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 re

possessed 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.

Herod. 1. 1. c. 74.

* In Herodotus he is called Labynetus

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,f) 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? 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 slain, 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

Nahum, iii. 1.

** iii. 5. tt ii. 9, 10.

ii. 1, 2

iii. 2. 3.

*Herod. 1. i. c. 106. || ii. 3, 4. Ti. 2. 5, 6. 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.

ii. 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 Crœsus, 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 spoils of them to Nineveh.

† Nahum, ii. 11, 12

Zephan ii 13—15.

CHAPTER IV.

THE HISTORY OF THE LYDIANS.

THE kings who first reigned over the Lydians,* are by Herodotus called Atyada, that is, descendants from Atys. These, he tells us, derived their origin from Lydus, the son of Atys; and Lydus gave the name of Lydians to that people, who before this time were called Moonians.

These Atyade were succeeded by the Heraclidæ, or descendants of Hercules, who possessed this kingdom for the space of 505 years. ARGO, great-grandson of Alcæus, son of Hercules, Ant. J. C. 1223. was the first of the Heraclide who reigned in Lydia. The last was

A. M. 2781.

CANDAULES. This prince was married to a lady of exquisite beauty; and, being infatuated by his passion for her, was perpetually boasting of her charms to others. Nothing could serve him, but that Gyges, one of his chief officers, should see, and judge of them by his own eyes; as if the husband's own knowledge of them was not sufficient for his happiness.† or the beauty of his wife would have been impaired by his silence. The king, to this end, placed Gyges secretly in a convenient place; but notwithstanding that precaution, the queen perceived him when he retired, yet took no manner of notice of it. Judging, as the historian represents it, that the most valuable treasure of a woman is her modesty, she studied a signal revenge for the injury she had received; and, to punish the fault of her husband, committed a still greater crime. Possibly, a secret passion for Gyges had as great a share in that action, as her resentment for the dishonour done her. Be that as it will, she sent for Gyges, and obliged him to expiate his crime, either by his own death or the king's, at his own option. After some remonstrances to no purA. M. 3286. pose, he resolved upon the latter, and by the murder Ant. J. C. 718. of Candaules, became master of his queen and his throne. By this means the kingdom passed from the family of the Heraclidæ into that of the Mermnade.

Archilochus, the poet, lived at this time, and, as Herodotus informs us, spoke of this adventure of Gyges in his poems.

I cannot forbear mentioning in this place what is related by Herodotus, that amongst the Lydians, and almost all other Barbarians, it was reckoned shameful and infamous even for a man to appear naked. These footsteps of modesty, which are met with amongst pagans, ought to be reckoned valuable. We are assured, that

Herod. 1. i. c. 7-13.

Non contentus voluptatum suarum tacitâ conscientiâ-prorsus quasi silentium dam num pulchritudinis esset. Justin. 1. i. c. 7.

Nostro quidem more cum parentibus puberes filii, cum soceris generi, non lavantur. Retinenda est igitur hujus generis verecundia, præsertim naturâ ipsâ magistrâ et duce. Cic. 1. i. de offic. n. 129 Nudare se nefas esse credebatur. Val. Max. 1. ii. cap. 1.

among the Romans, a son, who was coming to the age of maturity, never went into the baths with his father, nor even a son-in-law with his father-in-law: and this modesty and decency were looked upon by them as enjoined by the law of nature, the violation whereof was criminal. It is astonishing, that among us our magistrates take no care to prevent this disorder, which, in the midst of Paris, at the season of bathing, is openly committed with impunity; a dis. order so visibly contrary to the rules of common decency, so dangerous to young persons of both sexes, and so severely condemned by paganism itself.

Plato* relates the story of Gyges in a different manner from Herodotus. He tells us, that Gyges wore a ring, the stone of which, when turned towards him, rendered him invisible; so that he had the advantage of seeing others, without being seen himself; and that by means of this ring, with the concurrence of the queen, he deprived Candaules of his life and throne. This probably signifies, that in order to compass his criminal design, he used all the tricks and stratagems, which the world calls subtle and refined policy, which penetrates into the most secret purposes of others, without making the least discovery of its own. This story, thus explained, carries in it a greater appearance of truth than what we read in Herodotus.

Cicero, after having related this fable of Gyges's famous ring, adds, that if a wise man had such a ring,† he would not use it to any wicked purpose; because virtue considers what is honourable and just, and has no occasion for darkness.

A. M. 3286.

The

GYGES reigned thirty-eight years. The murder of Ant. J. C. 718. Candaules raised a sedition among the Lydians. two parties, instead of coming to blows, agreed to refer the matter to the decision of the Delphic oracle, which declared in favour of Gyges. The king made large presents to the temple of Delphi, which undoubtedly preceded, and had no little influence upon the oracle's answer. Among other things of value, Herodotus mentions six golden cups, weighing thirty talents, amounting to near a million of French money, which is about 48,000l. sterling.

As soon as he was in peaceable possession of the throne, he made war against Miletus, Smyrna, and Colophon, three powerful cities belonging to the neighbouring states.

After he had reigned thirty-eight years, he died, and was succeeded by his son

A. M. 3324.

ARDYS, who reigned forty-nine years.§ It was in Ant. J. C. 680. the reign of this prince, that the Cimmerians, driven out of their country by the Scythe Nomades, went into Asia, and took the city of Sardis, with the exception of the citadel

* Plato de Rep. 1. ii. p. 359.

↑ Hunc ipsum annulum si habeat sapiens, nihilo plus sibi licere putet peccare, quàm si acn haberet. Honesta enim bonis viris, non occulta quæruntur. Lib. iii. de offic. n. 38. ↑ Herod. I. i. c. 13, 14. Herod. 1. i. c. 15.