faithful to Rehoboam. From this time Judah and Israel are separate kingdoms.

3. The kingdom of the Ten Tribes, or the Israelites, dur ing this period, was governed by a succession of vicious and idolatrous monarchs; and wars and feuds, treachery and murder, mark their history in a shocking manner. Jeroboam was their first king.

§ A few incidents in the lives of these kings may be noticed. Jeroboam, to prevent his subjects from going to Jerusalem to sacri fice, made two golden calves, which the people worshipped; for which conduct, God declared that his whole house should be cut off.

Zimri, the fourth after Jeroboam, enjoyed the crown only seven days. The city Tirzah, in which he was besieged by Omri, being taken, he burnt himself to death in his palace.

Ahab, the sixth after Jeroboam, was the most impious king who reigned over Israel. He married Jezebel, a daughter of a king of the Sidonians, who excited him to commit all manner of wickedness. Among other things, he wantonly murdered Naboth, for refusing to give up his vineyard to Ahab.

Jehu, a captain under Jehoram, was anointed king by the prophet Elisha; and, though a wicked man, was the instrument of executing the Lord's vengeance upon his impious contemporaries. He killed Jehoram, and the 70 sons of Ahab; and after having slain all the priests of Baal, he destroyed the images, and the house of their god.

Jehoash was successful as a warrior. He defeated Benhadad, king of Syria, in three battles. In a war against Amaziah, king of Judah, he took him prisoner, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and plundered the temple and the king's palace.

Pekah, the last king during this period, made war against Judah, with Rezin, king of Syria. Under his reign, part of the ten tribes were carried captive to Assyria, by Tiglath Pileser.

4. Several of the kings of Judah, during the present period, were pious men, and adhered to the worship of God. Others of them imitated the profligate kings of Israel. The people whom they governed, and who have survived to the present time, are called Jews, in distinction from Israelites, the name once applied to the whole twelve tribes.

§ We will notice some of the transactions of their reigns. During the reign of Rehoboam, Sesac, king of Egypt, took Jerusalem, and carried off the treasures of the temple, and of the palace.

Jehoshaphat carefully enforced the worship of God. The Moabites and Ammonites declared war against him; but the Lord threw them into confusion in such a manner, that they destroyed one another.

Ahaziah, directed by the councils of Athaliah, his mother, acted wickedly. He went, with the vicious Jehoram, king of Israel, to war against Hazael, king of Syria. When Jehu destroyed the

house of Ahab, he sought Ahaziah, who was hid in Samaria, and slew him.

Joash reigned with justice as long as Jehoiada, the high priest, lived. After his death, having fallen into idolatry, Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, reproved him for this sin, and was stoned by the king's order. God then raised against him the king of Syria, who plundered Jerusalem. His own servants also conspired against him, and slew him in his bed.

Uzziah made successful wars against the Philistines and Arabians. Intoxicated with prosperity, he went into the temple to burn incense upon the altar, and the Lord struck him with leprosy for his presumption.

Jotham, a pious prince, fought and overcame the Ammonites, and rendered them tributary.

GREECE.

5. GREECE, at the commencement of the present period, was in an unsettled state. By the emigration of many of its inhabitants, colonies had been formed, particularly in Lesser Asia. Afterwards colonies were sent to Italy and Sicily. These, owing to the freedom of their governments, soon rivalled their parent states; a circumstance which induced the latter to put an end to despotism, and to adopt popular constitutions. In this work of reformation, Lycurgus, the legislator of Sparta, was distinguished.

6. It may be mentioned, in connexion with this subject and previously to an account of the reformation of Sparta, that the poems of Homer were introduced from Asia into Greece by Lycurgus. He met with them in his travels in that region, carefully preserved them, and brought them home on his return, 886 years B. C. Their effect on the national spirit and literature of the Greeks, was at length highly propitious.

§ Homer flourished about 900 years B. C. He was a poor blind man, and used to travel from place to place, singing his verses. But his genius was transcendant. All succeeding ages have bowed to it; and his poems have been taken as the model of all epic productions of any note written since his day.

The present form of his poems is supposed not to have been the ancient form. They were probably produced in separate pieces and ballads; and were united into continuous poems, it is said, by certain learned men, under the direction of Pisistratus, king of Athens.

The era of Grecian splendour was several centuries after the time of Homer; but by the preservation of his poems, the progress of the Greeks in arts and literature was effectually secured.

7. Lycurgus, by his peculiar institutions, raised Sparta

E

from a weak and distracted state, to superiority in arms over the other republics of Greece. Sparta became truly republican in its government, though the form of royalty was retained. Its kings were merely the first citizens in the state, and acknowledged the superior authority of the Ephori and the people, to whom they were accountable. Their privileges, however, sufficiently distinguished them from the mass of the citizens.

With many things in his institutions that were commendable, there was much that was pernicious. His sole object seems to have been, to render the Spartans fit only for war. The chronological date of the commencement of this refor mation, is 884 years B. C.

§ After the return of the Heraclidæ, Sparta was divided between the two sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles, who reigned jointly. The occasion of this was, that Aristodemus having been killed while his children were infants, their mother was unable to tell which of them was the first born, since they were twins. The Spartans consequently agreed that they should be joint kings.

