INTRODUCTION

TO THE

HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS AND GRECIANS,

WHICH OCCUPIES THE 3d, 4th, AND 5th VOLS. OF THE FIRST EDITION, AND COMMENCES AT FAGE 192

ARTICLE I.

VOL. I. OF THIS EDITION.

A brief idea of the history contained in this third volume. What

use is to be made of it.

BEFORE I enter upon the history of the Persians This war of the Persians against the Grecians will and Grecians, I shall, 1. prefix here some preliminary be followed by another amongst the Greeks themselves observations, by way of introduction. 2. I shall lay but of a very different kind from the former. In the latdown the plan and division of the several parts of this ter, there will scarce be any actions, but what in appearthird volume; and 3. An abridgment of the Lace-ance are of little consequence and seemingly unworthy dæmonian history, from the establishment of their of a reader's curiosity who is fond of great events: in kings to the reign of Darius, where this third volume this he will meet with little besides private quarrels between certain cities, or some small commonwealths; begins. some inconsiderable sieges (excepting that of Syracuse, one of the most important related in ancient history,) though several of these sieges were of no short duration; some battles between armies, where the numbers were small, and but little blood shed. What is it then, that has rendered these wars so famous in history? Sallust informs us in these words: "The actions of the Athenians doubtless were great; and yet I believe they were somewhat less than fame will have us conceive of them. But because Athens abounded in noble writers the acts of that republic are celebrated throughout the whole world as most glorious; and the gallantry of those heroes who performed them, has had the good fortune to be thought as transcendent as the eloquence of those who have described them."1

This third volume of the ancient history, will open an entirely new scene to the reader's view, not unworthy his curiosity and attention. We have seen two states of no great consideration, Media and Persia, extend themselves far and wide, under the conduct of Cyrus, like a torrent or a conflagration; and, with amazing rapidity, conquer and subdue many provinces and kingdoms. We shall see now that vast empire setting the nations under its dominion in motion, the Persians, Medes, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Indians, and many others; and falling, with all the forces of Asia and the East, upon a little country, of very small extent, and destitute of all foreign assist-mans had acquired by a series of distinguished actions, ance; I mean Greece. When, on the one hand, we behold so many nations united together, such preparations of war made for several years with so much diligence; innumerable armies by sea and land, and such fleets, as the sea could hardly contain; and, on the other hand, two weak cities, Athens and Lacedæmon, abandoned by all their allies, and left almost entirely to themselves; have we not reason to believe, that these two little cities are going to be utterly destroyed and swallowed up by so formidable an enemy; and that no footsteps of them will be left remaining? And yet we shall find that they will prove victorious; and by their invincible courage, and the several battles they gain both by sea and land, will make the Persian empire lay aside all thoughts of ever again turning their arms against Greece.

Sallust, though jealous enough of the glory the Rowith which their history abounds, yet does justice in this passage to the Grecians, by acknowledging, that their exploits were truly great and illustrious, though somewhat inferior, in his opinion, to their fame. What is then this foreign and borrowed lustre, which the Athenian actions have derived from the eloquence of their historians? It is, that the whole universe agrees in looking upon them as the greatest and most glorious that ever were performed: Per terraram. orbem Atheniensium facta PRO MAXIMIS CELEBRANTUR All nations, seduced and enchanted as it were with the beauties of the Greek authors, think that people's exploits superior to any thing that was ever done by any other nation. This, according to Sallust, is the service which the Greek authors have done the Athenians, by their excellent manner of describing their actions; and The history of the war between the Persians and very unhappy it is for us, that our history, for want of the Greeks will illustrate the truth of this maxim, that similiar assistance, has left a thousand brilliant acat is not the number, but the valour of the troops, and tions and fine sayings unrecorded, which would have the conduct of the generals, on which depends the been put in the strongest light by the writers of antisuccess of military expeditions. The reader will ad-quity, and have done great honour to our country. mire the surprising courage and intrepidity of the But be this as it may, it must be confessed, that we great men at the head of the Grecian affairs, whom are not always to judge of the value of an action, or neither all the world in motion against them could de- the merit of the persons who shared in it, by the imject, nor the greatest misfortunes disconcert; who un-portance of the event. It is rather in such sieges and dertook, with a handful of men, to make head against engagements as we find recorded in the history of the innumerable armies; who, notwithstanding such a Peloponnesian war, that the conduct and abilities of a prodigious inequality of forces, dared to hope for success; who even compelled victory to declare on the side of merit and virtue; and taught all succeeding generations what infinite resources are to be found in prudence, valour, and experience; in a zeal for liberty and our country; in the love of our duty; and in all the sentiments of noble and generous souls.

