hands of Semiramis his confort. From Ninias, fon and fuc-. ceffor of Semiramis, to Sardanapalus, we find an aftonishing vacuity in the hiftory of Affyria and Babylon. There is nothing to be depended on in a series of kings who had poffeffed the throne for above 800 years. They have indeed. preserved the names of the greateft part of thofe monarchs; but that lift has appeared fufpicious to fome critics. They. pretend to have discovered in it many marks of forgery .. However that may be, as there remain no monuments of those princes, that difcuffion is of very little confequence. The obfcurity of their reigns is commonly attributed to the effeminacy and indolence which those ancient monarchs are faid to have lived in; but perhaps that obfcurity ought to be attributed, lefs to the fupineness of those princes, than to the tranquillity they took care their people fhould enjoy, The virtues of a quiet and peaceable life are not fo ftri, king as the fame of military talents., History takes very little notice of any thing but conquefts and important revolutions, efpecially when hiftorians fpeak of countries they are not interested in. We know nothing of the hiftory of those ancient people but from the Greek writers. The Greeks, a reftlefs, unfettled people, efteemed nations only as they were warlike. They have not condefcended to write the peaceable reigns of the kings of Nineveh lovers of the mar a Eufeb. Chron. 1. 2.; Syncell. p. 103. 108.-123-147.-151.-154. 155.-159.165. It has been pretended, that in the lift given by Ctefias, there are a number of names which may very well have been borrowed from the Greek and Perfian, to form fo long a catalogue. Sphaerus, Lamprides, Laofthenes, Dercylus, are Greek names; Amyntas is the name of the kings of Macedonia; Arius is a name of the Spartan kings; Xerxes, Armamitres, Mithraeus, are Perfian names; Sofarmus is the name of a king of the Medes, according to Ctefias himfelf. See Montfaucon, hift. de Judith. p. 127. Yet one may excufe Cte. fias for giving Greek and Perfian names to many of the Affyrian kings, by faying, he had ufed thofe names as he found them in the archives of Perfia, tranflated from the Affyrian into Perfian. One might likewife fay, that probably he tranflated them into Greek himself, and explained them by other names which to him may have appeared equivalent. How many authors have taken the fame. liberty? Without speaking of the Greeks and Latins, the hiftory written by M. de Thou will alone furnish us with many examples of names fo disguised that they can fearce be known. See our differtation on the antiquities of the Babylonians and Affyrians, & Diod. 1. 2. p. 136. A 2 vellous vellous, they did not find in the history of the Affyrian monarchs those fhining events, which fix the attention of the readers, and strike the writer's imagination. Extremely prejudiced in favour of the Egyptians, we may fay, they would only know that people in all antiquity. Yet we ought to think, that the fucceffors of Ninias were not abfolutely fuch as they are reprefented. All the historians of antiquity acknowledge, that they knew of no monarchy that had subfisted so long as that of the Affyrians *. Herodotus, who, of all the writers, allows the fhortest duration to this empire, yet agrees, that the Affyrians had been mafters of Afia for 520 years. There is no mention made of any revolution during the course of so many ages. Could this empire have maintained itself for so long a space of time without troubles and without revolutions, if the kings who governed it had been entirely abandoned to debauchery, and funk in effeminacy? Indeed, it feems probable, they only endeavoured to govern their people in peace; and, for that reason, the Greek hiftorians thought them unworthy of notice, they found nothing remarkable to relates. But should we therefore despise these princes? Do the warlike inclinations of a monarch always make his people happy? Befides, if it were fo, we fhould neceffarily lose fight of the Babylonians and Affyrians, during all that space of time which we shall run over in this fecond part of our work. CHA P. II. Of the people of Palestine, and of Afia Minor. E are better acquainted with the events which happened in the fame ages, in that part of Afia which is washed by the Mediterranean. We have seen in the preceding volume, that a short time after the deluge, Palestine, and the borders of the Jordan, were inhabited by civilized. e Diod. 1. 2. p. 137.; Dionyf. Halicarn. 1. 1. p. 2. f L. 1. n. 95. & Diod. 1. 2. p. 136. nations; nations; which, notwithstanding, except the Sidonians, have made no great figure in history: most of these people were deftroyed by Joshua when he conquered Paleftine. Those to whom the Greeks gave the name of Phoenicians, were the only people who maintained themselves. We will make them more particularly known, when we speak of the state of commerce and navigation in the ages which employ us at prefent. The history of Afia Minor, which till this time affords no materials for our work, prefents us now with objects most worthy our attention. Many states, which are often mentioned in ancient hiftory, fprung up in that part of the world. The Lydians, the Trojans, the Phrygians, are well-known nations. It is true, that, the Trojans excepted, these monarchies, in the times we speak of, were not very confi derable; therefore we fhall not dwell long upon them. With respect to the Trojans, their empire was of pretty large extent. Many provinces were dependent on it. The whole maritime coaft of the Hellefpont was fubject to them. All the writers of antiquity agree in giving a great idea of the grandeur of Priam. Troy, the capital of his dominions, was a confiderable city; his kingdom moreover appears to have been very flourishing; but we know nothing in particular of its form of government; we are ig norant of their laws. What one may fay with the greatest certainty is, that the crown was hereditary *. The throne was alfo hereditary in the other kingdoms of Afia Minor. The way they relate how Gordius, whom we ought to look upon as the origin of the race of the h Achilles, in the Iliad, fays, that, by fea, he had taken twelve cities from the Trojans, and eleven by land. 1. 9. v. 328. i The description which Achilles made to Priam himself of the extent of the Trojan empire, gives us a great idea of it. Iliad. 1. 24. v. 544. &c. The epithet that Virgil gives Priam, is likewife a fign that they looked on that prince as the most powerful monarch that then reigned in Afia Minor. .... Tot quondam populis terrifque fuperbum, Regnatorem Afiæ. Eneid. 1. 2. v. 559. Strabo entitles Priam, King of kings. 1. 13. p. 891. * Diod. 1. 4. p. 318. &c. |