not so placed as to form the "oblong square" of his description, but
mark the angles of a rhombus very munch slanted from the perpendicular.

The argument derived from the book of Jonah deserves more attention than
that which rests upon the authority of Diodorus and Ctesias. Unlike
Ctesias, Jonah saw Nineveh while it still stood; and though the writer
of the prophetical book may not have been Jonah himself, he probably
lived not very many years later. Thus his evidence is that of a
contemporary, though (it may be) not that of an eye-witness; and, even
apart from the inspiration which guided his pen, he is entitled to be
heard with the utmost respect. Now the statements of this writer, which
have a bearing on the size of Nineveh, are two. He tells us, in one
place, that it was "an exceeding great city, of three days' journey;" in
another, that "in it were more than 120,000 persons who could not
discern between their right hand and their left." These passages are
clearly intended to describe a city of a size unusual at the time; but
both of them are to such an extent vague and indistinct, that it is
impossible to draw front either separately, or even from the two
combined, an exact definite notion. "A city of three days' journey" may
be one which it requires three days to traverse from end to end, or one
which is three days' journey in circumference, or, lastly, one which
cannot be thoroughly visited and explored by a prophet commissioned to
warn the inhabitants of a coming danger in less than three days' time.
Persons not able to distinguish their right hand from their left may (if
taken literally) mean children, and 120,000 such persons may therefore
indicate a total population of 600,000; or, the phrase may perhaps with
greater probability be understood of moral ignorance, and the intention
would in that case be to designate by it all the inhabitants. If Nineveh
was in Jonah's time a city containing a population of 120,000, it would
sufficiently deserve the title of "an exceeding great city;" and the