of it was INACHUS. His successors were, his son PHOROneus, Apis, Argus, from whom the country took its name; and after several others, GLEANOR, Who was dethroned and expelled his kingdom by DANAUS the Egyptian.* The successors of this last were first, LYNCEUS, the son of his brother Ægyptus, who alone, of fifty brothers, escaped the cruelty of the Danaides; then ABAS, PROETUS, and ACRISIUS.

Of Danaë, daughter of the last, was born Perseus, who having, when he was grown up, unfortunately killed his grandfather Acrisius, and not being able to bear the sight of Argos, where he committed that involuntary murder, withdrew to Mycena, and there fixed the seat of his kingdom.

MYCENE. Perseus then translated the seat of the kingdom from Argos to Mycena. He left several sons behind him; among others, Alcæus, Sthenelus, and Electryon. Alcæus was the father of Amphitryon, Sthenelus of Eurystheus, and Electryon of Alcmena. Amphitryon married Alcmena, upon whom Jupiter begat Hercules.

Eurystheus and Hercules came into the world the same day; but as the birth of the former was, by Juno's management antecedent to that of the latter, Hercules was forced to be subject to him, and was obliged, by his order, to undertake the twelve labours, so celebrated in fable.

The kings who reigned at Mycenae after Perseus, were, ELECTRYON, STHENELUS, and EURYSTHEUS. The last, after the death of Hercules, declared open war against his descendants, apprehending they might some time or other attempt to dethrone him, which, as it happened, was done by the Heraclidæ ; for having killed Eurystheus in battle, they entered victorious into Peloponnesus, and made themselves masters of the country. But, as this happened before the time determined by fate, a plague ensued, which, with the direction of an oracle, obliged them to quit the country. Three years after this, being deceived by the ambiguous expression of the oracle, they made a second attempt, which likewise proved fruitless. This was about twenty years before the taking of Troy.

ATREUS, the son of Pelops, uncle by the mother's side to Eurystheus, succeeded the latter. And in this manner the crown came to the descendants of Pelops, from whom Peloponnesus, which before was called Apia, derived its name. The bloody hatred of two brothers, Atreus and Thyestes, is known to all the world.

PLISTHENES, the son of Atreus, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Mycena, which he left to his son AGAMEMNON, who was succeeded by his son Orestes. The kingdom of Mycena was filled with enormous and horrible crimes, from the time it came into the family of Pelops.

TISAMENES and PENTHILUS, Sons of Orestes, reigned after their father, and were at last driven out of Peloponnesus by the Heraclidæ.

ATHENS. CECROPS, a native of Egypt, was the founder of this kingdom. Having settled in Attica, he divided all the country subject to him into twelve districts. He also established the Areopagus.

This august tribunal, in the reign of his successor CRANAUS, adjudged the famous dispute between Neptune and Mars. In this time happened Deucalion's flood. The deluge of Ogyges in Attica was much more ancient, being a thousand and twenty years before the first Olympiad, and consequently in the year of the world 2208.

AMPHICTYON, the third king of Athens, procured a confederacy between twelve nations, which assembled twice a year at Thermopyla, there to offer their common sacrifices, and to consult together upon their affairs in general, as also upon the affairs of each nation in particular. This convention was called the Assembly of the Amphictyons.

The reign of ERECTHEUS is remarkable for the arrival of Ceres in Attica, after the rape of her daughter Proserpine, as also for the institution of the mysteries at Eleusis.

A. M. 2530. Ant. J. C. 1474.

†A. M. 2448. Ant. J C. 1556

The reign of EGEUS, the son of Pandion, is the most illustrious period of the history of the heroes.* In his time are placed the expedition of the Argonauts; the celebrated labours of Hercules; the war of Minos, second king of Crete, against the Athenians; the story of Theseus and Ariadne.

THESEUS Succeeded his father Egeus. Cecrops had divided Attica into twelve boroughs, or districts, separated from each other. Theseus brought the people to understand the advantages of a common government, and united the twelve boroughs into one city, or body politic, in which the whole authority was united.

