No people of antiquity (I except the Romans) can dispute the glory of arms and military virtue with the Greeks. During the Trojan war Greece signalized her valour in battle, and acquired immortal fame by the bravery of the captains she sent thither. This expedition was however, properly speaking, no more than the cradle of her infant glory; and the great exploits by which she distinguished herself there, were only her first essays and apprenticeship in the art of war. There were in Greece several small republics, neighbours to one another by their situation, but widely distant in their customs, laws, characters, and particularly in their interests. This difference of manners and interests was a continual source and occasion of divisions amongst them. Every city, little satisfied with its own territory, was studious to aggrandize itself at the expense of its next neighbours, according as they lay most commodious for it. Hence all these little states, either out of ambition, and to extend their conquests, or the necessity of a just defence, were always under arms; and by that continual exercise of war, there was formed throughout the whole of these nations a martial spirit, and an intrepidity of courage which made them invincible in the field; as appeared in the sequel, when the whole united forces of the East came to invade Greece, and made her sensible of her own strength, and of what she was capable of.

Two cities distinguished themselves above the rest, and held indisputably the first rank; these were Sparta and Athens: in consequence of which those cities, either successively or together, had the empire of Greece, and maintained themselves through a long series of time in a power which the sole superiority of merit, universally acknowledged by all the other states, had acquired them. This merit consisted principally in their military knowledge and martial virtue; of which both of them had given the most glorious proofs in the war against the Persians. Thebes disputed this honour with them for some years, by surprising actions of valour, which had something of prodigy in them: but this was but a short-lived blaze, which, after having shone out with exceeding splendour, soon disappeared, and left that city in its original obscurity. Sparta and Athens will therefore be the only objects of our reflectiops, as to what relates to war; and we shall join them together, in order to be the better able to form a notion of their characters, as well in what they resemble, as in what they differ from each other.

SECTION II.-ORIGIN AND CAUSE OF THE VALOUR

AND MILITARY VIRTUE BY WHICH THE LACEDE

MONIANS AND ATHENIANS ALWAYS DISTINGUISHED

THEMSELVES.

ALL the laws of Sparta and all the institutions of Lycurgus seem to have had no other object than war, and tended solely to the making the subjects of that republic a body of soldiers. All other employments, all other exercises, were prohibited amongst them. Arts, polite learning, sciences, trades, even husbandry itself, formed no part of their employment, and seemed in their eyes unworthy of them. From their earliest infancy no other taste was instilled into them but for arms; and indeed the Spartan education was wonderfully well adapted to that end. To go barefoot, to lie on the bare ground, to be satisfied with little meat and drink, to suffer heat and cold, to be exercised continually in hunting, wrestling, running on foot and horseback, to be inured to blows and wounds so as to vent neither complaint nor groan; these were the rudiments of education of the Spartan youth with regard to war, and enabled them one day to support all its fatigues, and to confront all its dangers.

The habit of obeying, contracted from the most early years, respect for the magistrates and elders, a perfect submission to the laws, from which no age nor condition was exempt, prepared them amazingly for military discipline, which is in a manner the soul of war, and the principle of success in all great enterprises. Now one of these laws was to conquer or die, and never to surrender to the enemy. Leonidas with his 300 Spartans was an illustrious example of this; and his intrepid valour, extolled in all ages with the highest applauses, and proposed as a model to all posterity had given the same spirit to the nation, and traced them out the plan they were to follow. The disgrace and infamy annexed to the violation of this law, and to such as quitted their arms in battle, confirmed the observance of it, and rendered it in a manner inviolable. The mothers recommended to their sons, when they set out for the field, to return either with or upon their bucklers. They did not weep for those who died with arms in their hands, but for those who preserved themselves by flight. Can we be surprised, after this, that a small body of such soldiers, with such principles, should put to a stand an innumerable army of barbarians?

The Athenians were not bred up so roughly as the people of Sparta, but had no less valour. The taste of the two nations was quite different in regard to education and employment; but they attained the same end, though by different means. The Spartans knew only how to use their arms, and were soldiers alone: but amongst the Athenians (and we must say as much of the other people of Greece) arts, trades, husbandry, commerce, and navigation, were held in honour, and thought no disgrace to any one. These occupations were no obstacles to military skill and valour; they disqualified none for rising to the greatest commands and the first dignities of the republic. Plutarch observes, that Solon, seeing the territory of Attica was barren, applied himself to direct the industry of his citizens towards arts, trades, and commerce, in order to supply his country thereby with what it wanted on the side of fertility. This taste became one of the maxims of the government and fundamental laws of the state, and perpetuated itself amongst the people, but without lessening in the least their ardour

for war.

