ATTICA. 
S3 $ 
di(mantled by Sytla, and afterwards neglected.' Under the 
next emperor, who was the archon Gallienns, Athens was 
belieged, the archontic office ceafed ; and the (trategus or 
general, who had before acted as overfeer of the agora or 
market, then became the chief magiftrate. Under Clau¬ 
dius, his fucceffor, the city was taken, but foon recovered. 
“ it is related, that Conitantine, when emperor, gloried 
in the title of general of Athens ; and rejoiced exceedingly 
on obtaining from the people the honour of a (tatue with 
an infcription, which he acknowledged by a yearly gratuity 
of many buffiels of grain. He conferred on the governor 
of Attica and Athens the title of grand duke, piyciq ^ovf. 
That office was at firft annual, but afterwards hereditary. 
His fon Conftans bellowed feveral iflands on the city, to 
l'upply it with corn. In the time of Theodofius I. 3B0 
years after Chrift, the Goths laid wade Theflaly and 
Epirus; but Theodore, general of the Achaeans, by his 
prudent conduct, preferved the cities of Greece from pil¬ 
lage, and the inhabitants from being led into captivity. 
A (tatue of marble was erected to him at Athens by order 
of the city ; and afterwards one of brafs, by command of 
the emperor, as appears from an infcription in a church 
dedicated to a faint of the fame name, not tar from the 
French convent. It is on a round pedeftal, which fupports 
a. flat (tone ferving for the holy table. Eudocia, the wife 
of Theodofius II. was an Athenian. 
“ The fatal period now approached, and Athens was 
about to experience a conqueror more favage even than 
Sylla. This was Alaric king of the Goths ; who, under 
the emperors Arcadins and Honorius, Over-ran Greece 
and Italy, lacking, pillaging, and deftroying. Then the 
Peloponnefian towns were overturned, Arcadia and Lace- 
demon were laid watte, the two feas by the Hthmus were 
burnilhed with the flames of Corinth, and the Athenian 
matrons were dragged in chains by barbarians. The in¬ 
valuable treafures of antiquity were removed; the (lately 
and magnificent ftruftures converted into piles of ruin ; 
and Athens was (tripped of every thing fulendid or re¬ 
markable. After this event, Athens became an unim¬ 
portant place, and as obfcure as it had once been famous. 
We read that the cities of Hellas were put into a date of 
defence by Judinian, who repaired the walls, which at 
Corinth had been fubverted by an earthquake, and at 
Athens and in Boeotia were impaired by age; and here we 
take a long farewel of this city. A chafm of near 700 
years enfues in itshidory; except that, about the year 
1130, it furnidied Roger the fird king of Sicily with a 
number of artificers, whom he fettled at Palermo, where 
they introduced the culture of filk, which then paffied in¬ 
to Italy. The worms had been brought from India to 
Condantinople in the reign of Judinian. 
“ Athens, as it were, re-emerges from oblivion in the 
13th century, under Baldw in, but belieged by a general 
of Theodoras Lafcaris, the Greek emperor. It was taken 
in 1427 by fultan Morat. Boniface, marquis of Mont- 
ferrat, poffeffed it with a garrifon ; after whom in was go¬ 
verned by Delves, of the houfe of Arragon. On his death 
it was feized, with Macedonia, Theffaly, Boeotia, Phocis, 
and the Peloponnefus, by Bajazet; and then, with the 
idand Zante, by the Spaniards of Catalonia, in the reign 
of the Greek emperor Andronicus Palasologus the elder. 
Thefe were difpoffeffed by Reineritis Acciaioli, a Floren¬ 
tine; who, leaving no legitimate male iffiue, bequeathed it 
to the date of Venice. His natural fon, Antony, to whom 
he had given Thebes with Bceotia, expelled the Venetians. 
He was fucceeded in the dukedom by his kinfman Nerius, 
who was difplaced by his own brother, named Antony, but 
recovered the government when he died. Nerius, leaving 
only an infant (bn, was fucceeded by his wife. She was 
ejebled by Mahomet, on a complaint from Francus, fon 
of the fecond Antony, who confined her at Megara, and 
made away with her; but, her fon acculing him to Maho¬ 
met II. the Turkilh army under Omar advanced, and he 
furrendered the citadel in 1455 ; the Latins refilling to 
fuccour him, unlefs the Athenians would embrace their 
religious tenets. Mahomet, it is related, when he had. 
finiffied the war with the defpot of the Morea, four years 
after, furveyed the city and Acropolis with admiration. 
