of the Assyrian Monarchy. 303 
obscurity in which they are unknown to his- 
tory, to the dominion of the world, and had 
the Romans told us, that the Euphrates and 
the Rhine bounded the dominions of Romu- 
lus, they would scarcely have made a larger 
demand upon our faith, than the history of 
the conquests of Ninus. Itis true, that Eas- 
tern monarchies rise with a rapidity unknown 
to European history, and that tribes of shep- 
herd-invaders have spread themselves over a 
vast space, in a very short time. But the 
Assyrians were not such a people, they made 
war with the equipments of a civilized army, 
and consolidated their conquests by a regular 
system of legislation and dominion. It re- 
quired three reigns of vigour and enterprise 
before the Persian monarchy could extend it- 
self from the mountains of Persia to the shores 
of the Mediterranean ; yet Cyrus, when he 
conquered Media and Assyria, entered into 
possession of countries long since flourishing 
and regularly administered, found wealth and 
arms and disciplined troops in readiness to be 
employed in the prosecution of his further 
enterprises ; roads and communications esta- 
blished, and a multitude of facilities, which 
must have been wanting to Ninus, who comes 
forward a few centuries after the deluge, and 
ip the first infancy of Asiatic civilization 
