Echemus affifted Atreus, king of Argos, against the Heraclide, and killed their champion Hyllus in fingle combat. He left the, kingdom to the grandson of Lycurgus, named Agapenor, who commanded the Arcadian troops at the fiege of Troy. On his return, being caft upon the coaft of Cyprus, he fettled at Paphos, where he built a temple to Venus. Hippothous, the great grandfon of Stymphalus, who was the grandfon of Arcas, by his youngeft fon, fucceeded him in the kingdom of Arcadia. He transferred the royal feat to Trapeza, and was fucceeded by his fon Epytus II. in whofe days Oreftes, the son of Agamemnon, retiring into Arcadia, died, and was buried near Tegea. Epytus was afterwards ftruck blind for his prefumption in venturing into the temple of Neptune at Mantinea. Cypfelus his fon fucceeded him, in whose days Crefphontes, having by indirect means acquired the kingdom of Mycena, was murdered with two of his fons. The third fon, named Epytus, coming to Cypfelus, who was his grandfather by the mother's fide, obtained fuccours from him, and killing the ufurper Polyphontes, recovered his father's kingdom. The five following princes were Lajus, Bucolion, Phialius, Simus, and Pompus, which laft, by the help of the inhabitants of the island Egina, opened a commerce by land carriage to the fea port of Cyllene, which trade proved fo beneficial to his kingdom, that he in gratitude called his fon and fucceffor Eginetes. Polymeftor, the fon of Eginetes, fucceeded his father, in whose days the Lacedæmonians invaded the Tegeans, but were routed by the help of the Arcadian women, and both they and their king bound with the chains they had brought for the Tegeans. The king, however, was foon after released, upon his oath and promife that the Lacedæmonians fhould not fight against them any more. Echmis fucceeded his brother Polymeftor, and affifted the Mytenians, the conftant allies of the Arcadians, against the Lacedæmonians. Ariftocrates I. the fon and fucceffor of Echmis, was a wicked prince. Having ravished a young virgin, priestess of Diana Hymnia, at the very altar of the goddefs, he was ftoned to death by his fubjects. Hycetas is fon fucceeded him, and left the throne to his fon Ariftocrates II. the laft of the royal line of Cypfelus, who was ftoned to death by his fubjects, for his treachery to the Meffenians his allies, whom he betrayed to the Spartans, then at war with them*. Paufan. in Arcad, and Messenic. Herod. 1. i. Diod. Sic. SECT. SECT. VI. . The Hiftory of the antient Kingdom of THESSALY. Teslaly, THESSALY is fuppofed to have received its name from called, on, extent. Theffalius, the father, or according to others, the fon of Græcus, king of an obfcure village, from whom the Greeks are faid to be defcended. It was alfo antiently called Emoxia, Pelafgia from Pelafgus, and Pyrrhæa from Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion. its divifi- It was divided antiently into four diftricts, or perhaps kingdoms, namely, Theffaliotis, fteotis, Pelafgiotis, and Phthisis. Deucalion was king of this laft when the deluge that goes by his name happened. That flood deftroyed all the inhabitants of this and the neighbouring countries, except those that happily escaped into the high mountains. Deucalion and his wife faved themfelves in an ark, which, on the tenth day, refted on Parnaffus, from which they are feigned to have re-peopled the country by the throwing of ftones behind them. Theffaly, properly fo called, its fitua- was bounded on the eaft by the provinces of Magnefia and tion and Phthia, which were fometimes included in it; and then its eaftern boundary was the Egean Sea. On the weft it had Illyricum and Epirus; on the north Macedonia and Migdonia; and on the fouth Gracia Propria, From eaft to weft it extended about 100 miles, and near 80 miles from north to fouth. It was famous for its 24 hills, the most remarkable of which were Its moun- 1. the Olympus, celebrated among the poets for its extraordinary height; 2. Othrys; 3. Pelion; 4. Offa and Nephele; inhabited by Centaurs, who were afterwards killed or driven away by Hercules. Here were alfo the plains of Pharfalia, and the delightful valley of Tempe. On the fouth borders of Theffaly were feated the Dolopes and Myrmydons, whom Achilles led to the Trojan war. This whole kingdom was very pleasant and fruitful, being well watered by feveral great rivers that run quite across the country; the chief of which were the Peneus, running through Tempe, the Aliacmon, Erigon, and Axius, all which empty themselves into the Egean Sea. The country was noted for producing poifonous weeds and drugs; hence Plautus makes ufe of the word Theffalus to exprefs a poisonous