refounded with the lively notes of mufic, and their fongs were dictated by the tender paffions of pity and love the poets of Sparta rehearsed only the ftern virtues of departed heroes, or roused her fons to martial exploits by the defcription of battles, victory, and death. In Athens the fportive fallies of wit, and the gay images of fancy, gave a peculiar vivacity to focial intercourfe: the ferioufnefs of a Spartan was manifefted in his cautious referve, his grave deportment, and the peculiar concifenefs of his fharp and pointed repartee; the virtues of a Spartan were gloomy and auftere; the diffipation of an Athenian was engaging and agreeable. The one was an illiterate foldier, whofe character was formed by martial difcipline alone; the other was a man of genius, of taste, and of letters, who enjoyed the advantages of refinement and knowledge'. The moroseness of the Spartan was increased by holding no intercourfe with other nations; whereas by the laws of Solon, ftrangers were invited to Athens, and were admitted to all the privileges of citizens.

This contraft of character is finely touched by Pericles in his celebrated Oration on the Athenians flain in the PeloponDefian war.

Και μην και τῶν πονων πλείςας αναπαύλας τη γνμη ηπορισαμεθα, αγώσι μεν γε και θυσίαις διλησίοις νομιζονίες, ιδιαις δε κατασκευαῖς ευπρεπέσιν ων καθ' ήμεραν η τερψις το λυπηρον εκπλήσσει. επεισέρχεται δε δια μέγεθο της πόλεως εκ πασης γῆς τα πανία και ξυμβαίνει ήμιν μηδεν οικειότερο τη απολαύσει τα αύλε αγαθα γιγνομενα καρπεθαι, ἡ καὶ τα των αλλων ανθρωπων. Διαφερομεν δε και ταις τῶν πολεμικων μελείαις των εναντίων τοις δε. την τε γας πολιν κοινην παρεχομεν, και εκ εσιν οτε ξενηλασίαις απειργομεν τινα η μαθηματα ἡ θεαματα, &c. Thucy. Lib. 2, p. 57. Tom. 2. Ed. Bipont.

In Athens, liberty of action was fhewn in every indulgence of focial pleafure; in Sparta, the fpirit of fociety, divefted of its charms to amufe and to enliven, was made fubfervient to the affairs of the ftate. The temper of Sparta was depreffed by exceffive restraint, while that of her rival was vain,

arrogant, licentious, and fickle. Impatient both of freedom and flavery, thefe great republics had few principles in common except glory and ambition; and they continually embarrassed each other in the execution of their refpective projects to obtain the fovereignty of Greece. The fpirit of independence, however, was predominant in the other ftates; and the yoke either of Sparta or Athens was regarded as heavy and intolerable. Difcordant as their respective interefts were, a train of events fucceeded, which caufed them to fufpend their animofities, to unite in a general alliance, and to equip their fleets, and lead forth their armies, not only to repel a formidable invafion, but to avert the storm which threatened the deftruction of their political existence.

Among the colonies of Greece, fettled upon the coafts of Afia Minor, the Ionians occupied the most pleafant and fertile territories. In order to refift the force of the Perfian power, which was exerted to crush their infurrection, they folicited the aid of Athens, their mother country. Reinforced by her affiftance, they burnt the ancient city of Sardis; and although the Ionians were foon after reduced to fubmiffion, the refentment of Darius, the Perfian

monarch,

monarch was roufed to inflict vengeance on the Athenians for their interference. He demanded earth and water as tokens of their fubmiffion; and on their fpirited refufal, he began his hoftile attacks against them both by sea and land. Such were the cause and the commencement of thofe memorable wars, which contributed to mature the martial genius of the Greeks; and the interefting accounts of which give dignity, fplendour, and glory, to the moft authentic pages of their hiftory.

The train of events to which this diffention led, involved likewife the moft important interefts of the Perfians; for the wars, begun upon flight grounds with the Greeks, terminated at laft in the fubverfion of their empire.

IV. The most glorious Age of Greece.

Of all the expeditions recorded in ancient hiftory, that which was carried on againft Greece by the Perfians is mentioned as the moft formidable, whether the great forces which were brought into the field, or the obstacles which they furmounted previous to their engagement with their enemies, be confidered. The minute and exact relation given by Herodotus of the vaft preparations made by Xerxes, and the ardour with which he purfued his romantic enterprize, contribute to raife the reputation and glory of the Greeks to the highest pitch, when we confider the apparently inadequate Y 4

means

means of their defence and refiftance. Yet what was the fuccefs of the vain defpot of innumerable hordes of undifciplined barbarians, when opposed to the determined valour and confirmed difcipline of regular armies, commanded by generals of confummate talents and approved experience? The Hiftorian above mentioned will give us the most fatisfactory answer to this queftion.

The fignal victory obtained in the plains of Marathon over the Perfians, was effected by the fagacity, experience, and valour of Miltiades. The fall of Leonidas, and his illuftrious Spartans in the ftraits of Thermopylæ, taught Xerxes to refpect their unexampled prowefs, and to regret a victory obtained over a small band of heroes, by the lofs of the choiceft foldiers of his army'. The Athenians, after abandoning their city, and conveying their wives and families to the islands for fecurity, embarked on board their fhips, and under the conduct of Themiftocles, engaged the fleet of Xerxes in the ftraits of Salamis'. From a lofty throne on Mount Egialos, the Perfian monarch obferved the action, and witneffed the total destruction of his vaft navy. The battle of Platea eftablished the renown of Paufanias, and his victory was rewarded with the coftly fpoils of the Persian camp. On the fame day, the Greeks were equally fuccefsful at the promontory of Mycale in Ionia, where they devoted the rich camp and powerful fleet of the enemy to the flames.

$ B. C. 480.

t B. C. 480.

Çimon,

Cimon, the fon of Miltiades, attacked and defeated the Perfian fleet, and landing in Cilicia, gained a fecond victory, by routing an immenfe army under the command of Megabyzes. Artaxerxes finding it vain to contend with a nation of heroes, folicited a peace, which was established on conditions highly advantageous to the Greeks. It was agreed that all the Grecian cities upon the coafts of Afia fhould enjoy their full independence, and that the Perfian fleets should not approach their coafts from the Euxine fea to the borders of Pamphylia. A war fo glorious, and a peace fo honourable, were the united fruits of Grecian unanimity and valour".

For half a century after the repulfe of the armies of Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes, Athens maintained, without controul, the pre-eminence of her power. The farther progrefs of the Athenians, in extending their dominions, was affifted by colonization and commerce. Their navies rode the feas in triumph, and their merchants exchanged the superfluous productions of Attica for the choiceft fruits of diftant countries. The large and fertile island of Euboea was numbered among their territories; their dominion extended over the Afiatic coaft for the space of a thoufand miles, from Cyprus to the Thracian Bofphorus, and over forty intermediate iflands. They planted colonies on the winding fhores of Macedon and Thrace, and commanded the coasts

"The victory obtained at Marathon, B. C. 490; at Salamis, 480; at Platæa, 479; at Pamphylia, 460,

of