SAGVNTINORVM.
CLAVDIO.
INVICTO. PIO. FEL. IMP.
CAES. PONT. MAX.
TRIB. POT. P.P.
PROCOS.
“And upon another gate, near the cathedral, is a head of Hannibal, cut
in stone. From hence, if you mount still higher up the rock, you come to
an amphitheatre, which has twenty-six rows of seats one above another,
all cut in the rock; and in the other parts the arches are so thick and
strong, that they are little inferior to the rock itself. There are
remains of prodigious aqueducts, and numbers of vast cisterns under
ground. As this country has been celebrated by Titus Livius, and
Polybius, for its fertility, I shall take notice of one or two of its
productions, which are peculiar to it. First then, the winter figs,
which Pliny speaks of, are to be met with in great perfection at this
day; and are almost as remarkable for their flavour and sweetness, as
for their hanging upon the trees in the middle of the winter. Their
pears also have a higher reputation than any others. There are
cherry-trees that are full of fine fruit in January: and in a place near
Canet, about half a league off, they raised a melon that weighed thirty
pounds[198].”
NO. XXIII.—SAIS.
Sais stands on the eastern side of the Nile, near the place where a
canal, passing across the Delta, joins the Pelusiac with the Canopic
branch of the Nile.
It was the metropolis of Lower Egypt; and its inhabitants were,
originally, an Athenian colony.
At this place there was a temple dedicated to Minerva, who is supposed
to be the same as Isis, with the following inscription:—“I am whatever
hath been, and is, and shall be; no mortal hath yet pierced through the
veil that shrouds me.”
In this city Osiris is said to have been buried. “They have a tomb at
Sais,” says Herodotus, “of a certain personage, whom I do not think
myself permitted to specify. It is behind the Temple of Minerva, and is
continued by the whole length of the wall of that building: around this
are many large obelisks, near which is a lake, whose banks are lined
with stone. It is of a circular form, and, I should think, as large as
that of Delos, which is called Trochoeides.”
To name this “personage” seems to have been an act carefully to be
avoided. How very sacred the ancients deemed their mysteries appears
from the following passage in Apollonius Rhodius:—
“To Samothrace, Electra’s isle, they steer:
That there, initiated in rights divine,
Safe might they sail the navigable brine.
But Muse, presume not of those rights to tell.
Farewell, dread isle, dire deities, farewell!
Let not my verse these mysteries explain;
To name is impious, to reveal profane.”
In this temple (that of Minerva) Herodotus informs us the inhabitants
buried their princes; and in the area before it stood a large marble
edifice, magnificently adorned with obelisks in the shape of palm-trees,
with various other ornaments. This temple was erected by Amasis, who was
a native of Sais.[199]
In magnitude and grandeur it surpassed any they had before seen; of such
enormous size were the stones employed in the building and foundation.
There was a room cut out of one stone, which had been conveyed by water
from Elephantis by the labour of two thousand men; costing three years’
labour. This stone measured on the outside twenty-one cubits long,
fourteen broad, and eight high.
Cambyses entertained a mortal hatred to the monarch just mentioned. From
Memphis he went to Sais, where was the burying-place of the kings of
Egypt. As soon as he entered the palace, he caused the body of Amasis to
be taken out of its tomb, and after having exposed it to a thousand
indignities in his own presence, he ordered it to be cast into the fire
and burned; which was a thing equally contrary to the customs of the
Persians and Egyptians. The rage, this prince testified against the dead
body of Amasis, shows to what a degree he hated his person. Whatever was
the cause of this aversion, it seems to have been one of the chief
motives, Cambyses had of carrying his arms into Egypt.
The first notice of the ruins of Sais, by Europeans, occurs in the
travels of Egmont and Heyman, two Dutchmen, who found a curious
inscription in honour of its “benefactor,” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
They saw also a colossal statue of a female, with hieroglyphics.
Fourteen camel-loads of treasure are said to have been found among the
ruins.
