The Yazoo City Whig. [volume] (Yazoo, Miss.) 1844-1851, 1846-05-01
RetrOspccsiOn.


We know Of no spectacle 50 Sell calcu-
lated to teach human humiliation, and con-
vince US Of the utter fragility of the proEd-
est monuments of art, as the relics which
remind US Of vast populations that have
passed from earth, and empires that have
crumbled into ruins. We read upon the
ruins Of the past the fate Of the present.
We feel as If the cities Of men were built
on foundations beneath which the earths
quake Steps. and that we abide in the midst
of the same doom which has already swal-
lowed so much Of the records Of mortal mag
ni6cence. Under such emotions, we look
on all human power as foundationless, and
view the prOudest nations of the present as
covered only with the mass Of their desola-
ton.
The Assyrian Empire was Once alike the
terror aud wonder or the world, and Babylon
perhaps was never surpassed in power and
gorgeous magnifcence. But where is there
even a relic Of Babylon now, save on the
faithful pages OF Holy Writ The very
place of its existence is matter Of uncer
.ainty and dispute. Alas! that the measure
of time should be doomed to oblivion; and
that those who first divided they year into
months, land invented the zodiac itself, should
take so sparing of Immortality as TO be in
the lapse Of few centuries, confounded
with natural phenomena Of mountain and
valley.
Who can certainly show US the site Of the
tower that was ''reared against heaven''l
Who were the builders Of the pyramids that
have excited 90 much the as'onishment OF
modern nalionsi
Where is Rome, the irresistible monarch
Of the East, the terror Of the wOrld7 Where
are the proud edifces of her glory, the fame
of which has reached even to our time in
classic viyidnees? Alas, she too, has faded
away in sins and vices. Time has sweP
bis uusparing scythe over her glOriea, ane
shorn this prince of its towering diadems.
"Her lonely columns stand sublime,
Flinging their shadows from en- high,
Like dias which the wizard Time
, Hath raised, to count his ages by"
Throughout the range Of our western
, wilds, down in Mexico, Yucatan, Bolivia
&C., travellers have been able to discove
, the most. indisputable evidences Of extinc
? faces Of men highly skilled IN learning an,
d the arts, Of whom we have no earthly record
save the remains of their wonderful work
= which time has spared for our contemplation
o On the very spot where forests rise in IN
J. broken grandeur, and seem TO have bee
explored only by their natural inhabitant
generation after generation has stood, b
: lived, has warred, grown old, and passe
d away; and not only their names, but the
n nation, their language, has persisted. al
utter oblivion has closed over their one
4 pop6lous abOdes. Who shall unravel to
!, e the magnificent ruins of Mexico, Yueala
70 and Bolivia, over which hangs the sublime
III mystery, and which seem to have been a
e tiquisies IN the day Of Pharaoh Who We
y :" the builders Of those gorgeous temples, Of
:. lisks, and palaces, now the ruins Of pO
erful and highly cultivated people, who
be national existence was probably before Il
Of Tbebss OF Rome, Carthage or Athel
Alaal thsre is none TO tell the tale; ell
be leoniecture, and our best information c,
ed lcerning them is derived Only FROM uncelu
" analogy.
). How forcihly do these wonderful FsVO
= tious, which o7erturn he maslerWorks
- - 81, l;...a,s Ne l,o.stc1 l,,n