had been still alive, and to accuse him, before Mummius, of having been an enemy to the Romans, and of having always oppofed their designs to the utmost of his power. That accufation was extravagant, but had fome colour in it, and was not entirely without foundation. Polybius boldly took upon him his defence. He represented Philopoemen as the greatest captain Greece had produced in the latter times; that he might perhaps have carried his zeal for the liberty of his country a little too far; but that he had rendered the Roman people confiderable fervices upon feveral occafions, as in their wars against Antiochus and the Etolians. The commiffioners, before whom he pleaded fo noble a cause, moved with his reafons, and still more with his gratitude for his master, decreed, that the statues of Philopomen should continue as they were in all places. Polybius, taking the advantage of Mummius's good difpofition, demanded also the ftatues of Aratus and Achæus; which were granted him, though they had already been carried out of Peloponnefus into Acarnania. The Achæans were fo charmed with the zeal Polybius had expreffed upon this occafion for the honour of the great men of his country, that they erected a statue of marble to himself.

He gave at the fame time a proof of his difinterestednefs, which did him as much honour amongst his citizens, as his defence of the memory of Philopomen.

After the deftruction of Corinth, it was thought proper to punish the authors of the infult done to the Roman ambaffadors, and their eftates and effects were fold by auction. When thofe of Diæus were put up, who had been the principal in that affront, the ten commiffioners ordered the quæftor who fold them, to let Polybius take whatever he thought fit out of them, without taking any thing from him upon that account. He refufed that offer, as advantageous as it appeared, and should have thought himself, in some measure, an accomplice of that wretch's crimes, had he accepted any part of his fortune; befides which, he believed it infamous to enrich himself out of the spoils of his fellow-citizen. He would not only accept nothing himfelf, but exhorted his friends not to defire any thing of

what had appertained to Dieus; and all that followed his example were extremely applauded.

This action made the commiffioners (q) conceive fo high an esteem for Polybius, that upon their leaving Greece, they desired him to go to all the cities which had been lately conquered, and to accommodate their differences, till time had accustomed them to the change which had been made, and to the new laws prescribed them. Polybius difcharged that honourable commiffion with fo much goodnefs, juftice, and prudence, that no farther contefts arofe in Achaia, either in regard to the government in, general, or the affairs of particulars. In gratitude for fo great a benefit, ftatues were erected to him in different places; upon the bafe of one of which was this infcription; That Greece had been guilty of no errors, if he had hearkened from the first to the counfels of Polybius; but, that after her faults, be alone had been her deliverer...

Polybius, after having established order and tranquillity in his country, returned to join Scipio at Rome, from whence he accompanied him to Numantia, at the fiege of which he was prefent. When Scipio was dead, he returned into Greece; and having enjoyed there (r) the efteem, gratitude, and affection of his beloved citizens, he died at the age of fourfcore and two years, of a wound he received by a fall from his horfe.

Metellus, upon his return to Rome, was honoured with a triumph, as conqueror of Macedonia and Achaia, and furnamed Macedonicus. The falfe king, Andriscus, was led before his chariot. Amongst the spoils, he caused what was called the troop of Alexander the Great, to be carried in the proceffion. That prince, at the battle of the Granicus, having loft five-and-twenty of his friends, ordered Lyfippus, the most excellent artist in that way, to make each of them an equeftrian statue, to which he added his own. Thefe ftatues were fet up in Dium, a city of Macedonia. Metellus caufed them to be transported to Rome, and adorned his triumph with them.

VOL. IX.

Mummius

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(r) Lucian. in Macrob. p. 142°

(9) Polyb. in Excerpt. p. 190, &c.

Mummius obtained alfo the honour of a triumph, and, in confequence of having conquered Achaia, was furnamed Achaicus. He exhibited a great number of statues and paintings in his triumph, which were afterwards made the ornaments of the public buildings at Rome, and of several other cities of Italy; but not one of them entered the conqueror's own house.

SECT. V. Reflections upon the causes of the Grandeur, Declenfion, and Ruin of Greece,

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FTER having feen the final ruin of Greece, which has fupplied us through a series of fo many ages with fuch fine examples of heroic virtues and memorable events, we may be admitted to return to the place from whence we began, and confider, by way of abridgement, and at one view, the rife, progrefs, and declenfion of the principal states, that compofe it. Their whole duration may be divided into four ages.

The first and fecond Ages of Greece.

I fhall not dwell upon the ancient origin of the Greeks, nor the fabulous times before the Trojan war, which make the first age, and may be called the infancy of Greece.

The fecond age, which extends from the taking of Troy, to the reign of Darius I. king of Perfia, was in a manner its youth. In thofe early years it formed, fortified, and prepared itself for thofe great things it was afterwards to act, and laid the foundations of that power and glory, which at length rose so high, and became the admiration of all future ages.

The Greeks, as Monfieur(s) Boffuet obferves, who had naturally abundance of wit, had been cultivated by kings and colonies which came from Egypt, who fettling in feveral parts of the country, spread univerfally the excellent polity of the Egyptians. It was from them they learned the exercises of the body, wrestling, the horfe, foot, and chariot races, and the other combats, which they carried to

(s) Univerfal History.

their highest perfection, in effect of the glorious crowns given to the victors in the Olympic games. But the best thing taught them by the Egyptians, was to be docile and obedient, and to fuffer themselves to be formed by laws for the good of the public. They were not private perfons, who regard nothing but their own interefts and concerns, and have no sense of the calamities of the ftate, but as they fuffer themselves, or as the repose of their own family is involved in them: The Greeks were taught to confider themselves and their families as part of a greater body, which was that of the ftate. The fathers brought up their children in this opinion; and the children were taught from their cradle to look upon their country as their common mother, to whom they more strictly appertained than to their parents.

The Greeks, inftituted thus by degrees, believed they were capable of governing for themselves, and most of the cities-formed themselves into republics, under different forms of government, which had all of them liberty for their vital principle, but that liberty was wife, reasonable, and fubfervient to laws. The advantage of this government was, that the citizens loved their country the better from tranfacting their affairs in common, and from being all equally capable of its honours and dignities. Befides this, the condition of private perfons, to which all returned when they quitted employments, prevented them from abufing an authority, of which they might foon be deprived; whereas power often becomes haughty, unjuft, and oppreffive, when under no restraints, and when it is to have a long or continual duration.

The love of labour removed the vices and paffions, which generally occafion the ruin of ftates. They led a laborious and busy life,intent upon the rultivation of lands and of arts, and not excluding the husbandman or the artift from the first dignities of the state; preferving between all the citizens and members of the state a great equality, void of pomp, luxury, or oftentation. He who had commanded the army for one year, fought the next in the rank of a private officer, and was not afhamed of the most common functions either in the armies by land or fea.

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The reigning character in all the cities of Greece, was a particular affection for poverty, the mean of fortune, fimplicity in buildings, moveables, drefs, equipage, domeftics, and table. It is furprising to confider the fmall retributions with which they were fatisfied for their application in public employments, and fervices rendered the ftáte.

What might not be expected from a people formed in this manner, educated and nurtured in these principles, and endued from their earliest infancy with maxims fo proper to exalt the foul, and to infpire it with great and noble fentiments? The effects exceeded all idea, and all hope that could poffibly have been conceived of them.

The third Age of Greece.

We now come to the glorious times of Greece, which have been, and will for ever be, the admiration of all ages. The merit and virtue of the Greeks, fhut up within the fame compafs of their cities, had but faintly dawned, and fhone with but a feeble ray till this age. To produce and place them in their full light, fome great and important occafion was neceffary, wherein Greece, attacked by a formidable enemy, and expofed to extreme dangers, was compelled in fome measure to quit her home, and to fhow herself abroad in open day fuch as the was. And this was fupplied by the Persians in their invafions of Greece, firft under Darius, and afterwards under Xerxes. All Afia, armed with the whole force of the East, overflowed on a fudden, like an impetuous torrent, and came pouring with innumerable troops, both by fea and land, againft a little fpot of Greece, which feemed under the neceffity of being entirely fwallowed up and overwhelmed at the firft fhock. Two fmall cities, however, Sparta and Athens, not only refift those formidable armies, but attack, defeat, purfue, and deftroy the greatest part of them. Let the reader call to mind, which is all I have here in view, the prodigies of valour