSX. 


oniM  <if;  331— lint  Ptoniaii  tDTMioii 
defeated,  336 — second,  also,  at  Mara- 
thon,  3d&-^third,  of  Xerxes,  vast 
preparation  for,  339 — completely  re- 
pulsed, 844— ntpid  progress  of  useftil 
and  elegant  arts,  845— gained  much 
aid  from  foreign  oonntnes,  346— in- 
telleotual  eleration  of  Athens,  847 — 
first  Pel<^onnesian  if«r,  347-^Athe- 
nian  armament  against  Sicilj  totally 
destroyed,  348 — seoond  Peloponneeian 
war,  349— Athens  subdued,  849— 
martial  power  of  Thebes,  361— Philip 
of  Maoedon  makes  himself  supreme 
in  Greece,  353 — ^Alexander  suooeeds 
his  father  at  Maoedon,  854^>inTades 
Asia^  354— establishes  a  mighty  em- 
pire, and  dies,  354 — ^Antipater  rules 
in  Oreece,  355— Cassander  suooeeds 
to  the  govemment,  356— the  Aohsean 
League  under  Aratus,  357 — the  Ro- 
mans establish  their  dominion,  and 
make  Greece  a  Roman  proTinoe,  858. 

Greek  language,  prevalence  of,  ii,  592. 

Qrove$t  sacred,  what,  ii,  680. 

H 

HaiUtonet,  miraculous  shower  of,  ii,  541; 

Handieraft  arts  brought  to  great  perfeo- 
tion  in  patriarchal  times,  i,  492. 

Bmmbal  inyades  Italy,  Ui,  425. 

Baxael  becomes  king  of  Syria,  as  pre- 
dicted by  Elisha,  ii,  290— his  case 
considered,  573. 

Heatkeiu,  a  knowledge  of  their  religion 
essential  to  a  sound  acquaintanoe  with 
their  history,  ill,  15— religion  of,  not 
an  error,  but  the  woric  of  Satan,  iii, 
16— history  and  religion  of  the  an- 
cient nations  of,  508. 

I£tber,  house  of,  ii,  546. 

Hebrew  community  in  Egypt,  ii,  598. 

Hebrew  monaiishy,  general  views  of,  at 
the  death  of  David,  ii,  199. 

Hebrew  people,  remarkable  historical 
account  of  their  origin,  ii,  14 — ^their 
views  of  Deity,  266— immortality  of 
the  soul,  267— ihith,  peculiar  attesta- 
tion to  the  truth  of,  5QI — hyssop,  fig- 
urative import  of,  570— sevenU  de- 
portations to  Babylon,  849 — ^regain 
their  independence,  482 — their  gov- 
ernment, horrid  wickedness  of,  442 — 
the  later,  the  views  they  entertained 
of  the  promised  Redeemer,  468 — the 
effect  of  their  views  of  the  Deity  on 
the  doctrine  of  redemption,  468. 
.Hebrew  religion,  historical  sketch  of, 
from  the  time  of  Israel  to  Christ,  ii, 
477— dispensation  given  of,  498~^re- 
Ugion  an  important  development  of 
divine  government,  494— a  remedial 


agency,  498  msans  for  canjiif  eat 
the  psrpoaes  of  redemption,  OOS. 

Htradiim,  return  of  the,  iii,  612. 

Herodoimf  value  of  his  teetlnMBj  re- 
speoting  the  temple  of  Mylitta,  iii, 

Herod  made  king  of  Judea  by  the  sen- 
ate of  Rome,  ii,  545— endeavoon  to 
exttrpale  the  Asmooean  ftaily,  456 
—4s  fiwvoured  by  Augustus,  467— 
reigns  with  great  cruelly,  457*-4o- 
mestio  cruelty  and  misery  ot  458. 

Hexekiah  ascends  the  throne  of  Judah, 
ii,  331— labours  to  abolish  idolat^, 
and  refoses  to  pay  tribute  to  Assyria, 
832 — ^his  sickness,  prayer,  and  re- 
oovery,  888— his  vaidty,  and  its  pun- 
ishment, 335. 

Merogkfphieej  subsequent  to  alphabst 
writing,  i,  52,  58. 

High  plaees,  sacred,  thrar  origin  and 
charaoter  investigated,  ii,  574. 

Zfif tory  of  the  Hebrews^  peculiar  veiig- 
ious  character  of,  ii,  571. 

Hoeea  prophesies,  ii,  296. 

Haehea  kills  Pekahiah,  and  reigns  oifer 
Israel,  ii,  299. 

^mum  nature,  deification  of,  a  mUnc 
element  of  heathenism,  iii,  22— had 
its  origin  in  the  promised  incaxna- 
tion,  iii,  529. 

Ihtnting,  referred  to  by  Job,  i,  491. 

Hifraume  succeeds  his  mother  AIotmi 
dra  as  king  at  Jerusalem,  ii,  447. 


JUsio/yy,  antedUurian,  i,  234;  iii,  525— 
vast  extent  of,  introduced  into  the 
Hebrew  temple,  ii,  888— its  author 
and  chsracter,  iii,  17— must  have 
arisen  before  the  Dispersion,  18— 
postdiluvian,  the  place  of  its  origin, 
and  principal  seat,  .19— in  Egypt,  an- 
titype of  its  mythology,  22 — ^univer- 
sal, established  in  the  worid,  25— a 
grand  effort  to  neutralise  the  scheme 
of  redemption,  26— its  ruling  agency, 
26— afforas  man  no  knowledge,  28— 
reduced  to  an  established  form,  206— 
important  passage  respecting  pro- 
gress of,  206— of  Assyria  and  Bil- 
lon, arose  out  of  patriarchal  truth 
and  Edenic  representation,  directed 
by  him  who,  as  king,  aspired  to  be 
God,  231— exhibits  a  gradual,  but 
great,  deterioration  in  the  objects  of 
worship,  282— fhlse  notions  of  its 
origin  oonAited,  518. 

