TRANSFER OF THE CHAP. nr. 



were unacquainted with agriculture, and ignorant 

 of laws to secure the possession of property. 

 Their associations were too slight to afford pro- 

 tection to the weak against the strong ; and 

 those only were safe from invasion who inhabited 

 the most rocky and Barren spots of ground, such 

 as Attica, where the inhabitants, from having 

 remained undisturbed for a long time, took the 

 name Autothones, or indigenous people. The 

 ancient governments of Greece were most rude 

 and barbarous ; every city and almost every 

 small town and village being a petty tyranny, 

 governed by a chief, to whom the title of king 

 was given. If some improvements had been 

 made in the several countries or kingdoms into 

 which Greece became progressively divided, be- 

 tween the time of Pelasgus or of Abraham, and 

 that of the epoch of the Olympiads, or of Uzziah, 

 king of Judah, the progress was not such as to 

 create any doubts of the great superiority of the 

 Hebrew people over the Greeks, in civilization, 

 in government, in the arts of life, as well as in 

 religious feelings and opinions. That some of 

 the Greek nations, and especially the Athenians, 

 at a period subsequent to the reign of Solomon, 

 advanced at a rapid pace, whilst the Hebrews 

 remained stationary or retrograded, can be no 

 objection to the general veracity of the view, 

 now under consideration, of the quantity of the 

 precious metals accumulated at the given period 



