264 Epidemics. 



Greece rose to the zenith of her military greatness as a 

 compact state, and, at the same time, was the mistress of 

 art, science, and philosophy, from 490 to 360 B.C. During 

 this period lived Miltiades, Themistocles, the indomitable 

 Leonidas, Aristides, Pausanias, Pericles, Socrates, Alcibiades, 

 Phidias, Plato, Praxiteles, and Epaminondas, with a host of 

 other great and wise men, whose like the world has never 

 seen since for originality of thought and perfection of com- 

 position, or consummation of symmetrical and ideal beauty. 



As a great and aggressive power, her training under the 

 aggressive policy of the Medo-Persian dynasty placed her 

 suddenly on the pinnacle of fame from 336 to 323 B.C., 

 under the command of Alexander the Great, and introduced 

 her to an empire which, under the extent of its territory and 

 weight of administration, divided itself into four considerable 

 kingdoms ; but that which was of the shortest duration after 

 the division of Alexander's empire was the parent of the 

 rest namely, the kingdom of Macedon, as before mentioned, 

 which ended in 168 B.C. ; and the glory of Greece, the centre 

 of learning and nationality, the city of Athens, surrendered 

 to Rome 86 B.C. So Greece became a Roman province. 



Rome, on the contrary, gradually rose from her Samnite 

 victories to her death struggle with Carthage from 264 to 146 

 B.C., when, after three dreadful wars, with Hannibal, the 

 greatest of all generals, at the gates of Rome in the second 

 Punic war, she was obliged to submit to the degradation 

 of a Roman province ; whilst Marius, Sylla, Pompey, and 

 Caesar to the north, the east, and the south of Rome added 

 kingdom to kingdom, declaring thereby to surrounding 

 people the greatness and majesty of Rome. 



Nor can it be said that the name of Rome ceased to be a 

 terror, and the seat of appeal, to the nations of the known 

 world till the time of Diocletian, who by associating 

 Maximianus in the rule of the empire divided council in 