Idumeane  subdued,  dreumcised,  and 
united  witii  the  Hebrews,  ii,  44a 

Immanml  nromised,  ii,  578. 

/nteUfcrvo/ character  of  the  patxiardhal 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


667 


mgt,  hbrlj  repreBWted  in.Uie  Book 
of  Job,  i,  501*  ' 

Ummc  history  of;  i,  892— the  blesring 
of,  ii,510. 

iMoiah,  his  prophetio  miniBtratloiifl^  ii, 
827. 

hkmadf  history  of.  i,  892. 

hrad  and  l^iia  oomUne  to  destroy  the 
house  of  David,  ii,  29& 

l9rmtUte»,  national  oareer  o^  to  their 
passage  through  the  Bed  Sea,  ii,  62— 
mtdelity  of,  at  Sadesh-BariMa,  74— 
their  flagrant  rebellion,  74— naftd^- 
tal  eonduet  of,  148~4ai>se  into  idoW 
try,  148,  235— number  of,  who  left 
Egypt,  514— their  claims  to  Canaan, 
ff4a-^tnQg^t  and  trained  by  6od  562. 


JbM  attd  Jsbal,  their  irwkB,  1, 177. 

Mnm  tynmnins  orer  Israel,  ii,  147. 

Jacob,  his  personal  history,  ii,  19,  28 — 
pottacps  oj;  (m^-^a  wrestiing  with 
the  angel,  511. 

/«ar,  judge  of  Israel,  ii,  158. 

Ja$on  purchases  the  liigh  priesthood, 
tot  IS  deposed  and  banished,  ii,  417 
—labours  to  set  aside  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitnUons,  and  to  introdnoe  heathen 
practices  and  games,  419. 

jAoahas  reigns  in  Israel,  ii,  298 — 
reigns  oTer  Jndah,  848. 

Jokoiaekin  snoeeeds  to  the  throne  of 
Jndah,  and  is  led  into  oapttrity  by 
Neboohadneszar,  ii,  844. 

Jskoiakim  reigns  cfwr  Jndah,  and  be- 
comes tribntaary  to  Babvlon,  ii,  844. 

Moram  suooeeda  to  the  larone  of  Isrsr 
el,  ii,  287— sneceeds  Ids  Ikther  as 
king  of  Jndah,  815— his  eniel  fipatsri- 
dde,  81£^— enfbroee  the  practice  of 
Idolatry,  815— warned  and  tiireat- 
cned,  and  miserably  dies  as  predict- 
ed, 316. 

JahMfu^hat  fbms  an  alUance  with 
Ahab,  ii,  28^— ascends  the  throne  of 
Jndah,  810— his  religions  reforma- 
tion, sad  system  of  treating  the  peo- 
ple, 310— defeats  his  enemies,  818. 

jAovah,  who  appeared  to  the  patriarchs 
a  diyine  person  and  the  promised 
Messiah,  i,  420,  425. 

Jehu  rebels,  kills  Jehoram,  and  reigns 
In  Israel,  ii,  291— by  crafl  destroys 
the  supporters  of  idolatry  in  Israel, 
292. 

J4pkihah,  his  liistory,  ii,  154— his  tows, 
289— his  daughter,  565. 

Jtridko  lebvilt  by  Hiel,  ii,  279— the 
malediction  of  Joshua,  and  its  aooom- 
pUshMMit  iB  Hiel,  572. 

Jtroboamj  king  of  Israel,  his  banish- 
42 


ment,  ii,  228— becomes  king  of  Israel, 
224— his  reign  orer  Israel,  271— his 
relij^ous  unfiikithAilneas,  272 — the 
worship  which  he  estaHlshes,  274 — 
miracnlonsly  afflicted  and  restored, 
275— his  sin  considered,  571. 

Jerusalem  Tisited  with  pestilence,  ii,  196 
—its  ruin  removed  much  error  fW»n 
the  Hebrew  mind,  888— sacked  by  Ptol- 
emy, who  carries  one  hundred  thou- 
sand captires  to  Egypt,  411 — stormed 
by  Antiochus,  and  subjected  to  horri- 
ble cruelty,  420— besieged  by  Anti- 
ochus Bidetes,  489 — taken  by  Herod, 
aided  by  a  Boman  army,  456--^aken 
and  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar, 
iii,  189. 

Jeaut  Christ  condemned  to  die,  not  far 
claiming  Messiahship,  but  for  assert- 
ing his  dirinity,  ii,  471. 

JtthrOf  his  suggestion  for  the  organiza- 
tion a^  government  of  the  Israelites 
adopted,  dl,  68 — ^his  visit  to  Moses, 
620. 

Jezebel  causes  the  murder  of  Naboth,  ii, 
285 — ^her  death,  and  the  fdlfilment  of 
prophecy  therein,  291. 

Joab,  his  daring  energy  sustains  David, 
ii,  195. 

J4>a$h  succeeds  his  fkther  as  king  of 
Israel,  ii,  294 — reigns  piously  over 
Israel,  817. 

Job,  history  of,  i,  851, 868— Book  of,  864, 
86& 

John  Hyrcanus,  alienated  firom  the 
Phaneees,  and  favours  the  Saddn- 
cees,  ii,  440 — subdues  the  Idumeans, 
and,  on  their  being  circumcised,  in- 
corporates them  with  the  Hebrews, 
440— dying(  bequeaths  the  govern- 
ment to  his  wife,  441. 

Jonah  prophesies,  ii,  293 — his  mission 
to  Nineveh,  iU,  286 — ite  great  result, 
28a 

Jonathan,  his  love  for  David,  ii,  181. 

