[1] This expression of Herodotus, that the Thracians themselves made Miltiades tyrant (?atest?sa?t? t??a????), illustrates the meaning of the word: they invested him not with the power of oppressing them at pleasure, but with a form of authority for which the Grecian constitutions offered no precedent.

[2] Southey’s Chronicle of the Cid, Book I. iv.

[3] See Mitford, chap. vii. 4.

[4] The polemarch was the third in rank of the Archons, and was at the head of the military administration.

[5] A feeling of democratical equality, and the fear of making an individual too powerful, may probably have led to this division of military command at Athens. The absolute equality of the two consuls at Rome produced a similar effect when they both were present in the same army. The battle of CannÆ furnished a memorable example of its danger: after continual discord between Paulus Æmilius and Varro, the latter took advantage of his day of command to give the signal for battle, without even consulting his colleague, an old and experienced soldier: and the result was the delivery of Hannibal from a very critical position by the utter destruction of the Roman army.

[6] In earlier times this had been the post of the king (Eurip., Suppl., 657), and the polemarch, who succeeded in great measure to his military station, retained it. In the same manner, the second archon, who succeeded to the priestly functions of the king, retained the name of king, as??e??; and a similar instance is found in Roman history, where the title of king, rex, after it had become odious in political matters, was retained by the priest appointed to perform those sacred rites which the kings themselves had formerly performed.

[7] A Scythian tribe dwelling at the foot of Mount Imaus, on the confines of Thibet.

[8] ?f?asta, apparently the ornamental finishing of the stern.

[9] For the topography of Marathon, the reader may consult Dr. Clarke’s Travels, and Colonel Leake’s paper on the Demi of Attica, with advantage. The flying Persians appear to have been entangled and stopped by a narrow pass, formed by a precipitous hill on one side, and a deep morass on the other. Hence this disproportionate slaughter.

[10] Lib. i. 32. Herod. lib. vi. c. 105, 120.

[11] Thucyd., ii. 34.

[12] Euboea is long and very narrow, especially in the southern part, where Eretria was.

[13] Plato, Menexenus, § 8, 9, 10.

[14] This battle is usually so called, though it is said to have been fought near Poitiers. The exact locality is by no means certain.

[15] Croniques de St. Denys, liv. v. 26.

[16] Preface to the Chronicle of the Cid.

[17] Introduction to Chronicle of the Cid.

[18] A much more spirited and somewhat different account of the close of the battle is given from Salvandy, Histoire de Pologne, in the Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 14. We quote from the Review, not having been able to procure the original.

“Five o’clock p.m. had sounded, and Sobieski had given up for the day all hope of the grand struggle, when the provoking composure of Kara Mustapha, whom he espied in a splendid tent tranquilly taking coffee with his two sons, roused him to such a pitch that he instantly gave orders for a general assault. It was made simultaneously on the wings and centre. He made towards the Pacha’s tent, bearing down all opposition, and repeating with a loud voice, ‘Non nobis, non nobis, Domine Exercitium, sed nomini tuo da gloriam!’ ‘Not unto us, Lord God of Hosts, not unto us, but unto thy name give the praise!’ He was soon recognised by Tartar and Cossack, who had so often beheld him blazing in the view of the Polish chivalry; they drew back, while his name rapidly passed from one extremity to the other of the Ottoman lines, to the dismay of those who had refused to believe him present. ‘Allah!’ said the Tartar Khan, ‘but the wizard(a) is with them sure enough!’ At that moment the hussars, raising their national cry of ‘God for Poland!’ cleared a ditch which would long have arrested the infantry, and dashed into the deep ranks of the enemy. They were a gallant band; their appearance almost justified the saying of one of their kings, ‘that if the sky itself were to fall, they would bear it up on the points of their lances.’ The shock was rude, and for some minutes dreadful; but the valour of the Poles, still more the reputation of their leader, and more than all, the finger of God, routed these immense hosts; they gave way on every side, the Khan was borne along with the stream to the tent of the now despairing Vizir. ‘Canst not thou help me?’ said Kara Mustapha to the brave Tartar, ‘then I am lost indeed!’ ‘The Polish king is there!’ replied the other, ‘I know him well. Did I not tell thee that all we had to do was to get away as quick as possible?’”—Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xiv. p. 511.

