FOURTH PERIOD.

The fourth period of history comprehends two hundred and sixteen years, from the foundation of Rome to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, B. C. 537.

It contains the history of the six first Roman kings; of Draco, Solon, and Pisistratus, in Athens; the union of the kingdoms of Babylon and Nineveh by Esarhaddon; the succession of Cyrus to the ancient Assyrian empire, under the title of the Persian empire; and the captivity of the Jews.

FIFTH PERIOD.

The fifth period comprehends two hundred and four years it extends from the taking of Babylon by Cyrus to the entry of Alexander into Asia, B. C. 333.

It contains the abolition of monarchy in Rome; the taking of Rome by the Gauls; and the Samnitic war; the history of the kings of Persia, to Darius, who was conquered by Alexander the Great; the Persian and Peloponnesian wars; the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks; and the history of Philip, king of Ma

cedon; the return of the Jews from captivity, and the re-building of the temple.

SIXTH PERIOD.

The sixth period comprehends one hundred and eighty-eight years: it extends from the entry of Alexander the Great into Carthage, to the ruin of that proud city, which was the epoch of Roman grandeur, B. C. 145.

It contains the destruction of the Persian empire by Alexander; the history of Alexander's successors; of the defence of Judea by the Maccabees; of the Achæan league, and Pyrrhus, king of Epirus; the beginning of the Roman conquests in Greece, and the three punic wars, which ended with the ruin and destruction of Carthage.

SEVENTH PERIOD.

The seventh period comprehends one hundred and forty-five years: it terminates the ancient history, and extends from the ruin of Carthage, the capital of Africa, to the birth of Jesus Christ: it contains the history of the conquests of the Romans in Greece, Syria, Gaul, and

Africa; of the civil wars between Pompey and Cæsar, and between Augustus and Mark Antony, with the change of government to a monarchy, under Augustus.

MIDDLE AGES.

EIGHTH PERIOD.

THE eighth period comprehends three hundred and twelve years, and extends from the birth of Christ to the year 312 of the Christian era, when Constantinus Magnus embraced Christianity.

This period contains little more than the history of the Roman empire, inasmuch as the Romans possessed the greater part of the then known world: it begins with Augustus, and continues to Constantine, who removed the seat of empire to Byzantinum, or Constantinople; Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, seventy years after the birth of Christ.

NINTH PERIOD.

The ninth period comprehends one hundred and sixty-four years, from Constantine the

Great to the extinction of the Western empire, A. D. 476.

This period is also nearly confined to the history of the Roman empire, which, as we have seen, was divided soon after the reign of Constantine into the Eastern and Western empires: the power of the Romans was at this period rapidly declining, and finally they were invaded by the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Gauls, and other Northern nations, who at last took possession of Rome, and put an end to the Western empire: during this period the Romans totally abandoned their conquests in Britain, and the Franks settled in Gaul.

TENTH PERIOD.

The tenth period comprehends three hundred and twenty-four years, from the extinction of the Western empire to the re-establishment of the same empire under Charlemagne, A. D. 800.

This period contains the continuation of the history of the Eastern empire; that of the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Lombards; and of the Saxons in Britain. In France, of Clovis; of the Mayors of the Police; of Pepin, the founder