~"\ D V.I. •f: / (Cornell Hmneraitg ffiibtatg ilthara, -Xtw TUuk LIBRARY OF LEWIS BINGLEY WYNNE A B.. A.M.. COLUMBIAN COLLEGE. '71.*7a WASHINGTON. D. C. THE GIFT OF MRS. MARY A. WYNNE AND JOHN H. WYNNE CORNELL '98 1922 DATE DUE CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1924 088 051 515 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088051515 Jit ^ti Arcadia, Elis, Achaia 283 Boeotia 285 Phocis, Locris, Aetolia, Acarnania 287 Thessalians and other nations north of Othrys 288 LECTURE XXVIII. Amphictyony, its nature and objects 291 Its origin and constitution , 292 Political object of the panegyreis in general 294 The Islands and Colonies. Authenticity of the Greek settlements in general 296 Ante-histeric period 296 XX CONTENTS. PAGE Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor 296 Greeks in the islands 297 The inhabitants of Crete 298 Historical period, colonies in Italy and Sicily 299 LECTURE XXIX. Causes of colonisation 300 Peculiarities of Greek colonies 302 Nationality and constitution of the colonies 303 Principal currents of emigration 304 Conclusion, Cyprus 305 Hellenic history down to Oltmp. 60. Chronological uncertainty of the earlier centuries 305 Lycurgus, the Olympian games, his legislation, Homer 306 Pheidon 307 Extension of the Dorians , 308 Attica 308 Corinth 308 Transition of the sovereignty from the kings to gentes 309 LECTURE XXX. The Messenian War 310 Ephorus, Myron of Priene, Ehianus 310 Credibility of Rhianus and Myron, Tyrtaeus, Pausanias 812 Particulars of the first Messenian War 313 The second Messenian war, Aristomenes 314 Historical character of the traditions, subjugation of Messene 316 Sparta against Argos and Arcadia 317 Supremacy of Sparta in Peloponnesus 317 Prosperity of Corinth 318 Rising of the commonalties, reaction against oligarchies, tyrants 319 LECTURE XXXI. Separate tyrants, Orthagorids, Cypselids, Theagenes, Lygdamis, Pittacus 321 Consequences of the tyrannis in the development of the cities 327 Advance of the Thessalians 328 Wars in ancient times 329 LECTURE XXXII. Condition of the cities in Asia Minor , 330 Solon and Pisistratus— Greece, prom Oltmp. 50 to 70. Events in Attica before the time of Solon 331 CONTENTS. XXI PAGE Authenticity of the accounts about Solon 332 Solon conquers Salamis 334 He saves Athens from debts 335 He opposes a timocracy to the oligarchy 338 Athenian constitution of his time .'. 339 Destruction of Cirrha 340 LECTURE XXXIII. History of Pisistratus, his activity for Athens 340 His buildings 34:3 The Pisistratids, their expulsion 344 Constitution of Cleisthenes , 346 Revolution of Isagoras ....■ 347 Victory of Cleisthenes and the people 347 Demi and Gentes 349 Athens victorious against foreign enemies 349 Rise of the maritime power of Athena in the war against Aegina 349 Decay of Argos '. 350 LECTURE XXXIV. Literature and Art down to the Persian Wars. Different modes of development in the life of Greece 350 Rapid progress after the Persian wars 351 Previous tranquillity, and hence little history 352 Epic poetry and history 353 Popular ballads 353 The Margites and Archilochus (Elegy) 354 Gnomic poets 355 Lyric poetry (Pindar) 356 Epigrams 356 Beginnings of architecture .- 357 Development of Greek art, (drawing) 358 LECTURE XXXV, Sculpture 360 Development of science : 361 Revolt or the Ionians. Causes of the outbreak of the Ionian revolt 362 The Ionians obtain succour from Athens 365 Expedition against Sardes- 366 Suppression of the revolt , 367 The Ma»j*oi) aiaais of Phrynichus 369 xx ii CONTENTS. Origin of Greek tragedy Origin of Greek comedy LECTURE XXXVI. PAGE 370 370 The Persian War. , Herodotus as an historian, his authorities, Choerilus 371 Ctesias 374 Expedition of Datis, greatness of his army 375 Taking of Eretria 376 Landing in Attiea • °' ' Miltiades 377 Battle of Marathon 378 Rise of Athens 379 Jloxitcia of Themistocles 380 LECTURE XXXVII. Themistocles and Aristides 382 Ostracism , 385 Military preparations of Athens 385 The expedition of Xerxes. Preparations of Xerxes 386 Expedition through Thessaly 387 Thermopylae 388 March against Delphi 389 Evacuation of Athens 390 Artemisium 390 LECTURE XXXVIII. Legendary character of the separate statements 391 Themistocles at Salamis 393 Battle of Salamis 394 Retreat of Xerxes, and results of the battle 394 Mardonius in Hellas, negotiations with Athens 395 Battle of Plataeae 396 Liberation of the continent of Greece 397 Expedition of the fleet and battle of Mycale 397 Liberation of the islands 399 Supremacy of Athens. Sparta aims at sovereign power in Greece 400 Themistocles opposes it ,. 400 His regeneration of Athens 401 CONTENTS. LECTURE XXXIX. PAGE Continuation of the Persian war 403 The supremacy of Sparta transferred to Athens 404 Treachery of Pausanias 405 Accusation of Themistocles 406 His opponents at Athens 410 Cimon 411 Cimon carries on the war against Persia : 412 Exile and death of Themistocles 414 LECTURE XL. Great Irritation between Athens and Sparta. Revolt of Inarus, expedition of the Athenians to Egypt 416 Relation between Athens and her allies 419 Disturbance of it from the assumption of Athens 421 Insurrection of the Helots, £hird Messenian war 422 First hostilities between the Peloponnesians and Athens 423 Pericles 424 ANCIENT HISTORY, LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION. History has already acquired a wide domain; and her pos- sessions are constantly increasing, not only because the vicissi- tudes of existing nations add continually to her store of annals, but because the scholars of Europe are ever augmenting their knowledge of foreign languages, and thus add to the number of intelligible sources of history. Historical knowledge, moreover, is extending, by means of the great discoveries of antiquities in Egypt and Asia, which are only just commencing; and of which the continuation and completion will be the enjoyment of the next generation ; and you who are now in the season of youth, if your lives be prolonged to the ordinary term of human existence, will derive from them delight and instruction. While history thus extends, by the addition of past and future events, fresh stores are also gained from day to day, within the compass of histories already known to us. How different, for example, is the history of the middle ages now, compared with what it used to be ! Chronological outlines, mere names, arid unimportant accounts of kings, have -been superseded by clear ideas and conceptions of the conditions of nations; and these are now placed within the reach of every one. The more history extends, the more it becomes the true magis- tra vitse, and the most instructive branch of knowledge. It is the duty of every one who aims at high mental culture, to make vol. I. 3 34 EXTENT OF HISTORY. himself acquainted with it in its whole extent; but those who wish to treat it philosophically, must necessarily divide the vast labours. For this reason, the history of antiquity, unless special circumstances shall induce me to make an exception, will always form the exclusive subject of my lectures. The most recent discoveries in natural science, which belong to our own age, might tempt me, as Schlosser has done in his "Ancient History," to enter upon the history of the earth itself, and its relations to the human race; but such a plan is opposed alike to my views and to my inclination. A correct treatment of history requires the exclusion of all heterogeneous subjects; and we must accordingly separate the history of the earth and its formations, which forms the substratum of human existence, from the history of the human race itself. That branch of his- tory which commences at the point where physical and historical knowledge begin to go hand in hand, the history of the earth and its relations to the life of man, is a separate science, which is not yet sufficiently represented in literature ; and of which the very plan and outlines are not yet marked out as they ought to be. We must leave it to this science to furnish, from the archives of nature herself, a history of the changes which our globe has undergone, from the .time that man became its inhabit- ant; to develop the physical differences of races, and the whole history of the changes in the physical condition of man, and especially the history of diseases. • To us these things are foreign ; and we confine ourselves to describing the actions, the life, and sufferings of man, as man in history. > When we attempt to divide the domain of history into sections, such as its vast extent requires, points sometimes spontaneously present themselves which clearly mark a division ; while at other times it is difficult to find such epochs. In the history of particular nations, these points have their special peculiarities. If we survey the whole from our subjective or intellectual point of view, every nation shows its own distinctive character, and its history presents subjectively different divisions. The history of nations like the unchangeable Chinese, and still more the Japan- ese who are quite a peculiar phenomenon, admits of no division at all; uniformity and stagnation being the inflexible character- DIVISION OF HISTORY. 35 istics of these nations, their history dispenses with the necessity of division, because division is impossible. The appearance of Islanrism forms a decided epoch for the Eastern nations profess- ing the Mahommedan religion ; but from the earliest times down to that period, there is no marked event. In the history of the European nations, with the exception of the Eastern or Slavonic races, an epoch presents itself at the time when the modern nations begin to form themselves, and our political system com- mences its development. In this manner, history naturally divides itself into ancient and non-ancient history; and the latter, again in to. the history of the middle ages and of modern times. The expression, "history of the middle ages," is merely accidental, and properly speaking, unnecessary, for there are only two opposites; and if we consider that the decisive moment of division coincides with the beginning of what are called the middle ages, the division into ancient and modern history appears to be quite sufficient. The introduction of the Christian reli- gion would form a great epoch, were it not that its beginnings reach back into the history of antiquity, which would thus be drawn inta modern history. Christianity, therefore, does ndt form an epoch for the history of the Western nations, as the introduction of Islamism does for the Mahommedan Asiatics. As the relation of ancient- history to the conditions of our own time constitutes the ground of division, the case is very different from what it would be, if we were to draw, a line merely according to a chronological date. 1 If we were to say, for example, that ancient history extends down to the fifth century of our era, a portion of Chinese history would belong to antiquity; but there is no connexion whatever between that nation and any portion of ancient history, and the epoch which marks the close of ancient history forms no point of division at ' In a MS. note to the Lectures of 1826, we read : — The distinctive na- ture of ancient history is, that it comprises those things which completely belong to a bygone state of things. It accordingly excludes that which continues to exist unaltered, such as China ; it ceases at the beginning of the new order of things in Europe, which still continues, but without there being a distinct line of demarcation separating it from the middle ages. All we can 6ay is, that this or that event does not belong to it. 36 DIVISION OF HISTOKT. all for the Chinese. If we were to make chronological divisions, it would be necessary to relate history synchronistically; and it would devolve upon us, for example, to combine with the history of the middle ages that of the Americans so far as it goes ; and if, in order to avoid this, we were to separate the nations of which nothing is known, we should be acting inconsistently. Ancient history in this form would, on the whole, consist of separate and independent accounts of the affairs of many nations, which, to a considerable extent, would be founded upon conjec- ture. As regards the savages of America, it would be difficult to ascertain, whether in the times of antiquity they possessed a higher civilization, though we may suppose that they did. China, Japan, and the Negro tribes ought, on this system, to have a place in ancient history. In the history of our ancestors, we should be obliged to go back to the time at which we can only guess at their condition ; though we do not by any means intend to exclude the Germans from ancient history. I have no objec- tion to ancient history being taught in this manner ; the method itself has much that is instructive ; but it requires an enormous space of time, and an extent of knowledge, which I for one do not possess. 2 As we must arrange general history according to a subjec- tive standard, every one may, I think, do the same with ancient history also. Setting aside the synchronistic history of nations, we may adopt two methods of arrangement, the theological and the philological. The theological arrangement, which was adopted by Bossuet, follows the order of the Old Testament, puts the history of all nations in relation to that of the Jews, and to the dispensation of Providence in training them, until the appearance of Christ, and the establishment of the gospel. The history of the other nations is related only in so far as it comes in contact with that of the Jews, and is always treated as de- pendent on it. "What kind of historical conciseness this method of narrating is capable of, may be learned from Bossuet's work. 2 In 1826, Niebuhr said : — The synchronistic method does not answer its purpose in the history of a single nation, and still less in general his- tory, because it affords us no survey of the subject. The ancients had no synchronistic history previous to the time of Timaeus. DIVISION OE HISTOKY. 37 The account of the vicissitudes of the Jewish nation, of course, occupies considerable space ; next to it come the other Eastern nations, while the rest are thrown more and more into the back ground. The arrangement which I call the philological, refers to the fact, that we consider ancient history mainly as a branch of phi- lology, or as a means of interpretation and of philological know- ledge. In this arrangement, the nations whose literature is what is termed classical, are placed in the foreground; while the others retire into the back ground, and become subordinate to the former. As I have been a philologer all my life,, I adopt this arrangement, which will be useful to you all. The consequence of it will be, that we shall entirely put out of sight the history of those nations, which stand in scarcely any connection with classical antiquity, such as the Chinese, Japanese, and the Indians beyond the Ganges ; whatever may have happened among them, and however valuable the knowledge of it may be, it forms no part of our plan, the kernel of which is the history of Greece and Rome; so that even the history of the Jews, and that of our ancestors, appear only where they are connected with classical antiquity ; and they will accordingly constitute a subordinate part, but only in point of form, for they need not on that account be inferior in importance. In this manner the whole of the history of antiquity, so far as it belongs to philology, might form one complete subject of instruction; but as its compass is still immense, a further divi- sion is necessary. Ancient history, in our sense, again divides itself into non-Roman and Roman, a division which is by no means accidental. For Roman history in its first beginnings is connected with that of the rest of antiquity, only by slender fibres; these fibres gradually strengthen, until they become mighty roots in the soil of other nations ; and Roman history in the end acquires such an extent, that in it all the other histories of antiquity, the Greek, Macedonian (which had pre- viously absorbed that of Asia and Egypt), and Carthaginian, terminate ; it even unites with itself the earliest history of our ancestors : it overshadows the whole world. The relation of the other nations to Rome is completed at the time when they are 38 BEGINNING OF HISTORY. absorbed by the Koman empire, and during the period of the emperors, there is no trace of classical history, that is not con- tained or lost in that of Rome. Hence the separation of Soman history is not merely something negative ; that history is rather the second half of ancient history philologically considered. The other, non-Roman half, accordingly comprises every- thing connected with the Greeks ; and its noblest part is the history of that nation. It does not, however, embrace them alone, but all others of whom the Greeks acquired any know- ledge. To it belongs everything that had any reference to them, and hence it also includes various stages which preceded those national conditions, which make their appearance in the history of Greece; that is, for example, the history of the Babylonians, Assyrians, Medes, Egyptians, Scythians (on account of their relation to Persia); and in like manner all the nations which did not stand in a direct relation to the Roman world. We shall have occasion, for example, to speak of the Gauls or Celts at the time when they migrate and make their appearance in Macedonia and Greece; but I have spoken of them more minutely in the history of Rome, to which they belong more particularly. Another question is, in what manner is history to be related? All historical lectures, in order to attain the object in view, must furnish us a living picture, in which the things that stand to one another in the relation of cause and effect, become clear to us in their mutual operation. As we exclude the history of the earth, and confine ourselves to that of mankind, we can go back only to those times of which traditions have come down to us; for the history of nations and periods previous to the dis- covery of the art of writing is necessarily buried in impenetrable darkness. At the time when our traditions commence, we find the earth inhabited by a number of different peoples of different races, which were as distinguished from one another by their languages and customs, as they are now; nay, the further we go back, the more we find that languages were distinct, and nations foreign to one another. This we take as an historical fact, and we shall consider each nation by itself, without entering upon speculations as to the origin of these differences. Whether all TROGUS POMPEIUS. 39 nations were originally of different origin and belonged to dif- ferent races, or whether their original identity was changed in form and language by a series of miracles, these are questions which do not belong to ancient history ; and we must leave to others to discuss them. Without a direct and minute revelation from God, we cannot arrive at any certain results on these points, and in reference to them the Book of Genesis cannot be considered as a revelation. In regard to the form most suited to a course on ancient history, I consider it best to follow some authority, it being diffi- cult to form a plan of one's own ; and I do not- know that I can select anything better than the sagacious and pleasing arrange- ment devised by Trogus Pompeius, and which is most easily accessible to us in the abridgment of Justin. But I do not mean to say, that I shall follow him in his manner of treatment, or adopt his narrative as my standard ; nor will I arrange my lectures, according to the division of his work, into books. I shall not put together in one section what he has arranged in one book, nor shall I adopt his brevity or minuteness; but my inten- tion is rather to be more minute in the history of the earliest times of the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian empires; which he has strangely compressed in one book; for I believe this to be highly necessary, especially for a correct understand- ing of the historical books of the Scriptures. On the other hand, I shall endeavour to condense, where he is extremely minute, as in the account of the convulsions and disputes among the Macedonian dynasties. What is superficially related by him in his first book, will be in my lectures far more than the fortieth part of ; the whole, while in the history of the Macedonian period, several books will be condensed into one lecture. LECTURE II. Trogus Pompeius has been the name of our author ever since the time when it became customary among the Romans to place 40 TROGUS POMPEITTS. the cognomen instead of the praenomen before the Gentile name. His true original name is Pompeius Trogus, and his praenomen was no doubt Cneius. He was a grandson of one Pompeius Trogus, a Vocontian, who, in the war of Sertorius, obtained the franchise through Cn. Pompey, and hence undoubtedly assumed Cneius as his praenomen from Pompey. The Roman praenomen which was adopted by the first of a family, was generally retained by his descendants ; thus, in Asia Minor, where the emperor Claudius appears to have conferred the franchise on many towns, we find in all the inscriptions, not only of the first, but also of the second century, the name of Tiberius Claudius. Hence the grandson of the Vocontian probably bore the name of Cn. Pompeius. The Vocontians inhabited the upper part of Provence, between the Isere and the Durance, the modern department des Basses Alpes ; their nationality is doubtful ; they may have been Ligurians, or perhaps they were Gauls. At the time of the Sertorian war, when Pompey marched through Gaul into Spain, they were in arms against the Romans, but were subdued by M. Fonteius, who was then praetor in Gaul, and*was afterwards defended by Cicero. Cn. Pompeius, the grandfather of our historian, must on that occasion have aban- doned the cause of his nation. He had two sons, one of whom accompanied Pompey into Parthia, and is mentioned in the Mith- ridatic war as the commander of a detachment of Gallic horse. The other Trogus, the father of the historian, joined the dictator Julius Csesar, and became one of his private secretaries, whence we must infer that he was a man of considerable attainments. The historian accordingly lived in the time of Augustus. His personal history is almost entirely unknown, and we are acquainted with him only as an author. Trogus Pompeius was the first Roman who conceived the idea of writing the history of foreign nations, while the artistic development of the history of Rome itself had been commenced by Livy and Sallust. To judge from the notice he takes of the speeches interwoven in their works, he must have composed his history later than those two. This we gather from one of the latter books of Justin, who says, that Trogus blamed Sallust and Livy for having given PROLOGUES OF TROGUS. 41 their speeches in the oratio recta 1 — a childish censure, of which, however, at times even an intelligent man may be guilty. The plan of his history was to commence with the earliest times of which the Greeks had any information ; and he carried it through by means of a skilful insertion of episodes. He does not go much farther back than Herodotus, and like him he too, properly speaking, began with the commencement of the struggle between Asia and Europe, in the war of Cyrus against Lydia ; touching upon the Assyrian and Median periods only in a brief introduction. From the Persians he passes on to the Greeks, whose history he inserts ; thence he proceeds to Sicily and Car- thage, embracing the migration of the'GaulSj and their invasion of Macedonia. He is much interested in the expeditions of Alexander the Great, and gives a very detailed account of the Macedonian dynasties down to the end of the last Syrian dynasty, to which he subjoins the branch dynasties of Pergamus and Pon- tus. In the last books, he treats of the traditions of the West, especially of Iberia ; and it is much to be regretted that they are lost. He also touched upon the history of Home, but only on its most ancient periods and traditions, and that from a Greek point of view. Otherwise he excludes it entirely, and for this reason I follow his plan. However much I shall have to add in many parts, yet I shall on the whole adhere to his method. He shows a masterly skill in the manner in which he inserts his episodes. We know his work unfortunately in a very mutilated form ; first, by what are called prologues, that is, tables of contents prefixed to several books ; they are a kind of summaries, which are frequently found in the manuscripts of ancient authors, and were certainly made at a very early period, though they may not be the work of the authors themselves. Those of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, for example, are very ancient. Those of Trogua Pompeius are indescribably barbarous. These summaries, however, are important, because in some cases they show the plan of Trogus more distinctly than the extracts of 1 Justin xxxviii. 3. 42 JUSTIN. Justin. They are a proof that he treated of many subjects which, to judge from Justin, he might seem to have passed over and thus form, as it were, his justification : they show the neat ness of his plan, but are terribly corrupt in our manuscripts The Abbe" de Longuerue has treated of them in an excellen manner ; he was a distinguished man, one of the best Frencl scholars of the seventeenth century, and was chiefly engaged ii the study of the Fathers. He has published little, and his paper; having fallen into unfaithful hands, have for the most part beer lost. A portion of them has been purchased by Professor Mol denhawer, and deposited in the library of Copenhagen. His labours on Chrysostom have been made use of, but without th( acknowledgement due to him. What he had collected for th( prologues of Trogus has been conscientiously used in Gronovius edition of Justin ; in Grauert's edition of the prologues, the Abba's emendations have been made use of. You are all acquainted with Justin, a work which in my youth was used in schools. The period at which he lived is uncertain, and different opinions are entertained about it. The most commor belief is, that he was a contemporary of the Antonines, and there are manuscripts, in which the preface is actually addressed tc the emperor M. Antoninus. But I am convinced, that this state- ment is solely founded on a confusion with Justin, the martyr, who flourished in the time of the Antonines, and whose age was known in the West even before the revival of Greek literature; for in the Chronicle of St. Jerome — the chronological tables oi Eusebius translated by Jerome, to which we are indebted for a great deal of information, and to which Jerome made excellenl additions — it is stated that the philosopher Justin was a con- temporary of the Antonines. In the Medicean manuscript, which is probably the most ancient, he is called M. Junianus Justinus, which name is certainly not wrong. A practised eye sees certain evidence in small indications, in which others can see no significance. One of these indications is the form oi Koman names in later times ; and he who has carefully observec the changes of these names, can thereby determine to what perio<5 a man belongs. Thus the names on the pillar of Igel alone JUSTIN. 43 ■would show that this monument belongs to the third century. New the form M. Junianus Justinus, without a Gentile name, though the Roman praenomen is still preserved, distinctly points to the third century, and to it I assign him. His language also agrees with this supposition. I have now reclaimed two authors for that century. In regard to ancient history, people have been strangely one-sided, and have overlooked many things ; thus the third century has been regarded as altogether a dead period, though down to A. D. 260, there was more life in Latin literature, than during the greater part of the second century, which from the time of Suetonius was a period of rest in literature, if we except the highly ingenious Apuleius and Gellius. From the reign of Severus, Roman literature rose again ; this fact has hitherto not been properly understood, and it has been supposed, that from the time of Commodus down to the fourth century, Roman literature had entirely disappeared. Justin worked in the same manner as Florus had done in the reign of Trajan, and as others did in his own time. He abridged a large work, which began to be neglected because it was too voluminous. We will not blame him for this, but be grateful for it, since the forty-four large books of Trogus would certainly not have been copied, seeing that only thirty-five books of Livy were copied. Justin's abridgment, however, was hastily made, and is full of blunders. Justin is an author, in editing whom a philologer who makes history his study, and undertakes the task with philological skill, may yet acquire great distinction. A good edition is still a desideratum; the text is bad, and for the last three hundred years the same text has been reprinted ; a critical examination of it, therefore, is the thing needed above all others. Of all the scholars that have been occupied with Justin, scarcely one de- serves honourable mention, with the exception of James Bongar- sius, a French Protestant, whose library still exists at Berne. He was a clever man, and a distinguished commentator. Most of the others are quite incompetent ; and the last, Abraham Gronovius, is the most incompetent of all. Yet his edition is the only one, that can in some measure be recommended, because 44 THE ASSYRIANS. it contains a good collection of the various readings. We require for our purpose only a small edition of the text. 2 It would be a grateful task to write a history of antiquity on the plan of Justin, but so as to make use, at the same time, oi all the resources which we now possess. Time does not allow me, in these lectures, to refer to»modern historians. Justin begins his history with Ninus, according to the false supposition of the ancients, who place him in a very remote period, and assign to his Assyrian empire of Nineveh a duration of 1,200 years, fixing its destruction even before the beginning of the Olympiads, that is, at a time preceding the reign of Nabo- nassar. We, too, shall begin.with the Assyrians ; but with those of Babylon, and not, like Justin, with those of Nineveh. In the Book of Genesis, also, Nimrod is mentioned first, as the founder and first ruler of Babel, and Assur of Nineveh follows after the kingdom of Babel. The name of Aramaeans, Syrians or Assyrians, comprises the nations extending from the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris to the Euxine, the River Halys, and Palestine. They applied to themselves the name Aram, and the Greeks called them As- syrians, which is the same name as Syrians. Within that great extent of country, there existed, of course, various dialectic dif- ferences of language ; and there can be little doubt, but that in some places the nation was mixed with other races. Thus As- syria is sometimes made to comprise Cordyene. The modern Kurds speak a language which is made up of Persian and Syriac, and thus prove their ancient intermixture. In like manner the nations on the Euxine and in Cappadocia seem to be mixed races. The Canaanites, Arabs, and Hebrews are akin to the Aramaeans, and all speak Semitic languages, which form a very marked con- trast to the neighbouring Persian language. It was only for a 2 Manuscripts alone would not be in all respects sufficient to prepare a good edition. It must also be observed, that everything which was nol generally known was beyond the comprehension and knowledge of Justin, He himself in his preface describes his work as the result of accident. THE ASSYRIANS. 45 short period that the Assyrian people constituted one state; they ■were generally divided into many. 3 A singular misfortune hangs over their history. It is to be lamented that no true information has come down to us from a time which possessed ample means for writing the history of that Asiatic empire, and that only fables have become current; for the account of Ctesias which, instea,d of a true history, is a mere fiction, became established as current history. In what manner his work arose, whether he was able to read books, as he him- self asserts, and fabulous books fell into his hands which he was led to take for history, or whether he was imposed upon by oral traditions and fictitious tales, and yielded to his own partiality for what was fabulous ; these are questions which we cannot and need not decide. This much is clear that we must altogether reject his tales about Assyria. About the one hundred and twenty-eighth Olympiad, towards the close of the reign of Antiochus Soter, or the beginning of that of Antiochus Theus (four hundred and eighty years after the era of Nabonassar, and sixty-two after the taking of Babylon by Alexander), Berosus, a Babylonian priest, wrote upon the antiquities of his nation, not inventing his statements, but as he himself says, deriving them from ancient documents. The truth of this assertion is attested by the strikingly exact agreement between the statements respecting the later Assyrian empire, which are derived from his work, and the historical books of- the Old Testament. All the Assyrian kings' of Nineveh, Phul, As- sarhaddon, Sanherib, Merodach-Baladan, and the Babylonian Nebucadnezar, and Evil-Merodach, who are mentioned in the Books of Kings, occur in his work also, and that at periods which perfectly agree with those at which they are mentioned in the Scriptures. The authenticity of his statements is thus placed beyond a doubt, while those of Ctesias are so utterly destitute of historical foundation, that we need not say much about them. Two such different accounts cannot both be true. Berosus, moreover, perfectly agrees with Herodotus, whose 3 On this subject, compare Niebuhr's Kleine Schriften, vol. i. p. 179. Ueber den Gewinn aus dem Armenischen Eusebius. — Ed. 46 CTESIAS AND BEROSUS. statements are founded on authorities of the same character as those of Berosus. This I have shown in my dissertation " C)i) the Historical Advantage to be derived from the Armenian Translation of the Chronicle of Eusebius," p. 179, foil. All the statements of Herodotus respecting the chronology of Nineveh, Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, are based on one common syn- chronistic system -which agrees with the accounts of Berosus. Herodotus received the plan of general history in Babylonia. We have therefore no reason to doubt the authenticity of Berosus; and why should he not have made use of the existing treasures? or why should he not have been honest enough to prefer the simple statements of his documents to falsehood ? It is one of the remarkable peculiarities of literature that, after the Macedonian conquests, the barbarous nations of Asia and Egypt were seized with a zeal to make their annals known to the Greeks ; for historical works were composed almost simultaneously by Berosus at Babylon, by Menander at Tyre, and by Manetho in Egypt, and by making a careful use of genuine historical documents, they proved the utility of Eastern history. As at present the Bengalese begin to learn European languages and to write English, so the Asiatics at that time adopted the Greek language and wrote Greek histories of their countries ; but un- fortunately their efforts created little interest among the Greeks. " The Greek culture at the Macedonian courts was only an exotic plant ; their nature was thoroughly barbarian, and soon gained the upper hand ; writers ceased to translate from native authori- ties, and what had been done in this respect, soon perished. Thus the work of Berosus also was lost at an early period. Jo- sephus still read it, and perhaps Athenaeus also." If it were not for Josephus, who had a similar object in view, we should have few quotations of any consequence from Berosus. Extracts from his work have come down to us, but they were made at second hand. A client and companion of the dictator Sulla, L. Cornelius Alexander of Miletus, commonly called the Polyhistor, had treated of ancient Asiatic empires, and his historical ency- clopedia contained a great number of extracts concerning all those nations. Among them there were some from Berosus, though not in his own words, such as Josephus quotes in his BEROSUS. 47 work against Apion. From this encyclopedia of Alexander other extracts were made in the reign of Elagabalus, by Julius Afri- canus, a Christian chronographer, who already was unacquainted with the work'of Berosus itself. From Africanus those extracts passed into the works of Eusebius and Georgius Syncellus. "EusebiuS made excerpts from Africanus, and added to them others from Porphyrius." Eusebius is a very dishonest writer, for wishing to supplant the chronology of Africanus, he assumes the appearance of having himself used the ancient authorities, where- as he stands only on the shoulders of Julius Africanus, and was unacquainted with several of the principal authors, not only with Berosus, but even with Alexander the Polyhistor. The Greek text of the Eusebian chronicle is lost ; the second book exists in the Latin translation by St. Jerome, but the first was neglected. Isaac Casaubonus possessed Greek extracts from it containing original fragments from Porphyrius. I do not know where he found them ; as far as I have been able to learn, they no longer exist at Paris. Other excerpts are found in Cedrenus, from whose work much may be gleaned with the aid of St. Jerome. With these resources Scaliger attempted the restoration of Euse- bius, a thing which was perfectly impracticable. The rest is preserved in the Armenian translation of Eusebius' chronicle, which has fortunately been discovered, though not complete. It is at all events a valuable discovery ; what we have, is a very large portion, and the present diligent researches in Armenian literature allow us to hope, that the rest may yet be supplied by some Armenian manuscript. "The newly discovered portion contains most important data, especially for the history of As- syria." In this manner, then, we have obtained statements from Berosus, concerning the highly interesting cosmogony of the Babylonians, and very mutilated accounts of the dynas- ties. We know that Berosus Wrote Ba^v%avixa in three books, per- haps with the same brevity as the Books of Kings in Scripture, unless we have to understand by the' term "books" separate works. " He dedicated his work to Antiochus Soter." In the first book he described the earliest or mythical period, and the Babylonian cosmogony ; the second began after the flood of 48 BABYLONIAN CHKONOLOGY. Xisuthrus, and the third contained the later history, which he appears to have treated very briefly. Even among his contem- poraries, Berosus enjoyed the reputation of great wisdom ; nay, what is more strange still, a statue was ereeted to him even at Athens. He was a Chaldaean, and no doubt an astronomer 01 astrologer. " We see from his fragments, that he was a very truthful man ; hence he did not place the real Chaldaean as- tronomy farther back than Nabonassar." When he makes the curious statement, that he made use of records which had been made fifteen myriads of years before his own time, it is evident he was deceived by an inveterate prejudice about the antiquity of his sources ; and that, although he is otherwise intelligent, yet his head was not free from the ordinary notions of, the ancients, such as in our own days are entertained only by the Brahmins. LECTURE III. The Babylonians, like the Indians, endeavoured to find a chronological outline for the events of past ages. Lalande has shown that in their calculation they adopted lunar cycles as their basis, forming cycles of the coincidence of lunar with solar years. In order to determine this coincidence more accurately, they made larger and larger cycles, ever endeavouring to in- crease the accuracy by intercalations. The first or smallest division of 60 years was called by them a Sosus; this multiplied by ten, or 600 years, constituted a Nerus, and six Neri or 3600 years, formed a Sarus. I do not know whether these names were Chaldaean or not. The cosmogony of the Babylonians is very remarkable; 1 ac- 1 The cosmogony of Berosus has become celebrated among Christian writers, because a part of it, and especially its archaeology, forms a paral- lel to the Mosaic cosmogony. People have even gone so far wrong as to assert that the Mosaic ■ cosmogony was derived from it. The former is ) ) BABYLONIAN OOSMOGtoNY. 49 cording to it the world began with a chaotic darkness, which was conceived as a fluid, and as inhabited by swimming animals of the strangest forms ; some of them are described, and repre- sentations of them are said to have been preserved in the temple of Belus at Babylon. These were the creatures preced- ing the last revolution of the earth. " The darkness was con- ceived as a power controlling the chaotic confusion, and was called Thalatth. Belus was the governor of, the world, but not its creator." He separated, it is said, darkness ,and light, and the present atmosphere and the surface of the earth were formed. When light appeared, the animals above mentioned hardened and died. "In this manner the material world came into existence; but in order to infuse, life and spirit into it, Belus cut off his own head," and mixed his own blood with the earth. Erom this mixture "the first man, Alorus, was produced; who was succeeded by generation -after generation until the flood." This period, from the creation of the human race to the flood, which entirely agrees with that of Noah, that is, the period between Alorus and Xisuthrus, or between Adam and Noah, was computed by the Babylonians at 120 sari, or 432,000 years. This period accurately corresponds with the Kali-Yug of the Indians, "except that the latter regard the age in which we live as being this period, while the Babylonians describe it as a bygone "time. Attempts have been made to , reconcile this period with probability ; but this is impossible, and at the same time superfluous. Men have found a certain attractive majesty in that which is monstrous." Man was first created at Babylon ; corn there grew wild, and the new race of beings there found the first necessary food, especially wheat. This tradition is the more remarkable, be- cause several naturalists have made the observation, that corn does not grow wild in any part of the world. I do not know, whether by a process of improvement our garden fruits can be derived from wild fruit; it is well known, however, that the noble vine grapes grow wild in Colchis. Whence then does miraculous, but never grotesque, like the Babylonian.— [This remark was made in 1826.] " " VOL. I. 4 50 BABYLONIAN COSMOGONY. corn come? My opinion is that God made direct provisions fo: man; something was given to all, real wheat to the Asiatics and maize to the Americans. This circumstance deserves to bi seriously considered; it is one of the manifest traces of thi education of our race by God's direct guidance and providence In the development of the whole human race, we meet with { great many things of a similar nature,, which every one mus acknowledge who is not under the influence of an antipathy, i degenerate antipathy against the belief in such a divine guidance Among them may be mentioned the working in metal; for x could not have occurred to man, had he not been guided by ai instinct which does not come of itself. In like manner h< cannot have discovered the healing powers of plants, withoul such an instinct. At a later period man was guided by analogj and combination, and the inward higher voice of instincl became weaker and weaker, the more the reasoning powers were developed. When men began to live in a human way at Babylon, the cos- mogony proceeds, there appeared to them from the deep, one oi the monsters of the preceding world, which had been saved, and with a human voice gave them information on the events of pasi times. Now it is true, no man in his senses will take it to be ar historical fact, that God should have revealed himself in such an unworthy form ; but these notions, of strange and monstrous beings of the primitive world, are nevertheless highly remarkable, inasmuch as their existence is attested by the remains which geologists have discovered in secondary formations of rocks- remains of creatures, which must have lived, before the present solid earth was formed, and moved in chaos according to verj different laws. Were there among the Babylonians at that time geologists as at present? Did they even then carry their inves- tigations into the bowels of the earth? and did they arrive al the same conclusions as those at which Cuvier, Brogniart, and others have now arrived? Or must we suppose that along wit! other revelations, they received one also concerning past times' Whatever it may have been, this notion of something fantastii in nature is highly significant ; it is not an idea on which mai could have fallen of himself. FIRST BABYLONIAN DYNASTIES. 51 It is further stated, that the men of that period, of 120 sari, lived immensely long ; until there arose unjust men, and God decreed to destroy mankind on account of its increasing wicked- ness. He ordered one just man, Xisuthrus, to build a large ark, like that of Noah, and to embark in it with a chosen band of pious men. A flood then occurred, which overwhelmed and destroyed all Babylonia (for the Babylonians limited this inun- dation to their own country). The ark floated towards the mountains of Armenia, and when the waters had subsided, the just men there disembarked, and returned to Babylonia. This evidently presents a resemblance to the account of the flood of Noah, to which we may add the circumstance that the number of generations from the first man to the flood, is ten, the same as that between Adam and Noah ; while, on the other hand, the Babylonian tradition differs from the Mosaic account, by stating that not only Xisuthrus and his family, but all pious men were saved ; and also by making the flood not universal, but only partial and confined to Babylonia. After the deluge, Babylonia became again inhabited, and we now find lists of dynasties, in ever-decreasing periods of time, "just like the lives of the patri- archs in the Old Testament." The first dynasty of native kings is said to have had eighty- six kings, and to have lasted 34,080 years. 3 This is evidently a fable, for while the kings at first reign upwards of 2,000 years, the reigns of the subsequent ones become shorter and shorter, until in the end they have the duration of an ordinary human life. This dynasty, therefore, being quite fabulous, must be put aside ; we must look upon it as analogous to the empire of Nimrod in Genesis. But it maybe asserted, that where it ends, at least 2,000 years before Alexander, the real history of Baby- lonia commences. 3 One tradition states that Callisthenes found 2 In the notes of 1826 we read : — A less authentic statement, is 33,090 years. This period is not calculated by the Babylonians according to solar years, but according to sari, neri and soci. 3 The passage here following, which cannot be restored with certainty, in consequence of the great discrepancy in the manuscript notes, does not agree with the dissertation on Eusebius, p. 200. In the Lectures of 1826, Niebuhr expressed himself on this subject as follows : " The object of the 52 FIRST BABYLONIAN DYNASTIES. in Babylon, documents and astronomical observations, whicl according to some were 2,200 years older than himself, accord ing to others 1,900, and according to others again, 1,700 (sic) the first of which numbers I consider to be the most probable It might be urged against the supposition of their having beer real observations, that if there had existed such ancient records, Berosus would probably have commenced his accurate calculi tions before the period of Nabonassar ; but it is, nevertheless, probable that Callisthenes found at Babylon some documents relating to Babylonian chronology, and astronomical observa- tions made at a very remote period. This I consider as ai indubitable fact. Porphyrins 4 certainly did not invent the state- ment, but must have derived it from good authority. The common chronology of the Babylonians was the era of Nabonassar, which began in the second year of the eighth Olympiad ; but Callis- thenes observed that there was also another more ancient chro- nology, which went back as far as 2,000 years before his own age. Berosus' accounts of the ancient dynasties are extremely meagre, but seem, nevertheless, to be deserving of attention. enormous height of the temple of Belus was only to make astronomical observations." The antiquity of astronomical observations has been deter- mined very differently. Ptolemy and Berosus, probably, had none that were more ancient than the age of Nabonassar ; this is stated expressly by Pliny, but others, he adds, went farther back, though few only as much as a century. Callisthenes, however, who accompanied Alexander, wrote that the Babylonians had observations which went back 1903 years. Oicero and Diodorus state that they had observations of 474,000 years. This, how- ever, is probably a misunderstanding, and it seems probable that both state- ments arose only from the fact, that the Babylonians meant the period which had elapsed from the establishment of the present order of the world down to the time of Alexander, and that they said they had observations from the earliest times. The number of Callisthenes almost corresponds with the time which had elapsed from the beginning of the second dynasty to Alexander. There can be no doubt, that previous to the age of Nabo- nassar they had a fixed method of chronology and astronomical observations, 4 This name has been put in by conjecture ; one MS. only gives a name, but has Pliny and not Porphyrius. The statement about Callisthenes, as is well known, occurs in Simplicius, ad Aristot. de Coelo, ii. p. 123, a.; comp. also p. 27, a. — Ed. FIRST BABYLONIAN DYNASTIES. 53 Between the flood and the dominion of the Assyrians over Baby- lonia, he reckons five dynasties. The first dynasty after the deluge, he says', was succeeded by a Median one; of which Zoroaster was the first ruler. In this manner the origin of the religion of the Magi would come to belong to a very remote period. The age. of Zoroaster is quite uncertain: the Persians place him in a time which is altogether unknown, in the reign of a King Gustasp, who cannot be identified with Darius Hys- taspis, since before the reign of the latter, the power of the Magi was so great in Asia, that he found himself called upon to break it. " He certainly belongs to the oldest period of Asiatic history." Zoroaster, however, whatever may be said as to his historical existence, is for us no. more than a mythical name, the founder of the Magian worship of light or Ormuzd. That this worship took its origin among the M e des, ca.nno,t be doubted, and our best authorities treat Zoroaster as a Mede. I cannot see why the belief of the Babylonians, that in conjunction with the Medes he subdued Babylonia, and that eight kings of his dynasty ruled for a period of 224 years, should not be true. This dynasty was succeeded by a third of eleven kings ; we neither know to what nation they belonged, nor how long they reigned, for the passage in Julius Africanus is mutilated. " The time of the duration of this dynasty has dropped out, and the gloss forty -eight years is absolutely wrong." This loss is greatly to be lamented, for otherwise we should be able to trace the scale with certainty 2,000 years beyond the age of Alexander. It is possible that these eleven kings may yet be supplied, if another manuscript of Eusebius should be discovered. Then follows the fourth dynasty, which is said to have fur- nished forty-nine Chaldaean kings, and to have continued 458 years; 5 it is succeeded by the fifth, containing nine Arabian 5 " The Chaldaeans were a caste at Babylon, most celebrated as priests and astronomers, but they were at the same time rulers, and stood in the same relation as the Brahmins. In Scripture they are called Ghasdim. Joseph Scaliger was the first to show, that the Chaldaeans and Aramaeans were different races ; he has proved that the roots of the Assyrian words are found in the Aramaic, and that the Ghaldaean is quite foreign to them. These investigations were continued by Perizonius in his Origines Baby- 54 NINEVEH KTJLES OVER BABYLON. kings who ruled for a period of 245 years. It is a very curious circumstance, that the Arabs at this early period appear as a ruling people. It is possible, that this may afford an explana- tion of the seventeenth Egyptian dynasty, and that there may be found some connexion between the two. After this, the fifth dynasty, about 1000 years after the be- ginning of the Median rule (for we cannot say with certainty what time elapsed after this dynasty, the chronology of one dynasty having dropped out), there begins the Assyrian dynasty, with forty-five kings, filling a period of 520 years, which exactly agrees with the statement, which Herodotus must have heard at Babylon, that the Assyrians had ruled 520 years over Upper Asia. 6 This number must be adopted, instead- of the enormous one of 1300 years, which Ctesias assigns to the Assyrian rulers from Ninus to Sardanapalus, and which is quite fabulous ; while the former is derived from genuine Babylonian annals. 7 But it is not to be understood as- referring to the period from the first foundation of Nineveh to its destruction, but to that extending from the time when the Assyrians subdued Babylon, until the time when Babylonia and Media made themselves independent lonicae, and by Vitringa, in his commentary on Isaiah. "We must conceive the Chaldaeans to have been a foreign tribe, which at some unknown time conquered Babylon. Some have imagined that they were Slavonians, on account of the many names ending in zar; and the names Nebucadnezar and Belsazar have been interpreted by the Slavonic language in a manner which seemB to be suitable enough. But this is a remarkable instance to put us on our guard against such speculations, for there is nothing else to warrant it. We cannot get beyond the mere fact that the Chaldaeans were a foreign tribe, which came from the north as conquerors." — From the Lect. of 1826. " In 1826, Niebuhr observed: — "Herpdotus and my father resemble each other, for both were most accurate in their inquiries." 7 In 1826, Niebuhr said: — "Whether Ctesias said 1300 years, or any other number, cannot be determined, on account of the intolerable method of writing Greek numbers in MSS. The Chronicles of Castor and Cephas laeon, which were made use of by Africanus, and after him by Eusebius, likewise give long lists of Assyrian kings. Now, although they do no! agree with Ctesias, yet the fact itself might suggest that Ctesias after all derived his account from Oriental authorities." NINEVEH. 55 of Assyria. " After this, Nineveh continued to exist as a power- ful empire for 123 years, and that these 123 years are not com- prised in the 526 years, has heen shown in my dissertation on the Armenian translation of Eusebius. 8 It had, moreover, been powerful even before- that time." I will not repeat the old stories about" Ninus, Semiramis, and the like ; they may be read in Justin, and with still more detail in Diodorus Siculus. As these stories are derived from Ctesias, and as for want of information we do not know what Berosus thought of them, I would not like to make any historical use of them. The fact of the founder of Nineveh being called Ninus, is quite in accordance with the common practice ; in Genesis, however, this name does not occur, but Assur. 9 Nineveh was situated on the extreme boundary of the country inhabited by the Aramaic race ; a few miles from it, we meet on the one side the Persians, and on the other the Medes. This situation leads to the supposition that it was chosen with a definite object, and that the Aramaeans founded a great city here for the purpose of controlling the neighbouring nations, just as Oonstantine the Great made Byzantium his residence in the East for the same purpose. 10 There can be no doubt that Nineveh is of more re- cent origin than Babylon ; but how and when it was founded, how an empire arose there, and how it apquired the dominion of Asia, these are obscure questions to which no answer can be 8 See Niebuhr's Klein. Selirift. vol. i. p. 209, comp. with p. 195, foil. The 123d year of the Nabonassarian era falls in Olymp. 38, 4. — Ed. 9 " Semiramis was no doubt a celebrated queen in the East. This may be seen from Herodotus, who speaks of her dykes ; but he places her only five generations before Nitocris, the wife of Nebucadnezar. She would thus belong to the time of Tiglath Pilassar, and would not have been queen of Nineveh, but of Babylon. Prom Herodotus it is clear that an elder Semiramis, a wife of Ninus, was unknown at Babylon, which he himself visited. All this is mythical, and Ninus is only a personification of Nine- veh."— 1826. 10 "It is very possible that inthose districts the Aramaic race was mixed with another, the Elamites (Zend, Medes), seeing that the Kurds are a mixed race of Aramaeans and Medo-Persians. Thus it is possible that the Babylonians formed a state in a country which was before Median, and that this state afterwards. became powerful there." — 1826. 56 NINEVEH. given. Genesis does not contain a trace of this empire, and Berosus does not mention that the Assyrians ruled over Asia; and the earlier Babylonian kings had no such extensive do- minions. It is only the statements in the fables of Ctesias that give us an idea of the immense extent of the empire. Ac- cording to them, Ninus was involved in a war with Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians. This seems to suggest a struggle between the Aramaic and Iranian races, and between the astronomical or star worship of the Babylonians^ and the worship of light- Ormuzd of the Iranian tribes. 11 It is quite cleat that Semiramis plays a prominent part in the poetry of those nations ; but from the de- tailed accounts about her cunning, her conquests in Bactria and India, and the like, we can draw no conclusions. No man can say with certainty how far the Assyrian empire extended ; that Babylon was subject to it, is known from Berosus; Media' and Persia no doubt yielded to its sway ; Herodotus describes its do- minion as extending into Upper Asia, and it is possible that it reached as far as Asia Minor. Some connection between the dynasty of Nineveh and the Heracleids of Sardis is indicated in the statement of their common descent from Belus. According to tradition, Ninus was a great grandson of Heracles, or son of Belus. Baal in the History of the Jews, and Bel at Babylon in the so-called Apocryphal Books, and the Heracleids at Sardis, were likewise traced to Belus through King Agron of Lydia. 18 " It is quite certain that the later kings mentioned in the Old Testament ruled in Asia Minor." Late Greek writers, therefore, regard even the kingdom of Troy as a fief of the Assyrian em- pire of Nineveh, which is quite a correct historical idea. 13 Cer- tain it is, that there was an empire of extraordinary magnitude. 11 " The star-worshippers were still numerous in the Middle Ages ; at pre- sent they exist only in the small town of Harran." — 1826. 12 "It is quite contrary to Oriental notions for Greek mythology to repre- sent the Babylonian Bel, the governor of the world, as a son of Heracles. It is quite a different thing when the Orientals describe Ninus as a son of Bel."— 1826. 13 " They suppose that Memnon had been , sent by the Assyrian king to assist his vassal, the king of Troy. A distinct mention, however, of a connection between Nineveh and the Trojan war occurs only in late writers. But that the Assyrians came in contact with the Greeks, when NINEVEH. 57 "The district about Nineveh was called, hy ancient geogra- phers, Atturia; the country is quite different from that of Baby- lon, and one of the most magnificent districts in the world. It is not indeed so fertile as Babylon, but it is wanting in nothing, while Babylon has no trees. The city was situated opposite to Mosul." The circumference of Nineveh was immense, and its site is even now marked by. mighty heaps of ruins which are said to contain the remnants of the walls. This has recently been confirmed by English travellers. "The royalipalace may still be recognized by the remnants of a square brick wall, by which it was surrounded. Nineveh was not, like Babylon, built only of bricks, but contained buildings of hewn stone. Lately, a large stone, with figures in relief, was discovered, but the Turks immediately broke it in pieces. According to the descrip- tion I have seen of it, the figures represented on it were a rider on horseback with his retinue." While at Bome, I was inti- mately acquainted with' a Chaldaeo- Catholic priest, a united Nes- torian from Armenia ; he was a particularly well-educated and distinguished man, as generally all Eastern Christians are, when they have received a European education. They have an un- quenchable thirst for mental culture and knowledge, which renders it the more deplorable, that they are doomed to live under Mahommedan tyranny. This man told me, that being a native of a village built on the ruins of Nineveh, he had often been present when bricks were dug out of the ground. In his time, he said, a colossal statue had been discovered by men ploughing a field; but the Mahbmmedaris ordered it to be broken, as they do with every thing else that is brought to light. He also mentioned, that gems, with figures engraved on them, are found. There is no doubt, that, if excavations were made at Nineveh, and rightly conducted, many ancient trea- the latter established their first colonies in Asia Minor, is evident from recent discoveries. Eastern authorities are more thoroughly authentic for very early times than those of the West. Thus the account in the Old Testament about the Jewish kings, is as authentic as any history we have of the West, even looking apart from inspiration. The art of writing must have been known at Babylon at an extremely early period, no doubt even under the Median dynasty." — 1826. 58 NINEVEH AND BABYLON. sures and inscriptions would be discovered. The circumference of the city on both sides of the Tigris measures several geogra*. phical miles. The site of Babylon occupied a still more extensive space. "Herodotus calculates it at 480 stadia, or about 60 English miles; Diodorus and Strabo make it a little less." This enor- mous extent has often been the subject of ridicule, as if it were utterly fabulous, but from the most recent investigations of English travellers," it appears that we cannot suppose the circumference to have been less. " The English consul at Bagdad, Mr. Kich, who had opportunities of staying there for some time, is of opinion, that Herodotus' statement is not exaggerated, and that without this supposition it would be unaccountable how the' temple of Bel, together with the other immense ruins, could have been united together in one city."' Both Babylon and Nineveh were built in the form of a parallelogram, perhaps of a regular square. "But the walls of Babylon have disappeared from the earth." The ruins of some immensely large buildings, forming real hills, are still discernible; the situation .of the temple of Bel (Birs-Nimrud) and of the royal palace, can probably be indicated with certainty; other sites cannot be so determined, for the ruins form at present shapeless beaps. Everywhere traces are visible of the ground having been dug into, for during the last 2000, or at least 1500 years, those ruins have been used by the neighbouring towns as quarries. The town of Helle, of the size of Bonn, is entirely built of bricks dug out at Babylon; it is probable that sueh bricks were used even in the building of Bagdad, as at this day all r '« "My father was prevented by hostile Beduines from making a close examination of the ruins." — 1826. 15 "Mr. Rich correctly observes, that Babylon must not be conceived as a continuous city, like our towns ; such a view would be opposed to the ruins themselves. The ground covering the ruins requires to be purified by rain and vegetation, and wherever this is not done, lime and saltpetre are formed, and no vegetation can thrive (this is the very opposite of the ruins at Borne and in Italy generally). In this manner, therefore, it is easy to distinguish the places which were occupied by houses from those which formed gardens and fields, and we can clearly see that a very large part of Babylon was not covered with houses." — 1826. BABYLON. 59 buildings in the neighbourhood are constructed of them. "The material consists partly of burnt bricks, and partly of such as were formed of clay and dried in the burning sun. The rem- nants of the inner part of the house consist of the latter, for, owing to the frequent showers of rain, the entire buildings could not have been composed of them. Hence, also, the great buildings of the Babylonians were provided with air holes to prevent dampness. The burnt bricks are of the greatest per- fection,, surpassing even those of the Romans. Nearly all of them are stamped, and the larger ones are covered with long inscriptions, which have not yet been decyphered. 16 Theyremind us of the tradition, that in ancient times Seth or Sem wrote whatever was known of past ages partly on burnt and partly on unburnt bricks, that it might escape being destroyed both by water and by fire ; for in the case of water dissolving the one set of bricks, the burnt ones would not be injured, and in case of fire, the dried ones would only be hardened. This tradition evidently indicates, that the knowledge of bygone times was conceived to have been thus preserved. There can> accordingly, be no doubt, that these bricks, many of which are now in England, are of the greatest importance. They would be most useful, if they contained historical accounts; it is possible, how- ever, that they may contain only theosophy, or astronomical observations, or other things; but they are at any rate of great importance. The Greeks, like Callisthenes, expressly attest that the astronomical observations of the Babylonians were printed on bricks. There are also vases with hieroglyphics and cuneiform inscriptions. A stone with such inscriptions has also been found at Susa; it is said to have been removed, but what has become of it is unknown, though the English have diligently endeavoured to recover it. At present several monuments of the same kind are said to have been brought to light. When the Zend language shall be discovered, of which there is now great hope, there can be no doubt, that the 16 "The Babylonians had no other writing material than palm leaves, and they had no hewn stones to make inscriptions ; they accordingly used bricks, on which they impressed inscriptions by means of Wooden stamps. Inscriptions could thus be multiplied ad libitum." — 1826. 60 BABYLON. cuneiform writing of Persepolis will likewise be read, attempts at which have already been made. On the walls of that city there are three kinds of writing, one by the side of the other, and the characters of one of them resemble those on the Baby- lonian bricks and the so-called cylinders. When this cuneiform writing of Persepolis shall be discovered, we shall also be able to read the Babylonian inscriptions, and a new and wide field of Asiatic history will be thrown open. If the investigations are carried on systematically, history will be disentombed from the ruins of those cities, especially if European influence should be brought to bear upon those countries; and this would be a blessing which, I wish with all my heart, may be conferred upon the Christians of those countries who thirst after enlightenment and mental culture. 17 "The bricks are united together with lime or bitumen, the latter of which gushed from the earth near the ancient town of Is. They used it boiled and mixed, but it is not such a good cement as lime, which could be obtained with greater facility. It is hardly con- ceivable why they fetched an inferior material from a greater distance ; but wherever the bricks are joined together with lime, they are so firmly united that they can be separated only by sawing ; and this may have been the reason why bitumen was used when the bricks contained inscriptions; for where lime has been used, the characters are illegible. Herodotus' accounts of the walls have been confirmed by Mr. Rich, so that we have reason to suppose that his other statements are likewise correct. The walls were double and of immense thickness ; their outside was covered with burned bricks, while the inside consisted of dried ones. They were fastened together with mud, and upon every fifth layer of bricks was placed a layer of reed. Why this was done we know not. Palm trees were the only timber they had ; and those trees were far too useful to employ them as building materials. The largest building mentioned by the ancients, was the Temple of Bel, which was nothing else than the Tower of Babel. It is the same as the present Birs-Nimrud, " Compare the note to 0. Muller's essay on Sandon and Sardanapahis: in the Bhein. Mus. iii. p. 41. BABYLON. 61 as Mr. Rich has shown." Even my father had conjectured this, while Rennell and others had maintained that the temple must be looked for on the other side. This edifice was built like the Mexican pyramidal temples; it consisted of eight stories, the lowest of which had a circumference of a stadium; each succeed- ing one being- smaller. A flight of stairs went round it to the highest story; at the top was the chapel of Bel. The whole formed a pyramid wanting the top point, exactly like the Mexi- can pyramids ; it is inconceivable what can have been the cause of this resemblance. Other great buildings were the royal palaces, the new and the old one, the latter being the work of Nebucadnezar. A third great work was the suspended gardens, which are by no means fabulous, for the Greeks in Alexander's army still saw them, and the agreement between the descriptions of the Greeks and Berosus is striking." LECTURE IV. We have come to the time, when Babylon was subject to the kings of Nineveh ; and I have already mentioned, that the Assyrian empire of Nineveh lasted for a much, [shorter period than is represented by Ctesias. The five hundred and twenty- six years which Berosus assigns to his sixth dynasty, form that period of Babylonian history, in which the dominion of Nineveh over Babylon was exercised in a manner which seems to show that the latter was no longer an independent kingdom, but only a satrapy of Nineveh. Even among the Greeks there was much uncertainty as to the synchronism of those five hundred and twenty-six years, so that some placed the end of this dynasty several hundred years earlier than others. If we suppose that the end of .this dynasty coincides with the destruction of Nine- veh, the latter event would fall about the thirty-^fifth Olympiad; 1 1 This date occurs in all the manuscript notes. Niehuhr means to say, if the end of the Assyrian or sixth dynasty of Babylon coincided with the 62 DOMINION OF NINEVEH OVER BABYLON. this would indeed be still very far wrong, but not as much so as the common suppositions; for several of the ancients, such as Cephalaeon, placed it even one hundred'years before the beginning of the Olympiads, that is, about two centuries and a half earlier. Another question is, whether these five hundred and twenty-six years of the Assyrian dynasty are to be understood as applying to the whole period of the empire of Nineveh ; whether they begin with the establishment of a kingdom at Nineveh, or with the extension of the dominion of this dynasty over Babylon; and whether they go down to the destruction of Nineveh", or only to the time when a new dynasty arose in Babylon, which was some- times dependent and sometimes independent of that of Nineveh. The correct view, probably, is, that those years form the period of the dynasty from its dominion over Babylon down to the rise of a new Babylonian dynasty. The opinion that the destruction of Nineveh took place before the commencement of the Olympiads, an opinion which is based upon the statements of Ctesias, is completely at variance ■with all the passages of the Old Testament, especially those in the Prophets, in which the empire of Nineveh is mentioned after that time. This very proof, however, of the mistake of the Greeks, has led men to have recourse to the supposition, that after its destruction, Nineveh was rebuilt, and that thus a second Assyrian empire arose. But this is a worthless hypothesis, and altogether without foundation. It is, on the other hand, a fact which can- not be doubted, that in this Assyrian empire there reigned two destruction of Nineveh, the latter would belong to the first of the new dynasty (that of Nabopolassar), that is Olymp. 34, 1. But it falls be- tween the seventeenth and twentieth year of Nabopolassar, that is, Olymp. 38. The end of the siith dynasty, however, coincides with the beginning of the seventh, which precedes the eighth or that of Nabopolassar, and is lost in Berosus. See Klein. Schrift. i. p. 195, foil. The ground here taken is the version of the Canon, which places the beginning of NabopolaseW in the 104th of the era of Nabonassar. If we adopt the version which places him in the 123d year, the destruction of Nineveh, even if it belongs to the first year of Nabopolassar, does not belong to Olymp. 34, but to Olymp. 38. In 1826, Niebuhr seems to have adopted the second version, for he takes the first year of Nabopolassar to be identical with that of the destruction of Nineveh, placing both events in Olymp. 38, 4. — En. DESTRUCTION OE NINEVEH. 63 dynasties, of -which the first ended with one Belochus or Beleus, and the second began with a king, Belitaras, who placed himself on the throne. It is possible that this change may have given rise to the great" revolution, in which the nations of Upper Asia shook off the Assyrian yoke: certain it is, that such a revolution did take place. Herodotus expressly states, that the Assyrians possessed the dominion over Upper Asia for 520 years, and that the Medes, after casting off the rule of the Assyrians, lived with- out kings. It miist, however, be observed,, that he himself states, that the Assyrians, even after the loss of their dominion over Upper Asia, did not cease to be a flourishing state, which soon recovered itself, though it did not regain the sovereignty of those countries. The time of this dissolution of the great Assyrian empire is fixed for all times by the Babylonian era of Nabonassar, " an era which is firmly established in history by the observations of eclipses of the sun and moon." . The beginning of this era is the first year of the eighth Olympiad, b. C. 748. I have nothing against it, if historians will apply the term "second Assyrian empire" to the Assyrian monarchy, from the time when it lost its supremacy in Asia, and did not recover that of Media and Persia ; but the idea which we find in otherwise meritorious books — as in that of Gatterer who follows Ctesias — that after the death of Sardanapalus a new empire of Nineveh arose, is incor- rect. The destruction of Nineveh belongs to a much later time, than is supposed by those who adopt this hypothesis. Sardana- palus, or whatever his real name may have been, in short, the king who destroyed himself with his capital, belongs to the time of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar : with him Nineveh perished, and after him, the empire never rose again. After the breaking up of the great Assyrian empire, Babylon was again independent, though it did not always remain so. In the course of time it again became a dependency of the Assyrian empire ; it became a vassal kingdom, the throne of which was sometimes filled by the Assyrian kings with their sons and rela- tives, and the^ princes of which were always in a dependent con- dition, being obliged to obey Nineveh, until in the end Nabo- polassar broke the yoke entirely. The Canon of Ptolemy enables us to restore the lists of the 64 EMPIRE OF NINEVEH AFTER PHUL. Babylonian kings, but this would lead us too much into detail, and is foreign to our purpose. 2 The lists of the kings of Assyria, on the other hand, cannot be restored; those which we find in Ctesias and other Greek writers, deserve no credit. We may, indeed, begin with Phul whom we meet with as the first in the Books of Kings, who is the first ruler known to us, and before whom all is uncertain; but after him the succession is again unknown, for it is doubtfnl whether between Phul and Sanherib the kings succeeded one another without interruption in the order in which they occur in history, or whether they are gaps in the lists. 3 2 " Who Nabonassar was, whether he was a satrap or a king, we do not know; his name is genuine Chaldaic. This much is certain, that from the beginning of his era, Babylon was again governed by independent kings. He is said to have destroyed the records of the astronomical observations made before his time ; but this cannot be believed. The canon of the Chal- daean kings is known to us from the MeydcKr; SiWofts of Ptolemy: a very valuable work, of great astronomical authenticity, if it is but rightly undejv stood. Tor how can this 2wra£i$ be made to agree with Berosus? The connexion is this. The period from Nabonassar down to the destruction of Nineveh, did not pass away in a quiet and undisturbed succession of kings, but the succession was repeatedly interrupted. The Assyrians, dur- ing this period, often gained the sovereignty, and the Babylonians had again to emancipate themselves. The time that they were governed by foreigners was not marked by the Chaldaeans ; thus they added the years of the reign of Assarhaddon to those of his predecessor Mardokempad, Analogous cases are often met with in the East, as that of the Seleucid Demetrius, under whose name money continued to be coined after his death, it being intended to preserve his kingdom for his son. Hence the %f,3wT'ai. (swineherds) must not be considered as a caste at all, seeing that they were as much despised as among the Jews, but theywere out of all connexion 92 THE ARTS IN EGYPT. with the castes, they were the outcasts or Pariahs, a necessary ippendage of every division into castes. The first two must hate been the conquerors, and the last two the conquered, " All the knowledge of the Egyptians was evidently in the hands of the priests ; just as at Babylon the observation of the stars, which led to astrology, was confined to the priests. As- trology, however, was never practised by the Egyptians ; and their astronomy is very problematical, it being unknown how far it was developed, and to what period it belongs. The cultiva- tion of geometry, on the. other hand, is ascribed to them, and the Greeks are said to have derived it from them, but this ques- tion too is very obscure. The Greeks obtained the results, but they themselves found out the scientific reasoning on which they were based." LECTUKE VII. It would occupy too much time to speak of the manners, cus- toms, and institutions of the Egyptians ; I cannot do better than refer you to the second book of Herodotus. Whoever is engaged in philological studies, must make Herodotus his daily companion; he must never cease reading him. The Egyptian monuments furnish us with a knowledge of the whole condition of Egypt, which is more accurate than any we possess in regard to either of the classical nations, " and the antiquities of no country are 30 well preserved as those of Egypt. They are for the most part 30 carefully represented, that only awkwardness and want of skill can destroy them ; the atmosphere of Egypt does not exer- cise any destructive influence upon the paintings, and the papy- rus is nearly as indestructible as the pyramids." All human occupations, agriculture, commerce, navigation, and in short all the manifestations of human life, are represented on the remains of Egyptian antiquity, especially in mural paintings, resembling the painted tapestries in China. Much has already been gained from this source towards a knowledge of Egypt, and in the course THE AETS IN EGYPT. 93 )f time the whole mode of life of the Egyptians will become clear. These representations, it is true, belong for the most part to the period of ithe eighteenth dynasty, that of Sesostris ; but from ;hem we see how the same variety and development in civil af- fairs then prevailed as they did afterwards, and that even at that period, Egypt had in everything reached its highest point of perfection. Many arts are seen tahave been then practised in Egypt, which have been considered as later Oriental inventions ; but it is more especially the chemical processes of art, " that is, the art of fusing metals, the preparation of glass,_medicines, and the like," that appear to have made great progress. Chem- istry, in fact, has derived its name from the country of Chemi Dr Egypt. The art of distilling is unmistakably represented in paintings belonging to the earliest period of Egypt, " and there 3an be no doubt that the Greeks learned from the Egyptians the irt of extracting metals from the ore. Agriculture, and the manufacture of cotton, had also made very great progress." In the representation of wars, we find very remarkable engines for besieging towns, and such arms as are generally said to have been invented in later times, and do not reappear till a much later period in the art of Greek and Italian warfare, either be- 3ause their principle had been forgotten, or because it had not been brought into practical application. In future, when the hieroglyphics shall be explained, all this will be of the highest importance, and it will be possible to give a complete picture of the whole life of the Egyptians. If they had had a literature, we should not be able to learn from it much more than we shall know, when their monuments shall have been fully explained. A.11 their works are executed with great mechanical skill and oerfection ; thus their architecture in its highest style is not only jolossal, but its detail is uncommonly beautiful, and the work- manship exceedingly neat ; and however awkward the human igures are in their sculptures and statues, their faces are treated inth great artistic taste and skill. The head of Memnon, which s at present in London, is said to be a masterpiece of technical skill, " and notwithstanding the difficulty of the material of which t consists, to be wrought with the greatest delicacy. The Egyp- tians, like very many other oppressed people, were very far ad- 94 CONNECTION WITH ETHIOPIA. vanced in the arts, while their intellectual culture remained be- hind-hand. They were extremely' industrious, but all the forihs under which they lived, were oppressive, and for this reason they could have no living author." The religion of the Egyptians is still very mysterious to me; I suspect that it was not the same at all times or in all places, but that there were essential differences. The worship of Isis and Osiris appears neither to have been the most ancient, nflr generally prevalent, but to have had its seat in Lower Egypt. In Upper Egypt the worship of Ammon prevailed, while that of Phtha (Hephaestus) alone extended over the whole country. It must, however, be observed that their religion was of foreign origin. "It degenerated into a monstrous and repulsive system of symbols ; in which nothing pleasing will ever be discovered. The partiality for the monstrous, in the character of the Egyp- tians, compared with the grandeur of the Holy Scriptures, is very strikingly exhibited in the history of the defeat of Sanherib," We have already mentioned the conquest of Egypt by the mysterious Hycsos. They were conquered by the kings of the eighteenth dynasty who attacked them from Upper Egypt. Now what connexion there may have existed between this dynasty and the ancient civilized Ethiopians, is a subject on which the greatest historical inquirers have been unable to come to any certain conclusions. The ancient tradition is that the Ethio- pians of Meroe were Egyptians, and that the priests of the two countries were connected with one another. These accounts, which occur especially in Diodorus, must not be overlooked; they are in every respect deserving of very great attention. They do not at all agree with that history of Egypt which Diodorus relates. It is however quite certain, that the state of Meroe is not fabulous, as has been imagined so long; even as late as the time of the Ptolemies, Meroe was a wealthy city and a great state. " It was then still the seat of a nation which used hieroglyphics, and which was regarded by the Egyptian priests as their instructors and as the tribe from which they were de- scended. This state of things was afterwards strangely inter- rupted, when Greek culture spread in that country. 1 The 1 See Klein. Schrift. i. p. 410, ii. p. 179. THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. 95 Ethiopians themselves deserve to be specially noticed, but the sxplanation of their nationality presents many difficulties. Those whom we might consider as the Cushites ("thus they ire called in the Old Testament") would be the Abyssinians of ligre and Axum, 2 whose language is on the one. hand quite akin to the Arabic, but On the other hand .has words which are thorough- ly foreign 1 to all the Aramaic dialects. This Ethiopian language, which at present is spoken only at Tigre, seems formerly to have extended to Atbara and the ancient Meroe, the site of which is now with great probability sought in the district of Sennaar. But here it has perished partly through Arab and partly through Nubian conquests, and has become amalgamated with the language of the conquerors. In their external appear- ance, the Ethiopians, such as we see them in the Abyssinians of Tigre, present a striking difference from the Arabs. Whether this has arisen from the fact that a dark race became mixed with a Semitic one, is a question on which we can only form conjec- tures ; its investigation lies beyond all monuments. It is very remarkable, that according to the views of Moses as well as according to the accounts of the Arabs, the latter themselves consist of two tribes, and that the one, that of Yactan, is con- nected with the Cushites (?) ; the other Arabic tribe is that of Ismael. Now whether the Cushites were the same as the Arabs of the tribe of Yactan, or whether they were mixed with them, this much is certain that at one time they were a highly civilized nation, and that the Egyptians under the eighteenth dynasty shared this civilization with them. That was the golden age of Egypt. There is no monument which can be said, with certainty, to be older than the eigh- teenth dynasty; but the period of that dynasty produced more gigantic monuments than any other nation either of ancient or modern times ; and the representations of its victories and con- quests are not only in keeping with that greatness, but perfectly 2 " This tribe forms the smallest part of the nation now called Abyssi- nians, or more correctly Habesh. The name Habesh {'SvyxXvSts) is very appropriate for this people, as it. consists of an amalgamation of the most different tribes, for the most part of blacks of different shades down to the Negroes." 96 CONQUESTS OF SESOSTRIS. agree with the traditions about Sesostris, who belonged to tha dynasty. Its date may be about 1000 years before Herodotus who says nothing about it, except that Moeris lived not quit 900 years before his time. As he paid great attention to sue dates, we may consider this statement as tolerably trustworthy, The numbers: which are taken from Manetho by Josephas Africanus, Syncellus, and by Eusebius (in his Chronicle) ma; so easily be mis-written, and the differences and contradiction anion o- them are so enormous, that the idea of a synchronism e. g., with the history of Babylonia and Assyria, cannot be con ceived even approximately. But that age of prosperity am culture, in which Egypt already possessed all the knowledge arts, and manufactures, by which it was ever distinguished, am at the same time acquired immense power, is very ancient Never has Egypt surpassed that age in power and intellects culture. It is quite illogical to doubt the accounts about thf conquests of Sesostris; they are thoroughly historical. Man} things, it is true, as the story in Herodotus about his compan ions, who are said to have been born on one day, are fabulous but his expeditions were attested by the monuments in Libya, Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, throughout Asia Minor, and even ii 3 In order to understand this passage, we must remember, that Cham pollion regards Moeris as the fifth king of the eighteenth dynasty. Ii 1826, Niebuhr said, that Sesostris must have lived about 800 years beforf Herodotus ; so that the period of the Hycsos-Moeris = 100 years, anc Moeris-Sesostris = 100 years. Niebuhr's expression respecting the con nexion of the Arab dynasty at Babylon (p. 20, foil.), is explained hythi above supposition, as he conceived the following synchronism, supposing Herodotus to have been in Egypt about b. c. 450: — Babylon. Egypt. 1961 (Reign of the Chaldaeans). Conquest by the Hycsos. 1519 Arab Dynasty. (Reign of the Hycsos). 1450 (Reign of the Arabs). Expulsion of the Hycsos, eighteenth dynasty. 1274 Expulsion of the Arabs. (Reign of the eighteenth dynasty). It must, however, be observed, that in 1826, Niebuhr considered Ramessei the Great as belonging to the nineteenth dynasty ; probably, according ti Champollion's earlier supposition, that Ramesses Miamun was the firs king of the nineteenth dynasty. — Ed. CONQUESTS OF SESOSTRIS. 97 Thrace ; and although Herodotus could not read the hieroglyph- ics, we have no reason to doubt, that he was able to recognise on these monuments the royal cartouches with the name of Eamesses the Great, or Sesostris, which he had seen in Egypt. On the monuments of that period, the Egyptian kings always appear as conquerors in triumphal processions, receiving the tribute of conquered nations, and the like. " Jomard was the first to direct attention to this, and to discover the. numbers on these monuments, which evidently describe the- tribute of the conquered nations." The priests at Thebes also explained to Germanicus certain tables, on which were recorded the names of a number of nations subdued by Sesostris, and the amount of their tribute. "For the priests at that time were still able to read the hieroglyphics very fluently, and even in the second century of the Christian era, hieroglyphics were frequently written." I am also convinced, that the statement of Herodo- tus, that the Golchians were an Egyptian colony — a statement which has so often been laughed at — otight by no means to be treated with ridicule, but that it is a proof of Herodotus' very happy Hellenic power of observation. He says, that the Col- chians were dark, had Egyptian features, and that they alone in those districts observed the custom of circumcision. In oppo- sition to this, it has been urged, that not a trace of Egyptian features is to be found in the beautiful race of the Caucasians, who are the descendants of the Colchians; and even Strabo knew nothing of it, and found no trace of an Egyptian colony. But all this only proves,, that, in the 500 years between Hero- dotus and Strabo, the remnants of that Egyptian colony disap- peared among the Colchians, either in consequence of their having lost their national peculiarities by mingling with the ruling people, or because the current of the Tartar tribes which fell upon them first, gradually extirpated them. But after all, the ancient Egyptians, and. even the darkest tribe among them, were not a race of Negroes, but a Cushite tribe. The Ethiopian Abyssinians are indeed .dark,, but not black. I was acquainted at Borne with a Catholic priest of Tigre, who lived at Borne for , a long time ; his hair was not woolly, but only curly, and much longer than that of the Negroes. Moreover the Abyssinians vol. i. 7 98 FUTURE HISTORY OF THE BAST. have become so much mixed, that at present they must be mueh darker than formerly. It is one of the great advantages of our time, that we can with certainty say that this or that is quite credible, which was formerly rejected with foolish assurance. I readily believe that the Egyptian conquests extended as far as Colchis, and that Sesostris left behind there a colony for the pur- pose of keeping the country in subjection; nay, I believe that he carried his expeditions even into Thrace. Where that colony was, I cannot indeed say, any more than I can determine the period in Assyrian history with which the conquests of Sesostris coincide. This is a question which at present no one can venture to answer, but which will perhaps be answered soon, for many things may yet be brought to light from the Egyptian monu- ments. Much information may yet be expected, for the papyrus is imperishable, especially in Upper Egypt, where there is so little moisture; and rolls with lists of kings may still be found there. Near Philae, fragments of a manuscript of the Iliad have been discovered, and a great many papyrus rolls, with de- motic and Greek writings, belonging to the period of the Ptole- mies, have been preserved; they were for the most part found in earthen vessels, in which they were kept. At Turin there are extracts of contracts, fragments of legal proceedings, which perhaps are not quite original, but copies ; they are, however, as old as the eighteenth dynasty. This shows what may yet he expected ; and why should it be impossible to discover accounts about the time of Sesostris? It is only since the time of the French expedition to Egypt, that people began to bestow more attention upon the papyrus rolls ; previous to that time, those which were found were taken no notice of, and it is certain that at the commencement of that expedition many were destroyed, while previously thousands of them may have been burned and wasted. Now, care is taken in collecting them, and hundreds may be gathered in a short time, but the number of historical documents is uncommonly small ; and most of the papyrus rolls found on mummies contain nothing but rituals. There is no doubt but that Egypt must become the possession of a civilized European power; it must sooner or later become the connecting link between England and the East Indies. European dominion FUTURE HISTORY OF THE EAST. 99 aturally supports science and literature, together with the rights f humanity, and to prevent the destruction of a barbarous power 'duld be an act of high treason against intellectual culture and umanity. When that shall have been accomplished, new trea- ures will be brought to light, and Egyptian antiquity will be lid open before our eyes: we stand at the very threshold of a ew era in the history of antiquity. In Nineveh, Babylonia, nd Persia, centuries long past will come to light again, and the ncient times will present themselves clearly and distinctly in 11 their detail. It is true that all those nations are deficient d, individuality and in that which constitutes the idea of hu- aanity, and which we find among the Greeks, Romans, and Qoderns; but their conditions and changes will become clear, n all its details, the ancient world will acquire a fresh reality, ,nd fifty years hence essays will appear on the history of those lations, compared with which our present knowledge is like the :hemistry, such as it was a hundred years before the time of ierzelius, 4 Accordingly, I have the firm conviction that Sesos- 4 "I have made the remark, that we have no traces of the Egyptians laving ever had a history of their own. They had indeed a chronology, rat true history they had not ; and this observation is confirmed by what las been found in the newly explained inscriptions since the discovery of he art of deciphering the hieroglyphics. We might have expected to find n the inscriptions on the obelisks records of the exploits of the kings ; but ve nowhere meet with historical accounts. There are indeed historical ■epresentations, but they are not accompanied by historical inscriptions, md in most cases the representations have nothing at all to do with his- ;ory. If we could discover the representations which the Egyptian priests showed to Germanicus, they would no doubt be different. This shows the genuineness of a hieroglyphic inscription in Ammianus Marcellinus, which was formerly disbelieved, because it was incoherent, and instead of mentioning the exploits of the renowned heroes, contained only phraseolo- gies and doxologies. The inscription of Eosetta is composed quite in the jame spirit; in it the Egyptian priests Only praise the king for his piety, "or the presents and privileges which he had bestowed upon them, but no illusion is made,to the events of his reign. Berosus is quite different. In him we find slight traces of a true Babylonian history, as in Menander of ;hat of Tyre ; and although the most complete history was, like all eastern histories, confined to the personal history of a Sultan, yet their history is proceeding in the right track. I am convinced that there existed a com- plete history, just as there was a complete history of Phoenicia, and of the 100 SESOSTKIS AND THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. tris actually ruled over Asia, the interior of Ethiopia, probably also over Libya, and penetrated into Thrace in Europe, although we must own that we know nothing of the particular campaigns. The duration of the reign of the eighteenth dynasty is calcu- lated by Africanus and Eusebius, after Manetho, at three centu- ries and a half; but I attach no value to this statement. Afri- canus himself was not unbiassed ; for his object was to bring the ancient numbers into harmony with the current chronology, and with his own hypotheses and chronological systems ; and Eusebius is evidently a detestable falsifier, a charge from which perhaps Africanus also is not free. Sesostris is the most brilliant point in that dynasty, both generally and particularly as regards the monuments. The monuments of Thebes, as well as the gigantic colossi and rocky temples of Ipsambul in Nubia, between the first and second cataracts of the Nile, are his works. Under him Ipsambul was a central point of the empire as well as Thebes itself. The im- portance of the country of Nubia must not be overlooked. Artists of perfectly sound judgment maintain, that nothing of a later age can bear a comparison with the perfection of the Egyptian art at that early period ; and that every thing which was pro- duced subsequently, bears traces of decline, and, in the end, of com- plete decay. The buildings of the, great early period, they say, are distinct from the later monuments ; as, for example, a temple of Selinus and Agrigentum differs from one built in the Mace- donian period. The buildings of the great period are succeeded by monuments, which are indeed somewhat less grand, but are still genuine Egyptian ; whereas all the structures of the time of the Ptolemies show the complete decay : at last, in the time of the Roman emperors, they become quite barbarous, and are manifestly built by men who were acquainted with the arts only traditionally. Formerly indeed persons were so far mistaken as to regard even works of the last-mentioned period — for example, kings of Judah, of which the present Books of Kings are only extracts, a fact which has been acknowledged by all critical theologians both Catholic and Protestant. History accordingly extends as far as the Aramaean race, whereas in the race of Cham, we do not find it."— (Transposed from Lect. X.) END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. 101 wo vaults, one a work of Tiberius and the other of Severus, but specially the building containing the celebrated zodiac — as ;fuctures raised by the Pharaohs, and as belonging to the re- latest antiquity ; but a discerning eye easily discovers the truth, 'he circumference of Thebes is actually of the extent described y the ancients. A portion of the buildings and monuments has een destroyed and has disappeared, notwithstanding their enor- lous magnitude; many a court is now occupied by a whole Arab illage : even a German village would have ample space; just as t present the little town of Palestrina, in the neighbourhood of lome, is situated on the area of a temple of Fortuna, and a own of the size of Bonn might stand within the inner circumfer- nce of the temple of Thebes. The circumference of ThebeS was bout 45 English miles, but whether the whole space was occu- ied with houses, is uncertain. As to the manner in which the eighteenth dynasty perished, r e have no information in the remains of Manetho ; but we are uddenly transferred' into Lower Egypt, to Memphis, Tanis and 'elusium ; and henceforth' the dynasties, with few exceptions, smain in that part of Egypt* Herodotus, . indeed, considers lemphis to be the first and most ancient part of the kingdom, nd he was told by the priests that this city was built in the lost remote period ; but we must not forget, that in the time f Herodotus, Thebes was already deserted, and that Memphis ad long since become the capital of the empire, and especially be centre of religion and of all Egyptian institutions. My con- iction however is, that Memphis arose at a much later time ban Thebes. Changes had taken place in Egypt, of which we an say nothing certain ; and in consequence of which the cen- re of Egyptian life was transferred to Lower Egypt. Memphis, o doubt, then sprang up very rapidly, according to the usual lanner of Eastern capitals, and acquired its greatness through the ain of Thebes. All statements respecting the very early founda- :on of Memphis must be rejected, because Lower Egypt, at the me when Thebes was the capital, can hardly have been a popu- »us country ; it must have been for the most part a marshy dis- •ict. It must be remarked in general, that Lower Egypt was country gained by skilful contrivances. Lake Moeris was evi- 102 LAKE MOEKIS. dently made for the following purpose :— Lower Egypt had not yet become sufficiently elevated by the inundations : when the river came down with its mass of waters, it easily overflowed the country too much, and in order to protect it against such a del- uge, the Egyptians undertook the gigantic work of forming on one side of the river in a valley, an immense reservoir. This great design was executed by task work ; the earth which was dug out, was no doubt employed in raising the rest of Egypt. They were wise enough not to construct dikes, as it was neces- sary for the country to be overflowed; but hills were raised like those which are called in Friesland Wurthen, and on which houses, villages and towns were built. The advantage of the lake was that when the waters came down with great violence, the current, by opening the sluices, could be conducted into it. Thus the too great inundations of Lower Egypt were prevented. We do not know the site of lake Moeris ; but I for my part do not comprehend how people can search after it, if they bear in mind the purpose it served. As the Nile, each time when the waters subsided, left behind a deposit, the lake must in the end have been filled up with it, and thus it is quite natural that we can no longer find it. It had been made of a certain size to answer a definite purpose. When the water of the Nile was let into it, it did not evaporate altogether, but made its deposit on the bottom of the lake, which thus rose every year, so that in the course of a long time the lake vanished either altogether or at least the greatest part of it. We may consider it as an undoubted fact, that Lower Egypt did not become a prosperous and flourishing country until the time when the kings transferred their residence from Thebes to Memphis, which for purposes of fortification was surrounded with moats. But how long the dynasties of Memphis ruled, and the succession of their kings, are points which as yet we do not know ; it remains for future times and discoveries to settle these questions. The second Egyptian style of architecture, then, commences with the dynasties of Memphis ; and to them belong those struc- tures which have attracted the greatest attention. The most ancient style at Ipsambul and Thebes is truly gigantic; rows of mighty pillars, temples, colossal figures and whole armies of DYNASTY OF MEMPHIS. 103 phinxes and obelisks, are made of the hardest stones, granite nd porphyry. The dynasty of Memphis, which was far away rom granite rocks, and had only quarries of limestone, accom- lodated itself to the locality and its resources, building its pyra- lids of sand-stone and limestone. It is uncertain whether here -is any obelisk belonging to this dynasty ; the great and plendid obelisks belong to the eighteenth dynasty, just as the yramids belongs exclusively to the dynasty of Memphis. 5 Pyra- lids are indeed found at Meroe and Atbara, but they certainly ,re not ancient ; and are so small, that we can regard them •nly as imitations of those of Memphis, which 'were not built ill many centuries after Sesostris, though they may perhaps lelong to the period of the later Meroitic dynasties of Sabaco nd Tirhaka. The kings, Cheops, Chefren, Mycerinus and others, who, acc- ording to Herodotus, constructed those pyramids with their ronders, their immense size, and the ingenious arrangement of he interior, cannot be identified with any of the various names f kings in Manetho. All the pyramid's were covered with a oating, and the coating was covered with inscriptions ; but all his has long since been broken off; as so many Roman buildings nd aqueducts have been stripped of the crusts of marble and ricks, and now stand there as mere skeletons, showing only heir inner kernel, so is it also with the pyramids. But who rould have imagined in former times that the period to which he structure of the pyramids belongs, was already a period of lecay of Egyptian art? And yet such is the case. We may assert in general, that' the greatness of Egypt be- ongs to an earlier period. " How long it lasted, we know not." .t would seem that under the dynasties of Memphis the Egyptian smpire was confined within the boundaries of Lower Egypt, and hat with few exceptions it extended neither into Upper Egypt tor into Asia. "Ethiopia, which had before been a province of £gypt, again became an independent state. In Syria the Egypt- ans ruled no longer, for Shishak's plundering of Jerusalem was 5 In 1826, Niebuhr was doubtful as to the time in which the pyramids rere built. — Ed. 104 ETHIOPIAN CONQUEST. only a predatory inroad." How low Egypt had fallen may be clearly seen from the fact, that such small kingdoms as Jxidah and Israel could maintain themselves by its side; for the time of the greatest prosperity of Judah under David and Solomon belongs to that period ; and it was about the same time that Hiram of Tyre was powerful. The conquests were probably lost during the revolution which brought about the overthrow of the empire of Thebes. LECTURE VIII. During the latter period of the empire of Memphis, .there arose that of Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian conquerors, as Sabaoo and Tirhaka, took possession of Upper Egypt and ruled over the greater part of the empire. " This happened soon after the commencement of the Nabonassarian era, at the time of the Assyrian kings who conquered Samaria and led away the Ten Tribes." During that period, the expelled kings of Egypt main- tained themselves in the inaccessible marshes of the Delta ; as the open sea was near at hand, they might easily take refuge there when they were hard pressed. Herodotus describes this figuratively, as if the blind Anysis had. concealed himself in the marshes. " He only speaks of an Ethiopian king, Sabaco, who is represented to have quitted Egypt of his own accord; but this and the period of his reign, which Herodotus mentions, need not be taken strictly. According to Africanus, Sabaco was succeeded by a second king, and in the end by Taracos, whose name is well established, for it occurs in Isaiah in the form Tirhaka before the time of Sanherib. He is the last of the Ethiopian dynasty." 1 Now after the expulsion of Sabaco, there occurred, according to Herodotus, the irregularity, that Sethon, a priest of Phtha, 1 " In Herodotus, ii. 140, instead of irttaxorsia JVta (from Anysis to Amyr- taeus) we must read tpiaxoeia, as Perizonius has correctly remarked. The signs for these two numbers have very often been confounded." — 1826. SETHON — THE ]}ODECAB,CHY. 105 took possession of the government, whereas, until then, the kings had always belonged to the military caste. We may, therefore, suppose that the ancient dynasty had become' extinct, and that the. elevation of the priest Sethon was the work of a popular revolution, in which the military caste was repressed ; for if the ruling military caste was of foreign origin, it is possible that the ancient native caste of the priests was supported by the people, whose interests it may have represented. Hence. Sethon wanted to take the arms from the soldiers, and give them to the labour- ers and husbandmen. But during this state of dissolution, the military caste evidently soon began a successful course of re^ action: they shook off the yoke of the priests, and recovered the government of the country. But matters had now come" to that point that the Egyptian states, which from early times had been quite compact, now broke to pieces; and twelve commanders divided the empire among themselves. " We may easily conceive the whole people to have risen to shake off the yoke; of the old dynasty no member survived, and the commanders in the differ- ent provinces set themselves up as princes. But the separa- tion was contrary to the nature of the Egyptian people; the princes allied themselves with one another, and regarded their different tribes as one people." 2 The later Mameluke govern- ment of the twenty-four beys, who, previously to the French expedition, ruled as a complex of sovereigns, Was of a similar nature. Just such a complex of twelve princes existed in Egypt at the time when the warrior-caste had recovered its ascendancy. 3 And this dodecarchy may have lasted much longer than is stated by Herodotus ; the immense labyrinth on Lake Moeris, the build- ing of which is ascribed to it, is a proof of this, or else we must deny that it was erected during the dodecarchy. That labyrinth was a building ' of prodigious extent : it consisted of twelve pa- laces, which formed one whole, and was the prytaneum of Egypt ; there the twelve met in council for their common deliberations. " The remembrance that all Egypt had been one state necessarily 2 Herodotus, ii. 147, says — " irtvya/uas ittoirjoavto." 3 " Manetho knows nothing of the priest Sethon, nor of the dodecarchy ; but he has three kings whose reigns fill up that period." — 1826. 106 PSAMMETICHUS — IONIANS. led, in the end, to the attempt of one of the princes to assume the sovereignty over the rest, and thus it came to pass that" Psammetichus excited the jealousy of his colleagues, and that the latter determined to expel him. He fled to the sea coast, and established himself in the inaccessible marshes. There he improved the opportunity of strengthening himself with, foreign forces, for a considerable number of Ionian and Carian adven- turers had appeared on the coast. With their assistance he at* tempted the conquest of Egypt, and although their number was comparatively small, he succeeded in reducing the whole country; for all warlike spirit had vanished from the nation. This shows to what a low condition it must have sunk: what would such a hostile force have been in the days of Sesostris? We should be utterly ignorant of the appearance of the Ionians and Cafians on the coast of Egypt, if Herodotus, perchance, had not related the history of Psammetichus ; but I see in it nothing strange or inexplicable. The fact stated by Berosus, that in the reign of Sanherib, Greeks landed in Cilicia, and that Sanherib marched against them, 4 is quite a similar phenomenon; and I can see no difliculty in supposing that they also went to Egypt. "Our history of Greece of that period presents us with mere shadows; but we know that about that time most of the Greek colonies were sent out, and especially those in Cyprus." The circum- stance, that Herodotus here mentions only Ionians cannot be of any weight ; for as the Aramaeans, and the Eastern nations in general, called the Greeks Javans, so there can be no doubt that the Egyptians called all those mercenaries simply Ionians, whether they belonged to one or more tribes. The art of war. must at that time have been very low in Egypt, even in regard to defensive armour. In times when the warlike spirit declines, defensive arms are not, as might be imagined, multiplied and improved, but the very reverse is the case — they 4 " ; This statement ought not to have been disputed by a man who un- fortunately only abuses his great talents and learning. Many may believe that in critical inquiries, it is only necessary to contradict, in order to ap- pear to be wiser than others. I adhere to the statements in those simple chroniclers,who knew quite well that what they called Javans were Greeks/' (Comp. Bhein. Mus. iii. p. 40, foil. ; and above, p. 32, note 4. — Ed.) PSAMMBTICHUS — SAIS. 107 become deteriorated ; for it is a remarkable fact, that when the minds of men are shaken, their bodies also become feebler. Thus the Romans, in later times, demanded to be delivered from their heavy armour ; and in the fourth century, under Gratian, the legions threw their breastplates away. In like manner, the Egyptians at that period seem to have put away their armour, for on the ancient monuments they are represented wearing breastplates ; and from the account of Herodotus, it is evident that those foreigners had an advantage over the natives of Egypt by their brazen armour, and that the latter sank down to the con- dition of mere Lanzenknechte, as we may correctly call them by an old German term, without breastplates. When Psammetichus, with the aid of these foreign mercenaries, had made himself master of the whole country, he, according to tradition, restored the unity of the empire, and ruled as a power- ful prince. He removed his eapital still farther down than the kings of Memphis had done, and built Sais in the middle of the Delta (in the sense of the ancients) 5 for his capital. Such changes of capitals are by no means uncommon , in the East. When a capital is thus transferred, the population of the old city follows the ruler to the new one, and the old capital is deserted. This process may be completed in a few years, and certainly re- quired not more than one generation ;- the new city by , the will of the ruler soon has hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. Thus Delhi was supplanted by Agra, and afterwards the seat of gov- ernment was again transferred to Delhi. Such was the case in Egypt also. " The decline of Egyptian architecture now becomes obvious. It had been easy to convey stones from the quarries to Memphis, which was situated near the Libyan hills ; but Sais was built entirely of bricks, and it was only obelisks, sphinxes, and -chapels, that were brought down the river from Upper 5 "What is now called the Delta ia a much more limited district than that to which the ancients,applied the name. With the, latter, the western border of it was formed by the Canopian branch of the Nile, which empties itself in the Bay of Abukir.; the eastern by the branch of Pelusium, or the Tanitian arm of the riveiv At present the name Delta is applied to the country between the two, arms of Rosetta and Damietta, a district which is scarcely one half of the ancient Delta." — 1826. 108 NEW MILITARY CASTE — EMIGRATION. Egypt." At the time -when Psammetichus founded Sais, seaships were evidently still able to sail up to the new city with facility and safety, though large ones* probably, could not go higher up. Psammetichus ruled entirely by means of his foreigners, of whom he formed for himself a castrum praetorianum, the mili- tary colonies on the Bubastian arm of the Nile, and to whom he gave native women in marriage. Thus arose a half-caste people j they were not a caste of interpreters, although there have been people who have viewed them in this light ; but they were called interpreters ^Ip^m;) simply because they spoke both languages, Egyptian and Greek, just like the Portuguese in India. f'They constituted a new tribe of warriors, hated and despised by th« priests and genuine Egyptians ; but, at the same time, feared by them." Psammetichus disarmed the ancient military caste, and' this led to an event, which has long been believed to be altogether fictitious and fabulous ; for it is a fact, that Egyptian warriors,' who were discontented, marched from- their station at Elephantina up the Nile, and settled beyond Meroe about Lakes Fittre and Tchad. 6 Their number certainly did not amount to many myriads, it may not have been many thousands, but certain it is that they emigrated (aHono-km), entered Ethiopia, and there established a colony. 'The Ethiopian kingdom either did not exist any longer, and was temporarily broken up, or else, they entered with their treasures into the service of the Ethiopian kings. All such accounts and traditions are not fables ; but we must not take them literally. The case of mythical and poetical tales is quite different; they must not be reduced to what may be regarded as historically probable, a mode of proceeding against which I loudly protest. But the above mentioned account is supported by other testimony, for we know that there existed an Egyptian colony south of Meroe. Herodotus (ii. 30) relates that 6 " The existence of a colony in Nigritia has now been confirmed by the travels of Clapperton and Denham; the Prince of Saceatoo gave Olapper- ton a book containing the statement that there existed a colony, which either still spoke Coptic, or at least did so till some centuries ago. There is no possibility of an imposition being practised here." — (Comp. Denham and Clapperton's Narrative of Travels and Discoveries, vol. ii. p. 399, foil. 2d edit.— Ed.) GREEKS IN EGYPT— NAUCRATIS. 109 the Egyptian soldiers, having been kept engaged as a garrison for three years, and without relief, at Elephantine, against the Ethiopians, and in the Pelusian Daphhae against the Arabs and Assyrians, emigrated to the number of two hundred and forty thousand and surrendered to the king of Ethiopia. There is no necessity for admitting the correctness of this enormous number, although the occurrence itself is credible enough. Two hundred and forty thousand certainly were not stationed at Elephantina, nor would such a number have been able to find either the means of living, or the boats required for their journey; an emigration even of some thousands is remarkable enough. "Through these colonies, foreign civilization was introduced into Egypt, so far as this was possible in a country divided into castes, and which was beginning to lose its own native civiliza- tion." Psammetichus opened his dominions to the Greeks also for commercial intercourse, and Egypt, which had for Centuries been closed against foreigners, was now thrown open to Euro- peans. " As all who touched unclean animals, or killed sacred ones, were an abomination in the eyes of the Egyptians, the intercourse with the Greeks was a great inconvenience to them ; hence" the emporium at Naucratis was assigned to the Greeks. All commerce with the Greeks was '.carried on there, just as in China. and Japan Europeans are admitted only at Canton and Nangasaki. Every Greek city had there its separate community, its separate factories, and separate magistrates ; and the whole place together does not appear to have formed one civil commu- nity, but a combination of the most different nations. There were Ionians, Milesians, Mitylenaeans, etc. The condition of ancient Naucratis was similar to that of Ptolemais or S. Giovanni d'Acri (Acca) at the time of the erusades, which was one of the causes why the crusades failed in their object. 7 The elements of ' "The enthusiasm with which men were inspired at the time of the crusades has, to my feelings, something truly grand, though unfortunate- ly it was not unaccompanied by horrors. Their failure was the greatest misfortune for Europe ; the Eastern empire would not have been crushed by the Turks, if Europeans had become masters of Syria and Egypt. Those countries would have acquired a European civilization, and Europe would have there extended its basis, instead 'of planting a new world be- 110 DYNASTY OF PSAMMBTICHUS. dissolution which thosecolonies contained in themselves from their very foundation, produced their inevitable consequences. At Jerusalem, for example, the king had no jurisdiction in the quarter of the Holy Sepulchre, because the patriarch was sovereign there; nor had the king any power within the dominion of the three great orders of knights. But in S. Giovanni d'Acri, the number of independencies was as great as in the poor Holy Roman em- pire of the German nation." Almost all the Italian states had their own sovereignty in that town ; in one street Pisa was the sovereign, and a Pisan could be tried only by his own consul; in another, Venice, Genoa, or Marseilles, exercised the supreme power ; so that every city had there its own quarter and its own magistrates. The French formed a distinct body, and so did the orders of knights : and there was a quarter of the Pope in which the patriarch was the sovereign. Thus there existed twelve or thirteen independent states within the same walls. If a person who had killed another escaped into another quarter, he was free. Such, no doubt, was the condition of Naucratis, though it was under the sovereignty of the Egyptian kings. The beginning of this Saitic dynasty, according to Herodotus, belongs to Olymp. xxvii. 3, that is B. c. 670, or the year 78 of the Nabonassarian era, 8 " the time in which Assyria ruled over "Western Asia and Syria., as far as the frontiers of Egypt — shortly after the death of Sanherib: Upper Asia was already free." 9 yond the Atlantic, which, whatever may be said to the contrary, stands in a hostile relation to us, and is irreconcilable with the existence of Europe. By an extension of European culture to the East, all destroyers of civili- zation would have been checked, God's paradise on earth would have been cultivated, and the number of European nations with European civilization would have become all the greater." 8 This should probably be Olymp. 27, 2, that is b. c. 671, or the year 77 of the Nabonassarian era, as Niebuhr places the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses in Olymp. 63, 3.- — Ed. 9 " The years of the Egyptian kings in Africanus and Manetho, are utterly irreconcilable with those in Herodotus ; so also the statements in Syncellus, and still more so those in Eusebius, who altered dates according to his own hypotheses. The sum total, however, is not very different. Between Tirhaka and Psammetiohus, Africanus has only twenty-one years; NEBTJCADNEZAR AND NECHO. Ill This dynasty represents the restoration of Egypt, as the Sassa- nidae represent the restoration of Persia. Under Psammetichus, and, after him, under Necho and Psammis, the kingdom rose again, and those Egyptians who had forgotten the ancient splen- dour, may have imagined that they had' attained a high degree of authority and power. The most powerful among the successors of Psammetichus, however, was Necho, whose reign was contem- poraneous with the invasion of the Scythians in Media and As- syria. " Egypt evidently adopted quite a different policy from the moment that it began to form connexions with foreign nations ; and it now endeavoured to subdue Syria." The invasion of the Scythians, which no doubt gave to the empire of Nineveh a fatal blow, was assuredly also one of the causes through whicb Nineveh had latterly lost its dominion over Syria. Traces of this occur in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, in the history of Josiah, who evidently reigns over the districts which had become depopu- lated by the transplantation of the Ten Tribes, and exercised a kind of supremacy over those who had remained behind. He foresaw the impending danger, and turned his attention to the East ; there can be no doubt that he was already under the pro- tection of Babylon, with which he had probably formed an alliance against Nineveh. Necho now undertook the subjugation of Syria, and it was there that Josiah boldly attempted to check his pas- sage, and at the encounter near Megiddo, lost his life in battle. Jerusalem was plundered by the Egyptians, and after this victory Necho succeeded in subduing Syria as far as the river Euphrates. But there, while Nabopolassar was yet reigning, he lost a decisive battle near Circesium (Carchemish, at the point where the Cha- boras empties itself into the Euphrates) against the Babylonians, under the command of Nebucadnezar ; and the defeat must have been very great, as from that time he made no further attempt to maintain Syria, or as the Scriptures say, " the king of Egypt quitted his kingdom no more." 10 and if they are added to the Saitic dynasty, we obtain, according to his -calculation, 150 years and six months. Herodotus, on the other hand, has 145 years from Psammetichus to Cambyses. The differences occur in the reigns of Apries and Necho.'-' — 1826. 10 " The fact that Egypt was not conquered by Nebucadnezar, as might 112 ORIGIN OF THE PHOENICIANS. Notwithstanding this loss, his reign remained a period of greatness and splendour. He did not rest ; but, with the as- sistance of Greeks he caused ships to be built, an undertaking which was difficult for Egypt, because it had no timber, and -no beams except those of the sycamore tree. This was in fact the reason why the rulers of Egypt always strove to make themselves masters of Syria, which is richer in excellent timber than any other country. Egypt cannot maintain a navy without possessing Syria and Mount Lebanon ; and -without a navy Egypt is quite defenceless. In later times, too, the greatness of the Ptolemies depended upon their possessing Lebanon and the maritime towns of Phoenicia ; and they were powerless, as soon as they had lost them. The two dynasties of the Mamelukian Sultans likewise endeavoured to make themselves masters of Syria, and their great predecessor Saladin had ruled over both countries. After the victory over Necho, Nebucadnezar continued the war against Syria, and attacked Phoenicia with particular vehe- mence. I will not here discuss the question whether the Phoenicians had come from the Persian Gulph, a tradition which is treated by modern writers as an undisputed fact, notwithstanding the great uncertainty which exists in the accounts of the ancients on this point. " This tradition seems to suggest nothing else than that the Phoenicians had commercial settlements on the Persian Gulph as in other distant countries." 11 In the historical times we find them settled in a strange manner along the coast of Syria ; they nowhere penetrate far into the interior of the country, and although they are, in race, closely akin to the Syrians, they present at the same time essential differences from them. Their seats commence in the neighbour- hood of the ancient town of Caesarea : their southernmost point be inferred from Berosus and the Scriptures, seems to be attested by the fate of the Jewish people : many of them fled before him into Egypt with- out being overtaken by him. The accounts of Herodotus, too, leave no doubt that Egypt was not taken, though the Babylonians may have entered the country."— 1826. " Comp. Strabo, p. 766, c. SEATS AND EXTENSION OF THE PHOENICIANS. 113 is Acca, and higher up we find Sidon, Tyre and Aradus, their three ancient capitals ; farther on we come to Tripolis, a colony of all these three cities, and thus their colonies extended along the coast as far as the Bay of Issus, where Myriandrus was their last settlement. The same Phoenicians also occur in Cyprus, where the Greeks did not establish themselves till a later period ; and in the earliest times we find them scattered over most of the islands of the Aegean, where the tombs discovered by the Athenians, when they purified Delos, were full of Phoenicians (?). 12 In the Island of Thasos there was a Phoenician colony ; Cythera, off the coast of Laconia, was Phoenician; and the coasts of Sicily and the surrounding islands were occupied by a number of Phoenician settlements long before the Greeks established themselves in those quarters. On the coast of Africa, beginning with Leptis, they possessed, between the two Syrtes, the three towns (the Tripolis), and independently of Carthage, which was of comparatively recent origin, they had occupied with their colonies all the ports as far as the frontiers of the empire of Algiers ; and in very remote times they had extended their possessions in Sardinia and on the coasts of Spain, as far as Cadiz or Gadir, which was a much more ancient settlement than Carthage. The Phoenicians were thus a wide-spread people, but notwith- standing this great extension, we strangely find no real root or stock of them ; and this is one of the most mysterious phenomena in history. The Phoenicians, indeed, possessed subject countries, besides the Syrian coasts, but on that coast the Phoenician po- pulation nowhere extends more than three or four English miles into the interior. There can be no doubt that the Phoenicians belonged to the race of the Canaanites ; Sidon in particular appears in this light in Joshua and in Judges ; the same is, also visible from the genealogy ; for according to the passage of an ancient grammarian (in Bekker's Anecdota, p. 1181), Agenor is called a son of Chnas, which can be nothing else than a con- tracted form of Canaan. We may, therefore, suppose that the Phoenicians were Canaanites, who, being overpowered in their own 12 Comp. Thucyd. i. 8 ; Herod. (?) VOL. I. 8 114 SEATS AND EXTENSION OF THE PHOENICIANS — TYKE. country of Caiman, clung to the coast ; and being pressed from without extended further and further along the sea, and sent out innumerable colonies. They first founded Tripolis, Berytus, etc., and then made themselves masters of the wealthy island of Cy- prus. ''-* They accordingly resemble those plants, whose roots scarcely enter the soil, and yet spread all around far and wide ; there are in fact plants requiring only the nutriment of water, and without sending their roots into the ground, thrive and flourish in the air. In like manner the Phoenicians also had in reality no firm ground under them. 13 " The several towns governed themselves independently under kings ; how long the latter were hereditary we know not ; but perhaps they were so until the dominion of the Persians. The accounts of Menander only suggest that they were elected from, one yhos, and were not always kings, but sometimes only suffetes or judges. We have no information whatever of the relation existing among the towns themselves. It is possible that in ancient times they formed a confederacy, which seems to be attested by the success of their great undertakings ; Sidon, Tyre, and, Aradua perhaps stood in the relation of Rome and Latium." It is a common opinion, that Tyre was a colony of Sidon ; but this is by no means certain, for Tyre, that is *aM» Tiipoj on the mainland must, according to the Phoenician statements, have been a very ancient city. It is quite a different question as to whether the account which Herodotus received from priests in a temple of Hercules at Tyre, are deserving of attention, or whether 13 " The Phoenicians had histories going back to very ancient times. The books of Sanehuniathon, if they did exist at all in the Phoenician language, were, it is true, not very old; and they were probably only a forgery of Philo of Byblos, who pretended to have translated them; hut there did exist ancient historical works. The loss of the history of Phoe- nicia by Menander of Ephesus, who belongs to the time of the successors of Alexander, is very much to be regretted. Josephus has preserved some valuable fragments of it. If we possessed that work, we should, with the assistance of Berosus, Manetho, and the books of the Old Testament, be able to arrive at most important results." — 1826. Comp., on the other hand, Lectures on Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 10. foil. — Ed. CYPRUS — COPPER. 115 they must be ascribed to the Taunting and lying disposition of the priests ; this question I will not decide, for we know extremely little about the Phoenicians. LECTURE IX. " The island of Cyprus, in Hebrew Chittim, was the nearest aud most important possession of the Phoenicians. • "We know nothing as to the population which they found in that island ; it is possible that they may have been Cilicians, but to what stock the latter belonged, is likewise unknown. The Phoenicians es- tablished themselves along the coast, and founded Citium, which is the same name as Chittim. Cyprus is one of the most mag- nificent countries in the world, and abounds in the most varied productions ; notwithstanding the very bad government of the Venetians, it was always very rich, but now it is a desert. It pro- duced the most excellent timber, possessed rich mines of silver and copper, and the greatest abundance of all kinds of fruit." The importance of the Phoenician empire was heightened mainly by the fact, that being masters of Cyprus they were in. possession of by far the greatest copper mines in the ancient world, which even now are unquestionably by no means exhausted ; but if they were actively worked would yield a rich produce. Cyprus, were it not that it is inhabited by barbarians, might yet recover its ancient importance. But it was not copper only of which they thus had the almost exclusive possession. Of all the metals, copper is most frequently found in a solid* condition, whence it has been correctly inferred that it was the first of all metals that was wrought by man. It is easily worked and easily melted ; it is moreover found in most mountains ; but its application seems nevertheless to have remained very limited, so long as the process of alloying it with tin or zinc was unknown ; for it is only through such an alloy that it becomes applicable to the endless variety of purposes for which brass was employed by the ancients, with 116 TIN. whom brass supplied the place of steel. It cannot however be supposed, that the addition of zinc was an invention that was made at an early period of antiquity. As the ancients called latten spurious brass — they called it iptl X a%»os, half-brass, mule- brass (in Theophrastus) — the name seems to indicate that the alloy of copper and zinc, and the reduction of zinc from calamine (oxyde of zinc) is a later invention, and that in the earlier times tin only was alloyed with it. In the most ancient bronzes extant, we always find in fact tin only, and no alloy of zinc : thus the ancient heavy Roman ases consist only of copper and tin, whereas the copper money under the Roman emperors contains zinc ; the same is the case with the extant monuments and works of art. Now as brass was used by the ancients in such a variety of ways, and as tin is not found anywhere in the ancient world, except in Britain and a few districts of Germany which cannot be taken into consideration here, we at once see the importance of the commercial intercourse with Cornwall. The connection between Phoenicia and Britain was very ancient, and this was the reason why the Phoenicians founded Gades, as a staple of the commerce with Britain. The tin was exported from Britain in ships to Cadiz, and from the latter place it was carried further. This traffic was a real and important monopoly. The commerce with Britain by land was afterwards carried on by the road from Nantes on the Loire, Narbonne, Marseilles, and thence to Rome; but in the earlier times' this line was altogether out of the ques- tion. The Phoenicians maintained their monopoly with great cruelty, and thus it became to them the source of immense wealth. But they not only had the exclusive possession of copper and tin ; the art of founding and working in metal also was better understood by them than by others. In the Books of Kings, Phoenician works of art are mentioned ; and we see that Solomon employed Phoenician brass-founders. On the other hand, they provided the western world with the products of Asia and Egypt, and this the more, as at that time Egypt had no navy of its own, while the Phoenicians were plentifully provided with timber for ships, from mount Lebanon. Wherever they settled and found mines, they showed the same skill as in Cyprus ; such was the THEBES IN BOEOTIA. 117 case in Thasos> on the Thracian coast, and in Spain, where they worked the mines long before the Carthaginians. The question as to whether there actually was a Phoenician colony at Thebes in Boeotia, has been doubted in modern times, like so many other points. I cannot comprehend how persons can question the expressly repeated testimony and the unanimous opinion of the ancients on this point. The name Cadmus (Kedem = East) and that of his sister Europa (Erev = West) are Phoenician, and in the Boeotian dialect I have been struck by at least a trace of some Phoenician or Aramaic words. The Boeotian word B»« (girl, daughter), for instance, which has no resemblance to any Greek word, is almost identical with the Ara- maic Ben, although I own that this may be a mere accident. "The Phoenicians did not plant such colonies for the purpose of extending their dominion ; but they only sought points from which they might command their commerce with foreign nations." In like manner I am convinced, that however mythical Cecrops may be, the belief of the ancients in an influence of Egypt upon Greece,- and in an Egyptian colony, in Attica, is yet true, as well as that an actual Egyptian immigration and settlement must have been the foundation of the fables about Danaus and Aegyptus. But we must place such events in those most remote periods between which and the historical primordia there is no connection. " The greatest prosperity of Phoenicia belongs to a very early period ; for when we meet them in history, the Greeks are rising, while the Phoenicians are sinking. Thus Thebes became Hellenic, and the Phoenician colonies in Thasos and Cythera disappeared even be- fore the establishment of Greek settlements. In the Homeric poems the Phoenicians appear as impostors and robbers, and be- tween them and the Greeks there existed a bitter enmity. So long as they had the ascendancy in the Mediterranean, the Greeks could not thrive. In the time of Solomon and David, Tyre under its king, Hiram, was still in its highest prosperity; and through their connection with Solomon, the Phoenicians were then enabled to carry on commerce with India and Africa. I place their decay or rather decline in the time of Salmanassar, who led the tribes of Israel into Assyria. Menander makes the passing remark, that he carried on a war with Phoenicia, which 118 DECLINE OF PHOENICIA. was very injurious to Tyre ; he subdued several Phoenician towns whose situations were not so advantageous as that of Tyre. 1 From this state of weakness we see how it was possible for the Greeks about Olymp. 25 to establish colonies in Cyprus, and how, in the reign of Sanherib, a Greek army appeared in Cilicia ; for the Greeks then attempted to establish colonies on the Cili- cian coast; and it is possible that they may have succeeded. The ancients, it is true, place the Greek colonies in Cyprus in very early times ; but the story of Teucer is a mere inference from the name Salamis, which no doubt is originally Phoenician. Sa- lama signifies " the town of peace," and the Greeks identified it with their own name Salamis, and thus invented the connection between the Cyprian and Greek Salamis. But although, in some places, the Phoenicians were repressed by the Greeks, and the great Phoenician factories in distant countries had become inde- pendent places, yet the nation, in the time of Nebucadnezar, enjoyed an uncommon degree of prosperity and power. The Phoenicians and especially Sidon, manfully defended their inde- pendence against the Babylonian conqueror ; but yet the ancient Tyre on the main land was lost after a protracted war, and its inhabitants withdrew to the island, which, however, must not be conceived to have been previously uninhabited, since from the account of Herodotus it is clear, that the temple of Hercules in that island was very ancient. The island, moreover, almost formed the port of Tyre. Nebucadnezar evidently had no navy at his command, for the Tyrians in the island maintained their independence. "But the Phoenicians nevertheless came into a relation of dependence on Babylon, and their power was most severely shaken by Nebucadnezar. Their weakness is most clearly attested by the fact, that Egypt was enabled to form a navy, and under Amasis, to conquer Cyprus." How far Nebucadnezar extended his conquests towards Nine- veh, is not intimated by Berosus ; some Greeks call him king of Assyria, Arabia and the like. We may, however, reasonably suppose that, after the destruction of Nineveh, which was the work of a Median king, the whole of Upper Mesopotamia also 1 Joseph. Antiq. ix. 14. ASIA MINOR. 119 fell into the hands of the latter, for the Medea came in contact with the Lydians. The Assyrians in Cappadocia and Pontus, who, even to the last, may have belonged fo the empire of Nin- eveh, likewise seem to have become subjects of the Medes, at the time when Nineveh fell. The Medes came into collision with the Lydians on the river Halys, as early as the reign of Cyaxares ; during that collision, mention is made of the kingdom of Cilicia as a state independent of either of the two others ; it maintained its independence even at the time when the Lydian power was at its height, and it seems to have submitted to the Persian mon- archy in such a manner, that its kings remained vassal princes of Persia. For, in Xenophon's Anabasis, Cilicia is described as a state under a. king of the name of Syennesis, a general designa- tion of kings, which also occurs in Herodotus' account of the conflict between the Medes and Lydians. The Lydians, however, seem to have even then ruled over Phrygia, and the narrative of Herodotus is somewhat confused, since we are led by it to believe, that Croesus was the first who extended the empire in Asia Minor as far as the Halys ; whereas even Alyattes and Cyaxares had come in contact on that river. The Lydians are one of those nations whose history has been made extremely difficult and obscure by the confusion of those tribes which at different times inhabited the same country. Later writers call the ancient Lydians sometimes Meonians, and some- times Lydians. " Strabo alone expresses a doubt as to the iden- tity of the Lydians and Meonians, and they most certainly were not identical. 2 We here have the same phenomenon which we often meet with in antiquity, that a nation which conquers a country deriving its name from its previous inhabitants, is afterwards designated by the name of the conquered." The Me- onians stand to the Lydians in the same relations in which the Tyr- rhenians stand to the Etruscans ; they were the ancient inhabi- tants of Lydia, and belonged to that race which is known under the general name of Tyrrhenian Pelasgians, as opposed to the Hellenes ; they inhabited the coast of Asia Minor, at least as far as the Maeander, and not only that coast, but also a great part 2 Strabo, 679 B. 120 MEONIANS AND LYDIANS. of the interior. But we shall have occasion to speak of the Pelasgians further on, when we come to the origines Gfraeciae. Under the name of Tyrrhenians, the Greeks comprise partly the inhabitants of the coasts of Italy from the Arno as far as Oeno- tria, and partly those of the coast of Asia Minor (afterwards Ionia and Aeolia), of the neighbouring islands of Lemnos, Imbros, and Samothrace, and also the Pelasgians occupying the coasts of Macedonia and Thrace. I am convinced that the inquiry about the Pelasgians must be looked upon as terminated. 3 The name Lydians does not occur anywhere in the Homeric poems; it is first mentioned in the time of the elegiac poets. Mimnermus speaks of them, and this is not to be wondered at, for they were then a conquering people ; and in the poet's life-time took posses- sion of Colophon, his native city. Lydians, it is true, had been in those districts even at an earlier period, but in the Homeric time they did not yet exist there. The Carians and Mysians were akin to them, and sister nations; and these three nations, the ancients say, proceeded from one common ancestor, and had a com- mon language and religion. The Carians are the only one of these three nations in Asia that was known to Homer; neither the Lydians nor Mysians are mentioned by him there ; and it is only later writers that have given the names of Mysians and Phrygians to the inhabitants of those countries which, after the time of Homer, were inhabited by Mysians and Phrygians. Thus, even the tragic poets, as Sophocles, but especially Euripides, use the name of the Phrygians for that of the Trojans ; and the Latin poets, fol- lowing the example of the tragic or Alexandrian poets, call the Trojans Phrygians; witness Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. The same name occurs even in the fragments of Ennius, which is natural enough, seeing that the tragic poets of Greece had used it in the same sense nearly 300 years before him. Thus Tele- phus is called by later poets, both Greek and Soman, a Mysian ; while the son of Telephus, in Homer, 4 is the commander of the Ceteians, a people which is unknown to us, as it was to Eusta- 3 Comp. Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, i. p. 25, foil. ; Klein. Schrift. vol. i. p. 370, foil.— Ed. 4 Odyss. xi. 521, a son of Telephus ; in Aloaeus, Telephus himself.— Ed. LYDIANS, CARIANS, AND MYSIANS. 121 thius, and of 'which the ancient scholiasts and commentators, the Alexandrines as well as the Pergamenians (in Strabo), likewise knew nothing. But I have no doubt that Telephus the Hera- cleid was a Pelasgian, and that the Ceteians, as well as the Meonians and the Teucrians in Troy, were a Pelasgian people. Migrations and conquests occurred in those districts no less than in countries where larger tribes quitted their homes. " The Greeks were probably the first who pushed the Meonians into the interior of the country, where they were subdued by the Lydians." We do not indeed know .where the Lydians dwelt before they subdued the Meonians, but I imagine that they lived in Asia Minor, seeing that the Mysians and Carians also dwelt there. The Phrygians are said formerly to have inhabited Thrace, and thence to have crossed over into Asia : a tradition which seems very credible ; and this would suggest the following very probable connection : — their immigration pressed upon the Lydians, and the latter threw themselves upon the Meonians, while the Mysians advanced into the districts which had become depopulated by the destruction of the Teucro- Trojan empire. My belief in the ex- istence of Troy and a Teucrian kingdom is as firm as that in the existence of Nineveh and an Assyrian empire ; but I have no more belief in the historical nature of the Trojan war than I have in the story of Ganymede being carried off from Mount Ida, or of the judgment of Paris. The fact which forms the groundwork of the whole Trojan war, is a conflict between Hellas and the Teucro-Pelasgian kingdom, which ended with the de- struction of the latter. As regards the stock . of nations to which the Lydians, as well as the Carians and Mysians, belonged, we are per- fectly in the dark. "All we know of Lydian words is quite foreign to the Greek," and in like manner all the accounts of the ancients describe the Carians as a people differing in its language from the Greek (Horn. Kapss (3ap/3apo$ui-oi) : but although they were very different from the Greeks in their language, and especially in their religion, yet they shared in the resemblance of the institutions, which existed between the Greeks and so many other nations', "and were foreign to the 122 LYDIANS, CAHIANS, AND MYSIANS. barbarians." The despotism of Asia does not occur among the Carians, whose institutions were as republican as those of the Greeks. In their own country, moreover, they were a vigorous and robust people, defending its liberty against the Persians as manfully as the Greeks. They consisted of a number of inde- pendent cities ; that is, they had hereditary kings and popular assemblies. "The Lydians, on the other hand, present in their institutions a stronger resemblance to the Asiatics ; they formed a large state, and thereby afterwards lost the warlike spirit, for which they had before been distinguished." But even among them, $v\ai and yh*i are expressly mentioned, a fact intimating, that they had gentes or clans like the Greeks and Romans. " They also had $patpl Ctesias and Hero- dotus again differ so widely from each other, that the former calls King Psammenitus by the name of Amyrtaeus, which is decidedly wrong. According to the statement of the latter, Cambyses spent the remainder of his life in the conquered coun- try, occupied with designs of fresh conquests ; he was led on by circumstances, and he wished to carry his arms into Africa as far as his father had carried them into Asia. But nature op- posed him. He might have marched westward against Carthage, or made an attempt to conquer Ethiopia in the south. The latter idea was then the less absurd, because the intercourse between Egypt and Ethiopia was very great and active ; and architectural remains of that period are " everywhere to be met with. The valley was indeed too small to furnish, provisions for a large army, but that defect might have been remedied, and Cambyses might have reached the, very heart of Ethiopia." 5 "It is an erroneous notion, that the Egyptians ate no beef at all ; they abstained only from the flesh of cows, as the Eajpoots in India do at this day." 166 FURTHER PLANS OF CAMBTSES. The account of the embassy -which Cambyses sent to the king of the Macrobians, an Ethiopian people, must be regarded as a legend without any historical value ; and the description of the Macobrians themselves is altogether fabulous. But, admitting thus much, we yet have no reason for supposing that the expe- dition of Cambyses against the Ethiopians is fabulous ; we only must conceive it in a different direction from that which it is said to have taken. It must have proceeded from Syene in Upper Egypt, towards Natapa and Meroe, in the direction which must be taken to eut through the desert in order to avoid the necessity of following the long and circuitous reach of the Nile near Dongola. " This is the same road which is still taken by the caravans." We cannot wonder at the statement, that the army sent out by Cambyses, perished in that desert, which is infested by deadly blasts, and whirlwinds of sand, such as are hardly to be met with even in the Sahara ; if it had followed the reach of the Nile, this would not have happened. Another of his proposed expeditions was directed against Carthage, but, as he could not carry it out without the aid of Phoenician ships, he did not succeed ; for the Phoenicians, with a rare determina- tion, refused him the use of their fleet, and as, being a maritime people, they were more independent, they could make good their refusal to fight against their own colony more easily than any other nation could have done. Their own prosperity seems to have been connected with Carthage, even if their natural feelings had not forbidden them to aid an enemy against their own colony. The whole of the lucrative commerce which was carried on between the West and Asia, was concentrated at Carthage ; its course was from Cadiz to Carthage, and thence to the mother country, Phoenicia. All the tin came by way of Carthage ; and the Tyrian lead, which is spoken of in the Oeco- nomics, falsely ascribed to Aristotle, was, in all probability, neither more nor less than tin ; and it is clear that this import- ant commodity, which could not be obtained in Western Asia, was imported from Tyre. Whether the excellent tin, which is found in Eastern Asia, had already found its way into Phoenicia, is very doubtful. The commerce between Carthage and Greece was at all times unimportant, and between Carthage and Asia, CAMBTSES IN EGYPT. 