to keep up the population, he caused fifty thousand women to be brought from the several provinces of his empire, to supply the place of those the inhabitants had so cruelly destroyed at the beginning of the siege; and, for having perpetrated that horrible act, he caused three thousand of the most distinguished of the nobility to be crucified.

Babylon remained in the possession of the kings of Persia for several generations. But it soon ceased to be a royal residence, the sovereigns having chosen to reside either at Shusan, Ecbatana, or Persepolis; and, the better to reduce it to ruin, they built Seleucia in its neighbourhood, and caused many of its inhabitants to be removed to Ctesiphon.

In following our subject, we come to the time when Darius Codomanus became sovereign of Babylon, in right of being king of Persia. This prince had been defeated at the battle of the Granicus by Alexander. Not long after he lost another battle, viz., that of Arbela; after which the conqueror made what is called his "triumphant entry" into Babylon. He entered, we are told, at the head of his army, as if he had been marching to a battle. "The walls," says the historian, "were lined with people, notwithstanding the greatest part of the citizens had gone out before, from the impatient desire they had to see their new sovereign, whose renown had far outstripped his march. The governor and guardian of the treasure strewed the streets with flowers, and raised on both sides of the way silver altars, which century and a half before Alexander, in whose time the walls appear to have been in the original state; or, at least, nothing is said that implies the contrary; and it cannot be believed, if Darius had taken the trouble to level thirty-four miles of so prodigious a rampart as that of Babylon, that ever it would have been rebuilt in the manner described by Ctesias, Clitarchus, and others, who describe it at a much later period. Besides, it would have been quite unnecessary to level more than a part of the wall; and in this way, probably, the historian ought to be understood."-RENNELL.

66

smoked not only with frankincense, but the most fragrant perfumes of every kind. Last of all came the presents which were made to the king, viz., herds of cattle and a great number of horses; also lions and panthers, which were carried in cages. After these the magi walked, singing hymns after the manner of their country; then the Chaldæans, accompanied by the Babylonian soothsayers and musicians. It was customary for the latter to sing the praises of their king to their instruments; and the Chaldæans to observe the motion of the planets and the vicissitudes of the seasons." 99 "The rear," continues the author from whom we quote, was brought up by the Babylonish cavalry, which, both men and horsemen, were so sumptuous that imagination can scarce reach their magnificence." The king caused the people to walk after his infantry, while he, surrounded by his guards, and seated on a chariot, entered the city, and rode to the palace. The next day he took a survey of all Darius's money and moveables. These, however, he did not keep to himself, but distributed a large portion of them to his troops, giving to each Macedonian horseman a sum equal to sixty dollars, to each mercenary horseman about twenty-four dollars, to every Macedonian foot-soldier the same, and to all the rest two months of their ordinary pay. Nor did he stop here. He gave orders that all the temples which had been thrown down by the order of Xerxes should be rebuilt, especially that of Belus.

On his second visit to this city he was met at some distance by a deputation of old men, who told him the stars had indicated that, if he ventured into the city, some signal misfortune would befall him. At first the king was greatly alarmed and perplexed; but, having consulted some Greek philosophers who chanced to be in his army, they threw such contempt on astrology in general, and the Babylonish astrologers in particular, that he resolved

to continue his march, and the same day entered the city with all his army.

Soon after this, designing to raise a monument to his friend Hephæstion, he directed nearly six furlongs of the city wall to be beaten down; and having got together a vast number of skilful workmen, he built a very magnificent monumental structure over the part he had caused to be levelled.

