"Look! on the Ægean shore a city stands, The Athenians thought themselves the original inhabitants of Attica; for which reason they were called "Sons of the Earth;" and "grasshoppers." They sometimes, therefore, wore golden grasshoppers in their hair, as badges of honour, to distinguish themselves from the people of later origin and less noble extraction; because these insects are supposed to be sprung from the ground. "Our origin," said Socrates, "is so beautiful, that none of the Greeks can give such pure appellations to their country as we can. We can truly style the earth on which we tread our nurse, our mother, our father." ATHENS ATHENS. It was governed by seventeen kings, in the following order:— After a reign of fifty years, Cecrops was succeeded by
The history of the first twelve monarchs is, for the most part, fabulous. Athens was founded by Cecrops, who led a colony out of Egypt, and built twelve towns, of which he composed a kingdom. Amphictyon, the third king of Athens, procured a confederacy between twelve nations, who met every year at ThermopylÆ, there to consult over their affairs in general, as also upon those of each nation in particular. This convention was called the assembly of the Amphictyons. The reign of Ægeus is remarkable for the Argonautic expedition, the war of Minos, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne. Ægeus was succeeded by his son, Theseus, whose exploits belong more to fable than to history. The last king was Codrus, who devoted himself to die for his people. After Codrus, the title of king was extinguished among the Athenians: his son was set at the head of the commonwealth, with the title of Archon, which after a time was declared to be an annual office. After this Draco was allowed to legislate, and then Solon. The laws of the former were so severe, that they were said to be written in blood. Those of the latter were of a different character. Pisistratus acquired ascendancy; became a despot, and was assassinated: whereon the Athenians recovered their Xerxes soon after invaded Attica, and the Athenians having taken to their "wooden walls," their city was burnt to the ground. After the victory, gained over the Persians at Salamis, the Athenians returned to their city, but were obliged to abandon it again; Mardonius having wasted and destroyed every thing in its neighbourhood. They returned to it soon after their victory at PlatÆa. Their first care, after returning to their city, was to rebuild their walls. This measure was opposed by the Lacedemonians, under the pretence of its being contrary to the interest of Greece, that there should be strong places beyond the isthmus. Their real motive, however, was suspected to be an aversion to the rising greatness of the Athenians. Themistocles conducted himself with great art in this matter No city in the world can boast, in such a short space of time, of such a number of illustrious citizens, equally celebrated for their humanity, learning, and military abilities. Some years after the Persian defeat, Athens was visited by a very terrible calamity, insomuch that its ravages were like what had never been before known. This was a plague. We now adopt the language of Rollin. "It is related, that this scourge began in Ethiopia, whence it descended into Egypt, from thence spread over Libya, and a great part of Persia; and at last broke at once like a flood upon Athens. Thucydides, who himself was seized with that deadly disease, has described very minutely the several circumstances and symptoms of it; in order, says he, that a faithful and exact relation of this calamity may serve as an instruction to posterity, in case the like should ever happen. This pestilence baffled the utmost efforts of art; the most robust constitutions were unable to withstand its attacks; and the greatest care and skill of the physicians were a feeble help to those who were infected. The instant a person was seized, he was struck with despair, which quite disabled him from attempting a cure. The assistance that was given them was ineffectual, and proved mortal to all such of their relations as had the courage to approach them. The prodigious quantity of baggage, which had been removed out of the country into the city, proved very noxious. Most of the inhabitants, for want of lodging, lived in little cottages, in which they could scarcely breathe, during the raging heat of the summer; so that they were seen either piled one upon the other, the dead as well as "The plague, before it spread into Attica, had, as we have before stated, made wild havoc in Persia. Artaxerxes, who had been informed of the mighty reputation of Hippocrates of Cos, the greatest physician of that or any other age, caused his governors to write to him, to invite him into his dominions, in order that he might prescribe for those who were infected. The king made him the most advantageous offers; setting no bounds to his rewards on the side of interest, and, with regard to honours, promising to make him equal with the most considerable persons in his court. This great physician sent no other answer but this:—that he was free from either wants or desires; and he owed all his cares to his fellow-citizens and countrymen; and was under no obligation to the declared enemies of Greece.