being backed by a lofty mountainous a temple of Jupiter, which has been ridge. As we drew near to the walls, succeeded by a small Christian sancwe beheld the vast citadel, crowned tuary, dedicated to St. George. Here with temples, that originated in the a Democritus might sit and laugh at veneration once paid to the memory the pomps and vanities of the world, of the illustrious dead. The remains or an Heraclitus weep over its maof Hadrian's temple of Olympian nifold misfortunes. The lofty rocks Jove appeared full in view between of the Acropolis, crowned with its the citadel and the Ilissus : high upon our left rose the Acropolis, in the most impressive grandeur: on the western side of it the hill of Areopagus: and beyond all, appeared the beautiful plain of Athens, bounded by mount Hymettus. We rode towards the craggy rock of the citadel; and thence continuing to skirt the base of the Acropolis, the road winding towards the north, we saw upon our left, scooped in the solid rock, the circular sweep on which the Athenians were wont to assemble to hear the plays of Eschylus. We proceeded towards the east, to ascend mount Anchesmus, and to enjoy, in one panoramic survey, the glorious prospect presented from its summit, of all the antiquities and natural beauties in the Athenian plain. We reached the commanding eminence of the mount once occupied by

majestic temples, the Parthenon, Erectheum, &c., constitute the central object. In the foreground is the modern city of Athens, with its gardens, ruins, mosques, and walls, spreading into the plain beneath the citadel. On the right is the temple of Theseus; and on the left, that of Jupiter Olympius. Proceeding to the south and east, the view beyond the citadel displays the Areopagus, Ilissus, the sites of the temple of Ceres and the Lyceum, with the fountain Callirhoe. In a parallel circuit with a more extended radius, are seen the hills and defile of the Via Sacra, the Piraus, Salamis, Ægina, the more distant isles, and Hymettus. A similar circuit, but still more extended, embraces the mountains beyond Megara, Corinth, and the gean and very remote islands.'

EMINENT PERSONS.

Lysander of Sparta, who dismantled, Athens, and placed thirty tyrants over the people. The glory of having put an end to the Peloponnesian war of twenty-seven years, gave wings to his ambition; and he had resolved on declaring himself king of Sparta, when a war with Thebes called him off, in which he fell.

Alcibiades, the pupil of Socrates, commanded on the side of Athens

against Syracuse in the Peloponnesian war; but finding, on his return home, that he had been accused of impiety, and that his goods had been confiscated, he fled to Persia. The Athenians recalled him, and gave him a triumph; but his expedition against Cyme failing, he again escaped to Persia, and was assassinated by the satrap Pharnabazus, at the instigation of Lysander.

SECTION VIII.

ARTAXERXES II. (MNEMON), KING OF PERSIA.

404 TO 358-46 YEARS.

Artaxerxes had scarcely received the reins of government, when his brother Cyrus attempted his dethronement. Assembling in his principality of Asia Minor, a mingled force of barbarians and mercenary Greeks, he marched from

Sardis towards Babylon with 113,000 men; but being met at Cunaxa by the king, was there slain. This revolt suppressed, Artaxerxes compelled to submission Agesilaus, king of Sparta, who had opposed his satrap, Tissaphernes, when oppressing the Greek cities in Asia Minor. He next reduced Cyprus, where Evagoras, whose ancestors had ruled over a part of the isle, had seized upon the remainder, which was a Persian colony. He now attacked Egypt, with a hope of re-adding it to his empire; but though aided by Iphicrates, the skilful Athenian general (whose mercenaries were called by way of eminence, Iphicratians), he could not seize the new king Nectanebus; so that the views of the expedition were frustrated. The last years of Artaxerxes were harassed by domestic troubles. He was compelled to put his own son Darius to death for a conspiracy against his person; and soon after, Ochus, another son, murdered two of his brothers to clear the way for himself when his father should die. These atrocities are said to have broken the aged king's heart, 358.

EVENTS.

