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Aratus himself gave twenty to the city. Of all these changes and successes we have a large account in Pausanias, Plutarch, and Diodorus.

Not long after this re-establishment, they quarrelled with Philip, king of Macedon, who reduced them to great extremities, laid waste their country, pulled down all the temples in the villages around Athens, destroyed all their stately edifices, and caused his soldiers to break in pieces the very stones, that they might not be serviceable in the reparation of them; all which losses, with a great many aggravations, are elegantly. set forth in an oration of the Athenian ambassadors to the Etolians, in Livy. But the Romans coming to their assistance, Philip was forced to forsake his enterprize, and, being afterwards entirely defeated, left the Grecians in full possession of their liberty, which, at least some shew of it, they enjoyed many years, under the Roman protection.

Of the State of Athens, from its Confederacy with Rome to Constantine the Great.

The Grecians, and others, that put themselves under the Roman protection, though they gilded their condition with the specious name of liberty, yet were no farther free, than it pleased those, in whose power they were. They were governed indeed by their own laws, and had the privilege of electing their own magistrates, yet their laws were of small force, if they seemed any way to oppose the pleasure or the interest of their Roman masters and in the election of magistrates, and the ordering of public affairs, though every man might give his vote which way he pleased, yet, if he thwarted the Roman designs, or was cold in his affection to them, but warm in the defence of the liberties and privileges of his country, he was looked upon with a jealous eye by the Romans, and treated by them as a favourer of rebellion and an enemy; and solely on this

ground, notwithstanding the attestations to the contrary, and the solicitations of their country, which in cessantly importuned the Roman senate for their discharge, a thousand of the most eminent Echæans endured an imprisonment of seventeen years, at the end of which, only thirty of them were saved, among whom was Polybius, the impartial historian of his own times, the rest died in prison, or suffered death as malefactors.

Thus under the specious show of freedom, every thing was carried on under the Roman influence: and no sooner was any attempt made to thwart the views of the Roman agents, than an appeal was made to the senate, who reserved to themselves the power of viewing these complaints, and who disposed of them as suited their own convenience.

No pecuniary business was transacted but under the control of the Romans: nay, the Roman officers sometimes took the liberty of raising contributions of their own accord: and though in consequence of remonstrances made in the Macedonian war, the senate issued a decree, that no Grecian should be obliged to pay any contribution that was levied without their sanction; this order was a mere dead letter, for the man, who refused to comply with the demand of a Roman officer, was considered as a stirrer up of sedition and rebellion, and treated accordingly. In this state the affairs of the Athenians stood under the Roman government; and whether in consideration of the easiness of this yoke, compared with that of the Macedonians, or through meanness of spirit, contracted through a long series of misfortunes and degradations; or for want of the means of asserting their rights and liberties; or from the co-operation of all these causes; they patiently submitted themselves, seeming well satisfied with the enjoyment of this nominal and slavish freedom, which, a few ages before, they would have rejected with indignation, and endeavoured by vigorous exertions to deliver themselves from, at the hazard of every thing that was dear to them.

From this time to the war with Mithridates, their condition remained much the same; but either by the persuasion of Ariston the philosopher, or out of fear of the army of Mithridates, they had the bad fortune to take his part, and receive Archestratus, one of his lieutenants, within their walls; at which Sylla being enraged, laid siege to the city, took it, and gave it up to so merciless a slaughter, that the channels of the streets ran down with blood: at this time every magnificent building was laid in ruins, and the whole city was so dilapidated, that it never recovered its former beauty till the time of Adrian.

This storm being blown over, the Athenians lived in peace till the time of the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, in which they took part with Pompey, and were closely besieged by Q. Fucius Calenus, Cæsar's lieutenant, who laid waste all the adjacent country, and seized upon the Piræus, being at that time unfortified, and a place of little strength. But news being brought that Pompey was totally routed, they submitted to the conqueror, who, according to his wonted generosity, received them into his favour; and this he did out of respect to the glory and virtue of their ancestors, giving out that he pardoned the living for the sake of the dead; as Dion Cassius reports.