—Kings are not used to denials. Artaxerxes, therefore, in the highest transports of rage, sent to the city of Cos, the native place of Hippocrates, and where he was at that time; commanding them to deliver up to him that insolent wretch, in order that he might be brought to condign punishment; and threatening, in case they refused, to lay waste their city and island in such a manner, that not the least footsteps of it should remain. However, the inhabitants of Cos were not under the least terror. They made answer, that the menaces of Darius and Xerxes had not been able to prevail with them to give them earth and water, or to obey their orders; that Artaxerxes' "Hippocrates had said in one of his letters, that he owed himself entirely to his country. And, indeed, the instant he was sent for to Athens, he went thither, and did not once stir out of the city till the plague had ceased. He devoted himself entirely to the service of the sick; and, to multiply himself, as it were, he sent several of his disciples into all parts of the country, after having instructed them in what manner to treat their patients. The Athenians were struck with the deepest sense of gratitude for this generous care. They therefore ordained, by a public decree, that Hippocrates should be initiated in the most exalted mysteries, in the same manner as Hercules the son of Jupiter; that a crown of gold should be presented him, of the value of a thousand staters In the time of Agis and Pausanias, kings of Lacedemonia, Lysander was sent to besiege Athens. He arrived, therefore, at the PirÆus, with a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail, and prevented all other ships from coming in or going out. The Athenians, besieged by land and sea, without provisions, ships, The Corinthians and several other allies, especially the Thebans, insisted that it was absolutely necessary to destroy the city without hearkening any further to a treaty. But the Lacedemonians, preferring the glory and safety of Greece to their own grandeur, made answer, that they would never be reproached with having destroyed a city that had rendered such great services to all Greece; the remembrance of which ought to have much greater weight with the allies than the remembrance of private injuries received from it. A peace was, therefore, concluded under these conditions:—"that the fortifications of the PirÆus, with the long wall that joined that port to the city, should be demolished; that the Athenians should deliver up all their galleys, twelve only excepted; that they should abandon all the cities they had seized, and content themselves with their own lands and country." The deputies, on their return, were surrounded by an innumerable throng of people, who apprehended that nothing had been concluded; for they were not able to hold out any longer, The walls, thus demolished, were rebuilt by Conon. He did more; he restored Athens to its former splendour, and rendered it more formidable to its enemies than it had ever been before. Philip The number of men able to bear arms at Athens, in the reign of Cecrops, was computed at twenty thousand; and there appears to have been no considerable augmentation in the more civilised age of Philip Athens, however, still recovered some portion of its power; for when Sylla arrived before the PirÆus, he found the walls to be sixty feet high, and entirely of hewn stone. The work was very strong, and had been raised by order of Pericles in the Peloponnesian war: when, the hopes of victory depending solely upon this port, he had fortified it to the utmost of his power. The height of the walls did not deter Sylla. He employed all sorts of engines in battering them, and made continual assaults. He spared neither danger, attacks, nor expense, to hasten the conclusion of the war. Without enumerating the rest of the warlike stores and equipage, twenty thousand mules were perpetually employed in working the machines only. Wood happening to fall short, from the great consumption made of it in the machines, which were often either broken or spoiled by the vast weight they carried, or burned by the enemy, he did not spare the sacred groves. He cut down the trees in the Notwithstanding all disadvantages, the Athenians defended themselves like lions. They found means either to burn most of the machines erected against the walls, or by undermining them, to throw them down and break them to pieces. The Romans, on their side, behaved with no less vigour. Sylla, discouraged by so obstinate a defence, resolved to attack the PirÆus no longer, and confined himself to reduce the place by famine. The city was now at the last extremity; a bushel of barley having been sold in it for a thousand drachms (about 25l. sterling). In the midst of the public misery, the governor, who was a lieutenant of Mithridates, passed his days and nights in debauch. The senators and priests went to throw themselves at his feet, conjuring him to have pity on the city, and to obtain a capitulation from Sylla; he dispersed them with arrow-shot, and in that manner drove them from his presence. He did not demand a cessation of arms, nor send deputies to Sylla, till reduced to the last extremity. As those deputies made no proposals, and asked nothing of him to the purpose, but ran on in praising and extolling Theseus, Eumolpus, and the exploits of the Athenians against the Medes, Sylla was