A T H 



dred poun<l3 fterling. After the death of Marcus, tliefc 

 liberal donations, and tiie privileges attached to the thrones 

 of fcience, were abolirtied and revived, diminiflied and en- 

 larged: but fome vellige of royal bounty may bo found 

 vnder the fucceflors of Conftantine; and their arbitrary 

 choice of an unworthy candidate might tempt the phi- 

 lofophers of Athens to regret the days of independence and 

 povcity. It is remarkable, that the impartial favour of the 

 Anton'ines was bellowed on the four adverfe ie&s of phi' 

 lofophy, which they confidered as equally ufcful, or at leaft as 

 equally innocent. Socrates had formerly been the glory 

 and the reproach of his country; and the lirll letTons of 

 Epicurus fo ilrangely fcandalized the pious ears of the 

 Athenians, that by his exile, and that of his antagoiiills, 

 they filenccd all vain difputes concerning the nature of the 

 gods. But in the enfuing year they recalled the hafty de- 

 cree, reftored the liberty of the fchools, and were con- 

 vinced by the experience of ages, that the moral cLaraAer 

 of philofopliers is not affeded by the diverilty of their 

 theological fpeculations." 



But the fchools of Athens were fupprefled by an edift 

 of Jullinian ; an edicl, which excited the grief and indig- 

 nation of the few remaining votaries of Grecian fcience and 

 fuperllition. Seven friends and philofophers, Diogenes and 

 Hermias, Eulalius and Prifcian, Damafcius, Ifidore, and 

 Simplicius. who diflcnted from the religion of thtir love- 

 reign, refolved to feek in a foreign land the freedom of 

 which they were deprived in their native country. Ac- 

 cordingly the feven fages fought an afylum in Perlia, under 

 the proteftion of Chofroes; but difgulkd and difappointed, 

 they hallily returned, and declared that they had rather 

 die on the borders of the empire, than enjoy the wealth and 

 favour of the barbarian. Thefe alTociates ended their lives 

 in peace and obfcurity; and as they left no difciples, they 

 terminate the long lilt of Grecian philofophers, who may 

 be juftly praifed, notvvithftanding their defcCls, as the wifelt 

 and mod virtua\is of their contemporaries. 



From the time of Arcadius and Honorius, nothing memo- 

 rable concerning the Athenian ftatc has been recorded in 

 hiftory till the thirteenth century, when it was in the pof- 

 feffion of Baldwin, as Nicetas informs us, and unfuccefsfully 

 befieged by Theodorus Lafcaris, one of the generals of the 

 Greek emperor. In the 252 years, from A. D. 1204. to 

 A. D. 1456., that elapfed between the firft and laft conquell 

 of Conllantinople ; the pofleffion of Gveece \v?s difputed 

 by a multitude of petty tyrants. However, in the partition 

 of the empire, the principality of Athens and Thebes was 

 affigned to Otho de la Roche, a noble warrior of Bur- 

 gundy, with the title of great duke. Otho followed the 

 ftandard of Boniface, the marquis of Montferrat ; and the 

 ample ftatc which he acquired, was peaceably inherited by 

 his fon and two granjfons, till the family was changed 

 by the marriage of an heirefs into the elder branch of the 

 houfe of Brienne. The fon of that marriage, Walter de 

 Brienne, fucceeded to the duchy of Athens : but his family 

 and nation were expelled by the Catalans, who feized pof- 

 fefllon of Attica arid Boeotia. During fourteen years they 

 wei'e the terror of the Grecian Hates. Their faftions drove 

 them to acknowledge the fovereignty of the houfe of Arra- 

 gon ; and, during the remainder of the fourteenth century, 

 Athens, as a government or an appendage, was fucceffivdy 

 bellowed by the kings of Sicily. After the French and 

 Catalans, the third dynally was that of the Acciaioli, a 

 family, plebian at Florence, potent at Naples, and fovereign 

 in Greece. Athens, which they embeUilhed with new 

 feuilding'i, became the capital of a Hate, that extended over 

 TI»eLe&,Argos, Corinth, Delphi, and a part of Theflaly ; 



