These and other valuable antiquities are preserved in the museum at Portici, which occupies the site of ancient Herculaneum, and in the Museo Borbonico atNaples. For details in respect to which, we must refer to the numerous books that have described them.
One of the most interesting departments of this unique collection is that of the Papyri, or MSS., discovered in the excavation of Herculaneum. The ancients did not bind their books (which, of course, were all MSS.) like us, but rolled them up in scrolls. When those of Herculaneum were discovered, they presented, as they still do, the appearance of burnt bricks, or cylindrical pieces of charcoal, which they had acquired from the action of the heat contained in the lava, that buried the whole city. They seemed quite solid to the eye and touch; yet an ingenious monk discovered a process of detaching leaf from leaf, and unrolling them, by which they could be read without much difficulty. It is, nevertheless, to be regretted, that so little success has followed the labours of those who have attempted to unrol them. Some portions, however, have been unrolled, and the titles of about 400 of the least injured have been read. They are, for the most part, of little importance; but all entirely new, and chiefly relating to music, rhetoric, and cookery. The obliterations and corrections are numerous, so that there is a probability of their being original manuscripts. There are two volumes of Epicurus "on Virtue," and the rest are, for the most part, productions of the same school of writers. Only a very few are written in Latin, almost all being in Greek. All were found in the library of one individual, and in a quarter of the town where there was the least probability of finding anything of the kind.
The following is a list of the most important works that have been discovered:—
1. Philodemus, on the Influence of Music on the Human Constitution.2. Epicurus upon Nature.3. Philomedes on Rhetoric.4. Â Â Â Id. Â Â Â on the Vices.5. Â Â Â Id. Â Â Â on the Affinities of the Vices and the Virtues.6. Â Â Â Id. Â Â Â on the Poets.7. Â Â Â Id. Â Â Â some Philosophical Fragments.8. Â Â Â Id. Â Â Â on Providence.9. Democritus, some Geometrical Fragments.10. Philostratus on Unreasonable Contempt.11. Carnisirus on Friendship.12. Cotothes on Plato's Dialogue of Isis.13. Chrysippus on Providence.
We shall give the reader a specimen, in a fragment of a poem on the Actian war, copied from a manuscript taken from Herculaneum; supposed to be written by C. Rabirius:—
Col. I.
. . . XIM. . . . . . . AEL . . TIA· . . . . . . . . . . .. . CESAR . FA . . AR . HAR . IAM. . . . . . G . . .. . RT.·HIS·ILLE . . NATO . CVM . . . . . ELIAPOR . .QVEM IVVENES; gRANdAeVOS·ERAT·pEr cVNcTA seguntus[281]BELLA·FIDE·DEXTRAQVE POtENS·RERVMQuE·PER·VsumCALLIDVS·ADSIDVus traCTANDO·IN MVNERE martisIMMINET oPSESSIS ITALuS·IAM·TVRRIBVS alTIS·Adsiliens muriS·NEC·DEFVit IMPETVS·ILLIS.
Col. II.
funeraque adCEDVNT·PATRiis deforMIA·TerRISet foedA Illa mAGIS·QVAM·Si NOS geSTA LATEReNTCVM cuPERet potIVS·PELVSIA mOENIA·CAESARvixERAT·IMperIIS·ANIMOs COHlberE SVorVM;QuID·cAPITIS Iam caPTA IACENt QVAE praemia belli?SVBRVITIS·fERro meA·MOENIA QVONdAM·ERat hoSTlS.HAEC·MIHI·CVM·domin A·PLEBES QVOQVE nunc sibi VICTRIXVINDICAT hanc faMVLAM ROMANA POTEntia taNDEM.
Col. III.
fas et ALeXANDRO thAlaMOS iNtRaRE DEoRVMDIco ETIAM·dOLVISSE·DEAM vIDISSe triuMphoSAcTIACOS·CVM.cAVSa fORES Tu MaxIMA beLLIPARS·ETIAM·IMperII·QVAE·FEMINA·TanTA·? VIrORuMQVAE·SERIEs ANTIQVA fVIT·? NI GLORIA·MENDAXMVLTA vetuStATIS·NIMIO·ConcEDAT·HONORI.
Col. IV.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SAEPE·Ego QVAE·VEteRIS CVraE·seRMoNIBVs angorQVA fuGITVr lux, erro: TameN NVNC·QVAErere caVSAS,EX·SiGVasque mORaS·VITAE·LIBET·EST·.MIHI·CONIuNX;partHos quI·POSSET phARIIS·SVBIVNGERE REGnIS·QVI SPreVIT·NOStraEQVE·MORI·PRO·NOMINE·GENTIS·Hic iGItur pARTIS aniMVM DIDVctuS IN oMnISqVID·VELIT·INCERTVM·EST·TERriS qVIBVS·, AVT·QVIBVS·VNDIS
Col. V.
delectVMQue foruM Quo noXIA TVRBA COiRET,PRAEBERETQVE·SVAE·SPECTACVLA·TRisTIA·MORTIS.QVALIS·AD INSTANTIS·ACIES CVM TELA·PAraNTVRSIGNA·TVBAE·CLASSESQVE·SIMVL·TERRESTRibus ARMIS;EST·FACIES·EA·VISA·LOCI·CV.M·SAEVA·COIRENtINSTRVMENTA·NECIS varIO·CONGESTA·PARATV·VNDiQVE·SIC·ILLVC·caMPo DEFORME·COactVMOMNE·VAGABATVR·LETI·GENVS·OMNE·TIMORIS·
Col. VI.
hic cAdit absumtus fERRO·TumeT·IlLE·VENeno,aVT·PEndenTe suIS·CERVICIBVS·ASPIDE·MOLLEMLABITur iN SOMNVM·TRAHITVRQVE·LIBIDINE·MORTIS·PERCulit adFLATV·BReVIS·HVNC·SINE·MORSIBVS·ANguisvoLNERE·SEV·TeNVI·PARS·INLiTA·PARVA·VenENI·OCIus INTEREMiT·LAQVEIS·PArS·COGItVR·ARTIS·INtERSAEPTAM·ANIMAM·PRESSIS·EFFVNDERE·VENIS·ImMERSISQVE fretO·CLAVSERVNT·GVTTVRA·FAVCES·hAS·INTeR·StRAGES·SOLIO·DESCENDIT·eT·INTER
Col. VII.
A . . . . . . . . . . . . LIA . . NO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SIC·ILLI·INTteR·Se mISERO·serMoNe fRVVNTVR·HAEC·REGINA·GERIT·: PROCVL·HAnc OccultA·VIDEBAT·ATROPOS·INRIDeNs inteR·DIVERSA·vagenteMCONSILIA·INTErITVs, QVAM·iAM sua fatA MANeRENTTER·FVERAT·REVOCATA·diES·CVM·PArte senATVS·ET·PATRIAE·cOMItANTE·SVAE·CVM·MILite CAESAR·GENTIS·ALEXANdrI·CupiENs AD·moEnia VENIT·SIGNAQVE·CONSTITVIT·SIC·OMNis terROR IN·ARTVM.
