these chiefs or heads under a single authority, and to maintain the public peace by an uniform administration. The idea which men still retained of the paternal government, and the happy effects they had experienced from it, prompted them to choose, from among their wisest and most virtuous men, him in whom they had observed the tenderest and most fatherly disposition. Neither ambition nor cabal had the least share in this choice; probity alone, and the reputation of virtue and equity, decided on these occasions, and gave the preference to the most worthy.*

To heighten the lustre of their newly acquired dignity, and enable them the better to put the laws in execution, as well as to devote themselves entirely to the public good; to defend the state against the invasions of their neighbours, and the factions of discontented citizens, the title of king was bestowed upon them; a throne was erected, and a sceptre put into their hands; homage was paid them; officers were assigned, and guards appointed for the security of their persons; tributes were granted; they were invested with full powers to administer justice, and for this purpose were armed with a sword, in order to restrain justice, and punish crimes.

At first every city had its particular king, who, being more solicitous of preserving his dominion than of enlarging it, confined his ambition within the limits of his native country. But the almost unavoidable

* Quos ad fastigium hujus majestatis, non ambitio popularis, sed spectata inter bonos moderatio provehebat. Justin. 1. i. c. 1.

> Fines imperii tueri magis quàm proferre mos erat. Intra suam cuique patriam regna finiebantur. Justin, ibid.

feuds which break out between neighbours; the jealousy against a more powerful king; the turbulent and restless spirit of a prince; his martial disposition, or thirst of aggrandizing himself, and displaying his abilities; gave rise to wars, which frequently ended in the entire subjection of the vanquished, whose cities were by that mean possessed by the victor, and increased insensibly his dominions. Thus, a first victory paving the way to a second, and making a prince more powerful and enterprising, several cities and provinces were united under one monarch, and formed kingdoms of a greater or less extent, according to the degree of ardour with which the victor had pushed his conquests.

The ambition of some of these princes being too vast to confine itself within a single kingdom, it broke over all bounds, and spread universally, like a torrent, or the ocean; swallowed up kingdoms and nations; and gloried in depriving princes of their dominions, who had not done them the least injury; in carrying fire and sword into the most remote countries, and in leaving, every where, bloody traces of their progress! Such was the origin of those famous empires which included a great part of the world.

Princes made a various use of victory, according to the diversity of their dispositions or interests. Some, considering themselves as absolute masters of the conquered, and imagining they were sufficiently indulgent in sparing their lives, bereaved them, as well as

z Domitis proximis, cum accessione virium fortior ad alios transiret, et proxima quæque victoria instrumentum sequentis esset, totius orientis populos subegit. Justin. 1. i. c. 1.

their children, of their possessions, their country, and their liberty; subjected them to a most severe captivity; employed them in those arts which are necessary for the support of life, in the lowest and most servile offices of the house, in the painful toils of the field; and frequently forced them, by the most inhuman treatment, to dig in mines, and ransac the bowels of the earth, merely to satiate their avarice; and hence mankind were divided into freemen and slaves, masters and bondmen.

Others introduced the custom of transporting whole nations into new countries, where they settled them, and gave them lands to cultivate.

Other princes again, of more gentle dispositions, contented themselves with only obliging the vanquished nations to purchase their liberties, and the enjoyment of their lives and privileges, by annual tributes laid on them for that purpose; and sometimes they would suffer kings to sit peaceably on their thrones, upon condition of their paying them some kind of homage.

But such of these monarchs as were the wisest and ablest politicians, thought it glorious to establish a kind of equality betwixt the nations newly conquered, and their other subjects; granting the former almost all the rights and privileges which the others enjoyed. And by these means a great number of nations, that were spread over different and far distant countries, constituted, in some measure, but one city, at least but one people.

Thus I have given a general and concise idea of mankind, from the earliest monuments which history has preserved on this subject; the particulars whereof

I shall endeavour to relate in treating of each empire and nation. I shall not touch upon the history of the Jews, nor that of the Romans.

The history of the Carthaginians, the Assyrians, and the Lydians, which occur in the second volume, is supported by the best authorities; but it is highly necessary to review the geography, the manners and customs of the different nations here treated of; and first with regard to the religion, manners, and institutions of the Persians and Grecians, because these show their genius and character, which we may call, in some measure, the soul of history; for to take notice only of eras and events, and confine our curiosity and researches to them, would be imitating the imprudence of a traveller, who, in visiting many countries, should content himself with knowing their exact distance from each other, and consider only the situation of the several places, the manner of building, and the dresses of the people; without giving himself the least trouble to converse with the inhabitants, in order to inform himself of their genius, manners, disposition, laws, and government. Homer, whose design was to give, in the person of Ulysses, a model of a wise and intelligent traveller, tells us, at the very opening of his Odyssey, that his hero informed himself very exactly in the manners and customs of the several people, whose cities he visited; in which he ought to be imitated by every person who applies himself to the study of history.

As Asia will hereafter be the principal scene of the history we are now entering upon, it may not be improper to give the reader such a general idea of it,

as may at least give him some knowledge of its most considerable provinces and cities.

The northern and eastern parts of Asia are less known in ancient history.

To the north are Asiatic Sarmatia and Asiatic Scythia, which answer to Tartary.

Sarmatia is situated between the river Tanais, which divides Europe and Asia, and the river Rha, or Volga. Scythia is divided into two parts; the one on this, the other on the other side of mount Imaus. The nations of Scythia best known to us are the Sacae and the Massagetae.

The most eastern parts are, Serica, Cathay; Sinarum Regio, China; and India. This last country was better known anciently than the two former. It was divided into two parts; the one on this side the river Ganges, included between that river and the Indus, which now composes the dominions of the Great Mogul; the other part was that on the other side of the Ganges.

The remaining part of Asia, of which much greater mention is made in history, may be divided into five or six parts taking it from east to west.

I. THE GREATER ASIA, which begins at the river Indus. The chief provinces are, Gedrosia, Carmania, Arachosia, Drangiania, Bactriana, the capital of which was Bactria; Sogdiana, Margiana, Hyrcania, near the Caspian sea; Parthia, Media, the city Ecbatana; Persia, the cities of Persepolis and Elymais; Susiana, the city of Susa; Assyria, the city of Nineveh, situated on the river Tigris; Mesopotamia, between the