The ancient glory of the nation, which had always distinguished itself by military bravery, was a powerful motive for not degenerating from the reputation of their ancestors. The famous battle of Marathon, wherein they had sustained alone the shock of the barbarians, and gained a signal victory over them, infinitely heightened their courage; and the battle of Salamis, in the success of which they had the greatest share, raised them to the highest pitch of glory, and rendered them capable of the greatest enterprises.

A noble emulation not to give place in merit to Sparta, the rival of Athens, and a keen jealousy of their glory, which during the war with the Persians contained itself within due bounds, were another strong incentive to the Athenians, who every day made new efforts to excel themselves, and sustain their reputation.

The rewards and honours granted to those who had distinguished themselves in battle: the monuments erected in memory of the citizens who had died in the defence of their country; the funeral orations publicly pronounced in the midst of the most august religious ceremonies, to render their names immortal:-all conspired in the highest degree to eternize the valour of the Athenians particularly, and to make fortitude a kind of law and indispensable necessity to them.

Athens had a law by which it was ordained,' that those who had been maimed in war should be maintained at the expense of the public. The same favour

1 Plut. in Solon. p. 96. Plat. in Menex. p. 248, 249 Diog. Laert. in Solon. p. 37.

was granted to the fathers and mothers, as well as to the children of such as had fallen in battle, and left their families poor and not in a condition to support themselves. The republic, like a good mother, generously took them into her care, and fulfilled towards them all the duties and procured them all the relief that they could have expected from those whose loss they deplored.

This exalted the courage of the Athenians, and rendered their troops invincible, though not very numerous. In the battle of Platæ, where the army of the barbarians, commanded by Mardonius, consisted at the least of 300,000 men, and the united forces of the Greeks of only 108,200 men, there were in the latter only 10,000 Lacedæmonians, of which one half were Spartans, that is to say, inhabitants of Sparta, and 8000 Athenians. It is true, each Spartan brought with him seven Helots, which made in all 35,000 men ; but they were scarce ever reckoned as soldiers.

This shining merit, in point of martial valour, generally acknowledged by the other states, did not suppress in their minds all sentiments of envy and jealousy; as appeared once in relation to the Lacedæmonians. The allies, who were very much superior to them in number, could with difficulty endure to see themselves subjected to their order, and murmured against it in secret. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, without seeming to have any knowledge of their disgust, assembled the whole army; and after having made all the allies sit down on one side, and the Lacedæmonians by themselves on the other, he caused proclamation to be made by a herald, that all smiths, masons, carpenters, (and so on, through the other trades,) should rise up. Almost all the allies did so, and not one of the Lacedæmonians, to whom all trades were prohibited. Agesilaus then smiling," You see," said he, "how many more soldiers Sparta alone furnishes than all the rest of the allies together;" thereby intimating, that to be a good soldier, it was necessary to be only a soldier; that trades diverted the artisan from applying himself wholly to the profession of arms and the science of war, and prevented his succeeding so well in it as those who made it their sole business and exercise. But Agesilaus spoke and acted in that manner from his prejudice in favour of the Lacedæmonian education; for indeed those whom he wished to consider only as simple artisans, demonstrated by the glorious victories they obtained over the Persians, and even Sparta itself, that they were by no means inferior to the Lacedæmonians, entirely soldiers as they were, either in valour or military knowledge.

SECTION III.-DIFFERENT KIND

OF TROOPS OF WHICH THE ARMIES OF THE LACEDEMONIANS AND ATHENIANS WERE COMPOSED.

THE armies both of Sparta and Athens were composed of four sorts of troops: citizens, allies, mercenaries, and slaves. The soldiers were sometimes marked in the hand, to distinguish them from the slaves, who had that character impressed upon their forehead. Interpreters believe, that it is in allusion to this double manner of marking, that it is said in the Revelation, that all were obliged "to receive the mark of the beast in the right hand, or in their foreheads ;" and that St. Paul says of himself; "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."

The citizens of Lacedæmonia were of two sorts; either those who inhabited Sparta itself, and who for that reason were called Spartans, or those who lived in the country. In Lycurgus's time the Spartans amounted to 9000, and the others to 30,000. This number seems to have been somewhat diminished in the time of Xerxes, as Demaratus, speaking to him of the Lacedæmonian troops, computes only 8000 Spartans. The latter were the flower of the nation; and we may judge of the value they set upon them, by the anxiety the republic expressed for the three or four hun2 Gal. vi. 17.

