It was now time to revifit Thebes; but our traveller takes an extenfive round in Beotia before he makes his stop at the capital; he affures us it is very fafe travelling in Greece; that there are inns in all the principal towns, and on the high roads; but that the landlords impofe fhamefully upon tra'vellers.' At Tanagra we hear of Corinna, at Arcra of Hefiod, and particular notice is taken of Pindar at Thebes. At Helicon he touches on the origin of the mufes, and at Lebadia gives an account of the temple and cave of Jupiter Trophonius. After defcribing Thebes, and the manners and character of the Beotians, he paffes the traits of Thermopyle into Theffalia. Anthela, the first town in that province, is famous for the meeting of the Amphictyons in the autumn; the affemblies are held at Delphos in the fpring. Anacharfis, with delightful attention, goes through the vale of Tempe; and before he quits Theffaly is prefent at a bull-fight at Lariffa, whose inhabitants are uncommonly adroit in this exercise. In the neighbourhood of the town,' fays he, feveral bulls were let loofe to be pursued by an equal number of horsemen, who lanced them with a kind of dart.. Each horfeman fingles out a bull, keeps up with him, attacks and avoids him by turns, till, having exhausted the strength of the animal, he feizes him by the 'horns and throws him upon the ground, without difmounting ⚫ himself. Sometimes he fprings upon the back of the animal, foaming with rage, and in spite of the violent joltings he receives, brings him down before a vaft crowd of spectators 'fhouting at his triumph.'

Over mount Pindus Anacharfis paffes into Eperus, where he fees the rivers Acheron and Cocytus, near Avernus. Dodona with its oracle, and the Leucadian promontory, form interesting fcenes in this province, whence he paffes into Acarnania and Etolia.

Having visited the northern provinces, our traveller spends the winter in Athens, and fets out in the spring for Peloponefus. At Megara he takes particular notice of the celebrated school of philofophy founded by Euclid; who having admitted, rather unwillingly, the fyllogiftical rules in argument that had been lately invented, his fucceffor carried them to a ridiculous pitch; and we are prefented with a pleasant battle of fyllogifms.

A fine account is given of the flourishing ftate of Corinth, then the emporium of Europe and Afia; and the following extract is a curious inftance of the degree of luxury and voluptuousness at which this city was arrived: The women of Corinth are diftinguished for their beauty, the men for their love of wealth and pleafure. They ruin their conftitutions by ex

ceffes in eating and drinking; and love among them is depraved

to

to unbridled fenfuality. Far from blufhing at this, they endeavour to juftify it, by an inftitution which feems to impofe it on them as a duty. Venus is their principal divinity; to her they have confecrated courtezans whofe office it is to folicit her protection: in great calamities, in times of imminent danger, they affift at the facrifices, and march in proceffion with the reft of the citizens, finging folemn hymns. On the ⚫ approach of Xerxes, they were entreated to employ their power; and I faw a painting in which they were reprefented • fupplicating the goddefs. Some verses of Simonides, that were at the bottom of the picture, afcribed to them the glory of having faved the Grecians. So fine a triumph increased the • number of the facred dames of this kind. At prefent, all who • defire to fecure fuccefs in their undertakings, promise to make ⚫ an offering to Venus of a certain number of courtezans, whom they obtain from different places. They reckon above a thoufand in this city. They allure the foreign merchants, and in a few days ruin a whole crew; whence the proverb, Non cuivis bomini contingat adire Corinthum.'

This volume concludes with a journey through the Elean territory, and a moft engaging account of the Olympic games.

Vol. IV. Before Anacharfis leaves the country of the Elians he vifits Xenophon at Scillonte, and hunts with his fon Diodorus the hare, ftag, and wild boar; and they also amuse themfelves with the fport of decoying quails and partridges. A dispute between Anacharfis and Diodorus upon the tyranny of the paffions, in which the latter maintained that love itself had not the power of enflaving us against our will, being referred to the decifion of Xenophon, introduces the ftory of Panthea and Abiadates, in which Arafpes, finding in himself two fouls, one inclined to evil the other to good, gains a decided victory for the latter over the excefs of love infpired by the former for the perfon of Panthea.

