dispersed those of the enemy and put them to flight. Nothing could have been more seasonable, for the main body of the Grecian army began to be broken, being quite borne down by the numbers of the Persians. The scale was now quickly turned, and the barbarians were entirely routed. They all betook themselves to flight; not towards their camp, but to their ships, that they might the more surely escape. The Athenians pursued them thither, and set their ships on fire. They had not above two hundred men killed on their side in this engagement; whereas, on the side of the Persians, above six thousand were slain, without reckoning those who were drowned and those consumed in the ships. Immediately after the battle, an Athenian soldier, still reeking with the blood of the enemy, quitted the army, and ran to Athens to carry his fellow-citizens the happy tidings of the victory. When he arrived

at the magistrates' house, he only uttered these words: "Rejoice, rejoice, the victory is ours!" and fell down dead at their feet. Such was the famous battle of Marathon.

In an excavation made in one of the tumuli some years ago, there were found a number of busts; of Socrates, Lucius Verus, and Marcus Aurelius, with one of an unknown person, all sculptured with great care, and highly finished.

The one unknown is supposed to be a bust of Herodes Atticus, a native of this city, and greatly distinguished. His history is exceedingly curious, and we give it from Sir George Wheler.

"He flourished about the time of the emperors Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. His grandfather Hipparchus, or, as Suidas has it, Plutarchus, was well to pass in the world; but, having been accused of some tyrannical practices used towards the people, the emperor confiscated all his estates; so that his son Atticus, father of this Herod, lived afterward in Athens in a mean con

dition; until, having found a great hidden treasure in his own house, near the Theatre, he became on a sudden very rich. He was not more fortunate in lending it than prudent in getting it confirmed to himself; for well knowing, should it come to be discovered, he would be obliged to give an account of it to the emperor, he wrote thus: 'My liege, I have found a treasure in my house: what do you command that I should do with it? The emperor answered him, 'That he should make use of what he had found.' But Atticus, yet fearing that he might be in danger of some trouble when the greatness of the treasure should come to be known, wrote a second time to the emperor, professing ingenuously that the treasure he had written to him about was too great a possession for him, and exceeded the capacity of a private man. The emperor, however, answered him again with the same generosity: 'Abuse, also, if thou wilt, the riches thou hast so accidentally come by, for they are thine.' By this means Atticus became again extremely rich and powerful, having married a wife also that was very rich, whence it came to pass that his son and heir Herodes far surpassed his father both in wealth and magnificence, and became the founder of many stately edifices in sundry parts of Greece; and, dying, left by his will ten crowns to every citizen of Athens. Neither did he partake less of virtue and merit than he did of fortune; being very learned, and so eloquent that he was called the tongue of Athens, having been the disciple of the famous Phavorinus. Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, emperors of his time, made it their glory that they had been his auditors. His entire name was Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes, as I prove by an inscription that is at Athens, in the house of Signor Nicoli Limbonia." Thus far Sir George Wheler. Chandler goes on to observe, that Herodes Atticus directed his freedmen to bury him at Marathon,'

where he died at the age of seventy-six. But the Ephebi, or young men of Athens, transported his body on their shoulders to the city, a multitude meeting the bier, and weeping like children for the loss. of a parent.

The principal antiquities of this plain are the tomb of the Athenians, the monument of Miltiades, and the tomb of the Platæans. Dr. Clarke found also many interesting relics, for the particulars of which we must refer to his Travels, that we may find space for some beautiful remarks with which he closes his account. "If there be a spot upon earth pre-eminently calculated to awaken the solemn sentiments which such a view of nature is fitted to make upon all men, it may surely be found in the plain of Marathon; where, amid the wreck of generations and the graves of ancient heroes, we elevate our thoughts towards HIM 'in whose sight a thousand years are but as yesterday;' where the stillness of Nature, harmonizing with the calm solitude of that illustrious region, which once was a scene of the most agitated passions, enables us by the past to determine of the future. In those moments, indeed, we may be said to live for ages; a single instant, by the multitude of impressions it conveys, seems to anticipate for us a sense of that eternity' when time shall be no more;' when the fitful dream of human existence, with all its turbulent illusions, shall be dispelled; and the last sun having set, a brighter dawn than ever shall gladden the universe, and renovate the dominions of darkness and of death."

MEGARA.

MEGARA, a city of Achaia, formerly possessed such a multitude of remarkable objects, that Pausanias, in his description of Greece, occupies no

less than six chapters in the mere enumeration of them.

This city was founded in 1131 B.C. It was situated at an equal distance from Athens and Corinth, and built on two rocks. There have been various opinions in regard to its founder. Some have insisted that it was named after Megareus, the son of Apollo; some after Megarius, a Boeotian chief; and others after Megara, a supposed wife of Hercules. However this may be, it is certain, we believe, that, in the reign of Codrus, the Peloponnesians, having declared war against the Athenians and miscarried in their enterprise, returned and took possession of Megara, which they peopled with Corinthians. It was originally governed by twelve kings, but afterward became a republic. The ancient Megareans are said to have excelled in nothing but naval affairs. They were reckoned the worst people of Greece, and were generally detested as fraudulent and perfidious. Their military acts were few, and not brilliant. They were alternately at the mercy of the Athenians and Corinthians, and contracted all the bad qualities of insolent slaves, or of servile and dependant friends. Such being the case, we are not surprised at what Tertullian says of the Megareans, viz., that "they ate as if they were to die the next day, and built as if they were to live for ever." Megara, however, was not without some redeeming qualities, for it had at one time a school of philosophy so highly distinguished that Euclid was at the head of it.

Megara has also been rendered famous by the circumstance that Phocion was buried in its territory. The enemies of Phocion, not satisfied with the punishment they had caused him to suffer, and considering their triumph not yet complete, obtained an order from the people that his body should be carried out of the dominions of Attica, and that none of the Athenians should contribute the smallest quantity of wood

to honour his funeral pile; in consequence of which, these last offices were rendered to him in the territory of Megara. A lady of the country, who accidentally assisted at his funeral with her servants, caused a cenotaph or vacant tomb to be erected to his memory on the spot; and, collecting into her robe the bones of that great man, which she had carefully gathered up, she conveyed them into her house by night, and buried them under her hearth, with these expressions : "Dear and sacred hearth, I here confide to thee, and deposite in thy bosom, these precious remains of a worthy man. Preserve them with fidelity, in order to restore them hereafter to the monument of his ancestors, when the Athenians shall become wiser than they are at present.'

Megara still retains its ancient name. It was formerly greatly infested by corsairs; insomuch that the inhabitants were accustomed, on seeing a boat approachinig in the daytime, or hearing their dogs bark by night, immediately to secrete their effects and run away. The Vaiwode, who lived in a forsaken tower above the village, was once carried off.

Besides two citadels, Megara had several magnificent structures and statues. One was an aqueduct, distinguished for its grandeur and beauty. There was a statue of Diana the protectress, and also statues of the twelve great gods, of so much excellence that they were ascribed to Praxiteles: this was a group consecrated to Jupiter Olympus, among which was a statue of that deity, with its face of gold and ivory, and the rest of the body of burned earth. Venus, Ceres, Apollo, Diana, and Minerva, had each a temple here, and in the last was a statue of the goddess, the body of which was gilt, and the face, feet, and hands of ivory. There was likewise a chapel dedicated to Night; and Pausanias speaks of several tombs, especially those of Hyllus, Alcmenes, Therea, and Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.

In Wheler's time, Megara was nothing more than VOL. II.-B