lon, he said, that he would "break before him, the gates of brass." At proper intervals towers were erected all along the walls, each of them about ten feet higher than the walls themselves. It seems, however, that this is to be understood only of those parts of the walls where towers were needful for defence: when three towers were between every two of the gates, and four at the four corners: but some parts of the walls being upon a morass and inaccessible to an enemy, were not thus defended: and the whole number of the towers were two hundred and fifty. This economy destroying the symmetry of the city, the deficiency was afterwards supplied by Nitocris.* From the twenty-five gates on each side of the city were twenty-five streets extending in a straight line to the corresponding gates on the opposite side, directly intersecting each other at right angles: so that there were fifty streets, each of them fifteen miles long, dividing the whole city into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each square two miles and a quarter in circumference. The ground enclosed within these squares, was formed into gardens.

The next objects worthy attention were,

2. THE BRIDGE, AND THE BANKS OF THE RIVER. A branch of the Euphrates ran through the centre of the city from north to south. On each side of the river were a quay, and an high wall built of brick and of bitumen, of the same thickness with the walls which surrounded the city. In these walls, over against every street that led to the river, were also gates of brass, and from them were descents by steps to the river. These brazen gates were always open in

Anc. Univ. Hist. vol. iv, b. 1, c. 9, p. 498 and 434. Dublin edition 1745, 20 vol.

the day, and shut by night. The bridge thrown over it in the middle of the city, was a magnificent structure, a furlong in length, and thirty feet in breadth. Nor must we omit

3. THE CANALS for draining the river. In the beginning of the summer, the sun melting the snows on the mountains of Armenia, a vast overflow of the Euphrates takes place in the months of June, July, and August. To prevent any damage to the city and its inhabitants, at a considerable distance above the town, were cut two artificial canals, which turned the course of the waters into the Tigris before they reached Babylon. For additional security, two immense banks were raised on each side of the river. In order to form these mounds it was necessary to drain off the water; which was done by digging a prodigious lake forty miles square, one hundred and sixty in circumference, and thirty-five feet deep.

These are the wonders recorded by ancient writers, concerning Babylon; and which almost exceed credibility, were it not that their testimony on this subject perfectly coincides with itself. Berosus, Magasthenes, and Abydenus, agree in ascribing these works to Nebuchadnezzar.*

4. THE PALACE, THE HANGING GARDENS, AND THE TEMPLE, were respectively splendid and magnificent: but as they are not necessary to our subject, we wave a description of them. It is agreed by most historians, that the temple of Belus was built on the plan of the tower of Babel, and is by some supposed to be erected on its ruins. Josephus says, that Babylon took its name

For this, and a more enlarged account of Babylon, see Rollin's Anc. Hist. vol. i, p. 188, &c. Anc. Univ. Hist. vol. iv, b. 1, c. 9. Prideaux's Connec. vol. i, pt. i, b. i., p. 133-148. Herod. l. 1, c. 178, &c.

from Babel, a word implying confusion, in commemoration of the confusion of language, and the dispersion of the people * This temple was higher than the highest pyramid of Egypt.† From the situation of Babylon, in a clear atmosphere, and a serene sky, together with the advantage of this immense elevation, arose the superiority of Chaldeans in astronomical studies. The description of this immense city, which has now been submitted to you, was necessary that you may understand the nature of those operations adopted by Cyrus in obtaining possession of it.

We are not to wonder that the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, the resistless conqueror, and the lord of Babylon, was inflated with pride. Where there is not a principle of religion to counteract the influence of human depravity, the power of a lofty spirit admits of no restraint. But "pride is nigh unto destruction; and an haughty spirit goeth before a fall." Nebuchadnezzar ascribed to the power of his own arm, the glory and the majesty of his kingdom, and the Deity punished him, by driving him from human society. He would be a god, and he became less than a man! His humiliation had been predicted in a vision, explained to him by the prophet Daniel, a year before it took place.§ The five following considerations may perhaps tend to confirm this event, as an historical fact.

1. It is circumstantially related in a decree which Nebuchadnezzar issued upon his restoration to his kingdom: which decree must have existed at the very time when the scriptural account was written; admit

Josephus de Antiq. Jud. Tom. I, lib. i, cap. 4. Hudsoni edit.

For a general description of it, see Anc. Univ. Hist. vol. ii, b. i, c. 9. and vol. i, b. i, c. 2. See also note 3, of this Lecture, at the end of the volume.

Dan. iv, 29...33.

§ Dan. iv. 4, &c.

ting (which we may reasonably claim) that the event was recorded at the time which it asserts, and possesses the antiquity ascribed to the book of Daniel: therefore imposition was impossible, and the attempt among contemporaries, would only have exposed the writer to derision. It is not the relation of a transaction previous to his birth, which Daniel has written, but he was an eye-witness of the circumstance, an actor in the scene, and the whole Jewish nation, as well as the Babylonish empire, were concerned in it.

2. Scaliger, thinks that this madness of Nebuchadnezzar is obscurely hinted in a fragment of Abydenus, preserved by Eusebius*-wherein having, from the testimony of the Chaldean writers, represented the king to have fallen into an ecstacy, and to have foretold the destruction of that empire by the Medes and Persians, he adds "immediately after uttering this prophecy, he disappeared," which Scaliger supposes refers to the deposition of his kingly authority, and to his exclusion from society.

3. Herodotus speaks of his pride, and of his defiance even of Divine power, in much the same terms as those used by the inspired writer. He says "such was his loftiness and presumption, that he boasted, it was not in the power of God himself to dispossess him of his kingdom, so securely did he deem himself established in it."t

4. Josephus asserts this event: and amid all his numerous opposers, and their diversified objections, the relation of this fact by him was never disputed."‡

5. By Ptolemy's canon, a contemporary record, Nebuchadnezzar is said to have reigned forty-three

Euseb. Præp. Evang. lib. ix, cap. 41. + Herod. lib. 2.

✦ Joseph. de Antiq. Judeor. Tom. I, lib. x, cap. 10.

years, eight of which are passed over in silence. His actions, as recounted both by sacred and profane historians, are so remarkable, and his spirit so enterprising, that it can scarcely be imagined that he should be inactive during eight years, or that his achievements in that period should be buried in oblivion. The conclusion is in favor of the record of Daniel, that he was excluded from society, for seven years, till he learned to acknowledge the hand which had made him great, and to ascribe all power to God.* Of the reign and the works of Nebuchadnezzar, Josephus has preserved the testimonies of Berosus, Megasthenes, Diocles, and Philostratus.

BEROSUS, in the third book of his Chaldaic histories says that "his father died at Babylon after having reigned twenty-one years: that Nebuchadnezzar was at that time absent in Egypt, but having received the intelligence of his father's death, he arranged his affairs abroad, and committing the care and transportation of the Jews, Syrians, Egyptians, and Phenicians, to his friends, to follow him with his army and carriages to Babylon, he himself with a few men hastened thither, and took upon himself the government of the empire." Again he adds, "with the spoils of war, he most magnificently decorated the temple of Belus-he enlarged the old city-built within it a triple wall-erected a magnificent palace”—and so he goes on to speak of the hanging gardens, and of his other operations.. "MEGASTHENES, in the fourth book of his Indian history, mentions this garden, and asserts that Nebuchadnezzar surpassed Hercules in valor, and in the greatness of his exploits." DIOCLES in the second book of

See Prideaux's Connec, vol. i, b. 1, in locum.