(a) The name given him by the Tartars, after a series of extraordinary victories had fully impressed them with a belief in his supernatural powers.

[19] Histoire de Jean Sobieski, par l’AbbÉ Coyer, liv. vi.

[20] Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xiv. Lettres du Roi de Pologne, Jean Sobieski, À la Reine Marie Casimire, pendant la Campagne de Vienne; par N. A. de Salvandy.

[21] “Mon frÈre, je suis bien aise de vous avoir rendu ce petit service.”

[22] Histoire de Jean Sobieski, par l’AbbÉ Coyer, liv. vi.

[23] Foreign Quarterly, No. xiv. p. 517.

[24] This observation does not apply to Britain. The English archery were celebrated long before this period: they however were merely auxiliary, and were always supported by a strong body of men-at-arms. The strength of a Scottish army consisted of pikemen, who, when formed in close order, generally circular, often resisted the utmost efforts of the English cavalry. The cause of this deviation from the general usage was probably the poverty of the nation; the nobility could not afford to maintain large bodies of horsemen. We may observe that though Wallace was a knight, he appears always to have fought on foot; at least we have met with no passage, either in the Chronicles or in Blind Harry, which represents him mounted. Bruce, on the other hand, was an adept in the arms and exercises of chivalry, and ranked, by the confession of the English, as the third best knight in Europe, though far inferior to Wallace in personal strength.

[25] The same sort of instruments are still worn, especially in traversing the glaciers, and called crampons.

[26] Vitodurani Chronicon.

[27] Cimon, son of Miltiades, after having long conducted the policy of Athens, was banished owing to the jealousy of his countrymen, it being supposed that he was unduly attached to the Spartan interest. Previous to the battle of Tanagra, fought in Boeotia, between the LacedÆmonians and Athenians, he came to the camp of the latter, and requested permission to serve with the men of his tribe. This was refused, his enemies asserting that he wished to sow discord in the army, and he was ordered to quit the camp. Before his departure he requested Euthippus and others, his friends, who had shared with him the odium of being too well inclined to the cause of Sparta, to signalize their zeal and courage in the ensuing battle, and refute, by their actions, the stigma cast upon them. These men, to the number of a hundred, ranged themselves round Cimon’s armour, which they erected as their standard, and fell valiantly to a man by each other’s side, leaving to the Athenians much regret and repentance that they had wrongfully accused them.—Plut., Vit. Cimon.

[28] Simond’s Switzerland, vol. ii. chap, xxxix.

[29] Wordsworth.

[30] Planta, History of the Helvetic Confederacy. We have taken the liberty of making a few alterations in the text, to bring it nearer to the great work of MÜller, of which this passage is a direct, but rather a free translation.

[31] Those who have travelled from Conway to Bangor since the new road was cut, will recollect a spot closely resembling ThermopylÆ. The grandeur of the pass, however, is much injured by the change, and we strongly recommend all who are not particular about their horses’ knees or their own necks to take the old road.

[32] The whole force of PlatÆa served on board the Athenian fleet.

[33] Lib. x. 20.

[34] Plutarch, himself a Boeotian, is highly indignant at this statement, and also at the former, that the Thebans were detained as hostages. It must be owned that there is something wanting in explanation, since it is not clear how they could have been made to fight, if disinclined; but it seems equally clear that they were very deficient in that ardour which animated the Spartans and Thespians, and therefore cannot be supposed to have remained quite voluntarily.

[35] This speech is given by Herodotus to another Spartan, Dieneces, whom he mentions as famous for his smart sayings. The second is spurious, if we reject Plutarch’s assertion that the battle was fought by night.

