Should any one doubt the juftice of thefe remarks, let him only take a view of thofe nations whofe actions have illumined the records of the hiftorian. What were the characters of the foldiers whom Cyrus led on to victory? They were bred up, from their infancy, in a school where to manage the horse, draw the bow, and fpeak truth, was the compendious fyftem of education. They were taught by precept andpattern, by their general's harangues, but more by his example, a manly fcorn of those enervating luxuries, whofe empire. over their enemies was to fmooth the road to conqueft; to tumble into ruins, be-: fore the energy of their arm, the unwieldy pile of Babylonian grandeur. And here can we speak of Babylon without fhuddering at the dreadful confequences of luxury on a state, as difplayed by the prophet of the Hebrews? A city, once the glory of the Eaft, the emporium of a world, blasted by the breath of defolation its lofty terraces and embattled towers proftrate on the earth, or floated by the unwholesome pool. pool. Where power had once feated herfelf under the canopy of ftate, or reclined beneath the bowers of voluptuoufnefs, the beasts of the defert howl, the dragon fixes his abode, the weary Arab dreads to pitch his tent; and even inanimate matter fhrinks before the beforn of deftruction. When the meafures ufed for acquiring empire cease to operate for its prefervation, the confequence is inevitable. Thus the power of Perfia, raifed by manly virtue, was overwhelmed amid the waves of the Granicus, when defended but by flaves unfexed by luxury.* ment. It * Writers on jurisprudence tell us, that the collateral caufes which tend to the deftruction of a nation, vary according to the nature of its exifting governA democracy is corrupted not only by luxury and its concomitant inequality of conditions, but by a fpirit of extreme equality, by which each citizen becomes jealous of the very power he has delegated to command him, and wants to debate for the fenate, to decide for the magiftrate, and to execute for the judge. It is alfo injured by any great and unexpected fuccefs, It is almoft unneceffary for me to take up time by difplaying to view Greece, virtuous, fuccefs, which produces confidence without caution; and, like a too liberal ufe of fpirituous liquors, produces, instead of vigour, intoxication. Thus the defeat of Perfia at Salamis ruined the republic of Athens; thus the retreat of the Athenians from Sicily, was fatal to the ftability of Syracufe. An ariftocracy tends to its diffolution, when the power of the rulers becomes exceffive; and the extreme of this is when that power is hereditary. A ftate of fecurity is, in common to all governments, a ftate of danger; the more ftagnant the lake becomes, the more liable it is to putrefaction. A monarchy is ruined when the fovereign becomes abfolute. This government is the only one which is at all benefited by luxury. In republics, the contrary is eminently the cafe; where, by leading to expenses above the individual's income, it produces poverty, and poverty urges him to wifh for scenes of public confufion, where he may gain, but cannot lofe; or to give his affiftance to fome rapacious demagogue, by whofe bribes his prodigality may be fupported. The illuftration of thefe principles, in the fate of the French monarchy, I leave to the reader. tuous, powerful, and happy, till the demon of corruption, lurking in the gold of Perfia, founded the trumpet of difcord through her cities. To contraft Marathon and Platea-Miltiades and Æfchines-the valor which routed millions led on by Xerxes, and the venality which funk the glory of the ancient world beneath the hand of the Macedonian. It is ftill lefs neceffary for me, * A remarkable circumftance, which took place at the final engagement in which Philip of Macedon compleated his conqueft of the Grecian ftates, gave rise to the following lines: ELEGY On the fall of the SACRED BAND of Thebes, at the battle of The horrid din of war is heard no more; Beneath the western hills, the car of day, In gloomy fhadows, fhrowds his setting light, As tho' unwilling longer to furvey, With mourning beams, the rage of civil fight. From me, I am fure, whilft I trace the rife of Roman greatnefs from that virtue which defpifed equally the threats and bribes of C 3 Pyrrhus, From leaden fkies, involved in Stygian gloom, As ever and anon the gleaming rays Dart thro' the fable mantle of the sky, Some breathless chief his mangled front difplays; Some form of horror meets the fhuddering eye. *"Lo! these are they, who, parent Greece to fave, "Defpis'd the fury of the mortal ftrife! "Plac'd every hope in victory or the grave! Though hoftile fortune aid the barbarous foe; But * See Demofthenes's Orations against Philip, where the original Epitaph is given, which was engraved on their com mon monument by the flate: |