slender merit, which shuns the light, and dares not stand the test of a near examination. Dejoces was so wholly taken up in humanizing and softening the manners, and in making laws for the good government of his people, that he never engaged in any enterprise against his neighbours, though his reign was very long, for he did not die till after having reigned fifty-three years. A. M. 3347. PHRAORTES reigned twenty-two years.* After the Ant. J. C. 657. death of Dejoces, his son Phraortes, called otherwise Aphraartes, succeeded. The affinity between these two names would alone make one believe that this is the king called in Scripture Arphaxad: but that opinion has many other substantial reasons to support it, as may be seen in father Montfaucon's learned dissertation, of which I have here made great use. The passage in Judith, That Arphaxad built a very strong city, and called it Ecbatana, has deceived most authors, and made them believe that Arphaxad must be Dejoces, who was certainly the founder of that city. But the Greek text of Judith, which the Vulgate translation renders ædificavit, says only, That Arphaxad added new buildings to Ecbatana. And what can be more natural, than that, the father not having entirely perfected so considerable a work, the son should put the last hand to it, and make such additions as were wanting? Phraortes, being of a very warlike temper, and not contented with the kingdom of Media, left him by his father, attacked the Persians; and defeating them in a decisive battle, brought them under subjection to his empire. Then, strengthened by the accession of their troops, he attacked other neighbouring nations, one after another, till he made himself master of almost all the Upper Asia, which comprehends all that lies north of mount Taurus, from Media as far as the river Halys. Elate with this good success, he ventured to turn his arms against the Assyrians, at that time indeed weakened through the revolt of several nations, but yet very powerful in themselves. Nabuchodonosor, their king, otherwise called Saosduchinus, raised a great army in his own country, and sent ambassadors to several other nations of the East, to require their assistance. They all refused him with contempt, and ignominiously treated his ambassadors, letting him see that they no longer dreaded that empire, which had formerly kept the greatest part of them in a slavish subjection. The king, highly enraged at such insolent treatment, swore by his throne and his reign, that he would be revenged of all those nations, and put them every one to the sword. He then prepared for battle, with what forces he had, in the plain of Ragau. A great battle ensued there, which proved fatal to Phraortes. He was defeated, his *Herod. c. 102. † He is called so by Eusebius, Chron. Græc. and by Geor. Syncel * Judith. 1 1, 2. Herod. 1. i. c. 102. cavalry fled, his chariots were overturned and put into disorder, and Nabuchodonosor gained a complete victory. Then taking advantage of the defeat and confusion of the Medes, he entered their country, took their cities, pushed on his conquest even to Ecbatana, forced the towers and the walls by storm, and gave the city to be pillaged by its soldiers, who plundered it, and stripped it of all its ornaments. The unfortunate Phraortes, who had escaped into the mountains of Ragau, fell at last into the hands of Nabuchodonosor, who cruelly caused him to be shot to death with darts. After that, he returned to Nineveh with all his army, which was still very numerous, and for four months together did nothing but feast and divert himself with those that had accompanied him in this expedition. In Judith we read that the king of Assyria sent Holofernes with a powerful army, to revenge himself of those that had refused him succours; the progress and cruelty of that commander, the general consternation. of all the people, the courageous resolution of the Israelites to withstand him, in assurance that their God would defend them, the extremity to which Bethulia and the whole nation was reduced, the miraculous deliverance of that city by the courage and conduct of the brave Judith, and the complete overthrow of the Assyrian army, are all related in the same book. A M. 3369. CYAXARES I. reigned forty years.* This prince sucAnt. J. C. 635. ceeded to the throne immediately after his father's death. He was a very brave enterprising prince, and knew how to make his advantage of the late overthrow of the Assyrian army. He first settled himself well in his kingdom of Media, and then conquered all Upper Asia. But what he had most at heart was, to go and attack Nineveh, to revenge the death of his father by the destruction of that great city. The Assyrians came out to meet him, having only the remains of that great army, which was destroyed before Bethulia. A battle ensued, wherein the Assyrians were defeated, and driven back to Nineveh. Cyaxares, pursuing his victory, laid siege to the city, which was upon the point of falling inevitably into his hands, but the time was not yet come, when God designed to punish that city for her crimes, and for the calamities she had brought upon his people, as well as other nations. It was delivered from its present danger in the following manner. A formidable army of Scythians, from the neighbourhood of the Palus Mæotis, had driven the Cimmerians out of Europe, and was still marching under the conduct of king Madyes in pursuit of them. The Cimmerians had found means to escape from the Scythians, who had advanced as far as Media. Cyaxares, hearing of this irruption, raised the siege from before Nineveh, and marched with all his forces against that mighty army, which, like an impetuous torrent, * Herod. L i. c. 103-106. was going to overrun all Asia. The two armies engaged, and the Medes were vanquished. The Barbarians, finding no other obstacle in their way, overspread not only Media, but almost all Asia. After that, they marched towards Egypt, from whence Psammiticus diverted their course by presents. They then returned into Palestine, where some of them plundered the temple of Venus, at Ascalon, the most ancient of the temples dedicated to that goddess. Some of the Scythians settled at Bethshan, a city in the tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, which from them was afterwards called Scythopolis. The Scythians, for the space of twenty-eight years, were masters of the Upper Asia, namely, the two Armenias, Cappadocia, Pontus, Colchis, and Iberia; during which time they spread desolation wherever they came. The Medes had no way of getting rid of them, but by a dangerous stratagem. Under pretence of cultivating and strengthening the alliance they had made together, they invited the greatest part of them to a general feast, which was made in every family. Each master of the feast made his guests drunk, and in that condition were the Scythians massacred. The Medes then repossessed themselves of the provinces they had lost, and