{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56002/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56002","id":"gutenberg_56002","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56002","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Travel Writing","Greece -- Antiquities","Greece -- Description and travel"],"text":"------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Note:\n\nThis version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.\nItalics are delimited with the \u2018_\u2019 character as _italic_. Bold text is\ndelimited with \u2018=\u2019 as =bold=.\n\nFootnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are\nreferenced.\n\n[Sidenote: Marginal notes\n at the head\n of a paragraph\n appear on\n separate lines.]\n\nMarginal notes in the middle of a paragraph [Sidenote: like this] are\ninterpolated in the text itself.\n\nMinor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please\nsee the transcriber\u2019s note at the end of this text for details regarding\nthe handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n STUDIES\n IN\n GREEK SCENERY, LEGEND\n AND HISTORY\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_\n\n=Pausanias\u2019 Description of Greece.= Translated by Sir J. G. FRAZER,\n D.C.L., Litt.D. With commentary, illustrations, and maps. Second\n Edition. 6 vols. 8vo. 126s. net.\n\n=The Golden Bough. A Study in Magic and Religion.= Third Edition,\n revised and enlarged. 8vo.\n\n PART 1. =The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings.= 4th Impression.\n Two vols. 20s. net.\n\n PART 2. =Taboo and the Perils of the Soul.= 3rd Impression. One vol.\n 10s. net.\n\n PART 3. =The Dying God.= 3rd Impression. One vol. 10s. net.\n\n PART 4. =Adonis, Attis, Osiris.= Two vols. Third Edition. 20s. net.\n\n PART 5. =Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild.= 2nd Impression. Two\n vols. 20s. net.\n\n PART 6. =The Scapegoat.= One vol. 10s. net.\n\n PART 7. =Balder the Beautiful: The Fire-Festivals of Europe, and the\n Doctrine of the External Soul.= 2nd Impression. Two vols. 20s.\n net.\n\n VOL. XII. =Bibliography and General Index.= 20s. net.\n\n=Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship.= 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.\n\n=Totemism and Exogamy.= A Treatise on Certain Early Forms of\n Superstition and Society. With Maps. 4 vols. 8vo. 50s. net.\n\n=The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead.= Vol. I. The\n Belief among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands,\n New Guinea, and Melanesia. 8vo. 10s. net.\n\n=Psyche\u2019s Task.= A Discourse concerning The Influence of Superstition on\n the Growth of Institutions. Second Edition, revised and enlarged, to\n which is added \u201cThe Scope of Social Anthropology.\u201d 8vo. 5s. net.\n\n=Essays of Joseph Addison.= Chosen and edited, with a Preface and a few\n Notes, by Sir J. G. FRAZER. 2 vols. Gl. 8vo. 10s. net.\n\n=Letters of William Cowper.= Chosen and edited, with Memoir and Notes,\n by Sir J. G. FRAZER. 2 vols. Gl. 8vo. 10s. net.\n\n LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n STUDIES\n\n IN\n\n GREEK SCENERY, LEGEND\n AND HISTORY\n\n SELECTED FROM HIS COMMENTARY ON\n PAUSANIAS\u2019 \u2018DESCRIPTION OF GREECE\u2019\n\n BY\n\n SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER\n\n FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE\n AUTHOR OF \u2018THE GOLDEN BOUGH\u2019\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED\n ST. MARTIN\u2019S STREET, LONDON\n 1917\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n _First published under the title, \u201cPausanias and other Greek Sketches,\u201d\n 1900_\n _Reprinted 1917_\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE\n\n\nThe Englishman in Greece who pays any heed to the remains of classical\nantiquity is apt, if he be no scholar, to wonder who a certain Pausanias\nwas whose authority he finds often quoted on questions of ancient\nbuildings and sites. The first of the following sketches may do\nsomething to satisfy his curiosity on this head. It has already served\nas an introduction to a version of Pausanias\u2019s _Description of Greece_\nwhich I published with a commentary two years ago. The account of\nPericles was contributed to the ninth edition of the _Encyclopaedia\nBritannica_. I desire to thank Messrs. A. and C. Black for their\ncourteous permission to republish it. The other sketches are reprinted,\nwith some small changes and adjustments of detail, from my commentary on\nPausanias. References to authorities have been omitted as needless in a\nbook which is not specially addressed to the learned. Any one who wishes\nto pursue the subject further will find my authorities amply cited in\nthe original volumes. Among works from which I have borrowed both\noutlines and colours for some of my sketches of Greek landscape I will\nhere mention only two\u2014the _Erinnerungen und Eindr\u00fccke aus Griechenland_\nof the Swiss scholar W. Vischer, and the _Peloponnes_ of the German\ngeologist Mr. A. Philippson. Slight and fragmentary as these sketches\nare, I am not without hope that they may convey to readers who have\nnever seen Greece something of the eternal charm of its scenery. To such\nas already know and love the country they will yet be welcome, if here\nand there they revive some beautiful or historic scene on those tablets\nof the mind from which even the brightest hues so quickly fade.\n\n J. G. F.\n\nCAMBRIDGE, _March 30, 1900_.\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n 1. PAUSANIAS AND HIS DESCRIPTION OF GREECE 1\n 2. OROPUS 160\n 3. RHAMNUS 163\n 4. MARATHON 165\n 5. PRASIAE 174\n 6. MOUNT HYMETTUS 178\n 7. MOUNT PENTELICUS 182\n 8. PHYLE 187\n 9. THE PORT OF ATHENS 191\n 10. THE SACRED WAY 209\n 11. THE HALL OF INITIATION AT ELEUSIS 214\n 12. ELEUTHERAE 216\n 13. MEGARA 219\n 14. THE SCIRONIAN ROAD 220\n 15. THE ISTHMUS OF CORINTH 223\n 16. THE BATH OF APHRODITE 226\n 17. THE PROSPECT FROM ACRO-CORINTH 227\n 18. THE CAPTURE OF CORINTH BY ARATUS 228\n 19. SICYON 232\n 20. PHLIASIA 233\n 21. NEMEA 237\n 22. THE PASS OF THE TRETUS 238\n 23. MYCENAE 242\n 24. THE END OF THE MYCENAEAN AGE 245\n 25. MOUNT ARACHNAEUS 248\n 26. EPIDAURUS 249\n 27. THE TEMPLE IN AEGINA 251\n 28. THE SANCTUARY OF POSEIDON IN CALAURIA 252\n 29. TROEZEN 253\n 30. FROM TROEZEN TO EPIDAURUS 255\n 31. METHANA 260\n 32. NAUPLIA 261\n 33. THE SPRINGS OF THE ERASINUS 263\n 34. THE LERNEAN MARSH 266\n 35. THE ANIGRAEAN ROAD 269\n 36. THE BATTLEFIELD OF SELLASIA 270\n 37. SPARTA 271\n 38. MISTRA 274\n 39. ON THE ROAD FROM SPARTA TO ARCADIA 278\n 40. CAPE MALEA 279\n 41. MONEMVASIA 281\n 42. MAINA 282\n 43. PHARAE AND THE MESSENIAN PLAIN 284\n 44. MESSENE 285\n 45. ON THE ROAD TO OLYMPIA 287\n 46. OLYMPIA 290\n 47. PHIDIAS\u2019S IMAGE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS 292\n 48. THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES 293\n 49. LASION 296\n 50. THE ERYMANTHUS 299\n 51. THE MONASTERY OF MEGASPELEUM 300\n 52. THE GULF OF CORINTH 301\n 53. ON THE COAST OF ACHAIA 303\n 54. PELLENE 304\n 55. THE ROAD FROM ARGOS TO ARCADIA 306\n 56. MANTINEA 308\n 57. THE ROAD TO STYMPHALUS 310\n 58. THE LAKE AND VALLEY OF STYMPHALUS 312\n 59. THE LAKE OF PHENEUS 315\n 60. FROM PHENEUS TO NONACRIS 320\n 61. THE FALL OF THE STYX 324\n 62. THE VALLEY OF THE AROANIUS 330\n 63. THE SPRINGS OF THE LADON 331\n 64. THE GORGE OF THE LADON 333\n 65. ALIPHERA 336\n 66. DIMITSANA 337\n 67. GORTYS 338\n 68. THE PLAIN OF MEGALOPOLIS 342\n 69. THE CAVE OF THE BLACK DEMETER 343\n 70. THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT BASSAE 345\n 71. THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT AULIS 346\n 72. GLAUCUS\u2019S LEAP 347\n 73. EVENING ON THE EURIPUS 349\n 74. THE COPAIC LAKE 349\n 75. THE GREAT KATAVOTHRA 355\n 76. THE VALE OF THE MUSES 357\n 77. HIPPOCRENE 358\n 78. LEBADEA 359\n 79. THE BOEOTIAN ORCHOMENUS 361\n 80. THE PLAIN OF CHAERONEA 364\n 81. PANOPEUS 364\n 82. NEAR HYAMPOLIS 365\n 83. TITHOREA 366\n 84. FROM AMPHISSA TO GRAVIA 369\n 85. DAULIS 371\n 86. THE CLEFT WAY 373\n 87. DELPHI 374\n 88. AESCHINES AT DELPHI 378\n 89. THE PYTHIAN TUNE 379\n 90. THE LACEDAEMONIAN TROPHY AT DELPHI 380\n 91. THE GODS IN BATTLE 382\n 92. THE SIBYL\u2019S WISH 384\n 93. ORPHEUS IN HELL 386\n 94. THE ACHERON 387\n 95. A RIDE ACROSS PARNASSUS 389\n 96. PERICLES 392\n\n\n\n\n PAUSANIAS | AND OTHER GREEK SKETCHES\n\n\n\n[Sidenote: Greece in\n the second\n century\n A.D.]\n\nI. PAUSANIAS AND HIS DESCRIPTION OF GREECE.\u2014It may be reckoned a\npeculiar piece of good fortune that among the wreckage of classical\nliterature the _Description of Greece_ by Pausanias should have come\ndown to us entire. In this work we possess a plain, unvarnished account\nby an eye-witness of the state of Greece in the second century of our\nera. Of no other part of the ancient world has a description at once so\nminute and so trustworthy survived, and if we had been free to single\nout one country in one age of which we should wish a record to be\npreserved, our choice might well have fallen on Greece in the age of the\nAntonines. No other people has exerted so deep and abiding an influence\non the course of modern civilisation as the Greeks, and never could all\nthe monuments of their chequered but glorious history have been studied\nso fully as in the second century of our era. The great age of the\nnation, indeed, had long been over, but in the sunshine of peace and\nimperial favour Greek art and literature had blossomed again. New\ntemples had sprung up; new images had been carved; new theatres and\nbaths and aqueducts ministered to the amusement and luxury of the\npeople. Among the new writers whose works the world will not willingly\nlet die, it is enough to mention the great names of Plutarch and Lucian.\n\nIt was in this mellow autumn\u2014perhaps rather the Indian summer\u2014of the\nancient world, when the last gleanings of the Greek genius were being\ngathered in, that Pausanias, a contemporary of Hadrian, of the\nAntonines, and of Lucian, wrote his description of Greece. He came in\ntime, but just in time. He was able to describe the stately buildings\nwith which in his own lifetime Hadrian had embellished Greece, and the\nhardly less splendid edifices which, even while he wrote, another\nmunificent patron of art, Herodes Atticus, was rearing at some of the\ngreat centres of Greek life and religion. Yet under all this brave show\nthe decline had set in. About a century earlier the emperor Nero, in the\nspeech in which he announced at Corinth the liberation of Greece,\nlamented that it had not been given him to confer the boon in other and\nhappier days when there would have been more people to profit by it.\nSome years after this imperial utterance Plutarch declared that the\nworld in general and Greece especially was depopulated by the civil\nbrawls and wars; the whole country, he said, could now hardly put three\nthousand infantry in the field, the number that formerly Megara alone\nhad sent to face the Persians at Plataea; and in the daytime a solitary\nshepherd feeding his flock was the only human being to be met with on\nwhat had been the site of one of the most renowned oracles in Boeotia.\nDio Chrysostom tells us that in his time the greater part of the city of\nThebes lay deserted, and that only a single statue stood erect among the\nruins of the ancient market-place. The same picturesque writer has\nsketched for us a provincial town of Euboea, where most of the space\nwithin the walls was in pasture or rig and furrow, where the gymnasium\nwas a fruitful field in which the images of Hercules and the rest rose\nhere and there above the waving corn, and where sheep grazed peacefully\nabout the public offices in the grass-grown market-place. In one of his\n_Dialogues of the Dead_, Lucian represents the soul of a rich man\nbitterly reproaching himself for his rashness in having dared to cross\nCithaeron with only a couple of men-servants, for he had been set upon\nand murdered by robbers on the highway at the point where the grey ruins\nof Eleutherae still look down on the pass; in the time of Lucian the\ndistrict, laid waste, he tells us, by the old wars, seems to have been\neven more lonely and deserted than it is now. Of this state of things\nPausanias himself is our best witness. Again and again he notices\nshrunken or ruined cities, deserted villages, roofless temples, shrines\nwithout images and pedestals without statues, faint vestiges of places\nthat once had a name and played a part in history. To the site of one\nfamous city he came and found it a vineyard. In one neglected fane he\nsaw a great ivy-tree clinging to the ruined walls and rending the stones\nasunder. In others nothing but the tall columns standing up against the\nsky marked the site of a temple. Nor were more sudden and violent forces\nof destruction wanting to hasten the slow decay wrought by time, by\nneglect, by political servitude, by all the subtle indefinable agencies\nthat sap a nation\u2019s strength. In Pausanias\u2019s lifetime a horde of\nnorthern barbarians, the ominous precursor of many more, carried fire\nand sword into the heart of Greece, and the Roman world was wasted by\nthat great pestilence which thinned its population, enfeebled its\nenergies, and precipitated the decline of art.\n\nThe little we know of the life of Pausanias is gathered entirely from\nhis writings. Antiquity, which barely mentions the writer, is silent as\nto the man.\n\n[Sidenote: Date of\n Pausanias.]\n\nFortunately his date is certain. At the beginning of his description of\nElis he tells us that two hundred and seventeen years had elapsed since\nthe restoration of Corinth. As Corinth was restored in 44 B.C., we see\nthat Pausanias was writing his fifth book in 174 A.D. during the reign\nof Marcus Aurelius. With this date all the other chronological\nindications in his book harmonise. Thus he speaks of images which were\nset up in 125 A.D. as specimens of the art of his day. Again, he gives\nus to understand that he was a contemporary of Hadrian\u2019s, and he tells\nus that he never saw Hadrian\u2019s favourite, Antinous, in life. Now Hadrian\ndied in 138 A.D., and the mysterious death of Antinous in Egypt appears\nto have fallen in 130 A.D. It is natural to infer from Pausanias\u2019s words\nthat though he never saw Antinous in life, he was old enough to have\nseen him; from which we conclude that our author was born a good many\nyears before 130 A.D., the date of Antinous\u2019s death. The latest\nhistorical event mentioned by him is the incursion of the Costobocs into\nGreece, which seems to have taken place some time between 166 A.D. and\n180 A.D., perhaps in 176 A.D.\n\n[Sidenote: Dates of\n the various\n books.]\n\nFrom these and a few more hints we may draw some conclusions as to the\ndates when the various books that make up the _Description of Greece_\nwere written. In the seventh book Pausanias tells us that his\ndescription of Athens was finished before Herodes Atticus built the\nMusic Hall in memory of his wife Regilla. As Regilla appears to have\ndied in 160 or 161 A.D. and the Music Hall was probably built soon\nafterwards, we may suppose that Pausanias had finished his first book by\n160 or 161 A.D. at latest. There is, indeed, some ground for holding\nthat both the first and the second book were composed much earlier. For\nin the second book Pausanias mentions a number of buildings which had\nbeen erected in his own lifetime by a Roman senator Antoninus in the\nsanctuary of Aesculapius at Epidaurus. If, as seems not improbable, the\nRoman senator was no other than the Antoninus who afterwards reigned as\nAntoninus Pius, we should naturally infer that the second book was\npublished in the reign of Hadrian, that is, not later than 138 A.D., the\nyear when Hadrian died and Antoninus succeeded him on the throne. With\nthis it would agree that no emperor later than Hadrian is mentioned in\nthe first or second book, or indeed in any book before the eighth.\nLittle weight, however, can be attached to this circumstance, for in the\nfifth book Hadrian is the last emperor mentioned although that book was\nwritten, as we have seen, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, thirty-six\nyears after Hadrian\u2019s death. A much later date has been assigned to the\nsecond book by Mr. W. Gurlitt in his valuable monograph on Pausanias. He\npoints out that when Pausanias wrote it the sanctuary of Aesculapius at\nSmyrna had already been founded, and that if Masson\u2019s chronology of the\nlife of the rhetorician Aristides is right the sanctuary was still\nunfinished in 165 A.D. Hence Mr. Gurlitt concludes that the second book\nof Pausanias was written after 165 A.D. Even the first book, according\nto him, must be dated not earlier than 143 A.D. His reason is that when\nPausanias wrote this book the stadium at Athens had already been rebuilt\nof white marble by Herodes Atticus, and that the reconstruction cannot,\nif Professor C. Wachsmuth is right, have been begun before 143 A.D. or a\nlittle earlier. With regard to the other books, the evidence, scanty as\nit is, is less conflicting. The fifth book, as we have seen, was\ncomposed in the year 174 A.D. The eighth book, in which mention is made\nof the victory of Marcus Antoninus over the Germans, must have been\nwritten after 166 A.D., the year when the German war broke out, and may\nhave been written in or after 176 A.D., the year in which the emperor\ncelebrated a triumph for his success. In the tenth book occurs the\nreference to the inroad of the Costobocs; hence the book was written\nbetween 166 and 180 A.D. Further, the references which Pausanias makes\nboth forwards and backwards to the several parts of his work show that\nthe books were written in the order in which they now stand. Hence books\nsix to ten cannot have been composed earlier, and may have been composed\na good deal later, than 174 A.D., the year in which our author was\nengaged on his fifth book. Thus the composition of the work extended\nover a period of at least fourteen years and probably of many more. That\nPausanias spent a long time over it might be inferred from a passage in\nwhich he explains a change in his religious views. When he began his\nwork, so he tells us, he looked on some Greek myths as little better\nthan foolishness, but when he had got as far as his description of\nArcadia he had altered his opinion and had come to believe that they\ncontained a kernel of deep wisdom under a husk of extravagance. Such a\ntotal change of attitude towards the religious traditions of his country\nwas more probably an affair of years than of weeks and months.\n\nThat the first book was not only written but published before the others\nseems clear. [Sidenote: The first book written and published before the\nrest.] Amongst the proofs of this the strongest is the writer\u2019s\nstatement in the seventh book, that when he wrote his description of\nAthens the Music Hall of Herodes Atticus had not yet been built. This\nimplies that when he wrote the seventh book the first was already\npublished; otherwise he could easily have incorporated a notice of the\nMusic Hall in its proper place in the manuscript. Again, in the eighth\nbook he expressly corrects a view which he had adopted in the first;\nthis also he might have done in the manuscript of the first book if he\nstill had it by him. In other places he tacitly adds to statements and\ndescriptions contained in the first book. Further, the narrative of the\nGallic invasion in the first book is superseded by the much fuller\nnarrative given in the tenth book, and would hardly have been allowed to\nstand if it had been in the author\u2019s power to cut it out. More\ninteresting are the passages in which we seem to discover references to\ncriticisms which had been passed on his first book. Thus in the third\nbook he repeats emphatically the plan of work which he had laid down for\nhimself in the first, adding that the plan had been adopted after mature\ndeliberation, and that he would not depart from it. This sounds like a\ntrumpet-blast of defiance to the critics who had picked holes in the\nscheme of his first book. Elsewhere he seems conscious that some of\ntheir strictures were not wholly undeserved. In speaking of the\ndescendants of Aristomenes he is sorely tempted to go into the family\nhistory of the Diagorids, but pulls himself up sharply with the remark\nthat he passes over this interesting topic \u201clest it should appear an\nimpertinent digression.\u201d Clearly the arrows of the reviewers had gone\nhome. The tedious historical dissertations with which he had sought to\nspice the plain fare of Athenian topography were now felt by the poor\nauthor himself to savour strongly of impertinent digressions. Again, old\nhabit getting the better of him, the sight of a ruined camp of King\nPhilip in a secluded Arcadian valley sets him off rambling on the divine\nretribution that overtook that wicked monarch and his descendants and\nthe murderers of his descendants and _their_ descendants after them,\ntill, his conscience smiting him, he suddenly returns to business with\nthe half apology, \u201cBut this has been a digression.\u201d That Pausanias had\nthe fear of the critics before his eyes is stated by himself in the\nplainest language. He had made, he tells us, careful researches into the\nvexed subject of the dates of Homer and Hesiod, but refrained from\nstating the result of his labours, because he knew very well the carping\ndisposition of the professors of poetry of his own day. Little did he\nforesee the disposition of certain other professors who were to sit in\njudgment on him some seventeen hundred years later. Had he done so he\nmight well have been tempted to suppress the _Description of Greece_\naltogether, and we might have had to lament the loss of one of the most\ncurious and valuable records bequeathed to us by antiquity.\n\n[Sidenote: Birthplace\n of\n Pausanias.]\n\nThe birthplace of Pausanias is less certain than his date, but there are\ngood grounds for believing that he was a Lydian. For after saying that\nin his country traces were still to be seen of the abode of Pelops and\nTantalus, he mentions some monuments and natural features associated\nwith the names of these ancient princes on and near Mount Sipylus. This\nis nearly a direct affirmation that the region about Mount Sipylus in\nLydia was his native land. The same thing appears, though less directly,\nfrom the minute acquaintance he displays with the district and from the\nevident fondness with which he recurs again and again to its scenery and\nlegends. He had seen the white eagles wheeling above the lonely tarn of\nTantalus in the heart of the hills; he had beheld the stately tomb of\nthe same hero on Mount Sipylus, the ruined city at the bottom of the\nclear lake, the rock-hewn throne of Pelops crowning the dizzy peak that\noverhangs the ca\u00f1on, and the dripping rock which popular fancy took for\nthe bereaved Niobe weeping for her children. He speaks of the clouds of\nlocusts which he had thrice seen vanish from Mount Sipylus, of the wild\ndance of the peasantry, and of the shrine of Mother Plastene, whose rude\nimage, carved out of the native rock, may still be seen in its niche at\nthe foot of the mountain. From all this it is fair to surmise that\nPausanias was born and bred not far from the mountains which he seems to\nhave known and loved so well. Their inmost recesses he may have explored\non foot in boyhood and have drunk in their old romantic legends from the\nlips of woodmen and hunters. Whether, as some conjecture, he was born at\nMagnesia, the city at the northern foot of Mount Sipylus, we cannot say,\nbut the vicinity of the city to the mountain speaks in favour of the\nconjecture. It is less probable, perhaps, that his birthplace was the\nmore distant Pergamus, although there is no lack of passages to prove\nthat he knew and interested himself in that city. As a native of Lydia\nit was natural that Pausanias should be familiar with the western coast\nof Asia Minor. There is indeed no part of the world outside of Greece to\nwhich he refers so often. He seizes an opportunity to give us the\nhistory of the colonisation of Ionia, and dwells with patriotic pride on\nthe glorious climate, the matchless temples, and the natural wonders of\nthat beautiful land.\n\n[Sidenote: Other\n writers of\n the same\n name.]\n\nSome scholars have identified our author with a sophist of the same name\nwho was born at Caesarea in Cappadocia, studied under Herodes Atticus,\nand died an old man at Rome, leaving behind him many declamations\ncomposed in a style which displayed a certain vigour and some\nacquaintance with classical models. But, quite apart from the evidence\nthat our author was a Lydian, there are strong reasons for not\nidentifying him with his Cappadocian namesake. Neither Suidas nor\nPhilostratus, who has left us a short life of the Cappadocian Pausanias,\nmentions the _Description of Greece_ among his works; and on the other\nhand our Pausanias, though he often mentions Herodes Atticus, nowhere\nspeaks of him as his master or of any personal relations that he had\nwith him. Further, the author of the _Description of Greece_ is probably\nto be distinguished from a writer of the same name who composed a work\non Syria to which Stephanus of Byzantium repeatedly refers. It is true\nthat our Pausanias evidently knew and had travelled in Syria, but this\nin itself is no reason for supposing that he was the author of a work to\nwhich in his extant writings he makes no allusion. The name Pausanias\nwas far too common to justify us in identifying all the authors who bore\nit, even when we have grounds for believing them to have been\ncontemporaries.\n\nThat Pausanias had travelled widely beyond the limits of Greece and\nIonia is clear from the many allusions he lets fall to places and\nobjects of interest in foreign lands. Some of them he expressly says\nthat he saw; as to others we may infer that he saw them from the\nparticularity of his description. In Syria he had seen the Jordan\nflowing through the Lake of Tiberias and falling into the Dead Sea, and\nhad gazed at the red pool near Joppa in which Perseus was said to have\nwashed his bloody sword after slaying the sea-monster. He describes a\ntomb at Jerusalem, the door of which by an ingenious mechanical\ncontrivance opened of itself once a year at a certain hour, and he often\nalludes to Antioch which for its vast size and wealth he ranked with\nAlexandria. In Egypt he had seen the Pyramids, had beheld with wonder\nthe colossal statue of Memnon at Thebes, and had heard the musical note,\nlike the breaking of a lute-string, which the statue emitted at sunrise.\nThe statue still stands, and many inscriptions in Greek and Latin carved\nby ancient visitors on its huge legs and base confirm the testimony of\nPausanias as to the mysterious sound. From Egypt our author seems to\nhave journeyed across the desert to the oasis of Ammon, for he tells us\nthat in his time the hymn which Pindar sent to Ammon was still to be\nseen there carved on a triangular slab beside the altar. Nearer home he\nadmired the splendid fortifications of Rhodes and Byzantium. Though he\ndoes not describe northern Greece, he had visited Thessaly, and had seen\nthe blue steaming rivulet rushing along at the foot of the rugged\nforest-tufted mountains that hem in like a wall the pass of Thermopylae\non the south. He appears to have visited Macedonia, and perhaps, too,\nEpirus; at least he speaks repeatedly of Dodona and its oracular oak,\nand he mentions the sluggish melancholy rivers that wind through the\ndreary Thesprotian plain and that gave their names to the rivers in\nhell. He had crossed to Italy and seen something of the cities of\nCampania and the wonders of Rome. The great forum of Trajan with its\nbronze roof, the Circus Maximus\u2014then probably the most magnificent\nbuilding in the world\u2014and the strange beasts gathered from far foreign\nlands, seem to have been the sights which most impressed him in the\ncapital of the world. In the Imperial Gardens he observed with curiosity\na tusk which the custodian assured him had belonged to the Calydonian\nboar; and he noticed, doubtless with less pleasure, the great ivory\nimage of Athena Alea which Augustus had carried off from the stately\ntemple of the goddess at Tegea. In the neighbourhood of Rome the\nbubbling milk-white water of Albula or Solfatara, as it is now called,\non the road to Tibur, attracted his attention, and beside the sylvan\nlake of Aricia he appears to have seen the grim priest pacing sword in\nhand, the warder of the Golden Bough. The absurd description he gives of\nthe beautiful and much-maligned Strait of Messina would suffice to prove\nthat he never sailed through it. Probably like most travellers coming\nfrom the East he reached Italy by way of Brundisium. Of Sardinia he has\ngiven a somewhat full description, but without implying that he had\nvisited it. Sicily, if we may judge by a grave blunder he makes in\nspeaking of it, he never saw.\n\n[Sidenote: Aim of\n Pausanias\u2019s\n work.]\n\nThe aim that Pausanias had in writing his _Description of Greece_ is\nnowhere very fully or clearly stated by him. His book has neither head\nnor tail, neither preface nor epilogue. At the beginning he plunges into\nthe description of Attica without a word of introduction, and at the end\nhe breaks off his account of Ozolian Locris with equal abruptness. There\nis reason to believe that the work is unfinished, for he seems to have\nintended to describe Opuntian Locris, but this intention was never\nfulfilled. However, from occasional utterances as well as from the\ngeneral scope and plan of the book, we can gather a fairly accurate\nnotion of the writer\u2019s purpose. Thus in the midst of his description of\nthe Acropolis of Athens he suddenly interposes the remark, \u201cBut I must\nproceed, for I have to describe the whole of Greece,\u201d as if the thought\nof the wide field he had to traverse jogged him, as well it might, and\nbade him hasten. Again, after bringing his description of Athens and\nAttica to an end, he adds: \u201cSuch are, in my opinion, the most famous of\nthe Athenian traditions and sights: from the mass of materials I have\naimed from the outset at selecting the really notable.\u201d Later on, before\naddressing himself to the description of Sparta he explains his purpose\nstill more definitely and emphatically: \u201cTo prevent misconceptions, I\nstated in my _Attica_ that I had not described everything, but only a\nselection of the most memorable objects. This principle I will now\nrepeat before I proceed to describe Sparta. From the outset I aimed at\nsifting the most valuable traditions from out of the mass of\ninsignificant stories which are current among every people. My plan was\nadopted after mature deliberation, and I will not depart from it.\u201d\nAgain, after briefly narrating the history of Phlius, he says: \u201cI shall\nnow add a notice of the most remarkable sights,\u201d and he concludes his\ndescription of Delphi with the words: \u201cSuch were the notable objects\nleft at Delphi in my time.\u201d In introducing his notice of the honorary\nstatues at Olympia he is careful to explain that he does not intend to\nfurnish a complete catalogue of them, but only to mention such as were\nof special interest either for their artistic merit or for the fame of\nthe persons they portrayed.\n\n[Sidenote: Method of\n the work.]\n\nFrom these and a few more passages of the same sort it seems clear that\nPausanias intended to describe all the most notable objects and to\nnarrate all the most memorable traditions which he found existing or\ncurrent in the Greece of his own time. It was a vast undertaking, and we\nneed not wonder that at the outset he should have felt himself oppressed\nby the magnitude of it, and that consequently in the first book, dealing\nwith Attica, his selection of notable objects should be scantier and his\ndescription of them slighter than in the later books. It was not only\nthat he was bewildered by the multitude of things he had to say, but\nthat he had not quite made up his mind how to say them. He was groping\nand fumbling after a method. As the work proceeded, he seems to have\nfelt himself more at ease; the arrangement of the matter becomes more\nsystematic, the range of his interests wider, the descriptions more\ndetailed, his touch surer. Even the second book shows in all these\nrespects a great advance on the first. To mention two conspicuous\nimprovements, he has now definitely adopted the topographical order of\ndescription, and he prefaces his account of each considerable city with\na sketch of its history. In the first book, on the other hand, an\nhistorical introduction is wholly wanting, and though Athens itself is\non the whole described in topographical order, the rest of Attica is\nnot. Only with the description of the Sacred Way which led from Athens\nto Eleusis does Pausanias once for all grasp firmly the topographical\nthread as the best clue to guide him and his readers through the\nlabyrinth. Throughout the rest of his work the general principle on\nwhich he arranges his matter is this. After narrating in outline the\nhistory of the district he is about to describe, he proceeds from the\nfrontier to the capital by the nearest road, noting anything of interest\nthat strikes him by the way. Arrived at the capital he goes straight to\nthe centre of it, generally to the market-place, describes the chief\nbuildings and monuments there, and then follows the streets, one after\nthe other, that radiate from the centre in all directions, recording the\nmost remarkable objects in each of them. Having finished his account of\nthe capital he describes the surrounding district on the same principle.\nHe follows the chief roads that lead from the capital to all parts of\nthe territory, noting methodically the chief natural features and the\nmost important towns, villages, and monuments that he meets with on the\nway. Having followed the road up till it brings him to the frontier, he\nretraces his steps to the capital, and sets off along another which he\ntreats in the same way, until in this manner he has exhausted all the\nprincipal thoroughfares that branch from the city. On reaching the end\nof the last of them he does not return on his footsteps, but crosses the\nboundary into the next district, which he then proceeds to describe\nafter the same fashion. This, roughly speaking, is the way in which he\ndescribes the cities and territories of Corinth, Argos, Sparta,\nMantinea, Megalopolis, Tegea, and Thebes.\n\n[Sidenote: The work\n is a guide-book.]\n\nA better and clearer method of arranging matter so complex and varied it\nmight be hard to devise. It possesses at least one obvious advantage\u2014the\nroutes do not cross each other, and thus a fruitful source of confusion\nis avoided. The reader, however, will easily perceive that the order of\ndescription can hardly have been the one in which Pausanias travelled or\nexpected his readers to travel. The most patient and systematic of\ntopographers and sightseers would hardly submit to the irksome drudgery\nof pursuing almost every road twice over, first in one direction and\nthen in the other. Manifestly the order has been adopted only for the\nsake of lucidity, only because in no other way could the writer convey\nto his reader so clear a notion of the relative positions of the places\nand things described. Why was Pausanias at such pains to present\neverything to his readers in its exact position? The only probable\nanswer is that he wished to help them to find their way from one object\nof interest to another; in other words that he intended his _Description\nof Greece_ to serve as a guide-book to travellers. If his aim had been\nmerely to amuse and entertain his readers at home, he could hardly have\nlighted on a worse method of doing so; for the persons who find\ntopographical directions amusing and can extract entertainment from\nreading that \u201cThis place is so many furlongs from that, and this other\nso many more from that other,\u201d must be few in number and of an unusually\ncheerful disposition. The ordinary reader is more likely to yawn over\nsuch statements and shut up the book. We may take it, then, that in\nPausanias\u2019s work we possess the ancient equivalent of our modern\n_Murrays_ and _Baedekers_. The need for such a guide-book would be felt\nby the many travellers who visited Greece, and for whom the garrulous\nbut ignorant ciceroni did not, as we know, always provide the desired\ninformation. Yet with the innocent ambition of an author Pausanias may\nvery well have hoped that his book might prove not wholly uninteresting\nto others than travellers. The digressions on historical subjects, on\nnatural curiosities, on the strange creatures of different countries,\nwith which he so often breaks the thread of his description, may be\nregarded as so many lures held out to the reader to beguile him on his\nweary way. Indeed in one passage he plainly intimates his wish not to be\ntedious to his readers.\n\n[Sidenote: Antiquarian and\n religious\n bias of\n Pausanias.]\n\nWhen we come to examine the substance of his book we quickly perceive\nthat his interests were mainly antiquarian and religious, and that\nthough he professes to describe the whole of Greece or, more literally,\nall things Greek, what he does describe is little more than the\nantiquities of the country and the religious traditions and ritual of\nthe people. He interested himself neither in the natural beauties of\nGreece nor in the ordinary life of his contemporaries. For all the\nnotice he takes of the one or the other, Greece might almost have been a\nwilderness and its cities uninhabited or peopled only at rare intervals\nby a motley throng who suddenly appeared as by magic, moved singing\nthrough the streets in gay procession with flaring torches and waving\ncensers, dyed the marble pavements of the temples with the blood of\nvictims, filled the air with the smoke and savour of their burning\nflesh, and then melted away as mysteriously as they had come, leaving\nthe deserted streets and temples to echo only to the footstep of some\nsolitary traveller who explored with awe and wonder the monuments of a\nvanished race. Yet as his work proceeded Pausanias seems to have wakened\nup now and then to a dim consciousness that men and women were still\nliving and toiling around him, that fields were still ploughed and\nharvests reaped, that the vine and the olive still yielded their fruit,\nthough Theseus and Agamemnon, Cimon and Pericles, Philip and Alexander\nwere no more. To this awakening consciousness or, to speak more\ncorrectly, to this gradual widening of his interests, we owe the few\npeeps which in his later books Pausanias affords us at his\ncontemporaries in their daily life. Thus he lets us see the tall and\nstalwart highlanders of Daulis; the handsome and industrious women of\nPatrae weaving with deft fingers the fine flax of their native fields\ninto head-dresses and other feminine finery; the fishermen of Bulis\nputting out to fish the purple shell in the Gulf of Corinth; the potters\nof Aulis turning their wheels in the little seaside town from which\nAgamemnon sailed for Troy; and the apothecaries of Chaeronea distilling\na fragrant and healing balm from roses and lilies, from irises and\nnarcissuses culled in peaceful gardens on the battlefield where Athens\nand Thebes, side by side, had made the last stand for the freedom of\nGreece.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n descriptions\n of religious\n rites.]\n\nContrast with these sketches, few and far between, the gallery of\npictures he has painted of the religious life of his contemporaries. To\nmention only a few of them, we see sick people asleep and dreaming on\nthe reeking skins of slaughtered rams or dropping gold and silver coins\nas a thank-offering for recovered health into a sacred spring; lepers\npraying to the nymphs in a cave, then swimming the river and leaving,\nlike Naaman, their uncleanness behind them in the water; holy men\nstaggering along narrow paths under the burden of uprooted trees;\nprocessions of priests and magistrates, of white-robed boys with\ngarlands of hyacinths in their hair, of children wreathed with corn and\nivy, of men holding aloft blazing torches and chanting as they march\ntheir native hymns; women wailing for Achilles while the sun sinks low\nin the west; Persians in tall caps droning their strange litany in an\nunknown tongue; husbandmen sticking gold leaf on a bronze goat in a\nmarket-place to protect their vines from blight, or running with the\nbleeding pieces of a white cock round the vineyards while the black\nsquall comes crawling up across the bay. We see the priest making rain\nby dipping an oak-branch in a spring on the holy mountain, or mumbling\nhis weird spells by night over four pits to soothe the fury of the winds\nthat blow from the four quarters of the world. We see men slaughtering\nbeasts at a grave and pouring the warm blood down a hole into the tomb\nfor the dead man to drink; others casting cakes of meal and honey into\nthe cleft down which the water of the Great Flood all ran away; others\ntrying their fortune by throwing dice in a cave, or flinging\nbarley-cakes into a pool and watching them sink or swim, or letting down\na mirror into a spring to know whether a sick friend will recover or\ndie. We see the bronze lamps lit at evening in front of the oracular\nimage, the smoke of incense curling up from the hearth, the enquirer\nlaying a copper coin on the altar, whispering his question into the ear\nof the image, then stealing out with his hands on his ears, ready to\ntake as the divine answer the first words he may hear on quitting the\nsanctuary. We see the nightly sky reddened by the fitful glow of the\ngreat bonfire on the top of Mount Cithaeron where the many images of\noak-wood, arrayed as brides, are being consumed in the flames, after\nhaving been dragged in lumbering creaking waggons to the top of the\nmountain, each image with a bridesmaid standing by its side. These and\nmany more such scenes rise up before us in turning the pages of\nPausanias.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n account of\n superstitious\n customs\n and beliefs.]\n\nAkin to his taste for religious ritual is his love of chronicling quaint\ncustoms, observances, and superstitions of all sorts. Thus he tells us\nhow Troezenian maidens used to dedicate locks of their hair in the\ntemple of the bachelor Hippolytus before marriage; how on a like\noccasion Megarian girls laid their shorn tresses on the grave of the\nvirgin Iphinoe; how lads at Phigalia cropped their hair in honour of the\nriver that flows in the deep glen below the town; how the boy priests of\nCranaean Athena bathed in tubs after the ancient fashion; and how the\npriest and priestess of Artemis Hymnia must remain all their lives\nunmarried, must wash and live differently from common folk, and must\nnever enter the house of a private person. Amongst the curious\nobservances which he notices at the various shrines are the rules that\nno birth or death might take place within the sacred grove of\nAesculapius at Epidaurus, and that all sacrifices had to be consumed\nwithin the bounds; that no broken bough might be removed from the grove\nof Hyrnetho near Epidaurus, and no pomegranate brought into the precinct\nof the Mistress at Lycosura; that at Pergamus the name of Eurypylus\nmight not be pronounced in the sanctuary of Aesculapius, and no one who\nhad sacrificed to Telephus might enter that sanctuary till he had\nbathed; that at Olympia no man who had eaten of the victim offered to\nPelops might go into the temple of Zeus, that women might not ascend\nabove the first stage of the great altar, that the paste of ashes which\nwas smeared on the altar must be kneaded with the water of the Alpheus\nand no other, and that the sacrifices offered to Zeus must be burnt with\nno wood but that of the white poplar. Again, he loves to note, though he\ndoes not always believe, the local superstitions he met with or had read\nof, such as the belief that at the sacrifice to Zeus on Mount Lycaeus a\nman was always turned into a wolf, but could regain his human shape if\nas a wolf he abstained for nine years from preying on human flesh; that\nwithin the precinct of the god on the same mountain neither men nor\nanimals cast shadows, and that whoever entered it would die within the\nyear; that the trout in the river Aroanius sang like thrushes; that\nwhoever caught a fish in a certain lake would be turned into a fish\nhimself; that Tegea could never be taken because it possessed a lock of\nMedusa\u2019s hair; that Hera recovered her virginity every year by bathing\nin a spring at Nauplia; that the water of one spring was a cure for\nhydrophobia, while the water of another drove mares mad; that no snakes\nor wolves could live in Sardinia; that when the sun was in a certain\nsign of the zodiac earth taken from the tomb of Amphion and Zethus at\nThebes and carried to Tithorea in Phocis would draw away the fertility\nfrom the Theban land and transfer it to the Tithorean, whence at that\nseason the Thebans kept watch and ward over the tomb, lest the\nTithoreans should come and filch the precious earth; that at Marathon\nevery night the dead warriors rose from their graves and fought the\ngreat battle over again, while belated wayfarers, hurrying by, heard\nwith a shudder the hoarse cries of the combatants, the trampling of\ncharging horses, and the clash of arms.\n\nIn carrying out his design of recording Greek traditions, Pausanias has\ninterwoven many narratives into his description of Greece. These are of\nvarious sorts, and were doubtless derived from various sources. Some are\nhistorical, and were taken avowedly or tacitly from books. Some are\nlegends with perhaps a foundation in fact; others are myths pure and\nsimple; others again are popular tales to which parallels may be found\nin the folk-lore of many lands. Narratives of these sorts Pausanias need\nnot have learned from books. Some of them were doubtless commonplaces\nwith which he had been familiar from childhood. Others he may have\npicked up on his travels. The spring of mythical fancy has not run dry\namong the mountains and islands of Greece at the present day; it flowed,\nwe may be sure, still more copiously in the days of Pausanias. Amongst\nthe popular tales which he tells or alludes to may be mentioned the\nstory of the sleeper in the cave; of the cunning masons who robbed the\nroyal treasury they had built; of the youth who slew the lion and\n[Sidenote: Myths.] married the princess; of the kind serpent that saved\na child from a wolf and was killed by the child\u2019s father by mistake; of\nthe king whose life was in a purple lock on his head; of the witch who\noffered to make an old man young again by cutting him up and boiling him\nin a hellbroth, and who did in this way change a tough old tup into a\ntender young lamb. It is characteristic of Greek popular tradition that\nthese stories are not left floating vaguely in the cloudy region of\nfairyland; they are brought down to solid earth and given a local\nhabitation and a name. The sleeper was Epimenides the Cretan; the masons\nwere Trophonius and Agamedes, and the king for whom they built the\ntreasury was Hyrieus of Orchomenus; the youth who won the hand of the\nprincess was Alcathous of Megara; the king with the purple lock was\nNisus, also of Megara; the witch was Medea, and the old man whom she\nmangled was Pelias; the place where the serpent saved the child from the\nwolf was Amphiclea in Phocis. Amongst the myths which crowd the pages of\nPausanias we may note the strangely savage tale of Attis and Agdistis,\nthe hardly less barbarous story of the loves of Poseidon and Demeter as\nhorse and mare, and the picturesque narratives of the finding of the\nforsaken babe Aesculapius by the goatherd, and the coming of Castor\n[Sidenote: Legends.] and Pollux to Sparta in the guise of strangers from\nCyrene. Of the legends which he tells of the heroic age\u2014that border-land\nbetween fable and history\u2014some are his own in the sense that we do not\nfind them recorded by any other ancient writer. Such are the stories how\nTheseus even as a child evinced undaunted courage by attacking the\nlion\u2019s skin of Hercules which he mistook for a living lion; how the same\nhero in his youth proved his superhuman strength to the masons who had\njeered at his girlish appearance; how the crazed Orestes, dogged by the\nFuries of his murdered mother, bit off one of his fingers, and how on\nhis doing so the aspect of the Furies at once changed from black to\nwhite, as if in token that they accepted the sacrifice as an atonement.\nSuch, too, is the graceful story of the parting of Penelope from her\nfather, and the tragic tale of the death of Hyrnetho; in the latter we\nseem almost to catch the ring of a romantic ballad. Among the traditions\ntold of historical personages by Pausanias but not peculiar to him are\nthe legends of Pindar\u2019s dream, of the escape of Aristomenes from the\npit, and of the wondrous cure of Leonymus, the Crotonian general, who,\nattacking the Locrian army at the point where the soul of the dead hero\nAjax hovered in the van, received a hurt from a ghostly spear, but was\nafterwards healed by the same hand in the White Isle, where Ajax dwelt\nwith other spirits of the famous dead. To the same class belong a couple\nof anecdotes with which Pausanias has sought to enliven the dull\ncatalogue of athletes in the sixth book. One tells how the boxer\nEuthymus thrashed the ghost of a tipsy sailor and won the hand of a fair\nmaiden, who was on the point of being delivered over to the tender\nmercies of the deceased mariner. The other relates how another noted\nboxer, by name Theagenes, departed this vale of tears after accumulating\na prodigious number of prizes; how when he was no more a spiteful foe\ncame and wreaked his spleen by whipping the bronze statue of the\nillustrious dead, till the statue, losing patience, checked his\ninsolence by falling on him and crushing him to death; how the sons of\nthis amiable man prosecuted the statue for murder; how the court,\nsitting in judgment, found the statue guilty and solemnly condemned it\nto be sunk in the sea; how, the sentence being rigorously executed, the\nland bore no fruit till the statue had been fished up again and set in\nits place; and how the people sacrificed to the boxer as to a god ever\nafter.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n description\n of the\n country.]\n\nThe same antiquarian and religious tincture which appears in Pausanias\u2019s\naccount of the Greek people colours his description of the country. The\nmountains which he climbs, the plains which he traverses, the rivers\nwhich he fords, the lakes and seas that he beholds shining in the\ndistance, the very flowers that spring beside his path hardly exist for\nhim but as they are sacred to some god or tenanted by some spirit of the\nelements, or because they call up some memory of the past, some old\nromantic story of unhappy love or death. Of one flower, white and tinged\nwith red, he tells us that it first grew in Salamis when Ajax died; of\nanother, that chaplets of it are worn in their hair by white-robed boys\nwhen they walk in procession in honour of Demeter. He notes the mournful\nletters on the hyacinth and tells the tale of the fair youth slain\nunwittingly by Apollo. He points out the old plane-tree which Menelaus\nplanted before he went away to the wars; the great cedar with an image\nof Artemis hanging among its boughs; the sacred cypresses called the\nMaidens, tall and dark and stately, in the bleak upland valley of\nPsophis; the myrtle-tree whose pierced leaves still bore the print of\nhapless Phaedra\u2019s bodkin on that fair islanded coast of Troezen, where\nnow the orange and the lemon bloom in winter; the pomegranate with its\nblood-red fruit growing on the grave of the patriot Menoeceus who shed\nhis blood for his country. If he looks up at the mountains, it is not to\nmark the snowy peaks glistering in the sunlight against the blue, or the\nsombre pine-forests that fringe their crests and are mirrored in the\ndark lake below; it is to tell you that Zeus or Apollo or the Sun-god is\nworshipped on their tops, that the Thyiad women rave on them above the\nclouds, or that Pan has been heard piping in their lonely coombs. The\ngloomy caverns, where the sunbeams hardly penetrate, with their\nfantastic stalactites and dripping roofs, are to him the haunts of Pan\nand the nymphs. The awful precipices of the Aroanian mountains, in the\nsunless crevices of which the snow-drifts never melt, would have been\npassed by him in silence were it not that the water that trickles down\ntheir dark glistening face is the water of Styx. If he describes the\nsmooth glassy pool which, bordered by reeds and tall grasses, still\nsleeps under the shadow of the shivering poplars in the Lernean swamp,\nit is because the way to hell goes down through its black unfathomed\nwater. If he stops by murmuring stream or brimming river, it is to\nrelate how from the banks of the Ilissus, where she was at play, the\nNorth Wind carried off Orithyia to be his bride; how the Selemnus had\nbeen of old a shepherd who loved a sea-nymph and died forlorn; how the\namorous Alpheus still flows across the wide and stormy Adriatic to join\nhis love at Syracuse. If in summer he crosses a parched river-bed, where\nnot a driblet of water is oozing, where the stones burn under foot and\ndazzle the eye by their white glare, he will tell you that this is the\npunishment the river suffers for having offended the sea-god. Distant\nprospects, again, are hardly remarked by him except for the sake of some\nhistorical or legendary association. The high knoll which juts out from\nthe rugged side of Mount Maenalus into the dead flat of the Mantinean\nplain was called the Look, he tells us, because here the dying\nEpaminondas, with his hand pressed hard on the wound from which his life\nwas ebbing fast, took his long last look at the fight. The view of the\nsea from the Acropolis at Athens is noticed by him, not for its gleam of\nmolten sapphire, but because from this height the aged Aegeus scanned\nthe blue expanse for the white sails of his returning son, then cast\nhimself headlong from the rock when he descried the bark with sable\nsails steering for the port of Athens.\n\nThe disinterested glimpses, as we may call them, of Greek scenery which\nwe catch in the pages of Pausanias are brief and few. He tells us that\nthere is no fairer river than the Ladon either in Greece or in foreign\nland, and probably no one who has traversed the magnificent gorge\nthrough which the river bursts its way from the highlands of northern\nArcadia to the lowlands on the borders of Elis will be inclined to\ndispute his opinion. Widely different scenes he puts in for us with a\nfew touches\u2014the Boeotian Asopus oozing sluggishly through its deep beds\nof reeds; the sodden plain of Nestane with the rain-water pouring down\ninto it from the misty mountains; the road running through vineyards\nwith mountains rising on either hand; the spring gushing from the hollow\ntrunk of a venerable plane; the summer lounge in the shady walks of the\ngrove beside the sea; the sand and pine-trees of the low coast of Elis;\nthe oak-woods of Phelloe with stony soil where the deer ranged free and\nwild boars had their lair; and the Boeotian forest with its giant oaks\nin whose branches the crows built their nests.\n\n[Sidenote: His notices\n of the\n natural\n products\n of Greece.]\n\nIt is one of the marks of a widening intellectual horizon that as his\nwork goes on Pausanias takes more and more notice of the aspect and\nnatural products of the country which he describes. Such notices are\nleast frequent in the first book and commonest in the last three. Thus\nhe remarks the bareness of the Cirrhaean plain, the fertility of the\nvalley of the Phocian Cephisus, the vineyards of Ambrosus, the palms and\ndates of Aulis, the olive-oil of Tithorea that was sent to the emperor,\nthe dykes that dammed off the water from the fields in the marshy flats\nof Caphyae and Thisbe. He mentions the various kinds of oaks that grew\nin the Arcadian woods, the wild-strawberry bushes of Mount Helicon on\nwhich the goats browsed, the hellebore, both black and white, of\nAnticyra, and the berry of Ambrosus which yielded the crimson dye. He\nobserved the flocks of bustards that haunted the banks of the Phocian\nCephisus, the huge tortoises that crawled in the forests of Arcadia, the\nwhite blackbirds of Mount Cyllene, the two sorts of poultry at Tanagra,\nthe purple shell fished in the sea at Bulis, the trout of the Aroanius\nriver, and the eels of the Copaic Lake. All these instances are taken\nfrom the last three books. In the earlier part of his work he\ncondescended to mention the honey of Hymettus, the old silver mines of\nLaurium, the olives of Cynuria, the fine flax of Elis, the purple shell\nof the Laconian coast, the marble of Pentelicus, the mussel-stone of\nMegara, and the green porphyry of Croceae. But of the rich Messenian\nplain, known in antiquity as the Happy Land, where nowadays the\ntraveller passes, almost as in a tropical region, between orange-groves\nand vineyards fenced by hedges of huge fantastic cactuses and sword-like\naloes, Pausanias has nothing more to say than that \u201cthe Pamisus flows\nthrough tilled land.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: His\n account of\n the state of\n the roads.]\n\nOn the state of the roads he is still more reticent than on that of the\ncountry. The dreadful Scironian road\u2014the _Via Mala_ of Greece\u2014which ran\nalong a perilous ledge of the Megarian sea-cliffs at a giddy height\nabove the breakers, had lately been widened by Hadrian. An excellent\ncarriage road, much frequented, led from Tegea to Argos. Another road,\ntraversable by vehicles, went over the pass of the Tretus, where the\nrailway from Corinth to Argos now runs; and we have the word of\nPausanias for it that a driving-road crossed Parnassus from Delphi to\nTithorea. On the other hand the road from Sicyon to Titane was\nimpassable for carriages; a rough hill-track led from Chaeronea to\nStiris; the path along the rugged mountainous coast between Lerna and\nThyrea was then, as it is now, narrow and difficult; and the pass of the\nLadder over Mount Artemisius from Argos to Mantinea was so steep that in\nsome places steps had to be cut in the rock to facilitate the descent.\nOf the path up to the Corycian cave on Mount Parnassus our author truly\nobserves that it is easier for a man on foot than for mules and horses.\nGreek mules and horses can, indeed, do wonders in the way of scrambling\nup and down the most execrable mountain paths on slopes that resemble\nthe roof of a house; but it would sorely tax even their energies to\nascend to the Corycian cave.\n\nThe real interest of Pausanias, however, lay neither in the country nor\nin the people of his [Sidenote: His descriptions of the monuments.] own\nage, but in those monuments of the past, which, though too often injured\nby time or defaced by violence, he still found scattered in profusion\nover Greece. It is to a description of them that the greater part of his\nwork is devoted. He did not profess to catalogue, still less to\ndescribe, them all. To do so might well have exceeded the powers of any\nman, however great his patience and industry. All that a writer could\nreasonably hope to accomplish was to make a choice of the most\ninteresting monuments, to describe them clearly, and to furnish such\ncomments as were needful to understanding them properly. This is what\nPausanias attempted to do and what, after every deduction has been made\nfor omissions and mistakes, he may fairly be said to have done well. The\nchoice of the monuments to be described necessarily rested with himself,\nand if his choice was sometimes different from what ours might have\nbeen, it would be unreasonable to blame him for it. He did not write for\nus. No man in his sober senses ever did write for readers who were to be\nborn some seventeen hundred years after he was in his grave. In his\nwildest dreams of fame Pausanias can hardly have hoped, perhaps under\nall the circumstances we ought rather to say feared, that his book would\nbe read, long after the Roman empire had passed away, by the people whom\nhe calls the most numerous and warlike barbarians in Europe,[1] by the\nBritons in their distant isle, and by the inhabitants of a new world\nacross the Atlantic.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n \u201cAntoninus the Second,\u201d he tells us (viii. 43. 6), \u201cinflicted\n punishment on the Germans, the most numerous and warlike barbarians in\n Europe.\u201d\n\n-----\n\n[Sidenote: His preference\n for the\n older over\n the later\n art.]\n\nWhen we examine Pausanias\u2019s choice of monuments we find that, like his\naccount of the country and people, it was mainly determined by two\nleading principles, his antiquarian tastes and his religious curiosity.\nIn the first place, the monuments described are generally ancient, not\nmodern; in the second place, they are for the most part religious, not\nprofane. His preference for old over modern art, for works of the fifth\nand fourth centuries B.C. over those of the later period, was well\nfounded and has been shared by the best judges both in ancient and\nmodern times. Cicero, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Quintilian, and our\nauthor\u2019s own contemporary, Lucian, perhaps the most refined critic of\nart in antiquity, mention no artist of later date than the fourth\ncentury B.C. The truth is, the subjugation of Greece by Macedonia struck\na fatal blow at Greek art. No sculptor or painter of the first rank was\nborn after the conquest. It seemed as if art were a flower that could\nonly bloom in freedom; in the air of slavery it drooped and faded. Thus\nif Pausanias chose to chronicle the masterpieces of the great age of art\nrather than the feebler productions of the decadence, we can only\napplaud his taste. Yet we may surmise that his taste was here reinforced\nby his patriotism. For he was more than a mere antiquary and\nconnoisseur. He was a patriot who warmly sympathised with the ancient\nglories of his country and deeply mourned its decline. He recognised\nAthens as the representative of all that was best in Greek life, and he\ncan hardly find words strong enough to express his detestation of the\nmen who by weakening her in the Peloponnesian war directly prepared for\nthe conquest of Greece by Macedonia. The battle of Chaeronea he\ndescribes repeatedly as a disaster for the whole of Greece, and of the\nconqueror Philip himself he speaks in terms of the strongest\nreprobation. The men who had repelled the Persians, put down the\nmilitary despotism of Sparta, fought against the Macedonians, and\ndelayed, if they could not avert, the final subjugation of Greece by\nRome were for him the benefactors of their country. He gives a list of\nthem, beginning with Miltiades and ending with Philopoemen, after whom,\nhe says, Greece ceased to be the mother of the brave. And as he mentions\nwith pride and gratitude the men who had served the cause of freedom, so\nhe expresses himself with disgust and abhorrence of the men who had\nworked for the enslavement of Greece to Persia, to Macedonia, and to\nRome. His style, generally cold and colourless, grows warm and animated\nwhen he tells of a struggle for freedom, whether waged by the Messenians\nagainst the Spartans, or by the Greeks against the Gauls, or by the\nAchaeans against the Romans. And when he has recorded the final\ncatastrophe, the conquest of Greece by Rome, he remarks as with a sigh\nthat the nation had now reached its lowest depth of weakness, and that\nwhen Nero afterwards liberated it the boon came too late\u2014the Greeks had\nforgotten what it was to be free.\n\n[Sidenote: His preference\n for\n religious\n over profane\n art.]\n\nThe preference which Pausanias exhibits for the art of the best period\nis not more marked than his preference for sacred over profane or merely\ndecorative art, for buildings consecrated to religion over buildings\ndevoted to the purposes of civic or private life. Rarely does he offer\nany general remarks on the aspect and architectural style of the cities\nhe describes. At Tanagra he praises the complete separation of the\nhouses of the people from the sanctuaries of the gods. Amphissa, he\ntells us, was handsomely built, and Lebadea could compare with the most\nflourishing cities of Greece in style and splendour. On the other hand\nhe viewed with unconcealed disdain the squalor and decay of the Phocian\ncity of Panopeus, \u201cif city it can be called that has no government\noffices, no gymnasium, no theatre, no market-place, no water conducted\nto a fountain, and where the people live in hovels, just like highland\nshanties, perched on the edge of a ravine.\u201d In the cities he visited he\ndoes indeed notice market-places, colonnades, courts of justice,\ngovernment offices, fountains, baths, and the houses and statues of\nfamous men, but the number of such buildings and monuments in his pages\nis small compared to the number of temples and precincts, images and\nvotive offerings that he describes, and such notice as he takes of them\nseldom amounts to more than a bare mention. The civic buildings that he\ndeigns to describe in any detail are very few. Amongst them we may note\nthe Painted Colonnade at Athens with its famous pictures, the spacious\nand splendid Persian Colonnade at Sparta with its columns of white\nmarble carved in the shape of Persian captives, the market-place at\nElis, and the Phocian parliament-house with its double row of columns\nrunning down the whole length of the hall and its seats rising in tiers\nfrom the columns up to the walls behind.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n descriptions of\n religious\n monuments.]\n\nIt is when he comes to religious art and architecture that Pausanias\nseems to have felt himself most at home. If in his notice of civic\nbuildings and monuments he is chary of details, he is lavish of them in\ndescribing the temples and sanctuaries with their store of images,\naltars, and offerings. The most elaborate of his descriptions are those\nwhich he has given of the temple of Zeus at Olympia with the great image\nof the god by Phidias, the scenes on the Chest of Cypselus in the\nHeraeum at Olympia, the reliefs on the throne of Apollo at Amyclae, and\nthe paintings by Polygnotus in the Cnidian Lesche at Delphi. But, apart\nfrom these conspicuous examples; almost every page of his work bears\nwitness to his interest in the monuments of religion, especially when\nthey were more than usually old and quaint. Among the queer images he\ndescribes are the thirty square stones revered as gods at Pharae; the\nrough stones worshipped as images of Love and Hercules and the Graces at\nThespiae, Hyettus, and Orchomenus; the pyramidal stone which represented\nApollo at Megara; the ancient wooden image of Zeus with three eyes on\nthe acropolis of Argos; the old idol of Demeter as a woman with a\nhorse\u2019s head holding a dove in one hand and a dolphin in the other; the\nfigure of a mermaid bound fast with golden chains in a wild wood at the\nmeeting of two glens; the image of the War God at Sparta in fetters to\nhinder him from running away; the bronze likeness of an unquiet ghost\nclamped with iron to a rock to keep him still; an image of Athena with a\npurple bandage on her wounded thigh; a pair of wooden idols of Dionysus\nwith shining gilt bodies and red faces; and tiny bronze images of Castor\nand Pollux, a foot high, on a rocky islet over which the sea broke\nfoaming in winter, but could not wash them away. Some of the images he\ndescribes as tricked out with offerings of devout worshippers. Such were\nan image of Pasiphae covered with garlands; a figure of Hermes swathed\nin myrtle boughs; a crimson-painted idol of Dionysus emerging from a\nheap of laurel leaves and ivy; and a statue of Health almost hidden\nunder tresses of women\u2019s hair and strips of Babylonish raiment in the\nshade of ancient cypresses at Titane. Among the appointments of the\nsanctuaries he mentions, for example, altars made of the ashes or blood\nof the victims, perpetual fires, a golden lamp that burned day and night\nin the Erechtheum, a gilt head of the Gorgon on the wall of the\nAcropolis, a purple curtain in the temple of Zeus, a golden and jewelled\npeacock dedicated by Hadrian to Hera, the iron stand of Alyattes\u2019s bowl,\nchains of liberated prisoners, hanging from the cypresses in the grove\nof Hebe, and bronze railings round the shaft down which the enquirer,\nclad in a peculiar costume, descended by a ladder to consult the oracle\nof Trophonius.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n interest in\n relics.]\n\nAgain, Pausanias loves to notice the things, whether worshipped or not,\nwhich were treasured as relics of a mythical or legendary past. Such\nwere the remains of the clay out of which Prometheus had moulded the\nfirst man and woman; the stone that Cronus had swallowed instead of his\ninfant son; the remains of the wild-strawberry tree under which Hermes\nhad been nourished; the egg which the lovely Leda had laid and out of\nwhich Castor and Pollux had been hatched; the ruins of the bridal\nchamber where Zeus had dallied with Semele; the mouldering hide of the\nCalydonian boar; and the old wooden pillar, held together by bands and\nprotected from the weather by a shed, which had stood in the house of\nOenomaus. In the temple of Artemis at Aulis, now represented by a ruined\nByzantine chapel in a bare stony field, the traveller was shown the\nremains of the plane-tree under which the Greeks had sacrificed before\nsetting sail for Troy, and on a neighbouring hill the guides pointed out\nthe bronze threshold of Agamemnon\u2019s hut. But the most revered of all the\nrelics described by Pausanias seems to have been the sceptre which\nHephaestus was said to have made and Agamemnon to have wielded. It was\nkept and worshipped at Chaeronea. A priest who held office for a year\nguarded the precious relic in his house and offered sacrifices to it\ndaily, while a table covered with flesh and cakes stood constantly\nbeside it. A ruder conception of religion than is revealed by this\npractice of adoring and feeding a staff it might be hard to discover\namongst the lowest fetish-worshippers of Western Africa. And this\npractice was carried on in the native city and in the lifetime of the\nenlightened Plutarch! Truly the extremes of human nature sometimes\njostle each other in the street.\n\n[Sidenote: His notices\n of historic\n monuments.]\n\nBut his religious bias by no means so warped the mind of Pausanias as to\nrender him indifferent to the historic ground which he trod, and to\nthose monuments of great men and memorable events on which his eye must\nhave fallen at almost every turn. As a scholar he was versed in, and as\na patriot he was proud of, the memories which these monuments were\ndestined to perpetuate, and which in the genius of the Greek people have\nfound a monument more lasting than any of bronze or marble. He visited\nthe battlefields of Marathon and Plataea and beheld the trophies of\nvictory and the graves of the victors. At Salamis he saw the trophy of\nthe great sea-fight, but he mentions no graves. Doubtless the bones of\nmany victors and vanquished lay together fathoms deep in the bay. At\nChaeronea he saw a sadder monument, the colossal stone lion on the grave\nof the Thebans who had fallen in the cause of freedom. On the\nbattlefield of Mantinea he found the grave of Epaminondas, at Sparta the\ngrave of Leonidas, and among the pine-woods of the sacred isle that\nlooks across the blue Saronic gulf to Attica the grave of the banished\nDemosthenes. At Thebes he saw the ruins of Pindar\u2019s house, the shields\nof the Lacedaemonian officers who fell at Leuctra, and the figures of\nwhite marble which Thrasybulus and his comrades in exile and in arms had\ndedicated out of gratitude for Theban hospitality. In the Grove of the\nMuses on Helicon he beheld the statues of renowned poets and\nmusicians\u2014Hesiod with his lute, Arion on his dolphin, blind Thamyris,\nOrpheus holding the beasts spellbound as he sang. At Tanagra he observed\nthe portrait and the tomb of the poetess Corinna, the rival of Pindar;\nand in several cities of Arcadia he remarked portraits of the Arcadian\nhistorian Polybius.