1 Rev. xiii. 16.

dred besieged by the Athenians in the small island of Sphacteria, where they were taken prisoners. The Lacedæmonians generally spared the troops of their country very much, and sent only a few of them into the armies; but even these few constituted their chief strength. When a Lacedæmonian general was asked, how many Spartans there were in the army; he answered, as many as are necessary to repulse the enemy. They served the state at their own expense, and it was not till after a length of time that they received pay from the public.

The greatest number of the troops in the two republics were composed of the Allies, who were paid by the cities which sent them.

The foreign troops, who were paid by the republic to whose aid they were called in, were styled Mercenaries.

The Spartans never marched without Helots, and we have seen that in the battle of Platææ every citizen had seven. I do not believe that this number was fixed, nor do I well comprehend for what service they were designed. It would have been very bad policy to have put arms into the hands of so great a number of slaves, generally much discontented with their masters' harsh treatment of them, and who consequently would have had every thing to fear from them in a battle. Herodotus, however, in the passage I have cited from him, represents them carrying arms in the field as light-armed soldiers.

The infantry consisted of two kinds of soldiers. The one were heavy armed, and carried great bucklers, lances, half-pikes, and scimitars; and of these the main strength of the army consisted. The other were light armed, that is to say, with bows and slings. They were commonly placed in the front of the battle, or upon the wings as a first line, to shoot arrows, and fling javelins and stones at the enemy; and when they had discharged, they retired through the intervals behind the battalions as a second line and continued their volleys.

Thucydides, in describing the battle of Mantinæa, divides the Lacedæmonian troops in this manner. There were seven regiments of four companies each, without including the Scirita, to the number of 600; these were horsemen, of whom I shall soon speak farther. The company consisted, according to the Greek interpreter, of 128 men, and was subdivided into four squadrons, each of thirty-two men. So that a regiment amounted to 512 men, and the seven made together 3584. Each squadron had four men in front and eight in depth, for was the usual depth of the files, which the officers might change according as circumstances required.

The Lacedæmonians did not actually begin to use cavalry till after th war with Messene, where they perceived their wet of it. They raised their horse principally in a small city not far from Lacedæ no called Sciros, from whence these troops were der minated Scirile. They were always on the extremity of the left wing, and this was their post by right.

the situation of Attica, broken with abundance of Cavalry was still more rare amongst the Athenians: mountains, was the cause of this. It did not amount, after the war with the Persians, which was the time when the prosperity of Greece was at the highest, to more than 300 horse: but increased afterwards to republic. 1200; a very small body, however, for so powerful a

I have already observed, that amongst the ancients, as well Greeks as Romans, no mention is made of the stirrup, which is very surprising They threw themselves nimbly on horseback:

Inde inclinatus collum, submissus et armos De more, inflexis præbebat scandere terga Cruribus.-Su. Ital. de equo Cœlii Equ. Rom.

Those whom age or weakness rendered heavy, made use of a servant in mounting on horseback; in which they imitated the Persians, with whom it was the common custom. Gracchus caused handsome stones to be placed on each side of the great roads of Italy at certain distances from one another, to help travellers to get on horseback without the assistance of any body.

I am surprised that the Athenians, expert as they were in the art of war, did not perceive that the cavalry was the most essential part of any army, especially in battles; and that some of their generals did not turn their attention that way, as Themistocles did towards maritime affairs. Xenophon was well capable of rendering them a similar service in respect to the cavalry, of the importance of which he was perfectly apprised. He wrote two treatises upon this subject; one of which regards the care it is necessary to take of horses, and how to acquire a knowledge of them, and to break them; which he treats with astonishing minuteness: and the other gives instructions for training and exercising the troopers themselves; both well worth the reading of all who profess arms. In the latter he states the means of placing the cavalry in honour, and lays down rules upon the art military in general, which might be of very great use to all those who are designed for the profession of arms.

