principally in contests of skill in all the athletic exercises, and the prizes were chiefly honorary marks of distinction. The Olympic games were first celebrated at Olympia, in 1453 B. C., every fiftieth month, or the second month after the completion of four years.*-Archbishop Potter, in his Archaelogia Græca, fully details their particular nature. These games had excellent political effects, in promoting national union, in diffusing the love of glory, and training the youth to martial exercises. They cherished at once a heroical and a superstitious spirit, which led to the formation of extraordinary and hazardous enterprises. They also promoted the diffusion of knowledge, arts, sciences, and literature, by the trials of skill, which took place on these occasions, in poetry, history, and music; and it is chiefly to these latter exercises of genius that we must attribute the eminence of the Greeks in those sciences above all the nations of antiquity.

4. [It is deserving of notice, that whatever gods the Greeks adopted, no separate order of priesthood was established among them, still less any caste laying claim to the exclusive possession of knowledge. Several traces, nevertheless, make it probable that many of the most ancient sanctuaries were settlements of Egyptian, Phoenician, or other priests, who imported with them their own peculiar forms of worship. And notwithstanding this worship consisted merely of outward ceremonies, many ideas and institutions which were attached to it became, in this manner, the common property of the nation.

5. It happened with Greece, as with other countries, that civilization grew up under the shelter of the sanctuary, where strangers met in peace and conversed on their common interests. The ancient minstrels, Orpheus, Linus, &c., also contributed to the spread of civilization, in allaying the passion for revenge, and with it the perpetual state of warfare which had hitherto distracted the country.

6. The chivalrous spirit of the nation was gradually aroused, and developed the first bloom of its youthful vigour in the heroic ages. An affection for extraordinary undertakings was excited, and conducted the chieftains not only individually, but also in confederate bodies, beyond the limits of their own country. Thus, everything was ripe for some great national undertaking of all the combined Hellenic nations; and that object was attained in the war against Troy. The important result of that expedition was the kindling of one common national spirit, which, in spite of dissensions and feuds, was never wholly extinguished; and from that time the Hellenes always looked upon themselves as but one people.]

The Greeks did not begin to compute the time by Olympiads until 776 B C., 29 years before the Babylonian era of Nabonassar, and 149 years before the building of Rome.

SECTION XVI.

THE HISTORY OF GREECE.

Second Period. The Argonautic Expedition-Wars of Thebes and of Troy. 1225—1184, B.C.

1. THE history of Greece, for a period of 300 years preceding the Trojan war, is intermixed with fables; but contains, at the same time, many facts entitled to credit as authentic. Erectheus, or Ericthonius, either a Greek who had visited Egypt, or the leader of a new Egyptian colony, cultivated the plains of Eleusis, and instituted, in honour of Ceres, the Eleusinian mysteries,* in imitation of the Egyptian games of Isis. These mysteries were of a religious and moral nature, conveying the doctrines of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, and a future state of reward and punishment. Cicero speaks of them with high encomium. But the ceremonies connected with them were childish and ridiculous. They were celebrated in the autumn of every fifth year at Eleusis.

2. Theseus laid the foundation of the grandeur of Attica, by uniting its twelve detached states or cities, which before were governed by their own magistrates and laws. He gave them a common constitution (1257 B. c.), abolished the separate magistracies, and, in conjuction with the principal men of each state, framed a new code of laws. [Erectheus had divided the citizens into four classes; but Theseus reduced them to three-the nobles, the artisans, and the labourers. On the nobles he conferred the sole regulation of all that regarded religion, the administration of justice and public polity, which had the effect of keeping the people for ever embroiled in civil commotions, in their endeavour to restrain the pretensions of the nobles. Having the priests at all times under their influence, the nobles assumed to themselves a divine origin, the better to support their authority, and instituted religious rites in honour of their pretended divine progenitors; and if they did not prevail so far as to pass with their cotemporaries for the offspring of the gods, it is no wonder that succeeding ages should have been led to entertain that idea of them, when supported by the ceremonies of religion. In this manner, Castor, Pollux, Hercules, &c., came to be deified.]