This double monarchy continued in the one line under 30 kings, and in the other line under 27 kings, during a period of about 880 years. Polydectes and Lycurgus were the sons of one of these kings. Upon the death of his brother, the crown devolved on Lycurgus; but his sister-in-law being with child, he resigned it.

She however intimated to Lycurgus that if he would marry her, the child should be destroyed immediately upon its birth. Lycur gus, with a view to save it, desired that she would send it to him, and he would dispose of it. Accordingly, the boy, as soon as he was born, was sent to his uncle.

Lycurgus was at supper with a large party when the royal infant arrived, but he instantly took it into his arms, and holding it to the view of the company, exclaimed, "Spartans! behold your king." The people were delighted, and the boy was called Charilaus.

Lycurgus, with a view to suppress the calumnies published against him by the faction of the queen, determined upon a voluntary exile. In his travels, he made it an object to acquire knowledge, and espe cially to ascertain the best means of government. It was during this journey that he discovered the poems of Homer, as above mentioned.

Upon his recall to Sparta, he found things in so bad a condition, that he set about a reformation of the manners of the people. He began his labours by instituting a senate to make laws, and see that they were executed; this senate was composed of 30 members, the kings being of the number

He next made an equal division of the lands, so that all the Spartans shared it fairly between them. When he endeavoured to do the same with the furniture, clothes, &c. he found the rich very averse to

his proposals. He therefore took another course. iron for gold and silver, as the medium of exchange.

51

He substituted

As this iron money was of no account among the neighbouring countries, the Spartans could no longer indulge in luxury, by purchasing foreign costly articles. The necessary arts of life he allowed to be practised only by slaves.

He then commanded that all persons, even the kings themselves, should eat at public tables, and that these tables should be served only with plain food. This regulation, more than any other, offended the rich citizens. They rose in a body and assaulted Lycurgus; and one of them, pursuing him to a sanctuary, struck out his eye with a

stick.

Lycurgus no otherwise punished this offender, than by making him his page and attendant. In time, these dinners, at which they served up a kind of soup, called black broth, came to be much relished, and very pleasant discourse often enlivened them.

An admirable part of the ceremony at these public meals was the following. When the company were assembled, the oldest man present, pointing to the door, said, "Not one word spoken here, goes out there." This wise rule produced mutual confidence, and prevented all scandal and misrepresentation.

The children were taught in large public schools, and were made brave and hardy. All the people were accustomed to speak in short pithy sentences, so that this style of speaking is even now called after them, laconic; Laconia being one of the names of Lacedæmon.

When Lycurgus had firmly established his new laws, he ensured their observance by the following contrivance. He left Sparta, after having made the people swear, that they would abide by his laws, As he intended not to return at all, this was until he should return. to swear that they would keep his laws for ever.

Lycurgus died in a foreign land. By some it is asserted, that he starved himself to death. His laws continued in force 500 years, during which time the Spartans became a powerful and conquering people.

The institutions of this legislator were impaired by many blemishes. The manners of the Lacedæmonian women were suffered to be shamefully loose. The youth were taught to subdue the feelings of humanity. The slaves were treated with the greatest barbarity. Even theft was a part of Spartan education.

The object of this was to prepare their minds for the stratagems of war. Detection exposed them to punishment. Plutarch tells us of a boy, who had stolen a fox and hidden it under his coat, and who rather chose to let the animal tear out his bowels, than to discover the theft.

SECT. 8. The first of the Olympiads, an era by which the events in Grecian history are reckoned, occurred 776 vears B. C. The Olympic games were first instituted about 1450 years B. C., but having fallen into disuse, were restored

at different times, and from the period above mentioned, form a certain epoch in history.

§ The nature of these games will be described under the "General Views," at the close of this work.

MACEDON.

SECT. 9. MACEDON, a kingdom in Greece, and sometimes considered distinct from it in its history, was founded by Caranus, an Argive and descendant of Hercules, about 795 years B. C. The government continued in his line 647 years, i. e. till the death of Alexander Ægus, the posthumous son of Alexander the Great.

§ The history of Macedon under its first kings is obscure, and presents only some wars with the Illyrians, Thracians, and other neighbouring nations. It became, as we shall hereafter learn, very powerful, and under Philip overturned the liberties of the other states of Greece.

ASSYRIA.

SECT. 10. After a chasm of 800 years in the history of the first kingdom of ASSYRIA, we find a few particulars respecting one or two of its last sovereigns. Pul, who is mentioned in scripture, subdued Israel in the reign of Menahem, who became his tributary. This Pul is supposed to be the king of Nineveh, who, with his people, repented at the preaching of Jonah. If this be the fact, he flourished about 800 years B. C.*

The object of Jonah's preaching was to denounce the divine judgements against this people on account of their wickedness. The prophet after great reluctance to obey the command of God, and a signal chastisement for his disobedience, repaired at length to Nineveh, and executed his commission.

The Ninevites took the alarm, and humbled themselves before Jehovah, in consequence of which they were delivered at that time from destruction. The Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital, ended, however, soon afterwards, as we shall now learn.

Sect. 11. Sardanapalus was the last and the most vicious of the Assyrian monarchs. In his reign a conspiracy broke out, by which the kingdom was destroyed, 767 years B. C. Three monarchies rose from its ruins, viz. Nineveh, which

We have here followed Usher, and not the authors of the Universal History, Usher, as we think, more consistently, supposes Pul to be the father of Sardanapalus.