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 A TOUE IN GREECE 
 
 1880 
 
 BY 
 
 KICHAED EIDLEY FARKEK 
 
 XiHitb C\vents*sevcn JUustrations 
 
 BY 
 
 LORD WINDSOR 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLXXXII 
 
 All Mi'jhts reserved
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 j)f 
 lis 
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 The Greek kino;dom has of late received no inconsider- 
 able amount of attention at tlie hands of European poli- 
 ticians. Within the last year it has obtained a large and 
 purely gratuitous increase of territory. But for all that, 
 our actual acquaintance with the country has not kept 
 pace with the growth of this kindly interest in its wel- 
 fare. On the contrary, it seems to have been more fre- 
 c[uently visited before the War of Independence than at 
 the present day. Thus M. Laurent, in his work published 
 about the year 1820 (Recollections of a Classical Tour), 
 observes that " the crowd of English tourists who have 
 been in Greece have, as in many other parts of Europe, 
 rendered the expenses of travelling much greater than 
 they were formerly" — a remark irresistibly suggesting 
 that the Turkish authority inspired strangers with a 
 sense of security afterwards unknown ; for it will 
 
 i?3iys3
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 liarcUv be denied, even l>y the most ardent Pliilliellene, 
 that weak or bad government in Greeee has given such 
 scope to the predatory instincts of the popuktion, that 
 travellers have ^^^tll good reason declined to expose 
 their persons in the provinces. And even Athens, 
 Ipng outside the line ordinarily taken by steamers 
 from Alexandria to Constantinople, receives fewer vis- 
 itors than many other places more remote. Therefore, 
 while the whole country is off the track of the ordinary 
 tourist, many of its most interesting parts are untra- 
 versed, even l)y those whose love for Greek art and 
 histor}' has taken them to its capital. Hence current 
 notions as to its true condition are derived mainly from 
 a sojourn in Athens, and short expeditions in its neigh- 
 bourhood — made, in fact, over just that limited area 
 where roads exist, and give a false idea of the civilisa- 
 tion of the interior. 
 
 Europeans who Imvr thus seen but one side of the 
 picture are apt to take the Greeks at their own valua- 
 tion, and to accept the accounts which from time to 
 time appear setting forth in eulogistic terms the }>ro- 
 ojress and enlisjhtenment of the race. Whether these 
 sketches are (jver-coloured, may perhaps be gathered 
 from the following pages, containing a simple narrative 
 of our exjx'riciices in Greece — experiences often strange-
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ly at variance with our anticipations. There are no 
 exciting adventures to relate, no hair- breadth escapes 
 from brigands ; but there are constant little surprises, 
 sometimes amusing, frequently annoying, for which it 
 would have been well had we ]3een prepared, and against 
 which we would fain forewarn others. It is our hope 
 that these chapters may contribute their mite of useful 
 information to intending travellers, and may remove 
 some prevailing misapprehensions ; and that these en- 
 gravings may indicate, however faintly, the fair scenery, 
 and still fairer ruins, of a once glorious land — 
 
 " The abode of gods, whose shrine no longer burns."
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. BRINDISI AND CORFU, 
 
 II. CORFU TO ATHENS, . 
 
 III. ATHENS OF THE PAST, 
 
 IV. ATHENS OF TO-DAY, . 
 V. EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS, 
 
 VI. DRIVING TOUR : THEBES AND CHALCIS 
 
 VII. THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES, 
 
 VIII. THE PHOCIAN ALPS, 
 
 IX. THE ARGOLID, 
 
 X. HAPPY ARCADIA, 
 
 XI. OLYMPIA, 
 
 XII. PYRGOS AND ZANTE, 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 28 
 
 48 
 
 66 
 
 78 
 
 96 
 
 112 
 
 131 
 
 151 
 
 175 
 
 194 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MEANS OF REACHING AND SEEING GREECE, 
 
 211
 
 LIST OF ILLrSTRATIONS. 
 
 Temple op Xeptu>'e, P^^stum, . 
 
 The Albanian Coast, 
 
 The Old Fort, Corfu, 
 
 View of Corfu, from the Garuxa Pass, 
 
 The Acropolis and Temple of Olympian Zeu 
 
 The Acropolis, from the Pnyx, 
 
 The Parthenon (West Front), 
 
 The Parthenon (East Front), . 
 
 Temple op Theseus, . 
 
 Eleusis, and the Bay of Salamis 
 
 Eleuther^, 
 
 Thebes, with Mount Parnassus, 
 The Battle-field of Plat^a, . 
 Mount Helicon, from TnESPiiE, 
 
 LiVADIA, 
 
 Delphi, 
 
 Remains op the Temple at Corinth 
 
 Ruined Temple at Xemea, 
 
 The Lion's Gate at Mycenae, . 
 
 Nauplia, prom Tiryns, 
 
 Plain of Mantinea, from Tsipiana 
 
 Temple op Apollo, Bass^, . 
 
 Valley of the Alpheus, . 
 
