[56] El Devoto Peregrino.
[57] El Devoto Peregrino.
[58] El Devoto Peregrino, p. 68.
[59] See Josephus de Bel. lib. v. cap. 4. § 1. lib. vi. cap. 9. § 5.
[60] Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 11. § 3.
[61] Compare this passage with Acts i. 12, where the ascension is also spoken of. There are two roads to Bethany; one around the southern end of the Mount of Olives, and one across its summit; the latter being considerably shorter but more difficult. It was probably on this latter road, in the descent to Bethany, that the Saviour was taken up from the Apostles.
[62] Jos. de Bel. lib. vi. cap. 1. § 1.
[63] El Devoto Peregrino, p. 105.
[64] I trust that I shall be pardoned if I add that the Commodore and myself had some of it worked at Mahon into tables representing, in Mosaic work, the hills and valleys of Jerusalem, a plan of the city, and a view of the Mount of Olives, its buildings and roads. The workmanship was well executed, and they make handsome pictures. The ingenious workman, Juan Rivdavetz y Prieto, just before we left that city, contrived a method of staining on plain apple wood, pictures of fruit, &c., with a very rich back-ground, forming beautiful cabinet work. The Commodore offered him a passage in the Delaware to America; but the love of his native island prevailed, and he remained.
[65] Jos. Ant. lib. viii. cap. 3. § 9. Ib. lib. xv. cap. 11. § 15. Ib. de Bel. lib. v. cap. 5. § 1. The height of these walls must strike the reader as almost beyond belief; and I confess that I hesitated about repeating them from the Jewish historian, till I came to reflect on the size of similar structures in other eastern cities. The walls of Nineveh are reported on good authority to have been 100 feet in height, and to have been strengthened by 1500 towers 200 feet in elevation. The height of the temple of Belus, at Babylon, formed altogether of bricks, is computed by Major Rennel at 500 feet, and by Prideaux at 600; its ruins still form a mound 200 feet in height. The royal palace in the same city was nearly as large as the temple; and the ruins of a castle are still seen 140 feet in height, and half a mile in circuit. The walls of this city were 34 miles in circuit—according to some writers 60; and were broad enough for six chariots to drive abreast upon them; and appear to have been originally 300, or 350 feet in height; having been reduced from this to 75 feet by Darius Hystaspes in order to check the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants.