dom, they abridged the term of the Archon's power to ten years, and at last made the office elective every year.

A. M.

The kingdom of Thebes was first founded by Cadmus. This hero coming by sea from the coast of 2549. Phoenicia, settled in that part of the country which was afterwards called Bootia. He there built the city of Thebes, which, from his own name, he called Cadmaæ, and there fixed his seat of power and dominion. The adventures of his unhappy posterity, Laius, Jocasto, Oedipus, Eteocles, and Polynices, make a shining figure among the poetical fic. tions of that period.

The kingdom of Sparta, or Lacedæmon, is supposed to have been first instituted by Lelia. Helena, the tenth in succession from this monarch, is equally famous for her beau ty and infidelity. She had not lived above three years with her husband, Menelaus, before she was carried off by Paris, the son of Priam, king of Troy. This seems to be the first occasion in which the Greeks united in one common cause. The Greeks took Troy, after a ten years siege, much about the time that Jephthah was the judge in Israel. Corinth began later than the other cities above-mentioned to be formed into a state, or to be governed by its A. M. kings. It was at first subject to Argos and Mycænæ; 2628. but Sisyphus, the son of Æolus, made himself master of it; and when his descendants were dispossessed, A. M. Bachis assumed the reins of power. The govern2930. ment after this became aristocratical, a chief magistrate being annually chosen by the name of Prytanni. At last Cypselus having gained the people, usurped the supreme authority, which he transmitted to his son Periander, who was ranked among the seven wise men of Greece, from the love he bore to learning, and his encouragement of its professors. The kingdom of Macedonia was first governed by Caranus, descended from Hercules, and subsisted from his time till the defeat of Perseus by the Romans, a space of six hundred and twenty-six years.

Such is the picture of Greece offers in its earliest infancy. A combination of little states, each governed by its respec tive sovereign, yet all uniting for their mutual safety and general advantage. Still, however, their intestine contentions were carried on with great animosity; and, as it hap pens in all petty states under the dominion of a single commander, the jealousies of the princes were a continual cause of discord. From this distressful situation, those states, by degrees, began to emerge; a different spirit began to

seize the people, and, sick of the contentions of their princes, they desired to be free. A spirit of liberty prevailed all over Greece: and a general change of government was effected in every part of the country except in Macedonia. Thus monarchy gave way to a republican government, which, however, was diversified into as many various forms as there were different cities, according to the different genius and peculiar character of each people.

All these cities, though seemingly different from each other in their laws and interest, were united with each other by one common language, one religion, and a national pride that taught them to consider all other nations as barbarous and feeble. Even Egypt itself, from whence they had derived many of their arts and institutions, was considered in a very subordinate light, and rather as a half barbarous predecessor, than an enlightened rival.

To make this union among the states of Greece still stronger, there were games instituted in different parts of the country, with rewards for excellence in every pursuit. These sports were instituted for very serious and useful purposes; they afforded an opportunity for the several states meeting together; they gave them a greater zeal for their common religion; they exercised the youth for the purposes of war, and increased that vigor and activity which was then of the utmost importance in deciding the fate of a battle.

But their chief bond of union arose from the council of the Amphyctions, which was instituted by Amphyction king of Athens, as is already mentioned, and was appointed to be held twice a year at Thermopyla, to deliberate for the general good of those states of whose deputies it was composed. The states who sent deputies to the council, were twelve, namely, the Thessalians, the Thebans, the Dorians, the Ionians, the Perhaabeans, the Magnates, the Locrians, the Oetans, the Pthiotes, the Maleans, the Phocians, and the Dolopians. Each of these cities which had right to assist at the Amphyctionic council, was obliged to send two deputies to every meeting. The one was entitled the Hieromnemon, who took care of the interests of religion, the other was called the Pylagoras, and had in charge the civil interest of his community. Each of these deputies, however, differing in their functions, enjoyed an equal power of determining all affairs relative to the general interests of Greece. But, although the number of deputies seems to have been settled originally so as to answer the number of votes which each city was allowed, yet in

process of time, on some extraordinary occasions, the prin cipal cities assumed a power of sending more than one Pylagoras to assist in a critical emergency, or to serve the purposes of a faction. When the deputies, thus appointed appeared to execute their commission, after offering up sacrifices to Apollo, Diana, Latona, and Minerva, they took an oath," implying, that they would never subvert any city of the Amphyctions, never stop the course of waters either in war or peace, and that they would oppose any attempts to lessen the reverence and authority of the gods, to whom they had paid their adoration. Thus, all offences against religion, all instances of impiety and profanation, all contests between the Grecian states and cities came under the particular cognizance of the Amphyctions, who had a right to determine, to impose fines, and even to levy forces, and to make war against those who offered to rebel against their sovereign authority.