Atheniensium res gestæ, sicuti ego existimo, satis amplæ magnificæque fuerunt; verùm aliquanto minores tamen, quàm famâ feruntur. Sed quia provenêre ibi scriptorum magna ingenia, per terrarum orbem Atheniensium facta pro maximis celebrantur. Ita eorum, quæ fecêre, virtus tanta habetur, quantùm, eam verbis potuere extollere præclara ingenia. Sallust, in Bell. Catilin.

general are truly conspicuous. Accordingly, it is ob- | served, that it was chiefly at the head of small armies, and in countries of no great extent, that our best generals of the last age displayed their great capacity, and showed themselves not inferior to the most celebrated captains of antiquity. In actions of this sort chance has no share, and does not cover any oversights that are committed. Every thing is conducted and carried on by the prudence of the general. He is truly the soul of the forces, which neither act nor move but by his direction. He sees every thing, and is present every where. Nothing escapes his vigilance and attention. Orders are seasonably given, and seasonably excuted. Contrivances, stratagems, false marches, real or feigned attacks, encampments, decampments; in a word, every thing depends upon him alone.

On this account, the reading of the Greek historians, such as Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius, is of infinite service to young officers; because those historians, who were also excellent commanders, enter into all the particulars of the events which they relate, and lead the readers, as it were, by the hand, through all the sieges and battles they describe; showing them, by the example of the greatest generals of antiquity, and by a kind of anticipated experience, in what manner war is to be carried on.

Nor is it only with regard to military exploits, that the Grecian history affords us such excellent models. We shall there find celebrated legislators, able politicians, magistrates born for government, men that have excelled in all arts and sciences, philosophers that carried their inquiries as far as was possible in those early ages, and who have left us such maxims of morality, as might put many Christians to the blush. It is true, these very philosophers, notwithstanding their penetration in some points, were entirely blind and ignorant as to others, even to the degree of contesting some of the most evident principles of the law of nature; and very often suffered their practice to belie their doctrine, and themselves to fall into the most gross irregularities. The Divine Providence permitted it so to be, and thought fit to give them up to a reprobate mind, in order to punish their pride, and to teach us by their example, what enormities men are capable of, even the wisest and most knowing, when they are left to their own weakness and natural depravity; and from what an abyss the mercy of our Divine Mediator has delivered us. But though they fell into some errors, both with respect to the understanding and the heart, which we are obliged to detest; yet that does not hinder their books from containing many excellent maxims, which, according to St. Austin, we are entitled to claim as a benefit appertaining to us, in the same manner as the Israelites, when they came out of Egypt, enriched themselves with the spoils thereof for this has been the practice of all the saints: "Ipsi Gentiles siquid divinum et rectum in doctrinis suis habere potuerunt, non improbaverunt sancti nostri."

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The same thing may be said with regard to the virtuous actions of the heathens, whereof we shall find a great abundance in the Grecian history. We are told by St. Austin, that according to the rule of justice, secundum justitiæ regulam, we ought to be so far from blaming and condemning those actions, that we are obliged in reason to commend and extol them. Not that those actions were good and laudable in every respect; St. Austin was very far from entertaining

St. Aug. de doctr. chris. 1. vi. c. 40. De bapt. con. Donat. l. vi. c. 87. Habendi sunt in eorum numero, quorum etiam impiorum, nec Deum verum veraciter justéque colentium, quæ dam tamen facta vel legimus, vel novimus, vel audimus, quæ secundum justitiæ regulam no solùm vituperare non possumus, verùm etiam merito recteque laudamus. St. Aug. lib. de Spir. et lit. n. 48.

