thither. We cannot enough admire the fuperioreloquence 
of that apoftle, in his manner of addreffing fo intelligent 
an audience. We cannot enough admire the fublimity 
ef his exordium ; the propriety of his mentioning an al¬ 
tar which he had found there ; and his quotation from 
Aratus, one of their well-known poets. Nor was Athens 
only celebrated for the refidence of philofophers, and the 
inftitution of youth : men of rank and fortune found 
pleafure in a retreat, which contributed J’o much to their 
liberal enjoyment. 
We Jhall finilh this picture of the Athenians by the ad¬ 
dition of one object more, to which every one will admit 
they have a right; an object which was prominent and 
linking in all their actions and in all their enterprizes : 
we mean their ardent love of liberty. This was their 
predominant quality ; the main fpring of their govern¬ 
ment. From the beginning of the Perfian war, they fa- 
criticed every thing to the liberty of Greece. They left, 
without hefitation, their cities, their houfes, to fight at 
fea the common enemy, from whom they were in danger 
of fervitude. What a glorious day was it for Athens, 
when, all her allies growing flexible to the advantageous 
offers which were made to them by the king of Perfia, (lie 
replied by Ariltides, to the ambafladors of that monarch, 
“ That it was impoilible for all the gold in the world to 
tempt the republic of Athens: to prevail with her to fell 
her liberty, and that of Greece 1 ” It was by thefe gene¬ 
rous fentiments that the Athenians not only became the 
bulwark of Greece, but like wife guarded the reft of Eu¬ 
rope from a Perfian invafion. Thefe great qualities, how¬ 
ever, were blended with great failings, feemingly incom¬ 
patible with patriotifm. For the Athenians, notwithftand- 
ing their tenacious jealoufy of the rights of their country, 
were a volatile, inconftant, capricious, people. 
There never was a people more attentive to the worfhip 
of the gods than the Athenians. The worfhip of their 
principal deities was' diti'ufed over all Greece, and even 
beyond its limits. Each temple had its particular reli¬ 
gious rites: the pomp, the ceremonies, the duration, and 
the fuccelTion, of the folenm feafls, were all appointed by 
fixed rules. The.worfhip paid to each divinity, whether 
public or private, was founded on traditions, or on laws 
confiantly obeyed. The feaft of Bacchus, the Panathentea, 
the feaft of the myfteries of Eleufis, were celebrated ac¬ 
cording to eftablifhed rules, mod of which were as ancient 
as the feafts themfelves. The old cuftoms, of which the 
priefts were the guardians, were obferved in the temples. 
It is probable, that the priefts were confulted on affairs in 
which the worfhip of a deity was interefted, and that their 
anfwer was decifive. We are certain that the Eumolpidce 
bad this authority. They were the interpreters of the an¬ 
cient law s on which the worfhip of Ceres was founded, its 
magnificence, and its mode ; laws which were not w ritten, 
as Lyfias informs us, but were perpetuated by a conftant 
©bfervatiou. The abufes which had gradually crept into 
the celebration of thof'e feafts, had given rife to feveral 
new regulations; to that of the orator Lycurgus, forex- 
ample, and to the law of Solon, w hich enjoined the fenate 
to repair to Eleufis on the fecond day of the feaft : but 
neither thefe nor the other particular regulations which 
we find in Samuel Petit’s collection of Attic laws, could 
make a religious code. There was no general fyftem which 
comprehended all the branches of their religion, which, 
by combining all its articles, might regulate their belief 
and conduct, and direct the judges in their decifions. 