Jones,  Sir  William,  on  the  Conftaision  of 
Tongues,  i,  339. 

Joseph^  his  personal  history,  ii,  27. 

Josmhua,  his  testimony,  ii,  591. 

Joshua  succeeds  to  the  government  of 
Israel  ii.  125— leads  the  Israelites 
over  Jordan,  127 — ^favored  with  an 
extraordinary  divine  revelation,  128. 

Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  ii,  338— his  re- 
fbrmation  of  religion,  841-^resiBte  the 
progress  of  the  lung  of  Egypt  through 
his  dominions,  and  is  slain  in  battle, 
342. 

Jotham  reigns  over  Judah,  ii,  827. 

Jubilee,  year  of,  ii,  118. 

Judah,  kingdom  of,  reli^ous  character 
of,  ii,  802— relapses  into  idolatry, 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


858 


aSETXRAL  ISDWOL 


d08-4nTaded  by  Bmt,  aCMt-^ihis 
event  commemorated  on  Bgyptian 
monnmentB,  306— placed  in  aanger 
by  an  alliance  with  Israel,  31  £— 
threatened  by  Moab  and  Ammon,  313 
— epolled  by  the  PhiUstinea  and  Ara- 
bians, 315 — almost  wholly  devoted  to 
idolatry,  326 — ^total  subversion  of  the 
kingdom,  346 — ^the  survivors  led  into 
captivity,  345— religious  view  of  the 
ruin  of,  378. 

Judas  Macoabeas,  his  splendid  military 
career,  ii,  424^-effects  an  alliance 
with  Borne,  429— fi^lls  in  battle,  and 
is  succeeded  by  his  brother  Jonathan, 
429— character  of,  429. 

Judta,  virtually  a  Roman  province,  ii, 
450. 

JudgtSt  their  character  and  power,  ii, 
14&— extent  of  their  authority,  146. 

Jvdgmtni,  future,  how  represented  in 
the  religion  of  Egypt,  iii,  139. 

JugurifMt  his  character  and  conduct, 
iii,  438. 

Miia  CfBsar.     See  Gjesak. 


KadeihrBarneOt  Israelites  at,  ii,  71 — ^its 
geography,  521. 

KaraiUs,  the  sect  of,  ii,  604. 

King,  the  Israelites  demand  a,  ii,  170. 

^Mtge  of  Assyria,  regarded  as  divine, 
iii,  224— identical  with  the  Sacred 
Son,  225-227— this  proved,  227-230 
—Babylon,  229— Persia,  291. 

torah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  their  re- 
bellion, ii.  76.    . 


Lantech,  his  history,  i,  168. 

LangiMgetf  three  primitive  families  of, 
i,339. 

Law,  the  given,  ii,  64. 

Legendary  history  of  Rome,  general 
view  o^  iii,  701. 

Literature,  the  religious,  of  the  He- 
brews, ii,  697. 

Longevity  of  early  races  of  mankind 
proved,  i,  184^186. 

Laqterealia,  infamous  rites  of,  iii,  487. 

M 

Macedonia  subdued  by  the  Romans,  iii, 

433. 
Magi,  originally  a  Median   tribe,  iii, 

290. 
Magicians    of    Egypt,    real    wonders 

wrought  by  them,  ii,  511. 
Makkedah,  Joshua's  victory  at,  over  the 

five  kings,  U,  132. 
Man,  his  origin,  according  to  the  Chal- 

dsans,  i,  120— Hindus,  121— Soandi- 


naviaaSrBomana,  and  Holy  Seriptm^ 
122 — ^his  primitive  condition,  aeootd- 
ing  to  Scripture,  12^— Jewish  tradi- 
tion, 123— Mohammedan,  124— Ike 
Hindus,  124 — ^the  andent  Permans, 
124— Egyptians,  125-^levated  condi- 
tion of  the  first,  even  after  the  fall, 
160 — ^his  originiLl  condition,  iii,  18— 
the  worship  of;  528. 

Manasseh  reigns  over  Judah,  ii,  3S&— 
his  apostacy  and  cruelty,  836— is  car- 
ried into  captivity,  repents,  and  is 
restored,  837. 

Matma  given  to  the  IsraeliteB,  ii,  58— a 
miracle,  518. 

JMoMoaA  visited  by  an  angel,  ii,  155. 

Marah,  Israelites  arrive  at,  li,  56— heal- 
ing the  waters  of,  516— laws  given  at, 
517. 

Marias  appointed  ooiisul,  iii,  440-^aiid 
Sylla,  their  rival  ftetiona  introduoe 
great  disorders  at  Rome,  444. 

Marriofe  of  Solomon  with  Phannlk's 
daughter,  ii,  556. 

Material  elements,  worship  of,  intro- 
duced, ui,  25. 

MaUaikias,  his  noble  resistance  of  the 
Antiochian  persecution,  ii,  422. 

Mkdes,  their  origin  and  history,  iii,  343 
—their  early  charaeier,  244— Deposes 
raised  to  the  throne,  245 — ^Phraortes, 
his  reign,  245— is  slain  in  battle,  246 
— Qyazares  succeeds  to  the  thronei 
247 — ^forms  an  alliance  with  Babylon, 
248— the  united  army  destroys  Nine- 
veh, 248— Astyagee  reigns  in  Media» 
249— is  subdued  by  Cyrus,  250. 

Menahem  defeats  and  kills  Shallum,  and 
reigns  over  Israel,  ii,  297. 

Mtnetaus  outbids  Jason,  and  thus  ob- 
tains the  hi^  priesthood,  in  which 
office  he  promotes  heathenish  prao- 
Uces  stUl  farther  than  his  predeces- 
sors, ii,  418. 

