sons behind him; among others Alcæus, Sthenelus, and Electryon. Alcæus was the father of Amphitryon; Sthenelus of Eurystheus; and Electryon of Alcmena. Amphitryon married Alcmena, upon whom Jupiter begat Hercules.

Eurystheus and Hercules came into the world the same day; but as the birth of the former was by Juno's management antecedent to that of the latter, Hercules was forced to be subject to him, and was obliged by his order to undertake the twelve labours, so celebrated in fabulous history.

The kings, who reigned at Mycenæ, after Perseus, were, ELECTRYON, STHENELUS, and EURYSTHEUS. The last, after the death of Hercules, declared open war against his descendants, apprehending they might some time or other attempt to dethrone him; which, as it happened, was done by the Heraclida; for, having killed Eurystheus in battle, they entered victorious into Peloponnesus, and made themselves masters of the country. But, as this happened before the time determined by fate, a plague ensued, which, with the direction of an oracle, obliged them to quit the country. Three years after this, being deceived by the ambiguous expression of the oracle, they made a second attempt, which likewise proved fruitless. This was about twenty years before the taking of Troy.

And

ATREUS, the son of Pelops, uncle by the mother's side to Eurystheus, was the latter's successor. in this manner the crown came to the descendants of Pelops, from whom Peloponnesus, which before was called Apia, derived its name. The bloody hatred of the two brothers, Atreus and Thyestes, is known to all the world.

PLISTHENES, the son of Atreus, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Mycenae, which he left to his son AGAMEMNON, who was succeeded by his son Orestes. The kingdom of Mycenae was filled with enormous and horrible crimes, from the time it came into the family of Pelops.

TISAMENES and PENTHILUS, sons of Orestes, reigned after their father, and were at last driven out of Peloponnesus by the Heraclidæ.

ATHENS. CECROPS, a native of Egypt, was the founder of this kingdom. Having settled in Attica, he divided all the country, subject to him, into twelve districts. He also established the Areopagus.

This august tribunal, in the reign of his successor CRANAUS, adjudged the famous difference between Neptune and Mars. In his time happened Deucalion's flood. The deluge of Ogyges in Attica was much more ancient, being a thousand and twenty years before the first Olympiad, and consequently in the of the world 2208.

year

AMPHICTYON, the third king of Athens, procured a confederacy between twelve nations, which assembled twice a year at Thermopyla, there to offer their common sacrifices, and to consult together upon their affairs in general, as also upon the affairs of each nation in particular. This convention was called the assembly of the Amphictyons.

The reign of ERECTHEUS is remarkable for the arrival of Ceres in Attica, after the rape of her daughter Proserpine, as also for the institution of the mysteries at Eleusis.

A. M. 2448.

Ant.J.C.

1556.

2720. Ant. J.C.

1284.

The reign of GEUS, the son of Pandion, is the A. M. most illustrious period of the history of the heroes. In his time are placed the expedition of the Argonauts; the celebrated labours of Hercules; the war of Minos, second king of Crete, against the Athenians; the story of Theseus and Ariadne.

THESEUS Succeeded his father Ageus. Cecrops had divided Attica into twelve boroughs, or twelve districts, separated from each other. Theseus brought the people to understand the advantages of common government, and united the twelve boroughs into one city or body politick, in which the whole authority was united.

CODRUS was the last king of Athens; he devoted himself to die for his people.

A. M.

2934.

1070.

After him the title of king was extinguished

Ant. J.C. among the Athenians. MEDON, his son, was set at the head of the commonwealth, with the title of Archon, that is to say, president or governor. The first Archontes were for life; but the Athenians, growing weary of a government which they still thought bore too great a resemblance to royal power, made their Archontes elective every ten years, and at last reduced it to an annual office.

A. M.

2549. Ant. J.C.

1455.

THEBES. Cadmus, who came by sea from the coast of Phoenicia, that is, from about Tyre and Sidon, seised upon that part of the country, which was afterwards called Boeotia. He built there the city of Thebes, or at least a citadel, which from his own name he called Cadmea, and there fixed the seat of his power and dominion.

