3233.

A.C. tives. The first Olympiad is distinguished by the vic- A R. tory of Chorebus. They returned every fifth year, and after the revolution of four. There, in an assembly of all Greece at Pisa first, and afterwards at Elis, were celebrated those famous combats, in which the victors were crowned with incredible applauses. Thus exercises were had in honour, and Greece became daily stronger, and more polite. Italy was still almost quite savage. The Latin kings of the posterity of Eneas reigned at Alba. Phul was king of Assyria. He is thought to be father of Sardanapalus, called, according to the eastern custom, Sardan-Pul; that is, Sardan, the son of Pul. Some too are of opinion, that this Phul or Pul, was the king of Nineveh, who repented 771. with all his people at the preaching of Jonah. This prince, attracted by the troubles of the kingdom of Israel, marched to invade it; but being pacified by Menabem, he confirmed him in the throne be had usurped by violence, and received, by way of acknowledgment, a tribute of a thousand talents. In the reign of his son Sardanapalus, and after Alcmeon, the last perpetual Archon of the Athenians, that people, whose humour. insensibly led them to a popular government, diminished the power of their magistrates, and reduced the administration of the Archons to ten years. The first of this kind was Charops. Romulus and Remus descended of the ancient kings of Alba by their mother Ilia, restored their grandfather Numitor to the throne of Alba, whom his brother Amulius had dispossessed of it; and immediately after they founded Rome, while Jotham reigned in Judah.

Epoch

lus, or

found

THAT city, which was one day to be mistress of the VII world, was founded towards the end of the third year Romuof the sixth Olympiad; about four hundred and thirty Rome 754. years after the taking of Troy, from which the Romans fo imagined their ancestors sprung; and seven hundred 3250 fifty-three years before Jesus Christ. Romulus being of brought up hardily, among shepherds, and continually employed in warlike exercises, dedicated that city

Years

Rome.

A. C. 748.

6.

to the God of war, whom he called his father. About A. R. the time of Rome's infancy, happened the fall of the first Assyrian empire, through the softness of Sardanapalus. The Medes, a warlike people, animated by Arbaces their governor, set all the subjects of that ef feminate prince an example of despising him. All revolted against him; and he perished at last in his capital city, where he was forced to burn himself alive with his women, his eunuchs, and his riches. From the ruins of that empire we behold three great kingdoms arise. Arbaces, or Orbaces, by some called Pharnaces, gave liberty to the Medes, who after a pretty long anarchy, had some very powerful kings. Be747. sides this, immediately after Sardanapalus, we see a second kingdom of the Assyrians appear, whereof Nineveh continued the capital, and a kingdom of Babylon. These two last kingdoms were not unknown to profane authors, and are celebrated in sacred history. The second kingdom of Nineveh was founded by Tilgath, or Tiglath, son of Pilezer, called, for that reason, Tiglath pileser, to whom some give also the name of Ninus the younger. Baladan, by the Greeks named Belesis, established the kingdom of Babylon, where he is known. by the name of Nabonassar. Hence the era of Nabonassar, famous with Ptolemy and the ancient astronomers, who reckoned their years from that prince's reign. It is proper here to take notice, that the word era signifies a number of years begun at a certain period distinguished by some great event. Ahaz, an im740. pious and wicked king of Judah, being sore pressed by 11. Rezin king of Syria, and the Pekha, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, instead of having recourse to God, who raised up those enemies to punish him, sent and invited Tiglath-pileser, the first king of Assyria, or of Nineveh, who reduced the kings of Israel, to the lowest extremity, and totally ruined that of Syria; but at the same. time ravaged the kingdom of Judah, which had implored his assistance. Thus the kings of Assyria learned the road to the Holy Land, and resolved the conquest

714.

A. C. of it. They began with the kingdom of Israel, which 4. R. 721. Shalmaneser, son and successor of Tiglath-pileser, ut- ss. terly destroyed. Hoshea, king of Israel had relied on the aid of Sabacon, otherwise named Sua, or So, king of Ethiopia, who had invaded Egypt. But that mighty conqueror was not able to deliver him out of the hand of Shalmaneser. The ten tribes, among whom the worship of God was extinguished, were carried away to Nineveh, and being scattered among the Gentiles, were so lost, that there is no longer any vestige of them to be found. Some few were left behind, who were mixed with the Jews, and made a small part of the king715. dom of Judah. At this time happened the death of 59. Romulus. He was ever at war, and ever victorious: but in the midst of wars he laid the foundations of religion and laws. A long peace afforded Numa his suc- 40, cessor opportunity of finishing the work. He formed the religion, and civilized the savage manners of the Roman people. In his time colonies from Corinth, and some other cities of Greece, founded Syracuse in Sicily, Crotona, Tarentum, and perhaps some other cities in that part of Italy, to which former Grecian colonies, who had overspread the country, had already given the name of Great Greece. Meanwhile, Hezekiah, the most pious and righteous of all the kings since David, 710. reigned in Judea. Sennacherib, son and successor to 44 Shalmaneser, besieged him in Jerusalem with an innumerable host, which was cut off in one night by the band of an angel. Hezekiah, delivered in so wonderful a manner, served God with all his people, more 698. faithfully than ever. But after that prince's death, and