That the reader may have a distinct idea of the grandeur of this structure, we insert here a description of it by Rollin. "It was divided into thirty parts, in each of which was raised a uniform building, the roof of which was covered with great planks of palm-tree wood. The whole formed a perfect square, the circumference of which was adorned with extraordinary magnificence. Each side was a furlong, or a hundred fathoms in length. At the foot of it, and in the first row, there were two hundred and forty-four prows of ships gilded, on the buttresses or supporters whereof the statues of two archers, four cubits high, with one knee on the ground, were placed, and two other statues in an upright posture, completely armed, larger than life, being five cubits in height. The spaces between the rows were spread and adorned with scarlet cloth. Over these prows was a colonnade of large flambeaux, terminating towards eagles, which, with their heads turned downward, and extended wings, served as capitals. Dragons fixed near, or upon the base, turned their heads upward towards the eagles. Over this colonnade stood a third, on the base of which was represented, in relievo, a troop of hunting animals of every kind. On the next order, that is, the fourth, the combat of Centaurs was represented in gold. Finally, on the fifth, golden figures, representing lions and bulls, were placed alternately. The whole edifice terminated with military trophies after the Macedonian and Babylonian fashion, as so many symbols of the victory of the former and the defeat of the lat

ter. On the entablatures and roofs were represented Sirens, the hollow bodies of which were filled, but in an imperceptible manner, with musicians, who sang mournful airs and dirges in honour of the deceased. This edifice was upward of one hundred and thirty cubits high, that is, one hundred and ninety-five feet. The beauty and design of it," concludes our author," the singularity and magnificence of its decorations and ornaments, surpass the most wonderful productions of fancy, and were all in exquisite taste. The designer and architect of the whole was Stasicrates; he who offered to cut Mount Athos into the shape of a man. The cost of this monument was no less than twelve thousand talents, that is, more than eight millions of dollars."

Alexander resided more than a year at Babylon. During this time he planned a multitude of things; among which, we are told that, finding Babylon to surpass in extent, convenience, and whatever could be wished, either for the necessities or pleasures of life, all the other cities of the East, he resolved to make it the seat of his empire.* this view he planned many improvements, and commenced some; and would doubtless have accomplished much that he intended, for he was still a very young man, had not death cut him short in the midst of his career,

Leaving a name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral or adorn a tale.†

With

* " Babylon was designed by Alexander to be not only the capital of his empire, but also a great port and naval arsenal. To contain his fleet, he ordered a basin to be excavated, capable of admitting a thousand sail, to which were to be added docks and magazines for stores. The ships of Nearchus, as well as others from Phoenicia, were already arrived. They had been taken to pieces on the Mediterranean coast, and conveyed overland to Thapsacus, where they had been put together, and then navigated down the Euphrates." The object of all this was to enable him to invade Arabia.

† Sir John Malcolm says that many traditions still exist in

66

And this calls to mind the prophecies which had been uttered: "I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant "I will make it a possession for the bittern." "I will sweep it with the besom of destruction." "It shall never be inhabited; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation."

Such was the fate of this great city; insomuch that, in process of time, it became entirely forsaken, and the Persian kings made a park among its ruins, in which they kept wild beasts for hunting. Instead of citizens, there were boars, leopards, bears, deer, and wild asses. Nothing remained but portions of its walls, and a great part even of these at last fell, down. They were never repaired, and so complete was the ruin, that for many ages even the remains of it were supposed to have been swept from the face of the earth.*

Persia in regard to this wonderful person. Among others, this: "The astrologers had foretold, that when Alexander's death was near, he would place his throne where the earth was of iron and the sky of gold. When the hero, fatigued with conquest, directed his march towards Greece, he was one day seized with a bleeding at the nose. A general who was near, unlacing his coat of mail, spread it for his prince to sit on; and, to defend him from the sun, held a golden shield over his head. When Alexander saw himself in this situation, he exclaimed, 'The prediction of the astrologers is accomplished: I no longer belong to the living! Alas! that the work of my youth should be finished! Alas! that the plant of the spring should be cut down like the ripened tree of autumn!' He wrote to his mother, saying he should shortly quit the earth and pass to the regions of the dead. He requested that the alms given at his death should be bestowed on such as had never seen the miseries of the world, and who had never lost those who were dear to them. In conformity to his will, his mother sought, but in vain, for such persons. All had tasted the woes and griefs of this life; all had lost those whom they loved. She found in this the consolation which her son had intended, for her great loss. She saw that her own was the common lot of humanity."

* In describing the overthrow, the prophet is admirable; rising by a judicious gradation into all the pomp of horror. "Now, indeed, it is thronged with citizens; but the hour is coming when it shall be entirely depopulated, and not so much