ing arrived in Egypt, encamped his great army on the banks of the Nile. During this interval, the Athenians having defeated the Persian fleet, and either destroyed or taken fifty of their ships, they went again up that river, landed their forces under the command of Charitimis their general, and having joined Inarus and his Egyptians, they charged Archæmenes, and defeated him in a great battle, in which that Persian general and 100,000 of his soldiers were slain. Those who escaped fled to Memphis, whither the conquerors pursued them, and immediately made themselves masters of two quarters of the city; but the Persians having fortified themselves in the third, called the White Wall, which was the largest and strongest of the three, they were besieged in it near three years, during which they made a most vigorous defence, till they were at last delivered by the forces sent to their aid.

Artaxerxes hearing of the defeat of his army, and how much the Athenians had contributed to it, to make a diversion of their forces, and oblige them to turn their arms another way, he sent ambassadors to the Lacedæmonians, with a large sum of money, to engage them to proclaim war against the Athenians. But the Lacedæmonians having rejected the offer, their refusal did not abate his ardour, and accordingly † he gave Megabysus and Artabazus the command of the forces designed against Egypt. These generals immediately raised an army of 300,000 men in Cilicia and Phoenicia. They were obliged to wait till the fleet was equipped, which was not till the next year. Artabazus then took upon him the command of it, and sailed towards the Nile, whilst Megabysus, at the head of the land army, marched towards Memphis. He raised the siege of that city, and afterwards fought Inarus. All the forces on both sides engaged in this battle, in which Inarus was entirely defeated; but the Egyptians who had rebelled, suffered most in this slaughter. After this defeat, Inarus, though wounded by Megabysus, retreated with the Athenians, and such Egyptians as were willing to follow him, and reached Biblos, a city in the island of Prosopitis, which is surrounded by two arms of the Nile, and both navigable. The Athenians ran their fleet into one of those arms, where it was secured from the attacks of the enemy, and held out a siege of a year and a half.

After the battle, all the rest of Egypt submitted to the conqueror, and was re-united to the empire of Artaxerxes, except Amyrteus, who had still a small party in the fens, where he long supported himself through the difficulty the Persians found in penetrating far enough to reduce him.

The siege of Prosopitis was still carrying on. The Persians finding that they made no advances in attacking it after the usual methods, 'because of the stratagems and intrepidity of the besieged, they therefore had recourse to an extraordinary expedient, which soon produced what force had not been able to effect. They turned the course, by different canals, of the arm of the Nile in which the Athenians lay, and by that means open. ed themselves a passage for their whole army to enter the island. Inarus seeing that all was lost, compounded with Megabysus for himself, for all his Egyptians, and about 50 Athenians, and surrendered upon condition that their lives should be spared. The remainder of the auxiliary forces, which formed a body of 6000 men, resolved to hold out longer, and for this purpose they set fire to their ships, and drawing up in order of battle, resolved to die sword in hand, and sell their lives as dear as they could, in

* A. M. S546. Ant. J. C. 458. A. M. 3548. Ant. J. C. 456.

† A. M. 8547. Ant. J. C. 457.
|| A. M. 3550. Ant. J. C. 454.

imitation of the Lacedæmonians, who refused to yield, and were all cut to pieces at Thermopyla. The Persians, hearing they had taken so desperate a resolution, did not think it advisable to attack them. A peace was therefore offered them, with a promise that they should all be permitted to leave Egypt, and have free passage to their native country either by sea or land. They accepted the conditions, put the conquerors in possession of Biblos, and of the whole Island, and went by sea to Cyrene, where they embarked for Greece; but most of the soldiers who had served in this expedition perished in it.

But this was not the only loss the Athenians sustained on this occasion. Another fleet of 50 ships, which they sent to the aid of their besieged countrymen, sailed up one of the arms of the Nile, just after the Athenians had surrendered, to disengage them, not knowing what had happened. But the instant they entered, the Persian fleet, which kept out at sea, followed them and attacked their rear, whilst the army discharged showers of darts upon them from the banks of the river; thus only a few ships escaped, which opened themselves a way through the enemy's fleet, and all the rest were lost. Here ended the fatal war carried on by the Athenians for six years in Egypt, which kingdom was now united again to the Persian empire, and continued so during the rest of the reign of Artaxerxes, of which this is the twentieth year.* But the prisoners who were taken in this war, met with the most unhappy fate.

SECTION V.

INARUS IS DELIVERED UP TO THE KING'S MOTHER.MEGABYSUS'
FLICTION AND REVOLT.

