ATT 



ATT 



prince reio-ned fifty years. Tor an abftraft of the Kiftory of The liberality of Ilerodes was, bo;,vever, fometlmes im- 

 K . " 1 .. .:.,.. i.,..„ ..„l...;nrr tr, it_ fp,' Athk. rKifi'd iiooii aiid abulcd. Auliis Oellius, \v lo was iimlelt a 



this country, and other particulars relating to it, fee Athu 

 NiANS, and Athens. 



The chief city of Attica, next to Athens, was H-leu- 

 Sis. Rhamnus was famons for the temple of Amphiaraus 

 and the llatue of Ntmdls. The principa 



ver was Aso- 

 pus • asto the Ilidus, Eridanus, and Cephiffu?, they 

 rather brooks than rivtrs; but Attica, having a number of 

 havens, was lefs in want of rivers. The nches of this king- 

 dom, according to Thucvdides(l. ii.), ocationed by its tru- 

 calitv and commerce, are faid to have amounted to 1200 

 Attic talents a year ; hence it was enabled to maintain a 

 powerful arm- and navy, and thus to extend its pofTcffions. 

 The coin of Attica was commonly llamped with the iigure 

 of an ox, and this circumllance gave occafion to the phrafe 

 frequent among the Greeks, of a thing being worth 10 or 

 100 oxen; and hence alfo arofe the common proverb 

 « bovem habet in lingua," when a man was thought 

 bribed to fpeak contrary to his own fentiments. But the 

 wealth, ftrength, 

 pally difplayed in 



pofed upon and abufed. Aulns Gellius, who was himfelf a 

 difciple of Herodcs, mentions, one inllance to this purpofe. 

 A man with a cloak, long hair, and a beard down to his 

 waid, prefented himfelf to tlie orator, and fupplicated alms. 

 Ijcing interrogated who lie was, the pretended philof.;phcr 

 were indignantly replied, that he was a philofopher, and exprcffed 

 furprife at tlie queftion. " I fee," rephed Hirodes, " the 

 cloak and the beard, but I do not fee the philofopher." 

 One of the company interpofcd, and obfcrvi-d, that this por- 

 fon was an impudent beggar, who fpeiit his time in thd 

 tavern, and infulted thofe who refufed to relieve him. " Well 

 then," faid Hcrodes, " let us give as men, though not as 

 to a man ;" tauquam homines non tanquam honiini. 



The fame of Herodes having exteiidtd through Greece, 

 and even to Rome, he was appointed by the emperor Titus 

 Antoninus the preceptor of eloquence to his two fons Mar- 

 cus Aurelius and Lucius Verus ; and being there introduced 



into the way of promotion, he was created conful in the 

 and poViuloufnefs of Attica, were prinei- year 143. About this time he was appointed prefeft of the 

 the number of tribes, amounting to thir- free cities of Aha, and preiident at the Panliel'i-nia and 



tee^, into which it was divided, and the great number of 

 cities and towns belonging to eacli tribe. 



ATTICIJS, Herodks TniFRius Claudius, m B:9- 

 sraph, was defcended of a noble family, which traced their 

 pcdi<^Vee as high as Cimon and Miltiades, and born at Ma- 

 rathon in the territory of Athens. His father, Juluis 

 Atticus, was reduced to a low condition by the prolcrip- 

 tion of his father ; but by the accidental difcovery of a trea- 

 fure in his houfe, he was unexpeaedly raifed to the poffcffion 

 of affluence, Dreading the event of this difcovery, he commu- 

 :iicated it to the emperor Nerva, who empowered him to 

 ufe it at his pleafurc -, and on a fecond reprefentaf.on, that 

 k was too large for a private perfon, the emperor renewed 

 his licence, adding that if it was too large for ufe, he 

 might abufe it, if he pleafed, for it was his own. Attiens 

 having increafed his wealth by marriage, lived at Athens 

 with very fingular magniilcence, giving to the people fre- 

 quent largedes, and offering to the gods very fplendid fa- 

 crifices. Whilll he had the command of the free cities in 

 Afia, in the lime of Adrian, he perceived that the city 

 of Troas wanted water, and he obtained of this emperor 

 a grant of three milHons of drachmas, in order to defray 

 the expcnce of procuring the neceffary fnpply ; but the 

 charge of executing his project for this purpofe amounted 

 to feven millions of drachmas in Head of three, and the ad- 

 ditional expence he defrayed out of his own fortune. The 

 great wealth of Atticus enabled him to make very liberal 

 provifion for the education of his fon, Herodes ; and ac- 

 cordingly he employed Scopelian, one of the moil eminent 

 orators of the age, as his inftruftor, and rewarded him libe- 

 rally for his fervices. Herodes poffcffed diftinguiihed ta- 

 lents, which he cultivated with diligence ; and his attention 

 was principally diretled to the lludy of rhetoric. In this 

 fcience, as it was then pradifed, he made great proficiency ; 

