HISTORY OF GREECE. CHAPTER I. OF THE EARLIEST STATE OF GREECE. THE first notices we have of every country are fabulous and uncertain. Among an unenlightened people every imposture is likely to take place, for ignorance is the parent of credulity. Nothing, therefore, which the Greeks have transmitted to us concerning their earliest state can be relied on. Poets were the first who began to record the actions of their country men, and it is a part of their art to strike the imagination even at the expence of probability. For this reason, in the earliest accounts of Greece we are presented with the machinations of gods and demigods, the adventures of heroes and giants, the ravages of monsters and dragons, and all the potency of charms and enchantVOL. I. B share ments. Man seems scarcely to have any in the picture, and while the reader wanders through the most delightful scenes the imagination can offer, he is scarce once presented with the actions of such a being as himself. It would be vain, therefore, and beside the present purpose, to give an historical air to accounts which were never meant to be transmitted as true. Some writers indeed have laboriously undertaken to separate the truth from the fable, and to give us an unbroken narrative from the first dawning of tradition to the display of undoubted history; they have levelled down all mythology to their own apprehensions; every fable is made to look with an air of probability; instead of a golden fleece, Jason goes in pursuit of a great treasure; instead of destroying a chimera, Bellerophon reclaims a mountain; instead of an hydra, Hercules overcomes a robber. Thus the fanciful pictures of a strong imagination are taught to assume a serious severity, and tend to deceive the reader still more, by offering in the garb of truth what had been only meant to delight and allure him. The fabulous age, therefore, of Greece, must have no place in history; it is now too late to separate those parts which may have a real foundation in nature, from those which owe their existence wholly to the imagination. There are no traces left to guide us in that intricate pursuit; the dews of the morning are past, and it is vain to attempt continuing the chase in meridian splendor. It will be sufficient, therefore, for us to observe, that Greece, like most other countries of whose origin we have any notice, was at first divided into a number of petty states, each commanded by its own sovereign. Ancient Greece, which is now the south part of Turkey in Europe, was bounded on the east by the Ægean sea, now called the Archipelago; on the south by the Cretan 'or Candian sea; on the west by the Ionian sea; and on the north by Illyria and Thrace. Of such very narrow extent, and so very contempti ble, with regard to territory, was that country, which gave birth to all the arts of war and peace, which produced the greatest generals, philosophers, poets, painters, architects, and statuaries, that ever the world boasted; which overcame the most powerful monarchs, and dispersed the most numerous armies that ever were brought into the field, and at last became the instructor of all mankind. It is said in Scripture that Javan, the son of Japheth, was the father of all those nations that went under the general denomination of Greeks. Of his four sons, Elisha, or Ellas, is said to have given name to the Exaŋves, a general name by which the Greeks were known. Tharsis, the second son, is thought to have settled in Achaia; Chittim settled in Macedonia; and Dodanim, the fourth son, in Thessaly and Epirus. How they portioned out the country, what revolutions they experienced, or what wars they maintained, are utterly unknown: and, indeed, the history of petty, barbarous states, if known, would hardly recompence the trouble of enquiry. In those early times, kingdoms were but inconsiderable a single city, with a few leagues of land, was often honoured with that magnificent appellation; it would, therefore, embarrass history to enter into the domestic privacy of every little state, as it would be rather a subject for the economist than the politician. It will suffice to observe, that Sicyon is said to be the most ancient kingdom of Greece. The beginning of this petty sovereignty is placed by historians in the year of the world one thousand nine hundred and fifteen, before Jesus Christ two thousand eighty-nine, and before the first Olympiad one thousand three hundred and thirteen. The first king was Ægialeus. Its duration is said to have been a thousand years. A.M. 2148. The kingdom of Argos, in Peloponnesus, began a thousand and eighty years before the first Olympiad, in the time of Abraham. The first king was Inachus. The kingdom of Mycænæ succeeded. The seat of government was translated thither from Argos by Perseus, the grandson of Acrisius, the last king of that country, whom Perseus unfortunately slew. The kings who reigned at Mycænæ after Perseus, were Electryon, Sthenelus, and Eurystheus; the latter of whom was driven out by the Heraclidæ, or the descendants of Hercules, who made themselves masters of Peloponnesus. A.M. 2448. The kingdom of Athens was first formed into a regular government by Cecrops, an Egyptian. This prince, having departed from Egypt, and travelled several years in other places,came from Phoenicia into Greece, and lived in Attica, where he was kindly received by Actæus, the king of that country; married his daughter; and, on his death, succeeded to his throne. He taught the people, who were savages, the use of fixed habitations, restrained all licentious lust, obliged each man to marry one wife, and laid down rules for the conduct of life, and the exercise of all religious and civil offices. He divided the whole country into twelve districts, and also established a court for judging causes, entitled the Areopagus. Amphictyon, the third king of Athens, procured a confederacy among the twelve states of Greece, which assembled twice a year at Thermopylæ, there to offer up common sacrifices, and to consult for the common interest of the association. Theseus, one of the succeeding kings of this state, united the twelve boroughs of Cecrops into one city. Codrus was the last of this line, who devoted himself to death for his people, The Heraclidæ having made an irruption as far |