The fatal misfortune of Laius, one of his successors, and of Jocasta his wife, of Oedipus their son, of Eteocles and Polynices, who were born of the incestuous marriage of Jocasta with Oedipus, have furnished ample matter for fabulous narration and theatrical representations.

SPARTA, or LACEDEMON. It is supposed, that LELEX, the first king of Laconia, began his reign about 1516 years before the Christian æra.

TYNDARUS, the ninth king of Lacedæmon, had, by Leda, Castor and Pollux, who were twins, besides Helena, and Clytemnestra the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycena. Having survived his two sons, the twins, he began to think of chusing a successor, by looking out for a husband for his daughter Helena. All the pretenders to this princess bound themselves by oath, to abide by, and entirely to submit to the choice which the lady herself should make, who determined in favour of Menelaus. She had not lived above three years with her husband, before she was carried off by Alexander Paris, son of Priam, king of the Trojans; which rape was the cause of the Trojan war. Greece did not properly begin to know or experience her united strength, till

the famous siege of that city, where Achilles, the Ajaxes, Nestor and Ulysses, gave Asia sufficient reason to forbode her future subjection to their posterity. The Greeks took Troy after a ten years' siege, much about the time that Jephtha governed the people of God, that is, according to Archbishop Usher, in the year of the world 2820, and 1184 years before Jesus Christ. This epocha is famous in history, and should carefully be remembered, as well as that of the Olympiads.

An Olympiad is the revolution of four complete years, from one celebration of the Olympick games to another. We shall elsewhere give an account of the institution of these games, which were celebrated every four years, near the town of Pisa, otherwise called Olympia.

The common æra of the Olympiads begins in the summer of the year of the world 3228, 776 years before Jesus Christ, from the games in which Corebus won the prize in the foot race.

Fourscore years after the taking of Troy, the Heraclidæ re-entered Peloponnesus, and seized Laceemon, where two brothers, Eurysthenes and Procles, sons of Aristodemus, began to reign together, and from their time the sceptre always continued jointly in the hands of the descendants of those two families. Many years after this, Lycurgus instituted that body of laws for the Spartan state, which rendered both the legislator and republick so famous in history: I shall speak of them at large in the sequel.

CORINTH. Corinth began later than the other cities I have been speaking of, to be governed by kings of its own. It was at first subject to those of Argos and Mycena; at last Sisyphus, the son of olus, made himself master of it. But his descendants were dispossessed of the throne by the Heraclidæ, about 110 years after the siege of Troy.

The regal power, after this, came to the descendants of Bacchis, under whom the monarchy was

A. M.

2628.

Ant. J.C

1376.

A. M.

Ant. J.C.

changed into an aristocracy, that is, the reins of the government were in the hands of the elders, who annually chose from among themselves a chief magistrate, whom they called Prytanis. At last Cypselus having gained the people, usurped the supreme authority, which he transmitted to his son Periander; who was ranked among the Grecian sages, on account of the love he bore to learning, and the protection and encouragement he gave to learned

men.

MACEDONIA. It was a long time before the Greeks 3191 paid any great attention to Macedonia. Her kings, 1813. living retired in woods and mountains, scemed not to be considered as a part of Greece. They pretended, that their kings, of whom CARANUS was the first, were descended from Hercules. Philip and his son Alexander raised the glory of this kingdom to a very high pitch. It had subsisted 471 years before the death of Alexander, and continued 155 more, till Perseus was defeated and taken by the Romans ; in all 626 years.

ARTICLE V.

Colonies of the Greeks sent into Asia Minor.

WE have already observed, that fourscore years after the taking of Troy, the Heraclidæ recovered Peloponnesus, after having defeated the Pelopida, that is, Tisamenes and Penthilus, sons of Orestes; and that they divided the kingdoms of Mycenae, Argos and Lacedæmon among them.

So great a revolution as this almost changed the face of the country, and made way for several very famous transmigrations. To understand these the better, and to have the clearer idea of the situation of many of the Grecian nations, as also of the four dialects, or different idioms of speech, that prevailed among them, it will be necessary to look a little farther back into history.