ARTICLE III.

The history of Cyrus, from the taking of Babylon to the time of his death. Cyrus, finding himself master of all the East by the taking of Babylon, did not imitate the example of most other conquerors, who sully the glory of their victories by a voluptuous and effeminate life; to which they fancy they may justly abandon themselves after their past toils, and the long course of hardships they have gone through. He thought it incumbent upon him to maintain his reputation by the same methods he had acquired it, that is, by a prudent conduct, by a laborious and active life, and a constant application to the duties of his high station.

SECTION I.

Cyrus takes a journey into Persia. At his return from thence to Babylon, he forms a plan of government for the whole empire. Daniel's credit and power.

When Cyrus judged he had sufficiently regulated his affairs at Babylon,* he thought proper to take a journey into Persia. In his way thither he went through Media, to visit his uncle Cyaxares, to whom he carried very magnificent presents, telling him at the same time that he would find a noble palace at Babylon, all ready prepared for him, whenever he would please to go thither; and that he was to look upon that city as his own. Indeed Cyrus, as long as his uncle lived, held the empire only in co-partnership with him, though he had entirely conquered and acquired it by his own Ant. J. C. 538. valour. Nay, so far did he carry his complaisance, that he let his uncle enjoy the first rank. It is Cyaxares who is called in Scripture Darius the Mede; and we shall find, that under his reign, which lasted but two years, Daniel had several revelations. It appears that Cyrus, when he returned from Persia, carried Cyaxares with him to Babylon.

A. M. 3466.

When they arrived there, they concerted together a scheme of government for the whole empire. They divided it into 120 provinces. And that the prince's orders might be conveyed with the greater expedition, Cyrus caused post-houses to be erected at proper distances, where the couriers, that travelled day and night, found horses always ready, and by that means performed their journeys with incredible despatch. The government of these provinces was given to those persons that had assisted Cyrus most, and ren. dered him the greatest service in the war. Över these governors were appointed three superintendents,|| who were always to reside at court, and to whom the governors were to give an account from time to time of every thing that passed in their respective provinces, Cyrop. 1 viii, p. 232. Id. p. 230.

Cyrop 1. viii. p. 227.
Dan vi. 2, 3.

↑ Dan. vi. I

and from whom they were to receive the prince's orders and instructions; so that these three principal ministers had the superintendency over, a..d the chief administration of, the affairs of the whole empire. Of these three, Daniel was made the chief. He highly deserved such a preference, not only on account of his great wisdom, which was celebrated throughout all the East, and had been displayed in a distinguished manner at Belshazzar's feast, but likewise on account of his great age and consummate experience: for at that time it was full sixty-seven years, from the fourth of Nabuchodonosor, that he had been employed as prime minister of the kings of Babylon.

As this distinction made him the second person in the empire,* and placed him immediately under the king, the other courtiers conceived so great a jealousy of him, that they conspired to destroy him. As there was no hold to be taken of him, unless it were on account of the law of his God, to which they knew him inviolably attached, they obtained an edict from Darius, whereby all persons were forbidden to ask any thing whatsoever, for the space of thirty days either of any god or any man, save of the king; and that upon pain of being cast into the den of lions. Now, as Daniel was saying his usual prayers, with his face turned towards Jerusalem, he was surprised, accused, and cast into the den of lions. But being miraculously preserved, and coming out safe and unhurt, his accusers were thrown in, and immediately devoured by those animals. This event still augmented Daniel's credit and reputation.

Towards the end of the same year,† which was reckoned the first of Darius the Mede, Daniel knowing by the computation he made, that the seventy years of Judah's captivity, determined by the prophet Jeremiah, were drawing towards an end, prayed earnestly to God that he would vouchsafe to remember his people, rebuild Jerusalem, and look with an eye of mercy upon his holy city, and the sanctuary he had placed therein. Upon which the angel Gabriel assured him in a vision, not only of the deliverance of the Jews from their temporal captivity, but likewise of another deliverance, much more considerable, namely, a deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan, which God would procure to his church, and which was to be accomplished at the end of seventy weeks, that were to elapse from the time the order should be given for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, that is, after the space of 490 years. For, taking each day for a year, according to the language used sometimes in Holy Scripture, those seventy weeks of years made up exactly 490 years.

Cyrus, upon his return to Babylon, had given orders for all his forces to join him there. On the general review made of them, he found they consisted of 120,000 horse, of 2000 chariots armed with scythes, and 600,000 foot. When he had furnished the garrisons with so many of them as were necessary for the defence of the Cyrop. 1. viii. 233.

Dan. vi. 4-97

Dan ix. 1-27

several parts of the empire, he marched with the remainder into Syria, where he regulated the affairs of that province, and then subdued all those countries as far as the Red Sea, and the contines of Ethiopia.

It was probably in this interval of time, that Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and miraculously delivered from them, as we have just now related.

Perhaps in the same interval also were those famous pieces of gold coined, which are called Darics, from the name of Darius the Mede, which for their fineness and beauty were for several ages preferred to all other money throughout the whole East.

SECTION II.

The beginning of the united empire of the Persians and Medes. The famous edict of Cyrus. Daniel's prophecies.

