which, faith (5) Herodotus, had Cyrus done be→ fore. But either Herodotus, or Berofus must have been mistaken; or we muft fuppofe that Cyrus's orders were never carried into execution; or we must underftand Herodotus to speak of the inner wall, as Berofus fpoke of the outer: and yet it doth not feem very credible, when the walls were of that prodigious highth and thickness, that there fhould be an inner and an outer wall too; and much less that there fhould be three inner and three outer walls, as (6) Berofus affirms. Herodotus (7) computes the highth of the wall to be 200 cubits; but lateṛ authors reckon it much lower, (8) Quintus Curtius at 100, (9) Strabo who is a more exact writer at 50 cubits. Herodotus defcribes it as it was originally; and we may conclude therefore that Darius reduced it from 200 to 50 cubits; and by thus taking down the wall and destroying the gates, he remarkably fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, (LI. 58.) Thus faith the Lord of hofts, The broad walls of Babylon fhall be utterly broken, and her high gates fhail be burnt with fire. Xerxes (1) after his return from his unfortunate expedition into Greece, partly out of religious zeal being a profeffed enemy to image worship, and partly to reimburse himself after his immenfe expences, feifed the facred treasures, and plundered or deftroyed the temples and idols of Babylon, thereby accomplishing the prophecies of Ifaiah and Jeremiah; (If. XXI. 9.) Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods be bath broken unto the ground: (If XLVI. 1.) Bel boweth down, Nebo floopeth, their idols were upon the beafts, and upon the cattle, &c: (Jer. L. 2.) Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces, her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces: (Jer. LI. 44, 47, 52.) And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath fwallowed up; Therefore behold the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Baby Xt. cubitorum ducentorum celfitudine. Herod. Lib. 1. Cap. 178. p. 74. Edit. Gale. (8) Altitudo muri C cubitorum eminet fpatio. Quint. Curt. Lib. 5. Cap. 1. Edit. Paris. p. 1072. lon; Edit. (1) Herod. Lib. 1. Cap. 183. p. 76. Edit. Gale. Arrian de Exped. Alex. Lib. 7. Cap. 17. p. 296. Edit. Gronov. Usher's Annals. A. M. 3526. p. 129. Prideaux Connect. Part 1. titudine inter turres cubito- B. 4. Anno 479. Xerxes 7. rum L. Strabo. Lib. 16. p. 738. (9) ύψος δε των μεν μεσο πυργίων, πήχεις πεντήκοντα. Al (2) Quin lon; and again, Wherefore behold the days come, faith the Lord, that I will do judgment upon her graven images. What God declares, I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth that. which he hath fwallowed, was alfo litterally fulfilled, when the veffels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerufalem, and placed in the temple of Bel, (Dan. I. 2.) were restored by order of Cyrus (Ezra I. 7.) and carried to Jerufalem again. Such was the state of Babylon under the Perfians. When Alexander came thither, tho' (2) Quintus Curtius fays that the whole circuit of the city was 368 furlongs, yet he affirms that only for the space of 90 furlongs it was inhabited. The river Euphrates having been turned out of its courfe by Cyrus, and never afterwards reftored to its former channel, all that fide. of the country was flooded by it. Alexander indeed (3) purposed to have made Babylon (2) Quintus Curtius. Lib. 5. Cap. 1. Ac ne totam quidem urbem tectis occupaverunt; per XC ftadia habitatur; nec omnia continua funt. (3) Arrian de Exped. Alex. Lib. 7. Cap. 17. p. 296. et Cap. 21. p. 303. Edit. Gronov. Hecatæus apud Jofeph. Contra Apion. Lib. 1. Sect. 22. p. 1348. Edit. Hudson. Strabo. the Lib. 16. p. 738. Edit. Paris. p. 1073. Edit. Amftel. 1707. (4) Strabo ibid. Plinii Nat. Hift. Lib. 6. Cap. 30. Edit. Harduin. (5) Plin. ibid. quæ tamen Babylonia cognominatur. See Prideaux Connect. Part 1. B. 8. Anno 293. Ptolemy Soter. 12. (6) Vitring. Comment. in lefaiam. Cap. 13. p. 421. Vol. 1. Ex the feat of his empire, and actually fet men at work to rebuild the temple of Relus, and to repair the banks of the river, and to bring back the waters again into their old channel: and if his defigns had taken effect, how could the prophecies have been fulfilled?. and what providence therefore was it, that his defigns did not take effect, and that the breaches were never repaired? He met with fome difficulties in the work, and death foon after put an end to this and all his other projects; and none of his fucceffors ever attempted it: and (4) Seleucia being built a few years afterwards in the neighbourhood, Babylon in a little time became wholly defolate. Seleucia not only robbed it of its inhabitants, but even of its name, being called also (5) Babylon by feveral authors. We learn farther from a fragment of Diodorus Siculus, which is produced by Valefius, and quoted from him by (6) Vitringa, that a king of Parthia, or one of his pretermifit. Plurimos enim Babylonios levibus de cauffis fervituti addictos, cum omni familia in Mediam diftrahendos mifit. Forum quoque et nonnulla delubra Babylonis igni tradidit, ac pulcherrima quæque urbis loca evertit. Ace cidit cafus ftante regno Seleucidarum, annis admodum CXXX ante E. V. nati Domini. (7) των his peers, furpaffing all the famous tyrants in cruelty, omitted no fort of punishment, but sent many of the Babylonians and for trifling caufes into flavery, and burnt the forum and fome of the temples of Babylon, and demolished the best parts of the city. This happened about 130 years before Chrift and now let us fee what account is given of Babylon by authors after that time. Diodorus Siculus (7) defcribes the buildings as ruined or decayed in his time, and afferts that now only a small part of the city is inhabited, the greatest part within the walls is tilled. Strabo (8) who wrote not long after Diodorus, faith that part of the city the Perfians demolished, and part time and the neglect of the Macedonians, and especially after Seleucus Nicator had built και οἱ δ' ὁ χρόνος και ἡ των Μακεδον Έρμα |