Publisher's Synopsis
RUINS OF ANCIENT CITIES, WITH GENERAL AND PARTICULAR ACCOUNTS OF THEIR RISE, FALL, AND PRESENT CONDITION. - BY CHARLES BUCKEThis Volume contain these cities;Abydos, Abydus, Ægesta, Æina, Agrigentum, Alba Longa, Alcantara, Alexandria, Amisus, Antioch, Argos, Ariammene, Arsinoe, Artaxata, Artemita, Athens, Babylon, Balbec, Byzantium, Cairo (Old), Cannæ, Capua, Carthage, Catanea, Chalcedon, Chæronea, Corduba, Corcyra (Corfu), Corinth, Ctesiphon, Delphos, Ecbatana, Eleusis, Elis, Ephesus, Gerasa (Djerash), Granada, Gnidos, Heliopolis, Herculaneum, Hierapolis, Isfahan, Italica, Jerusalem, Lacedæmon, Or Sparta, Laodicea, Leuctra, Magnesia, Mantinea, Marathon, Megalopolis, Megara, Memphis.Of chance or change, oh! let not man complain;Else shall he never, never, cease to wail;For from the imperial dome, to where the swainRears his lone cottage in the silent dale, All feel the assault of fortune's fickle gale.Art, empire, earth itself, to change are doom'd;Earthquakes have raised to heaven the humble vale;And gulfs the mountains' mighty mass entomb'd;And where the Atlantic rolls wide continents have bloom'd.{BEATTIE.}The reader is requested to observe, that, though the plan of this work is entirely his own, the compiler of it does not put it forth as in any way original in respect to language or description. It is, in fact, a much better book, than if it had been what is strictly called original, (which, indeed, must have involved an utter impossibility: ) for it is a selection of some of the best materials the British Museum could furnish; sometimes worked up in his own language; and sometimes-and, indeed, very frequently-in that of others: the compiler having, at an humble distance and with unequal steps, followed the plan which M. Rollin proposed to himself, when he composed his celebrated history of ancient times.-"To adorn and enrich my own," says that celebrated writer, "I will be so ingenuous as to confess, that I do not scruple, nor am ashamed, to rifle whereever I come; and that I often do not cite the authors from whom I transcribe, because of the liberty I take to make some slight alterations. I have made the best use in my power of the solid reflections that occur in the Bishop of Meaux's Universal History, which is one of the most beautiful and most useful books in our language. I have also received great assistance from the learned Dean Prideaux's 'Connexion of the Old and New Testament, ' in which he has traced and cleared up, in an admirable manner, the particulars relating to ancient history. I shall take the same liberty with whatever comes in my way, that may suit my design, and contribute to its perfection. I am very sensible, that it is not so much for a person's reputation to make use of other men's labours, and that it is in a manner renouncing the name and quality of author. But I am not over-fond of that title, and shall be extremely well pleased, and think myself very happy, if I can but deserve the name of a good compiler; and supply my readers with a tolerable history, who will not be over-solicitous to inquire what hand it comes from, provided they are but pleased with it."
