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THE

JUVENILE COMPANION.

LESSON FIRST.

The Walls of Babylon.

These walls were built of large bricks, cemented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime arising out of the earth of that country, which binds in buildings much stronger and firmer than lime, and soon grows much harder than the bricks or stones which it cements together. They were of a square form, each side of which was fifteen miles. Their breadth was eighty-seven feet, and their height three hundred and fifty.

The walls were surrounded on the outside with a vast ditch, full of water, and lined with bricks on both sides. The earth that was dug out of it, made the bricks wherewith the walls were built; and therefore, from the vast height and breadth of the walls, may be inferred the greatness of the ditch.

On every side of this great square were twentyfive gates, that is, a hundred in all. These gates were made of solid brass. Hence it is, that when the Supreme Being promised to Cyrus the conquest of Babylon, he tells him, "That he would break in pieces before him the gates of brass."

Between every two of the gates were three towers, and four more at the four corners of this great square, and three between each of these corners and the next gate on either side. Every one of these towers was ten feet higher than the walls. But this is to be un

derstood only of those parts of the wall where there was need of towers.

From these twenty-five gates, on each side of this great square, went twenty-five streets, in straight lines to the gates, which were directly opposite to them on the other side; so that the number of streets was fifty, each fifteen miles long, whereof twenty-five went one way, and twenty-five the other, crossing each other at right angles.

And besides these, there were four half streets, which had houses only on one side, and the wall on the other. These went round the four sides of the city next the walls, and were each of them two hundred feet broad. The rest were about one hundred and fifty. By these streets thus crossing each other, the whole city was divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of them four furlongs and a half on every side, that is, two miles and a quarter in circumference.

Round these squares, on every side, towards the streets, stood the houses, which were not contiguous, but had void spaces between them. They were built three or four stories high, and beautified with all manner of ornament towards the streets. The space within, in the middle of each square, was employed for yards, gardens, and other such uses; so that Babylon was greater in appearance than reality, near one half of the city being taken up in gardens and other cultivated lands.

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LESSON SECOND.

The Temple of Belus.

Another of the great works of Babylon was the temple of Belus, which was most remarkable for a prodigious tower that stood in the middle of it. At the foundation, it was a square, of a furlong on

each side; and, according to Strabo, it was a furlong in height. It consisted of eight towers, built one above the other; and, because it decreased gradually to the top, Strabo calls the whole a pyramid.

It is not only asserted, but proved, that this tower much exceeded the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt in height. Therefore, we have very good reason to believe, that it was the very same tower which was built there at the confusion of languages; and the rather, because it is attested by several profane authors, that this tower was all built of bricks and bitumen, as the scriptures tell us the tower of Babel was.

The ascent to the top was by stairs, on the outside, round it: that is, there was an easy sloping ascent on the side of the outer wall, which, turning, by very slow degrees, in a spiral line, eight times round the tower, from the bottom to the top, had the same appearance as if there had been eight towers placed upon one another In these different stories were many large rooms, with arched roofs supported by pillars. Over the whole, on the top of the tower, was an observatory, by the benefit of which, the Babylonians became more expert in astronomy than all other nations.

But the chief use to which this tower was designed, was for the worship of the god Belus, or Baal, as also that of several other deities; for which reason, there was a multitude of chapels in the different parts of the tower. The riches of this temple, in statues, tables, censers, cups, and other sacred vessels, all of massy gold, were immense. Among other images, there was one forty feet high, and weighed a thousand talents.

This amazing fabric stood till the time of Xerxes; but he, on his return from his Grecian expedition, entirely demolished it, after having first plundered it of all its riches. Alexander, on his return to Babylon

from his Indian expedition, intended to have rebuilt it; and, with this view, employed ten thousand men, to clear the place of its rubbish; but the death of Alexander, about two months after, put an end to the undertaking.

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LESSON THIRD.

The Retrospect of Life.

Riches, chance may take or give;
Beauty lives a day, and dies;
Honor lulls us while we live;
Mirth's a cheat, and pleasure flies.

Is there nothing worth our care?
Time, and chance, and death our foes;
If our joys so fleeting are,

Are we only tied to woes?

Let bright virtue answer, no;
Her eternal powers prevail,
When honors, riches cease to flow,
And beauty, mirth, and pleasure fail.

LESSON FOURTH.

Alexander and his Horse.

From his earliest years, Alexander discovered an ardor of mind, an elevation of genius, and solidity of judgment, which few ever equaled. When he was

yet very young, he used often to say, on hearing of his father's victories, that his father would win all the victories, and leave nothing for him to do, when he should become a man.

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