CODRUS was the last king of Athens; he devoted himself to death for his people. After him the title of king was extinguished among the Athenians.† MEDON, his son, was set at the head of the commonwealth with the title of archon, that is to say, president or governor. The first archons were for life; but the Áthenians, growing weary of a government which they still thought bore too great resemblance to royal power, made their archons elective every ten years, and at last reduced it to an annual office.

THEBES. Cadmus, who came by sea from the coast of Phoenicia, that is, from about Tyre and Sidon, seized upon that part of the country which was afterwards called Boeotia. He built there the city of Thebes, or at least a citadel, which from his own name he called Cadmæa, and there fixed the seat of his power and dominion.

The fatal misfortune of Laius, one of his successors, and of Jocasta his wife, of Edipus their son, of Eteocles and Polynices, who were born of the incestuous marriage of Jocasta with Edipus, have furnished ample matter for fabulous narration and theatrical representations.

SPARTA, OF LACEDEMON. It is supposed that LELEX, the first king of Laconia, began his reign about one thousand five hundred and sixteen years before the Christian era.

TYNDARUS, the ninth king of Lacedæmon, had, by Leda, Castor and Pollux, who were twins, besides Helena, and Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycena. Having survived his two sons, the twins, he began to think of choosing a successor, by seeking a husband for his daughter Helena. All the pretenders to this princess bound themselves by oath to abide by, and en tirely submit to the choice which the lady herself should make, who determined in favour of Menelaus. She had not lived above three years with her husband, before she was carried off by Alexander or Paris, son of Priam, king of the Trojans, which rape was the cause of the Trojan war. Greece did not properly begin to know or experience her united strength, till the famous siege of that city, where Achilles, the Ajaxes, Nestor, and Ulysses, gave Asia sufficient reasons to forebode her future subjection to their posterity. The Greeks took Troy after a siege of ten years, much about the time that Jephtha governed the people of God, that is, according to Bishop Usher, in the year of the world 2820, and 1184 before Jesus Christ. This epoch is famous in history, and should be carefully remembered, as well as that of the Olympiads.

An Olympiad is the revolution of four complete years from one celebration of the Olympic games to another. We shall elsewhere give an account of the institution of these games, which were celebrated every four years, near the town of Pisa, otherwise called Olympia.

The common era of the Olympiads begins in the summer of the year of the world 3228, seven hundred and seventy-six years before Jesus Christ, from the games in which Chorebus won the prize in the foot-race.

Eighty years after the taking of Troy, the Heraclidæ re-entered the Peloponnesus, and seized Lacedæmon, where two brothers, Eurysthenes and Procles, sons of Aristodemus, began to reign together, and from their time the sceptre always continued jointly in the hands of the descendants of those two families. Many years after this, Lycurgus instituted that body of laws for the Spartan

A. M. 2720. Ant. J. C. 1284.

† A. M. 2934. Ant. J. C. 1070.

A. M. 3549. Ant. J. C. 1455.

state, which rendered both the legislature and the republic so famous in hi❤ tory. I shall speak of them at large in the sequel.

CORINTH. Corinth began later than the other cities I have been speaking of to be governed by particular kings. It was at first subject to those of Argos and Mycena; at last Sisyphus, the son of Eolus, made himself master of it. But his descendants were dispossessed of the throne by the Heraclidæ, about one hundred and ten years after the siege of Troy.

The regal power after this came to the descendants of Bacchis, under whom the monarchy was changed into an aristocracy, that is, the reins of the gover ment were in the hands of the elders, who annually chose from among them. selves a chief magistrate, whom they called Prytanis. At last Cypselus having gained the people, usurped the supreme authority, which he transmitted to his son Periander, who was ranked among the Grecian sages, on account of the love he bore to learning, and the protection and encouragement he gave to learned men.

