NIEBUIER'S LEC'TIIRES ON ANCIENT ETHNOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY. * DR. ISLER, the

German editor of these Lectures, for some time hesitated whether or not to publish them, because they necessarily went over ground already traversed, and treated of topics already touched by Niebuhr in his Roman History and the two series of Historical Lectures previously published. 'We think all students of classical literature and history have reason to be thankful to him for not having yielded to this hesitation ; for although the ground traversed is the same, the journey is taken with a different object, the facts narrated have a totally different principle of coordination; events and persons, which in the former case stood out from a slightly-sketched background of scenery, now are slightly touched in, as subordinate to a minute and elaborate landscape. The first volume is occupied with Greece and her colonies East of Italy ; the second with Italy, including the Greek colonies of Magna Greecia, Sicily, North Africa and a cursory notice of Spain, Gaul, Britain, and the Rhenish frontier. The work thus stands com- panion to Niebuhr's historical notices of the ancient classical na- tions, leaving outside its range the Asiatic peoples which formed the subject of the earlier portion of the general lectures on An- cient History published in English last year by Dr. Schmitz. The range of the present series is in fact nearly though not quite con- terminous with the nations that dwelt upon the shores and islands of the Mediterranean Sea.

It may occur to many, that one of the two volumes is, for prac- tical guidance, superseded by the fact that the lectures were de- livered in 1827-'28. Unquestionably, since that time the topography of Greece has received important illustrations, impossible while the country was so governed as to be in the highest degree dangerous for travellers ; and its ethnography has engaged the profoundest attention of scholars both in Germany and England, well worthy- " quasi cursores tradere lampada "—to keep up the succession in that school of historical inquiry of which Niebuhr was facile princeps, no less by the soundness of his judgment, and his his- torical tact, than by the inexhaustible resources of his learning, and his constructive imagination. We certainly wish that where recent travellers have, as especially in the topography of Athens, discovered facts unknown to Niebuhr, the editor had supplemented or corrected the statements in the text of the lectures by concise notes. But Niebuhr's knowledge of ancient authorities was so extensive and so completely at his command, and his acquaintance with middle-age and modern history so familiar, that it is simply impossible for any work of his on Greek and Roman history to be superseded. The discoveries of a Layard could not materially alter the great lines of our knowledge in Greek and Roman history. Fresh evidence might fill a void, or correct a detail, but would leave most conclusions from our already rich stores untouched or corroborated, and would certainly not impair the worth of works which, like Niebuhr's, form an exhaustive summing-up and a well- considered decision upon the immense mass of evidence that was before him. What, however, constitutes the main value of these lectures as an educational instrument, is not the ancient and modern learning and the ingenuity which it is almost superfluous I to predicate of any work of Niebuhr, but that good sense, that natural tendency to facts, which distinguish him from the mere philologer. While detecting a true reading in an ancient author, ' or tracing a subtile link that connects apparently widely different local or tribal names, he is ever seeking indications of political and social institutions, or of remote affinities of families and clans,—ever seeking, in other words, to apply a profound know- ledge of the ancient languages to its noblest end, the discovery of the life, manners, and institutions of those who spoke them.

• We by no means assert that even Niebuhr always avoids dis- cussions which can be conducted to no practical conclusion beyond that somewhat unsatisfactory certainty that we cannot be certain of anything thereabouts ; but we feel that if fact is to be got at Niebuhr is doing his utmost to get at it, and that where he flounders in chaos, it is from no inaptitude for grasping realities. His great and leading aim is to rescue philology alike from ac- quiescent incredulity, barren scepticism, and learned frivolity, and so to render it a study attractive to manly practical intellects, and rich in results that add to the positive knowledge of mankind. It is this aim, seconded by. a wonderful command of the necessary in- struments for reaching Al that makes Niebuhr's books and every- thing which he uttered so valuable to the student of classics, espe- cially in England, where the tendency has been to make that study one of words rather than of things. Indeed, that we have begun to escape from this tendency, may be traced to the influence of Niebuhr more than any single scholar besides ; and the more his books are studied amongst us, the more his spirit descends upon the • Lectures on Ancient. Ethnography and Geography; comprising Greece and her Colonies, Epirus, Macedonia, Illyrieum, Italy, Gaul, Spain, Britain, the North of Africa, &c. By B. G. Niebuhr. Translated from the Gerdlan edition of Dr. Isler, by Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. With Additions and Corrections from his own MS. Notes. In two volumes. Published by Walton and Maberly.

teachers of classics in our schools and universities, will Greek and Latin literature and history be deprived of that barren monopoly in- conceivably mischievous to education, however it may benefit certain learned blockheads, and take their place among the useful know- ledge of our age. They will still indeed enjoy a high and distin- guished consideration, as the fountain-heads of modern European philosophy, literature, and jurisprudence, but will constitute a special branch of knowledge, demanding special aptitude, special leisure, and having simply a special importance,—one among many valuable instruments of education and culture, not the one patent and sovereign invention, as has so often been argued, or at least asserted, for "the cultivation of thought and elegance in the ex- pression of thought." The lectures are not arranged as lectures, but are divided by subjects, each country and city being treated by itself. The work is therefore a geographical dictionary, following a natural instead of an alphabetical arrangement, and it will serve as a book of refer- ence as well as a systematic treatise on ancient geography. A copious index renders reference easy. As a treatise it should be studied when the broad outlines and leading facts of Greek and Roman history are impressed upon the memory, and when the points handled in the researches of the scholars of the first quarter of this century are not altogether unfamiliar. A student not ad- vanced to this stage will find himself wearied with detail, the ob- ject of which he does not apprehend, and which in its rapid and allusive treatment implies knowledge not usual in boys of less than sixteen or seventeen years of age. This is a limitation that ap- plies to all Niebuhr's books equally ; though judicious school- teachers may without much difficulty guide even junior students over the stony places and through the tangled thorns of intricate discussion.

Our extracts will be selected to illustrate the compactness and completeness of treatment, rather than the curious learning and theoretic ingenuity of the writer. Niebuhr's strong interest in his subject constantly carries him beyond the limits of ancient history, down through the middle ages, into the midst of the Greek insur- rection culminating in the battle of Navarino, fought just as these lectures began to be delivered. Here is a rapid summary of the history of Athens after its capture by Sulla.

"Athens was in a state of the deepest distress : the survivors received, what the Romans in their official language called freedom, that is, they were allowed to choose their own magistrates, and had jurisdiction in criminal cases. But the city was like a wilderness, though it always retained the remembrance of earlier times. The people did not indeed forget the fearful calamities they had experienced, but in that happy climate man enjoys the present ; the scenes of terror gradually ceased to be thought of, men soon as- sembled again, and Athens became one of the most delightful places to live in, to which Romans of education and rank, such as Atticus, withdrew from the political turmoils of the time, and cheered their life in a world of ideas and in dreams of the olden times. Under the Emperors, Athens recovered several islands which it had formerly possessed, as Sures, Lemnos, and Im- bros, which to some extent enabled it to exist. In the reign of Hadrian the Ilisus flowed with gold; Hemdes Atticus was indeed an acquisition for which the city had to pay dearly, for his vanity made him an unbearable and ar- rogant man, though he was withal empty-headed ; but still it was a period of relative prosperity. The philosophical school of Athens acquired more consistency under Hadrian ; it was a kind of university, where especially dialectics and speculative philosophy were pursued ; but the exact sciences and grammar were less attended to. A residence there was still very bene- ficial to young men, for the ancient serene spirit of its inhabitants still sur- vived in certain beautiful traits ; men loved to dwell there ; it was still the soil and the atmosphere of Athens, the vicinity of the monuments of classical antiquity, and with all its degeneracy Athens still preserved a shadow of its ancient urbanity.

"This prosperity received a fearful shock under Deems, after the middle of the third century, when the Goths, like a devastating torrent, spread over the coast of Asia and Greece from the Black Sea. Athens was now ran- sacked for plunder and partly burnt, and many took refuge in Piraceus. After this calamity was over, the people returned. We do not know what was the condition of domestic life at this period, but Libanius. Himerius, and S. Basilius give us an interesting picture of another aspect of life at the time; from the mode of life of the young men who then studied at Athens, we see how insignificant the city was, how the people derived their means of subsistence solely from the university and a little traffic in the produce of the country, such as honey and olives. Justinian abolished the schools, and Athens thereby lost its last resources. Henceforth nothing can be said of Athens for a period of seven hundred years; this only may be gathered from all the circumstances of the times, that the transition to Christianity took place gradually-, without any shock or violent dissensions, and in a very dif- ferent way from that which we witness at Rome, where the collision be- tween what was established and that which was struggling into existence was of a very violent character. At Rome the tombs a Christians and Pagans are always separate in the catacombs, and afterwards the bodies of Christians alone were deposited in them ; but at Athens, where the tombs are in layers one above another, the Pagan ones are below, and above them those of the Christians, while on some of them we find a mixture of Chris- tian and non-Christian emblems. Previous to the thirteenth century, not the slightest mention of Athens occurs. When the Franks had destroyed the Eastern empire (1204), a Frenchman of the name of Otto de la Roche, as a vassal of the Emperor of Constantinople, founded a principality under the title of Grand Duke (juiyas AoliE), the seat of which was Attica and Bceotia. His family, however, became extinct, and by marriage the possession passed into the hands of the Briennes ; this family possessed a considerable princi- pality there, and governed unhappy, Greece with the extreme severity of feudalism. The great company of the Catalani appeared in the fourteenth century, conquered the country, expelled the French Dukes, and, like their predecessors, fortified the Acropolis of Athens. The many remains of build- ings which do not bear the impress of antiquity seem to belong to this period : it is surprising, however, that in Greece there are no buildings of the time after Justinian. There now followed the period when the Italians, the Neris and Acciajuolis, were in possession of the duchy ; a descendant of the latter lived even recently as a common peasant in Attica. The Franks bad completely become Greeks, but still remained Roman Catholics, and in possession of Athens, until it was conquered by Mahmood H. The feudal characttr which the city sometimes bears in modern authors, as for example the fact that in Boccaccio and Shakspere, Theseus is called Duke of Athens, arises from its being governed by Dukes at that time. Subsequently Athens was alternately Venetian and Turkish until 1687, when unfortunately it iv; conquered by the Venetians, who on that occasion destroyed the Temple of Theseus. The Turks in 1690 reconquered it, and destroyed the Christian population. After this it was uninhabited for a period of thirty years, tin about 1720. Its most recent fate is but too well known to us all."

We quote the following notices of " Bake" and "Avernus" to illustrate how familiarly Niebuhr mingles his personal recollec- tions with the knowledge that throws light upon what is dark and disputed in ancient life, and how pleasant a relation between the professor and his class such familiarity implies. We do not, how- ever, think it likely that the Romans first chose a malarious spot for their favourite watering-place, and then partially obviated its effects by building houses out at sea. For it was not Bake, but only a few houses—and those in the time of Augustus, noted even then as a monstrous extravagance—which were built on moles erected in the water. The reason is not hinted at by ancient wri- thrs, and could have only operated very partially. It would seem much more probable that the marsh-fever did not prevail at the great watering-place in old times, but is due to the cessation of tillage and to the decrease of population. The fact, however, mentioned by Niebuhr, that sleeping on the water is a safeguard against marsh fever, is familiar enough to our officers and men on the African coast.

" The real watering-place, however, was Babe' is Cape Misenum, It is very remarkable, that at present the districts quite pestilential ; if a man were to sleep there one night during the summer, he would be seized with a bilious fever, in consequence of the poisonous air. A French officer, who imagined this to be a mere prejudice, made a bet that he would sleep in the Villa Borghese : he was urgently requested not to do it ; but the next morning he was quite swollen, and after a few days he died of a putrid fever. The same is the case at Baias ; and yet the ancients, as we see from a frag- ment of Cicero's speech in Clodium ef Curionem, most commonly staid there in April, when it is already dangerous. I have discovered the expla- nation of all this, from a conversation with a common man. He said to me that the nature of the Pontine marshes was a very strange thing ; that it was not possible for any one in summer to sleep there without fatal consequences, and that it was the same in many parts of Latium; but he added, that to his own knowledge sailors and boatmen, even in the dangerous season, slept in their boats very near the coast without injuring their health. This proves that the poisonous atmosphere does not extend across the water. The man's remarks contain a significant hint. I remembered that the English Ambas- sador, with whom I often took a walk there—he was not a man of learning —directed my attention to the fact, that beyond Mount Posilipo in the midst of the sea, ruins of ancient Roman houses were found; and he observed, that the Romans must have had a singular taste in thus building houses in the midst of the water, and connected with the main land by means of bridges, although there was no beauty to attract them. To abandon such a charming coast, and to build a house in the sea, was, he thought, a strange fancy. When, afterwards, I heard the account of the man I mentioned before, the mat- ter ceased to be a mystery to me. Even at Formic; and certainly at Beim, the Romans built houses into the sea, in order to isolate themselves from the bad air : these are the moles facto in altum, and on them people were safe. "The country there is indescribably beautiful and charming ; and besides Bairn, the Lake Avernus, surrounded by very ancient forests, is likewise a spot of great interest. Near it, a road has been cut through the rock leading to Canon. Such roads were often constructed for the purpose of shortening the distance and avoiding the heights; for the Romans generally endeavoured by every means to shorten the roads. A similar road leads from Naples to Puzzuoli, likewise made to avoid a hill, which it would be very difficult to cross : hence the erypta Pausilippana, .Puteolana Neapolitana. The Aver- nus was, no doubt, originally called aoppov, and with the digamma tzFopuos. This etymology has been rejected, because it implied the statement that birds could not fly over the lake, which, it is said, is an absurdity. But no bird settles there without dying in consequence, on account of the quantity of carbonic acid which is exhaled by the earth and the lake ; dogs, too, are not safe there, but men may pass without any danger."

We conclude our extracts with notices of Ravenna and Milan ; both exemplifying the quality for which we principally commend the lectures—the compactness and completeness with which the whole history of a place is presented.

"Ravenna, the centre of the whole province of Flaminia, was originally a Pelas,gian town, and is called Thessalian. In ancient times, it was situ- ated, like Venice' in a lagoon, an arm of the sea Wending from the mouth of the Po to the South of Rimini. Ravenna was built there on stakes like Venice. Such continued to be its condition in the time of the Roman Em- perors. It was inaccessible from the main land, from which it was separated by that arm of the sea, or rather by so shallow a marsh that persons could reach the city only with very flat boats, and not without a very accurate knowledge of the shallows. This strong position was probably the reason why Ravenna subsequently became the seat of the Imperial government, for no place in Italy was considered sufficiently strong even when protected by a courageous garrison. Ravenna at that time was situated in the midst of the sea, and the streets were formed, as at Venice' by means of canals, by which the communication between its various parts was mainly kept up. A suburb of the name of Classes was situated on the main land opposite. The lagoons have gradually been filled up. During the Pelasgian period, the arm

i

of the sea may have been deep, but n the middle ages it was filled up. A pier was constructed between Ravenna and the suburb Classes, (near it was the military port, whence the name Classes,) and this pier seems to have greatly contributed to the filling-up of the lagoons. When Belisarius made war on the Goths, Ravenna was still situated on the sea ; but during the middle ages the sea vanishes, and the history of this gradual change can be accurately traced in documents. At present Ravenna is not only not a mari- time town, and without a trace of itf ancient canals, but it is situated, like Mexico, at a distance of from one and a half to two Roman miles from the sea, and near Classes not a trace of a harbour is left. Ravenna's greatness belongs to the period of Rome's decay. As early as the time of Augustus a fleet was stationed there, for the purpose of enabling the Romans, in case of a war or an insurrection, speedily to convey troops to the frontiers of Nori- cum and to Pannonia ; and afterwards a fleet was always ready there. In the time of Theodosius and Honorius' the town became important as the seat of government; under the Goths, too, it was the capital, notwithstanding the unpleasantness of its situation ; during the period of the Lombards it was the seat of the Exarch or Greek Governor of Italy. Hence the many extremely remarkable buildings which still distinguish Ravenna from all other towns ; and there is no place possessing so many edifices erected at a time when otherwise very little was done in the way of building. At the time when Ravenna became a capital, it had probably not yet reached its full extent; and as its population greatly increased, it was necessary to enlarge and embellish the place. Its decay began when it ceased to be the seat of the Exarch. The town is remarkable also in the history of the Roman law ; for notwithstanding its conquest by the Lombards, it never assumed the cha- racter of a Germanic town. Hence it became the seat of the grammatical and juristical schools, in which ancient literature continued to be taught. The form in which the ancient scholiasts have come down to us seems, gene- rally speaking, to have been given to them in the school at Ravenna. Sa- rim has shown that the Roman law was taught there until the eleventh

j century, and that its uristical school was not transferred to Bologna till the time when the Roman law became established beyond the frontiers of Italy."

"The Insubrians occupied almost exactly the modem territory of Milan, for Ticinum was regarded as one of the Ligurian towns. Comum also did not belong to Gallia Transpadana, which comprised Milan, Lodi, and a part of the territory of Cremona. During the two hundred years in which the Gauls were masters of that district, it contained, properly speaking, no towns, and Mediolanum, the principal place of the Insubrians, was an open village, though it may have been very large. The Romans treated the Insubrians more gently than the Boians, whence their country was not so cruelly devastated. In consequence of its relation to Rome, the village of Mediolanum became a town; but when or how this happened, we have no means of ascertaining. In the time of Cmsar and Cicero, Mediolanum is already mentioned as a town, and according to the description of Strabo, it appears to have even been a considerable one. The district of Milan is extremely fertile ; its vicissitudes have been terrible, but it has always been restored; the causes of which must probably be sought in the particularly favourable circumstances of its situa- tion. It is certainly not owing to the peculiar character of its inhabitants ; of whom antiquity did not entertain any more favourable opinion than that which is current about the modern Milanese, who are said to be the most lazy and awkward among all the Italians. The atmosphere is heavy, and both ancients and moderns assert that this has a great influence upon the inhabitants. Now this town of Milan which in the time of Strabo ap- pears as a considerable country town, ever continued to increase under the Emperors. In the letters of Pliny we find it spoken of ass large place, in which, according to the custom of the time, public teachers of rhetoric and gram- mar were appointed and salaried, and formed what we might call a univer- sity. During the second century Milan became larger and larger. In the war of the Emperor Aurelian with the Goths it was devastated, but soon recovered again. The Emperor Maximian took up his residence there, so that it became a capital of the empire. Ausonius, who lived about eighty years later, says, ifediolani mira omnia ; and mires at that time signified 'beau- tiful' or magnificent.' In the reign of Theodoric it was a very large and important city, though this Emperor did not reside there. In the war of Belisarius its fate was very melancholy : Datius, the Bishop of Milan, had been intriguing with the Imperial general, and promised to deliver up Milan to him ; but the plan was betrayed, the Goths entered Milan, and, if we can take the account in Pro- copius literally, put the whole population to the sword. The calamity must indeed have been fearful, though it can scarcely have been as bad as it is said to have been. In the time of the Lombards we again find it as a great city, though it was under a disadvantage because Pavia, in its neighbour- hood, was the capital of the Lombards ; and a rivalry between those two cities continued to exist until a late period of the middle ages. This kind of hostility was quite common among the Italian towns. In the case of large cities, this feeling may to some extent be excused, though it cannot be justi- fied ; but at present, when those towns are altogether devoid of character, that hatred is the only thing which has been propagated to them from better and more glorious times. Verona was the first Italian town in which I made a stay, and in which I had any conversation with the people ; they very soon began to speak contemptuously of the other cities, to each of which some abusive name was applied. Such were the first things I heard in Italy : the idea that they are all countrymen and Italians is treated by them with ridicule ; and even the inhabitants of different towns under the same sove- reign have no fellow-feeling. When you speak to a Milanese, you find that he does not regard the Veronese as his countrymen ; the inhabitants of some districts in Tuscany appear to him much more in that light, and he feels as foreign to the Lombards as to the French. It is distressing to see this dis- tracted state of Italy. A Florentine treats it as a heresy, and flies into a pas- sion, when you speak to him of a ,favella Italiana ; he cannot hear of any- thing but a favella Toscana. It is well known that the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa afterwards destroyed Milan, and compelled the inhabitants to live in five scattered villages ; but they returned nevertheless. Subsequently, the wars at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century brought such severe sufferings upon Milan, that it would necessarily have perished, if this were possible. It fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and in the sixteenth century was visited by a plague which carried off three- fifths of its inhabitants. In the seventeenth century, the plague again made sad ravages, and destroyed half the population. At present, it is still constantly increasing. He who has a taste for classical antiquity cannot re- gard these Lombard towns as belonging to it ; for their importance does not commence until the decline of the Romans."

The compilation of these lectures from notes taken by the stu- dents proves the eager attention which the great Professor succeeded in inspiring. They could scarcely have been more completely given, one would think, had Niebuhr written them. But we regret the absence of what he could have supplied without trouble—refer- ences to authorities for each statement he makes. Such references vastly increase the value of a work for students, and habituate them not to rely implicitly on whatever they find stated in books, while they give an authority to what is stated not to be otherwise attained. Niebuhr had so wonderfully accurate a memory, that he needs less than almost any writer to justify his statements by references; but as he could better afford to stand the test, so his authority and example would be the more impressive. His edit- ors, however, could scarcely be expected to supply what, from the nature of the case, would have entailed upon them very laborious and unfortunately not very higtly estimated investigation. The loss is the penalty we pay for the prodigious memory which could deliver the most learned disquisitions without reference to notes.