Noveris itaque no officiis sed finibus à vetùs discernendas esse virtutes. Officium autem est, quod faciendum est; finis verò, propter quod faciendum est. Id. contr. Ju

such an opinion. He looked upon them only as good in their nature, and with respect to the duty of the agents; but as to the end, for which they were done, that father thought them very blameable, because they were not directed to the glory of God. These men had no recourse to the true God, (for him they did not know) nor was it to him they addressed themselves for wisdom in their counsels, success in their undertakings, the improvement of their talents or their virtue. It was not to the true God they returned thanks for these blessings, nor did they give him the glory of them by an humble acknowledgment. They did not consider him, either as the source and principle, or as the end of all the good they were capable of doing. Their best actions were corrupted, either by self-love or ingratitude, they could not therefore be available towards salvation, which is only to be obtained through faith in Jesus Christ.

But notwithstanding this, according to the same father, it may be very useful to Christians, both for their instruction and the regulation of their manners, to have the virtuous actions of the heathens laid before them in their full light, provided they set not too high a value upon them: for what the same father says of the virtues of the ancient Romans, may undoubtedly be applied with equal reason to those of the Grecians. He employs a whole chapter, and that a pretty long one, in pointing out the most illustrious actions and signal virtues of that people; as their love of the public good-their devoted attachment to their country-their constancy in suffering the most cruel torments, and even death itself-their noble and generous disinterestedness-their esteeming and choosing poverty-their profound reverence for religion and the gods. He makes several reflections upon this subject, which well deserve a place here.

In the first place he supposeth, that it was in order to recompense the Romans for all these virtues, which yet were virtues only in name and appearance, that the divine providence gave them the empire of the universe, a recompense very suitable to their deserts, and with which they were weak enough to be contented. For the same reason he supposes God thought fit to let their name be so glorious, and so much esteemed by all nations and in all ages, that so many great and illustrious actions should not pass entirely unrewarded.

In the second place he observes, that such virtues, notwithstanding their being false, are of public advantage to mankind, and that they enter into the secret designs of God towards the punishing or rewarding of his creatures. The love of glory, which is a vice, yet serves to suppress many other vices, of a more hurtful and mischievous nature, such as injustice, violence, and cruelty. And can it be questioned, whether a magistrate, a governor of a province, or a sovereign, that are gentle, patient, just, chaste, and beneficent, though merely upon human motives of interest or vain glory, are not infinitely more serviceable to the commonwealth, than they would be, if they were destitute of those external appearances and shadows of virtue; and whether men of such dispositions may be reckoned among the most valuable presents of heaven? We may the better judge of this matter, if we only compare such magistrates and princes with those of a contrary character, who, laying aside all honour and probity, despising reputation, and tram

lian. lib. iv. c. 3. n. 21. Non erat in eis vera justitia, quia
non actibus sed finibus pensantur officia. Ibid. n. 26.
St. Aust. de civ. Dei, lib. v. c. 18.

Si Romanis Deus neque hanc terrenam gloriam excellentissimi imperii concederet, non redderetur merces bonis artibus eorum, (i. e. virtutibus) quibus ad tantam gloriam pervenire nitebantur. At non est quod de summi et veri Dei justitia conquerantur; perceperunt mercedem suam. Ibid. cap. 15.

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Constat eos, qui cives non sint civitatis eternæ, utiliores esse terrenæ civitati quando habent virtutem vel ipsam, quam si nec ipsam. St. Aust, de civ. Dei, lib. v. cap. 19.

The history which I am writing furnishes but too many examples of the latter sort. With respect to the Persians, it will appear, by what is said of their This then, according to St. Austin, is the principal kings, that those princes whose power has no other use to be made of the study and reading of profane bounds than those of their will, often abandon themhistory: nor did the divine providence suffer the selves to all their passions; that nothing is more diffiGreeks and Romans to become so famous and illus-cult than to resist the illusions of a man's own greattrious, but in order to give the greater weight to those examples of virtue with which their history abounds, that by our reading them with seriousness and attention, we should learn from the love they bore to an earthly country, and to a glory of so short a duration, what longing we ought to have after an heavenly country, where an eternity of happiness waits us.

