which all matters of principal concern were determined in the last re fort. But left this affembly, which was compofed of all the citizens, fhould, in the words of Plutarch, like a fhip with too many fails, be expofed to the gufts of folly, tumult, and diforder, he provided for its fafety by the two anchors of the Senate and Areopagus. The firft of thefe courts confifted of four hundred perfons, a hundred from each tribe of the Athenians, who prepared all important bills that came before the affembly of the people; the fecond, though but a court of juftice, gained a prodi gious afcendancy in the republic, by the wisdom and gravity of its members, who were not chofen but after the ftricteft fcrutiny and the most fetious deliberation.

Such was the fyftem of government eftablished by Solon, which the nearer we examine it, will the more excite our admiration. Upon the fame plan most of the other ancient republics were established. To infift on all of them, therefore, would neither be entertaining nor inftructive. But the government of Sparta, or Lacedæmon, had fomething in it fo peculiar, that the great outlines of it at least ought not to be here omitted. The country of which Sparta afterwards became the capital, was, like the other states of Greece, originally divided into feveral petty principalities, of which each was under the jurifdiction of its own immediate chieftain. Lelex is faid to have been the first king, about the year before Chrift 1516. At length, the two brothers, Euryfthenes and Pro

B. C. cles, obtaining poffeffion of this country, became conjunct in the

1102. royalty; and what is extremely fingular, their pofterity, in a direct line, continued to rule conjuntly for nine hundred years, ending with Cleomenes, anno 220 before the Chriftian æra. The Spartan B. C. government, however, did not take that fingular form which renders it fo remarkable, until the time of Lycurgus, the cele 884. brated legislator. The plan of policy devifed by Lycurgus agreed with that already defcribed, in comprehending a fenate and af fembly of the people, and, in general, all thofe eftablishments which are deemed most requifite for the fecurity of political independence. It differed from that of Athens, and indeed from all other governments, in having two kings, whofe office was hereditary, though their power was fufficiently circumfcribed by proper checks and reftraints. But the great.characteristic of the Spartan conftitution arofe from this, that, in all laws, Lycurgus had at least as much refpect to war as to political liberty. With this view, all forts of luxury, all arts of elegance or entertainment, every thing, in fine, which had the fmalleft tendency to foften the minds of the Spartans, was abfolutely profcribed. They were forbidden the ufe of money; they lived at public tables on the coarfeft fare: the younger were taught to pay the utmost reverence to the more advanced in years; and all ranks capable of bearing arms were daily accustomed to the most painful exercifes. To the Spartans alone war was a relaxation rather than a hardship; and they behaved in it with a fpirit, of which scarcely any but a Spartan could even form a conception.

In order to fee the effect of thefe principles, and to connect under one point of view the hiftory of the different quarters of the globe, we muft now caft our eyes on Afia, and obferve the events which happened in those great empires of which we have fo long loft fight. We have B. C. already mentioned in what obfcurity the hiftory of Egypt is involved, until the reign of Bocchoris. From this period to the dif 781. folution of their government by Cambyies of Perfia, in the year before Chrift 524, the Egyptians are more celebrated for the wifdom of

:

