to the place of rendezvous, from which Cresus had not moved, but lay in perfect security.

Celerity is the first and grandest of all military maxims. It was this which gave victory and fame to Cyrus, Alexander, Hannibal, Cesar, and Napoleon. Though celerity indeed is not the only thing necessary, yet, other things being as they should be, it renders invasion irresistible, and victory certain.

The Assyrians were astonished at the intrepidity of Cyrus, especially considering the inferiority of his army, and distance from his own dominions. But still they placed confidence in their own resources-their superior numbers, and the military skill of their commanders.

A spacious plain was chosen, on which the army of Cresus displayed a line of battle five miles in length. Their 'plan was to flank the Persians, and surround them, knowing their own numbers to be much superior. Cyrus, aware of this, had determined that his army should act in three directions; and so sure of victory was he, that he ordered the centre of his army not to move, nor strike a blow, till he had routed the wings of the enemy. When the signal for battle was given, the Persian army stood firm and profoundly silent, in a line much shorter and deeper than the enemy, till the wings of the latter had wheeled round, and formed three sides of an encompassing square. At that instant Cyrus wheeled the wings of his army, and fell with an irresistible shock upon the wings of the enemy; they both gave way, and fell into confusion. That was the

signal for the centre, where commenced a battle, long, fierce, and bloody. A hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians, ranged in battalions thirty deep, in close order, and covered from head to foot with bucklers and cuirasses, formed the centre of the allied army. The horse, on which Cyrus rode, was killed; and he fell among forests of spears, and showers of javelins. How often the fate of battle, and even of whole nations, depends on the courage and strength of a general. Nothing could bear him down. He defended himself, sword in hand, till he was rescued by his guards and remounted. This column of Egyptians stood their ground, and fought with amazing bravery, till the field was cleared of all other enemies. Cyrus then offered them honorable terms of capitulation, which they accepted, and laid down their arms.

Never was victory more complete, or battle more decisive. It decided at once the fate of the Lydians, and all

B. C.

549.

the nations of the Lesser Asia.) As Cresus had wantonly drawn the Assyrian war into his own kingdom, he now tasted the fruits of his temerity. But, determined to protract the dispute as much as possible, he collected another army, and encountered Cyrus again, with similar success. Finding all was lost, he retired into Sardis, and prepared to defend that capital against the conqueror, who now commenced a regular siege. The city was soon reduced, and Cresus was condemned to die; but was reprieved and restored to favor, and, it is said, reinstated in his dominions, as a tributary prince.) Some writers relate, that Solon, the celebrated Grecian philosopher, had, in the prosperous days of Cresus, visited that prince; and that Cresus, after showing him the splendor of his capital and resources of his kingdom, demanded of the philosopher, whether he did not think him a happy man? Solon answered him in the style of a stoic, and concluded by telling him, that he could not tell whether he was happy, till he had heard of his death. Cresus, in a rage at the freedom and boldness of Solon, called him a fool, and ordered him out of his sight.

Cyrus, in the ancient barbarous manner, when Cresus had become his prisoner, ordered him to be burned to death. He was accordingly bound on the pile, which was set on fire. While the flames were approaching the unhappy Cresus, he suddenly recollected the words of Solon, and being now forcibly struck with their justness, he cried out, O Solon! Solon! The thing was told to Cyrus, who immediately demanded an explanation. Whereupon, Cresus related to him the circumstances of his interview with Solon, and concluded by saying, that "He will now hear of my death, and will indeed pronounce me an unhappy

man."

Cyrus, powerfully affected with the fickleness of fortune, and the changes to which men are liable, ordered the royal captive unbound, and restored him to his favor. This story, however, is said by some writers to be fabulous.

The voluntary submission of many states, by their ambassadors, followed the conquest of Lydia; and Cyrus had little further use for arms in that country.

CHAPTER VI.

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, FROM THE REDUCTION OF ASIA MINOR, BY CYRUS, TILL ITS SUBVERSION BY ALEXANDER.

FROM the conquest of Asia Minor, Cyrus directed his march toward Syria and Arabia; and in a few years saw all Western Asia subjected to his arms, Babylon alone excepted. This had, from the first, fired his ambition, and had been the ultimate end of all his schemes and enterprises. With an army adequate to the undertaking, he now advanced towards the immense capital. He was met by the king of Babylon, with a numerous army, whom he defeated with great slaughter. The Babylonian monarch fled into the city, shut after him the massy gates, and prepared for a long and resolute defence. This siege commenced about nine years after the capture of Sardis.

