: Argo, and sailed to Colchis. Eetes promised the fleece to Jason, on condition of his performing four labours: viz., to tame two bulls which vomited flames to tie them to a plough of adamant, and plough a field never before cultivated to sow there the teeth of a dragon, from which an army would rise to be destroyed by his hand and to kill the dragon which guarded the tree, whereon the fleece was suspended. All was effected by the aid of Medea, the king's daughter, a famous magician, in one day; and she returned with Jason as his wife, in the Argo. The evils which this union brought upon Jason form the subject of one of Euripides' finest tragedies. The Hellespont is also famed for the drowning of Leander, a youth of Abydos, who swam nightly across it to visit Hero, a beautiful priestess of Venus at Sestos. Hero, when she knew of the death of her lover, threw herself into the sea and perished. Pythian Games were first celebrated at Argos by Adrastus, in honour of Apollo, 1263. Musical trials were the main object; and the reward was a garland of palm or beech leaves. They were named from Pythia, the inspired priestess of Apollo at Delphi; or from Apollo's destruction of the serpent Python, which the jealous Juno had created to plague his mother, Latona. EMINENT PERSONS. Pelops, son of Tantalus king of servant commissioned to the deed Phrygia, was put to death by his bored the child's feet, and suspended father, and placed before the gods, him to a tree by the heels, in which who visited Phrygia in disguise, to try situation the king of Corinth's sheptheir divinity. Jupiter restored him herds found him. They brought him to life, though Ceres had ignorantly up, gave him the name of Edipus eaten a shoulder, which was replaced (swelled feet), and sent him to conby one of ivory, capable of healing sult the oracle. He was instructed all complaints by its touch. Pelops not to return home, lest he should kill became king of Pisa by stratagem. his father; and supposing one of the Enomaus, the sovereign, had offered shepherds to be that parent, he trahis crown and his daughter to whom-velled towards Phocis. On his way soever could beat him in the chariot- his real father met him, riding in a race whereupon Pelops bribed the charioteer to delay his master's steeds. From his great conquests in the Morea, that country took the name of Peloponnesus. Tantalus, for his numerous impieties, was punished after death, in the realms of Pluto, by an insatiable thirst; for though placed up to the chin in a pool, the water flowed from him upon his attempting to drink, and though above his head was a bough laden with delicious fruit, it was suddenly carried away by a gust of wind whenever he attempted to reach it. Hence the word tantalize. Edipus, son of Laius, king of Thebes, by his queen Jocasta. The oracle having declared that Laius should fall by the hand of Jocasta's son, she ordered him, when an infant, to be exposed on the mountains. The chariot; and upon his rudely desiring the youth, whom he knew not, to make way for him, Edipus struck and eventually killed the king. He passed on to Thebes, and solving the Sphynx's riddle (what is that which walks on four legs in the morning on two at noon, and three at night), became entitled to the crown of Thebes, and Jocasta (his mother) for a wife. When a plague afterwards visited Thebes, the oracle declared it to be owing to the incestuous murderer of Laius being in Baotia. Edipus soon discovered his criminality with horror; he fled thereupon to Attica, having put out his own eyes, and at a certain spot the earth swallowed him up, 1250. There are two tragedies of Sophocles on his history. He attempted to follow her, but was refused admission, and the only comfort he could find was to sooth his grief at the sound of his musical instrument, in grottos, or on the mountains. The Thracian women, while celebrating the orgies of Bacchus, tore him in pieces, and threw his head into the Hebrus, which still articulated the words Eurydice! Eurydice! as it was carried down the stream into the Ægean sea. Orpheus was one of the Argonauts, of which celebrated expedition he wrote a poetical account still extant. Orpheus, son of the muse Calliope, | instantly vanished. received a lyre from Apollo, upon which he played with so masterly a hand, that the most rapid rivers ceased to flow, the savage beasts of the forest forgot their wildness, and the mountains moved, to listen to his song. All nature seemed charmed and animated, and the nymphs were his constant companions. Eurydice was the only one who made a deep impression on the melodious musician, and their nuptials were celebrated. Their happiness, however, was short; Aristæus became enamoured of Eurydice, and as she fled from her pursuer, a serpent, lurking in the grass, bit her foot, and she died of the poisoned wound. Her loss was severely felt by Orpheus, and he resolved to recover her, or perish. With his lyre in his hand, he entered the infernal regions, and gained an easy admission to the palace of Pluto. The king was charmed with the melody of his strains, and, according to the beautiful expression of the poets, the wheel of Ixion stopped, the stone of Sisyphus stood still, Tantalus forgot his perpetual thirst, and even the Furies relented. Pluto and Proserpine were moved with his sorrow, and consented to restore Eurydice, provided he forbore looking behind till he had come to the extremest borders of hell. The conditions were gladly accepted, and Orpheus was already in sight of the upper regions of the air, when he forgot his promise and turned back to look at his long lost Eurydice. He saw her, but she Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Jupiter and Leda, were educated by Mercury, and, in the expedition of Jason, behaved with superior courage. A storm arising while they were on board the Argo, two flames of fire were seen to play around their heads, and immediately the tempest ceased, and the sea was calm. From this occurrence, their power to protect sailors has been firmly credited, and the two mentioned fires, which are very common in storms, have since heen known by the names of Castor and Pollux. Castor distinguished himself in the management of horses. The brothers cleared the Hellespont and the neighbouring seas from pirates after their return from Colchis, from which circumstance they have been especially deemed the friends of navigation. After death they were made constellations in heaven, under the name of Gemini, which never appear together, but when one rises the other sets, and so on alternately. SECTION VII. GIDEON, JUDGE OF ISRAEL. 