Messiah,  a  dear  apprehension  of  the 
prophecies  respecting,  necessary  to  a 
just  knowledge  of  Hebrew  fidth,  ii, 
390— teaching  of  the  Old  Testament 
respecting,  468 — ^notwithstanding  the 
explidt  teaching  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  later  Hebrews  did  not  be- 
lieve the  divinity  of,  469— Setiptare 
proof  of  tMs,  470. 

Metals,  working  in,  common  in  the  days 
of  Job,  1,486. 

Micah,  his  innovation  in  worship,  ii, 
14d^how  fsx  it  was  corrupt,  doabi- 
fbl,  233. 

JSdiamtn,  their  tyranny  over  Israel,  ii» 
149. 

Mining,  remarkable  deseiiptiioa  U,  by 
Job,  i,  486. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


GBNSRAL  INBBX. 


669 


MurtuU  of  Joaliiia,  the  snn  standing 
still,  ii,  642. 

Miradu  which  preceded  the  £zodiiB, 
u,S2. 

mriam  and  Aaron  reeiet  Moses,  ii,  71 
— her  character,  522. 

Mitkridates  makes  war  on  Rome,  iii,  441. 

Mixp^k,  great  meeting  of  Israelites  at, 
ii.  168. 

Moaby  the  plains  of,  ii,  522. 

JUftoeA,  sacrifice  of  children  to,  ii,  577. 

Monarchy t  cause  of  the  Hebrew,  u,  549. 

Ifoncy,  in  use  in  patriarchal  times,  i,  488. 

Mommuntal  inscriptions  of  Assyria,  the, 
iii,  164 — remarkable  means  by  which 
their  reading  has  been  effected,  544. 

MordU  of  andent  Bgypt,  iii,  184— of 
Assyria,  240. 

Ifortfon,  his  "Religions  History  of 
Man,"  quoted,  i,  43. 

Mortgage  pillars  in  Greece,  iii,  617. 

Moioic  economy,  effect  of,  ii,  124 — laws, 
harmony  of,  535. 

Motes,  his  history,  ii,  33 — ^his  meekness, 
521— bom,  iii,  68. 

Murmuring  of  the  Israelites  for  flesh, 
ii,  69. 

Mutical  instruments  used  by  the  ante- 
diluYians,  i,  177. 

MyliUa,  a  Babylonian  goddess,  abomina- 
tions connected  with  the  worship  of, 
ui,  212. 

MysUriet,  the  heathen,  Warburton's 
▼lews  of,  iii,  33 — ^refuted  by  Leland, 
34— conflicting  opinions  respecting, 
35 — their  origin,  object,  and  charac- 
ter, 39,  et  «<9.— essential  requisites 
to  their  celebration,  43-HUbcred  in 
Greece,  388. 

N 

Nabonaetar,  Era  of,  iii,  553 — ^his  reign 
over  Babylon,  182. 

Nadab  and  Abihu,  their  rebellion  and 
punishment,  ii,  67. 

Nadab,  the  son  of  Jeroboam,  reigns  over 
Israel,  ii,  276. 

Nahaeh,  his  cruel  threat,  ii,  550. 

Nahor,  aecount  of,  i,  368. 

NebiachadnMzxar,  his  impious  arrogance, 
i,  334— destroys  Jerusalem,  ii,  349 — 
his  golden  image,  354— terrible  in- 
fliction on,  355— rationale  of,  586— 
reduces  Palestine  during  his  father's 
life,  iii,  185— succeeds  to  the  throne 
of  his  father,  186 — carries  away  the 
Hebrews  captive,  187 — stakes  Jerusa- 
lem, and  destroys  it,  188 — ^takesTyre, 
189 — greatly  improTes  and  beautifies 
Babylon,  190— his  dream  of  the  great 
image,  190 — his  golden  image,  192 — 
his  dream  of  the  great  tree,  194 — its 


prophetic  interpretation  and  fulfil- 
ment, 195— his  death,  195 — ^his  pun- 
ishment, and  its  design,  229 — effect  of 
this  on  the  national  religion,  239. 

Nehttniah  goes  to  Jerusalem  as  goTem- 
or,  ii,  371 — ^renews  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath,  373. 

New  moons,  reTerenee  for,  ii,  113. 

Nunrod,  his  daring  rebellion,  i,  328— 
his  pro&ne  assumption  of  religious 
character,  333— rhis  kingdom  at  Ba- 
bel, 431. 

Nitroch,  the  deified  Asshur,  iii,  211. 

NitocriSf  the  Median  princess  whom 
Nebuchadneszar  married,  iii,  566, 

Noahj  prophetic  import  of  his  name,  i, 
240— his  nussion  and  ministry,  248 
— ^rsTelation  >made  to  him  .alter  the 
Deluge,  306— God's  covenant  with, 
306 — ^his  prophecy,  and  strange  cir- 
cumstances connected  therewith,  ex- 
amined, 309— died  in  Armenia,  320. 

Nwna,  King  of  Rome,  his  reign,  iii,  411. 

Numbiering  the  people,  ii,  525— hbib  of^ 
555. 


Obadiah,  his  faithful  conduct,  ii,  281. 

OmnipoUnce  of  Deity,  known  and  be- 
lieved by  the  postdiluvian  patri- 
archs, i,  400. 

Omniecience,  equally  recognised,  i,  401. 

Omri,  his  reign  over  Israel,  11^278—^0 
statutes  of,  572. 

Oniae,  the  deposed  high-priest,  murder- 
ed at  Antiooh,  ii,  419. 

Ophir,  geography  of,  and  trade  with,  ii, 
558. 