Col. VIII.
obtereRE·adnisi PORtarVm clAVSTRa pEr VRBEM·,OPSIDIONE·TAMEN·NeC·CORPORA·MOENIBVS·ArceNT·CASTRAQVE·PRO·MVRIS·ATQVE·ARMA·PEDESTRIA·PONVNT·HOS INTER COETVS·ALISQVE·AD·BELLA·PARATVS·VTRAQUE·SOLLEMNIS·ITERVM·REVOCAVERAT·ORBES·CONSILIIS·NOX·APTA·DVCVM·LVX·APTIOR·ARMIS.
This was a town in Syria, near the Euphrates, deriving its name from the number of its temples[283]. It abounded in hot springs; and those gave origin to the following fable: "The shepherd poet relates, after mentioning a case in Phrygia, sacred to the nymphs, that near these springs Luna had once descended from the sky to Endymion, while he was sleeping by the herds; that marks of their bed were then extant under the oaks; and in the thickets around it the milk of cows had been spilt, which man still beheld with admiration (for such was the appearance if you saw it afar off); but that from thence flowed clear and warm water, which in a little time concreted round the channel, and formed a stone pavement."
The deity most worshipped in ancient times in this city, and indeed throughout all Phœnicia, was the goddess Astarte, called in Scripture the Queen of Heaven and the goddess of the Sidonians.
Dr. Chandler and his friend Mr. Revett ascended to the ruins, which are in a flat, passing by sepulchres with inscriptions, and entering from the east. They had soon the theatre on the right hand; and opposite to it, near the margin of the cliff, are the remains of an ancient structure, once perhaps baths, or as was conjectured, a gymnasium; the huge vaults of the roof striking horror as they rode underneath. Beyond is the mean ruin of a modern fortress; and farther on are massive walls of edifices, several of them leaning from their perpendicular, the stones disjointed, and seeming every moment ready to fall—the effects and evidences of repeated earthquakes.
In a recess of the mountain, on the right side, is the area of a stadium. Then again sepulchres succeed; some nearly buried in the mountain side, andone, a square building, with an inscription with large letters.
The theatre appears to have been a very large and sumptuous structure: part of the front is still standing. In the heap, which lies in confusion, are many sculptures, well executed in basso-relievo, with pieces of architecture inscribed, but disjoined, or so incumbered with massive marbles, that no information could be gathered from them. The character is large and bold, with ligatures. The marble seats are still unremoved. The numerous ranges are divided by a low semicircular wall, near the midway, with inscriptions, on one of which Apollo Archegetes (or the Leader) is requested to be propitious. In another compartment, mention is made of the city by its name; and a third is an encomium, in verse. "Hail, golden city, Hierapolis, the spot to be preferred before any in wide Asia; revered for the rills of the nymphs; adorned with splendour." In some of the inscriptions the people are styled "the most splendid," and the senate "the most powerful."
Hierapolis was not so magnificent as Laodicea; but still it was a splendid place; and, like its neighbour city, is now almost "an utter desolation[284]."
"In the territory of Istakhar is a great building, with statues carved in stone; and there, also, are inscriptions and paintings. It was said that this was a temple of Solomon, to whom be peace! and that it was built by the Dives, or Demons: similar edifices are in Syria, and Baalbeck, and in Egypt."—Ebn Hawkel; Ouseley.
The origin of Isfahan is not to be traced with any certainty. It is, however, for the most part, supposedto have arisen from the ruins of Hecatompylos,[285]the capital of Parthia. This city was the royal residence of Arsaces, and it was situated at the springs of the Araxes. Whatever may have been the origin of this city, it is universally admitted that the situation of it, topographically, and centrically with regard to the empire, is admirably adapted for a royal residence and capital[286]. It stands on the river Zeinderood; and has been celebrated as a city of consequence from the time in which it was first noted in history[287]; and that is, we believe, at the period in which it was taken possession of by Ardisheer, who, soon after, was proclaimed king of Persia; and was considered by his countrymen as the restorer of that great empire, which had been created by Cyrus and lost by Darius.
This prince was so great a sovereign, that it gives pleasure to note some of his sayings:—"When a king is just, his subjects must love him, and continue obedient: but the worst of all sovereigns is he whom the wealthy, and not the wicked, fear." "There can be no power without an army; no army without money; no money without agriculture; no agriculture without justice." "A furious lion is better than an unjust king: but an unjust king is not so bad asa long and unjust war." "Never forget," said he, on his death-bed, to his son, "that, as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and of your country. Consider the altar and throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other. A sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies. Religion may exist without a state; but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by holy laws that a political association can alone be bound. You should be to your people an example of piety and of virtue, but without pride or ostentation." After a few similar lessons, he concluded in the following manner:—"Remember, my son, that it is the prosperity or adversity of the ruler, which forms the happiness or misery of his subjects; and that the fate of the nation depends upon the conduct of the individual who fills the throne. The world is exposed to constant vicissitudes: learn, therefore, to meet the frowns of Fortune with courage and fortitude, and to receive her smiles with moderation and wisdom. To sum up all:—May your administration be such as to bring, at a future day, the blessings of those whom God has confided to our paternal care, upon both your memory and mine."
A. D.1387, Isfahan surrendered to Timour. The moment he pitched his camp before it, it yielded. Satisfied with this ready submission, Timour commanded that the town should be spared, but that a heavy contribution should be levied on the inhabitants. This had been almost entirely collected, when a young blacksmith, one under age, beat a small drum for his amusement. A number of citizens, mistaking this for an alarm, assembled, and became so irritated from a communication to each other of the distress they suffered, that they began an attack upon those whom they considered the immediate cause of theirmisery; and, before morning, nearly 3000 of the Tartars, who had been quartered in the city, were slain. The rage of Timour, when he heard of this, exceeded all bounds. He would therefore listen to no terms of capitulation. He doomed Isfahan to be an example to all other cities. The unfortunate inhabitants knew what they had to expect, and made all the resistance they could; but in vain. The walls were carried by storm; and the cruel victor did not merely permit pillage and slaughter, but commanded that every soldier should bring him a certain number of heads. Some of those, more humane than their master, purchased the number allotted, rather than become the executioners of unresisting men. It was found impossible to compute all the slain; but an account was taken of 70,000 heads, which were heaped in pyramids that were raised in monuments of this horrid revenge.[288]
Isfahan attained its highest pitch and magnitude in the time of Shah Abbas. It became the great emporium of the Asiatic world; and during his reign nearly a million of people animated its streets, and the equally flourishing peasantry of more than 1400 villages in its neighbourhood, supplied by their labour the markets of this abundant population.[289]Industry, diligence, activity, and negotiations, were seen and heard everywhere. The caravans even were crowded with merchants, and the shops with the merchandise of Europe and Asia; while the court of the great Shah was the resort of ambassadors from the proudest kingdoms, not only of the East but of the West.Travellers thronged thither from every part, not only on affairs of business, but to behold the splendour of the place.
