"Give us knowledge, sagacity; quickness of tongue; holiness of soul; a good memory; and then the understanding that goeth on growing, and that understanding, which cometh not through learning." Judged by all these tests and standards, the Eranian race and their religion hold a very high standing indeed; and a thorough comprehension of the latter will be of no little help in duly estimating the former's triumphant progress through the ancient world, which we now prepare to follow, taking up the thread of historical narrative where we last dropped it—at the Fall of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire. 1. WHILE Asshur, the dying giant, lay in the throes of dissolution, the last ebb of animation feebly surging in Nineveh, the still throbbing heart, -a stir, as of returning life, passed over the remoter provinces as the pressure of the iron hand that held them down relaxed in death. Of the number was Syria. Once more the procession of familiar names passes before us: Hamath and Judah and Damascus, Moab and Ammon and Edom, spectres of former greatness, roused into a brief spell of energy by a draught of that "wine of fury," which the last of Jerusalem's prophets was bid to cause all the nations to drink that they might "reel to and fro and be mad," one with another (Jeremiah, XXV.). Egypt too, with wounds scarce healed, and tottering still, but undaunted and aggressive as ever, appears once more, for the last time, in Asia, on the scene which she had swept triumphant through so many centuries, but was now to abandon, stricken and crestfallen, like an actor hissed off the stage. 2. Psammetik, the deliverer of Egypt,* had been *See "Story of Assyria," p. 395. succeeded in 610 by his son, NECHO II., who im carry out his father's polTrue, Psammetik's long mediately set to work to icy with regard to Syria. years of warfare had not brought him farther than the Philistine cities, but he had been interrupted by the downpouring of the Scythian and Cimmerian hordes and the necessity of retreating into his own equally open country to be in readiness for an invasion. That obstacle was now removed; interference from Assyria was the last thing to be feared, and a warm welcome from the Syrian princes, judging from precedents, could be counted upon. Necho's plan probably was to assure himself of their allegiance, and, his rear securely covered by a breastwork of tribute-paying friends, to proceed to the Euphrates, to the main business of the campaign—the actual conquest of Assyria itself. There is no reason why this plan should not have been successful, but that others were beforehand with the Egyptian. 3. Moreover, the princes may not have been so ready to welcome him. Now that their colossal foe lay at the last gasp, their dreams must have been of total emancipation, not of exchanging one foreign rule for another, even though probably a milder one. That such was their feeling, and that Necho's progress was not a peaceful one, we may conclude from the fact that it took him four years to get to the Euphrates, and from the hostile attitude of one of them, Josiah, King of Judah, recorded *See "Story of Assyria," pp. 418, 423. at length in the Bible books, (Second Kings, Second Chronicles, and Jeremiah). 4. Since the unexpected deliverance from Sennacherib's host in 701,* Judah had, on the whole, with the exception of Manasseh's short-lived rebellion, and the descent of the Scythians, enjoyed a pretty quiet time. The now reigning king, Josiah, Manasseh's grandson, had come to the throne in 638, a child only eight years old. Early moulded to the double influence of the priests and the prophets, he grew up into a religious reformer, whose holy zeal restored the worship of Yahveh in more than ancient purity and splendor. At the approach of the Egyptian army he roused himself from his peaceful and pious occupations to oppose the invader-an imprudent step, since his material means were unequal to it, and taken, it would appear, against the advice of his wisest councillors. A battle was fought in the valley of Megiddo. Here where, a thousand years before, the great Dhutmes III. had broken the Canaanite league, fortune again prospered the Egyptian arms; Necho's victory was complete, and Josiah himself fell on the field. and successor JEHOAHAZ, who came to humble himself at the victor's feet in his camp by the Orontes, found no favor in the Pharaoh's eyes, but was by him deposed and carried captive into Egypt, and there was great mourning for him: "Weep ye not * See Battle of Megiddo; Defeat of Josiah by Necho.609 B.C. His son for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country" (Jeremiah, XXII., 10). 5. Having appointed another of Josiah's sons, JEHOIAKIM, to reign in Judah, and taken much gold and silver out of the land, Necho followed in Dhutmes' steps, and pursued his way to the Euphrates, probably conquering the countries as he went. In 605 he reached the great river; but here he was confronted by a foe for whom he was little prepared. Things had gone faster than he had expected, and differently: Nineveh had fallen the year before under the united efforts of the Medes under Kyaxares and the Babylonians under Nabopolassar.* It was therefore not the worn-out old lion of Asshur whom the Pharaoh encountered, but the strong and victorious lion of Babel, with threatening fangs and ominous growl. The Babylonian army, commanded not by Nabopolassar, who was old and infirm, but by his young son, Nebuchadrezzar, already a renowned warrior and accomplished general, Battle of met the Egyptian force near Karkhemish, and completely routed it. How Necho returned to the Nile after this disaster, zar.-605 B.C. and how long it took him, we have no hint, he is heard of no more. Defeat of 6. The victory of Karkhemish would have been followed up more vigorously and immediately, had not Nebuchadrezzar, soon after he started in pursuit of the routed Pharaoh, been hastily summoned to Babylon. His father, Nabopolassar, had died after *See "Story of Assyria," pp. 427, 428. |