After defcribing Meffenia, he gives the hiftory of their wars with the Spartans, in the form of elegies: this is in order to avoid the unity of action neceffary to the epic; and he has the example of fome of the ancients for this manner, fuch as Tyrteus, Callinus, and Mimnermus. Though he relates the principal facts with accuracy, he has intermixed some fictions, but takes care, however, to warn us of them; the apparition of Ariftomenes is the chief.

The greater part of this volume is occupied with the country of Laconia, and the affairs of the Spartans, their government, laws, education, manners and cuftoms, religion, feftivals, and military duty; which are all very particularly difcuffed; and our traveller difcovers a great partiality for this people. He also

prefents

prefents us with a short hiftory of the life of their great legiflator. Very different, indeed, are the defcriptions of Sparta from thofe of Áthens; for example: The houfes are fmall, and built ⚫ without art; the faw is the only inftrument made ufe of for the doors, and a hatchet for the boards; trunks of trees, with the bark fcarcely peeled off, ferve for beams. The furniture, though neater, partakes of the fame fimplicity; it is never crowded. The Spartans have every thing they want at hand, because they make it a rule to put every thing in its place. Those little attentions preserve among them the love of order and of difcipline.' Leaving Laconia, Anacharfis makes the tour of Arcadia and of Argolis, and returns by Corinth to Athens, where he continues his researches.

Plato's republic draws his attention, and is difcuffed: he then enters upon the commerce, the taxes, and finances, of the Athenians; and the volume concludes with a renewal of his attendance at Euclid's library, where he hears differtations on logic

and rhetoric.

Vol. V. Anacharfis now makes the tour of Attica; he gives an account of agriculture and rural affairs, and alfo of the mines of Sunium. Plato being in the neighbourhood accompanies the traveller to the promontory, where there is a fuperb temple dedicated to Minerva. While they were on the top of the mountain they are overtaken by a dreadful ftorm, which drives them into the porch of the temple for fhelter. There fome queftions on the operations of Nature puzzle the company, and Plato being applied to, affords an opportunity of introducing his difcourse upon the formation of the world.

The expedition of Dion into Sicily, and the commencement of the facred war, furnish a long chapter. Anacharfis fets out to vifit Egypt and Perfia; and the affairs of Greece, during his absence, are related in very interefting letters from fome of his friends at Athens. The contents of these letters are chiefly concerning the enterprifes of Philip, and the progrefs of his encroachments; accompanied with the conduct of the Athenian orators, particularly Demofthenes and Efchines: in one of the letters we have an account of the fudden death of Plato. On his return from Perfia, hearing that Ariftotle was fettled in Mytilene, he vifits him; and we are treated with discourses on the nature of governments. We have next the extraordinary picture of Dionyfius at Corinth, and an account of the exploits of Timoleon. At Athens Anacharfis again purfues his studies in Euclid's library, where he now enters upon phyfics, natural hiftory, and the notions concerning genii, or the fpiritual world; an account of which is given by a Pythagorean named Seleficles, whofe foul, difengaged from his body, had made excurfions

I

among

among thofe fuperior beings. He alfo goes through a course of the hiftorians with Euclid. The life of Socrates, and an account of the Eleufinian feftivals and myfteries, close the fifth volume.

