CHAPTER XXV.

Sketch of Ancient Greece. Character of the

People.

Ruins of an ancient Grecian edifice.

It is at a period of very distant antiquity, and in an age involved in doubt and fable, that the history of Greece begins. It was about five hundred years after the flood, when Abraham was living, that is, about 3700 years ago, that the first kingdom of Greece was founded; the country, previous to that time, being inhabited by wild and wandering tribes of savages.

The history of ancient Greece commences in the year 1856, B. C., and ends in 146, B. C., making a space of 1700 years, being nearly one third of the time that has elapsed since the world was

74 ANCIENT Greece— -CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE.

created, and almost one half of the time since the deluge.

The country of ancient Greece was a large peninsula in Europe, on the north side of the Mediterranean sea; lying between Italy and Asia Minor, and embraced many islands situated near its shores. Its length, when most extensive, was about 400 miles, and its breadth about an average of 150 miles.

Yet this small spot, less in extent than the State of New York, produced a people, who left more to instruct and admonish the nations that followed them than any other; and who, after the lapse of 2500 years, are still the subjects of the most lively interest.

The country inhabited by this extraordinary people was highly beautiful. Its surface was variegated by picturesque mountains; between them were valleys of the brightest verdure, through which a thousand small, but clear rivers dashed rapidly to the sea.

The climate was among the finest in Europe. It was exempt from the extremes of summer and winter; the sky was seldom obscured; and the air, being peculiarly clear, presented objects to the eye with the most striking distinctness. The sea was said to be more beautiful, the islands that clustered around the peninsula more charming, the roman-` tic landscapes, embracing mountains, and vales, and rivers, more delightful here than in other lands.

It was the lot of a people of strong and peculiar genius to inhabit this favored region. Here they flourished for 1700 years. This ancient nation has slept in the tomb for centuries, but their

deeds and their institutions have survived the lapse of ages; and like mountains seen through the mist of distance, they strike through the shadows of antiquity, and still excite our wonder and admiration.

It is to this people that we are indebted for the first example of a federal government—a union of several states under one superintending power. Of course, we find in its history the first outline of the constitution of our own government, so much the object of admiration in other nations, and so worthy of our own respect and veneration.

Greece also exhibited the earliest dawnings of political liberty. While the nations around her were living in barbarism, or submitting to tyranny, she was emerging from darkness into the light of freedom. About the time when Saul was made king over Israel, Athens abolished royalty. The ancient Grecians were the first people to understand their rights, and to assert them; the first to discover that the people are the only legitimate source of political power-that the true end of government is to ensure the happiness of the people at large-by establishing equal laws-promoting justice, and punishing crimes; the first to establish constitutions on a basis to secure these ends.

There was in the Grecian character a nobleness and ingenuousness of sentiment which makes it seem almost desirable to have lived among them. There is a curious anecdote of an old man, a stranger at Athens, who went one evening into the theatre. As he approached the seats of the Athenian youth, they pressed together in such a manner as to leave him no place to be seated; he was

76 ANCIENT GREECE.—CHAracter of the people.

therefore compelled to stand in a situation very conspicuous and embarrassing, and exposed to ridícule. The Lacedemonians, who held age in great veneration, perceiving his confusion, and touched with pity, by a general sympathy all rose at once to offer him a seat. The volatile Athenians, struck with such urbanity, suddenly gave a thunder of applause. The old man replied, "The Athenians know what is good-the Lacedemonians practise it."

Their patriotism was of the loftiest kind. Where is the man in our day who would voluntarily sacrifice his life for his country? Yet many instances are furnished by the history of Greece, in which men laid down their lives to benefit their country; and they did this in a manner more unequivocal and more frequently than any other nation. The Athenians were once engaged in a dangerous war. An oracle, supposed to declare the will of heaven, when consulted in respect to the war, said that the nation whose king was first slain should be victorious. The king of Athens, perceiving that it would be difficult for him to be slain in the common course of events, dressed himself in disguise, went into the enemy's army, and allowed himself to be killed.

With the Greeks, personal attachment had more influence, and private interest less, than with almost any other people. Xerxes the Great was much surprised when a Greek, who was admitted to his confidence, told him that the Greeks did not fight for money. "And pray," said he, “what do they fight for?" "They fight," said the other, "for glory." The brave men who fought and fell with Leonidas at the straits of Thermopylae,

were inspired by the love of country, by devotion to their leader, to one another, to glory.

Many of them seemed to live for the interest and happiness of their friends. Solon's rule for measuring happiness, proposed to Croesus, king of Lydia, was to "live in love, and die in peace.' "" And he told the haughty monarch that Cleobis and Biton, two obscure young men, who spent their time in performing their duty to their country and the gods, in acts of kindness to their friends, and of filial piety to their mother, were happy men.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Greece continued.

In the history of Syracuse, settled by a Grecian colony, there is an account of two young Grecian noblemen, Damon and Pythias, who lived in the reign of Dionysius the tyrant. They had, for a long time, cultivated the strictest intimacy and friendship, and pursued an unimpeachable course of life. But the spirit of liberty, prevalent among the Greeks, had, on various occasions, appeared; and many had fallen victims to the suspicions of the tyrant.

At length, one of the two friends, Damon, was seized by Dionysius, and condemned to die. But as he had business abroad of consequence to his family, which he wished to settle before his death, ne applied to the king for permission to go; and his friend Pythias offered himself as a hostage to