Here, properly speaking, begins the empire of the Persians and Medes united under one and the same authority. This empire, from Cyrus, the first king and founder of it, to Darius Codomannus, who was vanquished by Alexander the Great, lasted for the space of 206 years, namely, from the year of the world 3468 to the year 3674. But in this volume I propose to speak only of the first three kings; and little remains to be said of the founder of t's new empire. A. M. 3463. CYRUS. Cyaxares dying a the end of two years, Ant. J. C. 536. and Cambyses likewise ending his days in Persia, Cyrus returned to Babylon, and took upon him the government of the empire.

Some

The years of Cyrus's reign are computed differently.* make it thirty years, beginning from his first setting out from Persia, at the head of an army, to succour his uncle Cyaxares: others make it to be but seven years, because they date it only from the time, when, by the death of Cyaxares and Cambyses, he became sole monarch of the whole empire.

In the first of these seven years, precisely, expired the seventieth year of the Babylonish captivity, when Cyrus published the famous edict whereby the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem. There is no question but this edict was obtained by the care and solicitations of Daniel, who possessed great influence at court. That he might the more effectually induce the king to grant him this request, he showed him undoubtedly the prophecies of Isaiah,† wherein, above 200 years before his birth, he was marked out by name as a prince appointed by God to be a great conqueror, and to reduce a multitude of nations under his dominion; and, at the same time, to be the deliverer of the captive Jews, by ordering their temple to be rebuilt, and Jerusalem and Judea to be repossessed by their ancient inhabitants. I think it may not be improper in this place to insert

that edict at length, which is certainly the most glorious circumstance in the life of Cyrus, and for which, it may be presumed, God had endowed him with so many heroic virtues, and blessed him with such an uninterrupted series of glorious victories and success.

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia. The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (he is the true God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the free will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.*

Cyrus, at the same time, restored to the Jews all the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which Nabuchodonosor had brought from Jerusalem, and placed in the temple of his god. Shortly after the Jews departed under the conduct of Zorobabel, to return into their own country.

The Samarans,† who had long been the declared enemies of the Jews, did all ney possity could to hinder the building of the temple; and though they could not alter Cyrus's decree, yet they so far prevailed by bribes and underhand dealings with the ministers and other officers concerned therein, as to obstruct the execution of it; so that for several years the building went on very slowly.

A M. 3170.

It seems to have been through grief at seeing the Ant. J. C. 534. execution of this decree so long retarded, that in the third year of Cyrus, in the first month of that year, Daniel gave himself up to mourning and fasting for three weeks together. He was then near the river Tigris in Persia. When this time of fasting was ended, he saw the vision concernng the succession of the kings of Persia, the empire of the Macedonians, and the conquest of the Romans. This revelation is related in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth chapters of the prophecies of Daniel, of which I shall soon speak.

By what we find in the conclusion of the last chapter, we have reason to conjecture, that he died soon after; and, indeed, his great age makes it unlikely that he could live much longer; for at this time he must have been at least eighty-five years of age, if we suppose him to have been twelve when he was carried to Babylon with the other captives, and some suppose him to have been eighteen

Ezra, i. 1-4.

† Ezra, iv. 1-5.

Dan. x. 1-3.

But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. Dan. xii. 13.

years of age at that time: from that early age he had given proofs of wisdom, more than human, in the judgment of Susannah. He was ever afterwards very much esteemed by all the princes who reigned at Babylon, and was always employed by them with distinction in the administration of their affairs.

Daniel's wisdom did not only reach to things divine and political, but also to arts and sciences, and particularly to that of architecture. Josephus speaks of a famous edifice built by him at Susa,† in the manner of a castle; which he says still subsisted in his time, finished with such wonderful art, that it then seemed as fresh and beautiful as if it had been but newly built. Within this palace the Persian and Parthian kings were usually buried; and, for the sake of the founder, the keeping of it was committed to one of the Jewish nation, even to the time of Josephus. It was a common tradition in those parts for many ages, that Daniel died in that city, and there they show his monument even to this day. It is certain, that he used to go thither from time to time, and he himself tells us that he did the king's business there, that is, was governor for the king of Babylon.

Reflections upon Daniel's Prophecies.

I have hitherto deferred making any reflections upon the prophecies of Daniel, which certainly to any reasonable mind are a very convincing proof of the truth of our religion. I shall not dwell upon that which personally related to Nebuchadnezzar,|| and foretold in what manner, for the punishment of his pride, he should be reduced to the condition of the beasts of the field, and after a certain number of years restored again to his understanding and to his throne. It is well known the matter happened exactly according to Daniel's prediction: the king himself relates it in a declaration addressed to all the people and nations of his empire. Was it possible for Daniel to ascribe such a manifesto or proclamation to Nebuchadnezzar, if it had not been genuine; to speak of it, as having been sent into all the provinces, if nobody had seen it; and in the midst of Babylon, that was full of both Jews and Gentiles, to publish an attestation of such importance, and so injurious to the king, the falsehood of which must have been notorious to all the world?

I shall content myself with representing very briefly, and under one and the same point of view, the prophecies of Daniel, which designate the succession of the four great empires, and which, for that reason, have an essential and necessary relation to the subject matter of this work, which is no other than the history of those very empires.

*Antiq. I. x. cap. 12.

So it ought to be read, according to St. Jerome, who relates the same fact; Comm. in. Dan. viii. 2. and not Ecbatana, as it is now read in the text of Josephus.

I Now caled Tuster.

Dan. iv.