 Olympia, 
 
 Cephalonia, from Zante, , 
 The Pitch-Springs in Zante, . 
 Our last View of Greece from Zante, 
 Map of Greece, 
 
 s, 
 
 Fror 
 
 To face page 
 
 3 
 
 )> 
 
 
 11 
 14 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 
 
 84 
 
 
 
 86 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 102 
 
 
 
 106 
 
 
 
 124 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 
 
 135 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 
 
 144 
 
 
 
 152 
 
 
 
 170 
 
 
 
 178 
 
 
 
 180 
 
 
 
 202 
 
 
 
 204 
 206 
 
 
 At the end. 
 
 tisinece
 
 A TOUE IN GKEECE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BRINDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 AS a starting-point for Eastern travel, Brindisi can boast Brindisi. 
 many advantages. Firstly, the shortening of tlie sea 
 voyage — a sure recommendation to that large majority of 
 Britons whose love of their ocean - empire dwindles upon 
 increasing intimacy; secondly, the facilities offered by the 
 Indian mail for reaching that port ; and thirdly, the utter 
 absence of inducement to linger within its walls. Few spots 
 possess fewer attractions. Around in the dull Calabrian ^ 
 plain no undulation relieves the wearied eye : no monument 
 of the town's departed greatness lends an interest to the 
 squalid streets : the harl^our exhales a perfume peculiar even 
 in that tideless sea. 
 
 ^ " Procul obscures colles, humilemque viilemus Italiam." — Yirg. JRn. iii. 522. 
 In this flat conntry it is impossible to have tlie feeling of being really in Italy.
 
 BRINDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 The traveller leaves the railway in the omnibus of the 
 Hotel des Indes Orientales, and by the time he has reached 
 that establishment and the quay, will probably have abandoned 
 all idea of loitering upon Italian soil. He will do well to 
 seize the earliest opportunity of adjourning to the office of 
 the steamboat company whom lie honours with his patronage. 
 It is an axiom abroad that all tickets and similar documents 
 are to be signed, countersigned, " vise-d," and so forth, upon 
 every possible or impossible occasion ; and he may therefore, 
 through disregard of this maxim, find himself put to much 
 inconvenience at the last moment. Having performed this 
 solemn function, he should proceed on board to deposit his 
 luggage and secure berths. There are no means of effecting 
 this except by personal application to the steward, and "first 
 come, first served," is the only principle regarded. He can 
 then return to dine in peace and comfort, and beguile his 
 leisure with an exploration of the place ; only at night he 
 may expect to spoil his nether garments by sudden plunges 
 into the mud-holes that agreeably diversify the surface of its 
 unpaved streets. 
 T^op.il Two or three churches and a few dilapidated palaces com- 
 
 tiaditions. . ■, •■, i 
 
 prisj all the buildmgs of any importance ; while the anti- 
 quities consist of an isolated column, known as the " Colonna 
 Ercolea," supposed to have served anciently as a lighthouse. 
 The importance of Brindisiura was not of a kind likely to 
 leave behind it many durable monuments. Made a Human 
 colony before the conclusion of the First Punic war, it became
 
 
 
 
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 BRINDIBI AND CORFU. 
 
 the outlet for each successive Eastward movement of the 
 rapidly advancing republic. It attained its zenith towards 
 the end of the civil wars ; and received a sort of literary 
 consecration from Horace's amusing satire descriptive of his 
 journey thither, as well as from being the scene of Virgil's 
 death. The " Casa di Virgilio " is pointed out, and really 
 may have been built not more than 1200 years later than 
 that great poet's epoch, to judge from architectural evidence. 
 Before the second century a.d., the greatness of the town 
 began to wane in favour of Otranto ; and total neglect under 
 Byzantine, Norman, and Neapolitan rule, has been highly 
 injurious to the harbour. The Italian Government have ex- 
 pended considerable sums upon its restoration, and there are 
 hopes of returning prosperity. But Brindisi can never become 
 a thing of beauty, and will be simply, as it was of old, a 
 thoroughfare. The hotel porter complained bitterly that no 
 one stayed there, and that his perquisites were of the smallest: 
 nevertheless there has been contrived a most ingenious geo- 
 metrically progressive system of gratuities for multiplying the 
 expenses of a few hours' sojourn in this delightful spot, and 
 for effectually promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest 
 number of boatmen, waiters, porters, and general loafers. 
 
 A departure by night is, if possible, to be recommended. Albanian 
 The traveller awakes to find himself steaming along beneath 
 the frowning Albanian coast, and if he waste no time in 
 slumber after daybreak, may behold the Acroceraunian moun- 
 tains, those " rocks of evil fame," the terror of the mariners
 
 BRINDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 of antiquity — the " crags of thunder," as their name signifies, 
 rent and scarred by constant storms, and shrouded in mysteri- 
 ous gloom. The modern names, " Linguetta " and TAoio-o-a, 
 aptly describe this tongue-shaped promontory, runniug north- 
 west, parallel to the general direction of the coast, together 
 with which it forms the Gulf of Avloua. Within this 
 bay lies the considerable town of the same name, a frequent 
 anchorage for crusading fleets, and accessible at the present 
 day by means of the coasting steamers. A single glance at 
 the ruffcred orrandeur of the Albanian mountains serves to 
 recall and explain the horror with which the ancients regarded 
 this inhospitable shore, even if it be beheld for the first time 
 on a sunny still morning. A line of sheer precipices rises out 
 of the deep blue sea, their jagged snow-sprinkled tops cutting 
 the Eastern sky. No traces are seen of habitation or of any 
 green thing until after a minute inspection, when here and 
 there are revealed tiny clumps of brushwood, or a few white 
 huts nestling against the mountain-side. 
 
