most perfect achievements of a genius that had no models to commence on, in poetry, in painting, in sculpture, in philosophy and in such elements of science as were possible to humanity in their day.

It is worthy of remark that most of the Greek colonies, the Phenicians and their colonies, and a great part of the numerous nations in Italy became republican about the same timeas did the Romans later-and that those states which preserved hereditary monarchy, or tyrants as those kings were called who were elected by the populace - had counterbalanced the individual despotism of the kingly office by various instiutions that controlled and limited it.

12. At the period when history began to be carefully writ ten and dates accurately given, civilization was under full career and rapidly moving westward. The Greeks had been struggling with the difficulties of the early times for more than a thousand years and had already begun to mature the insti tutions and to show the traits of character that afterwards made them so eminent and so useful in advancing the progress of mankind. The Tyrians, or commercial people of Phenicia had formed the net-work of communication with all the parts of the earth then sufficiently civilized to produce anything which could be useful to the rest of the world, and Italy was alive with the energies of the primitive races, mainly Aryan -some of them transplanted from the East, and possessing many of the highest elements of the ancient culture-who fought the Romans with a vigor and persistence that contributed much to the discipline and strong development of that remarkable people, to whose instruction the Greek colonies in eastern Italy added not a little.

From this point the advance of the center of development toward the western continent, and of mental preparation for more perfect ideals of government was continuous. A more complete view of this progress will be gained by considering the general events of each century apart, or in chronological

order.

13. B. C. 776. This is the first definite and positive date in reliable history and commences the first Olympiad. The Olympic religious and national festival was celebrated by foot and chariot races, boxing, wrestling, etc., and was commenced by religious sacrifices and ceremonies, mainly in honor of the god Apollo. This peaceable assembly of all the representatives of the Grecian race was one of the chief means of maintaining the national union, and greatly promoted the maintenance and importance of a kind of national congress, called the Amphictyonic League. The first object of this League was the protection of their common worship; but it came to have, afterward, considerable importance as a political body; its decrees having the character and force of the Laws of Nations in modern times. It was composed of two delegates from each of the twelve leading states of Greece, and held two meetings yearly; one at Delphi, where was a celebrated temple and oracle of Apollo, and one at Thermopylæ. The twelve chief cities of the Eolian colonies of Greece in Asia Minor, and also the same number of Ionian colonies on the same coast more to the south, had each Amphictyonic, or International Leagues; but the Greeks from all the various regions they settled, as well as from the mother country, took a pride in participating in the Olympic games.

14. B. B. 753. This is one of the most important dates in the history of mankind. In this year, Rome, "The Eternal City," was founded by a band of adventurers and outlaws, under the lead of the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus. A spirit of adventure was the most characteristic feature of that era, in Greece and about the Mediterranean sea, together with a passion for colonizing, or founding new states. Education, or growth, seems to pursue parallel lines in the same era, so that the same general tendencies move the masses of widely separated nations. Greece began, at this period, to send out a large number of colonists, in rapid succession, to Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean. The tendency had commenced more than three centuries before, but the colonies had

not gone far from the native state, and only one had been established in Italy, at Cuma. Carthage, a commercial colony of the Tyriens, had been founded 127 years before, and was now beginning to rival the parent city.

Rome gathered its population from all the neighboring states. The mingling of races has always been favorable to the progress of mankind. A single race, isolating itself and receiving no new blood or impulses from without becomes stationary and fixed in all its habits and advancement ceases beyond a certain point. The men who founded Rome were, apparently, a crowd of adventurers who had resolved to found a state. After building the walls of their city and providing themselves with habitations, they were destitute of wivesa serious want which would soon leave their new city without inhabitants. They remedied it in true Roman style - by violence. They made a festival without the walls to celebrate the founding of their state, and invited their nearest neighbors, the Sabines, to take part in it. The Sabines came with their wives and daughters. At a concerted moment the young Romans each seized a young Sabine woman, and carried her off into the city; the gates were closed and each proceeded to make his captive his wife.

