Had Nebuchadnezzar himself, or a prince of his mental calibre, been the contemporary of Cyrus, the issue of the contest might have been doubtful.

Babylonia possessed naturally vast powers of resistance--powers which, had they been made use of to the utmost, might have tired out the patience of the Persians.

That lively, active, but not over-persevering people would scarcely have maintained a siege with the pertinacity of the Babylonians themselves or of the Egyptians.

If the stratagem of Cyrus had failed--and its success depended wholly on the Babylonians exercising no vigilance--the capture of the town would have been almost impossible.

Babylon was too large to be blockaded; its walls were too lofty to be scaled, and too massive to be battered down by the means possessed by the ancients.