of the time of Herodotus sacrifice public interest to selfish motives. Religion, morals, arts, sciences, and even politics, bear that character which is visible even in the work of Herodotus, who was more the child than the teacher of his age. Like his predecessors, he did not confine his work to political accounts; he noted down, in the true spirit of a tourist, indiscriminately all that seemed remarkable to him.33 Thus, his first five books actually resemble more travels than history. The political accounts, to which he devoted exclusively his last four books, are the results of conversations he held on his travels with different people, but not of his research and examination. With all this, he but ill conceals his propensity to reason and lecture on politics;3 he does not scruple to put into the mouth of his historical personages, speeches on government, probably invented by himself, and which may be considered as the first attempts in oratory, so sucsessfully cultivated and developed by subsequent historians. His politics are natural but superficial, in the true spirit of the Athenians at the time of the Persian war, who, prompted by a feeling of sympathy and justice towards their wronged Ionian brethren, did not hesitate to embark in a ruinous war against the oppressor, without calculating, like sound politicians, the many chances against their success and the evil consequences likely to result for them from such an untimely interference. All the political views of Herodotus flow more from the heart than mature reflection, and no wonder, if they are in substance defective and erroneous. When he read his history to the assembled Greeks, Thucydides, son of Oloros of Athens, is said to have listened to it with tears and emotion.35 He was more moved by the recital of the facts than the poetical diction of Herodotus: they were the tears of a noble heart,-tears of joy and awe, which a high-minded and generous youth brings to the memory of his ancestors when listening to their deeds and changes of fortune. There were in Thucydides all the grand capacities requisite to a great statesman and noble patriot; but adverse circumstances, 36 it appears, prevented him from entering into an active and practical career, and made him, fortunately for the learned world, only a writer; but such a one, be it remembered, as to become hereafter the model for historians. The rapid developement of the early sciences and politics which took place among the Greeks after the conclusion of the Persian war, and about fifty years before the beginning of the Peleponnesian, is as conspicuous in Thucydides as it was formerly in Herodotus. Then it was that a new era in historiography arose. Thucydides was the first to examine every fact with the keenness of the critic and the calmness of the philosopher, before he gave credit to it. Politics and state-eloquence are the predominant elements in his work, and so blended with the sublime of poetry, that it drew forth at one and the same time the censure and admiration of the ancients.37 It was, perhaps, more the poetical form than the conciseness and obscurity (as Dionysius, Cicero, and Quintilianus imagined) of his style, that rendered it unfit for the forum. Dionysius himself acknowledges,33 that Thucydides is particularly great in the pathos,-witness the retreat of the Athenians from Syracuse: nor is there one among the ancients who is not in raptures with his elevated style. There is moreover a tragical gravity, a passionate ire in his language when alluding to human frailty and misery, that transports the reader, as it were, by a magic spell upon the dramatic stage, which was in his time at its culminating point. Despite his poetical diction, the views and criticism of Thucydides are sound, deep, and any thing but sanguine. The eighth book alone is in a composed, dry, and prosaic style, and so different from the rest as to give rise to the suspicion that it was written by his daughter, and according to some, by Xenophon, The most probable opinion however is, that he died before he gave it the last touch, and that the MS. was after his death published from the rough sketch it was found. Herodotus and Thucydides were equally the representatives of the opinions and spirit of their respective ages. Their diction is congenial with the elements in their works, in the former poetry and politics, in the latter politics and rhetoric. The leading idea of Thucydides was, to impress the reader with sound views of politics, not through the means of reasoning and lecturing (as Herodotus did) on the abstract principles and theory of the science, but by putting facts in such a light as to leave it to the reader to draw the conclusions for himself. With very great tact then he chose for that purpose the Peleponnesian war— a subject affording, more than any, a variety of views as to the consequences resulting from it as regards the developement of the arts, sciences, and politics throughout the whole of Greece. Dionysius, who