forty miles square, and one hundred and sixty in compass; and in depth thirty-five feet, saith Herodotus seventy-five, saith Megasthenes. The former seems to measure from the surface of the sides, and the other from the top of the banks that were cast up upon them. And into this lake was the whole river turned by an artificial canal cut from the west side of it, till all the said work was finished, and then it was returned again into its own former channel. But that the said river, in the time of its increase, might not, through the gates abovementioned, overflow the city, this lake, with the canal leading thereto, was still preserved, and proved the best and the most effectual means to prevent it; for whenever the river rose to such an height, as to endanger this overflowing, it always discharged itself, by this canal, into the lake, through a passage in the bank of the river, at the head of the said canal, made there of a pitch fit for this purpose, whereby it was prevented from ever rising any higher below that place. And the water received into the lake, at the time of these overflowings, was there kept all the year, as in a common reservatory, for the benefit of the country, to be let out by sluices, at all convenient times, for the watering of the lands below it. So it equally served the convenience of Babylon, and also the convenience of that part of the province, in improving their lands, and making them the more fertile and beneficial to them; though at last it became the cause of great mischief to both for it afforded to Cyrus the means of taking the city, and, in the effecting thereof, became the cause of drowning a great part of that country, which was never after again recovered; of both which an account will be hereafter given in its proper place. Berosus, Megasthenes, and Abydenus, attribute all these works to Nebuchadnezzar; but Herodotus tells us, that the bridge, the river banks, and the lake, were the work of Nitocris, his daughter-in-law. Perhaps Nitocris finished what Nebuchadnezzar had left unperfected at his death, and this procured her, with that historian, the honour of the whole.

All the flat whereon Babylon stood being, by reason of so many rivers and canals running through it,

An. 569.

nezzar 36.

made in many places marshy, especially near the said rivers and canals, this caused it to abound much in willows; and therefore it is called in Scripture, The valley of willows, (for so the words, Isa. xv, 7, which we translate, the brook of the willows, ought to be rendered:) and, for the same reason, the Jews (Psalm cxxxvii, 1, 2,) are said, when they were by the rivers of Babylon, in the land of their captivity, to have hung their harps upon the willows, that is, because of the abundance of them which grew by those rivers. At the end of twelve months after Nebuchadnezzar's last dream, while he was walking in his Nebuchad palace at Babylon, most likely in his hanging-gardens, and in the uppermost terrace of them, from whence he might have a full prospect of the whole city, he, proudly boasting of his great works done therein, said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" But, while the words were yet in his mouth, there came a voice to him from heaven to rebuke his pride, which told him, that his kingdom was departed from him, and that he should be driven from the society of men, and thenceforth, for seven years, have his dwelling with the wild beasts of the field, there to live like them in a brutal manner. And immediately hereon, his senses being taken from him, he fell into a distracted condition; and, continuing so for seven years, he lived abroad in the fields, eating grass like the oxen, and taking his lodgings on the ground, in the open air, as they did, till his hair was grown like eagles feathers, and his nails like birds claws. But, at the end of seven years, his understanding returning unto him, he was restored again to his kingNebuchad- dom, and his former majesty and honour nezzar 42. re-established on him. And hereon, being made fully sensible of the almighty power of the God of heaven and earth, and that it is he only that doth all things according to his will, both in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and by his everlasting dominion disposeth of all things at

An. 563.

⚫ Daniel iv.

p Daniel iv, 30.

his good pleasure, he did, by a public decree, make acknowledgment hereof through all the Babylonish empire, praising his almighty power, and magnifying his mercy in his late restoration shewn unto him.

An 562.

After this he lived only one year, and died, having reigned, according to the Babylonish account, from the death of his father, forty-three years, Nebuchadand according to the Jewish account, from his nezzar 43. first coming with an army into Syria, forty-five years. His death happened about the end of the year, a little before the conclusion of the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin. He was one of the greatest princes that had reigned in the east for many ages before him. Megasthenes 4 prefers him for his valour to Hercules. But his greatness, riches, and power, did in nothing more appear, than in his prodigious works at Babylon above described, which, for many ages after, were spoken of as the wonders of the world. He is said at his death to have prophesied of the coming of the Persians, and their bringing of the Babylonians in subjection to them. But in this he spake no more, than what we had been informed of by Daniel the prophet, and, in the interpretation of his dreams, been assured by him should speedily come to pass, as accordingly it did within twenty-three years after.

An. 561. Evilmero

dach 1.