 On the right soon appear two rocky islets : they are Fano 
 and IMerlera, the northern limit of tlie Hellenic kingdom. 
 After passing these the boat seems to enter 'a gulf without 
 visible outlet, and to be steering straight upon the cliffs ; 
 but on the right we discern a luxuriant verdure, in strange 
 Canal of coutrast with the savage desolation on our left. Suddenly 
 
 we round Casopo Point, and the Canal of Corfu opens out 
 before us. The two shores seem but a stone's - throw 
 apart in the glorious noonday light. On the one are barren
 
 BEINDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 scaurs ; on the other, foliage of every shade, and stretches of 
 emerald turf running up the mountain-sides. Over all frowns 
 Pantocrator (the Istome of Thucydidean story ^), famous as 
 the last stronghold of the remnant of the unhappy Corcyrean 
 oligarchy. Then the vast bay sweeps off to the right, and 
 straight across it rise the " towers of Phaeacia," ^ behind the 
 islet of Vido, the natural breakwater of the harbour. These 
 twin rocks together form the citadel, separated from the 
 mainland by a deep moat — a stronghold which, before the 
 cession of 1864, art and nature had combined to render 
 impregnable. 
 
 The vessel anchors off the new fort, at the north of the town, 
 to be instantly boarded by a motley, polyglot cro-^d. The 
 Hotel St Georges should be asked for, and its porter diligently 
 sought out. It is comfortable, well situated, and inexpensive. 
 Let the traveller luxuriate in his last taste of European life, 
 remembering well the difference between the Ionian islands 
 and the rest of Greece. And yet a run of thirteen hours has 
 landed him in a new world. Strange tongues greet his ear 
 and Eastern costumes delight his eye, side by side with English 
 and Italian accents and the familiar garb of the West. The 
 scholar feels a strange emotion in reading Greek legends on 
 every shop and public building, and bethinks him of Aristoph- 
 anes as he deciphers words expressive of various trades and 
 
 1 Time. iii. 85, iv. 46. 
 
 2 Virg. Mn. iii. 291 — " Protinus aerias Phfeacnm abscondimus arces;" al- 
 though Professor Conington takes the allusion to be simply to the mountains of 
 the island, and translates : " Pha^acia's heights from view we hide."
 
 BEINDISI AX J) CORFU. 
 
 callings once so painfully elaborated by the aid of a lexicon, 
 but now introduced into his own everyday experience. The 
 formalities of the douane are slight, the officials professing to 
 pass the luggage upon the " word of an Englishman ; " but 
 the said British subject is recommended to give something 
 in addition to his word if he would secure the inviolability 
 of his portmanteaus. 
 
 Uoutes into The length of sojourn in Corfu will be determined by the 
 
 route to be adopted on leaving the island ; and choice has to 
 be made between continuing the journey in the boat that has 
 brought us, which necessitates a voyage round the Peloponnese, 
 and awaiting a Greek boat to take us up the Gulf of' Corinth. 
 The former alternative involves nearly three days at sea, and 
 a departure on the morning after arrival : the latter allows 
 a stay of three nights, and reduces the time spent at sea to 
 about forty hours ; but the dirt and discomfort of the Greek 
 steamers will, if already experienced, act as a powerful induce- 
 ment to select the longer passage. In any case, a week hardly 
 suffices to reveal all the delights of this earthly paradise, and 
 the traveller will never leave it without regret. 
 
 Attractions of To thosc desirous of a warm wintering-place, we should say 
 " try Corfu," — that is, if they have regard for a perfect cli- 
 mate, splendid scenery, good sport, good living, and absence 
 of " personally-conducted tourists." Passers-through there are 
 enough to enliven existence without interfering with its free- 
 dom ; letters come from home in three or four days, while we 
 are on one of the direct lines of communication between central
 
 BBINDISl AND CORFU. 
 
 and eastern Europe. The present condition of the isLand is 
 as peculiar and varied as its history. Unconquered by the 
 Moslem, save for a single year, it has owned Christian lords 
 of every race and creed — Franks, Normans, Neapolitans, 
 Venetians, French, and English. An outpost of our religion, 
 it contrasts not less strangely in population than in aspect 
 with the neighbouring mainland. Two great maritime empires 
 have bestowed upon it the indelible impress of their enlight- 
 ened rule. Four centuries of Venetian domination at least 
 left it incomparably fertile — nay more, by direct encourage- 
 ment brought into existence the splendid olive-groves that 
 still cover its entire surface. Fifty years of British occupa- 
 tion bestowed every other material advantage. The roads, 
 untouched since our departure, are still by far the best in the 
 Greek kingdom ; the Esplanade and its surroundings are only 
 surpassed by the Square of the Constitution at Athens. The 
 north side is bounded by the Lord High Commissioner's 
 palace ; the east by the citadel ; the south by the sea ; and 
 the west by a long row of tall houses, whose projecting storeys 
 form an arcade down its entire length. Herein the towns- 
 folk disport themselves and the military parade : it is a 
 significant sight to witness, as may be witnessed at the pres- 
 ent moment,^ some 3000 men drilling in the heart of a 
 town which it has been expressly agreed by treaty not to 
 garrison. 
 