The Expedition of Cyrus. This arrows at the prince, who, throwing young prince began his attempt upon himself headlong upon the king, was his brother's throne with gaining over pierced through by his javelin and the cities under Tissaphernes, which slain. Meanwhile, the Greeks having quickly produced a war with that defeated the enemy's left wing comgovernor; and under the pretence of manded by Tissaphernes, and the going against him, Cyrus obtained king's right wing having put to flight great aid in money, men, and ships Cyrus's left, each party, ignorant of from the Spartans. At length, having what had passed elsewhere, imagined collected 13,000 Greek mercenaries it had gained the victory. When, in addition to 100,000 soldiers of however, the adherents of Cyrus were other nations, he set out from Sardis, convinced of their leader's death, they directing his march towards Upper sent deputies to Ariaus, their comAsia; the army being ignorant of the mander-in-chief, offering him, as conobject of the expedition. On reaching querors, the crown of Persia. Ariæus Tarsus, the Greeks, suspecting they told them in reply that he intended to were marching against the king of set out early in the morning towards Persia, refused to proceed, until Cyrus Ionia, and advised them to join him by presents and promises had worked in the night. They followed his upon them. On arriving at Cunaxa, direction, and commenced their return near Babylon, the prince found his to Greece. They were at a vast disbrother, with 900,000 men, ready to tance from home, and had to force engage him; whereupon, leaping from their way through an immense tract his chariot, he commanded his troops of the enemy's country. But valour to stand to their arms. The Greeks and resolution mastered all diffihaving routed the wing opposite to culties; and, in spite of a powerful them at the first onset, Cyrus was, army, which constantly harassed with loud shouts, proclaimed king by them, they made good their passage those who stood round him; but (2325 miles) to the Greek cities on that prince, perceiving his brother the Euxine sea. This retreat (the prepare to attack him in flank, ad- longest ever made through an enemy's vanced with 600 chosen horse, dis- country) was conducted, after the persed the king's guards, and engaged death of Clearchus, by Xenophon; the monarch with great fury hand to who has given us in his Anabasis a hand. Cyrus had already wounded most elegant and interesting history his brother, when the guards, re- of it. covering their ground, discharged their

Expulsion of the Thirty Tyrants.

Although Athens had been compelled to submit for a while to the power of Sparta, she was enabled to expel the rulers placed over her by Lysander in less than three years, through the patriotic exertions of Thrasybulus,

401.

365. The common people had often forced their aristocratic adversaries to make concessions, by seceding: that is, retiring in a body to some neighbouring hill, where they would remain until their petitions were granted. By their first secession they obtained the right of choosing tribunes from their body, whose sanction was necessary to give every law validity; but when Licinius, the tribune, of his own accord, obtained this act in their favour, the ruin of the patrician party was sup

The Corinthian War began 395, by the combination of the Athenians, Thebans, Corinthians, and Argives, against Lacedæmon. The most famous battles were at Coronea and Leuctra, the latter of which closed the contest, after a duration of twenty-posed to be sealed. four years, 371. The Spartans lost at Leuctra 4000 men, with their king Cleombrutus; while the Thebans their assailants, led by Epaminondas, counted but 300 dead. From that period the Spartans never could regain the rank which they had held for 500 years; so that, during the rule of Artaxerxes, the two most potent states of Greece fell to decay.

Capture of Veii. Camillus, the Roman general, took this city of Etruria, a place larger and more opulent than Rome itself, after ten years' siege, 395.

Rome plundered by the Gauls, 390; when Brennus and his barbaric horde entered the city, and would have wholly destroyed it but for Camillus, who encouraged the people to drive out the invaders. The Gauls climbed the Tarpeian rock during the night; and were on the point of taking the capitol, when the cackling of some geese awoke the sentinels. Camillus was dictator five times, censor once, three times inter-rex, twice a military tribuue, and had four triumphs.

Return of the Messenians, 370, to Peloponnesus, a century after their ancestors had been driven out by the Spartans.

Plebeian Consuls chosen. Licinius obtained this radical reform at Rome,

Devotion of Curtius. An earthquake, 362, made a chasm in the forum at Rome; and it being predicted that it would not close until the most precious thing in the capitol was thrown thereinto, Curtius declared courage to be meant; and, fully armed, leaped into the abyss. The ground, as we may imagine, instantly closed upon him.

