Ruins of Ancient Cities Part 35

[265] Chambers.

[266] He was then only eighteen.

[267] The death of this celebrated naturalist was probably occasioned by carbonic acid gas. This noxious vapour must have been generated to a great extent during the eruption. It is heavier than common air, and, of course, occupies in greater proportion the substrata of that circ.u.mambient fluid. The supposition is greatly strengthened by the fact, that the old philosopher had lain down to rest; but the flames approaching him, he was compelled to rise, a.s.sisted by two servants, which he had no sooner done than he fell down dead.

[268] It is a remarkable circ.u.mstance that some naturalists walking amid the flowers, on the summit of Vesuvius, the very day before this eruption, were discussing whether this mountain was a volcano.

[269] Gandy, 53.

[270] Mons. Du Theil.

[271] Rees.

[272] Brewster.

[273] Ibid.

[274] Brewster.

[275] Brewster.

[276] Brewster, 741.

[277] Ibid, 740.

[278] Rees.

[279] Dupaty.

[280] Brewster.

[281] The letters in the smaller type were inserted by Ciampitti; as those he considered appropriate for filling up pa.s.sages which could not be deciphered.

[282] Pliny the younger; Encycl. Rees, Metrop.; Brewster; Dupaty; Eustace.

[283] Plin. v. c. 26. Ptolem. v. c. 15.

[284] Ptolemy; Pliny; Poc.o.c.ke; Chandler.

[285] This was an epithet given to Crete, from the 100 cities which it once contained: also to Thebes in Egypt, on account of its 100 gates.

The territory of Laconia had the same epithet for the same reason that Thebes had; and it was the custom of these 100 cities to sacrifice a hecatomb every year.

[286] Sir John Malcolm.

[287] The boundaries of Iran, which Europeans call Persia, have undergone many changes. The limits of the kingdom in its most prosperous periods may, however, be easily described. The Persian Gulf, or Indian Ocean, to the south; the Indies and the Oxus to the east and north-east; the Caspian Sea and Mount Caucasus to the north; and the river Euphrates to the west. The most striking features of this extensive country, are numerous chains of mountains, and large tracts of desert; amid which are interspersed beautiful valleys and rich pasture lands.--SIR JOHN MALCOLM.

[288] I conquered the city of Isfahan, and I trusted in the people of Isfahan, and I delivered the cattle in their hands. And they rebelled; and the darogah whom I had placed over them they slew, with 3000 of the soldiers. And I also commanded that a general slaughter should be made of the people of Isfahan.--TIMOUR'S Inst.i.tutes, p. 119. MALCOLM'S Hist.

Persia, vol. i. 461.

[289] Porter.

[290] Lett. ii. 1. 3.

[291] vii. 273, 486. viii. 2, 144.

[292] Sir John Kinneir says of this causeway: "It is in length about 300 miles. The pavement is now nearly in the same condition as it was in the time of Hanway; being perfect in many places, although it has hardly ever been repaired."

[293] At one time a horse's carcase sold for one thousand crowns.

[294] Malcolm, Hist. Persia from Murza Mahdy.

[295] The horrors of this siege, equal to any recorded in ancient history, have been described by the Polish Jesuit Krurinski, who personally witnessed them (see his History of the Revolution of Persia, published by Pere du Cerceau); and they are noticed in the "Histoire de Perse depuis le commencement de ce siecle" of M. la Marnya Clairac, on authorities that cannot be disputed.--OUSELEY'S Trav.

[296] Geog. Mem. of Persia.

[297] Morier.

[298] Malte-Brun.

[299] Job, chap. xv. ver. 28.

[300] Ferdousi; Ebn Hakekl; Della Valle; Chardin; Kinneir; Porter; Malcolm; Malte-Brun; Ouseley.

[301] Hippolito de Jose.

[302] From the time that Solomon, by means of his temple, had made Jerusalem the common place of wors.h.i.+p to all Israel, it was distinguished from the rest of the cities by the epithet Holy, and in the Old Testament was called Air Hakkodesh, _i. e._, the city of holiness, or the holy city. It bore this t.i.tle upon the coins, and the shekel was inscribed Jerusalem Kedusha, _i. e._, Jerusalem the Holy. At length Jerusalem, for brevity's sake, was omitted, and only Kedusha reserved. The Syriac being the prevailing language in Herodotus's time, Kedusha, by a change in that dialect of sh into th, was made Kedutha; and Herodotus, giving it a Greek termination, it was writ [Greek: Kadytis], or Cadytis.--PRIDEAUX'S Connexion of the Old and New Testament, vol. i. part i. p. 80, 81, 8vo. edit.

[303] And Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings; he left none remaining; but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord G.o.d of Israel commanded.--Joshua, ch. x. ver. 40.

[304] --The emotions which filled the minds of those who witnessed the laying of the foundation of the temple were strangely mingled. All gave thanks to the Lord; and the mult.i.tude shouted with a great shout when the foundations were laid; but, "many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice."--EZRA, iii. 12.

[305] Besides this, he built another temple.

[306] Some have thought that this description, which is from Josephus, applies rather to the temple of Herod.

[307] It is remarkable that the sum mentioned is equal to the British national debt.

[308] "Because thou servedst not the Lord thy G.o.d with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young: and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy G.o.d hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy G.o.d hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: so that the man that is tender among you and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates."--DEUT. xxviii.

47-57.

[309] Deut. xxix. 22, 24, 27.

[310] Robinson.

[311] Buckingham.

[312] The patriarch, says an accomplished traveller, makes his appearance in a flowing vest of silk, instead of a monkish habit, and every thing around him bears the character of Eastern magnificence. He receives his visitors in regal stateliness; sitting among clouds of incense, and regaling them with all the luxuriance of a Persian court.