4. It seems probable that about B. C. 2000, or in the time of Abraham, the progenitors of the Greeks reached that country from the highlands east of the Caspian Sea. Greece extends about 220 miles from north to south, and 160 from east to west, with a very irregular outline, and contains about 34,000 square miles, much of this being mountainous and barren. The separation of the different states by these mountain ranges much favored the disposition of the people to local independence, and formed a bold and hardy race. Access from three sides to the sea led to commerce and colonization, whileit brought them into frequent contact with the most civilized people of the east without endangering their independence, and the lofty mountains on the north were an effectual barrier to the irruption of the wild and wandering tribes of northern Asia and Europe. Early in the history of the Greeks colonies came from Egypt and Phenicia and introduced the arts of those countries, then the most civilized in the world. This was about the time that the Jewish nation was founded by Moses, and we can easily understand that the native intelligence of the Greeks and their teachable spirit, led them to profit greatly by this early light.
5. The most celebrated traditions of this people relate to an expedition by the collective young chivalry of Greece, called the “Argonautic,” which indicates their enterprising spirit and early acquaintance with the sea, and also seems to have introduced the habit of planting colonies. Two wars against Thebes, in the central part of Greece, induced by the ambition and combinations of the kings of the various States, seem to have made much impression on the whole nation, while a combination of nearly all of its petty sovereigns, gathering an immense army, stated at 100,000 men, to punish an injury done to one of their number by the King of Troy, on the opposite coast of Asia, occupied ten years, and filled the whole country with confusion. This was soon followed by an event called the Return of the Heracleidæ, or descendants of Hercules—a mythic hero of great celebrity—to their ancient dominion in the southern peninsula, called the Pelopenesus. It appears to have been attended by the migration of one tribe into the domains of another, which they forcibly dispossessed and produced the emigration of the conquered people into Asia, where they formed extensive colonies—independent—but preserving a love for their race, and forming an important element in Greek progress.
6. The commotions and miseries of this period and of subsequent times, which had their rise mainly in this, most of which were due to the restless ambition and personal quarrelsof their kings, came at length to disgust the spirited and progressive people with that form of government, and before the time that authentic history begins they had very generally set aside the kings and established a democracy; and where this was not the case, as in Sparta, the power of the kings became so limited that they were little more than leading magistrates in their respective cities. This was not often done by violent revolution, but generally in a quiet way, showing the steady and intelligent resolution of the people.
This rare nation knew how to adapt its governments to its needs. Not that everything went on without struggle or difficulty, nor that they did not share in the rude and sanguinary passions of their times. Their governments were often unsettled; there were frequent conflicts among aspirants for place and power in the state; they had a balance of power among the leading states to maintain; and the want of a strong central authority led to innumerable collisions and sometimes to desolating wars. But amidst all the confusion and imperfection of an early civilization they still maintained such an independence of any superior in each state that they could settle their internal affairs to suit themselves. They were yet uneducated men, in the enthusiastic young manhood of the world, but with spirit enough to be free.
7. That freedom had many defects. The true character of freedom was imperfectly apprehended in that age of the world. It was often violent; and much Grecian blood was shed by Greeks. It was frequently turbulent; and sometimes the strife of parties and factions did great injury to the welfare of the state. It was usually a restricted liberty in which all the inhabitants did not share, for the slave, the freedman, and the foreigner were admitted to no influence in the government, or in framing the laws; and there was always much oppression and injustice somewhere. It was not a well understood and well balanced liberty, as we comprehend it, but it left room for a large amount of free and spontaneous action. It made little account of theindividual; that point was to belearned and made duly prominent after the lapse of more than two thousand years. The Greek identified himself with his state. He would not have it large in order that each free citizen might have a personal influence in it. His public life was an education to him; and the very defects of his institutions fitted them more perfectly to meet the wants of that age than anything more complete could have done.
8. They developed rapidly under a system so free from restraint, coupled with a nature so ardent, and a thirst for knowledge so absorbing. Still it was at least two hundred years after they had re-arranged their primitive modes of government before they reached a degree of order and system that influenced them to record events as they passed, and observe the world outside of their state, and even then their most learned men wrote little. Men were absorbed in their private matters, or in the affairs of the state. They thought little of the future; they were devoting themselves diligently to the only means of education that existed in those days, intercourse and action. Their priesthood was quite different from what we found it in Chaldea and Egypt. They did not form a class, nor attempt to exercise an influence on government. They were appointed from the body of the citizens to offer sacrifices and conduct religious ceremonies. The high spirited and active minded Greeks were not fit subjects for the dominion of a priestly caste. Although Cecrops, an Egyptian, settled and civilized Athens, and introduced some of the social arrangements of his country, he did not plant the all-controlling priesthood. The Athenians, of all other Greeks, were the thoughtful, progressive intelligence of the nation. The poets compiled the geneaologies and histories of the gods, the heroes, and the past records of the people. There was no other literature, there were no other sources of information but those from which the poets drew—tradition and inherited customs. Of these the poets explained the origin and reason, and no one thought of questioning their tales. They were supposed to be inspired; and their marvelouslegends rested, to a certain extent, on monuments, habits, and oral tradition. Their lively narratives charmed and satisfied the public mind and gratified their pride. It was only in later years that the philosophers explained them away.
In the early days they had no standard by which to criticise them. All they required was that they should offer a pleasing explanation. The wisest of the Greeks came, ultimately, to believe in one God who ruled with wisdom and justice, and they laid the foundation of all useful knowledge by teaching men to think and reason; but true science was not possible in their age of the world. They, however, prepared the way for it.
9. Their religion was cheerful and bright, they had altars and temples in great numbers, and countless ceremonies in honor of particular deities. One class of these was festivals, or games, established, according to tradition, by their divine heroes. The Olympian Games were the most celebrated, and took place every fiftieth month at Olympia. In the year 776 B. C. they began to record the name of the victor in these games, and as that was done ever afterward, this became a fixed date and the interval between each was called an Olympiad. It was the beginning of reliable history, although it was one hundred and fifty years later that men of real wisdom, extensive observation and careful study began to flourish. But the eagerness with which the people sought information, and the honor in which they held men of thought and wisdom, encouraged study, reflection and travel for the sake of knowledge, so that this class, in time, became extremely numerous.