“The village of Sé’l Hajar,” says Dr. Clarke, “seems in the suburban
district of the ancient city; for as we proceeded hence in an eastern
direction we soon discerned its vestiges. Irregular heaps, containing
ruined foundations which had defied the labours of the peasants,
appeared between the village, and some more considerable remains farther
towards the south-east. The earth was covered with fragments of the
ancient terra-cotta, which the labourers had cast out of their sieves.
At the distance of about three furlongs we came to an immense
quadrangular inclosure, nearly a mile wide, formed by high walls, or
rather mounds of earth, facing the four points of the compass, and
placed at right angles to each other, so as to surround the spacious
area. In the centre of this was another conical heap, supporting the
ruins of some building, whose original form cannot be now ascertained.
The ramparts of this inclosure are indeed so lofty as to be visible from
the river, although at this distance, the irregularity of their
appearance might cause a person ignorant of their real nature to mistake
them for natural eminences.”
Dr. Clarke found several things at Sais well worthy attention; among
which may be particularly mentioned several bronze relics; an
ara-triform sceptre, a curious hieroglyphic tablet[200], the torso of an
ancient statue, a triple hierogram with the symbol of the cross, and
several other antiquities.
On the east is another fragment of a very highly finished edifice; and
the hieroglyphics which remain are perfectly well sculptured.
Many fragments of these ruins have been, of late years, taken away by
Mohamed Bey, to build therewith a miserable palace at E’Sooan[201].
NO. XXIV.—SAMARIA.
Samaria is never called in Scripture Sebast, though strangers know it
only by that name.
Obadiah is supposed to have been buried in this city; and here, at one
time, were shown the tombs of Elisha, and of John the Baptist; and many
ancient coins of this town are still preserved in the cabinets of the
curious.
Samaria, during a siege, was afflicted with a great famine; and a very
extraordinary occurrence is related with respect to it[202].
“24. And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria
gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
“25. And there was a great famine in Samaria; and, behold, they besieged
it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the
fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
“26. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried
a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
“27. And he said, if the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help
thee? out of the barn-floor, or out of the wine-press?
“28. And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered,
This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and
we will eat my son to-morrow.
“29. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the
next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.
“30. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman,
that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people
looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.
“31. Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha
the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
“32. But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the
king sent a man from before him; but ere the messenger came to him, he
said to the elders, See how this son of a murderer hath sent to take
away mine head! look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold
him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?
“33. And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down
unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I
wait for the Lord any longer?”
This was one of the cities of Palestine. The country in which it is
situated was at one time greatly infested with lions. The inhabitants
were always at variance with their neighbours the Jews,—who detested
them. The Samaritans having built a temple on Mount Gerizim, similar to
that at Jerusalem, insisting that Gerizim was the spot which God had
originally consecrated, the Jews never forgave them for so doing,
either in precept or practice. Their malice pursued them everywhere;
they called them rebels and apostates; and held them in such utter
detestation, that to say,—“There goes a Samaritan,” was a phrase
equivalent to that of “There goes a serpent.” This hatred was returned
with nearly equal force by the Samaritans; insomuch, that when the Jews
were building their temple, they did all they could to prevent the
execution of it.
When Alexander marched into Judæa, and had arrived at Jerusalem, the
Samaritans sent a number of deputies, with great pomp and ceremony, to
request that he would visit the temple they had erected on Mount
Gerizim. As they had submitted to Alexander, and assisted him with
troops, they naturally thought that they deserved as much favour from
him as the Jews; and, indeed, more. Alexander, however, does not appear
to have thought so; for when the deputies were introduced, he thanked
them, indeed, in a courteous manner, but he declined visiting their
temple; giving them to understand, that his affairs were urgent, and,
therefore, that he had not sufficient time; but that if he should return
that way from Egypt, he would not fail to do as they desired; that is,
if he had time. The Samaritans afterwards mutinied; in consequence of
which Alexander drove them out of Samaria; for they had set fire to the
house of the governor he had appointed, and burned him alive. He divided
their lands amongst the Jews, and repeopled their city with a colony of
Macedonians.