OrocZef  of  Greece,  iii,  385— of  the  hea^ 
then,  considered,  44— absurd  objection 
to  their  supernatural  character,  45 
— evidence  to  show  they  were  some- 
times attended  by  demon  agency,  46 
— ^result  of  the  inquiry  respecting,  50. 

Ottraeism,  banishment  by,  iii,  617. 

Othniel  judges  Israel,  ii,  146. 


Pio^adite,  heathen  reference  'to  the 
events  of,  i,  129-133— geographical 
position  of,  141 — imitated  in  the  tow- 
ers and  high  places  of  the  heathen, 
836— imitation  of,  in  the  grounds 
surrounding  the  palace-temples  of  the 
East,  iii,  221— the  subject  farther 
discussed,  569. 

Parochial  priests,  origin  of,  iii,  483. 

Passover,  the,  instituted,  ii,  45— feast 
of,  112. 

Patriarchal  age,  general  view  of  the  his- 
tory and  religion  of,  i,  50&-522— 
place  of  worship,  ii,  525. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


«60 


aBNBBAL  INDBX. 


Patriarthi,  pofitdibiTiaii,  history  of,  to 
Arphazad,  i,  816— Canaan,  31&— 
Salah,  819— history  of,  from  IMspei^ 
slon  to  the  death  of  Isaac,  361-897. 

Pekakiah  reigns  over  Israel,  ii,  298. 

Ptkah  kills  Pekahiah,  and  reigns  in  his 
stead,  ii,  298. 

PersecuiionM,  wonderfU  issue  of  Nelra- 
ohadneKsar's,  ii,  398. 

Perwia,  early  history  of,  i,  449— religion 
of,  466 — ^history  of,  resumed,  iii,  251 
— pecaliar  interest  of,  252 — Rawah 
obtains  independence  of,  252 — annals 
of  early  reigns,  263— Cyrus,  his  early 
history,'  256 — his  suooessfnl  war  of 
independence,  266— continued  career 
of  success,  268 — ^his  conduct  to  the 
Hebrews,  259 — allows  their  return  to 
Palestine,  261— his  death,  262— Cam- 
byses,  King  of  Persia  and  Media,  262 
— invades  and  subdues  Egypt,  263 — 
cruelty  and  death,  265— Smerdls  the 
Magian  reigns,  sind  is  slain,  266 — 
Darius  Hystaspis  reigns,  866— pro- 
motes the  building  of  Jerusalem,  268 
— ^Babylon  revolts,  and  is  subdued, 
269 — ^barius  resolves  to  invade  Greece, 
271 — ^inscription  at  Behistun,  278— 
Xerxes  invades  Greece,  274 — his 
fbroes  entirely  defeated,  276 — his  dia- 
bolical conduct,  277— Artazerxes, 
King  of  Persia,  278— marries  Esther 
the  Jewess,  278 — Xerxes  II.  is  king, 
and  slain,  279— Darius  Ochus  secures 
the  crown,  280 — demoralized  state  of 
the  government  and  court,  280^Ar- 
taxerzes  m.  obtains  the  throne,  283 
— ^Darius  Codomannus  loses  his  em- 
pire by  the  invasion  of  Alexander, 
284— deliberation  as  to  mode  of  gov- 
emmeni;  680— succession  of  Xerxes 
to  the  throne  of,  681 — the  religion  of, 
287— difficulty  of  the  subject,  288— 
essentially  the  same  in  its  foundation 
as  the  Assyrian,  288 — divinity  of  the 
king  fully  maintained,  291 — ^in  other 
respects  similar  to  the  Assyrian,  291 
— doctrines  held  respecting  the  su- 
preme God,  294 — Ahriman,  his  m&- 
Ugnity  and  power,  296— origin  of  the 
sun  and  fire-worship,  298— aatago- 
■ism  of  Qrmuxd  and  Ahriman,  80£— 
account  of  creation  analogous  to  the 
Mosaic,  301— -nature  of  the  human 
soul,  302 — ^universal  restoration,  even 
of  devils,  304— priesthood,  805— their 
proftne  claims,  309— festivals,  806— 
morals,  307— merit,  809— general  ob- 
servations on,  311 — probable  theology 
before  Zoroastei',  696^predicted  in- 
vasion of  Persia  by  Greece,  619. 

Pkariieei  and  Sadduoees  become  rival 


sects,  ii,  440— ori|^  and  charaeter 
of  the  sect,  479. 

Pkilittinet  oppress  Israel,  u,  168 — de- 
feat the  Israelites,  162 — ^miraculously 
defeated  at  Mizpeh,  169. 

Philosophy,  irreligious  result  of  the 
Grecian  systems  of,  iii,  408. 

Plagues  of  Egypt :  water  turned  into 
blood,  ii,  38— frogs.  38— lice,  39— fliee, 
40 — ^murrain,  41 — ^boils,  41 — thu^er 
and  fire,  42 — locusts,  43— darkuSsB, 
and  death  of  the  first-bom,  46. 

Plato,  his  character,  iii,  397— doetrtnes, 
399. 

Poetry,  beaatSfiil  specimen  of,  in  the 
Song  of  Moses,  ii,  60. 

Poisoned  arrows  in  use  in  Job's  time,  i. 
489. 

Pompey  interferes  in  the  affurs  of  Jn- 
dea,  ii,  449 — storms  Jerusalem,  and 
appoints  Hyrcanus  hi^-priest,  46d — 
his  military  success,  iii,  446 — rupture 
with  Cssar,  447— his  defeat  and 
death,  449. 

Poor,  the  oppressive  laws  of  Rome  re- 
specting the,  iii,  637. 

Pomdation,  progress  of,  among  ante- 
dilurians,!,  lo^ — endre  postdiluvian, 
journeyed  to  Shinar,  326h— early  post- 
diluvian, 313. 

Prayer,  how  practised  by  the  Hebrews, 
u,  486. 

