on much nearer to the
country of gold and pearls. This alternative of a route
either by the Red Sea or by the river Euphrates was to the
ancients, what in later times has been the alternative in a
voyage to the Indies, either by crossing the isthmus of Suez
or doubling the cape of Good Hope. It appears that till the
time of Moses, this trade was carried on across the desert
of Syria and Thebais; that afterwards it fell into the hands
of the Phoenicians, who fixed its site upon the Red Sea; and
that it was mutual jealousy that induced the kings of
Nineveh and Babylon to undertake the destruction of Tyre and
Jerusalem. I insist the more upon these facts, because I
have never seen any thing reasonable upon the subject.

**** It appears that Babylon occupied on the eastern banks
of the Euphrates a space of ground six leagues in length.
Throughout this space bricks are found by means of which
daily additions are made to the town of Helle. Upon many of
these are characters written with a nail similar to those of
Persepolis. I am indebted for these facts to M. de
Beauchamp, grand vicar of Babylon, a traveller equally
distinguished for his knowledge of astronomy and for his
veracity.

CHAPTER V.

CONDITION OF MAN IN THE UNIVERSE.

The Genius, after some moments of silence, resumed in these words:

I have told thee already, O friend of truth! that man vainly ascribes
his misfortunes to obscure and imaginary agents; in vain he seeks as the
source of his evils mysterious and remote causes. In the general order
of the universe his condition is, doubtless, subject to inconveniences,
and his existence governed by superior powers; but those powers are
neither the decrees of a blind fatality, nor the caprices of whimsical
and fantastic beings. Like the world of which he forms a part, man is
governed by natural laws, regular in their course, uniform in their
effects, immutable in their essence; and those laws,--the common source
of good and evil,--are not written among the distant stars, nor hidden
in codes of mystery; inherent in the nature of terrestrial beings,
interwoven with their existence, at all times and in all places,
they are present to man; they act upon his senses, they warn his
understanding, and give to every action its reward or punishment. Let
man then know these laws! let him comprehend the nature