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I 
 
RECREATIONS 
 
 IN 
 
 ^M W 
 
 
 
 REV. EGBERT CrLAWRENCE, A.M., 
 
 Formerly Adjunct Professor of History in Union 
 
 College. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .21^1 f 
 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y. : 
 
 C. W. BAEDEEN, PUBLISHER. 
 
 1884. 
 
J)(o^ 
 
 THE LIBRARY. 
 OF CONGRESS 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 Copyright, 1884, by C. W. BARDEE 
 
 N. 
 
M0 Ph mitt, 
 
 BY WHOSE COiS^STANT E:N^COURAGEMEIs^T 
 
 AKY LITERARY LABOR 
 
 BECOIVIES A. I>LE^S^lSrT RECRKA-TIO^ST, 
 
 - THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS MOST LOVING^LY 
 DEDICATED. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In preparing these recreations no effort has been made 
 to exhaust any subject by entering into minute details ; 
 nor for the sake of completeness to furnish a bare cata- 
 logue of names, dates, and bald statistics. 
 
 An exhaustive treatise upon any topic usually exhausts 
 the reader's patience, while a long list of names and 
 numbers is likely to be no more fascinating and profita- 
 ble for general reading than would be a common city 
 directory. 
 
 " That which interests is remembered," was a 
 favorite saying of the great teacher, Horace Mann. 
 Bearing this truth in mind, the author of the following 
 chapters has endeavored to seize and dwell upon a few 
 salient facts and features in different countries, and to 
 talk about some of the celebrated characters of antiquity 
 long enough to produce an impression upon the memory 
 and to kindle a desire for farther investigation. The 
 work is now submitted to the public with the hope that 
 it ma3'^ find a welcome among intelligent readers. 
 
 E. C. L. 
 
 Alexandria Bay, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1884. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Creation, Fall, Deluge, Babel 9 
 
 II. China, Confucius, Language, Morrison, Population 
 
 Architecture, Character, Marriage .-- 13 
 
 III. Japan, Climate, Tokio, Gymnasts, Religion, Govern- 
 
 ment, Recent changes 2^ 
 
 IV. The Dispersion, Hebrews, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Jo- 
 
 seph, Moses, Joshua, Judges, David, Jerusalem 
 
 destroyed 29 
 
 V. Arabia, Mohammed, Hegira, Koran, Mecca, Mosque 
 
 of Omar _ 37 
 
 VI. Assyria, Nineveh, Semiramis __ 46 
 
 VII. Babylonia Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon, Hanging garden. 
 
 Tower of Belus .__ _ 50 
 
 VIII. Persia, Government, Religion, Zoroaster, Belshazzar's 
 Banquet, Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes, Cuneiform 
 inscriptions _ 55 
 
Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 IX. Egypt, Productions, Historic periods, Great pyramid, 
 Sphinx, Obelisk, Thebes, Pharos, Library, Sep- 
 
 tuagint, Rosetta Stone, Phoenix, Cleopatra 64 
 
 X. Greece, Origin of its people, Hellen, Egyptian colony, 
 
 Europa, Cadmus, Hercules, Perseus, Theseus 83 
 
 XI. Voyage of the Argonauts, Seven against Thebes, Siege 
 
 of Troy _ 98 
 
 XII. Brief sketches of Greeks, Bias, Chilo, Cleobulus, Per- 
 iander, Pittacus, Solon, Thales, Xenophanes, Py- 
 thagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, 
 Alexander the Great. 116 
 
 XIII. A glance at Greek art and artists, Parthenon, Tem- 
 
 ple of Diana, Choragic monument of Lysicrates, 
 Madeleine, Girard College, Socrates, Praxiteles, 
 Polygnotus, Parrhasius, Zeuxis, Apelles 135 
 
 XIV. Rome and some of her great men, Julius Caesar, Cic- 
 
 ero, Augustus Caesar, Virgil 150 
 
 XV. Other distinguished Romans, Tiberius, Caligula, Ves- 
 pasian and the Colosseum, Titus, Domitian, Tra- 
 jan and his Column, Constantine 167 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 These our actors, 
 As I foretold you, were all spirits, and 
 Are melted into air, into thin air; 
 And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,. 
 The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve.— Shakespeare. 
 
 ;HE creation.— Many different theories have 
 been held concerning the origin of the earth and 
 the universe, but the Bible furnishes the anlj true ac- 
 count. Therein we learn that God by the word of his 
 power created all things and from the chaotic state of the 
 elements he caused the waters to be gathered together and 
 made the dry land appear. Then he clothed the earth 
 with vegetation and adt)rned the heavens with the sun, 
 the mooUj and the glittering stars. And God gave life 
 to every fish and beast and bird. And as a crowning 
 act to this great work God created man, forming his 
 body from the dust of the ground, and breathing into 
 his nostrils the breath of life. Then knowing that it 
 was not good for man to be alone, the same Almighty- 
 Being created woman to be his companion. Thus the 
 first parents of the human family were created in the 
 image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and holi^ 
 ness, having his law written in their hearts with power 
 to fulfill it with dominion over the creatures and en- 
 dowed with immortal souls. Such is the high origin of 
 the first man and woman, who were named Adam and 
 Eve. 
 
10 
 
 ADAM S FALL. 
 
 The Fall. — God planted a garden in the land of 
 Eden and assigned it to man as his dwelling-place. 
 Four streams issued from it. The Euphrates is one and 
 the Tigris is thought to be another ; while the other two 
 are unknown or at least not identified. The garden 
 seems to have been located somewhere on the elevated 
 table-land of Armenia. Adam is charged to till and 
 keep it, and leave is granted to eat the fruit of every 
 tree except one. But Satan, the tempter, a fallen spirit, 
 appeared upon the scene in the form of a serpent and 
 persuaded the woman to pluck and eat the forbidden 
 fruit. The woman saw tliat the tree was good for food, 
 and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be de- 
 sired to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof 
 and did eat, and gave also unto her husband witli her 
 and he did eat. Thereupon they immediately begin to 
 suffer the penalty of their sin. The serpent is deserv- 
 edly cursed. Sorrows are multiplied to Ev^e and all her 
 daughters ; and Adam and all his sons are doomed to eat 
 bread in the sweat of their faces all the days of their 
 lives, and to bear trouble till their bodies moulder 
 back to tlie dust w^hence they were formed. And the 
 ground itself is cursed to bring fortli thorns and thistles 
 to plague man in liis toil and render his labor more diffi- 
 cult and disagreeable. Moreover, Adam and Eve are 
 forthwith expelled from the garden of Eden, and Cheru- 
 bim and a flaming sword are set at the entrance to guard 
 it, and prevent the return of the guilty pair. 
 
THE DELTJGE. 11 
 
 The Deluge. — Tlie next great event recorded in the 
 history of the world is the dehige. God causes an awful 
 flood to overwhelm the ancient inhabitants and destroy 
 them from off the face of the earth. After the fall and 
 expulsion from Eden, sin speedily corrupts the hearts of 
 Adam and his posterity. Evil passions and desires awake 
 and disturb the peace of society. Man's hand soon 
 becomes stained with his brother's blood, and the violent 
 impulses of a rude and unrestrained nature plunge the 
 later generations deeper and deeper into the disorders of 
 vice and crime. Ungodliness spreads infection on every 
 side till wickedness and violence at length so generally 
 prevail that Noah is the only man to be found who has 
 kept the faith. For more than a hundred years Noah 
 preaches righteousness, and the long suffering of a patient 
 God waits in vain for the repentance of wicked men. 
 " They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving 
 in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark 
 and knew not until the flood came and took them all 
 away." Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and 
 Japheth, with their wives, alone are rescued in the ark 
 and saved from the general destruction of the human 
 family. 
 
 The Tower of Babel. — After this just and fearful 
 judgment of the flood, Noah's posterity increases so rap- 
 idly that the later generations descended from his sons, 
 Shem, Ham, and Japheth, are forced to scatter abroad 
 over the neighboring countries, and there establish new 
 
12 THE TOWER OF BABP:L. 
 
 homes for themselves. They then conceive the idea of 
 erecting the Tower of Babel, " whose top was to reach 
 unto heaven," and to be a perpetual memorial unto them. 
 They are not allowed, however, to proceed very far with 
 the work before God frustrates their design by confound- 
 ing their language. On this account the Tower is named 
 Babel, or Confusion. Thence the people separate and 
 disperse to all the four quarters of the earth, and plant 
 their colonies in Asia, Africa, and Europe, each accord- 
 ing to their new language. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ' Confucius flees with Buddha 
 Before the rising day. 
 And every dark pagoda 
 Is crumbling to decay." 
 
 aHINA. — The land of Sinim is the name applied to 
 China in the Bible. But Heavenly Kingdom and 
 Middle Kingdom are the names hj which the Chinese 
 love best to distinguish their country; the latter referring 
 to the central place among the nations which they imagine 
 themselves to o.ccupy; and the former denoting their 
 supposed celestial origin. Cathaj^, or the Flowery Land, 
 is still another title bestowed upon it by early travelers- 
 The name China is derived from Ching Wong, an early 
 king who reigned in the third century before Christ. 
 He was noted for conquering the Tartars and building 
 the great wall as a barrier to prevent their incursions. 
 None but an absolute monarch could ever have con- 
 structed such a stupendous monument of human power 
 and industry. It is 1,500 miles long, thirty feet high, 
 and fifteen feet wide on the top, strengthened and 
 guarded by embattled towers rising at convenient dis- 
 tances along the whole line. The same emperor who 
 ordered the mighty wall to be built, incredible as it may 
 well seem, is said to have cared so little for the moral 
 and intellectual good of his people that he commanded 
 his subjects to destroy the whole body of Chinese litera- 
 ture, in the foolish and disgraceful hope of thus obliter- 
 
14 CHINA. 
 
 ating every vestige of Chinese history previous to the 
 beginning of liis own dynasty. More than five hundred 
 learned men were barbarously buried alive for refusing 
 to obey the edict. The works of Confucius were secreted 
 and saved from the general destruction. 
 
 Confucius, who was born in tlie sixth century before 
 Christ, has enjoyed a fame more widely extended than 
 that of any other moral philosopher. Through all the 
 changing dynasties his descendants have received distin- 
 guished honors. And during all the years that have 
 elapsed from his time to the present, his writings have 
 been the principal objects of study in the schools of that 
 vast Chinese empire. As a public teacher he never 
 refused to give his instructions to any who had the abil- 
 ity and a true wish to learn. He was impatient w^ith 
 stupidity. " When I have presented," said he, " one cor- 
 ner of a subject to any one, and he can not from it learn* 
 the other three, I do not repeat my lesson." The basis of 
 the Chinese government is that the ruler or oflficer 
 should be as a father and the people as children. Prob- 
 ably Confucius did not originate this beautiful thought, 
 but he certainly did everything in his power to give it 
 practical efficiency. The following sayings of his serve 
 to illustrate the genius and character of the Chinese sage: 
 
 " Learning without thought is labor lost ; thought 
 without learning is perilous." 
 
 " When we see men of worth we should think of 
 equalling them; when we see men of a contrary charac- 
 
CONFUCIUS. 
 
 15 
 
 ter we should turn inward and examine ourselves." 
 
 "' Good government obtains when those who are near 
 are made happy, and those who are far off are attracted." 
 
 He declared the necessary conditions of a government 
 to be '' Sufficiency of food, military equipment, and con- 
 fidence of the people in their ruler." The last he con- 
 sidered the most important. Dispense with the military 
 equipment if necessary, and next " part with the food; 
 from of old death has been the lot of all men, but if the 
 people have no faith in their rulers, there is no standing 
 for the State." 
 
 '' What you do not like when done to yourself, do not 
 do to others." 
 
 " I am not concerned that I have no office; I am con- 
 cerned how I may fit myself for one." 
 
 " I am not concerned that I am not known; I seek to 
 be worthy to be known." 
 
 " The superior man is affable, but not adulatory. The 
 mean man is adulatory, but not affable." 
 
 One of the disciples of Confucius affirmed in praise of 
 his master that ^'He had no foregone conclusions, no 
 arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no ego- 
 tism." 
 
 The Chinese Language is very difficult for the for- 
 eigner to learn, from the fact that it is composed of such 
 a great number of monosyllables written with different 
 characters. The number of really different characters 
 having the sanction of good usage is not far from 25,000, 
 
16 THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 
 
 many of which are of rare occurrence. A knowledge of 
 from 5,000 to 10,000 is said to be sufficient for nearly all 
 the practical needs of the scholar. The more complete 
 dictionaries give from 40,000 to 60,000 words, of which 
 obsolete and duplicate forms and proper names make up 
 perhaps one -half. 
 
 At the opening of tliis century, Robert Morrison, a 
 young Englishman, consecrated himself to the great 
 work of preaching the gospel to the Chinese, and, in 
 preparation therefor, began the study of their language. 
 The extreme difficulty of its acquirement may be illus- 
 trated by a conversation whicli lie is reported to have had 
 with a gentleman at that period. 
 
 "In visiting the library of the British Museum," says 
 the gentleman above referred to, ''I frequently saw a 
 young man who appeared to be deeply occupied in his 
 studies. The book he was reading appeared to be in a 
 language and character totally unknown to me. My 
 curiosity was awakened, and, apologizing to him for the 
 liberty I was taking, I ventured to ask what was the 
 language that engaged so much of his attention. 
 
 ^' ' The Chinese,' he modestl}^ replied. 
 
 " ' And do 3^ou understand the language ? ' I said. 
 
 " ' I am trying to understand it,' he added, ' but it is 
 attended with singular difficulty.' 
 
 " 'And what may be your object,' I asked, ' in studying 
 a language so proverbially difficult of attainment, and 
 considered to be even insuperable to European talent and 
 industry ? ' 
 
ROBERT MORRISON. 17 
 
 " ' I can scarcely define my niotiv^es,' he remarked. 
 ^All tliat I know is that my mind is powerfully wrought 
 upon by some strong and indescribable impulse ; and if 
 the lanfijuage be capable of being surmounted by human 
 zeal and perseverance, I mean to make the experiment. 
 What may be the final result, time only can develop.' " 
 
 Now glance forward for more than a quarter of a 
 century, which period he spent at his solitary post in 
 Canton as the founder and pioneer of Protestant missions 
 in China, and behold a part of the wonderful result of 
 this young English student's investigations in the library 
 of the British Museum. Besides publishing a Chinese 
 grammar of 300 quarto pages, and translating the entire 
 Bible into Chinese, he completed the most gigantic of 
 his literary labors. This was a Chinese dictionary issued 
 in three parts : the fi]'st containing two thousand seven 
 hundred pages, and defining forty thousand characters ; 
 the second containing twelve thousand symbols ; and 
 the third containing five hundred pages. The East 
 Iiidia Company published this great work at a cost of 
 seventy -five thousand dollars. 
 
 Thus Morrison had the honor of giving the world a 
 Chinese dictionary, and of giving the Bible in their own 
 language to the most populous nation on the face of the 
 €arth. 
 
 Indeed, the population of China is so dense that soli- 
 tude is a rare luxury. The whole vast empire is covered 
 with cities, towns, and villages swarming with four Imn- 
 
18 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 dred millions of inhabitants. Satiated with this ever 
 seething mass of humanity, the missionary often longs 
 for the wild solitudes of his native land. It would 
 afford such inexpressible delight to be alone. The shops 
 of a Chinese city are open in front, and usually display 
 on a sign-board a picture of the special kind of goods for 
 sale within. A stranger will be likely to notice the odd 
 names which the streets bear. The following names are 
 a few common examples : ''Street of Nine-fold Bright- 
 ness, of Ten Thousand Happinesses, of the Sweeping 
 Dragon, of Everlasting Love, of One Hundred Grand- 
 sons, of One Thousand Beatitudes, of Golden ProHts." 
 
 The Areliitecture of China is poor and mean com- 
 pared with that of other countries. It may be pictur- 
 esque, but it can hardly be termed grand or beautiful. 
 In the towns, the private residences are conlined to sep- 
 arate streets ; aiid being only one story high and built 
 without exterior windows, they resemble military en- 
 campments. Some of the public monuments are well 
 worthy cf notice. Perhaps the most famous one was the 
 Porcelain tower of Nanking. It was octagonal in form, 
 nine stories or 240 feet high, and 40 feet in diameter at 
 the base. The value of this structure was incredibly 
 great, its walls being covered with porcelain and gold, 
 and its niches filled with countless images of gold. It is 
 now no longer standing, having been destroyed in a 
 recent rebellion by men greedy to gain possession of the 
 gold. 
 
CHARACTER. 1{> 
 
 In tlie city of Peking tliere is a magnificent marble 
 pagoda built by the emperor over the clothes of a Bud- 
 dhist priest who died of small-pox. Pilgrims from a 
 long distance may often be seen at this shrine worship- 
 ping and measuring their length on the ground, in 
 making a circuit around it. 
 
 The Chinese possess rather a mixed ckaracter com- 
 posed of both good and bad elements. They are known 
 to be generally a peaceful, industrious, and thrifty 
 people. And yet they are often said to be cruel, sen- 
 sual, dishonest and deceitful, imitative, ''peculiar," and 
 tricky. They have a high regard for learning. In fact 
 their positions of honor and trust are awarded by com- 
 petitive literary examinations to those w^ho prove them- 
 selves best qualified to fill them. 
 
 Tea and silk are the most important productions of 
 China. 
 
 Though the Chinese are intensely conservative, self- 
 sufficient, and radically opposed to change, yet some 
 modern inventions are being introduced.^ A few tele- 
 graph lines have been established, and tramways are 
 being laid. 
 
 The Chinese are skilled workmen, though at present 
 they exhibit little evidence of' being endowed with 
 inventive genius. In this respect, the people of the 
 present generation are far inferior to their ancestors ; for 
 it is certain that printing, gunpowder, the mariner's 
 compass, and the manufacture of paper, porcelain, silk,, 
 and clocks were first invented in China. 
 
20 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Marriage in China is a matter which is chiefly ar- 
 ranged by parents for tlieir children. An agent called 
 " a go between," comes to the aid of the parents in mak- 
 ing the match. He keeps a list of all eligible young 
 ladies and gentlemen, w^ith all necessary details and par- 
 ticulars. When a satisfactory selection has been made 
 by the parents, the contracting parties interchange 
 presents through the agent, and perform various relig- 
 ious rites. There is no courtship, and the bride and 
 groom seldom see each other till after the principal 
 wedding ceremonies are performed. At one stage of the 
 proceedings, they present a wild goose and gander at the 
 ancestral altar, as an emblem of conjugal fidelity and 
 affection. The bride spends the last thirty daj^s before 
 the wedding in mourning her removal from her paternal 
 home. The last night is consumed in weeping. Finally, 
 when the wedding day comes, the bridegroom sends the 
 bridal chair after his betrothed. The procession returns 
 with her. Closely vailed, she leaves the chair and enters 
 her future liome, makes obeisance to her lord, pays 
 respect to the guests and worship to the ancestral tablets, 
 and then retires to an alcove in the bridal chamber. 
 Here the bridegroom receives her alone, lifts her vail, 
 and gazes, probably for the first time, upon the face of 
 his bride. 
 
 She then comes forth, and the ceremony proceeds. 
 The bride and groom drink from two cups joined by a 
 scarlet cord, while the attendants invoke upon them 
 future peace and happiness. Before the service ends. 
 
I 
 
 MAKRIAGE. 21 
 
 the visitors are expected to examine and praise every 
 part of the bride's attire and ornaments, the beauty of 
 her person, and the smallness of her feet. 
 
 But all this pomp and parade is only a hollow mock- 
 ery. Many maidens every year commit suicide to escape 
 the misery of a heartless marriage and the shame of a 
 a polygamist's home. 
 
 Infanticide is practiced to a frightful extent in China. 
 Female infants are generally the victims of this horrid 
 and shocking crime. May God hasten the day when the 
 great Chinese nation shall cease to do evil and learn to- 
 do w^ell. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 
 
 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber 
 
 And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.— Fsalm XIX. . 
 
 "^APAN. — The Empire of Japan comprises four large 
 ^ islands and a great number of small ones lying oflf 
 the coast of Asia, in the northwestern part of the Pacific 
 Ocean. Tne largest of the group is the island of 
 Niphon, which name properly belongs to the whole 
 country. The Empire is about IGOO miles long, and 200 
 miles wide in the broadest part. The coasts are gener- 
 ally bold and rocky and indented with numerous bays, 
 forming spacious and secure harbors. Among tlie many 
 beautiful names which the Japanese apply to their 
 native country, is " The Land of the Rising Sun," a 
 title well describing its location as the most eastern of all 
 the Asiatic Empires. Their national emblem represents 
 the sun rising out of the sea. 
 
 The Climate is various. In the extreme north, the 
 mercury often sinks far below zero in the coldest 
 weather, and the snow falls to a great depth. In the 
 south, the sun's heat is sometimes 0]3pressive, tliough it 
 is far less debilitating tlian it is on the coasts of China 
 and India. The temperature of the central districts, 
 where the densest population is gathered, is generally 
 mild and agreeable. 
 
TOKIO. 23 
 
 The hii^^liest mountain is Fuji-Yama, its altitude being 
 about 14,000 feet, and its summit is crowned with per- 
 petual snow. It is distant about eighty miles from 
 Tokio, the largest city of Japan. 
 
 Tokio is the capital of the empire. It has a well- 
 endowed college and an engineering school which, in the 
 estimation of Gen. U. S. Grant, is second to no other in 
 the world. The city is provided with hospitals and 
 asylums for infants and paupers, and by means of rail- 
 roads and telegraph lines, is daily increasing its facility 
 for quick and easy communication with all parts of the 
 empire. As in most countries which are subject to the 
 visitation of earthquakes and furious storms, the build- 
 ings are low, — one story, or at most two, in height. 
 But the gardens and open spaces are numerous, and give 
 an air of grateful comfort and freedom that sufficiently 
 compensates for any lack of statelj- grandeur in archi- 
 tecture. The lawns, and albthe grounds of the wealthy 
 are kept with assiduous care and skill. 
 
 ^ "You wonder at the number of servants about you — 
 servants for everything. There, for instance, is a gard- 
 ener working over a tree. The tree is one of the dwarf 
 species that you see in Japan, — one of the eccentricities 
 of landscape gardening, — and this gardener files and 
 clips and adorns his tree as carefully as a lapidary 
 burnishing a gem. ' There has been work enough done 
 on that tree,' said the General, ' since I have been here, 
 
 * Travels of Gen. Grant. 
 
24 GYMNASTS. 
 
 to raise all the food a small family would require during, 
 the winter.' Labor is too good a thing to be misapplied, 
 and when the result of the labor is a plum-tree that you. 
 could put on your dinner-table, or a peach-tree in fruition 
 that might go into a water-goblet, he is apt to regard it 
 as misapplied. Here are a dozen men in blue cotton 
 dress working at a lawn. I suppose in a week they 
 would do as much as a handy Yankee boy could achieve 
 in a morning with a lawn-mower." 
 
 '' Your Japanese workman sits down over his meadow 
 or his flower-bed or his bit of road as though it were a 
 web of silk he was embroidering." 
 
 The art of applying a peculiarly beautiful and durable 
 varnish to various fancy articles, is practiced by this 
 people with the greatest skill and perfection. The 
 lacquer, when used upon papier-mache plates, cups, and 
 boxes, becomes hard, like enamel, and adds much to the 
 strength and durability of the object. 
 
 The Japanese gymnasts are the most noted in the 
 world. They are capable of performing any feats which 
 our professional athletes can achieve, and many others 
 which the latter never even dream of attempting. Rev. 
 J. G. Wood gives some remarkable examples of their 
 performances, in his ''Uncivilized Races." A man lies 
 on his back, and balances on the soles of his feet a ladder 
 thirty feet high, to the top of which a second ladder is 
 attached at right angles, like the top of the letter F. 
 Then a boy goes up and down the ladder, and even 
 
GYMNASTS. 25" 
 
 crawls to the end of the cross-piece and there hangs hy 
 his instep. This astonishing feat is repeated day after 
 day. Tlie heavy ladder is placed on the upturned feet, 
 and in a moment is as steady as if planted in the ground. 
 And its steadiness is not impaired by the boy's passing 
 over it, though the center of gravity is continually^ 
 changed. During tlie performance, not the slightest 
 wavering is perceptible. Mr. Wood, the writer above 
 referred to, tells some almost incredible stories about the 
 skill these Japanese performers have attained in spinning 
 tops. ''A man," he says, " spun a top on the edge of a 
 sword, making it pass from one end of the blade to tlie 
 other. He flung the top in the air, and threw the string 
 at it : the top caught the middle of the string by the 
 peg, wound itself up, and was again flung into the air^ 
 spinning faster than before. It was then caught on the 
 slender stem of a pipe, along which it ran as if alive, wa& 
 passed behind the back and caught again in front, and 
 lastly was received upon the hem of the sleeve, made to 
 spin up the garment, over the neck and shoulders and 
 down the sleeve of the opposite side. It was also made 
 to spin upon a slight string stretched from the wall, andl 
 to pass backward and forward as long as the spinner 
 chose." After relating a number of such tales about 
 these wonderful tops, the writer ends the chapter by 
 saying that " they could be built into a perfect edifice of 
 tops, three or four spinning upon each other,, sometimes 
 each leaning in a different direction, and then being 
 brought upright by a touch of the ever-ready fan. The. 
 
^6 RELIGION. 
 
 •concludiDfi: feat was a very curious one. Some thirty 
 feet above the heads of the spectators was hung a model 
 of a temple, from which depended a string. The chief 
 top-spinner then took a small but very heavy top, wound 
 up its string, and flung the top in the air, drawing back 
 the arm so that the top came flying into his hand. He 
 went under the temple, gave the pendent string a half 
 turn around the peg, and away went the top into the 
 temple, bursting open its doors and flinging out a quan- 
 tity of rose leaves, which came fluttering down around 
 top as it descended the string and fell into the hands of 
 the performer." 
 
 .Shintooism is the native religion of Japan. It is 
 u system of mythology resembling the ancient religions 
 of China, rising from a chaos of le^^ends and developing 
 into a creed which embraces countless divinities called 
 Xami, representing embodied principles of life and ac- 
 tivity and deified heroes. 
 
 Buddhism also widely prevails. The number of Bud- 
 dhist priests, including monks, is three times as great as 
 that of all the clergy of the United States. Dai Butz 
 is the largest and most famous idol in Japan. It is a 
 <3olossal hollow bronze statue, about fifty feet high, rep- 
 resenting the god in a sitting posture, and wearing an 
 expression of sublime repose. About the middle of the 
 sixteenth century, the Jesuits, led by Francis Zavier, 
 made their appearance in Japan, and for thirty-eight 
 years labored to spread Christianity among the inhabi- 
 tants. Their labors were rewarded with abundant sue- 
 
GOVERNMENT. 27 
 
 cess, the converts numbering nearly two million souls. 
 The heathen priesthood took the alarm, and the Emperor 
 issued an edict prohibiting his subjects on pain of death 
 from embracing the new religion. The missionaries and 
 all foreigners were banished from the country. A 
 frightful persecution followed, in which thousands of 
 Christians perished. Afterwards all the seaports were 
 closed, and all intercourse with other nations strictly 
 forbidden. 
 
 The government of Japan is graduating into a lim- 
 ited monarchy, with a parliament founded on the model 
 of the British Parliament. The Mikado or Emperor 
 belongs to the oldest dynasty of rulers in the world, the 
 first of the line having begun to reign 660 B. 0. 
 
 The recent clianges in Japan are truly wonderful. 
 Many seaports have been thrown open to foreign trade ; 
 the Mikado has abandoned all the mystery and seclusion 
 held sacred for so many centuries ; the most promising 
 students among the young men have been sent abroad to 
 be educated for the public service ; seminaries and 
 schools, benevolent and scientific institutions have been 
 established ; a free press is discussing the affairs of the 
 nation, and publishing the news of the world ; a new 
 postal system has been arranged ; the army and the navy 
 have been reorganized ; all the modern helps to a safe 
 navigation have been introduced ; the calendar of west- 
 ern nations has been adopted ; a gold and silver coinage 
 
28 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 on a decimal scale has been put in circulation ; and emi- 
 nent scholars have been sought for in Europe and 
 America, and invited to take office in the empire, in 
 order that the country may share the benefit of their 
 experience. Such are some of the modern wonders in 
 Japan. And they certainly show that the people of that 
 island-country are decidedly in earnest for improvements. 
 They are an intellectual people, and they set a high 
 value upon education. A talented person rapidly ad- 
 vances to positions of honor and trust. In filling public 
 offices, they always try to find the man best fitted for the 
 place. The Japanese are also noted for their politeness, 
 truthfulness, and amiable and agreeable manners. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 This^above all— to thine own self be true; 
 And it must follow, as the night the day, 
 Thou canst not then be false to any man.— Shakespeare. 
 
 |HE DISPERSION.— After the Deluge, according 
 to an Armenian tradition, Noah distributed the 
 habitable earth, from north to south, between his sons, 
 giving to Ham the region afterwards inhabited by the 
 blacks ; to Shem, the region of the tawny ; and to 
 Japheth, the region of the ruddy. By this distribution, 
 the middle of the earth fell to the sons of Shem : Syria, 
 Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and Arabia. To the sons of 
 Ham : Africa and a part of India. To the sons of 
 Japheth : Europe and Asia Minor. 
 
