tus the only author of antiquity among those whose works have come down to us, who believed that Africa had been sailed round; for Pliny believed that it had been achieved by Hanno, Eudoxus, and others; but he is silent concerning the voyage of Necho, while Herodotus is silent about Hanno's voyage. Hence it may be suspected, that as this navigation was made much about the same time with that of Hanno, Pliny may have confounded them together, referring the actions of the Egyptian to the Carthaginian.* 3. The testimony of Herodotus is ably supported by Dean Vincent (the author who makes the foregoing objections) himself. It must be confessed, says he, that the facts Herodotus gives us of this voyage, though few, are consistent. The shadow falling to the south, the delay of stopping (about three months only) to sow grain and reap a harvest, and the space of three years employed in the circumnavigation, joined with the simplicity of the narrative, are all points so strong and convincing, that if they be insisted on by those who believe the possibility of effecting the passage by the ancients, no arguments to the contrary, however founded upon a different opinion, can leave the mind without a doubt upon the question.'

After this, Herodotus observes, the king betook himself to military exploits, and it is most interesting to find, that the military exploit which he proceeds to mention is no other than that very transaction which is recorded in Scripture in these words: "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away;

* This opinion of Dr. Hales does not appear to be well grounded; for though he states, that the expeditions were made "much about the same time," there was more than 150 years difference. Notwithstanding, Pliny may have confounded these expeditions, for we often find, in ancient writers, actions recorded at one period, which took place in ages remote from that period.

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for 1 am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers," 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24.

The words of Herodotus are: Necho invading the Syrians, overthrew them at Magdolus, and then took Cadytis, a great city in Syria. This Cadytis he afterwards mentions as a city of the Syrian Palestine, which he conjectured was little inferior in size to Sardis. That Magdolus is Megiddo, where Necho overthrew Josiah, and Cadytis, Jerusalem, is very generally agreed. This event may be dated 608 years B. C.

Nekus, animated by this victory, continued his march, and advanced towards the Euphrates. He defeated the Babylonians; took Carchemish, a large city in that country, and securing to himself the possession of it by a strong garrison, returned to his own kingdom, after having been absent three months.

Being informed in his march homeward, that Jehoahaz had caused himself to be proclaimed king of Jerusalem, without asking his consent, and considering this neglect as a token of hostile feeling, he was highly incensed, and resolved on punishing his insolence. With this view, he ordered Jehoahaz to meet him at Riblah, and he had no sooner arrived there than Nekus commanded that he should be put in chains, and sent down to Egypt, where he died. From thence pursuing his march, Nekus came to Jerusalem, where he placed Jehoiakim, another of the sons of Josiah, upon the throne, in the room of his brother; and imposed an annual tribute on the land "of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold," or about 40,4351. sterling, 2 Kings xxiii. 33-35. This being done, he returned in triumph to Egypt.

In the fourth year after this expedition, Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, observing that since the taking of Carchemish by Nekus, all Syria and Palestine had shaken off their allegiance to him, and that his years and infirmities would not permit him to march in person against the rebels, associated his son Nebuchadnezzar with him in the empire. This young prince (B. C. 604) took a severe revenge upon Nekus. He invaded Egypt, and stripped him of all his conquests, from the Euphrates to the Nile, so effectually, that the king of Egypt went 66 not again any more out of his land" to invade his neighbours. See 2 Kings xxiv. 7. This event was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah in these

emphatic words? "The

word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah," Jer. xlvi. 1, 2. So beautifully does prophecy and this historical fact harmonize. Nekus died B. c. 603, and was succeeded by his son,

PSAMMIS,

or Psammiticus II., of whom history records nothing memorable, except that he made an expedition into Ethiopia. It was to this prince that the Eleans sent an embassy, after having instituted the Olympic games. They had established all the regulations, and arranged every circumstance relating to them with such care, that, in their estimation, nothing was required to make them perfect, and envy itself could not find fault with them. They did not, however, desire so much to have the opinion, as to gain the approbation of the Egyptians, who were looked upon as the wisest and most judicious people in the world. On this subject, accordingly, the king of Egypt assembled the wise men of his nation. After every thing had been heard which could be said in favour of this institution, the Eleans were asked, whether citizens and foreigners were admitted in common to those games; to which answer was made in the affirmative. To this the Egyptians replied, that the rules of justice would have been more strictly observed, had foreigners only been admitted to these combats; because it was difficult for the judges, in their award of the victory and the prize, not to be prejudiced in favour of their fellow-citizens. Psammis died about B. c. 597, and was succeeded in his kingdom by

APRIES, OR PHARAOH-HOPHRA,

who was his son, and who, during the first twenty-five years of his reign enjoyed greater prosperity than any of his predecessors, except Psammiticus. He defeated the Phenicians, took Sidon, and invaded Cyprus, which was finally subdued by Amasis, his successor.