But it seems this people still retained some sparks at least of their ancient partiality to a popular government; for when Cæsar was dead, they joined themselves to Brutus and Cassius, his murderers, and besides other honours done to them, placed their statues next those of Harmodius and Aristogiton, the two famous patriots that defended the liberty of their country against the tyranny of the sons of Pisistratus.

Brutus and Cassius being defeated, they went over to Antony, who behaved himself very obligingly towards them, and the rest of the Grecians; being fond, as Plutarch says, of being stiled a lover of Greece, but above all, in being called a lover of Athens, to which city he

made considerable presents; and as others tell us, gave the Athenians the dominion of the islands of Tenus, Ægina, Icus, Cea, Sciathus and Peparethus.

Augustus, having overcome Antony, handled them a little more severely for their ingratitude to his father; and besides some other privileges, as that of selling the freedom of the city, took from them the isle of Ægina. Towards the end of his reign they began to revolt, but were easily reduced to their former obedience; and notwithstanding all the cruelties, ravages, and other misfortunes they had suffered, Strabo, who flourished in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, tells us, they enjoyed many privileges, retained their ancient form of government, and lived in a flourishing condition in his days. And Germanicus, the adopted son of Tiberius, making a journey that way, honoured them with the privilege of having a lictor, who was an officer that attended upon the chief magistrates at Rome, and was accounted a mark of sovereign power. In this condition they remained, with very little alteration, till the reign of Vespasian, who reduced Attica, and all Achaia to the condition of a Roman province; exacting tribute from them, and compelling them to be governed by the Roman laws. Under Nerva, some shadow, at least, of liberty was restored them; but they were still under the government of a pro-consul, and received most of their laws from the emperor, who also nominated their professors in the public schools, and appointed them archons; and hence it came to pass that Adrian, before his advancement to the empire, was invested with that office. In the same state they continued in Trajan's time, as appears from an epistle of Pliny to Maximus, who was sent to govern Achaia, wherein he advised him to use his power with moderation, and tells him in particular of the Athenians, that it would be a barbarous piece of inhumanity, to deprive them of that name and shadow of liberty, which was all that remained to them.

But notwithstanding the peace and privileges they enjoyed, under these and other emperors of Rome,

they were never able to repair those vast losses, which they had suffered under Sylla, till the reign of Adrian, who in the time of his being archon, took a particular affection to this city; and, when he was promoted to be emperor, granted them very large privileges, gave them just and moderate laws, bestowed on them a large donation of money, and annual provisions of corn, and the whole island of Cephalonia; repaired the old decayed castles, and restored them to their ancient splendour, and added one whole district of new buildings, at his own charge, which he called Adrianople; and New Athens, as appears, as well from other records, as also from an inscription upon an aqueduct begun by this emperor, and finished by his successor Antoninus, purporting that, Antoninus had finished the aqueduct in New Athens, that had been begun by his father and predecessor Adrian. And from another of Gruter's inscriptions, the substance of which is, that " ATHENS WAS FORMERLY THE CITY OF THESEUS, BUT NOW ATHENS BELONGS TO ADRIAN:" from which it appears, that they acknowledged him to be the second founder of their city..

Many other privileges this emperor granted them, which were continued and enlarged by his successor, M. Antoninus Pius, and M. Antoninus the philosopher; the latter of which allowed them stipends for the maintenance of public professors, in all arts and sciences, and was himself initiated among them.

But Severus having received some affront from them, when he was a private person, and studied in Athens, was resolved to revenge himself on them as soon as he came to be emperor, and for no other reason, as it is thought, deprived them of a great part of their privileges. Valerian was more favourable to them, and. permitted them to rebuild their city walls, which had lain in rubbish, between three and four hundred years, from the time that Sylla dismantled them.

But these fortifications could not protect them from the fury of the Goths, who Gallienus, or, as some say,

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