Mosaics of Grecian History
BY MARCIUS WILLSON
AND ROBERT PIERPONT WILLSON
PREFACE.
The leading object had in view in the preparation of the present
volume has been to produce, within a moderate compass, a History
of Greece that shall not only be trustworthy, but interesting
to all classes of readers.
It must be acknowledged that our standard historical works, with
all their worth, do not command a perusal by the people at large;
and it is equally plain that our ordinary School Manuals--the
abridgments and outlines of more voluminous works--do not meet
with any greater favor. The mere outline system of historical
study usually pursued in the schools is interesting to those only
to whom it is suggestive of the details on which it is based; and
we have long been satisfied that it is not the best for beginners
and for popular use; that it inverts the natural order of
acquisition; that for the young to master it is drudgery; that
its statistical enumeration, if ever learned by them, is soon
forgotten; that it tends to create a prejudice against the study
of history; that it does not lay the proper foundation for future
historical reading; and that, outside of the enforced study of
the school-room, it is seldom made use of. The people in general--the
masses--do not read such works, while they do read with avidity
historical legends, historical romances, historical poems and
dramas, and biographical sketches. And we do not hesitate to assert
that from Shakspeare's historical plays the reading public have
acquired (together with much other valuable information) a
hundred-fold more knowledge of certain portions of English history
than from all the ponderous tomes of formal history that have ever
been written. It may be said that people ought to read Hume, and
Lingard, and Mackintosh, and Hallam, and Froude, and Freeman,
instead of Shakspeare's "King John," and "Richard II.," and "Henry
IV.," and "Henry VIII.," etc. It is a sufficient reply to say they
do not.
Historical works, therefore, to be read by the masses, must be
adapted to the popular taste. It was an acknowledgment of this
truth that led Macaulay, the most brilliant of historians, to
remark, "We are not certain that the best histories are not those
in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative
is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accuracy, but much
is gained in effect. The fainter lines are neglected, but the
great characteristic features are imprinted on the mind forever."
If the result to which Macaulay refers be once attained by an
introductory work so interesting that it shall come into general
use, it will, we believe, naturally lead to the reading of some
of the best standard works in the same historical field. In our
attempt to make this a work of such a preparatory character, we
have borne in mind the demand that has arisen for poetic illustration
in the reading and teaching of history, and have given this
delightful aid to historical study a prominent place--ofttimes
making it the sole means of imparting information. And yet we
have introduced nothing that is not strictly consistent with our
ideal of what history should be; for although some of the poetic
selections are avowedly wholly legendary, and others, still, in
a greater or less degree fictitious in their minor details--like
the by-plays in Shakspeare's historic dramas--we believe they do
no violence to historical verity, as they are faithful pictures
of the times, scenes, incidents, principles, and beliefs which
they are employed to illustrate. Aside, too, from their historic
interest, they have a literary value. Many prose selections from
the best historians are also introduced, giving to the narrative
a pleasing variety of style that can be found in no one writer,
even if he be a Grote, a Gibbon, or a Macaulay.
* * * * *
THE PRINCIPAL HISTORIES OF GREECE.
Believing that it may be of some advantage to the general reader,
we give herewith a brief sketch of the principal histories of
Greece now before the public. We may mention, among those of a
comprehensive character, the works of Goldsmith, Gillies, Mitford,
Thirlwall, Grote, and Curtius:
OLIVER GOLDSMITH, "the popular poet, the charming novelist, the
successful dramatist, and the witty essayist," wrote a popular
history of Greece, in two volumes, 8vo, 1774, embracing a period
from the earliest date down to the death of Alexander the Great.
It is an attractive work, elegantly written, but is superficial
and inaccurate.
In 1786 was published a history of ancient Greece, in several
volumes, by DR. JOHN GILLIES, who succeeded Dr. Robertson as
historiographer of Scotland. This is a work of considerable merit
but it is written in a spirit of decidedly monarchical tendencies,
although the author evidently aimed at great fairness in his
political views.
He says: "The history of Greece exposes the dangerous turbulence
of democracy, and arraigns the despotism of tyrants. By describing
the incurable evils inherent in every republican policy, it evinces
the inestimable benefits resulting to liberty itself from the
lawful dominion of hereditary kings, and the steady operation
of well-regulated monarchy."
In the year 1784 appeared the first volume of WILLIAM MITFORD'S
"History of Greece", subsequently extended to eight and ten volumes,
8vo. It is the first history of Greece that combines extensive
research and profound philosophical reflection; but it is "a
monarchical" history, by a writer of very strong anti-republican
principles. "It was composed," says Alison, the distinguished
historian of modern Europe, "during, or shortly after, the French
Revolution; and it was mainly intended to counteract the visionary
ideas in regard to the blessings of Grecian democracy, which had
spread so far in the world, from the magic of Athenian genius."
Says Chancellor Kent: "Mitford does not scruple to tell the truth,
and the whole truth, and to paint the stormy democracies of Greece
in all their grandeur and in all their wretchedness." Lord Byron
said of the author: "His great pleasure consists in praising tyrants,
abusing Plutarch, spelling oddly, and writing quaintly; and--what
is strange, after all--his is the best modern history of Greece
in any language." But this was penned before Thirlwall's and Grote's
histories were published. Lord Macaulay says of Mitford: "Whenever
this historian mentions Demosthenes he violates all the laws of
candor and even of decency: he weighs no authorities, he makes
no allowances, he forgets the best authenticated facts in the
history of the times, and the most generally recognized principles
of human nature." The North British Review, after calling Mitford
"a bad scholar, a bad historian, and a bad writer of English,"
says, farther, that "he was the first writer of any note who found
out that Grecian history was a living thing with a practical
bearing."
The next truly important and comprehensive Grecian history,
published from 1835 to 1840, in eight volumes, 8vo, was written
by CONNOP THIRLWALL, D. D., Bishop of St. David's. It is a scholarly,
elaborate, and philosophical work evincing a thorough knowledge
of Greek literature and of the German commentators. The historian
Grote said that, if it had appeared a few years earlier, he should
probably never have undertaken his own history of Greece. "I
should certainly," he says, "not have been prompted to the task
by any deficiencies such as those I felt and regretted in Mitford."
In comparing Thirlwall's history with Grote's, the North British
Review has the following judicious remarks: "Many persons, probably,
who have no special devotion to Grecian history wish to study its
main outlines in something higher than a mere school-book. To
such readers we should certainly recommend Thirlwall rather than
Grote. The comparative brevity, the greater clearness and terseness
of the narrative, the freedom from diversions and digressions,
all render it far better suited for such a purpose. But for the
political thinker, who regards Grecian history chiefly in its
practical bearing, Mr. Grote's work is far better adapted. The
one is the work of a scholar, an enlarged and practical scholar
indeed, but still one in whom the character of the scholar is
the primary one. The other is the work of a politician and man
of business, a London banker, a Radical M. P., whose devotion
to ancient history and literature forms the most illustrious
confutation of the charges brought against such studies as being
useless and impractical."
