him, (for it is a strong desire to be above, which makes people uneasy beneath,) and they confederated against him. At first, they sought for some occasion in his public conduct, that they might accuse him; but they sought in vain: his probity, diligence, and faithfulness to the duties of his function, were perfect. Having thus no fault against him, they determined to make his piety the matter of accusation, and for this purpose they plotted a very artful scheme. It was the practice of Daniel, amidst all the worldly cares that pressed upon him, to retire to his chamber, which looked towards Jerusalem, to pray, three times a day. This his enemies knew; and they were well assured, also, that he would not forego his practice, though death should stare him in the face. They therefore proposed a decree to Darius, to this effect-That whosoever should ask any petition of God or man for thirty days, save of the monarch himself, should be cast into a den of lions. To this proposal, so flattering to the vanity of an ambitious spirit, without suspecting their intentions, Darius consented. He signed the decree, and by that act it was made

"Irrevocable as the stedfast law

Of Mede and Persian, which can never change."

MOORE.

Human prudence would have dictated the expediency of refraining prayer till thirty days had passed away. But Daniel was not left to the guidance of so pitiful a taper as human prudence. On his soul the light of religion shed its refulgent rays: he well knew that God could protect him from danger, or, if he saw proper to permit him to suffer, would take him to himself. When he heard of the decree, he neither discontinued his practice, nor made a secret of his devotions. This his adversaries soon discovered, and the report was laid before Darius. The misguided monarch now saw the error into which he had fallen, and he endeavoured to save his faithful minister: but it was too late; the edict could not be reversed, and his accusers were clamorous for his execution. The monarch, therefore, gave the order, expressing this assurance to Daniel, when he was thrown into the den of lions, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee," Dan. vi. 10-17.

The next morning, after a night of mourning and fasting, the king arose very early, and went in haste to the den of lions; and when he came to it, he cried to Daniel: "O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest

inually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" The prophet vered triumphantly in the affirmative: "My God hath his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found ne; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." The king was exceeding glad; and he retaliated the same nishment upon his accusers, their wives, and their children; om the lions instantly devoured, breaking their bones to eces before they reached the bottom of the den, ver. 18—24. Darius now made a decree in honour of the religion of Dan, in which he acknowledged the God of Daniel, to be the ily living God in heaven and on earth, ver. 25-28.

Soon after this, B. c. 551, Cyaxares died, and the kingdom Media, etc., became united to that of Persia, under the rule f "Cyrus the Persian."

Thus kingdoms pass away, and kingdoms rise,
Casting their shadowy forms before our eyes:
So let them pass: for in the skies there's one,
That has no need of moon or of the sun,
And that will last for aye! To this fair seat
Turn, pilgrim wand'rer on this earth, thy feet.
Hark! from on high a gentle voice says, 'Come!'
It is thy Saviour's-make it then thy home.

THE

HISTORY OF THE LYDIANS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF LYDIA.

WHENCE this country obtained the name of Lydia is not determined. According to a tradition of the people who inhabited it, as quoted by Josephus, it was from Lud, the fourth son of Shem. Ancient writers, however, tell us, that Lydia was first called Mæonia, or Meonia, from Meon, king of Phrygia and Lydia, and that it was known by that name till the reign of Atys, when it was called Lydia, from his son Lydus. Bochart, finding in his collection of Phenician words, the verb Luz, which signifies "to wind," and observing that the country is watered by the Meander, so famous for its windings, concludes that it was thence named Lydia, or Ludia. To support this hypothesis, he contends, that the Phenicians, and after them Moses, who in the descriptions of countries made use of their terms, gave the name of Lud, not only to Lydia on the banks of the Meander, but likewise to Ethiopia, where the Nile, according to Herodotus, has as many windings as the Meander itself. As these two countries, therefore, lying on the two most winding rivers known to the ancients, were named Lud, which signifies "to wind," who can doubt, says he, that they derived their common denomination from the rivers which watered them? With reference to the ancient name Meonia, he conceives it is a Greek translation of the Phenician word Lud, which is partly borne out by Stephanus, who derives the name of Meonia from Meon, the ancient name of the Meander. Some imagine the

word Meonia, to be a translation of a Hebrew word signifying metal," because that country was, in ancient times, celebrated for its mines.

