Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1863-10-23
BABYLON.


picture of the desolation that surrounds and en-
shrouds the once mighty Baby lonian empire:
ain the distance, high above the plain, loomed
great mound of earth. On both sides of us
lay what looked like long parallel ranges of hills
These lines are pronounced TO be the remains of
those canals that once conducted the waters of
the Euphrates over the length and breadth of
the ancient Babylonia What mighty canals
must they have been, that still showed under
the roll of centuries such substantial traces
Now not SO much as drop of water; no. not
even drop of heavens pearly dew, ever gls-
tens, where once ships must have navigated.-
These mighty banks that carried fertility to ev-
cry corner of the ancient kingdom are now mere
useless sightless mounds.
"No morning mist moistening the thirsty
earth ever hangs over them. No rain cloud
ever shadow them, temperng the rays of a
fierce daily returning sun. The end of her that
dwelt upon many waters, has been brought
about only too surely. The awful prophecies
had been fulfilled, and desolaton, in all its ma
kedness, in all its dreariness, was around u.s.
After riding some two hours we arrived at the
foot of the great mound that we had seen in the
morning. We dismounted and scrambled to the
top, for we had even arrived at the ruins of Bah
ylon; and this great mound of earth that we
were on, was the grave of the golden city.
IL believe from the summit, raising some hun
dred feet above the plain, the walls of the an
cient city may be traced. But hot wind driv-
ing burning sand and the impalpabe dust of
ages into the pores of our skin, made every eff
fort to open an eye so terribly painful, that we
gave up the idea in despair of either tracing
walls, or indeed, of looking about us much any
where
remember seeing, away to the west, lines of
willows, and silver thread winding away into
the distance; and nearer, some unsightly bare
mounds, looking as if volcanic fire had been at
work underneath the smooth surface Of the plain,
and had thrown these mounds up in the spirit
of pure mischief That silver thread was our
first glimpse of the waters of the Euphrates,
and the mounds, all that remained of the once
beautiful hanging gardens of Babylon at least
so the conjecture of men of research have ac-
counted for them. But so completely have the
prophecies been fulfilled-so completely has
the name and the remnant been cut off of all
pertaining TO the once mighty city, that even
the great hill on which we were standing is on
ly by conjecture supposed TO be the ruin of
some great building or royal palace that stood
within the walls-possibly the palace of Semir-
amis.
We descended from the great mound, and
made for those lesser mounds which are suppos-
ed to be the site of the hanging gardens of Nj
tocris and Semramis. In one spot--the only
thing we saw in the shape of building in a
Sldte ol IulH-WdS u HldSb Ol NliTlHeu DflCK
work, piercing the old soil and debris of centu-
ries, angle upward.
The brick were square, flarge size, and beau
tiful make; the angles of some clear and sharp,
as if the brick had but left the kiln yesterday,
instead of nearly twice two thousand years ago
Turning into little hollow way between the
mounds, we came suddenly upon the colossal
stone lion. Time with his leaden hand had
knocked away all the sharp angles of the statue.
The features of the lion are completely obliter-
ated, are also those of the PROSTATE form that
lies so helpless, so utterly and wholly human
beneath the upraised paw Of the king of beasts
The group presents itself TO the eve, owing to
the wear Of old Time, much in the appearance
of those vast blocks of Darrar marble which
the bold chisel of Michael Angelo struck
into, and then at the point that the shapeless
marble had begun to assume the merest abozzo'
of the great sculptors idea the block was sud-
denly abandoned and left as a wonder and a
puzzle TO future ages, so does this group of the
lion and the man now bear an unfinished, un-
wrought appearance, but you cannot look at it a
moment and not instantly avow the majesty
aud grandeur of the idea that once lay there so
nightly embodied. This dark -colored colos-
sal statue, which may once have stood under
the gorgeous roof of temple, and before which
the queenly Semiramis, proud and supremely
beautiful, may once have bowed, stands now
canoped by the grandest of all canopies certan-
ly-hgh heaven-but never noticed but by the
desert wind that swept moaning over it, and the
jackals that yelp around, as they hold high revel
over the bones of some camel which has been
good enough to die in that vicinity.