ing to conquer different parts of the Babylonish empire, previous to his attack of the capital, the Ionians refused submission, notwithstanding the offer of very advantageous terms. Croesus himself was soon after defeated and taken prisoner. The Ionians then sent ambassadors to Cyrus, offering to submit on the terms formerly proposed. These were now refused; and the Ionians, preparing to resist, applied to the Spartans for support. The Spartans, though they could not be prevailed upon to assist their countrymen, dispatched ambassadors to Cyrus with menacing instructions, to which he returned a contemptuous answer, and forced the Ionians to submit at discretion, five years before the capture of Babylon. In this transaction we discover the origin of the mutual hatred between the Greeks and Persians. By this ill-timed severity to the Greeks, Cyrus raised up an enemy in this warlike people, which proved irresistible by his successors, and which, probably, only wanted an union of councils and of forces to vanquish Cyrus himself.

From the era of the conquest of Babylon, by Cyrus, the great Asiatic nations, hitherto so prominent in history, begin to lose their lustre, and 'to be sunk in shade. At the close of this period, therefore, it may be proper to advert to the progress these nations, particularly the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians, had made in the arts and sciences.

With all nations, astronomy is the first science which attracts notice; and its rude beginning is traceable to the pastoral state of mankind. The famous temple of Belus, supposed by some authors to be the remains of the tower of Babel, seems to have been erected for the purposes of an obser

1

vatory.

vatory. It does not appear, however, that any of these ancient nations had advanced so far as to be capable of explaining the true causes of the phænomena of the heavens. The Zodiac was very early invented by the Babylonians or Chaldeans, not by the Egyptians, as some have supposed.

From the accounts transmitted to us, we can also form some notion of their advancement and taste in architecture. The most famous works of Babylon-the walls of the city, temple of Belus, hanging gardens, Nebuchadnezzer's palace, artificial canals and lakes, and bridge of Babylon, are all instances of the grand and magnificent; but possess nothing of the elegant and beautiful. The hanging-gardens, however, must have possessed beauty as well as grandeur; but it has been supposed, and with some appearance of truth, that these had never any existence. It is remarkable, that Herodotus, who had himself visited Babylon, and enters into minute detail in his descriptions of the other curiosities of this superb city, makes no mention of these gardens. As an example of their bad taste, and want of proportion in their buildings, we may instance the bridge, which was a hundred fathoms in length, and not quite four in breadth; the piers were distant from each other only eleven feet and a half, and it was constructed without arches. The effect upon the view must have been such as to shock a connoisseur in the science. The construction of arches and the orders of architecture were, as yet, unknown.

The stupendous pyramids of Egypt, which still exist to evince the vain despotism and absurd superstition of man, may be referred to the same class of buildings as those we have mentioned;

but

but of the former magnificence, either of Babylon or of Nineveh, not a vestige remains. The largest of these pyramids is five hundred feet in height, and each side of the base six hundred and ninety-three feet in length. The apex is thirteen feet square. The second covers as much ground as the first, but is forty feet lower. It was an opinion very early prevalent in Egypt, and inculcated by the priests, that the soul would re-tenant the body after the expiration of a thousand years. On this principle, it was obvious to remark, that the body ought, if possible, to be kept sound, and in good order, to receive its old inhabitant This gave rise to the custom of embalming, or of throwing into the body those substances which experience had taught to be efficacious in stopping the progress of putrefaction. Bodies thus prepared (known by the name of mummies) were inclosed in masses or coffins of stone, in which was left no opening. These bodies thus remained, in considerable preservation, to a period far beyond the utmost limits of their hopes: for Egyptian mummies are still to be seen, which are supposed to have been embalmed soon after the erection of the pyramids. The pyramids were, probably, erected as depositories for the remains of the Egyptian kings. The absurdities of magic and astrology were early prevalent, and continued long, in Egypt.

These ancient nations had, moreover, made considerable proficiency in the arts of statuary, sculpture, and embroidery. The statues of Babylon were very numerous, and nearly all of the colossal order. There was an idol of gold in the temple of Belus, whose height was forty feet without the pedestal; its weight was a thousand Babylonish

Babylonish talents, and its value equal to three millions and a half of our money. The Phoenicians were skilled in the manufacture of precious stuffs, and, in a wonderful degree, in the art of dyeing in purple. They were also, for that early period, expert navigators, as commerce was their chief occupation, and their principal source of wealth. The general character of these times, in regard to the arts, and which is particularly exemplified in their works of architecture, is, that they had a taste for the sublime rather than the beautifulthat they preferred magnificence to elegance, and splendor to usefulness. To which we may add, that, in all things, they were fond of show and ostentatious parade; that they aimed more to dazzle the imagination than to affect the heart; that they would sacrifice millions at the shrine of vain glory, rather than expend hundreds in a work tending to the permanent interests of the human race.

FIFTH PERIOD,

From the Destruction of the Babylonian Empire to the Overthrow of the Persian Empire.

THE fifth period opens with a view of Cyrus

in possession of all the East. Asia now continued, for a time, in a state of tranquillity. The Jews, though they remained dependent upon the Persians, were permitted to return to their own country, to rebuild their temple, and to re-establish their ancient worship. Cyrus, at length, marched against Tomyris, queen of the Massagetæ, a Scythian nation; but being, van

quished

529.

quished in a bloody battle, he was beheaded by the order of the victorious queen: He B. C. was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who added Egypt to the Persian empire. This prince also projected an expedition against the Carthaginians; but the Phoenicians, on whom he depended for a supply of ships, refused to become parties in a warlike scheme against their former countrymen.

In 517 B. C. the Babylonians became impa tient under the oppression of the Persians, and resolved to shake off the yoke. They therefore took precautions to store their city with all kinds of provisions; of which, to prevent any unneces→ sary consumption, they resorted to the most barbarous policy to be met with in history: they collected all the old men, women, and children, ́ whether wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, or sisters, and strangled them without distinction. This unexampled cruelty did not avail them. Darius Hystaspes, then monarch of Persia, in vested Babylon, and after a siege of twenty months took it, through the treacherous artifice of Zopyrus. Its strength would otherwise have withstood his utmost efforts. To prevent a future revolt of the Babylonians, from a confidence in the strength of their city, he ordered the walls to be beaten down from two hundred cubits to fifty cubits in height. He then marched against the Scythians, in his way subduing Thrace; but this expedition proving unsuccessful, he turned his arms against the Indians, conquering all the country as far as the river Indus.

The Ionians, in the mean time, revolted, and were assisted by the Greeks; but, after a war of six years, they were forced to submission, and

treated