A. C. time after, notwithstanding the precau- A. M. 897. tions he took for his fafety. About 3107. 892. this time must be placed the founda- 3112.. tion of Carthage, which Tyrian Dido built in a fituation, where, after the example of Tyre, fhe might trade to advantage, and aspire to the empire of the fea. 'Tis not eafy to fix the time, when it took the form of a commonwealth; but the mixture of the Tyrians and Africans made it a city at once 888. martial and mercantile. The ancient 3116. hiftorians, who put its origin before the deftruction of Troy, would make it conjectured, that Dido rather enlarged and fortified it, than that she laid its foundations. The face of affairs changed in the kingdom of Judah. Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, brought impiety along with her into the house of Jehoshaphat. Jehoram, the son of fo pious a prince, chofe rather to imitate his father-in-law, than his father. The hand of God was upon him. His reign was fhort, and his end dreadful. In the midst of these chastisements, God wrought unheard of wonders, even in behalf of the Ifraelites, whom he was willing to call to repentance. They faw, unconverted, the miracles of Elijah and Elifha, who prophefied during the reigns of Ahab

and

A. C. and five of his fucceffors. In this A. M.
Marm. period Homer flourished, as did Hefiod
Arund, thirty years before him. The primi-

tive manners which they reprefent to us, and the veftiges of the ancient fimplicity, which they ftill with great dignity retain, are of no fmall ufe to our understanding antiquities much more remote, and the divine fimplicity of 884. fcripture. Behold now dreadful fcenes 3120. in the kingdoms of Judah and Ifrael! Jezebel, by Jehu's order, thrown headlong from the top of a tower! In vain had the painted her face, and tired her head: Jehu trampled her under his horfes feet: he fmote Joram king of Ifrael, the son of Ahab: the whole houfe of Ahab was extirpated, and had well nigh drawn that of the kings of Judah into its deftruction. King Ahaziah, fon of Jehoram king of Judah, and of Athaliah, was flain in Samaria with his brethren, as being a kinfman and friend to the children of Ahab. foon as this news was brought to Jerufalem, Athaliah refolved to dispatch all that remained of the feed royal, without sparing her own children, and to reign by the deftruction of all her family. Only Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, a child yet in the cradle, was ftolen from the fury of his grandmo

fury

4

As

ther.

1

viii. de

Polit.

A. C. ther. Jehofheba fifter of Ahaziah, and A. M.
wife of Jehoiada the high-priest, hid
him in the houfe of God, and faved
that precious remnant of the house of
David. Athaliah, who believed him
murdered with the reft, lived without
fear. Lycurgus now gave laws to La-
cedemon. He is blamed for having Plato de
calculated them all for war, after the Rep. 1.
example of Minos, whofe inftitutions leg. lib.
he had followed, and for having little i. Arift.
provided for the modefty of the women, lib. xi.
while, in order to make foldiers, he oblig-c. 9.
ed the men to fo laborious and tempe-
rate a life. Nothing was ftirring in
Judea against Athaliah; fhe thought
herself quite fecured by a reign of fix
years. But God was bringing her up
an avenger in the facred fanctuary of his
878. temple. When he had attained his fe- 3126.
venth year, Jehoiada fhewed him to
fome of the chief captains of the royal
army, whom he had carefully prepared
for fuch a discovery; and with the af-
fiftance of the Levites, he crowned the
young king in the temple. All the
people readily acknowledged him the
heir of David and of Jehoshaphat. Atha-
liah, upon hearing the noise, coming up
to quell the confpiracy, was dragged with
out the ranges of the temple, and receiv-
ed the treatment which her crimes de-
ferved.

839.

A. C. ferved. So long as Jehoiada lived, Jeho- A. M. afh caused the law of Mofes to be kept. But after the death of that good prieft, being corrupted by the flatteries of his courtiers, with them he gives himself 840. up to idolatry. The priest Zechariah, 3164 fon of Jehoiada, made bold to reprove him; and Jehoafh, unmindful of what he owed to his father, commanded him to be stoned. Vengeance quickly overtook him. The year following Jehoash, 3165. defeated by the Syrians, and fallen into contempt, was affaffinated by his own fervants; and Amaziah his fon, a better man than he, was placed upon the 825. throne. The kingdom of Ifrael, brought 3179. low by the victories of the kings of Syria, and by civil wars, recovered its ftrength under Jeroboam II. more pious than his predeceffors. Uzziah, otherwise called Azariah, fon of Amaziah, governed the kingdom of Judah 810. with no lefs glory. This is that fa-3194mous Uzziah, who was fmitten with leprofy, and fo many times reproved in fcripture, for having, in his latter days, prefumed to invade the priest's office; and for having, contrary to the prohibition of the law, offered incenfe on the altar of perfumes. He was obliged to be feparated from the people, king as he was, according to the C 5 law

A. C. law of Mofes; and Jotham his fon, A. M. who was afterwards his fucceffor, governed the kingdom wifely. Under the reign of Uzziah, the holy prophets, the chief of whom at that time were Hofea and Ifaiah, begun to publish their prophecies in writing, and in particular books, the originals whereof they depofited in the temple, to serve for a monument to pofterity. The prophecies of leffer extent, and orally delivered, were registered, according to cuftom, in the archives of the temple, with the history of their respective 776. times. The Olympic games,

infti- 3228.

tuted by Hercules, and long difcon-
tinued, were revived. From this revival
are deduced the Olympiads, whereby
the Grecians reckoned their years.
At this period ended the times, which
Varro calls fabulous, because till this
date profane hiftory is full of confufion
and fables; and the hiftorical times
begin, wherein the affairs of the world
are related by more faithful and di-
ftinct narratives. The firft Olympiad
is diftinguished by the victory of Cho-
rebus. They returned
They returned every fifth
year, and after the revolution of four.
There, in an affembly of all Greece
at Pifa firft, and afterwards at Elis,
were celebrated those famous combats,

in