TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE SECT. I. Geographical Outline and Natural History.. II. Political and Social Condition of the Assyrians and Babylonians.. SECT. V. History of the United Kingdom of Israel..... VI. The Revolt of the Ten Tribes.-The Kingdom of Israel... VII. The Kingdom of Judah...... CHAPTER VI.-The Empire of the Medes and Persians. SECT. I. Geographical Outline...... II. Sources and Extent of our Knowledge respecting the Ancient III. Social and Political Condition of Ancient Persia.. IV. History of the Medes and Persians under the Kaianian Dynasty. PAGE CHAPTER VII.-Phænician Colonies in Northern Africa. CHAPTER XI.-The Macedonian Kingdom and Empire. CHAITER XII.-History of the States that arose from the Dismemberment SECT. I. History of Macedon and Greece from the Battle of Ipsus to the VI. History of Idumea, and its Capital Petra.... VII. History of the Jews from their Return out of the Babylonish Cap- II. From the Foundation of Rome to the Abolition of Royalty. III. From the Establishment of the Roman Republic to the Burning of PAGE INTRODUCTION. THE use of history is not to load the memory with facts, but to s pre the mind with principles-to collect from the experience of past ages rules for our conduct as individuals and as members of society. Every historical work, therefore, professes to give only a selection of events; and the writer's choice is determined by the nature of his history: the general historian directs attention to the occurrences that have changed the general aspect of society, the revolutions of states and empires, the causes that led to them, and the consequences by which they were followed. The special historian confines his attention to one class of facts, specified in the title of his work: thus the ecclesiastical historian writes only of the affairs of the church; the military historian confines his narrative to wars and battles; and the commercial historian devotes his attention exclusively to trade. But even general histories may, in some degree, be regarded as special; their object may be called "political," that is, they profess to describe the destinies of nations, both in their external relations with foreign states, and in their internal affairs. Under the first head are comprised wars, treaties of peace or alliance, and commercial intercourse; under the second, governments, institutions, and manners. Such a history must, to a certain extent, be a history of civilization; for it will describe the progress of social improvement, and the progress of the human mind. These essential parts of civilization must not be confounded; for we shall have more than once occas on to remark, that the social system, or, in other words, the relations between the different parts of society, may display great wisdom and justice while inen, in their individual capacity, continue the slaves of ignorance an superstition. A distinction is usually made between the narrative and the philoso |