A.C. Strabo, who lived in the time of Augustus, relates & R lib. xv. what Megasthenes, an ancient author, who lived near the days of Alexander, had left in writing about the famous conquests of Nabuchodonosor king of the Chaldeans, whom he makes to overrun Europe, penetrate into Spain, and carry his arms as far as the Elian, pillars of Hercules. Elian names Thilgamus king of HistA Assyria, who is, undoubtedly, the Tilgath, or Tiglath nim. c. of sacred history; and we have in Ptolemy a catalogue of the princes, who ruled the great empires; among whom we find a long series of kings of Assyria, unknown to the Grecians, and whom it is easy to reconcile with sacred history. lib. xii. 21. Jos. ult.x.c. It were too tedious to rehearse what the Syrian annals, what Berosus, Abydenus, or Nicolaus of DamasAnt. cus narrate to us. Josephus and Eusebius of Cesarea lib.ix. have preserved to us the precious fragments of all those 11.1. i. authors, as well as of a great many others, that were Ap Eus complete in their time, whose testimony confirms what Evang. the holy scripture tells us concerning the eastern antiquities, and particularly concerning the Assyrian bistory. cont. ix. As for the monarchy of the Medes, to which most profane historians give the second place in the catalogue of great empires, as distinct from that of the Persians, it is certain that the scripture always joins them; and you see, Sir, that, besides the authority of the sacred books, the very order of the facts demonstrates, that it is to that we ought to adhere. The Medes before Cyrus, though powerful and considerable, were eclipsed by the greatness of the kings of Babylon. But Cyrus having conquered their kingdom, by the united force of the Medes and Persians, whose master be afterwards by lawful succession became, as we have observed after Xenophon; it appears that the great empire, whereof he was founder, must bave taken its name from both nations; so that that of the Medes, and that of the Persians, were but one 4C and the same thing; though the glory of Cyrus has A. R. made the name of the Persians to prevail. We may likewise imagine, that before the war of Babylon, the kings of the Medes having extended their conquests on the side of the Grecian Colonies in Asia Minor, were by this means famous among the Greeks, who ascribed to them the empire of the greater Asia, because they knew none but them of all the kings of the East. Yet the kings of Nineveh and Babylon, more powerful, but less known to Greece, have been almost quite forgot in what Grecian histories we have extant; and the whole time from Sardanapalus to Cyrus, has been given to the Medes alone. Thus we need no longer be at so much pains to reconcile, in this particular, profane with sacred history. For as to what regards the first kingdom of the Assyrians, scripture hints at it only by the by, and names neither Ninus the founder of that empire, nor excepting Phul, any of his successors; because their history has no connexion with that of the people of God. As for the second Assyrians, the Greeks have been either entirely ignorant of them, or though not knowing them sufficiently, have confounded them with the first. When therefore any one objects those Greek authors, who range the three first monarchies according to their fancy, and make the Medes succeed to the ancient empire of Assyria, without mentioning the new one, which the scripture exhibits so powerful, we have only to answer, that they have not been acquainted with that part of history; and that they are no less repugnant to the most curious and best informed authors of their own nation, than to holy scripture. And, what in one word cuts off the whole difficulty, is, that sacred authors, being nearer, both in time and situation, to the eastern kingdoms; writing besides the history of a people whose affairs are so interwoven with those of the great empires, though they had no other than this advantage, might be sufficient to silence 4. C. the Greeks, and the Latins who have copied after AR. them. If, nevertheless, some will persist in maintaining that commonly received order of the three first monarchies, and if, to preserve to the Medes alone the second rank which is given them, they will subject to them the kings of Babylon; yet by owning that after about an hundred years subjection, these regained their liberty by a revolt, they save in some measure the coherence of sacred history, but agree little with the best profane historians, to whom holy writ is more favourable, in that it constantly unites the empire of the Medes with that of the Persians. But there still remains to be discovered to you one of the causes of the obscurity of those ancient histories, and it is this: as the kings of the East assumed several names, or, if you will, several titles, which af terwards took place of their proper names; and as different nations translated, or pronounced them differently, according to the respective idioms of each language, histories so very ancient, of which there remain so few authentic memoirs, must have been thereby very much obscured. This confusion of names has