man of the same name, and _Babylon_ by _Semiramis_; whereas either _Nimrod_
or _Assur_ founded those and other cities, without giving his own name to
any of them: he makes the _Assyrian_ Empire continue about 1360 years,
whereas _Herodotus_ tells us that it lasted only 500 years, and the numbers
of _Herodotus_ concerning those ancient times are all of them too long: he
makes _Nineveh_ destroyed by the _Medes_ and _Babylonians_, three hundred
years before the Reign of _Astibares_ and _Nebuchadnezzar_ who destroyed
it, and sets down the names of seven or eight feigned Kings of _Media_,
between the destruction of _Nineveh_ and the Reigns of _Astibares_ and
_Nebuchadnezzar_, as if the Empire of the _Medes_, erected upon the ruins
of the _Assyrian_ Empire, had lasted 300 years, whereas it lasted but 72:
and the true Empire of the _Assyrians_ described in Scripture, whose Kings
were _Pul_, _Tiglath-pilesar_, _Shalmaneser_, _Sennacherib_, _Asserhadon_,
&c. he mentions not, tho' much nearer to his own times; which shews that he
was ignorant of the antiquities of the _Assyrians_. Yet something of truth
there is in the bottom of some of his stories, as there uses to be in
Romances; as, that _Nineveh_ was destroyed by the _Medes_ and
_Babylonians_; that _Sardanapalus_ was the last King of the _Assyrian_
Empire; and that _Astibares_ and _Astyages_ were Kings of the _Medes_: but
he has made all things too ancient, and out of vainglory taken too great a
liberty in feigning names and stories to please his reader.

When the _Jews_ were newly returned from the _Babylonian_ captivity, they
confessed their Sins in this manner, _Now therefore our God, ---- let not
all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our
Kings, on our Princes, and on our Priests, and on our Prophets, and on our
fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the Kings of _Assyria_,
unto this day_; _Nehem._ ix. 32. that is, since the time of the Kingdom of
_Assyria_, or since the rise of that Empire; and therefore the _Assyrian_
Empire arose when the Kings of _Assyria_ began to afflict the inhabitants
of _Palestine_; which was in the days of _Pul_: he and his successors
afflicted _Israel_, and conquered the nations round about them; and upon
the ruin of many small and ancient Kingdoms erected their Empire,
conquering the _Medes_ as well as other nations: but of these conquests
_Ctesias_ knew not a word, no not so much as the names of the conquer