And ask'd what new complaints I made, PHILLIPS. Sappho formed an academy of females who excelled in music; and it was doubtless this academy which drew on her the hatred of the women of Mitylene, who accused her of being too fond of her own sex; but will not her love for Phaon, and the fatal termination of her existence, sufficiently exculpate her. Maximus Tyrius plainly asserts that Sappho was both diminutive in her stature and swarthy in her complexion. Ovid confirms this description in his Heroides, in the celebrated epistle from Sappho to Phaon: "To me what nature has in charms deny'd, Is well by wit's more lasting flames supply'd. Inspir'd young Perseus with a gen'rous flame." Besides the structure of verse called Sapphic, she invented the Æolic measure, composed elegies, epigrams, and nine books of lyric poetry. ALCEUS, a famous ancient lyric poet, born at Mitylene, in the island of Lesbos, esteemed by Horace the inventor of this kind of poetry. He flourished at the same time with Sappho, who was likewise of Mitylene; and was a great enemy to tyrants, but not a very brave soldier. He was present at an engagement, wherein the Athenians gained a victory over the Lesbians; and here, as he himself is said to have confessed in one of his pieces, he threw down his arms, and saved himself by flight. Horace, who of all the Latin poets, most resembled Alcæus, has made the like confession. The poetical abilities of Alcæus are undisputed; and though his poems were chiefly in the lyric strain, yet his muse was capable of treating the sublimest subjects with suitable dignity. Horace mentions him in an animated panegyric: "Alcæus strikes the golden strings, And seas, and war, and exile sings : FRANCIS. Her CRINNA, of the Isle of Telos, published an excellent poem, in the Doric language, comprized in 300 verses. style was said to come near the majesty of Homer. She died at 19 years of age. PERIOD X. FROM CYRUS TO ARTAXERXES I. [B. C. 600.] REMARKABLE FACTS, EVENTS, AND DISCOVERIES. B.C. 598 Jehoiachin, king of Judah, carried captive, by Nebuchadnezzar. 594 Solon made Archon at Athens. 591 The Pythian games instituted in Greece, and tragedy first acted. 588 The first irruption of the Gauls into Italy. 566 The first Census at Rome, when the number of citizens was found to be 84,000. 562 The first comedy at Athens acted upon a moveable scaffold. 559 Cyrus the first king of the Medes und Persians. 550 Thales travels into Egypt, acquires the knowledge of geometry, astronomy, and philosophy; returns to Greece, calculates eclipses, gives general notions of the universe, and maintains the unity of the Deity. His scholar, Anaximander, invents maps, globes, and the signs of the zodiac. 538 Babylon taken, and its monarchy ended by Cyrus. 536 Cyrus issues an edict for the return of the Jews. 534 The Temple founded by the Jews. 526 Learning greatly encouraged at Athens, and a public library first founded. 527 Egypt conquered by Cambyses. 520 The second edict to rebuild Jerusalem. 515 The second Temple finished under Darius. 609 Tarquin, the last king of Rome, expelled, and a republican government established, which lasted 461 years. 508 The first alliance between the Romans and Carthaginians. 507 The second Census at Rome, 130,000 citizens. 504 Sardis burnt by the Athenians, which occasioned the Persian invasion of Greece. In this period, prophane history becomes somewhat clear, and the relations concerning the different nations may be depended upon with some degree of certainty. Characters are produced that are highly interesting, and important revolutions take place. Cyrus, the Mede, overthrows the Babylonian, and establishes the Persian empire. We shall now divide our periods into centuries. The reader will be pleased to observe, that the characters are placed in the century in which they were supposed to be born; on this account he must bear in mind that in perusing the lives of those who came into the world towards the close of a century, he will be extending his ideas to the events of a succeeding period. As some general rule must be observed in placing the characters, on mature consideration, this has been thought the best. To have placed them in the century in which they died would have been more inconvenient; the time in which they flourished, was thought of, but it appeared objectionable. The chronological tables at the beginning of the periods will assist the reader in forming correct ideas of time. GOVERNMENT. CYRUS, the famous founder of the Persian monarchy, and the restorer of the Jews to their country, their temple, and their former state, was the son of Cambyses, and Mandane, the daughter of Astyages, B. C. 599. Cyrus, beautiful in his person, and more amiable for the qualities of his mind, lived with his father during the first twelve years of his life, and was educated after the Persian manner in hardship and toil, and all such laborious exercises, as would tend to fit him for the fatigues of war, in which he unquestionably excelled all his contemporaries. At this early period he surpassed all of his age, not only in aptness to learn, but in the courage and address with which he executed whatever he undertook. After this he was sent to Media to the court of Astyages, his grandfather, with whom he lived about five years. Here his conduct was so excellent and amiable, notwithstanding the pride, luxury, and magnificence which prevailed in the court of Media, that he was generally beloved, and laid the foundation of that attachment to his person which enabled him afterwards to perform the exploits which are recorded of him. He was gentle, affable, beneficent and generous. Whenever the young lords had any favour to ask of the king, Cyrus was their solicitor. If the king had any subject of complaint against them, Cyrus was their mediator; and he always managed their affairs so well, that he never failed of obtaining what he desired. When he was sixteen years of age, he accompanied Astyages in an attack upon the Assyrians, who had made inroads upon the Persian territories; his behaviour on this occasion was such, that the victory obtained was imputed to his energy and superior prowess. Soon after this