 According to a scheme agreed on by Jewish and 
 Christian commentators, from Shem — the father of the 
 tawny, olive, or Mongolian race — are descended the He- 
 brews, Persians, Assyrians, Lydians, and Syrians. 
 
 From Ham — the father of the black race — are de- 
 scended the Babylonians, Egyptians, Lybians, and Phoe- 
 nicians. 
 
 From Japheth — the father of the white or Caucasian 
 race — are descended the Germans, Turks, Huns, Fins, 
 Medes, Greeks, Romans, Spaniards, Tartars, Muscovites, 
 and Thracians. 
 
30 HEBREWS. 
 
 Hebrews. — While the main part of the world was 
 wholly given over to the practice of idolatry, a Semitic 
 people dwelling in Mesopotamia preserved the original 
 belief in a single God. They were a nomadic race 
 whose property consisted mainly of flocks, herds, and 
 tents. 
 
 Abram, whose name was finally changed to Abraham, 
 at the command of God left his home among this people 
 and settled himself, with his family and servants and his 
 nephew Lot,"^ in " the promised land '• of Canaan, or Pal- 
 estine, where they received from the native inhabitants 
 the name of ''Strangers from the other side," or Hebrews. 
 
 The birth of Abraham occurred about 2,000 B. C, 
 and he thus occupies a position midway between the cre- 
 ation and the dawn of the Christian Era. The following 
 dates given in round numbers may aid the student's 
 memory in fixing the facts of Old Testament history : 
 Adam, 4000 years B. C; Abraham, 2000 ; Moses, 1500 ; 
 Solomon, 1000 ; Daniel, 600 ; and Malachi, 400 years 
 B. C. All the authentic history of the first 2500 years of 
 the world is contained in the brief book of Genesis. 
 Therein may be found short sketches of the lives of 
 the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
 
 The chief event in the life of Abraham was the trial 
 of his faith when commanded to sacrifice his son through 
 
 ♦ Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities of the plain now covered by tlie Dead 
 Sea, were destroyed by Are from heaven. Lot and his two daughters escaped 
 from the overthrow, while Lot's wife looked back and was changed to a pillar 
 of salt. 
 
ISAAC-JACOB. 31 
 
 whom he expected to be blessed with a countless poster- 
 ity. At the last moment, a special providence interferefr 
 and furnishes a ram as a substitute to be sacrificed 
 instead of the son. 
 
 Isaac 9 son of the preceding, who contracted a mar- 
 riage with the lovely Eebekah, a relative from Mesopo- 
 tamia, in a rather romantic way, was a man of humble, 
 tranquil, meditative character, devout, full of faith, and 
 submissive to the will of God. Isaac had two sons, Esau 
 and Jacob. The latter, aided by the cunning stratagem 
 of his mother, succeeded in obtaining his father's chief 
 blessing; and, in consequence, he deemed it prudent ta 
 flee from his home to avoid the wrath of his brother 
 when he should discover the deceit that had been prac- 
 tised upon him. Jacob directs his flight to the earlj 
 home of his ancestors, where his uncle Laban dwells ;; 
 and on his journey, where night overtakes him, he lies- 
 down to sleep with a stone for his pillow. He dreams ;. 
 and in his dream he beholds a ladder reaching from earth 
 to heaven, over which the angels are passing back and 
 forth. 
 
 The familiar hymn, "Nearer my God to thee," is- 
 chiefly founded upon this incident in the life of Jacob. 
 In after years, an angel wrestled with the patriarch till 
 day-break, and then changed his name from Jacob to 
 Israel. And from that time forward, the Hebrews were 
 <3alled Israelites, or children of Israel. 
 
32 JOSEPH-MOSES. 
 
 Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, and was 
 the special favorite of his father. On this account his 
 brothers were jealous of him, and at the first favorable 
 opportianity they sold him, to be carried down to Egypt 
 as a slave, where, after various trials, he was raised to be 
 chief in authority next to JPharaoh. By the prudent 
 foresight of Joseph, Egypt lays in store an abundance of 
 corn for a seven years' famine. And thither the Canaan- 
 ites resort to buy food. 
 
 Thus God's providence prepares the way for the re- 
 moval of Jacob and his household to Goshen, a fertile 
 district of Egypt, on the eastern shore of the Nile. Here 
 the Israelites reside, till they become so numerous as to 
 •excite the jealous apprehension of Pharaoh, who there- 
 upon subjects them to bard bondage, and orders their 
 male children to be put to death as soon as they are 
 born. Then God raises up a leader to free his oppressed 
 people. 
 
 Moses is born; and after being hidden for three months 
 by his parents, is exposed on the river, where he is found 
 by the daughter of Pharaoh, by whom he is adopted 
 and thoroughly educated in all the wisdom of the Egyp- 
 tians. And he is further disciplined for the great work 
 to which he is destined, by a forty years' life in the des- 
 ert of Midian. At the end of this period, God ap- 
 pears to him in the burning bush, and appoints him and 
 Aaron, his brother, to deliver their people from bond- 
 age in Egypt. At the refusal of Pharaoh to let the 
 
MOSES. 33 
 
 Xord's people go, ten successive plagues arc sent — 
 water changed to blood, frogs, lice, swarms of flies, 
 murrain, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the slaying of 
 the flrst-born. The passover is instituted, and Moses 
 leads forth 600,000 men, besides children and a mixed 
 -multitude, aggregating in all from 3,000,000 to 5,00(\0()0 
 persons. Pharaoh pursues them with his army, but God 
 opens a dry passage through the Red Sea for the 
 Israelites, while he suffers their pui-suers to drown. 
 
 At the base of Mount Sinai, the chosen people encamp, 
 and receive the moral and ceremonial laws from God, 
 their divine ruler. And the decalogue or ten command- 
 ments here flrst proclaimed have furnished, and still 
 continue to this day to furnish, the main groundwork for 
 civil law throughout all Christendom. 
 
 By divine direction, the people bring free-will offer- 
 ings and build a beautiful tabernacle as a sanctuary for 
 public worship. A vast amount of gold and silver and 
 other valuable material was used upon this structure and 
 its furniture. 
 
 The following were the principal articles contained in 
 it: The altar of burnt offerings and the brazen laver 
 were in- the court ; the golden candlestick, the altar of 
 incense, and the table of show-bread were in the Holy 
 Place ; while in the " Holy of Holies " there was only 
 the ark of the covenant, in which a copy of the law was 
 deposited and preserved. 
 
 For forty years the children of Israel wander in the 
 -wilderness ; and during all that period, they are supplied 
 
34 JOSHUA. 
 
 with manna and quail and water by a daily series of 
 miracles. Their clothing waxes not old upon their backs 
 nor their shoes upon their feet. They started from 
 Egypt proud, unbelieving, and rebellious. In the course 
 of the long journeying, time, disease and many a griev- 
 ous plague have swept most of the haughty leaders into^ 
 the grave. Their descendants have been trained by 
 severe chastisements and by tlie sight of these stupendous 
 and long-continued miracles, to be submissive ; they have 
 been taught to love virtue and prize freedom ; they have 
 been charged to be strong and of good courage that they 
 may go in boldly and possess the promised land of 
 Canaan. Moses, the great leader and law-giver, is not 
 permitted to cross the Jordan. From the top of Mount 
 Pisgah he views the beautiful fields of the Holy Land, 
 and then his lofty spirit takes its flight to fairer fields 
 on high. "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years 
 old when he died: his eye was not dim nor his natural 
 force abated." 
 
 Joshua is then chosen to the leadership with the most 
 encouraging assurances of divine help. The work of 
 conquest, however, does not proceed very far under the 
 command of the valiant Joshua before the Israelites 
 hasten to abandon the war and demand the distribution 
 of the conquered territory. The twelve tribes share the 
 land by lot in such a way that Ephraim and Manasseh 
 (Joseph's two sons) succeed to equal portions, while on 
 the other hand the Levites receive no distinct inheritance 
 
DAVID. 35- 
 
 only a few towns and the tenth part of the products of 
 the earth being allotted to them. 
 
 From this time the Hebrews were governed by Judges, 
 the most renowned of whom were Gideon, Jephthah^ 
 the giant Samson and the brave and poetic prophetess 
 Deborah. The just and upright Samuel closes the line* 
 of judges, changes the government to a monarchy and 
 anoints Saul the first king. 
 
 David, the sweet singer of Israel, a shepherd youth,, 
 but a man after God's own heart, is next raised to the- 
 throne and founds a family which continues to reign till 
 the subjugation of the country by the Chaldeans. Under 
 Solomon the beautiful temple is built at Jerusalem to- 
 take the place of the tabernacle. Under Rehoboam, 
 David's grandson, ten tribes revolt and form the separate 
 kingdom of Israel, between which and the kingdom of 
 Judah frequent and bloody wars are waged. Finally the 
 greater part of both nations are carried away captive to- 
 Babylon and the eastern countries. Thence a few small 
 colonies of the Hebrews return after an exile of seventjr 
 years and build another temple at Jerusalem, and attempt 
 in vain to re-establish their nation. God has ceased t(y 
 fight their battles. The Seleucian Kings and Roman 
 Emperors are too strong for them when the divine aid is- 
 withdrawn. 
 
 In the year 70 A. D., Titus, the Roman General, takes 
 and utterly destroys Jerusalem. 
 
36 DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Since that time, though the sacred capital has been re- 
 built, the Hebrews have ceased to exist as a separate 
 nation, but are scattered among the people of every coun- 
 try. Hated, hunted and persecuted they have fled from 
 place to place, still retaining their characteristic traits. 
 Wherever they are they cherisli an undying affection for 
 the laud of Judea, the laud of their fathers, and hope yet 
 i:o recover it from the grasp of their enemies. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 '•There is but one God aud Mohammed is his prophet." 
 
 tA? RABIA, — This is a country of Western Asia, lying' 
 "^ south and east of Palestine. Ptolemy was the 
 first^ writer who divided it into three parts; namely,. 
 Arabia Deserta, Arabia Petrsea, and Arabia Felix, which 
 division is still recognized, as in general each name is 
 descriptive of the natural features and character of the 
 district to which it is applied. 
 
 ''The desert " and ''the rocky " are the parts on the 
 east and south, immediately adjacent to the Holy Land,., 
 and are inhabited by wild tribes of Bedaweens, who claim 
 to be descended some from Joktan, the son of Eber, and 
 others from Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. 
 They lead a wandering life, dwelling mostly in tents and 
 feeding their flocks and herds wherever they can lind 
 pasturage. Stony Arabia, though smaller than the other 
 divisions, is rich in historical associations. It was famil- 
 iar ground to the patriarch Job ; to Moses, who here fed 
 his father-in-law's sheep, saw the burning bush, and led 
 the children of Israel in their forty years' wanderings ;. 
 and to the prophet Elijah, who here with fear and awe 
 listened to the " still small voice." 
 
 Arabia Felix, or '^the happy," lying at the southeastern^ 
 extremity of the peninsula, was the chief seat of wealth 
 and population. The Queen of Sheba, who visited Sol-^ 
 
58 MOHAMMED. 
 
 omon, probably came from this region. Here are the 
 famous cities of Mecca and Medina. And this is the 
 place of the Mohammedan religion. 
 
 Mohammed, the founder, was born at Mecca, 571 
 A. D. The Koreish, the noble and distinguished tribe 
 to which he belonged, kept the temple Kaaba in whose 
 wall was fixed a small oval, black stone, said by tradition 
 to have been given to Abraham as a petrified angel, once 
 pure white, but soon blackened by the kisses of wor- 
 shiping sinners. The atmosphere which Mohammed 
 breathed in his youth was strongly charged with a 
 spirit of wild poetry, fable, and superstition. Left an 
 orphan at six, he passed into the hands of a merchant- 
 uncle, and became, in time, camel-driver and salesman, 
 often taking long journeys with the caravans and listen- 
 ing with rapt attention and delight to the strange legends 
 -and traditions of the desert. 
 
 The lad gave early promise of future eminence, though 
 he was shamefully deficient in the elements of education, 
 it being doubtful whether he could read or write ; and 
 seldom was he able to quote a verse of poetry correctly. 
 Indeed, he styles himself '' the illiterate prophet." It is 
 certain, however, that as he grew up he won the respect 
 and confidence of his countrymen by his aversion to any 
 thing dishonorable, and by his noble conduct according 
 to the Arabian standard. 
 
 At the age of twenty-five, he becomes the mercantile 
 agent of a wealthy widow by the name of Kadijah, and 
 
MOHAMMED. 39 
 
 in the management of her affairs, achieves such success 
 as to win her heart and hand. Her forty years do not 
 hinder her from looking with favor'upon the young and 
 handsome steward. They marry, and live in peace and 
 comfort, till in his fortieth year Mohammed proclaims 
 himself a prophet. For some time previously, he has 
 been in the habit of retiring to a cave for secret study 
 and meditation. Possessed of ample means now for the 
 support of himself and family, he can enjoy leisure when 
 he pleases. He is fond of solitude, and loves to wander 
 alone through the wild gorges around Mecca. And one 
 day, after a solitary walk, he returns home with the 
 strange story upon his lips that the angel Gabriel has 
 appeared to him and revealed wonderful truths, and 
 commissioned him to preach a new religion, declaring, 
 " There is but one God and Mohammed is his prophet." 
 His wife and nephew at once embrace the new faith, 
 and shortly afterwards Abu-Bekr becomes a convert. 
 But the progress is too slow to satisfy the enthusiastic 
 apostle. Relatives and former friends hear his claims 
 with coldness and incredulity ; and when he speaks of 
 overthrowing idolatry and restoring the ancient religion 
 of Abraham, they put him to silence with an angry out- 
 burst of indignation. For years afterward, Mohammed 
 is the object of bitter hatred and persecution. His ene- 
 mies demand that he show proof of his divine mission 
 by working miracles. And to satisfy this demand, he 
 publishes his famous night journey to heaven, where the 
 angel Gabriel introduces him to patriarchs, prophets, and 
 
40 MOHAMMED. 
 
 to God himself, which announcement only results in^ 
 more violence and ridicule on the part of his foes and 
 the desertion of some of his disciples. 
 
 At length, in the year 619, Kadijah dies, and he 
 mourns her loss, though not so deeply as to prevent him 
 from marrying several other wives ; for he found it con- 
 venient to allow and practise polygam3^ When a later 
 wife tried to convince him, on the score of youth, that 
 she was better than Kadijah, his first love, Mohammed 
 replied : 
 
 " There never can be a better ! She believed in me 
 when men despised me. She relieved my wants when I 
 was poor and persecuted by the world." 
 
 On the discovery of a plot laid to murder him, each 
 conspirator having sworn to plunge a sword in his body, 
 the prophet takes refuge in flight at midnight from 
 Mecca to Medina. The date of this flight, or Hegira, 
 as it is called, is 622 A. D., and is the beginning of the 
 Mohammedan era. 
 
 Not meeting with the desired success, Mohammed now 
 determines to propagate the new faith by fighting, not 
 by preaching. " The sword," he cries, " is the key of 
 heaven and hell." Among the spoils of an early victory 
 he finds a sword of the keenest edge and finest temper, 
 which he carries in all his future battles. About this 
 time he begins to seal his letters with a silver signet 
 inscribed 
 
 APOSTLE 
 
 OF GOO. 
 
THE KORAN. 41 
 
 In 629 he takes possession of Mecca witli his troops ; 
 and mounted on his camel, he rides around the Kaaba 
 seven times and orders the 360 idols on its roof to be 
 destroyed, saying, "The truth is come; let falsehood 
 disappear." He survives this, perhaps the grandest day 
 of his life, three years, when with heart broken by the 
 death of his only son and his frame racked with pain and. 
 poison, he falls a victim to a violent fever. 
 
 In person, Mohammed was of medium height, with a 
 fair and ruddy complexion, full beard, dark eyes, grace- 
 ful neck, and fascinating appearance. His diet was 
 most simple, living mostly on dates and water, and 
 caring little for cooked food. His manner was lively^ 
 and his conversation often humorous. Though the apos- 
 tie of error, he certainly possessed more than ordinary 
 talent. 
 
 The Koran, which contains the creed of Mohammed, 
 consists of pretended revelations from the angel Gabriel,, 
 uttered by the prophet, and first written down on palm 
 leaves and mutton bones by his disciples. The following 
 are some of the leading points of doctrine : 
 
 1. Unity of God. 
 
 2. Existence of angels varying in rank ; among them 
 a fallen spirit banished from Paradise for refusing to 
 worship Adam : also a lower order of spirits subject to 
 death, called Genii and Peris. 
 
 3. Six great prophets were recognized, — Adam, Noah, 
 Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed. 
 
42 THE KORAN. 
 
 4. A beautiful Paradise filled with sensual delights for 
 the good ; and a hell for the punishment of the wicked. 
 
 5. Fatalism. Man has no free-will. His action and 
 destiny .are fixed by an unalterable fate. 
 
 And furthermore, four religious duties are enjoined 
 upon all Moslems : 
 
 1. Ablution, followed by prayer five times a day with 
 the face turned towards Mecca. 
 
 2. The giving of tithes in charity. 
 
 3. Fasting from rise to set of sun every day during 
 the month of Ehamadan. Pork and wine are strictly 
 prohibited at all times. 
 
 4. A pilgrimage to Mecca. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Koran aided in producing 
 a reformation, and in abolishing idolatry and the horrid 
 practice of infanticide and demon-worship. But it au- 
 thorizes and encourages polygamy, and that is the foulest 
 blot on its system of morals. Tayler Lewis rightly re- 
 gards this feature and ^ " the too sensual aspect it gives 
 to the happiness of Paradise '^ as " positive deformities.'' 
 Its code of laws also curiously forbids the Moslem to 
 lend money on interest. 
 
 After the death of its founder, Islamism increased 
 greatly under his successors, the Caliphs. At the close 
 of the first century after Mohammad professed to have 
 received his divine commission as a prophet of God, the 
 religion he started had spread over Arabia, Syria, Asia 
 Minor, Persia, Northern India, Egypt, Northern Africa, 
 
 * Article on the Koran in Johnson's Cyclopaedia. 
 
MECCA. 43 
 
 Spain, and part of Gaul. At present the Moslems number 
 about 180,000,000. The causes of such rapid extension 
 among so many nations are not difficult to be discovered. 
 
 In the first place, as soon as the Arabs, or Saracens as 
 thej are also called, were converted, they held them- 
 selves in duty bound to force their creed upon all the 
 rest of the world. Accordingly they endeavored to 
 make a universal conquest. They called upon men 
 everywhere to choose between three things, Koran, tri- 
 bute, or sword; that is, either to adopt the Koranic relig- 
 ion, or to buy the right to continue Christians, or heathens 
 by paying tribute, or else to take up arms and fight 
 against them if they could. 
 
 In the next place the laws and doctrines of the Koran 
 were admirably adapted to the natural desires and dis- 
 positions of men and especially to the manners and cus- 
 toms of Oriental people. For the most part the Moslems 
 are grossly ignorant, basely immoral, and foolishly super- 
 stitious. Women are degraded. They seldom enter 
 the mosques; and when they do, they sit apart from the 
 men, and are regarded as mere soulless creatures, only fit 
 to be man's tools and slaves here and hereafter. 
 
 Mecca is the most noted city in the Mohammedan 
 world, as being the birth-place of the prophet. It has 
 neither manufactures nor trade. Its growth and pros- 
 perity are due to the vast numbers of pilgrims who 
 annually assemble here to pray in the mosque and kiss 
 the black stone of the Kaaba. 
 
44 THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. 
 
 The mosque at Medina containing the tomb and mau- 
 soleum of Mohammed is an equally sacred goal to pil- 
 grims. 
 
 The Mosque of Omar, named after the second Caliph 
 and built on the site of Solomon's temple at Jerusalem, 
 is likewise held in the highest estimation by all devout 
 Moslems. It is a magnificent building, covered with 
 marbles of different hues, and with porcelain tiles of 
 intricate designs, lighted by beautiful and brilliant, 
 stained-glass windows, and capped with lofty dome, 
 graceful spire, and gilded crescent. Within, the dome 
 is supported on pillars of polished porphyry, and the 
 walls and ceilings are gracefully inscribed with Arabic 
 quotations from the Koran. But the greatest attraction 
 is a great, gray rock of limestone directly beneath the 
 dome. Legend has invested this rock with peculiar sanc- 
 tity. The Moslem devotees are taught to believe the 
 absurdity that "it descended from heaven when the spirit 
 of prophecy was withdrawn from earth and attempted to 
 return to its native quarry when the prophet ascended to 
 glory, but was only restrained by the powerful arm of 
 Gabriel. Refusing to touch the earth again, it remains 
 suspended in the air seven feet above the top of Mount 
 Moriah ! " 
 
 Moreover they say there is a wondrous fountain beneath 
 this rock, from which all the water on the earth flows; and 
 that in one of the unexplored caverns are still treasured 
 the armor of Mohammed, the saddle of his favorite steed, 
 
THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. 45 
 
 tlie scales to be need on the awful judgment-day for 
 weighing the souls of men, David's pomegranates, Solo- 
 mon's birds, and a silver urn, dislodged from its pedestal 
 by the angel's wing on that memorable night of the 
 prophet's ascension to heaven. 
 
 To convince the incredulous beyond the shadow of a 
 doubt that these marvelous tales are true the sheik who 
 now keeps the mosque is ready to show the indentation 
 left in the rock by Mohammed's foot, when he sj^rang 
 from this spot and ascended to heaven, and also the 
 print of the angel's hand when he hurled the rock back 
 to its resting place and kept it from rising with the foot 
 of the ascending prophet ! Alas ! to the Christian how 
 much of Mohammedanism is a pitiful delusion ? And 
 in the critical judgment of modern science how much of 
 it is only miserable stuff ! 
 
 ** What fools these mortals be !" 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 •* Each minute of a man's safety he does walk 
 A bridge, no thicker than his frozen breath, 
 O'er a precipitous and craggy danger 
 Yawning to death." 
 
 tjJtfSSTRIA. The ancient and powerful kingdom of 
 •^^ Assyria occupied the upper part of the Mesopo- 
 tamian valley, with its successive capitals situated on the 
 river Tigris. Its name is probably derived from Asshur, 
 one of the sons of Shem. The surface of the country is 
 mostly a plain, broken here and there by rivers and 
 streams, and by ranges of limestone hills. The fertility 
 of the valleys was probably increased by artificial irriga- 
 tion from the rivers, as from all accounts the region was 
 exceedingly productive, while Herodotus states that the 
 rainfall was light. The early history of this country is 
 lost in obscurity. 
 
 From the record in the book of Genesis, Nineveh 
 seems to have been built by Nimrod, the mighty hunter. 
 This was the most famous of Assyrian cities, though, 
 according to cuneiform inscriptions, the first capital was 
 Asshur, on tlie Tigris, 60 miles south of Nineveh. The 
 latter, however, was founded soon after the deluge and 
 became, in process of time, the capital of the Kingdom, 
 and flourished for many centuries as the mistress of the 
 East. In Jonah's day its population probably numbered no 
 less than 600,000 souls. It was situated on the river Tigris, 
 
ninp:veh. 47 
 
 about 500 miles nortli-east of Palestine, surrounded by- 
 walls 100 feet high and broad enough on top for three 
 chariots to drive upon them abreast. There were 1500 
 towers, each 200 feet high, and numerous strongholds 
 with gates and bars. The circuit of the city was about 
 60 miles, and within were splendid palaces adorned with 
 sculptures most wonderful to see. There were parks and 
 pastures alive with animals wild and domestic. There 
 were gardens and groves and orchards filled with fruit 
 and the choice and staple productions of nature. Her 
 people were wealthy and warlike and idolatrous. The 
 Hebrew prophets denounced their pride, treachery, and 
 violence. In the figurative language of the Orient, 
 her merchants are declared to be like the stars in 
 number, her crowned'princes as locusts, and her captains 
 as grasshoppers. 
 
 To this great and wicked city the prophet Jonah 
 is despatched by the Lord, burdened with a warning 
 of speedy destruction. Timely repentance on the part 
 of all the inhabitants stayed for a season the exe- 
 cution of the sentence. But the city was doomed to 
 fall ; and at length, about 750 B. C, it was taken by the 
 Medes, and, later, by Cyaxares, after which it never 
 recovered its former splendor. Its ruin was accomplished 
 by the help of the river. After a siege of two years, a 
 great inundation of the Tigris occurred, and washed 
 away a part of the wall, and the enemy marched in 
 through the breach. Sardanapalus II., who was at that 
 time king of -NTineveh, made an effort to repel the invad- 
 
48 SEMIRAMIS. 
 
 ers, but was defeated. He then retired to his palace, and, 
 havin^^ erected a hirge funeral pyre and placed upon it 
 liis richest treasures and his favorite wives, and at last 
 taving mounted it himself, he set lire to it, and perished 
 in the flames. This incident furnished the basis for 
 Byron's drama, Sardanapalns, The whole story is 
 doubted by modern historians. 
 
 The Assyrian Empire was now destroyed, and Nine- 
 veh became a cluster of unimportant villages which 
 dwindled and finally sank into hopeless ruin. So com- 
 plete was its destruction that its site for ages has been 
 almost lost, and its very existence a matter of doubt 
 among infidels. But for the last forty years Botta, Lay- 
 ard, and other enthusiastic antiquarians, have been open- 
 ing the grave of its ruins and resurrecting the imperisha- 
 ble and indubitable proofs of its former grandeur and 
 power. Their excavations have disclosed temples and 
 palaces and the sculptured memorials of their wars and 
 worship. Winged bulls and lions with human heads and 
 idols in human form, but with the head and wings of an 
 eagle, carved in stone, have been found and brought to 
 light, together with a great man 3^ articles of wood, ivory, 
 glass, and metals, all of which show that the Assj^^ans 
 twenty-four centuries ago had attained a high degree of 
 perfection in carving, modelling, metallurgy, and kin- 
 dred arts. 
 
 The following is the substance of a legend concerning 
 Semiramis, the celebrated queen of Assyria. Having 
 secured the cooperation of the chief officers of the state 
 
8EMIRAMIS. 49 
 
 by fair promises and bribes, she solicited her husband. 
 King Ninus, to put the sovereign power in her hands for 
 iive days. He granted lier request, and commanded all 
 the provinces of the empire to obey Semiramis. Alas for 
 King Ninus ! On attaining the sovereignty, his faithless 
 spouse ordered him to be put to death, and then, as if to 
 atone for such a shocking deed, she at once engaged in 
 various enterprises for the benefit of her dominion. She 
 employed two millions of men to build the great city of 
 Babylon, while she visited every part of her realm to see 
 what improvements she could make for promoting the 
 welfare and happiness of her people. In order to facili- 
 tate travel, she levelled mountains and filled up valleys 
 to construct easy and passable roads. And many a bar- 
 ren desert she converted into a fruitful plain by furnish- 
 ing water through canals and aqueducts completed at 
 enormous expense. For bold engineering projects she 
 displayed a decided genius, and in military matters she 
 was no less distinguished. The neighboring nations felt 
 the invincible power of her arms, and discreetly surren- 
 dered to her rule. But there is an end to all earthly 
 careers and greatness. At length discovering a plot to 
 usurp the throne formed by her son, Ninyas, and remem- 
 bering a response from the oracle of Ammon, she abdi- 
 cated in favor of her unworthy son, and immediately 
 vanished from the sight of men. The common opinion 
 was that she was changed into a dove, and that several 
 birds of this kind having alighted upon the palace, she 
 joined them and flew away. Hence the dove was ever 
 -afterwards held sacred by the Assyrians. 
 
CHAPTEK YII. 
 
 •* Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness!"— Shakespeare. 
 
 [MABYLONIA. — This was a part of that great Meso- 
 Cr^ potamian plain which lay between the river Tigris^ 
 and the Arabian desert, and south of Assj^ria, with the 
 river Euphrates running through the midst of it. In 
 ancient times this valley was noted for the fertility of its 
 soil. " Of all countries that we know," says Herodotus, 
 " there is none that is so fruitful in grain, of which it 
 yields commonly two-hundred fold." The fertility was- 
 increased by the annuaL inundations of the rivers, when 
 the super-abundant water was drawn oflf and distributed 
 by canals over the whole territory, in order that those 
 tracts remote from the rivers might receive the requisite 
 irrigation. 
 
