country called Attica; for when Thessaly and Peloponnesus, and almost all the fertile regions of Greece changed their old masters every year, the barrenness of the soil secured them from foreign invasion. Greece had at that time no constant and settled inhabitants, but the people were continually removing; the weaker being compelled to give place to the stronger. Amidst all these troubles and vicissitudes, Attica remained secure and unmolested being protected from foreign enemies by means of a rocky and unfruitful soil, that presented no inducement to invasion, while she was secured from internal dissentions by the quiet and peaceable disposition of her inhabitants; for in those golden days no affectation of supremacy—no sparks of ambition had fired their minds, but every one lived full of content and satisfied with the enjoyment of an equal portion of land, and other necessaries, with the rest of their neighbours.

The usual consequences of a long and uninterrupted peace, are riches and plenty; but in those days, when men lived on the produce of their own land, and had not yet found out the way of supplying their wants by trade and commerce, the case was reversed, and peace was only the mother of poverty and want; for the surplus by no means kept pace with the demands of an increas ing population. This the Athenians soon experienced; for in a few ages their numbers were so increased that their country, naturally unfruitful, and confined within very narrow bounds, was no longer able to supply them with necessary provisions. This put them upon contrive ing how to relieve themselves from the distresses of such a situation, and they resolved upon sending out colonies to seek for new settlements; these gradually spread themselves over different parts of Greece.

This was a practice resorted to by other nations: it was a practice dictated by reason under such circumstances. We have instances of it among the Gauls and Scythians, who frequently emigrated from their native country in such vast numbers that like an overwhelming torrent they bore down all before them in the course

of their progress. Thus the Athenians, according to Meursius, established no less than forty colonies in various parts, the most eminent of which was that in Asia Minor, known by the name of Ionia, and so called by the colonists in honour of their native country; for the primitive Athenians, on the authority of Herodotus and Strabo, were called Iones and laonis; hence it came to pass that there was a very near affinity between the Attic and old Ionic dialect. And though the Athenians thought fit to lay aside their ancient name, yet it was not altogether out of use, in the reign of Theseus, as appears from the pillar erected by him in the isthmus, to show the bounds of the Athenians on one side; and of the Peloponnesians on the other: on the east side of the pillar was this inscription

This is not Peloponnesus but Ionia;

and on the south side

This is not Ionia but Peloponnesus.

This name is thought to have been given them from Javan, which word bears near resemblance to Jaon; and much nearer, if as grammarians tell us, the ancient Greeks pronounced the letter a broad like the dipthong au as in the English word all. This Javan was the fourth son of Japheth, and is said to have come into Greece after the confusion of Babel and seated himself in Attica; and this opinion receives no small confirmation from the sacred writings, for in these Javan is frequently put for Greece. Thus in Daniel, "And when I am gone forth, behold the prince of Græcia shall come." Again, “ He shall stir up all against the realm of Græcia," in these passages the original word is Javan. And again in Isaiah, "And I will send those that escape of them to the nations in the sea, in ITALY and in GREECE: in the original the words are Jubal and Ionia, and these names are retained in the Geneveve version. But the Grecians themselves, having no knowledge of their true ancestor, make this name to be of a much later date, and derive it from Ion, the son of Xuthus. This Xuthus, according to Pausanias, having robbed his father Deucalion of his

treasure, conveyed himself, together with his ill-gotten wealth into Attica, which was, at that time, governed by Erictheus, who courteously entertained him, and gave him his daughter in marriage, by whom he had two sons, Ion and Achæus; the former of which gave his name to the Ionians, the latter to the Achæans. It is not improbable that Ton himself might receive his name from Javan; it being a custom observable, in the histories of all times, to keep up the name of the fore-father, especially if he had been a person of eminence in his day, by reviving it in some principal person of his posterity.