A T H 



and their reign was finally determined by Mahomet tin 

 fecond, about the year 1455., w-ho ftrangled the lail dukej 

 and educated his fons in the difcipline and religion of the 

 feraglio. This fatal catalhophe, which happened near 

 2000 years after the time of Pifiilratus, brought Athens, 

 together with the whole of Greece, under the defpotic 

 dominion of the Turks. In 1464, the Venetians landed at 

 the Pira:us, furprifed the city, and carried off their plunder 

 and captives to Euboea. In 1687, it was taken, after a (hort 

 fiege, by the Venetians ; and not many years after, rttaken 

 by the Turks, under whofe yoke it has ever fmce continued, 



"As to the prefentllateof Athens, thoughno morethanthe 

 fhadow of its former felf, it llill contains about 8 or 10,000 

 inhabitants : of thefe, three fourths are Gix-eks in religion 

 and language ; and the Turks, who compofe the remainder, 

 have relaxed, in their intercourfe with the citizens, fome- 

 what of the pride and gravity of their national character. 

 The olive-tree, the gift of Minerva, flourilhcs in Attica ; 

 nor has the honey of mount Hymettus loll any part of its 

 exquilite flavour : but the languid trade is monopolifed by 

 llrangers ; and the agriculture of a barren land is abandoned 

 to the vagrant Walachians. The Athenians -are Hill dillin- 

 guilhed by the fubtlcty and acutenefs of their underllandings : 

 but thefe quahties, uidefs ennobled by freedom and en- 

 lightened by lludy, will degenerate into a low and felfilh 

 cunning : and it is a proverbial faying of the country, 

 " From the Jews of Thellalonica, the Turks of Negropont, 

 and the Greeks of Athens, good Lord deliver us!" This 

 artful people has eluded the tyranny of the Turkifli bafhaws, 

 by an expedient which alleviates their fervitude and aggra- 

 vates their fiiame. Abo\it the middle of the lall century (the 

 17th), the Athenians chofe for their proteftor the KiflarAga, 

 or chief black eunuch of the ieraglio. This jEthiopian 

 flave, who pofTcfles the fnkan's ear, condefcends to accept 

 the tribute of 30,000 crowns : his lieutenant, the Way wodc, 

 whom he annually contirms, may rcferve for his ov.w about 

 five or fix thouland more ; and fuch is the policy of the 

 citizens, that they fcldom fail to remove and punilh an op- 

 preiFive governor. Their private differences are decided by ' 

 the archbilhop, one of the richell. prelates of the Greek 

 church, fiiice he poffeffes a revenue of 1000 1. fterling ; and 

 by a tribunal of the eight gercnti or elders, chofen in the eight 

 quarters of the city : the noble families cannot trace their 

 pedigree above 300 years ; but their principal members are 

 ditlinguilhed .by a grave demeanour, a fur-cap, and the lofty 

 appellation of archon. - By fome, who dehght in the con- 

 trail, the modern language of Athens is reprefentcd as-tha 

 moll corrupt and barbarous of the ieventy dialetts of the 

 vulgar Greek : this pifture is too daikly coloured ; but it 

 would not be eafy, in the country of Plato and Demofthenes, 

 to find a reader, or a copy of their works. The Atheniams 

 walk with fupine inditference among the glorious ruins of 

 antiqnitv ; and fuch is the debafement of their charadter, 

 that they are incapable of admiring the genius of their prc- 

 dcceflbrs." Gibbon's Hift. vol. xi. p. 355, &c. For ihe 

 modern account of Athens and the Athenians, fee Spon, 

 Voyage en Grece, t. ii. p. 79 — 199. ; Wheeler's Travels in- 

 to Greece, p. 337 — 414.; Stuart and Rivett's Antiquities 

 of Athens, vols. i. ii. and iii. paffim ; and Chandler's Travels 

 into Greece, p. 23 — 172. It is now called Athini, and 

 Setines ; which fee. 



ATHENIANS, CharaP.er and Manners of the. Thefe " 

 people were highly fufceptible of livclv and tranfient fenfa- 

 tions, and, accordingly, they ftand dillinguiihied beyond all 

 other nations for uniting the moll dilcordant qualities, and 

 fuch as were often perverted and made occafions of miflead- 

 ing them. Hiitory reprtfents them to us (fee the authori- 



3 li'S 



