Of the state of painting among the Greeks, many exag gerated and incredible accounts have been given by an cient authors. They used only four colours, black, white, red, and yellow ; and knew nothing of painting in oil. They are considered also as having been very imperfectly ac quainted with the effects of light and shade; and many pieces of ancient Mosaic, still preserved, are not much ad mired as performances in painting. Both in painting and statuary, the Greek artists produced representations of the human form, which could scarcely be called natural. By taking collective views of the species, and studying accu rately the physical constitution of the body of man, they combined its various and scattered excellencies in one figure, and thus exhibited, what nature never does, a mo del of abstract and ideal perfection. Among the celebrat ed painters may be mentioned Polygnotus, who received the thanks of the Amphictyonic assembly for his painting of the Trojan war, placed in one of the porticos of Athens; Apollodorus; who is supposed to have invented the art of painting in clear-obscure ; Zeuxis, who displayed himself at the Olympic games, dressed in purple and gold, and, having become wealthy, gave his works as presents, be cause he said they were above all price ; Parrhasius, who insolently presented himself to public view with a crown of gold upon his head ; Pamphilus, the first who applied the principles of science to his art ; Timanthes, who pro duced the celebrated painting of the sacrifice of Iphige nia ; Apelles, who exposed his works to public view, that lie might derive improvement from the remarks of pas sengers; and Protogenes, the rival of Apelles, who cen sured the extreme minuteness of his contemporary, by saying, that " he knew not when to lay down his pencil." Few things are more remarkable in the manners of the ancient Greeks, than the great importance which they at tached to the musical art, which, in many of the states, was even regulated and recommended by the laws. It was considered as one of the most powerful means of in fluencing the sentiments of the people, and formed an es sential part in the education of the youth. The ancient musicians are supposed to have been wholly ignorant of the art of performing pieces of music in different parts at the same time ; and their compositions, especially the pa thetic and warlike, are generally understood to have de rived much of their effect from the poetry and sentiments with which they were combined.
The honours and rewards lavished upon those who ex celled in the fine arts, were doubtless one principal cause of the improvement which they reached ; but often were they =lied to a hurtful excess, exhausting the wealth which was wanted for the support of the state, and engross ing the rewards which were due to more essential services.
But the great occupation of the Greeks as a people, were war and politics. Leaving the ordinary labours of agriculture and the mechanical trades to the slaves, the citizens of the different states considered it as their pecu liar privilege to share in the government of their country, and to fight in defence of its rights, or for the advancement of its power. Every citizen, therefore, being bound to serve in arms, was enrolled as a soldier at a certain age ; and one of their regular employments was the exercise of the gymnasium, as a preparative for the toils of war. The armies were composed principally of heavy-armed infantry, attended by a number of slaves to carry the baggage, and serve in the camps, and spmetimes to act as light armed troops. The arms of the infantry were a helmet, corselet, large brazen shield, leathern grcaves or boots, long pike, and short sword. They were long accustomed to advance, in a compact body, to Clime fight ; but Iphicrates, an Athe nian general, introduced the employment of a greater pro portion of light infantry, diminishing the weight and size of the buckler, exchanging the metal corselet for one of canvas, lengthening considerably the lance and sword, and accustoming the troops thus accoutred to the most active evolutions. That celebrated commander, describing an army as a human body, compared the general to the head, the heavy-armed infantry to the breast, the cavalry to the feet, and the light troops to the hands. Chariots were lit tle used after the heroic age ; and, for want of horses, ca valry were never numerous, generally consisting of the wealthier citizens, or of soldiers fitted out at their expence.
Till the time of Philip of Macedon, the Greeks were little acquainted with the art of conducting sieges, but common ly limited their operations to a general assault, or inactive blockade. In long or distant wars, especially in the later ages of Greece, the citizens received pay, while serving in the field ; but the constant object of every Grecian state was to support their troops at the expence of the enemy. Even in the most civilized periods, Grecian warfare was conducted with a spirit of rapine and barbarity, which seemed' to increase, instead of diminishing, as knowledge and refinement spread among the people. Retaliation was considered as justifying the most atrocious measures, of which, in the course of the Peloponnesian war particularly, many instances occurred, in the proceedings of all parties. The Lacedemonians regularly massacred the crews of the Athenian merchant vessels, and even of neutrals, whene ver they came in their way ; and the Athenians deliberate ly decreed the extermination of the .iEginetans and Scyon ians, whom they put to death without distinction.
The Greeks distinguished six simple forms of govern ment, namely, monarchy, hereditary or legally established, oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy, tyranny, and assumed oligarchy, of which the two last were considered as illegal and inadmissible. The title of King never implied arming them the possession of absolute power, but only a legal and regulated superiority, particularly in directing the ob servances of religion, and the operations of war, and some times also in dispensing justice, but rarely in enacting laws. After the general abolition of monarchy in Greece, whene ver a citizen of a commonwealth was raised by any means to monarchical authority, he was denominated Tyrant, not originally as a term of reproach, though in future times it came too justly to be applied in that sense. In Athens especially, as early as the days of Theseus, the nobly born formed a distinct class of the community, and were invest ed with great privileges ; but hereditary nobility declined every where along with monarchy, and wealth became the principal cause of distinction among the citizens. Those who were able to serve in war on horseback at their own expence began to be regarded as a superior rank ; and to the same circumstance may be traced the order of knight.. hood in most countries. Aristocracy, however, was less a regularly instituted form of government, than an assumed title adopted by the rich and the noble in those states where they held the chief power ; but, as their administration was generally oppressive, oligarchy, or the government of a few, became a more frequent, though less honourable form of polity ; and the term aristocracy was at length employ ed rather to signify those persons who, on account of dis tinguished merit, were elected by the people to undertake the management of public affairs. This last was com monly the mode adopted in the most dcmocratical states; and pure democracy, in which all the freemen of the re public, in assembly, formed the supreme and absolute administration, was very rarely exemplified, and was usually denominated ochlogracy or mob-rule. Most of the Grecian governments contained a union of two or more of these forms ; and, from these various mixtures, new dis tinctions and designations arose, which it would be tedious and unprofitable to trace. Of political economy the Greeks seem to have been extremely ignorant ; and very little is known respecting their mode of managing the public finances. On the subject of population, it does not very clearly appear what was their regular system. They certainly employed many regulations for keeping up at least, if not for increasing, the number of their citizens ; yet they sheaved a decided aversion to any augmentation of their strength by the admission of foreigners to the privi leges, or even to the protection of their state. They stu died to preserve their townships completely insulated and distinct from all others ; and prohibited intermarraige with the members of a different community, with all the jealousy of feudal clanship.