\n\nNowhere, however, did he find historical monuments crowded so closely\ntogether as at Athens, Olympia, and Delphi. The great sanctuaries of\nOlympia and Delphi served in a manner as the national museums and\nrecord-offices of Greece. In them the various Greek cities not only of\nthe mother-country but of Italy, Sicily, Gaul, and the East set up the\ntrophies of their victories and deposited copies of treaties and other\nimportant documents. [Sidenote: Historic monuments at Olympia.] They\noffered a neutral ground where natives of jealous or hostile states\ncould meet in peace, and where they could survey, with hearts that\nswelled with various emotions, the records of their country\u2019s triumphs\nand defeats. At Olympia our author mentions a tablet inscribed with a\ntreaty of alliance for a hundred years between Elis, Athens, Argos, and\nMantinea; another tablet recording a treaty of peace for thirty years\nbetween Athens and Sparta; and the quoit of Iphitus inscribed with the\nterms of the truce of God which was proclaimed at the Olympic festival.\nAmongst the many trophies of war which he enumerates the most memorable\nwas the image of Zeus dedicated in common by the Greeks who had fought\nat Plataea, and the most conspicuous, unless we except the figure of\nVictory on the pillar dedicated by the Messenians of Naupactus, must\nhave been the colossal bronze statue of Zeus, no less than twenty-seven\nfeet high, which the Eleans set up for a victory over the Arcadians. A\ngolden shield, hung high on the eastern gable of the temple of Zeus,\nproclaimed the triumph of the Lacedaemonian arms at Tanagra. The sight\nof one-and-twenty gilded shields that glittered on the eastern and\nsouthern sides of the temple must have cost Pausanias a pang, for they\nhad been dedicated by the Roman general Mummius to commemorate the\nconquest of Greece. Another monument that doubtless vexed the patriotic\nheart of Pausanias was an elegant rotunda with slim Ionic columns\nresting on marble steps and supporting a marble roof; for the statues\nwhich it enclosed, resplendent in gold and ivory, were those of Philip\nand Alexander, and the building stood as a memorial of the battle of\nChaeronea.\n\n[Sidenote: Historic\n monuments\n at\n Delphi.]\n\nAt Delphi the road which wound up the steep slope to the temple of\nApollo was lined on both sides with an unbroken succession of monuments\nwhich illustrated some of the brightest triumphs and darkest tragedies\nin Greek history. Here the proud trophy of the Lacedaemonian victory at\nAegospotami, with its rows of statues rising in tiers, confronted the\nmore modest trophy erected by the Athenians for the victory of Marathon.\nHere were statues set up by the Argives for the share they had taken\nwith the Thebans in founding Messene. Here was a treasury dedicated by\nthe Athenians out of the spoils of Marathon, and another dedicated by\nthe Thebans out of the spoils of Leuctra. Here another treasury, built\nby the Syracusans, commemorated the disastrous defeat of the Athenians\nin Sicily. A bronze palm-tree and a gilded image of Athena stood here as\nmemorials of Athenian valour by sea and land at the Eurymedon. Here,\nabove all, were monuments of the victories achieved by the united Greeks\nover the Persians at Artemisium, Salamis, and Plataea. The golden\ntripod, indeed, which formed the trophy of Plataea, had disappeared long\nbefore Pausanias passed up the Sacred Way, its empty place testifying\nsilently to the rapacity of the Phocian leaders; but the bronze serpent\nwhich had supported it still stood erect, with the names of the states\nthat had taken part in the battle inscribed on its coils. A prodigious\nimage of Apollo, five-and-thirty ells high, towering above the other\nmonuments, proclaimed at once the enormity of the crime which the\nPhocians had committed and the magnitude of the fine by which they had\nexpiated it. High and conspicuous too, on the architrave of the temple,\nhung the shields which told of one of the latest triumphs of the Greek\narms, the repulse and defeat of the Gauls. All these and many more\nhistorical monuments Pausanias saw and described at Delphi.\n\n[Sidenote: Historic\n monuments\n at\n Athens.]\n\nAt Athens among the portraits of famous men that attracted his attention\nwere statues of the statesmen Solon, Pericles, and Lycurgus, the\ngenerals Conon, Timotheus, and Iphicrates, the orators Demosthenes and\nIsocrates, the philosopher Chrysippus, and the poets Aeschylus,\nSophocles, Euripides, and Menander. In the Prytaneum were preserved\ncopies of the laws of Solon. The colonnades that flanked the\nmarket-place were adorned with pictures of the battles of Marathon,\nOenoe, and Mantinea, and in one of them\u2014the celebrated Painted\nColonnade\u2014our author observed bronze shields, smeared with pitch to\npreserve them from rust, which had been taken from the Spartans at\nSphacteria. On the Acropolis stood, as a trophy of the Persian wars, the\nimmense bronze statue of Athena, of which the blade of the spear and the\ncrest of the helmet could be seen far off at sea. Close at hand in the\nErechtheum the traveller was shown the sword of Mardonius and the\ncorselet of Masistius, who had fallen while leading the Persian cavalry\nto the charge at Plataea. In Piraeus he saw the sanctuary of Aphrodite\nwhich Conon had built after vanquishing the Lacedaemonian fleet off\nCnidus, and at the entrance to the great harbour, in view of the ships\nsailing out and in, the grave of Themistocles who had won for Athens the\nempire of the sea. But no place in Greece was richer in monuments of the\nhistoric past, none seems to have stirred Pausanias more deeply than\nthat memorable spot outside the walls of Athens where, within the narrow\ncompass of a single graveyard, were gathered the mortal remains of so\nmuch valour and genius. Here lay not a few of the illustrious men who by\ntheir counsels, their swords, or their pens had made Athens great and\nfamous, and hither the ashes of humbler citizens, who had died for their\ncountry, were brought from distant battlefields to rest in Attic earth.\nHis description of this the national burying-ground of Athens has not,\nindeed, the pensive grace of Addison\u2019s essay on the tombs in the Abbey.\nIt is little more than a bare list of the names he read on the\nmonuments, but there almost every name was a history as full of proud or\nmournful memories as the names carved on the tombs in Westminster and\nSt. Paul\u2019s or stitched on the tattered and blackened banners that droop\nfrom the walls of our churches. The annals of Athens were written on\nthese stones\u2014the story of her restless and aspiring activity, her\ntriumphs in art, in eloquence, in arms, her brief noon of glory, and her\nlong twilight of decrepitude and decay. No wonder that our traveller\npaused amid monuments which seemed, in the gathering night of barbarism,\nto catch and reflect some beams of the bright day that was over, like\nthe purple light that lingers on the slopes of Hymettus when the sun has\nset on Athens.\n\n[Sidenote: His digressions\n on\n natural\n curiosities.]\n\nTo relieve the tedium of the topographical part of his work, Pausanias\nhas introduced digressions on the wonders of nature and of foreign\nlands. Thus, for example, having mentioned the destruction of Helice by\nan earthquake, he describes the ominous signs which herald the approach\nof a great earthquake\u2014the heavy rains or long droughts, in winter the\nsultry weather, in summer the haze through which the sun\u2019s disc looms\nred and lurid, the sudden gusts, the springs of water drying up, the\nrumbling noises underground. Further, he analyses the different kinds of\nshocks, determines the nature of the one which destroyed Helice, and\ndescribes the immense wave which simultaneously advanced on the doomed\ncity from the sea. He refers to the ebb and flow of the ocean, to the\nice-bound sea and frozen deserts of the north, to the southern land\nwhere the sun casts no shadow at midsummer. He tells how the Chinese\nrear the silkworm, and describes both silk and the silkworm more\ncorrectly than any writer who preceded and than some who followed him.\nIt has been suggested that he derived his information, directly or\nindirectly, from a member of the Roman embassy which appears from the\nevidence of Chinese historians to have been sent by the emperor Marcus\nAntoninus to the far East and to have reached the court of China in\nOctober 166 A.D. Again, he describes the Sarmatians of northern Europe\nleading a nomadic life in the depths of their virgin forests, subsisting\nby their mares, ignorant of iron, clad in corselets made of horse-hoofs,\nshooting arrows barbed with bone from bows of the cornel-tree, and\nentangling their foes in the coils of their lassoes.\n\nAmong the curiosities which seem to have especially interested him were\nthe huge bones he met with in various places. Generally he took them to\nbe bones of giants, but one of them he described more happily as that of\na sea-monster. Probably they were all bones of mammoths or other large\nextinct animals, such as have been found plentifully in modern times in\nvarious parts of Greece, for example near Megalopolis, where he saw some\nof them. Again, he is particularly fond of describing or alluding to\nstrange birds and beasts, whether native to Greece or imported from\ndistant countries. Thus he mentions a reported variety of white\nblackbirds on Mount Cyllene which had attracted the attention of\nAristotle, and he describes almost with the exactitude of a naturalist a\nsmall venomous viper of northern Arcadia which is still dreaded by the\ninhabitants. He refers to the parrots and camels and huge serpents of\nIndia, and he describes briefly but correctly the ostrich and the\nrhinoceros. He gives a full and sober account of the method of capturing\nthe bison, and another of the mode of catching the elk which contrasts\nvery favourably with the absurd account of it given by Caesar. At\nTanagra he saw the stuffed or pickled Triton, or what passed for such,\nof which the Tanagraeans were so proud that they put a figure of a\nTriton on the coins which they minted in the lifetime of Pausanias. In\nthe island of Poroselene he enjoyed, he assures us, the spectacle of a\ntame dolphin that came at a boy\u2019s call and allowed him to ride on its\nback.\n\nHis report of this last spectacle, though it is confirmed by another\nwitness, may raise a doubt as to his credibility. Professor Alfred\nNewton, whom I have consulted on the subject, kindly informs me that he\nknows of no modern evidence to bear Pausanias out, but that considering\nthe widespread belief of the ancients in the familiarity of dolphins he\ndoes not think it inconceivable that in those days the creatures lived\nin little fear of mankind. We cannot judge, he says, by the behaviour of\nanimals at the present day of what they might or did do before\npersecution began. \u201cWhen the Russians,\u201d he continues, \u201cdiscovered\nBering\u2019s Island in 1741, they found its shores thronged by a big\nsea-beast (the _Rhytina gigas_ of naturalists), which, never having seen\nmen before, had no fear of them, and the Russians (shipwrecked as they\nwere) used to wade in the water and _milk_ the \u2018cows.\u2019 The confidence\nwas misplaced, and within thirty years or so every one of the animals\nhad been destroyed, and the species extirpated.\u201d Thus it seems not\nimpossible that dolphins may have been tamer in antiquity than they are\nnow, and that Pausanias may really have seen what he tells us he saw.\nBut perhaps the exhibition at Poroselene was a hoax.\n\n[Sidenote: Description\n of\n Greece by\n the pseudo-Dicaearchus.]\n\nSo much for the contents of Pausanias\u2019s book. Before we enquire into the\ncharacter of the writer and the sources from which he drew his materials\nit may be instructive to compare his work with the fragments of another\nancient description of Greece which have come down to us. The comparison\nwill help us to understand better both what we have gained and what we\nhave lost by the idiosyncrasies of Pausanias. The fragments commonly\npass under the name of the eminent Messenian writer Dicaearchus, a pupil\nof Aristotle; but from internal evidence we may conclude that the work\nof which they formed part was written by a later author at some time\nbetween 164 B.C. and 86 B.C. The nature of the work may be gathered from\nthe following free translation or paraphrase, which is also slightly\nabridged.\n\n\u201c The road to Athens is a pleasant one, running between cultivated\nfields the whole way. The city itself is dry and ill supplied with\nwater. The streets are nothing but miserable old lanes, the houses mean,\nwith a few better ones among them. On his first arrival a stranger could\nhardly believe that this is the Athens of which he has heard so much.\nYet he will soon come to believe that it is Athens indeed. A Music Hall,\nthe most beautiful in the world, a large and stately theatre, a costly,\nremarkable, and far-seen temple of Athena called the Parthenon rising\nabove the theatre, strike the beholder with admiration. A temple of\nOlympian Zeus, unfinished but planned on an astonishing scale; three\ngymnasiums, the Academy, Lyceum, and Cynosarges, shaded with trees that\nspring from greensward; verdant gardens of philosophers; amusements and\nrecreations; many holidays and a constant succession of spectacles;\u2014all\nthese the visitor will find in Athens.\n\n\u201c The products of the country are priceless in quality but not too\nplentiful. However, the frequency of the spectacles and holidays makes\nup for the scarcity to the poorer sort, who forget the pangs of hunger\nin gazing at the shows and pageants. Every artist is sure of being\nwelcomed with applause and of making a name; hence the city is crowded\nwith statues.\n\n\u201c Of the inhabitants some are Attic and some are Athenian. The former\nare gossiping, slanderous, given to prying into the business of\nstrangers, fair and false. The Athenians are high-minded,\nstraightforward, and staunch in friendship. The city is infested by a\nset of scribblers who worry visitors and rich strangers. When the people\ncatches the rascals, it makes an example of them. The true-born\nAthenians are keen and critical auditors, constant in their attendance\nat plays and spectacles. In short, Athens as far surpasses all other\ncities in the pleasures and conveniences of life as they surpass the\ncountry. But a man must beware of the courtesans, lest they lure him to\nruin. The verses of Lysippus run thus:\n\n \u2018If you have not seen Athens, you\u2019re a stock;\n If you have seen it and are not taken with it, you\u2019re an ass;\n If you are glad to leave it, you\u2019re a pack-ass.\u2019\n\n\u201c Thence to Oropus by Psaphides and the sanctuary of Zeus Amphiaraus is\na day\u2019s journey for a good walker. It is all up-hill,[2] but the\nabundance and good cheer of the inns prevent the traveller from feeling\nthe fatigue. Oropus is a nest of hucksters. The greed of the\ncustom-house officers here is unsurpassed, their roguery inveterate and\nbred in the bone. Most of the people are coarse and truculent in their\nmanners, for they have knocked the decent members of the community on\nthe head. They deny they are Boeotians, standing out for it that they\nare Athenians living in Boeotia. To quote the poet Xeno:\n\n \u2018All are custom-house officers, all are robbers.\n A plague on the Oropians!\u2019\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n This is an odd mistake. In point of fact half of the way is up hill\n and the other half is down hill. The road rises first gently and then\n steeply to the summit of the pass over Mount Parnes not far from the\n ancient Decelea; thence it descends, at first rapidly in sharp\n serpentine curves, then gradually through a rolling woodland country\n to the sea at Oropus.\n\n-----\n\n\u201c Thence to Tanagra is a hundred and thirty furlongs. The road runs\nthrough olive-groves and woodlands: fear of highwaymen there is none at\nall. The city stands on high and rugged ground. Its aspect is white and\nchalky; but the houses with their porches and encaustic paintings give\nit a very pretty appearance. The corn of the district is not very\nplentiful, but the wine is the best in Boeotia. The people are\nwell-to-do, but simple in their way of life. All are farmers, not\nartisans. They practise justice, good faith, and hospitality. To needy\nfellow-townsmen and to vagabonds they give freely of their substance,\nfor meanness and covetousness are unknown to them. It is the safest city\nin all Boeotia for strangers to stay in; for the independent and\nindustrious habits of the people have bred a sturdy downright hatred of\nknavery. In this city I observed as little as might be of those\nunbridled impulses which are commonly the source of the greatest crimes.\nFor where people have enough to live on, they do not hanker after lucre,\nso roguery can hardly show face among them.\n\n\u201c Thence to Plataea is two hundred furlongs. The road is somewhat\ndesolate and stony, and it rises up the slopes of Cithaeron, but it is\nnot very unsafe. In the city, to quote the poet Posidippus,\n\n \u2018Two temples there are, a colonnade and old renown,\n And the baths, and Sarabus\u2019s famous inn.\n A desert most of the year, it is peopled at the time of the games.\u2019\n\nThe inhabitants have nothing to say for themselves except that they are\nAthenian colonists, and that the battle between the Greeks and the\nPersians was fought in their country.\n\n\u201c Thence to Thebes is eighty furlongs. The road is through a flat the\nwhole way. The city stands in the middle of Boeotia. Its circumference\nis seventy furlongs, its shape circular. The soil is dark. In spite of\nits antiquity the streets are new, because, as the histories tell us,\nthe city has been thrice razed to the ground on account of the morose\nand overbearing character of the inhabitants. It is excellent for the\nbreeding of horses; it is all well-watered and green, and has more\ngardens than any other city in Greece. For two rivers flow through it,\nirrigating the plain below the city; and water is brought from the\nCadmea in underground conduits which were made of old, they say, by\nCadmus. So much for the city. The inhabitants are high-spirited and\nwonderfully sanguine, but rash, insolent, and overbearing, ready to come\nto blows with any man, be he citizen or stranger. As for justice they\nset their face against it. Business disputes are settled not by reason\nbut by fisticuffs, and the methods of the prize-ring are transferred to\ncourts of justice. Hence lawsuits here last thirty years at the very\nleast. For if a man opens his lips in public on the law\u2019s delay and does\nnot thereupon take hasty leave of Boeotia, he is waylaid by night and\nmurdered by the persons who have no wish that lawsuits should come to an\nend. Murders are perpetrated on the most trifling pretexts. Such are the\nmen as a whole, though some worthy, high-minded, respectable persons are\nalso to be found among them. The women are the tallest, prettiest, and\nmost graceful in all Greece. Their faces are so muffled up that only the\neyes are seen. All of them dress in white and wear low purple shoes\nlaced so as to show the bare feet. Their yellow hair is tied up in a\nknot on the top of the head. In society their manners are Sicyonian\nrather than Boeotian. They have pleasing voices, while the voices of the\nmen are harsh and deep. The city is one of the best places to pass the\nsummer in, for it has gardens and plenty of cool water. Besides it is\nbreezy, its aspect is verdant, and fruit and flowers abound. But it\nlacks timber, and is one of the worst places to winter in by reason of\nthe rivers and the winds; for snow falls and there is much mud. The poet\nLaon writes in praise of the Boeotians, but he does not speak the truth,\nthe fact being that he was caught in adultery and let off lightly by the\ninjured husband. He says:\n\n \u2018Love the Boeotian, and fly not Boeotia;\n For the man is a good fellow, and the land is delightful.\u2019\n\n\u201c Thence to Anthedon is one hundred and sixty furlongs. The road runs\naslant through fields. Carriages can drive on it. The city, which is not\nlarge, stands on the shore of the Euboean sea. The market-place is all\nplanted with trees and flanked by colonnades. Wine and fish abound, but\ncorn is scarce, for the soil is poor. The inhabitants are almost all\nfishermen living by their hooks, by the purple shell, and by sponges,\ngrowing old on the beach among the seaweed and in their huts. They are\nall of a ruddy countenance and a spare form; the tips of their nails are\nworn away by reason of working constantly in the sea. Most of them are\nferrymen or boat-builders. Far from tilling the ground they do not even\nown it, alleging that they are descendants of the marine Glaucus, who\nwas confessedly a fisherman.\n\n\u201c So much for Boeotia. As for Thespiae, it contains ambition and fine\nstatues, nothing else. The Boeotians have a saying about their national\nfaults to the effect that greed lives in Oropus, envy in Tanagra,\nquarrelsomeness in Thespiae, insolence in Thebes, covetousness in\nAnthedon, curiosity in Coronea, braggery in Plataea, fever in Onchestus,\nand stupidity in Haliartus. These are the faults that have drained down\ninto Boeotia as into a sink from the rest of Greece. To quote the verse\nof Pherecrates:\n\n \u2018If you have any sense, shun Boeotia.\u2019\n\nSo much for the land of the Boeotians.\n\n\u201cFrom Anthedon to Chalcis is seventy furlongs. As far as Salgoneus the\nroad is level and easy, running between the sea on the one hand and a\nwooded and well-watered mountain of no great height on the other. The\ncity of Chalcis measures seventy furlongs in circumference. It is all\nhilly and shaded with trees. Most of the springs are salt, but there is\none called Arethusa of which the water, though brackish, is wholesome,\ncool, and so abundant that it suffices for the whole city. With public\nbuildings such as gymnasiums, colonnades, sanctuaries, and theatres,\nbesides paintings and statues, the city is excellently provided, and the\nsituation of the market-place for purposes of commerce is unsurpassed.\nFor the currents that meet in the Euripus flow past the very walls of\nthe harbour, and here there is a gate which leads straight into the\nmarket-place, a spacious area enclosed by colonnades. This proximity of\nthe market-place to the harbour, and the ease with which cargoes can be\nunloaded, attract many ships to the port. Indeed the Euripus itself,\nwith its double entrance, draws merchants to the city. The whole\ndistrict is planted with olives, and the fisheries are productive. The\npeople are Greek in speech as well as by birth. Devoted to learning,\nwith a taste for travel and books, they bear their country\u2019s misfortunes\nwith a noble fortitude. A long course of political servitude has not\nextinguished that inborn freedom of nature which has taught them to\nsubmit to the inevitable. To quote a verse of Philiscus:\n\n 'Chalcis is a city of most worthy Greeks.'\u201d\n\nThese passages, which I have perhaps quoted at too great length, may\nsuffice. I will spare the reader a long description of Mount Pelion, its\npine-woods, its wild flowers, and its simples, which seems to be a\nfragment of the same work. Two points only in the description of the\nmountain may be mentioned. The writer tells us that the knowledge of\ncertain simples was hereditary in a single family, who kept it a\nprofound secret, though they refused to accept any money from the sick\npeople whom they tended, deeming it would be impious to do so. These\nherbalists claimed to be descended from the centaur Chiron. Again, we\nlearn from the writer how in the greatest heat of summer, when the Dog\nStar rose, a procession of men of good birth and in the prime of life,\nall chosen by the priest and all clad in sheepskins, ascended through\nthe pine-woods to the cave of Chiron and a sanctuary of Zeus on the top\nof the mountain. He mentions the sheepskins as a proof of the great\nheight of Mount Pelion, as if without them the men would have shivered\non the mountain even while the plains below were sweltering and baking\nin the heat. But it is more probable that the sheepskins had some\nreligious significance.\n\n[Sidenote: The\n pseudo-Dicaearchus\n and\n Pausanias\n compared.]\n\nThis account of the procession of skin-clad men to the cave and\nsanctuary on the top of the high mountain reads not unlike a passage in\nPausanias. But how different is almost all the rest of this writer\u2019s\ndescription of Greece from that of Pausanias! Instead of a dull patient\nenumeration of monuments, arranged in topographical order and seldom\nenlivened even by a descriptive epithet, we have slight highly-coloured\nsketches of the general appearance of the towns\u2014the white city of\nTanagra on the hill with the pretty painted porches of the houses;\nChalcis with its handsome buildings, its shady trees, its flowing\nsprings, its spacious market beside the narrows where the tide runs fast\nand the porters are busy unlading the ships in the harbour; Thebes in\nsummer with its fine new streets, its verdure, its fruit and flowers,\nand the balmy freshness of the perfumed air blowing over gardens; Thebes\nin winter, swept by bitter cutting winds, the streets deep in mud and\nwhitened by the falling snow; Athens with its old narrow lanes and mean\nhouses, and now and then a glimpse between them of the resplendent\nParthenon, like a sun-burst, high up against the sky. Then again as to\nthe people, what a contrast between the grave Pausanias, who hardly\nallows us to see them except at their devotions, and the sparkling\nwriter who so often lifts the veil of the past and lets us catch a\nglimpse of the bustling motley crowd and hear the hum of their\nvoices\u2014the crowd that ceased to bustle and the voices that fell silent\nso long ago. We see the hungry populace at Athens forgetting their empty\nstomachs in the joys of the theatre and pageant; the frail beauties\nogling; the literary pests scribbling lampoons in their garrets or\nwriggling in the grasp of the law. On the highways we behold the\ntravellers walking in fear of robbers or taking their ease at their inn.\nAt Oropus we watch the custom-house officers diving into the baggage of\nexasperated travellers, who mutter curses. At Tanagra we shake hands\nwith the bluff well-to-do farmer, comfortable, kindly, and contented,\nwho has a hearty welcome for the stranger and a bit and a sup for the\nbeggar who knocks at his door. In the streets of Thebes we jostle with\nyour ruffling swaggering blades, your bullies and swashbucklers, who\nwill knock you down for a word and cut your throat in a dark lane if you\ndare to whisper a word that reflects on the course of justice, or rather\nof injustice, in their native city. And moving amongst these ruffians\nare tall graceful women, muffled up to their eyes, their yellow hair\ngathered in knots on the top of their heads, their purple shoes peeping\nfrom under their white dresses, their soft voices contrasting with the\ngruff deep bass of the men. Again the scene shifts. We are no longer\namong the streets and gardens of Thebes, but on the beach at Anthedon\nwith the salt smell of the sea in our nostrils and the cool sea-breeze\nfanning our brow. We see the fisher-folk, with their ruddy\nweather-beaten faces and their finger-nails eaten away by the brine,\nbaiting their hooks among the sea-weed on the shore, or hammering away\nat a new fishing-boat, or ferrying travellers across the beautiful\nstrait to Euboea.\n\nThese pictures of a vanished world are worth something. They have life,\nwarmth, and colour; but the colours, we can hardly doubt, are heightened\nunduly. The lights are too high, the shadows too deep. We cannot believe\nthat the population of Oropus consisted exclusively of cut-throats and\ncustom-house officers; that the farmers of Tanagra were all bluff and\nvirtuous; that none but good men struggling nobly with adversity resided\nat Chalcis; that no lawsuit at Thebes ever lasted less than thirty\nyears. The writer, it is plain, has exaggerated for the sake of literary\neffect. And he has a strong leaning to gossip and scandal. He extenuates\nthe praise of Boeotia in the mouth of a poet on the ground of a painful\nepisode in the bard\u2019s private history, and he retails with evident\nrelish the current tattle as to the characteristic vices of the various\nBoeotian towns. On the whole this lively, superficial, gossipy work,\nwith its showy slap-dash sketches of life and scenery, cannot compare in\nsolid worth with the dry and colourless, but in general minute and\naccurate description of Greece which Pausanias has given us. In the\nwritings of Pausanias we certainly miss the warmth and animation of the\nother, the pictures of contemporary life and character, the little\ntouches that bring the past and the distant vividly before us. His book\nis too much a mere catalogue of antiquities, the dry bones of knowledge\nunquickened by the breath of imagination. Yet his very defects have\ntheir compensating advantages. If he lacked imagination he was the less\nlikely to yield to that temptation of distorting and discolouring the\nfacts to which men of bright fancy are peculiarly exposed, of whom it\nhas been well said that they are like the angels who veil their faces\nwith their wings.\n\n[Sidenote: Character\n of Pausanias.]\n\nIn truth Pausanias was a man made of common stuff and cast in a common\nmould. His intelligence and abilities seem to have been little above the\naverage, his opinions not very different from those of his\ncontemporaries. [Sidenote: His political opinions.] While he looked back\nwith regret to the great age of Greek freedom, he appears to have\nacquiesced in the Roman dominion as inevitable, acknowledging the\nincapacity of the degenerate Greeks to govern themselves, the general\nclemency of the Roman rule, and especially the wisdom and beneficence of\nthe good emperors under whom it was his happiness to live. Of democracy\nhe had no admiration. He thought the Athenians the only people who ever\nthrove under it, and on observing that the slaves who fought and died\nfor Athens were buried with their masters, he remarks with apparent\nsurprise that even a democracy can occasionally be just. With his turn\nfor study and for brooding over the past, it was natural that he should\nprefer a life of privacy to the cares and turmoils of a public career.\nAccordingly we find that he admired the prudence of Isocrates who lived\nplacidly to old age in the shade and tranquillity of retirement, and\nthat he censured implicitly the imprudence of Demosthenes, whose fiery\ngenius hurried him through the storm and sunshine of public life to\nexile and a violent death.\n\nSuch a preference, implied rather than expressed, says much for the\ndecay of public spirit in Greece. Our author himself was conscious that\nhis lot had fallen on evil days. He speaks sorrowfully of the olden time\nwhen the gods openly visited the good with honour, and the bad with\ntheir displeasure; when the benefactors of mankind were raised to the\nrank of divinities, and evil-doers were degraded into wild beasts and\nstones. \u201cBut in the present age,\u201d he adds mournfully, \u201cwhen wickedness\nis growing to such a height, and spreading over every land and city, men\nare changed into gods no more, save in the hollow rhetoric which\nflattery addresses to power; and the wrath of the gods at the wicked is\nreserved for a distant future when they shall have gone hence.\u201d We\ncannot doubt that here he glances covertly at the practice of deifying\nthe Roman emperors, which seems to have stirred his honest indignation\nas a mark of the supple servility and political degeneracy of the age.\nNor was he a stranger to those graver thoughts on the vaster issues of\nlife and history which the aspect of Greece in its decline was fitted to\nawake. The sight of the great city of Megalopolis lying in ruins brings\nto his mind the high hopes with which it had been founded, and that\nagain ushers in a train of melancholy reflexions on the instability of\nhuman affairs. He thinks how from so many golden cities of the ancient\nworld\u2014from Nineveh and Babylon, from Thebes and Mycenae\u2014the glory had\npassed away; how nature itself, which seems so stable, is subject to\ngreat mutations; how transitory, then, is earthly glory, how brief and\nfrail the life of man!\n\n[Sidenote: His ethical\n views.]\n\nOn the passions which move men and make history he seems to have thought\nmuch like other people. He knew that avarice is the cause of many\ncrimes, and that love is the source both of great happiness and of great\nmisery. Yet he appears to have held that the mischief wrought by the\npassion of love outweighs the good it brings; for after telling how, by\nwashing in the river Selemnus, men and women were supposed to forget\ntheir love, he adds that if there is any truth in this story great\nriches are less precious to mankind than the water of the Selemnus.\nAgain, he has a sincere admiration for the heroic virtues, and a genuine\ndetestation of baseness and depravity of all sorts. Treason he\nstigmatises as the foulest of crimes. He considers that the bold and\ndisinterested patriot Thrasybulus, who freed his country and healed her\ndissensions, was the best of all the famous men of Athens, and that the\ndeed of Leonidas and his Spartans at Thermopylae was the most splendid\nfeat of arms in Grecian history. He praises his Spartan namesake for his\ncourteous treatment of the captive Coan lady and for rejecting the base\nproposal of the wretch who would have had him mutilate the corpse of the\ngallant Mardonius. He speaks with sympathy of the brave men worthy of a\nhappier fate who fell on the tyrant Lachares, of those who would have\nwrested Piraeus from the Macedonians had they not been done by their\nconfederates to death, and of those others whom on the great day Cimon\nled to victory by sea and land. He tells how in the last fight with the\nRomans, before the day was lost, the Achaean general fled, leaving his\nmen to shift for themselves, and he contrasts his selfish cowardice with\nthe soldierly devotion of an Athenian cavalry officer who on the\ndisastrous retreat from Syracuse brought off his regiment safe, then\nwheeled about and, riding back alone, found the death he sought in the\nmidst of the enemy.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n religious\n opinions.\n Belief in\n the gods.]\n\nIn religion as in morals Pausanias seems to have occupied a position not\nunlike that of his contemporaries. That it did not occur to him to doubt\nthe existence of the gods and heroes of Greek mythology is clear from\nthe tenour of his work as well as from many observations which he lets\nfall. Thus for example, he tells us that to see the gods in bodily shape\nwas perilous; that Pan possessed, equally with the greatest of the gods,\nthe power of answering prayer and requiting the wicked; and that down to\nhis own time there was preserved at a city on the Euphrates the very\nrope, plaited of vine and ivy branches, with which Dionysus had spanned\nthe river on his march to India. Even the criticisms which he sometimes\noffers on myths and legends prove that in the act of rejecting them\nwholly or in part he does not dream of questioning the reality of the\ndivine or heroic personages of whom they were told. Thus, to give\ninstances, while he examines and rejects the claims set up on behalf of\nvarious objects to be works of Hephaestus, he admits the genuineness of\none of the objects, thereby clearly taking for granted the existence of\nthe smith-god himself. Again, observing an image of Aphrodite with\nfetters on her feet he tells how, according to one tradition, Tyndareus\nhad put this indignity on the goddess to punish her for bringing his\ndaughters to shame. \u201cThis explanation,\u201d declares Pausanias with\ndecision, \u201cI cannot accept for a moment It would have been too silly to\nimagine that by making a cedar-wood doll and dubbing it Aphrodite he\ncould punish the goddess.\u201d Obviously our author, if he has small\nreverence for the image and none at all for the tradition of its origin,\ncherishes an unfaltering faith in the reality of the goddess. Again, he\ndenies that Semele was ever, as Greek tradition would have it, rescued\nfrom hell by Dionysus, and the reason he gives for his incredulity is\nthat Semele was the wife of Zeus and therefore could not die. Yet again,\nafter telling the legend of Eurypylus and the wonderful chest in which\nhe kept a portable god, he mentions only to reject the tradition that\nEurypylus received the chest from Hercules. \u201cSure am I,\u201d says he, \u201cthat\nHercules knew all about the chest, if it really was such a wonderful\nchest, and I do not believe that knowing about it he would ever have\ngiven it away to a comrade in arms.\u201d Once more, Pausanias cannot bring\nhimself to believe that Hercules ever carried his anger at a friend\u2019s\ndaughter so far as to condemn her to remain a spinster for the rest of\nher days and to serve him in that capacity as his priestess. He opines\nthat while Hercules was still among men, \u201cpunishing other people for\npresumption and especially for impiety, it is not likely that he would\nhave established a temple with a priestess all for himself, just as if\nhe were a god.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: His\n scepticism\n as to hell.]\n\nThere is one side, however, of Greek religion as to which Pausanias\nshows himself consistently sceptical, if not incredulous. He had serious\ndoubts as to the existence of a subterranean hell. \u201cIt is not easy,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cto believe that gods have an underground abode in which the souls\nof the dead assemble.\u201d He speaks of the \u201csupposed subterranean realm\u201d of\nPluto, and in the cave at Taenarum, which was thought to be one of the\nmouths of hell, he looked in vain for any passage leading down to the\nnether world. Cerberus in particular, the hound of hell, is roughly\nhandled by Pausanias, who ruthlessly strips him of his superfluous\nheads, reduces him to a commonplace serpent, and seems to take a\nmalicious pleasure in enumerating all the places where the animal was\nsaid to have been haled up by Hercules. But though Pausanias had his\ndoubts as to hell, he seems to have believed in the existence of the\nsoul after death; for in a passage which has been already quoted he\nspeaks of the punishment that awaits the wicked in another life. At the\nsame time his belief in the doctrine was apparently not very firm; at\nleast he refers to it somewhat hesitatingly in mentioning the Messenian\ntradition that the soul of the dead hero Aristomenes had fought against\nhis old foes the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra. \u201cThe first people,\u201d he there\ntells us, \u201cwho asserted that the soul of man is immortal were the\nChaldeans and the Indian magicians; and some of the Greeks believed\nthem, especially Plato, the son of Aristo. If everybody accepts this\ntenet, there can be no gainsaying the view that hatred of the\nLacedaemonians has rankled in the heart of Aristomenes through all the\nages.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: His\n attitude to\n various\n deities.]\n\nAmongst the gods Pausanias assigns the first place to Zeus. He alone is\nsuperior to Destiny, to which all the other gods must submit; he is the\nruler and guide of the Fates, and knows all that they have in store for\nman. Of the Fates themselves Fortune is, in our author\u2019s opinion, the\nmost powerful; she it is whose resistless might sweeps all things along\nat her will, determining the growth and decay of cities, the revolutions\nof nature, and the destiny of man. Yet Pausanias\u2019s own devotions seem to\nhave been paid rather to Demeter than to Zeus or the Fates. He visited\nPhigalia chiefly for the sake of the Black Demeter to whom he sacrificed\nat the mouth of the cave; he relates at length the history of her image;\nand he describes in unusual detail the sanctuary and images of Demeter\nand Proserpine at Lycosura. Again, he had been initiated into the\nEleusinian mysteries; he loves to trace their diffusion from Eleusis\nover the rest of Greece; he speaks of the Andanian mysteries as second\nin point of sanctity to the Eleusinian alone; he tells us that the\nGreeks of an earlier age esteemed the latter as far above all other\nreligious exercises as the gods were above heroes; and he expresses his\nown conviction that there was nothing on which the blessing of God\nrested in so full a measure as on the rites of Eleusis and the Olympic\ngames. His religious awe of the mysteries, silencing his antiquarian\ngarrulity, forbade him to describe not only the rites but the sacred\nprecincts in which they were celebrated. Once more, on Mount\nPanhellenius in Aegina he sacrificed to the images of the kindred\ndeities Damia and Auxesia according to the ritual observed in\nsacrificing at Eleusis. Another deity in whom Pausanias seems to have\nbeen especially interested was Aesculapius. He examines the legends of\nthe god\u2019s parentage, discusses his nature, and traces the spread of his\nworship from Epidaurus. Along with his belief in the gods and in the\nresistless power of Fate our author apparently cherished a dim faith in\na divine providence which watches over the affairs of man. In speaking\nof the exploits of Theseus in Crete he remarks that \u201cnothing less than\nthe hand of Providence could reasonably be supposed to have brought him\nand his comrades safe back, guiding him through all the mazy intricacies\nof the labyrinth, and leading him unseen, when his work was done,\nthrough the midst of his enemies.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: His belief\n in the\n active interference\n of\n the gods in\n human\n affairs.]\n\nThe gods, in the opinion of Pausanias, were neither cold abstractions\nnor blessed beings who, lapped in the joys of heaven, took no thought\nfor the affairs of earth. They actively interfered in the course of\nevents, rewarding the virtuous and punishing the wicked. They were the\ngivers of good things to men; and if their rewards had been more open\nand manifest in days of old, the prosperity of the pious Athenians was a\nstanding proof that even in later times the gods had not forgotten to\nrecompense their worshippers. Yet, like most people who lay themselves\nout to justify the ways of God to man, Pausanias was readier to detect\nthe hand of the deity in the miseries and misfortunes of his\nfellow-creatures than in their joys and blessings. The confidence with\nwhich he lays his finger on the precise misdeed which drew down on a\nmalefactor the wrath of a justly offended god implies an astonishing\nfamiliarity with the counsels of the Almighty. He knew that the Persians\nwere defeated at Marathon because they had angered Nemesis by bringing,\nin the pride of their hearts, a block of marble which they proposed to\nset up as a trophy of their expected victory; that the destruction of\nSparta and Helice by earthquakes was due to the wrath of Poseidon at the\nviolation of his sanctuaries; that the ruin and death of Mithridates had\nbeen brought to pass by Apollo, whose sacred island had been sacked by\nthe king\u2019s general; that Sulla\u2019s miserable end was a direct consequence\nof his guilt in tearing Aristion from the sanctuary of Athena; and that\nthe wrath of the Eleusinian goddesses abode on the Megarians for ever\nbecause they had encroached on the sacred land and murdered a herald who\nwarned them to desist. Again, he shrewdly suspects that the long\nmisfortunes of the Messenians flowed directly from the anger of the\nDioscuri at the impious presumption of two Messenian youths; and he\nsurmises that gods and heroes combined to wreak their displeasure on the\ndevoted head of Cleomenes, who had tampered with the Delphic oracle,\nravaged the sacred Eleusinian land, and burned the grove of the hero\nArgus. The Delphic Apollo was quick and powerful, according to\nPausanias, to defend his honour and to visit with vengeance the\nsacrilegious persons who dared to assail his sanctuary or rifle his\ntreasures. King Archidamus, who had fingered the sacred moneys, fell in\nbattle in a foreign land and his corpse weltered unburied; the\nPhlegyans, who made a raid on Delphi, perished by thunderbolts and\nearthquakes; and it was in all the majesty of thunder, lightning, and\nearthquake that at a later time the god stood forth to repel the Gauls.\nAmongst the punishments with which the gods were thought to visit\nunwarranted intrusions into their sanctuaries, blindness and madness had\na special place. King Aepytus, on forcing his way into the shrine of\nPoseidon at Mantinea, which none might enter, was instantly struck blind\nand died soon afterwards; some Persian soldiers who ventured into the\nsanctuary of the Cabiri near Thebes became crazed and in that state put\nan end to themselves; and it was believed that if any defiled or impious\nperson entered the sanctuary of the Eumenides at Cerynea he would go mad\non the spot.\n\n[Sidenote: His belief\n in oracles.]\n\nBelieving in the gods, Pausanias naturally believed in their official\nutterances, the oracles. The Delphic oracle, he thinks, foretold the\nbattle of Leuctra and various episodes in the Messenian wars; and he\nappeals to one of its answers as conclusive evidence that the mother of\nAesculapius was Coronis. He relates how the accidental exposure of the\nbones of Orpheus was followed by the destruction of the city of Libethra\nin accordance with a prediction of Dionysus in Thrace, and he narrates\nthe fatal disasters which Epaminondas, Hannibal, and the Athenians\nincurred by misunderstanding oracular answers sent them from Delphi,\nAmmon, and Dodona. The history of Macedonia, its rise and its fall, had\nbeen predicted by the Sibyl, if we may believe Pausanias, who quotes her\nprophecy; and he assures us that the inroad of the Gauls into Asia had\nbeen foretold by Phaennis a generation before the event took place. He\nhad himself consulted the oracle of Trophonius, and has left us a\ncurious account of the ceremonies observed by enquirers at the shrine.\nIn his day, he informs us, the most infallible oracle was that of\nAmphilochus at Mallus in Cilicia.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n criticism of\n myths.]\n\nYet while Pausanias accepted on the whole the religion of his country,\nhe was by no means blind to the discrepancies and improbabilities of\nmany Greek myths and legends, and he speaks somewhat disdainfully of the\nunquestioning faith of the multitude in the stories they had heard from\nchildhood. \u201cFalsehood in general,\u201d he says, \u201cpasses current among the\nmultitude because they are ignorant of history and believe all that they\nhave heard from childhood in choirs and tragedies.\u201d And again he\nobserves that \u201cit is not easy to persuade the vulgar to change their\nopinions.\u201d From the former of these passages it appears that Pausanias\nwas little disposed to place implicit faith in the utterances of the\npoets on matters of tradition. Elsewhere he intimates his doubts still\nmore plainly. Speaking of the hydra, which he maintains had not more\nthan one head, he says that the poet Pisander multiplied the creature\u2019s\nheads \u201cto make the monster more terrific, and to add to the dignity of\nhis own verses.\u201d Again, he mentions that the poets have declared certain\nobjects of art to be works of Hephaestus, and that obsequious public\nopinion has chimed in with them, but he for his part rejects all such\nrelics as spurious save one. The only poet to whose authority he\ninclined to bow was Homer, whose testimony he often appeals to with\nrespect. He held that many old stories were true enough in their origin,\nbut had fallen into discredit by reason of the distortions and\nexaggerations to which they had been subjected by the narrators. The\nparticular story which suggests this remark is the legend that Lycaon\nhad been turned into a wolf on sacrificing a babe to Lycaean Zeus.\nPausanias believes the legend, but he rejects as incredible the\nassertion that at every subsequent sacrifice to Zeus on Mount Lycaeus a\nman had been turned into a wolf, and he does not stick to brand as\nhumbugs the persons who gave out that the Arcadian boxer Damarchus had\nbeen so transformed. \u201cLovers of the marvellous,\u201d he observes, \u201care too\nprone to heighten the marvels they hear tell of by adding touches of\ntheir own; and thus they debase truth by alloying it with fiction.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: His disbelief\n of\n certain\n myths.]\n\nThe attitude of incredulity which Pausanias maintained towards many of\nthe current legends is declared by him in the most unequivocal manner.\nHe speaks of \u201cthe many falsehoods believed by the Greeks,\u201d and reminds\nus that though he is bound to record Greek stories he is not bound to\nbelieve them, and that as a matter of fact he does not believe them all.\nThe myths of the transformations of gods and men into animals and plants\nseem especially to have stuck in his throat. He does not believe that\nZeus changed himself into a cuckoo to win the love of Hera, and as to\nthe story of the transformation of Cycnus into a swan, he says roundly:\n\u201cThat a man should be turned into a bird is to me incredible.\u201d Nor will\nhe hear of Narcissus\u2019s love for his own reflexion in the glassy pool and\nhis wondrous change into the flower that bore his name. \u201cIt is sheer\nfolly,\u201d he remarks, \u201cto suppose that a person who has reached the age of\nfalling in love should be unable to distinguish between a man and his\nreflexion,\u201d and as for the flower in question he has chapter and verse\nfor it to prove that it grew before Narcissus was born. The companion\nstory of the transformation of Hyacinth into the flower he does not\ntreat quite so cavalierly. \u201cIt may not be literally true,\u201d he tells us,\n\u201cbut let it pass.\u201d Further, he cannot believe that the beasts followed\nOrpheus as he sang, and that the minstrel journeyed down to hell to win\nback his lost Eurydice. Again, while he believes in giants, he rejects\nas a silly story the notion that they had serpents instead of feet, and\nhe supports his scepticism by referring to the corpse of one of these\nmonstrous beings which had been found in the bed of the river Orontes\nenclosed in a coffin eleven ells long. Often, without formally refusing\nhis assent to some tale of wonder, he quietly hints his incredulity by\nindicating that he leaves his readers to believe it or not as they feel\ninclined. Thus after telling how pigs thrown into the halls of Demeter\nat Potniae were supposed to re-appear next year at Dodona, he adds,\nalmost sarcastically: \u201cThe tale may possibly find credence with some\npeople.\u201d Other marvels which he dismisses with a sneer are the sowing of\nthe dragon\u2019s teeth by Cadmus and the springing up of armed men; the\nsprouting of Hercules\u2019s club into a tree when he set it on the ground;\nthe wonderful vision of Lynceus who could see through the trunk of an\noak-tree; and the story that at a certain rock in Megara the sad Demeter\nstood and called back her daughter from the darkling road down which she\nhad vanished.\n\n[Sidenote: His rationalistic\n interpretation\n of some\n myths.]\n\nIt is not always, however, that Pausanias meets seemingly miraculous\nstories with a blank negation. He had too much good sense to do that.\nHe knew that our experience does not exhaust the possibilities of\nnature, and he endeavoured accordingly to trim the balance of his\njudgment between hasty credulity on the one side and rash disbelief on\nthe other. Thus after pointing out that, if the descriptions of the\nstrange creatures of distant lands are false in some particulars, they\nare true or at least not improbable in others, he concludes: \u201cSo\ncareful should we be to avoid hasty judgments on the one hand, and\nincredulity in matters of rare occurrence on the other.\u201d In his\nendeavour to winnow the true from the false, to disentangle the\nravelled skein of tradition, he has often recourse to that convenient\nand flexible instrument\u2014rationalistic or allegorical interpretation.\nWe have seen with what ease he thus disencumbered himself of\nCerberus\u2019s superfluous heads and reduced that animal from a very\nextraordinary dog to a very ordinary serpent. The miraculous story of\nthe death of Actaeon, rent in pieces by his hounds at the instigation\nof Artemis, gives him no trouble: it was a simple case of hydrophobia.\nMedusa was a beautiful African queen who met Perseus at the head of\nher troops. Titan was an early astronomer who resided near Sicyon and\npassed for a brother of the sun for no other reason than that he made\nobservations on that luminary. The fable that Procne and Philomela\nwere turned into a nightingale and a swallow arose merely from a\ncomparison of their mournful cries to the plaintive notes of these\nbirds. In one passage, indeed, under the fierce light of criticism the\ngods themselves seem on the point of melting away like mist before the\nsun, leaving behind them nothing but the clear hard face of nature,\nover which for a while the gorgeous pageantry of their shifting\niridescent shapes had floated in a golden haze. The passage occurs in\nthe description of Aegium, where our author fell in with a Phoenician\nof Sidon with whom he discussed the philosophic basis of the belief in\nAesculapius, coming to the conclusion that the god was nothing but the\nair and his father Apollo nothing but the sun. Had Pausanias followed\nup this line of thought he might, like Schiller, have seen as in a\nvision the bright procession of the gods winding up the long slope of\nOlympus, sometimes pausing to look back sadly at a world where they\nwere needed no more. But the whole tenour of his work goes to show\nthat, if here he had a glimpse of a higher truth, it was only a\nflash-light that went out leaving him in darkness.\n\n[Sidenote: His change\n of view as\n to myths.]\n\nIn a later passage he makes a confession of his faith in matters of\nmythology. After telling the barbarous tale how the cannibal Cronus,\nintending to devour his infant son Poseidon, had been cozened by Rhea\ninto swallowing a foal, he goes on: \u201cWhen I began this work I used to\nlook on these Greek stories as little better than foolishness; but now\nthat I have got as far as Arcadia my opinion about them is this: I\nbelieve that the Greeks who were accounted wise spoke of old in riddles,\nand not straight out; and, accordingly, I conjecture that this story\nabout Cronus is a bit of Greek philosophy. In matters of religion I will\nfollow tradition.\u201d This seems to be practically a recantation of\nearlier, perhaps youthful scepticism. The tales which he had once\nridiculed as absurd he now finds to be full of deep, if hidden, wisdom.\nMeditation and perhaps still more the creeping paralysis of age, which\nbrings so many men to a dull acquiescence in beliefs and practices which\nthey had spurned in youth, appear to have wrought a mental revolution in\nPausanias. The scoffer had become devout.\n\n[Sidenote: His treatment\n of\n discrepant\n traditions.]\n\nYet to a pious believer the discrepancy between Greek traditions must\nhave been a sore stumbling-block. Pausanias tripped over it again and\nagain. \u201cGreek traditions,\u201d says he, \u201care generally discrepant.\u201d \u201cThe\nlegends of the Greeks differ from each other on most points, especially\nin the genealogies.\u201d \u201cThe old legends, being unencumbered by\ngenealogies, left free scope for fiction, especially in the pedigrees of\nheroes.\u201d \u201cMost things in Greece are subjects of dispute.\u201d In face of\nsuch differences Pausanias, when he does not content himself with simply\nenumerating the various traditions, chooses to follow either the most\ngenerally received version or the one which on any ground appears to him\nthe most probable. With his sober unimaginative temperament and bias to\nrationalism, it was natural that between conflicting versions of the\nsame tradition he should choose the one which clashed least with\nexperience. Thus he relates the two stories told of the way in which the\npeople of Tanagra acquired the Triton whose stuffed carcase was the\nglory of the town. One story ran that the creature had been slain by\nDionysus himself in single combat; according to the other, a common\nmortal had found the Triton lying drunk on the beach and had chopped off\nhis head with an axe. The latter version of the tale is described by\nPausanias as \u201cless dignified but more probable.\u201d Tritons, it is true,\nwhether drunk or sober, are not common objects of the sea-shore; but\nthere was no need to heighten the marvel by lugging in Dionysus. Again,\nthe death of Aristodemus, the ancestor of the two royal houses of\nSparta, was variously narrated. \u201cThose who wish to invest him with a\nhalo of glory,\u201d writes Pausanias, \u201csay that he was shot by Apollo\u201d; but\nthe truer story was that he had been knocked on the head by the children\nof Pylades. Again, he regards with suspicion the claims of men and women\nto be the husbands and wives, the sons and daughters of gods and\ngoddesses. \u201cThe Moon, they say, loved Endymion, and he had fifty\ndaughters by the goddess. Others, with more probability, say that\nEndymion married a wife.\u201d \u201cCadmus made a distinguished marriage if he\nreally married, as the Greeks say he did, a daughter of Aphrodite and\nAres.\u201d Then as to reputed sons of gods. \u201cThat Corinthus was a son of\nZeus has never yet, so far as I know, been seriously asserted by anybody\nexcept by a majority of the Corinthians themselves.\u201d Oenomaus was a son\nof Alexion, \u201cthough the poets have given out that he was a son of Ares.\u201d\nThe father of Augeas was Eleus, \u201cthough those who magnify his history\ngive the name of Eleus a twist, and affirm that Augeas was a son of the\nsun.\u201d The crafty Autolycus \u201cwas reputed to be a son of Hermes, though in\ntruth his father was Daedalion.\u201d The story that Orpheus had the Muse\nCalliope for his mother is stigmatised by our author as a falsehood.\nRivers that appeared in the character of fathers were also viewed by\nPausanias with distrust. He held that the father of Eteocles was\nAndreus, not the river Cephisus; and he believed that the father of\nPlataea was not the river Asopus but a king of the same name. Other\ninstances of his hesitation to accept legends of divine parentage might\nbe cited.\n\n[Sidenote: His\n application\n of historical\n methods to\n Greek\n traditions.]\n\nBut in his criticism of Greek legends Pausanias did not confine himself\nto the simple test of experience. He did not merely ask whether a story\nagreed more or less with the laws of nature, and accept or reject it\naccordingly. In historical enquiries the application of such a criterion\nobviously cannot carry the enquirer beyond the first step. Pausanias\nwent much further. He introduced considerations drawn from general\nprobability, from chronology, from the monuments, from a comparison with\nother traditions, from the relative weight to be attached to the\nauthorities by which each version of a legend was supported. In fact,\nfar from being hide-bound in the trammels of tradition, he moved freely\namong the materials at his disposal, accepting this and rejecting that\nin obedience to the dictates of a reasonable and fairly enlightened\ncriticism. Thus, he rejects the Sophoclean version of the death of\nOedipus because it conflicts with the Homeric. He will not allow that a\nbronze image of Athena at Amphissa can have formed part of the Trojan\nspoils, and that a bronze image of Poseidon at Pheneus can have been\ndedicated by Ulysses, because at the time of the Trojan war and in the\nlifetime of Ulysses the art of casting in bronze had not yet been\ninvented. He refuses to believe that the grave of Dejanira was at Argos,\nbecause she was known to have died at Trachis and her grave to be not\nfar from Heraclea. Among the several places in Greece that set up claims\nto be the Oechalia of Homer, our author decides in favour of Carnasium\nin Messenia, because the bones of Eurytus were there. The tradition that\nthe mysteries at Celeae had been founded by a man of Eleusis named\nDysaules, who had been driven into exile after a battle between the\nEleusinians and Athenians, is rejected by Pausanias on the grounds that\nno such battle took place and that no such person is mentioned by Homer.\nThe legend that Daedalus joined Aristaeus in colonising Sardinia is set\naside by him for the reason that Daedalus lived several generations\nafter Aristaeus, and therefore could not possibly have shared with him\nin a colony or in anything else. Similarly he argues on chronological\ngrounds against the traditions that Achilles had been a suitor of Helen;\nthat Timalcus went to Aphidna with the Dioscuri; and that the Telamon\nand Chalcodon who marched with Hercules against Elis were the well-known\nTelamon of Aegina and Chalcodon of Euboea. The Spartan tradition as to\nthe image of Brauronian Artemis is preferred by Pausanias to the\nAthenian, and that for a variety of reasons which he sets forth in\ndetail.\n\nThus Pausanias criticised Greek myths and legends according to his\nlights, and if his lights did not shine very brilliantly the fault was\nnot his.\n\n[Sidenote: His taste in art.]\n\nOf his taste in painting and sculpture we are scarcely able to judge,\npartly because he is chary of his praise, generally confining himself to\na simple mention or description of the work before him, partly because\nso few of the works described by him have survived to our time.\n[Sidenote: His taste in painting.] The paintings are all gone. A little\nblue pigment on a ruined wall at Delphi is all that remains of those\nfrescoes of Polygnotus which excited the admiration of antiquity. That\nPausanias himself admired them is clear, both from the length of his\ndescription and from the words with which he brings it to a close: \u201cSo\nvaried and beautiful is the painting of the Thasian artist.\u201d Elsewhere\nhe seems to have lost no opportunity of describing extant pictures of\nPolygnotus, though he does not always mention his name. A painting of\nDrunkenness by Pausias apparently struck Pausanias especially, for he\ntells us that \u201cin the picture you can see the crystal goblet and the\nwoman\u2019s face through it.\u201d But the only pictures, besides those of\nPolygnotus at Delphi, on which he deigns to bestow a dry word of\ncommendation are a couple of paintings on tombstones, one of them by\nNicias, as to whom Pausanias tells us elsewhere that he had been the\ngreatest painter of animals of his time.\n\n[Sidenote: His taste in\n sculpture.]\n\nIn sculpture the taste of Pausanias was apparently austere. He decidedly\npreferred the earlier to the later art. Of the archaic works attributed\nto Daedalus he says that they \u201care somewhat uncouth to the eye, but\nthere is a touch of the divine in them for all that.\u201d He praises\nBupalus, an artist of the sixth century B.C., as \u201ca clever architect and\nsculptor.\u201d But on the whole it was for the sculptors of the fifth\ncentury B.C. that he chiefly reserved his scanty praise, and amongst\nthem he seemingly preferred the masters of the older manner who\nimmediately preceded Phidias. [Sidenote: Predecessors of Phidias.] Thus,\nwith regard to Pythagoras of Rhegium, who flourished about 480 B.C., he\nsays that he was \u201ca good sculptor, if ever there was one,\u201d and in\nspeaking of the boxer Euthymus he remarks that \u201chis statue is by\nPythagoras, and most well worth seeing it is.\u201d Of Onatas, who was at\nwork about 467 B.C., he expresses a high opinion: \u201cI am inclined to\nregard Onatas, though he belongs to the Aeginetan school of sculpture,\nas second to none of the successors of Daedalus and the Attic school.\u201d\nThis criticism indicates that Pausanias preferred in general the Attic\nschool of sculpture to the Aeginetan, though he considered one master of\nthe latter school as the peer of the greatest Attic sculptors. At\nPergamus there was a bronze image of Apollo by this same Onatas which\nPausanias describes as \u201cone of the greatest marvels both for size and\nworkmanship.\u201d It is a proof of the independence of Pausanias\u2019s judgment\nin art that this early sculptor, whom he ranked with [Sidenote: Phidias]\nPhidias and Praxiteles, is not even mentioned by any other ancient\nwriter except in a single epigram of the Anthology. Another old master\nof the fifth century whose statues Pausanias often notices is Calamis;\non one of them he bestows a word of commendation. A statue by this\nartist was much admired by Lucian. The great sculptor Myron, a\ncontemporary of Phidias, seems also to have found favour in the eyes of\nPausanias, for he mentions that the image of Dionysus on Mount Helicon\nwas the finest of all the artist\u2019s works, next to the statue of\nErechtheus at Athens. That Pausanias appreciated the greatness of\nPhidias is clear from the way in which he speaks of him and from the\ndetail in which he describes the sculptor\u2019s two most famous works, the\nimage of the Virgin Athena at Athens and the image of Zeus at Olympia.\nOf the latter he observes that the mere measurements of the image could\nconvey no idea of the impression which the image itself made on the\nbeholder. Yet he did not consider it the sculptor\u2019s masterpiece, for as\nto the image of the Lemnian Athena at Athens he remarks that it is \u201cthe\nbest worth seeing of all the works of Phidias.\u201d The preference thus\ngiven to this comparatively obscure statue over the image of Zeus which\nthe ancient world agreed in extolling as little less than divine is\nanother proof of the independence of Pausanias\u2019s judgment in artistic\nmatters; and that his taste here was good is attested by the very high\nplace which his contemporary Lucian, one of the best critics of\nantiquity, assigns to the same statue. Of Alcamenes our author observes\nthat as a sculptor he was second only to his contemporary Phidias, and\nwith regard to the statue of Aphrodite in the Gardens by this artist he\nsays that \u201cfew things at Athens are so well worth seeing as this.\u201d Here,\nagain, our author\u2019s judgment is confirmed by that of Lucian, who\ndescribes this image as the most beautiful work of Alcamenes, and draws\nfrom it not a few traits for his imaginary statue of ideal beauty which\nwas to combine all the most perfect features of the most celebrated\nstatues. Another sculptor whose style seems to have pleased Pausanias\nwas Naucydes, a brother of the famous Polyclitus, who worked at the end\nof the fifth or at the beginning of the fourth century B.C. A bronze\nimage of Athena by Hypatodorus at Aliphera is declared by Pausanias to\nbe worth seeing both for its size and its workmanship; but the date of\nthis sculptor is somewhat uncertain. Strongylion, whom Pausanias\ndescribes as unrivalled in his representations of oxen and horses, seems\nto have flourished toward the end of the fifth century B.C. Among the\nsculptors of the following century Pausanias praises Cephisodotus\n[Sidenote: Sculptors of the fourth century B.C.] for the conception of\nhis statue representing the infant Wealth in the arms of Peace, and the\nsculptors Xenophon and Callistratus for a similar allegorical work\nrepresenting Wealth in the arms of Fortune. Further, he commends some of\nthe sculptures of Damophon at Messene,[3] and he has a few words of\napprobation for several works of Praxiteles, but not one for any work of\nthe other two great masters of the fourth century, Scopas[4] and\nLysippus, though he mentions many statues by them. A critic of a taste\nso severe that he could pass by the works of Scopas and the Hermes of\nPraxiteles without uttering a syllable of admiration was not likely to\ntake much pleasure in the productions of the decadence. Pausanias\nnotices few and praises none of the successors of Praxiteles. Of the\ncolossal image of Olympian Zeus at Athens, which must have been executed\nin his own lifetime, he says condescendingly that it was good for its\nsize.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n The date of Damophon is uncertain, but on the whole the evidence seems\n to point to his having been at work in the first half of the fourth\n century B.C. Pausanias\u2019s appreciation of Damophon is one more proof of\n the independence of his judgment in matters of art; for Damophon is\n mentioned by no other writer of antiquity.\n\nFootnote 4:\n\n However, he admired Scopas as an architect if not as a sculptor (viii.\n 45. 5). The same may be said of Polyclitus (ii. 27. 5), though the\n building which Pausanias admired turns out to be by the younger and\n less distinguished artist of that name.\n\n-----\n\nIt may be noted as significant of Pausanias\u2019s interest in the older\nsculpture that the only artists with whose styles he shows himself so\nfamiliar as to recognise them at sight are Calamis, Canachus, Endoeus,\nand Laphaes, of whom Calamis and Canachus flourished in the early part\nof the fifth century B.C., and Endoeus in the last part of the sixth\ncentury B.C. The date of Laphaes is unknown, but as the two images by\nthis artist were both made of wood and are expressly declared by\nPausanias to be ancient, we can hardly suppose that the sculptor\nflourished later than the sixth century B.C.\n\n[Sidenote: His taste\n in architecture.]\n\nOf Pausanias\u2019s taste in architecture we are much better able to judge,\nfor many of the buildings described by him exist, and by a most\nfortunate coincidence amongst them are some of which he expressed his\nadmiration in unusually strong language. [Sidenote: Walls of Tiryns.] To\nbegin with the relics of the prehistoric age, the walls of Tiryns and\nthe beehive tomb of Orchomenus, which he calls the Treasury of Minyas,\nraised his wonder to such a pitch that he compares them to the Egyptian\npyramids and animadverts on the perversity of the Greeks, who admired\nand described only the marvels they saw abroad, while they entirely\nneglected the marvels no less great which they had at home. The walls of\nTiryns he describes with amazement as \u201cmade of unwrought stones, each\nstone so large that a pair of mules could not even stir the smallest of\nthem.\u201d No modern reader who has [Sidenote: Beehive tomb at Orchomenus.]