"The style of Thirlwall," says Dr. Samuel Warren of England, in
his Introduction to Law Studies, "is dry, terse, and exact--not
fitted, perhaps, for the historical tyro, but most acceptable
to the advanced student who is in quest of things."
GEORGE GROTE, Member of Parliament, and a London banker, who
wrote a history of Greece in twelve volumes, published from 1846
to 1855, has been styled, by way of eminence, the historian of
Greece, because his work is universally admitted by critics to
be the best for the advanced student that has yet been written.
The London Athenæum styles his history "a great literary undertaking,
equally notable whether we regard it as an accession of standard
value in our language, or as an honorable monument of what English
scholarship can do." The London Quarterly Review says: "Errors
the most inveterate, that have been handed down without misgiving
from generation to generation, have been for the first time
corrected by Mr. Grote; facts the most familiar have been presented
in new aspects and relations; things dimly seen, and only partially
apprehended previously, have now assumed their true proportions
and real significance; while numerous traits of Grecian character;
and new veins of Grecian thought and feeling, have been revealed
to the eyes of scholars by Mr. Grote's searching criticism, like
new forms of animated nature by the microscope."
The general character of the work has been farther well summed
up by Sir Archibald Alison. He says: "A decided liberal, perhaps
even a republican, in politics, Mr. Grote has labored to counteract
the influence of Mitford in Grecian history, and construct a
history of Greece from authentic materials, which should illustrate
the animating influence of democratic freedom upon the exertions
of the human mind. In the prosecution of this attempt he has
displayed an extent of learning, a variety of research, a power
of combination, which are worthy of the very highest praise, and
have secured for him a lasting place among the historians of modern
Europe."
We may also mention, in this connection, the valuable and scholarly
work of the German professor, Ernst Curtius (1857-'67), in five
volumes, translated by A. Ward (1871-'74). His sympathies are
monarchical, and his views more nearly accord with those of Mitford
and Thirlwall than with those of Grote.
The work by William Smith, in one volume, 1865, is an excellent
summary of Grecian history, as is also that of George W. Cox, 1876.
The former work, which to a considerable extent is an abridgment
of Grote, has been brought down, in a Boston edition, from the
Roman Conquest to the middle of the present century, by Dr. Felton,
late President of Harvard College. President Felton has also
published two volumes of scholarly lectures on Ancient and Modern
Greece (1867).
The works devoted to limited periods of Grecian history and special
departments of research are very numerous. Among the most valuable
of the former is the History of the Peloponnesian War, by the
Greek historian Thucydides, of which there are several English
versions. He was born in Athens, about the year 471 B.C. His is
one of the ablest histories ever written.
Herodotus, the earliest and best of the romantic historians,
sometimes called the "Father of History," was contemporary with
Thucydides. He wrote, in a charming style, an elaborate work on
the Persian and Grecian wars, most of the scenes of which he
visited in person; and in numerous episodes and digressions he
interweaves the most valuable history that we have of the early
Asiatic nations and the Egyptians; but he indulges too much in
the marvelous to be altogether reliable."
Of the numerous works of Xenophon, an Athenian who is sometimes
called the "Attic Muse," from the simplicity and beauty of his
style, the best known and the most pleasing are the Anab'asis,
the Memorabil'ia of Socrates, and the Cyropedi'a, a political
romance. He was born about 443 B.C. The best English translation
of his works is by Watson, in Harper's "New Classical Library."
The work of the Greek historian, Polybius, originally in forty
volumes, of which only five remain entire covered a period from
the downfall of the Macedonian power to the subversion of Grecian
liberty by the Romans, 146 B.C. It is a work of great accuracy,
but of little rhetorical polish, and embraces much of Roman history
from which Livy derived most of the materials for his account of
the wars with Carthage.
In the first century of our era, Plutarch, a Greek biographer,
wrote the "Parallel Lives" of forty-six distinguished Greeks and
Romans--a charming and instructive work, translated by John and
William Langhorne in 1771, and by Arthur Hugh Clough in 1858.
A history of Greece, in seven volumes, by George Finlay, a British
historian, long resident at Athens, is noted for a thorough knowledge
of Greek topography, art, and antiquity. The completed work embraces
a period from the conquest of Greece by the Romans to the middle
of the present century.
A History of Greek Literature, by J, P. Mahaffy, is the most
polished descriptive work in the department which it embraces.
It is happily supplemented by J. Addington Symonds' Studies of
the Greek Poets. Mr. Mahaffy, in common with many German scholars,
is an unbeliever in the unity of the Iliad.
CONTENTS.
[The names of authors from whom selections are taken are in
CAPITOLS.]
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE GRECIAN STATES AND ISLANDS.
Introductory.--Olympus.--HEMANS.--Pi'e-rus.--POPE.
1. Thessaly.--Tem'pe.-HEMANS.
2. Epi'rus.--Cocy'tus, Ach'eron, Dodo'na.--MILTON: HAYGARTH:
BYRON.
3. Acarna'nia.
4. Æto'lia.
5. Lo'cris.
6. Do'ris.
7. Pho'cis.--Parnassus.--BYRON.--Delphi.--HEMANS.
8. Bœo'tia.--Thebes.--SCHILLER.
9. Attica.--BYRON.
10. Corinth.--BYRON: HAYGARTH.
11. Acha'ia.
12. Arca'dia.
13. Ar'golis.--Myce'næ.--HEMANS.
14. Laco'nia.
15. Messe'nia.
16. E'lis.
17. The Isles of Greece.--BYRON.
Lemnos.--Euboe'a.--Cyc'la-des.--De'los.--Spor'a-des.--
Crete.--Rhodes.--Sal'amis.--Ægi'na.--Cyth'-era.--
"Venus Rising from the Sea."--WOOLNER.
Stroph'a-des.--VIRGIL.--Paxos.--Zacyn'thus.--
Cephalo'nia.--Ith'aca.--Leu'cas or Leuca'dia.--
Corcy'ra or Cor'fu.--"Gardens of Alcin'o-us."
CHAPTER II.
THE FABULOUS AND LEGENDARY PERIOD OF GRECIAN HISTORY.
I. Grecian Mythology.
Value of the Grecian Fables.--J. STUART BLACKIE.
The Battle of the Giants.--HE'SIOD
Hymn to Jupiter.--CLEAN'THES
The god Apollo.--OV'ID.
Fancies of the Greek Mind.--WORDSWORTH: LIDDELL: BLACKIE.
The Poet's Lament.--SCHILLER.
The Creation.--OVID.
The Origin of Evil.--HESIOD.
What Prome'theus Personified.--BLACKIE.
The Punishment of Prometheus.--ÆS'CHYLUS: SHELLEY
Deluge of Deuca'lion.--OVID.
Moral Characteristics of the Gods, etc.--MAHAFFY:
GLADSTONE: HOMER: ÆSCHYLUS: HESIOD.
Oaths.--HOMER: ÆSCHYLUS: SOPH'OCLES: VIRGIL.
The Future State.--HOMER.
