The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1871-11-10

OF the various wonders of Babylon, the
product OF the labors of It's engineers or
architects, we have no leisure TO speak,
vet the chief pride of the impulsive pop
ulation was its impregnahle walls, Nature
had left the city easy of ACCESS on every
side The ingenuity Of man had covered
il with Notifications The Bahylonians
moc1ed at the futile efforts Of their foes,
A deep moat surrounded the city. Walls
more than three hundred feet high COW
cred each of the sides, They were
soventy-five feet wide, formed of un-
burned brick houses were built ON the
spacious top vet between them ran n
street 50 wide that q chariot Of four
horses might drive or turn upon il nj
WILL An inner wall of not inferior
strength provided new defense. Mas
sive gates OF ronEe secured every open
ing. The city was more impregnahle 10
ancient tactics than the finest work of
Vanban 10 his contempories-than the
lledoahts OF Paris 10 modern cannon.
Twice only was Babylon taken once by
surprise, and once by treaehery. Nor
was any ancient engineer ever able to
: dry IDS enormous ditch, 10 sap its gigan-
/ tic walls, taller than most European
spires, te crush in its solid gates, or
\ penetrate its exterior deEenSes The
mighty fortress ruled for centuries over
the plains Of the Enphates and the
/ Ilgris the fame of its strength filed
/ the world it was celebrated ia the an
mails of Greece and the chronicles Of the
Middle Ages aud in the faneiful days of
chiyahy andof harharism every nightly
[ castle seems To have been mo,teled upon
I tho plan az the ASsyrian stronghold, and
possessed ON an insignificant scale Its
/ ditch, its double walls, its interior keep,
and It's protecting towers,
Vet compared with the enormous
Stone,work oi Egypt or the Cyclopean
fortress OF Myoen@, Babylon seems 10
have been singalarS fragile II was a
mass OF Sun-dried bricks, Clay bound
together hy chopped straw and asphalt
tum, was almost the sole material employ
I eCiby its architects. Palaces and temples,
It's lofty houses and its towering walls,
were all composed Of erUmhling earth ;
and when al length decay settled upon
the mighty capital. and its deserted
/ buildings were abandoned 10 the ravages
OF time, il melted away like a baSeless
vision, and faded into II heap of dust.
Except hill Of broken bricks, no trace
remains of the tower of Belus. The
Enphmtes has broken its neglected EN-
hankments, and converted the site OF
Babylon into desolate marsh. Wild
beasts make their dens in the crevices Of
/ tbs pile OF ruins. Bats and owls cling 10
\ the arid caverns. The fair plains Of
y Babylonia, once clad in boundleSs har-
vests of Mesopotamian wheat, rich with
endless groves OF palm, are sown alone
with brambles. The canals, the broad
highways, and the spacious inns are
gone. The gifted Semitic race, who
I wrought the lowered muslins, and cut
the praci0ns gems of Babylon, are min
gled with the dust All i solitude. The
scoFniHl Elphrhtes. sweeps at viii over
the fields il was once condemned 10 fer
7 tilize, and mocks at the faded glorieS of
I Cyrus or SaIniranis, of Darius and Alex
aHfier, so low has Babylon fallen
Its renown was altogether material mo
poets, historians, musicians, artists,
4 spnang up amidst Its crowded throngs.
! "A single Burns or Babylonian Pindar
might have saved it from contempt aud
bat for the pen Of cultivated GreeE its
mighty towers and its gigantic walls
would have risen and sunk undistinguish-
ed upon the ASsyrian plain T; but for the
cry of Hebrew prophecy the name Of
Babylon would never have become the
! symbol of civic corruption, or its fate
the lesson of all ages.