BVt to come backe to Ninus the amplifier and finisher of Niniue: whether he performed it before or after the ouerthrow of Zoroaster, it is vncertayne. As for the Citie it selfe, it is agreed by all prophane Writers, and confirmed by the Scriptures, that it exceeded all other in circuit, and answerable magnificence. For it* 1.1 had in compasse 440. stadia, or furlongs; the walls* 1.2 [unspec 30] whereof were an hundred foot vpright, and had such a bredth as three Charriots might passe on the Ram∣pire in front: these walls were garnished with 1500. Towres which gaue exceeding beautie to the rest, and a strength no lesse admirable for the nature of thosetimes.
But this Citie (built in the Plaines of Assyria, and on the bankes of Tigris, and in the Region of Eden) was founded long before Ninus time; and (as ancient I 〈◊〉〈◊〉 report, and more lately Nauclerus) had the name of Campsor, at such time as Ninus amplified the same, and gaue it a wall, and called it after his owne name.
For these workes of Babylon and Niniue begun by Nimrod in 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and in Assy∣ria, [unspec 40] Ninus and Semiramis made perfect. Ninus finished Niniue, Semiramis Babylon:* 1.3 wherein shee sought to exceede her husband by farre. Indeed in the first Age when* 1.4 Princes were moderate, they neither thought how to inuade others, nor feared to be inuaded: labouring to build Townes and Villages for the vse of themselues and their people, without either Walls or Towres; and how they might discharge the earth of Woods, Bryars, Bushments, and Waters, to make it the more habitable and fertile. But Semiramis liuing in that Age, when Ambition was in strong youth: and purposing to follow the conquest which her husband had vnder-taken, gaue that beautie and strength to Babylon which it had. [unspec 50]