\nseen the walls of Tiryns as they still stand, built of enormous stones\nand resembling a work of giants rather than of men, will be likely to\nregard Pausanias\u2019s admiration of them as misplaced, whatever may be\nthought of the comparison of them to the pyramids. Amongst the\nprehistoric remains of Greece they are certainly unmatched. The walls of\nMycenae and of the great prehistoric fortress of Gla or Goulas in\nBoeotia surpass them, indeed, in extent, but fall far short of them in\nthe size of the blocks of which they are composed. As to the beehive\ntomb at Orchomenus, of which Pausanias says that there was no greater\nmarvel either in Greece or elsewhere, it is now sadly ruinous, but we\ncan judge of its original effect by the great beehive tomb at Mycenae\nknown as the Treasury of Atreus, which agrees with the tomb at\nOrchomenus very closely in dimensions and exists almost intact. To stand\nwithin the great circular chamber and look up at the domed roof, with\nits rings of regularly hewn stones diminishing one above the other till\nthey are lost in the darkness overhead, is an impressive experience.\nThose who have enjoyed it will be disposed to think that Pausanias was\nright in regarding the similar edifice at Orchomenus as a very wonderful\nstructure.\n\n[Sidenote: The\n Propylaea.]\n\nTo come down to buildings of the historical age, Pausanias admired the\nPropylaea or grand [Sidenote: Theatre at Epidaurus.] portal of the\nAcropolis at Athens, which \u201cfor the beauty and size of the blocks,\u201d he\nsays, \u201chas never yet been matched.\u201d It is probably not too much to say\nthat even in its ruins this magnificent portal is still the highest\ntriumph of the mason\u2019s craft. The exquisite fitting of the massive\ncleanly-cut blocks of white marble is a pleasure to behold. Again, the\nsight of the theatre in the sanctuary of Aesculapius at Epidaurus moves\nthe sober Pausanias to an extraordinary, almost unparalleled burst of\nadmiration. \u201cIn the Epidaurian sanctuary,\u201d he says, \u201cthere is a theatre\nwhich in my opinion is most especially worth seeing. It is true that in\nsize the theatre at Megalopolis in Arcadia surpasses it, and that in\nsplendour the Roman theatres far transcend all the theatres in the\nworld; but for symmetry and beauty what architect could vie with\nPolyclitus? For it was Polyclitus who made this theatre.\u201d Here again\nmodern taste confirms the judgment of Pausanias. Neither the Dionysiac\ntheatre at Athens, nor the great theatre at Megalopolis, nor the\nwell-preserved theatre at Delphi, nor any other existing Greek theatre,\nso far at least as my experience goes, can vie for a moment in beauty\nand symmetry with the exquisite theatre at Epidaurus.\n\n[Sidenote: Temples at\n Bassae and\n Tegea.]\n\nAgain, in regard to the temple of Apollo at Bassae our author says that\n\u201cof all the temples in Peloponnese, next to the one at Tegea, this may\nbe placed first for the beauty of the stone and the symmetry of its\nproportions,\u201d and as to the temple of Athena Alea at Tegea, to which he\nhere refers, he says elsewhere, \u201cThe present temple far surpasses all\nother temples in Peloponnese both in size and style.\u201d So far as the size\nof the temple at Tegea goes, Pausanias is wrong. The temple of Zeus at\nOlympia was nearly twice as large. But in regard to style modern taste\nmerely echoes the opinion of Pausanias. The scanty remains of the temple\nat Tegea are now mostly buried underground, but the admirable design and\nworkmanship of the architectural fragments, and the beauty of the\nshattered sculptures, justify the praise which Pausanias bestows on it\nas the finest temple in Peloponnese in respect of artistic style. No\nperson of taste but will set the pathetic force and beauty of the two\nbattered heads from this temple above all the coarse vigour of the\nPhigalian frieze and the ungraceful, almost repulsive hardness of the\ngroups from the gables of the Olympian temple. And that in architectural\nstyle the temple at Bassae came next to the one at Tegea is an opinion\nthat will hardly be disputed by any one who has seen the beautiful\ntemple at Bassae with its long rows of grey columns standing solitary\namong the barren mountains. That Pausanias was right in preferring it to\nthe temple of Zeus at Olympia both for the beauty of the stone and the\nsymmetry of its proportions is hardly open to question. The temple of\nZeus must have been imposing from its size, but its proportions, so far\nas we can judge from the ruins, do not strike an observer as especially\nharmonious; and as to the materials, the rough conglomerate of Olympia\ncannot be compared for beauty with the fine hard limestone of Bassae.\n\n[Sidenote: Walls of\n Messene.]\n\nFurther, Pausanias describes the walls of Messene with their towers and\nbattlements, and declares them to be stronger than the finest\nfortifications he had seen elsewhere. The remains of these superb\nfortifications bear him out. For the scale on which they are planned and\nfor the solidity and perfection of the masonry they are without a rival\nin Greece. In other places, as at Asea in Arcadia, at Aegosthena in\nMegaris, and at Lilaea and Drymaea in Phocis, circuits of walls with\ntheir flanking towers exist in better preservation, but none of them can\nvie in style and splendour with the fortifications of Messene. Here\nagain we must pronounce unhesitatingly that so far as our knowledge goes\nPausanias was in the right.\n\n[Sidenote: Music Halls\n at Athens\n and Patrae.]\n\nTo come down to buildings of a later age, Pausanias tells us that the\nMusic Hall at Patrae was the grandest in Greece except the one built by\nHerodes Atticus at Athens, which excelled it both in size and style.\nHere we are in the fortunate position of being able to compare for\nourselves the two buildings which Pausanias ranks together as the finest\nof their kind in Greece, for both of them exist in comparatively good\npreservation to the present day. That the Music Hall of Herodes Atticus\nexcels in size the one at Patrae, as Pausanias says it did, is obvious\nat a glance. The former is in fact a spacious theatre, the latter is a\ntiny one. But both, as appears from the remains, were originally cased\nwith marble and probably presented a splendid appearance. The lions\u2019\npaws of white marble which adorn the seats in the Music Hall at Patrae,\ntogether with the mosaic pavement of black and white in the adjoining\nchamber, enable us to form some slight idea of the elegance of those\nappointments which excited the admiration of Pausanias.\n\n[Sidenote: Stadium\n at Athens.]\n\nLastly, our author observes that the stadium at Athens, built of white\nmarble by Herodes Atticus, was \u201cwonderful to see, though not so\nimpressive to hear of,\u201d and that the greater part of the Pentelic\nquarries had been exhausted in its construction. The latter statement\nis, of course, an exaggeration. Mount Pentelicus is made of white\nmarble, and there is a good deal of it left to this day, though the\ngreat white blotches on its sides, visible even from the coast of\nEpidaurus, tell plainly where the quarrymen have been at work. But we\nmay easily believe Pausanias that the stadium was a wonderful sight when\ntiers of white marble benches, glistening in the strong sunshine, rose\nsteeply above each other all along both sides of the valley. For a\nvalley it is still, and a valley lined with white marble it must have\nbeen in the days of Pausanias. Those who have seen the stadium since it\nwas partially refitted with white marble benches for the games of 1896\ncan better picture to themselves what its aspect must have been when the\nbenches were complete. Before the time of Herodes Atticus the spectators\nmay have sat either on the earthen slopes, as at Olympia, or on benches\nof common stone, as at Epidaurus and Delphi.\n\nOn the whole, then, so far as we can judge from the existing monuments\nand the testimony of ancient writers, especially of Lucian, the artistic\ntaste of Pausanias was sound and good, if somewhat austere.\n\n[Sidenote: Intrinsic\n evidence of\n Pausanias\u2019s\n truthfulness.]\n\nThe manner in which he has described the monuments is plain and\nappropriate, entirely free from those vague rhetorical flourishes,\nliterary graces, and affected prettinesses with which, for example,\nPhilostratus tricks out his descriptions of pictures, and which have\nconsequently left it a matter of dispute to this day whether the\npictures he describes existed anywhere but in his own imagination. No\none is ever likely seriously to enquire whether the temples and\ntheatres, the statues and paintings described by Pausanias ever existed\nor not. His descriptions carry the imprint of reality on them to every\nmind that is capable of distinguishing between the true and the false;\nand even if they did not, their truthfulness would still be vouched for\nby their conformity with the remains of the monuments themselves. Proof\nof this confirmity might be adduced in great abundance. Here, however,\nwe are concerned with that internal evidence of the author\u2019s honesty and\ncandour which the writings themselves supply. Evidence of this sort can\nnever, indeed, amount to demonstration. Candour and honesty are not\nqualities that can be brought to the test of the senses; they cannot be\nweighed in a balance or seen under a microscope. A man who is neither\ncandid nor honest himself will probably never sincerely believe in the\nexistence of these qualities in others, and there is no means of\nconvincing him. It is always open to him to find a sinister motive for\nthe simplest act, a covert meaning under the plainest words. In the case\nof Pausanias the internal evidence of good faith seems amply sufficient\nto convince a fair-minded enquirer. It consists in the whole cast and\ntenour of his writings; in the naturalness and credibility of all that\nhe affirms of his own knowledge, with the exception of two or three\ncases in which he seems to have been duped by mercenary or priestly\ntrickery; it consists in the plainness and directness of the\ndescriptions; in their freedom from any tinge of rhetoric or sophistry;\nin the modesty with which the author generally keeps himself in the\nbackground; and finally in occasional confessions of ignorance which\nonly malignity could interpret as artifices resorted to for the purpose\nof supporting an assumed air of ingenuous simplicity. This last feature\nof the work it is desirable to illustrate by instances. The others,\npervading as they do the whole book, hardly admit of exemplification.\n\n[Sidenote: His confessions\n of\n ignorance.]\n\nRepeatedly, then, Pausanias owns that he had not been present at certain\nfestivals, and consequently had not seen certain images which were only\nexhibited on these occasions. Thus with regard to the very curious image\nof Eurynome, which would have especially interested him as an antiquary,\nhe tells us that the sanctuary in which it stood was opened only on one\nday in the year, and that as he did not happen to arrive on that day he\nhad not seen the image, and therefore could only describe it from\nhearsay. Similarly he says that he cannot describe the image of Artemis\nat Hyampolis because it was the custom to open the sanctuary only twice\na year. He tells at second hand of a festival of Dionysus at Elis, in\nwhich empty kettles were said to be found miraculously filled with wine;\nbut he informs us that he was not himself at Elis at the time of the\nfestival, and from expressions which he uses in regard to the marvel we\nmay infer that he had his doubts about it. No one presumably will\ndispute these statements of Pausanias and maintain that he arrived in\ntime for those festivals and saw those images although he assures us\nthat he did not. We are bound, therefore, in fairness to believe him\nwhen he tells us with regard to the sanctuary of Mother Dindymene at\nThebes that \u201cit is the custom to open the sanctuary on a single day each\nyear, not more. I was fortunate enough to arrive on that very day, and I\nsaw the image.\u201d As other instances of his candour may be cited his\nacknowledgment that he had not witnessed the ceremonies performed at the\ntombs of Eteocles and Polynices at Thebes, nor beheld the secret object\nrevered in the worship of Demeter at Hermion; that he could describe the\nsanctuary of Poseidon at Mantinea only from hearsay; that he had neither\nseen the walls of Babylon and Susa nor conversed with any one who had;\nthat he never saw Antinous in life, though he had seen statues and\npaintings of him; and that he had not heard the trout sing like thrushes\nin the river Aroanius, though he tarried by the river until sunset, when\nthey were said to sing loudest. These are the confessions of an honest\nman, inclined perhaps to credulity, but yet who will not deceive others\nby professing to have seen sights, whether marvellous or otherwise,\nwhich he has not seen. Again, when he quotes a book at second hand he is\ncareful to tell us so. Thus, after citing some lines from the _Atthis_\nof Hegesinus, he goes on: \u201cThis poem of Hegesinus I have not read: it\nwas lost before my time; but the verses are quoted as evidence by\nCallippus of Corinth in his history of Orchomenus, and I have profited\nby his information to do the same.\u201d Again, after quoting a couple of\nverses of an Orchomenian poet Chersias, he adds. \u201cThe poetry of Chersias\nis now lost, but these verses also are quoted by Callippus in the same\nwork of his on Orchomenus.\u201d These statements, like the foregoing, will\nhardly be disputed even by the most sceptical. No one will be likely to\ninsist that Pausanias read books which he tells us he did not. Therefore\nin fairness we are bound to believe him when he says that he did read\ncertain other works, such as the memoirs of some obscure historians, a\ntreatise on rhetoric purporting to be by Pittheus, the epics _Eoeae_ and\n_Naupactia_, a poem attributed to Linus, verses of Erato, a poem on\nsoothsaying which passed under the name of Hesiod, and the oracles of\nEuclus, Musaeus, and Bacis. If we take the word of Pausanias for what he\ntells us he did not see and did not read, we must take it also for what\nhe tells us he did see and did read. At least if we are to accept as\ntrue all those statements of an author which tell against himself and to\nreject as false all those which tell in his favour, there is an end of\neven the pretence of fair and rational criticism.\n\n[Sidenote: Literary\n style of\n Pausanias.]\n\nThe literary style of Pausanias is no exception to the rule that the\nstyle of a writer reflects the character of the man. Pausanias was\nneither a great man nor a great writer. He was an honest, laborious,\nplodding man of plain good sense, without either genius or imagination,\nand his style is a faithful mirror of his character. It is plain and\nunadorned, yet heavy and laboured, as if the writer had had to cast\nabout for the proper words and then fit them painfully together like the\npieces in a Chinese puzzle. There is a sense of strain and effort about\nit. The sentences are devoid of rhythm and harmony. They do not march,\nbut hobble and shamble and shuffle along. At the end of one of them the\nreader is not let down easily by a graceful cadence, a dying fall; he is\ntripped up suddenly and left sprawling, till he can pull himself\ntogether, take breath, and grapple with the next. It is a loose, clumsy,\nill-jointed, ill-compacted, rickety, ramshackle style, without ease or\ngrace or elegance of any sort. Yet Pausanias had studied good models. He\nknew Thucydides and his writings abound with echoes of Herodotus. But a\nstyle that has less of the unruffled flow, the limpid clearness, the\nexquisite grace, the sweet simplicity of the Herodotean prose it might\nbe hard to discover. The sound of the one is like the chiming of a\nsilver bell; that of the other like the creaking of a corn-crake. With\nall its defects, however, the style of Pausanias is not careless and\nslovenly. The author bestrides his high horse; he bobs up and down and\nclumps about on it with great solemnity; it is not his fault if his\nPegasus is a wooden hobby-horse instead of a winged charger.\n\n[Sidenote: He perhaps\n modelled\n his style on\n that of\n Hegesias.]\n\nThis union of seemingly opposite faults, this plainness without\nsimplicity, this elaboration without richness, may perhaps be best\nexplained by Boeckh\u2019s hypothesis, that he modelled his style on that of\nhis countryman Hegesias of Magnesia, a leader of the Asiatic school of\nrhetoric, who, aping the unadorned simplicity of Lysias\u2019s manner, fell\ninto an abrupt and jerky, yet affected and mincing style, laboriously\nchopping and dislocating his sentences so that they never ran smooth,\nnever by any chance slid into a rounded period with an easy cadence.\nDionysius of Halicarnassus declares peevishly that in all the voluminous\nworks of Hegesias there was not a single well-written page, and that the\nman must have gone wrong not from stupidity but of set purpose and\nmalice prepense, otherwise he could not have helped writing a good\nsentence now and then by accident. Frigid conceits and a puerile play\nupon words were mistaken by this perverse writer for literary beauties,\nand in the effort to stud his pages with these false jewels he\nsacrificed both pathos and truth. In this respect, indeed, Pausanias\nhappily did not follow the bad example of his predecessor. His writings\nare entirely free from paltry conceits and verbal quibbles. The thought\nis always manly and direct, however tortuous may be the sentence in\nwhich he seeks to express it. If he imitated Hegesias, it was apparently\nin the arrangement of the words and sentences alone.\n\nWhatever may be thought of this theory, the attention which Pausanias\nobviously bestowed on literary style is in itself wholly laudable. Such\nattention is a simple duty which every author owes to his readers.\nPausanias cannot be blamed for trying to write well; the pity is that\nwith all his pains he did not write better. He was anxious not to be\nneedlessly tedious, not to inflict on the reader mere bald lists of\nmonuments strung together on a topographical thread. He aimed at varying\nthe phraseology, at shunning the eternal repetition of the same words in\nthe same order. Yet he steered clear of one shoal only to run aground on\nanother. If to some extent he avoided monotony and attained variety of\nexpression, it was too often at the cost of simplicity and clearness.\nThe natural order of the words was sacrificed and a crabbed contorted\none substituted for it merely in order to vary the run of the sentences.\nFor the same reason a direct statement was often discarded in favour of\nan indirect one, with the result that a reader who happens to be\nunfamiliar with the author\u2019s manner is sometimes at a loss as to his\nmeaning. For example, it has been questioned whether he means that there\nwas a statue of Aeschylus in the theatre at Athens and one of Oenobius\non the Acropolis. Yet any person conversant with his style must feel\nsure that in both these cases Pausanias intends to intimate the\nexistence of the statue, and that if he does not affirm it in so many\nwords this is due to no other cause than a wish to turn the sentence in\nanother way. Similar instances could easily be multiplied. The ambiguity\nwhich so often arises from this indirect mode of statement is one of the\nmany blots on the style of Pausanias. Such as it is, his style is seen\nat its best in some of the longer historical passages, notably in the\nspirited narratives of the Messenian wars and the Gallic invasion. Here\nhe occasionally rises to a fair level of literary merit, as for example\nin describing the evil omens that preceded and hastened the death of the\npatriot king Aristodemus, and again in relating the impious attack of\nthe Gauls on Delphi and their overwhelming repulse. Through the latter\nnarrative there runs, like a strain of solemn music, an undertone of\nreligious faith and fervour which greatly heightens the effect.\n\n[Sidenote: Pausanias\u2019s\n use of\n previous\n writers.]\n\nIn these and similar historical episodes we must allow something for the\ninfluence on Pausanias\u2019s style of the literary authorities whom he\nfollowed. The warmer tinge of the descriptions, the easier flow of the\nsentences may not be wholly due to the ardour of the writer\u2019s piety, to\nthe swell of his patriotic feelings. Something of the movement, the\nglow, the solemn strain, the martial fire may have been caught by him\nfrom better models. This brings us to the enquiry, What books did\nPausanias use in writing his own? and how did he use them? Unfortunately\nwe are not and probably never shall be in a position to answer these\nquestions fully. Like most ancient writers Pausanias is sparing in the\ncitation of his authorities, and it is clear that he must have consulted\nbooks of which he makes no mention. And when to this we add that the\nworks of most of the writers whom he does cite have perished or survive\nonly in a few disjointed fragments, it becomes clear that any hope of\nacquiring a complete knowledge of his literary sources and mode of using\nthem must be abandoned. Many attempts have been made of late years to\nidentify the lost books consulted by Pausanias; but from the nature of\nthe case it is plain that such attempts must be fruitless. One of them\nwill be noticed presently. Meantime all that I propose to do is to\nindicate some of the chief literary and documentary sources which\nPausanias expressly cites, and to illustrate by examples his method of\ndealing with them.\n\n[Sidenote: Distinction\n between\n the historical\n and\n descriptive\n parts of\n Pausanias\u2019s\n work.]\n\nBefore doing so it is desirable to point out explicitly a distinction\nwhich, though obvious in itself, has apparently been overlooked or\nslurred over by some of Pausanias\u2019s critics. The matter of his work is\nof two sorts, historical and descriptive: the one deals with events in\nthe past, the other with things existing in the present. For his\nknowledge of past events, except in so far as they fell within his own\nlifetime and observation, Pausanias was necessarily dependent either on\nwritten documents or on oral testimony, in short on the evidence of\nothers; no other source of information was open to him. For his\nknowledge of things existing in the present, on the other hand, he need\nnot have been indebted to the evidence of others, he may have seen them\nfor himself. It does not, of course, follow that what he may have seen\nhe did actually see. His descriptions of places and things, like his\nnarratives of events that happened before his time, may all have been\ntaken from books or from the mouths of other people; only it is not, as\nin the case of the historical narratives, absolutely necessary that they\nshould be so derived. This distinction is so elementary and obvious that\nto call attention to it may be deemed superfluous. Yet some of the\ncritics appear to labour under an impression that, if they can show the\nhistorical parts of Pausanias\u2019s work to have been taken from books, they\nhave raised a presumption that the descriptive or topographical parts\nwere also so taken. They do not, indeed, put so crass a misapprehension\ninto words, but they seem to be influenced by it. To brush away these\nmental cobwebs it is only needful to realise clearly that, though\nPausanias certainly could not have witnessed events which happened\nbefore he was born, he was not therefore necessarily debarred from\nseeing things which existed in his own lifetime. In investigating the\nsources of his information it is desirable to keep the historical and\nthe descriptive parts of his work quite distinct from each other and to\nenquire into each of them separately.\n\n[Sidenote: Poets\n used by\n Pausanias.]\n\nTo begin with the historical, in the widest sense of the word, we find\nthat Pausanias drew his accounts of the mythical and heroic ages in\nlarge measure from the poets. Homer is his chief poetical authority, but\nhe also makes use of the later epics such as the _Cypria_, the _Eoeae_,\nthe _Little Iliad_, the _Minyad_, the _Naupactia_, the _Oedipodia_, the\n_Returns_ (_Nostoi_), the _Sack of Ilium_ by Lesches, the _Thebaid_, and\nthe _Thesprotis_. Of these the _Thebaid_ was esteemed by him next to the\n_Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. On questions of genealogy he often cites the\nearly poets Asius and Cinaethon. Among the works attributed to Hesiod he\nfrequently refers to the _Theogony_ and the _Catalogue of Women_, and he\nonce quotes the _Argonautica_ of Apollonius Rhodius. That he knew the\nAlexandrian poet Euphorion of Chalcis is shown by two references to his\nwritings. The most ancient Greek hymns in his opinion were those of\nOlen; he cites several of them. Again, the testimony of Pamphos, author\nof the oldest Athenian hymns, is often appealed to by Pausanias. Among\nthe lyric poets whose works he knew, such as Alcaeus, Alcman,\nArchilochus, Pindar, Sappho, and Stesichorus, he appears to have ranked\nPindar first; at least he refers to his poems far oftener than to those\nof the others. Among the elegiac poets he quotes Tyrtaeus and Simonides.\nWith the great tragic and comic poets he shows but little acquaintance;\nAeschylus is the only one whose authority he appeals to repeatedly. He\nrefers once to the testimony of Sophocles, but only to reject it; once\nto that of Aristophanes; never to that of Euripides. On the other hand,\nhe seems to have devoted a good deal of attention to the critical study\nof the older poets. He had investigated the dates of Homer and Hesiod\nand the question of Homer\u2019s native country. Nor did he neglect to\nenquire into the genuineness of many poems that passed under famous\nnames. He tells admiringly how a contemporary of his own, Arrhiphon of\nTriconium, detected the spuriousness of certain verses attributed to an\nold Argive poet Philammon, by pointing out that the verses were in the\nDoric dialect which had not yet been introduced into Argolis in\nPhilammon\u2019s time. Among the works ascribed to Musaeus he held that\nnothing was genuine except the hymn to Demeter composed for the\nLycomids; some of the verses which passed under the name of Musaeus he\nset down as forgeries of Onomacritus. The hymns of Orpheus were ranked\nby him next to those of Homer for poetical beauty, but he saw that some\nof the verses attributed to Orpheus were spurious. He had grave doubts\nas to the _Theogony_ being a genuine work of Hesiod; and he informs us\nthat the reading of a poem fathered on Linus sufficed to convince him of\nits spuriousness. Of the works which circulated under the name of the\nearly Corinthian poet Eumelus one only, he tells us, was held to be\ngenuine. He could not believe that Anaximenes had written a certain epic\non Alexander the Great. As to the epic called the _Thebaid_, which he\nadmired, he reports the view of Callinus that the author was Homer,\nadding that \u201cmany respectable persons have shared his opinion.\u201d\n\n[Sidenote: Historians\n used by\n Pausanias.]\n\nThe historian whom Pausanias seems to have studied most carefully and\nwhom he cites most frequently is Herodotus. Though he only once refers\nto the history of Thucydides and once to that of Xenophon, it is\nprobable that he used both authors in several passages where he does not\nmention their names. Other historians whom he refers to are Anaximenes,\nAntiochus of Syracuse, Charon of Lampsacus, Ctesias, Hecataeus,\nHellanicus, Hieronymus of Cardia, Myron of Priene, Philistus, Polybius,\nand Theopompus. Besides these he cites several local histories, such as\nthe histories of Attica by Androtion and Clitodemus, a history of\nCorinth attributed to Eumelus, a history of Orchomenus by Callippus, and\nwhat seems to have been a versified history of Argos by Lyceas. Further,\nhe had read the memoirs of certain obscure historians whose names he\ndoes not mention. In his use of the historical materials at his disposal\nPausanias appears to have done his best to follow the same critical\nprinciples which he applied to the mythical and legendary lore of\nGreece. When the accounts conflicted he weighed them one against the\nother and accepted that which on the whole seemed to him to be the more\nprobable or the better authenticated. Thus before proceeding to narrate\nthe history of the Messenian wars he mentions his two chief authorities,\nnamely a prose history of the first war by Myron of Priene and a\nversified history of the second war by Rhianus of Bene; then he points\nout a glaring discrepancy between the two in regard to the date of\nAristomenes\u2014the William Tell or Sir William Wallace of Messenia\u2014and\ngives his reasons for accepting the testimony of Rhianus and rejecting\nthat of Myron, whose writings, according to him, revealed an\nindifference to truth and probability of which he gives a striking\ninstance. Again, Pausanias was able to allow for the bias of prejudice\nin an historian. Thus he points out that the history of Hieronymus the\nCardian was coloured by a partiality for Antigonus and a dislike of\nLysimachus, of whom the latter had destroyed the historian\u2019s native\ncity; that the historian Philistus concealed the worst excesses of\nDionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, because he hoped to be allowed by the\ntyrant to return to that city; and that Androtion, the historian of\nAttica, had apparently introduced a certain narrative for the sole\npurpose of casting reproach on the Lacedaemonians.\n\n[Sidenote: The Elean\n register.]\n\nAn historical document of which Pausanias made much use was the Elean\nregister of Olympic victors. He often refers to it. We need not suppose\nthat he consulted the original documents in the archives at Elis. The\nregister had been published many centuries before by Hippias of Elis,\nand copies may have been in common circulation. Wherever he may have\nseen it, Pausanias appears to have studied it carefully, and sometimes\nhe turns the information thus acquired to good account. Thus he points\nout that a statement of the Elean guides was at variance with an entry\nin the register, and that the runner Oebotas could not possibly have\nfought at the battle of Plataea in 479 B.C. since his Olympic victory\nwas won in Ol. 6 (756 B.C.).\n\n[Sidenote: Inscriptions.]\n\nAnother trustworthy source from which Pausanias derived many of his\nhistorical facts was inscriptions. What copious use he made of them may\nbe gathered from a slight inspection of his work, particularly his\ndescription of Olympia, and that on the whole he read them correctly is\nproved by inscriptions still extant of which he has given us either the\ntext or the general purport. Yet he did not accept their testimony\nblindfold. In some of his references to them we can perceive the same\ndiscrimination, the same desire to sift and weigh the evidence which we\nhave found to characterise his procedure in other enquiries. Thus in an\nold gymnasium at Anticyra he saw the bronze statue of a native athlete\nXenodamus with an inscription setting forth that the man had won the\nprize in the pancratium at Olympia. Pausanias accordingly consulted the\nOlympic register and finding no such victor mentioned in it came to the\nconclusion that, if the inscription were not lying, the victory of\nXenodamus must have fallen in Ol. 211 (65 A.D.), the only Olympiad which\nhad been struck out of the register. Again, at Olympia he saw a tablet\ninscribed with the victories of Chionis, a Lacedaemonian runner, who\nlived in the first half of the seventh century B.C. In the inscription\nit was mentioned that the race in armour had not yet been instituted in\nthe time of Chionis; indeed we know from Pausanias that more than a\ncentury elapsed after the time of Chionis before the race in armour was\nintroduced. Hence Pausanias concludes very sensibly that the inscription\ncould not, as some people supposed, have been set up by the runner\nhimself, for how could he have foreseen that the race in armour ever\nwould be instituted long after he was dead and buried? Again, he infers\nthat the Gelo who dedicated a chariot at Olympia cannot have been, as\nwas commonly assumed, the tyrant Gelo, because in the inscription on the\npedestal Gelo described himself as a citizen of Gela, whereas, according\nto Pausanias, at the time when the chariot was dedicated Gelo had\nalready made himself master of Syracuse and would therefore have\ndescribed himself as a Syracusan, not as a native of Gela. The argument\nfalls to the ground because Pausanias mistook the date of Gelo\u2019s\nsubjugation of Syracuse by several years; none the less his criticism of\nthe current view testifies to the attention he bestowed on inscriptions.\n\n[Sidenote: Writers\n on art.]\n\nThe image of Zeus which the united Greeks dedicated at Olympia as a\ntrophy of the battle of Plataea was made, Pausanias tells us, by a\nsculptor of Aegina named Anaxagoras, as to whom he remarks that \u201cthe\nname of this sculptor is omitted by the historians of sculpture.\u201d This\npassage proves that Pausanias consulted, as might have been anticipated,\nsome of the many ancient works on the history of art, but what they were\nhe has not told us and it would be vain to guess. He alludes to them\nelsewhere.\n\n[Sidenote: The local\n guides.]\n\nYet another source which furnished Pausanias with information, more or\nless trustworthy, on matters of history and tradition was the discourse\nof the local guides whom he encountered at many or all of the chief\nplaces of interest. We know from other ancient writers that in\nantiquity, as at the present day, towns of any note were infested by\npersons of this class who lay in wait for and pounced on the stranger as\ntheir natural prey, wrangled over his body, and having secured their\nvictim led him about from place to place, pointing out the chief sights\nto him and pouring into his ear a stream of anecdotes and explanations,\nindifferent to his anguish and deaf to his entreaties to stop, until\nhaving exhausted their learning and his patience they pocketed their fee\nand took their leave. An educated traveller could often have dispensed\nwith their explanations, but if he were good-natured he would sometimes\nlet them run on, while he listened with seeming deference to the\nrigmarole by which the poor men earned their daily bread. A question\ninterposed in the torrent of their glib discourse was too apt to bring\nthem to a dead stand. Outside the beaten round of their narrow circle\nthey were helpless. That Pausanias should have fallen into their\nclutches was inevitable. He seems to have submitted to his fate with a\ngood grace, was led about by them to see the usual sights, heard the\nusual stories, argued with them about some, and posed them with\nquestions which they could not answer about others. Often no doubt their\nservices were useful and the information they gave both true and\ninteresting. Among the many traditions which Pausanias has embodied in\nhis work there may be not a few which he picked up from the guides. We\nmay conjecture, too, that the measurements of buildings and images which\nhe occasionally records were, at least in some cases, derived by him\nfrom the same source.\n\nSo much for the sources of historical and traditionary lore on which\nPausanias drew. That he always used them correctly cannot be maintained.\nWe can show that he sometimes mistook the purport of inscriptions and\nblundered as to historical events and personages, but these mistakes are\nnot more numerous than can be reasonably allowed for in a work embracing\nso great and multifarious a collection of facts.\n\n[Sidenote: Did\n Pausanias\n describe\n Greece\n from books\n or from\n personal\n observation?]\n\nComing now to the descriptive or topographical part, which forms the\nstaple of Pausanias\u2019s work, we have to ask, Whence did he derive his\nknowledge of the places and and monuments he describes? from\nobservation? or from books? or from both? To these questions Pausanias\nhimself gives no full and direct answer. He neither professes to have\nseen everything that he describes nor does he acknowledge to have\nborrowed any of his descriptions from previous writers, whom he barely\nalludes to and never mentions by name. On the other hand he sometimes\naffirms in the most unambiguous language that he saw the things which he\ndescribes, and as there is no [Sidenote: He affirms that he saw many\nthings which he describes.] reason to doubt his word we may accept these\naffirmations unconditionally, and believe that he describes some things\nat least as an eye-witness. But such assertions of personal knowledge\nare only incidental, and the total number of them is exceedingly small\nin comparison with the number of places and things which he describes\nwithout saying whether he saw them or not. Thus in regard to the vast\nmajority of Pausanias\u2019s descriptions we have still to ask, Are they\nbased on personal observation or taken from books? In endeavouring to\nanswer this question we must first of all bear in mind that if Pausanias\nsaw all that he professes to have seen it is inevitable that he should\nhave seen a great deal more. For example, he could not have seen, as he\nprofesses to have done, certain statues on the Acropolis of Athens\nwithout also seeing the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, and the Propylaea,\nwhich he does not expressly say that he saw. He could not have seen, as\nhe says he did, the statue of Anaximenes and the Sicyonian treasury at\nOlympia without also seeing the temples of Zeus and Hera and a multitude\nof buildings and statues besides. In short, in all the places which he\nappears on his own showing to have visited, we may and must assume that\nhe saw much more than he claims in so many words to have seen. Further,\nsince he was not transported from one place to another by magic, he must\nhave travelled over the roads which joined the various places that he\nvisited. Thus by plotting out on the map the places which he saw and\njoining them by the routes he describes, we can form some general notion\nof the extent of Pausanias\u2019s travels in Greece. Yet the notion thus\nformed must necessarily be very rough and imperfect. For, in the first\nplace, we cannot always be sure of the route which he took from one town\nor village to another. Thus, for example, he describes two roads from\nArgos over Mount Artemisius to Mantinea; but there is nothing to show\nwhich he took or even that he took either. He may, like most travellers,\nhave reached Mantinea from Argos by neither of the direct passes over\nthe mountains, but by the circuitous route that goes by Lerna and Tegea.\nIn the second place, it would be very rash to assume that he visited\nonly those places where he is proved by some incidental assertion of\npersonal knowledge to have been. Possibly or rather probably he visited\nmany more. If he did not think it worth while to assure us that he saw\nthe Parthenon and the Erechtheum at Athens, and the temples of Zeus and\nHera at Olympia, he need not have thought it worth while to depose to\nhaving seen every insignificant shrine and image that he describes in\nthe petty towns and obscure villages through which he passed. Thus the\nindications which he has given us are far too meagre to permit us to\nmake out his itinerary in Greece with any approach to certainty.\n\n[Sidenote: Descriptions\n which\n he may\n have taken\n from\n books.]\n\nBut if we cannot be sure that many of his descriptions are based on\npersonal knowledge, have we any grounds for supposing that they are\nborrowed, without acknowledgment, from books? Such a supposition would\nbe, on the face of it, neither unreasonable nor improbable. In the\nhistorical parts of his work Pausanias must have used many books which\nhe does not mention, and he may have done the same thing in the\ntopographical or descriptive parts. The grounds on which it could be\nproved or made probable that he borrowed his descriptions from books are\nvarious. The most obvious and certain would be the existence in an older\nwriter of a description agreeing in form as well as in substance so\nclosely with a description in Pausanias that no alternative would be\nleft us but to suppose, either that Pausanias copied from this older\nwriter, or that both of them copied from some common original. Or again\nit might be that the descriptions of Pausanias contained information\nwhich he could hardly have ascertained for himself, or mistakes into\nwhich he could scarcely have fallen if he had seen the things for\nhimself. In regard to the first of these grounds it may be said at once\nthat in the extant literature of antiquity, so far as the present writer\nis aware, there is no description of any place or monument agreeing in\nform and substance so closely with a description in Pausanias as to make\nit probable that he copied it. The slight and superficial resemblances\nwhich have been traced between passages of Strabo and passages of\nPausanias are no more than such as may easily or necessarily arise when\ntwo writers are describing independently the same places.\n\n[Sidenote: Measurements\n of\n monuments\n and of\n distances.]\n\nWhen we ask whether the descriptions of Pausanias contain matter which\nhe could not easily have ascertained for himself, we are reminded first\nof his measurements of temples and images, and second of his estimates\nof the exact distances in furlongs between one place and another. The\nmeasurements of temples and images were probably derived either from the\nlocal guides or from books. Some of them he may perhaps have taken for\nhimself; but that he should, for example, have measured for himself the\nheight of the temple of Zeus at Olympia is highly improbable. The\ndistances by land, estimated in furlongs, may have been drawn by\nPausanias from Roman milestones or from books or from a map like the\n_Tabula Peutingeriana_. Distances by sea he can hardly have measured for\nhimself; if he did not borrow them from a book or a map, he may have had\nthem from the sailors with whom he voyaged. In all these cases it is\npossible, perhaps probable, that Pausanias drew his information from\nliterary sources; but what particular books or maps he used, if he used\nany, we do not know, and it would be vain to guess.\n\n[Sidenote: Description\n of the\n coast of\n Hermionis.]\n\nWhen we next enquire whether the descriptions of Pausanias contain\nerrors into which he could scarcely have fallen if he had seen the\nplaces and things which he describes, a student of Pausanias is at once\nreminded of the author\u2019s description of the coast of Hermionis, which it\nis difficult or impossible to reconcile with the actual features of the\ncoast. That the description contains grave errors is almost certain. How\nthese errors are to be explained is much more doubtful. It is easy to\nsuggest, as has been done, that Pausanias did not himself sail along the\ncoast, but borrowed his description from one of those _Periploi_ or\n_Coasting Voyages_, which enumerated the places on a coast in\ntopographical order and recorded the distances between them. Yet this\nsupposition by itself would hardly explain the confusion into which\nPausanias has fallen. Specimens of these _Coasting Voyages_ have come\ndown to us, and they are so exceedingly clear, concise, and\nbusiness-like, that it is difficult to understand how any one who simply\nset himself to copy from them could have blundered so egregiously as\nPausanias appears to have done. More plausible is the suggestion that,\nwhile Pausanias was obliged by the plan of his itinerary to describe the\ncoast in one direction, the _Coasting Voyage_ which lay before him\ndescribed it in the reverse direction, and that in his effort to throw\nthe information supplied by the _Voyage_ into the form that suited his\nitinerary Pausanias made the jumble which has caused his critics so much\ntrouble. This may be the true explanation. It would have the further\nadvantage of helping us to understand how Pausanias obtained his\nknowledge of the exact distances between places on various parts of the\ncoasts of Greece, notably on the coast of Achaia and on the wild\ninhospitable coast of Laconia. The _Coasting Voyage_ which he used may,\nlike the extant _Coasting Voyage_ of Scylax, have comprised a\ndescription of the whole coast of Greece, and from it Pausanias may have\nborrowed his estimates of distances and perhaps other features of his\ndescription as well. This is Mr. Heberdey\u2019s theory, and it is a\nperfectly tenable one, though in the absence of direct evidence it must\nremain only a more or less probable hypothesis. Yet when we remember\nthat Pausanias\u2019s topographical indications are nowhere more full and\nexact than in Arcadia, where by the nature of the case he cannot have\nused a _Coasting Voyage_, the hypothesis that he used one in other parts\nof his work seems superfluous, if not improbable. It is quite possible\nthat he described the coast of Hermionis from notes he had made for\nhimself in sailing along it, and that either he failed at the time to\ntake in the natural features correctly or that afterwards in redacting\nhis notes at home he misunderstood what he had written on the spot.\nPerhaps I may be allowed to say that having repeatedly sailed along the\ncoast in question I can testify from personal experience how difficult\nit is to identify by sight the places from a ship, so bewildering is the\nmoving panorama of capes, islands, bays, and mountains. It would be no\ngreat wonder if Pausanias\u2019s head swam a little in this geographical\nmaze.\n\n[Sidenote: Roads from\n Lepreus.]\n\nAnother passage where error and confusion of some sort seem to have\ncrept in is the mention of the three roads that led from Lepreus to\nSamicum, Olympia, and Elis. Here, again, Pausanias may have used and\nmisunderstood some literary source, or he may have blundered on the\nspot, or his notes may have been lost, or his memory may have played him\nfalse. Any of these explanations is possible. To attempt to decide\nbetween them in the absence of any positive evidence would be fruitless.\n\n[Sidenote: The Enneacrunus\n episode.]\n\nMore famous than either of these difficulties is one which occurs in\nPausanias\u2019s account of Athens. Here in the middle of describing the\nmarket-place, which lay to the north-west of the Acropolis, he suddenly\nwithout a word of warning transports the reader to the Enneacrunus\nfountain, which lay in the bed of the Ilissus, not far from the\nOlympieum, at the opposite extremity of the city; then, having\ndespatched the fountain and some buildings in its neighbourhood, he\nwhirls the reader back to the market-place, and proceeds with his\ndescription of it as if nothing had happened. Of the many attempts to\nclear up this mystery, as by supposing either a dislocation of the text\nor a confusion in the author\u2019s notes or the existence of another\nfountain near the market-place which may have been shown to him as the\nEnneacrunus, none is free from serious difficulties. That he fell into\nerror through copying blindly and unintelligently from a book is\npossible but very improbable. As it is practically certain that he\nvisited Athens and saw both the market-place and the Olympieum, the\nchances that he should not have seen the Enneacrunus and should\ntherefore have been driven to borrow his description of it from a book\nare so small that they may be neglected.\n\n[Sidenote: Law-courts\n at Athens\n and altars\n at Olympia.]\n\nOther passages which Pausanias may perhaps have taken either wholly or\nin part from books are his account of the Athenian law-courts and his\nlist of the altars at Olympia. Neither of these passages, it is true, is\ndemonstrably infected by error or confusion, though there is some ground\nfor suspecting the existence of confusion in the enumeration of the\naltars. But in both of them the author departs from the topographical\norder of description, which is so characteristic of his method, and\narranges the monuments together simply on the ground of their belonging\nto the same class. These departures from his usual principle of order\nsuggest that in both cases Pausanias may have borrowed from written\ndocuments in which the monuments were grouped together according to kind\nrather than in topographical order. Another set of monuments which\nPausanias links together by a chain other than the topographical are the\nbuildings erected by Hadrian in Athens. It is possible that he may have\ntaken his list of them from the inscription in the Athenian Pantheon\nwhich recorded them all.\n\nThese are perhaps the most notable passages in Pausanias, which might be\nthought to bear traces of having been derived either wholly or in part\nfrom written documents rather than from personal observation. In none of\nthem are the indications so clear as to amount to a proof of borrowing.\nAt most they raise a probability of it, nothing more.\n\n[Sidenote: Predecessors\n of\n Pausanias.]\n\nIt would be neither surprising nor unnatural if in writing his\n_Description of Greece_ Pausanias not only consulted, as we know he did,\nbut borrowed from the works of previous writers on the same subject. Any\none who undertakes to write a guide-book to a country may legitimately\nborrow from his predecessors, provided he has taken the trouble to\nascertain for himself that their descriptions are still applicable to\nthe country at the time he is writing. Pausanias in his character of the\nCamden of ancient Greece had many predecessors whose writings he may and\nindeed ought to have consulted. But of their works only the titles and a\nfew fragments have come down to us, and these contain nothing to show\nthat Pausanias copied or had even read them. The most considerable of\nthe fragments\u2014those which pass under the name of Dicaearchus the\nMessenian\u2014have been already examined, and we have seen how different in\nscope and style was the work to which they belonged from that which\nPausanias has left us. No one would dream of maintaining that Pausanias\ncopied his description of Greece from the pseudo-Dicaearchus. The most\nfamous of the antiquaries who preceded Pausanias seem to have been\nDiodorus, Polemo, and Heliodorus, all of whom earned by their writings\nthe title of _The Periegete_ or _Cicerone_. [Sidenote: Diodorus.] Of\nthese the earliest was Diodorus, who is not to be confounded with the\nSicilian historian of that name. He published works on the tombs and\ntownships of Attica, of which a few fragments survive. [Sidenote:\nHeliodorus.] They seem to have been composed before 308 B.C. Heliodorus\nlived in the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes and wrote a work on the\nAcropolis of Athens in no less than fifteen books, of which only a few\nbrief fragments have come down to us. There is some reason to think that\nPausanias cannot have consulted it. [Sidenote: Polemo.] Polemo of Ilium\nflourished in the first part of the second century B.C., and was the\nauthor of many special treatises on the monuments of Greece. Amongst\nthem were works on the Acropolis of Athens, on the eponymous heroes of\nthe Attic townships and tribes, on the Sacred Way, on the Painted\nColonnade at Sicyon, on the votive offerings at Lacedaemon, on the\nfounding of the cities of Phocis, on the treasuries at Delphi, and many\nmore. More than a hundred extracts from or references to his works have\ncome down to us; and if we may judge from them, from the number and\nvariety of the treatises he published, and from the praise of Plutarch\nwe shall be inclined to pronounce Polemo the most learned of all Greek\nantiquaries. His acquaintance both with the monuments and with the\nliterature seems to have been extensive and profound. The attention\nwhich he bestowed on inscriptions earned for him the nickname of the\n\u2018monument-tapper.\u2019 His works were certainly extant later than the time\nof Pausanias, since they are freely quoted by Athenaeus. It would,\ntherefore, be strange if Pausanias did not study them, dealing as many\nof them did with the same subjects on which he touched in his\n_Description of Greece_. Yet the existing fragments of Polemo hardly\njustify us in supposing that Pausanias was acquainted with the writings\nof his learned predecessor. Certainly they lend no countenance to the\nview that he borrowed descriptions of places and monuments from them.\nThis will appear from an examination of those fragments of Polemo which\ndeal with subjects falling within the scope of Pausanias\u2019s work. We\nshall look, first, at the things mentioned by both writers, and, second,\nat the things mentioned by Polemo alone. The fragments are numbered as\nin the editions of L. Preller and Ch. M\u00fcller, to which the reader is\nreferred for the Greek text.\n\nFirst, then, let us take the things mentioned by both Polemo and\nPausanias.\n\n[Sidenote: Polemo\n and\n Pausanias\n compared.]\n\nFragment ii. In his description of the Acropolis at Athens, Polemo\nmentioned a sculptor Lycius, son of Myron. So does Pausanias in his\ndescription of the Acropolis.\n\nFragment iii. In his description of the Acropolis, Polemo mentioned a\ndecree forbidding women of loose character to take the names of any of\nthe great quadriennial festivals. Pausanias mentions no such decree, but\namong the paintings which he describes in the Propylaea is one of\nAlcibiades \u201ccontaining emblems of the victory won by his team at Nemea.\u201d\nNow we know from other writers that in this picture Alcibiades was\nportrayed reclining in the lap of Nemea. The model who sat for the\npersonification of Nemea was probably a woman of the sort who were\nforbidden by the decree to take the name of a quadriennial festival, and\nthe sight of the picture may have led Polemo to mention the decree. If\nthis was so\u2014and the reasoning though a little circuitous is plausible\u2014it\nbecomes probable that Polemo saw and described the picture of Alcibiades\nto which Pausanias refers. The probability is strengthened, almost to\nthe point of certainty, by our knowledge that Polemo did describe the\npaintings in the Propylaea, though no details of his description have\nsurvived.\n\nFragment iv. In his description of the Acropolis, Polemo mentioned that\nThucydides was buried at the Melitian gate. So does Pausanias in his\ndescription of the Acropolis.\n\nFragment vi. In his description of the pictures in the Propylaea, which\nprobably formed part of his treatise in four books on the Acropolis,\nPolemo mentioned three Athenian festivals at which torch-races were\nheld, namely the Panathenian festival, the festival of Hephaestus, and\nthe festival of Prometheus. Pausanias in his description of the Academy\nmentions that torch-races were run from an altar of Prometheus in the\nAcademy to the city.\n\nFragment x. Polemo told the story of the capture of Aphidna in Attica by\nthe Dioscuri, and mentioned that in the affair Castor was wounded by\nking Aphidnus in the right thigh. Pausanias repeatedly refers to the\ncapture of Aphidna by the Dioscuri, but he expresses a belief that the\nplace was taken without fighting, and he gives reasons for thinking so.\n\nFragment xi. In one of his works which is cited as _The Greek History_\nPolemo mentioned that Poseidon contended with Hera for the possession of\nArgos and was worsted, and that the two deities did not exhibit tokens\nin support of their claims as they did at Athens. Pausanias in his\ndescription of Argolis twice mentions the defeat of Poseidon in his\ndispute with Hera for the possession of the land, but he says nothing\nabout the absence of tokens.\n\nFragment xii. According to Polemo, the Argives related how the first\ncorn sown in Argolis had been fetched by Argus from Libya. According to\nPausanias, they asserted that they had received the first corn from\nDemeter.\n\nFragment xviii. In his work on the votive offerings at Lacedaemon,\nPolemo mentioned \u201ca chapel of Cottina, close to Colone, where is the\nsanctuary of Dionysus, a splendid edifice known to many in the city.\u201d\nPausanias in his description of Sparta mentions \u201cthe place named Colona,\nand a temple of Dionysus Colonatas.\u201d\n\nFragment xxii. Polemo mentioned at Olympia the old temple of Hera, the\ntemple of the Metapontines, and the temple of the Byzantines. Pausanias\ndescribes all three buildings, but he designates the two latter\ncorrectly as treasuries, not temples.\n\nFragment xxiii. Polemo related that for a time a race had been run at\nOlympia between carts drawn by mules, but that after thirteen victories\nhad been won the race was abolished in Ol. 84. He further said that the\nname for a mule-cart (_apene_) was a Tegean word. Pausanias mentions\nthat the race between mule-carts at Olympia was instituted in Ol. 70 and\nabolished in Ol. 84. He says nothing about the name for a mule-cart\nbeing Tegean.\n\nFragment xxiv. Polemo said that Athena was wounded by Ornytus. Pausanias\nsays that she was wounded by Teuthis, but that some people called her\nassailant Ornytus.\n\nFragment xxvii. In his work on the treasuries at Delphi, Polemo\nmentioned the Sicyonian treasury. So does Pausanias in his description\nof Delphi.\n\nFragment xxix. Polemo told how the Delphians honoured the wolf because a\nwolf had discovered a sacred jewel of gold that had been stolen from\nDelphi and buried on Mount Parnassus. Pausanias says that the Delphians\ndedicated a bronze figure of a wolf in the sanctuary of Apollo, because\na man who had stolen some sacred treasures and hidden them in the forest\non Parnassus was killed by a wolf, which then went daily to the city and\nhowled, till people followed it and so found the stolen treasure.\n\nFragment xxxii. Polemo told how Palamedes invented dice to amuse the\nGreek army before Troy when they were distressed by famine. Pausanias\nsays simply that dice were an invention of Palamedes.\n\nFragment xli. Polemo said that at Athens there were three images of the\nFuries, two made by Scopas out of the stone called _luchneus_ (probably\nParian marble), and the middle one made by Calamis. Pausanias notices\nthe images of the Furies without mentioning their number, their\nmaterial, or the artists who made them.\n\nFragment xlii. In speaking of wineless libations Polemo remarked on the\nscrupulousness of the Athenians in matters of ritual. Pausanias\nobserves, in different connexions, that the Athenians were more pious\nand more zealous in religious matters than other people.\n\nFragment xliv. Polemo said that Lais was born at Hyccara in Sicily and\nwas murdered in Thessaly, whither she had gone for love of a Thessalian\nnamed Pausanias; and he described her grave beside the Peneus with the\nepitaph and the urn on the tombstone. Pausanias says that Lais was a\nnative of Hycara (_sic_) in Sicily and that her grave was at Corinth,\nwhere it was surmounted by the figure of a lion holding a ram in its\npaws. He adds that in Thessaly, whither she had gone for the love of a\ncertain Hippostratus, there was another tomb which claimed to be hers.\n\nFragment xlviii. Polemo said that copies of the laws of Solon were kept\nin the Prytaneum engraved on square wooden tablets which revolved on\npivots in such a way that when the tablets were turned at an angle they\nseemed to be triangular. Pausanias says briefly that the laws of Solon\nwere inscribed in the Prytaneum.\n\nFragment lv. Polemo said that wrestling was invented by Phorbas.\nPausanias says that it was invented by Theseus.\n\nFragment lxxviii. Polemo mentioned the sanctuary of Hercules at\nCynosarges. So does Pausanias.\n\nFragment lxxxiii. Polemo described two pools in Sicily, beside which the\nSicilians took their most solemn oaths, perjury being followed by death.\nPausanias describes how people threw offerings into the craters of Etna\nand watched whether the offerings sank or were ejected by the volcanic\nfires. Some modern writers have supposed that Pausanias meant to\ndescribe the place and the oath described by Polemo, but that he mistook\nthe water for fire and the offering for an oath. The supposition is very\nunlikely.\n\nFragment lxxxvi. Polemo mentioned the Tiasa, a river near Sparta. So\ndoes Pausanias.\n\n[Sidenote: No evidence\n that\n Pausanias\n copied\n Polemo.]\n\nThese are, I believe, all the existing fragments of Polemo in which he\nmentions the same things as Pausanias. Not one of them supports the\ntheory that Pausanias copied from Polemo. In some of them the writer\nmentions the same places, buildings, and works of art that are mentioned\nby Pausanias. But this was almost inevitable. When two men describe the\nsame places correctly they can hardly help mentioning some of the same\nthings. In no case does the coincidence go beyond a bare mention. Again,\nPolemo sometimes referred to the same myth or legend as Pausanias; but\nthis is no proof that Pausanias copied from Polemo. A multitude of myths\nand legends were the commonplaces of every educated Greek, whether he\nhad read Polemo or not. The passage of Polemo as to the race between\nmule-carts at Olympia agrees in substance, not in language, with the\ncorresponding passage of Pausanias. Both writers, it may be assumed,\nderived their information from the best source, the Olympic register,\nwhich, as we have seen, was published and accessible to all. The\nDelphian story of the wolf that disclosed the stolen treasure may have\nbeen narrated by both writers in the same way, though from the abridged\nform in which Polemo\u2019s version is reported by Aelian we cannot be sure\nof this. No doubt the story was told in much the same way by the\nDelphian guides to all visitors, who may have been surprised to find a\nstatue of a wolf dedicated to Apollo, the old mythical relationship of\nthe god with wolves having long fallen into the background. Again,\nPolemo, like Pausanias, remarked on the scrupulous piety of the\nAthenians. So, too, for that matter did St. Paul, but nobody suspects\nhim of having borrowed the remark from Polemo. The mention of the\nsculptor Lycius, of the grave of Thucydides, and of the torch-race by\nthe two writers proves nothing as to the dependence of the one on the\nother. Some of the fragments of Polemo show that he described in minute\ndetail things which Pausanias has merely mentioned. Finally, in a number\nof the fragments Polemo makes statements which are explicitly or\nimplicitly contradicted by Pausanias. This proves that if Pausanias was\nacquainted with the works of Polemo, he at least exercised complete\nfreedom of judgment in accepting or rejecting the opinions of his\npredecessor. Another proof of his independence is furnished by his\nspeaking of the treasuries at Olympia as treasuries, whereas Polemo had\ndesignated the same buildings less correctly as temples.\n\n[Sidenote: Things\n mentioned\n by Polemo\n but not by\n Pausanias.]\n\nSecond, let us take the things mentioned by Polemo, but not by\nPausanias. They include at Munychia the worship of the hero Acratopotes;\nat Athens a picture of the marriage of Pirithous, an inscription\nrelating to the sacrifices offered to Hercules at Cynosarges, and cups\ndedicated by a certain Neoptolemus, apparently on the Acropolis; in\nAttica a township called Crius; at Sicyon the Painted Colonnade (to\nwhich Polemo seems to have devoted a special treatise), pictures by the\npainters Aristides, Pausanias, and Nicophanes, a portrait of the tyrant\nAristratus partly painted by Apelles, and an obscene worship of\nDionysus; at Phlius a colonnade called the Colonnade of the Polemarch\nand containing a painting or paintings by Sillax of Rhegium; at Argos a\nsanctuary of Libyan Demeter; at Sparta a chapel and bronze statue of\nCottina, a bronze ox dedicated by her, a sanctuary of Corythallian\nArtemis, a festival called _kopis_ (described by Polemo in detail), and\nthe worship of two heroes Matton and Ceraon; at Olympia a hundred and\nthirty-two silver cups, two silver wine-jugs, one silver sacrificial\nvessel, and three gilt cups, all preserved in the treasury of the\nMetapontines, a cedar-wood figure of a Triton holding a silver cup, a\nsilver siren, three silver cups of various shapes, a golden wine-jug,\nand two drinking-horns, all preserved in the treasury of the Byzantines,\nthirty-three silver cups of various shapes, a silver pot, a golden\nsacrificial vessel, and a golden bowl, all preserved in the temple of\nHera, and a statue of a Lacedaemonian named Leon who won a victory in\nthe chariot-race; at Elis the worship of Gourmand Apollo; at Scolus in\nBoeotia the worship of Big-loaf Demeter; at Thebes a temple of Aphrodite\nLamia, a statue of the bard Cleon (about which Polemo told an anecdote),\nand games held in honour of Hercules; and finally at Delphi a golden\nbook of the poetess Aristomache in the Sicyonian treasury, a treasury of\nthe Spinatians containing two marble statues of boys, a sanctuary of\nDemeter Hermuchus, and a curious custom of offering to Latona at the\nfestival of the Theoxenia the largest leek that was to be found.\n\nAll these are mentioned by Polemo as things existing or customs\npractised within that portion of Greece which Pausanias has described.\nWhen we remember that the mention of them occurs in a few brief\nfragments, which are all that remain to us of the voluminous works of\nPolemo, we can imagine what a multitude of things must have been\ndescribed by Polemo, which are passed over in total silence by\nPausanias.\n\n[Sidenote: Result of\n comparison\n between\n Polemo and\n Pausanias.]\n\nTo sum up the result of this comparison of Polemo with Pausanias, we\nfind that both writers mention some of the same things and record some\nof the same traditions, but that this agreement never amounts to a\nverbal coincidence; that Polemo mentions many things which are not\nnoticed by Pausanias; and that Pausanias repeatedly adopts views which\ndiffer from or contradict views expressed by Polemo. Thus there is\nnothing in the remains of Polemo to show that Pausanias, treading as he\nso often did in Polemo\u2019s footsteps, copied the works of his predecessor;\non the contrary, the very frequent omission by Pausanias of things\nmentioned by Polemo, and the not infrequent adoption by him of opinions\nwhich contradict those of Polemo, go to prove either that he was\nunacquainted with Polemo\u2019s writings, or that he deliberately disregarded\nand tacitly controverted them.\n\n[Sidenote: Theory\n that\n Pausanias\n copied\n from\n Polemo\n or from\n writers of\n Polemo\u2019s\n date.]\n\nYet in recent years it has been maintained that Pausanias slavishly\ncopied from Polemo the best part of his descriptions of Athens, Olympia,\nand Delphi, and a good deal besides, and that he described these places\nsubstantially not as they were in his own age but as they had been in\nthe time of Polemo, about three hundred years before; for it is a part\nof the same theory that Pausanias had travelled and seen very little in\nGreece, had compiled the bulk of his book from the works of earlier\nwriters, and had added only a few hasty jottings of his own to give the\nbook a modern air.\n\nAs to the proposition that Pausanias borrowed largely from Polemo it is\nnot needful to say any more. We have seen that it has no foundation in\nthe existing remains of Polemo. Whether it would be established or\nrefuted by the lost works of Polemo we cannot say. It will be time to\nconsider the question when these lost works are found, if that should\never be.\n\n[Sidenote: Theory that\n Pausanias\n did not\n describe\n Greece as\n it was in\n his own\n time.]\n\nOn the other hand, the proposition that Pausanias described Greece not\nas it was in his own time, but as it had been in an earlier age, while\nit is of wider scope than the former is also more susceptible of\nverification. It could be established very simply by proving that he\nspoke of things as existing which from other sources are known to have\nceased to exist before his time. It could not, of course, be established\nmerely by showing that he mentions little or nothing of later date than\nsay the age of Polemo, about 170 B.C., unless it could be further shown\nthat the things he mentions had ceased to exist between that age and his\nown. For obviously all the things he notices might have existed in 170\nB.C. and still be in existence when he wrote, and in describing them he\nwould be as truly describing the Greece of his own time as a writer of\nthe present day who, professing to record the most notable things in\nAthens at the end of the nineteenth century A.D., should choose to\nmention no building or statue later than the time of Pausanias, or even\nof Polemo himself. Thus all the attempts that have been made to\ninvalidate the testimony of Pausanias as to the state of Greece in the\nsecond century A.D. by demonstrating merely that the things he describes\nwere in existence in the second century B.C. must be dismissed as\nirrelevant. Even if the premises be admitted, the conclusion which it is\nsought to establish would not follow from them. It remains, therefore,\nto examine the evidence which has been thought to prove that some of the\nthings mentioned by Pausanias as existing had ceased to exist before his\ntime. If this were indeed proved, then the proposition that he did not\ndescribe Greece as it was in his own time would be proved also, and we\nshould be sure that his descriptions were borrowed either wholly or in\npart from earlier writers, even if we could not hazard any guess as to\nwho these writers were.\n\n[Sidenote: His description\n of\n Piraeus.]\n\nIn the first place, then, it has been maintained that the description\nwhich Pausanias gives of the state of Piraeus did not apply to his own\ntime. His account of the ship-sheds, the two market-places, the\nsanctuaries, the images, and so on, implies, it is said, that the port\nwas in a fairly thriving state when he wrote about the middle of the\nsecond century A.D., and this cannot have been the case since Piraeus\nwas burnt by Sulla in 86 B.C., and still lay in a forlorn condition when\nStrabo wrote in the age of Augustus. This remarkable criticism entirely\noverlooks the fact that between the destruction of Piraeus by Sulla and\nthe time of Pausanias more than two hundred years had elapsed, during\nthe greater part of which Greece had enjoyed profound peace and had been\ntreated with special favour and indulgence by the Roman emperors. Is it\nbeyond the bounds of possibility that during these two centuries the\nblackened ruins should have been cleared away? that new buildings should\nhave sprung up, and population should have gathered once more around the\nharbour? Does the Palatinate, we may ask by analogy, remain to this day\nthe wilderness to which it was reduced by the armies of Louis XIV. two\ncenturies ago? But such questions need no answer. In the case of\nPiraeus, fortunately, we are not left merely to balance probabilities or\nimprobabilities against each other. We have positive evidence of a great\nrevival of the port after its destruction by Sulla. A single inscription\nof the first century B.C. or the second century A.D. testifies to the\nexistence of the dockyards, the colonnades, the Exchange, the government\nbuildings, the sanctuaries. Another, contemporary with Pausanias, proves\nthat Roman merchants were then settled in the port. A third deals with\nthe regulation of traffic in the market. Portraits of Roman emperors\nfound on the spot speak of gratitude for imperial favour, and remains of\nRoman villas and Roman baths bear witness to the return not merely of\nprosperity but of wealth and luxury. In short, if Pausanias had\ndescribed Piraeus as lying in ruins, as his critic thinks he should have\ndone, he might have described it as it was in the early part of the\nfirst century B.C., but he certainly would not have described it as it\nwas in his own time two hundred years later.\n\n[Sidenote: His description\n of\n Arcadia.]