genius. And what must have been the commanding power of his delivery, to which even Æschines, his great and able rival, according to his own candid acknowledgment, could not do justice! The energy of his manner, the modulation of his voice, and dignity of his action, corresponded with the force and the compass of his reasoning, and combined to form the orator, to whom is deservedly assigned the fore-most place in the records of eloquence.*

To the Greeks we owe the improvement, if not the invention of grammar, logic, criticism, metaphysics, music, geometry, medicine, and astronomy; and many of the terms peculiar to each of these arts and sciences, clearly point out the country from which we have derived them. The refined invention of builders embellished their cities with those regular, well proportioned, and elegant specimens of architecture, which displayed the various forms of the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian orders. Athens was filled with temples, theatres, porticos, and vestibules, of matchless symmetry and grandeur; and the pencils of Zeuxis, Parrhasius, and Polygnotus, and the chisels of Alcamenes, Phideas, and Polycletus, decorated them with the most beautiful pictures, busts, and statues. The religion of the Greeks was peculiarly favourable to the exertions of artists, and their sacrifices, assemblies, and processions, were equally well adapted to painting, bas-relief, and sculpture. These artists animated the Parian marble, and gave life and passion to the glowing canvass. The continual view of the human body in the baths, and at the public games, familiarised the artists to the contemplation of forms the most elegant, and attitudes the most. graceful. They copied the fairest appearances of nature, and by combining the scattered beauties of various persons in one subject, gave no very inadequate representation of that ideal excellence, which filled their glowing imaginations. Theirs likewise was that exquisite judgment, the companion of ge

"The Roman orator is too florid and rhetorical, his figures are tod striking and palpable, the divisions of his discourse are drawn chiefly from the rules of the schools. The manner of Demosthenes is more chaste than that of Cicero. Could it be copied, its success would be infallible over a modern assembly. It is rapid harmony exactly adjusted to the sense it is vehement reasoning, without any appearance of art: it is disdain, boldness, anger, and freedom, involved in a continued stream of argument: and of all human productions the orations of Demosthenes present to us the models which approach the nearest to perfection." Hume's Essays, vol. i, p. 109. Travels of Anacharsis, vol. ii, p. 116. The character of his genius, vol. v, p. 184. Leland's Preface to his Translation of Demosthenes, 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Philippic, and 1st, 2d, and 3d, Olynthiac Orations.

nius, which instantly selecting from art or nature whatever was excellent, gave to their works an irresistible charm. Such indeed was the diffusion of taste, that even the common people, by constantly surveying the finest specimens of painting and sculpture, and hearing the most finished compositions recited in the theatres and public assemblies, became qualified to appreciate, with correct judgment, the various productions of their countrymen.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.

AFTER such a digression as the foregoing, which it may be presumed, can require no apology, as the arts and literature of the Greeks, in their meridian glory, are the subjects of it; we unite the broken thread of history by remarking, that the memorable war of Peloponnesus derived its origin from the ambition of the Athenians, who were desirous of humbling the pride of Sparta, and making their own city the centre of Grecian dominion. (B. C. 431.) As the Athenians possessed only a territory of 86 square leagues, while that of the Spartans consisted of 250, they were compelled to make the most vigorous exertions to counterbalance, by every means, the superior resources of their rivals. To the disgrace of a people so refined and civilized, this war was carried on with all the ferocity of barbarians, and presented a wide scene of calamity and distress, of cabal and civil discord, of misconduct and cruelty. Athens was desolated by a pestilential fever, far more destructive than the sword of the enemy; yet it tended not to fix the volatile temper of her citizens upon any measures of peace.* The capricious Alcibiades held forth the possession of Sicily as a desirable object of conquest. To achieve this enterprise the most splendid and powerful fleet that ever left the harbour of Athens sailed for the bay of Syracuse under his command. (Thucydides, lib. vi, chap. 19, 20, 22.) Becoming a prey to the intrigues of faction, he abandoned the expedition, and by flight shunned the fate to which he was sentenced. By his advice the Spartans reinforced the Syracusians, and the storm of their united yengeance fell upop the Athenians: not a single ship returned

De Pauw, vol. i, p. 115, Thucydides, lib, ii, chap., 47, 48, &c, Edit, Bipont. tom. ii, p. 71.

home, and a few only of the great numbers, who composed their army and navy, escaped death or captivity. For a striking detail of these events we are indebted to Thucydides, who, holding the rank of a commander in the early part of the war, was himself an eye-witness of many of the transactions which he has related. To his nervous description of facts he has added what may be esteemed no imperfect specimens of the abilities displayed by the greatest orators of his time, and particularly by Pericles, when he pronounced a funeral oration upon the soldiers who had fallen in the service of their country. Thucydides, lib. i, c. 22, lib. ii, c. 35.

The irresistible force of thunder, and the vivid flashes of lightning, were the figurative allusions used to convey ideas of the eloquence of Pericles. His talents raised him to the sole administration of public affairs, and he guided at his sovereign disposal a capricious populace for fifteen years. (B. C. 430.) To the people he looked for distinctions and honours, and to them he sacrificed the principles of the ancient constitution. The engine of his popularity was corruption. With the public money, originally destined for the defence of Attica in case of invasion, he rewarded his countrymen for attending the public assemblies, and enabled every one of them, by the sanction of an express law, to receive a gratuity for resorting to their favourite diversions of the theatre. His fame would rest upon a very weak foundation, if it was only supported by the success of his administration, in bending the inclinations of his citizens to his own political plans, and sacrificing their independence to his ambition.

