OF DR. GOLDSMITH'S HISTORY OF GREECE, ABRIDGED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. REVISED, CORRECTED, AND VERY CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED, BY NUMEROUS USEFUL NOTES: TOGETHER WITH A SHORT DICTIONARY, PREFIXED TO EACH SECTION, EXPLAINING EVERY DIFFICULTY AND FIXING THE PROPER SOUND AND MEANING OF THE WORDS. ALSO QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION, AT THE END OF EACH SECTION. SIXTEENTH EDITION, AUGMENTED AND MUCH IMPROVED, BY W. C. TAYLOR, LL.D. OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. WITH SEVERAL ENGRAVINGS. LONDON: WHITTAKER & Co. AVE MARIA LANE. THE alterations that have been made in this new edition of the Grecian history are so numerous and extensive, as almost to make it a new work. The original history of Dr. Goldsmith contains many anecdotes of questionable authority, and very doubtful interest, derived from Plutarch and Curtius, while such important matters as the Dorian migration and the sedition of Cylon are wholly omitted. The compiler of the Abridgement following the same track, hurried over some of the most important periods with brief and scanty notice, while he assigned very disproportionate length to a few isolated incidents. The present editor has endeavoured to remedy both evils, by abridging whatever appeared too diffuse, expanding those parts which were so brief as to be scarcely intelligible, and supplying the numerous omissions of the original work. The authorities to which he has principally had recourse, are the histories of Gillies and Mitford in the earlier part of the work, and Leland and Gast for the period subsequent to the third Peloponnesian war. A brief sketch of modern Grecian history is subjoined, in order that the student may have an opportunity of comparing the present prospects with the former fame of Greece. M842684 The introductory chapters are for the most part an abridgement of Professor Heeren's valuable work on the political history of Greece; they contain a view of the principal causes that operated in forming the national character of that people, whose history the student is about to peruse, and a sketch of those circumstances of situation, climate, religion, and government, which influenced, in no small degree, the various fortunes of the different states. The concluding chapters contain some account of Grecian literature and philosophy, designed to stimulate, rather than gratify curiosity; and to excite in the youthful student a desire for more intimate acquaintance with those works, which, after the lapse of so many centuries, still continue the noblest monuments of human genius. A brief sketch of the history of the minor states and of the islands is subjoined in the Appendix, and references are given to the share they had in any of the transactions recorded in the body of the work. A genealogical table of the Macedonian dynasties is added, to facilitate the understanding of the wars that followed the death of Alexander. The history of the Grecian colonies, of the Greek kingdoms founded by the successors of Alexander, and of the Asiatic empires, which vainly attempted to destroy the liberties of Greece, will be found in the Historical Miscellany, a work designed as a companion to this and the histories of Rome and England. The contest between Greece and Persia is the most interesting event in the annals of mankind, and in order to understand it aright, the student is recommended to make himself acquainted with the history of both nations. Poetical mottoes have been affixed to the several sections; they have been found useful in other historical works, and it is hoped that they will not in the present instance be found inefficacious. W. C. T. A 3 |