 Still more peculiar was the aspect of the Esplanade on a The Carnival. 
 
 1 April 1881.
 
 BHINDISI AXlf CORFU. 
 
 carnival iiiglit. Though only in tlie first week of ]\Iarch, it 
 was still and warm as in an J2nglish August ; indeed the 
 night seemed hardly colder than the day. A vast and well- 
 dressed crowd watched the dancers upon a raised platform, or 
 sat at tables outside tlie cafd doors. The proceedings were 
 orderly to the verge of dulness, but every masquerader seemed 
 gratified with his own costume and that of his neighbours. 
 These were of a flimsy and tawdry kind, including caricatures 
 of English military and naval uniforms — grotesquely contrast- 
 ing with their prototypes as displayed on the persons of some 
 marines and blue-jackets from H.lM.'s Falcon, at that moment 
 lying in the harbour. Among this motley throng walked 
 blue-breeched contadini and white-kilted Albanians — splendid 
 savages, untamed and untameable. No sign of intoxication 
 could be detected, and the fun was not very ajiparent : 
 nevertheless, u]) to an advanced hour of the morning, sounds 
 of mild revelry came floating through the open windows of 
 the St George hotel. 
 Opera. As the Greek carnival was still in full fling, the theatre gave 
 
 nightly representations. One of these, entitled " Napoli di 
 Carnevale," was little more than a general romp. Half the 
 audience wore masks, and the jcuncsse dor6c had licence 
 to invade the boxes. One of these humourists, seeing two 
 Englishmen, thought fit to pay them a visit and indulge in 
 a little banter : but having asked, after some preliminary 
 badinage, " Che ora e ? " and having received the deliberate 
 answer, " Sono le venti cinque e mezzo," he lost his temper
 
 BBINDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 at this unlooked-for presumption on the part of unmasked 
 persons, and rushed out shouting, " Siete degli imbecili ; " but 
 the consequence was, that the chalk sweetmeats of himself 
 and his fellows took thenceforth another direction. In the 
 last act the maskers all appeared upon the stage, whereon 
 they played the fool to the top of their bent. 
 
 The High Life of Corfu imitates western Europe in its Corfiote 
 amusements, just as the people imitate it in theirs. The ^°^^^ ^' 
 society of the Ionian islands is Italian in its character and 
 language, but modified by many other influences. Greek 
 being now the official language, is becoming very common, 
 and English is still widely spoken. Indeed the trading classes 
 prefer to calculate in £ s. d., and translate francs or drachmae 
 into our more familiar coinage. A word to the wise : not to 
 change circular notes or letters of credit with the local agents 
 accredited to English banks, since these gentry have a pleas- 
 ing habit of giving Greek notes to the nominal value only ; 
 whereas most of the hotel-keepers and shopmen require pay- 
 ment in English money, but will take all kinds of English 
 paper at par, and even change it into Greek paper, with 
 a reasonable premium to their customers ; so that unwary 
 travellers may suffer a loss of 4 or 5 per cent by follow- 
 ing the instructions contained in their Icttrcs (Vindication. 
 These remarks of course do not apply to tlie Ionian Bank, 
 which is a purely English institution, and may always be 
 trusted to pay the full rate of exchange. 
 
 But we must return to that cosmopolitan society wldch
 
 10 BRINDISr AND CORFU. 
 
 Ball at Turk- lias led to tliis digression. A ball at the Turkish consul's 
 was decidedly interesting. It took place on the flat inhabited 
 by his family, and was attended by Greeks, Corfiotes, Arme- 
 nians, Turks, English, and representatives of various other 
 nationalities. Almost every language was to be heard ; but 
 French or English was almost universally understood. There 
 were several impediments to dancing, for the floors were 
 carpeted, and only four " rounds " took place in more than as 
 many hours, owing to various interludes, such as pianoforte 
 recitals and periodical retirements of the orchestra to obtain, 
 refreshments. But the whole performance was to a stranger 
 all the more agreeable on that account ; every one was cordial, 
 and many amusing. An Italian tone was traceable in the 
 excessive importance attached to the cotillon, though the 
 supper contrasted favourably with that provided in some even 
 of the grandest palaces in Eome. 
 
