( '7 ) 



appears, that thofe capable of bearing arms 

 were upwards of a million and a half, exclu- 

 five of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. Sup- 

 pofing, therefore, the fighting men in a na- 

 tion to be only one fourth of the whole, we 

 can fcarce imagine the number of the Jewifh 

 nation, at that time, to have been lefs than 

 eight millions : Nearly as many as, by a rea- 

 fonable calculation, can be fuppofed to exift 

 in the whole ifland of Britain at prefent. 



If we compare thefe numbers with what 

 we read of the moft celebrated nations of an- 

 tiquity, we {hall find the population of Judea 

 incredibly fuperior to that of any of them. 

 When Sidon was deftroyed by Ochus King 

 of Perfia, the heads of families and warlike 

 inhabitants are faid not to have exceeded 

 40,000. Nor does the population of Tyre 

 feem to have been much, if at all fuperior ; 

 for that city was totally depopulated by A- 

 lexander the Great, when he crucified 2000 

 of the inhabitants, and fold 30,000 for flaves. 

 Carthage feems to have been the moft popu- 

 lous, as well as the moft powerful commercial 

 city we read of. Though, with regard to the 

 number of its inhabitants we are much in the 



C dark. 