rather disapproves of the subject, does not seem to have entered into the real view of Thucydides; but just the selection of the subject, and the way he has treated it, make us sufficiently acquainted with the design he had in view. Many passages in this work betray it clearly.40 He put, not without intention, into the mouth of Pericles the praise of the Athenian state; " in the same spirit are the speeches on the days of general convocation at Sparta, at which the opposite characters of the Athenians and Lacedemonians are strongly painted; also the conference with the Melians points to that view. To the same purpose did Thucydides begin his work with the description of ancient Greece, its patriotism, simplicity and innocence, 39 41 and which serves as a contrast to the depraved morals and seditions of the Greeks in the time of the Peleponnesian war-a picture of which he has so skilfully drawn (111. 82.). There is one particular feature in the history of Thucydides, that distinguishes him from the historians of all ages, ancient and modern. He has nothing to do with individuals; he never points to certain persons to whom the victorious or fatal success is to be ascribed, and who appear with historians in general as soul and spirit of the mass of the people, that seems to be a mere machine in their hands and unworthy of notice. Thucydides treats only of states and nations; they are the characters in his historical drama. Not even to Pericles, his favourite hero, does he devote a particular chapter.42 He established, moreover, the licence of the old historians to introduce speeches at pleasure-speeches that deserve that name only in his hands, with the exception of a few in Xenophon; for as to Dionysius and Livy, they are but the imitators of the son of Oloros. In a republican government, every statesman should be an orator, and every historian a politician. Every individual generally is, and ought to be, acquainted with the politics of the country in a government where none are excluded from the management of the state affairs. In the time of Thucydides, the politics of Greece, especially of the Athenians, were sound, crafty, and universal. His speeches may therefore be considered as printed parliamentary displays, the proper means in a Republic to instruct and convince the people at large. The best and longest speeches in Thucydides are on that account those of the ambassadors, when pronouncing the opinions of their respective countries in general. Cicero is certainly right in pronouncing the speeches of Thucydides unfit for the forum; but he forgets that the historian never meant them as a pattern for a statesman to harrangue the people, to tickle their ears by polished periods, or to elicit their their applause by sudden bursts of eloquence rather than to win them to 12 As to 11. 65, see Poppo ib. 1. p. 47. his cause by an appeal to their better judgment. Far from it!-he wished to instruct the people generally by so describing facts, as to compel the reader to come to the conclusion which he abstained from stating in his own words and his own person. He was the sound, not crafty, statesman, who endeavours to win his auditors by the weight of facts, not the tingle of words. Hence Cicero naturally disapproved a style in which his whole strength and beauty lay; for he saw the speeches of the truth-loving Thucydides were of no use in the hands of a man whose efforts were directed to persuade, but never to induce his auditors to form their opinion without first stating his own. There were, it appears, at that time two classes of readers of history; the common people, and the better-educated citizens, who aspired to office and the management of public affairs. The first read history for amusement, and naturally looked for romantic tales, since novels were not yet invented, and the oldest of the scriptores historiæ poëticæ mentioned by Fabricius (who were, if not in name, at least in substance, the novel-writers of our days), flourished as late as 146 A. C.43 consequently after Polybius. It was to this class of readers, who increased as the political state of Greece declined, that Isocrates 44 alludes when he says: "some looked in history for beauty aud elegance of language, and some for fictions and fables." The second class looked into history for information and the support of their political opinions, and it was only for that class of readers that the better historians, such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, and probably also Philestes a. o. took up their pen. Thucydides and Polybius 46 speak of these two kinds of readers. The other historians, such as Theopompus, Ephorus, Anaximenes, Calisthenes, Clitarchus a. o. though more modern, wrote for both classes of readers, and intermixed therefore their historical researches with some fables, just as the apothecary colours his draughts to suit the whim of his patient, 45 Z. EXPLICATION OF TWO BABYLONIAN CYLINDERS, CONNECTED WITH SACRED HISTORY. VARIOUS