eunuch, who being cruelly scourged by Nanybrus's orders, fled, at the instigation of Parsondas, into Media, and there disclosed the whole to the king, who immediately despatched an officer to demand him. Nanybrus pretended to know nothing of any such person; upon which another officer was sent by the Mede, with a peremptory order to seize on Nanybrus if he persisted in the denial, and lead him to immediate execution. Upon this the Babylonian owned what he had before denied, and promised to comply with the king's demand; invited the officer to a banquet, at which one hundred and fifty women, among whom was Parsondas, made their appearance, singing and playing upon various instruments. Nany brus enquiring of the Mede which he liked best, he immediately pointed at Parsondas. At this, the Babylonian falling into an immediate fit of laughter, told him who the person was whom he thus preferred to all the fine ladies; adding, that he could answer for what he had done before the king of the Medes. The officer was less surprised at such an astonishing change, than his master afterwards, when Parsondas appeared before him. The only favour Parsondas begged of the king, for all his past services, was, that he would avenge on the Babylonian the base and injurious treatment he had met with. The Mede marched accordingly to Babylon, and notwithstanding the remonstrances of Nanybrus, urging, that Parsondas had, without the least provocation, endeavoured to deprive him of both his life and kingdom, declared that in ten days he would pass sentence on him as he deserved, for presuming to act as judge in his own cause, instead of appealing to him. But Nanybrus having bribed Mitrophernes, the Mede's favourite eunuch, the king was by him prevailed upon to sentence the Babylonian only to a fine, which made Parsondas curse the first discoverer of gold, for the sake of which he was to live the derision of an effeminate Babylonian. Sir Isaac Newton supposes Baladan to have been the son of Pul, king of Assyria, and to have had Babylon for his portion. LEAR, a British king, said in ancient chronicles to have succeeded his father Bladud, about B. C. 844. The story of this king and his three daughters, is well known from Shakspeare's excellent tragedy founded upon it. POETRY. PRONAPIDES, an ancient Greek poet of Athens, who was preceptor to Homer. He also first taught the Greeks to write from the left to the right, as they formerly wrote in the oriental manner from right to left. Plato. His "Theogony" is a miscellaneous narration, executed without much art or judgment; yet it has been highly esteemed for the faithful account it gives of the gods of antiquity. "The shield of Hercules" is but the fragment of a much larger poem, in which it is imagined the author gave an account of the most celebrated heroines among the ancients. Hesiod is said to have written several other works which are lost. He is admired for the elegance of his diction, and the sweetness of his poetry. Pausanius says, that in his age the verses of Hesiod were written on tablets, in the temple of the muses of which the poet was a priest. Virgil, in his celebrated Georgics, has imitated the manner of Hesiod, though he has gone far beyond the model in every kind of excellence. The Greeks were so partial to the poetry and moral instruction of Hesiod, that they ordered their children to commit them to memory. Hesiod, being accused of assisting in a rape, was murdered by the sons of Gangetor of Nampactum, and his body thrown into the sea. The best editions of Hesiod are that of Milan, 1493, fol.; Grævius, Amst. 1667; Gr. et Lat. and Loesner, Leips. 8vo. 1778. There is an English translation of this author by Cooke, 1729. SYAGRUS, an ancient Greek poet, who flourished in the same age with Homer, to whom he was a rival, being the first who wrote on the Trojan War. Diogenes calls him Sagaris. MUSIC. THALETAS, of Crete, a famous Lyric, celebrated by all antiquity as a medical musician, is said to have delivered the Lacedæmonians from the pestilence by the sweetness of his lyre; but credulity in the powers of music must be very strong indeed, in those who could believe it possible for music to drive away the pestilence. Thaletas, however, was universally believed to have possessed this power; but it is impossible to render the fact credible, without qualifying it by several circumstances omitted in the relation. In the first place, it is certain that this poet was received among the Lacedæmonians during the plague, by command of an oracle; that by virtue of this mission, all the poetry of the hymns which he sung, must have consisted of prayers and supplications, in order to avert the anger of the gods against the people, whom he exhorted to sacrifices, expiations, purifications, and many other acts of devotion; which, however superstitious, could not fail to agitate the minds of the multitude, and to produce nearly the same effects as public fasts, and, in Catholic countries, processions, at present, in times of danger, by exalting courage, and by ani mating hope. The disease having probably reached its highest pitch of malignity when the musician arrived, must afterwards have become less contagious by degrees; till, at length, ceasing of itself, by the air wafting away the seeds of infection, and recovering its former purity, the