spot; and only the night parted them. The two Argives, looking upon themselves as the conquerors, made what haste they could to Argos to carry the news; the single Lacedæmonian, Othryades by name, instead of retiring, stripped the dead bodies of the Argives, and, carrying their arms into the Lacedæmonian camp, continued at his post. The next day the two armies returned to the field of battle. Both sides equally claimed the victory. The Argives, because they had more of their champions left alive than the enemy; the Lacedæmonians, because the two Argives who remained alive had fled; whereas their single soldier had remained master of the field of battle, and carried off the spoils of the enemy: in short, they could not settle the dispute without coming to another engagement. Fortune declared in favour of the Lacedæmonians, and the little territory of Thyrea was the prize of their victory. But Othryades, not able to bear the thoughts of surviving his brave companions, or of enduring the sight of Sparta after their death, killed himself on the same field of battle where they had fought, resolving to have one fate and one tomb with them.

At a subsequent period, the inhabitants of Argos despatched ambassadors to Pyrrhus and Antigonus, to entreat them to withdraw their troops, and not reduce their city into subjection to either of them, but to allow it to continue in a state of friendship with both. Antigonus readily consented, and sent his son as a hostage to the Argives. Pyrrhus also promised to retire; but, as he offered no security for the fulfilment of his word, they began to suspect his sincerity, and, indeed, with sufficient reason; for, as soon as night appeared, he advanced to the walls, and having found a door left open by Aristæus, he had time to force his Gauls into the city, and so seize it without being perceived. But when he would have introduced his elephants, he found

the gates too low; which obliged him to cause the towers to be taken down from their backs, to be replaced there when those animals had entered the city. All this could not be effected amid the darkness without much trouble, noise, and confusion, which caused them to be discovered. The Argives, when they beheld the enemy in the city, fled to the citadel, and to those places that were most advantageous for defence, and sent a deputation to Antigonus, to press his speedy advance to their assistance. He accordingly marched that moment, and caused his son, with the other officers, to enter the city at the head of his best troops. In this very

juncture, King Areus also arrived at Argos, with a thousand Cretans, and as many Spartans as were capable of coming. These troops, when they had all joined each other, charged the Gauls with the utmost fury, and put them into disorder. Pyrrhus hastened on his part to sustain them; but the darkness and confusion was then so great, that it was impossible for him to be either obeyed or heard. When day appeared, he was not a little surprised to see the citadel full of enemies; and, as he then imagined all was lost, he thought of nothing but a timely retreat. But, as he had some apprehension with respect to the city gates, which were much too narrow, he sent orders to his son Helenus, whom he had left without with the greatest part of the army, to demolish part of the wall, that his troops might have a free passage out of the city. The person to whom Pyrrhus gave this order in great haste, having misunderstood his meaning, delivered a quite contrary message; in consequence of which, Helenus drew out his best infantry, with all the elephants he had left, and then advanced into the city to assist his father, who was preparing to retire the moment the other entered the place.

Pyrrhus, as long as the place afforded him a sufficient extent of ground, appeared with a resolute

mien, and frequently faced about and repulsed those who pursued him; but when he found himself engaged in a narrow street, which ended at the gate, the confusion, which already was very great, became infinitely increased by the arrival of the troops his son brought to his assistance. He frequently called aloud to them to withdraw, in order to clear the streets, but in vain; for, as it was impossible for his voice to be heard, they still continued to advance; and, to complete the calamity in which they were involved, one of the largest elephants sank down in the middle of the gate, and filled the whole extent in such a manner that the troops could neither advance nor retire. The confusion occasioned by this accident became then inextricable.

Pyrrhus, observing the disorder of his men, who rushed forward and were driven back, took off the glittering crest which distinguished his helmet and caused him to be known, and then, confiding in the goodness of his horse, sprang into the throng of his enemies; and, while he was fighting with an air of desperation, one of the adverse party advanced up to him, and pierced his cuirass with a javelin. The wound, however, was neither great nor dangerous, and Pyrrhus immediately turned upon the man from whom he had received it, who happened to be only a private soldier, the son of a poor woman at Argos: the mother beholding the contest from the top of a house, where she stood with several other women. The moment she saw her son engaged with Pyrrhus, she almost lost her senses, and was chilled with horror at the danger to which she beheld him exposed. Amid the impressions of her agony, she caught up a large tile and threw it down upon Pyrrhus. The mass fell directly upon his head; and his helmet being too weak to ward off the blow, his hands dropped the reins, and he sank down from his horse without being observed. But he was soon

discovered by a soldier, who put an end to his life by cutting off his head.

There is another incident related of Argos which it gives us great pleasure to notice. When Solon was at the court of Croesus, the king asked him, "Who, of all those he had seen, was the next in fe

licity to Tellus." Solon answered, "Cleobis and Biton of Argos," two brothers, who had left behind them a perfect pattern of fraternal affection, and of the respect due from children to their parents. Upon a solemn festival, when their mother, a priestess of Juno, was to go to the temple, the oxen that were to draw her not being ready, the two sons put themselves to the yoke, and drew their mother's chariot thither, which was above five miles distant. All the mothers of the place, ravished with admiration, congratulated the priestess on the piety of her sons. She, in the transports of her joy and thankfulness, earnestly entreated the goddess to reward her children with the best thing that Heaven can give to man. Her prayers were heard. When the sacrifice was over, her two sons fell asleep in the very temple, and there died in a soft and peaceful slumber. In honour of their piety, the people of Argos consecrated statues to them in the temple of Delphos.

"If Athens," says Dr. Clarke, "by arts, by military talents, and by costly solemnities, became one of the eyes of Greece, there was in the humanity of Argos, and in the good feeling displayed by its inhabitants, a distinction which comes nearer to the heart. Something characteristic of the people may be observed even in a name given to one of their divinities; for they worshipped a God of Meekness.' It may be said, perhaps, of the Argive character, that it was less splendid than the Athenian, and less rigid than the Lacedæmonian; but it was less artificial; and the contrast it exhibited when opposed to the infamous profligacy of Corinth, where

the manners of the people, corrupted by wealth and luxury, were farther vitiated by the great influx of foreigners, rendered Argos, in the days of her prosperity, one of the most enviable cities of Greece. The stranger who visited Athens might indeed regard with an eager curiosity the innumerable trophies everywhere suspended of victors in her splendid games; might admire her extensive porticoes crowded with philosophers; might gaze with wonder at the productions of her artists; might revere her magnificent temples; but feelings more affecting were drawn forth in beholding the numerous monuments of the Argives, destined to perpetuate the memory of individuals who had rendered themselves illustrious by their virtues."

Argos was taken in 1397 by Bajazet; was then totally depopulated, and its walls destroyed. It was rebuilt by the Venetians, from whom, in 1463, it was taken by the Turks; and, after being retaken by the former, it was again recovered by the Turks in the same year.

"But where is Argos ?" inquires La Martine: "a vast naked plain, intersected with marshes, extending in a circular form at the bottom of the gulf, is bounded on every side by chains of gray mountains; at the end of the plain, about two leagues inland, we perceive a mound, with some fortified walls on its summit, which protects, by its shade, a small town in ruins: this is Argos. Close by is the tomb of Agamemnon.'

The antiquities of Argos, once so numerous, may now be comprised within a very brief catalogue. Those seen by Pausanias were the temples of Apollo, of Fortuna, of Jupiter, and of Minerva; sepulchres and cenotaphs; a theatre, a forum, a gymnasium, a stadium, a subterranean edifice, &c.

Of these there are now remaining the ruins of the theatre, a remarkable structure, entirely excavated in the rock, and having the appearance of three