Preaching  of  Ezra,  ii,  476 — ^befbre  and 
after  the  time  of  Ezra,  476. 

Priest,  the  special  apnointment  of  Aaron 
to  the  office  of,  ii,  106— Jonathan  the 
high,  kills  his  brother  in  the  court  of 
the  temple,  407. 

Priesthood,  the  patriarchal,  ii,  623— the 
Levitical,  633— of  Bome,  iii,  47a 

Profane  identification  of  Jehovah  with 
idolatry,  iii,  3a 

Prophecy  of  Ah^ah,  Si,  222— of  leaiah 
respecting  Cyrus,  369 — of  Daniel  oon- 
ceming  the  restoration  of  tJie  He- 
brews, SeO^'-of  Exekiel,  361— of  Jere- 
miah on  the  doom  of  Jerusalem,  882 
—of  Eiekiel  on  the  apostasy  of  Ja- 
dah,  382— its  effect  on  the  Hebrew 
Aith,  391— of  the  four  onpires  in 
Nebuchadneoar's  dream,  899— of  the 
precise  time  of  Mesnah's  coming,  and 
its  ol^ect,  400— when  were  the  books 
of  sacrsd,  written  and  ooUeeted  ?  683 
— ^the  Hebrews  returned  from  captiv- 
ity, and  had  their  veliglouB  economy 
reoonstruoted,  under  tiie  immediate 
direction  of,  460— of  Haggai  and 
Zeohariah,  461— of  Malaohi,  462— 
the  divine  intemtion  of,  frustrated  by 
tradition,  606— fulfilment  ot  in  the 
history  of  Egypt,  iii,  637— Assyria, 


1.  ^yt'U-^ 


S2. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


eBNBBAL  XHDBX. 


061 


549— BftlnjlMi,  561— Media*  57&- 
Persia,  592~<3f«eoe»  619^Rome,  638 
•— woBderfiil  influenoe  of,  on  tbe  poli- 
cy of  JiidM»  toimrd  the  neighboiuiiig 
natioas,  187. 

PrMheU,  «ekK>]0  of  itkb,  ii,  irO-Hune 
of  the,  666-H>f  Greece,  iii,  SSI—Gen- 
tile, 4iTiae  inspiralieA  of,  622. 

Proviiena,  ^ew»  entertained  of,  by  the 
|>0Bt  diluTianpatriarohs,  i,  406— ^ws 
of  the  Sgyptians  on,  iii,  148. 

Punic  war,  the  seeoiid,  iii,  426. 

Q 
QuaiU  giten  to  the  laraeUtee,  ii,  71— 
the  wonder  explained,  517. 

R 

SauUfow,  ooigeotore  as  to  its  origin,  i, 
808— deified,  308. 

Mationalniic  interpretation,  its  ahsnrd- 
i^,  ii,  99. 

RedetmeTt  the  promised,  believed  in  by 
thapostdilnrian  patriarchs,  i,  406. 

RedmtptioHt  primitiTe  promise  of,  how 
understood,  i,  165. 

Red  Sea  divided  for  the  Israelites,  ii,  49. 

RBhob9am  succeeds  his  father  as  king  of 
the  Hebrews,  and  by  his  folly  alien- 
ates the  Ten  Tribes,  ii,  224— Ms  oon- 
dnet  considered,  570. 

Religion  of  the  antediluvians,  1,  362, 
4^k — of  the  early  period  of  the  prim- 
itive nations,  481^78— of  the  post- 
diluvian patriarchs,  398-430— of  the 
Hebrews  in  the  wilderness,  ii,  ^124 
—while  in  Egypt,  92-95 — ^important 
extent  and  peculiar  nature  oft  228 — 
undoubted  evidence  of  its  truth,  229 
—of  Jadah,  mi|^ty  a^eies  employ- 
ed to  sustain  it  dunng  Hezekiah^s 
reign,  334 — of  the  Gentiles,  its  gen- 
eral uniformity  accounted  for,  iii,  19 
-**promi8ed  elements  of  patriarchal, 
20— perverted  to  idolatrous  purposes, 
21 — of  Egypt,  general  view  of,  145— 
general  view  of  the  progress  of  its 
declension,  204. 

Religiaus  institutions,  similarity  be- 
tween Hebrew  and  heathen,  account- 
ed for,  ii,  626— doctrines  believed  in 
the  latter  period  of  Hebrew  history, 
463. 

Repentance  recognised  as  a  doctrine  of 
the  Hebrew  faith,  ii,  487. 

Rephidvn,  Israelites  at,  ii,  60. 

Reetoration  of  the  Hebrews  to  their  own 
^  land,  of  vast  importance  as  fulfilment 
'  of  prophecy,  ii,  406. 

ReveuUwnSt  special  divine,  given  to  He- 
brew captives,  ii,  394. 

Rockf  the,  smitten  at  Horeb,  ii,519. 


Rod  of  Moses,  miiMle  of;  before  Phara- 
oh, ii,  37. 

Rome,  l^ndary  histoiy  o^  iii,  407— the 
rising  power  of;  419. 

Romem  historians,  the  ear)y,  oredibility 
of,  ill,  630. 

Roman  religion  complete  as  an  ecclesias- 
tical system,  iii,  490 — ^its  theology  in 
later  periods  of  its  histoiy,  492 — ^its 
effeot  on  female  treatment  and  man- 
ners, 500^— countenanced  intolerable 
cpnielty,  501 — sanctioned  the  vilest 
licentiousness,  503 — did  not  prevent 
the  most  unnatural  impurity,  503. 

Romane,  their  early  religion,  iii,  470 — 
had  no  images  of  God  in  the  tioae  of 
Numa,  472 — ^thur  saored  places,  484 
— ^worship  and  sacrifiee,  485— offered 
human  saerifioes,  487. 

