Chap. 57.] THE IirVEIfTORS 01' TABIOUS THIIf9S. 227 



plough to Buzyges, the Athenian," or, according to other ac- 

 counts, to Triptolemus." 



The Egyptians were the first who estahlished 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 maU, 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 JStolians ; the javelin, with the 



'" "Buzyges" is a Greek term, signiiying " one who yokes oxen ;" ac- 

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

 Epimenides. — B. 



'' For an account of Triptolemus, the reader may consult Hygiuus, and 

 Paussnias, B. Tii. Achaica. — B. Also the Fasti of Ovid, B. iv. I. 507, eiseq. 



^ Pbalaris is supposed to have been contemporary with Servius TulKus, 

 who reigned from 577 to 533 B.C. — B. 



93 Meaning a citizen who obtained the sovereignty by violence and usui-- 

 pation. 



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

 the Lacedaemonians 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 iElian, Var. Hist. B. iii. c. 38.— B. 



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

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

 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. 



" According to Hardouin, th&^ Lacedsemonians had the helmet, the 

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

 other natives of Greece. — B. 



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

 been derived from the high character which the Scythians and Persians 

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



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