once more extended their empire to the banks of the Halys, which was their ancient boundary westward. The remaining Scythians, who were not at this feast, having heard of the massacre of their countrymen, fled into Lydia, to king Halyattes, who received them with great humanity. This occasioned a war between the two princes. Cyaxares immediately led his troops to the frontiers of Lydia. Many battles were fought during the space of five years, with almost equal advantage on both sides. But the battle fought in the sixth year was very remarkable on account of an eclipse of the sun, which happened during the engagement, when on a sudden the day was turned into a dark night. Thales, the Milesian, had foretold this eclipse. The Medes and Lydians, who were then in the heat of the battle, equally terrified with this unforeseen event, which they looked upon as a sign of the anger of the gods, immediately retreated on both sides, and made peace. Syennesis, king of Cilicia, and Nabuchodonosor,† king of Babylon were the mediators. To render it more firm and inviolable, the two princes were willing to strengthen it by the tie of marriage, and agreed, that Halyattes should give his daughter Aryenis to Astyages, eldest son of Cyaxares. The manner these people had of contracting an alliance with one another, is very remarkable. Besides other ceremonies, which they had in common with the Greeks, they had this in particular; the two contracting parties made incisions in their own arms, and licked one another's blood. A. M. 3378. Cyaxares's first care,* as soon as he found himself Ant. J. C. 626. again in peace, was to resume the siege of Nineveh, which the irruption of the Scythians had obliged him to raise. Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, with whom he had lately contracted a particular alliance, joined with him in a league against the Assyrians. Having therefore united their forces, they besieged Nineveh, took it, killed Saracus the king, and utterly destroyed that mighty city. God had foretold by his prophets above 100 years before, that he would bring vengeance upon that impious city for the blood of his servants, wherewith the kings thereof had gorged themselves, like ravenous lions; that he himself would march at the head of the troops that should come to besiege it; that he would cause consternation and terror to go before them; that he would deliver the old men, the mothers, and their children, into the merciless hands of the soldiers; that all the treasures of the city should fall into the hands of rapacious and insatiable plunderers; and that the city itself should be so totally and utterly destroyed, that not so much as a vestige of it should be left; and that the people should ask hereafter, Where did the proud city of Nineveh stand? But let us hear the language of the prophets themselves:-Woe unto the bloody city (cries Nahum,t) it is all full of lies and robbery : he that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face. The Lord cometh to avenge the cruelties done to Jacob and to Israel. I hear already the noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the bounding chariots. The horseman lifted up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear. The shield of his mighty men is made red; the valiant men are in scarlet. They shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightning. God is jealous; the Lord revengeth, and is furious. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence: who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?T Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: I will strip thee of all thy ornaments.** Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture. She is empty, and void, and waste. Nineveh is destroyed; she is overthrown; she is desolate. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.‡‡ And Huzzab shall be led away captive; she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves tabering upon their breasts. I see a multitude of plain, and a great number of carcases; and there is no end of their corpses: they stumbled upon their corpses.|||| Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-places of the young lions, where the *Herod. l. i. c. 106. ↑ Nahum, iii. 1. Ti. 2. 5, 6. ** iii. 5. ‡ii. 1, 2. tt ii. 9, 10. iii. 2. 3. lil. 3, 4. 44 The author in this place renders it, Her temple is destroyed to the foundations But I have chosen to follow our English Bible, though in the Latin it is templum. Nahum, ii. 6. iii. 3. lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid:* where the lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with rapine: The Lord shall destroy Assur. He shall depopulate that city, which was so beautiful, and turn it into a land where no man cometh, and into a desert. It shall be a dwellingplace for wild beasts, and the birds of night shall lurk therein. Behold, shall it be said, see that proud city, which was so stately, and so exalted; which said in her heart, I am the only city, and besides me there is no other. All they that pass by her shall scoff at her, and shall insult her with hissings and contemptuous gestures. The two armies enriched themselves with the spoils of Nineveh; and Cyaxares prosecuting his victories, made himself master of all the cities of the kingdom of Assyria, except Babylon and Chaldea, which belonged to Nabopolassar. After this expedition Cyaxares died, and left his dominions to his son Astyages. A. M. 3409. ASTYAGES reigned thirty-five years. This prince is Ant. J. C. 595. called in Scripture, Ahasuerus. Though his reign was very long, no less than thirty-five years, yet have we no particulars recorded of it in history. He had two children, whose names are famous, namely, Cyaxares, by his wife Aryenis, and Mandane, by a former marriage. In his father's lifetime he married Mandane to Cambyses, the son of Achemenes, king of Persia: from this marriage sprung Cyrus, who was born but one year after the birth of his uncle Cyaxares. The latter succeeded his father in tne kingdom of the Medes. CYAXARES II. This is the prince whom the Scripture calls Darius the Mede. Cyrus, having taken Babylon, in conjunction with his uncle Cyaxares, left it under his government. After the death of his uncle, and his father Cambyses, he united the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians into one: in the sequel, therefore, they will be considered only as one empire. I shall begin the history of that empire with the reign of Cyrus; which will include also what is known of the reigns of his two predecessors, Cyaxares and Astyages. But I shall previously give some account of the kingdom of Lydia, Decause Croesus, its king, has a considerable share in the events of which I am to speak. This is a noble image of the cruel avarice of the Assyrian kings, who pillaged and plundered all their neighbouring nations, especially Judea, and carried away the spoile of them to Nineveh. † Nahum, ii. 11, 12. Zephan ii 13-15. |