gis quàm hostem timentes, domum dilabun

tur.

Hâc clade perculsum et dubium consili Xerxem Mardonius aggreditur. Hortatur in regnum abeat, ne quid seditionis moveat fama adversi belli, et in majus, sicuti mos est, omnia extollens: sibi CCC millia armatorum lecta ex omnibus copiis relinquat; quâ manu aut cum gloriâ ejus perdomiturum se Græciam: aut si aliter eventus ferat, sine ejusdem infamiâ hostibus cessurum. Probato consilio, Mardonio exercitus traditur, reliquas copias rex ipse reducere in regnum parat. Sed Græci auditâ Regis fugâ, consilium ineunt pontis interrumpendi, quem ille Abydo, veluti victor maris, fecerat; ut intercluso reditu aut cum exercitu deleretur, aut desperatione rerum, pacem victus petere cogeretur. Sed Themistocles timens, ne interclusi hostes desperationem in virtutem verterent, et iter quod aliter non pateret, ferro patefacerent; satis multos hostes in Græciâ remanere dictitans, nec augeri numerum retinendo oportere; cùm vincere

1 Abydo. Abydos, one of the ancient castles of the Dardanells, on the European side. The other called Sestos was on the Asiatic side. The new

castles are situated more southerly. One of them is called the castle of Romania, the other, in Asia Minor, is called the castle of Natolia. They give their name also to the Strait of Gallipolis.

consilio cæteros non posset, eumdem servin ad Xerxem mittit, certioremque consilii facit; et occupare transitum maturatâ fugâ jubet. Ille perculsus nuntio, tradit ducibus milites perducendos, ipse sum paucis Abydon contendit. Ubi cùm solutum pontem hybernis tempestatibus offendisset, piscatoriâ scaphâ trepidus trajecit. Erat res spectaculo digna, et æstimatione sortis humanæ, rerum varietate miranda, in exiguo latentem videre navigio, quem paulò ante vix æquor omne capiebat; carentem etiam omni servorum ministerio, cujus exercitus propter multitudinem terris graves erant. Nec pedestribus copiis, quas ducibus assignaverat, felicius iter fuit: siquidem quotidiano labori (neque enim ulla est metuentibus quies) etiam fames accesserat. Multorum deinde dierum inopia contraxerat et pestem, tantaque fœditas morientium fuit, ut viæ cadaveribus implerentur, alitesque et bestiæ illecebris sollicitatæ, exercitum sequerentur.

SPARTA2 whose troops so valiantly defended the passage of Thermopyle, was one of the most pow. erful republics of Greece. She had been a prey, sometimes to despotism, sometimes to anarchy. Lycurgus undertakes to reform its government, laws, and manners. As long as the discipline that

1 Lycurgus was the son of Eunomus, king of Lacedemonia. He travelled in his youth into Egypt and Crete, to be instructed in the laws and manners of the different peoples. After the death of his brother Polydactus, king of Lacedemonia, his widow offered the crown to Lycurgus, engaging to ren der the child abortive, with which she was pregnant, provided he would marry her. But Lycurgus rejected her offers, and was satisfied with being tutor to his nephew Charillas, and remitted the government to him, when he attained the age of maturity. Notwithstanding so just and generous a conduct, he was accused of wishing to usurp the Sovereignty. This calumny obliged him to retire into the island of Crete, where he applied himself to the study of the law. At his return to Lacedemonia, he undertook to reform the government.

2 Sparta, formerly the capital of Laconia in the Peloponnesus. It was situated upon the Eurotas, at a distance from the sea. At present it bears the name of Misitra.

he had established was respected, Sparta preserved its power and its liberty.

Non habentibus Spartanis leges instituit Lycurgus, non inventione earum quàm exemplo clarior; si quidem nihil lege ullâ in alios sanxit, cujus non ipse primus in se documenta daret. Populum in obsequia principum, principes ad justitiam imperiorum formavit. Parcimoniam omnibus suasit, existimans laborem militiæ, assiduâ frugalitatis consuetudine faciliorem fore. Emi singula non pecuniâ, sed compensatione mercium jussit. Auri argentique usum, velut omnium scelerum materiam, sustulit.

Administrationem reipublicæ per ordines divisit: regibus potestatem bellorum, magistratibus judicia per annuas successiones, Senatui custodiam legum, populo sublegendi Senatum, vel creandi quos vellet magistratus, potestatem permisit. Fundos omnium æqualiter inter omnes divisit, ut æquata patrimonia neminem potentiorem altero redderent. Convivari omnes publicè jussit, ne cujus divitiæ vel luxuria in occulto essent. Juvenibus non ampliùs unâ veste uti toto anno permisit, nec quemquam cultiùs quàm alterum progredi, nec epulari opulentiùs, ne imitatio in luxuriam verteretur. Pueros puberes non in forum, sed in agrum deduci præcipit, ut primos annos non in luxuriâ, sed in opere, et laboribus

agerent. Nihil eos somni causâ substernere, et vitam sine pulmento degere, neque priùs in urbem redire, quàm viri facti essent, statuit. Virgines sine dote nubere jussit, ut uxores eligerentur, non pecuniæ; severiùsque matrimonia sua viri coërcerent, cùm nullis dotis frænis tenerentur. Maximum honorem non divitum et potentium, sed pro gradu ætatis senum esse voluit: Nec sanè usquàm terrarum locum honoratiorem senectus habet. Hæc quoniam primò, solutis anteà moribus, dura videbat esse, auctorem eorum Appollinem Delphicum' fingit, et inde se ea ex præcepto numinis detulisse, ut consuescendi tædium metus religionis vincat. Dein, ut æternitatem legibus suis daret, jurejurando obligat civitatem, nihil eos de ejus legibus mutaturos, priusquam reverteretur: et simulat se ad oraculum Delphicum proficisci, consulturum quid adden dum mutandumque legibus videretur. Profi

I

Delphicum. Delphos (in Phocis) at present Castre, a little village built upon the ruins of the ancient Delphi. This city was rendered famous by the oracles which Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, uttered in a temple, consecrated at first to the earth, then to Neptune, and afterwards to Apollo.

The temple of Delphi contained great riches. It was pillaged by the Phocians about Philip's time, then by the Gauls 78 years before Jesus Christ.