FOOTNOTES

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[1] Scattered traditions of the same events have been found in several nations. The most remarkable were in the writings of Berosus (see note, p. 18), who, to his account of the Creation, added that the monstrous living creatures which had floated in the darkness of the primeval ocean perished at the appearance of light. These must have been the pre-adamite animals which Geology has made known to us only within the present century. Berosus describes a deluge, from which only righteous men were saved.

[2] See Book III, §§ 35-37, 84-86.

[3] Herodotus, the Father of History, was a Greek of Halicarnassus, a Doric city in Caria, and was born B. C. 484. He collected the materials for his works by extensive travels and laborious research.

[4] Our word “shawl” belongs to the Sanskrit, the oldest known language of India, showing that “India shawls” have been objects of luxury and commerce from the earliest ages.

[5] See p. 10, and Gen. xi: 1-9.

[6] Berosus, a learned Babylonian, wrote a history of his own and neighboring countries in three books, which are unfortunately lost. He drew his information from records kept in the temple of Belus, from popular traditions, and in part, probably, from the Jewish Scriptures. Fragments have been preserved to us by later writers. He lived from the reign of Alexander, 356-323 B. C., to that of Antiochus II, 261-246 B. C.

[7] The student’s memory may be aided by some explanation of the long names of the Assyrian kings. They resemble the Hebrew in their composition; and, as in that language, each may form a complete sentence. Of the two, three, or four distinct words which always compose a royal appellation, one is usually the name of a divinity. Thus, Tiglathi-nin = “Worship be to Nin” (the Assyrian Hercules); Tiglath-pileser = “Worship be to the Son of Zira;” Sargon = “The King is established;” Esar-haddon = “Asshur has given a brother.”

[9] His daughter Jezebel became the wife of Ahab, king of Israel. His reign is marked in Phoenician annals by a drought which extended throughout Syria.

[12] The battle of Carchemish. See p. 25.

[13] He lived in the reign of Ptolemy I, B. C. 323-283.

[14] See “Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid,” by Prof. Piazzi Smyth.

[16] Josephus was a Jewish historian, born A. D. 37, the son of a priest, and descended by his mother’s side from the same royal family with the Herods. His greatest work is his “Jewish Antiquities,” in twenty books. The history begins at the Creation of the World, and ends A. D. 66, with the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans.

[18] See Genesis xlvii: 18-26.

[19] The Phoenician name of Carthage signified the New City, distinguishing it either from the neighboring Utica, whose name meant the Old City, or from Byrsa, the first fortress of Dido. When New Carthage (Carthagena) was built upon the coast of Spain, the original settlement began to be called by the Romans Carthago Vetus, which is as if we should say “Old Newtown.”

[24] The Macro´bii, so called by the Greeks because they were reputed to live 120 years or more, were a tribe of extraordinary strength and stature dwelling southward from Egypt. Some suppose them to have been ancestors of the Somauli, near Cape Guardafui, while others place them on the left bank of the Nile, in what is now Nubia. Their prisoners were said to be fettered with golden chains, because gold with them was more abundant and cheaper than iron. The bodies of their dead were inclosed in columns of glass or crystal.

[27] See § 11. Also, Darius’s own account of the Imposture of the Magus, p. 87.

[28] He was probably contemporary with Abraham.

[29] See Esther i: 1-4.

[30] One of these repasts cost half a million of dollars.

[35] Homer was an Asiatic Greek who lived probably about B. C. 850. Seven cities claimed the honor of his birth, which ancient critics commonly accorded to Chios, and modern, to Smyrna. Many legends describe his sorrowful and changeful life, shadowed by poverty and blindness; but we can be sure of little except that he was the author of some of the earliest and yet greatest poems in the world’s literature.

[36] The word Erinnyes meant curses, and hence the angry or persecuting goddesses. Fearing to call these terrible beings by their real name, the Greeks substituted the term Eumenides, which meant soothed or benevolent.

[37] For a specimen, see §§ 108-9, 114.

[38] My´us, Prie´ne, Eph´esus, Co´lophon, Leb´edos, Te´os, Er´ythrÆ, Clazom´enÆ, PhocÆ´a, Mile´tus, Chi´os, and Sa´mos.

[40] Of the Seven Wise Men, six were rulers and statesmen. The seven were Solon of Athens, Periander of Corinth, Cleobulus of Lindus, Bias of Prie´ne, Pittacus of Mytilene, Thales of Miletus, and Chilo of Sparta.

[42] The Panathenaic festival was celebrated every year from the time of Theseus, in honor of Athena Polias, the guardian of the city. It included torch races, musical and gymnastic contests, horse, foot, and chariot races, and costly sacrifices. The greater PanathenÆa took place in the third year of every Olympiad. It was distinguished by a sacred procession, bearing to her temple in the Erechtheum a crocus-colored garment embroidered with representations of the victories of the goddess.

[44] Almost every Grecian state was divided between two parties, which preferred respectively democracy and oligarchy; i. e., government by many and by few.

[45] “The first Greeks,” says Herodotus, “who ever ran to meet a foe; the first, too, who beheld without dismay the garb and armor of the Medes, for hitherto in Greece the very name of Mede had excited terror.”

[46] Read the movements of Datis after the battle, p. 86.

[49] A small island in the Saronic Gulf, between Ægina and the coast of Argolis.

[50] This exiled politician must not be confounded with Thucydides the great historian, who was living at the same time.

[52] The words of Xenophon, who was present in Athens.

[53] The executioners who had put in effect the bloody sentences of the tyrants.

[54] The god of healing, a son of Apollo.

