GENII AND CHERUBIM. 
495 
of swiftness being disposed somewhere, as an ornament on the 
robe; or, when that is not the case, an Ibis, by standing close to 
the person, lends the symbol of his pinions, to preserve the 
intended image. But, with the exception of the mitre, there 
is nothing I have ever seen or read of, which bears so strong a 
resemblance to the whole of the figure on the pillar, as the 
ministering, or guardian angels, described under the name of Sera¬ 
phim or Cherubim, by the different writers in the Bible ; and, if 
we are to ascribe these erections to Cyrus, how readily may he 
have found the model of his Genii, either in the spoil of the 
temple of Jerusalem, which he saw amongst the treasures at Ba¬ 
bylon ; or from the Jewish descriptions, in the very word of pro¬ 
phecy which mentions him by name ; and which, doubtless, would 
be in the possession of Daniel, and open to the eye of the mo¬ 
narch to whom it so immediately referred. I will, without re¬ 
marking further, merely give the descriptive passages, as they 
occur in the Sacred Writings ; and leave my readers to compare 
them with this bas-relief in the temple of Pasargadae. First, 
where Moses gives direction for the formation of the ark, that is 
to contain the tables of the law : -— 
“ And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work 
shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And 
the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the 
mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to an¬ 
other ; toward the mercy-seat, shall the faces of the cherubim be.” 
Exodus, chap. xxv. verses 18. and 20. 
Second, where Solomon builds the temple of Jerusalem, and 
ornaments the sanctuary or oracle, where the ark was to be placed: 
“ And within the oracle, he made two cherubim of olive-tree, 
each fen cubits high. And five cubits was the one wing of the 
