they called Prytanis. At last Cypselus having gained the people, usurped the supreme authority, which he transmitted to his son Periander; who held a distinguished rank among the Grecian sages, on account of the love he bore to learning, and the protection and encouragement he gave to learned men.

A. M. 3191. MACEDONIA. It was a long time before the Greeks Ant. J. C. 1813. paid any great attention to Macedonia. Her kings, living retired in woods and mountains, seemed not to be considered as a part of Greece. They pretended, that their kings, of whom CARANUS was the first, were descended from Hercules. Philip, and his son Alexander, raised the glory of this kingdom to a very high pitch. It had subsisted 471 years before the death of Alexander, and continued 155 more, till Perseus was defeated and taken by the Romans; in all, 626 years.

ARTICLE V.

Colonies of the Greeks sent into Asia Minor.

We have already observed, that fourscore years after the taking of Troy, the Heraclidæ recovered Peloponnesus, after having defeated the Pelopidæ, that is, Tisamenes and Penthilus, sons of Orestes; and that they divided the kingdoms of Mycenae, Argos, and Lacedæmon, among themselves.

So great a revolution as this changed almost the whole face of the country, and made way for several very famous transmigrations. To understand these the better, and to have the clearer idea of the situation of many of the Grecian nations, as also of the four dialects, or different idioms of speech, that prevailed among them, it will be necessary to look a little farther back into history.

Deucalion,* who reigned in Thessaly, and under whom happened the flood that bears his name, had by Pyrrha his wife two sons, Hellen and Amphictyon. The latter, having driven Cranaus out of Athens, reigned there in his place. Hellen, if we may believe the historians of his country, gave the name of Hellenes to the Greeks: he had three sons, Æolus, Dorus, and Xuthus.

Eolus, who was the eldest, succeeded his father, and besides Thessaly, had Locris and Boeotia added to his dominions. Several of his descendants went into Peloponnesus with Pelops, the son of Tantalus, king of Phrygia, from whom Peloponnesus took its name, and settled themselves in Laconia.

The country contiguous to Parnassus, fell to the share of Dorus, and from him was called Doris.

Xuthus, compelled by his brothers, upon some private quarrel, to quit his country, retired into Attica, where he married the daughter of Erechtheus, king of the Athenians, by whom he had two sons, Achæus and Ion.

An involuntary murder committed by Achæus, obliged him to re* Strab. 1. viii. p. 383, &c. Pausan. 1. vii. p. 396, &c.

tre to Peloponnesus, which was then called Egialæa, of which one part was from him called Achaia. His descendants settled at Lacedæmon.

Ion, having signalized himself by his victories, was invited by the Athenians to govern their city, and gave his name to the country; for the inhabitants of Attica were likewise called Ionians. The number of the citizens increased to such a degree, that the Athenians were obliged to send a colony of Ionians into Peloponnesus, who likewise gave their name to the country they possessed.

Thus all the inhabitants of Peloponnesus, though composed of dif ferent people, were united under the names of Achæans and Ionians. The Heraclidæ, fourscore years after the taking of Troy, resolved seriously to recover Peloponnesus, which, they imagined, of right belonged to them. They had three principal leaders, sons of Aristomachus, namely, Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus: the last dying, his two sons, Eurysthenes and Procles, succeeded him. The success of their expedition was as happy as the motive was just, and they recovered the possession of their ancient domain. Argos fell to Temenus, Messenia to Cresphontes, and Laconia to the two sons of Aristodemus.

Such of the Achæans as were descended from Eolus, and had hitherto inhabited Laconia, being driven from thence by the Dorians, who accompanied the Heraclide into Peloponnesus, after some wandering, settled in that part of Asia Minor which from them took the name of Æolus, where they founded Smyrna, and eleven other cities; but the city of Smyrna came afterwards into the hands of the Ionians. The Eolians became likewise possessed of several cities of Lesbos.

As for the Achæans of Mycena and Argos, being compelled to abandon their country to the Heraclide, they seized upon that of the Ionians, who dwelt at that time in a part of Peloponnesus. The latter fled at first to Athens, their original country, from whence they some time afterwards departed under the conduct of Nileus and Androcles, both sons of Codrus, and seized upon that part of the coast of Asia Minor which lies between Caria and Lydia, and from them was named Ionia; here they built twelve cities, Ephesus, Clazomene, Samos, &c.

The power of the Athenians,* who had then Codrus for their king, being very much augmented by the great number of refugees that had fled into their country, the Heraclide thought proper to op pose the progress of their power, and for that reason made war upon them. The latter were worsted in a battle, but still remained masters of Megaris, where they built Megara, and settled the Dorians in that country in the room of the Ionians.

One part of the Dorians continued in the country after the death af Codrus,t another went to Crete; the greatest number settled in

that part of Asia Minor which from them was called Doris, where they built Halicarnassus, Cnidus, and other cities, and made themselves masters of the islands of Rhodes, Cos, &c.

The Grecian Dialects.

It will now be more easy to understand what we have to say concerning the several Grecian dialects. These were four in number: the Attic, the Ionic, the Doric, and the Eolic. They were in reality four different languages, each of them perfect in its kind, and used by a distinct nation; but yet all derived from, and grounded upon, the same original tongue. And this diversity of languages can no ways appear wonderful in a country where the inhabitants consisted of different nations, that did not depend upon one another, but had each its particular territories.

1. The Attic dialect is that which was used in Athens, and the country round about. This dialect has been chiefly used by Thucydides, Aristophanes, Plato, Isocrates, Xenophon, and Demosthenes.