In fact, it owes most of the glory it now possesses to Shah Abbas, who, after the conquest of Lar and Ormus, charmed with its situation, made it the capital of his empire between 1620 and 1628; for the fertility of the soil, the mildness of the seasons, and the fine temperature of the air, conspire, it is said, to make Isfahan one of the most delightful cities in the world. The waters of its two rivers, also, are so sweet, pleasant, and wholesome, as to be almost beyond comparison.
The splendours of Isfahan are described by Pietro Della Velle[290]and Chardin.[291]What they were would occupy too large a space; but we may judge of the extent and nature of the public works by the causeway[292]this prince formed across the whole of Mazenderen, so as to render that difficult country passable for armies and travellers at all seasons of the year. He threw bridges over almost all the rivers of Persia. He studied, we are told, beyond all former sovereigns, the general welfare and improvement of his kingdom. He fixed on the city of Ispahan as the capital of his dominions; and its population was more than doubled during his reign. Its principal mosque, the noble palace of Chehel-Setoon, the beautiful avenues and porticoes called Châr Bagh, and several of the finest palaces in the city and suburbs, were all built by this prince.
In 1721 there was a great rebellion. A celebrated traveller, who was on the spot, assures us, that the inhabitants of one of the suburbs (Julfa, an Armenian colony), not many years before, amounted to thirty thousand souls. He says, that some of the streets were broad and handsome, and planted with trees, with canals, and fountains in the middle; others narrow and crooked, and arched at top; others again, though extremely narrow, as well as turning and winding many ways, were of an incredible length, and resembled so many labyrinths; that at a small distance from the town there were public walks adorned with plane-trees on either hand, and ways paved with stones, fountains and cisterns: that there were one hundred caravanserais for the use of merchants and travellers, many of which were built by the kings and prime nobility of Persia. He goes on to state, that there was a castle in the eastern part of the town, which the citizens looked upon as impregnable, in which the public money and most of the military stores were kept: but that, notwithstanding the number of baths and caravanserais were almost innumerable, there was not one public hospital. All this was in the suburb of Julfa only. In what condition is that suburb now?
A. D.1722, Mahmoud, chief of the Afghans, invaded Persia, and laid siege to Isfahan. He was at first repulsed and compelled to fall back; in consequence of which he made overtures. These the citizens unfortunately rejected. Mahmoud, in consequence, determined on laying waste the whole of the neighbouring country. Now the districts surrounding Ispahan were, perhaps, the most fruitful in the world, and art had done her utmost to assist nature in adorning this delightful country. This fairest of regions was doomed by Mahmoud to complete ruin! The task occupied his army more than a month; but the lapse of nearly a century has not repaired what their barbarity effected in that period; and the fragments of broken canals, sterile fields, andmounds of ruins, still mark the road with which they laboured in the work of destruction.
A famine ensued in consequence of this, and the inhabitants of Isfahan were reduced to despair. The flesh of horses, camels, and mules, became so dear[293], that none but the king, some of the nobles, and the wealthiest citizens, could afford to purchase. Though the Persians abhor dogs as unclean, they ate greedily of them, as well as of other forbidden animals. When these supplies were exhausted, they fed not only upon the leaves and bark of trees, but on leather, which they softened by boiling; and when this was exhausted too, they began to devour human flesh. Men, we are told, with their eyes sunk, their countenances livid, and their bodies feeble and emaciated with hunger, were seen in crowds, endeavouring to protract a wretched existence by cutting pieces from the bodies of those who had just expired. In many instances the citizens slew each other, and parents murdered their children to furnish the horrid meal. Some, more virtuous, poisoned themselves and families, that they might escape the guilt of preserving life by such means. The streets, the squares, and even the royal gardens, were covered with carcases; and the river Zainderand, which flowed through the city, became so corrupted by dead bodies[294], that it was hardly possible to drink of its waters[295]. Overpowered with his misfortunes, Shah Husseyn abdicated his throne in favour of his persecutor.
These events are related in Bucke's Harmonies of Nature, thus:—During the reign of Shah Husseyn, Isfahan was besieged by Mahmoud, chief of the Afghans; when the besieged, having consumed their horses, mules, camels, the leaves and bark of trees, and even cloth and leather, finished,—so great was the famine,—with not only eating their neighbours and fellow-citizens, but their very babes. During this siege more human beings were devoured than was ever known in a siege before. Mahmoud having at length listened to terms of capitulation, Husseyn clad himself in mourning; and with the Wali of Arabia, and other officers of his court, proceeded to the camp of his adversary, and resigned the empire. The Afghan chief, in receiving his resignation, exclaimed, "Such is the instability of all human grandeur! God disposes of empires, as he pleases, and takes them from one to give to another!" This occurred in the year 1716.
Mahmoud was now king of Persia. But, some time after, fearing a revolt of the people of Isfahan, he invited all the nobles of the city to a feast, and the moment they arrived, a signal was given, and they were all massacred. Their amount was three thousand! not so many as one escaped. Their bodies were exposed in the streets, that the inhabitants might behold and tremble. But an equal tragedy was yet to be performed. He had taken three thousand of the late king's guards into his pay. These men he directed to be peculiarly well treated; and, as a mark of favour, he commanded that a dinner should be dressed for them in one of the squares of the palace. The men came; sat down; and the moment they had done so, a party of the tyrant's troops fell upon them, and not a single soul was allowed to escape!
This, however, was not the close of things, but thebeginning. A general order was now issued, to put every Persian to death, who had in any way served the former government. The massacre lasted 15 days! Those who survived were made to leave the city, with the sole exception of a small number of male youths, whom the tyrant proposed to train in the habits and usages of his own nation.
Nor does this terminate the history of his atrocities. He soon after massacred all the males of the royal family. These victims he caused to be assembled in one of the courts of the palace; when attended by two or three favourites, he commenced, with his own sabre, the horrid massacre. Thirty-nine princes of the blood were murdered on this dreadful occasion. The day of punishment, however, was at hand. He soon after died in a state of horrific insanity! His body was buried in a royal sepulchre; but when Nadir Shah afterwards took Isfahan, he caused it to be taken from the sepulchre and abandoned to the fury of the populace; and the place where he had been interred was converted into a common sewer to receive the filth of the city. This was in the year 1727.
Isfahan never recovered these dreadful events. Mr. Hanway tells us, that in the time he visited it, a Persian merchant assured him, that in all Isfahan there were not more than five thousand inhabited houses. It has been, since, several times taken and retaken by tyrants and revolters. It was last taken by Aga Mohamed Khan (A. D.1785); who dismantled the walls.
Its present condition is thus described by Sir Robert Ker Porter:—"The streets are everywhere in ruin; the bazaars silent and abandoned; the caravanserais are equally forsaken; its thousand villages hardly now counting two hundred; its palaces solitary and forlorn; and the nocturnal laugh and song, whichused to echo from every part of the gardens, succeeded by the yells of jackals and shouts of famishing dogs."