167 as well as between Asia and the European marts^thefe was no commerce except that carried on by the Phoenicians. Tyre was the channel through which Europe received its commodities from the East. The staples were from Phoenicia to Carthage, and thence again to the West of Europe. A war, therefore, in which Carthage might have been destroyed, would 1 have injured their own interest. Hence they refused to follow the king, and induced him to give up the undertaking. He also contemplated an expedition against the Cyrenaeans, but this was prevented by his death. While in Egypt, Cambyses abandoned himself to habits of intoxication, and gave way to passion in a manner that deeply offended the feelings of the Egyptians, and rendered him no less odious to the Persians. Intoxication may be called an indige- nous vice among the Persians ; it continues the same down to the present day, notwithstanding their profession of the Mahomme- dah religion : no nation is more addicted to drinking, and this has been a reproach to them from early times. Cambyses is not the only one among the Persian kings that was given to this vice, and the various anecdotes in Herodotus, of the rage into which he was thrown by intoxication, are easily credible, and of such a nature that we may assert they have the stamp of truth upon them. These traits of the Persian character are extremely faithful, and are very interesting as affording an historical basis : the Persians of that remote period appear in them exactly like their modern descendants. In spite of the government of foreign -nations, in 6pite of all changes, and in spite of their mixture with other people, the characteristic features of the ancient Persians are still preserved among the fire-worshippers in- Yezd and Kerman ; these latter have much harder features than the Mahommedan Persians. This fact is as striking as the great difference which exists between the Christian Kopts and the Mahommedan Egyptians, although the latter must be the descendants of Egyptians who became converts to Mahqinmedanism ; yet both can be distinguished at once as easily as the fire-worshippers in Persia from the Mahommedan Persians. This is a very remarka- ble circumstance, showing how national features are often modi- fied by causes quite different from mere external influences, such 168 NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE PERSIANS. as climate ; and that not these alone influence the forma- tion of national character, but that religion and the mode of living likewise contribute their share. One of the peculiar features of the ancient Persians, is, a pliable servility and sub- missiveness : the Persian never was a free and proud man': and there is the greatest difference between the Persians and Arabs, and even between the Persians and the Kurds, though they are kindred nations. The Kurd is proud, straightforward, and does not submit to despotism, always longing for the freedom of the camp ; the Persian, on the contrary, has indeed much talent and intelligence, but he is servile ; and with all his gracefulness or elegance, he hag no other idea than that of being either slave or shah. This servility of the Persians is strikingly exemplified in the history of Prexaspes and Cambyses, as given by Herodo- tus, where Cambyses,. while in the act of shooting the son of Prexaspes through the heart, asks him whether he is a drunkard, and Prexaspes answers, that God himself could not aim more correctly. This answer of a father standing by the corpse of his son, is peculiarly Persian ; and every Persian of rank and > distinction would still return the same answer. With all this, the Persians are extremely cruel, as is evident from the punish- ■ ments they devise, and from their refined modes of torture, as may be seen in the history of Artaxerxes ; and such is their character at the present day. Thus they caused a condemned person to be buried in the earth up to his neck, and exposed him to death by starvation, and to the attacks of rapacious birds, which picked out his eyes. This occurs in the reign of Camby- ses, who ordered twelve of the noblest Persians to be buried up to their necks in the earth. Another peculiarly cyuel punish- ment was "the planting of trees" as they called it, in which- the condemned person was buried alive with his head downwards; and this is still an ordinary mode of punishment among them. Thus Feth-Ali-Shah, or Abbas Mirza, led a distinguished Per- sian through his garden ; and having shown him everything with the appearance of the greatest kindness, he asked, whether any- thing was wanting. The courtier answered, that the garden was absolutely perfect; but the prince replied, that something was yet wanting, and that he must plant a tree. Astra-Chan (?), the MURPEB, OF SMERDIS. 169 courtier, fell imploringly at his feet, and purchased his life only with the sacrifice of his treasures. So degenerate was the East even at that early period ; nowhere do we find greater moral de- pravity than that which runs through ancient history in all parts of the East. Hence the great admiration of the East is alto- gether a strange thing;, and it is folly to wish that India would shake of the yoke of the English; for although their government is but indifferent, and although it commits sad blunders and causes .much suffering, yet the country is governed with the best intentions, and the British government is for the In- dians really "a heaven upon earth. The Eastern nations are thoroughly depraved and morally degraded ; and this- character belongs to them all, from the Mediterranean to Japan and China: if a change is to be produced, it can only be done' by European discipline and government. They have in their degradation outlived themselves. Among other atrocities which Cambyses committed, when he was provoked to give vent to his passion and to shed blood, was that of ordering his own brother Smerdis to be put to. death. The story is, that he was led to do this by a dream, and there is nothing improbable in this account. Here again we see an example of Oriental indifference, and of the readiness which knows no scruples when commanded by the sovereign; for the same Prexaspes who had been so complaisant to Cambyses, and who had been so grievously injured, now at the king's command murders the innocent prince. The account of Ctesias, on the other hand, that Smerdis was murdered at the instigation of a Magian who greatly resembled him, is altogether incredible and false. It was to appear, it is said, that the Magian was put to death ; but Smerdis was executed in his place ; whereupon the Magian appeared in the attire of Smerdis, and was given out to be the prince. Such traits are characteristic, and enable us rightly to estimate Ctesias' accounts of the earlier times. All that seems to be certain,, is, that then, as has been often the case in the East, and also in the Middle Ages, a pretender arose, who, along with great boldness and address, possessed more or less resemblance to the murdered prince, and under his name came forward to claim the throne. While Cambyses was yet 170 THE PSEUDO-SMEKDIS. staying in Egypt, he learned that a person calling himself Smer- dis had come forward at Ecbatana, and had taken possession of his throne and treasures ; and that the Persians, tired of the tyranny of Cambyses, had recognised him as their king. This Smerdis was the brother of a Mede, whom Cambyses had left behind as the administrator of his empire, and had a strong resemblance to the real Smerdis. Supported by his brother, who at once paid homage to him, he put himself in possession of the treasures and of the empire. This pretender won for himself the favour of the whole country, and the hearts of all the people, because he immediately reduced the taxes, and ruled mildly and mercifully ; thus exhibiting a strong contrast to the intemperate rage of Cambyses. Cambyses now set out against him with the army, which was still faithful to him; and had he returned to Persia, a battle would have decided the issue ; but his career was cut short before it came to that; Cambyses accidentally wounded himself with his own sword, and died in consequence; mortification having taken place in the wound. As he left no children, the army, after his death, recognised the Pseudo- Smerdis, who was generally considered to be the brother of Cambyses ; for the nation put no faith in the assertion of Cam- byses, that his brother, the real Smerdis, had died long since, because he had never made his fratricide publicly known. According to the account of Herodotus, we ought to believe, that the only change which took place, was, that a Magian ruled under the name of a Persian; that the Persians now, as before, continued to be the ruling body, though they were governed by a king who was a Median Magus ; just as in a country where the king belongs to a foreign dynasty, while the government of the country is in the hands of the natives, as is at present the case in Sweden under Bernadotte. But the case must have been different in Persia; and there was, in all probability, a political revolution, not merely in the dynasty, but in the whole govern- ment ; a revolution by which the supreme power passed from the hands of the Persians into those of the Medes, and to that class of the Medes called the Magi. Against this revolution the Per- sians rose. The account of the manner in which the deception of the Magian was discovered is very doubtful; and may be THE SEVEN PERSIANS. 171 safely classed among the popular traditions. The fact on -which we may rely, is, that the Persians, led on by seven of their noblest countrymen, rose up in arms, overpowered the usurper, and murdered him in his palace ; and that in consequence of this, a general insurrection broke out against the Medes and Magi, of whom the Persians slew as many aS they could find; and that then a festival was celebrated and instituted in commemoration of the event under the name of the Magophonia. As regards the seven noble Persians in this account, it is evident, that as long as the Persian monarchy existed, there were seven great families which were regarded as far superior to the rest ; just as in the lex JBaiuvariorum, for example, four families are men- tioned as being the great families. In the same manner, there were in Persia seven families who enjoyed the privilege of greater freedom than any other portion of the nation. In later times, they are mentioned as the companions of the king, and as taking their meals at his table ; they are regarded' as the king's equals, and they alone are not in servitude, but free, while all the other subjects are slaves of the king. Hence the men- tion of the seven families in the Persae of Aeschylus; and they are noticed also by later writers. The kings of Pontus, for example, traced their origin to one of these great families. I am convinced, that we have not here an insurrection or rebellion, as Herodotus states, in which seven noble Persians individually rose against the usurper, but that we are to understand the affair as a true national movement, and that the seven families do not, as is stated in Herodotus, descend from those seven, but that the seven men are. the representatives of the seven families. It must, moreover, be observed that even afterwards the seven grandees continue to be mentioned; but as according to the account of Herodotus, Darius was one of them — he was one of the Achaemenidae — only six would have remained; so that the families cannot be the descendants of those seven individuals. There is a remarkable coincidence between the Magophonia, the massacre which the Persians instituted among the Magi, and the account in the Book of Esther, according to which the Jews received permission to take, vengeance on their enemies. I am convinced that this book cannot be regarded as historical ; and 172 DARIUS. I have not the least hesitation in stating it here publicly. Many entertain the same opinion. Even the early fathers have tor- mented themselves with it; and St. Jerome, as he himself clearly intimates, was in the greatest perplexity through his desire to regard it as an historical document. At present no one looks upon the statements in the Book of Judith as historical, and neither Origen nor St. Jerome did so : the same is the case with Esther; it is nothing more than a poem on those occurrences. But that coincidence in the account of the vengeance of the Jews with the Magophonia, is surprising ; they are outbursts of national hatred. The story of Darius' groom, Oebares, by whose cunning Darius gained the advantage among the seven who were then the masters of the Persian empire, and was raised to the throne, is well known. Cunning thus decided that which ought to have been left to chance. We now come to the. reign of Darius, Whose first year falls in Olymp. 64, 4 (b. c. 521). His reign is not less important in the history of Persia than that of Cyrus himself ; its long duration (he reigned thirty-six years, that ia, until' Olymp. 73; 3) enabled him to carry out and complete his plans and designs. His reign saw the administration of the Persian empire carried to perfection : Cyrus had conquered, and Cambyses had added a conquered kingdom; but the whole was yet a confused and chaotic mass. Darius divided the empire according to a regular system, and with the utmost possible exactness, and regulated it as one state, so far as, according to the circumstances of Eastern despotism, it was possible to give a definite form to the country. " The Persians called Cyrus a father, Cambyses a master, and Darius a tradesman; and Herodotus states that they did so because Darius had made everything attainable with money, and because in everything he had an eye to money. But he cannot have been an ordinary man ; for by his institu- tions Persia was enabled to maintain herself in a flourishing; though, it is true, always dissolute, condition for a period of nearly two hundred years.". He also extended the empire in all directions ; and the glory of having conquered the border countries of India, as far as the frontiers of Western India, CONQUESTS AND ADMINISTRATION OF DAUIUS. 173 belongs to him. Western India, the valley of the Indus and the Punjaub, are altogether separated, from the rest of India by a remarkable natural boundary line — the groat desert, extending between the Indus and the rivers that flow into the Ganges ; it begins in Kerman and extends into India, being interrupted only by the Indus, whose fertile valley is but narrow. This desert, therefore,' separates the western part, the India of the Indus, from the eastern part, or India of the Ganges. The India of the Indus was conquered by Darius, so that the whole river, from its source to its mouth, could be traversed by Persian ships. " Amongst his many undertakings, he sent an exploring expedition down, the river; Cashmir, also, was discovered by him." In like manner, he made the Arabs tributary ; he did not, however, according to the Roman fashion, change Arabia- into a province ; but that country remained quite independent. Thus he extended his empire in the East and in the South ; in the West, Gyrene and Barca, that is, the country as far as the frontiers of Carthage, became tributary to him ; in the East of Europe, -Thrace, and Macedonia-, as well as the islands near the Asiatic coast as far as the Cyclades, became tributary; though the Cyclades may have been neglected, as very little notice seems to have 'been taken of them. He, moreover, aimed, on the one. hand, at subduing all the countries round the Euxine ; and, on^the other, at uniting Greece with his- empire. These undertakings of his, especially his attempt to subjugate Greece, which, like the other, proved unsuccessful, constitute the subse- quent history of his reign, and we shall speak of them, here- after ; at present we shall notice the reforms which Darius in- troduced in his own empire. He divided the whole empire into twenty satrapies. The Persians were the select and the free people, so long as they re- mained at home ; there they governed themselves according to ancient institutions; but as soon as they went to the court, they were slaves like all the other subjects. Their country was ex- empt from' taxes. In all the remaining parts of the empire, Darius introduced a uniform system of government and taxation. The government was peculiar, for in every province there were, two independent authorities, aa we see most distinctly from the 174 ADMINISTRATION OF PERSIA. very instructive books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which, agree with our Greek authorities. In every province there was a military commander, whom the Greeks call the satrap, and besides, him there was a royal scribe, or clerk 6f accounts, who. levied the tributes and taxes, and was independent of the satrap > he only levied money, and had other sources of revenue for himself, con- sisting of a certain number of crown estates for the support of his court and his body-guard. The satrap was, at' the same time, a higher kind of judge for the subjects of his province. These arrangements have a striking resemblance to those which the Europeans found in India in the empire of the Mongols; though in this case they do not appear to have proceeded from the Mongols, but to have been introduced by the earlier Mahomme- dan rulers, the Patans and Afghans. It was these latter, that had adopted the Persian institutions and transferred them to India. In the latter country, the satrapies were called suhas, and the governor or satrap r who had a very extensive imperium, bore the title of subadar. 1 By the side of this subadari, there was the div&n or account-keeper, who levied the land-tax accord- ing to regular measurements, as well as the countless number of indirect taxes, and was well acquainted with the Eastern fiscal affairs. " The divan was not dependent upon ^he subadar, hut received his* orders from the emperor; and the eommon practice was to fill the two offices with men who were strangers, $t even hostile to one another, in order that they might not form an understanding between themselves." By this means? it was believed that the dependence of the provinces was secured ; and something certainly was thus effected, but it was insufficient to keep a rebellious satrap in check. When a bold satrap or suba- dar wished to revolt, he secured the div&n or endeavored to win him over to his side. When the English came to India, the East India Company caused the dignity of the divan to be transferred to itself; but it levied the taxes for itself and not for the Mogul, to whom it paid a pension. Thus we behold in the East the same institutions throughout many centuries. Da- ' "I do not mean to assert that this is the same word as satrap, though there is a resemblance." ADMINISTEATION OF PERSIA. 175 rius may be regarded as the inventor of this system; for the Baylonians, Assyrians, and Medes, appear to have everywhere had th,eir vassal princes, hut not' satraps. LECTURE XV. As in the reign of Darius, Persia was at the height of its prosperity, power, and greatness, we may suppose, that the divi- sion of the empire into twenty satrapies is justly ascribed to him, and does not belong to a later period. But whether the list of these satrapies strictly comprises all the nations, and whether some were not added which were really in a relation of depend- ence, though they were not included in the complex of the Per- sian empire properly so called, is a question ' which I cannot answer nor decide. Macedonia and Thrace, for example, after- ; wards appear as dependent countries; and though they did not form separate satrapies, yet they appear to have been under the h control of Persian commanders. The amount of taxes of the Persian satrapies is stated by Herodotus in silver ; but whether we are thereby to understand ;.' that every province had to raise a fixed amount of money, seems to me to be a very doubtful question; it is, however, not likely that this was the case. As regards the Ionians, it seems indeed "^ certain, that they had to raise a fixed amount of money, as was the cas^ in some Roman provinces ; but in general, there is in Asia this peculiar mode of taxation, that a certain portion of '',' the produce is paid, the sovereign being regarded as the owner ';' of the soil ; and this general tribute no doubt existed among the *' Persians also. But notwithstanding this, the scribe or levier of &' the taxes may have been ordered to deliver up a certain amount i! ' into the treasury, so that all he raised over and above the sum "$ thus fixed, was his own perquisite. The numbers which are mentioned, are always the clear profit. Every province was i3 obliged to furnish a certain sum, and in addition to this to main- 176 ADMINISTRATION OF PERSIA. tain a -certain number of soldiers; if this army cost more than the sum allotted for its maintenance, or if the produce was other- wise insufficient, the subjects were compelled to raise the sum required. The same was the case when a province of the Turk- ish empire was lost : for example, when a part of Moldavia was given up, the remaining portion had to pay the same sum which had before been paid by the whole; for it could not possibly be expected that the sultan should suffer the loss ! The Persian system of administration, on the whole, left the internal condition of the conquered countries unchanged; only that every province received its despot, who arbitrarily inter- fered in «yery thing in his own province, like a Turkish pasha, and acted there precisely as his sovereign did throughout the empire. But in detail the Persians left every thing as much as possible in its former condition; thus every city in Phoenicia and Ionia retained its old constitution, and in the former even , the ancient native princes continued to reign. The Greek mari- time towns remained completely Greek, but it was the policy of the Persians to set up a tipawos in each of them; an aspirant to that position being either supported in his pretensions, or the satrap raised a man to it. " These tyrants were often men of great abilities; but the misfortune was that they were usurpers: the really detestable tyrants belong to a later time, and were generally leaders of mercenaries. In the Book of Ezra, we see that the people in western Asia also governed themselves almost independently. The subjects were allowed to do what they pleased, if they did but pay their tribute, and obey the com- mands from above. The separate provinces often even made war upon one another." 1 Herodotus gives no account of the wars in which Darius sub- dued the Arabs and Indians ; but we may place full confidence in his statement that both nations were tributary to the king of Persia. As to- the Arabs, however, the obligation to pay tribute was not extended to all the Arab tribes; for those in the desert assuredly paid no tax on their camels, since they were quite be- 1 This paragraph has been transferred to this place from a subsequent part of this Lecture, where it preceded the paragraph beginning "Among the wars of Darius/'' etc., p. 139. — Ed. THE INDIANS. 177 yond the reach of the Persian collectors of taxes. All the Arabs were not, properly speaking, comprised in a satrapy, but as Herodotus relates, brought tribute from time to time, Consist- ing of gold, and more especially of frankincense. This mention of frankincense points to the remotest parts' of Arabia, Yemen and Hadramout, the southernmost parts of that country, and proves that they also were subject to Persia. It also shows, how firmly the power of Persia must have been established in other quarters. In what manner the Persians acquired the dominion over those countries, is indeed a mystery, just as much as the way in which Chosru Nushirwan came to Yemen and subdued the Homerites. It is, however, probable that that part of Ara- bia was conquered by a fleet from the Persian gulf; Oman may have been a Persian satrapy. But the mention of the Indians in Herodotus, and the whole manner of which he speaks of them, is still more mysterious. The Indians, in his opinion, are savages, and all that he relates concerning their manners, characterises them as such; he de- scribes them as being black ; calling them expressly black like the Ethiopians. In the more ancient times,- where two classes of Ethiopians (Aleioitis *™ Si^Sa 5f8a$s«> and scri- bere, because the s, especially before e and gutturals, is only a change in sound, that does not alter the meaning. This latter remark is in itself correct enough; but the passion for etymolo- gising becomes a real disease. 4 4 "It is much more tempting to compare the name Scythians with Tshudi, a name by which the. Fins are called by their neighbours. Theophi- ks Siegfried Bayer (Comment. Acad, Petropol. i.) has brought forward the hypothesis that this is the name of the Scythians. The Fins have indeed migrated from the south to the north ; but there exists no connection be- tween the Finnic and Scythian languages." — 1826. 190 THEIR NATIONAL FEATURES. The Scythians according to Herodotus, were a Mongol people ; and the description of Hippocrates confirms this still more strongly. The latter says that they were a fat and fleshy people, in whom the articulation and organization of muscles and bones were but very imperfectly seen. This is the very feature which is so striking in Mongol nations : their face and skull are round, 1 and the cut of their eyes is very singular; but what characterizes them still more strongly is, that their muscles and joints cannot be discerned, and disappear on the surface; their skin is thick and fat, and it covers and disguises the forms of muscles and bones. If we compare the nations of southern Europe with those of the north, we perceive a great and striking difference between them ; in the southern nations, the Italians and Greeks, and in an almost higher degree in the real Asiatics and the inhabitants of Barbary, the muscles of the arms, and legs, for example, „ are very strikingly marked; This is not the case with the Egyptians, and this circumstance has had the greatest influence upon their sculpture. The other southern nations which I mentioned before, have their muscles developed and expressed to such an extraordinary degree, that this circumstance alone renders it clear to me, how the ancient sculptors and artists could produce their works without the study of anatomy ; for the artist could see the whole of anatomy so far as he needed it, in the living body ; he did not require the anatomy of the dead body, but was enabled in the living body to observe the play of the muscles ; and the delicate skin so beautifully extended over them does not 'conceal them. The great difference between ancient and modern statues does not consist so much in the faces (though here too it shows itself, since the moderns take the matter more easily, and make their faces of a more general character, and with less individuality), as in the play of the muscles. If any one wishes to see the difference in a very striking way, he must examine ancient and modern statues together by torch-light. Such a study affords great pleasure and enjoyment: the ancient statues then seem living, and an endless variety of living muscles appear on the surface ; modern statues do not possess this transparency, they are smooth, and there is no life in them ; they seem dead, even CUSTOMS OF THE SCYTHIANS. 191 when they are the productions of great masters. The bas-relief? of Thorwaldsen may be placed by the side of those of ancient sculptors, but not so his statues. Among the Egyptians, we do not find this richness, this development and animation of the muscles, notwithstanding their great strength ; hence those things are wanting also in the Egyptian statues ; though this must have arisen in some measure also from the material whioh they used for statues, having adopted the unfortunate custom of using extremely hard stone. The Germanic and Sarmatian nations are surpassed in mus- cular development by the southern people, just as much as they themselves surpass the Mongols, who are plainly discernible in the description of Herodotus. A further proof of the Mongol origin of the Scythians may be seen in their manners and cus- toms ; they had, for example, vapour baths, by means of which they intoxicated themselves; strewing narcotic herbs on burning stones, while they themselves were shut up in narrow spaces (this custom also prevailed among the Kamskadales so long as they existed as a nation); " also their filthy habits, their drunken- ness, and their tents made of felt." Such features show the race in an unmistakable manner. Like the Kalmucks, they spent their whole life on horseback : they had no villages, and wandered from place to place, only with this difference, that the ruling tribe did not cultivate the fields, while the subject tribes carried on a little agriculture ; for a certain amount of agriculture was not in- compatible with their wandering life, as they carried their tents with them on waggons. Such is still the life of the Bedouines in Morocco, those splendid districts which unfortunately they possess, and which are admirably suited for agriculture. There they wander from place to place, cultivate the soil, plant and sow, and when they have exhausted one district, they abandon it, proceed to another, and returning to it after a few years, they again find the soil quite fresh. The western Scythians were agriculturists, but there is no trace of their having lived in villages. They spent nearly the whole day on their horses, and were a people of a truly Siberian indolence, acquiring all they wanted by means of the sword. Some of the Greek cities of the coast were tributary to them. In the; vast territory which they 192 RIVERS OF SCYTHIA. occupied, the Scythians had everything they wanted ; and the extensive commerce which was carried on through their country also afforded them great advantages, and thus they were rich notwithstanding the greatest possible laziness. They dwelt with their wives and children in carts covered with tents, with which they wandered from place to place. Such tent-waggons are now indeed no longer in use, and it cannot surprise us to find such customs abandoned ; they are changed with the changing times ; but their previous existence is nevertheless certain. The description of the plaustra and vagae domus, strange as it may appear, is perfectly correct. 5 In the time of Herodotus, the Scythians extended their sway from the Danube, the country of Lesser Wallachia, to the river Tanais. The greatest difficulties in his description consist in the fact, that he had formed quite an erroneous conception of the course of the rivers : the Danube, for example, where it passes through Scythia, he conceives to flow from north to south, where- as in truth it flows in the south of Wallachia from the south-west almost directly towards the north-east. He thus imagines that it flows quite opposite to the Nile ; but as the latter river, ac- cording to his notion, first flows from west to east, and afterwards from south to north, so he conceives the Ister to flow first from west to east, and afterwards under the same meridian as the" Nile, from north to south. All the rest depends upon this first mistake. While in reality the southern frontier of Scythia which is formed by the Ister, has the appearance of the section of a circle, he conceives it as the side of a square, and what in truth is the chord of a circle, he imagines to be another side of the square ; and he conceived it too short almost in the proportion of two to five; The Borysthenes, according to him, flows in the middle between the Ister and Tanais. His description of the Scythian country comprises only that part of the West which he knew, extending but a little way beyond the ancient Olbia, scarcely to the east of the Borysthenes. He himself had visited the country about that city and the Modern Odessa ; and this district about the Bog is the only one which he knew east of the Ister. The 6 Horat. Carm. iii. 24. DIVISION OF THE SCYTHIANS. 193 country further west is not touched upon by him ; and we can only apply to it, what he says of the district about Olbia. Now as he here commits the blunder of making the Ister flow from north to south, so he conceives the Donez which flows from the east and empties itself into the Don, as coming from the Dniepr ; and as it must flow in some direction, he makes it empty itself into the Palus Maeotis. 6 This error passed for a long time un- observed, and has produced the greatest confusion. Some have gone so far in their explanations and conjectures as to believe, that in the time of Herodotus some river must have flowed into the Maeotis, which in the course of time had disappeared, either by being dried up, or by some other circumstance. The choro- graphy of those countries, not being classical, has most unfortu- nately fallen into the hands of people who knew very little of classical antiquity and classical literature. Thus some places which were obviously situated on the Bosporus and on the Dniepr, have been sought in the Crimea, as people were unwilling to admit that the Bosporaniari kingdom extended as far as the Dniepr. According to Herodottfs, the 1 Scythians were divided into three parts : the royal Scythians, dwelling about the Tanais — the nomadic — and the agricultural. The nomads dwelt between the royal and the agricultural Scythians, and the latter along both sides of the Dniepr. The country on the Bog, beyond Olbia, was occupied by a mixed people, half Greek and half Scythian, and beyond them lived agricultural Scythians. But the nations west of the Dniepr, in Bessarabia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, are not mentioned by Herodotus ; and the question as to 'whether these countries were inhabited by people that were subject to the Scythians, or whether the Scythians themselves occupied them also, cannot be answered from Herodotus, and we can have re- course only to conjectures. However this may be, it cannot be doubted, that agriculture was carried on there. But the real 6 ,In Ms Klein. Schrift., i. p. 360, note 19,- Niebuhr in opposition to Herodotus, iv. 56/makea the Gerrhos empty itself into the Palus Maeotis (probably according to the map, of D'Anville), whereas in the Herodotean ma,ps of the world {Klein. Schrift., .vol: i.), he describes it as flowing into the Hypacyrisj and as emptying itself with this river into the Euxine. — Ed. VOL. I. 13 194 ORIGIN OF THE SCYTHIANS. character of the Scythians, as it is described in Herodotus, belongs more particularly to those extending from the Dniepr ; it was the nomadic and royal Scythians that he had more immediately in view in his description. 7 LECTURE XVII. The Scythians were, in their own language called Scoloti. Here we have another example of the utterly futile and per- verse tendency to make use of the names of nations for histo- rical investigations. The same friend of mine who considered the Scythians to be the Goths, and tried to prove his opinion by, the circumstance, that authors of the third and fourth centuries called the Goths Scythians, was also of opinion that the Scoloti and the Celts were one and the same people, for that Goths and Celts were identical. But the Celtic language differs as much from the Gothic as the latter does from the Slavonian. There existed very different traditions respecting the origin of the Scythians; but that which was current among the people themselves, unquestionably deserves the preference. This tradi- tion does not aim at describing the settlement of the Scythians, and their sojourn in the countries which lihey occupied ; of these points it takes no notice. Herodotus here follows his own peculiar notion, which we cannot admit at all, that the human race was created at different times ; and that, of the different races of men, some arose at an earlier and others at a later period. We must not lose sight of this notion in reading Hero- dotus ; and when he describes the origin of the Scythians as the most recent of all nations, this is only one of the results of his 7 "Herodotus derived his information from Olbia; and the Greeks of that district had no knowledge whatever of the western Scythians ; but they did know the northern ones, because they brought down corn to them, and the eastern ones, because the caravans went as far as Permia. He only describes the rivers of western Scythia, all of which he knew as far as the Aluta, the Agathyrsi, and the Dacian mountains." — 1826. THE CIMMERIANS. 195 peculiar view; but when he says, that they had not yet existed one thousand years, this 'date depends upon his chronology of Heracles. The Scythian tradition concerning the origin of the people, does not touch upon the question whether they had their origin in the territory of the Ukraine, which was occupied by the Tartar tribes, or in the high lands of Asia. The Greek tradition fabulously connects their origin With the Heracleae. I do not believe that the human race Was created at different periods: I consider this view irrational, and pay no regard to it. Suffice it for us to listen to the tradition of the nations on the Pontus, which states, that formerly the Scythians occupied the country north of the Araxes, and' that 'being pushed forward by the Massagetae, they migrated into the Ukraine; that there they met another nomadic people called Cimmerians or Treres; unless the Cimmerians and Treres are different nations^ for Strabo distinguishes the invasions of the Cimmerians and those of the Treres. Such is the ancient tradition, which deserves every consideration, and perfectly agrees with all the subsequent phenomena, which the successive development of later history presents to us down to the thirteenth and fourteenth century. One nomadic nation immigrates from the eastern regions of Asia, and, meeting with other nomadic tribes already settled in a country, it expels them from those districts which nature seems to have specially destined for a nomadic life. The ex- pelled tribes, in their turn, throw themselves upon the already occupied countries of the more civilized West. The former are the Scythians, and the latter the Cimmerians. In all these movements, we find the reverse of the tradition in Genesis, where Cain, or the agricultural people, throw themselves upon Abel, or the shepherd tribe ; for, in the other traditions, it is the shepherd, or nomadic tribes, that come upon the agricultural ones. From the statements of ancient authors, there can be no doubt, that the Cimmerians were just such another nomadic people, living in their waggons and in tents like the Scythians. 2 1 "This, however, is opposed to J the fact, that the Scythians showed Cimmerian, castles. It-is not known to what race the Cimmerians belong- ed ; it is possible that the Taurians in the Crimea were remnants of them 196 SCYTHIAN TEIBBS. It might, indeed, be said, that Callimachus, in speaking of the a/ia%ai of the Cimmerians, -which stood without the horses in the plains of the Caystrus, took the fact from the Scythians and transferred it to the Cimmerians ; but I myself am convinced, that he had in view a distinct statement and an ancient tradi- tion, and that he did not transfer it frona the Scythians to the Cimmerians. The immigration of the Scythians into those countries belongs to a period preceding that of the Greek settlements on the coasts of the Euxine, which were founded during the later times of the Lydian and Median kings. This migration of the Cimmerians, when pressed by the Scythians, is alluded to in various traditions. On the Dniestr, the tombs of the Cimmerian kings were shown in the time of Herodotus ; and there was a story, that those kings, forsaken by their people, who had not the courage to resist the Scythians, had refused to survive the conquest of their country. This tale, indeed, is a mere fable ; but we may believe, on the authority of those Cimmerian tombs, that a decisive battle was fought on the Dniestr, and that the Cimmerians were routed, and com- pelled by the Scythians to abandon their steppes. Tumuli are still found in the Ukraine ; and it is not impossible, that some may have been preserved from those remote ages, and that, if they were opened, many interesting objects might be found. The Scythians had a peculiar tradition respecting themselves, from which, if interpreted,, it is clear that their nation contained three ranks or gradations. There were, it is said, three brothers, from one of whom the kings were descended. This one had the gift bestowed on him of being able to touch and appropriate to himself the presents or talismans, which in ancient times had fallen from heaven, and which consisted of a golden plough, a golden quiver, and a golden sword. 2 If we consider this story who had maintained themselves in the hills. There is no ground whatever for connecting them with the Cimbri ; the Cimmerians assuredly did not live in the west, and Homer, in assigning to them the extreme west, must have imagined that they dwelt all around Europe." — 1826. 2 This is apparently a lapsus memoriae; comp. Herod, iv. 5. In 1826, Niebuhr compared the worship of the sword of Ares (Herod, iv. 62) with other Mongol customs, and so also in his Klein. Schrift., vol. i. p. 362.— Ed. SCYTHIAN TRIBES. 197 closely, I think it contains more than lies on the surface. The fact that only one could touch these golden implements and carry them home, and that this one founded the dynasty of the Scythian nation, suggests that the sovereignty was connected ■with such badges as these. From the circumstance that among these talis- mans a plough also occurs, I infer, and that without fear of fall- ing into the mistake of applying allegory to history, that the Scythians, like many other nations, were divided into three tribes, which were distinguished from one another by their mode of life ; in fact, in Herodotus' account we find these three nations, the Scythian agriculturists, the nomads, and the royal Scythians. The golden plough is the emblem of the agriculturists ; the quiver indicates the nomads ; and the sword is the symbol of the royal or ruling Scythians. Among all the Mongol nations, the sword is the talisman and symbol of the kingly dignity, or of the ruling family and tribe of the nation. The same symbol occurs in the history of Attila and Jenghis Khan. Thus we read in Jornan- des, that Attila obtained the sovereignty through the circum- stance that the sword of the god of war was brought to him ; this sword had been discovered in his time by a peasant stumbling upon it in ploughing his field. Such notions are common among the Mongols; and I may mention as a strange coincidence, that the same story occurs in the history of Jenghis Khan ; for the Arabsha (?) relates, that he was called to rule over all the Mon- gols, because a peasant while ploughing had found the sword of the god of war. The easternmost of the three tribes into which the Scythians were divided was the horde of the Paralates 3 (the golden horde of later, times), the horde of the royal Scythians, who occupied the western districts of the Cossacks of the Don, and the eastern part of ;Nogai. The nomadic Scythians lived next to them in the country of Nogai, towards the Dniepr, a country which is adapted only to the nomadic life, for the soil is throughout im- pregnated with salt, and is therefore good for nothing except for growing grass and breeding cattle. Agriculture may indeed be 3 This name is merely conjectural; in two Manuscripts we read the horde of " Solotora."— Ed. 198 SCYTHIAN TRIBES. forced upon the soil ; but it requires great care, and there is still the permanent disadvantage, that trees cannot grow ; because, below the thin crust of soil, a layer of sandstone containing iron extends beneath the surface for many miles, so that when the roots come in contact with it, they decay, and the trees die away. Any one wishing to rear trees must break through the sand- stone ; but the winds in that country are so vehement, that the trees become crooked and crippled. On both sides of the Dniepr, and further still, as far as, and even beyond, the Bog, the country is excellent for growing corn ; and there the agricultural tribe of the Scythians carried on its occupations. But this was not the only corn-growing country ; the real country from which grain was imported into Greece, was the Polish Ukraine. The great roads for exporting grain, were, as they still are^ down the Dniestr and the Bog, from Podolia and the Polish Ukraine to Olbia, and thence to Greece. Another country from which Greece was supplied with corn, was the Crimea and the districts about the Bosporus. The soil of the Crimea is excellent for growing corn. Thus much may suffice for the topographical description of Scytbia. Against these Scythians, Darius made war, probably not with , an army of TOO, 000 men as Herodotus says:, its number must have been considerably smaller ; but he no doubt commanded a large army. The Ionians and other Greeks, who had joined him with their ships, were left behind on the Danube, where their ships had for the most part been employed in forming the bridge. He left them, it is said, a thread, in which, according to the fashion of the Mexican Quilos, sixty knots were, made, and ordered them to untie one every day ; saying,, that if when they should be all untied, he had not returned, they Were to take it as a proof that he had continued his march so far east, as to be unable to return by the same road ; but not, as Herodotus relates, that they were to despair of his return. This story of the thread, and the order to untie one knot every day, may be historical ; and if so, it contained something symbolical, which had connection with ordinary life ; but it was not a measure dictated by necessity, for the art'of writing was most extensively DARIUS IN SCYTHIA. 199 diffused among the Asiatic nations, though not so among the Greeks. 4 . The expedition of Darius against the Scythians is a remark- able instance of the phenomenon, that at an age so near to the historical times, so many things which are impossible and incon- ceivable are related as facts by a man of the greatest intelligence and judgment. If you realize to yourself the account of Hero- dotus, it amounts to this : the Scythians sent their wives and children into the remotest districts, divided their men capable of bearing arms into three hosts, one of which was destined to mis- guide the Persians, and the two others were to march sideways, so as to draw the Persians into the remotest countries. This was done ; the hosts of the Scythians withdrew before the Persians, destroyed' the wells, burnt the vegetation of their pastures, and enticed the advancing Persians further and further into the country.. In this manner the latter crossed the rivers Dniestr, Dniepr, and Don ;. then the Scythians threw themselves upon the nations' dwelling behind them, and the Persians followed them from the territory of Tuldja to the other side of the Don, through the whole country of the Ukraine. In the neighbourhood of Saratow, the Scythians turned to the north, and the Persians marched in a circle, the Scythians constantly retreating from Tuldja by Way of Saratow, Charcow, etc., into Upper Hungary, and the Persians constantly following them, until in the end the latter were in the greatest distress and difficulty. This course is perfectly impossible, and is one of those tales- which we must at once reject as fabulous. The Persians are said to have amounted to 700,000; suppose that there were only 70,000 in the Ukraine: there was indeed some agriculture on the Dniepr, but beyond it there was scarcely any, and how insufficient must have been the agriculture of a people which had no fixed abodes ! how insufficient must it have been for even the tenth part of such an army? How could 700,000 men on their march from the Danube to the Dniepr find the means of subsistence? And still more, how could they do so afterwards, in countries where there 1 4 This is the. reading of one Manuscript; in .others, the reading is un- certain, and no certain conclusion can be come to. — Ed. 200 DARIUS IN SCTIHIA. was no agriculture, where they had to march through vast step- pes, beginning a few days' march from the Dniepr, and extending to the other side of the Don ? How could the Persians exist there, and escape death by famine? When Herodotus relates, that they came from one people to another, this statement is probably based upon the geographical notion which he had formed of those countries. He conceives the Agathyrsi to have lived much nearer the Tanais than they actually did; for he imagined the Tanais and Ister to flow parallel to each other, and the Agathyrsi to live between them on the coast of the Ister; he then supposed the Scythians to return by a road parallel with the Ister: and arrive on its banks, before the Persians on their round-about way could reaeh it. Such an account was possible only in consequence of a totally erroneous notion of the geography of those cguntries, the causes of which I have already explained, and the author of which was Hecataeus (?) It is impossible to say how far Darius, in his useless expedi- tion, advanced into the country of the Scythians ; but it is worthy of remark, that no less an authority than Strabo (vii. p. 305, b) says that Darius traversed the steppes of the Getae, between the Danube and Dniestr, without gaining any advantage. How was it possible for the Persians, without bridges, to cross such mighty rivers as the Dniestr, Dniepr, and Don ? How could they have made bridges, and where did they obtain the means of making them ? These are difficulties which Herodotus has overlooked. However beautiful and pleasing, therefore, his ac- count is of the manner in which the Scythians drew the Persians into difficulties and then ridiculed them, we cannot concede to it a place in. history; it is not historical, but it is nevertheless very masterly, and I wish you may enjoy its charms when reading it in Herodotus. We may, however, take it to be an historical fact, that while Darius was far away from the river, a portion of the Scythians appeared at the bridge on the Danube, advising its guardians to break it down and destroy it, in order that Da- rius might perish with his whole army ; that several among the Greeks were inclined to listen to this proposal, and that it would have been carried into effect, had not Histiaeus and the other Greek generals been tyrants whose rule over the Greeks was RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION. 201 supported by Persia, and who had acquired their throne and power through Persian influence. Those prinoes accordingly were certain, that if they yielded to the proposal, they them- selves would, on their return home, be expelled by their fellow- citizens. We may, therefore, regard it as an historical fact, that the Greeks indeed loosened this bridge of ships but did not destroy it, and restored it when Darius arrived on the banks of the river. This unsuccessful expedition appears to have brought disgrace upon Darrus, but no essential disadvantage. He returned into his country, and as his reign lasted thirty-six years, the inter- nal organization of his empire and the extension of its bounda- ries, seem, at least partly, to belong to.' the period following the Scythian expedition. The Scythians did not, by any means, follow up the advan- tages of their victory,-for they did not cross the Ister. Soon afterwards the Thracian kingdom of the Odrysians rose on the other side of the river, and was hostile to the Scythians, who could then effect nothing. At a later period, however, it would seem that the Scythians spread over the country between the Karassu and the Dobrusha, or the southern mouth of the Danube ; and in the time of Philip, the Scythian king Ateas seems to have ruled over that country, but to have been repelled by Philip. When Alexander crossed the Danube, the Scythians were no longer masters there, and their star had gone down everywhere. Herodotus mentions the nations dwelling above the Scythians, from the Ister to the Tanais, from the Agathyrsi to the Sarma- tians. He describes them but partially, by accidental attributes and peculiarities ; and it is impossible to discover to what races they belonged. The Agathyrsi, however, who undoubtedly oc- cupied Upper Hungary, may be assumed, with tolerable proba- bility, to have belonged to the race of the Gretae ; no argument, at least, can be adduced against this supposition. In the Polish Ukraine, Podolia and Brasslaw, we meet with the Neuri, who were, no doubt, a real and distinct people ; but when, at a later time, they are mentioned by Scymnus of Chios, 5 they no longer 5 v. 803, ed. Meineke. 202 NEIGHBOURING TRIBES OF THE SCYTHIANS. have any real existence. Then we find the man-eaters o Anthropophagi, the black-cloaks or Melanchlaenae, a nam strongly reminding us of the names of Tartar nations, whic] gave such appellations to their, tribes, e.g., Karakalpacians o: Black-caps, Kisilbashians or Red-heads, and similar others Next to these come the Geloni, and lastly, in the East, thi Sarmatians. All these nations ara to us no more than so man] names ; but it would be most preposterous if we were to doubl the statements of Herodotus, because his account of the marches of the Scythians, and of the manner in which they threw them selves upon the successive tribes until they came to the Aga thyrsi, by whom they were repulsed, is not historically correct ' This would be altogether wrong. We may consider the ethno graphy of Herodotus as entirely correct, for he obtained hii information respecting those nations among the Greeks on the Euxine, who were well able to give it. It is not impossible thai he himself may have seen at Olbia individuals belonging tc those nations. Whether there does not occur here anii there some strange statements which may be rejected is another ques- tion ; but this must, at all events, be done with great caution, It is a singular ^circumstance, and very remarkable, that he speaks of a town, Gelonus, in the country of the Budini, where, according to him, there was a mixed people of Greek and Scy- thian extraction. It is possible that such a mixed raCe maj have sprung up there, the phenomenon is not impossible, for a Greek colony may at one time have been seized upOtf 'by "those people, and have been transported into the interior;' and sucl an occurrence would have been quite sufficient to have produced such a result. There exists at present at Pekin, a quarter inhabit- ed by what are called the Albasinians, descendants of a Russian colony, which had been established previous to the time of Petei the Great, under Alexius, on the Amur in Tartary, and consist- ed of Russians and Cossacks. The Chinese overpowered the place, transported its inhabitants to China, and assigned tc them habitations at Pekin, in order that they might have there a colony of Christians and Europeans. They were at first true Russians and Cossacks ; they still form a distinct corporation regard themselves as Christians, and receive their priest fron SARMATAE. 203 Russia : but they have become so much mixed with the Chinese, that they have adopted a number of their*superstitious customs. In like manner, the Portuguese in India regard themselves as Roman Catholics ; but a friend of mine, who was present at one of their marriages, found, to his surprise, that a cock was sacri- ficed on the occasion. If any one were to remonstrate, with them on this account, they would be indignant; and so it is also with the Christians in China. The language of the Albasinians is mixed — a Slavonian jargon interlarded with Chinese words. I am, therefore, far from rejecting the account of the town of Gelonius as a fable; and I quite comprehend the statement of Herodotus, that the language and manners were mixtures . of Greek and Scythian ; but I do not believe in the great extent which is assigned to that city. When you cause Oriental peo- ple to relate to you anything, you will always hear such exag- gerations;" and the immense circumference of the city of Gelonus may, therefore, be quite false. It is a remarkable historical fact we learn in Herodotus, that the ■ Sauromatae (Sarmatae) still lived on the east of the Tanais; so that they had not yet far advanced. It is quite clear that the Scythians did not belong to the race of the Sarmatae, but it is equally certain and well attested that the Sarmatae are the same as the Slavonians of later times. The name of the Sarmatae disappears, having continued to exist from the days of Herodotus down to the second and third century of our era ; nay, Sarmatae are men- tioned in the time of Constantine, at the beginning of the fourth century, but afterwards they disappear, and are no longer heard of, except in learned disquisitions ; and in their place we find the name Slavini, Slavi, or Anti. The Sarmatae, who, in the time of Herodotus, still dwelt east of the Don, afterwards- also are met with on the west of that river ; they advance more and more westward, spread themselves abroad, and in proportion as they advance, the Scythians disappear. In the time -of Caesar, 6 " My father used great tact in questioning them; wherever he could not expect a rational answer, he did not ask them anything. An Oriental is never in difficulty about an' answer, even if he should say the most ab- surd thing. Whenever they said anything from their own recollection, it was good." 204 DARIUS IN PERSIA. the Samartae were already on the Danube, and under Augustt they often crossed the river. This is the beginning of tl second great migration of nations. The first great Easter migration, the advance of the Scythians from the East, occurre about Olymp. 20, in the time of the first Lydian kings, whe they drove the Cimmerians before them. It may have been tribe of the same Scythians which invaded Upper Asia an Media, advancing as far as Egypt, and remaining there twenty eight years. 7 The second great migration then is that of th Sarmatae, who advanced gradually, slowly, and with much difi culty ; they met with great obstacles, but in the end succeede in dispersing and entirely destroying the Scythians. Som remnants of the latter occur even in the reign of Mithridatei but afterwards they disappear altogether. The Sarmatae the rule in those countries, and connected with them are some kit dred tribes, such as the Iaxamatae and others. LECTURE XVIII. When Darius had returned to his own kingdom by quic marches, and was occupied with the measures necessary to regi late the internal affairs of the state, his generals extended hi dominions in the West and in Europe, while, no doubt, other were engaged in the East against India, and in the South agaitf Arabia. Susa is now mentioned as the king's residence, wherea in all the accounts of the reign of Cambyses Ecbatana, the ar cient Median city, is always spoken of as the capital. Unde Cyrus, neither of them is mentioned, unquestionably feecaus throughout his reign he was engaged elsewhere "; but the empir must have had a capital, and I believe that it was Ecbatana. am of opinion that Susa and its royal magnificence was a crea tion of Darius Hystaspis, but still Ecbatana was not entirel abandoned by the kings, being their residence during the he 7 Compare above, p. 128. BUILDINGS OF DARIUS. 205 summer months, when Susa was unhealthy. The place which the Greeks call Persepolis, and which in Persian probably bore the name of Pasargada, had no doubt before this time been the summer residence of the kings, as Ecbatana was afterwards. Babylon would have been a very suitable winter residence ; but Darius probably did not like to be so far away from the ruling people, which formed the soul of the monarchy, and on whose fidelity he could rely. In Babylon, his own people would have been far outnumbered by the immense native population. After the re-conquest of Babylon, he had ordered its walls to be de- molished, aijd their complete disappearance, intimates that they were purposely and carefully pulled down ; English travellers have in vain endeavoured to discover traces of them. 1 The moats were probably filled up with the materials. When those coun- tries shall be once thrown open to the learned investigations of Europeans, it will perhaps not be difficult to discover the lines of those walls. Their bricks were no doubt provided with inscrip- tions just like those from the temple of -Belus, so that immense archives of Asiatic history are assuredly still buried there under the earth. Darius, as I have said, founded Susa, and built the palace there (Mcuvovbio, it was called by the Greeks for reasons unknown to us, perhaps in imitation of the palace of Thebes), and it is not improbable that, in his time, being that of the highest prosperity and splendour of Persia, the temples and the palace of Persepolis also were built, of which splendid ruins still exist. " The ruins, in five main groups, stand on l?irge substruc- tions, which are perhaps more ancient than the walls ;' but all the latter belong to one and the same age, an age in which the arts were highly developed, and Persia ' was a great empire. The names of Darius and Xerxes, moreover, occur in the inscriptions on those walls." While Darius thus adorned and strengthened his empire, his 1 " Whether Darius, completely razed the walls to the ground, or took them down only to a certain height, is doubtful, for the expression of Herodotus leaves it very uncertain as to whether he himself still saw the walls or not. It is possible that the Parthian kings completed the demoli- tion when they built Ctesiphon: the, canals greatly facilitated the trans- port of the bricks."— 1826. 206 THE PAEONIANS. generals extended it in Europe without proposing to themselves any limits. After his return from the country of the Scythians, the Greek cities in those districts which had submitted to his overwhelming military force, seem to have revolted; the inha- bitants of Byzantium at least were then reduced by force of arms ; and the conquest of Chalcedon, mentioned by Polyaenus, proba- bly also belongs to that or a somewhat later time, perhaps to the period subsequent to the revolt of Aristagoras, though the ac- count of it contains things which are fabulous. The Persians now extended their sway in Thrace towards the West- as far as the river Strymon, and there came in contact with the Paeonians, who, according to Herodotus, the only authority on this point, were a nation foreign to the Thracians. He says, that they be- longed to the race of the ancient Teucrians, a statement which must not by any means be rejected. But as regards the Teu- crians (Paeonians T) in general, we shall relate (?) the only tradi- tion about their history, assuming this statement respecting their origin. We are inclined to reject as poetical fiction everything connected with Troy. We cannot believe the detail of the poem on the Trojan war and the history of Troy, and cannot possibly conceive the Trojan war of the Iliad, the story of Paris and Mene- laus, to be historical, but we must not go so far as to doubt the existence of a nation of Teucrians. Such a conclusion would be just as unfounded and foolish, as if any one — supposing it to be possible for our written history to perish, and the ancient Ger- man epics alone to form the source of our knowledge — were to doubt the existence of the Burgundians or Huns, because there ex- ists no other information about them than that contained in the Lay of the Nibelungen, and because that work is a poem. A person arguing in this manner would be acting just as perversely as one wishing to transfer to history all that is there said about Attila and the Huns. The existence of the Burgundians and Huns is a certain fact, and equally certain is it, that the Teucrians of Troy were a very ancient people, possessing a large dominion, the ex- tent of which is estimated, in the catalogue in the second book of the Iliad, to have reached from the Axius and Olympus to the frontiers of Paphlagonia. But it is one thing to believe that the Teuerians were an historical people, which was destroyed by a THE PAEONIANS. 207 catastrophe of which we have no knowledge, that previously they were powerful, and that, through mighty events, they lost that extent of power, which in the Iliad they appear to possess ; and another thing to believe that the Paeonians were anoixoi. of the Teucrians. This latter tradition cannot be believed, if it is meant to say, that they were a> colony sent out by the Teucrians into another country. The probable explanation, however, is, that the tradition is only a recollection of the fact that at one time the Teucrians ruled far and wide in those countries, and that the Paeonians were a people belonging to the race of the Teucrians. Such circumstances might, easily lead to a belief, that the Paeo- nians were artoixoi of the Teucrians. According to Herodotus, these Paeonians did not occupy an extensive country ; they lived along the Strymon, it may be to the distance of a few days' marches into the interior ; but beyond this he knows nothing of them. Later writers speak of Paeonians as extending into Pan- nonia, and I do not see what we can oppose to the assertion of the later Greeks, that the Pannonians belonged to the race of the Paeonians. It is expressed much too positively to allow us ' to suppose that it was a mere invention or inference from an etymological speculation; the names Pannonia and Paeonia, moreover, do not present so striking a resemblance as to induce a person to seek for etymological identity, unless other proofs of identity existed. The Persians were tempted by some among the Paeonians themselves to attack them; those Paeonians being ready to lead their own countrymen into slavery, for the purpose of obtaining dominion for themselves. How, this was done we will not attempt to inquire ; but we cannot doubt that a Persian army, by the command of the king,, appeared in , those districts, and that the Paeonians experienced the same fate which had been so often inflicted upon -others by Eastern kings, as for example, on the Jews by the Assyrians and Babylonians — a fate by which whole nations were driven from their homes, and transplanted into other countries. Such tyrannical measures were of common occurrence in the Persian empire, and there was a peculiar technical expres- sion for them ; those who were torn from their country and trans- ferred to another were called ava.a7to.ato1, and this shows how 208 PERSIAN CONQUESTS IN EUROPE. common this event must have been. The Paeonians were thus subdued and partly carried away. When this was accomplished, there was but a single mountain on the way to Macedonia. I shall relate the early history of Macedonia afterwards at. the point where Trogus introduced it. At the. time of Darius the country was governed by King Amyntas, who was called upon to pay homage to the King of kings. This act performed by princes and nations was of a symbolical nature, like most similar acts in antiquity, and consisted in presenting to the messenger of the great king a clod of their soil and water from their wells. With these symbols of earth and water, they surrendered the land and the source of vegetation, the substratum of life, and the means of living ; they surrendered themselves, divina humanaque omnia. Amyntas complied with the demand; and the Persian emissaries, who were to take possession of the country, conducted themselves at his court with their usual insolence and tyranny. They indulged in the most wanton insults, and became so intole- rable, that Alexander, the heir to the throne, caused them to be murdered. In the East everything can be obtained or settled by means of money, and such was done in this case also ; vengeance was warded off by the payment of a large sum. In this manner, the Persians advanced as far as the borders of Thessaly, but a new satrapy was not established in those coun- tries. The Persians acted in the same way as the Romans. When they had extended their dominion beyond certain bound- aries, they did not constitute the newly acquired land as a province, but added it to the adjoining province. Thus the . province on the north of the Alps was at first an appendage to that of Liguria, and remained so even when Caesar had added a territory three times as large as the ancient province. It was not till the time of Augustus, that it became a province by itself. Such also was the case with the dominion of the satrap of Sardis ; his imperium extended as far as the Persian arms could be carried in those countries. But in consideration of the importance and extent of the border province, it was governed by a brother of King Darius. The Greek towns on the European coast as far as Thessaly, were subject to Persia; so also were all the Greek towns on the coast of Asia Minor and in the islands, with the HISTORY OF GREECE. 209 :ception of the Cyclades. On the whole, about one-third of the reek towns and tribes'may at that time have been under Persian iminion. Soon after this, the insurrection of the Ionians in irdis, broke out, and became the occasion of the, wars between jrsia and Greece. This leads me to sp^ak of the early history Greece. The primordia of Greek history are to us a real chads. Hero- »tus, the only one among the extant authors, who touches on is subject, is partly unintelligible in what he says about it ; and here this is not the case, his information is so fragmentary and jcidental, and he so little intends to write a critical history of ie early times, -that he creates doubts and uncertainty in'stead affording us the means of knowing the history of Greece, he most instructive and important statements oh Greek archae- ogy only occur scattered in the works of many writers, the ost instructive of which are perhaps those in Strabo, which are irived from Ephorus. Before Ephorus, the Greeks had no connected history of their trly ages. It is curious to observe how entirely different is the jvelopment of the history of Greece from that of Home, and Dwthe one is, in fact, the reverse of the other. The causes of lis are very clear and evident. The history of Rome grew out f annals, which were kept without interruption from the time of ie great political revolution, the abolition of royalty ; that is ) say, there existed such annals, of which the later' Roman his- )rians doubtless saw ' nothing, but which formed the basis of irlier works. From the time of the Gallic conquest, there sisted authentic and continuous chronicles, and even earlier aes existed, which, however, were afterwards lost. Along with lese there existed a great mass of traditions, and the peculiar ristocratic unity, and long duration of Roman families, led them ( keep records of individual families, which, though for the most art fabulous, preserved, nevertheless, many genuine features om very remote periods. When real history began to be writ- sn among the Romans, the authors undertook to write the entire istory from the foundation of the city in uninterrupted succes- on. They wrote for definite purposes and for a definite public, uch was the case Of Eabms, whose intention it was to lay before 210 HISTORY OF GREECE — HERODOTUS. foreigners a clear and complete history of his own nation ; and especially to show to them, that from the remotest times the Romans had been a powerful and honorable people. Among the Greeks, the development of history was quite different. The object of Herodotus is not by any means to write a history of the Greeks from the earliest times ; but the real ground-plan of his work is the conflict between Europe and Asia, between the Greeks and the Persians — the Greeks taken in the widest sense of the name, comprising those of Asia ; nay, as he proceeds from the latter, the Asiatic Greeks are more prominent in his work than those of Europe. To relate that conflict is his real object, and in his account of it he interweaves the immense stores of his own excellent observations and historical inquiries. 2 Some of these episodes consist of information about the earliest history of Greece, but their number is extremely small. If we except a few isolated remarks on the origin of nations and tribes of the Greek race, etc., he nowhere goes farther back than the time of the later Lydian kings, and in reality scarcely beyond the reign of Croesus. All that lies before that time is not touched upon by him, and nothing is said even of the earlier history of the Asiatic Greeks. He mentions the subjugation of the several towns in Asia by the Lydian king, but the wars of which we learn from other authorities, the wars of the Colophonians and Erythraeans, of the Chalcidians and Eretrians, of the Cretans, the history of the Doric migration to Peloponnesus, the wars of the Doric states with one another, the destruction of Messene, and many other things, are passed over in silence, and no notice is taken of them. Only in a few cases, Herodotus ascends some- what higher, as in the history of the Cypselids at Corinth, and that of the foundation of Cyrene, for which, however, there are certain reasons. The rest he does not notice, or takes no interest in. In regard to Greece he has no chronology, which in fact he entirely neglects ; he. had received all his traditions about the Greeks from the xdyiot : thus, for example, he mentions Cleis- 2 " The objects of his introducing them are sometimes visible, and some- times not; in some cases, his intention, no doubt, is to supplant incorrect accounts ; thus, for example, he relates the history of Pisistratus with a view to supplant the erroneous reports which had, perhaps, through Hel- lanicus, become current." — 1826. LOGOGRAPHERS — THUCYDIDES. 211 thenes of Sicyon, but does not inform us on his history and family. His work, therefore, is not an ancient Greek history, but has an epic character ; it has a unity amid its episodes, ■which, as Goethe said, are "retarding motives," and in which he delights. The question now is, whether there existed previously a, work on Greek history to which Herodotus could refer his readers for information on the earliest ages of Greece. I absolutely deny the existence of such a work. All the Greek historians of that time, the logographers, were a.oyo-ypa>oi,, in the true sense of the term, collectors of traditions of the past, which they committed to writing, just as Ranke wrote down the stories of the Serbians. These traditions, however, were not history, but popular and poetical stories, like those of the Sandwich islanders, which have been collected by Mr. Ellis, a missionary, or like the stories recorded by the first Mexican Christians. Such were the logo- graphers ; their works were written in prose, but either set out from Theogonies, as that of Hesiod, and other similar works, or they themselves contained the substance of epic poems. They were altogether genealogical, and moved in a world of legends. 