The Grecian History (Volume 2); From the Earliest State, to the Death of Alexander the Great to Which Is Added a Summary Account of the Affairs of ... the Sacking of Constantinople by the Othomans baixar o livro de graça

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1790. Excerpt: ... from the Gothic invasion to the final overthrow of the Eastern Empire by the Ottoman arms, in the year of the Christian aera one thousand four hundred and fifty-three. But in the midst of war, devastation, and slavery, Greece continued long to be the seat of philosophy and the fine arts. Whatever conjectures may be formed concerning the advancement of science in India and in Egypt, it is certain that Greece was the country which enlightened, exalted, and adorned the rest of Europe, and set an example of whatever is beautiful and great to the nations. It was the genius of Greece that formed those very politicians and heroes who first bent her lofty spirit under the yoke of foreign dominion. It was in Thebes, under the tuition of Epaminondas, that Pnilip, the son of Amyntas, was trained to a love of glory, and all thole arts and accomplishments of both peace and war, by which it is best attained. It was a Grecian philosopher that taught Alexander how to manage the passions, and govern the minds of men while the writings of Homer, by a most powerful contagion, inspired his mind with a contempt of danger and death in the pursuit of glory. His captains who succeeded him in the government of his dismembered empire, were, as well as himself, instructed in the literature and the philosophy of Greece. The Macedonian vigour was fortified and directed by Grecian invention. As the light of Greece illuminated her Macedonian, so it spread over her Roman conquerors. Philosophy DEGREES literature, and arts, began to follow glory and empire to Rome in the times of Sylla and Lucullus; and, in their progress, drew to different schools every man of rank, and, as we would fay, of fashion, in Italy. Wealth, luxury, ' corruption, and, at last, tyranny, banished it from Rome; but while it lasted, it made up, .