places contended for the honour of giving him birth, but Smyrna seems to have the best claim. He is supposed to have been born about two hundred and forty years after the destruction of Troy.

Hesiod was either contemporary with Homer, or lived immediately after him. Their works will not bear a comparison. Homer is stately and sublime, while Hesiod is plain and agreeable. But when we say so, we do not mean to detract in the least from the reputation of Hesiod. To write with ease and propriety was all he aimed at, and this he certainly attained.

About the beginning of the war which preceded the peace concluded between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians for fifty years, died Eschylus, the Athenian dramatic writer. He has the same claim to the title of father of tragedy, which Homer has to that of epic poetry. For though he was not the first who attempted that sort of composition, yet he was the first who reduced it to any kind of regularity or method. In the days of Solon, Thespis made a considerable improvement, by introducing a single person, whose business was to relieve the chorus, by the recital of some extraordinary adventure. It was Eschylus who exchanged the cart of Thespis for a theatre: who introduced a variety of performers, each taking a part in the representation of some great action, and dressed in a manner suited to his character. The style of Æschylus is pompous, and sometimes sublime, but far from being harmonious. He is frequently too so very obscure, that it is no easy matter to find out his meaning. The chief object of his pieces is terror; and, to do him justice, it must be acknowledged, that few dramatic writers have surpassed him in exciting that passion.

During that period, in which Greece was so much distracted by the Peloponnesian war, there flourished Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, &c. among the poets; Herodotus

and Thucydides among the historians; and Socrates among the philosophers.

Sophocles had applied so intensely to the study of tragedy, when a young man, that his first piece was judged not inferior to the very best of those of Æscnylus Both these poets were stately in their manner, but Eschylus was the more sublime. That advantage, however, was more than counterbalanced by the versatility of Sophocles' genius, and by his superior perspicuity and eloquence. He was also

more successful than his master in his appeal to the passions; and though he did not harrow up the breast by terror, he softened it more by pity, and acquired, of course, the reputation of being a more amiable and polite writer. Sophocles was likewise much more happy than his predecessor in the conduct of his plots. He made them more interesting by being more artful. He also contrived to make the performances of the chorus bear a relation to the main action, and so rendered the whole entire. He wrote a hundred and twenty tragedies, of which seven only remain. He lived to the age of eighty-five, and then is said to have died of joy for the success of his last piece, as Æschylus is reported to have done of grief for being foiled by him in his first.

Euripides, the rival of Sophocles, aimed not at the lofty strains of Eschylus, or of his great competitor. He is more sententious and moral than either of them, and seemed to have as strong a desire to instruct mankind, as to obtain their applause. Correctness and elegance were the qualities of style which he appears to have admired. He is less artful and magnificent than Sophocles, but then he is more natural and more useful. We have already mentioned a circumstance much to his honour, the emancipation of many of the Athenians who were made prisoners at Syracuse, because they were able to repeat some of his beautiful verses. While Tragedy was improving in the hands of Sophocles

and Euripides, Comedy was advancing under the guidance of Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes. But the most distinguished of this kind was Aristophanes. At the same time that be entertained the Athenians with his pleasantry, he lashed them with his satire. True it is, he did not possess much of that fine raillery, which has given so smooth, and yet so sharp an edge to modern comedy: but then he had fire and strength; and as he introduced his characters by their real names, occupations, &c. his performances were often more relished, and, very probably, more useful than those of the tragedians.

As to History, Herodotus is considered as the father of that species of composition in Greece. He wrote the history of the wars between the Greeks and Persians, and gave a detail of the affairs of almost all other nations, from the reign of Cyrus to that of Xerxes. His work consists of nine books. It is clothed in the Ionic dialect, and is a perfect model of simplicity and elegance.

Thucydides is esteemed a more able writer than even Herodotus. He wants, indeed, that native elegance for which his predecessor is admired, but then he is more judicious and energetic. He wrote the history of the

Peloponnesian war.

Of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, and other illustrious Grecian writers and philosophers, mention is made in the different parts of this work. There is a circumstance that merits our attention here-the discovery of the Metonic, or golden number, by Meton. That philosopher flourished a little before the commencement of the Peloponnesian war, and was much esteemed by the Athenians. Pindar was a native of Thebes, and contemporary with Meton

CHAPTER X.

FROM THE DEMOLITION OF THE ATHENIAN POWER TO THE DEATH OF SOCRATES.

THOUGH the Lacedæmonians would not consent to the entire destruction of Athens, as they would not be guilty, they said, of putting out one of the eyes of Greece, yet they not only reduced it to the lowest condition in point of political consequence, but even altered the form of its government; for they compelled the people to abolish the democracy, and submit to the government of thirty men, who were commonly known by the name of the Thirty Tyrants. The Greeks, indeed, were sufficiently disposed to give that name to men of virtuous characters; but these rulers of Athens, who were the mere creatures of Lysander, appear to have deserved, in every respect, the most opprobrious appellation. Instead of compiling and publishing a more perfect body of laws, which was the pretence for their being chosen, they began to exercise their power of life and death; and though they appointed a senate, and other magistrates, they made no farther use of them than to confirm their own authority, and see their commands executed. At first, it is true, they proceeded with some caution, and condemned only the most profligate sort of citizens, viz. such as lived by informing and giving evidence against their neighbours; but this was only to blind the eyes of the populace; their real design was to make themselves absolute and as they well knew, that this could not be done without a foreign power, they next contrived to have a guard sent them from Sparta. This guard was commanded by one Callibius, whom they soon won over to

their designs; and from this time forward they proceeded to act without control, filling the city with the blood of those, who, on account of their riches, interests, or good qualities, were most likely to oppose them.

high character for The assassins sent

One of their first acts of cruelty was to procure the death of Alcibiades, who had taken refuge in the dominions of Persia. This man, though driven from his country, did not cease to interest himself in its welfare, and the_tyrants dreading, that, by his popularity at Athens, where he was still much beloved, he would thwart all their schemes, entreated the Lacedæmonians to rid them of so formidable an opponent. This request the Lacedæmonians had the meanness to comply with, and accordingly wrote to Pharnabasus, the Persian governor,' for that purpose; and he, in his turn, was no less base and unprincipled, for without having received any personal injury from Alcibiades, he readily promised to take him out of the way. The manner of this great man's death did not disgrace the courage he had maintained during life. against him, were afraid to attack him openly. They, therefore, surrounded the house in which he was, and set it on fire. Alcibiades forced his way through the flames, sword in hand, and drove the barbarians before him, not one of whom had the courage to oppose him; but all of them discharging their darts and javelins upon him from a distance, he at last fell covered with wounds, and instantly expired. Timandra, his mistress, took up his body, and having covered and adorned it with the finest robes she had, she made as magnificent a funeral for it as her present circumstances would allow. To what we have already said of Alcibiades, it may not be improper to add, that his great popularity, wherever he resided, was principally owing to the extreme versatility of his genius, and the surprising facility with which he accommodated himself to the manners