tired of their discourse, and interrupted them by saying,—"Gentlemen haranguers, you may go back again, and keep your rhetorical flourishes to yourselves. For my part, I was not sent to Athens to be informed of your ancient prowess, but to chastise your modern revolt." During this audience, some spies having entered the city, overheard by chance some old men The reputation for learning, military valour, and polished elegance, which Athens enjoyed during the splendid administration of Pericles, was tarnished by the corruption which that celebrated person introduced. Prosperity was the forerunner of luxury and universal dissipation; every delicacy was drawn from distant nations; the wines of Cyprus, and the snows of Thrace, garlands of roses, perfumes, and a thousand arts of buffoonery, which disgraced a Persian court, were introduced; instead of the coarse Sylla's assault was the final termination of the power and greatness of Athens; she became a portion of the Roman empire; but in the reign of Hadrian and the Antonines, she resumed, at least in outward appearance, no small portion of her former splendour. Hadrian built several temples, and, above all, he finished that of Jupiter Olympius, the work of successive kings, and one of the greatest productions of human art. He founded, also, a splendid library; and bestowed so many privileges, that an inscription, placed on one of the gates, declared Athens to be no longer the city of Theseus, but of Hadrian. In what manner it was regarded too in the time of Trajan, may be gathered from Pliny's letter to a person named Maximus, who was sent thither as governor. "Remember," said he, "that you are going to visit Achaia, the proper and true Greece; that you are appointed to govern a state of free cities, who have maintained liberty by their valour. Take not away any thing of their privileges, their dignity; no, nor yet of their presumption; but consider it is a country that hath of long time given laws, and received none; that it is to Athens thou goest, where it would be thought a barbarous cruelty in thee to deprive them of that shadow and name of liberty which still remaineth to them." The Antonines trod in the steps of Hadrian. Under them Herodes Atticus devoted an immense fortune to the embellishment of the city and the promotion of learning. But when the Roman world felt the wand of adversity, and her power began to decline, Athens felt her share; she had enjoyed a long respite from Alaric, after over-running the rest of Greece, advanced into Attica, and found Athens without any power of defence. The whole country was converted into a desert; but it seems uncertain, whether he plundered the city, or whether he accepted the greater part of its wealth as a ransom. Certain, however, it is, that it suffered severely, and a contemporary compared it to the mere skin of a slaughtered victim. It is reported that, during their stay in the city, the barbarians, having collected all the libraries of Athens, were preparing to burn them; but one of their number diverted them from their design, by suggesting the propriety of leaving to their enemies what appeared to be the most effectual instrument for cherishing and promoting their unwarlike spirit. After the devastations of Alaric, and, still more, after the shutting up of her schools, Athens ceased almost entirely to attract the attention of mankind. These schools were suppressed by an edict of Justinian; an edict which excited great grief and indignation among the few remaining votaries of Grecian science and superstition. Seven friends and philosophers, After the taking of Constantinople by the Latins, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the western powers began to view Greece as an object of ambition. In the division of the Greek empire, which they made among themselves, Greece and Macedonia fell to the share of the Marquis of Montferrat, who bestowed Athens and Thebes on one of his followers, named Otho de la Roche. This prince reigned with the title of Duke of Athens, which remained for a considerable time It was afterwards seized by a powerful Florentine family, named Acciaioli, one of whom sold it to the Venetians; but his son seized it again, and it remained in that family till A.D. 1455, when it surrendered to Omar, a general of Mahomet II., and thus formed one of the two hundred cities which that prince took from the Christians. He settled a colony in it, and incorporated it completely with the Turkish empire. What has occurred of late years has not been embodied in any authentic history; but the consequences of the tumults of Greece may be in some degree imagined, from what is stated by a recent traveller in regard to Athens It has been well observed, that, associated in the youthful mind with all that is noble in patriotism, exalted in wisdom, excelling in art, elegant in literature, luminous in science, persuasive in eloquence, and heroic in action, the beautiful country of Greece, and its inhabitants, must, under every circumstance, even of degradation, be an interesting object of study. "We can all feel, or imagine," says Lord Byron, "the regret with which the ruins of cities, once the capital of empires, are beheld. But never did the littleness of man, and the vanity of his very best virtues, of patriotism to exalt and of valour to defend his country, appear