Their researches, and systems of what they held to be truth, were often imperfect, and, in many parts, false; but they were upright and earnest in the studies that were then possible, and did as much good, one might say, by their failures as by their successes. Inquirers, in after times, notedwhereandhowthey failed; so that all their pioneer work was useful—their mistakes for a warning, their success for instruction.
10. The course of Grecian development took two contrary directions, under the two leading states, Sparta and Athens.The last represents the generally received idea of Greece—as a land where the people were lively and beautiful, intelligent and richly endowed withtastein the arts, or an exquisitely quick and thoroughjudgmentoffitness, developed to the very highest point. Sparta, on the other hand, through its whole career, was a military state. Somewhere about one hundred years before the first Olympiad (B. C. 776), a lawgiver, named Lycurgus, had reformed the institutions of the Spartan state with the avowed and only object to render it capable of producing the most vigorous and hardy warriors. He made an equal distribution of lands, which were cultivated by the ancient inhabitants, reduced to slavery. They were called Helots, and were treated with great cruelty. Lycurgus abolished every species of luxury, subjected the young, both boys and girls, to the most rigorous training, and discouraged all the amenities of family and social life that he supposed might interfere with the rude hardiness of the soldier. The whole intelligence, activity and vigor of the Greek mind was, in this state, confined to military life. These institutions continued to exist in Sparta for more than five hundred years. Among any other race they would have secured to them the supreme dominion of the nation; but among this liberty loving people they merely sufficed to render them the general leaders in war, andone, only, among the most powerful and respectable Greek states. Besides, this experiment shows that there is little real advantage in systematically trampling down the native instincts of humanity in order to promote superiority in a particular direction.
11. The entirely spontaneous character of the Athenians made them, in general, the equal of the Spartans in military fame, and gloriously eminent in many other directions. But the various members of the Greek nation seem to have been made, by their intelligence and the earnestness, the completeness, of all their lines of development, the pioneers of humanity in their experiments. They exhausted all the capacities of a complete military education in an entire state, and presented themost perfect achievements of a genius that had no models to commence on, in poetry, in painting, in sculpture, in philosophy and in such elements of science as were possible to humanity in their day.
It is worthy of remark that most of the Greek colonies, the Phenicians and their colonies, and a great part of the numerous nations in Italy became republican about the same time—as did the Romans later—and that those states which preserved hereditary monarchy, or tyrants—as those kings were called who were elected by the populace—had counterbalanced the individual despotism of the kingly office by various institutions that controlled and limited it.
12. At the period when history began to be carefully written and dates accurately given, civilization was under full career and rapidly moving westward. The Greeks had been struggling with the difficulties of the early times for more than a thousand years and had already begun to mature the institutions and to show the traits of character that afterwards made them so eminent and so useful in advancing the progress of mankind. The Tyrians, or commercial people of Phenicia, had formed the net-work of communication with all the parts of the earth then sufficiently civilized to produce anything which could be useful to the rest of the world, and Italy was alive with the energies of the primitive races, mainly Aryan—some of them transplanted from the East, and possessing many of the highest elements of the ancient culture—who fought the Romans with a vigor and persistence that contributed much to the discipline and strong development of that remarkable people, to whose instruction the Greek colonies in eastern Italy added not a little.
From this point the advance of the center of development toward the western continent, and of mental preparation for more perfect ideals of government was continuous. A more complete view of this progress will be gained by considering the general events of each century apart, or in chronological order.
13. B. C. 776. This is the first definite and positive date in reliable history and commences the First Olympiad. The Olympic religious and national festival was celebrated by foot and chariot races, boxing, wrestling, etc., and was commenced by religious sacrifices and ceremonies, mainly in honor of the god Apollo. This peaceable assembly of all the representatives of the Grecian race was one of the chief means of maintaining the national union, and greatly promoted the maintenance and importance of a kind of national congress, called the Amphictyonic League. The first object of this League was the protection of their common worship; but it came to have, afterward, considerable importance as a political body; its decrees having the character and force of the Laws of Nations in modern times. It was composed of two delegates from each of the twelve leading states of Greece, and held two meetings yearly; one at Delphi, where was a celebrated temple and oracle of Apollo, and one at Thermopylæ. The twelve chief cities of the Æolian colonies of Greece in Asia Minor, and also the same number of Ionian colonies on the same coast more to the south, had each Amphictyonic, or International Leagues; but the Greeks from all the various regions they settled, as well as from the mother country, took a pride in participating in the Olympic games.
14. B. C. 753. This is one of the most important dates in the history of mankind. In this year, Rome, “The Eternal City,” was founded by a band of adventurers and outlaws, under the lead of the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus. A spirit of adventure was the most characteristic feature of that era, in Greece and about the Mediterranean sea, together with a passion for colonizing, or founding new states. Education, or growth, seems to pursue parallel lines in the same era, so that the same general tendencies move the masses of widely separated nations. Greece began, at this period, to send out a large number of colonists, in rapid succession, to Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean. The tendency had commenced more than three centuries before, but the colonies hadnot gone far from the native state, and only one had been established in Italy, at Cumæ. Carthage, a commercial colony of the Tyrians, had been founded 127 years before, and was now beginning to rival the parent city.
Rome gathered its population from all the neighboring states. The mingling of races has always been favorable to the progress of mankind. A single race, isolating itself and receiving no new blood or impulses from without becomes stationary and fixed in all its habits and advancement ceases beyond a certain point. The men who founded Rome were, apparently, a crowd of adventurers who had resolved to found a state. After building the walls of their city and providing themselves with habitations, they were destitute of wives—a serious want which would soon leave their new city without inhabitants. They remedied it in true Roman style—by violence. They made a festival without the walls to celebrate the founding of their state, and invited their nearest neighbors, the Sabines, to take part in it. The Sabines came with their wives and daughters. At a concerted moment the young Romans each seized a young Sabine woman, and carried her off into the city; the gates were closed and each proceeded to make his captive his wife.
The Sabines were powerless to prevent the deed, but they soon made war on their violent sons-in-law, and the young city would have been destroyed but for the interference of the stolen women who had become satisfied with the bold deed which gave them valiant husbands. The Sabines were induced to unite with the young state so far as to build a new city adjoining and take part in its rising fortunes. Romulus was elected king by his followers, but popular institutions were established to limit his power, under the strong instinct of vigorous organization that, from the first, characterized the new nation. The people maintained their right to make laws in conjunction with the king, and preserved a limited monarchy for 250 years. At this time the prophet Isaiah flourishedin Judea, and the kingdom of Samaria was approaching extinction.
15. B. C. 747. The Chaldeans established, or revived, their dominion in Babylon, under their king, Nabonassur, and seem to have been independent of Assyria for a time, but afterward to have been brought into a qualified subjection to that enterprising monarchy. It commences authentic history in the East, so far as well ascertained dates are concerned. In that year the Chaldean astronomers or priests, first introduced the Egyptian solar year, which furnished an accurate mode of measuring time. This was about the commencement of the Sixth Olympiad. Egypt was approaching its most perfect condition under its ancient system.
B. C. 743. Messenian war of 23 years—Sparta conquers Messene.
16. B. C. 735. A colony from Corinth founded the celebrated city of Syracuse in Sicily, and a fashion of colonizing seems to have obtained in Greece, which continued for a hundred years. The native enterprise of the Greeks, the great increase of inhabitants in their small territory, and the commotions and contests of parties in their states, which preceded the establishment of more complete popular governments, were probably the ruling causes of these foreign emigrations, and all contributed to the increase of knowledge, improvement in navigation, and the prevalence of a commercial spirit. Miletus, the leading Greek city of Ionia, in Asia Minor, became almost as powerful and prosperous by her commerce as Tyre in her best days. There were Grecian colonies on the coast of Africa west of Egypt, on the eastern coast of Italy, several in Sicily, one in France. They were, generally, very enterprising and prosperous, and diffused Greek intelligence and culture over a large part of the world as known at that time. They usually established a republican government. Syracuse remained republican for 251 years.
17. B. C. 728. The Assyrian Empire was now having its palmiest days, and spreading its dominion over all the centralparts of western Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. At this time Shalman-assur, or Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, led away the Ten Tribes of Israel into a hopeless captivity, and planted a different race in Samaria. Soon after this time the Ethiopians from the upper Nile established their dominion in Egypt, without apparently changing the general condition of things there. Three Ethiopian kings successively reigned in Egypt, and made conquests in Asia to some extent.
18. B. C. 600. About the beginning of this century the foundation of Greek philosophy was laid by Thales of Miletus, a Greek city in Asia. He represents the growth and acuteness of the Greek mind and the approach of its period of greatest activity. He travelled into Egypt in search of wisdom, and was the most able astronomer of his times. He calculated an eclipse of the sun, which, coming on just when two armies, the Median and Lydian, were about to engage in battle, so terrified them that they immediately separated and made peace. He was celebrated as a mathematician, and taught many truths concerning the existence of God which were far in advance of his time, and undertook to account for the origin of all things in a very bold and independent manner. He was one of the famous “Seven Wise Men” of Greece. Solon was held to be the first among the seven. He was an Athenian law-giver and writer, and established a very wise and enlightened system of government in Athens. He was a pure-hearted and clear-sighted man, enjoying the universal respect of the Greeks. Chilo, another of the seven, was a Spartan magistrate, held in the highest esteem for his wisdom. Pittacus of Mitylene, was a law-giver, held in high honor. Bias of Priene, in Ionia, was a very noble-hearted and public-spirited citizen, of universal reputation for wisdom. Cleobulus, of the island of Rhodes, was remarkable for his skill in answering difficult questions, and Periander of Corinth, the ruler, or tyrant, of that place, was the last of the seven. They were all living at the same time. They were only the most eminent among a people who could fully appreciate mental ability. The spirit of inquirycontinued to spread rapidly for two hundred years, when the greatest masters, who immortalized themselves and their race by their genius, appeared.
19. In the early part of this century the kingdom of Lydia, in the central part of Asia Minor, rose to great wealth and power. The Lydian kingdom was ancient—many of its customs being similar to those of the Egyptians—and the Etrurians of Italy, a much more polished and cultivated people than the Romans who conquered them, are thought, by some eminent historians, to have been a Lydian colony planted in Italy in unknown times. The Lydian kings made war on the Asiatic Greek colonies and reduced many of them to subjection. Crœsus, the last king of Lydia, was proverbial for his vast wealth. He was conquered by Cyrus, the Persian, in the middle of the next century.
679 B. C. Numa, the second king of Rome, is said to have died. The Romans abstained from war during nearly the whole of his reign, which was occupied in settling the internal affairs of the new state, especially those relating to religion. He was followed by Tullus Hostilius, a very warlike prince, who did much to extend the Roman state.
20. About 650 B. C. a great change was introduced into Egypt, by Psammeticus, its king, who, having several rival claimants to the throne, employed the services of Greek soldiers to overcome them. For the first time the country was freely opened to foreigners, and the power of the priesthood broken. Thus the Greeks were instrumental in changing the current of Egyptian history.
The Median Kings began to make head in the east, and ventured—after various successful efforts to extend their dominion in other directions—to make direct war on Nineveh. At the close of the century, by the aid of the rebellious Nabopolassar, they succeeded in taking and destroying that city, and the whole of that immense empire was divided between Media and Nabopolassar, who made Babylon his capital.
21. B. C. 590 to 500. Events in this century begin to crowd thick upon each other. The Greeks rapidly advanced; the Romans succeeded, amid constant wars, in securely establishing their state in Italy, marching from conquest to conquest, not without heavy reverses at times, from which they soon recovered.
598—Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem for the first time.594—Solon was made archon at Athens, with almost unlimited power to change the existing institutions, and he introduced many very useful reforms.588—Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews carried into captivity to Babylon, where they remained seventy years. Soon after, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Tyre, after a siege of many years, but he found himself in possession of the walls only, for the inhabitants had built another city on an island near by, but inaccessible to the conqueror, and left him a barren conquest.560—The most memorable event that followed was the union of Media and Persia under the military prowess of Cyrus. He first employed the forces of the Medo-Persian kingdom in Asia Minor, conquering Lydia and the rest of that region,549—and dethroning Crœsus. Babylon and Egypt had both entered into an alliance with Crœsus against Cyrus, but before they could send Crœsus effectual aid Cyrus had triumphed. He then turned his arms against Babylon538—which he took by stratagem after a long siege. Egypt was afterward obliged to become tributary to the universal conqueror.534—Cyrus, who had before been the Persian general of the united armies under the Median king, Cyaxares, who was his maternal uncle, succeeded to the kingdom, and soon after sent the Jews home to their native land. During this period the Greeks swarmed on the easternpart of the Mediterranean sea and carried on nearly all its commerce, the Tyrians being mainly confined to the trade with India, Arabia and the various parts of the Persian empire.529—Occurred the death of Cyrus, full of years and glory. History has described him as the most amiable of all the great conquerors. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses, who, to punish the revolt of the Egyptians525—invaded that country and made it a Persian province.522—Cambyses died and was succeeded by a Persian nobleman, Darius Hystaspes, the line of Cyrus being extinct. He finally broke the power of the priesthood in his dominions, which perished at once in Egypt and Babylon, where they had so long reigned supreme over the minds of men.515—The second temple was dedicated at Jerusalem.510—In this year occurred a very important event in Roman history—the establishment of the republic. Kings had reigned there two hundred and forty-three years.
598—Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem for the first time.
594—Solon was made archon at Athens, with almost unlimited power to change the existing institutions, and he introduced many very useful reforms.
588—Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews carried into captivity to Babylon, where they remained seventy years. Soon after, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Tyre, after a siege of many years, but he found himself in possession of the walls only, for the inhabitants had built another city on an island near by, but inaccessible to the conqueror, and left him a barren conquest.
560—The most memorable event that followed was the union of Media and Persia under the military prowess of Cyrus. He first employed the forces of the Medo-Persian kingdom in Asia Minor, conquering Lydia and the rest of that region,549—and dethroning Crœsus. Babylon and Egypt had both entered into an alliance with Crœsus against Cyrus, but before they could send Crœsus effectual aid Cyrus had triumphed. He then turned his arms against Babylon538—which he took by stratagem after a long siege. Egypt was afterward obliged to become tributary to the universal conqueror.
534—Cyrus, who had before been the Persian general of the united armies under the Median king, Cyaxares, who was his maternal uncle, succeeded to the kingdom, and soon after sent the Jews home to their native land. During this period the Greeks swarmed on the easternpart of the Mediterranean sea and carried on nearly all its commerce, the Tyrians being mainly confined to the trade with India, Arabia and the various parts of the Persian empire.
529—Occurred the death of Cyrus, full of years and glory. History has described him as the most amiable of all the great conquerors. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses, who, to punish the revolt of the Egyptians525—invaded that country and made it a Persian province.
522—Cambyses died and was succeeded by a Persian nobleman, Darius Hystaspes, the line of Cyrus being extinct. He finally broke the power of the priesthood in his dominions, which perished at once in Egypt and Babylon, where they had so long reigned supreme over the minds of men.
515—The second temple was dedicated at Jerusalem.
510—In this year occurred a very important event in Roman history—the establishment of the republic. Kings had reigned there two hundred and forty-three years.
1. The Romans, more than any other people of ancient times, understood how to establish a well ordered state. Respect for order and law among them was very great. The idea of a government with a definite constitution, which the rulers should always respect, and which should be an adequate bulwark to the people against oppression, had never occurred to any of the Asiatic nations. The nearest approach to it among the Greeks was in Sparta; but as their aim was directed, not so much to the general welfare of the state as to training a race of soldiers, their experiment was a failure. The Greeks had a great impatience of subjection; they had no great ambition to rule, but were impulsive, and each state wanted freedom to pursue its own particular fancy. Their exhaustless energyand acute minds were devoted to the pursuit of ideal objects. Even the sober and resolute Spartan put aside every other consideration in order to realize his idea of a well formed, thoroughly trained, and invincible warrior. Weakly and deformed children were destroyed in their infancy, by order of the state. The young women were subjected to the most rigorous physical training, that they might become mothers of hardy children. Physical training was one of the passions of all Greece, originating in their delight in beauty and symmetry of person. Sports that contributed to this were as pleasing to the Greeks as to our modern school-boys.
2. Athens, which most perfectly represented the Grecian mind, esteemed a fine poet, an able writer, a skillful painter or sculptor, as much as an enthusiastic scholar of our day can do. They had a passion for beauty, and their love of liberty was in great part produced by their ardent longing for mental freedom and the gratification of their mental tastes. The worship of their gods was chiefly their admiration for superhuman majesty, sublimity, and beauty, as they conceived them, and their theology was compounded of their thirst for knowledge and their love of the mysterious, the grand, the terrible, and the beautiful. Life was of no value to them, if they could not gratify these instincts, and their tenacity in maintaining their liberties found its inspiration in them. They were a nation of mental enthusiasts. They had no love of conquest for the sake of power. They were invaded by the Persians, and a handful of Greeks conquered its immense hosts with ease, by their intelligence and ardor. It was only when they saw the splendor and wealth of the East, and felt that they could repeat the glorious deeds of their mythic heroes, that they became enthusiastic over the romantic idea of conquering a magnificent empire. It was the mental charm of the undertaking that gave to Alexander his miraculous success.
