upon the death of Epaminondas, the Thebans, being without a rival, and elated with prosperity, gave themselves over to idleness and luxury; they slighted the virtue of their ancestors, and derided their frugality : the public revenues, which used to be employed to pay fleets and armies, were now expended upon games, shows, and frivolous amusements.

This degeneracy of disposition and manners in the Thebans and other Grecian states, afforded Philip, who had been educated under the discipline, and excited by the valor and wisdom of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, an opportunity of raising the Macedonians from obscurity, to the empire of all Greece and Asia.

So small was the power of the Macedonians in the beginning of Philip's reign, that they were able with difficulty to bear up against any of the neighboring nations. But this brave and prudent monarch subjugated, in a very short space of time, the barbarous surrounding states, by assisting the weak against the strong; and then, by the same arts, he commenced hostilities against Greece, till, worn out with mutual contentions, he subdued it entirely. Greece, therefore, conquered and at peace, Philip was declared general of the Grecian armies against the Persians; but while he was preparing for this expedition he was assassinated by his own subjects, leaving this business to his son Alexander.*

The fruits of this expedition perished with the conqueror, who dying in the thirty-second year of his age, and without heirs, the Macedonian chiefs entered into cruel wars with each other, during which those nations that were to the east of the Euphrates fell under the dominion of the Parthians.†

* The reader is referred to page 127 of the present vol. of the Repository, for a brief account of the expedition undertaken against Persia by Alexander.

†The kingdom of Parthia, which was founded by Arbaces, about three hundred years before Christ, and which, after the death of Alexander, extended itself over Persia, was subdued by Trajan, and afterwards relinquished by Adria, who in the beginning of the second century, made the Euphrates the eastern boundary of the empire. Tht revolt of the Persians, and the subjection of the

As Alexander did not name his successor, there started up as many kings as there were commanders. At first they governed the provinces that were divided among them, under the title of viceroys; but when the family of Alexander was extinct, they took upon themselves the name of kings. Thus the whole empire of Alexander produced four distinct kingdoms, viz. 1. the Macedonian, 2. the Asiatic, 3. the Syrian, and 4. the Egyptian; which flourished under their own respective monarchs, till at last they were all compelled to receive the Roman yoke.

The principal persons who reigned at Macedonia, after the death of Alexander, were Antipater;-Philip, a brave man who long contested the Roman arms, but was at length subdued, and obliged to conclude an ignominious peace ;-and Perseus, who renewing the war against the Romans, was overcome and taken by Æmilius, and carried in triumph to Rome, where he died in prison. Thus the Macedonian kingdom was reduced to a Roman province.

From the Asiatic kingdom, which comprehended Natolia and other regions beyond Mount Taurus, proceeded these three smaller kingdoms. 1. Pergamus the last king of which, Attalus, appointed the Roman people to be his heir. 2. Pontus, reduced by the Romans into the form of a province, after they had subdued Mithridates, the last king. 3. Armenia, of which Tigranes was the last monarch.

The most celebrated monarchs of the Syrian kingdom, were Antiochus the Great, who having conquered a considerable part of the east, made war upon the Romans, by whom he was defeated, and banished beyond Mount Taurus; Antiochus Epiphanes, a cruel enemy of the Jewish nation; and Tigranes, who governed at the same time Syria and Armenia, and under whom they both became subject to the Roman

power.

During this period the more celebrated sects of

Parthians to their dominion by Artaxerxes, formed the second Persian empire which continued from the year of Christ 226 to the year 652, when the whole country was overrun by the Arabs.

Vol. 1.

30

philosophers prevailed in Greece, such as the Academics, Peripatetics, Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, and Cynics, of which the authors or founders were, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, Pyrrho, and Antisthenes.

The celebrated Alexandrian library was founded by Ptolomy Philadelphus. When the city of Alexandria was building, the use of papyrus was discovered, a plant which grows on the banks of the river Nile, and being found fit for writing, it came into common use. Hence is the origin of the word paper. In progress of time the Egyptian princes prohibited the exportation of the papyrus, when another substance was used in its stead, which was called pergamena, from Pergamus, the place where it was first used, whence we have the word parchment.

SKETCHES OF AMERICAN CHARACTER.

CHARLES CARROLL, OF CARROLLTON.

