Cecropia, from Cecrops; and finally Athenæ by Erec- circumference, it is evident from the measurement furthonius, from its being under the protecton of Minerva nished by Thucydides, that they must have extended or Athēnē ('A@ývn). A distinction was also made be- considerably beyond the present line of wall, especially tween the ancient city on the rock and the part subse- towards the north. Col. Leake is of opinion, that on quently added in the plain. The former, the primitive this side the extremity of the city reached to the foot Cecropia, was called, from its situation, ʼn vo óλis, of Mount Anchesmus, and that to the westward its οι 'Ακρόπολις, "the upper city," where afterward walls followed the same brook which terminates in the stood the Parthenon, and other splendid edifices; marshy ground of the Academy, until they met the the buildings in the plain, where eventually Athens point where some of the ancient foundations are still itself stood, were termed kúr móλis, "the low- to be seen near the gate Dipylum; while to the easter city." (Compare, as regards the various names ward they approached close to the Ilissus, a little be given to this city, Steph. Byzant., s. v. Kpavún.-low the present church of the Mologitades, or confesPlin., 7, 56.- Kruse, Hellas, vol. 2, p. 77.)-The sors. The same antiquary estimates the states comAcropolis was sixty stadia in circumference. We prehended within the walls of Athens, the longomural have little or no information respecting the size of enclosure and the peribolus of the ports, to be more Athens under its earliest kings; it is generally sup- than sixteen English miles, without reckoning the sinposed, however, that, even as late as the time of The- uosities of the coast and the ramparts; but if these seus, the town was almost entirely confined to the are taken into account, it could not have been less Acropolis and the adjoining Hill of Mars. Subsequent- than nineteen miles. (Topography of Athens, page ly to the Trojan war, it appears to have been increased 362, seqq.) We know from ancient writers that the considerably, both in population and extent, since Ho- extent of Athens was nearly equal to that of Rome mer applies to it the epithets of EvкTíμevoç and eupv- within the walls of Servius. (Dion. Hal., 4, p. 670.) ayutos. The improvements continued, probably, du- Plutarch (Vit. Nic.) compares it also with that of Syraring the reign of Pisistratus, and, as it was able to cuse, which Strabo estimates at 180 stadia, or upstand a siege against the Lacedæmonians under his son ward of twenty-two miles. The number of gates beHippias, it must evidently have possessed wails and longing to ancient Athens is uncertain; but the exfortifications of sufficient height and strength to ensure istence of nine has been ascertained by classical wriits safety. The invasion of Xerxes, and the subse- ters. The names of these are Dipylum (also called quent irruption of Mardonius, effected the entire de- Thriasiæ, Sacræ, and perhaps Ceramica), Diomeiæ, struction of the ancient city, and reduced it to a heap Diocharis, Melitides, Piraica, Acharnicæ, Itoniæ, Hipof ruins, with the exception only of such temples and pades, Heriæ. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 2, p. 312, buildings as were enabled, from the solidity of materi- seqq.) The early history of Athens and its kings is als, to resist the action of fire and the work of demoli- blended with more or less of fable. A brief sketch of tion. When, however, the battles of Salamis, Platea, the affairs of Attica, from the first glimpses of tradition and Mycale had averted all danger of invasion, Athens, down to the period when Greece fell beneath the restored to peace and security, soon rose from its state Roman arms, will be found under the article Cecrops. of ruin and desolation; and, having been furnished by The Athenians have been admired in all ages for their the prudent foresight and energetic conduct of The- love of liberty, and for the great men that were born mistocles with the military works requisite for its de- among them; but favour there was attended with danfence, it attained, under the subsequent administrations ger; and there are very few instances in the history cf Cimon and Pericles, to the highest pitch of beauty, of Athens that can prove that the jealousy and ficklemagnificence, and strength. The former is known to ness of the people did not persecute the man who have erected the temple of Theseus, the Dionysiac