new settlers, and the Grecian cities, thus conacquired a considerable tinge of Asiatic cusad feelings. What is related by Herodotus ng the settlement of Nileus and his emigrants at is remarkable. They took out with them from he says, no women, but found wives in the Carian of the country, whose husbands and fathers they me and put to death. The women, thus vioized, manifested their repugnance by taking a oath among themselves, that they would never their new husbands, nor ever call them by rsonal names. This same pledge they imposed eir daughters; but how long the practice lasted not informed; it rather seems, from the lanf the historian, that traces of it were visible 1 his day in the family customs of Miletus. pulation of this greatest of the Ionic cities erefore have been half of Carian blood, and sonable to suppose that the same was more or case with the other settlements.

oclus fixed his residence at Ephesus; and his y is said by Strabo to have extended over all r settlements. Monarchical government, howpears to have soon given way to republican ons, each community forming a separate govt for itself. All the cities were bound together nfederacy. They had a general council, or s, called the Pan-Ionion, which held its sesiginally in a desert spot on the promontory of and offered sacrifices to Neptune, who aphave been the tutelary divinity of the Ionians. ards, when the country was disturbed by wars, secure situation was found necessary, and the Emeeting was fixed near Ephesus.

of the Greek colonies were founded with any extend the dominion of the mother country. aders were often no better than pirates, not nlike the Buccaneers who formed so powerful deracy in the West Indies in the sixteenth cenTheir common practice was to seize on a pora coast inhabited by a barbarous race, make of the natives, and set them to cultivating the hile they continued their cruises at sea. When an state, by a public act, sent out a colony, pose was, generally, no more than to deliver munity from numbers too great for its territory, et rid of factious citizens whose rank and power e were unequal to their ambition. For the rt, therefore, in the colonies, as in Greece itery considerable town claimed to be an indestate, and, unless oppressed by a powerful r, maintained itself by its own strength and

to have been very similar to the confederacy of American states previous to the establishment of federal constitution.

No materials exist for a history of Ionia as a pe ical community; but the inhabitants soon attained a very high degree of prosperity. Miletus alone said to have founded seventy-five towns, or colon They became wealthy, refined, and luxurious. Wh ever the spirit of enterprise diffused their settleme they perceived, on the slightest comparison, the su riority of their own religion, language, institutio and manners; and the dignity of their character sentiments eminently distinguished them from general mass of the people with whom they came contact, and whom they justly denominated barbaric Some hundred years before the Christian era, Ionians far surpassed the European Greeks in pr perity and mental cultivation. While ancient Gre was harassed with intestine divisions, and exposed its northern frontier to the hostility of the neighbori barbarians, the eastern colonies enjoyed profou peace, and flourished in the vicinity of Phrygia a Lydia, the best cultivated and most wealthy provin of Asia Minor, and, perhaps, of the ancient world.

Such advantages could not be neglected by m who had genius to conceive and courage to exec the most arduous designs. With the utmost indus and perseverance, the Ionian Greeks improved a ennobled the useful and elegant arts which they fou already in practice among the Lydians and Phrygia They incorporated the music of those nations w their own. Their poetry far excelled all that pag antiquity could boast. They rivalled the skill of th neighbors in moulding clay and casting brass. Th appear to have been the first people in the world w made statues of marble. The Doric and Ionic orde of architecture perpetuate in their names the hon of their inventors. Painting was first reduced to r and practised with success by these people, and, du ing the seventh century before Christ, the Ionians st passed all their neighbors, and even the Phœniciar in the arts of design, as appears from the fact that t magnificent presents which the oracle of Delphi r ceived from the Lydian kings were chiefly the pr ductions of Ionian artists. In the following centur Ionia became further distinguished by giving birth philosophy.

THE first formidable enemies with whom the Ionian were obliged to contend were the barbarous Cimme rians, who, being driven from the banks of the Euxine by a Scythian horde still fiercer than themselves overran, with irresistible violence, the finest provinces

otally forgot their recent and common danger, gaged in cruel domestic wars. But these undissensions were soon repressed by the growFer of the Lydians, which, extending itself on s, finally absorbed the greater part of Asia as we have related in another chapter.

