great Theban dynasties.

* [R.V., "Ashkolon is brought to nought, the remnant of
their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?"--Tr.]

** Jer. xlvii., which is usually attributed to a period
subsequent to the defeat at Carchemish or even later; the
title, which alone mentions the Egyptians, is wanting in the
LXX. If we admit that the enemy coming from the north is the
Egyptian and not the Chaldaean, as do most writers, the only
time that danger could have threatened Philistia from the
Egyptians coming from the north, was when Necho, victorious,
was returning from his first campaign. In this case, the
Kadytis of Herodotus, which has caused so much trouble to
commentators, would certainly be Gaza, and there would be no
difficulty in explaining how the tradition preserved by the
Greek historian placed the taking of this town after the
battle of Megiddo.

He wished thereupon to perpetuate the memory of the Greeks who had
served him so bravely, and as soon as the division of the spoil had been
made, he sent as an offering to the temple of Apollo at Miletus, the
cuirass which he had worn throughout the campaign.

We can picture the reception which his subjects gave him, and how the
deputations of priests and nobles in white robes flocked out to meet him
with garlands of flowers in their hands, and with acclamations similar
to those which of old had heralded the return of Seti I. or Ramses II.
National pride, no doubt, was flattered by this revival of military
glory, but other motives than those of vanity lay at the root of the
delight exhibited by the whole country at the news of the success of the
expedition. The history of the century which was drawing to its close,
had demonstrated more than once how disadvantageous it was to Egypt to
be separated from a great power merely by the breadth of the isthmus.
If Taharqa, instead of awaiting the attack on the banks of the Nile, had
met the Assyrians at the foot of Carmel, or even before Gaza, it would
have been impossible for Esarhaddon to turn the glorious kingdom of the
Pharaohs into an Assyrian province after merely a few weeks of fighting.
The dictates of prudence, more than those of ambition, rendered,
therefore, the conquest of Syria a necessity, and Necho showed his
wisdom in undertaking it at the moment when the downfall of Nineveh
reduced all risk of opposition to a minimum; it remained to be