Brief Supremacy of Thebes. Boeotia, although one of the most ancient states of Greece, had never been able to influence the rest until ruled by Pelopidas and Epaminondas, who are celebrated as much for their mutual friendship as for their patriotism. No sooner had the interests of Sparta prevailed at Thebes, and the friends of independence been banished, than Pelopidas, who was in the number of exiles, entered the city and freed it from foreign masters. He was unanimously placed at the head of the government; and while Epaminondas shared with him the sovereign power, it was to the valour and prudence of both that the Thebans were indebted for the victory of Leuctra, after which their state became the dictator and arbiter of Greece. But as with them the glory of Thebes arose, so was its power extinguished by their death, after the brief duration of eight years.

EMINENT PERSONS.

Xenophon, the pupil of Socrates, joined the expedition of Cyrus. His consummate skill was displayed after the defeat of Cunaxa; and by his in

trepidity alone the 10,000 reached their homes. After his return to Athens, he joined Agesilaus in Asia, and shared that monarch's glory; but it was his

misfortune to have to fight against his their sentiments. All science he made own people. On his second return, he was banished to Scillus for aiding Cyrus; and resolving to settle there, he built a temple to Diana, and greatly ornamented a purchased estate. War, however, drove him, at the age of ninety, from his elegant retreat to Corinth, where he soon after died. The fame of Xenophon rests on his Anabasis, and his philosophical romance of the Cyropædeia: the former is one of the most attractive military histories ever penned; while it is, as a composition, a model of simplicity and good sense. The euphony and neatness of Xenophon's style have procured him the titles of the Attic bee and the Athenian muse.

:

Pluto, the descendant of Codrus and disciple of Socrates, travelled over Greece, Italy, and Egypt, and then taught in the groves of Academus, near Athens; where he presided with dignity forty years. For once only did he quit his disciples: this was at the request of Dionysius the younger, who wanted his advice. Plato was unostentatious his dress was plain, his manner meek even to diffidence, and he could never bear to be recognised as the philosopher of the academy. When he came to the Olympic games, he resided with a family who knew not his name; and when, on their visiting Athens, they called where he had directed them, to find some one who could show them Plato, he astonished them by pointing to himself. moderate diet preserved him from the effects of the plague which ravaged Athens; nor could he be persuaded by his physicians to remove, declaring he would not advance a single step to gain the top of Athos, were he promised the longevity of the people of that mountain. The works of Plato are mostly in the form of dialogue, wherein he speaks by the mouth of others, making rarely mention of himself. His speculative mind was employed in examining things divine and human; and his opinions still continue to influence mankind, and to divide

His

to consist in reminiscence. He compared the soul to a small republic, of which the reasoning and judging powers were stationed in the head; and of which the senses were its sentinels; by the irascible part men assert their dignity, repel injuries, and scorn danger; and by the concupiscible provide the support of the body. Justice was produced by the regular rule of reason, and by the submission of the passions; and prudence he 'made to arise from the strength and acuteness of the soul, without which no other virtues could exist. To illustrate his dogma' that the soul was immortal, he wrote his Republic, wherein he shows that it is possible for a community of men to exist, who, impressed with the certainty of the soul being enshrined in a body which it will at death throw off, may so go through the world as ultimately to gain eternal happiness. In the physical sciences, Plato has the credit of originating the theory of conic sections, and of geometrical analysis; and to the principles developed in these discoveries must be attributed many of the most valuable inventions of modern science.

Malachi, the last of the Jewish prophets who flourished before the Gospel dispensation, completed the canon of the Old Testament 400 years before the advent of Christ. He was of the tribe of Zebulon; and foretold the coming of John the Baptist.

Zeuxis, a painter of Sicily, who settled in Greece; but as all his works have perished, we are left to judge of his inferiority to Parrhasius of Ephesus by his recorded contest with that painter at Athens. When they had produced their respective pieces, the birds came to pick with avidity the grapes which Zeuxis had painted. Immediately Parrhasius exhibited his piece, and Zeuxis said, 'Remove your curtain that we may see the painting.' The curtain was the painting, and Zeuxis acknowledged himself conquered by exclaiming, 'Zeuxis has