had fought their battles and exposed his life in the detheatre, the Stone or porticoes, and Gymnasium, and fence of his country. Perhaps not one single city in also to have embellished the Academy, the Agora, and the world can boast, in the same space of time, of other parts of the city at his own expense. (Plut., Vit. so large a number of illustrious citizens, as regarded Cimon.) Pericles completed the fortifications which either warlike occupations or the walks of civil life.had been left in an unfinished state by Themistocles The Athenians claimed to be of indigenous origin, or, and Cimon; he likewise built several edifices destroy-in other words, sprung from the earth itself. Hence ed by the Persians, and to him his country was in- they called themselves autóxoves (Autochthōnes), debted for the temple of Eleusis, the Parthenon, and i. e., Aborigines; and, as a proof of their indigenous the Propylæa, the most magnificent buildings, not of origin, the early Athenians are said by Thucydides Attica only, but of the world. It was in the time of (1, 6) to have worn in the hair of the head golden Pericles that Athens attained the summit of its beauty ornaments formed like cicada, a species of insect beand prosperity, both with respect to the power of the lieved to spring from the earth. The custom only republic and the extent and magnificence of the archi- went entirely out of use a short time previous to the tectural decorations with which the capital was adorn- age of the historian. The Romans, in the more poled. At this period, the whole of Athens, with its three ished ages of their republic, sent their youths to finish ports of Piræus, Munychia, and Phalerus, connected their education at Athens, and respected the learning, by means of the celebrated long walls, formed one great while they despised the military character, of the inhabcity, enclosed within a vast peribolus of massive forti- itants.-Modern Athens, in Livadia, a few years ago fications. The whole of this circumference, as we col- contained 1300 houses and 12,000 inhabitants, 2000 lect from Thucydides, was not less than 124 stadia. of whom were Turks. The Greeks here experienced Of these, forty-three must be allotted to the circuit of from the Turks a milder government than elsewhere. the city itself; the long walls, taken together, supply They also retained some remains of their ancient custwenty-five, and the remaining fifty-six are furnished toms, and annually chose four archons. The Greek by the peribolus of the three harbours. Xenophon re- archbishop residing here had a considerable income. ports that Athens contained more than 10,000 houses, In 1822, the Acropolis, after a long siege, fell into the which, at the rate of twelve persons to a house, would hands of the free Greeks. In 1825, a Greek school, give 120,000 for the population of the city. (Xen., under the care of the patriot professor, George GenMem., 3, 6, 14.-Id., Econ., 8, 22. - Compare Clin- nadios, was in a flourishing condition. The mos ton's Fasti Hellenici, Append., p. 395.)-From the thorough investigation of the places among the ruins researches of Col. Leake and Mr. Hawkins, it appears of Athens worthy of attention is contained in Leake's that the former city considerably exceeded in extent Topography of Athens (London, 1821, with an atlas the modern Athens; and though little now remains of in folio). The splendid work of Stuart and Revett the ancient works to afford certain evidence of their | (Antiquities of Athens) must also be consulted. Leake such devastation. The city was surrendered to them makes it appear probable, that, in the time of Pausanias, many monuments were extant which belonged to the period before the Persian war; because so transitory a possession as Xerxes had of the city scarcely gave him time to finish the destruction of the walls and principal public edifices. In the restoration of the city to its former state, Themistocles looked more to the useful, Cimon to magnificence and splendour; and Pericles far surpassed them both in his buildings. The great supply of money which he had from the tribute of the other states belonged to no succeeding ruler. Athens, at length, saw much of her ancient splendour restored; but, unluckily, Attica was not an island; and, after the sources of power, which belonged to the fruitful and extensive country of Macedonia, were developed by an able and enlightened prince, the opposing interests of many free states could not long