lieving there was any difference between picture and picture, or statue and statue, nor that the name of the great masters in those arts gave them their value. This he fully explained up➡ on the present occasion He* had ordered persons to take care of transporting many of the paintings and statues of the most excellent masters to Rome. Never had loss been so irrepara ble, as that of such a deposit, consisting of the masterpieces of those rare artists, who contributed almost as much as the great captains, to the rendering of their age glorious to posterity. Mummius, however, in recommending the care of that precious collection to those to whom he confided them, threatened them very seriously, that if the statues, paintings, and other things, with which he charged them, should be either lost, or spoiled upon the way, he would oblige them to find others at their own cost and charges. Were it not to be wished, says an historian who has preserv ed us this fact, that this happy ignorance still subsisted; and would not such a grossness be infinitely preferable, in regard to the public good, to the exceeding delicacy of taste of the present age for such sort of rari ies? He spoke at a time when that taste for excellent paintings among the magistrates, was the occasion of their committing all manner of frauds and robberies in the provinces. I have said that Polybius, on returning into Peloponnesus, had the affliction to see the destruction and burning of Corinth, and his country reduced into a province of the Roman empire. If anything was capable of giving him consolation in so mourn ful a conjuncture, it was the opportunity of defending the memory of Philopomen, his master in the science of war. I have already observed, that a Roman, having taken it into his head to have the statues erected to that hero taken down, had the impudence to prosecute him criminally as if he had been still alive, and to accuse him before Mummius, of having been an enemy to the Romans, and of having always opposed their designs to the utmost of his power. That accusation was extravagant, but had some colour in it, and was not entirely with • Mummius tam rudis fuit, ut capta Corintho, cum maximorum artificum perfecta manibus tabulas ac statuas in Italiam portandas locaret, juberet prædici conducentibus, si eas perdidissent, novas eas reddituras. Non tamen puto dubites, Vinici, quin magis pro republica fuerit manere adhuc rudem Corinthiorum intellectum, quam in tantam ea intelligi; et quin hac prudentia illa imprudentia decori publico fuerit convenientior. Vell. Paterc. 1. i. n. 13. † Polyb in Excerpt. p. 190-192. VOL. VII. Y out foundation. Polybius boldly took upon him his defence. He represented Philopomen as the greatest captain Greece had produced in the latter times; that he might, perhaps, have carried his zeal for the liberty of his country a little too far; but that he had rendered the Roman people considerable services upon several occasions; as in their wars against Antio chus and the Etolians. The commissioners before whom he pleaded so noble a cause, moved with his reasons, and still more with his gratitude for his master, decreed that the statues of Philopomen should continue as they were in all places. Po lybius, taking the advantage of Mummius's good disposition, demanded also the statues of Aratus and Achæus; which were granted him, though they had already been carried out of Pe loponnesus into Acarnania. The Achæans were so charmed with the zeal Polybius had expressed upon this occasion for the honour of the great men of his country, that they erected a sta tue of marble to himself. He gave at the same time a proof of his disinterestedness, which did him as much honour amongst his citizens, as his defence of the memory of Philopomen. After the destruction of Corinth it was thought proper to punish the authors of the insult done to the Roman ambassadors, and their estates and ef fects were sold by auction. When those of Diaus were put up, who had been the principal in that affront, the ten commission. ers ordered the quæstor who sold them, to let Polybius take whatever he thought fit out of them, without taking any thing from him upon that account. He refused that offer, as advan tageous as it appeared, and should have thought himself in some measure an accomplice of that wretch's crimes, had he accepted any part of his fortune; beside which, he believed it infa. mous to enrich himself out of the spoils of his fellow-citizens, He would not only accept nothing himself, but exhorted his friends not to desire any thing of what had appertained to Diz us; and all that followed his example were extremely ap plauded. This action made the commissioners * conceive so high an esteem for Polybius, that upon their leaving Greece, they desir ed him to go to all the cities which had been lately conquered, and to accommodate their differences, till time had accustomed them to the change which had been made, and to the new laws pre scribed them. Polybius discharged that honourable commission with so much goodness, justice, and prudence, that no further contests arose in Achaia, either in regard to the government in general, or the affairs of particulars. In gratitude for sø * Polyb. in Excerpt. p. 190, &c. great a benefit, statues were erected to him in different places; apon the base of one of which was this inscription: "That "Greece had been guilty of no errors, if she had hearkened " from the first to the counsels of Polybius; but, that after her 66 faults, he alone had been her deliverer." Polybius, after having established order and tranquillity in his country, returned to join Scipio at Rome, from whence he accompanied him to Numantia, at the siege of which he was present. When Scipio was dead, he returned into Greece; and having enjoyed there * the esteem, gratitude, and affection of his beloved citizens, he died at the age of 82 years, of a wound he received by a fall from his horse. Metellus, upon his return to Rome, was honoured with a triumph, as conqueror of Macedonia and Achaia, and surnamed Macedonicus. The false king, Andriscus, was led before his chariot. Among the spoils, he caused what was called the troop of Alexander