The study of profane history would little deserve to have a serious attention, and a considerable length of time bestowed upon it, if it were confined to the bare knowledge of ancient transactions, and an uninteresting inquiry into the æras when each of them happened. It little concerns us to know, that there were once such men as Alexander, Cæsar, Aristides, or Cato, and that they lived in this or that period; that the empire of the Assyrians made way for that of the Babylonians, and the latter

Sentiments so sublime and religious were the result of the reflections of some few who employed themselves in the study of the heart of man, and had recourse to the first principles of his institution, of which they still retained some valuable relics. But the whole system of their religion, the tendency of their public feasts and ceremonies, the essence of the Pagan theology, of which the poets were the only teachers and professors, the very example of the gods, whose violent passions, scandalo

I have already observed, that eighty years after the taking of Troy, the Heraclidæ, that is, the descendants of Hercules, returned into the Peloponnesus, and made themselves masters of Lacedæmon, where two brothers, Eurysthenes and Procles, sons of Aristodemus, reigned jointly together. Herodotus observes, 227 that these two brothers were, during their whole lives, at variance; and that almost all their descendants inherited the like disposition of mutual hatred and antipathy; so true it is, tha

When the Lacedæmonians first began to settle in Peloponnesus, they met with great opposition from the inhabitants of the country, whom they were obliged to subdue one after another by force of arms, or receive into their alliance on easy and equitable terms, with the imposition of a small tribute. Strabo 228 speaks of a city, called Elos, not far from Sparta, which, after having submitted to the yoke, as others had done, revolted openly, and refused to pay the tribute. Agis, the son of Eurysthen

Eurytion, or Eurypon, as he is named by others, succeeded Soüs. 229 In order to gain the affection of his people, and render his government agreeable, he thought fit to recede in some points from the absolute power exercised by the kings his predecessors: this rendered his name so dear to his subjects, that all his descendants were, from him, called Eurytionidæ. But this relaxation gave birth to horrible confusion, and an unbounded licentiousness in Sparta; and for a long time occasioned infinit

Some time after this, in the reign of Theopompus, a war broke out between the Argives and Lacedæmonians, on account of a little country, called Thyrea, that lay upon the confines of the two states, and to which each of them pretended a right. 230 When the two armies were ready to engage, it was agreed on both sides, in order to spare the effusion of blood, that the quarrel should be decided by three hundred of the bravest men chosen from their respective armies; and that the land in question sho

There were no less than three several wars between the Messenians and the Lacedæmonians, all of them very fierce and bloody. Messenia was a country in Peloponnesus, towards the west, and not far from Sparta: it was of considerable strength, and was governed by its own kings. The first Messenian war lasted twenty years, and broke out the second year of the ninth Olympiad. 231 The Lacedæmonians pretended to have received several considerable injuries from the Messenians, and among others, that of

Ptolemy Philadelphus. He reigned forty years including the two years of his reign in the lifetime of his father. Ptolemy Euergetes, twenty-five years. Ptolemy Philopator, seventeen. Ptolemy Epiphanes, twenty-four. Ptolemy Philometor, thirty-four....

The kingdom of Syria had twenty-seven kings; which makes it evident, that their reigns were often very short: and indeed several of these princes waded to the throne through the blood of their predecessors. They are usually called the Seleucidæ, from Seleucus, who reigned the first in Syria. History reckons up six kings of this name, and thirteen who are called by that of Antiochus; but they are all distinguished by different surnames. Others of them assumed different names, and the last, Antioc

Macedonia frequently changed its masters, after the solemn partition had been made between the four princes. Cassander died three or four years after that partition, and left three sons. Philip, the eldest, died shortly after his father. The other two contended for the crown without enjoying it, both dying soon after without issue. Demetrius Poliorcetes, Pyrrhus, and Lysimachus, made themselves masters of all, or the greatest part of Macedonia; sometimes in conjunction, and at other times separa

This fourth kingdom, composed of several separate provinces very remote from one another, had not any succession of princes, and did not long subsist in its first condition; Lysimachus, who first obtained it, having been killed in a battle after a reign of twenty years, and all his family being exterminated by assassinations, his dominions were dismembered, and no longer constituted one kingdom. Beside the provinces which were divided among the captains of Alexander, there were others which had