withstand the disciplined army of a warlike people, led by an active, able, and ambitious monarch. When Sylla destroyed the works of the Piræus, the power of Athens by sea was at an end, and with that fell the whole city. Flattered by the triumvirate, favoured by Hadrian's love of the arts, Athens was at no time so splendid as under the Antonines, when the magnificent works of from eight to ten centuries stood in view, and the edifices of Pericles were in equal preservation with the new buildings. Plutarch himself wonders how the structures of Ictinus, of Menesicles and Phidias, which were built with such surprising rapidity, could retain such a perpetual freshness. The most correct criticism on the accounts of Greece by Pausanias and Strabo is in Leake. Probably Pausanias saw Greece yet unplundered. The Romans, from a reverence towards a religion approaching so nearly to their own, and wishing to conciliate a people more cultivated than themselves, were ashamed to rob temples where the master-pieces of art were kept as sacred, and were satisfied with a tribute in money, although in Sicily they did not abstain from the plunder of the temples, on account of the prevalence of the Carthaginian and Phoenician influence in the island. Pictures, even in the time of Pausanias, may have been left in their places. The wholesale robberies of collectors; the removal of great quantities of the works of art to Constantinople, when the creation of new specimens was no longer possible; Christian zeal, and the attacks of barbarians, destroyed, after a time, in Athens, what the emperors had spared. We have reason to think, that the colossal statue of Minerva Promachos was standing in the time of Alaric. About 420 A.D. paganism was totally annihilated at Athens; and, when Justinian closed even the schools of the philosophers, the recollections of the mythology were lost. Parthenon was turned into a church of the Virgin Mary, and St. George stepped into the place of The seus. The manufacture of silk, which had hitherto remained, was destroyed by the transportation of a colony of weavers, by Roger of Sicily; and in 1456 the place fell into the hands of Omar. To complete its degradation, the city of Minerva obtained the privilege (an enviable one in the East) of being governed by a black eunuch as an appendage to the harem. The Parthenon became a mosque, and, at the west end of the Acropolis, those alterations were commenced which the new discovery of artillery then made necessary. In 1687, at the siege of Athens by the Venetians under Morosini, it appears that the tem- ATHENAEUM, a building at Athens, sacred to Minerple of Victory was destroyed, the beautiful remains of va, whence its name ('AOnvaïov, from 'A0ívn). Here which are to be seen in the British Museum. On the poets, philosophers, and literary men in general were 28th September of this year, a bomb fired the powder- accustomed to assemble and recite their compositions, magazine kept by the Turks in the Parthenon, and, or engage in the discussion of literary subjects, as the with this building, destroyed the ever-memorable re- Roman poets and others were wont to do in the temmains of the genius of Phidias. Probably the Vene-ple of Apollo at Rome. The Emperor Hadrian built tians knew not what they destroyed; they could not an Athenæum at Rome in imitation of that at Athens. have intended that their artillery should accomplish | The ancient Athenæa were generally in the form of The ATHENEA, festivals celebrated at Athens in honour of Minerva. One of them was called Panathenæa, and the other Chalcea; for an account of which, see those words. amphitheatres. (Lamprid. in Alex. Sev., c. 35.-Aurel. Vict., de Cas., c. 14.-Forcellini, Lex. Tot. Lat., 3. v.) ATHENÆUS, I. a native of Naucratis in Egypt, and the author of a very interesting compilation, entitled Deipnosophista (Δειπνοσοφισταί, "the learned men at supper"), from which the moderns have derived a large portion of their knowledge respecting the private life of the ancient Greeks. He declares himself to have been a little later than the poet Oppian; and, as that writer dedicates his Halieutics to the Emperor Caracalla, the age of Athenæus may be fixed at the beginning of the third century of the Christian era. The professed object of Athenæus was to detail to his contemporaries the convivial antiquities of their ancestors, and he has chosen to convey his information in the form of a dialogue as the most convenient and amusing. The plan