more conspicuous than in the record of what Athens once was, and the certainty of what she now is." The former state of Athens is thus described by Barthelemy. "There is not a city in Greece which presents so vast a number of public buildings and monuments as Athens. Edifices, venerable for their antiquity, or admirable for their elegance, raise their majestic heads on all sides. Masterpieces of sculpture are extremely numerous, even in the public places, and concur with the finest productions of the pencil to embellish the porticoes of temples. Here every thing speaks to the eyes of the attentive spectator." To describe Athens entire would be to fill a volume. We shall, therefore, only give an account of the chief The PirÆus The old city of Athens was seated on the top of a rock in the midst of a pleasant plain, which, as the number of inhabitants increased, became full of buildings, which induced the distinction of Acro and Catapolis, i. e., of the upper and lower city. The inside of the citadel was adorned with a multitude of edifices. The flat space on the rock of the Acropolis is not more than eight hundred feet in length, and about four hundred feet in breadth,—a small extent for the site of the primitive city of the Athenians; but an area of great size, when considered as the base only of temples and marble palaces, containing not a single structure which might not be It appears surprising that so many temples should have been crowded together within the narrow compass of the Athenian Acropolis; but the Roman Capitol, though not much more spacious, contained at least thirty temples "In its pride and glory," says Chandler, "the Acropolis appeared as one entire offering to the deity, surpassing in excellence, and astonishing in richness. Heliodorus employed on it fifteen books. The curiosities of various kinds, with the pictures, statues, and pieces of sculpture, were so many and so remarkable, as to supply Polemo Periegetes with matter for four volumes; and Strabo affirms, that as many more would be required in treating of Athens and of Attica. As the stranger draws near to the present entrance of the citadel, he passes before the faÇade of the Propylea; the old entrance to the Acropolis, between its Doric pillars, being walled up. Pausanias says, This was the most expensive work undertaken by Pericles, and is said to have cost 2,500 talents (£452,700). It took five years in building, and was completed B.C. 437. "To a person who has seen the ruins of Rome," says Dr. Clarke, "the first suggestion, made by a sight of the buildings in the Acropolis, is that of the infinite superiority of the Athenian architecture. It possesses the greatness and majesty of the Egyptian or of the ancient Etruscan style, with all the elegant proportion, the rich ornaments, and the discriminating taste of the most splendid era of the arts." Its present condition is thus described by Mr. Williams. "The scene of desolation in the Acropolis is complete; the heaps of ruins of wretched houses, and various buildings, are constructed part with clay and marble, the marble looking doleful through the mud. On entering the temple one is struck by the worn steps, and curved or circular marks of the great doors of old; the pavement, too, that had been trodden by the luminaries of Greece." The walls of the Acropolis The lower city had thirteen gates, and among the principal edifices which adorned it were, 1. The Olympian temple, erected in honour of Athens and all Greece. 2. The Pantheon, dedicated to all the gods; a noble structure, supported by one hundred and twenty marble pillars, and having over its great gateway two horses, carved by Praxiteles. 3. The temple of Theseus; a noble structure, of Pentelic marble. The Gymnasia of Athens were many, but the most remarkable were the Lyceum, Academia, and Cynosarges. The Lyceum stood on the banks of the Ilissus; some say it was built by Pisistratus; others by Pericles; others by Lycurgus. The Academy was so called from Academus. The Cynosarges was a place in the suburbs, not far from the Lyceum. The Areopagus is situated a few hundred feet west of the Acropolis. It consists of an insulated rock, precipitous, and broken towards the south; on the north side it slopes gently down towards the temple of Theseus, and is rather lower than the Acropolis. "From the odeum of Regilla," says Dr. Clarke, "we went to the Areopagus, wishing to place our feet upon a spot where it is so decidedly known that St. Paul had himself stood; and to view with our own eyes the same scene which he beheld, when he declared unto the Athenians the nature of the unknown god, whom they so ignorantly worshipped. * * * We ascended to the top by means of steps cut within the natural stone, which is of breccia. The sublime scene here exhibited is so striking, that a brief description of it may prove how truly it offers to us a commentary upon St. Paul's words, as they were delivered upon the spot. Before him there was spread a glorious prospect of mountains, islands, seas, and skies; behind him towered the lofty Acropolis, crowned with all its marble temples. This very object, whether in the face of nature, or among the works of art, conspired to elevate the mind, and to fill it with reverence towards that Being, 'who Near the PirÆan gate is still to be seen, in a state of admirable