Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present ConditionBucke, Charles
History
Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2): With General and Particular Accounts of Their Rise, Fall, and Present Condition
Bucke, Charles
Cities and towns, Ancient
Though a respectable traveller asserts, that the battle of Chæronea, by
putting an end to the turbulent independence of the Grecian republics,
introduced into that country an unusual degree of civil tranquillity and
political repose, we cannot ourselves think so; we therefore subjoin,
from Dr. Leland, a short account of the conqueror's death.
"When the Greeks and Macedonians were seated in the theatre, Philip came
out of his palace, attended by the two Alexanders, his son and
son-in-law. He was clothed in a white flowing robe, waving in soft and
graceful folds, the habiliment in which the Grecian deities were usually
represented. He moved forward with a heart filled with triumph and
exultation, while the admiring crowds shouted forth their flattering
applause. His guards had orders to keep at a considerable distance from
his person, to show that the king confided in the affections of his
people, and had not the least apprehensions of danger amidst all this
mixed concourse of different states and nations. Unhappily, the danger
was but too near him. The injured Pausanias had not yet forgot his
wrongs, but still retained those terrible impressions, which the sense
of an indignity he had received, and the artful and interested
representations of others, fixed deeply in his mind. He chose this fatal
morning for the execution of his revenge, on the prince who had denied
reparation to his injured honour. His design had been for some time
premeditated, and now was the dreadful moment of effecting it. As Philip
marched on in all his pride and pomp, this young Macedonian slipped
through the crowd, and, with a desperate and malignant resolution,
waited his approach in a narrow passage, just at the entrance into the
theatre. The king advanced towards him: Pausanias drew his poniard;
plunged it into his heart; and the conqueror of Greece, and terror of
Asia, fell prostrate to the ground, and instantly expired[194].
NO. XXVII.--CORDUBA.
"Are we at Cordova?" says a modern writer. "The whole reign of the
Omniad Caliphs passes, in mental review, before us. Once the seat of
Arabian art, gallantry, and magnificence, the southern kingdom of Spain
was rich and flourishing. Agriculture was respected; the fine arts
cultivated; gardens were formed; roads executed; palaces erected; and
physics, geometry, and astronomy, advanced. The inhabitants were active
and industrious; accomplishments were held in esteem; and the whole
state of society formed a striking contrast to that of every other in
Europe."
It was situated in Hispanic Boetica, having been built by Marcellus. It
was the native place of both the Senecas, and Lucan. Indeed, it
produced, in ancient times, so many celebrated characters, that it was
styled the "mother of men of genius." Its laws were written in verse;
and its academy was partly distinguished for its cultivation of the
Greek language, as well as for rhetoric and philosophy. It became
celebrated, also, under the Moors.
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