of the work is as follows: A considerable number of learned men, among whom we find the celebrated Galen, assemble at the table of Larensius, a liberal and wealthy Roman, where they bestow as large a portion of erudition on every part of their entertainment as the memory or commonplacebook of the author could supply. So much of the business of human life is connected, mediately or immediately, with eating and drinking, that it does not require any great share of ingenuity to introduce into a work of so miscellaneous a nature much useful and curious information, which, at first sight, does not appear to be very closely connected with the science of cookery. "Accordingly," says the author of the Epitome, "we find disquisitions on fish of every sort, together with potherbs and poultry; not to mention historians, poets, and philosophers; likewise a great variety of musical instruments, witty sayings, and drinking vessels; royal magnificence, ships of prodigious magnitude, and many other articles too tedious to mention." Although this kind of conversation bears no very strong resemblance to the dying speculations of Socrates on the immortality of the soul, our author has selected the Phædo of Plato for his prototype, and has borrowed the beginning of that dialogue, with no alteration, except the substitution of the names of Timocrates and Athenæus for those of Echecrates and Phædo. A strong objection to the dramatic form which the work assumes, arises from the impossibility of collecting the productions of all the different seasons at one banquet. The author seems to suppose that an astonished fishmonger might exclaim, in the words of Theocritus, 'Aλhà và μèv đépεος, τὰ δὲ γίγνεται ἐν χειμῶνι. The loss of the two first books renders us unable to judge how far he was able to palliate this palpable absurdity. The most valuable part of the work is the large quantity of quotations which it presents from authors whose writings no longer exist. The Athenian comic poets afforded an ample store of materials, and Athenæus seems to have been by no means sparing in the use of them. Many of the extracts from their works, which he has inserted in his own, are highly interesting; and the mass is so considerable, as far to exceed in bulk all that can be collected from every other Greek or Latin writer. The number of theatrical pieces which he appears to have consulted was probably not less than two thousand. The middle comedy furnished him with eight hundred.-The compilation of Athenæus immediately became the prey of other compilers less diligent than himself. Ælian, who was nearly his contemporary, has made use very liberally of the Deipnosophists in his Various History. In a later age we find our author again pillaged by Macrobius, who seems to have taken from him not only many of the materials, but even the form and idea, of his Saturnalia. But of all writers, ancient or modern, there is none who is so highly indebted to Athenæus as the industrious Eustathius. Although the Archbishop of Thessalonica appears never to have seen the entire work, but to have made use of the Epitome, the stores of his erudition would be miserably reduced if he were compelled to make restitution of the property of our author which he has converted to his own benefit. By the same fortunate accident which has preserved a few of the writings of the ancients, a single copy of Athenæus appears to have escaped from the ravages of time, ignorance, and fanaticism. That MS. still exists. After the death of Cardinal Bessarion, who probably brought it from Greece, it passed into the library of St. Mark at Venice. In this sepulchre of books it would certainly have continued for many ages, unknown to the learned, if the French successes had not caused it to be included in the valuable spoils of Italy, which, until lately, enriched the national collection of Paris. Many transcripts of this manuscript exist in different parts of Europe, which were probably made while it was in the possession of Cardinal Bessarion. All of them betray their origin, as, besides their coincidence in orthographical errors, the same parts are wanting in all of them. The two first books, the beginning of the third, a few leaves in the eleventh, and a part of two leaves in the fifteenth, are wanting in the Venetian manuscript, and the deficiency appears evidently to have proceeded from accident. The same lacunæ occur in every other manuscript, but are exhibited in a manner which shows the cause to