preservation, the ground-plot and entire town of the Pnyx, or place of parliament of the Athenians, as it was appropriated by Solon to the use of the citizens. Nearly the whole of it is an excavation of the rock, and the several parts of it were carved in stone of one solid mass, with the exception only of the semi-circular area, the farthest part of which consists of masonry. "To approach the spot," says Dr. Clarke, "once dignified by the presence of the greatest Grecian orators, to set our feet where they stood, and actually to behold the place where Demosthenes addressed 'the men of Athens,' calling to mind the most memorable examples of his eloquence, is a gratification of an exalted nature. But the feelings excited in viewing the Pnyx, peculiarly affect Englishmen: that holy fire, so much dreaded by the Athenian tyrants, and which this place had such a remarkable tendency to agitate, burns yet in Britain; it is the very soul of her liberties, and it strengthens the security of her laws; giving eloquence to her senate, heroism to her armies, extension to her commerce, and freedom to her people: although annihilated in almost every country of the earth, it lives in England, and its extinction there, like the going out of the sacred flame in the temple of Delphi, would be felt as a national calamity." Among the loose fragments, dispersed in the Acropolis, has been found a small piece of marble, with an inscription, but in so imperfect a state, that Dr. Clarke considered it only worth notice as a memorial of the place where it was found, and in its allusion to the Prytaneum, which is the only legible part of it. The Prytaneum, where the written laws of Solon were kept, however, was not in the Acropolis, but in a lower part of the city. The Gymnasium of Ptolemy, which stands near the temple of Theseus, is greatly dilapidated, and, in no small degree, concealed by dwellings In that portion of the Erectheum which was dedicated to Minerva Polias, the columns of the front porch are standing, but without any part of their entablature. The marble A bluish-grey limestone The temple of Anchesmian Jupiter stood upon a commanding eminence. The pagan shrine has been succeeded by a small Christian sanctuary. Of the scene from the top of this steep and craggy rock, Wheler speaks in a style of enthusiasm, rather unfrequent with him:—"I wish I could make you taste the same satisfaction, while I describe the prospect, that I then did, and still do, when I consider it. Here, either a Democritus might sit and laugh at the pomps and vanities of the world, whose glories so soon vanish; or a Heraclitus weep over the manifold misfortunes of it, telling sad stories of the various changes and events of life. This would have been a place to inspire a poet, as the brave actions, performed within his view, have already exercised the pens of great historians. Here, like Virgil, he might have sate, and interwoven beautiful descriptions of The Odeum of Regilla stands at the foot of the rock of the Acropolis. The remains of this edifice are those which Wheler and all former travellers, excepting Chandler, have described as the theatre of Bacchus The temple, dedicated to Augustus, consists of four Doric pillars of white marble, fluted, and, like those of all the other buildings of this order, without plinths or bases; they still support their architrave with the pontoon, on the top of which is a square piece of marble, seeming to have been placed there as the pedestal to some statue. There seems, also, to be some inscription on it, but by reason of the height, unintelligible. It is impossible to give a plan of the whole; the remains of it affording but little light towards discovering what form it was of. Of the remains of the Stadium Panathenaicum, the most wonderful of all the works of Herodes Atticus:—"It has been usual to say of this," says Dr. Edward Clarke, "that nothing now remains of its former magnificence. To our eyes, every thing necessary to impress the mind with an accurate idea of the object itself, and of its grandeur, and of the prodigious nature of the work, seemed to exist, as if it had been in its perfect state. The marble covering of the seats, indeed, no longer appears; but the lines are visible of the different ranges; and perhaps a part of the covering itself might be brought to light by a removal of the soil." This memorial of Attic splendour, and of the renown of a private citizen of Athens, became ultimately his funeral monument; and a very curious discovery may be reserved for future travellers in the majestic sepulchre of Herodes himself, who was here interred with the highest obsequies and most distinguished honours a grateful people could possibly bestow upon the tomb of a benefactor, who spared no expense for them while he was living, and every indi Beneath the arch of Hadrian persons are conducted from the old city of Theseus to the new Athens, built by Hadrian. The stones are put together without cement; but the work is adorned with a row of Corinthian pilasters and columns, with bases supporting an upper tier in the same style of architecture. It was erected commemorative of Hadrian's return to Athens. A new city had arisen under his auspices. Magnificent temples, stately shrines, unsullied altars, awaited the benediction of this sacerdotal monarch; and it