their laws and political inftitutions, than for the power of their arms. Several of these feem to have been dictated by the true fpirit of civil wildom, and were admirably calculated for preferving order and good government in an extenfive kingdom. The great empire of, Allyria likewife, which had fo long difappeared, becomes again an object of attention, and affords the firft inftance we meet with in hiftory, of a kingdom which fell afunder by its own weight, and the effeminate weakness of its fovereigns. Sardanapalus, the laft emperor of Affyria, neglecting the adminiftration of affairs, and fhutting himself up in his palace with his women and eunuchs, fell into contempt with his fubjects. The governors of his provinces, to whom, like a weak and indolent prince, he had entirely committed the command of his armies, did not fail to feize this opportunity of raising their own fortune on the ruins of their mafter's power. Arbaces, governor of Media, and Belefis, governor of Babylon, conspired against their fovereign, and having fet fire to his capital (in which Sardanapalus perifhed, before Chrift 820), divided between them his extenfive dominions. These two kingdoms, fometimes united under one prince, and fometimes governed each by a par ticular fovereign, maintained the chief fway in Afia for many years. Phul revived the kingdom of Affyria, anno, before Chrift, 777 and Shalmanefer, one of his fucceffors, put an end to the kingdom of Ifrael, and carried the ten tribes captive into Affyria and Media, before Chrift 721. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, alfo, in the year before Chrift 587, overturned the kingdom of Judah, which had continued in the family of David from the year 1055, and mastered all the countries round him. But in the year 538, Cyrus the Great took Babylon, and reduced this quarter of the world under the Perfian yoke. The manners of this people, brave, hardy, and independent, as well as the government of Cyrus in all its various departments, are elegantly defcribed by Xenophon, a Grecian philofopher and hiftorian. It is not neceffary, however, that we thould enter into the fame detail, upon this fubject, as with regard to the affairs of the Greeks. We have, în modern times, fufficient examples of monarchical governments: but how few are our republics! The era of Cyrus is in one refpect extremely remarkable, befides that in it the Jews were delivered from their captivity, because with it the hiftory of the great nations of antiquity, which has hitherto engaged our attention, may be faid to ter minate. Let us confider then the genius of the Affyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, in arts and sciences, and, if poffible, difcover what progrefs they had made in thofe acquirements which are moft fubfervient to the interefts of fociety.

B. C.

538.

The tafte for the great and magnificent feems to have been the prevailing character of thofe nations; and they principally difplayed it in their works of architecture. There are no veftiges, however, now remaining, which confirm the teftimony of ancient writers with regard to the great works that adorned Babylon and Nineveh: neither is it clearly determined in what year they were begun or finished. There are three pyramids, ftupendous fabrics, ftill remaining in Egypt, at fome leagues diftance from Cairo, and about nine miles from the Nile, which are fuppofed to have been the burying-places of the ancient Egyptian kings. The largest is five hundred feet in height, and each fide of the bafe fix hundred and ninety-three feet in length. The apex is thirteen feet square. The fecond covers as much ground as the first, but is forty feet lower. It was a fuperftition among the Egyptians, derived from the earliest times, that even after death the foul continued in the body as long as it

or of throwing into the dead body fuch fubftances as experience ha difcovered to be the greateft prefervatives againft putrefaction. Th pyramids were erected with the fame view. In them the bodies of the Egyptian kings, it has been fuppofed, were depofited. From what w read of the walls of Babylon, the temple of Belus, and other works of the East, and from what travellers have recorded of the pyramids, it appears that they were really fuperb and magnificent ftructures, but to tally void of elegance. The orders of architecture were not yet known, nor even the conftruction of vaults. The arts in which thofe nations, next to architecture, principally excelled, were sculpture and embroidery, As to the fciences, they had all along continued to beftow their prin cipal attention on altronomy. It does not appear, however, that they had made great progrefs in explaining the caufes of the phænomena of the univerfe, or indeed in any fpecies of rational and found philofophy, To demonftrate this to an intelligent reader, it is fufficient to obferve, that, according to the teftimony of facred and profane writers, the ab furd reveries of magic and aftrology, which always decreafe in propor tion to the advancement of true feience, were in high esteem among them during the lateft period of their government. The countries which they occupied were extremely fruitful, and without much labour afforded all the neceffaries, and even luxuries, of life. They had long inhabited great cities. Thefe circumftances had tainted their manners with effeminacy and corruption, and rendered them an easy prey to the Perfians, a nation juft emerging from barbarifm, and, of confequence, brave and warlike. Such revolutions were eafily effected in the infancy of the military art, when ftrength and courage alone gave advantage to one nation over another,-when, properly fpeaking, there were no fortified places, which in modern times have been discovered to be fo ufeful in ftopping the progrefs of a victorious enemy,—and when the event of a battle commonly decided the fate of an empire. But we muft now turn our attention to other objects.

