Chap. 57.] THE INVEKTORS OF YABI0U3 THINGS. 
227 
plough to Buzyges, the Athenian,^^ or, according to other ac- 
counts, to Triptolemus.^^ 
The Egyptians were the first who established 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 phalangre. 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 mail, 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 ^tolians ; the javelin, with the 
" Buzyges " is a Greek term, signifying one who yokes oxen ;" ac- 
cording to Hardouin, the real name of the person here referred to was 
Epimenides. — B. 
91 For an account of Triptolemus, the reader may consult Hyginus, and 
Pausanias, B. vii. Achaica. — B. Also the Fasti of Ovid, B. iv. 1. 507, et seq. 
92 Phalaris is supposed to have been contemporary with Servius TuIMus, 
who reigned from 577 to 533 b.c. — B. 
93 Meaning a citizen who obtained the sovereignty by violence and usur- 
pation. 
9i 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 yeai's 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. 
96 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. 
9"^ According to Hardouin, the Lacedaemonians had the helmet, the 
sword, and the spear, of a peculiar form, different 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. 
Q 2 
