But that RHODES preserved to the latest period of Grecian independence many features of the Doric character we have already remarked.(1870) Still this island had, particularly in the time of Artemisia the Second, adopted many Asiatic customs; which, when mixed with those of a Greek origin, formed a peculiar compound; of which the Rhodian oratory, painting,(1871) and sculpture, should be considered as the products. The latter art had flourished there from ancient times; but later it took a particular turn towards the colossal, the imposing, and the grand style. The Laocoon and the Toro Farnese are in the number of its finest productions.(1872) Its manners are described by the saying that Rhodes was the _town of wooers_. There was also another proverb, that the Rhodians were “white Cyrenæans;” their luxury forming the point of resemblance, and their colour the difference.(1873) The character of CORINTH likewise, in the time of the Peloponnesian war, was made up of rather discordant elements; for while there were still considerable remains of the Doric disposition, and its political conduct was some time guided by the principles of that race, there was also, the consequence of its situation and trade,(1874) a great bias to splendour and magnificence, which showed itself in the Corinthian order; but which, when abandoned by the graces and refinements of luxury, soon degenerated into debauchery and vice.(1875) The character of CORCYRA we have attempted to delineate above.(1876) SYRACUSE, though highly distinguished for its loyalty and affection to its mother-state, necessarily deviated widely from the character of Corinth. For while in the narrow and rocky territory of Corinth the crops were with difficulty extorted from the soil,(1877) in the colony, a large and fertile district, which was either held by the Syracusans, or was tributary to them, furnished to an over-peopled city a plentiful supply of provisions without foreign importation.(1878) In addition to this abundance, the early preponderance of democracy, and still more the levity, cunning, and address which were natural to the people of Sicily, tended to modify, or partly to destroy, the original Doric character. The Syracusans were, according to Thucydides, among all the adversaries of the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war, most like them in their customs and disposition.(1879) It is ever to be lamented that such remarkable talents, as showed themselves among the Syracusans between the 70th and 90th Olympiads, should have been without a regulating and guiding judgment: their most frequent error both in the state and army being a want of order(1880); and their knowledge of this defect was the reason why they so frequently threw themselves blindly into the arms of single individuals.(1881)