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THE HOMO-CAMELEOPARD
Chacun a ses
vertus.
—Crebillon’s
Xerxes.
ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES is very generally looked upon
as the Gog of the prophet Ezekiel. This honor
is, however, more properly attributable to Cambyses,
the son of Cyrus. And, indeed, the character of
the Syrian monarch does by no means stand in need
of any adventitious embellishment. His accession
to the throne, or rather his usurpation of the sovereignty,
a hundred and seventy-one years before the coming
of Christ; his attempt to plunder the temple of Diana
at Ephesus; his implacable hostility to the Jews;
his pollution of the Holy of Holies; and his miserable
death at Taba, after a tumultuous reign of eleven
years, are circumstances of a prominent kind, and therefore
more generally noticed by the historians of his time
than the impious, dastardly, cruel, silly, and whimsical
achievements which make up the sum total of his private
life and reputation.
Let us suppose, gentle reader, that it is now the
year of the world three thousand eight hundred and
thirty, and let us, for a few minutes, imagine ourselves
at that most grotesque habitation of man, the remarkable
city of Antioch. To be sure there were, in Syria
and other countries, sixteen cities of that appellation,
besides the one to which I more particularly allude.
But ours is that which went by the name of Antiochia
Epidaphne, from its vicinity to the little village
of Daphne, where stood a temple to that divinity.
It was built (although about this matter there is
some dispute) by Seleucus Nicanor, the first king
of the country after Alexander the Great, in memory
of his father Antiochus, and became immediately the
residence of the Syrian monarchy. In the flourishing
times of the Roman Empire, it was the ordinary station
of the prefect of the eastern provinces; and many
of the emperors of the queen city (among whom may be
mentioned, especially, Verus and Valens) spent here
the greater part of their time. But I perceive
we have arrived at the city itself. Let us ascend
this battlement, and throw our eyes upon the town and
neighboring country.
“What broad and rapid river is that which forces
its way, with innumerable falls, through the mountainous
wilderness, and finally through the wilderness of
buildings?”
That is the Orontes, and it is the only water in sight,
with the exception of the Mediterranean, which stretches,
like a broad mirror, about twelve miles off to the
southward. Every one has seen the Mediterranean;
but let me tell you, there are few who have had a peep
at Antioch. By few, I mean, few who, like you
and me, have had, at the same time, the advantages
of a modern education. Therefore cease to regard
that sea, and give your whole attention to the mass
of houses that lie beneath us. You will remember