But the Greeks were not practical. They wanted worldly wisdom. The Lacedemonians of Sparta had no adequateobject when they sacrificed almost all that common humanity holds dear, to rear up model soldiers. Their ambition was confined mainly to preserving the headship of their state among the petty republics of Greece; and the resources of all the states were wasted in the effort to preserve a balance of power among the various members of the nation; or in struggles of the more powerful to obtain a leading influence. They had little political wisdom, when the independence of their territories was secured and the governments that restrained them too much from their favorite enthusiasms were abolished. Athens and all Greece admired immensely the wise measures of Solon, when he reformed the government and gave it excellent laws. But they had not the prudence to maintain them. In ten years all was again confusion. Most of their great men who possessed a special genius for government, were abandoned when they showed the most ability for benefitting their country by their wise statesmanship. Pericles alone, who was the most perfect embodiment of Grecian character, preserved his influence to the last; but it was by falling in perfectly with the tone of Grecian feeling, and he laid the foundation of innovations that corrupted and finally overthrew their liberty. He was as little practical and prudent as his countrymen. Beautiful in person, cultivated in mind, possessed of exquisite taste in literature and art, to which he devoted himself with boundless enthusiasm, Greece could always appreciate him. His age was the glory and joy of Greece; but when more homely political virtues were required to preserve his creations and protect this literary and artistic state, the people could not follow them. Their best statesmen were ostracised, banished, or slain, when their practical genius was most needed.
3. Rome was the opposite of this. She had a genius for producing and preserving a constitution, adding to it by slow degrees, maintaining checks and balances that preserved the machinery in working order, and rendered it capable of producing the most valuable results that were possible in thosetimes. To rule was her passion. She was not wanting in intelligence, but it was the homely prudence of common life, the skill to adapt means to ends. Of all the nations, she was the first to carry organization into every part of her government, and conduct everything by inexorable system and order. If Rome was resolved to rule others, she was no less resolved to rule herself. The mission of Greece was in the domain of thought, to develop the intellectual capabilities of mankind. That of Rome also required intelligence, but of a lower and more material kind. She was to teach mankind to follow an orderly development, to introduce system, to prevent ruinous clashing of interests, to teach respect for law. Greece taught the world to think to purpose; Rome to govern with effect. Each served an important purpose. Without either the world was not prepared for Christianity, which added moral order, nor for true science, which was the mature fruit of these three, and prepared the perfect civilization which was to be developed to its conclusion in a New World.
4. Rome commenced, not with the king, but with theSenate—a body of experienced men, who made the laws and appointed a king to administer them. The king, except in time of war, was only the executive, the chief magistrate. The later kings were restive under this restraint and sought to place themselves above law, and the Romans at once dismissed them, appointing various officers to fill their place. The fundamental principles of government were not changed at all, or very little, except by the subsequent course of development. The Romans knew how to adapt their invincible spirit of order to all changing circumstances, and when external changes arose corresponding changes were developed, in a regular manner, within.
Thus the Romanspiritwas constant under the regal government, throughout the republic, and to the close of the empire, and had then become so thoroughly established in laws and institutions as to govern the development of the newstates that rose out of its ruins and produced modern civilization.
At first the Roman government consisted only of the Senate and the king. The Senate was chosen from the body of citizens, and represented them. In the course of time the descendants of the first people became the aristocracy, called patricians, who enjoyed great privileges. A class was gradually formed called theplebs, or common people, who, for some time, had no share in the government. The patricians alone could hold office, and marriage between them and plebians was illegal. But, says an able writer, “the Roman commons were the greatest commons the world ever saw, except the commons of England and America.” In the course of time, by wise and prudent management, and taking advantage of favoring circumstances, resulting from the fact that they supplied the body of soldiers to the state, without revolution, breaking the laws, or violating the ancient constitution, they obtained changes or additions to it, one after another, until they had acquired a due influence in the conduct of affairs and became fully a match for the patricians. It was a new lesson to mankind, and one that has had great influence on the good order of society in all later times.
5. The religious system of that great people was conducted with as much worldly prudence as all their other affairs. Their religious ceremonies were, in great part, derived from the Etruscans. They were conducted with much pomp by state officers, appointed for the purpose, embodying all the superstitions of the time, and embracing comparatively little of the lofty sentiment that was so prominent in Greece. Their religion was an affair of state, and intimately connected with the political working of the government. The gravest public business was made to depend on the flight of birds, on omens and accidents, and on the appearance of the entrails of the animals offered in the sacrifices. An artful use of these circumstances enabled the officers in power to compass many political ends. Their original gods were those of Greece,adapted to their purposes and national character; but they readily adopted the divinities of all the nations they conquered. Their religion was in a high degree cool and calculating.
The preceding observations apply especially to the periods of Greece and Rome when their peculiarities were most fully developed in the days of their greatest glory. Though always more or less characteristic, in later times they melted more or less into one another, or were toned down and transformed by decay and a rising spirit of innovation. Especially were they displaced by Christianity.
