Sicily, and the subsequent period of more than fifty years, to the time of the elder Dionysius, has been described as by far the best and happiest portion of Sicilian history.

18. At the time of the breaking out of the Peloponnésian war, 431 B. C., Syracuse was the foremost of the Sicilian cities in power and resources. Agrigen' tum was but little inferior to her, while in her foreign commerce and her public monuments the latter was not surpassed by any Grecian city of that age. In the great Peloponnésian struggle, the Ion' ic cities of Sicily, few in number, very naturally sympathized with Athens, and the Dórian cities with Sparta; and in the fifth year of the war we find the Ion'ic cities soliciting Athens for aid against Syracuse and her allics. Successive expeditions were sent out by Athens, and soon nearly all Sicily was involved in the war, when at length, in 424 B. C., a congress of the Sicilian cities decided upon a general peace among themselves, to the great dissatisfaction of the Athenians, who were already anticipating important conquests on the island.

19. A few years later, (417 B. C.,) a quarrel broke out between the neighboring Sicilian cities Selínus and Eges' ta,' the latter of which, although not of Grecian origin, had formerly been in alliance with Athens. Selínus was aided by the Syracusans; and Eges' ta applied to Athens for assistance, making false representations of her own resources, and enlarging upon the dangers to be apprehended from Syracusan aggrandizement as a source of strength to Sparta. The Athenian Nic'ias, most earnestly opposed any farther intervention in Sicilian affairs; but the counsels of Alcibíades prevailed, and in the summer of 415 B. C., the largest armament that had ever left a Grecian port sailed on the most distant enterprize that Athens had ever undertaken, under the command of three generals, Nic' ias, Lam' achus, and Alcibíades; but the latter was recalled soon after the fleet had reached Cat' ana,' on the eastern coast of the island.

1. Selinus was a flourishing city of more than thirty thousand inhabitants, on the southern shore of the western part of the island. Its ruins may still be seen near what is called Torre di Polluce. Eges' ta, called by the Romans Segesta, was on the northern coast, near the modern Alcamo. Selinus and Eges' ta were engaged in almost continual wars with each other. After the Athenian expedition the Egestans called to their assistance the Carthaginians, who took, plundered, and nearly destroyed Selinus; but Eges' ta, under Carthaginian rule, expe rienced a fate but little better. (Map No. VIII.)

2. Cat' ana, now Catania was at the southern base of Mount Æt' na, thirty-two miles north rom Syracuse. The distance from the city to the summit of the mountain was thirty miles. Catania has been repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes, and by torrents of liquid fire from the neighbr ring volcano; but it has risen like the fabled phoenix, more splendid from its ashes,

20. From Cat' ana Nic' ias sailed around the northern coast to Eges' ta, whence he marched the land forces back through the island to Cat' ana, having achieved nothing but the acquisition of a few in. significant towns, while the Syracusans improved the time in making preparations to receive the invaders. At length, about the last of October, Nic' ias sailed with his whole force to Syracuse-defeated the Syracusans in the battle which followed-and then went into winter quarters at Nax' os; but in the spring he returned to his former station at Cat' ana, soon after which he commenced a regular siege of Syracuse.

21. In a battle which was fought on the grounds south of the city, towards the river Anápus, Lam' achus was slain, although the Athenians were victorious. Nic'ias continued to push forward his successes, and Syracuse was on the point of surrendering, when the arrival of the Spartan general Gylip'pus at once changed the fortune of war, and the Athenians were soon shut up in their own lines.

22. At the solicitation of Nic' ias a large reënforcement, commanded by the Athenian general Demosthenes, was sent to his assistance in the spring of 413; but at the same time the Spartans reënforced Gylip' pus, and, in addition, sent out a force to ravage At'tica. During the summer many battles, both on land and in the harbor of Syracuse, were fought by the opposing forces, in nearly all of which the Syracusans and their allies were victorious; and, in the end, the entire Athenian force in Sicily, numbering at the time not less than forty thousand men, was destroyed. "Never in Grecian history," says Thucydides, "had ruin so complete and sweeping, or victory so glorious and unexpected, been witnessed."

