of their allies, the tumults that arose among themselves, the licentiousness and want of discipline in their armies, and the treachery or misconduct of their commanders, gave a decided advantage to their rivals. After an interval of no long duration, distinguished however, by the appearance of the most illustrious philosophers, poets and orators, she sunk under the Macedonian yoke, and never afterwards recovered her freedom and consequence in Greece.

PART II,

OF THE LITERATURE OF THE GREEKS.

Ir scems to be generally allowed that the Greeks received many of their religious rites, and the principles of morals and government from the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Thracians, and other nations of the east. These countries were in a high state of civilization, and consequently of improvement when Greece was yet immersed in ignorance and barbarism. Colonies, as was formerly mentioned, landed in Greece, and imparted to its original inhabitants their knowledge of the arts, their ceremonies of religion, their mode of life, and brought them by degrees to submit to regular government. Beyond this period all is uncertainty and fable. The genius of the poets, unrestrained by any thing like true history, has embellished the doubtful memorials of ancient times with all the boldness and colouring of their art. But with the little knowledge we possess of those early ages, it is impossible to separate what is true from what is false, as they have been so long blended together.

Among the early benefactors of the human race, Prometheus occupies a distinguished place. According to the dramatic poet Æschylus, he was the inventor of many of the arts of life, and of the use of letters :

τές σε δη σφιν αντολας ἔγω
ἄφρων έδειξα, τας τε δυσκρίτως δύσεις.
και μην άριθμον ἐξοχον σοφισματων
ἐξευρον αύτοις, γραμμάτων σε συνθέσεις,
μνήμην θ' άπαντων μεσομητορ ̓ ἐργατην,

Prometh, Vinet.

I explained to them the rising of the stars, and the changeable periods of their setting: and I discovered to them a great number of philosophical maxims, and the combination of letters, and memory the effective source of all arts.'

It is altogether impossible to discover who Prometheus was, or in what country he was born, for the fables of the poets throw no farther light upon his history, than that of inducing us to refer his origin to Egypt, the scene of many subjects which they have obscured by their love of the marvellous. If there ever was such a person, he must have possessed no common inventive powers, and probably by his discoveries, excited the jealousy of some weak and violent prince. The tragic poet attributes his disasters to Jupiter, because he would not disclose to him the person by whom the fates had decreed he should be dethroned. Perhaps, under this name we have the first inventor of letters, and of consequence one of the greatest benefactors of the human race. Leaving, however, the fond illusions of imagination which delights to give her own colouring to the lives of extraordinary men, whose names are almost all that have survived the wreck of time, we proceed to a period in which there is more of certainty. In the early ages of society, before the invention of letters or written records, mankind were naturally led to express their feelings in poetical numbers. It was those objects only that commanded their veneration, roused their passions, excited their admiration, or awoke their feelings which they attempted to celebrate and describe. Hence from their nature they acquired an elevation of thought and style beyond what was used in conversation, or employed on common occasions; and as the subjects of their poems were universally interesting, they aimed at a degree of regularity in the succession of sounds, or of uniformity in the sounds themselves, to make them both more agreeable to the ear, and more easily committed to memory. Those who possessed a lively imagination and warm feelings, devoted themselves to the study of music and poetry, for the two arts were originally combined, gratified both themselves and their countrymen by celebrating the praises of their gods and heroes, and acquired a reputation which soon raised them to distinguished honours. Even princes themselves cultivated these arts with great assiduity, to elevate their minds to higher objects, to enliven their social hours, and not unfrequently to communicate instruction to their people, and form them to civilization and order. In the infancy of so

ciety, when mankind are yet struggling to emerge from barbarism to some degree of refinement, the native vigour of poetic genius is then most happily displayed. The imagination delights to revel amidst the fresh and unadulterated beauties of nature, and draws from every flower its unappropriated sweets. The aspect of hunian manners presents a bold picture to the eye of the poet, and the first romantic exploits of rude nations afford themes of panegyric to his muse. But the severer works of reason and judgment make their appearance, only after mankind have made various efforts for their improvement in the arts and sciences, and a regular commerce is established under the protection of wise and equitable institutions.

The early poets whose names are recorded, were not natives of Greece, but of Thrace, or of Asia Minor; the poems of Thamyris, Linus, Orpheus, Musæus, Eumolpus of Thrace, and of Olen the Lycian, were admired even by the most refined and intelligent of the Greeks at a late period of their history. The subjects of their poems turned for the most part on theology and natural history, probably from their intercourse with Egypt, or some obscure notions which their ancestors had brought from their original settlements. Of Thamyris and Linus little is known. Homer represents the former contending in song with the muses themselves in Peloponnesus. The latter was said to have been the instructor of Orpheus. This poet is supposed to have laid the foundation of the learning and religion of Greece, when she was just beginning to emerge from barbarism, and when the minds of men were, as might be supposed, inclined to listen to the marvellous, and to adopt the most superstitious rites and ceremonies, especially when they were recommended to their attention by the charms of music and poetry. By these means he acquired such influence over the minds of the rude Thracians, that Horace, indulging the figurative language of poesy, thus describes their effects:

In the following passage from his art of poetry, he informs us of the real causes, and true effects of Orpheus' poetry:

Silvestres homines sacer interpresque Deorum
Cædibus et victu fœdo deterruit Orpheus,
Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres rabidosque leones.
Dictus et Amphion, Thebanæ conditor urbis,
Saxa movere sono testudinis, et prece blanda,
Ducere quo vellet. Fuit hæc sapientia quondam
Publica privatis secernere, sacra profanis,
Concubitu prohibere vago, dare jura maritis,
Oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno:

Sic honor et nomen divinis vatibus atque
Carminibus venit.

To his other qualifications as a poet and philosopher, he is said to have added a considerable knowledge of medicine; and hence is explained his endeavour to bring back to life his wife Eurydice. This circumstance is adorned by Virgil in the 4th book of his Georgics with all the charms of his inimitable pencil, and is worthy the genius of one poet when describing the fate and misfortunes of another. The outlines of his history are so much involved in fable, that we shall not attempt farther to unravel them, but proceed to give a short account of the probable sources of information, and some of the principles from which were derived many of the theological and philosophical opinions entertained by the Greeks.

Of all the nations that early rose to eminence by their religious rites and civil institutions, Egypt was the most distinguished. Whether it was that the country was early peopled, and nearer the sources of original information, or from climate, soil and other local circumstances, certain it is, that like the Nile which overflowed and fructified their fields, their doctrines and opinions spread over Greece and other parts of Western Europe, and became the foundation of all their future acquisitions. At a period when the minds of men are prone to superstition, and more liable to be influenced by it than any rational motive held out to their understandings, it was of the utmost importance to every legislator to be thoroughly acquainted with it in all its various forms, as the most powerful engine to work upon the fears and expectations of the vulgar. Those individuals among the Greeks accordingly, who, by the advantages of birth or superior natural endowments, were desirous both of extending their authority and knowledge, travelled to Egypt, and were there instructed in many things both of an historical and mystical nature by the priests, to whom the charge of acquiring and communicating every branch VOL. II.

H h