Having concluded his inquiries concerning the drama, our philofopher prefents us, in Vol. VI. with his compilations on this subject, and we have the hiftory of tragedy, comedy, and fatire, together with the lives of fome of the principal dramatic poets; an account of the reprefentation and manner of bringing plays on the ftage; the actors, dreffes, mafks, fcenery, contractors; and the established price of admittance. We have alfo a long differtation, chiefly from Ariftotle's Poetics, on the nature and end of tragedy. After this Anacharfis, in company with fome of his friends, vifits the coafts of Afia and the principal islands. At Cos we have an admirable account of Hippocrates; and at Samos a fhort hiftory of Polycrates. The inftitutes of Pythagoras are difcuffed in a converfation between Anacharfis and a Samian. The excurfion to Delos, its feftivities, the ceremonies on the marriage of Theagenes and Ismena, with the account of the Cyclades, are very interefting. The following extract is the romantic view from mount Cynthus in the ifland of Delos: At length the day, fo impatiently expected, arrived. Aurora lightly tinging the horizon, marked the fun's approach as we came to the foot of Cynthus. This mountain is but of a moderate height; it is a mafs of granite, fparkling with a variety of colours, and particularly the dusky fhining particles of talk. From the top of the hill are feen a furprising number of iflands, of various magnitude. They are scattered in the bofom of the waters, with the fame elegant diversity that the ftars appear in the firmament. The eye wanders eagerly over them, and endeavours to recover them as they escape its view. One while it ftrays with pleasure through the windings ‹ of the channels that separate them, then flowly measures the lakes and liquid plains formed within their bounds; for this is not one of thofe unlimited feas where the imagination is no less overwhelmed than furprised at the grandeur of the scene; where the ftrained mind, looking round for a place of reft, < finds every where a vaft defert that oppreffes, an immenfe extent that confounds her. Here the waves are become the ⚫ habitation of mortals. It is a city scattered on the surface of the fea; it is the picture of Egypt when the Nile, fpreading itself over the country, appears to bear upon its waters the hills that ferve as a retreat to the inhabitants.' At the conclufion of this volume is a differtation on happiness.

In the first part of Vol. VII. is a continuation of Grecian literature, their religion, poetry, and ethics. The lofs of the battle of Cheronea is the lofs of liberty to Greece; the battle is

related

related very briefly, a description is given of Alexander, and Anacharfis finishes his travels, and returns to his own country: I returned to Scythia, divefted of the prejudices that made a • refidence in it hateful to me. Received as a citizen by a nation established on the banks of the Boryfthenes, I farm a fmall eftate that formerly belonged to my ancestor the wife • Anacharfis. I here enjoy the calm of folitude; I would add, all the delights of friendship, if the heart could repair its loffes. In my youth I fought for happiness among enlightened nations; in a more advanced age I have found peace among a people who know nothing beyond the fimple bounties of 'nature.'

In this manner the narrative concludes; but, to render the hiftory as complete and useful as poffible, ample and valuable tables are fubjoined. Ift. A chronology of the principal eras in the Grecian history, from the earliest times to the reign of Alexander; 2d. A chronological, and alfo an alphabetical lift of the names of those who had distinguished themselves in learning and the arts, from the periods near the taking of Troy to the reign of Alexander; there are nine tables employed on the measures, weights, and money, of the Grecians, which are reduced as exactly as poffible to the French ftandard: an index of the authorities quoted; and a copious general index. References to authorities are thrown at the bottom of the pages, the notes at the end of each volume, The travels are accompanied by a thin quarto volume of maps, plans, and elevations, useful to the hiftory, and well executed.

This is the analyfis of M. Barthelemy's work; a performance at once an honour to the author and his country, and is one of the few books that will go down to pofterity, and afford pleasure and inftruction to fucceeding generations. The learned reader will be delighted to hear his old friends converfe familiarly, and to pay them friendly vifits at their own houses; while the young fcholar, enticed into the paths of ftudy, will emulate Anacharfis, grow fonder of wisdom, nor reft fatisfied till he can converfe with Plato and Xenophon in their own language. The charming poem of Telemachus is a fiction adorning moral and political truths; Anacharfis contains very little fiction, only enough to give action to the fubject; to moral and political inftruction it adds historical facts, and all the real learning of the Grecians. It is not fo much a fucceffion of military achievements as the progrefs of literature and knowledge; the camp yields to the library. Great as was Epaminondas, a few pages detail his heroifmi and his magnanimity; volumes fuffice not for Euclid.

ENG. REV. VOL. XV. MARCH 1790.

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