Herodotus. Francof. An. 1608. Thucydides. Apud Henricum Stephanum, An. 1588. Xenophon. Lutetiæ Parisiorum, apud Societatem Græcarum Editionum, An. 1625. Polybius. Parisiis, An. 1609. Diodorus Siculus. Hanoviæ, Typis Wechelianis, An 1604. Plutarchus. Lutetiæ Parisiorum, apud Societatem Græcanum Editionum, An. 1624. Strabo. Lutetiæ Parisiorum, Typis regiis, An. 1620. Athenæus. Lugdani, An. 1612. Pausanias. Hanoviæ, Typis Wechelianis, An. 1613. Appianus Alexander. Apud Henric. Stephan. An. 1592. Pl

The cities of Syene and Elephantina divided Egypt from Ethiopia; and in the days of Augustus were the boundaries of the Roman empire: Claustra olim Romani Imperii , Tacit. Annal. Lib. ii. cap. 61. Thebes, from whence Thebais had its name, might vie with the noblest cities in the universe. Its hundred gates, celebrated by Homer, 258 are universally known; and acquired it the surname of Hecatompylos, to distinguish it from the other Thebes in Bœotia. Its population was proportionate to its extent;

As soon as they were dressed, they went to the daily sacrifice performed in the temple; where, surrounded with their whole court, and the victims placed before the altar, they assisted at the prayer pronounced aloud by the high priest, in which he asked of the gods, health and all other blessings for the king, because he governed his people with clemency and justice, and made the laws of his kingdom the rule and standard of his actions. The high priest entered into a long detail of his royal vir

I am to premise, that Herodotus, upon the credit of the Egyptian priests, whom he had consulted, gives us a great number of oracles and singular incidents, all which, though he relates them as so many facts, the judicious reader will easily discover to be what they really are—I mean, fictions. The ancient history of Egypt comprehends 2158 years, and is naturally divided into three periods. The first begins with the establishment of the Egyptian monarchy, by Menes or Misraim, the son of Cham, 403

But the strict union which always subsisted between the Phœnicians and Carthaginians, is still more remarkable. When Cambyses had resolved to make war upon the latter, the Phœnicians, who formed the chief strength of his fleet, told him plainly that they could not serve him against their countrymen; and this declaration obliged that prince to lay aside his design. 506 The Carthaginians, on their side, were never forgetful of the country from whence they came, and to which they owed their origin.

Sect. I. Duration of that Empire. —The Assyrian empire was undoubtedly one of the most powerful in the world. With respect to its duration, two opinions have chiefly prevailed. Some authors, as Ctesias, whose opinion is followed by Justin, give it a duration of thirteen hundred years: others reduce it to five hundred and twenty, of which number is Herodotus. The diminution, or probably the interruption of power, which happened in this vast empire, might possibly give occasion to this difference

Upon these grounds, I think we may allow Nimrod to have been the founder of the first Assyrian empire, which subsisted with more or less extent and glory upwards of 1450 years, 957 from the time of Nimrod to that of Sardanapalus, the last king, that is to say, from the year of the world 1800 to the year 3257. Nimrod . He is the same with Belus, 958 who was afterwards worshipped as a god under that appellation. He was the son of Chus, grandson of Ham, and great grandson of Noah. He was, says the

Merodach-Baladan. This is the prince who sent ambassadors to king Hezekiah, to congratulate him on the recovery of his health, of which we shall speak hereafter. 1014 After him there reigned several other kings of Babylon, 1015 with whose story we are entirely unacquainted. I shall therefore proceed to the kings of Nineveh. Kings of Nineveh .— Tiglath-Pileser . This is the name given by the holy Scripture to the king, who is supposed to be the first that reigned at Nineveh, after the destruction

The nation of the Medes was then divided into six tribes. Almost all the people dwelt in villages, when Dejoces, the son of Phraortes, a Mede by birth, erected the state into a monarchy. This person, seeing the great disorders that prevailed throughout all Media, resolved to take advantage of those troubles, and make them serve to exalt him to the royal dignity. He had a great reputation in his own country, and passed for a man, not only regular in his own conduct, but possessed of all the prude

Argo , great grandson of Alcæus, son of Hercules, was the first of the Heraclidæ who reigned in Lydia. The last was Candaules. This prince was married to a lady of exquisite beauty; and, being infatuated by his passion for her, was perpetually boasting of her charms to others. Nothing would serve him, but that Gyges, one of his chief officers, should see, and judge of them by his own eyes; as if the husband's own knowledge of them was not sufficient for his happiness, or the beauty of his wife w