On the death of this great prince, Evilmerodach his son succeeded him in the Babylonish empire; and, as soon as he was settled in the throne, he released Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison, after he had lain there near thirty-seven years, and promoted him to great honour in his palace, admitting him to eat bread continually at table, and placing him there before all the other kings and great men of his empire, that came to him to Babylon, and also made him a daily allowance to support him, with an equipage in all things else suitable hereto. Jerome t tells us, from an ancient tradition of the Jews, that Joseph. Antiq. lib. 10, c. 11. Strabo, lib. 15, p. 687.

q Abydenus, ibid.

r Abydenus, ibid.

s 2 Kings xxv. 27. Jer lii, 31. Berosus apud Josephum contra Apionem; lib. 1, et Euseb. Præp. Evang. lib. 9.

t Comment. in Esaiam xiv, 19.

Evilmerodach, having had the government of the Babylonish empire during his father's distraction, administered it so ill, that, as soon as the old king came again to himself, he put him in prison for it; and that the place of his imprisonment happening to be the same where Jehoiachin had long lain, he there entered into a particular acquaintance and friendship with him; and that this was the cause of the great kindness which he afterwards shewed him. And since the old historical traditions of the Jews" are often quoted in the New Testament, if this were such, it is not wholly to be disregarded, and that especially since the mal-administrations, which Evilmerodach was guilty of after his father's death, give reason enough to believe, that he could not govern without them before. For he proved a very profligate and vicious prince, and for that reason was called Evilmerodach, that is, foolish Merodach; for his proper name was only Merodach. But, whatsoever was the inducing reason, this favour he shewed to the captive prince, as soon as his father was dead. So that the last year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was the last of the thirty-seven years of Jehoiachin's captivity; and this shews us when it begun, and serves to the connecting of the chronology of the Babylonish and Jewish history in all other particulars. For which reason it may be useful to have a particular state of this matter, which I take to have been as followeth. In the seventh year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the Babylonish account, in the beginning of the Jewish year, that is, in the month of April according to our year, Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon. And therefore the first year of his captivity, beginning in the month of April, in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, the thirty-seventh year of it must begin in the same month of April, in the forty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar; towards the end whereof that great king dying, with the beginning of the next year began the first year of the reign of

u By St. Stephen, Acts vii. By St. Paul, Heb. xi, 35-37, and to Tim. Eph. iii, 8, and by St. Jude 9, 14, 15.

x Berosus, ibid.

y 2 Chron. xxxvi, 10. For there it is said, that it was at the return of the year.

Evilmerodach; and the March following, that is, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth or last month of the Jewish year, Jehoiachin was, by the great favour of the new king released from his captivity, in the manner as is above expressed, about a month before he had fully completed thirty-seven years in it. In the same year, which was the first of Evilmero, dach at Babylon, Croesus succeeded Alyattes An. 561. his father in the kingdom of Lydia, and reign- Evilmered there fourteen years. This was the twenty- odach 1 eighth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the forty-sixth of the seventy years captivity of Judah.

When Evilmerodach had reigned two years at Babylon, his lusts, and his other wickedness, made him so intolerable, that at length even his own relations conspired against him, and put him to death, and Neriglissar his sister's husband, who was the head of the conspiracy against him, reigned in Neriglissar 1. his stead. And since it is said, that Jehoi

An. 559,

achin was fed by him until the day of his death, it is inferred from hence, that he did not outlive him, but that he either died a little before him, or else, as a favourite, was slain with him. The last seemeth most probable, as best agreeing with the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning him; for it is therein denounced against him, that he should not prosper in his days; which could not be so well verified of him, if he died in full possession of all that prosperity which Evilmerodach advanced him unto.

On the death of Jehoiachin, Salathiel, his son, f became the nominal prince of the Jews after him. For, after the loss of the authority, they still kept up the title; and for a great many ages after, in the parts about Babylon, there was always one of the house of David, which by the name of The Head of the caplivity, was acknowledged and honoured as a prince among that people, and had some sort of jurisdiction,

z 2 Kings xxxv, 27. Jer. lii, 31.

a Herodotus, lib. 1.

b Berosus, ibid. Megasthenes apud Eusebium Præp. Evang. lib. 9. c Berosus, ibid. Ptol. in Canon. Joseph. Antiq. lib. 10, c. 12. Megasthenes, ibid.

d Jer. lii, 33.

f 2 Esdras v, 16.

g Vide Notas Constantini L'empereur ad Benj. Itinerarium p. 192, &c.

VOL. I.

e Jer. xxii, 30.

32