Darius. to his bed in the room of Vasthi, one of his wives. According to archbishop Usher, this Vasthi is the same person as is called by profane writers Atossa; and the Ahasuerus of the holy Scriptures the same as Darius: But according to others, it is Artaxerxes. The fact is well known, being related in the sacred history: I have given however a brief account of it in this volume.

Such actions of justice do great honour to a prince's memory; as do also those of gratitude, of which Darius on a certain occasion gave a very laudable instance. Syloson, brother to Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, had once made Darius a present of a suit of clothes, of a curious red colour, which extremely pleased Darius's fancy, and would never suffer him to make any return for it. Darius at that time was but a private gentleman, an officer in the guards of Cambyses, whom he accompanied to Memphis, in his Egyptian expedition. When Darius was on the throne of Persia, Syloson went to Susa, presented himself at the gate of his palace, and caused himself to be announced as a Grecian, to whom his majesty was under some obligation. Darius, surprised at such a message, and curious to know the truth of it, ordered him to be brought in. When he saw him, he remembered him, and acknowledged him to have been his benefactor; and was so far from being ashamed of an adventure, which might seem not to be much for his honour, that he ingenuously applauded the gentleman's generosity, which proceeded from no other motive than that of doing a pleasure to a person, from whom he could have no expectations; and then proposed to make him a considerable present of gold and silver. But money was not the thing Syloson desired: The love of his country was his predominant passion. The favour he required of the king was, that he would settle him at Samos,

Pllerod. I. iii. c. 139, 149.

without shedding the blood of the citizens, by driv- Darius. ing out the person that had usurped the government since the death of his brother. Darius consented, and committed the conduct of the expedition to Otanes, one of the principal lords of his court, who undertook it with joy, and performed it with

success.

SECT. II. Revolt and reduction of Babylon.

3488.

516.

IN the beginning of the fifth year of Darius, Ba- A. M. bylon revolted, and could not be reduced till after a twenty months' siege. This city, formerly mistress Aut.J.C. of the East, grew impatient of the Persian yoke, especially after the removing of the imperial scat to Susa, which very much diminished Babylon's wealth and grandeur. The Babylonians, taking advantage of the revolution that happened in Persia, first on the death of Cambyses, and afterwards on the massacre of the Magians, made secretly for four years together all kinds of preparations for war. When they thought the city sufficiently stored with provisions for many years, they set up the standard of rebellion; which obliged Darius to besiege them with all his forces. Now God continued to accomplish those terrible threatenings he had denounced against Babylon: That he would not only humble and bring down that proud and impious city, but depopulate and lay it waste with fire and blood, utterly exterminate it, and reduce it to an eternal solitude. In order to fulfil these predictions, God permitted the Babylonians to rebel against Darius, and by that means to draw upon themselves the whole force of the Persian empire: And they themselves were the first to put these prophecies in execution, by destroying a great number of their own people, as win be seen presently. It is probable that the Jews, of whom a considerable number remained at Babylon,

Herod. 1. iii. c. 150-160.

Darius. went out of the city before the siege was formed, as the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had exhorted them long before, and Zechariah very lately, in the following terms: Thou Sion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon, flee from the country, and save thyself.

The Babylonians, to make their provisions last the longer, and to enable them to hold out with the greater vigour, took the most desperate and barbarous resolution that ever was heard of; which was, to destroy all such of their own people as were unserviceable on this occasion. For this purpose they assembled together all their wives and children, and strangled them. Only every man was allowed to keep his best beloved wife, and one servant-maid to do the business of the family.

After this cruel execution, the unhappy remainder of the inhabitants, thinking themselves out of all danger, both on account of their fortifications, which they looked upon as impregnable, and the vast quantity of provisions they had laid up, began to insult the besiegers from the tops of their walls, and to provoke them with opprobrious language. The Persians, for the space of eighteen months, did all that force or stratagem were capable of, to make themselves masters of the city; nor did they forget to make use of the same means as had so happily succeeded with Cyrus some years before; I mean that of turning the course of the river. But all their efforts were fruitless; and Darius began almost to despair of taking the place, when a stratagem, till then unheard of, opened the gates of the city to him. He was strangely surprised one morning to see Zopyrus, one of the chief noblemen of his court, and son of Megabyses, who was one of the seven lords that made the association against the Magians; to see him, I say, appear before him all over blood, with his nose and ears cut off, and his whole body

'Isa. xlviii. 20. Jer. 1. 8. li. 6, 9, 45. Zech. ii. 6, 9.

disfigured with wounds. Starting up from his Darins. throne, he cried out, Who is it, Zopyrus, that has dared to treat you thus? You yourself, O king, replied Zopyrus. The desire I had of rendering you service has put me into this condition. As I was fully persuaded that you never would have consented to this method, I took counsel alone of the zeal which I have for your service. He then opened to him his design of going over to the enemy; and they settled every thing together that was proper to be done. The king could not see him set out upon this extraordinary project without the utmost affliction and concern. Zopyrus approached the walls of the city; and having told them who he was, was soon admitted. They then carried him before the governor, to whom he laid open his misfortune, and the cruel treatment he had met with from Darius, for having dissuaded him from continuing any longer before a city, which it was impossible for him to take. He offered the Babylonians his service, which could not fail of being highly useful to them, since he was acquainted with all the designs of the Persians, and since the desire of revenge would inspire him with fresh courage and resolution. His name and person were both well known at Babylon: The condition in which he appeared, his blood and his wounds testified for him; and, by proofs not to be suspected, confirmed the truth of all he advanced. They therefore placed implicit confidence in whatever he told them, and gave him moreover the command of as many troops as he desired. In the first sally he made, he cut off a thousand of the besiegers: A few days after he killed double the number; and on the third time, four thousand of their men lay dead upon the spot. All this had been before agreed upon between him and Darius. Nothing was now talked of in Babylon but Zopyrus: The whole city strove who should extol him most, and they had not words sufficient to express their high value for him, and how happy they esteeined themselves in

Darius. having gained so great a man.

He was now de

clared generalissimo of their forces, and entrusted with the care of guarding the walls of the city. Darius approaching with his army at the time agreed on between them, Zopyrus opened the gates to him, and made him by that means master of a city, which he never could have been able to take either by force or famine.

As powerful as this prince was, he found himself incapable of making a sufficient recompence for so great a service; and he used often to say, that he would with pleasure sacrifice a hundred Babylons, if he had them, to restore Zopyrus to the condition he was in before he inflicted that cruel treatment upon himself. He settled upon him during life the whole revenue of this opulent city, of which he alone had procured him the possession, and heaped all the honours upon him that a king could possibly confer upon a subject. Megabyses, who commanded the Persian army in Egypt against the Athenians, was son to this Zopyrus; and that Zopyrus who went over to the Athenians as a deserter, was his grandson.

No sooner was Darius in possession of Babylon, than he ordered the hundred gates to be pulled down, and all the walls of that proud city to be entirely demolished, that she might never be in a condition to rebel more against him. If he had pleased to make use of all the rights of a conqueror, he might upon this occasion have exterminated all the inhabitants. But he contented himself with causing three thousand of those who were principally concerned in the revolt to be impaled, and granted a pardon to all the rest. And, in order to hinder the depopulation of the city, he caused fifty thousand women to be brought from the several provinces of his empire, to supply the place of those whom the inhabitants had so cruelly destroyed at the beginning of the siege. Such was the fate of Babylon; and thus did God exccute his vengeance on that impious