 The Babylonians were distinguished for their intellect- 
 ual ability, commercial enterprise, martial spirit and high 
 civilization. They excelled other ancient nations in 
 astronomy, and were especially fond of astrology. The 
 people were chiefly engaged in agriculture, commerce, 
 and the manufacture of textile fabrics and carpets. They 
 were justly noted also for their high attainments in 
 architecture. They built grand temples and palaces with 
 kiln-dried bricks, which were often covered with an in- 
 scription in cuneiform letters. Herodotus gives the fol- 
 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 51 
 
 lowing description of the clothing and appearance of the 
 Babylonians of his day : " Their dress is a linen tunic, 
 reaching to the feet and above it another tunic made of 
 wool, besides which they have a short white cloak thrown 
 around them, and shoes of a peculiar fashion, not unlike 
 those w^orn by the Boeotians. They have long hair, 
 wear turbans on their heads, and anoint their whole 
 body with perfumes." The government was monarch- 
 ical. The sovereign possessed the power of life and 
 death over his subjects. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar (604 B. C.) was the most noted 
 king of Babylon. According to G. Kawlinson : " It is 
 scarcely necessary to say that but for Nebuchadnezzar 
 the Babylonians would have had no place in history. 
 At any rate their actual place is owing almost entirely to 
 this prince, who to the military talents of an able gen- 
 eral added a grandeur of artistic conception, and a skill 
 in construction, which place him on a par with the great- 
 est builders of antiquity." Besides making other con- 
 quests, he took Jerusalem with his army, destroyed Solo- 
 mon's temple and carried the Jews into captivity. One 
 of the captives, the Hebrew prophet Daniel, is elevated 
 by this ruler to the second place of honor in the kingdom, 
 as a reward for recovering and interpreting a forgotten 
 dream. In the interpretation the prophet attests the 
 greatness of the king in the following language ; " Thou 
 O king, art a king of kings ; for the God of heaven hath 
 given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 
 
52 BABYLON. 
 
 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts 
 of the field, and the fowls of the heaven hath he given 
 into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. 
 Thou art this head of gold." Nebuchadnezzar was the 
 first of the monarchs of the world to possess universal 
 sovereignty. Enthroned on the very summit of power 
 and glory, he boasted of the mighty city which he had 
 built for the honor of his majesty, and scarcely had the 
 proud words fallen from his lips when he was called 
 upon to suffer the awful though temporary affliction of 
 losing his reason. 
 
 Babylon, his capital, was regarded as one of the 
 ancient wonders of the world. It was surrounded by 
 stupendous walls, built of large bricks cemented with 
 bitumen. Ilie height of these walls according to Herodo- 
 tus, was 350 feet ; and the thickness 87 feet. The form 
 of the city was a square, each side of which was fifteen 
 miles long. There were one-hundred gates of solid brass 
 at the extremities of the broad and handsome streets. 
 The houses were three and four stories high, beautifully 
 adorned and possessing ample courts and gardenfe. The 
 most remarkable buildings were the great temple of Belus, 
 and the two royal palaces, one on either side of the 
 Euphrates. On the grounds of one of these palaces 
 was the famous hanging garden. This singular 
 structure was four hundred feet square, and was 
 composed of terraces, rising one above another to a 
 Jieight equal to that of the city walls. It was supported 
 
THE TOWER OF BELUS. 53 
 
 on tiers of open arches. The top was covered with a 
 large mass of earth on which were beds of flowers, thrifty 
 shrubs, and even trees of considerable size. There was 
 also an aqueduct supplied by machinery with water from 
 the river for the use of the garden. It is affirmed that 
 Nebuchadnezzar constructed this wonderful garden to 
 'please his wife who, being a native of Media, ever re- 
 tained a strong attachment for mountains and forests, 
 which abounded in the home of her childhood. 
 
 The tower of Belus was a square pyramid measuring 
 half a mile in perimeter at the base, and, according 
 to Strabo, reaching the incredible hei2:ht of 600 feet. 
 There were eight stories gradually decreasing to the sum- 
 mit, which was approached by a broad road winding up 
 around the outside. The tower was mainly devoted to 
 the worship of Bel, though the upper story was doubtless 
 an observatory for studying astronomy. Immense treas- 
 ures were stored in this temple. There were several 
 statues of massive gold, one of colossal size said to be 
 forty feet high. Here were kept the sacred golden vessels 
 stolen from Solomon's temple. 
 
 ^'When we turn," says G. Eawlinson, "from this picture 
 of the past, to contemplate the present condition of the 
 localities, we are at first struck with astonishment at the 
 small traces which remain of so vast and wonderful a 
 metropolis. The broad walls of Babylon are utterly 
 broken drown." The prophecy of scripture is verified. 
 " Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Ohal- 
 
54: THE TOWER OF BELUS. 
 
 dees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom 
 and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither 
 shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation." 
 " But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their 
 houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall 
 dwell there and satyrs shall dance there." 
 
CHAPTEK YIII. 
 
 *• What is good and what is brilliant, 
 That we reverence in thee— 
 Thy good spirit, thy good kingdom, 
 Wisdom, laiw. and equity."— Hymn to Ormuzd. 
 
 PERSIA. This is an elevated table-land in the west- 
 ern part of Asia lying, between the Caspian sea and 
 the Persian Gulf. The surface is diversified by cluster- 
 ing hills and mountain-ranges, with extensive salt plains 
 and sandy deserts. In many parts of the country the 
 soil is very rich and fertile ; especially is this true in the 
 valleys where an abundance of water can be had for 
 irrigating purposes. 
 
 The chief products are wheat, rice, maize and barley 
 among cereals ; while among fruits, the orchards yield 
 apples, pears, peaches, cherries, oranges, apricots and most 
 delicious pomegranates. Dates also form a common arti- 
 cle of food. Melons and garden-vegetables abound. 
 Many of these Persian fruits are said to be " unequalled 
 in nourishing power, in savoriness, in richness of flavor, 
 and in beauty of appearance, by any of the same kind 
 produced elsewhere on the earth." Cotton, tobacco and 
 sugar are also cultivated. 
 
 Among wild animals, in various, parts of Persia, may 
 be found the lion, the tiger, the antelope, the wild-ass 
 and wild-hog, the hyaena, and deer of various kinds. 
 Domestic animals and birds are numerous, while fish are 
 said to be scarce, except on the shore of the Caspian Sea. 
 
66 ZOROASTER. 
 
 The Persians are a bright and handsome race. Thej 
 are polite, courteous, refined, intelligent, gay, witty, and, 
 at the same time, false and cunning. They manufacture 
 fire-arms and fine jewelry, elegant silks and woollens, and 
 the richest carpets and shawls. And their commerce 
 with other nations is quite extensive. 
 
 The Grovernment is despotic. The Shah or chief 
 ruler wields an absolute power over his people. He is 
 at perfect liberty to do whatever he pleases with the lives 
 and property of his subjects, without fear of restraint 
 from law, public opinion, church, or aristocracy. And 
 all the subordinate officers enjoy like freedom with 
 regard to persons below them. Such a social state, con-- 
 tinning for many centuries, has without doubt exercised 
 a baneful influence upon the national character, hindered 
 the progress of civilization, and prevented the introduction 
 and use of many modern improvements and inventions. 
 
 At the present day the prevailing religion is Moham- 
 medanism. The first religion of this people was essen- 
 tially a monotheism, in which the supreme Deity was 
 symbolized by the sun and by fire. But in course of 
 time the Magi, or fire-priests allowed the ceremonies to 
 be changed and corrupted. 
 
 Then Zoroaster arose as a reformer. He taught the 
 existence of a supreme God who created two other 
 mighty beings, and imparted to them something of his 
 
ZOROASTER. - 57 
 
 own nature. Of these, Orimizd remained faitlifiil to his 
 creator, and was regarded as a spirit of liglit and the 
 source of all good, while Ahriman rebelled and became 
 a spirit of darkness and the author of all evil upon the 
 earth. Ormuzd created man to be happy, but Ahriman 
 interfered, and plagued man's life by creating savage 
 beasts and poisonous plants and reptiles. In consequence 
 of this, good and evil are now everywhere mingled 
 together in the world, and are continually contending for 
 the mastery in a strife that will last to the end of time. 
 Then the spirit of light shall become everywhere victo- 
 rious, and the evil spirit with all his followers be con- 
 signed to eternal darkness. The religion of Zoroaster 
 began to prevail about the time of Cyrus, 550 B. C, and 
 continued to flourish till the seventh century of the 
 Christian era, when the Saracen conquest of Persia com- 
 pelled many of her inhabitants to renounce their ancient 
 faith. Some refused to abandon the faith of their 
 fathers, and lied to the deserts of Kerraan, to India and 
 Hindustan, where their children still exist under the 
 name of Parsees, fro:n Pars, the ancient title of Persia. 
 These refugees are distinguished for honesty and purity 
 of life. The Arabs call them Guebers, or unbelievers. 
 
 Allusions to the Persian worship may be found in the 
 poetry of "Wordsworth and in the Childe Harold of 
 Byron. -In Moore's Lalla Eookh, the finest tale, entitled 
 The Fire Worshippers, deals with the same subject. The 
 Gueber chief exclaims : 
 
 " Yes! I am of that Impious race, 
 Those slaves of Fire, that morn and even 
 
58 belshazzar's banquet. 
 
 Hail tUeir creator's dwelling-place 
 Among the living lights of heaven; 
 Yes ! I am of that outcast crew 
 To Iran and to vengeance true, 
 Who curse the hour your Arabs came 
 To desecrate our shrines of flame 
 And swear before God's burning eye, 
 To break our country's chains or die." 
 
 The history of Persia as a dominion of power and 
 importance begins with the reign of Cyrus. Before his 
 time the Persians were subject to the Modes. Astyages, 
 the last Median king, alarmed by a vision of losing his 
 crown, ordered his infant grandson to be put to death in 
 the obscurity of a remote forest. But Cyrus escaped 
 such a fate, owing to the compassion of the shepherd 
 appointed to commit the murder. When he grew to 
 manhood, he led the Persians to throw off the Median 
 yoke, and by a brilliant succession of other victories he 
 became the founder of an empire that embraced nearly 
 all the civilized nations of Asia. One of his greatest 
 achievements was capturing the city of Babylon. The 
 Babylonians, deeming themselves perfectly safe and 
 secure within the impregnable walls of their city, were 
 celebrating a festival, and King Belshazzar was con- 
 temptuously defiling the sacred vessels of the captive 
 Jews, when the Persians entered the town through the 
 channel of the river, the waters of which they had 
 drained off, slew the king, and subdued the country. 
 The following poem describes Belshazzar s banquet: 
 
 BELSHAZZAR'S BANQUET. 
 
 Belshazzar is King! Belshazzar is lord! 
 And a thousand dai k nobles ail bend at his board,— 
 Fruits glisten, flowers blossom, meats steam, and a flood 
 Of the wine that man loveth runs redder than blood ; 
 Wild dancers are there, and a riot of mirth, 
 And the beauty that maddens the passions of earth; 
 
 And the crowds all shout, 
 
 Till the vast roofs ring,— 
 •' All praise to Belsliazzar, Belshazzar the King!" 
 
CAMBYSES. 59 
 
 " Bring forth," cries the monarch, •• the vessels of gold, 
 Which my father tore down from the temples of old: 
 Bring forth; and we'll drink, while the trnmpets are blown 
 To the gods of bright silver, of gold, and of stone. 
 Bring forth!*'— and before him the vessels all shine, 
 And lie bows nnto Baal, and he drinks the dark wine; 
 
 While the trumpets bray, 
 
 And the cymbals ring,— 
 •* Praise, praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the King!" 
 
 Now what cometh? look, look!— without menace, or call. 
 
 Who writes with the lightning's bright hand on the wall? 
 
 What pierceth the king, like the point of a dart? 
 
 What drives the bold blood from his cheek to his heart? 
 
 •' Chaldeans! magicians! the letters expound!" 
 
 They are read ;— and Belshazzar is dead on the ground. 
 
 Hark!— the Persian is come 
 
 On a conqueror's wing; 
 And a Mede on the throne of Belshazzar is King ! 
 
 —Proctor (Barry Coimwall). 
 
 Soon after the capture of Babylon, Cyrus fell in a bat- 
 tle against the Massagetse. The queen of that people, 
 smarting under the loss of a son who was slain in the 
 battle, and thirsting for revenge, cast the head of Cyrus 
 into a vessel filled with human blood, saying, " I live and 
 have conquered thee in fight; and yet by thee am I 
 ruined, for thou tookest my son with guile; but thus I 
 make good my threat, and give thee thy fill of blood." 
 
 Cyrus was succeeded by Cambyses, one of the kings 
 called Ahasuerus in the Bible, a man whose character 
 was sensual and cruel. Still he extended his empire by 
 reducing Egypt to the state of a dependent province, and 
 by conquering a great part of northern Africa. After a 
 violent reign of seven years, Cambyses died, some say by 
 suicide, others by an accidental wound from his own 
 sword, inflicted while mounting his horse. 
 
 Some time after this, seven Persian nobles conspired 
 to raise one of their number to the throne. They agreed 
 to meet at sunrise without the city on horseback, and to 
 
60 XERXES. 
 
 choose that one king whose horse should be the first to 
 neigh. Darius Hystaspes (521 B. C.,) secured the 
 crown by a trick of his groom. The rhan brought his 
 master's horse the evening before with a mare to the 
 appointed place; and the next morning when the horse 
 returned he remembered the mare and neighed; where- 
 upon Darius was immediately saluted king. His reign 
 of thirty-six years was distinguished by several important 
 wars. From an expedition against the Scythian tribes 
 dwelling beyond the Danube, he was forced to retreat 
 with loss. He then overran Thrace and Macedonia, and 
 next invaded the territory bordering on the Indus, which 
 he subdued, and formed into a twentieth satrapy, under 
 the name of India. Not content with this success, he 
 resolved to conquer Greece. Being foiled in his first 
 attempt by the Athenians, it is said that Darius called 
 for a bow and shot an arrow into the air with this 
 prayer : '^ Grant, O Jupiter, that I may be able to revenge 
 myself upon the Athenians." And in order that he 
 might never forget his purpose, he bade a servant thrice 
 every time dinner was set before him to exclaim, " Mas- 
 ter ! remember the Athenians." He had reason to remem- 
 ber the Athenians, for his vast army, numbering more 
 than 100,000 men, was subsequently defeated with great 
 slaughter on the plains of Marathon, not far from Athens. 
 
 Shortly after this signal disaster the reign of Darius 
 ended; and he was succeeded by his son Xerxes, 486 
 B. C. Most probably Xerxes is the same as the Ahas- 
 
XERXES. 61 
 
 uerusjwlio was the husband of the faithful Jewess, Esther, 
 whose heroic conduct is recorded in the Scriptures This 
 monarch renewed the attempt to subjugate the Greeks, 
 and for this purpose he gathered a vast army and fleet ; 
 but his forces were sorely defeated, on land and sea, and 
 he, himself, barely escaped from the scene of action in 
 a miserable fishing-boat. After reigning twenty-one years 
 he was assassinated. The subsequent military history 
 of Persia is of little importance and may be continued 
 with that of Greece. 
 
 The Persians soon lost their hardy courage and simple 
 manners. The luxury and magnificence of the court, with 
 its crowds of priests and officials, with its retinue of ser- 
 vants and guards, consumed the revenues of the country, 
 and" destroyed the prosperity of the provinces. The 
 most distant regions were taxed to furnish the royal table 
 with the choicest delicacies and wines. A harem of vain 
 and intrio-uino; women who were accustomed to lavish 
 enormous sums upon their wardrobes and ornaments, 
 largely increased the annual budget of expenses. The 
 court followed the seasons, passing the winter in the 
 mild and genial climate of Babylon, spending the spring 
 at Susa, and avoiding the heat of summer by a residence 
 farther north, in the cool town of Ecbatana. The satraps, 
 or governors of the several provinces imitated the royal 
 extravagance and greatly oppressed their defenceless 
 subjects by their unreasonable extortions to supply the 
 means to gratify their vicious appetites. Gradually the 
 nation degenerated, and sank into that state of utter cor- 
 
62 CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 niption and imbecility which has been so graphically- 
 depicted, not from a disordered imaojination, but from 
 the very life, by the author of Xenophon's historical 
 romance. 
 
 And yet, as already intimated, the modern Persians 
 have been awakened from their lethargic slumber and 
 stimulated to new activity by their increased intercourse 
 with European nations. 
 
 The cuneiform inscriptions, made with wedge-shap- 
 ed characters, are the chief remains of the ancient Persian 
 language. At Behistun, an ancient and ruined town, 
 there is a remarkable limestone mountain, rising to the 
 height of 1700 feet and almost perpendicular on one side. 
 Here the famous queen, Semiramis, is said to have 
 encamped on one of her travels, and having cut away the 
 lower part of the rock, caused her portrait to be carved 
 there. Thirteen human figures, sculptured on the rock, 
 have been discovered here ; one representing King Da- 
 rius I.; and beside these figures, many long columns of 
 Cuneiform inscriptions, which Sir H. Rawlinson has 
 taken pains to decipher. 
 
 " The labor," says Rawlinson, " bestowed on the whole 
 work must have been enormous. But the real wonder 
 of the work consists in the inscriptions. For extent, for 
 beauty of execution, for uniformity and correctness, they 
 are perhaps unequalled in the world. It is evident that 
 after the engraving of the rock had been accomplished, 
 a coating of silicious varnish had been laid on to give a 
 
CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS. 63 
 
 clearness of outline to each individual letter, and to pro- 
 tect the surface against the action of the elements." In 
 addition to these ancient records, a few proper names and 
 terms for vessels and garments have survived in the 
 Bible, chiefly in the book of Daniel. 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Cleopatra.— Most kind messenger. 
 Say to jz;reat Caesar this, In disputation 
 I kiss liis conquering hand: tell him I am prompt 
 To lay my crown at his feet, and there to kneel. 
 Tell liim from his all-obeying breath I hear 
 The doom of Egypt.— Six akp:speare. 
 
 ^jf OYPT. Eo^ypt is a long and narrow strip of country, 
 ^^ in tlie north-eastern part of Africa, lying on either 
 side of the Nile and bounded by the Mediterranean and 
 Red Seas, and by Nubia and the Great Desert. Ha\dng 
 these fixed natural boundaries, it has had nearly the same 
 area throughout its entire history. The length of the 
 valley, from the cataract of Ass wan to the mouth of the 
 river, is over 500 miles, w^hile the average breadth is 
 •7 miles. Egypt, proper, contains about the same num- 
 ber of square miles as the state of California. The 
 river Nile is the most important physical feature of 
 Egypt and the source of its fertility. Unlike other riv- 
 ers, this one receives no tributary stream for the last 1300 
 miles of its course. And another remarkable thing about 
 it is its periodical overflow, whereby the adjacent tract 
 of land is inundated and fertilized. At Thebes the 
 water rises 36 feet, and at Cairo about 25 feet. Herod- 
 otus states that in ancient times the Nile had seven 
 
 m 
 
 mouths, but at present there are only two, the Rosetta 
 and the Damietta mouths. And enclosed between these 
 two channels and the Mediterranean is a triangular ter- 
 
PRODUCTIONS. 65 
 
 ritory, known as tlie Delta, from its resemblance to the 
 Greek letter of that name. 
 
 The climate of Egypt during tlie greater part of the 
 year is dry and equable. In the Delta, the mean tempera- 
 ture of summer is about 82° Fahrenheit and that of 
 winter 54°. For nearly two months in spring a hot 
 scorching wind called Chamsin, or Simoon, rises in the 
 desert and blows over Egypt. It is much dreaded by the 
 inhabitants, as it often proves fatal to animal life, partly 
 on account of the fine sand and suffocating dust with 
 wliich it is laden, and partly on account of its heat, which 
 sometimes reaches 126°. The north wind however,, pre- 
 vails for eight months of the year, and coming fresh from 
 the sea brings health on its wings, and help to those who 
 wish to ascend the river. 
 
 Productions. — Egypt is a land of most remarkable 
 fertility. No part of the earth can boast of a richer soil. 
 Indeed, the surface is renewed and enriched ever}^ year 
 by the deposits from the overflow of the river. Not 
 only wheat and barley and similar grains are produced, 
 but also those which require a hotter climate. Cotton, 
 sugar, and tobacco grow in abundance ; and figs and 
 oranges, and other tropical fruits flourish here. And the 
 growth is so rapid that the same piece of land w^ill pro- 
 duce two crops a year. The productiveness seems to be 
 inexhaustible, owing to the depth and quality of the soil. 
 In the Delta the soil is said to be fifteen feet deep. 
 The quarries of Egypt furnish an abundance of good 
 
66 HISTORICAL PERIODS. 
 
 building stone. In the southern part at Asswan, red 
 granite or syenite is found, and this is the principal 
 material used in forming the towering obelisks, and other 
 colossal monolithic monuments of ancient Egypt. The 
 great temples at Thebes and elsewhere, were built chiefly 
 of sandstone, while the pyramids are constructed of lime- 
 stone found in their vicinity. And there are two quite 
 noted tracts covered with the trunks of petrified trees^ 
 one in the desert of the natron lakes, near the western 
 border of the Delta, and the otlier between the Nile and 
 Suez. Porphyry, alabaster and emeralds are also found 
 among the stones of Egypt. 
 
 A great variety of wild animals is found here. The 
 most common are the wolf, hyena, jackal, jerboa, ante- 
 lope, and the crocodile. The latter is now seldom seen 
 below the first cataract of the Nile. And the hippopot- 
 amus which was formerly found here has entirely disap- 
 peared. Besides the ordinary domestic animals the 
 Egyptians own and use great numbers of camels in their 
 trade across the deserts. 
 
 Among the birds of Egypt may be mentioned the vul- 
 ture, and the eagle, the quail, the ostrich, and the Ibis. 
 
 The most important trees are the palm, the sycamore, 
 the cypress, and the tamarisk. Among the native plants 
 are the acacia from which gum arabic is obtained, and 
 the famous lotns and papyrus. 
 
 The history of Egypt is divided into three pi'incipal 
 periods, namely : 
 
 1. Ancient, 
 
 2. Macedonian and Roman, 
 
 3. Mohammedan and Modern. 
 
ANCIENT EGYPT. 67 
 
 Ancient Egypt. — According to etlinologists, the early 
 inhabitants of Egypt were the descendants of Ham, one 
 of Noah's sons. Menes is the name of the first king who 
 is mentioned as having ruled over this country. Poole 
 fixes his epoch at 2717 B. C, Other chronologists think 
 that his date was still earlier. He is said to have founded 
 the city of Memphis, but no contemporary monument& 
 of his reign are extant. 
 
 Sesostris, 1500 B. C, is the next monarch worthy of 
 mention. He subdued the Ethiopians and compelled 
 them to pay tribute, and he also conquered and ruled 
 over a considerable portion of Africa and Asia. 
 
 Moeris, another king, is renowned for having excavated 
 a lake, which afterwards bore his name. Herodotus con- 
 sidered this work superior even to the pyramids and 
 the labyrinth. It was made for the purpose of regulat- 
 ing the inundation of the Nile. To show that it was 
 entirely the work of human art, two pyramids were built 
 in its center, rising 300 feet above the surface of the 
 water when the lake was full, and extending an equal 
 distance below the surface, while there rested on the sum- 
 mit of each a colossus, in a sitting posture. The lake is 
 .said to have been well stocked with fish, the profits of 
 which were devoted to furnish the queen with clothes 
 and perfumery. 
 
 Moeris also constructed the famous labyrinth which 
 Bunson considered " the most gorgeous edifice on the 
 globe.'' It is said to have contained twelve palaces and 
 3000 saloons; 
 
68 THE GKEAT PYRAMID. 
 
 Cheops, 2170 B. C, is noted for having built the 
 great pyramid. This work deserves more than a pass- 
 ing notice, as it is universally regarded as one of the 
 grandest ^monuments in the world. Indeed the ancients 
 counted the pja-amids among the seven wonders of the 
 world. The largest of these " memorials of the world's 
 youth " is the pyramid of Cheops. It is 12 miles from 
 Cairo, and 7 from the banks of the Nile, very near the 
 southern point of the Delta. Apparently, an attempt 
 was made to erect it on the parallel of latitude 30'' N., 
 and to direct its faces exactly towards the cardinal points. 
 Its base covers about 13 acres, and its original height was 
 not far from 480 feet. It has been supposed that many 
 important truths are indicated by its form, dimensions 
 and situation, such as the number of days in the year, 
 the ratio of tlie diameter to the circumference of a circle, 
 the distance of the sun from the earth, and the date of 
 its construction before the birth of Christ. 
 
 And accordingly Piazzi Smyth and others have thought 
 and claimed that it was " built for higher purposes than 
 sepulture, which was undoubtedly the object of the 
 remaining pyramids." Some scholars even do not hesi- 
 tate to believe that its builder was divinely aided and 
 instructed in its erection, and Melchizedek has been named 
 as the heaven - appointed architect. Professor Piazzi 
 Smyth may be mistaken in his deductions ; in studying 
 the subject he may have allowed too much freedom to 
 his fancy and imagination: but certainly no one can deny 
 tliat the great pyramid is a most extraordinary model of 
 
THE GREAT PYRAMID. 69 
 
 constructive skill. It is not simply a mass of piled-up 
 stones. The joints between the casing-stones are almost 
 imperceptible. They match so closel}^ that a sheet of 
 paper cannot be inserted between them. The passages 
 leading to the interior chambers were made perfectly 
 smooth, and nothing was allowed to remain and arrest 
 the sarcophagus. The most exquisite finish was given to 
 everything. 
 
 But how were these great blocks of stones placed in 
 position at their various heights until the top stone was 
 put upon the summit and the gigantic work completed ? 
 
 In answer to this question Poole says, ''the most 
 reasonable conjecture that can be ofltered is that inclined 
 planes ran along the sides of the giant steps in which 
 the pyramid was built, and that the stones were dragged 
 up them by the workmen." 
 
 It is said that 100,000 men were employed for 40 years 
 in building it. They were probably slaves who received 
 no wages. The Israelites may have helped to build some 
 of the pyramids, though not this one; for, if the date of 
 this one be 2170 B. C, as above stated, it was erected 
 aboiit TOO years prior to their bondage. 
 
 An inscription on it in Egyptian characters states how 
 much had been expended in furnishing radishes, garlics^ 
 and onions to the workmen. The sum amounted to 
 $1,700,000 of our money. Doubtless all such state- 
 ments are to be taken with a grain of allowance. The 
 oriental habit of exaggeration, not to say of men- 
 dacity, is well known. The pyramids were principally 
 
70 THE SPHINX. 
 
 designed to serve as sepulchres for the dead, where the 
 bodies of the royal family might be preserved in security 
 during their appointed term, at the end of which they 
 would ^e resurrected and again inhabited by their spirits. 
 The ancient Egyptians believed in the doctrine of the 
 transmigration of souls. They imagined that the departed 
 spirit was doomed for a period of 3000 years to occupy 
 various animal forms and to lead a more or less wretched 
 existence according to his deserts, till he was permitted 
 to return and resume his human body and enter again 
 upon a new life on the earth. Thus arose the custom of 
 embalming the bodies of the dead, and of taking such 
 care to preserve them in air-tight cases or in the endless 
 wrappings of the mummy, and to deposit them out of 
 the reach of the river in these dry pyramids, and there 
 hermetically seal and hide them from the prying curiosity 
 of man and the hungry search of the wild beast. 
 
 The Sphinx is another attractive monument of this 
 strange country. The most noted one is near the great 
 pyramid. It is a monster, sixty feet high, with the body 
 of a lion and a human head, and may be considered, 
 therefore, as emblematic of the union of physical foi'ce 
 and intellectual power required to plan and build such 
 mighty monuments, which have resisted the wear and 
 the war of the elements for so many centuries, which 
 liave outlasted so many generations of men, and which 
 seem destined to survive and tower above the wrecks of 
 time itself. 
 
THE OBELISK. 71 
 
 The Obelisk is still another variety of monument 
 from this wonderful region. It is a towering monolithic 
 column, with square base and tapering shaft ending in a 
 pyramidal top. Its sides are covered with vertical lines 
 of hieroglyphics recording the titles and merits of the 
 person by whom it was dedicated, and of the deity to 
 whom it was sacred. Obelisks were usually erected in 
 pairs before a doorway. They were quarried in the south- 
 ern part of Egypt, and floated down the rivers on raft's 
 to their destination, where it is supposed they were set 
 up by means of inclined planes. Many of these curious 
 trophies of antiquity have been carried to distant lands. 
 
 The tallest, that of the Lateran at Eome, is 106 feet 
 high ; and the shortest, that of the Florence Museum, is 
 about 6 feet in height. The one in the Place de la 
 Goncordey Paris, is from Luxor. The one recently 
 erected in Central Park, New York, was brought from 
 Alexandria ; and its companion, which was removed to 
 London a few years ago, was known as Cleopatra's Nee- 
 dle. The pair were originally erected before the tem- 
 ple of the sun at Heliopolis, where they stood for 
 eighteen centuries before they were transported to Alex- 
 andria at the beginning of the Christian era. According 
 to Greek and Eoman w^riters the obelisk represents a 
 sunbeam. 
 
 Wilkinson draws the following reasonable inference 
 respecting their design: "The Egyptians naturally 
 looked on those monuents with feelings of veneration, 
 being connected with their religion and the glorious 
 
72 THEBES. 
 
 memory of their monarchs ; and at the same time per- 
 ceived that in buildings constructed as their temples 
 were, the monotony of numerous horizontal lines 
 required a relief of this kind." 
 