From the first peopling of Attica till the time of king Ogyges, we have no account of any thing that occurred there; only Plato reports that they had a tradition, that the Athenian power and glory were very great in those days that they were excellently skilled, both in civil and military affairs-that they were governed by the most just and equitable laws-and that they lived in far greater splendour than they had attained to in his time. But of the transactions and circumstances of these and the following ages till the time of Theseus or the Trojan war, little or nothing of certainty can be expected, partly because of the want of records, in rude and illiterate ages, partly by reason of the length of time elapsed, on which, if any records did exist, they might have been lost or destroyed; and partly through the vain glory of the ancient Greeks, who out of an affectation of being thought to be descended from some divine origin, industriously concealed their pedigrees, and obscured their ancient histories, with idle tales and poetic fictions: and to use the words of Plutarch, "As historians, in their geographical descriptions of countries, crowd into the farthest part of their maps those things they have no knowledge of, with some such remarks, in the margin as these; all beyond is nothing but dry and desert sands; a Scythian cold; or a frozen sea; so it may very well be said of those things, that are so far removed from our age-all beyond is nothing but monstrous and tragical fictions; there the poets and there the inventors of fables dwell; nor is there any thing there that deserves credit, or that carries in it any appearance of truth."

I must not, however, omit, what is reported concerning Ogyges, or Ogygus, whom some will have to have been King of Thebes, some of Egypt, some of Arcadia, but others of Attica, which is said to have been called after his name, Ogygia. He is reported to have been a very potent prince and the founder of several cities, particularly of Eleusis; Pausanias tells us farther, that he was the father of the hero Eleusis, from whom, that town received its name. He is said to have been contemporary with the patriarch Jacob; about the sixtyseventh year of whose life he has supposed to have been born. Others bring him down as low as Moses. The reign of this King is the utmost period to which the Athenians histories and traditions extend. He is said to have reigned thirty-two years, blest with fortune's choicest favours, but the conclusion of his life was no less miserable than the former had been prosperous; for in the midst of all his engagements he was surprised with a sudden and terrible inundation, that overwhelmed not only Attica, but all Achaia too, in one common destruction,

There is frequent mention made, in ancient authors, of several Kings that reigned in Attica between the Ogygian flood and Cecrops the first; as of Porphyrion; concerning whom the Asmonians a people in Attica have a tradition that he erected a temple to Venus Urania, in their borough. Also of Colanus and of Periphas who is described by Antonius liberalis, to have been a very virtuous prince, and at last metamorphosed into an eagle. We are also told of one Draco, ont of whose teeth it is reported that Cecrops sprung. Such are the absurdities, with which the fabulous part of Grecian history is crowded.

We are assured by Philocherus, an author of no less credit than antiquity, that Attica was so much wasted by the Ogygian Deluge, and its inhabitants reduced to so small a number, that they lived a hundred and ninety years, from the time of Ögyges to Cecrops, without any king at all; and Eusebius concurs with him in this opinion.

Of the State of Athens from Cecrops to Theseus.

It is generally agreed, that Cecrops was the first who gathered together the poor peasants, that were dispersed here and there through the region of Attica; and having united them into one body, though not into one city till after many ages, constituted among them one form of government, and took upon himself the title of king.

Most nations in early times were governed by kings, who were usually persons of great worth and celebrity, for their courage, wisdom, and other virtues; and were on that account promoted to regal dignity by the common consent and choice of the people, who yielded obedience to them out of willingness rather than compulsively; and kings preferred being obeyed out of love and esteem of their virtues, and confidence in their fitness to govern, than by the force of their arms, or a slavish fear of their power. They affected no uneontroulable dominion or absolute sway, but preferred the good of their people, to any avaricious or ambitious designs of their own: they endeavoured to observe such a happy medium in all their behaviour and actions as might secure their authority from contempt, and yet not too much overawe their subjects, or keep them at too great a distance.

The Regal Office was Three-fold.

First, The kings acted as judges, in determining the causes that were brought before them; and as legislators, in making new laws or in regulating the old ones; but such was the confidence reposed in their king by the people, that his sole will and pleasure was received by them as a law. Secondly,-In time of war, the kings not only assisted with their counsel, and by their good conduct and management of affairs, but headed the armies, and