There are no Greek or Roman roads perceivable in the Morca : but only Turkish causeways about two feet and a half in breadth, leading over the low marshy spots ; and these are sufficient for the horses of the soldiery, or the asses of the peasantry, who rarely make use of any wheel carriages.
The climate, and the whole aspect of nature in the Morea, presents a harmonious uniformity, softness, and repose, and the scenery is often beautiful. The soil in the valleys is fruitful, and susceptible of every species of culture ; and the mountains are covered with pas ture and medicinal herbs ; but only a few of them, particularly Helicon, are adorned with luxuriant shrubs, and covered with thriving flocks. Rose-laurels, and the Agnus Castus, with its long, pale, narrow leaf, and purple woolly flower, are met with all over the country ; and are almost the only decorations of its now solitary wastes.
It would be a vain attempt to describe the remains of ancient arts and architecture in modern Greece ; where every species of destruction follows another so rapidly, that frequently one traveller can discover no trace of the monuments which another had admired but a few months before.
The population of the Morea has been estimated by some at 300,000, but the following is one of the most recent computations, namely, 400,000 Greeks.
15,000 Turks.
4,000 Jews.
4,000 Mainottes.
423,000.
The history of this country, from the dissolution of the Achaian league, B. C. 146, is connected with that of Rome ; and, after the fall of that empire, is to be sought in that of Venice and Turkey. We notice, at present, only a few of the leading events in its state and history, from the conclusion of its ancient annals, given under the article GREECE, in this work. In the civil wars of Rome, the Athenians espoused the cause of Pompey, which they considered as that of liberty ; while the Spartans adhered to the interests of exsar, and fought against Brutus at Philippi. Vcspasian re duced Achaia to a Roman province, A. D. 79. The laws of Lycurgus were still in force at Lacedxmon in the reign of Domitian, A. D. 91. Adrian, A. D. 134, rebuilt the fallen monuments of Athens, erected a new city in the vicinity of the ancient one, and revived throughout Greece the reign of science and the arts.
Under the Antonines the schools of Athens were re stored to their former splendour ; and the city swarm ed with a multitude of philosophers, and their re spective disciples. Sparta had fallen into obscurity, except that the emperor Caracalla chose a band of her citizens as his body-guard. In the year 261, the Heruli pillaged the greater part of the Morca, and eight years afterwards, Athens was taken by the Goths, but res cued from their hands by one of its citizens named Cleodemus. In 395, the whole of Peloponncsus fell under the successive ravages of the barbarians ; and its devastation was completed by the troops under Sti lico, who marched to its deliverance. Justinian made some attempts to repair its ruins ; and, when the east ern empire was divided into governments called The mata, Lacedxmon became a domain of the brothers, or eldest sons of the emperor, who assumed the title of Despots. From this period, A D. 527, there are few historical records of this renowned region, fur the long space of 700 years. In 846, Greece was overrun by the Sclavonians, who are supposed to be the ances tors of the modern Mainottes ; and, in 1031. the western coasts were ravaged by the Turks. About the begin ning of the 12th century, the Venetians and other wcst ern nations invaded the Peloponnesus, which. appears, about this time, to have changed its name for that of the Morea, in consequence (as is conjectured) of its abounding in mulberry trees, which then began to be extensively cultivated in the growing manufacture of silk in the country In the commencement of the 1Sth century, Boniface, Marquis of Montserrat, joined by other bands of Crusaders, reduced the whole of the Morea, which was soon after given up to the Venetians by the terms of a general treaty concluded at Constan tinople. Occasionally possessed by different chiefs, called princes of the Morea. it was for 57 years the subject of contention between the Latin emperors of the East, and the Greek emperors who had retired into Asia. Occupied at different times, for short periods, by various adventurers, it fell at length, in the beginning of the 15th century, under the power of the Mussul.