 Thebes. — The buildings next in importance to the 
 pyramids are the palace -temples of Thebes in the 
 southern part of Egypt. The remains of this once 
 magnificent city lie on both sides of the river Nile, and 
 extend two or three miles along the river and the same 
 distance across the valley. The most imposing of these 
 ruins are found at Karnak and Luxor, on the eastern 
 shore. The great palace-temple at Karnak was the 
 grandest structure of the kind in the world. The ave- 
 nues leading to it were lined with rows of Colossal 
 sphinxes, and at the entrances stood lofty obelisks and 
 stupendous gateways adorned with sculptures most won- 
 derful to behold. There were so many of these gate- 
 ways or triumphal arches that Homer calls Thebes ''the 
 hundred-gated city." The Hall of the Gods is 330 feet 
 long and 164 feet wide. On each side near the wall is 
 a row of 134 columns, each a monolith 43 feet high with 
 a diameter of 12 feet. In the center of the hall are two 
 other rows of monolithic columns 72 feet high, thus 
 dividing the hall into a nave with two side aisles. ^''AU 
 were roofed, the nave of course higher than the aisles. 
 The ceiling of all was of massive hewn flat stone ; it has 
 long since fallen to the ground. All the columns have 
 
 *W. H. Seward's Travels around the World. 
 
THEBES. 73 
 
 highly-wrought and magnificent capitals, no two of them 
 alike in design." Some were adorned with the figures 
 of birds and the branching foliage of the flowering lotus ; 
 while others were devoted to mythology and history. 
 Only a faint light admitted through small grated win- 
 dows was allowed to relieve the darkness of the interior^ 
 "The mysterious gloom, which must have originally per- 
 vaded the chamber has passed away, and it now seems 
 merely an endless and confused forest of columns which 
 has been swept and desolated by the tempest." But con- 
 sidering the age of these ruins — they are more than 
 33 centuries old — they are remarkably well preserved. 
 This no doubt is owing to the clear dry climate of the 
 Nile. On no part of the ruin can be found "ivy or 
 moss, mould or stain." One of the bass-reliefs sculp- 
 tured on the outer walls represents a victorious king 
 returning to Thebes with a train of prisoners in chains. 
 Another scene shows how he is welcomed by his min- 
 isters and courtiers on the banks of the Nile, while 
 crowds of crocodiles gaze with awe and wonder at the 
 strange sight. 
 
 On the west bank of the river are two majestic statues^ 
 and the remains of many more which once were seated 
 along the approach to the beautiful palace of a king. 
 They are known as the statues of Memnon, and they bear 
 the name and titles of Amenophis III, about 1400 B. C. 
 One of them gave out musical sounds at sunrise, which 
 were believed to be the morning salutations of Memnon 
 to his mother Eos or Aurora. Much speculation has 
 
74 PHAROS. 
 
 been caused by this harp-like music or tone which 
 sounded forth from the top of the statue. 
 
 Several explanations have been suggested. The 
 Egyptians from the remotest ages have been noted for 
 mechanical skill. In the time of Moses their priests 
 could imitate miracles and perform many magical and 
 wonderful tricks. Now it is likely that they ingeniously 
 contrived to put some u^olian harp or other musical 
 instrument into the head of Memnon and caused it to 
 play by clock-work or otherwise at the rising and setting 
 of the sun. One writer attributes the sound to the 
 expansion of the stone by the heat of the sun. 
 
 These ruins prove that the ancient Egyptian artists 
 and architects possessed a noble sense of proportions. 
 Their sculpture never, wearies the beholder by its 
 grandeur, while the admirer of the beautiful will often 
 be delighted by form, color, delicate carving and the 
 perfection of taste exhibited in the ornamentation. 
 
 Clarence Cook, who is a recognized authority in mat- 
 ters of architecture, says that ^'any notice of the Egyptian 
 buildings of this period that should fail to hint at their 
 beauty would leave an incomplete impression, but we 
 too often find this praise forgotten in the wonder excited 
 by their stupendous feats of building." 
 
 Pharos. — At the death of Alexander the Great, wlio 
 in his victorious career had conquered the world, Egypt 
 fell to Ptolemy Soter as his share of the conquest. He 
 built on the island of Pharos in the bay of Alexandria 
 
LIBRAKY AT ALEXANDRIA. 75 
 
 a tower wl.ich was reckoned by the ancients among the 
 seven wonders of the world. 
 
 It was constructed of white marble and rose to the 
 lofty height of 4U0 feet. Its several stories were 
 adorned with columns galleries and balustrades, all 
 exhibitmg the exquisite finish of the finest workman- 
 ship. On the top, there were fires which were 
 kept constantly burning in the night in order to warn 
 and direct the sailors how to avoid or encounter the dan- 
 gers and difficulties of the bay. This lighthouse is said 
 to have cost the king 800 talents or nearly a million dol- 
 lars. 
 
 The following inscription translated from the Greek 
 was cut into the marble of the tower : Sostratus the 
 Cmdtan, son of Bexiphanes, to the gods the preservers 
 for the benefit of mariners. Sostratus was the architect 
 and the story is told of him that wishing in after ages to en- 
 joy all the merit and glory of the work, he deeply cut the 
 above inscription and covered it over as he proceeded with 
 cement upon which he wrote another inscription ascrib 
 ing the honor of building the tower to King Ptolemy 
 who was rightly entitled to the credit of the work. The 
 cement, however, crumbled away and with it the mon- 
 arch's name disappeared and the other became visible. 
 
 No remains of this famous tower are known to exist 
 at the present day. Ptolemy also founded the cele- 
 brated library at Alexandria which is said at one time 
 to have contained 700,000 volumes embracing the whole 
 
76 SEPTUAGINT. 
 
 Greek and Latin literature, of which we possess only 
 fragments. His son and successor Ptolemy Philadelpus, 
 so called because he married his own sister, invited 
 learned men to reside at his capital and generously pat- 
 ronized literary works. 
 
 During his reign the Hebrew Scriptures were trans- 
 lated into Greek. This is the earliest Greek translation 
 and is known as the Septuagint version from the 
 seventy scholars engaged upon the work. Josephus 
 repeats an old fabulous account of its origin to the 
 effect that King Ptolemy, at the instance of his librarian, 
 sent to Jerusalem to procure from the high priest a copy 
 of the Jewish Law, and to make arrangements for a 
 Greek translation of the same to be added to his great 
 library. The high priest at once entered into the pro- 
 ject, chose seventy-two learned men, six from each tribe, 
 and sent them to Egypt with a splendid copy of the Law 
 written on parchment in letters of gold. As soon as 
 they arrived at Alexandria they retired to the Island of 
 Pharos, and having been shut up there in separate cells 
 they worked independently for seventy-two days and 
 then came forth and compared their several versions and 
 found a result wonderful to tell, namely all the trans- 
 lations agreed exactly verbatim et literatim. 
 
 The early Christian Fathers who delighted to recount 
 this marvelous tale with embellishments devised by their 
 vivid imaginations, do not hesitate to assert that the 
 translators were fitted for the task by being divinely 
 
R08ETTA STONE. 77 
 
 inspired. Whether or not this be true the legend surely 
 serves to show the high estimation in which the version 
 was held by scholars at the beginning of the Christian 
 era. 
 
 Rosetta Stone, — At Rosetta a town on the western 
 side of the Delta a French officer of engineers in 1799 
 found a stone with a trilingual inscription upon it. The 
 slab, which is now in the British Museum, is of black 
 basalt about a yard square and ten inches thick. This 
 famous discovery furnished the key for deciphering the 
 hieroglyphs on the monuments. " The same text is 
 repeated first in hieroglyphics, secondly in enchorial 
 characters, lastly in Greek ; but the stone is so mutilated 
 at the corners and one edge, that the first part of the 
 hieroglyphic text and the last part of the Greek are lost, 
 as well as the beginning of several lines of the encho- 
 rial." After years of study Dr. Young and M. Cham- 
 poUion succeeded in finding the key and deciphering the 
 hieroglyphs. 
 
 Bunsen regarded this as the greatest discovery of the 
 century; for by means of it a flood of 'light has been 
 thrown upon ancient Egyptian history. 
 
 Lepsius in 1866 discovered a larger and better pre- 
 served trilingual inscription at San, but of course it will 
 never be as famous as that of the Rosetta Stone, which 
 was the first to furnish the key. 
 
78 CLEOPATRA. 
 
 Phoenix. — Among the birds held sacred by the 
 Egyptians was one called the Phoenix. The fabulous 
 account of it as given in Latin poetry and history makes 
 it a very marvelous bird indeed. It springs from the 
 ashes of its father. Its food consists of neither fruit 
 nor flowers but of frankincense and odoriferous gums. 
 After living five hundred years it builds a nest on the 
 top of a palm tree and there breathes its life away 
 amidst the sweet fragrance of cinnamon, spikenard and 
 myrrh. 
 
 Then the young Phoenix comes forth and when it has 
 gained sufficient strength it lifts the nest and carries it 
 aw^ay to the city of Heliopolis to the temple of the sun, 
 and lays it on the altar to be consumed in flames of 
 fragrance. 
 
 Herodotus describes the bird though he confesses that 
 he never saw it. He says it was like the eagle in out- 
 line and size with gray plumage of crimson and gold. 
 
 A modern writer assigns as a reason for the rare 
 appearance of the Phoenix that instinct teaches it to keep 
 out of the sight of man, the tyrant of creation, for if dis- 
 covered some wealthy glutton would surely kill and 
 devour it though there were no more to be had in all 
 the world. 
 
 Cleopatra. — The Ptolemies ruled Egypt from 323 B. 
 C. to 31 B. C, and the last of the line was the famous 
 queen Cleopatra. 
 
CLEOPATRA. , 79 
 
 Every historian who has attempted to portray her char- 
 acter, has paid glowing tributes to her beauty, talents 
 and accomplishments. Besides being proficient in music, 
 she understood Latin and Greek and could hold con- 
 versation with Ethiopians, Arabians, Jews, Syrians, 
 Medes, and Persians without an interpreter. To claim 
 that she was perfect and blameless in all her conduct 
 would be false and foolish. But her most glaring frail- 
 ties must be ascribed to the absurd marriage customs of 
 her day, rather than to innate depravity and baseness 
 of nature. 
 
 The usage of the Egyptian court compelled her to 
 marry her oldest brother and share the throne with 
 him, an abominable regulation which no doubt 
 was the chief cause of her subsequent wayward ca- 
 reer. An insurrection drove her to seek refuge in 
 Syria and when it was quelled she learned that her broth- 
 er-husband was plotting against her life and trying to 
 usurp her share of the kingdom. It was at this crisis 
 that she had recourse to the stratagem of being convey- 
 ed through the hostile lines and into the presence of 
 Caesar in the form of a large bale of goods. He settled 
 the matter for the time with the king. But soon a sec- 
 ond revolt broke out in which Ptolemy lost his life by 
 drowning and then Cleopatra was forced to marry a 
 younger brother only eleven years old and take him as a 
 colleague on the throne. Is it any wonder that under 
 such circumstances this fair and fascinating princess found 
 relief and pleasure in the society of the brilliant Csesar? 
 
80 CLEOPATRA. 
 
 A few years afterwards she succeeded in making an- 
 other celebrated conquest when she completely won the 
 heart of Mark Antony. 
 
 It seems that Antony ordered her to meet him in 
 Cilicia and answer, if she could, some charges which had 
 been made against her conduct. The meeting which 
 she gave him has been described by the pen of the his- 
 torian and also by the prince of English dramatists. 
 
 Plutarch says : " She sailed along the river Cydnus in 
 a most magnificent galley. The stern was covered with 
 gold, the sails were of purple, and the oars were silver. 
 These in their motion kept time to the music of flutes 
 and pipes and harps. The queen in the dress and 
 character of Yenus lay under a canopy embroid- 
 ered with gold, of the -most exquisite workmanship ; 
 while boys, like painted cupids, stood fanning her on 
 each side of the sofa. Her maids were of the most dis- 
 tinguished beauty and, habited like the Nereids and the 
 Graces, assisted in the steerage and conduct of the ves- 
 sel. The fragrance of burning incense was diffused 
 along the shores, which were covered with multitudes of 
 people. Some followed the procession ; and such num- 
 bers went down from the city to see it that Antony was 
 at last left alone on the tribunal. A rumor was soon 
 spread that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus for 
 the benefit of Asia. Antony sent to invite her to sup- 
 per, but she thought it his duty to wait upon her, and 
 to show his politeness on her arrival he complied." 
 
 Slie met the illustrious Roman commander and led 
 
CLEOPATRA. 81 
 
 him captive at her will. By the irresistible charms of 
 her manners, by the sweet music of her voice, and by 
 her loving and artful companionship she enchained his 
 affections, lulled his proud ambition to sleep, and induc- 
 ed him to lead a life of disgraceful dissipation at her 
 court and banish from his mind and memory the claims 
 of his country and his honor. But at length the^ end 
 came. Their forces suffered defeat at the battle of 
 Actium. Anton}^ committed suicide and Cleopatra, fear- 
 ing that she might be forced to grace the victor's triumph, 
 is thought to have followed her fond lover's example in 
 taking her own life. 
 
 The only mark of violence which could be found on 
 her person was a small puncture in one arm; and it was 
 therefore supposed that the unhappy queen had procur- 
 ed death either by the bite of an asp or by the self-in- 
 flicted thrust of a poisoned bodkin. 
 
 During the early days of Christianity Es^ypt was 
 greatly disturbed by religious wars and tumults. In 640 
 A. D. the Mohammedans invaded and conquered Egypt 
 and the victorious general bore testimony to the great- 
 ness of Alexandria by reporting to the Caliph Omar that 
 " he had taken a city which beggared all description, in 
 which he found 4000 palaces, 400 theatres," etc. Since 
 then Egypt has been the scene of many bloody and convul- 
 sive struggles. Fatimites, crusaders, Mamelukes, Otto- 
 man Turks, and the French have in turn fought for the 
 sovereignty. 
 
82 THE KHEDIVE. 
 
 In 1804 Mehemet AH was appointed pasha of Cairo 
 the modern capital of Egypt. He exercised nearly 
 absolute power though he was nominally a vassal of the 
 Turkish Sultan; and subsequently by a treaty the vice- 
 royalty was made hereditary in his family. 
 
 In 1867 the Turkish government bestowed upon the 
 regent of Egypt the title of Khedive. In 1882 England 
 interfered and quickly quelled a revolt against the author- 
 ity of the Khedive. After the war was ended Arabi 
 Pasha, the leader of the revolt, was arrested and handed 
 over to the English. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 '* Where each old poetic mountain 
 Inspiration breatlies around." 
 
 /TREECE.— The peninsula of Greece is smaller than 
 ^ most of the states of the American Union ; its great- 
 est length being not more than 250 miles and its width in 
 the broadest part about 180 miles. The chief divisions 
 were Epirus and Thessaly in the north, Hellas in the mid- 
 dle, and Peloponnesus in the south. The modern name for 
 the latter division is Morea, so called from its resemblance 
 in outline to a mulberry leaf. The former title means 
 the island of Pelops, from which it appears that the 
 ancients disregarded the isthmus of Corinth, the nar- 
 row neck of land that joins this part with the main land 
 and converts it into a peninsula. 
 
 The physical features of the country exercised an 
 important influence in moulding the character of its peo- 
 ple. Separated into many small tribes by mountain bar- 
 riers they learned to love liberty, and at the same time, 
 dwelling as they did on the shores of the sea, they had 
 easy intercourse with their neighbors and with the sur- 
 rounding nations. A deep obscurity hangs over the 
 early history of Greece. It is hard and often impossi- 
 ble to find the truth among the myths and fables. Any 
 one who reads the legends of the Greeks and studies 
 
84 ORIGIN OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 their traditions will need the keenest judgment to dis- 
 tinguish between fact and fiction and yet with the great- 
 est care in some cases he will be likely to make 
 mistakes. 
 
 Origin of the Greeks. 
 
 It seems probable that the Greeks are a part of an 
 Aryan migration which also spread over the other Medi- 
 terranean peninsulas of Italy and Spain, and that they 
 are descended from Javan or Ion, the fourth son of 
 Japheth. They, however, trace their origin to Hellen 
 and from him they call their land Hellas and them- 
 selves Hellenes. -^ 
 
 Hellen was reputed to. be the son of Deucalion who 
 with his wife Pyrrha, as the story goes, was saved from 
 a flood which drowned all the other inhabitants. When 
 the waters subsided they came forth from the ship and 
 offered sacrifices to Jupiter and prayed that the earth 
 might be filled again with people, and in answer to their 
 prayer they were bidden to vail their faces, unbind 
 their garments, and cast behind them the bones of their 
 mother. Startled by such a command, not knowing at 
 first how to interpret it, they spent some time in try- 
 ing to hit upon the right meaning. At length they con- 
 cluded that the earth is the great mother of all and that 
 the stones are her bones. Accordingly they obeyed the 
 command and, strange to tell, the stones they threw 
 became soft and assumed the human shape. Those from 
 
EGYPTIAN COLONY. 85 
 
 Deucalion's hand rose up as men while those from 
 Pyrrha's became women. 
 
 Hellen had three sons, Aeolus, Dorus and Xuthus, and 
 the latter had a son by the name of Ion the father of the 
 lonians. Deucalion, Hellen and Ion are perhaps identi- 
 cal with Noah, Japheth and Javan of the Bible. Dorus 
 was the progenitor of the Dorians. And JEolus has been 
 identified with the god of the winds, Boreas, Auster, 
 Eurus, and Zephyr, the north, south, east and west winds 
 respectively. He is also the deity for whom the ^olian 
 harp is named because he sweeps its strings with his 
 invisible breath. 
 
 Another story accounts for an Egyptian colony at 
 Argos. Two brothers Danaus and JEgyptus quarrel, 
 and the result is that Danaus with his fifty daughters is 
 obliged to flee from his home in Egypt and take refuge 
 in Argos. Afterwards the fifty sons of ^gyptus follow 
 them across the sea and entreat their uncle to forgive 
 and forget past injuries and give them their fair cousins 
 in marriage. He assents to their proposals but at the 
 same time prepares for revenge by giving his daughters 
 each a dagger and charging them to slay in the night 
 the unsuspecting bridegrooms. 
 
 All but one executed the cruel orders and in conse- 
 quence, though they escaped punishment in this life, 
 they were condemned in the lower world to draw water 
 for ever in sieves. 
 
 The daughters herein alluded to may signify springs of 
 
-86 , CADMUS. 
 
 water found in Argos. In the figurative language of 
 the Orient, springs are often termed daughters of the 
 earth. Moreover the maids are said to have cut off the 
 heads of their lovers. Head is a common name for 
 fountain. And some see in the flow of the water a ref- 
 erence to the welling forth of the life-current when the 
 bloody deed was done. 
 
 Still another story tells how Greece was peopled with 
 inhabitants. Europa, a beautiful princess of Phoenicia, 
 while gathering flowers near the seashore, discovered a 
 white bull remarkably tame and gentle She fondled 
 and caressed him hung, wreaths upon his horns and at 
 length dared to mount his back. ^ No sooner had she done 
 so, than he darted away,- plunged into the sea and swam 
 with her to the island of Crete. 
 
 Europe was named after her by her friends who came 
 thither from Asia to search for her. 
 
 Cadmus her brother traveled far and near to find her 
 and finally came to Greece to consult the oracle of Apollo 
 at Delphi. Here he was told to cease the search and 
 directed to build a city. But first he had to encounter 
 and kill a dragon and sow its teeth in the ground. This 
 done, there sprang up forthwith a crop of bold warriors 
 who fought and killed one another till only five remained 
 alive. These made friends and aided Cadmus in build- 
 ing the famous city of Thebes. The Greeks were in- 
 debted to Cadmus for the alphabet of 16 letters. 
 
THKEE DISTINGUISHED HEROES. 87 
 
 Three Distinguished Heroes. 
 
 Hercules.— From early infancy Hercules was renown- 
 «d for extraordinary personal strength. When only ten 
 months old he strangled with his hands two hideous 
 serpents which had crawled into his cradle to devour him. 
 He owed his education mainly to the wise and good 
 Chiron, the chief of the Centaurs, a fabulous race hav- 
 ing horses' bodies and human heads. 
 
 When he grew up to be a man, Yirtue and Yice 
 appeared to him and each offered to be his guide. Vir- 
 tue promised to lead him through many hard trials to a 
 glorious seat at last among the gods ; whilst Vice tried 
 to induce him to follow her by the promise of present 
 delight, showing him a pathway strown with flowers, 
 holding to his lips the sparkling wine-cup, inviting him 
 to dance and enjoy a smooth and happy life. But the 
 youth had been well trained and was not to be deceived. 
 Unlike Samson, he chose Virtue for his leader, though 
 his subsequent career proves that he did not always 
 adhere very closely to his choice. 
 
 Having been fully equipped by the gods he proceeded 
 to perform the mighty exploits which have become pro- 
 verbial. He killed the Nemeau lion, destroyed the 
 many-headed hydra, caught the swift stag that had the 
 golden horns, captured the wild boar, cleansed the 
 Augean stables, shot the birds of prey, brought a white 
 bull from Crete, secured the Thracian mares which fed 
 on human flesh, obtained a girdle from the queen of the 
 
88 HERCULES. 
 
 Amazons, slew the monster Geryon, carried away the 
 apples from the garden of the Hesperides, seized and 
 conveyed the three-headed dog Cerberus from the lower 
 world. ^ These are commonly known as the twelve won- 
 derful labors of Hercules. 
 
 The hero performed many other feats some of which 
 were quite as marvellous as those above mentioned. 
 
 At times he was possessed with an ungovernable mad- 
 ness, and in one of these spells he slew his friend Iphitus. 
 For this offence he was condemned to be the slave of the 
 queen of Lydia for three years. During this period of 
 servitude, his nature seemed to change. He became 
 effeminate, wore female attire and often sat spinning by 
 the side of the queen with her women. Furthermore 
 the once brave man is said to have received chastisement 
 sometimes from the hand of the royal mistress, "who 
 arrayed in his lion-skin and armed with his club, play- 
 fully struck him with her sandal for his awkward way of 
 holding the distaff." 
 
 At last the hero met his death by clothing himself 
 with a robe which had been secretly saturated with 
 poison. And when he attempted to wrench off the'gar- 
 ment it stuck to his flesh so that he could not remove it 
 without frightfully lacerating his body. In his agony 
 he seized Lichas, the messenger who had brought him 
 the fatal tunic, and hurled him into the sea. 
 
 At death his mortal part was consumed to ashes on 
 the funeral pyre, while his lofty spirit went to dwell 
 
PEKSEUS. 89 
 
 among the stars and to be united in marriage with Hebe 
 the goddess of youth. 
 
 As to the meaning of the story a scholiast on Hesiod 
 ^ remarks : " The zodiac in which the sun performs his 
 annual course, is the true career which Hercules trav- 
 erses in the fable of the twelve labors, and his marriage 
 with Hebe the goddess of youth, whom he espoused 
 after he had ended his labors, denotes the renewal of the 
 year at the end of each solar revolution." 
 
 The poet Schiller thus alludes to the ascension of Her- 
 cules : 
 
 '' Till the god, the earthly part forsaken, 
 From the man in flames asunder taken, 
 Drank the heavenly ether's purer breath. 
 Joyous in the new unwonted lightness, 
 Soared he upwards to celestial brightness, 
 Earth's dark heavy burden lost in death. 
 High Olympus gives harmonious greeting 
 To the hall where reigns his sire adored; 
 Youth's bright goddess, with a blush at meeting. 
 Gives the nectar to her lord." 
 
 Perseus.— The Greeks believed that their heroes were 
 the sons of the gods. Perseus was reputed to be the 
 son of Jupiter and Danae, the daughter of the King of 
 Argos. When he was a little babe with bright eyes and 
 beautiful golden hair, he and his mother were shut up 
 in a chest and cast into the sea. 
 
 But the winds and the waves, more merciful than the 
 king who ordered the cruel act to be done, carried the 
 box with its precious burden to a small island where a 
 kind-hearted fisherman drew it ashore and conveyed the 
 
90 PERSEUS. 
 
 mother and child to Polydectes, the rnler of the country 
 to which they had come. 
 
 Years afterwards when Perseus had grown to man- 
 hood, the king managed to send him to the confines of 
 the world to bring from thence the head of Medusa, a 
 horrible monster. She was one of the Gorgons, once a 
 beautiful maiden who dared to boast that her face was 
 fairer than that of Minerva. To punish her vain pre- 
 sumption, the goddess changed her hair, the chief of her 
 charms, into hissing serpents, and overspread her face 
 with such a frightful aspect as to petrify every living 
 thing that chanced to look upon it. 
 
 Nevertheless Perseus bravely prepared to go upon 
 the dangerous mission. The gods came to his aid and 
 furnished him a shield as bright as a mirror, and winged 
 shoes, and a short curved sword and directed him how 
 to achieve success in his perilous adventure. 
 
 They first guided him to the abode of the Graiae, the 
 three gray maids who lived so far out upon the borders 
 of creation that the light of the sun and moon never fell 
 upon them. They were such horrid old hags that they 
 only had one eye and one tooth among them, which 
 they used in turn. While the eye was being passed from 
 one to another Perseus intercepted it and declined to 
 return it till they promised to show him the way to the 
 Nymphs, who kept the magic wallet, and the helmet of 
 Pluto which rendered its wearer invisible. 
 
 Having] obtained these requisite aids, Perseus came 
 upon the Gorgons while tliey were asleep and taking 
 
PERSEUS. 91 
 
 care not to look upon them but only to view their 
 images reflected upon his bright shield, he cut oflE the 
 head of Medusa, put it in the wallet, and escaped. 
 
 The two sisters awoke and pursued him in vain as con- 
 cealed by the helmet he mounted into the air and flew 
 so swiftly away upon the winged shoes. 
 
 On his return he punished Atlas, the mighty giant 
 who supported the heavens upon his broad shoulders, for 
 refusing to show him hospitality, by changing him into 
 a mountain. One glance at the head of Medusa wrought 
 the wondrous transformation. 
 
 But the adventures of the hero were not yet over. 
 As he continued his homeward flight he came to 
 Ethiopia where he found a beautiful princess called 
 Andromeda, chained to a rock. Her mother- had boasted 
 that she was fairer than the l^ereids, the sea-nymphs, and 
 thereby offended Neptune the god of the sea, who took 
 revenge by sending a sea-monster to ravage the land 
 and devour the cattle and people. Andromeda was to be 
 sacrificed to the monster in order to appease the angry 
 deity. 
 
 Perseus at once came to the rescue. Hearing the 
 monster coming, he bade the maiden to close her eyes 
 and then he drew forth the Gorgon's head and instantly 
 turned her foe to stone, cleft the lady's chains, and restored 
 her to her parents, who out of gratitude rewarded the 
 hero with her hand in marriage. One of her former 
 suitors behaved so insolently at the feast on that occasion 
 that Perseus felt obliged to change him also into ^tone. 
 
92 THESEUS. 
 
 Perseus then took his bride and returned home where 
 he arrived in time to deliver his mother from unwelcome 
 attentions. The face of Medusa immediately petrified 
 her persecutors. 
 
 Having now accomplished the object of his journey 
 the hero returned the borrowed outfit and gave the Gor- 
 gon's head to Minerva, who placed it on her shield or 
 aegis as she always called it. 
 
 Afterwards while pitching a game of quoits he had 
 the misfortune to hit and kill his grandfather, thus ful- 
 filling an early prediction. He reigned many years and 
 lived happily with Andromeda. At death they were sup- 
 posed to be translated to the sky where they appear now 
 among the northern constellations. 
 
 This story of Perseus does not belong exclusively to 
 the Greeks. It is told by many nations with variations. 
 
 The English form of it appears in the tale of " Jack 
 the Giant-Killer," who wore seven-leagued boots and a 
 cap of mist and rescued fair ladies from their enemies. 
 
 Theseus. — One of the most celebrated heroes of 
 Greece was Theseus, the son of Aegeus or Neptune, king 
 of Athens, and -^thra, daughter of a neighboring mon- 
 arch at Troezene. He was reared in his grandfather's 
 palace and when he attained the age of manhood he was 
 to proceed to Athens and present himself before his 
 father. 
 
 When his mother thought the proper time had come, 
 she led him to a huge mass of rock, under which his 
 
THESEUS. 98 
 
 father had hidden a sword and a pair of shoes, and bade 
 him test his strength by removing the stone, and then he 
 could secure the objects wliich he would need for his 
 journey and which would prove his identity to his sire. 
 
 Theseus rolled away the rock with ease and found the 
 sword and shoes and at once resolved to depart for 
 Athens and to go by land, though strongly advised by his 
 friends to take the shorter and safer route by water and 
 avoid the roads which were known to be infested with 
 fierce robbers. 
 
 But the spirit of the hero courted adventure. He 
 determined to distinguish himself like Hercules, with 
 whose fame all Greece then rang, by destroying the 
 thieves and monsters that ravaged the country and ter- 
 rified travelers. 
 
