In 437 years B. C. was established the office of censors, whose duty it was to make the census of the people every five years.

The people, in their desire for still more power, endeavoured to break down the only two barriers that separated the patricians from themselves. These were, one, the law which prevented their intermarriage; and the other, the constitutional limitation of all the higher offices to the patrician order.

The first point, after a long contest, was conceded-the other was partially evaded. The senate sought a palliative in the creation of the military tribunes above mentioned. This measure satisfied the people for a time.

The new magistracy of the censors was highly important. In addition to making the census, it was incumbent on the censors to inspect the morals and regulate the duties of the citizens. It became, in after times, the function only of consular persons, and after them, of the emperors.

14. The dissentions between the different orders of the people, raged with violence; but the senate, not long after their concession to the people, adopted for themselves a very wise expedient. This was to give a regular pay to the troops, an expense defrayed by a moderate tax on the citizens. From this period soldiers were to be obtained, and the senate had the army under its control. Roman ambition now became systematic, and irresistible.

15. Veii, the rival of Rome, was besieged by the Romans, and after a siege of ten years, was taken by Camillus, 391 years B. C. Two years after, Falerii, the capital of the Falisci, surrendered to the same general. The dominion of Rome, confined hitherto to a territory of a few miles, was now rapidly extended.

§ The siege of Veii was attended with much expense of blood and treasure to the Romans. They nearly despaired of taking it; but upon the appointment of Camillus dictator, things soon assumed a different aspect. He secretly wrought a mine into the city, which opened into the midst of the capital.

Then giving his men directions how to enter the breach, the city was instantly filled with his legions, to the utter confusion of the besieged. Thus, like a second Troy, was Veii taken after a ten years' siege, and Camillus, according to the manner of the Roman kings, enjoyed the honour of a triumuph.

It is related, that during the attack of Falerii, a schoolmaster betrayed into the hands of Camillus all his scholars, expecting to obtain a handsome reward for his treachery. The boys happened to be the sons of the principal Falisci, and the Roman general was given

to understand, that they would probably deliver up their city to recover their children.

The noble Roman, shocked at this perfidious action, sent back the boys in safety to their parents, and giving each of them a rod, bade them whip the traitor into town. This generous behaviour of Camillus accomplished more than his arms could have done. The place instantly submitted, leaving to the Roman the conditions of the surrender, which were of course very mild.

The brave Camillus, becoming at length an object of envy or jealousy with the people, he was obliged to quit Rome, and live at Ardea, a town in its neighborhood, but they had reason afterwards to be ashamed of their injustice.

16. Soon after these successes, Rome experienced a terrible calamity. It was taken, devastated, and burnt by the Gauls, under Brennus, 385 years B. C. The capitol, however, was preserved. This the barbarians besieged, but they were soon expelled the city by Camillus.

The Gauls were a branch of the great Celtic nation, and inhabited regions beyond the Alps. These they had penetrated at different periods, and a portion of this people had already settled in small towns at the foot of the mountains. This people, it seems, on some occasion, had undertaken the siege of Clusium, a city of Etruria. The Clusians, who were not of a warlike character, immediately en treated the mediation of the Romans.

The latter sent ambassadors to Brennus, but without success. These ambassadors then retired to Clusium, where they appeared at the head of the Clusians in a sally against the besiegers. Upon this, Brennus, in great displeasure, marched directly against Rome.

In this condition, an army was drawn out to save the city; but the numbers and impetuosity of the barbarians were such, that no effectual resistance was made. The greatest part of the citizens fled for protection to the neighbouring cities; the young and brave men entered into the capitol, resolved to hold out to the last against the enemy; and the aged senators assembled in the senate-house, deter mined patiently to await their fate.

Soon after they entered the city, Brennus, and some of his soldiers, went into the senate-house. The venerable appearance of these noble old men rendered the Gauls afraid or unwilling to harm them. A soldier at last gently shaking the beard of Papyrius, the old Roman was so offended at the act, that he struck the man on his head with an ivory staff he had in his hand: this slight blow instantly aroused the fury of the barbarians; they massacred the senators on the spot, and set fire to the city.

In this season of distress, the Romans did not give up all for lost. The little band, shut up in the capitol, made every possible arrangoment for defence. They were assaulted in vain. At this juncture, Camillus, forgetting all his private wrongs, gathered an army, with which he entered Rome, and immediately put the barbarians to flight.

A singular occurrence, showing the providence of God in the government of the world, attended the siege of Rome.

The capitol was at one time nearly taken by surprise: a number of Gauis having climbed up the steep rock on which it stood, were about to kill the sentinels and make themselves masters of the place, when some geese, kept near the spot, being awakened by the noise, began to flutter their wings, and cackle loudly, so as to arouse the soldiers. This little circumstance saved the capitol, and perhaps the Roman name from extinction.

17. The constitution of Rome was still farther altered about this time, 367 years B. C. The plebeians obtained the right of having one of the two consuls chosen from among them. The military tribunes were abolished the next year. From this period the Roman power began rapidly to rise.

The vanity and ambition of a young woman produced this change m the government of Rome. Fabius Ambustius, a patrician, had married two daughters, one to a plebeian, and the other to a patrician. The wife of the plebeian, envious of the honours of her sister, pined with discontent.

Her father and brother, learning the cause of her unhappiness promised her the distinction which she desired. By their joint endeavours, after much tumult and contest, they succeeded in obtain ing for the plebeians the right of admission into the consulate. Lucius Sextius was the first plebeian consul. The husband of the plebeian lady, viz. Licinius Stolo, was the second.

EGYPT.