Sir Robert afterwards gives an account of the ruins. From one end of the city to the other, under avenues old and new, through the gardens, and round their delightful "paradises," of shade and fountain, he hardly saw a single creature moving. If, says he, "Isfahan continues fifty years so totally abandoned of its sovereign's notice as it is now, Isfahan will become a total ruin, amidst the saddest of wildernesses."
The name of this city is said to have been Sepahan, which it received from the Persian kings, in consequence of its having been the general place of rendezvous for their armies. "This famous city," says Mr. Kinneir[296], "has been so minutely described, even when at the height of its glory, by many travellers, and particularly by Chardin, that it will only be necessary to state the changes that have taken place since the period in which he wrote. The wall, which then surrounded the city, was entirely destroyed by the Afghans, who have left many striking marks of their savage and barbarous habits in every part of the kingdom. The suburb of Julfa has been reduced from twelve thousand to six hundred families; most of the others have shared the same fate; and a person may ride ten miles amidst the ruins of this immense capital. The spacious houses and palaces, which opened to the Royal Avenue, are almost all destroyed. The first view, however," continues Mr. Kinneir, "which the traveller has, on coming from Shirauz, of this great metropolis, is from an eminence, about five miles from the city, when it bursts at once upon his sight, and is, perhaps, one of the grandest prospects in the universe. Its ruinous condition is not observable at a distance; all defects beinghid by high trees and lofty buildings; and palaces, colleges, mosques, minarets, and shady groves, are the only objects that meet the eye."
The bazaars, constructed by Shah Abbas, which were covered in with vaults, and lighted by numerous domes, are of prodigious extent, and proclaim the former magnificence of the city. They extend considerably more than a mile.
The palaces of the king are enclosed in a fort of lofty walls, which have a circumference of three miles. The palace of the Chehel Sitoon, or "forty pillars," is situated in the middle of an immense square, which is intersected by various canals, and planted in different directions with the beautiful chenar tree. The palace was built by Shah Abbas. Under the great room are summer apartments, excavated in the ground, which, in their season, must be delightful retreats. They are also wainscoted, and paved with marble slabs; and water is introduced by cascades, which fall from the ground floor, and refresh the whole range. The Ali Capi gate forms the entrance. This gate, once the scene of the magnificence of the Seffi family, the threshold of which was ever revered as sacred, is now deserted, and only now and then a solitary individual is seen to pass negligently through. The remains of that splendour, so minutely and exactly described by Chardin, are still to be traced; the fine marble remains, and the grandeur and elevation of the dome, are still undemolished.[297]At the Ala Capi gate of the old palaces, which is described as one of the most perfect pieces of brick-work to be found in Persia, used to sit Shah Abbas, and thence review his cavalry, galloping and skirmishing, or witnessed the combats of wild animals[298]. In former times this view from the spot was undoubtedly splendid; but, at present, with the exception of the palacesin the gardens, the whole mass below is one mouldering succession of ruinous houses, mosques, and shapeless structures, which had formerly been the mansions of the nobility, broken by groups or lines of various tall trees, which once made part of the gardens of the houses now in ruins. The freshness of all the buildings is said to be particularly striking to an European, or the inhabitants of any comparatively humid country, in which the atmosphere cherishes a vegetation of mosses, lichens, and other cryptogamous plants, which we particularly associate in our minds with the spectacle of decay.
Sir W. Ouseley says, "I explored the ruins of villages, scattered over the plain in all directions near our camp; and some must have been considerable in size and respectability from the handsome houses which they contained. Although pillaged and depopulated by the Afghans almost a century ago, many of their chambers yet remain, with vaults and staircases but little injured; yet no human being is ever seen within their walls, except some traveller, who wonders at finding himself alone in places, which might be easily rendered habitable, situate not above a mile from the walls of a great metropolis. It must be confessed, that these ruins, composed of sun-dried brick and mud, appear, like many edifices in Persia, to much greater advantage on paper than in reality."
Morier, in his second journey into Persia, says:—"The great city of Isfahan, which Chardin has described, is twenty-four miles in circumference, were it to be weeded (if the expression may be used) of its ruins, would now dwindle to a quarter that circumference. One might suppose that God's curse had extended over part of this city, as it did over Babylon. Houses, bazaars, mosques, palaces, whole streets, are to be seen in total abandonment; and I have rode for miles among its ruins without meetingwith any living creature, except, perhaps, a jackal peeping over a wall, or a fox running to its hole.
"In a large tract of ruins," Mr. Morier goes on to observe, "where houses, in different stages of decay, were to be seen, now and then an inhabited house may be discovered, the owner of which may be assimilated to Job's forlorn man, 'dwelling in desolate cities, and which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps[299].' Such a remark as this must have arisen from scenery similar to those which parts of Isfahan present; and unless the particular feeling of melancholy which they inspire has been felt, no words can convey any idea of it[300]."
This city (in Spain) is supposed to have been founded by the Phœnicians, who give it the name of Hispalis. It was afterwards colonized by the wounded soldiers of Scipio. It was then called Julia, and at last, after a variety of corruptions, Sebilla or Sevilla, la Viega.
The Romans embellished it with many magnificent edifices, but of which scarcely any vestige now remains.
In regard to the new city, the Gothic kings for some time made it their residence; but it was taken by storm soon after the victory obtained at Xeres, over the Gothic king Rodrigo. It at last fell before Ferdinand III., after a year's siege; and three hundred thousand Moors were compelled to quit the place; notwithstanding which it became the most magnificent city in all Spain, a little after the discovery of America; all the valuable commodities of the West Indies being carried thither.
An old Spanish writer thus speaks of this place:—"Not far from hence one sees theruins of an ancient city; and of an amphitheatre, great part of which remains; but many of the great parts lie in such confusion, as if it had been thrown into disorder by an earthquake. The people call this place Sevilla la Vieja, or Old Seville; but the learned take it to be the ancient Italica, the birth-place of the emperor Adrian and Silius Italicus; there having been found a sufficient number of ancient medals and inscriptions to justify that opinion; and amongst others, they found a medal of Tiberius, with the following legend upon it: DIVI. AVG. MVNIC. ITALIC. PERM. And in the time of Fernando el Santo, the conqueror of Seville (which was in the year 1248), this place retained some traces of its ancient name; for it was called Talca. Some of the ruins appear to have been the remains of a temple, and a bath. In the spot near which many of these ruins are to be seen, there is a monastery of St. Isidore; and in the church there is an altar of alabaster, which can scarce be matched in Europe[301]."
JERUSALEM.JERUSALEM.
"How doth the city solitary sit, she that was full of people!How is she become a widow, that was great among the nations!Princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!She weepeth sore in the night, and her tear is upon her cheek:She hath none to comfort her, among all her lovers:All her friends have betrayed her, they became her enemies."Lamen.i. 1, 2.