Ελλείμματα μᾶλλον ἀρετῆς τινος ἤ κακίας πονηρεύματα, iii. c. 65.

their ancient allies, and extending their own territories | which nations is entirely foreign to that of the Perby unjust and violent methods.

On both sides and sometimes in the same person, we shall find a surprising mixture of good and bad, of virtues and vices, of glorious actions and mean sentiments; and sometimes, perhaps, we shall be ready to ask ourselves, whether these can be the same persons and the same people, of whom such different things are related; and whether it be possible, that such a bright and shining light, and such thick clouds of smoke and darkness, can proceed from the same source?

sians and Greeks, I shall here set down in few words the principal epochas relating to them.

EPOCHAS OF THE JEWISH HISTORY.

The people of God were at this time returned from their Babylonish captivity to Jerusalem, under the conduct of Zorobabel. Usher is of opinion that the history of Esther ought to be placed in the reign of Darius. The Israelites, under the shadow of this prince's protection, and animated by the earnest exhortations of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, did at last finish the building of the temple, which had been interrupted for many years by the cabals of their enemies. Artaxerxes was no less favourable to the Jews than Darius: he first of all sent Ezra to Jerusalem, who restored the public worship, and the observation of the law; then Nehemiah, who caused walls to be built round the city, and fortified it against the attacks of their neighbours, who were jealous of its reviving greatness. It is thought that Malachi, the last of the prophets, was contemporary with Nehemiah, or that he prophesied not long after him.

This interval of the sacred history extends from the reign of Darius I. to the beginning of the reign of Darius Nothus; that is to say, from the year of the world 3485, to the year 3581. After which the Scripture is entirely silent, till the time of the Maccabees.

EPOCHAS OF THE ROMAN HISTORY.

I relate things as I find them in ancient authors; and the pictures I present the reader with are always drawn after those original monuments, which history has transmitted to us concerning the persons I speak of; and, I might likewise add, after human nature itself. But, in my opinion, even this medley of good and evil, though very odd in itself, may be of great advantage to us, and serve as a preservative against a danger sufficiently common and natural. For if we found, either in any nation or particular persons, a probity and a nobleness of sentiments always uniform, and free from all blemish and weakness, we should be tempted to believe that heathenism is capable of producing real and perfect virtues, though our religion teaches us, that those virtues we most admire among the heathens, are really no more than the shadow and appearance of them. But when we see the defects and imperfections, the vices and crimes, and those sometimes of the blackest die, that are intermixed with, The first year of Darius I. was the 233d of the buildand often very closely follow their most virtuous ac-ing of Rome. Tarquin the Proud was then on the tions, we are taught to moderate our esteem and ad- throne, and about ten years afterwards was expelled, miration of them; and at the same time, that we when the consular government was substituted to that commend what appears noble, worthy, and great, of the kings. In the succeeding part of this period among the Pagans, not prodigally to pay to the phan- happened the war against Porsenna; the creation of tom of virtue that entire and unreserved homage, which the tribunes of the people; Coriolanus's retreat among is only due to virtue itself. the Volsci, and the war that ensued thereupon; the wars of the Romans against the Latins, the Veientes, the Volsci, and other neighbouring nations; the death of Virginia under the Decemvirate; the disputes between the people and senate about marriages and the consulship, which occasioned the creating of military tribunes instead of consuls. This period of time terminates in the 323d year from the foundation of Rome. The second part, which consists of twenty-seven years, extends from the 43d year of Artaxerxes Lon

With these restrictions I desire to be understood, when I praise the great men of antiquity and their illustrious actions; and if, contrary to my intention, any expressions should escape me, which may seem to exceed these bounds, I desire the reader to interpret them candidly, and reduce them to their just value and meaning.

ARTICLE II.

THE GENERAL PLAN AND DIVISION OF THE THIRD VO-gimanus, to the death of Darius Nothus; that is, from

LUME.

