the invention of many aids to facilitate the labors of the student, as better systems of grammar, punctuation, &c. One of the most eminent of them was Aristophanes of Byzantium, chief librarian at Alexandria in the reigns of the second and third Ptolemies, and who founded there a school of grammar and criticism. It was he and his pupil Aristarchus who were chiefly concerned in forming the canon of the Greek classical writers; and in their selection of authors they displayed for the most part a correct taste and a sound judgment. To Aristophanes is ascribed the invention of the Greek accents. Aristarchus is chiefly renowned as the editor of the Homeric poems in the form in which we now possess them. From their school proceeded many celebrated grammarians and lexicographers. It must not, however, be supposed that this was the sole species of literature which flourished at Alexandria. Theocritus, the most charming pastoral poet of antiquity, of which species of composition he was the inventor, though a native of Syracuse, lived for some time at Alexandria, where he enjoyed the patronage of Ptolemy II. His contemporaries and imitators, Bion of Smyrna and Moschus of Syracuse, also wrote with much grace and beauty. This school of poetry was afterwards cultivated with success by Virgil, Tibullus, and others among the Romans. At Alexandria also flourished Callimachus, the author of many hymns, elegies, and other poems, which were much admired at Rome, and were translated and imitated by Catullus and Propertius. Amongst numerous other poets we can only mention Apollonius Rhodius, the author of an epic poem on the exploits of the Argonauts; and Aratus, who composed two poems on astronomy and natural phenomena. Among the Alexandrian writers on pure science, the mathematician Euclid (Eucleides) stands conspicuous, whose elements of geometry still form the text-book of our schools. He flourished during the time of the first Ptolemy (B. C. 323 – 283).

§ 12. The list of the Greek writers down to the extinction of the Greek empire might be indefinitely enlarged; but our limits would only permit us to present the reader with a barren list of names; and we therefore content ourselves with selecting for notice a few of the most eminent.

The historian Polybius (B. c. 204-122) has already been mentioned as taking a part in the final struggle of his country with Rome. His History, though the greater part of it has unfortunately perished, is one of the most valuable remains of antiquity. His long residence among the Romans afforded him an opportunity of studying their annals; and from the period of the second Punic war he has been very closely followed by Livy.

Another Greek writer of Roman history was Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who flourished in the latter half of the first century B. C. He spent a considerable part of his life at Rome, and devoted himself to the study of

the history and antiquities of that city, on which he wrote a book, a considerable part of which is still extant. He was, however, a better critic than historian, and we still possess several of his treatises in that department of literature.

Diodorus, called from his country Siculus, or the Sicilian, also lived at Rome in the time of Julius and Augustus Cæsar. He was the author of a universal history in forty books, called The Historical Library, of which fifteen books are still extant.

Arrian, of Nicomedia in Bithynia, who lived in the first century of our era, wrote an account of Alexander's expedition, as well as several works on philosophical and other subjects.

Appian of Alexandria lived in the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, and was the author of a Roman history.

One of the best and most valuable Greek writers of this time was Plutarch, the biographer and philosopher. He was a native of Charonea in Boeotia. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it must have been about the middle of the first century of our era. He passed a considerable time in Rome and Italy; but it was late in his life before he applied himself to the study of Roman literature, and he appears never to have completely mastered the language. The later years of his life seem to have been spent at Charonea, where he discharged several magisterial offices, and filled a priesthood. His Lives, if not the most authoritative, are certainly one of the most entertaining works ever written. They have perhaps been more frequently translated than any other book, and have been popular in every age and nation. Besides his Lives, Plutarch was the author of a great number of treatises on moral and other subjects. About the same time flourished Josephus, the Jewish historian, who was born at Jerusalem A. D. 37. Though a Hebrew, the Greek style of Josephus is remarkably pure.

Strabo, the celebrated geographer, was a native of Amasia in Pontus, and lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. His valuable work on geography, which also contains many important historical facts, still exists pretty nearly entire, though the text is often corrupt.

Pausanias, author of the Description of Greece, is supposed to have been a native of Lydia, and flourished in the second century of our era. His account of Greece is of considerable value, for many of the great works of Grecian art were extant when he travelled through the country, and he appears to have described them with fidelity as well as minuteness. Dion Cassius, the historian, was born at Nicæa in Bithynia, A. D. 155. His History of Rome in eighty books extended from the earliest times to A. D. 229. It has come down to us in a very imperfect state, but is still a valuable authority for the history of the later republic and a considerable portion of the empire.

Lucian, one of the wittiest and most entertaining of ancient writers, and

who, from his sparkling style, his turn of mind, and his disregard for authority, may be compared to Swift or Voltaire, was born at Samosata, probably about A. D. 120. Of his numerous works, the best known are his Dialogues of the Dead, which have been universally esteemed, not only for their wit, but also for their Attic grace of diction.

*

We cannot close this imperfect list of Greek profane writers without mentioning the name of Galen, the celebrated physician. Galen was born at Pergamus in Mysia, A. D. 130. He completed his education at Smyrna, Corinth, and Alexandria, after which he undertook some extensive travels. He seems to have visited Rome at least twice, and attended on the Emperors M. Aurelius and L. Verus. The writings of Galen formed an epoch in medical science, and after his time all the previous medical sects seem to have become merged in his followers and imitators.