18. The kingdom of EGYPT, which had been conquered by Cambyses, king of Persia, was, under Darius Nothus, a distant successor, restored by Amyrthæus, 413 years B. C. It continued independent for 60 years, under eight kings.

At the expiration of this term it was subjected again to the Persian yoke, by Artaxerxes Ochus.

§ No very interesting particulars occur in this portion of the Egyptian history. It is necessary only to observe, that it was by means of aid afforded to them by the Greeks, that the Egyptians, after they had revolted, under Amyrthæus, were enabled to withstand the Persian force which sought to reconquer them. It was under a king called Nectanebis that Egypt again lost her independence.

PERSIA.

19. The history of the PERSIAN empire, during this period, is mostly involved in that of the Greeks, with whom the former was so frequently at war. Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes II. as we have scen, were, during most of their lives, engaged in this war. Concerning the rest of the Persian sovereigns, there is little interesting to be communicated.

§ Artaxerxes I. we are told, killed his brother Darius, being de ceived by Artabanus, who imputed the murder of Xerxes to that prince: but upon being acquainted with the truth, he put Artabanus and all his family to death. During his reign the Egyptians attempted to shake off his yoke, but were soon obliged to submit.

Xerxes II. was assassinated by his brother, Sogdianus, 45 days after he ascended to the throne. Sogdianus, who assuined the government, enjoyed the fruits of his fratricide only six months and a half, when he was smothered in ashes, (a mode of torture invented on this occasion, and afterwards inflicted on great criminals,) by order of his brother Ochus, who took the name of Darius Nothus.

Darius Nothus was a weak prince, in whose reign it was that the Egyptians recovered their independence. Artaxerxes II. succeeded him, who was surnamed Mnemon, by the Greeks, on account of his prodigious memory. He killed his brother Cyrus, who had taken arms against him, in single battle. The 10,000 Greeks who retreated under Xenophon, served in the army of this Cyrus.

Ochus succeeded him, who poisoned his brother, and murdered all the princes of the royal family. He invaded Egypt, plundered the temples, and killed the priests. But his chief minister, enraged at the ruin of his country, poisoned him.

MACEDON.

20. The kingdom of MACEDON, which was governed, during several hundred years, by the descendants of Caranus, was comparatively unknown till the time of Philip, who was also a descendant of Caranus. Philip soon gave it celebrity. Previously to the birth of his son Alexander, he had con quered Thessaly, Pæonia, and Illyricum. He had also gain ed a victory over the Athenians, at Mythone, 360 years B. C.

§ Philip ascended the throne by popular choice, in violation of the natural right of the nearer heirs to the crown; he secured his power by the success of his arms against the neighbouring nations. He was brave, artful, and accomplished, and by his intrigues gained over, at an early period of his carcer, many Greeks to favour his interests.

In his war against the united Paeonians, Illyrians, &c. he met with singularly good fortune. Parmenio, his general, was sent against the Illyrians, and he himself marched an army into Paonia and Thrace, where he was signally successful. On his return, a messenger arrived with news of Parmenio's victory; and soon after came another, informing him that his horses had been victorious at the Olympic games.

This was a victory that he esteemed preferable to any other. Almost at the same time came a third messenger, who acquainted him that his wife, Olympias, had brought forth a son, at Pella. Philip, terrified at so signal a happiness, which the heathens generally considered as a bad omen, exclaimed, "Great Jupiter, in return for so many blessings, send me a slight misfortune."

Distinguished Characters in Period VII.

1. Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher. 2. Herodotus, a Greek, the father of profane history. 3. Pindar, the chief of the Grecian lyric poets. 4. Phidias, a Greek, the most famous sculptor of antiquity. 5. Euripides, an eminent tragic poet of Greece. 6. Sophocles, an eminent tragic poet of Greece. 7. Socrates, the greatest of heathen moralists. 8. Thucydides, an eminent Greek historian. 9. Hippocrates, the father of medicine.

10. Xenophon, a celebrated general, historian, and philo sopher.

§ 1. Confucius was born in the kingdom of La, which is now the province of Chan Long, 551 years B. C. He was a man of great knowledge and extensive wisdom, was beloved on account of his virtues-rendered great service to his country by his moral maxims, and possessed much influence even with kings, as well as with his countrymen in general. He died in the 73d year of his age.

2. Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus. His history describes the wars of the Greeks against the Persians, from the age of Cyrus to the battle of Mycale. This he publicly repeated at the Olympic games, when the names of the Muses were given to his nine books.

This celebrated work, which has procured its author the title of father of history, is written in the Ionic dialect. Herodotus is among the historians, what Homer is among the poets. His style abounds with elegance, ease, and sweetness. He also wrote a history of Assyria and Arabia, but this is not extant.

3. Pindar was a native of Thebes. His compositions were courted by statesmen and princes, and his hymns were repeated in the temples, at the celebration of the festivals. Some of his odes are extant, greatly admired for grandeur of expression, magnificence of style, boldness of metaphors, and harmony of numbers.

Horace calls him inimitable; and this eulogium is probably not undeserved. After his death, his statue was erected at Thebes, in the public place where the games were exhibited, and six centuries afterwards it was viewed with pleasure and admiration by the geographer Pausanias. He died B. C. 435, at the age, as some say, of 86. 4. Phidias was an Athenian. He died B. C. 432. His statue of Jupiter Olympius passed for one of the wonders of the world. That of Minerva, in the Pantheon of Athens, measured 39 feet in height, and was made of gold and ivory.

5. Euripides was born at Salamis. He was the rival of Sophocles. The jealousy between these great poets, was made the subject of successful ridicule by the comic poet Aristophanes. It is said that he used to shut himself up in a gloomy cave, near Salamis, in which he composed some of his best tragedies.

During the representation of one of his