Romuhu,  his  public  character,  iii,  409 — 
religious  education  of,  470 — and  Be- 
mua,  legend  of,  634. 

Route  of  the  Israelites  from  £gypt»  U, 
515. 

S 

Sabbath,  the,  ii,  113. 

Sabbatical  Year,  ii,  113 — computation 
of,  563. 

Sabean  worship,  its  true  principle,  iii, 
566. 

Saeriflce,  divinely  appointed,  i,  201 — 
nature  of  Jewish,  £23— flesh  of,  the 
only  animal  food  eaten  before  the 
Flood,  273,  et  M9.— under  the  Hebrew 
law,  propitiatory,  ii,  261. 

Sacrifices,  human,  of  the  Egjrptlans,  ii, 
514. 

Saddueees,  the  origin  and  character  of 
the  sect,  ii,  483. 

SamarUant,  the  seot  of,  ii,  596 — violent 
party  contest  between,  and  the  He- 
brews in  ^grpt,  696. 

Sanuon,  his  history,  ii,  166. 

Samuel,  his  birth  and  character,  ii,  161 
— ^his  judicial  circuit,  648 — ^recognised 
as  the  prophet  and  judge,  16&^the 
instrument  of  a  great  religious  refor- 
mation, 168. 

Sanhedrim,  ori^  of,  ii,  692. 

Sargina't  wan  with  Egypt,  and  the 
tribute  he  received  thence,  iii,  649. 

Slogan  of  the  Book  of  Job,  i,  427— 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrews  respecting, 
increased  during  the  Captivity,  ii, 
403— proof  of,  690. 

Satanic  energy,  certain  presence  of,  in 
Grecian  soothsaying  and  oracles,  iii, 
624. 

Saturnalia,  Roman  festival  of,  iii,  489. 

Saul,  made  king  of  the  Hebrews,  Ii, 
173— defeats  and  destroys  the  Am- 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


662 


OBMBBAL  IKDBX. 


monitefif  174 — defeats  the  PhiliBtinee 
and  Amalekites,  176 — transgresses 
the  divine  command,  177— jealous  of 
David,  180 — ^fieroelv  persecutes  him, 
181 — and  his  sons  defeated  and  slain, 
184. 

SeaUi,  alleged  disooverr  of  the  use  of, 
i,  483. 

SchooU  of  the  prophets,  ii,  548. 

Seierux  of  patriarchal  times,  i,  501. 

Scipio  invades  Africa,  iii,  429. 

Scriptures^  the,  ought  to  be  regarded  hj 
historians,  iii,  510. 

Scythian  domination  in  Asia,  period  oi^ 
iii,  573. 

Semiramii  deified,  iii,  212. 

Sennacheribf  his  profSuie  sad  insolent 
menace,  ii,  834. 

Septuagint,  in  some  instances  corrects 
the  Hebrew,  i,  29 — ohronologioal  tes- 
timonies in  favour  of,  38 — ^version, 
made  by  order  of  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus,  ii,  412. 

Serpent^  regarded  in  ancient  tradition 
as  the  cause  of  the  Flood,  i,  138— 
worship  of,  139,  140— miracle  of 
Moses's  rod  and  Egyptian  magicians, 
ii,  37— fiery  plague  of  serpents,  79 — 
the  brazen  serpent,  522 — the  form  in 
which  Satan  seduced  mankind  into 
sin,  universally  worshipped,  iii,  27 — 
in  Egypt,  symbol  of  dominion,  130 — 
sacred  in  Assyfia,  224. 

Strug,  history  of,  i,  368. 

Sesottris,  his  martial  career,  iii,  535. 

ShaUum  kills  Zechariah,  king  of  Israel, 
and  reigns,  ii,  297. 

Shamgar^  his  exploits,  ii,  147. 

Shtba,  its  geography,  ii,  559. 

Shekinah,  the,  ii,  531— of  God  abandons 
the  temple,  ii,  386. 

SibyUifu  Books,  iii,  472. 

Silk,  alleged  discovery  of  its  use,  i, 
483. 

Simon  the  Just,  liigh-priest,  ii,  412. 

Simon  Maccabeus,  recognised  as  sover- 
eign prince  of  Judea,  ii,  483 — invest- 
ed with  sovereign  power  by  the  peo- 
}>le,  437— with  two  of  his  sons,  base- 
y  assassinated,  439. 

Socratet,  the  Cbecian  philosopher,  iii, 
393— demon  of,  its  nature,  395. 

Solomon  ascends  the  throne,  ii,  204 — ^his 
wisdom,  205— builds  the  temple,  206 
— ^prosecutes  other  extensive  works, 
210 — ^his  commercial  policy,  211 — ^his 
magnificence  and  reli^ous  declension, 
220— his  idolatry  and  death,  22»— 
his  piety  and  inspiration,  259. 

Soul,  immortality  of,  believed  in  Assy- 
ria, iii,  215 — the,  and  its  transmigrsr 
tion,  doctrines  of,  62& 


SpitB  sent  to  survey  Canaan,  ii,  73 — 

their  evil  report,  73. 
Spiritual  religion  of  patriarchs,  reason 

why  not  more  frdly  recorded  by  Mo- 
ses, ii,  560. 
Sueeoth,  halting  of  the  Israelites  at,  ii, 

47. 
Synagogttu,  worship  of  the  later  He- 

brews  in,  ii,  475-4heir  origin,  261, 

569. 
Syria,  governors  of,  oppose  the  relnilld- 

ing  of  Jerusalem,  iii,  579. 