\n\nAgain, it has been argued that Pausanias copied his description of\nArcadia from much older writers because, it is said, he pictures the\ncountry as in a flourishing state, whereas Strabo says that most of the\nfamous cities of Arcadia had either ceased to exist or had left hardly a\ntrace of themselves behind. How little the testimony of Strabo is worth\nwhen he speaks of the interior of Greece is shown by his famous\nstatement that not a vestige of Mycenae remained. Contrast this\nstatement with the brief but accurate description which Pausanias gives\nof the walls and the lion-gate of Mycenae as they were in his day and as\nthey remain down to this; then say whether the testimony of Strabo is to\noutweigh that of Pausanias on questions of Greek topography. In fact it\nis generally recognised that Strabo had visited very few parts of\nGreece, perhaps none but Corinth. We may therefore well hesitate to\nconfide in his vague sweeping assertion as to the desolation of Arcadia.\nA simple fact suffices to upset it. Coins of the Roman period prove that\nseven out of the eleven cities, which he says had ceased to exist or had\nleft hardly a trace behind, were still inhabited and doing business long\nafter the agreeable, but not too scrupulously accurate, geographer had\nbeen gathered to his fathers. Nor, again, is it true to say that\nPausanias describes Arcadia as if it were in a prosperous state. On the\ncontrary, the long array of ruined or shrunken cities, deserted\nvillages, and roofless shrines, which he has not failed to chronicle,\nleave on the reader, as they left on the writer himself, a melancholy\nimpression of desolation and decay. The only two cities which from his\ndescription we should gather to have been in a tolerably thriving\ncondition are Tegea and Mantinea. As to the former we have the precious\ntestimony of Strabo himself that \u201cit kept pretty well together.\u201d As to\nMantinea, if we cannot trust the evidence of Pausanias, we can surely\ntrust the architectural and inscriptional evidence which proves that in\nthe Roman period the theatre was rebuilt, and that not many years before\nPausanias was born Roman merchants resided in the city, great\nreconstructions were carried out in the market-place, a marble colonnade\nadded to it, banqueting-halls and treasuries built, a bazaar surrounded\nwith workshops erected, and a semicircular hall reared which, in the\nwords of an inscription referring to it, \u201cwould by itself be an ornament\nof the city.\u201d The remains of these buildings, together with the ancient\nwalls and gates of the city almost in their entire extent though not to\ntheir full height, were visible down to the year 1890 A.D. at least.[5]\nAll this in a city which, if we were to believe Strabo, had vanished\nfrom the earth before his time leaving little or no traces of it behind.\nSo much for the comparative value of the testimony of Strabo and\nPausanias with regard to Arcadia.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 5:\n\n When I last visited Mantinea, in October 1895, most of the ruins about\n the market-place, which were excavated by the French some ten years\n ago, had again disappeared beneath the soil.\n\n-----\n\n[Sidenote: Grove of\n Poseidon at\n Onchestus.]\n\nAgain, in Boeotia our author is accused of describing things that were\nnot as if they were, and the witness for the prosecution is again\nStrabo. Pausanias says that the grove of Poseidon at Onchestus existed\nin his time. Strabo says that there were no trees in it. Where is the\ninconsistency between these statements? Strabo wrote in the reign of\nAugustus; Pausanias wrote in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Did trees\ncease to grow after the time of Strabo?\n\n[Sidenote: Limnae\n and\n Thuria in\n Messenia.]\n\nFurther, Pausanias has been reproached with not knowing that Limnae in\nMessenia belonged to the Messenians in his time. This is a strange\nreproach. He treats of Limnae under Messenia, and does not say that it\nbelonged to anybody but the Messenians. What more could he do? Was it\nneedful for him to say of every place in Messenia that it belonged to\nthe Messenians? of every town in Arcadia that it belonged to the\nArcadians? of every temple in Athens that it belonged to the Athenians?\nThe ground of the offence is Pausanias\u2019s statement that the neighbouring\ntown of Thuria in Messenia had been bestowed by Augustus on the\nLacedaemonians. The truth of this statement is not disputed. It is\nconfirmed by coins which prove that in the reign of Septimius Severus,\nlong after the time of Pausanias, Thuria continued to belong to the\nLacedaemonians. But the critics have assumed quite gratuitously that\nalong with Thuria the emperor Augustus transferred Limnae also to the\nLacedaemonians, and that Pausanias believed Limnae to belong to them\nstill in his time, although we know from the evidence of Tacitus and of\nboundary stones that in his time Limnae belonged to Messenia. Both these\nassumptions are baseless. We have no reason to suppose that Augustus\ngave Limnae to the Lacedaemonians, none to suppose that Pausanias\nbelieved it to belong to them. On the contrary, we have, as I have just\npointed out, the best of grounds for supposing that he held it to belong\nto Messenia. The truth is, the critics have confused two distinct,\nthough neighbouring districts, and have shifted the burden of this\nconfusion to the shoulders of the innocent Pausanias, in whose work not\na shadow of it can be detected.\n\n[Sidenote: Temple of\n Apollo at\n Delphi.]\n\nLastly, it has been assumed that Pausanias\u2019s account of the temple of\nApollo at Delphi is irreconcileable with the remains of the building and\nwith inscriptions relating to it which have recently been discovered by\nthe French at Delphi. The combined evidence of architecture and\ninscriptions proves conclusively that the temple built by the\nAlcmaeonids in the sixth century B.C. was afterwards destroyed, probably\nby an earthquake, and that it was rebuilt in the fourth century B.C. Yet\nPausanias, it is said, describes the temple of the sixth century B.C. as\nif it still existed in his time. Let us look at the facts in the light\nof the French discoveries. Observe, then, that Pausanias mentions the\nGallic shields hanging on the architrave of the temple. These shields\nwere captured in 279 B.C. Hence the temple which he describes cannot\nhave been the old one built in the sixth century B.C., since that\ntemple, as we now know, was afterwards destroyed and rebuilt in the\nfourth century B.C. But did Pausanias believe it to be the old one?\nThere is nothing to show that he did, but on the contrary there is a\ngood deal to show that he did not. In the first place, he does not say\nthat the temple was built by the Alcmaeonids. He says it was built for\nthe Amphictyons by the architect Spintharus. The date of Spintharus is\notherwise unknown, but we have no reason to suppose that he lived in the\nsixth rather than in the fourth century B.C. In the second place,\nPausanias tells us that the first sculptures for the gables of the\ntemple were executed by Praxias, a pupil of Calamis, but that as the\nbuilding lasted some time, Praxias died before it was finished, and the\nrest of the sculptures were executed by another artist. Now we have the\nevidence of Pausanias himself that the sculptor Calamis was at work as\nlate as 427 B.C. His pupil Praxias may therefore easily, at least in the\nopinion of Pausanias, have been at work at the end of the fifth century\nB.C. or in the early part of the fourth century B.C., and this is\nprecisely the time when, if we may judge from the historical and\ninscriptional evidence, the old temple was destroyed and preparations at\nleast for rebuilding it were being made. At all events, Pausanias cannot\npossibly have supposed that the pupil of a man who was at work in 427\nB.C. can have executed sculptures for a temple that was built in the\nsixth century B.C. In short, neither was the temple which Pausanias\ndescribes the temple of the sixth century B.C. nor can he possibly have\nsupposed it to be so. The temple he describes was in all probability the\ntemple of the fourth century B.C. His statement that the temple was long\nin building is amply confirmed by the inscriptions, which prove that the\nprocess of reconstruction dragged on over a period of many years.\n\nThus in every case an analysis of the evidence adduced to prove that\nPausanias described a state of things which had passed away before his\ntime, reveals only some oversight or misapprehension on the part of his\ncritics. We might take it, therefore, without further discussion that he\ndescribed Greece as it was in his own age. But if any reader is still\nsceptical, still blinded by the phantom Polemo, let him turn to\nPausanias\u2019s description of new Corinth [Sidenote: New Corinth.] and read\nit with attention. Here was a city built in 44 B.C., more than a century\nafter the time of Polemo, upon whom Pausanias is supposed by some to\nhave been slavishly dependent. Yet he describes the city minutely and in\ntopographical order, following up each street as it led out of the\nmarket-place. Amongst the many temples he mentions in it is one of\nOctavia and another of Capitolian Jupiter; among the many waterworks is\nthe aqueduct by which Hadrian, the author\u2019s contemporary, brought the\nwater of the Stymphalian Lake to Corinth. And his description of the\ncity with its temples, images, fountains, and portals is amply borne out\nby coins of the Imperial age. In the face of this single instance it is\nimpossible to maintain that Pausanias must needs have borrowed most of\nhis descriptions from writers who lived before 170 B.C. If he could\ndescribe Corinth so well without their aid, why should he not have\ndescribed Athens, Olympia, and Delphi for himself? Nor does his power of\ndescription fail him when he comes down to works which were produced in\nhis own lifetime. Not to mention his many notices of the works of\nHadrian, such as the Olympieum at Athens with its colossal image of gold\nand ivory, and the library with its columns of Phrygian marble, its\ngilded roof, its alabaster ornaments, its statues and paintings, he has\ngiven us a minute account of the images dedicated by his contemporary\nHerodes Atticus in the temple of Poseidon at the Isthmus. [Sidenote:\nImages dedicated by Herodes Atticus at the Isthmus.] He describes the\nimages of Amphitrite and Poseidon, made of gold and ivory, standing\nerect in a car drawn by gilt horses with ivory hoofs; the image of\nPalaemon, also made of gold and ivory, standing on a dolphin; the two\nTritons beside the horses, each of them made of gold from the waist\nupward and of ivory from the waist downward; and the reliefs on the\npedestal of the images, comprising a figure of the Sea holding up the\ninfant Aphrodite, with Nereids and the Dioscuri on either side. If he\ncould describe in such detail the work of an obscure contemporary artist\nwhom he does not condescend to mention, what reason have we to think\nthat he could not describe for himself the famous images by the great\nhand of Phidias, the image of the Virgin at Athens and the image of Zeus\nat Olympia? In short, if Pausanias copied his descriptions from a book,\nit must have been from a book written in his own lifetime, perhaps by\nanother man of the same name. The theory of the copyist Pausanias\nreduces itself to an absurdity.\n\n[Sidenote: Pausanias\n and the\n existing\n monuments.]\n\nThe best proof that Pausanias has pictured for us Greece as it was in\nhis own day and not as it had ceased to be long before, is supplied by\nthe monuments. In all parts of the country the truthfulness of his\ndescriptions has been attested by remains of the buildings which he\ndescribes, and wherever these remains are most numerous, as for example\nat Olympia, Delphi, and Lycosura, we have most reason to admire his\nminute and painstaking accuracy. That he was infallible has never been\nmaintained, and if it had been, the excavations would have refuted so\nfoolish a contention, for they have enabled us to detect some errors\ninto which he fell. For example, he mistook the figure of a girl for\nthat of a man in the eastern gable of the temple of Zeus at Olympia; he\nmisinterpreted the attitude of Hercules and Atlas in one of the metopes\nof the same temple; he affirmed that the colossal images at Lycosura\nwere made of a single block of marble, whereas we know that they were\nmade of several blocks fitted together; and he described the temple of\nAthena Alea at Tegea as the largest in Peloponnese, though in fact it\nwas much smaller than the temple of Zeus at Olympia. These and similar\nmistakes, like the slips he sometimes made in reading inscriptions, do\nnot lend any colour to an imputation of bad faith. All they show is that\nhe shared the common weaknesses of humanity, that his eye sometimes\ndeceived him, that his attention sometimes flagged, that occasionally he\nmay have lent too ready an ear to the talk of the local guides. If these\nare sins, they are surely not unpardonable. Those who have followed in\nhis footsteps in Greece and have formed from personal experience some\nidea, necessarily slight, of the magnitude of the task he set himself\nand of the difficulties he had to overcome in accomplishing it, will\nprobably be the readiest to make allowance for inevitable imperfections,\nwill be most grateful to him for what he has done, and least disposed to\ncensure him for what he has left undone. Without him the ruins of Greece\nwould for the most part be a labyrinth without a clue, a riddle without\nan answer. His book furnishes the clue to the labyrinth, the answer to\nmany riddles. It will be read and studied so long as ancient Greece\nshall continue to engage the attention and awaken the interest of\nmankind; and if it is allowable to forecast the results of research in\nthe future from those of research in the past we may venture to predict\nthat, while they will correct the descriptions of Pausanias on some\nminor points, they will confirm them on many more, and will bring to\nlight nothing to shake the confidence of reasonable and fair-minded men\nin his honour and good faith.\n\n\n\nII. OROPUS.\u2014The plain of Oropus extends along the shore for about five\nmiles; inland it narrows to a point, two or three miles from the shore,\nwhere the Asopus issues from a beautiful defile. At this inner angle of\nthe plain stand the modern villages of Oropo and Sykamino on opposite\nsides of the river. But the territory of Oropus included some at least\nof the low hills which environ the plain, for the hills of Oropus were\nat one time divided between two Attic tribes. Moreover, the sanctuary of\nAmphiaraus, which belonged to Oropus, stands in hilly ground to the east\nof the plain. The whole of this district, lying between the Euripus and\nthe northern declivities of Mount Parnes, is of great natural beauty. It\nis an undulating and richly wooded country, where the road runs between\nsoft green hills and knolls, with charming and varied prospects across\nthe winding waters of the Euripus to the blue mountains of Euboea, among\nwhich the lofty Delph may be seen glistering white with snow even in the\nhot days of summer. The traveller who comes direct from the monotonous\nand sterile plain of Athens is struck, on emerging from the wooded pass\nof Decelea, by the contrast between the scene which he has left behind\nand that which is suddenly unrolled at his feet. In antiquity this road,\nwhich went by Aphidna and could be traversed on foot in a day, was noted\nfor the number and excellence of its inns, a distinction which it\ncertainly does not enjoy now.\n\nThe country between Oropus and Rhamnus, through which Pausanias conducts\nhis readers, is of similar character. Parallel chains of hills run from\nMount Parnes to the high steep coast; and between them are fruitful\nvalleys watered by pleasant brooks and embowered in luxuriant\nvegetation, with thickets where the song of the nightingale may be\nheard.\n\nThe site of the city of Oropus is now occupied by Skala Oropou, that is,\n\u2018the port of Oropo,\u2019 a small hamlet prettily situated among gardens,\nmeadows, and springs, on the shore of a bay which is formed by two low\nprojecting points a couple of miles asunder. Across the water the white\nhouses of Eretria are clearly visible on the shore of Euboea; the\nmountains above them, when seen at evening from Oropus, are of a deep\nazure blue. In the sea are the remains of an ancient breakwater\nextending parallel to the shore. Among the remains of antiquity which\nhave been found here is a beautiful marble relief of the best period of\nGreek sculpture, representing Amphiaraus and his charioteer Baton\ndriving in a car drawn by four horses; the moment chosen by the sculptor\nis that when the earth gaped to receive the prophet; the horses are\nstarting back in terror at the sight of the abyss which yawns at their\nfeet.\n\nThe sanctuary of Amphiaraus, described by Pausanias, lies in a pleasant\nlittle glen, neither wide nor deep, among low hills partially wooded\nwith pine. The place, now called Mavrodhilisi, is distant about four\nmiles south-east of Skala Oropou; Pausanias has greatly understated the\ndistance. The path to it first goes through corn-fields near the sea,\nthen turns inland and ascends through woods. A brook flows through the\nglen and finds its way between banks fringed by plane-trees and\noleanders to the sea, which is more than a mile off. The clumps of trees\nand shrubs which tuft the sides of the glen and in which the nightingale\nwarbles, the stretch of green meadow at the bottom, the stillness and\nseclusion of the place, and its sheltered and sunny aspect, all fitted\nit to be the resort of invalids, who thronged thither to consult the\nhealing god. So sheltered indeed is the spot that even on a May morning\nthe heat in the airless glen, with the Greek sun beating down out of a\ncloudless sky, is apt to be felt by a northerner as somewhat\noverpowering. But to a Greek it was no doubt agreeable. The oracle, we\nknow, was open only in summer; and Livy speaks of \u201cthe ancient temple\ndelightfully situated among springs and brooks\u201d. The ruins of the\nsanctuary, excavated some years ago by the Greek Archaeological Society,\nlie on the narrow strip of flat ground on the northern or left bank of\nthe stream.\n\n\n\nIII. RHAMNUS.\u2014Rhamnus is one of the loneliest and most secluded, but at\nthe same time most picturesque and verdant spots in all Attica. It lies\non the north-east coast of Attica, about six and a half miles north of\nKato-Souli, the village which occupies the site of the ancient\nTricorythus. The distance agrees well with the sixty Greek furlongs\n(nearly seven miles) at which Pausanias estimates it. The road from\nKato-Souli first goes north-east across the northern portion of the\nMarathonian plain, which it quits by a pass leading northward through\nthe hills. The pass soon opens into an upland valley, three miles long\nfrom south to north by one mile wide, enclosed on both sides by wild and\nbarren hills. The upper slopes of these hills are scantily wooded with\nfirs; their lower slopes are overgrown with myrtle, lentisk, and many\nsorts of thorny shrubs, especially the one called rhamnus, which gave\nthe district its ancient name. The soil of the valley is partly under\ncultivation, but most of it is covered with dense underwood and oaks of\nthe valanidia species. On a low flat ridge which runs across the valley\nfrom east to west there are some ancient ruins, consisting of walls and\nfoundations of houses. There are now no permanent inhabitations in the\nwhole valley. A few dirty hamlets, tenanted from time to time by\npeasants for the purpose of looking after their fields, lie at its\neastern edge. The general aspect of the country is lonesome and\ndesolate.\n\nTowards the northern end of the valley the ground gradually rises; and\nwhere it terminates the scenery changes. Here, at the northern extremity\nof the valley, a narrow woody glen, about half a mile long, descends\nrapidly in a north-easterly direction to the sea-shore. At the head of\nthe glen, commanding a magnificent view down its wooded depths and\nacross the narrow channel of the Euripus to the lofty mountains of\nEuboea, rises a stately terrace supported by exquisitely constructed\nwalls of white marble, which are embowered in a luxuriant growth of\ndark-green shrubbery and fir-trees. In this superb situation, crowning\nthe terrace, stand side by side the ruins of two temples, the famous\ntemple of Nemesis and a smaller temple, probably of Themis. Below, where\nthe glen opens on the shore, an isolated rocky hill juts out into the\nsea; and on its sides, half buried in thickly clustering masses of\nevergreens, are the white marble walls and towers of Rhamnus.\n\n\n\n\nIV. MARATHON.\u2014The plain of Marathon, the scene of the memorable defeat\nof the Persians by the Athenians in 490 B.C., is a crescent-shaped\nstretch of flat land curving round the shore of a spacious bay and\nbounded on the landward side by a semicircle of steep mountains, with\nbare rocky sides, which rise abruptly from the plain. In its\nnorth-eastern corner the plain is terminated by a narrow rocky\npromontory running southward far into the sea and sheltering the bay on\nthe north-east; in antiquity this promontory was called Cynosura (\u2018dog\u2019s\ntail\u2019), it is now called Cape Stomi or Cape Marathon. At its southern\nend the plain is terminated by Mount Agrieliki, a spur of Mount\nPentelicus, which here advances so far eastward as to leave only a\nnarrow strip of flat land between it and the sea. Through this strip of\nflat land at the foot of Mount Agrieliki runs the only carriage road\nwhich connects Marathon with Athens. The length of the plain of Marathon\nfrom north-east to south-west is about six miles; its breadth varies\nfrom one and a half to two and a half miles. The shore is a shelving\nsandy beach, free from rocks and shoals, and well suited for the\ndisembarkation of troops. A great swamp, covered with sharp reed-grass\nand divided from the sea by a narrow strip of sandy beach overgrown with\npine-trees, occupies most of the northern end of the plain. It never\ndries wholly up even in the heat of summer; two canals constructed by\nGeneral Sutzos have only partially drained it. Tamarisk bushes grow in\nthe drier parts of the marsh; their scarlet blossoms are conspicuous in\nspring. The swamp is deepest at its western side, where it is separated\nonly by a narrow passage, hardly wide enough for two horses to pass each\nother, from the steep rocky slope of Mount Stavrokoraki. The ancient\nroad which led northward from the plain of Marathon to Rhamnus ran along\nthis narrow passage, between the marsh on the one hand and the slope of\nthe mountain on the other. Leake noticed traces of ancient\nchariot-wheels here; and till a few years ago a long line of stones, a\nlittle farther to the south, marked the line of the ancient road. At the\nnorthern end of this defile between the marsh and the mountain stands\nthe modern village of Kato-Souli. About a quarter of a mile to the south\nof it, close to the road and to the foot of the mountain, are the\ndeepest pools of the swamp; they are easily distinguished by the\nluxuriant vegetation that surrounds them, the tall reeds being\nparticularly noticeable. These pools, beside which cattle find green\npasture in summer when the plains are scorched and brown with heat, are\nfed by powerful subterranean sources, the Macaria of the ancients, about\nwhich Pausanias tells us the legend of Macaria, daughter of Hercules,\nwho gave her name to the spring. Strabo says that the head of Eurystheus\nwas cut off and buried by Iolaus beside the spring Macaria, under the\nhighroad, and that hence the place was called \u2018the head of Eurystheus.\u2019\nAt Kato-Souli, about half-way up the slope of the hill which rises above\nthe village, there are some shallow niche-like excavations in the rock,\nnot unlike mangers. It may have been these niches to which popular fancy\ngave the name of \u2018the mangers of the horses of Artaphernes.\u2019 On its\nopposite or eastern side the great swamp ends in a small salt-water\nlake, now called Drakonera, that is \u2018the dragon-water\u2019 or \u2018the enchanted\nwater.\u2019 This lake discharges itself into the sea by a stream which flows\nexactly at the point where the sandy beach of the bay ends and the rocks\nof Cape Cynosura begin. Sea fish are caught in the lake, and eels in the\nfresh-water pools of the marsh. The salt lake has perhaps been formed\nsince the time of Pausanias, for he describes only the marsh and a\nstream flowing from it into the sea. At the southern end of the plain of\nMarathon there is another, but much smaller, swamp called Vrexisa\nbetween the sea and the foot of Mount Agrieliki. Its greatest breadth is\nabout half a mile. It is covered with reedy grass and shrubs, and is\nseparated from the sea by a strip of sand. The highroad to Athens runs\nbetwixt this marsh and the foot of the mountains.\n\nBetween these two marshes, the one on the north, the other on the south,\nthe plain of Marathon is now chiefly covered with corn-fields. But\ntowards its southern end there is a stretch of vineyards mixed with\nolives and fruit-trees and dotted with a few pines and cypresses.\nFarther north, an isolated oak-tree rising here and there, and a green\nbelt of currant-plantations stretching from the foot of the hills to the\nshore of the bay, break the uniformity of the endless corn-fields. The\nplain is uninhabited. The villages lie at the foot of the mountains or\nin the neighbouring glens. On a still autumn day, under a lowering sky,\nthe wide expanse of the solitary plain presents a chilling and dreary\naspect. Not a living creature is to be seen, except perhaps a few\npeasants in the distance ploughing with teams of slow-paced oxen.\n\nIn this vast sweep of level ground the eye is caught, at no great\ndistance, by a single solitary object rising inconspicuously above it.\nThis is the famous mound, now called Soros, which covers the remains of\nthe Athenians who fell in the battle. It rises from the plain a mile\nfrom the foot of the hills, half a mile from the sea, and about\nthree-quarters of a mile north of the marsh of Vrexisa. It is a conical\nmound of light, reddish mould, some thirty feet high and two hundred\npaces in circumference. Its top has been somewhat flattened by\nexcavations; its sides are overgrown with low brushwood. A wild\npear-tree grows at its foot. In April-June 1890 the mound was excavated\nunder the superintendence of Mr. Staes for the Greek Government.\nTrenches were cut into it, and at the depth of about nine feet below the\npresent surface of the plain there was found an artificial floor,\nconstructed of sand and other materials, about eighty-five feet long and\ntwenty feet broad. On this floor there rested a layer of ashes,\ncharcoal, and human bones, charred by fire and mouldering away with\ndamp. Mixed with this layer of ashes and bones were about thirty\nearthenware vases, most of them broken in pieces. These vases are\npainted in the common black-figured style; the subjects represented are\ngenerally chariots, but in some cases horsemen and foot-soldiers.\nBesides these vases there was found a long-necked amphora adorned with\nfriezes of beasts and monsters in the oriental style, and a winged\nfigure of the oriental Artemis; and another two-handled vase of\nreddish-brown clay, with decorations somewhat in the Mycenaean style,\nwas found to contain charred bones, perhaps those of a general. Further\nexcavations made in the following year laid bare a sacrificial pit or\ntrench extending diagonally under the mound from north to south. This\ntrench is cased with burnt bricks, and contained ashes, charcoal, and\nthe bones of animals and birds, mixed with fragments of black-figured\nvases. It had originally been roofed with bricks, which had fallen in.\nThe bones found in this trench are clearly those of the victims\nsacrificed to the heroic dead before the mound was heaped over their\nremains; and the broken vases discovered along with them may have been\nthose which were used at the funeral banquet. The Greek archaeologists\nfurther detected some vestiges which led them to believe that, even\nafter the mound had been raised, sacrifices continued to be annually\noffered at it. This confirms Pausanias\u2019s statement that the men who fell\nin the battle were worshipped as heroes by the people of Marathon. From\nan inscription we learn that the Athenian lads went to the tomb, laid\nwreaths on it, and sacrificed to the dead.\n\nThe excavations have finally disproved a theory, broached by E. Curtius\nin 1853 and maintained by Professor Milchh\u00f6fer as late as 1889, that,\nthe mound was prehistoric and had nothing to do with the battle of\nMarathon. For the black-figured vases found with the bones and ashes of\nthe dead belong to the period of the Persian wars; the human remains can\ntherefore be no other than those of the hundred and ninety-two Athenians\nwho fell at Marathon. Curtius\u2019s erroneous theory was apparently\ncountenanced by some imperfect excavations made by Dr. Schliemann in\n1884. Many bronze arrow-heads, about an inch long and pierced with a\nround hole at the top for the reception of the shaft, have been picked\nup at the mound; also a great number of black flints, rudely chipped\ninto shape. It has been conjectured that these flints are parts of the\nstone-headed arrows discharged by the Ethiopian archers in the Persian\narmy. But against this opinion it has been urged that similar flints\nhave been found at other ancient sites in Attica and elsewhere,\nespecially in the oldest graves on many Greek islands, and have not been\nfound at Thermopylae and Plataea, where, if anywhere, the stone-headed\narrows may be supposed to have flown in showers.\n\nThere are two main routes from the plain of Marathon to Athens; one of\nthem goes by the south, the other by the north side of Mount Pentelicus.\nThe first route leaves the plain at its southern extremity, and passing\nbetween the foot of Mount Agrieliki and the marsh of Vrexisa runs\nparallel with the coast for some distance. It then turns westward, and\ncrossing the deep valley which divides Pentelicus on the north from\nHymettus on the south enters the plain of Athens. This is by far the\neasiest road; it is the only one which vehicles can traverse. The\ndistance by this road from the great mound at Marathon to Athens is\nabout twenty-five or twenty-six miles. The other route, by the north\nside of Mount Pentelicus, goes from Oenoe (the modern Ninoi) by a very\nsteep and toilsome path to Stamata, a village in a high situation,\nsurrounded by a few barren fields, among woods of pine. In many places\nthe path is so hemmed in between cliffs and precipices that there is\nroom only for a single horse. Trees are rare, but the stony slopes of\nthe mountain are overgrown with shrubs of many sorts, among which the\n_Erica arborea_ is conspicuous. In spring its masses of white blossoms\nperfume the whole air with their fragrance. About half an hour short of\nStamata, at a point where there is a spring shaded by fine plane-trees,\nthe path is joined on the left by another path, also steep and toilsome,\nwhich comes up from Vrana. This latter path commands a magnificent view\nbackward down the deep ravine through which the traveller has ascended.\nOn either side of the ravine rise the mountains, their precipitous sides\ncovered with straggling pine-forest or evergreen copse, and terminating\nin bold peaks; below is spread out the green expanse of the Marathonian\nplain, backed by the sea and Cape Cynosura curving into the blue water\nwith the sweep of a scimitar. Farther off, bounding the prospect,\nstretches the long line of the mountains of Euboea.\n\nFrom Stamata the path skirts the north-western shoulder of Mount\nPentelicus and enters Kephisia, from which there is a good highroad\nthrough the plain to Athens. The distance by this route from the mound\nat Marathon to Athens is roughly about twenty-two miles.\n\nA third route, intermediate between the two preceding routes and shorter\nthan either of them, goes from Vrana up the wild romantic ravine of\nRapentosa and crosses the southern shoulder of Mount Pentelicus, the\nhighest summit of which is left about a mile to the westward. It is a\nrugged and precipitous path, hardly practicable even for heavy infantry.\nWithin a distance of little more than nine miles the route ascends and\ndescends a ridge which rises more than two thousand five hundred feet\nabove the plain below.\n\nClearly the first of these routes is the only road by which a large army\nwith cavalry and baggage-train could march. Therefore when the Persians\nlanded at Marathon, under the guidance of the banished Athenian tyrant\nHippias, who was of course familiar with the country, they must have\nintended to advance on Athens by the southern road, and consequently the\nAthenians must have marched to meet them by the same road; for had they\ntaken the northern route the enemy might have given them the slip, and\nhis cavalry might have been entering the streets of Athens at the time\nwhen the Athenians were emerging from the defiles of Pentelicus on the\nplain of Marathon. Thus the traveller who drives to Marathon by the\ncarriage road may feel sure that he is following very closely the route\nby which the Athenian army advanced to the battle.\n\n\n\nV. PRASIAE.\u2014The township of Prasiae was situated on the spacious and\nbeautiful bay now called Porto Raphti, on the east coast of Attica,\nabout sixteen miles north-east of Sunium. From the fertile valley of\nCephale (now Keratea) a path leads north-eastward through a very deep\nand narrow glen to the shore of the bay. In the depths of this romantic\nglen there winds the bed of a stream which is sometimes nearly or wholly\ndry. The sides of the glen, seamed with the beds of torrents and rifted\nrocks, are so thickly wooded and overhung with pine-trees and bushes\nthat in many places it is hard to force a passage along it. Flocks of\nsheep and goats browsing, and in spring the warbling of numerous\nnightingales in the thickets, alone relieve the solitude. At the end of\nthe glen, which is about three miles long, the view of the wide bay,\nenclosed by barren mountains, suddenly bursts on us. On the north Mount\nPeratia, with its jagged ridge and bold beautiful outline, descends in\nprecipices almost sheer into the water, its sides bare except for here\nand there a thin patch of pinewood. On the south rises, dark and\nmassive, the loftier Mavronori (\u2018the black mountain\u2019). From its base the\nrocky headland of Koroni runs far out into the sea, sheltering the bay\non the east and narrowing its entrance to about a mile and a quarter.\nRight in the middle of the entrance, breaking the force of the waves\nwhen the wind blows from the east, a rocky islet in the shape of a\nsugar-loaf or pyramid rises abruptly from the sea to the height of about\nthree hundred feet. Its sides, clothed with lentisk bushes and dwarf\npines, are so steep that it can be scaled only on one side, the north.\nOn its summit, looking seaward, sits a colossal but headless and armless\nstatue of white marble on a high pedestal, the blocks of which were\nfalling to ruin at the time of Dodwell\u2019s visit but are now held together\nby iron clamps. This statue, which, to judge from its style, dates from\nthe time of the Roman empire, is popularly supposed to resemble a tailor\n(_raphti_) seated at his work; hence it has given its present name of\nPorto Raphti to the bay. It has been plausibly conjectured that this is\nthe monument described by Pausanias as the tomb of Erysichthon who died\nat sea on his way home from Delos. The striking monument, looking out\nfrom its high lonely isle across the blue sea, may have been erected on\nthe traditionary site of the hero\u2019s grave by some wealthy patron of art\nin Roman days, perhaps by Herodes Atticus himself.\n\nThe inner part of the bay is divided into two by a rocky spit jutting\nout from the shore, to which it is attached by a low isthmus. The\npromontory takes its name from a chapel of St. Nicholas which stands on\nthe isthmus; a small island off the promontory still bears the name of\nPrasonisi or \u2018Isle of Prasiae.\u2019 The anchorage for fishing boats is on\nthe north side of the isthmus, and here are the few wretched hovels\nwhich make up the hamlet of Porto Raphti. The hamlet is not permanently\ninhabited. For the bay, though one of the finest harbours in Greece, is\ndesolate and hardly frequented except in summer. By day peasants may be\nmet at work in the fields or carting fish to the neighbouring villages.\nBut all through the colder seasons of the year and even on summer\nevenings a profound stillness, broken only by the lapping of the waves\non the beach, reigns on the shores of this beautiful bay, one of the\nfairest scenes in Attica.\n\nOn the northern shore of the bay there are a few scanty remains of\nantiquity which seem to have belonged to the township of Stiria. Prasiae\nlay on the southern shore, which still bears the ancient name. Here,\nbetween the sandy and in part marshy beach and the hills, there\nstretches a strip of level cornland interspersed with olives and stately\ncork-oaks. Some vestiges of ancient wall may be traced at a garden not\nfar from the shore, where there is also an ancient well. But the sand is\ngaining so fast here that a few years ago the ruins of a chapel with\nsome Christian graves were discovered buried in the downs. The citadel\nof Prasiae occupied the rocky headland of Koroni (probably the ancient\nCoronea), which, as we have seen, shelters the bay on the east. This\nbold headland, joined to the mainland by a low sandy isthmus, has\nobviously been at one time an island; indeed the whole of the southern\npart of the bay is being gradually sanded up. The fortification walls,\nsix feet thick and built without mortar, may be followed all round the\nsummit of the headland, which is besides so well protected by its steep\ncliffs that an attack from the side of the sea must have been nearly\nimpracticable. Another wall, eight to ten feet thick, which seems to\nhave been strengthened with towers or bastions, runs down in a\nsouth-westerly direction from the ring-wall of the citadel. It probably\nserved as an outwork and may have reached as far as the shore, though\nnow it disappears some distance above the water. Within the ring-wall of\nthe citadel are the remains of a number of cross-walls extending at\nright angles to it; but they are now so overgrown by dense underwood\nthat it is almost impossible to trace them. From the summit of the\nheadland there is a fine prospect, on the one side over the noble bay\nwith its rocky islets, on the other side across the sea to Euboea,\nAndros, and Ceos. The white houses which are seen gleaming in Ceos are\nthose of the modern town which occupies the site of the ancient Julis.\n\n\n\n\nVI. MOUNT HYMETTUS.\u2014The outline of Hymettus, viewed from Athens, is even\nand regular; but its sides are furrowed by winter torrents and its base\nis broken into many small isolated hills of a conical form. Except\ntowards its base the range is almost destitute of soil. Wild olives,\nmyrtles, laurels, and oleanders are found only in some of the gullies at\nthe foot of the mountain. Its steep rocky slopes are composed of grey\nmarble seamed and cracked in all directions. Some stunted shrubs,\nhowever, including the lentisk, terebinth, and juniper, and\nsweet-smelling herbs, such as thyme, lavender, savory, and sage, grow in\nthe clefts of the rocks, and, with flowers such as hyacinths and purple\ncrocuses, furnish the bees with the food from which they still extract\nthe famous Hymettian honey. Hymettus seems to have been as bare and\ntreeless in classical antiquity as it is now; for Plato remarks that\nsome of the Attic mountains, which now only provided food for bees, had\nat no very remote epoch furnished the timber with which some very large\nbuildings were still roofed at the time when he wrote. The honey of\nHymettus was renowned. It was said that when Plato was a babe the bees\non Hymettus filled his mouth with honey. The story went that bees were\nfirst produced on the mountain. Poets spoke of the flowery and fragrant\nHymettus. The thyme and the creeping thyme (_serpyllum_) of Hymettus are\nspecially mentioned; the creeping thyme was transplanted to Athens and\ngrown there. When ancient writers speak of Attic honey in general, they\nmay have had Hymettian honey in view. Vitruvius compares Attic honey to\nresin in colour, which aptly describes the colour of the modern\nHymettian honey. When Synesius visited Athens in the fifth century A.D.\nhe found that the glory of its philosophers had departed, but that the\nglory of its bee-masters still remained. Opinions differ as to the\nquality of the modern Hymettian honey. Leake pronounced it superior to\nthat of the rest of Attica and of the surrounding provinces of Greece.\nOthers think it inferior to the honey of other parts of Greece, such as\nthe Cyclades, Corinth, and Thebes, as well as to the heather honey of\nScotland and Ireland. Most of the honey sold as Hymettian comes from\nTourko Vouni, north of Athens, and from other parts of Attica.\n\nHymettus was also famous in antiquity for its marble, which seems to\nhave been especially prized by the Romans. This marble, which is still\nquarried in large quantities on Hymettus, is a bluish-grey streaky\nmarble, of finer and closer grain than the white Pentelic marble, but\nfar inferior to it in beauty. The Greeks seem not to have used it\ncommonly till the third century B.C. From that time onward we find it\nemployed for tombstones, inscriptions, and the casing of buildings. The\nprincipal quarries are on the western side of the mountain, on the\nslopes which enclose the valley of St. George on the south and\nsouth-east and which on the other side descend nearly sheer into \u2018the\nDevil\u2019s Glen\u2019 or \u2018the Evil Glen,\u2019 the deepest and wildest gorge in\nHymettus. Vestiges of the ancient road or slide by which the blocks were\nbrought down from the quarries may be seen about a hundred yards above\nthe chapel of St. George; the road seems to have been led in serpentine\ncurves down the slope, not in a straight line like the road from the\nquarries on Pentelicus. A great part of the upper ridge of Hymettus is\ncomposed of a white marble resembling the white marble of Pentelicus,\nbut inferior to it in crystalline structure and of a duller white. The\nancients apparently made little use of this white Hymettian marble.\n\nClouds on Hymettus were believed to prognosticate rain; if during a\nstorm a long bank of clouds was seen lowering on the mountain, it meant\nthat the storm would increase in fury. Hymettus is still as of old\nremarkable for the wonderful purple glow which comes over it as seen\nfrom Athens by evening light. When the sun is setting, a rosy flush\nspreads over the whole mountain, which, as the daylight fades and the\nshadows creep up the slope, passes by insensible transitions through all\nintermediate shades of colour into the deepest violet. This purple tinge\nis peculiar to Hymettus; none of the other mountains which encircle the\nplain of Athens assumes it at any hour of the day. It was when the\nsunset glow was on Hymettus that Socrates drained the poisoned cup.\n\n\n\nVII. MOUNT PENTELICUS.\u2014Pentelicus is the pyramid-like mountain, between\nthree and four thousand feet high, which closes the Athenian plain on\nthe north-east, at a distance of about ten miles from Athens. Its upper\nslopes, as seen from the Acropolis at Athens, have been aptly compared\nto the pediment or gable of a Greek temple. Through the clear air of\nAttica the unaided eye, looking from the Acropolis, can distinguish the\nwhite line of the ancient quarries descending, somewhat to the right of\nthe highest peak, straight down into the valley where the monastery of\nMendeli lies hidden by the intervening heights; to the left of the\nsummit, half-way up the slope, may be discerned the large white patches\nwhich mark the site of the modern quarries.\n\nBut though the view of the pyramidal or gable-like summit is the one\nwhich chiefly strikes the observer at Athens, Pentelicus is really a\nrange of mountains with a number of lesser summits, extending from\nnorth-west to south-east for a distance of about four and a half miles.\nThe ancient quarries lie on the south-western side of the highest peak.\nFive-and-twenty of them may be counted, one above the other; the highest\nis situated not far beneath the highest ridge, at a height of over three\nthousand three hundred feet above the sea. They are reached from the\nmonastery of Mendeli, the wealthiest monastic establishment in Attica,\nwhich nestles in a well-watered and wooded glade at the southern foot of\nthe mountain, about twelve hundred feet above sea level. The ground in\nfront of the monastery is shaded by gigantic white poplars, under which\nflows a spring of excellent water. The name Mendeli is the modern\nequivalent of Pentele, the name of the ancient township, the site of\nwhich is perhaps marked by some ancient blocks and traces of walls and\nterraces at the chapel of the Trinity, a little to the north-east of the\nmonastery.\n\nThe quarries are situated in the gullies above the monastery. An ancient\nroad, very steep and rugged, leads to them up the eastern side of the\nprincipal gully. The road is roughly paved; the blocks of marble were\nprobably brought down it on wooden slides. Square holes may be seen at\nintervals cut in the rock at the side of the road; the beams which\nsupported the wooden slides may have been fastened in these holes. The\nroad appears to end at the principal quarry, a spot now called Spilia,\ntwo thousand three hundred feet above the sea. Here the rock has been\nquarried away so as to leave a smooth perpendicular wall of marble, the\ntop of which is fringed with firs. The marks, delicate and regular, of\nthe ancient chisels may be seen in horizontal rows on the face of the\nrock. At the foot of this wall of marble, overgrown with shrubs and\nmantled with creepers, is the low entrance to a stalactite grotto, well\nknown to visitors, as the names cut and painted on the walls suffice to\nprove. The entrance is partly built up with walls of the Byzantine age;\nto the right, roofed by the rock, is a chapel of St. Nicholas. The\ngrotto is spacious, cool, and dark; its floor descends somewhat from the\nmouth inwards. About sixty paces from the entrance there is a small\nside-grotto with a rocky basin full of cold spring-water.\n\nAn examination of the marks on the rock shows that the ancients\nregularly quarried the marble in rectangular blocks, first running a\ngroove round each block with the chisel and then forcing it out with\nwedges. The effect of this has been to leave the quarries in the shape\nof huge rectangular cuttings in the side of the mountain.\n\nThe stone extracted from these quarries is a white marble of a close\nfine grain. It is readily distinguished from Parian marble\u2014the other\nwhite marble commonly used by Greek sculptors and architects\u2014by its\nfiner grain and opaque milky whiteness; whereas the Parian marble is\ncomposed of large transparent crystals, and is of a glistering snowy\nwhiteness. Parian marble resembles crystallised sugar; Pentelic marble\nresembles solidified milk, though its surface is of course more\ngranular. Pentelic marble, alone among all Greek marbles, contains a\nslight tincture of iron; hence its surface, when long exposed to the\nweather, acquires that rich golden-brown patina which is so much admired\non the columns of the Parthenon and other buildings constructed of\nPentelic marble. The Parian marble, on the other hand, though it\nweathers more easily than the Pentelic on account of its coarser grain,\nalways remains dazzlingly white. Pentelic marble is always clearly\nstratified, and in places it is streaked with veins of silvery white,\ngreen, and reddish-violet mica. Blocks so streaked were either thrown\naside by the ancients or used by them for buildings, not sculpture. But\neven in architecture these veins of mica entailed this disadvantage that\nthe surfaces containing them, when long exposed to the weather, split\nand pealed off in flakes, as we may see on the drums of the columns of\nthe Olympieum or Parthenon.\n\nBesides the fine white marble already described, which is commonly known\nsimply as Pentelic marble, there occurs on Mount Pentelicus a grey,\nbluish-grey, and grey-streaked marble identical in kind with the marble\nknown as Hymettian, because the ancients quarried it on Mount Hymettus.\nThis grey or bluish-grey marble is of more recent geological formation\nthan the white. It does not appear to have been quarried by the ancients\non Pentelicus; at least no ancient quarries of it have been discovered\non the mountain. But it is now obtained in great masses in the large\nmodern quarries to the east of Kephisia, and furnishes Athens with\nbuilding material for the better class of houses and public edifices;\neven paving-stones are made of it.\n\nAn hour\u2019s climb from the great quarry at Spilia takes us to the summit\nof Pentelicus. The path ascends slopes which not many years ago were\nthickly wooded, but are now bare and stony. The view from the top is the\nclearest and most comprehensive that can be obtained of the Attic\npeninsula. Conspicuous below us on the north is the sickle-shaped bay of\nMarathon. The snowy peak of Parnassus closes the prospect on the west;\nthe mountains of Euboea bound it on the north; and to the south, in\nclear weather, the island of Melos is faintly visible at a distance of\nninety to a hundred miles. On the ridge, a little below and to the\nsouth-east of the summit of Pentelicus, there is a small platform, which\non three sides shows traces of having been hewn out of the rock. It is\nexactly in the line of the ancient paved road, which, however, comes to\nan end considerably lower down, at the great quarry. On this platform\nprobably stood the image of Athena mentioned by Pausanias.\n\n\n\n\nVIII. PHYLE.\u2014An expedition to the ruins of Phyle is a favourite\nexcursion of visitors to Athens. The distance by road is about fourteen\nmiles. Diodorus indeed estimates the distance at a hundred Greek\nfurlongs or eleven miles. But he is wrong. Demosthenes, more correctly,\nsays that it was over a hundred and twenty Greek furlongs. A carriage\nroad runs as far as Chasia, a large village on the southern slopes of\nMount Parnes, about ten miles from Athens. Beyond this point the way is\nnothing but a steep and stony bridle-path. After ascending it for half\nan hour we come to the meeting of two deep and savage glens. In the glen\nto the right or east the little monastery of Our Lady of the Defile\nstands romantically at the foot of sheer precipices. The path to Phyle\n(which is at the same time the direct road to Thebes) winds rapidly up\nthe narrow western glen through a thin forest of firs. In places the\npath is hewn in the rock, and the defile is so narrow that a handful of\nmen might make it good against an army. Phyle is reached in about an\nhour and three-quarters from Chasia. The fortress with its massive walls\nand towers crowns a high precipitous crag on the southern side of the\npass, which it completely dominates. A ridge connects the crag with the\nhigher mountains on the east; and along this ridge is the only approach\nto the fortress. On the west and south the sides of the crag fall away\nabruptly into a deep ravine, which is broken by tremendous precipices,\ncrested with firs and tufted with shrubs and underwood. The ruins of the\nfortress encircle a little plateau, scarcely three hundred feet long\nfrom east to west, on the summit of the crag. The walls and towers,\nbuilt of fine quadrangular blocks without mortar, are best preserved on\nthe north-east side, where they are still standing to a height of\nseventeen courses. The tower at the north-east angle is round; the other\ntwo remaining towers are square. The principal gate was on the east\nside, approached from the ridge. There was further a postern, also\napproached from the ridge, near the south-east corner. From the\nfortress, which stands more than two thousand feet above the sea, the\nview is magnificent, taking in the whole of the Athenian plain with\nAthens itself and Hymettus, and the sea with Salamis, Aegina, and the\ncoast of Peloponnese.\n\nThe high peak, now named Mount Pagania, which towers immediately to the\nnorth-east of Phyle in the form of a crescent-shaped wall of naked rock\nis probably the ancient Harma, which the augurs at Athens watched till\nthey saw lightning flash about its summit, whereupon they sent the\nsacrifice to Delphi. Strabo expressly says that Harma was near Phyle. On\nits eastern side the peak descends in precipices into the deep glen,\nalready mentioned, at the entrance of which is the monastery of Our Lady\nof the Defile.\n\nFarther up this glen than the monastery, at a height of some hundreds of\nfeet above the torrent (the Potami) which traverses it, there is a\ncavern which is sometimes visited. The direct distance of this cavern\nfrom the monastery is only about a mile and a half. But in the glen the\nstream, hemmed in by precipices advancing from the mountains on both\nsides, has scooped out for itself between them a bed so profound and\nrugged that to scramble along it is impossible, even when the water is\nat its lowest. Hence in order to reach the cavern it is needful to make\na long detour round the western flanks of Mount Pagania and to come down\ninto the glen at a point a good deal higher up. Having done so we follow\nthe glen downward past the place where another glen opens into it,\nbringing its tributary stream to swell the Potami. The cave is situated\nhigh up on the eastern side of the main glen, a little below the meeting\nof the waters. To clamber up the steep slope to it is far from easy. The\nmouth of the cave is so narrow that only one person can enter it at a\ntime; it opens at the foot of a precipice darkened by overhanging trees\nand flanked by two crags which project like wings on either side. In the\nface of the rock to the right of the entrance into the cavern are some\nvotive niches with worn inscriptions under them. Within the cave, which\nmay be about a hundred paces deep, water dripping from the roof has\nformed large stalactites and has hollowed out basins in the floor.\nBroken lamps and potsherds have been found in it in considerable\nquantities, which, with the votive niches outside, prove that this\nsecluded spot was an ancient sanctuary. It was most probably the\nNymphaeum or sanctuary of the Nymphs, which Menander mentioned as being\nnear Phyle. Here, too, the people of Phyle probably offered the\nsacrifices to Pan to which Aelian refers. For one of the inscriptions on\nthe rock outside the cave sets forth that a certain Tychander caused\nworkmen to put up the image of Pan beside the Celadon, and that\nsacrifices were offered by one Trophimianus. From this inscription we\nlearn that the Potami, which flows in the depth of the glen below the\ncave, went in antiquity by the name of the Celadon or \u2018Roaring Stream.\u2019\n\n\n\nIX. THE PORT OF ATHENS.\u2014Piraeus, the port of Athens, is a rocky\npeninsula which runs out into the sea in a south-westerly direction for\na distance of more than two miles. It is composed of two masses, each\nover a mile wide, which are united to each other by a somewhat low and\nnarrow ridge or isthmus. The south-western mass, anciently known as the\nActe, rises gradually on all sides to a height of nearly two hundred\nfeet. The north-eastern mass attains a height of nearly three hundred\nfeet in the steep rocky hill of Munychia. The ancients believed that the\npeninsula of Piraeus had formerly been an island, and that it had\nreceived its name because it was the land across (_peran_) the water.\nModern observation confirms the belief that Piraeus was once an island.\nThe peninsula is joined to the mainland by a stretch of low swampy\nground, nowhere more than eight feet above the level of the sea. This\nstretch of low land, which the ancients called Halipedon, appears to be\nformed of alluvial soil brought down in the course of ages by the\nCephisus, which falls into the sea a little to the east, and which has\nby its deposits gradually converted the rocky island into a peninsula.\n\nPiraeus includes three distinct harbours, each opening to the sea by a\nseparate mouth. These are the great harbour, technically known as\nCantharus, on the north-west side of the peninsula, and the two smaller\nand nearly circular harbours of Zea and Munychia on the south-eastern\nside. The whole of the peninsula, with its three harbours, was strongly\nfortified in antiquity. The line of the fortification wall may still be\ntraced almost all round it, and in most places the foundations are so\nwell preserved that it is possible to reconstruct the plan of the\nfortress as a whole. The wall runs along the shore at such a distance as\nto be out of reach of the waves, and yet near enough the sea to prevent\nan enemy from bringing siege engines into play on the beach. It is from\nten to twelve feet thick, and is very carefully built of squared blocks\nof the native limestone without mortar. The quarries in which the stones\nwere hewn may be observed at many points both behind and in front of the\nwall. In places where the stones have been taken away from the wall to\nfurnish building material for the modern town, we can see the grooves or\nchannels cut in the rock in which the stones were originally bedded.\nThese grooves are each about two and a half feet wide and run parallel\nto each other, showing that only the outer and inner faces of the wall\nwere of solid masonry, and that the core must have been, as in many\nancient Greek walls, filled up with rubble and earth. In the best\npreserved portions the wall is still standing to a height of five\ncourses or more. It is flanked by towers which project from the curtain\nat intervals of sixty or seventy yards.\n\nIn addition to this sea-wall which skirted the coast, the mouths of the\nthree harbours were contracted by moles of solid masonry that ran out to\nmeet each other on either side, leaving only a narrow entrance between\ntheir extremities. The long moles which thus barred the mouth of the\ngreat harbour still exist, though the southern of the two has been\nwashed away by the waves to a depth of some thirteen feet under the\nsurface of the water. They now support the red and green lights which at\nnight mark the entrance to the harbour. The haven of Zea is naturally\nstronger than the great harbour, and therefore needed less elaborate\nfortifications. It consists of a circular basin lying about two hundred\nyards inland from the sea, and is approached by a channel a hundred\nyards wide. Walls ran along this channel on either side, so that an\nenemy\u2019s ships endeavouring to enter the harbour would have had to run\nthe gauntlet of a cross fire. At its inner end the channel was flanked\non either side by a tower of solid masonry built out into the water, but\nconnected with the fortification walls. The third harbour, Munychia, the\nsmallest of the three, is farthest removed from the business and bustle\nof the modern port town, and hence has, in some respects, best preserved\nthe relics of antiquity. Originally it was a mere open bay, and\ntherefore needed vast constructions of masonry to convert it into a war\nharbour. The moles built for this purpose are described by Lieutenant\nvon Alten, who examined them with attention, as the most magnificent\nspecimens of ancient Greek fortification which have survived. In some\nplaces on the outer edges of the moles the colossal blocks of which they\nare composed have been piled up in wild confusion by the heavy surf, and\nproject like islets above the surface of the water. Each mole ended in a\ntower; and the narrow entrance to the harbour was between the towers.\nThe tiny basin is commanded by the hill of Munychia which rises steeply\nfrom the shore. In time of danger each of the harbour mouths could be\nclosed with a chain stretched between the two towers that flanked the\nentrance. The chain seems to have been coated with tar to prevent it\nfrom rusting in the water.\n\nOn the landward side the peninsula was defended by a wall, which started\nfrom the harbour of Munychia, ascended the hill, and after following the\nedge of the plateau for some distance gradually descended westward to\nthe shallow northern bight of the great harbour, across which it appears\nto have been carried on a mole or dam. This landward wall, to judge from\nits existing remains, seems to have been a masterpiece of military\nengineering, every opportunity offered by the nature of the ground for\nstrengthening the fortifications having been unerringly seized upon and\nturned to account. The naturally weakest spot in the whole circuit was\nwhere the wall crossed the flat between the hill of Munychia and the\ngreat harbour. Here accordingly we find the wall especially strong; it\nis twenty-six feet thick, and is constructed of solid masonry in large\nsquared blocks without any core of rubble. Naturally the gates were\nplaced in this landward wall and opened northward. Remains of four of\nthem can be distinguished. The principal gate, flanked by two square\ntowers on oval bases, stood in the flat ground between the north-east\nend of the great harbour and the heights of Munychia. Through it\ndoubtless ran the highway to Athens; and here at a little side portal\nfor foot-passengers probably stood the image of Hermes, which the nine\narchons dedicated when they set about fortifying Piraeus. A little to\nthe east of this principal gate and on slightly higher ground is another\ngate, through which the road to Athens went between the two Long Walls.\nThe gate is double, that is, it is composed of a court nearly square\nwith a gate at each end. The reason of this construction, which is\ncommon in Greek fortifications, was that, if an enemy should force the\nouter gate, he would still have a second gate in front of him, and would\nin the meantime find himself pent in a narrow court, as in a trap, from\nthe walls of which he would be assailed on all sides by the missiles of\nthe defenders.\n\nThe docks at Piraeus were one of the glories of Athens. Demosthenes\nmentions them along with the Parthenon and the Propylaea. When the\nAthenian navy numbered about four hundred warships, we learn from\ninscriptions that the number of docks was three hundred and seventy-two.\nBut this excess of ships over docks could scarcely have caused\ninconvenience, as some vessels must always have been in commission. Very\nconsiderable remains of the ancient docks are still to be seen in the\nharbours of Zea and Munychia. The flat beach all round the basin of Zea\nwas enclosed by a wall of ashlar masonry, which ran round the harbour at\na distance of fifty or sixty feet from the water\u2019s edge. This formed the\nback wall of all the docks, which extended at right angles to it and\nparallel to each other down into the water. The average breadth of each\ndock or berth was about twenty feet. The docks were separated from each\nother by rows of columns, the foundations of which, bedded on the\nshelving rocky beach, descend in steps to the water, and are continued\nunder it for some distance. These columns supported the roofs, which\nwere probably wooden, for no remains of a stone roof have been found.\nBetween these partition rows of columns the rock has been hollowed out\nand smoothed, so that it forms an inclined plane, descending gradually,\nlike the rows of columns, to the sea, and continued under water for some\nway. Each of these inclined planes formed the floor of a dock. In the\nmiddle of each floor is built a stone pier about ten feet wide and a\nyard high; in some places the native rock, hewn out at the sides, has\nbeen left standing in the centre so as to form a pier of similar\ndimensions. On these piers, whether built or hewn out of the rock, the\nancient ships were hauled up and down. Remains of them may still be seen\nall round the harbour of Zea running out under the clear water.\n\nThe only relics of ancient ships which have been found at Zea are some\nplates of Parian marble representing great eyes. Clearly these were the\nship\u2019s eyes which used to be fastened to the bows of ancient Greek\nvessels. Pollux tells us that the ship\u2019s name was painted beside its\neye. Philostratus describes the picture of an Etruscan pirate ship\npainted blue, with fierce eyes at the prow to frighten the enemy. In a\nlist of missing or unserviceable ships\u2019 furniture, preserved in an\ninscription, mention is twice made of a broken ship\u2019s eye. Some of the\neyes found at Zea show traces of red paint at the back; the paint\nprobably adhered to them from the ships\u2019 sides; for ships\u2019 bows were\noften painted red. Modern Italian sailors sometimes still paint an eye\non the bow of their vessel. In the East, too, every craft owned by a\nChinaman, from a sampan up to an English-built screw-steamer, has a pair\nof eyes painted on the bows, that it may see its way and spy out sunken\nrocks and other dangers of the deep. Indeed, in all parts of eastern\nAsia where many Chinese travel, the local steamers, whether owned by\nChinese or not, all have eyes; otherwise no Chinaman would travel in\nthem, or send his goods by them.\n\nAnother famous structure in Piraeus was the arsenal, which formed a\nnecessary adjunct to the docks of the navy. We know from ancient authors\nthat it was built from designs furnished by the architect Zeno, who\nexplained them to the people in a speech which won him a high reputation\nfor eloquence. The building was admired for its elegance, and the\nAthenians were proud of it. However, it was finally burnt by the Romans\nunder Sulla, and no certain vestiges of it have been as yet discovered.\nBut by an extraordinary piece of good fortune the directions given to\nthe contractor for its construction have been preserved to us. They were\ndiscovered in 1882 engraved on a slab of Hymettian marble at the foot of\nthe hill of Munychia, not far from the harbour of Zea. The directions\nare so full, clear, and precise that we now know Philo\u2019s arsenal from\nroof to foundation better than any other building of ancient Greece,\nthough not a stone of it has been found. A brief description of the\nedifice, derived from the inscription, may not be uninteresting.\n\nThe arsenal was to be built at Zea, the principal war-harbour, and was\nto begin at the gateway which led from the market-place and to extend to\nthe back of the docks. It was to be constructed of the hard reddish-grey\nPiraeic limestone, an excellent building material often mentioned in\ninscriptions and still much in use. In shape it was to be a sort of\narcade, lit principally by rows of windows in the long sides, and\ndivided into three aisles by two rows of columns running down its whole\nlength. The central aisle, paved with flags, and entered by two\nbronze-plated doors at each end, was to be kept clear as a passage for\nthe public; while the two side aisles were to serve for storing the\nships\u2019 tackle. For this purpose each of the side aisles was divided into\ntwo stories by a wooden flooring. On the ground floor the sails and\nother canvas gear were stowed away in presses; and in the upper\ngalleries the ropes were coiled on open wooden shelves. Between the\ncolumns which flanked the central aisle there ran a stone balustrade\nwith latticed gates opening into the side aisles between each pair of\ncolumns. The roof of the building was to be constructed of strong wooden\nrafters overlaid with boards, which were to be fastened on with iron\nnails; and the whole was to be covered with close-fitting Corinthian\ntiles. To secure that the building should be well aired, which was\nespecially necessary in a magazine of this sort, lest the tackle should\nsuffer from damp, slit-like openings were to be left in the walls\nbetween the joints of the stones, the number and situation of these\nair-holes being left to the discretion of the architect. Such was, in\noutline, the great arsenal of the Piraeus. Thither on hot summer days,\nwe may suppose, crowds were glad to escape from the dust and glare of\nthe streets and to promenade in the cool, lofty, and dimly-lighted\narcade, often stopping to gaze with idle curiosity or patriotic pride at\nthe long array of well-ordered tackle which spoke of the naval supremacy\nof Athens.\n\nBefore we quit the war-harbours we should note the Choma, as it was\ncalled, a quay near the mouth of the harbour on which, when an armament\nwas fitting out for sea, the Council of the Five Hundred held their\nsittings daily till the squadron sailed. When all was ready, every\ncaptain was bound by law to lay his vessel alongside the quay to be\ninspected by the Council. The inspection over, the fleet weighed anchor\nand proceeded on its voyage. It must have been a heart-stirring sight to\nwitness the departure of a fleet for the seat of war, as gallant ship\nafter ship passed in long procession through the mouth of the harbour\nand stood out to sea, followed by the gazing eyes and by the hopes and\nfears and prayers of thousands assembled on the shore. When the last\nship had glided from the smooth water of the harbour, and begun to\nbreast the waves and shake out its sails to the freshening breeze,\nmultitudes would rush from the shore to the heights, there to watch the\ngalleys slowly lessening in the distance, till they could discern no\nlonger the flash and sparkle of the oars as they rose and fell at the\nships\u2019 sides, and till even the white sails melted away like snow in the\nblaze of the sun on the far southern horizon.\n\nA long line of colonnades extending along the eastern shore of the great\nharbour appears to have formed the public mart or emporium. One of the\nmost important buildings in this commercial part of the harbour was a\nbazaar or exchange, where foreign merchants exhibited samples of their\nwares, and where bankers sat at the receipt of custom. It must have been\nclose to the quays and the shipping, as we learn from the account of a\nsuccessful raid which Alexander of Pherae once made on the bankers\u2019\ncounters. One day a squadron was seen standing into the harbour. The\nloungers on the quays watched it with indolent curiosity till the ships\ndrew up alongside the wharfs, when a crowd of armed men leaped from the\nships\u2019 sides, drew their swords, and with a flourish of trumpets made a\nrush for the bazaar, where they swept the counters clean and then\nreturned with the booty to their vessels, without stopping to notice the\npanic-stricken crowds who were fleeing in all directions. In another\n\u2018cutting-out\u2019 expedition which the Lacedaemonians made with twelve ships\ninto the harbour of Piraeus, a handful of daring men jumped ashore, laid\nhold of some merchants and skippers in the bazaar, and hurried them on\nboard. It was in the bazaar that the Boastful Man in Theophrastus used\nto stand talking with foreigners about the great sums he had at sea,\nwhile he sent his page to the bank where he kept the sum of ten-pence.\n\nChief among the holy places of Piraeus was a sanctuary of Saviour Zeus.