nsiderable quantity of both, yet the accumulations of ages
withstood the drain, and the hoarded wealth which had come down from
Assyrian, Babylonian, and Median times was to be found in the days of
Seleucus chiefly within the limits of his Empire.

The situation which nature pointed out as most suitable for the capital
of a kingdom having the extension that has been here indicated was
some portion of the Mesopotamian valley, which was at once central and
fertile. The empire of Seleucus might have been conveniently ruled
from the site of the ancient Nineveh, or from either of the two still
existing and still flourishing cities of Susa and Babylon. The impetus
given to commerce by the circumstances of the time rendered a site near
the sea preferable to one so remote as that of Nineveh, and the
same consideration made a position on the Tigris or Euphrates more
advantageous than one upon a smaller river. So far, all pointed to
Babylon as the natural and best metropolis; and it was further in favor
of that place that its merits had struck the Great Conqueror, who
had designed to make it the capital of his own still vaster Empire.
Accordingly Babylon was Seleucus's first choice; and there his Court
was held for some years previously to his march against Antigonus.
But either certain disadvantages were found to attach to Babylon as
a residence, or the mere love of variety and change caused him very
shortly to repent of his selection, and to transfer his capital to
another site. He founded, and built with great rapidity, the city of
Seleucia upon the Tigris, at the distance of about forty miles from
Babylon, and had transferred thither the seat of government even before
B.C. 301. Thus far, however, no fault had been committed. The second
capital was at least as conveniently placed as the first, and would have
served equally well as a centre from which to govern the Empire. But
after Ipsus a further change was made--a change that was injudicious in
the extreme. Either setting undue store by his newly-acquired western
provinces, or over-anxious to keep close watch on his powerful neighbors
in those parts, Lysimachus and Ptolemy, Seleucus once more transferred
the seat of empire, exchanging this time the valley of the Tigris for
that of the Orontes, and the central position of Lower Mesopotamia for
almost the extreme western point of his vast territories. Antioch arose
in extraordinary beauty and magnificence during the first few y