[55] Though an Athenian, Xenophon was an exile, and preferred the institutions of Sparta to those of his native city. Among the principal works of this historian are the Anabasis, an account of the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger, and the retreat of the Ten Thousand; the Hellenica, a history of the Greeks from the close of the period described by Thucydides to the battle of Mantinea, B. C. 362; the CyropÆdia, an historical romance in praise of Cyrus the Great; and the Memorabilia, a defense of the memory of Socrates from the charge of irreligion.

[57] So called from one of the Athenian envoys, who, being hereditary proxenus of Sparta (a term nearly corresponding to our modern consul), had a leading part in the negotiation. His personal character was worthless, and his influence slight.

[58] Aristotle was a native of Stagi´ra, a Chalcidian sea-port. His father had been physician to Amyntas II., the father of Philip; and the prince and the philosopher in their boyhood formed a friendship, which outlasted the life of the former and was inherited by his son. The enlarged political views of Alexander, his fondness for discovery and physical science, his lively interest in literature, especially the poems of Homer, and his love of the noble and great in character, were largely due to his teacher’s influence. When he became the conqueror of Asia, he caused rare collections of plants and animals, from all his provinces, to be sent to Aristotle, who found in them the materials for valuable works on Natural History.

[59] He is frequently called Ptolemy Lagi, from the name of his father, Lagus.

[60] Brother of Philadelphus. (See § 55.)

[61] Read, in the Apocrypha, 2 Maccabees iii: 4-40.

[62] It should be noticed that the name Calabria is now applied to the other peninsula of southern Italy, that which included the ancient Bruttium. The name was changed about the eleventh century of the Christian Era.

[63] A Patrician had at least three names: his own personal appellation, as Ca´ius, Marcus, or Lu´cius; the name of his clan, and the name of his family. Many Romans had a fourth name, derived from some personal peculiarity or memorable deed. Thus Pub´lius Corne´lius Scip´io Africa´nus belonged to the Cornelian gens, the Scipio family, and received a surname from his brilliant achievements in Africa. His clients bore the name Cornelius.

[64] The name of the City of the Seven Mountains had been given to Rome when within much narrower limits. The Septimontium included only the Palatine, Esquiline, and CÆlian, which were divided into smaller peaks or eminences, seven in all.

[65] At a later period, when the Romans had become familiar with the literature of the Greeks, an attempt was made to unite the mythologies of the two nations. Some deities, like Apollo, were directly borrowed from the Greeks; in other cases, some resemblance of office or character caused the Greek and the Roman divinities to be considered the same. Thus Jupiter was identified with Zeus; Minerva, the thinking goddess—the Etruscan Menerfa—with Athena, etc. By order of the Delphic oracle or of the Sibylline Books, living serpents, sacred to Æsculapius, were brought from Epidaurus to Rome, to avert a pestilence, B. C. 293.

[66] For the probable form of this imprecation, see note, p. 276.

[67] A jugerum was very nearly five-eighths of an acre.

[68] The form, which has been strictly preserved, may be of interest, as illustrating Roman ideas: “Thou Janus, thou Jupiter, thou Mara our father, thou Quirinus, thou Bellona; ye Lares, ye the nine gods, ye the gods of our fathers’ land, ye whose power disposes both of us and of our enemies, and ye also, gods of the dead, I pray you, I humbly beseech you … that ye would prosper the people of Rome and the Quirites with all might and victory, and that ye would visit the enemies of the people of Rome … with terror, dismay, and death. And according to these words which I have now spoken, so do I now, on the behalf of the commonwealth of the Roman people … on behalf of the army, both the legions and the foreign aids … devote the legions and the foreign aids of our enemies, along with myself, to the gods of the dead and to the grave.” It was deemed an impiety to ask for victory without making a sacrifice, for Nemesis avenged unmingled prosperity no less than crime.

[69] I. e., to march between two spears planted in the ground and surmounted by a third. Hence, our term “subjugation” = sub jugum ire.

[70] The Mamertines, “Children of Mars,” were a troop of Italian freebooters, formerly in the pay of Syracuse, but who had seized Messa´na and other fortresses in the north-east of Sicily, massacred the people, and made themselves independent.

[71] N. B. Not the great Hannibal, who was son of Hamilcar, and hero of the Second Punic War. “Punic” is only another form of the adjective Phoenician, but is applied especially to the people of Carthage.

[72] Son of the Regulus who invaded Africa (§ 91), and who fell a victim to Carthaginian vengeance.

[73] During the seventeen years of the Second Punic War, the free citizens of Rome were diminished by one-fourth, and in Italy at large 300,000 people perished.

[74] This illustrious lady was a daughter of Scipio Africanus, the greatest general save one, and, perhaps, the greatest character, whom Rome ever produced. Cornelia, after the early death of her husband, devoted herself to the education of her children, and was rewarded for her care by their perfect respect and love. After the death of Caius, she retired to Misenum, where her house became the resort of all the genius and learning of the age. Cornelia not only spoke her own language with the utmost elegance, but was well acquainted with Greek literature, and her letters to her sons are considered the purest specimens of Latin prose. She died in a good old age, and the people erected a statue to her memory, with the simple inscription, “Cornelia, the Mother of the Gracchi.”

[75] I came, I saw, I conquered.

[76] That of Pope Gregory XIII., A. D. 1582.

[77] This guard consisted of 10,000 Italian soldiers, quartered near Rome for the security of the emperor’s person. And so great was its influence, that, in the later days of the empire, it often assumed to dispose of the crown without reference to Senate or people.

[78] Of the Antonines, the first is commonly called Antoninus Pius; the second, Marcus Antoninus.

[79] So says Ammia´nus Marcelli´nus, an honest and usually trustworthy historian, contemporary with Julian, and probably a pagan.

[80] A very numerous sect in Africa, opposed by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and by an edict of Honorius.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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