Other historical works we know partly by scanty, and partly by suspicious fragments, and many only by their names. The work of the Chaldean Berosus on Chaldean and Babylonian antiquities, we only know by the fragments preserved in Josephus and Eusebius.* The Athenian Philochorus, (26) made assiduous examinations, with the assistance of many authors before him, on the Attic history and constitution, which have been freely used by Dionysius Halicarnassus, Apollodorus and Eusebius, by which means, many passages. of his works have been preserved.

Polybius of Megalopolis, (b. 204, d. 120) introduced a nobler style of history, gave completeness and precision to his subject, and noticed its operation upon the moral and political feelings of the public, upon the love of country, and upon the revival of vigorous and righteous actions in political life. He lived, together with his most considerable countrymen, seventeen years (after 166) at Rome as an hostage, and while there, was on terms of confidential intercourse with the most influential statesmen of that day, especially with Scipio Emilianus; visited the Alps, Gallia, Hispania, Africa, Egypt and Asia Minor, and occupied himself, after his return to his country, in the government of which he had taken an important share, with the composition of the great historical work, which claims, and justly too, a high rank among the best works of antiquity. This general history, in forty books, embraces the events of a full century, from the beginning of the second Punic war, where the work of Timæus closes, to the submission of the Macedonian empire. The first five books are complete; from the sixth to the seventeenth are extracts, and of the rest only fragments have been preserved. His examinations are distinguished by their profoundness in topography, and by a perfect knowledge of the springs and operations of government. There is great acuteness displayed in the proportion of the parts to the whole-his well weighed opinions of men and of events, evince strict honesty and incorruptible love of truth-his instinctive conclusions from past events, prove his experience and the soundness of his political views. The style is somewhat rhetorical, not entirely free from ostentation. His Alexandrian dialect is mixed up with many Romanisms, and he makes frequent use of philosophical technology. Many other writings of his are lost.† Polybius remained as a model of style and representation to all those who succeeded him, except Arrian and Elian, whose style became more rhetorical and Aris

Scaliger de emend. temp. Fabr. Bib. gr. 14, 175.

+ Fabr. Bib. gr. 4, 313.

totelian. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, (1 after Christ) lived twenty-two years at Rome, and laboriously collected matter for his work on the Roman history and constitution, from the most ancient times to the commencement of the first Punic war, (a Roman archaiology) in twenty books, the first of which are complete, the tenth and eleventh nearly so, and the rest have been preserved in fragments. Although want of critical strictness has caused many errors and misrepresentations in his work, yet the concentration of the views of that age, in respect to ancient Roman history, is attractively instructive, and often points out the course which a more strict criticism ought to pursue. Much of his statistical information is of important valuehis style is pleasing.* Diodorus, of Argyra, in Sicily, (8 after Christ) composed an historical bibliotheca in forty books, an universal history in ethnographical order, from the earliest ages to Cæsar's Gallic war. From the first to the fifth, and from the eleventh to the twentieth books, have been preserved; also fragments from the sixth to the tenth. The valuable matter of his work, Diodorus collected partly in his travels in Europe and Asia, and partly from earlier authorities, which, however, were not always judiciously chosen. The fulness of his information, and the care he took to arrange his work chronologically, deserve more praise than his criticisms: his style is easy but unequal. The universal history of Nicolaus of Damascus, (8) in 144 books, as well as his other writings, have come down to us only in fragments.t

CHRONOLOGY received many additions and corrections from Timæus, who introduced into history the calculations of the Olympiads, from Demetrius Phalereus, Eratosthenes, Philochorus, Polemon Periegetes, Castor of Rhodes, Apollodorus of Athens, and many others. The Parian chronicle upon marble, (254) is very important in Grecian chronology-it was composed, perhaps, after the learned work of Demetrius Phalereus; it is the oldest work which we possess in the original, being an enumeration of the Archons, from the times of Cecrops-it is now in the Oxford University.‡

GEOGRAPHY was also very much enriched. The victorious arms of Alexander opened Asia and Africa to the Greeks: he caused the sea-coasts to be explored, and the curiosity and desire after natural sciences which were awakened by these steps, caused such geographical examinations as were of advantage to commerce only, to be continued. The Ptole

*Fabr. Bib. gr. 4, 382.

+ Ibid. 3, 500

M. Maittare. Hewlett. Vindication of the Authenticity of the Parian Chronicle.

mies ordered voyages to Taprobane and India, of which that of Timosthenes (280) seems to have been very rich in events. The scientific activity of the learned men of Alexandria, made the application of astronomy and mathematics to geography.

The numerous descriptions of sea voyages, and all the contributions which conduced to a better knowledge of foreign countries from the time of Alexander the Great, are lost, except the journal of Nearchus, (334) who navigated the Indian ocean, from the mouth of the Indus, towards the Persian coast, to the Euphrates, which journal has been preserved by Arrian.* Dyonisius Periegetes of Charax, (3?) described, in hexameters, the principal seas, and the more remarkable countries and islands of the three parts of the world, after the principles of Eratosthenes.†

