seeing that the Egyptians did not care
to come to his aid, made his submission; but Nebuchadnezzar punished his
rebellion with death, and, departing from the common Oriental practice,
had his dead body treated with indignity. At first he placed upon the
throne Jehoia-chin, the son of the late monarch, a youth of eighteen;
but three months later, becoming suspicious (probably not without
reason) of this prince's fidelity, he deposed him and had him brought
a captive to Babylon, substituting in his place his uncle, Zedekiah,
a brother of Jehoiakim and Jehoahaz. Meanwhile the siege of Tyre was
pressed, but with little effect. A blockade is always tedious; and the
blockade of an island city, strong in its navy, by an enemy unaccustomed
to the sea, and therefore forced to depend mainly upon the assistance of
reluctant allies, must have been a task of such extreme difficulty that
one is surprised it was not given up in despair. According to the Tyrian
historians their city resisted all the power of Nebuchadnezzar for
thirteen years. If this statement is to be relied on, Tyre must have
been still uncaptured, when the time came for its sister capital to make
that last effort for freedom in which it perished.

After receiving his crown from Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah continued for
eight years to play the part of a faithful vassal. At length, however,
in the ninth year, he fancied he saw a way to independence. A young and
enterprising monarch, Uaphris--the Apries of Herodotus--had recently
mounted the Egyptian throne. If the alliance of this prince could be
secured, there was, Zedekiah thought, a reasonable hope that the yoke
of Babylon might be thrown off and Hebrew autonomy re-established. The
infatuated monarch did not see that, do what he would, his country
had no more than a choice of masters, that by the laws of political
attraction Judaea must gravitate to one or other of the two great
states between which it had the misfortune of lying. Hoping to free his
country, he sent ambassadors to Uaphris, who were to conclude a treaty
and demand the assistance of a powerful contingent, composed of both
foot and horse. Uaphris received the overture favorably; and Zedekiah at
once revolted from Babylon, and made preparations to defend himself with
vigor. It was not long before the Babylonians arrived. Determined to
crush the daring state, which, weak as it was, had yet ventured to
revolt against him now for the fourth time, Nebuchadnezz