1. Story of Tan'talus.--BLACKIE
2. The Descent of Or'pheus.--OVID: HOMER.
3. The Elys'ium.--HOMER: PINDAR.
Hindu and Greek Skepticism.--(Cornhill Magazine).
II. The Earnest Inhabitants of Greece.
The Founding of Athens.--BLACKIE.
III. The Heroic Age.
Heroic Times foretold to Adam.--MILTON
Twelve Labors of Hercules.--HOMER.
Fable of Hercules and Antæ'us.--COLLINS.
The Argonautic Expedition.--PINDAR.
Legend of Hy'las.--BAYARD TAYLOR.
The Trojan War.
1. The Greek Armament.--EURIP'IDES.
2. The name Helen.--ÆSCHYLUS.
3. Ulysses and Thersi'tes.--HOMER. (POPE).
4. Combat of Menela'us and Paris.--HOMER. (POPE).
5. Parting of Hector and Androm'a-che.--HOMER. (POPE).
6. Hector's Exploits and Death of Patro'clus.--HOMER.
(POPE).
7. The Shield of Achilles.--HOMER. (SOTHEBY).
8. Address of Achilles to his Horses.--HOMER. (POPE).
9. The Death of Hector.--HOMER. (BRYANT).
10. Priam Begging for Hector's Body.--HOMER. (COWPER).
11. Lamentations of Andromache and Helen.--HOMER. (POPE).
The Fate of Troy.--VIRGIL: SCHILLER.
Beacon Fires from Troy to Argos.--ÆSCHYLUS.
Remarks on the Trojan War.--THIRLWALL: GROTE.
Fate of the Actors in the Conflict.--ENNIUS: LANDOR: LANG.
IV. Arts and Civilization in the Heroic Age.
Political Life of the Greeks.--MAHAFFY: HEEREN.
Domestic Life and Character.--MAHAFFY: HOMER.
The Raft of Ulysses.--HOMER.
V. The Conquest of Peloponnesus, and Colonies in Asia Minor.
Return of the Heracli'dæ.--LUCAN.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY GREEK LITERATURE, AND GREEK COMMUNITY OF INTERESTS.
Ionian Language and Culture.--FELTON.
I. Homer and his Poems.--ANTIP'ATER: FELTON: TALFOURD: POPE:
COLERIDGE.
II. Some Causes of Greek Unity.
The Grecian Festivals.
1. Chariot Race and Death of Ores'tes.--SOPHOCLES.
2. Apollo's Conflict with the Python.--OVID.
3. The Apollo Belvedere.--THOMSON.
The National Councils.
CHAPTER IV.
SPARTA, AND THE LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS.
Description of Sparta.--THOMSON.
I. The Constitution of Lycurgus.
Spartan Patriotic Virtue.--TYMNOE'US.
II. Spartan Poetry and Music.
Spartan March.--CAMPBELL.: HEMANS.
Songs of the Spartans.--PLUTARCH: TERPAN'DER: PINDAR: ION.
III. Sparta's Conquests.
War-song.--TYRTOE'US.
CHAPTER V.
FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, AND CHANGES IN GRECIAN POLITICS.
Introductory.--THIRLWALL: LEG'ARÉ.
I. Changes from Aristocracies to Oligarchies.--HEEREN.
II. Changes from Oligarchies to Despotisms.--THIRLWALL: HEEREN:
BULWER: TYRTOE'US.
CHAPTER VI.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS.
I. The Legislation of Dra'co.
II. The Legislation of So'lon.--PLUTARCH: A'KENSIDE: SOLON:
THOMSON: SOLON.
III. The Usurpation of Pisis'tratus.
The Usurper and his Stratagem.--AKENSIDE.
Solon's Appeal to the Athenians.--AKENSIDE.
Character of Pisistratus.--THIRLWALL.
Conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogi'ton.--CALLIS'TRATUS.
IV. Birth of Democracy.--THIRLWALL.
CHAPTER VII.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREEK COLONIES.
The Cave of the Cumæ'an Sibyl.--VIRGIL: GROTE.
The'ron of Agrigen'tum.--PINDAR.
Increase among the Sicilian Greeks.--GROTE.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS.
I. The Poems of Hesiod.--"Winter."--FELTON: MURE: THIRLWALL:
MAHAFFY.
II. Lyric Poetry.
Calli'nus of Ephesus.--"War Elegy".
Archil'ochus of Pa'ros--SYMONDS: MAHAFFY.
Alc'man.--"Sleep, or Night."--MURE.
Ari'on.--Stesich'orus.--MAHAFFY.
Alcæus.--"Spoils of War."--AKENSIDE.
Sappho.--"Defence of."--SYMONDS: ANTIP'ATER.
Anac'reon.--"The Grasshopper."--AKENSIDE.
III. Early Grecian Philosophy.
The Seven Sages.--(Maxims).-GROTE.
Tha'les, Anaxim'enes, Heracli'tus, Diog'enes,
Anaximan'der, and Xenoph'anes.
Pythag'oras and his Doctrines.--BLACKIE: THOMSON:
COLERIDGE: LOWELL.
The Eleusin'ian Mysteries.--VIRGIL.
IV. Architecture.
The Cyclo'pean Walls.--LORD HOUGHTON.
Dor'ic, Ion'ic, and Corinthian Orders.--THOMSON.
Cher'siphron, and the Temple of Diana.--STORY.
Temples at Pæs'tum.--CRANCH.
V. Sculpture.
Glaucus, Rhoe'cus, Theodo'rus, Dipæ'nus, Scyllis.
Cause of the Progress of Sculpture.--THIRLWALL.
CHAPTER IX.
THE PERSIAN WARS.
I. The Ionic Revolt.
II. The First Persian War.
The Battle of Marathon.
Legends of the Battle.--HEMANS: BLACKIE.
The Death of Milti'ades: his Character.--GROTE: GILLIES.
Aristi'des and Themis'tocles:--THOMSON: PLUTARCH: THIRLWALL.
III. The Second Persian Invasion.
Xerxes at Aby'dos.--HEROD'OTUS.
Bridging of the Hellespont.--JUVENAL: MILTON.
The Battle of Thermop'ylæ.
1. Invincibility of the Spartans.--HAYGARTH.
2. Description of the Contest.--HAYGARTH.
3. Epitaphs on those who fell.--SIMON'IDES.
4. The Tomb of Leon'idas.--ANON.
5. Eulogy on the Fallen.--BYRON
Naval Conflict at Artemis'ium.--PLUTARCH: PINDAR.
The Abandonment of Athens.
The Battle of Salamis.
1. Xerxes Views the Conflict.--BYRON.
2. Flight of Xerxes.--JUVENAL: ALAMANNI.
3. Celebrated Description of the Battle.--MITFORD:
ÆSCHYLUS.
4. Another Account.--BLACKIE.
The Battle of Platæ'a.
1. Description of the Battle.--BULWER.
2. Importance of the Victory.--SOUTHEY: BULWER.
3. Victory at Myc'a-le.--BULWER.
4. "The Wasps."--ARISTOPHANES.
CHAPTER X.
THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE.
I. The Disgrace and Death of Themistocles.
Tributes to his Memory.--PLATO: GEMINUS: THIRLWALL.
II. The Rise and Fall of Cimon.
Character of Cimon--THOMSON.
Battle of Eurym'edon.--SIMONIDES.
Earthquake at Sparta, and Revolt of the Helots.--BULWER:
ALISON.
III. The Accession of Pericles to Power.
Changes in the Athenian Constitution.--BULWER.
Tribute to Pericles.--CROLY.
Picture of Athens in Peace.--HAYGARTH.
CHAPTER XI.
THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS, AND THE FALL OF ATHENS.
Speech of Pericles for War.--THUCYD'IDES.
I. The First Peloponnesian War.
Funeral Oration of Pericles.--THUCYDIDES.
Comments on the Oration.--CURTIUS.
The Plague at Athens.--LUCRETIUS.
Death of Pericles.--CROLY: THIRLWALL: BULWER.
Character of Pericles.--MITFORD.
II. The Athenian Demagogues.
Cleon, the Demagogue.--GILLIES: ARISTOPH'ANES.
The Peace of Ni'cias.
III. The Sicilian Expedition.
Treatment of the Athenian Prisoners.--BYRON.
IV. The Second Peloponnesian War.
Humiliation of Athens.
Barbarities of the Contest.--MAHAFFY.
CHAPTER XII.
GRECIAN LITERATURE AND ART, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN
TO THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS (B.C. 500-403).
LITERATURE.
Introductory.
The Era of Athenian Greatness.--SYMONDS.
I. Lyric Poetry.
Simonides.--"Lamentation of Dan'a-ë."--MAHAFFY.
Pindar.--"Threnos."--THIRLWALL: PRIOR: SYMONDS: GRAY:
POPE: HORACE.
II. The Drama.--BULWER.
1. Tragedy.--Melpom'ene.--AKENSIDE.
Æschylus.--"Death of Agamemnon."--PLUMPTRE: LAWRENCE:
VAN SCHLEGEL: BYRON: MAHAFFY.
Sophocles.--OEd'ipus Tyran'nus."--TALFOURD: PHRYN'ICHUS:
SIM'MIAS.
Euripides.--"Alcestis Preparing for Death."--SYMONDS:
MILTON: MAHAFFY.
The Transitions of Tragedy.--GROTE.
2. Comedy.
Characterization of.
Aristophanes.--Extracts from "The Cloud." "Choral Song from
The Birds."--PLATO: GROTE: SEWELL: MILTON: RUSKIN.
III. History.
Hecatæ'ns.--MAHAFFY: NIEBUHR.
Herodotus.--"Introduction to History."--LAWRENCE.
Herodotus and his Writings.--MACAULAY.
Thucyd'i-des.--MAHAFFY.
Thucydides and Herodotus.--BROWNE.
IV. Philosophy.
Anaxag'oras: his Death.--WILLIAM CANTON.
The Sophists.--MAHAFFY.
Socrates.--"Defence of Socrates."--"Socrates' Views of
a Future State."--MAHAFFY: THOMSON: SMITH: TYLER: GROTE.
ART.
I. Sculpture and Painting.
Phid'ias.--LÜBKE: GILLIES: LÜBKE.
Polygno'tus.--Apollodo'rus.--Zeux'is.--Parrha'sius.
--Timan'thes.
Parrhasius and his Captive.--SENECA: WILLIS.
II. Architecture.
Introductory.--THOMSON.
The Adornment of Athens.--BULWER.
I. The Acrop'olis and its Splendors.
The Parthenon.--HEMANS.
II. Other Architectural Monuments of Athens.
The Temple of The'seus.--HAYGARTH.
Athenian Enthusiasm for Art.--BULWER.
The Glory of Athens.--TALFOURD.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES.
I. The Expedition of Cyrus, and the Retreat of the Ten
Thousand.--THOMSON: CURTIUS.
II. The Supremacy of Sparta.
III. The Rise and Fall of Thebes.
Pelop'idas and Epaminon'das.--THOMSON: CURTIUS.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SICILIAN GREEKS.
The Founding of Ætna.--PINDAR.
Hi'ero's Victory at Cu'mæ.--PINDAR.
Admonitions to Hiero.--PINDAR.
Dionysius the Elder.--PLUTARCH.
Damon and Pythias.--The Hostage.--SCHILLER.
Archime'des.--SCHILLER
Visit of Cicero to the Grave of Archimedes.--WINTHROP.
CHAPTER XV.
THE MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY.
I. The Sacred War.--THIRLWALL.
II. Sketch of Macedonia.
III. Interference of Philip of Macedon.
Demosthenes.--"The First Philippic."--GROTE.
Pho'cion.--His Influence at Athens.--GROTE.
IV. War with Macedon.
V. Accession of Alexander the Great.
VI. Alexander Invades Asia.
VII. The Battle of Arbe'la.--Flight and Death of Dari'us.--
GROTE: ÆS'CHINES.
Alexander's Feast at Persep'olis.--DRYDEN.
VI. The Death of Alexander.
His Career and his Character.--LU'CAN.
Reflections on his Life, etc.--JUVENAL: BYRON.
CHAPTER XVI.
FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS.
I. A Retrospective Glance at Greece.
Oration of Æschines against Ctes'iphon.
Oration of Demosthenes on the Crown.
II. The Wars that followed Alexander's Death.
Character of Ptolemy Philadelphus--THEOC'RITUS.
III. The Celtic Invasion, and the War with Pyrrhus.
Queen Archidami'a.--ANON.
IV. The Achæ'an League.--Philip V. of Macedon.
Epigrams on Philip and the Macedonians.--Alcoe'us.
V. Greece Conquered by Rome.
"The Liberty of Greece."--WORDSWORTH.
Desolation of Corinth.--ANTIPATER.
Last Struggles of Greece.--THIRLWALL: HORACE.
CHAPTER XVII.
LITERATURE AND ART AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR.
LITERATURE.
I. The Drama.--MAHAFFY.
Phile'mon.--"Faith in God."
Menander.--"Human Existence."--SYMONDS: LAWRENCE.
II. Oratory.--MILTON: CICERO.
Æs'chines and Demosthenes.--LEGARÉ: BROUGHAM: HUME.
III. Philosophy.
Plato.--HAYGARTH: BROUGHAM: KENDRICK: MITCHELL.
Aristotle.--POPE: BROWNE: LAWRENCE: SMITH: MAHAFFY.
Academe.--ARNOLD.
Epicu'rus and Ze'no.--LUCRETIUS.
IV. History.
Xen'ophon.--MITCHELL.
Polyb'ius.
ART.
I. Architecture and Sculpture.
Changes in Statuary.--WEYMAN.
The Dying Gladiator.--LÜBKE: THOMSON.
The La-oc'o-on.--THOMSON: HOLLAND.
II. Painting.
Venus Rising from the Sea.--ANTIPATER.
Apel'les and Protog'enes.--ANTHON.
Protogenes' Picture at Rhodes.--THOMSON.
Concluding Reflections.
The Image of Athens.--SHELLEY.
Immortal Influence of Athens.--MACAULAY: HAYGARTH.
CHAPTER XVIII.
GREECE SUBSEQUENT TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST.
I. Greece under the Romans.
The Revolt.--FINLAY.
Christianity in Greece.--FELTON.
II. Changes down to the Fourteenth Century.
Courts of the Crusading Chieftains.--EDINBURGH REVIEW.
The Duchy of Athens.--FELTON.
The Turkish Invasion.--HEMANS.
III. Contests between the Turks and Venetians.
Past and Present of the Acropolis of Athens.
The Siege and Fall of Corinth.--BYRON.
IV. Final Conquest of Greece by Turkey.
Turkish Oppressions.--TENNENT.
The Slavery of Greece.--CANNING: BYRON.
First Steps to Secure Liberty.--The Klephts.--FELTON.
Greek War-Songs.--RHIGAS: POLYZOIS.
V. The Greek Revolution.
A Prophetic Vision of the Struggle.--SHELLEY'S "Hellas".
Song of the Greeks.--CAMPBELL.
American Sympathy with Greece.--TUCKERMAN: WEBSTER.
The Sortie at Missolon'ghi.--WARBURTON.
A Visit to Missolonghi.--STEPHENS.
Marco Bozzar'is.--HALLECK.
Battle of Navari'no.--CAMPBELL.
VI. Greece under a Constitutional Monarchy.
Revolution against King Otho.--BENJAMIN.
The Deposition of King Otho: Greece under his Rule.
--TUCKERMAN: BRITISH QUARTERLY.
Accession of King George.--His Government.--TUCKERMAN.
Progress in Modern Greece.--COOK.
INDEX
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE GRECIAN STATES AND ISLANDS.
The country called HELLAS by the Helle'nes, its native inhabitants,
and known to us by the name of Greece, forms the southern part
of the most easterly of the three great peninsulas of Southern
Europe, extending into the Mediterranean between the Æge'an Sea,
or Grecian Archipelago, on the east, and the Ionian Sea on the
west. The whole area of this country, so renowned in history, is
only about twenty thousand square miles; which is considerably
less than that of Portugal, and less than half that of the State
of Pennsylvania.
The mainland of ancient Greece was naturally divided into Northern
Greece, which embraced Thessaly and Epi'rus; Central Greece,
comprising the divisions of Acarna'nia, Æto'lia, Lo'cris, Do'ris,
Pho'cis, Breo'tia, and At'tica (the latter forming the eastern
extremity of the whole peninsula); and Southern Greece, which the
ancients called Pel-o-pon-ne'sus, or the Island of Pe'lops, which
would be an island were it not for the narrow Isthmus of Corinth,
which connects it on the north with Central Greece. Its modern
name, the Mo-re'a, was bestowed upon it from its resemblance to
the leaf of the mulberry. The chief political divisions of
Peloponnesus were Corinth and Acha'ia on the north, Ar'golis on
the east, Laco'nia and Messe'nia at the southern extremity of
the peninsula, E'lis on the west, and the central region of Arca'dia.
Greece proper is separated from Macedonia on the north by the
Ceraunian and Cambunian chain of mountains, extending in irregular
outline from the Ionian Sea on the west to the Therma'ic Gulf on
the east, terminating, on the eastern coast, in the lofty summit
of Mount Olympus, the fabled residence of the gods, where, in
the early dawn of history, Jupiter (called "the father of gods
and men") was said to hold his court, and where he reigned supreme
over heaven and earth. Olympus rises abruptly, in colossal
magnificence, to a height of more than six thousand feet, lifting
its snowy head far above the belt of clouds that nearly always
hangs upon the sides of the mountain.
Wild and august in consecrated pride,
There through the deep-blue heaven Olympus towers,
Girdled with mists, light-floating as to hide
The rock-built palace of immortal powers.
--HEMANS.
In the Olympian range, also, was Mount Pie'rus, where was the
Pierian fountain, one of the sacred resorts of the Muses, so
often mentioned by the poets, and to which POPE, with gentle
sarcasm, refers when he says,
A little learning is a dangerous thing:
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.
1. Thessaly.--From the northern chain of mountains, the central
Pindus range, running south, separates Thessaly on the east from
Epi'rus on the west. The former region, enclosed by mountain
ranges broken only on the east, and watered by the Pene'us and
its numerous tributaries, embraced the largest and most fertile
plain in all Greece. On the Thessalian coast, south of Olympus,
were the celebrated mounts Ossa and Pe'lion, which the giants,
in their wars against the gods, as the poets fable, piled upon
Olympus in their daring attempt to scale the heavens and dethrone
the gods. Between those mounts lay the celebrated vale of Tem'pe,
through which the Pene'us flowed to the sea.
Romantic Tempe! thou art yet the same--
Wild as when sung by bards of elder time:
Years, that have changed thy river's classic name,
[Footnote: The modern name of the Pene'us is Selembria
or Salamvria.]
Have left thee still in savage pomp sublime.
--HEMANS.
Farther south, having the sea on one side and the lofty cliffs
of Mount OE'ta on the other, was the celebrated narrow pass of
Thermop'ylæ, leading from Thessaly into Central Greece.
2. Epi'rus.--The country of Epirus, on the west of Thessaly, was
mostly a wild and mountainous region, but with fertile intervening
valleys. Among the localities of Epirus celebrated in fable and
in song was the river Cocy'tus, which the poets, on account of
its nauseous waters, described as one of the rivers of the lower
world--
Cocytus, named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream.
The Ach'eron was another of the rivers--
Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep--
--MILTON.
which was assigned by the poets to the lower world, and over
which the souls of the dead were said to be first conveyed, before
they were borne the Le'the, or "stream of oblivion," beyond. The
true Acheron of Epirus has been thus described:
Yonder rolls Acheron his dismal stream,
Sunk in a narrow bed: cypress and fir
Wave their dim foliage on his rugged banks;
And underneath their boughs the parched ground,
Strewed o'er with juniper and withered leaves,
Seems blasted by no mortal tread.
As the Acheron falls into the lake Acheru'sia, and after rising
from it flows underground for some distance, this lake also has
been connected by the poets with the gloomy legend of its fountain
stream.
This is the place
Sung by the ancient masters of the lyre,
Where disembodied spirits, ere they left
Their earthly mansions, lingered for a time
Upon the confines of eternal night,
Mourning their doom; and oft the astonished hind,
As home he journeyed at the fall of eve,
Viewed unknown forms flitting across his path,
And in the breeze that waved the sighing boughs
Heard shrieks of woe.
--HAYGARTH.
In Epirus was also situated the celebrated city of Dodo'na, with
the temple of that name, where was the most ancient oracle in
Greece, whose fame extended even to Asia. But in the wide waste
of centuries even the site of this once famous oracle is forgotten.
Where, now, Dodona! is thine aged grove,
Prophetic fount, and oracle divine?
What valley echoes the response of Jove?
What trace remaineth of the Thunderer's shrine?
All, all forgotten!
--BYRON.
3. Acarna'nia.--Coming now to Central Greece, lying northward
of the Corinthian Gulf, we find Acarnania on the far west, for
the most part a productive country with good harbors: but the
Acarnanians, a rude and warlike people, were little inclined to
Commercial pursuits; they remained far behind the rest of the
Greeks in culture, and scarcely one city of importance was embraced
within their territory.
4. Æto'lia, generally a rough and mountainous country, separated,
on the west, from Acarnania by the river Ach-e-lo'us, the largest
of the rivers of Greece, was inhabited, like Acarnania, by a hardy
and warlike race, who long preserved the wild and uncivilized
habits of a barbarous age. The river Achelous was intimately
connected with the religion and mythology of the Greeks. The hero
Hercules contended with the river-god for the hand of De-i-a-ni'ra,
the most beautiful woman of his time; and so famous was the stream
itself that the Oracle of Dodona gave frequent directions "to
sacrifice to the Achelous," whose very name was used, in the
language of poetry, as an appellation for the element of water
and for rivers.
5. Lo'cris, lying along the Corinthian Gulf east of Ætolia, was
inhabited by a wild, uncivilized race, scarcely Hellen'ic in
character, and said to have been addicted, from the earliest
period, to theft and rapine. Their two principal towns were
Amphis'sa and Naupac'tus, the latter now called Lepanto. There
was another settlement of the Locri north of Pho'cis and Bœo'tia.
6. Do'ris, a small territory in the north-eastern angle of Ætolia
proper--a rough but fertile country--was the early seat of the
Dorians, the most enterprising and the most powerful of the Hellenic
tribes, if we take into account their numerous migrations, colonies
and conquests. Their colonies in Asia Minor founded six independent
republics, which were confined within the bounds of as many cities.
From this people the Doric order of architecture--a style typical
of majesty and imposing grandeur, and the one the most employed
by the Greeks in the construction of their temples--derived its
origin.
7. Pho'cis.--On the east of Locris, Ætolia, and Doris was Phocis,
a mountainous region, bordered on the south by the Corinthian
Gulf. In the northern central part of its territory was the famed
Mount Parnassus, covered the greater part of the year with snow,
with its sacred cave, and its Castalian fount gushing forth between
two of its lofty rocks. The waters were said to inspire those who
drank of them with the gift of poetry. Hence both mountain and
fount were sacred to the Muses, and their names have come down
to our own times as synonymous with poetry and song. BYRON thus
writes of Parnassus, in lines almost of veneration, as he first
viewed it from Delphi, on the southern base of the mountain:
Oh, thou Parnassus! whom I now survey,
Not in the frenzy of a dreamer's eye,
Not in the fabled landscape of a lay,
But soaring snow-clad through thy native sky
In the wild pomp of mountain majesty!
Oft have I dreamed of thee! whose glorious name
Who knows not, knows not man's divinest lore:
And now I view thee, 'tis, alas! with shame
That I in feeblest accents must adore.
When I recount thy worshippers of yore
I tremble, and can only bend the knee;
Nor raise my voice, nor vainly dare to soar,
But gaze beneath thy cloudy canopy
In silent joy to think at last I look on thee!
The city of Delphi was the seat of the celebrated temple and
oracle of that name. Here the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo,
pronounced the prophetic responses, in extempore prose or verse;
and here the Pythian Games were celebrated in honor of Apollo.
Here, thought-entranced, we wander, where of old
From Delphi's chasm the mystic vapor rose,
And trembling nations heard their doom foretold
By the dread spirit throned 'midst rocks and snows.
Though its rich fanes be blended with the dust,
And silence now the hallowed haunt possess,
Still is the scene of ancient rites august,
Magnificent in mountain loneliness;
Still Inspiration hovers o'er the ground,
Where Greece her councils held, her Pythian victors crowned.
--MRS. HEMANS.
8. Bœo'tia.--Bœotia, lying to the east of Phocis, bordering
on the Euri'pus, or "Euboe'an Sea," a narrow strait which separates
it from the Island of Euboe'a, and touching the Corinthian Gulf
on the south-west, is mostly one large basin enclosed by mountain
ranges, and having a soil exceedingly fertile. It was the most
thickly settled part of Greece; it abounded in cities of historic
interest, of which Thebes, the capital, was the chief--whose walls
were built, according to the fable, to the sound of the Muses:
With their ninefold symphonies
There the chiming Muses throng;
Stone on stone the walls arise
To the choral Music-song.
--SCHILLER.
Bœotia was the scene of many of the legends celebrated by the
poets, and especially of those upon which were founded the plays
of the Greek tragedians. Near a fountain on Mount Cithæ'ron, on
its southern border, the hunter Actæ'on, having been changed into
a stag by the goddess Diana, was hunted down and killed by his
own hounds. Pen'theus, an early king of Thebes, having ascended
Cithæron to witness the orgies of the Bacchanals, was torn in
pieces by his own mother and aunts, to whom Bacchus made him
appear as a wild beast. On this same mountain range also occurred
the exposure of OEd'ipus, the hero of the most famous tragedy of
Sophocles. Near the Corinthian Gulf was Mount Hel'icon, sacred
to Apollo and the Muses. Its slopes and valleys were renowned
for their fertility; it had its sacred grove, and near it was
the famous fountain of Aganip'pe, which was believed to inspire
with oracular powers those who drank of its waters. Nearer the
summit was the fountain Hippocre'ne, which is said to have burst
forth when the winged horse Peg'asus, the favorite of the Muses,
struck the ground with his hoofs, and which Venus, accompanied
by her constant attendants, the doves, delighted to visit. Here,
we are told,
Her darling doves, light-hovering round their Queen,
Dipped their red beaks in rills from Hippocrene.
[Footnote: Always Hip-po-cre'ne in prose; but it is
allowable to contract it into three syllables in poetry,
as in the example above.]
It was here, also--
near this fresh fount,
On pleasant Helicon's umbrageous mount--
that occurred the celebrated contest between the nine daughters
of Pie'rus, king of E-ma'thi-a (the ancient name of Macedonia),
and the nine Muses. It is said that "at the song of the daughters
of Pierus the sky became dark, and all nature was put out of
harmony; but at that of the Muses the heavens themselves, the
stars, the sea, and the rivers stood motionless, and Helicon
swelled up with delight, so that its summit reached the sky."
The Muses then, having turned the presumptuous maidens into
chattering magpies, first took the name of Pi-er'i-des, from
Pieria, their natal region.
9. Attica.--Bordering Bœotia on the south-east was the district
of Attica, nearly in the form of a triangle, having two of its
sides washed by the sea, and the other--the northern--shut off
from the east of Central Greece by the mountain range of Cithæron
on the north-west, and Par'nes on the east. Its other noted
mountains were Pentel'icus (sometimes called Mende'li), so
celebrated for its quarries of beautiful marble, and Hymet'tus,
celebrated for its excellent honey, and the broad belt of flowers
at its base, which scented the air with their delicious perfume.