"In the whole universe," says Mr. Eustace, "there were only two cities interesting alike to every member of the great Christian commonwealth, to every citizen of the civilised world, whatever may be his tribe or nation—Rome and Jerusalem. The former calls up every classic recollection; the latter awakens every sentiment of devotion; the one brings before our eyes all the splendour of the present world; the other all the glories of the world to come."
Palestine, or the land of Canaan, originally extended in length from north to south, near two hundred miles, and from eighty to fifteen in breadth, from east to west. Its southern boundary was formed by the desert of Beersheba, the Dead Sea, the river Arnon, and the river of Egypt, or the Siehor; to the north, it was bounded by the mountainous ridge called Antilibanus; to the east by Arabia, and to the west by the Mediterranean. Though rocky and mountainous, it was one of the most fertile provinces of the temperate zone; a land, according to the authority of the sacred penman, of brooks of waters, of fountains, and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive-oil, and honey; a land wherein bread might be eaten without scarceness, whose stones were iron, and out of whose hills might be dug brass.
In the midst of this highly favoured region stood the city of Jerusalem, which, according to the Jewish chronology, was founded by their high priest Melchizedec, in the year of the world 2032. It was then called Salem, a word signifyingpeace.[302]
Joshua is supposed to have destroyed Jerusalem; that town, though not mentioned, being considered to have been one of those that fought against Gibeon, the king of which was Adoni-zedek[303].
The city was afterwards rebuilt by David, and surrounded with fortifications, extending inwards from the low grounds, called Millo, to the summit of the mountain, on which he erected a citadel, destined alike to be the great fortress of the nation, and the sumptuous residence of its kings. The rich work of the tabernacle, and the splendour which characterised many of their ceremonies, had long tended to inspire the Israelites with a taste for the elegant arts. David's palace, we accordingly find, was a palace of cedar. In raising this structure, the timber of Tyre and the superior skill of its artificers were employed to secure its beauty and stability. When completed, the grace and majesty of the pile reminded the monarch that, in taking up his abode in such a building, he should be more splendidly lodged than the ark and visible emblem of Jehovah itself. With this idea in his mind, he resolved upon erecting a building for the service of God, which should be as worthy of its destination as the ability and piety of man could make it.
This design, David not living to carry into execution, was followed up and completed by Solomon his son. From the reign of Solomon to the final destruction of the city, it underwent many vicissitudes, some of which we shall recite. In the fourth year of Solomon's son, Rehoboam (B. C.971), it was besieged and taken by Sesac, king of Egypt, who carried away the treasures of the temple, as well as those of the royal palace.
In 826B. C.the temple and palace were plundered by Jehoash, and the walls demolished. In 608B. C.Jerusalem was taken by Nechao, king of Egypt. It was next besieged by Sennacherib, king of Nineveh. That prince having returned from Egypt, which he had ravaged, and taken a great number of prisoners, laid siege to it with a vast army. The city appeared to be inevitably lost: it was without resource, and without hope from the hands of men. It had, however, says the historian, "a powerful protector in Heaven, whose jealous ears had heard the impious blasphemies uttered by the king of Nineveh against his sacred name. In one single night 185,000 men of his army perished by the sword of the destroying angel."
Jerusalem was soon after besieged by Nebuchadonosser and taken; when the conqueror caused Jehoiakim to be put in chains with the design of having him carried to Babylon; but, being moved with his affliction, he restored him to his throne. Great numbers, however, of the Jews were carried captives to Babylon, whither all the treasures of the king's palace and a part of the temple were likewise transported. From this famous epoch we are to date the captivity of the Jews at Babylon.
They having afterwards rebelled, the king came from Babylon and besieged them anew. The siege lasted nearly a year. At length the city was taken by storm, and a terrible slaughter ensued. Zedekiah's two sons were, by Nebuchadnezzar's orders, killed before their father's face, with all the noblemen and principal men of Judah. Zedekiah himself had both his eyes put out, was loaded with fetters, and carried to Babylon, where he was confined in prison as long as he lived. As to the city and temple, theywere both pillaged and burned, and all their fortifications demolished.
The kings of Persia soon after permitted the Jews to rebuild the temple;[304]but not the walls. Artaxerxes Epiphanes, however, issued an edict that they might rebuild their walls; and Nehemiah, as governor of Judea, was appointed to put this edict in execution; and, in order to do him higher honour, the king ordered a body of horse to escort him thither. He likewise wrote to all the governors 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 did not fail to execute every part of his commission with great activity and zeal.
After the time of Nehemiah, Jerusalem enjoyed peace till the yearB. C.332, when Alexander, having taken Tyre, demanded assistance of the Jews, and being refused by the high-priest, who pleaded an oath, made to Darius, not to take part with his enemies; the Macedonian was incensed, and repairing to Jerusalem, determined to be avenged on the city and its inhabitants; but being met by a multitude of people, dressed in white, the priests arrayed in their robes, and the high priest in a garment of purple and gold, having on his head a tiara, on which was inscribed the name of the Lord, his passion subsided; and, approaching the high-priest, he offered his adoration to God, and saluted all the Hebrews.
We pass over Alexander's entry into the city, because enough will be said of that vain-glorious person, in other pages of our work; also the siege which Ptolemy made it sustain, to the time when Antiochus Epiphanes took it by storm; and during three days abandoned it to the fury of his soldiers. He caused no less than 80,000 of its inhabitants to be inhumanly butchered. Forty thousand men, also, were taken prisoners, and the like number sold to the neighbouring nations. He committed, also, a thousand other atrocities.
We now come to the period in which it was besieged by another Antiochus, viz. Antiochus Sidetes. Hircanus having been, by the death of Simon, appointed high-priest and prince of the Jews, Antiochus marched with all possible haste, at the head of a powerful army, to reduce Judea, and unite it to the empire of Syria. Hircanus shut himself up in the city, where he sustained a long siege with incredible valour. At length he was compelled, by the extremity of his necessities, to make proposals of peace. Several of the king's councillors, however, advised him not to listen to any proposals of that nature. "The Jews," said they, "were driven out of Egypt, as impious persons, hated by the gods, and abhorred by men. They are enemies to all the rest of mankind. They have no communication with any but those of their own persuasion. They will neither eat nor drink nor have any familiarity with other people; they do not adore the gods that we do; their laws, customs, manners, and religion, are entirely different from those of all other nations; they therefore deserve to be treated by all the nations with equal contempt; to receive hatred for hatred; and to be utterly extirpated."
Such was the language addressed to Antiochus; and had he not been devout and generous, says Diodorus, this advice had been followed. He listened, however, to milder counsels, and agreed that the besieged should have leave to surrender their arms; and that their fortifications being demolished, a peace should be granted. All this was done.
