3. And set the towers thereof upon the gates of it, an hundred cubits high, and the breadth thereof in the foundation thereof three score cubits.
4. And he made the gates thereof, even gates that were raised to the height of seventy cubits, and the breadth of them was forty cubits, for the going forth of his mighty armies, and for the setting in array of his footmen."
[216] It is said, in Esther, that Ahasuerus reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven princes; from India to Ethiopia.
[217] According to Herodotus, the reign of
| Dejoces was | 53 | years |
| Phraortes | 22 | —— |
| Cyaxares | 12 | —— |
| The Scythians | 28 | —— |
| Astyages | 35 | —— |
| —— | ||
| Total | 150 |
[218] Some authors have made a strange mistake: they have confused this city with that of the same name in Syria, at the foot of Mount Carmel; and still more often with that which was called the "City of the Magi."
[219] Lib. x. 24.
[220] Clio, 98.
[221] Ecbatana was taken by Nadir Shah. Nadir marched against the Turks as soon as his troops were refreshed from the fatigues they had endured in the pursuit of the Afghauns. He encountered the force of two Turkish pachas on the plains of Hameden, overthrew them, and made himself master, not only of that city, but of all the country in the vicinity.—Meerza Mehdy's Hist. Sir William Jones's works, vol. v. 112; Malcolm's Hist. of Persia, vol. ii. 51. 4to.
[222] "This custom," says Mr. Morier, "which I had never seen in any other part of Asia, forcibly struck me as a most happy illustration of our Saviour's parable of the labourer in the vineyard; particularly when passing by the same place, late in the day, we still found others standing idle, and remembered his words, 'Why stand ye here all the day idle?' as most applicable to their situation; for in putting the question to them, they answered 'Because no one has hired us.'"