 Natural But it is not in the good qualities of its inhabitants that 
 
 the sole, or even the principal, attractions of Corfu consist. 
 Every yard of its surface presents beauties of outline and of 
 colouring, of detail and of general effect. The visitor should 
 begin with a short walk to One-gun Point. Leaving the 
 Esplanade and the fortifications (beneath which he will prob- 
 ably see the native youth disporting itself at cricket), he 
 passes through the suburb of Kastrades, skirting the bay of 
 that name, and enters the peninsula that separates Lake Kali- 
 kiopuhj — the Hyllaic harbour of the ancients — from the Canal 
 of Corfu. Tliis inlet, thougli now far too sliallow for sliip-
 
 
 u
 
 BRINDISI AND CORFU. 11 
 
 ping, must, considering its once gi'eater depth and the lighter 
 draught of ancient vessels, have formed a splendid basin for 
 the famous navy of Corcyra. Upon the outer shore stands 
 the summer palace of the Lord High Commissioner, whose 
 English gardens, lovely in their decay, skirt the water, and 
 afford pictures of indescribable loveliness, framed in the varied 
 foliage of its trees. Through one opening gleams the city 
 right across the Kastrades bay, through another a tract of the 
 majestic Albanian coast. 
 
 Outside and beyond the " Casino," as the villa is now 
 termed, the unenclosed country is one vast olive-forest over- 
 shadowing an undulating sea of grass, fresh as that of home, 
 and spangled with pink anemones and other brilliant flowers. 
 In and out the vistas of this grove the goats browse at will, 
 the tinkling of their bells breaking the drowsy stillness of the 
 afternoon, and here and there a white farmhouse gleams out 
 behind the gnarled old stems. Farther down the shore is the 
 platform of an ancient temple, believed to have been conse- 
 crated to Poseidon, commanding the same panorama as the 
 Summer Palace. A halt in this spot led to the discovery 
 by some peasant children that strangers were present, and a 
 troop of these infants soon surrounded our artist — till curi- 
 osity overcame shyness, and so close a study of his efforts 
 ensued, that his right arm came into frequent contact with 
 the persons of his too appreciative admirers, to the great and 
 lasting improvement of his production. About the only bad 
 result of the English occupation is the persistency with which
 
 12 BRINDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 the little Corfiotes beg ; but this evil haliit does not, as in 
 Italy, extend to their parents. 
 One-gun Wandering onwards, we reach the famous " one-gun bat- 
 
 tery," some two and a half miles from the town, whither the 
 beau mondc resorts at the fashionable hour. Off the Point lies 
 a tiny rock, covered with cypresses, among which a lonely 
 chapel is jDcrched. It is the Isle of Ulysses — the Phreacian 
 galley that bore him safely to his fatherland, and on its home- 
 ward way was turned into stone by the enraged and baffled 
 Poseidon.^ This islet has a rival claiming the honour, but 
 the fitness of things seems fully satisfied by admitting its pre- 
 tensions. It is just the spot for an anchorite of poetic mind 
 who understands the advantage of having within easy reach 
 the means to supply his wants. Such thoughts grow more 
 impressive with an increasing sense of hunger, and suggest a 
 townward movement. A carriage-road runs up tlie promon- 
 tory through the middle of the wood ; but a desire for variety 
 enjoins a return by the shore of the Hyllaic harbour, which 
 commands the graceful tree-clad mountains of the island, so 
 difierent from the snowy peaks of the other side. And here 
 
 ' 7; 5e /uaAa (J'xeS^j' ^Kvdt irovTOiropos mjV'i 
 f>ifjL<pa ZiuKoixiv-f]- T^s 5* ax^^o" "h^^' 'EvocrlxOaiy, 
 
 Xetpl KaTairpT)ve7 i\d(ras- 6 5i vScrcpi ^f^rjKft. 
 
 "And lo ! tlie ship seafaring nigh to land, 
 Came liglitly funowing the bhie waves : but he 
 Rose in his wrath, and with down-striking hand 
 Made her a stone, and in the nether sea 
 Ch'nehcd the dead keel witli roots, and thence moved instantly." 
 
 — Mr Worsley's translation : Od. xiii. ItJl.
 
 BRIXDISI AND CORFU. 13 
 
 it may be remarked, that Athenian time being thirty-five 
 minutes in advance of Eoman, demands of the pilgrim a cor- 
 responding adjustment of his watch ; so that the thoughtless 
 are liable to forfeit their enjoyment of that mighty institution, 
 the table d'hote, which truly waits for no man, through neglect 
 of this simple precaution. 
 
