vice. In the mean time, he persuaded them to take an oath for the strict observance of all his laws till his return, and then departed with a full resolution of never seeing Sparta more. When he was arrived at Delphos, he consulted the oracle to know whether the laws he had made were sufficient to render the Lacedæmonians happy; and being answered, that nothing was wanting to their perfection, he sent this answer to Sparta, and then voluntarily starved himself to death. Others say, that he died in Crete, ordering his body to be burned, and his ashes to be thrown into the sea. The death of this great lawgiver gave a sanction and authority to his laws which his life was unable to confer. The Spartans regarded his end as the most glorious of all his actions, a noble finishing of all his former services; they considered themselves as bound by every tie of gratitude and religion to a strict observance of all his institutions: and the long continuance of the Spartan government is a proof of their persevering resolution.

The Lacedæmonians thus constituted, seemed only desirous of an opportunity of displaying the superiority of their power among the neighboring states, their rivals. The war between them and the Messenians soon taught them to know the advantages of their military institutions; but as I am hastening to more important events, I will touch upon this as concisely as I can. There was a temple of Diana common to the Messenians and Lacedæmonians, standing upon the borders of either kingdom. It was there that the Messenians were accused of attempting the chastity of some Spartan virgins; and of killing Teleculus, one of the Spartan kings, who interposed in their defence. The Messenians, on the other hand, denied the charge, and averred that these supposed virgins were young men thus dressed up with daggers under their clothes, and placed there by Teleculus with an intent to surprise them. To the mutual resentment occasioned by this, another cause of animosity was soon after added: Polychares, a Messenian, who had won the prize in the Olympic games, let out some cows to pasture to Euphænus, a Lacedæmonian, who was to pay himself for their keeping with a share of the increase. Euphænus sold the cows, and pretended they were stolen from him. Polychares sent his son to demand the money; but the Lacedæmonian, to aggravate his crime, killed the young man, and persuaded his countrymen to give no redress. Polychares, therefore, undertook to do himself justice, and killed all the Lacedæmonians that came in his way.

Expostulations passed between both kingdoms, till at last the affair came to a general war, which was carried on for many years, with doubtful success. In this situation the Messenians sent to consult the oracle of Delphos, who required the sacrifice of a virgin of the family of Epytus. Upon casting lots among the descendants of this prince, the chance fell upon the daughter of Lycisus: but being thought to be suppositious, Aristodemus offered his daughter, whom all allowed to be his own. Her lover, however, attempted to avert the blow, by asserting, that she was with child by him, but her father was so enraged that he ripped up her belly with his own hands to assert her innocence. The enthusiasm which this sacrifice produced, served for a while to give the Messenians the advantage; but being at last overthrown and besieged in the city of Ithoe, Aristodemus, finding all things desperate, slew himself upon his daughter's grave. With him fell the kingdom of Messenia, not without a most obstinate resistance and many a defeat of the Spartan army, which they held thus engaged for above twenty years. Nor must we omit one memorable transaction of the Lacedæmonians, during this war: having drained their city of all its male inhabitants, and obliged themselves by oath not to return until their designs were accomplished: their women, in the mean time, remonstrated, that from their long absence all posterity would be at an end. To remedy this inconvenience, they detached fifty of their most promising young men from the army to go to Sparta, and to lie promiscuously with all the young women they fancied. The offspring of these virgins were, from them, called Partheniæ; who finding themselves contemned and slighted by the Spartans on their return, joined, some years after, in an insurrection with the Helotes; but were soon suppressed. Being expelled the state, they went under the conduct of their captain, Philanthus, and settled at. Tarentum, in Italy.

After a rigorous subjection of thirty-nine years, the Messenians, once more, made a vigorous struggle for freedom, being headed by Aristomenes, a young man of great courage and capacity. The success of the first engagement was doubtful; and the Lacedæmonians being advised by the oracle to send for a general from among the Athenians, this politic state sent them Tyrtæus, a poet and schoolmaster, whose chief business was to harrangue and repeat his own verses. The Spartans were little pleased with their new leader; but their veneration for the oracle kept them obedient to his commands. Their success, however, did not

seem to improve with their duty; they suffered a defeat from Aristomenes, who losing his shield in the pursuit, their total overthrow was prevented. A second and a third defeat followed soon after; so that the Lacedæmonians, quite dispirited, had thoughts of concluding a peace upon any terms; but Tyrtæus so inflamed them by his orations and songs in praise of military glory, that they resolved upon another battle, in which they were victorious; and, soon after, Aristomenes was taken prisoner in a skirmish, with fifty of his followers.