\nFine paintings by distinguished artists adorned the cloisters attached\nto it, and statues stood in the open air. The festival of the god\nincluded a regatta and a procession through the streets. The expenses of\nthe sanctuary were partly defrayed by a small tax levied on every vessel\nwhich put into the port. Moreover, persons who had escaped from\ndanger\u2014for example, seafaring men who had come safe to land\u2014commonly\nbrought thank-offerings to the shrine. From a fragment of an ancient\ncomedy we learn that, among the long-shore sharks who lay in wait on the\nquays for sailors fresh from a voyage, there were cooks with an eye to\nbusiness. For in the passage in question one of the fraternity tells us\nhow, whenever he spied a jolly tar just stepping ashore, ready for a\nspree, with a bulging purse in his fist and an expansive smile on his\nsunburnt face, he used to rush up to him, shake him warmly by the hand,\ndrop a delicate allusion to Saviour Zeus, and proffer his services at\nthe sacrifice. The bait took, and soon he was to be seen heading for the\nsanctuary with the sailor man in tow.\n\nBetter known to English readers than the sanctuary of Saviour Zeus was\nthe altar of the Unknown God which St. Paul, and after him Pausanias,\nsaw at Phalerum, the old port of Athens. In a dialogue attributed to\nLucian, a certain Critias raps out a number of oaths by the old heathen\ngods and goddesses, and for each of them he is gravely taken to task by\nhis comrade Triephon, who has just been initiated into the sublime\nmysteries of the Christian theology by a person of a Hebrew cast of\ncountenance, whom he describes as a bald-pated long-nosed Galilean. At\nlast Critias swears by the Unknown God at Athens, and this oath is\nallowed to pass unchallenged by Triephon, who winds up the dialogue with\nthis edifying advice: \u201cLet us, having found out and worshipped the\nUnknown God at Athens, raise our hands to heaven and give him thanks\nthat we have been found worthy to be subject unto so great a power; but\nlet us leave other folk to babble, satisfied ourselves with applying to\nthem the proverb 'Hippoclides doesn\u2019t care.'\u201d\n\nA little way from the shore of the great harbour was the market-place\nnamed after the Milesian architect Hippodamus, who laid out Piraeus on a\nregular plan. It must have been a spacious open square, for we hear of\ntroops mustering in it. The distinguished general Timotheus had a house\non the market-place, and it was here that he lodged his two royal\nvisitors, Jason of Pherae and Alcetas king of Epirus, when they came to\ngive evidence at his trial. The general had impaired his private fortune\nby his exertions in the public service, and when his illustrious\nvisitors arrived late one evening he had to send out his Caleb\nBalderstone in haste to borrow some bedding and silver plate. From the\nmarket-place a street led upwards to the sanctuary of Artemis on the\nhill of Munychia. It must have been a wide street; for in the\nstreet-fighting at the revolution which overturned the tyranny of the\nThirty and restored the democracy, the troops of the tyrants formed in\norder of battle in the market-place and then marched up the street,\nwhile the democratic party, led by Thrasybulus, charged down the street\nin battle array and met them. At one time apparently the market-place\nfell into disrepair, and enjoyed the dubious privilege of what is\npopularly known in Scotland as a \u2018free coup,\u2019 the inhabitants of the\nneighbouring streets using it unceremoniously as a convenient dust-hole\nwherein to throw away their old rags and bones and other domestic\nrefuse. At last the authorities felt constrained to interfere and put a\nstop to the nuisance. So they ordered that the market-place be levelled\nand put in good repair, and that for the future nobody should be allowed\nto shoot rubbish or dump down dung in it.\n\nThe broad straight streets of the new town of Piraeus must have formed a\nstriking contrast to the narrow and crooked streets, lined with mean\nhouses, which Athens itself seems always to have retained. Aristotle\nperhaps had this contrast in his mind when he recommended for his ideal\ncity a mixture of the two modes of building, remarking that the new\nstraight streets in the style of Hippodamus were handsomer and more\nconvenient, but that the old crooked streets could be better defended\nagainst an enemy. Another advantage of the older style of architecture,\nat least in southern cities, is the shade and coolness of narrow lanes\nfrom which, as from the bottom of a well, we look up at a narrow strip\nof blue sky high overhead, instead of being exposed to the pitiless\nglare of the sun as we pace, with blue spectacles on our eyes and a\nwhite umbrella over our head, the broad open streets which, on the model\nof the Parisian boulevards, are rapidly springing up in the towns of\nsouthern Europe. Still, in spite of the ravages of municipal authorities\nand the jerry-builder, we can even yet remark in modern Europe a\ncontrast between the towns that have grown up irregularly in the course\nof ages, and those which have been created at once on a regular plan by\nthe will of a despot. The two most regularly built towns in Europe are\nprobably Turin and Mannheim. Turin still stands on the lines laid down\nby Augustus, when he founded a Roman colony on the site; Mannheim was\nbuilt by the Elector Palatine, Frederick the Fourth, in 1606. Something\nof the same difference may also be observed between Madrid, the new\ncapital of Spain, with its thoroughfares radiating like the spokes of a\nwheel from the Puerta del Sol, and the old Spanish capital Toledo, with\nits narrow lanes straggling up and down the rocky hill whence the white,\nsilent, seemingly half-deserted city looks down on the gorge of the\nTagus. But Madrid, a creation of Philip the Second, does not equal Turin\nor Mannheim in mathematical regularity of construction.\n\nThere can be no doubt that the fortification of Piraeus and the\ntransference to it of the port of Athens from the open roadstead of\nPhalerum constituted one of the most momentous steps in the history of\nAthens. Coupled with the construction of a large permanent war-fleet it\nmade Athens the first naval power in Greece, and so determined her\nsubsequent history. All three measures originated in the far-seeing mind\nof Themistocles, who thus in a sense created Athens, and proved himself\nthereby one of the greatest of statesmen. He saw that Piraeus was more\nimportant to the Athenians than Athens itself, and he often advised\nthem, if ever they were hard put to it by land, to evacuate Athens and\nsettle at Piraeus, where with their fleet they could defy the world. If\nthey had taken his advice, Athens might perhaps have played a still\ngreater part in history.\n\nThe man to whom Athens owed so much died an exile in a foreign land;\nbut, if tradition may be trusted, his bones were afterwards brought and\nlaid, with singular felicity, beside the sea at the foot of the frowning\nwalls of that great fortress which formed his noblest monument. The\nexact spot has been described by an ancient writer. \u201cAt the great\nharbour of Piraeus,\u201d says Plutarch, quoting Diodorus the Periegete, \u201ca\nsort of elbow juts out from the headland of Alcimus; and when you have\nrounded this elbow, on the inner side, where the sea is somewhat calm,\nthere is a large basement of masonry, and the altar-like structure on it\nis the grave of Themistocles. And Diodorus imagines that the comic poet\nPlato bears him out in the following passage:\n\n 'Fair lies thy tomb\n For it will speak to merchants everywhere;\n It will behold the seamen sailing out and in,\n And mark the contests of the ships.'\u201d\n\nTradition places the site of the tomb on the shore of the Acte\npeninsula, near the modern lighthouse, some way to the south of the\nentrance to the great harbour. Here a small square space has been\nlevelled in the rock; and its outer margin has been cut and smoothed as\nif to form the bed of a wall. Within this area are three graves, and\njust outside it, on the side away from the sea, is a large sepulchre\nhewn in the rock. It has been suggested that when the square space was\nenclosed by its wall, and the interior was filled up with rubble, it may\nhave been the \u201caltar-like structure\u201d described by Diodorus the\nPeriegete, and that the rock-hewn tomb behind it, and sheltered by it\nfrom the surf and spray of the neighbouring sea, may have been what\nantiquity was fain to regard as the grave of Themistocles.\n\n\n\nX. THE SACRED WAY.\u2014Having completed his description of the Attic\nislands, Pausanias returns to Athens and sets out thence for Eleusis\nalong the Sacred Way. This was the road by which the initiated went from\nAthens to Eleusis: the antiquary Polemo devoted a whole book to a\ndescription of the route. The present highroad from Athens to Eleusis\nfollows very closely the line of the Sacred Way. This road, running in a\nnorth-westerly direction, soon passes on the left the Botanic Garden,\nconspicuous by its tall and stately poplars, and enters the broad belt\nof olive-wood which still extends, as it doubtless extended in\nantiquity, along both sides of the Cephisus for mile after mile. Through\nthis wood of ancient olives, with their massive gnarled trunks and pale\ngreen foliage, the road runs for more than a mile, crossing several arms\nof the Cephisus, which are generally dry and dusty, the water being\ndiverted in many petty rivulets to feed the olive-yards and gardens.\nBeyond the olive-wood the road at first gradually ascends through a bare\nstony tract where nothing grows but thistles; then it climbs more\nsteeply the arid and rocky slopes of Mount Aegaleus, which it crosses by\na narrow but easy pass, enclosed on both sides by low and desolate\nheights. Near the summit of the pass a round isolated hill, crowned by a\nchurch of St. Elias, rises conspicuously on the right. From this point\nof the road there is a famous view backward over the Athenian plain. The\nscene is especially striking at sunset, when the acropolis, rising high\nabove the olive-woods, with its temples lit up by the dying splendour of\nthe sun, stands out against a background of purple mountains. A little\nfarther on the road turns and begins to descend, and Athens is lost to\nsight.\n\nAbout a mile farther on we pass the deserted monastery of Daphni, which\nprobably occupies the site of the sanctuary of Apollo mentioned by\nPausanias. It stands on the left of the road enclosed by a high\nbattlemented wall above which rises the dome of its Byzantine church.\nBeyond the monastery the road descends rapidly towards the shore. Here\nthe ancient road may be traced for a long way on the north side of the\npass, running parallel to the modern highway on the left bank of a dry\nwater-course which descends from the monastery. The road was partly cut\nin the rock, partly supported by a wall of rough stones on the side of\nthe water-course. As the road descends the sea appears at the farther\nend of it, framed between the stony slopes of the hills which enclose\nthe pass. Farther on, the pass opening out, we see stretched below us,\nlike a lake, the deep blue waters of the landlocked Gulf of Salamis,\nshut in on the south by the bare but beautifully outlined hills of\nSalamis, on the north by a graceful sweep of the Attic coast, and backed\nby the distant heights of Cithaeron and the mountains of Megara on the\nwest. Through a dip between the hills of Salamis and the mainland may be\nseen in clear weather the far conspicuous peak of Cyllene in Arcadia\nwith its crown of snow.\n\nA mile or so after passing the monastery we see on the right of the road\nsome ancient masonry and large blocks of stone at the foot of a rugged\nwall of rock, in the face of which many niches are cut. This is the\nsanctuary of Aphrodite mentioned by Pausanias. Soon after this point the\nhills retire on both sides and the pass ends in a little plain, barren\nand waterless but partially planted with olives, beside the shore. Here\nthe road turns sharply to the right and, following the shore, runs\nnorthward, hemmed in between the sea on the one side and the grey arid\nslopes of Mount Aegaleus on the other. Soon, however, the hills trend\ninland a little, leaving between the foot of their declivities and the\nroad a small lake or large pond of clear salt-water, fed by a number of\ncopious salt-springs, the ancient Rhiti. The pond is formed by damming\nup the water of these springs by means of a stone dyke or embankment,\nbeside which the modern road runs on a narrow strip of sand between the\npond on the right and the sea on the left. Fiedler observed flying-fish\nof the size of herrings rising from the surface of the pool: he says\ntheir flesh is white and succulent, better than that of the sea fish in\nthe neighbouring bay. In antiquity, as Pausanias tells us, the right of\nfishing here was strictly preserved by the priests of Eleusis. A strong\nstream, turning a mill, flows out of the pool into the sea. At the\nfarther end of the pond Mount Aegaleus sends down its last spur close to\nthe road; after passing it the road skirts on the right another\nsalt-pool and enters the Thriasian plain. The stream which issues from\nthe second of the two salt-ponds turns, or rather used to turn, another\nmill. Opinions have differed as to whether the ancient road ran, like\nthe modern highway, between the salt-pools and the sea, or skirted the\nfoot of the hills, making a circuit round the pools. In any case it\nseems probable that in antiquity the water of the salt-springs was not\ndammed up as at present so as to form pools, but was allowed to flow\ndirectly into the sea in brooks which hence received the name of Rhiti\n(\u2018streams\u2019).\n\nAfter entering the Thriasian plain the road continues to skirt the\nshore. As the ground is here low and marshy, the road is raised on a\ncauseway, which consists of ancient materials mixed with those of later\nages. This causeway therefore marks the line of the Sacred Way. On the\nright of it, about half a mile beyond the salt-pools, where the road to\nKalyvia branches off across the plain to the right, there are remains of\nan ancient monument, which appears to have consisted originally of a\ncubical mass of earth, cased with white marble and supporting a\ntombstone. An inscription proves that the monument marked the tomb of\none Strato, his wife Polla (Paula) Munatia, and his son Isidotus. This\nsepulchre, one of the many sepulchres which lined the Sacred Way in\nantiquity, is not mentioned by Pausanias.\n\nThe Thriasian plain, through which the Sacred Way led to Eleusis, is\nsurrounded by mountains and hills except on the south, where it is\nbounded by the Gulf of Salamis. It is about nine miles long from east to\nwest, and five miles wide at the broadest part, from north to south. The\nnorthern and western parts of the plain are stony and barren. Nearer the\nsea there is a tract of fertile cornland, but it does not extend much to\nthe north of Eleusis itself. The monotony of the otherwise treeless\nexpanse is broken here and there by some scattered olive-trees and oaks.\nIn spring and early summer the plain is gaily carpeted in places with\nanemones, red, purple, and blue.\n\n\n\nXI. THE HALL OF INITIATION AT ELEUSIS.\u2014The great Hall of Initiation, to\nwhich the paved road leads from the smaller portal, is a vast single\nchamber about a hundred and seventy feet square, the sides of which face\nnorth, south, east, and west. The whole of the west side, together with\nthe western parts of the northern and southern sides, are bounded by the\nrock of the acropolis, which has been cut away perpendicularly to make\nroom for the hall. The roof was supported by six rows of columns, seven\ncolumns in each row: the bases of all these columns except one are still\nto be seen in their places. Eight tiers of steps, partly cut in the\nrock, partly built, ran all round the chamber except at the entrances,\nof which there were six, namely, two on the north, two on the east, and\ntwo on the south. On these tiers of steps the initiated probably sat\nwatching the performance of the mysteries which took place in the body\nof the hall. It is calculated that about three thousand people could\nfind room on them. The steps, originally narrow, were widened at a later\ndate by a casing of marble. That this marble casing of the steps is a\nlate work appears from the use of mortar to fasten it on.\n\nThere are passages of ancient writers which seem to imply that besides\nthe place to which the initiated had access there was an inner Holy of\nHolies called the _anaktoron_ or _megaron_, which none but the\nhigh-priest of the mysteries might enter, and which, being suddenly\nthrown open, disclosed to the view of the awestruck beholders the most\nsacred objects of their religious veneration lit up by a blaze of\ndazzling light. But no trace of any inner chamber or enclosure has been\ndiscovered in the great Hall of Initiation. It may therefore be\nsuggested that the _anaktoron_ or _megaron_ was perhaps nothing but the\nbody of the hall, which may have been screened by curtains from the\nspectators sitting in darkness on the tiers of seats that ran all round\nit, till suddenly the curtain rose and revealed the vast hall\nbrilliantly illuminated, with the gorgeously attired actors in the\nsacred drama moving mazily in solemn procession or giddy dance out and\nin amongst the forest of columns that rose from the floor of the hall,\nwhile the strains of grave or voluptuous music filled the air. Then,\nwhen all was over, the curtain would as suddenly descend, leaving the\nspectators in darkness and silence, with nothing but the memory of the\nsplendid pageant that had burst upon them and vanished like a dream.\n\n\n\nXII. ELEUTHERAE.\u2014From Eleusis the road to Eleutherae, which is at the\nsame time the highway from Athens to Thebes, goes north-west across the\nplain. The olive-trees begin to appear soon after we have left Eleusis,\nand the road runs for three miles through thick groves of them to the\nlarge village of Mandra situated on a small height at the entrance to a\nvalley; for here the mountains which bound the plain of Eleusis begin.\nThe native rock crops up among the houses and streets of the village.\nThe hills that rise on both sides of the valley are wooded with pine.\nBeyond the village the valley contracts, and the road ascends for a long\ntime through the stillness and solitude of the pine-forest. A little\nwayside inn (the khan of Palaio-Koundoura) is passed in a lonely dale;\nand then, after a further ascent, the prospect opens up somewhat, and\nthe tops of Hymettus and Pentelicus are seen away to the east, appearing\nabove a nearer range of hills. Soon afterwards the road descends into a\ncultivated and fertile little plain or valley watered by the chief arm\nof the Eleusinian Cephisus, and bounded on the north by the principal\nrange of Cithaeron, on the south by the lower outlying chain which we\nhave just crossed. This no doubt is the plain in which stood the temple\nof Dionysus mentioned by Pausanias. At the northern end of the valley or\nplain there is now a police-barrack on the right of the road, and near\nit a public-house, the khan of Kasa. Here the pass over Cithaeron, in\nthe strict sense, begins. It is a narrow rocky defile, up which the road\nwinds tortuously between high pine-clad slopes on either hand. In the\nvery mouth of the pass, immediately beyond the barrack, a steep,\nconical, nearly isolated hill rises up as if to bar the road. Its summit\nis crowned with the grey walls and towers of Eleutherae.\n\nThe ruins of Eleutherae, now called Gyphtokastro or \u2018Gypsy-castle,\u2019 form\none of the finest extant specimens of Greek fortification. The circuit\nof the walls, which is but small, encloses the summit and part of the\nsouthern slope of the hill. The north wall, strengthened with eight\nsquare projecting towers, is nearly complete. It is about eight feet\nthick, and is built of blocks laid in regular courses, with a core of\nrubble. As the ground falls away to the north, the wall is higher on the\noutside than on the inside. The towers are about thirty paces apart.\nMost of them entered from the ramparts by two doors, one on each side of\nthe tower. These doors are still to be seen, though the floors of the\nupper stories, having been of wood, have of course perished. Each tower\nhas three small windows or loopholes, one in each of the sides which\nproject outward beyond the curtain. Traces of the wall and towers on the\nother and lower sides of the hill can still be seen, but they are far\nless perfect than on the north side. The chief gate was on the south.\nThe whole place is now an utter solitude. When I first visited it, on a\nday in May, the ground was carpeted with yellow flowers; goats were\nbalancing themselves on the grey ruins; and the goatherd was sleeping in\nthe shadow of one of the towers. On either hand the mountains, clothed\nin their sombre mantle of dark pine-forests, towered into the bright\nsky.\n\nIf from the ruins of Eleutherae we return to the highroad which winds\nalong the western foot of the hill, and follow it for a few miles to the\ntop of the pass, we obtain a commanding view over the wide plain of\nBoeotia stretching away to the line of far blue mountains which bounds\nit on all sides. Below us, but a little to the west, at the foot of the\nlong uniform slope of Cithaeron, the red village of Kokla marks the site\nof Plataea. Thebes is hidden from view behind the dip of a low\nintervening ridge. The sharp double-peaked mountain on the west, beyond\nthe nearer fir-clad declivities of Cithaeron, is Helicon. The grand\nmountain mass which, capped with snow, looms on the north-west, is\nParnassus. The mountains on the north-east are in Euboea, but the strait\nwhich divides them from Boeotia is not visible.\n\n\n\nXIII. MEGARA.\u2014From Eleusis to Megara by road or railway is about\nfourteen miles. The road first passes along the northern side of the low\nridge which formed the acropolis of Eleusis; then it turns down to the\nsea and follows the shore. The plain of Eleusis is divided from the\nplain of Megara by a chain of wooded hills which advances southward from\nMount Cithaeron to the shore of the bay. The road skirts the foot of\nthese hills, ascending and descending, traversing olive-groves, and\nwinding round little bays and headlands, commanding views, ever shifting\nbut ever beautiful, of the coast of Salamis across the blue and\nblue-green waters of the lake-like bay, which is here so narrow that the\nwhite monastery of Phaneromene, with its clustered domes and turrets,\ncan be plainly seen standing among green fields on the opposite shore.\nThen, when the last spur of the hills is rounded, the plain of Megara,\ncovered with olives and vines, and backed by high mountains, opens out\nbefore us. In the distance can be distinguished the picturesque\noriental-looking town of Megara, with its white houses rising in\nterraces, one above the other, on the sides of two isolated hills in the\nfar corner of the plain: the higher of the two hills used to be crowned\nby a square mediaeval tower.\n\nThe modern town is chiefly confined to the western hill, the southern\nslope of which it occupies to the summit. Its narrow steep streets, and\nwhite-washed, flat-roofed, windowless houses, with low doorways opening\ninto courts shaded here and there by a fig-tree, have much the\nappearance of an Arab village. The dazzlingly white walls make, in the\nbrilliant sunshine, an excellent background for the gay costumes of the\nwomen, the bright colours of which (red, green, blue, violet) add to the\nEastern effect of the scene.\n\n\n\nXIV. THE SCIRONIAN ROAD.\u2014The famous pass along the sea-cliffs, known in\nantiquity as the Scironian Road, is thus described by Strabo: \u201cThe\nScironian cliffs leave no passage between them and the sea. The road\nfrom the Isthmus to Megara and Attica runs along the top of them; indeed\nin many places it is compelled by the beetling mountain, which is high\nand inaccessible, to skirt the brink of the precipices.\u201d The dread of\nrobbers, who here lay in wait for travellers, enhanced the natural\nhorrors of the pass in ancient as well as in modern times. In recent\nyears these horrors have been dissipated by the construction of a\nhighroad and a railway along the coast; but down to the middle of the\npresent century, if we may trust the descriptions of travellers, the\ncliff-path well deserved its modern name of Kake Skala or \u2018the Evil\nStaircase.\u2019 For six miles it ran along a narrow crumbling ledge half-way\nup the face of an almost sheer cliff, at a height of six to seven\nhundred feet above the sea. On the right rose the rock like a wall; on\nthe left yawned the dizzy abyss, where, far below, the waves broke at\nthe foot of the precipices in a broad sheet of white curdling foam. So\nnarrow was the path that only a single sure-footed beast could make its\nway with tolerable security along it. In stormy or gusty weather it was\ndangerous; a single slip or stumble would have been fatal. When two\ntrains of mules met, the difficulty of passing each other was extreme.\nIndeed at the beginning of the present century Colonel Leake pronounced\nthe path impassable for horses; and at a later time, when it had been\nsomewhat mended, another distinguished traveller, himself a Swiss,\ndeclared that he knew of no such giddy track, used by horses, in all\nSwitzerland. In many places the narrow path had been narrowed still\nfurther by its outer edge having given way and slid into the depths, so\nthat it was only by using the utmost caution that the traveller was able\nto scramble along at all. At one point, where it crossed the mouth of a\ngully, the road had completely disappeared, having either fallen into\nthe sea or, according to another account, been blown up in the War of\nIndependence. Here therefore the wayfarer was obliged to pick his steps\ndown a breakneck track which zigzagged down to the narrow strip of\nbeach, from which he had laboriously to clamber up by a similar track on\nthe opposite side of the gully. One traveller has graphically described\nhow his baggage-horses slid and slipped on their hind feet down one of\nthese tracks, while their drivers hung on to the tails of the animals to\ncheck their too precipitate descent. Last century the path had ceased to\nbe used even by foot-passengers. Chandler took boat at Nisaea and\ncoasted along the foot of the cliffs, looking up with amazement at the\nnarrow path carried along the edge of perpendicular precipices above the\nbreakers and supported so slenderly beneath \u201cthat a spectator may\nreasonably shudder with horror at the idea of crossing.\u201d\n\nNothing was easier than to make such a path impassable. Accordingly when\nword reached Peloponnese that Leonidas and his men had been annihilated\nby the Persians at Thermopylae, the Peloponnesians hurried to the\nIsthmus, blocked up the Scironian road, and built a fortification wall\nacross the Isthmus. In modern times, though the path had fallen into\ndecay, it still showed traces of having been used and cared for in\nantiquity. In many places the marks of the chariot-wheels were visible\nin the rock; in other places there were remains of massive substructions\nof masonry which had once supported and widened the road; and here and\nthere pieces of ancient pavement were to be seen. These were probably\nvestiges of the carriage road which, as Pausanias tells us, the emperor\nHadrian constructed along this wild and beautiful coast. At the present\nday, as the traveller is whirled along it in the train, he is struck\nchiefly by the blueness of the sea and the greenness of the thick\npine-woods which mantle the steep shelving sides of the mountains.\n\n\n\nXV. THE ISTHMUS OF CORINTH.\u2014The Isthmus of Corinth, which unites\nPeloponnese on the south to the mountainous district of Megara and\nCentral Greece on the north, is a low flat neck of land about three and\na half miles wide at the narrowest part and about two hundred and sixty\nfeet high at the lowest point, stretching roughly in a direction from\nsouth-west to north-east. The central part is a flat tableland, which\nshelves away in steep terraces to the sea on the southern side. Its\nsurface is rugged, barren, and waterless; where it is not quite bare and\nstony, it is mostly overgrown with stunted shrubs and dwarf pines, or\nwith thistles and other prickly plants of a grey arid aspect. There is\nno underwood and no turf. In spring some grass and herbage sprout in\npatches among the thistles and afford pasture to flocks. The niggard\nsoil, where soil exists, is cultivated in a rude imperfect way, and\nyields some scanty crops, mostly of wheat and barley. But in the drought\nof summer every green blade disappears, and the fields are little more\nthan a bare stony wilderness swept by whirling clouds of dust. This\nrugged barren quality of the soil was equally characteristic of the\nIsthmus in antiquity. It seems to have been customary to gather the\nstones from the fields before sowing the seed.\n\nIn ancient times ships of small burden were regularly dragged on rollers\nor waggons across the narrowest part of the Isthmus in order to avoid\nthe long voyage round Peloponnese; hence this part of the Isthmus was\nknown as the _Diolkos_ or Portage. The Portage began on the east at\nSchoenus, near the modern Kalamaki; its western termination is not\nmentioned by ancient writers, but was probably near the west end of the\nmodern canal. We read of fleets of warships being transported across the\nIsthmus; for example after the battle of Actium the victorious Augustus\nthus conveyed his ships across the Isthmus in pursuit of Antony and\nCleopatra, and in 883 A.D. the Greek admiral Nicetas Oriphas transported\na fleet across it to repel an attack of the Saracens. Some remains of\nthe ancient Portage, which seems to have been a sort of tramway, may\nstill be seen near a guard-house, at the point where the road from\nKalamaki to Corinth crosses the northern of the two ancient\nfortification walls.\n\nThe lowest and narrowest part of the Isthmus, through which the Portage\nwent in antiquity and the modern canal now runs, is bounded on the south\nby a line of low cliffs. Along the crest of these cliffs may be traced\nthe remains of an ancient fortification wall stretching right across the\nIsthmus from sea to sea. It is built of large blocks laid in fairly\nregular courses, and is flanked by square towers which project from the\ncurtain at regular intervals of about a hundred yards on the north side,\nshowing that the wall was meant to protect the Corinthian end of the\nIsthmus against invasion from the north. The wall does not extend in a\nstraight line, but follows the crest of the cliffs, wherever this\nnatural advantage presented itself.\n\n\n\nXVI. THE BATH OF APHRODITE.\u2014The lower spring, which Pausanias took to be\nPirene, has sometimes been identified with the copious springs now known\nas \u2018the bath of Aphrodite.\u2019 They issue just below the steep northern\nedge of the broad terrace on which the old city of Corinth stood. Here\nthe rocks curve round in a semicircle and overhang so as to form\ngrottoes under their beetling brows. From these rocks, overgrown with\nmoss and rank creepers, the clear water bubbles and trickles in copious\nrills, which nourish a rich vegetation in the open ground through which\nthey flow. The grotto, which is always fresh and cool, commands an\nuninterrupted view over the Gulf to the mountains beyond. Here in the\ndays of the Turkish dominion the bey of Corinth had his gardens, where\nhe led a life of Asiatic luxury. A staircase still leads from the grotto\nto the terrace above, on the edge of which stood his seraglio. All is\nnow ruin and desolation. A few pieces of ancient columns of green and\nwhite streaked marble mark the site of the seraglio. The spring is\nfrequented only by washerwomen, and its streams water only vegetable\ngardens and orchards. But the water is as sweet as in Pausanias\u2019s time,\nand the grottoes under the overhanging ledge of rock might pass for \u201cthe\nchambers made like grottoes\u201d of which he makes mention.[6]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 6:\n\n However, the true Pirene described by Pausanias has lately been\n discovered elsewhere by the American archaeologists who are now\n excavating the site of ancient Corinth.\n\n-----\n\n\n\nXVII. THE PROSPECT FROM ACRO-CORINTH.\u2014The view from the summit of\nAcro-Corinth has been famous since the days of Strabo, who has\naccurately described it. The brilliant foreground, indeed, on which he\nlooked down has vanished. The stately city with its temples, its\nterraced gardens, its colonnades, its fountains, is no more. In its\nplace there is spread out at our feet the flat yellowish expanse of the\nIsthmus, stretching like a bridge across the sea to the point where the\nGeranian mountains, their slopes clothed with the sombre green of the\npine-forests, rise abruptly like a massive barrier at its farther end,\nsending out on their western side a long promontory, which cuts far into\nthe blue waters of the Corinthian Gulf. Across the Gulf tower on the\nnorth the bold sharp peaks of Cithaeron and Helicon in Boeotia. On the\nnorth-west Parnassus lifts its mighty head, glistering with snow into\nlate spring, but grey and bare in summer. In the far west loom the\nLocrian and Aetolian mountains, seeming to unite with the mountains of\nPeloponnese on the south, and thus apparently converting the Gulf of\nCorinth into an inland mountain-girdled lake. To the south-west, above\nranges of grey limestone hills dotted with dark pines, soar the snowy\npeaks of Cyllene and Aroania in Arcadia. On the south the prospect is\nshut in by the high tablelands and hills of Argolis, range beyond range,\nthe lower slopes of the valleys covered in spring with corn-fields,\ntheir upper slopes with tracts of brushwood. Eastward Salamis and the\nsharp-peaked Aegina are conspicuous. In this direction the view is\nbounded by the hills of Attica\u2014the long ridge of Hymettus and the more\npointed summits of Pentelicus and Parnes, while below them in clear\nweather the Parthenon is distinctly visible on the Acropolis nearly\nfifty miles away, the pinnacle of Lycabettus rising over it crowned with\nits white far-gleaming chapel.\n\n\n\nXVIII. THE CAPTURE OF CORINTH BY ARATUS.\u2014The story of the capture of\nCorinth by Aratus has been told by Plutarch with a wealth of picturesque\ndetails which he doubtless took from the Memoirs written by Aratus\nhimself. The city, and especially the lofty and precipitous acropolis of\nCorinth, was held for King Antigonus by a Macedonian garrison. Aratus\nresolved to take the place by a night surprise. For this perilous\nservice he picked out four hundred men, and led them to one of the\ncity-gates. It was midsummer: a full moon rode in a cloudless sky, and\nthe assailants feared that its bright beams, reflected from so many\nhelmets and spears, might betray their approach to the sentinels on the\nwalls. But just as the head of the column neared the gate, a heavy bank\nof clouds came scudding up from the sea and veiled the moon, blotting\nout the line of walls and shrouding the storming-party in darkness.\nFavoured by the gloom eight men, in the guise of travellers, crept up to\nthe gate and put the sentinels to the sword. Ordering the rest of his\nmen to follow him at the best speed they could make, Aratus now advanced\nat the head of a forlorn hope of one hundred men, planted the ladders,\nscaled the wall, and descended into the city. Not a soul was stirring in\nthe streets, and Aratus hurried along in the direction of the acropolis,\ncongratulating himself on escaping observation, when a patrol of four\nmen was seen coming down the street with flaring torches. The moon shone\nfull on them, but Aratus and his men were in shadow. Aratus whispered\nhis men to stand close in the shadow of the houses. The unsuspecting\npatrol came on: in a minute three of them were cut down, and the fourth\nescaped with a gash on his head, crying out that the enemy were within\nthe walls. A few minutes more and the trumpets rang out and the whole\ncity was up. The streets, lately silent and deserted, were thronged with\ncrowds hurrying to and fro; lights glanced at the windows; and high\nabove the city a line of twinkling points of fire marked the summit of\nthe acropolis. At the same time a confused hum of voices broke on the\near from all sides. Undeterred by these symptoms of the gathering storm,\nAratus pressed up the winding path towards the acropolis as fast as the\nsteep and rugged nature of the ground allowed.\n\nMeantime the three hundred men whom he had left behind, bewildered by\nthe sudden uproar, the flashing of multitudinous lights, and all the\ntumult of the rudely awakened city, missed the path up the acropolis\nand, knowing not whither to turn, halted under an overhanging crag at\nthe foot of the mountain. Here they remained in a state of the utmost\nanxiety and alarm. For by this time Aratus was hotly engaged with the\ngarrison on the summit, and the noise of battle and of distant cheering\ncame floating down to them, but so faint with distance, so broken and\ndistorted by the reverberation of the cliffs, that the men below,\nlistening intently, could not tell from which direction the sounds\nproceeded. While they were still crouching under the shadow of the\nprecipice, they were startled by a loud peal of trumpets close at hand,\nand peering through the gloom they perceived a large body of men\nmarching past them up the slope. It was the king\u2019s troops hastening to\nthe relief of the garrison on the acropolis. Instantly the three hundred\ncharged out from their lurking-place, and taking the enemy completely by\nsurprise, broke them and drove them in confusion towards the city. They\nwere still flushed with victory when a messenger came hurrying down at\nbreakneck speed from the citadel, telling them that Aratus was at it,\ncut and thrust, with the garrison, who stood bravely to their arms, and\nimploring them to hasten to his assistance. They bade him lead the way;\nand as they toiled upwards they shouted to let their comrades know that\nhelp was at hand. By this time the clouds had passed over and the sky\nwas again clear; and so all up the weary ascent they could see the\nweapons of friend and foe glittering in the moonlight, as the fight\nswayed this way and that, and could hear their hoarse cries, multiplied\napparently a thousandfold as they rolled down on the night air from crag\nto crag. At last they reached the top, and charging side by side with\ntheir friends, forced the enemy from the walls. Day was beginning to\nbreak when Aratus and his men stood victorious on the summit.\n\n\n\nXIX. SICYON.\u2014Few ancient cities were more advantageously or beautifully\nsituated than Sicyon. Built on a spacious and level tableland, defended\non every side by cliffs, abundantly supplied with water, at a distance\nboth safe and convenient from the sea, which, lying beyond a strip of\nfertile plain, sends its cool refreshing breezes to temper the summer\nheat, the city possessed a site secure, wholesome, and adapted both for\nagriculture and commerce. Nor are the natural beauties of the site less\nremarkable than its more material advantages. Behind it rise wooded\nmountains and in front of it, across the narrow plain, is stretched the\nwonderful panorama of the Corinthian Gulf, with Helicon, Cithaeron, and\nParnassus towering beyond it to the north, and the mighty rock of\nAcro-Corinth barring the prospect on the east. At sunrise and sunset\nespecially the scene is one of indescribable loveliness. The ancients\nthemselves were not insensible to the charms of Sicyon. \u201cA lovely and\nfruitful city, adapted to every recreation,\u201d says a scholiast on Homer,\nand Diodorus speaks of Sicyon as a place \u201cfor peaceful enjoyment.\u201d\n\n\n\nXX. PHLIASIA.\u2014The valley of the Asopus above Sicyon is a deep and narrow\nglen shut in on either hand by mountains, the steep sides of which are\nthickly overgrown with bushes. In some places, where the road is hemmed\nin between the roots of the mountain and the white, turbid, rushing\nriver, the bank is occasionally undermined and swept away by the stream,\nand the path disappears altogether. In its upper reaches the glen widens\nso as to admit of here and there a small riverside meadow, prettily\nsituated among oaks and shrubbery, with now and then a patch of ploughed\nland. After we have followed the glen upwards from Sicyon for about four\nhours, it opens out into a broad and fertile plain, encircled by steep\nmountains, down which brooks flow on all sides to join the Asopus. This\nupland plain, some four miles long and standing about a thousand feet\nabove the sea, is Phliasia, the district of which Phlius was the ancient\ncapital. On the west its level expanse is bounded by the picturesque,\nrugged, woody mass of Mount Gavria (about five thousand feet high),\nabove which appears the snowy top of the lofty Cyllene in Arcadia. The\neastern side of the valley is bounded by the Tricaranian range, which\nwith its three flat summits divides the Phliasian valley from the vale\nof Nemea. The Asopus rises among the southern hills and flows northward\nthrough the valley in a deep grassy bed. It is here a clear and tranquil\nstream, very different from the rapid and turbid river which it becomes\nin the glen below, where it takes its colour from the soil which is\nwashed down into it by the numerous torrents from the white argillaceous\nmountains through which it threads its way. About the middle of the\nplain it is joined by a tributary, longer than the Asopus itself,\nflowing from the mountains which enclose the south-western corner of the\nplain. The soil of the Phliasian valley is excellent; the central part\nof it is given up almost exclusively to vineyards which furnish now, as\nthey did in antiquity, a fine fiery wine like Burgundy. In autumn the\nred and golden foliage of the fading vines lends a richer glow of colour\nto the beautiful landscape.\n\nSome light is thrown on the topography of Phlius by the events which\nfollowed the battle of Leuctra. The Phliasians had been friends of\nSparta when Sparta was at the height of her power; and after the\ndisastrous day of Leuctra, when Sparta was deserted by allies and\nsubjects alike, the Phliasians stood loyally by their old friends. This\ndrew down on them the hostility of the victorious Thebans and their\nallies. In 368 B.C. a body of Arcadians and Eleans, marching through the\npass of Nemea to join the Thebans, were induced by some Phliasian exiles\nto make an attempt to surprise and capture Phlius. Six hundred men,\nsupplied with ladders, being sent in advance, concealed themselves by\nnight at the foot of the citadel walls. Next morning the sentinels on\nMount Tricaranum, to the east of the town, signalled the approach of the\nenemy from the valley of Nemea. The eyes of the citizens were thus\nturned to the hills, over which they momentarily expected to see the\nenemy appearing. Taking advantage of their distraction the six hundred\nmen under the acropolis planted their ladders and were soon masters of\nthe almost deserted citadel. But the citizens rallied, and after a\nfierce struggle drove the enemy with fire and sword over the ramparts.\n\nNext year the allies made a more determined attempt to get possession of\nPhlius. The Theban commander at Sicyon marched from that city against\nPhlius at the head of his garrison and of a body of Sicyonian and\nPellenian troops. He was supported by Euphron, tyrant of Sicyon, with\ntwo thousand mercenaries. The attack was again made from the hills on\nthe east of the town. On the neck of land which joins the citadel of\nPhlius with the hills a detachment of Sicyonians and Pellenians was\nposted, to prevent the Phliasians from ascending the hills and taking\ntheir enemies in the rear. The rest of the army then descended from the\nhills in the direction of a sanctuary of Hera, meaning to ravage the\ncorn-fields and vineyards in the valley. But the Phliasian cavalry and\ninfantry met them and prevented them from carrying out their intention.\nSkirmishing went on most of the day with varying fortune. At one time\nEuphron with his mercenaries drove the Phliasians over the broken\nground. But as soon as they reached open ground, where the Phliasian\ncavalry could come into play, they were in turn driven back up the hills\nas far as the sanctuary of Hera. At last the assailants abandoned the\nattack and retreated up the hill, purposing to join the detachment of\nSicyonians and Pellenians, which they had left on the neck of ground\nleading to the citadel. To reach them they had to make a long detour up\nthe hill, for a ravine lay between them and their friends, the ravine\nnamely along which the city walls were built. The Phliasians pursued\nthem up hill a little way, then perceiving the enemy\u2019s intention of\nforming a junction with the detachment on the neck they turned back, and\ntaking a short cut close under the town walls hastened to attack the\ndetachment of the enemy before the main body could come up to their\nassistance. In this race the cavalry outstripped the infantry and\ncharged the Pellenians alone. The latter stood to their arms and\nrepelled the cavalry, till the Phliasian infantry came running up. Then,\nattacked by horse and foot simultaneously, the Pellenians and Sicyonians\ngave way. The victorious Phliasians erected a trophy and sang a loud\npaean. The enemy watched the scene from the hills; then, drawing\ntogether his beaten and scattered forces, fell sullenly back on Sicyon.\n\n\n\nXXI. NEMEA.\u2014Between the valley of Cleonae on the east and the valley of\nPhlius or St. George on the west is interposed the valley of Nemea,\nrunning like its sister valleys from south to north. It is a narrow\ndale, some two or three miles long, and from half to three-quarters of a\nmile broad. At its northern end it contracts to a mere gully. Through\nthe bottom of the valley, which is almost a dead flat, meanders like a\nthread the brook Nemea, fed by the numerous rills which descend from the\nneighbouring hills. When swollen by heavy rain, these tributaries,\nhaving an insufficient outlet through the gully at the north end, keep\nthe bottom of the valley green, moist, and marshy. The dale is thus\nbetter adapted for pasturage than tillage; indeed from the rich pastures\nwhich clothe its bottom and the lower slopes of the hills it received\nits name of Nemea, \u2018the pastoral vale.\u2019 But if the valley itself,\nespecially after rain, is green and smiling, the surrounding hills,\nscarred and seamed with the beds of torrents, are of a dark and\nmelancholy hue, and, combined with the absolute solitude\u2014not a human\nhabitation being visible through the length and breadth of the\ndale\u2014affect the mind with a sense of gloom and desolation.[7] The\nsolitude is only broken by the wandering herds of cattle, and from time\nto time by a group of peasants, who come over from St. George to till\ntheir fields in this secluded valley. A white track winds up the western\nslope to the mouth of a glen which opens in the hill-side. Through this\nglen is the way to St. George and Phlius.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 7:\n\n The valley has been less solitary since the village of Herakleia was\n founded near the ruined temple of Nemean Zeus.\n\n-----\n\n\n\n\nXXII. THE PASS OF THE TRETUS.\u2014At the southern end of the valley of\nCleonae there rises like a wall of rock the mountain of Tretus, which\nforms the watershed between the Corinthian and the Argolic gulfs. A\nstraight toilsome path led from Cleonae in antiquity, and still leads\npast the village of Hagios Vasilios, over the mountain, descending into\nthe Argolic plain at the ruins of Mycenae. But the more convenient way\nfrom the valley of Cleonae to the plain of Argos bends round to the\nwest, where the mountain is not so high, and runs up a gradually\nascending gully. This was the pass of the Tretus, the chief line of\ncommunication between Corinth and the south. In antiquity it was, as\nPausanias tells us, a driving road, and the ruts worn by the\nchariot-wheels can still be seen in many places. The defile, though long\nand narrow, shut in by high mountains on either hand, is nowhere steep,\nand the rise is not considerable. The road runs by a deeply worn\nwatercourse, at the bottom of which a clear and shallow stream finds its\nway amid luxuriant thickets of oleander, myrtle, and arbutus. The lower\nslopes of the mountains are also green with shrubs, but their upper\nslopes are grey and rocky.\n\nThe pass is easily defended. On both sides, towards Cleonae and towards\nthe plain of Argos, may be seen traces of ancient works built to defend\nthe defile. Near the highest point of the pass, where the road begins to\ndescend towards Argos, there are low Turkish watch-towers called Derweni\non both sides, and rough stone walls such as the Greeks threw up in many\npasses during the War of Independence. In 1822 the Turkish army under\nDramali Pasha, retreating from the plain of Argos, was caught by the\nGreeks in the pass of the Tretus and nearly annihilated; for years\nafterwards the defile was strewed with skeletons and skulls of men and\nhorses.\n\n\u201cEvery part of the Argolic plain,\u201d says Leake, \u201cis considered unhealthy\nin summer, and the heat is excessive; that of the ravine of the Tretus,\nin the mid-day hours, is said to be something beyond bearing, which I\ncan easily conceive, having passed through it in August, at an hour in\nthe morning when the heat was comparatively moderate. Not long since a\nTartar, after having drunk plentifully of wine and raki at Corinth, was\nfound to be dead when the suriji held his stirrup to dismount at the\nkhan of Kharvati (Mycenae), just beyond the exit of the Tretus.\u201d\n\nThe name Tretus (\u2018perforated\u2019) was supposed by the ancients to be\nderived from a great cave in the mountain where the Nemean lion had his\nlair. As to the ancient name of the pass, and the supposed wheel-marks\nin it, W. G. Clark says: \u201cThis is the road known by the name of Tretos,\nor \u2018the perforated\u2019; not, I conceive, in consequence of the caverns in\nthe neighbouring rocks, which are not more numerous hereabouts than\nelsewhere, but because the glen is, as it were, _drilled_ through the\nrock. And drilled it has been by the stream which flows at the bottom.\nWe saw, or fancied we saw, frequent wheel-marks in the rocks, and we\nknow that this was the direction of a carriage road. But from my\nsubsequent observations I learned to distrust these marks. The ordinary\nmode of carrying wood in Greece is to tie the heavier ends of the poles\non each side to the back of the horse or donkey, and suffer the other\nends to trail along the ground, thus making two parallel ruts which in\ncourse of time may attain the depth of and be mistaken for wheel-tracks.\nWhen a depression is once made, it becomes a channel for the winter\nrains, and so is smoothed and deepened.\u201d\n\nThe modern name of the defile is Dervenaki. The railway from Corinth to\nArgos runs through it. Towards the northern end of the pass the khan of\nDervenaki stands in a little glade overshadowed by tall poplars,\ncypresses, and mulberry-trees, beside a murmuring spring. At the\nsouthern outlet of the pass the whole plain of Argos, with the mountains\non either hand and the sea in the distance, bursts suddenly on the view.\nOn the left, nestling at the foot of the hills, are Mycenae and Tiryns,\nwith Nauplia and its towering acropolis rising from the sea and bounding\nthe plain on this side. On the right is Argos with its mountain citadel,\nand beyond it the Lernaean lake glimmers faintly in the distance. In the\ncentre of the picture, beyond the long foreground of level plain,\nstretches the blue line of the Argolic Gulf.\n\n\n\nXXIII. MYCENAE.\u2014Passing southwards through the pass of the Tretus, we\nsee the spacious plain of Argolis stretched out before us. Mycenae lies\nto our left at the roots of the mountains which bound the eastern side\nof the plain, not far from the point where the pass of the Tretus opens\nout on it. The Argolic plain may be roughly described as a great\ntriangle, the base of which, on the south, is formed by the Argolic\nGulf, while the eastern and western sides are enclosed by the ranges of\nmountains which converge northwards till they meet in Mount Tretus. The\nlength of the plain from north to south is about twelve miles, the\ngreatest breadth from east to west perhaps not much less. The mountains\nwhich shut it in are barren and rocky, the highest being those on the\nwest which form the boundary between Argolis and Arcadia. The whole\nexpanse appears to have been once a bay of the sea, which has been\ngradually filled up by the deposits brought down from the surrounding\nmountains. The Gulf of Argolis, a broad and beautiful sheet of water\nwinding between mountains, must originally, before its upper waters were\nexpelled by the alluvial deposit, have resembled still more closely,\nwhat it still recalls, a fine Scotch sea-loch or a Norwegian fiord.\n\nThis alluvial plain, situated at the head of a deep and sheltered frith\nor arm of the sea, which opening on the Aegean gave ready access to the\nislands of the Archipelago and the coasts of Asia, was naturally fitted\nto become one of the earliest seats of civilisation in Greece. And in\npoint of fact legend and archaeology combine to show that in prehistoric\ntimes Greek civilisation reached a very high pitch in the plain of\nArgolis. It contained at least three fortified towns of great\nimportance, of which remains exist to this day, Tiryns, Argos, and\nMycenae (to mention them in the order in which they lie from south to\nnorth). Tiryns and Mycenae stand on the eastern, Argos on the western\nside of the plain. Of the three Tiryns is nearest to the sea, from which\nit is distant not much more than a mile. It, or rather its citadel,\noccupies a low rocky mound, not a hundred feet above the level of the\nsea, and rising in perfect isolation from the flat. Farther inland Argos\nlies at the foot of the last spur which projects into the western side\nof the plain from the range of Artemisius. Its citadel, the Larisa, is a\nfine bold peak nearly a thousand feet high.\n\nFarther inland, nine miles from the nearest point of the sea, stands\nMycenae, near the northern extremity of the plain, but on its eastern\nside. Its citadel, in respect of elevation and natural strength,\noccupies an intermediate position between the low citadel of Tiryns and\nthe high mountainous one of Argos. It lies at the mouth of a wild and\nnarrow glen, which here opens on the eastern side of the Argolic plain,\nbetween two lofty, steep, and rocky mountains. From the mouth of this\nglen two deep ravines diverge, one running due west, the other running\nsouth-west, and the triangular tableland which they enclose between them\nis the citadel of Mycenae. The whole scene, viewed from the citadel, is\none of desolate grandeur. The ravines yawning to a great depth at our\nfeet, the rugged utterly barren mountains towering immediately across\nthem, the bleak highland glen winding away into the depth of these\ngloomy and forbidding hills, make up a stern impressive picture, the\neffect of which is heightened if one sees it, as the present writer\nchanced to do, on a rainy day. Then with a lowering sky overhead and the\nmist clinging to the slopes of the mountains, no sound heard but the\npatter of the rain and the tinkling of sheep-bells from the glen, the\nwhole landscape seems to frown and assumes an aspect more in keeping\nwith the mist-wrapt stronghold of some old robber chief in Skye or\nLochaber, than with the conception which the traveller had formed of\nAgamemnon\u2019s \u201cgolden city.\u201d\n\n\n\nXXIV. THE END OF THE MYCENAEAN AGE.\u2014The catastrophe which put an end to\nthe Mycenaean civilisation in Greece would seem to have been the Dorian\ninvasion, which, according to the traditional Greek chronology, befell\nabout the middle of the twelfth century B.C. That the end of Mycenae and\nTiryns was sudden and violent is proved by the conclusive evidence which\nshows that the palaces were destroyed by fire and that, once destroyed,\nthey were never rebuilt. The date, too, of the Dorian invasion, so far\nas we can determine it, harmonises well with this view; for the Egyptian\nevidence of the existence of Mycenae comes down to about the time of the\nDorian invasion, and there significantly stops. The cessation also of\nthe characteristic Mycenaean pottery about the same date points to the\nsame conclusion. It is not indeed to be supposed that the Dorians swept\nover Greece in one unbroken wave of conquest. The tide of invasion\nprobably ebbed and flowed; raids were met and repelled, but were\nfollowed by incursions of fresh swarms of invaders, the new-comers\nsteadily gaining ground, encroaching on and enveloping the ancient\nMycenaean kingdoms till, the last barrier giving way before them, the\ncapitals themselves were stormed, their treasures plundered, and the\npalaces given to the flames. The conflict between civilisation and\nbarbarism, the slow decline of the former and the gradual triumph of the\nlatter, may have lasted many years. It is thus that many, if not most,\npermanent conquests have been effected. It was thus that the Saxons step\nby step ousted the Britons, and the Danes obtained a footing in England;\nit was thus that the Turks slowly strangled the Byzantine empire. Events\nlike the fall of Constantinople and the expulsion of the Moors from\nGranada are only the last scenes in tragedies which have been acting for\ncenturies.\n\nTo attribute, with some writers, the creation instead of the destruction\nof the Mycenaean civilisation to the Dorians is preposterous, since the\nDorian immigration did not take place till the twelfth century B.C.,\nwhile the Mycenaean civilisation is known from Egyptian evidence to have\nexisted from the middle of the fifteenth century B.C. at least. But this\nattribution involves other than chronological difficulties. The typical\nDorians were the Spartans, and no greater contrast can well be conceived\nthan that between the luxurious semi-Oriental civilisation of Mycenae\nand the stern simplicity of Sparta. On the one side we see imposing\nfortifications, stately tombs, luxurious baths, magnificent palaces,\ntheir walls gay with bright frescoes or glittering with burnished\nbronze, their halls crowded with a profusion of precious objects of art\nand luxury, wrought by native craftsmen or brought by merchants from the\nbazaars of Egypt and Assyria; and in the midst of all a sultan, laden\nwith golden jewellery, listening to minstrels singing the tale of Troy\nor the wanderings of Ulysses. On the other side we see an open\nunfortified city with insignificant buildings, where art and poetry\nnever flourished, where gold and silver were banned, and where even the\nkings prided themselves on the meanness of their attire. The Dorians, if\nwe may judge of them by the purest specimens of the breed, were just as\nincapable of creating the art of Mycenae as the Turks were of building\nthe Parthenon and St. Sophia.\n\nOf the Greeks who were rendered homeless by the Dorian invasion most\nfled to Asia. There, on the beautiful island-studded coast, under the\nsoft Ionian sky, a new Greece arose which, in its splendid cities, its\nbusy marts, its solemn fanes, combined Greek subtlety and refinement\nwith much of Asiatic pomp and luxury. By this long and brilliant\nafter-glow of the Mycenaean civilisation in Asia we may judge, as it has\nbeen well said, what its meridian splendour had been in Europe.\n\n\n\nXXV. MOUNT ARACHNAEUS.\u2014Mount Arachnaeus is the high naked range on the\nleft or northern side of the road as you go to the Epidaurian sanctuary\nfrom Argos. The most remarkable peak is Mount Arna, the pointed rocky\nsummit which rises immediately above the village of Ligourio to a height\nof over three thousand five hundred feet. The western summit, Mount St.\nElias, is somewhat higher. From the summit of Mount Arna the mountains\nof Megara and Attica are visible. It might well have been on its top\nthat the beacon was lighted which flashed to Argos the news of the fall\nof Troy. The name Arachnaea is said to have been still used by the\npeasantry in the early part of this century. The altars of Zeus and Hera\nupon which, according to Pausanias, the people sacrificed for rain,\nappear to have stood in the hollow between the two peaks, for there is\nhere a square enclosure of Cyclopean masonry which would appear to have\nbeen an ancient place of worship.\n\nMount Arachnaeus and the mountains of the Argolic peninsula in general\nare little better than a stony waterless wilderness. The climate is very\ndry, and the beds of all the streams are waterless except after heavy\nrain. The hardy little holly-oak and a few dun-coloured shrubs are\nalmost the only representatives of plant life. The eye of the traveller\nis wearied by the grey monotony of these arid mountains and desert\ntablelands, and his feet are cut and bruised by the sharp stones over\nwhich he has painfully to pick his steps. Nowhere else in Greece,\nprobably, is the scenery so desolate and forbidding.\n\n\n\nXXVI. EPIDAURUS.\u2014The city of Epidaurus was five Roman miles distant from\nthe sanctuary of Aesculapius. But it takes about two hours and a half to\nride the distance, for the road is very rough. The scenery on the way is\nextremely beautiful\u2014a great contrast to the dull road from Nauplia to\nthe sanctuary. The path leaves the open valley by a narrow glen at its\nnorthern end, and leads down deeper and deeper through luxuriantly\nwooded dells into the bottom of a wild romantic ravine. Here we follow\nthe rocky bed of the stream for some distance between lofty precipitous\nbanks. Farther on the path ascends the right bank of the stream, and we\nride along it, with the deep ravine below us on the left and a high wall\nof rock on the right. The whole glen, as far as the eye can reach, is\ndensely wooded. Wild olives, pines, plane-trees, Agnus castus, laurel,\nand ivy mantle its steep sides with a robe of green. In half an hour\nfrom the sanctuary another valley opens on the left, down which comes\nthe road from Ligourio. After joining it we continue to follow the glen\nalong a path darkened by trees and the luxuriant foliage of the arbutus,\nwhile beside us the stream flows through thickets of myrtle and\noleander. In about half an hour more the valley opens out, and we see\nthe sea, with the bold rocky headland of Methana stretching out into it\non the right, the islands of Salamis and Aegina in the distance, and\nfarther off the Attic coast lying blue but clear on the northern\nhorizon.\n\nEmerging at last from the valley we cross a little maritime plain,\ncovered with lemon-groves, and reach the site of the ancient Epidaurus.\nIts position is very lovely. From the little maritime plain, backed by\nhigh mountains with wooded sides, a rocky peninsula juts out into the\nsea, united to the mainland only by a narrow neck of low marshy ground.\nIt divides two bays from each other: the northern bay is well sheltered\nand probably formed the ancient harbour; the southern bay is an open\nroadstead. The ancient city seems to have lain chiefly on the peninsula,\nbut to have extended also to the shores of the two bays. The rocky sides\nof the peninsula fall steeply into the sea, and it rises in two peaks to\na height of about two hundred and fifty feet; the eastern peak is\nsomewhat the higher. On the edge of the cliffs may be seen in some\nplaces, especially on the southern side of the peninsula, remains of the\nstrong walls which enclosed the city. They are built chiefly in the\npolygonal style, of large blocks well cut and jointed.\n\nThe peninsula, now mostly overgrown with brushwood and shrubs, commands\nfine views both seaward and landward. The coast southward in the\ndirection of Troezen is very bold and grand, the mountains rising here\nabruptly to a great height from the sea. At the head of the bay, on the\nother hand, the hills, wooded with pines, are lower, and between them\nappears the mouth of the valley up which the path leads through thickly\nwooded glens to the sacred grove of Aesculapius.\n\n\n\nXXVII. THE TEMPLE IN AEGINA.\u2014The temple stands on the top of a hill\ntowards the north-east corner of the island, commanding superb views\nover the sea and the coasts of Attica and Peloponnese. It is distant\nabout two and a half hours from the town of Aegina. Travellers from\nAthens who wish to visit the temple commonly land in the fine rocky bay\nof Hagia Marina on the eastern side of the island. A steep declivity,\nsparsely wooded with pine-trees, leads up from the shore of the bay to\nthe temple. I shall always remember how on a lovely day in spring we\nlanded here and lay under the pine-trees, looking down on the intensely\nblue but crystalline waters of the bay. The air was full of the\nfragrance of the pines, the yellow broom was in flower at our feet, and\nvisible across the sea was the coast of Attica. It was a scene such as\nTheocritus might have immortalised.\n\n\n\nXXVIII. THE SANCTUARY OF POSEIDON IN CALAURIA.\u2014The sanctuary is situated\nvery picturesquely on a saddle between the two highest peaks of the\nisland, both of which are covered with pine-woods. A walk of about an\nhour brings us to it from Poros, the modern capital of the island. The\npath at first skirts the southern shore of the island for a short way,\nthen turns and ascends in a north-westerly direction through the\npine-forest. From the sanctuary, which stands at a height of about six\nhundred feet above the sea, beautiful and wide prospects open between\nthe wooded hills both to the north and the south. We look down on the\nsea with its multitudinous bays, creeks, promontories, and islands\nstretched out before us and framed as in a picture between the pine-clad\nhills on either hand. A fitter home could hardly have been found for the\nsea-god whose favourite tree\u2014the pine\u2014still mantles the greater part of\nthe island.\n\n\n\nXXIX. TROEZEN.\u2014The plain of Troezen lies between the sea and a range of\nrough and rocky hills, wooded with dark evergreens and stunted trees,\nwhich shut it in on the west and south. The northern part of the plain\nis marshy in places, and the marshes breed fever among the sallow\ninhabitants of Damala, the wretched hamlet which nestles among trees at\nthe foot of the hills in the inmost corner of the plain, close to the\nruins of Troezen. Stretches of pasture-land, however, and of vineyards\nalternate with the swamps; and eastward, toward the island of Calauria,\nthe plain is well watered, cultivated like a garden, and verdant with\nvines, olives, lemon-groves, and fig-trees. Seen from the water of the\nbeautiful almost landlocked bay the green of this rich vegetation, with\nthe tall dark cypresses towering conspicuously over all, is refreshing\nto eyes accustomed to the arid plains and hills of Greece. At Damala\ngroves of oranges and lemons yield the villagers a considerable return.\nOn higher ground, to the north-west of the village, are the ruins of\nTroezen. The glorious prospect over plain and mountain and sea is\nunchanged; but of the city itself, which, if we may trust Pausanias, its\npeople regarded with such fond patriotic pride, nothing is left but some\ninsignificant ruins overgrown with weeds and dispersed amid a wilderness\nof bushes. An isolated craggy mountain, rising steeply on the farther\nside of a deep ravine, was the ancient acropolis. The ascent is\ntoilsome, especially if it be made at noon on an airless summer day with\nthe sun blazing pitilessly from a cloudless sky, the rocks so hot that\nyou cannot touch them without pain, the loose stones slipping at every\nstep, the dry withered shrubs and herbage crackling under foot and\nblinding you with clouds of dust and down. The wonderful view from the\nsummit, however, makes amends for the labour of the ascent, ranging as\nit does across the green fertile plain at our feet and away beyond a\nbewildering maze of islands, capes, and bays to Sunium on the north-east\nand the snowy peak of Parnassus on the north-west.\n\nAnother picturesque bit of scenery, of a different kind, may be seen by\nfollowing up the ravine to the point where at a great height it is\nspanned by a single small arch of grey stone, which the peasants call\nthe Devil\u2019s Bridge. It carries the path and a tiny aqueduct, hewn out of\none block of stone, across the narrow but profound abyss. High beetling\ncrags rise above the little bridge; ferns and ivy mantle thickly one of\nthe rocky sides of the lyn beneath it; and trees droop over the stream\nthat murmurs in the depths below. This is the stream which Pausanias\ncalls the Golden River. Luxuriant lemon-groves now line its banks where\nit issues from the ravine on the plain of Troezen.\n\n\n\nXXX. FROM TROEZEN TO EPIDAURUS.\u2014We left the ruins of Troezen at\nhalf-past twelve in the afternoon, and rode northward across the broad\nflat neck of land which connects the mountainous peninsula of Methana\nwith the mainland. In fifty minutes we reached the shore of the lagoon\nwhich is formed at the head of the Bay of Methana by the Potami river,\nthe Golden River of Pausanias. After making a detour round the lagoon we\ncame, at half-past one, to the beach at the point where the stream flows\nout of the lagoon into the sea. Thence we rode for some way along the\nbeach, then over a rocky point, after which the path kept inland a\nlittle from the sea. But all through our journey from Troezen to\nKato-Phanari the mountains rose at no great distance from us on the\nleft. By half-past two we were opposite Lesia, a hamlet at the foot of a\nhigh rocky mountain, with a glen on its eastern side, down which comes a\nstream. But the bed of the stream, when we crossed it, was dry. Below\nthe hamlet in the plain are olives. A little before four o\u2019clock we came\nto a ruined mediaeval or modern tower perched on an eminence to our\nright, between us and the sea. Near it stands a small chapel beside a\nfine carob-tree. The mountains now advanced to the water\u2019s edge, and our\npath led along their bushy and rocky slopes, winding round bays and\nheadlands at a considerable height above the sea. Here we enjoyed fine\nviews across the spacious bay to the high, mountainous, and rugged\npeninsula of Methana, which wears a sombre aspect due perhaps to the\ndark colour of its volcanic rocks. Farther on the path, though never far\nfrom the sea, trended inland and we passed over a great deal of stony\nground mostly planted with olives. At many places along our route in the\ncourse of the day the peasants were at work gathering the olives from\nthe trees. Another feature in the day\u2019s ride was the great number of\ncarob-trees we passed, some of them very fine trees, with dark, smooth,\nglossy leaves. Finally the path ascended a steep rocky slope and brought\nus at half-past four to the village of Kato-Phanari, very picturesquely\nsituated high on the side of a mountain, which a short way above the\nvillage rises up in rugged precipices of grey rock. Twilight was coming\non, but enough of daylight remained to allow me to appreciate the beauty\nof the prospect from the loftily situated village across the sea to the\nislands, the high conspicuous peninsula of Methana, and the long line of\nheadlands stretching away towards Epidaurus, all bathed in the warm\nthough fast fading light of a winter evening.\n\nNext morning we left Kato-Phanari soon after eight o\u2019clock. The path\nrose steeply up the mountain-side in view of the sea. In a little less\nthan an hour we reached Ano-Phanari, a village overlooking the sea,\nsituated far up the side of a lofty rocky mountain which faces southward\nto the still higher precipitous mountain on whose seaward face, below\nthe precipices, stands the lower village of Kato-Phanari. On this latter\nmountain, or rather on the summit of the range to which it belongs,\ncalled Mount Ortholithion, certain ceremonies are said to have been\nperformed, time out of mind, by the peasants in seasons of drought and\npestilence.