I have been surprised, in running over this second treatise, to see with what care Xenophon, a soldier and a pagan, recommends the practice of religion, a veneration for the gods, and the necessity of imploring their aid upon all occasions. He repeats this maxim in thirteen different places of a tract in other respects brief enough; and rightly judging that these religious insinuations might give some people offence, he makes a kind of apology for them, and concludes the piece with a reflection which I shall repeat entire in this place. "If any one," says he, "wonders that I insist so much here upon the necessity of not forming any enterprise without first endeavouring to render the Divinity favourable and propitious, let him reflect, that there are in war a thousand unforeseen and hazardous conjunctures, wherein the generals, vigilant to take advantages and lay ambuscades for each other, from the uncertainty of an enemy's motions, can take no other counsel than that of the gods. Nothing is doubtful or obscure with them. They unfold the future to whomsoever they please, by the inspection of the entrails of beasts, by the singing of birds, by visions, or in dreams. Now we may presume, that the gods are more inclined to illuminate the minds of such as consult them not only in urgent necessities, but who at all times, and when no dangers threaten them, render them all the homage and adoration of which they are capable."

It was worthy of this great man to give the most important of instructions to his son Gryllus, to whom he addresses the treatise we mention, and who, according to the common opinion, was appointed to discipline the Athenian cavalry.

SECTION IV.-OF MARITIME AFFAIRS, FLEETS, AND

NAVAL FORCES.

Ir the Athenians were inferior to the Lacedæmonians in cavalry, they had infinitely the advantage over them in naval affairs; and we have seen their skill in that department make them masters at sea, and give them a great superiority over all the other states of Greece. As this subject is very necessary to the understanding many passages in history, I shall treat it rather more extensively than I have other matters, and shall make great use of what the learned

1 'Avaßoλéws μ» ¿coμévois. Plut. in Grace. p. 838. This word dvaẞolcos, signifies a servant who helped his master to mount on horseback.

Father Don Bernard de Montfaucon has said of it in his books upon antiquity.

The principal parts of a ship were the prow or head, the poop or stern, and the middle, called in Latin carina, the hulk or waist.

The Prow was the part which projected beyond the waist or belly of the ship; it was generally adorned with paintings and different sculptures of gods, men, or animals. The beak, called rostrum, lay lower, and level with the water: it was a piece of timber which and sometimes of iron. The Greeks termed it ußodov. projected from the prow, armed with a spike of brass,

The other end of the ship, opposite to the prow, was called the Poop. There the pilot sat and held the helm, which was an oar longer and larger than the rest. The WAIST was the hollow of the vessel, or the hold.

The ships were of two kinds. The one were rowed with oars, which were ships of war; the other carried sails, and were vessels of burden, intended for commerce and transports. Both of them sometimes made use of oars and sails together, but that very rarely. The ships of war are also very often called long ships by authors, and by that name distinguished from vessels of burden.

The long ships were farther divided into two species: those which were called actuariæ naves, and were very light vessels, like our brigantines; and those called only long ships. The first were usually termed open ships, because they had no decks. Of these light vessels there were some larger than ordinary, of which some had twenty, some thirty, and others forty oars, half on one side, and half on the other, all on the same line.

The long ships, which were used in war, were of two sorts. Some had only one rank of oars on each side; the others two, three, four, five, or a greater number, as far as forty; but these last were rather for show than use.

The long ships of one rank of oars were called aphracti; that is to say, uncovered, and had no decks; this distinguished them from the cataphracti, which had decks. They had only small platforms to stand on, at the head and stern, in the time of action.

The ships most commonly used in the battles of the ancients, were those which carried from three to five ranks or benches of oars, and were called triremes and quinqueremes.

It is a great question, and has given occasion for abundance of learned dissertations, how these benches of oars were disposed. Some will have it, that they were placed at length, like the ranks of oars in the modern galleys. Others maintain, that the benches of the biremes, triremes, quinqueremes, and so on to the number of forty in some vessels, were one above another. To support this last opinion, innumerable passages are cited from ancient authors, which seem to leave no manner of doubt in it, and are considerably corroborated by the evidence of Trajan's pillar, which represents these ranks one above another. Father Montfaucon, however, avers, that all the persons of greatest skill in naval affairs whom he had consulted, declared, that the thing conceived in that manner seemed to them utterly impossible. But reasoning is a weak proof against the experience of so many ages, confirmed by so many authors. It is true, that in admitting these ranks of oars to be disposed perperdicularly one above another, it is not easy to comprehend how they could be worked; but in the biremes and triremes of Trajan's pillar, the lower ranks are placed obliquely, and as it were rising by degrees.

In ancient times ships with several ranks of oars were not known: they made use of long ships, in which the rowers, however numerous they were worked all upon the same line. Such was the fleet which the Greeks sent against Troy. It was cemposed of 1200 sail, among which the galleys of Baotia

2 Thucyd. 1. i. p. 8.