3 The first real and true historian, according to our notion, was Thucydides: as he is the most perfect historian among all that have ever written, so he is at the same time the first: he is the Homer of historians. It is surprising to find that he evidently presupposes the existence of an annalistic history. He relates everything with its precise date, and marks the succession of events by distinct numbers. He says, e.g., the first 1 galley was built so many years before the war ; and he mentions the precise 3 " They contained the genealogy from Uranos and Chaos down to the yivtj of the historic age. In -the early times, the princes, and afterwards the great aristocratic families, traced their pedigrees to heroes, and, through them, to the gods, just as the northern kings traced theirs to Odin. It is a complete misconception of the idea of history, to call Phere- cydes of Syros and Acusilaus historians. The first real historian was He- cataeus, son of Hegesander, of Miletus, who was a man of mature age in Olymp. 70. But what he had written was uncertain even in antiquity, because there were several writers of the same name belonging to Eretria, Abdera, and Teos. But it is probable that he spoke of the history of Greece only by the way." — 1826. 212 THUCYDIDES ON EARLY GREECE. dates of the foundations of the Sicilian towns; and when he speaks in this positive manner, it requires no assurance that he does not do so carelessly, but that he acted with caution, and after careful examination: he considered his information to be authentic, and he thought it unnecessary to do more than to make it known. He may accordingly have erred, and may have met with erroneous chronological statements ; but it is inconceivable, that he should anywhere have taken up and published mere fancies. The simple fact of his giving the dates, proves, not indeed that there was a literature, but certainly that there must have been tables on which the events of Greek history were recorded. But how far back they went, or where they commenced, is quite a different question. This much we clearly see, that they do not go further back than the beginning of the Olympiads, and that they go beyond that epoch only in reference to the immigration of the Siculi into Sicily ; but this is a statement which Thucydides does not vouch for, and which is manifestly of a vague character. So far as he speaks positively, there must have existed annalistic tables, the authenticity of which I cannot allow to be attacked, bearing in mind, at the same time, the weakness, imperfection, and insta- bility of all human affairs. They are, moreover, so much more recent than the annals of the East, that there is no reason for supposing that there was anything which might render their ex- istence impossible. As far back as the beginning of the Olympiads, Thucydides speaks with confidence ; but of the earliest times, and of all that precedes the Trojan period, he evidently speaks with uncertainty. In regard to the Trojan period, he follows Homer alone, and uses the expression $oiW' fauuv ditov yivoi, of which Hesiod speaks, but a poor, miserable, degenerate, sinful, and wretched race of men, olot rm ppotol tlau>, as Homer says. This notion pervades all that the Greeks thought about their early ages, and, if rightly understood, shows their conception of a wholly different order of things which had come to a close, which was antehellenic, and stood in no rational relation to the subsequent state of affairs. But do not on that account believe, that I myself wish in any way to express or support the opinion, that formerly there had actually been a different order of things, or a different race of mortajs, as if a metamorphosis, or a transi- tion, like those seen in the various phases of the formation of the earth, had actually taken place. Such an idea cannot be entertained by a serious and rational man ; and if I were to ex- press it, it would be folly, or a mere silly joke, of which I should not like to be guilty. The notion arose from the circumstance, that the Greeks regarded the earlier times, preceding those in which their history begins to assume more or less an historical aspect, that is, the antehellenic period, as something distinct from, and foreign to, their own history and race. Here our historians always fall into the mistake of seeking history, where the Greeks never dreamt of relating history, I mean the Greeks before the later Alexandrian period. For it was during this latter period that the confusion commenced, and that a desire was manifested to seek history where history did not exist; a desire which was called forth by the peculiar occupation of the grammarians, and is therefore natural and very pardonable. They were occupied with the explanation of the early authors; they lived in the times of their poets, and whatever they found MYTHUS AND HISTORY. 237 in them was regarded as historical. I can say of myself, that there was a time when the personages mentioned in Greek poe- try had as much reality for me, when I knew their genealogies and the like, as the historical characters of Attic history. The Alexandrian and Pergamenian grammarians knew history as well as they knew mythology, and they were as able to explain an oration of Demosthenes as a lyric poem: how much know- ledge of this kind they possessed, you may see from good Scholia ; but by combining that extensive knowledge with gram- mar, those men confounded the boundary lines, and transferred to one sphere that which belonged to another. We shall here pass over the mythological stories, which might be a subject for a very attractive treatise, and -shall begin with that which we really can know about the origin and connection of the Greek tribes. The information which has come down to us respecting the different races and tribes, and that which is known with any degree of certainty, stand, in my opinion, in no direct connection with what is called primitive history, and I shall confine my remarks to the former, from which afterwards real history will flow spontaneously. But we shall not venture to fill up the great gap with attempts to make the mythical and heroic figures historical; and when I say anything about the history of the mythical period, I do so with a view to draw your attention to that which is unhistorical. In the case of Minos, e. g., the mythical has been extended beyond the boundaries of history. The method of doubling or trebling the same person, leads to most perverse proceedings ; but is nevertheless a very common expedient, which is constantly resorted to, which was unfortunately too often applied by the later among the ancient grammarians, and has been eagerly seized upon by the modern scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for the purpose of reconciling the most different accounts and traditions. Different stories are related about Minos: according to some, he was a contemporary of Theseus, while, according to others, he belonged to a much earlier period ; the one Minos is a lawgiver, a wise and just ruler, and the favourite Of Zeus, whereas the other is a cruel and unjust conqueror; the remedy is ready at hand, and forth- 238 MISUNDERSTANDING OF MYTHS. with it is supposed that there were two Minos. Both, it is true, are called sons of Zeus ; but this difficulty is easily overcome, and it is said, that one was the grandfather of the other, and that the first Minos was the good one. Not a single ancient poet has conceived Minos, the contemporary of Theseus, as different from the one described in Homer, the lawgiver of the Cretans and the friend of Zeus ; and it never occurs to them to consider the different characters ascribed to him as irreconcilea- ble. In like manner, two Cecrops have been assumed, one whose father is not mentioned, and the other a son of Pandion ; and two Pandions, one the father, and the other a son, of Erechtheus. But in all these cases, we have the same variable personages, as I have remarked in my History of Kome, and all allude to the same relation between Cecrops and Erechtheus, and between Erechtheus and Pandion; but one tradition gives one set of stories, and the other another. Notwithstanding all this, our modern historians and chronologers have in good sober earnest imposed upon themselves the duty of making up and treating as historical, the chronology of the Attic kings from the times of Cecrops, just as they were in the tables of Eusebius. They tell us, with the greatest precision, in what year of the world those kings succeeded to the throne ! How ridiculous ! Ac- cording to their logic, they could not regard the different cha- racters of Cecrops and Pandion as belonging to the same person; for they argued thus: who can deny our view of the matter, seeing that we find those names expressly mentioned in the tables ? Formerly, and down to the end of the eighteenth century, scholars clung to those tables; at present this will indeed no longer be attempted, the last link is snapped, and no man will come forward as a champion for the authenticity of the list of the Attic kings ; but there will still be many, who, in regard to Theseus, are influenced by the old prejudice, and consider it a crime to doubt his historical character, or to acknowledge that the stories about him belong to the tales of the heroes, no less than those about Heracles. "When the latter is said to have roasted an ox, and to have eaten it up entirely, this is almost as impossible as his fight with the hydra; and the history of Theseus is precisely the same. HISTORICAL VIEW OF M1THS. '46U There is nothing in it that can claim any higher historical character than his victory over the Minotaur, or his descent into the lower world. "Woe to him who regards both as idle men, or knights errant, as. it were ! If you . attempt to put Theseus in harmony with time, you will fall into the most laughable contradictions." I must here claim your attention the more, because before you I freely express my opinion as the best. My difficulty here is in each case to place the things before you in their right light, or in that light of which I am convinced that it is the true one; but I hope I shall succeed, if you will give me your undivided attention, and if you do not expect me to put before you everything as in a carefully com- posed book. There is no doubt that, within the last twenty years, able and ingenious men, in their lively occupation with the study of antiquity,, have produced excellent works on subjects connected with Greek history ; and it is delightful to see how much has been accomplished. But much is yet to be done, muoh to be desired, and we must be on our guard against abuse, especially the abuse of dragging into history the mythology, the symbolism, or what is called the worship of the gods. Inferences drawn from these things can have no place in history. They rest for the most part on combinations which are acute and subtle, but have no basis, and are founded upon a petitio principiu Some people form to themselves a notion of the religion of the Greeks, supporting the same by many sagacious observations, and after having done so, and having confirmed it by arguments with more or less love of truth, they then draw erroneous conclusions. This whole region of mythology is extremely dangerous ; and I caution you very seriously against the belief that in this way you can arrive at historical truth and certainty. There are many things which we will , not exclude from ancient history, but which will yet always; remain Very' obscure. Here the sapientia prima is tor.ecognize what we may and what we may not touch upon, and to separate that which we can undertake with some hope of success, from that which we cannot so under- take.^ There is, however, an antehellenic history, which, in its 240 KEMAINS OF ANTEHELLENIC HISTOET. monuments, has not only survived the Hellenes, but h« co». down to our times. As the Eastern Christians believed ^tha the Paradise had not been inundated by the deluge, but that it was separated from the rest of the land by a broad stream, in consequence of which it was visible but not attainable, so we too perceive an antehellenic history, but without being able to penetrate into its substance. LECTURE XXII. The last publications of Champollion inform us, that in the^ representations of the expeditions and victories of Sesostris, the nations of the four quarters of the world are seen, according to the notions entertained by the Egyptians themselves, to wit: — their own country — as among the Chinese — Asia, Europe, and Africa. The Europeans there still appear as savages clad in the skins of animals, while the Syrians are seen in elegant and splendid Asiatic attire. If it were not uncertain whether the inhabitants of those parts of Europe, which are in close proximity to Asia, are not included among those Asiatics,' these representations would fully answer the notions enter- tained by the ancients respecting the rudeness and savageness of Europeans before the time of Orpheus. In this light they certainly do appear in some mythical stories, according to which Greece is a country of wild and unsubdued nature, which the heroes deliver from monsters and criminals. But in the poetic descriptions, things are different ; in the Homeric poems we have before us an age which is but a little later, and yet is one of great splendour, wealth, and civilization. I need only refer you to the description of the palace of Menelaus and the court of Alcinous, though in the latter the poet goes beyond the limits of the heroic splendour of the time, and passes into the region of fable. The court of Alcinous lies indeed beyond the world of Argos, of the Danai and Achaeans, it belongs to ARCHITECTURAL REMAINS. 241 a country -which is regarded as a., foreign land, and the poet enters into a different sphere, but the splendour is the same in both palaces, in that of Menelaus no less than in that of Alcinous. Even at the present day there exist ruins of that antehellenic period, -which excite our astonishment : I allude to the ruins of Orchomenos, and .especially those of Tiryns; also those of Mycenae, though they are not as considerable as those of Tiryns, and the tunnel of Jake Copais. Of the latter, it is true, we know only from report, and no man, has as yet seen it ; travellers have looked down into the shafts, but no one in modern times has descended into them. It is to be hoped that this stupendous work will yet be explored. The ruins of Orchomenos, Tiryns and Mycenae, resemble the ancient Italian ante-Roman monu- ments in the fact that both are constructed of immense blocks of stone. All these places, however, act a prominent part only in traditions; as>far as history goes back, they are but insignifi- cant places. Tiryns and Orchomenos, the city of the Minyans, occur exclusively in the mythical ages, and subsequently Orcho- menos is an ordinary Boeotian town like' all the rest. The build- ings in these places have a great resemblance in style to those of ancient Egypt, especially to the peculiar colossal nature of Egyptian architecture ; we, moreover, find in them pointed arches instead of vaults, just as in Egyptian buildings. The sculptures on what is called the lion gate at Mycenae, which is noticed even by Pausanias, has quite a foreign character ; notwithstand- ing all the ravages of barbarians, that , gate is still .standing undisturbed, and its ruins are perhaps now as completely pre- served as they were at the time when Pausanias described them. But the greatest of all these works is the tunnel of lake Copais. In this lake there met together the Cephissus and other rivers flowing from the Thesprotian and Boeotian hills ; but as the lake had no outlet towards the sea, it overflowed the beautiful and fertile valley of Haliartus. Now, in order tp secure that valley against inundation, several tunnels by the side of one another were made to conduct the waters through the hills to the Euboean sea, a distance of thirty stadia or nearly four miles, and the level of the lake was thus reduced. These tunnels were constructed VOL. I. 16 242 AKCHITECTURAL REMAINS. in times of which the Greeks themselves had so little knowledge or tradition, that they considered them to be natural subterra- neous passages. 1 This must have been done at a time when Orchomenos, which was situated on the hills above the valley, was in its highest prosperity. Similar works which were exe- cuted in Italy to restore to the swollen lake of Alba its natural level, and to reduce the lakes of Volsinii, Nemi and others, to their present level, likewise belong to a very early age ; the way. in which the waters of these lakes were drawn off, is now entire- ly forgotten. In the most remote period similar tunnels were also constructed in Arcadia ; thus the lakes of Stymphalus and Pheneus were drawn off, and no historical recollection has been preserved of those works ; the traditions refer them to heroes, and the former of these two valleys, in particular, is said to have been recovered by Heracles. I do not mean to assert, that these works were executed in the very remotest period ; for I admit that it is a very common practice to refer things to the most ancient times, when the works of more recent centuries have been forgotten. If we did not possess a history by which we are enabled to bring before our minds what has happened a few centuries ago — and if we did not know in what style people built at the end of the six- teenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, we should probably imagine that the buildings of that period, which we see, were built many centuries back, because they are of a character quite different from that of buildings of our own time. , Thus it certainly is possible that some of those works may belong to the Hellenic period, but others assuredly cannot, such as the tunnel of lake Copais, which is manifestly connected with the ante-Hel- lenic greatness of the Minyan Orchomenos. Moreover, Tiryns, in the Hellenic age, was a place of no importance, and conse- quently its buildings must belong to the period preceding that of the Hellenes. It is commonly imagined that there is nothing to answer to the poetical descriptions, as if that which is said ' "The beginning may have been made by nature, but human hands most certainly followed up the hint of nature and completed the work."— 13*26. INUNDATIONS — PELASGIANS. 243 about the greatness of Argos had no foundation at all ; but, on the contrary, these works seem completely to refute the notion that the inhabitants of Greece at that time were savages or bar- barians. In regard to other great events which belong to still remoter times, we have only traditions ; such, for example, as the great catastrophes of the earth — the partial inundations ; the truth of which we can doubt the less, because the greatest among the Greek philosophers were convinced of them. One of them was the so-called flood of Deucalion, which we must corieeive to have arisen from waters breaking forth from the interior of the mount- ains, whereby whole districts, together with the men and their habitations, were destroyed. The fact that Greece was visited by such calamities was not doubted either by Plato or Aristotle; and the latter expresses his conviction, in his "Meteorology," that the districts which were thus laid waste lost their inhabit- ants, and that the ancient Selli saved themselves only on the heights of Pindus and in the mountain of Epirus, about Janina. These occurrences must be assigned to a period still more remote than the heroic age, which for us has become quite mythical ; and there are only a few myths which we can trace so far. In them we find traces, of different autochthones ; thus, the restoration of the human race, after the flood, by Deucalion and Pyrrha, does not concern the World of the Hel- lenes (?) ; but subsequently we find another notion of an origin of the human race, in the story of the formation of the Myrmi- dons under Aeacus, and these are the same people as the Hel- lenes. Amid the countless number of opinions on Greece, we are strongly inclined to adhere to the view that, fortnerly, all Greece was called Pelasgia, and that it was inhabited by the people of the Pelasgians. It is well known that the name Hellas is of later origin ; and its late origin and diffusion are explained in a singular manner, the insufficiency and unhistorical nature of which show themselves at once, though it is associated with great names. It is said that Hellas was a town of Thessaly, in Achaia Phthiotis, and that it received its name from the hero Hellen, who, together with his sons, was invited by the neighbouring 244 THE HELLENES. Thessalians to rule over them, and decide disputes among them. In this manner, it is said, the name Hellenes began to spread. But this hero, Hellen, stands on the same footing as Ion, Aeolus, Dorus, Achaeus, and others, all of whom are not real persons, but mere personifications of the tribes. I do not believe in the existence of a town, Hellas, in Achaia; it is not mentioned any- where in history, and is a mere inference from a verse in Homer. 2 There are some other points which we must bear in mind. It is an erroneous opinion, that Homer had no common name for the whole of Greece; for there can be no doubt that, by the name Argos, he did not designate Peloponnesus- alone, but the whole of Greece. This has been recognized even by several critics in antiquity, and is positively attested by the verse — JloK'Kyjfii vrGOLOt, xai Apycl' itavtl aj/acrffftz'. But much has been said against it, and the correct view has been forgotten. Argos is the general name, and Thessaly in particular is cajled the Pelasgian Argos. The name Hellas came into use gradually, but how and when this happened we cannot say. All we, know is, that it arose after the epic period, and that, at the time when our historical accounts begin, all the Greeks, even those of Asia, called themselves Hellenes. But how this remark- able change arose, we know not. In the earlier times, the name Hellenes was much more limited ; and, at first, they are men- tioned in contrast with the others. The name Pelasgians, for the inhabitants of Greece, doea not occur in Homer, although he speaks of that race. But it is found only in the Odyssey, where, in general, everything is much more recent than in the Iliad, and, if I recollect right, the Pelasgians are mentioned in Crete; in the Iliad, so far as the Greek word is concerned, we have only the name naa,' Proper ; we are here somewhat in difficulty. The ancients entertained a very wise and correct view ; they called all the countries in which Greeks were settled Hellas, the most distant countries on the Euxine, Bosporus, and the coasts of Iberia, as well -as Athens and Pelo-i ponnesus; but they distinguished between "Ejixaj avvcxv and 'Em.os artdpaSixjj. The former is mentioned by Scylax and Dieaearchus, 1 but the latter name was very rarely used'. 'E^a; awsxv com- menced on the coasts of Ambracia; but the question is, whether Thessaly belonged to Hellas or not. - This was always a disputed point, even as late as the time of the Peripatetics, the disciples of Aristotle; this is a remarkable circumstance, to which I shall have to revert hereafter. Among the tribes before alluded to, the Caucones and Leleges are most frequently mentioned. They are said to have been of the Carian race ; but if it is true that the Leleges were the anoe'stors of the Locrians, and if the latter in the catalogue are rightly classed among the Hellenes, this is one of those cases in which reconciliation is impossible. But the belief that a people of the Carian race dwelt in Triphylia, on the west coast of Peloponnesus, is one against which nothing can be said ; for it is established on good authorities, that at one time the Carians occupied the Cyclades, and it is known from Thucydides that more than half the corpses dug up by the Athenians in Delos were Carians. Admitting that even at a very early period, the Ionian population did not bury their dead there, we yet see that Carians once dwelt in the island. And what was the case in Delos was no doubt the same in all the islands, and it is reserved to our times, when Greece is under' a European government, to show this still more distinctly ; the nature of the Carian tombs will soon be known, partly by investigations in the Cyclades, and partly by those in Caria itself, as the Athenians could so easily distinguish the Ionian tombs. It -is further not more impossible that the Carians should have been in Peloponnesus, than that they existed in Delos and all the Cyclades. - It is also probable that the Eteocretans Or original Cretans, belonged to 1 Scylax, p. 12, ed. Hudson; Dicaearch v. .32, foil. ed. Hudson. 254 PHOENICIANS IN GREECE. the Carian nation, and the southern countries were entirely inhabited by that race : we find them also in Cos, Rhodes, etc. This is more than a mere conjecture, it is an opinion of intuitive certainty. The Carians are altogether a non-Greek people; they are as little Pelasgian as they are Hellenic; they are called /3ap,3apo9«ovot, or strange to the Greeks an account of their language, while a barbarous language is never assigned to the Teucrians or Trojans in the Homeric poems, and their names are Hellenic ; and although it may not be true, yet the poet always represents the Teucrians and Danai as understanding one another. " The Eteocretans appear to have been modified by a Pelasgian immigration, and afterwards to have been Hellenised by a Hellenic one." The Lydians and Mysians in destructive wars took possession of the countries formerly inhabited by Pelasgians. Teucrians and Meonians likewise belonged to the Carians. The Poeni or Phoenicians were another people inhabiting those countries; they were not widely extended, but in a scattered way they dwelt and ruled there, much in the same manner iq which the Arabs do on the east coast of Africa, and as the Carthaginians did on the coasts of Numidia, Mauritania, and Iberia. We are expressly told by Herodotus, that in the earliest times they had a settlement in Thasos, and that they had gold mines there as on the opposite coast of Thrace. Cythera was likewise a Phoenician colony. " The truth of Phoenician settle- ments cannot be doubted in either of these places; in the former we find the worship of the Phoenician Melkarth, and in the latter that of Mylitta. In Thera there are likewise traces of the Phoenicians." It is interesting to observe how the Phoenicians everywhere established themselves in islands of no great extent and not far from the mainland; from such points they were enabled, without garrisons, to rule over the neighbouring coun- tries through their commerce and the superiority of their culture, and to extend their influence. I am disposed to believe that at one time the Phoenicians were also in possession of Aegina, particularly as the Attic silver mines were just opposite; as yet I do not indeed know of any mention of this, and have discovered no trace of it, but perhaps some one will yet find something to THRACIANS IN GREECE. 255 confirm my suspicion. On the mainland of Greece, Thebes is the only Phoenician colony. I have already said that- 1 cannot understand how people Can dispute and deny the Phoenician origin of the Thebans in opposition to the testimony of all antiquity. Only remember that among the few remnants which we have of the Boeotian language!, there occurs the word Bo»» which evidently has an Aramaic or Phoenician root, and to which there is no kindred word in the Greek language. Besides these the Thracians also occur in our accounts. They are mentioned at Daulis in Phocis, in Boeotia where they are cajled Aonians, Hyantes, etc., nay, even at Eleusis in Attica, where Eumolpus is described as a Thracian, and fights along with the Eleusinians against Athens. Even if we cast on one side everything that has no historical value, it will still be im- possible to deny that Thracians once dwelt in those districts, and that in central Hellas they occur between Mount Oeta and the Isthmus, that is, in Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica. This fact admirably agrees with my opinion that the Thracians were one of those nations which had come into Greece from the north, and that we have traces of the time when the Thracians had not yet spread themselves in those localities. I consider the bound- aries of the Pelasgian country, which are laid down in the " Suppliants" of Aeschylus, to be perfectly historical; nay, more, I am convinced that they are drawn too narrow rather than too wide, and that they extended even farther, so that the settlement of the Thracians in Pieria, in the peninsula between the Axius and the Strymon, in Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica, was the consequence of an invasion of the nation which took place at a time which we can ho longer define. If we use the utmost care, we find a few faint traces of the changes that must have taken place there; but when and how this happened we cannot say ; this only is certain, that within the Pelasgian country Thracian tribes appear. On mount Jura we find enormous rocks torn from the Alps and thrown high up by a force to which the forces on our earth furnish no analogy, and there must have been a convulsion of the physical elements without our being able to say at what time, and what forces were at, work there; bht it is, nevertheless, a fact: such also is the case with the invasion of the Thracians and also that of the Illyrians. The 256 THRACIANS IN GREECE. latter certainly belongs to a much later time than is generally believed ; the Homeric age, for example, does not know of it ; but I do not mean to say that some of their expeditions did not take place at an earlier time. All the chronological statements about the early period of Greece are utterly worthless, and in my opinion the invasion of the Illyrians belongs to a very late period, perhaps to the thirtieth or fortieth, if not to the fiftieth Olympiad : it certainly did not happen much earlier. How then can it be said that the invasion of the Thracians which the Greeks placed in the time of Pandion and Erechtheus, cannot be compared with it? 2 I cannot admit into my narrative those things which every book boldly sets forth. What renders the invasion of the Thracians probable, is the conviction which you may have of the extent of the Pelasgian nation. Beginning from the Propontis, they decidedly appear west of the Strymon, and all the islands of the Aegean, between Greece and Asia, to the north of Euboea and Chios belong to them ; should these islands only have been Pelasgian, and not also the margin of that sea, the coast of Thrace? for the eastern margin too was Teucrian or Pelasgian. I have no doubt that the northern margin also was Pelasgian, and that the Thracians spread over all those countries. Here we assuredly have the earliest traces of a devastating northern migration of nations, which was afterwards reproduced among other nations. This migration of nations was formerly not mentioned anywhere ; a corresponding tradition describing the opposite direction, as traditions about settlements always do, is that ancient story which is preserved only in a single passage of Herodotus, that the Teucrians undertook a great expedition into Europe, and entirely subdued the Thracians. In the catalogue of ships, the Teucrian dominion is supposed to extend as far as the foot of Olympus, for all the nations of those countries set out to the support of Ilium. Whoever follows up those empires of ancient Greece, as they are described in the poets, and from them in the mythographers, passes from the dominion of history into another, where every philologer must indeed be at home, but which does 2 This passage cannot be restored with certainty. "We must probably supply the words, "which, however, I must place at a much later time," after the name " Erechtheus." — Ed. DISAPPEARANCE OF THE HEROES. 257 not belong to history: I might just as well relate to you the stories of the Heldenbuch, of the Edda, and the like. Hence I shall, in what follows, say but little, and that in. a negative way, on these beginnings; and shall do no more than merely notice many of the incongruities. We must be satisfied with seeing this so-called ancient; history partly cut up into fragments, and partly reduced to a very small compass. LECTURE XXIV. I have already noticed the peculiar manner in which the heroic age, and especially its kingly families are made to disappear and perish, and that this was chiefly brought about through the xdsroi. On their return from Troy the kings found everything in a state of dissolution, and they went away, one in one direction, and another in another, as Diomede and Philoctetes. The Odyssey relates the return of Odysseus; but he afterwards falls by the hand of Telegonus, and Telemachus with the latter goes to Circe in Aeaea. Minos, also, whose race likewise disappears, and afterwards Idomeneus, perish in a similar manner. Minos pursues Daedalus to Sicania, and there meets his fate in the siege of Camicus ; as this is not yet sufficient to get rid of the whole ancient race, the Cretans are said to have followed him to avenge, his death, and to have all perished. Other Cretans again proceed with Idomeneus to Italy, as it was felt improper to allow his Cretans to pass over into the historical period. Lastly,' Teuoer goes to Cyprus in the same manner. All these stories evidently have no other meaning than to explain how the Greek people of the mythi- cal , period and the race of heroes vanish from history. Such also is the meaning of the tradition of a great many so called Greek or Achaean settlements after the Trojan period, all of which are entirely non-Greek, and even in after-time's appear as un-Hellenic as other nations ; these, too, emigrate and disap- vol. I. 17 258 DISAPPEARANCE OF THE HEROES. pear. Other emigrations of the Greeks have an historical appearance, but yet their historical origin is extremely doubt- ful. I allude to the Aeolian and Dorian cities on the coast of Asia Minor. This opinion will no doubt be regarded as an unfaithful, nay, as an intolerable paradox ; and yet I am con- vinced that it is not a mere conjecture, but that it might be fully proved, if it were possible to find testimonies ; " but this is impossible, because the history of that whole period is con- tained in poems, which furnish only detached incidents." I have spoken about these colonies in my lectures on Ethno- graphy and Chorography. I have there directed attention to the fact, first that that coast as far as the Maeander, where the Carian race begins, was in the earliest times inhabited by Pelasgian nations, Meonians, Teucrians, and others. I will further remind you that there were two cities of the name of Magnesia ; the one at the foot of Mount Sipylus, the other on the Meander ; both were called Magnesia, in the same sense as the Magnesia in Greece Proper, namely, " country of the Mag- netes," where the existence of a town Magnesia has been absurdly assumed, of which the ancients know nothing, and that even by the excellent DAnville. 1 The two Asiatic towns of the name of Magnesia were situated in the midst of the country, and had no connection at all with the coast ; how then did they arise? There is absolutely no statement respecting their foundation. I regard them as towns of the Asiatic Mag- netes, whom it is not necessary to suppose to have migrated thither from Thessaly ; for as a part of the Pelasgians on the coast of Asia Minor were called Thessalians, it is clear that in the earliest times there may have existed Magnetes on the coast 1 " It is extraordinary to see what astonishing works D'Anville has pro- duced with his very slender knowledge of Greek, with the help of transla- tions and the like — a great proof of his geographical genius. He knew no eastern language, and yet even there his ke'en eye hits right ; the ortho- graphy in his maps of eastern geography is a striking proof of the fact, that even where he was deficient in direct knowledge, he clearly and dis- tinctly saw the truth. The same is the case in his Geography of Greece, where he has committed only a few trifling mistakes to which attention must be directed. Faults in great men must be pointed out, but not with an air of assumption and indulgence, but with aprobatio honoris." EXTENSION OP THE HELLENIC LANGUAGE. 259 of Asia as well as about Mount Pelion in Thessaly. I am per- fectly convinced, that in, -whatever manner the Aeolian cities may have become Greek, the main stock in the twelve towns (twelve towns on the coast, and a SaSixdrtou; on Mount Ida, ij aw Aio7.it), was essentially a Pelasgian population-, which be- came Hellenised. The change of language in the extension of the Hellenic nation appears to us very surprising ; but this is one of those things which. a man must have observed himself, in order not to think them incredible. In the history of nations, and in ethnography, we can point to many analogous cases, in which the many adopted the language of the few. I need, in the first place, only remind you of the remarkable change of the Wendish and German languages, which has occurred in the north of Germany. The Wends dwelt in Mecklenburg, Pome- rania, and in all the countries on the east of a line which runs from the Holstein canal, between Rendsburg and Kiel, east of Hamburg down to the frontier of the Altmark, then running along that frontier so as to include Magdeburg; it then pro- ceeds, excluding Merseburg, towards Schleitz, leaving the ter- ritory of Bayreuth, Nurnberg, the Upper Palatinate on the west, then down again to the embouchure of the Altmiihl into the Danube, and across the hill towards the Inn, so as to include the eastern part of the Puster valley. In this great extent of country the Wends formed the majority of the population, and yet they adopted the language of a minority of Germans who settled among them, except in Imsatia and the neighbouring districts, Bohemia, Krairi, and the adjoining parts of Styria. On the east of the line here described, the Wendish language in the eighth century was absolutely predominant far and wide ; but at present it has entirely disappeared, except in the districts which I have just mentioned. German colonists cer- tainly did settle there; 'but they were only a small number compared with the rest of the population. In some parts the Wendish dynasties remained, as in Mecklenburg and Pomerania, only adopting the Genual! language ; the courts became German- ised, and German found a welcome reception in the towns, but the ancient nobility is altogether of Wendish origin; yet as 260 CHANGE OF LANGUAGE. early as the fourteenth century the Wcndish language had entirely disappeared. No man can account for such a change. The most probahle explanation would be to suppose that the Germans were not entirely expelled by the Wends ; but the names of places and rivers which are altogether Slavonian, prove that the Wendish language was predominant. In like manner the native Belgian or Cymrian ' language iir Cornwall, Cumberland, and to some extent also in Westmoreland has given way to the English without any settlement of the latter in those counties. In Egypt a very small number of Arabs have estab- lished colonies; and yet through their influence, the ancient language of this very populous nation has entirely disappeared, except among the Christians. Throughout the north of Persia, in Masanderan, Shirwah and elsewhere, as well as in a great part of Chorassan, the number of Turks is not very great, and they did not establish themselves there till the eleventh century; and yet the Turkish language centuries ago has entirely sup- planted that of the Persians, and so much so that only the learned understand and speak Persian. This facility of chang- ing languages at certain periods is a very remarkable phenome- non ; it may often be effected by force. An Arab khalif in Spain commanded the Christians in Andalusia to adopt the Arabic, to prevent their having intercourse with the Christians of Castile, and after one generation all spoke Arabic. My father learned in Asia Minor, that fifty years ago the Christians at Caesarea spoke Greek; but a Turkish pashah forbade it under penalty of 'death, and thus the Greek language became extinct. In like manner, it is true, Albert the Bear forbade the use of the Wendish language in the marquisate of Brandenburg, but in Meck- lenburg and Pomerania this was not the case. But even where despotism does not interfere, a change of language is often effected in another manner. Wherever Albanese colonies estab- lish themselves among the modern Greeks, they retain for a time the Albanese language, they then become 8iy*u>«9<«, and in the end speak nothing but Greek. Languages, therefore, are not so constant as is commonly supposed. Nay, I do not consider even the physical features of nations to be as immutable CHANGE OF LANGUAGE. 261 as people are commonly inclined to think, except in certain forms. The features, it is true, do not go beyond the marks of the race, but witbin their limits, the characteristic features are subject to changes in a remarkable manner. There is no doubt that in the time of Ammianus Marcellinus, blue eyes and fair hair were the general characteristics in the south of France, but in Gascony, the district of which he speaks, these features are no longer seen. On the other hand, blue eyes and fair . hair were something very extraordinary among the ancient Greeks, whereas at present they are very common. We might say, that this arises from a mixture of nations ; but the nations that might have contributed to such a mixture, have dark hair, like the Albanese. Tacitus says, that the Caledonians could be recognised by their German eyes and hair, and although the Caledonians were Gael, to doubt which would be too bold, yet their present descendants in the Highlands have brown eyes and dark hair. I make this observation, to show how, within the limits of the race, the differences by which the single tribes are distinguished, may without difficulty be conceived in the course of time to have become altered, or to have disappeared. How many people are there at present in Germany with dark hair, and how rare is the ancient. German hair in Upper and even in Lower Germany? It is a correct observation that the peculiar German hair as described by the Romans, disappears more and more in the north of Germany, and a century hence it will probably be very rare; the progress is so remarkable. In districts which I know well, I have, ever since my boyhood, observed a marked diminution, and old people have made the same observation. According to what I have here said, it is very possible that the Pelasgian nations exchanged their own language for the Greek, at which we can be as little surprised as at the fact that subsequently the Greek nation unquestionably, t.o a certain ex- tent, adopted the Macedonian language. This, I think, is sufficient as an introduction to the earliest history of Greece. I shall be obliged to lay before you many things in a manner, as if I were speaking historically on mythical subjects ; but I think I have sufficiently cautioned you. The 262 IONIANS IN ATTICA. ancient Greeks had the inclination peculiar to human nature, to derive all that exists from individual persons. I shall now de- scribe to you the conditions of the separate countries. A Jove principium ! let us therefore begin with Athens. In the earliest times of which we have any definite informa- tion, we find at Athens a people, which is called Ionian. It is divided into four tribes, like all the Ionians wherever they are met with ; each tribe is subdivided into three phratries, and each phratria contains thirty yhrj or gentes. This Ionic condition of Athens is said to have been brought about by an immigration of the fugitive Ionians, who on being expelled by the Achaeans from Aegialea, threw themselves into Attica, and there met with a friendly reception and protection from the natives; but it is con- trary to all experience and possibility that a people received in such a manner, should acquire such an influence as to impress its own character upon those who received it. At £he same time we hear of a change of dynasty. The immigrating people is governed by the royal race of the Nelids, which has otherwise disappeared ; that race steps into the place of the Theseids, and Theseus with his race vanishes from Attic history, being expelled according to some accounts by a Sj^aywyds, or, according to others, spontaneously resigning his sovereignty and kingly dignity. If I am not very much mistaken, there must have existed in the earlier ages yet another tradition, namely that Theseus never returned from the lower world, and that this was the cause of the disappearance of the ancient royal house of Athens. Thus Virgil says : sedet aeternumque sedebit infelix Theseus ; though Horace, it is" true, speaks differently : Nee Lethaea valet Theseus abrumpere caro vinculo, Pirithoo. 3 All these mythical stories are nothing but means of disguising this appearance, which com- pletely resembles that of other heroic families. There is, more- over, quite a different Attic account of the immigration of the Ionians ; for it is also said, that Ion, son of Xuthus, was received by the Athenians as Polemarchus: here then we see no friendly reception, but the Ionians appear at once as rulers. 3 2 Aen. vi. 617 ; Horat. Carm. iv. 7. 8 The Ionians, again, are said to have migrated from Attica to Aegialea, whence they afterwards returned. See Strab. p. 383, c— Ed. THE DEMOS IN ATTICA. 263 But the fact that the Ionians were the rulers might afterwards easily be forgotten in consequence of a reaction. For by the side of the ruling people there existed, in Attica, from the earliest times, another under the name of 8^05 or the commonalty. Ac- cording to the universal'experience, which we must bear in mind in regard to all political constitutions of antiquity, the practice was, that after a conquest, the ancient or native population, unless it was reduced to slavery, and thus dissolved (as was the case, e. g., in Magna Graecia, where the Pelasgians became the bondmen of the Achaean colonists) formed a distinct body by itself, standing under the sovereignty of the ruling people, but having no share in their institutions. Such must have been the case in Attica. In the history of modern times, too, this preg- nant observation has not been duly attended to; When after the conquest, the Kentish men revolted, and the Englishdemanded of their king the recognition of the laws of Edward the Confessor, we must not imagine that the Normans are meant there' — the king's people had nothing to do with the affair — but they were the ancient inhabitants of Kent, who had capitulated, retained their rights, and had not adopted the coutumes of the Normans ; there the ancient law of succession also was still in force. Hence the movement was confined to the Anglo-Saxons, and the Nor- mans had nothing to do with it. This distinction goes through the whole history of -the middle ages ; and whoever does not bear it in mind, or imagines that, in consequence of the migration of nation's, or of subsequent conquest, the original inhabitants had been absolutely reduced to slavery, is labouring under a most grievous mistake, and is like one who walks with his eyes closed. I can refer you to my history of Rome, where I have fully ex- amined this subject. 4 I have there established the. fact thai ilie commonalty in the cities comprises the whole body of free men who do not participate in the sovereign power; and I constantly find additional proofs to confirm what I have there said. Within these few days I have discovered a fresh one in Meyer von Kno- nau's History of Switzerland, a work written in a very excellent 4 Comp. History of Borne, vol: i, p. 405, foil. ; also Lectures on Roman History, vol. i. p. 93, foil. 264 THE DEMOS IN ATTICA. , spirit, and deserving of all praise : it was not until about the year 1720, that the people of Berne changed the inscription on their seal : Civitas et communitas Bernensis into Res publico, Bernensis. The excellent chronicle of Cologne is likewise of great importance in this respect : from it we can best learn the constitutions of the cities in general, and hence also those of the other German cities in the middle ages. Old Nicholas Karbach, unlearned as he was, yet in his translation of Livy, had a clear insight into the circumstances described, and hit the right thing in rendering T. Quinctio ex patribus, this or that one ex plebe collega datus, by "To T. Quinctius, who was elected from among the houses ( Q-eschlechter), so and so was given from the commonalty (Gemeinde)." This exactly confirms what I have said about the commonalty : the houses and the commonalty were essentially opposites. Such a demos, or commonalty, existed in Attica beside the ancient race, and was not contained in it. This fact has not yet been sufficiently recognised, and in Greek history the old erroneous notions are still kept up. The party disputes which occur in the Attic demos, 2 are those which always show themselves, when the demos begins to feel its own power, and is strong enough to desire a union and equal rights with the burgesses. The latter then form one party, and the demos the other; and as soon as the demos has acquired sufficient strength it unites with the burgesses. From the existence of this demos, you must see that Attica was conquered by a foreign people, the Ionians. We may, without committing an error, call the ancient Atticans Cranai, if we prefer that ancient designation. This was originally the name of the Atticans "as a distinct branch of the Pelasgians," while afterwards the name is also applied to the new Athenian people. Wherever different tribes settle one after another in the same country, the names in the course of time accumulate, and are given to the same people, as if they were synonymes. 6 " No where do we find better expositions of the ancient names of these parties, than in the republics of Switzerland. In Graublinden we find ' the people of the mountain,' and ' the people in the valley,' which answers to the Greek Sicixptoi and tie&hs; the rta'patot are ' the people of the coast.' " THE ATTIC TE1BBS. 265 It was the later Alexandrians in particular, the rhetoricians and poets, who confounded names which earlier writers had accurately distinguished: thus they speak of Mopsopia, Cranai, and the like. The four tribes of the Ionians are undoubted; their names were ri^iovtcf (this is the right form and not TsXsWes), Aiyixopels, 'ApydSt; and "On^-fts. These names, from their resemblance to those of castes, had led me for a long time 6 to believe that they alluded to the existence of castes in Attica ; they may in Greek signify priests, warriors, agriculturists, and shepherds, and the tribes have accordingly been regarded as so many castes. 'ApyaS E? was taken as ipydtav, and it is not impossible that the latter form might have been changed into the former; but be- sides this somewhat violent change, the explanation became rather unsatisfactory, for this . reason, that the class of the oTt^tt;, which surely ought to have been at least the second, is mentioned last, and hence this name has been connected with onxotfEpot, ,the younger. But G. Hermann, in his preface to the Ion of Euripides, denies the allusion of these names to castes alto- gether ; and I agree with him.. The four Attic tribes have no reference whatever to castes, they are only an ordinary national division, the names of whieh are indeed strange; but we can make nothing of them. According to another account, the ori- ginal number of the Attic tribes was three; and this maybe true, if we refer the statement to the ancient conquered people, the demos; but as they are mentioned under the new names of svrtatpi&cu, ysafiopoi,, Sypiovpyo^ etc., the statement is quite uncer- tain. This has already been intimated by G. Hermann ; and I express it still more emphatically, that these three tribes must be rejected. I am, indeed, abstractedly inclined to believe, that the division into three tribes, which we find among the Dorians and Romans, and which the Italian Tyrrhenians seem to have had in common with the Achaeans, existed also among the ancient Pelasgian inhabitants of Attica, but at the same time I am of opinion that it must be looked for rather in the ancient designations, "people of the hills," "people of the plain," etc. 6 Compare History of Rome, vol. i. p. 294. 266 DIVISION INTO TRIBES. LECTURE XXV. In attempting to separate and arrange the periods and ele- ments in ancient Greek history, we must be prepared for fre- quently meeting with different cases, in which we cannot say with certainty, whether a given historical fact is to be referred to this or to that relation. Such are the accounts of the an- cient dodecapolis of Attica: it is difficult to say to what period it must be assigned, though it is probable that it belongs to the ante-Ionian period, and corresponds to a subdivision of the three tribes of the Cranai into twelve ; but in the Ionian period, too^ we find such a division into twelve, in the case of the phratriae. Everywhere in Greece we meet with a twofold division. In many cases, there existed a fundamental division into three phylae or tribes, as, for example, among the Dorians, probably among the earliest Athenians, and among the Arcadians, where we find the three tribes of the Maenalians, Parrhasians, and Azanians. In this Arcadian trichotomy each of the three tribes is subdivided into four parts. The same trichotomy also occurs among the Italian nations, probably those of the Tyrrhenian stock; at Rome, as at Sparta, each of the three was subdivided into ten ; and it is possible that this subdivision into ten ex- isted among all the Dorians. The other fundamental division is that into four tribes. The nations among which we find the division into three, are evidently independent of the system of castes ; but we are on the whole too much inclined to conceive the tribes as partaking of the nature of castes. This is one of those conceptions which were generally adopted about the end of the last century. I myself for a long time believed it to be correct; but I have subsequently convinced myself, that the tribes have nothing to do with a system of castes. Such a sys- tem, it is true, has often been the characteristic feature of tribes, but wherever this has been the case, it arose out of conquests. The fundamental divisions into three and four, are frequently found combined in the subdivisions. Both divisions are of pri- mitive origin ; with those nations, among which no conquest can THE ATTIC DODBCAPOLIS. 267 be shown to have taken place, they were local divisions ; but where a single city rises to the rank of a state, the division is commonly based upon the gentes. The trichotomy occurs in the Doric states of Peloponnesus, of which there were three, viz. Argos, Lacedaemon or Sparta, and Messene : there the original division of the people exists at the time of the conquest. They have several local subdivisions, but everywhere the Dorians ap- pear as rpi^oi*fs, or divided into three tribes. The subdivision in the separate Doric states appears to have been six-fold or thrice three-fold, as on the coasts of Asia Minor ; in Rhodes it was three-fold. Wherever the number of tribes is four, each is subdivided into three, and where the number of the tribes is three, they are subdivided- into four, so that' the result is the same. 1 The dodeeapolis of Attica, therefore, might represent the twelve phratriae of the four Ionic phylae; but it is more probable, that it was an ante-Ionian division, whether the fun- damental division was into four or into three tribes. Cecrops and his race disappear from the ancient history, of Attica; Cranaus is only mentioned here and there; and Theseus disappears, no one knows how. I have already mentioned the different ways, in which his disappearance is accounted for. Ac- cording to' some accounts, he introduced the democratic form of government ; but was rewarded with ingratitute, and was expelled by Menestheus, for which there is no other reason but because, in the catalogue of ships, the latter is mentioned as prince of Athens. But that catalogue is a strange, piece of composition. In the Iliad nothing is said about the Theseids. Theseus goes to Scyros, and subsequently when his bones were found there, they were gigantic, like those of Orestes. ' The heroes belong to an entirely different period from that of later mortals, and are of quite a different stature. That the Odyssey is of a' much more recent date, may be seen from the fact, that in the Iliad the heroes are conceived vaguely as mighty and gigantic beings, while the poet of the Odyssey conceives Odysseus as a man of small stature, and of form and size like other men. The poet of the Iliad would have considered' it impossible, that Ajax, or any ' " The terms tOvji and $mU are in many cases used as synonymes." 268 THE ATTIC KINGS. other of his heroes, could have concealed himself under a ram, and have been thus carried out of the cave, as Odysseus is^ de- scribed to have done. Polyphemus still belongs to those ancient heroes. There are many more such distinguishing characteris- tics. What I here call much more recent, means a hundred, or perhaps two hundred years ; and this is a very long time, for a period of a few years may produce mighty changes, while sometimes slight changes are the work of a century., In Italy, matters at the end of the eighteenth century were almost the same as they had been at the beginning; whereas in Germany, the period from 1750 to 1770 was equal to a century in its effects upon literature, opinions, general relations, in short upon every thing. Even if no date is printed in a German book, we may easily discover at once, whether it has been printed before the year 1750 or after 1760. Consequently the period of such a change as that from the Iliad to' the Odyssey cannot be mea- sured. Now Menestheus is prince of Athens ; but, afterwards, the Menestheids disappear, and the Theseid Thymoetes is again in possession of the throne. Then come the Nelids, who were expelled from Pylos, and were received at Athens. Thymoetes is unwarlike; Athens is hard pressed by the Boeotians; the Nelid Melanthus accepts the challenge to a single combat with the Boeotian Xanthus, conquers him by stratagem, and gains the sovereignty. According to others, it was Andropompus, and not Melanthus, that conquered Xanthus. Another story again states, that Melanthus was not a Nelid; that the Nelids indeed came to Athens, but did not reign there; others again say, that the Nelids were the ancestors of Neileus, who went to Ionia. 2 Everything is here in a state of confusion. It is re- markable to see with what a ridiculous tenacity the mythical history is believed by the scholars of other nations, especially by the French, who are otherwise not over fond of believing. But I will explain to you, by an example, how the matter stands, and how the most different traditions are current by the side of one another. The grammatical period of Alexandria has much 2 Supply the words, " and is otherwise called a son of Melanthus."— Ed. THE ATTIC EINJJS. 269 that is excellent ; and if I had the power of conjuring, I would summon an Alexandrian grammarian to appear before me: but they also had -much that was perverse, as all of us have to pay our tribute to the time in which we live. Thus there existed differ- ent versions of these traditions, which were current one by the side of the other ; and those grammarians melted them together in a singular manner ; leaving out some thhigs here, arid adding others there, they made them up in one whole. A particularly striking example is furnished by Pausanias (an author of medi- ocre qualities, but whose work,. on account of the" matter it con- tains, a scholar cannot read too often, nor, at the same time, too cautiously) in his account of the succession of the kings of Thebes. There we' find the greatest changes of this kind : one race after another appears; and one, retires- to make room for another. Cadmus goes to the Encheleans' for no other reason but because another tradition, having in view the Autoch- thones or Spartae, takes no notice of him. Echion is one of the Spartae, and his son Pentheus is ruler, but as he is persecut- ed by Dionysus, we again have members of the race of Oadmus. They reign until the first wars between the. brothers Eteocles and Polynices; they then disappear, and Creon the son of Menoeceus appears as ruler. Was he originally a brother of Jocaste, or was he introduced as such by the poets ? Creon dis- appears without leaving issue; and his place is occupied by Laodamas, a son of Eteocles. Overpowered by the Epigoni, he retires and goes to the Illyrians. Thersander, one of the Epigoni, then comes forward, and disappears again; he accom- panies the Atreids to Troy, and' falls by the hand of Telephus in Mysia, to make room for Peneleus in the catalogue of ships. Thus another race is in possession of the throne of Thebes. But Peneleus falls, and the descendants of Cadmus again come to the throne, until the very last is expelled by the Erinnyes of Laius. This is a striking example of the variety of changes : we have here to some extent traditions running parallel to and independent of one another, which have been combined into one by the Alexandrians. For these reasons, I do not place the slightest reliance, on the history of the kings of Attica, down to the very end of it, any 270 EXTENSION OF THE ATTIC DEMOS. more than, on the story of the death of Cbdrus, which, in the ancient tradition, was assuredly not represented in the manner in which it is now current, and according to which the Dorians lost their courage in consequence of their having killed the- king; but the ancient account frankly owned that the king's death had the effect of a talisman, by which the Dorians were conquered. His self-sacrifice is quite an Attic conception, like that of the daughters of Leon and Erechtheus, a branch of that belief which pervades the history of Attica, that the state was saved by the sacrifice of its kings. But who would, on this ac- count, doubt the fact, that Athens was once governed by kings? All the tribes of Greece anciently had kings belonging to some heroic family. It is even possible, that among the names of kings which have come down to us, one or other is a genuine name of a real' king ; but he who could distinguish these from those invented by the poets, would be to me a magnus Apollo; and if any one presumed to do it, I should refuse to listen to him as an arrogant person. All we can say is, that there were kings at Athens, and that it is true and very credible that they belonged to the race (ysVo?) of the Neleids; and lastly, that subsequently they obtained the name of af>z°v*H, that tif (3auaEij being taken from them. But the name of the first archon for life, Medon, itself signifies " the ruler," and I am very far from considering it as an historical name : like that of Codrus, it be- longs to the mythical period. Chronologers may say what they please, all the years of the archons for life have as little authen- ticity as those of Theseus and Erechtheus. We see only a few features which we may translate. One of them is the migration of Neleus to Ionia, which cannot be otherwise interpreted than that people actually emigrated from Attica into Ionia. This fact itself I do not doubt at all, any more than the fact that, perhaps at a somewhat later time, the Ionians spread their con- quests from Attica over the Cyclades ; and these very emigra- tions may have been the cause and occasion of the Atticans to some extent shaking off the yoke of the Ionians, and of the demos recovering great power in Attica. Afterwards, it is true, the four tribes of the Ionians continued to exist ; but along with the $vhal, "fpafptot, and y««j, we -also find the inhabitants of the IONIANS — DOEIANS. 271 country, or 'the demos, enjoying a political existence. The tra- ditions of the expedition of Neileus 2 to Ionia is a transplacitig of the royal dynasty into those parts. "The details, as, for example, that a swarm of bees point. out the road to the Ionians, belong altogether to poetry." In Ionia again the Ionians appear divided into twelve parts, just as they are said to have been in Achaia. There is this re- markable circumstance connected with the name of the Ionians, that it is the one, by which all Oriental nations designate all Greeks, calling them Javan. This we see from the. Old Testa- ment, and it is the ease among the Arabs and Persians of the present day, as it was among the ancient Persians. We. know this from Herodotus, and from the joke in the Acharnenses of Aristophanes, where the false ambassador of the Persians tells the Athenians, that they.should not obtain any money, and calls them, in a somewhat corrupt form, 'ioomS. This circumstance proves, that the Ionians must have inhabited those districts in very ancient times, which cannot be well reconciled with the ordinary notions of the Ionian settlements in Asia Minor.- The settlements of the Athenians in the Cyclades may belong to somewhat more recent times than those on the coast of Asia Minor. At a later period, the Ionians of Athens are found spread abroad everywhere, and that, too, in the countries where the catalogue of ships points out nations altogether different ; as, for example, in Euboea, whither the Ionians are said to have gone from Attica ; afterwards in the Chalcidian and Eretrian colonies ; they are, in general,' diffused far and wide. These colonies were not called Attic, though they regarded Athens as their mother' ci£y. This is a preliminary sketch of the earliest affairs of Attica. We shall hereafter give the history of the Greek colonies, and now pass on to the other great branch of the Greeks, the Dorians. Herodotus says of the Dorians that they were an leva; *«*- 2 " Neileus, as the name of the leader of the Codrids, is more correct than NeleuB. The name was probably invented, and reminds us of Neilos ; the son of Neileus is called Aegyptus. Kelations are here concealed, which we cannot discover." — 1826. 272 IONIANS — DORIANS. ■kv7fhavr,fov xdpta, which had also changed its name, and were dis- tinguished from the Ionians or Pelasgians as an edvos 'Kixrjvtxov. They connected their own traditions, and perhaps still more those of the nations subdued by them, with the race .of the ancient mythical rulers in Peloponnesus. This seems to have no other foundation than that, -according to a peculiarity, to which I have directed your attention in the history of Cambyses, the nation after a change of government connects the new ruler with itself. When a conquered people again collects itself, gaining fresh strength and rising against oppression, it endeavours, in some way or other, to appropriate the ruler to itself, oixntvvtai, as Herodotus says. In this manner, the Egyptians identified Cambyses with themselves, and afterwards the Persians and Egyptians did the same in regard to Alexander. What trouble has been taken by the Anglo-Saxon chroniclers to connect the family of William the Conqueror with the Saxons ! The same was the case with the Peloponnesians, who attempted to render the foreign dominion bearable, by connecting the princes of the Dorians, their tyrants, with the ancient family of the Perseidae, which before the time of the Atreids had possessed the lawful sovereignty in Peloponnesus. Thus I account for the origin of the tradition, that Hyllus, the son of Heracles, was adopted by Aegimius, the ancient king of the Dorians. "The most ancient tradition evidently connected the Doric princes with Aegimius, and then again put him in connection with the Heraeleids." There existed, as late as the time of the Alexandrians, an epic poem on this Aegimius, which was certainly of ancient origin, and which, no doubt, also contained the stories about Hyllus. The conquest itself was related in the Naupactia. Thus the Heraeleids were connected with the earlier mythical families of Peloponnesus, and were by adoption introduced into the royal stock of the Dorians. Such things are, of course, of no histori- cal value, nor will we allow ourselves to be guided by them ;^but we mention this expedition of the Dorians into Peloponnesus only as a conquest of that peninsula by a northern people which de- scended from its mountains. In regard to the previous seats of the Dorians, we afterwards find a Aupi 5 titfUTCom which itself may perhaps have been a THE DORIANS. 273 •Cfi.'rtc&if, though it is certainly more probable that the ancient Doris was a titrations. It is possible that there may have been two other tetrapoleis, so that the division, into three here- again passed over into a division into four, and thus, perhaps, the tetrapolis itself constituted one-third of a greater body, a Su&txdxous, of which the two other thirds were lost. But it certainly is also possible, that one-fourth of the one tetrapolis may have been lost. LECTURE XXVI. It is one of the most mysterious and strangest phenomena to find it stated, that the great Doric nation of Peloponnesus came from the small Aupij titpditoius near mount Pindus. But the supposition that this little district contained their original seats is absolutely impossible. There are, however, other simi- lar, though equally mysterious, phenomena which may throw light upon it. As an instance, I will mention the nation of the Angli and their relation to the small district in the duchy of Schleswig, which is at present known under the name of Angeln. That small tract of country, though it is commonly and thought- lessly believed, cannot have been the native land of the nation of the Angli who migrated to Britain. They did, no doubt, occupy the modern Angeln, but their country must have been far more extensive, so that the district now bearing their name contains only a small portion which remained, at the time of the emigration, between the Jutes, Frisians and Saxons. In like manner, I am firmly convinced, that the Doric nation, previous to its migration into Peloponnesus, occupied a far larger extent of country, either including a part of the north of Aetolia or Phocis, or any other of the adjacent countries. " Such a state of things is alluded to in the statement of Herodotus, that the Dorians had wandered much, and formerly dwelt on mount Pindus. When the ancients speak of migrations, they frequently vol. i. • 18 274 THE DORIC MIGRATION. allude only to very ancient accounts of the seats occupied by nations before they disappeared, or before they were torn asunder by immigrations; and, according to this view, the Dorians would have occupied the country from mount Pindus to Parnassus and Oeta." ' A migration of Aetolians into Elis and Peloponnesus is mentioned as having occurred simultaneously with the Doric expedition, or is at least put in a legendary connection with it, and that too in a tradition which we cannot well refuse to believe. But the expedition of the Dorians here appears in the light of an actual emigration rather than of a conquest, while that of the Aetolians must be conceived as an expedition undertaken with a view to make conquests. The Aetolians doubtless were not nearly so numerous as the Dorians, who founded three kingdoms in Peloponnesus, while the former made themselves masters of Elis alone. But to speculate upon their numbers would be foolish and absurd. We must pass over all the detail connected with the return of the Heracleids as fabulous. The expedition is described as a return of the Heracleids, " who establish their claims to the government of Peloponnesus," and the people, compared with the royal family, plays a subordinate part : " this is altogether a poetical mode of dealing with a subject, for the poet, preserv- ing the detail, forgets that which is of a general character." Moreover, all that is related about the first attempt of Hyllus to invade the peninsula by the Isthmus — how afterwards the Hera- cleids tried it by sea, and built ships — how the oracle commanded them to follow the three-eyed Oxylus — how then they met the one-eyed Oxylus riding on an ass — and how finally, under his guidance, they conquered Peloponnesus from Naupactus ; all this, I repeat, is fabulous, and we consign it to its place among mythi- cal stories.' The history of the great epochs and migrations , that belong to periods of which no contemporary written records are extant, has this great disadvantage, that the historical accounts of those changes do not extend down to the real be- ginning of the truly historical times, but subsequently the gap 1 " Fabulae like the Greek /liBo; are words which have lost their dignity. Stories like that of Coriolanus and others were certainly not called fabulae; fabulari and confabulari signify to ' relate stories.' " THE DORIC MIGRATION. 275 is filled up where both ends are known, and where it is certain that the inhabitants are later immigrants. The instinctive de- sire of man to fill up what is deficient, which manifests itself in spiritual and intellectual matters as well as in the physical pro- cess of development, led men to invent and record the story of an immigration. When this is once done, everything, according to a natural paralogism, is credulously taken for true tradition, and posterity forgets that the things recorded many centuries after the event, though the record itself may be centuries old, yet has no more authenticity, than if the story were now written down for the first time. The traditions which Mr. Ellis, the missionary, wrote down in Hawai, and to which I have already alluded, are a remarkable instance- of this kind. These tradi- tions of the natives are very untrustworthy, even when they do not go back further than a few generations ; now, if we imagine that they were recorded a few thousand years ago, and had come down to us, would they be more authentic than they now are? Such is the nature of the accounts about the Doric migration. The Dorians certainly did immigrate into Peloponnesus: they are by no means the ancient inhabitants who dwelt there in the mythical times of the Danai, as for example in the reign of the Atreids; but can we infer from this, that we know anything historical about their immigration? My decided opinion is, that we do not possess the slightest historical knowledge of the circum- stances accompanying the conquest. All the stories about it, as those of the fights of Tisamenus, ihe son of Orestes, with the Dorians, of the Achaeans throwing themselves upon the Ionians, of the emigration of the latter, and the like, are quite irrecon- cileable with the traditions of the preceding period: the whole account does not possess a shadow of historical. truth. "It is here that we miss Ephorus very painfully." It is a curious circumstance, that in all the three Doric kingdoms the filiation of the names in the royal families does not connect them with the first ancestor as his successors; thus We find no Cresphontids in Messene, no Aristodemids in Sparta, nay not even Eurysthe- nids and Proclids, for these names were not in use, but the Eury- pontids and Agiads are referred to Eurysthenes and Procles, just as in Messene the Aepytids were traced to Cresphontes. It 276 THE DORIC MIGRATION. is quite certain that these things do'not belong to history : Cres- phontes and Aristodemus are absolutely nothing but heroes, epo- nymous names of heroes like those from "which the Attic phylae derived their names. It is a mere genealogical invention of the Spartans, that the ancestors of their two kings are described as twin brothers; such was certainly not the view represented in the ancient order of things, as is clear even from the nature, forms, and institutions of the Spartan Gerusia, which I have explained in my history of Rome. 2 In all antiquity, the forms of a state are based upon numerical combinations, and in most cases upon a trichotomy, which was further subdivided, some- times by four and sometimes by ten. Thus we have senates of 300, and where there is a division into four, as in Attica during the Ionic period, of 400, and in all the Achaean cities, as at Croton in the time of Pythagoras 3 of 300. But a senate of twenty-eight, like the Gerusia of Sparta, is altogether opposed to the notions of antiquity. It might be said that they repre- sented the number of days in a lunar month, but the number seven had not the significance among the Greeks which it had among the Phoenicians and Jews. The kings, moreover, were members of the Gerusia, so that there were thirty Gerontes, one for each ci(3o or yivo;, and ten for each phyle. Each of the kings represented an oba or genos, and they did not belong to the same phyle. "The opinion about the twin origin of the kings, there- fore, is nothing but a disguised account of the union of two phylae, like the union of the Ramnes and Tities at Rome." These two phylae, however, are not equal to each other, but the one always ranks higher than the other: one of the kings be- longs to the noblest race, and the other, the Eurypontid, to a lower one, dxirn i&v irfoSsEffTsp*;;, as Herodotus ,says. "We see then that the Eurypontids were inferior in rank to the Agiads, just as the Tities were inferior to the Ramnes." Eurysthenes and Procles are the eponymi of those families, and .Hurypon and Agis the ancient kings to whom the families were actually traced ; 2 Vol. i. p. 339. 