\n\nAt Ano-Phanari I heard of remains of an ancient fortress in the\nneighbourhood, and set off with a guide to visit them. A walk of a few\nminutes in a north-easterly direction brought us to the top of the\nmountain, where the remains are to be seen. The situation is a\nremarkably fine one. Precipices descending towards the sea encircle the\nsummit on the north and north-east, and the views across the Saronic\nGulf to Aegina, Salamis, and Megara are magnificent. Some mediaeval\nremains, comprising walls and two or more ruined chapels, are to be seen\non the summit, and on its southern side, towards the village, there is a\nruined fortification wall built of large irregular blocks. Thus the\nancient fortress which occupied this commanding situation appears to\nhave been repaired and inhabited in the Middle Ages. What the name of\nthe place was in antiquity we do not know.\n\nThe villagers called my attention to several holes in the rocks between\nthe fortress and the village from which streams of warm air issue. The\nair from one of the holes was hot enough to warm me, though the morning\nwas cold. In this particular hole, too, I could hear a rumbling sound as\nof water boiling or wind blowing underground.\n\nWe left Ano-Phanari about ten o\u2019clock and descended westward, out of\nsight of the sea, into a small trough-like plain or valley surrounded on\nall sides by rocky and barren mountains. Passing some insignificant\nruins in the little plain, we ascended the mountains northward by a\nsteep rocky path that led into a narrow upland valley running north and\nsouth and enclosed by hills, the sides of which were shaggy with bushes\nof various sorts. This dale we traversed from end to end. Through a\nnarrow opening or gorge in the mountains on its eastern side we obtained\na striking glimpse of part of the promontory of Methana, mostly in\nshadow, but with gleams of sunshine resting on it here and there. At the\nnorthern end of the valley, ascending a ridge, we saw stretched out\nbelow us at some depth a wide open valley of roughly circular shape. Our\npath, which was again very rugged, did not descend into the valley, but\nskirted its eastern side, keeping up on the mountain, till it turned\neastward through a gap in the hills. On passing through the gap a view\nof the sea with all its coasts and islands shining in the sun (for after\na dull morning the day had brightened) suddenly burst upon us. Salamis\nwas conspicuous to the north, and to the east of it appeared Mount\nPentelicus with the marble quarries visible even at that distance as\nwhite patches on its side. Far below us lay Epidaurus, its little\npeninsula stretching out into the blue bay. We were at a great height\nabove the sea, but now gradually descended to it in the direction of\nEpidaurus by a steep rugged path running obliquely down the bushy side\nof the mountain. Thus we came at last into a little maritime plain,\ntraversed it from south to north, and passing some lemon-groves reached\nthe modern village of Palaea Epidauros or Old Epidaurus about half-past\ntwo.\n\nThe village stands on the shore at the head of a deep narrow sheltered\ninlet formed by the peninsula of ancient Epidaurus on the south and a\nhigher promontory, wooded with low green pines, on the north. Beside the\nvillage a little headland runs out into the water; it is crowned with a\nwhite-washed chapel of St. Nicholas, which stands in a large walled\nenclosure with two cypress-trees growing in front of it. The church\nseems to occupy the site of the sanctuary of Hera mentioned by\nPausanias.\n\n\n\nXXXI. METHANA.\u2014Methana is still the name of the mountainous peninsula\nwhich runs far out into the sea from the coast of Troezen, forming a\nvery conspicuous landmark in the Saronic Gulf. The isthmus which joins\nit to the mainland, about a thousand feet wide, was fortified in the\nPeloponnesian war by the Athenians, who established a fortified post on\nthe peninsula, whence they ravaged the coasts of Troezen and Epidaurus.\nRemains of the wall across the isthmus may still be seen with the two\ncastles on the opposite shores. These fortifications were renewed in the\nMiddle Ages; and the Greeks attempted to make use of them in the War of\nIndependence. The peninsula itself is a mountainous mass of grand and\npicturesque outline. In the heart of it the chief peak, the conical\nMount Chelona, rises to a height of between two and three thousand feet.\nMost of the peninsula is of volcanic origin, the prevailing rock being a\ndark red or brown trachyte. The general character of the scenery is one\nof barren desolation, the whole region, with the exception of a few\nnarrow strips on the coast, being occupied by the sharp mountain-ridges\nwhich radiate from Mount Chelona. Narrow gullies divide these ridges\nfrom each other. Water is scarce, and the air dry and hot. The\ninhabitants, however, contrive to cultivate patches of ground, supported\nby terraces, high up on the mountain sides. The contrast is great\nbetween this desolate and arid mountain-mass, and the rich and\nwell-watered plain of Troezen which adjoins it on the south.\n\n\n\nXXXII. NAUPLIA.\u2014Nauplia, now a busy flourishing seaport, and one of the\nchief towns of Greece, occupies the northern side of a rocky peninsula\nwhich juts out westward into the Argolic Gulf, near the head of the gulf\nand on its eastern side. The northern side of the peninsula is flat, and\nhere the narrow and not too savoury streets of Nauplia are crowded\ntogether. Thus the town looks across the harbour to the Argolic plain\nand has no sea-view. The southern side of the peninsula, at the back of\nthe town, is a long and lofty rock called Itsh-Kaleh, which seems to\nhave been the original citadel of Nauplia; for ancient walls, built in\nthe polygonal style, may be seen in places serving as foundations for\nthe mediaeval and modern fortifications. Other remains of antiquity\nexist in the shape of rock-cuttings, staircases, cisterns, and so forth.\nThe steep southern slope of the rock is thickly overgrown with cactus.\nOn the northern side of the peninsula, between it and the shore of the\nArgolic plain, stretches the harbour which gives Nauplia its commercial\nimportance. Though spacious, it is very shallow; large steamers have to\nanchor far out.\n\nAn isthmus connects the peninsula with the mainland. Immediately on the\nlandward, that is, eastern side of the isthmus, the massive and imposing\nrock of Palamidi, one of the strongest fortresses in Greece, towers up\nabruptly to a height of over seven hundred feet. The fortifications\nwhich crown its summit were built by the Venetians and Turks; they now\nserve as a prison. In their walls, as well as in the walls of\nItsh-Kaleh, are built many Venetian inscriptions, some of them bearing\nthe lion of St. Mark. Three sides of the mighty rock are precipitous,\nbut on the south-eastern side it is accessible, being joined by a ridge\nto the hills. The ascent from Nauplia is by a long staircase at the\nnorth-western corner of the fortress; it begins close to the gate of the\ntown. The name Palamidi is derived from Palamedes, the son of Nauplius.\nPalamedium was probably the ancient name of the fortress, though no\nclassical writer mentions it. The prospect from the summit over the gulf\nand plain of Argos, with the background of mountains encircling the\nplain, is very fine. Nor is the view from the quay of Nauplia across the\nbay to the mountains of Argolis one to be easily forgotten, especially\nif seen by moonlight, when the sea is calm, the stars are shining, and\nthe tall yard-arms of the lateen-rigged craft stand out like black wings\nagainst the sky, now blotting out and now disclosing a star as the boats\nheave on the gentle swell.\n\n\n\nXXXIII. THE SPRINGS OF THE ERASINUS.\u2014From Argos the road to Tegea goes\nsouth-west. At first it skirts the foot of the steep Larisa, and then\nruns through the southern part of the Argolic plain. On the right rise\nthe mountains, of no great height, which bound the plain on the west.\nAbout three miles from Argos we quit the highway and strike westward\ntowards the hills through a beautiful avenue of fine silver poplars,\nplane-trees, and oleanders. It soon brings us to the springs.\n\nThe spot is very picturesque. A rugged mountain here descends in\nprecipices of yellowish limestone to the plain, and at its foot a body\nof clear sparkling water comes rushing impetuously in several streams\nfrom the rocks, partly issuing from a low cavern, partly welling up from\nthe ground. Under the rocks the water forms a pellucid but shallow pool,\nwhere water-plants of a vivid green grow thickly; then flowing through\nthe arches of a wall, which partially dams up the pool, it is diverted\ninto several channels shaded by tall poplars, willows, and mulberries,\nand so turns in a short space a dozen mills\u2014the Mills of Argos, as they\nare called. After watering the rice-fields, the channels unite once more\ninto a river, which finds its way into the sea through swampy ground,\namong thick tangled beds of reeds and sedge, some three miles only from\nits source at the foot of the hills. This river, the modern Kephalari,\nis the Erasinus (\u2018the lovely river\u2019) of antiquity. It is the only river\nof the Argolic plain which flows summer and winter alike; and the\nopinion both of the ancient and the modern Greeks that it is an outlet\nof the Stymphalian lake in Arcadia appears to be well founded.\n\nIn the face of the limestone cliff, a few feet above the springs of the\nriver, are the mouths of two caves. A staircase leads up to them.\nPassing through the mouth of the larger we find ourselves in a lofty\ndimly-lighted cavern with an arched roof, like a Gothic cathedral, which\nextends into the mountain for a distance of two hundred feet or more.\nWater drips from the roof, forming long stalactites. Some light\npenetrates into the cave from its narrow mouth, but even at high noon it\nis but a dim twilight. Bats, the natural inhabitants of the gloomy\ncavern, whir past our heads, as if resenting the intrusion. Several\nbranches open off the main cave. The longest of them, opening to the\nleft, communicates at its inmost end with the upper air by means of a\nwindowlike aperture. In another branch, also to the left, there is a\nlow, narrow, pitch-dark opening, which, if explored with a light,\nreveals at its far end a crevice descending apparently into the bowels\nof the mountain. The smaller of the two caves, to the north, is walled\noff and forms a chapel of the Panagia Kephalariotissa. The worship of\nPan, which Pausanias mentions, may have been held in this or the\nneighbouring cavern; for Pan, the shepherd\u2019s god, loved to haunt caves,\nand in these two caves shepherds with their flocks still seek shelter\nfrom rain and storm. The chapel of the Panagia, in which there are some\nancient blocks, may very well have succeeded to a shrine of Pan, or\nperhaps of Dionysus, who was also worshipped here. A festival is still\nheld annually on the spot on the eighteenth of April; it may be nothing\nbut a continuation, in a changed form, of the festival of Dionysus\ncalled Tyrbe, which Pausanias mentions.\n\nIn summer the place is now a favourite resort of holiday-makers from\nArgos, who take their pleasure in a white-washed summer-house or covered\nshed at the mouth of the cave. The whole scene\u2014the rocky precipices, the\nshady caverns, the crystal stream, the tranquil pool, the verdure and\nshade of the trees\u2014is at once so beautiful and agreeable, that if it had\nbeen near Athens it would probably have been renowned in song and\nlegend. But Argos had no Sophocles to sing its praises in immortal\nverse.\n\n\n\nXXXIV. THE LERNEAN MARSH.\u2014Mount Pontinus, which rises above the village\nof Lerna, is a hill of no great height, but of broad massive outline. On\nits crest are seen from below against the sky the walls and towers of a\nmediaeval castle crowning the summit. The slope of the hill towards\nLerna is on the whole even and uniform and tufted with low plants, but\ntoward the south-east it is broken by some high lines of rocks. The\ncarriage road from Argos skirts the foot of the hill and traverses the\nvillage. Beside the road rise the springs both of the Pontinus brook and\nthe Amymone; and between the road and the sea is the Lernean marsh. In\napproaching Lerna from Argos and entering the pass between Mount\nPontinus and the sea we first come to the rush-fringed spring of the\nPontinus on the left side of the road. The stream is a mere brook of\nclear water bordered by rushes and tall grasses and almost choked with\ngreen water-plants. A great part of the water is diverted at the spring\nto turn a mill which stands on the shore. The whole course of the brook\nfrom its source to the sea is only a few hundred yards.\n\nAfter passing the source of the Pontinus and traversing in a few minutes\nthe village of Lerna we come to the springs of the Amymone, which rise\nbeside the road at the southern end of the village, a few yards to the\nnorth of a white-washed chapel of St. John. The springs are copious and\nissue from under rocks, forming at once a shallow pool of beautifully\nclear water, from which the stream flows towards the sea in a bed\nfringed with reeds. Great beds of reeds, marking the site of the Lernean\nmarsh, grow also beside the pool and in the narrow stretch of flat\nswampy ground between it and the sea. A fig-tree has rooted itself among\nthe rocks from which the springs flow, and a few yards farther off are a\nmulberry-tree and a silver poplar.\n\nSome eighty yards or so to the north-east of the springs but completely\nhidden by a screen of trees is the Alcyonian Lake described by\nPausanias. It is a pool of still, dark, glassy water surrounded by great\nreeds and grasses and tall white poplars with silvery stems. Though\ndistant only about thirty yards from the highroad and the village, the\nspot is as wild and lonely as if it lay in the depths of some pathless\nforest of the New World. I sought it for some time in vain, and when at\nlast I came upon it, in the waning light of a winter afternoon,\neverything seemed to enhance the natural horror of the scene. The sky\nwas dark save for one gleam of sunlit cloud which was reflected in the\nblack water of the pool. The wind sighed among the reeds and rustled the\nthin leaves of the poplars. Altogether I could well imagine that\nsuperstitions might gather about this lonely pool in the marsh. Of such\na spot in England tales of unhappy love, of murder and suicide, would be\ntold. To the Greeks of old it seemed one of the ways to hell. The man\nwho drove me from Argos said, like Pausanias, that the pool had never\nbeen fathomed and was bottomless.\n\n\n\nXXXV. THE ANIGRAEAN ROAD.\u2014South of Lerna the road skirts the shore for\nsome distance. Leaving the village of Kiveri the path runs along the\nslope of Mount Zavitza, which falls steeply to the sea on the left. This\nis the district called Anigraea by Pausanias. The road is still, as it\nwas in his days, very rugged and bad. Now and then we come to a little\ncove with a beach at the mouth of a narrow glen which cleaves the\nmountain-side; elsewhere the sea is bordered throughout by sheer cliffs,\nabove which the path scrambles up hill and down dale. The sides of the\nmountains are chiefly clothed with lentisks and wild olives, with a\npatch of corn-field here and there. In about two hours and a half from\nKiveri the path arrives opposite the Anavolo, the ancient Dine. It is an\nabundant source of fresh water rising in the sea, about a quarter of a\nmile from the narrow beach under the cliffs. The body of fresh water\nappears to be fully fifty feet in diameter. In calm weather it may be\nseen rising with such force as to form a convex surface, disturbing the\nsea for several hundred feet around. It is clearly the exit of a\nsubterraneous river of some magnitude, and thus corresponds with the\nDine of Pausanias. After clambering along the Anigraea for nearly three\nhours, we find that the mountain abruptly ceases, and the maritime plain\nof Thyrea stretches out before us to the south. This is what Pausanias\ndescribes as \u201ca tract of country on the left, reaching down to the sea,\nwhere trees, especially olives, thrive well.\u201d The plain is about five\nmiles long, but nowhere more than half that in breadth; its soil is a\nrich loam; corn-fields and olive-groves cover its surface.\n\n\n\nXXXVI. THE BATTLEFIELD OF SELLASIA.\u2014At the present day the track from\nArachova to Sparta follows the bed of the Kelephina river (the ancient\nOenus) for some seven or eight miles. Path there is none. You ride in\nthe stony bed of the river, crossing its scanty water backwards and\nforwards again and again. The scenery is picturesque, the river winding\nbetween high banks, which are generally green with shrubs and trees.\nIndeed many trees grow in the very bed of the stream, and the traveller\nin riding has sometimes to be careful not to be knocked off by their\nboughs. In front of us, as the valley widens, we get glimpses of the\nhigh, blue, snowy range of Taygetus. The point at which, quitting the\nbed of the stream, we ascend its western bank, and the whole magnificent\nrange of Taygetus appears in full view across the valley of the Eurotas,\nwas the scene of the battle of Sellasia.\n\n\n\nXXXVII. SPARTA.\u2014Ancient Sparta stood upon a broad stretch of fairly\nlevel ground, broken by a few low eminences, on the right bank of the\nEurotas, where the river makes a bend to the south-east. Thus the city\nwas bounded on the north and east by the wide gravelly bed of the river.\nApproaching from the north by the highroad from Tegea you cross the\nriver by a new iron bridge, then traversing a flat strip of ground\nascend through a hollow between two of the low eminences or hills which\nwere included within the circuit of ancient Sparta. Leaving these\neminences on the right and left you emerge to the south upon a level\nstretch of cornland, with olive-trees thickly dotted over it. When I saw\nit the wheat was breast high, and its waving surface, dappled with the\nshadows of multitudinous olive-trees, presented a rich and park-like\naspect. This plain is about half a mile across; on the south it is\nterminated by the low broad-backed ridge, running east and west, on\nwhich stands the town of New Sparta.\n\nThis new town, which has sprung up since the War of Independence, is\ncharming. The streets, crossing each other at right angles, are broad\nand pleasant. Many of the houses are surrounded by gardens, and the soft\nverdure of the trees peeping over the low walls is grateful and\nrefreshing to the eyes. The gardens abound with orange-trees, which,\nwhen laden with fruit, remind one of the gardens of the Hesperides. In\nspring the air, even in the streets, is heavy with rich perfumes. On the\nsouth the town is bounded by the river of Magoula, which here flows from\nwest to east, to fall into the Eurotas a little below the town, opposite\nthe steep heights of Therapnae. Westward the plain extends three or four\nmiles to the foot of the magnificent range of Taygetus, which rises\nabruptly with steep rocky sides to the height of nearly eight thousand\nfeet. A conspicuous landmark to the west, viewed from Sparta, is the\nsharp conical hill of Mistra, leaning upon, but still sharply defined\nagainst, the Taygetus range. Though really a mountain over two thousand\nfeet high, it is completely dwarfed by the immense wall of Taygetus\nrising at its back.\n\nThe country between Sparta and Taygetus offers points of the most\npicturesque beauty, especially if, instead of following the highroad,\nwhich is rather tame, you strike straight across for Mistra from the\nruined theatre of Old Sparta. It was a bright evening in spring or early\nsummer (towards the end of April, but summer is earlier in Greece than\nin England) when I took this walk, and the impression it made on me was\nineffaceable. The orange-groves, the gardens fresh and green on all\nsides, men taking their ease in the warm evening air at a picturesque\ntavern under a great spreading tree, children playing in the green\nlanes, a group of Spartan maidens filling their pitchers at a spring\nthat gurgled from a grey time-worn wall, a river (the Magoula) spanned\nby a quaint old bridge and winding through groves of orange-trees\nspangled with golden fruit, and towering above all the stupendous\nsnow-clad range of Taygetus in the west, with the sunset sky above\nit\u2014all this made up a picture or rather a succession of pictures, of\nwhich it is impossible to convey in words the effect. It was a dream of\nArcadia, the Arcadia of poets, and of painters like the Poussins.\n\nIn this union of luxuriant verdure with grand mountain scenery the\nvalley of Sparta recalls the more famed but not more beautiful Granada\nwith its green spreading Vega, its lilac-tinted mountains basking under\nthe bright sky of Spain, and the snowy range of the Sierra Nevada lying\nlike a great white cloud on the southern horizon. But Taygetus towers\nabove the spectator at Sparta as the Sierra Nevada certainly does not\nover the spectator at Granada. To see it on a bright day with all its\nsuperb outline\u2014its sharp peaks and grand sweeping curves\u2014clearly defined\nin the pellucid air, its long line of snowy summits glistering in the\nsun, and the deep purple shadows brooding on its lower slopes, is a\nsight not to be forgotten. A recent explorer of Greece has observed that\nof all Greek cities Sparta enjoys the most beautiful situation. So far\nas my experience goes, the observation is just.\n\n\n\nXXXVIII. MISTRA.\u2014The scenery of the district at the eastern foot of\nMount Taygetus, to which Pausanias here conducts us, is well described\nby Vischer as follows: \u201c While in Therapne, Amyclae, and the round\nbuildings of Vaphio and Marmalia we met with vestiges of a very ancient\ncivilisation which flourished in the plain of the Eurotas before the\nDorian invasion; on the other hand when we reach the first line of the\nrocky heights of Taygetus, we find ourselves in the Middle Ages\u2014in the\ndays of the Franks and the Byzantines. The first stage of Taygetus rises\nabruptly from the plain in bold cliffs broken by many gullies, from\nwhich the mountain torrents issue. Crowning with its picturesque ruins\nthe summit of one of these heights, an hour\u2019s ride to the west of\nSparta, is the fortress of Mistra, built by William de Villehardouin in\nthe middle of the thirteenth century. Below the castle, on the\nmountain-side, is spread the extensive town, once a place of much more\nimportance, now half in ruins, with its numerous churches and\nmonasteries falling into decay. Yet for the traveller, in spite of its\ndecay, Mistra must remain in virtue of its situation one of the most\nenchanting spots which he can find in Greece or anywhere; and the\nprospect from the castle height, on the one side over the whole plain,\non the other side up to the snowy peaks of Taygetus, across the fruitful\nlevels and wooded slopes of the first step in the mountain staircase,\nneeds only a view of the sea to be second to none.\n\n\u201c The whole neighbourhood, too, is one of indescribable beauty. The way\nfrom New Sparta by the village of Magoula, which lies scattered among\nfruit-trees of every sort, is delightful enough. It passes through a\nplain watered by fresh brooks, where the drooping branches of the\nolive-trees and fig-trees often literally bar the way, and in riding one\nhas to take heed not to be hung by the head among the boughs. But all\nthis is almost forgotten when we ride from Mistra by Parori and\nHagiannis along the foot of the mountains to Sklavochori. On this ride\nall the beauties of the Eurotas valley are crowded together; for here we\nhave wild magnificence combined with the luxuriant loveliness of a rich\nsouthern vegetation. Parori, which lies close to Mistra and was formerly\na suburb of it, is at the mouth of a dark and deep gorge, from which a\nstream comes brawling. This gorge is pointed out to travellers as the\nCaeadas, the gully into which the Spartans used to throw prisoners of\nwar and afterwards malefactors; and certainly the Caeadas, as well as\nthe Apothetae, where weakly children were exposed, is to be sought in\none of the ravines of Mount Taygetus, of which hardly any appears so\nstern and awful as the one at Parori. At the mouth of the gorge, just\nabove the village, there is a very lovely spot. From a Turkish fountain\nthere pours a copious stream of water, which trickles through creeping\nplants of all sorts into a large basin, and before it stand some fine\nplane-trees.\n\n\u201cFarther on, the way winds through wood and thicket, where fruit-trees\nalternate with tall oaks, elms, and plane-trees, to the village of\nHagiannis, hidden among groves of oranges, lemons, fig-trees, and\nolives. Amongst the woods dark cypresses rise singly like columns; many\nJudas-trees stood in full blossom, forming with their rosy red a\npleasant contrast to the various shades of green, while the oleanders,\ngrowing as high as trees beside every rill, had not yet unfolded their\nbuds. Wild vines climb to the very topmost boughs, and many other\ncreepers, such as ivy, bindweed, and clematis, often weave trees and\nshrubs into an impenetrable thicket. In wealth of vegetation this\ndistrict is unsurpassed in Greece, and no one who has set foot on Greek\nsoil should fail to visit it. Yet it often happens that travellers,\nsatisfied with having visited Sparta, turn back from it immediately, and\nthen, full of the impressions left on them by the plains of Tripolitza,\nof Argolis, and of the neighbourhood of Athens, complain that there are\nno trees in Greece.\u201d\n\nThe present writer, though he was not farther south than Parori, can\nconfirm the general accuracy of this description. The view of the\nbeautiful valley of Sparta from the steep hill of Mistra, crowded with\nmonuments of the Middle Ages, and dominated by the towering mass of\nMount Taygetus, which rises like a wall behind it, combines almost every\nelement of natural beauty and historical association. Immediately below\nthe Frankish castle, which crowns the summit of the hill, are the ruins\nof a spacious Byzantine palace, once the residence of the governor of\nthe Morea, who ranked next after the emperor. Its great hall opened on\nthe palace garden, from the terrace of which the wonderful view is to be\nhad over the valley. Again, the fountain, described by Vischer, at the\nmouth of the tremendous gorge, is a scene not to be forgotten. The water\ngushes from many mouths in the face of a wall built against the rock. A\nstone seat encircles the trunk of the great spreading plane-tree which\nfronts the fountain. All this, with the gloomy gorge behind, makes up a\npicture such as is oftener seen in dreams than in reality. Once more,\nthe village of Trypi, situated a little to the north of Mistra, at the\nentrance of the famed Langada pass over Mount Taygetus, is one of\nidyllic beauty. It is embowered among woods and orchards on the\nmountain-side; and entering it from the south you pass the mouth of a\nnarrow glen carpeted with ferns and overarched with trees.\n\n\n\nXXXIX. ON THE ROAD FROM SPARTA TO ARCADIA.\u2014Pausanias now returns from\nMount Taygetus to Sparta and sets off northward by the road which led to\nMegalopolis in Arcadia. As far as the Arcadian frontier the track\nfollows the valley of the Eurotas, keeping on the right or west bank of\nthe river and generally running close to the stream, the banks of which\nare fringed with oleanders, fig-trees, and planes. For the first three\nmiles the valley is open and possesses that combination of charms which\nrenders the vale of Sparta the most beautiful region of Greece. The\nriver flows on the whole at the foot of the somewhat bare hills which\nrise on the eastern side of the valley, dipping their rocky declivities\nin many places in its water. But on the other side low rolling hills,\ncovered with excellent soil and intersected by streams, stretch away to\nwhere the long range of Taygetus stands up against the western sky, its\nmajestic snowy peaks contrasting finely with the dark woods of its lower\nslopes and the luxuriant vegetation of the valley. In this open part of\nthe valley must have lain all the places and objects mentioned by\nPausanias between Sparta and the image of Modesty; but no one has yet\nventured to identify them. About three miles from Sparta the valley\ncontracts and the scenery changes. We are no longer in a great open\nvalley covered with luxuriant vegetation and enclosed by grand\nmountains. It is a narrow dale through which we are passing, hemmed in\nby low hills, at the foot of which the river flows between banks thickly\nwooded with willows, poplars, oleanders, and plane-trees. Well-tilled\nfields lie on the gentle lower slopes of the hills and occupy the\nstretches of flat land where the hills retire from the river. The bare\nupper declivities are dotted here and there with a few olives.\n\n\n\nXL. CAPE MALEA.\u2014The sides of Cape Malea, the south-eastern extremity of\nthe Greek mainland and of Europe, are formed by dizzy crags, about a\nthousand feet high, of dark bare rock, seamed and scarred in places by\ncracks and fissures. At the extreme end of the cape there is a great\nnatural recess in the cliff; and here in the face of the bluff, about\ntwo hundred and fifty feet above the sea, there is a tiny terrace\nsloping to the perpendicular edge of the precipice. Two chapels are\nbuilt on the terrace, and close by, partly hewn in the rock, is the cell\nof a half-naked and nearly savage hermit. From the terrace you may\nclamber down, at the risk of your neck, to a cave opening on the foam of\nthe great rollers which break here eternally. In the inmost corner of\nthe cave is a heap of human bones. The sense of utter solitude and\nisolation from the world which the spot is fitted to evoke in the mind\nis broken by the sight of passing vessels. In fair weather steamers of\nall nations pass continually; and small Greek sailing-boats, with their\nreddish-brown or white lateen sails, skim along close under the cliffs.\nBut the cape has a bad name for storms and heavy surf; at times even\nlarge steamers are unable to weather it for a week together. There was\nan ancient proverb, \u201cWhen you have rounded Malea, forget your home.\u201d\n\n\n\nXLI. MONEMVASIA.\u2014The ancient Minoa[8] is now Monemvasia, an island about\nhalf a mile long, close to the shore, with which it is connected by a\nlong old stone bridge. The island is a lofty precipitous rock,\nresembling Gibraltar, or the Bass Rock and Dumbarton Rock in Scotland.\nThe summit, crowned by the ruins of a mediaeval fortress and a mass of\ntumble-down roofless churches and houses overgrown with weeds, is now\nonly a sheepwalk. From the summit the rock falls away in sheer and lofty\nprecipices, especially on the north. The modern town lies huddled up at\nthe foot of the cliffs on the southern side. Strong walls encircle it,\nwhich are connected with the ruined fortress on the top of the rock.\nWithin the walls everything is fast falling to decay. Fine churches,\nhigh archways, great private houses, all deserted and in ruins, testify\nto the former prosperity and the present decline of the town. Trade has\nquite deserted it; the coasting steamers call only at rare intervals.\nFrom the town a zigzag path leads up the face of the rock to the old\ncitadel on the summit.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 8:\n\n The reference is to Minoa on the eastern coast of Laconia, not to the\n better known but less picturesque Minoa near Megara.\n\n-----\n\nIn the Middle Ages Monemvasia was one of the chief places of the\nLevantine trade and one of the strongest fortresses in the Morea. It\ngave its name to Malmsey wine, which was grown in the Cyclades,\nespecially Tenos, but was called after the port whence it was shipped to\nthe west.\n\n\n\nXLII. MAINA.\u2014The great central peninsula of southern Greece, which\nPausanias describes in detail, has been known since the Middle Ages by\nthe name of Maina or Mani. The backbone of the peninsula is the great\nrange of Taygetus, which runs south till it terminates in Taenarum, the\nmodern Cape Matapan, the southern extremity of Greece. The scenery of\nthe peninsula is wild and savage; the villages, hedged in by\nimpenetrable thickets of cactus, cling like eagles\u2019 eyries to the faces\nof apparently inaccessible cliffs, and are reached by stony and\nexceedingly toilsome footpaths\u2014the only semblance of roads in these\nsecluded highlands. Almost everywhere the surface is nothing but the\nnaked rock. Wood there is none, but a few bushes and here and there some\ntufts of grass have rooted themselves in the crevices of the rocks, and\nfurnish a scanty pasture to the sheep and goats. The miserable stony\nsoil, wherever it exists, is carefully husbanded by means of terraces,\nand under the soft southern sky of Laconia yields a tolerable return.\nThere are no springs or brooks; water is obtained only from cisterns,\nwhich are kept closed by their owners, and leave to draw from them has\nto be paid for.\n\nThe inhabitants, the Mainotes, Mainiotes, or Maniates, are a hardy and\nwarlike race of mountaineers, who claim to be descended from the ancient\nSpartans. In the fastnesses of their rugged mountains they are said to\nhave retained their primitive heathenism till the latter half of the\nninth century; and the Turks never succeeded in subjugating them. As\npirates they were greatly dreaded. They are still notorious for the\nrelentless ferocity of their blood-feuds, which are so common that every\nfamily of importance has a tower in which to take refuge from the\navengers of blood. In these towers persons implicated in a blood-feud\nhave been known to live for many years without ever coming out. To this\nday many heads of families dare not quit their shelter except under a\nstrong guard of armed retainers. A village will contain twenty to thirty\nof such strongholds. Each tower is surrounded by a few low huts, which\nserve as workshops and as the lodgings of the subordinate members of the\nhousehold. Frequently tower and huts together are enclosed within a\nfortification wall strengthened with turrets and loopholed. Bitter feuds\noften rage between the towers of the same village.\n\n\n\nXLIII. PHARAE AND THE MESSENIAN PLAIN.\u2014The ancient Pharae, or Pherae,\nprobably occupied the site of the modern Kalamata, an industrial town\nsituated on the left bank of the broad stony bed of the Nedon, a mile\nfrom the sea. Telemachus, in search of his father, lodged for the night\nat Pharae on his way from Pylus to Sparta, and again on his return. It\nis a long day\u2019s ride from Sparta to Kalamata, by the magnificent Langada\npass over Mount Taygetus. Pausanias does not mention the name of the\nriver on which Pharae stood, but from Strabo we learn that it was the\nNedon. It is a torrent which issues from a rocky gorge in Mount\nTaygetus, about a mile to the north-east of a steep hill that rises at\nthe back of the town. This hill is crowned with a mediaeval castle,\nbuilt or occupied successively by Franks, Venetians, and Turks. The\npresence of ancient hewn stones in the walls, as well as the whole\narrangement of the fortress, seem to show that a castle stood here in\nantiquity also. There are no other relics of antiquity in Kalamata.\n\nThe town, with its narrow winding streets and lively bazaar, lies in the\ngreat Messenian plain, near its south-eastern extremity. This plain,\nopen to the south and sheltered from the north by mountains, is the\nwarmest part of Greece, and on account of its wonderful fertility was\nknown to the ancients as Makaria or the Happy Land. Its natural wealth\nand delightful climate were celebrated by Euripides in a lost play, of\nwhich some lines have been preserved by Strabo. Here at the present day\ngroves of oranges, lemons, fig-trees, olives, and vineyards succeed each\nother, all fenced by gigantic hedges of prickly and fantastically-shaped\ncactuses and sword-like aloes, which, with the hot air, remind a\ntraveller from northern Europe that he is in a sub-tropical climate.\n\n\n\nXLIV. MESSENE.\u2014From Kalamata, the probable site of the ancient Pharae,\nthe road to Messene runs north-west across the fertile Messenian plain\nbetween hedges of huge fantastically-shaped cactuses and groves of\nfig-trees, olives, and vines. In front of us loom nearer and nearer the\ntwin peaks of Ithome and Eva rising boldly and abruptly from a single\nbase on the western side of the plain, and forming the natural citadel,\nas it were, of the whole country. As we near their base we quit the\ndusty highway and strike westward up the mountain-side by devious and\nrocky paths. This brings us in time to the monastery of Vourkano, where\nvisitors to Messene generally spend the night.\n\nThe monastery is beautifully situated on the eastern slope of the\nmountain, about a quarter of an hour\u2019s walk below the saddle which\nunites the twin peaks. The buildings, arranged in the form of a\nquadrangle round a little church, stand on a fine open terrace among\ncypresses, oaks, and wild olives, commanding an unimpeded view over the\nMessenian plain southward to the shining waters of the gulf and\nnorthward to where the plain ends at the foot of the hills. Ithome and\nits sister peak rise from the plain about midway between these northern\nhills and the gulf. Mount Eva, the lower of the two peaks, lies to the\nsouth or south-east of Ithome, with which it is connected by a ridge or\nsaddle about half-way up the two mountains. The eastern wall of Messene\nstood and still stands in ruins on this saddle. The city itself lay on\nthe western side, in the cup formed by the converging slopes of the two\nmountains. The site may be compared to an immense theatre, of which the\nback is formed by the saddle in question and the wings by Mount Ithome\nand Mount Eva. The wretched hamlet of Mavromati lies nearly in the\nmiddle of this theatre-like hollow; there are many remains of antiquity\nin its neighbourhood. But the site of the ancient city is now chiefly\noccupied by corn-fields, vineyards, and olive-groves.\n\nThe view from the top of Ithome is magnificent. The whole of the rich\nMessenian plain lies stretched out beneath us. To the south the full\nsweep of the Messenian gulf is seen, with the glorious snow-capped range\nof Taygetus bounding both plain and gulf on the east. High up on\nTaygetus is visible the gap through which the Langada pass runs. Over\nthis pass, which forms the direct route between Sparta and Messenia, the\nSpartans must have often marched to attack their ancient foes; and it\nseems just possible that the gleam of their burnished arms in the\nsunshine, as the army defiled over the pass, may have been visible to\nthe sentinels on Ithome. Farther to the north we see the mountains of\nArcadia, with the Lycaean group conspicuous on the north-east. Westward\nthe view is in general bounded by nearer and lower hills, but where they\ndip on the north-west and again on the south-west we catch glimpses of\nthe Ionian or, as the ancients also called it, the Sicilian sea.\n\n\n\nXLV. ON THE ROAD TO OLYMPIA.\u2014The Erymanthus, descending from the lofty\nmountains of north-western Arcadia, flows between hills into the broad\nopen valley of the Alpheus and joins that river on its northern bank. At\nits junction with the Alpheus it flows over gravel between abrupt cliffs\nof pudding-stone. Its water, seen at least from the southern side of the\nwide valley on a sunny day, is of a bright blue colour. After fording\nthe river and climbing the farther bank, the path leads through open\npastures, and then, to avoid a great bend of the river, ascends a pass\nor woody gorge, where fine oaks and pines, now singly now in clumps, are\nscattered in wild variety. When we have reached the summit and begin to\ndescend again towards the Alpheus, a series of magnificent views of the\nriver winding between wooded hills opens up before us. For beyond the\nmeeting of its waters with the Erymanthus, the valley of the Alpheus\nassumes a softer and gayer aspect. Moderate heights rise on the right\nbank, their gentle slopes thickly wooded with trees and shrubs of the\nmost varied sorts. Pine-trees, maples, planes, and tall lentisk bushes\nsucceed each other, varied here and there by fields and green pastures.\nAcross the Alpheus lie the beautiful wooded hills of Triphylia, where\nmany a picturesque village is seen nestling among pine-woods, and many a\nheight, crowned by church or ruins, stands out abruptly and\nprecipitously above the river. The whole country, with its woods and\nstreams, and the broad river flowing majestically through the middle of\nthe landscape, is like a great park. The illusion, however, is broken by\nthe path, which scrambles up hill and down dale, struggles through\nthickets, and splashes through streams and torrents, in a fashion which\nresembles anything rather than the trim well-kept walks and avenues of\nan English park. Such is the scenery and such the path by which\nPausanias is now moving westward towards Olympia.\n\nDio Chrysostom has described how he lost his way in this charming\ncountry and fell in with an old dame of the Meg Merrilies type who\nprofessed to have the gift of second sight. He says: \u201cGoing on foot from\nHeraea to Pisa by the side of the Alpheus, I was able, up to a certain\npoint, to make out the path. But by and by I found myself in a forest\nand on broken ground, with many tracks leading to sheepfolds and\ncattle-pens. And meeting with no one of whom I could ask the way I\nstrayed from the path and wandered up and down. It was high noon; and\nseeing on a height a clump of oaks, as it might be a grove, I betook\nmyself thither, in the hope that from thence I might spy some path or\nhouse. Here then I found stones piled carelessly together, and skins of\nsacrificed animals hanging up, with clubs and staves, the offerings, as\nI supposed, of shepherds; and a little way off, seated on the ground,\nwas a tall and stalwart dame, somewhat advanced in years, in rustic\nattire, with long grey hair. Of her I asked what these things might be.\nShe answered, very civilly, in a broad Doric accent, that the spot was\nsacred to Hercules, and as for herself, she had a son a shepherd and\noften minded the sheep herself; that by the grace of the Mother of the\nGods she had the gift of second sight, and all the herdsmen and farmers\nof the neighbourhood came to ask her about their crops and cattle.\u201d\n\n\n\nXLVI. OLYMPIA.\u2014Olympia lies on the right or north bank of the Alpheus,\nwhere the river meanders westward through a spacious valley enclosed by\nlow wooded hills of soft and rounded forms, beyond which appear on the\neastern horizon the loftier mountains of Arcadia. The soil of the\nvalley, being alluvial, is fertile; corn-fields and vineyards stretch\naway in all directions. The whole aspect of the scene, without being\ngrand or impressive, is rich, peaceful, and pleasing. The bed of the\nAlpheus is wide; but in summer the water is scanty and is divided into\nseveral streams running over a broad gravelly bed. The sacred precinct\nor Altis of Olympia lies between the river on the south and a low but\nsteep hill, thickly wooded with pine-trees and shrubs, which rises on\nthe north. This wooded hill is the ancient Mount Cronius. Immediately to\nthe west of the precinct the Cladeus flows between steep sandy banks\ninto the Alpheus from the north.\n\nIn the close hot climate of Olympia the need of a good supply of\ndrinking water is especially felt. For months together rain hardly\nfalls; between May and October a shower is a rarity. The great festival\nwas always held in summer (July or August), when the weather at Olympia\nis cloudless and the heat intense. Hence the multitudes who flocked to\nwitness the games must have been much distressed by the dust and the\nburning sun, against which the spreading shade of the plane-trees in the\nsacred precinct could have afforded only an imperfect protection. Indeed\nLucian, doubtless with a strong touch of exaggeration, speaks of the\nspectators packed together and dying in swarms of thirst and of\ndistemper contracted from the excessive drought. The water of the\nAlpheus is not good to drink, for even in the height of summer it holds\nin solution a quantity of chalky matter. The water of the Cladeus, on\nthe other hand, is drinkable in its normal state; but even a little rain\nswells it and makes it run turbid for a long time. Hence it was\nnecessary to sink wells and to bring water from a distance. This was\ndone even in Greek times. Nine wells, some square, some round, some\nlined with the usual shell-limestone, others with plaques of\nterra-cotta, have been found at Olympia; and water was brought in\naqueducts from the upper valley of the Cladeus. But in Roman times the\nsupply was immensely improved and extended by the munificence of the\nwealthy sophist Herodes Atticus. Lucian tells us how the mountebank\nPeregrinus denounced Herodes and his aqueduct for pandering to the\nluxury and effeminacy of the day. It was the duty of the spectators, he\nsaid, to endure their thirst, and if need be to die of it. This doctrine\nproved unacceptable to his hearers, and the preacher had to run for his\nlife pursued by a volley of stones.\n\n\n\nXLVII. PHIDIAS\u2019S IMAGE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS.\u2014The testimony of antiquity to\nthe extraordinary beauty and majesty of the image is very strong. The\nRoman general Paulus Aemilius was deeply moved by the sight of it; he\nfelt as if in the presence of the god himself, and declared that Phidias\nalone had succeeded in embodying the Homeric conception of Zeus. Cicero\nsays that Phidias fashioned the image, not after any living model, but\nafter that ideal beauty which he saw with the inward eye alone.\nQuintilian asserts that the beauty of the image served to strengthen\nreligion, the majesty of the image equalling the majesty of the god. A\npoet declared that either the god must have come from heaven to earth to\nshow Phidias his image, or that Phidias must have gone to heaven to\nbehold it. The statue was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the\nworld, and to die without having seen it was deemed a misfortune. The\nrhetorician Dio Chrysostom, a man of fine taste, extolled it in one of\nhis speeches. He calls it \u201cthe most beautiful image on earth, and the\ndearest to the gods.\u201d He represents Phidias speaking of his \u201cpeaceful\nand gentle Zeus, the overseer, as it were, of united and harmonious\nGreece, whom by the help of my art and of the wise and good city of Elis\nI set up, mild and august in an unconstrained attitude, the giver of\nlife and breath and all good things, the common father and saviour of\nmankind.\u201d And again in a fine passage he says: \u201cMethinks that if one who\nis heavy laden in mind, who has drained the cup of misfortune and sorrow\nin life, and whom sweet sleep visits no more, were to stand before this\nimage, he would forget all the griefs and troubles that are incident to\nthe life of man.\u201d\n\n\n\nXLVIII. THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES.\u2014Hermes is represented standing with\nthe infant Dionysus on his left arm, and the weight of his body resting\non his right foot. His form is the perfection of manly grace and vigour;\nthe features of his oval face, under the curly hair that encircles his\nbrow, are refined, strong, and beautiful; their expression is tender and\nslightly pensive. The profile is of the straight Greek type, with \u201cthe\nbar of Michael Angelo\u201d over the eyebrows. The left arm of the god rests\nupon the stump of a tree, over which his mantle hangs loosely in rich\nfolds, that contrast well with his nude body. His right arm is raised.\nThe child Dionysus lays his right hand confidingly on the shoulder of\nHermes; his gaze is fixed on the object, whatever it was, which Hermes\nheld in his right hand, and his missing left arm must have been\nstretched out (as it appears in the restoration) towards the same\nobject. As most of Hermes\u2019s right arm is wanting, we cannot know for\ncertain what he had in his right hand. Probably it was a bunch of\ngrapes. In a wall-painting at Pompeii a satyr is represented holding the\ninfant Dionysus on his left arm, while in his raised right hand he\ndangles a bunch of grapes, after which the child reaches. It is highly\nprobable that this painting is an imitation, not necessarily at first\nhand, of the work of Praxiteles; and if so, it affords a strong ground\nfor supposing that the missing right hand of the Hermes held a bunch of\ngrapes. The only objection of any weight to this view is that in the\nstatue Hermes is not looking at the child, as we should expect him to\nbe, but is gazing past him into the distance with what has been\ndescribed as a listening or dreamy look. Hence it has been suggested\nthat Hermes held a pair of cymbals or castanets in his hand, to the\nsound of which both he and the child are listening; and a passage of\nCalpurnius has been quoted in which Silenus is represented holding the\ninfant Dionysus on his arm and amusing him by shaking a rattle. This\ncertainly would well explain the attitude and look of Hermes; but on the\nother hand cymbals or a rattle would not serve so well as a bunch of\ngrapes to characterise the infant Dionysus. The same may be said of the\nsuggestion that Hermes, as god of gain, held aloft a purse and was\nlistening to the chinking of the money in it. In his left hand Hermes\nprobably held his characteristic attribute, a herald\u2019s staff; the round\nhole for it in the hand is still visible.\n\nOn his head he seems to have worn a metal wreath; the deep groove for\nfastening it on may be seen in the back part of the hair. Traces of dark\nred paint were perceived on the hair and on the sandal of the foot when\nthe statue was found; the colour is supposed to have been laid on as\nground for gilding. The back of the statue, which would not be seen\nwell, is not carefully finished; it still shows the strokes of the\nchisel. Otherwise the technical finish is exquisite. The differences of\ntexture between the delicate white skin of the god, the leather straps\nof the sandals, the woollen stuff of the cloak, and the curly hair of\nthe head, are expressed in the most masterly way.\n\nA late distinguished critic was of opinion that the Hermes is an early\nwork of Praxiteles, executed before he had attained a full mastery of\nhis art. Such a view, it would seem, can only be held by one who knows\nthe statue solely from photographs and casts. But no reproductions\nafford an adequate idea of the beauty of the original. Engravings of it\nare often no better than caricatures. Again, the dead white colour and\nthe mealy texture of casts give no conception of the soft, glossy,\nflesh-like, seemingly elastic surface of the original, which appears to\nglow with divine life. Looking at the original, it seems impossible to\nconceive that Praxiteles or any man ever attained to a greater mastery\nover stone than is exhibited in this astonishing work.\n\n\n\nXLIX. LASION.\u2014Pausanias has omitted to mention an ancient town that lay\nin the wild upper valley of the Peneus, in the heart of the Elean\nhighlands, not far from the Arcadian frontier. This was Lasion, a place\nwhich, from its proximity to the Arcadian boundary, was the subject of\nborder feuds, the Arcadians claiming possession of it, though in fact it\nappears to have belonged properly to Elis. It changed hands several\ntimes in the fifth, fourth, and third centuries B.C. The ruins of this\nsecluded little town were discovered by G. F. Welcker in 1842 near\nKoumani, a village at the head waters of the Peneus. They may be visited\non the way from Olympia to Psophis, though the visit necessitates a\nshort detour to the west.\n\nThe route first follows the valley of the Cladeus through soft woodland\nscenery of the richest and most charming kind, between low hills crowned\nwith clumps of pines. Then, still following the glen of the Cladeus, we\nascend through romantically beautiful forests of pines and ancient oaks,\nand emerge on a wide breezy tableland, backed on the north by the high\nmountains of northern Arcadia. In the middle of the plateau, which is\nopen and well cultivated, lies the scattered village of Lala. Crossing\nthe northern end of the tableland, which is here carpeted with ferns, we\nagain ascend a steep slope, and find ourselves on a still higher\ntableland, covered with fine oak forests. After traversing the forest\nfor some time we quit the path to Psophis, which continues to run\nnorthward, and take a path which strikes westward. The time from Lala to\nthe parting of the ways is about two hours. Another half-hour\u2019s ride\nthrough the forest, which grows denser as we advance, brings us to\nKoumani, a trim well-to-do village, beautifully situated among\noak-woods. The time from Olympia is about six hours.\n\nThe ruins of Lasion, now called Kouti, are to the north of the village,\napparently on the same level with it, but a profound ravine divides them\nfrom the village, and half an hour\u2019s laborious descent and ascent of its\nsteep sides are needed to bring us to the ruins. The site is an\nexceedingly strong one. Two tributaries of the Peneus, coming from the\nhigher mountains to the north-east, flow in deep ravines, which meet at\nan acute angle. Between them stretches a long, comparatively narrow\nridge or tongue of land, which on three sides falls steeply down to the\nglens; only on the east the ascent is gentle. The top of the ridge is\nquite flat, and well adapted to be the site of a city. At one point it\nnarrows to a mere isthmus or neck which divides the level summit into\ntwo parts, an eastern and a western. The western and smaller part was\ndoubtless the ancient citadel; a finely-built wall of ashlar masonry,\nextending across the narrowest point of the neck, divides it from the\nrest of the city. The eastern and larger part of the ridge is more or\nless covered with ruins, and at its eastern end, where the ascent is\neasiest, a very fine piece of the city wall is still standing. Square\ntowers, about seven feet broad, project from it at intervals. Walls and\ntowers are built of well and regularly cut blocks; the masonry resembles\nthat of Messene. There seem to be no traces of fortification walls on\nany other side of the plateau; perhaps none existed, the inhabitants\nthinking the deep ravines a sufficient defence.\n\nThe situation of Lasion is not only strong but beautiful. Tall\nplane-trees overhang the streams in the deep glens far below the ruins.\nTo the north and north-east rises at no great distance the grand and\nmassive range of Mount Erymanthus; while westward the view extends,\nbetween the heights that hem in the narrow valley of the Peneus, away\nover the lowlands of Elis to the distant sea.\n\n\n\nL. THE ERYMANTHUS.\u2014The first sight I had of the Erymanthus, among the\nmountains of northern Arcadia, is one of the scenes that dwell in the\nmemory. We had been travelling for hours through the thick oak-woods\nwhich cover the outlying slopes and spurs of Mount Erymanthus on the\nsouth, when suddenly, emerging from the forest, we looked down into a\nlong valley, through which flowed, between hills wooded to their\nsummits, a shining river, the Erymanthus. At the far end of the valley\nhigh blue mountains closed the view. The scene, arched by the bright\nGreek sky, was indeed Arcadian.\n\n\n\nLI. THE MONASTERY OF MEGASPELEUM.\u2014The ancient Buraicus is the stream now\ncalled the Kalavryta river because it descends from the town of that\nname. The valley, which is broad and open at Kalavryta, contracts to the\nnorth of the town into a narrow defile flanked by huge rocks. In this\nnarrow valley is the great monastery of Megaspeleum, the largest and\nwealthiest monastery in Greece, and indeed one of the largest and\nrichest monasteries of the Eastern Church. Formerly it had dependencies\neven in Russia. The building and its situation are in the highest degree\npicturesque. It is a huge whitewashed pile, with wooden balconies on the\noutside, eight stories high, perched at a great height above the right\nbank of the river, on the steep slope of a mountain and immediately\noverhung by an enormous beetling crag which runs sheer up for some\nhundreds of feet above the roof of the monastery. It is this overhanging\ncliff which gives to the monastery its name of Megaspeleum (\u2018great\ncave\u2019). So completely does it overarch the lofty building that when in\nthe War of Independence the Egyptian soldiers of Ibrahim Pacha attempted\nto destroy the monastery by letting fall masses of rock upon it from the\ncliff above, the rocks fell clear of the monastery, leaving it unharmed.\nThe steep slope of the mountain below is occupied by the terraced\ngardens of the monks, which with their rich vegetation, and the\ncypresses rising here and there above them, add greatly to the charm of\nthe scene. A single zigzag path leads up this steep terraced slope to\nthe monastery. The bare precipices above, crowned with forests, the deep\nwooded valley below, and the mountains rising steeply on the farther\nside, make up a landscape of varied delight and grandeur, on which a\npainter would love to dwell.\n\n\n\nLII. THE GULF OF CORINTH.\u2014After describing the view from the monastery\nof Troupia on the hill of Bura, Leake makes the following remarks on the\nscenery of the Gulf of Corinth, which are worth transcribing because\nthey convey the impression made by this wonderfully beautiful gulf on\none who in general was not given to dwell on the charms of nature. He\nsays: \u201cI doubt whether there is anything in Greece, abounding as it is\nin enchanting scenery and interesting recollections, that can rival the\nCorinthiac Gulf. There is no lake scenery in Europe that can compete\nwith it. Its coasts, broken into an infinite variety of outline by the\never-changing mixture of bold promontory, gentle slope, and cultivated\nlevel, are crowned on every side by lofty mountains of the most pleasing\nand majestic forms; the fine expanse of water inclosed in this noble\nframe, though not so much frequented by ships as it ought to be by its\nnatural adaptation to commerce, is sufficiently enlivened by vessels of\nevery size and shape to present at all times an animated scene. Each\nstep in the Corinthiac Gulf presents to the traveller a new prospect,\nnot less delightful to the eye than interesting to the mind, by the\nhistorical fame and illustrious names of the objects which surround him.\nAnd if, in the latter peculiarity, the celebrated panorama of the\nSaronic Gulf, described by Sulpicius, be preferable, that arm of the\nAegaean is in almost every part inferior to the Corinthian sea in\npicturesque beauty; the surrounding mountains are less lofty and less\nvaried in their heights and outlines, and, unless where the beautiful\nplain of Athens is sufficiently near to decorate the prospect, it is a\npicture of almost unmitigated sterility and rocky wildness exhibited in\nevery possible form of mountain, promontory, and island. It must,\nhowever, be admitted that it is only by comparison that such a scene can\nbe depreciated.\u201d I can only confirm this estimate of the superior charms\nof the Gulf of Corinth. Its waters seemed to me of an even deeper blue;\nand the delicacy of the morning and evening tints\u2014azure, lilac, and\nrose\u2014on the mountains is such that it is hard in looking at them to\nbelieve they are of the solid earth; so unsubstantial, so fairy-like do\nthey seem, like the gorgeous phantasmagoria of cloudland or mountains\nseen in dreams.\n\n\n\nLIII. ON THE COAST OF ACHAIA.\u2014Pausanias continues to move eastward along\nthe coast of Achaia. Beyond the Buraicus river, where it issues from its\nromantic gorge, the strip of fertile plain which has skirted the coast\nall the way from Aegium comes to an end. The mountains now advance to\nthe shore, and the road runs for a short distance along the summit of\ncliffs that border the coast. Then the mountains again retreat from the\nshore, leaving at their base a small maritime plain clothed with\nolive-groves. A stream, the river of Diakopton, crosses the plain and\nflows into the sea. It comes down from a wild and magnificent gorge,\nthickly wooded with tall firs and shut in by stupendous precipices of\nnaked rock. Seen at nightfall under a lowering sky, with wreaths of\nwhite mist drooping low on the black mountains, the entrance to this\ngloomy gorge might pass for the mouth of hell; one could fancy Dante and\nhis guide wending their way into it in the darkness.\n\nEastward of this little plain the mountains, covered with pine forests,\nagain rise in precipices from the sea, hemming in the railway at their\nfoot. A line of fine crags runs along the face of the mountains for a\nlong way, their crests tufted with pine-woods, and the lower slopes at\ntheir feet also clothed in the same mantle of sombre green.\n\n\n\nLIV. PELLENE.\u2014The scanty and insignificant ruins of Pellene are situated\non the summit of a mountain which rises on the western side of the river\nof Trikala (the ancient Sythas), near the small hamlet of Zougra. It is\na ride of two hours and a half from Xylokastro, the little town at the\nmouth of the river, to Zougra. We cross the river by a large stone\nbridge not far from its mouth, and then ascend the valley on the western\nbank of the stream. The bottom of the valley is fruitful; vineyards and\nfine groves of olives occupy the greater part of it, and tall cypresses\nrise here and there, like dark spires, above the greener foliage. The\nhills which enclose the valley on the east and west are not very high,\nbut they are gashed and tortured by great scaurs and precipices of white\nand whity-brown earth. On the western side of the valley in particular a\nlong line of high white precipices runs almost unbroken along the brow\nof the hills. The white, probably argillaceous, earth, which is thus\ncleft and gouged into precipices, is the same which forms the great\nprecipices on the eastern side of Sicyon. Indeed it prevails nearly all\nthe way along the southern coast of the Gulf of Corinth from Sicyon to\nDerveni, near Aegira. This chalky earth forms a plateau of varying\nheight, separated from the shore by a stretch of level plain which\naverages perhaps a mile in width. The seaward face of the plateau is\nsteep, high, and white; its edges are sharp as if cut with a knife, and\nragged like the edge of a saw. Every here and there it is rent by a\nstream or torrent which has scooped a deep bed for itself out of the\nfriable soil. The valley of the Sythas, up which we go to Pellene, is\nnothing but one of these water-worn rifts on a gigantic scale. As we\nascend it through vineyards and olive-groves, between the rugged broken\nhills with their long lines of white precipices, the massive Cyllene,\nwith its high, bare, pointed summit, looms in front of us at no great\ndistance, blocking the southern end of the valley. After riding up the\nvalley for an hour or more along a road which, for Greece, is excellent,\nwe begin to climb a mountain on the western side of the river. A long,\ntoilsome, winding, dusty, or, in rainy weather, muddy ascent, impeded\nrather than facilitated by a Turkish paved road of the usual execrable\ndescription, brings us in time to the little hamlet of Zougra. As we\nrise up the steep slope, our fatigue is to some extent compensated by\nthe fine prospect that opens up behind us to the Corinthian Gulf and the\nmountains beyond it.\n\n\n\nLV. THE ROAD FROM ARGOS TO ARCADIA.\u2014From Argos two main passes lead\nwestward over the chain of Mount Artemisius to Mantinea. The southern\nand more direct of the two is for the greater part of the way nothing\nbut a rough bridle-path; in places it crosses the deep beds of torrents,\nwhich at the time of my journey were dry. The path turns round the\nnorthern foot of the lofty acropolis of Argos, and skirting the wide\nArgolic plain enters the valley of the Charadrus or Xerias, as it is now\ncalled. This is a long narrow valley of somewhat monotonous aspect,\nenclosed by barren and rocky hills, and barred at the farther end by a\nsteep mountain, on which, when I saw it far away on a bright April\nmorning, purple shadows rested. The bed of the river is broad and stony,\nsometimes several hundred yards in width; it is generally dry, but after\nheavy rains the spates that come roaring down it from the mountains are\nmuch dreaded. Flocks of sheep and goats feed in the valley; the herdsmen\ncarry the usual long staves tipped with crooks, and sometimes a gun.\nTrains of laden mules or asses, conducted by peasants, also met us. The\nhead of the valley, immediately under the mountain barrier, is very\npicturesque. The bottom is partly covered with shrubs and trees, among\nwhich (for the place was then in its spring beauty) I noticed the broom\nand the hawthorn, both in flower, also wild roses, and a tree with a\nlovely purple bloom, which I believe to have been the Judas-tree. Beyond\nthe small hamlet of Mazi, consisting of a few wretched stone cottages,\nthe path begins the long ascent and winds up the face of the\nmountain-wall in a series of zigzags. The view backward from the summit\nof the pass is magnificent, embracing a wilderness of mountains with the\nsea and the islands of Hydra and Spetsa in the distance. From the top of\nthe pass the path drops down very steeply, almost precipitously, into\nthe flat sodden expanse of the Fallow Plain, across which we look to a\nbleak chain of grey limestone hills. The village of Tsipiana stands at\nthe foot of the pass, its red-roofed houses, with a large church in\ntheir midst, rising in tiers on the steep mountain-side. On a ledge high\nabove the village is a monastery among cypresses, and higher still there\nshoots up a huge fantastic pinnacle of rock. The traveller who has\nreached Tsipiana is in Arcadia, and if this is his first glimpse of that\npoetical land, he may find the reality to answer to his expectations, if\nnot to his dreams.\n\nFrom a low rocky hillock, which runs out like a promontory into the\nflat, he looks northward over the Fallow Plain, fallow no longer, but\ncovered with a patchwork of maize-fields, and intersected by a stream\nmeandering through it in serpentine curves. Southward the eye ranges\naway over the level expanse to where it terminates in low blue hills, at\nthe foot of which, dimly perceptible in the distance, lies the town of\nTripolitza. In the middle distance, on a projecting hill, appears a\nruined mediaeval castle. The rural solitude of the landscape with its\ngreen spreading plain, its winding river, its lonely hills, and the\nsilence and peace brooding over all, is not unworthy of Arcadia.\n\n\n\nLVI. MANTINEA.\u2014The ruins of Mantinea are situated in a flat, marshy, and\ntreeless plain about nine miles north of the present town of Tripolitza.\nThe plain is about seven miles long from north to south, but in the\nlatter direction it melts into the plain of Tegea; the division between\nthe two is marked only by the protrusion of rocky hills on either side,\nwhich here narrows the plain to about a mile in width. On the east the\nplain is bounded by the chain of Mount Alesius, bare and high on the\nnorth, low and bushy on the south; between the two sections of the chain\nthus marked off from each other is the dip through which the path goes\nto Nestane and so by the Prinus route to Argos. On the west of the plain\nrises the high rugged range of Mount Maenalus, its lower slopes bare or\novergrown with bushes, its higher slopes belted with dark pine-woods.\nSeen from the plain to the north of Mantinea on a bright autumn day,\nthis fine range, with its dark blue lights and purple shadows, presents\nthe appearance of a tossing sea of billows petrified by magic. Finally,\non the north the plain of Mantinea is divided from that of Orchomenus by\na low chain of reddish hills.\n\nA great part of the plain, including almost all the southern part, is\ncovered with vineyards, the rich green foliage of which, when the vines\nare in leaf, contrasts with the grey arid slopes of the surrounding\nmountains. But the site of Mantinea itself is now mostly cornland. Not a\nsingle house stands within the wide area, and hardly one is within\nsight. In spring the swampy plain is traversed by sluggish streams,\nlittle better than ditches, the haunts of countless frogs, which sun\nthemselves on the banks and squatter into the water with loud flops at\nthe approach of the wayfarer. The whole scene is one of melancholy and\ndesolation. As the plain stands about two thousand feet above the sea,\nthe climate is piercingly cold in winter as well as burning hot in\nsummer. The marshes now render the site unhealthy at all times, but in\nantiquity it was doubtless better drained. Of the oak-forest, through\nwhich the road ran from Mantinea to Tegea in the days of Pausanias,\nnothing is left. Indeed the oak has long ago retreated from the plains\nto the mountains of Arcadia.\n\n\n\nLVII. THE ROAD TO STYMPHALUS.\u2014The road to Stymphalus, after diverging\nfrom the road to Pheneus, continues to skirt the foot of the mountains\nin a north-easterly direction. Behind us we leave Mount Trachy, which\nseen from the north is an imposing mountain, its steep sides rent by\nparallel gullies. Gradually the hill and plain of Orchomenus disappear\nbehind us, and the path leads into a savage glen, hemmed in by wild\nrocky mountains, bare and desolate, towering high on either side. Away\nup in the face of a precipice on the right of the path is seen the\nlittle monastery of Kandyla, hanging in what appears an almost\ninaccessible position. In winter a torrent flows down the middle of the\nglen to swell the marsh in the plain of Orchomenus. A mile or so beyond\nthe monastery we reach the village of Kandyla, straggling in the wide\ngravelly bed of the torrent, shaded by plane-trees and mulberry-trees,\nand shut in on all sides by high rocky mountains, their sides covered\nwith fir-woods and their summits tipped with snow for a good part of the\nyear. From the upper end of the village a pass leads eastward over the\nmountains to Bougiati and the ancient Alea; the path, which is very\nrough and steep, ascends a wild gully overhung on the south by a huge\nbeetling crag; the descent on the eastern side of the mountains, towards\nBougiati, is so steep as to be almost impassable for horses.\n\nBut at present we are following the path to Stymphalus, which, leaving\nthe village of Kandyla in a northerly direction, ascends the mountain by\nzigzags along the edge of precipices. The snow sometimes lies deep here\nas late as March, making the ascent difficult and dangerous. The pass\nruns north-east between the lofty Mount Skipieza, nearly six thousand\nfeet high, on the left, and the sharp-peaked Mount St. Constantine,\ncrowned with a Frankish castle, on the right. From the first summit of\nthe pass a path branches off to the right, descending into the narrow\nvalley of Skotini which we see stretching eastward beneath us. Half an\nhour more takes us to a second summit, whence we look down on the plain\nand lake of Stymphalus and across to the majestic mass of Mount Cyllene\ntowering on the farther side of the valley. The way now goes down a\nravine shut in on both sides by lofty fir-clad mountains and known as\nthe Wolf\u2019s Ravine from the wolves that are said to abound in it. Thus\ndescending we reach the valley of Stymphalus and the western end of the\nlake.\n\n\n\nLVIII. THE LAKE AND VALLEY OF STYMPHALUS.