 Many days are required to explore the beauties of Corfu. Excursions. 
 These excursions were very familiar to Englishmen twenty 
 years ago, when the union-jack waved upon the citadel, and 
 the now desolate palace was graced by the constant presence 
 of British dames and the Senate of the Ionian islands. The 
 old guides still take travellers to the picturesque villages and 
 monasteries, where the inhabitants accord them a hearty wel- 
 come from a lively recollection of the good times gone by. 
 The stock expeditions are, after all, the best. To ascend San 
 Salvador — now called Pantocrator — is a creditable day's work, 
 entailing a ten-mile row across the bay and a steep climb of 
 3000 feet. The southern portion of the island may be seen 
 equally well from "Aytoi Se^a, or " Ten Saints," better known 
 in the " choice Italian " of the country as " Santa Decca." Santa Decca. 
 The name is supposed to be a corruption of Saint Decius, who 
 has undergone a multiplication similar to that which, out of 
 the martyrdom of St Undecimilla, gave rise to the legend of 
 the eleven thousand virgins at Cologne. A solitary climb up 
 this mountain served to illustrate how deeply the instinct of the 
 " cicerone " has sunk into the Ionian nature. A peasant work- 
 ing in his vineyard on the hillside perceived a stranger many
 
 14 BEIXDISI AND CORFU. 
 
 hundred feet above him. He dropped his hoe, rushed after 
 him with indignant shouts, and overtook him near the top. 
 Strong language and expressive pantomime alike failed to pro- 
 cure his departure, and he clung on like a leech for the rest 
 of the afternoon. Eventually he received a drachma as ample 
 compensation for this self-imposed toil and loss of time. His 
 great idea seemed to be that the English telegraph station 
 once standing on the higliest point of the mountain must be 
 the object of attraction : to take so much trouble for the sake 
 of the view was an act of lunacy beyond his comprehension. 
 But guide or no guide, it is well worth the climb to get a 
 look at the monastery nestling in between the two chief 
 peaks, entirely hidden from the surrounding country, but 
 enjoying through one narrow opening a sight of tlie dis- 
 tant city. 
 
 Moreover, the charms of these mountains are accessible to 
 the least energetic, owing to the splendid English roads that 
 run over either range. That of San Salvador is crossed at the 
 Pass of Pantaleone, which affords a panorama of the nortli 
 and centre of Corfu ; that of Santa Decca at the Pass of 
 Garuna, opening up the south and centre. Looking across the 
 great central plain to Pelleka, the sight grows almost weary 
 with the endless masses of cultivation, broken only by dis- 
 tant glimpses of the Adriatic. At last the cause suggests 
 itself: there is not a fence or enclosure of any kind; and 
 the Englishman, accustomed to associate fertility witli fields
 
 BRINDISI AND CORFU. 15 
 
 and hedgerows, experiences a sense of strangeness that at 
 length gives place to one of perfect satisfaction. 
 
 Delightful is the drive back at sunset through the dense 
 olive woods and vineyards, whence swarms of picturesque peas- 
 antry are returning to the hills : the men very handsome, 
 the women strangely the reverse ; the stronger sex invariably 
 riding, the weaker walking by the side. 
 
 But how few of the beauties of this paradise are revealed 
 to the hurried tourist ! Its charms develop fully only after 
 careful exploration ; they are not obvious to the casual sight- 
 seer. Whether from the sportsman's point of view, or from 
 the artist's, two things are desirable — unlimited time and a 
 steam yacht. The shooting on the island is not generally 
 good : there are snipe and wild-fowl in winter, and occasional 
 flights of woodcock ; but these have to be shared with the 
 natives, who turn out in numbers to waylay them when they 
 land. Indeed a bad olive crop, by releasing these gentry 
 from their ordinary autumn labours, suffices to denude the 
 whole p)lace of game. For good sport recourse must be had 
 to the mainland, where wild-fowl and boar abound. Accom- 
 modation there is none ; hence the inestimable advantage of 
 being able to run backwards and forwards in an hour or so 
 between barbarism '"and civilisation. A man may live as in 
 the Highlands, combining the charms of Nature in her wild- 
 est mood with those of luxury, or, at least, domestic comfort. 
 Besides the benefits of locomotion, a yacht affords many others
 
 16 
 
 DPJXDISI AXD COEFU. 
 
 Decadence 
 since the 
 cession. 
 
 likely to commend themselves to an Englishman, such as the 
 possession of his own dogs, guns, cartridges, and drmks, — too 
 many, in fact, to enumerate. 
 
 Of Corfiote politics, perhaps the less said the better. All 
 classes join in assuring us that they have never ceased to 
 regret our departure ; and when taunted with having them- 
 selves demanded it, reply that they were as children, ignorant 
 of their true good, wliich ought to have been forced upon 
 them by their fathers, the English. Indeed they hint that 
 Mr Gladstone (whom they do not recommend to revisit their 
 country if he have any regard to his personal safety) was 
 aware of the injury that the cession would inflict, and brought 
 it on them as a punishment, owing to an unreasoning hatred 
 of the lonians, conceived during liis short administration of 
 their islands. However this measure may have affected the in- 
 habitants, there is little doubt of its injury to ourselves. Eor- 
 tifications erected by England at the cost of a million sterling, 
 were by herself dismantled at an outlay of many thousands ; 
 and yet, within sixteen years it was found advisable to occupy 
 another island in the Mediterranean. The mere retention of 
 one of the Ionian islands would have dispensed with the 
 invidious necessity of acquiring Cyprus ; and instead of setting 
 to work to fortify and open up a barbarous and not too 
 liealthy country, England might still be keeping a hold upon 
 one of the strongest and loveliest spots on earth, and be 
 enjoying the fruits of the vast capital expended in roads,
 
 BEINDISI AND CORFU. 17 
 
 aqueducts, drainage, and other material improvements. In 
 the event of an ultimate partition of the Turkish empire, 
 might it not be possible to induce the Greek Government to 
 accept Cyprus, upon which it always looks with longing eyes, 
 in exchange for one of these much smaller, but, to England, 
 much more useful islands ?
 
 18 CORFU TO ATHENS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COUFU TO ATHENS. 
 
 A" 
 
 LL tilings have an end, and Corfu must be left, for the 
 dirty little Greek steamer is ahout to weigh anchor. 
 Under a rapidly freshening breeze, she slips away down the 
 canal whose troubled waters are an earnest of what may 
 be expected in the open sea. The citadel sinks below the 
 horizon, and the sun goes down in lurid brightness beliind 
 Hurricane. Santa Decca. Xot long afterwards a tremendous motion 
 announces that Cape Lefkimo is passed. At about ten o'clock, 
 with an appalling crash all the sleepers on the saloon sofas 
 come down on to the floor; and for some minutes human 
 beings, luggage, and furniture are flying to and fro, in and 
 out of the open doors of the cabins. Passengers rise and 
 begin to dress, probably to preserve decency in death ; others 
 embrace the legs of the fixed table, and, like St Paul and his 
 fellow-voyagers in the same waters, lie there and " wish for 
 the day." Santa Maura is at last rounded and the danger 
 passed ; but the gale continues, so that, on dropping anchor
 
 CORFU TO ATHENS. 1!) 
 
 in Argostoli Iiarbour, we find that well-sheltered bay as white 
 
 as snow. Day is breaking, and we get a good view of Cepha- Cephalonia. 
 
 Ionia. It is the largest and least interesting of these islands, 
 
 presenting a bare treeless appearance very different from Corfu. 
 
 Monte Nero, though nearly 5000 feet high, has no grandeur 
 
 like " San Salvador." Argostoli lies in a creek to the south 
 
 of the great bay, out of sight of the open sea. There is a 
 
 story that once the Frencli fleet lying in this creek escaped 
 
 the keen observation of Lord Nelson, who actually sailed into 
 
 the gulf in search of it. Yet even this land-locked water is 
 
 so rough that for two liours no boat dares put 'off from the 
 
 shore ; and then, because we are already extremely late, the 
 
 captain insists upon landing the cargo and passengers in a 
 
 most leisurely manner, at no time employing more than a 
 
 single boat for that purpose, and wasting three more hours 
 
 over the operation. 
 
 We now begin to realise the agrSmcns of a Greek steamer, Greek 
 which in the misery of the night had to some extent escaped 
 notice ; for, as Homer truly observes — 
 
 ^ " I hold no ill is gi'eater than the sea 
 
 To crush a man, how brave soe'er he bc."^ 
 
 But henceforth we have leisure to notice the uncleanKness 
 above and the unsavoury perfume below, which, as no ventila- 
 tion is permitted, becomes almost unbearable before the end 
 
 1 0(1. viii. 138:— 
 
 oh yap %'yu>yi ri <l>rifx\ KaKtirepov &\\o daXaaarjs 
 ^vSpa ye ffvyx^vai, d /cat /xd'Aa Kaprephs eiri.
 
 20 CORFU TO ATHENS. 
 
 of the journey. In the next phice, the food is both bad and 
 dear, not bemg included in the passage-money, but being pro- 
 vided on private speculation by the steward. Moreover, no 
 account is taken of numbers, so that the traveller is liable to 
 iind himself shut up for a couple of days with a crowd as great 
 as on a Boulogne steamer in Easter week. Again, every 
 class of passenger has free access to all parts of the deck, 
 and imlikaris of the rudest type press curiously round the 
 foreigner. Finally, time being absolutely no object, the 
 captain scoffs at the idea of starting one moment before 
 he has seen liis friends and executed his little commissions 
 in each place. One entertaining form of practical joke is 
 to announce dinner, say for seven, and then, when a hearty 
 luncli has been eaten, to change the time to five, and abso- 
 lutely to decline to serve anything after that hour. Probably 
 these abuses will give birth to their own remedy. The Eng- 
 lish merchants of Athens and Constantinople are already about 
 to get up a through communication, to be managed on Eng- 
 lish principles — that is to say, with some regard to cleanli- 
 ness and punctuality : the Company further purposes to run 
 straight from Corfu to Loutraki, and thus to bring Atliens 
 within two days of Italy. 
 Zaiiti'. When all excuses for delay are exhausted, we move across 
 
 to Lixouri, on the other side of the gulf, and depart at 11.30, 
 six hours behind time. A roughish run brings us, at 3 p.m., 
 to Zante, a long narrow town, picturesquely skirting the shore 
 of a semicircular Ijay, backed l)y ]\Iount Skopos and tlie citadel.
 