 On the way to Athens, among other deeds which he 
 performed, he slew two notorious robbers, Sciron and 
 Procrustes, serving them as they had served all previous 
 comers. The former he hurled over a precipice to be 
 dashed to pieces on the rocks below as he had invariably 
 treated his unlucky victims. 
 
 Procrustes had an iron bed upon which he had placed 
 all persons that fell into his hands, and cut off or 
 stretched out their limbs till they fitted the length of 
 the bed. Theseus tried the same fatal experiment on 
 the old scoundrel and thus rid the land of a long 
 dreaded scourge. 
 
 The youth then pursued his way to Athens, where in 
 due time he was recognized by the king as his son. 
 
94 THESEUS. 
 
 It seems that Athens at this period was subject to 
 Crete, and was required every year to send a tribute of 
 seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured by the 
 Minotaur, a frightful monster half bull and half man. 
 This horrid creature was kept in a labyrinth where 
 there were so many winding paths that no one who once 
 entered it could find his way out without assistance. 
 
 When the next tribute was made up, Theseus volun- 
 teered to go and free his country from the intolerable 
 human tax or die in the attempt, telling his father that if 
 he succeeded in killing the Minotaur as he hoped to do, 
 he would change the black sails of the ship for white 
 ones on his triumphant return.* 
 
 X 
 
 When he arrived at Crete he was presented at the royal 
 court with his companions, and there he won the heart 
 of the king's daughter, Ariadne, who gave him a clew of 
 thread, by means of which he penetrated in safety the 
 mazes of the labyrinth till he encountered and killed the 
 Minotaur. He then followed the thread to the entrance 
 of the labyrinth where he had fastened one end of it. 
 
 Thus havinge scaped, he re-embarked, taking Ariadne 
 with him, whom he soon deserted and left on the isle of 
 Naxos, whether because he was tired of her or because he 
 really believed that he was divinely directed so to do is 
 uncertain. 
 
 But while the princess was weeping over this cruelty, 
 Venus came to comfort her; and shortly afterwards 
 Bacchus gave her a golden crown, which is visible among 
 the stars on a summer night. 
 
THESEUS. 95 
 
 On approaching the coast of Attica, Theseus forgot the 
 promised signal ; and thereupon his father, seeing the 
 ship returning with black sails and thinking his brave 
 son had perished in the hardy undertaking, fell down 
 from the cliff where he was watching and was drowned 
 just as Theseus sailed safely into port. 
 
 The hero now turned his attention to the government, 
 to which he succeeded by the death of his father. He 
 abolished the division of the people into tribes and 
 substituted that of three classes, the nobles, the husband- 
 men, and the artisans. He reserved all the offices of 
 state for the nobles, who were farther clothed with the 
 privilege of controlling the affairs of religion and inter 
 preting the laws both divine and human. As a further 
 means of uniting the people and promoting their hap- 
 piness he established nunierous festivals, some of which 
 were celebrated with great splendor. 
 
 Under his wise administration, the city grew^ and his 
 subjects prospered. Civic cares howev^er did not entirely 
 absorb his thoughts. He found time to engage in mili- 
 tary enterprises. One of his victorious expeditions was 
 against the Amazons whose queen he carried off and 
 married. 
 
 Theseus also shared the dangers of the Calydonian 
 hunt, joined the Argonauts in quest of the golden fleece, 
 fought against the centaurs, seized and carried away cap- 
 tive the beautiful Helen, sister of Castor and Pollux, 
 and even had the hardihood to unite with a friend in the 
 perilous attempt to abduct Proserpina from the palace 
 
96 THESEUS. 
 
 of Pluto. The result of the last foolhardy adventure was 
 that he was caught and imprisoned by the monarch of 
 Hades till the visit of Hercules to the lower regions, when 
 he was released from durance vile by that hero. 
 
 In his latter days Theseus suffered exile, the fate of all 
 great Athenians. He retired to the island of Scyros and 
 there lost his life, either by accident or by the treachery 
 of his host, king Lycomedes ; for having ascended a 
 lofty rock to enjoy a wider view of his surroundings, he 
 either fell or was pushed off and dashed to pieces on the 
 stones below. 
 
 In a later age the Atlienian general Cimon discovered 
 his remains and had them removed to Athens and 
 deposited in a temple named for him the Theseum and 
 erected in his honor. The festivities attending the 
 nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta, the queen of the 
 Amazons, are described in Shakespeare's Midsummer 
 Night's Dream. "^ And a poem by Mrs. Heinans is 
 founded on the ancient Greek tradition that the '^ Shade 
 of Theseus" appeared to encourage his countrymen at 
 the battle of Mafrathon. 
 
 The recumbent Ariadne of the Vatican is said to be 
 one of the finest pieces of sculpture in Italy. It repre- 
 sents her asleep and abandoned by ungi-ateful Theseus. 
 The festival which he instituted in honor of Minerva the 
 patron goddess of Athens, forms the subject of the bas- 
 
 ♦ •' Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword, 
 And won tliy love doing thee injuries; 
 But I will wed thee in another key, 
 With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling." 
 
THESEUS. 97 
 
 reliefs which once embellished the exterior of the Par- 
 thenon. A considerable portion of these sculptures is 
 now on exhibition in the British Museum among those 
 known as the " Elgin Marbles." 
 
 Theseus appears in the character of semi-historical per- 
 sonage, the model of a just and moderate ruler, setting 
 an example before his people of strict obedience to the 
 laws, ever ready to espouse the cause of the weak 
 against their oppressors, always a terror and a scourge to 
 evil-doers, the king who invented and established so 
 many wise and excellent regulations. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 "Ye gods! what wonders has Ulysses wrought ! 
 What fruits his conduct and his courage yield ! 
 Great in the council, glorious in the field."— Pope. 
 
 [Greece Continued.] 
 
 ;HREE FAMOUS EXPEDITIONS.— The voyage 
 of the Argonauts, the Seven against Thebes, and the 
 Siege of Troy are three most noted events which hap- 
 pened before the daw^n of authentic Grecian history. 
 
 The first of these, the Voyage of the Argonauts, 
 
 was an expedition the object of which according to tra- 
 dition was to recover tlie golden fleece. Athamas and 
 Nephele, a king and queen of Thessalj^, liad two children, 
 a boy and a girl. After a while the king having grown 
 weary of his wife put her away and took another. 
 
 The divorced queen fearing for the safety of her 
 children if they should fall into the hands of a step- 
 mother, took measui-es to remove them out of her reach. 
 Mercury came to her aid and furnished her a winged 
 ram with a fleece of pure gold. Nephele placed her two 
 children on the back of the ram trusting that he would 
 carry them away to a place of safety. 
 
 The ram vaulted into the air and flew eastw^ard; but 
 in crossing the strait between Europe and Asia the girl, 
 whose name was Helle, fell off and was drowned in the 
 
VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS. 99 
 
 sea which thenceforth was called after her the Helle- 
 spont — now the Dardanelles. The ram continued his 
 flight till he came to the kingdom of Colchis on the 
 eastern shore of the Black sea. 
 
 After being safely landed the boy sacrificed the ram 
 to Jupiter and gave the golden fleece to the king of the 
 country, who nailed it to a tree in a consecrated grove 
 and had it guarded by a sleepless dragon. 
 
 Years afterwards a great expedition was fitted out 
 under the command of Jason, a young Grecian prince, 
 to go in quest of this treasure and if possible bring it 
 back to Greece, to which country it was considered 
 rightly to belong. The ship built for the occasion was 
 capable of carrying fifty men, and was called Argo, 
 ■ from the name of the builder. Of course, compared 
 with the largest modern ships, such a vessel as the Argo 
 seems very small, but to the Greeks of that early date 
 it seemed a gigantic affair, as hitherto they had only used 
 small boats or canoes hollowed out from the trunks of 
 trees. 
 
 The report of its great size and the purpose for which 
 it was being constructed, was circulated throughout 
 Greece, and by the time it was completed all the most 
 famous heroes then living had come to see the mighty 
 vessel and join in the enterprise. Among the number 
 were Hercules, Theseus, and Orpheus, the latter being 
 the most renowned musician of that heroic age. When 
 he played on the lyre, the music was so sweet that 
 nothing could resist the charm of it. Not only men but 
 
100 VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS. 
 
 wild beasts were spell-bound, and even the rocks and 
 trees gathered round and listened to his notes with a 
 transport of delight. Pope, in his Ode on St. Cecilia's 
 Day, thus speaks of Orpheus, whom he calls the 
 Thracian : 
 
 "So when the first bold vessel dares the seas, 
 High on the stern the Thracian raised his strain; 
 While Argo saw her kindred trees 
 Descend from Pelion to the main, 
 Transported demigods stood round, 
 And men grew heroes at the sound." 
 
 When all things were ready, the brave adventurers 
 launched the vessel and departed on their perilous under- 
 taking. At the entrance of the Black Sea there were 
 two small rocky islands floating on the surface, and these 
 were called Symplegades or Clashing Islands, because 
 they often clashed together and ground to atoms any 
 object that happened to be caught between them. 
 
 Having arrived at this dangerous strait, the Argonauts 
 let go a dove, which took her way safely between the 
 rocks, only losing a few feathers from her tail. Then 
 Jason and his men, watching the rebound of the rocks, 
 seized the favorable moment, rowed with all their 
 might, and passed through just in time to escape serious 
 loss, as the islands instantly dashed together behind 
 them and slightly grazed the stern of their vessel. 
 
 A learned mythologist suggests that this may be a 
 corrupt account of the story of Noah and the ark. The 
 name Argo favors this idea, and the incident of the dove 
 confirms it. 
 
VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS. 101 
 
 • 
 
 At length, aftei* various adventures, Jason and his 
 companions arrived at Colchis, and requested the king to 
 surrender the golden fleece. The king consented to do 
 so, on condition that Jason should yoke to the plow two 
 fire-breathing bulls with brazen feet, and break up a 
 piece of land and sow it with the teeth of the dragon 
 which Cadmus had slain at Thebes. 
 
 Jason agreed to the terms, and a day was set for try- 
 ing the experiment. Meanwhile Jason won the heart of 
 Medea, the king's daughter, who was a potent sorceress, 
 and by her help he succeeded in accomplishing the task 
 imposed. 
 
 She furnished him a charm to protect him alike 
 against fire and steel, and directed him how he could 
 safely encounter the bulls and the weapons of the armed 
 men who would spring up as a crop on the field where 
 the dragon's teeth were sown. 
 
 At the appointed time a great multitude assembled to 
 witness the decisive trial. The bulls rushed in, breath- 
 ing forth fire which burned up the grass as they passed 
 along. Jason met them boldly and stroked them with 
 fearless hand and quickly slipped the yoke upon them 
 and, regardless of their flaming breath, proceeded to plow 
 the ground and sow the teeth to the utter amazement of 
 the Colchians and the extreme, though trembling delight 
 of his friends. 
 
 Soon the crop of warriors sprang up ; and they hardly 
 reached the surface before they began to brandish their 
 weapons and attack the hero, who valiantly defended 
 
102 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 
 
 himself and kept his foes at bay with his sword and 
 shield till his strength began to fail and then he seized a 
 stone and cast it into the midst of his assailants. There- 
 upon they turned their arms against one another and 
 fought till the last of the dragon's brood was slain. 
 Medea was elated by the victory and the Greeks embraced 
 their hero with joy. 
 
 It now remained to put to sleep the dragon that 
 guarded the fleece. This Orpheus accomplished with his 
 lyre while Jason took down the golden fleece, the long 
 coveted prize, and carried it off. 
 
 The historical meaning of this legend is doubtless 
 that the Greeks held some intercourse with the Colchians 
 and other tribes dwelling around the Black Sea. The 
 mountain streams of Colchis were said to have washed 
 down fine particles of gold and this was lodged upon 
 fleeces which the natives dipped into the water for that 
 purpose. The fire-breathing bulls are supposed to mean 
 a savage band of Taurians who guarded the golden sands 
 of their coast against the depredations of foreigners, and 
 the sleepless dragon that watched the fieece was simply 
 a man by the name of Draco who may have been the 
 captain of the coast-guard. 
 
 The Seven against Thebes.— Laius, the king of 
 Thebes, was warned by an oracle not to beget children 
 or he would die by the hand of his son. He neglected 
 the prediction, and after his wife Jocasta had given 
 birth to a son he sought to avoid the fulfillment of the 
 
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 103 
 
 prophecy. To this end the father immediately delivered 
 the infant to his herdsman to expose on a mountain. 
 
 But through the tender compassion of the servant, the 
 babe instead of being left to perish from exposure fell 
 into the hands of the wife of Polybus, king of Corinth, 
 who being childlesss adopted it and brought it up as her 
 own and named it OEdipus or Swollen-foot ; for the 
 father before abandoning it had pierced its ankles and 
 inserted a leathern thong through the wound. 
 
 (Edipus grew to manhood, and had every reason to 
 believe that he was the son and heir of king Polybus, 
 till at a banquet he was stung by reproaches about his 
 origin. He then besought his supposed mother to inform 
 him of the truth ; but unable to get any satisfactory 
 information from her, he consulted the Oracle of Delphi. 
 By this he was advised not to return to his native land 
 lest he should kill his father and commit incest with his 
 mother. Whereupon (Edipus avoided Corinth and took ■ 
 the road to Thebes, thinking thus to heed the counsel of 
 the oracle. 
 
 Now it happened that Laius, at this time, was on his 
 way to Delphi to ascertain whether his son, whom he 
 had exposed, had perished or not. 
 
 And the father and son, total strangers to each other, 
 met in a narrow pass of the road. Neither being willing 
 to make way for the other to go forward, a contest 
 ensued in which Lai'us and all his attendants, save one 
 who fled, were slain. Thus the first part of the predic- 
 tion was fulfilled. (Edipus then proceeded on his journey. 
 
104 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 
 
 On the top of a hill near Thebes sat a monstrous 
 Sphinx, having a lion's body, a woman's head, and an 
 eagle's wings. She stopped all travellers who came that 
 way, and proposed to them a riddle, with the condition 
 that those who could solve it should be allowed to pass 
 in safety, while those who failed should be devoured. 
 
 The riddle was this: "What animal is that which 
 goes on four feet in the morning, on two at noon, and on 
 three at evening ? " 
 
 Thus far all who tried it had failed to solve it. At 
 length king Creon, his son having fallen a victim to the 
 monster, issued a proclamation offering the throne to 
 which he had succeeded on the death of his brother 
 Laius, and the hand of Queen Jocasta to whoever should 
 solve the riddle of the Sphinx. 
 
 Notwithstanding the alarming reports of so many 
 fatal failures, (Edipus undaunted came forwa]:d and 
 answered the Sphinx that it was Man, who creeps in 
 infancy, walks in manhood, and helps himself in old age 
 with a cane as a third foot. 
 
 Thereupon the Sphinx, mortified at the solution of her 
 enigma, flung herself down from the rock and perished. 
 
 Then (Edipus married Jocasta, little knowing that she 
 was his mother and that he was thereby accomplishing 
 the remainder of the oracle. Four children were the 
 fruit of the incestuous marriage. 
 
 Years afterwards, Thebes was afflicted with famine^ 
 and pestilence; and the oracle being consulted, the 
 double crime of (Edipus was discovered. 
 
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 105 
 
 Jocasta, crazed by the discovery, hung herself; and her 
 wretclied son and husband seized* the golden clasps from 
 her garment, and in his grief and despair tore out his 
 eyes, and went forth an exile banished by his sons, but 
 accompanied by his two daughters who faithfully adhered 
 to him till lie ended his miserable life in the grove of 
 the Furies. 
 
 Then the curse returns and pursues the sons Eteocles 
 and Polynices for banishing their poor, blind father. 
 They agreed to share the kingdom and reign alternately 
 each a year. Eteocles first ascended the throne, and at 
 the end of the year refused to give up the kingdom to 
 his brother according to agreement. A war w^as the 
 result of such a shameless violation of contract. Polyni- 
 ces repaired to Argos, and obtained the aid of King 
 Adrastus to re-instate him in his rights. Five other 
 heroes joined the expedition, thus forming the confeder« 
 acy known under the name of the " Seven against 
 Thebes." All the chiefs, with the exception of Adrastus, 
 fell before Thebes ; whilst the brothers Polynices and 
 Eteocles were slain in single combat by each other'a 
 hands. 
 
 Ten years later the sons of the allied leaders took up 
 arms against Thebes to avenge their fathers' fate, hence 
 called the war of the Epigoni or the Descendants. They 
 were successful. Thebes was taken and razed to the 
 ground. 
 
 This period of legendary history — so full of human 
 crime, of the vague and misleading oracles of the gods, 
 
106 THE SIEGE OF TROY. 
 
 and of the swift and inevitable march of fate to overtake 
 and punish the guilty— ^became a favorite theme of the 
 tragic poets of Athens. And it is safe to say that this 
 subject will never be devoid of interest to classical 
 students. 
 
 One of the Greek tragedies founded upon this period, 
 the '^ CEdipus Tyrannus" of Sophocles, was recently 
 represented on the stage at Harvard University. The 
 different characters were so well studied and produced, 
 the acting, the music, the costumes, the scenery were all 
 so perfect, that the spectators witnessed the play with 
 the greatest enjoyment and enthusiasm. It was pro. 
 nounced a grand success by all who saw it. 
 
 The Siege of Troy was the greatest event of the 
 heroic age. According to the legendary account, Jupiter 
 caused the war in order to reduce the inhabitants, because 
 he saw that the earth was becoming too populous. 
 By his direction, the goddess Discord flung a golden 
 apple among the guests at a marriage banquet, with the 
 inscription upon it " For the fairest." Juno, Venus and 
 Minerva each claiming it, and Jupiter not being willing 
 to decide so delicate a matter himself, he sent the god- 
 desses to the shepherd Paris, the son of Priam, to have 
 him make the decision. 
 
 Accordingly they appeared before the aj)pointed 
 judge, and each endeavored to bias his decision in her 
 own favor. Minerva promised him success and glory 
 
THE SIEGE OF TROY. 107 
 
 in war ; Juno, power and riches ; while Venus pledged 
 liini the most beautiful of women forit,his wife. 
 
 Paris aw^arded the golden prize to Venus, and thereby 
 incurred the enmity of the other two divinities. There- 
 upon he proceeded to Sparta to visit Menelaus, w^hose 
 wife was regarded as the most beautiful woman then 
 living. 
 
 Slie had been sought as a bride by a host of admirers ; 
 and before she gave her hand to any, they all agreed to 
 defend her from all injury, and avenge her cause in case 
 of necessity. She consented to marry Menelaus, king of 
 Sparta. And tliey wxre living together in peace and 
 hapi^iness when Paris became their guest. 
 
 During the temporary absence of her husband, Paris 
 persuaded Helen to elope with him, and the guilty pair 
 embarked and sailed away to Troy, wlience arose the 
 famous Trojan war. 
 
 When Menelaus returned and learned that his Vife 
 had been abducted, he at once called upon his brother 
 chieftains of Greece to redeem their pledge and aid him 
 in the recovery of his stolen wife. 
 
 Most of the princes readily responded, and joined the 
 expedition. But Ulysses, who was very happy in his 
 home and family, had no inclination to join in such a 
 troublesome affair. He therefore himg back, and pre- 
 tended to be insane by yoking an ox and an ass to the 
 plow and beginning to sow the field with salt. The 
 messenger, to try him, placed his infant son before the 
 plow ; whereupon the father turned the plow aside. 
 
108 THE SIKGE OF TROY. 
 
 showing plainly that he understood what he was 
 about, and after that he had no excuse to break his 
 promise. 
 
 Being now himself enlisted in the cause, he endeavored 
 to bring in all the rest of the chiefs to join in the under- 
 taking. When Achilles heard of the project, he fled to 
 the court of King Lycomedes, and there concealed him- 
 self in the dress of a maiden among the king's daughters. 
 Ulysses, being informed of his flight, went to the palace 
 in the disguise of a merchant with female ornaments and 
 arms to sell. While the young ladies examined the orna. 
 ments, Achilles handled the weapons and thus betrayed 
 himself to the crafty Ulysses, who succeded in persuading 
 him to join his countrymen in the war. 
 
 Among the Grecian leaders w^ere also the sage Nestor, 
 the brave Diomede, the giant Ajax, and King Agamem- 
 non, who, being the brother of the injured Menelaus, 
 was chosen Commander-in-chief. After two years prep- 
 aration the army embarked in a vast fleet and sailed for 
 the coast of Troy. 
 
 The principal leaders on the side of the Trojans were 
 Hector, son of King Priam, and ^neas ; and they and 
 their comrades were such brave and valiant warriors that 
 it was only after a contest of ten years that the city was 
 taken and destroyed. 
 
 And even then it was accomplished by a stratagem on 
 the part of the Greeks. They constructed an immense 
 wooden horse and filled it with armed men. The 
 remaining Greeks then burned their tents and sailed 
 
THE SIEGE OF TROY. 109 
 
 away to the island of Tenedos and hid themselves on 
 shore to watch the result of their stratagem. 
 
 Tlie Trojans imagined that their enemies had aban- 
 doned the siege and gone home, and in consequence were 
 much relieved from long distress. They threw open the 
 gates and issued forth in crowds to visit and view the 
 Grecian camp and the deserted shore. 
 
 They gaze with wonder at the wooden horse whose 
 stupendous bulk rises before them like a mountain. 
 Some propose to drag it within the walls of the city ; 
 while others more wisely urge either to cast it into the 
 sea, or to burn it to ashes where it stands, or at least to lay 
 it open and explore its hidden recesses. 
 
 Laocoon, a son of Priam and priest of Apollo, hastens 
 down from the citadel and w^arns the people to put no 
 faith in the horse for he is sure that some treacherous 
 design lurks beneath it. " I fear the Greeks " said he, 
 '' even when they offer gifts." And thereupon he hurled 
 his javelin against the sides of the monster causing the 
 hollow^ cavern to ring and to send forth a groan. 
 
 Meanwhile some shepherds bring to the king a young 
 Greek captive named Sinon. The Trojans gather round 
 from every quarter all eager to see their helpless foe to 
 hear wiiat he would say and to vie with one another in 
 heaping insults upon him. 
 
 As he stood amid the gazing throng disturbed and 
 unarmed, and cast his eyes around, "Alas!" he said, "what 
 land, what seas can now receive me ? or what further 
 trouble remains for poor me ? for whom there is no 
 
110 THE SIEGE OF TROY. 
 
 shelter among the Greeks and with whose blood the 
 incensed Trojans too, do now demand satisfaction." 
 
 With these words having gained the attention and 
 sympathy of his hearers he then proceeded more boldly 
 to detail the false story of his sufferings. He pretended 
 that he had been the object of nnjust suspicion ; that by 
 his bold words in defence of truth and justice he had 
 incurred the bitter hatred of the crafty Ulysses who 
 henceforth persecuted him with new accusations and 
 sought his ruin by spreading ambiguous surmises and 
 making base insinuations about him among the common 
 people ; that the oracle of Apollo had declared that in 
 order to appease the anger of the gods and secure a safe 
 return of the Greeks to their native land it would be 
 neccessary to offer up a human sacrifice ; and that he had 
 been destined by the Fates as the victim for the altar. 
 By good fortune he had escaped, and lay concealed till 
 his countrymen had embarked and gone ; and now he 
 begged the Trojans to have pity upon tlie poor wretch 
 who had no hope of ever again being blessed with the 
 sight of his ancient country and of his sweet children 
 and of his much beloved sire, whom, though innocent 
 perhaps, his foes would put to death in revenge for his 
 escape. 
 
 The Trojans, unused to fraud, were moved to compass- 
 ion at the recital of such grievous afflictions, and by the 
 sight of the forlorn soul who complained that he had 
 suffered sucli unworthy treatment. Priam ordered his 
 bonds to be loosed, addressed liim as a friend, and bade 
 
THE SIEGE OF TROY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 liiin disclose the true reason why the horse had been 
 built? who contrived it, and with what intention ? Was 
 it designed to answer some religious purpose, or to be an 
 engine of war, or what was the object of its construc- 
 tion? 
 
 Then Sinon, calling the gods to witness, affirmed tha^ 
 the horse had been reared to take the place of the Pal" 
 ladium, a stolen statue of Minerva, on the preservation 
 of which depended the safety of Troy. He stated that 
 its size had been made so enormous and its height so 
 great that it might not be admitted into the gates or 
 dragged into the city to afford protection to the inhabi- 
 tants under their ancient religion. 
 
 He warned them that if they should lay violent hands 
 on this sacred image to injure or destroy it, then quick 
 and signal ruin would overwhelm their kingdom. But 
 that if, drawn in by their hands, it should mount into the 
 €ity, then Asia would advance with a formidable war to 
 the very walls of Pelops, and the Greeks would be over- 
 whelmed with disaster. 
 
 By such treachery and artifice false Sinon insnared the 
 Trojans, and with much guile and many tears constrained 
 them to believe his tale. And just at this time a fright- 
 ful scene is presented which seems to confirm the words 
 of the artful Greek. 
 
 Two hideous serpents glide up from the shore and 
 seize and crush to death Laocoon and his two sons. The 
 Trojans are paralyzed with fright at the shocking sight ; 
 and when they recover, they find that the serpents have 
 
112 THE SIEGE OF TROY. 
 
 taken refuge in the Temple of Minerva, and at once they 
 conclude that Laocoon had deservedly suffered for his 
 crime in having liurled his profane spear against the 
 sacred image. 
 
 They all with one accord now decide to convey the 
 statue to its proper seat within the city. And to this end 
 they implore the aid of the goddess. Some hasten to 
 made a breach in the walls, while others apply wheels 
 under the feet and attach ropes to the neck of the fatal 
 machine. ''Boys and unmarried virgins accompany it 
 with sacred hymns, and are glad to touch the rope with 
 their hands; " while the men, with strong arms and fran- 
 tic zeal, urge on and plant the baneful monster in the 
 very lieart of the citadel. Heedless of approaching doom, 
 they even go so far in theii* rejoicing as to adorn the tem- 
 ples of the gods throughout the city with festive boughs. 
 
 Meanwhile the heavens change. Black night over- 
 spreads the sky; and a deep sleep overtakes and falls 
 upon the weary Trojans. 
 
 And now in swift ships the Grecian host make haste 
 to return from Tenedos ; and false Sinon steals forth 
 under cover of the darkness and opens the horse to the 
 Greeks imprisoned in its caverns. Ulysses, Menelaus 
 and their companions come forth and assault the cit}^ bur- 
 ied in sleep and wine. They beat down the sentinels 
 and open the gates to their returning friends. 
 
 Alas ! who can describe the havoc of that awful night ? 
 Who in pity can weep bitter tears equal to the dire dis- 
 aster which then fell upon that ancient city? 
 
THE SIEGE OF TROY. 113 
 
 All the gods deserted their shrines and abandoned 
 their altars to the enemy. Men seemed changed to wild 
 beasts. They lost all terror of death and fought like 
 hungry wolves. The bodies of the slain covered the 
 streets, filled the houses and blocked the sacred thresh- 
 holds of the temples. To render the destruction com- 
 plete the Greeks set fire to the city and the beautiful 
 palaces, the splendid temples and all the wealth and art 
 and luxury of that ancient capital perished in the flames. 
 
 Such is only a brief and imperfect sketch of one 
 of the most famous events of antiquity. The stu- 
 dent will find a much fuller account of it in the great 
 epic poems of Homer and Yirgil ; and in reading it, he 
 can hardly fail to be impressed with the fact that we 
 too, as well as the ancients, are surrounded and controlled 
 by the infinite power of the immortal God. 
 
 The supreme Lord of lords exalts the humble and 
 casts down the proud. Men build great cities; and 
 when, in their race for riches, fame, and power, they 
 forget God and, like Nebuchadnezzar, boast of what they 
 have done^ by the might of their power and for the 
 honor of their majesty, then God casts them down and 
 destroys their great Babylon, and none can stay his 
 almighty hand. 
 
 In the fall of Troy, ^'Eneas is inclined to lay all the 
 blame on the beautiful Helen, till Yenus, his divine 
 mother, opens his eyes to behold the true facts of tlie 
 case. 
 
114 THE SIEGE OF TROY. 
 
 Not Helen, ''but the gods, the unrelenting gods, over- 
 throw this powerful realm and level the towering tops of 
 Troy with the ground." 
 
 *'Here where you see scattered ruins, and stones torn 
 from stones, and smoke in waves ascending with winged 
 dust, Neptune shakes the walls and foundations loosened 
 by his mighty trident, and overturns the whole city from 
 its basis. Here Juno, extremely fierce, is posted in the 
 front to guard the Scaean gate, and, girt with the sword, 
 with furious summons calls from the ships her social 
 band. Behold ! Tritonian Pallas hath now sat down on 
 a lofty tower resplendent with a cloud and with the terri- 
 ble Gorgon. The Father himself gives courage and suc- 
 cessful strength to the Greeks ; himself incites the gods 
 against the Trojan arms.',' 
 
 In this passage and many others, the poet repiesents 
 the heathen deities contending with mortals around ihe 
 walls of Troy. 
 
