sessed a certain kind of strength and naïveté. It is from the first book of his annals. "Eundem Romulum dicunt ad cœnam vocatum, ibi non multum bibisse, quia postridie negotium haberet. Ei dicunt, Romule, si istuc omnes homines faciant, vinum vilius sit. Is respondit, Immo vero carum, si quantum quisque volet, bibat, nam ego bibi quantum volui." Gell. xi. 14.

NOTIOS,

To

THUCYDIDES MISQUOTED

In MITCHELL'S ARISTOPHANES. p. lxxxvi.

o prove that those "dark and malignant spirits," the SoPHISTS, were the authors of immense mischief, not only in Athens, but throughout all Greece, Mr. Mitchell quotes from Thucydides, iii. 82. part of his description of the atrocious effects of civil discord during the Peloponnesian war, after the scenes of horror first acted in Corcyra.

It may seem very bold, in the face of so elegant and erudite a scholar, to deny absolutely the bearing of Thucydides on the point to be proved. But whoever carefully peruses chapters 82, 3, 4. of the 3d book, will not find there (nor any where else,) one hint of the historian's connecting those atrocities with any such cause as that alleged: the clearest demonstration will there be found, that he considered human nature of itself as quite adequate to the work, whenever the bad passions are by civil discord kindled into fever and fury.

Mr. Mitchell has very imperfectly quoted from Hobbes's translation of the passage above referred to. The reader is requested to peruse with attention the important matter introductory to Mr. M.'s quotation.

"So cruell was this Sedition; and seemed so the more, be cause it was of these the first.

§. 82. "For afterwards all Greece, as a man may say, was

in commotion; and quarrels arose every where betweene the Patrons of the Commons, that sought to bring in the Athenians, and the Few that desired to bring in the Lacedæmonians. Now in time of peace, they could have had no pretence, nor would have beene so forward to call them in; but beeing Warre, and Confederates to bee had for eyther party, both to hurt their enemies, and strengthen themselves, such as desired alteration easily got them to come in. And many and heynous things happened in the cities through this Sedition, which, though they have beene before, and shall be ever, as long as humane Nature is the same, yet they are more calme, and of different kinds, according to the several Conjunctures. For in peace and prosperity, as well Cities as private men are better minded, because they bee not plunged into necessity of doing any thing against their will; but War, taking away the affluence of daily necessaries, is a most violent Master, and conformeth most men's passions to the present occasion. The Cities therefore being now in Sedition, and those that fell into it later having heard what had beene done in the former, they farre exceeded the same in newnesse of conceipt, both for the art of assailing, and for the strangeness of their revenges."

But

Here exactly Mr. M. begins to quote, "The received value of names, &c. &c. to --- Sincerity was laughed down." towards the close of this quotation, Mr. M. has omitted a very important passage, unfavorable beyond a doubt to his hypothesis.

Again, to show that the bad passions, when instigated by the fury of faction, were deemed competent to any wickedness, read Thucydides onwards, who neither first nor last ever seems to have had the SOPHISTS in his head.

"In Corcyra then were these evils for the most part committed first; and so were all other, which either such men as have been governed with pride, rather then modesty, by those on whom they take revenge, were like to commit in taking it; or which such men as stand upon their delivery from long po

verty, out of covetousness (chiefly to have their neighbours goods) would contrary to justice give their voices to; or which men, not for covetousness, but assailing each other on equall termes, carried away with the unrulinesse of their anger, would cruelly and inexorably execute. And the common course of life being at that time confounded in the citie, the nature of man, which is wont even against law to do evill, gotten now above the law, shewed itselfe with delight, to be too weak for passion, too strong for justice, and enemie to all superioritie. Else they would never have preferred revenge before innocence, nor lucre (whensoever the envie of it was without power to doe them hurt) before justice. And for the Lawes common to all men in such cases, (which as long as they be in force, give hope to all that suffer injury), men desire not to leave them standing, against the need a man in danger may have of them, but by their revenges on others, to be beforehand in subverting them. Such were the passions of the Corcyreans, first of all other Grecians, towards one another in the citie.”

