THE MUJELIBE. 
347 
mand. Hence, to that purpose I would venture to assign its 
original destination ; and to some period in its besieged states 
attribute the inhumed remains. For instance, in the time of 
Seleucus, previous to the founding of Seleucia, Demetrius Po¬ 
ll oreetes besieged Babylon ; and we are told that it then possessed 
only two old fortresses, one of which, from its magnitude , re¬ 
sisted all the efforts of the besiegers. During this period, many 
of its defenders of consequence might fall; and, for convenience, 
be buried hastily in the fortress itself. We have known the 
same to have been done in our days ; and I myself have stood 
by the grave of one of our own most lamented generals, whose 
sacred corse was thus hurried into its last bed, in the ramparts 
of a foreign citadel. In the heart, therefore, of the excavated 
sun-dried clay constituting the solid substance of this pile, such 
graves, for such purposes, may have been dug. Or, if that 
appear too severe an exertion of manual labour at such a season, 
there may have been cellars, and in consequence subterranean 
passages, sufficient to contain all those whom the shaft of war, 
or other casualties, might take off during the siege; and that a 
child’s remains should turn up amongst them, need not appear 
out of character, when we recollect that eastern usages carried 
women into all situations. With regard to the Mujelibe having 
originally been intended for a place of sepulture, had it been so, 
the magnificence of its dimensions would have demanded its 
dedication to the sovereigns of Babylon ; and, in that case, 
surely some of the ancient writers, in describing the city, must 
have mentioned it. But that the remains of the illustrious dead 
may occasionally be found in embattled towers and walls, with¬ 
out any extraordinary military circumstances having rendered 
such interment necessary, the arbitrary directions of the de- 
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