Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1871-11-09
The Downfall of Babylon.

OF the various wonders of Babylon, the
product of the labors of its engineers or
architects, we have no leisure to speak,
yet the chief pride of the impulsiye pop
ulation was itsimpregnable wills. Nature
had left the city easy of access on every
side the ingenuity Of man had covered
it with Notifications, The Bahylomons
Knocked Mt the futile efforts of their foes.
A deep moat surrounded the city. Walls
more than three hundred feet high coy
cred each of the sides. They were
scventy-five feet wide, formed Of I'M
burned brick houses were built on the
spacious top: yet between them ran q
street so wide that chariot Of four
horses might drive or turn upon it ut
will. An inner wall of not inferior
strength provided q new defense. Mas
sive gates of lronze secured every open
ing. The city was more impregnable to
ancient tactics than the finest work OF
Vaubnn to his contempores-than the
redoubts of Paris to modern cannon
Twice only was Babylon taken once by
surprise, and once by treachery. Nor
was any ancient engineer ever able to
dry its enormous ditch, to sap its glgan-
tic walls, taller than most European
spires, to crush in its solid gates, OF
penetrate its exterior deienses. The
mighty fortress ruled for centuries oven
the plains of the Euphrates and the
Tiglis the fame Of its strength filled
the world it was celebrated in the an
nails of Greece and the chronicles Of the
Middle Ages and in the fancifll days OF
chivalry and of barbarism every nightly
castle seems to have been modelled upon
tho plan of the Assyrian stronghold, and
possessed on an insignificant scale lt'
ditch, its double walls, its interior keep
and its protecting towers,
Yet, compared with the enormous
stone-work of Egypt Or the Cyclopear
fortress of Mycone, Babylon seems t.
have been singul0rly fragile 1t was {
mass Of sun-dlied bricks Clay boun,
together Ivy chopped straw and asphal
tum, was almost the sole material employ
ed by its architects. Palaces and temples
its lofty houses and its towering walls
were all composed of crumblmg earth
and when at length decay settled upol
the mighty capital, and its deserted
buildings were abandoned to the ravage
of time, it melted away like baselcs
vision, and faded into heap OF dust
Except hill of broken bricks, no tIac
remains of the tower of Belus. Th
Euphrates has broken lis neglected EN-
bankments, and converted the site O
Babylon into n desolate marsh. VIII
beasts make their dens i'll the crevices O
the pile OF ruins. Batsa and owls cling t
the arid cayems. The fair plains {
| Babylona, once clad in boundlcSs hal
vests of Mesopotamian wheat, rich wit
endless groves of palm, are sown aIon
: with brambles. The canals, the broa
9 highways, and the spacious inns III
gone The gifted Semitic race, VIII
wrought the lowered muslins, and c,
the precious gems Of Babylon, are min
3 gled with the dust. All is solitude, III
scoruful Euphrates sweeps at will ov'
, the fields it was once condemned to te
l tilize and mocks at the faded glorics (
Cyrus or Snmiramis, of Darius and Ale
n ander. 50 low has Babylon fallen !
D It's renown was altogether material n
4 poets, historians, musicians, artist
y sprang up amidst its crowded throng
, 4 single Burns or Babylonian Pind'
d might have saved it from contempt an
y but for the pen Of a cultivated GrecF j
mighty towers and its gigantic wal
@ would have risen and sunk undist;nguisI
{ ed upon the Assyrian plain but for Il
I cry of Hebrew prophecy the name
E Babylon would never have become Il
: syAbol OF civic corruption, or its ia
e the lesson OF all ages.