extirpation of the disease was attributed by the people to the music of Thaletas, who had been thought the sole mediator, to whom they owed their happy deliverance. This is probably what Plutarch means, who tells the story; and what Homer meant in attributing the cessation of a plague among the Greeks, at the siege of Troy to music. "With hymns divine the joyous banquet ends, POPE'S HOMER. For the poet in this passage seems only to say, that Apollo was rendered favourable, and had delivered the Greeks from the scourge with which they were attacked, in consequence of Chryseis having been restored to her father, and of sacrifices and offerings. Thaletas was contemporary with Lycurgus the Spartan. SIMICUS, an ancient Greek musician, said to have been a great improver of music. He lived after Homer. According to Pliny, Simicus added an eighth string to the lyre of Mercury. PERIOD VIII. FROM JEROBOAM II., TO JOSIAH. [B. C. 821.] REMARKABLE FACTS, EVENTS, AND DISCOVERIES. B.C. 814 The kingdom of Macedon begins. 801 The city of Capua in Campania built. 799 The kingdom of Lydia began. 786 The ships, called Triremes, invented by the Corinthians. 779 The race of kings in Corinth ended. 776 The era of the Olympiads begin. 760 The Ephori established at Sparta. 758 Syracuse built by Archias of Corinth. 754 The government of Athens changed to a republic. 748 Rome built by Romulus, which gives rise to a new æra. 747 The era of Nabonassar commenced on the 1st day of Thoth, or the 26th of February. 746 The government of Athens changed into a republic. 743 The first war between the Messenians and Spartans. 724 Mycenæ reduced by the Spartans. 723 A colony of the Messenians settled at Regium. 720 Samaria taken; the kingdom of Israel ended, and the ten tribes carried captive by Salmaneser. 718 Gela in Sicily built. 703 Corcyra built by the Corinthians. 685 The second Messenian war under Aristomenes. 670 Byzantium built by a colony of Athenians. 666 The city of Alba destroyed. WHILE the Eastern nations, during this and the former period were weakening and destroying each other, the foundations of very formidable empires were laid in the West. The Grecian states became more civilized, and their history becomes less obscure. The institution, or rather the revival and continuance of the Olympic games, in 776, B. C. also greatly facilitated the writing not only of their history, but that of other nations; for as each Olympiad consisted of four years, the chronology of every important event became indubitably fixed by referring it to such and such an Olympiad. In 748, B. C. or the last year of the 17th Olympiad, the foundation of Rome was laid by Romulus. In this period we have six classes, viz. Government, Religion, Philosophy, Poetry, Music, Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture. GOVERNMENT. Under this head will be placed all characters in any way connected with government. As it is not desirous to multiply the divisions unnecessarily, miscellaneous characters, such as cannot well be included under the other general heads, will also be placed in this class. JEROBOAM II., king of Israel, was son of Jehoash, and succeeded his father in the year B. C. 821. He reigned fortyone years. He walked in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. 2 Kings xiv. 23. Yet, he restored the kingdom of Israel to its splendour, from which it had fallen under his predecessors; he re-conquered those provinces and cities which the kings of Syria had usurped; and he extended his authority over all the countries on the other side Jordan, to the Dead Sea. Under Jeroboam II., the prophet Hosea, Amos, and Jonah, prophesied. It is evident from their writings, that in his reign, idleness, effeminacy, magnificence, and injustice corrupted Israel; that the licentiousness of the people with regard to religion was extreme; that they frequented not only Dan and Bethel, the golden calves, but Mizpah in Gilead, Beersheba, Tabor, Carmel, Gilgal, and almost all the high places in Israel, and wherever God had, at any time, appeared to the Patriarchs. They did not always worship the idols there; but they exposed themselves to disorders, by frequenting assemblies of so much hilarity, gaiety, and pleasure. BENHADAD III., the son of Hazael, king of Syria, was contemporary with Joash and Jeroboam II. kings of Israel, who repeatedly defeated him in various pitched battles, and forced him to restore what the tyrants who preceded him had taken from the Israelites; as recorded in 2 Kings xii. xiv. AZARIAH, or UZZIAH, king of Judah, began to reign at sixteen years of age, and reigned fifty-two years at Jerusalem. 2 Kings xv. His mother's name was Jecholiah. He did right in the sight of the Lord, but did not destroy the high places. This prince, who is called Uzziah, 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, 17, presuming to offer incense in the temple, an office peculiar to the priests, was struck with a leprosy, and continued without the city, separated, to his death. Josephus says, that on this occasion a great earthquake was felt; that the temple opened at the top, and a ray of light darted on the forehead of the king, who was instantly struck with a leprosy. He adds, that the earthquake was so violent, as to divide the mountain west of Jerusalem, and the earth moving along a space of four |