thing. The chief cities were Lariffa, famed for giving birth to Achilles, whom the poets, however, fuppofe to have been born at Phthia; Demetrius, Pegafa, famous for being the place where the fhip Argo was built; Pythian, celebrated for the Pythian games, inftituted here in honour of Apollo, with many others mentioned by father Briet. According to Heliodorus, the metropolis of tains and ri vers. * Eufeb. Chron. geogr. Mela. 1. ii. Byzant. fub voce Graicos and Thessal. Cluver. + Briet. parallel. de vet. Græc. Theffaly Theffaly was called Hypatha, and was fituated near the Sinus Theffaly was famous among other things for fuch an extraordinary breed of oxen, that Neleus, king of Pylos, refused to give his daughter in marriage to Melampus, king of Tyrias, except he procured him fome of them. This he accomplished by the help of his brother Bias, then in poffeffion of another part of the Argolic kingdom; and Neleus left them to Neftor, who kept them in a ftable under-ground, which remained in the time of our author*, What fine horfes they bred, and what expert horsemen they were, appears from the fiction of the Centaurs, which is allowed to have taken its origin from them. These monsters were faid to have had the body of a horse, with the upper parts of a man, and to have been the offspring of Ixion by a cloud; that is, they were famous horfemen that inhabited a country called Nephele, which, in the Greek, fignifies a cloud. The Theffalians were a warlike nation, and excelled in cavalry. The chaAs their country was pleafant and fruitful, nothing but their ex- racter of traordinary valour could have faved them from being swallowed the Thef up by fome of their neighbours, confidering that their territo- falians. ries were as often disjointed from each other, under different princes, as united together under one. It were in vain, therefore, to attempt to give a fucceffion of their kings, confidering the obfcurity of this period. We fhall content ourfelves with only mentioning what is moft remarkable under any of them. At the head of all must be placed the celebrated Argonautic expedition, which, according to archbishop Ufher, happened about the year of the flood, 1068. The occafion of this expedition was as follows: Efon, the The Arthird in descent from Eolus, being either worn out with age, gonautie or weary of government, appointed his brother Pelias guardian expeditiof the kingdom, during the minority of his fon Jafon. Pelias, on. refolving to fecure the government to himself, confulted the oracle about his defign, and was bid to beware of the man that had but one fhoe. Some time after, Pelias calling his nephew to him, Jafon in his hurry to crofs a brook dropped one of his fhoes, which gave his uncle a fufpicion that he was the perfon pointed at by the oracle. His uncle then afking him what he would do with a person of whom the oracle had bid him beware, Jafon anfwered, that he would fend him in fearch of the golden Aleece to Colchis, which is a country lying between the Euxine Sea and Iberia. It had fome confiderable mines of gold, which gave rife to the fable of the fleece, which, according to the poets, was hung upon a great oak, in the grove of Mars, and guarded by a dragon that never flept. The country alfo abounding with poisonous plants; Medea, the king's daughter, who Paulan. in Meffenic. know knew how to prepare them, was therefore fuppofed an inchantrefs. Pelias immediately ordering Jafon to undertake the enterprise; he made no difficulty to obey, and having engaged a confiderable number of young noblemen, the flower of all Greece, he caufed the fhip Argo to be built; hence he and his gallant company were called Argonaute. The first place they touched at was the ifland of Lemnos, then inhabited by female warriors, who entertained them very kindly. From thence they failed to the country of the Deliones, where they were also received in an hofpitable manner; but having afterwards, through mistake, a bloody encounter with the inhabitants, they failed to Myfia, near the Hellefpont, where Hercules, who had broken his oar, going afhore to cut another, stayed too long and was left behind. The Argonauts next touched at Bythinia, where Amycus, the king, obliged them, as he did all ftrange comers, to fight him at hurlbats, and was killed by Pollux. They then failed to Salmydeffus, a city in Thrace, where the famous blind foothfayer Phinaus, being delivered by them from the monsters called harpies, which had long wings and claws, with the faces of women, directed them how to fail between the rocks, called Simplegades, in the ftraits of Bofphorus, which were faid fometimes to be driven against each other. Their next station