4. PREFACE. THE very flattering Reception my History of the Roman Commonwealth has received, has encouraged me to attempt, on the same plan, and with the fame views, A History of the Grecian States: those States which, though inconfiderable in their extent, gave law to the furrounding nations, and brought favage man, who till then wandered in the wilds of ignorance and barbarity, into the pale of civil society, and forced the rude customs of savages to yield to the refinements of the polite arts and 'fciences. Though her lofty domes are now no more visible, though her stately and magnificent cities have been long fince levelled with the earth, and the martial spirit has ceased to exist on Grecian soil; yet the deeds of her Heroes, Legislators, and Philosophers, will die only with Time itself. After what has been advanced in the Prë. face to my Roman History, little need fur ther be faid in apology for this publication. I shall, therefore, only just mention the three heroes of my Frontispiece. HOMER was the most celebrated and illustrious of all the Poets of antiquity; and yet we are not certain of what part of Greece he was a native; nor do we know A 2 know exactly the time of his birth, though he is generally supposed to have lived about eight hundred and forty years before Chrift. No nation in the world has produced poems XENOPHON was so celebrated a Greek Hiftorian, that they called him the Attic The character of DEMOSTHENES, the most celebrated Athenian Orator, will be found in different parts of this work. We have here only to add, that, when Anti- pater fucceeded Alexander, he fled to save his life; and, in order to avoid falling in- to his enemy's hands, he swallowed poi- fon, which he had prepared and kept for CONTENTS. A View of the earliest State of Greece - The Athenians appoint Draco their Law- Athens-The Death of Solon Page II Character of Aristides and Themistocles- Battle of Marathon - Singular Bravery of Cyndærus-The Persians make an in- effectual Attempt to furprize Athens-Ho- nours paid to Miltiades-Death of that Xerxes fets out for the Cnquest of Greece- His Vanity and Presumption-His im- into into Greece - The Lacedemonians wait for him at the Straits of Thermopylæ - Noble Death of Leonidas and his Follow- ers-The Greeks gain an Advantage over the Persian Fleet---Athenstaken and de Mardonius, the Persian General, defeated and killed-The Persians finally quit Greece -Character of Ariftides--A terrible Plague breaks out at Athens-Character of Pe- ricles - He changes the Government of Athens into a Kind of Monarchy-Death His Death-Character of Socrates-His Memory - |