4 Youths castrated.]-We learn that castration was in a very early period of society inflicted as a punishment for various crimes. Diodorus Siculus, book i. ch. 78. speaking of the Egyptians, has this passage:

"The laws with respect to women were remarkably

severe: if a man committed a rape upon a free woman, he had his private parts cut off; they were of opinion, that this one crime included three others of a heinous nature-injustice, defilement, (xx των τέκνων συγχυσιν) and confusion with respect to children."

Castration, in many countries, was the punishment of adultery; and by an edict of Justinian it was inflicted also on Sodomites. Hume, in his History of England, gives the following extraordinary act of cruelty from Fitzstephen, which was perpetrated on the clergy by Geoffrey, the father of Henry II.

"When he was master of Normandy, the chapter of Seez presumed, without his consent, to proceed to the election of a bishop; upon which he ordered all of them, with the bishop elect, to be castrated, and made all their testicles be brought him in a platter."

Mr Gibbon, relating this anecdote, subjoins, in his

X. Under cover of the night the Ionian princes were despatched with the above resolutions to their respective countrymen. The Ionians, who were thus addressed, refused to betray the common cause, believing these propositions made to themselves alone.-Such were the incidents which happened on the arrival of the Persians before Miletus.

XI. The Ionians assembled at Lade, as had been appointed, and amongst the various opinions which were delivered in council, self as follows:-" Our affairs are come to that Dionysius the Phocæan leader expressed himdelicate point," O, Ionians, that we must either be free men or slaves, and even fugitive slaves. If you willingly submit to the trouble, your situation will at first be painful, but having vanquished your enemies, you will then enjoy your liberties; if you suffer your vigour to relax, or disorder to take place among you, I see no means of your evading the indignation with which the Persian king will punish your revolt. Submit yourselves to my direction, and I will engage, if the gods be but impartial, that either the enemy shall not attack you at all, or, if they

might justly complain; yet, since they had vowed chastity, he deprived them of a superfluous treasure."-T.

It may not be improper to observe in this place, that

the Hottentots have a most preposterous custom of depriving their males of one testicle, which is religiously observed through all the Hottentot nations, with a great deal of ceremony, See Kolben. It is worthy also of remark, that this custom owes its rise to some precept of the most remote antiquity; for the Hottentots confess it is a law, which has prevailed through all their generations, that no man shall have carnal knowledge of a woman before he is deprived of the left testicle. A custom so singular as this must surely have originated from some adequate cause: what this may have been, well deserves the investigation of the learned. Jupiter castrated Saturn; in Phrygia, Atys and the priests of Cybele were castrated; thus we see, that anciently it was considered as a religious rite. From some traditions of these facts the Hottentots might also take up this practice.

Bochart is of opinion, that the fable of Jupiter's castrating Saturn arose from the story which scripture tells of Noah lying in his tent, Gen. ix. 21. The Phrygian custom of castrating the priests of Cybele might perhaps be owing to some erroneous and imperfect tradition of this event.

5 Bactra.]-This place, though mentioned by Strabo, and other ancient writers, as of great importance, and the capital of a province remarkable for its fertility, is now either entirely unknown, or a very insignificant place. Some are of opinion, that its modern name is Termend ; d'Anville thinks it is the city Balck, and Major Rennell is entirely of this opinion. Bactra is thus mentioned by Virgil:

Sed neque Medorum sylvæ, ditissima terra,
Nec pulcher Ganges, atque auro turbidus Hermus,
Laudibus Italiæ certent; non Bactra, neque Indi,
Totaque thuriferis Panchala pinguis arena.

T.

XII. In consequence of this speech, the Ionians resigned themselves to the will of fleet in order of battle, leaving a proper interval Dionysius. Every day he drew out the whole for the use of the oars: he then taught them to manoeuvre their ships, keeping the men at

6 Delicate point.]-Literally, " are upon the point of a razor." This passage is quoted by Longinus, sect. 22. as a happy example of the hyperbaton, which he explains to be a transposition of words or sentiments, out of the natural order of discourse, and implying extreme violence of passion.

The word hyperbaton is derived from rig, beyond, and Barve, to go; and Pearce, in his notes upon Longinus, gives two examples of the use of this figure from Virgil: Moriamur-et in media arma ruamus.

En. ii. 348.

Me, me, adsum qui feci; in me convertite ferrum. En. ix. 427. Livy also has an expression similar to this of Herodotus:-"Jam enim sub ictu teli erant et undique insta

bant hostes.

