monarch. The Assyrians had been in possession of the Upper Asia for a period of five hundred and twenty years. The Medes first of all revolted from their authority, and contended with such obstinate bravery against their masters, that they were ultimately successful, and exchanged servitude for freedom. Other nations soon followed their example, who, after living for a time under the protection of their own laws, were again deprived of their freedom, upon the following

occasion.

XCVI. There was a man among the Medes, of the name of Deioces, son of Phraortes, of great reputation for his wisdom, whose ambitious views were thus disguised and exercised:-The Medes were divided into different districts, and Deioces was distinguished in his own, by his vigilant and impartial distribution of justice. This he practised in opposition to the general depravity and weakness of the government of his country, and conscious that the profligate and the just must ever be at war with each other. The Medes who lived nearest him, to signify their approbation

of

in his account of the origin and exploits of Cyrus. What Xenophon relates in his Cyropædia, is familiar to every one. Æschylus, an author of great antiquity, who fought at Marathon against the troops of Darius, and who was also in the battles of Salamis and Platea, has, in his tragedy, entitled The Persians, followed a different tradition from them all.~ Larcher.

of his integrity, made him their judge. In this situation, having one more elevated in view, he conducted himself with the most rigid equity. His behaviour obtained the highest applauses of his countrymen; and his fame extending to the neighbouring districts, the people contrasted his just and equitable decisions, with the irregularity of their own corrupt rulers, and unanimously resorted to his tribunal, not suffering any one else to determine their litigations.

XCVII. The increasing fame of his integrity and wisdom constantly augmented the number of those who came to consult him. But when Deioces saw the pre-eminence which he was so universally allowed, he appeared no more on his accustomed tribunal, and declared that he should sit as a judge no longer; intimating, that it was inconsistent for him to regulate the affairs of others, to the entire neglect and injury of his own. After this, as violence and rapine prevailed more than ever in the different districts of the Medes, they called a public assembly to deliberate on national affairs. As far as I have been able to collect, they who were attached to Deioces delivered sentiments to this effect:-" Our present situation is really intolerable, let us therefore elect a king, that we may have the advantage of a regular government, and continue our usual occupations, without any fear or danger of molestation." In

conformity

conformity to these sentiments, the Medes determined to have a king.

XCVIII. After some consultation about what person they should choose, Deioces was proposed and elected with universal praise. Upon his elevation he required a palace to be erected for him suitable to his dignity, and to have guards appointed for the security of his person. .The Medes, in compliance with his request, built him a strong and magnificent edifice 14* in a situation which he himself chose, and suffered him to appoint his guards from among the whole nation. Deioces, as soon as he possessed the supreme authority, obliged the Medes to build a city, which was to occupy their attention beyond all other places. They obeyed him in this also, and constructed what we now call Ecbatana 143. Its walls

were

142 Magnificent edifice.]-This palace was at the foot of the citadel, and about seven furlongs in circumference. The wood work was of cedar or cypress wood: the beams, the ceilings, the columns of the porticoes, and the peristyles, were plated with either gold or silver; the roofs were covered with silver tiles. The whole was plundered about the time of Alexander.-Larcher.

143 Ecbatana.]-Mr. Gibbon, whose geographical knowledge deserves great praise and attention, thinks, that Ecbatana was probably in the same situation with the modern Tauris. The following is from Rennell:

The city of Ecbatana was unquestionably on or near the site of Hamadan in Al Jebal. A great number of authorities concur in proving this, although many refer to Tauris or Te

briz,

were strong and ample, built in circles one within another, rising each above each by the height of their respective battlements. This mode of building was favoured by the situation of the place, which

briz, in Aderbigian; Mr. Gibbon and Sir W. Jones amongst the rest. The authorities are too numerous to be adduced here: we shall only mention that Isidore of Charax places it on the road from Seleucia to Parthia; that Pliny says Susa is equidistant from Seleucia and Ecbatana, and that the capital of Atropatra (Aderbigian) is midway between Artaxata and Ecbatana, and finally, that it lay in the road from Nineveh to Rages or Rey-p. 272.

Dutens, in his learned and ingenious enquiry into the origin of the discoveries attributed to the moderns, brings this among other instances to prove, that the ancients, in magnificence, have never been surpassed, and seldom equalled.-T.

Prideaux is of opinion that the Arphaxad mentioned in the book of Judith, was this Deioces.

The following is the Scripture account of Ecbatana :

1. In the twelfth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, who reigned in Nineve, the great city; in the days of Arphaxad, which reigned over the Medes in Ecbatane,

2. And built in Ecbatane walls round about of stones hewn three cubits broad and six cubits long, and made the height of the wall seventy cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits:

3. And set the towers thereof upon the gates of it, an · hundred cubits high, and the breadth thereof in the foun dation threescore cubits :

4. And he made the gates thereof, even gates that were raised to the height of seventy cubits, and the breadth of them was forty cubits, for the going forth of his mighty armies, and for the setting in array of his footmen.-Judith, chap. i.

which was a gently rising ground. They did yet more: the city being thus formed of seven circles, the king's palace and the royal treasury stood within the last. The largest of these walls is nearly equal in extent to the circumference of Athens; this is of a white colour, the next to it is black, the next purple, the fourth blue, the fifth orange: thus the battlements of each were distinguished by a different colour. The two innermost walls are differently ornamented, one having its battlements plated with silver, the other with gold.

XCIX. Such were the fortifications and the palace which were erected under the direction of Deioces, who commanded the body of the people to fix their habitations beyond the walls which protected his residence. After which he was the first who instituted that kind of pomp, which forbids access to the royal person, and only admits communication with him by intermediate agents, the king himself being never publicly seen*. His edict

also

*This new ordinance of Dejoces may, to many persons, appear at first sight to have been an introduction of violent tyranny, and of most arbitrary power. But perhaps it should rather be considered as having been in reality only a gradual introduction of civilization, and of regular, just government, and as importing little more than what our Norman princes did, when instead of permitting the continuance of the then usual immediate application to the king, in the Aula Regis, his great court, which till that time constantly followed the king's person, Henry the Second appointed two other Courts,

of