At length Medon had recourse to the oracle, which decided in his favour; and Nileus, with all the younger sons of Codrus, and accompanied by a numerous force, departed from Athens, and colonized that part of Asia Minor celebrated in history under the name of Ionia.

The rise, power, and influence of these Asiatic colonies we shall find a more convenient opportunity to notice.

Medon's reign, thus freed from the more stirring spirits of his time, appears to have been prosperous and popular; it was an era in the ancient world, when the lameness of a ruler was discovered to be unconnected with his intellect! Then follows a long train of archons--peaceable and obscure.

During a period estimated at three hundred years, the Athenians performed little that has descended to posterity--brief notices of petty skirmishes, and trivial dissensions with their neighbours, alone diversify that great interval.

Meanwhile, the Ionian colonies rise rapidly into eminence and power.