have been the sentiments of the learned respecting the design and import of the engraved Cylinders,* found among the ruins of ancient Babylon. Some writers have considered them astrological, some astronomical, others mythological vestiges of Chaldæan art; while by Landseer, Raspe, and other antiquaries who have attempted their exposition, they are said to be signets, amulets, and the like, with mystic signs. Abstaining, however, from occupying the time of the reader, by any discussion on the invalidity, or force of such opinions (for, from the diversity of subjects sculptured on the Gems, each conjecture may be ably supported), I shall at once proceed to show, by two examples, that many are decidedly historical, bearing symbolically upon events which at different epochs befel the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, and on other incidents recorded in holy and profane writ. Many of these cylinders, Mr. Landseer observes, are formed of hæmatite, mistakenly termed loadstone, by Mr. Raspe, in his Catalogue Raisonnée of Tassie's Collection. The rest are of carnelian, opal, jasper, agate, chalcedony, and other hard and precious stones.-Sabæan Researches, p. 1. We also learn from the same source, that considerable numbers of these gems have from time to time been disinterred by the Arabs in digging up those bricks of ancient Babylon, which constitute the material of which the town of Hellah, and most of the houses within a certain distance of the ruins, are chiefly built.-Ibid. p. 2. Leonard Rauwolf, a physician of Augsburg, in Germany, who saw the ruins of the city in 1574, says, they lie near a small village on the Euphrates, called Eulogo, or Phelugo, a day and a half's journey from Bagdad. Many, doubtless, are emblematic representations of the solar* and firet worship of these idolatrous nations, of which Nimrod is said to be the author. Many figurative displays of their rites and sacrifices, and various others, it cannot be denied, are connected with the sciences of astronomy and astrology, and the arts of magic and divination, for which the Chaldæans were famous, from the remotest antiquity. ‡ Herodotus indeed tells us, the ancient Persians offered sacrifices to Jove, distinguishing by that appellation all the expanse of the firmament; and adored the Sun and Moon, the Earth, fire, water, and the winds. Cuovo de ἡλίω, τε καὶ σεληνή, και γῆ, καὶ πυρὶ, καὶ ὕδατι, καὶ ἀνέμοισι. Lib. 1. § 131. which Strabo, Lib. xv. confirms. With these brief prefatory remarks, I hasten to establish the historical import of the Cylinders before us, on solid grounds. Having been for some time engaged in an analysis of the characters impressed on the Babylonian bricks, my attention, at intervals, was necessarily directed to the figures and the legends, so admirably engraven upon the cylinders; and upon a closer inspection of those sculptured upon the Gem No. 1, a few days since, an idea flashed across my mind, from the variety and particular disposition of the figures, that the subject was of a scriptural nature; and, turning to my Bible, I discovered that the monument, though so small, contained a representation of one of the very surprising stories recited by the prophet Daniel, chap. iii., in which the intervention of Divine power was manifested to the resolute adherents to the true faith, in a manner certainly miraculous. I allude to the preservation of the three companions of Daniel, in captivity at Babylon, who, on their praiseworthy refusal to conform to the idolatrous worship of the image which Nebuchadnezzar§ had set up, were cast into a heated furnace, and left, as imagined by the cruel despot, to inevitable destruction. Their Jewish names, it is well known, were Hananiah, Misael, and Azariah, which the Babylonian sovereign changed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Let us now examine the cylinder under its several aspects, and collate the circumstances it developes with the story as told in scripture. The engravings upon the Gem, it will be seen, embrace three objects. First. The golden image set up by Nebuchadnezzar. Secondly. Its superstitious worshippers. Thirdly. The three devout young persons in the furnace. The whole being depicted with remarkable precision.