§ 13. But the Greek language was not merely destined to be the vehicle of those civilizing influences which flow from the imagination of the sublimest poets and the reasonings of the most profound philosophers. The still more glorious mission was reserved for it, of conveying to mankind through the Gospel that certain prospect of a life to come, which even the wisest of the Grecian sages had beheld only as in a glass, darkly. Three at least of the four Gospels were written in the Greek tongue, as well as the greater portion of those Scriptures which compose the New Testament. We have already alluded to the facilities which the conquests of Alexander afforded to the spreading of the Gospel; nor were there wanting in subsequent ages men who assisted its extension by their writings. Even the works of an author like Lucian were subservient to this end, by casting ridicule on the gods of paganism, and thus preparing the minds of men for the reception of a purer doctrine. Among the Greek Fathers of the Church were many men of distinguished talent; as Justin Martyr, one of the earliest of the Christian writers, Clemens of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, and many others; especially Joannes, surnamed Chrysostomus, or the golden-mouthed, from the power of his eloquence.

The Greek language and literature continued to subsist till the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Even that shock did not entirely destroy their vitality. The many learned Greeks who then took refuge in Italy were the means of reviving the study of their tongue, then almost entirely neglected, in the West, and especially at Florence, under the auspices of Cosmo de' Medici, who appointed Johannes Argyropulus, one of these refugees, preceptor to his son and nephew. Maximus Planudes, Manuel Moschopulus, Emanuel Chrysoloras, Theodore Gaza, and others, assisted in this work; and through these men and their successors, and particularly through the labors of Aldus Manutius, the Venetian printer, who flourished in the same century, the chief masterpieces of Grecian literature have been handed down and made intelligible to us.

CHAPTER XLIX.

GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS.

1. Roman Administration. § 2. Sylla, Mithridatic War. § 3. Cilician Pirates. 4. State of Greece. 5. Effects of the Establishment of the Roman Empire. § 6. Hadrian's Bene factions to Greece. Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, Herodes Atticus, Caracalla. § 7. Goth ic Invasion. § 8. Language, Poetry, Christianity. § 9. Decay of Paganism. Popular Elements of Christianity. § 10. Roman View of Christianity. Triumph of Christianity.

§ 1. THE Roman administration of Greece, commencing about the middle of the second century B. C., was at first wise and moderate. The public burdens, instead of being increased, were lessened. The local administrations and municipal institutions remained unchanged, so far as they were compatible with the exercise of supreme power by the Romans. The conquerors felt the superiority of the conquered in letters and art, and though they had no profound appreciation of these excellent ornaments of the life of man, yet they at first conceded to the authors and cultivators of them a social esteem very flattering to the vanity of the Hellenic race. In general, they paid respect to the religious feelings and the objects of worship, and the plundering of temples and robbing cities of cherished

works of art - which afterwards became one of the most irritating forms of proconsular oppression was looked upon with abhorrence by the honorable men at Rome. Polybius uses the strongest language, when he speaks of the Roman honesty. Under their circumstances, as Mr. Finlay. says, "Prudence and local interests would everywhere favor submission to Rome; national vanity alone would whisper incitements to venture on a struggle for independence."

§ 2. The Mithridatic war furnished the occasion on which the national vanity, concurring with the private inclinations of many leading men, induced the Greeks to make the attempt. Sylla was charged with the conduct of the war against the king of Pontus; and when he appeared in Greece, at the head of a powerful army, Athens almost single-handed confronted him, the others having submitted with as much lightness as they had taken up arms. Sylla laid siege to the city, and found it no easy task, with the whole force of his army, and the abundant resources with which he was supplied, to reduce the fiery republicans, under the command of Aristion. At last, their material means of defence being exhausted, they resorted to a mode of proceeding quite characteristic of the Athenians, they sent out some of their orators, to try what eloquence could do with the hard-headed Roman. Admitted to an audience, the spokesman began to remind the general of their past glory, and was proceeding to touch upon Marathon, when the surly soldier fiercely growled, “I was sent here to punish rebels, not to study history." And he did punish them. He broke down the wall between the Peiræus and the Sacred Gates, and poured in his soldiers to plunder and slay. With drawn swords they swept through the streets. The ground ran with blood, which poured its horrid tide into the ancient burying-place of the Cerameicus. Great numbers of the citizens were slain: their property was plundered by the soldiers. The groves of the Academy and the Lyceum were cut down; and columns were carried away from the temple of Olympian Zeus, to ornament the city of Rome. The town of Peiræus was utterly destroyed, being treated with more severity than Athens itself. From this frightful moment the decline of the population of Greece commenced. "Both parties," says the able historian already quoted, "during the Mithridatic war, inflicted severe injuries on Greece, plundered the country, and destroyed property most wantonly, while many of the losses were never repaired. foundations of national prosperity were undermined: and it henceforward became impossible to save, from the annual consumption of the inhabitants, the sums necessary to replace the accumulated capital of ages, which this short war had annihilated. In some cases the wealth of the communities became insufficient to keep the existing public works in repair."

The

§ 3. Scarcely had the storm of Roman war passed by, when the Cilician pirates, finding the coasts of Greece peculiarly favorable for their marauding incursions, and tempted by the wealth accumulated in the cities and