 One of the finest groups of statuary on exhibition is that 
 of Laocoon and his sons in the embrace of the serpents. 
 The original is in the Vatican at Rome, but very good 
 casts and copies of it may be seen in the museums of 
 Boston, Amherst, and elsewhere in our country. 
 
 Helen, who, if we regard the war from a human stand- 
 point, was the cause of so much slaughter, rejoined her 
 first husband, Menelaus, after the downfall of the city^ 
 and they were among the first to leave the hostile shores 
 f or their native land. 
 
THE SIEGE OF TROY. 115 
 
 Witliin the last decade, the German traveller Schlie- 
 mann has made extensive excavations and many impor- 
 tant and interesting discoveries on what was probably 
 the site of this ancient city. Among other achievements, 
 he claims to have laid bare the walls of Neptune and 
 Apollo, Priam's palace and the Scsean gate. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod, 
 An honest man's the noblest work of God."— PorE. 
 
 [Greece Continued.] 
 Brief Sketches of Noted Men. 
 
 [HE SEYEN SAGES.— Under this name, in the 
 sixth century before Christ, certain men became 
 famous. Their names are variously given ; but those 
 most generally admitted to the honor are Bias, Chilo, 
 Cleobulus, Periander, Pittacus, Solon, and Thales. These 
 men were the authors of, many mottoes and short pithy 
 sayings which exercised great influence upon the people 
 of their time. In later days some specimens of their 
 wisdom were used as inscriptions to adorn the Delphian 
 temple ; such as : 
 
 ''I^Know thyself." 
 
 " Know thy opportunity." 
 
 " Nothing too much." 
 
 '^ Suretyship is the jDrecursor of ruin." 
 
 Bias, an Ionian, showed his wisdom by declaring that 
 a man should temper his love for his friends by the 
 reflection that they might some day become his enemies, 
 and moderate his hatred of his enemies by tlie reflection 
 that they might some day become his friends; that ^' a 
 
CLEOBULUS. 117 
 
 man sliould be slow in making up his mind, but swift in 
 executing his decisions." 
 
 He thought " the most unfortunate of all men to ])e 
 the man who knows not how to bear misfortune." 
 
 And once when he overheard some notoriously wicked 
 sailors oflFering up their prayers for safety when they 
 were likely to be drowned or wrecked in a violent storm, 
 he advised them rather "to be silent, lest the gods should 
 discover that they were at sea." 
 
 Chile, a Spartan, believed the three most difficult 
 things in a man's life were : " To keep a secret, to for- 
 give injuries, and to make a profitable use of leisure 
 time." 
 
 He engaged in public affairs, and became one of the 
 chief officers of his native city. He 'travelled much 
 abroad, and probably visited the capital of Croesus and 
 conversed with the fabulist ^sop. 
 
 His death at an advanced age was caused by excessive 
 joy over the success of one of his sons in winning a prize 
 at the Olympic games. He died while embracing the 
 victor. 
 
 Cleobulus, a despot of Lindus, in the island of 
 Rhodes, claimed descent from Hercules, and was remark- 
 able both for his strength and for his beauty of person. 
 His favorite saying was, " Moderation is best.'' 
 He also taught that " it was folly in a husband either 
 to fondle or reprove his wife in company " ; and that " a 
 
lis rERIANDER. 
 
 man should never leave his dwelling without considering 
 well what he was about to do, or re-enter it without 
 rellecting on what he had done." 
 
 Periander^ a despot of Corinth, ruled with oppression 
 and cruelty. Early in his reign he is said to have sent a 
 messenger to the neighboring despot of Miletus to in- 
 quire how he could best maintain his power. 
 
 And his friend, without giving an answer in writing, 
 led the messenger through, a field of standing corn, and 
 as they went, kept asking the object of his mission, and 
 at the same time took pains to cut off all the highest 
 heads of corn that he could see. After passing through 
 the field he dismissed the servant, bidding him to tell 
 his master all that had occurred during the interview. 
 
 Periander rightly interpreted the action, and pro- 
 ceeded to put to death the most powerful nobles of the 
 state. 
 
 Whether true or not, the anecdote serves to indicate 
 the common opinion that he ruled his people with a rod 
 of iron ; and that, although classed among wise men, he 
 was foolish enough to follow bad advice in adopting a 
 bloody policy, though it may liave been the surest 
 way of retaining his throne. 
 
 He was a warm patron of art and literature, and wel- 
 comed to his court the poet and the philosopher. But 
 he would have been a much happier and better man if 
 his wisdom had taught him how to govern his temper. 
 In a fit of anger he is said to have killed his wife, and 
 
riTTACUS. 119 
 
 tlms added another foul and ineffaceable blot to his 
 already blackened character. 
 
 Pittacus, a wise and virtuous ruler of Mytilene, is 
 rightly entitled to a seat of honor among the so-called 
 sages of Greece. In a war with the Athenians, he was 
 challenged to single combat by their commander, a man 
 of prodigious size and strength. Strabo writes that on 
 this occasion " Pittacus came into the field armed with a 
 casting-net, a trident, and a dagger." Watching his 
 opportunity, he threw the net over the head of his 
 antagonist, and by this means gained an easy victory. 
 
 From this stratagem, the Eoman gladiators called 
 Eetiarii borrowed their mode of fighting. 
 
 In order to suppress drunkenness, Pittacus passed a law 
 to inflict a double punishment upon offenders for any 
 crimes committed in a state of intoxication. 
 
 The following precepts and maxims are some of those 
 which are attributed to him. 
 
 '' The greatest blessing which a man can enjoy is the 
 power of doing good." 
 
 '' The wisest man is he wh6 foresees the approach of 
 misfortune ; the bravest man , he who knows how to 
 bear it." 
 
 '' Victory should never be stained by blood." 
 
 '' Pardon is often a more effectual check on crime than 
 punishment." 
 
 '^ Power discovers the man." 
 
 " Never talk of your schemes before they are executed, 
 
120 SOLON. 
 
 lest, if yon fail to accornplisli them, yon be exposed to 
 the donble mortification of disappointment and ridicnle." 
 
 " Whatever yon do, do it well." 
 
 And his amiable disposition and his consideration for 
 the rights and feelings of others led this sage to give the 
 negative of Christ's golden rnle : 
 
 "Do not that to yonr neighbor which yon wonld take 
 ill from him." 
 
 Solon, the Athenian Law-giver. For centnries before 
 the time of Solon, Athens had snffered from anarchy 
 and misrnle. The form of government had been repeat- 
 edly changed. Monarchy had long been abolished, and 
 after some confnsion one of the nobles had been elected 
 for life to the office of archon or rnler, with supreme 
 power. Then the term of office had been rednced to ten 
 years and subsequently for the purpose of conferring the 
 honor upon a greater number of the nobility, the Athe- 
 nians adopted the expedient of annually electing nine 
 archons, who were to manage the affairs of religion, 
 direct all military movements, enact laws, administer 
 justice, and generally superintend the government. 
 
 The nobles excluded the common people from any 
 share in the government. They claimed the sole right 
 of presiding in the courts and pronouncing judgment, 
 because they alone were acquainted with the traditionary 
 and unrecorded statutes ; and in this way partiality was 
 often shown, and much injustice done through arbitrary 
 decisions. This led the common citizens to insist upon 
 
SOLON. 121 
 
 the framing of written laws. The nobles for a long time 
 refused to yield to the popular will, but at length when 
 they saw that further, resistance was impossil)le5 they 
 conceived a new plan of oppressing the commons. They 
 commissioned one of their number, Draco, surnamed the 
 Cruel, to frame a code of laws. These proved to be so 
 severe that they were said to have been written in blood. 
 
 Death was the penalty for all offences; ''for," said 
 Draco, ''the smallest crime deserves death, and I can 
 find no heavier punishment for the greatest." A des- 
 perate struggle ensued between the haughty nobles and 
 the discontented people. Party spirit raged with such 
 virulence that the state was reduced to the verge of ruin. 
 
 At this crisis, Solon, a warm friend of the people, 
 came forward and proved himself to be not only a patriot 
 but the father and savior of his country. He instituted 
 a new and republican form of government for the state, 
 vesting the principal authorities in the assemblies of the 
 people. These assemblies were clothed with the power 
 to enact, appoint judges and state officers, and choose the 
 council of the four hundred. To the nobility he 
 reserved the exclusive right to fill the office of archon 
 and to preside in the high court of the Areopagus. At 
 the same time, Solon greatly relieved the poorer citizens 
 by freeing them from a portion of their crushing debts 
 and restoring them to the free enjoyment of their mort- 
 gaged estates. 
 
 After completing these measures, Solon exacted a 
 pledge from the Athenians that they would make no 
 
122 SOLON. 
 
 changes in the laws for ten years. He then set forth on 
 a long journey to visit Asia and Egypt, perhaps partly 
 with a design to avoid by his absence any petitions to 
 alter che framework of government which he liad estab- 
 lished. 
 
 At SrirdiSj the capital of Lydia, he was hospitably 
 entertained by King Croesus, whose enormous wealth has 
 made his name proverbial. After showing his treasures 
 and displaying his glory, Croesus asked his visitor whom 
 lie thought to be the happiest of men, supposing, of 
 course, that Solon would name Croesus. 
 
 The philosopher, however, mentioned a few persons 
 who, after leading lives distinguished for patriotism and 
 filial devotion, had met with a peaceful and becoming 
 death. 
 
 " And what do you think of me ? " asked Croesus. 
 
 "Ah!" replied Solon, "call no man happy till he is dead.'' 
 
 Curtius, in his history of Greece, pays the following 
 high tribute to this sage Athenian law-giver : "An untir- 
 ing love of knowledge filled Solon from his earliest 
 youth up to the end of his life ; for even when at the 
 point of death, he is said to have raised his weary head 
 to take part in the conversations of his friends. This 
 love of knowledge, as well as his domestic circumstances, 
 early caused him to quit the narrow circle of home, and 
 to explore the world. In the midst of his restless life of 
 travel, all his thoughts and wishes remained devoted to 
 his home. Whatever met his eye he looked upon with 
 reference to Attic interests." 
 
THALES. 123 
 
 Thales, of Miletus, is noted as being the founder of 
 the Ionic school of philosophy. He taught that the pri- 
 mary principle or element, from which all things in the 
 world are formed, is water. He probably meant muddy 
 or impure water, the same thing that other philosophers 
 called Chaos. 
 
 Thales traveled much in search of knowledge, and 
 spent some time in Egypt, Crete and Phoenicia. He 
 showed the Egyptians to their astonishment how to 
 measure the height of their pyramids. It is evident that 
 Thales possessed a love for mathematics,since he invented 
 several propositions in geometry and was sufficiently 
 acquainted with celestial movements to predict an eclipse. 
 He divided the heavens into five zones, discovered the 
 equinoctial and solstitial points, and calculated the 
 length of the year to be 365 days. 
 
 When he saw the action of the loadstone, he declared 
 that all things were full of spirits or '^ demons." 
 
 What would he have thought had he been permitted 
 to behold the wonders of modern science and invention ? 
 How amazed he would have been at the mighty motive 
 power of steam, at the mysterious action of the telegraph 
 and the telephone, at the startling revelations of the tel- 
 escope and the microscope ! How blinded he would 
 have been by Edison's electric light, and more firmly 
 convinced than ever before that all things are full of 
 spirits. 
 
 After the death of Thales, the Ionic school was con- 
 tinued by teachers who variously modified the theory of 
 
124 PYTHAGORAS. 
 
 the founder. One believed that air was the primary 
 form of all matter ; another held ihdit fire or heat was the 
 original source of everything ; and another conceived a 
 supreme mind or intelligence to have brought form and 
 order out of the original chaos. 
 
 The second school of Greek philosophy was called the 
 Eleatic, from its birth-place, Elea, a Greek colony on the 
 southwestern coast of Italy. 
 
 Xenophanes founded this school, and taught his fol- 
 lowers to believe the whole of nature to be God. He 
 supported himself for some time at the court of King 
 Hiero by reciting poetry which he had written to 
 denounce and ridicule the descriptions of the gods given 
 by Homer and Hesiod. 
 
 His idea was "that God is one incorporeal, eternal 
 being, and, like the universe, spherical in form ; that He 
 is of the same nature with the universe, comprehending 
 all things within himself ; is intelligent and pervades all 
 things, but bears no resemblance to human nature, either 
 in body or mind." 
 
 Pythagoras founded the third school of Grecian phil- 
 osophy, at which a great number of pupils were educat- 
 ed. The school was at Crotona, a town on the south 
 coast of Italy. Many incredible stories are related about 
 Pythagoras. Fact and fiction are so closely mingled in 
 the accounts of his life and work that have come down 
 to us, that it is safest to receive all that is said of hira 
 
PYTHAGORAS. 125 
 
 with considerable allowance. Pythagoras first bore the 
 title of philosopher or lover of wisdom. 
 
 •'In human life," said he, "amid the various charac- 
 ters of men, there is a select number who, despising all 
 other pursuits, assiduously apply themselves to the study 
 of nature and the search after wisdom ; these are the per- 
 sons whom I call philosophers." 
 
 He resorted to many an artifice which has been 
 repeated in all ages of the world to excite the curiosity 
 and veneration of credulous people. For this purpose 
 he was careful to preserve a grave and commanding 
 aspect, and never to express in his countenance any 
 emotion as grief, joy or anger. 
 
 When he appeared in public he wore a long white 
 robe, a flowing beard, and a golden crown ; and thus 
 with his ever stately and dignified bearing, he palmed 
 himself off upon the thoughtless multitude as a being of 
 a superior order. 
 
 He believed in transmigration of souls, and claimed to 
 have a distinct remembrance of many states and condi- 
 tions of life through which his soul had passed. 
 
 In astronomy, many of his views were undoubtedly 
 correct; but as he advanced no proof, they soon were 
 mostly abandoned and forgotten. According to his the- 
 ory, the sun is the centre of the solar system, and the 
 planets revolve in circular orbits. The earth makes a 
 daily revolution on its axis and a yearly journey around 
 the sun. Yenus appears as both morning and evening 
 
126 PYTHAGORAS. 
 
 star. He fancied that the planets were inhabited, and 
 even tried to calculate the size of animals in the moon. 
 
 Music seemed to be essential to his happiness. The 
 hymns of Homer and Hesiod were favorites which he 
 often sang to promote the tranquility of his mind. 
 
 The musical chords are said to have been his discovery. 
 One day while passing by a smith's forge where several 
 workmen were successively striking an anvil with their 
 hammers, he noticed that the sounds of their strokes were 
 harmonious. Upon going into the shop, he perceived 
 that the diversity of sounds was produced by the differ- 
 ence in weight of the hammers. Thereupon he attached 
 corresponding weights to suspended strings and found 
 upon striking the strings that they rendered the same 
 musical chords which the hammers ringing on the anvil 
 had yielded. From this experiment he learned how to 
 make a musical scale and stringed instruments. 
 
 He asserted that the distances between the planets are 
 proportional to the intervals in the musical scale, and 
 that on this account the planets move in perfect harmony 
 and make the " music of the spheres." The immortal 
 gods listen with delight to the celestial concert, and the 
 soul of Pythagoras was permitted to hear it; but the 
 ears of ordinary mortals are too gross for such divine 
 melody. 
 
 The philosopher was also fond of mathematics, and 
 discovered many propositions in geometry. In a right- 
 angled triangle the square described on the hypothenuse 
 is equal to the sum of the squares described on the other 
 
PYTHAGORAS. 127 
 
 two sides^ is perhaps his greatest triumph in this science. 
 Phitarch says that upon the invention of this truth, 
 Pythagoras offered an ox, others, a hecatomb, to the 
 gods. 
 
 The examinations for entrance to the school were unique 
 and curious. Pythagoras closely scanned the features 
 of the candidate and noted his external appearance ; 
 inquired how he behaved towards his parents and friends; 
 observed his manner of laughing, conversing, and keep- 
 ing silence ; watched to see what were his habits and 
 passions, and who were his companions; and noticed 
 how he passed his leisure time. From such observations 
 as these he judged whether the applicant was capable of 
 becoming a true philosopher. If admitted, the student 
 was subjected to a long course of the most rigorous 
 discipline. 
 
 During the probationary period, the students were 
 prohibited from seeing their master, or hearing his lec- 
 tures except from behind a curtain. Strict silence was 
 enjoined upon them. They were no more allowed to 
 contradict or talk back than are their modern brothers 
 when receiving curtain-lectures. They had no proof for 
 many assertions, and could only rest upon the authority 
 of their master. Hence they were wont to silence one 
 another's doubts by an Ipse dixit^ " He said so." 
 
 "The teacher said it, and therefore it must be true." 
 
 When we read what the teacher said, we no longer 
 wonder that he cared to hide his face behind a curtain. 
 The following are specimens of his sayings and precepts • 
 
128 PYTHAGORAS. 
 
 ''Adore the sound of the whispering wind." ^ 
 
 '' Stir not the fire with a sword." 
 
 '' Turn aside from an edged tool." 
 
 '' Pass, not over a balance." 
 
 " Setting out * on a journey, turn not back, for the 
 Furies will return with you." 
 
 '' Breed nothing that has crooked talons." 
 
 ''Receive not a swallow into your house." 
 
 " Look not in a mirror by the light of a candle." 
 
 " Eat not the heart or brain." 
 
 " Taste not that which has fallen from the tables." 
 
 " Break not bread." 
 
 " Sleep not at noon." 
 
 " When it thunders, touch tlie earth." 
 
 " Pluck not a crown." 
 
 "Roast not that which has been boiled." 
 
 " Sail not on the ground." 
 
 " Plant melons in thy garden, but eat them not." 
 
 "Abstain from beans." 
 
 "Above all things, govern your tongue." 
 
 " Engrave not the image of God in a ring." 
 
 " Quit not your station without the command of your 
 general." 
 
 The Pythagoreans have always kept secret their inter- 
 pretation of these teachings, and the reader is left to 
 exercise his ingenuity, and conjecture as best he can 
 their liidden meaning. The main object of Pythagoras 
 was evidently to correct vice and commend virtue. 
 
SOCRATES. 129 
 
 Socrates, the great and good philosopher of Athens, 
 was pronounced by the Delphic Oracle " the wisest of 
 men." This he explained by saying that ''he knew that 
 he knew nothing, while other men, he found, did not 
 even know that." Cicero calls him " the father of phi- 
 losophy." His thoughts, as preserved in the writings of 
 his enthusiastic admirers and disciples are high and 
 noble. He aspired to something better than Grecian 
 mythology and the gross speculations of the sophists. 
 
 The most sublime truths dawned upon his mind. He 
 taught the immortality of the soul and man's moral 
 responsibility, and both by precept and example com- 
 mended to all the steady practice of virtue as being essen- 
 tial to happiness and true religion. He professed to be 
 guided by a secret influence, a spirit or demon. He also 
 taught the forgiveness of injuries and the unity of God. 
 The home-life of the philosoper seems to have been 
 rough and stormy. His wife Xanthippe was not noted 
 for sweet temper and gentle speech, and she was not 
 pleased to have her husband shirk the responsibility of 
 supporting his family by neglecting the legitimate busi- 
 ness of a stone-cutter, and devoting himself to endless 
 and unprofitable talking in the streets and in the public 
 resorts of the city. Indeed, on one occasion when she 
 had lost all patience, she emphasized her scolding by a 
 shower of dish-water. 
 
 Whereat the dripping philosopher dryly remarked, " I 
 thought after so much thunder we should have some 
 
 rain." 
 
130 SOCRATES. 
 
 Socrates cared little for dress or food. The same 
 homely and scanty clothing satisfied him both in winter 
 and summer. In the severity of a Thracian winter he 
 walked barefoot upon the ice, while others clad in furs 
 could scarcely endure the cold. He declined an invita- 
 tion to live in luxury at the court of a Macedonian 
 prince, saying, " At Athens meal is two-pence the meas- 
 ure, and water may be had for nothing." 
 
 Socrates used a peculiar mode of teaching. He gener- 
 ally aimed to establish the truth by a series of cunningly 
 contrived questions. He took extreme delight in expos- 
 ing the fallacies of the sophists and in covering them 
 with shame and confusion of face. At first he would 
 put a question which seemed to have no bearing on 
 the point at issue, and then by degrees he would lead 
 them on, causing them to make one admission after 
 another, till they were involved in absurdities, and con- 
 victed by their own words. By this course he made 
 many enemies. 
 
 At length he was brought to trial and condemned to 
 death on the charge of disbelief in the state religion, the 
 introduction of new deities, and the corruption of the 
 youth. After the verdict had been rendered against him, 
 he probably could have mitigated the severity of the sen- 
 tence by appealing for mercy to the judge, but he would 
 not do this. He boldly declared that he deserved to be 
 maintained at the public expense as a public benefactor. 
 
 After condemnation, Socrates was kept in prison thirty 
 days, which time he spent mainly in religious conversa- 
 
PLATO. 131 
 
 tion with his friends. One of his disciples arranged for 
 his escape by bribing the jailer; but Socrates firmly 
 refused to save his life by a breach of the laws, which he 
 had never violated. 
 
 "How sad is it," said one, ^^that thou shouldst die 
 innocent ! " 
 
 '^ What, would you have me die guilty?" responded 
 Socrates with a smile. 
 
 At last, when the summons came, he drank the fatal 
 cup of hemlock, and died with cheerfulness and compos- 
 ure amid sorrowing and weeping friends. And his great 
 soul adorned with the jewels of "temperance and justice 
 and courage and nobility and truth," returned to God 
 who gave it. 
 
 Plato, one of the disciples of Socrates, founded the 
 Academic School of Philosophy. It took its name from 
 the fact that it was established in the grove of Acade- 
 mus, a public garden, at Athens. After opening the 
 school, Plato soon became very popular as a teacher. 
 Crowds came to hear his lectures, and it is said that even 
 ladies assumed male attire that they might mingle 
 unnoticed with the hearers and enjoy the eloquence 
 which flowed from the lips of the master. He presented 
 his views in the form of dialogues, in which Socrates is 
 the chief speaker, while other characters are introduced 
 to sustain the minor parts of the conversation. 
 
 Plato was fond of mathematics, and invented geomet- 
 rical analysis. He considered the study of this science 
 
132 ARISTOTLE. 
 
 SO important that he placed the following sign on his 
 school : " Let no one enter here who is a stranger to 
 geometry." 
 
 Ancient critics could find little fault with his style or 
 language. " If Jupiter should speak Greek, it would 
 be Plato's." Many of his doctrines are in harmony with 
 the Christian religion, and his writings so much resemble 
 the Jewish Scriptures that he has been often called the 
 '^ Attic Moses." 
 
 Aristotle founded the Peripatetic school of philoso- 
 phy, so called from his habit of walking up and down in 
 the Lyceum while delivering his lectures. At the age of 
 seventeen, he entered the Academy of Plato, and so dili- 
 gently did he apply himself to his studies, that his mas- 
 ter was wont to say that he needed the bit rather than 
 the spur, and named him the Intellect of the school. 
 
 On one occasion, Plato delivered a lecture to this 
 ardent student alone, the rest having failed to attend, 
 remarking as he began that, "so long as he had Aristotle 
 for an audience, he had the better half of Athens." Like 
 all other great men, Aristotle was industrious. He could 
 never bear to be idle, and he grudged the time needed 
 for rest. He used to sleep with a ball in liis hand in 
 order that, when it fell to the floor by the relaxing of 
 the muscles, the noise might awaken him, and he could 
 then proceed with his work. 
 
 He was chosen by Philip of Macedon as preceptor to 
 his son Alexander, and he endeavored faithfully to dis- 
 
DEMOSTHENES. 133 
 
 charge the duties of his office till his royal pupil ascended 
 the throne. 
 
 Aristotle was the first writer on rhetoric, mental sci- 
 ence, natural history, and logic. 
 
 Demosthenes, the greatest orator of antiquity, was a 
 contemporary of Aristotle, both living in the fourth cen- 
 tury before Christ. His success was mainly due to an 
 unconquerable will. No natural advantages, no favor of 
 circumstances, has placed upon his brow a crown of glory 
 for all time. Little did the people of his day imagine 
 that his name was to be written so high upon the roll of 
 fame. 
 
 His first appearance as a public speaker was a complete 
 failure. A feeble and stammering voice, faulty pronun- 
 ciation, short breath, awkward gestures, a habit of shrug- 
 ging his shoulders and distorting his features, and a 
 crude style of composition,all combined to make him the 
 object of scorn and ridicule. 
 
 But by an unflagging perseverance, he triumphed over 
 all these infirmities, and placed himself " at the head of 
 all mighty masters of speech." The characteristics of his 
 oratory are clearness, precision, honesty, purity of pur- 
 pose, compact reasoning power, and scathing invective. 
 He took a firm stand against the ambitious plans of 
 Philip, and this his grateful fellow-citizens, the Athe- 
 nians, recognized in the lines which they caused to be 
 inscribed on the brazen statue erected to his memory : 
 
 '• Had you for Greece been strong as wise you were, 
 The Macedonians had not conquered her." 
 
134 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 
 
 Alexander the Great, son of Philip, and pupil of 
 Aristotle, was, as all know, the conqueror of the world. 
 At an early age he devoted hiaiself diligently to study, 
 and he became proficient in all the branches of human 
 knowledge. He was especially fond of Homer's poems, 
 committed them to memory, and endeavored to fashion 
 his character after that of Achilles. 
 
 At the same time, the physical education of the young 
 prince was not neglected. His frame was made vigorous 
 by gymnastic exercise. While very young, he gave proof 
 of his manly courage and skill by taming a high-spirited 
 horse, Bucephalus, which had mastered every other rider. 
 
 He began to reign at the age of twenty, and in the 
 short space of twelve years he finished his remarkable 
 career, having made himself master of Greece, Egypt, 
 and all Asia from the Hellespont to the Indus. 
 
 He died at Babylon, and his body was deposited in a 
 golden coffin, and carried by Ptolemy to Alexandria, and 
 divine honors were paid to him not only in Egypt, but 
 also in other countries. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 *' The corbells were carved grotesque and grim; 
 And the pillars with clustered shafts so trim, 
 With base and with capital flourished around, 
 Seemed bundles of lances which garlands had bound."— Scott. 
 
 [Greece Concluded.] 
 
 A Glance at Greek Art and Artists, 
 
 TPj^ arcliitecture, the Greeks achieved a wonderful 
 •*• degree of perfection. They doubtless borrowed many 
 ideas from Egypt, Assyria and Persia, as all the principal 
 elements of Greek art can be traced in the ancient and 
 monumental ruins of these countries. They especially 
 excelled in architecture and sculpture. 'No modern 
 genius has ever yet been able to surpass their master- 
 pieces. 
 
 There are three main styles or orders of Grecian archi- 
 tecture, the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian, chiefly 
 distinguished by the form of the column and its capital. 
 
 Of these, the Doric is perhaps the oldest and the sim- 
 plest, and was, as its name implies, the favorite style of 
 the ancient Dorians. The column is usually found with- 
 out a base, and its capital devoid of ornament. The 
 famous Parthenon at Athens is the finest example of 
 this style. Ferguson says of it in his History of Archi- 
 tecture : " In its own class, it is undoubtedly the most 
 beautiful building in the world. It is true that it has 
 
136 THE PARTHENON. 
 
 neither the dimensions nor the wondrous expression of 
 power and eternity inherent in Egyptian temples, nor has 
 it the variety and poetry of the Gothic cathedral ; but 
 for intellectual beauty, for perfection of proportion, for 
 beauty of detail, and for the exquisite perception of the 
 highest and most recondite principles of art ever applied 
 to architecture, it stands utterly alone and unrivalled, the 
 glory of Greece and the shame of the rest of the world.'^ 
 
 It was built of Pentelic marble, on the highest ground 
 of the Acropolis, during the splendid era of Pericles, and 
 at an expense estimated at six thousand talents. There- 
 were eight massive fluted pillars at each end, and seven- 
 teen on each side. At either end, above the columns, 
 there was a lofty pediment, occupied by about twenty 
 figures of heroic size. The western group represented 
 the contest of Minerva with Neptune for the soil of 
 Athens ; while the corresponding one above the eastern 
 front exhibited the birth of the Athenian goddess. 
 
 The frieze below the cornice was also filled with 
 figures sculptured in high relief, representing the actions 
 of the goddess in aiding and protecting her favorite 
 heroes. 
 
 These sculptures, together with those of the pediments 
 at the two fronts, are the works of Phidias and his schol- 
 ars, and they afford a striking proof of the perfection to 
 which this beautiful art was carried in ancient times. 
 
 The temple contained the colossal statue of Minerva,, 
 which was also the work of Phidias. It was composed 
 of ivory and gold, and for this reason it was of almost 
 
THE PARTHENON. 137 
 
 incalculable value. Indeed one writer states that forty- 
 four talents of gold, equal in value to about $465,000, 
 were used in adorning the statue, but, whatever the 
 amount, it was soon stripped off and carried away as 
 plunder by some of the many robbers with whom the 
 country has been infested from immemorial time. 
 