\u2014The valley of Stymphalus lies\nimmediately to the east of the valley and lake of Pheneus, from which it\nis divided only by the ridge of Mount Geronteum. The general features of\nboth valleys are alike. Both are shut in so closely on all sides by\nmountains and hills that the water which accumulates in them has no\noutlet except by underground chasms, and forms in the bottom of each\nvalley a lake which shrinks in summer. But the valley of Stymphalus is\nsmaller and narrower than the valley of Pheneus, and its lake is quite\ndifferent. Instead of a deep sea-like expanse of blue water, we have\nhere a small lake of the most limpid clearness, the shallowness of which\nis proved to the eye by the patches of reeds and other water-plants that\nemerge from the surface of the water even in the middle of the lake. The\npalm of beauty is generally, I believe, awarded to the lake of Pheneus;\nbut the charms of Stymphalus are of a rarer and subtler sort. Blue lakes\nencircled by steep pine-clad mountains may be found in many lands; but\nwhere shall we look for the harmonious blending of grand mountains and\nsombre pine-forests with a still, pellucid, shallow, but not marshy\nlake, tufted with graceful water-plants, such as meets us in Stymphalus?\n\nThe lake of Stymphalus may be a mile and a half long by half a mile\nwide. On the north it bathes the foot of a ridge or chain of low\nheights, covered with rugged grey rocks and overgrown with prickly\nshrubs, which reaches its highest point on the west and descends\ngradually in terraces to the east, where its last rocks are elevated\nabove the plain and lake by only a few feet. On the crest of this rocky\nridge, towards its eastern end, are some remains of the citadel of\nStymphalus. At the back of the ridge a stretch of level ground divides\nit from the steep slopes of the majestic Cyllene, which rises like a\nwall on the northern side of the valley. The sides of this great\nmountain are mostly bare and of a reddish-grey hue; but the grey\nshoulder of its sister peak on the east, joined to it by a high ridge,\nis mottled with black pines. The mountains on the southern side of the\nlake are also steep and high; low bushes mantle their lower and dark\npine-forests their upper slopes. Conspicuous among them, between immense\npine-covered slopes, is the deep glen known as the Wolfs Ravine, through\nwhich the road goes to Orchomenus.\n\nSolitude and silence, broken by the strident cries of the water-fowl\nthat haunt the mere, reign in the valley. A few hamlets nestle in the\nnooks and glens at the foot of the mountains; but in the wide strath and\non the banks of the lake not a human habitation is to be seen. The\nimpression left by the scenery on some minds is that of gloom and\ndesolation. Yet on a hot day, when all the landscape is flooded with the\nintense sunlight of the south, it is pleasant to sit on the rocky ridge\nof Stymphalus, looking down on the cool clear water of the lake and\nlistening to the cries of the water-fowl, the drowsy hum of bees, and\nthe tinkle of distant goat-bells. In such weather even the dark\npine-forests on the mountains, gloomy as they must be under a bleak\ncloudy sky, suggest only ideas of coolness and shade; and we can well\nimagine that the ancient Stymphalus, with its colonnades and terraces\nrising from the lake, must have been a perfect place in which to lounge\naway the languid hours of a Greek summer. For the high upland character\nof the valley contributes with the expanse of water to temper the heat\nof the summer sun. The traveller who passes, as he may do, in a single\nday from the cool moist air of the valley to the sultry heat of the\nplain of Argos is struck by the contrast between the climates. In the\nmorning he may have left the cherry-trees in blossom at Stymphalus; in\nthe evening he may see the reapers getting in the harvest in the plain\nof Argos.\n\n\n\nLIX. THE LAKE OF PHENEUS.\u2014The lake of Pheneus (for what was a plain in\nthe time of Pausanias is now a lake) is a broad and beautiful sheet of\ngreenish-blue water encircled by lofty mountains which descend in rocky\ndeclivities or sheer precipices to the water\u2019s edge, their upper slopes\nclothed with black pine-woods and their summits capped with snow for\nmany months of the year. Right above the lake on the north-east towers\nthe mighty cone of Cyllene, the loftiest mountain but one in\nPeloponnese; while on the north-west Dourdouvana rears its long serrated\ncrest, culminating in a sharp bare peak of grey rock, at the foot of\nwhich, embowered in trees and gardens, nestles the village of Phonia,\nthe representative of the ancient Pheneus. Here on the north, between\nthe village and the lake, is the only stretch of level ground that\nbreaks the mountain ring, and the luxuriant green of its vineyards and\nmaize-fields contrasts pleasingly with the sombre hue of the\npine-forests all around. The first sight of this blue lake embosomed\namong forest-clad mountains takes the traveller by surprise, so unlike\nis it to anything else in Greece; and he feels as if suddenly\ntransported from the arid hills and the parched plains of Greece to a\nnorthern land\u2014from the land of the olive, the vine, and the orange, to\nthe land of the pine, the mountain, and the lake.\n\nSo completely is the lake fenced in by mountains on all sides that no\nstream can issue from it above ground, and the water escapes only by two\nsubterranean emissaries or _Katavothras_, as they are called by the\nGreeks, at the south-eastern and south-western ends of the lake. Through\nthe latter emissary the water passes under the mountain, and issuing on\nthe other side, about six miles from the lake and eight hundred feet\nbelow its level, forms the source of the Ladon. On the state of these\nemissaries it depends whether the great mountain-basin of Pheneus is a\nfertile plain or a broad lake. From antiquity down to the present\ncentury the periods in which the basin has been completely drained have\nalternated with periods in which it has been occupied by a lake. In the\ntime of Theophrastus (the fourth century B.C.) the bottom of the valley\nseems to have been generally dry land, for he mentions that once, when\nthe emissaries had got choked up, the water rose and flooded the plain,\ndrowning the willows, firs, and pines, which, however, reappeared the\nfollowing year when the flood subsided. In the following century part of\nthe valley at least would seem to have been a lake, for the geographer\nEratosthenes, quoted by Strabo, informs us that the river Anias formed\nin front of the city of Pheneus a lake which was drained by subterranean\npassages, and that when these passages were closed the water rose over\nthe plain, but that when they were opened again it was discharged into\nthe Ladon and hence into the Alpheus in such volume that the sacred\nprecinct at Olympia was flooded, while the lake on the other hand\nshrank. Strabo himself mentions that the flow of the Ladon was once\nchecked by the obstruction of the emissaries consequent upon an\nearthquake. According to Pliny there had been down to his time five\nchanges in the condition of the valley from wet to dry and from dry to\nwet, all of them caused by earthquakes. In Plutarch\u2019s age the flood rose\nso high that the whole valley was under water, which pious people\nattributed to Apollo\u2019s anger at Hercules, who was said to have stolen\nthe prophetic tripod at Delphi and carried it off to Pheneus about a\nthousand years before. However, later on in the same century the waters\nhad again subsided, for Pausanias found the bottom of the valley to be\ndry land, and knew of the former existence of the lake only from\ntradition.\n\nFrom the days of Pausanias down to the beginning of the nineteenth\ncentury we have no record of the condition of the valley. In 1806, when\nLeake and Dodwell visited it, the great valley was still a swampy plain,\ncovered with fields of wheat or barley except at the south-western end,\nwhere round the entrance to the emissary the water formed a small lake\nwhich never dried up even in summer. But in 1821, doubtless through the\nobstruction of the emissaries, the water began to rise over the plain,\nand by 1829-1830, when the French surveyors mapped the district, the\nwhole basin was occupied by a deep lake five miles long by five miles\nwide. On January 1, 1834, the emissaries suddenly opened again, the\nLadon became a deep and raging torrent, the valley was drained, and\nfresh vegetation sprang up on the rich slimy soil. But when Welcker\nvisited Pheneus in 1842 the valley was once more occupied by a lake, and\nhad been so, if he was correctly informed, since 1838 at least. And a\nlake it would seem to have been ever since. In 1853 the Swiss scholar\nVischer found a great lake, exactly as the French surveyors had\nrepresented it on their map; the hill on the north-west side of the\nvalley, on which are the scanty remains of the ancient acropolis,\nprojected like a peninsula into the lake, and the site of the ancient\ncity was deep under water. W. G. Clark in 1856 describes with enthusiasm\nthe \u201cwide expanse of still water deep among the hills, reflecting black\npine-woods and grey crags and sky now crimson with sunset\u201d; according to\nhim the lake was seven miles long and as many wide. In June 1888 Mr.\nPhilippson found a broad clear lake of deep green colour; and in the\nautumn of 1895 I viewed with pleasure the same beautiful scene, though I\nwould describe the colour of the water as greenish-blue rather than\ngreen. The lake has shrunk, however, a good deal since the middle of the\ncentury. A long stretch of level plain, covered with vineyards and\nmaize-fields, now divides the ancient acropolis of Pheneus from the\nmargin of the lake.\n\n\n\nLX. FROM PHENEUS TO NONACRIS.\u2014The route from Pheneus to the Styx, at\nleast so far as the modern village of Zarouchla, is one of the most\nbeautiful in all Greece. The grandeur of the mountains, the richness of\nthe vegetation, the fragrance and charm of the pine-forests, the distant\nviews of the blue lake of Pheneus, all contribute to render the\nimpression which the day\u2019s journey leaves on the memory one of the most\nagreeable that the traveller brings back with him from Greece.\n\nFrom the lower village of Phonia we ascend through the luxuriant gardens\nand lanes of the village to the ridge which bounds the plain of Pheneus\non the north-west. On reaching it, a grand view westward of the mighty\nMount Chelmos (the ancient Aroanius), with its bare summit and pine-clad\nlower slopes, bursts upon us. The mountain is seen rising above a deep\nbasin-like valley, the bottom and sides of which are clothed with the\nrichest vegetation. High up on the slope of the mountain to the\nnorth-west (Mount Crathis), among trees, is the delightfully-situated\nmonastery of St. George. Our path leads down into the valley; on the\nslope grow white poplars and cypresses, and the ground is partly\ncarpeted with ferns. From the bottom of the valley, which is chiefly\noccupied by a charming grove of plane-trees, we ascend through fine\nwoods, mostly of oak, to the monastery of St. George. Still ascending\nafter we have passed the monastery, we plunge again into a maze of\nbeautiful woods and dense tangled thickets, threaded by rills of\nsparkling water. Vegetation of such rank luxuriance is rarely met with\nin Greece. On emerging from these delightful woodlands we traverse,\nalways ascending, a stretch of bare bushy slopes which intervenes\nbetween the verdant glades below and the sombre pine-forests higher up.\nWhen these slopes are passed, we enter the pine-forest, through which\nour way now goes for several hours.\n\nFew things can be more delightful than this ride through the pine-woods.\nIt was a bright October day when I passed through them on my way to\nSolos; in many places the forest was carpeted with ferns, now turned\nyellow, and between the tree-trunks we could see across the valley the\ngreat slopes of Mount Cyllene, of a glowing purple in the intense\nsunlight. From time to time, too, we had views backward over the blue\nwaters of the lake of Pheneus embosomed in its dark pine-clad mountains.\nAdded to all this were the delicious odour of the pines and the\nfreshness and exhilaration of the air at a height of about six thousand\nfeet. But the culmination of beauty, so far as distant views go, is\nreached on the summit of the ridge, before we begin to descend the\nnorthern slope towards Zarouchla. On the one side, toward the\nsouth-east, we look back to the lake of Pheneus and the great mountains\nwhich encircle it, Mount Cyllene above all. On the other side, toward\nthe north-west, we gaze down into the long narrow valley of the river\nCrathis, hemmed in on either hand by high mountains, above which soars\nthe bare sharp peak of Mount Chelmos on the south, while at the farther\nend of the valley the view is closed by the blue Acarnanian mountains\nacross the Gulf of Corinth.\n\nFrom the ridge we now descend through the forest by a steep, winding,\nstony path, till we reach the bed of a stream flowing among romantic\nrocks and woods to join or rather to form, with other streams, the\nCrathis. In the bottom of the valley the richness of the vegetation even\nincreases. We rode through thickets of planes, growing as great bushes\nor small trees, so dense that we had constantly to stoop to the horses\u2019\nnecks to prevent our faces from being brushed by the branches. Other\ntrees and plants, of which I did not know the names, grew in profusion\naround us. And above all this Eden-like verdure of woods and lanes and\nthickets shot up the huge sharp peaks of Chelmos and its sister\nmountains, blue and purple in the sunlight. In this paradise lies the\nvillage of Zarouchla. Beyond it the path follows the valley of the\nCrathis, keeping for the most part on the right bank of the stream. The\nvalley is very narrow, and is enclosed by immense steep mountains, the\nsides of which, wherever it is practicable, are terraced for vines or\nother cultivation. The Crathis, when I saw it, was a clear rushing\nstream, easily fordable at any point. At first the path runs in the\nbottom of the valley through tangled thickets. Here and there, where the\ndale is wide enough to admit of it, a patch of maize is grown. But soon,\nas we proceed, the valley contracts too much to allow even of this, and\nso the path, often rough and difficult for horses, ascends and leads\nalong the barer mountain-side at some height above the stream.\n\nThus advancing we at last arrive opposite to the mouth of the deep glen\ndown which the Styx comes to join the Crathis on its western bank. Here\nwe cross the Crathis and strike up the glen of the Styx. The scenery of\nthe profound and narrow glen is almost oppressively grand. The mountains\nare immense and exceedingly massive; above they are bare and rocky; but\ntheir lower slopes are terraced so as to resemble gigantic staircases,\nand on the terraces are perched several very picturesque villages, the\nhouses scattered at different levels and embowered among trees. At the\nupper end of the glen soars the mighty cone of Mount Chelmos. The\ngrandeur of the scenery, which would otherwise be almost awful, is\nsoftened by the wonderful luxuriance of the vegetation in the glen. The\nhorse-chestnut trees especially, with their enormous gnarled and knotted\ntrunks, are a sight to see. The nightingales are said to be very common\nhere and to sing from February to June. A long laborious ascent by a\nwinding path brings us to the prosperous village of Solos on the eastern\nside of the glen. The villages on the opposite side of the glen,\ndispersed over the terraced slopes, form, with Solos, almost a single\nsettlement. One of them probably occupies the site of the ancient\nNonacris.\n\n\n\nLXI. THE FALL OF THE STYX.\u2014The village of Solos stands, as we have seen,\non the right bank of the Styx, near where that stream falls into the\nCrathis. But the source of the stream is at the head of the glen, some\nmiles to the south, where the water tumbles or trickles, according to\nthe season, over the smooth face of an immense perpendicular cliff, the\ntop of which is not far below the conical summit of Mount Chelmos, a\nmountain nearly eight thousand feet high. The walk from Solos to the\nfoot of the fall and back is exceedingly fatiguing, and very few\ntravellers accomplish it; most of them are content to view the fall from\na convenient distance through a telescope. For the first two miles or so\nthe path is practicable for horses, and travellers who are resolved to\nmake their way to the waterfall will do well to ride thus far and to\nhave the horses waiting for them here on their return. It is also\nnecessary to take a guide or guides. The path winds up the glen, keeping\nat first high on the right bank. The bed of the stream is here prettily\nwooded with poplars and other trees and is spanned by a bridge with a\nsingle high arch. For a considerable distance above the village the\nwater of the Styx, as seen from above, appears to be of a clear\nlight-blue colour, with a tinge of green. This colour, however, is only\napparent, and is due to the slaty rocks, of a pale greenish-blue colour,\namong which the river flows. In reality the water is quite clear and\ncolourless.\n\nIn about twenty minutes from leaving the village we come in sight of the\ncliff over which the water of the Styx descends. It is an immense cliff,\nabsolutely perpendicular, a little to the left or east of the high\nconical summit of Mount Chelmos. The whole of this northern face of the\nmountain is in fact nothing but a sheer and in places even overhanging\nprecipice of grey rock\u2014by far the most awful line of precipices I have\never seen. The cliffs of Delphi, grand and imposing as they are, sink\ninto insignificance compared with the prodigious wall of rock in which\nMount Chelmos descends on the north into the glen of the Styx. The cliff\ndown which the water comes is merely the eastern and lower end of this\nhuge wall of rock. Seen from a distance it appears to be streaked\nperpendicularly with black and red. The black streak marks the line of\nthe waterfall, to which it has given the modern name of Mavro-nero, \u2018the\nBlack Water.\u2019 The colour is produced by a dark incrustation which\nspreads over the smooth face of the rock wherever it is washed by the\nfalling water or by the spray into which the water dissolves before it\nreaches the ground. In the crevices of the cliffs to the right and left\nof the fall great patches of snow remain all the year through. I saw\nthem and passed close to the largest of them on a warm autumn day, after\nthe heat of summer and before the first snow of winter.\n\nAbout twenty-five minutes after leaving Solos we cross the Styx by a\nford, and henceforward the route lies on the left or western bank of the\nstream. Five minutes from the ford bring us to a mill picturesquely\nsituated among trees, where a brook comes purling down a little glen\nwooded with willows and plane-trees. Just above the mill the Styx\ntumbles over a fine rocky lyn in a roaring cascade. Beyond this point\nthe steep slopes of the hills on the opposite bank of the stream are\ncovered with ferns, which when I rode up the glen were tinged with the\ngold of autumn. In front of us looms nearer and larger the cone of Mount\nChelmos with its long line of precipices.\n\nTen or twelve minutes beyond the mill the horses are left and the\ntraveller sets forward on foot. As we advance the glen grows wilder and\nmore desolate, but for the first half-mile or so it is fairly open, the\ntrack keeps close to the bed of the stream, and there is no particular\ndifficulty. A deep glen now joins the glen of the Styx from the\nsouth-east. Here we begin to ascend the slope and cross an artificial\nchannel which brings down water to the mill. All pretence of a path now\nceases, and henceforward till we reach the foot of the waterfall there\nis nothing for it but to scramble over rocks and to creep along slopes\noften so steep and precipitous that to find a foothold or handhold on\nthem is not easy, and stretching away into such depths below that it is\nbest not to look down them but to keep the eyes fixed on the ground at\none\u2019s feet. A stone set rolling down one of these slopes will be heard\nrumbling for a long time, and the sound is echoed and prolonged by the\ncliffs with such startling distinctness that at first it sounds as if a\nrock were coming thundering down upon the wayfarer from above. In the\nworst places the guides point out to the traveller where to plant his\nfeet and hold him up if he begins to slip. Shrubs, tough grass, and here\nand there a stunted pine-tree give a welcome hold, but on the steepest\nslopes they are wanting. The last slope up to the foot of the cliff\u2014a\nvery long and steep declivity of loose gravel which gives way at every\nstep\u2014is most fatiguing. As I was struggling slowly up it with the\nguides, we heard the furious barking of dogs away up the mountains on\nthe opposite side of the glen. The barking came nearer and nearer, and\nbeing echoed by the cliffs had a weird impressive sound that suited well\nwith the scene, as if hell-hounds were baying at the strangers who dared\nto approach the infernal water. However, the dogs came no nearer than\nthe foot of the slope up which we were clambering, and some shouts and\nvolleys of stones served to keep them at bay.\n\nAt the head of this long slope of loose gravel we reach the foot of the\nwaterfall. The water, as I have indicated, descends the smooth face of a\nhuge cliff, said to be over six hundred feet high. It comes largely from\nthe snow-fields on the summit of Mount Chelmos, and hence its volume\nvaries with the season. When I visited the fall early in October, after\nthe long drought of summer, the water merely trickled down the black\nstreak on the face of the cliff, its presence being shown only by the\nglistening appearance which it communicated to the dark surface of the\nrock. At the foot of the cliff it formed a small stream, flowing down a\nvery steep rocky bed into the bottom of the glen far below. The water\nwas clear and not excessively cold. Even when, through the melting of\nthe snows, the body of the water is considerable, it is said to be all\ndissolved into spray by falling through such a height and to reach the\nground in the form of fine rain. Only the lower part of the cliff is\nvisible from the foot of the waterfall, probably because the cliff\noverhangs somewhat. Certainly the cliffs a little to the right of the\nwaterfall overhang considerably. With these enormous beetling crags of\ngrey rock rising on three sides, the scene is one of sublime but wild\nand desolate grandeur. I have seen nothing to equal it anywhere. On the\nthird side, looking down the glen and away over the nearer hills, we see\nthe blue mountains of Acarnania across the Gulf of Corinth; my guide\nsaid these mountains were in Roumelia. In the face of the rock, a few\nyards to the right of the waterfall, are carved the names or initials of\npersons who have visited the spot, with the dates of their visits. Among\nthe names is that of King Otho, with the date 1847.\n\n\n\nLXII. THE VALLEY OF THE AROANIUS.\u2014After traversing the upland plain of\nSoudena in a broad stony bed, which in autumn is dry, the river enters a\ndefile at the south-eastern corner of the plain. Through this defile,\nformed on the east by the slopes of Mount Chelmos and on the west by the\nhills that close the plain of Soudena on the south, the Aroanius and the\nroad to Clitor run side by side. At first the space between the hills is\nbroad and level, dotted here and there with trees. Soon, however, the\nvalley contracts and begins to descend, affording a beautiful prospect\nof range behind range of mountains in the south, shading away according\nto the distance from dark purple to pale blue. The path runs at first on\nthe east bank of the river-bed, which was dry when I saw it early in\nOctober. But after being joined by a tributary, which comes down from\nMount Chelmos in a deeply-excavated bed between slopes of red earth, the\nriver attained the dimensions of a good-sized Scotch burn. Gradually as\nthe mountains close in on either side the valley becomes a glen, through\nwhich the stream flows among plane-trees in a prettily-wooded bed. Here\nthe path crosses to the right or west bank, which it follows\nhenceforward. Farther on the glen contracts into a deep rocky gorge\nbetween steep mountains, but only to expand again and allow the river to\nflow, with a pleasing murmur, in its wooded bed through a stretch of\ncultivated ground. Thus gradually the valley opens out into the plain of\nClitor. Vineyards and maize-fields occupy its lower reaches. It was the\ntime of the vintage when I traversed this beautiful valley. Bunches of\nripe grapes lay as offerings before the holy pictures in the little\nwayside shrines; we met strings of donkeys laden with swelling\nwine-skins or with panniers of grapes; and in the vineyards as we passed\nthe peasants were at work pressing the purple clusters, with which they\ninsisted on loading, for nothing, the aprons of our muleteers.\n\n\n\nLXIII. THE SPRINGS OF THE LADON.\u2014The Ladon of Arcadia, the greatest of\nthe tributaries of the Alpheus, rises in the middle of a valley on the\nwestern side of Mount Saita, the ancient Oryxis. The valley is of some\nbreadth, and its bottom is furrowed on both sides by the dry beds of two\nwatercourses. Between the two watercourses there rises in the midst of\nthe valley a low hill of reddish rock, which ends on the south in a\nprecipitous face some hundred and fifty feet high. At the foot of this\nred precipitous rock lies a large still pool of opaque dark-blue water,\nfringed by sharp-pointed grasses and other water plants, while a few\nstunted willows, holly-oaks, and plane-trees grow among the rocks beside\nit. This pool is the source of the Ladon, which rushes from it in a\nbrawling impetuous stream of dark-blue water, its margin fringed with\nwillows. The water enters the pool, not from the rocks above, but from a\ndeep chasm in the earth which is only visible when, as sometimes\nhappens, the source dries up. A peasant, who was beside the pool when I\nvisited it in 1895, told my dragoman that three years before, after a\nviolent earthquake, the water ceased to flow for three hours, and the\nchasm in the bottom of the pool was exposed, and fish were seen lying on\nthe dry ground. After three hours the spring began to flow a little, and\nthree days later there was a loud explosion and the water burst forth in\nimmense volume. Mr. Philippson was informed on the spot of a like event\nwhich had taken place in 1880. Similar sudden eruptions of water at the\nsource of the Ladon have been reported earlier in the present century\nand in antiquity. The stoppage of the water and its abrupt reappearance\nare doubtless due to the alternate obstruction and clearance of the\nsubterranean passages by which the Lake of Pheneus is drained. For the\nancients were right in supposing that the water which rises at the\nsource of the Ladon comes directly underground from the Lake of Pheneus.\nIt has the same deep greenish-blue tinge as the water of the lake, and\nis flat and tepid to the taste like standing water, not cold and fresh\nlike the water of a mountain spring. The source is distant only about\nfive miles from the lake, from which it is divided by the high range of\nMount Saita. The hills on the opposite or western side of the valley are\nmuch lower; their slopes of reddish rock are partly covered with low\ngreen bushes. Numbers of peasant women may be seen washing clothes\nbeside the pool in the usual Greek fashion; after soaking the clothes in\nwater they beat them with a sort of broad paddle in a wooden trough.\n\n\n\nLXIV. THE GORGE OF THE LADON.\u2014The path from the village of Stretzova\nleads across bushy and rocky slopes, and then through bare stony fields\nto the northern bank of the river. Indian corn is here grown in the\nvalley of the Ladon; wooded mountains rise from its southern bank, and\nhigher mountains of imposing contour close the view on the south-east.\nAt the point where we strike the river two springs gush from under rocks\nand form a pool shaded by fine spreading plane-trees, whence a stream\nflows into the Ladon after a course of a few yards. From this point to\nthe bridge of Spathari, a ride of about five hours, the scenery is\nunsurpassed in Greece. The river here forces its way along the bottom of\na profound gorge hemmed in by high wooded mountains, which in places\ndescend in immense precipices, feathered with trees and bushes in their\ncrevices, to the brink of the rapid stream. The narrow path runs high up\non the right or northern side of the gorge, sometimes overhung by\nbeetling crags, and affording views, now grand now almost appalling,\ndown into the depths of the tremendous gorge, and across it to the high\nwooded slopes or precipices on the farther side.\n\nThe gorge may be said to be divided in two at the village of Divritsa,\nwhere the mountains recede a little from the river, and the scenery of\nthe two parts is somewhat different. In the first half, ending a little\nabove the village of Divritsa, the river sweeps round the base of high\nsteep mountains, which on the south side of the gorge are wooded to\ntheir summits and broken every now and then by a profound glen, the\nsides of which are also wooded from top to bottom. The mountains on the\nnorth side are in general not wooded, but bare or overgrown with bushes.\nThis would detract from the beauty of the scenery if the path ran on the\nsouth side of the gorge, from which the barer slopes of the mountains on\nthe north would be visible. As it is, the path runs along the steep\nsides of the mountains on the north side, and the eye rests continually\non the mighty wall of verdure that rises on the other side of the river.\nI had the good fortune to traverse this wonderful gorge on a bright\nOctober day, when the beautiful woods were just touched here and there\nwith the first tints of autumn. Far below the river was seen and heard\nrushing along, now as a smooth swirling stream of opaque green water\nwith a murmurous sound, now tumbling, with a mighty roar, down great\nrocks and boulders in sheets of greenish-white foam.\n\nBelow Divritsa the grandeur of the gorge increases to the point of being\nalmost overpowering. Wooded mountains rising steeply from the river have\nnow given place to enormous perpendicular or beetling crags tufted with\ntrees and bushes in their crevices wherever a tree or a bush can find a\nfooting, and overhanging the ravine till there is hardly room to pass\nunder them, and they seem as if they would shut out the sky and meet\nabove the river. Add to this that the path is narrow and runs high above\nthe stream along the brink of precipices where a slip or a stumble of\nthe horse might precipitate his rider into the dreadful depths below. We\nseem therefore to breathe more freely when, a little above the bridge of\nSpathari, we at last issue from the gorge and see a great free expanse\nof sky above us, lower hills, and the river winding between them through\nwoodland scenery of a pretty but commonplace type.\n\n\n\nLXV. ALIPHERA.\u2014From the citadel, and indeed from the whole summit of the\nridge, there is a glorious prospect over the valley of the Alpheus for\nmiles and miles. All the mountains of northern Arcadia are spread out\nlike a panorama; and through the broad valley that intervenes between\nthem and the height on which we stand, the Alpheus is seen winding far\naway and far below. The air blows fresh and sweet on the height, and the\npeacefulness, the stillness, the remoteness from the world of this\nlittle mountain-citadel remind one irresistibly of Keats\u2019s lines in the\n\u201cOde on a Grecian Urn\u201d:\n\n What little town by river or sea-shore,\n Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,\n Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?\n\n\n\nLXVI. DIMITSANA.\u2014The ancient Teuthis perhaps occupied the site of the\nmodern Dimitsana, a village which stands very picturesquely on a high\nridge on the left or eastern bank of the Gortynius river, surrounded on\nall sides by steep and lofty mountains. The river sweeps in a semicircle\nat the bottom of a deep gully round the western part of the town, which\nthus stands on a high rocky promontory jutting into the ravine. The\nsteep and narrow streets, which are little better than rocky staircases,\nare lined with shops and present a busy and animated scene. The air is\ncool and healthy. To the south the eye ranges over the vine-clad hills\non both sides of the river, to the green plain of Megalopolis threaded\nby the silver stream of the Alpheus, and bounded far away to the south\nby the snowy range of Taygetus. A steep, rugged, and zigzag path leads\ndown through terraced vineyards to the bed of the river at the southern\nfoot of the hill. Here a bridge spans the stream, just below a point\nwhere the river descends fifty feet in a space of as many yards,\ntumbling over huge masses of rock between lofty precipices overhung with\nshrubs. The hill on the opposite or western side of the ravine is even\nsteeper and higher than that of Dimitsana.\n\nAll round the crest of the ridge occupied by the town are the remains of\nan ancient wall, parts of it being intermixed with the yards, walls, and\nfoundations of private houses. In some places there are several courses\nof masonry standing. The style of masonry is rectangular at the east,\nbut polygonal at the west end of the ridge. The blocks at the latter end\nare enormous. Here too are the foundations of an imposing edifice,\nturned east and west, and built of fine squared blocks. It was doubtless\na temple. Some ancient foundations may also be seen among the terraced\nvineyards on the southern slope of the hill.\n\n\n\nLXVII. GORTYS.\u2014On the right bank of the Gortynius, or river of\nDimitsana, about two and a half miles from its junction with the\nAlpheus, are the ruins of Gortys. They occupy the fairly spacious summit\nof a hill which falls away on the east in lofty precipices to the river.\nA visit to them may be most conveniently paid from Karytaena. From this\npicturesque town, perched high on the right or eastern bank of the\nAlpheus, we descend northward by a very rugged and stony path into the\ndeep glen of the Alpheus. Steep arid mountains enclose the glen, and\nbehind us towers the imposing rock of Karytaena with its ruined\nmediaeval castle. In about half an hour we reach the junction of the\nGortynius river with the Alpheus. We now quit the glen of the Alpheus\nand follow that of the Gortynius river in a north-easterly direction,\nkeeping at first along the left bank of the stream. The glen, though\nshut in by barren stony mountains, is rather less gloomy and forbidding\nthan the glen of the Alpheus which we have left. In less than half an\nhour we descend into the bed of the Gortynius, a rushing stream of clear\nbluish-green water, and cross it by a stone bridge which is carried on a\nhigh pointed arch and paved, in the usual fashion of such bridges in\nGreece, with cobbles of the most agonising shapes and sizes. Just above\nthe bridge the glen deepens and narrows into a ravine with steep rocky\nsides, and the view looking up it, with the old high-arched bridge in\nthe foreground and the rushing stream of green water below, is highly\npicturesque. I drank of the water here and found it by no means cold, in\nspite of what Pausanias says as to the exceeding coldness of the water\nof the Gortynius. But it was hot autumn weather when I passed this way.\nPausanias may have seen the river in winter or spring, when its current\nwas chilled by ice or melting snow. From the bridge a steep and rugged\npath ascends the right or western side of the glen. We follow it and\ncontinue to ride up hill and down dale along the side of the barren\nmountains, with the river rolling along in the bottom of the deep ravine\non our right. Half-way up the precipices which rise on this side of the\nravine hangs a little red-roofed monastery. In about three-quarters of\nan hour from crossing the bridge we reach the ruins of Gortys.\n\nThe ruins, as we have seen, occupy the summit of a hill which overhangs\nthe right or western bank of the Gortynius river. At its eastern\nextremity the hill falls down in sheer precipices of great height into\nthe glen of the river. It is in looking down these immense precipices\nthat we appreciate the height of the hill. On the other hand, seen from\nthe south, as you approach it from Karytaena, the hill presents the\nappearance merely of a gently-swelling down. The reason of this is that\nfrom the bridge over the river we have been gradually rising, and that\nthe ground immediately to the south of Gortys is itself a hill as high\nas the hill of Gortys, from which it is divided only by a slight hollow\nnow chiefly occupied with vineyards. But when we have ascended what\nappears to be the gentle eminence occupied by the ruins of Gortys we see\nthat the hill descends in a long slope north-eastward to the glen of the\nGortynius river, which curves round the hill in a great bend on the\nnorth-east and east. The summit of the hill extends in the form of a\nrather narrow ridge from south-east to north-west, gradually rising to\nits highest point on the north-west. Towards this end the hill is\nnaturally defended on the side of the south by masses of rugged rocks,\nof which the ancient engineers took advantage, interposing pieces of\nwalls in the intervals between the rocks. In the crannies of the rocks\nbushes have now rooted themselves.\n\nThe long slope of the hill down to the glen of the Gortynius on the\nnorth-east is bare and stony. Stony and barren, too, are the mountains\nthat surround Gortys on all sides. In a grey cold light or under a\ncloudy sky they would be exceedingly bleak and dreary; but under the\nwarm sunshine of Greece they are only bare and desolate. The most\npleasing view is down into the glen of the Gortynius on the north-east,\nwhere the river emerges from a narrow defile between high precipices,\nabove which the mountains rise on both sides. At the mouth of the defile\nthere is a house or two among trees. In spite of its height above the\nriver, Gortys lies essentially in a basin shut in on all sides by\nmountains. The summer heat here must consequently be very great. Even in\nOctober, when I visited the place, though a fresh breeze was blowing, it\nwas drowsily hot among the ruins. The sweet smell of the thyme, the\ntinkle of sheep-bells, the barking of dogs, and the cries of shepherds\nin the distance seemed to enhance the feeling of summer and to invite to\nslumber in the shade. But it was pleasant and almost cooling to hear the\nroar of the river, and to see its blue-green water and greenish-white\nfoam away down in the glen.\n\n\n\nLXVIII. THE PLAIN OF MEGALOPOLIS.\u2014Megalopolis stood in the great western\nplain of Arcadia, which, like the great eastern plain of Mantinea and\nTegea, extends in a direction from north to south. In natural beauty the\nplain of Megalopolis is far superior to its eastern neighbour. The\nlatter is a bare monotonous flat, unrelieved by trees or rivers, and\nenclosed by barren mountains, so that its general aspect is somewhat\ndreary and depressing; only towards its northern end do the mountains\nrise in grander masses and with more picturesque outlines. The plain of\nMegalopolis, on the other hand, is surrounded by mountains of fine and\nvaried outlines, some of the slopes of which are clothed with wood, and\nthe surface of the plain itself is diversified with copses and\nundulating downs and hillocks, refreshed by numerous streams shaded with\nplane-trees, and watered by the broad though shallow stream of the\nAlpheus winding through its midst. The scenery, in contrast to that of\nthe eastern plain, is eminently bright, smiling, and cheerful. It is,\nperhaps, seen at its best after rain on a fine morning in early summer.\nThe vegetation is then green, the air pellucid, the outlines of the\nenvironing mountains are sharp and clear, and their tints vary from deep\npurple to lilac.\n\n\n\nLXIX. THE CAVE OF THE BLACK DEMETER.\u2014The cave of the Black Demeter has\nbeen identified with a small cavern in the glen of the Neda, about an\nhour\u2019s walk to the west of Phigalia. The place is known in the\nneighbourhood as the _stomion tes Panagias_ or Gully of the Virgin. To\nreach the cavern it is necessary to descend into the ravine by a steep\nand narrow path which affords very little foothold and overhangs depths\nwhich might turn a weak head. At the awkward places, however, it is\ngenerally possible to hold on to bushes or rocks with the hands. Thus we\ndescend to the bed of the river, which here rushes roaring along at the\nbottom of the narrow wooded ravine, the precipitous sides of which tower\nup on either hand to an immense height. The cave is situated in the face\nof a prodigious cliff on the north side of the ravine, about a hundred\nfeet or so above the bed of the river, from which it is accessible only\nby a narrow and difficult footpath. The ravine at this point sweeps\nround in a sharp curve, and the cavern is placed just at the elbow of\nthe bend. On the opposite side of the lyn, some fifty feet or so away, a\ngreat crag, its sides green with grass and trees wherever they can find\na footing, soars up to a height about as far above the cavern as the\ncavern is above the stream. Hills close the view both up and down the\nglen; those at the upper end are high, steep, and wooded.\n\nThe cavern itself, originally a mere shallow depression or hollow in the\nside of the cliff, has been artificially closed by a rough wall of\nmasonry, apparently of recent date; the plaster seemed to me fresh. In\nthe cavern thus formed a rough floor of boards has been run across at a\nheight of about four feet above the ground. Thus the grotto is divided\ninto two compartments, the upper of which has been converted into a tiny\nchapel with an altar at the end and two holy pictures of Christ and John\nthe Baptist. On one of the walls are some faded frescoes. Light enters\nthe little cave by a small window in the wall beside the altar. At least\nhalf of the roof is artificial, being built of the same rough masonry as\nthe wall. Close beside this tiny cavern, to the east of it, may be seen\na still tinier grotto, separated from the former by a slight\nprotuberance in the rock. The same ledge of rock gives access to both\ngrottoes.\n\nWhat is called the Gully of the Virgin is a tunnel, some hundred yards\nlong, formed of fallen rocks and earth, through which the Neda rushes in\nthe ravine below the cavern. In winter the swollen stream flows over the\nroof of the tunnel, but in summer, when the river is low, you may walk\nthrough the tunnel and admire the stalactites which hang from its roof.\n\n\n\nLXX. THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT BASSAE.\u2014This temple, by far the best\npreserved of all ancient temples in Peloponnese, stands in a strikingly\nwild and secluded situation at a height of nearly four thousand feet\nabove the sea, with a wide prospect southward to the distant mountains\nof Messenia and Laconia. The ground on which the temple is built is a\nnarrow platform on the southern side of a hill, the Mount Cotilius of\nthe ancients. The rocky slopes of this hill, rising rapidly behind the\ntemple, shut out all distant views on the north and north-east. But to\nthe south the slope descends gradually towards the valley of the Neda.\nDue south, through a dip in the hills, is seen the apparently\nflat-topped summit of Ithome. To the south-east, through another gap,\nappears the range of Taygetus, with its beautiful outlines and sharp\nsnowy peaks. In the nearer foreground, between Ithome and Taygetus,\nrises Mount Ira, the last stronghold of the Messenian race in its\nstruggle for freedom with Sparta. To the east are bare rough hills,\ndotted with oak-trees, the western spurs of Mount Lycaeus, while farther\nto the south appears the high round-topped Tetrasi, perhaps the Nomian\nmountains of the ancients. The sea is not visible, but it may be seen by\nascending the slope at the back of the temple. The bleak desolate\nmountains form a striking background to the solitary temple which, built\nof the same cold grey limestone which composes the surrounding rocks,\ntends to deepen rather than relieve the melancholy of the scene, the\nruined fane witnessing silently to the transitoriness of human greatness\nand the vanity of human faith.\n\n\n\nLXXI. THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT AULIS.\u2014From the head of the Bay of Aulis\na small valley, sloping gently upwards, runs inland between hills for\nsomething over a mile. It is watered by a brook which falls into the\nbay. About a mile up the valley from the shore is a ruined Byzantine\nchapel of St. Nicholas, which is supposed to occupy the site of the\ntemple of Artemis, mentioned by Pausanias, where Iphigenia was led to\nthe altar to be sacrificed before the Greek fleet set sail for Troy. The\nscene, if it indeed be so, of this famous event in Greek legend was\nsomewhat bleak and cheerless as I saw it under a leaden sky on a dull\nNovember afternoon. The ruined chapel, with its fallen dome and roofless\nwalls, had a forlorn air, standing solitary in a bare, stony, ploughed\nfield on the slope of the low hills that enclose the little valley on\nthe south. Similar hills\u2014low, stony, and treeless\u2014with higher hills\nrising above them on the north and west, shut in the valley on all sides\nexcept the east, where appeared, of a pale blue-green colour under the\nwintry sky, a bit of the Bay of Aulis, beyond it the open channel of the\nEuripus, and still farther off, bathed in a gloomy purple, the coast and\nmountains of Euboea. Bare ploughed fields, with a small tree dotted here\nand there among them, occupied all the bottom of the valley, and formed\nthe foreground of the melancholy scene. Yet bare fields, stony hills,\nleaden sky, cold steely sea, and purple mountains glooming in the\ndistance, seemed a fitting framework for the ruined shrine, with its\nmemories of departed glory.\n\n\n\nLXXII. GLAUCUS\u2019S LEAP.\u2014Immediately beyond the flat-topped hillock which\nprobably marks the site of Salganeus, the plain comes abruptly to an end\nand the path runs along the steep, bushy, but not precipitous slope of\nMount Messapius at some height above the sea, which on a bright sunshiny\nday is of a beautiful green colour, clear as crystal and dappled with\npatches of purple. Thus proceeding along the steep mountain-side for\nabout a mile we find ourselves opposite a pretty rocky island, wooded\nwith pines, which lies a little way off the shore. On the island is a\nruin which, so far as I could judge by the eye from the shore, seemed to\nbe mediaeval or modern. Hereabouts, too, a row of large stones may be\nobserved lying at the bottom of the clear water, but they appear to be\nboulders rather than hewn stones. Farther on a high cliff, which seen\nfrom the east reminds one of the Lorelei Rock on the Rhine, rises close\nto the shore. The path here descends and runs along the narrow beach at\nthe foot of the cliff, from which a very copious spring of water rushes\ninto the sea. This high cliff is probably what the ancients called\nGlaucus\u2019s Leap. On the morning when I passed it, the clear, sunlit,\ngreenish-blue water at its foot looked very inviting; one could fancy\nthe sea-god taking his plunge into its cool delicious depths. Beyond the\ncliff the path again runs along the foot of the long slope, covered with\nlentisk and holly-oak bushes, which descends from the high, bold,\npointed summit of Mount Messapius in an unbroken sweep to the sea.\n\n\n\nLXXIII. EVENING ON THE EURIPUS.\u2014The views from Anthedon across the\nbeautiful Euripus are charming, especially at sunset when the opposite\nmountains of Euboea glow with delicate pink and lilac hues, and flakes\nof golden and rosy clouds are reflected in the mirror-like surface of\nthe strait, which, apparently landlocked on all sides, resembles a calm\nlake. The effect is heightened if a fishing-boat, its russet sails aglow\nin the warm evening light, chances to glide along at the time, and a\nsnatch of song comes wafted from it across the water.\n\n\n\nLXXIV. THE COPAIC LAKE.\u2014Like other lakes which are drained not by rivers\nbut by natural subterranean passages in the limestone mountains which\nsurround them, the level of the Copaic Lake varied greatly from time to\ntime. Such variations depend upon two different sets of causes, first\nthe varying capacity of the emissaries, and second the varying amount of\nwater poured into the lake.\n\nIn the first place, not only are the emissaries subject to a gradual and\nregular process of change, their passages being slowly clogged and their\nmouths choked up by the alluvial deposits which in the course of ages\nraise the bed of the lake; but they are also exposed to sudden and\nincalculable changes, wrought by earthquakes, landslips, floating logs,\nand so on, which may in a few minutes either widen the passages or block\nthem up altogether. In the second place, while these changes, whether\ngradual or sudden, affect the outflow of the water, others not less\nmarked influence its inflow. For the rainfall, on which the inflow\nultimately depends, varies not only with the year but with the season.\nIn the sub-tropical climate of the Mediterranean rain hardly falls in\nsummer, and as a consequence the streams in that season either flow with\ndiminished volume or dry up entirely.\n\nAll these various causes combine to produce secular and periodic as well\nas irregular and unforeseen variations in the level of lakes like the\nCopaic mere. In no lake, perhaps, have the annual changes been more\nregular and marked than in the Copaic; for while in winter it was a\nreedy mere, the haunt of thousands of wild fowl, in summer it was a more\nor less marshy plain where cattle browsed and crops were sown and\nreaped. So well recognised were these vicissitudes of the seasons that\nplaces on the bank of the lake such as Orchomenus, Lebadea, and Copae\nhad summer roads and winter roads by which they communicated with each\nother, the winter roads following the sides of the hills, while the\nsummer roads struck across the plain. With the setting in of the heavy\nautumn rains in November the lake began to rise and reached its greatest\ndepth in February or March, by which time the mouths of the emissaries\nwere completely submerged and betrayed their existence only by swirls on\nthe surface of the mere. Yet even then the lake presented to the eye\nanything but an unbroken sheet of water. Viewed from a height such as\nthe acropolis of Orchomenus it appeared as an immense fen, of a vivid\ngreen colour, stretching away for miles and miles, overgrown with sedge,\nreeds, and canes, through which the river Cephisus or Melas might be\nseen sluggishly oozing, while here and there a gleam of sunlit water,\nespecially towards the north-east corner of the mere, directed the eye\nto what looked like ponds in the vast green swamp. Bare grey mountains\nrising on the north and east, and the beautiful wooded slopes of Helicon\non the south, bounded the fen. In spring the water began to sink.\nIsolated brown patches, where no reeds grew, were the first to show as\nislands in the mere; and as the season advanced they expanded more and\nmore till they met. By the middle of summer great stretches, especially\nin the middle and at the edges, were bare. In the higher parts the fat\nalluvial soil left by the retiring waters was sown by the peasants and\nproduced crops of corn, rice, and cotton; while the lower parts,\novergrown by rank grass and reeds, were grazed by herds of cattle and\nswine. In the deepest places of all the water often stagnated the whole\nsummer, though there were years when it retreated even from these,\nleaving behind it only a bog or perhaps a stretch of white clayey soil,\nperfectly dry, which the summer heat seamed with a network of minute\ncracks and fissures. By the end of August the greater part of the basin\nwas generally dry, though the water did not reach its lowest point till\nOctober. At that time what had lately been a fen was only a great brown\nexpanse, broken here and there by a patch of green marsh, where reeds\nand other water plants grew. In November the lake began to fill again\nfast.\n\nSuch was the ordinary annual cycle of changes in the Copaic Lake in\nmodern times, and we have no reason to suppose that it was essentially\ndifferent in antiquity. But at all times the water of the lake has been\nliable to be raised above or depressed below its customary level by\nunusually heavy or scanty rainfall in winter or by the accidental\nclogging or opening of the chasms. As we read in ancient authors of\ndrowned cities on the margin of the lake, so a modern traveller tells of\nvillagers forced to flee before the rising flood, and of vineyards and\ncorn-fields seen under water.\n\nThe plan of draining the Copaic Lake, which has been successfully\naccomplished within the last few years, was conceived and apparently\nexecuted at a very remote time in antiquity. Strabo reports a tradition\nthat the whole basin of the lake had at one time been drained and\ncultivated by the people of Orchomenus, and this tradition has been\nstrikingly confirmed by the recent discovery of a complete and very\nancient system of drainage works in the bed of the lake. The discovery\nwas made by the engineers charged with the execution of the modern\ndrainage works. As described by them, the ancient works were composed of\nan ingenious combination of dykes and canals, which completely encircled\nthe lake and, receiving the waters of the streams which flowed into it\non the west and south, conducted them to the chasms on the east and\nnorth-east banks. Where the canal skirted closely the precipitous rocky\nshore of the lake, a single dyke or embankment sufficed, the water being\nled between the dyke and the shore. But where the canal had to cross a\nbay, or where the bank of the lake was not high and steep enough to\nserve as one side of the canal, two parallel dykes were constructed and\nthe water flowed between them. The remains of these ancient drainage\nworks in the bed of the lake are of two sorts. In the first place we see\nthem as low broad mounds, about five feet high and fifty to sixty yards\nwide, stretching for long distances across the plain, either in an\nunbroken line or with occasional gaps. Sometimes it is a single mound\nthat we see, sometimes two parallel mounds at a short distance from each\nother. And between the two parallel mounds or beside the single one a\nlong shallow depression marks the line of the ancient canal. These long,\nlow, broad mounds are clearly the remains of the dykes which formerly\nenclosed the canals, and which have been gradually reduced to their\npresent level by the ceaseless wash of the waters in the course of ages.\nIn the second place, the line of the ancient canals may be traced by the\nwalls built of great polygonal blocks which in many places support and\ncase the inner side of the dykes. In some places these walls are well\npreserved, but in others nothing of them remains but a conspicuous line\nof white stones running for miles through the otherwise stoneless plain.\n\nWhen the system of drainage by canals which has just been described was\nin full operation the basin of the Copaic Lake must have been nearly\ndry. But as we have no ground to suppose that in the historical period\nof antiquity the lake was ever drained, it would seem that we must refer\nthese ancient drainage works to the prehistoric ages. Now Strabo, as we\nhave seen, has preserved a tradition that the bed of the lake was at one\ntime drained and cultivated by the people of Orchomenus. We shall\ntherefore hardly err in ascribing to the Minyans of Orchomenus\u2014the\nDutchmen of antiquity\u2014the extensive system of dykes and canals by which\nthe vast plain was reclaimed from the waters and converted into waving\ncorn-fields and smiling vineyards, which poured wealth into the coffers\nof the burghers. This was the golden age of Orchomenus, when its riches\nvied with the treasures of Delphi and the wealth of Egyptian Thebes.\n\n\n\nLXXV. THE GREAT KATAVOTHRA.\u2014To reach Larymna from the sanctuary of\nApollo on Mount Ptous, we quit the trough or little mountain-girdled\nvalley in which the remains of the sanctuary are to be seen and ascend\nthe ridge that bounds it on the north-west, forming a saddle between\nMount Tsoukourieli and Mount Megalo Vouno. From the summit of the ridge\nor saddle we take a last look backwards at the vale of Apollo with its\nruined sanctuary and the beautiful Lake Likeri, with its winding shores,\nbeyond and below it to the south; then turning northwards we descend\nsomewhat steeply a narrow glen with high bushy sides, which leads us\nstraight down to the north-eastern corner of the great Copaic plain.\nAcross this corner of the plain, which until a few years ago was a marsh\nor even a lake for many months of the year, but is now under\ncultivation, we ride to the Great Katavothra, the largest of the natural\nchasms in the line of cliffs through which the water of the Copaic Lake\nfound its way to the sea. It is a great cave with a high-arched roof\nopening in the face of a cliff of creamy white limestone. Unlike most of\nthe other chasms or emissaries, it is still in use; the river Melas (the\nmodern Mavropotamos or Black River), after traversing all the northern\nedge of the Copaic plain in a canal-like bed, pours its water in a\nsteady stream into the cave and vanishes in the depths. A little way\ninward from the mouth of the cave there is an opening in the roof. When\nthe sunshine streams down through this aperture, lighting up the back of\nthe gloomy cavern with its hanging rocky roof and hurrying river, the\neffect is very picturesque; it is like a fairy grotto, and we could\nalmost fancy that we stood\n\n Where Alph, the sacred river, ran\n Through caverns measureless to man\n Down to a sunless sea.\n\nBut alas! the women who may be seen any day washing their dirty linen at\nthe mouth of the cave break the spell.\n\n\n\nLXXVI. THE VALE OF THE MUSES.\u2014The grove of the Muses lay at the northern\nfoot of Mount Helicon in a valley which is traversed by a stream flowing\nfrom west to east. Towards its western end the valley contracts, being\nhemmed in between the steep, lofty, and wooded slopes of Helicon on the\nsouth and another rugged but less lofty mountain on the north. The\nsaddle which joins the two mountains bounds the Vale of the Muses on the\nwest. A fine view of the valley is to be had from a ruined mediaeval\ntower which surmounts a rocky hill of no great height on the northern\nside of the vale, about midway between Ascra and the village of\nPalaeo-Panagia. Across the valley to the south rise the steep slopes of\nHelicon, rocky below and wooded with pines above. In a glen at the foot\nof these great declivities are seen the trees that hide the secluded\nmonastery of St. Nicholas, below which dark myrtle-bushes extend far\ndown the slope. At the head of the valley in the west the serrated top\nof Helicon appears foreshortened, and a little on this side of the\nhighest point the monastery of Zagara peeps out, delightfully situated\non a woody slope that falls away into the sequestered dale where stand\nthe two villages also called Zagara. To the left of the summit the snowy\ntop of Parnassus just shows itself in the distance. In the nearer\nforeground, on the hither side of the valley, the conical hill of Ascra,\ncrowned with its ruined tower, stands out boldly. Vineyards cover the\ngently-swelling hills on the northern side of the vale, and down the\nmiddle of it the brook Archontitza (probably the ancient Termesus or\nPermessus), fed by many springs, flows through fields of maize and corn.\n\n\n\nLXXVII. HIPPOCRENE.\u2014To reach the far-famed Hippocrene (\u2018the Horse\u2019s\nFount\u2019) from the sanctuary of the Muses we ascend the steep eastern side\nof Helicon over moss-grown rocks, through a thick forest of tall firs.\nAfter a toilsome ascent of about two hours we emerge from the wood upon\na tiny open glade of circular shape, covered with loose stones and\novergrown with grass and ferns. All around rises the dark fir-wood.\nHere, in the glade, is Hippocrene, now called Kryopegadi, or \u2018cold\nspring.\u2019 It is a well with a triangular opening, enclosed by ancient\nmasonry. The clear ice-cold water stands at a depth of about ten feet\nbelow the coping of the well. But it is possible to climb down to the\nwater by means of foot-holes cut in the side, or by holding on to the\nsturdy ivy, which, growing from a rock in the water, mantles the sides\nof the well. The coldness and clearness of the water of this perennial\nspring are famous in the neighbourhood, especially among the herdsmen,\nwho love to fill their skin bottles at it.\n\n\n\nLXXVIII. LEBADEA.\u2014The modern town of Livadia retains the ancient name of\nLebadea but slightly altered. It stands very picturesquely at the mouth\nof a wild gorge in the mountains, facing northward across the plain. The\nwhite houses with their red roofs and wooden balconies climb the\nhill-sides on both banks of the Hercyna, a clear and copious stream,\nwhich issues from the gorge and rushes noisily through the streets in a\nrocky bed, turning some mills and spanned by several bridges. At the\nback of the town a steep rocky hill, crowned with the ruins of a great\nmediaeval castle, descends in sheer and lofty precipices into the gorge\non the left bank of the stream. The houses extend down into the plain,\nscattered among gardens and clumps of trees which give the town, as seen\nfrom below, an agreeable aspect. The mountains at the foot of which\nLebadea lies are the northern spurs of Mount Helicon; the high conical\nsummit to the east is the ancient Mount Laphystius, now the mountain of\nGranitsa. The plain that lies spread out below the town on the north\nmelts eastward into the great Copaic plain; on the north it is divided\nby a chain of low hills from the parallel plain of Chaeronea.\n\nThe greater part of the water of the Hercyna rises in the profound gorge\nimmediately behind the town. Here, at the foot of the great precipice\nwhich is surmounted by the ruins of the castle, a cold spring called\nKryo (\u2018cold\u2019) issues from the rocks and is conducted into a small\nwell-house. Some niches for holding votive offerings are cut in the face\nof the cliff above it. The largest of these cuttings is a square chamber\nhewn out of the rock, about six feet above the ground. Right and left,\nin the sides of the chamber, are benches cut in the rock. In this cool\nretreat the Turkish governor of Lebadea used to smoke his pipe in the\nheat of the day. On the opposite side of the ravine, a few paces off,\nnear some plane-trees, several springs of clear but lukewarm water rush\nturbulently from the ground, and, united with the water of the Kryo,\nform the Hercyna. They turn a cotton-mill close to the spot where they\nrise. That some of these springs are the waters of Memory and\nForgetfulness of which all who would consult Trophonius had to drink\nbefore descending into the oracular pit, is highly probable; but we have\nno means of identifying these mystic waters. An alteration in the flow\nof one of the springs is known to have occurred within the nineteenth\ncentury; and many such changes may have taken place since antiquity. The\ngeneral features of the spot, however, have probably changed but little,\nand they are well fitted to impress the imagination. The many springs\ngurgling strongly from the ground, the verdant plane-trees, the caverned\nrocks, the great precipices soaring on three sides of us and overhung on\nthe west by the ruins of the mediaeval castle, make up a scene which\nonce seen is not easily forgotten. But the ravine of which this is after\nall only the mouth does not end here. Its deep, narrow, stony bed,\nsometimes dry, sometimes traversed by a raging torrent, winds far into\nthe heart of the mountains, shut in on either hand like a ca\u00f1on by\ntremendous crags. If you follow it upwards for some miles, the country\nbegins to open up and you find yourself in bleak and desolate highlands.\nA profound silence reigns, broken only by the cry of a water-ouzel\nbeside the torrent or the screaming of hawks far up the cliffs.\n\n\n\nLXXIX. THE BOEOTIAN ORCHOMENUS.\u2014Orchomenus, one of the oldest and most\nfamous cities in Greece, occupied the eastern extremity of a\nsharply-marked chain of hills\u2014the Mount Acontium (\u2018javelin\u2019) of the\nancients\u2014which extends east and west for about six miles, bounding the\nbroad level plain of the Cephisus on the north. Beginning nearly\nopposite to Chaeronea, which lies at the foot of the hills on the\nsouthern side of the plain, the ridge rises gradually to a considerable\nheight, runs eastward at this level for some miles, and then slopes down\ninto the Copaic plain. From beginning to end it is the stoniest, barest,\nbarrenest, and most forbidding chain of hills that can well be\nconceived; looking up at it you wonder if the foot of man has ever\ntrodden these rugged and pathless solitudes. Close to the southern base\nof these desolate hills the Cephisus\u2014a fairly broad and deep stream of\nturbid whitish water\u2014flows between low banks fringed with tall willows;\nducks disport themselves on its surface, and pigs wallow in the mire on\nits banks. According as the weather has been dry or rainy, the current\nis sluggish or rapid. Riding beside it under the willows on a grey\nNovember day you might fancy yourself on the banks of an English Ouse or\nAvon, if the cotton-fields by the river-side and the towering ridge of\nnaked rock beyond did not remind you that you are in a foreign land.\n\nAt its eastern end the ridge descends in a long and gentle slope,\nexpanding fan-like as it descends to the Copaic plain. This long slope\nwas the site of Orchomenus. The position is one of great natural\nstrength. On the south and north it is protected by the steep and rugged\nsides of the ridge which form, as it were, a first line of defence. At\nthe foot of these declivities the waters of the Cephisus on the south\nand of the Melas on the north constitute a second line of defence; while\non the east, where the descent to the plain is gradual, the site was\ntill lately rendered secure by the great Copaic swamp which advanced to\nwithin a few hundred yards of the end of the slope. The ancient walls,\nof which considerable remains exist, started from the broad eastern foot\nof the hill, and followed its northern and southern brows upwards,\nconverging more and more as they rose till at the upper end of the slope\nthey were within about thirty yards of each other. Here at the head of\nthe slope the walls end at the foot of a cliff which rises like a wall\nto a considerable height. Its small summit, reached by a long, steep,\nand narrow staircase hewn out of the rock, was the ancient acropolis.\nYet this cliff, which presents such an imposing appearance on the east,\nis separated on the west only by a shallow depression of a few feet from\nthe long rugged ridge of the hills. This, therefore, was the weak point\nin the circuit; and art had to be called in to supply the want of a\nnatural defence. Accordingly the little citadel, protected by precipices\non the east and north, was fortified on the west and south by immense\nwalls of massive masonry, the remains of which are amongst the finest\nspecimens of ancient Greek fortification in existence. The fortress thus\nformed is so small that it resembles a castle rather than an acropolis\nof the ordinary Greek type. But the splendid style of the masonry leaves\nno room to doubt that it is a Greek fortress of the very best period,\nprobably of the fourth century B.C.\u2014the golden age of Greek military\nengineering.\n\n\n\nLXXX. THE PLAIN OF CHAERONEA.\u2014The plain of Chaeronea\u2014one of the largest\nplains in Greece\u2014stretches in an unbroken sweep from the foot of Mount\nParnassus eastward to what used to be the Copaic Lake. Its length from\neast to west is about twelve miles, and its breadth from north to south\nabout two. The plain is a dead flat, covered with fields of cotton and\nmaize, and enclosed by bare, stony, barren hills both on the north and\non the south. Seen on a bright summer day, with the mountains beyond the\nCopaic plain appearing blue in the distance and Parnassus towering\ngrandly on the west, the scene is beautiful enough; but on a grey\nNovember morning, with the mists down on the distant mountains, it wears\na cheerless aspect that well becomes a battlefield where a nation\u2019s\nfreedom was lost.\n\n\n\nLXXXI. PANOPEUS.\u2014The space enclosed by the fortification walls and by\nthe rocky crests shows but few signs of habitation. On the highest point\nof the hill, among some holly-oaks, are the scanty tumble-down ruins of\na mediaeval tower, built in the usual way of small stones with bricks\nand mortar in the chinks. A little lower down, and farther to the east,\nis a small chapel with remains of faded paintings on the walls.\nScattered about the hill, especially round the chapel, is a good deal of\nbroken pottery. A fine grove of beautiful holly-oaks now shades part of\nthe summit, growing on a grassy slope amid low plants and shrubs. It is\npleasant in the heat of the day to rest in the shade of these trees, to\nsmell the wild thyme which grows abundantly on the hill, and to enjoy\nthe distant prospects. To the north, across the broad Chaeronean plain,\nwe look straight into the defile through which the Cephisus flows from\nPhocis into Boeotia; at the northern end of the defile the low hill is\nvisible on which are the scanty ruins of Parapotamii. To the west\nParnassus lifts his mighty head at no great distance from us, his middle\nslopes darkened by pine-forests that look like the shadows of clouds\nresting on the mountain-side.\n\n\n\nLXXXII. NEAR HYAMPOLIS.\u2014From the ledge of rocks which bounds the plateau\non the south, near a ruined chapel, a spring of beautifully clear water\ngushes forth. Some ancient blocks lie tumbled about the spring, and a\ntall poplar-tree grows opposite it. The day was very hot when I passed\nit on my way to and from the ruins of Hyampolis; but the leaves of the\npoplar rustled in the breeze, and the water flowed from under the rocks\nwith a soothing murmur. Parnassus loomed dim in the distance through a\nhaze of heat. On my return from the ruins I found a shepherd boy at the\nspring who offered to share his bread with me. This picturesque spot, on\nwhich a poet of the Anthology might have written an epigram, is perhaps\nthe site of the temple of Artemis mentioned by Pausanias.\n\n\n\nLXXXIII. TITHOREA.\u2014The site of Tithorea, first identified by Clarke in\n1801, is occupied by the modern village of Velitsa, which stands very\npicturesquely among trees on the north-eastern slopes of Parnassus,\noverlooking the broad valley of the Cephisus. About two-thirds of the\nvillage are enclosed within the ancient ivy-mantled walls, which rank\nwith those of Messene and Eleutherae as among the finest existing\nspecimens of Greek fortifications. At the back of the village to the\nsouth rises a huge mountainous cliff of grey rock, its ledges tufted\nwith pines. Between the foot of this great cliff and the village there\nintervenes a very steep slope, mostly overgrown with holly-oak bushes.\nOn the east the village as well as the site of the ancient city is\nbounded by a very deep rocky ravine, which winds southward into the\nheart of the mountains. At the bottom of the ravine a torrent flows from\nParnassus over a broad gravelly bed to join the Cephisus in the plain\nbelow. This torrent, now called Kakorevma or Evil Stream, is the ancient\nCachales. In the time of Pausanias, the townspeople, he tells us, had to\nfetch their water in buckets from the depths of the lyn. Nowadays a\nportion of the water of the stream is diverted higher up the glen and\nbrought in a conduit to the village, where it turns two mills and waters\nthe gardens and orchards. As Tithorea was thus naturally defended on two\nsides, namely by the great cliff on the south and by the deep ravine on\nthe east, it needed walls on two sides only, the west and the north.