would, indeed, have been marvellous if the Athenians, naturally prone to adulation, neglected to bestow it on a benefactor so well disposed for its reception. The triumphal arch was of course prepared, and lasting characters thereon inscribed have proclaimed to succeeding ages, that "The Athens of Hadrian eclipsed the city of Theseus Besides this arch, there are other remnants of structures erected in honour of Hadrian. Of these are the stupendous pillars which bear his name. In the time of Pausanias, there were one hundred and twenty pillars of Phrygian marble. Of these, sixteen columns of white marble, each six feet in diameter, and sixty feet in height, now remain; all of the The Tower or Temple of the Winds As Dr. Clarke drew near to the walls, he beheld the vast Cecropian citadel, crowned with temples, that originated in the veneration, once paid to the memory of the illustrious dead, surrounded by objects, telling the same theme of sepulchral grandeur, and now monuments of departed greatness, mouldering in all the solemnity of ruin. "So paramount is this funereal character in the approach to Athens from the PirÆus," says he, "that as we passed the hill of the Museum, which was, in fact, an ancient cemetery of the Athenians, we might have imagined ourselves to be among the tombs of Telmessus, from the number of sepulchres hewn in the rock, and from the antiquity of the workmanship, evidently not of later date than any thing of the kind in Asia Minor. In other respects, the city exhibits nearly the appearance so briefly described by Strabo, eighteen centuries before our coming; and perhaps it wears a more magnificent aspect, owing to the splendid remains of Hadrian's temple of Olympian Jove, which did not exist when Athens was visited by the disciple of Xenacchus." "The first monument," says La Martine, "which attracts your attention, is the temple of Olympian Jupiter, the magnificent columns of which rise alone upon a deserted naked spot, on the right of what was Athens—a worthy portico of a city in ruins." This temple The solitary grandeur of these marble ruins Of this temple seventeen columns were standing in 1676; but, a few years before Chandler arrived at Athens, one was thrown down, for the purpose of building a new mosque in the market-place. Some of the columns still support their architraves, as we have before stated, one of which was found to equal three feet in width, and although of one entire piece of marble, it extended in length twenty-two feet six inches. On the top of the entablature is shown the dwelling of a hermit, who fixed his abode upon this eminence, and dedicated his life entirely to the contemplation of the sublime objects by which his residence was on all sides surrounded. The beauty of the temple of Theseus This elegant building "On your way from PirÆum to the city of Athens," says Lord Sandwich, "you pass all along the ruins of Themistocles' wall. The road is in the middle of a beautiful plain, covered with vineyards and olive trees, which, being bounded on one side by mountains, and on the other by the sea, affords a most delightful prospect. Before your entrance into the city, the first monument of antiquity that presents itself to your view, is the temple of Theseus, built by the Athenians, in honour of that hero, soon after the battle of Marathon. This temple was allowed the privilege of being a sanctuary for all fugitives, in memory that Theseus, in his lifetime, protected the distressed. It cannot be too much commended, both on account of the beauty of the materials and regularity of the architecture; besides which, it has the advantage of being in a manner entire, there being nothing wanting to it but a small part of the roof." In spite of its beauty, what says Monsieur La Martine? "No; the temple of Theseus is not worthy of its fame; it cannot be said to live as a monument. It is not suggestive of what it ought to be. It is beautiful, no doubt; but it is a kind of frigid, dead beauty, of which the artist alone ought to go and shake the shroud, and wipe the dust. As for me, I admired unquestionably; but quitted it without any desire to see it again. The beautiful stones of "During our residence of ten weeks," says Sir John Hobhouse, "there was not, I believe, a day of which we did not devote a part to the contemplation of the noble monuments of Grecian genius, that have outlived the ravages of time, and the outrage of barbarous and antiquarian despoilers. The temple of Theseus, which was within five minutes' walk of our lodgings, is the most perfect ancient edifice in the world. In this fabric, the most enduring stability, and a simplicity of design peculiarly striking, are united with the highest elegance and accuracy of workmanship, the characteristics of the Doric style; whose chaste beauty is not, in the opinion of the first artists, to be equalled by the graces of any of the other orders." "That the Theseion was originally a tomb," says Dr. Clarke, "like other Grecian temples, is scarcely to be doubted. The building is believed to bear date from the event mentioned by Plutarch, when, after the conquest of Scyros, the son of Miltiades arrived in Athens, bearing the mouldering bones and weapons he had discovered. This occurred during the archonship of Apsepion; so that the Theseion has now braved the attacks of time, of earthquakes, and