Page images
PDF
EPUB

"On splendid seats th' enchantress bade them rest;
But doubts and anxious thoughts her soul possess'd.
Their steps unsounding through the palace pass'd,
The vestal hearth they sought with silent haste;
Then, motionless, with downcast eyes they sate,
As suits the humble suppliant's piteous state.
Stung with reproaches of the conscious mind,
Between her hands the maid her face inclin'd;
While leaning on the hilt, with grief profound,
The youth infixed his falchion in the ground;
Nor lifts to vengeful Heaven his drooping eyes,
While gloomy thoughts for slain Absyrtus rise.
Fair Circe marked the deep desponding mood;
She recognised the fugitives from blood;
Revered the suppliant's right with pious awe;
And bow'd submiss to Jove's imperial law,
Who makes the suppliant his peculiar care,
And e'en in punishment inclines to spare.
Th' atoning sacrifices she began,

That stains of blood remove from wretched man;
For refuge when he flies to Vesta's shrine,
And seeks remission from the powers divine.

High o'er their heads, the little swine she held,
New from the dam, and paps with nurture swell'd.
She pierced his throat, and cleansing blood with blood,
Her suppliants tinctured in the purple flood.
Then ceremonies fill'd the solemn hour,
To calm the wrath of every vengeful power;
And lustral Jove was call'd, at whose command
Oblations pure absolve the slayer's hand.
This done, her train, full many a Naiad maid
The ablutions from the splendid dome convey'd.
Within to sober vows, and whisper'd prayer
That bid the furies drop the scourge, and spare,
The flame with salted cakes the enchantress fed;
And sweet libations o'er the offering shed
Of mighty power, to sooth the gliding dead;
Where a stranger's death their hands embrued,
Or the dire stain from kindred blood accrued.
The solemn expiations were complete.

She called each suppliant to the polish'd seat

Full in her view and near.-
-PRESTON'S TRANSLATION.

This is one of the many instances to be met with in profane history of men acknowledging their guiltiness before their heathen gods, and seeking to divert Divine displeasure by the offer of a representative victim. And the question has been asked, Whence did the ancient heathen derive this institution? The question is natural, for the slaughter and burning of an inoffensive animal does not seem a very obvious process, to the first exercise of natural reason, for diverting the Divine vengeance. It is, however, easily answered. As mankind descended from one common parent, and as the

patriarchs, from Abel downward, by Divine command, offered up such sacrifices, the practice was doubtless derived traditionally from them. But, unhappily, the design of the institution was unknown to the heathen world. Originally, it was intended to shadow forth the atonement which, at the appointed time, should be made for the sins of the world by Jesus Christ. This was hidden from their sight, and hence they conceived that a poor dumb animal was able to stand between them and offended Deity. A notion of vicarious punishment that sin might be acknowledged, and the Divine indignation against the sinner be appeased by sacrifice -was prevalent among all nations of mankind; but one nation only possessed the true knowledge of the purport of the institution, namely, the Jews, who were taught in the Mosaical dispensation to look through types and shadows to the bleeding sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Hence it was, that good old Simeon, who devoutly waited for this "consolation of Israel" in the temple of his God, exclaimed in the spirit of prophecy, as he held the infant Jesus in his arms, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel," Luke ii. 29-32. This Light is now shining around us in all its glory. The sacrifice has been made; and we are daily directed to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. Have we, or have we not, accepted his sacrifice? Reader, let conscience reply.

One law among the ancient Lydians deserves to be mentioned, and to be cherished in the memory. This was the punishment of idleness as a crime, and their inuring their children, from their very infancy, to hardships. In the former clause of this law, they deserve to be imitated, even by a Christian people. If the youth of our country were generally brought up to habits of industry, how much vice and misery would be avoided. Suffered to be idle, as they are in too many instances, they become the prey of the designing, a curse to their parents, and a pest to society. This is a crying evil in our day, and demands correction. Restraint over our offspring is required at our hands, and the parent who neglects it inflicts a moral injury upon his child and his country, while he exposes himself to the wrath of his Maker. If hea then parents appreciated the results of industrious habits, surely Christian parents ought not to undervalue them.

They should keep their offspring employed in their learning and other occupations, suited to their tender age, that they may be preserved from temptation and ruin. All nature teaches the lesson of industry. The sun, moon, and stars, are constant in the performance of their Creator's will. earth, also, on which we live, unweariedly travels onward in its course, and the very insects teach us a lesson of industry. Shall man disregard the lesson ?