Some years after this, Jerusalem was taken possession of by the Romans under the command of Pompey the Great, and the temple carried by storm. There were two parties in the city. One, the adherents of Hircanus, opened the gates; the other retired to the mountain where the temple stood, and caused the bridges of the ditch and valley which surrounded it to be broken down. Upon this, Pompey, who was already master of the city, ventured to besiege the temple. The place held out three months, and might, perhaps, have done so for three months longer, and perhaps even obliged the Romans to abandon their enterprise, but for the rigour with which the besieged thought proper to observe the sabbath. They believed, indeed, that they might defend themselves when attacked; but not that they might prevent the works of the enemy, or make any for themselves. The Romans knew how to take advantage of this inaction on sabbath-days. They did not attack the Jews upon them; but filled up the fosses, made their approaches, and fixed their engines without opposition. At length, being able to make a breach in the walls, the place was carried by the sword, and not less than 12,000 persons were slain. The victors entered the temple; and Pompey went even so far as to penetrate to the Holy of Holies, and altered the name of Jerusalem (then called Hierosolyma) to Hierosolymarius. Not long after, Crassus, marching against the Parthians, entered the temple, the treasures of which Pompey held sacred, and rifled it of a sum equivalent, in our money, to £1,500,000.
Pompey caused the walls to be demolished:Cæsar afterwards caused them to be rebuilt; and Antipater, executing that commission, soon put the city into as good a position of defence as it had been before the demolition. Notwithstanding this, Jerusalem became subject to another siege by the Romans, acting in behalf of Herod, with 60,000 men. The place held out many months with great resolution; and if the besieged had been as expert in the art of war and the defence of places, as they were brave and resolute, it would not, perhaps, have been taken. But the Romans, who were much better skilled in those things than they, carried the place, after a siege of more than six months. They entered, made themselves masters, plundered and destroyed all before them, and filled every part of the city with blood. The crown of all Judea was soon after placed in the hands of a stranger,—an Idumean—(Herod); in whose reign Jesus Christ was born.
During the reign of Herod the Great, Jerusalem was much enlarged and embellished. He erected a superb palace, a theatre, and an amphitheatre. He, also, projected the design of enlarging the temple,[305]which had been erected after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity; and, having begun the work in the eleventh year of his reign, he completed it in eight years.
Tacitus call this erection "immensæ opulentiæ templum;" and Josephus says, "it was the most astonishing temple he had ever seen, as well on account of its architecture as its magnitude; the richness and magnificence of its various parts, and the reputation of its sacred appurtenances." This temple Herod began to build about sixteen years before the birth of Christ. It was so far completed in nine years and a half, as to be fit for divine service: and what is very remarkable, it was afterwards destroyedby the Romans, in the same month and day of the month, in which Solomon's temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians.
In its most flourishing state Jerusalem was divided into four parts, each separated by a wall, viz. 1. The old city of JÄ“bus, standing on Mount Zion, where David built a magnificent palace and castle. This part was called the city of David. 2. The lower city; called the Daughter of Zion, in which part Solomon built two magnificent palaces, for himself and his queen; and which contained that of the Maccabean princes; and the amphitheatre of Herod. Also the citadel of Antiochus; and lastly the citadel built by Herod, upon a high rock, and thence called Antonia. 3. The "New City;" mostly inhabited by merchants, tradesmen, and mechanics. 4. Mount Moriah; on which Solomon built his temple.
The height of the temple thus repaired is said to have been one thousand two hundred feet. The stones of which it was built were all of marble, forty cubits long, twelve thick, eight high, and so exquisitely joined that they appeared to be of one combined piece. There were one thousand four hundred and fifty-three columns of Parian marble, and two thousand nine hundred and six pilasters, of such thickness, that three men could hardly embrace them; and their height and capital proportionable, and all of the Corinthian order.[306]All the materials of the original fabric were, as it is well known, finished and adapted to their several ends before they were brought to Jerusalem: that is, the stones in their quarries, and the cedars in Lebanon; so that there was no noise of axe, hammer, or any other tool, heard in the rearing of it. There were no less thanone hundred and sixty-three thousand men employed in this work; and yet it took nine years in the building.
The expense of building this wonderful structure was prodigious: the gold and silver employed for this purpose, amounted to 800,000,000l.sterling, which, according to Prideaux's calculation, was a sum equal to have built the whole of solid silver; but it can scarcely be questioned, we think, that some error has crept into the account[307]: There could not have been so much bullion, much less coin, at that time in the world.
In ancient Jerusalem there were ten gates and four towers. Its extent was about one mile. In Solomon's time, this extent appears to have been twice, if not thrice, more. In the time of Titus it was four miles 125 paces. Eusebius lays the circumference at 2550 toises.
We must now proceed to give some account of the destruction of the city by Titus[308]: and in doing so weshall adopt the description presented by the author of—"On the Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature."
"The war began in the month of May,A. D.66; and the siege left to the management of Titus, April 14,A. D.70. Previous to the siege, the city was a prey to the most intolerable anarchy; robbers having broken into it, and filled almost every house with thieves, assassins, and broilers, of every description. The best citizens were thrown into prisons, and afterwards murdered, without even a form of trial. At this time Titus appeared before the gates—a vast multitude having previously arrived in the city to celebrate the feast of the passover. During this celebrated siege, there were no less than three earthquakes; and an aurora borealis terrified the inhabitants with forms, which their fears and astonishment converted into prodigies of enemies fighting in the air, and flaming swords hanging over their temple. They were visited with a plague, so dreadful, that more than one hundred and fifty thousand persons were carried out of the city, at the public charge, to be buried; and six hundred and fifty thousand werecast over the walls, and out of the gates. A famine ensued; and so horrible was the want, that a bushel of corn sold for six hundred crowns. The populace were reduced to the necessity of taking old excrement of horses, mules, and oxen, to satisfy their hunger; and a lady of quality even boiled her own child and ate it—a crime so exquisite, that Titus vowed to the eternal Gods, that he would bury its infamy in the ruins of the city. He took it soon after by storm; the plough was drawn over it; and with the exception of the west walls, and three towers, not one stone remained above another. Ninety thousand persons were made captives; and one million one hundred thousand perished during the siege. Those made captives being sold to several nations, they were dispersed over a great portion of the ancient world; and from them are descended the present race of Jews, scattered singly, and in detached portions, in every province of Europe, and in most districts of Africa and Asia. Thus terminated this memorable siege—a siege the results of which meet the eye in every Jew we meet."
The Jews having, in the reign of Adrian, given way to a turbulent disposition, that emperor resolved to level all things to the ground—that is, those buildings which the Jews had erected to destroy the towers, that were left by Titus for the convenience of the Roman garrison; and to sow salt in the ground on which the city had stood. Thus did Adrian literally fulfil the prophecy, that neither in the city, nor in the temple, should one stone be left upon another. This final destruction took place forty-seven years after that of Titus.
A new city, under the name of Ælia Capitolina, was soon after built, where the presence of the Jews was absolutely prohibited. In this new city, the Christians were sometimes persecuted, and sometimesprotected, by the Roman emperors, till the time when the empress Helena came to visit the city; when, finding it in a most forlorn and ruinous condition, she formed the design of restoring it to its ancient lustre; and her son, Constantine, having embraced the Christian doctrine, he issued an edict, that the old name of Jerusalem should be employed when speaking of the city.