The country of Lydia was situated in Asia Minor. Its boundaries cannot be distinctly defined, they having differed at various times. Under the Roman empire, it was bounded on the south by Caria, from which it was separated by the river Meander; on the north, by a range of mountains known under the name of Sardene, which divided it from Mysia; on the east, by Phrygia; and on the west, by the Egean; though the tract of country along the coast was more commonly known by the name of Ionia. What the ancients denominate the kingdom of Lydia was not, however, confined between these narrow boundaries, but extended from the river Halys to the Egean sea. Pliny's description includes Ælia, lying between the Hermus and Caicus, a river of Mysia; but this does not appear to be correct.

Lydia was intersected by mountain ranges, running from east to west; of which the principal, called Messogis by Strabo, is a branch of Taurus, and forms the northern boundary of the valley of Meander. Another chain of mountains, known to the ancients under the name of Tmolus, runs parallel to the Messogis, through the centre of the country, and terminates on the western coast, opposite the island of Chios. A branch of Tmolus, called Sipylus, stretches more to the north-west, towards the towns of Cuma and Phocæa. The chain of mountains separating Lydia from Mysia appears to be a continuation of the northern range, known in Bithynia by the name of Olympus, and in Mysia by Ida and Temnoa.

Lydia was thus divided into two valleys; the southern between Messogis and Tmolus, through which the Caystrus flows; and the northern, between Tmolus and Sardene, watered by the Hermus and its tributaries, the Hyllus, Pactolus, and Coganus. The former of these valleys is of moderate extent; but the latter forms a plain of great magnitude.

MOUNTAINS.

The principal mountains of Lydia are the Tmolus, now called by the Turks, Bouz Dagh, or the Cold Mountain, and the Sipylus. The former is chiefly noted for its producing the herb saffron; the latter is celebrated in heathen mythology. It is said, that the goddess Sipylene, worshipped anciently by the pagan inhabitants, derived her name from it;

or rather, it was Cybele herself who was so called, because here worshipped in a particular manner. Hence, on the reverse of almost all the medals of ancient Magnesia, Cybele is represented sometimes on the frontispiece of a temple with four pillars, and sometimes in a chariot. Plutarch says, that Mount Sipylus was also called Ceraunius, or, the "Thundering Mountain," because it thundered more frequently there than on any other mountain of Asia. Hence, also, on the reverse of some of the Magnesian medals, is found Jupiter armed with thunderbolts. Pausanius declares that Jupiter was buried on this mountain, and that he saw his monument! He also climbed the mountain, in hopes of discovering the rock into which Niobe had been turned! So much were the ancient writers given to the fabulous.

RIVERS.

Some of the rivers of Lydia demand a notice; though it must be said of them, that they are more celebrated in the pages of ancient writers than many other rivers more worthy of notice.

Meander. This river had its rise near Celænæ, in Phrygia, and flowed through Caria and Ionia, into the Egean Sea, receiving in its course the waters of the Marsyas, Lycus, Eudon, Lethæus, etc. It is celebrated by the ancient poets for its windings, from whence it derived its name, and which amount to six hundred. Lucan, describing the nations that took part with Pompey, says:

"Then Strymon* was forsook, whose wintry flood,
Commits to warmer Nile his feathered brood;
Then bands from Cone, and from Peucet came,
Where Ister loses his divided stream:

From Idalis where cold Caicus flows,

And where Arisbe,§ thin, her sandy surface strews;
From Pytane and sad Celænæ's|| walls,

Where now in streams the vanquish'd Marsyas falls;

* Strymon was a river of Thrace, whose banks abounded with cranes. it is now called Ischar in the European Turkey.

+ These were two islands amongst the mouths of the Ister, or Danube. + Commentators explain the Tellus Idalis in this place, to be the territory about Mount Ida, which must be a mistake: for Caicus is a river in Mysia Major, a great way distant from Ida.

§ A town in Troas.

Il Pytane was a town near the river Caicus, and Celænæ was a city near the head of the river Marsyos: the fabulous story of which is, that Marsyas, a celebrated piper of Celænæ, found the pipes Pallas had thrown away in disdain, and pragmatically set up for as good a musician