MY DEAR FRIEND,

We took leave of our Smyrna friends on the 19th of January, and having passed Scio, Lesbos, and Ipsera, were off Scyros on the 21st. We wished to visit this island, because it contains the tomb of Theseus, who killed the monster of Crete, and carried off the beauteous Ariadne; but the wind not permitting us to fetch it, we continued our course by Negropont, Longa, and the Promontory of Sunium. But the next morning the wind blew so strong against us, that finding it in vain to oppose it, we crossed the Sinus Sironicus, and anchored among the little islands of Idra. The weather continued bad for three days; it drove all the wild fowl to the shore, and afforded us excellent shooting, which compensated our delay.

On the 25th we again got under way, and the day after entered the PyrÆus, the port of this celebrated city. What emotion must one feel on entering the ruins of a capital, which, from a small " A. A. C. 1556." village, first formed into a regular government by Cecrops, became so flourishing, and so populous a state, that its citizens alone, in the famous battle of Marathon, delivered all Greece from the yoke of the Persians.

Xerxes was so little discouraged by the misfortunes of his father, that the moment he ascended his throne, he determined to make a second attempt. His army is said to have exceeded a million of men; and the number of his fleet was in proportion to the multitude of his troops. On his entering Upper Greece, most of the states, intimidated by the immensity of his armament, submitted to the enemy. The Peloponnesians having the advantage of inhabiting a country almost an island, and only assailable at the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, etermined to defend themselves. Themistocles infused the same spirit into the Athenians, and promoted the recall of his rival, Aristides. Their allies thinking it in vain to oppose the Persians beyond the Peloponnesus, wished all their forces to retire within the Isthmus. But the Athenians, encouraged by their former victory, bravely resolved once more to become the champions of Greece, and oppose the enemy before he entered Attica. Having brought the allies into this resolution, a detachment under Leonidas, King of Sparta, took possession of the pass of ThermopylÆ, and for some time supported themselves against all the efforts of Xerxes, and his innumerable host. But a secret path being treacherously discovered to the enemy, Leonidas was surprised in the morning by seeing the Persians in possession of the heights above him.

Xerxes had now gained a decisive advantage; but the laws of Sparta not permitting its citizens to retreat, Leonidas sent back all his detachment, except three hundred, who were natives of that city. With these he devoted himself " A. A. C. 480." to the service of his country, and falling upon the invaders, made a prodigious slaughter among them; but fresh numbers continually supplying the place of the slain, this great and gallant Prince was at last overpowered, and died with his heroic associates, in the midst of thousands of their enemies.

In this juncture, the Athenians consulted the Oracle, and were desired to trust to their wooden walls. Themistocles persuaded all those who were capable of bearing arms to embark in the fleet; the women and children were removed; and the town, abandoned to the enemy, fell a prey to the barbarians.

The fleet was assembled in the straits, within the Island of Salamis. Xerxes, who already talked of nothing but of extirpating the Greeks, by seizing their ships, flattered himself that he had now an opportunity of destroying them all at one blow. He therefore rashly attacked them in this narrow pass; but he soon found the superiority of the Grecian Admirals, who, by the excellence of their disposition, brought a much greater number of ships into action than the Persians could oppose at one time. Their van was of course defeated, which threw a general panick into the barbarians, and ended in a complete victory on the side of the Greeks.

The Persian King, who beheld the battle of Salamis from a neighbouring height, finding himself unable to support his immense army, after the loss of his fleet, retreated with the utmost precipitation. But before he quitted Greece, he gave Mardonius the command of a large detachment, to secure part of his conquests; but these being some months afterwards entirely defeated by Pausanias and Aristides at PlatÆa, and most of the troops the King carried with him having perished in the retreat, the Grecians pursued him into Asia.

Athens now rose, by rapid strides, to its highest lustre. Themistocles augmented the navy, rebuilt the city, fortified the PyrÆus, and joined it to the town, which is four miles distant, by a strong fortified wall. His grand object was to throw the whole power of Greece into the hands of the Athenians; but the steps by which he proposed to attain this end, were so much disapproved, that he was banished. Accused afterwards of being concerned in the conspiracy of Pausanias, the Lacedemonian Admiral, for delivering Greece into the hands of the Persians, he was obliged to fly his country; and being pursued from place to place, although innocent of the charge preferred against him, he was at last compelled to take refuge at the Court of Persia.

There he was most hospitably entertained for several years; but in the succeeding wars, the King requiring him to lead an army against the Grecians, he suffered the greatest distress in the contest between gratitude and patriotism; and neither of these virtues being able to overcome the other, he ended the conflict by putting a period to his existence. On his being banished, Aristides succeeded him in the charge of the revenues, " A. A. C. 470." and Cimon in the command of the forces. The glorious exploits of this young hero almost eclipsed even those of Miltiades, his father. He gained several great victories over the Persians, by sea and land, and beautified the city with the spoils of the enemy.

