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GEE E CCHAPTER I.GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF GBEECE,WERE any one, who is entirely unacquaintedwith thehistory of the Greeks, to examine the map with attentiveeye, he could hardly remain in doubt that their country, inpoint of situation, is favoured by nature beyond any otherin It isEurope. the most southern of that continent.The promontory of Tsenarium, in which it terminates, liesunder almost the same degree of latitude with the celebratedrock of Calpe and its northern boundaryfalls somewhat to;the south of Madrid. In this manner it extends from thatpromontory to Olympus and the Cambunian mountains,which divide it from Macedonia, about two hundred and1twenty-five miles from south to north. Its eastern pointisthe promontory of Sunium in Attica; from thence itsgreatest breadth, to the promontory of Leucas in the west,is about one hundred and sixtymiles. The greatness ofthe nation and the abundance of its achievements easilylead to the error of believing the country an extensive one.But even if we add all the islands, its square contents are athird less than those of Portugal. But what advantagesof situation does it not possess over the Iberian peninsula.If this, accordingto the ideas of the ancients, was thewestern extremity of the world, as the distant Serica wasthe eastern, Greece was as it were in the centre of themost cultivated countries of three continents. A shortpassage by sea divided it from Italy; and the voyage toEgypt, Asia Minor, and Phoenicia, though somewhatlonger, seemed hardly more dangerous.1From 36| to 40 degrees north latitude.