was defeated by Miltiades, on the plains of Marathon. In 480 Xerxes repassed the Hellespont with a formidable army, took possession of Attica, and destroyed Athens, but was defeated by Themistocles; and Xerxes, who called himself the king of kings, could hardly find a barque to flee into his own country (5th century).

About this time Athens occupied the first rank in Greece, and made itself celebrated and glorious in every way. Illustrious men were at this time born, and succeeded each other as statesmen of renown. Themistocles, by his ability and skill, raised the walls of Athens in spite of Sparta, and extended its power as far as the sea-coast. Aristides, by his justice, obtained the confidence of Greece. Cimon, son of Miltiades, proved himself worthy of his father, and exterminated the remains of the Persian army. At the same time the republic established colonies and extended their power and commerce. The startling success of the Athenians and the important services they had as a nation rendered to Greece, raised them to supreme power, an honour which had hitherto belonged to Lacedæmonia.

Pericles succeeded Cimon in the management of affairs (5th century). He remained for four years at the head of the Government, and increased the power of the nation, whilst he lowered that of the Areopagus, and secured the authority of Athens over that of the Allies; but this power degenerating into tyranny, the Spartans, who were always jealous of the power of the Athenians, formed a league against them, and thus excited enemies on all sides, and joined in every quarrel against her. At last, after many quarrels and readjustments, a cruel war commenced in 431 in Peloponnesus, which lasted 27 years, and slew the flower of the Grecian youths in the midst of their strength and beauty.

During this war, the government underwent a puerile revolution. The exiled Alcibiades corrupted the Athenian army at Samos, overthrew the democracy in Athens, substituted in its stead an assembly of 5,000 chosen citizens, and in place of the usual Senate a Supreme Council of 400 members, who exercised the most cruel despotism. This Council was abolished after the space of four months had elapsed, and the Constitution re-established with slight modifications.

After the unfortunate issue of the Peloponnesian war, Athens was deprived of her supremacy, and they formed a Government of 30 chiefs, known under the name of the Thirty Tyrants.

The atrocious crimes committed by the government ruined them. The Thirty Tyrants were chased by Thrasybulus (402), and the Constitution of Solon re-established afresh; and Athens was once more raised from the dust. Conon overthrew the Spartan flotilla, and restored the maritime prosperity of his country. The rivalry of Spartan and Thebes gave Athens the chance of repairing losses, and her most cruel enemy was obliged to implore her aid, and to offer her alternate command. A new rival now menaced the liberty of Athens, and of all Greece. Philip found a way, notwithstanding the eloquence of Demosthenes and the vigorous opposition of Phocion, to rend from the Athenians several of their most powerful colonies. He gained the victory of Cheronnee (338), and took the command of all the Greek forces. Alexander the Great, his son, exercised over the Athenians in general, and the Greeks, a powerful ascendancy. After his death, Athens had scarcely a minute's liberty under the power of Macedonia. Taken and re-taken several times, it reposed a moment under Demetrius Poliorcetes, but its independence was soon attacked on all sides. Besieged and taken by the General Sylla (1st century), it remained afterwards under the dominion of the Romans.

SPARTANS OR LACEDÆMONIANS.

The Spartans trace their origin to Lelex, who lived in the 16th century before Christ (1516). Sparta, which he founded or embellished, was governed by kings, of whose succession nothing is certain up to Tindarus. This prince became celebrated in poetic history through his sons, Castor, Pollux, Hellen, and Clytemnestra, whom he had by Leda. Jupiter, according to the fable, was the father of Castor and Hellen. Tindarus was succeeded by Castor and Pollux. They left the throne to Menelaus, the husband of Hellen, who caused the Trojan war.

Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, had some right to Lacedæmonia by his mother, Clytemnestra. He easily obtained the crown, which he left to Tesomenes and Penthylus, his sons, but they were obliged to give up to the Heraclides the kingdoms of Argos, of Mycenia, and Lacedæmonia. The chief of the descendants of Hercules was Aristomacus, whose son, Aristodemes, was put in possession of the kingdom of Lacedæmonia.

The two sons of Aristomedes, Eurysthenes and Procles, ascended the throne simultaneously in 1125, and divided the royal power between them.

From this time forwards the Lacedæmonians were always governed by two kings, and the throne was thus occupied for nearly three centuries (280) by the descendants of Eurysthenes and Procles. The trouble which arose in Sparta, caused by this double royalty, menaced the State with anarchy, when Lycurgus, of the Royal Family, was chosen to remedy these ills. His wise laws were attended with success. He diminished the authority of the kings, overcame in part the rage for riches, ordered their schools, and the education of their children. When he perceived his laws in full vigour, he made the Spartans swear to observe them until he returned from a voyage he meditated. He started on his voyage, and allowed himself to die of starvation in Delphos, some say in Crete.

The principal wars the Spartans sustained-1st, against the Mysseniens, whom they reduced to slavery after three bloody wars; 2nd, against the Thebans, whose town they took; and 3rd, against the Athenians, their most redoubtable rivals.