Cyrus immediately drew his army before the city, and commenced a series of operations, in which the whole vigor and extent of his genius were aided by the most efficient principles of the art of war, known in his day. But he had difficulties to encounter, which would have discouraged anv one but himself. The Babylonians mocked and derided him from their lofty battlements; and seemed secure in a fortress, too strong to be reduced by the art of man.

The height, thickness, and solidity of the walls of Babylon, rendered them impregnable to every attempt. On the top, they were so broad, that several chariots might run abreast and at short distances, there were towers much higher than the walls, continually filled with armed men. The gates were solid pieces of brass, of such strength and weight, as to defy all possible engines of war. The walls and towers were guarded by a numerous army; and it was thought, with what provisions there were in the city, and what might be raised within it in the gardens, that the inhabitants might sustain a siege of twenty years. There is reason to doubt, whether Cyrus could have taken Babylon otherwise than by stratagem. For, after having spent nearly two years, during which time he tried every mode of attack he could devise, he saw no prospect of success, nor any reason to expect but that a blockade of many years must be his only resort; and even that resort extremely dubious in its issue.

But it is a truth, that whatever man can build, man can destroy; and it is a truth far more melancholy, that with whatever expense, pleasure, and ambition, any thing is built by one man, the time may come, when with equal expense, pleasure, and ambition, it will be demolished by another.

His comprehensive genius, however, at length projected a plan, by which he gained the city. At some distance above the city, had been dug an immense pit, of size suffi'cient to receive the water of the river for a considerable time. It is said to have been many miles in extent. With this lake the river communicated by canals, which were closed along the river by dikes of amazing strength. By breaking down these, the river would forsake its course, and flow into the lake. On the night of a public festival, Cyrus caused the dikes to be broken down. The river immediately turned out of its channel, which became so dry, that the Persian army marched down into it, with little difficulty, into the city; and were met by another division of the army, who had marched up the channel from the opposite side of the city; and, although there was a high wall on each side of the river, yet, on that night, the gates leading to the river were generally left open. In the midst of revelling and drunkenness, the inhabitants were surprised; and the king, Belshazzar, hearing the uproar abroad, had only time to advance to the gate of his palace, where, fighting sword in hand, he was slain. See Dan. vi.

The city and province of Babylon, without further resistance, submitted to the conqueror. Thus ended the Chaldean or Lower Assyrian empire. This event happened about fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar 209 years from the beginning of the reign of Nabonassar, or Belesis-more than 1600 years from its foundation by Nimrod, or Belus; and in the year before the Christian era, 538.

Babylon had now received an irreparable blow. This diversion of the river continued to overflow the finest part of the adjacent country, and at length turned it into an extensive marsh, as loathsome and unhealthy as it was useless. The current of the river through the city was obstructed, and the water shallow. From this period, Babylon experienced a rapid decay, till it was taken by Alexander the Great, about two hundred years after. Alexander, with a view to make it the seat of his empire, had determined to restore it to its ancient splendor; but, dying

suddenly, the work ceased. His successors abandoned that proud capital for ever, and fixed the seat of their government at Selucia; or, as it was called by some, New Babylon. The steps of its decline can scarcely be traced to a much later period. In the Augustan age, it was nearly desolate.

About two years after the reduction of Babylon, Cyrus, by the death of his father and uncle, succeeded to the sovereignty of Media and Persia. His empire now extended from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean, and from India to Ethiopia.

To relate the particulars of the reign of Cyrus, would conduce little to the general design of this work; and it would be still less conducive, and less interesting to go into many particulars concerning his successors. The fall of the Babylonian, and the rise of the Persian empire, present to the reader the first important revolution in the annals of history, whose consequences were general and permanent.

Cyrus died at the age of 70 years. If we estimate his reign from his assuming the command of the Persian and Median armies, it was thirty years; if from the conquest of Babylon, it was nine years; and if from the death of his uncle, Cyaxares, seven years. He is represented as a prince of great abilities and great wisdom; in his council and cabinet, as distinguished for profound policy, as for bravery and good fortune in the field. He seems to have united the happiness of his subjects with his own glory; thereby securing the prosperity of his kingdom on its surest basis.

Cyrus was an instrument of Providence in accomplishing the divine designs towards the Jews, as we shall hereafter notice, in speaking of their history; and he had the distinguished honor of being foretold, even by name, as the restorer of that chosen people.*

The Persians, in every age, have been a brave,† polite, and generous people. Not even the influence of bad government, the gloomy reign of superstition, or the relaxing indolence of a mild climate, could ever debase them to a level with their neighbors. But the meridian of their glory was in the reign of Cyrus.

Isaiah xlv. 1.

↑ This remark must be taken with some limitation-Ed.