Chap. 57.] THE IirVENT0R3 OF YAEIOUS THINGS. 22/ 



plough to Buzyges, the Athenian,^*^ or, according to other ac- 

 counts, to Triptolemus.^^ 



The Egyptians were the first who established a monarchical 

 government, and the Athenians, after the time of Theseus, 

 a democracy. Phalaris,^^ of Agrigentum, was the first tyrant^^ 

 that existed; the Lacedaemonians were the introducers of 

 slavery ;^* and the first capital punishment inflicted was or- 

 dered by the Areiopagus.^^ The first battles were fought by 

 the Africans against the Egyptians, with clubs, which they 

 are in the habit of calling phalangse. Proetus and Acrisius'* 

 were the first to use shields, in their contests with each other ; 

 or, as some say, Chalcus, the son of Athamas. Midias, the 

 Messenian, invented the coat of mail, and the Lacedaemonians 

 the helmet, the sword, and the spear.^''^ Greaves and crests 

 were first used by the Carians ; Scythes, the son of Jupiter, 

 it is said, invented the bow and arrows, though some say 

 that arrows were invented by Perses, the son of Perseus. ^^ 

 Lances were invented by the ^tolians ; the javelin, with the 



so " Buzyges " is a Greek term, signifying " one who yokes oxen ;" ac- 

 cording to Hardouin, the real name of the person here referred to was 

 Epimenides. — B. 



3^ For an account of Triptolemus, the reader may consult Hyginus, and 

 Pausanias, B. vii. Achaica. — B. Also the Fasti of OVid, B. iv. 1. 507, et seq. 



52 Phalaris is supposed to have been contemporary with Servius TulHus, 

 who reigned from 577 to 533 b.c. — B. 



53 Meaning a citizen who obtained the sovereignty by violence and usur- 

 pation. 



s* This is supposed to have taken place 1000 years before Christ, when 

 the Lacedsemoniaus conquered the Helots. But Moses had given the 

 Jews a code of laws, respecting the treatment of slaves, between 400 and 

 500 years before that event, and we have various intimations of the ex- 

 istence of slavery, in his writings, long before his time. It appears, in- 

 deed, that in the different countries of the East, and in Africa, slavery has 

 existed from time immemorial. — B. 



95 This is confirmed by ^lian, Yar. Hist. B. iii. c. 38.— B. 



^ According to the same fabulous account of the early Grecian history, 

 they were twin brothers, kings of the Argives ; after much contentioii, 

 Acrisius succeeded in expelling Proetus from Argos ; they are said to have 

 lived 1400 years B.C. Athamas was a king of Thebes, and the contempo- 

 rary of Acrisius. — B. 



97 According to Hardouin, the Lacedaemonians had the helmet, Wie 

 sword, and the spear, of a peculiar form, different from that used by the 

 other natives of Greece. — B. 



S8 This account of the invention of the bow and arrow seems to have 

 been derived from the high character which the Scythians and Persiaus 

 had acquired for theii- dexterity in the use of those weapons. — B. 



Q 2 