23. Soon after the termination of the contest between the Athenians and Syracusans, the Carthaginians again sought an opportunity of invading the island, and established themselves over its entire western half; but they were ably resisted by Dionysius the Elder, "tyrant of Syracuse," who was proclaimed chief of the republic about 405 B. C.; and it was owing to his exertions that any part of the island was saved from falling into the hands of the enemy. It was at length agreed that the river Him' era' should form the limit between the Grecian territories on the east and the Carthagi

and is still a beautiful city. The streets are paved with lava; and houses, palaces, churches, and convents, are built of it. Remains of ancient temples, aqueducts, baths, &c., are numer ous. The environs are fruitful, and well cultivated. (Map No. VIII.)

1. The river Him' era here mentioned, now the Salso, falls into the Mediterranean on the southern coast, to the west of Géla. (Map No. VII.).

nian dependencies on the west; but the peace was soon broken by the Carthaginians, who, amid the civil dissensions of the Greeks, sought every opportunity of extending their dominion over the entire island.

24. Subsequently the aspiring power of Carthage was checked by Timóleon, and afterwards by Agath' ocles. The former, a Corinthian by birth, having made himself master of the almost deserted Syracuse, about the year 340 B. C., restored it to some degree of its former glory. He defeated the Carthaginians in a great battle, and established the affairs of government on so firm a basis that the whole of Sicily continued, many years after his death, in unusual quiet and prosperity. Agath' ocles usurped the sovereignty of Syra cuse by the murder of several thousand of its principal citizens in the year 317 B. C. He maintained his power twenty-eight years. Having been defeated by the Carthaginians, and being besieged in Syracuse, with a portion of his army he passed over to Africa, where he sustained himself during four years. In the year 306 he COLcluded a peace with the Carthaginians. He died by poison, 289 B. C., leaving his influence in Sicily and southern Italy to his son-in-law, the famous Pyr' rhus, king of Epírus. After the death of Agath'ocles, the Carthaginians gained a decided ascendancy in Sicily, when the Romans, alarmed by the movements of so powerful a neighbor, and being invited over to the assistance of a portion of the people of Messána, commenced the first Punic war, (265 B. C.,) and after a struggle of twenty-four years made themselves masters of the whole of Sicily, nearly a hundred years before the reduction of Greece itself to a Roman province.

25. On the northern coast of Africa, within the district of the modern Barca, the important Grecian colony of Cyrenaica' was planted by Lacedæmonian settlers from Thera, an IV. island of the 'gæn, about the year 630 B. C. Its CYRENAICA. chief city, Cyréne, was about ten miles from the sea, having a sheltered port called Apollónia, itself a considerable town. Over the Libyan tribes between the borders of Egypt and the Great Desert, the Cyreneans exercised an ascendancy similar to that which Carthage possessed over the tribes farther westward. About the year 550 B. C., one of the neighboring Libyan kings, finding the Greeks rapidly encroaching upon his territories, declared himself

1. Cyrenaica, see p. 70.

2 Thera, now Santorim, belonged to the cluster called the Sporades. (Map No. III.)

subject to Egypt, when a large Egyptian army marched to his assistance, but the Egyptians experienced so complete a defeat that few of them ever returned to their own country. We find that the next Egyptian king, Amásis, married a Cyrenean.

26. Soon after the defeat of the Egyptians, the tyranny of the Cyrenean king, Agesiláus, led to a revolt among his subjects, who being joined by some of the neighboring tribes, founded the city of Bar' ca, about seventy miles to the westward of Cyréne. In the war which followed, a great battle was fought with the allies of Bar' ca, in which Agesilaus was defeated, and seven thousand of his men were left dead on the field. The successor of Agesiláus was deposed from the kingly office by the people, who, in imitation of the Athenians, then established a republican government, (543 B. C.,) under the direction of Demónax,. a wise legislator of Mantinéa. But the son of the deposed monarch, having obtained assistance from the people of Sámos, regained the throne of Cyréne, about the time that the Persian prince Camby' ses conquered Egypt. Both the Cyrenean and the Barcan prince sent their submission to the great conqueror. Soon after this event the Persian satrap of Egypt sent a large force against Bar' ca, which was taken by perfidy, and great numbers of the inhabitants were carried away into Persian slavery.