3 " In features of this kind we can often recognise what is correct and ancient. Thus, in the life of Pythagoras, we find several things wh>sh are certainly derived from Aristoxenus" (Iamblich. {! 254). DORIC STATES. 277 and they may be historical personages. The first kings after the conquest of Sparta are not authentic : authenticity does not commence in the history of the Spartan kings, until the time of Eurypon and Agis: from their time I have no hesitation in re- cognising them as historical, though it does not follow, that all details related about them are historical. The most important events are still uncertain in their connection with individuals, and have undoubtedly not always been assigned to the right per- son. In the days of Herodotus people did not believe that they knew much about the early kings, but afterwards -they began more and more to imagine that they had an accurate knowledge of them. The number of the Doric states in Peloponnesus was three, according to the characteristic division of the nation ; " this division into three was unconnected with the number of their leaders." What Plato in hi3 Kepublic says, about these Doric states is very well worth reading and pondering. I regret that he did not write a history of Greece, which he would have been quite competent to do ; it would have been a very excellent work, and perhaps more salutary than many a speculation ; he might have been a Thucydides in his way. All he says about the Doric states is to the point. "We shall here proceed in a direction quite the reverse of that which is commonly followed in the accounts of that period : we go against the current; of the stream towards its source ; where it flows from wild districts ; and where we can no longer pass along its banks, we must be satisfied with inquiring after and tracing the direction of its course. I know nothing of the foundation of these Doric states, nothing of the division of the country among Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus : I leave these things to the tragic poets ; they belong to the mythical history, which, however, must be familiar to every scholar. The sons of Antiope and the family of Cres- phontes likewise do not belong to our history. When history commences, we find the Dorians as conquerors settled among subdued Achaea~ns, and their conquest is divided into three very unequal states. The belief that the lot of Messene was the most enviable, is one of those points for which it is, impossible 278 ARGOS. to account, for Argos, the kingdom of the Temenids, was by far the largest and wealthiest. Argos embraced not only the country afterwards called Argolis including Acte, Corinth, and Sicyon, but also Phlius and the western coast of the Argolic gulf as far as Malea ; and Philip, son of Amyntas, subsequently restored to Argolis these ancient boundaries. Aegina also belonged to it, and in its widest extent, even Megara. Hence the story of the stratagem of Cresphontes, whereby he secured Messene to himself, and of the superiority of Messene, must have arisen at a later time, perhaps not long before the Persian wars, when Argos was very small and in a state of decay. I wish to convince my hearers and readers that I am an enemy to paradoxes, and that my object is to arrive at a result, which does not differ from the basis of the common opinion. Argos, as a city, is not older than the Doric period; in the ante-Doric times Mycenae was the capital of Argos, and this Argos is never anything else than the name of the country. Our own fatherland is strangely cut up into a number of states, and on a map it presents a most singular appearance ; but it would be a most beautiful ensemble in comparison with Pelopon- nesus ; if we conceive it, as we must, from the description in the Homeric catalogue. To put Argos thus by the side of Mycenae is the greatest absurdity ; the distance between them is scarcely four English miles, and they almost run into one another, whence they have been so frequently confounded by the tragic writers, as by Sophocles. Two capitals of two considerable kingdoms cannot have been situated so close to each other. For this reason subsequent stories made Diomede disappear : in conse- quence of domestic afflictions he emigrates to Italy, and his kingdom becomes vacant ; it is given to Mycenae, and all diffi- culty is got over. But the plain and evident truth is, that Argos as a city did not exist before the time of th'e Dorians. The ancient fortress of Larissa may have existed for a long time previously, but the kingdom of Diomede by the side of My- cenae is only an imaginary double kingdom, which the mythus has vaguely placed in the ante-Hellenic period in the country of Apia, and to remove which many attempts were made even MESSENB — SPARTA — AMYCLAE. 279 in early times. 4 The fact is that the Dorians in dividing the country, according to the peculiarity of the Greek tribes, into three great states, also built capitals for "themselves from which they governed their dominions. Whether Messene in ancient times was a town, or only the fort Ithome on the hill, is a question which was disputed among the ancients themselves. I have no doubt that Messene belongs to the earliest part of the Doric period, that is, to the time of the kings: the walls which are seen to this day, certainly belong to a much earlier age than that of Epaminondas. Sparta, too, was newly built ; in Homer it is called Lacedaemon ; Sparta is a more recent name, and I do not consider it improbable, that it was altogether a Doric city, and Avas built by the Dorians. My opinion is, that Amyclae was the ancien^ capital of Lace- daemon, and in the Achaean period, Lacedaemon was probably the name of the country. At Amyclae the Agiads were born and worshipped ; there dwelt Tyndareus,. there were all the sanctuaries, etc. Menelaus, it is true, dwelt in the city of Lacedaemon, but this is a, statement of the Odyssey, concerning the late origin of which I have already spoken to you. Accord- ingly, I believe, that Amyclae stood in the same relation to the more recent town of Sparta in which Mycenae stood to Argos. " What kingdoms the Dorians found existing in Messene and Laconia, we are utterly unable to say. The few traces which we have in this respect, are quite irreconcilable with Homer and the Catalogue. The Peloponnesian tradition knows only an Atreid kingdom in Lacedaemon and a portion of Argolis y 4 " If a man will be but tolerably reasonable in regard to the Homeric poems, he cannot believe that the Catalogue of ships is a genuine part of the Iliad. It is quite distinct, and evidently belongs to a later time, in which the Doric colonies on the coast of Asia had already existed so long, that it could not offend to find them mentioned there, and transferred to the time of the Trojan war. Rhodes is thus mentioned as a Heracleid colony, and this is to my mind irresistible evidence, that the Catalogue was composed at a later period. Rhodes is mentioned among the seven places which claimed to be the birth-place of Homer, and we also hear of a Rhodian recension of Homer. My belief is, that the Catalogue was in- troduced in that recension, and that this was the occasion of making Ho- mer a Rhodian. There can be no other cause for that ?p&$." 280 CONSTITUTION OF THE DORIC STATES. under the dynasty of Agamemnon : while, according to others, the kingdom of Agamemnon extended over Argolis and Achaia, and that of Menelaus comprised Lacedaemon ; the Odyssey seems to intimate that Menelaus was succeeded by a late-born son. The Pylian kingdom alone, comprising Messene and a part of what was afterwards called Elis, can perhaps be recon- , ciled with Homer." In the three kingdoms in which the Dorians established them- selves, there arose what we should call a feudal relation. I think I am the first who has drawn attention to this fact, though it is plainly indicated by Strabo from Ephorus. The number of the Dorian immigrants was no doubt far greater than that of the Lombards in Italy, or of the Franks in Gaul ; but still they were a small number compared with the ancient Achaeans. I cannot undertake here to prove every single point; I have, in my lectures on ethnography, already spoken upon the ancient division. Messene and Sparta were divided each into six feudal principalities, including the capitals, the seats of royalty ; Argos may perhaps have been divided into a still greater number of principalities. Yet this supposition cannot be well reconciled with the fact, that the subdivision into six was as peculiar to the Doric character as to that of the Latins ; the latter had six days for the feriae Latinae, six hundred families of Alba are conceived to have formed a settlement at Lavinium, and thirty Albensian and thirty Latin towns are mentioned. In like manner the division into six is found everywhere among the Dorians, as in the i£arfo%i$ in Asia; they are tpixuxH, but the number two was taken twice, just as the sex-suffragia in Rome were equal to twice three. Several of the most important towns in Argolis may have been built after the Doric immigration, and probably Corinth also, for all that is said about it in earlier times refers to Ephyra, and not to Corinth; but I know of no certain indications as to whether Ephyra stood on the site of Corinth, or in a neighbouring district. It might be said, that in Argolis also there existed only six places ; for several which afterwards appear independ- ent, were no doubt connected in earlier times. But it is impos- sible to form conjectures on this point. These principalities are involved in obscurity : some seem to CONSTITUTION OF THE DORIC STATES. 281 have been given to Achaeans who had submitted, others to kins- men of the Dorians: "Amyclae, for example, according to the account of Ephorus in Strabo, was in the hands of a native prince, who had obtained it as a reward for his treachery." The Dorian population, according to all appearance, was concen- trated in the capitals, "like the ■ Messenian Dorians in Steny- claros," and the Doric yoke was imposed upon the country very gradually. The feudal principalities alone at first owed allegi- ance to the king, and the Achaeans in those districts were free citizens. Messene presented a great and essential difference, in this respect, from the two other states, especially from Sparta. A lawgiver, who is called Cresphontes, had placed the ancient subject population of Messene, that is> the country districts, on a footing of equality with the ruling Dorians. As the Visigoths in Spain put the Romans on an equal footing with themselves, so the two nations in Messene were united -and amalgamated, and at the time when the war between Sparta and Messene commenced, the principalities had already disappeared in the latter country. In the traditions, we only hear of one body of Messenian people. At Sparta, matters were in a very different condition, for there the distinction between the ancient Lacedae- monians and the Doric Spartans remained. 5 LECTURE XXVII. Throughout the whole extent of Greece, with the exception of those parts where there is no trace of conquest, we find a distinction between subjects and bondmen, or h^coixoi, and serfs, for whom the Greek language has in reality no general designa- 5 "According to Ephorus, Cresphontes wanted to divide the country into six Tto'Kiii, of which Stenyclaros was to he the capital, and he was will- ing to grant to the Pylians the same rights as those of the Dorians. But the latter, it is said, murmured; and for this reason he made Stenyclaros alone a TtoUs, and the remaining country was divided into Sijuot." — 1826. 282 PEKIOECT — THETES — HELOTS. tion, but who in particular cases are called Bytes or rttvigtat. If we wish to have a general appellation, Thetes is perhaps the most suitable, though it is correct only in regard to particular parts of Greece. The Perioeci are the inhabitants of the coun- try, and so completely differ from the other class, that the name of the one can never be applied to the other. Wherever Perioeci are mentioned, it is always implied that they are personally free, whereas the Thetes or Penestae are bondmen, and "have no political existence. The former have a municipal or civil ex- istence. In Sparta we thus find a distinction between xeploixot, and elxates, but the Helots in Laconia are by no means a peculiarity of the Spartans. Such bondmen occur in Argolis under the name of Gymnesii, in Crete under that of Clarotae, and similarly in Chios, Syracuse and elsewhere ; " but in many places they had disappeared in the historical period, just as servitude once existed throughout modern Europe, but disappeared in many places spontaneously, and without any legal enactment, by the natural progress of free institutions. The ancient grammarians have collected a great many terms signifying serfs, who must not be confounded with slaves. The name fixates is commonly derived from the town of Helos, which is mentioned as one of the six states that existed as principalities of the Perioeci. When the Spartans, it is said, deprived these principalities of their rights and their independence, the others quietly submitted ; but the Helots resisted, and were therefore reduced to servitude. I believe this whole account to be very doubtful ; it seems to have only an arbitrary etymological origin, and the derivation of the word e^ws from "E-kos is highly improbable. As I find that such a state of servitude existed in many other parts of Greece, with- out any such explanation, I do not see why, according to the analogy of those other states, the Helots should not have had an earlier origin, and why their falling into that condition should not be regarded as contemporaneous with the Doric conquest, as was the case in Argolis. The subjugation of Helos is com- monly ascribed to King Agis, who is the first historical person- age in the series of Spartan kings. "All the Greek tribes which were neither Dorians norlonians, THE AETOLIANS — ARCADIANS. 283 are comprised by the ancients under the name Atoxtj;, by which, however, we must not understand a distinct race or tribe. AJ'ovu signifies 'the mixed,' and aoXKaZs 'the assembled:' their relation to the Ionians and Dorians is that of a commonalty to a privileged race. The earlier writers include among them the Boeotians, Aetolians, the Achaeans in Peloponnesus and Phthi- otis, and the inhabitants of Thessaly previous to the conquest ; the Phocians and Acarnanians did not belong to them. 1 The dialects of these tribes, however, differed much too widely to be reduced to the three classes of Doric, Ionic and Aeolic; and in the early times the variety was still greater than afterwards, when they were mixed together." In Peloponnesus we have yet to consider the Arcadians. It is universally acknowledged that they were descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the country, the Pelasgians ; and they traced their genealogy to the first men, Azan (?) and Pelasgus. They accordingly appear as Autochthones, and are divided into three tribes, Maenalians, Parrhasians and Azanians; in later times the first two tribes only are mentioned. Of this division only some isolated traces occur here and there, for the ancient condition of Arcadia had ceased, even before the time when we have contemporary historians. In the earliest period there existed in Arcadia only small towns, but in the historical ages some important cities, such as Mantinea, Tegea, and others, had risen among those tribes, and had dissolved the ancient bond which had kept the three tribes together. I have already observed, that in those parts of Greece, in which there existed a trichotomy, there was frequently a subdivision into four. Now, according to Pausanias, and also an inscription, there existed at Tegea four phylae, whence it is probable, that originally each of the three Arcadian tribes was subdivided into four, and that when they were broken up, the separate towns adopted for themselves the division into four. In the early or legendary times of Arcadia, kings are mentioned ; but this unity of the country, is very .problematical, and at any rate 1 See Niebuhr's Review of Heeren's Ideen, etc., in his Klein. Schrift., vol. i. p. 119, foil. Many points of these Lectures are placed in their pro- per light by that Review, whence we refer to it once for all.— Ed. 284 ELIS — ACHAIA. belongs to the ante-historical ages ; it can neither be affirmed nor denied. The Arcadians repelled the attacks of the Dorians, and always preserved their independence. Among the remaining countries of Peloponnesus, we must notice Elis, which is divided into two parts, Elis Proper and Pisatis. "Previously to its conquest by the Aetolians, there existed in Elis the kingdom of the Epeans, which was quite independent, but very small." Pisa, on the Alpheus belonged, in early times, to Arcadia ; and the neighbouring Triphylia con- tinued to belong to it even at a later date. Elis was thus sepa- rated by Arcadia from the Doric countries ; and it is therefore not credible, that the conquest of Elis by the Aetolians should have been contemporaneous with the Doric migration. In Elis the Aetolians dwelt as the ruling people ; they were divided into three tribes, and had a senate of ninety members : the whole country was subject to them. For a long time the Aetolian dominion was confined to the northern part, which was afterwards called Elis ; and there the Aetolians lived among the Epeans, the ancient inhabitants of the country, who had become their subjects. It was not till the historical times, that the territory of Pisa was reduced by the Aetolian Eleans to the condition of a subject country; subsequently Triphylia also was taken, and thus the Arcadians were shut out from the sea. I shall give you the history of the Eleans in its proper place in the course of time. As to Achaia, tradition says, that formerly it had been an Ionic country, and that the Ioriians were expelled by the Achaeans who had been driven from their homes at the time when the Dorians attacked and subdued the Achaean states. I will here mention the conjecture, that the expulsion of the Ionians by the Achaeans has nothing to do with the expedition of the Ionians into Attica, but that if the Achaeans did at all expel the Ionians from that country, which I do not dispute, this must have happened at a later time than the expedition against Athens. Moreover, it is at least doubtful, whether, if the Achaeans actually 'quitted Argolis under a capitulation, they did so in large numbers, and whether they were strong enough to make themselves masters of Aegialos. If we con- THE BOEOTIANS — MINYANS. 285 sider the natural geographical connection-, it is much more pro- bable, that at one time the Ionians also possessed the districts between Achaia and Attica, that they were masters of Sicyon and Corinth, and that they were dispersed by the Dorians. "In one passage Ionia is alluded to as a country embracing the Isthmus. The fact of the twelve Achaean , towns being at the same time the twelve Ionian ones, does • not prove, that the Ionians did not extend further ; for where such divisions exist, they are always reproduced even when the extent of territory is reduced, as is the case with the seven Frisian coastlands (Seelande) and the thirty Latin towns." However, we cannot much speculate upon this -point ; we keep to the historical fact, that the Achaeans dwelt on the north coast of Peloponnesus, the slope of the Arcadian mountains, in twelve towns, the number peculiar to them. The great emigration from that coast district is a surprising phenomenon, and it is hardly con- ceivable how the Achaeans, who in Peloponnesus were so feeble a people, could establish such important and powerful cities in Magna Graecia. This is one of the most obscure points in history, and in fact the history of the foundation of all the Greek colonies is obscure, although it belongs to the period sub- sequent to the commencement of the Olympiads. The common accounts of the establishment of the colonies are altogether untrustworthy. Out of Peloponnesus, Megara belonged to the state of Argolis. Attica has already been discussed ; and we have now to notice Boeotia. According to the earlier view, it contained two states, that .of the Minyans and that of Thebes. The former do not appear as a Boeotian people ; but the origin of the Boeotians is enveloped in impenetrable darkness. It is one of those points which are quite interwoven with the mythical history. I have already declared, that I have no doubt whatever of the Phoeni- cian origin of Thebes. The Minyans are mentioned as a people belonging to a bygone age, in which they were a great nation, ruling even over the south of Thessaly ; they, properly speaking, belong to the period preceding even the Trojan times. I believe, that in the earlier ages the expedition of the Argonauts was re- garded as the end of the Minyan empire, in the same way as the 286 THE BOEOTIANS. Trojan war was considered as the end of the Atreids and the Danai. For tradition carries the heroes to Colchis, where they gain their end, and thence they return by roads, which, accord- ing to the geographical notions of the time, are impossible, and on which they perish ; but then, owing to some miraculous inter- ference, they return, a circumstance which shows that this tra- dition is probably a combination of two different ones. This opinion seems to me plausible, though I do not care whether any one disputes it or not. The main point is, that the Minyans were a different race from the Danai, and that, like them, they disappear from history, and belong to the primitive ages of Greece. In the Catalogue, Orchomenos and, the Minyans are still mentioned as independent, but as a smaller race than the people of the Boeotians. " The story that Orchomenos made Thebes tributary, etc., and was then subdued by Heracles, may have some historical foundation. It was a local tradition of Thebes, which, like so^many others, was connected with the an- cient Heracleae." In the account of the origin of the Boeotians, tradition again plays between the two opposite poles, and two different tradi- tions are made up into one. The on« states, that they were Aeolians, who turned southward and immigrated into Boeotia at the time when the ancient Aeolian population of Thessaly was subdued by the invading Thesprotians : this is probably the ancient national tradition, and is, in fact, very credible. But in other traditions, the Boeotians are even before that time men- tioned as inhabitants of Thebes, united with the Cadmeans : how then are they to come from Thessaly, the ancient Aemonia, if they dwelt in Boeotia even previously ? A remedy is easily found ; and it is said, that at an earlier date they had emigrated from Boeotia into Thessaly, in consequence of the war of the Epigoni, for Laodamas, conquered by the Epigoni, is said to have fled with his followers into Thessaly. These Boeotians, then, are represented as having afterwards returned. This view became established among the later Greeks, and is still the pre- vailing opinion. The persons who adopted it were puzzled only by the fact, that, according to the Catalogue, the Boeotians who appear before Ilium, dwelt in Thebes, and that this event occurs PHOCIS, LOOMS, AETOLIA. 287 just during the period of their absence, for it is said that they did not return from Thessaly till -sixty years, or two generations after the destruction of Troy. This is a difficult point for them. Eor us it has no difficulty : the mention of the Boeotians in the Catalogue is in our eyes not an historical statement which can be taken as a proof of their existence in Boeotia in historical times, and I have 1 already stated why it was thought necessary to assume an emigration : it is the usual play of migrations from A to B and from B to A. Our history knows nothing of the greatness of Orchomenos ; it knows only one Boeotian people ; this only being doubtful, whether the supremacy of Thebes over the rest of the country was in ancient times lawfully established, or whether it was only a later usurpation ; what I here call law- ful, is a right founded on conquest. It should, however, be re- marked, that in Boeotia there is no trace of Penestae or serfs ; they do not, in fact, occur in any of the countries between Pelo- ponnesus and Thessaly, if we except the Thetes in Attica. Phocis is contiguous to Boeotia. Respecting the origines of the Phocians we have no information nor any traditions. This much only seems certain, that in the earlier times, before they marched southward, the Dorians occupied a large portion of the country. The Phocians otherwise present the appearance of a people which had not suffered the vicissitudes of conquest ; for they consisted of a number of small independent townships, among which Delphi alone rose above the others on religious grounds. The Locrians, on the other hand, whose seats were on the Crissaen gulf and on the Euboean sea, underwent considerable changes. They were separated by the Phocians, and probably it was not by a portion of them having removed for purposes of conquest, that their connexion was torn asunder, but by the great changes which took place .there, and by the progress of invading tribes from the north. The Aetolians are an ancient Greek people, which, however, had amalgamated with itself a great number of Pelasgian and other tribes ; hence no other people in Greece departed so widely from the character of the Hellenes, so that in later times they could hardly be considered as genuine Hellenes. But in all 288 ACAKNANIANS, THESSALIANS. public matters the Hellenic language predominated, and in the south the people also always spoke Greek. They spoke a dialect which was very nearly akin to the Doric, like, all these Aeolian dialects, with the exception of the Boeotian, which greatly dif- fered from the Doric. All the Achaean inscriptions we have are in reality Doric. In Aetolia we have to distinguish two nations, the Aetolians proper, and the Curetes, the latter belonging to the early nations which disappear. It is possible that in the passage of the Iliad, 2 the Curetes are mentioned by the side of the Aetolians, in the same manner as the Minyans are placed by the side of the Boeotians, whereas in reality the one people absorbed the other. The western parts of Greece were occupied by the Acarna- nians, who, however, do not occur under this name until later times. In these parts the original Pelasgian inhabitants were subsequently overpowered and repressed by the Hellenes ; the ancient traditions about the Trojan war still speak of a Sicel- Epirot or Thessalian population in those countries. The Greeks who dwelt there belong to the same race as the inhabitants of the opposite islands, Cephallenia, Zacynthos, and Ithaca, and with them constituted one nation. The Acarnanians, anxious to win the favour of the Romans, asserted that they had not joined the expedition against the Trojans, the ancestors of the Romans ; but the really Hellenic portion of them belonged to the Cephallenians, that is to the followers of Odysseus, who did as much harm to the Trojans as Achilles himself. Al- though we cannot take the Cephallenian empire and Odysseus as historical, and although the palace of Odysseus which modern travellers fancy they have discovered, is no such thing, yet we cannot doubt, that a Cephallenian nation once existed there, and formed a state, of which the islands were the centre, and to which the coasts of the main land belonged. The Thessalians are a very singular and anomalous pheno- menon in Greece. The question as to whether they were Greeks, was disputed even after the time of Alexander, when no one ventured to doubt the descent of the royal house of Macedonia a Iliad, ix. 525. THESSALY. 289 from Greeks and Heracles, just as the Ptolemies traced their origin to Dionysus. In the early times no one dreamt of con- sidering the Macedonians as Greeks, they were absolutely re- garded as barbarians ; and originally, Macedonians and Hellenes are everywhere unquestionably distinguished. But afterwards, when almost every Macedonian spoke Greek, and when all the barriers between Greeks and non-Greeks wero broken down, and when Macedonians were admitted as Greeks to the Olympian, Pythian, and other games — matters assumed a different aspect. The admission to the public games was one of the circumstances which contributed most towards the removal of those barriers ; and in the* time of Philip, the Macedonians were generally admitted. Put in regard to the Thessalians, even Dicaearchus, who lived at a still later time, states that it was even then disputed whether they were Hellenes or not. He himself will not decide the question, but does not deny, that in regard to race they were barbarians. The Thessalians were Thesprotians who had immigrated into Thessaly from Epirus, and had subdued the valley of the Peneus. Their country was divided into four parts, but in the earlier times they formed one state under a king. "Afterwards they were divided into separate towns, with an aristocratic govern- ment in each ; we now indeed still hear of kings of Thessaly, but they had only a supremacy." According to the views of the ancients, Thessaly does not by any means comprise' all the country which in our maps bears that name; the ch orography of Thessaly is in great confusion, ,both in maps and in all the current notions. Thessaly proper is only the country from mount Pindus down to the course of the Peneus, with the ad- joining hills as far as Pagasae; and accordingly embraces the country between Olympus and the Cambunian hills in the north, and mount Othrys in the south, excluding Pelion and Ossa ; it extended to the sea only at the mouth of the Peneus, through the valley of Tempe, and in the neighbourhood of Pagasae, where it forms a coast of about five English miles in length. Within this extent of country the ancient Aeolian inhabitants had become serfs, a condition resembling that of the Helots, or that of the serfs in Russia, which has this peculiarity, that the Russian lord is not allowed to sell his peasants out of the coun- VOL. i. 19 290 THESSALT. try. In like manner, a Thessalian noble might sell his Penestae to any one, but not out of the country. They were not insepa- rable from the glebe. The case In Thessaly, therefore, was different from that described by Varro as existing among a Ligurian people, of whom he says venalis cum agris suis? These serfs are constantly confounded with the Perioeci of the Thessalians. While the Thessalians were in this position, no less than three different people were subject to them, standing to them in a definite relation of submission, resembling that existing between the county of Baden and the free -townships of Switzerland oil the one hand, and the ruling cantons' of Zurich and Berne, on the other; and living in circumstances pro*bably somewhat less unfavourable than those of the districts in which German is not spoken. They had their own municipal adminis- tration, but no sovereignty; they were obliged to obey the com- mands of the ruling people, and pay tribute to them ; the crimi- nal jurisdiction probably belonged to the ruling body. These three peoples were the Magnetes, the Phthiotian Achaeans, and the Perrhaebians, all of whom consequently were Perioeci of the Thessalians, and not Penestae. The latter are found only in the valley of the Peneus, and consisted of the ancient Aeolian inhabitants of Aemonia. It is proper not to use the name of Thessaly in speaking of the early times, for that name was introduced when the Thesprotian tribe called Thessalians had conquered the country ; before that event, it was called Aemo- nia, a name which occurs in Ovid and other poets. It is only in an improper sense, that the name Aemonia is applied also to Macedonia. Beside these three subject peoples, others also, of different origin, inhabited those countries; they may at times have been subject to the Thessalians, but certainly not always. We may mention the Aenianians, to whom the Oetaeans also belonged, though the names are not quite synonymous, the Malians and Dolopians. The first two were no doubt Hellenic tribes, but the Dolopians were genuine Pelasgians. The name of the 3 Pliny {Hist Nat. iii. 24) states this of the Triumpilini, but without mentioning Varro as his authority. — Ed. DELPHIC AMPHICTYONY. 291 Dolopians is as much Pelasgian as that of the Thessalians, and the ancient inhabitants of Scyros are called Ddlopians as well as Pelasgians. LECTURE XXVIII. The formation of the Delphic Amphictyony, is an event of extraordinary importance ; but we have no trace of its origin, and o'ur history does not even negatively give us any account as to the time to which it must be assigned. 1 In the eighteenth century, much that is inappropriate and unfounded has been said about it ; ancient history was then sometimes drawn into the domain of the current history of the day, though not in the man- ner in which, with philological circumspection, ancient history certainly may be so revived as to stand by the side of living history; but men assumed at random and with the utmost cre- dulity, an identity of circumstances where none existed. In this manner much mischief was done during the eighteenth century, and many absurdities were brought forward about ancient history, ever since the accession of Louis XV., from' the age of Vertot down to the time when, after the peace of Paris in 1783, the academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres offered prizes for essays on the federative constitutions of antiquity, and the like. It was thus, especially among French authors, who are otherwise men of great ingenuity, that the notion became esta- blished, that the amphictyony was a political confederacy ; whence they spoke of an Amphictyonie Belgique, HelvStique, and de V empire Allemand. In modern times, this notion, owing to the development of a more solid tendency in historical philology, has indeed disappeared: and I do not believe that it will ever be revived again ; but thus far we have, after all, arrived only at a negative result. In former years, I too occupied myself 1 See "Bemerkungen Uber den Amphiktyonenbund," in Niebuhr's Klein. Schrift., vol. ii. p. 158. 292 DELPHIC AMPHICTYONY. ■with investigations on this subject. The main points are now established; but authors are at present inclined to limit the Amphictyony too much to the mere community of worship at a common sanctuary. "It is certainly true, that the Amphictyo- nic League was connected with the worship at Py tho ; and the protection of the temple was one of its objects, but assuredly not the only one." It is certain, that through the Amphictyony Greece never became a federative state; but it is equally certain, that the Amphictyony represented Greece as a national totality; and that, independently of the protection of temples, it aimed at a general relation for the preservation of the welfare of Greece. The Amphictyonic laws are known from the oration of Aeschines against Ctesiphon and Demosthenes (nspi xrjs rfkpWpsa- (3«'as). Documents like these which have accidentally preserved most important information, are very instructive ; if that work had perished,, our whole knowledge of the subject would have been completely lost; and we should, therefore, accustom our- selves to admit, that if on any subject we now have no informa- tion, such information may, nevertheless, have existed at one time. At the time when Aeschines mentioned those laws, they had long ceased to be in force. From them we learn, that certain rules were laid down, regulating the conduct of the confederates. The Amphictyons were a court of justice for the Greek states; and tribes involved in disputes with each other might appeal to them to have their, quarrels decided ; but this was not a duty, but only an expedient to which they had a right to have recourse. What was of more importance, is the fact, that the Amphictyonic laws promoted humanity and a concilia- tory spirit in the manner of carrying on war : no town was to be destroyed — we may add, that there was no doubt an enact- ment of the Amphictyons, forbidding to enslave the inhabitants of a Greek town which had been taken by the sword — no country to be laid waste in war, no fruit trees to be cut down, no aqueducts to be destroyed ; and wars were to be carried on in a conciliatory spirit. In short war was recognised as an unavoidable and natural means of deciding disputes between states ; but it was to be carried on only for the purpose of bringing the dispute to a decision, and not for destruction and DELPHIC AMPHIOTYONY. 293 devastation. Whoever violated these laws, was attacked by the arms of all the confederates, and vengeance was taken on him as it was on Cyrrha. Viewed in this light the Amphictyony appears as a peculiar institution, which does the greatest honour to the age in which it was established; but what that age was, and what were the circumstances under which the States formed this league, are questions that are involved in impenetrable darkness, and on which we have no information whatever. The author must be judged of by his work; and we may say without hesitation, that in this case he must have possessed a great mind and great power. The fact that the confederacy was divided into twelve states or tribes, shows that they did not join accidentally or successively, but that it was a regulation based upon the principle which we find in the other forms of Greek constitutions. Our histories give us no information on this point, any more than the -ancients themselves; and this circumstance has given rise to the strange explanation derived from King Amphictyon in Attica. The institution, however, must belong to the period between the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, and the beginning of our historical knowledge or the age of the Pisistra- tids; "during that period the affairs of Greece became gradually settled, and the population must have been tired of War;" it was then that the Amphictyony was in full vigour, and perhaps reached its highest point of development. It is remarkable to find that the league also embraced nations which did not settle in Greece until later times, such as the Thessalians, ^nd that they had their seats in the Amphictyonic council by the side of their subject commonalties, which, within this sphere, were placed on a footing of equality with them: it is just possible that they may have become members of the confederacy as the lords of the Aemonian people whose place they occupied. If I am not mistaken, it was Heyne who first maintained the opinion that the Amphictyony was a confederation of the Hellenes against the Pelasgians: but this opinion has no foundation whatever, for among its members Pelasgians are mentioned as well as Hellenes. The twelve nations which formed the league are: Dorians, Ionians, Boeotians, Locrians, Phocians, Thessalians, 294 DELPHIC AMPHICTYONX. Phthiotians, Achaeans, Perrhaebians, Magnetes, Dolopians, Aenianes, and Arcadians. The Perrhaebians as well as the Thesprotians are Epirots or Pelasgians. The means by which the Amphictyons inforced obedience are likewise obscure. I suspect, that in the earliest times, it was felt as a' general Want which could not be dispensed with, to make use of the temple and oracle of Delphi ; and that exclu- sion from them was the punishment inflicted by the Amphic- tyons, so that the punishment was a kind of excommunication, and the rtpo/iowrsi'a, a reward of the faithful. These circumstances are not distinctly apprehended in works upon this subject, and hence the great vagueness and uncertainty. The Amphictyons in the times in which we find them existing, consisted of two elements, a Council and an Ecclesiae. The former consisted of Pylagorae and Hieromnemones ; and the meeting was subse- quently distinguished, according to the place and the season of the year in which it was held, as that of Delphi and that of Thermopylae. Each state was at liberty to send as many deputies as it pleased, but each had only two votes, making altogether twenty-four. The deputies of the nations constituted the council or senate; and besides this there existed the popular assembly, the Ecclesiae, the nature of which is altogether mis- taken by those who in modern times have written upon it, though the matter is as clear as daylight. In our authorities it is stated, that all the individuals present belonging to the states which were members of the league formed an Ecclesia ; but this must not be understood as if the votes had been taken according to the numbers of those present, so that, if at a meeting of 2000 there had been 1000 Phocians, these latter would have had half the votes; such was not the case, but each nation voted by itself, just as in other cases each phyle had only one vote ; each Xdvos stood by itself, as in the Achaean confede- racy each community, and had only one vote. Similar unions, of which however few traces are extant, with more or less of a political character, are mentioned in the earliest times, among many other Greek nations. The Ionians and Dorians in Asia Minor had such assemblies, and the Ionian Cyclades had their Ttarfyvw at Delos, which was also attended OTHER PANEGYEKIS. 295 by other Ionians ; " in history there are no traces of this last, but it is mentioned in the beautiful hymn upon Apollo, which more than anything else may be referred to the blind Homer of Chios." In all these leagues we find a, fixed number, which proves that the whole existed before any one part, according to the philosophy of Aristotle. They were always connected with sacred rites, sacrifices, etc., which. were performed at a certain season of the year ; contests (dyi^s), and games of every kind enhanced the solemnity of these festivals. ' The union of common amusements with the common worship of the gods was very ancient and universal among the Greeks; and these festivals were at all times promoters of humanity, for during their cele- bration no war was carried on, as in the, middle ages the treuga Dei was- observed on similar occasions. As during the middle ages when violence and war were the order of the day, men naturally felt the need of interrupting that restless condition which continued from day to day, there can be no doubt that for the same purpose the Greeks also instituted these frequent panegyreis and agones, to interrupt the feuds among the various towns. During the festivals, the people suspended their hosti- lities, and were obliged tq conduct one another safely through , their respective territories ; and hence those festivals became the means of restoring peace and friendship. In the earliest times, music and poetry were much more prominent at these meetings than afterwards; in those times song and the pleasures of the Muses were the principal part of the solemnity, as we see from the hymns on Apollo. In later times the naveixbt dywv is rarely mentioned, and it was not till a much later period that it was restored. The history of the Greek agones would be a highly interesting subject, which however can be treated of only by a person who is very familiar with ancient history and lite- rature ; it is not a subject for a young man, it must be dealt with soberly and not. arbitrarily. According to all this, there must have been a time in Greece, when the people became conscious of its unquestionably lawless condition, and when a natural want produced the insti- tution of the Amphictyony. This much I have to say about the 'EMids avvtx^i- 296 GREEK COLONIES. Besides Greece Proper, the Hellenes are found dispersed far and wide. Many of the settlements in distant countries belong to the historical period ; and we can accurately fix the time of their establishment. The colonies on the coasts of the Black Sea can thus be fixed with historical certainty; and it is a most mischievous thing that within the last year some per- sons have entertained the senseless notion of maintaining that Greece was originally a country on the Black Sea, and that Trebizond on the Euxine was the original city, and Trebizond in Arcadia was only a colony. A certain writer of the name of Koppen in Petersburg who first maintained this opinion is a charlatan, and we feel grieved that Fallmerayer, otherwise an ingenious man, has fallen into the mistake of. adopting this opinion. The colonies on the Euxine, then, like those on the Propontis, on the coast of Thrace and Macedonia, and most of those in the west of Europe, such as Massilia, can be historically traced ; but the three great settlements, Ionia, Doris and Aeolis, which we find on the coast of Asia Minor, cannot be made out with the same certainty. I will not say anything against the Doric colonies, although they cannot be explained at all ; for it appears that we must acknowledge that a Greek settlement really took place there. But as regards Ionia and Aeolis, I have already remarked, that I there assume an earlier Pelas- gian population, which became Hellenised; I except, however, the great southern cities of Ionia, for it is probable that their territories were originally inhabited by Carians. The arche- getae of these colonies, the Ionian as well as the Aeolian, entirely belong to the mythical ages ; remember only Neleus with his fleet which was so miraculously saved, Penthilus and Tisamenus or Phorbas of the race of the Atreids. The. Aeolian settlements in those parts may have been connected with the Trojan war. I have no doubt that the existence of the Teucrian empire is historical ; and I believe it to be equally historical, that it was destroyed in a great conflict between Asia and Europe; but I think, that the Greeks did not return to those parts in later times, but that they remained there, and that the settlements through which those countries were Hellenised, belong to those very early times. "It is more GREEK SETTLEMENTS. 297 particularly in the ancient Troas that every part was filled with Greek settlers." We shall soon have occasion to return- to the Ionian and Aeolian cities, and shall here add only a few . observations. In the earlier times they were the real seats of Greek culture and art ; and although that nation among which Amphictyonies were formed could not be barbarian, yet humanity and intellec- tual culture, the domain of the Muses, had their seat in those magnificent coasts of Asia. A military officer once told me, that on arriving in Peloponnesus from Sicily, he found in the former the aspect of nature much more magnificent and rich, and that he could not satisfy his eyes in gazing at the luxurious vegetation; but that when he came- to Smyrna in Ionia, he could not help despising Greece Proper on comparing it with the blessings of Ionia, with which no country that he had ever seen could be compared. That blessed climate then, with its inde- scribably fertile soil, was the seat of the earliest Greek civilisa- tion; and it was there that the Homeric poems were composed. Chios also belonged to it, an island, which, previous to the diabolical devastation of 1822 had had the good luck of not being visited by barbarian conquerors, and whose yoke had not been quite intolerable : down to 1822 it was a happy paradise, but now it is covered with the bones of the slain. I shall after- wards .speak of the historical importance of those settlements. The settlements in Euboea are assigned to a very early period; and also those in the Cyclades, in which there existed an .Ionian SuStxarfoiu; with Delos for its centre, resembling that of the Ionians in Asia with the Panionium. This division of the Cyclades is generally regarded as a geographical division, but this opinion is quite erroneous : it certainly belongs to a time when the Cyclades formed one political whole. This union of twelve parts, however, was dissolved at an early period ; after- wards we find feuds between Paros and Naxos, etc., which I cannot here discuss. "Euboea and the Cyclades were colonised by Ionians from Athens; Melos and Thera only were not occupied by them. In the Cyclades, Carian and Phoenician settlers, perhaps also Cretans, retreated before them; and in Euboea they expelled or subdued the Abantes, who were pro- 298 CRETE. bably no less Pelasgians than the Histiaeans, who maintained their seats in the north of the island. In the south, on the other hand, we find a line of Dorian colonies, which touches on the Cyclades, comprises Cydonia, Lyctos, and other places in Crete, and then proceeds to Asia ; the chain seems to be interrupted only because the settlements in Crete were not sufficiently recognised as Doric." Crete is the most mysterious of all the countries that belong to the empire of Greece: in the earlier times it was manifestly not a Greek country, its ancient inhabitants being sometimes considered as Carians and sometimes as Lycians. The greatest part of those early inhabitants, the Eteocretans, gradually dis- appear ; and afterwards we find in the Odyssey three nations in Crete, Eteocretans, Pelasgians, and Dorians. In the historical times we find a twofold relation of subjects ; a class of serfs, Clarotae, that is, men living on a saapoj or farm, and evidently corresponding with the Spartan Helots, and Perioeci, or subjects of certain ruling cities. Most places are inhabited by Perioeci. This would not be anything surprising, if we knew whence the inhabitants of those ruling cities had come ; but this is altogether unknown. Cnossus and Gortyn, which were afterwards ruling cities, and possessed the largest territories, are real Melchise- deks in history ; for no man can say who founded them, and whence they received their populations. Some statements re- specting them are of such a nature, that we can attach no value to them, and later traditions are manifestly mere fictions. The Cnossians and Gortynians certainly did not belong to the an- cient Cretans, for the latter consisted of only two nations whom Herodotus calls Polichnitae and Praesii, and by them those cities were not inhabited. We are accordingly here in the same diffi- culty in -which we are in regard to Peloponnesus ; we see a people which must have immigrated from abroad, but we can neither say whence nor when it came. I cannot say whether the Gortynians and Cnossians belonged to the Pelasgians who are mentioned in the Odyssey. The Cretan inscriptions are highly curious as linguistic monuments; some of them had already been copied by Cyriacus Anconitanus ; others, also, are contained in Chishull's collection, and others again exist at GREEK COLONIES. 299 Oxford ; and all will probably be published in the next volume of Bbckh's Corpus Inscriptionum. There occur in them forms and words which fill us with amazement : we 1 wonder that such things could appear< in a Greek dialect. They are even more surprising than the Heracleensian inscriptions. ', Trichotomy and tetrotomy also occur. "The Cretans were no doubt once a great maritime people ; but at the beginning of our history they have already fallen from their height, which is expressed in the story of their expedition to Sicania." This is the extent to which we find the Greek tribes more or less spread at a time which lies beyond the limits of our his- tory; afterwards they extend even further. Our knowledge. of the Greek colonies begins at the time of the Olympiads ; the earlier colonies or settlements which "are regarded as such, stand there without our being able to say whence and when they originated. But after the commencement of the Olympiads, about the time of the foundation of Rome, colonies were founded in Sicily and Italy ; 2 and of these we can say with certainty, that they are all true Greek colonies, though the circumstances under which they proceeded from the mother country will ever remain uncertain. Thus, to mention an instance which I have already noticed, it seems quite impossible, that such important colonies should have been founded by the small Achaean people with its little towns on the slope of the Arcadian hills towards the Cris- saean gulf. They are said to have first made settlements in Zacynthos, a part of the Cephallenian empire, and thence to have proceeded to Italy. We thus see small nations, without any considerable navy, and which nowhere appear as distin- guished for maritime adventure, spreading far and wide, and founding large cities in foreign countries. 3 It is no less myste- 2 " The belief that Cuma in Opioa belongs to a very early period, has no other foundation but the yivcai,; according to all historical evidence, it must be assigned to a later date." — 1826. 3 "The immense number of Achaean colonies did not assuredly proceed from the little country of Achaia alone, but must have been founded by the ancient Achaeans in Argolis, Laconia, Elis, etc., who there formed the commonalty, and emigrated in order to escape from the oppression of the Doric conquerors." — 1826. ' 300 CAUSES OF COLONIZATION. rious to learn the number of settlements made by the compara- tively small towns of Chalcis and Eretria in Euboea, and that the little town of Megara, which had no maritime power at all, could send out so many and such important colonies, such as Byzantium, to distant countries, while Aegina, with all its mari- time power, did not send out any colonies at all. Circumstances like these may teach and convince us, how obscure and incom- plete the earliest history of Greece is to us ; for they are all phenomena which we must recognise as undoubted facts, with- out its being possible for us to explain them : they are facts about which our history knows nothing. LECTURE XXIX. There were, no doubt, a variety of causes which led to the establishment of colonies. The ancients are unquestionably right in mentioning, among others, over-population and internal dissensions (atdaus). Another important cause, though it is only mythically alluded to, as in the case of the foundation of Taren- tum, is undoubtedly true and correct: I mean the consequences of unequal marriages, or marriages without connubium. The ancients were very strict in maintaining the law, that none but children begotten in lawful wedlock, should enjoy the franchise. Pericles, the son of the great Pericles, was not a citizen, because he was a »69o?, for his mother was not an Athenian. Such was the case even during the period of democracy, though it is mentioned as the surest symptom of increasing democracy, that sons of unequal marriages could obtain the full franchise. The restriction existed also in regard to different tribes and ranks ; but the citizens or ruling people (populus) in the earlier times were particularly kept distinct from the subject people by the fact, that there existed no connubium between them. Such also was the case at Rome; and a senseless line of demarcation was thus drawn with the intention of depriving the plebes or 8^°« CAUSES OF COLONIZATION. 301 of the possibility of acquiring the same rights as the ruling class. But the consequence was, the weakness of the populus or ruling body ; and it became the source of the greatest divi- sions and disturbances, a portion of the ruling classes attaching themselves to the commonalty. Where such a chasm existed, it was necessary-to leap across it. The consequences of this Want of trttyap'a or connubium, will afterwards appear in the history of Greece in various ways ; but they will be particularly obvious and striking in the case of Cypselus, where the extreme folly appears in its full extent. But even in the earlier times they manifest themselves. The traditions respecting the emigra- tion of the Locrians to Italy, and concerning the colony of Phalanthus, in the strange forms in which they have come down to us, are nothing but distortions of the plain fact, that the children of those marriages contracted between the ruling and subject classes, which union could not, after all, be entirely prevented, formeoj a dangerous class of persons, who claimed the same rights as the rulers. The middle classes felt a still stronger hostility against the rulers than the demos ; just as in our days the mulattoes and similar mixed races are the bitterest and most implacable enemies of their rulers and oppressors. To send out such men as colonists was the safest and the only appropriate means of preserving the power of the rulers ; as we see in the story of the Minyans, who are said to have emigrated to Thera, under a leader, Theras, and that of the *apStv«H of Phalanthus. These circumstances assuredly induced the rulers to send out colonies much oftener .than it appears in our history. Such a band of young men were allowed to choose between emigration and being treated as enemies; when they preferred the former, they obtained the means of quitting their country ) but they were not tolerated in the state, because they were considered as dangerous persons. u These commotions continued down to the times of the Pisistratids : the ruling families decreased, and the commonalty increased, without at first gaining the ascendancy over the former, and those who wished to escape from the oppression of the oligarchs, emigrated. That was the period during which most colonies. were sent out." The Italian system of colonies had no resemblance to that of 302 PECULIARITIES OF GREEK COLONIES. the Greeks; and the latter has still less resemblance to the bet- ter class of modern colonies, whether we take those which were sent from Norway to Iceland and the Western Islands, or those which surpass all others, I mean the English colonies sent out to America, and at this moment to Australia. In the latter case, a portion of the nation is transferred to a new country, where it has to begin life afresh ; whereas the Greek colonies were established in countries that were already inhabited. They had, in this respect, the strongest resemblance to the Spanish colonies in America and the Philippines, or to the Portu- guese in India. The colonists consisted of soldiers, and very few native women accompanied them. It is folly to believe that Spain was depopulated by emigration and colonisation. Spain, diseased as it was, would indeed have felt even a small loss caused by emigration ; but such a loss did not occur. We have seen, in our own days, that even levies for war do not reduce a population; for during the period from 1789 down to the fall of Napoleon, the population of France, notwithstanding the war, increased instead of being diminished ; in the Vende'e in the West, alone, a diminution was perceived. Even in the military districts of Austria, in Croatia and other parts., the population after the enormous claims which the emperor had been obliged to make upon them, was only not decreased, but was somewhat more numerous than before the war. We may say, in round numbers, that eight millions of the British race live in America, and yet the population of Ireland has increased fourfold, that of Scotland is doubled, and that of England has similarly in- creased. It is, therefore, only a prejudice to say, that the po- pulation of Spain has been reduced by emigration : the true causes are overlooked, and people cling to their old opinions. The Greek colonies are a proof that the population of a country is not reduced even by frequent emigrations. The Greek colonists went out as soldiers, sword in hand, and conquered new homes for themselves ; a small number then formed a settlement, taking the women often by force from their new neighbours or from their prisoners ; but sometimes they formed treaties of friendship with the natives and concluded peaceful marriages. We might ima- gine, that a people thus forming itself, would, by so strong a PECULIARITIES- OF GREEK COLONIES. 303 mixture with foreign elements, greatly degenerate from the character of the mother country ; but- such was not the case ; they did not by any means differ very materially in their mode of life, manners, character, and language, from the Greeks. It was precisely as in Mexico, whither scarcely any Spanish women emigrated, and where, nevertheless, millions of Creoles speak as pure Spanish as is spoken in any part of the mother country, except that it has the Andalusian accent. In like manner, the descendants of the Greeks spoke the dialect of their mother city. The new places were then constituted according to the Greek fashion, each conformably to the customs of its own tribe, Doric or Achaean, together with its vo/upa. They adopted the com- mon law, and regulated, their civil institutions on the model of those of the state from which they had come. The new settlers now were the nobles, and formed the ruling class (populus), and around them there soon assembled a new &rji*o; or plebes. This was everywhere the process of Greek colonies, which in some few cases we can distinctly trace, and in others indicate with sufficient probability. The principal places from which colonies issued are Achaia, Corinth, and Chalcis ; in the earlier times Eretria also, and after- wards Miletus. The last city sent out an immense number of colonies, which extended from the Thracian Chersonesus, along the Propontis and over both the coasts of Euxine. These set^ tlements of the Greeks show the direction of commerce, which was quite different in different Greek cities. Thus the com-, merce of Phocaea had a western direction, whence that city had settlements in Corsica, founded Massilia, and all the Greek towns which lay scattered from Liguria to the Maritime Alps, and farther on from Antipolis as far as Catalonia and Valencia, which, with the exception of Rhoda, are either directly or indirectly of Phocaean origin. The commerce of Corinth was directed to- wards the coast of Sicily, towards the greet city of Syracuse, Corcyra, and the whole coast of Epirus and Acarnania ; and in the same direction they founded their colonies. The Chalcidian colonies occupied the coast of Thracian Macedonia, and a great part of the Sicilian and Italian coasts. Chalcis must, in ancient §04 DIRECTIONS OF GKEEK COLONIES. times, have been an extremely important place : in history it appears only in a state of decay ; and in its conflict with Athens to which it became subject after the time of the Pisistratids, when it was manifestly in a declining condition. These are the principal causes and the principal directions of the Greek colonies, whereby a new Greece sprang up on all the coasts of the Mediterranean. There is not one among the earlier colonies that we can trace with historical certainty ; but we need not on this account doubt the statements of Thucydides respecting the foundation of some of them ; wherever he distinct- ly mentions it, he probably follows Antiochus of Syracuse. There are some phenomena on which history either furnishes no information at all, or such only as cannot be believed ; it tells us nothing, e. g., on the subject of the Greek settlements in Cy- prus. It is difficult to understand how the Greeks could establish themselves in that island which was under the government of - the neighbouring and powerful cities of Phoenicia. I believe that the first attempts belong to the times of the last kings of Nineveh, or even farther back to those of Assarhaddon and Psammetichus, when Carians and Ionians, in the general sense of Greeks, went to Egypt, "and when Greeks appeared in Cili- cia." But the principal attempts to form settlements in Cyprus may, with probability, be assigned to the time of Nebucadnezar, when the Phoenicians were so hard pressed by him. That there existed at that time an intercourse between the Greeks and Baby- lonians, has been shown by K. 0. Muller, of Gottingen, who in a most excellent treatise has shown, that the brother of the poet Alcaeus fought under Nebucadnezar. It was the interest of that king to weaken the Phoenicians ; but after those Greek set- tlements were once established, they could easily come to terms with the Phoenicians, when the latter had recovered their power ; and they no doubt recognised the Phoenician supremacy. I formerly considered it to be a pio S a^orof for Greeks to live under a foreign government ; but the truth is, that they readily sub- mitted to being governed by others, provided the rulers confined themselves to levying a tribute, leaving the internal constitution of the Greeks untouched. t I shall now proceed to give you a sketch of the history of LYCURGUS. 305 Greece down to the sixtieth Olympiad. In those earliest times of Greece, centuries passed away which it is impossible for us to describe with any precision. If the ancients actually did possess historical lists of the Spartan kings from the time of Agis, which is not at all impossible, and if the -tables of the priestesses of Hera at Argos really contained the general Fasti of Peloponne- sus from a very early period, traditions respecting those times certainly may have existed, but they have not been transferred to our . authorities, All our statements are traceable to the chronological tables of Eratosthenes, and I must advise you not to place any confidence in them. "A conventional chronology has here been established, which has- been repeated by every- body, and has acquired the authority of history, without any one having asked himself, what foundation there is for such statements. They are all based upon the calculations of the reigns of kings, for example, of those of Sparta, according to ysrstd : but a ysvtd is much too long to be the average period of a king'sreign; and although we have some historical points, yet most of the statements are uncertain." We must bear in mind the fact, that we have no trustworthy information, even of so great and important a man as Lycurgus; his ward Charillus, Charilaus, "or, as others call him, Labotas or Leobotes," is likewise very doubtful. The whole history of Lycurgus, which we read in Plutarch, is no more historical than the life of Numa, which Plutarch has drawn up as a parallel to it ; but I still have more faith in the historical existence of Lycurgus than in that of Numa, whom I consider to have been some mysterious lawgiver of the whole Sabine nation, rather than a king of Eome: it is, however, possible that there may have been a person of the name of Numa. According to the historical views of antiquity, Lycurgus was important in two ways, as the founder of the Olympian games, and as the lawgiver of Sparta. In the former character, he united Peloponnesus, which had been distracted, and divided by the Doric conquest. The Olympian games united the old and new inhabitants into one body, under the presidency of one of the ancient nations which had not been subdued. Those games, therefore^ evidently form a step towards a reconciliation, and vol. i. - 20 306 LYCUEGUS. they must have formed a bond of union like the Pythian games, which -were closely connected with the Amphictyons. We do not indeed know anything of such an alliance, but a trace of it exists in the name of the Hellanodicae, who assuredly were something more than mere judges at the games: their name alone renders this probable. The second character in which Lycurgus is of historical import- ance, is that of legislator of Sparta; and such he seems to have actually been. He is regarded as the author of the tivonia, which put an end to a state of great confusion and disorganization, which had existed for a long time. If we compare the former condition, in which Sparta had been the ruling city with feudal princes, with the subsequent one; and if we consider that the old feudal princes are then no longer mentioned, and that the country was divided into four parts, three of which belonged to the Lacedaemonians and one to the Spartans, we must here no doubt recognise the historical fact of a legislation, which may be fairly ascribed to a Lycurgus. A great portion of the pecu- liarities of the Spartan constitution and their institutions was assuredly of ancient Doric origin, and must have been rather given up by the other Dorians than newly invented and insti- tuted by the Spartans; but with all this, we find so much that is arbitrarily made, that a true and real legislation cannot be doubted. Much as has already been written on the legislation of Sparta, all is as yet very unsatisfactory. Great questions will ever remain unsolved; thus up to this day no one has an- swered the question, what the demos at Sparta was. I have only my conjectures about it, for I have not carried on the in- vestigations concerning it in the manner in which it must be done, in order to come to a definite conclusion. What, for 1 ex- ample, is meant by the statement, that the senate (ytpoWo) was chosen apiativStiv, and the ephors lx tw typm ? In the other Greek states I can mention proofs of the existence of a demos, but not so at Sparta; for the extent which is afterwards assigned to the demos, does not belong to this period. The Neadamodeis can certainly not be conceived as a demos, for it cannot be supposed that the ephors were chosen from among them, and not from the yvrjaiot XitaptVarou. In like manner it is not elear who were the PHEIDON OF ARGOS. 307 onifpo^m. But I do not mean to blame tho^e who have investi- gated these points,' for the question is, whether we have not lost too much, so that they can never be cleared up from want of in- formation; but he who maintains, that he has thrown light upon them, is greatly mistaken. "We will not, then, doubt that Lycurgus was a lawgiver who came fdrWard under the sanction of the Delphic oracle; but the accounts of his life are at least highly doubtful, and the extent of his legislation is as doubtful as his personal history." To these two characters of Lycurgus, we must add a third and not less important one'; for he is said to have been the first to bring the Homeric poems to the continent of Greece. " It does not appear that we are justified in supposing that he made a recension of them, although I think I recognise a Doric recen- sion in the mention of the Doric colonies in Asia and of them alone." 1 Another ancient tradition of Peloponnesus, which belongs to an earlier time than that to which it is commonly assigned, is that about King Pheidon of Argos, who is an historical and highly remarkable person. His personal history is in itself quite certain, although it is chronologically so uncertain, that it has given rise to doubts even as to his personal existence. It is said that in his time Argos possessed the supremacy over all Peloponnesus, and this is referred to, for example, in the state- ment which I consider as thoroughly historical, that he esta- blished common weights and measures for the whole of the penin- sula ; and that these *f<.5««i.a ^Irpa originated with King Pheidon of Argos. He has sometimes been assigned to a later period, about Olymp. 20; but as from other accounts it apppears im- possible that at that time there should have still been kings at Argos with such power, and that Argos should at that time have possessed such a predominant influence, Pheidon has been re- garded as a tyrant, who usurped the supreme power at Argos, and afterwards subjugated the whole of Peloponnesus. Such views were entertained even by the ancients themselves. Another historical fact which we cannot assign to any definite 1 See above, p. 279. 308 MONARCHIES PASS INTO OLIGARCHIES. period, is the extension of the Dorians beyond Peloponnesus, and the foundation of Megara. This event has commonly been placed very soon after the Doric immigration into Peloponnesus, But as, according to a very ancient account, even the foundation of Corinth did not take place immediately after the conquest, but is justly considered to be of a more recent date, it certainly is still more probable, that theextension of the Dorians across the Geranian hills towards Megara belongs to still later times, to times which are put in connection with Codrus. The fact is, that the Dorians did not remain satisfied with their conquests in Peloponnesus, but also made themselves masters of Megaris, a portion of Attica, "and constituted it as a separate state, origi- nally, it seems, under the supremacy of Argos." It is also an established fact, that they subdued Salamis, and founded a colony in Aegina, so that Attica was much reduced in extent, and great- ly kept in check by its neighbours. We know absolutely nothing of the history of Attica under the government of the archons for life, and those who held their office for ten years, until we approach the time of Solon. We possess two lists, but do not know a single fact, if we except the mention of the oyoj. Krfiumov and the legislation of Draco, the former of which belongs to the time about the beginning of the Olympiads. Athens was then a state which was decaying in every respect ; oppressed from without and agitated$within, and nothing great or pleasing flourished there. The most prosperous and the wealthiest among the Greek states of the continent at that time was Corinth, which at an early period became a com- mercial state, with great maritime power. After having for a considerable time been dependent on Argos and ruled by a feu- dal prince, it emancipated itself from the supremacy of Argos ; the patsixsca became a SwaateCa. The nobles to which the princes belonged, usurped the whole government. This transition is a general phenomenon in all parts of Greece 3 (before and about Olymp. 1). The kingly government 2 " The Greek kings were of » different kind from the Italian, Roman, and Etruscan ones. They were hereditary in a yivoj, which traced its ori- gin to some hero. Respecting thei-r power, some facts may be gathered from the Homeric poems, for what they state on this point is certainly his- MONARCHIES PASS INTO OLIGARCHIES. 809 disappears everywhere, and- its place is supplied by the nobles, so that the highest power passes into the hands of one family among them, while the others form the aristocracy, possessing on the whole, all the rights of sovereignty. Such an aristocracy becomes contracted within itself, and either a combined number of families, or one family alone, assumes the reigns of govern- ment. A league of several families of the ruling class is thus placed at the head of affairs, as in certain cantons of Switzer- land; in that of Freiburg, e. g., there arose in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, an oligarchy of the native noble families, which was successful to a degree that is as marvellous as the manner in which the oligarchy itself was formed. The cause of such changes is the fact that the- body of the ruling families press so heavily upon the demos, that the latter, exas- perated at them, recognises one portion, of the rulers, rejoicing at the defeat of the other. This joy at the defeat of others is an important element in history, which explains many things ; it is the necessary course of time; and such also was the case in Greece, where after one oligarchy there always sprang up another worse than its predecessor. "At the beginning of the Olympiads we find in Messene a king without vassal princes; at Sparta there are two kings, the feudal principalities are destroyed, and the Lacedaemonians are torieal. But in them, and even in the Odyssey, a connecting link between the kings and the people is entirely wanting, and the yfpoufft'o has no defi- nite form; but that there was a yipovala, cannot be doubted. In the poems the people stand by the, side of the kings, without an intermediate class. The kings, descended from the gods, rule as instituted by the gods : they are the judges, and in war absolute commanders ; whether they determine upon war according to their own discretion, is not clearly to be seen from Homer ; historically, we know that they could not do so without the senate and the people. In addition to this, they were also priests. They had a large domain, cultivated^ for the most part by serfs, in, whom consisted the physical strength, without which no political power could exist. In Pelo- ponnesus, the kings may have been in similar circumstances as the kings of Navarre and Aragon ; with their men they had conquered an. empire, and the men maintained their right as sharers in the conquest against the kings. Thus the kings in Peloponnesus were probably at first very limited in power, although much depended upon the amount of personal talent possessed by them." — 1826. 