But fortunately for his reputation he has the testimony of the most unbiassed men in his favour; for from the high encomium of Socrates, the anecdotes of Plutarch, and the candid and honourable testimony of Thucydides, who was banished at his instigation, we may justly conclude that he was the patron of the arts; that as a public speaker he was most eloquent; that as a statesman his abilities were consummate ; and that in the midst of the cruelty and venality of his countrymen he disdained the acquisition of wealth, and abhorred the practice of revenge.

Twenty-seven years put a period to the war of Peloponnesus, and extinguished the glory of the Athenians. The burning of their fleet, and the demolition of those walls of the city, the expense of which had been defrayed by the spoils and treasures of the Persians, attested the triumph of Lysander, the ambitious, but uncorrupt general of the Spartans. Thrasybulus, with a small band of friends, effected the expulsion of

the thirty tyrants, and received an olive crown as the sole reward of this heroic action. Cimon vindicated the honour of his disgraced country, and, after a signal defeat of the Lacedemonian navy, re-established its ancient government. While Athens was again rising to glory and distinction, the Thebans, under the conduct of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, whose social virtues and military talents did equal honour to their illustrious characters, checked the power of Sparta; and the battle of Leuctra rewarded their valour with complete success. But the sun of Theban greatness set at the battle of Mantinea, where Epaminondas expired in the arms of victory.* Nor did Athens long enjoy the revival of her power; for Philip of Macedon, equally distinguished by the profligacy of his conduct, and the greatness of his ambition, obtained the sovereignty of Greece, no less by intrigues and corruption, than by his prowess in the field. The victory of Charonea extinguished the independence of the Grecian states, and the succeeding events laid the foundation of a new empire. B. C.

338.

The most remarkable changes by slow degrees took place in the manners of the Athenians, and prepared the way for the introduction of the Macedonian, and afterwards of the Roman power. When, as Xenophon remarked, it was customary to adorn the feasts of Attica with the costly viands of Sicily and Asia Minor, the luxury of repasts became fatal to the manners of the people. Private extravagance kept pace with public profusion; instead of the bread, herbs, and simple fare, recommended by the laws of Solon, the Athenians availed themselves of their extensive commerce to import the dainties of distant coasts, which were served up with all the refinements of culinary art. In summer, the delicious wines of Cyprus were cooled with snow; and in winter, garlands of flowers, procured at great expense, adorned the tables, and encircled the heads of this luxuriant people. The martial songs of their ancestors became unfashionable; and parasites, dancers, and buffoons, crowded their sumptuous feasts. An excessive fondness for horses, and the pursuits of the chase exhausted the finances of the youths, who were vitiated by their intercourse with harlots, or corrupted by the licentious philosophy of sophists. Disdaining to cultivate the virtues of their

A fine sketch of the character of Epaminondas is given in the Travels of Anacharsis, v. ii, p. 80. And one not less appropriate occurs in Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, b. iii, p. 127. Cicero preferred him to all the Grecian heroes-" Epaminondas princeps meo judicio Græcia."

progenitors, and blind to the encroachments of politic and enterprising enemies, they gave a loose to luxury, and licentiousness. The public revenues, which had been formerly expended in the equipment of fleets and armies, were lavished upon theatrical exhibitions, games, and festivals. Frivolous curiosity and tame irresolution became the characteristics of a people, whom no sense of danger or shame could rouse to martial exertions, even when their enemies were stripping them of their most valuable territories, and advancing with rapid steps to Athens itself.

The death of Philip (B. C. 335) induced the Athenians to throw off the Macedonian yoke. The alacrity of his renowned successor was soon displayed in subduing, and his clemency in pardoning, their defection. The exploits of ALEXANDER THE GREAT, who undertook his expedition against Darius with a view to avenge the wrongs of Greece, form an interesting portion of this period of history. Although the Greeks were deprived during his reign of their independence, yet they were left at full liberty to follow the dictates of their own inclinations, with respect to the cultivation of the arts, and even in martial affairs they shared the triumphs of the conqueror of the East.

This great and accomplished Hero was himself distinguished by a love of the arts and of literature: he patronized Lysippus the most eminent statuary, and Appelles the greatest painter of his age; and he preserved as his most invaluable treasure, a copy of his favourite Homer, in a rich casket found among the spoils of Darius. To the most extraordinary talents he united an ardent and uncontroulable temper, headstrong passions, and an unquenchable thirst for dominion. Although his conduct was tarnished with some atrocious sallies of rage and cruelty, yet enlightened by the precepts of Aristotle, to whose care his father Philip entrusted the important charge of his education, after paying that eminent philosopher the most distinguishing compliment a tutor ever received, he improved his extensive conquests to the general benefit of mankind. He built many cities in the most convenient situations, and introduced the civilization of Greece into barbarous countries. His life exhibited many splendid examples of clemency, humanity, and generosity, even amid the fervour of youth, and the impetuosity of victory. His race of glory was indeed short; but he outstripped all his competitors in his enterprises, as well as in his success. Even after making full allowances for the fictions and exaggerations of his flattering historians, the most au