"quence, it seems more reasonable to understand Herodotus as we "have rendered the passage, unless the furlong be taken for the ❝ height of all the eight towers." And it appears to me that the construction of the passage will not allow this last conclusion: for whether the word μños be rendered height or length, it evidently refers to the first tower; and it is expressly said that " another was "built upon this"-and so on. I conclude, therefore, that these words of Herodotus refer to it's length, and it's breadth, without adverting at all to it's height, which Strabo says was also a furlong. According to this last mentioned author it was exactly a furlong every way. Norr 4.Testimonies of Berosus, Megasthenes, Diocles, and Philostratus, respecting the reign, the exploits, and the works of Nebuchadnezzar, preserved in Josephus, and translated in page 462, of the preceding Lecture. Τῷ δὲ πατρὶ τῷ Ναβεχοδονοσόρῳ συνέβη, κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν καιρὸν ἀῤῥωσιήσαντι, ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίων πόλει μεταλλάξαι τὸν βίον, ἔτη βασιλεύ σαντι εἰκοσίεν. αἰσθόμενος δὲ μετ ̓ ἐ πολὺν χρόνον τὴν τῶ πατρὸς τελευτὴν Ναβεχοδονοσόρυ, και καταστήσας τὰ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπίον πραγ ματα και τὴν λοιπὴν χώραν, και τές αἰχμαλώτες Ιεδαίων τε και Φοινίκων και Σύρων και τῶν κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐθνῶν, και συντάξας τισὶ τῶν φίλων μετὰ τῆς βαρυλάκης δυνάμεως και τῆς λοιπῆς ὠφελείας ἀνακομίζειν εἰς τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν, ἀντὸς ὁρμήσας ὀλιγοστός δια τῆς ἐρήμε παρεγένετο εἰς Βαβυλώνα. And again, Αὐτὸς δ ̓ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ το πολέμε λαφύρον τό, τε το Βήλω ἱερὸν και τὰ λοιπὰ κοσμήσας φιλοτίμως, τήν τε ὑπάρχεσαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πόλιν, και ἑτέραν χαρισάμενος, &c. &c...Such is the language of Berosus. Then for the others, Josephus adds---Κάι Μεγασθένες δὲ ἐν τῇ τετάρτη τῶν Ινδικῶν μνημονεύει αὐτῶν, δι' ἧς ἀποφαίνειν πειρᾶται τῦτον τὸν βασιλέα τῇ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῶν πράξεων ὑπερβεβηκότα τὸν Ηρακλέα. Και Διοκλῆς δὲ ἐν τῇ δευτέρα τῶν Περσικών μνημονεύει τότε το βασιλέως και Φιλόστρατος ἐν ταῖς Ινδικαῖς ἀυτᾶ και Φοινικικαῖς ἱστορίαις, ὅτι ἔτος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπολιόρκησε Τύρον ἔτη ιγ. βασιλέυοντος κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν Ιθοβάλω τῆς Τύρω. Joseph. Antig. Jud. Tom. I. lib.r. cap. xi. p. 459, 460. Hudsoni edit. NOTE 5.-Seventy years had been predicted as the term of the captivity of Judah. Some have computed from the fourth year of Jehoiakim to the first issuing of Cyrus' decree. Others from the destruction of Jerusalem to the publication of Darius' decree, in the fourth year of his reign. The discussion of this point is immaterial: since either way seventy years were accomplished. The writers of the Ancient Univ. Hist. date it from the first taking of the city in the reign of Jehoiakim, and they say, in a uote, “ This "Usher proves to have happened in the ninth month, from the ❝ anniversary fast, which the Jews have kept ever since in memory "of that calamity. This is the more worth observing, because the "seventy years captivity, foretold by Jeremiah, must be reckoned " from this epocha."-Confirmation of page 465, of the preceding Lecture. NOTE 6.-The following description of the Simoom is given in Bruce's Travels, Vol. 6, p. 461, 462. Edinburgh, 8vo. edit. of 1804. He says "that an extreine redness in the air was a sure presage of "the coming of the simoom." And his conductor through the desert warned him and his servants" that upon the coming of the simoom" they" should fall upon their faces with their mouths upon the earth, so as not to partake of the outward air, as long as they could hold "their breath." And he thus describes it's fearful approach and effects. "At eleven o'clock, while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we were fast ap"proaching, and where we were to solace ourselves with plenty of "good water, Idris cried out with a loud voice, Fall upon your faces, "for here is the simoom! I saw from the south-east a haze come, in "colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick. It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was "about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush " upon the air, and it moved very rapidly, for I scarce could turn to "fall upon the ground with my head to the northward, when I felt "the heat of it's current plainly upon my face. We all lay flat upon the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. "The meteor, or purple haze, which I saw, was indeed passed, but "the light air that still blew was of heat to threaten suffocation. "For my part, I found distinctly in my breast that I had imbibed "a part of it, nor was I free of an asthmatic sensation till I had "been some months in Italy, at the baths of Poretta, near two years "afterwards." This extract illustrates the remark in page 466, of the preceding Lecture. NOTE 7.-We do not sufficiently consider under whose direction are the desolations of the earth, and by whose permission the hero conquers. Jeremiah awfully unveils the cause of Judah's and Israel's calamities, when he says, "The Lord was an enemy: he hath swal"lowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath "destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of "Judah mourning and lamentation. And he hath violently taken "L away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden, he hath destroyed his " places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and "sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indig"nation of his anger the king and the priest." Lamentations, ii. 5, 6. And this reminds me of a most beautiful passage in Virgil, in which the poet represents the deities engaged in the subversion of Troy. Hic ubi disjectas moles, avulsaque saxis Saxa vides, mistoque undantein pulvere fumum, Prima tenet, sociumque furens a navibus agmen Jam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Pallas Virg. Æneid. lib. ii. v. 609–619. "Here, where you behold bulwarks cast down, and stones rent from "stones, and waving smoke mingling with dust, Neptune shakes the "walls, and the heaving foundations, with his great trident, and over"throws the whole city from it's bases. There, Juno, the most inexorable, «ble, occupies the Scaan gates, and girded with a sword, calls the "raging army of the allies from their ships. Then behold Tritonian "Pallas sits upon the highest citadels, effulgent on a cloud, and with "her terrible agis. Jupiter himself supplies courage, and renewed "forces, to the Grecians; himself stirs up the gods against the Tro"jan arms!" This note relates to page 467, of the preceding Lecture. LECTURE XII. THE LIFE, DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND ASCENSION OF JESUS CHRIST, PROVED AS MATTERS OF FACT. LUKE II. —7. And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped |