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diff --git a/35298-0.txt b/35298-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..721f617 --- /dev/null +++ b/35298-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13350 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles and Studies in Greece by J. P. +Mahaffy + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: Rambles and Studies in Greece + +Author: J. P. Mahaffy + +Release Date: February 16, 2011 [Ebook #35298] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF‐8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES AND STUDIES IN GREECE*** + + + + + + [Cover image] + + RAMBLES IN GREECE + + [Illustration: The Acropolis, Athens] + + + + + + RAMBLES AND STUDIES + + IN + + GREECE + + BY + J. P. MAHAFFY + KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF THE SAVIOUR; + AUTHOR OF “SOCIAL LIFE IN GREECE;” “A HISTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE;” + “GREEK LIFE AND THOUGHT FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER;” + “THE GREEK WORLD UNDER ROMAN SWAY,” ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED + +PHILADELPHIA +HENRY T. COATES & CO. +1900 + + + + + + HUNC LIBRUM + *Edmundo Wyatt Edgell* + OB INSIGNEM + INTER CASTRA ITINERA OTIA NEGOTIA LITTERARUM AMOREM + OLIM DEDICATUM + NUNC CARISSIMI AMICI MEMORIAE + CONSECRAT AUCTOR + + + + + + PREFACE. + + +Few men there are who having once visited Greece do not contrive to visit +it again. And yet when the returned traveller meets the ordinary friend +who asks him where he has been, the next remark is generally, “Dear me! +have you not been there before? How is it you are so fond of going to +Greece?” There are even people who imagine a trip to America far more +interesting, and who at all events look upon a trip to Spain as the same +kind of thing—southern climate, bad food, dirty inns, and general +discomfort, odious to bear, though pleasant to describe afterward in a +comfortable English home. + +This is a very ignorant way of looking at the matter, for excepting +Southern Italy, there is no country which can compare with Greece in +beauty and interest to the intelligent traveller. It is not a land for +creature comforts, though the climate is splendid, and though the hotels +in Athens are as good as those in most European towns. It is not a land +for society, though the society at Athens is excellent, and far easier of +access than that of most European capitals. But if a man is fond of the +large effects of natural scenery, he will find in the Southern Alps and +fiords of Greece a variety and a richness of color which no other part of +Europe affords. If he is fond of the details of natural scenery, flowers, +shrubs, and trees, he will find the wild-flowers and flowering-trees of +Greece more varied than anything he has yet seen. If he desires to study +national character, and peculiar manners and customs, he will find in the +hardy mountaineers of Greece one of the most unreformed societies, hardly +yet affected by the great tide of sameness which is invading all Europe in +dress, fabrics, and usages. And yet, in spite of the folly still talked in +England about brigands, he will find that without troops, or police, or +patrols, or any of those melancholy safeguards which are now so obtrusive +in England and Ireland, life and property are as secure as they ever were +in our most civilized homes. Let him not know a word of history, or of +art, and he will yet be rewarded by all this natural enjoyment; perhaps +also, if he be a politician, he may study the unsatisfactory results of a +constitution made to order, and of a system of free education planted in a +nation of no political training, but of high intelligence. + +Need I add that as to Cicero the whole land was one vast shrine of +hallowed memories—_quocunque incedis, historia est_—so to the man of +culture this splendor of associations has only increased with the lapse of +time and the greater appreciation of human perfection. Even were such a +land dead to all further change, and a mere record in its ruins of the +past, I know not that any man of reflection could satisfy himself with +contemplating it. Were he to revisit the Parthenon, as it stands, every +year of his life, it would always be fresh, it would always be +astonishing. But Greece is a growing country, both in its youth and in its +age. The rapid development of the nation is altering the face of the +country, establishing new roads and better communications, improving +knowledge among the people, and making many places accessible which were +before beyond the reach of brief holiday visits. The insecurity which +haunted the Turkish frontier has been pushed back to the north; new Alps +and new monasteries are brought within the range of Greece. And this is +nothing to what has been done in recovering the past. Every year there are +new excavations made, new treasures found, new problems in archæology +raised, old ones solved; and so at every visit there is a whole mass of +new matter for the student who feels he had not yet grasped what was +already there. + +The traveller who revisits the country now after a lapse of four or five +years will find at Athens the Schliemann museum set up and in order, where +the unmatched treasures of Mycenæ are now displayed before his astonished +eyes. He will find an Egyptian museum of extraordinary merit—the gift of a +patriotic merchant of Alexandria—in which there are two figures—that of a +queen, in bronze and silver, and that of a slave kneading bread, in +wood—which alone would make the reputation of any collection throughout +Europe. In the Parthenon museum he will find the famous statuette, copied +from Phidias’s Athene, and the recent wonder, archaic statues on which the +brightness of the colors is not more astonishing than the moulding of the +figures. + +And these are only the most salient novelties. It is indeed plain that +were not the new city covering the site of the old, discoveries at Athens +might be made perhaps every year, which would reform and enlarge our +knowledge of Greek life and history. + +But Athens is rapidly becoming a great and rich city. It already numbers +110,000, without counting the Peiræus; accordingly, except in digging +foundations for new houses, it is not possible to find room for any +serious excavations. House rent is enormously high, and building is so +urgent that the ordinary mason receives eight to ten francs per day. This +rapid increase ought to be followed by an equal increase in the wealth of +the surrounding country, where all the little proprietors ought to turn +their land into market-gardens. I found that either they could not, or (as +I was told) they would not, keep pace with the increased wants of the +city. They are content with a little, and allow the city to be +supplied—badly and at great cost—from Salonica, Syra, Constantinople, and +the islands, while meat comes in tons from America. How different is the +country round Paris and London! + +But this is a digression into vulgar matters, when I had merely intended +to inform the reader what intellectual novelties he would find in +revisiting Athens. For nothing is more slavish in modern travel than the +inability the student feels, for want of time in long journeys, or want of +control over his conveyance, to stop and examine something which strikes +him beside his path. And that is the main reason why Oriental—and as yet +Greek—travelling is the best and most instructive of all. + +You can stop your pony or mule, you can turn aside from the track which is +called your road, you are not compelled to catch a train or a steamer at a +fixed moment. When roads and rails have been brought into Greece, hundreds +of people will go to see its beauty and its monuments, and will +congratulate themselves that the country is at last accessible. But the +real charm will be gone. There will be no more riding at dawn through +orchards of oranges and lemons, with the rich fruit lying on the ground, +and the nightingales, that will not end their exuberant melody, still +outsinging from the deep-green gloom the sounds of opening day. There will +be no more watching the glowing east cross the silver-gray glitter of dewy +meadows; no more wandering along grassy slopes, where the scarlet +anemones, all drenched with the dews of night, are striving to raise their +drooping heads and open their splendid eyes to meet the rising sun. There +will be no more watching the serpent and the tortoise, the eagle and the +vulture, and all the living things whose ways and habits animate the sunny +solitudes of the south. The Greek people now talk of going to Europe, and +coming from Europe, justly too, for Greece is still, as it always was, +part of the East. But the day is coming when enlightened politicians, like +Mr. Tricoupi, will insist on introducing through all the remotest glens +the civilization of Europe, with all its benefits forsooth, but with all +its shocking ugliness, its stupid hurry, and its slavish uniformity. + +I will conclude with a warning to the archæologist, and one which applies +to all amateurs who go to visit excavations, and cannot see what has been +reported by the actual excavators. As no one is able to see what the +evidences of digging are, except the trained man, who knows not only +archæology, but architecture, and who has studied the accumulation of soil +in various places and forms, so the observer who comes to the spot after +some years, and expects to find all the evidences unchanged, commits a +blunder of the gravest kind. As Dr. Dörpfeld, now one of the highest +living authorities on such matters, observed to me, if you went to +Hissarlik expecting to find there clearly marked the various strata of +successive occupations, you would show that you were ignorant of the first +elements of practical knowledge. For in any climate, but especially in +these southern lands, Nature covers up promptly what has been exposed by +man; all sorts of plants spring up along and across the lines which in the +cutting when freshly made were clear and precise. In a few years the whole +place turns back again into a brake, or a grassy slope, and the report of +the actual diggers remains the only evidence till the soil is cut open +again in the same way. I saw myself, at Olympia, important lines +disappearing in this way. Dr. Purgold showed me where the line marking the +embankment of the stadium—it was never surrounded with any stone seats—was +rapidly becoming effaced, and where the plan of the foundations was being +covered with shrubs and grass. The day for visiting and verifying the +Trojan excavations is almost gone by. That of all the excavations will +pass away, if they are not carefully kept clear by some permanent +superintendence; and to expect this of the Greek nation, who know they +have endless more treasures to find in new places, is more than could +reasonably be expected. The proper safeguard is to do what Dr. Schliemann +does, to have with him not only the Greek ephoros or +superintendent—generally a very competent scholar, and sometimes not a +very friendly witness of foreign triumphs—but also a first-rate architect, +whose joint observation will correct any hastiness or misprision, and so +in the mouth of two or more witnesses every word will be confirmed. + +In passing on I cannot but remark how strange it is that among the many +rich men in the world who profess an interest in archæology, not one can +be found to take up the work as Dr. Schliemann did, to enrich science with +splendid fields of new evidence, and illustrate art, not only with the +naïve efforts of its infancy, but with forgotten models of perfect and +peerless form. + + + +This New Edition is framed with a view of still satisfying the demand for +the book as a traveller’s handbook, somewhat less didactic than the +official guide-books, somewhat also, I hope, more picturesque. For that +purpose I have added a new chapter on mediæval Greece, as well as many +paragraphs with new information, especially the ride over Mount +Erymanthus, pp. 343, _sqq._ I have corrected many statements which are now +antiquated by recent discoveries, and I have obliterated the traces of +controversy borne by the Second Edition. For the criticisms on the book +are dead, while the book survives. To me it is very pleasant to know that +many visitors to Greece have found it an agreeable companion. + +TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, +_February, 1892_. + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + +CHAP. PAGE + I. INTRODUCTION—FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE COAST 1 + II. GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF ATHENS AND ATTICA 30 + III. ATHENS—THE MUSEUMS—THE TOMBS 55 + IV. THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS 89 + V. ATHENS—THE THEATRE OF DIONYSUS—THE AREOPAGUS 122 + VI. EXCURSIONS IN ATTICA—COLONUS—THE HARBORS—LAURIUM—SUNIUM 152 + VII. EXCURSIONS IN ATTICA—PENTELICUS—MARATHON—DAPHNE—ELEUSIS 184 +VIII. FROM ATHENS TO THEBES—THE PASSES OF PARNES AND OF 215 + CITHÆRON, ELEUTHERÆ, PLATÆA + IX. THE PLAIN OF ORCHOMENUS, LIVADIA, CHÆRONEA 248 + X. ARACHOVA—DELPHI—THE BAY OF KIRRHA 274 + XI. ELIS—OLYMPIA AND ITS GAMES—THE VALLEY OF THE 299 + ALPHEUS—MOUNT ERYMANTHUS—PATRAS + XII. ARCADIA—ANDRITZENA—BASSÆ—MEGALOPOLIS—TRIPOLITZA 351 +XIII. CORINTH—TIRYNS—ARGOS—NAUPLIA—HYDRA—ÆGINA—EPIDAURUS 388 + XIV. KYNURIA—SPARTA—MESSENE 435 + XV. MYCENÆ AND TIRYNS 456 + XVI. MEDIÆVAL GREECE 492 + + INDEX 531 + + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Photogravures by A. W. ELSON & CO. + + PAGE +THE ACROPOLIS, ATHENS _Frontispiece_ +ALONG THE COAST FROM THE THRONE OF XERXES 30 +THE ERECHTHEUM FROM THE WEST, ATHENS 36 +A TOMB FROM THE VIA SACRA, ATHENS 78 +PART OF THE WEST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON, ATHENS 110 +THEATRE OF DIONYSUS, ATHENS 122 +MARS’ HILL, ATHENS 140 +THE PEIRÆUS 160 +LAURIUM 168 +MOUNT LYCABETTUS, ATHENS 188 +LOOKING TOWARD THE SEA FROM THE SOROS, MARATHON 198 +SALAMIS, FROM ACROSS THE BAY 206 +TEMPLE OF MYSTERIES, ELEUSIS 212 +A GREEK SHEPHERD, OLYMPIA 274 +THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO, DELPHI 284 +THE BANKS OF THE KLADEUS 302 +STATUE OF NIKÉ, BY PÆONIUS 306 +KRONION HILL, OLYMPIA 318 +ENTRANCE TO THE STADIUM, OLYMPIA 330 +THE VALLEY OF THE ALPHEUS 342 +A GREEK PEASANT IN NATIONAL COSTUME 380 +TEMPLE OF CORINTH 392 +SCENE NEAR CORINTH, THE ACRO-CORINTHUS IN THE 395 +DISTANCE +GALLERY AT TIRYNS 406 +THE PALAMEDI, NAUPLIA 424 +SCULPTURED LION, NAUPLIA 428 +LANGADA PASS 446 +ARCADIAN GATEWAY, MESSENE 452 +THE ARGIVE PLAIN 458 +LION GATE, MYCENÆ 472 + + + + + + + GREECE. + + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + + INTRODUCTION—FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE COAST. + + +A voyage to Greece does not at first sight seem a great undertaking. We +all go to and fro to Italy as we used to go to France. A trip to Rome, or +even to Naples, is now an Easter holiday affair. And is not Greece very +close to Italy on the map? What signifies the narrow sea that divides +them? This is what a man might say who only considered geography, and did +not regard the teaching of history. For the student of history cannot look +upon these two peninsulas without being struck with the fact that they +are, historically speaking, turned back to back; that while the face of +Italy is turned westward, and looks towards France and Spain, and across +to us, the face of Greece looks eastward, towards Asia Minor and towards +Egypt. Every great city in Italy, except Venice, approaches or borders the +Western Sea—Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Rome, Naples. All the older history of +Rome, its development, its glories, lie on the west of the Apennines. When +you cross them you come to what is called the back of Italy; and you feel +that in that flat country, and that straight coast-line, you are separated +from its true beauty and charm.(1) Contrariwise, in Greece, the whole +weight and dignity of its history gravitate towards the eastern coast. All +its great cities—Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Argos, Sparta—are on that side. +Their nearest neighbors were the coast cities of Asia Minor and of the +Cyclades, but the western coasts were to them harborless and strange. If +you pass Cape Malea, they said, then forget your home. + +So it happens that the coasts of Italy and Greece, which look so near, are +outlying and out-of-the way parts of the countries to which they belong; +and if you want to go straight from real Italy to real Greece, the longest +way is that from Brindisi to Corfu, for you must still journey across +Italy to Brindisi, and from Corfu to Athens. The shortest way is to take +ship at Naples, and to be carried round Italy and round Greece, from the +centres of culture on the west of Italy to the centres of culture (such as +they are) on the east of Greece. But this is no trifling passage. When the +ship has left the coasts of Calabria, and steers into the open sea, you +feel that you have at last left the west of Europe, and are setting sail +for the Eastern Seas. You are, moreover, in an open sea—the furious +Adriatic—in which I have seen storms which would be creditable to the +Atlantic Ocean, and which at times forbid even steam navigation. + +I may anticipate for a moment here, and say that even now the face of +Athens is turned, as of old, to the East. Her trade and her communications +are through the Levant. Her chief intercourse is with Constantinople, and +Smyrna, and Syra, and Alexandria. + +This curious parallel between ancient and modern geographical attitudes in +Greece is, no doubt, greatly due to the now bygone Turkish rule. In +addition to other contrasts, Mohammedan rule and Eastern jealousy—long +unknown in Western Europe—first jarred upon the traveller when he touched +the coasts of Greece; and this dependency was once really part of a great +Asiatic Empire, where all the interests and communications gravitated +eastward, and away from the Christian and better civilized West. The +revolution which expelled the Turks was unable to root out the ideas which +their subjects had learned; and so, in spite of Greek hatred of the Turk, +his influence still lives through Greece in a thousand ways. + +For many hours after the coasts of Calabria had faded into the night, and +even after the snowy dome of Etna was lost to view, our ship steamed +through the open sea, with no land in sight; but we were told that early +in the morning, at the very break of dawn, the coasts of Greece would be +visible. So, while others slept, I started up at half-past three, eager to +get the earliest possible sight of the land which still occupies so large +a place in our thoughts. It was a soft gray morning; the sky was covered +with light, broken clouds; the deck was wet with a passing shower, of +which the last drops were still flying in the air; and before us, some ten +miles away, the coasts and promontories of the Peloponnesus were reaching +southward into the quiet sea. These long serrated ridges did not look +lofty, in spite of their snow-clad peaks, nor did they look inhospitable, +in spite of their rough outline, but were all toned in harmonious color—a +deep purple blue, with here and there, on the far Arcadian peaks, and on +the ridge of Mount Taygetus, patches of pure snow. In contrast to the +large sweeps of the Italian coast, its open seas, its long waves of +mountain, all was here broken, and rugged, and varied. The sea was studded +with rocky islands, and the land indented with deep, narrow bays. I can +never forget the strong and peculiar impression of that first sight of +Greece; nor can I cease to wonder at the strange likeness which rose in my +mind, and which made me think of the bays and rocky coasts of the west and +south-west of Ireland. There was the same cloudy, showery sky, which is so +common there; there was the same serrated outline of hills, the same +richness in promontories, and rocky islands, and land-locked bays. Nowhere +have I seen a light purple color, except in the wilds of Kerry and +Connemara; and though the general height of the Greek mountains, as the +snow in May testified, was far greater than that of the Irish hills, yet +on that morning, and in that light, they looked low and homely, not +displaying their grandeur, or commanding awe and wonder, but rather +attracting the sight by their wonderful grace, and by their variety and +richness of outline and color. + +I stood there, I know not how long—without guide or map—telling myself the +name of each mountain and promontory, and so filling out the idle names +and outlines of many books with the fresh reality itself. There was the +west coast of Elis, as far north as the eye could reach—the least +interesting part of the view, as it was of the history, of Greece; then +the richer and more varied outline of Messene, with its bay, thrice famous +at great intervals, and yet for long ages feeding idly on that fame; +Pylos, Sphacteria, Navarino—each a foremost name in Hellenic history. +Above the bay could be seen those rich slopes which the Spartans coveted +of old, and which, as I saw them, were covered with golden corn. The three +headlands which give to the Peloponnesus “its plane-leaf form,”(2) were as +yet lying parallel before us, and their outline confused; but the great +crowd of heights and intersecting chains, which told at once the Alpine +character of the peninsula, called to mind the other remark of the +geographer, in which he calls it the Acropolis of Greece. The words of old +Herodotus, too, rise in the mind with new reality, when he talks of the +poor and stony soil of the country as a “rugged nurse of liberty.” + +For the nearer the ship approaches, the more this feature comes out; +increased, no doubt, greatly in later days by depopulation and general +decay, when many arable tracts have lain desolate, but still at all times +necessary, when a large proportion of the country consists of rocky peaks +and precipices, where a goat may graze, but where the eagle builds secure +from the hand of man. The coast, once teeming with traffic, is now lonely +and deserted. A single sail in the large gulf of Koron, and a few +miserable huts, discernible with a telescope, only added to the feeling of +solitude. It was, indeed, “Greece, but living Greece no more.” Even the +pirates, who sheltered in these creeks and mountains, have abandoned this +region, in which there is nothing now to plunder.(3) + +But as we crossed the mouth of the gulf, the eye fastened with delight on +distant white houses along the high ground of the eastern side—in other +words, along the mountain slopes which run out into the promontory of +Tainaron; and a telescope soon brought them into distinctness, and gave us +the first opportunity of discussing modern Greek life. We stood off the +coast of Maina—the home of those Mainotes whom Byron has made so famous as +pirates, as heroes, as lovers, as murderers; and even now, when the +stirring days of war and of piracy have passed away, the whole district +retains the aspect of a country in a state of siege or of perpetual +danger. Instead of villages surrounded by peaceful homesteads, each +Mainote house, though standing alone, was walled in, and in the centre was +a high square tower, in which, according to trustworthy travellers, the +Mainote men used to spend their day watching their enemies, while only the +women and children ventured out to till the fields. For these fierce +mountaineers were not only perpetually defying the Turkish power, which +was never able to subdue them thoroughly, but they were all engaged at +home with internecine feuds, of which the origin was often forgotten, but +of which the consequences remained in the form of vengeance due for the +life of a kinsman. When this was exacted on one side, the obligation +changed to the other; and so for generation after generation they spent +their lives in either seeking or avoiding vengeance. This more than +Corsican _vendetta_(4) was, by a sort of mediæval chivalry, prohibited to +the women and children, who were thus in perfect safety, while their +husbands and fathers were in daily and deadly danger. + +They are considered the purest in blood of all the Greeks, though it does +not appear that their dialect approaches old Greek nearer than those of +their neighbors; but for beauty of person, and independence of spirit, +they rank first among the inhabitants of the Peloponnesus, and most +certainly they must have among them a good deal of the old Messenian +blood. Most of the country is barren, but there are orange woods, which +yield the most delicious fruit—a fruit so large and rich that it makes all +other oranges appear small and tasteless. The country is now perfectly +safe for visitors, and the people extremely hospitable, though the diet is +not very palatable to the northern traveller. + +So with talk and anecdote about the Mainotes—for every one was now upon +deck and sight-seeing—we neared the classic headland of Tainaron, almost +the southern point of Europe, once the site of a great temple of +Poseidon—not preserved to us, like its sister monument on Sunium—and once, +too, the entry to the regions of the dead. And, as if to remind us of its +most beautiful legend, the dolphins, which had befriended Arion of old, +and carried him here to land, rose in the calm summer sea, and came +playing round the ship, showing their quaint forms above the water, and +keeping with our course, as it were an escort into the homely seas and +islands of truer Greece. Strangely enough, in many other journeys through +Greek waters, once again only did we see these dolphins; and here as +elsewhere, the old legend, I suppose, based itself upon the fact that +this, of all their wide domain, was the favorite resort of these +creatures, with which the poets of old felt so strong a sympathy. + +But, while the dolphins have been occupying our attention, we have cleared +Cape Matapan, and the deep Gulf of Asine and Gythium—in fact, the Gulf of +Sparta is open to our view. We strained our eyes to discover the features +of “hollow Lacedæmon,” and to take in all the outline of this famous bay, +through which so many Spartans had held their course in the days of their +greatness. The site of Sparta is far from the sea, probably twelve or +fifteen miles; but the place is marked for every spectator, throughout all +the Peloponnesus and its coasts, by the jagged top of Mount Taygetus, even +in June covered with snow. Through the forests upon its slopes the young +Spartans would hunt all day with their famous Laconian hounds, and after a +rude supper beguile the evening with stories of their dangers and their +success. But, as might be expected, of the five villages which made up the +famous city, few vestiges remain. The old port of Gythium is still a port; +but here, too, the “wet ways,” and that sea once covered with boats, which +a Greek comic poet has called the “ants of the sea,” have been deserted. + +We were a motley company on board—Russians, Greeks, Turks, French, +English; and it was not hard to find pleasant companions and diverting +conversation among them all. I turned to a Turkish gentleman, who spoke +French indifferently. “Is it not,” said I, “a great pity to see this fair +coast so desolate?” “A great pity, indeed,” said he; “but what can you +expect from these Greeks? They are all pirates and robbers; they are all +liars and knaves. Had the Turks been allowed to hold possession of the +country they would have improved it and developed its resources; but since +the Greeks became independent everything has gone to ruin. Roads are +broken up, communications abandoned; the people emigrate and disappear—in +fact, nothing prospers.” + +Presently, I got beside a Greek gentleman, from whom I was anxiously +picking up the first necessary phrases and politenesses of modern Greek, +and, by way of amusement, put to him the same question. I got the answer I +expected. “Ah!” said he, “the Turks, the Turks! When I think how these +miscreants have ruined our beautiful country! How could a land thrive or +prosper under such odious tyranny?” I ventured to suggest that the Turks +were now gone five and forty years, and that it was high time to see the +fruits of recovered liberty in the Greeks. No, it was still too soon. The +Turks had cut down all the woods, and so ruined the climate; they had +destroyed the cities, broken up the roads, encouraged the bandits—in fact, +they had left the country in such a state that centuries would not cure +it. + +The verdict of Europe is in favor of the Greek gentleman; but it might +have been suggested, had we been so disposed, that the greatest and the +most hopeless of all these sorrows—the utter depopulation of the +country—is not due to either modern Greeks or Turks, nor even to the Slav +hordes of the Middle Ages. It was a calamity which came upon Greece almost +suddenly, immediately after the loss of her independence, and which +historians and physiologists have as yet been only partially able to +explain.(5) + +Of this very coast upon which we were then gazing, the geographer Strabo, +about the time of Christ, says, “that of old, Lacedæmon had numbered one +hundred cities; in his day there were but ten remaining.” So, then, the +sum of the crimes of both Greeks and Turks may be diminished by one. But +I, perceiving that each of them would have been extremely indignant at +this historical palliation of the other’s guilt, “kept silence, even from +good words.” + +These dialogues beguiled us till we found ourselves, almost suddenly, +facing the promontory of Malea, with the island of Cythera (Cerigo) on our +right. The island is little celebrated in history. The Phœnicians seem, in +very old times, to have had a settlement there for the working of their +purple shell-fishery, for which the coasts of Laconia were celebrated; and +they doubtless founded there the worship of the Sidonian goddess, who was +transformed by the Greeks into Aphrodite (Venus). During the Peloponnesian +War we hear of the Athenians using it as a station for their fleet, when +they were ravaging the adjacent coasts. It was, in fact, used by their +naval power as the same sort of blister (_ἐπιτείχισις_) on Sparta that +Dekelea was when occupied by the Spartans in Attica. + +Cape Malea is more famous. It was in olden days the limit of the homely +Greek waters, the bar to all fair weather and regular winds—a place of +storms and wrecks, and the portal to an inhospitable open sea; and we can +well imagine the delight of the adventurous trader who had dared to cross +the Western Seas, to gather silver and lead in the mines of Spain, when he +rounded the dreaded Cape, homeward bound in his heavy-laden ship, and +looked back from the quiet Ægean. The barren and rocky Cape has its new +feature now. On the very extremity there is a little platform, at some +elevation over the water, and only accessible with great difficulty from +the land by a steep goat-path. Here a hermit built himself a tiny hut, +cultivated his little plot of corn, and lived out in the lone seas, with +no society but stray passing ships.(6) When Greece was thickly peopled he +might well have been compelled to seek loneliness here; but now, when in +almost any mountain chain he could find solitude and desolation enough, it +seems as if that poetic instinct which so often guides the ignorant and +unconscious anchorite had sent him to this spot, which combines, in a +strange way, solitude and publicity, and which excites the curiosity, but +forbids the intrusion, of every careless passenger to the East. + +So we passed into the Ægean, the real thoroughfare of the Greeks, the +mainstay of their communication—a sea, and yet not a sea, but the frame of +countless headlands and islands, which are ever in view to give confidence +to the sailor in the smallest boat. The most striking feature in our view +was the serrated outline of the mountains of Crete, far away to the S. E. +Though the day was gray and cloudy, the atmosphere was perfectly clear, +and allowed us to see these very distant Alps, on which the snow still lay +in great fields. The chain of Ida brought back to us the old legends of +Minos and his island kingdom, nor could any safer seat of empire be +imagined for a power coming from the south than this great long bar of +mountains, to which half the islands of the Ægean could pass a fire signal +in times of war or piracy.(7) The legends preserved to us of Minos—the +human sacrifices to the Minotaur—the hostility to Theseus—the +identification of Ariadne with the legends of Bacchus, so eastern and +orgiastic in character—make us feel, with a sort of instinctive certainty, +that the power of Minos was no Hellenic empire, but one of Phœnicians, +from which, as afterwards from Carthage, they commanded distant coasts and +islands, for the purposes of trade. They settled, as we know, at Corinth, +at Thebes, and probably at Athens, in the days of their greatness, but +they seem always to have been strangers and sojourners there, while in +Crete they kept the stronghold of their power. Thucydides thinks that +Minos’s main object was to put down piracy, and protect commerce; and this +is probably the case, though we are without evidence on the point. The +historian evidently regards this old Cretan empire as the older model of +the Athenian, but settled in a far more advantageous place, and not liable +to the dangers which proved the ruin of Athens. + +The nearer islands were small, and of no reputation, but each like a +mountain top reaching out of a submerged valley, stony and bare. Melos was +farther off, but quite distinct—the old scene of Athenian violence and +cruelty, to Thucydides so impressive, that he dramatizes the incidents, +and passes from cold narrative and set oration to a dialogue between the +oppressors and the oppressed. Melian starvation was long proverbial among +the Greeks, and there the fashionable and aristocratic Alcibiades applied +the arguments and carried out the very policy which the tanner Cleon could +not propose without being pilloried by the great historian whom he made +his foe. This and other islands, which were always looked upon by the +mainland Greeks with some contempt, have of late days received special +attention from archæologists. It is said that the present remains of the +old Greek type are now to be found among the islanders—an observation +which I found fully justified by a short sojourn at Ægina, where the very +types of the Parthenon frieze can be found among the inhabitants, if the +traveller will look for them diligently. The noblest and most perfect type +of Greek beauty has, indeed, come to us from Melos, but not in real life. +It is the celebrated Venus of Melos—the most pure and perfect image we +know of that goddess, and one which puts to shame the lower ideals so much +admired in the museums of Italy.(8) + +Another remark should be made in justice to the islands, that the groups +of Therasia and Santorin, which lie round the crater of a great active +volcano, have supplied us not only with the oldest forms of the Greek +alphabet in their inscriptions, but with far the oldest vestiges of +inhabitants in any part of Greece. In these, beneath the lava slopes +formed by a great eruption—an eruption earlier than any history, except, +perhaps, Egyptian—have been found the dwellings, the implements, and the +bones of men who cannot have lived there much later than 2000 B. C. The +arts, as well as the implements, of these old dwellers in their Stone Age, +have shown us how very ancient Greek forms, and even Greek decorations, +are in the world’s history: and we may yet from them and from further +researches, such as Schliemann’s, be able to reconstruct the state of +things in Greece before the Greeks came from their Eastern homes. The +special reason why these inquiries seem to me likely to lead to good +result is this, that what is called neo-barbarism is less likely to +mislead us here than elsewhere. Neo-barbarism means the occurrence in +later times of the manners and customs which generally mark very old and +primitive times. Some few things of this kind survive everywhere; thus, in +the Irish Island of Arran, a group of famous _savants_ mistook a stone +donkey-shed of two years’ standing for the building of an extinct race in +gray antiquity: as a matter of fact, the construction had not changed from +the oldest type. But the spread of culture, and the fulness of population +in the good days of Greece, make it certain that every spot about the +thoroughfares was improved and civilized; and so, as I have said, there is +less chance here than anywhere of our being deceived into mistaking +rudeness for oldness, and raising a modern savage to the dignity of a +primæval man. + +But we must not allow speculations to spoil our observations, nor waste +the precious moments given us to take in once for all the general outline +of the Greek coasts. While the long string of islands, from Melos up to +the point of Attica, framed in our view to the right, to the left the +great bay of Argolis opened far into the land, making a sort of vista into +the Peloponnesus, so that the mountains of Arcadia could be seen far to +the west standing out against the setting sun; for the day was now +clearer—the clouds began to break, and let us feel touches of the sun’s +heat towards evening. As we passed Hydra, the night began to close about +us, and we were obliged to make out the rest of our geography with the aid +of a rich full moon. + +But these Attic waters, if I may so call them, will be mentioned again and +again in the course of our voyage, and need not now be described in +detail. The reader will, I think, get the clearest notion of the size of +Greece by reflecting upon the time required to sail round the Peloponnesus +in a good steamer. The ship in which we made the journey—the _Donnai_, of +the French Messagerie Company,—made about eight miles an hour. Coming +within close range of the coast of Messene, about five o’clock in the +morning, we rounded all the headlands, and arrived at the Peiræus about +eleven o’clock the same night. So, then, the Peloponnesus is a small +peninsula, but even to an outside view “very large for its size;” for the +actual climbing up and down of constant mountains, in any land journey +from place to place, makes the distance in miles very much greater than +the line as the crow flies. If I said that every ordinary distance, as +measured on the map, is doubled in the journey, I believe I should be +under the mark. + +It may be well to add a word here upon the other route into Greece, that +by Brindisi and the Ionian Islands. It is fully as picturesque, in some +respects more so, for there is no more beautiful bay than the long fiord +leading up to Corinth, which passes Patras, Vostitza, and Itea, the port +of Delphi. The Akrokeraunian mountains, which are the first point of the +Albanian coast seen by the traveller, are also very striking, and no one +can forget the charms and beauties of Corfu. I think a market-day in +Corfu, with those royal-looking peasant lads, who come clothed in +sheepskins from the coast, and spend their day handling knives and +revolvers with peculiar interest at the stalls, is among the most +picturesque sights to be seen in Europe. The lofty mountains of Ithaca and +its greater sister, and then the rich belt of verdure along the east side +of Zante—all these features make this journey one of surpassing beauty and +interest. Yet notwithstanding all these advantages, there is not the same +excitement in first approaching semi-Greek or outlying Greek settlements, +and only gradually arriving at the real centres of historic interest. Such +at least was the feeling (shared by other observers) which I had in +approaching Greece by this more varied route. No traveller, however, is +likely to miss either, as it is obviously best to enter by one route and +depart by the other, in a voyage not intended to reach beyond Greece. But +from what I have said, it may be seen that I prefer to enter by the direct +route from Naples, and to leave by the Gulf of Corinth and the Ionian +Islands. I trust that ere long arrangements may be made for permitting +travellers who cross the isthmus to make an excursion to the +Akrokorinthus—the great citadel of Corinth—which they are now compelled to +hurry past, in order to catch the boat for Athens. + +The modern Patras, still a thriving port, is now the main point of contact +between Greece and the rest of Europe. For, as a railway has now been +opened from Patras to Athens, all the steamers from Brindisi, Venice, and +Trieste put in there, and from thence the stream of travellers proceeds by +the new line to the capital. The old plan of steaming up the long fiord to +Corinth is abandoned; still more the once popular route round the Morea, +which, if somewhat slower, at least saved the unshipping at Lechæum, the +drive in omnibuses across the isthmus, and reshipment at Cenchreæ—all done +with much confusion, and with loss and damage to luggage and temper. Not +that there is no longer confusion. The railway station at Patras, and that +at Athens, are the most curious bear-gardens in which business ever was +done. The traveller (I speak of the year of our Lord 1889) is informed +that unless he is there an hour before the time he will not get his +luggage weighed and despatched. And when he comes down from his +comfortable hotel to find out what it all means, he meets the whole +population of the town in possession of the station. Everybody who has +nothing to do gets in the way of those who have; everything is full of +noise and confusion. + +At last the train steams out of the station, and takes its deliberate way +along the coast, through woods of fir trees, bushes of arbutus and mastic, +and the many flowers which stud the earth. And here already the traveller, +looking out of the window, can form an idea of the delights of real Greek +travel, by which he must understand mounting a mule or pony, and making +his way along woody paths, or beside the quiet sea, or up the steep side +of a rocky defile. Every half-hour the train crosses torrents coming from +the mountains, which in flood times color the sea for some distance with +the brilliant brick-red of the clay they carry with them from their banks. +The peacock blue of the open sea bounds this red water with a definite +line, and the contrast in the bright sun is something very startling. +Shallow banks of sand also reflect their pale yellow in many places, so +that the brilliancy of this gulf exceeds anything I had ever seen in sea +or lake. We pass the sites of Ægion, now Vostitza, once famous as the +capital or centre (politically) of the Achæan League. We pass Sicyon, the +home of Aratus, the great regenerator, the mean destroyer of that League, +as you can still read in Plutarch’s fascinating life of the man. But these +places, like so many others in Greece, once famous, have now no trace of +their greatness left above ground. The day may, however, still come when +another Schliemann will unearth the records and fragments of a +civilization distinguished even in Greece for refinement. Sicyon was a +famous school of art. Painting and sculpture flourished there, and there +was a special school of Sicyon, whose features we can still recognize in +extant copies of the famous statues they produced. There is a statue known +as the Canon Statue, a model of human proportions, which was the work of +the famous Polycleitus of Sicyon, and which we know from various +imitations preserved at Rome and elsewhere. But we shall return in due +time to Greek sculpture as a whole, and shall not interrupt our journey at +this moment. + +All that we have passed through hitherto may be classed under the title of +“first impressions.” The wild northern coast shows us but one inlet, of +the Gulf of Salona, with a little port of Itea at its mouth. This was the +old highway to ascend to the oracle of Delphi on the snowy Parnassus, +which we shall approach better from the Bœotian side. But now we strain +our eyes to behold the great rock of Corinth, and to invade this, the +first great centre of Greek life, which closes the long bay at its +westernmost end. + +I will add a word upon the form and scope of the following work. My aim is +to bring the living features of Greece home to the student, by connecting +them, as far as possible, with the facts of older history, which are so +familiar to most of us. I shall also have a good deal to say about the +modern politics of Greece, and the character of the modern population. A +long and careful survey of the extant literature of ancient Greece has +convinced me that the pictures usually drawn of the old Greeks are +idealized, and that the real people were of a very different—if you +please, of a much lower—type. I may mention, as a very remarkable +confirmation of my judgment, that intelligent people at Athens, who had +read my opinions elsewhere set forth upon the subject,(9) were so much +struck with the close resemblance of my pictures of the old Greeks to the +present inhabitants, that they concluded that I must have visited the +country before writing these opinions, and that I was, in fact, drawing my +classical people from the life of the moderns. If this is not a proof of +the justice of these views, it at least strongly suggests that they may be +true, and is a powerful support in arguing the matter on the perfectly +independent ground of the inferences from old literature. After all, +national characteristics are very permanent, and very hard to shake off, +and it would seem strange, indeed, if both these and the Greek language +should have remained almost intact, and yet the race have either changed, +or been saturated with foreign blood. Foreign invasions and foreign +conquests of Greece were common enough; but here, as elsewhere, the +climate and circumstances which have formed a race seem to conspire to +preserve it, and to absorb foreign types and features, rather than to +permit the extinction or total change of the older race. + +I feel much fortified in my judgment of Greek character by finding that a +very smart, though too sarcastic, observer, M. E. About, in his well-known +_Grèce contemporaine_, estimates the people very nearly as I am disposed +to estimate the common people of ancient Greece. He notices, in the second +and succeeding chapters of his book, a series of features which make this +nationality a very distinct one in Europe. Starting from the question of +national beauty, and holding rightly that the beauty of the men is greater +than that of the women, he touches on a point which told very deeply upon +all the history of Greek art. At the present day, the Greek men are much +more particular about their appearance, and more vain of it, than the +women. The most striking beauty among them is that of young men; and as to +the care of figure, as About well observes, in Greece it is the men who +pinch their waists—a fashion unknown among Greek women. Along with this +handsome appearance, the people are, without doubt, a very temperate +people; although they make a great deal of strong wine, they seldom drink +much, and are far more critical about good water than wine. Indeed, in so +warm a climate, wine is disagreeable even to the northern traveller; and, +as Herodotus remarked long ago, very likely to produce insanity, the +rarest form of disease among the Greeks. In fact, they are not a +passionate race—having at all ages been gifted with a very bright +intellect, and a great reasonableness; they have an intellectual insight +into things, which is inconsistent with the storms of wilder passion. + +They are, probably, as clever a people as can be found in the world, and +fit for any mental work whatever. This they have proved, not only by +getting into their hands all the trade of the Eastern Mediterranean, but +by holding their own perfectly among English merchants in England. As yet +they have not found any encouragement in other directions; but there can +be no doubt that, if settled among a great people, and weaned from the +follies and jealousies of Greek politics, they would (like the Jews) +outrun many of us, both in politics and in science. However that may +be—and perhaps such a development requires moral qualities in which they +seem deficient—it is certain that their workmen learn trades with +extraordinary quickness; while their young commercial or professional men +acquire languages, and the amount of knowledge necessary for making money, +with the most singular aptness. But as yet they are stimulated chiefly by +the love of gain. + +Besides this, they have great national pride, and, as M. About remarks, we +need never despair of a people who are at the same time intelligent and +proud. They are very fond of displaying their knowledge on all points—I +noted especially their pride in exhibiting their acquaintance with old +Greek history and legend. When I asked them whether they believed the old +mythical stories which they repeated, they seemed afraid of being thought +simple if they confessed that they did, and of injuring the reputation of +their ancestors if they declared they did not. So they used to preserve a +discreet neutrality. + +The instinct of liberty appears to me as strong in the nation now as it +ever was. In fact, the people have never been really enslaved. The eternal +refuge for liberty afforded by the sea and the mountains has saved them +from this fate; and, even beneath the heavy yoke of the Turks, a large +part of the nation was not subdued, but, in the guise of bandits and +pirates, enjoyed the great privilege for which their ancestors had +contended so earnestly. The Mainotes, for example, of whom I have just +spoken as occupying the coast of Messene, never tolerated any resident +Turkish magistrate among them, but “handed to a trembling tax-collector a +little purse of gold pieces, hung on the end of a naked sword.”(10) Now, +the whole nation is more intensely and thoroughly democratic than any +other in Europe. They acknowledge no nobility save that of descent from +the chiefs who fought in the war of liberation; they will allow no +distinction of classes; every common mule-boy is a gentleman (_κύριος_), +and fully your equal. He sits in the room at meals, and joins in the +conversation at dinner. They only tolerate a king because they cannot +endure one of themselves as their superior. This jealousy is, +unfortunately, a mainspring of Greek politics, and when combined with a +dislike of agriculture, as a stupid and unintellectual occupation, fills +all the country with politicians, merchants, and journalists. Moreover, +they want the spirit of subordination of their great ancestors, and are +often accused of lack of honesty—a very grave feature, and the greatest +obstacle to progress in all ages. It is better, however, to let points of +character come out gradually in the course of our studies than to bring +them together into an official portrait. It is impossible to wander +through the country without seeing and understanding the inhabitants; for +the traveller is in constant contact with them, and they have no scruple +in displaying all their character. + +M. About has earned the profound hatred and contempt of the nation by his +picture, and I do not wonder at it, seeing that the tone in which he +writes is flippant and ill-natured, and seems to betoken certain private +animosities, of which the Greeks tell numerous anecdotes. + +I have no such excuse for being severe or ill-natured, as I found nothing +but kindness and hospitality everywhere, and sincerely hope that my free +judgments may not hurt any sensitive Greek who may chance to see them. +Even the great Finlay—one of their best friends—is constantly censured by +them for his writings about Modern Greece. + +But, surely, any real lover of Greece must feel that plain speaking about +the faults of the nation is much wanted. The worship lavished upon them by +Byron and his school has done its good, and can now only do harm. On the +other hand, I must confess that a longer and more intimate intercourse +with the Greeks of the interior and of the mountains leads a fair observer +to change his earlier estimate, and think more highly of the nation than +at first acquaintance. Unfortunately, the Greeks known to most of us are +sailors—mongrel villains from the ports of the Levant, having very little +in common with the bold, honest, independent peasant who lives under his +vine and his fig-tree in the valleys of Arcadia or of Phocis. It was, no +doubt, an intimate knowledge of the sound core of the nation which +inspired Byron with that enthusiasm which many now think extravagant and +misplaced. But here, as elsewhere, the folly of a great genius has more +truth in it than the wisdom of his feebler critics. + + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + + GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF ATHENS AND ATTICA. + + +There is probably no more exciting voyage, to any educated man, than the +approach to Athens from the sea. Every promontory, every island, every +bay, has its history. If he knows the map of Greece, he needs no +guide-book or guide to distract him; if he does not, he needs little Greek +to ask of any one near him the name of this or that object; and the mere +names are sufficient to stir up all his classical recollections. But he +must make up his mind not to be shocked at _Ægina_ or _Phalerum_, and even +to be told that he is utterly wrong in his way of pronouncing them. + +It was our fortune to come into Greece by night, with a splendid moon +shining upon the summer sea. The varied outlines of Sunium on the one +side, and Ægina on the other, were very clear, but in the deep shadows +there was mystery enough to feed the burning impatience to see it all in +the light of common day; and though we had passed Ægina, and had come over +against the rocky Salamis, as yet there was no sign of Peiræus. Then came +the light on Psyttalea, and they told us that the harbor was right +opposite. Yet we came nearer and nearer, and no harbor could be seen. The +barren rocks of the coast seemed to form one unbroken line, and nowhere +was there a sign of indentation or of break in the land. But, suddenly, as +we turned from gazing on Psyttalea, where the flower of the Persian nobles +had once stood in despair, looking upon their fate gathering about them, +the vessel had turned eastward, and discovered to us the crowded lights +and thronging ships of the famous harbor. Small it looked, very small, but +evidently deep to the water’s edge, for great ships seemed touching the +shore; and so narrow is the mouth that we almost wondered how they had +made their entrance in safety. But we saw it some weeks later, with nine +men-of-war towering above all its merchant shipping and its steamers, and +among them crowds of ferry-boats skimming about in the breeze with their +wing-like sails. Then we found out that, like the rest of Greece, the +Peiræus was far larger than it looked. + + [Illustration: Along the Coast from the Throne of Xerxes] + +It differed little, alas! from more vulgar harbors in the noise and +confusion of disembarking; in the delays of its custom house; in the +extortion and insolence of its boatmen. It is still, as in Plato’s day, +“the haunt of sailors, where good manners are unknown.” But when we had +escaped the turmoil, and were seated silently on the way to Athens, almost +along the very road of classical days, all our classical notions, which +had been scared away by vulgar bargaining and protesting, regained their +sway. We had sailed in through the narrow passage where almost every great +Greek that ever lived had sometime passed; now we went along the line, +hardly less certain, which had seen all these great ones going to and fro +between the city and the port. The present road is shaded with great +silver poplars and plane trees, and the moon had set, so that our approach +to Athens was even more mysterious than our approach to the Peiræus. We +were, moreover, perplexed at our carriage stopping under some large plane +trees, though we had driven but two miles, and the night was far spent. +Our coachman would listen to no advice or persuasion. We learned +afterwards that every carriage going to and from the Peiræus stops at this +half-way house, that the horses may drink, and the coachman take “Turkish +delight” and water. There is no exception made to this custom, and the +traveller is bound to submit. At last we entered the unpretending +ill-built streets at the west of Athens. + +The stillness of the night is a phenomenon hardly known in that city. No +sooner have men and horses gone to rest than all the dogs and cats of the +town come out to bark and yell about the thoroughfares. Athens, like all +parts of modern Greece, abounds in dogs. You cannot pass a sailing boat in +the Levant without seeing a dog looking angrily over the taffrail, and +barking at you as you pass. Every ship in the Peiræus has at least one, +often a great many, on board. I suppose every house in Athens is provided +with one. These creatures seem to make it their business to prevent +silence and rest all the night long. They were ably seconded by cats and +crowing cocks, as well as by an occasional wakeful donkey; and both cats +and donkeys seemed to have voices of almost tropical violence. + +So the night wore away under rapidly growing adverse impressions. How is a +man to admire art and revere antiquity if he is robbed of his repose? The +Greeks sleep so much in the day that they seem indifferent about nightly +disturbances; and, perhaps, after many years’ habit, even Athenian +caterwauling may fail to rouse the sleeper. But what chance has the +passing traveller? Even the strongest ejaculations are but a narrow outlet +for his feelings. + +In this state of mind, then, I rose at the break of dawn to see whether +the window would afford any prospect to serve as a requital for angry +sleeplessness. And there, right opposite, stood the rock which of all +rocks in the world’s history has done most for literature and art—the rock +which poets, and orators, and architects, and historians have ever +glorified, and cannot stay their praise—which is ever new and ever old, +ever fresh in its decay, ever perfect in its ruin, ever living in its +death—the Acropolis of Athens. + +When I saw my dream and longing of many years fulfilled, the first rays of +the rising sun had just touched the heights, while the town below was +still hid in gloom. Rock, and rampart, and ruined fanes—all were colored +in uniform tints; the lights were of a deep rich orange, and the shadows +of dark crimson, with the deeper lines of purple. There was no variety in +color between what nature and what man had set there. No whiteness shone +from the marble, no smoothness showed upon the hewn and polished blocks; +but the whole mass of orange and crimson stood out together into the pale, +pure Attic air. There it stood, surrounded by lanes and hovels, still +perpetuating the great old contrast in Greek history, of magnificence and +meanness—of loftiness and lowness—as well in outer life as in inward +motive. And, as it were in illustration of that art of which it was the +most perfect bloom, and which lasted in perfection but a day of history, I +saw it again and again, in sunlight and in shade, in daylight and at +night, but never again in this perfect and singular beauty. + +If we except the Acropolis, there are only two striking buildings of +classical antiquity within the modern town of Athens—the Temple of Theseus +and the few standing columns of Hadrian’s great temple to Zeus. The latter +is, indeed, very remarkable. The pillars stand on a vacant platform, once +the site of the gigantic temple; the Acropolis forms a noble background; +away towards Phalerum stretch undulating hills which hide the sea; to the +left (if we look from the town), Mount Hymettus raises its barren slopes; +and in the valley, immediately below the pillars, flows the famous little +Ilisus,(11) glorified for ever by the poetry of Plato, and in its +summer-dry bed the fountain Callirrhoe, from which the Athenian maidens +still draw water as of old—water the purest and best in the city. It wells +out from under a great limestone rock, all plumed with the rich _Capillus +Veneris_, which seems to find out and frame with its delicate green every +natural spring in Greece. + +But the pillars of the Temple of Zeus, though very stately and massive, +and with their summits bridged together by huge blocks of architrave, are +still not Athenian, not Attic, not (if I may say so) genuine Greek work; +for the Corinthian capitals, which are here seen perhaps in their greatest +perfection, cannot be called pure Greek taste. As is well known, they were +hardly ever used, and never used prominently, till the Græco-Roman stage +of art. The older Greeks seem to have had a fixed objection to intricate +ornamentation in their larger temples. All the greater temples of Greece +and Greek Italy are of the Doric Order, with its perfectly plain capital. +Groups of figures were admitted upon the pediments and metopes, because +these groups formed clear and massive designs visible from a distance. But +such intricacies as those of the Corinthian capital were not approved, +except in small monuments, which were merely intended for close +inspection, and where delicate ornament gave grace to a building which +could not lay claim to grandeur. Such is clearly the case with the only +purely Greek (as opposed to Græco-Roman) monument of the Corinthian Order, +which is still standing—the Choragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens.(12) +It was also the case with that beautiful little temple, or group of +temples, known as the Erechtheum, which, standing beside the great massive +Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens, presents the very contrasts upon +which I am insisting. It is small and essentially graceful, being built in +the Ionic style, with rich ornamentation; while the Parthenon is massive, +and, in spite of much ornamentation, very severe in its plainer Doric +style. + + [Illustration: The Erechtheum from the West, Athens] + +But to return to the pillars of Hadrian’s Temple. They are about +fifty-five feet high, by six and a half feet in diameter, and no +Corinthian pillar of this colossal size would ever have been set up by the +Greeks in their better days. So, then, in spite of the grandeur of these +isolated remains—a grandeur not destroyed, perhaps even not diminished, by +coffee tables, and inquiring waiters, and military bands, and a vulgar +crowd about their base—to the student of really Greek art they are not of +the highest interest; nay, they even suggest to him what the Periclean +Greeks would have done had they, with such resources, completed the great +temple due to the munificence of the Roman Emperor. + +Let us turn, in preference, to the Temple of Theseus, at the opposite +extremity of the town, it too standing upon a clear platform, and striking +the traveller with its symmetry and its completeness, as he approaches +from the Peiræus. It is in every way a contrast to the temple of which we +have just spoken. It is very small—in fact so small in comparison with the +Parthenon, or the great temple at Pæstum, that we are disappointed with +it; and yet it is built, not in the richly-decorated Ionic style of the +Erechtheum, but in severe Doric; and though small and plain, it is very +perfect—as perfect as any such relic that we have. It is many centuries +older than Hadrian’s great temple. It could have been destroyed with +one-tenth of the trouble, and yet it still stands almost in its +perfection. The reason is simply this. Few of the great classical temples +suffered much from wanton destruction till the Middle Ages. Now, in the +Middle Ages this temple, as well as the Parthenon, was usurped by the +Greek Church, and turned into a place of Christian worship. So, then, the +little Temple of Theseus has escaped the ravages which the last few +centuries—worse than all that went before—have made in the remains of a +noble antiquity. To those who desire to study the effect of the Doric +Order this temple appears to me an admirable specimen. From its small size +and clear position, all its points are very easily taken in. “Such,” says +Bishop Wordsworth, “is the integrity of its structure, and the +distinctness of its details, that it requires no description beyond that +which a few glances might supply. Its beauty defies all: its solid yet +graceful form is, indeed, admirable; and the loveliness of its coloring is +such that, from the rich mellow hue which the marble has now assumed, it +looks as if it had been quarried, not from the bed of a rocky mountain, +but from the golden light of an Athenian sunset.” And in like terms many +others have spoken. + +I have only one reservation to make. The Doric Order being essentially +massive, it seems to me that this beautiful temple lacks one essential +feature of that order, and therefore, after the first survey, after a +single walk about it, it loses to the traveller who has seen Pæstum, and +who presently cannot fail to see the Parthenon, that peculiar effect of +massiveness—of almost Egyptian solidity—which is ever present, and ever +imposing, in these huger Doric temples. It seems as if the Athenians +themselves felt this—that the plain simplicity of its style was not +effective without size—and accordingly decorated this structure with +colors more richly than their other temples. All the reliefs and raised +ornaments seem to have been painted; other decorations were added in color +on the flat surfaces, so that the whole temple must have been a mass of +rich variegated hues, of which blue, green, and red are still +distinguishable—or were in Stuart’s time—and in which bronze and gilding +certainly played an important part. + +We are thus brought naturally face to face with one of the peculiarities +of old Greek art most difficult to realize, and still more to +appreciate.(13) We can recognize in Egyptian and in Assyrian art the +richness and appropriateness of much coloring. Modern painters are +becoming so alive to this, that among the most striking pictures in our +Royal Academy in London have been seen, for some years back, scenes from +old Egyptian and Assyrian life, in which the rich coloring of the +architecture has been quite a prominent feature. + +But in Greek art—in the perfect symmetry of the Greek temple, in the +perfect grace of the Greek statue—we come to think form of such paramount +importance, that we look on the beautiful Parian and Pentelic marbles as +specially suited for the expression of form apart from color. There is +even something in unity of tone that delights the modern eye. Thus, though +we feel that the old Greek temples have lost all their original +brightness, yet, as I have myself said, and as I have quoted from Bishop +Wordsworth, the rich mellow hue which tones all these ruins has to us its +peculiar charm. The same rich yellow brown, almost the color of the Roman +travertine, is one of the most striking features in the splendid remains +which have made Pæstum unique in all Italy. This color contrasts +beautifully with the blue sky of southern Europe; it lights up with +extraordinary richness in the rising or setting sun. We can easily +conceive that were it proposed to restore the Attic temples to their +pristine whiteness, we should feel a severe shock, and beg to have these +venerable buildings left in the soberness of their acquired color. Still +more does it shock us to be told that great sculptors, with Parian marble +at hand, preferred to set up images of the gods in gold and ivory, or, +still worse, with parts of gold and ivory; and that they thought it right +to fill out the eyes with precious stones, and set gilded wreaths upon +colored hair. + +When we first come to realize these things, we are likely to exclaim +against such a jumble, as we should call it, of painting and +architecture—still worse, of painting and sculpture. Nor is it possible or +reasonable that we should at once submit to such a revolution in our +artistic ideas, and bow without criticism to these shocking features in +Greek art. But if blind obedience to these our great masters in the laws +of beauty is not to be commended, neither is an absolute resistance to all +argument on the question to be respected; nor do I acknowledge the good +sense or the good taste of that critic who insists that nothing can +possibly equal the color and texture of white marble, and that all +coloring of such a substance is the mere remains of barbarism. For, say +what we will, the Greeks were certainly, as a nation, the best judges of +beauty the world has yet seen. And this is not all. The beauty of which +they were evidently the most fond was beauty of form—harmony of +proportions, symmetry of design. They always hated the tawdry and the +extravagant. As to their literature, there is no poetry, no oratory, no +history, which is less decorated with the flowers of rhetoric: it is all +pure in design, chaste in detail. So with their dress; so with their +dwellings. We cannot but feel that, had the effect of painted temples and +statues been tawdry, there is no people on earth who would have felt it so +keenly, and disliked it so much. There must, then, have been strong +reasons why this bright coloring did not strike their eye as it would the +eye of sober moderns. + +To any one who has seen the country, and thought about the question there, +many such reasons present themselves. In the first place, all through +southern Europe, and more especially in Greece, there is an amount of +bright color in nature, which prevents almost any artificial coloring from +producing a startling effect. Where all the landscape, the sea, and the +air are exceedingly bright, we find the inhabitants increasing the +brightness of their dress and houses, as it were to correspond with +nature. Thus, in Italy, they paint their houses green, and pink, and +yellow, and so give to their towns and villas that rich and warm effect +which we miss so keenly among the gray and sooty streets of northern +Europe. So also in their dress, these people wear scarlet, and white, and +rich blue, not so much in patterns as in large patches, and a festival in +Sicily or Greece fills the streets with intense color. We know that the +coloring of the old Greek dress was quite of the same character as that of +the modern, though in design it has completely changed. We must, +therefore, imagine the old Greek crowd before their temples, or in their +market-places, a very white crowd, with patches of scarlet and various +blue; perhaps altogether white in processions, if we except scarlet +shoe-straps and other such slight relief. One cannot but feel that a +richly colored temple—that pillars of blue and red—that friezes of +gilding, and other ornament, upon a white marble ground, and in white +marble framing, must have been a splendid and appropriate background, a +genial feature, in such a sky and with such costume. We must get +accustomed to such combinations—we must dwell upon them in imagination, or +ask our good painters to restore them for us, and let us look upon them +constantly and calmly. + +But I will not seek to persuade; let us merely state the case fairly, and +put the reader in a position to judge for himself. So much for the painted +architecture. I will but add, the most remarkable specimen of a richly +painted front to which we can now appeal is also really one of the most +beautiful in Europe—the front of S. Mark’s at Venice. The rich frescoes +and profuse gilding on this splendid front, of which photographs give a +very false idea, should be studied by all who desire to judge fairly of +this side of Greek taste. + +But I must say a word, before passing on, concerning the statues. No +doubt, the painting of statues, and the use of gold and ivory upon them, +were derived from a rude age, when no images existed but rude wooden +work—at first a mere block, then roughly altered and reduced to shape, +probably requiring some coloring to produce any effect whatever. To a +public accustomed from childhood to such painted, and often richly dressed +images, a pure white marble statue must appear utterly cold and lifeless. +So it does to us, when we have become accustomed to the mellow tints of +old and even weather-stained Greek statues; and it should be here noticed +that this mellow skin-surface on antique statues is not the mere result of +age, but of an artificial process, whereby they burnt into the surface a +composition of wax and oil, which gave a yellowish tone to the marble, as +well as also that peculiar surface which so accurately represents the +texture of the human skin. But if we imagine all the marble surfaces and +reliefs in the temple colored for architectural richness’ sake, we can +feel even more strongly how cold and out-of-place would be a perfectly +colorless statue in the centre of all this pattern. + +I will go further, and say we can point out cases where coloring greatly +heightens the effect and beauty of sculpture. The first is from the +bronzes found at Herculaneum, now in the museum at Naples. Though they are +not marble, they are suitable for our purpose, being naturally of a single +dark brown hue, which is indeed even more unfavorable (we should think) +for such treatment. In some of the finest of these bronzes—especially in +the two young men starting for a race—the eyeballs are inserted in white, +with iris and pupil colored. Nothing can be conceived more striking and +lifelike than the effect produced. There is in the Varvakion at Athens a +marble mask, found in the Temple of Æsculapius under the south side of the +Acropolis, probably an _ex voto_ offered for a recovery from some disease +of the eyes. This marble face also has its eyes colored in the most +striking and lifelike way, and is one of the most curious objects found in +the late excavations. + +I will add one remarkable modern example—the monument at Florence to a +young Indian prince, who visited England and this country some years ago, +and died of fever during his homeward voyage. They have set up to him a +richly colored and gilded baldachin, in the open air, and in a quiet, +wooded park. Under this covering is a life-sized bust of the prince, in +his richest state dress. The whole bust—the turban, the face, the +drapery—all is colored to the life, and the dress, of course, of the most +gorgeous variety. The turban is chiefly white, striped with gold, in +strong contrast to the mahogany complexion and raven hair of the actual +head; the robe is gold and green, and covered with ornament. The general +effect is, from the very first moment, striking and beautiful. The longer +it is studied, the better it appears; and there is hardly a reasonable +spectator who will not confess that, were we to replace the present bust +with a copy of it in white marble, the beauty and harmony of the monument +would be utterly marred. To those who have the opportunity of visiting +Greece or Italy, I strongly commend these specimens of colored buildings +and sculpture. When they have seen them, they will hesitate to condemn +what we still hear called the curiously bad taste of the old Greeks in +their use of color in the plastic arts. + +But these archæological discussions are truly _ἐκβολαὶ λόγου_, +digressions—in themselves necessary, yet only tolerable if they are not +too long. I revert to the general state of the antiquities at Athens, +always reserving the Acropolis for a special chapter. As I said, the +isolated pillars of Hadrian’s Temple of Zeus, and the so-called Temple of +Theseus, are the only very striking objects.(14) There are, of course, +many other buildings, or remains of buildings. There is the monument of +Lysicrates—a small and very graceful round chamber, adorned with +Corinthian engaged pillars, and with friezes of the school of Scopas, and +intended to carry on its summit the tripod Lysicrates had gained in a +musical and dramatic contest (334 B. C.) at Athens. There is the later +Temple of the Winds, as it is called—a sort of public clock, with sundials +and fine reliefs of the Wind-gods on its outward surfaces, and +arrangements for a water-clock within. There are two portals, or +gateways—one leading into the old agora, or market-place, the other +leading from old Athens into the Athens of Hadrian. + +But all these buildings are either miserably defaced, or of such late date +and decayed taste as to make them unworthy specimens of pure Greek art. A +single century ago there was much to be seen and admired which has since +disappeared; and even to-day the majority of the population are careless +as to the treatment of ancient monuments, and sometimes even mischievous +in wantonly defacing them. Thus, I saw the marble tombs of Ottfried Müller +and Charles Lenormant—tombs which, though modern, were yet erected at the +cost of the nation to men who were eminent lovers and students of Greek +art—I saw these tombs used as common targets by the neighborhood, and all +peppered with marks of shot and of bullets. I saw them, too, all but blown +up by workmen blasting for building-stones close beside them.(15) I saw, +also, from the Acropolis, a young gentleman practising with a pistol at a +piece of old carved marble work in the Theatre of Dionysus. His object +seemed to be to chip off a piece from the edge at every shot. Happily, on +this occasion, our vantage ground enabled us to take the law into our own +hands; and after in vain appealing to a custodian to interfere, we adopted +the tactics of Apollo at Delphi, and by detaching stones from the top of +our precipice, we put to flight the wretched barbarian who had come to +ravage the treasures of that most sacred place. + +These unhappy examples of the defacing of architectural monuments,(16) +which can hardly be removed, naturally suggest to the traveller in Greece +the kindred question how all the smaller and movable antiquities that are +found should be distributed so as best to promote the love and knowledge +of art. + +On this point it seems to me that we have gone to one extreme, and the +Greeks to the other, and that neither of us have done our best to make +known what we acknowledge ought to be known as widely as possible. The +tendency in England, at least of later years, has been to swallow up all +lesser and all private collections in the great national Museum in London, +which has accordingly become so enormous and so bewildering that no one +can profit by it except the trained specialist, who goes in with his eyes +shut, and will not open them till he has arrived at the special class of +objects he intends to examine. But to the ordinary public, and even the +generally enlightened public (if such an expression be not a contradiction +in terms), there is nothing so utterly bewildering, and therefore so +unprofitable, as a visit to the myriad treasures of that great world of +curiosities. + +In the last century many private persons—many noblemen of wealth and +culture—possessed remarkable collections of antiquities. These have mostly +been swallowed up by what is called “the nation,” and new private +collections are very rare indeed. + +In Greece the very opposite course is being now pursued. By a special law +it is forbidden to sell out of the country, or even to remove from a +district, any antiquities whatever; and in consequence little museums have +been established in every village in Greece—nay, sometimes even in places +where there is no village, in order that every district may possess its +own riches, and become worth a visit from the traveller and the antiquary. +I have seen such museums at Eleusis, some fifteen miles from Athens, at +Thebes, now an unimportant town, at Livadia, at Chæronea, at Argos, at +Olympia, and even in the wild plains of Orchomenus, in a little chapel, +with no town within miles.(17) If I add to this that most of these museums +were mere dark outhouses, only lighted through the door, the reader will +have some notion what a task it would be to visit and criticise, with any +attempt at completeness, the ever-increasing remnants of classical Greece. + +The traveller is at first disposed to complain that even the portable +antiquities found in various parts of Greece are not brought to Athens, +and gathered into one vast national museum. Further reflection shows such +a proceeding to be not only impossible, but highly inexpedient. I will not +speak of the great waste of objects of interest when they are brought +together in such vast masses that the visitor is rather oppressed than +enlightened. Any one who has gone to the British Museum will know what I +mean. Nor will I give the smallest weight to the selfish local argument, +that compelling visitors to wander from place to place brings traffic and +money into the country. Until proper roads and clean inns are established, +such an argument is both unfair and unlikely to produce results worth +considering. But fortunately most of the famous things in Greece are +sites, ruined buildings, forts which cannot be removed from their place, +if at all, without destruction, and of which the very details cannot be +understood without seeing the place for which they were intended. Even the +Parthenon sculptures in London would have lost most of their interest, if +the building itself at Athens did not show us their application, and +glorify them with its splendor. He who sees the gold of Mycenæ at Athens, +knows little of its meaning, if he has not visited the giant forts where +its owners once dwelt and exercised their sway; and if, as has been done +at Olympia, some patriotic Greek had built a safe museum at Mycenæ to +contain them, they would be more deeply interesting and instructive than +they now are. + +In such a town as Athens, on the contrary, it seems to me that the true +solution of the problem has been attained, though it will probably be +shortly abandoned for a central museum. There are (or were) at Athens at +least six separate museums of antiquities—one at the University, one +called the Varvakion, one in the Theseum, one, or rather two, on the +Acropolis, one in the Ministry of Public Instruction, and lastly, the new +National Museum, as it is called, in Patissia Street—devoted to its +special treasures. If these several storehouses were thoroughly kept,—if +the objects were carefully numbered and catalogued,—I can conceive no +better arrangement for studying separately and in detail the various +monuments, which must always bewilder and fatigue when crowded together in +one vast exhibition. If the British Museum were in this way severed into +many branches, and the different classes of objects it contains were +placed in separate buildings, and in different parts of London, I believe +most of us would acquire a far greater knowledge of what it contains, and +hence it would attain a greater usefulness in educating the nation. To +visit any one of the Athenian museums is a comparatively short and easy +task, where a man can see the end of his labor before him, and hence will +not hesitate to delay long over such things as are worth a careful study. + +It may be said that all this digression about the mere placing of +monuments is delaying the reader too long from what he desires to +know—something about the monuments themselves. But this little book, to +copy an expression of Herodotus, particularly affects digressions. I +desire to wander through the subject exactly in the way which naturally +suggests itself to me. After all, the reflections on a journey ought to be +more valuable than its mere description. + +Before passing into Attica and leaving Athens, something more must, of +course, be said of the museums, then of the newer diggings, and especially +of the splendid tombs found in the Kerameikus. We will then mount the +Acropolis, and wander leisurely about its marvellous ruins. From it we can +look out upon the general shape and disposition of Attica, and plan our +shorter excursions. + +As some of the suggestions in my first edition have found favor at Athens, +I venture to point out here the great benefit which the Greek +archæologists would confer on all Europe if they would publish an official +guide to Athens, with some moderately complete account of the immense +riches of its museums. Such a book, which might appear under the sanction +of M. Rousopoulos, or Professor Koumanoudis, might be promoted either by +the Greek Parliament or the University of Athens. Were it even published +in modern Greek, its sale must be large and certain; and, by appendices, +or new editions, it could be kept up to the level of the new discoveries. +The catalogues of Kekulé and of Heydemann are already wholly inadequate, +and unless one has the privilege of knowing personally one of the +gentlemen above named, it is very difficult indeed to obtain any proper +notion of the history, or of the original sites, of the various objects +which excite curiosity or admiration at every step. Such a book as I +suggest would be hailed by every Hellenist in Europe as an inestimable +boon. But in a land where the able men are perpetually engaged in making +or observing new discoveries, they will naturally despise the task of +cataloguing what they know. Hence, I suggest that some promising young +scholar might undertake the book, and have his work revised by his masters +in the sober and practical school of Athens.(18) + + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + + ATHENS—THE MUSEUMS—THE TOMBS. + + +Nothing is more melancholy and more disappointing than the first view of +the Athenian museums. Almost every traveller sees them after passing +through Italy, where everything—indeed far too much—has been done to make +the relics of antiquity perfect and complete. Missing noses, and arms, and +feet have been restored; probable or possible names have been assigned to +every statue; they are set up, generally, in handsome galleries, with +suitable decoration; the visitor is provided with full descriptive +catalogues. Nothing of all this is found in Greece. The fragments are +merely sorted: many of the mutilated statues are lying prostrate, and, of +course, in no way restored. Everything is, however, in process of being +arranged. But there is room to apprehend that in fifty years things will +still be found changing their places, and still in process of being +arranged. It is not fair to complain of these things in a nation which is +fully occupied with its political and commercial development, and where +new classical remains are constantly added to the museums. Every nerve is +being strained by the Greeks to obtain their proper rights in the possible +break-up of the Ottoman Empire. Great efforts are, besides, being made to +develop not only the ports, but the manufactures of the country. The +building of new roads is more vital to the nation than the saving and +ordering of artistic remains. Thus we must trust to private enterprise and +generosity to settle these things; and these have hitherto not been +wanting among the Greeks. But their resources are small, and they require +help both in money and in sympathy. So, then, unless foreign influences be +continuously brought to bear,—all the foreign schools act unselfishly at +their own expense,—I fear that all of us who visit Athens will be doomed +to that first feeling of disappointment. + +But I am bound to add that every patient observer who sets to work in +spite of his disappointment, and examines with honest care these “disjecta +membra” of Attic art—any one who will replace in imagination the tips of +noses—any one who will stoop over lying statues, and guess at the context +of broken limbs—such an observer will find his vexation gradually changing +into wonder, and will at last come to see that all the smoothly-restored +Greek work in Italian museums is not worth a tithe of the shattered +fragments in the real home and citadel of pure art. This is especially +true of the museum on the Acropolis. It is, however, also true of the +other museums, and more obviously true of the reliefs upon the tombs. The +assistance of an experienced Athenian antiquary is also required, who +knows his way among the fragments, and who can tell the history of the +discovery, and the theories of the purport of each. There are a good many +men of ability and learning connected with the University of Athens, who +describe each object in the antiquarian papers as it is discovered. But +when I asked whether I could buy or subscribe to any recognized organ for +such information, I was told (as I might have expected) that no single +paper or periodical was so recognized. Clashing interests and personal +friendships determine _where_ each discovery is to be announced; so that +often the professedly archæological journals contain no mention of such +things, while the common daily papers secure the information. + +Here, again, we feel the want of some stronger government—some despotic +assertion of a law of gravitation to a common centre—to counteract the +strong centrifugal forces acting all through Greek society. The old +_autonomy_ of the Greeks—that old assertion of local independence which +was at once their greatness and their ruin—this strong instinct has lasted +undiminished to the present day. They seem even now to hate pulling +together, as we say. They seem always ready to assert their individual +rights and claims against those of the community or the public. The old +Greeks had as a safeguard their divisions into little cities and +territories; so that their passion for autonomy was expended on their city +interests, in which the individual could forget himself. But as the old +Greeks were often too selfish for this, and asserted their personal +autonomy against their own city, so the modern Greek, who has not this +safety-valve, finds it difficult to rise to the height of acting in the +interests of the nation at large; and though he converses much and +brilliantly about Hellenic unity, he generally allows smaller interests to +outweigh this splendid general conception. I will here add a most annoying +example of this particularist feeling, which obtrudes itself upon every +visitor to Athens. The most trying thing in the streets is the want of +shade, and the consequent glare of the houses and roadway. Yet along every +street there are planted pepper-trees of graceful growth and of delicious +scent. But why are they all so wretchedly small and bare? Because each +inhabitant chooses to hack away the growing branches in front of his own +door. The Prime Minister, who deplored this curious Vandalism, said he was +powerless to check it. Until, however, the Athenians learn to control +themselves, and let their trees grow, Athens will be an ugly and +disagreeable city. + +So, then, the Greeks will not even agree to tell us where we may find a +complete list of newly-discovered antiquities. Nor, indeed, does the +Athenian public care very much, beyond a certain vague pride, for such +things, if we except one peculiar kind, which has taken among them +somewhat the place of old china among us. There have been found in many +Greek cemeteries—in Megara, in Cyrene, and of late in great abundance and +excellence at Tanagra, in Bœotia—little figures of terra cotta, often +delicately modelled and richly colored both in dress and limbs. These +figures are ordinarily from eight to twelve inches high, and represent +ladies both sitting and standing in graceful attitudes, young men in +pastoral life, and other such subjects. I was informed that some had been +found in various places through Greece, but the main source of them—and a +very rich source—is the Necropolis at Tanagra. There are several +collections of these figures on cup-boards and in cabinets in private +houses at Athens, all remarkable for the marvellous modernness of their +appearance. The graceful drapery of the ladies especially is very like +modern dress, and many have on their heads flat round hats, quite similar +in design to the gipsy hats much worn among ladies of late years. But +above all, the hair was drawn back from the forehead, not at all in what +is considered Greek style, but rather_ à __l’__ Eugénie_, as we used to +say when we were young. Many hold in their hands large fans, like those +which we make of peacocks’ feathers. No conclusive theory has yet been +started, so far as I know, concerning the object or intention of these +figures. So many of them are female figures, that it seems unlikely they +were portraits of the deceased; and the frequent occurrence of two figures +together, especially one woman being carried by another, seems almost to +dissuade us from such a theory. They seem to be the figures called _Κόραι_ +by many old Greeks, which were used as toys by children, and, perhaps, as +ornaments. The large class of tradesmen who made them were called +_Κορόπλαθοι_, and were held in contempt by real sculptors. Most of them +are, indeed, badly modelled, and evidently the work of ignorant tradesmen. +If it could be shown that they were only found in the graves of children, +it would be a touching sign of that world-wide feeling among the human +race, to bury with the dead friend whatever he loved and enjoyed in his +life on earth, that he might not feel lonely in his cold and gloomy +grave.(19) But it seems unlikely that this limitation can ever be proved. + +There is an equal difficulty as to their age. The Greeks say that the +tombs in which they are found are not later than the second century B. C., +and it is, indeed, hard to conceive at what later period there was enough +wealth and art to produce such often elegant, and often costly, results. +Tanagra and Thespiæ were, indeed, in Strabo’s day (lib. ix. 2) the only +remaining cities of Bœotia; the rest, he says, were but ruins and names. +But we may be certain that in that time of universal decay the remaining +towns must have been as poor and insignificant as they now are. Thus, we +seem thrown back into classical or Alexandrian days for the origin of +these figures, which in their bright coloring—pink and blue dresses, often +gilded fringes, the hair always fair, so far as I could find—are, indeed, +like what we know of old Greek statuary, but in other respects +surprisingly modern.(20) If their antiquity can be strictly demonstrated, +it will but show another case of the versatility of the Greeks in all +things relating to art: how, with the simplest material, and at a long +distance from the great art centres, they produced a type of exceeding +grace and refinement totally foreign to their great old models, varying in +dress, attitude—in every point of style—from ordinary Greek sculpture, and +anticipating much of the modern ideals of beauty and elegance. + +But it is necessary to suspend our judgment, and wait for further and +closer investigation. The workmen at Tanagra are now forbidden to sell +these objects to private fanciers; and in consequence, their price has +risen so enormously, that those in the market, if of real elegance and +artistic merit, cannot be obtained for less than from £40 to £60. As much +as 2000 francs has been paid for one, when they were less common. From +this price downward they can still be bought in Athens, the rude and badly +finished specimens being cheap enough. The only other method of procuring +them, or of procuring them more cheaply, is to make diligent inquiries +when travelling in the interior, where they may often be bought from poor +people, either at Megara, Tanagra, or elsewhere, who have chanced to find +them, and are willing enough to part with them after a certain amount of +bargaining. + +It is convenient to dispose of this peculiar and distinct kind of Greek +antiquities, because they seem foreign to the rest, and cannot be brought +under any other head. These figurines have now found their way into most +European museums.(21) + +I pass to the public collections at Athens, in which we find few of these +figures, and which rather contain the usual products of Greek plastic +art—statues, reliefs, as well as pottery, and inscriptions. As I have +said, the statues are in the most lamentable condition, shattered into +fragments, without any attempt at restoring even such losses as can be +supplied with certainty. What mischief might be done by such wholesale +restoration as was practised in Italy some fifty years ago, it is hard to +say. But perhaps the reaction against that error has driven us to an +opposite extreme. + +There is, indeed, one—a naked athlete, with his cloak hanging over the +left shoulder, and coiled round the left forearm—which seems almost as +good as any strong male figure which we now possess. While it has almost +exactly the same treatment of the cloak on the left arm which we see in +the celebrated Hermes of the Vatican,(22) the proportions of the figure +are nearer the celebrated _Discobolus_ (numbered 126, Braccio Nuovo). +There are two other copies at Florence, and one at Naples. These +repetitions point to some very celebrated original, which the critics +consider to be of the older school of Polycletus, and even imagine may +possibly be a copy of his _Doryphorus_, which was called the _Canon_ +statue, or model of the perfect manly form. The Hermes has too strong a +likeness to Lysippus’s _Apoxyomenos_ not to be recognized as of the newer +school. What we have, then, in this Attic statue seems an intermediate +type between the earlier and stronger school of Polycletus and the more +elegant and newer school of Lysippus in Alexander’s day. + +There can, however, be no doubt that it does not date from the older and +severer age of sculpture, of which Phidias and Polycletus were the highest +representatives. Any one who studies Greek art perceives how remarkably +not only the style of dress and ornament, but even the proportions of the +figure change, as we come down from generation to generation in the long +line of Greek sculptors. The friezes of Selinus (now at Palermo), and +those of Ægina (now in Munich), which are among our earliest classical +specimens, are remarkable for short, thick-set forms. The men are men five +feet seven, or, at most, eight inches high, and their figures are squat +even for that height. In the specimens we have of the days of Phidias and +Polycletus these proportions are altered. The head of the _Doryphorus_, if +we can depend upon our supposed copies, is still heavy, and the figure +bulky, though taller in proportion. He looks a man of five feet ten inches +at least. The statue we are just considering is even taller, and is like +the copies we have of Lysippus’s work, the figure apparently of a man of +six feet high; but his head is not so small, nor is he so slender and +light as this type is usually found. + +It is not very easy to give a full account of this change. There is, of +course, one general reason well known—the art of the Greeks, like almost +all such developments, went through stiffness and clumsiness into dignity +and strength, to which it presently added that grace which raises strength +into majesty. But in time the seeking after grace becomes too prominent, +and so strength, and with it, of course, the majesty which requires +strength as well as grace, is gradually lost. Thus we arrive at a period +when the forms are merely elegant or voluptuous, without any assertion of +power. I will speak of a similar development among female figures in +connection with another subject which will naturally suggest it. + +This can only be made plain by a series of illustrations. Of course, the +difficulty of obtaining really archaic statues was very great.