First attempt of a Lydian monarch to reduce cian states, recorded in history, was that of about the year 700 B. C. Deficient as their connection was, he found among them a ge of the art of war, as well as a republican bravery, which the Asiatics in general did not He failed in his attempt upon Miletus and but he took Colophon. The strength, however, Engdom of Lydia, perseveringly exerted, was t for these little commonwealths to resist. the son and successor of Gyges, succeeded in - Miletus and Priene. By the irruption of the ans, however, the power of the Lydian monas shaken, and some of the Grecian states have regained their independence. We find the son of Ardyes, toward the end of his gaged in war with the Milesians, and the as continued or resumed by his son Aly

was then the richest and most populous of nian cities. None of the greater powers ected their attention toward maritime affairs, Force of the little Grecian states gave them ce; and that of Miletus was superior to any e Lydian monarch had none to oppose it at he might command from his subject The manner in which he carried on the war Marching into the Milesian territory, a harvest-time, with military pomp and the usical instruments, he cut down all the corn, 3, and other valuable trees. This brought nts out of the city to defend their fields, 3 was enabled thus to cause them two severe he war continued eleven years, the Miletely defending themselves, and the Lydians setting fire to their fields and destroying s. In one of these conflagrations, the en by a high wind, caught the temple of Miletus, and consumed the whole edifice. Ifth year of the war, Alyattes was seized erous illness, and, in this state, was filled tious fear at the recollection of his impiety he temple to be burnt. He despatched o the Delphian oracle to inquire by what uld alleviate his distress of mind. The d to give him an answer till he had reaple. The king sent ambassadors to osing a suspension of arms till this work complished. He supposed the inhabitants to great extremities by the long war, he expiration of the truce, he would find tter to resume the war and capture the lesians, being advised of the approach of ors, just before they arrived, opened their

The kings of Lydia, notwithstanding their military power, and the advantages they possess holding all the surrounding territory, were unable to quer the city of Miletus, which, by its naval enter alone, was able to bid defiance to all the land an of its enemies. Cræsus repeated the attempts o predecessors to gain possession of this city, but out effect. After a time, the Milesians appear to made a treaty with him, acknowledging a ce degree of dependence upon him, with the obligatio tribute. A similar treaty was made with Cyrus Persian, when he overthrew the power of Cræsus: thus Miletus was saved from the ravages of war, w desolated all the other Ionian cities at this perio their history.

Under the Persian dominion, the Ionians appe have been allowed to retain their old forms of n cipal government, the conquerors merely exacti tribute as a token of dependence. In almost e one of these cities were two parties - the aristoc and the democratic: the Persian kings and satraps generally favored the former. In the reig Darius, the whole of Ionia was excited to revolt by intrigues and ambitious schemes of Histiæus, whc been raised to the sovereignty of Miletus, his n city, through the influence of the Persian mon The Athenians were drawn into this war, and s force to Asia Minor, which captured and burnt Sard the seat of the Persian authority in this quarter. this insult was speedily avenged by the Persian satr the Milesians were repeatedly overthrown in ba their city was besieged by sea and land, and fi taken by storm, (497 B. C.) Such of the inhabi as were unable to save themselves by flight either put to the sword or made prisoners, and ca off to the heart of Asia by the conquerors. T captives were at length settled by Darius in the tory of Ampe, near the mouth of the Tigris. dreadful calamity of Miletus - a city which was pride and ornament of Asiatic Greece - so much at ed the Athenians, that when Phrynicus, the tragic introduced on the stage a play entitled the Cap of Miletus, the whole audience burst into tears. poet was condemned to pay a heavy fine for distur the minds of his countrymen with such mou recollections, and the representation of his play forbidden!

Miletus was given up to the Carians by the Pe conquerors, and seems, after a considerable tim have recovered some portion of its former prospe The authority of the king of Persia was still n tained here when Alexander began his expedition Asia. After the victory of the Granicus, he mar to Miletus; but the inhabitants, encouraged by the ence of a Persian army and fleet, stationed at My refused to open their gates to him, upon which he the city by assault - but treated the citizens with c ency. From the Macedonian dominion the Ic cities passed into the hands of the Romans. Mi is mentioned as a flourishing city by Strabo, Pliny

CHAPTER CXXXIX.

