The Babylonian Engine.
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Chap. 15.]
stant liability to derangement, as much so as to its rotary movement. Noris it likely that they were much Superior at any time in Judea , for theJews never cultivated the arts to any extent. The mechanics amongthem when they left Egypt were probably more numerous and expertthan during any subsequent period of their history. In the eleventh Cen-tury B. C. when Saul began to reign, there was not a blacksmith in theland, or one that could forge iron; they had been carried off by the Phi listines ; and although David at his death left numerous artificers, whenhisson built the temple and his own palace, he obtained mechanics from Tyre.
It is moreover possible that the plaints and moanings incident to oldage, ‘when the grasshopper shall be a bürden and desire shall fail,’ werealso intended to be pointed out by the perpetual creaking of these ricketymachines, as indicative of approaching dissolution. The harsh noise theymake has been noticed by several travelers. St. John speaks of the creak-ing sound of the water wheels ; and Stephens, in his ‘Incidents of Travel,’observes, “ it was moonlight, and the creaking of the water wheels onthe banks, (of the Nile ) sounded like the moaning spirit of an ancientEgyptian .”
ON THE ENGINE THAT RAISED WATER FROM THE EÜPHRATES TO SUPPLY THEHANGING GARDENS AT BABYLON.
There is a machine noticed by ancient authors, which probably belongsto this part of our subject, and it is by far the most interesting hydraulicengine mentioned in history. Some circumstances connected with it, arealso worthy of notice. It was constructed and used in the most ancientand most splendid city of the postdiluvian world; a city which accordingto tradition existed like Joppa, before the deluge: viz. Babylon —a citygenerally allowed to have been founded by the builders of Babel; subse-quently enlarged by Nimrod ; extended and beautified by Semiramis;and which reached its acme of unrivaled splendor under Nebuchadnezzar .
The engine which raised the water of the Euphrates to the top of thewalls of this city, to supply the pensile or hanging gardens, greatly ex-ceeded in the perpendicular height to which the water was elevated by it,the most famous hydraulic machinery of modern ages ; and like most ofthe works of the remote ancients, it appears to have borne the impress ofthose mighty intellects, who never suffered any physical impediment tointerfere with the accomplishment of their designs ; and many of whoseWorks almost induce us to believe that men ‘ were giants in those days.’The walls of Babylon, according to Herodotus , i, 178, were 350 feet high!Diodorus Siculus and others make them much less; but the descriptionsof them by the latter, it is alleged, were applicable only, after the Per-sians under Darius Hystaspes retook the city upon its revolt, and demo-lished, or rather reduced their height to about 50 cubits ; whereas the fa-ther of history gives their original elevation, and incredible as it may ap-pear, his Statement is believed to be correct. He is the oldest author who has described them; and he visited Babylon within one hundred andtwenty years of Nebuchadnezzar ’s death; and four hundred before Dio dorus flourished. He has recorded the impressions which at that time,the city made on his mind, in the following words, “ its internal beautyand magnificence exceed whatever has come within my knowledge;” andHerodotus , it must be remembered, was well acquainted with the splen-did cities of Egypt and the east. Had not the pyramids of Geezer, thetemples and tombs of Thebes and Karnac, the artificial lakes and canals°f Egypt , the wall of China , the caves of Ellora and Elephanta , &c.