 The magnificent temple became in turn a Christian 
 church and a Mohammedan mosque, and stood entire till 
 the year 1687, when during a siege by the Venetians it 
 was partly destroyed. The Turks had stored some pow- 
 der in it, and this was unfortunately exploded by one of 
 the enemy's bombs, w^hereby the roof was completely 
 demolished and the whole building nearly reduced to 
 ruins. 
 
 In the early part of the present century, the earl of 
 Elgin, by permission of the Porte, brought many of the 
 sculptures from this temple to England. 
 
 The government purchased his collection for £35,000, 
 or $175,000, a little more than two-thirds the cost of 
 excavation and transportation, and placed it on exhibition 
 in the British Museum. These sculptures are known as 
 the Elgin Marbles. 
 
 The lovers of the fine arts in America possess many 
 copies in the form of casts of these original masterpieces. 
 
 This temple with its treasures of art offers to all the 
 world undeniable evidence of the genius of the Greeks. 
 ^' The appearance of the Parthenon," says Lamartine, 
 " testifies more loudly than history itself to the greatness 
 of this people. Pericles will never die ! What a civili- 
 
138 TEMPLE OF DIANA. 
 
 zation was that which found a great man to decree, an 
 architect to conceive^ a sculptor to adorn, statuaries to 
 execute, workmen to carve, and a people to pay for and 
 maintain, such an edifice ! " 
 
 The Ionic style of aTcJiitecture is distinguished by 
 simple gracefulness and by much richer ornamentation 
 than the Doric. The column is slender, and rests upon 
 a base, while the capital is made beautiful w^ith spiral 
 volutes. 
 
 The great temple of Diana at Ephesus was the best 
 example of this order. A recent writer- gives the fol- 
 lowing description of this wonderful structure : " One 
 building at Ephesus surpassed all the rest in magnifi- 
 cence and in fame. This, was the temple of Artemis, or 
 Diana, which glittered in brilliant beauty at the head of 
 the harbor, and was reckoned by the ancients as one of 
 the wonders of the world. The sun, it was said, saw 
 nothing in his course more magnificent than Diana's 
 temple. Its honor dated from remote antiquity. Leav- 
 ing out of consideration the earliest temple, which was 
 contemporaneous with the Athenian colony under Andro. 
 clus, or even yet more ancient, we find the great edifice, 
 which was anterior to the Macedonian period, begun and 
 continued in the midst of the attention and admiration 
 both of Greeks and Asiatics. The foundations were 
 carefully laid, with immense sub-structures in the marshy 
 ground. Architects of the liighest distinction were 
 
 ♦Conybeare and Howson's Jjijt and Epistles of the Apostle Paul. 
 
TEMPLE OF DIANA. 139 
 
 employed. The quarries of Mount Prion supplied the 
 marble. All the Greek cities of Asia contributed to the 
 structure, and Croesus, the king of Lydia, himself lent 
 his aid. The work thus begun before the Persian war 
 was slowly continued even through the Peloponnesian 
 war, and its dedication was celebrated by a poet contem- 
 porary with Euripides. But the building which had 
 been thus rising through the space of many years, was 
 not destined to remain long in the beauty of its perfec- 
 tion. The fanatic Herostratus set fire to it on the same 
 night in which Alexander was born. This is one of the 
 coincidences of history on which the ancient world was 
 fond of dwelling, and it enables us with more distinctness 
 to pursue the annals of " Diana of the Ephesians." The 
 temple was rebuilt with new and more sumptuous mag- 
 nificence. The ladies of Ephesus contributed their jew- 
 elry to the expense of the restoration. The national pride 
 in the sanctuary was so great that when Alexander 
 offered the spoils of his Eastern campaign if he might 
 inscribe his name on the building, the honor was declined. 
 The Ephesians never ceased to embellish the shrine of 
 their goddess, continually adding new decorations and 
 subsidiary buildings, with statues and pictures by the 
 most famous artists. This was the temple that kindled 
 the enthusiasm of Paul's opponents (Acts xix.), and was 
 still the rallying point of heathenism in the days of John 
 and Polycarp. In the second century we read that it 
 was united to the city by a long colonnade. But soon 
 after it was plundered and laid waste by the Goths, who 
 
140 TEMPLE OF DIANA. 
 
 came from beyond the Danube in the reign of Gallie- 
 nns. It sunk entirely into decay in the age when Chris- 
 tianity was overspreading the empire, and its remains are 
 to be sought for in mediaeval buildings, in the columns 
 of green jasper which support the dome of Sophia, or 
 even in the naves of Italian cathedrals." 
 
 Thus the temple of Diana saw all the changes of Asia 
 Minor from Croesus to Constantino. Though nothing 
 now remains on the spot to show us what or even where 
 it was, there is enough in its written memorials to give 
 us some notions of its appearance and splendor. 
 
 The reader will bear in mind the characteristic style 
 which was assumed by Greek architecture, and which 
 has suggested many of the images of the New Testa- 
 ment. It was quite different from the lofty and ascend- 
 ing forms of those buildings which have since arisen in 
 all parts of Christian Europe, and essentially consisted 
 in horizontal entablatures resting on vertical columns. 
 
 In another respect, also, the temples of the ancients 
 may be contrasted with our churches and cathedrals. 
 They were not roofed over for the reception of a large 
 company of worshippers, but were in fact colonnades 
 erected as subsidiary decorations around the cell which 
 contained the idol, and were through a great part of their 
 space open to the sky. 
 
 The colonnades of the Ephesian Diana really consti- 
 tuted an epoch in the history of art, for in them was 
 first matured that graceful Ionic style, the feminine 
 beauty of which was more suited to the genius of the 
 
CHORAGIC MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES. 141 
 
 Asiatic Greek than the sterner and plainer Doric in 
 which the Parthenon and Propylsea were built. 
 
 The scale on which the temple was erected was mag- 
 nificently extensive. It was four hundred and twenty- 
 five feet in length, and two hundred and twenty in 
 breadth, and the columns were sixty feet high. 
 
 The number of columns was one hundred and twenty- 
 seven, each of them the gift of a king ; and thirty-six of 
 them were enriched with ornament and color. 
 
 The folding doors were of cypress-wood,the part which 
 was not open to the sky was roofed over with cedar, and 
 the stair-case was formed of the wood of one single vine 
 from the island of Cyprus. 
 
 The value and fame of the temple were enhanced by 
 its being the treasury in which a large portion of the 
 wealth of Western Asia was stored up. It is probable 
 that there was no religious building in the world in 
 which was concentrated a greater amount of admiration, 
 enthusiasm and superstition. 
 
 The Corinthian style of architecture is more elaborate 
 and beautiful than either of the other orders. The form 
 of the capital was suggested to the mind of the cele- 
 ebrated sculptor Callimachus by his seeing a basket cov- 
 ered with a tile and overgrown by the leaves of an 
 acanthus, a kind of thistle or thorn, on which it had acci- 
 dentally been placed. 
 
 A fine example of this order was the Choragic monu- 
 ment of Lysicrates at Athens, formerly known as the 
 
142 PRAXITELES. 
 
 Lantern of Demosthenes, which was built in the time of 
 Alexander the Great. 
 
 A copy of this occupies the summit of a tower at St. 
 Cloud in France, and deserves mention as one of the rare 
 specimens of the Corinthian style to be found in Greece. 
 
 It was one of the many small houses which were used 
 to hold and exhibit the tripods — prizes won by victors 
 in the scenic games — which on festal occasions were 
 employed to adorn one of the thoroughfares of Athens, 
 named in consequence the Street of the Tripods. 
 
 The Madeleine, or Church of St. Mary Magdalene, in 
 Paris, is a beautiful example of the Corinthian style of 
 architecture. 
 
 Girard College, in Philadelphia, is another noted 
 example in this style, and is by far the best specimen of 
 Greek architecture in America. 
 
 Socrates, the noted pliilosopher, practiced the art of 
 sculpture, as already mentioned, and there was at the 
 entrance to tlie Athenian Acropolis a group of beautiful 
 Graces, clothed, which was executed by him. The form 
 of these three Graces, who are draped, is preserved and 
 represented in miniature on the reverse of a coin. In the 
 earliest sculptures, both Venus and the Graces were rep- 
 resented clothed. 
 
 Praxiteles, who flourished about 364 B. C, has been 
 praised as an original inventor and discoverer of a new 
 
PRAXITELES. 143 
 
 style in sculpture. It is said that when he found that 
 the highest eminence in the more masculine features of 
 the art had already been attained by others, and when he 
 perceived also that the taste of his age tended towards 
 the beautiful to the neglect somewhat of the strong and 
 powerful, he resolved to woo assiduously the milder and 
 gentler graces of style. 
 
 In this pursuit he succeeded admirably in uniting ele- 
 gance and refinement with simplicity. He seized the 
 happy " medium between the stern majesty which awes 
 and the beauty which merely seduces ; between the 
 external allurements of form and the colder but loftier 
 charm of intellectuality. Over his compositions he has 
 thrown an expression spiritual at once and sensual; a 
 voluptuousness and modesty which touch the most insen- 
 sible, yet startle not the most retiring." 
 
 When the people of Cos applied to him for a statue of 
 the goddess Yenus, he exhibited two, and offered them 
 the choice of a nude or a clothed figure. They chose 
 the latter, while the former was eagerly sought and 
 bought by the Cnidians, and put on exhibition by them 
 in a separate building, and so placed as to give the best 
 possible view. This statue attained so great celebrity 
 that strangers came from all parts of the known world 
 for the sole purpose of seeing it ; and a certain king 
 offered to cancel an enormous debt which the Cnidians 
 owed him, if they would only transfer their Venus to 
 him ; but as the statue was an important source of rev- 
 enue, they firmly refused all overtures to part with it. 
 
144 PRAXITELES. 
 
 No satisfactory trace of this celebrated piece of art 
 remains. 
 
 Probably the nearest approach to it is the Venus de 
 Medici, and this, at best, can only be a feeble imitation 
 of the original. 
 
 There is a bronzed Roman coin stamped with a figure 
 which is evidently a reduced copy of the Cnidian Yenus, 
 as the legend on it, in Greek, " of the Cnidians," seems 
 clearly to indicate. 
 
 Another statue of Yenus in the Gardens of the Vati- 
 can, though inferior in art, more nearly resembles the 
 figure on the coin. 
 
 Cupid bending his bow is a fine piece of art-work 
 which the genius of Praxiteles originally conceived and 
 executed, and well illustrates the style of this artist, who 
 did not even hesitate to unveil to the admiring gaze of 
 the world the charms of the goddess herself. 
 
 Still another famous work of the same sculptor was 
 the Lizard-killer, many copies of which, varying in fidel- 
 ity and excellence, are to be seen in different galleries. 
 
 In painting, Greece had a few great artists, of whom 
 she was justly proud. The coloring of vases and statues 
 seems to have been early practiced. At first, a single 
 color only was used, and afterwards, as art advanced, 
 real life was more closely imitated by the use of various 
 colors. 
 
 The Parthenon " presents remains of painting on 
 some members of the cornice ; many colored devices 
 remain on the upper part of the walls in the interior ; 
 
POLYGNOTUS. 145 
 
 and the ground of the frieze, containing the reliefs of 
 the Panathenaic procession, was blue." It is apparent 
 from this and other ruins, that color and gilding were 
 sometimes used in architecture ; yet the Greek artist, 
 'whose special mission was to represent and realize the 
 beautiful, did not regard nor employ paintings as a mere 
 adjunct of architecture, but richly decorated wood with 
 designs drawn from history or mythology. 
 
 A writer informs us that "encaus^"ic painting in colors, 
 boiled in wax and oil, was known " at an early date. 
 
 A picture of a battle, painted about 700, B. C, is said 
 to have been sold to the King' of Lydia for its weight in 
 gold. 
 
 But Polygnotus, who flourished about 460, B. C, is 
 the earliest Athenian artist who exhibited much talent 
 in his productions. 
 
 The temples of Athens were adorned by his hand, and 
 the temple of Delphi was embellished by two paintings: 
 
 '-' The Taking of Troy " and 
 
 " The Visit of Ulysses to the Under World." 
 
 For the latter work the Council presented him a vote of 
 thanks, and decreed that, whenever he travelled, he 
 should be entertained at the public expense. 
 
 One of his pictures, preserved at Rome, represented a 
 man on a scaling-ladder, holding a target in his hand, 
 and so evenly balanced that it was impossible to tell 
 whether he was going up or down. 
 
 Although he used only four unshaded colors on a 
 
146 PARRHASIUS AND ZEUXIS. 
 
 colored ground, yet his works were very highly esteemed 
 " for clear harmonious composition, for delicacy of draw- 
 ing, for fullness of expression in the figures, and noble- 
 ness in the forms." Indeed, it was remarked of one of 
 his female portraits, that " The whole Trojan War lay 
 in her eyelids." 
 
 And in a contrast which Aristotle draws between him 
 and two other artists, he asserts that the paintings of 
 Polygnotus are more favorable than nature, while those 
 of the second are more unfavorable, and those of the 
 last exact representations. 
 
 After the Peloponnesian war Parrhasius and Zeuxis 
 rose to fame and became the most noted masters of the 
 period. Both of these men were in the end inflated with 
 the most inordinate vanity and self-conceit. 
 
 Parrhasius assumed the title of the '' Elegant " - and 
 also styled himself the " Prince of Painters " and openly 
 declared that he had attained to perfection in the art of 
 painting. He even carried his arrogance so far as to 
 claim descent from Apollo and to dedicate his own por- 
 trait in a temple as Mercury in order that he might be 
 worshipped by the multitude. 
 
 He courted attention and applause from the people 
 and in this respect he much resembled Pythagoras. 
 Nothing pleased him better than the excited admiration 
 of the crowd. And to this end when he appeared in 
 public he was accustomed to wear a purple robe and a 
 
PARRHASIUS AND ZEUXIS. 147 
 
 golden garland, and to carry a cane wound round with 
 tendrils of gold and to have his sandals bound on with 
 golden straps. 
 
 The portraits which this artist executed were generally 
 excellent in outline and beautifully finished, though they 
 lacked strength and boldness of conception where these 
 qualities were essential and to be expected. There was 
 something effeminate and voluptuous in his male figures 
 which absorbed the idea of manly character and elastic 
 vigor. 
 
 A brother artist in criticising his Theseus remarked 
 that he looked as though he had been fed on roses and 
 not on beef. 
 
 The story of his contest with Zeuxis has often been 
 told. The latter painted a bunch of grapes so true to 
 nature that the birds came and pecked at them. By thi& 
 unequivocal testimony to the excellence of his work 
 Zeuxis was greatly delighted and requested his rival to 
 draw back the curtain which he supposed concealed the 
 picture which was to compete with his own, anticipating 
 a sure triumph. 
 
 But now he unexpectedly found himself defeated, for 
 what he took to be a curtain proved to be the picture it- 
 self, whereupon he frankly owned that he had been 
 beaten since he had only succeeded in deceiving the birds^ 
 while his competitor by superior skill had entrapped the 
 senses of an experienced artist. 
 
 Another similar story is related of Zeuxis, wherein he i& 
 said to have " painted a boy with a basket of grapes to 
 
148 • ^ APELLES. 
 
 •which the birds as before resorted ; on which he ac- 
 knowledged that the boy could not be well painted, 
 since had the similitude been in both cases equal the birds 
 would have been deterred from approaching." 
 
 In the latter years of his life Zeuxis gave away his 
 pictures to his friends because he considered that their 
 value was so great that nobody was rich enough to buy 
 them. 
 
 When reproached for slowness in finishing his chief 
 productions he replied that he was painting for eternity. 
 
 The report that he died of laughing over the likeness 
 of an old woman that he had painted is probably a fic- 
 tion. 
 
 But the palm in painting properly belongs to the 
 artist Apelles^ who lived in the time of Alexander the 
 Oreat. 
 
 And it is a relief to turn to his character, so unlike 
 those w^e have been considering, inasmuch as his modesty 
 was only equalled by his genius. His suavity of manners 
 won for him the friendship and patronage of Alexander. 
 Indeed it is said that the monarch w^ould not allow^ his 
 portrait to be painted by any other artist. 
 
 On one occasion Alexander engaged him to paint a 
 likeness of Campaspe, one of his concubines, ^ho was 
 distinguished for her surpassing beautj^, and when he saw 
 that the artist was captivated by her unrivalled charms 
 he generously resi£:ned all claims to her and gave her as 
 a present to his friend. 
 
APELLKS. 140 
 
 According to Pliny, she served as tl^e prototype for 
 the Venus Anadyomene, or Venus rising from the 
 waves, which was universally regarded as the master- 
 piece of this artist. It has been called " the personifica- 
 tion of Female Grace, the wonder of art, the despair of 
 artists, whose outline baffled every attempt at emenda- 
 tion, while imitation shrunk from the purity, the force^ 
 the brilliancy, the evanescent gradations of her tints." 
 
 Another famous work of this artist, was a picture of 
 Alexander grasping a thunderbolt, which was sold for 
 twenty talents of gold (about $211,000), and hung up in 
 the temple of Diana, at Ephesus. A portrait of the war 
 horse, Bucephalus, did not at first satisfy his owner ; but 
 he changed his mind in reference to it when a mare, 
 accidentally passing, began to neigh at the sight of the 
 pictured charger, and the delighted artist thought the 
 animal a better judge of painting than the King of 
 Macedon. 
 
 " No day wichout a line " was the motto of Apelles. 
 
 When he finished a piece, he exposed it to public 
 view, and then concealed himself behind it, so as to hear 
 the opinions of spectators. One day a shoemaker, who 
 noticed that a correction had been made in the picture, 
 owing to a previous criticism of his upon a shoe, now 
 began to find fault with the leg also, when the artist 
 suddenly appeared, and indignantly bade him to confine 
 his critical remarks to the slipper. Hence arose the 
 common saying, " Cobbler, stick to your last." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Antony.— O mighty Csesar ! Dost thou lie so low ? 
 Are all tliy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 
 Shrunk to this little measure ?— Shakespearb. 
 
 Rome, and Some of Her Great Men. 
 
 iffVN the south of the European continent, the middle 
 ^•^ peninsula of Italy drops down into the Mediterra- 
 nean 'Sea. And any one, by a glance at the map, will 
 notice the singular and amusing fact, that this country 
 is shaped much like a human leg and foot. The moun- 
 tain range running through it suggests the bones of 
 strength, while the island of Sicily, at the toe, suggests 
 that the person to whom the leg belongs may be playing 
 a game of foot-ball. 
 
 At any rate, that strong limb thrust down into the 
 sea and disturbing its waters, and throbbing with volcanic 
 life, is a fitting sjanbol of Rome, once the proud mistress 
 of the world — Rome, not the intellectual head, but the 
 active leg and foot, ready to march and carry her con- 
 quests to the ends of the earth — Rome, not the flitting, 
 baseless fabric of a dream, but the eternal city, ready to 
 stand and withstand the shock of warring centuries, and 
 able, wlien the clouds of battle are cleared away, still to 
 show to the admiring world the imperishable monuments 
 of her grandeur. 
 
ROME AND SOMK OF HER GREAT MEN. 151 
 
 Italy extends from Mont Blanc, on the north, to the 
 tip of the heel, about 700 miles ; and the distance from 
 heel to toe is about 200 miles. The average width of 
 the peninsula is about 100 miles, and the area is not 
 much over 1,000,000 square miles, or double the size of 
 New York and New Jersey combined. 
 
 The mountains rise from 4,000 to 15,000 feet in 
 height. The volcano Vesuvius, near Naples, is about 
 4,000 feet high. That is about the same as the height 
 of the Catskills in New York State. 
 
 Italy is a land of beautiful scenery. No language can 
 justly describe her lovely lakes and landscapes, and no 
 artist can catch and reproduce on canvas the splendid 
 and glowing beauty of her proverbially brilliant sunsets. 
 
 Horace, with a poet's fondness, rightly calls his native 
 land " the most smiling corner of the world." The mild 
 climate, the fertile plains, the green pastures, the vine- 
 yards, rich harvests, fine forests, and orchards of the 
 orange and the olive, and the groves of mulberry, the 
 lofty mountains and wild gorges, all combine to render 
 Italy an attractive country for human habitation. 
 
 And the people of this country have taken a leading 
 part in the general history of the world. The three 
 nations which have stood out foremost in the field of 
 human achievements, are the Greeks, the Romans, and 
 the Teutons. The Greeks furnished the seed, the Romans 
 planted it, and for centuries the Teutons have been 
 gathering the harvest. Each nation, in turn, having 
 accomplished its divinely appointed work, has given 
 
152 JULIUS CJSSAR. 
 
 place to its successor. Of these, the Romans occupy the 
 central position in time and place. They alone founded 
 a universal Empire in which all earlier history was 
 absorbed, and out of which all later history has grown. 
 
 The Roman Empire was formed by gradually bringing 
 under its sway all the countries round about the Med*^ 
 iterranean Sea, alike in Europe, Africa and Asia. And 
 the man who undoubtedly had most to do with founding 
 the Empire was 
 
 Julius Caesar. 
 
 He was born in the year 100 B. C. From his earliest 
 boyhood he discovered remarkable talents, and in after 
 years he became the most distinguished person of his 
 age. Miiller gives the following condensed account of his 
 character and career : " We are now contemplating that 
 man who, within the short space of fourteen years, sub- 
 dued Gaul, thickly inhabited by warlike nations ; twice 
 conquered Spain ; entered Germany and Britain ; 
 marched through Italy at the head of a victorious army ; 
 destroyed the power of Pompey the Great; reduced 
 Egypt to obedience ; saw and defeated Pharnaces ; over- 
 powered in Africa the name of Cato and the armies of 
 Juba ; fought fifty battles in which 1,192,000 men fell ;. 
 was the greatest orator in the world next to Cicero ; set 
 a pattern to all historians which has never been excelled ; 
 wrote learnedly on the science of grammar and augury,, 
 and, falling by a premature death, left memorials of his 
 great plans for the extension of the Empire and the legis- 
 
JULIUS CvESAK. 153 
 
 lation of the world. So true it is that it is not time that 
 is wanting to man, but resohition to turn it to the best 
 advantage." 
 
 "According to Pliny, he was able to read, write, hear 
 and dictate at one and the same time from four to seven 
 different letters." "Besides being a general, statesman, 
 jurist, orator, and historian, he was also a poet, a mathe- 
 matician, an astronomer and an architect." He w^as 
 " equally fitted to excel in everything." 
 
 Shakespeare calls him " The foremost man of the 
 world." And being such, he aspired to the highest 
 position and authority among his people. He once 
 remarked while passing through a small Alpine town 
 that he would rather be the first man in that village than 
 the second man in Rome. 
 
 He was the idol of his army, and when on the eve of 
 battle no more stirring and impressive words could 
 be spoken to the troops than: " Soldiers, imagine that 
 Caesar beholds you." He would achieve the greatest 
 victories and announce them to the Eoman Senate 
 with modesty and brevity. His famous campaign against 
 Pharnaces he reported in three words: " Yeni, vidi, vici," 
 " 1 came, I saw, I conquered." 
 
 In the year M B. C. he was assassinated in the Senate- 
 chamber and he fell covered with wounds at the foot of 
 Pompey's Statue. Two of the principal instigators in 
 forming the conspiracy and perpetrating the foul deed 
 were Cassius and Brutus. The motives which prompted 
 Cassius and most of the others to stain their hands with 
 
154 JULIUS c.^:sAR. 
 
 such a crime seem to have been mainly envy and jeal- 
 ousy of the rising greatness of Csesar. 
 
 Shakespeare draws the following pen-portrait of Cas- 
 sius, the base, sneaking, plotting, hypocritical scoundrel. 
 Csesar thus confidentially frees his mind to his friend 
 Antony : 
 
 "Let me have men about me that are fat; 
 
 Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: 
 
 Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; 
 
 He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. 
 
 Would he were fatter:— But I fear him not: 
 
 Yet if my name were liable to fear 
 
 I do not know the man I should avoid 
 
 So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much; 
 
 He is a great observer, and he looks 
 
 Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays 
 
 As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music: 
 
 Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort, 
 
 As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit 
 
 That could be moved to smile at any thing. 
 
 Such men as he be never at heart's ease, 
 
 Whiles they behold a man greater than themselves; 
 
 And therefore are they very dangerous." 
 
 The same poet has the following lines on the character 
 of Brutus, who took his own life after the disastrous bat- 
 tle of Philippi : 
 
 "This was the noblest Roman of them all: 
 
 All the conspirators, save only he. 
 
 Did. that they did in envy of great Caesar; 
 
 He, only, in a general honest thought, 
 
 And common. good to all made one of them. 
 
 His life was gentle ; and the elements 
 
 So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up 
 
 And say to all the world. This was a ma?i ,'" 
 
 But let US leave Caesar, who lias been styled/" The 
 
MARCUS TULLius ciop:ro. 155 
 
 greatest man who ever lived in the tide of times/- and 
 briefly consider the career of his contemporary, 
 
 Marcus Tullius Cicero, 
 
 This most distinguished Eoman orator was born in the 
 province of Latinm, near Arpinum, six years before the 
 birth of Julius Caesar. And his tragic death occurred 
 about a year after Caesar's fall. 
 
 Plutarch derives tlie name of Cicero from cicer^ a vetch, 
 and says that he was so called because " he had a flat 
 excrescence on the top of his nose in resemblance of a 
 vetch." Pliny makes the more probable suggestion that 
 the name originated in the remarkable success of the 
 first person who bore it, in raising vetches. Be that as 
 it may, the Cicero of whom we are writing could never 
 be persuaded to lay aside or change the name. If it was 
 a shame to have such a name he gloried in his shame, and 
 when he became quaestor in Sicily he consecrated in one 
 of the temples a silver offering, inscribed with his first 
 names Marcus Tullius followed by the engraving of a 
 vetch to represent the Cicero. Such are some of the 
 stories, whether false or true, which are told about his 
 name. 
 
 When he was old enough to attend school, he was 
 placed under the instruction of the most accomplished 
 and proficient poets, lawyers and orators of the period. 
 And it is said to his praise that " he had both the capac- 
 ity and inclination to learn all the arts." There was no 
 branch of science which he neglected or despised. 
 
156 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 Poetry was a favorite study, and there was one period 
 in his life when he was regarded as the best poet as well 
 as the greatest orator in Rome. 
 
 Oratory and arms were the avenues to distinction in 
 his days, and having no desire to lead the life and fight 
 the battles of a soldier, Cicero applied himself to oratory 
 with all diligence and zeal. The speeches of different 
 orators and their styles of delivery were carefully stud- 
 ied. His first efforts in public speaking were defective 
 in lively action and yet by the aid of his teachers he soon 
 gained the palm of eloquence over all his rivals. 
 
 Some idea of his personal appearance may be formed 
 from the following description : "Among the crowd who 
 listened to the orators in the Forum as they thundered 
 from the Rostra, stood a tall,thin youth, with outstretched 
 neck and eager eyes, gazing with rapt attention on the 
 speakers and learning from them the art how to sway by 
 the charm of eloquence the fierce democracy of Rome.'^ 
 — Forsytes Life of Cicero. 
 
 At an early age he entered upon his brilliant career of 
 public advancement, and having held in succession the 
 offices of qusestor, aedile, and praetor, he finally reached 
 the goal of political ambition in being elected to the con- 
 sulship. And in every position which he occupied he 
 always aimed to discharge his duties with integrity and 
 fidelity, by which course he generally gained the good- 
 will of the most worthy people. The dishonest scoun- 
 drels of course hated him. 
 
 The conspiracy of Catiline happened while Cicero 
 
MARCUS TCTLLIUS CICERO. 167 
 
 was Consul, and it was in the exposure and suppression 
 of this incredible league of crime and wickedness that 
 the eloquent orator won his greatest victory and received 
 the title Father of Ms Country in recognition of his ser- 
 vices. 
 
 Yet he was blamed for the summary punishment, with- 
 out trial of some of the conspirators, and this action on 
 his part eventually proved his ruin. Shortly afterwards 
 a bill was proposed that '' whoever had put to death a 
 Roman citizen uncondemned in due form of trial should 
 be interdicted from fire and water ; " and as this bill was 
 a blow aimed directly at Cicero he retired into exile in 
 the deepest despondency and grief. 
 
 Through the untiring efforts of friends he was recalled 
 after several months of banishment. He returned to 
 Eome in time to witness the struggle for supremacy 
 between Csesar and Pompey. After some mental vacil- 
 lation he took sides with the latter. When Pompey and 
 the senatorial party were finally crushed in the campaign 
 of Pharsalia, Cicero submitted with seeming good- will to 
 the dictatorship of Caesar : but his letters clearly show 
 that he was disappointed and they also betray a weak and 
 peevish disposition. 
 
 This, however, was the period of his greatest literary 
 activity. He makes books, as many an author since has 
 -done, to keep his mind from dwelling on the miseries of 
 his political failure and defeat. 
 
 Some think that Cicero saw the murder of Caesar, at 
 any rate he applauded his assassination and joined the con- 
 
168 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 spirators. He denounced Antony with exceeding bitter- 
 ness and violence in the famous orations called after those 
 of Demosthenes the Philippics — an act for which he 
 soon paid the forfeit of his life. 
 