The Milesian Tales-Story of Cupid and Psyche.

THE inhabitants of Asia Minor, who possessed one of the fairest portions of the globe, were addicted to every species of luxury and enjoyment. By their early | intercourse with the Persians, they imbibed the taste for amusing and elegant fiction, which had its origin among the Oriental nations. The Milesians, who spoke the soft and beautiful Ionic dialect in the greatest purity, excelled all their neighbors in ingenuity and eager thirst for novelty. They were the first Greek imitators of the Persian art of story-telling. The Milesian Tales were famous in the ancient world; but these fictions, once so celebrated, have all perished. Little is known of them, except that they were not of a very rigid morality, and that they were, for the most part, the production of an author named Aristides. Some idea, however, may be formed of them from the stories of Parthenius of Nice, who appears to have copied, or at least imitated, the Milesian tales. Those of Parthenius are about forty in number, and appear to be mere sketches. They consist of accounts of every species of intrigue and adventure, in love affairs. The principal characters generally come to a deplorable end though seldom proportioned to what they merit by their vices.

The Milesian Tales found their way into Italy even before they were generally known in Greece. They were received with eagerness and imitated by the Sybarites the most luxurious nation in the west of Europe. These imitations, if we may judge from a solitary specimen, preserved by Elian, were of a facetious character, and designed to promote merriment. "A pedagogue was once walking along the street in company with his pupil. The boy happened to get hold of a fig, which he was about to eat, when his tutor interrupted him by a long sermon against luxury and the indulgence of the appetite; and then, snatching the fig from his hand, devoured it with the utmost greediness." With this tale Elian was so much entertained, that, as he informs us, he learnt it by heart, and committed it to writing - as he did not grudge mankind a hearty laugh. Many of the Ro mans, it appears, were as easily amused as Elian; for these stories enjoyed a great popularity for a long time in their original language, and at length, in the time of Sulla, the dictator, they were translated into Latin, by Sisenna, prætor of Sicily, and author of a history of Rome. Plutarch informs us that when Crassus was defeated by the Parthians, the conquerors found volumes of the Milesian Tales in the tents of the Roman soldiers.

The story of Cupid and Psyche, in the Golden Ass of Apuleius, is unquestionably of the Milesian charac

of Arcadia tunes his sylvan reeds, and the Muses join in the chorus !

This allegory is supposed, by some writers, to be founded on an obscure tradition of the fall of man, and to form an emblem of his temptation, transgression, repentance, and subsequent restoration to favor. Its meaning, perhaps, is more restricted, and only comprehends the progress of the soul to perfection, the possession of divine love, and the reward of immortality. From the earliest times, the influence of religious sentiments has been typified by the hopes and fears of an amatory attachment. This style of composition was practised by the rhapsodists of Hindostan and Persia, and captivated the imagination of the Wisest of Mankind. One of the ancient Egyptian emblems was Pysche, sometimes represented as a beautiful female, and sometimes as a butterfly an insect which remains in a state of torpor during winter, but on the return of spring comes forth in new life and beautiful attire. This was deemed a picture of the soul of man, and of the immortality to which he aspired.

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| of the fertility of all their lands, easily transferred this fact to the basis of a philosophical system, and pronounced water to be the first principle.

It seems probable that Thales admitted the ancient doctrine concerning God as the animating principle or soul of the world. According to him, a principle of motion, wherever it exists, is mind. Thus he taught that the magnet and amber have a soul, which is the cause of their attractive powers; the soul being considered by him as a moving power, which has the cause of motion within itself, and is perpetually in action. His notions on these matters appear to have been closely analogous to those of the modern pantheists of Germany and America.