When Antiochus afterwards marched into their country, they had the
baseness to send a petition to that monarch, in which they declared
themselves not to be Jews; in confirmation of which they entreated, that
the temple, they had built upon Mount Gerizim, might be dedicated to the
Jupiter of Greece. This petition was received with favour; and the
temple was, therefore, dedicated as the Samaritans had petitioned.
This city was afterwards subject to the vengeance of Hyrcanus, son of
Simon, one of the Maccabees. It stood a siege for nearly a year. When
the conqueror took it, he ordered it to be immediately demolished. The
walls of the city, and the houses of the inhabitants, were entirely
razed and laid level with the ground; and, to prevent its ever being
rebuilt, he caused deep trenches and ditches to be cut through the new
plain, where the city had stood, into which water was turned[203].
Thus it remained till the time of Herod, who rebuilt the city; and, in
honour of Augustus, gave it the name of Sebastos[204].
NO. XXV.—SAPPHURA.
This village was once the chief city and bulwark of Galilee. Its
inhabitants often revolted against the Romans; but few remains of its
ancient greatness now exist. There are, however, ruins of a stately
Gothic edifice, which some travellers esteem one of the finest
structures in the Holy Land. “We entered,” says Dr. Clarke, “beneath
lofty massive arches of stone. The roof of the building was of the same
materials. The arches are placed in the intersection of a Greek cross,
and originally supported a dome or tower; their appearance is highly
picturesque, and they exhibit the grandeur of a noble style of
architecture. Broken columns of granite and marble lie scattered among
the walls; and these prove how richly it was decorated.” In this place
Dr. Clarke saw several very curious paintings.
This place was visited in the early part of the seventeenth century by a
Franciscan friar of Lodi, in Italy, named Quaresimius, who says:—“This
place now exhibits a scene of ruin and desolation, consisting only of
peasants’ habitations, and sufficiently manifests, in its remains, the
splendour of the ancient city. Considered as the native place of Joachim
and Anna, the parents of the Virgin, it is renowned, and worthy of being
visited.” “It is not easy,” says Dr. Clarke, “to account for the
disregard shown to a monument of antiquity, highly interesting from its
title to consideration in the history of ancient architecture, or to the
city of which it was the pride, once renowned as the metropolis of
Galilee.”
The following account is from the pen of the celebrated French
traveller, M. La Martine:—“A great number of blocks of stone, hollowed
out for tombs, traced our route to the summit of the mamelon, on which
Saphora is situated. Arrived at the top, we beheld an insulated column
of granite still standing, and marking the site of a temple. Beautiful
sculptured capitals were lying on the ground at the foot of the column,
and immense fragments of hewn stone, removed from some great Roman
monument, were scattered everywhere round, serving the Arabs as
boundaries to their property, and extending as far as a mile from
Saphora, where we stopped to halt in the middle of the day.”
This is all that now remains of this once noble city.
“A fountain of excellent and inexhaustible water,” continues La Martine,
“flows herefrom, for the use of the inhabitants of two or three valleys;
it is surrounded by some orchards of fig and pomegranate trees, under
the shade of which we seated ourselves; and waited more than an hour
before we could water our caravan, so numerous were the herds of cows
and camels which the Arabian shepherds brought from all parts of the
valley. Innumerable files of cattle and black goats wound across the
plain and the sides of the hill leading to Nazareth[205].”
NO. XXVI.—SARDIS.
Sardis is thus alluded to in the Apocalypse[206]:—
“1. And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write:—These things
saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know
thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead.
“2. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready
to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
“3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast
and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a
thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
“4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their
garments; and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.”
Sardis was situated five hundred and forty stadia from Ephesus; viz.
seven miles and a half.
When this city was built is not, we believe, upon record. It was the
capital of Lydia, and situated on the banks of the Pactolus, at the foot
of Mount Tmolus; having the Cayster to the south, and Hermus to the
north.