(23) They +were mostly sacred images of the gods, esteemed venerable and interesting +by the Greeks, but seldom copied. Happily, the Romans, when they set +themselves to admire and procure Greek statues, had fits of what we now +call pre-Raphaelitism—fits of admiration for the archaic and devout, even +if ungraceful, in preference to the more perfect forms of later art. +Hence, we find in Italy a number of statues which, if not really archaic, +are at least _archaistic_, as the critics call it—imitations or copies of +archaic statues. With these we need now no longer be content. And we may +pause a moment on the question of archaic Greek art, because, apart from +the imitations of the time of Augustus and Hadrian, we had already some +really genuine fragments in the little museum in the Acropolis—fragments +saved, not from the present Parthenon, but rather from about the ruins of +the older Parthenon. This temple was destroyed by the Persians, and the +materials were built into the surrounding wall of the Acropolis by the +Athenians, when they began to strengthen and beautify it at the opening of +their career of dominion and wealth. The stains of fire are said to be +still visible on these drums of pillars now built into the fortification, +and there can be no doubt of their belonging to the old temple, as it is +well attested.(24) But I do not agree with the statement that these older +materials were so used in order to nurse a perpetual hatred against the +Persians in the minds of the people, who saw daily before them the +evidence of the ancient wrong done to their temples.(25) I believe this +sentimental twaddle to be quite foreign to all Greek feeling. The +materials were used in the wall because they were unsuitable for the newer +temples, and because they must otherwise be greatly in the way on the +limited surface of the Acropolis. + +A fair specimen of the old sculptures first found is a very stiff, and, to +us, comical figure, which has lost its legs, but is otherwise fairly +preserved, and which depicts a male figure with curious conventional hair, +and still more conventional beard, holding by its four legs a bull or +calf, which he is carrying on his shoulders. The eyes are now hollow, and +were evidently once filled with something different from the marble of +which the statue is made. The whole pose and style of the work is stiff +and expressionless, and it is one of the most characteristic remains of +the older Attic art still in existence. + +Happily there is little doubt what the statue means. It is the votive +offering of the Marathonians, which Pausanias saw in the Acropolis, and +which commemorated the legend of Theseus having driven the wild bull, sent +against them by Minos, from Marathon to the Acropolis, where he sacrificed +it. Pausanias does not say how Theseus was represented with the bull; but +it certainly was not a group—such a thing is clearly beyond the narrow and +timid conceptions of the artists of that day. It being difficult to +represent this hero and bull together except by representing the man +carrying the bull, the artist has made the animal full grown in type, but +as small as a calf, and has, of course, not attempted any expression of +hostility between the two. The peaceful look, which merely arises from the +inability of the artist to render expression, has led many good art +critics to call it not a Theseus but a Hermes. Such being the obscure +history of the statue, it is not difficult to note its characteristics. We +see the conventional treatment of the hair, the curious transparent +garments lying close to the skin, and the very heavy muscular forms of the +arms and body. The whole figure is stiff and expressionless, and strictly +in what is called the hieratic or old religious style, as opposed to an +ideal or artistic conception. + +There are two full-length reliefs—one which I first saw in a little church +near Orchomenus, and a couple more at Athens in the Theseon—which are +plainly of the same epoch and style of art. The most complete Athenian one +is ascribed as the stele of Aristion, and as the work of Aristocles,(26) +doubtless an artist known as contemporary with those who fought at the +battle of Marathon. Thus we obtain a very good clue to the date at which +this art flourished. There is also the head of a similar figure, with the +hair long and fastened in a knot behind, and with a discus raised above +the shoulder, so as to look like a nimbus round the head, which is one of +the most interesting objects in the Varvakion. But of the rest the +pedestal only is preserved. Any impartial observer will see in these +figures strong traces of the influence of Asiatic style. This influence +seems about as certain, and almost as much disputed, as the Egyptian +influences on the Doric style of architecture. To an unbiassed observer +these influences speak so plainly, that, in the absence of strict +demonstration to the contrary, one feels bound to admit them—the more so, +as we know that the Greeks, like all other people of genius, were ever +ready and anxious to borrow from others. It should be often repeated, +because it is usually ignored, that it is a most original gift to know how +to borrow; and that those only who feel wanting in originality are anxious +to assert it. Thus the Romans, who borrowed without assimilating, are +always asserting their originality; the Greeks, who borrowed more and +better, because they made what they borrowed their own, never care to do +so. The hackneyed parallel of Shakespeare will occur to all. + +Unfortunately, the museums of Athens show us but few examples of the +transition state of art between this and the perfect work of Phidias’s +school. The Æginetan marbles are less developed than Phidias’s work; but +from the relief of Aristion, and the Theseus of the Acropolis, to these, +is a wide gulf in artistic feeling. The former is the work of children +shackled by their material, still more by conventional rules; the latter +the work of men. There is also the well-known Apollo of Thera; a similar +Apollo found at Athens, with very conventional curls, and now in the +National Museum; and two or three small sitting statues of Athene which, +though very archaic, begin to approach the grace of artistic sculpture. +But Italy is sufficiently rich in imitations of this very period. There +are four very remarkable statues in a small room of the Villa Albani, near +Rome, which are not photographed, because the public would, doubtless, +think them bad art, but which, could I procure copies and reproduce them, +would illustrate clearly what I desire. We have also among the bronzes +found at Pompeii statues precisely of this style, evidently copies from +old Greek originals, and made to satisfy the pre-Raphaelitism (as I have +already called it) of Italian amateurs. I select a bronze Artemis as an +interesting example of this antiquarian taste in a later age. The +statuette maintains in the face the very features which we think so +comical when looking at the relief of Aristion, or the women of the +Acropolis. They are, no doubt, softened and less exaggerated, but still +they are there. The so-called Greek profile is not yet attained. The +general features of the old Greek face in monuments were a retreating +forehead, a peaked nose, slightly turned up at the end, the mouth drawn +in, and the corners turned up, flat elongated eyes (especially full in the +profiles of reliefs), a prominent angular chin, lank cheeks, and high +ears. These lovely features can be found on hundreds of vases, because, +vase-making being rather a trade than an art, men kept close to the old +models long after great sculptors and painters had, like Polygnotus, begun +to depart from the antique stiffness of the countenance.(27) The Artemis +in question has, however, these very features, which are very clear when +we can see her in profile. But the head-dress and draping are elaborate, +and though formal and somewhat rigid, not wanting in grace. The pose of +the arms is stiff, and the attitude that of a woman stepping forward, +which is very usual in archaic figures—I suppose because it enlarged the +base of the statue, and made it stand more firmly in its place. The +absence of any girdle or delaying fold in the garments is one of the most +marked contrasts with the later draping of such figures. + +But now at last we can show the reader how far the antiquarians of later +days were able to imitate archaic sculpture. Another characteristic +archaic statue was one of the seventeen found in 1885–86 on the +Acropolis,(28) where they had been piled together with portions of pillars +and other stones to extend the platform for new buildings. The style and +the mutilation of all these statues, which, from their uniform type, are +more probably votive offerings than sacred images, point to their being +the actual statues which the Persians overthrew when ravaging the +Acropolis (480 B. C.). They were so broken and spoiled that the Athenians, +when restoring and rebuilding their temples, determined to use them for +rubbish. Thus we have now a perfectly authentic group of works showing us +the art of the older Athens before the Persian Wars. They are each made of +several pieces of marble, apparently Parian, dowelled together like wooden +work, and the figure here reproduced has a bronze pin protruding from the +head, apparently to hold a nimbus or covering of metal. They were all +richly colored, as many traces upon them still show.(29) + +Let us now leave this archaic art and go to the street of tombs, where we +can find such specimens as the world can hardly equal, and in such +condition as to be easily intelligible. A good many of these tombs, and +some of them very fine, have lately been removed to the National Museum, +where they are no doubt safer, and more easily studied and compared, +though there is something lost in not having them upon their original +site, with some at least of their original surroundings. What I have said +of the museums is, even so, disappointing, as indeed it should be, if the +feelings of the visitor are to be faithfully reproduced. But I must not +fail to add, before turning to other places, that in inscriptions these +museums are very rich, as well as also in Attic vases, and lamps, and +other articles of great importance in our estimate of old Greek life. The +professors of the University have been particularly diligent in +deciphering and explaining the inscriptions, and with the aid of the +Germans, who have collected, and are still collecting, these scattered +documents in a complete publication, we are daily having new light thrown +upon Greek history. Thus Kohler has been able from the recovered Attic +tribute-lists to construct a map of the Athenian maritime empire with its +dependencies, which tells the student more in five minutes than hours of +laborious reading. The study of vases and lamps is beyond my present +scope; and the former so wide and complicated a subject, that it cannot be +mastered without long study and trouble.(30) + +I pass, therefore, from the museums to the street of tombs, which +Thucydides tells us to find in the fairest suburb of the city, as we go +out westward towards the groves of Academe, and before we turn slightly to +the south on our way to the Peiræus. Thucydides has described with some +care the funeral ceremonies held in this famous place, and has composed +for us a very noble funeral oration, which he has put in the mouth of +Pericles.(31) It is with this oration, probably the finest passage in +Thucydides’s great history, in our minds, that we approach the avenue +where the Athenians laid their dead. We have to pass through the poorest +portion of modern Athens, through wretched _bazaars_ and dirty markets, +which abut upon the main street. Amid all this squalor and poverty, all +this complete denial of art and leisure, there are still features which +faintly echo old Greek life. There is the bright color of the dresses—the +predominance of white, and red, and blue, of which the old Athenians were +so fond; and there is among the lowest classes a great deal of that +striking beauty which recalls to us the old statues. More especially in +the form of the head, and in the expression, of the children, we see types +not to be found elsewhere in Europe, and which, if not derived from +classical Greece, are at all events very beautiful. + +We then come on to the railway station, which is, indeed, in this place, +as elsewhere, very offensive. With its grimy smoke, its shrill sounds, and +all its other hard unloveliness, it is not a meet neighbor for the tombs +of the old Greeks, which are close to it on all sides. + +They lie—as almost all old ruins do—far below the present level of the +ground, and have, therefore, to be exhumed by careful digging. When this +has been done they are covered with a rude door, to protect their +sculptured face; and when I first saw them were standing about, without +any order or regularity, close to the spots where they had been found. + +A proper estimate of these tombs cannot be attained without appreciating +the feelings with which the survivors set them up. And we must consider +not only the general attitude of Greek literature on the all-important +question of the state of man after death, but also the thousands of +inscriptions upon tombs, both with and without sculptured reliefs, if we +will form a sure opinion about the feelings of the bereaved in these +bygone days. + +We know from Homer and from Mimnermus that in the earlier periods, though +the Greeks were unable to shake off a belief in life after death, they +could not conceive that state as anything but a shadowy and wretched echo +of the real life upon earth. It was a gloomy existence, burdened with the +memory of lost happiness and the longing for lost enjoyment. To the +Homeric Greeks death was a dark unavoidable fate, without hope and without +reward. It is, indeed, true that we find in Pindar thoughts and +aspirations of a very different kind. We have in the fragments of his +poetry more than one passage asserting the rewards of the just, and the +splendors of a future life far happier than that which we now enjoy. But, +notwithstanding these noble visions, such high expectation laid no hold +upon the imagination of the Greek world. The poems of Pindar, we are told, +soon ceased to be popular, and his visions are but a streak of light amid +general gloom. The kingdom of the dead in Æschylus is evidently, as in +Homer, but a weary echo of this life, where honor can only be attained by +the pious service of loving kinsfolk, whose duty paid to the dead affects +him in his gloomier state, and raises him in the esteem of his +less-remembered fellows. Sophocles says nothing to clear away the night; +nay rather his deepest and maturest contemplation regards death as the +worst of ills to the happy man—a sorry refuge to the miserable. Euripides +longs that there may be no future state; and Plato only secures the +immortality of the soul by severing it from the person—the man, and all +his interests. + +It is plain, from this evidence, that the Greeks must have looked upon the +death of those they loved with unmixed sorrow. It was the final parting, +when all the good and pleasant things are remembered; when men seek, as it +were, to increase the pang, by clothing the dead in all his sweetest and +dearest presence. But this was not done by pompous inscriptions, or by a +vain enumeration of all the deceased had performed—inscriptions which, +among us, tell more of the vanity than of the grief of the survivors. The +commonest epitaph was a simple _χαῖρε_, or farewell; and it is this single +word, so full and deep in its meaning to those who love, which is pictured +in the tomb reliefs. They are simple parting scenes, expressing the grief +of the survivors, and the great sadness of the sufferer, who is going to +his long home. + +Nevertheless, what strikes us forcibly in these remarkable monuments is +the chastened modest expression of sorrow which they display. There is no +violence, no despair, no extravagance—all is simple and noble; thus +combining purity of art with a far deeper pathos—a far nobler grief—than +that of the exaggerated paintings and sculptures which seek to express +mourning in later and less cultivated ages.(32) We may defy any art to +produce truer or more poignant pictures of real sorrow—a sorrow, as I have +explained, far deeper and more hopeless than any Christian sorrow; and yet +there is no wringing of hands, no swooning, no defacing with sackcloth and +ashes.(33) Sometimes, indeed, as in the celebrated tomb of Dexileos, a +mere portrait of the dead in active life was put upon his tomb, and +private grief would not assert itself in presence of the record of his +public services. + + [Illustration: A Tomb from the Via Sacra, Athens] + +I know not that any other remnants of Greek art bring home to us more +plainly one of its eternal and divine features—or shall I rather say, one +of its eternal and human features?—the greatest, if not the main feature, +which has made it the ever new and ever lasting lawgiver to men in their +efforts to represent the ideal. + +If I am to permit myself any digression whatever, we cannot do better than +conclude this chapter with some reflections on this subject, and we may +therefore turn, by suggestion of the Athenian tombs, to a few general +remarks on the _reserve_ of Greek art—I mean the reserve in the displaying +emotion, in the portraying of the fierce outbursts of joy or grief; and +again, more generally, the reserve in the exhibiting of peculiar or +personal features, passing interests, or momentary emotions. + +In a philosophy now rather forgotten than extinct, and which once +commanded no small attention, Adam Smith was led to analyze the indirect +effects of _sympathy_, from which, as a single principle, he desired to +deduce all the rules of ethics. While straining many points unduly, he +must be confessed to have explained with great justice the origin of good +taste or tact in ordinary life, which he saw to be the careful watching of +the interest of others in our own affairs, and the feeling that we must +not force upon them what concerns ourselves, except we are sure to carry +with us their active sympathy. Good breeding, he says, consists in a +delicate perception how far this will go, and in suppressing those of our +feelings which, though they affect _us_ strongly, cannot be expected to +affect in like manner our neighbor, whose sympathy should be the measure +and limit of our outspokenness. There can be no doubt that whatever other +elements come in, this analysis is true, so far as it goes, and recommends +itself at once to the convictions of any educated man. The very same +principle applies still more strongly and universally in art. As tragedy +is bound to treat ideal griefs and joys of so large and broad a kind that +every spectator may merge in them his petty troubles, so ideal sculpture +and painting are only ideal so far as they represent those large and +eternal features in human nature which must always command the sympathy of +every pure human heart. + +Let us dispose at once of an apparent exception—the mediæval pictures of +the Passion of Christ, and the sorrows of the Virgin Mary. Here the artist +allowed himself the most extreme treatment, because the objects were +necessarily the centre of the very highest sympathy. No expression of the +grief of Christ could be thought exaggerated in the Middle Ages, because +in this very exaggeration lay the centre point of men’s religion. But when +no such object of universal and all-absorbing sympathy can be found (and +there was none such in pagan life), then the Greek artist must attain by +his treatment of the object what the Christian artist obtained by the +object itself. Assuming, then, a mastery over his material, and sufficient +power of execution, the next feature to be looked for in Greek art, and +especially in Greek sculpture, is a certain modesty and reserve in +expression, which will not portray slight defects in picturing a man, but +represent that eternal or ideal character in him which remains in our +memory when he is gone. Such, for example, is the famous portrait-statue +of Sophocles. + +Such are also all that great series of ideal figures which meet us in the +galleries of ancient art. They seldom show us any violent emotion; they +are seldom even in so special an attitude that critics cannot interpret it +in several different ways, or as suitable to several myths. It is not +passing states of feeling, but the eternal and ideal beauty of human +nature, which Greek sculpture seeks to represent; and for this reason it +has held its sway through all the centuries which have since gone by. This +was the calm art of Phidias, and Polycletus, and Polygnotus, in sentiment +not differing from the rigid awkwardness of their predecessors, but in +mastery of proportions and of difficulties attaining the grace in which +the others had failed. To this general law there are, no doubt, +exceptions, and perhaps very brilliant ones; yet they are exceptions, and +even in them, if we consider them attentively, we can see the universal +features and the points of sympathy for all mankind. But if the appeal for +sympathy is indeed overstrained, then, however successful in its own +society and its own social atmosphere, the work of art loses power when +offered to another generation. Thus Euripides, though justly considered in +his own society the most tragic of poets, has for this very reason ceased +to appeal to us as Æschylus still appeals. For Æschylus kept within the +proper bounds dictated by the reserve of art; Euripides often did not, and +his work, though great and full of genius, suffered accordingly. + +It seems to me that the tombs before us are remarkable as exemplifying, +with the tact of genius, this true and perfect reserve. They are simple +pictures of the grief of parting—of the recollection of pleasant days of +love and friendship—of the gloom of the unknown future. But there is no +exaggeration, nor speciality—no individuality, I had almost said—in the +picture. I feel no curiosity to inquire who these people are—what were +their names—even what was the relationship of the deceased.(34) For I am +perfectly satisfied with an ideal portrait of the grief of parting—a grief +that comes to us all, and lays bitter hold of us at some season of life; +and it is this universal sorrow—this great common flaw in our lives—which +the Greek artist has brought before us, and which calls forth our deepest +sympathy. There will be future occasion to come back upon this +all-important feature in connection with the _action_ in Greek sculpture, +and even with the draping of their statues—in all of which the calm and +chaste reserve of the better Greek art contrasts strangely with the +Michael Angelos, and Berninis, and Canovas, of other days; nay, even with +the Greek sculpture of a no less brilliant but less refined age. + +But, in concluding this digression, I will call attention to a modern +parallel in the portraiture of grief, and of grief at final parting. This +parallel is not a piece of sculpture, but a poem, perhaps the most +remarkable poem of our generation—the _In Memoriam_ of Lord Tennyson. +Though written from personal feeling, and to commemorate a special +person—Arthur Hallam—whom some of us even knew, has this poem laid hold of +the imagination of men strongly and lastingly owing to the poet’s special +loss? Certainly not. I do not even think that this great dirge—this +magnificent funeral poem—has excited in most of us any strong interest in +Arthur Hallam. In fact, any other friend of the poet’s would have suited +the general reader equally well as the exciting cause of a poem, which we +delight in because it puts into great words the ever-recurring and +permanent features in such grief—those dark longings about the future; +those suggestions of despair, of discontent with the providence of the +world, of wild speculation about its laws; those struggles to reconcile +our own loss, and that of the human race, with some larger law of wisdom +and of benevolence. To the poet, of course, his own particular friend was +the great centre point of the whole. But to us, in reading it, there is a +wide distinction between the personal passages—I mean those which give +family details, and special circumstances in Hallam’s life, or his +intimacy with the poet—and the purely poetical or artistic passages, which +soar away into a region far above all special detail, and sing of the +great gloom which hangs over the future, and of the vehement beating of +the human soul against the bars of its prison house, when one is taken, +and another left, not merely at apparent random, but with apparent +injustice and damage to mankind. Hence, every man in grief for a lost +friend will read the poem to his great comfort, and will then only see +clearly what it means; and he will find it speak to him specially and +particularly, not in its personal passages, but in its general features; +in its hard metaphysics; in its mystical theology; in its angry and +uncertain ethics. For even the commonest mind is forced by grief out of +its commonness, and attacks the world-problems, which at other times it +has no power or taste to approach. + +By this illustration, then, the distinction between the universal and the +personal features of grief can be clearly seen; and the reader will admit +that, though it would be most unreasonable to dictate to the poet, or to +imagine that he should have omitted the stanzas which refer specially to +his friend, and which were to him of vital importance, yet to us it is no +loss to forget that name and those circumstances, and hold fast to the +really eternal (and because eternal, really artistic) features, in that +very noble symphony—shall I say of half-resolved discords, or of suspended +harmonies, which faith may reconcile, but which reason can hardly analyze +or understand?(35) + +Within a few minutes’ walk of these splendid records of the dead, the +traveller who returns to the town across the Observatory Hill will find a +very different cemetery. For here he suddenly comes up to a long cleft in +the rock, running parallel with the road below, and therefore quite +invisible from it. The rising ground towards the city hides it equally +from the Acropolis, and accordingly from all Athens. This gorge, some two +hundred yards long, sixty wide, and over thirty feet deep, is the +notorious _Barathrum_, the place of execution in old days; the place where +criminals were cast out, and where the public executioner resided. It has +been falsely inferred by the old scholiasts that the Athenians cast men +alive into the pit. It is not nearly deep enough now to cause death in +this way, and there seems no reason why its original depth should have +been diminished by any accumulation of rubbish, such as is common on +inhabited sites. “Casting into the Barathrum” referred rather to the +refusing the rights of burial to executed criminals—an additional +disgrace, and to the Greeks a grave additional penalty. Honor among the +dead was held to follow in exact proportion to the continued honors paid +by surviving friends. + +Here, then, out of view of all the temples and hallowed sites of the city, +dwelt the public slave, with his instruments of death, perhaps in a cave +or grotto, still to be seen in the higher wall of the gorge, and situated +close to the point where an old path leads over the hill towards the city. +Plato speaks of young men turning aside, as they came from Peiræus, to see +the dead lying in charge of this official; and there must have been times +in the older history of Athens when this cleft in the rock was a place of +carnage and of horror. The gentler law of later days seems to have felt +this outrage on human feeling, and instead of casting the dead into the +Barathrum, it was merely added to the sentence that the body should not be +buried within the boundaries of Attica. Yet, though the _Barathrum_ may +have been no longer used, the accursed gate (_ἱερὰ πύλη_) still led to it +from the city, and the old associations clung about its gloomy seclusion. +Even in the last century, the Turks, whether acting from instinct, or led +by old tradition, still used it as a place of execution. + +In the present day, all traces of this hideous history have long passed +away, and I found a little field of corn waving upon the level ground +beneath, which had once been the _Aceldama_ of Athens. But even now there +seemed a certain loneliness and weirdness about the place—silent and +deserted in the midst of thoroughfares, hidden from the haunts of men, and +hiding them from view by its massive walls. Nay, as if to bring back the +dark memories of the past, great scarlet poppies stained the ground in +patches as it were with slaughter, and hawks and ravens were still +circling about overhead, as their ancestors did in the days of blood; +attached, I suppose, by hereditary instinct to this fatal place, “for +where the carcase is, there shall the eagles be gathered together.” + + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + + THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS. + + +I suppose there can be no doubt whatever that the ruins on the Acropolis +of Athens are the most remarkable in the world. There are ruins far +larger, such as the pyramids, and the remains of Karnak. There are ruins +far more perfectly preserved, such as the great Temple at Pæstum. There +are ruins more picturesque, such as the ivy-clad walls of mediæval abbeys +beside the rivers in the rich valleys of England. But there is no ruin, +all the world over, which combines so much striking beauty, so distinct a +type, so vast a volume of history, so great a pageant of immortal +memories. There is, in fact, no building on earth which can sustain the +burden of such greatness, and so the first visit to the Acropolis is and +must be disappointing. When the traveller reflects how all the Old World’s +culture culminated in Greece—all Greece in Athens—all Athens in its +Acropolis—all the Acropolis in the Parthenon—so much crowds upon the mind +confusedly that we look for some enduring monument whereupon we can fasten +our thoughts, and from which we can pass as from a visible starting-point +into all this history and all this greatness. And at first we look in +vain. The shattered pillars and the torn pediments will not bear so great +a strain: and the traveller feels forced to admit a sense of +disappointment, sore against his will. He has come a long journey into the +remoter parts of Europe; he has reached at last what his soul had longed +for many years in vain: and as is wont to be the case with all great human +longings, the truth does not fulfil his desire. The pang of disappointment +is all the greater when he sees that the tooth of time and the shock of +earthquake have done but little harm. It is the hand of man—of reckless +foe and ruthless lover—which has robbed him of his hope. This is the +feeling, I am sure, of more than have confessed it, when they first wound +their way through the fields of great blue aloes, and passed up through +the Propylæa into the presence of the Parthenon. But to those who have not +given way to these feelings—who have gone again and again and sat upon the +rock, and watched the ruins at every hour of the day, and in the +brightness of a moonlight night—to those who have dwelt among them, and +meditated upon them with love and awe—there first come back the remembered +glories of Athens’s greatness, when Olympian Pericles stood upon this rock +with careworn Phidias, and reckless Alcibiades with Pious Nicias and +fervent Demosthenes with caustic Phocion—when such men peopled the temples +in their worship, and all the fluted pillars and sculptured friezes were +bright with scarlet, and blue, and gold. And then the glory of remembered +history casts its hue over the war-stained remnants. Every touch of human +hand, every fluting, and drop, and triglyph, and cornice recalls the +master minds which produced this splendor; and so at last we tear +ourselves from it as from a thing of beauty, which even now we can never +know, and love, and meditate upon to our hearts’ content. + +Nothing is more vexatious than the reflection, how lately these splendid +remains have been reduced to their present state. The Parthenon, being +used as a Greek church, remained untouched and perfect all through the +Middle Ages. Then it became a mosque, and the Erechtheum a seraglio, and +in this way survived with little damage till 1687, when, in the +bombardment by the Venetians under Morosini, a shell dropped into the +Parthenon, where the Turks had their powder stored, and blew out the whole +centre of the building. Eight or nine pillars at each side have been +thrown down, and have left a large gap, which so severs the front and rear +of the temple, that from the city below they look like the remains of two +different buildings. The great drums of these pillars are yet lying there, +in their order, just as they fell, and some money and care might set them +all up again in their places; yet there is not in Greece the patriotism or +even the common sense to enrich the country by this restoration, matchless +in its certainty as well as in its splendor. + +But the Venetians were not content with their exploit. They were, about +this time, when they held possession of most of Greece, emulating the +Pisan taste for Greek sculptures; and the four fine lions standing at the +gate of the arsenal at Venice still testify to their zeal in carrying home +Greek trophies to adorn their capital. Morosini wished to take down the +sculptures of Phidias from the eastern pediment, but his workmen attempted +it so clumsily that the figures fell from their place, and were dashed to +pieces on the ground. The Italians also left their lasting mark on the +place by building a high square tower of wretched patched masonry at the +right side of the entrance gate, which had of late years become such an +eyesore to the better educated public, that when I was first at Athens +there was a subscription on foot to have it taken down—not only in order +to remove an obtrusive reminiscence of the invaders, but in the hope of +bringing to light some pillars of the Propylæa built into it, as well as +many inscribed stones, broken off and carried away from their places as +building material. This expectation has not been verified by the results. +The tower was taken down by the liberality of M. Schliemann, and there +were hardly any inscriptions or sculptures discovered. + +A writer in the _Saturday Review_ (No. 1134) attacks this removal of the +Venetian tower, and my approval of it, as a piece of ignorant and +barbarous pedantry, which from love of the old Greek work, and its +sanctity, desires to destroy the later history of the place, and efface +the monuments of its fortunes in after ages.(36) This writer, whose +personality is unmistakable, thinks that even the Turkish additions to the +Parthenon should have been left untouched, so that the student of to-day +could meditate upon all these incongruities, and draw from them historical +lessons. And, assuredly, of all lessons conveyed, that of a victory over +the Turks would be to this writer the most important and the most +delightful. + +If this great man will not silence us with his authority, but let us argue +with him, we might suggest that there are, no doubt, cases where the +interests of art and of history are conflicting, and where a restoration +of pristine beauty must take away from the evidences of later history. The +real question is then, whether the gain in art is greater than the loss in +history. In the case of the Parthenon I think it is, now especially, when +records and drawings of the inferior additions can be secured. It may be +historically important to note the special work and character of every +generation of men; but surely for the education of the human race in the +laws of beauty, and in general culture, some ages are worth nothing, and +others worth everything; and I will not admit that this sort of education +is one whit less important than education in the facts of history. + +Of course, artistic restorations are often carried too far; a certain age +may be arbitrarily assumed as the canon of perfection, and everything else +destroyed to make way for it. There are few ages which can lay claim to +such pre-eminence as the age of Pericles; yet even in this case, were the +mediæval additions really beautiful, we should, of course, hesitate to +disturb them. But the Venetian tower, though a picturesque addition to the +rock when seen from a distance, so much so, that I felt its loss when I +saw the Acropolis again, had no claim to architectural beauty; it was set +up in a place sacred to greater associations, and besides there was every +reasonable prospect that its removal would subserve historical ends of far +more importance than the Venetian occupation of the Acropolis. A few +inscriptions of the date of Pericles, containing treaties or other such +public matter, would, in my opinion, have perfectly justified its removal, +even though it did signify a victory of Christians over Turks. + +In any case, it seems to me unfair that if every generation is to express +its knowledge by material results, we should not be permitted to record +our conviction that old Greek art or old Greek history is far greater and +nobler than either Turkish or Venetian history, and to testify this +opinion by making their monuments give way to it. This is the mark of +_our_ generation on the earth. Thus the eighteenth century was, no doubt, +a most important time in the history even of art, but where noble +thirteenth century churches have been dressed up and loaded with +eighteenth century additions, I cannot think the historical value of these +additions, as evidence of the taste or the history of their age, +counterbalances their artistic mischievousness, and I sympathize with the +nations who take them away. Of course, this principle may be overdriven, +and has been often abused. Against such abuses the remarks of the great +critic to whom I refer are a very salutary protest. But that any barbarous +or unsightly deforming of great artistic monuments is to be protected on +historical grounds—this is a principle of which neither his genius nor his +sneers will convince me. As for the charge of pedantry, no charge is more +easily made, but no charge is more easily retorted. + +Strangely enough, his theory of the absolute sanctity of old brick and +mortar nearly agrees in results with the absolute carelessness about such +things, which is the peculiarity of his special enemies, the Turks. The +Turks, according to Dodwell, who is a most trustworthy witness, never +destroyed the old buildings unless they wanted them for masonry. He tells +us not to believe that the figures of the remaining pediment were used as +targets by the Turkish soldiers—a statement often made in his day. However +that may be, I have little doubt, from what I saw myself, that Greek +soldiers in the present day might so use them. But the Turks did take down +some pillars of the Propylæa while Dodwell was there, for building +purposes, an occurrence which gave that excellent observer the opportunity +of noting the old Greek way of fitting the drums of the pillars together. +He even got into his possession one of the pieces of cypress wood used as +plugs between the stone masses, and has given a drawing of it, and +explained the method of its use, in his admirable book.(37) + +But the same traveller was also present when a far more determined and +systematic attack was made upon the remaining ruins of the Parthenon. +While he was travelling in the interior, Lord Elgin had obtained his +famous firman from the Sultan to take down and remove any antiquities or +sculptured stones he might require, and the infuriated Dodwell saw a set +of ignorant workmen, under equally ignorant overseers, let loose upon the +splendid ruins of the age of Pericles. He speaks with much good sense and +feeling of this proceeding. He is fully aware that the world would derive +inestimable benefit from the transplanting of these splendid fragments to +a more accessible place, but he cannot find language strong enough to +express his disgust at the way in which the thing was done. Incredible as +it may appear, Lord Elgin himself seems not to have superintended the +work, but to have left it to paid contractors, who undertook the job for a +fixed sum. Little as either Turks or Greeks cared for the ruins, Dodwell +says that a pang of grief was felt through all Athens at the desecration, +and that the contractors were obliged to bribe workmen with additional +wages to undertake the ungrateful task. He will not even mention Lord +Elgin by name, but speaks of him with disgust as “the person” who defaced +the Parthenon. He believes that had this person been at Athens himself, +his underlings could hardly have behaved in the reckless way they did, +pulling down more than they wanted, and taking no care to prop up and save +the work from which they had taken the supports. + +He especially notices their scandalous proceeding upon taking up one of +the great white marble blocks which form the floor or stylobate of the +temple. They wanted to see what was underneath, and Dodwell, who was +there, saw the foundation—a substructure of Peiræic sandstone. But when +they had finished their inspection they actually left the block they had +removed, without putting it back into its place. So this beautiful +pavement, made merely of closely-fitting blocks, without any artificial or +foreign joinings, was ripped up, and the work of its destruction begun. I +am happy to add that, though a considerable rent was then made, most of it +is still intact, and the traveller of to-day may still walk on the very +stones which bore the tread of every great Athenian. + +The question has often been discussed, whether Lord Elgin was justified in +carrying off this pediment, the metopes, and the friezes, from their +place; and the Greeks of to-day hope confidently that the day will come +when England will restore these treasures to their place. This is, of +course, absurd, and it may fairly be argued that people who would bombard +their antiquities in a revolution are not fit custodians of them in the +intervals of domestic quiet. This was my reply to an old Greek gentleman +who assailed the memory of Lord Elgin with reproaches. I told him that I +was credibly informed the Greeks had themselves bombarded the Turks in the +Acropolis during the war of liberation, as several great pieces knocked +out and starred on the western front testify. He confessed, to my +amusement, that he had himself been one of the assailants, and excused the +act by the necessities of war. I replied that, as the country seemed then +(1875) on the verge of a revolution, the sculptures might at least remain +in the British Museum until a secure government was established. And this +is the general verdict of learned men on the matter. They are agreed that +it was on the whole a gain to science to remove the figures, but all +stigmatize as barbarous and shameful the reckless way in which the work +was carried out. + +I confess I approved of this removal until I came home from Greece, and +went again to see the spoil in its place in our great Museum. Though there +treated with every care—though shown to the best advantage, and explained +by excellent models of the whole building, and clear descriptions of their +place on it—notwithstanding all this, the loss that these wonderful +fragments had sustained by being separated from their place was so +terribly manifest—they looked so unmeaning in an English room, away from +their temple, their country, and their lovely atmosphere,—that one +earnestly wished they had never been taken from their place, even at the +risk of being made a target by the Greeks or the Turks. I am convinced, +too, that the few who would have seen them, as intelligent travellers, on +their famous rock, would have gained in quality the advantage now diffused +among many, but weakened and almost destroyed by the wrench in +associations, when the ornament is severed from its surface, and the +decoration of a temple exhibited apart from the temple itself. We may +admit, then, that it had been better if Lord Elgin had never taken away +these marbles. Nevertheless, it would be absurd to send them back, as has +recently been advocated (in 1890) by some ignorant English +sentimentalists. But I do think that the museum on the Acropolis should be +provided with a better set of casts of the figures than those which are +now to be seen there. They look very wretched, and carelessly prepared. + +There are, indeed, preserved in the little museum on the Acropolis the +broken remains of the figures of the eastern pediment, which Morosini and +his Venetians endeavored to take down, as I have already told. They are +little more than pieces of drapery, of some use in reconstructing the +composition, but of none in judging the effect of that famous group. + +But we must not yet enter into this little museum, which is most properly +put out of sight, at the lowest or east corner of the rock, and which we +do not reach till we have passed through all the ruins. As the traveller +stands at the inner gate of the Propylæa, he notices at once all the +perfect features of the buildings. Over his head are the enormous +architrave-stones of the Propylæa—blocks of white marble over twenty-two +feet long, which span the gateway from pillar to pillar. Opposite, above +him and a little to the right, is the mighty Parthenon, not identical in +orientation, as the architects have observed, with the gateway, but +varying from it slightly, so that sun and shade would play upon it at +moments differing from the rest, and thus produce a perpetual variety of +lights. This principle is observed in the setting of the Erechtheum also. +To the left, and directly over the town, stands that beautifully decorated +little Ionic temple, or combination of temples, with the stately Caryatids +looking inwards and towards the Parthenon. These two buildings are the +most perfect examples we have of their respective styles. We see at first +sight the object of the artists who built them. The one is the embodiment +of majesty, the other of grace. The very ornaments of the Parthenon are +large and massive; those of the Erechtheum for the most part intricate and +delicate. Accordingly, the Parthenon is in the Doric style, or rather in +the Doric style so refined and adorned as to be properly called the Attic +style. + +For the more we study old Athenian art—nay, even old Athenian character +generally—the more are we convinced that its greatness consists in the +combination of Doric sternness and Ionic grace. It is hardly a mediation +between them; it is the adoption of the finer elements of both, and the +union of them into a higher harmony. The most obvious illustration of this +is the drama, where the Ionic element of recitation and the Doric choral +hymn were combined—and let me observe that the Ionic element was more +modified than the Doric. In the same way Attic architecture used the +strength and majesty of the older style which we see at Corinth and +Pæstum; but relieved it, partly by lighter proportions, partly by rich +decorations, which gave the nearer observer an additional and different +delight, while from afar the large features were of the old Doric majesty. +Even in the separate decorations, such as the metopes and friezes, the +graceful women and the long-flowing draperies of the Ionic school were +combined with the muscular nakedness of the Doric athlete, as represented +by Doric masters. Individual Attic masters worked out these contrasted +types completely, as we may see by the _Discobolus_ of Myron, a +contemporary of Phidias, and the _Apollo Musagetes_ of Scopas, who lived +somewhat later.(38) + +In fact, all Athenian character, in its best days, combined the +versatility, and luxury, and fondness of pleasure, which marked the +Ionian, with the energy, the public spirit, and the simplicity which was +said to mark the better Doric states. The Parthenon and Erechtheum express +all this in visible clearness. The Athenians felt that the Ionic elegance +and luxury of style was best suited to a small building; and so they +lavished ornament and color upon this beautiful little house, but made the +Doric temple the main object of all the sacred height. + +It is worth while to consult the professional architects, like Revett,(39) +who have examined these buildings with a critical eye. Not only were the +old Athenian architects perfect masters of their materials, of accurate +measurement, of precise correspondence, of all calculations as to strain +and pressure—they even for artistic, as well as for practical purposes, +deviated systematically from accuracy, in order that the harmony of the +building might profit by this imperceptible discord. They gave and took, +like a tuner tempering the chords of a musical instrument. The stylobate +is not exactly level, but curved so as to rise four inches in the centre; +the pillars, which themselves swell slightly in the middle, are not set +perpendicularly, but with a slight incline inwards: and this effect is +given in the Caryatids by making them rest their weight on the outer foot +at each corner, as Viollet-le-duc has admirably explained. Again, the +separation of the pillars is less at the corners, and gradually increases +as you approach the centre of the building. The base of the pediment is +not a right line, but is curved downward. It is not my province to go into +minute details on such points, which can only be adequately discussed by +architects. What I have here to note is, that the old Greek builders had +gone beyond mere mathematical accuracy and regularity. They knew a higher +law than the slavish repetition of accurate distances or intervals; they +had learned to calculate effects, to allow for optical illusions; they +knew how to sacrifice real for ideal symmetry. + +The sculptures of the Parthenon have given rise to a very considerable +literature—so considerable that the books and treatises upon them now +amount to a respectable library. The example was set by the architect of +the building itself, Ictinus, who wrote a special treatise on his +masterpiece. As is well known, it was sketched in chalk by the French +painter, Jacques Carrey, a few years before the explosion of 1687; and +though he had but very imperfect notions of Greek art, and introduced a +good deal of seventeenth century style into the chaste designs of Phidias, +still these drawings, of which there are copies in the British Museum, are +of great value in helping us to put together the broken and imperfect +fragments which remain.(40) + +The sculptured decorations of the building are of three kinds, or applied +in three distinct places. In the first place, the two triangular +_pediments_ over the east and west front were each filled with a group of +statues more than life-size—the one representing the birth of Athene, and +the other her contest with Poseidon for the patronage of Athens. Some of +the figures from one of these are the great draped headless women in the +centre of the Parthenon room of the British Museum: other fragments of +those broken by the Venetians are preserved at Athens. There are, +secondly, the _metopes_, or plaques of stone inserted into the frieze +between the triglyphs, and carved in relief with a single small group on +each. The height of these surfaces does not exceed four feet. There was, +thirdly, a band of reliefs running all around the external wall at the top +of the cella, inside the surrounding pillars, and opposite to them, and +this is known as the _frieze of the cella_. It consists of a great +Panathenaic procession, starting from the western front, and proceeding in +two divisions along the parallel north and south walls, till they meet on +the eastern front, which was the proper front of the temple. Among the +Elgin marbles there are a good many of the metopes, and also of the pieces +of the cella frieze preserved. Several other pieces of the frieze are +preserved at Athens, and altogether we can reconstruct fully three-fourths +of this magnificent composition. + +There seems to me the greatest possible difference in merit between the +metopes and the other two parts of the ornament. The majority of the +metopes which I have seen represent either a Greek and an Amazon or a +Centaur and Lapith, in violent conflict. It appeared plainly to me that +the main object of these contorted groups was to break in upon the +squareness and straightness of all the other members of the Doric frieze +and architrave. This is admirably done, as there is no conceivable design +which more completely breaks the stiff rectangles of the entablature than +the various and violent curves of wrestling figures. But, otherwise, these +groups do not appear to me very interesting, except so far as everything +in such a place, and the work of such hands, must be interesting. + +It is very different with the others. Of these the pediment +sculptures—which were, of course, the most important, and which were +probably the finest groups ever designed—are so much destroyed or +mutilated that the effect of the composition is entirely lost, and we can +only admire the matchless power and grace of the torsos which remain. The +grouping of the figures was limited, and indicated by the triangular shape +of the surface to be decorated—standing figures occupying the centre, +while recumbent or stooping figures occupied the ends. But, as in poetry, +where the shackles of rhyme and metre, which encumber the thoughts of +ordinary writers, are the very source which produces in the true poet the +highest and most precious beauties of expression; so in sculpture and +painting, fixed conditions seem not to injure, but to enhance and perfect, +the beauty and symmetry attainable in the highest art. We have apparently +in the famous Niobe group, preserved in Florence, the elements of a +similar composition, perhaps intended to fill the triangular tympanum of a +temple; and even in these weak Roman copies of a Greek masterpiece we can +see how beautifully the limited space given to the sculpture determined +the beauty and variety of the figures, and their attitudes. It was in this +genius of grouping that I fancy Phidias chiefly excelled all his +contemporaries: single statues of Polycletus are said to have been +preferred in competitions. To us the art of the _Discobolus_ of Myron +seems fully as great as that of any of the figures of the Parthenon; but +no other artist seems to have possessed the same architectonic power of +adapting large subjects and processions of figures to their places as +Phidias.(41) How far he was helped or advised by Ictinus, or even by +Pericles, it is not easy to say. But I do not fancy that Greek statesmen +in those days studied everything else in the world besides statecraft, and +were known as antiquaries, and linguists, and _connoisseurs_ of china and +paintings, and theologians, and novelists—in fact, everything under the +sun. This many-sidedness, as they now call it, which the Greeks called +_πολυπραγμοσύνη_ and thought to be meddlesomeness, was not likely to +infect Pericles. He was very intimate with Phidias, and is said to have +constantly watched his work—hardly, I fancy, as an adviser, but rather as +an humble and enthusiastic admirer of an art which did realize its ideal, +while he himself was striving in vain with rebel forces to attain his +object in politics. + +The extraordinary power of grouping in the designs of Phidias is, however, +very completely shown us in the better preserved band of the cella frieze, +along which the splendid Panathenaic procession winds its triumphal way. +Over the eastern doorway were twelve noble sitting figures on either side +of the officiating priest, presenting the state robe, or _peplos_, for the +vestment of Athene. These figures are explained as gods by the critics; +but they do not in either beauty or dignity, excel those of many of the +Athenians forming the procession. A very fine slab, containing three of +these figures, is now to be seen in the little museum in the Acropolis. +This group over the main entrance is the end and summary of all the +procession, and corresponds with the yearly ceremony in this way, that, as +the state entrance, or Propylæa, led into the Acropolis at the west end, +or rear of the Parthenon, the procession in all probability separated into +two, which went along both sides of the colonnade, and met again at the +eastern door. Accordingly, over the western end, or rear, the first +preparations of the procession are being made, which then starts along the +north and south walls; the southern being chiefly occupied with the +cavalcade of the Athenian knights, the northern with the carrying of +sacred vessels and leading of victims for the sacrifice. The frieze over +the western door is still in its place; but, having lost its bright +coloring, and being in any case at a great height, and only visible from +close underneath, on account of the pillars and architrave in front, it +produces no effect, and is hardly discernible. Indeed it evidently was +never more than an architectural ornament, in spite of all its artistic +beauty. + +The greater number of the pieces carried away by Lord Elgin seem taken +from the equestrian portion, in which groups of cantering and curveting +horses, and men in the act of mounting, and striving to curb restive +steeds, are brought together with extraordinary effect. We can see plainly +how important a part of Athenian splendor depended upon their knights, and +how true are the hints of Aristophanes about their social standing and +aristocratic tone. The reins and armor, or at least portions of it, were +laid on in metal, and have accordingly been long since plundered; nor has +any obvious trace remained of the rich colors with which the whole was +painted. There appears no systematic uniform, some of the riders being +dressed in helmets and cuirasses, some in felt wide-awakes, and short +flying cloaks. It must remain uncertain whether the artist did not seek to +obtain variety by this deviation from a fixed dress. There can be no doubt +that Greek art was very bold and free in such matters. On the other hand, +the type of the faces does not exhibit much variety. At the elevation +above the spectator which this frieze occupied, individual expression +would have been thrown away on figures of three feet in height: the +general dress, and the attitudes, may have been, when colored, easily +discernible. + +But I confess that this equestrian procession does not appear to me so +beautiful as the rows of figures on foot (carrying pitchers and other +implements, leading victims, and playing pipes), which seem to come from +the north wall, and of which the most beautiful slabs are preserved at +Athens. Here we can see best of all that peculiar stamp which shows the +age of Phidias to have been the most perfect in the whole of Greek +sculpture. This statement will not be accepted readily by the general +public. The Apollo Belvedere, the Capitoline Venus, the Dying +Gladiator—these are what we have been usually taught to regard as the +greatest wonders of Greek plastic art; and those who have accustomed +themselves to this realistic and sensuous beauty will not easily see the +greatness and the perfection of the solemn and chaste art of Phidias. + + [Illustration: Part of the West Frieze of the Parthenon, Athens] + +Nevertheless, it will always be held by men who have thought long enough +on the subject, that the epoch when Myron and Phidias, Polycletus and +Polygnotus, broke loose from archaic stiffness into flowing grace was, +indeed, the climax of the arts. There seems a sort of natural law—of slow +and painful origin—of growing development—of sudden bloom into +perfection—of luxury and effeminacy—of gradual debasement and decay—which +affects almost all the arts as well as most of the growths of nature. In +Greek art particularly this phenomenon perpetually reappears. There can be +little doubt that the Iliad of Homer was the first and earliest long +creation in poetry, the first attempt, possibly with the aid of writing, +to rise from short disconnected lays to the greatness of a formal epic. +And despite all its defects of plan, its want of firm consistency, and its +obvious incongruities, this greatest of all poems has held its place +against the more finished and interesting Odyssey, the more elaborated +Cyclic poems, the more learned Alexandrian epics—in fact, the first full +bloom of the art was by far the most perfect. It is the same thing with +Greek tragedy. No sooner had the art escaped from the rude wagon, or +stage, or whatever it was, of Thespis, than we find Æschylus, with +imperfect appliances, with want of experience, with many crudenesses and +defects, a tragic poet never equalled again in Greek history. Of course +the modern critics of his own country preferred, first Sophocles, and then +Euripides—great poets, as Praxiteles and Lysippus were great sculptors, +and like them, perhaps, greater masters of human passion and of +soul-stirring pathos. But for all that, Æschylus is _the_ tragic poet of +the Greeks—the poet who has reached beyond his age and nation, and +fascinated the greatest men even of our century, who seek not to turn back +upon his great but not equal rivals. Shelley and Mr. Swinburne have both +made Æschylus their master, and to his inspiration owe the most splendid +of their works. + +I will not prosecute these considerations further, though there may be +other examples in the history of art. But I will say this much concerning +the psychological reasons of so strange a phenomenon. It may, of course, +be assumed that the man who breaks through the old, stiff conventional +style which has bound his predecessors with its shackles is necessarily a +man of strong and original genius. Thus, when we are distinctly told of +Polygnotus that he first began to vary the features of the human face from +their archaic stiffness, we have before us a man of bold originality, who +quarrelled with the tradition of centuries, and probably set against him +all the prejudices and the consciences of the graver public. But to us, +far different features seem prominent. For in spite of all his boldness, +when we compare him with his forerunners, we are struck with his modesty +and devoutness, as compared with his successors. There is in him, first, a +devoutness toward his work, an old-fashioned piety, which they had not; +and as art in this shape is almost always a handmaid of religion, this +devoutness is a prominent feature. Next, there is a certain reticence and +modesty in such a man, which arises partly from the former feeling, but +still more from a conservative fear of violent change, and a healthy +desire to make his work not merely a contrast to, but a development of, +the older traditions. Then the old draped goddess of religious days, such +as the _Venus Genitrix_ in Florence, made way for the splendid but yet +more human handling which we may see in the Venus of Melos, now in the +Louvre. This half-draped but yet thoroughly new and chaste conception +leads naturally to the type said to have been first dared by Praxiteles, +who did not disguise the use of very unworthy human models to produce his +famous, or perhaps infamous ideal, which is best known in the _Venus de +Medici_, but perhaps more perfectly represented in the Venus of the +Capitol. There is, too, in the earlier artist that limited mastery over +materials, which, like the laws of the poet’s language, only condenses and +intensifies the beauty of his work. + +Such reserve, as compared with the later phases of the art, is nowhere so +strongly shown as in the matter of _expression_. This is, indeed, the rock +on which most arts have ultimately made shipwreck. When the power over +materials and effects becomes complete, so that the artist can as it were +perform feats of conquest; when at the same time the feeling has died out +that he is treading upon holy ground, we have splendid achievements in the +way of intense expression, whether physical or mental, of force, of +momentary action, of grief or joy, which are good and great, but which +lead imitators into a false track, and so ruin the art which they were +thought to perfect. Thus over-reaching itself, art becomes an anxious +striving after display, and, like an affected and meretricious woman, +repels the sounder natures which had else been attracted by her beauty. In +Greek art especially, as I have already noticed in discussing the Attic +tomb reliefs, this excess of expression was long and well avoided, and +there is no stronger and more marked feature in its good epochs than the +reserve of which I have spoken. It is the chief quality which makes the +school of Phidias matchless. There is in it beauty of form, there is a +good deal of action, there is in the frieze an almost endless variety; but +withal there is the strictest symmetry, the closest adherence to fixed +types, the absence of all attempt at expressing passing emotion. There is +still the flavor of the old stiff simplicity about the faces, about the +folds of the robes, about the type of the horses; but the feeling of the +artist shines through the archaic simplicity with much clearer light than +it does in the more ambitious attempts of the later school. The greatest +works of Phidias—his statue of Zeus at Elis, and his Athene in the +Parthenon—are lost to us; but the ancients are unanimous that for simple +and sustained majesty no succeeding sculptor, however brilliant, had +approached his ideal.(42) + +We may say almost the same of the great temple which he adorned with his +genius. It is just that perfection of the Doric temple which has escaped +from the somewhat ponderous massiveness and simplicity of the older +architecture, while it sacrificed no element of majesty to that grace and +delicacy which marks, later and more developed Greek architecture. On this +Acropolis the Athenians determined to show what architecture could reach +in majesty and what in delicacy. So they set up the Parthenon in that +absolute perfection where strength and solidity come out enhanced, but in +no way overlaid, with ornament. They also built the Erechtheum, where they +adopted the Ionic Order, and covered their entablature with bands of small +and delicate tracing, which, with its gilding and coloring, was a thing to +be studied minutely and from the nearest distance. Though the inner +columns of the Propylæa were Ionic (and they were very large), it appears +that large temples in that Order were not known in Attica. But for small +and graceful buildings it was commonly used, and of these the Erechtheum +was the most perfect. + +In its great days, and even as Pausanias saw it, the Acropolis was covered +with statues, as well as with shrines. It was not merely an Holy of Holies +in religion; it was also a palace and museum of art. At every step and +turn the traveller met new objects of interest. There were archaic +specimens, chiefly interesting to the antiquarian and the devotee; there +were the great masterpieces which were the joint admiration of the artist +and the vulgar. Even all the sides and slopes of the great rock were +honeycombed into sacred grottos, with their altars and their gods, or +studded with votive monuments. All these lesser things are fallen away and +gone; the sacred caves are filled with rubbish and desecrated with worse +than neglect. The grotto of Pan and Apollo is difficult of access, and +was, when I first saw it, an object of disgust rather than of interest. +There are left but the remnants of the surrounding wall, and the ruins of +the three principal buildings, which were the envy and wonder of all the +civilized world. + +The walls are particularly well worth studying, as there are to be found +in them specimens of all kinds of building, beginning from prehistoric +times. There is even plain evidence that the builders of the age of +Pericles were not by any means the best wall builders; for the masonry of +the wall called the Wall of Themistocles, which is well preserved in the +lowest part of the course along the north slope, is by far the most +beautifully finished work of the kind which can anywhere be seen: and it +seems to correspond accurately to the lower strata of the foundations on +which the Parthenon was built. The builders of Pericles’s time added a +couple of layers of stone to raise the site of the temple, and their work +contrasts curiously in its roughness with the older platform. Any one who +will note the evident admiration of Thucydides for the walls built round +the Peiræus by the men of an earlier generation will see good reason for +this feeling when they examine these details. + +The beautiful little temple of Athena Nike, though outside the +Propylæa—thrust out as it were on a sort of great bastion high on the +right as you enter—must still be called a part, and a very striking part, +of the Acropolis. It is only of late years that the site has been cleared +of rubbish and modern stonework, and the temple rebuilt from the original +materials, thus destroying, no doubt, some precious traces of Turkish +occupation which the fastidious historian may regret, but realizing to us +a beautiful Greek temple of the Ionic Order in some completeness. The +peculiarity of this building, which is perched upon a platform of stone +and commands a splendid prospect, is, that its tiny peribolus, or sacred +enclosure, was surrounded by a parapet of stone slabs covered with +exquisite reliefs of winged Victories, in various attitudes. Some of these +slabs are now in the Museum of the Acropolis, and are of great +interest—apparently less severe than the school of Phidias, and therefore +later in date, but still of the best epoch and of marvellous grace. The +position of this temple also is not parallel with the Propylæa, but turned +slightly outward, so that the light strikes it at moments when the other +building is not illuminated. At the opposite side is a very well preserved +chamber, and a fine colonnade at right angles with the gate, which looks +like a guard-room. This is the chamber commonly called the Pinacotheca, +where Pausanias saw pictures of frescoes by Polygnotus. + +Of the two museums on the Acropolis, the principal one requires little +comment and is very easily seen and appreciated. In an ante-room are the +archaic figures of which I have already spoken, with the remains taken +from about the Parthenon, together with casts of the Elgin marbles, and +many small and beautiful reliefs, apparently belonging to votive +monuments. There are also two figures of young men, with the heads and +feet lost, which are of peculiarly beautiful Parian marble, and of very +fine workmanship. But the visitor is very likely to pass by the little +Turkish house, which is well worth a visit, for here are the cypress plugs +from the pillars of the Parthenon or Propylæa; here are also splendid +specimens of archaic vases, such as are very hard indeed to find in any +other collection. The large jars from Melos which are here to be seen have +the most striking resemblance in their decoration to the fragment of a +similar vessel, with a row of armed figures round it, which was found at +Mycenæ, and is now in the Ministry of Public Instruction. Lastly, there +stands in the window a very delicately worked little Satyr, as the pointed +ears and tail show, but of voluptuous form—rather of the hermaphrodite +type: there is hardly a better preserved statuette than this anywhere at +Athens. It seemed a pity that such a gem should be hidden away in so +obscure a place; and I hope that by this time it has been brought into the +larger and official museum. + +I will venture to conclude this chapter with a curious comparison. It was +my good fortune, a few months after I had seen the Acropolis, to visit a +rock in Ireland, which, to my great surprise, bore many curious analogies +to it—I mean the rock of Cashel. Both were strongholds of religion—honored +and hallowed above all other places in their respective countries—both +were covered with buildings of various dates, each representing peculiar +ages and styles in art. And as the Greeks, I suppose for effect’s sake, +have varied the posture of their temples, so that the sun illumines them +at different moments, the old Irish have varied the orientation of their +churches that the sun might rise directly over against the east window on +the anniversary of the patron saint. There is at Cashel the great +Cathedral—in loftiness and grandeur the Parthenon of the place; there is +the smaller and more beautiful Cormac’s Chapel, the holiest of all, like +the Erechtheum at Athens. Again, the great sanctuary upon the Rock of +Cashel was surrounded by a cluster of abbeys about its base, which were +founded there by pious men on account of the greatness and holiness of the +archiepiscopal seat. Of these, one remains, like the Theseum at Athens, +eclipsed by the splendor of the Acropolis. + +The prospect from the Irish sanctuary has, indeed, endless contrasts to +that from the pagan stronghold, but they are suggestive contrasts, and +such as are not without a certain harmony. The plains around both are +framed by mountains, of which the Irish are probably the more picturesque; +and if the light upon the Greek hills is the fairest, the native color of +the Irish is infinitely more rich. So, again, the soil of Attica is light +and dusty, whereas the Golden Vale of Tipperary is among the richest and +greenest in the world. Still, both places were the noblest homes, each in +their own country, of religions which civilized, humanized, and exalted +the human race; and if the Irish Acropolis is left in dim obscurity by the +historical splendor of the Parthenon, on the other hand, the gods of the +Athenian stronghold have faded out before the moral greatness of the faith +preached from the Rock of Cashel. + + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + + ATHENS—THE THEATRE OF DIONYSUS—THE AREOPAGUS. + + +There are few recent excavations about Athens which have been so +productive as those along the south slope of the Acropolis. In the +conflicts and the wear of ages a vast quantity of earth, and walls, and +fragments of buildings has either been cast, or has rolled, down this +steep descent, so that it was with a certainty of good results that the +Archæological Society of Athens undertook to clear this side of the rock +of all the accumulated rubbish. Several precious inscriptions were found, +which had been thrown down from the rock; and in April, 1884, the whole +plan of the temple of Æsculapius had been uncovered, and another step +attained in fixing the much disputed topography of this part of Athens. + +And yet we can hardly call this a beginning. Some twenty-five years ago, a +very extensive and splendidly successful excavation was made on an +adjoining site, when a party of German archæologists laid bare the Theatre +of Dionysus—the great theatre in which Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides +brought out their immortal plays before an immortal audience. There is +nothing more delightful than to descend from the Acropolis, and rest +awhile in the comfortable marble arm-chairs with which the front row of +the circuit is occupied. They are of the pattern usual with the sitting +portrait statues of the Greeks—very deep, and with a curved back, which +exceeds both in comfort and in grace any chairs designed by modern +workmen.(43) Each chair has the name of a priest inscribed on it, showing +how the theatre among the Greeks corresponded to our cathedral, and this +front row to the stalls of canons and prebendaries. + + [Illustration: Theatre of Dionysus, Athens] + +But unfortunately all this sacerdotal prominence is probably the work of +the later restorers of the theatre. For after having been first beautified +and adorned with statues by Lycurgus (in Demosthenes’s time), it was again +restored and embellished by Herodes Atticus, or about his time, so that +the theatre, as we now have it, can only be called the building of the +second or third century after Christ. The front wall of the stage, which +is raised some feet above the level of the empty pit, is adorned with a +row of very elegant sculptures, amongst which one—a shaggy old man, in a +stooping posture, represented as coming out from within, and holding up +the stone above him—is particularly striking. Some Greek is said to have +knocked off, by way of amusement, the heads of most of these figures since +they were discovered, but this I do not know upon any better authority +than ordinary report. The pit or centre of the theatre is empty, and was +never in Greek days occupied by seats, but a wooden structure was set up +in advance of the stage, and on this the chorus performed their dances and +sang their odes. But now there is a circuit of upright slabs of stone +close to the front seats, which can hardly have been an arrangement of the +old Greek theatre. They are generally supposed to have been added when the +building came to be used for contests of gladiators, which Dion Chrysostom +tells us were imported from Corinth in his day. + +All these later additions and details are, I fear, calculated to detract +from the reader’s interest in this theatre, which I should indeed +regret—for nothing can be more certain than that this is the veritable +stone theatre which was built when the wooden one broke down, at the great +competition of Æschylus and Pratinas; and though front seats may have been +added, and slight modifications introduced, the general structure can +never have required alteration. The main body of the curved rows of seats +have no backs, but are so deep as to leave plenty of room for the feet of +the people next above; and I fancy that in the old times the _προεδρία_ or +right of sitting in the front rows was not given to priests, but to +foreign embassies, along with the chief magistrates of Athens. The cost of +admission was two obols to all the seats of the house not specially +reserved, and such reservation was only for persons of official rank, and +by no means for richer people, or for a higher entrance money—a thing +which would not have been tolerated, I believe, for an instant by the +Athenian democracy.(44) When the state treasury grew full with the tribute +of the subject cities, the citizens had this sum, and at times even more, +distributed to them in order that no one might be excluded from the annual +feast, and so the whole free population of Athens came together without +expense to worship the gods by enjoying themselves in this great theatre. + +It is indeed very large, though exaggerated statements have been made +about its size. It is generally stated that the enormous number of thirty +thousand people could fit into it—a statement I think incredible;(45) and +it is not nearly as large as other theatres I have seen, at Syracuse, at +Megalopolis, or even at Argos. This also is certain, that any one speaking +on the stage, as it now is, can be easily and distinctly heard by people +sitting on the highest row of seats now visible, which cannot, I fancy, +have been far from the original top of the house. Such a thing were +impossible where thirty thousand people, or a crowd approaching that +number, were seated. We hear, however, that the old actors had recourse to +various artificial means of increasing the range of their voices, which +shows that in some theatres the difficulty was felt; and in the extant +plays, _asides_ are so rare(46) that it must have been difficult to give +them with effect. + +In one respect, however, the voice must have been more easily heard +through the old house than it now is through the ruins. The back of the +stage was built up with a high wooden structure to represent fixed scenes, +and even a sort of upper story on which gods and flying figures sometimes +appeared—an arrangement which of course threw the voice forward into the +theatre. There used to be an old idea, not perhaps yet extinct, that the +Greek audiences had the lovely natural scenery of their country for their +stage decoration, and that they embraced in one view the characters on the +stage, and the coasts and islands for miles behind them. Nothing can be +more absurd, or more opposed to Greek feeling on such matters. In the +first place, as is well known, a feeling for the beauty of landscape as +such was almost foreign to the Greeks, who never speak of the picturesque +in their literature without special relation to the sounds of nature, or +to the intelligences which were believed to pervade and animate it: a fine +view as such had little attraction for them. In the second place, they +came to the theatre to enjoy poetry, and the poetry of character, of +passion, of the relation of man and his destiny to the course of Divine +Providence and Divine justice—in short, to assume a frame of mind +perfectly inconsistent with the distractions of landscape. For that +purpose they had their stage, as we now know, filled in at the back with +high painted scenes, which in earlier days were made of light woodwork and +canvas, to bear easy removal, or change, but which in most Græco-Roman +theatres, like the very perfect one at Aspendus, or indeed that of Herodes +Atticus close by at Athens, were a solid structure of at least two stories +high, which absolutely excluded all prospect. + +But even had the Athenians not been protected by this arrangement from +outer disturbance, I found by personal investigation that there was no +view for them to enjoy! Except from the highest tiers, and therefore from +the worst places, the sea and islands are not visible, and the only view +to be obtained, supposing that houses did not obstruct it, would have been +the dull, somewhat bleak, undulating hills which stretch between the +theatre and Phalerum. + +The back scenes of the Greek theatres were painted as ours are, and at +first, I suppose, very rudely indeed, for we hear particularly of a +certain Agatharchus, who developed the art of scene-painting by adopting +perspective.(47) The other appurtenances of the Greek theatre were equally +rude, or perhaps I should say equally stiff and conventional, and removed +from any attempt to reproduce ordinary life—at least this was the case +with their tragedy, their satyric dramas, and their older comedy, which +dealt in masks, in fixed stage dresses, in tragic padding, and +stuffing-out to an unnatural size, in comic distortions and indecent +emblems—in all manner of conventional ugliness, we should say, handed down +from the first religious origin of these performances, and maintained with +that strict conservatism which marks the course of all great Greek art. +The stage was long and narrow, the means of changing scenes cumbrous and +not frequently employed; the number of the actors in tragedy strictly +limited—four is an unusual number, exceptionally employed in the second +_Œdipus_ of Sophocles. In fact, we cannot say that the Greek drama ever +became externally like ours till the comedies of Menander and his school. +These poets, living in an age when serious interests had decayed, when +tragedy had ceased to be religious, and comedy political, when neither was +looked upon any longer as a great public engine of instruction or of +censure, turned to pictures of social life, not unlike our genteel comedy; +and in this species of drama we may assert that the Greeks, except perhaps +for masks, imitated the course of ordinary life. + +It is indeed said of Euripides, the real father of this new comedy, that +he brought down the tragic stage from ideal heroism to the passions and +meannesses of ordinary men; and Sophocles, his rival, the supposed +perfection of an Attic tragedian, is reputed to have observed that he +himself had represented men as they ought to be, Euripides as they were. +But any honest reader of Euripides will see at once how far he too is +removed from the ordinary realisms of life. He saw, indeed, that human +passion is the subject, of all others, which will permanently interest +human thought; he felt that the insoluble problems of Free Will and Fate, +of the mercy and the cruelty of Providence, were too abstract on the one +hand, and too specially Greek on the other; that, after all, human nature +as such is the great universal field on which any age can reach the +sympathy and the interest of its remotest successors. But the passions +painted by Euripides were no ordinary passions—they were great and +unnatural crimes, forced upon suffering mortals by the action of hostile +deities; the virtues of Euripides were no ordinary virtues—they were great +heroic self-sacrifices, and showed the Divine element in our nature, which +no tyranny of circumstances can efface. His Phædra and Medea on the one +hand, his Alcestis and Iphigenia on the other, were strictly characters as +they ought to be in tragedy, and not as they commonly are in life; and in +outward performance Euripides did not depart from the conventional +stiffness, from the regular development, from the somewhat pompous and +artificial dress in which tragedy had been handed down to him by his +masters. + +They, too, had not despised human nature—how could they? Both Æschylus and +Sophocles were great painters of human character, as well in its passions +as in its reasonings. But the former had made it accessory, so to speak, +to the great religious lessons which he taught; the latter had at least +affected to do so, or imagined that he did, while really the labyrinths of +human character had enticed and held him in their endless maze. Thus, all +through Greek tragedy there was on the one hand a strong element of +conventional stiffness, of adherence to fixed subjects, and scenes, and +masks, and dresses—of adherence to fixed metres, and regular dialogues, +where question and answer were balanced line for line, and the cast of +characters was as uniform as it is in the ordinary Italian operas of our +own day. But on the other hand, these tragic poets were great masters of +expression, profound students not only of the great world problems, but of +the problems of human nature, exquisite masters too of their language, not +only in its dramatic force, but in its lyric sweetness; they summed up in +their day all that was great and beautiful in Greek poetry, and became the +fullest and ripest fruit of that wonderful tree of the knowledge of good +and evil, which even now makes those that taste it to be as gods. + +Such, then, were the general features of the tragedy which the Athenian +public, and the married women, including many strangers, assembled to +witness in broad daylight under the Attic sky. They were not sparing of +their time. They ate a good breakfast before they came. They ate +sweetmeats in the theatre when the acting was bad. Each play was short, +and there was doubtless an interval of rest. But it is certain that each +poet contended as a rule with four plays against his competitors; and as +there were certainly three of them, there must have been twelve plays +acted; this seems to exceed the endurance of any public, even allowing two +days for the performance. We are not fully informed on these points. We do +not even know how Sophocles, who contended with single plays, managed to +compete against Euripides, who contended with sets of four. But we know +that the judges were chosen by lot, and we strongly suspect, from the +records of their decisions, that they often decided wrongly. We also know +that the poets sought to please the audience by political and patriotic +allusions, and to convey their dislike of opposed cities or parties by +drawing their representatives in odious colors on the stage. Thus +Euripides is never tired of traducing the Spartans in the character of +Menelaus. Æschylus fights the battle of the Areopagus in his _Eumenides_. + +But besides all this, it seems that tragic poets were regarded as the +proper teachers of morality, and that the stage among the Greeks occupied +somewhat the place of the modern pulpit. This is the very attitude which +Racine assumes in the Preface to his _Phèdre_. He suggests that it ought +to be considered the best of his plays, because there is none in which he +has so strictly rewarded virtue and punished vice.(48) He alters, in his +_Iphigénie_, the Greek argument from which he copied, because as he tells +us (again in the Preface) it would never do to have so virtuous a person +as Iphigenia sacrificed. This, however, would not have been a +stumbling-block to the Greek poet, whose capricious and spiteful gods, or +whose deep conviction of the stain of an ancestral curse, would justify +catastrophies which the Christian poet, with his trust in a benevolent +Providence, could not admit. But, indeed, in most other points the +so-called imitations of the Greek drama by Racine and his school are +anything but imitations. The main characters and the general outline of +the plot are no doubt borrowed. The elegance and power of the dialogue are +more or less successfully copied. But the natural and familiar scenes, +which would have been shocking to the court of Louis XIV.—“ces scenes +entremêlées de bas comique, et ces fréquents exemples de mauvais ton et +d’une familiarité choquante,” as Barthélémy says—such characters as the +guard in the _Antigone_, the nurse in the _Choephorœ_, the Phrygian in the +_Orestes_, were carefully expunged. Moreover, love affairs and court +intrigues were everywhere introduced, and the language was never allowed +to descend from its pomp and grandeur. Most of the French dramatists were +indeed bad Greek scholars,(49) and knew the plays from which they copied +either through very poor translations, or through the rhetorical +travesties surviving under the name of Seneca, which were long thought +fully equal to the great and simple originals. + +So the French of the seventeenth century, starting from these +half-understood models, and applying rigidly the laws of tragedy which +they had deduced, with questionable logic, from that very untrustworthy +guide, our text of the _Poetics_ of Aristotle, created a drama which +became so unlike what it professed to imitate, that most good modern +French critics have occupied themselves with showing the contrasts of old +Greek tragedy to that of the modern stage. They are always praising the +_naiveté_, the familiarity, the irregularity of the old dramatists; they +are always noting touches of common life and of ordinary motive quite +foreign to the dignity of Racine, and Voltaire, and Alfieri.(50) They +think that the real parallel is to be found not among them, but in +Shakespeare. Thus their education makes them emphasize the very qualities +which we admit, but should not cite, as the peculiarities of Greek +tragedy. _We_ are rather struck with its conventionalities, with its +strict adherence to fixed form, with its somewhat stilted diction, and we +wonder how it came to be so great and natural within these trammels. + +Happily the tendency in our own day to reproduce antiquity faithfully, and +not in modern recasting, has led to the translating, and even to the +representing, of Greek tragedies in their purity, and it does not require +a knowledge of Greek to obtain some real acquaintance with these great +masterpieces. Mr. and Mrs. Browning, Dean Milman, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. +Whitelaw, and many others, have placed faithful and elegant versions +within our reach. But since I have cautioned the reader not versed in +Greek against adopting Racine’s or Alfieri’s plays as adequate +substitutes, I venture to give the same advice concerning the more Greek +and antique plays of Mr. Swinburne, which, in spite of their splendor, are +still not really Greek plays, but modern plays based on Greek models. The +relief produced by ordinary talk from ordinary characters, which has been +already noticed, is greatly wanting in his very lofty, and perhaps even +strained, dialogue. Nor are his choruses the voice of the vulgar public, +combining high sentiments with practical meanness, but elaborate and very +difficult speculations, which comment metaphysically on the general +problems of the play. There is nothing better worth reading than the +_Atalanta in Calydon_. The Greek scholar sees everywhere how thoroughly +imbued the author is with Greek models. But it will not give to the mere +English reader any accurate idea of a real Greek tragedy. He must go to +_Balaustion’s Adventure_, or _Aristophanes’s Apology_, or some other +professed translation, and follow it line for line, adding some such +general reviews as the _Etudes_ of M. Patin. + +As for revivals of Greek plays, it seems to me not likely that they will +ever succeed. The French imitations of Racine laid hold of the public +because they were not imitations. And as for us nowadays, who are more +familiar with the originals, a faithless reproduction would shock us, +while a literal one would weary us. This at least is the effect which the +_Antigone_ produces, even with the modern choruses of Mendelssohn to +relieve the slowness of the action. But, of course, a reproduction of the +old chorus would be simply impossible. The whole pit in the theatre of +Dionysus seems to have been left empty. A part somewhat larger than our +orchestra was covered with a raised platform, though still lower than the +stage.(51) Upon this the chorus danced and sang and looked on at the +actors, as in the play within the play in _Hamlet_. Above all, they +constantly prayed to their gods, and this religious side of the +performance has of course no effect upon us.(52) + +As to old Attic comedy, it would be even more impossible to recover it for +a modern public. Its local and political allusions, its broad and coarse +humor, its fantastic dresses, were features which made it not merely +ancient and Greek, but Athenian, and Athenian of a certain epoch. Without +the Alexandrian scholiasts, who came in time to recover and note down most +of the allusions, these comedies would be to the Greek scholar of to-day +hardly intelligible. The new Attic comedy, of which Terence is a copy, is +indeed on a modern basis, and may be faithfully reproduced, if not +admired, in our day. But here, alas! the great originals of Menander, +Philemon, and Diphilus are lost to us, and we must be content with the +Latin accommodations. + +But I have delayed too long over these Greek plays, and must apologize for +leading away the reader from the actual theatre in which he is sitting. +Yet there is hardly a place in Athens which calls back the mind so +strongly to the old days, when all the crowd came jostling in, and settled +down in their seats, to hear the great novelties of the year from +Sophocles or Euripides. No doubt there were cliques and cabals and +claqueurs, noisy admirers and cold critics, the supporters of the old, and +the lovers of the new, devotees and skeptics, wondering foreigners and +self-complacent citizens. They little thought how we should come, not only +to sit in the seats they occupied, but to reverse the judgments which they +pronounced, and correct with sober temper the errors of prejudice, of +passion, and of pride. + +Plato makes Socrates say, in his _Apologia_ (_pro vita sua_), that a copy +of Anaxagoras could be bought on the orchestra, when very dear, for a +drachme, that is to say for about 9d. of our money, which may then have +represented our half-crown or three shillings in value.(53) The +commentators have made desperate attempts to explain this. Some say the +orchestra was used as a book-stall when plays were not going on—an +assumption justified by no other hint in Greek literature. Others have far +more absurdly imagined that Plato really meant you could pay a drachme for +the best seat in the theatre, and read the writings of Anaxagoras in a +fashionable play of Euripides, who was his friend and follower. Verily a +wonderful interpretation! + +If the reader will walk with me from the theatre of Dionysus past the +newly excavated site of the temple of Æsculapius, and past the Roman-Greek +theatre which was erected by Hadrian or Herodes Atticus, I will show him +what Plato meant. Of course, this later theatre, with its solid Roman back +scenes of masonry, is equally interesting with the Theatre of Dionysus to +the advocates of the unity of history! But to us who are content to study +Greek Athens, it need not afford any irrelevant delays. Passing round the +approach to the Acropolis, we come on to a lesser hill, separated from it +by a very short saddle, so that it looks like a sort of outpost or spur +sent out from the rock of the Acropolis. This is the Areopagus—Mars’ +Hill—which we can ascend in a few minutes. There are marks of old +staircases cut in the rock. There are underneath, on our left and right, +as we go up, deep black caverns, once the home of the Eumenides. On the +flat top there are still some signs of a rude smoothing of the stone for +seats. Under us, to the north-west, is the site of the old _agora_, once +surrounded with colonnades, the crowded market-place of all those who +bought and sold and talked. But on the descent from the Areopagus, and, +now at least, not much higher than the level of the market-place beneath, +there is a small semicircular platform, backed by the rising rock. This, +or some platform close to it, which may now be hidden by accumulated soil, +was the old _orchestra_, possibly the site of the oldest theatre, but in +historical times a sort of reserved platform, where the Athenians, who had +their town bristling with statues, allowed no monument to be erected save +the figures of Harmodius and Aristogiton, which were carried into Persia, +replaced by others, afterwards recovered, and of which we may have a copy +in the two fighting figures, of archaic character, now in the Museum of +Naples. It was doubtless on this orchestra, just above the bustle and +thoroughfare of the _agora_, that booksellers kept their stalls, and here +it was that the book of Anaxagoras could be bought for a drachme. + +Here then was the place where that physical philosophy was disseminated +which first gained a few advanced thinkers; then, through Euripides, +leavened the drama, once the exponent of ancient piety; then, through the +stage, the Athenian public, till we arrive at those Stoics and Epicureans +who came to teach philosophy and religion not as a faith, but as a system, +and to spend their time with the rest of the public in seeking out +novelties of creed and of opinion as mere fashions with which people +choose to dress their minds. And it was on this very Areopagus, where we +are now standing, that these philosophers of fashion came into contact +with the thorough earnestness, the profound convictions, the red-hot zeal +of the Apostle Paul. The memory of that great scene still lingers about +the place, and every guide will show you the exact place where the Apostle +stood, and in what direction he addressed his audience. There are, I +believe, even some respectable commentators, who transfer their own +estimate of S. Paul’s importance to the Athenian public, and hold that it +was before the _court_ of the Areopagus that he was asked to expound his +views.(54) This is more than doubtful. The _blases_ philosophers, who +probably yawned over their own lectures, hearing of a new lay preacher, +eager to teach and apparently convinced of the truth of what he said, +thought the novelty too delicious to be neglected, and brought him +forthwith out of the chatter and bustle of the crowd, probably past the +very orchestra where Anaxagoras’s books had been proselytizing before him, +and where the stiff old heroes of Athenian history stood, a monument of +the escape from political slavery. It is even possible that the curious +knot of idlers did not bring him higher than this platform, which might +well be called part of Mars’ Hill. But if they choose to bring him to the +top, there was no hindrance, for the venerable court held its sittings in +the open air, on stone seats; and when not thus occupied the top of the +rock may well have been a convenient place of retirement for people who +did not want to be disturbed by new acquaintances and the constant eddies +of new gossip in the market-place. + + [Illustration: Mars’ Hill, Athens] + +It is, however, of far less import to know on what spot of the Areopagus +Paul stood, than to understand clearly what he said, and how he sought to +conciliate as well as to refute the philosophers who, no doubt, looked +down upon him as an intellectual inferior. He starts naturally enough from +the extraordinary crowd of votive statues and offerings, for which Athens +was remarkable above all other cities of Greece. He says, with a touch of +irony, that he finds them very religious indeed,(55) so religious that he +even found an altar to a God professedly _unknown_, or perhaps +unknowable.(56) Probably S. Paul meant to pass from the latter sense of +the word _ἄγνωστος_, which was, I fancy, what the inscription meant, to +the former, which gave him an excellent introduction to his argument. Even +the use of the singular may have been an intentional variation from the +strict text, for Pausanias twice over speaks of altars to the gods who are +called the _ἄγνωστοι_ (or mysterious), but I cannot find any citation of +the inscription in the singular form. However that may be, our version +does not preserve the neatness of S. Paul’s point: “I find an altar,” he +says, “to an unknown God. Whom then ye unknowingly worship, Him I announce +to you.” But then he develops a conception of the great One God, not at +all from the special Jewish, but from the Stoic point of view. He was +preaching to Epicureans and to Stoics—to the advocates of prudence as the +means, and pleasure as the end, of a happy life, on the one hand; on the +other, to the advocates of duty, and of life in harmony with the +Providence which governs the world for good. There could be no doubt to +which side the man of Tarsus must incline. Though the Stoics of the +market-place of Athens might be mere dilettanti, mere talkers about the +_ἀγαθόν_ and the great soul of the world, we know that this system of +philosophy produced at Tarsus as well as at Rome the most splendid +constancy, the most heroic endurance—I had almost said the most Christian +benevolence. It was this stern and earnest theory which attracted all +serious minds in the decay of heathenism. + +Accordingly, S. Paul makes no secret of his sympathy with its nobler +features. He describes the God whom he preaches as the benevolent Author +of the beauty and fruitfulness of Nature, the great Benefactor of mankind +by His providence, and not without constant and obtrusive witnesses of His +greatness and His goodness. But he goes much further, and treads close +upon the Stoic pantheism when he not only asserts, in the words of Aratus, +that we are His offspring, but that “in Him we live, and move, and have +our being.” + +His first conclusion, that the Godhead should not be worshipped or even +imaged in stone or in bronze, was no doubt quite in accordance with more +enlightened Athenian philosophy. But it was when he proceeded to preach +the Resurrection of the Dead, that even those who were attracted by him, +and sympathized with him, turned away in contempt. The Epicureans thought +death the end of all things. The Stoics thought that the human soul, the +offspring—nay, rather an offshoot—of the Divine world-soul, would be +absorbed into its parent essence. Neither could believe the assertion of +S. Paul. When they first heard him talk of _Jesus_ and _Anastasis_ they +thought them some new pair of Oriental deities. But when they learned that +Jesus was a man ordained by God to judge the world, and that Anastasis was +merely the Anastasis of the dead, they were greatly disappointed; so some +mocked, and some excused themselves from further listening. + +Thus ended, to all appearance ignominiously, the first heralding of the +faith which was to supplant all the temples and altars and statues with +which Athens had earned its renown as a beautiful city, which was to +overthrow the schools of the sneering philosophers, and even to remodel +all the society and the policy of the world. And yet, in spite of this +great and decisive triumph of Christianity there was something curiously +prophetic in the contemptuous rejection of its apostle at Athens. Was it +not the first expression of the feeling which still possesses the visitor +who wanders through its ruins, and which still dominates the educated +world?—the feeling that while other cities owe to the triumph of +Christianity all their beauty and their interest, Athens has to this day +resisted this influence; and that while the Christian monuments of Athens +would elsewhere excite no small attention, here they are passed by as of +no import compared with its heathen splendor.(57) There are very old and +very beautiful little churches in Athens, “ces délicieuses petites églises +byzantines,” as M. Renan calls them. They are very peculiar, and unlike +what one generally sees in Europe. They strike the observer with their +quaintness and smallness, and he fancies he here sees the tiny model of +that unique and splendid building, the cathedral of S. Mark at Venice. But +yet it is surprising how little we notice them at Athens. I was even +told—I sincerely hope it was false—that public opinion at Athens was +gravitating toward the total removal of one, and that the most perfect, of +these churches, which stands in the middle of a main street, and so breaks +the regularity of the modern boulevard! Let us hope that the man who +lashes himself into rage at the destruction of the Venetian tower may set +his face in time against this real piece of barbarism, if indeed it ever +ventures to assert itself in act.(58) + +I have now concluded a review of the most important old Greek buildings to +be seen about Athens. To treat them exhaustively would require a far +longer discussion, or special knowledge which I do not possess; and there +are, moreover, smaller buildings, like the so-called Lantern of +Demosthenes, which is really the Choragic monument of Lysicrates, and the +Temple of the Winds, which are well worth a visit, but which the traveller +can find without a guide, and study without difficulty. But incompleteness +must be an unavoidable defect in describing any city in which new +discoveries are being made, I may say, monthly, and when the museums and +excavations of to-day may be any day completely eclipsed by materials now +unknown, or scattered through the country. Thus, on my second visit to +Athens, I found in the National Bank the wonderful treasures exhumed by +Dr. Schliemann at Mycenæ, which are in themselves enough to induce any +student of Greek antiquity to revisit the town, however well he may have +examined it in former years. On my third visit, they were arranged and +catalogued, but we have not yet attained to any certainty about the race +that left them there, and how remote the antiquity of the tombs. These +considerations tend not only to vindicate the inadequateness of this +review, but perhaps even to justify it in the eyes of the exacting reader, +who may have expected a more thorough survey. + + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + + EXCURSIONS IN ATTICA—COLONUS—THE HARBORS—LAURIUM—SUNIUM. + + +There are two modern towns which, in natural features, resemble Athens. +The irregular ridge of greater Acropolis and lesser Areopagus remind one +of the castle and the Mönchsberg of Salzburg, one of the few towns in +Europe more beautifully situated than Athens. The relation of the +Acropolis to the more lofty Lycabettus suggests the castle of Edinburgh +and Arthur’s Seat. But here the advantage is greatly on the side of +Athens. + +When you stand on the Acropolis and look round upon Attica, a great part +of its history becomes immediately unravelled and clear. You see at once +that you are placed in the principal plain of the country, surrounded with +chains of mountains in such a way that it is easy to understand the old +stories of wars with Eleusis, or with Marathon, or with any of the +outlying valleys. Looking inland on the north side, as you stand beside +the Erechtheum, you see straight before you, at a distance of some ten +miles, Mount Pentelicus, from which all the splendid marble was once +carried to the rock around you. This Pentelicus is a sort of intermediate +cross-chain between two main lines which diverge from either side of it, +and gradually widen so as to form the plain of Athens. The left or +north-western chain is Mount Parnes; the right or eastern is Mount +Hymettus. This latter, however, is only the inner margin of a large +mountainous tract which spreads all over the rest of South Attica down to +the Cape of Sunium. There are, of course, little valleys, and two or three +villages, one of them the old deme Brauron, which they now pronounce +Vravron. There is the town of Thorikos, near the mines of Laurium; there +are two modern villages called Marcopoulos; but on the whole, both in +ancient and modern times, this south-eastern part of Attica, south of +Hymettus, was, with the exception of Laurium, of little moment. There is a +gap between Pentelicus and Hymettus, nearly due north, through which the +way leads out to Marathon; and you can see the spot where the bandits +surprised in 1870 the unfortunate gentlemen who fell victims to the +vacillation and incompetence of people in power at that time. + +On the left side of Pentelicus you see the chain of Parnes, which almost +closes with it at a far distance, and which stretches down all the +north-west side of Attica till it runs into the sea as Mount Corydallus, +opposite to the island of Salamis. In this long chain of Parnes (which can +only be avoided by going up to the northern coast at Oropus, and passing +into Bœotia close by the sea) there are three passes or lower points, one +far to the north—that by Dekelea, where the present king has his country +palace, but where of old Alcibiades planted the Spartan garrison which +tormented and ruined the farmers of Attica. This pass leads you out to +Tanagra in Bœotia. Next to the south, some miles nearer, is the even more +famous pass of Phyle, from which Thrasybulus and his brave fellows +recovered Athens and its liberty. This pass, when you reach its summit, +looks into the northern point of the Thriasian plain, and also into the +wilder regions of Cithæron, which border Bœotia. The third pass, and the +lowest—but a few miles beyond the groves of Academe—is the pass of Daphne, +which was the high road to Eleusis, along which the sacred processions +passed in the times of the Mysteries; and in this pass you still see the +numerous niches in which native tablets had been set by the worshippers at +a famous temple of Aphrodite. + +On this side of Attica also, with the exception of the Thriasian plain and +of Eleusis, there extends outside Mount Parnes a wild mountainous +district, quite alpine in character, which severs Attica from Bœotia, not +by a single row of mountains, or by a single pass, but by a succession of +glens and defiles which at once explain to the classical student, when he +sees them, how necessary and fundamental were the divisions of Greece into +its separate districts, and how completely different in character the +inhabitants of each were sure to be. The way from Attica into Bœotia was +no ordinary high road, nor even a pass over one mountain, but through a +series of glens and valleys and defiles, at any of which a hostile army +could be stopped, and each of which severed the country on either side by +a difficult obstacle. This truly alpine nature of Greece is only felt when +we see it, and yet must ever be kept before the mind in estimating the +character and energy of the race. But let us return to our view from the +Acropolis. + +If we turn and look southward, we see a broken country, with several low +hills between us and the sea—hills tolerably well cultivated, and when I +saw them in May all colored with golden stubbles, for the corn had just +been reaped. But all the plain in every direction seems dry and dusty; +arid, too, and not rich alluvial soil, like the plains of Bœotia. Then +Thucydides’s words come back to us, when he says Attica was “undisturbed +on account of the lightness of its soil” (_ἀστασίαστος οὖσα διὰ τὸ +λεπτόγεων_), as early invaders rather looked out for richer pastures. This +reflection, too, of Thucydides applies equally to the mountains of Attica +round Athens, which are not covered with rich grass and dense shrubs, like +Helicon, like Parnassus, like the glades of Arcadia, but seem so bare that +we wonder where the bees of Hymettus can find food for their famous honey. +It is only when the traveller ascends the rocky slopes of the mountain +that he finds its rugged surface carpeted with quantities of little wild +flowers, too insignificant to give the slightest color to the mountain, +but sufficient for the bees, which are still making their honey as of old. +This honey of Hymettus, which was our daily food at Athens, is now not +very remarkable either for color or flavor. It is very dark, and not by +any means so good as the honey produced in other parts of Greece—not to +say on the heather hills of Scotland and Ireland. I tasted honey at Thebes +and at Corinth which was much better, especially that of Corinth made in +the hills toward Cleonæ, where the whole country is scented with thyme, +and where thousands of bees are buzzing eagerly through the summer air. +But when the old Athenians are found talking so much about honey, we must +not forget that sugar was unknown to them, and that all their sweetmeats +depended upon honey exclusively. Hence the culture and use of it assumed +an importance not easily understood among moderns, who are in possession +of the sugar-cane. + +But amid all the dusty and bare features of the view, the eye fastens with +delight on one great broad band of dark green, which, starting from the +west side of Pentelicus, close to Mount Parnes in the north, sweeps +straight down the valley, passing about two miles to the west of Athens, +and reaching to the Peiræus. This is the plain of the Kephissus, and these +are the famous olive woods which contain with them the deme Colonus, so +celebrated by Sophocles, and the groves of Academe, at their nearest point +to the city. The dust of Athens, and the bareness of the plain, make all +walks about the town disagreeable, save either the ascent of Lycabettus, +or a ramble into these olive woods. The River Kephissus, which waters +them, is a respectable, though narrow river, even in summer often +discharging a good deal of water, but much divided into trenches and arms, +which are very convenient for irrigation.(59) So there is a strip of +country, fully ten miles long, and perhaps two wide on the average, which +affords delicious shade and greenness and the song of birds, instead of +hot sunlight and dust and the shrill clamor of the tettix without. + +I have wandered many hours in these delightful woods listening to the +nightingales, which sing all day in the deep shade and solitude, as it +were in a prolonged twilight, and hearing the plane-tree whispering to the +elm,(60) as Aristophanes has it, and seeing the white poplar show its +silvery leaves in the breeze, and wondering whether the huge old olive +stems, so like the old pollarded stumps in Windsor Forest, could be the +actual sacred trees, the _μορίαι_, under which the youth of Athens ran +their races. The banks of the Kephissus, too, are lined with great reeds, +and sedgy marsh plants, which stoop over into its sandy shallows and wave +idly in the current of its stream. The ouzel and the kingfisher start from +under one’s feet, and bright fish move out lazily from their sunny bay +into the deeper pool. Now and then through a vista the Acropolis shows +itself in a framework of green foliage, nor do I know any more enchanting +view of that great ruin. + +All the ground under the dense olive-trees was covered with standing corn, +for here, as in Southern Italy, the shade of trees seems no hindrance to +the ripening of the ear. But there was here thicker wood than in Italian +corn-fields; on the other hand, there was not that rich festooning of +vines which spread from tree to tree, and which give a Neapolitan summer +landscape so peculiar a charm. A few homesteads there were along the +roads, and even at one of the bridges a children’s school, full of those +beautiful fair children whose heads remind one so strongly of the old +Greek statues. But all the houses were walled in, and many of them seemed +solitary and deserted. The memories of rapine and violence were still +there. I was told, indeed, that no country in Europe was so secure, and I +confess I found it so myself in my wanderings; but when we see how every +disturbance or war on the frontier revives again the rumor of brigandage, +I could not help feeling that the desert state of the land, and the +general sense of insecurity, however irrational in the intervals of peace, +was not surprising. + +There is no other excursion in the immediate vicinity of Athens of any +like beauty or interest. The older buildings in the Peiræus are completely +gone. No trace of the docks or the _deigma_ remains; and the splendid +walls, built as Thucydides tells us with cut stone, without mortar or mud, +and fastened with clamps of iron fixed with lead—this splendid structure +has been almost completely destroyed. We can find, indeed, elsewhere in +Attica—at Phyle—still better at Eleutheræ—specimens of this sort of +building, but at the Peiræus there are only foundations remaining. Yet it +is not really true that the great wall surrounding the Peiræus has totally +disappeared. Even at the mouth of the harbor single stones may be seen +lying along the rocky edge of the water, of which the size and the square +cutting prove the use for which they were originally intended. But if the +visitor to the Peiræus will take the trouble to cross the hill, and walk +round the harbor of Munychia, he will find on the eastern point of the +headland a neat little café, with comfortable seats, and with a beautiful +view. The sea coast all round this headland shows the bed of the +surrounding sea wall, hewn in the live rock. The actual structure is +preserved in patches on the western point of this harbor, where the coast +is very steep; but in the place to which I refer, we can trace the whole +course of the wall a few feet above the water, cut out in the solid rock. +I know no scanty specimen of Athenian work which gives a greater idea of +the enormous wealth and energy of the city. The port of Munychia had its +own theatre and temples, and it was here that Pausanias saw the altar to +_the gods called the unknown_. The traces of the sea wall cease as soon as +it reaches the actual narrow mouth of the little harbor. I do not know how +far toward Phalerum it can be traced, but when visiting the harbor called +Zea(61) on another occasion, I did not observe it. The reader will find in +any ancient atlas, or in any history of Greece, a map of the harbors of +Athens, so that I think it unnecessary to append one here. + +The striking feature in the present Peiræus, which from the entrance of +the harbor is very picturesque, is undoubtedly the rapid growth and +extension of factories, with English machinery and overseers. When last +there I found fourteen of these establishments, and their chimneys were +becoming quite a normal feature in Greek landscape. Those which I visited +were working up the cotton and the wool of the country into calico and +other stuffs, which are unfortunately coming into fashion among the lower +classes, and ousting the old costume. I was informed that boys were +actually forbidden to attend school in Greek dress, a regulation which +astonishes any one who knows the beauty and dignity of the national +costume. + + [Illustration: The Peiraeus] + +A drive to the open roadstead of Phalerum is more repaying. Here it is +interesting to observe how the Athenians passed by the nearest sea, and +even an open and clear roadstead, in order to join their city to the +better harbor and more defensible headland of Peiræus. Phalĕrum, as they +now call it, though they spell it with an _η_, is the favorite +bathing-place of modern Athens, with an open-air theatre, and is about a +mile and a half nearer the city than Peiræus. The water is shallow, and +the beach is of fine sand, so that for ancient ships, which I suppose drew +little water, it was a convenient landing-place, especially for the +disembarking of troops, who could choose their place anywhere around a +large crescent, and actually land fighting, if necessary. But the walls of +Athens, the long walls to Peiræus, and its lofty fortifications, made this +roadstead of no use to the enemy so long as Athens held the command of the +sea, and could send out ships from the secure little harbors of Zea and +Munychia, which are on the east side and in the centre of the headland of +Peiræus. There was originally a third wall, too, to the east side of the +Phaleric bay, but this seems to have been early abandoned when the second +long wall, or middle wall, as it was originally called, was completed. + +At the opening of the Peloponnesian war it appears that the Athenians +defended against the Lacedæmonians, not the two long walls which ran close +together and parallel to Peiræus, but the northern of these, and the far +distant Phaleric wall. It cannot but strike any observer as extraordinary +how the Athenians should undertake such an enormous task. Had the enemy +attacked anywhere suddenly and with vigor, it seems hard to understand how +they could have kept him out. According to Thucydides’s accurate +detail,(62) the wall to Phalerum was nearly four miles, that to Peiræus +four and a half. There were in addition five miles of city wall, and +nearly three of Peiræus wall. That is to say, there were about seventeen +miles of wall to be protected. This is not all. The circuit was not +closed, but separated by about a mile of beach between Peiræus and +Phalerum, so that the defenders of the two extremities could in no way +promptly assist each other. Thucydides tells us that a garrison of 16,000 +inferior soldiers, old men, boys, and _metics_, sufficed to do this work. +We are forced to conclude that not only were the means of attacking walls +curiously incomplete, but even the dash and enterprise of modern warfare +cannot have been understood by the Greeks. For we never hear of even a +bold attempt on this absurdly straggling fortification, far less of any +successful attempt to force it. + +But it is time that we should leave the environs of Athens,(63) and wander +out beyond the borders of the Athenian plain into the wilder outlying +parts of the land. Attica is, after all, a large country, if one does not +apply railway measures to it. We think thirty miles by rail very little, +but thirty miles by road is a long distance, and implies land enough to +support a large population and to maintain many flourishing towns. We can +wander thirty miles from Athens through Attica in several directions—to +Eleutheræ, on the western Bœotian frontier; to Oropus, on the north; and +Sunium, on the south. Thus it is only when one endeavors to know Attica +minutely that one finds how much there is to be seen, and how long a time +is required to see it. And fortunately enough there is an expedition, and +that not the least important, where we can avoid the rough paths and +rougher saddles of the country, and coast in a steamer along a district at +all times obscure in history, and seldom known for anything except for +being the road to Sunium. Strabo gives a list of the demes along this +seaboard,(64) and seems only able to write one fact about them—a line from +an old oracle in the days of the Persian war, which prophesied that “the +women of Colias will roast their corn with oars,”(65) alluding to the +wrecks driven on shore here by the northwest wind from Salamis. Even the +numerous little islands along this coast were in his day, as they now are, +perfectly barren. Yet with all its desolation it is exceedingly +picturesque and varied in outline. + +We took ship in the little steamer(66) belonging to the Sunium Mining +Company, who have built a village called Ergasteria, between Thorikos and +the promontory, and who were obliging enough to allow us to sail in the +boat intended for their private traffic. We left the Peiræus on one of +those peculiarly Greek mornings, with a blue sky and very bright sun, but +with an east wind so strong and clear, so _λαμπρός_, as the old Greeks +would say, that the sea was driven into long white crests, and the +fishing-boats were lying over under their sails. These fresh and strong +winds, which are constantly blowing in Greece, save the people very much +from the bad effects of a very hot southern climate. Even when the +temperature is high the weather is seldom sultry; and upon the sea, which +intrudes everywhere, one can always find a cool and refreshing atmosphere. +The Greeks seem not the least to fear these high winds, which are +generally steady and seldom turn to squalls. The smallest boats are to be +seen scudding along on great journeys from one island to another—often +with a single occupant, who sits holding the helm with one hand, and the +stern sheet with the other. All the ferry-boats in the Peiræus are managed +in this way, and you may see their great sails, like sea-gulls’ wings, +leaning over in the gale, and the spray dashing from the vessel’s prow. We +met a few larger vessels coming up from Syra, but on the whole the sea was +well-nigh as desert as the coast; so much so, that the faithful dog, which +was on board each of those boats, thought it his serious duty to stand up +on the taffrail and bark at us as a strange and doubtful company. + +So, after passing many natural harbors and spacious bays, many rocky +headlands and bluff islands—but all desert and abandoned by track of man, +we approached the famous cape, from which the white pillars of the lofty +old temple gleamed brilliantly in the sun. They were the first and only +white marble pillars which I saw in Greece. Elsewhere, dust and age, if +not the hand of man, have colored that splendid material with a dull +golden hue; but here the sea breeze, while eating away much of the +surface, has not soiled them with its fresh brine, and so they still +remain of the color which they had when they were set up. We should fain +conjecture that here, at all events, the Greeks had not applied the usual +blue and red to decorate this marvellous temple; that—for the delight and +benefit of the sailors, who hailed it from afar, as the first sign of +Attica—its brilliant white color was left to it, to render it a brighter +beacon and a clearer object in twilight and in mist. I will not yet +describe it, for we paid it a special visit, and must speak of it in +greater detail; but even now, when we coasted round the headland, and +looked up to its shining pillars standing far aloft into the sky, it +struck us with the most intense interest. It was easy, indeed, to see how +Byron’s poetic mind was here inspired with some of his noblest lines. + +When we turned from it seaward, we saw stretched out in _échelon_ that +chain of Cyclades, which are but a prolongation of the headland—Keos, +Kyphnos, Seriphos, Siphnos, and in the far distance, Melos—Melos, the +scene of Athens’s violence and cruelty, when she filled up, in the mind of +the old historian, the full measure of her iniquity. And as we turned +northward, the long island, or islet, of Helena, which stretches along the +point, like Hydra off that of Argolis, could not hide from us the mountain +ranges of Eubœa, still touched here and there with snow. A short run +against the wind brought us to the port of Ergasteria, marked very +strangely in the landscape by the smoke of its chimneys—the port where the +present produce of the mines of Laurium is prepared and shipped for +Scotland. + +Here, at last, we found ourselves again among men; three thousand +operatives, many of them with families, make quite a busy town of +Ergasteria. And I could not but contrast their bold and independent looks, +rough and savage as they seemed, with what must have been the appearance +of the droves of slaves who worked the mines in old days. We were rowed +ashore from our steamer by two men called Aristides and Epaminondas, but I +cannot say that their looks betokened either the justice of the one or the +culture of the other. + +We found ourselves when we landed in an awkward predicament. The last +English engineer remaining in the Mining Company, at whose invitation we +had ventured into this wild district, had suddenly left, that morning, for +Athens. His house was shut up, and we were left friendless and alone, +among three thousand of these Aristideses and Epaminondases, whose +appearance was, as I have said, anything but reassuring. We did what was +best to meet the difficulty, and what was not only the best thing to do, +but the only thing, and it turned out very well indeed. We went to the +temporary director of the mines, a very polished gentleman, with a +charming wife, both of whom spoke French excellently. We stated our case, +and requested hospitality for the night. Nothing could be more friendly +than our reception. This benevolent man and his wife took us into their +own house, prepared rooms for us, and promised to let us see all the +curiosities of the country. Thus our misfortune became, in fact, a very +good fortune. The night, however, it must be confessed, was spent in a +very unequal conflict with mosquitoes—an inconvenience which our good +hostess in vain endeavored to obviate by giving us a strong-smelling +powder to burn in our room, and shutting all the windows. But had the +remedy been even successful, it is very doubtful whether it was not worse +than the disease. + +We started in the morning by a special train—for the company have a +private line from the coast up to the mines—to ascend the wooded and hilly +country into the region so celebrated of old as one of the main sources of +Athenian wealth. As the train wound its way round the somewhat steep +ascent, our prospect over the sea and its islands became larger and more +varied. The wild rocks and forests of southern Eubœa—one of the few +districts in Greece which seem to have been as savage and deserted in old +days as they are now—detached themselves from the intervening island of +Helena. We were told that wild boars were still to be found in Eubœa. In +the hills about Laurium, hares, which Xenophon so loved to hunt in his +Elean retreat, and turtle doves, seemed the only game attainable. All the +hills were covered with stunted underwood. + + [Illustration: Laurium] + +The mines of Laurium appear very suddenly in Attic history, but from that +time onward are a prominent part of the wealth of the Athenians. We know +that in Solon’s day there was great scarcity of money, and that he was +obliged to depreciate the value of the coinage—a very violent and +unprecedented measure, never repeated; for, all through later history, +Attic silver was so good that it circulated at a premium in foreign parts +just as English money does now. Accordingly, in Solon’s time we hear no +mention of this great and almost inexhaustible source of national wealth. +All through the reign of the Peisistratids there is a like silence. +Suddenly, after the liberation of Athens, we hear of Themistocles +persuading the people to apply the very large revenue from these mines to +the building of a fleet for the purpose of the war with Ægina.(67) The +so-called Xenophon _On the Attic Revenues_—a tract which is almost +altogether about these mines—asserts indeed that they had been worked from +remote antiquity; and there can be little doubt that here, as elsewhere in +Greece, the Phœnicians had been the forerunners of the natives in the art +of mining. Here, as in Thasos, I believe the Phœnicians had their +settlements; and possibly a closer survey of the great underground +passages, which are still there, may give us some proof by inscriptions or +otherwise. + +But what happened after the Semitic traders had been expelled from Greek +waters?—for expelled they were, though, perhaps, far later from some +remote and unexplored points than we usually imagine. I suppose that when +this took place Athens was by no means in a condition to think about +prosecuting trade at Sunium. Salamis, which was far closer and a more +obvious possession, was only conquered in Solon’s day, after a long and +tedious struggle; and I am perfectly certain that the Athenians could have +had no power to hold an outlying dependency, separated by thirty miles of +the roughest mountain country, when they had not subdued an island +scarcely a mile from the Thriasian plain and not ten miles from Athens. I +take it, then, that the so-called _συνοικισμός_, or unifying of Athens, in +prehistoric times, by Theseus, or whoever did it, was not a cementing of +all Attica, including these remote corners, but only of the settlements +about the plains of Attica, Marathon, and Eleusis; and that the southern +end of the peninsula was not included in the Athens of early days. It was, +in fact, only accessible by a carefully constructed artificial road, such +as we hear of afterward, or by sea. The Athenians had not either of these +means of access at so early a period. And it is not a little remarkable +that the first mention of their ownership of the silver mines is +associated with the building of a fleet to contend with Ægina. I have no +doubt that Themistocles’s advice has been preserved without his reasons +for it. He persuaded the Athenians to surrender their surplus revenue from +Laurium, to build ships against the Æginetans, simply because they found +that without ships the Æginetans would be practically sole possessors of +the mines. They were far closer to Laurium by sea than Athens was by +land—closer, indeed, in every way—and I am led to suspect that, in the +days before Solon, the mines may have been secretly worked by Ægina, and +not by Athens. I cannot here enter into my full reasons, but I fancy that +Peisistratus and his sons—not by conquest, but by some agreement—got +practical possession of the mines, and were, perhaps, the first to make +all Attica really subject to the power of Athens.(68) But no sooner are +they expelled than the Æginetans renew their attacks or claims on Laurium; +and it is only the Athenian fleet which secures to Athens its possession. +We hear of proceedings of Hippias about coinage,(69) which are adduced by +Aristotle as specimens of injustice, or sharp practice, and which may have +something to do with the acquisition of the silver mines by his dynasty. +But I must cut short this serious dissertation. + +Our special train brought us up slowly round wooded heights, and through +rich green brakes, into a lonely country, from which glimpses of the sea +could, however, still be seen, and glimpses of blue islands, between the +hills. And so we came to the settlements of the modern miners. The great +Company, whose guests we were, had been started some years ago, by French +and Italian speculators, and Professor Anstead had been there as geologist +for some years. But the jealousy of the Greeks, when they found out that +profit was rewarding foreign enterprise, caused legislation against the +Company; various complications followed, so that at last they gladly sold +their interest to a native Company. In 1887 this Company was still +thriving; and I saw in the harbor a large vessel from Glasgow, which had +come to carry the lead to Scotland, when prepared in blocks—all the +produce being still bought by a single English firm. + +When the Greeks discuss these negotiations about the mines they put quite +a different color on the affair. They say that the French and Italians +desired to evade fair payment for the ground-rent of the mines, trusting +to the strength of their respective governments, and the weakness of +Greece. The Company’s policy is described in Greece as an over-reaching, +unscrupulous attempt to make great profits by sharp bargains with the +natives, who did not know the value of their property. A great number of +obscure details are adduced in favor of their arguments, and it seemed to +me that the Greeks were really convinced of their truth. In such a matter +it would be unfair to decide without stating both sides; and I am quite +prepared to change my present conviction that the Greeks were most to +blame, if proper reasons can be assigned. But the legislative Acts passed +in their Parliament look very ugly indeed at first sight. + +The principal Laurium Company(70) never enter the mines at all, but gather +the great mass of scoriæ, which the old Athenians threw out after smelting +with more imperfect furnaces and less heat than ours. These scoriæ, which +look like stone cinders, have been so long there that some vegetation has +at last grown over them, and the traveller does not suspect that all the +soil around was raised and altered by the hand of man. Owing to the power +of steam, and their railway, the present miners carry down the scoriæ on +trucks to the sea-coast, to Ergasteria, and there smelt them. The old +Athenians had their furnaces in the middle of the mountains, where many of +them are still to be seen. They sought chiefly for silver, whereas the +modern Company are chiefly in pursuit of lead, and obtain but little +silver from the scoriæ. + +In many places you come upon the openings of the old pits, which went far +into the bowels of the mountains, through miles of underground galleries +and passages. Our engine-driver—an intelligent Frenchman—stopped the train +to show us one of these entrances, which went down almost straight, with +good steps still remaining, into the earth. He assured us that the other +extremity which was known, all the passage being open, was some two or +three miles distant, at a spot which he showed us from a hill. Hearing +that inscriptions were found in these pits, and especially that the name +of Nicias had been discovered there, we were very anxious to descend and +inspect them. This was promised to us, for the actual pits were in the +hands of another Greek Company, who were searching for new veins of +silver. But when we arrived at the spot the officers of the Company were +unwilling to let us into the pits. The proper overseer was +away—intentionally, of course. There were no proper candles; there were no +means of obtaining admission: so we were balked in our inquiry. But we +went far enough into the mouth of one of them to see that these pits were +on a colossal scale, well arched up; and, I suppose, had we gone far +enough, we should have found the old supports, of which the Athenian law +was so careful. + +The quantity of scoriæ thrown out, which seems now perfectly +inexhaustible, is in itself sufficient evidence of the enormous scale on +which the old mining was carried on. Thus, we do not in the least wonder +at hearing that Nicias had one thousand slaves working in the mines, and +that the profits accruing to the State from the fines and head-rents of +the mines were very large—on a moderate estimate, £8000 a year of our +money, which meant in those days a great deal more. + +The author of the tract on “Athenian Revenue” says that the riches of the +mines were absolutely unbounded; that only a small part of the silver +district had been worked out, though the digging had gone on from time +immemorial; and that after innumerable laborers had been employed the +mines always appeared equally rich, so that no limit need be put on the +employment of capital. Still he speaks of opening a new shaft as a most +risky speculation. His general estimate appears, however, somewhat +exaggerated. The writer confesses that the number of laborers was in his +day diminishing, and the majority of the proprietors were then beginners; +so that there must have been great interruption of work during the +Peloponnesian War. In the age of Philip there were loud complaints that +the speculations in mining were unsuccessful; and for obtaining silver, at +all events, no reasonable prospect seems to have been left. In the first +century of our era, Strabo (ix. i. 23) says that these once celebrated +mines were exhausted,(71) that new mining did not pay, and thus people +were smelting the poorer ore, and the scoriæ from which the ancients had +imperfectly separated the metal. He adds that the main product of the +mining district was in his day honey, which was especially known as +smokeless (_ἀκάπνιστον_), on account of its good preparation. This in +itself shows that the mining had decayed, for now all the flowers in the +neighborhood of the smelting are killed by the black fumes. + +Our last mention of the place in olden times is that of Pausanias (at the +end of the second century A. D.), who speaks of Laurium, with the addition +that it had once been the seat of the Athenian silver mines! + +There is but one more point suggested by these mines, which it is not well +to pass over when we are considering the working of them in ancient times. +Nothing is more poisonous than the smoke from lead-mines; and for this +reason the people at Ergasteria have built a chimney more than a mile long +to the top of a neighboring hill, where the smoke escapes. Even so, when +the wind blows back the smoke, all the vegetation about the village is at +once blighted, and there is no greater difficulty than to keep a garden +within two or three miles of this chimney. As the Athenians did not take +such precautions, we are not surprised to hear from them frequent notices +of the unhealthiness of the district, for when there were many furnaces, +and the smoke was not drawn away by high chimneys, we can hardly conceive +life to have been tolerable. What then must have been the condition of the +gangs of slaves which Nicias and other respectable and pious Athenians +kept in these mines? Two or three allusions give us a hideous insight into +this great social sore, which has not been laid bare, because the wild +district of Laurium, and the deep mines under its surface, have concealed +the facts from the ordinary observer. Nicias, we are told, let out one +thousand slaves to Sosias the Thracian, at an obolus a day each—the lessee +being bound to restore them to him the same _in number_. + +The meaning of this frightful contract is only too plain. The yearly rent +paid for each slave was about half the full price paid for him in the +market. It follows that, if the slave lived for three years, Nicias made a +profit of 50 per cent. on his outlay. No doubt, some part of this +extraordinary bargain must be explained by the great profits which an +experienced miner could make—a fact supported by the tract on the +Revenues, which cannot date more than a generation later than the bargain +of Nicias. The lessee, too, was under the additional risk of the slaves +escaping in time of war, when a hostile army might make a special invasion +into the mountain district for the purpose of inflicting a blow on this +important part of Athenian revenue. In such cases, it may be presumed that +desperate attempts were made by the slaves to escape, for although the +Athenian slaves generally were the best treated in Greece, and had many +holidays, it was very different with the gangs employed by the Thracian +taskmaster. We are told that they had three hundred and sixty working days +in the year. This, together with the poison of the atmosphere, tells its +tale plainly enough. + +And yet Nicias, the capitalist who worked this hideous trade, was the most +pious and God-fearing man at Athens. So high was his reputation for +integrity and religion, that the people insisted on appointing him again +and again to commands for which he was wholly unfit; and when at last he +ruined the great Athenian army before Syracuse, and lost his own life, by +his extreme devoutness and his faith in the threats and warnings of the +gods—even then the great sceptical historian, who cared for none of these +things, condones all his blunders for the sake of his piety and his +respectability. + +Of course, however, an excursion to Laurium, interesting as it might be, +were absurd without visiting the far more famous Sunium,—the promontory +which had already struck us so much on our sea voyage round the point,—the +temple which Byron has again hallowed with his immortal verse, and Turner +with his hardly less immortal pencil. So we hired horses on our return +from the mines, and set out on a very fine afternoon to ride down some +seven or eight miles from Ergasteria to the famous promontory. Our route +led over rolling hills, covered with arbutus and stunted firs; along +valleys choked with deep, matted grass; by the side of the sea, upon the +narrow ledge of broken rocks. Nowhere was there a road, or a vestige of +human habitation, save where the telegraph wire dipped into the sea, +pointing the way to the distant Syra. It was late in the day, and the sun +was getting low, so we urged our horses to a canter wherever the ground +would permit it. But neither the heat nor the pace could conquer the +indefatigable esquire who attended us on foot to show us the way, and hold +the horses when we stopped. His speed and endurance made me think of +Phidippides and his run to Sparta; nor, indeed, do any of the feats +recorded of the old Greeks, either in swimming or running, appear +incredible when we witness the feats that are being performed almost every +day by modern muscle and endurance. At last, after a delightful two hours’ +roaming through the homely solitude, we found ourselves at the foot of the +last hill, and over us the shining pillars of the ruined temple stood out +against the sky. + +There can be no doubt that the temple of Neptune on Mount Tænarum must +have been quite as fine as to position, but the earthquakes of Laconia +have made havoc of its treasures, while at Sunium, though some of the +drums in the shafts of the pillars have been actually displaced several +inches from their fellows above and below, so that the perfect fitting of +the old Athenians has come to look like the tottering work of a giant +child with marble bricks,—in spite of this, thirteen pillars remain,(72) a +piece of architrave, and a huge platform of solid blocks; above all, a +site not desecrated by modern habitations, where we can sit and think of +the great old days, and of the men who set up this noble monument at the +remotest corner of their land. The Greeks told us that this temple, that +at Ægina, and the Parthenon, are placed exactly at the angles of a great +equilateral triangle, with each side about twenty-five or thirty miles +long. Our maps do not verify this belief. The distance from Athens to +Sunium appears much longer than either of the other lines, nor do we find +in antiquity any hint that such a principle was attended to, or that any +peculiar virtue was attached to it. + +We found the platform nearly complete, built with great square blocks of +poros-stone, and in some places very high, though in others scarcely +raised at all, according to the requirements of the ground. Over it the +temple was built, not with the huge blocks which we see at Corinth and in +the Parthenon, but still of perfectly white marble, and with that +beautifully close fitting, without mortar, rubble, or cement, which +characterizes the best and most perfect epoch of Greek architecture.(73) +The stone, too, is the finest white marble, and, being exposed to no dust +on its lofty site, has alone of all temples kept its original color—if, +indeed, it was originally white, and not enriched with divers colors. The +earthquake, which has displaced the stones in the middle of the pillars, +has tumbled over many large pieces, which can be seen from above scattered +all down the slope where they have rolled. But enough still remains for us +to see the plan, and imagine the effect of the whole structure. It is in +the usual simple, grand, Doric style, but lighter in proportions than the +older Attic temples; and, being meant for distant effect, was probably not +much decorated. Its very site gives it all the ornament any building could +possibly require. + +It was our good fortune to see it in a splendid sunset, with the sea a +sheet of molten gold, and all the headlands and islands colored with hazy +purple. The mountains of Eubœa, with their promontory of Geræstus, closed +the view upon the north-east; but far down into the Ægean reached island +after island, as it were striving to prolong a highway to the holy Delos. +The ancient Andros, Tenos, Myconos were there, but the eye sought in vain +for the home of Apollo’s shrine—the smallest and yet the greatest of the +group. The parallel chain, reaching down from Sunium itself, was confused +into one mass, but exposed to view the distant Melos. Then came a short +space of open sea, due south, which alone prevented us from imagining +ourselves on some fair and quiet inland lake; and beyond to the south-west +we saw the point of Hydra, the only spot in all Hellas whose recent fame +exceeds the report of ancient days. The mountains of Argolis lay behind +Ægina, and formed with their Arcadian neighbors a solid background, till +the eye wandered round to the Acropolis of Corinth, hardly visible in the +burning brightness of the sun’s decline. And all this splendid expanse of +sea and mountain, and bay and cliff, seemed as utterly deserted as the +wildest western coast of Scotland or Ireland. One or two little white +sails, speeding in his boat some lonely fisherman, made the solitude, if +possible, more speaking and more intense. There are finer views, more +extensive, and perhaps even more varied, but none more exquisitely +interesting and more melancholy to the student of Ancient Greece. + + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + + EXCURSIONS IN ATTICA—PENTELICUS—MARATHON—DAPHNE—ELEUSIS. + + +This great loneliness is a feature that strikes the traveller almost +everywhere through the country. Many centuries of insecurity, and indeed +of violence, have made country life almost impossible; and now that better +times have come, the love and knowledge of it are gone. The city Athenian +no longer grumbles, as he did in Aristophanes’s day, that an invasion has +driven him in from the rude plenty and simple luxuries of his farming +life, where with his figs and his olives, his raisins and his heady wine, +he made holiday before his gods, and roasted his thrush and his chestnuts +with his neighbor over the fire. All this is gone. There remains, indeed, +the old political lounger, the loafer of the market-place, ever seeking to +obtain some shabby maintenance by sycophancy or by bullying. This type is +not hard to find in modern Athens, but the old sturdy Acharnian, as well +as the rich horse-breeding Alcmæonid, are things of the past. Even the +large profits to be made by market-gardening will not tempt them to adopt +this industry, and the great city of Athens is one of the worst supplied +and dearest of capitals, most of its daily requirements in vegetables, +fowls, eggs, etc., coming in by steamers from islands on the coast of +Thessaly. No part of the country of Attica can be considered even +moderately cultivated, except the Thriasian plain, and the valley of +Kephissus, reaching from near Dekelea to the sea. This latter plain, with +its fine olive-woods reaching down across Academus to the region of the +old long walls, is fairly covered with corn and grazing cattle, with plane +trees and poplars. But even here many of the homesteads are deserted; and +the country seats of the Athenians were often left empty for years, +whenever a band of brigands appeared in the neighboring mountains, and +threatened the outlying houses with blackmail, if not with bloodier +violence. Of late there is a steady improvement. + +Nothing can be truer than the admirable description of Northern Attica +given in M. Perrot’s book on the Attic orators. He is describing Rhamnus, +the home of Antiphon, but his picture is of broader application.(74) + +All these remarks are even more strongly exemplified by the beautiful +country which lies between Pentelicus and Hymettus, and which is now +covered with forest and brushwood. We passed through this vale one sunny +morning on our way to visit Marathon. There is, indeed, a road for some +miles—the road to the quarries of Pentelicus—but a very different one from +what the Athenians must have had. It is now a mere broad track, cut by +wheels and hoofs in the sward; and wherever the ruts become too deep the +driver turns aside, and makes a parallel track for his own convenience. In +summer days, the dust produced by this sort of road is something beyond +description; and the soil being very red earth, we have an atmosphere +which accounts to some extent for the remarkable color of the old +buildings of Athens. The way, after turning round the steep Lycabettus, +which, like Arthur’s Seat at Edinburgh, commands the town close by, passes +up the right side of the undulating plain of Attica, with the stony but +variegated slopes of Hymettus upon the right, and Pentelicus almost +straight ahead. As soon as the suburbs are passed we meet but one or two +country seats, surrounded with dark cypress and pepper trees; but outside +the sombre green is a tall, dazzling, white wall, which gives a peculiarly +Oriental character to the landscape. There is cultivation visible when you +look to the westward, where the village of Kephissia lies, among the +groves which accompany the Kephissus on its course; but up toward +Pentelicus, along the track which must once have been crowded with carts, +and heavy teams, and shouting drivers, when all the blocks of the +Parthenon were being hurried from their quarry to adorn the +Acropolis—along this famous track there is hardly a sign of culture. +Occasionally, a rough stubble field showed that a little corn had been +cut—an occasional station, with a couple of soldiers, shows why more had +not been sown. The fear of brigands had paralyzed industry, and even +driven out the scanty rural population. + + [Illustration: Mount Lycabettus, Athens] + +It strikes me, when speaking of this road, that the Greek roads cannot +have been at all so well constructed as the Roman, many of which are still +to be seen in England. Though I went upon the track of many of them, I but +once noticed the vestige of an old Greek road. There are here and there +wretched remains of Turkish roads—rough angular stones laid down across +the hills, in a close irregular pavement; but of the great builders of the +Parthenon and of Phyle, of Eleutheræ and of Eleusis, hardly a patch of +road-work has, so far as I know, remained. + +There is, indeed, one exception in this very neighborhood, to which we may +now naturally turn. The traveller who has wondered at the huge blocks of +the Propylæa and the Parthenon, and who has noticed the exquisite quality +of the stone, and the perfect smoothness which it has preserved to the +present day, will naturally desire to visit the quarry on Pentelicus from +which it was brought. The marble of Paros is probably the only stone found +superior to it for the purposes of sculpture. It is, however, harder and +of larger grain, so that it must have been more difficult to work. Experts +can tell the difference between the two marbles, but I confess that, +though M. Rousopoulos endeavored to teach it to me from specimens in the +Acropolis Museum, I was unable to attain a clear knowledge of the +distinction. The large blocks of Pentelican marble, however beautiful and +fine in grain, seem not unfrequently to have contained flaws, and possibly +the ascertaining of this defect may of old have been one of the most +difficult duties of the architect. It is supposed to have been done by +sounding the block with a hammer, a process which the Greeks would call +_κωδωνίζειν_. There are at present, close to the east front of the +Parthenon, several of these rejected blocks, and the lapse of ages has +brought out the flaw visibly, because damp has had time to penetrate the +stone, and stain its pure whiteness with a dark seam. But when it came +fresh from its native bed, and was all pure white, I presume the +difficulty must have been considerable. Possibly these blocks on the +Parthenon were injured in their transit, and left the quarries in sound +condition. For in going up the steep road to these quarries, in more than +one place a similar great block will be found tumbled aside, and left +lying at the very spot where we may suppose some accident to have happened +to crack it. This road, which in its highest parts has never been altered, +is a steep descent, rudely paved with transverse courses of stone, like +steps in pattern, and may have had wooden slides laid over it, to bring +down the product of the quarries to the valley. It is well worth while +going up for a night to the fine monastery not far off, where there is +ample shade of waving trees and plenty of falling water, in the midst of +steep slopes wooded with the fir—a cool and quiet retreat in the fierce +heat of summer.(75) From this place to the quarries is less than an hour’s +walk. The moderns still draw stone from them, but far below the spots +chosen by the ancients; and, of course, the remains of the old industry +are on an infinitely grander scale. + +It is a laborious climb, up a road covered with small fragments of stone. +But at last, beneath a great face of marble all chipped with the work of +ancient hands, there is a large cool cavern, with water dripping from the +roof into ice-cold pools below, and besides it a quaint grotto chapel, +with its light still burning, and stone seats around, where the traveller +may rest. This place seems to have been the main source of the old +Athenian buildings. The high face of the rock above it is chipped, as I +have said, with small and delicate cutting, and hangs over, as if they had +removed it beneath, in order to bring down the higher pieces more easily. +Of course, they could not, and probably if they could, would not, have +blasted the stone; and, so far as I know, we are not informed by what +process they managed to loosen and bring down the great blocks from their +sites. The surface of the rock testifies to the use of some small and +delicate chisel. But whatever the process, they must have had machinery of +which we have lost all record, for no amount of manual work could possibly +have accomplished what they did in a few years, and accomplished it with a +delicacy which shows complete control of their materials. The beautifully +fitted walls of the chamber inside the left wing of the Propylæa preserve +an interesting piece of detail on the face of each square block, which is +perfectly fitted to its fellows; there still remains a rough knob jutting +out from the centre, evidently the handle used for lifting the stone, and +usually removed when all the building was completely finished. The +expenses of war and the dolors of a long siege caused the Propylæa to +remain unfinished, and so this piece of construction has survived. + +The view from the top of Pentelicus is, of course, very striking, and +those who have no time or inclination to spend a day at Marathon itself +are usually content with a very fine view of the bay and the opposite +mountains of Eubœa, which can thence be had. But it is indeed a pity, now +that the country is generally quite safe, that after so long a journey as +that from England to Athens, people should turn back without completing +the additional fifteen miles which brings them to the site of the great +battle itself. + +As we leave the track which leads up to the monastery above mentioned, the +country becomes gradually covered with shrubs, and then with stunted +trees—generally old fir-trees, all hacked and carved and wounded for the +sake of their resin, which is so painfully obtrusive in Greek wine. But in +one place there is, by way of change, a picturesque bridge over a rapid +rocky-bedded river, which is completely hidden with rich flowering +oleanders, and in which we found sundry Attic women, of the poorer class, +washing their clothes. The woods in this place were wonderfully rich and +scented, and the sound of the turtle doves was heard in the land. +Presently we came upon the thickly wooded corner, which was pointed out to +us as the spot where our unfortunate countrymen were captured in 1870, and +carried up the slopes of Pentelicus, to be sacrificed to the blundering of +the English Minister or the Greek Ministry,—I could not decide which,—and +more certainly to their own chivalry; for while all the captured Greeks +escaped during the pursuit, our English gentlemen would not break their +parole. These men are now held by the better Greeks to be martyrs for the +good of Greece; for this outrage first forced the Government to take +really vigorous measures for the safety of the country. The whole band +were gradually captured and executed, till at last Takos, their chief, was +caught in Peloponnesus, three or four years ago, and hanged at Athens. So +it came that I found the country (on all my visits, ’75, ’77, ’84, ’89) +apparently as safe as Ireland is to a traveller, and we required neither +escort, nor arms, nor any precautions whatever. + +We had, indeed, a missive from the Greek Prime Minister, which we +presented to the Chief Police Officer of each town—a gentleman in the +usual scarlet cap and white petticoats, but carrying a great dog-whip as +the sign of his office. This custom, strange to say, dates from the days +of Aristophanes. But the Prime Minister warned us that, though things were +now safe, there was no permanent security. Any revolution in the +neighborhood (such, for example, as that in Herzegovina, which at that +time had not yet broken out) might, he said, send over the Turkish +frontier a number of outlaws or other fugitives, who would support +themselves by levying blackmail on the peasantry, and then on travellers. +We were assured that the Morea, which does not afford an easy escape into +Turkey, has been for years perfectly secure, and I found it so in several +subsequent journeys. So, then, any traveller desirous of seeing the +Peloponnesus—Sparta, Olympia, Mantinea, Argos, or even Central Greece—may +count on doing so with safety. Not so the visitor to Tempe and Mount +Pindus.(76) The Professors of the University with whom I talked were, +indeed, of a more sanguine opinion. They did not anticipate any recurrence +of the danger: they considered Greece one of the safest and quietest of +countries. Moreover, in one point they all seemed agreed. It was perfectly +certain that the presence of bandits would be at once known at Athens. Why +this was so, I was not informed, nor whether travellers would be at once +informed also. In any case, either M. Trikoupi or the British Minister can +be perfectly relied upon for advice in this matter. + +So much for the safety of travelling in Greece, which is suggested by the +melancholy fate of Mr. Vyner and his friends, though that event is now so +long past. But one point more. It is both idle and foolish to imagine that +revolvers and daggers are the best protection against Greek bandits, +should they reappear. They never attack where they are visible. The first +notice given to the traveller is the sight of twenty or thirty muzzles +pointed at him from the covert, with a summons to surrender. Except, +therefore, the party be too numerous to be so surrounded and _visé_, so +that some could fight, even were others shot—except in such a case, arms +are only an additional prize, and a tempting one, for the clephts. It is, +indeed, very seldom that the carrying of arms is to be recommended to any +traveller in any land. + +As we ascended the long saddle of country which lies between Pentelicus +and Hymettus, we came upon a fine olive-wood, with the same enormous stems +which had already excited our wonder in the groves of Academe. Indeed, +some of the stems in this wood were the largest we had seen, and made us +think that they may have been there since the days when the olive oil of +Attica was one of its most famous products, and its export was even +forbidden. Even then there were ancient stumps—_μορίαι_, as they were +called—which were sacred, and which no man who rented or bought the land +might remove; a restriction which seems hard to us, but was not so in +Greece, where corn grows freely in the shade of trees, and is even +habitually planted in orchards. But at all events, these old, gnarled, +hollowed stumps, with their tufts of branches starting from the pollarded +trunk, are a really classical feature in the country, and deserve, +therefore, a passing notice. + +When we had got well between the mountains a new scene unfolded itself. We +began to see the famous old Euripus, with the mountains of Eubœa over +against us; and down to the south, behind Hymettus, till we reach the +extremity of Sunium, stretched a long tract of mountainous and barren +country which never played a prominent part in history, but where a +conical hill was pointed out to us as the site of the old deme Brauron. It +is, indeed, surprising how little of Attica was ever celebrated. Close by +the most famous city of the world are reaches of country which are as +obscure to us as the wilds of Arcadia; and we may suspect that the +shepherds who inhabited the _φελλέα_, or rocky pastures in the Attic +hills, were not much superior to those whom we now meet herding their +goats in the same region. + +The plain of Marathon, as everybody knows, is a long crescent-shaped strip +of land by the shore, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, which may be +crossed conveniently in three places, but most easily toward the +south-west, along the road which we travelled, and which leads directly to +Athens. When the Athenians marched through this broad and easy passage +they found that the Persians had landed at the northern extremity of the +plain—I suppose, because the water was there sufficiently deep to let them +land conveniently. Most of the shore, as you proceed southward, is lined +on the seaboard by swamps. The Greek army must have marched northward +along the spurs of Pentelicus, and taken up their position near the north +of the plain. There was evidently much danger that the Persians would +force a passage through the village of Marathon, farther toward the +north-west. Had they done this, they might have rounded Pentelicus, and +descended the main plain of Attica, from the valley below Dekelea. +Perhaps, however, this pass was then guarded by an outlying fort, or by +some defences at Marathon itself. The site of the battle is absolutely +fixed by the great mound, upon which was placed a lion, which has been +carried off, no one knows when or whither. The mound is exactly an English +mile from the steep slope of one of the hills, and about half a mile from +the sea at present; nor was there, when I saw it, any difficulty in +walking right to the shore, though a river flows out there, which shows, +by its sedgy banks and lofty reeds, a tendency to create a marshy tract in +rainy weather. But the mound is so placed that, if it marks the centre of +the battle, the Athenians must have faced nearly north; and if they faced +the sea eastward, as is commonly stated, this mound must mark the scene of +the conflict on their left wing. The mound is very large—I suppose thirty +feet high—altogether of earth, so far as we could see, and bears traces of +having been frequently ransacked in search of antiquities. Dr. Schliemann, +its latest investigator, could find nothing there but prehistoric flint +weapons. + + [Illustration: Looking Toward the Sea from the Soros, Marathon] + +Like almost every view in Greece, the prospect from this mound is full of +beauty and variety—everywhere broken outlines, everywhere patches of blue +sea, everywhere silence and solitude. Byron is so much out of fashion now, +and so much more talked about than read—though even that notice of him is +fast disappearing—that I will venture to remind the reader of the splendid +things he has said of Greece, and especially of this very plain of +Marathon. He was carried away by his enthusiasm to fancy a great future +possible for the country, and to believe that its desolation and the low +condition of the inhabitants were simply the result of Turkish tyranny, +and not of many natural causes conspiring for twenty centuries. He paints +the Greek brigand or pirate as many others have painted the “noble +savage,” with the omission of all his meaner vices. But in spite of all +these faults, who is there who has felt as he the affecting aspects of +this beautiful land—the tomb of ancient glory—the home of ancient +wisdom—the mother of science, of art, of philosophy, of politics—the +champion of liberty—the envy of the Persian and the Roman—the teacher, +even still, of modern Europe? It is surely a great loss to our generation, +and a bad sign of its culture, that the love of more modern poets has +weaned them from the study of one not less great in most respects, but far +greater in one at least—in that burning enthusiasm for a national cause, +in that red-hot passion for liberty which, even when misapplied, or wasted +upon unworthy objects, is ever one of the noblest and most stirring +instincts of higher man. + +But Byron may well be excused his raving about the liberty of the Greeks, +for truly their old conflict at Marathon, where a few thousand +ill-disciplined men repulsed a larger number of still worse disciplined +Orientals, without any recondite tactics—perhaps even without any very +extraordinary heroism—how is it that this conflict has maintained a +celebrity which has not been equalled by any of the great battles of the +world from that day down to our own? The courage of the Greeks, as I have +elsewhere shown,(77) was not of the first order. Herodotus praises the +Athenians in this very battle for being the first Greeks that dared to +look the Persians in the face. Their generals all through history seem +never to feel sure of victory, and always endeavor to harangue their +soldiers into a fury. Instead of advising coolness, they especially incite +to rage—_ὀργῇ προσμίξωμεν_, says one of them in Thucydides—as if any man +not in this state would be sure to estimate the danger fully, and run +away. It is, indeed, true that the ancient battles were hand to hand, and +therefore parallel to our charges of bayonets, which are said to be very +seldom carried out by two opposing lines, as one of them almost always +gives way before the actual collision takes place. This must often have +occurred in Greek battles, for in one fought at Amphipolis Brasidas lost +seven men; at a battle at Corinth, mentioned by Xenophon—an important +battle, too—the slain amounted to eight;(78) and these battles were fought +before the days when whole armies were composed of mercenaries, who spared +one another, as Ordericus Vitalis says, “for the love of God, and out of +good feeling for the fraternity of arms.” So, then, the loss of 192 +Athenians, including some distinguished men, was rather a severe one. As +to the loss of the Persians, I so totally disbelieve the Greek accounts of +such things that it is better to pass it by in silence. + +Perhaps most readers will be astonished to hear of the Athenian army as +undisciplined, and of the science of war as undeveloped, in those times. +Yet I firmly believe this was so. The accounts of battles by almost all +the historians are so utterly vague, and so childishly conventional, that +it is evident that these gentlemen were not only quite ignorant of the +science of war, but could not easily find any one to explain it to them. +We know that the Spartans—the most admired of all Greek warriors—were +chiefly so admired because they devised the system of subordinating +officers to one another within the same detachment, like our gradation +from colonel to corporal. Orders were passed down from officer to officer, +instead of being bawled out by a herald to a whole army. But this +superiority of the Spartans, who were really disciplined, and went into +battle coolly, like brave men, certainly did not extend to strategy, but +was merely a question of better drill. As soon as any real strategist met +them they were helpless. Thus Iphicrates, when he devised Wellington’s +plan of meeting their attacking column in line, and using missiles, +succeeded against them, even without firearms: thus Epaminondas, when he +devised Napoleon’s plan of massing troops on a single point, while keeping +his enemy’s line occupied, defeated them without any considerable +struggle. As for that general’s great battle of Mantinea, the ancient +Rossbach, which seems really to have been introduced by some complicated +strategical movements, we owe our partial knowledge to the grudging aid of +the soldier Xenophon. But both generals were in the distant future when +the battle of Marathon was being fought. + +Yet what signifies all this criticism? In spite of all skepticism, in +spite of all contempt, the battle of Marathon, whether badly or well +fought, and the troops at Marathon, whether well or ill trained, will ever +be more famous than any other battle or army, however important or +gigantic its dimensions. Even in this very war, the battles of Salamis and +Platæa were vastly more important and more hotly contested. The losses +were greater, the results were more enduring, yet thousands have heard of +Marathon to whom the other names are unknown. So much for literary +ability—so much for the power of talking well about one’s deeds. Marathon +was fought by Athenians; the Athenians eclipsed the other Greeks as far as +the other Greeks eclipsed the rest of the world, in literary power. This +battle became the literary property of the city, hymned by poet, cited by +orator, told by aged nurse, lisped by stammering infant; and so it has +taken its position, above all criticism, as one of the great decisive +battles which assured the liberty of the West against Oriental despotism. + +The plain in the present day is quite bare of trees, and, as Colonel Leake +observed, appears to have been so at the time of the battle, from the +vague account of its evolutions. There was a little corn and a few other +crops about the great tumulus; and along the seashore, whither we went to +bathe, there was a large herd of cows and oxen—a sight not very usual in +Greece. When we rushed into the shallow blue water, striving to reach +swimming depth, we could not but think of the scene when Kynægirus and his +companions rushed in armed to stop the embarkation of the Persians. On the +shore, then teeming with ships of war, with transports, with fighting and +flying men, there was now no sign of life, but ourselves in the water, and +the lazy cattle and their silent herdsmen looking upon us in wonder; for, +though very hot, it was only May, and the modern Greek never thinks it +safe to bathe till at least the end of June—in this like his Italian +neighbor. There was not a single ship or boat in the straits; there was no +sign of life or of population on the coast of Eubœa. There was everywhere +that solitude which so much struck Byron, as it strikes every traveller in +Modern Greece. There was not even the child or beggar, with coins and +pieces of pottery, who is so troublesome about Italian ruins, and who has +even lately appeared at the Parthenon, the theatre at Argos, and a few +other places in Greece. We asked the herdsman for remnants of arms or +pieces of money: he had seen such things picked up, but knew nothing of +their value. Lord Byron tells us he was offered the purchase of the whole +plain (six miles by two) for about £900. It would have been a fine +speculation for an antiquarian: but I am surprised, as he was, rather at +the greatness than at the smallness of the price. The Greek Government +might very well, even now, grant the fee-simple to any one who would pay +the ordinary taxes on property, which are not, I was told, very heavy. But +still the jealousy of the nation would not tolerate a foreign speculator. + +I have already spoken (p. 154) of the position of the pass of Daphne, and +how it leads the traveller over the ridge which separates the plain of the +Kephissus from the Thriasian plain. I have also spoken at length of the +country about the Kephissus, with its olive woods and its nightingales. +When we go through the pass of Daphne—of its monastery I shall speak in +another chapter—a perfectly new view opens before us. We see under us the +Thriasian plain, well covered with ripening corn and other crops; we see +at the far side of the crescent-shaped bay the remains of Eleusis. Behind +it, and all round to the right up to where we stand, is an amphitheatre of +hills—the spurs of Mount Parnes, which from Phyle reach due south down to +where we stand, and due west to the inland of the Thriasian plain, till +they meet and are confounded with the slopes of Cithæron, which extend for +miles away behind Eleusis. On the sea-side, to our left, lies the island +of Salamis, so near the coast that the sea seems a calm inland lake, lying +tortuously between the hills. + +Many points of Greek history become plain to us by this view. We see how +true was the epithet “rocky Salamis,” for the island, though it looks very +insignificant on our maps, contains lofty mountains, with very bare and +rocky sides. The student of Greek geography in maps should note this +feature. Thus, Ithaca on the map does not suggest the real Ithaca, which +from most points looks like a high and steep mountain standing out of the +sea. We begin also to see how Salamis was equally _convenient_ (as the +Irish say) to both Megara and Attica, if we consider that Eleusis was +strictly a part of Attica. The harbor of the Peiræus, for example, would +be quite useless if an enemy were watching it from Salamis. But we also +come to see the sense of the old legend, that Eleusis had originally a +separate king or government from that of Athens, and that the two cities +once carried on war against each other. The towns are but a few miles +apart; but their respective plains are so distinctly and completely +separated by the pass of Daphne, that not one acre of the territory of +Eleusis can be seen from Athens, nor of Athens from Eleusis. So also, +lastly, we come to feel how natural is the remark of Thucydides, that the +population of Athens, when the Lacedæmonians invaded Attica, and came no +farther than the Thriasian plain, did not feel the terrors of a hostile +invasion, as the enemy was not in sight; but when he crossed the pass, and +began to ravage Acharnæ and the vale of Kephissus, then indeed, though +Eleusis was just as near, and just as much their own, they felt the +reality of the invasion, and were for the first time deeply dejected. This +is a good example of that combined farness and nearness which is so +characteristic about most neighboring cities in Greece. + + [Illustration: Salamis from Across the Bay] + +The wretched modern village of Eleusis is picturesquely situated near the +sea, on the old site, and there are still to be seen the ruins, not only +of the famous temple of Demeter, but also of the Propylæa, built +apparently in imitation of that of Mnesicles on the Acropolis at Athens, +though the site of both temple and Propylæa are at Eleusis low, and in no +way striking. + +These celebrated ruins are wretchedly defaced. Not a column or a wall is +now standing, and we can see nothing but vast fragments of pillars and +capitals, and a great pavement, all of white marble, along which the +ancient wheel-tracks are distinctly visible. There are also underground +vaults of small dimensions, which, the people tell you, were intended for +the Mysteries. We that knew what vast crowds attended there would not give +credence to this ignorant guess; and indeed we knew from distinct evidence +that the great ceremony took place in a large building specially +constructed for the purpose. The necessary darkness was obtained by +performing the more solemn rites at night; not by going down beneath the +surface of the earth. + +The Greek _savants_ have at last laid open, and explained, the whole plan +of the temple, which was built by Ictinus, in Pericles’s time, but +apparently restored after a destructive fire by Roman architects copying +faithfully the ancient style. The excavators have shown that the shrine +had strange peculiarities. And this is exactly what we should expect. For +although no people adhered more closely to traditional forms in their +architecture, no people were more ready to modify these forms with a view +to practical requirements. Thus, as a rule, the cella, or inner chamber of +the temple, only contained the statue of the god, and was consequently +small and narrow. In the temple at Eleusis has been found a great inner +chamber about 59 yards by 54, hewn out of the rock in the rear of the +edifice, and capable of accommodating a large assembly.(79) Here then it +seems the initiated—probably those of the higher degree, _epoptæ_ as they +were called—witnessed those services “which brought them peace in this +world, and a blessed hope for the world to come.” + +The way into the temple was adorned with two Propylæa—one of the classical +period, and by Philo (311 B. C.), another set up by a Roman, App. Claudius +Pulcher, in 48 B. C., after you had passed through the former. The great +temple, raised upon a natural platform, looks out toward Salamis, and the +narrow line of azure which separates it from the land. Turning to the left +as you stand at the temple front, the eye wanders over the rich plain of +Eleusis, now dotted over with villages, and colored (in April) with the +rich brown of ploughing and the splendid green of sprouting wheat. This +plain had multiplied its wealth manifold since I first saw it, and led us +to hope that the peasants were waking up to the great market which is near +them at Athens. The track of the old sacred way along the Thriasian plain +is often visible, for much of the sea-coast is marshy, so the road was cut +out in many places along the spurs of the rocky hill of Daphne. The +present road goes between the curious salt-lakes (Rheitoi) and the +shore—salt-lakes full of sea-fish, and evidently fed by great natural +springs, for there is a perpetual strong outflow to the tideless sea. I +know not whether this natural curiosity has been explained by the learned. + +It is, of course, the celebrated Mysteries—the _Greater Eleusinia_, as +they were called—which give to the now wretched village of Eleusis, with +its hopeless ruins, so deep an interest. This wonderful feast, handed down +from the remotest antiquity, maintained its august splendor all through +the greater ages of Greek history, down to the times of decay and +trifling—when everything else in the country had become mean and +contemptible. Even Cicero, who was of the initiated himself, a man of wide +culture and of a skeptical turn of mind—even Cicero speaks of it as _the_ +great product of the culture of Athens. “Much that is excellent and +divine,” says he,(80) “does Athens seem to me to have produced and added +to our life, but nothing better than those Mysteries, by which we are +formed and moulded from a rude and savage life to humanity; and indeed in +the Mysteries we perceive the real principles of life, and learn not only +to live happily, but to die with a fairer hope.” These are the words of a +man writing, as I have said; in the days of the ruin and prostration of +Greece. Can we then wonder at the enthusiastic language of the Homeric +Hymn,(81) of Pindar,(82) of Sophocles,(83) of Aristophanes,(84) of +Plato,(85) of Isocrates,(86) of Chrysippus(87)? Every manner of +writer—religious poet, worldly poet, skeptical philosopher, orator—all are +of one mind about this, far the greatest of all the religious festivals of +Greece. + +To what did it owe this transcendent character? It was not because men +here worshipped exceptional gods, for the worship of Demeter and Cora was +an old and widely diffused cult all over Greece: and there were other +Eleusinia in various places. It was not because the ceremony consisted of +mysteries, of hidden acts and words, which it was impious to reveal, and +which the initiated alone might know. For the habit of secret worship was +practised in every state, where special clans were charged with the care +of special secret services, which no man else might know. Nay, even within +the ordinary homes of the Greeks there were these Mysteries. Neither was +it because of the splendor of the temple and its appointments, which never +equalled the Panathenæa at the Parthenon, or the riches of Delphi, or +Olympia. There is only one reasonable cause, and it is that upon which all +our serious authorities agree. The doctrine taught in the Mysteries was a +faith which revealed hopeful things about the world to come; and which—not +so much as a condition, but as a consequence, of this clearer light, this +higher faith—made them better citizens and better men. This faith was +taught them in the Mysteries through symbols,(88) through prayer and +fasting, through wild rejoicings; but, as Aristotle expressly tells us, it +was reached not by intellectual persuasion, but by a change into a new +moral state—in fact, by being spiritually revived. + +Here, then, we have the strangest and most striking analogy to our +religion in the Greek mythology; for here we have a higher faith publicly +taught,—any man might present himself to be initiated,—and taught, not in +opposition to the popular creed, but merely by deepening it, and showing +to the ordinary worldling its spiritual power. The belief in the Goddess +Demeter and her daughter, the queen of the nether world, was, as I have +said, common all over Greece; but even as nowadays we are told that there +may be two kinds of belief of the same truths—one of the head and another +of the heart—just as the most excellent man of the world, who believes all +the creeds of the Church, is called an unbeliever, in the higher sense, by +our Evangelical Christians; so the ordinary Greek, though he prayed and +offered at the Temple of Demeter, was held by the initiated at the +Mysteries to be wallowing in the mire of ignorance, and stumbling in the +night of gloom—he was held to live without real light, and to die without +hope, in wretched despair.(89) + + [Illustration: Temple of Mysteries, Eleusis] + +The very fact that it was not lawful to divulge the Mystery has prevented +the many writers who knew it from giving us any description by which we +might gain a clear idea of this wonderful rite. We have hints of various +sacred vessels, of various priests known by special technical names; of +dramatic representations of the rape of Cora, and of the grief of her +mother; of her complaints before Zeus, and the final reconciliation. We +hear of scenes of darkness and fear, in which the hopeless state of the +unbelievers was portrayed; of light and glory, to which the convert +attained, when at last his eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and +evil. + +But all these things are fragmentary glimpses, as are also the doctrines +hinted of the Unity of God, and of atonement by sacrifice. There remains +nothing clear and certain, but the unanimous verdict as to the greatness, +the majesty, and the awe of the services, and as to the great spiritual +knowledge and comfort which they conveyed. The consciousness of guilt was +not, indeed, first taught by them, but was felt generally, and felt very +keenly by the Greek mind. These Mysteries were its Gospel of +reconciliation with the offended gods. + + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + + FROM ATHENS TO THEBES—THE PASSES OF PARNES AND OF CITHÆRON, ELEUTHERÆ, + PLATÆA. + + +No ordinary student, looking at the map of Attica and Bœotia, can realize +the profound and complete separation between these two countries. Except +at the very northern extremity, where the fortified town of Oropus guarded +an easy boundary, all the frontier consists not merely of steep mountains, +but of parallel and intersecting ridges and gorges, which contain indeed a +few alpine valleys, such as that of Œnoe, but which are, as a rule, wild +and barren, easily defensible by a few against many, and totally unfit for +the site of any considerable town, or any advanced culture. As I before +stated, the traveller can pass through by Dekelea, or he can pass most +directly by Phyle, the fort which Thrasybulus seized when he desired to +reconquer Athens with his democratic exiles. The historians usually tell +us “that he seized _and fortified_ Phyle”; a statement which the present +aspect of it seems to render very doubtful indeed. It is quite impossible +that the great hill-fort of the very finest Attic building, which is still +remaining and admired by all, could have been “knocked up” by Thrasybulus +and his exiles. The careful construction and the enormous extent of the +building compel us to suppose it the work of a rich state, and of a +deliberate plan of fortification. It seems very unlikely, for these +reasons, that it was built after the days of Thrasybulus, or that so +important a point of attack should have been left unguarded in the greater +days of Athens. I am therefore convinced that the fort, being built long +before, and being, in fact, one of the well-known fortified demes through +Attica, had been to some extent dismantled, or allowed to fall into decay, +at the end of the Peloponnesian War, but that its solid structure made it +a matter of very little labor for the exiles to render it strong and +easily defensible. + +This is one of the numerous instances in which a single glance at the +locality sets right an historical statement that has eluded suspicion for +ages. The fort of Phyle, like that of Eleutheræ, of which I shall speak, +and like those of Messene and of Orchomenus, is built of square blocks of +stone, carefully cut, and laid together without a particle of rubble or +cement, but so well fitted as to be able to resist the wear of ages better +than almost any other building. I was informed by M. Émile Burnouf, that +in the case of a fort at Megara, which I did not see, there are even +polygonal blocks, of which the irregular and varying angles are fitted +with such precision that it is difficult, as in the case of the Parthenon, +to detect the joinings of the stones. The blocks are by no means so +colossal in these buildings as in the great ruins about Mycenæ; but the +fitting is closer, and the sites on which we find them very lofty, and +with precipitous ascents. This style of building is specially mentioned by +Thucydides (I. 93) as being employed in the building of the walls of the +Peiræus in the days of Themistocles, apparently in contrast to the rude +and hurried construction of the city walls. But he speaks of the great +stones being not only cut square, but fastened with clamps of iron +soldered with lead. I am not aware that any traces of this are found in +the remaining hill-forts. The walls of the Peiræus have, unfortunately, +long since almost totally disappeared. + +The way from Athens to Phyle leads north-west through the rich fields of +the old deme of Acharnæ; and we wonder at first why they should be so +noted as charcoal-burners. But as we approach Mount Parnes, we find that +the valley is bounded by tracts of hillside fit for nothing but pine +forest. A vast deal of wooding still remains; it is clear that these +forests were the largest and most convenient to supply Athens with +firewood or charcoal. As usual, there are many glens and river-courses +through the rugged country through which we ascend—here and there a +village, in one secluded nook a little monastery, hidden from the world, +if not from its cares. There is the usual Greek vegetation beside the +path; not perhaps luxuriant to our Northern eyes, but full of colors of +its own—the glowing anemone, the blood-red poppy, the delicate cistus on a +rocky surface, with foliage rather gray and silvery than green. The +pine-trees sound, as the breeze sweeps up the valleys, and lavish their +vigorous fragrance through the air. + +There is something inexpressibly bracing in this solitude, if solitude it +can be called, where the forest speaks to the eye and ear, and fills the +imagination with the mystery of its myriad forms. Now and then too the +peculiar cadence of those bells which hardly varies throughout all the +lands of the south, tells you that a flock of goats, or goat-like sheep, +is near, attended by solemn, silent children, whose eyes seem to have no +expression beyond that of vague wonder in their gaze. These are the flocks +of some village below, not those of the nomad Vlachs, who bring with them +their tents and dogs, and make gipsy encampments in the unoccupied +country. + +At last we see high over us the giant fort of Phyle—set upon a natural +precipice, which defends it amply for half its circuit. The point of +occupation was well chosen, for while within sight of Athens, and near +enough to afford a sure refuge to those who could escape by night and fly +to the mountain, its distance (some 15 miles) and the steep and rugged +ascent, made it impossible for weak and aged people to crowd into it and +mar the efficiency of its garrison. With the increase of his force +Thrasybulus began successful raids into the plain, then a rapid movement +to Peiræus; ultimately, as may be read in all histories, he accomplished +the liberation of his native city. + +We did not pass into Bœotia by the way of Phyle, preferring to take the +longer route through Eleusis. But no sooner had we left Eleusis than we +began to ascend into the rough country, which is the preface to the wild +mountain passes of Cithæron. It is, indeed, very difficult to find where +one range of mountains begins and another ends, anywhere throughout +Greece. There is generally one high peak, which marks a whole chain or +system of mountains, and after which the system is called; but all closer +specification seems lost, on account of the immense number of ridges and +points which crowd upon the view in all directions. Thus the chain of +Parnes, after throwing out a spur toward the south, which divides the +Athenian and the Thriasian plains, sweeps round the latter in a sort of +amphitheatre, and joins the system of Cithæron (Kitheron), which extends +almost parallel with Parnes. A simple look at a good map explains these +things by supplementing mere description. The only thing which must be +specially enforced is, that all the region where a plain is not expressly +named is made up of broken mountain ridges and rocky defiles, so that it +may fairly be called an alpine country. A fellow-traveller, who had just +been in Norway, was perpetually struck with its resemblance to the +Norwegian highlands. + +I will only mention one other fact which illustrates the consequent +isolation. We have a river Kephissus in the plain of Athens. As soon as we +cross the pass of Daphne we have another Kephissus in the Thriasian plain. +Within a day’s journey, or nearly so, we have another Kephissus, losing +itself in the lake Copais, not far from Orchomenus. This repetition of the +same name shows how little intercourse people have in the country, how +little they travel, and how there is no danger of confusing these +identical names. Such a fact, trifling as it is, illustrates very +powerfully the isolation which the Greek mountains produce. + +There is a good road from Athens to Thebes,—a very unusual thing in +Greece,—and we were able to drive with four horses, after a fashion which +would have seemed very splendid in old days. But, strange to say, the old +Greek fashion of driving four horses abreast, two being yoked to the pole, +and two outriggers, or _παράσειροι_, as they were called, has disappeared +from Greece, whereas it still survives in Southern Italy. On the other +hand the Greeks are more daring drivers than the Italians, being indeed +braver in all respects, and, when a road is to be had, a very fast pace is +generally kept up. + +As usual, the country was covered with brushwood, and with numbers of old +gnarled fir-trees, which bore everywhere upon their stems the great wounds +of the hatchet, made to extract the resin for the flavoring of wine. Rare +flocks of goats, with their peculiar, dull, tinkling bells—bells which +have the same make and tone all through Calabria, through Sicily, and +through Greece—were the only sign of human occupation or of population. +But when you look for houses, there is nothing in the shape of wall or +roof, save an occasional station, where, but a few years since, soldiers +were living, to keep the road safe from bandits. At last we came upon the +camp of some Vlach shepherds—a thing reminding one far more of a gipsy +camp than anything else—a few dark-brown skins falling over two upright +poles, so as to form a roof-shaped tent, of which the entrance looked so +absolutely black as to form quite a patch in the landscape. There is mere +room for lying in these tents by night; and, I suppose, in the summer +weather most of these wild shepherds will not condescend even to this +shelter.(90) + +After some hours’ drive we reached a grassy dell, shaded by large +plane-trees, where a lonely little public-house—if I may so call it—of +this construction invited us to stop for watering the horses, and +inspecting more closely the owner. There was the usual supply of such +places—red and white wine in small casks, excellent fresh water, and +_lucumia_, or Turkish delight. Not only had the owner his belt full of +knives and pistols, but there was hanging up in a sort of rack a most +picturesque collection of swords and guns—all made in Turkish fashion, +with ornamented handles and stocks, and looking as if they might be more +dangerous to the sportsman than to his game. While we were being served by +this wild-looking man, in this suspicious place—in fact, it looked like +the daily resort of bandits—his wife, a comely young woman, dressed in the +usual dull blue, red, and white, disappeared through the back way, and hid +herself among the trees. This fear of being seen by strangers—no doubt +caused by jealousy among men, and, possibly, by an Oriental tone in the +country—is a striking feature through most parts of Greece. It is said to +be a remnant of the Turkish influence, but seems to me to lie deeper, and +to be even an echo of the old Greek days. The same feeling is prevalent in +most parts of Sicily. In the towns there you seldom see ladies in the +streets; and in the evenings, except when the play-going public is +returning from the theatre, there are only men visible. + +After leaving this resting-place, about eleven in the morning, we did not +meet a village, or even a single house till we had crossed Cithæron, after +six in the evening, and descried the modern hamlet of Platæa on the slopes +to our left. But once or twice through the day a string of four or five +mules, with bright, richly striped rugs over their wooden saddles, and men +dressed still more brightly sitting lady-fashion on them, were threading +their way along the winding road. The tinkling of the mules’ bells and the +wild Turkish chants of the men were a welcome break in the uniform +stillness of the journey. The way becomes gradually wilder and steeper, +though often descending to cross a shady valley, which opens to the right +and left, in a long, narrow vista, and shows blue far-off hills of other +mountain chains. One of these valleys was pointed out to us as Œnoe, an +outlying deme of Attica, fortified in Periclean days, and which the +Peloponnesian army attacked, as Thucydides tells us, and failed to take, +on their invasion of Attica at the opening of the war. There are two or +three strong square towers in this valley, close to the road, but not the +least like any old Greek fort, and quite incapable of holding any +garrison. The site is utterly unsuitable, and there seemed no remains of +any walled town. + +These facts led me to reflect upon the narrative of Thucydides, who +evidently speaks of Œnoe as the border fort of Attica, and yet says not a +word about Eleutheræ, which is really the border, the great fort, and the +key to the passes of Cithæron. The first solution which suggests itself +is, that the modern Greeks have given the wrong names to these places, and +that by Œnoe Thucydides really means the place now known as Eleutheræ.(91) +Most decidedly, if the fort which is now there existed at the opening of +the Peloponnesian War, he cannot possibly have overlooked it in his +military history of the campaign. And yet it seems certain that we must +place the building of this fort at the epoch of Athens’s greatness, when +Attic influence was paramount in Bœotia, and when the Athenians could, at +their leisure, and without hindrance, construct this fort, which commands +the passes into Attica, before they diverge into various valleys, about +the region of the so-called Œnoe. + +For, starting from Thebes, the slope of Cithæron is a single unbroken +ascent up to the ridge, through which, nearly over the village of Platæa, +there is a cut that naturally indicates the pass. But when the traveller +has ascended from Thebes to this point he finds a steep descent into a +mountainous and broken region, where he must presently choose between a +gorge to the right or to the left, and must wander about zigzag among +mountains, so as to find his way toward Athens. And although I did not +examine all the passes accurately, it was perfectly obvious that, as soon +as the first defile was left behind, an invader could find various ways of +eluding the defenders of Attica, and penetrating into the Thriasian plain, +or, by Phyle, into that of Athens. Accordingly, the Athenians choose a +position of remarkable strength, just inside the last crowning ascent, +where all the ways converge to pass the crest of the mountain into Platæa. +Here a huge rock, interposing between the mountains on each side, strives, +as it were, to bar the path, which accordingly divides like a torrent bed, +and passes on either side, close under the walls of the fort which +occupies the top of the rock. From this point the summit of the pass is +about two or three miles distant, and easily visible, so that an outpost +there, commanding a view of the whole Theban plain, could signal any +approach to the fort with ample notice. + +The position of the fort at Phyle, above described, is very similar. It +lies within a mile of the top of the pass, on the Attic side, within sight +of Athens, and yet near enough to receive the scouts from the top, and +resist all sudden attack. No force could invade Attica without leaving a +large force to besiege it. + +Looking backward into Attica, the whole mountainous tract of Œnoe is +visible; and, though we cannot now tell the points actually selected, +there is no difficulty in finding several which could easily pass the +signal from Eleutheræ to Daphne, and thence to Athens. We know that fire +signals were commonly used among the Greeks, and we can here see an +instance where news could be telegraphed some thirty miles over a very +difficult country in a few moments. Meanwhile, as succors might be some +time in arriving, the fort was of such size and strength as to hold a +large garrison, and stop any army which could not afford to mask it, by +leaving there a considerable force.(92) + +The site was, of course, an old one, and the name Eleutheræ, if correctly +applied to this fort, points to a time when some mountain tribe maintained +its independence here against the governments on either side in the plain, +whence the place was called the “_Free_” place, or _Liberties_ (as we have +the term in Dublin). There is further evidence of this in a small +irregular fort which was erected almost in the centre of the larger and +later enclosure. This older fort is of polygonal masonry, very inferior to +the other, and has fallen into ruins, while the later walls and towers are +in many places perfect. The outer wall follows the nature of the position, +the principle being to find everywhere an abrupt descent from the +fortification, so that an assault must be very difficult. On the north +side, where the rock is precipitous, the wall runs along in a right line; +whereas on the south side, over the modern road, it dips down the hill, +and makes a semicircular sweep, so as to crown the steepest part of a +gentler ascent. Thus the whole enclosure is of a half-moon shape. But +while the straight wall is almost intact, the curved side has in many +places fallen to pieces. The building is the most perfect I have ever seen +of the kind, made of square hewn stones, evidently quarried on the rock +itself. The preserved wall is about 200 yards long, six and a half feet +wide, and apparently not more than ten or twelve feet high; but, at +intervals of twenty-five or thirty yards, there are seven towers twice as +deep as the wall, while the path along the battlement goes right through +them. Each tower has a doorway on the outside of it, and close beside this +there is also a doorway in the wall, somewhat larger. These doorways, made +by a huge lintel, about seven and a half feet long, laid over an aperture +in the building, with its edges very smoothly and carefully cut, are for +the most part absolutely perfect. As I could see no sign of doorposts or +bolts—a feature still noticeable in all temple gates—it is evident that +wooden doors and door-posts were fitted into these doorways—a dangerous +form of defence, were not the entrances strongly protected by the towers +close beside them and over them. There were staircases, leading from the +top of the wall outward, beside some of the towers. The whole fort is of +such a size as to hold not merely a garrison, but also the flocks and +herds of the neighboring shepherds, in case of a sudden and dangerous +invasion; and this, no doubt, was the primary intention of all the older +forts in Greece and elsewhere.(93) + +The day was, as usual, very hot and fine, and the hills were of that +beautiful purple blue which Sir F. Leighton so well reproduces in the +backgrounds of his Greek pictures; but a soft breeze brought occasional +clouds across the sun, and varied the landscape with deeper hues. Above us +on each side were the noble crags of Cithæron, with their gray rocks and +their gnarled fir-trees. Far below, a bright mountain stream was rushing +beside the pass into Attica; around us were the great walls of the old +Greeks, laid together with that symmetry, that beauty, and that strength +which marks all their work. The massive towers are now defending a barren +rock; the enclosure which had seen so many days of war and rapine was +lying open and deserted; the whole population was gone long centuries ago. +There is still _liberty_ there, and there is peace—but the liberty and the +peace of solitude. + +A short drive from Eleutheræ brought us to the top of the pass,(94) and we +suddenly came upon one of those views in Greece which, when we think of +them, leave us in doubt whether the instruction they give us, or the +delight, is the greater. The whole plain of Thebes, and, beyond the +intervening ridge, the plain of Orchomenus, with its shining lake, were +spread out before us. The sites of all the famous towns were easily +recognizable. Platæa only was straight beneath us, on the slopes of the +mountain, and as yet hidden by them. The plan of all Bœotia unfolded +itself with great distinctness—two considerable plains, separated by a low +ridge, and surrounded on all sides by chains of mountains. On the north +there are the rocky hills which hem in Lake Copais from the Eubœan strait, +and which nature had pierced before the days of history, aided by Minyan +engineers, whose _καταβόθρα_, as they were called, were tunnelled drains, +which drew water from thousands of acres of the richest land. On the east, +where we stood, was the gloomy Cithæron—the home of awful mythical crimes, +and of wild Bacchanalian orgies, the theme of many a splendid poem and +many a striking tragedy. To the south lay the pointed peaks of Helicon—a +mountain (or mountain chain) full of sweetness and light, with many silver +streams coursing down its sides to water the Bœotian plains, and with its +dells, the home of the Muses ever since they inspired the bard of +Ascra—the home, too, of Eros, who long after the reality of the faith had +decayed, was honored in Thespiæ by the crowds of visitors who went up to +see the famous statue of the god by Praxiteles. This Helicon separates +Bœotia from the southern sea, but does not close up completely with +Cithæron, leaving way for an army coming from the isthmus, where Leuctra +stood to guard the entrance. Over against us, on the west, lay, piled +against one another, the dark wild mountains of Phocis, with the giant +Parnassus raising its snow-clad shoulders above the rest. But, in the far +distance, the snowy Corax of Ætolia stood out in rivalry, and showed us +that Parnassus is but the advanced guard of the wild alpine country, which +even in Greece proved too rugged a nurse for culture. + +We made our descent at full gallop down the windings of the road—a most +risky drive; but the coachman was daring and impatient, and we felt, in +spite of the danger, that peculiar delight which accompanies the +excitement of going at headlong pace. We had previously an even more +perilous experience in coming down the steep and tortuous descent from the +Laurium mines to Ergasteria in the train, where the sharp turns were +apparently full of serious risk. Above our heads were wheeling great +vultures—huge birds, almost black, with lean, featherless heads—which +added to the wildness of the scene. After this rapid journey we came upon +the site of Platæa, marked by a modern village of the name, on our left, +and below us we saw the winding Asopus, and the great scene of one of the +most famous of all Greek battles—the battle of Platæa. This little town is +situated much higher up the mountain than I had thought, and a glance +showed us its invaluable position as an outpost of Athenian power toward +Bœotia. With the top of the pass within an hour’s walk, the Platæans +could, from their streets, see every movement over the Theban plain: they +could see an invasion from the south coming up by Leuctra; they could see +troops marching northward toward Tanagra and Œnophyta. They could even see +into the Theban Cadmea, which lay far below them, and then telegraph from +the top of the pass to Eleutheræ, and from thence to Athens. We can, +therefore, understand at once Platæa’s importance to Athens, and why the +Athenians built a strong fortified post on their very frontier, within +easy reach of it. + +All the site of the great battle is well marked and well known—the +fountain Gargaphia, the so-called island, and the Asopus, flowing lazily +in a deep-cut sedgy channel, in most places far too deep to ford. Over our +heads were still circling the great black vultures; but, as we neared the +plain, we flashed a large black-and-white eagle, which we had not seen in +Attica. There is some cultivation between Platæa and Thebes, but strangely +alternating with wilderness. We were told that the people have plenty of +spare land, and, not caring to labor for its artificial improvement, till +a piece of ground once, and then let it lie fallow for a season or two. +The natural richness of the Bœotian soil thus supplies them with ample +crops. But we wondered to think how impossible it seems even in these rich +and favored plains to induce a fuller population. + +The question of the depopulation of Greece is no new one—it is not due to +the Slav inroads—it is not due to Turkish misrule. As soon as the +political liberties of Greece vanished, so that the national talent found +no scope in local government—as soon as the riches of Asia were opened to +Greek enterprise—the population diminished with wonderful rapidity. All +the later Greek historians and travellers are agreed about the fact.(95) +“The whole of Greece could not put in the field,” says one, “as many +soldiers as came of old from a single city.” “Of all the famous cities of +Bœotia,” says another, “but two—Thespiæ and Tanagra—now remain.” The rest +are mostly described as ruins (_ἐρείπια_). No doubt, every young +enterprising fellow went off to Asia as a soldier or a merchant; and this +taste for emigrating has remained strong in the race till the present day, +when most of the business of Constantinople, of Smyrna, and of Alexandria +is in the hands of Greeks. But, in addition to this, the race itself seems +at a certain period to have become less prolific; and this, too, is a +remarkable feature lasting to our own time. In the several hospitable +houses in which I was entertained through the country I sought in vain for +children. The young married ladies had their mothers to keep them company, +and this was a common habit; the daughter does not willingly separate from +her mother. But, whether by curious coincidence or not, the absence of +children in these seven or eight houses was very remarkable. I have been +since assured that this was an accident, and that large families are very +common in Greece. The statistics show a considerable increase of +population of late years.(96) + +The evening saw us entering into Thebes—the town which, beyond all others, +retains the smallest vestiges of antiquity. Even the site of the Cadmea is +not easily distinguishable. Two or three hillocks in and about the town +are all equally insignificant, and all equally suitable, one should think, +for a fortress. The discovery of the old foundations of the walls has, +however, determined the matter, and settled the site to be that of the +highest part of the present town. Its strength, which was celebrated, must +have been due nearly altogether to artificial fortification, for though +the old city was in a deeper valley to the north-west, yet from the other +side there can never have been any ascent steep enough to be a natural +rampart. The old city was, no doubt, always more renowned for eating and +drinking than for art or architecture,(97) and its momentary supremacy +under Epaminondas was too busy and too short a season to be employed in +such pursuits. But, besides all this, and besides all the ruin of +Alexander’s fury, the place has been visited several times with the most +destructive earthquakes, from the last of which (in 1852) it had not +recovered when I first saw it. There were still through the streets houses +torn open, and walls shaken down; there were gaps made by ruins, and +half-restored shops. + +The antiquities of Thebes consist of a few inscribed slabs and fragments +which are (as usual) collected in a dark outhouse, where it is not easy to +make them out. I was not at the trouble of reading these inscriptions, for +in this department the antiquarians of the University of Athens are really +very zealous and competent, and I doubt whether any inscription now +discovered fails to come into the Greek papers within a few months. From +these they of course pass into the _Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum_, a +collection daily increasing, and periodically reedited. I may observe +that, not only for manners and customs, but even for history, these +undeniable and seldom suspicious sources are rapidly becoming our surest +and even fullest authority. + +In the opinion of the inhabitants, by far the most important thing about +the town is the tomb of their Evangelist S. Luke, which is situated in a +chapel close by. The stone is polished and worn with the feet and lips of +pilgrims, and all such homes of long devotion are in themselves +interesting; but the visitor may well wonder that the Evangelist should +have his tomb established in a place so absolutely decayed and depopulated +as was the region of Thebes, even in his day. The tombs of the early +preachers and missionaries are more likely to be in the thickest of +thoroughfares, amid the noise and strife of men. The Evangelist was +confused with a later local saint of the same name.(98) + +Thebes is remarkable for its excellent supply of water. Apart from the +fountain Dirke,(99) several other great springs rise in the higher ground +close to it, and are led by old Greek conduits of marble to the town. One +of these springs was large enough to allow us to bathe—a most refreshing +change after the long and hot carriage drive, especially in the ice-cold +water, as it came from its deep hiding-place. We returned at eight in the +evening to dine with our excellent host—a host provided for us by +telegraph from Athens—where we had ample opportunity of noticing some of +the peculiarities of modern Greek life. + +The general elections were at the moment pending. M. Boulgaris had just +_échoue_, as the French say; and the King, after a crisis in which a +rupture of the Constitution had been expected, decided to try a +constitutional experiment, and called to office M. Trikoupi, an advanced +Radical in those days, and strongly opposed to the Government. But M. +Trikoupi was a highly educated and reasonable man, well acquainted with +England and English politics, and apparently anxious to govern by strictly +constitutional means. He has since proved himself, by his able and +vigorous administration, one of the most remarkable statesmen in Europe, +and the main cause of the progress of his country. His recent defeat +(1890) is therefore to be regarded as a national misfortune. Our new +friend at Thebes was then the Radical candidate, and was at the very time +of our arrival canvassing his constituency. Every idle fellow in the town +seemed to think it his duty to come up into his drawing-room, in which we +were resting, and sit down to encourage him and advise him. No hint that +he was engaged in entertaining strangers had the smallest effect: noisy +politics was inflicted upon us till the welcome announcement of dinner, to +which, for a wonder, his constituents did not follow him. He told me that +though all the country was strongly in favor of M. Trikoupi, yet he could +hardly count upon a majority with certainty, for he had determined to let +the elections follow their own course, and not control them with soldiers. +In this most constitutional country, with its freedom, as usual, closely +imitated from England, soldiers stood, at least up to the summer of 1875, +round the booths, and hustled out any one who did not come to vote for the +Ministerial candidate. M. Trikoupi refused to take this traditional +precaution, and, as the result showed, lost his sure majority. + +But when I was there, and before the actual elections had taken place, the +Radical party were very confident. They were not only to come in +triumphant, but their first act was to be the prosecution of the late +Prime Minister, M. Boulgaris, for violating the Constitution, and his +condemnation to hard labor, with confiscation of his property. I used to +plead the poor man’s case earnestly with these hot-headed politicians, by +way of amusement, and was highly edified by their arguments. The ladies, +as usual, were by far the fiercest, and were ready, like their goddess of +old, to eat the raw flesh of their enemies. I used to ask them whether it +would not be quite out of taste if Mr. Disraeli, then in power, were to +prosecute Mr. Gladstone for violating the Constitution in his Irish Church +Act, and have him condemned to hard labor. The cases, they replied, were +quite different. No Englishman could ever attain, or even understand, the +rascality of the late Greek Minister. Feeling that there might be some +force in this argument, I changed ground, and asked them were they not +afraid that if he were persecuted in so violent a way he might, instead of +occupying the Opposition benches, betake himself to occupy the mountain +passes, and, by robbing a few English travellers, so discredit the new +Government as to be worse and more dangerous in opposition than in power. +No, they said, he will not do that; he is _too rich_. But, said I, if you +confiscate his property, he will be poor. True, they replied; but still he +will not be able to do it: he is _too old_. It seemed as if the idea that +he might be too respectable never crossed their minds.(100) What was my +surprise to hear within six months that this dreadful culprit had come +into power again at the head of a considerable majority! + +We were afterward informed by a sarcastic observer that many of the Greek +politicians are paupers, “who will not dig, and to beg they are ashamed;” +and so they sit about the _cafés_ of Athens on the look-out for one of the +10,000 places which have been devised for the patronage of the Ministry. +But, as there are some 30,000 expectants, it follows that the 20,000 +disappointed are always at work seeking to turn out the 10,000. Hence a +crisis every three months; hence a Greek ambassador could hardly reach his +destination before he was recalled; hence, too, the exodus of all thrifty +and hard-working men to Smyrna, to Alexandria, or to Manchester, where +their energies were not wasted in perpetual political squabbling. The +greatest misconduct with which a man in office could be charged was the +holding of it for any length of time; the whole public then join against +him, and cry out that it is high time for him, after so long an innings, +to make way for some one else. It was not till M. Trikoupi established his +ascendency that this ridiculous condition of things ceased. Whether in +office or in opposition, he has a policy, and retains the confidence of +foreign powers. I had added, in the first edition of this book, some +further observations on the apparent absurdity of introducing the British +Constitution, or some parody of it, into every new state which is rescued +from barbarism or from despotism. I am not the least disposed to retract +what I then said generally, but it is common justice to the Greeks to say +that later events are showing them to be among the few nations where such +an experiment may succeed. When the dangerous crisis of the Turco-Russian +war supervened, instead of rushing to arms, as they were advised by some +fanatical English politicians, they set about to reform their Ministry; +and, feeling the danger of perpetually changing the men at the helm, they +insisted on the heads of the four principal parties forming a coalition, +under the nominal leadership of M. Canaris.(101) This great political +move, one of the most remarkable of our day, was attempted, as far as I +can make out, owing to the deliberate pressure of the country, and from a +solid interest in its welfare. Even though temporary in the present case, +it was an earnest that the Greeks are learning national politics, and that +a liberal constitution is not wasted upon them. There are many far more +developed and important nations in Europe which would not be capable of +such a sacrifice of party interests and party ambition. + +We left Thebes, very glad that we had seen it, but not very curious to see +it again. Its site makes it obviously the natural capital of the rich +plain around it; and we can also see at once how the larger and richer +plain of Orchomenus is separated from it by a distinct saddle of rising +ground, and was naturally, in old times, the seat of a separate power. But +the separation between the two districts, which is not even so steep or +well marked as the easy pass of Daphne between Athens and Eleusis, makes +it also clear that the owners of either plain would certainly cast the eye +of desire upon the possessions of their neighbors, and so at an early +epoch Orchomenus was subdued. For many reasons this may have been a +disaster to Greece. The Minyæ of Orchomenus, as people called the old +nobles who settled there in prehistoric days, were a great and rich +society, building forts and treasure-houses, and celebrated, even in +Homer’s day, for wealth and splendor. + +But, perhaps owing to this very luxury, they were subdued by the +inartistic, vulgar Thebans, who, during centuries of power and importance, +never rose to greatness save through the transcendent genius of Pindar and +of Epaminondas. No real greatness ever attached to their town. When people +came from a distance to see art in Bœotia, they came to little Thespiæ, in +the southern hills, where the Eros of Praxiteles was the pride of the +citizens. Tanagra, too, in the terra cottas of which I have spoken (above, +p. 59), shows taste and refinement; and we still look with sympathy upon +the strangely modern fashions of these graceful and elegant figures. At +Thebes, so far as I know, no trace of fine arts has yet been discovered. +The great substructure of the Cadmea, the solid marble water-pipes of +their conduits, a few inscriptions—that is all. It corroborates what we +find in the middle and new comedy of the Greeks, that Thebes was a place +for eating and drinking, a place for other coarse material comforts—but no +place for real culture or for art. Even their great poet, Pindar, a poet +in whom most critics find all the highest qualities of genius—loftiness, +daring, originality—even this great man—no doubt from the accidents of his +age—worked by the job, and bargained for the payment of his noblest odes. + +Thus, even in Pindar, there is something to remind us of his Theban +vulgarity; and it is, therefore, all the more wonderful, and all the more +freely to be confessed, that in Epaminondas we find not a single flaw or +failing, and that he stands out as far the noblest of all the great men +whom Greece ever produced. It were possible to maintain that he was also +the greatest, but this is a matter of opinion and of argument. Certain it +is that his influence made Thebes, for the moment, not only the leader in +Greek politics, but the leader in Greek society. Those of his friends whom +we know seem not only patriots, but gentlemen—they cultivated with him +music and eloquence, nor did they despise philosophy. So true is it, that +in this wonderful peninsula genius seemed possible everywhere, and that +from the least cultivated and most vulgar town might arise a man to make +all the world about him admire and tremble. + +I will make but one more remark about this plain of Bœotia. There is no +part of Greece so sadly famed for all the battles with which its soil was +stained. The ancients called it Mars’s _Orchestra_, or exercising ground; +and even now, when all the old life is gone, and when not a hovel remains +to mark the site of once well-built towns, we may indeed ask, why were +these towns celebrated? Simply because in old Greek history their names +served to specify a scene of slaughter, where a campaign, or it may be an +empire, was lost or won, Platæa, Leuctra, Haliartus, Coronea, Chæronea, +Delium, Œnophyta, Tanagra—these are in history the landmarks of battles, +and, with one exception, landmarks of nothing more. Thebes is mainly the +nurse of the warriors who fought in these battles, and but little else. +So, then, we cannot compare Bœotia to the rich plains of Lombardy—they, +too, in their clay, ay, and in our own day, Mars’s Orchestra—for here +literature and art have given fame to cities, while the battles fought +around their walls have been forgotten by the world. + +I confess we saw nothing of the foggy atmosphere so often brought up +against the climate of Bœotia. And yet it was then, of course, more foggy +than it had been of old, for then the lake Copais was drained, whereas in +1875 the old tunnels, cut, or rather enlarged, by the Minyæ, were choked, +and thousands of acres of the richest land covered with marsh and lake. It +was M. Trikoupi who promoted the plan of a French Company to drain the +lake more completely than even the old _Catabothra_ had done, and, at the +cost of less than one million sterling, to bring into permanent +cultivation some thousands of acres—in fact, the largest and richest plain +in all Greece. I asked him where he meant to find a population to till it, +seeing that the present land was about ten times more than sufficient for +the inhabitants. He told me that some Greek colonists, who had settled in +the north, under the Turks or Servians (I forget which), were desirous of +returning to enjoy the sweets of Hellenic liberty. It was proposed to give +them the reclaimed tract. If these good people will reason from analogy, +they will be slow to trust their fortunes to their old fellow-countrymen. +So long as they are indigent they will be unmolested—_cantabit vacuus +coram latrone viator_—but as soon as they prosper, or are supposed to +prosper, we might have the affair of Laurium repeated. The natives might +be up in arms against the strangers who had come to plunder the land of +the wealth intended by nature for others. The Greek Parliament might be +persuaded to make retrospective laws and restrictions, and probably all +the more active and impatient spirits would leave a country where +prosperity implied persecution, and where people only awake to the value +of their possessions after they have sold them to others. + +What is now happening illustrates the views which I long since proposed. +When the drainage works, completed in 1887, had uncovered rich tracts, the +Government laid claim to every acre of it, and endeavored to fence off the +old riparian proprietors. They on their side disputed the new boundaries, +and claimed what the Government professed to have uncovered. Hence no sale +to new owners is as yet possible. The dispute is still (1891) unsettled. + +I think jealousy no accidental feature, but one specially engrained in the +texture of Greek nature from the earliest times. Nothing can be a more +striking or cogent proof of this than the way in which Herodotus sets down +jealousy as one of the attributes of the Deity. For the Deities of all +nations being conceptions formed after the analogy of human nature around +them, there can be no doubt that the honest historian put it down as a +necessary factor in the course and constitution of nature. We can only +understand Greek history by keeping these things perpetually in mind, and +even now it explains the apparent anomaly, how a nation so essentially +democratic—who recognize no nobility and no distinctions of rank—can be +satisfied with a king of foreign race. They told me themselves, over and +over again, that the simple reason was this: no Greek could tolerate +another set over him, so that even such an office as President of a Greek +Republic would be intolerable, if held by one of themselves. And this same +feeling in old times is the real reason of the deadly hate manifested +against the most moderate and humane despots. However able, however +kindly, however great such a despot might be; however the state might +prosper under him, one thing in him was intolerable—he had no natural +right to be superior to his fellows, and yet he was superior. I will not +deny the existence of political enthusiasm, and of real patriotism among +Greek tyrannicides, but I am quite sure that the universal sympathy of the +nation with them was partly based upon this deep-seated feeling. + +It is said that, in another curious respect, the old and modern Greeks are +very similar—I mean the form which bribery takes in their political +struggles. It has been already observed and discussed by Mr. Freeman, how, +among the old Greeks, it was the politician who was bribed, and not the +constituents; whereas among us in England the leading politicians are +above suspicion, while the constituents are often corruptible enough. Our +Theban friend told me that in modern Greece the ancient form of bribery +was still in fashion; and that, except in Hydra and one other +place—probably, if I remember rightly, Athens—the bribing of constituents +was unknown; while the taking of bribes by Ministers was alleged not to be +very uncommon. A few years ago, men of sufficient importance to be Cabinet +Ministers were openly brought into court, and indicted for the sale of +three archbishoprics, those of Patras and Corinth among the number. There +is no doubt that this public charge points to a sort of bribery likely to +take place in any real democracy, when the men at the head of affairs are +not men of great wealth and noble birth, but often ordinary, or even needy +persons, selected by ballot, or popular vote, to fill for a very short +time a very influential office. + + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + + THE PLAIN OF ORCHOMENUS, LIVÁDIA, CHÆRONEA. + + +The road from Thebes to Lebadea (Livádia) leads along the foot of Helicon +all the way—Helicon, which, like all celebrated Greek mountains, is not a +summit, but a system of summits, or even a chain. Looking in the morning +from the plain, the contrast of the dark Cithæron and the gentle sunny +Helicon strikes the traveller again and again. After the ridge, or saddle, +is passed which separates the plain of Thebes from that of Orchomenus, the +richness of the soil increases, but the land becomes very swampy and low, +for at every half-mile comes a clear silver river, tumbling from the +slopes of Helicon on our left, crossing the road, and flowing to swell the +waters of Lake Copais—a vast sheet with undefined edges, half-marsh, +half-lake—which for centuries had no outlet to the sea, and which was only +kept from covering all the plain by evaporation in the heats of summer. +Great fields of sedge and rushes, giant reeds, and marsh plants unknown in +colder countries, mark each river course as it nears the lake; and, as +might be expected in this lonely fen country, all manner of insect life +and all manner of amphibia haunt the sites of ancient culture. Innumerable +dragon-flies, of the most brilliant colors, were flitting about the reeds, +and lighting on the rich blades of grass which lay on the water’s surface; +and now and then a daring frog would charge boldly at so great a prize, +but retire again in fear when the fierce insect dashed against him in its +impetuous start. Large land tortoises, with their high-arched shells, +yellow and brown, and patterned like the section of a great honeycomb, +went lazily along the moist banks, and close by the water, which they +could not bear to touch. Their aquatic cousins, on the other hand, were +not solitary in habit, but lay in lines along the sun-baked mud, and at +the first approach of danger dropped into the water one after the other +with successive flops, looking for all the world a long row of smooth +black pebbles which had suddenly come to life, like old Deucalion’s clods, +that they might people this solitude. The sleepy and unmeaning faces of +these tortoises were a great contrast to those of the water-snakes, which +were very like them in form, but wonderfully keen and lively in +expression. They, too, would glide into the water when so strange a thing +as man came near, but would presently raise their heads above the surface, +and eye with wonder and suspicion, and in perfect stillness, the approach +of their natural enemy. The Copaic eels, so celebrated in the Attic comedy +as the greatest of all dainties, are also still to be caught; but the +bright sun and cloudless sky made vain all my attempts to lure this famous +darling of Greek epicures. We noticed that while the shrill cicada, which +frequents dry places, was not common here, great emerald-green +grasshoppers were flying about spasmodically, with a sound and weight like +that of a small bird. + +As we passed along, we were shown the sites of Haliartus and +Coronea—Haliartus, where the cruel Lysander met his death in a skirmish, +and so gave a place in history to an obscure village—Coronea, where the +Spartans first learned to taste the temper of the Theban infantry, and +where King Agesilaus well-nigh preceded his great rival to the funeral +pyre. As I said before, all these towns are only known by battles. Thespiæ +has an independent interest, and so has Ascra. The latter was the +residence of the earliest known Greek poet of whose personality we can be +sure; Thespiæ, with its highly aristocratic society, which would not let a +shopkeeper walk their place of assembly for ten years after he had retired +from business, was the site of fair temples and statues, and held its +place and fame long after all the rest of the surrounding cities had sunk +into decay. There are indistinct remains of surrounding walls about both +Haliartus and Coronea, but surely nothing that would repay the labor of +excavations. All these Bœotian towns were, of course, fortified, and all +of them lay close to the hills; for the swampy plain was unhealthy, and in +older days the rising lake was said to have swallowed up towns which had +been built close upon its margin. But the supremacy of Orchomenus in +older, and Thebes in later days, never allowed these subject towns to +attain any importance or any political significance. + +After some hours’ riding, we suddenly came upon a deep vista in the +mountains on our left—such another vista as there is behind Coronea, but +narrower, and inclosed on both sides with great and steep mountains. And +here we found the cause of the cultivation of the upper plain—here was the +town of Lebadea (Livádia), famed of old for the august oracle of +Trophonius—in later days the Turkish capital of the province surrounding. +To this the roads of all the neighborhood converge, and from this a small +force can easily command the deep gorges and high mountain passes which +lead through Delphi to the port of Kirrha. Even now there is more life in +Livádia than in most Greek towns. All the wool of the country is brought +in and sold there, and, with the aid of their great water power, they have +a considerable factory, where the wool is spun and woven into stuff. A +large and beautifully clear river comes down the gorge above the town—or +rather the gorge in which the town lies—and tumbles in great falls between +the streets and under the houses, which have wooden balconies, like Swiss +châlets, built over the stream. The whole aspect of the town was not +unlike a Swiss town; indeed, all the features of the upland country are +ever reminding the traveller of his Swiss experience. + +But the people are widely different. It was a great saint’s day, and all +the streets were crowded with people from many miles round. As we noted in +all Greek towns, except Arachova, the women were not to be seen in any +numbers. They do not walk about the streets except for some special +ceremony or amusement. But no women’s costume is required to lend +brightness to the coloring of the scene; for here every man had his +_fustanella_ or kilt of dazzling white, his gray or puce embroidered +waistcoat, his great white sleeves, and his scarlet skull-cap, with its +blue tassel. Nothing can be imagined brighter than a dense crowd in this +dress. They were all much excited at the arrival of strangers, and crowded +around us without the least idea or care about being thought obtrusive. +The simple Greek peasant thinks it his right to make aloud what +observations he chooses upon any stranger, and has not the smallest idea +of the politeness of reticence on such occasions. + +We were received most hospitably by the medical officer of the district, +who had an amiable young wife, speaking Greek only, and a lively old +mother-in-law, living, as usual, permanently in the house, to prevent the +young lady from being lonely. Like all the richer Greeks in country parts, +they ate nothing till twelve, when they had a sort of early dinner called +breakfast, and then dined again at half-past eight in the evening. This +arrangement gave us more than enough time to look about the town when our +day’s ride was over; so we went, first of all, to see the site of +Trophonius’s oracle. + +As the gorge becomes narrower, there is, on the right side, a small cave, +from which a sacred stream flows to join the larger river. Here numerous +square panels cut into the rock to hold votive tablets, now gone, indicate +a sacred place, to which pilgrims came to offer prayers for aid, and +thanksgiving for success. The actual seat of the oracle is not certain, +and is supposed to be some cave or aperture now covered by the Turkish +fort on the rock immediately above; but the whole glen, with its beetling +sides, its rushing river, and its cavernous vaulting, seems the very home +and preserve of superstition. We followed the windings of the defile, +jumping from rock to rock up the river bed, and were soon able to bathe +beyond the observation of all the crowding boys, who, like the boys of any +other town, could not satisfy their curiosity at strangeness of face and +costume. As we went on for some miles, the country began to open, and to +show us a bleak and solitary mountain region, where the chains of Helicon +and Parnassus join, and shut out the sea of Corinth from Bœotia by a great +bar some thirty miles wide. Not a sound could be heard in this wild +loneliness, save the metallic pipe of a water ouzel by the river, and the +scream of hawks about their nests, far up on the face of the cliffs. + +As the evening was closing in we began to retrace our steps, when we saw +in two or three places scarlet caps over the rocks, and swarthy faces +peering down upon us with signs and shouts. Though nothing could have been +more suspicious in such a country, I cannot say that we felt the least +uneasiness, and we continued our way without regarding them. They kept +watching us from the heights, and when at last we descended nearer to the +town, they came and made signs, and spoke very new Greek, to the effect +that they had been out scouring the country for us, and that they had been +very uneasy about our safety. This was indeed the case; our excellent +Greek companion, who felt responsible to the Greek Government for our +safety, and who had stayed behind in Livádia to make arrangements, had +become so uneasy that he had sent out the police to scour the country. So +we were brought in with triumph by a large escort of idlers and officials, +and presently sat down to dinner at the fashionable hour, though in +anything but fashionable dress. The entertainment would have been as +excellent as even the intentions of our host, had not our attention been +foolishly distracted by bugs walking up the table-cloth. It is, indeed, +but a small and ignoble insect, yet it produces a wonderful effect upon +the mind; for it inspires the most ordinary man with the gift of prophecy: +it carries him away even from the pleasures of a fair repast into the +hours of night and mystery, when all his wisdom and all his might will not +save him from the persistent skirmishing of his irreconcilable foe. + +It may be here worth giving a word of encouragement to the sensitive +student whom these hints are apt to deter from venturing into the wilds of +Greece. In spite of frequent starvation, both for want of food and for +want of eatable food; in spite of frequent sleeplessness and even severe +exercise at night, owing to the excess of insect population;(102) such is +the lightness and clearness of the air, such the exhilarating effect of +great natural beauty, and of solitary wandering, free and unshackled, +across the wild tracts of valley, wood, and mountain, that fatigue is an +almost impossible feeling. Eight or ten hours’ riding every day, which in +other country and other air would have been almost unendurable, was here +but the natural exercise which any ordinary man may conveniently take. It +cannot be denied that the discomforts of Greek travelling are very great, +but with good temper and patience they can all be borne; and when they are +over they form a pleasant feature in the recollections of a glorious time. +Besides, these discomforts are only the really classical mode of +travelling. Dionysus, in Aristophanes’s _Frogs_, asks, especially about +the inns, the very questions which we often put to our guide; and if his +slave carried for him not only ordinary baggage, but also his bed and +bedding, so nowadays there are many khans (inns) where the traveller +cannot lie down—I was going to say to rest—except on his own rugs. + +The next day was occupied in a tour across the plain to Orchomenus, then +to Chæronea, and back to Livádia in the evening, so as to start from +thence for the passes to Delphi. Our ride was, as it were, round an +isosceles triangle, beginning with the right base angle, going to +Orchomenus north-east as the vertex, then to Chæronea at the left base +angle, and home again over the high spurs of mountain which protrude into +the plain between the two base angles of our triangle. For about a mile, +as we rode out of Livádia, a wretched road of little rough paving-stones +tormented us—the remains of Turkish engineering, when Livádia was their +capital. Patches of this work are still to be found in curious isolation +over the mountains, to the great distress of both mules and riders; for +the stones are very small and pointed, or, where they have been worn +smooth, exceedingly slippery. But we soon got away into deep rich meadows +upon the low level of the country adjoining the lake, where we found again +the same infinitely various insect life which I have already described. A +bright merry Greek boy, in full dress (for it was again a holiday), +followed in attendance on each mule or pony, and nothing could be more +picturesque than the cavalcade, going in Indian file through the long +grass, among the gay wild flowers, especially when some creek or rivulet +made our course to wind about, and so brought the long line of figures +into more varied grouping. As for the weather, it was so uniformly +splendid that we almost forgot to notice it. Indeed, strangers justly +remark what large conversation it affords us in Ireland, for there it is a +matter of constant uncertainty, and requires forethought and conjecture. +During my first journey in Greece, in the months of April, May, and June, +there was nothing to be said, except that we saw one heavy shower at +Athens, and two hours’ rain in Arcadia, and that the temperature was not +excessively hot. I have had similar experiences in March and April during +three other sojourns in the country. + +In two or three hours we arrived at the site of old Orchomenus, of late +called Scripou, but now reverting, like all Greek towns, to its original +name. There is a mere hamlet, some dozen houses, at the place, which is +close to the stone bridge built over the Kephissus—the Bœotian +Kephissus—at this place. This river appears to be the main feeder of the +Copaic lake, coming down, as we saw it, muddy and cold with snow-water +from the heights of Parnassus. It runs very rapidly, like the Iser at +Munich, and is at Orchomenus about double the size of that river. Of the +so-called treasure-house of the Minyæ, nothing remains but the stone +doorposts and the huge block lying across them; and even these are almost +imbedded in earth. It was the most disappointing ruin I had seen in +Greece, for it is always quoted with the treasure-house of Atreus at +Mycenæ as one of the great specimens of prehistoric building. It is not so +interesting in any sense as the corresponding raths in Ireland. Indeed, +but for Pausanias’s description, it would, I think, have excited but +little attention. + +The subsequent excavation of it by Dr. Schliemann yielded but poor +results. The building had fallen in but a few years ago. A handsome +ceiling pattern, to which a curious parallel was afterward found at +Tiryns, and some pottery, was all that rewarded the explorer. + +On the hill above are the well-preserved remains of the small Acropolis, +of which the stones are so carefully cut that it looks at first sight +modern, then too good for modern work, but in no case polygonal, as are +the walls of the hill city which it protected. There is a remarkable tower +built on the highest point of the hill, with a very perfect staircase up +to it. The whole of the work is very like the work of Eleutheræ, and seems +to be of the best period of Greek wall-building. Nothing surprises the +traveller in Greece more than the number of these splendid hill-forts, or +town-fortresses, which are never noticed by the historians as anything +remarkable—in fact, the art and the habit of fortifying must have been so +universal that it excited no comment. This strikes us all the more when so +reticent a writer as Thucydides, who seldom gives us anything but war or +politics, goes out of his way to describe the wall-building of the +Peiræus. He evidently contrasts it with the hurried and irregular +construction of the city walls, into which even tombstones were built; but +if we did not study the remains still common in Greece, we might imagine +that the use of square hewn stones, the absence of mortar and rubble, and +the clamping with lead and iron were exceptional, whereas that sort of +building is the most usual sort in Greece. The walls of the Peiræus cannot +even have been the earliest specimen, for the great portal at Mycenæ, +though somewhat rougher and more huge in execution, is on the same +principle. The only peculiarity of these walls may have been their height +and width, and upon that point it is not easy to get any monumental +evidence now. The walls of the Peiræus have disappeared completely, though +the foundations are still traceable; others have stood, but perhaps on +account of their lesser height. + +In a large and hospitable monastery we found the well which Pausanias +describes as close beside the shrine of the Graces, and here we partook of +breakfast, attended by our muleteers, who always accompany their employer +into the reception-room of his host, and look on at meat, ready to attend, +and always joining if possible in the conversation at table. Some +excellent specimens of old Greek pottery were shown us in the monastery, +apparently, though not ostensibly, for sale, there being a law prohibiting +the sale of antiquities to foreigners, or for exportation. In their chapel +the monks pointed out to us some fragments of marble pillars, and one or +two inscriptions—in which I was since informed that I might have found a +real live digamma, if I had carefully examined them. The digamma is now +common enough at Olympia and elsewhere. I saw it best, along with the +_koph_, which is, I suppose, much rarer, in the splendid bronze plates +containing Locrian inscriptions, which are in the possession of Mr. +Taylor’s heirs at Corfu. These plates have been ably commented on, with +facsimile drawings of the inscriptions, by a Greek writer, G. N. Ecnomides +(Corfu, 1850, and Athens, 1869). + +It was on our way up the valley to Chæronea, along the rapid stream of the +Kephissus, that we came, in a little deserted church, upon one of the most +remarkable extant specimens of a peculiar epoch in Greek art. As usual, it +was set up in the dark, and we were repeatedly obliged to entreat the +natives to clear the door, through which alone we could obtain any light +to see the work. It is a funeral _stele_, not unlike the celebrated +_stele_ and its relief at Athens, which is inscribed as the _stele_ of +Aristion, and dates from the time of the Persian wars. The work before us +was inscribed as the work of Anxenor the Naxian—an artist otherwise +unknown to us; but the style and finish are very remarkable, and more +perfect than the _stele_ of Aristion. It is a relief carved on an upright +slab of gray Bœotian marble—I should say about four feet in height—and +representing a bearded man wrapped in a cloak, resting on a long stick +propped under his arm,(103) with his legs awkwardly crossed, and offering +a large grasshopper to a dog sitting before him. The hair and beard are +conventionally curled, the whole effect being very like an Assyrian +relief; but this is the case with all the older Greek sculpture, which may +have started in Ionia by an impulse from the far east. The occurrence of +the dog, a feature which strikes us frequently in the later Attic tombs, +supports what I had long since inferred from stray hints in Greek +literature, that dogs among the old Greeks, as well as the modern, were +held in the highest esteem as the friends and companions of man. This +curious monument of early Greek art was lying hidden in an obscure and +out-of-the-way corner of Greece; isolated, too, and with little of +antiquarian interest in its immediate neighborhood.(104) On my second +visit (1884), I found a cast of it in the Ministry of Public Instruction +at Athens. On my third I found the original removed to a prominent place +in the National Museum at Athens, where the traveller may now study it at +his ease. + +The great value of these reliefs consists (apart from their artistic +value) in their undoubted genuineness. For we know that in later days, +both in Greece and Italy, a sort of pre-Raphaelite taste sprang up among +amateurs, who admired and preferred the stiff awkward groping after nature +to the symmetry and grace of perfect art. Pausanias, for example, speaks +with enthusiasm of these antique statues and carvings, and generally +mentions them first, as of most importance. Thus, after describing various +archaic works on the Acropolis of Athens, he adds, “But whoever places +works made with artistic skill before those which come under the +designation of archaic, may, if he likes, admire the following.”(105) As a +natural result, a fashion came in of imitating them, and we have, +especially in Italy, many statues in this style which seem certainly to be +modern imitations, and not even Greek copies of old Greek originals. But +these imitations are so well done, and so equalized by lapse of centuries +with the real antiques, that though there are scholars who profess to +distinguish infallibly the _archaistic_, as they call it, from the +archaic, it is sometimes a very difficult task, and about many of them +there is doubt and debate. + +But here at Orchomenus—a country which was so decayed as to lose almost +all its population two centuries before Christ, where no amateurs of art +would stay, and where Plutarch was, as it were, the last remains in his +town of literature and respectability—here there is no danger whatever of +finding this spurious work; and thus here, as indeed all through Greece, +archaic work is thoroughly trustworthy. But the unfortunate law of the +land not often violated, as in this case—which insists upon all these +relics, however isolated, being kept in their place of finding—is the +mightiest obstacle to the study of this interesting phase of culture, and +we must await the completion of the Hellenic Society’s gallery of +photographs, from which we can make reliable observations. The Greeks will +tell you that the preservation of antiquities in their original place, +first of all, gives the inhabitants an interest in them, which might be +true but that there are very often no inhabitants: and next, that it +encourages travelling in the country. This also is true; but surely the +making of decent roads, and the establishing of decent inns, and easy +communications, would do infinitely more, and are indeed necessary, before +the second stimulus can have its effect. + +Not far from this little church and its famous relief, we came in sight of +the Acropolis (called Petrachus) of Chæronea, and soon arrived at the +town, so celebrated through all antiquity, in spite of its moderate size. +The fort on the rock is, indeed, very large—perhaps the largest we saw in +Greece, with the exception of that at Corinth; and, as usual in these +buildings, follows the steepest escarpments, raising the natural precipice +by a coping of beautifully hewn and fitted square stones. The artificial +wall is now not more than four or five feet high; but even so, there are +only two or three places where it is at all easy to enter the inclosure, +which is fully a mile of straggling outline on the rock. The view from +this fort is very interesting. Commanding all the plain of the lake +Copais, it also gives a view of the sides of Parnassus, and of the passes +into Phocis, which cannot be seen till the traveller reaches this point. +Above all, it looks out upon the gap of Elatea, about ten miles +north-west, through which the eye catches glimpses of secluded valleys in +northern Phocis. + +This gap is, indeed, the true key of this side of Bœotia, and is no mere +mountain pass, but a narrow plain, perhaps a mile wide, which must have +afforded an easy transit for an army. But the mountains on both sides are +tolerably steep, and so it was necessary to have a fortified town, as +Elatea was, to keep the command of the place. As we gazed through the +narrow plain, the famous passage of Demosthenes came home to us, which +begins: “It was evening, and the news came in that Philip had seized, and +was fortifying Elatea.” The nearest point of observation or of control was +the rock of Chæronea, and we may say with certainty that it was from here +the first breathless messenger set out with the terrible news for Thebes +and Athens. This, too, was evidently the pass through which Agesilaus came +on his return from Asia, and on his way to Coronea, where his great battle +was fought, close by the older trophy of the Theban victory over +Tolmides.(106) + +Having surveyed the view, and fatigued ourselves greatly by our climb in +the summer heat, we descended to the old theatre, cut into the rock where +it ascends from the village—the smallest and steepest Greek theatre I had +ever seen. Open-air buildings always look small for their size, but most +of those erected by the Greeks and Romans were so large that nothing could +dwarf them. Even the theatre of such a town as Taormina in Sicily—which +can never have been populous—is, in addition to its enchanting site, a +very majestic structure; I will not speak of the immense theatres of +Megalopolis and of Syracuse. But this little place at Chæronea, so steep +that the spectators sat immediately over one another, looked almost +amusing when cut in the solid rock, after the manner of its enormous +brethren. The guide-book says it is one of the most ancient theatres in +Greece—why, I know not. It seems to me rather to have been made when the +population was diminishing; and any rudeness which it shows arises more +from economy, than want of experience. + +But, small as it is, there are few more interesting places than the only +spot in Chæronea where we can say with certainty that here Plutarch sat—a +man who, living in an age of decadence, and in a country village of no +importance, has, nevertheless, as much as any of his countrymen, made his +genius felt over all the world. Apart from the great stores of history +brought together in his _Lives_, which, indeed, are frequently our only +source for the inner life and spirit of the greatest Greeks of the +greatest epochs—the moral effect of these splendid biographies, both on +poets and politicians through Europe, can hardly be overrated. From +Shakespeare and Alfieri to the wild savages of the French Revolution, all +kinds of patriots and eager spirits have been fascinated and excited by +these wonderful portraits. Alfieri even speaks of them as the great +discovery of his life, which he read with tears and with rage. There is no +writer of the Silver Age who gives us anything like so much valuable +information about early authors, and their general character. More +especially the inner history of Athens in her best days, the personal +features of Pericles, Cimon, Alcibiades, Nicias, as well as of +Themistocles and of Aristides, would be completely, or almost completely, +lost, if this often despised but invaluable man had not written for our +learning. And he is still more essentially a good man—a man better and +purer than most Greeks—another Herodotus in fairness and in honesty. A +poor man reputed by his neighbors “a terrible historian,” remarked to a +friend of mine, who used to lend him Scott’s novels, “that Scott was a +great historian,” and being asked his reason, replied, “He makes you to +love your kind.” There is a deep significance in this vague utterance, in +which it may be eminently applied to Plutarch. “Here in Chæronea,” says +Pausanias, “they prepare unguents from the flowers of the lily and the +rose, the narcissus and the iris. These are balm for the pains of men. +Nay, that which is made of roses, if old wooden images are anointed with +it, saves them, too, from decay.” He little knew how eternally true his +words would be, for though the rose and the iris grow wild and neglected +and yield not now their perfume to soothe the ills of men, yet from +Chæronea comes the eternal balm of Plutarch’s wisdom, to sustain the +oppressed, to strengthen the patriot, to purify with nobler pity and +terror the dross of human meanness. Nay, even the crumbling images of his +gods arrest their decay by the spirit of his morals, and revive their +beauty in the sweetness of his simple faith. + +There is a rich supply of water, bursting from a beautiful old Greek +fountain, near the theatre—indeed, the water supply all over this country +is excellent. There is also an old marble throne in the church, about +which they have many legends, but no history. The costume of the girls, +whom we saw working in small irrigated plots near the houses, was +beautiful beyond that in other Greek towns. They wore splendid necklaces +of gold and silver coins, which lay like corselets of chain mail on the +neck and breast; and the dull but rich embroidery of wool on their aprons +and bodices was quite beyond what we could describe, but not beyond our +highest appreciation. + +As the day was waning, we were obliged to leave this most interesting +place, and set off again on our ride home to Lebadea. We had not gone a +mile from the town when we came upon the most pathetic and striking of all +the remains in that country—the famous lion of Chæronea, which the Thebans +set up to their countrymen who had fallen in the great battle against +Philip of Macedon, in the year 338 B. C. We had been looking out for this +monument, and on our way to Chæronea, seeing a lofty mound in the plain, +rode up to it eagerly, hoping to find the lion. But we were disappointed, +and were told that the history of this larger mound was completely +unknown. It evidently commemorates some battle, and is a mound over the +dead, but whether those slain by Sylla, or those with Tolmides, or those +of some far older conflict, no man can say. It seems, however, perfectly +undisturbed, and grown about with deep weeds and brushwood, so that a +hardy excavator might find it worth opening, and, perhaps, coins might +tell us of its age. + +The mound where we found the lion was much humbler and smaller; in fact, +hardly a mound at all, but a rising knoll, with its centre hollowed out, +and in the hollow the broken pieces of the famous lion. It had sunk, we +are told, into its mound of earth, originally intended to raise it above +the road beside, and lay there in perfect safety till the present century, +when four English travellers claim to have discovered it (June 3, 1818). +They tried to get it removed, and, failing in their efforts, covered up +the pieces carefully.(107) Since that time they seem to have lain +undisturbed, and are still in such a state that a few days’ labor, and a +few pounds of expense, would restore the work. It is of bluish-gray +stone—they call it Bœotian marble or limestone—and is a work of the +highest and purest merit. The lion is of that Asiatic type which has +little or no mane, and seemed to us couchant or sitting in attitude, with +the head not lowered to the forepaws, but thrown up.(108) The expression +of the face is ideally perfect—rage, grief, and shame are expressed in it, +together with that noble calmness and moderation which characterize all +good Greek art. The object of the monument is quite plain, without reading +the affecting, though simple, notice of Pausanias: “On the approach to the +city,” says he, “is the tomb of the Bœotians who fell in the battle with +Philip. It has no inscription; but the image of a lion is placed upon it +as an emblem of the spirit of these men. The inscription has been +omitted—I suppose, because the gods had willed that their fortune should +not be equal to their valor.” So, then, we have here, in what may fairly +be called a _dated_ record, one of the finest specimens of the sepulchral +monuments of the best age of Greece. It is very much to be regretted that +this splendid figure is not put together and photographed. Nothing would +be more instructive than a comparison with the finest of modern +monuments—Thorwaldsen’s Lion at Lucerne—the work, too, of the only modern +sculptor who can for one moment be ranked beside the ancient Greeks. But +the lion of Chæronea now owes its existence to the accident that no +neighboring peasant has in old times lacked stones for a wall, or for a +ditch; and when Greece awoke to a sense of the preciousness of these +things, it might have been gone, or dashed into useless fragments. + +As we saw it, on a splendid afternoon in June, it lay in perfect repose +and oblivion, the fragments large enough to tell the contour and the +style; in the mouth of the upturned head wild bees were busy at their +work, and the honeycomb was there between its teeth. The Hebrew story came +fresh upon us, and we longed for the strength which tore the lion of old, +to gather the limbs and heal the rents of his marble fellow. The lion of +Samson was a riddle to the Philistines which they could not solve; and so +I suppose this lion of Chæronea was a riddle, too—a deeper riddle to +better men—why the patriot should fall before the despot, and the culture +of Greece before the Cæsarism of Macedonia. Even within Greece there is no +want of remarkable parallels. This, the last effulgence of the setting sun +of Greek liberty, was commemorated by a lion and a mound, as the opening +struggle at Marathon was also marked by a lion and a mound. At Marathon +the mound is there and the lion gone—at Chæronea, the lion is there and +the mound gone.(109) But doubtless the earlier lion was far inferior in +expression and in beauty, and was a small object on so large a tomb. Later +men made the sepulchre itself of less importance, and the poetic element +more prominent; and perhaps this very fact tells the secret of their +failure, and why the refined sculptor of the lion was no equal in politics +and war to the rude carver of the relief of the Marathonian warrior. + +These and such like thoughts throng the mind of him who sits beside the +solitary tomb; and it may be said in favor of its remoteness and +difficulty of access, that in solitude there is at least peace and +leisure, and the scattered objects of interest are scanned with affection +and with care. + + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + + ARACHOVA—DELPHI—THE BAY OF KIRRHA. + + +The pilgrim who went of old from Athens to the shrine of Delphi, to +consult the august oracle on some great difficulty in his own life, or +some great danger to his country, saw before him the giant Parnassus as +his goal, as soon as he reached the passes of Cithæron. For two or three +days he went across Bœotia with this great landmark before him, but it was +not till he reached Lebadea that he found himself leaving level roads, and +entering defiles, where great cliffs and narrow glens gave to his mind a +tone of superstition and of awe which ever dwelt around that wild and +dangerous country. Starting from Lebadea, or, by another road, from +Chæronea, he must go about half-way round Parnassus, from its east to its +south-west aspect; and this can only be done by threading his way along +torrents and precipices, mounting steep ascents, and descending into wild +glens. This journey among the Alps of Phocis is perhaps the most beautiful +in all Greece—certainly, with the exception of the journey from Olympia +over Mount Erymanthus, the most beautiful of all the routes known to me +through the highlands. + + [Illustration: A Greek Shepherd, Olympia] + +The old priests of Delphi, who were the first systematic road-builders +among the Greeks, had made a careful way from Thebes into Phocis, for the +use of the pilgrims thronging to their shrine. It appears that, by way of +saving the expense of paving it all, they laid down or macadamized in some +way a double wheel-track or fixed track, upon which chariots could run +with safety; but we hear from the oldest times of the unpleasantness of +two vehicles meeting on this road, and of the disputes that took place as +to which of them should turn aside into the deep mud.(110) We may infer +from this that the lot of pedestrians cannot have been very pleasant. Now, +all these difficulties have vanished with the road itself. There are +nothing but faintly-marked bridle-paths, often indicated only by the +solitary telegraph wires, which reach over the mountains, apparently for +no purpose whatever; and all travellers must ride or walk in single file, +if they will not force their way through covert and forest. + +These wild mountains do not strike the mind with the painful feeling of +desolation which is produced by the abandoned plains. At no time can they +have supported a large population, and we may suppose that they never +contained more than scattered hamlets of shepherds, living, as they now +do, in deep brown hairy tents of hides at night, and wandering along the +glens by day, in charge of great herds of quaint-looking goats with long +beards and spiral horns. The dull tinkling of their bells, and the eagle’s +yelp, are the only sounds which give variety to the rushing of the wind +through the dark pines, and the falling of the torrent from the rocks. It +is a country in which the consciousness grows not of solitude, but of +smallness—a land of huge form and feature, meet dwelling for mysterious +god and gloomy giant, but far too huge for mortal man. + +Our way lay, not directly for Delphi, but for the curious town of +Arachova, which is perched on the summit of precipices some 4000 feet or +more above the level of the sea. We rode from eight in the morning till +the evening twilight to reach this place, and all the day through scenes +which gave us each moment some new delight and some new astonishment, but +which could only be described by a painter, not by any pages of writing, +however poetical or picturesque. It is the misfortune of such descriptions +on paper, that the writer alone has the remembered image clear before him; +no reader can grasp the detail and frame for himself a faithful picture. + +We felt that we were approaching Arachova when we saw the steep slopes +above and below our path planted with vineyards, and here and there a +woman in her gay dress working on the steep incline, where a stumble would +have sent her rolling many hundreds of feet into some torrent bed. At one +particular spot, where the way turned round a projecting shoulder, we were +struck by seeing at the same time, to the north, the blue sea under Eubœa, +and, at the south, the Gulf of Corinth where it nears Delphi—both mere +patches among the mountains, like the little tarns among the Irish moors, +but both great historic waters—old high roads of commerce and of culture. +From any of the summits such a view from sea to sea would not be the least +remarkable; but it was interesting and unusual to see it from a mule’s +back on one of the high roads of the country. A moment later, the houses +of Arachova itself attracted all our attention, lying as they did over +against us, and quite near, but with a great gulf between us and them, +which we were fortunately able to ride round. The town has a curious, +scattered appearance, with interrupted streets and uncertain plan, owing +not only to the extraordinary nature of the site, but to the fact that +huge boulders, I might say rocks, have been shaken loose by earthquakes +from above, and have come tumbling into the middle of the town. They crush +a house or two, and stand there in the street. Presently some one comes +and builds a house up against the side of this rock; others venture in +their turn, and so the town recovers itself, till another earthquake makes +another rent. Since 1870 these earthquakes have been very frequent. At +first they were very severe, and ruined almost all the town; but now they +are very slight, and so frequent that we were assured that they happened +at some hour _every day_. I believe this is practically true, though we, +who arrived in the evening and left early next day, were not so fortunate +as to feel the shock ourselves. But the whole region of Parnassus shows +great scars and wounds from this awful natural scourge. + +Arachova is remarkable as being one of the very few towns of Greece of any +note which is not built upon a celebrated site. Everywhere the modern +Greek town is a mere survival of the old. I remember but three +exceptions—Arachova, Hydra, and Tripolitza,(111) and of these the latter +two arose from special and known circumstances. The prosperity of Arachova +is not so easily explicable. In spite of its wonderful and curious site, +the trade of the place is, for a Greek town, very considerable. The wines +which they make are of the highest repute, though to us the free use of +resin makes them all equally worthless. Besides, they work beautifully +patterned rugs of divers-colored wool—rugs which are sold at high prices +all over the Greek waters. They are used in boats, on saddles, on beds—in +fact for every possible rough use. The patterns are stitched on with wool, +and the widths sewn together in the same way, with effective rudeness. + +We had an excellent opportunity of seeing all this sort of work, as we +found the town in some excitement at an approaching marriage; and we went +to see the bride, whom we found in a spacious room, with low wooden +rafters, in the company of a large party of her companions, and surrounded +on all sides by her dowry, which consisted, in eastern fashion, almost +altogether of “changes of raiment.” All round the room these rich woollen +rugs lay in perfect piles, and from the low ceiling hung in great numbers +her future husband’s white petticoats; for in that country, as everywhere +in Greece, the men wear the petticoats. The company were all dressed in +full costume—white sleeves, embroidered woollen aprons, gold and silver +coins about the neck, and a bright red loose belt worn low round the +figure. To complete the picture, each girl had in her left hand a distaff, +swathed about with rich, soft, white wool, from which her right hand and +spindle were deftly spinning thread, as she walked about the room admiring +the _trousseau_, and joking with us and with her companions. The beauty of +the Arachovite women is as remarkable as the strength and longevity of the +men, nor do I know any mountaineers equal to them, except those of some of +the valleys in the Tyrol. But there, as is well known, beauty is chiefly +confined to the men; at Arachova it seemed fairly distributed. We did not +see any one girl of singular beauty. The average was remarkably high; and, +as might be expected, they were not only very fair, but of that peculiarly +clear complexion, and vigorous frame, which seem almost always to be found +when a good climate and clear air are combined with a very high level +above the sea. + +We saw, moreover, what they called a Pyrrhic dance, which consisted of a +string of people, hand-in-hand, standing in the form of a spiral, and +moving rhythmically, while the outside member of the train performed +curious and violent gymnastics. The music consisted in the squealing of a +horrible clarionette, accompanied by the beating of a large drum. The +clarionette-player had a leathern bandage about his mouth, like that which +we see in the ancient reliefs and pictures of double-flute-players. +According as each principal dancer was fatigued, he passed off from the +end of the spiral line, and stuck a silver coin between the cap and +forehead of the player. The whole motion was extremely slow throughout the +party—the centre of the coil, which is often occupied by little children, +hardly moving at all, and paying little attention to the dance. + +In general, the Greek music which I heard—dance music, and occasional +shepherds’ songs—was nothing but a wild and monotonous chant, with two or +three shakes and ornaments on a high note, running down to a long drone +note at the end. They repeat these phrases, which are not more than three +bars long, over and over again, with some slight variations of +_appoggiatura_. I was told by competent people at Athens, that all this +was not properly Greek, but Turkish, and that the long slavery of the +Greeks had completely destroyed the traditions of their ancient music. +Though this seemed certainly true of the music which I heard, I very much +doubt that any ancient feature so general can have completely disappeared. +When there are national songs of a distinctly Greek character transmitted +all through the Slavish and Turkish periods, it seems odd that they should +be sung altogether to foreign music. Without more careful investigation I +should be slow to decide upon such a question. Unfortunately, our +specimens of old Greek music are very few, and probably very +insignificant, all the extant works on music by the ancients being devoted +to theoretical questions, which are very difficult and not very +profitable. To this subject I have devoted a special discussion in my +_Social Life in Greece_, with what illustration it is now possible to +obtain. + +The inhabitants wished us to stay with them some days, which would have +given us an opportunity of witnessing the wedding ceremony, and also of +making excursions to the snowy tops of Mount Parnassus. But we had had +enough of that sort of amusement in a climb up Mount Ætna, a short time +before, and the five hours’ toiling on the snow in a thick fog was too +fresh in our memory. Beside, we were bound to catch the weekly steamer at +Itea, as the port of Delphi is now called; and eight additional days, or +rather nights, in this country might have been too much for the wildest +enthusiast. For the wooden houses of Arachova are beyond all other +structures infested with life, and not even the balconies in the frosty +night air were safe from insect invasions. + +We therefore started early in the morning, and kept along the sides of +precipices on our way to the oracle of Delphi. It is not wonderful that +the Arachovites should be famous for superstitions and legends, and that +the inquirers into the remnants of old Greek beliefs in the present day +have found their richest harvest in this mountain fastness, where there +seems no reason why any belief should ever die out. More especially the +faith in the terrible god of the dead, Charos, who represents not only the +old Charon, but Pluto also, is here very deep-seated, and many Arachovite +songs and ballads speak of his awful and relentless visits. Longevity is +so usual, and old age is so hale and green in these Alps, that the death +of the young comes home with far greater force and pathos here than in +unhealthy or immoral societies, and thus the inroads of Charos are not +borne in sullen silence, but lamented with impatient complaints. + +At eleven o’clock we came, in the fierce summer sun, to the ascent into +the “rocky Pytho,” where the terraced city of old had once harbored +pilgrims from every corner of the civilized world. The ordinary histories +which we read give us but little idea of the mighty influence of this +place in the age of its faith. We hear of its being consulted by Crœsus, +or by the Romans, and we appreciate its renown for sanctity; but until of +very late years there was small account taken of its political and +commercial importance. The date of its first rise is hidden in remote +antiquity. As the story goes, a shepherd, who fed his flocks here, +observed the goats, when they approached the vaporous cavern, springing +about madly, as if under some strange influence. He came up to see the +place himself, and was immediately seized with the prophetic frenzy. So +the reputation of the place spread, first around the neighboring pastoral +tribes, and then to a wider sphere. + +This very possible origin, however, does not distinctly assert what may +certainly be inferred—I mean the existence of some older and ruder +worship, before the worship of Apollo was here established. Two arguments +make this clear. In the first place, old legends consistently speak of the +arrival of Apollo here; of his conflict with the powers of earth, under +the form of the dragon Python; of his having undergone purification for +its murder, and having been formally ceded possession by its older owners. +This distinct allusion to a previous cult, and one even hostile to Apollo, +but ultimately reconciled with him, is sustained by the fact that +Pausanias describes in the Temple of Apollo itself two old stones—one +apparently an aërolith—which were treated with great respect, anointed +daily with oil, and adorned with garlands of flowers. One of these was to +the Greeks the centre of the earth (_ὀμφαλός_), and beside it were two +eagles in gold, to remind one of the legend that Zeus had started two +eagles from the ends of the earth, and that they met at this exact spot +midway. These old and shapeless stories, which occur elsewhere in Greek +temples, point to the older stage of fetish worship, before the Greeks had +risen to the art of carving a statue, or of worshipping the unseen deity +without a gross material symbol. + +The researches of M. A. Lebègue, at Delos, have given us another instance. +He found that the old shrine of Apollo has been made in imitation of a +cave, and that in the recess of the shrine, made with large slabs of stone +forming a gable over a natural fissure in the rock, there was an ancient, +rude, sacred stone, on which were remaining the feet of the statue, which +had afterward been added to give dignity to the improved worship. M. +Lebègue’s work at Delos has been completed and superseded by M. Homolle. + +Homer speaks in the Iliad of the great wealth of the Pythian shrine; and +the Hymn to the Pythian Apollo implies that its early transformations were +completed. But seeing that the god Apollo, though originally an Ionian +god, as at Delos, was here worshipped distinctively by the Dorians, we +shall not err if we consider the rise of the oracle to greatness +coincident with the rise and spreading of the Dorians over Greece—an event +to which we can assign no date, but which, in legend, comes next after the +Trojan War, and seems near the threshold of real history. The absolute +submission of the Spartans, when they rose to power, confirmed the +authority of the shrine, and so it gradually came to be the Metropolitan +See, so to speak, in the Greek religious world. It seems that the +influence of this oracle was, in old days, always used in the direction of +good morals and of enlightenment. When neighboring states were likely to +quarrel, the oracle was often a peacemaker, and even acted as arbitrator—a +course usual in earlier Greek history, and in which they anticipated the +best results of our nineteenth-century culture. So again, when excessive +population demanded an outlet, the oracle was consulted as to the proper +place, and the proper leader to be selected; and all the splendid +commercial development of the sixth century B. C., though not produced, +was at least sanctioned and promoted, by the Delphic Oracle. Again, in +determining the worship of other gods and the founding of new services to +great public benefactors, the oracle seems to have been the acknowledged +authority—thus taking the place of the Vatican in Catholic Europe, as the +source and origin of new dogmas, and of new worships and formularies. + + [Illustration: The Temple of Apollo, Delphi] + +At the same time the treasure-house of the shrine was the largest and +safest of banks, where both individuals and states might deposit +treasure—nay, even the states seem to have had separate chambers—and from +which they could also borrow money, at fair interest, in times of war and +public distress. The rock of Delphi was held to be the navel or centre of +the earth’s surface, and certainly in a social and religious sense this +was the case for all the Greek world. Thus the priests were informed, by +perpetual visitors from all sides, of all the last news—of the general +aspect of politics—of the new developments of trade—of the latest +discoveries in outlying and barbarous lands—and were accordingly able, +without any genius or supernatural inspiration, to form their judgments +upon wider experience and better knowledge than anybody else could +command. This advice, which was really sound and well-considered, was +given to people who took it to be divine, and acted upon it with implicit +faith and zeal. Of course, the result was in general satisfactory; and so +even individuals made use of it as a sort of high confessional, to which +they came as pilgrims at some important crisis of their life; and finding +by the response that the god seemed to know all about the affairs of every +city, went away fully satisfied with the divine authority of the oracle. + +This great and deserved general reputation was not affected by occasional +rumors of bribed responses or of dishonest priestesses. Such things must +happen everywhere; but, as Lord Bacon long ago observed, human nature is +more affected by affirmatives than negatives—that is to say, a few cases +of brilliantly accurate prophecy will outweigh a great number of cases of +doubtful advices or even of acknowledged corruption. So the power of the +Popes has lasted in some respects undiminished to the present day, and +they are still regarded by many as infallible, even though historians have +published many dreadful lives of some of them, and branded them as men of +worse than average morals. + +The greatness and the national importance of the Delphic Oracle lasted +from the invasion of the Dorians down to the Persian War, certainly more +than three centuries; when the part which it took in the latter struggle +gave it a blow from which it seems never to have recovered. When the +invasion of Xerxes was approaching, the Delphic priests informed +accurately of the immense power of the Persians, made up their minds that +all resistance was useless, and counselled absolute submission or flight. +According to all human probabilities they were right, for nothing but a +series of blunders could possibly have checked the Persians. But surely +the god ought to have inspired them to utter patriotic responses, and thus +to save themselves in case of such a miracle as actually happened. I +cannot but suspect that they hoped to gain the favor of Xerxes, and remain +under him what they had hitherto been, a wealthy and protected +corporation.(112) Perhaps they even saw too far, and perceived that the +success of the Greeks would bring the Ionic states into prominence; but we +must not credit them with too much. The result, however, told greatly +against them. The Greeks won, and the Athenians got the lead,—the +Athenians, who very soon developed a secular and worldly spirit, and who +were by no means awed by responses which had threatened them and weakened +their hands, when their own courage and skill had brought them +deliverance. And we can imagine even Themistocles, not to speak of +Pericles and Antiphon, looking upon the oracles as little more than a +convenient way of persuading the mob to follow a policy which it was not +able to understand. The miraculous defeat of the Persians by the god, who +repeated his wonders when the Gauls attacked his shrine, should be read in +Herodotus and in Pausanias. + +It is with some sadness that we turn from the splendid past of Delphi to +its miserable present. The sacred cleft in the earth, from which rose the +cold vapor that intoxicated the priestess, is blocked up and lost. As it +lay within the shrine of the temple, it may have been filled by the +falling ruins, or still more completely destroyed by an earthquake. But, +apart from these natural possibilities, we are told that the Christians, +after the oracle was closed by Theodosius, filled up and effaced the +traces of what they thought a special entrance to hell, where +communications had been held with the Evil One. + +The three great fountains or springs of the town are still in existence. +The first and most striking of these bursts out from between the +Phædriades—two shining peaks, which stand up one thousand feet over +Delphi, and so close together as to leave only a dark and mysterious gorge +or fissure, not twenty feet wide, intervening. The aspect of these twin +peaks, so celebrated by the Greek poets, with their splendid stream, the +Castalian fount, bursting from between them, is indeed grand and +startling. A great square bath is cut in the rock, just at the mouth of +the gorge; but the earthquake of 1870, which made such havoc of Arachova, +has been busy here also, and has tumbled a huge block into this bath, thus +covering the old work, as well as several votive niches cut into the rocky +wall. This was the place where arriving pilgrims purified themselves with +hallowed water. + +In the great old days the oracle gave responses on the seventh of each +month, and even then only when the sacrifices were favorable. If the +victims were not perfectly without blemish, they could not be offered; if +they did not tremble all over when brought to the altar, the day was +thought unpropitious. The inquirers entered the great temple in festal +dress, with olive garlands and _stemmata_, or fillets of wool, led by the +_ὅσιοι_, or sacred guardians of the temple, who were five of the noblest +citizens of Delphi. The priestesses, on the contrary—there were three at +the same time, who officiated in turn—though Delphians also, were not +frequently of noble family. When the priestess was placed on the sacred +tripod by the chief interpreter, or _προφήτης_, over the exhalations, she +was seized with frenzy—often so violent that the _ὅσιοι_ were known to +have fled in terror, and she herself to have become insensible, and to +have died. Her ravings in this state were carefully noted down, and then +reduced to sense, and of old always to verses, by the attendant priests, +who of course interpreted disconnected words with a special reference to +the politics or other circumstances of the inquirers. + +This was done in early days with perfect good faith. During the decline of +religion there were of course many cases of corruption and of partiality, +and, indeed, the whole style and dignity of the oracle gradually decayed +with the decay of Greece itself. Presently, when crowds came, and states +were extremely jealous of the right of precedence in inquiring of the god, +it was found expedient to give responses every day, and this was done to +private individuals, and even for trivial reasons. So also the priests no +longer took the trouble to shape the responses into verse; and when the +Phocians in the sacred war (355–46 B. C.) seized the treasures, and +applied to military purposes some ten thousand talents, the shrine +suffered a blow from which it never recovered. Still, the quantity of +splendid votive offerings which were not convertible into ready money made +it the most interesting place in Greece, next to Athens and Olympia, for +lovers of the arts: and the statues, tripods, and other curiosities +described there by Pausanias, give a wonderful picture of the mighty +oracle even in its decay.(113) The greatest sculptors, painters, and +architects had lavished their labor upon the buildings. Though Nero had +carried off five hundred bronze statues, the traveller estimated the +remaining works of art at three thousand, and yet these seem to have been +almost all statues, and not to have included tripods, pictures, and other +gifts. The Emperor Constantine brought away (330 A. D.) a great number to +adorn his capital—more especially the bronze tripod, formed of three +intertwined serpents, with their heads supporting a golden vessel, which +Pausanias, the Spartan King, had dedicated as the leader of Greece to +commemorate the great victory over Xerxes. This tripod (which was found +standing in its place at Constantinople by our soldiers in 1852) contains +the list of states according to the account of Herodotus, who describes +its dedication, and who saw it at Delphi. + +When the Emperor Julian, the last great champion of paganism, desired to +consult the oracle on his way to Persia, in 362 A. D., it replied: “Tell +the king the fair-wrought dwelling has sunk into the dust: Phœbus has no +longer a shelter or a prophetic laurel, neither has he a speaking +fountain; the fair water is dried up.” Thus did the shrine confess, even +to the ardent and hopeful Julian, that its power had passed away, and, as +it were by a supreme effort, declared to him the great truth which he +refused to see—that paganism was gone for ever, and a new faith had arisen +for the nations of the Roman Empire. + +About the year 390, Theodosius took the god at his word, and closed the +oracle finally. The temple—with its cella of 100 feet—with its Doric and +Ionic pillars—with its splendid sculptures upon the pediments—sank into +decay and ruin. The walls and porticos tumbled down the precipitous +cliffs; the prophetic chasm was filled up by the Christians with fear and +horror; and, as if to foil any attempt to recover from ruins the site and +plan, the modern Greeks built their miserable hamlet of Castri upon the +spot; so that it is only among the walls and foundations laid bare by +earthquakes that we can now seek for marble capitals and votive +inscriptions. + +One or two features are still unchanged. The three fine springs, to which +Delphi doubtless owed its first selection for human habitation, are still +there—Castalia, of which we have spoken; Cassotis, which was led +artificially into the very shrine of the god; and Delphussa, which was, I +suppose, the water used for secular purposes by the inhabitants. The +stadium, too, a tiny racecourse high above the town, in the only place +where they could find a level 150 yards, is still visible; and we see at +once what the importance of games must have been at a sacred Greek town, +when such a thing as a stadium should be attempted here.(114) The earliest +competitions had been in music—that is, in playing the lyre, in +recitation, and probably in the composition of original poems; but +presently the physical contests of Olympia began to outdo the splendor of +Delphi. Moreover, the Spartans would not compete in minstrelsy, which they +liked and criticised, but left to professional artists. Accordingly, the +priests of Delphi were too practical a corporation not to widen the +programme of their games, and Pindar has celebrated the Pythian victors as +hardly second to those at the grand festival of Elis. + +There is yet one more element in the varied greatness of Delphi. It was +here that the religious federation of Greece—the Amphictyony of which we +hear so often—held its meetings alternately with the meetings at the +springs of Thermopylæ. When I stood high up on the stadium at Delphi, the +great scene described by the orator Æschines came fresh upon me, when he +looked upon the sacred plain of Krissa, and called all the worshippers of +the god to clear it of the sacrilegious Amphissians, who had covered it +with cattle and growing crops. The plain, he says, is easily surveyed from +the place of meeting—a statement which shows that the latter cannot have +been in the town of Delphi: for a great shoulder of the mountain +effectually hides the whole plain from every part of the town. + +The Pylæa, or place of assembly, was, however, outside, and precisely at +the other side of this huge shoulder, so that what Æschines says is true; +but it is not true, as any ordinary student imagines, that he was standing +in Delphi itself. He was, in fact, completely out of sight of the town, +though not a mile from it. There is no more common error than this among +our mere book scholars—and I daresay there are not many who realize the +existence of this suburban Pylæa, and its situation close to, but +invisible from, Delphi. It certainly never came home to me till I began to +look for the spot from which Æschines might have delivered his famous +extempore address. + +When we rode round to the real place we found his words amply verified. +Far below us stretched the plain from Amphissa to Kirrha, at right angles +with the gorge above which Delphi is situated. The river-courses of the +Delphic springs form, in fact, a regular zigzag. When they tumble from +their great elevation on the rocks into the valley, they join the +Pleistus, running at right angles toward the west; when this torrent has +reached the plain, it turns again due south, and flows into the sea at the +Gulf of Kirrha. Thus, looking from Pylæa, you see the upper part of the +plain, and the gorge to the north-west of it, where Amphissa occupies its +place in a position similar to the mouth of the gorge of Delphi. The +southern rocks of the gorge over against Delphi shut out the sea and the +actual bay; but a large rich tract, covered with olive-woods, and medlars, +and oleanders, stretches out beneath the eye—verily a plain worth fighting +for, and a possession still more precious, when it commanded the approach +of pilgrims from the sea; for the harbor duties and tolls of Kirrha were +once a large revenue, and their loss threatened the oracle with poverty. +This levying of tolls on the pilgrims to Delphi became quite a national +question in the days of Solon; it resulted in a great war, led by the +Amphictyonic Council. Kirrha was ruined, and its land dedicated to the +god, in order to protect the approach from future difficulties. So this +great tract was, I suppose, devoted to pasture, and the priests probably +levied a rent from the people who choose to graze their cattle on the +sacred plain. The Amphissians, who lived, not at the seaside, but at the +mountain side of the plain, were never accused of robbing or taxing the +pilgrims; but having acquired for many generations the right of pasture, +they advanced to the idea of tilling their pastures, and were undisturbed +in this privilege till the mischievous orator, Æschines, for his own +purposes, fired the Delphians with rage, kindled a war, and so brought +Philip into Greece. These are the historical circumstances which should be +called to mind by the traveller, who rides down the steep descent from +Delphi to the plain, and then turns through the olive-woods to the high +road to Itea, as the port of Delphi is now called. + +A few hours brought us to the neighborhood of the sea. The most curious +feature of this valley, as we saw it, was a long string of camels tied +together, and led by a small and shabby donkey. Our mules and horses +turned with astonishment to examine these animals, which have survived +here only, though introduced by the Turks into many parts of Greece. + +The port of Itea is one of the stations at which the Greek coasting +steamers now call, and, accordingly, the place is growing in importance. +If a day’s delay were allowed, to let tourists ride up to the old seat of +the oracle, and if the service were better regulated so as to compete in +convenience with the train journey from Patras to Athens, I suppose no +traveller going to Greece would choose any other route. For he would see +all the beautiful coasts of Acarnania and Ætolia on the one side, and of +Achaia on the other; he could then take Delphi on his way, and would land +again at Corinth. Here again, a day, or part of a day, should be allowed +to see the splendid Acro-Corinthus, of which more in another chapter. The +traveller might thus reach Athens with an important part of Greece already +visited, and have more leisure to turn his attention to the monuments and +curiosities of that city and of Attica. It is worth while to suggest these +things, because most men who go to Greece find, as I did, that, with some +better previous information, they could have economized both time and +money. I can also advise that the coasting steamer should be abandoned at +Itea, from which the traveller can easily get horses to Delphi and +Arachova, and from thence to Chæronea, Lebadea, and through Thebes to +Athens. So he would arrive there by a land tour, which would make him +acquainted with all Bœotia. He might next go by train from Athens to +Corinth (stopping on the way at Megara), and then into the Peloponnese; +going first to Mycenæ and Argos, and then taking another steamer round to +Sparta, and riding up through Laconia, Arcadia, and Elis, so as to come +out at Patras, or by boat to Zante, where the steamer homeward would pick +him up. Of course, special excursions through Attica, and to the islands, +are not included in this sketch, as they can easily be made from Athens. + +But surely, no voyage in Greece can be called complete which does not +include a visit to the famous shrine of Delphi, where the wildness and +ruggedness of nature naturally suggest the powers of earth and air, that +sway our lives unseen—where the quaking soil and the rent rocks speak a +strength above the strength of mortal man—and where a great faith, based +upon his deepest hopes and fears, gained a moral empire over all the +nation, and exercised it for centuries, to the purifying and the ennobling +of the Hellenic race. The oracle is long silent, the priestess forgotten, +the temple not only ruined, but destroyed; and yet the grand responses of +that noble shrine are not forgotten, nor are they dead. For they have +contributed their part and added their element to the general advancement +of the world, and to the emancipation of man from immorality and +superstition into the true liberty of a good and enlightened conscience. + + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + + ELIS—OLYMPIA AND ITS GAMES—THE VALLEY OF THE ALPHEUS—MOUNT + ERYMANTHUS—PATRAS. + + +The thousands of visitors, whose ships thronged the bay of Katakolo every +four years in the great old times, cannot have been fairly impressed with +the beauty of the country at first sight. Most other approaches to the +coast of Greece are far more striking. For although, on a clear day, the +mountains of Arcadia are plainly visible, and form a fine background to +the view, from the great bar of Erymanthus on the north, round to the top +of Lykæon far south-west, the foreground has not, and never had, either +the historic interest or the beauty of the many bays and harbors in other +parts of Greece. Yet I am far from asserting that it is actually wanting +even in this respect. As we saw the bay in a quiet summer sunset, with +placid water reflecting a sleeping cloud and a few idle sails in its amber +glow, with a wide circle of low hills and tufted shore bathed in a golden +haze, which spread its curtain of light athwart all the distance, so that +the great snowy comb of Erymanthus alone seemed suspended by some mystery +in the higher blue—the view was not indeed very Greek, but still it was +beautiful, and no unsuitable dress wherein the land might clothe itself to +welcome the traveller, and foretell him its sunny silence and its golden +mystery. + +The carriage-way along the coast passes by sand-hills, and sandy fields of +vines, which were being tilled when we saw them by kindly but squalid +peasants, some of whom lived in wretched huts of skins, enclosed with a +rough fence. But these were probably only temporary dwellings, for the +thrift and diligence of the southern Greek seems hardly compatible with +real penury. Mendicancy, except in the case of little children who do it +for the nonce, seems unknown in the Morea. + +A dusty ride of two hours, relieved now and then for a moment by the +intense perfume from the orange blossoms of gardens fenced with mighty +aloes, brought us to the noisy and stirring town of Pyrgos.(115) We found +this town, one of the most thriving in Greece, quite as noisy as Naples in +proportion to its size, full of dogs barking, donkeys braying, and various +shopkeepers screaming out their wares—especially frequent where young +shrill-voiced boys were so employed. Nowhere does the ultra-democratic +temper of new Greek social life show itself more manifestly than in these +disturbed streets. Not only does every member of human society, however +young or ill-disposed, let his voice be heard without reserve, but it +seems to be considered an infraction upon liberty to silence yelping dogs, +braying donkeys, or any other animal which chooses to disturb its +neighbors. + +The whole town, like most others in Greece, even in the Arcadian +highlands, is full of half-built and just finished houses, showing a rapid +increase of prosperity, or perhaps a return of the population from country +life into the towns which have always been so congenial to the race. But +if the latter be the fact, there yet seems no slackening in the +agriculture of the country, which in the Morea is strikingly diligent and +laborious, reaching up steep hillsides, and creeping along precipices, +winning from ungrateful nature every inch of niggard soil.(116) This is +indeed the contrast of northern and southern Greece. In Bœotia the rich +plains of Thebes and Orchomenos are lying fallow, while all the rugged +mountains of Arcadia are yielding wine and oil. The Greeks will tell you +that it is the result of the security established by their Government in +those parts of Greece which are not accessible from the Turkish frontier. +They assert that if their present frontier were not at Thermopylæ but at +Tempe, or even farther north, the rich plains of northern Greece would not +lie idle through fear of the bandits, which every disturbance excites +about the boundaries of ill-guarded kingdoms. + +The carriage road from Pyrgos up to Olympia was just finished, and it is +now possible to drive all the way from the sea, but we preferred the old +method of travelling on horseback to the terrors of a newly-constructed +Greek thoroughfare. There is, moreover, in wandering on unpaved +thoroughfares, along meadows, through groves and thickets, and across +mountains, a charm which no dusty carriage road can ever afford. We soon +came upon the banks of the Alpheus, which we followed as our main index, +though at times we were high above it, and at times in the meadows at the +water-side; at times again mounting some wooded ridge which had barred the +way of the stream, and forced it to take a wide circuit from our course, +or again crossing the deep cuttings made by rivulets which come down from +northern Elis to swell the river from mile to mile. + +Our path must have been almost the same as was followed by the crowds +which came from the west to visit the Olympic games in classical days: +they must have ascended along the windings of the river, and as they came +upon each new amphitheatre of hills, and each new tributary stream, they +may have felt the impatience which we felt that this was not the sacred +_Altis_, and that this was not the famous confluence of the Kladeus. But +the season in which they travelled—the beginning of July—can never have +shown them the valley in its true beauty. Instead of a glaring dry bed of +gravel, and meadows parched with heat, we found the Alpheus a broad and +rapid river, which we crossed on horseback with difficulty; we found the +meadows green with sprouting corn and bright with flowers, and all along +the slopes the trees were bursting into bud and blossom, and filling the +air with the rich scent of spring. Huge shrubs of arbutus and of mastich +closed around the paths, while over them the Judas tree and the wild pear +covered themselves with purple and with white, and on every bank great +scarlet anemones opened their wistful eyes in the morning sun. + + [Illustration: The Banks of the Kladeus] + +When we came to the real Olympia the prospect was truly disenchanting. +However interesting excavations may be, they are always exceedingly ugly. +Instead of grass and flowers, and pure water, we found the classic spot +defaced with great mounds of earth, and trodden bare of grass. We found +the Kladeus flowing a turbid drain into the larger river. We found +hundreds of workmen, and wheel-barrows, and planks, and trenches, instead +of solitude and the song of birds. Thus it was that we found the famous +temple of Zeus. + +This temple was in many respects one of the most celebrated in Greece, +especially on account of the great image of Zeus, which Phidias himself +wrought for it in gold and ivory, and of which Pausanias has left us a +very wonderful description (V. II, _sqq._). It was carried away to +Constantinople, and of course its precious material precluded all chance +of its surviving through centuries of ignorance and bigotry. The temple +itself, to judge from its appearance, was somewhat older than the days of +Phidias, for it is of that thickset and massive type which we only find in +the earlier Doric temples, and which rather reminds us of Pæstum than of +Athenian remains. It was built by a local architect, Libon, and of a very +coarse limestone from the neighborhood, which was covered with stucco, and +painted chiefly white, to judge from the fragments which remain. But it +seems as if the Eleans had done all they could to add splendor to the +building, whenever their funds permitted. The tiles of the roof were not +of burnt clay, but of Pentelican marble, the well-known and beautiful +invention of the Naxian Byzes. Moreover, Phidias and a number of his +fellow-workers or subordinates at Athens, as well as other artists, had +been invited to Olympia, to adorn the temple, and to them we owe the +pediments, probably also the metopes, and many of the statues, with which +all the sacred enclosure around the edifice was literally thronged. +Subsequent generations added to this splendor: a gilded figure of Victory, +with a gold shield, was set upon the apex of the gable; gilded pitchers at +the extremities; gilded shields were fastened all along the architraves by +Mummius, from the spoils of Corinth, and the great statue of Zeus within +still remained, the wonder and the awe of the ancient world. + +But with the fall of paganism and the formal extinction of the Olympic +games (394 A. D.) the glories of the temple fell into decay. The great +statue in the shrine was carried away to Byzantium; many of the votive +bronzes and marbles which stood about the sacred grove were transported to +Italy; and at last a terrible earthquake, apparently in the fifth century, +levelled the whole temple almost with the ground. The action of this +extraordinary earthquake is still plainly to be traced in the now +uncovered ruins. It upheaved the temple from the centre, throwing the +pillars of all the four sides outward, where most of them lie with their +drums separated, but still complete in all parts, and only requiring +mechanical power to set them up again. Some preliminary shakes had caused +pieces of the pediment sculptures to fall out of their place, for they +were found at the foot of the temple steps; but the main shock threw the +remainder to a great distance, and I saw the work of Alkamenes being +unearthed more than twenty-five yards from its proper site. + +In spite of this convulsion, the floor of the temple, with its marble +work, and its still more beautiful mosaic, is still there, and it seemed +doubtful to the Germans whether there is even a crack now to be found in +it. About the ruins there gathered some little population, for many +fragments were found built into walls of poor and late construction; but +this work of destruction was fortunately arrested by a sudden overflow of +the Alpheus, caused by the bursting of one of the mountain lakes about +Pheneus. The river then covered all the little plain of Olympia with a +deep layer of fine sand and of mud. A thicket of arbutus and mastich +sprang from this fertile soil, and so covered all traces of antiquity, +that when Chandler visited the place 100 years ago, nothing but a part of +the cella wall was over ground, and this was since removed by neighboring +builders. But the site being certain, it only required the enterprise of +modern research to lay bare the old level so fortunately hidden by the +interposition of nature. The traveller who now visits Olympia can see the +whole plan and contour of the great temple, with all its prostrate pillars +lying around it. He can stand on the very spot where once was placed the +unrivalled image—the masterpiece of Phidias’s art. He can see the old +mosaic in colored pebbles, with its exquisite design, which later +taste—probably Roman—thought well to cover with a marble pavement. But far +above all, he can find in adjoining sheds(117) not only the remains of the +famous _Niké_ of Pæonius, which stood on a pedestal close to the east +front, but the greater part of the splendid pediment sculptures, which +will henceforth rank among the most important relics of Greek art. These +noble compositions have been restored with tolerable completeness, and now +stand next to the pediments of the Parthenon in conception and in general +design. + + [Illustration: Statue of Niké, by Paeonius] + +For even if the restoration were never accomplished, there is enough in +the fragments of the figures already recovered to show the genius of both +sculptors, but particularly of Alkamenes, the author of the western +pediment. This perfectly agrees with the note of Pausanias, who adds, in +mentioning this very work, that Alkamenes was considered in his day an +artist second only to Phidias. + +It was objected to me by learned men on the spot, that the eastern +pediment, being the proper front of the temple, must have been the more +important, and that Pæonius, as we know from an inscription, boasts that +he obtained the executing of it by competition, thus proving that he was, +at least in this case, preferred to his rivals. But the decided +superiority of Alkamenes’s design leads me to suppose that the boast of +Pæonius only applies to the eastern pediment, and that probably the +western had been already assigned to Alkamenes. Nor do I agree with the +view that the eastern pediment must have been artistically the most +important. In several Greek temples—_e. g._, the Parthenon, the temple at +Bassæ, and in this—the great majority of visitors must have approached it +from the rear, which should accordingly have been quite the prominent side +for artistic decoration. Let me add that far more action was permitted in +the groups on this side, while over the entrance the figures were staid +and in repose, as if to harmonize with the awe and silence of the entering +worshippers. Be these things as they may, the work of Alkamenes is +certainly superior to that which remains to us of Pæonius in the eastern +pediment, and in his figure of winged Victory, which was, I think, greatly +overpraised by the critics who saw it soon after its discovery.(118) + +The composition of the groups in the pediments and friezes has been +described by Pausanias (V. 10, §§ 6–10) in a passage of great interest, +which has given rise to much controversy. The general impression of Drs. +Hirschfeld and Weil, when I was at Olympia, was against the accuracy of +Pausanias, whom they considered to have blindly set down whatever the +local cicerones told him. That of Dr. Purgold was in his favor. The +traveller says, however, that the eastern pediment, in which, as already +remarked, it was not usual to represent violent action, depicted the +preparation of the chariot race between Pelops and Œnomaus. In the centre +was Zeus, whose torso has been recovered, and at the narrow ends of the +field were figures of the Alpheus and Kladeus, to the right and left of +the spectator respectively. These figures are partly recovered—graceful +young men lying forward on the ground, and raising their heads to witness +the contest. + +It is worth pausing for a moment upon this disposition, which was so usual +as to be almost conventional in the pediments sculptured during the best +epochs of Greek art. In the centre, where the field was very high, and +admitted a colossal figure, it was usual to place the god whose providence +guided the events around him, and this god was represented calm and +without excitement. Then came the mythical event grouped on both sides; +but at the ends, where the field narrowed to an angle, it was usual to +represent the calmness or impassiveness of external nature. This was done +in Greek sculpture not by trees and hills, but by the gods who symbolized +them. So thoroughly was nature personified in Greek art, that its +picturesqueness was altogether postponed to its living conscious sympathy +with man, and thus to a Greek the proper representation of the rivers of +Olympia was no landscape, but the graceful forms of the river +gods—intelligent and human, yet calm spectators, as nature is wont to be. +The very same idea is carried out more characteristically in the pediment +of Alkamenes, where, in spite of the violent conflict of Centaurs and +Lapithæ, the central and extreme figures, as I shall presently notice, are +perfectly unmoved witnesses of lawless violence. + +The arrangement of the rest of the eastern pediment was evidently quite +symmetrical. On Zeus’s right hand was Œnomaus, his wife Sterope, his +charioteer Myrtilus sitting before the four horses, and two grooms; on his +left, Pelops, Hippodamia, and a like number of horses and attendants. A +good many pieces of these figures have been found, sufficient to tempt +several art-critics to make conjectural restorations of the pediment, one +of which is now set up, I believe, in the museum at Berlin. + +The western pediment, of which more, and more striking, fragments are +recovered, is more difficult to restore, because Pausanias is +unfortunately not nearly so precise in describing it, and because, +moreover, he is suspected of a serious blunder about the central figure. +Contrary to the precedent just mentioned, he says that this central figure +is Pirithous, whose wife is just being carried off by the Centaurs, and +ought therefore to be in violent excitement. But there had been found, +just before we arrived at Olympia, a colossal head, of the noblest +conception, which seems certainly to belong to the pediment sculptures, +and which must be the head of this central figure. It is perfectly calm +and divine in expression, and almost forces upon the spectator the +conclusion to which all the best judges lean, that it must be an Apollo, +and that this was the central figure, while Pirithous was more actively +engaged. There was on each side of this figure a Centaur carrying off, the +one a maiden (I suppose the bride) and the other a boy, and Kæneus and +Theseus at each side, coming to the rescue. + +But on the other figures Pausanias is silent; and there were certainly two +beautiful mountain or river nymphs at the extremities—lying figures, with +a peculiar head-dress of a thick bandage wrapped all round the hair—which +are among the most perfect of the figures recovered. It seems also certain +that Pirithous must have been somewhere on the pediment; and this would +suggest another figure to correspond to him at the other side, for these +groups were always symmetrical. In this case Pausanias has omitted four +figures at least in his description, and seems to have besides mistaken +the largest and most important of all. The Germans cite in proof of these +strictures his passing remark on the Metopes, representing the labors of +Herakles, on one of which was (he says) Herakles about to relieve Atlas, +whereas this slab, which has been found, really represents Herakles +carrying the globe, and one of the Hesperidæ assisting him, while Atlas is +bringing to him the apple. + +This criticism will seem to most ordinary people too minute, and I am +rather disposed to think well of Pausanias as an intelligent traveller, +though he, of course, made some mistakes. + +But since the above words were written sufficient time has elapsed not +only to bring the excavations to an end, but to study more carefully the +recovered fragments, and offer a calmer judgment as to their merits. On +the whole, the strong feeling of the best critics has been one of +disappointment. The design of both pediments still seems to me masterly, +especially that of Alkamenes, but there can be no doubt that the execution +is far below that of the Parthenon marbles. There are some positive +faults—inability to reproduce drapery (while the nude parts are very true +to nature), and great want of care in other details. It must be urged in +answer that the pediments were meant to be seen about forty feet from the +ground, and that the painting of the figures must have brought out the +features of the drapery neglected in the carving. However true this may +be, we can answer at once that the workmen of Phidias did not produce this +kind of work. The first quality of the Attic school was that +conscientiousness in detail which meets us in every great age of art. + +So serious have these difficulties appeared to some, that they have +actually suspected Pausanias of being misled, and having falsely +attributed the work of obscure local artists to Alkamenes, and perhaps +also falsely to Pæonius. They say that nothing is more common with vulgar +cicerones than to attribute to a great master any old work of uncertain +origin. Others, who will not proceed to such extremes, hold that only the +general design was made by the two sculptors, and its execution handed +over to local artists. This may probably have been the case. But I am +disposed to infer from the overpraised _Niké_, which certainly is the work +of Pæonius, that he was not an artist of the quality of the great Attic +school.(119) The whole external work of the temple seems to represent a +stage of art rather earlier and ruder than the school of Phidias. This is +eminently the case with the Metopes, which can hardly be later in date +than 460 B. C., or pre-Phidian in time. + +Very different is the impression produced by the greatest and most +priceless gem of all the treasures at Olympia—the Hermes of Praxiteles, +which was actually found on the very spot where it was seen and described +by Pausanias, fallen among the ruins of the temple which originally +protected it. This exquisite figure, much smaller than life-size, +represents the god Hermes holding the infant Dionysus on one arm, and +showing the child some object now lost. The right arm and the legs from +below the knees are gone; the right foot with its sandal, an exquisite +piece of work with traces of gold and red, has been recovered. It is +remarkable that the back of the statue is unfinished, and the child +treated rather as a doll than a human infant; the main figure, however, +now widely known through copies, is the most perfect remnant of Greek art. +The temple in which the statue was found, the venerable Heræon, is the +most interesting of all the Olympian buildings in its plan, and has solved +for us many problems in Greek architecture. The acute researches of Dr. +Dörpfeld have shown that the walls were not of stone, but of sun-dried +bricks, and that the surrounding pillars had gradually replaced older +wooden pillars, one of which was still there when Pausanias saw the +building. The successive stone pillars and their capitals were of the same +order, Doric, but varied in measurements and profile according to the +taste of the day. So then this ancient building showed, like our English +cathedrals, the work of successive centuries in its restoration. The roof +and architrave were evidently of wood, for all trace of these members has +vanished; but we learn from remains of the old “treasuries” described by +Pausanias that in very old times wood and mud bricks were faced with +colored terra cotta, moulded to the required form, and that this ornament +was still used after stone had replaced bricks and mud as the material of +the walls and architrave. These curious details, and many others, have +been the main result of the architectural inquiries made by the Germans +into the archaic buildings at Olympia; but it would be tedious to the +reader of this book were I to turn aside to discuss technical details. He +will find them all put with great clearness, and indeed with elegance, in +Bötticher’s _Olympia_. The complete results of the excavations are now to +be found in the official work issued by the German Government on the +explorations. + +Unfortunately, there only remains one very realistic head of a boxer from +a large class of monuments at Olympia, that of the portrait statues of +victors at the games, of which one was even attributed to Phidias, and +several to Alkamenes, in Pausanias’s time. All these were votive statues, +set up by victors at the games, or victors in war, and in the early times +were not portraits strictly speaking, but ideal figures. Later on they +became more realistic, and were made in the likeness of the offerer, a +privilege said at one time only to have been accorded to those who had won +thrice at Olympia. + +The commemoration of gymnastic victories by these statues seems to have +completely supplanted the older fashion of triumphal odes, which in +Pindar’s day were so prized, and so dearly bought from lyric poets. When +these odes first came to be composed, sculpture was still struggling with +the difficulties of human expression, and there was no one who would not +feel the great artistic superiority of Pindar’s verse to the cold +stiffness of the archaic reliefs of the same epoch, which attempt +portraiture. The portrait of Aristion by Aristokles, the similar relief by +Anxenor the Naxian, and the relief of the discus thrower, are sufficient +examples of what sculptured portraits were in comparison with the rich +music of Simonides and Pindar. But while lyric poetry passed into the +higher service of tragedy, or degenerated into the extravagance of the +later dithyramb, sculpture grew into such exquisite perfection, and was of +its very nature so enduring and manifest, that the Olympic victor choose +it as the surest avenue to immortal fame. And so it was up to Pausanias’s +day, when every traveller could study the records of the games at Olympia, +or even admire the most perfect of the statues in the palaces of Roman +Emperors, whither they were transferred. + +But the day came when the poets were avenged upon the sculptors. Olympia +sank under general decay and sudden catastrophe. Earthquakes and +barbarians ravaged its treasury, and while Pindar was being preserved in +manuscript, until his resurrection in the days of printing, the invasion +of the Kladeus saved the scanty remains in the _Altis_ from destruction +only by covering them with oblivion. Now, in the day of its resurrection, +pedestal after pedestal with its votive inscription has been unearthed, +but, except the _Niké_ of Pæonius, no actual votive statue had been +recovered when I saw the excavations, after two years of labor. + +The river Alpheus, which has done such excellent work in its inundations, +does not confine itself to concealing antiquities, but sometimes discovers +them. Its rapid course eats away the alluvial bank which the waters have +deposited ages ago, and thus encroaches upon old tombs, from which various +relics are washed down in its turbid stream. The famous helmet dedicated +by Hiero, son of Deinomenes, was discovered in the river in this way; and +there is also in the Ministry of Public Instruction a large circular band +of bronze, _riveted_ together where the ends meet, with very archaic +zigzag and linear patterns, which was found in the same way some twenty +years ago, and which seems to me of great interest, as exhibiting a kind +of workmanship akin to the decorations in the Schliemann treasure of +Mycenæ. There is also a rude red earthen pot in the Turkish house on the +Acropolis at Athens, which is decorated with the same kind of lines. It is +very important to point out these resemblances to travellers, for there is +such endless detail in Greek antiquities, and so little has yet been +classified, that every observation may be of use to future students, even +though it may merely serve as a hint for closer research. + +The Stadium and Hippodrome, which lie farther away from the river, and +right under the conical hill called Kronion, have not yet, I believe, been +completely investigated; but they may no doubt offer us some new and +interesting evidences on the management of the famous Olympian games. + +These games were not at all what most people imagine them to be. I will, +therefore, delay the reader with some details concerning this most +interesting side of old Greek life. + +The establishment of games at Olympia was assigned by the poets to +mythical ages, and not only is there a book of the Iliad devoted to +funeral games, but in Pindar’s eleventh Olympic Ode this particular +establishment is made coeval with the labors of Herakles. Whether such +evidence is indeed conclusive may fairly be doubted. The twenty-third book +of the Iliad, which shows traces of being a later portion of the poem, +describes contests widely differing from those at Olympia, and the +mythical founders enumerated by Pausanias (v. 7) are so various and +inconsistent that we can see how obscure the question appeared to Greek +archæologists, even did we not find at the end of the enumeration the +following significant hint:—“But after Oxylus—for Oxylus, too, established +the contest—after his reign it fell out of use till the Olympiad of +Iphitus,” that is to say, till the first Ol., which is dated 776 B. C., +Oxylus being the companion of the Herakleidæ, who obtained Elis for his +portion. Pausanias adds that when Iphitus renewed the contest, men had +forgotten the old arrangements, and only _gradually came to remember +them_, and whenever they recollected any special competition they added it +to the games. This is the excellent man’s theory to account for the +gradual addition of long races, of wrestling, discus throwing, boxing, and +chariot racing, to the original sprint race of about 200 yards, which was +at first the only known competition. + + [Illustration: Kronion Hill, Olympia] + +The facts seem to me rather to point to the late growth of games in +Greece, which may possibly have begun as a local feast at Olympia in the +eighth century, but which only rose to importance during the reign of the +despots throughout Greece, when the aristocrats were prevented from +murdering one another, and compelled to adopt more peaceful pursuits.(120) +It was in the end of the seventh and opening of the sixth centuries that +the Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games show by their successive +establishments the rapid spread of the fashion, and a vast number of local +contests diffused through every district in Greece the taste and the +training for such competitions.(121) These games lasted all through +classical Greek history—the Olympian even down to later times, for they +were not abolished till nearly 1200 years (Ol. 294) had elapsed since +their alleged foundation. But the day of their real greatness was gone +long before. Cicero indignantly repudiates the report that he had gone to +see such games, just as a pious earl, within our memory, repudiated the +report that he had attended the prize-fight between Sayers and Heenan. The +good generals of earlier centuries, such as Alexander the Great and +Philopœmen, set their faces against athletics as bad training for +soldiers. Nay, even earlier, the Spartans, though they could contend with +success in the _pentathlon_, when they choose, did not countenance the +fiercer competitions, as engendering bad feeling between rivals, and, what +was worse, compelling a man to declare himself vanquished, and feel +disgraced. The Athenians also, as soon as the sophists reformed education, +began to rate intellectual wrestling as far superior to any bodily +exercise. Thus the supremacy of Athens and Sparta over the other Greek +cities in the fifth century marked, in my opinion, the real turning-point +in the Greek estimate of athletics, and the fact that the great odes of +Pindar sing the glories of no Spartan, and only twice, very briefly, those +of Athenians, seems to indicate that even then men began to think of more +serious rivalries and more exciting spectacles than the festive meetings +at Olympia. In the very next generation the poets had drifted away from +them, and Euripides despises rather than admires them. The historians take +little notice of them. + +Two circumstances only tended strongly to keep them up. In the first +place, musical competitions (which had always been a part of the Pythian) +and poetical rivalries were added to the sports, which were also made the +occasion of mercantile business, of social meetings, and not seldom of +political agitation. The wise responses of the Delphic oracle were not a +little indebted to the information gathered from all parts of the Hellenic +world at the games, some important celebration of which, whether at Nemea, +the Isthmus, or the greater meetings, occurred every year. + +Secondly, if the art of poetry soon devoted itself to the higher objects +of tragedy, and created for itself the conflict which it celebrated, the +art of sculpture became so closely connected with athletics as to give +them an æsthetic importance of the highest kind all through Greek history. +The ancient habit of setting up ideal statues of victors, which were made +special likenesses if the subject was specially distinguished, supplied +the Greeks with a series of historical monuments and a series of physical +types not elsewhere to be matched, and thus perhaps the most interesting +part of Pausanias’s invaluable guide-book to Greece is his collection of +notes (lib. vi., 1–20) on various statues set up in this way at Olympia, +of which he mentions about two hundred, though he only professes to make a +selection, and though several of the finest had already been carried off +by Roman emperors. + +These things kept alive the athletic meetings in Greece, and even +preserved for them some celebrity. The sacred truce proclaimed during the +national games was of inestimable convenience in times of long and bitter +hostilities, and doubtless enabled friends to meet who had else been +separated for life.(122) But the Panathenaic festivals were better +exponents of fourth century taste in Greece. There music and the drama +predominated. Professional displays became equally admired as a pastime +and despised as a profession; and I have no doubt that the athlete who +spent his life going about from one contest to another in search of +gymnastic triumphs was held in like contempt by Brasidas and by Cleon, by +Xenophon and by Agesilaus. + +In the days of Solon things had been very different. He appointed a reward +of 500 drachmas, then a very large sum, for victors at Olympia, 100 for +those at the Isthmus, and for the others in proportion. Pindar sings as +if, to the aristocrats of Ægina, or the tyrants of Sicily, no higher +earthly prizes were attainable. But we must not transfer these +evidences—the habit or the echo of the sixth century B. C.—to the days of +political and educated Greece, when public opinion altered very +considerably on the advantage and value of physical competition. This +being once understood, I will proceed to a short analysis of the sports, +and will attempt to criticise the methods adopted by the old Greeks to +obtain the highest physical condition, the nature of the competitions they +established, and the results which they appear to have attained. + +The Greeks of Europe seem always to have been aware that physical exercise +was of the greatest importance for health, and consequently for mental +vigor, and the earliest notices we have of education include careful +bodily training. Apart from the games of children, which were much the +same as ours, there was not only _orchestic_ or rhythmical dancing in +graceful figures, in which girls took part, and which corresponded to what +are now vulgarly called _callisthenics_, but also gymnastics, in which +boys were trained to those exercises which they afterward practised as +men. In addition to the _palæstras_, which were kept for the benefit of +boys as a matter of private speculation in Athens, and probably in other +towns, regular _gymnasia_ were established by the civic authorities, and +put under strict supervision as state institutions to prevent either +idleness or immorality.(123) In these gymnasia, where young men came in +the afternoon, stripped, oiled themselves, and then got a coat of dust or +fine sand over the skin, running, wrestling, boxing, jumping, and throwing +with the dart were commonly practised. + +This sort of physical training I conceive to have grown up with the growth +of towns, and with the abandonment of hunting and marauding, owing to the +increase of culture. Among the aristocrats of epical days, as well as +among the Spartans, who lived a village life, surrounded by forest and +mountain, I presume field sports must have been quite the leading +amusement; nor ought competitions in a gymnasium to be compared for one +moment to this far higher and more varied recreation. The contrast still +subsists among us, and our fox-hunting, salmon-fishing, grouse-shooting +country gentleman has the same inestimable advantage over the city +athlete, whose special training for a particular event has a necessary +tendency to lower him into a professional. There is even a danger of some +fine exercises, which seemed common ground for both, such as boating and +cricket, being vulgarized by the invasion of this professional spirit, +which implies such attention to the body as to exclude higher pursuits, +and which rewards by special victories, and by public applause rather than +by the intrinsic pleasure of sport for its own sake. Thus the Spartans not +only objected to boxing and the pankration, in which the defeated +competitor might have to ask for mercy; they even for general purposes +preferred field-sports, for which they had ample opportunities, to any +special competitions in the strength of particular muscles. But in such +places as Athens and its neighborhood, where close cultivation had caused +all wild country and all game to disappear, it was necessary to supply the +place of country sport by the training of the gymnasium. This sort of +exercise naturally led to contests, so that for our purpose we need not +separate _gymnastic_ and _agonistic_, but may use the details preserved +about the latter to tell us how the Greeks practised the former. + +There is no doubt that the pursuit of high muscular condition was early +associated with that of health, and that hygiene and physical training +were soon discovered to be closely allied. Thus Herodicus, a trainer, who +was also an invalid, was said to have discovered from his own case the +method of treating disease by careful diet and regimen, and to have thus +contributed to the advancement of Greek medicine. Pausanias also mentions +(vi. 3, 9) the case of a certain Hysmon, an Elean, who, when a boy, had +rheumatism in his limbs, and on this account practised for the pentathlon, +that he might become a healthy and sound man. His training made him not +only sound, but a celebrated victor. + +It would be very interesting to know in detail what rules the Greeks +prescribed for this purpose. Pausanias tells us (vi. 7, 9) that a certain +Dromeus, who won ten victories in long races at various games (about Ol. +74, 485 B. C.), was the first who thought of eating meat in his training, +for that up to that time the diet of athletes had been cheese from wicker +baskets (_ἐκ τῶν ταλάρων_).(124) It must be remembered that meat diet was +not common among the Greeks, who, like most southern people, lived rather +upon fish, fruit, and vegetables, so that the meat dinners of Bœotia were +censured as heavy and rather disgusting. However, the discovery of Dromeus +was adopted by Greek athletes ever after, and we hear of their compulsory +meals of large quantities of meat, and their consequent sleepiness and +sluggishness in ordinary life, in such a way as to make us believe that +the Greeks had missed the real secret of training, and actually thought +that the more strong nutriment a man could take, the stronger he would +become. The quantity eaten by athletes is universally spoken of as far +exceeding the quantity eaten by ordinary men, not to speak of its heavier +quality. + +The suspicion that, in consequence, Greek athletic performances were not +in speed greater than, if even equal to, our own, is however hard to +verify, as we are without any information as to the time in which their +running feats were performed. They had no watches, or nice measures of +short moments of time, and always ran races merely to see who would win, +not to see in how short a time a given distance could be done. +Nevertheless, as the course was over soft sand, and as the vases picture +them rushing along in spread-eagle fashion, with their arms like the sails +of a windmill—in order to aid the motion of their bodies, as the Germans +explain (after Philostratos)—nay, as we even hear of their having started +shouting, if we can believe such a thing, their time performances in +running must have been decidedly poor.(125) + +In the Olympic games the running, which had originally been the only +competition, always came first. The distance was once up the course, and +seems to have been about 200 yards. After the year 720 B. C. (?) races of +double the course, and long races of about 3000 yards were added;(126) +races in armor were a later addition, and came at the end of the sports. +It is remarkable that among all these varieties hurdle races were unknown, +though the long jump was assigned a special place, and thought very +important. We have several extraordinary anecdotes of endurance in running +long journeys cited throughout Greek history, and even now the modern +inhabitants are remarkable for this quality. I have seen a young man keep +up with a horse ridden at a good pace across rough country for many miles, +and have been told that the Greek postmen are quite wonderful for their +speed and lasting. But this is compatible with very poor performances at +prize meetings. + +There were short races for boys at Olympia of half the course. Eighteen +years was beyond the limit of age for competing, as a story in Pausanias +implies, and a boy who won at the age of twelve was thought wonderfully +young. The same authority tells us of a man who won the sprint race at +four successive meetings, thus keeping up his pace for sixteen years—a +remarkable case. There seems to have been no second prize in any of the +historical games, a natural consequence of the abolition of material +rewards.(127) There was, naturally, a good deal of chance in the course of +the contest, and Pausanias evidently knew cases where the winner was not +the best man. For example, the races were run in heats of four, and if +there was an odd man over, the owner of the last lot drawn could sit down +till the winners of the heats were declared, and then run against them +without any previous fatigue. The limitation of each heat to four +competitors arose, I fancy, from their not wearing colors (or even +clothes), and so not being easily distinguishable. They were accordingly +walked into the arena through an underground passage in the raised side of +the stadium, and the name and country of each proclaimed in order by a +herald. This practice is accurately copied in the present Olympic games +held at Athens every four years. + +The next event was the wrestling match, which is out of fashion at our +prize meetings, though still a favorite sport in many country districts. +There is a very ample terminology for the various tricks and devices in +this contest, and they have been explained with much absurdity by +scholiasts, both ancient and modern. It seems that it was not always +enough to throw your adversary,(128) but that an important part of the +sport was the getting uppermost on the ground; and in no case was a man +declared beaten till he was thrown three times, and was actually laid on +his back. It is not worth while enumerating the various technical terms, +but it may be observed that a good deal of what we should call foul play +was tolerated. There was no kicking, such as there used to be in wrestling +matches in Ireland, because there were no boots, but Pausanias mentions +(vi. 4, 3) a man who did not know how to wrestle, but defeated his +opponents by breaking their fingers. We shall return to this point when +speaking of the _pankration_. + +When the wrestling was over there followed the throwing of the discus and +the dart, and the long leap, but in what order is uncertain; for I cannot +accept as evidence the pentameter line of Simonides, which enumerates the +games of the pentathlon, seeing that it would be impossible to vary them +from the order he gives without great metrical difficulties. Our only safe +guide is, I think, the date of the origin of each kind of competition, as +it was plainly the habit of the Greeks to place the new event next after +those already established. The sole exception to this is in the +establishing of contests for boys, which seem always to have come +immediately before the corresponding competition for men. But we are only +told that both wrestling and the contest of five events (pentathlon) dated +from the 18th Ol. (710 B. C.), and are not informed in what order each was +appointed.(129) + + [Illustration: Entrance to the Stadium, Olympia] + +The discus-throwing was mainly to test distance, but the dart-throwing to +strike a mark. The discus was either of stone or of metal, and was very +heavy. I infer from the attitude of Myron’s discobolus, as seen in our +copies, that it was thrown without a preliminary run, and rather hurled +standing. This contest is to be compared with our hammer-throwing, or +putting of weights. We are, however, without any accurate information +either as to the average weight of the discus, or the average distance +which a good man could throw it. There is, indeed, one ancient specimen +extant, which was found at Ægina, and is now preserved among the bronze +antiquities at Munich. It is about eight inches in diameter, and something +under four pounds in weight. But there seem to have been three sizes of +discus, according as they were intended for boys, for grown youths +(_ἀγένειοι_), or for men, and it is not certain to which class this discus +belongs. Philostratos mentions one hundred cubits as a fine throw, but in +such a way as to make it doubtful whether he is not talking at random and +in round numbers. Similarly, we have no details concerning the javelin +contest. But I suspect that here, if anywhere, the Greeks could do what we +cannot; for the savages of to-day, who use spears, can throw them with a +force and accuracy which is to us quite surprising. It is reported by +trustworthy travellers that a Kaffir who comes suddenly on game will put a +spear right into an antelope at ten or twelve yards’ distance by an +underhand chuck, without taking time to raise his arm. This is beyond the +ability of any English athlete, however trained. + +The question of the long jump is more interesting, as it still forms a +part of our contests. It is not certain whether the old Greeks practised +the running jump, or the high jump, for we never hear of a preliminary +start, or of any difficulty about “breaking trig,” as people now call it. +Furthermore, an extant epigram on a celebrated athlete, Phayllus of +Kroton, asserts that he jumped clean over the prepared ground (which was +broken with a spade) on to the hard ground beyond—a distance of forty-nine +feet. We cannot, of course, though some German professors believe it, +credit this feat, if it were a single long jump, yet we can find no trace +of anything like a hop, step, and jump, so that it seems wonderful how +such an absurdity should be gravely repeated in an epigram. But the +exploit became proverbial, and to leap _ὑπὲρ τὰ σκάμματα_ (beyond the +digging) was a constantly repeated phrase. + +The length of Phayllus’s leap would be even more incredible if the +competition was in a standing jump, and yet the figures of athletes on +vases which I have seen strongly favor this supposition. They are +represented not as running, but as standing and swinging the dumb-bells or +_ἁλτῆρες_ (jumpers), which were always used by the older Greeks, as +assisting them materially in increasing their distance. I can imagine this +being the case in a standing jump where a man rose with the forward swing +of the weights, but in a running jump the carrying of the weights must +surely impede rather than assist him. I know that Irish peasants, who take +off very heavy boots to jump, often carry one in each hand, and throw them +backward violently as they rise from the ground; but this principle is not +admitted so far as I know, by any scientific authority, as of the +slightest assistance. + +We hear of no vaulting or jumping with a pole, so that in fact the leap +seems an isolated contest, and of little interest except as determining +one of the events of the pentathlon, in which a man must win three in +order to be declared victor. This pentathlon, as comprising gentlemanly +exercise without much brutality, was especially patronized by the +Spartans. It was attempted for boys, but immediately abandoned, the strain +being thought excessive for growing constitutions. + +There remain the two severest and most objectionable sports—boxing and the +pankration. The former came first (Ol. 23), the other test of strength not +being admitted till Ol. 33 (650 B. C.). But one special occasion is +mentioned when a champion, who was competing in both, persuaded the judges +to change the order, that he might not have to contend against a specially +famous antagonist when already wounded and bruised. For boxing was, even +from Homeric times, a very dangerous and bloody amusement, in which the +vanquished were always severely punished. The Greeks were not content with +naked fists, but always used a special apparatus, called _ἱμάντες_, which +consisted at first of a weight carried in the hand, and fastened by thongs +of hide round the hand and wrist. But this ancient cestus came to be +called the gentle kind (_μειλίχαι_) when a later and more brutal invention +introduced “sharp thongs on the wrist,” and probably increased the weight +of the instrument. The successful boxer in the Iliad (Epeius) confesses +that he is a bad warrior, though he is the acknowledged champion in his +own line; but evidently this sport was not highly esteemed in epic days. +In historical times it seems to have been more favored. There was no doubt +a great deal of skill required for it, but I think the body of the +evidence goes to prove that the Greeks did not box on sound principles, +and that any prominent member of the P. R. with his naked fists would have +easily settled any armed champion of Olympian fame. Here are my reasons: + +The principle of increasing the weight of the fist as much as possible is +only to be explained by the habit of dealing swinging or downward strokes, +and is incompatible with the true method of striking straight home +quickly, and giving weight to the stroke by sending the whole body with +it. In Vergil’s description a boxer is even described getting up on +tip-toe to strike his adversary on the top of the head—a ridiculous +manœuvre, which must make his instant ruin certain, if his opponent knew +the first elements of the art. That this downward stroke was used appears +also from the anecdote in Pausanias, where a father seeing his son, who +was ploughing, drive in the share which had fallen out with strokes of his +fist, without a hammer, immediately entered him for the boys’ boxing match +at Olympia. The lad got roughly handled from want of skill, and seemed +likely to lose, when the father called out: “Boy, give him the plough +stroke!” and so encouraged him that he forthwith knocked his adversary out +of time. + +It is almost conclusive as to the swinging stroke that throughout +antiquity a boxer was not known as a man with his nose broken, but as a +man _with his ears crushed_. Vergil even speaks of their receiving blows +on the back. Against all this there are only two pieces of evidence—one of +them incredible—in favor of the straight home stroke. In the fight between +Pollux and Amykos, described by Theocritus (_Idyll_ 22), Pollux strikes +his man on the left temple, _καὶ ἐπέμπεσεν ὤμῳ_, which may mean, “and +follows up the stroke from the shoulder.” But this is doubtful. The other +is the story of Pausanias (viii. 40, 3), that when Kreugas and Damoxenos +boxed till evening, and neither could hit the other, they at last agreed +to receive stroke about, and after Kreugas had dealt Damoxenos one on the +head, the latter told him to hold up his hand,(130) and then drove his +fingers right into Kreugas, beneath the ribs, and pulled out his entrails. +Kreugas of course died on the spot, but was crowned as victor, on the +ground that Damoxenos had broken his agreement of striking _one_ blow in +turn, by striking him with five separate fingers! But this curious +decision was only one of many in which a boxing competitor was +disqualified for having fought with the intention of maiming his +antagonist. + +Little need be added about the pankration, which combined boxing and +wrestling, and permitted every sort of physical violence except biting. In +this contest a mere fall did not end the affair, as might happen in +wrestling, but the conflict was always continued on the ground, and often +ended in one of the combatants being actually choked, or having his +fingers and toes broken. One man, Arrachion, at the last gasp, broke his +adversary’s toe, and made him give in, at the moment he was himself dying +of strangulation. Such contests were not to the credit either of the +humanity or of the good taste of the Greeks, and would not be tolerated +even in the lowest of our prize rings. + +I will conclude this sketch by giving some account of the general +management of the prize meetings. + +There was no want of excitement and of circumstance about them. In the +case of the four great meetings there was even a public truce proclaimed, +and the competitors and visitors were guaranteed a safe journey to visit +them and to return to their homes. The umpires at the Olympic games were +chosen ten months before at Elis, and seem to have numbered one for each +clan, varying through Greek history from two to twelve, but finally fixed +at ten. They were called both here and at the other great games +_Ἑλλανοδίκαι_, judges of the Hellenes, in recognition of their national +character. Three superintended the pentathlon, three the horse races, and +the rest the other games. They had to reside together in a public +building, and undergo strict training in all the details of their +business, in which they were assisted by heralds, trumpeters, stewards, +etc. Their office was looked upon as of much dignity and importance. + +When the great day came, they sat in purple robes in the semicircular end +of the racecourse—a piece of splendor which the modern Greeks imitate by +dressing the judges of the new Olympic games in full evening dress and +white kid gloves. The effect even now with neatly-clothed candidates is +striking enough; what must it have been when a row of judges in purple +looked on solemnly at a pair of men dressed in oil and dust—_i. e._, in +mud—wrestling or rolling upon the ground? The crowd cheered and shouted as +it now does. Pausanias mentions a number of cases where competitors were +disqualified for unfairness, and in most of them the man’s city took up +the quarrel, which became quite a public matter; but at the games the +decision was final, nor do we hear of a case where it was afterward +reversed.(131) They were also obliged to exact beforehand from each +candidate an oath that he was of pure Hellenic parentage, that he had not +taken, or would not take, any unfair advantage, and that he had spent ten +months in strict training. This last rule I do not believe. It is absurd +in itself, and is contradicted by such anecdotes as that of the sturdy +plough-boy quoted above, and still more directly by the remark of +Philostratos (_Γυμν._ 38), who ridicules any inquiry into the morals or +training of an athlete by the judges. Its only meaning could have been to +exclude random candidates, if the number was excessive, and in later times +some such regulation may have subsisted, but I do not accept it for the +good classical days. There is the case of a boy being rejected for looking +too young and weak, and winning in the next Olympiad among the men, But in +another instance the competitor disqualified (for unfairness) went mad +with disappointment. Aristotle notes that it was the rarest possible +occurrence for a boy champion to turn out successful among the full-grown +athletes, but Pausanias seems to contradict him, a fair number of cases +being cited among the selection which he makes. + +There is yet one unpleasant feature to be noted, which has disappeared +from our sports. Several allusions make it plain that the vanquished, even +vanquished boys, were regarded as fit subjects for jibe and ridicule, and +that they sneaked home by lanes and backways. When the most ideal account +which we have of the games gives us this information, we cannot hesitate +to accept it as probably a prominent feature, which is, moreover, +thoroughly consistent with the character of the old Greeks as I conceive +it.(132) + +The general conclusion to which all these details lead us is this, that +with all the care and with all the pomp expended on Greek athletic +meetings, despite the exaggerated fame attained by victors, and the solid +rewards both of money and of privileges accorded them by their grateful +country, the results attained physically seem to have been inferior to +those of English athletes. There was, moreover, an element of brutality in +them, which is very shocking to modern notions: and not all the ideal +splendor of Pindar’s praises, or of Pythagoras’s art, can raise the Greek +pankratiast as an athlete much above the level of a modern prize-fighter. +But, nevertheless, by the aid of their monumental statues, their splendid +lyric poetry, and the many literary and musical contests which were +combined with the gymnastic, the Greeks contrived, as usual, to raise very +common things to a great national manifestation of culture which we cannot +hope to equal. + +For common they were, and very human, in the strictest sense. Dry-as-dust +scholars would have us believe that the odes of Pindar give a complete +picture of these games; as if all the booths about the course had not been +filled with idlers, pleasure-mongers, and the scum of Greek society! +Tumbling, thimble-rigging, and fortune-telling, along with love-making and +trading, made Olympia a scene not unlike the Derby. When the drinking +parties of young men began in the evening, there may even have been a +_soupçon_ of Donnybrook Fair about it, but that the committee of +management were probably strict in their discipline. From the Isthmian +games the successful athletes, with their training over, retired, as most +athletes do, to the relaxation afforded by city amusements. One can +imagine how amply Corinth provided for the outburst of liberty after the +long and arduous subjection of physical training. + +But all these things are perhaps justly forgotten, and it is ungrateful to +revive them from oblivion. The dust and dross of human conflict, the blood +and the gall, the pain and the revenge—all this was laid aside like the +athlete’s dress, and could not hide the glory of his naked strength and +his iron endurance. The idleness and vanity of human admiration have +vanished with the motley crowd, and have left us free to study the deeper +beauty of human vigor with the sculptor, and the spiritual secrets of its +hereditary origin with the poet. Thus Greek gymnastic, with all its +defects—perhaps even with its absurdities—has done what has never been +even the dream of its modern sister; it stimulated the greatest artists +and the highest intellects in society, and through them ennobled and +purified public taste and public morals. + + + +When we left Olympia, and began to ascend the course of the Alpheus, the +valley narrowed to the broad bed of the stream. The way leads now along +the shady slopes high over the river, now down in the sandy flats left +bare in the summer season. There are curious zones of vegetation +distinctly marked along the course of the valley. On the river bank, and +in the little islands formed by the stream, are laurels, myrtles, and +great plane-trees. On the steep and rocky slopes are thick coverts of +mastich, arbutus, dwarf-holly, and other evergreens which love to clasp +the rocks with their roots; and they are all knit together by great +creeping plants, the wild vine, the convolvulus, and many that are new and +nameless to the northern stranger. On the heights, rearing their great +tops against the sky, are huge pine-trees, isolated and still tattered +with the winter storms. + +“Ces adieux à l’Elide,” adds M. Beulé, “laissent une pure et vive +impression. Rarement la nature se trouve en si parfaite harmonie avec les +souvenirs. On dirait un théâtre éternel, toujours prêt pour les joies +pacifiques, toujours paré pour les fêtes, et qui, depuis dix-huit siècles, +attend ses acteurs qui ont disparu.” + + [Illustration: The Valley of the Alpheus] + +Travellers going from Olympia northward either go round by carriage +through Elis to Patras—a drive of two days—or by Kalavryta to Megaspilion, +and thence to Vostitza, thus avoiding the great Alps of Olonos (as +Erymanthus is now called) and Chelmos, which are among the highest and +most picturesque in Greece. After my last visit to Olympia (1884) I was so +tantalized by the perpetual view of the snowy crest of Olonos, that I +determined to attempt a new route, not known to any of the +guide-books,(133) and cross over the mountain, as directly as I could, +from Olympia to Patras. It was easy for me to carry out this plan, being +accompanied by a young Greek antiquarian, M. Castroménos, and by Dr. +Purgold from Olympia, who had travelled through most of Greece, but was as +anxious as I was to try this new route. + +So we started on a beautiful spring morning, up the valley of the Kladeos, +with all the trees bursting into leaf and blossom, and the birds singing +their hymns of delight. The way was wooded, and led up through narrow and +steep, but not difficult glens, until, on a far higher level, we came in +three or four hours to the village of Lala, once an important Turkish +fort. Here was a higher plain, from which we began to see the plan of that +vast complex of mountains which form the boundaries of the Old Elis, +Achaia, and Arcadia, and which have so often been the scenes of difficult +campaigns. From Lala, where we breakfasted, we crossed a sudden deep +valley, and found ourselves, on regaining the higher level, in a vast oak +forest, unlike anything I had yet seen in Greece. The trees had been +undisturbed for centuries, and the forest was even avoided in summer by +the natives, on account of the many poisonous snakes which hid in the deep +layers of dead leaves. In that high country the oaks were just turning +pink with their new buds, and not a green leaf was to be seen, so we could +trust to the winter sleep of the snakes, while we turned aside again and +again from our path, to the great perplexity of the muleteers, to dig up +wood anemones of all colors, pale blue, pink, deep crimson, scarlet, +snowy-white, which showed brilliantly on the brown oak-leaf carpet. + +We spent at least two hours in riding through this forest, and then we +rose higher and higher, passing along the upper edge of deep glens, with +rushing streams far beneath us. The most beautiful point was one from +which we looked down a vast straight glen of some fifteen miles, almost as +deep as a cañon, with the silvery Erymanthus river pursuing its furious +course so directly as to be clearly visible all the way. But though +ascending the river from this point, where its course comes suddenly round +a corner, the upper country was no longer wooded, but bleak, like most of +the Alpine Arcadia, a country of dire winters and great hardship to the +population, who till an unwilling soil on the steep slopes of giant +precipices. + +We were much tempted to turn up another tortuous glen to the hidden nest +of Divri, where the Greeks found refuge from Turkish prosecution in the +great war—a place so concealed, and so difficult of access, that an armed +force has never penetrated there. But the uncertainties of our route were +too many to admit of these episodes, so we hurried on to reach the Kahn of +Tripotamo in the evening—a resting-place which suggested to us strongly +the inn where St. John is reported to have slept in the apocryphal _Acts_ +of his life. Being very tired with preaching and travelling, he found it +so impossible to share the room with the bugs, that he besought them in +touching language to allow him to sleep; practically in virtue of his +apostolic authority, he ordered them out of the house. They all obeyed, +but when in the morning the apostle and his companions found them waiting +patiently outside the door, he was so moved by their consideration for +him, that he permitted them to return and infest the house. + +Nor were the bugs perhaps the worst. Being awakened by a crunching noise +in the night, I perceived that a party of cats had come in to finish our +supper for us, and when startled by a flying boot, they made our beds and +bodies the stepping stones for a leap to the rafters, and out through a +large hole in the roof. By and by I was aroused by the splashing of cold +water in my face, and found that a heavy shower had come on, and was +pouring through the cats’ passage. So I put up my umbrella in bed till the +shower was over—the only time I felt rain during the whole of that voyage. +I notice that Miss Agnes Smith, who travelled through these parts in May, +1883, and had very similar experiences at Tripotamo, was wet through +almost every day. We did not see more than two showers, and were moreover +so fortunate as to have perfectly calm days whenever we were crossing high +passes, though in general the breeze was so strong as to be almost stormy +in the valleys. + +Next morning we followed the river up to the neighboring site of Psophis, +so picturesquely described by Polybius in his account of Philip V., and +his campaigns in Elis and Triphylia.(134) This town, regarded as the +frontier-town of Elis, Arcadia, and Achaia, would well repay an +enterprising excavator. The description of Polybius can be verified +without difficulty, and ruins are still visible. We found out from a +solitary traveller that our way turned to the north, up one of the +affluents of the Erymanthus, and so we ascended in company with this +worthy man to a village (Lechouri) under the highest precipices of Olonos. +He was full of the curiosity of a Greek peasant—Who were we, where did we +come from, were we married, had we children, how many, what was our +income, was it from land, was it paid by the State, could we be dismissed +by the Government, were we going to write about Greece, what would we say, +etc., etc.? Such was the conversation to which we submitted for the sake +of his guidance. But at last it seemed as if our way was actually at an +end, and we had come into an impassable _cul-de-sac_. Perpendicular walls +of rock surrounded us on all sides except where we had entered by +constantly fording the stream, or skirting along its edge. Was it possible +that the curiosity of our fellow-traveller had betrayed him into leading +us up this valley to the village whither he himself was bound? We sought +anxiously for the answer, when he showed us a narrow strip of dark +pine-trees coming down from above, in form like a little torrent, and so +reaching with a narrow thread of green to the head of the valley. This was +our pass, the pine-trees with their roots and stems made a zigzag path up +the almost perpendicular wall possible, and so we wended our way up with +infinite turnings, walking or rather climbing for safety’s sake, and to +rest the laboring mules. Often as I had before attempted steep ascents +with horses in Greece, I never saw anything so astonishing as this. + +When we had reached the top we found ourselves on a narrow saddle, with +snowy heights close to us on both sides, the highest ridge of Olonos +facing us a few miles away, and a great pine forest reaching down on the +northern side, whither our descent was to lead us. About us were still +great patches of snow, and in them were blowing the crocus and the +cyclamen, with deep blue scilla. Far away to the south reached, in a great +panorama, the mountains of Arcadia, and even beyond them the highest tops +of Messene and Laconia were plainly visible. The air was clear, the day +was perfectly fine and calm. To the north the chain of Erymanthus still +hid from us the far distance. For a long time, while our muleteers slept +and the mules and ponies rested, we sat wondering at the great view. The +barometer indicated that we were at a height of about 5500 feet. The +freshness and purity of the atmosphere was such that no thought of hunger +and fatigue could mar our perfect enjoyment. In the evening, descending +through gloomy pines and dazzling snow, we reached the village of Hagios +Vlasos, where the song of countless nightingales beguiled the hours of the +night, for here too sleep was not easily obtained. + +The journey from this point to Patras, which we accomplished in twelve +hours, is not so interesting, and the traveller who tries it now had +better telegraph for a carriage to meet him as far as possible on the way. +By this time a good road is finished for many miles, and the tedium and +heat of the plain, as you approach Patras, are very trying. But with this +help, I think no journey in all Greece so well worth attempting, and of +course it can be accomplished in either direction. + +Patras is indeed an excellent place for a starting-point. Apart from the +route just described, you can go by boat to Vostitza, and thence to +Megaspilion. There are, moreover, splendid alpine ascents to be made for +those who like such work, to the summits of Chelmos and Olonos +(Erymanthus), and this is best done from Patras. Moreover, Patras is +itself a most lovely place, commanding a noble view of the coast and +mountains of Ætolia across the narrow fiord, as well as of the Ionian +islands to the N. W. Right opposite is the ever-interesting site of +Missolonghi. Last, and perhaps not least, there is at Patras a most +respectable inn, indeed I should call it a hotel,(135) where the traveller +who has spent ten days of rough outing in Peloponnesus will find a haven +of rest and comfort. From here steamers will carry him to Athens round the +coast, or home to Italy. + + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + + ARCADIA—ANDRITZENA—BASSÆ—MEGALOPOLIS—TRIPOLITZA. + + +There is no name in Greece which raises in the mind of the ordinary reader +more pleasing and more definite ideas than the name Arcadia. It has become +indissolubly connected with the charms of pastoral ease and rural +simplicity. The sound of the shepherd’s pipe and the maiden’s laughter, +the rustling of shady trees, the murmuring of gentle fountains, the +bleating of lambs and the lowing of oxen—these are the images of peace and +plenty which the poets have gathered about that ideal retreat. There are +none more historically false, more unfounded in the real nature and aspect +of the country, and more opposed to the sentiment of the ancients. Rugged +mountains and gloomy defiles, a harsh and wintry climate, a poor and +barren soil, tilled with infinite patience; a home that exiled its +children to seek bread at the risk of their blood, a climate more opposed +to intelligence and to culture than even Bœotian fogs, a safe retreat of +bears and wolves—this is the Arcadia of old Greek history. Politically it +has no weight whatever till the days of Epaminondas, and the foundation of +Megalopolis. Intellectually, its rise is even later, and it takes no +national part in the great march of literature from Homer to +Menander.(136) It was only famed for the marketable valor of its hardy +mountaineers, of whom the Tegeans had held their own even against the +power of Sparta, and obtained an honorable place in her army. It was also +noted for rude and primitive cults, of which later men praised the +simplicity and homely piety—at times also, the stern gloominess, which did +not turn from the offering of human blood. + +I must remind the reader that rural beauty among the ancients, as well as +among the Renaissance visions of an imaginary Arcadia as a rustic +paradise, by no means included the wild picturesqueness which we admire in +beetling cliffs and raging torrents. These were inhospitable and savage to +the Greeks. It was the gentle slope, the rich pasture, the placid river +framed in deep foliage—it was, in fact, landscape-scenery like the valleys +of the Thames, or about the gray abbeys of Yorkshire, which satisfied +their notion of perfect landscape; and in this the men of the Renaissance +were perfectly agreed with them. + +How, then, did the false notion of our Arcadia spring up in modern Europe? +How is it that even our daily papers assume this sense, and know it to be +intelligible to the most vulgar public? The history of the change from the +historical to the poetical conception is very curious, and worth the +trouble of explaining, especially as we find it assumed in many books, but +accounted for in none. + +It appears that from the oldest days the worship of Pan had its home in +Arcadia, particularly about Mount Mænalus, and that it was already ancient +when it was brought to Athens at the time of the Persian Wars. The extant +Hymn to Pan, among the Homeric Hymns, which may have been composed shortly +after that date, is very remarkable for its idyllic and picturesque tone, +and shows that with this worship of Pan were early associated those trains +of nymphs and rustic gods, with their piping and dance, which inspired +Praxiteles’s inimitable Faun. These images are even transferred by +Euripides to the Acropolis, where he describes the daughters of Aglauros +dancing on the sward, while Pan is playing his pipe in the grotto +underneath (_Ion_, vv. 492, _sqq._). Such facts seem to show a gentle and +poetical element in the stern and gloomy mountaineers, who lived, like the +Swiss of our day, in a perpetual struggle with nature, and were all their +lives harassed with toil and saddened with thankless fatigue. This +conclusion is sustained by the evidence of a far later witness, Polybius, +who in his fourth book mentions the strictness with which the Arcadians +insisted upon an education in music, as necessary to soften the harshness +and wildness of their life. He even maintains that the savagery of one +town (Kynætha) was caused by a neglect of this salutary precaution. So it +happens that, although Theocritus lays his pastoral scenes in the uplands +of Sicily, and the later pastoral romances, such as the exquisite _Daphnis +and Chloe_, are particularly associated with the voluptuous Lesbos, +Vergil, in several of his _Eclogues_, makes allusion to the musical talent +of Arcadian shepherds, and in his tenth brings the unhappy Gallus into +direct relation to Arcadia in connection with the worship of Pan on +Mænalus. But this prominent feature in Vergil—borrowed, I suppose, from +some Greek poet, though I know not from whom—bore no immediate fruit. His +Roman imitators, Calpurnius and Nemesianus, make no mention of Arcadia, +and if they had, their works were not unearthed till the year 1534, when +the poetical Arcadia had been already, as I shall show, created. There +seems no hint of the idea in early Italian poetry;(137) for according to +the histories of mediæval literature, the pastoral romance did not +originate until the very end of the fourteenth century, with the +Portuguese Ribeyro, and he lays all the scenes of his idylls not in a +foreign country, but in Portugal, his own home. Thus we reach the year +1500 without any trace of a poetical Arcadia. But at that very time it was +being created by the single work of a single man. The celebrated Jacopo +Sannazaro, known by the title of Actius Sincerus in the affected society +of literary Naples, exiled himself from that city in consequence of a deep +and unrequited passion. He lay concealed for a long time, it is said, in +the wilds of France, possibly in Egypt, but certainly not in Greece, and +immortalized his grief in a pastoral medley of prose description and +idyllic complaint called _Arcadia_,(138) and suggested, I believe, by the +Gallus of Vergil. Though the learned and classical author despised this +work in comparison with his heroic poem on the Conception of the Virgin +Mary, the public of the day thought differently. Appearing in 1502, the +_Arcadia_ of Sannazaro went through sixty editions during the century, and +so this single book created that imaginary home of innocence and grace +which has ever since been attached to the name. Its occurrence +henceforward is so frequent as to require no further illustration in this +place. + +But let us turn from this poetical and imaginary country to the real +land—from Arcádia to Arcadía, as it is called by the real inhabitants. As +everybody knows, this Arcadia is the alpine centre of the Morea, bristling +with mountain chains, which reach their highest points in the great bar of +Erymanthus, to the N. W., in the lonely peak of “Cyllene hoar,” to the +N. E., in the less conspicuous, but far more sacred Lykæon, to the S. W., +and finally, in the serrated Taygetus to the S. E. These four are the +angles, as it were, of a quadrilateral enclosing Arcadia. Yet these are +but the greatest among chains of great mountains, which seem to traverse +the country in all directions, and are not easily distinguished, or +separated into any connected system.(139) They are nevertheless +interrupted, as we found, by two fine oval plains—both stretching north +and south, both surrounded with a beautiful panorama of mountains, and +both, of course, the seats of the old culture, such as it was in Arcadia. +That which is southerly and westerly, and from which the rivers still flow +into the Alpheus and the western sea,(140) is guarded at its south end by +Megalopolis. That which is more east, which is higher in level, and +separated from the former by the bleak bar of Mænalus, is the plain of +Mantinea and Tegea, now represented by the important town of Tripolitza. +These two parallel plains give some plan and system to the confusion of +mountains which cover the ordinary maps of Arcadia. + +The passage from Elis into Arcadia is nowhere marked by any natural +boundary. You ride up the valley of the Alpheus, crossing constantly the +streams, great and small, which come flowing into it from the spurs of +Erymanthus, from northern Arcadia, and the adjoining highlands of Elis. +The stream called Erymanthus, which is the old boundary, though called a +_λάβρος ποταμὸς_ by Polybius, does not strike the traveller here as it +does higher up in its course, and the only other confluent water worth +mentioning is the Ladon, which meets the Alpheus at some hours’ ride above +Olympia, but which counted of old as a river of Arcadia. This Ladon seems +to have specially struck Pausanias with its beauty, as he returns to it +several times; and later observers, such as M. Beulé, have corroborated +him, saying that on the banks of this river you may indeed find the +features of the poetical Arcadia—grassy slopes and great shady trees, +without the defiles and precipices so common in the inner country. The +Ladon and its valley in fact, though in Arcadia, partake of the character +of the neighboring Elis: it is the outer boundary of the real Alps. The +Alpheus, on the contrary, which is a broad, peaceful stream when it passes +into tamer country, comes through the wildest part of central Arcadia; and +if you follow its course upward, will lead you first past the ancient site +of Heræa, a few miles above the Ladon, and then through rugged and savage +mountains, till you at last ascend to the valley of Megalopolis, round +which it winds in a great curve. We did not follow this route, nor did we +ascend the valley of the Ladon, in spite of its reputed beauties. For we +were bound for Andritzena, a ride of eleven hours from Olympia, which lay +to the S. E., and within easy distance of the temple of Bassæ. We +therefore forded the Alpheus, just above the confluence of the Ladon, +where the two rivers form a great delta of sand, and the stream is broad +and comparatively shallow. The banks were clothed with brushwood, and +above it with a green forest, along the grassy margin of which scarlet +anemones were scattered like our primroses among the stems of the trees, +and varied with their brightness the mosses and hoary lichen. From this +point onward we began to cross narrow defiles, and climb up steeps which +seemed impossible to any horse or mule. We entered secluded mountain +valleys, where the inhabitants appeared to live apart from all the world, +and looked with wonder upon the sudden stranger. We rested beside tumbling +rivers, rushing from great wooded mountain sides, which stood up beside us +like walls of waving green. The snow had disappeared from these wild +valleys but a few weeks, and yet even the later trees were already clothed +with that yellow and russet brown which is not only the faded remnant, but +also the forerunner, of the summer green. And down by the river’s side the +gray fig trees were putting forth great tufts at the end of every branch, +while the pear trees were showering their snowy blossoms upon the stream. +But in one respect, all this lonely solitude showed a marked contrast to +the wilds of northern Greece. Every inch of available ground was +cultivated; all the steep hill sides were terraced in ridges with infinite +labor; the ravages of the winter’s torrent were being actively repaired. +There was indeed in some sense a solitude. No idlers or wanderers were to +be seen on the way. But the careful cultivation of all the country showed +that there was not only population, but a thrifty and careful population. +All the villages seemed encumbered with the remains of recent building; +for almost all the houses were new, or erected within very few years. The +whole of this alpine district seemed happy and prosperous. This, say the +Greeks, is the result of its remoteness from the Turkish frontier, its +almost insular position—in fact, of its being under undisturbed Hellenic +rule. No bandit has been heard of in Arcadia since the year 1847. Life and +property are, I should think, more secure than in any part of England. +Morals are remarkably pure. If all Greece were occupied in this way by a +contented and industrious peasantry, undisturbed by ambition from within +or violence from without, the kingdom must soon become rich and +prosperous. It was not uncommon to find in these valleys two or three +secluded homesteads, miles from any village. This is the surest sign both +of outward security and of inward thrift, when people cut themselves off +from society for the sake of ample room and good return for their +industry. Late in the evening we entered the steep streets of the +irregular but considerable town of Andritzena. + +We experienced in this place some of the rudeness of Greek travel. As the +party was too large to be accommodated in a private house, we sought the +shelter of a _ξενοδοχεῖον_, as it is still called—an inn with no chairs, +no beds, one tiny table, and about two spoons and forks. We were in fact +lodged within four bare walls, with a balcony outside the room, and slept +upon rugs laid on the floor. The people were very civil and honest—in this +a great contrast to the inn at Tripolitza, of which I shall speak in due +time—and were, moreover, considerably inconvenienced by our arrival during +the Passion Week of the Greek Church, when there is hardly anything eaten. +There was no meat, of course, in the town. But this was not all. No form +of milk, cheese, or curds, is allowed during this fast. The people live on +black bread, olives, and hard-boiled eggs. They are wholly given up to +their processions and services; they are ready to think of nothing else. +Thus we came not only to a place scantily supplied, but at the scantiest +moment of the year. This is a fact of great importance to travellers in +Greece, and one not mentioned, I think, in the guide-books. Without making +careful provision beforehand by telegraph, no one should venture into the +highlands of Greece during this very Holy Week, and it should be +remembered that it does not coincide with the Passion or Holy Week of the +Latin Church. It was just ten days later on this occasion; so that, after +having suffered some hardships from this unforeseen cause in remote parts +of Italy, we travelled into the same difficulty in Greece. But I must say +that a Greek fast is a very different thing from the mild and human +fasting of the Roman Catholic Church. We should have been well-nigh +starved had I not appealed, as was my wont, to the physician, _ὁ κύριος +ἴατρος_, of the town, a very amiable and cultivated man, and really +educated in the most philosophical views of modern medicine. He was well +acquainted, for example, with the clinical practice of the Dublin school, +as exemplified in the works of Graves and Stokes. It seems to me, from a +comparison of many instances, that in this matter of medicine, as indeed +generally, the Greeks show remarkable intelligence and enterprise as +compared with the nations around them. They study in the great centres of +European thought. They know the more important languages in which this +science can be pursued. A traveller taken ill in the remote valleys of +Arcadia would receive far safer and better treatment than would be his lot +in most parts of Italy. + +The gentleman to whom I appealed in this case did all he could to save us +from starvation. He procured for us excellent fresh curds. He obtained us +the promise of meat from the mountains. He came to visit us, and tell us +what we required to know of the neighborhood. Thus we were able to spend +the earlier portion of the night in comparative comfort. But, as might +have been expected, when the hour for sleep had arrived our real +difficulties began. I was protected by a bottle of spirits of camphor, +with which my rugs and person were sufficiently scented to make me an +object of aversion to my assailants. But the rest of the party were not so +fortunate. It was, in fact, rather an agreeable diversion, when we were +roused, or rather, perhaps, distracted, shortly after midnight, by +piercing yells from a number of children, who seemed to be slowly +approaching our street. + +On looking out a very curious scene presented itself. All the little +children were coming in slow procession, each with a candle in its hand, +and shouting _Kyrie Eleison_ at the top of its voice. After the children +came the women and the older men (I fancy many of the younger men were +absent), also with candles, and in the midst a sort of small bier, with an +image of the dead Christ laid out upon it, decked with tinsel and flowers, +and surrounded with lights. Along with it came priests in their robes, +singing in gruff bass some sort of Litany. The whole procession adjourned +to the church of the town, where the women went to a separate gallery, the +men gathered in the body of the building, and a guard of soldiers with +fixed bayonets stood around the bier of their Christ. Though the +congregation seemed very devout, and many of them in tears at the +sufferings of their Saviour, they nevertheless all turned round to look at +the strangers who chanced to witness their devotions. To those who come +from without, and from a different cult, and see the service of a strange +nation in a strange tongue, the mesquin externals are the first striking +point, and we wonder how deep devotion and true piety can exist along with +what is apparently mean and even grotesque. And yet it is in these poor +and shabby services, it is with this neglect or insouciance of detail, +that purer faith and better morals are found than in the gorgeous pageants +and stately ceremonies of metropolitan cathedrals. + +We rose in the morning eager to start on our three hours’ ride to Bassæ, +where Ictinus had built his famous but inaccessible temple to Apollo the +Helper. The temple is very usually called the temple of Phigalía, and its +friezes are called Phigalian, I think, in the British Museum. This is so +far true that it was built for and managed by the people of Phigalía. But +the town was a considerable distance off,—according to Pausanias forty +stadia, or about five miles,—and he tells us they built the temple at a +place called Bassæ (the glades), near the summit of Mount Kotilion. +Accordingly, it ought to be consistently called the temple at or of Bassæ. + +The morning, as is not unusual in these Alps, was lowering and gloomy, and +as we and our patient mules climbed up a steep ascent out of the town, the +rain began to fall in great threatening drops. But we would not be +daunted. The way led among gaunt and naked mountain sides, and often up +the bed of winter torrents. The lateness of the spring, for the snow was +now hardly gone, added to the gloom; the summer shrubs and the summer +grass were not yet green, and the country retained most of its wintry +bleakness. Now and then there met us in the solitude a shepherd coming +from the mountains, covered in his white woollen cowl, and with a lamb of +the same soft dull color upon his shoulders. It was the day of preparation +for the Easter feast, and the lamb was being brought by this picturesque +shepherd, not to the fold, but to the slaughter. Yet there was a strange +and fascinating suggestion in the serious face surrounded by its symphony +of white, in the wilderness around, in the helpless patience of the +animal, all framed in a background of gray mist, and dripping with +abundant rain. As we wound our way through the mountains we came to glens +of richer color and friendlier aspect. The sound of merry boys and baying +dogs reached up to us from below as we skirted far up along the steep +sides, still seeking a higher and higher level. Here the primrose and +violet took the place of the scarlet and the purple anemone, and cheered +us with the sight of northern flowers, and with the fairest produce of a +northern spring. + +At last we attained a weird country, in which the ground was bare, save +where some sheltered and sunny spot showed bunches of very tall violets, +hanging over in tufts, rare purple anemones, and here and there a great +full iris; yet these patches were so exceptional as to make a strong +contrast with the brown soil. But the main features were single oak-trees +with pollarded tops and gnarled branches, which stood about all over these +lofty slopes, and gave them a melancholy and dilapidated aspect. They +showed no mark of spring, no shoot or budding leaf, but the russet brown +rags of last year’s clothing hung here and there upon the branches. These +wintry signs, the gloomy mist, and the insisting rain gave us the feeling +of chill October. And yet the weird oaks, with their branches tortured as +it were by storm and frost—these crippled limbs, which looked as if the +pains of age and disease had laid hold of the sad tenants of this alpine +desert—were colored with their own peculiar loveliness. All the stems were +clothed with delicate silver-gray lichen, save where great patches of +velvety, pale green moss spread a warm mantle about them. This beautiful +contrast of gray and yellow-green may be seen upon many of our own +oak-trees in the winter, and makes these the most richly colored of all +the leafless stems in our frosty landscape. But here there were added +among the branches huge tufts of mistletoe, brighter and yellower than the +moss, yet of the same grassy hue, though of different texture. And there +were trees so clothed with this foreign splendor that they looked like +some quaint species of great evergreen. It seemed as if the summer’s +foliage must have really impaired the character and the beauty of this +curious forest. + +At last we crossed a long flat summit, and began to descend, when we +presently came upon the temple from the north, facing us on a lower part +of the lofty ridge. As we approached, the mist began to clear away, and +the sun shone out upon the scene, while the clouds rolled back toward the +east, and gradually disclosed to us the splendid prospect which the +sanctuary commands. All the southern Peloponnesus lay before us. We could +see the western sea, and the gulf of Koron to the south; but the long +ridge of Taygetus and the mountains of Malea hid from us the eastern seas. +The rich slopes of Messene, and the rugged highlands of northern Laconia +and of Arcadia, filled up the nearer view. There still remained here and +there a cloud which made a blot in the picture, and marred the +completeness of the landscape. + +Nothing can be stranger than the remains of a beautiful temple in this +alpine solitude. Greek life is a sort of protest for cities and plains and +human culture, against picturesque Alps and romantic scenery. Yet here we +have a building of the purest age and type set up far from the cities and +haunts of men, and in the midst of such a scene as might be chosen by the +most romantic and sentimental modern. It was dedicated to Apollo the +Helper, for his deliverance of the country from the same plague which +devastated Athens at the opening of the Peloponnesian War,(141) and was +built by the greatest architect of the day, Ictinus, the builder of the +Parthenon. + +It was reputed in Pausanias’s day the most beautiful temple in +Peloponnesus, next to that of Athene Alea at Tegea. Even its roof was of +marble tiles, and the cutting of the limestone soffits of the ceiling is +still so sharp and clear, that specimens have been brought to Athens, as +the most perfect of the kind. The friezes, discovered years ago (1812), +and quite close to the surface, by Mr. Cockerell and his friends, were +carried away, and are now one of the greatest ornaments of the British +Museum. Any one who desires to know every detail of the building, and see +its general effect when restored, must consult Cockerell’s elaborate work +on this and the temple of Ægina. It affords many problems to the +architect. Each of the pillars within the cella was engaged or attached to +the wall, by joinings at right angles with it, the first pair only +reaching forward toward the spectator as he entered. The temple faces +north, contrary to the usual habit of the Greeks. In the very centre was +found a Corinthian capital—another anomaly in a Doric temple, and at the +epoch of Periclean art. In Mr. Cockerell’s restoration of the interior, +this capital is fitted to a solitary pillar in the centre of the cella, +and close to the statue of the god, which apparently faced sideways, and +looked toward the rising sun. It is a more popular theory that it was set +up much later, with some votive tripod upon it, and that it does not +belong to the original structure. The frieze in this temple was not along +the outside wall of the cella, but inside, and over the pillars, as the +narrow side aisle (if I may so call it) between the pillars and cella wall +was broken by the joining of the former, five at each side, with the +latter. I cannot but fancy that this transference of the friezes to the +inner side of the wall was caused by the feeling that the Parthenon +friezes, upon which such great labor and such exquisite taste had been +lavished, were after all very badly seen, being “skied” into a place not +worthy of them. Any one who will look up at the remaining band on the west +front of the Parthenon from the foot of the pillars beneath will, I think, +agree with me. At Bassæ there are many peculiarities in the Ionic +capitals, and in the ornamentation of this second monument of Ictinus’s +genius, which have occupied the architects, but on which I will not here +insist.