It could boast of its chief city, the favored seat of the goddess
Minerva--
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence--
as surpassing all other cities in beauty and magnificence, and
in the great number of its illustrious citizens. Yet the soil
of Attica was, on the whole, exceedingly barren, with the exception
of a few very fertile spots; but olive groves abounded, and the
olive was the most valuable product.
The general sterility of Attica was the great safety of her people
in their early history. "It drove them abroad; it filled them
with a spirit of activity, which loved to grapple with danger
and difficulty; it told them that, if they would maintain themselves
in the dignity which became them, they must regard the resources of
their own land as nothing, and those of other countries as their
own." Added to this, the situation of Attica marked it out in an
eminent manner for a commercial country; and it became distinguished
beyond all the other states of Greece for its extensive commercial
relations, while its climate was deemed the most favorable of
all the regions of the civilized world for the physical and
intellectual development of man. It was called "a sunny land,"
and, notwithstanding the infertility of its soil, it was full
of picturesque beauty. The poet BYRON, in his apostrophe to Greece,
makes many striking and beautiful allusions to the Attica of his
own time:
Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild;
Sweet are thy groves, and verdant are thy fields,
Thine olive ripe as when Minerva smiled,
And still its honeyed wealth Hymettus yields.
There the blithe bee his fragrant fortress builds,
The freeborn wanderer of thy mountain air;
Apollo still thy long, long summer gilds,
Still in his beam Mendeli's marbles glare;
Art, Glory, Freedom fail, but Nature still is fair.
10. Entering now upon the isthmus which leads into Southern Greece,
we find the little state of Corinth, with its famous city of the
same name, keeping guard over the narrow pass, with one foot on
the Corinthian Gulf and the other on the Saron'ic, thereby commanding
both the Ionian and Æge'an seas, controlling the commerce that
passed between them, and holding the keys of Peloponnesus. It
was a mountainous and barren region, with the exception of a small
plain north-west of the city. Thus situated, Corinth early became
the seat of opulence and the arts, which rendered her the ornament
of Greece. On a lofty eminence overhanging the city, forming a
conspicuous object at a great distance, was her famous citadel--so
important as to be styled by Philip of Macedon "the fetters of
Greece." Rising abruptly nearly two thousand feet above the
surrounding plain, the hill itself, in its natural defences, is
the strongest mountain fortress in Europe.
The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock,
Have left untouched her hoary rock,
The key-stone of a land which still,
Though fallen, looks proudly on that hill,
The landmark to the double tide
That purpling rolls on either side,
As if their waters chafed to meet,
Yet pause and crouch beneath her feet.
--BYRON.
The ascent to the citadel, in the days of Corinthian glory, was
lined on both sides with temples and altars; but temples and
altars are gone, and citadel and city alike are now in ruins.
Antip'ater of Sidon describes the city as a scene of desolation
after it had been conquered, plundered, and its walls thrown down
by the Romans, 146 B.C. Although the city was partially rebuilt,
the description is fully applicable to its present condition. A
modern traveller thus describes the site of the ancient city:
The hoarse wind sighs around the mouldering walls
Of the vast theatre, like the deep roar
Of distant waves, or the tumultuous rush
Of multitudes: the lichen creeps along
Each yawning crevice, and the wild-flower hangs
Its long festoons around each crumbling stone.
The window's arch and massive buttress glow
With time's deep tints, whilst cypress shadows wave
On high, and spread a melancholy gloom.
Silent forever is the voice
Of Tragedy and Eloquence. In climes
Far distant, and beneath a cloudy sky,
The echo of their harps is heard; but all
The soul-subduing energy is fled.
--HAYGARTH.
11. Adjoining the Corinthian territory on the west, and extending
about sixty-five miles along the southern coast of the Corinthian
Gulf, was Acha'ia, mountainous in the interior; but its coast
region for the most part was level, exposed to inundations, and
without a single harbor of any size. Hence the Achæ'ans were never
famous for maritime enterprise. Of the eleven Achæan cities that
formed the celebrated Achæan league, Pal'træ (now Patras') alone
survives. Si'çy-on, on the eastern border of Achaia, was at times
an independent state.
12. South of Achaia was the central region of Arcadia, surrounded
by a ring of mountains, and completely encompassed by the other
states of the Peloponnesus. Next to Laconia it was the largest
of the ancient divisions of Greece, and the most picturesque and
beautiful portion (not unlike Switzerland in its mountain
character), and without either seaports or navigable rivers. It
was inhabited by a people simple in their habits and manners,
noted for their fondness for music and dancing, their hospitality,
and pastoral customs. With the poets Arcadia was a land of peace,
of simple pleasures, and untroubled quiet; and it was natural that
the pipe-playing Pan should first appear here, where musical
shepherds led their flocks along the woody vales of impetuous
streams.
13. Ar'golis, east of Arcadia, was mostly a rocky peninsula lying
between the Saron'ic and Argol'ic gulfs. It was in great part a
barren region, with the exception of the plain adjoining its
capital city, Argos, and in early times was divided into a number
of small but independent kingdoms, that afterward became republics.
The whole region is rich in historic associations of the Heroic
Age. Here was Tir'yns, whose massive walls were built by the
one-eyed Cy'clops, and whence Hercules departed at the commencement
of his twelve labors. Here, also, was the Lernæ'an Lake, where
the hero slew the many-headed hydra; Ne'mea, the haunt of the
lion slain by Hercules, and the seat of the celebrated Ne'mean
games; and Myce'næ, the royal city of Agamemnon, who commanded
the Greeks in the Trojan War--now known, only by its ruins and
its legends of by-gone ages.
And still have legends marked the lonely spot
Where low the dust of Agamemnon lies;
And shades of kings and leaders unforgot,
Hovering around, to fancy's vision rise.
--HEMANS.
14. At the south-eastern extremity of the Peloponnesus was Laconia,
the fertile portions of which consisted mostly of a long, narrow
valley, shut in on three sides by the mountain ranges of Ta-yg'etus
on the west and Parnon on the north and east, and open only on
the south to the sea. Through this valley flows the river Euro'tas,
on whose banks, about twenty miles from the sea, stood the capital
city, Lacedæ'mon, or Sparta, which was unwalled and unfortified
during its most flourishing period, as the Spartans held that the
real defence of a town consists solely in the valor of its citizens.
The sea-coast of Laconia was lined with towns, and furnished with
numerous ports and commodious harbors. While Sparta was equaled
by few other Greek cities in the magnificence of its temples and
statues, the private houses, and even the palace of the king,
were always simple and unadorned.
15. West of Laconia was Messe'nia, the south-western division of
Greece, a mountainous country, but with many fertile intervening
valleys, the whole renowned for the mildness and salubrity of
its climate. Its principal river, the Pami'sus, rising in the
mountains of Arcadia, flows southward to the Messenian Gulf through
a beautiful plain, the lower portion of which was so celebrated
for its fertility that it was called Maca'ria, or "the blessed;"
and even to this day it is covered with plantations of the vine,
the fig, and the mulberry, and is "as rich in cultivation as can
be well imagined."