have existed in the copy from which they were transcribed. Fortunately for Athenæus, the integrity of his work is in some measure preserved by an epitome of the whole, which has been transmitted to us without defalcation. This abridgment, if it may be called so, is nearly as bulky as the original work. The age of it is uncertain. It is executed in a careless manner; and the copy which the writer had before his eyes appears to have suffered so much from time or accident, that he frequently breaks off in the middle of an extract, and declares his inability to decipher the remainder. From these sources our editions are derived; and it will easily be seen that, where the original copies are so few and so faulty, conjectural emendation will find ample scope to display its powers. -The best editions of Athenæus are those of Casaubon, Schweighaeuser, and Dindorff. Of the edition of Casaubon there are three different impressions, in the years 1597, 1612, and 1664, which do not differ con-. siderably from each other. To these editions is annexed the Latin translation of James Dalechamp of Caen, which was first printed by itself in 1583. The Greek text is much more perfect and accurate than in the preceding editions; as in the long interval which had elapsed between the edition published at Basle and the first of Casaubon's, many new transcripts had been discovered, and much labour had been bestowed on Athenæus by some of the most celebrated scholars of that age. The most valuable part of the edition of Casaubon is his celebrated commentary, which constitutes a folio of no inconsiderable magnitude. The edition of Athenæus by Schweighaeuser was published at Strasburg (Argentorati) in 18011807, and consists of 14 vols. 8vo. The text occupies 5 vols., and the remaining nine contain the commentaries and indexes. This commentary is made up of a large portion of the notes of Casaubon, together with others by Schweighaeuser himself. The greatest advantage which this editor enjoyed was the collation of the Venetian manuscript. This was performed by his son. The least commendable part of the work is the critical observations, in which Schweighaeuser's little acquaintance with Greek metre exposes him to many mistakes. The edition, however, is extremely valuable. Dindorff's edition is in 5 vols. 8vo, Lips., 1827. (Elmsley, in Edinburgh Review, vol. 3, p. 181, seqq.)—II. A contemporary of Archimedes. native country is not known. He has left a trea His ATHERBAL. Vid. Adherbal. tise on Machines of War (Epì Mnxarnμúrwv), ad- | pupils of Poly cletus, and as having made, with great dressed to Marcellus. This Marcelius is generally success, the statues of some distinguished females. supposed to be the same with the conqueror of Syra- (Sillig, Dict. Art., s. v.)-IV. A sculptor, who, cuse. Schweighaeuser, however, is of a different opin- in connexion with Agesander and Polydorus, made ion (ad Athen., vol. 1, p. 637). His work is con- the celebrated Laocoon group. (Sillig, Dict. Art., tained in the collection of Thevenot. (Schöll, Hist. s. v.) Lit. Gr., vol. 3, p. 367.)--III. A celebrated physician, born at Attalia in Pamphylia, and who flourished at Rome 50 A.D. He separated the Materia Medica from Therapeutics. He treated also, with great care, of Dietetics. Of his numerous writings only a few chapters remain in the collection of Oribasius. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 5, p. 343.) ATHENAGORAS, a Platonising father of the church, the author of an 66 Apology for Christians," and of a treatise "On the Resurrection of the Body." It appears from his writings that he was a native of Athens, and that he passed his youth among the philosophers of his time. He flourished towards the close of the second century. After he became a convert to Christianity, he still retained the name and habit of a philosopher, probably in expectation of gaining greater credit to the Christian doctrine among the unconverted heathen. In his Apology he judiciously explains the notions of the Stoics and Peripatetics concerning God and divine things, and exposes with great accuracy and strength of reasoning their respective errors. He frequently supports his arguments by the authority of Plato, and discovers much partiality for his system. In what he advances concerning God, and the Logos or Divine Reason, he evidently mixes the dogmas of paganism with the doctrines of Christianity. His two works are contained in the editions of the Greek fathers by Oberthür (Würceb., 1777, vol. 3) and Gallaud (vol. 2, p. 3). There are also separate editions of each, and Latin, French, Italian, and English translations, to say nothing of numerous works illustrating his writings. (Consult Hoffmann, Lex. Bibl., vol. I, p. 427, seqq.)