Jhbemade  of  Moses,  contribatioiis  to- 
ward, ii,  66— erected,  67— described, 
99— filled  with  the  divine  gloiy  or 
Shekinah,  103— important  advantages 
of  this  manifestation,  103 — ^Mosaio, 
528— of  David,  manner  of  worship  in, 
246— typical  importance  of,  567 — ^im- 
portance of  its  worship  to  Hebrew 
religion,  477. 

TabemaeUs,  feast  of,  ii,  111. 

TVwM,  religious  lawgiver  of  Btmria, 
m,  461— institutions  ot,  466. 

Tarpeia,  legend  of;  iii,  635. 

Tarquinius,  Lucius,  King  of  Rome,  his 
origin,  iii,  413. 

Tanhish,  and  its  ships,  ii,  556. 

Temple,  the,  glorious  revelation  of  God 
on  consecrating,  ii,  249— building  of 
the  second,  commenced,  365— Samari- 
tans oppose  its  progress,  366 — ^fin- 
ished, 367 — Hebrew  worriiip  of  the, 
472. 

Tkn^let,  were  the  royal  palaoes  of  the 
east  such?  iii,  223. 

Terah,  account  of,  i,  369. 

Teraphim,  Laban's,  ii,  510— the,  563. 

T%€ban  legends,  the,  iii,  606. 

T%90cracy,  the  Hebrew,  ii,  115. 

Theorony,  the  Grecian,  iii,  621. 

neology  of  Egypt,  iii,  133 — of  Asmia 
and  Babylon,  208— outline  ot,  from 
Col.  RawHnson,  20&— Dr.  Layard's 
views  respecting,  211— of  Greece,  362 
-^f  Rome,  474. 

Three  Hebrew  youths,  the,  nobly  reAiae 
to  worship  the  great  image,  are  cast 
into  the  fiery  frimaoe,  and  delivered, 
iii,  193 — ^religious  effect  of  this  divine 
interposition,  193. 

Tola,  judge,  ii,  152. 

Tradition,  fatal  effects  of  its  adoption 
on  Hebrew  faith,  ii,  491— unfounded 
claims  of  the  Mishmaic,  601— patri- 
archal, special  providential  providoai 
for  perpetuating,  iii,  235. 

Trafumigraiion  of  souls,  how  represent- 
ed in  Egypt,  Ui,  142. 

TVmoT  life,  1,142. 


Digitized  by  LjOOQIC 


OBNBRAL  INDBX. 


TVftff,  creation  of,  i,  104. 

Triad  of  Zoroaster,  i,  26S— K)f  Egypt, 
sometimes  refers  to  Noah  and  his 
sons,  269 — but  more  generally  to  the 
promised  Incarnation,  iii,  129  — 
changes  made  in,  542 — the  Assyrian, 
667 — ^its  symbol  disappears  in  the 
later  times,  284— its  nature  and  ori- 
gin, 216— importance  of,  217. 

Tnmtyt  tiie  doctrine  of  the,  whether 
known  to  Flato,  i,  266— to  what  ex- 
tent understood  and  believed  by  the 
later  Hebrews,  ii,  464— opinions  of 
PhUo  respecting  the,  464— Targum 
of  Onkelos  on,  466— Abraham  under- 
stood the  doctrine  of,  467 — ^was  the 
doctrine  of,  known  to  the  patriarchs? 
iii,  626— symbol  of,  in  Assyria,  206. 

TVo^'on  wars,  the,  iii,  609. 

TVMf^itftt,  feast  of;  U,  118. 

TSipieal  character  of  Mosaic  economy, 
ii,128. 


IMfi  and  Thummim,  ii,  107,  688. 

Ihixiak  reigns  oyer  Judah,  ii,  821— his 
improTements  in  exigencies  of  war, 
892— his  profane  attempt  to  inyade 
the  priest's  office  punished  with  lep- 
ro^,  828. 


VaUriuB,  King  of  Rome,  his  reign,  iii, 

416. 
VetkU  Tirgins,  the,  Etruscan,  iii,  468. 

W 

War  reduced  to  a  science  in  the  time 
of  Job,  i,  490— with  Benjamin,  chro- 
nology of,  ii,  146— of  six  years  between 


the  fectious  Pharisees  and  the  goTem- 
ment,  444. 

Win  men  of  Greece,  the  ScTen,  iU, 
616. 

Wortkip,  patriarchal,  place  of,  ii,  626 — 
idolatrous,  its  vain  and  corrupt  char- 
acter, iii,  82— of  Greece,  877. 

Writings  the  art  of,  essential  to  civiliza- 
tion, i,  46— early  origin  of,  49— by 
the  early  patriafths,  61,  66— among 
the  antediluvians,  62— employed  to 
give  an  account  of  the  Flood,  68 — 
first  mention  of,  in  the  Scriptures,  64 
—probably  used  by  Noah,  66— Jews 
had  traditions  respecting  its  antiqui- 
ty, 68. 


Xrrawt,  did  Jews  fight  in  his  army?  iii, 
690— inscriptions  relating  to  his 
reign,  691— curious  mode  of  counting 
his  army,  618. 


Zechariah  reigns  in  Israel,  ii,  297. 

Zeehariahj  the  high-priest,  martyred  at 
Jerusalem,  ii,  819. 

Zedekiah  placed  on  the  throne  of  Judah 
by  Nebuchadnexsar,  ii,  844— rebels, 
is  subdued,  and,  having  his  eyes  put 
out,  is  led  away  captive,  846— 3iis 
punishment,  iii,  664. 

Zeno,  his  character  and  doctrines,  iii, 
400. 

ZiroA,  his  invasion  of  Judah  defeated, 
ii,807. 

Zimri,  his  reign  over  Israel,  ii,  277. 

ZoroMier,  the  first,  who?  iii,  290— the 
theology  of,  298— his  creed,  296— con- 
flicting opinions  respecting,  696. 


0?  7  . 


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