27. At a later period, Cyréne and Bar' ca fell under the power of the Carthaginisu: they subsequently formed a dependency of Egypt; and in the year 76 B. C., they were reduced to the condition of a Roman province. Cyréne was the birth-place of the poet Callim'achus; of Eratos' thenes the geographer, astronomer, and mathematician; and of Carnéades the sophist. Cyrenean Jews were present at Jerusalem on the day of pentecost: it was Simon, a Cyrenean Jow, whom the soldiers compelled to bear the Saviour's cross; and Christian Jews of Cyréne were among the first preachers of Christianity to the Greeks of Antioch. (Matthew, xxvii. 32: Mark, xv. 1: Acts, ii. 10: vi. 9: xi. 20.)

CHAPTER V.

ROMAN HISTORY:

FROM THE FOUNDING OF ROME, 753 B. C., TO THE CONQUESTS OF GREECE AND CARTHAGE, 146 B. C. 607 YEARS.

SECTION I.

EARLY ITALY: ROME UNDER THE KINGS: ENDING 510 B. C.

ANALYSIS. 1. ITALY-names and extent of.-2. Mountains, and fertile plains.-3. Climate.4. Principal States and tribes.-5. Our earliest information of Italy. E:ruscan civilization. The Etruscans. The Tiber.]-6. Southern Italy and Sicily colonized by Greeks. The rise of Rome, between the Etruscans on the one side and the Greeks on the other.-7. Sources and character of early Roman history.-8. The Roman legends, down to the founding of Alba.[Lavin'ium Latium. Alba.]-9. The Roman legends continued, down to the saving of Romulus and Rémus.-10. To the death of Amu' lius.-11. Auguries for selecting the site and name of a city.-12. The FOUNDING OF ROME. [Description of Ancient and Modern Rome.]— 13. Stratagem of Romulus to procure wives for his followers. [Sabines.]—14. WAR WITH THE SABINES. Treachery and fate of Tarpéia.-15. Reconciliation and union of the Sabines and Romans. Death of Tullius. [Laurentines.]—16. The intervening period, to the death of Romulus. Death of Rom' ulus.

17. Rule of the senators. Election of NUMA, the 2d king. His institutions, and death. [Janus.]-18. Reign of TULLIUS HOSTIL'IUS, the 3d king, and first dawn of historic truth.19. Legend of the Horatii and Curiȧtif.-20. Tragic death of Horátia. Submission, treachery, and removal of the Albans. Death of Tul' lius.-21. The reign of AN' CUS MAR' TIUS, the 4th king. [Ostia.-22. Tarquin the ELDER, the 5th king. His origin. Unanimously called to the throne. [Tarquin' ii.]-23. His wars. His public works. His death.-24. SER' VIUS TULLIUS, the 6th king. Legends concerning him. Wars, &c.-25. Division of the people into centuries. Federal union with the Latins. Administration of Justice, &c.-26. Displeasure of the patricians, and murder of Servius.-27. The reign of TARQUIN THE PROUD, the 7th king. His reign disturbed by dreams and prodigies.-28. The dispute between Sextus, bis brothers, and Collatinus. How settled. [Ardea Collátia.]-29. The story of Lucretia, and banishment of the Tarquins.

1. ITALY, known in ancient times by the names Hespéria, Ausónia, Satur' nia, and Enótria, comprises the whole of the central peninsula of southern Europe, extending from the Alps in a I. ITALY. southern direction nearly seven hundred and seventy miles, with a breadth varying from about three hundred and eighty miles in northern Italy, to less than eighty near its centre.

2. The mountains of Italy are the Alps on its north-western boundary, and the Apennines, which latter pass through the peninsula nearly in its centre, and send off numerous branches on both sides. They are much less rugged than the Alps, and abound in rich forests and

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