had ports, arsenals, and fleets, which rendered them formidable to their enemies.

a

So many new settlements contributed to the spreading of the Greeks in Gaul, and occasioned a wonderful change in that country. The Gauls, quitting their ancient rusticity by degrees, began to be civilized, and to assume more gentle manners. Instead of breathing nothing but war, they accustomed themselves to the observance of the laws of a wise government. They learned to improve their lands, to cultivate vines, and to plant olives. Hence so surprising an alteration ensued, as well in the provinces as in the people who inhabited them, that it might have been said, Greece was not come to Gaul, but Gaul had been transferred info Greece.

The inhabitants of the new city made very wise laws for its polity and government, which was aristocratical, that is to say, in the hands of the elders. The council of the city was composed of six hundred senators, who continued in that function during life. Of that number fifteen were elected to take care of the current affairs, and three to preside in the assemblies, in quality of principal magistrates.

The right of hospitality was in singular estimation amongst the Marseillese, and practised by them with the most exalted humanity. To maintain the security of the asylum which they gave to strangers, no person was suffered to enter the city with arms. Certain persons were placed at the gates, whose business it was to take care of the arms of all who came in, and to return them when they went out.

All entrance was barred to such as might be inclined to introduce sloth and a voluptuous life; and particular care was taken to banish all double-dealing, falsehood, and fraud.

e They piqued themselves especially upon sobriety, modesty, and frugality. The most considerable portion amongst them did not exceed an hundred pieces of gold, that is to say, very near an hundred pistoles. They were not allowed to lay out more than five in dress, and as many in jewels. ¡Valerius Maximus, who lived in the reign of Tiberius, admires the regulations of government observed at Marseilles in his time. "That city," says he, "steadfastly retaining the an"cient severity of manners, excludes from their theatre "those comedians whose pieces generally turn upon the sub"ject of unlawful love." The reason given for this maxim

a Justin. 1. xliii. c. 4.

b Adeo magnus et hominibus et rebus impositus est nitor, ut non Græcia in Galliam emigrasse, sed Gallia in Græciam translata videretur. Justin.

e Strab. I. iv. p. 179.

e Strab. I. iv. p. 181.

d Val Max. 1. ii. c. 6. f Lib. ii. c. 6.

g Eadem civitas severitatis custos acerrima est: nullum aditum in scenam mimis dando, quorum argumenta majore ex parte stuprorum continent actus, ne talia spectandi consuetudo etiam imitandi licentiam sumat.

is still finer and more remarkable than the maxim itself. "Lest," adds the author, "a familiarity with such sort of "shows should make the people the more apt to imitate "them."

They would not admit in funeral ceremonies those indecent tears and lamentations with which they are generally attended, and ordered them to cease the same day by a domestic sacrifice, and an entertainment for the friends and relations of the deceased. "For is it consistent to abandon "ourselves to immoderate affliction, or to be offended at the "Divinity, for not having thought fit to share his immortality with us?"

66

a

Tacitus makes mention of the city of Marseilles highly to its praise; the passage occurs in his life of Julius Agricola, his father-in-law. After having spoken of the excellent education he had received from the care and tender affection of Julia Procilla, his mother, a lady of extraordinary virtue, who made him pass the early years of his youth in the study of those arts and sciences that suited his birth and age; he adds, "What had preserved him from the dangers and dis"orders, to which youth is generally exposed, was, besides "his own genius and disposition, the good fortune of having, "from his infancy, the city of Marseilles for his school, in "the manners of whose inhabitants the politeness of the Greeks, and the simplicity and reserve of the provinces, "were happily united." Arcebat eum ab illecebris peccantium, præter ipsius bonam integramque naturam, quòd statim parvulus sedem ac magistram studiorum Massiliam habuerit, locum Græcâ comitate et provinciali parsimoniâ mistum ac benè compositum.

