Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1858-08-31
From Emerson's Magazine.
The City Of the Great King.
CContinned from last .eeek. ]

| JoSephuS gives graphic description or
t the temples and palaces Of Solomon, much
more minute than Is TO be found In the
histories includ ed IN the Scriptures. He
says, " Among them was a most glorious
dining room, for feastings and compota-
tions, and full of gold and such other fur
niture as so fine a room ought to have for
/ the conveniency of the guests aud when
/ all the vessels were made of gold. Now
/ it is very hard to reckon up the magni-
tude and variety Of the royal apartments
how many rooms there were of the larg-
est sort, how many of a bigness inferior
to those, and how many that were subter-
raneous and invisible the curiosoty of
those that enjoyed the fresh air and the
groves for the most delightful prospect.
| for the avoiding the heat and covering of
their bodies. And, to say all in brief,
Solomon made the whole building entire
ly Of white stone and cedar wood, and
gold and silver"
Like those other ancient cities, the
fountains reservoirs. and general water
/ works of Jerusalem have fallen from their
palmy days of splendor, into ruinous de-
cay: but enough is still left to indicate
their completeness and beauty in the days
of their prosperity. The Scriptures al
lude TO those of Solomon, and tradition
has preserved the memory Of his Sea OF
Glass by "conre temps" of the Queen
Of Sheba, who, when she approached the
fountain and saw lis clearness, not know
ing that it flowed under a covering of
glass, supposed she was to wade through
it, and raised her royal robe, thereby ex-
posing her ankles TO the byslanders; at
which Solomon in courly wise prompted
her, saying, Behold II is the Sea of
GLASS; and stepped therein. This is
sometimes called the Molten Sea-which
stood in the Court Of the Priests, mounted
upon twelve brazen oxen an immense
receptacle, about fifteen feet broad and
seven and half IN depth its contents
were at least two hundred barrels and its
capacity is even rated by some authors rs
+ high as three hundred hogsheads. And
/ the basin in which this great receptacle
stood IS supposed to have contained half
/ this amount. The ten LAYERS probably
contained about seven barrels each.
The Temple Of Solomon and OF Herod
has been razed, yet it subslructures still,
and not Obscurely, shadow forth its great
/ ness. The cedar roofs Of a hundred pal
aces blazing with gold are no more; but
the ample and welI-contrived reservoirs
which those palaces bestrode, suII exist,
and stIil subserye their purpose. The ter
raced gardens, the 8 paradlseS of the
Is4.,e .,.A ..eI.l...f -Ie,-,,ra lcrr1, have long
been desolated but even now around the
slopes Of the hills may be traced, mile af-
ter mile, the aqueducts whence these gar
dens drew perpetual verdure, and which
then poured their superlluous streams in
to the deep bosom OF Morah,
The ceremonial of the Jewish religion
demanded frequent and ample atiGtions
The blood flowing from their many sacri-
fees required the use cf an abundant sup
ply Of water TO preserve that purity of ap-
pearauce and sweetness of atmosphere
which entered SO largely into The econo-
my of the great LaWgIver Moses. The
Mohammedan is not left scrupulous, and
hence some of the old pools and fountains
retain something of their former splendor.
The Saracenlc Fountain is not far from
the old foundations Of the Temple. Al
most every house Of the better class IN the
modern Jerusalem J has its capacious tank,
occupving the basement, and which, col
lecting The water OF the rainy season from
It's courts and roofs, furnishes an ample
supply during the months of drought
( Whether there be indeed any natural
spring of deep water seated within the
Ten pie enclosure, and the waste of which
runs off at Sioam. cannot perhaps at
present be certainly determined it is
question which, with many others Of the
same kind, must await the time when the
Holy Civ comes under the sway of some
civilized government. Tacitus Hist. v
+ u, } describes the Temple, with It's porti-
Goes, as a fortress and such, IN fact, il
was. well fitted to sustain the frequent
sieges to which it was liable. A fountain
of perennial water, mountains followed
out underneath, also fish pools and cist-
erus-ran water being preserved. There
are frequent allusions In JOsephus and
other writers 70 deep seated aqueducis,
within and without the city. The cele-
brated Aristeas was sent by Ptolmey
PhiIadeIphus on q special mission to Ellie
zur, High Prizes of the Jews, rather more
than Two and a half centuries before
Christ, for the purpose Of securing an au-
thentic and authorized version Of the He
brew Scriptures into Greek-the Septua-
gint. Aristeas, III writing his brother an
account of his visit TO the Holy City,
speaks thus of It's water resources and ap-
pliances: "A powerful natural spring is
received into subterranean reservoirs. the
extent of which is surprising and beyond
description, to the circumference Of five
stadia about the Temple. They are con-
nected by numberless pipes, through
which the waters flow from one to anoth-
er. There are above frequent hidden
appetures to these depths, known only 10
those employed at the sacrifices, through
which the water, gushing out with force,
washes off all the blood Of the numerous
: victims" Ii is stated as a fact, that while
Julian was attempting the re-edifcation
of the Temple, about A. d. 362, on re-
moving a certain foundation stone, the en-
trance TO c rocl-hewn cavern was dis