 When Antony rose to power he had Cicero's name 
 placed on the proscribed list ; and soon afterwards a band 
 of soldiers found and dispatched him near his Formian 
 Villa. They cut off his hands and head and carried them 
 to Antony, who caused them to be nailed to the Eostra 
 in mockery of the triumphs of their owner's eloquence* 
 Thus perished the great orator Cicero. Without ques- 
 tion he possessed many shining traits of character, such as 
 virtue and purity and temperance. As a friend he was 
 kind and obliging, as a father he was gentle, sympathiz- 
 ing and affectionate, and as a citizen he was honest and 
 patriotic. That he had faults, no one can justly deny. 
 His vanity was excessive. It crops out everywhere in his 
 orations. He thought he well deserved divine honor. 
 He coveted popular applause. It possessed a charm for 
 him beyond all else. Consequently when adversitj'' over- 
 took him he was utterly forlorn and wretched. 
 
 Cicero was a voluminous writer, his works embracing 
 nearly every branch of literature. More than eight hun- 
 dred letters from his pen are extant, and about fifty 
 orations remain entire, besides numerous treatises and 
 essays on a great variety of subjects. 
 
 And in all these writings we behold and admire con- 
 summate grace and beauty of diction. He never lacks 
 words by which to express liis tliouglit. They seem to 
 
AUGUSTUS CuESAR. 159 
 
 pour forth without eflfort from an inexhaustible fountain. 
 And whatever else can be said about Cicero, he can 
 never deservedly be called dull and stupid. He was 
 witty and imaginative. Indeed, according to Niebuhr, 
 " The predominent and most brilliant faculty of his mind 
 was his wit." 
 
 Augustus Caesar, a great-nephew whom Julius Caesar 
 had adopted as his son, was the first Roman Emperor. 
 He received the title of Augustus in the year 27 B. C, 
 which marked the dignity of his rank and person, and by 
 degrees he gained supreme control of civil and religious 
 matters, and exercised his jDOwer with moderation. He 
 was also called '^The Father of his Country." The 
 title of Dictator had been rendered odious by Sylla and 
 Csesar, and therefore Augustus wisely and firmly de- 
 clined to assume it. 
 
 During his reign many wars were successfully prose- 
 cuted in different parts of the Empire. A small district 
 of Spain, and the lands between the Alps and the 
 Danube were added to his dominion. And the Parthians 
 were obliged to give up Armenia and restore the eagles 
 taken from Crassus and Anton3\ 
 
 At length peace was established throughout the Em- 
 pire, and the temple of Janus was closed for the third 
 time since the foundation of Rome. The universal repose 
 lasted nearly twenty years, and then it was broken by the 
 defeat of Yarns in a battle with the G ermans beyond the 
 Rhine. The German hero Arminius, with his army, 
 
160 AUGUSTUS CiESAR. 
 
 destroyed three Roman legions, and thus stopped all fear 
 of Germany becoming a Roman province. Augustus 
 was much depressed by the report of this misfortune. 
 He mourned over the loss of his men with deepest 
 sorrow, letting his beard and hair grow long, and often 
 crying out, " Oh, Yarns, give me back my legions ! " 
 
 During the term of peace above referred to, Augustus 
 faithfully devoted himself to improving his empire. To 
 this end he issued decrees to reform abuses in the govern- 
 ment, to elevate and educate the people, to subject the 
 army to discipline, to promote marriage, to suppress 
 luxury, and, in fine, to subserve all the best interests of 
 the state. He also travelled extensively in neighboring 
 countries, to gather knowledge for the benefit of his 
 subjects. And they in turn erected altars to him, and by 
 a decree of the Senate, named the month of August 
 after him, as July had been called after his predecessor. 
 
 In height, Augustus was below the medium, but 
 well proportioned. And in reference to his appearance, 
 it is said that he had light brown hair, inclined to curl, 
 and bright and lively eyes, while the general expression 
 of his countenance indicated a calm and gentle disposi- 
 tion. 
 
 Yet at times there must nave been something awe- 
 inspiring or terrifying in his presence. On one occasion 
 he encouraged a trembling petitioner by saying, " Friend, 
 you appear as if you were approaching an elephant rather 
 than a man. Be bolder." 
 
 He was a generous patron of learning, and scholars 
 
VIRGIL. 161 
 
 were welcomed and honored at his court, though his own 
 literary attainments were meagre. It was his prudent 
 habit to carefully write out his speeches, and then, hav 
 ing read thern to his wife for her advice and criticism, 
 he would commit them to memory before he delivered 
 them to the public. 
 
 The reign of Augustus was the golden age of litera- 
 ture. In his time flourished the poets Virgil, Horace, 
 and Ovid, the historian Livy, and many other writers. 
 And this was also the period when Rome was enriched 
 and adorned with many splendid buildings. It is truly 
 said of Augustus that " he found Rome of brick and left 
 it of marble." 
 
 But the chief glory and distinction of his age was little 
 known or thought of in the brilliant circles of his capital. 
 Towards the end of his reign, Christ was born at Bethle- 
 hem, in Judea. And in His person a greater one than 
 Augustus had come to set up a spiritual kingdom des- 
 tined " to outlast the glories of imperial Rome; " come 
 to proclaim peace on earth, good will to men ; come to 
 publish and exemplify in all His conduct and manner of 
 life, the law of love and brotherly kindness ; come to 
 unlock and disclose the mysteries of the future world, 
 and to answer questions which had hitherto for centuries 
 puzzled and baffled the wisdom of the sages. Hence the 
 most important event which occurred during the reign of 
 Augustus was the birth of the Saviour. 
 
 Virgil, in one of his Eclogues, entitled ^^PoUio," and 
 
162 VIRGIL. 
 
 dated 40 B. C, predicts the advent of a wondrous 
 Child whose birth would be the dawn of a golden agje of 
 peace and happiness. Now, it may be that Yirgil had 
 heard of the Hebrew prophecies, since, at the time he 
 wrote, Palestine w^as a part of the great Eoman Empire^ 
 and he may have had his mind's eye fixed upon the Mes- 
 siah when he composed the poem. The following is a 
 passage from a poetical version of this poem : 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE POLLIO. 
 
 •* Comes the Last Age of which the Sibyl sung— 
 
 A new-born cycle of the rolling years; 
 
 Justice returns to earth, the rule returns 
 
 Of good King Saturn ; lo ! from the high heavens 
 
 Comes a new seed of men. Lucina chaste, 
 
 Speed the fair infant's birth, with whom shall end 
 
 Our age of iron, and the golden prime 
 
 Of earth return ; thine own Apollo's reign 
 
 In him begins anew. This glorious age 
 
 Inaugurates, Pollio, with thee; 
 
 Thy consulship shall date the happy months; 
 
 Under thine auspices the Child shall purge 
 
 Our guilt-stains out, and free the land from dread. 
 
 He with the gods and heroes like the gods 
 
 Shall hold familiar converge, and shall rule 
 
 With his great father's spirit the peaceful world. 
 
 For thee, O Child ! the earth untilled shall pour 
 
 Her early gifts, the winding ivy's wreath, 
 
 Smiling acanthus, aud all flowers that blow. 
 
 The ground beneath shall cradle thee in blooms, 
 
 The venomed snake shall die, the poisonous herb 
 
 Perish from out thy path." 
 
 — W. L. Collins. 
 
 Besides the Eclogues, or pastoral poems, Virgil is the 
 author of the Georgics and the ^neid. The Georgics i& 
 a poetical work on liusbandry. It directs the farmer 
 how to plow, and sow, and reap ; it teaches how to ren- 
 
VIRGIL. 165 
 
 der the land fertile, and explains the signs of the weather. 
 And much minute advice is given about the proper care 
 and cultivation of the vineyard, the raising of cattle^ 
 and the management of bees. In this poem Virgil singa 
 the praises of Italy, his native land, in a glowing 
 eulogy. 
 
 " Yet golden corn each laughing valley fills, 
 The vintage reddens on a thousand hills, 
 Luxuriant olives spread from shore to shore, 
 And flocks unnumbered range the pastures o'er. 
 '' Here Spring perpetual leads the laughing hours, 
 And Winter wears a wreath of summer flowers ; 
 The o'erloaded branch twice fills with fruits the year, 
 And twice the teeming flocks their offspring rear. 
 " All hail, Saturnian earth! hail, loved of fame. 
 Land, rich in fruits, and men of mighty name! " 
 
 The Georgics is regarded as the most finished and 
 original of YirgiPs productions. He spent seven years 
 in composing it, and then, after finishing it, he devoted 
 the rest of his life, or eleven years, to writing the JEneid 
 in fulfillment of a promise made to the Emperor that 
 " he would wed Caesar's glories to an epic strain." The 
 ^neid, like the Odyssey, is a sequel to Homer's Iliad, in 
 which the origin of Eome is beautifully described, and 
 the genealogy of Augustus is traced back to " the pious- 
 ^neas," the greatest hero who survived the fall of 
 ancient Troy. 
 
 In a celebrated passage the poet represents ^neas as 
 visiting the lower world, where he meets his father'^ 
 ghost, and learns from his lips the future of his race^ 
 while he beholds with excited wonder the pale and shad- 
 
164 VIRGIL. 
 
 owy forms of men who are destined to shed glory on the 
 Roman name. Among the spirit-throng he sees " Augus- 
 tus Caesar, god by birth," and the great Marcellus, " the 
 Sword of Rome," who fought with Hannibal, and fell 
 in the second Punic War. And there also, by the side 
 of the distinguished Roman commander, he espies 
 
 *' A youth full-armed, by none excelled 
 In beauty's manly grace." 
 
 This splendid youth is introduced as " our own Mar- 
 -cellus," the Emperor's nephew and Octavia's son, a 
 prince of bright promise, whose sudden and untimely 
 death had stricken his friends with sorrow, and filled his 
 mother's heart with inconsolable grief. 
 
 The eulogy upon this young man is one of the most 
 touching tributes to be found in any language ; and 
 when, at the request of Augustus, Yirgil recited the 
 affecting passage before the royal family, the bereaved 
 mother is said to have fainted quite away at the exceed- 
 ing pathos of the lines. Virgil, no doubt, recited the 
 verses with wonderful sweetness and propriety, as he is 
 «aid to have received from the heart-broken parent the 
 munificent reward of 10,000 sesterces, or about $400 for 
 €ach verse, amounting nearly to $8,000 for the passage. 
 The following is a version of this famous encomium 
 upon 
 
 MARCELLUS. 
 
 •• Seek not to know (the ghost replied with tears) 
 
 The sorrows of thy sons in future years, 
 
 This youth (the blissful vision of a day} 
 
 Shall just be shown on earth, then snatched away. 
 
VIRGIL. 105» 
 
 The gods too high had raised the Koman stale, 
 
 Were but their gifts as permanent as great. 
 
 What groans of men shall fill the Martian field! 
 
 How fierce a blaze his flaming pile shall yield! 
 
 What funeral pomp shall floating Tiber see, 
 
 When, rising from his bed, he views the sad solemnity! 
 
 No youth shall equal hopes of glory give. 
 
 No youth afford so great a cause to grieve. 
 
 The Trojan honor, and the Roman boast. 
 
 Admired when living, and adored when lost ! 
 
 Mirror of ancient faith in early youth ! 
 
 Undaunted worth, inviolable truth! 
 
 No foe, unpunished in the fighting field, 
 
 Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and shield ! 
 
 Much less in arms oppose thy matchless force, 
 
 When thy sharp spurs shall urge thy foaming horse. 
 
 Ah! couldst thou break through Fate's severe decree, 
 
 A new Marcellus shall arise in thee ! 
 
 Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring, 
 
 Mixed with the purple roses of the spring: 
 
 Let me with funeral flowers his body strow ; 
 
 This gift which parents to their children owe, 
 
 This unavailing gift, at least I may bestow! " 
 
 —Dryden. 
 
 The -^neid abounds in beautiful thoughts, though in 
 originality it is inferior to Homer's great Epic. Yirgil's- 
 house at Kome stood on the Esquiline Hill, near the 
 gardens of his friend Maecenas. It was comfortably 
 furnished, and had an excellent library. Yet it is not 
 strange that the poet, with his modest and retiring dispo- 
 sition, preferred the peace and quiet of a country home 
 to the noise and confusion of a great capital. 
 
 Besides, his talents had gained him such popularity 
 that whenever he appeared in public he was the object 
 of general attention. On one occasion, " when some of 
 liis verses were recited in the theatre, the whole audience 
 rose to salute Virgil, who was present, with the same 
 
166 VIRGIL. 
 
 respect which they would have paid to the Emperor.'^ 
 During the latter years of his life, the poet resided at 
 Naples, or near there, at a delightful villa which he 
 owned. ^ This was his favorite retreat, as he could here 
 find shelter from public observation. 
 
 He died at the age of fifty, and just before his death 
 he called for the JEneid to burn it, because he regarded 
 it as an imperfect poem. Augustus, however, interposed 
 iind saved the work from the flames, to which the 
 modesty of its author had consigned it. Yirgil was 
 buried at Naples in a simple vault, long since overgrown 
 with ivy and wild myrtle, and marked by a marble slab 
 set in the rock opposite. The Latin inscription upon it 
 has been thus rendered : 
 
 " I suns: flocks, tillage, heroes ; Mantua gave 
 Me life; Brundisium, death ; Naples, a grave." 
 
 The poet bequeathed his fortune of $400,000 to his 
 brother, Augustus, Maecenas and other friends. Thus 
 passed away a noble and virtuous man, eminent for 
 purity of character, integrity, modesty, unselfishness, 
 and filial piety. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 A Few Other Distinguished Romans. 
 
 " Who, you all know, are honorable men."— Shakespeare. 
 
 [IBER1U8, THE SECOND ROMAN EMPEROR. 
 
 On the death of Augustus, Tiberius • succeeded, 
 without opposition, to the empire, and soon afterwards 
 he began the practice of a wicked and sanguinary policy, 
 which justly caused him to be thoroughly hated and 
 feared. In order to avoid punishment for his crimes, he 
 watched, circumvented, imprisoned and put to death, 
 as far as possible, all the noble men of the state 
 who ^vould be likely to call him to account for 
 his misdeeds. Persons were tried on a charge of 
 high treason, grounded not upon actions but upon 
 looks, words, and gestures, all of which were magni- 
 fied into grievous offences against the majesty of the 
 Emperor. 
 
 A sj^stem of espionage was organized, which destroyed 
 social confidence and domestic security, inasmuch as a 
 man's enemies were quite likely to be found among his 
 own servants, or among the guests who were accustomed 
 to sit at his table and enjoy his free bounty. The prin- 
 ciple that the accused is to be regarded as innocent until 
 he is proven guilty, had no place in the trials conducted 
 
168 TIBERIUS. 
 
 under tlie direction of Tiberius. On the contrary, those 
 who were accused by the spies of the government every- 
 where present, were at once suspected and presumed to 
 be guilty ; and corrupt judges were easily found to 
 condemn them. Therefore confiscations and executions 
 were every-day occurrences. 
 
 The rights of the people were trampled upon or dis- 
 regarded. Tiberius chose the magistrates himself, abol- 
 ished the assemblies, and thus swept away the last trace 
 of popular liberty. Both in public and private life he 
 was a monster of cruelt3^ With sleepless and devouring 
 jealousy he sapped the strength of the state by shedding 
 the best blood of Rome, and with implacable malice 
 persecuted his own kindred. 
 
 At last he himself fell a victim to the rage and revenge 
 of his enemies. He was murdered A. D. 31, by Caius, 
 who, he had predicted, "would prove a serpent to swallow 
 Rome, and a Phaethon to set the world on fire." Tibe- 
 rius had some literary ability, and was said to be a crafty 
 speaker. He was addicted to the practice of astrology,, 
 and, like Augustus, apprehensive of thunder, as a pre- 
 servative against which he wore a laurel crown. 
 
 In his person he was tall and robust, broad in the 
 shoulders, and so strong in the muscles that he could 
 bore a hard apple with his finger, and wound the scalp 
 of a boy with a fillip. His face was fair-complexioned^ 
 and would have been handsome if it had not been dis- 
 figured by carbuncles, for which he used cosmetics. His 
 eyes were prodigiously large, and could discern objects 
 
VKSPASIAN. 1(59 
 
 in the dark ; lie wore liis liair long in the neck, contrary 
 to the Roman usage ; walked erect with a stiff neck ; 
 seldom accosted any one : and w^hen he spoke, used a 
 wave of the liand as in condescension. 
 
 The news of the tyrant's death was received at Rome 
 with popukr cries of "Tiberias to the Tiber I " His, 
 body, however, was burned with funeral rites. 
 
 It was durino^ the reiscn of Tiberius that Christ was 
 crucified. 
 
 Caligula succeeded to the empire on the death of 
 Tiberius. Like liis predecessor, he is notorious for his 
 cruelty and vices. 
 
 He built his favorite horse a marble stable, placed in 
 it an ivory manger, and had he not been prevented by 
 death, he probably would have conferred upon the animal 
 the honors of the consulship. 
 
 The soldiers nicknamed him Caligula, or •' little shoe," 
 from the fact that in his youth he wore little shoes like 
 their own. On one occasion he became incensed at the 
 people of Rome for some trivial reason, and exclaimed : 
 " Would that the people of Rome had but one neck, so 
 that I might behead them all at once." 
 
 Passing over the names of several emperors, we come 
 to that of 
 
 Vespasian, who was crowned in 70, A. D. And it is 
 quite a relief to find in him a good ruler among so many 
 bad ones. He w^as distinguished for many noble and 
 
170 VESPASIAN. 
 
 commendable traits of character. He was affable, kind 
 and firm, and he therefore reigned with great popu- 
 larity. 
 
 " He was brave, and free from vice, an enemy to lux- 
 ury, and devoid of personal or family pride." 
 
 When dying, at the age of seventy years, he requested 
 his attendants to lift him to his feet, saying that " an 
 emperor should die standing." 
 
 The Colosseum at Rome dates from the time of Ves- 
 pasian. This is one of the largest structures ever erected 
 by the hand of man, and though in ruins, much of it 
 still remains as the proud and glorious monument of 
 ancient grandeur. 
 
 It is said that Vespasian made his Jewish prisoners work 
 for him gratuitously in the construction of this vast 
 amphitheatre. It was dedicated about the year 80, A. D., 
 and the people, struck with its immense proportions, 
 called it the Colosseum. " At the inauguration under 
 Titus, 5,000 wild beasts were put to death, and 11,000 
 on the occasion " of a grand victory over the Parthians. 
 In the arena a little forest was planted, and therein were 
 placed a thousand ostriches and a countless number of 
 other animals. 
 
 For many years after the practice of celebrating the bar- 
 barous games for wliich the building was reared had 
 been abandoned, it was used successively as a fortress 
 and a hospital, and finally it served as a quarry from 
 which the Farnese and others took the material to build 
 their lofty and magnificent palaces. But one of the 
 
VESPASIAN. 171 
 
 popes, shocked at such wanton depredations, put an end 
 to them by consecrating the building to the memory of 
 the blessed martyrs who had been torn to pieces within 
 it by wild beasts. The farther decay of the building 
 was arrested by walls and buttresses of support. 
 
 The following is a description of the structure, trans- 
 lated from the French : " The oval arena, 260 feet long 
 by 150 wide, had its two entrances situated at the two 
 broad extremities of the circus. It was surrounded by 
 gradually ascending steps, which formed seats for the 
 spectators. On the first rank were placed at one side 
 the box for the imperial family, and on the other, that 
 of the consuls. Right and left were places reserved for 
 ambassadors, first magistrates, senators, and other great 
 dignitaries. The senators and equites occupied stalls of 
 %vhite marble, separated from the common people by a 
 deeply cut division, forming a kind of fixed gulf between 
 them. The amphitheatre terminated with a beautiful 
 portico at the roof, formed of eighty marble columns. 
 The Colosseum accommodated 90,000 spectators. 
 
 " Night is the time when one should contemplate the 
 Colosseum, when a beautiful clear moonlight plays 
 among the hollow vaults and on the broken steps, giving 
 to what it lights up, and what it darkens with shadow, 
 proportions more vast and shapes even stranger than 
 their own. Then it is that the terrible scenes of the 
 past crowd on the memory of the traveller." 
 
 " We imagine we see," says Chateaubriand, " the 
 people assembling in the theatre of Vespasian ; all Rome 
 
172 VKSPASIAN. 
 
 gathered to drink tlie blood of the martyrs; a hundred 
 thousand spectators, some shaded by tlie hem.s of their 
 robes, others by umbrelhis, crowding the seats; multi- 
 tudes vomited forth, as it were, by the porticos, descend- 
 ing and ascending the long stairs and taking their places. 
 Railings of gold ward off the senators' box from the 
 attacks of the ferocious beasts. Ingenious machines 
 scatter a perfumed spray tliroughout the vast 
 space, cooling the air and making it pleasant. Three 
 thousand statues in bronze, an endless multitude of pic- 
 tures, columns of jasper and porpliyry, balustrades of 
 crystal, vases of the richest workmansliip, dazzle the eye 
 and lend variety to the scene. In a canal surrounding 
 the arena swim a hippopotamus and crocodiles. Five hun- 
 dred lions, forty elephants, and tigers, panthers, and bulls 
 accustomed to the slaughter of human beings, rage and 
 roar in the caverns of the amphitheatre ; while here and 
 there gladiators, not less ferocious, wipe tlieir blood- 
 stained arms." 
 
 It seems strange that any people could ever enjoy the 
 sight of such base, cruel sports, and yet it is a historical 
 fact that the early inhabitants of Rome did relish and 
 even gloat over and glory in such bloody spectacles. 
 They were monsters, simply monsters of cruelty and 
 inhumanity, without a drop of pity in their hearts. 
 Watch them as they lean over the galleries, all intent 
 upon the fierce contest in the arena, and you will see 
 every thumb turned down,voting the helpless victim to the 
 death, not one of them willing to turn his hand over to 
 
DOMITIAN. 173 
 
 spare the poor martyrs life. And yet a respectable his- 
 torian writes that Yespasian was " free from vice." The 
 blood of tlie martyrs slain by his order or sanction, cries 
 out from tlie ground of the Colosseum that he was an 
 inhuman barbarian. 
 
 Titus, the son of Yespasian, succeeded to the throne 
 in 79, A. D. Measured^ by the standards of his time, he 
 was a brave and worthy man. He was called " the father 
 of his people, the guardian of virtue, and the patron of 
 liberty." Doubtless in some degree he merited the 
 praises bestowed upon him. One anecdote which is 
 related about him, is highly to his credit. 
 
 On recalling one evening that he had done no benevo- 
 lent act during the day, he exclaimed: '^My friends, I 
 have lost a day." 
 
 Titus was the General who besieged and took Jerusa- 
 lem, 70, A. D. Probably he himself " would have saved 
 the holy place of the Temple as a wonder of the world, 
 but a soldier threw a torch through a golden latticed 
 window, and the flame spread rapidly." 
 
 Domitiaii, a brother of Titus, was the next emperor. 
 And it would be difficult to And two persons belonging 
 to the same family, and more unlike, than were these 
 brothers. Domitian was a profligate scoundrel. Rome 
 trembled when he obtained the crown. He w^as '* indo- 
 lent, voluptuous, cruel, malignant, suspicious." 
 
 '' He was so much in the habit of catching flies and 
 piercing them through with a bodkin for his amusement, 
 
174 TKAJAN. 
 
 that one of his servants, being asked if any one was with 
 the emperor, answered, ^Not even a fly.' " 
 
 At another time he summoned his council before him 
 at midnight, as if some very important business was to 
 be transacted. Indeed, they all supposed that some great 
 danger threatened the state. 
 
 They were, however, happily disappointed when they 
 were told the reason for calling them together at that 
 late and unseemly hour. The emperor simply wished to 
 consult them as to whether an immense turbot, just 
 caught, should be cut in pieces or have a special platter 
 made for it. That was all. 
 
 John, the Christian Apostle and Evangelist, was ban- 
 ished to the Isle of Patmos during the reign of Domitian* 
 And it was during his exile that he wrote the book of 
 Revelation. 
 
 Trajan was crowned emperor in 98, A. D. The fol- 
 lowing are some of the expressions used to describe his 
 conduct, appearance and character : " The greatest and 
 most powerful, and one of the most virtuous of the 
 Roman emperors. Celebrated for his affability, simplicity 
 of manners, clemency, and munificence." He was called 
 " the best." " Equally great as a ruler, a general, and a 
 man." " Of dignified appearance and commanding 
 aspect." 
 
 On presenting the sword to a chief military officer, he 
 gave this remarkable charge : ''Make use of it for me 
 if I do my duty ; if I do not, against me." 
 
TUAJAN. 175 
 
 He caused so many buildings to be erected, and had 
 his name engraved upon them, that he was commonly 
 called " a wall-flower." 
 
 It. was during his reign that the province of Dacia, 
 across the Danube, was completely conquered. And for 
 this conquest Trajan gratified the people by a celebration 
 on a grand scale. No fewer than 10,000 gladiators 
 fought for the amusement of the multitude. It was 
 also to commemorate the Dacian conquest that Trajan's 
 famous column was erected in the forum at Rome. This 
 pillar has often been excelled in height, but it would be 
 hard to find one more perfect and beautiful in harmony 
 of proportions. ''Its pedestal is admirable, and the 
 spiral figures in low relief, which twist around its shaft 
 of white marble, have been studied with advantage by 
 Raphael. For the pedestal, the shaft, the capital, and 
 the statue of Trajan, Apollodorus of Damascus, the archi- 
 tect of Trajan's Forum, employed thirty-four blocks of 
 marble, marvellously fitted together. Throughout its 
 whole length the column is pierced by a staircase leading 
 to the summit. What forms the particular beauty of 
 Trajan's column is the unity of conception which it dis- 
 plays. Everything is varied, but there is no incoherency. 
 Underneath, in the earth, was the golden urn that con- 
 tained the ashes of Trajan ; and upon the pedestal, gar- 
 lands of oak, symbolical of peace, were suspended. 
 Laurels gird the base of the pedestal. The shaft is 
 enriched with a kind of endless scroll, which winds 
 round its circumference from base to summit. Here may 
 
176 CONSTANTINE. 
 
 be beheld ascending, as it were, from the bottom to the 
 top, 2,500 figures of soldiers and prisoners, with an end- 
 less number of horses, elephants, weapons and war- 
 material. ' Standing on the top, the conqueror, as it were, 
 looks down upon this triumphal cavalcade marching 
 upward in winding file, and is recompensed for his vic- 
 tory. Above the tomb is the trophy ; above the trophy 
 the apotheosis; and — rare fortune for a monument — 
 nothing jars upon the mind of the spectator in gazing at 
 this great memorial ; for he remembers that Trajan 
 deserved all the honors that were paid to him." 
 
 The column in tlie Place Vendome, at Paris, erected 
 to commemorate the victories of Napoleon, is a bronze 
 reproduction of Trajan's column. 
 
 In tlie latter part of the' third century a change in the 
 form of Government w^as inaugurated by the Emperor 
 Diocletian. There were to be two chief officers called 
 Augusti, one to rule in tlie East and the other in the 
 West ; and each Augustus w^as to have a subordinate 
 officer called a Caesar. And the Western C<^sar usually 
 resided at Trier, or York, in Britain. 
 
 ■ At the latter place, it is claimed by many historians 
 that the first Christian emperor, Coiistantirie, was born. 
 His father was one of the Civsars, and when lie died 
 there were no less than six claimants for the chief author- 
 ity. Constantino finally succeeded in gaining supreme 
 control. He built a new capital, w^hich was named 
 Constantinople in his honor. His mother, Helena, 
 
CONSTANTINE. 177 
 
 restored the sacred places about Jerusalem, and built the 
 Church of the Holy Sepulcher and that of the Nativity 
 at Bethlehem. 
 
 While marching on to Rome, Constantine saw a flam- 
 ing cross in the sky, bearing the inscription in Greek, 
 " By this conquer." And henceforth his troops marched 
 under a standard whose top was adorned with a mystic 
 X, representing at once the cross and the first letter of 
 the Greek word for Christ. 
 
 In religious controversies Constantine took an active 
 and leading part. He summoned the first general coun- 
 cil of bishops to meet at Nice, in Bithynia, and decide 
 upon the case of Arius, who denied the divinity of 
 Christ. It was here that the Nicene creed was framed 
 and adopted. Arius was condemned and banished, but 
 after three years the emperor revoked the sentence and 
 restored him to his church at Alexandria. 
 
 Constantine's policy was marked by peculiar features. 
 He scattered titles with an unsparing hand, adopting the 
 oriental custom of piling up adjectives and nouns to 
 form great swelling names of honor, such as " Illustri- 
 ous," '' Eespectable," ''Most Perfect," "Most Honor- 
 able," ''Egregious," "Your Gravity," "Your Sublime 
 and Wonderful Magnitude," or "Your Sincerity." 
 
 He taxed the people till a sum equal to forty million 
 dollars was poured annually into his treasury. And he 
 separated the military service from the civil government. 
 
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