And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published
through
Nineveh
By a herald or heralds, sent into the several parts of the city:
by the decree of the king and his nobles;
with whom he consulted, and whose advice he took; and who were
equally concerned at this news, and very probably were present
when word was brought to the king concerning it: saying,
let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste
anything;
a very strict and general fast this: abstinence from all food was
enjoined; not only men of every rank and age, but the cattle
likewise, horses and camels, they used either for their pleasure
or business; their oxen, cows, and calves, of their herd; their
sheep, goats, lambs, and kids, of their flocks: let them
not feed, nor drink water;
no food were to be put into their mangers or folds: nor were they
to be suffered to graze in their pastures, or to be allowed the
least quantity of food or drink; this was ordered, to make the
mourning the greater; thus Virgil F21 describes the mourning
for the death of Caesar by the oxen not coming to the rivers to
drink, nor touching the grass of the field; and to afflict their
minds the more, and for their greater mortification, since these
creatures were for their use and pleasure, Fasting was used by
the Heathens; as well as the Jews, in some cases; particularly
the Egyptians, as Herodotus F23 observes, from whom the
Assyrians might take it.
F21 "Non ulli pastos, illis egere diebus Frigida Daphni boves, ad flumius, nulla neque amnem Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam". Bucolic. Eclog. 5. l. 24
F23 L. 2. c. 4. & l. 4. c. 186.