The

It may be mentioned, that the Lydians are said by the Greeks to have been the first people who put a stamp upon gold and silver, and that they claimed to be the inventors of the games which were prevalent in Greece in the days of Herodotus, and which were called Ludi by the Romans.

COMMERCE.

The Lydians appear to have enjoyed great commercial prosperity, and to have possessed an abundance of the precious metals. Their gold, as before intimated, is said to have been obtained from the rivers Hermus and Pactolus, which washed it down from the mountains, whence they derived their sources. The splendour of the monarchy of Lydia, and the commodious situation of the country, would indicate that commerce once flourished in Lydia to an eminent degree. So, also, would the riches of their princes, and of private individuals, the accounts of which seem to border on the fabulous. Herodotus says, that one Pythius not only entertained Xerxes and his army, while he was marching with his great army to invade Greece, but made him a proffer of two thousand talents of silver, about 700,000l. sterling, and 3,993,000 pieces of gold, bearing the stamp of Darius, to defray the charges of that war. The same Pythius, he says, had presented Darius, father of Xerxes, a plane-tree and a vine, or imitations thereof, of massive gold; and he was reckoned, next to the kings of Persia, one of the richest men in the world.

CHAPTER IV.

THE HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF LYDIA.

THE early history of Lydia is related by Herodotus, who informs us that three dynasties ruled in that country-the Atyada, or descendants from Atys, from the earliest times to B. c. 1223; the Heraclidæ, or the descendants of Hercules, from B. c. 1223 to 718; and Mermnadæ, from B. c. 718 to 548, at which date the country was conquered by Cyrus. The proper history of Lydia, can only be said to begin with the last of these dynasties, since the first two are almost entirely fabulous.

The first monarch in the dynasty of the Mermnada, was

GYGES.

Herodotus relates a tale concerning the rise of Gyges to the throne of Lydia, which is too romantic to be here related. Divesting his account, however, of all fable, it may be stated that he appears to have waded to it through blood. With the knowledge of the wife of Candaules, the last of the race of the Heraclidæ, he killed that monarch, and grasped his sceptre. In this particular, Plato's story of Gyges is confirmatory of that of Herodotus.

The murder of Candaules raised a sedition among the Ly dians. The two parties, however, instead of coming to blows, agreed to refer the matter to the decision of the Delphic oracle, which declared in favour of Gyges.

As soon as he was established in his authority, Gyges sent various presents to Delphi, a considerable quantity of which were of silver. Among other offerings of value, Herodotus mentions six golden goblets, weighing thirty talents, the value of which was about 48,000l. sterling.

As soon as he was in peaceable possession of the throne, Gyges carried his arms against Miletus, Smyrna, and Colo

phon, three powerful cities belonging to the neighbouring states, the latter of which he appears to have conquered. These are all the actions recorded of Gyges. He died after a reign of thirty-eight years, or B. c. 680, and was succeeded in his kingdom by his son Ardyes.

ARDYES.

Herodotus says, this prince vanquished the Prienians, and attacked Miletus. During his reign, the same historian tells us, that the Cimmerians being expelled their country by the Nomades of Scythia, passed over into Asia, and possessed themselves of all Sardis, except the citadel. Ardyes reigned forty-nine years, and was succeeded by his son

SADYATTES,

who declared war, immediately after, against the Milesians, and laid siege to their city. In ancient times, sieges, which were little more than blockades, were carried on very slowly, and some times lasted many years. Sadyattes died before he had finished that of Miletus. His death occurred B. c. 619, after a reign of twelve years, and he was succeeded in his kingdom by

ALYATTES,

his son, who reigned fifty-seven years.

Alyattes, as before recorded, made war against Cyaxares, king of Media. He likewise drove the Cimmerians out of Asia, and attacked and took the cities of Smyrna, and invaded Clazomanæ, in his designs upon which he was greatly disappointed.

Herodotus relates, that Alyattes resumed the war against the Milesians, which his father had commenced, and which he conducted in this manner: "When the time of harvest approached, he marched an army into the country to the sound of the pastoral pipe, harp, and flutes masculine and feminine," (or, perhaps, to the Lydian and Phrygian flutes, the sound of one of which was grave, the other acute.) "On his arrival in their territories, he neither pulled down nor burned, nor in any respect injured their edifices which stood in the fields; but he totally destroyed their trees, and the produce of their lands, and then returned. As the Milesians were masters of the sea, the siege of their city would probably

« PreviousContinue »