MACEDONIA. It was a long time before the Greeks had any great regard 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 degree. It had subsisted four hundred and seventy-one years before the death of Alexander, and continued one hundred and fifty-five more, till Perseus was beaten and taken by the Romans; in all six hundred and twenty-six years.

ARTICLE V.

COLONIES OF THE GREEKS SENT INTO ASIA MINOR.

We have already observed, that eighty years after the taking of Troy, the Heraclidæ recovered Peloponnesus, after having defeated the Pelopida, that is, Tisamenes and Penthilus, sons of Orestes; and that they divided the kingdoms of Mycenæ, Argos, and Lacedæmon, among them.

So great a revolution as this almost changed the face of the country, and made way for several very famous transmigrations; which, the better to understand, and to have the clearer idea of the situation 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, Helenus and Amphictyon. This last, having driven Cranaus out of Athens, reigned there in his stead. Helenus, if we may believe the historians of his country, gave the name of Helenes 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 particular disgust, 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 retire 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 the country his name; for the inhabitants of Attica were likewise called Ionians. The number of the citizens increased

A. M. 2628. Ant. J. C. 1376.

†A. M. 3191. Ant. J. C. 813.

Strab. 1. viii. p. 383, &c. Pausan. I. vii. p. 396, &c.

> such a degree, that the Athenians were obliged to send a colony of the Ioians into Peloponnesus, who likewise gave the name to the country they posessed.

Thus all the inhabitants of Peloponnesus, though composed of different >eople, were united under the names of Achæans and Ionians.

The Heraclidæ, eighty years after the taking of Troy, resolved seriously to ecover Peloponnesus, which of right belonged to them. They had three principal leaders, sons of Aristomachus, namely, Timenes, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus; the last dying, his two sons, Euristhenes 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 dominion. Argos fell to Timenes, Messenia to Cresphontes, and Laconia to the two sons of Aristodemus.

Such of the Achæans as were descended from Æolus, and had hitherto inhabited Laconia, being driven from thence by the Dorians, who accompanied the Heraclidæ into Peloponnesus, after some wandering, settled in that part of Asia Minor, which from them took the name of Eolis, where they founded Smyrna, and eleven other cities; but the town 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 Heraclidæ, 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 sometime 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, Clazomenæ, 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 were fled into their country, the Heraclide thought proper to oppose the progress of their power, and for that reason made war upon them. The latter were defeated 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 of Codrus, another went to Crete; the greatest number settled in that part of Asia Minor, which from them was called Doris, where they built Halicarnassus, Cnidos, and other cities, and made themselves masters of the island of Rhodes, Cos, &c.t

THE GRECIAN DIALECTS.

Ir 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 Ionie, 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 founded upon the same original tongue. And this diversity of languages is by no means wonderful in a country where the inhabitants consisted of different nations, that did not depend upon one another, but had cach 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

*Strab. p. 393.

† Strab. p. 653.

Athenians afterwards attained to. 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. Archime'des and Theocritus, both of them Syracusans, and Pindar, followed this dialect. 4. The Eolic dialect was at first used by the Boeotians 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 ground of all those different states was monarchial government, which was 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.*

But, as the state of things degenerated by degrees, through the injustice of usurpers, and severity of lawful masters, the insurrections of the people, and a thousand accidents and revolutions that happened in those states, a different spirit seized the people, which prevailed throughout 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 go vernment, 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.

There still, however, remained a kind of tincture or spirit of the ancient monarchial government, which frequently inflamed the ambition of private citizens, and made them desire to become masters of their country. In almost every state 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 distrust 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 unsettled government, which found itself hated by all, and was sen sible it deserved to be so. It was this cruel and inhuman treatment that ren dered these men so odious, and brought upon them 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 different from one another, in 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 over. thrown the Persian greatness, had the Grecian states been wise enough to have preserved that union and concord among themselves, which afterwards ren

*Plat. I. iii. de Leg. p. 680.

This word originally signified no more than king, and was anciently the title of lawful princes.