56

under his son Manasseb, the ungrateful people forgot 687. God, and fell into many disorders. The popular state 67, was then forming among the Athenians, and they began to elect annual Archons, the first of whom was Creon. Whilst impiety increased in the kingdom of Judah, the power of the kings of Assyria, who were to be its scourges, advanced under Esar-haddon, the son of 681. Sennacherib. He united the kingdom of Babylon with 75.

A. C.

2King.

24.

2.

that of Nineveh, and equalled in the greater Asia the AR. King, empire of the first Assyrians. Under his reign the Cuxvil. thites, a people of Assyria, afterwards called SamariEzr.iv. tans, were sent to inhabit Samaria. These joined the worship of God to that of idols, and obtained of Esarhaddon an Israelitish priest, who taught them the service of the God of the country, that is, the ceremonies of the law of Moses. God, not willing that his name should be utterly abolished in a land which he had giv2King en to his people, left his law there for a testimony; but 27, 28, their priest gave them only the books of Moses, which the twelve revolted tribes had retained, in their schism. The scriptures composed afterwards by the prophets, who sacrificed in the temple, were had in detestation among them; which is the reason the Samaritans, receive only the Pentateuch to this day.

xvit.

&C

27.

While Esar-baddon and the Assyrians were so powerfully establishing themselves in the greater Asia, the Medes begun also to render tlremselves considerable. Dejoces their first king named Arphaxad in scripture, founded the stately city of Ecbatan, and laid the foundations of a great empire. They had placed him on the throne to crown his virtues, and to put an end to the disorders which anarchy occasioned among them. Conducted by so great a king, Herod. they supported themselves against their neighbours, lib.i.c but did not extend their dominion. Rome was ad 571. Vancing, but weakly. Under Tullus Hostilus here. third king, and by the famous combat of the Horatii and Curiatii, Alba was conquered and destroyed. Its citzens incorporated in the victorious city, considerably enlarged and strengthened it. Romulus was the first who had pratised this method of augmenting the city, into which he admitted the Sabines and other conquered nations. They forgot their defeat, and became loyal subjects. Rome by extending her conquests, formed her soldiery; and under Tullus Hostilius she began to learn that excellent discipline which rendered her afterwards mistress of the world.

670.

lib.i. c.

98,

The kingdom of Egypt, weakened by its long di- 4. R. visions, was recovering under Psammeticus. This prince, who owed his crown to the Ionians and Carians, allowed them to settle in Egypt, till then shut up to strangers. On this occasion the Egyptians entered into commerce with the Grecians; and from this time likewise the history of Egypt, hitherto mixed with pompous fables through the artifice of the priests, begins, according to Herodote, to have Herod some certainty. Meanwhile the kings of Assyria 95. were growing more and more formidable to all the East. Saosduchin, son of Esar-baddon, called Nebuchodonosor in the book of Judith, defeated, in a 657. pitched battle, Arphaxad king of the Medes. Flush- 97. ed with this success, he undertook the conquest of 656. the whole earth. With this design he passed the Euphrates, and ravaged all before him as far as Judea. The Jews had provoked God, by giving themselves up to idolatry, after the example of Manasseh; but they had repented with that prince, wherefore God took them also into his protection. The conquests of Nebuchodonosor and Holofernes his general, were stopped all at once by the band of a woman. Dejoces, though beaten by the Assyrians, left his kingdom in a condition of advancing under his successors. Whilst Phraortes, and Cyaxares the son of Phraortes, $42. subdued Persia, and pusked their conquests in the 112. lesser Asia, as far as the banks of the Halys, Judea 611. beheld the wicked reign of Amon, the son of Manas- 115 seb, pass away: and Josiah the son of Amon, wise from a child, laboured to repair the breaches made by the impiety of the kings his predecessors. Rome, whose king was Ancus, Martius, subdued some of the Latins under his conduct; and continuing to make citizens of her enemies, shut them up within the compass of her walls. The people of Veii, already weakened by Romulus, suffered new losses. Ancus pushed his conquests as far as the neighbouring sea, and built the city Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber.

128.