(142) The general effect is one of smallness, as compared with the +Parthenon; of lightness and grace, as compared with the temple at Olympia, +the Doric pillars being here somewhat more slender than those of the +Parthenon, though the other proportions are not unlike. The style of the +frieze has been commented upon in all our histories of Greek art. The +effect produced is, moreover, that of lateness, as compared with the +Athenian sculptures; there is more exaggerated action, flying drapery and +contorted limbs, and altogether a conscious striving to give a strong +effect. But the execution, which was probably entrusted to native artists +under Attic direction, is inferior to good Attic work, and in some cases +positively faulty. Unfortunately, this part of the temple is in London, +not at Bassæ. + +The ruin, as we saw it, was very striking and unlike any other we had +visited in Greece. It is built of the limestone which crops up all over +the mountain plateau on which it stands; and, as the sun shone upon it +after recent rain, was of a delicate bluish-gray color, so like the +surface of the ground in tone that it almost seemed to have grown out of +the rock, as its natural product. The pillars are indeed by no means +monoliths, but set together of short drums, of which the inner row are but +the rounded ends of long blocks which reach back to the cella wall. But as +the grain of the stone runs across the pillars they have become curiously +wrinkled with age, so that the artificial joinings are lost among the wavy +transverse lines, which make us imagine the pillars sunk with years and +fatigue, and weary of standing in this wild and gloomy solitude. There is +a great oak-tree, such as I have already described, close beside the +temple, and the coloring of its stem forms a curious contrast to the no +less beautiful shading of the time-worn pillars. Their ground being a pale +bluish-gray, the lichens which invade the stone have varied the fluted +surface with silver, with bright orange, and still more with a delicate +rose madder. Even under a mid-day sun these rich colors were very +wonderful, but what must they be at sunset? + +There is something touching in the unconscious efforts of Nature to fill +up the breaks and heal the rents which time and desolation have made in +human work. If a gap occurs in the serried ranks of city buildings by +sudden accident or natural decay, the site is forthwith concealed with +hideous boarding; upon which, presently, staring portraits of latest clown +or merriest mountebank mock as it were the ruin within, and advertise +their idle mirth—an uglier fringe around the ugly stains of fire or the +heaps of formless masonry. How different is the hand of Nature! Whether in +the northern abbey or in the southern fane, no sooner are the monuments of +human patience and human pride abandoned and forgotten, than Nature takes +them into her gentle care, covers them with ivy, with lichen, and with +moss, plants her shrubs about them, and sows them with countless flowers. +And thus, when a later age repents the ingratitude of its forerunners, and +turns with new piety to atone for generations of forgetfulness, Nature’s +mantle has concealed from harm much that had else been destroyed, and +covered the remainder with such beauty that we can hardly conceive these +triumphs of human art more lovely in their old perfection than in their +modern solitude and decay. + + + +The way from Andritzena to Megalopolis leads down from the rugged +frontiers of Arcadia and Messene, till we reach the fine rolling plain +which has Karytena at its northern, and Megalopolis near its southern, +extremity. Our guides were in high spirits, and kept singing in turn a +quaint love song, which, after the usual timeless flourishes and shakes at +the opening, ended in the following phrase, which their constant +repetition stamped upon my memory: + + [Illustration: Music] + +The way was at first steep and difficult—we were still in the land of the +violet and primrose. But after an hour’s ride we came into a forest which +already showed summer signs; and here we found again the anemone, the +purple and white cistus, among shrubs of mastich and arbutus. Here, too, +we found the cyclamen, which is such a favorite in the green-houses and +gardens of England. We passed a few miles to the south of Karytena, with +its wonderful, and apparently impregnable Frankish fortress perched like +an eagle’s nest on the top of a huge cliff, from which there must be a +splendid outlook not only down the valley of Megalopolis, but into the +northern passes from Achaia, and the mountains of Elis. I can conceive no +military post more important to the Arcadian plain, and yet it seems to +have attained no celebrity in ancient history. From this fortress to the +southern end of the plain, where the passes lead to Sparta and to northern +Messene, there lies extended a very rich vein of country about twenty-five +miles long, and ten or twelve broad, with some undulation, but practically +a plain, well irrigated with rapid rivers, and waving with deep grass and +green wheat. There are flourishing villages scattered along the slopes of +the mountains, and all the district seems thoroughly tilled, except the +region south of the town, where forests of olives give a wilder tone to +the landscape. + +I confess I had not understood the history of the celebrated foundation of +Megalopolis, until I came to study the features of this plain. Here, as +elsewhere, personal acquaintance with the geography of the country is the +necessary condition of a living knowledge of its history. As is well +known, immediately after the battle of Leuctra the Arcadians proceeded to +build this metropolis, as a safeguard or makeweight against the +neighboring power of Sparta. Pausanias, who is very full and instructive +on the founding of the city, tells us that the founders came from the +chief towns of Arcadia—Tegea, Mantinea, Kleitor, and Mænalus. But these +cities had no intention of merging themselves in the new capital. In fact, +Mantinea and Tegea were in themselves fully as important a check on Sparta +in their own valley, and were absolutely necessary to hold the passes +northward to Argos, which lay in that direction. But the nation insisted +upon all the village populations in and around the western plain (which +hitherto had possessed no leading city) amalgamating into Megalopolis, and +deserting their ancient homes. Many obeyed; Pausanias enumerates about +forty of them. Those who refused were exiled, or even massacred by the +enraged majority. Thus there arose suddenly the _great city_, the latest +foundation of a city in Classical Greece. But in his account it seems to +me that Pausanias has omitted to take sufficient note of the leading +spirit of all the movement—the Theban Epaminondas. No doubt, the +traveller’s Arcadian informants were too thoroughly blinded by national +vanity to give him the real account, if indeed, they knew it themselves. +They represented it as the spontaneous movement of the nation, and even +stated it to have been done in imitation of Argos, which in older times, +when in almost daily danger of Spartan war, had abolished all the +townships through Argolis, and thus increased its power and consolidated +its population. + +But the advice and support of Epaminondas, which made him the real +founder, point to another model. The traveller who comes, after he has +seen northern Greece, into the plain of Megalopolis, is at once struck +with its extraordinary likeness to that of Thebes. There is the same +circuit of mountains, the same undulation in the plain, the same abundance +of water, the same attractive sites on the slopes for the settlements of +men. It was not then Argos, with its far remote and not very successful +centralization, but Thebes, which was the real model; and the idea was +brought out into actuality not by Arcadian but by Theban statesmanship. +Any Theban who had visited the plain could not but have this policy +suggested to him by the memory of his own home. But here Epaminondas seems +to have concealed his influence, and carried out his policy through +Arcadian agents, merely sending 1000 Thebans, under Pammenes, to secure +his allies against hostile disturbances, whereas he proceeded to the +foundation of Messene in person, and with great circumstance, as the +dreams and oracles, the discussions about the site, and the pomp at the +ceremony amply show, even in the cold narrative of Pausanias. But +Megalopolis, though a great and brilliant experiment, was not a lasting +success. It was laid out on too large a scale, and in after years became +rather a great wilderness than a great city.(143) It was full of splendid +buildings—the theatre, even now, is one of the most gigantic in Greece. +But the violences of its foundation, which tore from their homes and +household gods many citizens of ancient and hallowed sites, were never +forgotten. It was long a leading city in politics, but never became a +favorite residence, and fell early into decay. “Although,” says Pausanias +(8. 33), “the _great city_ was founded with all zeal by the Arcadians, and +with the brightest expectations on the part of the Greeks, I am not +astonished that it has lost all its elegance and ancient splendor, and +most of it is now ruined, for I know that Providence is pleased to work +perpetual change, and that all things alike, both strong and weak, whether +coming into life or passing into nothingness, are changed by a Fortune +which controls them with an iron necessity. Thus Mycenæ, Nineveh, and the +Bœotian Thebes are for the most part completely deserted and destroyed, +but the name of Thebes has descended to the mere acropolis and very few +inhabitants. Others, formerly of extraordinary wealth, the Egyptian Thebes +and the Minyan Orchomenus and Delos, the common mart of the Greeks, are +some of them inferior in wealth to that of a private man of not the +richest class; while Delos, being deprived of the charge of the Oracle by +the Athenians who settled there, is, as regards Delians, depopulated. At +Babylon the temple of Belus remains, but of this Babylon, once the +greatest city under the sun, there is nothing left but the wall, as there +is of Tiryns in Argolis. These the Deity has reduced to naught. But the +city of Alexander in Egypt, and of Seleucus on the Orontes, built the +other day, have risen to such greatness and prosperity, because Fortune +favors them.... Thus the affairs of men have their seasons, and are by no +means permanent.” These words of Pausanias have but increased in force +with the lapse of centuries. The whole ancient capital of the Arcadians +has well-nigh disappeared. The theatre, cut out from the deep earthen +river bank, and faced along the wings with massive masonry, is still +visible, though overgrown with shrubs; and the English school of Athens is +now prosecuting its exploration (1892). + +The ancient town lay on both sides of the river Helisson, which is a broad +and silvery stream, but not difficult to ford, as we saw it in spring, and +Pausanias mentions important public buildings on both banks. Now there +seems nothing but a mound, called the tomb of Philopœmen, on the north +side, with a few scanty foundations. On the south side the stylobate of at +least one temple is still almost on the level of the soil, and myriads of +fragments of baked clay tell us that this material was largely used in the +walls of a city where a rich alluvial soil afforded a very scanty supply +of stone—a difficulty rare in Greece. The modern town lies a mile to the +south of the river, and quite clear of the old site, so that excavations +can be made without considerable cost, and with good hope of results. But +the absence of any really archaic monument has, till recently, damped the +ardor of the archæologists. + +The aspect of the present Megalopolis is very pleasing. Its streets are +wide and clean, though for the most part grown over with grass, and a +single dark green cypress takes, as it were, the place of a spire among +the flat roofs. We found the town in holiday, and the inhabitants—at least +the men—in splendid attire. For the women of the Morea have, alas! +abandoned their national costume, and appear in tawdry and ill-made +dresses. Even the men who have travelled adopt the style of third-rate +Frenchmen or Germans, and go about in tall hats, with a dirty gray plaid +wrapped about their shoulders. To see these shoddy-looking persons among a +crowd of splendid young men in Palikar dress, with the erect carriage and +kingly mien which that very tight costume produces, is like seeing a +miserable street cur among a pack of fox-hounds. And yet we were informed +that, for political reasons, and in order to draw the Greeks from their +isolation into European habits, the national dress is now forbidden in the +schools! + +We were welcomed with excellent hospitality in the town, and received by a +fine old gentleman, whose sons, two splendid youths in full costume, +attended us in person. Being people of moderate means, they allowed us, +with a truer friendliness than that of more ostentatious hosts, to pay for +the most of the materials we required, which they got for us of the best +quality, at the lowest price, and cooked and prepared them for us in the +house. We inquired of the father what prospects were open to his handsome +sons, who seemed born to be soldiers—the ornaments of a royal pageant in +peace, the stay of panic in battle. He complained that there was no scope +for their energies. Of course, tilling of the soil could never satisfy +them. One of them was secretary to the _Demarchus_, on some miserable +salary. He had gone as far as Alexandria to seek his fortune, but had come +home again, with the tastes and without the wealth of a rich townsman. So +they are fretting away their life in idleness. I fear that such cases are +but too common in the country towns of Greece. + +The people brought us to see many pieces of funeral slabs, of marble +pillars, and of short and late inscriptions built into house walls. They +also sold us good coins of Philip of Macedon at a moderate price. The +systematic digging about the old site undertaken by the English school +will probably bring to light many important remains.(144) There is a +carriage road from Megalopolis to Argos, but the portion inside the town +was then only just finished, so we preferred riding as far as Tripoli. +Travellers now landing at Argos will find it quite practicable to drive +from the coast to this central plain of Arcadia, and then begin their +riding. There is now, alas! a railway from Argos to Tripoli in progress. +By this means even ladies can easily cross the Morea. Two days’ driving to +Megalopolis, two days’ riding to Olympia, and an easy day’s drive and +train to Katakalo, would be the absolute time required for the transit. +But the difficulty is still to find a comfortable night’s lodging between +the first and second day’s ride, both of them long and fatiguing journeys. +Andritzena is too near Megalopolis, and not to be recommended without +introductions. But there is probably some village on another route which +would afford a half-way house. From Tripoli and from Megalopolis, which +command their respective plains, excursions could be made to Mantinea, to +Sparta, and best of all to Kalamata, where a coasting steamer calls +frequently. + + [Illustration: A Greek Peasant in National Costume] + +As we rode up the slopes of Mount Mænalus, which separates the plain of +Tegea from that of Megalopolis, we often turned to admire the splendid +view beneath, and count the numerous villages now as of old under the +headship of the _great town_. The most striking feature was doubtless the +snowy ridge of Taygetus, which reaches southward, and showed us the course +of the Eurotas on its eastern side, along which a twelve hours’ ride +brings the traveller to Sparta. The country into which we passed was wild +and barren in the extreme, and, like most so-called mountains in Greece, +consisted of a series of parallel and of intersecting ridges, with short +valleys or high plateaus between them. This journey, perhaps the bleakest +in all Peloponnesus, until it approaches the plain of Tegea, is through +Mount Mænalus, the ancestral seat of the worship of Pan, and therefore +more than any other tract of Arcadia endowed with pastoral richness and +beauty by the poets. There may be more fertile tracts farther north in +these mountains. There may in ancient times have been forest or verdure +where all is now bare. But in the present day there is no bleaker and more +barren tract than these slopes and summits of Mænalus, which are wholly +different from the richly wooded and well carpeted mountains through which +we had passed on the way from Elis. Even the asphodel, which covers all +the barer and stonier tracts with its fields of bloom, was here scarce and +poor. Dull tortoises, and quick-glancing hoopoes, with their beautiful +head-dresses, were the only tenants of this solitude. There was here and +there a spring of delicious water where we stopped. At one of them the +best of our ponies, an unusually spirited animal, escaped up the mountain, +with one of our royal-looking young friends, who had accompanied us in +full costume, for want of other amusement, in hot pursuit of him. We +thought the chase utterly hopeless, as the pony knew his way perfectly, +and would not let any one approach him on the bare hillsides; so we +consolidated our baggage, and left them to their fate. But about two hours +afterward the young Greek came galloping after us on the pony, which he +had caught—he had accomplished the apparently impossible feat. + +At last, after a very hot and stony ride, with less color and less beauty +than we had ever yet found in Greece, we descended into the great valley +of Tripoli, formerly held by Tegea at the south, and Mantinea at the +north. The modern town lies between the ancient sites, but nearer to +Tegea, which is not an hour’s ride distant. The old Tripolis, of which the +villages were absorbed by Megalopolis, is placed by the geographers in +quite another part of Arcadia, near Gortyn, and due north of the western +plain. The vicissitudes of the modern town are well known; its importance +under the Turks, its terrible destruction by the Egyptians in the War of +Liberation;(145) even now, though not a house is more than fifty years +old, it is one of the largest and most important towns in the Morea. + +The whole place was in holiday, it being the Greek Easter Day, and +hundreds of men in full costume crowded the large square in the middle of +the town. There is a considerable manufacture of what are commonly called +Turkey carpets, and of silk; but the carpets have of late years lost all +the beauty and harmony of color for which they were so justly admired, and +are now copied from the worst Bavarian work—tawdry and vulgar in the +extreme. They are sold by weight, and are not dear, but they were so +exceedingly ugly that we could not buy them. This decadence of taste is +strange when compared with the woollen work of Arachova. If the colors of +the Arachovite rugs were transferred to the carpets of Tripoli, nothing +could be more effective, or more likely to attract English buyers. I could +not learn that any passing travellers save some Germans, are now ever +tempted to carry them home. + +It is my disagreeable duty to state that while the inn at Tripoli was no +better than other country inns in Arcadia, and full of noise and +disturbance, the innkeeper, a gentleman in magnificent costume, with a +crimson vest and gaiters, covered with rich embroidery, also turned out a +disgraceful villain, in fact quite up to the mark of the innkeepers of +whom Plato in his day complained. We had no comforts, we had bad food, we +had the locks of our baggage strained, not indeed by thieves, but by +curious neighbors, who wished to see the contents; we had dinner, a +night’s lodging, and breakfast, for which the host charged us, a party of +four and a servant, 118 francs. And be it remembered that the wine of the +country, which we drank, is cheaper than ale in England. We appealed at +once to the magistrate, a very polite and reasonable man, who cut it down +to 84 francs, still an exorbitant sum, and one which our friend quietly +pocketed without further remonstrance. It is therefore advisable either to +go with introductions, which we had (but our party was too large for +private hospitality), or to stipulate beforehand concerning prices. I +mention such conduct as exceptional—we met it only here, at Sparta, and at +Nauplia; but I fear Tripoli is not an honest district. A coat and rug +which were dropped accidentally from a mule were picked up by the next +wayfarer, who carried them off, though we had passed him but a few hundred +yards, and there could be no doubt as to the owners. Our guides knew his +village, and our property was telegraphed for, but never reappeared. + +The site of Tegea, where there is now a considerable village, is more +interesting, being quite close to the passes which lead to Sparta, and +surrounded by a panorama of rocky mountains. The morning was cloudy, and +lights and shades were coursing alternately over the view. There were no +trees, but the surface of the rocks took splendid changing hues—gray, +pink, and deep purple—while the rich soil beneath alternated between +brilliant green and ruddy brown. As the plain of Megalopolis reminded me +of that of Thebes, so this plain of Tegea, though infinitely richer in +soil, yet had many features singularly like that of Attica, especially its +bareness, and the splendid colors of its barren mountains. But the climate +is very different at this great height above the sea; the nights, and even +the mornings and evenings, were still chilly, and the crops are still +green when the harvest has begun in Attica. There are a good many remains, +especially of the necropolis of Tegea, to be found scattered through the +modern village, chiefly in the walls of new houses. One of these reliefs +contained a very good representation of a feast—two men and two women, the +latter sitting, and alternately with the men; the whole work seemed +delicate, and of a good epoch. These and other remains, especially an +excellent relief of a lion, are now gathered into the little museum of the +village of Piali, which occupies part of the ancient site. The circuit of +the ancient walls and the site and plan of the great temple of Athena Alea +have also recently been determined. The temple, rebuilt by Scopas about +395 B. C., had Corinthian as well as Ionic capitals, though externally +Doric in character. Some remarkable remains of the pediment, especially a +boar’s head, are now in the Museum at Athens. + +The way to Argos is a good carriage road through the passes of Mount +Parthenion, and is not unlike the bleak ride through Mænalus, though there +is a great deal more tillage, and in some places the hillsides are +terraced with cultivation. It was in this mountain that the god Pan met +the celebrated runner Phidippides, who was carrying his despatch about the +Persian invasion from Athens to Sparta, and told him he would come and +help the Athenians at Marathon. This Mount Parthenion, bleak and bare like +Mount Mænalus, and yet like it peculiarly sacred to Pan, “affords +tortoises most suitable for the making of lyres, which the men who inhabit +the mountains are afraid to catch, nor do they allow strangers to catch +them, for they think them sacred to Pan.” We saw these tortoises, both in +Mænalus and Parthenion, yet to us suggestive not of harmony but of +discord. Two of them were engaged in mortal combat by the road side. They +were rushing at each other, and battering the edges of their shells +together, apparently in the attempt to overturn each other. After a long +and even conflict, one of them fled, pursued by the other at full speed, +indeed far quicker than could be imagined. We watched the battle till we +were tired, and left the pursuer and the pursued in the excitement of +their deadly struggle. The traveller who goes by the new railroad over +this ground will never see sights like this. + +These were the principal adventures of our tour across Arcadia. The +following night we rested in real luxury at the house of our old +guest-friend, Dr. Papalexopoulos, whose open mansion had received us two +years before, on our first visit to Argos. + + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + + CORINTH—TIRYNS—ARGOS—NAUPLIA—HYDRA—ÆGINA—EPIDAURUS. + + +The Gulf of Corinth is a very beautiful and narrow fiord, with chains of +mountains on either side, through the gaps of which you can see far into +the Morea on one side, and into northern Greece on the other. But the bays +or harbors on either coast are few, and so there was no city able to wrest +the commerce of these waters from old Corinth, which held the keys by land +of the whole Peloponnesus, and commanded the passage from sea to sea. It +is, indeed, wonderful how Corinth did not acquire and maintain the first +position in Greece. It may, perhaps, have done so in the days of +Periander, and we hear at various times of inventions and discoveries in +Corinth, which show that, commercially and artistically, it was among the +leading cities of Greece. But, whenever the relations of the various +powers become clear, as in the Persian or Peloponnesian Wars, we find +Corinth always at the head of the second-rate states, and never among the +first. This is possibly to be accounted for by the predominance of trade +interests, which are the source of such material prosperity that men are +completely engrossed with it, and will not devote time and labor to +politics, or stake their fortunes for the defence of principle. Thus it +seems as if the Corinthians had been the shopkeepers of Greece. + +But as soon as the greater powers of Greece decayed and fell away, we find +Corinth immediately taking the highest position in wealth, and even in +importance. The capture of Corinth, in 146 B. C., marks the Roman conquest +of all Greece, and the art-treasures carried to Rome seem to have been as +great and various as those which even Athens could have produced. Its +commercial position was at once assumed by Delos. No sooner had Julius +Cæsar restored and rebuilt the ruined city than it sprang at once again +into importance,(146) while Delos decayed; and among the societies +addressed in the Epistles of St. Paul, none seems to have lived in greater +wealth or luxury. It was, in fact, well-nigh impossible that Corinth +should die. Nature had marked out her site as one of the great +thoroughfares of the old world; and it was not till after centuries of +blighting misrule by the wretched Turks that she sank into the hopeless +decay from which not even another Julius Cæsar could rescue her.(147) + +These were our reflections as we passed up the gulf on a splendid summer +evening, the mountains of Arcadia showing on their snowy tops a deep rose +color in the setting sun. And passing by Ægion and Sikyon, we came to +anchor at the harbor of Lechæum. There was a public conveyance which took +the traveller across the isthmus to Kenchreæ, where a steamboat was in +readiness to bring him to Athens. But with the usual absurdity of such +services, no time was allowed for visiting Corinth and its Acropolis.(148) +We, however, stayed for the night in the boat, and started in the morning +for our ride into the Peloponnesus. This arrangement was then necessary, +as the port of Lechæum did not afford the traveller even the luxury of a +decent meal. The Greek steamers are, besides, of considerable interest to +any observant person. They seem always full of passengers with their dogs, +and as the various classes mix indiscriminately on deck, all sorts of +manners, costume, and culture can be easily compared. + +The fondness of the Greeks for driving a bargain is often to be noticed. +Thus, a Greek gentleman on this boat, perceiving that we were strangers in +pursuit of art and antiquities, produced two very fine gold coins of +Philip and Alexander, which he offered for £5. That of Philip was +particularly beautiful—a very perfect Greek head in profile, crowned with +laurel, and on the reverse a chariot and four, with the legend, +_Φίλιππος_. Not being a very expert judge of coins, and supposing that he +had asked more than the value, I offered him £2: 10s. for this one, which +was considerably the larger; but he would not take any abatement. He +evidently was not anxious to sell them, but merely took his chance of +getting a good price, and investing it again at better interest. Seeing +that the coin seemed but little heavier than our sovereign, and is not +uncommon in collections, I fancy the price he asked was excessive. The +Athenian shops, which are notorious for their prices to strangers, had +similar coins, for which about £4 was asked. On this, and a thousand other +points, the traveller should be instructed by some competent person before +he sets out. Genuine antiquities seem to me so common in Greece, that +imitations are hardly worth manufacturing. Even with a much greater +market, the country can supply for generations an endless store of real +remains of ancient Greece. But, nevertheless, the prices of these things +are already very high. The ordinary tourist does not infest these shores, +so that the only seekers after them are enthusiasts, who will not hesitate +to give even fancy prices for what they like. + +The form of the country, as you ascend from Lechæum to Corinth, is very +marked and peculiar. At some distance from the flat shore the road leads +up through a steep pass of little height, which is cut through a long +ridge of rock, almost like a wall, and over which lies a higher plateau of +land. The same feature is again repeated a mile inland, as the traveller +approaches the site of ancient Corinth. These plateaus, though not lofty, +are well marked, and perfectly distinct, the passes from one up to the +next being quite sufficient to form a strong place of defence against an +attacking force. How far these rocky parapets reach I did not examine. +Behind the highest plateau rises the great cliff on which the citadel was +built. But even from the site of the old city it is easy to obtain a +commanding view of the isthmus, of the two seas, and of the Achæan coast +up to Sikyon. + +The traveller who expects to find any sufficient traces of the city of +Periander and of Timoleon, and, I may say, of St. Paul, will be grievously +disappointed. In the middle of the wretched straggling modern village +there stand up seven enormous rough stone pillars of the Doric Order, +evidently of the oldest and heaviest type; and these are the only visible +relic of the ancient city, looking altogether out of place, and almost as +if they had come there by mistake. These pillars, though insufficient to +admit of our reconstructing the temple, are in themselves profoundly +interesting. Their shaft up to the capital is of one block, about +twenty-one feet high and six feet in diameter. It is to be observed that +over these gigantic monoliths the architrave, in which other Greek temples +show the largest blocks, is not in one piece, but two, and made of beams +laid together longitudinally.(149) The length of the shafts (up to the +neck of the capital) measures about four times their diameter, on the +photograph which I possess; I do not suppose that any other Doric pillar +known to us is so stout and short. The material is said almost universally +to be limestone, but if my eyes served me aright, it was a very porous and +now rough sandstone, not the least like the bluish limestone in which the +lions of the gate of Mycenæ are carved. The pillars are said to have been +covered with stucco, and were of course painted. Perhaps even the figures +of the pediment were modelled in clay, as we are told was the case in the +oldest Corinthian temples, when first the fashion came in of thus +ornamenting an otherwise flat and unsightly surface. The great temple of +Pæstum—which is, probably, the next oldest, and certainly the finest +extant specimen of the early Doric style—has no figures in the pediment, +and seems never to have had them, unless, indeed, they were painted in +fresco on the stucco, with which it was probably covered. Those who have +seen the temple at Pæstum are, perhaps, the only visitors who will be able +to frame to themselves an image of the very similar structure at Corinth, +which Turks and earthquakes have reduced to seven columns. There must have +been in it the same simplicity, the same almost Egyptian massiveness, and +yet the same unity of plan and purpose which excludes all idea of +clumsiness or disproportion. + + [Illustration: Temple of Corinth] + +The longer one studies the Greek orders of architecture, the more the +conviction grows that the Doric is of all the noblest and the most +natural. When lightened and perfected by the Athenians of Pericles’s time, +it becomes simply unapproachable; but even in older and ruder forms it +seems to me vastly superior to either of the more florid orders. All the +massive temples of Roman times were built in the very ornate Corinthian, +which may almost be called the Græco-Roman, style; but, notwithstanding +their majesty and beauty, they are not to be compared with the severer and +more religious tone of the Doric remains. I may add that the titles by +which the orders are distinguished seem ill-chosen and without meaning, +except, perhaps, that the Ionic was most commonly used, and probably +invented, in Asia Minor. The earliest specimens of the Corinthian Order +are at Epidaurus, Olympia, and Phigalia;(150) the most perfect of the +Doric is at Athens, while Ionic temples are found everywhere. But it is +idle now to attempt to change such definite and well-sanctioned names. + + [Illustration: Scene near Corinth, the Acro-Corinthus in the Distance] + +Straight over the site of the town is the great rock known as the +Acro-Corinthus. A winding path leads up on the south-west side to the +Turkish drawbridge and gate, which are now deserted and open; nor is there +a single guard or soldier to watch a spot once the coveted prize of +contending empires. In the days of the Achæan League it was called one of +the fetters of Greece, and indeed it requires no military experience to +see the extraordinary importance of the place. Strabo speaks of the +Peloponnesus as the Acropolis of Greece—Corinth may fairly be called the +Acropolis of the Peloponnesus. It runs out boldly from the surging +mountain-chains of the peninsula, like an outpost or sentry, guarding all +approach from the north. In days when news was transmitted by fire +signals, we can imagine how all the southern country must have depended on +the watch upon the rock of Corinth. It is separated by a wide plain of +land, ending in the isthmus, from the Geranean Mountains, which come from +the north and belong to a different system. + +Next to the view from the heights of Parnassus, I suppose the view from +this citadel is held the finest in Greece.(151) I speak here of the large +and diverse views to be obtained from mountain heights. To me, personally, +such a view as that from the promontory of Sunium, or, above all, from the +harbor of Nauplia, exceeds in beauty and interest any bird’s-eye prospect. +Any one who looks at the map of Greece will see how the Acro-Corinthus +commands coasts, islands, and bays. The day was too hazy when we stood +there to let us measure the real limits of the view, and I cannot say how +far the eye may reach in a suitable atmosphere. But a host of islands, the +southern coasts of Attica and Bœotia, the Acropolis of Athens, Salamis and +Ægina, Helicon and Parnassus, and endless Ætolian peaks were visible in +one direction; while, as we turned round, all the waving reaches of +Arcadia and Argolis, down to the approaches toward Mantinea and Karytena, +lay stretched out before us. The plain of Argos, and the sea at that side, +are hidden by the mountains.(152) But without going into detail, this much +may be said, that if a man wants to realize the features of these coasts, +which he has long studied on maps, half an hour’s walk about the top of +this rock will give him a geographical insight which months of reading +could not attain. + +The surface is very large, at least half a mile each way, and is covered +inside the bounding wall with the remains of a considerable Turkish town, +now in ruins and totally deserted, but evidently of no small importance in +the days of the War of Liberation. The building of this town was a great +misfortune to antiquarians, for every available remnant of old Greek work +was used as material for the modern houses. At all parts of the walls may +be seen white marble fragments of pillars and architraves, and I have no +doubt that a careful dilapidation of the modern abandoned houses would +amply repay the outlay. There are several pits for saving rain-water, and +some shallow underground passages of which we could not make out the +purpose. The pits or tanks must have been merely intended to save trouble, +for about the middle of the plateau, which sinks considerably toward the +south, we were brought to a passage into the ground, which led by a rapid +descent to the famous well of Pirene, the water of which was so perfectly +clear that we walked into it on going down the steps, as there was +actually no water-line visible. It was twelve or fourteen feet deep, and +perhaps twenty-five feet long, so far as we could make it out in the +twilight underground. The structure of marble over the fountain is the +only piece of old Greek work we could find on the rock. It consists of +three supports, like pillars, made of several blocks, and over them a sort +of architrave. Then there is a gap in the building, and from the large +number of fragments of marble lying at the bottom of the well we concluded +that the frieze and cornice had fallen out. The pediment, or rather its +upper outline, is still in its place, clear of the architrave, and built +into the rock so as to remain without its supporting cornice. + +There are numerous inscriptions as you descend, which I did not copy, +because I was informed they had already been published, though I have not +since been able to find them; but they are, of course, to be found in some +of the Greek archæological newspapers. They appeared to me at the time to +be either hopelessly illegible, or suspiciously clear. This great well, +springing up near the top of a barren rock, is very curious, especially as +we could see no outlet.(153) The water was deep under the surface, and +there was no sign of welling up or of outflow anywhere; but to make sure +of this would have required a long and careful ride round the whole ridge. +Our guide-book spoke of rushing streams and waterfalls tumbling down the +rock, which we searched for in vain, and which may have been caused by a +winter rainfall without any connection with the fountain.(154) + +The Isthmus, which is really some three or four miles north of Corinth, +was of old famous for the Isthmian games, as well as for the noted +_diolkos_, or road for dragging ships across. The games were founded about +586 B. C., when a strong suspicion had arisen throughout Greece concerning +the fairness of the Elean awards at Olympia, and for a long time Eleans +were excluded. In later days the games became very famous, the Argives or +Cleonæans laying claim to celebrate them. It was at these games that +Philip V. heard of the great defeat of the Romans by Hannibal, and +resolved to enter into that colossal quarrel which brought the Romans into +Macedonia. The site of the stadium, and of the temple of Isthmian +Poseidon, and of the fortified sanctuary, were excavated and mapped out by +M. Monceaux in 1883. A plan and details are to be found in the French +_Guide Joanne_.(155) Close by I saw in 1889 the interrupted work of the +canal which was at last to connect the eastern and western gulfs, and +which when well-nigh completed found its funds dissipated by the terrible +crash of the Credit Mobilier in Paris, and now awaits another enterprise. +The idea is old and often discussed, like that of the Isthmus of Suez. The +Emperor Nero actually began the work, and the engineers of to-day resumed +the cutting at the very spot where his workmen left off. + +But if this very expensive work might have been of great service when +sailing-ships feared to round the notorious Cape of Malea, and when there +was great trade from the Adriatic to the ports of Thessaly and Macedonia, +surely all these advantages are now superseded. Steamers coming from the +Straits of Messina would pay nothing to take the route of the Isthmus in +preference to rounding the Morea, and the main line of traffic is no +longer to the Northern Levant, but to Alexandria. Even goods despatched +from Trieste or Venice may now be landed at Patras, and sent on by rail to +Athens; so that the canal will now only serve the smallest fraction of the +Levantine trade; and even then, if the charges be at all adequate to the +labor, will be avoided by circumnavigation. Amid the promotion of many +useful schemes of traffic, this undertaking seems to me to stand out by +its want of common sense. Indeed, had it been really important at any +date, we may be sure that the Hellenistic Sovrans or Roman capitalists +would have carried it out. But in classical days their smaller ships seem +to have been dragged across upon movable rollers by slaves without much +difficulty. + +But we had already delayed too long upon this citadel, where we would have +willingly spent a day or two at greater leisure. Our guide urged us to +start on our long ride, which was not to terminate till we reached the +town of Argos, some thirty miles over the mountains.(156) + +The country into which we passed was very different from any we had yet +seen, and still it was intensely Greek. All the hills and valleys showed a +very white, chalky soil, which actually glittered like snow where it was +not covered with verdure or trees. Road, as usual, there was none; but all +these hills and ravines, chequered with snowy white, were clothed with +shining arbutus trees, and shrubs resembling dwarf holly. The purple and +the white cistus, which is so readily mistaken for a wild rose,(157) were +already out of blow, and showed but a rare blossom. Here and there was a +plain or valley with great fields of thyme about the arbutus, and there +were herds of goats wandering through the shrubs, and innumerable bees +gathering honey from the thyme. The scene was precisely such as Theocritus +describes in the uplands of Sicily; but in all our rides through that +delightful island(158) we had never found the thyme and arbutus, the goats +and bees, in such truly Theocritean perfection. We listened in vain for +the shepherd’s pipe, and sought in vain for some Thyrsis beguiling his +time with the oaten reed. It was almost noontide—noon, the hour of awe and +mystery to the olden shepherd, when Pan slept his mid-day sleep,(159) and +the wanton satyr was abroad, prowling for adventure through the silent +woods; so that, in pagan days, we might have been afraid of the +companionship of melody. But now the silence was not from dread of Pan’s +displeasure, but that the sun’s fiercer heat had warned the shepherds to +depart to the snowy heights of Cyllene, where they dwell all the summer in +alpine huts, and feed their flocks on the upland pastures, which are +covered with snow till late in the spring. + +They had left behind them a single comrade, with his wife and little +children, to protect the weak and the lame till their return. We found +this family settled in their winter quarters, which consisted of a square +enclosure of thorns _θρίγκος ἀχέρδου_, built up with stones, round a very +old spreading olive-tree. At the foot of the tree were pots and pans, and +other household goods, with some skins and rude rugs lying on the ground. +There was no attempt at a roof or hut of any kind, though, of course, it +might be set up in a moment, as we had seen in the defiles of Parnassus, +with skins hung over three sticks—two uprights, and the third joining +their tops, so as to form a ridge. + +To make the scene Homeric,(160) as well as Theocritean, two large and very +savage dogs rushed out upon us at our approach, but the shepherd hurried +out after them, and drove them off by pelting them vigorously with stones. +“Surely,” he said, turning to us breathlessly from his exertions, “you had +met, O strangers! with some mischief, if I had not been here.” The dogs +disappeared, in deep anger, into the thicket, and, though we stayed at the +place for some time, never reappeared to threaten or to pursue us on our +departure. We talked as best we could to the gentle shepherdess, one of +whose children had a fearfully scalded hand, for which we suggested +remedies to her occult and wonderful, though at home so trite as to be +despised by the wise. She gave us in return great bowls of heated milk, +which was being made into cheese, and into various kinds of curds, which +are the very best produce of the country. They would take no money for +their hospitality, but did not object to our giving the children coins to +play with—to them, I am sure, a great curiosity. + +Most of our journey was not, however, through pastures and plains, but up +and down steep ravines, where riding was so difficult and dangerous that +we were often content to dismount and lead our horses. Every hour or two +brought us to a fountain springing from a rock, and over it generally a +great spreading fig-tree, while the water was framed in on both sides with +a perfect turf of maiden-hair fern. The only considerable valley which we +saw was that of Cleonæ, which we passed some miles on our left, and about +which there was a great deal of golden corn, and many shady plane-trees. +Indeed, the corn was so plentiful that we saw asses grazing in it quite +contentedly, without any interference from thrifty farmers. We had seen a +very similar sight in Sicily, where the enormous deep-brown Sicilian oxen, +with their forward-pointing horns, were stretching their huge forms in +fields of half-ripe wheat, which covered all the plain without fence or +division. There, too, it seemed as if this was the cheapest grazing, and +as if it were unprofitable labor to drive the cattle to some untilled +pasture. As for the treading-out of corn, I saw it done at Argos by a +string of seven horses abreast, with two young foals at the outside, +galloping round a small circular threshing-floor in the open field, upon +which the ripe sheaves had been laid in radiating order. I have no doubt +that a special observer of farming operations would find many interesting +survivals both in Greece and the Two Sicilies. + +Toward evening, after many hours of travel, we turned aside on our way +down the plain of Argos, to see the famous ruins of Mycenæ. But we will +now pass them by, as the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann, and a second visit +to the ruins after his excavations, have opened up so many questions, that +a separate chapter must be devoted to them. + +The fortress of Tiryns, which I have already mentioned, and which we +visited next day, may fitly be commented on before approaching the +younger, or at least more artistically finished, Mycenæ. It stands several +miles nearer to the sea, in the centre of the great plain of Argos, and +upon the only hillock which there affords any natural scope for +fortification. Instead of the square, or at least hewn, well-fitted blocks +of Mycenæ, we have here the older style of rude masses piled together as +best they would fit, the interstices being filled up with smaller +fragments, and, as we now know, faced with mortar. This is essentially +Cyclopean building.(161) There is a smaller castle of rectangular shape, +on the southern and highest part of the oblong hillock, the whole of which +is surrounded by a lower wall, which takes in both this and the northern +longer part of the ridge. It looked, in fact, like a hill-fort, with a +large enclosure for cattle around it. + +Just below the north-east angle of the inner fort, and where the lower +circuit is about to leave it, there is an entrance, with a massive +projection of huge stones, looking like a square tower, on its right side, +so as to defend it from attack. The most remarkable feature in the walls +are the covered galleries, constructed within them at the south-east +angle. The whole thickness of the wall is often over twenty feet, and in +the centre a rude arched way is made—or rather, I believe, two parallel +ways; but the inner gallery has fallen in, and is almost untraceable—and +this merely by piling together the great stones so as to leave an opening, +which narrows at the top in the form of a Gothic arch. Within the passage +there are five niches in the outer side, made of rude arches, in the same +way as the main passage. The length of the gallery I measured, and found +it twenty-five yards, at the end of which it is regularly walled up, so +that it evidently did not run all the way round. The niches are now no +longer open, but seem to have been once windows, or at least to have had +some look-out points into the hill country. + + [Illustration: Gallery at Tiryns] + +It is remarkable that, although the walls are made of perfectly rude +stones, the builders have managed to use so many smooth surfaces looking +outward, that the face of the wall seems quite clean and well-built.(162) +At the south-east corner of the higher and inner level we found a large +block of red granite, quite different from the rough gray stone of the +building, with its surface square and smooth, and all the four sides +neatly bevelled, like the portal stones at the treasury of Atreus. I found +two other similar blocks close by, which were likewise cut smooth on the +surface, and afterward, in company with Dr. Schliemann, a large Doric +capital. The intention of these stones we could not guess, but they show +that some ornament, and some more finished work, must have once existed in +or near the inner building. Though both the main entrances have massive +towers of stone raised on their right, there is a small postern at the +opposite or west side, not more than four feet wide, which has no defences +whatever, and is a mere hole in the wall. + +The whole ruin was covered in summer with thistles, such as English people +can hardly imagine. The needles at the points of the leaves are fully an +inch long, extremely fine and strong, and sharper than any two-edged +sword. No clothes except a leather dress can resist them. They pierce +everywhere with the most stinging pain, and make antiquarian research in +this famous spot a veritable martyrdom, which can only be supported by a +very burning love for knowledge, or the sure hope of future fame. The +rough masses of stone are so loose that one’s footing is insecure, and +when the traveller loses his balance, and falls among the thistles, he +will wish that he had gone to Jericho instead, or even fallen among +thieves on the way. + +Such was the aspect of Tiryns when I visited it in the years 1875 and in +1877. In 1884 I went there again with Dr. Schliemann, who was uncovering +the palace on the height. The results of his discoveries are so important +that I shall review them in another chapter. + +We rode down from Mycenæ to Argos late in the evening, along the broad and +limpid stream of the river Inachus, which made us wonder at the old epic +epithet, _very thirsty_, given to this celebrated plain.(163) Though the +night was getting dark, we could see and smell great fields of wild +rose-red oleander, blooming along the river banks, very like the +rhododendrons of our demesnes. And, though not a bird was to be heard, the +tettix, so dear to the old Greeks, and so often the theme of their poets, +was making the land echo with its myriad chirping. Aristophanes speaks of +it as crying out with mad love of the noonday sun.(164) We found it no +less eager and busy in late twilight, and far into the night. I can quite +understand how the old Greek, who hated silence, and hated solitude still +more, loved this little creature, which kept him company even in the time +of sleep, and gave him all the feelings of cheerfulness and homeliness +which we northerns, in our wretched climate, must seek from the cricket at +the fireside. + +At ten o’clock we rode into the curious dark streets of Argos, and, after +some difficulty, were shown to the residence of M. Papalexopoulos, who +volunteered to be our host—a medical man of education and ability, who, in +spite of a very recent family bereavement, opened his house to the +stranger, and entertained us with what may well be called in that country +real splendor. I may notice that he alone, of all the country residents +whom we met, gave us wine not drenched with resin—a very choice and +remarkable red wine, for which the plain of Argos is justly celebrated. In +this comfortable house we slept, I may say, in solitary grandeur, and +awoke in high spirits, without loss or damage, to visit the wonders of +this old centre of legend and of history. + +It is very easy to see why all the Greek myths have placed the earliest +empires, the earliest arts, and the earliest conquests, in the plains of +Argolis. They speak, too, of this particular plain having the benefit of +foreign settlers and of foreign skill. If we imagine, as we must do, the +older knowledge of the East coming up by way of Cyprus and Crete into +Greek waters, there can be no doubt that the first exploring mariners, +reaching the barren island of Cerigo, and the rocky shore of Laconia, +would feel their way up this rugged and inhospitable coast, till they +suddenly came in sight of the deep bay of Argolis, stretching far into the +land, with a broad plain and alluvial soil beyond its deepest recess. +Here, first, they would find a suitable landing-place, and a country fit +for tillage; and here, accordingly, we should expect to find, as we +actually do, the oldest relics of habitation, beyond the huts of wandering +shepherds or of savages. So the legend tells us that Cyclopes came from +Lycia to King Prœtus of Argos, or rather of the Argive plain, and built +him the giant fort of Tiryns.(165) + +This was evidently the oldest great settlement. Then, by some change of +fortune, it seems that Mycenæ grew in importance, not impossibly because +of the unhealthy site of Tiryns, where the surroundings are now low and +marshy, and were, probably, even more so in those days. But the epoch of +Mycenæ’s greatness also passed away in historical times; and the third +city in this plain came forward as its ruler—Argos, built under the huge +Larissa, or hill-fort, which springs out from the surrounding mountains, +and stands like an outpost over the city.(166) Even now it is still an +important town, and maintains, in the midst of its smiling and +well-cultivated plain, a certain air of brightness and prosperity which is +seldom to be seen elsewhere through the country. + +We went first to visit the old theatre, certainly the most beautifully +situated,(167) and one of the largest I had ever seen. It is far finer +than even that of Syracuse, and whoever has seen this latter will know +what such a statement implies. If the Greek theatre at Syracuse has a view +of the great harbor and the coast around, this view can only have been +made interesting by crowded shipping and flitting sails, for the whole +incline of the country is very gradual, and not even the fort of Ortygia +presents any bold or striking outline. + +The Argive theatre was built to hold an enormous audience. We counted +sixty-six tiers of seats, in four divisions—thus differing from the +description of Colonel Leake, which we had before us at the time. As he +observes, there may be more seats still covered with rubbish at the +bottom—indeed this, like all the rest of Argos, ought to yield a rich +harvest to the antiquarian, being still almost virgin soil, and never yet +ransacked with any care. From the higher seats of the theatre of Argos, +which rise much steeper than those of Syracuse, there is a most enchanting +prospect to the right, over a splendid rich plain, covered, when we first +saw it, with the brilliant emerald-green of young vines and tobacco +plants, varied with the darker hue of plane-trees and cypresses. After the +wilderness through which we had passed this prospect was intensely +delightful. Straight before us, and to the left, was the deep blue bay of +Argolis, with the white fortifications of Nauplia crowning its picturesque +Acropolis. All around us, in every other direction, was a perfect +amphitheatre of lofty mountains. This bay is, for its size, the most +beautiful I ever saw, and the opinion which we then formed was +strengthened by a sunset view of it from the other side—from Nauplia—which +was, if possible, even finer, and combined all the elements which are +conceivable in a perfect landscape. Near the theatre there is a remnant of +Cyclopean building, apparently the angle of a wall, made of huge uncut +blocks, like those at Tiryns. There are said to be some similar +substructures on the Larissa, which is, however, itself a mediæval ruin, +and therefore, to us, of slight interest. + +All the children about brought us coins, of every possible date and +description, but were themselves more interesting than their coins. For +here, in southern Greece, in a very hot climate, in a level plain, every +second child is fair, with blue eyes, and looks like a transplanted +northern, and not like the offspring of a southern race. After the deep +brown Italian children, which strike the traveller by their southernness +all the way from Venice to Reggio, nothing is more curious than these +fairer children, under a sunnier and hotter sky; and it reminds the +student at once how, even in Homer, yellow hair and a fair complexion is +noted as belonging to the King of Sparta. This type seems to me common +wherever there has not arisen a mixed population, such as that of Athens +or Syra, and where the inhabitants appear to live as they have done for +centuries. Fallmerayer’s cleverness and undoubted learning persuaded many +people, and led many more to suspect, that the old Greek race was +completely gone, and that the present people were a mixture of Turks, +Albanians, and Slavs. To this many answers suggest themselves,—to me, +above all things, the strange and accurate resemblances in character +between ancient and modern Greeks,—resemblances which permeate all their +life and habits. + +But this is a kind of evidence not easily stated in a brief form, and +consists after all of a large number of minute details. The real +refutation of Fallmerayer’s theory consists in exposing the alleged +evidence upon which it rests. He puts forth with great confidence +citations from MS. authorities at Athens, which have not been verified; +nay, he is even proved to have been the dupe of some clever forgeries. A +careful examination of the scanty allusions to the state of Greece during +the time of its supposed _Slavisation_, and the evidences obtained from +the lives of the Greek saints who belong to this epoch, have proved to +demonstration that the country was never wholly occupied by foreigners, or +deserted by its old population. The researches of Ross, Ellissen, and +lastly of Hopf,(168) have really set the matter at rest; but, +unfortunately, English students will for some time to come be misled by +the evident leaning of Finlay toward the Slav hypothesis. As has been +fairly remarked by later critics, Finlay did not test the documents cited +by Fallmerayer; and until this was done, the case seemed conclusive enough +for the total devastation of Greece during four hundred years, and its +occupation by a new population. But all this is now relegated to the +sphere of fable. There is, of course, a large admixture of Slavs and +Albanians in the country; the constant invasions and partial conquests for +several centuries could not but introduce it. Still, Greece has remained +Greek in the main, and the foreigners have not been able to hold their own +against the stronger nationality of the true Hellenes. + +Another weighty argument seems to me to be from language.(169) There is +really very little difference between the language of Plato and that of +the present Greeks. There is, of course, development and decay, there are +changes of idiom and corruptions of form, there are a good many Slav +names, but the language is essentially the same. The present Greek will +read the old classics with the same trouble with which our peasants could +read Chaucer. It is, in fact, most remarkable, assuming that they are the +same people, how their language has not changed more. Had the invaders +during the Middle Ages really become the main body of the population, how +is it that they abandoned their own tongue, and adopted that of the +Greeks? Surely there must be at least a fusion of different tongues, if +the population were considerably leavened. There are still Albanian +districts in Greece. They are to be found even in Attica, and close to +Athens. But these populations are still tolerably distinct from the +Greeks; their language is quite different, and unintelligible to Greeks +who have not learned it. + +Again, the Greek language is not one which spread itself easily among +foreigners, nor did it give rise to a number of daughter languages, like +the Latin. In many Hellenic colonies, barbarians learned to speak Greek +with the Greeks, and to adopt their language at the time; but in all these +cases, when the Greek influence vanished the Greek language decayed, and +finally made way for the old tongue which it had temporarily displaced. +Thus the evidence of history seems to suggest that no foreigners were ever +really able to make that subtle tongue their own; and even now we can feel +the force of what Aristotle says—that however well a stranger might speak, +you could recognize him at once by his use of the particles. + +These considerations seem to me conclusive that, whatever admixtures may +have taken place, the main body of the people are what their language +declares them to be, essentially Greeks. Any careful observer will not +fail to see through the wilder parts of the Morea types and forms equal to +those which inspired the old artists. There are still among the shepherd +boys splendid lads who would adorn a Greek gymnasium, or excite the praise +of all Greece at the Olympian games. There are still maidens fit to carry +the sacred basket of Athene. Above all, there are still many old men fit +to be chosen for their stalwart beauty to act as _thallophori_ in the +Panathenaic procession. + +These thoughts often struck us as we went through the narrow and crowded +streets of Argos, in search of the peculiar produce of the place—raw +silks, rich-colored carpets and rugs, and ornamental shoes in dull red +“morocco” leather. + +We were taken to see the little museum of the town—then a very small one, +with a single inscription, and eight or ten pieces of sculpture. But the +inscription, which is published, is exceedingly clear and legible, and the +fragments of sculpture are all both peculiar and excellent. There is a +female head of great beauty, about half life-size, and from the best, or +certainly a very good, period of Greek art, which has the curious +peculiarity of one eye being larger than the other. It is not merely the +eyeball, but the whole setting of the eye, which is slightly enlarged, nor +does it injure the general effect. The gentlemen who showed this head to +me, and who were all very enthusiastic about it, had indeed not noticed +this feature, but recognized it at once when pointed out to them. Beside +this trunkless head is a headless trunk of equal beauty—a female figure +without arms, and draped with exquisite grace, in a manner closely +resembling the famous Venus of Melos. The figure has one foot slightly +raised, and set upon a duck, as is quite plain from the general form of +the bird, though the webbed feet are much worn away, and the head gone. M. +Émile Burnouf told me that this attribute of a duck would determine it to +be either Athene or Artemis. If so, the general style of the figure, which +is very young and slight, speaks in favor of its being an Artemis. I trust +photographs of this excellent statue may soon be made, and that it may +become known to art students in Europe. + +We also noticed a relief larger than life, on a square block of white +marble, of the head of Medusa. The face is calm and expressionless, +exactly the reverse of Lionardo da Vinci’s matchless painting, but archaic +in character, and of good and clear workmanship. The head-dress, which has +been finished only on the right side, is very peculiar, and consists of +large scales starting from the forehead, and separating into two plaits, +which become serpents’ bodies, and descend in curves as low as the chin, +then turning upward and outward again, till they end in well-formed +serpents’ heads. The left serpent is carved out perfectly in relief, but +not covered with scales. + +I was unable to obtain any trustworthy account of the finding of these +marbles, but they were all fresh discoveries, especially the Medusa head, +which had been only lately brought to the museum, when we were first at +Argos. Future visitors will find this valuable collection much increased; +and here in this important town it is advisable that there should be a +local museum. + +If we look at Dorian art, as contrasted with Ionian, there can be no doubt +that the earliest centre was Corinth in the Peloponnesus, to which various +discoveries in art are specially ascribed. In architecture, there were +many leading ideas, such as the setting up of clay figures in the tympanum +of their temples, and the use of panels or soffits, as they were called, +in ceilings, which came first from Corinth. But when we descend to +better-known times, there are three other Dorian states which quite +eclipse Corinth, I suppose because the trading instinct, as is sometimes +the case, crushed out or weakened her enthusiasm for art. These states are +Ægina, Sikyon, and Argos. Sikyon rose to greatness under the gentle and +enlightened despotism of Orthagoras and his family, of whom it was noticed +that they retained their sovereignty longer than any other dynasty of +despots in Greece. Ægina seems to have disputed the lead with Corinth as a +commercial mart, from the days of Pheidon, whose coinage of money was +always said to have been first practised at Ægina.(170) The prominence of +Ægina in Pindar’s Epinikian Odes shows not only how eagerly men practised +athletics, and loved renown there, but how well able they were to pay for +expensive monuments of their fame. Their position in the Persian war, +among the bravest of the Greeks, corroborates the former part of my +statement; the request of an Ionian Greek lady, captured in the train of +Mardonius, to be transported to Ægina, adds evidence for the second, as it +shows that, to a person of this description, Ægina was the field for a +rich harvest, and we wonder how its reputation can have been greater in +this respect than that of Corinth.(171) But, a short time after, the rise +of the Athenian naval power crushed the greatness of Ægina, and it sank +into insignificance, and was absorbed into the Attic power. + +Thus Sikyon and Argos remained, and it was precisely these two towns which +produced a special school of art, of which Polycletus was the most +distinguished representative. Dorian sculpture had originally started with +figures of athletes, which were dedicated at the temples, and were a sort +of collateral monument to the odes of poets—more durable, no doubt, in the +minds of the offerers, but, as time has shown, perishable and gone, while +the winged words of the poet have not lost even the first bloom of their +freshness. However, in contrast to the flowing robes and +delicately-chiselled features of the Ionic school, the Dorians reproduced +the naked human figure with great accuracy; while in the face they adhered +to a stiff simplicity, regardless of individual features, and still more +regardless of any expression save that of a vacant smile. This type, found +in its most perfect development in the Æginetan marbles, was what lay +before Polycletus, when he rose to greatness. He was the contemporary and +rival of Phidias, and is said to have defeated him in a competition for +the temple of Hera at Samos, where two or three of the greatest sculptors +modelled a wounded Amazon, and Polycletus was adjudged the first place. +There is some probability that one of the Amazons now in the Vatican is a +copy of this famous work; and, in spite of a clumsily-restored head and +arms, we can see in this figure the great simplicity and truth of the +artist in treating a rather ungrateful subject—that of a very powerful and +muscular woman. + +The Argive school, owing to its traditions, affected single figures much +more than groups; and this, no doubt, was the main contrast between +Polycletus and Phidias—that, however superior the Argive might be in a +single figure, the genius of the Athenian was beyond all comparison in +using sculpture for groups and processions as an adjunct to architecture. +But there was also in the sitting statue of Zeus, at Olympia, a certain +majesty which seems not to have been equalled by any other known sculptor. +The Attic artist who appears, however, to have been much nearer to +Polycletus in style was Myron, whose _Discobolus_ has reached us in some +splendid copies, and who seems to have had all the Dorian taste for +representing single athletic figures with more life and more daring action +about them than was attempted by Polycletus.(172) + +Herodotus notices somewhere that, at a certain period, the Argives were +the most renowned in Greece for music. It is most unfortunate that our +knowledge of this branch of Greek art is so fragmentary that we are wholly +unable to tell in what the Argive proficiency consisted. We are never told +that the Doric scale was there invented; but, very possibly, they may have +taken the lead among their brethren in this direction also, for it is well +known that the Spartans, though excellent judges, depended altogether upon +foreigners to make music for them, and thought it not gentlemanly to do +more than criticise. + +The drive from Argos to Nauplia leads by Tiryns, then by a great marsh, +which is most luxuriously covered with green and with various flowers, and +then along a good road all the way into the important and stirring town of +Nauplia. This place, which was one of the oldest settlements, as is proved +by Pelasgic walls and tombs high up on the overhanging cliffs, was always +through history known as the port of Argos, and is so still, though it +rose under the Turks to the dignity of capital of the whole province of +Greece. The citadel has at all times been considered almost impregnable. +The situation of the town is exceptionally beautiful, even for a Greek +town; and the sunset behind the Arcadian mountains, seen from Nauplia, +with the gulf in the foreground, is a view which no man can ever forget. + +A coasting steamer, which goes right round all the Peloponnesus, took us +up with a great company, which was hurrying to Athens for the elections, +and carried us round the coast of Argolis, stopping at the several ports +on the way. This method of seeing either Greece or Italy is highly to be +commended, and it is a great pity that so many people adhere strictly to +the quickest and most obvious route, so missing many of the really +characteristic features in the country which they desire to study. Thus +the Italian coasting steamers, which go up from Messina by Naples to +Genoa, touch at many not insignificant places (such as Gaeta), which no +ordinary tourist ever sees, and which are nevertheless among the most +beautiful in all the country. The same may be said of the sail from +Nauplia to Athens, which leads you to Spezza, Hydra, or Idra, as they now +call it, to Poros and to Ægina, all very curious and interesting places to +visit. + + [Illustration: The Palamedi, Nauplia] + +The island of Hydra was, in old days, a mere barren rock, scarcely +inhabited, and would probably never have changed its reputation but for a +pirate settlement in a very curious little harbor, with a very narrow +entrance, which faces the main shore of Argolis. As you sail along the +straight coast line, there seems no break or indentation, when suddenly, +as if by magic, the rocky shore opens for about twenty yards, at a spot +marked by several caves in the face of the cliff, and lets you see into a +circular harbor of very small dimensions, with an amphitheatre of rich and +well-built houses rising up all round the bay. Though the water is very +deep, there is actually no room for a large fleet, and there seems not a +yard of level ground, except where terraces have been artificially made. +High rocks on both sides of the narrow entrance hide all prospect of the +town, except from the point directly opposite the entrance. + +The Hydriotes, who were rich merchants, and, I suppose, successful pirates +in the Turkish days, were never enslaved, but kept their liberty and their +wealth by paying a tribute to the Porte. They developed a trading power +which reminds one strongly of the old Greek cities; and so faithful were +they to one another that it was an ordinary habit for citizens to entrust +all their savings to a captain starting for a distant port, to be laid out +by him to the best advantage. It is said that they were never defrauded of +their profits. The Turks may, perhaps, have thought that by gentle +treatment they would secure the fidelity of the Hydriotes, whose wealth +and power depended much on Turkish protection; but they were greatly +mistaken. There was, indeed, some hesitation among the islanders, when the +War of Liberation broke out, what part they should take; for during the +great Napoleonic wars the Hydriotes, sailing under the neutral flag of +Turkey, had made enormous profits by carrying trade among the +belligerents. They lived in great luxury. With the peace of 1815, and the +reopening of the French and other ports to English ships, these profits +disappeared, and the extravagant hopes of the Hydriotes ended in +bankruptcy. This was probably a main cause of their patriotism. However, +by far the most brilliant feats in the war were those performed by the +Hydriote sailors, who remind one very much of the Zealanders in the wars +of Holland against the Spanish power. Whether their bravery has been +exaggerated is hard to say: this, at all events, is clear, that they +earned the respect and admiration of the whole nation, nor is there any +nobility so recognized in Greek society as descent from the Hydriote +chiefs who fought for the Liberation. + +With the rise of the nation the wealth and importance of Hydra has +strangely decayed. Probably the Peiræus, with its vast advantages, has +naturally regained its former predominance, now that every part of the +coast and every port are equally free. Still, the general style and way of +living at Hydra reminds one of old times; and if the island itself be +sterile, the rich slopes of the opposite coast, covered with great groves +of lemon-trees, are owned by the wealthy descendants of the old merchants. + +The neighboring island of Spezza, where the steamer waits, and a crowd of +picturesque people come out in quaint boats to give and take cargo, has a +history very parallel to that of Hydra. It is to be noted that the +population of both islands is rather Albanian than Greek. A few hours +brings the steamer past Poros and through narrow passages among islands to +Ægina, as they now call it. We have here an island whose history is +precisely the reverse of that of Hydra. The great days of Ægina (as I +mentioned above) were in very old times, from the age of Pheidon of Argos, +in the seventh century B. C., up to the rise of Athens’s democracy and +navy, when this splendid centre of literature, art, and commerce was +absorbed in the greater Athenian empire. + +There is at present a considerable town on the coast, and some cultivation +on the hills; but the whole aspect of the island is very rocky and barren, +and as it can hardly ever have been otherwise, we feel at once that the +early greatness of Ægina was, like that of Hydra in the last century, a +purely commercial greatness. The people are very hospitable and +interesting. Nowhere in Greece did I see more apparent remains of the +purest Greek type. Our hostess, in particular, was worthy to take her +place in the Parthenon frieze, and among the children playing on the quay +there were faces of marvellous beauty. + +With enterprise and diligence, a trading nation or city may readily become +great in a small island or barren coast, and no phenomenon in history +proves this more strongly than the vast empire of the Phœnicians, who seem +never to have owned more than a bare tract of a few miles about Tyre and +Sidon. They were, in fact, a great people without a country. The Venetians +similarly raised an empire on a salt marsh, and at one time owned many +important possessions on Greek coasts and islands, without “any visible +means of subsistence,” as they say in the police courts. In the same way, +Pericles thought nothing of the possession of Attica, provided the +Athenians could hold their city walls and their harbors. He knew that with +a maritime supremacy they must necessarily be lords of so vast a stretch +of coasts and islands that the barren hills of Attica might be completely +left out of account. + +There is yet another and a very interesting way from Nauplia to Ægina, +which may be strongly recommended to the traveller who does not arrive in +due time to catch the weekly steamer. Horses can be hired at Nauplia, +which can perform, in about seven hours, the journey to the little village +of Epidauros (now pronounced _Epídavros_). Here a boat can be obtained, +which, with a fair wind, can reach Ægina in three, and the Peiræus in +about six hours. But, like all boating expeditions, this trip is +uncertain, and may be thwarted by either calm or storm. + + [Illustration: Sculptured Lion, Nauplia] + +We left Nauplia on a very fine morning, while the shepherds from the +country were going through the streets, shouting _γάλα_, and serving out +their milk from skins, of which they held the neck in one hand, and +loosened their hold slightly to pour it into the vessel brought to them by +the customer. These picturesque people—men, women, and children—seem to +drive an active trade, and yet are not, I believe, to be found in the +streets of any other Greek town. + +The way through the Argolic country is rough and stony, not unlike in +character to the ride from Corinth to Mycenæ, but more barren, and for the +most part less picturesque. On some of the hilltops are old ruins, with +fine remains of masonry, apparently old Greek work. The last two or three +hours of the journey are, however, particularly beautiful, as the path +goes along the course of a rich glen, in which a tumbling river hurries +toward the sea. This glen is full of verdure and of trees. We saw it in +the richest moment of a southern spring, when all the trees were bursting +into leaf, or decked with varied bloom. It was the home, too, of thrushes, +and many other singing birds, which filled the air with music—as it were a +rich variation upon the monotonous sound of the murmuring river. There is +no sweeter concert than this in nature, no union of sight and sound which +fills the heart of the stranger in such a solitude with deeper gladness. I +know no fitter exodus from the beautiful Morea—a farewell journey which +will dwell upon the memory, and banish from the mind all thoughts of +discomfort and fatigue. + +In the picturesque little land-locked bay of Epidavros there was a +good-sized fishing-boat riding at anchor, which we immediately chartered +to convey us to Athens. The skipper took some time to gather a crew, and +to obtain the necessary papers from the local authorities, but after some +pressure on our part we got under weigh with a fair wind, and ran out of +the harbor into the broad rock-studded sheet of water which separates +Argolis from Ægina, and from the more distant coast of Attica. There is no +more delightful or truly Greek mode of travelling than to run through +islands and under rocky coasts in these boats, which are roomy and +comfortable, and, being decked, afford fair shelter from shower or spray. +But presently the wind began to increase from the north-west, and our +skipper to hesitate whether it were safe to continue the journey. He +proposed to run into the harbor of Ægina for the night. We acquiesced +without demur, and went at a great pace to our new destination. But no +sooner had we come into the harbor, and cast anchor, so that the boat lay +steady with her head to the wind, than another somewhat larger boat which +came sailing in after us ran right into her amidships. The shock started +up all my companions, who were lying asleep in the bottom of the boat, and +the situation looked rather desperate, for we were in the middle of a +large harbor, a long way from land. It was night, and blowing hard, and +all our crew betook themselves to weeping and praying, while the other +boat did her best to sheer off and leave us to our fate. However, some of +us climbed into her by the bow-sprit, which lay across our deck, while +others got up the baggage, and proceeded to examine at what pace the water +was coming in. A boat from the shore came out in time to take us off +safely, but when we had landed our skipper gravely proposed that we should +pay for the boat, as she was injured in our service! Of course, we laughed +him to scorn, and having found at Ægina a steam-launch belonging to +Captain Miaoulis, then Minister of Marine, we went in search of him, and +besought him to take us next day to the Peiræus. The excellent man not +only granted our request, but entertained us on the way with the most +interesting anecdotes of his stay in England as a boy, when he came with +his father to seek assistance from our country during the War of +Liberation. Thus we came into the Peiræus, not as shipwrecked outcasts, +but under the protection of one of the most gallant and distinguished +officers of the Greek navy. + +A great point of interest among newly-discovered sites is the great temple +and theatre of Epidaurus, which I did not visit, on account of an epidemic +of small-pox—_εὐφλογία_ they call it, euphemistically. The very journey to +this place is worth making, on account of its intensely characteristic +features. You start from Athens in a coasting steamer full of natives, who +carry with them their food and beds, and camp on deck where it pleases +them, regardless of class. You see all the homeliness of ordinary life +obtruded upon you without seeking it, instead of intruding upon others to +find it; and you can study not only the country, but the people, at great +leisure. But the ever-varying beauty of the scene leaves little time for +other studies. The boat passes along Ægina, and rounds the promontory of +Kalauria—the death-scene of Demosthenes—into the land-locked bay of Poros, +where lay the old Trœzen and Hermione along the fruitful shore, surrounded +by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains. The sea is like a fair inland lake, +studded with white sails, and framed with the rich green of vines and figs +and growing corn. Even the rows of tall solemn cypresses can suggest no +gloom in such a landscape. From here it is but a short ride to the famous +temple of Æsculapius, though most people go from Nauplia, as I once did in +former years, before the discoveries were made which now attract the +student. + +The excavations of the Greek archæological society have laid bare at least +three principal buildings in connection with the famous spot; the old +temple of the god, the theatre, and the famous _tholos_, a circular +building, in which those who had been healed of diseases set up votive +tablets. The extraordinary size and splendor of the theatre—Pausanias says +it was far the finest in Greece—rather contrasts with the dimensions of +the temple, and suggests that most of the patients who came were able to +enjoy themselves, or else that many people came for pleasure, and not on +serious business. The remains discovered are particularly valuable for the +good preservation of the stage, but of this I can only speak at second +hand. So also the circular building, which was erected under the +supervision of the famous Polycletus, the great Argive sculptor, a rival +of Phidias, has many peculiar features, and shows in one more instance +that what earlier art critics assumed as modern was based on older +classical models. Circular buildings supported on pillars were thought +rather Græco-Roman than Greek, but here we see that, like the builders of +the Odeon of Pericles, of the later Philippeion at Olympia, so the +Epidaurians had this form before them from early days. Inside the outer +row of Doric pillars was a second circle of pillars, apparently Ionic as +to proportions and fluting, but the capitals were Corinthian, so that this +feature also in architecture has a venerable antiquity, and was not +Græco-Roman, as was once supposed. For a long time the so-called Lantern +of Demosthenes, built for Lysicrates at Athens in 335 B. C., when +Alexander was leading his army into Asia, was considered the oldest, and +perhaps the only pure Greek example of the Corinthian capital. People +began to hesitate when a solitary specimen was found in the famous temple +of Bassæ, where it could hardly have been imported in later days. Now the +evidence is completed, and in this respect the historians of art are +correcting the rash generalization of their predecessors. + + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + + KYNURIA—SPARTA—MESSENE. + + +Whatever other excursions a traveller may make in the Morea, he ought not +to omit a trip to Sparta, which has so often been the centre of power, and +is still one of the chief centres of attraction in Greece. And yet many +reasons conspire to make this famous place less visited than the rest of +the country. It is distinctly out of the way from the present +starting-points of travel. To reach it from Athens, or even from Patras or +Corinth, requires several days, and it is not remarkable for any of those +architectural remains which are more attractive to the modern inquirer +than anything else in a historic country. + +Of the various routes we choose (in 1884) that from Nauplia by Astros, as +we had been the guests for some days of the hospitable Dr. Schliemann, who +was prosecuting his now famous researches at Tiryns. So we rose one +morning with the indefatigable doctor before dawn,(173) and took a boat to +bring us down the coast to Astros. The morning was perfectly fair and +calm, and the great mountain chains of the coast were mirrored in the opal +sea, as we passed the picturesque rocky fort which stands close to Nauplia +in the bay, the residence of the public executioner. The beauty of the +Gulf of Argos never seemed more perfect than in the freshness of the +morning, with the rising sun illuminating the lofty coasts. Our progress +was at first by the slow labor of the oar, but as the morning advanced +there came down a fresh west wind from the mountains, which at intervals +filled our lateen sail almost too well, and sent us flying along upon our +way. In three hours we rounded a headland, and found ourselves in the +pretty little bay of Astros. + +Of course, the whole population came down to see us. They were apparently +as idle, and as ready to be amused, as the inhabitants of an Irish +village. But they are sadly wanting in fun. You seldom hear them make a +joke or laugh, and their curiosity is itself curious from this aspect. +After a good deal of bargaining we agreed for a set of mules and ponies to +bring us all the way round the Morea, to Corinth if necessary, though +ultimately we were glad to leave them at Kyparissia, at the opposite side +of Peloponnesus, and pursue our way by sea. The bargain was eight drachmas +per day for each animal; a native, or very experienced traveller, could +have got them for five to six drachmas. + +Our way led us up a river course, as usual through fine olive-trees and +fields of corn, studded with scarlet anemones, till after a mile or two we +began to ascend from the level of the coast to the altitudes of the +central plateau, or rather mountain system, of the Morea. Here the flora +of the coast gave way to fields of sperge, hyacinths, irises, and star of +Bethlehem. Every inch of ascent gave us a more splendid and extended view +back over coasts and islands. The giant tops of the inner country showed +themselves still covered with snow. We were in that district so little +known in ancient history, which was so long a bone of contention between +Argos and Sparta, whose boundaries seem never to have been fixed by any +national landmark. When we had reached the top of the rim of inland Alps, +we ascended and descended various steeps, and rounded many glens, reaching +in the end the village of Hagios Petros, which we had seen before us for a +long time, while we descended one precipice and mounted another to attain +our goal. It was amusing to see our _agogiatæ_ or muleteers pulling out +fragments of mirror, and arranging their toilette, such as it was, before +encountering the criticism of the Hagiopetrans. One of these men was +indeed a handsome soldierly youth, who walked all day with us for a week +over the roughest country, in miserable shoes, and yet without apparent +fatigue. + +Another, a great stout man with a beard, excused himself for not being +married by saying he was _too little_ (_εἶναι μικρός_), and so we learned +that as they are all expected to marry, and do marry, twenty-five is +considered the earliest proper age. One would almost think they had +preserved some echo of Aristotle’s views, which make thirty years the best +age for marriage—thirty years! when most of us are already so old as to +have lost interest in these great pleasures. + +At Hagios Petros we were hospitably received by the demarch, a venerable +old man with a white beard, who was a physician, unfortunately also a +politician, and who insisted on making a thousand inquiries about Mr. +Gladstone and Prince Bismarck, while we were starving and longing for +dinner. Some fish, which the muleteers had providently bought at Astros +and brought with them, formed the best part of the entertainment, if we +except the magnificent creature, adorned in all his petticoats and colors +and knives, who came in to see us before dinner, and kissed our hands with +wonderful dignity, but who turned out to be the waiter at the table. We +asked the demarch how he had procured himself so stately a servant, and he +said he was the clerk in his office. It occurred to us, when we watched +the grace and dignity of every movement in this royal-looking person, how +great an effect splendid costume seems to have on manners. It was but a +few days since that I had gone to a very fashionable evening party at a +handsome palace in Athens, and had been amused at the extraordinary +awkwardness with which various very learned men—professors, archæologists, +men of independent means—had entered the room. The circle was, I may add, +chiefly German. Here was a man, ignorant, acting as a servant and yet a +king in demeanor. But how could you expect a German professor in his +miserable Frankish dress to assume the dignity of a Greek in palicar +costume, in forty yards of petticoat, his waist squeezed with female +relentlessness, with his ruby jacket and gaiters, his daggers and pistols +at his belt. After all, manners are hardly attainable, as a rule, without +costume. + +We were accommodated as well as the worthy demarch could manage for the +night. As a special favor I was put to sleep into his dispensary, a little +chamber full of galley-pots, pestles, and labelled bottles of antiquated +appearance, and dreamt in turns of the study of Faust and of the +apothecary’s shop in Mantua, which we see upon the stage. + +Early in the morning we climbed up a steep ascent to attain the high +plateau, very bleak and bare, which is believed by the people to have been +the scene of the conflict of Othryades and his men with the Argive 300. A +particular spot is still called _στοὺς φονευμένους_, _the place of the +slain_. The high plain, about 3500 feet above the sea, was all peopled +with country-folk coming to a market at Hagios Petros, and we had ample +opportunity of admiring both the fine manly appearance and the excellent +manners of this hardy and free peasantry. The complex of mountains in +which they live is the chain of Parnon, which ultimately extends from +Thyreatis through Kynuria down to Cape Malea, but not without many breaks +and crossings. The heights of Parnon (now called Malevo) still hid from us +the farther Alps of the inner country. + +After a ride of an hour or two we descended to the village of Arachova, +much smaller and poorer than its namesake in Phocis (above, p. 274), and +thence to the valley of a stream called Phonissa, the murderess, from its +dangerous floods, but at the moment a pleasant and shallow brook. Down its +narrow bed we went for hours, crossing and recrossing it, or riding along +its banks, with all the verdure gradually increasing with the change of +climate and of shelter, till at last a turn in the river brought us +suddenly in sight of the brilliant serrated crest of Taygetus, glittering +with its snow in the sunshine. Then we knew our proper landmark, and felt +that we were indeed approaching Sparta. + +But we still had a long way to ride down our river till we reached its +confluence with the Eurotas, near to which we stopped at a solitary khan, +from which it is an easy ride to visit the remains of Sellasia. During the +remaining three hours we descended the banks of the Eurotas, with the +country gradually growing richer, and the stream so deep that it could no +longer be forded. There is a quaint high mediæval bridge at the head of +the vale of Sparta. On a hot summer’s afternoon, about five o’clock, we +rode, dusty and tired, into Sparta. + +The town was in holiday, and athletic sports were going on in +commemoration of the establishment of Greek liberty. Crowds of fine tall +men were in the very wide regular streets, and in the evening this new +town vindicated its ancient title of _εὐρύχορος_. But the very first +glance at the surroundings of the place was sufficient to correct in my +mind a very widespread error, which we all obtain from reading the books +of people who have never studied history on the spot. We imagine to +ourselves the Spartans as hardy mountaineers, living in a rude alpine +country, with sterile soil, the rude nurse of liberty. They may have been +such when they arrived in prehistoric times from the mountains of Phocis, +but a very short residence in Laconia must have changed them very much. +The vale of Sparta is the richest and most fertile in Peloponnesus. The +bounding chains of mountains are separated by a stretch, some twenty miles +wide, of undulating hills and slopes, all now covered with vineyards, +orange and lemon orchards, and comfortable homesteads or villages. The +great chain on the west limits the vale by a definite line, but toward the +east the hills that run toward Malea rise very gradually and with many +delays beyond the arable ground. The old Spartans therefore settled in the +richest and best country available, and must from the very outset of their +career have had better food, better climate, and hence much more luxury +than their neighbors. + +We are led to the same conclusion by the art-remains which are now coming +to light, and which are being collected in the well-built local museum of +the town. They show us that there was an archaic school of sculpture, +which produced votive and funeral reliefs, and therefore that the old +Spartans were by no means so opposed to art as they have been represented +in the histories. The poetry of Alkman, with its social and moral freedom, +its suggestions of luxury and good living, shows what kind of literature +the Spartan rulers thought fit to import and encourage in the city of +Lycurgus. The whole sketch of Spartan society which we read in Plutarch’s +_Life_ and other late authorities seems rather to smack of imaginary +reconstruction on Doric principles than of historical reality. Contrasts +there were, no doubt, between Dorians and Ionians, nay, even between +Sparta and Tarentine or Argive Dorians; but still Sparta was a rich and +luxurious society, as is confessed on all hands where there is any mention +of the ladies and their homes. We might as well infer from the rudeness of +the dormitories in the College at Winchester, or from the simplicity of an +English man-of-war’s mess, that our nation consisted of rude mountaineers +living in the sternest simplicity. + +But if I continue to write in this way I shall have all the pedants down +upon me. Let us return to the Sparta of to-day. We lodged at a very bad +and dear inn, and our host’s candid excuse for his exorbitant prices was +the fact that he very seldom had strangers to rob, and so must plunder +those that came without stint. His formula was perhaps a little more +decent, but he hardly sought to disguise the plain truth. When we sought +our beds, we found that a very noisy party had established themselves +below to celebrate the Feast of the Liberation, with supper, speeches, and +midnight revelry. + +So, as usual, there was little possibility of sleep. Moreover, I knew that +we had a very long day’s journey before us to Kalamata, so I rose before +the sun and before my companions, to make preparations and to rouse the +muleteers. + +On opening my window, I felt that I had attained one of the strange +moments of life which can never be forgotten. The air was preternaturally +clear and cold, and the sky beginning to glow faintly with the coming day. +Straight before me, so close that it almost seemed within reach of voice, +the giant Taygetus, which rises straight from the plain, stood up into the +sky, its black and purple gradually brightening into crimson, and the cold +blue-white of its snow warming into rose. There was a great feeling of +peace and silence, and yet a vast diffusion of sound. From the whole +plain, with all its homesteads and villages, myriads of cocks were +proclaiming the advent of the dawn. I had never thought there were so many +cocks in all the world. The ever-succeeding voices of these countless +thousands kept up one continual wave of sound, such as I suppose could not +be equalled anywhere else; and yet for all that, as I have said, there was +a feeling of silence, a sense that no other living thing was abroad, an +absolute stillness in the air, a deep sleep over the rest of nature. + +How long I stood there, and forgot my hurry, I know not, but starting up +at last as the sun struck the mountain, I went down, and found below +stairs another curious contrast. All over the coffee-room (if I may so +dignify it) were the disordered remains of a disorderly revel, ashes and +stains and fragments in disgusting confusion; and among them a solitary +figure was mumbling prayers in the gloom to the image of a saint with a +faint lamp burning before it. In the midst of the wrecks of dissipation +was the earnestness of devotion, prayer in the place of ribaldry; perhaps, +too, dead formalism in the place of coarse but real enjoyment. + +We left for Mistra before six in the morning, so escaping some of the +parting inspection which the whole town was ready to bestow upon us. The +way led us past many orchards, where oranges and lemons were growing in +the richest profusion on great trees, as large as the cherry-trees in the +Alps. The branches were bending with their load, and there was fruit +tumbled into the grass, and studding the ground in careless plenty with +its ruddy and pale gold. In these orchards, with their deep green masses +of foliage, the nightingales sing all day, and we heard them out-carolling +the homelier sounds of awakening husbandry. During all the many rides I +have taken through Greece, no valley ever struck me with the sense of +peace and wealth so much as that of Sparta. + +After an hour or so we reached the picturesque town of Mistra, now nearly +deserted, but all through the Middle Ages the capital of the district, +nestled under the shelter of the great fortress of the Villehardouins, the +family of the famous chronicler. Separated by a deep gorge (or _langada_) +with its torrent from the