The hiftory of Perfia, after the reign of Cyrus, who died in the year before Chrift 529, offers little, confidered in itself, that merits our regard; but, when combined with that of Greece, it becomes particularly interefting. The monarchs who fucceeded Cyrus gave an opportunity to the Greeks to exercife thofe virtues which the freedom of their government had created and confirmed. Sparta remained under the influence of Lycurgus's inftitutions: Athens had juft recovered from the tyranny of the Piltratida, a family who had trampled on the laws of Solon, and B. C. ufurped the fupreme power. Such was their fituation, when the luft of univerfal empire, which feldom fails to torment the breaft 504. of tyrants, led Darius (at the inftigation of Hippias, who had been expelled from Athens, and on account of the Athenians' burning the city of Sardis) to fend forth his numerous armies against Greece, But the Perfians were no longer thofe invincible foldiers who, under Cy rus, had conquered Afia. Their minds were enervated by luxury and fervitude. Athens, on the contrary, teemed with great men, animated B. C. by the late recovery of their freedom. Miltiades, in the plains of Marathon, with ten thousand Athenians, overcame the Perfian 490. army of a hundred thoufand foot and ten thousand cavalry. His countrymen Themiftocles and Ariftides, the first celebrated for his abi lities, the fecond for his virtue, gained the next honours to the general. It does not fall within our plan to mention the events of this war, which, as the nobleft monuments of the triumph of virtue over force, of courage over numbers, of liberty over fervitude, deferve to be read at length in ane cient writers.

Xerxes, the fon of Darius, came in perfon into Greece, with an immense army, which, according to Herodotus, amounted to two millions B. C. and one hundred thousand men. This account has been juftly confidered, by fome ingenious modern writers, as incredible. The 480. truth cannot now be ascertained; but that the army of Xerxes was extremely numerous, is the more probable, from the great extent of his empire, and from the abfurd practice of the Eaftern nations, of encumbering their camp with a fuperfluous multitude. Whatever the numbers of his army were, he was every where defeated, by fea and land, and escaped to Afia in a fishing-boat. Such was the fpirit of the Greeks, and fo well did they know, that, "wanting virtue, life is pain "and woe; that wanting liberty, even virtue mourns, and looks around "for happiness in vain." But though the Perfian war concluded glorioufly for the Greeks, it is, in a great measure, to this war that the fubfequent misfortunes of that nation are to be attributed. It was not the battles in which they fuffered the lofs of so many brave men, but those in which they acquired the fpoils of Perfia,-it was not their enduring fo many hardships in the course of the war, but their connections with the Perfians after the conclufion of it,-which fubverted the Grecian establishments, and ruined the moft virtuous confederacy that ever exifted upon earth. The Greeks became haughty after their victories. Delivered from the common enemy, they began to quarrel with one another; and their quarrels were fomented by Perfian gold, of which they had acquired enough to make them defirous of B. C. more. Hence proceeded the famous Peloponnefian war, in 431. which the Athenians and Lacedæmonians acted as principals, and drew after them the other ftates of Greece. They continued to weaken themfelves by these inteftine divifions, till Philip, king of Macedon (a country till this time little known, but which, by the active and crafty genius of that prince, became important and powerful) rendered himfelf the abfolute mafter of Greece, by the battle of Charonea. B. C. But this conqueft is one of the firft we meet with in hiftory, which did not depend on the event of a battle. Philip had laid his fcheme fo deeply, and by bribery, promifes, and intrigues, gained over fuch á number of confiderable perfons in the several states of Greece to his intereft, that another day would have put in his poffeffion what Charonea had denied him. The Greeks had loft that virtue which was the bafis of their confederacy. Their popular governments ferved only to give a fanction to their licentioufnels and corruption. The principal orators in moft of their ftates were bribed in the fervice of Philip; and all the eloquence of a Demofthenes, affifted by truth and virtue, was unequal to the mean but more feductive arts of his opponents, who, by flattering the people, used the sureft method of gaining their affections.

