42 



ATHENS 



.'.thens. 



Athens a 

 chool of 



Seaming, 



Under 

 Adrian and 

 the Anlo- 



nines. 



Schools of 

 Athens. 



ten millions of drachmas, (fiOO.OOOi.) Augustus pu- 

 nished this attachment to his rival, by depriving 

 Athens of her few remaining privileges, and of the 

 island of jEgina, which she had received from An- 

 tony. 



But while Athens thus saw every trace of her po- 

 litical existence vanish, she rose to an empire, scarcely 

 less flattering, to which Rome itself was obliged to 

 bow. Her conquerors looked to her as to the teacher 

 and arbiter of philosophy and science. All the most 

 distinguished Roman youth were ambitious of literary 

 accomplishments ; and all flocked to Athens, in order 

 to acquire them. Several even preferred its tranquil 

 and elegant pleasures to the tumult of the capital ; 

 and among these was Atticus, the celebrated friend of 

 Cicero, who received that surname, from having fixed 

 his residence at Athens. 



The tyranny of the twelve Caesars, being exercised 

 chiefly against the nobles and senators of Rome, did 

 not fall very heavy on this, or the other cities of 

 Greece. Germanicus, under Tiberius's reign, be- 

 stowed on it the valued privilege of having a lictor 

 to precede the magistrates. Even Nero conferred a 

 nominal liberty upon it, along with the rest of Greece ; 

 and it is remarkable, that this gift was revoked by 

 Vespasian. But it was in the golden age of the Ro- 

 man empire, that Athens was destined to resume, in 

 regard to outward appearance at least, her former 

 splendour. Adrian, that singular character, ambi- 

 tious to perpetuate his name by monuments of art, 

 chose Athens as his favourite residence, and lavished 

 treasures in adorning it. He built several temples, 

 and, above all, he finished that of Jupiter Olympius, 

 the work of successive kings, and one of the greatest 

 productions of human art. He founded a splendid li- 

 brary. He bestowed also many municipal and other 

 privileges. The Athenians repaid his benefits with 

 their accustomed profusion of gratitude. An in- 

 scription, placed on one of the gates, declared Athens 

 to be no longer the city of Theseus, but of Adrian. 



The Antonines trod in the footsteps of Adrian. 

 Under them, Herodes Atticus devoted an immense 

 fortune to the embellisHment of the city, and the pro- 

 motion of learning. He was at the head of a species 

 of university, founded by Adrian, and the professors 

 of which were increased by Marcus Aurelius to thir- 

 teen. There were two for each of the four sects of 

 philosophy, two rhetoricians, two civilians, and a 

 president. Handsome salaries were attached to these 

 appointments. 



Amid the accumulated calamities of the Roman 

 empire, the taste for learning and the arts suffered a 

 gradual decline. Yet to those, who still cherished 

 it, Athens continued to be the centre of resort. Be- 

 ing shut out, however, from all concerns of business, 

 r of public life, her teachers lost entirely that sound 

 and manly character, which they once possessed, and 

 stink into mere pedants and sophists. A sort of 

 mystic fraternity seems to have been formed, admis- 

 sion into which was gained by a variety of childish 

 ceremonies ; while the initiated were distinguished by 

 a peculiar dress, in which no one else was allowed to 

 appear. Clokes and staves, a long beard, and a book 

 in the left hand, were everywhere to be seen ; and all 

 the walks were full of parties engaged in argument. 

 1 



Athens was also distinguished as the last retreat of Athens, 

 paganism. Philosophy, which had formerly been " v ' 

 rather hostile to superstition, proved now its only 

 support. Her pride had never brooked the humility 

 and the absence of worldly wisdom, which charac- 

 terised that divine dispensation. Instead of acknow- 

 ledging the purity of its doctrines and precepts, she 

 employed a preposterous ingenuity in drawing a veil 

 over the deformities of the pagan mythology. It 

 was at Athens that Julian was supposed to have im- 

 bibed that enmity against Christianity which distin- 

 guished his reign. As, however, the ancient religion 

 more and more declined, the credit of Athens de- 

 clined along with it. Under the succeeding emperors, 

 she experienced the most mortifying neglect, and at 

 length her schools were entirely shut by Justinian. 



It was not, however, merely in the decline of leant- Athens ra- 

 ing, and of the ancient religion, that Athens felt the vaged by 

 calamities of the Roman world. Already, in the the barba- 

 first invasion of the Goths, in the middle of the third r,an! > 

 century, Athens was selected as a victim. The fleet 

 of those barbarians anchored in the Pirseus. At- 

 tempts had been made to repair the walls, which had 

 been allowed to fall into decay. They were unable, 

 however, to resist the impetuous attack of the Goths. 

 Athens was taken, and plundered. Dexippus, mean- 

 while, a brave officer, having hastily collected a body 

 of troops, unexpectedly attacked, and drove them 

 out of the city with considerable loss. It is reported 

 that, during this visit, the Goths, having collected 

 all the libraries of Athens, were preparing to burn 

 them ; but one of their number diverted them from 

 the design, by suggesting the propriety of leaving to 

 their enemies what appeared to be the most effectual 

 instrument for cherishing and promoting their unwar- 

 like spirit. Serious doubts, however, are entertained 

 as to the truth of this anecdote. 



Greece now enjoyed a long respite from foreign 

 war, till the weak reign of Arcadius and Honorius, 

 when a still more dreadful tempest burst upon her. 

 Alaric, that ferocious and terrible chief, after over- 

 running the rest of Greece, advanced into Attica, 

 and found Athens defenceless. The whole country 

 was converted into a desert ; but it seems uncertain 

 whether he plundered the city, or whether he accept- 

 ed the greater part of its wealth as a ransom. Cer- 

 tain it is, that it suffered severely ; and Synesius, a co- 

 temporary, compares it to the mere skin of a slaugh- 

 tered victim. 



After the devastations of Alaric, and still more, 

 after the shutting of her schools, Athens ceased al- 

 most entirely to attract the attention of mankind. 

 The pursuits of industry, however, seem to have 

 been carried on with some activity : Besides the honey 

 of Mount Hymettus, there seems to have been a 

 pretty considerable manufacture of silk ; since, in 

 1130, a colony was transported from Athens to Si- 

 cily, with the view of introducing that branch of in- 

 dustry into the latter country. 



After the taking of Constantinople by the Latins, and occu- 

 in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the west- pied by the 

 ern powers began to view Greece as an object of am- Latln5 - 

 bition. In the division of the Greek empire which 

 they made among themselves, Macedonia and Greece 

 fell to the share of Boniface, marquis of Montserrat ; 



