CONTENTS. 5 9 28 40 60 The Surrender of the Roman Army at the Defile near Caudium, [B. C. 319,] by LIVY, Impeachment of Publius Cornelius Scipio, surnamed Africanus, and of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, sur- named Asiaticus, [B. C. 187,] by Livy, Delivery of the Four Swiss Forest Districts, (Wald- städte,) [A. D. 1308,] by TSCHUDI, The Battle at Sempach, [A. D. 1386,] by JOHN VON The Death of Huss, [A. D. 1415,] by THEOBALD, The Siege and Surrender of Rhodes, [A. D. 1522,] by consisting of Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio, [A. D. 1527,] by GEORGE CAVENDISH, The Sieges of Leyden, [A. D. 1574,] and Ostend, GREAT EVENTS. THE BATTLE AT THERMOPYLE BY HERODOTUS. HERODOTUS, a contemporary of Pericles and Phidias, who flourished about four hundred and fifty years before Christ, was born at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor. His native place being ruled over by the usurper Lygdamis, he left it, and went to Samos, where he probably acquired the melodious Ionic dialect, in which his history is composed; the stern Doric dialect being that of the place of his birth. The great times in which he lived, and the glorious deeds which had been performed by the generation preceding his own, together with the perusal of previous historians, awakened in him, at an early period, the desire to describe these deeds, and to travel into foreign countries, and inquire into the various institutions and manners of the different tribes. When the eighty-first Olympiad* was celebrated, by the Olympic games, Herodotus read portions of his history to the immense assemblage of people, called together by this national feast. The universal applause, with which his compositions were received, incited him to employ many successive years to extend and perfect his work. Ancient writers mention a tradition, that Thucydides, when a youth of sixteen years of age, while listening to Herodotus, as he was thus reading parts of his work, was so much affected by this noble performance, that he shed tears; a tradition, which, it is proper to mention, has been doubted by many recent critics. Hero * The Greeks reckoned by Olympiads, or periods of four years each, at which periods, the Olympic games were celerated. See Glossary at the end of the Volume. dotus has been called, by the ancients, the 'Father of His tory,' because he was the first who presented his work, noi merely as a series of events, strung together like beads, but as a connected whole, composed with taste, and the pervading judgement of one who remains master over the whole subject. Herodotus took much pains, to ascertain facts and acquire information; and, in so far as we inquire only, whether he conscientiously gave what he had learnt, he unquestionably deserves the character of great veracity. Historical criticism, however, began with Thucydides. Although Herodotus has, at times, related superficial impressions, or may, at others, have allowed himself to be imposed upon, (as, for instance, in Egypt,) his work, which unites, with the childlike simplicity of the historical parts of the Old Testament, an Homeric grace, is, nevertheless, a fund of invaluable information. Respecting the Persian wars, we must not forget, that he wrote very shortly after; and, very evidently, was at great pains to learn all the details, which it was in his power to collect. He died at a very advanced age. Conquest after conquest having been added to the vast empire of Persia, its ruler longed to extend his dominion over Europe, also. A first attempt at subduing Greece had been made, in the year four hundred and ninety before Christ, when the Persians were repelled and defeated, at Marathon, a hamlet in Attica, (whither the Persians had already advanced,) by the Athenians, and some allies, under Miltiades. Aristides fought, likewise, in this battle: so did Eschylus. Ten years later, the attempt to reduce Greece into a Persian satrapy, (or province,) was renewed by Xerxes, then King of Persia. But the heroic sacrifice of Leonidas, at Thermopyla, and the victories at Salamis and Platææ once more repelled the swarming hordes of Asia, and in a manner, that the attempt at conquest was never repeated. It is impossible for us fully to comprehend the unspeakable blessings, which we owe to these heroic exertions of the Greeks. When we consider, that our whole civilization is, in a great measure, but a fruit of Greek civilization, received through Rome, and, at a later period, again, through the scattering of the literary treasures of Greece over Europe, by the conquest of Constantinople; and, on the other hand, how all this civilization must have been nipped in the bud, had Greece become a Persian province, and, of course, been assimilated to Asia, as has been the case with Asia Minor, we can perceive only, that no individual mind is sufficiently capacious to follow out the darkness and torpor which, it would seem certain, must have prevailed, where now the greatest mental activity, the highest degree of civilization, exists. Nor is the battle at Thermopyla, fought on the ninth of July, four hundred and eighty years before Christ, an unessential link in this chain of great events; because all, who fought, fell, and the enemy would not be hindered from penetrating further into Greece. The example of Leonidas, and his devoted band, became a glorious example of the invincible power, which the love of country and liberty may impart to the human soul; it became a blessing and bequest to all Greece, then, and at later periods; and, through Greece, a bequest to the history of mankind, a thrilling example for all ages for which reason, it has been considered proper to select it for this place. The following extract is from the seventh book of Herodotus, called Polymnia. XERXES, with his land forces, marching through Thessaly and Achaia, came, on the third day, to the territories of the Melians. While he was in Thessaly, he made a trial of his cavalry, against those of the Thessalians, which he had heard were the best in Greece; but, in this contest, the inferiority of the Greeks was evidently conspicuous. The Onochonus was the only river in Thessaly, which did not afford sufficient water for the army. Of those of Achaia, the Apidanus, the greatest of them all, hardly sufficed. Hence, Xerxes advanced to Melis, near a bay of the sea, where the ebbing and flowing of the tide may be seen every day. Near this bay is an extensive plain, wide in one part, and contracted in another; round this plain are certain lofty and inaccessible mountains, called the Trachinian rocks, and enclosing the whole region of Melis. Leaving Achaia, the first city near this bay is Anticyra. This is washed by the river Sperchius ; which, rising in the country of the Enieni, here empties itself into the sea. At the distance of twenty furlongs, is another river, called Dyras, which is said to have risen, |