of barbarians, during a lapse of considerably above two thousand years." This beautiful Doric temple The monument of Thrasyllus,—an elegant little fabric,—was erected 318 B.C. It is a structure of Pentelic marble, simple, yet highly finished. Its entire height is twenty-nine feet five inches. "How majestic, and how perfect in its preservation," says Dr. Clarke, "rises the Choragic monument of Thrasyllus; and how sublime the whole group of objects with which it is associated. At the time of our visit, and before the work of dilapidation had commenced, the ancient sun-dial, the statue of the god, the pillars for the tripods, the majestic citadel;—the last of these has, indeed, defied the desolating ravages of barbaric power; but who shall again behold the other objects in this affecting scene as they then appeared? or in what distant country and obscure retreat may we look for their mutilated fragments?" The monument of Philopappus Philopappus' monument, says Mr. Dodwell, has its faults and deficiencies; but it is an elegant and imposing object. In the interior of the basement are some blocks of the grey Hymettian marble, and the soft stone from the PirÆus. The superstructure is of Pentelic marble. It is a structure of white marble, says another writer, built a proportionable height, something circular. In the middle was a large niche, with a figure of marble sitting in it, and under his feet, in large letters,—"Philopappus, son of Epiphanes of Besa." Wheler found a still longer inscription, in Latin, which he thus translates:— Caius, Julius, Philopappus, son of Caius, of the tribe of Fabia, Consul, Frater Arvalis, chosen among the PrÆtors by the most good and august Emperor CÆsar, Nerva, Trajanus, who conquered the Germans and Dacians. Among the inscriptions in this city may be noted one on a large marble stone, standing on end, in the wall of a private house, relating to the sale of oil; and as it teaches many things we shall cite it, as translated by Wheler:— The law edict of the God-like Hadrian. "'Let those that cultivate the oyl bring the third part to the office, or those that possess the ground The majority of the Athenian churches At Athens four ancient buildings "The Parthenon," says Mr. Dodwell, "at first sight rather disappointed my expectations, and appeared less than its fame. The eye, however, soon becomes filled with the magnitude of its dimensions, the beauty of its materials, the exquisite perfection of its symmetry, and the harmonious analogy of its proportions. It is the most unrivalled triumph of sculpture and architecture that the world ever saw. The delight which it inspires on a superficial view is heightened in proportion as it is attentively surveyed. If we admire the whole of the glorious fabric, "I pass delicious hours," says M. La Martine, "recumbent beneath the shade of the PropylÆa: my eyes fixed on the falling pediment of the Parthenon, I feel all antiquity in what it has produced of divine; the rest is not worth the language that has described it. The aspect of the Parthenon displays, better than history, the colossal grandeur of a people. Pericles ought not to die. What superhuman civilization was that which supplied a great man to command, an architect to conceive, a sculptor to decorate, statuaries to execute, workmen to cut, a people to pay, and eyes to comprehend and admire such an edifice! Where shall we find such a people, or such a period? No where!" "Let us, in idea, rebuild the Parthenon," continues the same writer; "it is easily done; it has only lost its frieze, and its internal compartments. The external walls, chiselled by Phidias, the columns, and fragments of columns, remain. The Parthenon was entirely built of Pentelic marble, so called from the neighbouring mountain of that name, whence it was taken. It consists of a parallelogram, surrounded by a peristyle of forty-six Doric columns; one column is six feet in diameter at the base, and thirty-four feet high. The columns are placed on the pavement of the temple itself, and have no bases. At each extremity of the temple exists, or did exist, a portico of six columns. The total length of the edifice is two hundred and twenty-eight feet; its width, two hundred feet; its height, sixty-six feet. It This recalls to our recollection what Plutarch says in respect to Pericles. "The Parthenon was constructed with such admirable judgment, such solidity of workmanship, and such a profound knowledge of the architectural art, that it would have indefinitely defied the ravages of time, if they had not been assisted by the operations of external violence. It is an edifice that seems to have been constructed for eternity. The structures which Pericles raised are the more admirable, as, being completed in so short a time, they yet had such a lasting beauty; for, as they had, when new, the venerable aspect of antiquity, so, now they are old, they have the freshness of a modern work. They seem to be preserved from the injuries of time by a kind of vital principle, which produces a vigour that cannot be impaired, and a bloom that will never fade." These words of Plutarch were applicable to the Parthenon little more than a century ago, and would still have been so, if it had not found enemies in the successive bigotry of contending religions, in the destruction of war, and the plundering