to yield to it; he acts and speaks, as if independent of heaven: For " at the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon," perhaps on the top of the hanging gardens, from which he could survey the whole city, "And he said; is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" He ascribes no glory to God; no praise to the Most High; he speaks, as if he were the sole author of his own greatness, and the entire cause of his own power. But he soon felt the stroke of the Almighty too powerful for resistance; for in that same hour was he deprived of reason; and made lower than the brute.

But though Daniel's advice had little or no influence on Nebuchadnezzar, yet punishment had. When his reason was restored to him, he felt and acknowledged his dependence on God; he was ready to consider himself as an example to others, and as an instance of wonder and mercy. He therefore wrote an account of all that befel him, and addressed it to all people, nations and languages; that they might know the power and wonders of the Most High; and see, by his own case, that "those that walk in pride he is able to abase."

About a year after his restoration to reason, Nebuchadnezzar died; and as his history now closes, it may be proper to conclude with what Josephus says of him. "Nebuchadnezzar, in fine, was a prince very industrious, and much more fortunate than any of his ancestors. He departed this life in the three and fortieth Year of his Age. Berosus in the third Book of his Chaldean History, makes mention of it in these

words: Nabuchodonosor the Father, says he, under standing that a certain great Officer of his, to whom he had committed the Government of Egypt, CœleSyria, and Phoenicia, was fallen off from his allegiance; and not being in a Condition of Body himself, to bear the fatigues of the war in his own Person, he sent his Son Nebuchodonosor, with part of his Army, to reduce him to his obedience. He found him out, fought and overcame him, and so brought back the revolted Provinces to their Duty. The Father, in the mean time, was taken away by a Sickness at Babylon, in the one and twentieth Year of his Reign. The young Man was no sooner informed of the Death of his Father, but he took immediate Care for the settling of his affairs in Egypt, and the rest of the Provinces; recommending to some particular Friends the Charge of conveying his Prisoners, Jews, Syrians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians, to Babylon, with the army and Baggage, while he himself, with a small Retinue, took his Way thither over the Desert, The Government was reserved for him in the mean while by the Chaldeans, and by the great Men among them, in his absence, secured till his Return; so that when he came to enter upon the administration, he was established in the full Possession of his paternal Empire. The first thing he did, was, to make a commodious Distribution of his Captives into Colonies; and after that, to adorn and illustrate the Temple of Belus, and other religious Places, with Spoils of War. He repaired and enlarged the ancient Edifices of the City, and raised Works upon the Banks of the River, to prevent all Approaches that Way. He erected three Walls or Retrenchments within the bounds of the City, and as many without, all Brick-work: And when he had fortified the Town after this remarkable Manner, he beautified the Gates

with a Curiosity of Frontispiece, like the finishing of the Temple-Work; and advanced another Palace contiguous to that of his Father's with all possible Art and Magnificence; but the Particulars are too many, and would be too long for this Place. There is only one thing that I cannot but take Notice of; which is, that this spacious and stately Fabric was finished in fifteen Days. In this Building there were vast Stones supported upon Arches, that looked like Mountains hanging in the Air: and they were planted on the top, with several sorts of Trees, in a compliment to the Queen, who, being a Median, had a passionate desire to see some artificial Resemblance of the Gardens and Rarities of her own country. Megasthenes, in the fourth Volume of his History of India, speaks of these Garden-works, and sets forth this King, both for his Enterprize and for his Performances, to have been much superior to Hercules himself; having subdued the greatest part of Libya, and likewise Ibenia. Diocles makes mention of this King, in the second Book of his Persian History; and so does. Philostratus, in the account he gives of the Phoenicians and the Indians; telling, how this Prince, in the days of Ithobal, King of Tyre, maintained a Siege of thirteen Years against that Town. And this is all I can find among the Historians concerning him. "k

Josephus. lib. x. c. 11.

Dissertation

7.

CHAPPTER V.

AFTER the death of Nebuchadnezzar, his son

Evil Merodach ascended the throne of Babylon. But his reign was short and inglorious: For after he had swayed the Sceptre two years; his subjects, no longer able to endure his wickedness and tyranny, conspired against and slew him. His sister's husband Neriglissar, who headed the conspiracy, became Monarch of the empire; and during four years conducted its affairs with skill and bravery. But the destruction of the Babylonian empire was hastening apace; for the Medes and Persians defeated him and his allies, and he fell in battle, by the victorious arms of Cyrus. After his death, his son Laborosoarchod, a weak and wicked prince succeeded to the government; but after a tyrannical reign of nine months he fell a victim to the rage of an injured people, and Belshazzar, the subject of the present chapter, became the last of the Babylonian monarchs. But Belshazzar was also weak and wicked, and Babylon would soon have fallen, had not Nitocris, his mother, by her prudence and skill, for a while, maintained its sinking fortune. For seventeen years she managed the affairs of the empire; while her son

devoted himself to luxury and pleasure. But the night arrived in which Babylon the great was to fall, and her king and her nobles to perish by the sword.

1

For two years the Medo-Persian army, under the command of Cyrus, had besieged the city; while the inhabitants, confident in the strength of their fortifications and the abundance of their provisions, derided his efforts: Having collected supplies of food for twenty years, and possessing vacant ground within the walls, which by tillage and pasturage would supply much more, they imagined themselves safe from danger. They thought themselves so secure, that they might, without fear, celebrate their usual festivals to their Gods: "Belshazzar," (v. 1-4) therefore, "made a great feast to a thousand of his Lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple, which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem: and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the Gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone.

Now it is evident that this feast was a festival in honour of their false Gods: for Herodotus m informs us, that Babylon was taken by Cyrus; but that, since it was a festal day, the people continued dancing and

Prid. An. 561-539.

Un. Hist. V. 4. P. 416-420. m Herod. lib. 1.