1249 TO 1209-40 YEARS. Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, was called to be judge of Israel while threshing. He was assured of God's appointment, by the miracle of the wet and dry fleece. He saved Israel from the Midianites, killing their two princes, Oreb and Zeeb. EVENTS. Destruction of the Minotaur. Theseus, son of geus king of Athens, is famous for various deeds of prowess, but especially for his destruction of the Minotaur. This was a monster kept by Minos II., king of Crete, who conquered Athens; and it was yearly fed with seven youths and seven maidens, whom the Athenians were compelled to send to Crete as tribute. Theseus went to Crete 1235, and by the aid of Ariadne, Minos's daughter, destroyed it, and thus delivered his country from the dreadful tax, escaping from the labyrinth by means of a clue of thread. Forgetting, on his return, to change the black flag hoisted on his ship for a white one, which he had agreed to do if successful, he so terrified his father, who was watching the return of the vessel on the cliffs, that, supposing his son had fallen a sacrifice, he threw himself into the sea and perished. The Seven against Thebes. Edipus and Jocasta left two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, who agreed that each should reign alternately over Thebes one year. Eteocles, at the close of his first year, refused to resign his authority, so that Polynices engaged six renowned chieftains to attack with himself the seven gates of the city. The brothers, however, agreed at length to settle the dispute by single combat, wherein both fell 1230. The ashes of the two were said to separate on the burning pile, as if moved by contrary gusts of wind, evincing hostility even after death. Eschylus has a fine tragedy on this subject. The Nemaan Games revived. They had been originally instituted to commemorate the death of Archemorus, the infant son of Lycurgus, king of Nemæa, in Thrace, whom his nurse had placed on the grass while she went to show the army of Adrastus where they might find a fountain, and whom, on her return, she found bitten by a serpent. Hercules, when he had slain the lion of Nemæa, revived them 1220, ordained that the reward should he a crown of parsley, instead of olive, as before, because the child had been placed amongst that herb, and that it should he bestowed by persons habited in mourning. EMINENT PERSONS. Hercules, celebrated for his strength, was intrusted with the dominion of Thebes by Creon, 1220. There were many of this name, but the great actions of all appear to have centred in one. He is particularly famed for the twelve labours, imposed upon him (by permission of Jupiter) by his zealous relative Eurystheus, king of Argos and Mycena. Armed by Minerva with a helmet and coat, by Mercury with a sword, by Neptune with a horse, by Jupiter with a shield, by | Apollo with a bow and arrows, and by Vulcan with a golden cuirass and brazen buskin, he cut for himself, in the wood of Nemæa, a club, and issued forth undaunted to effect his task; 1. He throttled the lion of Nemæa, which had ravaged round Mycenæ, and ever after wore his skin; 2. he put to death the Lemaan hydra with one hundred heads; 3. he caught after a year's chase, the stag of Enoe, with golden horns and brazen feet; 4. he brought alive to Eurystheus, the wild boar of Frymanthus ; 5, he cleansed the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, by turning the course of the river Alpheus through them; in these three thousand oxen had been kept many years; 6. he destroyed the poisonous birds which ravaged the country around lake Stymphalus in Arcadia; 7. he brought alive into Peloponnesus the immense wild bull that had ravaged Crete; 8. he killed Diomedes, the barbarous king of Thrace, who kept a race of mares which fed on human victims; 9. he took away the magic girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, in Cappadocia; 10. he killed the monster, Geryon, king of Gades, and brought his flocks, which fed on human flesh, to Argos; 11. he | his flight, fell into that part of the obtained the golden apples of Hespe- ocean, called from him the Icarian rides, after killing the dragon that sea, but Dædalus reached Cuma in guarded them; 12. he brought up the safety, and built a temple there to three-headed dog, Cerberus, by main Apollo. force, from the region of Pluto. Hercules held sovereign power in various states of Peloponnesus; but his sons were all driven out after his death. Rhadamanthus, king of the Cyclades, conquered many cities in Asia Minor; and was so famous for his just rule that, like Minos, he was appointed one of the judges in the realms of Pluto, being especially employed in compelling the dead to confess their crimes, and in awarding their punishment. Dedalus, the most ingenious artist of his age, invented the wedge, axe, wimble, level, and the sails of ships. Having slain Talus, his nephew and rival in art, he fled with his son Icarus to Crete, where Minos patro- Linus, the inventor of melody nized him, and employed him in con- amongst the Greeks, was born at structing a labyrinth. The artist, how- Thebes, and taught music to Hercuever, offended the king, and was im-les, who, because he ridiculed the prisoned in his own labyrinth, whence hero for his awkwardness in holding he effected his own and his son's the lyre, struck him on the head with escape, by means of wings. Icarus, in the instrument, and killed him. SECTION VIII. TOLA, JUDGE OF ISRAEL. 