To this ancient quarrel between the Babylonian potentates and Heaven, there is plainly an allusion in the words of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, when announcing that sovereign's humiliation and subsequent restoration, he says (Dan 4:26), "Thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, when thou hast known that the HEAVENS do rule."
Thus, then, it appears that Atlas, with the heavens resting on his broad shoulders, refers to no mere distinction in astronomical knowledge, however great, as some have supposed, but to a quite different thing, even to that great apostacy in which the Giants rebelled against Heaven, and in which apostacy Nimrod, "the mighty one," * as the acknowledged ringleader, occupied a pre-eminent place. **
* In the Greek Septuagint, translated in Egypt, the term "mighty" as applied in Genesis 10:8, to Nimrod, is rendered the ordinary name for a "Giant."
** IVAN and KALLERY, in their account of Japan, show that a similar story to that of Atlas was known there, for they say that once a day the Emperor "sits on his throne upholding the world and the empire." Now something like this came to be added to the story of Atlas, for PAUSANIAS shows that Atlas also was represented as upholding both earth and heaven. According to the system which Nimrod was the grand instrument in introducing, men were led to believe that a real spiritual change of heart was unnecessary, and that so far as change was needful, they could be regenerated by mere external means. Looking at the subject in the light of the Bacchanalian orgies, which, as the reader has seen, commemorated the history of Nimrod, it is evident that he led mankind to seek their chief good in sensual enjoyment, and showed them how they might enjoy the pleasures of sin, without any fear of the wrath of a holy God. In his various expeditions he was always accompanied by troops of women; and by music and song, and games and revelries, and everything that could please the natural heart, he commended himself to the good graces of mankind. Chapter II
Section II
Sub-Section IV
The Death of the Child
How Nimrod died, Scripture is entirely silent. There was an ancient tradition that he came to a violent end. The circumstances of that end, however, as antiquity represents them, are clouded with fable. It is said that tempests of wind sent by God against the Tower of Babel overthrew it, and that Nimrod perished in its ruins. This could not be true, for we have sufficient evidence that the Tower of Babel stood long after Nimrod's day. Then, in regard to the death of Ninus, profane history speaks darkly and mysteriously, although one account tells of his having met with a violent death similar to that of Pentheus, Lycurgus, * and Orpheus, who were said to have been torn in pieces. **
* Lycurgus, who is commonly made the enemy of Bacchus, was, by the Thracians and Phrygians, identified with Bacchus, who it is well known, was torn in pieces. ** LUDOVICUS VIVES, Commentary on Augustine. Ninus as referred to by Vives is called "King of India." The word "India" in classical writers, though not always, yet commonly means Ethiopia, or the land of Cush.