[36] The epitaph is simple, and therefore in good taste; but we are bound to expose the braggart spirit which takes no notice of the Thespians and Locrians, who joined the Peloponnesians, not with a paltry quota, but with their whole force. We may also observe that national vanity has been further tampering with the numbers. Herodotus reckons Xerxes’ land force to consist of 2,100,000 men, and adds 541,610 for the fleet, making a total of 2,641,610 combatants. The camp-followers of various sorts he supposes may have amounted to an equal number. Incredible as it appears, his account is so particular that it has evidently been founded upon numerical data of some sort: it is hardly possible to estimate the amount of exaggeration and misstatement.

[37] Planta, Helv. Confed., book ii. cap. 2.

[38] Planta, Hist. Helvetic Confederacy.

[39] Vertot.

[40] In ancient Greece the shield served as a bier, to convey home the corpse of its slain owner. To return without it was universally considered disgraceful. “I have frequently seen these inscriptions on Greek standards, particularly the last: the direction was literally followed, for the body of the standard-bearer, who died defending it, was wrapped in it as a shroud, and so borne to the grave, and buried in it.”—Walsh’s Journey over-land from Constantinople, p. 218.

[41] Walsh, Journey over-land from Constantinople, p. 222; Hist. des EvÉnemens de la GrÈce, par M. Raffenel.

[42] Trick.

[43] Twenty thousand, according to the Cronique de St. Denys.

[44] June 16

[45] Mitford, chap. viii., sect. 4.

[46] All Grecian colonies held the metropolis, or mother city, whence they were derived, in deep veneration. The Ionian states were founded by a great migration from Attica, and therefore looked up to the Athenians as the head of their tribe.

[47] A similar event is related to have occurred at Thebes, before the battle of Leuctra.

[48] Herod. viii. 37 and 38.

[49] History of Greece, p. 166.

[50] Herod. viii. 60, 62.

[51] Æacus, son of Jupiter and Ægina, was king of the island to which he gave his mother’s name. From him sprung Peleus and Telamon, with their descendants Achilles, Pyrrhus, Ajax, &c.

[52] Eleusis was famed for the celebration of mysteries, as they were called; which consisted in leading the aspirant through various terrific scenes and representations; after which, if his courage remained unshaken, he was instructed in a purer and more exalted system of religion than was openly taught in Greece. Secrecy on the part of the initiated was most strictly enforced. The immortality of the soul appears to have been the leading doctrine inculcated in these ceremonies; which seem traceable to the earliest periods of Grecian history, and were probably derived from Egypt. The initiated went yearly in solemn procession from Athens to Eleusis, and chaunted on these occasions the hymns alluded to.

[53] The correspondence between the above story and the following Spanish legend is singularly close.—“The night before the battle was fought at the Navas de Tolosa, in the dead of the night a mighty sound was heard in the whole city of Leon, as if it had been the tramp of a whole army passing through: and it went on to the royal monastery of St. Isidro, and there was great knocking at the gate thereof; and they called to a priest who was keeping vigil in the church, and told him that the captains of the army which he heard were the Cid Ruy Diaz, and Count Ferran Gonzalez; and that they came to call up King Don Fernando the Great, who lay buried in that church, that he might go with them to deliver Spain. And on the morrow that great battle of the Navas de Tolosa was fought, wherein 60,000 of the unbelievers were slain, which was one of the greatest and noblest battles ever won over the Moors.”—Chronicle of Cid, xi. 21. It occurred a.d. 1212.

[54] See Col. Leake on the Attic Demi.

[55] In the PersÆ, a tragedy written to celebrate the overthrow of Xerxes, and containing a magnificent description of the battle of Salamis, of which the poet was an eye-witness, having served in all the brilliant actions of the Persian war, from Marathon to PlatÆa. The passage is too long for the whole to be inserted, but the description of the first onset of the Greeks may furnish a specimen of its character.