At the time of the Persian war, they allied themselves with the Greeks to repulse Xerxes. The devotedness of their king, Leonidas, and of 300 of their soldiers at Thermopylæ, covered them with honour; but, jealous of the power of the Athenians, they declared war against them. Lysander, their General, took Athens, and changed the Government. The proud Lacedæmonia was in turn humiliated by the republic of Thebes, and was obliged to renounce her conquest.

The Spartans entered into a league with the Achaians, and submitted to Philomen, who abolished the laws of Lycurgus. They sustained afterwards the general fate of all Greece in falling into the power of Rome. They afterwards belonged to the Turks in 1460, and form at the present time part of New Greece. Their descendants call themselves Miginotes.

The ruins of ancient Sparta are found near the town of Mistra.

CARTHAGE.

The Carthaginians were the descendants of a colony of Phoenicians, whom Dido, a princess of Tyre, when fleeing from the tyranny of Pygmalion, her brother, conducted into Africa (9th century). She built on the southern coast of this country a town, which she named Carthagena, with a citadel called Byrsa (skin or leather).

Their government was republican, and was composed of three

different authorities-namely, the magistrates, that of the senate, and that of the people. The Carthaginians had become so powerful by their commerce that they commanded not only part of Africa, but also the greater part of the neighbouring islands, such as Sicily, Sardinia, &c.

They had establishments in Spain and Italy, and their commerce extended into Gaul. and as far as Great Britain,

Having become the rival of Rome, Carthage sustained three wars, called the Punic Wars.

In the first, which lasted 24 years, the two republics tried their strength. In the second, which lasted 17 years, Rome was within a hair's-breadth of being ruined, owing to the victorious march of Hannibal, who vanquished the Romans on the borders of Zesin, near the Lake Trebia, not far from the Lake Tragimene, and at Cannes; but being obliged to return to Carthagena, he was vanquished at Lama (south of Carthage) by Publius Scipio, the African. In the third, which lasted nearly four years, Carthagena was destroyed entirely, in the 2nd century (146), by Scipio Emilien, the African II. The republic of Carthagena then became a Roman province. On the fall of the Roman Empire, the Vandals, Germans who had invaded the south of Spain, founded a kingdom in Africa, which was destroyed by Belisarius, the General of Justinian, the Emperor of the East (six centuries after Christ). The Arabs took possession of it in the 7th century, and different Arabian dynasties reigned there. At last, in the 16th century, the Turks became masters of it.

The actual government of the Porte is in the hands of the hereditary prince, who calls himself a bey, and who gives no other proof of his dependence than a few considerable presents which he sends every year to the Grand Seignor-that is to say, the Regency of Tunis.

ROMANS.

Italy was populated by a colony from Illyria; also by the Iberians, the Celts, Germans, and Asiatics. Greek colonies established themselves in the south of Italy and Great Greece, or Lower Greece. The Romans pride themselves on being descended from a colony that came originally from Troy. In the 13th century, Æneas, fleeing from the conflagration of Troy, arrived in Latium. After the death of the king, Latinus, whose daughter he married, he reigned over the Latins and the

Trojans who accompanied him, and they became one nation. He perished in a war against the Butuli and the Etruscan nation.

Ascagnus, or Tulus, son and successor of Æneas, founded the town of Alba, and reigned over Latium. It is hardly possible to obtain with any degree of certitude the names of his successors until the 8th century before Jesus Christ when the king of Latium, Numitor, was dethroned by his brother Amulius. The Vestal, Rhea Sylvia, daughter of Numitor, became mother of Romulus and Remus. Fable now takes possession of the history of these times. Romulus and Remus succeeded to the throne. They built several huts near the Tiber. This was the commencement of Rome and its history.

The Roman power lasted for nearly twelve centuries, from the foundation of Rome by Romulus (753) until the destruction of the Western Empire, under Romulus Augustulus (476), by Odoacer, king of the Herules. This interval is divided into three great epochs: first, the kings; second, the republic; third, the emperors.

ROME UNDER THE KINGS.

Two hundred and forty years-about two centuries and a half. Seven kings have governed Rome, and all are remarkable for their personal qualities, the importance of their institutions, and the great events which took place in their time.

1. Romulus built Rome and increased the number of the citizens by the reunion of some of the Sabines. He created the civil laws, established a kind of government which was in existence to a certain extent seven centuries afterwards, and founded the universal dominion of the Romans (8th century).

2. Numa Pompilius instituted religion and its worship. He dedicated the temple of Janus, added several months to the year, and published a code of well-written laws (8th and 7th centuries).

3. Tullus Hostilius gained a victory over the Albans, destroyed Alba after the combat of the Horatii and the Curiatii, and commenced the power of Rome over the Latins (7th century).

4. Ancus Marius extended the Roman dominions as far as the sea, and established the port of Ostia, which proves that Rome even then studied navigation. It is, however, doubtful whether the Romans did not prefer a little piracy rather than commerce (7th century)