16. One district more--that of E'lis, north of Messenia and west
of Arcadia, and embracing the western slopes of the Achaian and
Arcadian mountains--makes up the complement of the ancient
Peloponnesian states. Though hilly and mountainous, like Messenia,
it had many valleys and hill-sides of great fertility. The river
Alphe'us, which the poets have made the most celebrated of the
rivers of Greece, flows westward through Elis to the Ionian Sea,
and on its banks was Olympia, the renowned seat of the Olympian
games. Here, also, was the sacred grove of olive and plane trees,
within which were temples, monuments, and statues, erected in
honor of gods, heroes, and conquerors. In the very midst stood
the great temple of Jupiter, which contained the colossal gold
and ivory statue of the god, the masterpiece of the sculptor
Phidias. Hence, by the common law of Greece Elis was deemed a
sacred territory, and its cities were unwalled, as they were
thought to be sufficiently protected by the sanctity of the
country; and it was only when the ancient faith began to give
way that the sacred character of Elis was disregarded.
17. The Isles of Greece.--
The Isles of Greece! the Isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung--
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet,
But all except their sun is set.
--BYRON.
The main-land of Greece was deeply indented by gulfs and almost
land-locked bays, and the shores were lined with numerous islands,
which were occupied by the Grecian race. Beginning our survey of
these in the northern Æge'an, we find, off the coast of Thessaly,
the Island of Lemnos, which is fabled as the spot on which the
fire-god Vulcan--the Lucifer of heathen mythology--fell, after
being hurled down from Olympus. Under a volcano of the island be
established his workshop, and there forged the thunder-bolts of
Jupiter and the arms of the gods and of godlike heroes.
Of the Grecian islands proper, the largest is Euboe'a, a long
and narrow island lying east of Central Greece, from which it
is separated by the narrow channel of the Euri'pus, or Euboe'an
Sea. South-east of Euboea are the Cyc'la-des, [Footnote: From
the Greek word kuklos, a circle.] a large group that kept guard
around the sacred Island of Delos, which is said to have risen
unexpectedly out of the sea. The Spor'a-des [Footnote: From the
Greek word speiro, to sow; scattered, like seed, so numerous were
they. Hence our word spore.] were another group, scattered over
the sea farther east, toward the coast of Asia Minor. The large
islands of Crete and Rhodes were south-east of these groups. In
the Saron'ic Gulf, between Attica and Ar'golis, were the islands
of Sal'amis and Ægi'na, the former the scene of the great naval
conflict between the Greeks on the one side and the Persians,
under Xerxes, on the other, and the latter long the maritime rival
of Athens.
Cyth'era, now Cer'igo, an island of great importance to the
Spartans, was separated by a narrow channel from the southern
extremity of Laconia. It was on the coast of this island that
the goddess Venus is fabled to have first appeared to mortals
as she arose out of the foam of the sea, having a beautifully
enameled shell for her chariot, drawn by dolphins, as some paintings
represent; but others picture her as borne on a shining seahorse.
She was first called Cyth-er-e'a, from the name of the island.
The nymphs of ocean, of the land, and the streams, the fishes
and monsters of the deep, and the birds of heaven, with rapturous
delight greeted her coming, and did homage to the beauty of the
Queen of Love. The following fine description of the scene, truly
Grecian in spirit, is by a modern poet:
Uprisen from the sea when Cytherea,
Shining in primal beauty, paled the day,
The wondering waters hushed, They yearned in sighs
That shook the world--tumultuously heaved
To a great throne of azure laced with light
And canopied in foam to grace their queen.
Shrieking for joy came O-ce-an'i-des,
And swift Ner-e'i-des rushed from afar,
Or clove the waters by. Came eager-eyed
Even shy Na-i'a-des from inland streams,
With wild cries headlong darting through the waves;
And Dryads from the shore stretched their long arms,
While, hoarsely sounding, heard was Triton's shell;
Shoutings uncouth, bewildered sounds,
And innumerable splashing feet
Of monsters gambolling around their god,
Forth shining on a sea-horse, fierce and finned.
Some bestrode fishes glinting dusky gold,
Or angry crimson, or chill silver bright;
Others jerked fast on their own scanty tails;
And sea-birds, screaming upward either side,
Wove a vast arch above the Queen of Love,
Who, gazing on this multitudinous
Homaging to her beauty, laughed. She laughed
The soft, delicious laughter that makes mad;
Low warblings in the throat, that clinch man's life
Tighter than prison bars.
--THOMAS WOOLNER.
Off the coast of Elis were the two small islands called the
Stroph'a-des, noted as the place of habitation of those fabled
winged monsters, the Harpies. Here Æne'as landed in his flight
from the ruins of Troy, but no pleasant greetings met him there.
"At length I land upon the Strophades,
Safe from the dangers of the stormy seas.
Those isles are compassed by th' Ionian main,
The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign:
Monsters more fierce offended Heaven ne'er sent
From hell's abyss for human punishment.
We spread the tables on the greensward ground;
We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round;
When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry
And clattering wings, the hungry Harpies fly:
They snatch the meat, defiling all they find,
And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind."
--VIRGIL'S Æneid, B. III.
North of the Strophades, along the western coast of Greece, were
the six Ionian islands known in Grecian history as Paxos,
Zacyn'thus, Cephalo'nia, Ith'aca (the native island of Ulysses),
Leu'cas (or Leuca'dia), and Corcy'ra (now Corfu), which latter
island Homer calls Phæa'cia, and where he places the fabled gardens
of Alcin'o-us. It was King Alcinous who kindly entertained Ulysses
in his island home when the latter was shipwrecked on his coast.
He is highly praised in Grecian legends for his love of agriculture;
and his gardens, so beautifully described by Homer, have afforded
a favorite theme for poets of succeeding ages. HOMER'S description
is as follows:
Close to the gates a spacious garden lies,
From storms defended and inclement skies;
Four acres was the allotted space of ground,
Fenced with a green enclosure all around;
Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mould,
And reddening apples ripen here to gold.
Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows;
With deeper red the full pomegranate glows;
The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear,
And verdant olives flourish round the year.
The balmy spirit of the western gale
Eternal breathes on fruits untaught to fail;
Each dropping pear a following pear supplies;
On apples apples, figs on figs arise:
The same mild season gives the blooms to blow,
The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow.
Here ordered vines in equal ranks appear,
With all the united labors of the year;
Some to unload the fertile branches run,
Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun,
Others to tread the liquid harvest join,
The groaning presses foam with floods of wine.
Here are the vines in early flower descried,
Here grapes discolored on the sunny side,
And there in Autumn's richest purple dyed.
Beds of all various herbs, forever green,
In beauteous order terminate the scene.
Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crowned:
This through the garden leads its streams around,
Visits each plant, and waters all the ground;
While that in pipes beneath the palace flows,
And thence its current on the town bestows.
To various use their various streams they bring;
The people one, and one supplies the king.
--Odyssey, B. VII. POPE'S Trans.