Greece now enjoyed a long respite from foreign war, till the weak reign of Arcadius and Honorius, when a still more dreadful tempest burst upon her. Alaric, that ferocious and terrible chief, after over running the rest of Greece, advanced into Attica; and found Athens defenceless. The whole country was converted into a desert ; but it seems uncertain whether he plundered the city, or whether he accept ed the greater part of its wealth as a ransom. Cer tain it 1s, that it suffered severely; and Synesius, a co temporary, compares it to the mere skin of a slaugh tered victim.
After the devastations of Alaric, and still more, after the shutting of her schools, Athens ceased al most entirely to attract the attention of mankind. The pursuits of industry, however, seem to have been carried on with some activity : Besides the honey of Mount Hymettus, there seems to have been a pretty considerable manufacture of silk ; since, in 1130, a colony was transported from Athens to Si cily, with the view of introducing that branch of in dustry into the latter country.
After the taking of Constantinople by the Latins, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the west ern powers began to view Greece as an object of am bition. In the division of the Greek empire which they made among themselves, Macedonia and Greece fell to the share of Boniface, marquis of Montserrat; who bestowed Athens and Thebes on Otho de la Roche, one of his followers. This prince reigned with the title of Duke of Athens, which remain ed for a considerable time ; hence Chaucer and Shakespeare, confounding dates, talk of Theseus, Duke of Athens. After several successions, it came by marriage to Walter of Brienne. Considerable op position, however, seems to have been made to him among his vassals ; and these being reinforced by the Catalans, who then extended devastation and con quest over these regions, the new duke was expelled, and forced to return to France, where he fell in the battle of Poictiers. About twenty years after, his son made a fruitless attempt to recover it. Mean while the Catalans, having been compelled to acknow ledge the supremacy of the house of Arragon, the government of Athens remained for some time at the disposal of that house. It was then seized by the powerful Florentine family of the Acciaioli. One of them ceded it to the Venetians, but his son seized it again, and it remained in the family till 1455, when it surrendered to Omar, a general of Mahomet II., and thus formed one of the two hundred cities which that prince took from the Christians. He settled a
colony in it, and incorporated it completely with the Turkish empire.
Since that time, Athens is known in history only by two ineffectual attempts of the Venetians to make themselves masters of it. The first was in 1464, under their general Victor Capella. They gained possession both of the Pirxus and of the city ; but, failing in their attempt upon the Acropolis, were obliged to retire. The next was in 1687. In this siege, the Turks having made the Parthenon their powder magazine, a bomb fell into it, and blew up the whole roof ofthat famous edifice. Athens surren dered ' • but, the very next year, the Venetians were forced to abandon it.
It would be impossible to conclude, without en deavouring to give some idea of what Athens now is, and of what still remains to her after such a series of destroying revolutions. Even after all that time and barbarism have effected, her ruins still excite as tonishment and admiration in every beholder. We shall be the better enabled to satisfy the curiosity of our readers, as, besides the latest printed accounts, tve have had access to oral information still more re cent, and of the highest authenticity.
In this survey, we naturally turn our eyes first to the Acropolis, of which a considerable portion is still standing. It has been converted by the Turks into a fortress, and a large irregular wall built round it. In this there appear some remains of the old wall, with fragments of columns, which have been taken from the ruins for the purpose of building it. Of the Propylea, which formed the ancient entrance, the right wing was a temple of Victory. The roof of this edifice remained till 1656, when it was carried away by a sudden explosion. On its columns the Turks have constructed a battery of cannon. In a part of the wall still remaining are some fragments of exquisite sculpture in has relief, representing the combat of the Athenians with the Amazons. Of the opposite wing of the Propylea, there still remain six columns, with gateways between them. These columns are of mar ble, white as Snow, and of the finest architecture. Each is not, though it appears to be, composed of a single piece, but of three or four joined so skilfully, that, though exposed to the weather for twa thou sand years, no separation has taken place. These columns are half covered by a wall, which the Turks have raised in front of them.