The janifiaries informed him of a confpiracy ; and Francus 
Acciaioli, who remained lord of. Boeotia, was put to death. 
In 1464 the Venetians landed at the Piraeus, furprifed the 
city, and carried off their plunder and captives to Eubcea. 
“ ft is remarkable, that after thefe events Athens was 
again in a manner forgotten. So lately as about the mid¬ 
dle of the 16th century, the city was commonly believed 
to have been utterly deftroyed, and not to exift, except a 
few huts of poor filhermen. Crufius, a learned and inqui- 
fitive German, procured more authentic information from 
his Greek correfpondents refiding in Turkey, which he 
publifhed in 1584, to awaken curiofity and to promote 
farther enquiries. One of thefe letters is from a native of 
Nauplia, a town near Argos, in the Morea. This writer 
fays, that he had been often at Athens, and that it (fill 
contained many things worthy to be feen, fome of which 
he enumerates, and then fubjoins : “ But why do I dwell 
on this place? It is as the (kin of an animal which has 
been long dead.” For collateral parts of the hidory of this 
famous republic, fee the articles Greece, Macedon, 
Persia, Sparta, Thebes, Rome, &c. 
It now remains to give fome idea of the character, go¬ 
vernment, and religion, of this once famous people. The 
Athenians, fays Plutarch, are very fubjedt to violent an¬ 
ger ; but they are foon pacified. They are likewife ealily 
impreffed with humanity and compaffion. That this was 
their temper, is proved by many hiftorical examples. We 
(hall produce a few. The fentence of death pronounced 
againft the inhabitants of Mitylene, and revoked the next 
day : the condemnation of Socrates, and that of the ten 
chiefs, each followed by quick repentance and the mod 
poignant grief. The minds of the lame people, adds Plu¬ 
tarch, are not formed for laborious refearches. They 
feize a fubjeCt, as it were, by intuition ; they have not- 
patience and phlegm enough to examine it gradually and 
minutely. This part of their character may feem furpri- 
fing and incredible. Artifans, and other people of their 
rank, are in general (low of comprehenfion. But the A- 
thenians of every degree were endowed with an inconceiv¬ 
able vivacity, penetration, and delicacy of tafte. Even the 
Athenian foldiers could repeat the fine paffages of the tra¬ 
gedies of Euripides. Thole artifans and thofe foldiers 
affifted at public debates, were bred to political affairs, 
and were equally acute in apprehenlion and in judgment. 
We may infer the underftanding of the hearers of De- 
mofthenes from the genius of his orations, which were la¬ 
conic and poignant. 
As their inclination, continues Plutarch, leads them to 
affid and fupport people of low condition, they like dif- 
courfe feafoned with pleafantry, and productive of mirth. 
The Athenians patronize people of low degree ; becaufe 
from them their liberty is in no danger, and becaufe 
fuch patronage tends to fupport a democratical conftitu- 
tion. They love pleafantry; which turn of mind proves, 
that they are a humane focial people, who have a tafte for 
raillery and wit, and are not foured with that referve 
which marks the defpot or the (lave. They take pleafure 
in hearing themfelves praifed, but they can likewife pa¬ 
tiently bear raillery and cenfure. We know with what art 
and fuccefs Ariflophanes and Demofthenes applied their 
praife and their irony to the Athenian people. When the 
republic enjoyed peace, it encouraged the adulation of its 
orators: but, when it had important affairs to difeufs, 
when the date was in danger, it became ferious; and pre¬ 
ferred to its eloquent fycophants, the honed orators who 
oppofed its follies and its vices; fuch ingenious and bold 
patriots as a Pericles, a Phocion, and a Demofthenes. 
The Athenians, continues Plutarch, often make their 
governors tremble, and (hew great humanity to their ene¬ 
mies. They were very attentive to the information and 
inftruCtion of thofe citizens who were mod eminent for 
their policy and eloquence; but they were on their guar.d 
againft 