1. We are now prepared to return to the year
500 B. C.—and follow events in chronological order, with a fair appreciation of their import. Just before the close of the last century, Darius Hystaspes, the king of Persia, sent an army into Europe, to the north of Greece, to chastise the Scythians, and it conquered Thrace. The Greek colonies in Asia Minor, which had been recently added to the Persian empire, became restive under foreign control, and when the Persian army returned home,500—organized a rebellion and took and burned the city of Sardis, the ancient capital of Lydia. They were assisted by the European Greeks; but the vast resources of Persia soon enabled Darius to take vengeance on them, and Miletus was besieged and destroyed. Darius summoned the Grecian states to offer their submission, but Athens and Sparta sent back a defiance. Darius thereupon gathered a large armament and prepared to invade495—Greece, which he commenced by the conquest of Macedon. But a tempest destroyed his ships and 20,000 men, and the expedition returned to Persia. In thesame year the Roman plebeians obtained their first success against the patricians, by which the debts of the poor plebeians to the wealthy patricians were cancelled and Tribunes of the People appointed.490—This year the glory of Greece broke forth. Darius having sent another and larger army into Greece, it advanced on Athens and encamped at Marathon, within twenty-two miles of the city. The Persian host was said to number from 100,000 to 200,000 men. The Athenians had but 10,000 citizens, but armed 20,000 slaves, and the city of Platæa sent them 1,000 troops. Miltiades, the very able Athenian general, marched out and, taking a good position, offered battle. It was the 20th of September. The little army of the Greeks obtained a complete victory and the Persians returned home in confusion. The great services of Miltiades were rewarded with imprisonment, on a frivolous charge, and he died there of his wounds.485—Darius Hystaspes, the Persian king, died while preparing a still larger armament for the invasion of Greece.484—An insurrection in Egypt completely subdued by the Persians.480—Xerxes, king of Persia, invaded Greece with a million soldiers. The battle at the pass of Thermopylæ was fought by a thousand Spartans under Leonidas, their king, and all but one slain. The Persian fleet was beaten the same day by Themistocles, the Athenian admiral. Xerxes soon advanced on Athens, which was abandoned by its inhabitants and burned by the Persians. Soon after, Themistocles fought the Persian navy again at Salamis and totally destroyed it. Xerxes, leaving a large army in Greece, returned to Asia.479—The battle of Platæa ended the Persian invasion. The allied Greek army numbered 70,000, under Pausanias, the Spartan king; the Persians 300,000. The Persians are said to have had 200,000 slain, and their army wastotally routed. Another victory was gained on the coast of Asia Minor the same day, and the last remnants of the Persian fleet destroyed.478—Athens was rebuilt and surrounded with walls from the treasures of the conquered Persians. This was the age of great men in Greece. Phidias, her greatest sculptor, flourished at this time. The Persians, at the time of their first invasion, brought a piece of marble to commemorate the victory of which they were confident. The Greeks caused Phidias to produce out of it a statue of Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, and set it up on the field of Marathon.478—Themistocles died in banishment about this time, and Aristides of old age. Both were leading statesmen and generals of Athens during the Persian war.470—Socrates, the most eminent philosopher of all ancient times, was born this year.” —The death of Xerxes by assassination occurred this year.466—Cimon, son of Miltiades, was now the great man of Athens. He was soon superseded by Pericles. From 480 B. C. to 430 was the golden period of Athens. She was pre-eminent politically, conducting the war of the Grecian allies against Persian supremacy on the western shores of Asia and in the Mediterranean sea. Republican liberty was everywhere predominant. The greatest writers, painters and sculptors lived in this period or immediately after it. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, philosophers; Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, tragic poets; Zeuxis and Apelles, painters; and Phidias in sculpture, were a few among the many great names which are found in or immediately following this period.457—Cincinnatus was made dictator at Rome. During this period the Romans laid the foundation of their dominion over all Italy by waging successful war with the Etruscans and Samnites, the most vigorous and powerful of their opponents.450—The Decemvirate was appointed at Rome. They were ten magistrates empowered to produce a more perfect code. It was called the “Laws of the Twelve Tables.” The plebeians about this time succeeded in wresting important privileges from the patricians, which more equally balanced the different powers of the state.
500 B. C.—and follow events in chronological order, with a fair appreciation of their import. Just before the close of the last century, Darius Hystaspes, the king of Persia, sent an army into Europe, to the north of Greece, to chastise the Scythians, and it conquered Thrace. The Greek colonies in Asia Minor, which had been recently added to the Persian empire, became restive under foreign control, and when the Persian army returned home,500—organized a rebellion and took and burned the city of Sardis, the ancient capital of Lydia. They were assisted by the European Greeks; but the vast resources of Persia soon enabled Darius to take vengeance on them, and Miletus was besieged and destroyed. Darius summoned the Grecian states to offer their submission, but Athens and Sparta sent back a defiance. Darius thereupon gathered a large armament and prepared to invade495—Greece, which he commenced by the conquest of Macedon. But a tempest destroyed his ships and 20,000 men, and the expedition returned to Persia. In thesame year the Roman plebeians obtained their first success against the patricians, by which the debts of the poor plebeians to the wealthy patricians were cancelled and Tribunes of the People appointed.
490—This year the glory of Greece broke forth. Darius having sent another and larger army into Greece, it advanced on Athens and encamped at Marathon, within twenty-two miles of the city. The Persian host was said to number from 100,000 to 200,000 men. The Athenians had but 10,000 citizens, but armed 20,000 slaves, and the city of Platæa sent them 1,000 troops. Miltiades, the very able Athenian general, marched out and, taking a good position, offered battle. It was the 20th of September. The little army of the Greeks obtained a complete victory and the Persians returned home in confusion. The great services of Miltiades were rewarded with imprisonment, on a frivolous charge, and he died there of his wounds.
485—Darius Hystaspes, the Persian king, died while preparing a still larger armament for the invasion of Greece.
484—An insurrection in Egypt completely subdued by the Persians.
480—Xerxes, king of Persia, invaded Greece with a million soldiers. The battle at the pass of Thermopylæ was fought by a thousand Spartans under Leonidas, their king, and all but one slain. The Persian fleet was beaten the same day by Themistocles, the Athenian admiral. Xerxes soon advanced on Athens, which was abandoned by its inhabitants and burned by the Persians. Soon after, Themistocles fought the Persian navy again at Salamis and totally destroyed it. Xerxes, leaving a large army in Greece, returned to Asia.
479—The battle of Platæa ended the Persian invasion. The allied Greek army numbered 70,000, under Pausanias, the Spartan king; the Persians 300,000. The Persians are said to have had 200,000 slain, and their army wastotally routed. Another victory was gained on the coast of Asia Minor the same day, and the last remnants of the Persian fleet destroyed.
478—Athens was rebuilt and surrounded with walls from the treasures of the conquered Persians. This was the age of great men in Greece. Phidias, her greatest sculptor, flourished at this time. The Persians, at the time of their first invasion, brought a piece of marble to commemorate the victory of which they were confident. The Greeks caused Phidias to produce out of it a statue of Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, and set it up on the field of Marathon.