Finally, then, were it not too like a triumph to ask the question, one might inquire of Mr. Mitchell, in what light be considers the selfish inhumanity, the licentiousness of life, the neglect of all religion and law, which prevailed during the great plague at Athens. Were these evils too to be charged to the account of those "dark and malignant spirits," the SOPHISTS? Or, with the profound historian himself, must we not ascribe directly to that dreadful scourge, the destruction of whatever moral, humane, religious feeling adorns or consoles our nature?

R. S. Y. 15 Feb, 1821.

J. T.

NOTES

On some parts of Archbishop POTTER's Antiquities of Greece, by the Rev. J. SEAGER, A. B. Rector of Welch Bicknor, Monmouthshire.

Vol. I. p. 35. [7th edit. 8vo.] " Ανάκειον, or the temple of Castor and Pollux, called "Avaxes: in this place slaves were exposed to sale."

Πονηρὸς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, πονηρὸς οὗτος ἄνωθεν ἐκ τοῦ ̓Ανακείου καὶ ἄδικος. He has been a rogue ever since he was bought. Demosth. κατὰ Στεφ. ψευδομ. p. 1125.

Vol. 1. p. 47, 48. The young Athenians were enrolled first among the φράτορες, and afterwards among the δημόται.

ἐγγράφει τοῖς ̓Απατουρίοις τουτονὶ μὲν “ Βοιωτὸν” (by the name of Beotus) εἰς τοὺς φράτορας, τὸν δ ̓ ἕτερον “Πάμφιλον” “Μαντία θεος” δ' ἐνεγεγράμμην ἐγώ. συμβάσης δὲ τῷ πατρὶ τῆς τελευτῆς, πρὶν τὰς εἰς τοὺς δημότας ἐγγραφὰς γενέσθαι, ἐλθὼν εἰς τοὺς δημότας οὑτοσὶ ἀντὶ “ Βοιωτοῦ” “ Μαντίθεον” ἐνέγραψεν αυτόν. Demosth. Πρὸς Βοιωτ. περὶ ὀνομ. p. 995. ἐνέγραψεν ἂν σε εἰς τοὺς δημότας, ὅπερ εἰς τοὺς φράτορας. Demosth. ibid. p. 1000.

Τὸν δὲ τοῦ δικαίου λόγον ἅπαντες ἐπίστασθε. ἔστι δ ̓ οὗτος τίς ; ἀφ ̓ οὗ παῖδας ἐποιήσατο τούτους ὁ πατὴρ, ἀπὸ τούτου καὶ νομίζεσθαι. πρότερον τοίνυν ἐμὲ εἰς τοὺς δημότας ἐνέγραψε « Μαντίθεον,” πρὶν εἰσαγαγεῖν τοῦτον εἰς τοὺς φράτορας. ὥστ ̓ οὐ τῷ χρόνῳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ, πρεσβεῖον ἔχοιμ' ἂν ἐγὼ τοὔνομα τοῦτο εἰκότως. Demosth. ibid. p. 1003.

Vol. 1. p. 49.-" Each tribe he subdivided into three parts, called τριττὺς, ἔθνος, or φρατρία ; and each of these into 30 γένη or families; which, because they consisted of thirty men, were called τριακάδες ; and they that were members of these were called Ομογάλακτοι, and γεννῆται, not from any relation to one another, but only because they lived in the same borough, and were educated together, and joined in one body or society."

That persons associated as γεννῆται did not always live in the borough, is manifest from the following passage, in which men of different boroughs appear united as γεννῆται :

Τιμόστρατος εκαλῆθεν, Ξάνθιππος ἐροιάδης, Εὐλάβης φαληρεύς, *Ανυτος λακιάδης, Εὐφράνωρ αἰγιλιεὺς, Νίκιππος κεφαλῆθεν, μαρτυροῦσιν εἶναι καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ Φράστορα τὸν αἰγιλιέα τῶν γεννητῶν οἱ και λοῦνται βρυτιάδαι. Demosth. κατὰ Νεαίρ. p. 1865.

Observations on Potter's Antiquities, &c. 151

"Of the nine Archons."

Vol. I. chap. xii. The interrogatories put to the Archons before they entered on their office are given us by Demosthenes Πρὸς Εὐβουλιδ. p. 1319.