The adventures of this hero deserve our notice. Being carried prisoner to Sparta, he was thrown into a deep dungeon which had been used for the execution of malefactors, and his fifty soldiers with him. They were all killed by the fall, except Aristomenes, who finding a wild beast at the bottom preying upon a carcase, he secured the animal's mouth, and continued to hold by the tail, until the beast made directly to its hole. There, finding the issue too narrow, he was obliged to let go his hold; but following the track with his eye, he perceived a glimmering from above, and at length wrought his way out. After this extraordinary escape he repaired immediately to his troops; and, at their head, made a successful sally, by night, against the Corinthian forces. Nevertheless he was once more, shortly after, taken by some Cretans; but his keepers being made drunk, he stabbed them with their own daggers, and returned to his forces. But his single valor was not sufficient to avert the ruin of his country; although, with his own single prowess, he had thrice earned the Hecatomphonia, a sacrifice due to those who had killed one hundred of the enemy hand to hand in battle. The body of his forces being small, and fatigued with continual duty, the city of Eira, which he defended, was taken; and the Messenians were obliged to take refuge with Anaxilas, a prince of Sicily. As A. M. for Tyrtæus, the Lacedæmonians made him free of 3340. their city, which was the highest honor they had in

their power to bestow. By the accession of the Messenian country to the territory of Sparta, this state became one of the most powerful of all Greece, and was second only to Athens, which state is always considered with an eye of jealousy.

CHAP. III.

OF THE GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS, THE LAWS OF SOLON, AND THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC FROM THE TIME OF SOLON TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PERSIAN WAR.

WE now return to Athens. Codrus, the last king of this state, having devoted himself for the good of his country, a magistrate, under the title of Archon, was appointed to succeed him. The first who bore this office was Medon, the son of the late king, who being opposed by his brother Nileus, was preferred by the oracle, and accordingly invested with his new dignity. This magistracy was at first for life; it was soon reduced to a period of ten years, and at last became annual; and in this state it continued for near three hundred years. During this inactive government little offers to adorn the page of history; the spirit of extensive dominion. had not as yet entered into Greece, and the citizens were too much employed in their private intrigues to attend to foreign concerns. Athens, therefore, continued a long time incapable of enlarging her power; content with safety amidst the contending interests of aspiring potentates and factious citi

zens.

A desire of being governed by written laws, at last made A. M. way for a new change in government. For more than a century, they had seen the good effects of S$80. laws in the regulation of the Spartan commonwealth; and, as they were a more enlightened people they expected greater advantages from a new institution. In the choice, therefore, of a legislator, they pitched upon Draco, a man of acknowledged wisdom, and unshaken integrity; but rigid even beyond human sufferance. It does not appear, that any state of Greece was possessed of written laws before his time. However, he was not afraid to enact the most severe laws, which laid the same penalties on the most atrocious and the most trifling offences. These laws which punished all crimes with death, and which were said not to be written with ink, but with blood, were too cruel to be duly and justly administered. Sentiments of humanity in the judges, compassion for the accused, when his fault was not equal to his suffering, the unwillingness of witnesses to exact too cruel an atonement, their fears also of the resentment of the people; all these conspired to render the laws obsolete, before they could well be put into execution. Thus, the new laws counteracted their own purpose; and their excessive rigor paved the way for the most dangerous impunity.

It was in this distressful state of the commonwealth, that Solon was applied to for his advice and assistance, as the wisest and justest man of all Athens. His great learning had acquired him the reputation of being the first of the seven wise men of Greece; and his known humanity procured him the love and veneration of every rank among his fellow-citizens. Solon was a native of Salamis, an island dependent on Athens; but which had revolted, to put itself under the power of the Megareans. In attempting to recover this island, the Athenians had spent much blood and treasure; until, at last, wearied out with such ill success, a law was made rendering it capital ever to advise the recovery of their lost possession. Solon, however, undertook to persuade them to another trial; and, feigning himself mad, ran about the streets, using the most violent gestures and language; but the purport of all was, upbraiding the Athenians for their remissness and effeminacy in giving up their conquests in despair. In short he acted his part so well, by the oddity of his manner, and the strength of his reasoning, that the people resolved upon another expedition against Salamis; and by a stratagem of his contrivance, in which he introduced several young men upon the island in women's clothes, the place was surprised, and added to the dominion. of Athens.

But this was not the only occasion on which he exhibited superior address and wisdom. At a time when Greece had carried the arts of eloquence, poetry and government, higher than they had yet been seen among mankind, Solon was considered as one of the foremost in each perfection. The sages of Greece, whose fame is still undiminished, acknowledged his merit, and adopted him as their associate. The correspondence between these wise men was at once instructive, friendly, and sincere. They were seven in number, namely, Thales the Milesian, Solon of Athens, Chilo of Lacedæmon, Pittacus of Mitilene, Periander of Corinth, Bias and Cleobolus, whose birth places are not ascertained. Those sages often visited each other; and their conversations generally turned upon the methods of instituting the best form of government, or the arts of private happiness. One day when Solon went to Miletos to see Thales, the first thing he said was to express his surprise that Thales had never desired to marry, or have children. Thales made him no answer then, but a few days after he contrived that a stranger, supposed to arrive from Athens, should join their

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