 and fuch was the ardour of his purfuit, and his ambition e^f 

 gaining applaufe, that when he was deputed at an eaily age 

 to addrefs a fpeech to the emperor Adrian, who wai then 

 in Fannonia, the young oiator is faid to have failed in the 

 attempt, and to have been almoll urged by fliame and de- 

 fpair to throw himfelf into the Danube. This misfortune, 

 however, ferved only as an incitement to future diligence. 

 Havin"- finifhed his' attendance in the fchools of rhetoric, 

 Herodes returned to his own country, and delivered public lec- 

 tures, which were popular and nnieh frequented by the fo- 

 phifts, philofophers, and rhetoricians of the age, who were 

 munificently rewarded for their attendance and applaufe. 



Fanathenian games, at which he was crowned. On this oc 

 cafion lieereded the ttadium, 600 feet in length, and formed 

 of white marble, a moll fumptuous work, of which foine 

 remains arc ilill vifible. He alfo conllrutted a magnificent 

 theatre at Athens, called Regillum, in honour of liis wife 

 Regilla ; he alfo repaired and beautified the odtuni of Pe- 

 ricles; and decorated many other places in Greece and 

 Aha with uleful and ornamental works. He likewife con- 

 fecrated rich offerings in the temples at Athens, Dtlphos, 

 Olympia, Pila, and in other places. To this liberal and 

 even protnfe expenditure of his wealth it is owing, that his 

 name has not iuiik into oblivion ; as the pioductions of his 

 eloquence, fome of which exilled in the time of Fliiloftra- 

 tns and Snidas, have been all loll. Notwithftanding thefe 

 dilplays of his public fpirit, and the beneiits he bellowed on 

 his country, his influence excited jealoufy ; and two bro- 

 thers, named Q^ilntilii, wlio commanded in Greece, feized 

 occafion for traiilmitting complaints agaiiifl liini to the em- 

 peror Aurelius. Herodes prefented liimiclf before the em- 

 peror, but iuilead of employing his eloquence for the pur- 

 pofe of conciliation, he rudely reproached him with a prc- 

 dctenninalion to ruin him. An officer, who flood bv, ex- 

 claimed, that this infolence merited death. " A man of 

 my age," faid Herodes, " does not fear death." The mild 

 emperor contented himfelf with punifhing the freedmen of 

 Herodes ; who himfelf retired to Attica ; and attempting 

 by a letter to Aurelius to regain his kindnefs, the emperor 

 returned a friendly aiifu'er. Herodes was again mortified bv 

 a charge of having been acceffary to the death of his wife, 

 preferred againft liini before the fenate by his brother, who 

 had been conful ; but he was acquitted. In token of his 

 forrow for her lofs, he erefted to her memory a flatue, bear- 

 ing an infcription, flill fubfifling. The clofe of his life was 

 fpent at Marathon, where he died at tlie age of 76 ; and 

 his countrymen honoured him with a public funeral at 

 Atliens. Crevicr's iTliil. Emp. vol. vii. p. 250, &c. Mem. 

 de I'Acad. des Infcript. vol. xxx. Gen. liiog. 



Atticus, Tiliis Pomponius, a Roman knight, lived in 

 the latter period of the Roman republic, and acquired great 

 celebrity from the fplendor of his private character. He 

 inherited from his lather, and from his uncle (^. Ca-rilins, 

 who adopted him, great wealth ; and availed himftlf of 

 his liberal education to fnch a degree, that ht was exhibited 

 as a pattern to his fcliool-fcllows, among whom were 

 the younger Marcus and Cicero. When lie attained matu- 

 rity, the republic was difhirbtd by the factions of Cinna 



and 