Very little has been preserved of the chorographies of that time. Dicearchus of Messenia, (318) an ingenious and highly cultivated Aristotelian, wrote philosophical, historical and geographical works, the greatest part of which we only know by their title pages. Fraginents have been preserved of the description (in iambics) of Greece in three books. Aristotle who seemed to embrace and arrange every thing with wonderful sharp-sightedness, opened the way to the scientific cultivation of geography, which had been, before his time, dependent upon hypothetical cosmogony. After him, followed the scientific connection of astronomy and geography, by the learned men of Alexandria, of whom we shall only notice those who have acquired merit from their perfect knowledge of geography. Eratosthenes of Cyrene, (b. 276, d. 196) librarian at Alexandria, (228) celebrated as a poet, grammarian, astronomer, and founder of scientific chronology, established the first system of mathematical and empirical geography, attempted a geometrical survey of the earth, (in Cleomedes xux. Dewgia, b. 1, ch. 10) calculated the situation of places by longitude and latitude, and examined the opinions and information of earlier geographers. Of his works, à yeoy gapouμsva, in three books, Strabo has preserved some fragments. Of his astronomical writings, we possess the xaradgioua, a description of the constellations, together with their mythological application, probably a part of his commentary on Aratus. Hipparchus of Nicea, (161) subjected the geography of Eratosthenes to a strict

*W. Robertson-Disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India.

+ Fabr. Bib. gr. 4, 586.

Hudson g. min. T. 2. Fabr. Bib. gr. 3, 487. § Fabr. Bib. gr. 4, 117.

examination, the chief results of which are given by Strabo, and laboured to prove the exclusive foundation of geography on astronomical truths. He, most probably, invented the stereographical projection, and discovered for many places the true heighth of the pole-his errors are easily explained by his want of instruments and authentic observations.* Posidonius of Rhodes, (86) attempted to calculate the circumference of the earth after the polar heighth of Alexandria and Rhodes.t

During this period, philosophy was cultivated with successful zeal in many schools. It was founded on observations of nature, and was thence elevated to higher and more intellectual objects. With many peculiarities, and some material deviations from the views of their predecessors, the philosophers of this day were Socratic in the ethical spirit and practical tendency of their systems-all believed in the liberty of reason and the idea of a supreme good, while they differed in the practical conception of the latter, as well as in the analytical definition of the laws of reason. Aristotle, whose intellectual system rested upon rational empiricism, Epicurus who followed the principles both of Aristotle and Democritus, and the stoics who united cynicism with the dialectic philosophy, were all dogmatists. The modern academicians and the scholars of Pyrrho, adhered to scepticism. With the richness, successful arrangement and strict scientific culture of philosophical matter, increased the zeal for system and subtlety, which frequently limit the sphere of thought and degenerate into a pedantic adherence to literal meaning. Every day the relation between the philosophical systems of modern times and those of the Greeks, became more and more conspicuous.

I. Aristotle of Stagira, (b. 884, d. 322) son of the physician and philosopher Neomachus, pupil of Plato, (368) teacher of Alexander the Great, delivered philosophical lectures at Athens under the halls, and (garog) founded the peripatetic school, which, from the very beginning, was in critical opposition to the academic school. After the death of Alexander, he became suspected of atheism, and, to avoid the persecutions of the Athenians, fled to Chalcis, where he died. The extent, the profundity, and the systematic order of his knowledge, elevate Aristotle to an unexampled position in the history of literature. In acknowledging the mighty power of reason, and submitting solely to its domination, he has endeavoured to embrace all knowledge, as parts of one grand system, to divide it into its

* Fabr. Bib. gr. 4, 26.

+ Mem. de l'Acad. d'Inser. 29, 177.

§ Fabr. 3, 195. Bayle Dict. Tho. Taylor on the Philosophy of Aristotle.

various parts, to re-arrange them by fixed limits, and to give to the requsite technical term, a suitable and fixed meaning. He, the first owner of a large library, read from his youth the existing scientific writings, with the same restless zeal and equal reflection, which he evinced, when a man, in his observations of nature, and as he read, he submitted the doctrines of others to his own criticism, and assimilated them to his own mind, and from this course of study, we are indebted to him for the completest and truest information, as well as for the most sound and sober judgments on the works and systems of the more ancient philosophers.

The writings of Aristotle, many of which are lost, many mutilated, many marked with various titles, and some spurious, may, perhaps, be most conveniently classified in the following scientific order.

I. Logic, according to its form, the organ or instrument of all philosophy, the examination of the methods whereby men attain knowledge. Under the common title ORGANON, (given by his commentator) are included in fourteen books, the suspected categories of exposition or of judgment, belonging, perhaps, more properly to the metaphysical writings; the first analytica, of conclusions, the second analytica, or on demonstration; Topica or Dialectica, of delusive conclusions.

II. Physics, or empirical natural philosophy in its whole extent, scientifically cultivated by him, and preceded by an admirable stock of observations, for many of which we are indebted to the generous liberality and true respect for sciences of Alexander, who ordered eight hundred talents to be paid to his master, and that rare animals and other natural curiosities should be sent to him from his conquered countries. Thus Aristotle was enabled to write on nature from his own observation, and to make experiments more difficult and expensive than any one before him, and very few since his time. The writings which belong to this branch, are as numerous as important. On the Rise and Decay, 2 books; On the World or Universe, (forgery); On the Heaven, 4 books; Metereologica, 4 books. What has been preserved under the title "De Naturali Consultatione," seems to be a collection of matter and studies, or a compilation of a later date-of Sounds, acoustiiof Colours, doubtful-against some adages of Xenophanes, Zeno and Gorgias, 3 books, (doubtful)—Natural history of animals, 10 books, with many gaps, a great treasure of precise and ingenious observations; of the Parts of animals, 4 books; of the Walk of animals; of the Soul, 8 books, the first scientific empiric psychology; of the Breeding of animals, 5 books. Treatises of phy