310 FIRST MBSSENIAN WAR. absolutely subjects of the Spartans. At Argos there is a king, but some of its principalities are independent, such as those of Corinth, Sicyon, and Epidaurus." I have now to relate the first historical occurrence in Peloponnesus, the first Messenian war, by which the Spartans acquired for themselves two of the Doric shares. LECTURE XXX. Down to the time of Croesus, then, a thick darkness envelops the affairs of Greece proper; we can discern only some isolated points, such as the supremacy of Pheidon in Peloponnesus, but it is utterly impossible to fix them chronologically. An event" of a similar nature is the subjugation of Messene by the Spartans; the fact itself is as certain as all the reported details about it are undeserving of credit. We shall put the two Messenian wars together, that we may be able to regard them from the point of view from which they must be looked at. During the last fifty years, these wars have occupied a place in serious histories of Greece, as if they were historically authenticated. But those who have thus treated them as historical, have paid little or no attention to what Pausanias himself honestly says about them. There can be no doubt that Ephorus in his history also spoke of the subjugation of Messene ; but what he said about it, has unfortunately been left entirely unnoticed by Pausanias, who in fact does not avail himself at all of the work of Ephorus ; he had perhaps not even read it, a neglect which may have arisen from his desire to give, without any criticism, all kinds of detailed information, which did not agree with the true and simple historical accounts of Ephorus. We should know scarcely any of the circumstances connected with the Messenian war, had not Pausanias intro- duced into his work an episode containing a minute account, which strangely enough has been looked upon by moderns as MYRON — RHIANUS. 311 more authentic than by Pausanias. himself. He had two accounts before him, one in prose by an Ionian, Myron of Priene, and an epic one by the Cretan Rhianus.- The latter lived about Olymp. 100 ; of his work we have only fragments, which, however, show all the characteristics of beautiful ancient epic poetry. , If we except Panyasis, he is perhaps the most recent of the ancient epic poets ; for I do not here count such imitators as Apollonius of Rhodes, who wrote a hundred years later, for he is altogether artificial, both in his forms and in his manner.. Panyasis and Rhianus still belong to that class of poets who sang for themselves and for the Muses. I would even exclude Antimachus from the list, though he was a con- temporary of Plato; and I cannot conceive that Plato should have relished such an artificial poet as Antimachus. I believe that Myron of Priene was a very late author, even if it were for no other reason, than that the oracle quoted from him by Pau- sanias, is composed in trimeters ; for such an idea can have occurred only to a late writer ; so long as the Pythia gave her oracles in hexameter verse, no one could have thought of tri- meters. I should not wonder if the restoration of Messene induced Myron to write his history. He related ,the first, and Rhianus the second Messenian war, though it would appear not quite complete. Rhianus embraced a large period, and did not concentrate his poem on one particular epoch like the Iliad, but he took a wide range for his subject according to the fashion of the cyclic poets. Now if Rhianus is older than Myron, his authority also is greater; but how little a poet like Rhianus can, after all, be regarded as an historical authority, is clear from the fact, that he calls the Spartan king who carried on the second war, Leotychides, whereas, according to chronolo- gical statements, which Pausanias found somewhere (no one knows where), Leotychides lived 150 years later than that war. 1 But the fact that the traditions in Rhianus as well as Myron are 1 Comp. Paua. iv. 15, $ 3. Leotychides is the ninth king from Theo- pompus. Three reigns after Theopompus the second Messenian war breaks out, so that Leotychides falls six reigns after it; and six reigns, according to Niebuhr's general supposition, would make about 150 years. —Ed. 312 EHIANTJS — TYRTAEUS. connected with an Italian statement, that fugitives from Mes- sene were kindly received by Anaxilas of Rhegium agrees with Rhianus' mention of Leotychides ; "for Anaxilas lived about Olymp. 60," so that the event alluded to nearly coincides with the time of Leotychides. "The name of Zancle for the town afterwards called Messana, was in use, according to Herodotus, until the age of Darius Hystaspis ; Gorgus and Manticlus, as leaders of the fugitives to Messana, therefore must be referred to that age." This is irreconcilable with the chronological statements of Pausanias, "a circumstance which he dishonestly overlooks; and the story is nevertheless everywhere repeated after him." It is, on the other hand, an established fact, that Tyrtaeus belongs to the period of the second Messenian war, and the whole character of Tyrtaeus is, according to all appear- ance, older than the 60th Olympiad. If it were urged against this, that Theognis does not appear to be much more recent, and that a remarkable sameness continued among the Greeks for centuries, an undoubted fragment of Tyrtaeus removes all doubts, for in it he says that Ithome was taken in the time of the fathers of their fathers (that is, two yivtal before). This agrees with the statement that Theopompus completed the con- quest, for from his time to the second Messenian war, there are two ytitot. 2 Everything, therefore, is vague and uncertain. Myron placed Aristomenes in the first Messenian war, "and Rhianus in the second ; with the former he is an ordinary warrior, with the latter he is to the second Messenian war what Achilles is to the Trojan war." Of all the details respecting the two wars, only one fact seems to me to be historical, namely the treachery of Aristocrates, king of Arcadia, against the Messenians, for which baseness he was afterwards stoned to death by his own people. On this fact there existed an epigram which has been preserved by Polybius, and which, if it was composed at the time, would be the most ancient of its kind. Such a high antiquity would create mistrust, and either cast suspicion on the epigram, or lead us to assign the event to a more recent time ; but the epigram may have been engraved 2 Comp. Paus. iv. 15, \\ 2 and 3. FIRST MESSENIAN WAR. 313 many years after the event itself, and all circumstances oblige us to adopt this supposition. Pausanias' account of these two wars would be highly attrac- tive, if he were a writer of a little more tact and judgment, and if he had framed his narrative in such a manner as not to give it as historical, but had contented himself with relating it as a tradition. But as it is, he endeavours to give to the whole an historical colouring, and gravely relating it with moral and poli- tical reflections, he makes an unpleasant impression. In order to derive real pleasure from it, his account must be cleared from all such excrescences, and it can without difficulty be so restored as to become extremely poetical. I cannot relate to you things, which in my opinion are no more than a romance, such as the history of Myron. Some points about Aristomenes from Rhianus I will mention; they are sublime, but the history 6f Myron is devoid of this charm. We cannot believe that he invented the whole; his account' is probably based upon Messenian traditions, but no man can say how far they are trustworthy.. "We may take it as an historical fact, on the authority of Tyrtaeus, that the first Messenian War lasted twenty years (from Olymp. 9 to 13), that in the twentieth year the Messenians assembled all their forces on mount Ithome, that then they were routed, and Messene submitted to the yoke of Sparta. " Tyrtaeus also mentions that the war was conclud- ed by King Theopompus." In the romance of Myron, King Theopompus is slain. What was the fate of the several leaders, Euphaes, Aridrocles, and Antiochus, and how Ithome was de- fended? all these are points which it is impossible to relate; "they are as little historical as the accounts of Romulus and Numa." I will only remark, that the mention of the two Mes- senian kings does not seem to belong to Myron, who in fact speaks only of Euphaes ; one of the two kings disappears, and afterwards one only is mentioned. But the statement that Messene also had two kings, is very interesting, as it shews that two of its phylae had each a king, as was the case at Sparta, and as. at Rome the Tities as well as the Ramnes had each their king, while the Luceres, though citizens, were in a condition of dependence. 314 SECOND MESSENIAN WAR. When the Messenians were conquered, which took place about Olymp. 12 or 13, they were reduced to a state of servitude, though it was not complete helotism. The country of Messene does not seem to have become ager assignatus or to have been parcelled out in farms as in Laconia, but a tribute seems to have been paid by the whole body of the Messenians to the whole body of the Spartan citizens ; the Messenians being obliged to give up half the- produce of their fields, and to perform task- work. On the demise of a Spartan king, they were obliged to put on mourning, as a sign of their being in the position of sub- jects, "and to go to Sparta in mourning attire." The yoke was heavy. An exiled race of Argives, who are called Dryopes, were planted by the Spartans in Asine, in the Messenian terri- tory; they were, perhaps, no other than the citizens of an ancient Pelasgian town of the Danai, who had until then main- tained themselves in Argolis, and now being expelled from their homes were received by the Spartans. The second Messenian war, the time of which is so com- pletely uncertain in the detailed accounts of it, is placed by Pausanias, I think, about Olymp. 23. In this second war, Aristomenes appears as the national hero of the Messenians ; his exploits, in the narrative of Rhianus, must have had a high poetical charm, for even in its disfigured form in Pausanias, where it is divested of poetry, with the attempt to intro- duce into it something conceivable and probable, it is still attractive and delightful. "Aristomenes is not an invention of Rhianus; he is a mythical personage, who certainly once did exist, but is so completely disguised by popular tradition, that nothing, or only very little, of his history is authentic. Marco Kraljewitch, in the songs of the Servians, is quite a similar character." "We can neither suppose it to be true, that Aristomenes twice sacrificed txatop$ovlas, nor that he hung up, in Sparta itself, in the temple of Athena Chalcioecos, a shield taken from the Spartans, with a dedicatory inscription ; nor that he was captured by the Spartans and thrown into a large cavern, xc d8as, from which he saved his life only by a miraculous accident. All this is neither probable nor possible ; it was necessary to make the story poetical in order to make it SECOND MESSENIAN WAR. 315 pleasing. Mount Taygetus is torn by earthquakes and volcanic influences, large caves and chasms are numerous, and such was the Ceadas near Sparta. Into it the condemned criminals were thrown, as at Rome they were hurled from the Tarpeian rock; and into such a cave Aristomenes also was thrown. Its depth was so great that no one could get down alive, and hence the poet devised the fiction that some divinity, in the form of an eagle with outspread wings, took him and gently carried him down ; among the corpses he observed something living, a fox or a jackal, which he took hold of, and the animal led him forward, until he saw the light of day, and thus Aristomenes was saved. This story, independently of its being very beautiful in itself, deserves to be noticed also on account of the fact, that it is one of the few examples of a Greek and truly poetical tale being transferred to the East. For the story of the deliverance from a cave also occurs in the Arabian tales about the travels of Sinbad ; and is as obviously taken from this Greek tradition, as the story of the giant with one eye is derived from the Greek tradition of the Cyclops. These travels of Sinbad are an original and peculiar Arabic and Persian tale, with which the two Greek ones have been combined; it is an independent and voluminous work, some portion of which was incorporated with the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Here, then, we have two instances, which are otherwise extremely rare, of a connection of Greek poetry with the East. Pausanias relates the history of the two wars in the same way in which Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates those of Romulus. The latter gives an accurate description of all the dispositions and evolu- tions, and Pausanias, too, is not much behindhand in this. This is certainly not the fault of Rhianus ; he unquestionably repre- sented Aristomenes and his other heroes as fighting man to man, as in the Iliad. It may be historically true, that in this war the Messenians were soon reduced to acting on the defensive, and were forced to retreat to mount Eira, and that there they continued to defend themselves for a long time ; but whether the siege lasted eleven years, as Rhianus stated, or whether this, too, belongs to poetry, does not affect the main question. As to the manner in which the war ended, we are likewise unable to say anything : whether Aristomenes fell, whether the Spartans 316 CONQUEST OF MESSENE AND CYNURIA. opened a road to the despairing Messenians, and permitted them to depart, all this is beyond the domain of real history. Butrthe great historical fact is, that the Spartans completely conquered Messene, and thus became possessed of two of the Doric portions of Peloponnesus. After the subjugation, the Spartans reduced the greater part of the country to a wilderness. In the Pelo- ponnesian war the territory about Pylos (Navarino) was a couk plete desert ; the valley of the Pamisos about Calamata is a beautiful district, and this they probably spared. The Messe- nians now appear to have fallen into the condition of helots ; for we find them in it in the time of Archidamus, or the period of what is called the third Messenian war after the earthquake. The complete devastation of the country may have been the consequence of this last insurrection. '-It is impossible to dis- cover anything definite regarding the relation in which the Messenian country stood to Sparta. Some towns seem to have been in the condition of Perioeci, and to have continued in the enjoyment of municipal institutions. " But the remainder of the country was distributed among the Spartans ; and the number of the lost, the determination of which is ascribed to'Lycurgus,-must probably be referred to that time. It is also historically true, that a great body of the Messenians emigrated to Arcadia, where they were recived in the towns, while a small portion founded Messana in Sicily.'' The Spartans now also deprived the Argives of the western coast of the Argolic gulf, from Malea to the frontiers of Argos. The whole of that district may have borne the name of Cynuria. to a much greater extent than appears in history, where it com- prises only the territory of Thyrea ; the wide diffusion of the Cynurians renders it difficult to believe, that their country should not have been more extensive ; " Orneae, too, and the whole country as far as Sicyon must have belonged to it." But the last struggle between the Argives and Spartans, shortly before the time of Croesus, was only about the territory of Thyrea. Here we again find, in the account of Othryades, the mere tradi- tion without historical credibility. Three hundred Spartans fight against three hundred Argives, for no other reason than that both nations, being Dorians, are divided into three EXTENSION OF THE SPAKTAN DOMINION. 317 phylae, and are subdivided, according to the decimal system, into curiae und gentes. Othryades, who remains on the field of battle and erects trophies, is as little historical as Horatius, the con- queror of Alba. I will not on that account deny his personal existenpe, but the account of him lies beyond the domain of history. Sparta thus extended, her frontiers to the very neigh- bourhood of Argos, and the Argive state fell entirely to pieces. Corinth had long been independent and powerful, and Troezen, Epidaurus, Hermione, Sicyon, Phlius, and Cleonae had emanci- pated themselves. Nay, matters had come to such a point, that even Mycenae and Tiryns no longer recognized the supremacy of Argos. This may have happened about Olymp. 70, in con- sequence of the victory of Cleomenes. When the Spartans were masters of Messene, and had con- fined Argos to such narrow limits, they turned their arms against the Arcadians, and conquered a considerable territory, the country about Pellana and Belemina; this comprises the same districts which Philip of Macedonia afterwards restored to the Arcadians, when he was invited to act as umpire by the Pelopon- nesians, who, preferring to have foreign tyrants to recognising a great native city, called on him to arbitrate between them. That country now formed a Aaxuvixrj irtixt^os. But the Spartans, not yet satisfied, tried to subdue all Arcadia as they had subdued Messene ; not as the Romans did, for the sake of conquest, to extend and enlarge their nation, but to reduce a free people to a state of servitude, and rob it of its landed property. The Arcadians, however, opposed them with courage and determina- tion, " and although they did not form a confederacy, they made common cause in this war," and the Spartans never succeeded in conquering them, although, in the time of Croesus, they were successful against Tegea, then the greatest city in Arcadia, and defeated the Tegeatans in several battles, It is possible, that the territory of Belemina and Pellana belonged to the state of Tegea. While Sparta was thus extending her power, and while the supremacy among the Doric nations which had at first belonged to Argos, was thus gradually passing over to- Sparta, she acquired the supremacy of the greater part of Peloponnesus. Her 818 CORINTH. authority was gradually established over the -whole peninsula, and was generally acknowledged, especially by the Doric towns in Argolis, which had made themselves independent of Argos, with the exception of Argos itself, which obstinately and sul- lenly refused, and of Arcadia, which manfully resisted every encroachment. " In this manner we find Sparta, about Olymp. 55, recognised as the first Greek city, and barbarians, such as Croesus and Amasis, endeavour to form alliances with her." At that period Corinth was by far the wealthiest, most flour- ishing, and most intellectual city in Peloponnesus. It had at an early time an extensive commerce, founded Syracuse, de- prived the Eretrians, who had formerly been masters in the west, of Corcyra, and thence, in conjunction with the Corcyreans, founded Apollonia, Epidamnus, Ambracia, Chalcis, Alyzia, and other places on the coast of Acarnania. The Corinthians were absolute masters in those parts: by their possession of Corcyra, they closed the Adriatic against the piracy of the Liburnians and other barbarians, and secured the safety of the passage to Italy and Sicily. The possession of Syracuse was particularly valuable to them, on account of the corn so abundantly produced in Sicily ; they provided Hellas with grain, which in consequence of its dense population in many parts, could not produce a suffi- cient supply ; they themselves also needed it, as their territory could not supply a city like Corinth; their colonies therefore helped them in this respect. It was the first Greek city in which all trades and industry, r Igixu and fSanavaltu, were honoured ; not that in those early times trade was honoure'd in the manner in which it was at Florence, Augsburg, etc., during the time of the guilds, from the 14th century onwards; but rather in the manner in which they were honoured at Niirnberg, where the ruling houses indeed treated them with favour and respect, but still would not hear of tradesmen presuming to have a share in the government. For the Corinthian constitution was strictly aris- tocratic, a very narrow oligarchy, the government being in the hands of the Bacchiadae alone, " who' did not form one family, but a whole yho S , which traced its origin to a Heracleid Bacchis." But as the city was rich, and had a large body of wealthy citi- zens, the oligarchy found its position precarious and dangerous, RISING OF THE DEMOS. 319 and therefore jealously watched to maintain itself, and to keep down the demos, " which consisted of artizans, merchants, tradesmen, and the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. These circumstances led to the revolution of CypseluS', who having placed himself at the head of the commonalty, expelled the Bacchiadae." (01. 30,) , From this period, until the time of Pisistratus, which is a time of transition to an entirely new state of things, we must comprise the history of Greece in broad outlines. We know very little about that period. In ancient Hellas itself, where circumstances were different from those in the colonies, 'Em.^ (jtfopaStxi;, this is the period of dictatorships, which are known under the name of tvpawitiit. 3 From about, Olymp. 20, there appears throughout Greece, in some parts sooner and in others later, a general movement, in consequence of the fact that the demos, which was differently constituted, consisting, sometimes of the country population and sometimes of the body of the town population, raised themselves into wealth and power. The mode of carrying On wars also was changed; for while formerly they had been carried on by light-armed troops, 4-aoi, there now appeared the hoplites, and the phalanx was formed. The hoplites consisted of the com- monalty, and as they were now in the possession of arms, a substantial power had sprung up, which it was impossible' to get rid of. Most foolish attempts were made to keep that power down in every possible way; and instead of attaching it to themselves, the oligarchs who were becoming weaker and weaker, endeavoured to oppress, the demos, though in times of war they could not dispense with it ; for they were obliged to have the phalanx, just as the oligarchical cantons in Switzerland were obliged to arm the country people. Thus entirely new relations grow out of the actual state of things. The hoplites and the armed demos now preferred their claims, the oligarchy became more and more reduced in strength and in numbers, without attempting to recruit itself; for, according to the common view, 3 This paragraph has been transposed to this place from the beginning of Lecture XXXI. 320 THE ANCIENT TYRANTS. the oligarchs were quite satisfied, if for the moment they counted only twenty families possessed of power, while formerly their number had amounted to two hundred, for the fewer they were, the greater was the number of offices which they might obtain. Under such circumstances, the oligarchy tried to keep down the commonalty by force, and even went so far, as hap- pened also at Geneva, as to engage mercenaries against it. As the ancient, simple, and unconscious good understanding had ceased to exist between the two orders, "we hear of those ataang, which are so remarkable in the early history, and which led to so many emigrations in cases where the commonalty had not yet acquired sufficient strength ; but where it was a match for the ruling body," new relations sprang up. From the body of the oligarchs an ambitious individual would come forward as the representative of the commonalty, and find followers among them against his own order : such men are the tyrants of the early times. The forms remained essentially the same every- where, except that the demos was allowed more power. All our accounts of tyrants show that they originated in this manner ; it is the demos that chooses for itself such a protector from among the powerful or ruling families, and supports him. This is a characteristic phenomenon in Greek history, which shows itself during the period from Olymp. 20, to Olymp. 60, appearing in some places earlier than in others. These tyrants of the early times are in reality nothing but dictators or usurp- ers ; they have only this disadvantage of all usurpers, that they are not surrounded by the halo of legitimacy, so that a con- flict of ambition may arise, in which every one can come forward with the same justice and demand sovereign power. They are quite different from the tyrants of later times, the two Dionysius and Agathocles in Sicily, Apollodorus of Cassandrea, and those in Peloponnesus during the Macedonian period, under Anti- gonus Gonatas, and at the time of the Achaean league. All these latter are usurpers, who came forward at a time when the state and the form of the cpnstitution had become effete, and where the interference of a dictator was unavoidable, because it had become impossible for a free constitution to exist any longer. " They did not come into power through revolutions, ORTHAGORAS AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 321 which had their basis and their necessity in the progress of development, but took possession of the towns with the aid of bands of mercenaries." Among these tyrants of later times there are some who do not deserve any blame,' but most of them were bad men, and even the best created nothing good, or could create nothing; they were only the lesser evil in bad times; for they put an end to the distracted condition of a state, and during the time of their rule they preserved to some extent peace and tranquillity. The last Hiero of Syracuse was a man of this kind, for considering the circumstances of that city, heaven in its mercy could not have bestowed upon it a greater blessing. The tyrants of the ancient times, on the other hand, were a necessary part of the political development, and a bene- ficial phenomenon, which must not be judged by its name, and in which we are forced to recognise a kind Providence. "They were the natural result of a revolutionary condition, in which the foundations that liberty might have been based on, had been destroyed ; and they formed the necessary transition to future freedom, since the development of the Greek, states did not arrive at that degree of maturity which we see in the history of Home." LECTURE XXXI. The most ancient of these tvpawtSts, and the one which lasted longest, for it continued for nearly a century, is the dynasty, for so it may be called, of OrtbagOras at Sicyon; He was a man of the people, an artizan, or the 'son of an artizan, so that here the course of things is different from what happened in other places; we have here no interference of an ambitious man of the ruling class, but an insurrection of the commonalty against the rulers. His dynasty completely established itself, and, as I have said, lasted longer than any other. However low the origin of its founder was, his successors were completely invested with VOL. i. 21 322 CYPSELUS AND OXHEB TTKANTS. the character of legitimacy, and the most illustrious men of Greece sued for the hand of the daughter of Cleisthenes of Sicyon. These princes of Sicyon, among whom Cleisthenes acquired, great celebrity, did not assuredly rule ? over the small territory of Sicyon alone, and this may be asserted more particularly of Cleisthenes. He was at enmity with Argos, and must therefore have been in contact with it as a neighbour; he probably ruled over Phlius, and perhaps eyen farther, for he appears as a very powerful prince. The long duration of the reigns of these princes shows, how suitable it was to the circum- stances of the state ; and that the people under such a dictator felt much more comfortable than before. The second great dynasty, which lasted for a considerable time, is that of the -Cypselids ; it reigned upwards of fifty years, but it did not go further than the third generation. Cypselus (about Olymp. 30). is an example of the causes of the tyrannis. He was the son of a man in the Country, a %«>r»js, who had married the daughter of a Bacchiad, because, it is said, none'. of , her kinsmen would have her, because she was lame. The oligarchs are said to have entertained apprehensions of the offspring of this marriage, as Eetion, the father of Cypselus, as the oracle says, was already a distinguished man, and highly respected by his order; and emissaries are said to have come intending to strangle the infant in its cradle. But it was saved, though with difficulty, and grew up in hatred of the oligarchs. When Cypselus had attained the age of manhood, he came forward with his claims, which certainly were greater than those of a 'man of the demos: he created a revolution, overthrew the Bacchiads, and was recognised by the commonalty of Corinth as its ruler. The circumstances under which he and other men of his class Pisistratus, Theagenes, Lygdamis and others ruled, were the same as those under which the first Medici, Cosmo and Lorenzo il Magnifico, ruled at Florence. No man at Florence had any particular title, though he ruled as a prince: all the magistrates and officers continued to exist just as before, being apparently chosen by lot, in the most democratic fashion, and yet even Cosmo r and especially Lorenzo, of Medici, were the life and soul, as well as the real lords of the republic; they transacted THEAGENES— LYGDAMIS. 323 business with foreign powers, and wherever they spoke, all around were silent ; their intelligence and their, will decided everything. In the history of Florence, they alone are seen acting ; hut if we look into the Fasti of the republic, we find all the magistrates as before, the Gonfalonieri, the Signoria, the Repubblica, etc. Such was precisely the case in the Greek states. The tyrants — I use the name here very reluctantly — alone governed the whole state, although all the ancient forms remained, as. far as the real government was concerned; but where it was not concerned, things remained as before, and the magistrates performed their functions ; nay, sometimes the eccle- sia was convened, in whioh the body of citizens passed decrees. The tyrants usually had at most a body-guard, Soputopot, which, however, they seem to have been scarcely in need of. Cypselus was severe only towards the Bacchiads ; towards the people he was anything but harsh; the government of Periander,, during the latter period, is said to have been severe towards the people also, but otherwise it was popular like that of Cypselus. In chronological, order, there now follows Theagenes of Megara. The Orthagoridae are the most ancient ; then come the Cypselids whose age is differently stated. The chronolo- gical statements about the periods are sometimes contradictory to historical facts. The earliest period that can be assigned to Cypselus is the thirtieth Olympiad. Theagenes (about Olymp. 40) likewise came forward from the ruling families at a time when they had carried the abuse of their power to the highest pitch. They had attacked theoriae on their pilgrimage to Delphi, and thrown down their vehicles from the Scironian rocks. Theagenes ruled entirely by the will of the com- monalty. We must conceive that the're existed at Megara a small Doric colony in the midst of a numerous demos of the ancient inhabitants ; the latter had recovered from the oppres- sion of the Dorians, and gained sufficient strength, to throw off the yoke. The Doric rulers, by their foolish seclusion, had weakened themselves; and the gaps which time had made in their ranks had not been filled up, while the demos was ever on the increase. The government of Lygdamis, which belongs to a still later 324 PITTACUS. period, about the beginning of the tyrannis of Pisistratus (Olymp. 60), was of a similar nature. Lygdamis, as ruler of Naxos, was master also of the surrounding Cyclades. This is the first trace of the history of those islands, and we see on that occasion, that Naxos was a very populous state. Naxos is one of those countries which are most richly blessed by heaven: it is a volcanic mountain rising out of the sea with a broad base, excellent and fertile to the very top, like the island of Bourbon. The Venetians introduced an oligarchy in Naxos, and the Italian families still continue to make pretensions, and fancy themselves infinitely superior to the native country people; although they have become entirely hellenised, yet they keep aloof from the natives, live in castles, and treat the country people most insolently ; but before the Turks they crouch, and are, therefore, protected in their tyranny by the power of the Kapudan Pasha, wherefore they in return sup- port the interest of the Turks. Such also was the miserable oligarchy, to which in ancient times, Lygdamis put an end in Naxos. His government was likewise very popular. An occurrence, which in appearance was of a diiFerent kind, but in reality identical, was the elevation of Pittacus to the sovereignty of Mitylene (Olymp. 47). There, too, an oligarchy possessed political power; the clan of the Pentha- lidae, or, as they are sometimes called, Penthelidae, Or Pen- thilidae, containing a small number of oligarchic families, ruled over the great city of Mitylene, and abused their power to such an extent, that from mere insolence they ill used the people, beating them with sticks. The demos at length took courage, and having confidence in his wisdom and moderation, raised Pittacus, who also belonged to one of the noble families, to the rank of alavfiv^ttju This occurred about Olymp. 50: the reign of Cypselus commenced about the time -when the Median empire was established, when Nineveh having lost its power was already hastening towards its downfall, and when the Scythians broke in upon Media; Pittacus belongs to the time of Nebucadnezar. The event was followed by great and violent struggles : many of the aristocrats took to flight, and among them was Alcaeus, the greatest poet that Greece pro- PITTACUS. 325 duced after Homer. He and Antimenides had placed them- selves at the head of the aristocracy against Pittacus ; but notwithstanding their most exasperated struggles, they were unable to recover their former position; and Pittacus main- tained his power, promoting at the same time the greatest prosperity of Mitylene. When the object of his dictatorship was accomplished, and peace and tranquillity were restored, he laid down his power. We have here an example, teaching us that we should not allow ourselves to be misguided in history by the fact, that very eminent persons side with one of the opposing political factions ; such characters must not sway us in our judgment of the respective merits of the parties. Who is there, that having any taste for poetry and beautiful rhythm, can read the small fragments of Aleaeus without feeling Tiis heart beat, and without acknowledging, that next to Homer he is the greatest poet? And yet this Aleaeus fought in sup- port'of the tyranny of his faction, and denounced in his poems the wise man who was the benefactor of his country; nay, he Went so far as to call him xa.x6ito.tw, an expression implying contempt for his own order. 1 It certainly was at that time not a matter of rare occurrence for a republic to appoint such an ae&ymrietes or judge, on whom that dignity was conferred, for a definite time. The name aiav^ira was derived from oi'si^a. 2 , ' "The word scaxortatfpts in the beautiful fragment preserved by Aristotle (Polit. p. 87, ed. Sylburg) has been misunderstood; it is evidently used as the opposite of tivtatpiSr;;, and in the sense of Brjiiotixo-;. The terminations tj and iorii are no doubt synonymous, like the Latin us and inus in libertus and liberiinus." ■ "As Lavinia and Turnus are only designations of the Lavini and Turini, so we also find in the list of the Spartan kings one of the name Of Eunomus. Aceording to one tradition, Lyourgus was the son of Eunomus, who was a son of Doryssus (military power), and the ancestor of Chari- laus. It is surely quite clear that these names are not historical. But, in like manner, We find among the Athenian archons one Medon (the ruler) and one Aisimedes (one who administers justice). There are many more such names. They must be understood in as symbolical, a sense, when history is conceived poetically, as the names of nymphs, etc., in mytho- logy. When in the theogony we read the names of the Nereids, such as Glauee, Speio (the marine cave), and their whole series of names, we at once see that all of them refer to things connected with the sea; and who 326 NATURE OF THE ANCIENT TYRANNIS. If we view these tyrants of the early times in this light, which constitutes their real character, it cannot surprise you that men like Pittacus and Periander were numbered among the seven sages. In the ordinary works on the early history of Greece, you will find very edifying lamentations, that such worthy men allowed themselves to be so far misled as to become tyrants in their own country ; but these tyrannies were necessary transi- tions, and those men were highly beneficial to their countries. If they had governed the people according to their own discre- tion, as in the ikst, the case would indeed be different; but they were only guardians of the people, who watched over them, until the ancient causes of dispute were removed. During their ad- ministration the rights of the demos acquired stability and dura- bility; the families of the oligarchs learned to accustom them- selves to regard the demos as a body of free citizens existing beside them ; and habits of self-government and of consulting for the common good were formed. " The nobles and the demos entered into friendly relations and united with one another, and the Imyafiia is no longer heard of." It was a time of tutelage for the people, which was necessary for the development of the states: we place thorn bushes around young trees to protect them against ill-usage while they are acquiring strength, and afterwards take away the thorns when the trees have become sufficiently strong — such also was the case with the tyrants of those times; and even Pisistratus and the Pisistratids, against whom so much has been said, were the benefactors of their country. We must not, however, attribute to them any moral would here look for any other meaning? The invention of those name?, .however, cannot be assigned to a late period, such as that of Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, but they are much more ancient. When a noble Athe- nian, for example, of the family of the Neleids, recounted his ancestors, as the Arabs did in Spain, and as is done in the Old Testament, he counted them backwards up to the ancient times with their freely invented names of this description, which, however, in the early times had as little the ap- pearance of history as the names of the marine divinities, Muses, Graces, and the like. Such considerations are not arbitrary ; they furnish the key to a free understanding of ancient history ; and this does not diminish their value, but even in history it is delightful, and enables us to perceive its transition into poetry." NATURE OF THE ANCIENT TYRANNIS. 327 or self-sacrificing motive,' from wKich they placed themselves at the head of affairs ; for in return for the good they did, they themselves also enjoyed great advantages. There were, but very few who, like Pittacus, sacrificed themselves in taking the burden upon them; but all were beneficial instruments in the hands of Providence, bringing about those transitions which, under other circumstances, would have taken place only amid the greatest convulsions. " Had it not been for them, the miserable oligarchies would have become the victims of the demos, which had outgrown their control." Wherever the rulers prevented such a catastrophe, there arose an unnatural state of things, like that at Sparta and- also in some entirely oligarchical cantons of Switzerland, and at Nurnberg. Corinth would never have become a great city without the Cypselids. The period of the act of mediation in Switzerland may be compared with 'that of the Greek tyrannies; the country, it is true, owes no gratitude to Napoleon for substituting his will for the law, but still the in- fluence of a foreign power which kept both the contending parties in check, was highly beneficial ; and it would have been very de- sirable for Switzerland, if that state of things could have lasted one generation longer, until affairs had become, settled. The circumstances in Greece were of a similar nature. While in this manner, the great cities of Greece developed themselves, they also extended their power without. "We see Greece about this time suddenly raising itself; and such a speedy progress is quite a common phenomenon among commercial na- tions. The opening of Egypt, about Olymp. 27, also exercised a great /influence upon the power of the Greek cities; and it was not till then that Greece began to be wealthy. The Greek spirit of enterprise could now display itself in quite a new direction ; from their own country they could at most export only wine and oil, but they carried on the commerce from the Euxine to Egypt, and diffused the most varied productions of that fertile country among the neighbouring nations. Egypt was on terms of hostility with Phoenicia, whereby the commerce of the latter country was paralysed; the navy of Egypt, however, was only the work of great labour and skill, and a considerable part of its crews cer- tainly consisted of Greeks. " In the reign of Periander, Corinth 328 INCREASED POWER OF SOME CITIES. subdued Epidaurus, ruled over Corcyra, and completed her colo- nies on the coasts of Epirus and Illyricum ; and thus extended her commerce immensely. " Not far from Corinth, a maritime and commercial people was rising in the island of Aegina ; its excellent harbour had drawn to it more and more bold, adventu- rers at sea, and the little island thus became a powerful com- mercial state." In like manner, the other larger towns rose in prosperity. Athens alone was kept in a low and weak condition by the oligarchs, until the time of Pisistratus, because three fac- tions of the oligarchs were tearing one another to pieces ; but the demos endeavoured to gain freedom by supporting the head of one faction against the other. During that state of affairs, even Megara was too powerful for Athens. During this period, and in fact from the earliest times, great obscurity hangs over the changes in the other parts of Greece. This only is clearly perceptible, that at a not very late period, the Thessalians gradually extended their power. At first they had conquered the valley of the Peneus, and then, the three subject nations, the Phthiotian Achaeans, the Perrhaebians, and Magnetes. But now, after their subjugation, probably not later than Olymp. 50, they advanced towards southern Hellas, and all Greece was threatened by the danger of being subdued by the Thessalians. They first turned against the Phocians, who were on the point of submitting to them, when despair made them victorious, and enabled them to repel the attack. Soon after this, the consequences of the uncultivated condition of the Thessalian tribes became manifest ; for the Thessalian nation broke up, and lost all its strength through the factions of the oligarchs. Thessaly was the hotbed of oligarchy: the Aleuadae in Larissa, and the Scopadae in Pharsalus and Cranon, ruled like the Polish magnates. We there see a perfect picture of the dissolution of all order: Thessaly was no longer a state, but in the principal cities some one family ruled in a perfectly arbitrary manner. The country people were absolute serfs, while their lords gave themselves up to gluttony and drinking, for this was the privilege and the happiness of the powerful in Thessaly. All the vices of a corrupt oligarchy manifested themselves, and great as the power of the oligarchs was in the towns, Thessaly, THE THESSALIANS — PERPETUAL WARS. 329 in its relations to the rest of Greece, was reduced to a state of perfect weakness. The country altogether furnishes a picture of Poland in its condition of dissolution ; and its strange weak- ness, notwithstanding its extensive territory, was quite as manifest to the whole of Greece, as that of Poland was* to the whole of modern Europe. In the other parts of Greece there must have been great changes, though we do hot possess the slightest trace of them. After the emigration of the Dorians, the Aetolians and Phocians must have extended themselves in their mountains, but We have no mention of it. 3 In this manner Greece proper continued for centuries ; great wars were of rare occurrence, if we except the attempts of the Spartans to make conquests, the subjugation of Messenia, and the wars against Argos. In the colonies the case was different. Chalcis and Eretria, e. g., both cities of the Ionian race, were perpetually engaged in vehement wars. Both were maritime cities, and both, but especially Chalcis, extended their power by numberless settle- ments; "and it seems that they came into collision with each other through the disputes of their colonies." It is inconceiv- able how towns in so small an island, of which they possessed only a portion, could send out so many colonies without becoming themselves exhausted. A long protracted war was carried on between the two, and during that struggle the other states seemed to have taken a part by their wishes rather than by any real efforts; but this is all we know; the fact only is mentioned, and we do not even know the time of the struggle. The Greek cities in Asia were much more nourishing than the states of the continent in Europe, where the conquests of the Thessalians and Spartans spread barbarism. The most pros- perous among the. Asiatic cities were those of Ionia, in regard to which' we have to distinguish different periods. Colophon was the city among them which first became great and powerful, and even at a later time its name was proverbial for a great and mighty" power: Ko^o^ira kniSiCvai. It is expressly stated, that it had a strong body of cavalry, which shows that it ruled over an 3 See tKe allusions above, pp. 274 and 275. 330 CONDITION OF THE GREEK CITIES MAGNETES. extensive territory. Next to Colophon, we must mention Erythrae ; but ive have no other traces of its greatness, than that it was able to carry on long wars with Colophon. The latter city, however, fell into the hands of Gyges, the first Lydian king, as early as Olymp. 20, and was afterwards captured by the Cimmerians. About the period from Olymp. 26 to 30, Asia suffered fearfully from the invasions of the Cimmerians : " They came with all the horrors of Tartar barbarians, and from the fragments of Callinus 4 we see, that their invasion was as formi- dable to the Greeks as it was to the Lydians." Colophon never recovered after its conquest by Gyges. A part of its inhabit- ants fled to Italy, and settled at Siris, in the neighbourhood of Sybaris. 5 LECTURE XXXII. The Magnetes also were very powerful in those earliest times, but we do not know, whether those on the Maeander or those of Mount Sipylus are meant. Their, downfall seems to have been brought about by the inroads of the Cimmerians : the xaxi, Mayvr t tav were even proverbial. Samos also was distinguished for its prosperity ; and there are several circumstances from which that island appears to have carried on a great commerce with Egypt. The temple of Hera, in Samos, was an extremely ancient building. After the fall of Colophon, Miletus rose, and extended its power above all others by its colonies. Previously to Olymp. 30, the Greek colonies do not seem to have extended beyond the Hellespont; but now Milesians first settled at Cyzicus, and thence the settlements spread around the Propontis and the 4 Comp. Klein. Schrift., vol. i. p. 367, note 38. 5 "Of the G-reek colonies in Italy we shall, according to Justin's plan, speak hereafter." GREATNESS OFMILETUS. 331 Euxine. With the exception of the Megarian settlements at Byzantium and Heraclea, all the coasts of the Euxine were oc- cupied by Milesians. Although these colonies were entirely independent of the mother city, yet they greatly contributed towards its greatness and prosperity not only through their duti- fulness to the mother city, but through the identity and rela- tionship of their institutions. The very fact that the mother city made no claims to rule over her colonies, as modern states do in regard to theirs, and that the 1 colonies, in cases of emer- gency, assisted the parent city, produced in antiquity a cordial relation between the mother city and her colonies, of which we find but few exceptions, as, e.g., between Corcyra and Corinth. Thus Miletus was a powerful and wealthy city as early as Olymp. 50, and in the time of Alyattes, it was able to sustain a war against all the power of the Lydian kings." When at last, after a severe struggle, it was forced to submit, it did not experience any evil consequences from this; it retained its constitution, and instead of the tyrants, the Lydian kings now were the medi- ators, by whose influence the factions were silenced. In the reign of Croesus, therefore, Miletus had reached its highest prosperity and greatness ; and in this state it maintained itself until the times of Darius Hystaspis; it was not till the un- fortunate insurrection of the Ionians, that Miletus sank from its height. The most important event in Greece during this period, is the legislation of Solon, which belongs to the time of Pisistratus. Before the time of Solon, a deep darkness hangs, over the con- stitution of Athens; nay, over the time of Solon himself, although he is a real historical personage, and not by any means mythi- cal. From the accounts in the history of Solon, we see this much, that Cylon lived before him. Cylon was a noble Athe- nian af the time of the Attic aristocracy; he had gained a victory at Olympia, was a man of great influence, and aimed at making himself tyrant ,of Athens; but he was overpowered by the Alemaeonids, and being blockaded in the Acropolis, he capitu- lated on condition that he should be allowed to live in freedom. Notwithstanding this, however, he and his followers were mur- 332 DRACO — SOLON. dered' by the conquerors. The celebrated legislation of Draco is likewise older than Solon ; it was said of it, that it was written in blood; but it was only mpi hZv fovixuv, "and had nothing to do with politics ; it was only intended, by severe laws, to restore tranquillity among the people who had become uncontrollable." If Solon's laws had been preserved, or if we even possessed only his elegies complete, we should have materials enough to form a satisfactory notion of the circumstances of his time, such as Demetrius Phalereus and Aristotle were enabled to form. These two are our best sources of information, for Plutarch is so uncritical, and puts his materials so indiscriminately together, that he makes as much use of Hermippus, the most fabulous of all writers, as he does of Demetrius Phalereus, a man of a critically severe and clear mind. He accumulates all that he can find, in order to make his account as complete as possible. Thus, for example, he will not pass over the story of the meet- ing between Solon and Croesus, and reports it without misgiv- ings, notwithstanding the doubts raised by others. The history of Solen, in Plutarch, as far as its substance is concerned, con- sists of very heterogeneous elements; it contains statements deserving the highest confidence, and they can be traced to the best critical authorities, Aristotle or Demetrius Phalereus ; be- sides Demetrius, Plutarch probably used Philochorus. Other statements, however, are entirely untrustworthy. When -we first begin to occupy ourselves with the history of Solon, we are very disagreeably surprised at finding that, from the time when the history of Attica began to be treated chronologically, the archonship of Solon has been placed in Olymp, 46, while the account of his relation to Pisistratus, not to mention his meet- ing with Croesus, places him in Olymp. 56, or even later. If Solon lived to a very advanced age, the two statements are in- deed not irreconcilable, since he might have framed his laws when a young man ; it cannot, moreover, be questioned that he lived to an advanced age, and the contradiction thus seems to be removed; but it is, after all, not probable that Athens should 1 This must be a lapsus linguae, for it is well known that Cylon escaped. —Ed. DATE OP SOLON. 333 have chosen him for its legislator in his youth, and without hav- ing tested him during a long career. The capture of Nisaea, moreover, is stated to have taken place in the youth of Solon ; whereas, in the account of Pisistratus, the latter is said to have distinguished himself on that occasion, and represents him there, as well as in the conquest of Salamis, as co-operating with Solon. How this difficulty is to be solved, I do not know. We have no means of convincing Ourselves, whether the positive date fixed for the archonship of Solon by those highly honourable men who have arranged the Attic chronology, can be adopted as quite certain. If it were possible to fix the time of Solon with certainty, it must have been in one of two ways; there either existed Fasti of the archontes eponymi, in which case it was only necessary to count the years backward, say from the time of Pisistratus; or there existed a generally-established era which could be followed. But of Such an era, as, for example, the Capitoline era, not a trace is found in Greece. The era of the Olympiads, as we know for certain, was not employed till a very late period, Timaeus being the first to use it as a general era. In particular cases, it may have been employed before him, for an author like Timaeus does not invent such things, but he first brought it into general use. The instances in which the same is said to have been done at an earlier period, are very doubtful; Philoehorus, indeed, also reckoned according to Olympiads, but he and Timaeus belong to precisely the same time. Hence all such statements regarding earlier periods are nothing but arti- ficial calculations. It is, therefore, possible that the statement, that Solon Was archon in Olymp. 46, is not absolutely certain, though it is very probable that there existed very good reasons for such a statement. I must, therefore, leave the chronological question to stand on its own ground, and I will not be too scru- pulous in regard to a great number of events which are referred to Solon. I will only direct your attention to this additional circumstance, that though in the account adopted by Plutarch, Pisistratus and Solon appear as men about the same age, this cannot be reconciled in any way with chronology ; for if that account were true, Megacles, who was the older contemporary and rival of Pisistratus, must likewise be conceived to have acted bis part before the archonship of Solon. 334 CONQUEST OF SALAMIS. The condition of Athens was. very distressing before Solon came forward; the process of its decay, the result of various circumstances, had been going on for many generations. " The country was torn to pieces by the factions of the eupatrids, and with them the demos also was divided into parties. - A great number of demotae were in bondage in consequence of debt, and were therefore at the mercy of the oligarchs* The country of Attica had been reduced to narrow limits, and com- merce lay altogether prostrate." The island of Salamis, in front of the Piraeus — which port seems not to have been used, because it was entirely under the control of Salamis, Phalerus being the port of Athens — was in the hands of the Megarians. Megara had a period of greatness, which lies beyond our history, and during which it founded Byzantium and Heraclea on the Euxine, Megara in Sicily, and other less important colonies. The great- ness which it acquired at the expense of Athens was lost, ac- cording to all appearance, during the period of the oligarchy, from which the tyrant Theagenes, in conjunction with the demos, delivered his country, but for his own advantage.' It is a, well- known tradition, that Athens, after many unsuccessful attempts to recover Salamis, at last enacted a law forbidding to remind the people of the loss of the island, or to incite them to fresh conquests, but that Solon notwithstanding ventured in the dis- guise of a madman to bring the question before the assembly in an elegy, and thus stirred up the Athenians to a war, in which they recovered Salamis. The manner in which the conquest was made is related in different ways. "Nicaea also was at that time taken away from Megara." On this occasion, it becomes obvious how little we can rely on the statements of the later half-Greeks, when they quote ancient r writers as their authori- ties. Plutarch relates that the elegy which Solon recited on that occasion, was still extant among his poems, and he quotes the first words of it: Avibs *»;(*>(; fjXBav af' l/iepfys SoAa/uvo;, etc. Now I ask any one, whether it is not clear, that the poem which Solon recited before the people, could not begin in this manner, and that in these words he rather refers to an earlier poem ? It is evident that the former can have been only a prooemium serving as an introduction to the poem. Solon addresses the people in LAW OF DEBT. 335 such a poem instead of an harangue ; as the other day an accused criminal at .Paris pleaded his case in verse. Although, there- fore, Plutarch often quotes Solon, it is yet very probable, that he took such quotations in reference to Solon as well as to others for the mpst part from anthologies, perhaps like that of Sto- baeus. That such collections existed long before the time of Joannes Stobaeus, is clear from the "Stromata" of Clemens Alexandrinus, -which are arranged, according to loci communes. lam convinced that the collection of Stobaeus is only an extract from earlier Florilegia. , There is a statement, that an Attic colony of 500 Athenians, possessing to xparos t ^s vr,aov, was established in Salamis. Hence Salamis, after the time of Solon, was a state dependent on Athens rather than an integral part of Attica. It probably stood at all times in a different relation from that of the real demos, although afterwards the Salaminians received the full franchise. It must, therefore, have been in nearly the same relation as a colonia civium Romanorum. But the principal cause of the complete misery of Attica was its-being involved in debt, according to the ancient law of debt which I have explained in my History of, Rome. 1 In the early ages of all nations, throughout the East, as well as among the Komans and Germans, we find it to be the established law, that a poor man, or any one who required money, concluded with his creditor a bargain, in which he sold himself to his creditor, whereby the latter became sure of his money. This is the origin of the, right of the creditor to make his debtor his prisoner. If the debtor did not pay, the creditor claimed him as his slave; and if he paid, he got rid of his nexum. This law existed in Attica as well as at Rome. Whoever forfeited his person in this way, lost his property, and the creditor was empowered not only to take the individual with all he possessed, and to make him Work as his slave, but he might even sell him, though only abroad, and not in his own country to another citizen. Here we have the very opposite of servitude : Penestae and Helots could ]?e sold, like the Russian serfs, only within the country, „ ' Co»p. vol. i. p. 571,, foil. 336 DEBTORS IN ATTICA. but the Athenian and Roman slaves for debt couH be sold only out of the country. The intention was to make the- law of debt as fearful as possible, in order to prevent persons recklessly running into debt. If an Athenian had been able to ransom a man enslaved for debt, he would immediately have recovered his position as a citizen, for every freed man was a citizen — he was not a metoecus, a condition which was reserved for foreign slaves and foreign freemen — hence the law forbidding them to be eold within the country. At Rome the case was precisely the same ; and in this sense we are to understand the law of the Twelve Tables, that a nexus should be sold trans Tiberim. For if he was manumitted in a municipium, he became himself a municeps, and could lay claim to the Roman franchise: this was to be avoided, he therefore was to remain absolutely a stranger, even if he should be free. Thus many unfortunate Athenians were sold as slaves in distant countries, where they even forgot their mother tongue. Besides those who were slaves for debt, there occurs another peculiar intermediate class, which Plutarch in his account mentions on excellent authority, but which he has misunderstood ; I mean the Ixr^uiptot. He mistakes them for real nexi, who had sold themselves to a master, and accordingly were Thetes or serfs ; but the Hectemorii were persons cultivat- ing their land on condition of their paying the sixth part of its produce to their master. This tax not being very heavy, that class of men was not in very distressing circumstances. "We must strictly distinguish them from the Thetes who were alike deprived of property and of personal freedom. The condition of the Hectemorii probably originated in very early times, the period of the Ionic conquest ; they ^ere the ancient Atticaris, who, from the time of their ancestors, had retained possession of their own estates, on condition of their paying a certain amount of the produce to their lords as an hereditary, rent, the lords standing to them in the relation of cleruchi. The amount of debts at Athens, as I said before, was immense; and we know for certain that Solon put an end to this state of things. But in what manner he effected this, and what his asKtaxBiia. was, these are questions on which the opinions of the- ancients differ. Two facts, however, are well established, viz., MEASURES AND LAWS OF SOLON. 387 that Solon, by redeeming the estates from the burdens under which they were suffering, reduced the debts themselves ; and secondly, that he raised the value of money -by making the mina of seventy-three drachmas worth one hundred drachmas. There is no trace to show how many drachmas were originally contained in a pound; it is not improbable, however, that at one time it contained twelve drachmas, and that it continued to become lighter, but this is a point on which we can only form conjectures. :Even many of the ancients believed, that the seisachtheia was nothing else than a lightening of the standard of the coinage ; but Solon's reform, which is evidently describe'd as a decisive one, does not seem to have consisted in this alone; In ancient times, novae tabulae are of such frequent occurrence, that I see no reason for doubting that Solon did something that was unusually, bold. We may conjecture with probability that he did what was often done by the Roman tribunes, viz., that he lightened the standard of the coinage, but at the same time deducted the interest already paid from the principal, and abolished the security which the creditor had on the lands of his debtor. It is also clear, that he did entirely away with the law of nexum, for from this time we hear no more of slaves for debt. Salon did at Athens, what the tribunes did at Rome, and what Sully did in France : Sully acted on the principle that whatever had been paid in interest beyond a reasonable rate, should be regarded as so much of the principal paid back. "The consequence of Solon's measures, was, that a number of slaves for - debt, who had been sold by their masters abroad, were ransomed." But besides this, Solon was also a law-giver. Every one knows of his laws, but the question here is how far did his legislation extend? Legislation in antiquity is on the whole, not confined to the civil law, it always comprises, more or less, the whole, jus publicum as well as the jus privatum. It is, however,' not necessary on this account, that a legislator should upset all the existing relations of a state, if there was no need forit;(and where there did not exist the- necessity for such a change, he might leave the ancient institutions untouched. There can be no doubt that Solon did make changes in the Attic VOL. I. %2 338 SOLON'S TIMOCEACY. constitution ; but in his time most points still remained as they had been before. Athens was divided into four phylae, each of which was represented by one hundred senators; but this divi- sion comprised only the four Ionic tribes, by the side of which there existed the demos. Solon, however, introduced a timo- cracy, by instituting four classes (ov/ipopiat), "according to which the members of the senate were to be elected," viz., the He>/*axoaiofii$i.ixvoi, irtrtfij, Ztvyltat,, and drjitf. The first are the land- ed proprietors, whose income amounted to five hundred medimni, a medimnus being the general name for any measure, iv Upois xai iypols, for the term embraced every kind of income, that of corn and fruits which were measured, as well as the cor- responding measure of wine and oil. The Urtili were those whose lands yielded an income of three hundred measures, that is, men able to keep a war-horse, and who in time of war served on horse-back; the $tvyi?ai, were those who were able to keep a pair of oxen to cultivate their own farm, but did not keep horses; their annual income amounted to two hundred measures. A.11 the rest formed the class of thetes. " The citizens of all the four classes had the right of voting, but their eligibility differed according to the classes to which they belonged." These classes seem, in the time of Solon, to have comprised the whole population of Attica. The thetes, constituting the bulk of the ancient inhabitants, seem to have included those Ionians, md even eupatrids, who were not possessed of property. Solon's main object seems to have been to limit the pretensions - :>f the families of the four tribes (every tribe was subdivided into ;hree ppatpicu, and every phratria into thirty yivrj or gentes), and to exclude those who had no property at all. We know for 3ertain, that even for a long time after the revolution of Cleis- thenes, only those of the eupatrids who were 7tsvtaxoai.ofiiSi.iJ.i'ot were eligible to the office of archon; hence it is clear that not ill the eupatrids were eligible, but at the same time a mrtaxo- noiiihiiivof could not become archon, unless he was a eupatrid ; a,nd this was assuredly a regulation of Solon. " We have no information as to what were the particular rights of the lunns md Ktvyltai." It is a fact beyond all doubt, that the demos was then still completely distinct from the *otoC or itoutai: it is THE ARCHONSHIP. 339 indeed probable tbat the demos, even at an early time, had a special constitution of its own, 2 but it is certain that it had no share in the government ; it was Cleisthenes who first united the, two elements of the nation into one great body, and gave to the demos a share in the sovereignty. "The court of the Areopagites, which had a direct influence upon all political mat- ters, was composed of men who had been archons ; it constituted a certain undefinable power, without which no state can exist for any length of time ; at Rome it was possessed by the senate, which, on extraordinary emergencies, might transfer it to the consuls. As regards the history of the Athenian magistrates until the time of Solon, we only know that the archons for life were succeeded by archons elected for the space of ten years, in both cases persons belonging to the royal family alone were eligible; then followed the ap**} irtityatos. We do not know what differ- ence there was between an archon for life and a king; it is possible that besides the archon there existed, even at that time, a rex sacrorum, so jhat the archon was deprived of the religious halo which surrounded the king. The apzn etir^acos was origi- nally,, no doubt, something different from the subsequent nine archons." When and how these latter, the three real magis- trates and the six thesmothetae, became a college is a question which we cannot answer; but at the time ofthe Pisistratids the college was already in existence. 3 " Certain it is that the number 3 X 3 is not accidental, but there is not a trace that could lead us to any conclusion. In this college the archon has for his attendants the paaAivs and the rtoj.s>ap#o;, so that of all the royal prerogatives he retained only the right of presiding in the senate, of convening the assembly of the people, and of appointing the judges: his power was, therefore, somewhat like that of the Roman praetor. The institutions of all ancient nations have originally a great resemblance to one another, but 2 "It is possible that the xauxpapoi were originally a magistracy of the demos: eapitani and judges ; but subsequently their attributes were alter- ed."— 1826. ' This remark has been inserted here from the account of the Pisistra- tids, p. 294.— Ed. 140 HISTORY OF PISISTRATUS. a later times they diverge, until in the end all resemblance isappears-" One of the principal events in the history of Solon is the war gainst Cirrha or Crissa (the two forms are only dialectic differ- nces of the same name), which is likewise one of those towns f Greece, the greatness of which belongs to a period anterior 3 history. The place was situated on the gulf of Corinth, etween Delphi and the sea, and its inhabitants were accused of aving usurped a tyranny over the sacred property of the )elphic temple. The Amphictyons are said to have consulted le oracle about it, and to have declared war against the town, t is indeed certain that there existed in Phocis a large, wealthy, nd commercial town, and that it was attacked and destroyed y the united forces of the Greeks; but all the rest that is slated about it, is not established on sufficient authority. Thus far the history of Solon is authentic. "His legislation, owever r did not prevent the division of the state into factions, nd the result of their disputes was the government of Pisistra- is," to which we shall now direct our attention. His merits re not generally recognised ; but he was the real founder of le greatness of the Athenian state. Herodotus is on this point ot free from partiality ; and he does not perceive the real truth hen he regards the fall of the Pisistratids as the cause of the reatness of Athens. When the time had passed away in which ley acted beneficially, they exercised, indeed, a severe oppres- on upon Athens, and it was desirable that they should be jmoved; but their father was no less beneficial to Athens than le laws of Solon were. LECTURE XXXIII. Obscure as is the history of Pisistratus, I still believe that we my assume the chronological dates of his reign and that of his HISTORY OF PISISTRATUS. 341 sons to be certain, 1 while the details of his history are problem- atical. Thus the relation said to have existed between him and Solon is more than doubtful. The history of the Pisistratids is very much like many portions of Roman history, where the more minute narratives are for the most part unhistorical, while the indefinite statements are more correct. The following facts, however, are well established: — Pisistratus was a member of the fivo; of the Neleids, to which the last Athenian kings also had belonged ; and his father, Hippocrates, was one of the most illustrious men in Attica. He made his revolution in the same manner as the other tyrants, by placing himself at the head of the demos against the oligarchs ; and as-the former was divided into factions, he headed that of the Hyperacrii, or the inhabit- ants of the hills, while the Pediaei, or the inhabitants of the plain, were devoted to the aristocracy. When he had gained the confidence of the demos, he prevailed upon them to grant him a body guard ; and being supported by it and by the favour of the demos, he brought about the revolution (Olymp. 54, 3), by which he gradually acquired absolute power. But he did not maintain it without interruption, for his opponents twice suc- ceeded in expelling him. He returned the first time, according to Herodotus, by making a reconciliation with the Alcmaeonid Megacles, the leader of his adversaries. But having fallen out with Megacles, and being again obliged to leave Athens, he effected his return by force of arms. "He assembled an army in Eretria, received succour from severalstates, landed in Attica, and entered the city, after having taken by surprise the Athen- ians who had marched out against him." During the last period, his government appears to have been more oppressive than during the first, not, however, towards the people, but only towards his opponents, the oligarchs. Aristotle states, that of a period of thirty-three years, reckoned from the first establishment of the tyrannis until his death, he reigned seventeen years; and that his sons after him maintained their power during the space of eighteen years. 1 " Other particular statements relative to the early times are likewise eorreot, as, for example, that of Aristotle respecting the history of the Cypselids." ' 42 PROMOTES THE PROSPERITY OF ATHENS. We might imagine that, with such interruptions, Pisistratus ad not the time to do much; but he, notwithstanding, accOm- lished great things during his government. It is quite sur- rising to find Athens as early as his reign so powerful at sea, 3 to be able to occupy Sigeum, at the mouth of the Hellespont, ad to establish herself in the districts on the Strymon, so im- ortant on account of their mines. Down to the time of Philip, ie Athenians always strove to gain possession of those districts, rst of all on account of the gold and silver mines, which were rst worked by the Thracians, and afterwards by King Philip, ho founded Philippi; 2 and in the next place on account of their mber. Europe now receives its timber from the Baltic, but le Greeks, or at least the Athenians, obtained theirs from iree distinct countries. I have no doubt that the Corinthians btained theirs from Epirus, a country abounding in excellent irests, through its settlements at Ambracia and Anactoriumj 'he Athenians, on the other hand, imported their timber chiefly •om the country about the Strymon, which was their nearest )urce, for the Thracian hills abounded in oak and fir trees, ■esides these, there were two other sources, mount Lebanon ad the island of Cyprus, which were subsequently resorted to v the Macedonian kings for their arsenals, but are not men- oned in those early times, no douht because the jealousy of the hoenicians did not allow the Greeks to export timber from lose quarters. The Phoenicians kept mount Lebanon entirely nder their own control, and from Cyprus the export eannot ave been quite free, because the Greek towns in the island erejmder Phoenician supremacy, and were always kept down ) some extent. "We know little of the wars, which, according ) Herodotus, 3 Pisistratus carried on with the Mitylenaeans bout Sigeum ; the statements respecting them are irreconcila- le with other chronological data. Periander, who is said to ave brought about a reconciliation between the Athenians and [itylenaeans, and Pittacus, too, who is said to have been at the * " It was about the same time that the mines of Laurium were discover- 1, and, began to be worked ; and this circumstance had great influence pon the wealth of Athens."