the Great, to be carried in the procession. That prince, at the battle of the Granicus, having lost 25 of his friends, ordered Lysippus, the most excellent artist in that way, to make each of them an equestrian statue, to which he added his own. The statues were set up in Dium, a city of Macedonia. Metellus caused them to be transported to Rome, and adorned his triumph with them. Mummius obtained also the honour of a triumph, and, in consequence of having conquered Achaia, was surnamed Achaicus. He exhibited a great number of statues and paintings in his triumph, which were afterwards made the ornaments of the public buildings at Rome, and of several other cities of Ita-ly; but not one of them entered the conqueror's own house.. SECTION V. REFLECTIONS ON THE CAUSES OF THE GRANDEUR AFTER having seen the final ruin of Greece, which has supplied us through a series of so many ages with such fine examples of heroic virtues and memorable events, we may be admitted to return to the place from whence we began, and consider, by way of abridgment, and at one view, the rise, progress, and declension of the principal states that composed it. Their whole duration may be divided into four ages. * Lucian. in Masrob. p. 142 The first and second Ages of Greece. I SHALL not dwell upon the ancient origin of the Greeks, nor the fabulous times before the Trojan war, which make the first age, and may be called the infancy of Greece. The se cond age, which extends from the taking of Troy to the reign of Darius I. king of Persia, was in a manner its youth. In those early years it formed, fortified, and prepared itself for those great things it was afterwards to act, and laid the foundations of that power and glory, which at length rose so high, and became the admiration of all future ages. The Greeks, as Monsieur * Bossuet observes, who had naturally abundance of wit, had been cultivated by kings and colonies which came from Egypt, who, settling in several parts of the country, spread universally the excellent polity of the Egyptians. It was from them they learned the exercises of the body, wrestling, the horse, foot, and chariot races, and the other combats, which they carried to their highest perfection, an effect of the glorious crowns given to the victors in the Olympic games. But the best thing taught them by the Egyp tians, was to be docile and obedient, and to suffer themselves to be formed by laws for the good of the public. They were not private persons, who regarding nothing but their own interests and concerns, and have no sense of the calamities of the state, but as they suffer themselves, or as the repose of their own family is involved in them the Greeks were taught to consider themselves and their families as part of a greater body, which was that of the state. The fathers brought up their children in this opinion; and the children were taught from their cradle, to look upon their country as their common mother, to whom they more strictly appertained than to their parents. The Greeks, instituted thus by degrees, believed they were capable of governing for themselves, and most of the cities formed themselves into republics, under different forms of go vernment, which had all of them liberty for their vital principle; but that liberty was wise, reasonable, and subservient to laws. The advantage of this government was, that the citizens loved their country the better from transacting their affairs in common, and from being all equally capable of its honours and dignities. Besides this, the condition of private persons, to which all returned when they quitted employments, prevented them from abusing an authority, of which they might soon be * Universal History. deprived; whereas power often becomes haughty, unjust, and oppressive, when under no restraints, and when it is to have a long or a continual duration. The love of labour removed the vices and passions, which generally occasion the ruin of states. They led a laborious and busy life, intent upon the cultivation of lands and of arts, and not excluding the husbandman or the artist from the first dignities of the state; preserving between all the citizens and members of the state a great equality, void of pomp, luxury, or ostentation. He who had commanded the army for one year, fought the next in the rank of a private officer, and was not ashamed of the most common functions in the armies either by land or sea. The reigning character in all the cities of Greece, was a particular affection for poverty, the mean of fortune, simplicity in buildings, moveables, dress, equipage, domestics, and table. It is surprising to consider the small retributions with which they were satisfied for their application in public employments and services rendered the state. What might not be expected from a people formed in this manner, educated and nurtured in these principles, and indued from their earliest infancy with maxims so proper to exalt the soul, and to inspire it with great and noble sentiments! The effects exceeded all idea, and all hope that could possibly have been conceived of them. The third Age of Greece. WE now come to the glorious times of Greece, which have been, and will for ever be, the admiration of all ages. The me rit and virtue of the Greeks, shut up within the obscure compass of their cities had but faintly dawned, and shone with but a feeble ray till this age. To produce and place them in their full light, some great and important occasion was necessary, wherein Greece, attacked by a formidable enemy, and exposed to extreme dangers, was compelled in some measure to quit her home, and to show herself abroad in open day such as she was. And this was supplied by the Persians in their invasions of Greece, first under Darius, and afterwards under Xerxes. All Asia, armed with the whole force of the east,. overflowed on a sudden, like an impetuous torrent, and came pouring with innumerable troops, both by sea and land, against a little spot of Greece, which seemed under the necessity of being entirely swallowed up and overwhelmed at the first shock. Two small cities, however, Sparta and Athens, nt only resist those formidable armies, but attack, defeat, pursue |