quity, the found an additional and neverfailing spring of overflowing treasure. I have already, in the preceding Differtation, given a very ample account of their abundant produce in the times of the Phoenicians trading thither; but, when they ceased to be fo abundantly productive of ore, it is impoffible to ascertain. I need only add to that account, that, in the time of Strabo, the Romans kept forty thousand men conftantly employed in those mines; and that they produced to them twenty-five thousand drachmas a day.* Full credit, therefore, may be given to the teftimonies which the records of all nations bear to the profufion of gold and gems worn by the inhabitants, and displayed in the temples and palaces, of Tyre. Of her astonishing wealth, and the rich species of manufactures in which fhe dealt, no more impreffive evidence from profane authors need be adduced than the fplendid donation fent by her to the temple of the Tyrian Hercules at Gades, and mentioned in the preceding pages; the golden belt of Teucer, and the golden olive of Pygmalion, exquifitely wrought, bearing Smarag

*Strabo, lib. vi. p. 379.

dine fruit; that is, berries of emerald, representing olives in the utmost perfection. This testimony of Apollonius, in Philoftratus, who vifited the temple of Gades, in the first century of the Christian æra, added to that of Herodotus, previously cited, concerning the dazzling ornaments of her own principal temple, seen by that historian many centuries before, the two lofty pillars of gold and emerald, which illuminated the whole dome by their reflected fplendor, are fully confirmed by the decided voice of Scripture itself; not only in respect to their elegant work in gold and ivory in the palaces of Solomon and the temple of Jerufalem, but more particularly and minutely in the following animated apoftrophe, which is too intimately connected with many of the subjects difcuffed in this volume, and exhibits too interesting a detail of the splendor of an ancient commercial metropolis to be omitted; for, in truth, it was the gold of Ophir and the filver of Spain that formed the basis of all her magnificence.

"O Tyre," exclaims the prophet, "thou haft said in thyself, I am a city of perfect beauty. Thy neighbours, who built thee, have forgot nothing to embellish thee. They have VOL. VI. G g made

made the hull and the diverfe ftories of thy ships of the fir-trees of Senir. They have taken a cedar from Lebanon, to make thee a mast. They have polished the oaks of Bashan, to make thine oars. They have employed the ivory of the Indies, to make benches for thy rowers; and that which comes from Italy, to make thy chambers. Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou fpreadeft forth to be thy fail. Hyacinth and purple, from the ifles of Elifhah, have made thy flag. The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers; and thy wife men, O Tyre, became thy pilots. All the ships of the fea, and all their mariners, occupied thy commerce and thy merchandise. The Carthaginians trafficked with thee, and filled thy fairs with filver, with TIN, and LEAD. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, were also thy merchants, and brought to thy people flaves and vessels of brafs. They of Togormah traded in thy fairs with horfes and mules. The children of Dedan trafficked with thee. Thy commerce extended to many islands, and they gave thee, in exchange for thy merchandises, magnificent carpets, ivory, and ebony. The Syrians were thy merchants, because of the multitude of

thy

thy works: they expofed to fale in thy fairs pearls, and purple, embroidered works of byffus, filk, and all forts of precious merchandise. The people of Judah and of Ifrael were also thy merchants, they traded in thy markets pure wheat and balm, honey, oil, and rofin. Damafcus, in exchange for thy wares, fo varied and fo different, brought thee great riches, excellent wine, and wool of a lively and shining colour. Dan, Greece, and Mofel, traded in thy markets, iron works, and myrrh, and calamus. Arabia, and the princes of Kedar, were also thy merchants; they brought thee their lambs, and rams, and goats. Shebah and Ramah came alfo to traffic with thee; they traded in thy markets the most exquisite perfumes, precious ftones, and gold. Thine were the most remarkable of all the ships of the sea. Thy rowers conducted thee upon the great waters. Thou hast been loaded with riches and glory: never any city was like thee. Thy commerce enriched the nations, and the kings of the earth."*

It should here be obferved, that the prophet Ezekiel, to whom we are indebted for this

Ezekiel, chap. xxvii. and xxviii.

G g 2

valuable

valuable picture of the grandeur of the Phonician metropolis, flourished nearly 600 years before Chrift, when Tyre was in the zenith of that glory, which shortly after bowed its head before the monarch of Affyria. To Affyria, therefore, and principally to Babylon, the mighty capital of the greatest empire the fun ever beheld, it is now neceffary that I should direct the attention of the reader during our farther investigation of the curious subject before us, the treasures of gold and filver bullion amaffed in the ancient world.

Affyria had no gold or filver mines of her own; but, being the central region of that part of Afia in which commerce ever most vigorously flourished, fhe abforbed, as in a vast vortex, the wealth in this article, in which fhe so super-eminently abounded. We are aftonished, in the infancy of mankind, and in the dawn of science, to find works executed at once so costly and so ftupendous. Those, fabricated in the precious metals alluded to, alone form the object of our present inquiry; and here, in the great temple of Belus, built by Semiramis, we find three prodigious ftatues, not of cast, for they are expreffly said to have been of beaten, gold, representing Jupiter,

the