478—Themistocles died in banishment about this time, and Aristides of old age. Both were leading statesmen and generals of Athens during the Persian war.
470—Socrates, the most eminent philosopher of all ancient times, was born this year.
” —The death of Xerxes by assassination occurred this year.
466—Cimon, son of Miltiades, was now the great man of Athens. He was soon superseded by Pericles. From 480 B. C. to 430 was the golden period of Athens. She was pre-eminent politically, conducting the war of the Grecian allies against Persian supremacy on the western shores of Asia and in the Mediterranean sea. Republican liberty was everywhere predominant. The greatest writers, painters and sculptors lived in this period or immediately after it. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, philosophers; Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, tragic poets; Zeuxis and Apelles, painters; and Phidias in sculpture, were a few among the many great names which are found in or immediately following this period.
457—Cincinnatus was made dictator at Rome. During this period the Romans laid the foundation of their dominion over all Italy by waging successful war with the Etruscans and Samnites, the most vigorous and powerful of their opponents.
450—The Decemvirate was appointed at Rome. They were ten magistrates empowered to produce a more perfect code. It was called the “Laws of the Twelve Tables.” The plebeians about this time succeeded in wresting important privileges from the patricians, which more equally balanced the different powers of the state.
2. Athens was the centre of civilization, and Greek culture and ideas were penetrating all the nations in her vicinity. Rome was rapidly developing and Carthage was at the summit of her glory. She had control of much of the Spanish or Iberian peninsula. Persia, after absorbing all the old monarchies of the east, was declining. The “march of empire” was distinctly defining its “westward course.”
It was about the middle of this century that Herodotus, the “Father of History,” was rising to fame, and a few years later Xenophon, the Greek general and historian, was born. Thucydides, another historian, dates from this period. The great career of history now fairly commenced.
443—Herodotus emigrated from Halicarnassus, in Asia, to Greece.431—The Peloponnesian war, a bitter contest between Athens and Sparta, commenced. It lasted twenty-three years, and was again revived, ending in the conquest of Athens by Sparta. This war was followed, after some time, by the rise of the power of Thebes, under their famous general, Epaminondas, who broke the power of Sparta. Thebes sunk into insignificance after his death, and Philip of Macedon commenced the subjugation of all Greece. He was followed by Alexander the Great, who, in return for the loss of republican liberty, rendered Greece illustrious by conquering the Persian empire, and imbuing all the Eastern World with its philosophy and arts. For all these great events one hundred years were required.429—The death of the illustrious Pericles occurred in this year.” —Plato, the disciple of Socrates, and, in some points, superior to him in mental discipline, was born.420—About this time Alcibiades, the nephew of Pericles, became prominent in Athenian affairs. He had brilliant powers, but little principle.406—The battle of Ægospotamos, gained by Lysander the Spartan, broke the power of Athens.404—Athens was taken by Lysander, its walls demolished, and the government of the “Thirty Tyrants” established by the Spartans. Alcibiades, banished from Athens, was assassinated by the Persians, at the instigation of the Spartans.401—Occurred the battle of Cunaxa, in Babylonia, between Cyrus, the brother of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and that king. Cyrus, who had been governor, or satrap, in Asia Minor, gathered a large army including more than 10,000 Greeks. Cyrus was killed and his own army defeated, but the Greeks repelled all assaults. Their generals having been decoyed into the power of the Persians, on the plea of making terms with them, were treacherously slain. The army appointed other commanders, chief among whom was Xenophon, afterward the celebrated historian, and they made good their return to Greece. It was finely described by Xenophon, and known as the “Retreat of the Ten Thousand.”400—Socrates taught doctrines too pure and high-toned for his countrymen to understand, and was condemned to drink poison, as a dangerous man and despiser of the gods, in the 70th year of his age. The Athenians soon repented it.396—The capital of Veii, taken by the Romans, ended the contest with the Etruscans.389—Rome was conquered and, except the capitol, destroyed, by the Gauls under Brennus. The barbarians soon retired and the city was rebuilt.384—Aristotle, the most learned of the Grecian philosophers, was born at Stagira, in Macedon. He laid the foundation of scientific study, and was the tutor of Alexander the Great.371—Epaminondas defeated the Spartans at Leuctra, and362—again at Mantinea, where he was killed.360—Philip became king of Macedon, and soon began to undermine the liberties of Greece in a very artful way.357—The “Sacred War” against the Phocians, who had plundered the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, commenced.356—Birth of Alexander the Great. Rutilius, the first plebean dictator at Rome.349—Death of Plato, the brightest light of Grecian philosophy. He systematized and enlarged the doctrines of Socrates.338—Occurred the battle of Chaeronea between Philip and the allied Athenians and Thebans. The Greeks were totally defeated and their liberty lost. Demosthenes, the most celebrated orator of the Greeks, spent his whole life and his magnificent eloquence in the effort to rouse the Greeks against Philip; but Philip was too crafty and the Greeks too little accustomed to act in concert. For nearly a hundred years the states of Greece had been exhausted by wars among themselves, and they were too weary of fighting to make the necessary effort against so powerful and skillful an adversary.336—Philip was assassinated on the eve of an expedition against Persia, as chief of the Grecian states. This popular idea consoled them for the loss of liberty. Alexander succeeded his father.335—Thebes rebelled against Alexander, and he took and destroyed that ancient city.334—Alexander carried out the project of his father and invaded the Persian empire. The battle of the Granicus, his first great victory, took place this year.333—Darius, the Persian king, was again thoroughly defeated in the battle of Issus. Damascus, in Syria, was taken and Tyre besieged by Alexander.332—Tyre was taken and finally destroyed, and Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile, founded.331—A final battle at Arbela, in Assyria, overthrew the Persian Empire. Darius escaped, but was murdered by Bessus, one of his officers. Four years were spent by the Greeks in subduing the wild tribes on the eastern border of the Empire, and settling the government of these vast conquests.327—Alexander invaded India and was constantly triumphant till his soldiers refused to go farther from home. They had grown tired of conquering, and Alexander reluctantly returned to Babylon to consolidate his government.323—Alexander died of a fever, the result of excessive drinking. He left no heir, and his generals divided his empire.322—The Samnites obtained a temporary success by surprising a Roman army in a narrow defile of the mountains called the Candine Forks, and subjected it to a humiliating capitulation. The Romans never bowed before misfortune or defeat. They prosecuted the war with invincible resolution until the Samnite power was wholly broken, a contest, in all, of about 50 years, which was soon followed by the complete subjugation of the whole peninsula.