During the reign of Atys, son of Gyges, the Cimmerians, being expelled
their own country by the Nomades of Scythia, passed over into Asia, and
possessed themselves of Sardis. Some time after this, Crœsus became king
of Lydia, and a war ensued between him and Cyrus the Great. At that
period no nation of Asia was more hardy, or more valiant, than the
Lydians. They fought principally on horseback, armed with long spears,
and were very expert in managing the horse. Sardis, according to
Herodotus, was taken by storm; according to Polyænus, by surprise. Cyrus
availed himself of a truce, which he had concluded with Crœsus, (the
richest of kings), to advance his forces, and making his approach by
night, took the city. Crœsus, still remaining in possession of the
citadel, expected the arrival of his Grecian succours: but Cyrus,
putting in irons the relatives and friends of those who defended the
citadel, showed them in that state to the besieged. At the same time he
informed them by a herald, that, if they would give up the place, he
would set their friends at liberty; but that, if they persevered in
their defence, he would put them to death. The besieged chose rather to
surrender, than cause their relations to perish. Such is the relation of
Polyænus.
The Persians obtained possession of Sardis, and made Crœsus captive,
after a siege of fourteen days, and a reign of fourteen years. Thus was
a mighty empire destroyed in a few days. Crœsus being brought into the
presence of Cyrus, that prince ordered him to be placed in chains upon
the summit of a huge wooden pile, with fourteen Lydian youths standing
round him. Before this, however, Cyrus gave the citizens to understand,
that if they would bring to him and his army all their silver and gold,
their city should be spared. On learning this, they brought to him all
their wealth; but Crœsus was ordered to be burned alive. Before we give
an account of this barbarous order, however, we must refer to a
circumstance which had occurred several years before.
Solon, one of the most celebrated of legislators, having established a
new system of laws at Athens, thought to improve his knowledge by
travel. He went, therefore, to Sardis. The king received him very
sumptuously;—dressed in magnificent apparel, enriched with gold, and
glittering with diamonds. Finding that the Grecian sage did not appear
in any way moved by this display, Crœsus ordered, that all his
treasures, royal apartments, and costly furniture, should be shown to
him. When Solon had been shown all these, he was taken back to the king,
who then inquired of him:—Which of all the persons he had seen during
his travels, he esteemed the most happy? “A person named Tellus,”
answered Solon, “a citizen of Athens; an honest and good man; one who
had lived all his days without indigence, and always seen his country
flourishing and happy; who had children that were universally esteemed;
and whose children he had the satisfaction, also, of seeing, and who
died at last gloriously fighting for his country.”
When Crœsus heard this, thinking that if he were not esteemed the first
in happiness, he would at least be thought the second, he inquired “Who,
of all you have seen, was the next in happiness to Tellus?” “Cleobis and
Biton of Argos,” answered Solon, “two brothers who left behind them a
perfect pattern of fraternal affection, and of the respect due from
children to their parents. Upon a solemn festival when their mother, a
priestess of Juno, was to go to the temple, the oxen that were to draw
her not being ready, the two sons put themselves to the yoke, and drew
their mother’s chariot thither, which was above five miles distant. All
the mothers, ravished with admiration, congratulated the priestess on
the piety of her sons. She, in the transport of her joy and
thankfulness, earnestly entreated the goddess to reward her children
with the best thing that heaven can give to man. Her prayers were heard.
When the sacrifice was over, her two sons fell asleep in the very temple
to which they had brought her, and there died in a soft and peaceful
slumber. In honour of their piety,” concluded Solon, “the people of
Argos consecrated statues to them in the temple of Delphos.”
Crœsus was greatly mortified at this answer; and therefore said with
some token of discontent, “Then you do not reckon me in the number of
the happy at all?” “King of Lydia,” answered Solon, “besides many other
advantages, the gods have given to us Grecians a spirit of moderation
and reserve, which has produced among us a plain, popular, kind of
philosophy, accompanied with a certain generous freedom, void of pride
and ostentation, and therefore not well suited to the courts of kings.