The history contained in this third volume, includes the space of one hundred and seventeen years, during the reigns of six kings of Persia: Darius, the first of the name, the son of Hystaspes; Xerxes the first; Artaxerxes, surnamed Longimanus; Xerxes the second; Sogdianus (these two last reigned but a very little time;) and Darius the second, commonly called Darius Nothus. This history begins at the year the world 3483, and extends to the year 3600. As this whole period naturally divides itself into two parts, I shall also divide it into two distinct books.

of

the year of the world 3573, to the year 3600. It contains the first nineteen years of the Peloponnesian war, which continued twenty-seven, of which Greece and Sicily were the seat, and wherein the Greeks, who had before triumphed over the Barbarians, turned their arms against each other. Among the Athenians, Pericles, Nicias, and Alcibiades; among the Lacedæmonians, Brasidas, Gylippus, and Lysander, distinguished themselves in the most extraordinary man

ner.

Rome continues to be agitated by different disputes between the senate and the people. Towards the end of this period, and about the 350th year of Rome, the Romans formed the siege of Veji, which lasted ten years.

ARTICLE III.

The first part, which consists of ninety years, extends from the beginning of the reign of Darius the first, to the forty-second year of Artaxerxes, the same year in which the Peloponnesian war began; that is, from the year of the world 3483, to the year 3573. AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE LACEDÆMONIAN HISTORY, This part chiefly contains the different enterprises and expeditions of the Persians against Greece, which never produced more great men and great events, nor ever displayed more conspicuous or more solid virtues. Here will be seen the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopyla, Artemisium, Salamis, Platæa, Mycale, Eurymedon, &c. Here the most eminent commanders of Greece signalized their courage; Miltiades, Leoni-ed into the Peloponnesus, and made themselves masters of Lacedæmon, where two brothers, Eurysthenes das, Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pausanias, Pericles, Thucydides, &c.

To enable the reader the more easily to recollect what passed within the space of time among the Jews, and also among the Romans, the history of both,

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THEIR Kings, to thE REIGN OF Darius the first, king of Persia. eighty years after the taking of I have already observed, that Troy, the Heraclide, that is, the Ant. J. C. 1104. descendants of Hercules, return

A. M. 2900.

and Procles, sons of Aristodemus, reigned jointly together. Herodotus observes,' that these two brothers were, during their whole lives, at variance; and that

Lib. vi. c. 52.

almost all their descendants inherited the like disposi- | their mildness served only to render them contemptible; tion of mutual hatred and antipathy; so true it is, that the sovereign power will admit of no partnership, and that two kings will always be too many for one kingdom! However, after the death of these two, the descendants of both still continued to sway the sceptre jointly and what is very remarkable, these two branches subsisted for near nine hundred years, from the return of the Heraclidæ into the Peloponnesus, to the death of Cleomenes, and supplied Sparta with kings without interruption, and that generally in a regular succession from father to son, especially in the elder branch of the family.

The Origin and Condition of the Elota, or Helots. When the Lacedæmonians first began to settle in Peloponnesus, they met with great opposition from the inhabitants of the country, whom they were obliged to subdue one after another by force of arms, or receive into their alliance on easy and equitable terms, with the imposition of a small tribute. Strabo speaks of a city called Elos, not far from Sparta, which, after having submitted to the yoke, as others had done, revolted openly, and refused to pay the tribute. Agis, the son of Eurysthenes, newly settled on the throne, was sensible of the dangerous tendency of this first revolt, and therefore immediately marched with an army against them, together with Sous, his colleague. They laid siege to the city, which after a pretty long resistance, was forced to surrender at discretion. This prince thought it proper to make such an example of them as should intimidate all their neighbours, and deter them from the like attempts, and yet not alienate their minds by too cruel a treatment; for which reason he put none to death. He spared the lives of all the inhabitants, but at the same time deprived them of their liberty, and reduced them all to a state of slavery. From thenceforward they were employed in all mean and servile offices, and treated with extreme rigour. These were the people who were called Elote, or Helots. The number of them exceedingly increased in process of time, the Lacedæmonians giving undoubtedly the same name to all the people whom they reduced to the same condition of servitude. As they themselves were averse to labour, and entirely addicted to war, they left the cultivation of their lands to these slaves, assigning every one of them a certain portion of ground, the produce of which they were obliged to carry every year to their respective masters, who endeavoured, by all sorts of ill usage, to make their yoke more grievous and insupportable. This was certainly very bad policy, and could only tend to breed a vast number of dangerous enemies in the very heart of the state, who were always ready to take arms and revolt on every occasion. The Romans acted more prudently; for they incorporated the conquered nations into their state, by associating them into the freedom of their city, and thereby converted them from enemies, into brethren and fellow citizens.