Erasmus, in his Adagia, gives us three examples of Theocritus. That of Homer is in the tenth book of this proverbial expression, from Homer, Sophocles, and the Iliad, where Nestor says, as Pope has rendered it, diffusely indeed, but with peculiar force and beauty, ex

cept in the second line, which is rather flat:

But now the last despair surrounds our host,
No hour must pass, no moment must be lost;
Each single Greek in this conclusive strife

Stands on the sharpest edge of death or life. T.

7 To manœuvre. —AiszTλoor TOUμtvos.]-This passage Larcher renders thus: "He made them pass betwixt the ranks, and quickly retreat" Ernesti understands the

their arms the rest of the day the ships lay at their anchors.' Without being suffered to receive any relaxation from this discipline, the Ionians, till the seventh day, punctually obeyed his commands; on the eighth, unused to such fatigue, impatient of its continuance, and oppressed by the heat, they began to murmur."We must surely," they exclaimed one to another, "have offended some deity, to be exposed to these hardships; or we must be both absurd and pusillanimous, to suffer this insolent Phocæan, master but of three vessels, to treat us as he pleases. Having us in his power, he has afflicted us with various evils. Many of us are already weakened by sickness, and more of us likely to become so. Better were it for us to endure any calamities than these, and submit to servitude, if it must be so, than bear our present oppressions. Let us obey him no longer." The discontent spread, and all subordination ceased; they disembarked, fixed their tents in Lade, and keeping themselves under the shade, would neither go on board nor repeat their military exercises.

expression differently; it is certainly a nautical term; I have therefore preferred the interpretation which I think the words will admit, and which will certainly be more intelligible and satisfactory to the English reader. -T.

1 At their anchors.]—The Greeks used to draw up their vessels along shore while they themselves were on land. When the sentinels perceived the enemy's fleet, they made signals, and their troops immediately came on board. The Ionians, whom their leader would not suf. fer to come on shore, found the service very laborious; and, as they were not accustomed to military discipline,

it is not surprising that they considered this as a species of servitude, which they were impatient to break.

Larcher.

XIII. The Samian leaders, observing what passed amongst the Ionians, were more inclined to listen to the solicitations of the Persians to withdraw from the confederacy; these solicitations were communicated to them by Æaces, the son of Syloson; and the increasing disorder which prevailed so obviously amongst the Ionians added to their weight. They moreover reflected that there was little probability of finally defeating the power of the Persian monarch, sensible that if the present naval armament of Darius were dispersed, a second, five times as formidable, would soon be at hand. Availing themselves therefore of the first refusal of the Ionians to perform their customary duty, they thought this no improper opportunity of securing their private, and sacred buildings. Eaces, to whose remonstrance the Samians listened, was son of Syloson, and grandson of Eaces: he had formerly enjoyed the supreme authority of Samos, but, with the other Ionian princes, had been driven from his station by Aristagoras.

XIV. Not long afterwards the Phenicians advanced, and were met by the Ionians, with their fleet drawn up with a contracted front. A battle ensued, but who amongst the Ionians on this occasion disgraced themselves by their cowardice, or signalized themselves by their valour, I am unable to ascertain; for they reciprocally censure each other. It is said that the Samians, as they had previously concerted with Eaces, left their place in the line, and set sail for Samos. We must except eleven vessels, whose officers, refusing to obey their superiors in command, remained and fought. To commemorate this act of valour, the general council of the Samians ordained that the names of these men, and of their ancestors, should be inscribed on a public column," which is still to be seen in their forum. The Lesbians, seeing what was done by the Samians, next whom they

that in all oriental climates, both travellers and natives place their greatest delight in sleeping and taking their repasts under shade.

3 Public column.]-Varions were the uses for which pillars or columns were erected in the earlier ages of antiquity. In the second book of Herodotus, we read that Sesostris erected pillars as military trophies in the coun tries which he conquered. In the book of Pausanias de Eliacis we find them inscribed with the particulars of the public treaties and alliances. There were some placed round the temple of Esculapius at Corinth, upon which the names of various diseases were written, with their several remedies. They were also frequently used as monuments for the dead.—T.

ished them than by removing them to Ampe,' a city near that part of the Erythræan sea where it receives the waters of the Tigris. The low country surrounding the town of Miletus, the Persians reserved for themselves; but they gave the mountainous parts to the Carians of Pedasus."