-The romance of Theagenes and Charis is erroneously ascribed to him. This romance was the production of a Frenchman named Martin Fumée. It was published in 1599 and 1612, in French, and purported to be a translation from a Greek manuscript brought from the East. No such manuscript ever existed. (Fabric., Bibl. Gr., vol. 6, p. 800, seqq.) ATHENION, I. a peripatetic philosopher, 108 B.C. -II. A painter, born at Maronea, and who flourished about 300 B.C. Pliny enumerates several of his productions, and adds, that, had he not died young, he would have stood at the head of his profession (35, 11). ATHENODORUS, I. a philosopher, born at Cana, near Tarsus in Cilicia. He lived at Rome, in the reign of Augustus, and on account of his learning, wisdom, and moderation, was highly esteemed by that emperor. His opinion and advice had great weight with the monarch, and are said to have led him into a milder plan of government than he had at first adopted. Athenodorus obtained, for the inhabitants of Tarsus, relief from a part of the burden of taxes which had been imposed upon them, and was on this account honoured with an annual festival. He was intrusted by Augustus with the education of the young prince Claudius; and, that he might the more successfully execute his charge, his illustrious pupil became for a while a resident at his house. This philosopher retired in his old age to Tarsus, where he died in his 82d year. (Fabric., Bibl. Gr., vol. 7, p. 391. Zosim., 1, 6.. Sueton., Vit. Claud., c. 4.-Enfield's Hist. Philos., vol. 2, p. 109.) -II. A stoic philosopher, a native of Pergamus according to some, but, more correctly, of Tarsus. He was surnamed Cordylion (Kopdvhíwv), and was intimate with Cato the younger (Uticensis). Cato made a voyage to Pergamus expressly to see him, and brought him back with him to Rome. He died at Cato's house. (Strabo, 673.)-III. An Arcadian statuary, mentioned by Pliny (34, 8) as one of the ATHESIS, a river of Venetia, in Gallia Cisalpina, rising in the mountains of the Tyrol (Rhætian Alps), and, after a course of nearly two hundred miles, discharging its waters into the Adriatic. It is now the Adige, and, next to the Po, must be looked upon as the most considerable stream of Italy. (Virg., En., 9, 679, seqq.) ATHOS, a mountain in the district Chalcidice of Macedonia. It is situate on a peninsula between the Sinus Strymonicus, or Gulf of Contessa, and the Sinus Singiticus, or Gulf of Monte Santo. It is so high that, according to Plutarch and Pliny, it projected its shadow at the summer solstice on the market-place of Myrina, the capital city of the island of Lemnos, though at the distance of 87 miles. On this account a brazen cow was erected at the termination of the shadow, with this inscription, Αθως καλύπτει πλευρὰ Λημνίας βούς. Strabo reports that the inhabitants of the mountain saw the sun rise three hours before those who lived on the shore at its base. (Epit., 7, p. 331.) Pliny, however, greatly exaggerates, when he affirms that Athos extends into the sea for seventy-five miles, and that its base occupies a circumference of one hundred and fifty miles (4, 10). Strabo says the circumnavigation of the whole peninsula was four hundred stadia, or fifty miles. (Epit., 7, p. 331.) When Xerxes invaded Greece, he cut a canal through the peninsula of Athos, in order to avoid the danger of doubling the promontory, the fleet of Mardonius having previously sustained a severe loss in passing around it. This canal was made in the vicinity of the cities Acanthus and Sana. (Vid. Acanthus.)- The architect Dinocrates offered unto Alexander the Great to cut Mount Athos into a statue of the king, holding in its left hand a city, and in its right a basin to receive all the waters that flowed from the mountain. The monarch, however, declined the offer, on the ground of there being no fields around to furnish supplies, which would have to come entirely by sea. (Vitruv., Præf., lib. 2.) ATIA LEX, a law enacted A.U.C. 690, by T. Atius Labienus, a tribune of the commcns. It repealed the Cornelian law, and restored the Domitian, which gave the election of priests to the people, not to the colleges. (Dio Cass., 37, 37.) ATILIA LEX, I. gave the prætor and a majority