|| Touching the image, which is prominently figured and placed in the centre of the cylinder, it is proper to make a few observations. On comparing the 3d of Daniel with Habakkuk, ch. i. ver. 6—12. and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 19. and 2 Kings xxv. 9.. it appears that Nebuchadnezzar had conquered many nations, and laid * Macrobius tells us, that the great god of Ashur was the sun, and that his name was Add, or Adad; which, he says, by interpretation signifies one from the Hebrew Achad, Unus. See also Isaiah, ch. lxv. ver. 17; and that from the Assyrians the idolatry spread itself throughout the whole world, is generally acknowledged. †The Persian name of Persepolis is Istakhar, i. e. the City of Fire; and the sculptures on the ruins of Tschilminar represent many of the ceremonies of fire worship. "Many of these gems, we read, are contained in the British Museum; others are at the Borghese palace and the Museums of Germany; and several are at Paris, in the cabinets of the King of France and of Baron Silvestre de Sacy, and other distinguished antiquaries." There is also a choice collection in the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, at St. Petersburg. § The name of this king is variously written-Nebuchadnezar, Nebuchadrezzar, Nabuchadonosar, Nabucodrosorus, &c. Mr. Rich, late Consul at Baghdad, to whom we are indebted for much information respecting the Babylonian and Persepolitan Gems, asserts that the true Babylonian antiques were generally finished with the utmost care and delicacy. waste by fire many cities and temples: (that of Jerusalem in particular) besides Memphis and other places, as detailed in Ezekiel xxx. 1-26. FlushIed with this success, he was still further encouraged and strengthened in the worship of his solar or fire god, to whom he attributed all his victories, and whom he worshipped under the name of Baal, Bel, or Jupiter Belus. Having burnt the temples of the gods of the Egyptians, he conceived his god to be superior to the gods of all the conquered nations, and amongst others, consequently, to the Holy One of Israel. He therefore erected the golden image so memorable in scripture; and which is likewise mentioned by Hero. dotus, Diodorus, and other ancient writers. And this image he made of polished gold, or ornamented with gilding highly burnished; that when the sun, rising in glory, shone upon it, it gave an appearance as though surrounded with rays of light. This image he set up in the vast plain of Dura, or the surrounding plain of Babylon.* He then, Dan. ch. iii. required the princes, governors, and rulers of the provinces, to be present at the dedication of the image, and commanded, by proclamation, all nations, people, and languages, whom his arms had conquered, and whose gods he fancied his god had vanquished, to come and join with his own princes, captains, and people, at what time they hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, &c. in bowing down before it and worshipping it. This image we learn, in ch. iii. was of the height of sixty cubits and in breadth six. Turning now to the engraved image on the cylinder, we observe it to be no less singular in its design, than in its position. It is evidently human; the face full, having the features clearly drawn, bearing on its head a species of cap or crown, † with horns at each end; the hair hanging in tresses on the right side. It is also bearded. Upon the chest there is a studded ornament or breast plate, extending from shoulder to shoulder. The figure seems partly uncovered and partly clothed, with some tight vestment fitting the body, fastened by a girdle round the waist. But what is most remarkable, the image is without hands. Another singularity is, that though the upper part of the figure presents a full front, the middle is in profile, and the feet are extended, as in a walking attitude. Yet this is easily explained; for as the image is of Belus or Bel, answering to the Hebrew by Baal, and a personification of the sun ruling in the heavens, it was necessary to cast it in this form that it might at once convey an idea of the splendour and the motion of that planet. That this is clearly a copy of the idol, as it presented itself to the king in his dream, and which greatly disturbed his mind, the description of the image by Daniel in his interpretation of the vision, abundantly testifies. "Thou, O king, sawest," says Daniel, ch. ii." and behold a great image; this great image whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. "This image's head was of pure gold. His breast and his arms silver, his belly and his thighs of brass. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and clay. Vide Schimmelpenninck's Biblical Fragments, p. 168. + Possibly the Cidaris, the usual diadem of the Persian kings, of which Q. Curtius furnishes the best description, lib. 111. Cidarim Persæ regium capitis vocabant insigne ; hoc cærulea fascia albo distincta circumibat. "In the Golden Head," says a learned writer, “is pourtrayed, as it were, the face of the first monarchie. In the breast of silver, behold the second stretching out her two arms over the two mighty kingdoms of Medea and Persia. The brazen paunch swells out in the ambition of proud Alexander. The thighs of the same metal, but weakened by division, represent the successors of that great Captain, in special the two more noted rulers of the North and South. The iron leggs lighting upon an age like themselves, stand out for the Romane furie (at least manie writers determine so) whose martial presumption, under the protection of their grandsire the God of Battle, crusht the rest of the world in pieces like a potter's vessel."-J. Gregorie, As: yrian Monarchie, p. 210. |