A few years after, an attempt was made to rebuild the temple by the emperor Julian, an attempt which is recorded as having proved abortive, from fiery eruptions escaping out of the earth, and dispersing the workmen.
In the reign of Justinian, that emperor built a magnificent church at Jerusalem; the foundation being formed by raising part of a deep valley. The stones of a neighbouring quarry were hewn into regular forms; each block was fixed on a peculiar carriage drawn by forty of the strongest oxen, and the roads were widened for the passage of such enormous weights. Lebanon furnished her loftiest cedars for the timbers of the church; and the seasonable discovery of a vein of red marble supplied its beautiful columns;—two of which, the supporters of the extensive portico, were esteemed the largest in the world.
In 613, Jerusalem was taken by Chosroes, king of Persia. The sepulchre of Christ and the stately churches of Helena and Constantine were consumed; the devout offerings of three hundred years were rifled, "the true cross" was transported into Persia; and the massacre of ninety thousand Christians is imputed to the Jews and Arabs, who swelled the disorder of the Persian march.
It was recaptured by Heraclius in 627. This emperor banished all the Jews, and interdicted them from coming nearer to it than three miles.
Nine years after this, Jerusalem was taken by Khaled, one of Omar's generals. Omar being apprised of this success of his arms, immediately set out to visit the Holy City. He was attended in his journey by a numerous retinue. He rode upon a red camel, and carried with him two sacks of provision and fruits. Before him he had a leather bottle containing water, and behind him a wooden platter, out of which many of his retinue ate in common with himself. His clothes were made of camels' hair, and were in a very tattered condition; and the figure he made was mean and sordid to the last degree. On the morning after his arrival, he said prayers and preached to his troops. After the conclusion of his sermon, he pitched his tent within sight of the city. There he signed the articles of capitulation; by which the inhabitants were entitled to the free exercise of their religion, the possession of their property, and his protection.
It continued under the caliphs of Bagdad tillA. D.868, when it was taken by a Turkish sovereign of Egypt; during the space of two hundred and twenty years it was subject to several masters, Turkish and Saracenic; and in 1099, it was taken by the crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon, who was elected king. He was succeeded by his brother Baldwin, who diedA. D.1118, and having no son, his eldest daughter, Melisandra, conveyed the kingdom into her husband's family. InA. D.1188, Saladin, sultan of the East, captured the city, assisted by Raymond, count of Tripoli, who was found dead in his bed on the morning of the day on which he was to have delivered up the city. It was restored in 1242 to the Latin princes by Salah Ismael, emir of Damascus. They lost it in 1291 to the sultans of Egypt, who held it till 1382.
Selim, the Turkish sultan, reduced Egypt and Syria, including Jerusalem, in 1517, and his son Solyman built the present walls in 1534. It continues to thepresent day under the Turkish dominion, fulfilling the prophecy, that it "should be trodden down of the Gentiles." It is not, therefore, only in the history of Josephus, and in other ancient writers, that we are to look for the accomplishment of Christ's prediction; we see them verified at this moment before our eyes, in the desolate state of this once celebrated city and temple, and in the present condition of the Jewish people; not collected together into any one country, into one political society, and under one form of government, but dispersed into every region of the globe, and everywhere treated with contumely and scorn.
We now proceed to give some account of the city, as it now stands, from various travellers who have visited it; confining ourselves, however, almost entirely to what may be called its antiquities.
The following particulars in regard to the approach to Jerusalem are from the pen of Mr. Robinson.
"As we approach Jerusalem, the road becomes more and more rugged, and all the appearance of vegetation ceases; the rocks are scantily covered with soil, and what little verdure might have existed in the spring, is in the autumn entirely burnt up. There is a like absence of animal life; and it is no exaggeration to say, here man dwelleth not; the beast wandereth not; the bird flieth not; indeed, nothing indicates the approach to the ancient metropolis of Judea, unless it be the apparent evidences of a curse upon its soil, impressed in the dreadful characters just mentioned, whilst the 'inhabitants thereof,' are 'scattered abroad.' Oftentimes on the road was I tempted to exclaim, like the stranger that was come from a strange land, 'Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto the land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger[309]?'"
Dr. Clarke, however, was nevertheless struck with its grandeur. He says that, instead of a wretched and ruined town, as he had expected, he beheld a flourishing and stately metropolis, domes, towers, palaces, and monasteries, shining in the sun's rays with inconceivable splendour. "Like many other ancient places," says a French commentator on this account, "it no doubt presents two aspects; a mixture of magnificence and paltriness."
To the southward of the site of Bethlehem stands the city castle[310]. It is composed of towers connected by curtains, which form two or three enclosures, the interior successively commanding the exterior. A few old guns, mounted on broken carriages, are planted on its walls to keep the Arabs in awe. The castle is sometimes called the castle of Daniel; and sometimes of the Pisans, having been erected by that people when the city was in the hands of the Christians. From one of the windows looking north, travellers are shown the site of the house of Uriah; and a piece of ground attached to it, and just within the walls, an old tank, called Bathsheba's bath. But the place where the latter was bathing, when seen by the amorous monarch, was more probably the great basin lying in the ravine to the south of the castle at the foot of Mount Zion, and called the lower pool of Gihon.
The sides of the hill of Zion have a pleasing appearance; as they possess a few olive-trees and rude gardens, and a crop of corn was growing there when Mr. Carne visited it. On its southern extremity is the mosque of David, which is held in the highest reverence by the Turks, who affirm that the remains of that monarch, and his son Solomon, were interred there.
The palace of Pilate is now a Turkish residence, and stands near to the gateway by which Christ was led thence to Calvary, to be crucified. Here is pointed out the spot on which Pilate presented Jesus to the people, declaring he could find no guilt in him; the place on which he fainted under the weight of the cross, and where the Virgin swooned, also, at the sight; the spot where Veronica gave him her handkerchief to wipe his forehead; and lastly, where the soldiers compelled Simon of Cyrene to bear his cross. In the palace the monk points out the room where Christ was confined before his trial; and at a short distance is a dark and ruinous hall, shown as the arch where Christ stood till his judge exclaimed "Behold the man[311]!"
One of the streets is said to be the same where Christ made his first appearance after his resurrection; and in the same street stands an Armenian convent, erected over the spot on which James, the brother of John, was beheaded. This is one of the finest buildings in Jerusalem[312]. At a short distance is a small church, said to be erected on the spot where formerly stood the house of the high-priest Annas; and, a little farther on, another which marks the house of Caiaphas; while, just beyond the gate, the attention is directed to a mosque, where the house stood in which Christ ate his last supper.
The mosque of Omar, which occupies the site of the Jewish temple, loses nothing of its grandeur or beauty on a near approach. The spacious paved courts, the flights of steps, and surrounding arcades,the dark tall cypress-trees and running fountains, and the large octagonal body of the mosque, with its surrounding domes, produce altogether the finest effect, and increase the desire to enter its forbidden walls. It is said to be the most magnificent piece of architecture in the Turkish empire; far superior to the mosque of St. Sophia in Constantinople. By the sides of the spacious area in which it stands are several vaulted remains; and evidence is said to be capable of proving, that they belonged to the foundation of Solomon's temple[313].