Crimes againft religion were only punifhed as they af- 
feCted the date ; and, confequently, they were tried by the 
magiftrate. Mere raillery, though fomevvhat profane, was 
thought productive of no worfe confequence than offend¬ 
ing the minifters of tire gods. The Athenians acknow¬ 
ledged no other religion than the hereditary public wor¬ 
fhip; no other gods than thofe they had received from 
their anceftors ; no other ceremonies than thofe which had 
been eftablifhed by the laws of the ftate, and praftifed by 
their country from time immemorial. They were only 
3 
i e a. 
folicitous to preferve this worfhip, which was elofely in¬ 
terwoven with their government, and made a part of its 
policy. They were likewife attentive to the ceremonial 
pomp; becaufe order, the regular vigour of legiflation, 
depends greatly on the awe impreffed by externals. But, 
as to the inconfiftent and monftrous romance of fables, 
foreign opinions, popular traditions, and poetical fictions, 
which formed a religion quite different from that of the 
ftate ; in it they were very little interefted, and allowed 
every one to think of it as he pleafed. This explanation 
will reconcile a feeming contradiction in the conduCt of 
the Athenians, who gave great licence to their poets, and 
feverely puniflied the citizens who were guilty of impiety. 
Ariftophanes, who made as free with the gods as with the 
great, was applauded by the Athenians. They condemned 
Socrates to death, who revered the deity, but difapproved 
the public manner of worfhipping him. The life of /Ef- 
chylus was in danger from a iufpicion that he had revealed 
fome of the fecrets of Eleufis in one of his pieces. The 
wit of Ariftophanes’s drama was tinpunifhed. The priefts 
were not confined to the care of the altars; they who 
were vefted with the facerdotal dignity, which was only 
incompatible with profeftions merely ufefnl and lucrative, 
might likewife hold the moll important offices of the com¬ 
monwealth. This we could prove by a great number of 
examples; we fhall cite that of Xenophon, the illuftrious 
hiftorian and philofopher : he was likewife a famous ge¬ 
neral, and he was a prieft. He was performing the facer¬ 
dotal function when he received the news of his Jon’s 
death, who was killed at the battle of Mantinea. The 
facred miniftry was not only compatible witli civil offices, 
but likewife with the profeflion of arms. The prieft and the 
foldier were often blended. Callias, the prieft of Ceres, 
fought at Plataea. This cuftom was not peculiar to the 
Athenians. The Lacedemonians, after the battle which 
we have juft mentioned, made three graves for their Jlain; 
one for the priefts, one for the other Spartans, and one for 
the Helots. 
As every mean employment was incompatible with the 
facerdotal dignity, the priefts had a revenue fixed to their 
office. We know that a part of the victims was their 
right, and that apartments were affigned them near the 
temples. But, beGdes thefe advantages, they had a falary 
proportioned to the dignity of their functions and to the 
rank of the deities whom they ferved. Their fuffiry was 
probably paid from the revenue of the temples. Thofe 
revenues, which kept the temples in repair, and defrayed 
the Jacrificial expences, were very confiderable. l’Tiey 
were of many different kinds. A great part of the facred 
revenues aroie from fines, which individuals were con¬ 
demned to pay for various oftences ; fines, of which the 
tenth part was appropriated to Minerva Polias, and the 
fiftieth to the other gods and to the heroes wltofe names 
their tribes bore. Betides, if the Prytanes did not hold 
the aftemblies conformably with the laws, they were obli¬ 
ged to pay a fine of 1000 drachms to the goddefs. If the 
proedri, i. e. the fenators vvhofe office it was to lay before 
the affembly the matters on which they were to deliberate, 
did not difeharge that duty according to the rules pre- 
feribed to them, they were likewife condemned to pay a 
fine, which, as the former, was applied to the tile of Mi¬ 
nerva. Belides this revenue, which was the common pro¬ 
perty of the gods, and which varied according to the num¬ 
ber and degrees of the mifdemeanors, the temples had 
their permanent revenues : we mean the produce of the 
lands which were confeerated to the deities. We do not 
here allude to the lands confeerated to the gods which were 
never to be cultivated ; fuch as the territory of Cirrha, 
proferibed by a folemn decree of the AniphiCtyons ; the 
land betwixt Megara and Attica, which was confeerated 
to the goddeffes of Eleufis, and many others. We would 
fpeak only of thofe which were cultivated, the fruits of 
which enriched the temples. There were likewife lands 
belonging to the ftate, the produce of which was deftined 
to defray the expence of the facrifice* which were offered 