was the mouth of the river Parthenius, where Idmon, a foothfayer of their company, was killed by a wild boar, and their pilot dying, was fucceeded by Anceus. At length, having crofled the river Thermodon and paffed in view of mount Caucafus, they arrived safe at Colchis. Fafon having demanded the golden fleece of Eetes, the king, he promised to deliver it to him, on condition that he yoked together, by his own fingle ftrength, two fierce and terrible bulls, which had brazen hoofs and breathed out fire and flame, and plow the ground with them, fowing it with dragons teeth. Medea, the king's daughter, having fallen in love with Jafon, promifed him if he would marry her to relieve him from his perplexities; and he agreeing to her propofal, fhe taught him how to tame the bulls, fo as to be able to yoke and use them. She told him, moreover, that the teeth he was to fow would immediately fpring up into armed men, and that to prevent them from deftroying him, he muft throw ftones at them to raise a diffention among them, and by that means they would deftroy each other. Jafon having fuccefsfully performed the tafk, went and demanded the fleece; but Eetes, instead of fulfilling his promife, was contriving to burn his thip and deftroy him and his companions. Medea to prevent this mifchief, caft the watchful dragon into a deep fleep by her inchantments, ftole the fleece, and carrying it to Jafon, immediately embarked with him and his companions, taking her brother Abfyrtus with her, whom the afterwards tore in pieces, and fcattered his limbs here and there to retard the purfuit of her father. She and the Argonauts, after having felt the effects of Jupiter's anger for the murder of Abfyrtus, and fuffered many calamities for several months, months, arrived at length fafe in Theffaly*: Such was the famed Argonautic expedition, celebrated by antient poets and hif torians, as a moft perilous and wonderful undertaking; though our modern navigators would think nothing of performing the fame voyage in a few weeks in an open bark. Pelias, who never expected the return of Jafon, had, by his Pelias. intrigues, forced the old king to poifon himself, and the queen likewise in despair having hanged herself, he thought himfelf fecure on the throne, when Jafon arrived fuccefsful and victorious, and brought the fleece to him. Jafon, not daring openly to claim his right, Medea had recourfe to her magic against the ufurper; and, as fome fay, reftored Jafon's father to life. She then perfuaded Pelias's daughter to boil her old father, on pretence the would reftore him to youthful vigour, but upon her non-performance, his fon Acaftus mounted the throne, and Jafon and his wife being by him banifhed from Theffaly went to Corinth. Acaftus is famed for having been a great hunter. His wife Acaftus. Hippolita or Cretheis, having in vain folicited Peleus, the fon of Cacus to her bed, in refentment accused him to her husband of having made attempts upon her honour, and Acaftus endeavouring to kill him, was himfelf and his unchafte wife flain by Peleus. The next Theffalian prince was the celebrated Achilles, the Achilles. fon of Peleus and Tethys, the goddess of the fea. This hero was king of Phthia, one of the four provinces of Theffaly, and is feigned to have been dipped by his mother in the river Styx, when he was a child, and to have been made invulnerable by it in every part, except the heel by which the held him. He was inftructed by the centaur Chiron, who taught him mufic, arms, and the riding of the great horfe. His mother being warned by the oracle that if he went against Troy he should there meet his death, fent him privately in women's apparel to Lycomedes, king of Scyrus, one of whofe daughters was got with child by him, and bore the celebrated Pyrrhus, afterwards king of Epirus. The Grecian chiefs being alfo affured that without Achilles they could not conquer Troy, Ulyffes craftily discovered him. During the fiege he had a quarrel with Agamemnon, on account of a beautiful female captive, which made him withdraw for fome time from the army; but his dear friend Patroclus being foon after flain by Hector, he dropt his refentment, and returned to the camp to revenge his death against the Trojans. He flew Hector, and after his death treated his body in a barbarous manner, caufing it to be tied to his chariot, and dragged thrice round the walls of Troy. This inhumanity did not go long unpunithed; for Paris, the brother of Hector, whofe body had been redeemed by his father Priam, foon after fhot Achilles in the heel, the only place in which he was not invulnerable." * Hind. hift. Græc. Paufan. Apollon. Argonaut. 1. ii. Apollod. 1. i. Accord |