This philosophy, considering what an infinite number of vicissitudes and
accidents the life of man is liable to, does not allow us to glory in
any prospects we enjoy ourselves, or to admire happiness in others which
may prove only superficial and transient.”
Having said this much, Solon paused a little,—then proceeded to say,
that “the life of man seldom exceeds seventy years, which make up in all
twenty-five thousand five hundred and fifty days, of which two are not
exactly alike; so that the time to come is nothing but a series of
various accidents, which cannot be foreseen. Therefore, in our opinion,”
continued Solon, “no man can be esteemed happy, but he whose happiness
God continues to the end of his life. As for others, who are perpetually
exposed to a thousand dangers, we account their happiness as uncertain,
as the crown is to a person that is still engaged in battle, and has not
yet obtained the victory.”
It was not long before Crœsus experienced the truth of what Solon told
him. Cyrus made war upon him, as we have already related: and he was now
condemned to be burned. The funeral pile was prepared, and the unhappy
king being laid thereon, and just on the point of execution,
recollecting the conversation he had had with Solon some few years
before, he cried aloud three times, “Solon! Solon! Solon!” When Cyrus
heard him exclaim thus, he became curious to know why Crœsus pronounced
that celebrated sage’s name with so much earnestness in the extremity to
which he was reduced. Crœsus informed him. The conqueror instantly
paused in the punishment designed; and, reflecting on the uncertain
state to which all sublunary things are subject, he caused him to be
taken from the pile, and ever afterwards treated him with honour and
respect. This account is from Rollin, who has it from Herodotus and
other ancient writers.
Crœsus is honourably mentioned by Pindar, in his celebrated contrast
between a good sovereign and a bad one:—
When in the mouldering urn the monarch lies,
His fame in lively characters remains,
Or graved in monumental histories,
Or deck’d and painted in Aonian strains.
Thus fresh and fragrant and immortal blooms
The virtue, Crœsus, of thy gentle mind;
While fate to infamy and hatred dooms
Sicilia’s tyrant[207], scorn of human kind;
Whose ruthless bosom swelled with cruel pride,
When in his brazen bull the broiling wretches died.
Him, therefore, not in sweet society,
The generous youth, conversing, ever name;
Nor with the harp’s delightful melody
Mingle his odious, inharmonious fame.
The first, the greatest, bliss on man conferred,
Is in the acts of virtue to excel;
The second to obtain their high reward,
The soul-exalting praise of doing well.
Who both these lots attains is bless’d indeed;
Since fortune here below can give no higher meed.
PINDAR. _Pyth._ i.—WEST.
On the division of the Persian monarchy into satrapies, Sardis became
the residence of the satrap who had the government of the sea-coast.
In the third year of the war arising from the revolt of the Ionians
against the Persian authority, the Ionians having collected all their
forces together, set sail for Ephesus, whence, leaving their ships, they
marched by land to Sardis. Finding that city in a defenceless state,
they made themselves masters of it; but the citadel, into which the
Persian governor Artaphernes had retired, they were not able to force.
Most of the houses were roofed with reeds. An Ionian soldier therefore
having, whether with intention or by accident was never ascertained, set
fire to a house, the flames flew from roof to roof, and the whole city
was entirely destroyed, almost in a moment. In this destruction the
Persians implicated the Athenians; for there were many Athenians among
the Ionians. When Darius, therefore, heard of the conflagration, he
immediately determined on making war upon Greece; and that he might
never forget the resolution, he appointed an officer to the duty of
crying out to him every night at supper,—“Sir, remember the Athenians.”
It is here, also, to be remembered, that the cause why the Persians
afterwards destroyed all the temples they came near in Greece, was in
consequence of the temple of Cybele, the tutelary deity of Sardis,
having been, at that period, reduced to ashes.