mania of artists and amateurs. The high preservation of those parts, which are still suffered to remain, is truly astonishing! The columns are so little broken, that were it not for the venerable reality of age, they would almost appear of recent construction. These observations naturally carry us back to the period in which the Parthenon was built. That which was the chief delight of the Athenians, and the wonder of strangers, was the magnificence of their edifices; yet no part of the conduct of Pericles moved the spleen of his adversaries more than this. They Historians expatiate greatly on the magnificent edifices and other works; but it is not easy to say whether the complaints and murmurs raised against him were ill-founded or not. According to Cicero, such edifices and other works only are worthy of admiration as are of use to the public, as aqueducts, city walls, citadels, arsenals, sea-ports; and to these must be added the work, made by Pericles, to join Athens to the port of PirÆus. Mons. de La Martine speaks of the only two figures that now adorn the Parthenon thus:—"At the Parthenon there remain only the two figures of Mars and Venus, half crushed by two enormous The following observations in regard to colour are by Mr. Williams:—"The Parthenon, in its present corroded state, impresses the mind with the idea of its thousands of years. The purity of marble has disappeared; but still the eye is charmed with the varied livery of time. The western front is rich in golden hues, and seems as if it had absorbed the evening beams Sir J. C. Hobhouse says, Lord Elgin's injuries were these; the taking off the metopes, the statue over the theatre of Bacchus, and the statues of the west pediment of the Parthenon; and the carrying away one of the Caryatides, and the finest of the columns of the Erectheum. "No other," continues The monuments, now called the Elgin marbles, were chiefly obtained from the Erectheum, the PropylÆa, and the Parthenon, more especially the last. We must here give room to the observations, vindicative of this proceeding:—"Perhaps one of the most judicious measures of government, with reference to the advancement of the arts in this country, was the purchase of these remains. We may go farther, and add, that the removal of them from Athens, where their destruction was daily going forward, to place them where their merits would be appreciated, and their decay suspended, was not only a justifiable act, but one which deserves the gratitude of England and of the civilised world. The decay of the Athenian monuments may be attributed to various causes. 'Fire and the barbarian' have both done their work. Athens has seen many masters. The Romans were too refined to destroy the monuments of art: but the Goths had a long period of spoliation; and then came the Turks, at once proud and ignorant, despising what they could not understand. The Acropolis became a garrison in their hands, and thus, in 1687, it was bombarded by the Venetians, whose heavy guns were directed against the porticoes and colonnades of the ancient temples. But the Turks still continued to hold their conquests; and the business of demolition went steadily on for another century and a half. Many travellers who visited Athens about a hundred years ago, and even much later, describe monuments of sculpture which now have no existence. The Turks pounded the marble into dust to make lime; one traveller after another continued to remove a fragment. The museums of Egypt were successively adorned with these relics; at last, when, as column after column fell, the remains of Athens were be From these observations, it would appear that the spoliation of the Parthenon may be vindicated on the ground, that neither the Turks nor the citizens cared any thing about them, and that if they had not been taken away, they would, in a short time, have been destroyed. Respectable testimony, however, is opposed to this: most travellers have inveighed against the spoliation; and two, highly qualified, have given a very different account from what the above statement implies. These are Dr. Clarke and Mr. Dodwell. We shall select the testimony of the latter in preference to that of Dr. Clarke, only because he was at Athens at the very time in which the spoliation was going on. "During my first tour to Greece," says he, "I had the inexpressible mortification of being present when the Parthenon was despoiled of "Such rapacity is a crime against all ages and all generations," says Mr. Eustace; "it deprives the past of the trophies of their genius and the title-deeds of their fame; the present of the strongest inducements to exertion, the noblest exhibitions that curiosity can contemplate; and the future of the master-pieces of art, the models of imitation. To guard against the repetition of such depredations is the wish of every man of genius, the duty of every man in power, and the common interest of every civilised nation." "That the Elgin marbles will contribute to the improvement of art in England," says Mr. Williams, "cannot be doubted. They must, certainly, open the eyes of the British artists, and prove that the true and only road to simplicity and beauty is the study of nature. But had we a right to diminish the interest of Athens for selfish motives, and prevent successive generations of other nations from seeing |