— 1826. BUILDINGS OF THE PISISTRATIDS. 343 head of the Mitylenaeans, had died before the first tyrannis of Pisistratus ; nor can Alcaeus have lost his arms in that war, as is stated by Herodotus." Pisistratus acted as men do in a period of rising prosperity. I see no reason for disbelieving the statement, that he commenced collecting books; for books then began to be objects of import- ance ; and in whatever way we may understand the particulars of the very corrupt statements respecting the part he took in the arrangement of the Homeric poems, there is certainly some truth at- the foundation of them. It seems certain that, before his time, the Homeric poems were little known, and that he con- tributed- something towards naturalising them at Athens. His government was somewhat oppressive, from the fact that he intro- duced a land-tax, which was a burden upon every proprietor. Wherever, and at whatever time a land-tax has been introduced, it has excited the discontent of the country people, who look upon it, as if a portion of their property were taken away from them. Hence it was not continued at Athens, though its abolition was only one of those delusions which are sometimes necessary to be used against prevailing follies ; for, in point of fact, the Atheni- ans still paid the tax, only under the different name of a pro- perty-tax : the estates were valued, and the land-tax became connected with the census. Pisistratus and his sons, but especially the latter, adorned Athens with public buildings. Until that time, the city had nothing remarkable or striking ; the temples were built in the ancient Pelasgian style, and the nixaayixbv tilx°i on the Acro- polis was a very ancient castle. The temple of Zeus (the 'Oh^- jtiEtew or 'Oxi/ixiov, for both forms.are equally correct), which was now constructed, was the first great ornamental building at Athens ; it was erected at a great expense ; it inspired the Athenians with a feeling of pride, and gave them occupation. The Pisistratids also erected the building which adorned the well 'Ewtdxpawo;, and many others. The Pisistratids (Olymp. 63, 1), left the whole constitution of Athens unchanged, just as it had been from the time of Solon. One of them, for there were three brothers, was always in the 344 EXPULSION OF THE pisistkatids. college of the nine archons; and Hippias, the eldest, was no doubt perpetual strategy. The relation between the polemar- chus and the strategic is not clear, nor do we know in what manner the office of the polemarchus became a mere title. There can be no doubt that, at one time, he was really the commander of the army ; it cannot, therefore, be conceived, that he should always have been a merely nominal dignitary. At the time of the battle of Marathon, the polemarchus still was one of the generals. Just as at Venice, everything tended to make the Doge, who had once been a prince, a mere cypher, so at Athens everything tended to make the college of the archons as weak as possible, just because in former times it had possessed the highest power. During the period subsequent to the Persian wars, the main object was to render the highest magistracy, and not only the /JovJuj lv 'Apu? itdy?, powerless, and many of the reforms of Pericles and Ephialtes had no other object. In such cases, the energetic vitality of a nation must devise other means. " Hippias reduced the land-tax from one-tenth to one-twentieth part ; and the Athenians, under his administration, thus paid far less than at the period of their greatest prosperity." In this manner the Pisistratids governed mildly and gloriously, until the insult offered by them to Harmodius, which is mentioned by Thucydides, induced Harmodius and Aristogiton to form a con- spiracy for the purpose of overthrowing the Pisistratids. Hip- parchus, the second in age, was murdered by them (Olymp. 66, 3). The names of the sons of Pisistratus were Hippias, Hippar- chus, and Thessalus. Although family names were not used at Athens, as they were among the Romans, yet the names bear such a resemblance, as to indicate relationship. The grandson, generally had the same name as the grandfather, and often the names of one family, without being completely alike, yet resemble one another, and remind us of one another ; as, in the present instance, the names Hippias and Hipparchus remind us of Hippo- crates, the father of Pisistratus. For fourteen years the Pisistratids reigned in brotherly con- cord ; but now the peace was disturbed, and their gentle and humane government was changed into a harsh and severe rule; the last years of Hippias were oppressive; "he increased his EXPULSION OF THE PISISTRATIDS. 345 troops, and wherever lie felt distrust, he shed blood.'' The Alcmaeonids, a race which seems to have been the rival of the Neleids even from very early times, were the most determined opponents of the Pisistratids. Their greatness is not by any means to be referred to Alcmaeon, the contemporary of Croesus; nor is he the ancestor of their race ; but the Alcmaeon of the heroic age, the son of Amphiaraus, is their archegetes, and it is quite accidental that that Alcmaeonid was called Alcmaeon. Megacles was a member of that race. After his dispute with Pisistratus the Alcmaeonids had quitted Athens, and fortified themselves in a place called Leipsydrion. Its situation is doubt- ful, I believe that in Herodotus, we must read Asi^v&piov ink? iiaieinijs ; for irtip ricuon^s is an inconceivable statement, because this would signify a settlement above' Paeonia, even, beyond the Doberus, on Mount Rhodope towards the frontier of Dardania. This is absurd, for how could the Alcmaeonids have established themselves so far away in Thrace? According to our reading, it was an l>n* tCziepa in Attica itself, and this seems much more probable. It is evident that they retained possession of their •wealth, which was immense ; and by means of this, they provided themselves with arms against those who had treated them so mildly. They prevailed upon the Pythia to command the Lace- daemonians to expel the tyrants of Athens and restore its free- dom. There are many other places where the Spartans inter- fered for the purpose of expelling tyrants : their motives for doing so are manifest ; they wished to support the oligarchy, and they certainly did not expel tyrants in favour of liberty. The same spirit is visible in their actions at all times. The temple of Del- phi had at that time been consumed by fire; for a very small sum of money, tho Alcmaeonids now undertook its restoration, and rebuilt it in a magnificent and costly manner. This is, in Greek. history, the first trace of a building of marble. The Lacedae- monians undertook the expulsion of the Pisistratids ; the first attempt failed ; but in a second .they were more successful : they besieged -them, and intercepted their children as they were being conveyed to Sigeum. A capitulation was then made, in 1 which the Pisistratids were obliged to quit Athens (Olymp. 67, 3). "They withdrew to Sigeum." The Alcmaeonids then returned 346 CLEISTHENES. and at once gained the ascendancy. It would seem that the Spartans expected that the government would not be sufficiently oligarchical ; but in this hope they were disappointed. Whatever may have been his motives, whether it was Cleisthenes' wisdom and a sense of justice, or whether it was that the relation in which Isagoras stood to Cleomenes, the king of Sparta, obliged him to secure his power upon another basis, the fact was, that Cleisthe- nes adopted a policy which was entirely opposed to the oligarchy, and was, perhaps, the same as that which had been followed by Pisistratus himself. Herodotus, who no doubt judges correctly of these occurrences, says, that Cleisthenes gained the demos over to his side, and divided the Athenians, who formed four phylae, into ten, subdividing each phyle into ten demi. Now the question is, whether Cleisthenes as early as that time, raised the ten $v\ai tortixal to the rank of a national division, or whether he gave such a division only to the demos, allowing the four ' ancient phylae to exist along side of it. Or must we assign to a later date the fusion by which the ten phylae were made to embrace the whole nation, so that the four ancient phylae disap- peared? or, lastly, was it from the first intended to be a consti- tution for the whole state? These are questions to which unfor- tunately, we can give no clear answers. If we possessed Aris- totle's "Politiae," we should be able to solve the mystery. This much only, we can say, that one of two things must have been the case: either Cleisthenes was the first who gave to the demos a constitution allowing the four ancient tribes to exist along with it, or the demos had already its constitution, and Cleisthenes' reform consisted in the fact, that he raised the already existing partial division to the rank of a national one, and united the four phylae with the demos. Herodotus is somewhat vague in his expressions. I will here remind you of Cleisthenes, the ruler of Sicyon, the grandfather of the Athenian Cleisthenes on the mother's side, whose daughter had brought the great riches into the family. The elder Cleisthenes had changed the tribes of Sicyon, which being governed by Dorians had three tribes, the Hyllians, Pamphylians and Dymanates. Cleisthenes was not a Dorian, but belonged to the demos, .the ancient inhabitants, and was accordingly an Ionian or Achaean. He formed the demos KEV01TJTI0N OF ISAGORAS. 347 into a new phyle, giving it the name of oip^aoi, and making it the principal one, while he gave to the three phylae of the ruling families contemptuous names, the Hyllians being called iatcu, and the two others dvta*000 slaves! K the population of Aegina had been as large as that, the island itself would not have been able to maintain it for a fortnight, and the people would have been under the necessity of deriving the means of subsistence altogether from abroad. How could they have obtained them ? and what a fleet would have been required? It must, moreover, be observed that the maritime power of Aegina was of very short duration, and that not long before the rise of Attica, Aegina was dependent on the small state of Epidaurus, and was only a Very little town. Letronne has expressed himself against the absurdity of these statements in a manner which I entirely approve of. The successful war of the Spartans, under Cle- omenes, against Argos, also falls about that period. In con- sequence of this war, the Argive bondsmen were admitted to the franchise, for the Doric citizens were almost extirpated, and through the revolt of all the surrounding towns, Argos was almost confined to its immediate territory. In this manner Argos lost still more of its Doric character. LECTURE XXXIV. The extraordinary difference in the degree of quickness with "which life moves onward, which at certain times rushes on DIFFERENT MODES OF DEVELOPMENT. 351 with immense rapidity, while at others it proceeds with almost imperceptible slowness/ so that generations pass away without any remarkable changes, is one of the characteristics of history in different periods. I have already directed attention to this phenomenon in my Lectures on the history of the last forty years. 1 The observation of such facts is one of those things by which ancient history enters into real life, and takes its place by the side of contemporaneous history, of which we ourselves have been witnesses. . We need not wonder that ancient history, on the whole, is regarded as if its events had never actually hap- pened; for it is commonly looked at without any attempt to understand it, and men judge of it by quite a different standard from that which is applied to modern history ; but even the latter is not understood as it should be. Hence the differences before alluded to have been entirely overlooked, and the history of antiquity is divided into periods without any regard to their differences; the division, in fact, is made with the same uni- formity with which the bodies of the universe are classified, and as if it were altogether forgotten that history is a living body. This difference in the course of events is particularly striking in the history of Greece. Even towards the time of the Per- sian wars, an increasing acceleration in the movements of life is perceptible ; and from that time until the end of the Pelopon- nesian war,' during a period of eighty years, the movement is such that the nation, with incredible rapidity, passes through all stages in literature, and in the manifestations of life ; through the greatest extremes of good and evil, and from the premature decay of youth unto perfect manhood. The rapidity is of the same kind as that which we see in modern history; for example, in Germany, from the time when King Frederic II. appeared, that is from the year 1740, until the end of the last century. Such periods are usually named after a particular man, as the age of Pericles, the age of Louis XIV., the age of Frederic the Great, etc. But such names must not be' regarded as anything more than mere designations ; for the man himself is the child of the age, and is often more influenced by it than he himself ' Gesch. des Zeitalters der Revolution, vol. i. p. 65. 352 DIFFERENT MODES OF DEVELOPMENT. acts upon it. At such times, favouring circumstances start into life and being at a thousand points ; and unless this is the case, even the mightiest minds can effect nothing. There are other periods, in which centuries pass away without any great or essential change ; such a uniformity of life occurs in Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, extending even into the thirteenth. The first and second centuries after Christ, but more especially the second and third, were another period of the same kind for the Roman empire. Before the time of Pisistratus, there was not indeed a perfect stagnation in Greece; there Was in fact a great deal of life, but it was a life which in all matters of importance remained at the same point, and its onward movement was but very slow. It is a peculiarity of such periods of retarded movement, that men take little part in the affairs of the actual world, and being de- pendent on the past, direct their thoughts to it much more than to the future. Wherever such a state of' things is healthy, it is that of youthful life, which is generally the forerunner of a great development; as for example, in English literature the period before Shakspeare, and in Italian literature, that before Dante, or the period of the thirteenth century. But there are also periods, in which such a stand-still does not prepare for any development, but is only a conservative continuation of the existing state of things, though it may have lost its life and con- tain no germs of future progress, so that it is undergoing the process of decay. The continuation of the literature of the fifteenth century, during the sixteenth and down to the eigh- teenth century, at Florence, was a period of this kind. In times of youthful development, when everything great is quietly pre- paring — in such a case, however, the very greatest things may have already been produced in a preceding period, and the actual state of things may be the last effort of a by-gone age — in such a time of stillness, history is in a singular predicament. People devote all their energies to the affairs of ordinary life, and dis- charge their duties ; but the events that take place around them are of very little interest to them, as soon as they are accom- plished. Such a state of things appears, e. g., in the first chron- icle of Milan in the eleventh century; the people considered EPIC POETRY — HISTORY — LYRIC POETRY. 353 neither themselves nor their contemporaries to be worth any- thing, and looked back to a time that had completely passed away. In like manner, the Germans of that period regarded themselves and their contemporaries as quite ordinary men. The age did not look upon itself as an heroic age, and possessed no vanity; only the persons of an earlier or heroic age being capable of inspiring it with admiration. Greece was in this condition till about the beginning of the Persian wars; and this accounts for the fact that no history and no prose of any kind was written, and that people took no in- terest in what was passing around them or what had happened in the age immediately preceding their own ; they rather looked up to the heroic ages as something higher, and the latter was to them the actual world in which they lived, and moved, and saw themselves reflected. Hence it happened, that, after Homer had come to be regarded as the noblest flower of a past age, the epic poets of the old school, who succeeded him until about Olymp. 60, always dwelt upon the same subjects. But when the power_and the magic of the ancient times began to decrease, in proportion as the activity and interest of the actual world increased, the strength of the existing generation,' which was already highly developed, was beheld with pleasure, and a sense of its own worth first applied poetry to the existing age, and gave rise to poetical narratives. But as the actual life offered so much to relate that could not be related in verse, poetical narrative was soon followed by historical narrative, which more easily satisfied the general desire to remember the things that were happening. Hecataeus was the first who thus came for- ward and related what had happened in his own' time, what he had seen during his travels, and what he had heard of the dif- ferent nations. It is inconceivable, why Dionysius did not con- sult Hecataeus for information about ancient Italy, for he had treated of that country also. I have found two or three pass- ages (in Stephanus of Byzantium) which show that he was well acquainted with Italy. This kind of narrative was then followed hy what is called pragmatical history. The earliest Greek poetry extant is narrative, in which the poet developed out of himself an objective kind of poetry; but VOL. i. 23 354 THE MAKGITES ARCHILOCHUS ELEGY. popular poetry everywhere begins subjectively -with expressions of suffering, indignation, and joy; with songs of longing, love, and pain. This kind of poetry is the common property of all nations ; and it is assuredly much more ancient in Greece than the time of the lyric poets. There can be no doubt that the Greeks had songs as early as the time of the Homeric poems : who would question this, seeing that in Homer the language'is metrically more perfect than any other in the world? Its morqe seems to be the result of musical time. A language, so peculiarly adapted to song, cannot possibly have been without early popu- lar songs, which however were afterwards lost. The most an- cient expressions of subjective emotions that were extant, appear to have been songs of combat and strife, as war itself is the most ancient. Of this kind were the Margites, the excellent poem of the Colophonian Homer, and the songs of Archilochus. The Margites, the beginning of which Moutfauv d£pv xai txrjfio'kov ' ArtoXhuvos, <£tX^? e%uv iv %epaiv fii^oyyoy hvprjv. has recently been published from a grammarian, 2 consists of hexameters alternating with trimeters ; Aristotle certainly not justly places it by the side of the Iliad and the Odyssey; its excellence did not allow of its being assigned to any one else than to "Homer-divine." How little do the ancients resemble us in the diligence of searching out what is concealed ! and how strange, and on the whole how miserable are the investi- gations of the Alexandrians ! The Alexandrian who wrote the life of Homer attributed to Herodotus,, does not seem to have read the Margites; for what ample materials would he have found there to enrich his biography ! The poems of Archilochus were likewise martial songs. Eris, therefore, was the first pecu- liarity of the subjective poetry of the Greeks; but as soon as poets became conscious of the subjective element, another form of poetry appeared: the elegy was developed as the child of hexameter poetry. Nothing can be more simple than the origin of elegiac metre, if we consider it musically, and separate the * In 1821, by Fr. Lindemann in his Lyra, vol. i. p. 82. LYRIC POETRY. 355 two halves of the hexameter. If we imagine hexameters sung to the guitar, we shall naturally incline to make a pause after the hexameters, and how natural is the addition of a pentemi- meres as a kind of a spontaneous echo of the feeling of the hex- ameter ! By putting together two pentemimeres, the pentameter was formed, the second half forming the new beginning. Hence there is always an incision or pause in the middle of a penta- meter, but the two halves must not be considered as separated. This metre is unsuitable to satire, but is particularly adapted to express melancholy and the emotions of memory : it is in reality the development of hexameter poetry. In this manner elegiac poetry was represented by Callinus and Mimnermus ; but it soon took a different turn, which, however, considering its mildness and softness, was quite natural to it : it became gnomic poetry. When a person in his old age, after his passions have ceased to rage and are at rest, begins to reflect upon life ; this retrospect upon the life that is passed, is expressed in gnomes. The ele- giac form is peculiar to this gnomic poetry, which properly speak- ing commences with Solon. It was about this time that the great lyric poets first appeared. They belong .to a period which was becoming more and more free, a period in which the individual begins more and more to feel himself, and to perceive in himself the opposition to the external world ; he comes forward, and, no longer concealing his feelings, or pondering over them in his mind,- boldly and "loudly proclaims them as far as his voice can reach. In such times lyric poetry rises to its highest point ; and what in popu- lar poetry was the gift bestowed upon all now becomes the peculiar talent of the individual who fosters and cherishes it. This sudden rise of lyric poetry began in the time of Pittacus and Pisistratus, about Olymp. 50. At this time it was thriving everywhere; no part of Greece had a monopoly in poetry, but ancient continental Greece was least productive ; in Aeolis and Ionia, lyric poetry reached the highest perfection ; and Sicily had its Stesichorus, who, if he was inferior to any one as a lyric poet, was inferior only to Alcaeus. Lyric poetry, as soon as it became a distinct branch, reached its highest development, and its true flourishing period lasted till about Olymp. 60. Of the 356 PINDAR EPIGRAMS. lyric poets who belong to a later time, it seems that Pindar alone can be compared with the earlier ones; but I believe that, if we had Alcaeus, Pindar would appear by the side of him only as a poet of the second order. Pindar had already left the true 1 domain of lyric poetry ; he used his poetry as an instrument, as Simonides did, on occasions when epic poetry would have been in its proper place. In those poems of his which are still extant, the Bpinician Odes, he is not at all subjective ; and as the Greeks permitted the strings of Timotheus' lyre to be broken because he had changed the mode of the ancient music, they ought to have done the same to Pindar, for he transferred subjects which ought to have been treated in the epic form, into lyric poetry where they were out of place. If we had his epijvot, and the other ao/iara, in which he was subjective, he would be above all censure ; but in his Epinicia we behold an age, in which the different tones of poetry were already confounded. However, notwithstanding all this, he. is a poet of immense powers, and his works cannot be sufficiently admired and en- joyed; though he gave a false tone to lyric poetry. The same remark applies in the highest degree to Simonides, although he was a man of extraordinary genius. He is the first who devel- oped the shorter elegies to celebrate particular exploits ; and he was the author of the excellent Greek epigrams, of which he must be regarded as the chief creator; for although there are earlier attempts, it was he xvho gave them their peculiar excel- lence. Many of the epigrams that pass under ancient names are certainly not genuine ; those ascribed to Sappho are more than doubtful ; the celebrated poem, entitled *~p^m, in Stobaeus, is neither more nor less than the production of a very late poet, who perhaps lived in the time of the Macedonian war, or even later, perhaps even in the time of the emperors, probably in the seventh century of Rome. 3 "The place of poetry -was afterwards occupied by the fine arts, a phenomenon which has been repeated to some extent in modern times. Epic poetry ceases when lyric poetry begins; and the decay of lyric poetry nearly coincides with the rise of 3 See Lectures on Rom. Hist., vol. i. p. 35, note 3. ARCHITECTURE — THE PINE ARTS. 357 the plastic arts, and with the first beginnings of a perfect prose literature." The- architectural remains of Tiryns, Mycenae and Orchome- uos, shew that in the very earliest times, of which we have no history, the Greeks built in a grand and gigantic style resem- bling that of the Egyptians; and there can be no doubt that this style of the art was imported from Egypt. In Greece, as in a portion of Italy, the walls were constructed of immense" polygons. These walls, commonly called Cyclopean, are also termed Pelasgian, a designation which is by no means so absurd as many have attempted to make out, although it has been abuse'd. Architecture is the first of all the arts which attained a kind of excellence and perfection ; this is quite natural because it is the easiest ; the materials can be easily procured, and invention only requires an external application of the imagi- nation; but at first the grand and massive are naturally the things most aimed at. In like manner, the technical part and the use of the instruments are not of any very great difficulty; and, moreover, the Greeks did not require, in • this respect, to invent anything, for the Egyptians and Phoenicians had preceded them, so that the Greeks had only to acquire the technical skill of their instructors, and that they actually did so acquire it, can- not be denied by their most ardent admirers. Nor does this detract from the greatness of their genius; which , consists in something quite different, and is altogether unattainable by others. The Greeks might derive everything from barbarians, and yet whatever they produced was peculiarly their own. "A critical history of Greek art would should, how late the Greeks commenced to practice the. arts." We find in the his- tory of all nations, that mechanical skill, even in early times, acquired a very high degree of development, when art itself pro- duced as yet nothing but monstrosities. The present art of oil-painting is only the application' of an old invention, which wis probably made by the great John van Eyck, and I say it without any' hesitation, that our modern art of painting, if we except, a few kinds of lac, has no really beautiful colours which were Hot employed as early as the times of Cimabue and Giotto, when art was still completely in its infancy. If Raphael had 358 THE FINE ARTS. lived in the time of Cimabue, he would have used the same colours as he used afterwards; all the additions made by the school of Bologna were deteriorations. So also in antiquity; all the materials were known at an early time, but art was stagnating until the Persian wars. The Greeks knew indeed how to build, as in the middle ages great and splendid edifices were erected; though I cannot mention in Greece itself any building of that age which is historically certain, except the Olympieum and the temple of Delphi; but what gigantic build- ings had already been erected in Asia Minor, Sicily, Agrigen- tum, and Italy! The thing wanting, just as in the middle ages, was, that they could not draw the figure of a living man. They could, indeed, draw dead or lifeless forms, and measure them strietly and accurately; but they could not produce life, and all attempts to represent man failed. A deformity in the hands, and a want of symmetry are visible, notwithstanding the greatest care. A crisis is brought about in such circumstances by a great genius coming forward and having the courage to conceive and represent the inner life and the developed living forms ; such a genius did not exist in Greece before the Persian wars, any more than in modern times before the fourteenth cen- tury. In the latter case, however, Nicolaus of Pisa, who cannot be sufficiently admired, forms an exception as far as sculpture is concerned ; but only because he had before him many ancient bas-reliefs, which he thoroughly studied for improvement in his own art. His figures are for the most part copies from those reliefs, and, therefore, antique. He knew that the art of draw- ing had been dead for a thousand years; its decay commenced in the third century ; and he restored the symmetry of the parts of the human body, but not from his own observation of living men, but as an imitator of the reliefs of the ancients, which was sufficient for his purposes. In the painters of that time, consciousness was not yet awakened, " thought indeed existed, but they lacked the means of embodying it in the manner in which it was done by the old masters of the Venetian school, by Giotto and Cimabue." The other sculptors also were not more successful, until Donatello, or, more particularly, Michael Angelo,» pointed out the right way. To this they were DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK ART — VASE PAINTING. 359 led by imitation of ancient statues, and not by the study of nature. Sucb also was the case in Greece until the time of the Persian wars. But they had no such ancient works before them, which they might have imitated; they had to discover everything for themselves. They became what they are through nature, through the study of living nature. They invented the art of drawing, they comprehended and seized by inspiration the principle of human life, which constitutes beauty, and is the very soul of art; they then remained faithful to the thought they had once seized upon, and subsequently developed it fur- ther and further. "After the Persian wars, a new world opens at once," and from that time they advanced with gigantic strides. But everything that was produced before the Persian war — a few of those works are still extant— was, if we judge of it without prejudice, altogether barbarous. "What was the Condition of Greek art before the Persian war, may be seen from the paintings on the ancient Greek vases, with which the statues .correspond." All the paintings on vases, unless they are altogether barbarous, stiff, and full of bad proportions, can- not be considered to be much older than the Persian times. It is a great mistake to assign a work to a much earlier period, or even to an early one at all, merely because the figures are badly drawn and stiff. I believe, indeed, that works of this kind were produced at a very early pexiod ; but their character remained the same for centuries; and works that were make at the beginning of the Olympiads certainly did not differ from those produced immediately before the Persian war. Hence we can- not suppose that those which, have come down to us are so very ancient ; it is very possible that they may have been produced shortly before the Persian war ; but; the belief that the times of which we have contemporaneous productions of art, are very ancient, is one of those errors of which we cannot easily rid ourselves. 360 SCULPTURE. LECTURE XXXV. Sculpture, in those times, consisted chiefly in founding brass figures, as was the case in the East; this art is mentioned as early as the building of the temple of Solomon, when it was practised by the Phoenicians. It appears much earlier than the working in marble ; but both constitute the second stage in the development of sculpture, the first operation being that of mould- ing figures in clay, which presents no great mechanical difficul- ties. In the art of founding, all depends only on the first model, whereas in working in marble, the cutting the stone also requires skill. To work in marble is extremely difficult ; the completed model must be reproduced out of the marble block, which is far more difficult than to make a copy in drawing, and to find the right way of doing it, must have been a work of immense labour. Hence the working in marble does not commence till a very late period. The earliest traces consist in rough hewing, and this may be very ancient ; but the first indications of successful and fine workmanship are of a very late date, and it may be said, in general, that in ancient times marble was little used. But very much was done by the Greeks in ancient times in the art of carving in wood. Considering that brass was such an ex- cellent material, we might almost wonder that marble came into use at all, were it not that marble could be painted over, for in the early times all marble sculptures- were adorned with encaustic painting ; as wood was painted, so the same colours were trans- ferred to marble. This was the reason why marble came even to.be preferred to brass; and for a time painted marble was more common than brass. Another step in advance taught the Greeks to relinquish the gaudy colouring as a disfigurement of the natural colour of the marble, and the pure and beautiful forms alone became the objects of the art. Marble was now preferred to brass, because its shades are more beautiful than those of brass, marble being more transparent, especially by torch-light, and the ancients often lighted up their marble statues in this manner. MATHEMATICS. 361 As to the sciences, mathematics scarcely existed at all before the Persian wars. I do not mean to say that a number of prob- lems had not been already solved, and their results practically applied in mechanics: but these results had been furnished to the Greeks by those nations who occupied themselves with mathematics. The Greeks obtained the results from abroad; but their own nature led them to reflect upon them, " not being satisfied with simply accepting that which was furnished by others." These reflections led to the scientific treatment of mathematics, which/ has come down to us. We must not imagine, that men like Thales and Pythagoras stopped short at such theorems as are ascribed to them. However mythical their names may be, it seems to be historical that, in their reflections on the subject, they arrived at a point where they began to work out the demonstrations of some theorems, of which the results were already known. Mathematics did not by any means arise as synthetically, step by step, as the science lies before us in the writings of the Greeks. As Newton in his discoveries in natural philosophy advanced, as it were, by sudden starts, and leaped over immense gaps, where he saw no connecting links, but intuitively proceeded from one truth to another across an abyss, over which subsequently a bridge was made — so at that time also attempts were made gradually to work out, in a scien- tific manner, the demonstrations of separate theorems, which had before been intuitively considered as correct. If it is true that even Thales knew how to calculate an eclipse of the sun before-hand, while at the same time the demonstration. of the simple theory of the triangle is traced to him, we see at once what was the condition of mathematics in his time. The tradition certainly indicates that which in those times actually existed among the Greeks : the form of the science was still in its first infancy ; but as regards the results and theorems, and their practical application, the age was already far advanced, though these results had been obtained from abroad, because the Egyptians and Babylonians had been practical observers for many centuries. But the Greeks discovered the scientific forms for themselves, and this was peculiarly their own. 1 1 This paragraph has been transferred to this place from the beginning of the Lecture. — Ed. 362 PHILOSOPHY. Everything was then in a state of development in Greece ; everything was new, and entered into relations with actual life. We have to mention one other development of the Greek mind, I mean the philosophy of the Ionic school, which commenced about the thirtieth or fortieth Olympiad, and which in its origin was a kind of physiology, forming a continuation of the ancient theogony. It was developed especially in poems, and the tran- sitions from the theogony to physiology cannot be mistaken. Such was the condition of Greece at the time when Darius undertook his expedition against the Scythians, when he Sub- dued Thrace, and when Macedonia paid homage to him. When he returned from his expedition, he left his brother A.rtap.hernes behind him at Sardes as governor, with orders to extend the empire in the west as he himself intended to do in the east. The extension of the empire to India and Arabia belongs no doubt to the same time. "The Persian empire thus seemed to extend irresistibly." The Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor were subject to the Persian dominion, and those on the continent of Europe were looking forward with apprehension to the time, when they too should not be able to escape from a similar fate. " Resistance seemed impossible, as notwithstanding the approaching danger, they were constantly distracted by internal wars." If at that time Artaphernes had on any tolerable terms demanded the submission of the Greeks in Europe, they evidently would not have ventured to refuse it ; but he acted with barbarian inso- lence. The Athenians were already endeavouring to establish friendly relations with the governor, but they were treated with insolence, and being thus irritated they determined to let things come to the worst. The Persians, moreover, were awkward, and in their indolence they allowed that of which they felt sure, to be brought about slowly. This state of affairs, therefore, might have continued for a considerable time. Put the more gradually the circumstances were developed, the more certainly, would the matter have come to a decision, and Greece, by a peaceful transition would gradually have passed into the hands of the Persians, had not several events brought about a violent crisis. One of these was the unsuccessful attempt of the Per- sians to interfere in the affairs of the Cyclades against Naxos, HISTIAEUS AND ARISTAGORAS. 363 and the provocation offered to the tyrant of Miletus. Darius had allowed Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus, to establish settle- ments on the Strymon for the purpose of making himself master of the treasures of the mines there. But those settlements soon excited the envy of the other Greeks, who tried to make him an object of suspicion to the Persian governor. The latter began to mistrust him, and under the pretext of the king's favour, Histiaeus was drawn to Susa, and kept there apparently as the friend and adviser of the king, but in reality as a prison- er; Darius partly mistrusted him, and partly treated him as his confidant. This situation made Histiaeus uneasy, he found himself ill-rewarded, and he disliked his want of freedom. However fabulous it may now appear, yet it is not improbable, that he caused the insurrection of the Ionians for the purpose of escaping from his situation ; it does not look very unlike a Greek of that time, whom it concerned little whether he sacri- ficed his countrymen, if he did but gain his end. He may, however, have hoped that an insurrection might lead to some beneficial results ; for the weakness of the Persian empire became manifest soon after, and what a person wishes, that he easily believes. In the year 1811, many sensible people in Germany believed, that it was only necessary to rise against Napoleon^ for the princes of the Rhine, they thought, would at once join in the insurrection ; but the events afterwards showed how differently matters stood. In like manner, Histiaeus may have hoped, that other subject nations also would rise. Arista- goras, the son-in-law of Histiaeus, had the command in Ionia, and incredible as it may seem that Histiaeus should have, calcu- lated upon being sent by the king against his own son-in-law, if an insurrection should break out, yet the circumstance has, in fact, nothing improbable; for Darius may have felt distrust towards him without any particular reason — a sort of half distrust — which he might easily overcome, when reab diffi- culties arose from which he thought Histiaeus could extricate him. But Aristagoras "had already fallen out with Artaphernes. A party in Naxos had solicited his assistance, and he had ap- plied to Artaphernes and the king to embark in the undertaking. SQi KEVOLT OF THE IONIAN'S, But, as he wished to direct the whole affair, the Persians thwarted the expedition, and Aristagoras being exasperated by this, and insulted by the haughtiness of Artaphernes, had already conceived the idea of a revolt." He now actually stirred up the excitable Ionians by brilliant promises ; he offered them political freedom ; "he everywhere expelled the tyrants, and" soon the whole country rose in arms (Olymp. 70, 1). The con- sequence actually was, that Histiaeus, as he had anticipated, was sent by Darius into Ionia to restore peace. " The relation in which the Ionians stood to Persia was in- deed oppressive, but the yoke was not heavy. None of the towns were occupied by Persian troops, and they had only to pay tribute. Ionia was then in its greatest prosperity, a fact which is easily accounted for. As the countries, such as Phoenicia and others, from which Greek ships had formerly been excluded, were now united with Ionia by belonging to the same empire, the Ionians, no doubt, were easily admitted in all the ports under the Persian dominion. Hence the commerce with Egypt had much greater facilities under the Persians than under the Egyp- tian kings, and the sea was less infested^by pirates. " If, not- withstanding .all this, it was natural that the Ionians should wish to cast off their light yoke, the insurrection, nevertheless, had no basis; the wise- advice of Hecataeus was despised, and the Ionians recklessly ventured, upon the enterprise, which contains absolutely nothing that reflects honour upon the Greeks." The insurrection spread from the most southern towns in Lycia, from Phaselis to Chalcedon, at the mouth of the Bosporus, and the Greeks were joined by the Carians and Lycians, tbe former of whom were as much attached to liberty, and, at least, as brave and warlike as the Greeks. " The insurrection was thus tolerably extensive, but it was made without, a definite plan of operation ; there was no leading genius, and all the expec- tations of similar attempts on the part of the Lydians and other nations of Asia Minor, were disappointed. Aristagoras found himself obliged to seek assistance, and applied to the Greeks in Europe ; first of all to Sparta, " because it asserted the possession of the supremacy in Greece (certainly no more than . an empty name), and because its rulers Mere accessible to ARISTAGORAS AT SPARTA. 365 bribery, which it would have been vain to expect at Athens." How much people, even at that time relied upon the unwarlike character of the Asiatics, and upon the weakness and vulnera- bility of the Persian empire, is clear from the fact, that Arista- goras proposed to King Cleomenes to lead a Spartan army to Susa. It is disgraceful that Cleomenes, "who was enterprising and successful in war, but was half a madman and unscrupulous, like most of the Spartans," yielded to the bribes of Aristagoras, and it is beautiful to find that his own child told him so ; but although we commonly, and with justice, praise the child for her wisdom, still it is not certain that Aristagoras intended to sacrifice' Cleomenes to his own purposes. He certainly hoped to be successful; and if Cleomenes had allowed himself to be bribed, the attempt would probably not have failed, for the Ionians had money, and the Spartans had everything else that was required. If the Ionians had only provided as, much money as was neces- sary to lead the Spartans into Asia, and to engage a suitable number of Greek mercenaries, it is by no means improbable that an army, like that led into Asia by Agesilaus, would, have roused the nations of Asia Minor, and that they might have advanced as far as Susa; nay it is not impossible that the Per- sian empire might have been overthrown as early as that time. It would have been just as possible as it was under Alexander. It would have been more difficult in some respects, but more easy in others ; because, for some nations in Asia Minor, the war would then have been a national one, whereas, under Alex- ander, all nations remained passive. But this -plan was frustra- ted; "and tempting as were the treasures, yet the undertaking was too bold for Cleomenes. He became angry with Arista- goras, and the latter was, ordered to quit Sparta. He now ap- plied to Athens for assistance, and found it among the people ; not because it was easier to deceive thirty thousand men than a few Spartans, or because there is more wisdom in oligarchies than in democracies, but because an appeal . made in a popular assembly to the noble feelings of human nature meets with a sympathetic response more easily than in an oligarchy. The Athenians were the only people in Hellas to whom Hellas was the atom; rtarp;;: they felt for all the Hellenes, even for the most 366 DESTRUCTION OF SARDES. distant ; nay, for the Dorians, who were their enemies. There Aristagoras might appeal to the heart and the feelings, and he called upon the Athenians to come to the rescue of their colonies. The Athenians obeyed their feelings and promised assistance." Thus they formed, indeed, the right determination ; but it was not carried out in the manner in which it ought to have been. Things turned out as they usually do in democracies; the object was good, but the appropriate means were not chosen. Instead of an army of hoplites, which, strengthened by one of mercen- aries, might have set all Asia in motion, the Athenians .equipped an expedition of ships, together with their militia, a force which could not produce any results, and only provoked" the Persians, without inflicting any wound upon them. " At all evetits, the Athenians committed a blunder in sending so few ships to this undertaking ; had they sent a strong fleet, they might at least have driven the Phoenicians from those seas, whereby the ex- pedition of Xerxes would have become impossible. But they sent only twenty ships. The Eretriahs,_ from old gratitude for the assistance of the Milesians in their war with Chalcis, also sent suceour." The Athenians landed near Ephesus, " and the small band, joined by the Ionians and Eretrians," undertook an expedition against Sardes, by the taking of which they hoped to rouse the Lydians (Olymp. 70$ 2). They succeeded in making themselves masters of the city, but could make no impression upon the cita- del j and as the Lydians^ contrary to the expectation of the insur- gents, did not rise, they changed the city into a heap of ashes without deriving any advantage from it. The Greeks were then obliged to retreat, "and on their return the greater part were cut to pieces." The Athenians returned home, being in reality covered with shame and disgrace : they had destroyed a magni- ficent city, provoked the Persians without weakening them in the least, and only urged them to meditate revenge on Athens. The condition of the Ionians, however, remained unaltered, and the Athenians returned home as if they had done nothing whatsoever. "FromGreeceproper.no further assistance was sent." Meanwhile the Cyprians, with the exception of one town, had SEDUCTION OF THE ASIATIC GREEKS. 367 revolted ; and the "first thing the Persians had to do was to try- to recover the island, in order to keep up the communication with the Phoenicians. For the Cyprians had a considerable -fleet, and rendered Cilicia and Phoenicia insecure. The Ionians sent them succour, and the two united fleets gained a victory over the Persians at sea; but, on land, the tyrant of Curion betrayed the Greeks; the Cyprians were completely defeated, and their towns were captured and laid waste one after another. Thence the Persians proceeded to the coast of Asia Minor." A great Persian army appeared, formed its plans without being hindered, and in the north and south it advanced towards the points from which it could most easily prevent a union of the allies. The Greeks were labouring under a great disadvantage, owing to the geographical position of their country. The extended line of. coast offered no frontier which they might have defended against the approaching army; the country was narrow and everywhere open. The natural consequence was, that no compact contingents were formed, and every city thought only of defending its own walls. In a few engagements the Greeks were compelled to abandon the open field altogether, and to confine themselves entirely to their cities. The Carians de- fended themselves more skilfully and bravely; but their country afforded them, advantages which the Greeks had ,not, it being a more compact country.. They assembled on the frontier against the Persians ; but they too were unsuccessful ; after having offered a very gallant resistance, they were crushed in a pitched battle by the masses, and the Persians conquered one Carian town after another. Most of the Ionian cities now fell, one by one, "and so also the places on the Hellespont;" and all were .treated-' with Asiatic cruelty-. " The worthless Aristagoras, under these circumstances, fled to Thrace, and settled in the possessions of Histiaeus, on the Strymon, where he subsequently lost his life." The survivors from the Ionian cities, under the protection of the islanders who were not yet threatened, assembled at Miletus. The Persians having now collected a fleet, threatened Miletus by land and by sea. Hitherto the Greeks had been masters of the sea, and the Phoenicians were not superior to them. 368 BATTLE OF LADE. The important fleet of the Ionians now assembled at Miletus, near the island of Lade, at the entrance of the port. (Olymp. 71, 3.) " As the Maeander has pushed its mouth so far forward, Lade now forms a hill in a marshy district of pasture land. The more distant islands had sent no succour. Dionysius of Phocaea, a very able man, had now placed himself at, the head of the fleet, and, for a time, succeeded in keeping the Ionians together." The Persians employed bribery, and all means of persuasion, for the purpose of dividing the fleet, and they succeeded in sowing discord among the commanders : a misfortune which has always happened when the contingents of small republics were assembled, as may be seen in the history of Switzerland. The discord generally arises from the formation of an opposition party : when all are equal, one or other is called On to com- mand, which the rest will not concede. If one comes forward and claims the command, because he feels his ability, or if the command is offered to- him, the men of mediocrity oppose it, saying, " We are all equal ; and if you imagine that you are better than we are, we shall put a stop to your ambition." Thus treachery arises, often not from venality, but from envy and malice. Such also was the case at Lade. " The wealthy citizens of Miletus felt humbled by being obliged to obey a citizen of almost the smallest Ionian town ; they withdrew from the guid- ance of Dionysius, and the consequence was, a most fearful state of anarchy. The Samians allowed themselves to be persuaded by the Persians to separate from the common fleet. In these circumstances a naval engagement with the Persians ensued, and the Samians were the first that fled ; they were followed by some other contingents of the allied cities, under the pretext that their own homes were in danger. Many of the others fought most bravely, as, for example, the Chians;" but they were completely defeated by the Phoenician galleys. Miletus was now besieged and taken by force. Its fate was terrible; after it had been stormed, its inhabitants were made slaves, or lost their lives by the sword. Most of the men were put to death, women and children were led into slavery, and the boys were mutilated. A portion of the survivors were transplanted to the interior of the Persian empire, just as the tribes of Israel had been carried DESTRUCTION OF MILETUS. 369 to Babylon. In order to re-people the city, a colony of the sur- rounding nations was established at Miletus, just as Mahomed II. acted after the taking of Constantinople, when, after several days had been spent in bloodshed, he recruited the inhabitants with Christian and Turkish colonists. In like manner Peter the Great, when building Petersburg, ordered inhabitants to be drafted from the ancient districts of his empire. There were no trades at Petersburg, and no supplies of provisions. Most of the people died during the first two years from want, and their places were supplied by others fetched from distant quarters. Those who were led as colonists to Miletus were not so badly off, for they had the excellent Milesian territory to support them. " The fate of most other Ionian cities was of a similar kind ; it may, however, be doubted whether Chios, as might be inferred from the account of Herodotus, was treated in the same way, for, in. the war against Xerxes, it appears as an independent place." The destruction of Miletus is also important in the history of Greek literature. The Athenians had to reproach themselves for having done nothing for the Milesians, hence their conscience was severely smitten when the news of its fate arrived, and they seriously blamed themselves. When, therefore, the poet, Phry- nichus, brought out the "A^asu Matron as a tragedy, they felt it so painfully, that they inflicted a punishment upon him, for having dared to bring that calamity before their eyes. I believe the true reason was, that the tragedy represented to them their own inactivity ; they surely cannot have been such Sybarites as not to be able to endure the recollection of their grief. This tragedy of Phrynichus is particularly remarkable, because it is . so entirely opposed to the common notion of the regular Greek tragedy ; for the capture of Miletus was, no doubt, still more an historical piece than the Persians of Aeschylus, resembling the Roman praetextatae, such as the Brutus of Accius, or the plays of Shakspeare, and withgut any regard to the unities of place and time. The history of Greek tragedy begins simply with the choral odes, which are extremely ancient, and are a combination of song and dance, or a scenic song. We may assume it as an esta- blished fact, that even at an early time the chorus did not simply vol. i. 24 370 ORIGIN OF TRAGEDY AND COMEDY. chant a song ; but the Greeks went a step farther, and at the celebration of a festival, e. g., of Dionysus, subjects having refer- ence to it were acted, and the chorus represented something different from what it really was ; as, for example, when at a festival of Dionysus, a chorus of Athenian women , represented the Theban Bacchantes tearing Pentheus to pieces., The z°?oi Tpo/jaxoi even under this name are very ancient; Herodotus men- tions them in the history of Cleisthenes of Sicyon, where they undoubtedly were such scenic choruses. Another step beyond this was easily made by the addition of a rtpoxoyos, a person coming forward and announcing to the audience what they were going, to see and hear. I consider the prologue, the introduction for the information of the audience, as one of the most ancient cha- racters of tragedy. The next thing added is the change ascribed to Thespis; a couple of persons are put in relation to the chorus and appear carrying on a dialogue. This development of Greek tragedy is entirely founded on the nature of the thing itself : and it is a necessary consequence of this that the earliest Greek tragedies could not exist without the unities of place and time. These were absolutely essential ; for the chorus always remained before the spectators, and was the principal part. So long as this was the case, the Aristotelian form of tragedy was necessary. But into such dramas as the Capture of Miletus, the chorus could be introduced only by artificial means, and hence such pieces were no doubt rare exceptions in Greece. With the Romans, who had no chorus, the matter is different, and historical tragedy is natural. In all the pieces, which were not translations from the Greek, their freedom in tragedy is as natural to them as the more stringent forms were to the Greeks. Comedy arose by the side of tragedy, no doubt as a parody of it, and hence its unbridled freedom ; the more it partook' of the nature of parody, the more occasion was there for unrestrained liberty. By this view of its origin alone can we account for the chorus in comedy ; had it not originally been a parody, the chorus would be out of place in it; and hence it is also quite natural that the chorus could maintain itself in comedy as it did in tragedy. AGE OF HERODOTUS. 871 LECTURE XXXVI. We now come to that period which is the real subject of the history of Herodotus, and I shall first speak of him as an his- torian who recorded whatever he could learn about contemporary events, and not merely as a describer of countries and nations. In the -former respect, too, there once prevailed a general misconception, which has been removed by what Dahlmann has written about the- age of Herodotus. The question about the age of Herodotus has been completely and satisfactorily examined by Dahlmann, though ,1 believe that he extends the life of the historian somewhat too long ; but this is not of any material consequence. Although the passage in Gellius as well as what we read in Herodotus himself, is perfectly clear, yet the common opinion formerly was, that Herodotus lived quite close to the Persian war, or that he was nearly a contemporary of that event; nay, this opinion was so firmly rooted, that Mannert, an author who is not without jnerit, but still must be reckoned among the third or fourth rate historical scholars, unhesitatingly asserts that Herodotus was a contemporary of the Persian war, and imagines that the historian is the same person as the Herodotus mentioned among the ambassadors whom the Ionians, before their expedition, sent to Mycale. This is altogether erroneous. Herodotus came forward about the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, though he may not have been quite a young man at that time, and bis history was obviously written after the beginning of the war. I have shewn 1 that we may safely believe his work to have been written about Olymp. 90. If we calculate^backwafd from that point, the dates mentioned by him as connected with the Persian' war, agree quite well with it. Hence when Hero- dotus wrote, fifteen Olympiads, that is, sixty years, had passed away since the expedition of Xerxes, and seventy years since the battle of Marathon. Now, if before him no important historical , work was written upon those events, pray consider 1 See Klein. Schrift., vol. i. p. 197. 372 SOURCES OF HERODOTUS — CHOERILUS. what changes, during so long a period, may have taken place in a tradition which was not fixed by writing, and how many fabulous additions may have been made to it. It is well known that the account of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt has already assumed, in the mouth of the Egyptian Arabs, such a fabulous appearance that it might seem to have required a century to develop it; and instances of the same kind occur frequently. At a time when an occurrence engrosses the mind of everybody^ the account of it undergoes incredible changes: events are transposed from an earlier to a later time, and vice versa ; " we can scarcely form an idea of this vivacity and elasticity of traditions, because in our days everything is immediately put upon record." The expedition of Xerxes had certainly been written about before the time of Herodotus; but by whom? By the poet Choerilus of "Samos, about whom Naeke has written such an excellent work. That poet had related the expedition of Xerxes in the form of an heroic poem, and his work had, no doubt, great merits, but it was a poem, and composed with poetical freedom. A number of details in Herodotus must be referred to that poem. I regard Choerilus unhesitatingly as One of the authorities whom Herodotus had before him ; and I believe that the poet's narrative greatly influenced the account of Herodo- tus. I attribute to him in particular the description of the nations in the army of Xerxes, and of their grotesque armour. That the poem of Choerilus, in imitation of the Boiwfla, con- tained such a catalogue, in which the nations and their diffe- rent kinds of armour were described, is certain, from a fragment quoted by Josephus in his work against Apion. The armour which Herodotus assigns to the several nations, is so strange, so incompatible with the character of the Asiatics, so far as we know it, that I am firmly convinced, that Herodotus here reduced the descriptions of Choerilus into prose. I need only refer you on this subject to the seventh book of Herodotus ; what you there find cannot possibly be an historical narrative. The poet might very well describe such extraordinary and gro- tesque armour, for the whole of the motley Asiatic host appeared to him strange and monstrous. The influence of Choerilus upon PLUTARCH ON HERQDOTUS. 373 Herodotus is also confirmed by such accounts as that of the drying up of rivers by the Persian army, which is a perfect impossibility. This is one of those absurdities which may happen to any one ; and into which especially a man may fall, who possesses a lively imagination like that of Herodotus : he is thinking of something that is quite correct, but expresses it in such a manner, that it becomes ridiculous. But my principal argument is the enumeration of the nations. In regard to the other points, it is possible that the Samian poet may have used the same authorities as the logographer of Halicarnassus; but the description of the armoiir is certainly the poet's own inven- tion. We cannot, however, reverse our assertion so as to say that Choerilus followed the account of Herodotus, for the latter was certainly the younger of the two. Ho reliance, therefore, can be placed upon this whole portion of the narrative, of Herodotus; it is very different from his admirable descriptions of nations which he himself had seen and. observed, and from several simple accounts of which he found trustworthy authorities, or which he relates after a genuine and honest tradition, e. g., the accounts which he heard in Babylon, those about the Lydian kings, the Mermnadae, down 'to the fall of Croesus, which are very honest and true. The history of the Ionian insurrection is likewise 'true and certain. Plutarch, the Boeotian, in his work, jttpl rijs 'Hpo8oro« *o*o)j9h'os, accuses him of xaxoyj6n.a, that is, of malice, or the plea- sure in relating something that causes pain to others, and he has a decided aversion against him. Plutarch was led to make this charge by his Boeotian patriotism ; and it cannot be denied, that Herodotus hated the Boeotians. But if that is a crime, I willingly share it with him ; I have no affection for Sparta, but yet I' believe that it was the greatest misfortune for the pros- perity of Greece that the Thebans, though their cause was just, obtained the ascendancy over Sparta, and acquired the supre- macy. Plutarch's patriotism here is ridiculous, though it is by no means uncommon,. When he wrote, fully six centuries had passed since the Persian war, and yet he felt a patriotism for the Boeotia of that distant time, such as a Florentine feels for the age of Dante! Plutarch's work is instructive, it contains 374 HERODOTUS AND CTESIAS. many particular facts, and ample materials for criticism ; and many of the charges which he brings forward cannot be refuted. There can be no doubt that Herodotus, in the case of some nations to which he felt an aversion, such as the Corinthians and Thebans, believed things, which on closer inspection he would have found to be false. But Plutarch's indignation against Herodotus is, nevertheless, very unfair. In regard to the first expedition under Darius, the campaign of Datis, Herodotus' account agrees tolerably well with that of Ctesias. In reference to the other expedition of the Persians under Xerxes, he agrees with Ctesias about the occurrences at Thermopylae, and the victory of Salamis, the latter being, however, described by Ctesias as even more brilliant. But Ctesias strangely places the battle of Plataeae between those of Ther- mopylae and Salamis; and states that Delphi was plundered after the battle of Salamis. But on these points Herodotus is not at fault. I believe that here also Ctesias is not deserving of credit, although in the latter history of Persia we shall follow his guidance; for during that period we may trust him, as he could know the truth without much difficulty; and where we can- not trust him, we must entirely give up the history of Persia, at least as far as the interior of the empire is concerned ; and all we can say is, that we know the names of the kings, for he is our only authority. But in regard to the Persian wars, we can- not place Ctesias above Herodotus. It is difficult to say whence these differences may have arisen ; the most probable solution is, that Ctesias followed such Persian accounts as he, in the capacity of the king's physician, could hear, and that the con- fusion in the accounts of the events originally occurred in the Persian books. Wherever he draws from Greek sources, as in his account of the battle of Thermopylae, we recognise the man who was known to side with Sparta. Herodotus on the other hand, is with his whole soul in the interest of Athens ; and at a time when there existed throughout Greece a prejudice against Athens, he loudly and openly declared that Athens had saved Greece : " I will say, that liberty proceeded from Athens ; many will murmur, but I will say it, for it is true." This is a beauti- EXPEDITION OF DATIS. 375 ful feature in the character of Herodotus, which certainly does not contain any xaxor t 6uw. 2 When the Ionians and the Greek coast of Asia- Minor had been again subdued, and a more heavy yoke had been placed .upon them than before, the Persians began to think of extend- ing their empire. In the first place, however, the king medi- tated revenge for the expedition of the Eretrians and Athenians to Ionia ; and orders were dispatched to the governor to chastise them, to apprehend them, and lead them as captives before the king's throne. This command was given to Datis. Now whether the Persian army . consisted of 300,000 men, or whether it was much smaller, is a point which no one can seriously inquire into. It is in itself not at all impossible, that a countless host of ill- armed barbarians were defeated by a small band of well-equipped and warlike Greeks, as in India Lord Give defeated 100,000 Indians with an army of no more than 1,500 near Plassey. In the latter case, the fire of cannons and guns was not unknown to the barbarians ; they had the same themselves ; but it was courage, determination, activity, and elasticity, that conquered them. The Persians were light-armed, without breastplates, with bad shields, bows and arrows, short spears, and without lances. The Persian sabre (ox*«£*^;) alone was superior to the Greek jua^pa, the knife of the Albanese, with which the Greeks could not defend themselves against the &xivdxw. Against such masses, the Greeks .advanced in close array, well armed, and provided with breastplates and long lances. This attack of compact and well-organised masses decided the contest. "But the plain of Marathon, which, besides the Eleusinian and Thria- sian plains, is the only one that can be distinctly recognised in Attica, is not large enough to allow such an enormous army to 2 " Charon of Lampsacus is also said to have written a work in two books on the Persian war. Vossius places him at too early a date ; he must have lived after the war, though he was older than Herodotus. It ie, however, not impossible that the work ascribed to him may have been a forgery of a later time; for innumerable forged books were manufac- tured in the Alexandrian period. Now, however, nothing decisive can be said about it. The Atthis of Hellanicus of Lesbos also embraced the Per- sian wars."— 1826^, 376 CAPTUKE OF EKETRIA. develop itself. "We can, therefore, only say, that an immense host of barbarians were there defeated by Hellenic heroes. Datis, with his fleet, sailed through the Cyclades (Olymp. 72, 3), towards Euboea, ravaging the islands as he passed by," and landed at Eretria. That city was no longer what it had been of old, when it disputed with Chalcis the sovereignty of the sea. It is a remarkable change to see a large and popu- lous city sink from its height in the course of one generation ; but this is natural in maritime towns, when commerce is trans- ferred from one place to another. In like manner we see Pisa disappear and Genoa rising, and Naples rising while Amalfi falls ; Amsterdam rose upon the ruin of Antwerp, and now An- twerp is rising while Amsterdam is sinking. Such also was the case of the Greek towns, and when Aegina was rising to pros- perity, Eretria declined. The prosperity of Aegina was proba- bly the consequence of the protracted wars between Chalcis and Eretria, for during that disturbed period commerce with- drew from those towns to Aegina. Eretria had nothing left but the recollection of its former greatness, and thereby had allowed itself to be induced to take part in the expedition to Ionia. But this interference was followed by terrible conse- quences for the town. When the Persians landed, "the Ere- trians were divided in their opinions as to what they should do; they could not escape from the threatening danger, but never- theless refused to submit, and thus they were left to their evil demon. The story of the generosity of the Eretrian, who per- suaded the Athenian auxiliaries to go home and preserve them- selves for their own country, is certainly not an invention." The Persians blockaded the town ; " the attack lasted for seven days, and on the seventh they entered by treachery, which so often occurs in Greek history." The town was destroyed, and the whole population was led as slaves into Asia. But, as usually happens in that happy climate, and in so favourable a situation, the population soon became restored. About three centuries later, in the time of the war of the Romans against Philip, Eretria was again laid waste and plundered, and from that time it never revived again. At the period of the Peloponnesian war, Ere- tria was a small country town, though it seems to have been in THE PERSIANS LAND IN ATTICA. 377 a flourishing condition. Athens, at the close of the seventeenth century, was quite desolate for a period of thirty years, and when Chandler, in- 1770, visited it, the recollection of that period had already vanished, although the population had reas- sembled there only fifty years before. So quickly are even great events forgotten in oral tradition ! I should not have known this fact, had I not found it in a small Greek chronicle. "After this the Persians landed in Attica." The Athenians had anticipated the event, and were prepared; but it was in vain that they solicited the assistance of the other Hellenes. The Spartans made, indeed, preparations to succour them, but, owing to their awkwardness, they lost the time and came too late; they requested the Athenians to defer the matter, declar- ing that they must wait till the full moon and celebrate a festival before they could take the field. Such motives are not unusual with the Spartans, " who prided themselves upon maintaining their superstitions : for this they consider to be observing the laws of Lycurgus, though in other and more essential points they violated them most frequently." Plutarch rejects this account as a piece of calumny, but without reason : Herodotus certainly did not calumniate here. The inhabitants of the little town of Plataeae, who, being oppressed by Thebes, always directed their eyes to Athens, were the only friends and allies of the Athenians ; "they had at that time placed themselves entirely under the protection of 'Athens, where they were citizens without the franchise." The Athenians led out into the field all their men capable of bearing arms, as far as they could do so without leaving the walls of their city, which was then very small, un- protected ; and they were commanded by the polemarch Calli- machus and the generals. " The number of the Athenians is said to have been 10,000; but this number seems to me to have arisen out of a calculation according to the ten phylae of Cleis- thenes, 1000 being assigned to each phyle. The number, how- ever, cannot, at any rate, have been much larger, for Athens then was not very populous, and some must have remained behind in the city. It fortunately happened that Miltiades was one of the ten generals. He was the grandson, or nephew, of a man of the 378 BATTLE OF MARATHON. same name, who traced his family on the female side to Cypselus of Corinth, and belonged to a princely family, for a great many very illustrious families were then residing at Athens. The ancestor, or uncle, of the Marathonian Miltiades, had established an Athenian colony in Chersonesus in the time of Pisistratus and the Pisistratids ; the accounts of the particulars of that event are confused, but the fact itself is beyond a doubt, and is evidently connected with the extension of the Athenians, under Pisistratus, in the countries of Thrace and the Propontis. It was the object of Pisistratus and his sons, to strengthen the power of Athens in those parts; and the emigration under Miltiades, which formed part of their scheme, met no doubt with their entire concurrence. The younger Miltiades, however, left those districts, and soon after Darius' expedition against the Scy- thians, he returned to Athens. This he did, it is said, because he had been one of those Greeks who had advised the Ioniaris to break down the bridge on the Danube, in order to prevent Darius returning, and to shake off the yoke of Persia : an advice to which the selfishness of the tyrants refused to listen. For this reason then Miltiades went to Attica. The statement that pre- viously he conquered Lemnos for Athens, is very doubtful ; this event too, in my opinion, belongs to the time when the colony was dependent on the Pisistratids, and is connected with their schemes. Hippias was in the army of the Persians, and the Persian commander intended to restore him at Athens as a vassal of the great king. " The Persians bad landed at the plain of Marathon, and there a battle was fought." The battle of Marathon is as cer- tain as any of the great events of modern times, which have decided the fate of the world. There can be no doubt that the Persians were completely defeated, and were glad to escape to their ships and return to Asia, "with the captured Eretrians." P5ut the particulars of the battle are uncertain ; most of them resemble the well-known deed of Cynegirus, who madly seized a Persian galley and wanted to hold it back. All this is poetical, and may serve to rejoice and warm us, but we cannot take it as history. "The Greeks were drawn up as a phalanx, in which each phyle occupied an equal part of the front, with more or RAPID RISE OF ATHENS. 