A. C. ranged, is evidently fabulous. For af-A. R. ter having overthrown the Affyrian empire under Sardanapalus, the Medes are brought upon the ftage, and then the Perfians; as if the Medes had fucceeded to the whole power of the Affyrians, and the Perfians had established themselves on the ruin of the Medes. But on the contrary, it is certain that, when Arbaces raifed the Medes in revolt against Sardanapalus, he did but fet them free, without fubjecting to Herod. them the empire of Affyria. Hero1. 1. c. dote, followed in this by the ableft 26, 27. chronologers, makes their first king Dejoces appear fifty years after their revolt; and it is farther certain from the concurring teftimony of that great Herod. hiftorian and of Xenophon, not to mention others, that during the time Xen. allotted to the empire of the Medes, Cyrop. v, vi. &c. there were in Affyria fome very powerful kings, who were formidable to the whole Eaft, and whofe empire Cyrus overthrew by the taking of Babylon. 1. 1. If then moft part of the Greeks, and of the Latins, who have followed them, fay nothing of those Babylonish kings, if they allow no place to that great kingdom among the first monarchies, of which they relate the fucceffion; in fhort, if we find little or nothing A. C. nothing in their works concerning the A. R. famous kings Tiglath-pilefer, Shalmanefer, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and many others fo renowned in fcripture, and in the eastern hiftories; we muft impute it, either to the ignorance of the Greeks, who were more eloquent in their narrations, than curious in their enquiries; or to our having loft what was most authentic and exact in their hiftories. Herod. lib. ii. 4.91. Strab. 1. i. c. And indeed Herodote had promifed a Herod. particular hiftory of the Affyrians, 28. 47. which we have not got, whether it has been loft, or he has had not time to write it; and we may believe that fo judicious an hiftorian would not have omitted the kings of the fecond empire of the Affyrians, fince Sennacherib, who was one of them, is ftill to be found named in the books we have extant of that great author, as king of the Affyrians and Arabians. Strabo, who lived in the time of lib. xv. Auguftus, relates what Megafthenes, an ancient author, who lived near the days of Alexander, had left in writing about the famous conquefts of Nabuchodonofor king of the Chaldeans, whom he makes to over-run Europe, penetrate into Spain, and carry his arms as far as the pillars of Hercules. D 2 Ælian lib. xii. 21. A. C. Ælian names Thilgamus king of Af-A. K. Ælian, fyria, who is, undoubtedly, the TilHift. Agath, or Tiglath of facred hiftory; and nim. c. we have in Ptolemy a catalogue of the princes, who ruled the great empires; among whom we find a long series of kings of Affyria unknown to the Grecians, and whom 'tis easy to reconcile with facred history. 11. l. i. It were too tedious to rehearse what the Syrian annals, what Berofus, Abydenus, or Nicolaus of Damafcus narrate Jof. Ant. to us. Jofephus and Eufebius of Cefarea lib. ix. c.have preferved to us the precious fragult. x. c. ments of all thofe authors, as well as of a great many others, that were comAp. Euf.plete in their time, whofe teftimony Præp confirms what the holy fcripture tells us concerning the eaftern antiquities, and particularly concerning the Affyrian hiftory. cont. Evang. As for the monarchy of the Medes, to which most profane hiftorians give the fecond place in the catalogue of great empires, as diftinct from that of the Perfians, 'tis certain that the fcripture always joins them; and you fee, SIR, that, befides the authority of the facred books, the very order of the facts demonftrates, that it is to that we ought to adhere. The Medes before Cyrus, though pow A. C. powerful and confiderable, were eclipf- A. R ed by the greatnefs of the kings of Babylon. But Cyrus having conquered their kingdom, by the united force of the Medes and Perfians, whofe mafter he afterwards by lawful fucceffion became, as we have obferved after Xenophon; it appears that the great empire, whereof he was founder, muft have taken its name from both nations; fo that that of the Medes, and that of the Perfians, were but one and the fame thing, though the Glory of Cyrus has made the name of the Perfians to prevail. We may likewife imagine, that be- Thus we need no longer to be at fo A. C. much pains to reconcile, in this parti- A. R. cular, profane with facred hiftory. For as to what regards the first kingdom of the Affyrians, fcripture hints at it only by the by, and names neither Ninus the founder of that empire, nor, excepting Phul, any of his fucceffors; becaufe their history has no connexion with that of the people of God. As for the fecond Affyrians, the Greeks have been either entirely ignorant of them, or through not knowing them fufficiently, have confounded them with the firft. When therefore any one objects thofe Greek authors, who range the three first monarchies according to their fancy, and make the Medes fucceed to the ancient empire of Affyria, without mentioning the new one, which the fcripture exhibits fo powerful; we have only to answer, that they have not been acquainted with that part of hiftory; and that they are no lefs repugnant to the most curious and beft informed authors of their own nation, than to holy fcripture. And, what in one word cuts off the whole difficulty, is, that facred authors, being nearer, both in time and fituation, to the eaftern kingdoms; writing, befides, the hiftory of a people, whofe |