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enervation arising from indulgence in the arts of peace. Plutarch draws a parallel between the fate of Nicias and that of Crassus, and compares the Athenian expedition against Syracuse, with the Roman invasion of Parthia. The cases are in some features similar, but widely different in their results. The Athenians were ruined, but the Romans cared little for the loss of three or four legions. It was a check from which they speedily recovered, and by which their enormous power was scarcely affected. The only true parallel is furnished by modern history in the memorable campaign of Moscow, where the mighty and apparently well consolidated empire of Napoleon, melted away with the 400,000 veterans whom he led to perish in the snows of Russia.

If we can suppose a person thoroughly unacquainted with Grecian history, and hearing of the Athenian republic for the first time in that portion of Dr. Bennett's discourse on which I have been reasoning, such an individual would naturally conclude that the pernicious influence of the Theatre alone had ruined a powerful nation. He would with difficulty believe, when afterwards informed, that there existed in the story of their annals, two such strong controlling causes as the destruction of their naval and military power at Syracuse, and the subversion of their government and independence at the close of the Peloponessian war. Here again is an

instance where opinions may be questioned, as drawn without sufficiently comparing authorities, and derived too much from exparte arguments. It is not thus that Archdeacon Paley reasons, in his standard work on "The Evidences of Christianity;" his object is to establish the truth of the doctrine he believes, by the mode most likely to carry conviction to the minds of other men-an impartial examination of conflicting testimonies. In doing this, he sets forth the proofs and the objections with equal prominence, arguing on both, and finally establishing a sound conclusion by the mass of preponderating evidence. It may not be irrelevant to mention here an interesting fact, recorded by historians, which forms not the least flourishing leaf in the chaplet of the Dramatists. The Sicilians were passionate admirers of Euripides. When the Athenian army, under Nicias, surrendered to Gylippus, the prisoners were treated with barbarous cruelty, sold for slaves, and compelled to labour in the quarries, where the greater part of them perished by disease and bad diet. But when it was discovered that many of them could repeat the verses of Euripides, such as could do so were treated with lenity, clothed and fed, released from labour, and permitted to return to their own country.* On arriving in Athens, they

*"On their return they went and saluted the poet as their deliverer, and informed him of the admirable effect wrought in their favour by his verses. Scarcely any circumstance could

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went to Euripides in a body to thank him for their lives and liberty. What greater homage could be paid to the talents of a writer, or how could the beneficial tendency of his art be more clearly evidenced?

When Plutarch questions the importance of the Drama, and asks how a few tragedies can weigh in the balance with the great actions of warriors and statesmen,* he might be answered that conquests and laws are subverted by the tide of time and the progress of revolutions, but the writings of such authors as Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, contain moral precepts available in all ages and to all men.† Fixed on the immutable basis of truth, they are perpetual landmarks, “monuments more durable than brass." The instance I have quoted, entitled Euripides to a high place as a public benefactor. The oaken garland was a nobler reward than the laurel wreath, as it was

be more pleasing and flattering than this testimony."-Bishop Horne's Works, vol. i. p. 319. "It is also stated, that when a ship from Caunus happened to be pursued by pirates, and was seeking shelter in one of their ports, the Sicilians at first refused to admit her. Upon asking the crew whether they knew any of the verses of Euripides, and being answered in the affirmative, they instantly received both them and their vessel." -Plut. in Vit. Nic.

* Plut. de Glor. Athen.

"It was said of Euripides, that every verse was a precept." -Dr. Johnson's Preface to Shakspeare.

Monumentum ære perennius.-Horace.

held more honorable to save the life of a citizen, than to destroy that of an enemy. From many causes, the taste of the Romans in the fine arts was inferior to that of the Greeks; as a nation they never evinced the same decided partiality for the higher walks of tragedy and comedy. Their authors were few; the only ones who have come down to us are Plautus, whose genius was of the highest order; Terence, who, with all his brilliant talent, was chiefly a translator of Menander; and the doubtful tragedies of Seneca, which are only entitled to rank in the third or fourth class. A ra. pidly increasing preference for mimes, or low farces, pantomimes, gladiatorial exhibitions, and the various games of the circus, soon obscured the more legitimate portion of the Drama, although unworthily mixed up and confounded with it. If, therefore, any portion of Roman degeneracy arose from the Stage, let it be ascribed to an extreme indulgence in its illegitimate accessories, rather than to a fair cultivation of its purer components.

Augustus himself, the patron of learning, attempted to write a tragedy on the subject of Ajax; but he abandoned the task, as he found it a matter of more difficulty than to govern an empire. Even in the best age of Roman literature, he was suspected of preferring pantomines to the regular drama, and is even said to have invented them.* These," says Le Pere Brumoy,

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* Adams' Roman Antiquities, p. 295.

in his "Theatre des Grecs," "were continued in Italy from the time of Augustus long after the Emperors. It was a public mischief which contributed in some measure to the decay and ruin of the Roman Empire. To have a due detestation of those licentious entertainments there is no need of having any recourse to the Fathers. The wiser Pagans tell us very plainly what they thought of them. I have made this mention of the mimi and pantomimes, only to show how the most noble of public spectacles were corrupted and abused." From the reign of Augustus, downwards, the decline of dramatic taste was rapid in its progress, and we learn from Gibbon, (who, though I should hesitate to quote him on a theological point, is good evidence on an historical one,) when speaking of a much later period, that "the Roman people considered the circus their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic; the same immoderate ardour inspired their clamours and their applause, as often as they were entertained with the hunting of wild beasts, and the various modes of theatrical representation. These representations in modern capitals may deserve to be considered as a pure and elegant school of taste, and perhaps of virtue, but the tragic and comic muse of the Romans, who seldom aspired beyond the imitation of attic genius, had been almost totally silent since the fall of the republic; and their places were unworthily occupied by licentious farce, effeminate

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