XXI. The Milesians, on suffering these calamities from the Persians, did not meet with that return from the people of Sybarus, who had been driven from Laon and Scidron, which they might justly have expected. When Sybaris was taken by the Crotoniati, the Milesians had shaved their heads,' and discovered every testimony of sorrow: for betwixt these two cities a most strict and uncommon hospitality prevailed. The Athenians acted very

1 Ampe.]—See what Bryant says on the terms Ampe

lus or Ampe, vol. i. 275, 276.-T.

2 Pedasus.]-This was also the name of one of the horses of Achilles.-See Homer, Il. xvi.-T.

3 Shaved their heads.]-Consult Deuteronomy, chap. xxi. ver. 12, 13, from whence it seems that to shave the head was one instance of exhibiting sorrow among the

ancient Jews.-T.

4 Hospitality.]-As there is nothing in the manners of modern times which at all resembles the ancient customs respecting hospitality, it may be pleasing to many readers to find the most remarkable particulars of them collected in this place.

The barbarous disposition, to consider all strangers as enemies, gave way to the very first efforts towards civilization; and, as early as the time of Homer, provision was made for the reception of travellers into those families with which they were connected by the ties of hospitality. This connection was esteemed sacred, and was under the particular sanction of the hospitable Jupiter, Zeus Xenius. The same word Xenos which had origin ally denoted a barbarian and an enemy (Herodotus, ix. ch. 11.) then became the term to express either an host, or his guest. When persons were united by the tie of hospitality, each was Xenos to the other, though, when they were together, he who received the other was properly distinguished as the Xenodocus (uvedózos.) In the Alcestis of Euripides, 1. 546, and in Plato, we find mention of a Xenon (Evwy,) or an apartment appropriated to the reception of such visitors. The bond of hospitality might subsist, 1. between private individuals; 2. between private persons and states; 3. between different states. Private hospitality was called Xenia; public, Proxenia. Persons who, like Glaucus and Diomede, ratified their hospitality in war, were called Doryxeni (Aaguživo.) See Hom. Il. vi. 215. &c.-This connection was in all cases hereditary, and was confirmed by gifts mutually interchanged, which at first were called symbols, (Eurip. Medea, 613;) afterwards, when reduced to a kind of tickets, instead of presents, aorgazadas or tessere, Plaut. Pæn, act. 5. sc. 2.-Every thing gave way to this connection: Admetus could not bear the thought of turning away his Xenos, Hercules, even when his wife was just dead; and is highly praised for it. Eurip. Alcest.-Hospitality might, however, be renounced by a solemn form of abjuration, and yet after that might be renewed by a descendant. Thus, between

the city of Sparta and the family of Alcibiades, a public hospitality had subsisted; his grandfather had solemnly renounced it, but he by acts of kindness revived it again. See Thucyd. v. 43; vi. 89.-This circumstance of renunciation has not been noticed, so far as I have seen, by any modern writers. See Feithius, Antiq. Homericæ, iii. 12, 13. Potter, iv. 21.-Some of the ancient tessere have been dug up at Rome and elsewhere. See Thoma sinus de Tesseris Hospitalitatis.-The rights of sup pliants were similar to, and nearly connected with, those of hospitality.

So Homer (Odyss. xvi. 56, as translated by Pope):
The swain replied, It never was our guise
To slight the poor, or aught humane despise;
For Jove unfolds our hospitable door,

'Tis Jove that sends the stranger and the poor.-Pepe. T.

5 Phrynichus.-There were three dramatic authors of this name, not far distant from each other in time. The first, a tragic poet, the son of Polyphradmon; the second, a writer of comedy; the third, a tragic poet, the son of Melanthus, Suidas, who mentions all these particulars, yet ascribes the tragedy of the taking of Miletus neither to the first nor to the third. But in all proba bility it was the first and not the third whom Herodotus, and the numerous historians who copy him, mean to point out. The time in which he flourished (for Suidas informs us that he gained his first victory in the sixty. seventh Olympiad) makes this supposition the nearer to truth.-T.

6 Calacte.]-Kaλn azn, the beautiful coast.-See D'Orville's Sicula, xxii. 3.

The learned author proceeds to prove, which he does incontestably, that they who would read Calata, are certainly mistaken, nam oppida quibus Calata nomen Saracenæ et proinde recentioris originis, &c. Silius Italicus calls this place Piscosa Calacte, which term is applied by Homer to the Hellespont.-T.