In his Bacchæ he affirms that valour is a divine gift, and in his Suppliants, that it brings nothing to mortals, unless it have the aid of the Gods; sentiments which bear a general resemblance to the pious declarations of the sacred writers *.

• Psalm ii, and 1 Maccab. See other passages in Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. iv. c. 212. p. 588.

VOL. II.

CHAP. XII.

Herodotus.

HERODOTUS, who was born in the first year of the 74th Olympiad, 484 years before Christ, may be regarded as the father of Pagan history, he affords the earliest, and in general, the most authentic accounts of the Assyrian, Egyptian, and Grecian, nations. He was a native of Halicarnassus, from which city, when under the oppression of Lygdamus, he retired to Samos; and afterwards accompanied a colony of Athenians to Thurium, where he is stated by Pliny to have written his history: he is said to have recited it to the nations of Greece, when assembled at the Olympic games, and to have died at Thurium.

Herodotus is reported also to have travelled into Syria and Egypt*, and he appears to have collected information with

• Plin. lib. xii. c. 4. Lucian in Herod, t. i. p. 571.

great industry. If he received some erroneous accounts upon the credit of the Egyptian priests, he gives them with frequent intimation of doubt. He does not mention or borrow from the Hebrew writings, though in many places he confirms the history contained in them. In some instances relating to the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, and particularly to Cyrus, his statements are not so consistent with Sacred History as those of Xenophon, who seems silently to have corrected the errors of his predecessor. He represents, however, the Persian conqueror as acting under the impression that he was something more than man, born with a divine fortune, enlightened by visions and by some deity to foresee events, being destined to be an instrument in the hands of Providence *.

The opportunities which Herodotus enjoyed in his travels, and the industry which he exerted, might naturally lead us to look for information from him as to particulars connected with the history of the Jews, and

the progress of Revelation.

&c.

Lib. i. c. 126. 204. 209, 210. Edit. Wesseling, p. 63,

Herodotus has been thought to speak of Jerusalem under the name of Cadytis, he describes it as little inferior to Sardis *. There are some circumstances in his account which might lead us to suppose that he spoke of a maritime city. In mentioning, however, the victory which Necho obtained over the Syrians at Magdolum, and which probably was the battle in which Josiah was killed, he states Cadytis to have fallen into the possession of the victor†.

Herodotus does not appear to have directed his attention particularly to the Jewish people, and his statements have been sometimes supposed to differ from those of Scripture.

In enumerating the various nations who contributed their forces to the expedition of Xerxes, he mentions that the Phoenicians, in conjunction with the Syrians of Palestine, provided three bundred triremes; and he states that this latter people, by their own

RP a Syriac word from wp holy, which Hales (vol. i. p. 426.) says, is inscribed on Jewish shekels, thus non, Jerusalem the holy. Herod. lib. iii. c. 5. p. 161. Edit. Gron. Isaiah xl. 2. Dan. ix. 24. Neh. xi. 1. and Matt. iv. 5.

↑ Lib. ii. c. 159. with 2 Kings xxiii. 29—34.

report, once inhabited the coasts of the Red Sea, and thence migrated to the maritime parts of Syria, all which country, and even to Egypt, was, according to the historian, called Palestine *. Cumberland un

derstands this account to relate to the elder Phoenicians or Canaanites, others are of opinion that the passage referred to, incidentally confirms the relation of the sojourning of the Israelites in the wilderness. The assertion of the Historian that the inhabitants of Palestine professed to have borrowed circumcision from the Egyptians, is, as Grotius has observed, in direct opposition to what they affirm +.

The Egyptian calculations which he mentions, are not only inconsistent with the sacred chronology, but so utterly extrava

* Lib. vii. c. 89. lib. Sanchoniath. p. 375.

The following passage from the preface of Larcher, deserves attention: "Enfin intiment convaincu de toutes les " vérités qu'enseigne la Réligion Chretienne, j'ai retranché, " ou réformé toutes les notes qui pouvoient la blesser. On "avoit tiré des unes des conséquences que j'improuve, et

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qui sont loin de ma pensée. D'autres renfermoient des "choses, je dois l'avouer avec franchise, et pour l'acquit de "ma conscience, qu'un plus mur examen, et des recherches "plus approfondées, mont démontré reposer sur de trop le"géres fondemens, ou être absolument fausses." Histoire D'Herodote. Paris, 1802.

Lib. ii. c. 104.