443—Herodotus emigrated from Halicarnassus, in Asia, to Greece.
431—The Peloponnesian war, a bitter contest between Athens and Sparta, commenced. It lasted twenty-three years, and was again revived, ending in the conquest of Athens by Sparta. This war was followed, after some time, by the rise of the power of Thebes, under their famous general, Epaminondas, who broke the power of Sparta. Thebes sunk into insignificance after his death, and Philip of Macedon commenced the subjugation of all Greece. He was followed by Alexander the Great, who, in return for the loss of republican liberty, rendered Greece illustrious by conquering the Persian empire, and imbuing all the Eastern World with its philosophy and arts. For all these great events one hundred years were required.
429—The death of the illustrious Pericles occurred in this year.
” —Plato, the disciple of Socrates, and, in some points, superior to him in mental discipline, was born.
420—About this time Alcibiades, the nephew of Pericles, became prominent in Athenian affairs. He had brilliant powers, but little principle.
406—The battle of Ægospotamos, gained by Lysander the Spartan, broke the power of Athens.
404—Athens was taken by Lysander, its walls demolished, and the government of the “Thirty Tyrants” established by the Spartans. Alcibiades, banished from Athens, was assassinated by the Persians, at the instigation of the Spartans.
401—Occurred the battle of Cunaxa, in Babylonia, between Cyrus, the brother of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and that king. Cyrus, who had been governor, or satrap, in Asia Minor, gathered a large army including more than 10,000 Greeks. Cyrus was killed and his own army defeated, but the Greeks repelled all assaults. Their generals having been decoyed into the power of the Persians, on the plea of making terms with them, were treacherously slain. The army appointed other commanders, chief among whom was Xenophon, afterward the celebrated historian, and they made good their return to Greece. It was finely described by Xenophon, and known as the “Retreat of the Ten Thousand.”
400—Socrates taught doctrines too pure and high-toned for his countrymen to understand, and was condemned to drink poison, as a dangerous man and despiser of the gods, in the 70th year of his age. The Athenians soon repented it.
396—The capital of Veii, taken by the Romans, ended the contest with the Etruscans.
389—Rome was conquered and, except the capitol, destroyed, by the Gauls under Brennus. The barbarians soon retired and the city was rebuilt.
384—Aristotle, the most learned of the Grecian philosophers, was born at Stagira, in Macedon. He laid the foundation of scientific study, and was the tutor of Alexander the Great.
371—Epaminondas defeated the Spartans at Leuctra, and362—again at Mantinea, where he was killed.
360—Philip became king of Macedon, and soon began to undermine the liberties of Greece in a very artful way.
357—The “Sacred War” against the Phocians, who had plundered the temple of Apollo, at Delphi, commenced.
356—Birth of Alexander the Great. Rutilius, the first plebean dictator at Rome.
349—Death of Plato, the brightest light of Grecian philosophy. He systematized and enlarged the doctrines of Socrates.
338—Occurred the battle of Chaeronea between Philip and the allied Athenians and Thebans. The Greeks were totally defeated and their liberty lost. Demosthenes, the most celebrated orator of the Greeks, spent his whole life and his magnificent eloquence in the effort to rouse the Greeks against Philip; but Philip was too crafty and the Greeks too little accustomed to act in concert. For nearly a hundred years the states of Greece had been exhausted by wars among themselves, and they were too weary of fighting to make the necessary effort against so powerful and skillful an adversary.
336—Philip was assassinated on the eve of an expedition against Persia, as chief of the Grecian states. This popular idea consoled them for the loss of liberty. Alexander succeeded his father.
335—Thebes rebelled against Alexander, and he took and destroyed that ancient city.
334—Alexander carried out the project of his father and invaded the Persian empire. The battle of the Granicus, his first great victory, took place this year.
333—Darius, the Persian king, was again thoroughly defeated in the battle of Issus. Damascus, in Syria, was taken and Tyre besieged by Alexander.
332—Tyre was taken and finally destroyed, and Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile, founded.
331—A final battle at Arbela, in Assyria, overthrew the Persian Empire. Darius escaped, but was murdered by Bessus, one of his officers. Four years were spent by the Greeks in subduing the wild tribes on the eastern border of the Empire, and settling the government of these vast conquests.
327—Alexander invaded India and was constantly triumphant till his soldiers refused to go farther from home. They had grown tired of conquering, and Alexander reluctantly returned to Babylon to consolidate his government.
323—Alexander died of a fever, the result of excessive drinking. He left no heir, and his generals divided his empire.
322—The Samnites obtained a temporary success by surprising a Roman army in a narrow defile of the mountains called the Candine Forks, and subjected it to a humiliating capitulation. The Romans never bowed before misfortune or defeat. They prosecuted the war with invincible resolution until the Samnite power was wholly broken, a contest, in all, of about 50 years, which was soon followed by the complete subjugation of the whole peninsula.
3. In this year died the two greatest Grecians, Demosthenes, the orator, by suicide; and Aristotle, by old age. On the death of Alexander, Demosthenes aroused the Athenians to make a stand for their liberties. Few of the Grecian states joined them and they were totally defeated by Antipater, the governor appointed by Alexander. Demosthenes avoided punishment by taking poison. The Achaian League, about forty years after, maintained the liberties of Greece for fiftyyears or more, which then fell before the invincible Romans. For many years all the eastern world was in confusion from the struggles of competitors for the Empire of Alexander. Ptolemy established himself soon and firmly in Egypt, and Seleucus, after various