379 less depth, from eight to fifteen men. Now, if we suppose that in the battle of Marathon the Athenians were drawn up ten men deep, we have a front of ^1,000 men. With such a front, op- posedto an army of 300,000 men, the wings' of the Greeks are said to have gained the victory; their centre is said to have been broken through by the Persians, and the victorious wings on both sides to have crushed the hosts of barbarians. This is the account of a poet, who does not think of mathematical pro- portions ; such also is the case in the Iliad, and similar stories occur in the very heart of history. The poets of popular and martial ballads did not dream of giving a military report. The statement, however, that 6,000 Persians were slain, and only 192 Athenians, is more credible. Another account estimates the number of the Persians who fell in the battle at 200,000." Eyen at ,the present day the plain of Marathon is marked by the mounds, under which -the bodies of the barbarians were buried, " and the Athenians who fell on that day, probably rest under the same, for it does not seem that the fallen heroes were at that early time buried in the Ceramicus." That plain is, the charnel-house of Miirten for Greece. When happier days shall fall to the lot of Hellas, that hallowed battl'e-field too will be examined, and will yield a rich harvest. "Many things used in the battle have already been dug out of the ground ; there have been found near Marathon, leaden balls thrown by slingers with the inscription aexot," points of arrows made of stone, which must have been fastened on reeds, and consequently have been used by very uncivilised people; but others are of brass and copper, and there can be no doubt that these things were used in the battle of Marathon. How many glorious things are there that still require to be investigated ! The day of Marathon, Olymp. 72, 3, raised Athens to a point of greatness from which it had before been very far removed. It is not sufficiently acknowledged that Athens is indebted to the Pisistratids for the first impulse to its great development ; but afterwards the excitement called forth by great events carried on that development. The struggles which then follow- ed, the exertions with which the Athenians freed themselves, first from the Pisistratids, and afterwards from Cleomenes and 380 noAlTEiA OP THEMISTOCLES. Isagoras, then the establishment of a free constitution on a broad basis, -which Athens owed to> Cleisthenes — all this contri- buted to raise the spirit of her citizens, and to awaken the ener- gies of life. In this sense, Herodotus is quite right in saying that the iewopia was the source of the greatness of Athens ; but we will not forget, that Pisistratus was a middle link which was necessary to lead the state from the age of oligarchy to that of freedom. Soon after the yoke of the Pisistratids was thrown off, Athens overcame the united efforts of the Ghalcidians and ThebanSj who attempted to restore the Pisistratids in order to humble Athens. Those were glorious days. Ohalcis was then still very prosperous, and it fell on that one day, on which the flower of its knights (irtrfijs) were slain or taken prisoners, and when the town surrendered to Athens, which sent Cleruchi into its territory. From that time Chalcis never recovered its former greatness. The circumference of the town is stated to have been seventy stadia ; this may be an exaggeration, but it was certainly very large. Afterwards it did not fill that space, just as Pisa and Ispahan occupy only a portion of the space within their walls; so that in the Macedonian time the town was not able to guard its walls with a sufficient number of posts ; it was a small open town situated in a large district sur- rounded by walls. But now the noxittia. of Themistocles began. During this period chronology is in great confusion, as unfortunately we do not possess Ephorus, and thus we do not know at what time his noun La commenced. I believe that its beginning must be assigned to an earlier time than is usually done, and that he had a con- siderable influence at Athens even before the day of Marathon. The conquest of Aegina does not appear to fall between the battle of Marathon and that of Salamis, but must have taken place before. Athens was now Safe against all danger, for it possessed a great man, and its citizens showed much sound com- mon sense, in as much as each did not pretend to be wiser than the other, but gave themselves up with full confidence to the one who was more intelligent than all the others. 1 A»J Jl \."U UC/k". LECTURE XXXVII. Thkmistocles, who decided the fate of Greece, has not, since the revival of letters, appeared in that light of historical import- ance in which other great characters of Greek history are pre- sented to us, and which is his due ; and such, perhaps, is still his fate; he is certainly not regarded as an historical character of the class, to which Pericles and Demosthenes belong. This is not an accusation which I aim at others for the purpose of rais- ing myself; but how it happens that for us, Themistocles belongs to the class of the vague characters of a pre-historic period, is a point for which it is not easy to account, more especially seeing that the Persian war is commonly regarded in a far more strictly historical light than I can admit. The, cause, perhaps, is a feel- ing that several of the details of his life are less historical than those in the lives' of Pericles and Demosthenes. But this makes it all the more incumbent upon us, to bring him forward, and assign to him his place in our history as a very extraordinary man, who has few equals in either ancient or modern times. He belonged to a very noble family ; his youth fell in the tim'e when the reforms of Cleisthenes had already been got over, when the agitations of the oligarchs had ceased, and when quiet political discussion had succeeded in its place ; and he came forward at an early age. At that time the old parties had decidedly given up their ancient claims. Matters were different from what they were at Rome; but it must not be forgotten that at Athens the change had been brought about gradually, and that the struggle had not been as violent as at Rome, which had been obliged itself to find the remedy for its own disease ; at Athens, on the other hand, a mediation had taken place, by which it had been assisted in its contest against the folly and unfairness of its rulers; an external power had existed long enough to subdue the agita- tion, and there now existed a generation which aimed, at supe- riority through its own worth. This was the time at which The- mistocles came forward with his great personal qualities, which Thucydides, who dwells upon him with particular admiration, 382 THEMISTOCLES AND ARISTIDES. praises so highly. According to that historian's accounts, he had the keenest power of perceiving what was right and neces- sary, sagacity to find the means, perseverance in carrying out his plans, and an inexhaustible power of invention and of adapt- ing his means to his purposes. He was a statesman in the high- est degree practical, and an excellent patriot ; Athens was to him everything; and he was conscious of the greatness which hia country was destined to attain, and to which he could raise it. He was the very man whom Athens then stood in need of, and if he had nqt appeared, great misfortunes would have befallen the state. It was by his advice that the Athenians, even before the Per- sian war, extended and fortified their harbour, and applied the ample revenue from their silver mines to the building of a fleet. This is one of those actions, in which the generous sentiments of the Athenian people are manifested; they might have distributed the tithe of the produce among themselves ; but on the advice of Themistocles they readily sacrificed it, although the majority of the people were extremely poor, to the building of a fleet for the defence of their country. This is not the only time that the Athenian people acted with such noble generosity. Such was the people in the time of Themistocles and Pericles; and when great things were to be done, there was no need of any one giv- ing the command; all that was required, was some superior mind who knew how to awaken the- noble sentiments of which the Athenians were susceptible, and to point out what was right and necessary. According to the current account, Themistocles was rivalled by the honest Aristides, who, according to the. common view, stands to Themistocles in the relation in which a virtuous man stands to an adroit and clever person, in whom, from this very circum- stance, we hardly recognise any virtue, and whom we almost re- gard as a sinner. But the real cause of this view is the extra- ordinary and surpassing greatness of Themistocles, which called forth envy. In like manner, according to the notion that to 6iiw $eovi?6v Uti, the . gods themselves looked upon the happiness of Polycrates with envious eyes, and, according to the polytheistic notions of the Greeks, such a feeling is quite natural; for the ijtiiimiDxuLiijfiis ajnd AKlBTlUiiS. 383 gods are aristocrats, and they look upon the aspirations of mor- tals as something presumptuous. This is one of the necessary- consequences of polytheism. Such a $06*05 pervades the whole domain of history, in the contemplation of the present as well as in that of the past. That which is great and excellent is oppressive to the mind, even when merely conceived— I do not mean to say that it is so to us, but it is so to the mass of man- kind—and in order to get rid of that oppressive feeling, men endeavour to drag down a great man to their own level, by dis- covering sometimes this and sometimes that weakness or error in him. It is for this purpose of dragging down men of emi- nence, and not from a genuine admiration of virtue, that mean persons pretend to give the preference to upright men, whose purity of heart they admire, not indeed unjustly, but too exclu- sively, although men of eminence also are not wanting in purity of heart. The saying of Horace, " Virtutem incolurnem odimus, sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi," is but rarely true; on the* contrary, even after death, uprightness and goodness without genius are preferred, as if they alone were free from blemish, and people, who have themselves no claims to purity, take a pleasure in admiring virtue when it is not supported by mental greatness. This envy has had great influence in forming the opin- ions entertained about Themistocles and Aristides. Let no one impute to me the wish to deprive Aristides of his crown of glory ; I believe all the good that is said of him-, and I believe that hia virtue deserves, to the fullest extent,, the veneration paid to him- by the voluntary adhesion of the other Greeks, and the rapidity with which Themistocles developed the great- ness of Athens, — these were .the causes which made the Spartans 2 Comp. Lectures on Rom. Hist. vol. i. p. 526. 410 HIS OPPONENTS AT ATHENS. his implacable enemies. They accordingly caused a false accu- sation to be brought forward against him, charging him with being implicated in the conspiracy of Pausanias. Themistocles was perfectly innocent, as is clearly proved and attested. "He felt that by his own personal greatness he was far more than he would have been as a tyrant; the period of tyrants, moreover, had then passed by,, and had not yet returned. Neither The- mistocles nor any other Athenian could have conceived the preposterous idea, which Pausanias had entertained, of making himself king of Greece under the supremacy of Persia." The people, in fact, at first acquitted him. But the course of human affairs seems to be managed so as to prevent the success of great actions making man too happy ; and so it came to pass that a powerful party was formed at Athens against Themistocles; it was headed by Cimon. Aristides, the honest aristocrat, cannot be accused of having intrigued against Themistocles, but Cimon did intrigue. Being the son of Miltiades, he was of a more illustrious family than Themistocles, and belonged to the most ancient Attic nobility; he was a man of great parts, and had probably already distinguished' himself in the battle on the Eurymedon, which probably occurred before the ostracism of Themistocles. Cimon commanded the fleet, but under the supreme guidance of Themistocles, who had at the same time the administration of whole states. After the battle of Salamis, Themistocles himself had not commanded an Athenian fleet, but was engaged in car- rying on the administration of the state,. while Cimon acted as commander of the forces. When the Greeks had abandoned the Spartans, and placed themselves under the Athenians, he first led them against Eion, at the mouth of the Strymon, and conquered that fortress. He then subdued Scyros, whose rude inhabitants, Pelasgian Dolopians, rendered the sea unsafe by their piracy. The Athenians sent a cleruchia to the island, the first which they established in a distant country. One had be- fore this time been established at Chalcis in Euboea, but it does not seem to have been of long duration. A cleruchia consisted in this : a conquered territory was divided into a number of lots, which were given to a certain number of citizens, or rather all CIMON S VICTORIES. 411 the citizens were permitted to draw lots, so that only a certain number, say 800, were winners ; and every winner received a share in the conquered country. He might then go himself, settle upon his new estate, and cultivate it ; but commonly it was left to the ancient owners, who had now to pay a rent as tenants. In Scyros, however, a regular Attic colony was established, just as was afterwards the case in Lemnos and Imbros. In regard to these settlements, it is uncertain whether the Athenians, who joined in them, could retain their rights in their phyle and demos, and at the same time be citizens of the colony, or whether they became quite estranged from Athens, and lost their franchise. Nothing can be said with positive certainty about this matter ; but I am inclined to consider the former to have been the case : just as in a Roman military colony, a man remained a Roman citizen, so that, e.g. a municeps Arpinas might at the same time be a Roman citizen. "The Aegean was now perfectly freed from the fleets of the Persians, and they did not appear again west of Phaselis. The war was carried on without constant military operations, and the intercourse among the nations was not suspended." Cimon was now sent out to complete the liberation of the Greek cities in Asia Minor; and this was done either in consequence of a report that a Phoenician fleet was again assembling for the purpose of reconquering Samos and Chios, or it may be that Cimon's expe- dition induced the Persians to equip their galleys. "Ever since the battle of Salamis, the Phoenicians had directed their thoughts only to the protection of their commerce, and of the island of Cyprus ; according to Herodotus, they had separated themselves fromihe Persian fleet even before the battle of Mycale." A large Persian fleet of galleys was assembling on the coast of Pamphylia, which was to be joined by a Phoenician squadron of eighty ships, which was already in Cyprus, when Cimon arrived before Phaselis (Olymp. 77, 4). But Cimon boldly determined to attack it before the arrival of the Phoenician contingent. In the tenth year after the battle of Salamis, he sailed with a fleet of somewhat more than two hundred galleys against the hostile armament which lay at anchor in the roads at the mouth of the Eurymedon, and which far surpassed his own in numbers ; its 412 cimon's victoeies. exact amount is uncertain. Cimon attacked the enemy, and overpowered them in one bold onset. On that day he destroyed or took two hundred hostile galleys ; he then landed, and gained as decisive a victory over the Persian army, consisting of the troops which were probably intended to embark in the galleys. When, after this, he heard that the eighty Phoenician galleys were on their way from Cyprus, he immediately sailed out to meet them, without allowing them time to hear of the defeat of the Persians, and annihilated the whole squadron. I have on former occasions directed your attention to the fact, that men generally entertain too contemptible a notion about the naviga- tion, the maritime tactics,. and the character of the galleys of the ancients. 3 Their galleys must be conceived as almost like our steam-boats ; the main object being that they should be independ- ent of the wind. Hence the structure of an ancient galley was in all essential points like that of a steam-boat; human hands supplied the place of the modern engines in propelling the ship against the wind and the current; hence, also, they were very light boats, intended only for speedy motion ; their bulk was as slender as possible, in order that the propelling force might as anuch as possible be proportionate to it. The ancient galleys were very, terrible in their way. Like steam-boats they had only a few sails, that they might be able to avail themselves of a favourable wind. Ships of burden, on the other hand, naves onerariae LxxdSts, $optiSes, were awkward and clumsy, like the Venetian ships in the middle ages, but were constructed altogether in such a manner as to depend on their sails; and their sailing power was very great, notwithstanding their awkwardness. The third class of ships were the tinPcx,, small vessels with sails, quick sailers, like the present ships in the Mediterranean. This victory most justly gained for Cimon an extraordinary importance in the opinion of the people, and directed their eyes towards him. Cimon and Themistocles were entirely different men ; the former was a distinguished officer, and as a general, pro- bably superior to Themistocles, of whom no great military action 3 Comp. Led. on Bom. Mist., vol. ii. p. 22, foil. ; Rom. Hist., vol. iii. p. 594. CIMON S POPULARITY. 413 is on record, except the battle of Snlamis ; b.ut Cimon did not possess the civilis prudent ia of Themistocles, who was pruden- tissimus Gfraecorum. Cimon was clever, fortunate, very rich, and liberal, and consequently extremely popular. It is said of him, that he did not enrich himself by unjust means, and I willingly believe it, for a proud mind like his, is above such things. But we must not on that account consider him as a strictly disinterested man, who despised wealth like a Curius or a Fabricius. For he had had the greatest difficulty in raising the fine which Miltiades had been sentenced to pay; that fine had exhausted his property, and yet we afterwards find, that he had a very brilliant fortune: a fact which is established not merely by anecdotes, but by the authority of Aristotle. Most anecdotes may be of the kind which I have described to you before; but whatever is related on the authority of Aristotle, must be believed, just as when Thucydides relates a thing as historical, provided it can be explained in any way. Now Aris- totle modifies the ridiculous popular tradition, that Cimon kept open housefor all citizens; that would indeed have required a large property! But he attests that Cimon did so for the. mem- bers of his own demos, the Laciadae : whoever of them wanted a meal found it in his house. Think, what a fortune he must have had ! Moreover he went to the agora accompanied by servants with clothes, and when he saw any of his old compa- nions in war with torn garments he ordered new clothes to be given to them. Such things certainly did not happen every day, otherwise many would have offered themselves as candi- dates for a set of new clothes, as in the story of the captain to whom Trajan gave money, that he might be able to keep a slave. In many of these features Cimon's jnya^ofpoovvr] had evidently become ostentatious ; but he was really splendidly generous, and on that 'account very popular. Themistocles never acted in such a manner; his popularity was based on other foundations. Cimon was hostile to him, and hostility between such men is in fact quite natural ; and it is certain that he aimed at getting Themistocles exiled by ostracism. Cimon, moreover, was on very good terms with the Spartans, more so than any Athenian at any time ; and thus he fostered in a very deplorable manner 414 THEMISTOCIES IN EXILE. the ingratitude of .the Athenians towards the greatest among their fellow citizens. Themistocles withdrew to Argos, and there lived quietly in exile. But the Spartans repeated the charge of treason against him, and demanded that he should appear at Sparta before a court of the Spartan allies, at which they presided. There he would certainly have met with an ignominious death ; he accordingly fled, first to Admetus, king of the Molottians in Epirus, then across the Tomarus, a mountain of Macedonia, towards the coast, and thence proceeded to Asia. The Persian king, like the Spartans, had offered a prize for his head. But, in the sea-port at which he landed, one' of his friends, pretending to send a female slave as a present to the king, disguised Themistocles, and thus conveyed him to Susa, where no one recognised him. Another person, to whom he was recommended, contrived to get him presented to the great king, without his name being mentioned. Artaxerxes was so struck with him, that he honoured him with his favour and con- fidence; nay, even allowed him to go down to Asia Minor, where he assigned him three towns as fiefs, and allowed him to fix his residence at Magnesia, close to the sea. These are established facts, as well as that he neyer took revenge on the Greeks, and that he never employed arms against his country. But it is not clear in what manner this noble conduct became possible for him ; whether it was that the inactivity of the Persians rendered it easy to him, or that an early death freed him from his dilemma. As early as the time of Aristophanes/ it was very generally believed at Athens that he had put an end to his existence, to save himself from the sad temptation of serving against his country. This i3 possible; but it is generally acknowledged, that the statement of his having killed himself by drinking ox-blood is a mere fiction, for no quadruped has poisonous blood. There are, however, several cases in which men are said, by the ancients, to have killed themselves with the blood of oxen. We know, indeed, that this is impossible; but the prussic acid of modern times was at first (about ninety or one hundred years ago) prepared from blood, and is it not pos- * Eqy.it. 83, foil. DEATH OF THEMISTOCLES. 415 sible that the ancients, of whose chemical knowledge we form much too low an estimate, knew how to prepare it, though, per- haps, in an impure and imperfect state, and thus extracted the deadliest of all poisons from blood ? Such an explanation seems to me by no means forded ; and how should such a tradition have become established in Greece, had there not been an occa- sion for it ? If such a preparation had no specific name, it might very, well be called ox-blood; and the story may have been understood at Athens in the same manner in which it has been understood down to our own days, namely, that Themis- tocles killed himself with actual ox-blood. I will mention here, by the way, that a scholar, in explaining the ancients, also requires this kind of physical knowledge, in-order to be able to judge of such things, and that he ought not to rest satisfied with the knowledge of the languages alone. Similar thin gs occur in other ancient accounts, which are rejected as fables ; as, for example, that of the well Styx, in Arcadia. I am most decid- edly of opinion that this, and one other well in Greece, con- tained vitriol, or even arsenic. Similar wells, containing vitriol, have recently been discovered in America, and I have no doubt that arsenic also occurs in a pure state. In this manner many traditions are rejected as fabellae aniles which are founded on truth, but are not at once intelligible to us. s LECTURE XL. Soon after Cimon's victories, the Athenians had fresh oppor- tunities for great undertakings, which* however did not produce the anticipated results. When Xerxes bad been assassinated (Olymp. 78, 1), the provinces of his empire were thrown into great commotion, and more especially Egypt, that province This whole paragraph has been transferred to this place from about the middle of the following Lecture. — Ed. 416 INSURRECTION OF INARUS^ ■which bore the Persian dominion most reluctantly. The Egyp- tians were, indeed, an exclusive nation, and, owing to their castes, no one could be admitted among them ; but it was, never- theless, at that time possible to enter into a close union with them. This had been done by the neighbouring Libyans; they had adopted the Egyptian religion, and by this communion they had become so like the Egyptians, that the people in their immediate vicinity doubted whether they should be considered as Egyptians or as Libyans. Libya extended as far as lake Mareotis ; the site on which Alexandria stands does not, pro- perly speaking, belong to Egypt, which terminates near Aboukir, at the Canopian mouth of the Nile ; but, in later times, the Libyans of that part considered themselves to belong to Egypt, having adopted the Egyptian religion even before the time of Herodotus; they refused, however, to recognise the oracle of Ammon. 1 Thus Inarus, a son of Psammetichus, and prince of the Libyans in those parts, "who had only for a time been subject to the Persians under Darius," could venture to offer himself to the Egyptians as their king. Even before his time, Amyr- taeus had come forward in the Delta, and, from the time of pre- vious insurrections, had maintained himself' in the marshes and inaccessible districts. Inarus, in consequence of his being a friend of Amyrtaeus and a stranger, was not received with general favour by the Egyptians ; many, however, joined him, and he gained a great victory over Achaemenes, the king's brother, "who was either governor of Egypt, or had then been sent by the king to quell the insurrection; he lost his life, and" his army was com- pletely defeated. Inarus had, from the beginning, Greeks in his service, and he now concluded a treaty with the Athenian 1 " The Libyans were not a barbarous people ; they had adopted much of the civilisation of the Oyreneans as well as of the Egyptians ; many of them, moreover, were not nomads, but carried on agriculture and com- merce. Delia Cella found inscriptiones trilingues in Cyrenaica : the Greek he recognised in them, and the two other languages, were no doubt Punic and Libyan. The latter, which was written in peculiar characters, might certainly still be deciphered, as the ancient Shilha language -still exists, though to a much smaller extent than formerly, when it was spoken from the Canary Islands as far as the falls of the Nile. It is possible that its alphabet was Iberian." — 1826. ATHENIANS IN EGYPT. 417 people, who sent him a fleet of no less than two hundred triremes, with a considerable force, " which had just been dispatched to Cyprus."^ It sailed up the Nile (Olymp. 79, 2), and the Athe- nians, united with Inarus, chased the Persians back as far as Memphis, and chased them even into the city as far as what was called the white fortress. Memphis consisted of several towns ; the old town, the new town, and the white fortress, which was the fortified part of the city. " The other parts were open, like most Egyptian towns, whence the conquest of the country was so easy when the enemy had once entered it.'' The name "white fortress" reminds us of similar designations, as, for, example, at Moscow, where the white town also was dis- tinguished from the rest; in Slavonian cities in general we find a distinction between white and black towns. The Persians, to return to our subject, threw themselves into the white town, which was strongly fortified, and were joined by many of the Egyptians. There they were vigorously besieged by the Athe- nians and Inarus, and success seemed certain. But Artaxerxes now was roused : he sent to the assistance of the besieged a large army, together with a Phoenician fleet under Megabyzus, the son of the well-known Zopyrus, in the time of Darius Hys- taspis; a man who was distinguished above all the other Per- sians. He trained his army admirably, reinforced it in Egypt,' and pressed the Athenians so hard, that they raised the siege. "Inarus lost a pitched battle, and the Athenians" wanted to return with their ships, but the Persians had obstructed the river, and thus they retreated to the island of Prosopitis, the situation of which is not clearly ascertained; we only know, that it must have been near the beginning of the Delta. Mega- byzus drained the branch of the Nile in which the Athenian ships were stationed, so that they came to be on dry land (this must have been done at the season when the water of the Nile was at its lowest point), and pursued the Athenians into the island. There the Athenians offered an heroic resistance, which is not honoured in history as it ought to be. They themselves set fire to their ships, and by their gallant defence, obtained, after the dapse of eighteen months, a capitulation (Olymp. 80, 4), which, however, was basely violated by the barbarians ; a por- vol. i. 27 418 LOSS OF ATHENS IN EGYPT. tion only fought its way through the enemy, and escaped through the Libyan desert to Cyrene, and thence to Greece — an extra- ordinary feat ! It is one of those achievements of which it js to be deployed that we do not know more: the Athenians did not make the most of their own glory, for this expedition is scarcely mentioned by them. Inarus fell into the hands of the Persians; "he was at first mildly treated by Artaxerxes, but was then nailed on a cross by queen Amytis." Egypt was thus brought back under the Persian yoke, but not for any length of time, for the race of Amyrtaeus soon after spread and delivered Egypt for a considerable period. This indefatigable persever- ance of the Egyptians in the struggle for their independence is glorious ; and it is not fair to consider the history of Egypt as terminating with its conquest by Cambyses: this striving after freedom is more glorious to the nation than so many exploits in the days of its greatness and power. " Thus ended the expedition, which had lasted six years — the numbers in Diodorus are wrong." The loss which the Athenians there sustained is alone sufficient to attest the incredible great- ness of their republic at that time, as they so easily got over it, and as they were not broken down even by the loss of 200 gal- leys, " and of so many citizens; for the armies at that time still consisted entirely of citizens, and the hoplites were all most respectable people." Meanwhile they had to struggle in Greece itself with much hostile opposition. I have already mentioned the fact, that the Greeks, abandoning the Spartans, transferred to Athens the supreme command in the war against Persia. On that occasion Aristides deserved the, honourable surname of the Just, which is remembered by posterity. His justice and fair- ness displayed themselves most brilliantly in his conduct towards the allies, whom he inspired with such perfect confidence, that they themselves requested him to regulate their relations -to one another. The object of the confederacy was to continue the general war against the Persians, to which they were urged on by a noble feeling of revenge, " without any other interest." This same feeling induced them to leave the temples burnt down by the Persians in ruins, that their descendants might see them, and that the feeling of exasperation against the common enemy ATHENS AND HER ALLIES. 419 might not become extinct until they should succeed in taking vengeance on the great king at Susa. Hence the new temples rose by the side of the ancient ones; only in those cases in which the flames had merely injured, but not destroyed the temples, the outside was restored and adorned; but the inside was left in its ruinous condition. Thus the walls blackened by smoke re- mained on the Acropolis of Athens down to the most brilliant period of the city; and for centuries, the traces of the Persian destruction were seen by the Athenians. At first that spirit "of revenge was very general; the allies rejoiced that Athens was af; their head, and left it to her to determine the relations of the confederacy. Aristides drew up a list of the contingents to be furnished by each state ; but as many small contingents were a disadvantage rather than an advantage, all were left to decide for themselves, whether they would furnish their contingents in ships and men, or whether they would pledge themselves to pay money instead of serving in war. A common treasury, contain- ing these contributions, was established at Delos, of which the treasurers (' em^o* api'cu) were appointed by the Athenian people; far then, the remembrance of the liberation being yet fresh, it was thought fair, that the Athenians should elect the treasurers from among themselves. The money was destined to defray the expenses of the war; and as the allies became more and more disinclined to serve in the war themselves, the Athenians served for them, and this was a great source of wealth to Athens. But the delicate and beautiful relation of veneration and gratitude subsisting between the allies and the Athenian people was very soon disturbed. The allies soon forgot the greatness of Athens, imagined that they were equal to her, and saw in her nothing but higher pretensions ; and they were overpowered by a vanity which is always strongest with those who have the least right to it. It was forgotten that an Aeschylus and a Sophocles were living at Athens, that the city which had given birth to Themistocles, Cimon, Aristides, and Pericles, which had so gloriously risen from its ruins, was a city of a different kind from their own, and that she had true aristocratic claims. The Naxians and Parians felt aggrieved that they could not establish their pretensions by an arithmetical example ; Athens, 420 ATHENS AND HER ALLIES. they said, has twenty thousand citizens, and we have five thousand, so that Athens stands to us in the relation of four to one; and if all the allies count a hundred thousand citizens, Athens ought to have only one-fifth of the power. This vulgar mode of measuring their strength arithmetically spread among the allies, and all kinds of mutinies arose against Athens. The Naxians were the first to show their discontent ; the Athenians subdued them, punished them severely, and sent a cleruchia in+o the island, " a punishment which was then very common ;" that cleruchia continued for a long time, and is still mentioned in Plato's Eutyphron. 2 But as they were only human beings, the Athenians also did not remain free from things that deserve blame, for they soon abused the power and superiority to which they were fully entitled. They had at first respected the allies, and had treated them with that consideration which they owed to free states. It had been intended that Athens should stand on the one side with a commanding influence, and the allies on the other, should be treated with respectful consideration, though they did not possess equal power; this relation, however, did not continue long. The Athenians soon hurt and offended the allies, who, it must be owned, had given the first provocation, and set themselves up as their masters. The allies themselves facilitated the assumption of the Athenians through their own languor and sloth ; and they rather liked to see the Athenians manning the ships in place of themselves. The number of allies that sent their contingents "in triremes became smaller and smaller, most of them preferring to pay their contribution in money. This was very acceptable to the Athenians, " for they thereby gained in internal strength," and their own fleet in- creased in proportion as those of their allies decreased ; so that at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war, their navy amounted to four hundred galleys. But they never compelled an island to do away with its navy, so long as it did not revolt; and Lesbos and Chios remained quite free, as long as they were faithful. Thucydides, in whose great and noble soul impartiality shines so brightly, very justly says, that the change in the re- lation of the allies must be attributed to their own indolence. 2 p. 4. OTHER EVENTS OF THE PERIOD. 421 This period is marked by some minor occurrences, which in a general history we cannot enumerate; as, for example, the feud with Thasos, -whereby Athens became possessed of gold and silver mines in Thrace. Thasos was compelled, after a long resistance, to pull down its fortifications, to deliver up its ships, and to abandon the mines on the opposite continent to the Athenians. At the same time Athens founded its colony of Amphipolis on the Strymon, which at first received a severe blow, but nevertheless struck root, and soon became flourishing. But the Attic element was not sufficiently strong in this colony, and its subsequent revolt did great injury to the republic. Had it been possible to establish a true Athenian colony there, its possession would have been permanent and of important conse- quences to Athens, for the colony was of great value so long as it remained dependent, both on account of the mines, and because the Athenians imported from that quarter their best timber, also tar from mount Rhodope (the best, however, came from Italy), and hemp from Thrace. Meanwhile, the relations between Sparta and Athens became more and more embroiled. The Spartans had entertained the dishonourable intention of attacking Athens during the expedi- tion to Thasos 3 (Olymp. 79, 2), when the fearful earthquake, which changed all Sparta into a heap of ruins, turned their attention in a different direction. This was the earthquake of mount Taygetus, which is considered the most fearful that Greece ever experienced, however terrible the one occurring in the Peloponnesian war, and that happening about Olymp. 101, were. It may have been connected with an eruption of mount Aetna. The shock of the earth was felt far and wide. I have spoken, in the second volume of my history of Rome, on the very remarkable consequences of the earthquake. 4 Not only Sparta lay entirely in ruins, but one of the peaks of Taygetus was thrown down, and rolled into the valley of the Eurotas, 3 " Thasos" is here introduced by conjecture ; all the MSS. have "Egypt;" but the correction is made with reference to Thucydides (i. 101), whom Niebuhr is evidently following during this period. — Ed. 1 Vol. ii. p. 275. 422 INSURRECTION OF THE HELOTS. crushing everything in its way. The Greeks recognised in this fearful catastrophe a punishment for an inhuman deed of the Spartans. Some revolted Helots, who had taken refuge in the temple of Poseidon, at Taenarum, and whose lives the Spartans had promised to spare, had been murdered by them in the temple, notwithstanding their promise. This act may be considered as historical, though we may not bo able to see any connection between the anger of Poseidon and the earthquake. The very consequences of this calamity show that Sparta, at that time, atrociously maltreated the Helots; for those Helots who believed Sparta to be annihilated, were engaged in a general insurrection; and had not King Archidamus, immediately after the earthquake, caused the trumpets to be sounded to call the Spartans to arms, it is probable that during the first consterna- tion at the catastrophe, all the SpartariS would have been massacred by the Helots. But even when this plan had failed, they remained in a state of insurrection, and many of the perioeci revolted at the same time. The bondsmen, as well as a portion of the inhabitants of the country, thus were in arms against Sparta, and the few remnants of the ancient Messenians, who had been reduced to the condition of Helots, seized the opportunity of recovering their independence, and took posses- sion of Ithome, whose fortifications, it would seem, were still standing from early times. The Spartans were in the greatest distress ; the whole of the western country was in a state of insurrection; and if the Athenians had on that occasion acted towards Sparta as the Spartans on all occasions acted towards them, Sparta would have been lost. If the Athenians had had such subjects, the Spartans would have acted against Athens with all their might ; but the Athenian people, so much decried, and so often insulted by Sparta, had no such feeling, however natural it would have been, but they were ready, at the first call of the Spartans "(who wanted the assistance, of the Athe- nians in the siege of Ithome, as by this time they had acquired great skill in the mechanic arts)" to send them assistance. Accordingly, Cimon, who was actuated by the friendliest feel- ings towards them, and who was therefore most likely to inspire them with confidence, was dispatched to Sparta with a strong FIRST STRUGGLES WITH THE PELOPONNESIANS. 423 force. Whether it was right to assist the Spartans against the oppressed, is another consideration; states have never taken such things into consider ation : they always side with the rulers. When Cimon appeared, he was throughout Peloponnesus received with distrust by the friends of Sparta. The Corinthians wanted to shut their gates against him, and he was almost obliged to make quarters for his soldiers by main force. The Athenians, taking no revenge for this conduct, advanced to join the other allies, and did good service to the Spartans. But the more the Athenians exerted themselves for the Spartans, and the more they attracted- the attention of the Peloponnesians, the more was the evil conscience of the Spartans awakened, which told them, that in a similar case they would not have thought or acted so nobly, arid they tried, as soon as. possible, to get rid of the Athenians. No sooner was the most threatening danger past, than they declared to the Athenians that • they felt grateful to them, but that they no longer required their assistance, and dismissed them, while they retained their other allies. The Athenians felt, indeed, deeply hurt, but did not give vent to their feelings. But the causes of irritation continued to increase (Olymp. 79 and 80). The Aeginetans were the only Doric maritime power, the only one which on the side of the Peloponnesians was op- posed to the Athenians, and to some extent could cope with them. The Athenians, however, by themselves, were infinitely more powerful than all the Peloponnesians together, and were, more- over, supported by their allies ; and the relation between the Aeginetans and Athenians somewhat resembled that between the navy of the United States of America and Great Britain. The Dorians, Corinthians, and Spartans, in an unpardonable manner, incited the Aeginetans against Athens, although they were unable to support them. The Athenians directed their forces against Aegina, gained a decisive victory over the Aegi- netans, and over the Corinthians, who had come to their assist- ance ; destroyed their navy, and landed in Aegina, which was compelled to submit. The great support sent to Aegina by the Peloponnesians, who had so much incited and urged them on, consisted of three hundred men ! 424 PERICLES. It Was a period of general excitement and division in Greece. The small states were involved with, one -another in a thousand disputes, and in this manner the Megarians and Corinthians also were quarrelling with each other. The Corinthians, heing the more powerful, entertained schemes of conquering Megara; and the Megarians, although Dorians, threw themselves into the arms of the Athenians. The latter sent them assistance, but took possession of their fortified places and of their city. This dependence, however, was not in the least degree disadvantageous to the Megarians; the Athenians even fortified the port of Nisaea for them, and connected it by means of two long walls (juozpa axtMi) with Megara, which was a lasting advantage until the time of Antigonus Gonatas. In the mean time, Pericles had come forward at Athens. Cimon. was growing old, and a new generation of more or less important men was rising; they were not of the same age, and Pericles was one of the younger among them. It was about Olymp. 80 and afterwards, that Pericles came forward in the history, of Athens ; and this is the period to the consideration of which we shall now proceed. END OF VOLUME I. CATALOGUE OP BLANCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS. AUGUST, 1851. CAMPBELL'S CHIEF JUSTICE »— (JVow Heady. ) LIVES OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES OF ENGLAND, From the Norman Conquest to the Death of Lord Mansfield. BY LORD CHIEF JUSTICE CAMPBELL. 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In its present neat and convenient form, the work ia eminently fitted to assume the position which it merits as a book for every parlor table and for every fireside where there is an appreciation of the kindliness and manliness, the intellect and the affection, the wit and liveliness which rendered William Wirt at once so emi- nent in the world, so brilliant in society, and so loving and loved in the retirement of his domestic circle. Uniting all these attractions, it cannot fail to find a place in every private and public library, and in all collections of books for the use of schools and colleges; for the young can have before them no brighter example of what can be accomplished by industry and resolution, than the life of William Wirt, as uncon- sciously related by himself in these volumes. GRAHAME'S UNITED STATES. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE PLANTATION OF THE BRITISH COLONIES TILL THEIR ASSUMPTION OF INDEPENDENCE. 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In two large octavo volumes. MEMORANDA OF A RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF LONDON. By the Hon. Richard Rush. In one large 8vo. volume. MEMOIRS OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE II., from his Accession to the death of Queen Caroline. By John Lord Hervey. Edited, from the original MSS-, by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker. In two handsome royal 12mo. volumes, extra cloth. WALPOLE'S MEMOIRS OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE III., now first publiehed from the original MS. In two handsome octavo volumes, extra cloth. WRAXALL'S HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN TIMES. In one octavo volume, extra cloth. WRAXALL'S POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN TIMES. In one oc- tavo volume, extra cloth. LYNCH'S DEAD SEA. CONDENSED AND CHEAPER EDITION— NOW READY. RRATiVE OF THE U. S. EXPEDITION TO THE DEAD SEA AND RIVER JORDAN. BY W. F. LYNCH, U. S. N., Commander of the Expedition. New and Condensed edition, with a Map, from actual Surveys. In one neat royal 12mo. volume, extra cloth. The universal curiosity excited by the interesting narrative of this remarkable expedition, has induced the author to prepare a con- densed edition for popular use, which is now furnished at a very low price. In preparing the former editions, the object was to produce a work worthy in every respect of the national character which it assumed, and no pains or expense was spared in bringing out a vo- lume as handsome as anything of the kind as yet prepared in this country. The great demand, which has rapidly exhausted many large impressions of that edition, notwithstanding its price, is a sufficient proof of the intrinsic value and interest of the work; and in presenting this new and cheaper edition, the publishers would merely state that it contains all the substance of the former volume, from the time the expedition reached Lake Tiberias till its depart- ure from Jerusalem, embracing all the explorations upon the river Jordan and the Dead Sea. Some matter in the preliminary and concluding chapters has been omitted or condensed, and the two maps of the former edition have been reduced in one, preserv- ing, however, all the more important features of the country de- scribed. In its present form, therefore, afforded at about one-third the price of the more costly issue, in a neat and handsome volume, admirably adapted for parlor or fireside reading, or for district schools, Sabbath schools, and other libraries, the publishers confi- dently anticipate a very extensive demand. Copies may still be had of the FINE EDITION, In one very large and handsome octavo volume, With Twenty-eight beautiful Plates, and Two Maps. This book, so long and anxiously expected, fully sustains the hopes of the most san- guine and fastidious. It is truly a magnificent work The type, paper, binding, style, and execution are all of the best and highest character, as are also ihe maps and en- gravings. It will do more to elevate the character of our national literature than any work that has appeared for years. The intrinsic interest of the subject will give it popularity and immortality at once. It must be read lobe appreciated; and it will be read extensively, and valued, both in this and other countries.— Lady's Book. When, however, he fairly "gets under weigh," every page possesses interest, and we follow him with eagerness in his perilous and tortuous voyage down the Jordan, and his explorations of the mysterious sea, upon which the curse of the Almighty visibly rests. His privations, toils, and dangers were numerous, but were rewarded by success where all others had failed. He has contributed materially lo our know- ledge of Scriptural Geography, particularly in his charts of the Jordan and Dead Sea, whteh he fully explored. If our readers wish lo know all he has done, they must procure and read his book ; we cannot give even an outline of it We can only add that the publishers have done their full duty in llieir department, and the maps and plates are all thai could be desired. — Presbyterian. 8 BLANCHAKD & LEA'S FUBUUAiiuno.- (science.) Library of Illustrated Scientific Works (continued). CARPENTER'S COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY— Now Ready. PRINCIPLES OF GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY; INTENDED AS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, And as a Guide to the Philosophical Pursuit of Natural History. BY WILLIAM B. CAKPENTEE, M. D., P. K. S., Author of " Human Physiology," " Vegetable Physiology," &c. &c. THIRD IMPROVED AND ENLARGED EDITION. In one very large and handsome octavo volume, with several hundred beautiful illustrations. This valuable work will supply a want long felt by the scientific public of this country, who have had no accessible treatise to refer to, presenting in an intelligible form a complete and thorough outline of tbiB interesting branch of Natural Science brought up to the most advanced state of modern investigation. The high reputation of'the author, on both sides ofthe Atlantic, is a sufficient guarantee for the completeness- and accuracy of any work to which his name is prefixed; but this volume comes with the additional re- commendation that it is the one on which the author has bestowed the greatest care, and on which he is desirous to rest his reputation. It forms a very large octavo volume, beautifully printed, and most profusely illustrated. PRINCIPLES OF THE MECHANICS OF MACHINERY AND ENGI- NEERING. By Professor Julius Weisbach. Translated and Edited by Prof. Gordon, of Glasgow. First American Edition, with Additions by Prof. Walter R. Johnson. In two octavo volumes, beautifully printed, with 900 illustrations on wood. The most valuable contribution to practical science lhat has yet appeared in this country. — Athenaum. Unequalled by anything of the kind yet produced in this country — the most stand- ard book on mechanics, machinery and engineering now extant.— JV. Y. Commercial. In every way worthy of being recommended lo our readers — Franklin Institute Journal. PRACTICAL PHARMACY: Comprising the Arrangements, Apparatus, and Manipulations of the Pharmaceutical Shop and Laboratory. By Francis Mohr, Ph. D., Assessor Pharmacia? ofthe Royal Prussian College of Medi- cine, Coblentz ; and Theophilus Redwood, Professor of Pharmacy in the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Edited, with extensive Additions, by Prof. William Procter, ofthe Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. In one handsomely printed octavo volume, of 570 pages, with over 500 en- gravings on wood. PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. By Professor J. Muller, M. D. Edited, with Additions, by R. Eglesfeld Griffith, M. D. In one large and handsome octavo volume, with 550 wood-cuts, and two colored plates. The style in which the volume is published is in the highest degree creditable to the enterprise of the publishers. It c-oiiiains nearly four hundred engravings exe- cuted in a style of extraordinary elegance. We commend the book to general favor. Il is the best of us kind we have ever seen.— N. Y". Courier and Enquirer, BLA.NCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS.— (Science.) 9 SEALS ON HEALTH-JUSI READY. THE LAWS OF HEALTH IN RELATION TO MIND AND BODY. A SERIES OP LETTERS FROM AN OLD PRACTITIONER TO A PATIENT. BY LIONEL JOHN BEALE, M. R. C. S., &c. In one handsome volume, royal 12mo., extra cloth. The "Laws of Health," in relation to mind and body, is a book which will convey much instruction to non-professional readers; they may, from these letters, glean the principles upon which young; persons should be educated, and derive much useful information, which will apply lo the preservation of health at all ages.— Med. Times. GREGORY ON BTAGNETISIVI-NOW READY; LETTERS TO A CANDID INQUIRER ON ANIMAL MAGNETISM. BY WILLIAM GREGORY, M. D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. In one neat volume, royal 12mo., extra cloth. INTRODUCTION TO PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY, including Analysis. By John E. Bowman, M.D. In one neat royal 12mo. volume, extra cloth, with numerous illustrations. DANA ON CORALS. ZOOPHYTES AND CORALS. By James D. Dana. In one volume imperial quarto, extra cloth, with wood-cuts. Also, an Atlas to the above, one volume imperial folio, with sixty-one magnificent plates, colored after niuure. Bound in half morocco. These splendid volumes form a portion of the publication* of the United States Ex- ploring Expedition. As but very few copies have been prepared for sale, and as these are nearly exhausted, all who are desirous of enriching their libraries with this, the most creditable specimen of American Art and Science as yet issued, will do well lo procure copies at once. THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION. By HoTatio Hale. In one large imperial quarto volume, beautifully printed, and strongly bound in extra cloth. BARON HUMBOLDT'S LAST WORK. ASPECTS OF NATURE IN DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES. With Scientific Elucidations. By Alexander Von Humboldt. Translated by Mrs. Sabine. Second American edition. In one handsome volume, large royal 12mo., extra cloth. CHEMISTRY OF THE FOUR SEASONS, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. By Thomas Griffith. In one handsome volume, royal 12mo., extra cloth, with numerous illustrations. THE MILLWRIGHT'S GUIDE. THE MILLWRIGHT'S AND MILLER'S GUIDE. By Oliver Evans. Eleventh Edition. With Additions andCorrections by the Professor of Mechan i ( s in the Franklin Institute, and a descftpuon of an improved Merchant Flour Mili. By O. andO. Evans. In one octavo volume, with numerous engravings. 10 BLANCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS.— (Science.) SOMERVILLE'S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. Sew Edition, much Improved— Just Issued, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. BY MARY SOMERVILLE. Second American from the Second and lie vised London Edition, WITH AMERICAN NOTES, GLOSSARY, &c. In one neat royal 12mo. vol., extra cloth, of over 550 pages. The great success of this work, and its introduction into many of our higlier schools and academies, have induced the publishers to prepare a new and much improved ediiiou. In addition to Ihe corrections and improvements of the author bestowed on Hie work in its passage through the press a second time in London, notes have heen introduced lo adapt "il more fully to the physical geography of this country ; and a comprehensive glossary has been added, rendering the volume more particularly suited to educational purposes. The amount of Ihese additions may be understood from the fact, thai not only has the. size of the page been increased, but the volume itself enlarged by over one hundred and fifty pages. Our praise comes lagging in the rear, and is well-nigh superfluous. But we are anxious io recommend to our youth the enlarged method of studying geography which lier present work demonstrates to be as captivating as it is instructive. VV r e hold such presents ns Mrs. fomerville has bestowed upon the public, to be of incalculable value, disseminating more Found information than all the literary and scientific insti- tutions will accomplish in a whole cycle oflliei? existence. — Blackwood' 8 Magazine. HUMAN" HEALTH ; or, the Influence of Atmosphere and Locality, Change of Air and Climate. Seasons, Food, Clothing, Bathing, Mineral Springs, Exercise, Sleep, Corporal and Mental Pursuits, &c. &c, on Healthy Man. constituting Ele- ments of Hygiene. By Robley Dunglison, M. D. In one octavo volume. THE ANCIENT WORLD, OR PICTURESQUE SKETCHES OF CREA- TION. By D. T. Ansted, author of "Elements of Geology," &.c. In one neat volume, royal 12mo., with numerous illustrations. A NEW THEORY OF LIFE. By S. T. Coleridge. Now first published from the original MS. in one small 12mo volume, cloth. ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. By W. T. Broderip, F.R. S. From tho second Loudon edition. One volume, royal 12mo , extra cloth. AN INTRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY; or, Elements of the Natural Hisiory of Insects. By the Rev. Wm, Kirby, and Wm, ^pence, F. R. S. From the sixth London edition. Jn one large octavo volume, with plaies, plain or colored. THE RACES OF MEN, a Fragment. By John Knox. In one royal 12mo. vo'ume, extra cloth. AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. By Charles Bonaparte, Prince of Canino. In four folio volumes, half bound, with numerous magnificent colored plates. LECTURES ON THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF LIVING BEINGS. By Carlo Matteucci. Edited by Jonathan i'ereiru, M D. In one royal 12mo. volume, extra cloth, with illustrations. PHILOSOPHY IN SPORT MADE SCIENCE IN EARNEST. In one handsome volume, royal ISmo , crimson cloth, with numerous illustrations. ENDLESS AMUSEMENT. A Collection of Four Hundred Entertaining Experiments. In one handsome ^volume, royal 18.no., with illustrations, crimson cloth. BLANCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS.— (Science.) 11 JOHNSTON'S PHYSICAL ATLAS. THE PHYSICAL ATLAS OF NATURAL PHENOMENA, FOR TUB USE OF COLLEGES, ACADEMIES AND FAMILIES. BY ALEXANDER KEITH JOHNSTON, F.R.G.S., F.G.S. In one large volume, imperial quarto, handsomely and strongly bound, With Twenty-six Plates, Engraved and Colored in the best style. Together with 112 pages' of Descriptive Letterpress, and a very copious Index. This splendid volume will fill a void long felt in this country, where no work has been attainable presenting the results of the important science of Physical Geography in a distinct and tangible form. The list of plates sub- joined will show both the design of the work and the manner in which its carrying out has been attempted. The reputation of the author, and the universal approbation with which his Atlas has been received, are sufficient guarantees that no care has been spared to render the book complete and trustworthy. The engraving, printing, and coloring will all be found of the best and most accurate description. As but a small edition has been prepared, the publishers request all who may desire to procure copies of the work to send orders through their book- sellers without delay. LIST OF PLATKS. GEOLOGY. 1. Geological Sirueture of the Globe. 2. Mountain Chains Of Europe and Asia. 3. Mountain Chains of America. 4. Illustration of the Glacier System of Ihe Alps. (Mont Blanc) 5. Phenomena of Volcanic Action. Pala?onlological and Geological Map of the British Islands. (A double sheet.) HYDROGRAPHY. 1. Physical Chart of ihe Atlantic Ocean. 2. Physical Chart of the Indian Ocean. 3 Physical Chart of the Pacific Ocean or Great Sea. 4. Tidal Chan of the British Seas. 5. The River Systems of Europe and Asia 6. The River Systems of America. Tidal Chart of the World. METEOROLOGY. L. Humboldt's System of Isothermal Lines. 2. Geographical Distribution of the Cur- rents of Air. 3. Hyelographic or Rain Map of the World. 4. Hyetographic or Rain Map of Europe. NATURAL HISTORY. 1. Geographical Distribution of Plants. 2. Geographical Distribution of the Culti- vated Plants used as Food. 3. Geographical Distribution of Quadru- mana, Edentata, Marsupialia, and Pachy'dermata. 4. Geographical Dislribuiion ofCarnivora. 5. Geographical Distribution of Rodentia and Ruminaniia. (3. Geographical Distribution of Birds. 7. Geographical Distribution of Reptiles. 8. Ethnographic Map of ihe World. 9. Ethnographic Map of Great Britain and Ireland. The book before us is, in short, a graphic encyclopaedia of the sciences— an atlas of human knowledge done into maps. It exemplifies the truth which it expresses— that he who runs may read. The Thermal Laws of Leslie it enunciates by a beni Ijne running across a map of Europe; the abstract researches of Gauss it embodies in a kw parallel curves winding over a section of ihe globe; a formula of Laplace it melts down to a little patch of mezzotint shadow; a problem of the transcendental ana- lysis- wdieli covers pages with definite integrals, it makes plain to the eye by a little suppling and hatching on a given degree, of longitude! All possible relations of time and space, heat and cold, wet and dry, frost and snow, volcano and storm, cur- rent and tide, plant and beast, race and religion, attraction and repulsion, glacier and avalanche, fossil and mammoth river and mountain, mine and forest, air and cloud, and sea and sky— all in the earth, and under the earth, and on the earth, and above the earth, that the heart of man has conceived or his head understood— are brought to- gether by a marvellous microcosm, and planted on these little sheets of paper— thus making themselves clear io every eye. In short, we have a summary of all the cross- questions-of Natme for twenty centuries— and all the answers of Nature herself set down and speaking to us voluminous system dans un mot .... Mr. Johnston, is well known as a geographer of great accuracy and research; and it is certain that this work will add to his reputation ; fur it is beautifully engraved, and accompanied with explanatory and tabular letterpress of great value.— London Athenawm. J4 BLANCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS.— (College and School Books.) Schmilz and Zumpl's Classical Series (continued) THE LAST VOLUME PUBLISHED OF THIS SERIES IS A SCHOOL DICTIONARY OF THE LATIN LANfiUAGE. BY DR. J. H. KALTSCHMIDT. In two parts, Latin- English and English-Latin. Part I, Latin English, 486 pages, strongly bound, price 90 cents. Part II, English Latin, 366 pages, price 75 cents. Or the whole complete in one very thick royal ISmo. volume, of 850 closely printed double columned pages strongly bound in leather, price $1 25. "While several valuable and copious Latin Lexicons have wiiliin a few years been published in this country, a want has long been felt and acknowledged of a good School Dictionary, which within reasonable compass and at a moderate price should pre- sent to the student all the information requisite for his purposes, as elucida'ed by the most recent investigations, and at tbe same time unincumbered with erudition useful only to the advanced scholar, and increasing the size and cost of the work beyond the reach of a large portion of the community. It is with this view especially that the present work lias been prepared, and the names of its distinguished authors are a sufficient guarantee that this intention has been skillfully and accurately carried out. The present volume has been compiled by Dr Kalisehmidt, the well-known Ger- man Lexicographer, from the best Latin Dictionaries now in use throughout Europe, and has been carefully revised by Dr. Leouhard. Schmilz. It presents as far as possible, the etymology of each word, not only tracing il to its Latin or Greek root, but to roots or kindred forms of words occurring in the cognate languages of the great Indo-Germanic family. This feature, which distinguishes the present Dic- tionary from all others, cannot fail to awaken the learner to the interesting fact of the radical identity of many apparently heterogeneous languages, and prepare him at an early stage for the delightful study of comparative philology. The. aim of the publishers has been to carry out the author's views as far as possible by the form and arrangement of the volume. The type, though clear and well printed, is small, and the size of the page such as to present an immejise amount of mailer in compass of a single handsome 18mo. volume, furnished at a price far below what is usual with such works, and thus placing wiiliin the reach of the poorest student a neat, convenient, and complete Lexicon, embodying the investigations of the most distinguished scholars of the age. Although this work has been issued very recently, it lias already attracted great attention from all interested in education, and it has been introduced into a Targe number of schools The publishers subjoin two or three commendatory letters from among a vast number wuli which they have been favored. From Prof J. Forsyth, Jr., of Princeton University, March 19, 1851. With the School Dictionary I am greatly pleased. Il is so cheap, so convenient, and in its etymological features so peculiar, aad withal so valuable, iliat on many a student's table ihe larger and more costly lexicons will sustain some risk of being superseded. From Prof. G. Harrison. University of Fix., March 17, 1851. I am very much pleased with it. 1 think it will meet an existing want and be very popular with the schoolbojs. If the second part be executed as well,! shall lake great pleasure in recommending the whole work to my friends From Prof. C. D. Cleveland Philadelphia March 12, 1P51. You have done a very great service to the cause of Classical Education in pub- lishing the "School Dictionary of the Latin Language," by Dr J. H. Kaltschmidt. We needed someduig of the kind very much. The larger diet onaries of Levereit &l Andrews are excellent for advanced scholars, but I have found, in my experience, that younger students were conlustd by the niuliiplicily of definitions and examples in them, and 1 have therefore long wanted to see a work belter adapted lo their, wants and capacities. This desideratum, you have very happily supplied. From J. J. Helm, Esq.. Salem. July 15 1851. If I have been more pleased with any oneol them than the rest, it is ihe Latin-Eng- lish Dictionary, ihis is truly a disideratitm. We had no small Latin Dictionary that was up to the mark in point of scholarship. 'I his appears to be so. From P. S. Burchan, Esq , Polceepsie, May 13, 1851. I have had it constantly by me. and therefore know something about it, and I think it ihe niosi complete and admirable school dictionary in this country at least. The great fault of manuals of this kind for schools and colleges is, the unwieldy massoi useless quotations from the learned languages, introduced to illustrate, but which generally serves raiher to confuse the signification of words. This Lexicon defines briefly and lucidly the meaning of the word sought; it shows you how it is used in various authors, by quotations indeed, but by quotaiions strictly rendered, or introduced as illustrations by implication ; and. what is a merit peculiarly il« own, il gives, as far as il is practicable, the etymology of each word— Richmond Enquirer. BLANCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS— (College and School Books.) 15 ELEMENTARY CHEMISTRY; THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL. By George Fownes, Ph. D., F. R. S., &c. Edited, with Notes and Additions, by Robert Bridges, M.D. Third American from a lato London edition. In one large royal 12mo. volume, with numerous illustrations. We know of no treatise so well calculated to aid the student in becoming familiar with the numerous facts in ihe science on which it treats, or one better calculated as a text-book for those attending Chemical Lectures. * « » * The best text-book on Che- mistry that has issued from our press.— American Med. Journal. We know of none within the same limits, which has higher claims to our confidence as a college class-hook, both for accuracy of detail and scientific arrangement.— Augusta Med. Journal. OUTLINES OF ASTRONOMY. By Sir John F. W. Herschel, F. R. S., &c. In one neat volume, crown Svo., with six plates and numerous wood-cuts. We now take leave of this remarkable work, which we hold lo be, beyond a doubt, the greatest and most remarkable of the works in whjch the laws of astrono- my and the appearance of the heavens are described to those who are not mathema- ticians nor observers T and recalled to those who are. It is llie reward of men who can descend from the advancement of knowledge to care for its diffusion, that their works are essential to all. that they become the manuals of the proficient as well as the lexi-books of the \eanmr.— AtktncBu?n. Probably no book ever written upon any science, embraces within so small a com- pass an entire epitome of everything known within all ils various departments, practical, theoretical, and physical.— .Examiner. ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY; Being an Experimental Introduction to the Physical Sciences. Illustrated with over three hundred wood-cuts. By Golding Bird, M. D., Assistant Physician to Guy's Hospital. From the third London edition. In one neat volume, royal 12mo. We are. astonished to find lhat there is room in so small a book for even the bare recital of so many subjects. Where everything is treated succiuily, great judgment and much lime are neededjn making a-selection and winnowing the wheat from the chaff Dr. Bird has no need to plead the peculiarity of his position as a shield against criticism, so long as his book continues to be the best epitome in the English lan- guage of this wide range of physical subjects. — North Ameiican Review, April, 185i. ELEMENTS OF PHYSICS; or Natural Philosophy, General and Medical. Written for universal use, in plain, or non-technical language By Neill Arnott, M.D. A new edition, by Isaac Hays, M. D. Complete in one octavo volume, with about two hundred illustrations. ELEMENTS OF OPTICS, by Sir David Brewster. With Notes and Additions by A. D. Bache, LL.D. In one 12mo, volume, half bound, with numerous wood- cuts. A TREATISE ON ASTRONOMY. By Sir John F. W. Herschel. Edited by S. C. Walker, bsq. In one ISaio. volume, wnh numerous plates and cuts. AN ATLAS OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. By Samuel Butler, D. D., late Lord Bishop of Lincoln. In one octavo volume, half bound, containing twenty-one colored Maps and an accentuated Index. GEOGRAPHICA CLAS§ICA j or, the Application of Ancient Geography to the Classics By Samuel Butler, D D., &c Filth American from the last London Edition. With illustrations by John Frost. In one rojal 12mo. volume, half bound. ELEMENTS OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, on a new plan, from the Creation to the Congress of Vienna, with a Summary of the Leading Evenis since that time. By H. While. Edited, wuh a Series of Questions, by John S Hart. In one large royal 12mo. volume, extra cloth, or half bound. 16 BLANCHARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS.— (College and School Books.) SHAW'S ENGL ISH LITERATURE. OUTLINES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. BY THOMAS B. SHAW, Professor of English Literature in the Imperial Alexander Lyceum of St. Petersburg. In one large and handsome royal ].2mo. volume. A valuable and very interesting volume, which for various merits will gradually find its way into all libraries.— N. Y. Knickerbocker. Supplies a want long and severely felt. — Southern Literary Gazette. Traces our literary history with remarkable zest, fairness, and intelligence.— JV. Y. Home Journal. An admirable work — graphic and delightful. — Pennsylvanian. The best publication of its size upon English literature that we have ever met with. — Neat's Saturday Gazette. Eminently readable.— City Item. A judicious epitome — well adapted for a class-book, and at the same time worthy of a place in any library. — Perm. Inquirer. From the Rev. W. G. T. Shedd, Professor of English Literature in the University of Vt. Burlington, Mat 18, 1849. I take great pleasure in saying that it supplies a want that has long existed of a brief history of English literature, written in the right method and spirit, to serve as an introduction to the critical study of it. 1 shall recommend the book to my classes. FOSTER'S EUROPEAN LITERATURE— Now Ready. HANDBOOK OF MODERN EUROPEAN LITERATURE: British, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Rus- sian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. With a full Biographical and Chronological Index. BY MRS. FOSTER. In one large royal 12mo. volume, extra cloth. (UNIFORM WITH SHAW'S OUTLINES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.) This compilation will prove of great utility to all young persons who have just com- pleted their academical studies. The volume gives both a general and particular view of the literature of Europe from the revival of letters lo the present day. It is compiled with care and judgment, and is, in all respects, one of the most instructive works that could be placed in the hands of young persons. — Morning Herald. BOLMAU'S FRENCH SERIES. New editions of the following works, by A. Bolmar, forming, in connection with '* Bolmar's Levizac," a complete series for the acquisition of the French language : — A SELECTION OF ONE HUNDRED PERRIN'S FABLES, accompanied by a Key, containing the fext, a literal and free translation, arranged in such a man- ner as to point out the difference between the French and English idiom, &c. In one vol. 12mo. A COLLECTION OF COLLOQUIAL PHRASES, on every topic necessary to maintain conversation. Arranged under different heads, with numerous remarks on the peculiar pronunciation and uses of various words; the whole so disposed as considerably to facilitate the acquisition of a correct pronunciation of the French. In one vol. l8mo. LES AVENTURES DE TELEMAQUE, PAR FENELON, in one vol. 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To which is prefixed, with a view to the elucidation of the main subject, a concise account of the Leading Doctrines of the Common Law, and of the Course of Procedure in the Courts of Common Law, with regard to Civil Rights j with an attempt to trace them to their sources j and in which the various Alterations made by the Legislature down to the present day are noticed. VOLUME II. COMPRISING EQUITABLE ESTATES AND INTERESTS ; THEIR NATURES, QUALITIES, AND INCIDENTS. In which is incorporated, so far as relates to these subjects, the substance o " Mad dock's Treatise on the Principles and Practice of the High Court of Chancery." The whole forming two very large octavo volumes, of over Sixteen Hundred, large pages, strongly bound in the best law sheep. Some three years ago, we had occasion to notice the first volume of this 'work. (4 West. Law. Jour 96.) 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