PART I.

ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY.

SECTION I.

ASSYRIA, BABYLONIA, AND CHALDEA.

13. Ir may be gathered from the most ancient IT historical document the world has ever knownthe Book of Genesis-that considerable progress had been made in the practical sciences before the catastrophe of the universal Deluge. Whence the knowledge of the Antediluvians was derived, and how far it extended, can only be matter of conjectural and hypothetical reasonings; since the brief notices of their history, recorded by the inspired author of the Pentateuch, furnish no data from which certain conclusions can now be drawn. simple facts are stated, that cities were built, from which some elementary acquaintance with architectural science may be inferred; that certain individuals were artificers in brass and iron, and instructed others in the use of these valuable metals; and that others both constructed musical instruments, and were sufficiently acquainted with the

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science of music, to teach others how to "handle" those instruments. Upon the same principles it may not unreasonably be conjectured, especially when the longevity of the patriarchs, and the facilities they possessed for communicating traditional knowledge, are considered, that the same ingenuity which led to these inventions would display itself in many other kindred arts and sciences. Josephus indeed asserts (but on what authority he omits to state), that "longevity was bestowed on them for the very purpose of improving the sciences of geometry and astronomy."

14. After the Flood, the event which occasioned the dispersion of the human family seems to indicate no inconsiderable attainments in scientific knowledge; for, unless a far greater advancement had been made in architecture than has yet been found among uncivilized tribes, the conception could never have been framed of building "a tower whose top should reach to heaven," even after due allowance is made for the boldness of oriental metaphors. Especially will this conclusion appear to be well founded, if, as some have supposed, the principal design of these artificers was, to form a center of union, which might be the basis of an universal monarchy; or, as others have imagined, to construct a lofty observatory for astronomical purposes. To trace the progress of general knowledge among the descendants of Abraham, forms no part of our present plan; because the only authentic sources of information on this subject are found in a volume with which, it is hoped, every reader of this work

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will be better acquainted, than with the contents of this elementary history; and also because the few individuals of that nation, who were celebrated for their wisdom or science, stand on the much higher ground of prophetical inspiration. It will be sufficient to remind the juvenile reader, that Moses is said, by the illustrious Proto-martyr Stephen, to have been "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;" that the most scientific as well as most magnificent and costly specimens of ancient architecture were erected in the days of Solomon, and under the direction of that monarch, whose wisdom is said, in Scripture, to have "excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt, so that his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts and of fowls and of creeping things and of fishes." (1 Kings iv. 30-33.) Of Daniel, the Jewish prophet, who flourished during the captivity, it was confessed, even by a Chaldæan prince, that he was far superior in knowledge to the most learned of his magi, and that "the wisdom of the gods was found in him." It is, however, to be remembered, that in all the three cases just alluded to, their pre-eminence in knowledge is attributed to divine communications and special revelations from heaven.

15. Notwithstanding the pretensions of the Egyptians to have led the way in the march of civilization and general knowledge; and although

it must be admitted, on the authority both of sacred and profane historians, that Egypt was the cradle of some useful arts; there is sufficient ground to dispute the claims of that people to priority, more especially in astronomical science. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans (names which seem to have been promiscuously employed by ancient writers, to designate the same people), really preceded them by several centuries at least; and many circumstances might be adduced to prove that the Egyptians rather derived the rudiments of knowledge from the Chaldæans, than the Chaldæans from them. Aristotle

distinctly asserts, that "the Chaldæan magi were known as a learned sect long before the Egyptian priests;" and it is certain that the Assyrian monarchy, which included the provinces of Babylonia and Chaldæa, had become powerful and flourishing, while that of Egypt was yet in its infancy. Diodorus Siculus, from whose brief and imperfect notices our information on subjects of remote antiquity must be chiefly derived, has clearly attributed the origin of oriental literature to the Chaldæans. The traditions of the Jews, and of almost all other Eastern nations, as stated by Sir W. Jones, abundantly confirm this opinion.

16. But when we speak of the literature of the Chaldæans, the term must be understood as employed in a very limited sense. Some crude and jejune speculations respecting the eternity of matter; a few incorrect and partial observations on the heavenly bodies; and a mass of superstitious notions on judicial astrology, comprehend almost the whole

of the boasted attainments of these learned Chaldæans. With respect to the former of these, they taught, that matter is eternal, never having had a beginning, and never to have an end; that the system of nature does not move spontaneously, nor are its motions directed by blind chance, but under the continual superintendence either of superior or inferior deities; and, finally, that in the beginning, all things consisted of darkness and water, but by divine power, this humid mass was consolidated into a world, and filled with inhabitants. In this Chaldæan cosmogony, it is not difficult to trace a distinct, though corrupted, tradition of the Mosaic account of the creation. If the testimony of ancient writers respecting their knowledge of astronomy can be credited, it was fully equal to what could reasonably have been expected at so early a period, and amidst their great disadvantages. From these sources of information it may be gathered, that they not only discovered six planets, viz. the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and made rude calculations of their several revolutions and orbits; but, according to Petavius, that they determined with tolerable exactness the length both of a synodical and periodical month; according to Hipparchus, that they calculated lunar eclipses; according to Aristotle, that they made many observations on the occultations of fixed stars and planets by the moon's shadow, and grouped the heavenly bodies into imaginary constellations; and also that they divided the zodiac into twelve signs, through which the planets were observed to pass in their revolutions.