GREECE.

7. The GREEKS are an ancient people, whose origin is clouded with fable. All that we know, during the present or preceding period, of the descendants of Japhet, who peopled Europe, is comprised in the history of this nation.

We date the commencement of the Greeks, as a community, from the founding of Argos by Inachus, who arrived in Greece, from Phoenicia, 1856 years B. C. Sicyon is by some thought to have been founded before; but we incline to the opinion that Egialtes, a son of Inachus, was the founder of Sicyon.

§ As much has been written concerning the fabulous times in the history of Greece, we will here present a very brief account of that portion of its history. These fables, however, are supposed to be founded on facts, and the greater part of the deities worshipped by the Greeks, were princes by whom their progenitors had been governed.

Uranus, afterwards worshipped as the heavens, appears to have been one of the earliest of their princes. He married his sister Tithea, and migrated from Asia into Greece, where he founded a kingdom. He had many children, called Titans, who rebelled against their father and dethroned him.

Saturn, or Chronos, succceded his father Uranus, whom, with the help of his brethren, he dethroned; and dreading lest he should be treated in the same manner by his own children, he ordered them to be shut up, or put to death, immediately after their birth; but Jupiter was concealed by his mother, and sent to Crete, where he was educated.

Jupiter began to reign in Thessaly, after having dethroned Saturn. The Titans, jealous of him, declared war against him, but were vanquished, and expelled Greece. He soon divided his dominions with his two brothers, Pluto and Neptune.

The countries which he reserved to himself, he governed with great wisdom; he had his palace, and held his court, on Mount Olympus, whence the poets gave this name to heaven, when Jupiter was worshipped as a god.

8. The ancient inhabitants of Greece were extremely rude and savage, scarcely one degree superior to brutes. They lived on herbs and roots, and lay either in the open fields, or, at best, sheltered themselves in dens, clefts, and hollow trees.

An improvement of their condition occasionally took place; out Greece, for some ages, was in a continual state of fluctuation. They were unacquainted with letters till the time of Cadmus, who is hereafter to be mentioned.

The general names by which the natives of Greece were known to old historians, were Graioi, Hellenists, Achæi, Pelasgi. But the most ancient name of all applied to this country, is generally admitted to be that of Ionia, which the Greeks derive from Ion; but Josephus derives it from Javan, son of Japheth.

9. The several states, except Argos and Sicyon, which at length constituted Greece, had, at this time, no separate existence. They sprang up afterwards, during the latter part of the present period, as there will now be occasion to mention.

In Argos, the descendants of Inachus, having retained possession of the throne for more than 300 years, were deposed, 1511 years B. C., by Danaus, an Egyptian fugitive, who became the founder of a second dynasty, denominated Belidæ, from his father, Belus.

§ At a much later period, Perseus, a sovereign of Argos, having built Mycenæ, transferred the kingdom thither. It was at length conquer ed by the Heraclidæ, and united to Lacedæmon.

It may be here noticed, that only two of the Grecian states, viz. Lacedæmon and Messenia, appear to have been founded by native Greeks; the rest were established by the various branches of the Celtic family of Uranus, with the exception of Athens, which owed its origin to an Egyptian.

Prior to these establishments, and even long after them, almost every village had its petty tyrant, who bore the title of king. A name has occasionally escaped oblivion. Laws we do not find among

them, before the times of the Athenian archons.

Until that period, all depended on the will of the sovereigns; only in perplexed cases, they consulted some oracle, of which the two most celebrated, were that of Jupiter at Dodona, and that of Apollo at Delphi.

10. Cecrops, a native of Egypt, is universally allowed to have founded Athens, 1556 years B. C. At this time he arrived in Attica, with a colony of his countrymen, and built twelve small villages or cities, of which Athens was one. He gave laws to the wild inhabitants, whom he divided into twelve tribes, and instituted marriage among them. The first altar in Greece was raised by him to Jupiter.

§ The history of Greece is carried on for a time in this event. Athens became the most illustrious of the Grecian states. The province of Attica having been destroyed by the deluge of Ogyges, remained desolate for more than two centuries, previous to the time of Cecrops.

Athens, from its founder, first received the name of Cecropia, but afterwards that of Athenæ, in honour of Minerva, its tutelary deity. The Arundelian marbles, which were brought from Greece by the

Earl of Arundel, and are now kept in England, begin their chronology with the founding of Athens, but place that event 26 years earlier, viz. 1582 B. C.

11. The successor of Cecrops was Cranaus. In his time happened the famous deluge of Deucalion, in Thessaly. The third king of Athens was Amphictyon, who founded the celebrated Amphictyonic council.*

§ The deluge of Deucalion owed much of its importance to the imaginations of the poets. It was probably only a partial inundation.

In the reign of Amphictyon, a famine occurred, during which Ericthonius, said to be the son of Vulcan, arrived from Egypt with a supply of corn, and taught the natives the art of Agriculture, for which he was raised to the throne in the room of Amphictyon.

12. Corinth, another of the Grecian states, was founded 1520 years B. C., but did not receive the name of Corinth till it was rebuilt, 1410 years B. C. It originally formed a part of the kingdom of Sicyon, and was afterwards included in that of Argos, till Sysyphus, some time in the following period, seized it for his possession.