From what I have said it may be seen that Marseilles was become a celebrated school for politeness, wisdom, and virtue, and, at the same time, for all arts and sciences. Eloquence, philosophy, physic, mathematics, law, fabulous theology, and all kinds of literature, were publicly professed there. This city produced the most ancient of the learned men of the West; I mean Pytheas, an excellent geographer and astronomer, who lived in the time of Ptolemy PhiTadelphus, or, indeed, of Alexander the Great.

с

They persevered constantly in cultivating the arts and sciences with equal ardour and success. Strabo relates, that in his time (he lived in the reign of Augustus) the young nobility of Rome went to Marseilles for education; and he prefers that place to the city of Athens itself; which is saying a

a Etenim quid attinet, aut humano dolori indulgeri, aut Divino numini invi diam fieri, quod immortalitatem suam nobiscum partiri noluerit?

Mater Julia Procilla fuit fare castitatis. In hujus sinu indulgentiaque educatus, per omnem honestarum artium cultum pueritiam adolescentiamque transegit Tacitus in Agricol. c. iv. cv oss. in Histor. Græc

great deal. We have already seen that it still retained that privilege in the time of Tacitus the historian.

The Marseillese distinguished themselves no less by the wisdom of their government, than by their capacity and taste for learning. Cicero, in one of his orations, exceedingly magnifies their manner of governing their republic. "I am as"sured," says he, "that not only in Greece, but almost in "all other nations, there is nothing comparable to the wise "polity established at Marseilles. That city, so remote from "the country, manners, and language of all other Greeks "situate in Gaul, in the midst of barbarous nations which "surround it on all sides, is so prudently directed by the "counsels of its elders, that it is more easy to praise than "imitate the wisdom or its government."

They laid it down as a fundamental rule of their politics, from which they never departed, to adhere inviolably to the Romans, to whose manners their own were more conformable than to those of the Barbarians around them. Besides which, their neighbourhood to the Ligurians, of whom they were equally enemies, could not but contribute to unite them by their common interests: that union enabling each party to make powerful diversions on both sides of the Alps. They accordingly rendered the Romans great services at all times, and also received considerable aids from them upon many occasions.

Justin relates a fact, which would be very much to the honour of the Marseillese, if it were well authenticated. Having received advice that the Gauls had taken and burnt Rome, they deplored that disaster which had befallen their allies as much as if it had happened to their own city. Nor did they confine themselves to fruitless tears. Out of the gold and silver, either belonging to the public or private persons, they raised the sum in which the Gauls had taxed the conquered, as the price of peace, and sent it to Rome. The Romans, infinitely affected with so noble an act of generosity, granted Marseilles the privilege of immunity, and the right of sitting amongst the senators at the public shows. It is certain, that during the war with Hannibal, Marseilles aided the Romans with all manner of good offices; the ill successes which they experienced in the first years of the war, and which had deprived them of almost all their allies, not being capable of shaking their fidelity in the least.

In the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, that city oba Cujus ego civitatis disciplinam atque gravitatem, non solum Græciæ, sed haud scio an cunctis gentibus. anteponendam jure dicam; quæ tam procul a Grecorum omnium regionibus, disciplinis, linguaque divisa, eum in ultimis terris cincta Gallorum gentibus, barbariæ fluctibus aluatur, sic optimatum consilo gubernatur, ut omnes ejus instituta laudare facilius possint, quam æmulari. Orat. pro Flacco. n. Ix. b Strab. I. iv. p. 180. c Justin. 1, xiii, c. A d Liv. 1. xxi. n. 20, 25, 26. Lib. xxvi. n. 19. Liv. xxvii. n. 36,

served a conduct which well denotes the wisdom of its government. Cæsar, against whom they had shut their gates, caused the fifteen senators, who were in supreme authority, to come to his camp, and represented to them, that he was sorry the war should begin by attacking their city; that they ought rather to submit to the authority of all Italy, than to abandon themselves blindly to the desires of one man; and he added all the motives most capable of persuading them. After having made their report to the senate, they returned into the camp, and gave Cæsar this answer: that they knew the Roman people were divided into two parties; that it did not belong to them to determine which had the right on their side; that the two heads of those parties were equally the protectors of their city, and at the same time its friends and benefactors; that for this reason, obliged to express their gratitude alike for both, it was incumbent upon them neither to assist, nor receive the one into their city or ports to the prejudice of the other. They suffered a long siege, in which they showed all possible valour; but at length, the extreme necessity to which they were reduced by the want of every thing, obliged them to surrender. However enraged Cæsar was at so obstinate a resistance, he could not refuse to the ancient reputation of the city the favour of saving it from being plundered and of preserving its citizens.

