his daughter; and no man was permitted to take away the woman he had purchased, until he had given security to make her his wife. The feasts by which wealthy Babylonians commemorated their marriages became at last so extravagant that laws were made to restrain them. The Assyrians worshipped Venus under the name of Mylitta. Some of the ceremonies observed in her temple are unsuitable to be described in these pages. When the Babylonians were besieged by the Persians, they strangled all the women except their mothers, and one other in each family, to bake their bread. This was done to prevent famine; and the lot fell upon women probably because they were of less importance in carrying on the war. It is not known whether females were admitted into the priesthood; but a woman always slept in the temple of Jupiter Belus, whom the Chaldean priests declared to have been chosen by the deity as his especial favorite from among all the nation. Two remarkable women are mentioned in the brief records we have of Assyria and Babylon. Their names are Semiramis and Nitocris. When Ninus, king of Assyria, besieged Bactria, it is said the attempt would not have been successful, had it not been for the assistance of Semiramis, who was at that time the wife of one of his principal officers. She planned so skilful a method of attack, that victory was insured. Ninus became a passionate lover of the sagacious lady, and her husband committed suicide. Soon after this she became queen. Some say she requested the monarch to invest her with uncontrolled power merely for the space of five days; and as soon as a decree to this effect had been made public, she caused him to be put to death; but other authors deny this. She succeeded Ninus in the government of the Assyrian empire, and to render her name immortal, she built the great city of Babylon in one year. Two millions of men were constantly employed upon it. Certain dykes built by order of the queen, to defend the city from inundations, are spoken of as admirable. Altars were built and divine honors paid to the memory of Semiramis. The other celebrated queen was Nitocris, wife of Nabonadius, who in the Scripture is called Evil Merodach. She was a woman of great endowments. While her voluptuous husband gave himself up to what the world calls pleasure, she managed the affairs of state with extraordinary judgment and sagacity. She was particularly famous for the canals and bridges which she caused to be made for the improvement of Babylon.