THE last of the Signers-the sole survivor of that illustrious phalanx of free and fearless hearts! Who could contemplate without emotion, the venerable forin of him whom the flood of death, which has swept away all his colleagues, from Hancock, whose signature stands the first, to Walton, whose name appears the last, on the famous scroll, has as yet spared to us? Well has it been said, "like the books of the Sybil, the living signers of the Declaration of Independence increased in value as they diminished in number." Carroll is alone. The last relic of a noble band. Full of years, he still lingers among us, a fine specimen of dignified old age. With what a halo does his loneliness surround him!" The last of the signers!" He is the link which connects us with the past. When he departs, the Declaration of Independence will be a monument of the dead. Now it still tells of living virtue and patriotism, which yet burns in the aged, but warm, bold heart. Yes, let the orator and the poet unite in weaving the flowery wreath to the praise of the last of the signers. Long may it be ere that wreath is hung upon his urn. May we never forget the worth

of those who put their names to the noble declaration of a people's high resolve, nor what is due to those who fought, and bled, and risked their all to sustain it. It is good for us frequently to look back and ponder over the conduct, the deeds, the sufferings, of the fathers of our republic. They are deserving of all our consideration, and all our praise. The subject may be often repeated, but can never become trite. It will be of service to us, often to have before our minds the men of 1776. It may kindle an emulation of their firm virtue, their disinterested patriotism, their contempt of narrow selfishness. It will do much to establish in the mind a true standard of political virtue and official desert; to knit us together in brotherly regard, by contemplating the unanimity, the mutual zeal, the equal perseverance of our common benefactors; to inspire and to strengthen a just respect for our country, and a beneficial nationality.

Ne

Ably and truly did Charles Carroll express the spirit that pervaded the great body of the people, when he wrote to Mr. Graves, the brother of the admiral, and a member of parliament :- "If we are beaten on the plains we will retire to the mountains, and defy them. Our resources will increase with our difficulties. cessity will force us to exertion; until, tired of combatting in vain against a spirit which victory after victory cannot subdue, your armies will evacuate our soil, and your country retire, an immense loser, from the contest. No, sir, we have made up our minds to abide the issue of the approaching struggle, and though much blood may be spilt, we have no doubt of our ultimate success."

Carroll was born on the 20th of September, 1737, at Annapolis, in Maryland. He was educated in Europe. From the college of St. Omers, he went to that of Rheims, and from thence to the college of Louis le Grand. He studied the civil law in France, and the common law in England. In 1764, he returned home, with a mind expanded, and untainted by a foregin education.

In 1775, Mr. Carroll was chosen a member of the first committee of observation established in Annapo

lis; and the same year elected a delegate to represent Anne Arundel county in the provincial convention. Here he opposed, but unsuccessfully, the instructions given to the representatives of Maryland in the general congress," to disavow, in the most solemn manner, all design in the colonies of independence." He went to Canada, in February, 1776, as one of the three commissioners appointed to effect, if possible, a coalition between that country and our own. His associates were Dr. Franklin and Samuel Chase. Their ill success, and its causes are too well known to need repeti tion or detail. When Mr. Carroll returned, he took his seat in the convention, and strenuously urged the with drawal of their former instructions, and the substitution of others, empowering the congressional delegates" to concur with the other united colonies, or a majority of them, in declaring the united colonies free and independent states." On the second of July, 1776, the instructions he desired were given. Mr. Carroll was appointed a delegate. His name appeared on the list on the fourth, and he took his seat on the eighteenth of July, 1776. The fact is now pretty generally known, that the copy of the Declaration of Independence, engrossed for signing, according to a resolution of the nineteenth of July, was not signed until the second of August, and then only by the members on that day present in congress, of whom Carroll was one. The others signed it at different intervals, as opportunity presented. A little incident has been mentioned. As Mr. Carroll returned from affixing his signature, some by-stander observed, "there go a few millions." Mr. Carroll was appointed a member of the Board of War, and exercised its duties during his continuance in Congress. He was still a member of the convention of Maryland, and was one of the committee appointed to draught the constitution of that state. He was chosen a senator of Maryland, and afterwards re-appointed a delegate to Congress, where he remained until the year 1778, when he resigned his seat, and gave his attention to the local concerns of his own state. In 1781, he was again sent to the Senate, and immediately after the adoption of the federal constitution, he represented her in the Senate of the United States. He left this sta