I should have believed myself wanting in some measure to the glory of the French nation, and to that of a city which holds one of the highest ranks in the kingdom, if I had not collected in this place part of those favourable reports which antiquity makes of it. I hope the reader will pardon this digression; which, besides, comes within my plan, and forms part of the Grecian history.

The affairs of Greece, Bithynia, Pergamus, and some other countries, which I thought it necessary to treat in a series, and without interruption, have made me suspend those of Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt; to which it is now time to return. I shall begin with Macedonia.

SECT. III.

Andriscus, pretended son of Perseus, causes himself to be proclaimed king of Macedonia.

d Fifteen or sixteen years after the defeat and death of

Cæs. in Bel. Civ. I. i.

b Intelligere se divisum esse populum in partes duas ; neque sui judicii, ne que suarum virium discernere utra pars justiorem habeat causam; principes ve ro earum esse partium Cn. Pompeium, & C. Cæsarem patronos civitatis.-Pari. bus eorum beneficiis parem se quoque voluntatem tribuere debere, et neutrum eorum, contra alterum juvare, aut urbe aut portubus recipere.

c Cæs. in Bel. Civ. I. ii.

d A. M. 385 2. Ant. J. C. 152. Epitom. Liv. 1. xlviii-1. Zonar. ex Dione, Fat. . i. c. fl. Florus, 1. ii. c. 1'49

Perseus, Andriscus of Adramyttium, a city of Troas, in Asia Minor, a person of the meanest birth, giving himself out for the son of Perseus, took upon him the name of Philip, and entered Macedonia, in hopes of making the inhabitants of the country acknowledge him for their king. He had invented a story in regard to his birth, which he reported wherever he passed, pretending that he was the son of Perseus by a concubine, and that the prince his father had caused him to be secretly brought up at Adramyttium, that in case of ill fortune in the war against the Romans, some shoot of the royal line might remain: that, after the death of Perseus, he had been nurtured and brought up at Adramyttium, till he was twelve years of age, and that the person who passed for his father, finding himself at the point of death, had revealed the secret to his wife, and entrusted her with a writing, signed by Perseus with his own hand, which attested all that has been said; which writing she was to deliver to him (Philip) as soon as he should attain to years of discretion. He added, that her husband, having conjured her absolutely to conceal the affair till then, she had been most faithful in keeping the secret, and had delivered that important writing to him at the appointed time; pressing him to quit the country, before the report should reach the ears of Eumenes, the declared enemy of Perseus, lest he should cause him to be put to death. He was in hopes that he should be believed upon his own word, and make Macedonia rise in his favour. When he saw that every thing there continued quiet, he retired into Syria, to the court of Demetrius Soter, whose sister Perseus had espoused. That prince, who immediately perceived the fraud, caused him to be seized and sent to Rome.

As he did not produce any proof of his pretended nobility, and had nothing in his mien or manners that expressed the prince, no great notice was taken of him at Rome, and he was treated with great contempt, without much trouble to keep a strict guard upon him, or to confine him close. He took advantage of the negligence of his guards, and made his escape from Rome. Having found means to raise a considerable army amongst the Thracians, who entered into his views for the sake of delivering themselves by his means from the Roman yoke, he made himself master of Macedonia, either by consent or force, and assumed the marks of the royal dignity. Not content with this first conquest, which had cost him little, he attacked Thessaly, and subjected a part of it to his obedience.

The affair then began to seem more important to the Romans. They elected Scipio Nasica to go thither, and appease this tumult în its birth, deeming him well qualified før