236 



Rdrospefnve View of Ilijlorical Writers. [Oct. ! , 



__ »i.- i_/i »«• t. _r i-ri- r .1.. n • ~ n..l_ i. 



grateful nation as tlie grandeft effort of 

 all humun power. 



In remote ages thefe triumphs were 

 commemorated by maguificeut pillars and 

 public infcriptious : fcal'ts and frames \vere 

 appointed, and facrcd odes folemnized the 

 mcetjng. When the art of writing en- 

 lightened the age, authentic records were 

 curollcd in the archives of the fenate, 

 and prefcrved in private memorials. In 

 iliort, many citizens, either zealous to 

 immortalize their country, or ftimulated 

 ■with a laudable ardor to inftruct potle- 

 rity, began to compofe, in the earlicft 

 ages, military hiftories of contemporary 

 and pad events. 



Among the -writers of antiquity. Ho- 

 sier claims a foremoft rank, not only as 

 > the prince of poets, but as a chafte dcJi- 

 ijeator of the manners and cullonis of 

 the Greciipis, tiieir geographical polition, 

 and their art of war. 



Notwithflandiiig, however, Heuodotus 

 has been /lyled tlie father of hiltory. 

 To him we arc indebted for even the 

 flight knowledge we have of llie origin of 

 empire ; and from him we have learnt 

 the full reprefentation of events, fcareely 

 touched upon by his predeeclTr)r». His 

 flefcriptions of the battles he reprefents 

 are remarkable for their accuracy ; and, 

 although he was formerly reproached 

 vith a want of fidelity in his details, mo- 

 dern travellers have done amplejulticu to 

 his veracity. 



TiiucYDiDES is remarkable for his Ac- 

 count of the famous Pcloponnefiau AVar, 

 xvhicli lafted twcnty-feven years. In 

 many of his details he was cither a parta- 

 ker of the danger, or witiiefs of tiie 

 event ; and the induftry with which he 

 coUefled materials for the remainder, 

 removes all doubt of their authenticity. 

 He vifited the field of battle ; confulted 

 with the otlicers, and interrogated the 

 men ; fo that no iufoiination was want- 

 ing to ftamp correctnefs on his labours. 

 The harangue employed by Pericles to 

 excite the Athenians to war againll the 

 Lacedemonians, contains perhaps the 

 inoft eloquent, as well as political, rea- 

 foning ever delivered on that important 

 fubje6t. It embraces every urgency of 

 the ftate ; it combats every oppofing 

 argument ; and, finally, foretels, witii 

 mailerly judgment, the good and ill fuc- 

 cefles attendant on his plan. This work 

 is certainly a mafterpiece of military ta- 

 lent, unlolding the internal policy of the 

 Greeks, amid the operations of a long 

 and ftubbom couteft. 



Xe^oi-ho.v, fiirnamcd the xUtk Bee, on 



account of his fwcctly-fiowing ftyle, pub- 

 lilhed the Ililiory of Thucydides with an 

 additional feven volumes. He is alfo the 

 author of the Cyiopadia, compofcd with 

 all the fpirit and elegance that marks the 

 genius of Telemachus. It is a work fo 

 lugeniouily contrived, that the autlmr 

 difplays the united abilities of a good 

 writer and an able general, by clothing 

 indruction with the fplcndid garb of fic- 

 tion, and calling into action all the gene- 

 ral principles of a well-regulated war, 

 through the entertaining medium of an 

 embelhflied romance. The battle of 

 Thynabrara, which is given in detail, c\- 

 ])lains all the militaiy manneuvres prac- 

 tifed in thofe days, and proves to us, that 

 the neccllity of an army of referve was 

 well known to the ancients. Every mi- 

 litaiy man IliouM liudy Xenophon, par- 

 ticularly in his famous Retreat of the 

 Ten 'I'lioufaufl, v.heii he will find it ditfi- 

 ciilt to decide whether the glory of the 

 retreat, or the merit of the narrator, is 

 moil deferving his unqualided admira- 

 tion. I'rom intent ai)plication to this 

 memorable hiliory, Lucullus became a 

 great and felf-tauglit warrior. It is eha- 

 ra^'teriftic to fay, — the |)ciipicuity and 

 elegance of Herodotus., — the gravity and 

 precifion of Thucydides, — the chaltencfs 

 and grace of Xenojihon. The firll attri- 

 butes every thin-.: to fate, — the fr(-oiid Iri 

 talent and dilcrction, — the third to a 

 perfctt reliance on the Almighty. 



PoLYiJii s was by birth a Grecian, iu 

 which language he has written a lliltoiy, 

 which mull cannnaud the applaufe of all 

 who ftudy the fcience of war, and take 

 pleafure iu comparing the modern with 

 the ancient fyftem. Polybius had pene- 

 trated the merits of the Roman legions 

 in the field antl on the [larade ; aiul de- 

 fcants upon the peculiar tactics of tliat 

 warlike peojile, a^ veil as on the fcience 

 generally, with the enlightened infonna- 

 tiou that might be exiiecled to grace tlie 

 works of the <iifciplo of a Phihipo'ineu, 

 or the tutor of a .'^cipio. He clearly 

 and fcieutitically dclcribes the cam- 

 paigns of Hannibal and Scipio : deline- 

 ates witii fidelity the ultimate and deci- 

 llve I'ucL'cfs attending the bolduefs of 

 their enterprizes, the fingularity of their 

 operations, and the alniofl iucouceivable 

 extent and tilfue of their plans. He 

 paiticulari/es iullances of their judg- 

 ment, (kill, and prefence of mind ; 

 their promptitude in dift^overing acciden- 

 tal advantages ; their addrefs in profit- 

 ing by them ; and the elei''(rical effeeis 

 otvvcll-rcgulutcd dilcijjliue, by which, ia 



the 



