Bofphorusof Thrace, which he pafs'd with his Army on a Bridge made of Boats; and continuing his March through Thrace to the Mouth of the Danube (where he had ordered his Fleet, confifting of 600 Ships, to meet him) he pass'd it in the fame manner, and afterwards marched ftrait into Scythia; and having for a long time harafs'd and fatigued his Army in fearch of the Enemy, (who industriously fhun'd to give him Battle, that they might by long Marches, and the Straits which they reduced them to for want of Water, and other Neceffaries, oblige them either to perish or leave their Country of their own accord) he was at length obliged to return the fame way he came with great precipitation, without effecting any thing; having in his Return through Thrace left his General Megabizes with eighty thousand Men, he went strait into Perfia: Having from thence pafs'd into India at the head of an Army, he subdu'd all that vaft Country.

PAGE 116. The Ionians, at the Inftigation A.M.350m of Ariftagoras Lieutenant to Hyftieus, revolt; and being treacherously abandon'd by the Athenians and their other Allies, are again reduc'd under the Perfian Yoke, and their Cities burnt to Afhes, the Flower of their young Men and Women fent Slaves to Perfia.

Darius having recalled all his other Gene-4.M.3510 rals, fent Mardonius a young Nobleman of Perfia, who had married one of his Daughters, to command in chief in Afia, with Orders to invade Greece, and take vengeance of the Athenians and Eretreans, for the burning of Sardis when they aided the Ionians in their Revolt. OUR Author fays here, that Darius fhewed little Prudence in the choice of this General, in

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having preferr'd a young Man, tho' a Favourite, to his oldest and most experienc'd Generals; especially in carrying on a War of fo great Importance, wherein his Honour, and the Glory of his Reign were fo much concerned.

Mardonius in his Paffage through Thrace, to go into Macedonia, had his Camp attack'd in the Night-time, and a great part of his Army cut in pieces by the Thracians. At the fame time his Fleet being overtaken by a violent Tempeft, three hundred of his Ships, and above twenty thoufand Men perished; whichoblig'd him to return into Afia. And Darius being now, when it was too late, fully convinced of his Error, recall'd Mardonius, and fent Datis a Mede, and Artaphernes his own Brother's Son, in his place; with a Refolution to attack Greece, but efpecially the Athenians and Eretreans with all his force.

BUT before Darius had finally engag'd himfelf in this Expedition, he thought it fit, to fend Ambaffadors into Greece to found their Inclinations, and fee how they were affected towards him. These Ambaffadors were charged to require a Delivery of Water and Earth, that being the manner in which the Perfians were used to demand Subjection from those they defigned to reduce under their Dominion. Some Cities yielded out of fear, but these Ambaffadors met with ruder Treatment at Athens and Lacedemon; the one was thrown into a deep Ditch, and the other into a Pit, and defired to take the Water and Earth they required from thence.

PAGE 152. Our Author here gives a Defcription of the furprizing Battle of Marathon, where ten thousand Athenians, a great part of

which were Slaves, raised in hafte, routed a powerful Army of a hundred and ten thousand Perfians.

Datis and Artaphernes at the head of an Army of five hundred thousand Men, befides a Fleet of fix hundred Ships, were ordered by Darius to invade Greece, to take Athens and Eretrea, to burn all the Houses and Temples, and fend all the Inhabitants in Chains to Perfia. Conformable to thefe Orders, thefe two Generals after they had made themselves Mafters of all the Ifles in the Egean Sea, advanced to Eretrea, which they took and burnt in lefs than seven days, and fent all the Inhabitants, as they had been commanded, bound in Chains into Perfia.

WHEN the Athenians understood, that the Perfian Army was advanced as far as Marathon, which is but fifteen Miles diftant from Athens, they mustered up all their Forces, which after they had obliged the Slaves to take Arms and join them, a thing till then unpractifed at Athens, confifted only of ten thousand Men; it was long difputed, whether they should hazard a Battle, or wait the coming of the Enemy, and defend themfelves within their Walls and tho' most of their Chiefs were for the laft, yet by the Credit and Strength of Reasoning of Miltiades, it was concluded that they should advance to the Enemy, and give them battle.

THE Athenian Army was led by ten Generals, each of which was to command one Day only, as it came to his turn; but Ariftides, who was one of them, confidering the great Inconveniencies that a Command fo divided and changeable might occafion, prevail'd that the

whole

whole Command fhould be devolved and uni ted in Miltiades alone; and in order to induce his Colleagues the more eafily to agree to this, reasonable Proposal, he fet them an example, and when it came to his Day, transferr'd his Command to Miltiades, which the reft alfo did in their turns.

THE Athenian Army having taken their March, and being advanced as far as Marathon, where the Enemy then lay, Miltiades like an able Commaneer endeavouring to make up the Advantage that the Enemy had in their Number by an advantageous Difpofition, drew up his small Army at the foot of a Mountain, fo as they could not be furrounded, and fecured the Flanks with Trees, which he caused to be cut down on purpose, whereby he render'd the Enemies Horse altogether ufelefs to them. All things being thus difpofed, Miltiades gave theSignal for the Onfet, which was made with a great deal of Fury and Rage, the Perfian Army routed, and pursued to their very Ships, of which the Athenians burnt and funk many, and took seven; the Perfians loft fix thousand of their Army, befides what was burnt and drewned in going aboard their Ships. The Athenians loft only two hundred Men, who had Monuments erected to their Memory in the Field of Battle, with every one their Names infcrib'd upon them, and the Tribe to which they belonged.

OUR Author, befides the particular Account .he gives of this Action, hath in this place added several agreeable and judicious Reflexions of his own on the nature of popular Governments, and the Ingratitude of the Athenians in particular to their Deliverer Miltiades.

WHEN

WHEN Darius had heard of the Defeat of his Army at Marathon, he was fo enraged, and fo far from being difcouraged by the bad Succefs, or diverted from his purpofe, that it ferved the more to animate him to push the War with greater Vigour, in order to be reveng'd for the Affront offered his Ambaffadors, and to rub off the shameful Defeat of his Army: He therefore fent Orders to all the Provinces under his Dominion to arm themselves, and after three Years great Preparation for the War, which he defigned in perfon to carry into Greece, whilft his Lieutenant fhould at the fame time act against the Egyptians, who had revolted, with another Army. But before he could put his Defigns in execution he died, and left the Management of that part to his Son and Succeffor Xerxes. Some fay, that he lived to fee one part of the Expedition against the Egyptians executed, and that in obedience to an ancient Law among the Perfians, he had fettled the Succeffion of the Crown upon Xerxes; left if he had died in the Expedition, the Crown might have been difputed by Artabazan, his Son of the firft Marriage.

OTHERS, among the number of which are Justin and Plutarch, fay, that this Difpute actually happened between Artabazan and Xerxes, a Son of the fecond Marriage by Aloffa Daughter of Cyrus, after Darius's Death; however that be, the Account our Author gives of the Moderation, Greatnefs of Soul, and Difinterestedness with which the Difpute was managed, and the Character he here gives of Darius, is highly worth every one's Perufal.

THUS