Vol. I. p. 74. "The questions which the Senate proposed to them (the Archons) were such as these,-Whether they had been dutiful to their parents, had served in the wars, and had a competent estate."

ὁ φαληρεὺς Δημήτριος—τεκμήρια τῆς περὶ τὸν οἶκον εὐπορίας, ἓν μὲν ἡγεῖται τὴν ἐπώνυμον ἀρχὴν, ἣν ἦρξε τῷ κυάμῳ λαχὼν, ἐκ τῶν γενῶν τῶν τὰ μέγιστα τιμήματα κεκτημένων, οὓς πεντακοσιομεδίμνους προσηγόρευον. Plutarch. in Aristid. p. 583. Η. Steph.

Vol. I. p. 77. "It was required that his wife, (the wife of the βασιλεὺς) whom they termed βασίλισσα, should be a citizen of the whole blood of Athens, and a virgin.”

On this subject see Demosthenes κατὰ Νεαίρας pp. 1369 and following.

Vol. I. p. 77. "The six remaining Archons were called by one common name, Thesmothetæ ; (the questions put to these magistrates are recounted by Demosth. πρὸς Εὐβουλιδ. p. 1319). They received complaints against persons guilty of false accusations, of calumniating, of bribery, of impiety, &c."

The Thesmothetæ had also the power of executing murderers. οἱ θεσμοθέται τοὺς ἐπὶ φόνῳ φεύγοντας κύριοι θανάτῳ Ζημιῶσαί εἰσι, καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πέρυσι πάντες ἑωρᾶτε ἐπ ̓ ἐκείνους ἀπαχθέντα. Demosthen. κατὰ ̓Αριστοκρ. p. 630.

Vol. I. chap. xiii. "Of the Athenian magistrates."

With regard to the provinces assigned to the different magistrates in the cognizance of causes, we may gather some information from Demosthenes Πρὸς Λακρίτου παραγρ.—ἀλλὰ ποῦ χρὴ δίκην λα βεῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες δικασταὶ, περὶ τῶν ἐμπορικῶν συμβολαίων; παρὰ ποίᾳ ἀρχῇ, ἢ ἐν τίνι χρόνῳ ; παρὰ τοῖς ἕνδεκα ; ἀλλὰ τοιχωρύχους, καὶ κλέπτας, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους κακούργους, τοὺς ἐπὶ θανάτῳ, οὗτοι εἰσάγουσιν. ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῷ ἄρχοντι; οὐκοῦν ἐπικλήρων, καὶ ὀρφανῶν, καὶ τῶν τοκέων, προστέτακται τῷ ἄρχοντι ἐπιμελεῖσθαι. ἀλλὰ, νὴ Δία, παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ; ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐσμὲν γυμνασίαρχοι, οὐδὲ ἀσεβείας οὐδένα γρα φόμεθα. ἀλλ' ὁ πολέμαρχος εἰσάξει; ἀποστασίου γε καὶ ἀπροστασίου. οὐκοῦν ὑπόλοιπόν ἐστιν οἱ στρατηγοί. ἀλλὰ τοὺς τριηράρχους καθιστᾶσιν οὗτοι εἰσάγοντες εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον. ἐμπορικὴν δὲ δίκην οὐδεμίαν ἂν εἰσάγουσιν. p. 940. Vol. 1. p. 78. Δήμαρχοι had the same offices in the Δῆμοι, took care of their revenues, out of which they paid all the duties required of them," &c.

εἰ δὲ δεῖ τὴν δημαρχίαν λέγειν, δι' ἣν ὠργίζοντό μοί τινες, ἐν ᾗ διάφορος ἐγενόμην εἰσπράττων ὀφείλοντας πολλοὺς αὐτῶν μισθώσεις τεμένων, καὶ ἕτερα ἃ τῶν κοινῶν διηρπάκεισαν, ἐγὼ μὲν ἂν βουλοίμην ὑμᾶς ἀκούειν, ἀλλ ̓ ἴσως ἔξω τοῦ πράγματος υπολήψεσθε ταῦτ ̓ εἶναι.