13. Thebes, a state of Greece also, was founded by Cadmus. The city, though begun by him, was finished by Amphion and Zethus. He introduced letters into Greece, 1519 years B. C. Thebes he built a few years afterwards.

§ Cadmus is supposed to have been of Phoenician extraction. To him are ascribed 16 letters of the Greek alphabet. He thus essentially contributed to the literary distinction which Greece afterwards attained.

14. Lacedæmon, or Sparta, another distinguished state of Greece, was founded by Lelex, 1516 years B. C., but received its name from Lacedæmon, its fourth king. The government continued in the family of Lelex till the return of the Heraclide to the Peloponnesus, an event to be noticed in the coming period.

§ Sparta was called after the name of the wife of Lacedæmon, the great grand-daughter of Lelex. Sparta properly belongs to the metropolis-Lacedæmon to the kingdom at large. The Peloponnesus, in which Lacedæmon was situated, was the southern part of Greece.

EGYPT.

15. The events in EGYPTIAN history, during the present epoch, refer chiefly to Nitocris and Sesostris, the one a fe

See General Views.

male, the other a male sovereign. Nitocris began to reign over Egypt, 1678 years B. C., at Memphis. She afterwards united some other sovereignties to her dominions.

The period when Sesostris began to reign cannot be easily fixed; some place it before that of Nitocris, but others place it after her reign.

The names of a few other kings appear, but little is known concerning their reigns. The successor of Sesostris is said to have been Pheron, and some think that Rameses-Tubaete was the king whose dreams Joseph interpreted.

Nitocris succeeded her brother, an Ethiopian, who was murdered by the Egyptians, and meditating revenge for his untimely fate, put many of her subjects to death privately, and afterwards contrived a building under ground whither she deluded the chief objects of her vengeance to a feast, and, in the midst of their mirth, overwhelmed them with destruction, by turning a river upon them through a secret passage. She then eluded the rage of the populace by taking refuge in a place well fortified with ashes. Her person is said to have been extremely beautiful, but her disposition was cruel. Sesostris was the most distinguished of all the Egyptian kings, and almost the only conqueror among them. Historians relate that his father was warned by Vulcan, in a dream, concerning the future conquests of his son, and that, in consequence of this dream, he got together all the males born in Egypt on the same day with the prince, and had them nursed and brought up with him, upon the presumption that, being the companions of his youth, they would prove the most devoted warriors and faithful counsellors.

Sesostris forming the design of conquering the world, set out with an army of 600,000 foot, 24,000 horse, and 27,000 armed chariots. His conquests were extensive, and he returned home laden with the spoils of various subjugated nations, and followed by a surprising number of captives. He rendered his power highly advantageous to his subjects, by enriching their country with useful works, and magnificent edifices.

His behaviour, however, was grossly insolent to the kings and chiefs of the conquered nations, who waited upon him to present their tribute. He is said to have caused those princes, four abreast, to be harnessed to his car, instead of horses, that they might draw him to the temple.

In his old age he lost his sight, and then was so weak and wicked as to lay violent hands on himself.

CHINA.

16. The second dynasty of the CHINESE emperors comnienced during this period, 1766 years B. C. It lasted 656 vears, under 30 emperors. Like the first dynasty, it was terminated by the vices of the last of them.

§ Ching-tang was the founder of this dynasty. He is said to have had the most excellent qualities. His modesty was almost unparalleled he was the only person in the empire who thought he was unfit for so important a trust. He was often on the point of resigning his crown, but his nobles would not consent to it.

Tayvre, one of his successors, being once terrified by a prodigy, which made him apprehensive of a revolution, received the following impressive lesson from his minister. "Virtue has the power of triumphing over presages. If you govern your subjects with equity, you will be beyond the reach of misfortune."

Vuthing, another prince of this dynasty, after having for three years implored heaven to bless him with such virtues as were suitable to his station, is said to have seen, in a dream, a man represented by heaven to be his prime minister, whose features he well recollected when he awoke.

Causing the man to be sought for, such a person was found in the condition of an obscure mason, working in a village, whence he was brought to court. Being questioned on a variety of points concerning government, he returned answers marked with so much wisdom as excited the highest surprise.

The king, addressing him in a very proper manner, immediately appointed him his prime minister, and received the greatest benefit from his prudent and skilful administration of govern

ment.

Distinguished characters in Period III.

1. Abraham, the immediate progenitor of the Hebrew nation.

2. Melchisedec, king of Salem, and "priest of the Most High God."

3. Sesostris, an Egyptian hero and conqueror.

4. Joseph, the chief ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh.

5. Cecrops, the founder of Athens.

6. Cadmus, a Phoenician, who built Thebes, and introduced letters into Greece.

1. Abraham was the son of Terah, and born in Chaldea. He was 75 years of age when his father died. After this event he was commanded by God to enter upon the land of Canaan, which God promised to give unto his posterity. In the year following, a famine in the land of Canaan forced Abraham with his family to go into Egypt.

In the same year, Abraham, with his nephew Lot, returned unto Canaan. They however parted at length, because the land was insufficient for both of their flocks. Lot went to Sodom-Abraham removed to Hebron. God blessed Abraham, and the promise posterity was confirmed to him again and again.

In the 100th year of his age, Isaac, his son, was born to hi his expectation had been long delayed. Passing through