AF

ARTAXERXES,+ after refusing to gratify the request of his mother, who for five years together had been daily importuning him to put Inarus and his Athenians into her hands, in order that she might sacrifice them to the manes of Archæmenes her son, at last yielded to her solicitations. But how blind, how barbarously weak must this king have been, to break through the most solemn engagements merely through complaisance; who, deaf to remorse, violated the law of nations, solely to avoid offending a most unjust mother. This inhuman princess, without regard to the faith of solemn treaties, caused Inarus to be crucified, and beheaded all the rest. Megabysus was in the deepest affliction on that account; for as he had promised that no injury should be done them, the affront reflected. principally on him. He therefore left the court, and withdrew to Syria, of which he was governour; and his discontent was so great that he raised an army and revolted openly.

greatest lords of the court, Megabysus engaged Osiris, army to flight. Artaxerxes

The king sent Osiris, who was one of the against him with an army of 200,000 men. wounded him, took him prisoner, and put his sending to demand Osiris, Megaby sus generously dismissed him, as soon as his wounds were cured.

The next year Artaxerxes sent another army against him, the command of which he gave to Menostanes, son to Artarius the king's brother,

* A. M. 3550. Ant. J. C. 454.

† A. M. 3556. Ant. J. C. 448. Ctes. c. xxxv-xl.

Thucyd. 1. 1. p. 73.

A. M. 3557. Ant. J. C. 447.

VOL. II.

11

A. M. 3553. Ant. J. C. 446.

and governour of Babylon. This general was not more fortunate than the former. He was also defeated and put to flight, and Megabysus gained as signal a victory as the former.

Artaxerxes finding he could not reduce him by force of arms, sent his brother Artarius and Amytis his sister, who was the wife of Megaby sus, with several other persons of the first quality, to persuade the latter to return to his allegiance. They succeeded in their negociation; the king pardoned him, and he returned to court.

One day as they were hunting, a lion, raising himself on his hinder feet, was going to rush upon the king, when Megabysus, seeing the danger he was in, and fired with zeal and affection for his sovereign, hurled a dart at the lion which killed him. But Artaxerxes, upon pretence that he had affronted him, in darting at the lion first, commanded Megaby sus' head to be struck off. Amytis, the king's sister, and Amystris, with the greatest difficulty prevailed upon the king to change this sentence into perpetual banishment. Megabysus was therefore sent to Cyrta, a city on the Red Sea, and condemned to end his days there: however, five years after, disguising himself like a leper, he made his escape, and returned to Susa, where by the assistance of his wife and mother in law, he was restored to favour and continued so till his death, which happened some years after, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Megabysus was extremely regretted by the king and the whole court. He was a man of the greatest abilities in the kingdom, and at the same time the best general. Artaxerxes owed *both his crown and life to him: but it is of dangerous consequence for a subject, when his sovereign is under too many obligations to him. This was the cause of all the misfortunes of Megaby sus.

It is surprising that so judicious a prince as Artaxerxes, should have been so imprudent, as to be fired with jealousy against a nobleman of his court, merely because in a party of hunting he had wounded the beast they were pursuing before him. Could any thing be so weak ? and was this placing the point of honour in a manner worthy a king? Nevertheless, history furnishes us with many instances of this kind. I am apt to believe, from some expressions of † Plutarch, that Artaxerxes was ashamed of the wild fury to which this false delicacy had raised him, and that he madesome public kind of atonement for it: for, according to this author, he published a decree, importing that any man who was hunting with the king, should be allowed to throw his javelin first at the beast, if opportunity should offer; and he, according to Plutarch, was the first Persian monarch who granted such a permission.

SECTION VI.

ARTAXERXES SENDS ESDRAS, AND AFTERWARDS NEHEMIAH TO JERUSA

LEM.

BEFORE I proceed in the history of the Persians and Greeks, I shall relate, in few words, the several things which happened to the people of God, during the first 20 years of Artaxerxes, which is an essential part of the history of that prince.

In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, Esdras obtained of

*Beneficia eo usque læta sunt, dum videntur exsolvi posse; ubi multum antetenere, pro gratia odium redditur. Tacit. Annal. I. iv. c. 18.

+ Plut. in Apophthegm. p. 178.

