al across the Isthmus of Suez, in which enterprise one hundred and
twenty thousand men perished from hunger, fatigue, and disease. But his
great aim was to extend his empire to the limits reached by Rameses II.,
the Sesostris of the Greeks. The great Assyrian empire was then breaking
up, and Nineveh was about to fall before the Babylonians; so he seized
the opportunity to invade Syria, a province of the Assyrian empire. He
must of course pass through Palestine, the great highway between Egypt
and the East. Josiah opposed his enterprise, fearing that if the
Egyptian king conquered Syria, he himself would become the vassal of
Egypt. Jeremiah earnestly endeavored to dissuade his sovereign from
embarking in so doubtful a war; even Necho tried to convince him through
his envoys that he made war on Nineveh, not on Jerusalem, invoking--as
most intensely earnest men did in those days of tremendous impulse--the
sacred name of Deity as his authentication. Said he: "What have I to do
with thee, thou King of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but
against the house wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make
haste. Forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he
destroy thee not." But nothing could induce Josiah to give up his
warlike enterprise. He had the piety of Saint Louis, and also his
patriotic and chivalric heroism. He marched his forces to the plain of
Esdraelon, the great battle field where Rameses II. had triumphed over
the Hittites centuries before. The battle was fought at Megiddo.
Although Josiah took the precaution to disguise himself, he was mortally
wounded by the Egyptian archers, and was driven back in his splendid
chariot toward Jerusalem, which he did not live to reach.

The lamentations for this brave and pious monarch remind us of the
universal grief of the Hebrew nation on the death of Samuel. He was
buried in a tomb which he had prepared for himself, amid universal
mourning. A funeral oration was composed by Jeremiah, or rather an
elegy, afterward sung by the nation on the anniversary of the battle.
Nor did the nation ever forget a king so virtuous in his life and so
zealous for the Law. Long after the return from captivity the singers of
Israel sang his praises, and popular veneration for him increased with
the lapse of time; for in virtues and piety, and uninterrupted zeal for
Jehovah, Josiah never had an equal among the kings of Judah.

The services of this good king were long re