3. The first great enterprise of the Greeks was the Argonautic expedition to Colchis, under the command of Jason, a Thessalian prince, 1263 B. C. (Usher), or 937 B. C. (Sir Isaac Newton). Castor, Pollux, Orpheus, Hercules, Pelcus, and Laertes, were also subordinate leaders. This is supposed to have been both a military and mercantile adventure, and was singularly bold for the times in which it was undertaken. The object was to open

For a full account of these mysteries, see Cumberland's Observer, No. 115.

the commerce of the Euxine sea, and to secure some establishments upon its Asiatic coasts. For these purposes, a fleet and troops were necessary. The armament consisted of many ships, of which Argo, the largest, was equal to the size of a modern vessel of 200 tons burden. The astronomer Chiron directed the plan of the voyage, and formed, for the use of the mariners, a scheme of the constellations, fixing with accuracy the solstitial and equinoctial points. Sir Isaac Newton has founded his emendation of the ancient chronology on a calculation of the regular precession of the equinoxes from this period to the present, as well as on an estimate of the medium length of human generations.

4. The state of the military art at this time in Greece may be estimated from an account of the sieges of Thebes and of Troy. In these enterprises, the arts of attack and defence were very rude and imperfect. The seige was entirely of the nature of blockade, and therefore neccessarily of long duration.—A dispute for the alternate sovereignty of Thebes between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Edipus, gave rise to the war which, after a long contest, was terminated by single combat, in which both were killed-an issue for the quarrels of princes which the humane reader of history will often find reason to wish had been more frequently resorted to.*

5. Some years after, the sons of the commanders slain in this war renewed the quarrel of their fathers, and occasioned what was called the war of the Epigonoi-that is, the descendants or sons of the former-in which the city of Thebes was entirely destroyed by the Argives, 1215 B. C. Upon this subject Homer is said to have written a poem, now lost, equal to the Iliad and Odyssey.

6. The Trojan war was undertaken about thirty-five years after the Argonautic expedition, the detail of which rests chiefly on the authority of Homer, and ought not, in spite of modern scepticism, to be refused, in its principal facts, the credit of a true history. The immediate cause of the war was the elopement of Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, with Paris, the son of Priam, king of Troy. The injured husband applied to the Grecian princes for assistance, when a confederate army was raised, and placed under the command of Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus. It is however probable, that a previous animosity had subsisted between the Greeks and Trojans, otherwise a personal injury of that nature would not have been so readily espoused by all the princes of Greece. Ten years is said to have been spent in preparing for this war. Troy at that time was a considerable state, extending from the Isle of Tenedos to

Eteocles and Polynices were bequeathed the joint sovereignty of Thebes; but instead of dividing the kingdom, they agreed to govern it year after year alternately. Eteocles, at the expiration of his term, refusing to resign, Polynices solicited the aid of Adrastus, king of Argos, and other princes, to assist him; but his brother having the support of the Thebans, was able to resist their united forces.

Upper Phrygia, and having alliances with many of the princes of Lesser Asia. The city of Troy is supposed to have been about four or five miles from the shore, at the foot of that ridge of mountains which goes under the name of Ida. The Grecian mode of warfare was to ravage and plunder the country-thus cutting off the sources of supply,—and attacking the Trojans whenever they made a sally for the purpose of foraging, or attempted to force their fortified camps. After a blockade of ten years, Troy was taken, either by storm or surprise, 1184 B. C. (Usher), or 904 B. C. (Sir I. Newton), and, being set on fire in the night, was burned to the ground: not a vestige of its ruins existing at the present day. The miserable Trojans perished either in the flames or by the sword of the Greeks, and their empire and name were extinguished for ever. The Greeks, about eighty years after, settled a colony near the spot; and the rest of the kingdom was occupied by the Lydians.

