322 On Scriptural and profane Accounts 
Belus and Ninyas are no other than one and 
the same divinity, as we have already shown 
Ninus and Belus to be. Descending to Sar- 
danapallus himself, we find the same unac- 
countable mixture of the dissolute, effemi- 
nate voluptuary and military hero which we 
have already twice remarked. It is in vain 
that recourse is had to the supposition of two 
and three Sardanapalli, though this solution” 
is countenanced by an ancient writer who had 
felt the difficulty ; because these inconsistent 
traits are expressly related of one Sardana- 
pallus. The difficulty is easily removed, by 
adverting once more to the mixture of the 
sexes in the Asiatic divinities. I should here 
observe, that I by no means intend to deny 
that some circumstances of historical truth 
respecting the capture of Nineveh, derived 
from the siege by Nabopolassar and Cyaxares, 
may have been mingled with the story of 
the death of Sardanapallus; the time was 
near enough for tradition, while I cannot be- 
lieve that any historical truth can have de- 
scended through that dark interval of seven- 
teen or seven-and-thirty kings, which has 
not furnished a single fact concerning itself. 
There are several points however, respecting 
the history of Sardanapallus which require a 
