The league, which is drawn up with much solemnity and legal repetition, consists of three parts ; a pream ble, the treaty, and a supplement. The preamble is a popular decree of the Smyrnmans, stating their obliga tion and affection to Seleucus, for benefits conferred on them by him and his family ; their resolution to com bine with the Magnesians, for the protection of his do minions ; and the names of the deputies by whom the negotiation was to be conducted. Then follows the treaty of alliance, which begins thus: " In the priest bad of Hegesias, Pythodorus being garland-bearer, in the month Lenaeon, with good Fortune,, the inhabi tants of Smyrna and Magnesia, both horsemen and foot men, who are in the city, and also who are in the camp, and the other inhabitants, have established friendship on these terms : The Smyrnmans have admitted to the freedom of their state, the inhabitants of Magnesia, those who are in the city, horsemen and footmen, and also who are in the camp, and the other inhabitants ; for which privilege the Magnesians will observe an alliance and friendship with Scleucus." And, after a full enu meration of conditions, by which indeed a complete union of interest, policy, and constitution, is established between the two cities, it is provided, that a certain number of men be selected for administering the oaths to the people, who on both sides are to swear individu ally to the observance of the treaty. The Magnesians swear as follows : " I swear by Earth, Sun, Mars, Mar tial Minerva, Diana, Mother Sipylcne, (Cybele,) Apol lo in Pandi, and all the other gods and goddesses, and by the Fortune of king Seleucus, I will abide by the treaty which I have concluded with the Smyrimans, forever." And after an enumeration of articles, the oath concludes thus : " If I observe these things, let it be well with me ; if I violate my oath, destruction to myself and my offspring." The Smyrnxans, on their part, use the same form, only that they mention, in ad dition to the catalogue of divinities, the name of Venus Stratonicis, and omit the fortune of Seleucus. Apollo in Pandi, or Panda, is taken notice of by no writer of antiquity ; and Venus Stratonicis is mentioned only by Tacitus. Towards the end of the league, it is or dained, by mutual consent, that this public deed be ex hibited, for the inspection of all concerned, on pillars consecrated for the purpose, in two of their respective temples ; one, the temple of Venus at Smyrna ; the other, that of Diana on the banks of the Mzander.
After the league comes the supplementary decree of the Smyrnmans, in which there is recorded the surren der, by the people of Palmmagncsia, heretofore subject to the Magnesians, of the whole of their district to the government of Smyrna, who were to garrison their for tress in trust for Seleucus ; and also the grant of cer tain immunities to such of the inhabitants as became subjects of Smyrna. Both the prefatory and supple mentary decrees have the same exordium, which runs thus : EAOEENTitILIHMSZIZTPAT Hr1LNTNE2MHEREIAH. Ea'ogev 7Cp 4.cce, .yvtatcv-Mcay. " It 'lath seemed good to the people in the council of the leaders; where as," Ste.
The chief peculiarity of the language of this inscrip tion consists in its old orthography, occasioned perhaps partly by the common affectation of ancient forms in public decrees, and partly by the influence of the com mon people in these republics ; who, it is well known, were attached in Greece, as they are in our own coun try, to the idiom and pronunciation of their ancestors. Thus we find, in this league, 7 used for a ; as ryizev.
syh ; and final v is almost constantly changed into t.c be fore a. and (.4 ; as in rar.t, roar,, Top, 7reaviLaTay, TWA WM.
Ca. We strongly suspect that this last archaism is only such in appearance ; and that always, in pronunciation, final v underwent a change before the labials, and their cognate power t.t. Thus we have, in the common dia lect, Exarornvrvaas, Erni:salvo, (•ottpEcEt, ErnaEvo, where the ear has, even in writing, got the better of the gramma tical rule.
The next inscription which we present to the reader's attention is a short poetical epitaph. Though not desti tute of elegance, it is chiefly interesting as it affords us One of the few instances of verse. divided into lines, and of spaces between the words. We also see in this spe cimen of ancient writing, that the Greeks did not, like the Romans, write all the words in a verse at full length, but omitted those letters that were not subservient to the measure, as in the case of synalapha.
Another monument to which we shall direct the scho lar's attention, is that curious league concluded between the cities of Priar.sus and Hieraputna, in Crete. It is apparently the most ancient in the whole collection, and is written in a kind of Doric dialect, of which there is no other specimen extant, except in one or two of Gru tcr's inscriptions. This circumstance, together with the frequent lacuna, and other mutilations, renders the sense often very obscure. The two following sentences will give an idea both of the language and of the matter.
E.,;EG-nd (IsE T011, TE leccorwrvres cireletv cv TCti nelXVO'ICCI, Tot ricittrCriEl CV Teti 1:g a 7: UT Vial' CYf TEE TEAM XCCOCCW.Ce of zAAat 7roAlTCtl; 'LOT& Toy V0/405 T05 EXCLUes OtEP05. And let it be lawful, both for a Hieraputnian to sow in sia, and for a Priansian to sow in Hieraputnia ; and let them pay the taxes like the other citizens, according to the existing laws on both sides." As JsE Tic Sal,tolV TCt it r-00740; TWt pdA0btEVOn EVri TO) valVld 7tp,zi.ca E7TinVII‘ctt4cycs TV; ‘1,sccc 2:CtTct TO 0 Xct Tic Ittei El Ka e4t, TO .rgrrov p.qes -rac ePocag o To Aot: ;rev ?rtiaiedt. " If any one violate these terms, whether magistrate or private person, let any one who inclines summon him to the public tribunal, specifying a penalty in proportion to the offence. If he make his accusation good, let him receive a third of the fine ; the rest to go to the (contracting) cities." • But of all the Arundelian inscriptions, by far the most celebrated is the Parian Chronicle, so called from the belief of its having been compiled in the island of Pa ros. It is engraved on a tablet of marble of about five inches in thickness ; and, in Selden's time, of two feet seven inches in height, and six feet six inches in breadth. This marble contained 93 lines, disposed into two co lumns : the letters are capitals, arranged without any distinction of point or space between the words ; it con tains some archaisms similar to those in the Smyrn2ean league, as Ep. Havn, for EV lictp); and number is expressed in it, not by words, nor by the usual numeral letters, according to their station in the alphabet, but by the power with which the name of the number begins. Ac cording to this notation, which occurs also on other ancient monuments, n denotes vrtrre; A, and H, EKVTOV j and the expression HHAAH is equivalent to 225. Herodian tells us, that these characters were used in the laws of Solon, and still continued in his own time to be employed in tables of taxes.