Aristides dying, Pericles succeeded him, and became the rival of Cimon, who was banished on a suspicion of favoring the Lacedemonians, " A. A. C. 455." but recalled five years afterwards. He settled, for a time, the differences between the rival cities, and led them once more against the common enemy. And having ended a war of fifty-one years, by an honorable peace with the Persians, he died on the eve of returning to Athens. He was succeeded by Thucydides, his brother-in-law, but who was soon banished by Pericles, who now exercised alone the sovereign authority.

This illustrious patriot was equally attentive to the prosperity, and to the beauty of the city. With one hand he enriched her with the wealth of every nation, with the other he adorned her with the works of the most celebrated masters. Phidias, the famous sculptor, flourished in his administration, and it is to him we are indebted for the magnificent Temple of Minerva.

But neither his refined genius, nor his political abilities, could exempt his country from the envy which prosperity generally attracts. The splendour she had attained, and the haughtiness it occasioned, drew upon her the complaints of many of the Powers of Greece, and particularly of all those within the Peloponnesus. Animated by Pericles, Athens, although averse to hostile measures, was resolved not to submit to the attacks of the Lacedemonians, but, conscious of her resources, determined " A. A. C. 431."to support her dignity; and thus, undaunted by superior force, she sustained herself for twenty-seven years, against the united efforts of all her enemies, in the famous Peloponnesian war.

Pericles died at the close of the fourth campaign; but the war was continued until the end of the tenth, when a truce was concluded, on terms very advantageous to Athens. But the ambition of Alcibiades, who now began to be distinguished at Athens, soon brought on a renewal of hostilities. He opposed Nicias on every occasion, and, contrary to the advice of that excellent General, persuaded the Athenians to send a considerable part of their forces into Sicily, himself embarking on that expedition: but, being soon recalled, he fled to Sparta, where he joined the enemy, and became the scourge of Attica. In the mean while, Syracuse was reduced to great " A. A. C. 413." straights; but, a reinforcement arriving from Peloponnesus, the Athenians were entirely defeated, and Nicias, their General, most inhumanly put to death.

This blow dispirited the Athenians so much, that Alcibiades, compassionating their distress, returned to his duty. At first he was surprisingly successful; but the fleet suffering a defeat whilst he was absent on an expedition, he was deprived of the command, for having left it in unworthy hands.

The Athenians had soon reason to repent this act; for, notwithstanding their fleet gained a considerable advantage under Conon, it was afterwards attacked by surprise in the Hellespont, and entirely " A. A. C. 404." destroyed. Lysander, who gained this celebrated victory, after subduing all the maritime places in his route, arrived at Athens, and obliged her to surrender.

The city now suffered all the horrors of the most cruel tyranny and oppression: but the Lacedemonians, exulting in their prosperity, as the Athenians had done before, raised up a confederacy against them, by which, after ten years slavery, Athens thoroughly recovered her liberty, and regained her former consequence; and, although Thebes, under Epaminondas, seemed for a time to rival her, she maintained her superiority over the " A. A. C. 337." rest of Greece, until Philip of Macedon, having defeated the Grecians in the battle of ChÆronea, obliged them to nominate him Commander in Chief of their forces.

Demosthenes had long observed the steps by which this Monarch aimed at the subjection of Greece, and endeavoured, in his celebrated orations, to rouse the spirit of his countrymen; but he did not succeed until it was too late.

Philip left his authority to his son Alexander, the Conqueror, during whose absence in Persia, the Athenians attempted to regain their liberties, but were soon suppressed by his General Antipater. On the death of Alexander, Athens again revolted, and at first obtained some considerable advantages; but Antipater, being reinforced, put " A. A. C. 322." an end to her triumphs, and caused her principal citizens to be put to death. Demosthenes fled; but, being detected in his retreat, he poisoned himself.

From this time, Athens was almost constantly kept in subjection by one or other of the successors of Alexander, until about two hundred years before Christ, when, being attacked by Philip III. of Macedon, the Athenians complained to the Romans, who had lately concluded a peace with the King, but now again declared war against him; and being joined by several of the Greek States, Philip was soon overcome. The only use the " A. A. C. 196." Romans made of their conquest, was to shew their magnanimity, by restoring liberty to all the cities of Greece.

In the war between Rome and Antiochus, Greece was at first a principal scene of action. In this, the Romans were again successful, and confirmed their former generosity: but, at last, finding the different States constantly at variance, and one or other of them " A. A. C. 146." ever imploring the assistance of Rome, they put an end to their disputes, by forming them into a Roman province. They had previously defeated and taken Perseus, the last King of Macedonia; after which, it only remained to dispel the AchÆan League, which had been so famous under Philopoemen.

In the war between Mithridates and the Romans, the former got possession of Athens; but, after a noble defence, it was retaken the year following by Sylla, who carried its library to " A. A. C. 86." Rome, with many of its most valuable pieces of sculpture and painting. Attica continued to share the fate of the Romans, until their great Empire was divided into the Eastern and Western branches. Greece then appertained to the former, and fell with it into the hands of the Turks, on the taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II.--A. D. 1453.