1209 TO 1183-26 YEARS. Tola. On the death of Gideon, there was an attempt on the part of his son Abimelech to make the Israelites renounce their theocracy, and acknowledge him for their king; but upon his fall, Tola, who resided in mount Ephraim, had the full direction of the affairs of his people, and for twenty-six years ruled them in peace. EVENTS. The insurrection of Abimelech. Abimelech, on the death of his father Gideon, resolved on making himself king of Israel, since neither his wisdom nor integrity were sufficient to entitle him to succeed his parent. Without hesitation he murdered his seventy brothers, all but Jotham, who escaped to Beer. The inhabitants of Shechem raised a force to put down the tyrant, but were defeated, their city entered and destroyed, and the ground strewn with salt, the characteristic curse of desolation practised in those days. Abimelech, however, was less successful at Thebez; for, attempting to take the citadel 1206, a woman cast a milstone upon his head, · and so injured him, that he called upon his armour-bearer to kill him, that men might not say a woman slew him.' The parable of Jotham, which he addressed to the men of Shechem, to encourage their attack upon his monstrous brother, is a very elegant specimen of Hebrew allegory. The Fall of Troy. Peleus, the father of Achilles, when he married Thetis, invited all the celestials but one to his wedding. The excluded one was the goddess of discord, who, in anger, threw among the guests a golden apple, inscribed to the fairest!" Each goddess expected to receive the fruit; but Jupiter declared that Juno, Minerva, and Venus should go with Mercury to mount Ida (in Troy), whereon Paris, 1184. The Greeks sent a large wooden son of king Priam, was tending the horse into the city as an offering to royal flocks. Paris being commanded Minerva; in its capacious body a numto decide which of the three was the ber of soldiers had been concealed, most beautiful, pronounced Venus to who, getting out in the night, opened be so. Juno and Minerva thereupon the gates to their companions. The incited Paris to visit Lacedæmon, and city was at once sacked, and its inharun away with Helen, by which the bitants, together with Priam and his prince should bring the Greeks in family, put to the sword. A small arms against his country. For before band, however, led by Eneas, escaped Helen had become the wife of Mene- by sea, and became the founders of the laus, king of Sparta, her hand had Roman empire. Menelaus recovered been sought by all the princes of his queen, and took her back to LaceGreece; and to put an end to dis- dæmon. The site of Troy is still pute, the wise Ulysses had proposed covered with broken columns of marble that Helen should choose for herself and granite; Doric, Ionic, and Coamong the suitors, and that the unsuc- rinthian capitals lie in all directions, cessful candidates should bind them- some of them of great beauty. A basselves by a solemn league to avenge relief of a person on horseback, purher cause, should any one attempt her sued by a winged figure, and another injury. Tyndarus, her father, when of Ceres in her car, drawn by two sershe chose Menelaus, brother of Aga- pents, are especially beautiful. Dr. memnon, gave up the throne of Sparta Clark affirms that the river Mender is to his son-in-law. In process of time, the Scamander; that the tomb of Ajax Paris came to Lacedæmon, on pretence still remains; determines the exact poof sacrificing to Apollo; and though sition of the naval station of the Greeks; kindly received by Menelaus, he un- that the Thymbrius is yet recognised gratefully carried off Helen to Troy, in its present appellation Thymbreck; during his temporary absence in Crete. that the spacious plain on the northThe princes of Greece, after demand-east of the Mender, and watered by ing her in vain, attacked Troy with the Callifat Osmack, is the Simoïsian, 1186 ships and 100,000 men. Agamemnon took the chief command, supported by Achilles, Ajax, Ulysses, Patroclus, Diomedes, Nestor, and others. The king of Troy had Rhesus, king of Thrace, and Memnon, king of Egypt, as allies. The Greek army was weakened first by a plague, and next by a quarrel which ensued between Agamemnon and Achilles, so imperishably recorded by Homer. For ten years the devoted city was unavailingly assailed, during which the most valiant of the Trojans, including Hector, Priam's son, were slain, and the rivers filled with the bodies and armour of the dead. Troy at length fell (according to the poets) by stratagem, in and that stream the Simois; that the ruins of Palio Callifat are those of the Ilium of Strabo; that the altars of Jupiter were on the hill at the foot of Gargarus, where the ruins of the temple still are; that the extremity of the Adramyttian gulf inclines round the ridge of Gargarus, towards the northeast, so that the circumstance of Xerxes having this mountain upon his left, in his march from Antandrus to Abydos, is thereby explained: and lastly, that Gargarus affords a view, not only of all the plain of Troy, but of all the district of Troas, and a very considerable portion of the rest of Asia Minor. EMINENT PERSONS. Sanconiathon, a Phoenician historian, | translated afterwards into Greek by who wrote a history, in nine books, of Philo. the theology and antiquities of Tyre, Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis, |