“But when the white-horsed morn o’er all the earth
Shed her fair splendour, from the Grecian fleet
A mighty sound rose tuneably, to wake
The sleeping Echo, which returned a loud
Heart-cheering answer from the island rock.
Confused the Persians stood; for not for flight
The Greeks rang forth that lofty battle-shout,
But hurrying on rejoicing to the fight
With high-souled valour. Then the trumpet’s clang
Kindled the battle; then the word was given,
And the quick oars with one united stroke
Dashed into spray the salt resounding surge,
And all bore down in sight. The right wing led
First, in fair order; the main armament
Pressed close behind, and all at once sent forth
A mighty shout; ‘On, children of the Greeks,
Set free your country, free your sons, your wives,
The temples of your country’s gods, the tombs
Of your forefathers—this day fights for all.’”

[56] Frontinus, Strategematicon, lib. I. ii. 10. Frontinus wrote towards the end of the first century of the Christian era, and the story, as far as we know, is not noticed earlier. It may therefore very probably be false.

[57] VasÆus, HispaniÆ Chronicon.

[58] Herod., viii. c. 140-144.

[59] The citizens replied to a summons to surrender, that they would not lack food, while their left arms remained, but feed on them, and fight for liberty with their right. Strada, de Bello Belgico, lib. viii. Vaunts of this kind are dangerous: the Leydenists, however, did no discredit to theirs. It was a maxim of the MarÉchal de Grammout, that a governor who began by making a great to-do, and burnt his suburbs to make a brilliant defence, generally ended by making a very bad one. See the MÉmoires de Grammont, chap, viii., where there is a capital story of the gallant defence of Lerida, by Don Gregorio Brice, bearing upon this point.

[60] Strada says, with an expression of incredulity however, that by means of this inundation vessels came over-land to Leyden from a distance of forty miles.

[61] The Dutch annoyed the Spaniards much with sharp hooks fastened to poles or ropes, by which they drew up the Spaniards into their shipping. One Peter Borgia was caught up with four hooks into a vessel holding six or seven men, and supposed to be mortally hurt: but presently, while they were deeply engaged in fishing for more men, he caught up a battle-axe, and set on them from behind with such fury, that he killed three, and frightened the rest overboard, and thus carried off to the Spanish camp a vessel laden with provisions.—Strada, Bell. Belg. lib. viii.

[62] Bentivoglio, Hist. of Wars in Flanders, Englished by Henry Earl of Monmouth, 1698.

[63] Watson’s Hist. of Philip II.

[64] Corunna.

[65] This is the classification of the provinces as given by Charnock.

[66] This fleet of Semiramis is probably about as real as Shakspere’s seacoast of Bohemia. What the amount of Cleopatra’s fleet might be we do not know; but at Actium she had only 60 ships. In the last example Stow is within bounds. Froissart says that 1287 ships were prepared on this occasion. What sort of cock-boats they were is another question.

[67] Draws up for battle.

[68] Robert Bruce was deceived by a similar accident. Having taken possession of Arran during his long struggle against the power of England, he meditated a descent upon the opposite country of Carrick, in Ayrshire, his own inheritance. Being ignorant of the strength and situation of the English, he despatched a trusty emissary, with orders to kindle a beacon fire, if he found that a descent was practicable. A brilliant light was seen on the appointed eve, but on Bruce’s landing, his emissary met him in much alarm, with news that the English were quartered in great strength at Turnberry Castle, his maternal inheritance; and that he knew not how, or by whom, the beacon fire had been lighted. Bruce however persevered in his enterprise and took the castle. It was long believed, and perhaps is so still, that the signal was supernatural, and that it regularly appeared on the anniversary of the Bruce’s landing on his native shore. The spot on which it was seen has been called the Bogle’s Brae, beyond the memory of man.

[69] We may repeat what has been before said, that these computations are merely approximations to expressing the value of the ancient money in modern denominations, without reference to the intrinsic value of the precious metals in Greece.

[70] Mitford, chap. vii. 5

[71] Herod. ix. 27.—He says “the Athenians answered.” Plutarch ascribes all the merit of it to Aristides, which is suitable both to his character and the rank he held.

