402 
RUINS OF BABYLON. 
to which state he applies the words of a poet who, speaking of 
a fallen Arcadian city, exclaims, “ Est magna solitudo nunc Me¬ 
galopolis”. The last great sweep of its materials was on the 
building of Ctesiphon, by the Arsacidse or Parthian kings ; and 
then, of the few desolate natives who had remained amongst the 
ruins of their homes, most followed their razed foundations to 
augment the population of another new city. But still a rem¬ 
nant of the once proud Babylon clung to her naked bosom ; yet 
the words of Scripture must be fulfilled. 
“ Thou that madest the world as a wilderness, and destroyed 
all the cities thereof! I will rise up against thee, saith the Lord 
of Hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, 
and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will make it a posses¬ 
sion for the bittern, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with 
the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts.” Isaiah. 
I have mentioned that a remnant was left there: but the 
plague blasted them in their wretchedness; and then, indeed, 
all became a silent mass of ruin. 
My excursion to A1 Hymer, was the last I found in my power 
to make under the then existing circumstances in that part of 
the pashalick ; and, on returning to Hillah, with much regret I 
prepared to quit my researches. Every thing, from the time of 
my first arrival, (excepting the misapplied policy of the kiahya, 
which in fact had cut them short,) had combined in their favour. 
The weather had been particularly fine, with only one or two 
interruptions of heavy but brief showers ; which, when they fell, 
only deepened the awful character of the scene ; pouring their 
torrents down the furrowed cheeks of the ruined piles of Baby¬ 
lon, and sweeping like a black curtain over the Euphrates, 
between its eastern and western shores. The mornings, in ge¬ 
neral, were clear and bracing ; and even at noon, the power of 
