PHILIP OF MACEDON. 1. Philip, a prince of Macedonia, was educated at Thebes, and he afterwards returned to his native country, where he made himself king, though he was not the hereditary sovereign of Macedonia. He was a man who possessed talents for government, and the desire of extending his dominions; and soon made himself master of Illyria and Thrace. On the coasts of Thrace were cities subject to Athens. Philip showed no regard to the rights of Athens, in respect to these cities, and willingly made them the occasion, first, of disputes with the Athenians, and afterwards of a war. 2. The states of Greece united to oppose the invasion of Philip, who marched against their confederated armies, but in vain; he met the allied army at Cheronea, B. C. 338, and defeated them. From this time Athens became dependent upon Macedonia, and when that country was subdued. by the Romans, Athens also fell under the dominion of the conquerors. Athens was taken by Mithridates, an Asiatic prince, at war with the Romans, and retaken by Sylla, a Roman general, B. C. 87. Sylla demolished its walls, butchered its inhabitants, and reduced it to a most deplorable condition. You will remember that the Persians, the Spartans, and the Romans, successively laid waste this beautiful metropolis of the civilized world. 3. Some of the Roman emperors regarded .Athens with favour, repaired the ravages of war, and embellished it with new edifices. Alaric, the Goth, pillaged Athens, A. D. 396, demolished the greater part of its ancient structures, and left it a ruin. About A. D. 1455, Athens was taken by the Turks, to whom it has been subject ever since. During eleven hundred years it often changed masters, but what happened there in this long period is little known. At present about three-fourths of its inhabitants are Greeks, and the remainder are Turks. It is now called Athini and Setines. 4. Solon's laws went into effect nearly six centuries before Christ, and the battle of Cheronea took place about three and a half centuries before Christ. For about three hundred and fifty years then, Athens was that mighty state, which, by the power of mind, exercised the greatest ascendancy over civilized nations that any one people ever did. Of the great men of Athens, her legislators, philosophers, and historians, it may be said "Their spirits govern though their clay is cold." 5. Many of their works are lost, but all their conquerors, except the Goths, left much that was not destroyed. The Roman masters of Athens, loved its genius, its literature, and its arts: the schools of philosophy and rhetoric were long continued; and at last, when Athens was overrun by barbarians, its learned men took refuge in Italy, where they taught the learning and language of Greece for subsistence. 6. When the Goths overran Italy, and destroyed every thing ancient and venerable, they yet respected religious houses and religious men. The manuscripts of Greek authors were preserved in convents, and the Greek language was always enough cultivated, to be kept just alive. Since that time printing has been invented, many Greek books have been printed, and an acquaintance with Greek literature, now forms part of the education of many people in Europe and America. 7. The duration of the Athenian republic has been divided into three eras: the first, the age of Solon, or of the laws; the second, the age of Themistocles and Aristides, or the age of glory; the third, that of Pericles, or the age of luxury and the arts. 8. The population of Athens consisted of citizens, sojourners or persons who had emigrated from other countries, and slaves. This population is supposed to have continued nearly the same for centuries, because, when it increased, the people went off to colonies abroad. The number of citizens is supposed to have been nearly 20,000, and the sojourners 10,000 males; and the city contained besides as many, or more females of both classes. The class of slaves was more numerous than either of the others. The whole population of the province of Attica, is estimated to have been 450,000 persons, bond and free. The slaves were persons taken in war, whose friends were unable to pay the ransom, or price of their liberty; sojourners who could not pay the taxes; poor people who could not discharge their debts, and whose persons were sold to raise money; and the descendants of all these, for the children of slaves always belong to the masters of their rents. Many of the captives taken in war were pa females; some of these were employed in weaving and embroidery, others in lighter services. Hector in Homer, predicts the day when his wife, the fair Andromache, should become the captive of his enemies, and be compelled to delineate in the Argive looms, the story of the fatal war of Troy: that is, should be employed by the conquerors of Troy to make pictures, in embroidery, of the calamities of the war. Hector speaks to Andro mache thus: -"Andromache thy griefs I dread; I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led! This short narrative of Athenian history, is too brief to do more than introduce readers to an acquaintance with the subject. Other books will inform them more about the extraordinary people that has been described in the last few pages. |