a large state governed by one; or a state where the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a single person. The word comes from the Greek μονάρχης, "one who governs alone;" formed of μόνος, solo, and ἄρχω imperium, "government." Of the three forms of government, viz. democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy, the last is the most powerful, all the fineness of government being knit together, and united in the hand of the prince; but then there is imminent Monarchy, imminent danger of his employing that strength to imprudent or oppressive purposes. As a democracy is the best calculated to direct the end of a law, and an aristocracy to invent the means by which that end shall be obtained, a monarchy is most fit for carrying those means into execution.

The most ancient monarchy was that of the Assyrians, which was founded soon after the deluge. We usually reckon four grand or universal monarchies; the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman; though St Augustine makes them but two, viz. those of Babylon and Rome. Belus is placed at the head of the series of Assyrian kings who reigned at Babylon, and is by profane authors esteemed the founder of it, and by some the same whom the scriptures call Nimrod. The principal Assyrian kings after Belus were Ninus, who built Nineveh, and removed the seat of empire to it; Semiramis, who, disguising her sex, took possession of the kingdom instead of her son, and was killed and succeeded by her son Ninias; and Sardanapalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs, and more effeminate than a woman. After his death the Assyrian empire was split into three separate kingdoms, viz. the Median, Assyrian, and Babylonian. The first king of the Median kingdom was Arbaces; and this kingdom lasted till the time of Abygates, who was subdued and divested of his kingdom by Cyrus.

In the time of Cyrus there arose a new and second monarchy called the Persian, which stood upwards of 200 years from Cyrus, whose reign began A.M. 3468, to Darius Codomannus, who was conquered by Alexander, and the empire translated to the Greeks A.M. 3674.—The first monarch was Cyrus, founder of the empire. 2. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus. 3. Smerdis. 4. Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who reigned 521 years before Christ. 5. Xerxes, who reigned 485 years before Christ. 6. Artaxerxes Longimanus, who reigned 464 years before Christ. 7. Xerxes the second. 8. Ochus, or Darius, called Nothus, 424 years before Christ. 9. Artaxerxes Mnemon, 405 years before Christ. 10. Artaxerxes Ochus, 359 years before Christ. 11. Arsces, 338 years before Christ. 12. Darius Codomannus, 336 years before Christ, who was defeated by Alexander the Great, and deprived of his kingdom and life about 331 years before Christ; the dominion of Persia after his death was translated to the Greeks.

The third monarchy was the Grecian. As Alexander, when he died, did not declare who should succeed him, there started up as many kings as there were commanders. At first they governed the provinces that were divided among them under the title of viceroys; but when the family of Alexander the Great was extinct, they took upon them the name of kings. Hence, in process of time, the whole empire of Alexander produced four distinct kingdoms, viz. 1. The Macedonian; the kings of which, after Alexander, were Antipater, Cassander, Demetrius Poliorcetes, Seleucus Nicanor, Meleager, Antigonus Doson, Philip, and Perseus, under whom the Macedonian kingdom was reduced to the form of a Roman province. 2. The Asiatic kingdom, which upon the death of Alexander fell to Antigonus, comprehending that country now called Anatolia, together with some other regions beyond Mount Taurus. From this kingdom proceeded two lesser ones, viz. that of Pergamus, whose last king, Attalus, appointed the Roman people to be his heir; and Pontus, reduced by the Romans into the form of a province, when they had subdued the last king, Mithridates. 3. The Syrian, of whose twenty-two kings the most celebrated were, Seleucus Nicanor, founder of the kingdom; Antiochus Deius; Antiochus the Great; Antiochus Epiphanes; and Tigranes, who was conquered by the Romans under Pompey; and Syria reduced into the form of a Roman province. 4. The Egyptian, which was formed by the Greeks in Egypt, and flourished near 240 years under 12 kings, the principal of whom were, Ptolemy Lagus, its founder; Ptolemy Philadelphus, founder of the Alexandrian library; and queen Cleopatra, who was overcome by Augustus, in consequence of which Egypt was added to the dominion of the Romans.

The fourth monarchy was the Roman, which lasted 244 years, from the building of the city until the time when the royal power was abrogated. The kings of Rome were, Romulus, its founder; Num Pompilius; Tullus Hostilius; Ancus Martius; Tarquinius Priscus; Servius Tullius; and Tarquin the Proud, who was banished, and with whom terminated the regal power.

There seems in reality no necessity to make the Medes, Persians, and Greeks, succeed to the whole power of the Assyrians, to multiply the number of the monarchies. It was the same empire still; and the several changes that happened in it did not constitute different monarchies. Thus the Roman empire was successively governed by princes of different nations, yet without any new monarchy being formed thereby. Rome, therefore, may be said to have immediately succeeded Babylon in the empire of the world. See Empire.

Of monarchies some are absolute and despotic, where the will of the monarch is uncontroullable; others are limited, where the prince's authority is restrained by laws, and part of the supreme power lodged in other hands, as in Britain. See Government.

Some monarchies again are hereditary, where the succession devolves immediately from father to son; and others are elective, where, on the death of the monarch, his successor is appointed by election, as in Poland.

Fifth-Monarchy Men, in the ecclesiastical history of England, were a set of wrong-headed and turbulent enthusiasts who arose in the time of Cromwell, and who expected Christ's sudden appearance upon earth to establish a new kingdom; and, acting in consequence of this illusion, aimed at the subversion of all human government.