These different motives to confederacy united the Greeks for a time into a body of great power, and great emulation. By this association, a country not half so large as England, was able to dispute the empire of the earth with the most powerful monarchs of the world. By this association, they not only made head against the numerous armies of Persia; but dispersed, routed, and destroyed them, reducing their pride so low, as to make them submit to conditions of peace as shameful to the conquered as glorious to the conquerors. But among all the cities of Greece there were two that by their merit, their valor, and their wisdom, particularly distinguished themselves from the rest, these were Athens and Lacedæmon. As these cities served as an example of bravery or learning to the rest, and as the chief burthen of every foreign war devolved upon them, it will be proper to enter into their particular history with greater minuteness, and to give the reader some idea of the genius, character, manners, and government of their respective inhabitants.

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CHAP. II.

OF THE GOVernment of SPARTA, AND THE LAWS

LYCURGUS.

ALTHOUGH the kingdom of Lacedæmon, was not so considerable as that of Athens, yet as it was of much earlier institution, it demands our first attention. Lacedæmon,"

1

ás observed before, was in the beginning governed by kings, of which thirteen held the reins of power in succession, of the race of the Pelopida. As, during this dark interval, there was no fixed laws to limit the prerogative, and no ideas of true government among the people, it does not appear that there were any considerable encroachments made either on the side of the king or that of the people. Under the race of the Heraclidae, who succeeded, instead of one king, the people ad-mitted two, who governed with equal authority. The cause of this change seems to have sprung from a very particular accident; for Aristodemus dying, left two sons, Eurysthenes and Procles, twins, so much alike that it was hardly possi ble to distinguish them asunder. From hence the hint was taken by the mother, of fixing the crown upon both; so that when the Spartans came for a king, she was either unable or unwilling to decide which of them was first born, or which had the justest pretentions. This form of government continued for several succeeding centuries, and although the one was almost ever at variance with his associate on the throne, yet the government remained entire.

It was during this succession that slavery was first instituted in Sparta. Eurysthenes and Procles, having granted the countrymen of Sparta the same privileges with the citizens, Agis reversed what his predecessors had done in favor of the peasants, and imposed a tribute upon them. The Helotes were the only people that would not acquiesce in this impost, but rose in rebellion to vindicate their rights: the citizens, however prevailed, the Helotes were subdued and made prisoners of war. As a still greater punishment, they and their posterity were condemned to perpetual slavery; and to increase their miseries still more, all other slaves were called by the general name of Helotes.

It would appear from hence, that this little state was governed with turbulence and oppression, and required the curb of severe laws and rigorous discipline. These severities and rigorous discipline were at last imposed upon it by Lycurgus, one of the first and most extraordinary legislators that ever appeared among mankind. There is, perhaps, nothing more remarkable in profane history, yet nothing so well attested, as what relates to the laws and government of Lycurgus. What indeed can be more amazing than to behold a mutinous and savage race of mankind yielding submission to laws that controlled every sensual pleasure, and every private affection; to behold them give up, for the good of the state, all the com

forts and conveniences of private life, and making a state of domestic privacy more severe and terrible than the most painful campaigns and the most warlike duties. Yet all this was effected by the perseverance and authority of a single legislator, who gave the first lesson of hard resignation in his own generous example.

Lycurgus was the son of Eunomus, one of the two kings who reigned together in Sparta. The two kings dying. without apparent issue, the right of succession rested in Lycurgus, who accordingly took the administration upon him. But an unexpected event came to interrupt his promotion; for the queen his sister-in-law proving with child, his right became doubtful. A man of less probity would have used every precaution to secure himself upon the throne; and a proposal which was made him by the queen seemed to secure his pretensions. She offered to destroy the birth upon condition that he would marry her and take her into a share of power. Lycurgus wisely smothered his resentment to so unnatural a proposal; and fearful that she might use means to put her project in execution, assured her, that as soon as the child was born, he would take upon himself to remove it out of the way. Accordingly she was delivered of a boy, which Lycurgus commanded should be brought to him, as he was at supper with the magistrates; to them he presented the child as their king, and to testify his own and the people's joy, gave him the name of Charilaus. Thus Lycurgus sacrificed his ambition to his'duty; and still more, continued his regency, not as king, but governor. However, dreading the resentment of the queen, and finding the state in great disorder, he resolved by travelling to avoid the dangers of the one, and to produce a remedy for the defects of the other.

Thus resolving to make himself acquainted with all the improvements of other nations, and to consult the most experienced persons he could meet with in the art of government, he began with the island of Crete, whose hard and severe laws were very much admired. In this island the handicraft trades were brought to some degree of perfection. There they wrought in copper and iron, and made armour, in which they danced, with a confused noise of bells, at the sacrifices of their gods. It is from them that the art of navigation was first known in Greece, and from them many legislators derived the principles of their respective institutions.

From Crete Lycurgus passed over into Asia, where he still found new information, and is said to have first made the discovery of the works of Homer. From thence he