of the tribunes power of appointing guardians to orphans and women. It was enacted A.U.C. 443-II. Another, which ordained that sixteen military tribunes should be created by the people for four legions; that is, two thirds of the whole number. (Adams, Rcm. Ant., s. v.) ATĪNA, I. one of the most ancient cities of the Volsci. It was situate to the southeast of Arpinum, and near the source of the river Melfa. If we are to credit Virgil (En., 7, 629), it was a considerable town as early as the Trojan war. We learn from Cicero (pro Planc.), that Atina was in his time a præfectura, and one of the most populous and distinguished in Italy. Frontinus says it was colonized during the reign of Nero. The modern name is Atino-II. A town of Lucania, not far from the Tanager. Several inscriptions, and many remains of walls and buildings, prove that it was no inconsiderable place: (Romanelli, vol. 1, p. 438.) The modern name is Atena. (Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 378.) ATINIA LEX, was enacted by the tribune Atinius, A.U.C. 623. It gave a tribune of the people the priv ileges of a senator, and the right of sitting in the sen- | Américaines, French transl., vol. 2, p. 180, seqq.) ate. (Aul. Gell., 14, 8.) The advocates of this theory might easily connect with ATLANTES, a people of Africa, the more correct the legend of the lost Atlantis the remains of a very rename of whom was Atarantes. (Vid. Atarantes.) mote civilization that are found at the present day in ATLANTIADES, a patronymic of Mercury, as grand- Spanish America. We have there the ruins of cities, son of Atlas. (Ovid, Met., 1, 639.) the style of whose architecture carries us back to Pe ATLANTIDES, a name given to the daughters of At-lasgic times, and the religious symbols and ornaments las. They were divided into the Hyades and Pleiades. (Vid. Atlas, Hyades, and Pleiades.) connected with which remind us strongly of the phallic mysteries of antiquity. Even the lotus flower, the ATLANTIS, a celebrated island, supposed to have sacred emblem of India, may be seen in the sculpexisted at a very early period in the Atlantic Ocean, tures. (Compare the plates given by Del Rio, Deand to have been eventually sunk beneath its waves. scription of the Ruins of an Ancient City discovered Plato is the first that gives an account of it, and he near Palenque, in Guatemala, &c., Lond., 1822, 4to.) obtained his information from the priests of Egypt. These curious remains of former days are long ante(Plat., Timæus, p. 24, seqq., ed. Bip., vol. 9, p. 296, rior to Mexican times, nor have they anything whatseqq.-Id., Critias, p. 108, seqq., ed. Bip., vol. 10, p. ever to do with Phoenician settlements, such settle39, 43.) The statement which he furnishes is as fol- ments on the shores of America being purely imaginary. lows: In the Atlantic Ocean, over against the Pillars In connexion with the view just taken, we may point of Hercules, lay an island larger than Asia and Africa to the peculiar conformation of our continent, along taken together, and in its vicinity were other islands, the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, where everything from which there was a passage to a large continent indicates the sinking, at a remote period, of a large lying beyond. The Mediterranean, compared with the tract of land, the place of which is now occupied by ocean in which these lands were situated, resembled the waters of the gulf; a sinking occasioned, in all a mere harbour with a narrow entrance. Nine thou- probability, by the sudden rush of a large body of sand years before the time of Plato, this island of At-water down the present valley of the Mississippi. lantis was both thickly settled and very powerful. Its The mountain tops of this sunken land still appear to sway extended over Africa as far as Egypt, and over view as the islands of the West Indian group: and Europe as far as the Tyrrhenian Sea. The farther thus the large continent lying beyond Atlantis and progress of its conquests, however, was checked by the adjacent islands, and to which Plato refers, may the Athenians, who, partly with the other Greeks, have been none other than that of America.