† A. M. 3537. Ant. J. C. 467. 1 Esdras vii. 7, &c.

the king and his seven counsellors, an ample commission empowering him to return to Jerusalem with all such Jews as would follow him thither, in order to settle the Jewish government and religion agreeably to their own laws. Esdras was descended from Saraia, who was high priest of Jerusalem, when destroyed by Nebuchodonosor, and was put to death by his command. Esdras was a very learned and pious man, and was chiefly distinguished from the rest of the Jews, by his great knowledge in the scriptures; it being said of him, * "That he was very ready in the law of Moses that was given by the God of Israel." He now set out from Babylon with the gifts and offerings which the king, his courtiers, and such Israelites as had staid at Babylon, had put into his hands for the service of the temple, and which he gave to the priests upon his arrival in Jerusalem, It appears by the commission which Artaxerxes gave him, that this prince had a high veneration for the God of Israel, as, in commanding his officers to furnish the Jews with all things necessary for their worship, he adds, “Let all things be performed after the law of God diligently, unto "the most high God, that wrath come not upon the kingdom of the king "and his son." This commission, as I observed, empowered him to settle the religion and government of the Jews, pursuant to the law of Moses; to appoint magistrates and judges, to punish evil doers, not only by imprisoning their persons, and confiscating their possessions, but also by sending them into banishment, and even sentencing them to death, according to the crimes they should commit. Such was the power with which Esdras was invested, and which he exercised faithfully during 13 years, till Nehemiah brought a new commission from the Persian court.

Nehemiah was also a Jew of distinguished merit and piety, and one of the cupbearers to king Artaxerxes. This was a very considerable employment in the Persian court, because of the privilege annexed to it, viz. of being often near the king's person, and of being allowed to speak to him in the most favorable moments. However, neither his exalted station, nor the settlement of his family in that land of captivity, could obliterate from his mind the country of his ancestors, nor their religion: neither his love for the one, nor his zeal for the other, were abated; and his heart was still in Sion. Some Jews who were come from Jerusalem, having informed him of the sad state of that city, that its walls lay in ruin, its gates were burned down, and the inhabitants thereby exposed to the insults of their enemies, and made the scorn of all their neighbours; the affliction of his brethren, and the dangers with which they were menaced, made such an impression on his mind, as might naturally be expected from one of his piety. One day, as he was waiting upon the king, the latter observing an unusual air of melancholy in Nehemiah's countenance, asked him the cause of it; a proof that this monarch had a tenderness of heart rarely found in kings, and which is nevertheless much more valuable than the most shining qualities. Nehemiah took this opportunity to acquaint him with the calamitous state of his country, owned that was the subject of his grief and humbly intreated that leave might be given him to go to Jerusalem, in order to repair the fortifications of it. The kings of Persia, his predecessors, had permitted the Jews to rebuild the temple, but not the walls of Jerusalem. But Artaxerxes immediately decreed, that the walls and gates of Jerusalem should be rebuilt; and Nehemiah, as governour of Judea, was appointed to put this decree in execution. The king, f1 Esdras viii. 21. A. M. 3550. Ant. J. C. 454. Nehem. c. i. et ii.

*1 Esdras viii. 3.

to do him the greater honour, ordered a body of horse, commanded by a considerable officer to escort him thither. He likewise wrote to all the governours of the provinces on this side the Euphrates, to give him all the assistance possible in forwarding the work for which he was sent. This pious Jew executed every part of his commission with incredible zeal and activity.

* It is from this decree, enacted by Artaxerxes in the 20th year of his reign, for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, that we date the beginning of the 70 weeks mentioned in the famous prophecy of Daniel, after which the Messiah was to appear and be put to death. I shall here insert the whole prophecy, but without giving the explication of it, as it may be found in other writers, and is not a part of this history.

66

"Thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter, and con"sider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of "sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the "Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem, unto the Mes"siah the prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks; "the street shall be built again; and the wall even in troublous times. "And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for "himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the "city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood; and "unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall con"firm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the "week he shall cause the sacrifice and the the oblation to cease, and for "the overspreading of abomination, he shall make it desolate, even until "the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the deso"late."

When Esdras was in power, as his chief view was to restore religion to its ancient purity, he disposed the books of scripture into their proper order, revised them all very carefully, and collected the incidents relating to the people of God in ancient times; in order to compose out of them the two books of Chronicles, to which he added the history of his own times, which was finished by Nehemiah. It is their books that end the long history which Moses had begun, and which the writers who came after them continued in a direct series, till the repairing of Jerusalem. The rest of the sacred history is not written in that uninterrupted order. Whilst Esdras and Nehemiah were compiling the latter part of that great work, Herodotus' whom profane authors call the Father of History, began to write. Thus we find that the latest authors of the books of scripture, flourished about the same time with the first authors of the Grecian history; and when it began, that of God's people, to compute only from Abraham, included already 15 centuries. Herodotus made no mention of the Jews in his history; for the Greeks desired to be informed of such nations only, as were famous for their wars, their commerce, and grandeur; so that as Judea was then but just rising from its ruins, it did not excite the attention of that people.