loftier mountain, this picturesque rock with its +fortress contains the most remarkable mediæval remains, Latin, Greek, +Venetian, Turkish, in all the Morea. Villehardouins and Paleologi made it +their seat of power, and filled it with churches and palaces, to which I +shall return when we speak of mediæval Greece. An earthquake about fifty +years ago destroyed many of the houses, and the population then founded +the new Sparta, with its wide, regular streets, on the site of the old +classical city. This resettlement is not so serious a hindrance to +archæology as the rebuilding of Athens, for we know that in the days of +its real greatness Sparta was a mere aggregate of villages, and the walls +and theatre which are still visible must have been built in late Greek or +Roman times. The so-called tomb of Leonidas, a square chamber built with +huge blocks of ashlar masonry, of which three courses remain, appears like +building of the best period, but its history is wholly unknown. + +We reached in another hour the steep village of Trypi, at the very mouth +of the great pass through Taygetus—a beautiful site, with houses and +forest trees standing one above the other on the precipitous steep; and +below, the torrent rushing into the plain to join the Eurotas. It is from +this village that we ought to have started at dawn, and where we should +have spent the previous night, for even from here it takes eleven full +hours to reach Kalamata on the Gulf of Messene. The traveller should send +on his ponies, or take them to Mistra and thence to Trypi on the previous +afternoon. The lodging there is probably not much worse than at Sparta. + +From this point we entered at once into the great Langada pass, the most +splendid defile in Greece—the only way from Sparta into Messene for a +distance of thirty miles north and south. It is indeed possible to scale +the mountain at a few other points, but only by regular alpine climbing, +whereas this is a regular highway; and along it strings of mules, not +without trouble, make their passage daily, when the snow does not lie, +from Sparta and from Kalamata. + + [Illustration: Langada Pass] + +Nothing can exceed the picturesqueness and beauty of this pass, and +nothing was stranger than the contrast between its two steeps. That which +faced south was covered with green and with spring flowers—pale anemones, +irises, orchids, violets, and, where a stream trickled down, with +primroses—a marsh plant in this country. All these were growing among +great boulders and cliffs, whereas on the opposite side the whole face was +bleak and barren, the rocks being striated with rich yellow and red veins. +I suppose in hot summer these aspects are reversed. High above us, as it +were, looking down from the summits, were great forests of fir-trees—a +gloomy setting to a grandiose and savage landscape. The day was, as usual, +calm and perfectly fine, with a few white clouds relieving the deep blue +of the sky. As we were threading our way among the rocks of the +river-course we were alarmed by large stones tumbling from above, and +threatening to crush us. Our guides raised all the echoes with their +shouts, to warn any unconscious disturber of this solitude that there were +human beings beneath, but on closer survey we found that our possible +assassins were only goats clambering along the precipice in search of +food, and disturbing loose boulders as they went. + +Farther on we met other herds of these quaint creatures generally tended +by a pair of solitary children, who seemed to belong to no human kin, but, +like birds or flowers, to be the natural denizens of these wilds. They +seemed not to talk or play; we never heard them sing, but passed them +sitting in curious vague listlessness, with no wonder, no curiosity, in +their deep solemn eyes. There, all the day long, they heard no sound but +the falling water, the tinkling of their flocks, and the great whisper of +the forest pines when the breeze touched them on its way down the pass. +They took little heed of us as we passed, and seemed to have sunk from +active beings into mere passive mirrors of the external nature around +them. The men with us, on the other hand, were constantly singing and +talking. They were all in a strange country which they had never seen; a +serious man with a gun slung around his shoulder was our guide from Trypi, +and so at last we reached the top of the pass, about four thousand feet +high, marked by a little chapel to St. Elias, and once by a stone pillar +stating the boundary between Sparta and Messene. It was then up this pass, +and among these forests, that the young Spartans had steeled themselves by +hunting the wolf and the bear in peace, and by raids and surprises in days +of war. + +The descent was longer and more varied; sometimes through well cultivated +olive yards, mulberries, and thriving villages, sometimes along giant +slopes, where a high wind would have made our progress very difficult. +Gradually the views opened and extended, and in the evening we could see +down to the coast of Messene, and the sea far away. But we did not reach +Kalamata till long after nightfall, and rested gladly in a less +uncomfortable inn than we had yet found in the journey. + +The town is a cheery and pleasant little place, with remains of a large +mediæval castle occupied by Franks, Venetians, Turks, which was the first +seat of the Villehardouins, and from which they founded their second fort +at Mistra. The river Nedon here runs into the sea, and there is a sort of +open roadstead for ships, where steamers call almost daily, and a good +deal of coasting trade (silk, currants, etc.) goes on. The only notable +feature in the architecture is the pretty bell tower of the church, of a +type which I afterward saw in other parts of Messenia, but which is not +usual in these late Byzantine buildings. + +As there was nothing to delay us here, we left next morning for the +convent of Vourkano, from which we were to visit Mount Ithome, and the +famous ruins of Epaminondas’s second great foundation in Peloponnesus—the +revived Messene. The plain (called _Macaria_ or Felix from its fertility) +through which we rode was indeed both rich and prosperous, but swampy in +some places and very dusty in others. There seemed to be active +cultivation of mulberries, figs, olives, lemons, almonds, currant-grapes, +with cactus hedges and plenty of cattle. There were numerous little +pot-houses along the road, where mastich and lucumia were sold, as well as +dried fruit and oranges. If the Nedon was broad and shallow, we found the +Pamisos narrow and deep, so that it could only be crossed by a bridge. A +few hours brought us to the ascent of Mount Ithome, on a high shoulder of +which is situated the famous and hospitable convent of Vourkano (or +Voulkano). + +The building, very picturesquely situated high on the side of Mount +Ithome, commands a long slope covered with brushwood and wild-flowers, the +ideal spot for a botanist, as many rills of water run down the descent and +produce an abundant and various vegetation. There is not a sod of soil +which does not contain bulbs and roots of flowers. Below stretches the +valley of Stenyclarus, so famous in the old annals of Messene. It was +studded with groves of orange and lemon, olive and date, mulberry and fig. +The whole of this country has an aspect far more southern and subtropical +than any part of Laconia. + +The monks treated us with great kindness, even pressing us to sit down to +dinner before any ablutions had been thought of, and while we were still +covered with the dust of a very hot and stormy journey along high roads. +The plan of the building, which is not old, having been moved down from +the summit in the last century, is that of a court closed with a gateway, +with covered corridors above looking into the court, and a very tawdry +chapel occupying its centre. It seemed a large and well-to-do +establishment, a sort of Greek Monte Cassino in appearance; and with the +same stir of country people and passing visitors about it. Far above us, +on the summit of Mount Ithome—the site of human sacrifices to Zeus +Ithomates in days of trouble—we saw a chapel on the highest top, 2500 feet +over the sea. Here they told us that a solitary anchorite spent his life, +praying and doing service at his altar, far above the sounds of human +life. We made inquiry concerning the history of this saint, who was once a +wealthy Athenian citizen, with a wife and family. His wife was dead, and +his sons settled in the world, so he resolved to devote the rest of his +years to the service of God apart from the ways of men. Once a fortnight +only he descended to the convent, and brought up the necessary food. On +his lonely watch he had no company but timid hares, travelling quail, and +an occasional eagle, that came and sat by him without fear, perhaps in +wonder at this curious and silent friend. The monks below had often urged +him to catch these creatures for their benefit, but he refused to profane +their lofty asylum. So he sits, looking out from his watch upon sunshine +and rain, upon hot calm and wild storm, with the whole Peloponnesus +extended beneath his eyes. He sees from afar the works and ways of men, +and the world that he has left for ever. Is it not strange that still upon +the same height men offer to their God these human sacrifices, changed +indeed in appearance, but in real substance the same? + +The main excursion from the monastery is over the saddle of the mountain +westward, and through the “Laconian gate” down into the valley beneath, to +see the remains of Epaminondas’s great foundation, the new Messene. There +are still faint traces of a small theatre and some other buildings, but of +the walls and gates enough to tell us pretty clearly how men built +fortifications in those days. The circuit of the walls included the fort +on the summit, and enclosed a large tract of country, so much that it +would be impossible for any garrison to defend it, and accordingly we hear +of the city being taken by sudden assault more than once. The plan is very +splendid, but seems to us rather ostentatious than serious for a new +foundation liable to attacks from Sparta. The walls were, however, +beautifully built, with towers at intervals, and gates for sallies. The +best extant gate is called the Arcadian, and consisted of an outer and +inner pair of folding-doors, enclosing a large round chamber for the +watch. The size of the doorposts and lintels is gigantic, and shows that +there was neither time nor labor spared to make Messene a stately +settlement. There was almost enough land enclosed within the walls to feed +the inhabitants of the houses, for their number never became very great. +If Megalopolis, a far more successful foundation, was far too large for +its population, how much more must this have been the case with Messene? +In military architecture, however, we have no other specimen of old +Hellenic work equal to it, except perhaps Eleutheræ, which resembles it in +style strongly, though the enclosure is quite small in comparison. + + [Illustration: Arcadian Gateway, Messene] + +We could have gone up from Messene by a very long day’s ride to Bassæ, and +so to Olympia, but we had had enough of riding and preferred to make a +short day to the sea at Kyparissia, and thence by steamer to Katakolo, +from which rail and road to Olympia are quite easy. So we left the convent +in the morning and descended into the valley, to turn north and then +north-east, along the river courses which mark the mule-tracks through the +wild country. We crossed a strange bridge over the junction of two rivers +made of three arches meeting in the centre, and of which the substructure +were certainly old Greek building. We then passed through bleak tracts of +uncultivated land, perhaps the most signal case of insufficient population +we had seen in Greece. All these waste fields were covered with great +masses of asphodel, through which rare herds of swine were feeding, and +the sight of these fields suggested to me that by the “meadow of asphodel” +in Homer is not meant a pleasant garden, or desirable country, but merely +a dull waste in which there is nothing done, and no sign of human labor or +human happiness. Had there been night or gloom over this stony tract, with +its tall straggling plants and pale flowers, one could easily imagine it +the place which the dead hero inhabited when he told his friend that the +vilest menial on earth was happier than he. + +After some hours the mountains began to approach on either side, and we +reached a country wonderful in its contrast. Great green slopes reached up +from us far away into the hills, studded with great single forest trees, +and among them huge shrubs of arbutus and mastich, trimmed and rounded as +if for ornament. It was like a splendid park, kept by an English magnate. +The regularity of shape in the shrubs arises, no doubt, from the constant +cropping of the young shoots all round by herds of goats, which we met +here and there in this beautiful solitude. The river bank where we rode +was clothed with oleander, prickly pear, and other flowering shrubs which +I could not name. + +At last woods of ancient olives, with great gnarled stems, told us that we +were nearing some important settlement, and the pleasant town of +Kyparissia came in view—now, alas! a heap of ruins since the recent +earthquake. Here we took leave of our ponies, mules, and human followers; +but the pathos of parting with these intimate companions of many days was +somewhat marred by the divergence of their notions and ours as to their +pay. Yet these differences, when settled, did not prevent them from giving +us an affectionate farewell. + + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + + MYCENÆ AND TIRYNS. + + +I have set apart a chapter for Mycenæ and Tiryns, because the discoveries +of Dr. Schliemann there have raised so many new problems, and have so +largely increased public curiosity about them, that a book of travels in +Greece cannot venture to avoid the subject; even long before Dr. +Schliemann’s day, the learned and deliberate travellers who visited the +Morea, and wrote their great books, found ample scope for description, and +large room for erudite discussion. It is a curious thing to add, but +strictly true, that all the new facts brought out by the late excavations +have, as yet, contributed but little to our knowledge about the actual +history of the country, and that almost every word of what was summed up +from all existing sources twenty years ago, by Ernst Curtius, can still be +read with far more profit than the rash speculations which appear almost +weekly in the periodical press. + +It is impossible to approach Mycenæ from any side without being struck +with the picturesqueness of the site. If you come down over the mountains +from Corinth, as soon as you reach the head of the valley of the Inachus, +which is the plain of Argos, you turn aside to the left, or east, into a +secluded corner—“a recess of the horse-feeding Argos,” as Homer calls it, +and then you find on the edge of the valley, and where the hills begin to +rise one behind the other, the village of Charváti. When you ascend from +this place, you find that the lofty Mount Elias is separated from the +plain by two nearly parallel waves of land, which are indeed joined at the +northern end by a curving saddle, but elsewhere are divided by deep +gorges. The loftier and shorter wave forms the rocky citadel of Mycenæ—the +Argion, as it was once called. The lower and longer was part of the outer +city, which occupied both this hill and the gorge under the Argion. As you +walk along the lower hill, you find the Treasure-house of Atreus, as it is +called, built into the side which faces the Acropolis. But there are other +ruined treasuries on the outer slope, and the newly-opened one is just at +the joining saddle, where the way winds round to lead you up the greater +hill to the giant gate with the Lion portal. If we represent the high +levels under the image of a fishing-hook, with the shank placed downward +(south), and the point lying to the right (east), then the Great Treasury +is at that spot in the shank which is exactly opposite the point, and +faces it. The point and barb are the Acropolis. The New Treasury is just +at the turn of the hook, facing inward (to the south). This will give a +rough idea of the site. It is not necessary to enter into details, when so +many maps and plans are now in circulation. But I would especially refer +to the admirable illustrations in Schliemann’s _Mycenæ_, where all these +matters are made perfectly plain and easy. + +When we first visited the place it was in the afternoon of a splendid +summer’s day; the fields were yellow and white with stubbles or with dust, +and the deep gray shadow of a passing cloud was the only variety in the +color of the upper plain. For here there are now no trees, the corn had +been reaped, and the land asserted its character as _very thirsty_ Argos. +But as we ascended to higher ground, the groves and plantations of the +lower plain came in sight, the splendid blue of the bay began to frame the +picture, and the setting sun cast deeper shadow and richer color over all +the view. Down at the river-bed great oleanders were spreading their +sheets of bloom, like the rhododendrons in our climate, but they were too +distant to form a feature in the prospect. + +I saw the valley of Argos again in spring, in our “roaring moon of +daffodil and crocus;” it was the time of growing corn, of scarlet anemone +and purple cistus, but there too of high winds and glancing shadows. Then +all the plain was either brilliant green with growing wheat, or ruddy +brown with recent tillage; there were clouds about the mountains, and +changing colors in the sky, and a feeling of freshness and life very +different from the golden haze and dreamy calmness of a southern June. + + [Illustration: The Argive Plain] + +I can hardly say which of these seasons was the more beautiful, but I +shall always associate the summer scene with the charm of a first visit to +this famous spot, and still more with the venerable and undisturbed aspect +of the ruins before they had been profaned by modern research. It is, I +suppose, ungrateful to complain of these things, and we must admit that +great discoveries outbalance the æsthetic damage done to an ancient ruin +by digging unsightly holes and piling mounds of earth about it; but who +can contemplate without sorrow the covering of the finest piece of the +Cyclopean wall at Mycenæ with the rubbish taken away from over the tombs? +Who will not regret the fig-tree which spread its shade over the portal of +the House of Atreus? This fig-tree is still to be seen in the older +photographs, and is in the woodcut of the entrance given in Dr. +Schliemann’s book, but the visitor of to-day will look for it in vain. On +the other hand, the opening at the top, which had been there since the +beginning of this century, but which was closed when I first visited the +chamber, had been again uncovered, and so it was much easier to examine +the inner arrangement of the building. + +I am not sure that this wonderful structure was visited or described by +any traveller from the days of Pausanias till after the year 1800. At +least I can find no description from any former traveller quoted in the +many accurate accounts which the present century has produced. Chandler, +in 1776, intended to visit Mycenæ, but accidentally missed the spot on his +way from Argos to Corinth—a thing more likely to happen then, when there +was a good deal of wooding in the upper part of the plain. But Clarke, +Dodwell, and Gell all visited and described the place between 1800 and +1806, and the latter two published accurate drawings of both the portal +and the inner view, which was possible owing to the aperture made at the +summit. + +About the same time Lord Elgin had turned his attention to the Treasury, +and had made excavations about the place, finding several fragments of +very old engraved basalt and limestone, which had been employed to +ornament the entrance. Some of these fragments are now in the British +Museum. But, though both Clarke and Leake allude to “Lord Elgin’s +excavators,” they do not specify what was performed, or in what condition +the place had been before their researches. There is no published account +of this interesting point, which is probably to be solved by the still +unpublished journals said to be in the possession of the present +Earl.(174) This much is, however, certain, that the chamber was not first +entered at this time; for Dr. Clarke speaks of its appearance as that of a +place open for centuries. We know that systematic rifling of ancient tombs +took place at the close of the classical epoch;(175) we can imagine it +repeated in every age of disorder or barbarism; and the accounts we hear +of the Genoese plundering the great mounds of the Crimea show that even +these civilized and artistic Italians thought it no desecration to obtain +gold and jewels from unnamed, long-forgotten sepulchres. It seems, +therefore, impossible to say at what epoch—probably even before +Pausanias—this chamber was opened. The story in Dr. Schliemann’s +book,(176) which he quotes from a Greek newspaper, and which attributes +the plundering of it to Veli Pasha, in 1810, is positively groundless, and +in direct contradiction to the irrefragable evidence I have above adduced. +The Pasha may have probed the now ruined chambers on the outer side of the +hill; but the account of what he found is so mythical that the whole story +may be rejected as undeserving of credit. + +I need not attempt a fresh description of the Great Treasury, in the face +of such ample and accurate reports as those I have indicated. It is in no +sense a rude building, or one of a helpless and barbarous age, but, on the +contrary, the product of enormous appliances, and of a perfect knowledge +of all the mechanical requirements for any building, if we except the +application of the arch. The stones are hewn square, or curved to form the +circular dome within with admirable exactness. Above the enormous +lintel-stone, nearly twenty-seven feet long, and which is doubly grooved, +by way of ornament, all along its edge over the doorway, there is now a +triangular window or aperture, which was certainly filled with some +artistic carving like the analogous space over the lintel in the gate of +the Acropolis. Shortly after Lord Elgin had cleared the entrance, Gell and +Dodwell found various pieces of green and red marble carved with +geometrical patterns, some of which are reproduced in Dodwell’s book. Gell +also found some fragments in a neighboring chapel, and others are said to +be built into a wall at Nauplia. There are supposed to have been short +columns standing on each side in front of the gate, with some ornament +surmounting them; but this seems to me to rest on doubtful evidence, and +on theoretical reconstruction. Dr. Schliemann, however, asserts them to +have been found at the entrance of the second treasury which Mrs. +Schliemann excavated, though his account is somewhat vague (_Mycenæ_, p. +140). There is the strongest architectural reason for the triangular +aperture over the door, as it diminishes the enormous weight to be borne +by the lintel; and here, no doubt, some ornament very like the lions on +the citadel gate may have been applied. + +The extreme darkness of the chamber during our first visit prevented me +from discovering, even with the aid of torches, the nail-marks which all +the earlier travellers found there, and which are now again easily to be +seen. So also the outer lintel-stone is not by any means the largest, but +is far exceeded by the inner, which lies next to it, and which reaches on +each side of the entrance a long way round the chamber, its inner surface +being curved to suit the form of the wall. Along this curve it is +twenty-nine feet long; it is, moreover, seventeen feet broad, and nearly +four feet thick, weighing about one hundred and twenty-four tons! + +When we first entered by the light of torches, we found ourselves in the +great cone-shaped chamber, which, strange to say, reminded me of the +Pantheon at Rome more than any other building I know, and is, +nevertheless, built on a very different principle. The stones are not, +indeed, pushed forward one above the other, as in ruder stone roofs +through Ireland; but each of them, which is on the other surfaces cut +perfectly square, has its inner face curved so that the upper end comes +out several inches above the lower. So each stone carries on the conical +plan, having its lower line fitting closely to the upper line of the one +beneath, and the whole dome ends with a great flat stone laid on the +top.(177) + +Dodwell still found copper nails of some inches in length, which he +supposed to have been used to fasten on thin plates of shining metal; but +I was at first unable to see even the holes in the roof, which other +travellers had believed to be the places where the nails were inserted. +However, without being provided with magnesium wire, it was then +impossible to light the chamber sufficiently for a positive decision on +this point. A comparatively small side chamber is hollowed out in the rock +and earth, without any stone casing or ornament whatever, but with a +similar triangular aperture over its doorway. Schliemann tells us he dug +two trenches in this chamber, and that, besides finding some hewn pieces +of limestone, he found in the middle a circular depression (apparently of +stone), twenty-one inches deep, and about one yard in diameter, which he +compares to a large wash-bowl. Any one who has visited New Grange will be +struck with the likeness of this description to the large stone saucers +which are still to be seen there, and of which I shall speak presently. + +There has been much controversy about the use to which this building was +applied, and we cannot now attempt to change the name, even if we could +prove its absurdity. Pausanias, who saw Mycenæ in the second century +A. D., found it in much the same state as we do, and was no better +informed than we, though he tells us the popular belief that this and its +fellows were treasure-houses like that of the Minyæ at Orchomenus, which +was very much greater, and was, in his opinion, one of the most wonderful +things in all Greece. But it does not seem to me that his opinion, which, +indeed, is not very clear, need in the least shackle our judgments. + +The majority of scholars incline to the theory that it is a tomb. In the +first place, there are three other similar buildings quite close to it, +which Pausanias mentions as the treasure-houses of the sons of Atreus, but +their number makes it most unlikely that any of them could be for +treasure. Surely such a house could only be owned by the reigning king, +and there is no reason why his successor should make himself a new vault +for this purpose. In the next place, these buildings were all underground +and dark, and exactly such as would be selected for tombs. Thirdly, they +are not situated within the enclosure of the citadel of Mycenæ, but are +outside it, and probably outside the original town altogether—a thing +quite inconceivable if they were meant for treasure, but most reasonable, +and according to analogy, if they were used as tombs. This, too, would of +course explain the plurality of them—different kings having built them, +just like the pyramids of Chufu, Safra, and Menkerah, and many others, +along the plain of Memphis in Egypt. It is even quite easy and natural to +explain on this hypothesis how they came to be thought treasure-houses. It +is known that the sepulchral tumuli of similar construction in other +places, and possibly built by kindred people, contained much treasure, +left there by way of honor to the deceased. Herodotus describes this in +Scythian tombs, some of which have been opened of late, and have verified +his assertions.(178) The lavish expense at Patroclus’s funeral, in the +Iliad, shows the prevalence of similar notions among early Greeks, who +held, down to Æschylus’s day, that the importance of a man among the dead +was in proportion to the circumstance with which his tomb was treated by +the living. It may, therefore, be assumed as certain that these +strongholds of the dead, if they were such, were filled with many precious +things in gold and other metals, intended as parting gifts in honor of the +king who was laid to rest. Long after the devastation of Mycenæ, I suppose +that these tombs were opened in search of treasure, and not in vain; and +so nothing was said about the skeleton tenant, while rumors went abroad of +the rich treasure-trove within the giant portal. Thus, then, the tradition +would spring up and grow, that the building was the treasure-house of some +old legendary king. + +These antiquarian considerations have led us away from the actual survey +of the old vault, for ruin it cannot be called. The simplicity and +massiveness of its structure have defied age and violence, and, except for +the shattered ornaments and a few pieces over the inner side of the +window, not a stone appears ever to have been moved from its place. +Standing at the entrance, you look out upon the scattered masonry of the +walls of Mycenæ, on the hillock over against you. Close beyond this is a +dark and solemn chain of mountains. The view is narrow and confined, and +faces the north, so that, for most of the day, the gate is dark and in +shadow. We can conceive no fitter place for the burial of a king, within +sight of his citadel, in the heart of a deep natural hillock, with a great +solemn portal symbolizing the resistless strength of the barrier which he +had passed into an unknown land. But one more remark seems necessary. This +treasure-house is by no means a Hellenic building in its features. It has +the same perfection of construction which can be seen at Eleutheræ, or any +other Greek fort, but still the really analogous buildings are to be found +in far distant lands—in the raths of Ireland and the barrows of the +Crimea. + +I have had the opportunity of comparing the structure and effect of the +great sepulchral monuments in the county of Meath, in Ireland. Two of +these, Dowth and New Grange, are opened, and can be entered almost as +easily as the treasury of Atreus. They lie close to the rich valley of the +Boyne, in that part of the country which was pointed out by nature as the +earliest seat of wealth and culture. Dowth is the ruder and less +ornamented, and therefore not improbably the older, but is less suited for +the present comparison than the greater and more ornate New Grange. + +This splendid tomb is not a whit less remarkable, or less colossal in its +construction, than those at Mycenæ, but differs in many details. It was +not hollowed out in a hillside, but was built of great upright stones, +with flat slabs laid over them, and then covered with a mound of earth. An +enormous circle of giant boulders stands round the foot of the mound. +Instead of passing through a short entrance into a great vaulted chamber, +there is a long narrow corridor, which leads to a much smaller, but still +very lofty room, nearly twenty feet high. Three recesses in the walls of +this latter each contain a large round saucer, so to speak, made of single +stone, in which the remains of the dead seem to have been laid. This +saucer is very shallow, and not more than four feet in diameter. The great +stones with which the chamber and passage are constructed are not hewn or +shaped, and so far the building is rather comparable with that of Tiryns +than that of Mycenæ. But all over the faces of the stones are endless +spiral and zigzag ornaments, even covering built-in surfaces, and thus +invisible, so that this decoration must have been applied to the slabs +prior to the building. On the outside stones, both under and above the +entry, there is a well-executed carving of more finished geometrical +designs. + +Putting aside minor details, it may be said that while both monuments show +an equal display of human strength, and an equal contempt for human toil, +which were lavished upon them without stint, the Greek building shows far +greater finish of design and neatness of execution, together with greater +simplicity. The stones are all carefully hewn and fitted, but not carved +or decorated. The triangular carved block over the lintel, and the +supposed metal plates on the interior, were both foreign to the original +structure. On the contrary, while the Irish tomb is a far greater feature +in the landscape—a landmark in the district—the great stones within are +not fitted together, or hewn into shape, and yet they are covered with +patterns and designs strangely similar to the carvings found by Dodwell +and Dr. Schliemann at the Argive tombs. Thus the Irish builders, with far +greater rudeness, show a greater taste for ornament. They care less for +design and symmetry—more for beauty of detail. The Greek essay naturally +culminates in the severe symmetry of the Doric Temple—the Irish in the +glorious intricacy of the illuminations of the _Book of Kells_. + +The second treasury lately excavated by Mrs. Schliemann has been +disappointing in its results. Though it seems not to have been disturbed +for ages, it had evidently been once rifled, for nothing save a few +fragments of pottery were found within. Its entrance is much loftier than +that of the house of Atreus, but the general building is inferior, the +stones are far smaller and by no means so well fitted, and it produces +altogether the impression of being either a much earlier and ruder +attempt, or a poor and feeble imitation. Though Dr. Schliemann asserts the +former, I am disposed to suspect the latter to be the case. + +A great deal of what was said about the tomb of Agamemnon, as the common +people, with truer instinct, call the supposed treasure-house, may be +repeated about the fortifications of Mycenæ. It is the work of builders +who know perfectly how to deal with their materials—who can hew and fit +great blocks of stone with perfect ease; nay, who prefer, for the sake of +massive effect, to make their doorway with such enormous blocks as even +modern science would find it difficult to handle. The sculpture over the +gate fortunately remains almost entire. The two lions, standing up at a +small pillar, were looking out fiercely at the stranger. The heads are +gone, having probably, as Dr. Schliemann first observed, been made of +bronze, and riveted to the stone. The rest of the sculpture is intact, and +is of a strangely heraldic character. It is a piece of bluish +limestone,(179) which must have been brought from a long distance, quite +different from the rough breccia of the rest of the gate. The lintel-stone +is not nearly so vast as that of the treasure-house: it is only fifteen +feet long, but is somewhat thicker, and also much deeper, going back the +full depth of the gateway. Still it must weigh a good many tons; and it +puzzles us to think how it can have been put into its place with the +appliances then in vogue. The joint use of square and polygonal masonry is +very curious. Standing within the gate, one side is of square-hewn stones, +the other of irregular, though well-fitted, blocks. On the left side, +looking into the gate, there is a gap of one block in the wall, which +looks very like a window,(180) as it is not probable that a single stone +was taken, or fell out of its place afterward, without disturbing the +rest. What makes it, perhaps, more possible that this window is +intentional, is the position of the gate, which is not in the middle of +the walled causeway, as you enter, but to the right side. + +When you go in, and climb up the hill of the Acropolis, you find various +other portions of Cyclopean walls which belonged to the old palace, in +plan very similar to that of Tiryns. But the outer wall goes all round the +hill where it is steepest, sometimes right along a precipice, and +everywhere offering an almost insurmountable obstacle to an ancient +assailant. On the east side, facing the steep mountain, which is separated +from it by a deep gorge, is a postern gate, consisting merely of three +stones, but these so massive, and so beautifully hewn and fitted, as to be +a structure hardly less striking than the lion gate. At about half the +depth of these huge blocks there is a regular groove cut down both sides +and along the top, in order to hold the door. + +The whole summit of the great rock is now stony and bare, but not so bare +that I could not gather scarlet anemones, which found scanty sustenance +here and there in tiny patches of grass, and gladdened the gray color of +the native rock and the primeval walls. The view from the summit, when +first I saw it, was one of singular solitude and peace; not a stone seemed +to have been disturbed for ages; not a human creature, or even a browsing +goat, was visible, and the traveller might sketch or scrutinize any part +of the fortress without fear of intrusion, far less of molestation. When I +again reached the site, in the spring of 1877, a great change had taken +place. Dr. Schliemann had attacked the ruins, and had made his +world-renowned excavations inside and about the lion gate. To the gate +itself this was a very great gain. All the encumbering earth and stones +have been removed, so that we can now admire the full proportions of the +mighty portal. He discovered a tiny porter’s lodge inside it. He denied +the existence of the wheel-tracks which we and others fancied we had seen +there on our former visit. + + [Illustration: Lion Gate, Mycenae] + +But proceeding from the gate to the lower side, where the hill slopes down +rapidly, and where the great irregular Cyclopean wall trends away to the +right, Dr. Schliemann found a deep accumulation of soil. This was, of +course, the chief place on an otherwise bare rock where excavations +promised large results. And the result was beyond the wildest +anticipations. The whole account of what he has done is long before the +public in his very splendid book, of which the illustrations are quite an +epoch in the history of ornament, and in spite of their great antiquity +will suggest to our modern jewellers many an exquisite pattern. The sum of +what he found is this:— + +He first found in this area a double circuit of thin upright slabs, joined +together closely, and joined across the top with flat slabs mortised into +them, the whole circuit being like a covered way, about three feet high. +Into the enclosed circle a way leads from the lion gate; and what I noted +particularly was this, that the whole circle, which was over thirty yards +in diameter, was separated from the higher ground by a very miserable +bounding wall, which, though quite concealed before the excavations, and +therefore certainly very old, looked for all the world like some Turkish +piece of masonry. + +As soon as this stone circle was discovered, it was suggested that old +Greek _agoras_ were round, that they were often in the citadel at the +king’s gate, and that people were sometimes buried in them. Dr. Schliemann +at once baptized the place as the agora of Mycenæ. It was a circle with +only one free access, and that from the gate; it had tombstones standing +in the midst of it, and there were the charred remains of sacrifices about +them. The number of bodies already exhumed beneath preclude their being +all founders or heroes of the city. These and other indications were +enough to disprove clearly that the circle was an agora, but that it was +rather a place of sepulture, enclosed, as such places always were, with a +fence, which seems made in imitation of a palisade of wood. + +Inside this circuit of stone slabs were found—apparently at the same +depth, but on this Dr. Schliemann is not explicit—very curious and very +archaic carved slabs, with rude hunting scenes of warriors in very +uncomfortable chariots, and varied spiral ornaments filling up the vacant +spaces. These sculptures are unlike any Hellenic work, properly so called, +and point back to a very remote period, and probably to the introduction +of a foreign art among the rude inhabitants of early Greece. Deeper down +were found more tombstones, all manner of archaic pottery, arrow-heads, +and buttons of bone; there was also found some rude construction of hewn +stones, which may have served as an altar or a tomb. + +Yet further down, twenty-one feet deep, and close to the rock, were lying +together a number of skeletons, which seemed to have been hastily or +carelessly buried; but in the rock itself, in rudely hewn chambers, were +found fifteen bodies buried with a splendor seldom equalled in the history +of the world. These people were not buried like Greeks. They were not laid +in rock chambers, like the Scythian kings. They were sunk in graves under +the earth, which were large enough to receive them, had they not been +filled up round the bottom with rudely-built walls, or pieces of stone, so +as to reduce the area, but to create perhaps some ventilation for the fire +which had partly burnt the bodies where they were found. Thus the +splendidly-attired and jewelled corpses, some of them with masks and +breastplates of gold, were, so to speak, jammed down by the earth and +stones above them into a very narrow space; but there appears to have been +some arrangement for protecting them and their treasure from complete +confusion with the soil which settled down over them. This, if the account +of the excavation be accurate, seems the most peculiar feature in the +burial of these great personages, but finds a parallel in the curious +tombs of Hallstadt, which afford many analogies to Mycenæ.(181) + +Dr. Schliemann boldly announced in the _Times_, and the public believed +him, that he had found Agamemnon, and his companions, who were murdered +when they returned from the siege of Troy. The burial is indeed quite +different from any such ceremony described in the Homeric poems. The +number of fifteen is not to be accounted for by any of the legends. There +is no reason to think all the tombs have been discovered; one, or at least +part of the treasure belonging to it, was since found outside the circle. +Another was afterward found by M. Stamatakes. Æschylus, our oldest and +best authority, places the tomb of Agamemnon, not at Mycenæ, but at Argos. +They all agree that he was buried with contempt and dishonor. The result +was, that when the public came to hear the Agamemnon theory disproved, it +was disposed to take another leap in the dark, and to look upon the whole +discovery as suspicious, and as possibly something mediæval. + +Such an inference would be as absurd as to accept the hypothesis of Dr. +Schliemann. The tombs are undoubtedly very ancient, certainly far more +ancient than the supposed date of Homer, or even of Agamemnon. The +treasures which have been carried to Athens, and which I saw and handled +at the National Bank, are not only really valuable masses of gold, but +have a good deal of beauty of workmanship, both in design and decoration. +Though the masks are very ugly and barbarous, and though there is in +general no power shown of moulding any animal figure, there are very +beautiful cups and jugs, there are most elegant geometrical +ornaments—zigzags, spirals, and the like—and there are even imitations of +animals of much artistic merit. The celebrated silver bull’s head, with +golden horns, is a piece of work which would not disgrace a goldsmith of +our day; and this may be said of many of the ornaments. Any one who knows +the Irish gold ornaments in the Academy Museum in Dublin perceives a +wonderful family likeness in the old Irish spirals and decorations, yet +not more than might occur among two separate nations working with the same +materials under similar conditions. But I feel convinced that the best +things in the tombs at Mycenæ were not made by native artists, but +imported, probably from Syria and Egypt. This seems proved even by the +various materials which have been employed—ivory, alabaster, amber; in one +case even an ostrich egg. So we shall, perhaps, in the end come back upon +the despised legends of Cadmus and Danaus, and find that they told us +truly of an old cultured race coming from the South and the East to +humanize the barbarous progenitors of the Greeks. + +I can now add important corroborations of these general conclusions from +the researches made since the appearance of my earlier editions. I then +said that the discoveries were too fresh and dazzling to admit of safe +theories concerning their origin. By way of illustration I need only +allude to those _savants_ (they will hereafter be obliged to me for +omitting their names) who imagined that all the Mycenæan tombs were not +archaic at all, but the work of northern barbarians who occupied Greece +during the disasters of the later Roman Empire! Serious researches, +however, have at last brought us considerable light. In the first place +Helbig, in an important work comparing the treasures of Mycenæ with the +allusions to art, arms, and manufactures in the Homeric poems, came to the +negative conclusion that these two civilizations were distinct—that the +Homeric poets cannot have had before them the palace of Mycenæ which owned +the Schliemann treasures. As there is no room in Greek history for such a +civilization posterior to the Homeric poems, it follows that the latter +must describe a civilization considerably later than that we have found at +Mycenæ. Placing the Homeric poems in the eighth century B. C. we shall be +led to about 1000 B. C. as the latest possible date for the splendors of +Mycenæ. But this negative conclusion has been well-nigh demonstrated by +the positive results of the various recent researches in Egypt. Not only +has the Egypt Exploration Society examined carefully the sites of +Naucratis and Daphne, thus disclosing to us what Greek art and manufacture +could produce in the sixth and seventh centuries B. C. (665–565 B. C.), +but Mr. Flinders Petrie has enriched our knowledge by his wonderful +discoveries of Egyptian art on several sites, and of many epochs, fairly +determinable by the reigning dynasties. He has recently (1890) examined +the Mycenæan and other pre-historic treasures collected at Athens, by the +light of his rich Egyptian experience, and has given a summary of the +results in two short articles in the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_. + +He finds that the materials and their treatment, such as blue glass, even +in its decomposition, alabaster, rock-crystal, hollowed and painted +within, dome-head rivets attaching handles of gold cups, ostrich eggs with +handles attached, ties made for ornament in porcelain, are all to be found +in Egyptian tombs varying from 1400 to 1100 in date. His analysis leads +him to give the dates for the tombs I.-IV. at Mycenæ as 1200–1100 B. C. +That an earlier date is improbable is shown by the negative evidence that +none of the purely geometrical false-necked vases occur, such as are the +general product of 1400–1200 in Egyptian deposits. But as several isolated +articles are of older types, as in particular the lions over the gate are +quite similar to a gilt wooden lion he found of about 1450 B. C. in date, +the Mycenæan civilization probably extended over a considerable period. He +even finds proof of decadence in grave IV. as compared with the rest, and +so comes to the conclusion, which I am disposed to question, that the +tombs within the circle at Mycenæ (shaft-tombs) are later and worse +interments made by the same people who had already built the more majestic +and costly bee-hive tombs. Instead therefore of upholding a Phrygian +origin, Mr. Petrie asserts an Egyptian origin for both Mycenæan and +parallel Phrygian designs. The spiral pattern in its various forms, the +rosettes, the keyfret, the palmetto, are all used in very early Egyptian +decoration. The inlaid daggers of Mycenæ have long been recognized as +inspired by Egypt; but we must note that it is native work and not merely +an imported article. The attitude of the figures and of the lions, and the +form of the cat, are such as no Egyptian would have executed. To make such +things in Greece implies a far higher culture than merely to import them. +The same remark applies to the glazed pottery; the style of some is not +Egyptian, so that here the Mycenæans were capable of elaborate technical +work, and imitated, rather than imported from Egypt.... The familiarity +with Egypt is further proved by the lotus pattern on the dagger-blade, by +the cat on the dagger, and the cats on the gold foil ornaments, since the +cat was then unknown in Greece. That the general range of the civilization +was that of Africa, is indicated by the frequent use of the palm (not then +known in Greece) as a decoration, and by the very scanty clothing of the +male figures, indicating that dress was not a necessity of climate. On the +other hand this culture reached out to the north of Europe. The +silver-headed reindeer or elk, found in grave IV., can only be the result +of northern intercourse. The amber so commonly used comes from the Baltic. +And we see in Celtic ornament the obvious reproduction of the decorations +of Mycenæ, as Mr. Arthur Evans has shown. Not only is the spiral +decoration indistinguishable,(182) but also the taste for elaborately +embossed diadems and breastplates of gold is peculiar to the Mycenæan and +Celtic cultures. The great period of Mycenæ seems therefore to date +1300–1100 B. C., with occasional traditional links with Egypt as far back +as 1500 or 1600 B. C. + +Such is an abstract of Mr. Petrie’s estimate.(183) + +I will only here point out, in addition, the remarkable unity of style +between the ornaments found at a depth of twenty-five feet in the tombs, +the sculptured tombstones twelve or fourteen feet over them, and the lions +on the gate of the citadel. It is, indeed, only a general uniformity, but +it corroborates Mr. Petrie’s inference that there was more than mere +importing; there was home manufacture. But still among the small gold +ornaments in the tombs were found several pairs of animals placed opposite +each other in this strictly _heraldic_ fashion, and even on the engraved +gems this symmetry is curiously frequent. It seems, then, that the art of +Mycenæ had not changed when its early history came to a close, and its +inhabitants were forced to abandon the fortress and submit to the now +Doric Argos. + +We are, indeed, told expressly by Pausanias and Diodorus that this event +did not take place till after the Persian wars, when old Hellenic art was +already well defined, and was beginning to make rapid progress. But this +express statement, which I saw reason to question since my former remarks +on the subject in this book, I am now determined to reject, in the face of +the inconsistencies of these historians, the silence of all the +contemporaries of the alleged conquest, and the exclusively archaic +remains which Dr. Schliemann has unearthed. Mycenæ, along with Tiryns, +Midea, and the other towns of the plain, was incorporated into Argos at a +far earlier date, and not posterior to the brilliant rule of Pheidon. So +it comes that historical Greece is silent about the ancient capital of the +Pelopids, and the poets transfer all its glories to Argos. Once, indeed, +the name did appear on the national records. The offerings to the gods at +Olympia, and at Delphi, after the victory over the Persians, recorded that +a few patriots—460 in all—from Mycenæ and from Tiryns had joined the +Greeks at Platæa, while the remainder of the Argives preserved a base and +cowardly neutrality. The Mycenæans were very few in number; sixty are +mentioned in connection with Thermopylæ by Herodotus. They were probably +exiles through Greece, who had preserved their traditions and their +descent, and gloried in exposing and insulting Argive Medism. The +Tirynthian 400 may even have been the remnant of the slave population, +which Herodotus tells us seized the citadel of Tiryns, when driven out +from Argos twenty years before, and who lived there for some years. In the +crisis of Platæa the Greeks were not dainty or critical, and they may have +readily conceded the title of Tirynthian to these doubtful citizens, out +of hatred and disgust at the neutrality of Argos. However these things may +be, the mention of Mycenæans and Tirynthians on this solitary occasion +afforded an obvious warrant to Diodorus for his date of the destruction of +Mycenæ. But I am convinced that his authority, and that of Pausanias, who +follows him, must be deliberately rejected. + +On the other hand, the origin of Mycenæ, and its greatness as a royal +residence, must be thrown back into a far deeper antiquity than any one +had yet imagined. If Agamemnon and his house represent Hellenic princes, +of the type of Homer’s knowledge and acquaintance, they must have arisen +after some older, and apparently different dynasties had ruled and had +buried their dead at Mycenæ.(184) But it is also possible that the Homeric +bards, describing professedly the acts of a past age, imposed their new +manners, and their own culture, upon the Pelopids, whom they only knew by +vague tradition, and that thus their drawing is false; while the chiefs +they glorify were the ancient pre-Hellenic rulers of the country. This +latter supposition is so shocking a heresy against “Homer” that I will not +venture to expand it, and will leave the reader to add any conjectures he +chooses to those which I have already hazarded in too great number. + +When the splendid findings of Dr. Schliemann are taken out of their +bandboxes in the Bank of Athens, and arranged in the National Museum;(185) +when the diligence of Greek archæologists investigates thoroughly the +remainder of the site at Mycenæ, which is not nearly exhausted; when new +accidents (such as the discoveries at Sparta and Vaphio) and new +researches enlarge these treasures perhaps a thousand-fold, there will be +formed at Athens a museum of pre-historic art which will not have its +equal in the world (except at Cairo), and which will introduce us to an +epoch of culture which we hardly yet suspected, when writing and coinage +were unknown, when the Greeks had not reached unto their name, or possibly +their language, but when, nevertheless, considerable commerce existed, +when wonderful skill had already been attained in arts and manufactures, +and when men had even accumulated considerable wealth and splendor in +well-established centres of power. + +The further investigation of the remains of Mycenæ, with the additional +evidence derived from the ruins of Tiryns, presently to be described, have +led Dr. Adler to explain Mycenæ as the record of a double foundation, +first by a race who built rubble masonry, and buried their dead in narrow +rock-tombs or graves, piling on the bodies their arms and ornaments; +secondly, after some considerable interval, by a race who built splendid +ashlar masonry, with well-cut blocks, and who constructed great beehive +tombs, where the dead could lie with ample room in royal state. The second +race enlarged, rebuilt, and refaced the old fortifications, added the +present lion gate, and built the so-called treasure-houses. For +convenience’ sake he calls them, according to the old legends, Perseids +and Pelopids respectively. Hence the tombs which Dr. Schliemann found were +really far older than any one had at first supposed, and if the record of +Homer points distinctly to the Pelopids, then the gold and jewels of a far +earlier people were hidden deep underground in the foundation of +Agamemnon’s fortress, merely marked by a sacred circle of stones and some +archaic gravestones. + +To which of these stages of building do the ruins of Tiryns belong? +Apparently to the earlier, though here, again, the size of the stones used +is far greater than those in the first Mycenæ, and it is now certain that +the beginnings of artificial shaping are discernible in them. Since the +second edition of this book the walls have been uncovered and examined by +Dr. Schliemann, with the valuable advice and assistance of Dr. Dörpfeld, +so that I may conclude this chapter with a brief summary of the results +they have attained. + +The upper part of the rock of Tiryns, which consisted of two plateaus or +levels, was known to contain remains of building by the shafts which Dr. +Schliemann had already sunk there in former years. But now a very +different method of excavating was adopted—that of uncovering the surface +in layers, so that successive strata of debris might be clearly +distinguished. This exceedingly slow and laborious process, which I saw +going on for days at Tiryns with very little result, brought out in the +end the whole plan of a palace, with its gates, floors, parting walls, and +pillar bases, so that in the admirable drawing to be seen in the book +called _Tiryns_, Dr. Dörpfeld has given us the first clear view of an old +Greek, or perhaps even pre-Hellenic, palace. The partial agreement with +the plan of the palaces of Troy, and of Mycenæ, since discovered, and the +adoption in Hellenic temples of the plan of entrance, here several times +repeated—two pillars between antæ—show that the palace at Tiryns was not +exceptional, but typical. + +All the gates leading up into this palace are still distinctly marked by +the threshold or door-sill, a great stone, lying in its place, with +grooves inserted for the pivots of the doors, which were of wood, but had +their pivots shod with bronze, as was proved by the actual remains. These +doors divided a double porch, entered either way between two pillars of +wood, standing upon stone bases still in their place, and flanked by antæ, +which were below of stone and above of wood dowelled into the stone piers. +All the upper structure of the gates, and, indeed, of all the palace, +seems to have been of wood. There are clear signs of a great +conflagration, in which the palace perished. This implies the existence of +ample fuel, and while the ashes, mud-bricks, etc., remain, no trace of +architrave, or pillar, or roof has been found. There are gates of similar +design leading into the courts and principal chamber of the palace, the +floors of which are covered with a careful lime concrete marked with line +patterns, and so sloped as to afford easy drainage into a vent leading to +pipes of terra cotta, which carried off water. The same careful +arrangements are observed in the bath-room, with a floor of one great +stone, twelve feet by nine, which is likewise pierced to carry off water. +The remains of a terra cotta tub were found there, and the walls of the +room were panelled with wood, set into the raised edge of the floor-stone +by dowels sunk in the stone. No recent discovery is more interesting than +this. + +Of the walls little remains but the foundations, and here and there a +couple of feet of mud-bricks, with signs of beams let into them, which +added to the conflagration. But enough remains to show that the walls of +the better rooms were richly covered with ornament. There is a fresco of a +bull still preserved, and reproduced in Dr. Schliemann’s book; and there +was also found a very remarkable frieze ornament in rosettes and brooch +patterns, made of blue glass paste (supposed to be Homer’s _κύανος_) and +alabaster. This valuable relic shows remarkable analogies in design to +other prehistoric ornaments found in Greece. + +The size of the main hall, or men’s apartment, is very large, the floor +covering about 120 square yards, and the parallel room in the palace at +Troy was consequently taken to be the cella of a temple. But there seems +no doubt that the great room at Tiryns, with a hearth in the middle and +four pillar bases near it, supporting, perhaps, a higher roof, with a +clerestory, was the main reception room of the palace; a smaller room of +similar construction, not connected with the former, save by a circuitous +route through passages, seems to have been the ladies’ drawing-room. + +If I were to attempt any full description of this wonderful place I should +be obliged to copy out a great part of the fifth chapter in Dr. +Schliemann’s book, in which Dr. Dörpfeld has set down very modestly, but +very completely, the results of his own acuteness and research. Many +things which are now plain enough were perfect riddles till he found the +true solution, and the acuteness with which he has utilized the smallest +hints, as well as the caution of his conclusions, make this work of his a +very model of scientific induction. + +He says, rightly enough, that a minute description is necessary, because a +very few years will cover up much of the evidence which he had plainly +before him. The concrete floors, the remains of mud-brick walls, the plan +of the various rooms, will be choked up with grass and weeds, unless they +are kept covered and cleared. The rain, which has long since washed all +traces of mortar out of the walls, will wash away far more now that the +site is opened, and so the future archæologist will find that the book +_Tiryns_ will tell him much that the actual Tiryns cannot show him. + +The lower platform on the rock is not yet touched, and here perhaps +digging will discover to us the remains of a temple, from which one very +archaic Doric capital and an antefix have found their way to the higher +rock. There are traces, too, of the great fort being the second building +on the site, over an older and not yet clearly determined palace. + +Two things are plain from these discoveries, and I dwell on them with +satisfaction, because they corroborate old opinions of mine, put forth +long before the principal evidence was forthcoming. First, the general use +of wood for pillars and architraves, so showing how naturally the stone +temple imitated the older wooden buildings. Secondly, the archaic or +ante-Hellenic character of all that was found at Tiryns, with the solitary +exception of the architectural fragments, which certainly have no building +to correspond to them where they were found. Thus my hypothesis, which +holds that Tiryns, as well as Mycenæ, was destroyed at least as early as +Pheidon’s time (660 B. C.), and not after the Persian wars, receives +corroboration which will amount to positive proof in any mind open to +evidence on the point. + + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + + MEDIÆVAL GREECE. + + +When I first went to Greece, nearly twenty years ago, the few travellers +one met in the country never thought of studying its mediæval remains. We +were in search of classical art, we passed by Byzantine churches or +Frankish towers with contemptuous ignorance. Mr. Finlay’s great book, +indeed, was already written; but those who knew German and were bold +enough to attack the eight volumes which Ersch and Gruber’s _Encyclopædia_ +devote to the article on Greece, had been taught by Hopf’s _Essay on +Mediæval Greece_ to fathom what depths dulness could attain. Whether the +author, or the odious paper, and type in its double columns, contributed +to this result, was of little consequence. The subject itself seemed +dreary beyond description. All the various peoples who invaded, swayed, +ravaged, colonized the country in the Dark Ages, seemed but +undistinguishable hordes of barbarians, of whom we knew nothing, about +whom we cared nothing, beyond a general hatred of them, as those who had +broken up and destroyed the splendid temples and fair statues that are now +the world’s desire. Even the very thorough and learned scholars, who +produced _Bædeker’s Greece_, a very few years ago, never thought of +putting in any information whatever, beyond their chronological table, +upon the many centuries which intervened between the close of paganism and +the recent regeneration of the country. The contempt for Byzantine work in +the East was in our early days like the contempt of Renaissance work in +the West. We were all Classical or Gothic in taste. + +Now a great reaction is setting in. Instead of the dreadful Hopf, we have +the fascinating Gregorovius, whose _Mediæval Athens_ clothes even dry +details with the hue of fancy; the sober _Murray’s Guide_ includes Mt. +Athos and its wonders as part of its task. Recent travellers, and the +students at the Foreign Schools of Athens, tell us of curious churches and +their frescoes, and now Mr. Schultz, of the British school, has undertaken +to reproduce them with his pencil. Following the example of Pullen, whose +pictures have secured for posterity some record of the churches of +Salonica, so often threatened by fire, he will perpetuate the remnants of +an architecture and an art which were rapidly perishing from neglect. When +I was first at Athens men were seriously discussing the propriety of +razing to the ground the most striking of all the Byzantine churches at +Athens, because it stood in the thoroughfare which led from the palace to +the railway station! Historians tell us the dreadful fact, that over +seventy of these delicately quaint buildings were destroyed when the new +cathedral, a vulgar and senseless compromise in style, was constructed. A +few more years of Vandalism in Greece, a few more terrible fires at +Salonica and at Athos, and the world had lost its best records of a very +curious and distinctive civilization. + +There are indeed no mean traces of this art in Adriatic Italy; the +exarchate at Ravenna, the eastern traffic of Venice, have shown their +influence on Italian art and architecture. The splendid mosaics of +Ravenna, nay, even the seven domes of S. Antonio at Verona, the frescoes +of the Giotto Chapel at Padua, above all, the great cathedral at Venice, +are all strongly colored—those of Ravenna even produced—by Byzantine art. +Yet most travellers who visit S. Mark’s at Venice have never seen a +Byzantine church, and do not feel its Eastern parentage; still fewer visit +the splendid basilica of Parenzo, which is a still more unmistakable +example. But to those who have turned aside from Olympia and Parthenon to +study the early Christian remains in Greece, all this art of Eastern Italy +will acquire a new interest and a deeper meaning. + +These are the reasons which have tempted me to say a few words on this +side of Greek travel. I do not pretend to speak as an authority; I only +desire to stimulate a nascent interest which will presently make what I +say seem simple and antiquated. But as yet even high authorities are very +much in the dark about these things. What would a student of Gothic +architecture say to a discussion whether an extant building belonged to +the fourth century or the eleventh? and yet such divergent views are still +maintained concerning the origin of the Athenian churches. + +Let us begin with the best and quaintest, the so-called _Old Cathedral_, +which was fortunately allowed to stand beside its ugly and pretentious +successor. The first thing which strikes us is the exceeding smallness of +the dimensions, it is like one of the little chapels you find in +Glendalough and elsewhere in Ireland. I do not know whether the Greeks +contemplated a congregation kneeling in the open air, as was the case +around these chapels in Ireland, but such edifices were certainly intended +in the first instance as holy places for sacerdotal celebrations, not as +houses of prayer for the people. I was told on Mt. Athos that it was not +the practice of the Greek church to celebrate more than one service in any +one Church daily. Hence the monks, who are making prayer continually, have +twenty or thirty chapels within the precincts of each monastery. Perhaps a +similar motive may have led to the construction of a great number of +smaller churches at Athens, where seventy have already been destroyed, and +at Salonica, where remains of them are still being frequently discovered. +Perhaps, also, that desire to consecrate to the religion of Christ the +hallowed places of the heathen, which turned the Parthenon and the temple +of Theseus into churches, also prompted the Byzantine bishops to set up +chapels upon smaller heathen sanctuaries, where no stately temple existed, +and mere consecration would have left no patent symbol of Christian +occupation. + +But if this Cathedral is small, it has the proper beauty of minute art; it +is covered with rich decoration. All its surfaces show carved fragments +not only of classical, but of earlier Byzantine work—friezes, reliefs, +inscriptions, capitals—all so disposed with a general correspondence or +symmetry as to produce the effect of a real design. Moreover, this foreign +ornament is set in a building strictly Byzantine in form, with its rich +doorway, its tiny windows with their high semicircular arches supported on +delicate capitals, and toned by the centuries of Attic dust to that rich +gold brown which has turned the Parthenon from marble almost to ruddy +gold. Never was there greater harmony and unity attained by the most +deliberate patch-work. In the earlier works on Byzantine art, this church +was confidently assigned to the sixth century. Buchon found upon it the +arms of La Roche and of Villehardouin, so that he assigned it to the +thirteenth. The character of the other buildings of these knights makes me +doubt that they and their friends could have constructed such a church—the +Western monks then built Latin churches in Greece—and I suppose that the +arms, which I could not find, were only carved by the Franks upon the +existing building. But I will not therefore subscribe to the sixth-century +theory. + +Of the remaining churches three only, the Kapnikarea, the Virgin of the +Monastery, and S. Theodore, are worth studying, as specimens of the +typical form of such buildings. The main plan is a square, surmounted by a +cupola supported on four pillars, with a corridor or porch on the West +side, and three polygonal apses on the East. Lesser cupolas often surround +the central dome. The height and slenderness of this central dome is +probably the clearest sign of comparative lateness in these buildings, +which used to be attributed to the fourth and fifth centuries, but are now +degraded to the eleventh. The earliest form is no doubt that of the +massive S. George’s at Salonica—a huge Rotunda covered with a flat dome, +not unlike the Pantheon at Rome, with nothing but richly ornamented +niches, and a splendid mosaic ceiling in the dome, to give relief to a +very plain design. The successive complications and refinements added to +this simple structure may be studied even in the later churches of +Salonica. + +The traveller who has whetted his taste for this peculiar form of mediæval +art, and desires to study it further, will find within reach of Athens two +monasteries well worth a visit, that of the Phæneromené on Salamis, a very +fair specimen of an undisturbed Greek monastery, and that of Daphne, which +may be ranked with the ruins of Mistra as showing clear traces of the +conflict of East and West, of Latin with Greek Christianity. This +sanctuary, with its now decaying walls, succeeded as usual to a pagan +shrine with hardly altered name. The Saints, still pictured in black and +gold upon the walls, and worshipped upon their festivals, have become +fantastic and unreal beings, well enough adapted to that mixture of +superstition and nationalism which is the body of the Greek religion, and, +despite a purer creed, not very far removed from the religious instincts +of the old Hellenic race. Five or six wretched monks still occupy the +dilapidated building, vegetating in sleepy idleness; they do nothing but +repeat daily their accustomed prayers, and receive dues for allowing the +people of the neighboring hamlets to kiss, once or twice a year, a +dreadful-looking S. Elias, painted olive-brown on a gold background, or to +light the nightly lamp at the wayside shrine of a saint black with smoke. + +The structure as we now see it is chiefly the work of the Cistercians who +accompanied Otho de la Roche from Champagne to his dukedom of Athens, and +was established round a far older Byzantine church and monastery. Like all +mediæval convents, it is fortified, and the whole settlement, courts and +gardens included, is surrounded by a crenelated wall, originally about +thirty feet high. + +There are occasional towers in the wall, and remains of arches supporting +a passage of sufficient altitude for the defenders to look over the +battlements. The old church in the centre of the court has had a narthex +or nave added in Gothic style by the Benedictines, and here again are +battlements, from which the monks could send down stones or boiling liquid +upon assailants who penetrated the outer walls. Three sides of the court +are surrounded by buildings; beneath, there are massive arcades of stone +for the kitchen, store-rooms, and refectory; above, wooden galleries which +supplied the monks with their cells. Most of this is now in ruins, +occupied in part by peasants and their sheep. But the church, both in its +external simplicity and its internal grandeur, is remarkable for the +splendid decoration of its walls with mosaics, which, alas! have been +allowed to decay as much from the indolence of the Greeks as the +intolerance of the Turks. In fact, while some care and regard for +classical remains have gradually been instilled into the minds of the +inhabitants—of course, money value is an easily understood test—the +respect for their splendid mediæval remains has only gained Western +intellects within the last two or three years, so that we may expect +another generation to elapse before this new kind of interest will be +disseminated among the possessors of so great a bequest from the Middle +Ages. + +The interior of the church at Daphne is a melancholy example. From the +effects of damp the mortar has loosened, and great patches of the precious +mosaic have fallen to the ground. You can pick up handfulls of glazed and +gilded fragments, of which the rich surfaces were composed. Here and there +a Turkish bullet has defaced a solemn Saint, while the fires lit by +soldiers in days of war, and by shepherds in time of peace, have, in many +places, blackened the roof beyond recognition. Within the central cupola a +gigantic head of Christ on gold ground is still visible, or was so when I +saw the place in 1889; but the whole roof was in danger of falling, and +the Greek Government, at the instigation of Dr. Dörpfeld, had undertaken +to stay the progress of decay, and so the building was filled with +scaffolding. This, however, enabled us to mount close to the figures, +which in the short and high building are seen with difficulty from the +ground, and so we distinguished clearly round the base of the cupola the +twelve Apostles, in the bay arches the prophets, in the transepts the +Annunciation, the Nativity, the Baptism, and the Transfiguration of +Christ—all according to the strict models laid down for such ornaments by +the Greek Church. The drawings are indeed stiff and grotesque, but the +gloom and mystery of the building hide all imperfections, and give to +these imposing figures in black and gold a certain majesty, which must +have been felt tenfold by simple worshippers not trained in habits of +æsthetic criticism. + +We have, unfortunately, no records of the history of these convents, as in +the case of many Western abbeys, and the old chronicles of wars and +pestilences seldom mention this quiet life. We should fain, says M. Henri +Belle, have followed the fortunes of these monks who left some fair abbey +in Burgundy to catechise schismatics in this distant land, and bring their +preaching to aid the sword of the Crusaders; but these Crusaders were +generally intent on changing their cross for a crown, and were therefore +not at all likely to favor the rigid proselytism of the Cistercians. It is +very interesting to know that Innocent III., that great pope, who from the +outset disapproved of the violent overthrow of the Christian Empire of the +East, was the first to recommend, both to the conquerors and their clergy, +such moderation as might serve to bring back the schismatic Greeks to the +Roman fold. There are still extant several of his letters to the abbeys of +the Morea, and to this abbey of the duchy of Athens, showing that even his +authority and zeal in this matter were unable to restrain the bigotry of +the Latin monks. There were frequent quarrels, too, between these monks of +Daphne and their Duke, and frequent appeals to the sovran pontiff to +regulate the relations between the civil authority, which claimed the +right of suzerain, and the religious orders, which claimed absolute +independence and immunity from all feudal obligations. Still, in spite of +all disputes, the abbey was the last resting-place of the Frankish Dukes +of Athens, and in a vault beneath the narthex were found several of their +rude stone coffins, without inscription or ornament. One only has carved +upon it the arms of the second Guy de la Roche, third Duke of Athens—two +entwined serpents surmounted with two fleurs-de-lis. Guy II., says the +chronicle, behaved as a gallant lord, beloved of all, and attained great +renown in every kingdom. He sleeps here, not in the darkness of oblivion, +but obscured by greater monuments of the greater dead. Yet I cannot but +dally over this interesting piece of mediæval history, the more so as it +explains the strange title of Theseus, Duke of Athens, in Shakespeare’s +immortal _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, as well as the curious fact, at least +to classical readers, that the poet should have chosen mediæval Athens as +a court of gracious manners, and suitable for the background of his fairy +drama. + +Neglecting geography, I shall carry the reader next to the very analogous +ruins of Mistra, where, however, it was rather the Greek that supplanted +the Latin, than the Latin the Greek ecclesiastic. + +When the Franks invaded Greece a very remarkable family, the +Villehardouins, seized a part of the Morea, and presently built Mistra, +above Sparta; it was adorned with fair Gothic churches and palaces, and +surmounted by a fortress. Sixty years after the conquest, William +Villehardouin was captured by a new Byzantine emperor Palæologus, who was +recovering his dominion. The Frank was obliged to cede for his ransom the +forts of Mistra and Monemvasia, which from that time were strongholds of +the Byzantine power till the conquest of the Turks. Still the +Villehardouins long kept hold of Kalamata and other forts; and to the pen +of one of the family, Geoffrey, we owe the famous old chronicle _La +Conquête de Constantinople_, which is unique in its importance both as a +specimen of old French and a piece of mediæval history. + +The architecture of Mistra, begun at a noble epoch by the Latins, was +taken up by the Byzantine Greeks, so that we have both styles combined in +curious relics of the now deserted stronghold. For, since 1850, when an +earthquake shook down many houses, the population wandered to the revived +Sparta, which is now a thriving town. But as the old Sparta in its +greatest days was only a collection of shabby villages, showing no outward +sign of its importance, so the new and vulgar Sparta has no attractions +(save the lovely orange and lemon orchards round it) in comparison with +the mediæval Mistra. The houses are piled one above another till you reach +the summit crowned by the citadel which, itself a mountain, is severed +from the higher mountains at its back by a deep gorge with a tumbling +river. “The whole town is now nothing but ruined palaces, churches, and +houses. You wander up rudely-paved streets rising zigzag, and pass beneath +arches on which are carved the escutcheons of French knights. You enter +courts overgrown with grass, but full of memories of the Crusaders. It is +the very home of the Middle Ages. Passing through these streets, now the +resort of lizards and serpents, you come upon Frankish tombs, among others +that of Theodora Tocco, wife of the Emperor Constantine Palæologus, who +died in 1430. The Panagia is the only church well preserved—a Latin +basilica, with a portico in the form of an Italian loggia, and a Byzantine +tower added to it. This building is highly ornamented with delicate +carving, and its walls are in alternate courses of brick and stone, while +the gates, columns, and floor are of marble. The interior is adorned with +Byzantine frescoes of scenes from the Old Testament. Higher up is the +metropolitan church, built by the Greeks as soon as William Villehardouin +had surrendered the fort in 1263. This great church is not so beautiful as +that already described, but has many peculiarities of no less interest. +The palace of the Frank princes was probably at the wide place on a higher +level, where the ruined walls show the remains of many Gothic windows. The +citadel was first rehandled by the Greek Palæologi, then by the Turks, +then by the Venetians, who in their turn seized this mediæval ‘Fetter of +Greece.’ And now all the traces of all these conquerors are lying together +confused in silence and decay. The heat of the sun in these narrow and +stony streets, with their high walls, is intense. But you cannot but pause +when you find in turn old Greek carving, Byzantine dedications, Roman +inscriptions, Frankish devices, emblazoned on the walls. The Turkish baths +alone are intact, and have resisted both weather and earthquake. But the +churches occupy the chief place still, dropping now and then a stone, as +it were a monumental tear for their glorious past; the Greek Cross, the +Latin Cross, the Crescent, have all ruled there in their turn. Even a pair +of ruined minarets remain to show the traces of that slavery to which the +people were subject for four hundred years.” + +The occupation of the Frankish knights had not found an adequate +historian, since old Villehardouin, till Gregorovius wrote his _Mediæval +Athens_. The traveller still sees throughout Greece frequent traces of +this short domination, but all of one sort—the ruins of castles which the +knights had built to overawe their subjects, and of which Mistra was +perhaps the most important. The same invaders built the great towers at +Kalamata, and most picturesque of all is the keep over the town of +Karytena in Arcadia, the stronghold of Hugo de Bruyères. But the Frankish +devices which adorned these castles have been mostly torn down by the +Turks, or replaced by the Venetian lion, according as new invaders turned +the fortifications of their predecessors to their own uses. Nor are any of +these castles to be compared in size or splendor with those of northern +Europe. The most famous of them, the palace at Thebes, was so completely +destroyed by the Catalans, that all vestige of it has disappeared, and we +owe our knowledge of it to the description of the Catalan annalist, Ramon +Muntaner, who tells of the ravages of his fellows not without some stings +of his æsthetic conscience. + +But let us pass from these complex ruins, which speak the conflict of the +East and West, to the peculiar quiet homes of the Greek monk, who spends +his time not in works of charity, not in labors of erudition, not in the +toil of education, like his western brother, but simply in performing an +arduous and exacting ritual, in praying, or rather in repeating prayers, +so many hours in the day, in observing fasts and vigils, above all in +maintaining the strict creed which has given the title of orthodox to his +Church. These resting-places (_μόνη_ is the suggestive word) are of course +settled in quiet regions, in the mountains, upon the islands, so that we +cannot expect them near a stirring capital like Athens. Yet in the gorge +of the defile which leads up to Phyle there is a little _skete_ (the house +of _ascetics_) lonely and wild in site; and by the sea on Salamis, nearly +over against Megara, the traveller will find a small but very +characteristic specimen of the Greek monastery, the _Panagia Phæneromené_. + +There he will see the tiny cells, and the library, almost as small as any +of them, at the top of dark stairs, and containing some twenty volumes; he +will be received by the Hegoumenos with mastic and jam, and then with +coffee, and strive to satisfy the simple curiosity of the old men, who +seem so anxious to hear about the world, and yet have turned away their +eyes from seeing it. Above all, he will find in the midst of the enclosure +a little model Byzantine Church, built with the greatest neatness, of +narrow bricks, in which string courses and crosses are introduced by an +altered setting of the bricks. Here too he will see the curious practice, +which led to marble imitations at Venice, of ornamenting the walls by +building in green and blue pottery—apparently old Rhodian ware, for it is +not now to be found in use. It is a simpler form of the decoration already +described in the Cathedral of Athens, that of ornamenting a wall with +foreign objects symmetrically disposed, and no one who sees it will say +that it is inartistic. Within are the usual ornaments of the Byzantine +Church, but not in mosaic; for all the walls are covered with frescoes by +a monk of the early eighteenth century, a genius in his way, though +following strictly the traditions of the school of Athos. The traveller +who ascends the pulpit will thence see himself surrounded by very strange +pictures—over the west door, as is prescribed, the Last Judgment, with the +sins of men being weighed in a huge balance, and devils underneath trying +to pull down the fatal scale. The condemned are escorted by demons to an +enormous mouth breathing out flames—the mouth of hell. Beatitudes and +tortures supply the top and bottom of the composition. Even more quaint is +the miracle of the swine of the Gadarenes running down a steep place into +the sea. They are drowning in the waves, and on the head or back of each +is a little black devil trying to save himself from sinking. Similar +creatures are escaping from the statues of heathen gods which tumble from +the walls as the infant Jesus passes by on his flight to Egypt. This +points to the belief that the statues of heathen gods were inhabited by an +evil spirit, and so far actually bodies with souls within them! + +These few details are sufficient to tempt the reader to visit this +monastery, which is far better worth seeing than the beautifully situated +and hospitable Vourkano described elsewhere in this work. I have no space +to speak of Megaspilion, for this book must be kept within handy limits, +and can never aspire to even approximate completeness. So also will I here +pass by with a mere mention the eyries of Meteora in Thessaly, perched +upon strange pinnacles of rock, like S. Simeon upon his pillar. The +approach to, and descent from, these monasteries in a swinging net is +indeed a strange adventure to undergo, and more painfully unpleasant than +most such adventures, but at the top there is little of interest. The +hoards of precious MSS. which Curzon describes in his delightful volume, +over which the monks quarrelled when he offered gold, and would not sell +them because none would allow his brother to enjoy the money—these +splendid illuminated books have either been cozened away by antiquarians, +or are gathered in the University Library at Athens. They are there in +their right place. I understand the peaks of Meteora, when the present +occupants die out, are to receive not holy men, but criminals, who are to +suffer their solitary confinement not in dungeons beneath the earth, but +far above the haunts of men. + +But all these monastic settlements pale into insignificance when we turn +to Mount Athos, the real Holy of Holies of the Greek Church, which is +indeed far from the kingdom of Greece, and therefore beyond the scope of +this work, and yet a chapter on the mediævalism of Eastern Europe can +hardly be written without some consideration of this strange promontory, +in its beauty surpassing all description, in its history unique both for +early progress and for subsequent unchangeableness, in its daily life a +faithful mirror of long past centuries, even as its buildings are now +mediæval castles inhabited by mediæval men. I will here set down the +impressions, from a visit made in 1889, not merely of the art, but of the +life of this, the most distinctive as well as the largest example of Greek +monasticism. + +_Velificatus Athos_ is an expression which has a meaning even now, though +a very different one from that implied by Juvenal. The satirist would not +believe that Xerxes turned it into an island, though the remains of the +canal are plainly visible to the present day. But now the incompetence of +the Turkish Government has turned Athos, for English travellers, into an +island, for it may only be approached by sea. If you attempt to ride there +from Salonica or Cavalla, you are at once warned that you do so at your +own risk; that the tariff now fixed by a joint commission of Turks, +dragomans, and bandits for the release of an English captive is £15,000; +that you will have to pay that sum yourself, etc. etc. This is enough to +drive any respectable and responsible person from the enterprise of the +land journey, and so he must wait for the rare and irregular chances of +boat or steamer traffic. It was my good fortune to find one of H. M.’s +ships going that way from Salonica, and with a captain gracious enough to +drop me on the headland, or rather to throw me up on it, for we landed in +a heavy sea, with considerable risk and danger, and the _τρικυμία_, as +they classically call it, lasted all day, and raged around the Holy +Mountain. Yet this adventurous way of landing under the great western +cliffs of the promontory, with the monasteries of S. Paul, Gregory, and +Dionysius, each on their several peaks, looking down upon us from a dizzy +height through the stormy mists, was doubtless far the most picturesque +introduction we could have had to the long-promised land. + +For this had been many years my desire, not only to see the strangest and +most perfect relic now extant of mediæval superstition, but to find, if +possible, in the early MSS. which throng the libraries of that famous +retreat some cousin, if not some uncle or aunt of the great illuminated +MSS. which are the glory of the early Irish Church. The other travellers +who have reached this place have done so by arriving at some legitimate +port on the tamer eastern side; the latest, Mr. Riley,(186) by landing at +the gentlest and most humane spot of all, the bay of Vatopédi. We, on the +contrary, crept into a little boat-harbor under the strictest, the most +primitive, and far the most beautiful of the western eagles’ nests, +whither English pickles, tinned lobster, and caviare have not yet +penetrated. We were doing a very informal and unceremonious thing, for we +were invading the outlying settlements, to demand shelter and hospitality, +whereas we should have first of all proceeded to the capital, Karyes, to +present pompous letters of introduction from Papas, Prime Ministers, +Patriarchs, and to receive equally elaborate missives from the central +committee, asking the several monasteries to entertain us. + +But we took the place by storm, not by regular siege. We showed our +letters, when we climbed up to Dionysiu, as they call it, and prayed them +to forestall the hospitality which they would doubtless show us, if we +returned with official sanction. The good monks were equal to the +occasion; they waived ceremony, though ceremony lords it in these +conservative establishments, and every violation of it is called a +_προσβολή_, probably the greatest sin that a monk can commit. At every +step of our route this obstacle stood before us, and had we attempted to +force our way past it, no doubt our dumb mules would have spoken, and +reproved our madness. Yet when they had before them all the missives which +were to be read at Karyes next day, to be followed up by a letter +addressed to themselves, they actually antedated their hospitality and +made us feel at home and happy. + +Nowhere have I seen more perfect and graceful hospitality in spirit, +nowhere a more genuine attempt to feed the hungry and shelter the outcast, +even though the means and materials of doing so were often very inadequate +to Western notions. But let me first notice the extant comforts. We always +had ample room in special strangers’ apartments, which occupy the highest +and most picturesque place in every monastery. We always had clean beds to +sleep in, nor were we disturbed by any unbidden bedfellows, these +creatures having (as we were told) made it a rule of etiquette never to +appear or molest any one till after Pascha, the Feast of the Resurrection. +The feast was peculiarly late this year, and the weather perfect summer; +still the insects carefully avoided any such _προσβολή_ toward us as to +violate their Lenten fast. In addition to undisturbed nights—a great boon +to weary travellers—we had always good black bread, and fresh every day; +we had also excellent Turkish coffee, and fortunately most wholesome, for +the ceremony of the place requires you to drink it whenever you enter, and +whenever you leave, any domicile whatever. Seven or eight times a day did +we partake of this luxury and without damage to digestion or nerves. There +was also sound red wine, and plenty of it, varying according to the +makers, but mostly good, and only in one case slightly resinated. There +were also excellent hazel-nuts, often served hot, roast in a pan, and very +palatable. + +What else was there good? There was jam of many kinds, all good, though +unfortunately served neat, and to be eaten in spoonfuls, without any +bread, till at last we committed the _prosvolé_ of asking to have it +brought back when there was bread on the table. There were also eggs in +abundance, just imported to be ready for Easter, and therefore fresh, and +served _au plat_. Nor had we anywhere to make the complaint so pathetic in +Mr. Riley’s book, that the oil or butter used in cooking was rancid. This +is the advantage of going in spring, or rather one of the many advantages, +that both oil and butter (the latter is of course rare) were quite +unobjectionable. + +When I say that butter was rare and eggs imported, I assume that the +reader knows of the singularity of Athos, which consists in the absence of +the greatest feature of human life—woman, and all inferior imitations of +her in the animal world. Not a cow, not a goat, not a hen, not a cat, of +that sex! And this for centuries! Three thousand monks, kept up by +importation, three thousand laborers or servants, imported likewise, but +no home production of animals—that is considered odious and impious. And +when, in this remote nook of extreme conservatism, this one refuge from +the snares and wiles of Eve, a Russian monk seriously proposed to us the +propriety of admitting the other sex, we felt a shock as of an earthquake, +and began to understand the current feeling that the Russians were pushing +their influence at Athos, in order to transform the Holy Mountain into a +den of political thieves. + +Nothing is more curious than to study the effects, upon a large society, +of the total exclusion of the female sex. It is commonly thought that men +by themselves must grow rude and savage; that it is to women we owe all +the graces and refinements of social intercourse. Nothing can be further +from the truth. I venture to say that in all the world there is not so +perfectly polite and orderly a society as that of Athos. As regards +hospitality and gracious manners, the monks and their servants put to +shame the most polished Western people. Disorder, tumult, confusion, seem +impossible in this land of peace. If they have differences, and squabble +about rights of property, these things are referred to law courts, and +determined by argument of advocates, not by disputing and high words among +the claimants. While life and property is still unsafe on the mainland, +and on the sister peninsulas of Cassandra and Longos, Athos has been for +centuries as secure as any county in England. So far, then, all the +evidence is in favor of the restriction. Many of the monks, being carried +to the peninsula in early youth, have completely forgotten what a woman is +like, except for the brown smoky pictures of the _Panagia_ with her infant +in all the churches, which the strict iconography of the orthodox Church +has made as unlovely and non-human as it is possible for a picture to be. +So far, so well. + +But if the monks imagined they could simply expunge the other sex from +their life without any but the obvious consequences, they were mistaken. +What strikes the traveller is not the rudeness, the untidyness, the +discomfort of a purely male society, it is rather its dulness and +depression. Some of the older monks were indeed jolly enough; they drank +their wine, and cracked their jokes freely. But the novices who attended +at table, the men and boys who had come from the mainland to work as +servants, muleteers, laborers, seemed all suffering under a permanent +silence and sadness. The town of Karyes is the most sombre and gloomy +place I ever saw. There are no laughing groups, no singing, no games among +the boys. Every one looked serious, solemn, listless, vacant, as the case +might be, but devoid of keenness and interest in life. At first one might +suspect that the monks were hard taskmasters, ruling their servants as +slaves; but this is not the real solution. It is that the main source of +interest and cause of quarrel in all these animals, human and other, does +not exist. For the dulness was not confined to the young monks or the +laity; it had invaded even the lower animals. The tom-cats, which were +there in crowds, passed one another in moody silence along the roofs. They +seemed permanently dumb. And if the cocks had not lost their voice, and +crowed frequently in the small hours of the morning, their note seemed to +me a wail, not a challenge—the clear though unconscious expression of a +great want in their lives. + +How different were the notes of the nightingales, the pigeons, the jays, +whose wings emancipate them from monkish restrictions; and whose music +fills with life all the enchanting glens, brakes, and forests in this +earthly Paradise! + +For if an exquisite situation in the midst of historic splendor, a +marvellous variety of outline and climate, and a vegetation rich and +undisturbed beyond comparison, can make a modern Eden possible, it is +here. Nature might be imagined gradually improving in her work when she +framed the three peninsulas of the Chalcidice. The westernmost, the old +Pallene, once the site of the historic Olynthus, is broad and flat, with +no recommendation but its fertility; the second, Sithonia, makes some +attempt at being picturesque, having an outline of gently serrated hills, +which rise, perhaps, to one thousand feet, and are dotted with woods. +Anywhere else, Sithonia may take some rank, but within sight of the mighty +Olympus, and beside the giant Athos, it remains obscure and without a +history. Athos runs out into the Ægean, with its outermost cone standing +six thousand five hundred feet out of the sea, and as such is (I believe) +far the most striking headland in Europe. You may see higher Alps, but +from a height, and with intervening heights to lessen the effect; you may +see higher Carpathians, but from the dull plain of land in Hungary. Here +you can enjoy the full splendor of the peak from the sea, from the fringe +of white breakers round the base up to the pale-gray, snow-streaked dome, +which reaches beyond torrent and forest into heaven. Within two or three +hours you can ascend from gardens of oranges and lemons, figs and olives, +through woods of arbutus, myrtle, cytisus, heath, and carpets of +forget-me-not, anemone, iris, orchid, to the climate of primroses and +violets, and to the stunted birch and gnarled fir which skirt the regions +of perpetual snow. Moreover, the gradually-increasing ridge which forms +the backbone of the peninsula is seamed on both sides with constant glens +and ravines, in each of which tumbling water gives movement to the view, +and life to the vegetation which, even where it hides in its rich +luxuriance the course of the stream, cannot hush the sounding voice. Here +the nightingale sings all the day long, and the fair shrubs grow, +unmolested by those herds of wandering goats, which are the real locusts +of the wild lands of southern Europe. + +Each side of the main ridge has its peculiarities of vegetation, that +facing north-east being gentler in aspect, and showing brakes of +Mediterranean heath ten or fifteen feet high, through which mule paths are +cut as through a forest. The coast facing south-west is far sterner, +wilder, and more precipitous, but enjoys a temperature almost tropical; +for there the plants and fruits of southern Greece flourish without stint. + +The site of the western monasteries is generally on a precipitous rock at +the mouth of one of the ravines, and commands a view up the glen to the +great summit of the mountain. To pass from any one of these monasteries to +the next, you must either clamber down a precipice to the sea, and pass +round in a boat commanded by a skipper-monk, or you must mount the mules +provided, and ride round the folds and seams of the precipices, on paths +incredibly dangerous of aspect, and yet incredibly free from any real +disasters. When you come to a torrent you must descend by zigzag winding +till you reach a practicable ford near the sea-level, and cross it at the +foot of some sounding fall. But the next projecting shoulder stands +straight out of the sea, and you must climb again a similar break-neck +ascent, till you reach a path along the edge of the dizzy cliff, where you +pass with one foot in the air, over the sea one thousand feet beneath, +while the other is nudged now and then by the wall of the rock within, so +that the cautious mule chooses the outer ledge of the road, since a loss +of balance means strictly a loss of life. It was a constant regret to us +that none of the party could sketch the beautiful scenes which were +perpetually before us, or even photograph them. But the efforts of +photographers hitherto have been very disappointing. There are indeed +pictures of most of the monasteries, taken at the instigation of the +Russians, but all so wretchedly inadequate, so carefully taken from the +wrong point, that we deliberately avoided accepting them, or carrying them +home. Mr. Riley too, a man of taste and feeling, had essayed the thing +with leisure and experience in his art, and yet the cuts taken from the +photographs, which are published in his book, are also hopelessly +inadequate. When, for example, approaching from the north, we suddenly +came in view of Simópetra—standing close to us, across a yawning chasm, +with the sea roaring one thousand feet beneath, high in the air on its +huge, lonely crag, holding on to the land by a mere viaduct, and behind it +the great rocks and gorges and forests framed by the snowy dome of Athos +in the far background—we felt that the world can produce no finer scene, +and that the most riotous artistic imagination, such as Gustave Doré’s, +would be tamed in its presence by the inability of human pencil to exceed +it.