Anaximander, a disciple of Thales, was also a Milesian; but the exact date of his birth is not known. He was the first among the Greeks who taught philosophy in a public school, and is therefore regarded by some as the founder of the Ionian sect, though that honor, in fact, belongs to Thales. The mathematical and astronomical sciences are indebted to Anaximander for some improvements. He wrote a compendium of geography, and delineated a map of the earth, in which he marked the divisions of land and water. The invention of the sun-dial is ascribed to him; but Herodotus, with greater probability, ascribes it to the Babylonians. It is related of Anaximander, that he predicted an earthquake, and advised the Lacedemonians to quit their city, that they might avoid the destruction which threatened them. He believed that the stars were globular collections of air and fire-carried round with the spheres in which they were placed — and that they were gods. He supposed the sun to occupy the highest place in the heavens, the moon the next, the planets and fixed stars the lowest, and that the earth was placed in the midst of the universe, as a common centre. His doctrines concerning the principles of things, and the origin of nature, are

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imperfectly related He gave the name of infinity to the first principle from which all things proceed, and into which they all ultimately resolve-the parts changing, but the whole remaining immutable. What he meant by infinity is by no means clear. He is said to have committed his doctrines to writing, but no remains of his works are extant.

Timotheus, the famous musician, was a native of Miletus. He was born 308 B. C. He wrote lyric and dithyrambic poetry, but applied himself particularly to music and playing on the cithara or harp. His first endeavors were not successful, and he was publicly hissed. This discouraged him to such a degree, that he was on the point of renouncing the study of music, when he was encouraged to persevere in his endeavors by the advice of Euripides, the tragic poet. By diligent application, he soon became the first musical performer of his day, and he improved the cithara by adding several strings to it. This innovation made a singular stir among the Greeks. The Lacedemonians condemned it by a public decree, which has been preserved in the original language to the present day. This document declares that Timotheus of Miletus, having come to the city of Sparta, had shown little

regard for the ancient music and lyre; that he had multiplied the sounds of the former and the strings of the latter; that he had discarded the ancient simple and uniform manner of singing, and had substituted for it one more complex, wherein he had introduced the chromatic kind; that in his poem on the subject of Semele, he had not observed a proper decorum; and that, to obviate the effect of such innovations, which could not fail to be hurtful to good manners, the kings and the ephori of Sparta had publicly reprimanded said Timotheus, and had decreed that his lyre should be reduced to seven strings, as of old, and that all those of a modern invention should be retrenched, &c. It is related that when the Spartan executioner was on the point of cutting away the strings conformably to this decree, Timotheus pointed to a statue of Apollo with a lyre containing as many strings as his, on which the judges were compelled to acquit him. He suffered much malignant criticism from other poets, which, however, did not prevent him from gaining a high reputation. The people of Ephesus are said to have rewarded him with a thousand pieces of gold for a poem on the dedication of the temple of Diana. He died at the court of Macedon, aged above ninety years.

CHAPTER CXLI.

980 B. C. to A. D. 600.

Ephesus- The Temple of Diana. EPHESUS, as we have already stated, was one of the most ancient of the Ionian cities. There is a legend connected with the history of the foundation of this city, in which it is related that Androclus, who led the Ionian settlers from Greece, first took possession of the Island of Samos. A debate then arose whether the adventurers should remain there or seek farther for an abiding place. An oracle was consulted, and gave for an answer that "a fish should show them, and a wild boar conduct them." On that response, they left Samos for the main land, and rambled up and down for some time. At length, one morning, when they were broiling some fish for their breakfast, one of the fish jumped out of the fire with a coal in

his mouth, and fell among some dry grass, which took fire. The flame communicated to an adjoining thicket, and spread to a considerable distance, till a wild boar, which was sleeping among the bushes, started up and ran away. The Greeks pursued him, and at length overtook and killed him with a javelin. On this spot Ephesus was founded. A coin of the city, now in the museum of Florence, is stamped with figures referring to this story.

According to other traditions, Ephesus was founded by the Amazons; but Strabo informs us that the first inhabitants were Carians and Leleges, who were driven out by the Ionian settlers under Androclus. At all events, Ephesus appears to have been governed by this prince and his descendants, who assumed the title of king, and exercised regal authority over the new colony; for which reason, even in Strabo's time, the posterity of Androclus were styled kings, and allowed to wear a scarlet robe. In process of time, a