[72] Plut., Themist.

[73] Mitford, chap. xi. 1.

[74] This fixes the date of these events to 460. Clinton.

[75] Thucyd. i. 137, 38.

[76] Library of Useful Knowledge: Greece, p. 46.

[77] We cannot with propriety use either of the terms judges or jurymen; the dicasts were both judge and jury.

[78] Plutarch, Pericles.

[79] Plutarch, North.

[80] Plutarch, Pericles: North.

[81] Library of Useful Knowledge: Hist. of Greece, p. 50.

[82] See the Preliminary Discourse to Mitchell’s Aristophanes, note, p. liv. xv.

[83] Mitchell, p. lviii.

[84] Mitchell, p. lxxv.

[85] Mitchell, p. lxxvii. lxxxi.

[86] Thucyd. i. 143.

[87] Thucyd. i. 22.

[88] Thucyd. ii. 14.

[89] See Dr. Arnold’s note, Thucyd. ii. 17.

[90] Thucyd. ii. 17.

[91] ?t?a ?? ?e?, i. 22.

[92] Lib. vi.

[93] Persic. lib. ii.

[94] Kircher, Scrutinium de Peste. He quotes Diodorus (without reference), and Orosius, book v., as his authorities: the passage in Diodorus we have not been able to find.

[95] “??????af?a, or an experimental relation of what hath happened remarkqueable in the last Plague in the city of London, &c. by W. Boghurst, apothecary in St. Giles’ in ye Feilds: London, 1666: MS. Sloane, 349.” Our attention was directed to this book as being likely to contain some curious details of the plague of 1665, but with the exception of this prefatory matter it is too exclusively medical to suit our purpose.

[96] “Oecumenical (?????e?????, from ????????), relating to the whole habitable world.”—Johnson.

[97] Of Persia.

[98] A pile of wood, which, when they laid the corpse on it they fired, and afterwards buried the bones.

[99] Apollo, to whom the heathens attributed the immission of all epidemic or ordinary diseases.

[100] Thucyd. ii. 47, 54. Hobbes’s Translation has been used throughout the volume; it has been compared with the original, and corrected where necessary.

[101] It was in name a state democratical, but in fact a government of the principal man.—Thucyd. ii. 65.

[102] See the analysis of the Knights in chap. iv.

[103] See Thucyd. iii. 87. The Athenian army at the commencement of the war consisted of 13,000 heavy armed soldiers of the former class, and 1200 horsemen, including the horse archers, who were not citizens. Such being the mortality of the upper classes, we may safely suppose that a quarter of the whole population perished.—Thucyd. ii. 13.

[104] See Mitchell’s Preliminary Discourse, p. 74, 84, and the Platonic Dialogues there quoted. See also the Clouds, especially the concluding part, and the dialogue between the Logos Dikaios and Logos Adikos.

[105] Evagrius adds to this a greater marvel; that the citizens of infected places, who were absent from home, sickened and died, even where no other trace of the plague appeared.

[106] f?sata da?????

[107] This curious passage may be illustrated from a pamphlet entitled ‘Medela PestilentiÆ, wherein is contained several Theological Queries concerning the Plague,’ &c., by Richard Kephale. “Some I have talked with, who have ingenuously confest they, at their first infection, have felt themselves manifestly stricken, being sensible of a blow suddenly given them, some on the head and neck, others on the back and side, &c.; sometimes so violently that they have been as it were knockt down to the ground, remaining so for a time senseless; whereof some have died instantly, others in a short time after.”—p. 49. This statement, however, is not entitled to implicit credit; for it is the writer’s object to prove the plague a direct infliction from God, without the intervention of secondary causes. “There are two sorts of plague, the one simple, the other putrid. The simple plague is the very influence of the striking angel executing the vengeance of God on the bodies of men. This kind of plague ariseth from no distemperature of blood, putrefaction of humours, or influence of stars, but falleth merely from the stroke of God’s punishing angel.” (Such were the plagues of old, as you may read in Exod. xii. and Numb. xi. 16, 25; also 2 Sam. xxiv. and 2 Kings xix.)—Ibid.