338.

B. C.

Philip had propofed to extend the boundaries of his empire beyond the narrow limits of Greece. But he did not long furvive the battle of Charonea. Upon his decease, his fon Alexander was chofen general against the Perfians, by all the Grecian ftates, except the Athenians and Thebans. Thefe made a feeble effort for expiring liberty; but they were obliged to yield to fuperior force. Secure on the fide of Greece, 334. Alexander fet out on his Perfian expedition, at the head of thirty thousand foot, and five thousand horse. The fuccefs of this army in conquering the whole force of Darius in three pitched battles, in over-running and fubduing, not only the countries then known to the

B. C.

reached an European ear, has been described by many authors, both ancient and modern, and conftitutes a fingular part of the hiftory of the world. Soon after this rapid career of victory and fuccefs, Alexander died at Babylon. His captains, after facrificing all 323. his family to their ambition, divided among them his dominions. This gives rife to a number of æras and events too complicated for our prefent purpofe, and even too uninterefting. After confidering therefore the ftate of arts and fciences in Greece, we fhall país over to the Roman affairs, where the historical deduction is more fimple, and alfo more important.

The bare names of illuftrious men who flourished in Greece from the time of Cyrus to that of Alexander, would fill a large volume. During this period, all the arts were carried to the higheft perfection; and the improvements we have hitherto mentioned, were but the dawnings of that glorious day. Though the eastern nations had raifed magnificent and ftupendous ftructures, the Greeks were the first people in the world, who, in their works of architecture, added beauty to magnificence, and elegance to grandeur. The temples of Jupiter Olympius and of the Ephefian Diana were the first monuments of good tafte. They were erected by the Grecian colonies who fettled in Afia Minor before the reign of Cyrus. Phidias, the Athenian, who died in the year B. C. 432, is the firft fculptor whofe works have been immortal. Zeuxis, Parrhafius, and Timanthes, during the fame age, firft difcovered the power of the pencil, and all the magic of painting. Compofition, in all its various branches, reached a degree of perfection in the Greek language, of which a modern reader can hardly form an idea. After Hefiod and Homer, who flourished 1000 years before the Chriftian æra, the tragic poets,

fchylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, were the firft confiderable improvers of poetry. Herodotus gave fimplicity and elegance to profaic writing; Ifocrates gave it cadence and harmony; but it was left to Thucydides and Demofthenes to difcover the full force of the Greek tongue. It was not, however, in the finer arts alone that the Greeks excelled. Every fpecies of philofophy was cultivated among them with the utmost fuccefs. Not to mention the divine Socrates, the virtues of whofe life, and the excellence of whofe philofophy, juftly entitled him to a very high degree of veneration, his three difciples, Plato, Ariftotle, and Xenophon, may, for strength of reafoning, juftnefs of fentiment, and propriety of expreffion, be confidered as the equals of the beft writers of any age or country. Experience, indeed, in a long courfe of years, has taught us many fecrets in nature, with which thofe philofophers were unacquainted, and which no ftrength of genius could divine. But whatever fome vain empirics in learning may pretend, the most learned and ingenious men, both in France and England, have acknowledged the fuperiority of the Greek philofophers, and have reckoned themselves happy in catching their turn of thinking and manner of expreffion. The Greeks were not lefs diftinguifhed for their active than for their fpeculative talents. It would be endlefs to recount the names of their famous ftatefmen and warriors; and it is impoffible to mention a few without doing injuftice to a greater number. War was firft reduced into a fcience by the Greeks. Their foldiers fought from an affection to their country and an ardour for glory, and not from a dread of their fuperiors. We have feen the effects of this military virtue in their wars against the Perfians; the cause of it was the wife laws which Amphictyon, Solon, and Lycurgus, had eftablifhed in Greece. But we muit now leave this nation, whofe hiftory, both civil and philofophical, is as important as their territory was inconfiderable,