The Sabines were powerless to prevent the deed, but they soon made war on their violent sons-in-law, and the young city would have been destroyed but for the interference of the stolen women who had become satisfied with the bold deed which gave them valiant husbands. The Sabines were induced to unite with the young state so far as to build a new city adjoining and take part in its rising fortunes. Romulus was elected king by his followers, but popular institutions were established to limit his power, under the strong instinct of vigorous organization that, from the first, characterized the new nation. The people maintained their right to make laws in conjunction with the king, and preserved a limited monarchy for 250 years. At this time the prophet Isaiah flour

ished in Judea, and the kingdom of Samaria was approaching extinction.

15. B. C. 747. The Chaldeans established, or revived, their dominion in Babylon, under their king, Nabonassur, and seem to have been independent of Assyria for a time, but afterward to have been brought into a qualified subjection to that enterprising monarchy. It commences authentic history in the East, so far as well ascertained dates are concerned. In that year the Chaldean astronomers or priests, first introduced the Egyptian solar year, which furnished an accurate mode of measuring time. This was about the commencement of the Sixth Olympiad. Egypt was approaching its most perfect der its ancient system.

condition

B. C. 743. Messenian war of 23 years-Sparta conquers Messene.

16. B. C. 735. A colony from Corinth founded the celebrated city of Syracuse in Sicily, and a fashion of colonizing seems to have obtained in Greece, which continued for a hundred years. The native enterprise of the Greeks, the great increase of inhabitants in their small territory, and the commotions and contests of parties in their states, which preceded the establishment of more complete popular governments, were probably the ruling causes of these foreign emigrations, and all contributed to the increase of knowledge, improvement in navigation, and the prevalence of a commercial spirit. Miletus, the leading Greek city of Ionia, in Asia Minor, became almost as powerful and prosperous by her commerce as Tyre in her best days. There were Grecian colonies on the coast of Africa west of Egypt, on the eastern coast of Italy, several ir Sicily, one in France. They were, generally, very enterprising and prosperous, and diffused Greek intelligence and culture over a large part of the world as known at that time. They usually established a republican government. Syracuse remained republican for 251 years.

17. B. C. 728. The Assyrian Empire was now having its palmiest days, and spreading its dominion over all the central

parts of western Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. At this time Shalman-assur, or Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, led away the Ten Tribes of Israel into a hopeless captivity, and planted a different race in Samaria. Soon after this time the Ethiopians from the upper Nile established their dominion in Egypt, without apparently changing the general condition of things there. Three Ethiopian kings successively reigned in Egypt, and made conquests in Asia to some extent. 18. B. C. 600. About the beginning of this century the foundation of Greek philosophy was laid by Thales of Miletus, a Greek city in Asia. He represents the growth and acuteness of the Greek mind and the approach of its period of greatest activity. He travelled into Egypt in search of wisdom, and was the most able astronomer of his times. He calculated an eclipse of the sun, which, coming on just when two armies, the Median and Lydian, were about to engage in battle, so terrified them that they immediately separated and made peace. He was celebrated as a mathematician, and taught many truths concerning the existence of God which were far in advance of his time, and undertook to account for the origin of all things in a very bold and independent manner. He was one of the

famous "Seven Wise Men" of Greece. Solon was held to be the first among the seven. He was an Athenian law-giver and writer, and established a very wise and enlightened system of government in Athens. He was a pure-hearted and clearsighted man, enjoying the universal respect of the Greeks. Chilo, another of the seven, was a Spartan magistrate, held in the highest esteem for his wisdom. Pittacus of Mitylene, was a law-giver, held in high honor. Bias of Priene, in Ionia, was a very noble-hearted and public-spirited citizen, of universal reputation for wisdom. Cleobulus, of the island of Rhodes, was remarkable for his skill in answering difficult questions, and Periander of Corinth, the ruler, or tyrant, of that place, was the last of the seven. They were all living at the same time. They were only the most eminent among a people who could fully appreciate mental ability. The spirit of inquiry