neither more nor less than works in bronze, which were made there with particular elegance; its alleged origin at the burning of the city is a silly story, as has long been universally acknowledged. After the Peloponnesian war, the Corinthians were opposed to Sparta for wishing to introduce an oligarchical form of government among them. This attempt of Sparta to make Corinth aristocratic was foolish, and could not but fail, for the city was essentially democratic, and not the soil in which an aristocracy could succeed. During the reign of Philip of Macedonia, Corinth was one of those ill-disposed places which attacked the Athenians in every possible way for the purpose of increasing its own commerce by their ruin; but afterwards, during the Lamian war, it appears vacillating, and receives a Macedonian garrison. It is surprising to find that subsequently Corinth became a separate Macedonian principality under Craterus, the step-brother of Antigonus Gonatas, and his son Alexander.[20] Afterwards, Aratus, who took Acrocorinthus by surprise, drew the city into the Achaean confederacy; and twenty years later he delivered it up to the Macedonians as the price for the assistance furnished him by Antigonus Doson against Cleomenes. It now remained for twenty-four years in the hands of the Macedonians, until it was evacuated according to the terms of the peace between Philip and the Romans. For fifty years it was then at the head of the Achaean league, and this was the period of its greatest wealth, for Athens was decayed, Aegina annihilated, and all relations were changed. The life in Greece at that time was quite different from what it had been in the age of Thucydides: it was extremely prosaic, and every one was bent upon becoming rich by commerce, and upon enjoying the good things of this life. Throughout its existence Corinth had been distinguished for its manufactures, industry, wealth, splendid buildings, and everything that riches can afford; and its manufactures were no less celebrated than the English are at the present day. But during the whole period that it was in the enjoyment of republican institutions, that is, ever since the reign of Periander, Corinth never produced a single man of genius, either as an author or as an orator. Timoleon is, perhaps, the only eminent statesman that was born at Corinth. We may observe, in general, that very few places have a share in the literary glory of Greece. The arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture flourished at Corinth, and treasures of art were accumulated there in great numbers, which shows that these arts may flourish, even where that is wanting which is the highest in man. A beautiful dirge on Corinth by Antipater is contained in the Greek Anthology.[21]