\nThese walls, starting from the foot of the cliff, first descend the\nsteep slope in a straight line above the village, then follow the\ngentler slope within the village, still in a direction due north, till\nthey turn round at an obtuse angle and run eastward to the brink of the\nravine. Here they stop. Along the edge of the ravine a number of ancient\nblocks may be observed, but whether they are the remains of an ancient\nfortification wall is not clear. Perhaps the deep precipitous side of\nthe ravine may have been considered a sufficient defence by itself. The\nwalls so far as they exist are finely and solidly built of regular\nashlar masonry, and are flanked by massive square towers constructed in\nthe same style. Walls and towers are best preserved in the lower ground\namong the houses and gardens of the village, but on the steep slope\nabove the village the remains are also considerable.\n\nThe investigation of the ruined fortifications on this slope, it may be\nobserved, is a matter of some difficulty, for the slope is not only very\nsteep but overgrown with prickly shrubs and cumbered with huge fallen\nblocks. The antiquary who picks his way painfully among these obstacles\nis mortified by the contrast between his own slow progress and that of\nthe village urchins who accompany him; for they climb and skip like\ngoats on the top of the walls, now appearing suddenly on the highest\npinnacles and then again leaping from stone to stone with wonderful\nconfidence and agility.\n\nThe remains of the walls in the village, on the other hand, can be\nexamined without discomfort, and they better repay study. Here on the\nnorth and north-west the wall, flanked by square towers, is standing in\nan unbroken line for a considerable distance. As a whole, the masonry of\nthe walls and towers is splendid, massive, and almost quite regular,\nwithout being absolutely so. The beauty of these venerable walls is much\nenhanced by the thick green veil of ivy and other creepers which clothes\ntheir sides and droops in graceful festoons from their summits. Such a\nmantle of clinging verdure is very rare in Greece, where the ancient\ntemples and fortresses, unlike the ivy-clad abbeys and castles of\nEngland, remain for the most part to this day as bare as when they were\nbuilt, without even a patch of moss to soften their hard outlines and to\ntell of the lapse of ages.\n\nDistant views complete the charm of Tithorea. From its ivied walls,\nrising among the gardens and houses of the village, we look up at the\nhuge grey crag that hides the higher slopes of Parnassus, or down the\nlong gradual declivity to the wide valley of the Cephisus and across it\nto the hills, somewhat low and tame, at whose foot lie the scanty ruins\nof Elatea.\n\n\n\nLXXXIV. FROM AMPHISSA TO GRAVIA.\u2014The smiling verdure of Amphissa and its\nneighbourhood forms a striking contrast to the stern, arid, and rocky\nscenery of Delphi, which is only ten miles off. At Amphissa, indeed, we\nare on the borders of almost Swiss scenery. For the fir-clad and\ntorrent-rent mountains of Locris and Doris, which rise to the\nnorth-west, are the loftiest in the present kingdom of Greece. Two of\nthe peaks exceed eight thousand feet in height. A fine specimen of this\nAlpine scenery may be obtained by following the mule-path which leads\nnorth from Amphissa over the mountains to the village of Gravia in the\nancient canton of Doris. With the exception of the village of Topolia,\nwhich we leave on the right, and here and there a small farm far up on\nthe mountain-side, not a human dwelling is to be seen. At first the path\nascends the western declivities of Parnassus. Looking down to the left\nwe see below us a narrow dale, where in early summer the course of the\nstream, now nearly dried up, is marked by the red oleander blossoms.\nBeyond the dale Mount Kiano rears its snowy head, the loftiest mountain\nin Greece; and behind it the long and almost equally lofty ridge of\nVardousia is seen stretching north and south. The finest point on the\nroute is at a clear spring which bubbles up at the top of the pass, just\nwhere the road surmounts the ridge that joins Parnassus to the mountains\nof Locris. Hitherto we have been ascending from the south; from this\npoint the road begins to descend to the north. The valley now contracts.\nThe snowy peaks in the west disappear, but their lower spurs form, with\nthe western declivities of Parnassus, a narrow pass, down which a brook\nbabbles over rocks and stones, its banks overhung with plane-trees.\nPines and oaks of various kinds contrast pleasantly with the steep\ncliffs and bushy slopes; and now and then we come to a little grassy\nglade or a patch of corn. \u201cIt is,\u201d says the Swiss traveller Vischer,\nwhose description of the road I have borrowed, \u201calmost a Swiss region,\nand I might have fancied myself transported to my native land, if the\nholly-oaks and oriental plane-trees had not reminded me that I was in\nthe south.\u201d Thus descending by a steep and rugged path we reach the\nvillage of Gravia at the northern end of the pass, in five or six hours\nfrom Amphissa.\n\n\n\nLXXXV. DAULIS.\u2014The situation of ancient Daulis is exceedingly beautiful.\nIt occupied the broad but somewhat uneven summit of a fine massive hill,\nwhich rises abruptly from the glens at the eastern foot of Parnassus.\nEverywhere the sides of the hill\u2014which in the grandeur of its outlines\ndeserves almost to rank as a mountain\u2014are high and steep, except at a\nsingle point on the west where a narrow ridge connects it with the main\nmass of Parnassus. On the south the hill falls away in sheer and lofty\nprecipices of grey rock into a deep romantic glen, the sides of which,\nwhere they are not precipitous, are mantled with dark green shrubbery.\nBeyond the ridge to the west soar the immense grey precipitous slopes of\nParnassus, mottled here and there with dark pines. High up on its side\nis seen a white monastery at the mouth of a dark gorge, through which a\npath ascends to the summit. In the hollow between the hill of Daulis and\nthese great slopes, a mill nestles picturesquely among trees; the water\nis led to it in a mill-race. Northward the ruined walls of Daulis, here\nthickly overgrown with ivy and holly-oak, look across a deep dell to the\npretty village of Davlia, embowered among trees and gardens on the\nopposite hill-side. The descent to the valley on this side is steep and\nbushy, but not precipitous, except where a line of rocks runs obliquely\nup it on the north-west. Here and there in the valley the last slopes of\nthe hill are terraced and planted with vines. At the eastern foot of the\nhill begins the great plain\u2014the scene of so many famous battles\u2014which\nstretches away for miles past the ruins of Panopeus and Chaeronea until\nat Orchomenus it melts into the still vaster expanse of the Copaic\nplain. To the south-east, beyond an intervening range of low hills,\nappears the sharp outline of Helicon. In this direction, at the southern\nend of the narrow valley which divides these low hills from the mighty\nsteeps of Parnassus, is the famous Cleft Way, where Oedipus is said to\nhave done the dark deed that was the beginning of all his woes.\n\nAltogether few places in Greece surpass Daulis in romantic beauty of\nsituation and the wealth of historical and legendary memories which the\nlandscape, both near and far, is fitted to evoke. Standing on the brow\nof its precipices we feel that this mountain fastness, frowning on the\nrich champaign country below, was well fitted to be the hold of a wild\nwicked lord like Tereus, of whose bad deeds the peasants might tell\ntales of horror to their children\u2019s children. But now all is very\npeaceful and solitary in Daulis, for the tide of life has long rolled\naway from it. Parnassus still looks down on it as of old; but ivy\nmantles the ruins, the wild thyme smells sweet on the hill, and the\ntinkle of goat-bells comes up musically from the glen. Only the shadow\nof ancient crime and sorrow rests on the fair landscape.\n\n\n\nLXXXVI. THE CLEFT WAY.\u2014About five miles to the south-west of Daulis the\nroad, after skirting the eastern foot of the mighty mass of Mount\nParnassus, turns sharply to the west and begins to ascend through the\nlong, narrow, and profound valley which leads to Delphi. Just at the\npoint where the road turns westward and before it begins the long ascent\nit is joined from the south-east by the direct road from Lebadea and\nThebes. The meeting of the three roads\u2014the road from Daulis, the road\nfrom Delphi, and the road from Thebes\u2014is the Cleft Way or Triple Road,\nthe scene of the legendary murder of Laius by Oedipus. It is now known\nas the Cross Road of Megas, after the gallant Johannes Megas, who met\nhis death here in July 1856, while exterminating a band of brigands with\na small troop of soldiers. His monument, on a rock at the meeting of the\nroads, bears a few verses in modern Greek. Apart from any legendary\nassociations the scene is one of the wildest and grandest in Greece,\nrecalling in its general features, though on a vastly greater scale, the\nmouth of Glencoe. On both sides of the valley the mountains tower\nabruptly in huge precipices; the cliffs of Parnassus on the northern\nside of the valley are truly sublime. Not a trace of human habitation is\nto be seen. All is desolation and silence. A more fitting spot could\nhardly be found for the scene of a memorable tragedy.\n\n\n\nLXXXVII. DELPHI.\u2014The site of Delphi, till lately occupied by the modern\nvillage of Kastri, is in the highest degree striking and impressive. The\ncity lay at the southern foot of the tremendous cliffs of Parnassus,\nwhich form a sheer wall of rock, about eight hundred feet high. Over\nthese frightful precipices Philomelus drove some of the defeated\nLocrians. Just at the angle where this vast wall of rock bends round\ntowards the south it is rent from top to bottom by a deep and gloomy\ngorge, some twenty feet wide, where there is a fine echo. Facing each\nother across this narrow chasm rise two stupendous cliffs, whose peaked\nsummits tower considerably above the rest of the line of cliffs. They\nare nearly perpendicular in front, and perfectly so where they fall\nsheer down into the gorge. The eastern of the two cliffs was called\nHyampia in antiquity; from its top Aesop is said to have been hurled by\nthe Delphians. It has been suggested, though perhaps without sufficient\nreason, that when the later writers of antiquity, especially the Roman\npoets, speak of the two summits of Parnassus, they are really referring\nto these two cliffs. In point of fact the cliffs are far indeed from\nbeing near the summit of Parnassus; but seen from Delphi they completely\nhide the higher slopes of the mountain. In winter or wet weather a\ntorrent comes foaming down the gorge in a cascade about two hundred feet\nhigh, bringing down the water from the higher slopes of the mountain. At\nthe mouth of the gorge, under the eastern cliff, is the rock-cut basin\nof the perennial Castalian spring, a few paces above the highway. The\nwater from the spring joins the stream from the gorge, which, after\npassing over the road, plunges into a deep rocky lyn or glen, which it\nhas scooped out for itself in the steep side of the mountain. Down this\nglen the stream descends to join the Plistus, which flows along the\nbottom of the Delphic valley from east to west, at a great depth below\nthe town.\n\nFrom the cliffs at the back of Delphi the ground slopes away so steeply\nto the bed of the Plistus that it is only by means of a succession of\nartificial terraces, rising in tiers above each other, that the soil can\nbe cultivated and made fit for habitation. There are about thirty of\nthese terraces, supported by stone walls, mostly of polygonal masonry.\nThe sanctuary of Apollo occupies only the five or six highest terraces\nat the foot of the cliffs, on the western side of the Castalian gorge.\nSo high does it stand above the bottom of the valley that twenty minutes\nare needed to descend the steep terraced slope to the bed of the\nPlistus. Corn is grown on the terraces below the sanctuary; and the\nslopes on the eastern side of the Castalian gorge are wooded with fine\nolive and mulberry trees. Across the valley, on the southern side of the\nPlistus, rise the bare precipitous cliffs of Mount Cirphis, capped with\nfir-woods. From the western end of the precipices which rise at the back\nof Delphi a high rocky ridge projects southward toward the bed of the\nPlistus. This ridge closes the valley of Delphi on the west, shutting\nout all view of the Crisaean plain and the gulf of Corinth, though a\nglimpse of the waters of the gulf is obtained from the stadium, the\nhighest part of Delphi.\n\nThus, enclosed by a rocky ridge on the west, by tremendous precipices on\nthe north and east, and faced on the south, across the valley of the\nPlistus, by the lower but still precipitous sides of Mount Cirphis,\nDelphi lay in a secluded mountain valley; and rising on terraces in a\nsemicircular shape, it resembled an immense theatre, to which it has\njustly been compared by ancient and modern writers. The whole scene is\none of stern and awful majesty, well fitted to be the seat of a great\nreligious capital. In respect of natural scenery no contrast could well\nbe more striking than that between the two great religious capitals of\nancient Greece, Delphi and Olympia\u2014Delphi clinging to the rugged side of\nbarren mountains, with frowning precipices above and a profound glen\nbelow; Olympia stretched out on the level margin of a river that winds\nin stately curves among the corn-fields and vineyards of a smiling\nvalley set between soft wooded hills.\n\n\n\nLXXXVIII. AESCHINES AT DELPHI.\u2014That the place of assembly of the\nAmphictyonic Council at Delphi must have been situated near the chapel\nof St. Elias is shown by a passage of Aeschines, in which he says that\nthe Cirrhaean plain lay spread beneath and in full view of the\nmeeting-place of the Amphictyonic Council. The orator himself, he tells\nus, was one of the Athenian representatives at a meeting of the Council.\nAddressing it he pointed to the smiling and peaceful plain stretched at\ntheir feet, with its olive-groves and corn-fields, its cottages and\npotteries, and in the distance the shining waters of the gulf, with the\nport-town visible beside it. \u201cYou see,\u201d he cried, \u201cyonder plain tilled\nby the men of Amphissa and the potteries and cottages they have built.\nYou see with your eyes the fortifications of the cursed and execrated\nport. You know for yourselves that these men levy tolls and take money\nfrom the sacred harbour.\u201d He then reminded his hearers of the oath sworn\nby their ancestors that this fair plain should lie a wilderness for\never. His words were received with a tumult of applause, and next day at\ndawn the men of Delphi, armed with shovels and mattocks, marched down\ninto the plain, razed the fortifications of the port to the ground, and\ngave the houses to the flames. It is refreshing to know that on their\nway back they were hotly pursued by the Amphissaeans in arms and had to\nrun for their lives. This was the beginning of the chain of events which\nin a few months more brought Philip at the head of a Macedonian army\ninto Greece and ended in the overthrow of Greek freedom at Chaeronea.\n\nThe view described by the orator, whose ill-omened eloquence brought all\nthese miseries and disasters in its train, is to be obtained, not from\nthe platform on which the chapel of St. Elias stands, but from a point a\nlittle way to the south-west of it, where the traveller coming from\nDelphi reaches the end of the high ridge that shuts in the valley of\nDelphi on the west. Here as he turns the corner the whole Crisaean\nplain, now covered with luxuriant olive-woods, comes suddenly into\nsight. The scene is again as rich and peaceful as it was before\nAeschines raised his voice, like the scream of some foul bird snuffing\nthe carrion afar off, and turned it into a desert. We may suppose either\nthat in his time the Amphictyonic Council met at this point, or, what is\nfar likelier, that the orator\u2019s description of that day\u2019s doings is more\ngraphic than correct.\n\n\n\nLXXXIX. THE PYTHIAN TUNE.\u2014Sacadas was said to be the first who played\nthe Pythian air on the flute at Delphi. The tune has been described for\nus by Pollux and Strabo. The melody, intended to represent musically\nApollo\u2019s combat with the dragon, was played by a single flute, but now\nand then the trumpets and fifes struck in. First Apollo was heard\npreparing for the fight and choosing his ground. Then followed the\nchallenge to the dragon, then the battle, indicated by an iambic\nmeasure. Here probably the music imitated the twanging of the silver bow\nand the swish of the arrows as they sped to their mark. It is expressly\nsaid that the gnashing of the monster\u2019s teeth was heard, as he ground\nthem together in his agony. Here the trumpets came in, not in long-drawn\nwinding bouts, but in short single blasts, one perhaps for each\narrow-shot, every flourish marking a hit. The shrill wailing notes of\nthe fifes mimicked the dragon\u2019s dying screams. Then the flute broke into\na light lilting air, beating time to the triumphal measure trodden by\nthe victorious god.\n\n\n\nXC. THE LACEDAEMONIAN TROPHY AT DELPHI.\u2014The many statues of gods,\nadmirals, and generals which formed the proud trophy of the\nLacedaemonians at Delphi appear to have stood like soldiers in stiff\nformal rows at different heights on the steps of the pedestal, scowling\nat the Athenian trophy which probably faced them on the opposite side of\nthe road.\n\nThis Lacedaemonian trophy, commemorative of the great naval victory of\nAegospotami, is repeatedly referred to by Plutarch. He says that from\nthe spoils of the battle Lysander set up bronze statues of himself and\nof all the admirals, together with golden stars of the Dioscuri; and\nelsewhere he tells us that in his time these old bronze statues of the\nadmirals were covered with a beautiful blue patina, the growth of ages,\nso that people spoke of them as being true blue salts. Cicero specially\nmentions the statue of Lysander at Delphi. The reason for dedicating\ngolden stars of the Dioscuri would seem to have been that Castor and\nPollux were said to have appeared on the side of the Lacedaemonians at\nthe battle of Aegospotami, just as they appeared on the Roman side at\nthe battle of Lake Regillus. It is related that after the battle of\nLeuctra, which gave the death-blow to Spartan prestige and power, the\ngolden stars disappeared from Delphi and were never seen again, as if in\ntoken that the star of Sparta\u2019s fortunes had set. The dedication of the\nstars in memory of the appearance of the Dioscuri is an interesting\nconfirmation of the view that the twins Castor and Pollux were the\nMorning and Evening Star, the equivalents of the Sanscrit A\u015bvins. It is\nnotable that in Roman history the appearances of the Dioscuri as\nmessengers of victory seem always to have taken place in the same season\nof the year, namely at the summer solstice or the first full moon after\nit. By a curious coincidence the old chronicler Holinshed reports that\non the eve of the battle of Bannockburn, which was also Midsummer Eve,\ntwo men appeared at Glastonbury saying they were going to help the Scots\nin a battle next day; and a single knight in bright armour rode into\nAberdeen on the afternoon of the battle and was seen to pass over into\nthe Orkneys in the evening.[9]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 9:\n\n For this modern instance I have to thank my friend Mr. R. A. Neil, of\n Pembroke College.\n\n-----\n\n XCI. THE GODS IN BATTLE.\u2014Apollo,\n\nArtemis, and Athena are said to have appeared in person fighting for the\nGreeks against the Gauls. The heroes Theseus and Echetlus were seen\ncombating on the Greek side at Marathon. In the great sea-fight of\nSalamis phantoms of armed men were perceived stretching out their hands\nfrom Aegina to protect the Greek ships; they were believed to be the\nAeacids, who had been prayed to for help before the battle. The spirit\nof Aristomenes was said to have fought for the Thebans against his old\nfoes the Spartans at Leuctra. The Mantineans fancied they saw Poseidon\nwarring on their side against the Lacedaemonians. In a battle between\nthe people of Crotona and the people of Locri, two unknown youths, of\nwondrous stature, in strange armour, clad in scarlet and riding white\nhorses, were seen fighting on the wings of the Locrian army; after the\nbattle they disappeared. These two youths were probably regarded as\nCastor and Pollux, whose reported appearance at the battle of the Lake\nRegillus, charging with lances in rest at the head of the Roman cavalry,\nis well known. It is said that when Alaric approached Athens he beheld\nAthena in full armour patrolling the walls, and Achilles guarding them\nwith the same fiery valour with which he had avenged the death of\nPatroclus; terrified by the vision, the fierce barbarian gave up all\nthought of attacking the city. Similarly in the battles between the\nSpaniards and the Indians of Mexico it is affirmed by grave historians\nthat St. James, the patron Saint of Spain, was seen tilting on his\nmilk-white steed at the head of the Christian chivalry. In one of these\nbattles a lady robed in white, supposed to be the Virgin, was visible by\nthe side of St. James, throwing dust in the eyes of the infidels. The\nstout old chronicler Bernal Diaz, who fought in these wars, confesses\nthat for his sins he was not found worthy to behold the glorious\nApostle.[10]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 10:\n\n For these Spanish parallels I am indebted to my lamented friend the\n late W. Robertson Smith. Niebuhr had previously made exactly the same\n comparison.\n\n-----\n\n\n\nXCII. THE SIBYL\u2019S WISH.\u2014The author of the _Exhortation to the Greeks_\nwas shown at Cumae a bronze bottle in which the remains of the Sibyl\nwere said to be preserved. Trimalchio in Petronius says: \u201cAt Cumae I saw\nwith my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the children said\nto her, \u2018Sibyl, what do you wish?\u2019 she used to answer, 'I wish to die.'\u201d\nAmpelius tells us that the Sibyl was said to be shut up in an iron cage\nwhich hung from a pillar in an ancient temple of Hercules at Argyrus. It\nhas been pointed out by Dr. M. R. James that parallels to the story of\nthe Sibyl\u2019s wish are to be found in German folk-tales. One of these\ntales runs as follows: \u201cOnce upon a time there was a girl in London who\nwished to live for ever, so they say:\n\n \u2018London, London is a fine town.\n A maiden prayed to live for ever.\u2019\n\nAnd still she lives and hangs in a basket in a church, and every St.\nJohn\u2019s Day about noon she eats a roll of bread.\u201d Another story tells of\na lady who resided at Danzig and was so rich and so blest with all that\nlife can give that she wished to live always. So when she came to her\nlatter end, she did not really die but only looked like dead, and very\nsoon they found her in a hollow of a pillar in the church, half standing\nand half sitting, motionless. She stirred never a limb, but they saw\nquite plainly that she was alive, and she sits there down to this\nblessed day. Every New Year\u2019s Day the sacristan comes and puts a morsel\nof the holy bread in her mouth, and that is all she has to live on.\nLong, long has she rued her fatal wish who set this transient life above\nthe eternal joys of heaven. A third story relates how a noble damsel\ncherished the same foolish wish for immortality. So they put her in a\nbasket and hung her up in a church, and there she hangs and never dies,\nthough many, many a year has come and gone since they put her there. But\nevery year on a certain day they give her a roll and she eats it and\ncries out \u201cFor ever! for ever! for ever!\u201d And when she has so cried she\nfalls silent again till the same time next year, and so it will go on\nfor ever and for ever. A fourth story, taken down, near Oldenburg in\nHolstein, tells of a jolly dame that ate and drank and lived right\nmerrily and had all that heart could desire, and she wished to live\nalways. For the first hundred years all went well, but after that she\nbegan to shrink and shrivel up till at last she could neither walk nor\nstand nor eat nor drink. But die she could not. At first they fed her as\nif she were a little child, but when she grew smaller and smaller they\nput her in a glass bottle and hung her up in the church. And there she\nstill hangs, in the church of St. Mary at L\u00fcbeck. She is as small as a\nmouse, but once a year she stirs.\n\n\n\nXCIII. ORPHEUS IN HELL.\u2014Why in his picture of hell the painter\nPolygnotus should have depicted Orpheus touching the branches of a\nwillow-tree is not clear. Pausanias has himself rightly pointed out that\nwillows grew in the grove of Proserpine, but that does not suffice to\nexplain the gesture of Orpheus in the picture. Mr. J. Six ingeniously\nsuggests that when Orpheus went to hell to fetch the soul of his lost\nEurydice he may have carried in his hand a willow-branch, just as Aeneas\ncarried the Golden Bough, to serve as a passport or \u2018open Sesame\u2019 to\nunlock the gates of Death to a living man, and that in memory of this\nformer deed the painter may have depicted the bard touching the willow.\nVirgil tells how at sight of the Golden Bough, \u201cnot seen for long,\u201d the\nsurly Charon turned his crazy bark to shore and received Aeneas on\nboard. Mr. Six surmises that here the words \u201cnot seen for long\u201d refer to\nthe time when Orpheus, like Aeneas, had passed the ferry with the Golden\nBough in his hand. If he is right, Polygnotus took a different view of\nthat mystic branch from Virgil, who certainly regarded it as a glorified\nmistletoe. Professor C. Robert accepts Mr. Six\u2019s explanation. Formerly\nhe held that Pausanias had misinterpreted the gesture of Orpheus. The\nbard, on Professor Robert\u2019s earlier view, was depicted merely holding\nthe lyre with one hand and playing on it with the other, and a branch of\nthe willow under which he sat drooped down and touched the hand that\nswept the strings. This view, which Professor Robert has wisely\nabandoned, is open to several objections. It substitutes a commonplace\ngesture, which Pausanias could hardly have so grossly mistaken, for a\nremarkable one which, however it is to be explained, had clearly struck\nPausanias as unusual and significant. Again, if Orpheus had been\ndepicted playing, would not some one have been represented listening?\nBut, so far as appears from Pausanias\u2019s description, not a soul was\npaying any heed to the magic strains of the great minstrel. It seems\nbetter, therefore, to suppose that, like blind Thamyris, he sat sad and\nsilent, dreaming of life in the bright world, of love and music.\n\n\n\nXCIV. THE ACHERON.\u2014The Acheron is the river now known as the Suliotiko\nor Phanariotiko which comes down from the mountains of the once famous\nSuli and winds, a sluggish, turbid, and weedy stream, through the wide\nplain of Phanari, traversing some swamps or meres before it reaches the\nsea. These swamps, which extend nearly to the sea, and never dry up\nthough they shrink in summer, are the Acherusian lake. The plain, where\nit is not too marshy, is covered with fields of maize and rice and\nmeadows where herds of buffaloes browse. A few plane-trees and low\ntamarisks fringe the margin of the winding river. Otherwise the plain is\nmostly treeless. On its eastern side rise, like a huge grey wall, the\nwild and barren mountains of Suli.\n\nBefore entering the plain, on its passage from these rugged highlands,\nthe Acheron flows through a profound and gloomy gorge, one of the\ndarkest and deepest of the glens of Greece. On either side precipices\nrise sheer from the water\u2019s edge to a height of hundreds of feet, their\nledges and crannies tufted with dwarf oaks and shrubs. Higher up, where\nthe sides of the glen recede from the perpendicular, the mountains rise\nto a height of over three thousand feet, the black pine-woods which\ncling to their precipitous sides adding to the sombre magnificence of\nthe scene. A precarious footpath leads along a perilous ledge high up on\nthe mountain-side, from which the traveller gazes down into the depths\nof the tremendous ravine, where the deep and rapid river may be seen\nrushing and foaming along, often plunging in a cascade into a dark\nabyss, but so far below him that even the roar of the waterfall is lost\nin mid-air before it can reach his ear.\n\nAt the point where the river emerges from the defile into the plain,\nthere are a few cottages with some ruins of a church and fortress on the\nright bank. The place is called Glyky. The church seems to have occupied\nthe site of an ancient temple; some fragments of granite columns and\npieces of a white marble cornice, adorned with a pattern of acanthus\nleaves, may be seen lying about. Here, perhaps, was the seat of that\nOracle of the Dead where the envoys of Periander, tyrant of Corinth,\nsummoned up the ghost of his murdered wife Melissa, and where Orpheus\nvainly sought to bring back his lost Eurydice from the world of shades.\n\n\n\nXCV. A RIDE ACROSS PARNASSUS.\u2014We left the new village of Delphi, which\nstands a little to the south-west of the ancient sanctuary, shortly\nafter eight o\u2019clock, and at once struck up the mountain-side at the back\nof the village. The path for a good way is the same as that to the\nCorycian cave. It climbs the bare rocky face of the mountain in a series\nof zigzags, from which as we rose higher and higher a wide prospect\nopened up behind us to the Gulf of Corinth and the distant mountains of\nPeloponnese. On reaching the top of this long and steep declivity we\nfound ourselves on the edge of an expanse of comparatively level though\nbroken ground, sparsely wooded with pines, beyond which soared the upper\nslopes of Parnassus, its summit lightly capped with snow. The high\nplateau on which we now stood is bounded on the north by an outlying\nspur of Parnassus, clothed with pine-forest, in the southern face of\nwhich is the Corycian cave. Instead of crossing the tableland in the\ndirection of the cave, we skirted its south-western corner, keeping the\nwooded mountain on our right. The path continued to wind for hours along\ngrey rocky slopes where pines grew more or less thickly. On either hand\nrose sombre mountains of the same general character\u2014grey and rocky with\npatches of pine-forest on their sides. Now and then a little moss\nrelieved with its verdure the barrenness of the rocks, and a stony glade\nthrough which we passed was speckled with pale purple crocuses. On these\nheights the air felt chilly, for the season was late October, and a\nlittle snow\u2014the first of autumn\u2014had fallen in the night, just touching\nwith white the peaks of Parnassus and the high Locrian mountains in the\nwest. The morning had been bright when we left Delphi, but as the day\nwore on the sky became overcast, its cold and lowering aspect\nharmonising well with the wild and desolate scenery through which we\nrode. The jingling of the mule-bells and the cries of the muleteers were\nalmost the only sounds that broke the silence, though once in the forest\nto the right we heard the clapper-like note of a pelican, and once in an\nopen glade we passed some woodmen hewing pine-logs. In time, the path\nbeginning to descend, the rocks gave place to earthy slopes; a little\npale thin grass and some withered ferns grew in the glades; the sun\nshone out between the clouds, and as we descended into the warmer\nlowlands it seemed as if we were pursuing the departing summer.\n\nIn about four hours from Delphi high purple mountains, sunlit and\nflecked with cloud-shadows, appeared in the north through and above the\npine-forest. Farther down the forest grew thin and then disappeared from\nthe stony bottom of the valley, though the upper slopes of the mountains\non either side were still wrapped in their dark mantle of pines. It was\nnear one o\u2019clock when we reached Ano-Agoriani, a village nestling among\ntrees in a hollow of the mountains and traversed by a murmuring brook.\nAfter a halt of about an hour we quitted the village and descended into\nthe deep bed of the stream; then ascending steeply its western bank we\npursued our way along the rocky mountain-side high above the glen. In\nthree-quarters of an hour we came in sight of the broad valley of the\nCephisus lying stretched below us and backed by mountains on the north.\nBy steep, rocky, winding paths we now descended into the valley, and at\na quarter to four reached Kato-Agoriani. The village stands just at the\nfoot of Parnassus. About a mile to the east the grey ruined walls and\ntowers of Lilaea climb a steep and rugged hill-side\u2014the last fall of\nParnassus to the plain. The situation of the place at the northern foot\nof the mountain is such that it can receive very little sun at any time\nof the year, which, though an advantage in the torrid heat of a Greek\nsummer, must render the winter climate severe. As we rode downwards to\nKato-Agoriani the sun set behind the mountains at our back soon after\nthree o\u2019clock, but it was not till nearly two hours afterwards that his\nlight faded from the hills on the opposite or northern side of the\nvalley. This may illustrate the remarks of Pausanias as to the climate\nof Lilaea.\n\n\n\nXCVI. PERICLES.\u2014Pericles, a great Athenian statesman, and one of the\nmost remarkable men of antiquity, was the son of Xanthippus, who\ncommanded the Greeks at the battle of Mycale. By his mother Agariste,\nniece of Clisthenes, who reformed the democracy at Athens after the\nexpulsion of the Pisistratidae, he was connected both with the old\nprincely line of Sicyon and with the great but unfortunate house of the\nAlcmaeonidae. The date of his birth is unknown, but his youth must have\nfallen in the stirring times of the great Persian war. From his\nfriendship with the poet Anacreon, his father would seem to have been a\nman of taste, and as he stood in relations of hospitality to the Spartan\nkings his house was no doubt a political as well as literary centre.\nPericles received the best education which the age could supply. For\nmasters he had Pythoclides and the distinguished musician Damon, who\ninfused into his music lessons a tincture of philosophy, whereby he\nincurred the suspicions of the vulgar, and received the honour of\nostracism. Pericles listened also to the subtle dialectics of the\nEleatic Zeno. But the man who swayed him most deeply and permanently was\nthe philosopher Anaxagoras. The influence of the speculative genius and\ndignified and gentle character of the philosopher who resigned his\nproperty that he might turn his thoughts more steadily to heaven, which\nhe called his home, and who begged as his last honour that the\nschool-children might have a holiday on the day he died, can be traced\nalike in the intellectual breadth and the elevated moral tone of the\npupil, in his superiority to vulgar superstitions, and in the unruffled\nserenity which he preserved throughout the storms of political life. It\nwas probably the grand manner of Pericles even more than his eloquence\nthat won him the surname of Olympian Zeus.[11]\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 11:\n\n It is said that once, when Pericles was transacting business in\n public, a low fellow railed at him all day long, and at nightfall\n dogged him to his house, reviling him in the foulest language.\n Pericles took no notice of him till he reached his own door, when he\n bade one of the servants take a torch and light the man home.\n\n-----\n\nIn his youth he distinguished himself in the field, but eschewed\npolitics, fearing, it is said, the suspicions which might be excited in\nthe populace not only by his wealth, high birth, and powerful friends,\nbut by the striking resemblance to the tyrant Pisistratus which old men\ntraced in his personal appearance, musical voice, and flowing speech.\nBut when the banishment of Themistocles and the death of Aristides had\nsomewhat cleared the political stage, Pericles came forward as the\nchampion of the democratic or progressive party, in opposition to Cimon,\nthe leader of the aristocratic or conservative party. The two leaders\ndiffered hardly less than their policies. Both indeed were men of\naristocratic birth and temper, honourable, brave, and generous, faithful\nand laborious in the service of Athens. But Cimon was a true sailor,\nblunt, jovial, free-handed, who sang a capital song, and was always\nequally ready to drink or fight, to whose artless mind (he was innocent\nof even a smattering of letters[12]) the barrack-room life of the\nbarbarous Spartans seemed the type of human perfectibility, and whose\nsimple programme was summed up in the maxim \u201cfight the Persians.\u201d\nNaturally the new ideas of political progress and intellectual\ndevelopment had no place in his honest head; naturally he was a sturdy\nsupporter of the good old times of which, to the popular mind, he was\nthe best embodiment. Pericles, grave, studious, reserved, was himself\npenetrated by those ideas of progress and culture which he undertook to\nconvert into political and social realities; philosophy was his\nrecreation; during the whole course of his political career he never\naccepted but once an invitation to dinner, and he was never to be seen\nwalking except between his house and the popular assembly and\nsenate-house. He husbanded his patrimony and regulated his domestic\naffairs with rigid economy that he might escape both the temptation and\nthe suspicion of enriching himself at the public expense.\n\n-----\n\nFootnote 12:\n\n It is amusing to read in Plutarch of this stout old salt sitting in\n judgment on the respective merits of Aeschylus and Sophocles.\n\n-----\n\nThe steps by which he rose to the commanding position which he occupied\nin later life cannot be traced with certainty. According to Plutarch,\nPericles, whose fortune did not allow him to imitate the profuse\nhospitality by which Cimon endeared himself to the people, sought to\noutbid him by a lavish distribution of the public moneys among the\npoorer classes; this device was suggested to him by Damonides, says\nPlutarch on the authority of Aristotle. We may doubt the motive alleged\nby Plutarch, but we cannot doubt the fact that Pericles did extend, if\nnot originate, the practice of distributing large sums among the\ncitizens either as gratuities or as payment for services rendered\u2014a\npractice which afterwards attained most mischievous proportions.\nAccording to Plato, it was a common saying that Pericles, by the system\nof payments which he introduced, had corrupted the Athenians, rendering\nthem idle, cowardly, talkative, and avaricious. It was Pericles who\nintroduced the payment of jurymen, and, as there were six thousand of\nthem told off annually for duty, of whom a great part sat daily, the\ndisbursement from the treasury was great, while the poor and idle were\nencouraged to live at the public expense. But the payment for attendance\non the public assembly or parliament (of which all citizens of mature\nage were members), though probably suggested by the payment of the\njurymen, was not introduced by Pericles, and indeed does not seem to\nhave existed during his lifetime. It was he who instituted the payment\nof the citizens for military service\u2014a measure but for which the\nAthenians would probably not have prolonged the Peloponnesian War as\nthey did, and in particular would not have been so ready to embark on\nthe fatal Sicilian expedition.\n\nThere was more justification, perhaps, for the practice, originated by\nPericles, of supplying the poorer citizens from the public treasury with\nthe price of admission to the theatre. For in an age when the study of\nthe poets formed a chief element of education, and when the great dramas\nof Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were being put on the stage in\nall their freshness, such a measure might almost be regarded as a state\nprovision for the education of the citizens. It was part of the policy\nof Pericles at once to educate and delight the people by numerous and\nsplendid festivals, processions, and shows. But the good was mixed with\nseeds of evil, which took root and spread, till, in the days of\nDemosthenes, the money which should have been spent in fighting the\nenemies of Athens was squandered in spectacles and pageants. The\nSpectacular Fund or _Theorikon_ has been called the cancer of Athens.\nVast sums were further spent by Pericles in adorning the city with those\nbuildings, which even in their ruins are the wonder of the world.\nAmongst these were the Parthenon, or Temple of the Virgin, and the\nErechtheum, both on the acropolis, the former completed in 438 B.C., the\nlatter left unfinished at Pericles\u2019s death; the magnificent Propylaea or\nvestibule to the acropolis, built between 437 and 432; and the Odeum or\nmusic-hall, on the south-eastern slope of the acropolis, completed\nbefore 444. The musical contests instituted by Pericles, and for which\nhe himself laid down the rules and acted as judge, took place in the\nOdeum. Many artists and architects were entrusted with the execution of\nthese great works, but under the direction of the mastermind of Phidias,\nsculptor, architect, painter\u2014the Michelangelo of antiquity.\n\nBut Pericles fortified as well as beautified Athens. It had been the\npolicy of Themistocles to make her primarily a naval and commercial\npower, and to do so he strengthened the marine, and gave to the city as\nfar as possible the advantages of an insular situation by means of\nfortifications, which rendered both it and its port impregnable on the\nland side. By thus basing the Athenian state on commerce instead of,\nlike Solon, on agriculture, he at the same time transferred the\npolitical predominance to the democratic or progressive party, which is\nas naturally recruited from a commercial as a conservative or\naristocratic party is from an agricultural population. This policy was\nfully accepted and carried out by Pericles. It was in his time and\nprobably by his advice that the Long Walls were built, which, connecting\nAthens with Piraeus, converted the capital and its seaport into one vast\nfortress. Further, in order to train the Athenians in seamanship, he\nkept a fleet of sixty ships at sea eight months out of every year.\n\nThe expenses entailed by these great schemes were chiefly defrayed by\nthe annual tribute, which the confederates of Athens originally\nfurnished for the purpose of waging war against Persia, but which\nAthens, as head of the league, subsequently applied to her own purposes.\nIf, as seems likely, the transference of the treasury of the league from\nDelos to Athens, which sealed the conversion of the Athenian headship\ninto an empire, took place between 460 and 454, the step was probably\nsuggested or supported by Pericles, and at all events he managed the\nfund after its transference. But, though the diversion of the fund from\nits original purpose probably did not begin with Pericles, yet, once\nestablished, he maintained it unwaveringly. The Athenians, he held,\nfulfilled the trust committed to them by defending their allies against\nall comers, and the tribute was their wages, which it was their right\nand privilege to expend in works which by employing labour and\nstimulating commerce were a present benefit, and by their beauty would\nbe \u201ca joy for ever.\u201d That Athens ruled by force, that her empire was in\nfact a tyranny, he fully admitted, but he justified that tyranny by the\nhigh and glorious ends which it subserved.\n\nThe rise of Pericles to power, though it cannot be followed step by\nstep, has an obvious and sufficient explanation in his combined wisdom\nand eloquence. Plato traces his eloquence largely to the influence of\nAnaxagoras; intercourse with that philosopher, he says, filled the mind\nof Pericles with lofty speculations and a true conception of the nature\nof intelligence, and hence his oratory possessed the intellectual\ngrandeur and artistic finish characteristic of the highest eloquence.\nThe range and compass of his rhetoric were wonderful, extending from the\nmost winning persuasion to the most overwhelming denunciation. The comic\npoets of the day, in general very unfriendly to him, speak with\nadmiration of his oratory: \u201cgreatest of Grecian tongues,\u201d says Cratinus;\n\u201cpersuasion sat on his lips, such was his charm,\u201d and \u201che alone of the\norators left his sting in his hearers,\u201d says Eupolis; \u201che lightened, he\nthundered,\u201d says Aristophanes. His speeches were prepared with\nconscientious care; before rising to speak he used to pray that no\ninappropriate word might fall from his lips. He left no written\nspeeches, but the few sayings of his which have come down to us reveal a\npassionate imagination such as breathes in the fragments of Sappho.\nThus, in speaking of those who had died in war, he said that the youth\nhad perished from the city like the spring from the year. He called the\nhostile island of Aegina \u201cthe eyesore of the Piraeus,\u201d and declared that\nhe saw war \u201clowering from Peloponnese.\u201d Three of his speeches have been\nreported by Thucydides, who may have heard them, but, though their\nsubstance may be correctly recorded, in passing through the medium of\nthe historian\u2019s dispassionate mind they have been shorn of the orator\u2019s\nimaginative glow, and in their cold iron logic are hardly to be\ndistinguished from the other speeches in Thucydides. An exception to\nthis is the speech which Thucydides reports as having been delivered by\nPericles over the slain in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. This\nspeech stands quite apart from the others; and as well in particular\ntouches (for example, in the saying that \u201cthe grave of great men is the\nworld\u201d) as in its whole tenor we catch the ring of a great orator, such\nas Thucydides with all his genius was not. It is probably a fairly close\nreport of the speech actually delivered by Pericles.\n\nThe first public appearance of Pericles of which we have record probably\nfell about 463. When Cimon, on his return from the expedition to Thasos,\nwas tried on the utterly improbable charge of having been bribed by the\nMacedonian king to betray the interests of Athens, Pericles was\nappointed by the people to assist in conducting the prosecution; but,\nmore perhaps from a conviction of the innocence of the accused than, as\nwas said, in compliance with the entreaties of Cimon\u2019s sister Elpinice,\nhe did not press the charge, and Cimon was acquitted. Not long\nafterwards Pericles struck a blow at the conservative party by attacking\nthe Areopagus, a council composed of life-members who had worthily\ndischarged the duties of archon. The nature of the functions of the\nAreopagus at this period is but little known; it seems to have had a\ngeneral supervision over the magistrates, the popular assembly, and the\ncitizens, and to have exercised this supervision in an eminently\nconservative spirit. It sat also as a court for the trial of certain\ncrimes, especially murder. Pericles appears to have deprived it of\nnearly all its functions, except its jurisdiction in cases of murder.\nThe poet Aeschylus composed his _Eumenides_ in vindication of the\nancient privileges of the Areopagus. Though Pericles was the real author\nof the attack on the Areopagus, the measure was nominally carried by\nEphialtes. It was, indeed, part of Pericles\u2019s policy to keep in the\nbackground, and to act as far as possible through agents, reserving\nhimself for great occasions. Ephialtes, a friend of Pericles, and a\npatriot of inflexible integrity, paid dearly for the distinction; he\nfell by the hand of an assassin employed by the oligarchical party\u2014an\nevent the more striking from the rarity of political assassinations in\nGreek history. The popular party seems to have immediately followed up\nits victory over the Areopagus by procuring the ostracism of Cimon,\nwhich strengthened the hands of Pericles by removing his most\ninfluential opponent. Pericles took part in the battle of Tanagra and\nbore himself with desperate bravery. After the battle Cimon was recalled\nfrom banishment, and it was Pericles who proposed and carried the decree\nfor his recall.\n\nIn 454 Pericles led an Athenian squadron from the port of Pegae on the\nCorinthian Gulf, landed at Sicyon, and defeated the inhabitants who\nventured to oppose him; then, taking with him a body of Achaeans, he\ncrossed to Acarnania, and besieged the town of Oeniadae, but had to\nreturn home without capturing it. Not long afterwards he conducted a\nsuccessful expedition to the Thracian Chersonese, where he not only\nstrengthened the Greek cities by the addition of a thousand Athenian\ncolonists, but also protected them against the incursions of the\nbarbarians by fortifying the isthmus from sea to sea. This was only one\nof Pericles\u2019s many measures for extending and strengthening the naval\nempire of Athens. Colonies were established by him at various times in\nNaxos, Andros, Oreus in Euboea, Brea in Macedonia, and Aegina. They\nserved the double purpose of establishing the Athenian power in distant\nparts and of relieving the pressure of population at home by providing\nthe poorer citizens with lands. Somewhat different were the famous\ncolonies established under Pericles\u2019s influence at Thurii in Italy, on\nthe site of the ancient Sybaris, and at Amphipolis on the Strymon, for,\nthough planted under the conduct of Athens, they were not exclusively\nAthenian colonies, other Greeks being allowed, and even invited, to take\npart in them. This was especially true of Thurii, which was in a manner\na national Greek colony, and never stood in a relation of subjection to\nAthens. On one occasion Pericles sailed at the head of a splendid\narmament to the Black Sea, where he helped and encouraged the Greek\ncities and overawed the barbarians. At Sinope he left a force of ships\nand men, under the gallant Lamachus, to co-operate with the inhabitants\nagainst the tyrant Timesileus, and on the expulsion of the tyrant and\nhis party he carried a decree for the despatch of six hundred Athenian\ncolonists to Sinope, to occupy the lands vacated by the exiles. But,\nwith the sober wisdom which characterised him, Pericles never allowed\nhis plans to exceed the bounds of the possible; he was no political\ndreamer like Alcibiades, to be dazzled with the vision of a universal\nAthenian empire in Greece, Italy, and Africa, such as floated before the\nminds of many in that and the following generations. The disastrous\nexpedition which the Athenians sent to Egypt, to support the rebel\nInarus against Persia, received no countenance from Pericles.\n\nWhen Cimon died in 449 the aristocratical party sought to counterbalance\nthe power of Pericles by putting forward Thucydides, son of Melesias, as\nthe new head of the party. He seems to have been an honest patriot, but,\nas the event proved, he was no match for Pericles. The Sacred War in 448\nshowed once more that Pericles knew how to defend the interests of\nAthens. The Phocians, under the protection of Athens, had wrested the\ncontrol of the Delphic oracle from their enemies the Delphians. The\nlatter were friendly to Sparta, and accordingly the Spartans marched\ninto Phocis and restored the oracle to the Delphians. When they had\ndeparted, Pericles, at the head of an Athenian force, placed the oracle\nonce more in the hands of the Phocians. As the seat of the great oracle,\nDelphi was to ancient Greece much what Rome was to mediaeval Europe, and\nthe friendship of the god, or of his priests, was no small political\nadvantage.\n\nWhen the Athenians despatched a small force under Tolmides to crush a\nrising in Boeotia, they did so in spite of the warnings of Pericles.\nThese warnings were soon justified by the unfortunate battle of Coronea,\nwhich deprived Athens at a blow of the continental dominion she had\nacquired a few years before by the battle of Oenophyta. The island of\nEuboea now revolted from Athens, and hardly had Pericles crossed over\nwith an army to reduce it when word came that the Megarians had\nmassacred the Athenian garrison, and, in league with Corinth, Sicyon,\nand Epidaurus, were up in arms, while a Peloponnesian army under King\nPlistoanax was on the point of invading Attica. Pericles recrossed in\nhaste to Attica. The Peloponnesians returned home, having advanced no\nfarther than Eleusis and Thria. It was said that Pericles had bribed\nCleandridas; certain it is that both Cleandridas and Plistoanax were\ncharged at Sparta with having misconducted the expedition and were found\nguilty. Having saved Attica, Pericles returned to Euboea, reduced it to\nsubjection, expelled the Histiaeans, and settled the Athenian colony of\nOreus on their lands.\n\nThe thirty years\u2019 peace, concluded soon afterwards with Sparta, was\nprobably in large measure the work of Pericles. The Athenians had\nevacuated Boeotia immediately after the battle of Coronea, and by the\nterms of the peace they now renounced their other continental\npossessions\u2014Achaia, Troezen, Nisaea, and Pegae. The peace left Pericles\nat liberty to develop his schemes for promoting the internal welfare of\nAthens, and for making it the centre of the intellectual and artistic\nlife of Greece. But first he had to settle accounts with his political\nrival Thucydides; the struggle was soon decided by the ostracism of the\nlatter in 444. Thenceforward to the end of his life Pericles guided the\ndestinies of Athens alone; in the words of the historian Thucydides, the\ngovernment was in name a democracy, but in fact it was the rule of the\nfirst citizen. The unparalleled ascendency which he wielded so long over\nthe fickle people is one of the best proofs of his extraordinary genius.\nHe owed it entirely to his personal character, and he used it for the\nwisest and purest purposes. He was neither a vulgar demagogue to truckle\nto the passions and caprices of the mob, nor a vulgar despot to cow it\nby a hireling soldiery; he was a citizen among citizens, who obeyed him\nbecause they trusted him, because they knew that in his hands the honour\nand interests of Athens were safe. The period during which he ruled\nAthens was the happiest and greatest in her history, as it was one of\nthe greatest ages of the world. Other ages have had their bright\nparticular stars; the age of Pericles is the Milky Way of great men. In\nhis lifetime there lived and worked at Athens the poets Aeschylus,\nSophocles, Euripides, Cratinus, Crates, the philosophers Anaxagoras,\nZeno, Protagoras, Socrates, the astronomer Meton, the painter\nPolygnotus, and the sculptors Myron and Phidias. Contemporary with\nthese, though not resident at Athens, were Herodotus, the father of\nhistory; Hippocrates, the father of medicine; Pindar, \u201cthe Theban\neagle\u201d; the sculptor Polyclitus; and the philosophers Empedocles and\nDemocritus, the latter joint author with Leucippus of the atomic theory.\nWhen Pericles died, other stars were rising or soon to rise above the\nhorizon\u2014the historians Thucydides and Xenophon, the poets Eupolis and\nAristophanes, the orators Lysias and Isocrates, and the gifted but\nunscrupulous Alcibiades. Plato was born shortly before or after the\ndeath of Pericles. Of this brilliant circle Pericles was the centre. His\ngenerous and richly-endowed nature responded to all that was beautiful\nand noble not only in literature and art but in life, and it is with\njustice that the age of Pericles has received its name from the man in\nwhom, more than in any other, all the various lines of Greek culture met\nand were harmonised. In this perfect harmony and completeness of nature,\nand in the classic calm which was the fruit of it, Pericles is the type\nof the ideal spirit, not of his own age only, but of antiquity.\n\nIt seems to have been shortly after the ostracism of Thucydides that\nPericles conceived the plan of summoning a general congress of all the\nGreek states to be held at Athens. Its objects were the restoration of\nthe temples which the Persians had destroyed, the fulfilment of the vows\nmade during the war, and the establishment of a general peace and the\nsecurity of the sea. Invitations were sent to the Greeks of Asia, the\nislands from Lesbos to Rhodes, the Hellespont, Thrace, Byzantium,\nBoeotia, Phocis, Peloponnese, Locris, Acarnania, Ambrada, and Thessaly.\nThe aim of Pericles seems to have been to draw the bonds of union closer\nbetween the Greeks and to form a national federation. The beneficent\nproject was defeated by the short-sighted opposition of the Spartans.\nBut if in this scheme Pericles rose above the petty jealousies of Greek\npolitics, another of his measures proves that he shared the Greek\nprejudices as to birth. At an early period of his career he enacted, or\nperhaps only revived, a law confining the rights of Athenian citizenship\nto persons both of whose parents were Athenian citizens. In the year\n444, on the occasion of a scrutiny of the list of citizens, nearly five\nthousand persons claiming to be citizens were proved to be aliens under\nthis law, and were ruthlessly sold into slavery.\n\nThe period of the thirty years\u2019 peace was not one of uninterrupted\ntranquillity for Athens. In 440 a war broke out between the island of\nSamos (a leading member of the Athenian confederacy) and Miletus. Athens\nsided with Miletus; Pericles sailed to Samos with an Athenian squadron,\nand established a democracy in place of the previous oligarchy. After\nhis departure, however, some of the exiled oligarchs, in league with\nPissuthnes, satrap of Sardes, collected troops and, crossing over to\nSamos, overpowered the popular party and revolted from Athens. In this\nrevolt they were joined by Byzantium. The situation was critical; the\nexample set by Samos and Byzantium might be followed by the other\nconfederates. Pericles discerned the danger and met it promptly. He led\na squadron of sixty ships against Samos; and, after detaching some\nvessels to summon reinforcements from Chios and Lesbos, and others to\nlook out for the Phoenician fleet which the Persians were expected to\nsend to the help of Samos, he gave battle with forty-four ships to the\nSamian fleet of seventy sail and defeated it. Having received\nreinforcements of sixty-five ships, he landed in Samos and laid siege to\nthe capital. But when he sailed with sixty ships to meet the Phoenician\nvessels which were reported to be near, the Samians sallied out with\ntheir vessels, defeated the besiegers, and remained masters of the sea\nfor fourteen days. On his return, however, they were again blockaded and\nwere compelled to surrender, nine months after the outbreak of the war.\n\nThough Pericles enjoyed the confidence of the people as a whole, his\npolicy and opinions could not fail to rouse the dislike and suspicions\nof many, and in the last years of his life his enemies combined to\nassail him. Two points in particular were singled out for attack, his\nadministration of the public moneys and his religious opinions. With\nregard to the former, there must always be a certain number of persons\nwho will not believe that others can resist and despise a temptation\nwhich to themselves would be irresistible; with regard to the latter,\nthe suspicion that Pericles held heretical views on the national\nreligion was doubtless well grounded. At first, however, his enemies did\nnot venture to impeach himself, but struck at him in the persons of his\nfriends. In 432 Phidias was accused of having appropriated some of the\ngold destined for the adornment of the statue of Athena in the\nParthenon. But by the prudent advice of Pericles the golden ornaments\nhad been so attached that they could be taken off and weighed, and when\nPericles challenged the accusers to have recourse to this test the\naccusation fell to the ground. More dangerous, for more true, was the\ncharge against Phidias of having introduced portraits of himself and\nPericles into the battle of the Amazons, depicted on the shield of the\ngoddess: the sculptor appeared as a bald old man lifting a stone, while\nPericles was represented as fighting an Amazon, his face partly\nconcealed by his raised spear. To the pious Athenians this seemed a\ndesecration of the temple, and accordingly Phidias was clapped into\ngaol. Whether he died there or at Elis is uncertain.\n\nEven more deeply was Pericles wounded by the accusation levelled at the\nwoman he loved. This was the famous Aspasia, a native of Miletus, whose\ntalents won for her general admiration at Athens. Pericles divorced his\nwife, a lady of good birth who had borne him two sons, Xanthippus and\nParalus, but with whom he was unhappy, and attached himself to Aspasia.\nWith her he lived on terms of devoted affection to the end of his life,\nthough, as she was a foreigner, their union was not a legal marriage.\nShe enjoyed a high reputation as a teacher of rhetoric, and seems to\nhave been the centre of a brilliant intellectual society, which included\nSocrates and his friends. The comic poet, Hermippus, brought her to\ntrial on the double charge of impiety and of corrupting Athenian women\nfor the gratification of Pericles. A decree was further carried by a\nreligious fanatic named Diopithes, whereby all who denied the existence\nof the gods or discussed the nature of the heavenly bodies were to be\ntried as criminals. This blow was aimed directly at the aged philosopher\nAnaxagoras, but indirectly at his pupil Pericles as well as at Aspasia.\nWhen this decree was passed, and apparently while the trial of Aspasia\nwas still pending, Pericles himself was called upon by a decree of the\npeople to render an account of the money which had passed through his\nhands. The result is not mentioned, but we cannot doubt that the matter\neither was dropped or ended in an acquittal. The perfect integrity of\nPericles is proved by the unimpeachable evidence of his contemporary,\nthe historian Thucydides. Aspasia was acquitted, but not before Pericles\nhad exerted all his eloquence in her behalf. Anaxagoras, tried on the\ncharge of impiety, was obliged to quit the city.\n\nIt was in the same year (432) that the great contest between Athens and\nSparta, known as the Peloponnesian War, broke out. We may dismiss as a\nvulgar calumny the statement, often repeated in antiquity, but quite\nunsupported by Thucydides, that the war was brought about by Pericles\nfor the purpose of avoiding a prosecution. The war was in truth\ninevitable; its real cause was Sparta\u2019s jealousy of the growing power of\nAthens; its immediate occasion was the help lent by Athens to Corcyra in\nits war with Corinth. At first, with a hypocritical regard for religion,\nthe Spartans demanded as a condition of peace that the Athenians should\nexpel the race of the Alcmaeonidae (including, of course, Pericles),\nwhose ancestors had been guilty of sacrilege about two centuries before.\nThe Athenians retorted in kind, and, after a little more diplomatic\nfencing, the Spartans were constrained to show their hand by demanding\nbluntly that Athens should give back to the Greeks their independence\u2014in\nother words, renounce her empire and abandon herself to the tender\nmercies of Sparta. Pericles encouraged the Athenians to reject the\ndemand. He pointed out that Athens possessed advantages over the\nPeloponnesians in superior wealth and greater unity of counsels. He\nadvised the Athenians, in case of war, not to take the field against the\nnumerically superior forces of the Peloponnesians, but to allow the\nenemy to ravage Attica at will, while they confined themselves to the\ndefence of the city. Through their fleet they would maintain\ncommunication with their island empire, procure supplies, and harass the\nenemy by sudden descents on his coasts. By pursuing this defensive\npolicy without attempting to extend their empire, he predicted that they\nwould be victorious. The people hearkened to him and replied to the\nSpartan ultimatum by counter-demands, which they knew would not be\naccepted. Pericles had not neglected in time of peace to prepare for\nwar, and Athens was now well equipped with men, money, and ships.\n\nIn June of the following summer a Peloponnesian army invaded Attica. By\nthe advice of Pericles the rural population, with their movables, had\ntaken refuge in the city, while the cattle had been sent for safety to\nthe neighbouring islands. The sight of their country ravaged under their\neyes excited in the Athenians a longing to march out and meet the enemy,\nbut in the teeth of popular clamour and obloquy Pericles steadily\nadhered to his defensive policy, content to protect the suburbs of\nAthens with cavalry. Meanwhile Athenian fleets retaliated upon the\nenemy\u2019s coasts. About the same time, as a punishment for the share that\nthey were supposed to have had in bringing on the war, the whole\npopulation of Aegina was expelled from their island to make room for\nAthenian colonists. This measure, directed by Pericles, relieved to some\nextent the pressure in the overcrowded capital, and secured a strong\noutpost on the side of Peloponnese. In the autumn, after the\nPeloponnesian army had been obliged by want of provisions to quit Attica\nand disband, Pericles conducted the whole available army of Athens into\nthe territory of Megara, and laid it waste.\n\nIt was a custom with the Athenians that at the end of a campaign the\nbones of those who had fallen in battle should be buried with public\nhonours in the beautiful suburb of Ceramicus, the Westminster of Athens,\nand the vast crowd of mourners and spectators gathered about the grave\nwas addressed by a citizen chosen for his character and abilities to pay\nthe last tribute of a grateful country to its departed brave. On the\npresent occasion the choice fell on Pericles. Once before, at the close\nof the Samian War, it had been his lot to discharge a similar duty. The\nspeech which he now delivered, as reported to us by Thucydides, is one\nof the noblest monuments of antiquity. It is indeed the creed of Athens\nand of Greece. In its aristocratic republicanism\u2014recognising at once the\nequal legal rights and the unequal intrinsic merits of individuals\u2014it\ndiffers alike from the monarchical spirit of mediaeval and modern\nEurope, with its artificial class distinctions, and from that\nreactionary communism which preaches the natural as well as the legal\nequality of men. In its frank admiration of art and letters and all the\nsocial festivals which humanise and cheer life, it is as far from the\nsullen asceticism and the wild debauchery of the East as the grave and\nmanly simplicity of its style is removed from the fanciful luxuriance of\nOriental rhetoric. Finally, in the words of comfort and exhortation\naddressed to the bereaved, the speech\u2014to adopt Thirlwall\u2019s description\nof another great effort of Athenian oratory\u2014\u201c breathes the spirit of\nthat high philosophy which, whether learnt in the schools or from life,\nhas consoled the noblest of our kind in prisons, and on scaffolds, and\nunder every persecution of adverse fortune.\u201d\n\nThe fortitude of the Athenians was put to a still severer test in the\nfollowing summer, when to the horrors of war (the Peloponnesians had\nagain invaded Attica) were added the horrors of the plague, which spread\nhavoc in the crowded city. Pericles himself escaped the scourge, but\nmany of his relations and best friends, amongst them his sister and his\ntwo sons Xanthippus and Paralus, were struck down. With the elder of his\nsons, Xanthippus, a worthless young man, the father had been on bad\nterms, but the death of his surviving son, at an interval of a few days,\naffected him deeply, and when he came to lay the wreath upon the corpse,\nthough he struggled hard to maintain his habitual calm, he broke down,\nand for the first time in his public life burst into a passion of\nweeping. But neither private grief nor public calamity shook for a\nmoment the lofty courage and resolution with which he continued to the\nlast to oppose a firm front alike to enemies without and to cravens\nwithin. While refusing as before to risk a battle in Attica, which he\nallowed the Peloponnesians to devastate at pleasure, he led in person a\npowerful fleet against Peloponnese, ravaged the coast, and destroyed the\ntown of Prasiae in Laconia. But the Athenians were greatly disheartened;\nthey sued for peace, and when their suit was rejected by Sparta they\nvented their ill-humour on Pericles, as the author of the war, by\nsubjecting him to a fine. However, they soon repented of this burst of\npetulance, and atoned for it by re-electing him general and placing the\ngovernment once more in his hands. Further, they allowed him to\nlegitimate his son by Aspasia, that his house might not be without an\nheir. He survived this reconciliation about a year, but his name is not\nagain mentioned in connexion with public affairs. In the autumn of 429\nhe died. We may well believe that the philosophy which had been the\nrecreation of his happier days supported and consoled him in the clouded\nevening of his life. To his clement nature it was a peculiar consolation\nto reflect that he had never carried political differences to the\nshedding of blood. Indeed, his extraordinary, almost fatherly,\ntenderness for the life of every Athenian citizen is attested by various\nof his sayings. On his deathbed, when the friends about him were telling\nhis long roll of glory, rousing himself from a lethargy into which he\nhad fallen, he reminded them of his fairest title to honour: \u201cNo\nAthenian,\u201d he said, \u201cever put on black through me.\u201d\n\nHe was buried amongst the illustrious dead in the Ceramicus, and in\nafter years Phormio, Thrasybulus, and Chabrias slept beside him. In\nperson he was graceful and well made, save for an unusual height of\nhead, which the comic poets were never weary of ridiculing. In the busts\nof him which we possess, his regular features, with the straight Greek\nnose and full lips, still preserve an expression of Olympian repose.\n\nTHE END\n\n _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n Transcriber\u2019s Note\n\nThe hyphens used in compound words that span line or page breaks in the\noriginal text are retained or removed based on the preponderance of\nexamples elsewhere. Several words (\u2018white-wash\u2019, \u2018river-side\u2019,\n\u2018sea-weed\u2019, and \u2018water-course\u2019) appear midline both with and without\nhyphenation, and are given here as printed.\n\nErrors deemed most likely to be the printer\u2019s have been corrected, and\nare noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.\nThe following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions.\n\n 49.13 darkest tragedies in Greek history[.] Added.\n\n 64.15 bear their country\u2019s misfortunes with a noble Added.\n [f]ortitude.\n\n 286.30 occupied by corn-fields, vineyards, and Added.\n olive-groves[.]","title":"Studies in Greek Scenery, Legend and History: Selected from His Commentary on Pausanias' 'Description of Greece,'","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":99097}