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LYCURGUS, the Lacedæmonian Lawgiver. Eurytion, or Eurypon, as he is named by others, succeeded Sous. In order to gain the affection of his people, and render his government agreeable, he thought fit to recede in some points from the absolute power exercised by the kings his predecessors; this rendered his name so dear to his subjects, that all his descendants were, from him, called Eurytionidae. But this relaxation gave birth to horrible confusion, and an unbounded licentiousness in Sparta, and for a long time occasioned infinite mischiefs. The people became so insolent, that nothing could restrain them. If Eurytion's successors attempted to recover their authority by force, they became odious; and if, through complaisance or weakness, they chose to dissemble,

1 Lib. viii. p. 365. Plut. in Lycurg. p. 40. Plut. in Lycurg. p. 10.

so that order in a manner was abolished, and the laws no longer regarded. These confusions hastened the death of Lycurgus's father, whose name was Eunomus, and who was killed in an insurrection. Polydectes, his eldest son and successor, dying soon after without children, every body expected that Lycurgus would have been king. And indeed he was so in effect, as long as the pregnancy of his brother's wife was uncertain; but as soon as that was manifest, he declared that the kingdom belonged to her child, in case it proved a son; and from that moment he took upon himself the administration of the government, as guardian to his unborn nephew, under the title of Prodicos, which was the name given by the Lacedæmonians to the guardians of their kings. When the child was born, Lycurgus took him in his arms, and cried out to the company that was present, "Behold, my lords of Sparta, your new-born king!" and at the same time, he put the infant into the king's seat, and named him Charilaus, because of the joy the people expressed upon occasion of his birth. The reader will find, in the second volume of this history, all that relates to the history of Lycurgus, the reformation he made, and the excellent laws he established in Sparta. Agesilaus was at this time king in the elder branch of the family.

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War between the Argives and the Lacedæmonians. Some time after this, in the reign of Theopompus, a war broke out between the Argives and Lacedæmonians, on account of a little country, called Thyrea, that lay upon the confines of the two states, and to which each of them pretended a right. When the two armies were ready to engage, it was agreed on both sides, in order to spare the effusion of blood, that the quarrel should be decided by three hundred of the bravest men chosen from their respective armies; and that the land in question should become the property of the victorious party. To leave the combatants more room to engage, the two armies retired to some distance. Those generous champions then, who had all the courage of two mighty armies, boldly advanced towards each other, and fought with so much resolution and fury, that the whole number, except three men, two on the side of the Argives, and one on that of the Lacedæmonians, lay dead upon the 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 in his post. The next day the two armies returned to the field of battle. Both because they had more of their champions left alive sides laid equal claim to the victory: the Argives, than the enemy had; the Lacedæmonians, because the two Argives that remained alive had fled; whereas their single soldier had remained master of the field of battle, and had carried off the spoils of the enemy: in short, they could not determine the dispute tune declared in favour of the Lacedæmonians, and without coming to another engagement. Here forthe 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 solving to have one fate and tomb with them. the same field of battle where they had fought, re

Wars between the Messenians and Lacedæmonians. There were no less than three several wars be tween the Messenians and the Lacedæmonians, all of them very fierce and bloody. Messenia was a country in Peloponnesus, towards the west, and not far from Sparta: it was of considerable strength, and was governed by its own kings.

Herod. l. i. c. 82.