doubtless caused a great deal of confusion in things themselves, and in persons; and hence proceeds the difficulty we find to situate in the Grecian history the kings who have had the name of Ahasuerus or Assuerus, which was as much unknown to the Greeks, as known to the people of the East. And indeed, who should think that Cyaxares were the same name with Assuerus, compounded of the word Ky, that is, Lord, and Axares, which manifestly coincides with Axuerus, or Assuerus? Three or four princes have bore the name, though they had others besides. Were we not informed that Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, Nabuchodonosor, Nabuchodrosor, and Nabopolassar, are but one and the same name, or the name of one and the same man, we should have difficulty to believe it; and yet the thing is certain. A. C. Sargon is Sennacherib; Uzziah is Azariah; Zedeki- A. C. ah is Mattaniah; Joachas, or Jehoahas, was also called Shallum; Ezar-haddon, which is likewise wrote Asaraddon, or Asor-haddan, is named Asenaphar by the Cuthites; and by an oddity, of which we know Ezriv. not the origin, Sardanapalus finds himself named by the Greeks, Tonos Concoleros. One might make out a long list of eastern princes, who have, each of them, had several different names in history; but it is sufficient to have given you a general hint of the custom. Nor was it unknown to the Latins, among whom titles and adoptions multiplied names so variously. Thus the title of Augustus, and that of Africanus, became the proper names of Cesar Octavianus, and of the Scipio's; and thus were the Nero's Cesars. The thing is undoubted, and it is needless to dwell longer on so allowed a fact. Epoch. or the restor ed. age of I do not intend, Sir, to trouble you any more with the difficulties of chronology, which are very little material to you. This, indeed, was of too great importance not to be cleared up in this place; and now having told you what is sufficient for our design, I resume the series of our epochs. 1 VIII. IT was then 218 years after the foundation of Rome, Cyrus, 536 years before Jesus Christ, at the expiration of the Jews 70 years captivity in Babylon, and the same year that Cyrus founded the Persian empire, that that prince, Sixth chosen of God to be the deliverer of his people, and the restorer of his temple, put his hand to the great work. 536. Immediately after the publication of this order, Ze- 218. rubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, attended by Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, the high priest, brought back the captives who rebuilt the altar, and laid the foundations of $35. the second temple. The Samaritans, jealous of their world. glory, wanted to have a share in this great work; and Ezriv. upon pretence that they worshipped the God of Israel, 3,9 though they blended his worship with that of their false gods, they besought Zerubbabel to permit them to rebuild the temple of God with him. But the 212. 522. 232. a. c. children of Judah, who abhorred their mixed worship, a. r. rejected the proposal. The Samaritans provoked, thwarted their design by all manner of artifices and outrages. About this time, Servius Tullius, after hav ing enlarged the city of Rome, formed the scheme of 533. turning it into a commonwealth. But he was cut off 221 in the midst of these thoughts, by the counsel of his own daughter, and command of Tarquin the proud, his son-in-law. That tyrant took possession of the kingdom, wherein he exercised a long time all manner of violence. Meanwhile the empire of the Persians continued advancing. Besides those immense provinces of the greater Asia, the whole vast continent of the lower Asia owned their sway; the Lydians and 525. Arabians were subdued; Egypt, so jealous of its laws, 229received theirs. The conquest of it was made by Cambyses the son of Cyrus. That brute did not long survive his brother Smerdis, whom an ambiguous dream caused him to murder privately. Smerdis the mage reigned some time under the name of Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses; but this imposture was soon de521. tected. The seven chief lords conspired against him, 235. and one of them was placed upon the throne. This Herod. was Darius, son of Hystaspes, who in bis inscriptions lib. iv. styled himself the best, and handsomest of all men. Several marks discover him to be the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, though it is not a settled point. In the beginning of his reign the temple was finished, after various interruptions caused by the Samaritans. An irreconcilable hatred took place between the two nations, and nothing was more opposite than Jerusalem and Samaria. In the time of Darius, commence the liberty of Rome and Athens, and the great glory of Greece. Harmodius and Aristogiton, Athenians, deliver their country from Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, and are slain by his guards. Hippias, the brother of Hipparchus attempts, in vain, to support his title. He is expelled; and the tyranny of the family of Pisistra510. tus is utterly abolished. The Athenians, re-instated 244 C. 159. |