(187) The plan of this monastery and its smaller brothers (I was going +to call them sisters!) is that of a strong, square keep, rising straight +from the sheer cliffs, with but a single bridge of rock leading landward, +and when the wall has been carried to a height far more than sufficient +against any attack save modern artillery, they begin to throw round it +stories of balconies, stayed out from the wall by very light wooden beams, +each balcony sheltered by that above, till a deep-pitched roof overhangs +the whole. The topmost and outermost corner of these balconies is always +the guest-chamber or chambers, and from this lofty nook you not only look +out upon the sea and land, but between the chinks of the floor of boards +you see into air under your feet, and reflect that if a storm swept round +the cliff your frail tenement might be crushed like a house of cards, and +wander into the sea far beneath. To me, at least, it was impossible to +walk round these balconies without an occasional shudder, and yet we could +not hear that the slender supports had ever given way, or that any of the +monks had ever been launched into the air. On the divans running round +these aerial guest-chambers are beautiful rugs from Smyrna and Bulgaria, +the ancient gifts of pilgrims and of peasants, which were thrust aside in +the rich and vulgar Russian establishments for the gaudy products of +modern Constantinople and Athens, while the older and simpler monasteries +were content with their soft and mellow colors. The wealth of Athos in +these rugs is very great. There were constantly on the mules under us +saddle-cloths which would be the glory of an æsthetic drawing-room. + +But it is high time for us to take a closer view of the inside of these +curious castles, some of which, Vatopédi, Ivíron, Lavra, are almost towns +surrounded by great fortifications, and which possess not only large +properties, outlying farms, dependencies, but within them a whole +population of monks and their retainers. Let us first speak of the +treasures accumulated within them, relics of ancient art and industry in +the way of books, pictures, and work in precious metals. The reader will +doubtless appreciate that the estimate of some of these things depends +largely on the taste and education of the visitor. Mr. Riley thinks it of +importance, in his excellent work, to enumerate the exact number of +chapels contained in, or attached to, each monastery, whereas to me the +exact number, and the name of the patron saint, seems about the last +detail with which I should trouble my readers. So also some sentimental +travellers enumerate with care the alleged relics, and Mr. Riley lets it +be seen plainly not only that he is disposed to believe in their +genuineness, but that, if proven, it is of the highest religious +importance. Seeing the gross ignorance of the monks on all really +important matters of history on the real date and foundation of their +several monasteries, the ascription of a relic to some companion of our +Lord, or some worthy of the first four centuries, seems to me ridiculous. + +With this preamble I turn first to the books. Every convent we visited had +a library containing MSS. The larger had in addition many printed books; +in one, for example, which was not rich (Esphigménu), we found a fine +bound set of Migne’s “Fathers.” The library room was generally a mere +closet with very little light, and there was no sign that anybody ever +read there. The contents indeed consisted of ecclesiastical books, +prayer-books, lesson-books, rituals noted for chanting, of which they had +working copies in their churches. Still they are so careless concerning +the teachings of their old service books that they have completely lost +the meaning of the old musical notation, which appears in dots and commas +(generally red) over their older texts, and they now follow a new +tradition with a new notation. When one has seen some hundreds of these +Gospels, and extracts from the Gospels, ranging over several centuries, +some written in gold characters on the title-page, with conventional +pictures of the Evangelists on gold ground, one begins to wonder what +could have possessed the good monks to occupy themselves with doing over +and over again what had been done hundreds of times, and lay before them +in multitudes of adequate copies. I suppose the nature of their religious +worship suggests the true answer. As they count it religion to repeat over +and over again prayers and lessons all through their nights of vigil and +their days of somnolence, so they must have thought it acceptable to God, +and a meritorious work, to keep copying out, in a fair hand, Gospels that +nobody would read and that nobody would disturb for centuries on dusty +shelves. + +In the twelve libraries I examined I did not find more than half a dozen +secular books, and these of late date, and copies of well-known texts. +There may of course be some stray treasures still concealed in nooks and +corners, though a good scholar, Mr. Lambros of Athens, has spent much +labor in classifying and cataloguing these MSS. But I saw chests here and +there in out-of-the-way lumber rooms, with a few books lying in them, and +believe that in this way something valuable may still be concealed. In +general the monks were friendly and ready to show their books, or at least +their perfect manners made them appear so; but in one monastery +(Stavronikíta) they were clearly anxious that none of these treasures +should be studied. They had not only tossed together all their MSS. which +had been recently set in order by Mr. Lambros, but had torn off the labels +with which he had numbered them, without any attempt, or I believe +intention, of replacing them with new ones. + +As I am not now addressing learned readers, I need not go into details +about the particular books which interested me. My main object had been to +find, if possible, at Mount Athos some analogy, some parallel, to the +splendid school of ornamentation which has left us the _Book of Kells_, +the _Lindisfarne Gospels_, _St. Chad’s Gospel_ at Lichfield, and other +such masterpieces of Irish illumination. I have always thought it likely +that some early Byzantine missionary found his way to Ireland, and gave +the first impulse to a local school of art. That there is a family +likeness between early Irish and Byzantine work seems to me undeniable. I +can hardly say whether I was disappointed or not to find that, as far as +Athos went, the Irish school was perfectly independent, and there was no +early book which even remotely suggested the marvellous designs of the +_Book of Kells_. The emblems of the Evangelists seemed unknown there +before the eleventh century. There was ample use of gilding, and a good +knowledge of colors. In one or two we found a dozen kinds of birds +adequately portrayed in colors—the peacock, pheasant, red-legged +partridge, stork, etc., being at once recognizable. But all the capitals +were upon the same design, all the bands of ornament were little more than +blue diaper on gold ground. There were a good many books in slanting +uncials, probably seventh to ninth century; an occasional page or fragment +of earlier date, but nothing that we could see of value for solving the +difficulties of a Scripture text. Careful and beautiful handwritings on +splendid vellum of the succeeding centuries were there in countless +abundance. They are valuable as specimens of handwriting and as nothing +else. In many of the libraries the monk in charge was quite intelligent +about the dates of the MSS., and was able to read the often perplexing +colophon in which the century and _indiction_ were recorded. But the +number of dated MSS. was, alas! very small. + +I now turn to the _κειμήλια_ or treasures in precious metals and gems, +which have often been described and belauded by travellers. Each visitor +sees something to admire which the rest pass over in silence, or else he +is shown something not noticed by the rest. So the reader must consult +first, Curzon, then Mr. Tozer, then Didron, then Mr. Riley, and even after +that there remain many things to be noted by fresh observers. The fact is +that the majority of these reliquaries, pictures, and ornaments of the +screen are tawdry and vulgar, either made or renewed lately, and in bad +taste. It is only here and there that a splendid old piece of work strikes +one with its strange contrast. Far the most interesting of all the +illustrations given by Mr. Riley is that of the nave of one of the +Churches, which are all (except the old Church of Karyes) built on exactly +the same plan, with small variations as to the lighting, or the outer +narthex, or the dimensions. An architect would find these variations +highly interesting; to the amateur there seems in them a great sameness. +But among the uniform, or nearly uniform, features is a huge candelabrum, +not the central one hung from the middle of the dome, but one which +encircles it, hung by brass chains from the inner edges of the dome, +consisting of twelve (sometimes only ten) straight bands of open-worked +brass, of excellent design, joined with hinges, which are set in double +eagles (the Byzantine emblem), so that they form large decagons or +duodecagons, in the upper edge of which candles are set all round. The +design and work of these candelabra appeared to me old. But the monks +affirmed that they were now made in Karyes. This I did not believe, and in +any case my suspicions as to the antiquity of the design were confirmed by +one I found in St. Paul’s (Agio Pavlo), which bears on one of the double +eagles an inscription that the Hegoumenos had restored and beautified the +church in 1850. But this eagle joined brass bands on which was a clear +German inscription stating that they were made in Dresden in the year +1660. + +By far the finest embroideries in silk were at the rich convent of Iviron, +and indeed the main church there has many features worthy of note. The +floor is of elaborate old mosaic, with an inscription of George the +Founder, which the monks refer to the tenth century. There are quaint +Rhodian plaques, both set in the outer wall, and also laid like carpets, +with a border of fine design on the walls of the transept domes. Beside +them are remarkable old Byzantine capitals designed of rams’ heads. But +the great piece of embroidery is a _πόδια_ (or apron of the Panagia). The +ground is gold and green silk, on which portraits of the three imperial +founders are worked, their crowns of pearls, their dresses of white silk, +their beards of brown silk, and their faces painted most delicately in +colors upon silk. Never in my life have I seen any embroidery so perfect +and so precious. There were also occasional old crosses of great +excellence, but to describe them here would be tedious and useless, unless +it be to stimulate the reader to go out and see them for himself; nor can +I recommend this, if he be not a well-introduced traveller, ready to rough +it and to meet with good temper many obstacles. Travelling in Turkey, +where time has no value, and where restrictions upon liberty are both +arbitrary and unjustly applied, is a matter of great patience. + +What shall we say of the services which go on most of the day and night in +these monastic churches, and which seemed to Messrs. Riley and Owen so +interesting and so in harmony with the Church of England, that they were +never tired of regretting the separation of Anglican from Greek +Christianity, and hoping for a union or reunion between them? Mr. Owen +went so far as to celebrate the Eucharist after the Anglican ritual in one +or two of these churches before a crowd of monks, who could not understand +his words, far less the spirit with which our Church approaches the Holy +Table. + +Yet here are large companies of men, who have given up the world to live +on hard fare and strict rule, spending days and nights in the service of +God, and resigning the ordinary pleasures and distractions of the world. +Surely here there must be some strong impulse, some living faith which +sways so many lives. And yet after long and anxious searching for some +spiritual life, after hours spent in watching the prayers and austerities +of the monks, we could not but come to the conclusion that here was no +real religion; that it was a mountain, if not a valley, “full of dry +bones, and, behold, they were very dry.” + +It is of course very hazardous for a stranger to assert a negative; there +may be, even in this cold and barren ritual, some real breath of spiritual +life, and some examples of men who serve God in spirit and in truth. But +the general impression, as compared with that of any Western +religion—Roman Catholic, Protestant, Unitarian—is not favorable. Very +possibly no Western man will ever be in real sympathy with Orientals in +spiritual matters, and Orientals these monks are in the strictest sense. +They put a stress upon orthodoxy as such, which to most of us is +incomprehensible. They regard idleness as not inconsistent with the +highest and holiest life. They consider the particular kind of food which +they eat of far more religious importance than to avoid excess in eating +and drinking. How can we judge such people by our standards? To them it +seems to be religion to sit in a stall all night, perhaps keeping their +eyes open, but in a vague trance, thinking of nothing, and not following +one word that is said, while they ignore teaching, preaching, active +charity, education of the young, as not worthy of the anchorite and the +recluse. To us the _ἀγρυπνία_ which we attended seemed the most absolute +misconception of the service of God; to the monks this was the very acme +of piety. + +I have spoken unreservedly of these things, as I learned that these gentle +and hospitable souls were impossible to please in one respect—they think +all criticism of their life most rude and unjust. They complained to me +bitterly of Mr. Riley’s book, which they had learned to know from extracts +published in Greek papers, and yet could there be a more generous and +sympathetic account than his? If, then, I must in any case (though I +deeply regret it) incur their resentment, it is better to do so for a +candid judgment, than to endeavor to escape it by writing a mere +panegyric, which would mislead the reader without satisfying the monks. +Indeed, in one point I could not even satisfy myself. No panegyric could +adequately describe their courteous and unstinted hospitality. + + + + + + + INDEX. + + + About, M. E., 24, 28. + Acro-Corinthus, 395 _sq._ + Acropolis of Athens, + first view of, 34, 89 _sq._; + bombarded by Venetians, 91; + by Turks, 98; + works on, 103; + excavations about, 122, 123; + the view from, 152 _sq._ + Adler, Dr., his theory concerning Mycenæ, 486. + Ægina, 171, 428 _sq._ + Æschines, 294, 324. + Æschylus, 82, 112, 130. + Æsculapius, temple of, at Athens, 139. + Agatharchus, scene-painter, 128. + Air, lightness and clearness of, 255. + Alfieri, 134. + Alkamenes, 107, 307, 312. + Alpheus, the, 302, 317, 342, 357. + Alpine character of Greece, 154. + Altis, the, at Olympia, 302 _sq._ + Anaxagoras, 138. + Apollo, temple of, + at Delphi, 283 _sq._; + at Bassæ, 264 _sq._ + Arachova, + in Phocis, 276 _sq._; + in Kynuria, 440. + Arcadia, 351 _sq._; + the ideal, 352 _sq._; + description of, 358, 382. + Areopagus, the, 139 _sq._ + Argion, 457. + Argos, 410 _sq._ + Aristion, stele of, 68. + Aristophanes, 408. + Art, Greek, + reserve of, 79, 80 _sq._, 113, 114; + progress of, 110–112. + Aspendus, theatre of, 127. + Assyrian features in old Greek art, 261. + Astros, 436. + Athena Nike, temple of, 117. + Athens, + faces eastward, 3; + museums of, 51, 55 _sq._; + ancient synœkismos of, 171; + Byzantine art in, 496; + dukes of, 502. + Athletics, Greek, 321–324, 340–342. + Attica, 152 _sq._ + + Barathrum, the, 86. + Bassæ, 364 _sq._ + Bath-room, archaic, at Tiryns, 487 _sq._ + Beulé, M., quoted, 342, 358. + Boating, 430. + Bœotia, 229 _sq._ + Book of Kells, 470, 524, 525. + Bournouf, M. E., 103, 419. + Boxing, 334. + Brauron, 153, 198. + Brigands, 185, 194–197, 200, 360. + British Museum, 99. + Bruyères, Hugo de, 505. + Bugs, 254. + Bull, fresco of, 489. + Byron, Lord, 29, 200, 205. + Byzantine architecture and art in Greece, 494 _sq._, 496, 507. + + Camels, 296. + Canaris, M., 240. + Canon statue, the, 63. + Canova, 336. + Caryatids on Erechtheum, 101, 103. + Cashel, rock of, 120. + Castalian fount, 289, 293. + Castroménos, M., 343. + Cella frieze, of Parthenon, 109 _sq._ + Cerigo, 12. + Chæronea, 264 _sq._ + Charos, 282. + Cheese, used in training, 326. + Christ, + the Passion of, 81; + in Arcadia, 363. + Christian antiquities of Athens, 145. + Cicada (Tettix), 409. + Cicero, 210, 320. + Cithæron, Mount, 219, 223, 229. + Clarke, Dr., 460. + Cleonæ, 404. + Cockerell, Mr., 368. + Cocks at Sparta, 444. + Coins, 391. + Comedy, Greek, 137; + at Cambridge, 137. + Constantine, the Emperor, 291. + Convent Libraries, 522; + metals and gems, 526; + embroideries, 527; + plaques, 527. + Copais, Lake, 248, 249. + Corinth, 20, 392 _sq._ + Corinthian order, 36, 369, 434. + Coronea, 250. + Costume, 268, 279, 379, 437. + Crete, 14, 15. + Curzon, M., 509. + Cyclades, 14, 166, 182. + Cyclopean walls, 472, 473. + + Daphne, + pass of, 205; + church at, 500. + Delphi, 282 _sq._ + Dionysus (_see_ Theatre). + Divri, 345. + Dodwell, quoted, 96, 228, 464, 471. + Dogs, 32, 301; + on tombs, 261. + Dorians, 442. + Dorian states and their art, 420–423. + Doric order, 34, 37, 98, 304, 407, 474. + Dörpfeld, Dr., 314, 487, 490. + Dramatic competitions, 131. + + Eagles, 232. + Earthquakes, 277, 289, 305, 454. + Easter, 361, 383. + Elatea, 265. + Eleusinia, the, 210–214. + Eleusis, 207 _sq._ + Eleutheræ, 223–229. + Elgin, Lord, 97, 98, 460. + Elis, 299 _sq._ + Entrances, plan of, in Greek palaces, 487–489. + Epaminondas, 241, 242. + Epicureans, 144, 145. + Epidauros, 429, 432 _sq._ + Erechtheum, the, 101. + Ergasteria, mines of, 167 _sq._ + Erymanthus, + Mount, 343; + river, 345, 347, 358. + Euripides, his art, 129, 130, 321. + Eurotas, the, 440. + Events, the, at Olympic games, 331–333. + Expression in art, 114 _sq._ + + Fallmerayer, 415. + Forts + at Phyle, 215; + Eleutheræ, 226; + Karytena, 373; + Staigue, Kerry, a comparison, 407; + Tiryns, 405; + Mycenæ, 457. + Freeman, Prof., + on restorations, 93; + criticised, 93, 246. + French tragedy, 134. + Frieze + of Parthenon, 105; + at Tiryns, 489. + Funeral orations, 75. + + Games, the Olympic, 318 _sq._ + Glendalough, chapels in, 495. + Gods, the unknown, 143. + Gold cups, polishing of, 485. + Greece, + faces eastward, 2; + routes to, 2, 18–20; + first aspect of, 4; + depopulation of, 11, 232; + permanence of inhabitants, 24, 414–419. + Greek art, + polychromatic, 40–46; + notions of death, 77–79 (cf. Art); + travel, 494. + Greeks, + character of, 21, 146 _sq._ (note) 360; + courage of, 201. + Guide-books for Greece, 53. + Gregorovius, Mr., 493. + + Hadrian’s temple of Zeus at Athens, 34–37. + Hagios Petros, 438. + Handbooks for Greece, 53, 54. + Helicon, 248. + Helmet of Hiero, 317. + Heræon, the, at Olympia, 314, 371. + Heraldic ornaments, 482. + Hermes + of Vatican, 63; + archaic at Athens, 68; + of Praxiteles, 313. + Herodotus, 423. + Hesiod, 408. + Homer, 77, 284, 403, 409. + Honey + of Hymettus, 156; + of Laurium, 176. + Hopf, 415. + Hydra, the island of, 183, 425–427. + + Ictinus, 364, 370. + Iliad, the, 284, 318, 334, 411, 466. + Inns, 361. + Ionic order, 116. + Ireland, resembles Greece in various natural features, and in its + art, 5, 17, 121, 407, 464, 468–470, 478. + Italy, faces westward, 1. + Itea, 297. + Ithome, Mount, 449 _sq._ + Iviron, Monastery, 527. + + Jealousy, Greek, 245. + Julian, the Emperor, 292. + Julius Cæsar, 390. + + Kalamata, 449, 505. + Karytena, 372, 505. + Katakolo, 299, 381. + Kephissus, the, + near Athens, 157; + in Thriasian plain, 219; + at Orchomenus, 257. + Kirrha, 295. + Kladeos, the, 302 _sq._, 343. + Koron, Gulf of, 6. + Krissa, 294. + Kynætha, 354. + Kynuria, 435. + + Ladon, the, 358, 359. + Lala, 344. + Lambros, Mr., 524. + Langada Pass, 446. + Laurium, 169–172; + its mining companies, 173–179. + Lechæum, 390–392. + Lechouri, village of, 347. + Legends, 282, 411, 478. + Lion + of Marathon, 199; + of Chæronea, 268 _sq._; + of the Arsenal, Venice, 270; + of Lucerne, 271. + Lionardo da Vinci, 419. + Lion-gate at Mycenæ, 471. + Livádia, 251 _sq._ + Locrian inscriptions, 260. + Lycabettus, 189. + Lysicrates, monument of, 36, 47, 150. + + Mænalus, Mount, 381, 387. + Maina, 7. + Malea promontory, 13; + hermit of, 13. + Marathon, 153, 198, 199, 203, 204. + Marble, + Greek, 40; + Pentelican, 190, 304. + Mars’ Orchestra, 243. + Mediæval Greece, 492 _sq._ + Medicine in Greece, 362. + Medusa, 419. + Megalopolis, 374. + Melos, 15; + Venus of, 16. + Messene, walls and gates of, 452. + Messenia, 449 _sq._ + Meteora Monastery, 528. + Michaelis, 103 _sq._ + Mistra, 445, 503. + Monasteries, + Scripou (Orchomenus), 260; + Vourkano, 450. + Morea (_see_ Peloponnesus). + Mount Athos, 509 _sq._ + Munychia, 160. + Murray, Mr. A. S., 61, 270, 313, 476. + Museums, + subdivision of, 50–54, 151; + of Athens, 55 _sq._, 74; + of Acropolis, 118; + of Olympia, 306. + Music, 280–282; + in Arcadia, 353, 372. + Mycenæ, 456 _sq._ + Myron, 423. + Mysteries, the Eleusinian, 210 _sq._ + + Naples, museum of, 44. + Natural beauty, exhilarating effect of, 255. + Nauplia, 423, 429. + New Grange, 464, 468. + Nicias, a slave-owner, 177, 178. + Nike of Pæonius, 306, 316. + + Oaks, 344, 366. + Œnoe, 224. + Old Cathedral, Athens, 495. + Olive-trees, in Attica, 158, 197. + Olonos, Mount, 343, 347, 348. + Olympia, 303 _sq._ + Olympiads, the, 318 _sq._ + Oracle, Delphic, 285 _sq._ + Orchestra, the, 140. + Orchomenus, 257 _sq._ + Ornamentation of temples, 105, 106. + Ostrich egg, at Mycenæ, 478. + Owen, Mr., 528. + + Pæonius, 307, 316. + Pæstum, temple of, 394. + Pan, 353, 387. + Panagia Phæneromené, Monastery of, 497, 507. + Panathenaic procession, 109. + Pankration, the, 329, 337. + Papalexopoulos, Dr., 387, 410. + Parnassus, Mount, 274, 281. + Parnes, Mount, 154. + Parthenon, + the older burnt, 66; + account of, 90 _sq._; + sketched by Carrey, 104; + decorations of, 105, 369. + Paul, S., at Athens, 141 _sq._, 389. + Pausanias, King, 292. + Pausanias quoted, 263, 284, 291, 307, 308, 311, 312, 328, 329, 368, + 377, 408, 464, 465. + Pediments, + of Parthenon, 105 _sq._; + of temple at Olympia, 308 _sq._ + Peiræus (Piræus), 31, 32, 159–161, 206. + Peloponnesus, the, 6. + Penrose, Mr., 102. + Pentathlon, 320, 331. + Pentelicus, Mount, quarries of, 190–193. + Perrot, M. G., quoted, 185–189. + Perseids and Pelopids, 486. + Petrachus, the fort of Chæronea, 264. + Phædriades, the, 289. + Phalerum, 161. + Phayllus, 333. + Phidias, 107, 115, 303. + Phigalia, 364. + Phocians, the, 291. + Phocis, 274 _sq._ + Phœnicians, in Greece, 12, 170. + Phyle, pass of, 215. + Pickering, Mr., 326. + Pindar, 242, 294, 316. + Pirene, fountain of, 397. + Platæa, 223, 231. + Plato, 138. + Plutarch, quoted, 213, 265. + Politics, modern Greek, 236–240. + Polyandrion, at Chæronea, 272. + Polybius, 346, 353. + Polychromy, Greek, 39 _sq._ + Pompeii, statues from, 70. + Praxiteles, 112; + his Hermes, 313; + his Faun, 353. + Propylæa + at Athens, 100; + at Eleusis, 208, 209. + Psophis, 346. + Psyttalea, 31. + Pullen, Mr., 493. + Pylæa, the, 294, 295. + Pyramids, 465. + Pyrgos, 300. + Pyrrhic dance, 280. + Pythian games, 285, 310, 311. + + Racine, his estimate of tragedy, 132–134. + Rain, 346. + Renan, quoted, 141, 246 _sq._ + Rhamnus, 185. + Riley, Mr., 519, 522, 526, 528. + Roads, Greek, 190, 220, 256. + Routes, through Greece, 296, 343, 349, 380, 396, 424. + + Salamis, 207, 209. + Salonica churches, 497. + Salzburg, compared to Athens, 152. + Sannazaro, Jacopo, 355. + Sayce, Prof., 416. + Schliemann, Dr. H., + his Mycenæan treasure, 151; + at Nauplia, 435; + excavations at Orchomenus, 258; + Mycenæ, 458 _sq._, 464, 473 _sq._ + Schultz, Mr., 493. + Sepulchral monuments, county Meath, compared, 468. + Scott, Sir Walter, 267. + Sculpture, in relation to other arts, 316, 321. + Shelley, 86. + Shepherd children, 448. + Sicily, 63, 404. + Smith, Adam, his theory of sympathy, 80. + Socrates, 138. + Sophocles, 130. + Sorrow, its expression in art, 83. + Sparta, 9, 10 _sq._ + Spartans, 320, 325, 441. + Squier, Mr., 60. + Stadium, at Delphi, 293. + Stage, the Greek, 128. + Statues, + various types of, 65; + votive, 315; + archaic, 65–70, 71, 72; + at Argos, 418; + archaistic, 70. + Stele, + of Aristion, 68; + of Alxenor, 261. + Stoics, at Athens, 144. + Strabo, 389, 396, 408. + Sunium, temple of, 166, 179–181. + Swinburne, Mr., his Greek plays, 135. + + Tactics, old Greek, 203. + Tainaron, promontory of, 9. + Tanagra, figurines of, 59–62. + Taygetus, 443. + Tegea, 385. + Temple of the Winds (Athens), 47, 150. + Tennyson, his _In Memoriam_ criticised, 84. + Tettix, the (_see_ Cicada). + Theatre of Dionysus at Athens, 122 _sq._; + size of, 125; + at Argos, 413. + Thebans, character of, 241–243. + Thebes, 233–237, 241. + Theocritus, quoted, 192, 336, 353, 402. + Theodosius, 292. + Therasia (Thera), prehistoric discoveries at, 16. + Theseus, temple of, 37, 38, 46, 47. + Thespiæ, 242. + Thucydides, quoted, 207, 259. + Thyreatis, 440. + Tiryns, 405 _sq._, 487 _sq._; + destruction of, 484, 490, 491. + Tomb of S. Luke, 235. + Tombs, + defaced, 47, 48; + the Attic, 74 _sq._; + at Mycenæ, 474 _sq._ + Treasury + of Minyæ, 258, 464; + of Atreus, 457 _sq._ + Trikoupi, M., 237, 240, 244. + Tripod of Delphi, 292. + Tripolitza, 278, 381, 384. + Tripotamo, 345, 346. + Trophonius, oracle of, 251. + Trypi, 446. + Turks, in Greece, 3, 10, 26, 55, 281 _sq._ + + Umpires, at Olympia, 337, 338. + + Vegetation, + in Arcadia, 366, 367; + Argolis, 401, 429, 458; + Kynuria, 436; + Laconia, 444, 447; + Messenia, 453, 454. + Venetian tower at Athens, 93. + Venetians, + bombard the Acropolis, 91; + destroy sculptures, 100. + Venus, various types of, 113, 114. + Vergil, quoted, 335, 354. + Villehardouins, the, 445, 503. + Viollet-le-duc, M., 393. + Vourkano, monastery of, 449, 508. + + Walls, 159, 162; + Peiræic, 259. + Wedding scene, 279. + Wood, use of, in archaic buildings, 491. + + Xenophon, cited, 201. + + Zea, harbor, 160, 161. + Zeus, + temple of, at Athens, 46; + temple and statue of, at Olympia, 303 _sq._; + bronze figures of (_Ζᾶνες_), 338. + + + + + + [Map: Greece and the Ægean Sea] + + + + + + FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Though this statement is broadly true, it requires some + modification. I should be sorry to be thought insensible to the + beauties, not only of Ravenna, with its mosaics and its pines, but + of Ancona, of the splendid Monte Gargano, of Trani and Bari, and of + the rich gardens and vineyards of Apulia. + + 2 Cf. Strabo, viii. c. 2, _ἐστι τοίνυν ἡ Πελοπόννησος ἐοικυῖα φύλλῳ + πλατάνου τὸ σχῆμα_. + + 3 These words were written in 1873. On a later occasion, our ship was + obliged to run into this bay for shelter from a storm, when we found + some cultivation along the coasts, and a village (Koron), with + extensive fortifications above it, said to be Venetian. The aspect + was by no means so desolate as appeared from a passing view outside + the headlands. Coasting steamers now call here (at Kalamata) every + second day. + + 4 Which the reader will find best portrayed in Prosper Mérimée’s + _Colomba_. + + 5 See the remarks of Polybius, who was himself witness of this great + change, quoted in the last chapter of my _Greek Life and Thought, + from Alexander to the Roman Conquest_. + + 6 We hailed him with a steam whistle in 1886, in vain; so it may be + that he has passed to some newer and more social kind of life. + + 7 A closer view of Crete disclosed to me the interesting fact that the + island is turned to the north, as regards its history. It is barred + on the south by great walls of rock, with hardly any landing-places, + so that all traffic and culture must have started from the slopes + and bays on the north side, where the Cyclades are its neighbors. + + 8 I should except the splendid _Venus victrix_, as she is called, + found at Capua, and now in the Museum of Naples. + + 9 In my _Social Life in Greece, from Homer to Menander_. + + 10 The words are M. About’s. + + 11 I beg to point out to a learned and kindly critic in the _Athenæum_, + who corrected several faults of spelling in the first edition, that + this is the form of the name warranted by inscriptions, and now to + be received by scholars: cf. Wachsmuth’s _Stadt Athen_, i. p. 49. + + 12 This beautiful monument has been so defaced and mutilated that the + photographs of to-day give no idea of its decoration. The careful + drawings and restorations of Stuart and Revett were made in the last + century, when it was still comparatively intact, and it is through + their book alone that we can now estimate the merits of many of the + ancient buildings of Athens. It should be added that there was a + solitary Corinthian capital found in the temple of Bassæ, which I + will describe in another chapter. But this still affords an unsolved + problem. The Philippeion at Olympia (built by the famous Philip of + Macedon) also contained an inner circle of Corinthian pillars, while + the outer circle was Ionic. + + 13 The following remarks on the polychromy of Greek art are not + intended for Professors of Fine Art, to whom, indeed, few things in + this book, if true, can be new, but for the ordinary reader, who may + not have seen it discussed elsewhere. + + 14 By the way, the appellation “Temple of Theseus” is more than + doubtful. The building fronts towards the east. This is proved by + the greater size and more elaborate decoration of the eastern + portal. It is almost certain, according to an old scholion on + Pindar, that the temples of heroes like Theseus faced west, while + those only of the Olympian gods faced the rising sun. The temple, + therefore, was the temple, not of a hero, but of a god. Probably the + Temple of Heracles, worshipped as a _god_ at Athens, which is + mentioned in the scholia of Aristophanes as situated in this part of + Athens, is to be identified with the building in question. But I + suppose for years to come we must be content to abide by the old + name of Theseon, which is now too long in general use to be easily + disturbed. + + 15 I was since informed at Athens that this complaint had not been + without results, and that steps are being taken to prevent quarrying + at random on classical sites. + + 16 Even the marble statue set up to the patriot Botzari over the grave + of the heroes of Missolonghi was so mutilated by the inhabitants + that the authorities have removed it from mere shame. + + 17 It is fair to add that an exception has been made for the + discoveries at Mycenæ, which have been almost all brought to Athens; + and that a handsome museum has now been built at Olympia, and a good + road from Pyrgos, which has a railway to the sea. + + 18 Since this was written there have been published (in German) two + careful catalogues of the sculptures of Athens by V. Sybel and by + Milchhöfer (1881), and there is besides the excellent _Handbook for + Greece_ by Dr. Lolling (Bædeker). The new edition of Murray’s + Handbook is very dear and not very satisfactory. There is a small + Greek Catalogue published by Stanford, translated by Miss Agnes + Smith. The Mycenæan antiquities are described in a separate book by + Schliemann, and by Schuchhardt. + + 19 There is no more pathetic instance than that described by Mr. Squier + (in his admirable work on Peru) of the tomb of a young girl which he + himself discovered, and where he comments on the various objects + laid to rest with the dead: cf. Squier’s _Peru_, p. 80. There has + since been found at Myrina, on the Asiatic coast, a great store of + these clay figures, also in tombs. Some sets of them were made to + represent the sculptures of a pediment, such as that of the + Parthenon, or rather of the east front of the temple of Olympia. + + 20 If I mistake not, Mr. A. S. Murray seems disposed to date them about + the first century either B. C. or A. D., thus bringing them down to + about the time of Strabo. + + 21 There is already quite a large collection of them in the British + Museum, _e. g._ Vase Room I., case 35, where there are many of these + figures from Tanagra. In Room II. there is a whole case of them, + chiefly from Cyrene, and from Cnidus. + + 22 No. 53, Mus. Pio Clem., in a small room beside the _Apollo + Belvedere_ and _Laocoon_. + + 23 There is now an excellent publication of the archaic statues found + in the Acropolis, by Cavvadias (Wilberg, Athens). + + 24 I endeavored to examine these drums by looking down through a hole + in the wall over them. They seemed to me not fluted, and rather of + the shape of barrels, very thick in the middle, than of the drums of + pillars in temples. + + 25 It is asserted somewhere by a Greek author that the temples burned + by the Persians were left in ruins to remind the people of the + wrongs of the hated barbarians. But we have distinct evidence, in + some cases, that this assertion is not true, and besides, using the + materials for other purposes is not the same thing. We now know that + a quantity of mutilated statues were shot as rubbish into the space + between the old Parthenon and the wall, to make a terrace for the + newer and greater building. Here they were found in the recent + excavations. + + 26 Aristion is also mentioned among the artists of the period. + + 27 “Vultum ab antiquo rigore variare.”—Plin. xxxv. 35. + + 28 They have been published in the first part of an excellent work on + the treasures of Athens, reproduced in phototype by Rhomaïdès + Brothers, with an explanatory text by various Athenian scholars. + + 29 I cannot do better than quote the admirable description of M. Ch. + Diehl: “C’étaient surtout de nouvelles statues de jeunes femmes, au + mystérieux sourire, à la parure étincelante, de ces idoles fardées + et peintes, bien faites, par leur saveur étrange, pour tenter le + pinceau d’un Gustave Moreau ou la plume d’un Pierre Loti. Comme + leurs sœurs, ces nouvelles venues ont la même attitude et le même + costume, les mêmes coquetteries de parure, le même soin de leur + chevelure, la même expression aussi; pourtant à la série déjà connue + elles out ajouté quelques œuvres exquises, et trois d’entre elles en + particulier méritent d’être signalées. L’une est une merveille de + coloris; sa tunique à large bande rouge, sa chemisette d’un vert + foncé, bordée de pourpre, son manteau orné de méandres du dessin le + plus fin, ses vêtements parsemés de croix rouges ou vertes, qui se + retrouvent sur le diadème de ses cheveux, sont d’un incomparable + éclat. Sous les tons chauds de ces riches couleurs disposées avec un + goût exquis, il semble que le marbre s’anime et fasse la chair + vivante; et un charme étrange émane de cette figure. Celle-ci (cf. + Plate) d’une date plus récente, probablement l’une des plus jeunes + de la série, montre l’effort d’un artiste habile pour créer une + œuvre originale. Dans ces formes élancées, dans cette tête petite et + fine, dans ces bras jetés en avant du corps, on sent la volonté du + maître qui cherche à faire autrement que ses devanciers; le sourire + traditionnel est devenu presque imperceptible, les yeux, qui + souriaient jadis à l’unison des levres, out cessé de se relever vers + les tempes; les joues creuses se remplissent et s’arrondissent; avec + des œuvres de cette sorte, l’archaisme est prêt à finir.... La + troisième enfin est une des œuvres les plus remarquables de l’art + attique. Plus ancienne que la précédente, elle est d’une valeur + artistique bien supérieure. Le modelé en est exquis, et son + irréprochable finesse fait un contraste singulier avec les procédés + qui sentent encore les conventions de l’école. Suivant les + traditions de l’art antique, les yeux sont obliques et bridés, le + sourire fait toujours grimacer les levres; mais dans les yeux le + regard n’est plus indifférent et fixe; il brille d’une lueur de vie + et de pensée; le sourire de ces levres n’est plus sec et dur, il + semble avoir une douceur attendrie. Certes il n’y a dans cette + sculpture nul effort pour chercher des chemins nouveaux; mais parmi + les œuvres de l’art archaïque, parmi celles où le maître a + docilement suivi la route frayée et battue, cette sculpture à + l’expression candide et presque attristée est l’une des plus + admirables.”—_Excursions archéologiques en Grèce_, p. 104. + + 30 When I revisited Athens in the spring of 1889, the National Museum, + which is a fine and spacious building, was quite an orderly museum, + and it was easy to see and enjoy the works of art preserved in it. + The archaic things were, moreover (as in the Acropolis), placed by + themselves; so were the tombs, and so were most of the portrait + busts. All that was still wanting was a good and complete catalogue. + + 31 These panegyrics—_λόγοι ἐπιτάφιοι_ they were called—were a favorite + exercise of Greek literary men. There are five classical ones still + extant—that mentioned, that in the _Menexenus_ of Plato, that of + Hypereides, and those ascribed (justly) to Lysias and (falsely) to + Demosthenes. That of Hypereides, very mutilated as it is, seems to + me the finest next to that of Thucydides. But they are all built + upon the same lines, showing even here that strict conservatism in + every branch of Greek art which never varied, for variety’s sake, + from a type once recognized as really good. + + 32 Roubillac’s monuments in Westminster Abbey, which excited the + admiration of his contemporaries, are the best example I know of + degradation in public taste on this question. + + 33 I did, indeed, see one relief at Athens, in which the relatives are + represented as rushing forward in agony, as it were to delay the + departure of the fainting figure. It is right that this exception + should be noted, as it shows that they understood what violent grief + was, and yet avoided representing it as a rule. + + 34 I fancy, from the unity of type shown in many of them, that they may + even have been designed by the artist without regard to the special + case, and purchased by the family of the deceased ready made. The + figures upon them do not seem to me personal likenesses. + + 35 In the _Adonais_, Shelley affords a curious contrast to the somewhat + morbid prominence of the poet in the case before us. The + self-effacement of Shelley has centred all our interest on his lost + friend. + + 36 He also supposed that the tower was Frankish, and built long before + the Venetian conquest. But here he was wrong. The stones inside the + tower, when taken down, showed clear traces of gun-powder, as was + clearly shown in a learned refutation of his views, printed at + Athens. + + 37 Other specimens are preserved in the little Turkish house on the + Acropolis, and should be noted by the visitor, who may easily pass + them by. + + 38 I speak, of course, of the copies of these famous statues which are + to be seen in the Vatican Museum. + + 39 The illustrated work of Michaelis is probably the most complete and + critical account both of the plan and the details, which have often + been discussed, and especially with great accuracy by Mr. Penrose, + whose monumental work, the _Principles of Athenian Architecture_, + has recently been republished. Among the many newer works, I would + call special attention to the first volume of Viollet-le-duc’s + _Entretiens sur l’Architecture_, already translated into English, + which is full of most instructing and suggestive observations on + Greek architecture; also to M. E. Bournouf’s _Acropole d’Athènes_. + + 40 They will be most readily consulted in the plates of Michaelis’s + _Parthenon_. + + 41 The discovery of the figures from the western pediment of the temple + at Olympia, carved by Alcamenes, a contemporary of Phidias, will + hardly lead us to modify this judgment. For though they show a great + talent in the composition, the defects in execution are so grave as + to lead many critics to suspect that we have in them the work of + mere local artists, certainly not the masterful hands that adorned + the Parthenon. + + 42 It is very uncertain, perhaps unlikely, that any of the + architectural sculpture we possess was actually finished by + Phidias’s own hand. But there can be no doubt that he directed it, + and must have designed much of it in detail, since the general + composition was certainly his creation. + + 43 This very pattern, in mahogany, with cane seats, and adapted, like + all Greek chairs, for loose cushions, was often used in eighteenth + century work, and may still be found in old Irish mansions furnished + at that epoch. + + 44 I state this because many critics have drawn an opposite inference + from a mistranslation of a passage in Plato (_Apol._ 26, E). + + 45 The exact number, according to Papadakis (cf. A. Müller, + _Bühnenalt._, p. 47), is stated at 27,500. But I am convinced this + is a great exaggeration. I should rather give 15,000 as a liberal + estimate; and this agrees with the measurements made for me by Dr. + Dörpfeld in 1889. This mistake is also due to misunderstanding a + passage in Plato’s _Symposium_, which says that “Agathon, whom + 30,000 citizens hear——”. It is not said that they heard him at the + same time. + + 46 Cf. on this point my _History of Greek Literature_, i. p. 345. + + 47 Cf. on the details of Greek painting the last chapter of my _Social + Life in Greece_. + + 48 The actual passage is well worth quoting—“Au reste, je n’ose encore + ajouter que cette pièce soit en effet la meilleure de mes tragédies. + Je laisse et aux lecteurs et au temps à décider de son véritable + prix. Ce que je puis assurer, c’est que je n’en ai point fait où la + vertu soit plus mise en jour que dans celle-ci; les moindres fautes + y sont sévèrement punies; la seule pensée du crime y est regardée + avec autant d’horreur que le crime même; les faiblesses de l’amour y + passent pour des vraies faiblesses; les passions n’y sont présentées + aux yeux que pour montrer tous les désordres dont elles sont causes, + et le vice y est peint partout avec des couleurs qui en out fait + connaître et haïr la difformité. C’est là proprement le but que tout + homme qui travaille pour le public se doit proposer; et c’est que + les premiers poètes tragiques avaient en vue sur toute chose. Leur + théâtre était une école où la vertu n’était pas moins bien enseignée + que dans les écoles des philosophes.... Il serait à souhaiter que + nos ouvrages fussent aussi solides et aussi pleins d’utiles + instructions que ceux de ces poètes. Ce serait peut-être un moyen de + réconcilier la tragédie avec quantité de personnes célèbres par leur + piété et par leur doctrine, qui l’ont condamnée dans ces derniers + temps, et qui en jugeraient sans doute plus favorablement, si les + auteurs songeaient autant à instruire les spectateurs qu’à les + divertir, et s’ils suivaient en cela la véritable intention de la + tragédie.” + + 49 Racine is here the exception. + + 50 Alfieri, though starting with a violent feeling of reaction against + some of the faults of the French drama, was wholly trained upon it, + and only knew the Greek plays through French versions until very + late in life, when most of his works were already published. I + therefore class him unhesitatingly as an offshoot of that school. + + 51 There is now (1891) a controversy raging concerning the height of + the Greek stage and its arrangements, owing to the researches of Dr. + Dörpfeld. I cannot enter upon it here. + + 52 This was written before the very interesting revivals of Greek plays + which do such honor to Cambridge. Those who had the privilege of + seeing them can judge not only how far a reproduction was possible, + but how far it can succeed, for never will it be more ably + undertaken and carried out. + + 53 The reader who cares to consult the various prices cited in my _Old + Greek Life_ will see the grounds for assuming some such change in + the value of money between the fourth century B. C. in Greece and + the nineteenth A. D. in England. + + 54 I perceive that M. Renan, who alone of skeptical critics is + persuaded, possibly by the striking picturesqueness of the scene, to + accept it as historical, considers it not impossible that S. Paul + may have been actually brought before the court. He notices that in + later days it assumed a general direction not only of literature, + but of morals, and that any new teacher might fairly have been + summoned before it to expound his views. This does not seem to me to + agree with the ironical and trivial character of the whole audience, + as intimated by the historian. The author of the work called + _Supernatural Religion_, when analyzing, in his third volume, the + Acts of the Apostles, is actually silent on this speech, though he + discusses at great length the speeches of S. Paul which he thinks + composed as parallels to those of S. Peter. Most German critics look + on the passage as introduced by the author, like the speeches in + Thucydides or Tacitus, as a literary ornament, as well as an + exposition of the Apostolic preaching of the early Church. They also + note its many contrasts to the teaching of such documents as the + Epistle to the Romans. I have assumed, as even M. Renan seems to do, + that the Apostle told Timothy, or Luke, or some other follower, the + main purport of this memorable visit, and also the headings of the + speech, which is too unlike his received writings to be a probable + forgery. + + 55 The fact that the title of Menander’s famous play was _Δεισιδαίμων_ + has escaped the commentators. S. Paul must have meant “rather + superstitious,” as the A. V. has it. + + 56 Though _ἄγνωστος_ may surely have this meaning, I do not find it + suggested in any of the commentaries on the passage. They all + suppose some superstitious precaution, or else some case of the real + inscription being effaced by time, and supplied in this way. The + expression in Pausanias—the gods called unknown, _τοῖς ὀνομαζομένοις + ἀγνώστοις_—seems to suggest it as a regular title, and we know that + there were deities whose name was secret, and might not be + pronounced. But in the face of so many better critics I will not + insist upon this interpretation. + + 57 This depends on no mere accident, but on the essential features of + the spiritual side of Greek character, on which I will quote an + admirable passage from Renan’s _S. Paul_: + + “Ce qui caractérisait la religion du Grec autrefois, ce qui la + caractérise encore de nos jours, c’est le manque d’infini, de vague, + d’attendrissement, de mollesse féminine; la profondeur du sentiment + religieux allemand et celtique manque à la race des vrais Hellènes. + La piété du Grec orthodoxe consiste en pratiques et en signes + extérieurs. Les églises orthodoxes, parfois très-élégantes, n’ont + rien des terreurs qu’on ressent dans une église gothique. En ce + christianisme oriental, point de larmes, de prières, de componction + intérieure. Les enterrements y sont presque gais; ils ont lieu le + soir, au soleil couchant, quand les ombres sont déjà longues, avec + des chants à mi-voix et un déploiement de couleurs voyantes. La + gravité fanatique des Latins déplaît à ces races vives, sereines, + légères. L’infirme n’y est pas abattu: il voit doucement venir la + mort; tout sourit autour de lui. Là est le secret de cette gaieté + divine des poëmes homériques et de Platon: le récit de la mort de + Socrate dans le _Phédon_ montre à peine une teinte de tristesse. La + vie, c’est donner sa fleur, puis son fruit; quoi de plus? Si, comme + on peut le soutenir, la préoccupation de la mort est le trait le + plus important du christianisme et du sentiment religieux moderne, + la race grecque est la moins religieuse des races. C’est une race + superficielle, prenant la vie comme une chose sans surnaturel ni + arrière-plan. Une telle simplicité de conception tient en grande + partie au climat, à la pureté de l’air, à l’étonnante joie qu’on + respire, mais bien plus encore aux instincts de la race hellénique, + adorablement idéaliste. Un rien, un arbre, une fleur, un lézard, une + tortue, provoquant le souvenir de mille métamorphoses chantées par + les poëtes; un filet d’eau, un petit creux dans le rocher, qu’on + qualifie d’antre des nymphes; un puits avec une tasse sur la + margelle, un pertuis de mer si étroit que les papillons le + traversent et pourtant navigable aux plus grands vaisseaux, comme à + Poros; des orangers, des cyprès dont l’ombre s’étend sur la mer, un + petit bois de pins au milieu des rochers, suffisent en Grèce pour + produire le contentement qu’éveille la beauté. Se promener dans les + jardins pendant la nuit, écouter les cigales, s’asseoir au clair de + lune en jouant de la flûte; aller boire de l’eau dans la montagne, + apporter avec soi un petit pain, un poisson et un lécythe de vin + qu’on boit en chantant; aux fêtes de famille, suspendre une couronne + de feuillage au-dessus de sa porte, aller avec des chapeaux de + fleurs; les jours de fêtes publiques, porter des thyrses garnis de + feuillages; passer des journées à danser, à jouer avec des chèvres + apprivoisées—voilà les plaisirs grecs, plaisirs d’une race pauvre, + économe, éternellement jeune, habitant un pays charmant, trouvant + son bien en elle-même et dans les dons que les dieux lui ont faits. + La pastorale à la façon de Théocrite fut dans les pays helléniques + une vérité; la Grèce se plut toujours à ce petit genre de poésie fin + et aimable, l’un des plus caractéristiques de sa littérature, miroir + de sa propre vie, presque partout ailleurs niais et factice. La + belle humeur, la joie de vivre sont les choses grecques par + excellence. Cette race a toujours vingt ans: pour elle, _indulgere + genio_ n’est pas la pesante ivresse de l’Anglais, le grossier + ébattement du Français; c’est tout simplement penser que la nature + est bonne, qu’on peut et qu’on doit y céder. Pour le Grec, en effet, + la nature est une conseillère d’élégance, une maîtresse de droiture + et de vertu; la ‘concupiscence,’ cette idée que la nature nous + induit à mal faire, est un non-sens pour lui. Le goût de la parure + qui distingue le palicare, et qui se montre avec tant d’innocence + dans la jeune Grecque, n’est pas la pompeuse vanité du barbare, la + sotte prétention de la bourgeoise, bouffie de son ridicule orgueil + de parvenue; c’est le sentiment pur et fin de naïfs jouvenceaux, se + sentant fils légitimes des vrais inventeurs de la beauté. + + “Une telle race, on le comprend, eût accueilli Jésus par un sourire. + Il était une chose que ces enfants exquis ne pouvaient nous + apprendre: le sérieux profond, l’honnêteté simple, le dévouement + sans gloire, la bonté sans emphase. Socrate est un moraliste de + premier ordre: mais il n’a rien à faire dans l’histoire religieuse. + Le Grec nous paraît toujours un peu sec et sans cœur: il a de + l’esprit, du mouvement, de la subtilité; il n’a rien de rêveur, de + mélancolique. Nous autres, Celtes et Germains, la source de notre + génie, c’est notre cœur. Au fond de nous est comme une fontaine de + fées, une fontaine claire, verte et profonde, où se reflète + l’infini. Chez le Grec, l’amour propre, la vanité se mêlent à tout; + le sentiment vague lui est inconnu; la réflexion sur sa propre + destinée lui paraît fade. Poussée à la caricature, une façon si + incomplète d’entendre la vie donne a l’époque romaine le _græculus + esuriens_, grammairien, artiste, charlatan, acrobate, médecin, + amuseur du monde entier, fort analogue à l’Italien des XVIe et XVIIe + siècles: à l’époque byzantine, le théologien sophiste faisant + dégénérer la religion en subtiles disputes; de nos jours, le Grec + moderne, quelquefois vaniteux et ingrat, le _papas_ orthodoxe, avec + sa religion égoïste et matérielle. Malheur à qui s’arrête à cette + décadence! Honte à celui qui, devant le Parthénon, songe à remarquer + un ridicule! Il faut le reconnaître pourtant: la Grèce ne fut jamais + sérieusement chrétienne; elle ne l’est pas encore. Aucune race ne + fut moins romantique, plus dénuée du sentiment chevaleresque de + notre moyen âge. Platon bâtit toute sa théorie de la beauté en se + passant de la femme. Penser à une femme pour s’exciter à faire de + grandes choses! un Grec eût été bien surpris d’un pareil langage; il + pensait, lui, aux hommes réunis sur l’_agora_, il pensait à la + patrie. Sous ce rapport, les Latins étaient plus près de nous. La + poésie grecque, incomparable dans les grands genres tels que + l’épopée, la tragédie, la poésie lyrique désintéressée, n’avait pas, + ce semble, la douce note élégiaque de Tibulle, de Virgile, de + Lucrèce, note si bien en harmonie avec nos sentiments, si voisine de + ce que nous aimons. + + “La même différence se retrouve entre la piété de saint Bernard, de + saint François d’Assise et celle des saints de l’Église grecque. Ces + belles écoles de Cappadoce, de Syrie, d’Égypte, des Pères du désert, + sont presque des écoles philosophiques. L’hagiographie populaire des + Grecs est plus mythologique que celle des Latins. La plupart des + saints qui figurent dans l’iconostase d’une maison grecque et devant + lesquels brûle une lampe ne sont pas de grands fondateurs, de grands + hommes, comme les saints de l’Occident; ce sont souvent des êtres + fantastiques, d’anciens dieux transfigurés, ou du moins des + combinaisons de personnages historiques et de mythologie, comme + saint Georges. Et cette admirable église de Sainte-Sophie! c’est un + temple arien; le genre humain tout entier pourrait y faire sa + prière. N’ayant pas eu de pape, d’inquisition, de scolastique, de + moyen age barbare, ayant toujours gardé un levain d’arianisme, la + Grèce lâchera plus facilement qu’aucun autre pays le christianisme + surnaturel, à peu près comme ces Athéniens d’autrefois étaient en + même temps, grâce à une sorte de légèreté, mille fois plus profonde + que le sérieux de nos lourdes races, le plus superstitieux des + peuples et le plus voisin du rationalisme. Les chants populaires + grecs sont encore aujourd’hui pleins d’images et d’idées païennes. À + la grande différence de l’Occident, l’Orient garda durant tout le + moyen âge et jusqu’aux temps modernes de vrais ‘hellénistes,’ au + fond plus païens que chrétiens, vivants du culte de la vieille + patrie grecque et des vieux auteurs. Ces hellénistes sont, au XVe + siècle, les agents de la renaissance de l’Occident, auquel ils + apportent les textes grecs, base de toute civilization. Le même + esprit a présidé et présidera aux destinées de la Grèce nouvelle. + Quand on a bien étudié ce qui fait de nos jours le fond d’un Hellène + cultivé, on voit qu’il y a chez lui très-peu de christianisme: il + est chrétien de forme, comme un Persan est musulman; mais au fond il + est ‘helléniste.’ Sa religion, c’est l’adoration de l’ancien génie + grec. Il pardonne toute hérésie au philhellène, a celui qui admire + son passé; il est bien moins disciple de Jésus et de saint Paul que + de Plutarque et de Julien.” + + 58 The reader will find in my last chapter some further information + concerning the remains of mediæval Greece. + + 59 I have seen it very full in June; I have also seen it almost dry in + April, so that it depends upon the season whether the traveller will + enjoy the coolness of the river, or turn with disappointment from + its stony bed. + + 60 On a fine summer’s day, in the meadows about Eton, I was struck with + the truth of this phrase. A light breeze was making all the poplars + shiver beside the great elms, which stood in silence. + + 61 This was the military harbor, at least in the fourth century, B. C., + when the architect Philo built a famous arsenal (_σκευοθήκη_) at its + north-east corner, of which the plan and even details have been + reconstructed by Dr. Dörpfeld from an important inscription + recovered in 1881. + + 62 Thucydides, followed by modern historians, has nevertheless been + inaccurate in his use of the expression _Long Walls_. He sometimes + means the north and Phaleric wall, sometimes the north and south + parallel walls, to the exclusion of the Phaleric wall. The long + walls rebuilt by Conon were the latter pair, and thus not the same + long walls as were finished in 456 B. C. + + 63 The reader who desires to see the best poetical picture of modern + Athens should consult the tenth chapter in Mr. Symonds’s _Sketches + in Italy and Greece_—one of the most beautiful productions of that + charming poet in prose. + + 64 IX. § I. p. 244 (Tauchn.). + + 65 He reads, however, _φρίξουσι_, instead of Herodotus’s _φρύξουσι_. + + 66 There is now a railway from Athens to the mines (1887). + + 67 The earliest allusion to them is a line in Æschylus’s _Persæ_, where + they come in so peculiarly, and without any natural suggestion, that + they must have been in his day a new and surprising source of + wealth. Atossa is inquiring of the chorus about Athens, and whether + it possesses any considerable wealth. The chorus replies (v. 238): + + _ἀργύρου πηγή τις αὐτοῖς ἐστι, θησαυρὸς χθονός._ + + This inference of mine, made years ago, is now strongly confirmed by + the recovered _Polity of the Athenians_, which says (chap. xxii.): + “In the archonship of Nicodemus [484–3 B. C.], when the mines at + Maroneia [as he calls them] were discovered (_ἐφάνη_), and there was + a profit of 100 talents from the work, Themistocles,” etc. + + 68 It is possible that in the days of Eretria’s greatness, when she + ruled over a number of the Cyclades, Eretrians may have worked the + mines. These occupants probably preceded the Æginetans. But the + strange thing is, that the mines and their large profits appear + suddenly, and as a novelty, at a particular point of Greek history. + + 69 Arist. _Œcon._, II. 4. + + 70 Since I visited the place there are actually five companies—two + Greek and three French—established to work the district. + + 71 There is also a quotation in Strabo (iii. 3, § 9), from Demetrius + Phal., implying their activity in the third century B. C. Plutarch + (_de defectu or._ 43) speaks of them as having _lately_ failed. + + 72 Byron, who loved this spot above all others, I think, in Greece, + speaks of sixteen as still standing in his day. + + 73 Dr. Dörpfeld has since shown that the marble temple at Sunium was + built on the site of an older temple, with a very slight but + distinct enlargement of the plan. The older temple was of the + ordinary poros-stone found on the site. + + 74 “Aujourd’hui tout ce district est presque désert; seuls, quelques + archéologues et quelques artistes affrontent ces gorges pierreuses + et ces scabreux sentiers; on prend alors ce chemin pour aller de + Marathon à Chalcis et revenir à Athènes par Décélie, entre le + Pentélique et Parnès. Ces monuments de Rhamnunte offrent des traits + curieux qui les rendent intéressants pour le voyageur érudit; mais + de plus les ruines mêmes et le site ont assez de beauté pour + dédommager de leur peine ceux qui recherchent surtout le + pittoresque. Je n’oublierai jamais les quelques heures que j’ai + passées là, il y a déjà longtemps, par une radieuse matinée d’avril. + Pendant que nous examinions ce qui restait des anciens sanctuaires + et de leurs défenses, notre guide songeait au déjeuner; il avait + acheté un agneau à l’un de ces pâtres appelés _Vlaques_ qui, avec + leurs brebis et leurs chèvres éparses dans les buissons de myrtes et + de lentisques, sont à peu près les seuls habitants de ce canton. + Quand nous revînmes, l’agneau, soutenu sur deux fourches fichées en + terre par un jeune pin sylvestre qui servait de broche, cuisait tout + entier devant un feu clair, et la graisse coulait à grosses gouttes + sur les charbons ardents. Devant notre tapis étendu à l’ombre avait + été préparée une jonchée de verts branchages sur lesquels le + succulent rôti, rapidement découpé par le coutelas d’un berger, + laissa bientôt tomber côtelettes et gigots. + + “Ce qui nous fit prolonger là notre halte après que notre appetit + fut satisfait, ce fut la vue magnifique dont on jouissait de la + plate-forme où nous étions établis, dans un coin de l’acropole. A + nos pieds, c’était la mer, veloutée de chatoyante reflets par le + soleil, par la brise, par les nuages qui passaient au ciel. En face + de nous se dressaient les hautes et sévères côtes de l’Eubée, + dominés par la pyramide du Dirphys. Ce fier sommet était encore tout + blanc des neiges de l’hiver; au contraire, si nous nous retournons + vers les gorges qui se creusaient autour de nous dans la montagne, + entre des parois de marbre rougies et comme hâlées par le soleil, + c’était le printemps de la Grèce dans tout son épanouissement et son + éclat. Dans le fond des ravins, là où un peu d’eau filtrait sous les + cailloux, arbres de Judée et cytises mêlaient leurs brillantes + couleurs au tendre feuillage des platanes, et sur les pentes les + plus âpres des milliers de genêts en fleur étincelaient parmi la + verdure des genévriers, des chênes et des oliviers francs. + + “Dans l’antiquité, toute cette portion du territoire athénien, qui + faisait partie de ce que l’on appelait la _Diakria_ ou le ‘haut + pays,’ sans avoir de gros villages ni une population aussi dense que + celle des plaines d’Athènes ou d’Eleusis, devait pourtant présenter + un aspect assez diffèrent de celui qu’elle offre aujourd’hui; je me + la représente assez semblable à ce que sont maintenant certains + districts montueux de la Grèce moderne où le désir d’éviter le + contact des Turcs avait rejeté et cantonné les Hellènes: il en était + ainsi du Magne, de la Tzaconie, des environs de Karytena en Arcadie. + Partout là, une industrieuse persévérance a mis à profit tout ce que + pouvaient offrir de ressources le sol et le climat. Sur des pentes + abruptes et presque verticales, de petits murs en pierres sèches + s’efforcent de retenir une mince couche de terre végétale; malgré + ces précautions, les grandes pluies de l’hiver et les vents de l’été + en emportent une partie jusqu’au fond de la vallée, sans jamais se + lasser, hommes, femmes, enfants, travaillent sans relâche à réparer + ces dégâts. Que de fois, admirant la patience de ces sobres et + tenaces montagnards, je les ai suivis des yeux pendant qu’ils + allaient ainsi lentement, le dos courbé sous leurs hottes pleines, + gravissant des sentiers sablonneux ou d’étroits escaliers taillés à + même la roche qui leur renvoyait touts les ardeurs du soleil! Au + bout de quelques années, il n’est pas peut-être une parcelle du + terrain dans chacun de ces petits champs qui n’ait fait plusieurs + fois le voyage, qui n’ait glissé jusqu’au bord du torrent pour être + ensuite ramenée pelletée par pelletée, sur une des terrasses + supérieures. Ces sacrifices sont récompensés. Le long du ruisseau, + là où les côtes s’écartent et laissent entre elles un peu d’espace, + l’eau, soigneusement ménagée, mesurée par heures et par minutes à + chaque propriétaire, court bruyante et claire dans les rigoles; elle + arrose des vergers où croissent, suivant les lieux, soit l’oranger, + le citronnier et le grenadier, soit les arbres de nos climats + tempérés, le pêcher, le pommier et le poirier; à leur ombre + grossissent la fève et l’enorme courge. Plus haut, sur les versants + les moins roides et les moins pierreux, là où la légère charrue + inventée par Triptolème a trouvé assez de place pour tracer le + sillon, l’orge et le seigle verdissent au printemps, et, dans les + bonnes années, profitent pour mûrir des tardifs soleils d’automne. + Ce qui d’ailleurs réussit le mieux dans ces montagnes, ce qui paye + vraiment les habitants de leurs peines, c’est l’olivier, dont les + puissantes racines étreignent le roc et semblent faire corps avec + lui; c’est la vigne, qui, d’étage en étage, grimpe presque jusqu’aux + sommets. A l’un et à l’autre, pour donner une huile et un vin qui + seraient les plus savoureux du monde, s’ils étaient mieux préparés, + il suffit de beaucoup de soleil, d’un peu de terre et de quelques + coups de hoyau qui viennent à propos ameublir le sol et le dégager + des plantes parasites. + + “C’est ainsi que dans l’Attique, au temps de sa prospérité, même les + cantons aujourd’hui les plus déserts et les plus stériles devaient + être habités et cultivés. Sur beaucoup de ces croupes où le roc + affleure presque partout, où verdit à peine, aux premiers jours du + printemps, une herbe courte, diaprée d’anémones et de cistes, qui + jaunira dès le mois de mai, il y avait jadis une couche plus épaisse + de terre végétale. Dans les ravins, là où j’ai perdu plus d’une fois + mon chemin en poursuivant la perdrix rouge ou la bécasse à travers + des maquis touffus, on a, pendant bien des siècles, fait la vendange + et la cueillette des olives; c’est ce dont témoignent, sur les + pentes les mieux exposées aux rayons du midi ou du couchant, des + restes de murs et de terrassements que l’on distingue encore dans + l’épaisseur du fourré. Dans les endroits où la culture était à peu + près impossible, des bois de pins, aujourd’hui presque entièrement + détruits, empêchaient la montagne de se dénuder; dans les clairières + et entre les rocs mêmes poussaient la sauge, la campanule et le + thym, toutes ces plantes aromatiques, tous ces vigoureux arbustes + que se plaît à tondre la dent des moutons et des chèvres.” + + _ 75 πολλαὶ δ’ ἁμὶν ὕπερθε κατὰ κρατὸς δονέοντο_ + _αἴγειροι πτελέαι τε· τὸ δ’ ἐγγύθεν ἱερὸν ὕδωρ_ + _Νυμφᾶν ἐξ ἄντροιο κατειβόμενον κελάρυζε_ + —THEOCR. VII. 135. + + 76 Since M. Trikoupi’s long and effective administration, brigandage + was so effectually put down that, although there were plenty of + brigands in Mount Olympus close to the frontier, it was perfectly + safe to wander about in Northern Greece up to the vale of Tempe. + Such was the state of things in 1889. Whether his recent successor + will keep as good order remains to be seen. + +_ 77 Social Life in Greece_, p. 23. + + 78 Xen. _Hell._, iv., 3, § 1. To cite a parallel in modern history: a + writer in the _Pall Mall Gazette_ (July 12, 1876) says: “I witnessed + a battle during the War of Greek Independence. It lasted three days; + the quantity of ammunition expended was enormous, and the result was + one man wounded!” + + 79 So Strabo describes it, IX. 1, § 12. For further details consult the + _Guide Joanne_ for Athens (1888), p. 201. + +_ 80 De Legg._, II. 14, § 36. + +_ 81 in Cer._ v. 480. + +_ 82 Thren._ (frag.) + +_ 83 Œd.__ Col._ 1042. + +_ 84 Ran._ 455. + +_ 85 Phæd._ cc. 29, 30. + +_ 86 Paneg._ § 6. + +_ 87 Etym. Mag._, s. v. _τελετή_. + + 88 There seems no doubt that some of these symbols, derived from old + nature-worship, were very gross, and quite inconsistent with modern + notions of religion. But even these were features hallowed and + ennobled by the spirit of the celebrants, whose reverence blinded + their eyes, while lifting up their hearts. + + 89 In the fragments of Plutarch’s _De anima_ there are some very + striking passages on this subject. “After this,” he says, evidently + describing some part of the ceremony, “there came a great light, + there were shown pure places and meadows, with dances, and all that + was splendid and holy to see and hear, in which he who is now + perfected by initiation, and has obtained freedom and remission, + joins in the devotions, with his head crowned, in the company of + pure and holy men, and beholds from thence the unclean uninitiated + crowd of mortals in deep mire and mist, trodden down and crowded by + each other, but in fear of death, adhering to their ills through + want of faith in the goods beyond. Since from these you may clearly + see that the connection of the soul with the body is a coercion + against nature.” + + 90 The Greeks always regard these nomads as foreigners in race, and + incapable of any settled or civilized life. They do great mischief + to young trees and fences, which they never respect. Yet when + arrested for doing mischief they are protected by the sympathies of + the Greeks, who hate all coercion, however reasonable. + + 91 Colonel Leake already felt these difficulties, and moves Eleutheræ a + few miles to the south-west. But Œnoe and Eleutheræ must have been + close together, from the allusion in the _Antiope_ of Euripides. Cf. + Eurip., frag. 179 (ed. Nauck), and the passages quoted there. + + 92 This the Peloponnesians did at Œnoe, according to Thucydides; + perhaps therefore at this very place. + + 93 There was no photograph of this very fine building existing when I + was in Greece. The only drawing of it I have seen is in the plates + of Dodwell’s _Archæological Tour in Greece_—a splendid book. The + fort of Phyle, though smaller, possesses all the features described + in this fort, and shows that they represent a general type. + + 94 This pass (seized by the Persian cavalry before the battle of + Platæa, in order to stop the Greek provision trains) was called + _τρεῖς κεφαλαί_ by the Thebans, but _δρυὸς κεφ._ by the Athenians + (Herod. IX. 39)—evidently the same old name diversely interpreted by + diverse _Volks-etymologien_. _τρεῖς_ and _δρυός_ are pronounced + almost alike in modern Greek, probably therefore in old Greek + likewise. But I will not touch the thorny question of old Greek + pronunciation. + + 95 Cf. what I have said in relation to Polybius’s account of it in my + _Greek Life and Thought_, pp. 534 _sq._ + + 96 Cf., for example, the figures in the recent (1891) _Guide Joanne_, + ii. xxxvi. + + 97 There was, indeed, a splendid _pleasaunce_ built at Thebes by the + Frankish knights, which was completely destroyed by the grand + Catalan company. It is described by their annalist Ramon Muntaner. + The remains of one Frankish tower mark the place. + + 98 See his life in Gregorovius’s _Athen_, vol. i. pp. 144 _sq._ + + 99 The legend of the name is now fully explained in the fragments of + the _Antiope_ published by me in the _Petrie papyri_ (Williams & + Norgate, 1891). + + 100 I trust none will imagine that I intend the least disrespect to M. + Boulgaris, who was, according to far better authority than that + quoted in the text, an honorable and estimable man. But some of his + Ministers have been since convicted of malpractices concerning + certain archbishoprics, which were bought for money. The trial is + now a matter of history, to which an allusion is sufficient. + + 101 Since that time, the chief power has for the most part been in the + hands of M. Trikoupi, an honest patriot. Yet it was the misfortune + of the country to be reduced by M. Delyanni to the verge of + bankruptcy through his absurd war policy against Turkey. It is + probable enough that he did not lead, but was carried along by this + policy, with which all the Athenian “Jingoes” were possessed. + + 102 This plague seems unavoidable in a southern climate, wherever the + houses, however good, are built of wood, and does not imply any + ungrateful reflection upon my refined and generous hosts. In the + Morea, where houses are built of masonry, even badly-kept houses are + comparatively safe. + + 103 Cf. Polygnotus’s picture of Agamemnon (Paus. x. 30, 3), _σκήπτρῳ τε + ὑπὸ τὴν ἀριστερὰν μασχάλην ἐρειδόμενος_. + + 104 Since these words were written, M. Holleaux’s researches at Akræphiæ + have not only discovered the inscription containing the Emperor + Nero’s speech to the Greeks, but also many curious remains from the + temple of Apollo Ptoos. + +_ 105 ὅστις δὲ τὰ σὺν τέχνῃ πεποιημένα ἐπίπροσθε τίθεται τῶν ἀρχαιόητα + ἡκώτων, καὶ τάδε ἐστιν οἱ θεάσασθαι._ I. 24. 3. + + 106 Cf. Plut. _Agesilaus_, chap. xvii. + + 107 An account of the discovery, by the only surviving member of the + party, Mr. G. L. Taylor, has been published by Mr. W. S. Vaux in the + _Trans. of the Roy. Soc. of Lit._, 2nd series, vol. viii. pp. 1, + _sqq._ The latter gentleman called attention to his paper when the + subject was being discussed in the _Academy_ in 1877. A very + different story was told to Colonel Mure, and has passed from his + _Travels_ into Murray’s _Guide_. The current belief among the Greeks + seems still to be that a Greek patriot called Odysseus, perceiving + the stone protruding from the clay, and, on striking it, hearing its + hollow ring, dug it out and broke it in pieces, imagining it to be a + record of Philip’s victory over Hellenic liberty. Some ill-natured + people added that he hoped to find treasure within it. + + 108 Mr. Taylor and his friends thought it must have stood in the + attitude of the now abolished lion on Northumberland House. This did + not appear so to us; but it is difficult to decide. The restoration + by Siegel in the _Mon. of the Soc. Arch._ of Rome, for 1856, of + which Mr. A. S. Murray most kindly sent me a drawing, makes the + posture a _sitting_ one, like that of the sitting lion in front of + the Arsenal at Venice. There is a small sitting lion from Calymnæ, + of the same posture, in the Brit. Museum. The Greeks, when my + account was first published in their papers, became fully alive to + the value of this monument, and anxious for its restoration. There + had been a custodian appointed to watch over it, even when I was + there, but he chanced to be absent when we paid our visit. + + 109 Since these words were written, the labors of the Greek + archæologists have discovered the great _polyandrion_ or common tomb + of the dead, which the lion commemorated. They lay in rows, many of + them with broken bones, showing how they had received their + death-wound, and with them were fragments of broken weapons. Never + have we come closer to an ancient battle, or discovered more + affecting records of a great struggle. + + 110 This seems to be implied in the account of the murder of Laïus by + Œdipus, on this very road, as it is described in Sophocles’s _Œdipus + Tyrannus_. + + 111 Indeed Tripolitza lies between the ancient sites of Mantinea and + Tegea, and quite close to the latter. + + 112 This was done by the monks at Athos, when Mahomet II. was + threatening Constantinople. They foresaw his victory, and by early + submission made their own terms, and saved both their liberties and + their property. + + 113 Cf. also Plutarch’s tract _de Pyth. orac._ for details of _ciceroni_ + and visitors in his day. + + 114 The hippodrome for the chariot races was, however, in the plain + beneath, as Pausanias tells us (x. 37, 4). + + 115 This journey I since made by rail, in this place a harmless + innovation. + + 116 Cf. the passage quoted from M. Georges Perrot above, p. 185. + + 117 A commodious stone museum has since been built, and the treasures + are doubtless by this time transferred to it. But the great + earthquake of 1885, so near Olympia, makes us tremble for the safety + of any sculpture in a stone building under a solid roof. How + terrible if the house were to fall on the _Hermes_! + + 118 This judgment of mine has since been confirmed by the authority of + Overbeck. It is indeed very hard to estimate rightly a new discovery + of this kind. I rated the work of Alkamenes, perhaps, too highly. + + 119 The student who desires to prosecute this difficult subject should + study Overbeck’s _History of Greek Sculpture_, or the works of Mr. + A. S. Murray, or Mr. Copeland Perry, on the same subject. + + 120 The fact that some of these public meetings are associated with the + fall of tyrants does not, I think, disprove what is here advanced. + + 121 I have not room here to give in full my reasons for rejecting the + earlier part of the Olympic register, as being the manufacture of + Hippias of Elis, later than 400 B. C. But the reader who is curious + on the subject may either consult my article in the _Journal of + Hellenic Studies_ for 1881, or the appendix to my _Problems in Greek + History_ (1892). He will then see that there is no direct evidence + whatever for any early list, and that the antiquarian Pausanias, in + his hunt after ancient monuments at Olympia, could find nothing + earlier than the so-called 33d Olympiad. Plutarch, moreover, in the + opening of his _Life of Numa_, tells us plainly that the list was + the manufacture of Hippias, _and based on no trustworthy evidence_. + To accept the list, therefore, in the face of these objections, is + to exhibit culpable credulity. + + 122 So also under the early Roman Empire the exiles on the barren + islands of the Ægean seem to have been allowed this indulgence. Cf. + the curious passage from Plutarch I have quoted and explained in my + _Greek World under Roman Sway_, p. 261. + + 123 The very stringent laws quoted by Æschines _in Timarchum_ may + possibly be spurious, since we know from other allusions that they + were not enforced. But more probably they existed as a dead letter, + which could be revived if occasion required. + + 124 The modern Greeks make their cheese for keeping, even now, in wicker + baskets, and distinguish it from _χλωρὸς τύρος_, which now means + cream cheese, and which they carry to market in woollen bags. There + was a special market for it in Athens in Aristophanes’s day, but not + in woollen bags; for, as Mr. Pickering (of Shrewsbury School) + pointed out to me, the cream cheese of Aristophanes’s day was kept + in wicker work. I gladly here acknowledge this correction of the + note in my former edition. + + 125 I should, however, call attention to an exceptional vase in the + little Turkish house on the Acropolis, probably of late date, in + which a runner is represented with his elbows back and hands closed, + and near his sides, in very good form. + + 126 Pausanias is responsible for the date, which he probably copied from + Hippias of Elis. It is noted as a special wonder that the same man + should win the sprint and long races at Olympia, which shows that + the latter must have been mainly a test of staying power. The + Spartan Ladas died at the winning-post, and this endurance was + thought rather a wonderful feat, but of course his death may have + resulted from bad training, or from heart disease. + + 127 “Know ye not,” says St. Paul, “that all run, and _one_ receiveth the + crown?”—a quite different condition of things from that of the + Iliad, where every competitor, like the boys at a private school, + comes off with a prize. + + 128 Possibly this special sort of wrestling has been confused with the + _pankration_, from which it can have differed but little, if it + indeed subsisted permanently as a distinct form of wrestling. + + 129 The single competitions in running and wrestling were distinct from + those in the pentathlon, and rewarded by separate crowns. + + 130 This is the moment chosen by Canova in his celebrated representation + of these boxers in the Vatican, a fact of which I was ignorant till + it was pointed out to me, in correcting an error I had made about + them, by Mr. M’D. Campbell, of Glasgow. + + 131 The first case of cheating was said to have taken place in the 98th + Ol. (388 B. C.), when the Thessalian Eupolos was convicted of + bribing the three boxers opposed to him, one of whom had won at the + previous meeting. Such crimes were commemorated by bronze figures of + Zeus (called _Ζᾶνες_ at Elis), which were of the value of the fines + inflicted, and had inscriptions warning all athletes of the dangers + and the disgrace of cheating. + + 132 The reader will find some illustrations of it in my _Social Greece_, + 6th edition, p. 96. + + 133 It has been since inserted from my notes in the English translation + of Bædeker’s _Greece_. + + 134 Polybius, iv. 70. + + 135 By this time (1891) there are probably three or four rivals, which + the traveller will see noted in his guide-book, provided he does not + depend on the _Guide Joanne_, which neglects to give such + information. The house to which I allude in the text is the Hotel S. + George. + + 136 This is not contradicted by the fact of there being isolated + Arcadian poets, such as Echembrotus and Aristarchus, distinguished + in foreign schools of art. + + 137 The _Eclogues_ of Petrarch are modelled upon those of Vergil to the + exclusion of the most characteristic features borrowed by the latter + from Theocritus. + + 138 The following extract from the first prose piece of the book will + show how absolutely imaginary is his Arcadia, with its impossible + combination of trees, and its absence of winter:— + + “Giace nella sommità di Partenio, non umile monte della pastorale + Arcadia, un dilettevole piano, di ampiezza non molto spazioso, + peroche il sito del luogo non consente, ma di minuta e verdissima + erbetta sì ripieno, che, se le lascive pecorelle con gli avidi morsi + non vi pasceresso, vi si potrebbe d’ogni tempo ritrovare verdura. + Ove, se io non m’inganno, son forse dodici o quindici alberi di + tanto strana ed eccessiva bellezza, che chiunque le vedesse, + giudicherebbe che la maestra natura vi si fosse con sommo diletto + studiata in formarli. Li quali alquanto distanti, ed in ordine non + artificioso disposti, con la loro rarità la naturale bellezza del + luogo oltra misura annobiliscono. Quivi senza nodo veruno si vede il + dritissimo abete, nato a sostenere i pericoli del mare; e con più + aperti rami la robusta quercia, e l’alto frassino, e lo amenissimo + platano vi si distendano, con le loro ombre non picciola parte del + bello e copioso prato occupando; ed evvi con più breve fronda + l’albero, di che Ercole coronare si solea, nel cui pedale le misere + figliuole di Climene furono trasformate: ed in un de’ lati si scerne + il noderoso castagno, il fronzuto bosco, e con puntate foglie lo + eccelso pino carico di durissimi frutti; nell’ altro l’ombroso + faggio, la incorruttibile tiglia, il fragile tamarisco, insieme con + la orientale palma, dolci ed onorato premio dei vincitori. Ma fra + tutti nel mezzo, presso un chiaro fonte, sorge verso il cielo un + dritto cipresso,” etc., etc. The work is, moreover, full of direct + imitations of Vergil, not, I fancy, of Theocritus also, as the + Italian commentators suppose, for that poet was not adequately + printed till 1495, which must have been very near the date of the + actual composition of the _Arcadia_. + + 139 It is worth noting that the Arcadian vision in the _Shepherd of + Hermas_, describing a scene of twelve mountains of varied and + contrasted aspect, though intended for an allegorical purpose, is + really faithful to nature, and suggests that the author knew + something of the country he describes. + + 140 Pausanias places the source of the Alpheus higher up, and close to + Tegea in the eastern plain. + + 141 This is what Pausanias says, though modern scholars seem very + doubtful about it. + + 142 Several details, such as the unusual length in proportion to the + breadth, the engaged pillars inside the cella, and the forms of the + capitals, have now been explained as deliberate archaicisms on the + part of Ictinus, who here copied far older forms. The curious Ionic, + and even the Corinthian, capitals, may point back to old Asianic, or + Assyrian, models, and the proportions of the cella with its engaged + pillars have their prototype or parallel in the curious old _Heræon_ + (cf. p. 304) found at Olympia. This seems to me a very happy + solution of the difficulties, and shows us Ictinus in a new light. + Another specimen of his art, with unexpected features, may be the + newly unearthed Hall of the Mysteries at Eleusis, already described, + if indeed this be his work, and not a late copy of it. + + 143 The same must have been the case with Messene, which was laid out + likewise by Epaminondas on an absurdly large scale, as the remains + of the great walls still show. They seem intended to enclose a whole + parish, and not a city. But of these I shall speak again, p. 452. + + 144 The results hitherto attained are still uncertain, owing to an + active controversy between Dr. Dörpfeld and the English explorers, + which has not yet (1892) been settled. I forbear entering upon it + here. + + 145 It is usually forgotten in recent accounts that this sacking of the + town was no more than a retribution for the hideous massacre of the + whole Turkish population, including women and children, in cold + blood, by the insurgent Greeks. The details may be had in General + Gordon’s _Memoirs_ or in Finlay’s _History_. + + 146 Strabo mentions that the new settlers, coming upon old tombs in the + digging for new foundations, found there quantities of graceful + pottery, which was sold to Romans, and became the fashion there. + Hence it was diligently sought and sold under the title + _νεκροκορίνθια_. We may be sure that every ancient tomb was rifled + in this way. + + 147 On the foundation of the new Greek kingdom, it was seriously debated + whether Corinth should not be the capital; but the constant + prevalence of fever in the district, together with sentimental + reasons, determined the selection of Athens in preference. + + 148 Even the new railway has not altered this. The journey up and down + the bay in a coasting steamer is still well worth undertaking. + + 149 M. Viollet-le-duc, in his _Entretiens sur l’Architecture_, vol. i. + p. 45, explains the reason of this. Apart from the greater facility + of raising smaller blocks, most limestones are subject to flaws, + which are disclosed only by strain. Hence it was much safer to + support the entablature on two separate beams, one of which might + sustain, at least temporarily, the building, in case the other + should crack. + + 150 Cf. pp. 370 and 433. + + 151 Strabo, who had apparently travelled but little through Greece, + speaks with admiration of this view, which he had evidently seen. + The fortress of Karytena is some twenty or thirty feet higher in + situation and far more picturesque from below, but is too much + surrounded by other high mountains to admit of a prospect like that + from the Acro-Corinthus. + + 152 See also _Guide Joanne_, ii. p. 197. + + 153 This is just what Strabo says (viii. 6, § 21): _ἔκρυσιν μὲν οὐκ + ἔχουσαν μεστὴν δ’ ἀεὶ διαυγοῦς καὶ ποτίμου ὕδατος_, and Corinth was + one of the few Greek places he visited. + + 154 So also learned men speak about the amphitheatre. Herzberg (ii. 253) + says: “Seine Ruine steht noch heute.” Cf. also Friedländer, ii. 383, + but I could not find it. + + 155 Part ii. p. 198, _sq._ (1891). + + 156 The reader who performs this journey by train may consider whether + what here follows is not an older and better way. + +_ 157 πολλὸς δὲ καὶ ὡς ῥόδα κίσθος ἐπανθεῖ_.—THEOCR. v. 131. + + 158 There is a tract of sea-coast on the east side of Italy, about + halfway between Ancona and Monte Gargano, which has this Theocritean + character to perfection. Even the railway passenger can appreciate + the curious contrast it affords to the splendid orchards and gardens + about Bari, which are still farther south. + + _ 159 οὐ θέμις, ὦ ποιμήν, τὸ μεσημβρινόν, οὐ θέμις ἆμμιν_ + _συρίσδεν. τὸν Πᾶνα δεδοίκαμες· ἦ γὰρ ἀπ’ ἄγρας_ + _τανίκα κεκμηὼς ἀμπαύεται, ἐστι γὰρ πικρός,_ + _καὶ οἱ ἀεὶ ὁριμεῖα χολὰ ποτὶ ῥινὶ κάθηται._—THEOCR. i. 15. + + _ 160 τοὺς μὴν ὄγε λάεσσιν ἀπὸ χθονὸς ὅσσον ἀείρων_ + _γευγέμην ἄψ ὀπίσω δειδίσσετο, τρηχὺ δὲ φωνῇ_ + _ἠπείλει μάλα πᾶσιν, ἐρητύσασκε δ’ ὑλαγμοῦ,_ + _χαίρων ἐν φρησὶν ᾖσιν, ὁθούνεκεν αὔλιν ἔρυντο._ + THEOCR. xxv. 73, and cf. _Odyss._ xiv. 29 _sq._ + + 161 Pausanias speaks of Mycenæ and Tiryns as of like structure, which is + not true. He often refers with wonder to these walls, and reflects + upon the care with which Greek historians had described foreign + curiosities like the Pyramids, while equally wonderful things in + Greece were left unnoticed. Thus, he says that no pair of mules + could stir from its place the smallest of the blocks in the walls of + Tiryns. Cf. ii. 25, 8; and ix. 36, 5. + + 162 The same effect is observable in Staigue Fort, in the county of + Kerry, and has led some people to imagine that its stones were + rudely fashioned. Cf. the splendid photographs of this Irish Tiryns + in Lord Dunraven’s _Notes on Irish Architecture_. + +_ 163 πολυδίψιον_. A fragment of Hesiod (quoted by Eustathius in _Il._, + p. 350) notes this epithet, in order to account for its being no + longer true, _Ἄργος ἄνυδρον ἔον Δαναὸς ποίησεν ἔνυδρον_. Strabo + (viii. p. 256) explains it by confining the epithet to the town of + Argos, which Homer certainly did not, and by admitting that the + country was well watered. Pausanias (ii. 15, 5) says that all the + rivers ran dry, except in rainy weather, which is seldom true now. + + _ 164 ἀλλ’ ἀνθηρῶν λειμώνων, φύλλων τ’ ἐν κόλποις ναίω,_ + _ἡνίκ’ ἄν ὁ θεσπέσιος ὀξὺ μέλος ἀχέτας_ + _θάλπεσι μεσημβρινοῖς ἡλιομανὴς βοᾷ._ (_Aves_, 1092–8.) + + The little-known lines in the _Shield of Hercules_ are also worth + quoting (393, _sqq._):— + + _ἦμος δὲ χλοερῷ κυανόπτερος, ἠχέτα τέττιξ,_ + _ὄζῳ ἐφεζόενος, θέρας ἀνθρώποισιν ἀείδειν_ + _ἄρχεται, ᾧ τε πόσις καὶ βρῶσις θῆλυς ἐέρση,_ + _καί τε πανημέριός τε καὶ ἐῷος χέει αὐδὴν_ + _ἴδει ἐν αἰνοτάτῳ, ὁπότε χρόα Σείριος ἄζει._ + + 165 These Cyclopes, cunning builders, and even workers in metal, are to + be carefully distinguished from the rude and savage Cyclopes + represented in Homer’s _Odyssey_ as infesting Thrinacria, in the + western seas. + + 166 In the days of the composition of the _Iliad_ we see the power and + greatness of Mycenæ distinctly expressed by the power of Agamemnon, + who appears to rule over all the district and many islands. Yet the + great hero, Diomedes, is made the sovereign of Argos and Tiryns in + his immediate neighborhood. This difficulty has made some critics + suppose that all the acts of Diomedes were foisted in by some of the + Argive reciters of the _Iliad_. Without adopting this theory, which + seems to me extravagant, I would suggest that, in the poet’s day, + Argos was rapidly growing into first-rate importance, while all the + older legends attested the greatness of Mycenæ. Thus the poet, who + was obliged to put together the materials given him by divers older + and shorter poems, was under the difficulty of harmonizing the + fresher legends about Argos with the older about Mycenæ. + + 167 I prefer this view even to that from the theatre of Taormina in + Sicily, which is so justly celebrated, and which many people think + the finest in Europe. + + 168 Cf. his exhaustive article on the Mediæval History of Greece, in + Ersch and Gruber’s _Encyclopædia_, vol. lxxxv., and more especially + his refutation of Fallmerayer’s theory, pp. 100–19. + + 169 A great authority, whose opinion I deeply respect—Prof. Sayce—goes + so far as to say that language is by itself no proof of race, but + only of social contact. I will not venture to deny that there are + instances where this is so, and where invading strangers have + adopted the language of the vanquished, though quite foreign to + them. But surely this is the exception, and not the rule, and there + is a _primâ facie_ probability in favor of a well-preserved language + indicating a well-preserved race. + + 170 This fact strengthens my conviction that at an early period Ægina + worked the silver-mines of Laurium. + + 171 Cf. Pindar’s frag. for the Corinthian _ἑταίραι_. + + 172 The bronze cow of Myron seems also to have been a wonderfully + admired work, to judge from the crowd of epigrams written upon it, + which still survive. + + 173 Cf. the account of his habits in his work, _Tiryns_, cap. I. + + 174 I have made special inquiries for these, but without any result. + They seem to be lost. + + 175 Cf. p. 389, and the outrages of the Galatian mercenaries under + Philip V. of Macedon. + +_ 176 Mycenæ_, p. 49. + + 177 According to Pausanias, the treasury of Minyas was differently + built; for the top stone of its flat dome was the keystone + (_ἁρμονία_) of the whole. This is not true. The stone roofs in + Ireland seem to me far more curious in construction, for two + reasons: first, because the stones used are so very small; and + secondly, because there can be, of course, no pressure on a roof + like the pressure brought to bear on a subterranean chamber from + above. + + 178 Cf. Macpherson’s _Antiquities of Kertch_. + + 179 There has been strange diversity of opinion about the nature of this + stone. Dodwell and Leake call it basalt. Moreover, Dodwell thought + it greenish. Some one else thinks it yellowish. The French + expedition and Curtius call it limestone. Dr. Schliemann says it is + the same breccia as the rest of the gate. It is in the face of these + opinions that I persist in the statement that it is bluish, and + limestone. + + It is owing to this note that it was again critically examined by + Mr. Tuckett, who published his result in the _Architect_ of 19th + January, 1879, and who had fragments of the stone analyzed, which + justified my observation. He also notes that several observers erred + as to the shape of the central pillar, which does not diminish in + bulk downward. + + 180 This, I perceive, is Dr. Schliemann’s opinion also. He was the first + to show that along the entrance-wall the fine building with square + blocks was only a facing laid on irregular building with small + stones. This points clearly to two successive stages in the work. + + 181 These analogies are brought out by Mr. A. S. Murray, in the + _Academy_, No. 29. Cf. also Dörpfeld in _Schuchhardt_, p. 161. + + 182 This is not true of Irish designs, which I compared carefully with + the Mycenæan, and failed to find any identity, though many close + resemblances. + + 183 It agrees with that of Schuchhardt (in _Schliemann’s Excavations_, + 1891), and of Busolt in the new edition of his Greek history, 1892. + + 184 This theory of mine, stated in my first edition, is strongly + supported by Dr. Adler in his preface to Schliemann’s _Tiryns_ + (1885). + + 185 This has all been done, and alas! many of the gold cups have been + polished by the barbarous zeal of the curators, so destroying the + exquisite red bloom which made them so remarkable. + +_ 186 Athos, or the Mountain of the Monks._ By Athelstan Riley. Longmans, + 1887. This is the newest and best book on the subject. + + 187 The very few travellers who have seen this, the most picturesque of + all European buildings, must have heard with a painful shock that it + was burned down in the spring of 1891. + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + + +The illustrations in the original volume were printed on separate, not +paginated plates. The captions were printed on the reverse side of the +plates. + +The following changes have been made to the text: + + page 59, apostrophe added in “à l’ Eugénie” + page 101, “Erectheum” changed to “Erechtheum” + page 125, period added after “Bühnenalt” + page 140, “Anaxgoras” changed to “Anaxagoras” + page 144, “than” changed to “that” + page 147, “fueillages” changed to “feuillages”, “caractèristiques” + to “caractéristiques” + page 188, “aujhourd’hui” changed to “aujourd’hui” + page 197, “pollared” changed to “pollarded” + page 201, period added after “23”, “Xenophen” changed to “Xenophon”, + single quote changed to double quote before “I witnessed” + page 211, “Oed.” changed to “Œd.” + page 213, “initation” changed to “initiation” + page 216, “Emile” changed to “Émile” + page 263, period added after “originals” + page 282, comma changed to period after “memory” + page 369, “Basse” changed to “Bassæ” + page 471, “haraldic” changed to “heraldic” + page 481, quote removed before “but” + page 519, “still” changed to “till” + page 531, comma added after “Alkamenes”, period added after “154”, + semicolon changed to comma after “_sq._” and “321–324” + page 532, “plagues” changed to “plaques”, “Copias” changed to + “Copais”, period added after “131” and “246” + page 533, dash added between “425” and “427”, period added after + “505”, semicolon changed to comma after “_sq._” + page 534, “Pausanius” changed to “Pausanias”, “Mycenæn” changed to + “Mycenæan”, “151,;” changed to “151;” + page 535, semicolon changed to comma after first “_sq._” + +Variations in hyphenation (e.g. “prehistoric”, “pre-historic”; “halfway”, +“half-way”) have not been changed. 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