2. The Ionic dialect was almost the same with the ancient Attic; but after it had passed into several towns of Asia Minor, and into the adjacent islands, which were colonies of the Athenians, and of the people of Achaia, it received a sort of new tincture, and did not come up to that perfect delicacy which the Athenians afterwards attained. Hippocrates and Herodotus wrote in this dialect.

3. The Doric was first in use among the Spartans, and the people of Argos; it passed afterwards into Epirus, Libya, Sicily, Rhodes, and Crete. Archimedes and Theocritus, both of them Sy racusans, and Pindar, followed this dialect.

4. The Æolic dialect was at first used by the Baotians and their neighbours, and then in Æolis, a country in Asia Minor, between Ionia and Mysia, which contained ten or twelve cities, that were Grecian colonies. Sappho and Alcæus, of whose works very little remains, wrote in this dialect. We find also a mixture of it in the writings of Theocritus, Pindar, Homer, and many others.

ARTICLE VI.

The republican form of government almost generally established throughout Greece.

The reader may have observed, in the little I have said about the several settlements of Greece, that the primordial grounds of all those different states was monarchical government, the most ancient of all forms, the most universally received and established, the most proper to maintain peace and concord; and which, as Plato observes,* is formed upon the model of paternal authority, and of that gentle and moderate dominion, which fathers exercise over their families.

*Plat, de Leg. 1. iii. p. 680.

But, as the state of things degenerated by degrees, through the injustice of usurpers, the severity of lawful masters, the insurrections of the people, and a thousand accidents and revolutions, that happened in those states; a totally different spirit seized the people, which prevailed all over Greece, kindled a violent desire of liberty, and brought about a general change of government every where, except in Macedonia; so that monarchy gave way to a republican government, which however was diversified into almost as many various forms as there were different cities, according to the different genius and peculiar character of each people. However, there still remained a kind of tincture or leaven of the ancient monarchical government, which from time to time inflamed the ambition of many private citizens, and made them desire to become masters of their country. In almost every one of these petty states of Greece, some private persons arose, who without any right to the throne, either by birth or election of the citizens, endeavoured to advance themselves to it by cabal, treachery, and violence; and who, without any respect for the laws, or regard to the public good, exercised a sovereign authority, with a despotic empire and arbitrary sway. In order to support their unjust usurpations in the midst of distrusts and alarms, they thought themselves obliged to prevent imaginary, or to suppress real conspiracies, by the most cruel proscriptions; and to sacrifice to their own security all those whom merit, rank, wealth, zeal for liberty, or love of their country, rendered obnoxious to a suspicious and tottering government, which found itself hated by all and was sensible it deserved to be so. It was this cruel and inhuman treatment that rendered these men so odious, under the appellation of tyrants,* and which furnished such ample matter for the declamation of orators, and the tragical representations of the theatre.

All these cities and districts of Greece, that seemed so entirely disjointed from one another by their laws, customs, and interests, were nevertheless formed and combined into one sole, entire, and united body; whose strength increased to such a degree, as to make the formidable power of the Persians under Darius and Xerxes tremble; and which even then, perhaps, would have entirely overthrown the Persian greatness, had the Grecian states been wise enough to preserve that union and concord among themselves, which afterwards rendered them invincible. This is the scene which I am now to open, and which certainly merits the reader's whole attention.

We shall see, in the following volumes, a small nation, confined within a country not equal to the fourth part of France, disputing for dominoin with the most powerful empire then upon the earth; and we shall see this handful of men, not only making head against the innumerable army of the Persians, but dispersing, routing, and cutting them to pieces, and sometimes reducing the Persian pride This word originally signified no more than king; and was anciently the title of lawful princes.

so low, as to make them submit to conditions of peace, as shameful to the conquered, as glorious for the conquerors.

Among the cities of Greece, there were two that particularly distinguished themselves, and acquired an authority and a kind of superiority over the rest, solely by their merit and conduct: these two were Lacedæmon and Athens. As these cities make a considerable figure, and act an illustrious part in the ensuing history, before I enter upon particulars, I think I ought first to give the reader some idea of the genius, character, manners, and government, of their respective inhabitants. Plutarch, in the lives of Lycurgus and Solon, will furnish me with the greatest part of what I have to say upon this head.

ARTICLE VII.

The Spartan government. Laws established by Lycurgus.

There is perhaps nothing in profane history better attested, and at the same time more incredible, than what relates to the government of Sparta, and the discipline established in it by Lycurgus. This legislator was the son of Eunomus,* one of the two kings who reigned together in Sparta. It would have been easy for Lycurgus to have ascended the throne after the death of his eldest brother, who left no son behind him; and in fact he was king for some days. But, as soon as his sister-in-law was found to be with child, he declared that the crown belonged to her son, if she had one; and from thenceforth he governed the kingdom only as his guardian. In the mean time, the widow gave him secretly to understand, that if he would promise to marry her when he was king, she would destroy the fruit of her womb. Šo detestable a proposal struck Lycurgus with horror; however, he concealed his indignation, and amusing the woman with different pretences, so managed it, that she went her full time, and was delivered. As soon as the child was born, he proclaimed him king, and took care to have him brought up and educated in a proper manner. This prince, on account of the joy which the people testified at his birth, was named Charilaus.

The state was at this time in great disorder;† the authority, both of the kings and the laws, being absolutely despised and disregarded. No curb was strong enough to restrain the audaciousness of the people, which every day increased more and more.

Lycurgus formed the bold design of making a thorough reformation in the Spartan government; and to be the more capable of making wise regulations, he thought fit to travel into several countries, in order to acquaint himself with the different manners of other nations, and to consult the most able and experienced persons in the art of government. He began with the island of Crete, whose harsh and austere laws are very famous; from thence he passed into