Chateaubriand says, that he was strongly tempted to find some mode of penetrating to the interior of the mosque; but was prevented by the fear, that he might thereby involve the whole Christian population of Jerusalem in destruction. Dr. Richardson, however, succeeded in gratifying a similar curiosity, which he shared in common with a host of other travellers.
The Tomb of Zacharias is square, with four or five pillars, and is cut out of the rock. Near this is a sort of grotto, hewn out of the elevated part of the rock, with four pillars in front, which is said to have been the apostles' prison at the time they were confined by the rulers.
At a small distance within the gates of St. Stephen, that fronts Olivet, is the pool of Bethesda, said to be the scene of one of Christ's most striking miracles. The pool is at present dry, and its bed nearly filled up with earth and rubbish. Wild tamarisk bushes and pomegranate trees spread their foliage round it; but, according to Chateaubriand, the mason-work of the sides, composed of large stones, joined together by iron cramps, may still be traced; making the measurement of this reservoir to have been in width40 feet, and in length 150. At its eastern end are some arches dammed up. It is evidently the most ancient work in Jerusalem, and, as such, is an interesting specimen of the primitive architecture of its inhabitants. All travellers seem to agree that this was the pool of Bethesda, memorable in the Gospel history as the scene of the paralytic, related in St. John. It was here, perhaps, that the sheep were marked, preparatory to the sacrifices of the temple[314].
"At about two-thirds of the ascent of the Mount of Olives," says Mr. Robinson, "we were shown the place where our Lord, looking down upon the city, wept over its impending fate. 'Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down[315].'"
"From the summit," says Mr. Carne, "you enjoy an admirable view of the city. It is beneath, and very near, and looks, with its valleys around it, like a panorama. This noble mosque of Omar, and large area, planted with palms, its narrow streets, ruinous places and towers, are all laid out before you, as you have seen Naples and Corfu in Leicester-square. On the summit are the remains of a church, built by the empress Helena; and in a small edifice, containing one large and lofty apartment, is shown the print of the last footsteps of Christ, when he took his leave of earth."
"About forty years," says Dr. Clarke, "before the idolatrous profanation of the Mount of Olives by Solomon, his afflicted parent, driven from Jerusalem by his son Absalom, came to this eminence to present a less offensive sacrifice, and, as it is beautifully expressed by Adichomius, 'flens et nudis pedibus adoravit,' what a scene does the sublime description, given by the prophet, picture to the imagination ofevery one who has felt the influence of filial piety, but especially of the traveller, standing upon the very spot where the aged monarch gave to heaven the offering of his wounded spirit. "And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olives, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot, and all the people that was with him covered every man his head; and they went up weeping."
On the top of the mount are the remains of several works, the history of which has been lost. Among these are several subterraneous chambers. One of them has the shape of a cone, of very large size. It is upon the very pinnacle of the mountain.
"The Mount of Olives," says Mons. La Martine, "slopes suddenly and rapidly down to the deep abyss, called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which separates it from Jerusalem. From the bottom of this sombre and narrow valley, the barren sides of which are everywhere paved with black and white stones, the funereal stones of death, rises an immense hill, with so abrupt an elevation, that it resembles a fallen rampart: no tree here strikes its roots; no moss even can here fix its filaments. The slope is so steep that the earth and stones continually roll from it, and it presents to the eye only a surface of dry dust, as if powdered cinders had been thrown upon it. From the heights of the city, towards the middle of this hill, or natural rampart, rise high and strong walls of large stones, not externally sawed by the mason, which conceal their Hebrew and Roman foundations beneath the same cinders, and are here from fifty to one hundred, and further on, from two to three hundred feet in height. The walls are here cut by three city gates, two of which are fastened up, and the only one open before us seems as void and as desolate as if it gave entrance to an uninhabited town. The walls, rising again beyond this gate, sustain a largeand vast terrace, which runs along two-thirds of the length of Jerusalem, on the eastern side; and, judging by the eye, may be a thousand feet in length, and five or six hundred in breadth. It is nearly level, except at its centre, where it sinks insensibly, as if to recall to the eye thevalley of little depth, which formerly separated the hill of Sion from the city of Jerusalem. This magnificent platform, prepared no doubt by nature, but evidently finished by the hand of man, was the sublime pedestal upon which arose the temple of Solomon. It now supports two Turkish mosques."
Acra Hill[316]rose to the north of Sion, the east side facing mount Moriah, on which the temple was situated, and from which this hill was separated only by a chasm, which the Asmoneans partly filled up by lowering the summit of Acra. As we are informed by Josephus, Antiochus Epiphanes erected a fortress upon it to overawe the city and the temple; which fortress, having a Greek or Macedonian garrison, held out against the Jews till the time of Simon, who demolished it, and at the same time levelled the summit of the hill.
The east side of Mount Moriah[317]bordered the valley of Kedron, commonly called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which was very deep: the south side, overlooking a very low spot, (the Tyropœon,) was faced, from top to bottom, with a strong wall, and had a bridge going across the valley for its communication with Sion. The east side looked towards Acra, the appearance of which from the temple is compared by Josephus to a theatre; and on the north side an artificial ditch, says the same historian, separated the temple from a hill named Begetha, which was afterwards joined to the town, by an extension of its area.
The loftiest, the most extensive, and in all respectsthe most conspicuous eminence, included within the site of the ancient city, was that of Sion, called the Holy Hill, and the citadel of David. This we have positive authority for fixing on the south of the city. David himself saith, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion; on the sides of the north the city of the great King[318]."
"On its summit," says La Martine, "at some hundred paces from Jerusalem, stands a mosque and a group of Turkish edifices, not unlike an European hamlet, crowned with its church and steeple. This is Sion! the palace, the tomb of David! the seat of his inspiration and of his joys, of his life and his repose! A spot doubly sacred to me, who have so often felt my heart touched, and my thoughts rapt by the sweet singer of Israel, the first poet of sentiment, the king of lyrics. Never have human fibres vibrated to harmonies so deep, so penetrating, so solemn; all the most secret murmurs of the human heart found their voice and their note on the lips and the heart of this minstrel! and if we revert to the remote period when such chants were first echoed on the earth; if we consider that at the same period the lyric poetry of the most cultivated nations sang only of wine, love, and war, and the victories of the muses, or of the coursers at the Eleian games, we dwell with profound astonishment on the mystic accents of the prophet king, who addresses God the Creator, as friend talks to friend, comprehends and adores his wonders, admires his judgments, implores his mercies, and seems to be an anticipating echo of the evangelic poetry, repeating the mild accents of Christ, before they had been heard. Prophet or poet, as he is contemplated by the philosopher or christian, neither of them can deny the poet king an inspiration, bestowed on no otherman! Read Horace or Pindar after a Psalm? For my part I cannot!"