-We partly by themselves, succeeded in defeating these proceed a step farther. Admitting that Atlantis was powerful invaders, the natives of Atlantis. After this situate in the ocean which at present bears its name, a violent earthquake, which lasted for the space of a it would require no great stretch of fancy to suppose day and night, and was accompanied with inundations the the Canaries, Madeira Isles, and Azores enco of the sea, caused the islands to sink, and, for a long formed portions of it, and that it even extended as far period subsequent to this, the sea in this quarter was as Newfoundland. The Cape de Verd Islands, though impassable, by reason of the slime and shoals. Thus so much to the south, may also be included. It is cu much for the narrative of Plato. A dispute arose rious to observe what quantities of seawced (fucus among the ancient philosophers and naturalists, wheth- natans) are found floating on the surface of the sea, er this statement was based upon reality, or was a not only near the Cape de Verd Islands, but also more mere creation of fancy. Posidonius thought it wor- to the northeast, almost under the meridian of the isles thy of belief. (Strabo, 102.- Epit., 1, p. 11, ed. Cuervo and Flores, among the Azores, between the Huds.) Pliny remains undecided (2, 92. Com- parallels of 23° and 35° north latitude. (Humboldt, pare Ammian. Marcell., 17, 7.- Tertull., de Pallio, Tableaux de la Nature, vol. 1, p. 39, French transl) ed. Op., Antverp, 1584, p. 6. Id., Apolog. adv. The ancients were acquainted with these collections gentes, p. 82, c. 40. — Philo, quod mund. sit. incor- of seaweed, resembling somewhat a vast inundated rupt., p. 963). From other writers we have short no- meadow. "Some Phoenician vessels," observes Aristices, which merely show how many various interpre- totle, " impelled by the cast winds, reached, after a tations were given to the passage in Plato. (Proclus, navigation of thirty days, a part of the sea where the ad Plat., Tim., p. 24.) A certain Marcellus related surface of the water was covered with rushes and seaa similar tradition with that of Plato (ἐν τοῖς Αἰθιοπι- weed (θρύον καὶ φύκος).” The passage occurs in the Koiç apud Procl., lib. 1, p. 155). According to this treatise de Mirabilibus, p. 1157, ed. Dural. Many writer there were seven islands in the Atlantic Ocean ascribed this abundance of seaweed to some cause sacred to Proserpina; of these, three were of a very connected with the submerged Atlantis. (Compare large size, and the inhabitants had a tradition among Irving's Columbus, vol. 1, p. 133.) The quantities them that these were originally one large island, which of seaweed in the neighbourhood of the Cape de Verd had ruled over all the rest.-Nor have modern theo- Islands are also alluded to by Scylax (ed. Gronov., p. rists been inactive on this captivating subject. Rud- 126), if we suppose the conjecture of Ideler to be corbeck, with great learning, labours to prove that the rect, that the Cerne of Scylax is the modern Arguin. Atlantis of the ancients was Sweden, and that the Ro- (Humboldt, Tableaux, &c., vol. 1, p. 101.) The exmans, Greeks, English, Danes, and Germans origina- istence of a large island, at a remote pericd, where ted from Sweden. His work, entitled Atlantica (At- the waves of the Atlantic now roll, has been regarded land eller Manheim), is in Latin and Swedish, and is by modern science as visionary in the extreme. a typographic rarity. The first edition appeared in even science herself can be made to contribute data to1675-79, at Upsal. Several editions of it followed. wards this captivating theory. Immediately below the The last Latin edition is of 1699, and bears a high chalk and green sand of England, a fluviatile formation, price. Written copies of it are in several European called the wealden, occurs, which has been ascertainlibraries.-Bailly, well known by his history of As-ed to extend from west to east about 200 English tronomy, places Atlantis and the cradle of the human miles, and from northwest to southeast about 220 race in the farthest regions of the north, and seeks to miles, the depth or total thickness of the beds, where connect the Atlantides with the far-famed Hyperbo- greatest, being about 2000 feet. (Fitton's Geology of (Lettres sur l'Atlantide de Platon, &c., p. Hastings, p. 58.) These phenomena clearly indicate 384, seqq. Compare Lettres sur l'Origine des Sci- that there was a constant supply in that region, for a ences, by the same.) Carli and others find Amer-long period, of a considerable body of fresh water, ica in the Atlantis of Plato, and adduce many argu- such as might be supposed to have drained a contiments in support of their assertion. (Carli, Lettres nent or a large island, containing within it a lofty chain reans. But |