he returned to his father, with whom he resided till he had attained the age of forty, when he was called forth to the assistance of his uncle Cyaxares, by whom he was appointed generalissimo of the Medes and Persians. This led to the establishment of that vast empire, of which he was the founder, and which he erected upon principles of so much wisdom, that it existed in spite of the weakness and the wickedness of his successors, for a period of two hundred years. In this sketch we shall not attempt to follow the hero in all his contests. In every instance, where valour and wisdom were required, he was found possessed of all those qualities that can render a man and a prince truly great. After a signal victory obtained by Cyrus over the Assyrians, aided by Croesus, a young princess of exquisite beauty was found among the prisoners of war, and in the division of the spoil she was reserved for Cyrus. Her name was Panthea, the wife of Abradates, king of Susiana. Upon the report made to Cyrus of her extraordinary beauty, he refused to see her; fearing, as he said, that such an object might engage his affection more than he desired, and divert him from the prosecution of the real design which he had in view. When he had dethroned the Lydian king, he completed the reduction of all Lesser Asia and Syria, and then turning his arms against the king of Assyria, he invested Babylon, which he took after a siege of two years, and thus put an end to that great and powerful monarchy, B. C. 538. The destruction of Babylon forms a very interesting event both in prophane and sacred history; and, more particularly, in its reference to the predictions of Scripture and the subsequent state of the Jews. Isaiah, who began to deliver his predictions in the year B. C. 757, and who was put to death B. C. 696; and Jeremiah, who died about the year B. C. 577, expressly foretold the destruction of this city, together with several circumstances that attended it, and that marked it as a very important era in the history of the world. Both these prophets speak with such assurance of its destruction, and of the manner in which it would be brought about, that they seem to describe a future event as if it had already occurred, and they had been witnesses of the catastrophe. Cyrus, who was the destined conqueror of Babylon, and who transferred the empire from the Babylonians to the Medes and Persians, was foretold by name above an hundred years before he was born. The time of the reduction of Babylon was specifically marked out by the prophet Jeremiah. The facts agreeing with these prophecies, are related by no less historians than Herodotus and Xenophon; and Isaiah lived above two hundred and fifty years before Herodotus, and nearly three hundred and fifty before Xenophon; and Jeremiah lived above one hundred and fifty years before the one, and nearly two hundred and fifty before the other. As Cyrus took Babylon in the year B. C. 538, Isaiah delivered his prophecies at least one hundred and sixty years before the taking of Babylon, and Jeremiah sent his prophecies concerning Babylon, to Babylon by the hands of Seraiah," in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah," Jer. li. 59. which was fifty-six years before the taking of Babylon, for the fourth year of Zedekiah coincides with the year 594 B.C. 234 [B. C. 599 That the destruction of Babylon was complete and final, is no less expressly foretold and minutely described than other circumstances attending this event. year After Cyrus had settled his affairs at Babylon, he went into Persia to make a visit to his parents, who were still living; and on his way thither through Media, he there married the daughter of Cyaxares, called in Scripture, Darius the Mede, having with her as a dowry the kingdom of Media in reversion, and then with his wife went to Babylon. He now, viz. in the 536 B. C., issued an edict, which has given celebrity to his name, permitting such of the Jews as were remaining from the Babylonish captivity to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. This decree was certainly obtained by the intercession of the prophet Daniel, who was already highly famed for his wisdom and integrity, in a licentious and truly infamous court. In Daniel, Cyrus seems to have placed the highest degree of confidence, which the prophet turned to the advantage of his oppressed countrymen. doubt pointed out to the prince the prophecies of Isaiah, in From concurring testimony, he no which himself was pointed out by the finger of heaven, as destined for the most important purposes; as designated to be a great conqueror and the restorer of the Jews to their native land. The learned Prideaux offers many reasons that might have concurred to induce the conqueror to comply with the urgent solicitations of the prophet, his friend and principal minister. Though Cyrus was born and brought up as an idolater, the interposition of providence must occasionally have made an impression on his mind, which Daniel seems to have converted to the best ends. He speaks in his decree in the name of the Lord of Israel; he was too wise to believe in the gods which his countrymen and the world in general were accustomed to worship, and was probably too much enlightened to refer the passing events of life, and the revolutions of empires, to what the ignorant would denominate chance. He had heard of the hand writing on the wall, which none but Daniel could explain; and he only, according to his own profession, by the interposition of his God. He had been informed of the deliverance of the same excellent man from the lion's jaws, and he might be almost, if not altogether persuaded, that the God of Israel was the God that had made him "king of the whole world." Cyrus not only permitted and encouraged the Jews to return to their own country, but readily restored all the sacred vessels and furniture which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem, and deposited in the temple of Baal. Having established his empire, which was bounded on the east by the river Indus, on the north by the Caspian and Euxine seas, on the west by the Ægean sea, and on the south by Ethiopia and the sea of |