But no state on earth is enduring; and the wise man has observed, that "pride goeth before destruction, and an

haughty spirit before a fall"-truths which were exemplified in the history of Pharaoh-hophra in a remarkable manner.

In the pride of his heart, he imagined, says Herodotus, that no God could deprive him of the kingdom, so firmly did he think himself established. With reference to his haughtiness, the prophet Ezekiel, also, put these words into his mouth, "My river is my own, and I have made it for myself," and symbolized him under the figure of the great dragon, or crocodile, basking in the midst of his rivers. See Ezek. xxix. 3. But in the height of his prosperity and fancied security, his doom was pronounced by the prophet Jeremiah in these emphatic words: "I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life," Jer. xliv. 30; which prediction was verified to the very letter, as will be seen in the course of this history.

Shortly after Apries had ascended the throne, Zedekiah king of Judah sent an embassy, Ezek. xvii. 15, and concluded an alliance with him. The next year, B. c. 588, rejecting the admonitions of Jeremiah, and looking for assistance from the king of Egypt, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who therefore besieged Jerusalem with a numerous force. The Egyptian monarch, elated by the success of his arms, and confident that nothing could resist his power, declared himself the protector of Israel, and promised to deliver Jerusalem out of the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. This drew upon him the anger of the Almighty, which was denounced by the prophet Ezekiel (chap. xxix. 3—9) in these words::

"Thus saith the Lord God;

Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

The great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers,

Which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws,

And I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales,

And I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers,

And all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.

And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness,

Thee and all the fish of thy rivers:

Thou shalt fall upon the open fields;

Thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered:

I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field

And to the fowls of the heaven.

And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord,
Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

When they took hold of thee by thy hand,

Thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder:

And when they leaned upon thee,

Thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God;

Behold I will bring a sword upon thee,

And cut off man and beast out of thee.

And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste;

And they shall know that I am the Lord:

Because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it."

The prophet continues his prediction of the calamities, in this and the three succeeding chapters, some of the most striking passages of which will be noticed hereafter.

Zedekiah, though well acquainted with these predictions, but lightly regarded them, and when he saw the king of Babylon raise the siege of Jerusalem, which he did on the approach of the Egyptian army, he fancied that his deliverance was completed, and anticipated a triumph. But his joy was momentary; the Egyptians seeing the Chaldeans advancing, retreated, not daring to encounter so numerous and well-disciplined an army. They marched back into their own country, and left Zedekiah exposed to all the dangers of a war in which they themselves had involved him; thus proving a "staff of reed to the house of Israel," in the full sense of the term. Nebuchadnezzar marched back again to Jerusalem, and took it, and burned it, according to the tenor of prophecy. See Jer. xxxvii. 2-10; with which passage compare Ezek. xxxi. This event is dated 586 years B. C.

Some time after, (about B. c. 574,) the chastisements with which the Almighty threatened Pharaoh-hophra began to descend upon his head. The Cyrenians, a Greek colony which had settled in Africa between Libya and Egypt, having seized upon and divided among themselves a great portion of the country belonging to the Libyans, forced those nations to place themselves under the protection of Apries. Accordingly, this prince sent a large army into Libya to oppose the Cyrenians; but this army being defeated and almost destroyed, the Egyptians imagined that Apries had sent it into Libya in order to seek its destruction, and by that means to obtain absolute power over the property and lives of his subjects. This reflection prompted them to shake off his yoke; but Apries hearing of the rebellion, despatched Amasis, one of his officers, to suppress it, and to compel the rebels to return to their allegiance. The moment, however, Amasis began to address them, they placed a helmet upon his head, in token of the dignity to which they intended to raise him, and they proclaimed him king. Amasis, therefore, instead