7. Military expeditions at this time were carried on only in the spring and summer.-In a tedious siege, the winter was a season of armistice.—The science of military tactics was then utterly unknown, every battle being a multitude of single combats. The soldier had no pay but his share of the booty, divided by the chiefs.-The weapons of war were the sword, the bow, the javelin, the club, the hatchet, and the sling. A helmet of brass, an enormous shield (made of thin metal, and covered with the hide of an animal), a cuirass, and buskins, were the weapons of defence.

SECTION XVII.

THE HISTORY OF GREECE.

Second Period-Establishment of the Greek Colonies.

1. ABOUT eighty years after the taking of Troy, began the war of the Heraclidæ. Amphitryon, the grandson of Perseus, the founder of Mycenae, having involuntarily killed his uncle and father-in-law, Electryon, the successor of Perseus, he was obliged to fly his country, while the government was seized by his uncle Sthenelus, the brother of Electryon. By this usurpation, Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, was excluded from the government, and banished with all his family. His descendants, Cresphontes and Aristodemus, after the period of a century, returned to Peloponnesus, and, subduing all their enemies, took possession of the states of Mycenæ, Argos, and Lacedæmon. Cresphontes seized Mycena and Argos; and the two sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles, divided Lacedæmon.

2. A long period of civil war and bloodshed succeeded; and Greece, divided among a number of petty tyrants, who maintained a constant war with their neighbours, suffered equally the miseries of oppression and anarchy, and was again thrown back

into barbarism. This state of society at last became insupportable, and the very name of king became odious.

The Heraclidæ, in their war against the Athenians, were assured of their success by the oracle, provided they did not kill Codrus, then king of Athens. But he, having become acquainted with this condition, showed a singular example of patriotism, in devoting himself to death for his country-he disguised himself like a peasant, and purposely quarrelling with a soldier of the hostile army, procured the death he wished. Medon and Nileus, the sons of Codrus, disputed the succession to the crown; but the Athenians, weary of monarchy, determined to make the experiment of a popular constitution; and they elected Medon chief magistrate for life, with the title of Archon, or the commander. This is the commencement of the Athenian republic, about 1068

B. C.

3. It was at this time that the Greeks began to colonise. The oppression which they suffered at home forced many of them to abandon their country, and seek refuge in other lands.—A large body of Eolians, from Peloponnesus, founded twelve cities on the opposite coast of Lesser Asia, of which Smyrna was the most considerable; and Mitylene, in the island of Lesbos. Nileus, disappointed at Athens, also carried over into Asia a large body of the disaffected Athenians, along with some Ionian exiles, and settled on the southern coast of Lydia, and the northern shore of Caria; which, together with the islands of Samos and Chios, took from them the name of Ionia. There they built Ephesus, Colophon, Clazomene, and other towns, on the mainland; and in the islands, Samos and Chios. The Dorians sent off colonies to Italy and Sicily, founding, in the former, Tarentum and Locri, and in the latter, Syracuse and Agrigentum. These again, at a later period, colonised the islands of Crete, Rhodes, and Cos, and founded the cities of Halicarnassus and Cnidus in Asia. The shores of the Propontis, the Black Sea, and the Palus Mæotis, were likewise covered with Grecian settlements. The mother-country considered its colonies as entitled to great favour and assistance, but still as emancipated children.-These speedily attained to eminence and splendour, rivalling and surpassing their parent states; and the example of their prosperity, which was attributed to the freedom of their governments, incited the states of Greece, oppressed by a number of petty despots, to put an end to the regal government and try the experiment of a popular constitution. Athens and Thebes gave the first examples, which were soon followed by all the rest.

4. These infant republics demanded new laws; and it was necessary that some enlightened citizens should arise, who had discernment to perceive what system of legislation was most adapted to the character of his native state; who had abilities to compile such a system, and sufficient authority with his countrymen to recommend and enforce it. Such men were the Spartan Lycurgus and the Athenian Solon.