[108] This passage is remarkable as being probably the earliest assertion extant, of any disease known by the name of plague being uncommunicable by contact. Of all the following accounts of similar pestilences, the dread of contagion will be found to form one of the most striking features.

[109] More probably from that burning heat which Thucydides tells us produced the same effect at Athens.

[110] ??t?? a?t?a t?? ?? ??de?a ?? ta?t? t? ?? s? ?? ?????p?? ????s?? f????sa.

[111] The fig-trees: it included the modern suburbs of Pera and Galata.

[112] For some notice of these singular and virulent factions, see chap. xiv.

[113] Procopius de Bello Persico, lib. ii, cap. 22, 23.

[114] The geography of this passage is not quite clear. Mare Maggiore appears to be the Mediterranean, which still retains that name: see the Vocab. della Crusca. In French, Mer Majeure is the Black Sea, according to Cotgrave and the EncyclopÉdie. If we adopt this interpretation, the author states that the plague spread from Asia to the Black Sea and the Mare Tirreno, probably the Tyrrhene or Adriatic Sea, and then returns to trace its progress in the Mediterranean. On the whole, the former interpretation seems the more probable, though it involves some repetition. The first gives a general statement of the course which the disease took from Asia to the coasts of the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, and then proceeds to particularise. It seems to have spread from India through Persia to Syria, Arabia, and Asia Minor (called in the text Turkey towards Egypt), and from China, or the upper part of India, through the north of Asia to Russia and Greece. The Levant trade introduced it into Sicily, Italy, and the west of Africa, whence it seems to have spread backwards towards Egypt. From Italy it crossed the mountains, and spread northward, even to Denmark, &c., which indeed may have received the infection either from their northern or southern neighbours.

[115] A small town in the province of Languedoc, in the department of Gard. It was formerly a seaport, and Louis IX. of France twice embarked from it for the Holy Land, in 1248, 1269. By the gradual accretion of land at the mouth of the Rhone it is now three leagues from the sea, in a sandy plain, with unwholesome air, from the quantity of stagnant water about it.

[116] In France this pestilence is said to have lasted about eight months in each place which it attacked.—Sismondi, Hist. des FranÇais.

[117] Matteo Villani, lib. i. cap. 1.

[118] Continuatio Nangii, ap: Sismondi.

[119] Sismondi, Histoire des FranÇais.

[120] Ripamonte, De Peste Mediolani, p. 17. From this interesting work the whole of the following account of the plague of Milan is taken.

[121] The ‘Promessi Sposi’ of Manzoni contains a most vivid and interesting picture of this portion of the history of Milan.

[122] Ripamonte, book i. If the reader can consult the original, he will see that the description is not overcharged. The Monatti, he continued, practised all sorts of insult towards living and dead, and dragged bodies along as rudely as a butcher drives his calves to the shambles.

[123] Origine e Giornale successi della Gran Peste. Milan, 1648.

[124] Ripamonte does not tell us whether any body went up into the belfry to ascertain this.

[125] Alchemist, act ii. scene 3.

[126] Loimologia: a consolatory advice and some brief observations concerning the present art. By George Thomson, Dr. of Physick, 1665.

[127] Loimologia, or an Historical Account of the Plague in London. By Nath. Hodges, M.D.

[128] Defoe, pp. 24, 25.

[129] This is a remarkable instance of that air of minute attention to fidelity which gives such a remarkable air of reality even to those works of Defoe which are altogether fictitious. Though aware that the history of the plague is not to be taken as the record of his own adventures during it, it is hardly possible not to believe that he had been a hearer of the denunciation, which he is so careful not to report inaccurately.

[130] Defoe, pp. 28-32.

[131] Pp. 78, 85.

[132] Pp. 110, 112.

[133] Pp. 105, 108.

[134] Pp. 131, 135.