 CORFU T(j ATHENS. 21 
 
 If Corfu be described as an olive-grove, this island may be 
 called a garden, thoiigli its luxuriance is less apparent at a 
 distance, except in summer, when the scent of its million 
 flowers is wafted far away across the water. Some delay 
 occurs in consequence of the hesitation of an unfortunate 
 Greek family to break its journey and forfeit the passage- 
 money ; but since two of its members have burst blood-vessels 
 during the storm, they yield to medical advice, and are landed. 
 Then away to Patras, through a sea of foam, under a brilliant Tatias. 
 Eastern starlight, not a single cloud having appeared since the 
 gale began yesterday afternoon. At last many lights signal 
 an approach to a large town : the boat heaves to, and is imme- 
 diately overrun by a piratical-looking crowd of harbour-men. 
 Under such circumstances, it is well not to leave luggage on 
 deck, on account of the rapidity wherewith everything is 
 cleared away by the marauders. 
 
 Day breaks upon the mountains of the Corinthian gulf, and Loutraki. 
 anchor is cast off Loutraki, a port on the isthmus — if indeed 
 a landing-stage and raki-^ho^ can be dignified, with that title. 
 Immediately upon our reaching the shore, some fresh facdiw 
 of the Greek Steamboat Company make themselves felt. The 
 contract is, that all passengers shall be conveyed across in the 
 Company's omnibus ; but in point of fact, the only vehicle 
 owned by them — a sort of dilapidated hearse without per- 
 ceptible doors or windows — is seized upon by some knowing 
 natives, and the greater part of the travellers are left high 
 and dry with their effects upon the beach. The best course
 
 22 CORFU TO ATHENS. 
 
 is to waive legal rights and hire a carriage, wliich, even 
 in that short distance of five miles, will inevitably halt in 
 order to water the horses and fortify the driver ; nor will 
 any remonstrances on the part of the impatient, unhreak- 
 fasted fare avail to produce the slightest acceleration. 
 
 Kalamaki. But tliis rigliteous indignation became as nothing when 
 
 Kalamaki was found steamerless : the corresponding boat from 
 Syra had feared to put off in the recent squall, and some forty 
 passengers collected together, hopelessly gazing over the now 
 unrufiied waters of the Saronic Gulf. A little \{/dpL, or boiled 
 fish, is the first necessity, after which the English mind begins 
 
 Inaccessibility to levolvc plans for proceeding on its way. Athens being 
 only fifty miles distant by land, it naturally occurs to us that 
 driving there is a possibility ; and a Jehu promptly offers to 
 accomplish that feat within ten hours, in consideration of a 
 sum of 1 drachmai. A curious professional etiquette causes 
 all his brethren to retire from the field, and removes all chance 
 of bringing into play the noble principle of competition. But 
 hereupon interposes an agent of the Steamboat Company, 
 declaring the notion to be a perfect absurdity, since up to 
 Megara there is no road at all ; to wliich fact testify the ex- 
 pressive countenances of the entire population, who, hearing of 
 the proposed expedition, crowd round and stare upon the 
 " lords " with mucli the same kind of pitying curiosity as 
 miglit be bestowed upon travellers about to set out for the 
 Noitli Pole. The contending interests now clasli with a 
 frightful commotion, — the (hivers urging departure ; the agent.
 
 CURFU TO ATHENS. 23 
 
 innkeeper, and other natives clamouring for the honour of 
 retaining us. We remain perfectly passive until a further 
 complication arises from the interposition of the gendarmerie, 
 who decline to permit us to start without an escort. This 
 decides us ; for a night in the open, with the chance of a visit 
 from brigands, is even worse than abiding with forty persons 
 in a filthy two-roomed khani. Of course, to improve the 
 position, the telegraph-wire is broken, and a messenger has to 
 walk six or seven miles to Corinth in order to send off a 
 strongly-worded dispatch to the authorities at Athens. 
 
 The day being glorious, and to be got through somehow, an 
 expedition to Acro-Corinthus naturally suggests itself ; but the 
 Company's agent absolutely refuses to sanction any such meas- 
 ure, on the ground that a vessel might come to our rescue at 
 any moment, so that all schemes for improving these shining 
 hours of idleness have to be abandoned. At length arrives a 
 message to the effect that the Government, learning that there 
 are Englishmen in this sorry plight, will despatch a gunboat 
 to bring them off. The interval is beguiled by an exploration The isthmus. 
 of the isthmus, — a sandy fiat covered with bushes, but pictur- 
 esquely intersected by deep ravines, said to be the remains of 
 Nero's attempt to cut a canal through it. From the centre 
 both seas are visible, — the Gulf of Corinth as far as its entrance : 
 half-way down stand, like gigantic sentinels on either side, the 
 snowy masses of Cyllene and Parnassus. The Saronic Gulf 
 exhibits every hill, creek, and island as plainly as in a map, — 
 Salamis, ^gina, and the rugged mountains of the Argolid. It
 
 24 CUEFU TO ATHENS. 
 
 was just the situation for realising how near in distance, yet 
 how niutually inaccessible, were the cities of ancient Hellas, 
 — an all-important consideration for explaining the intensity 
 and narrowness of local feeling so ineradicable among the 
 Greek race. 
 T1k> Pynliic Towards sunset we return to Kalamaki, iuid having dined 
 
 off old fish and new lamb, turn out on to the beach to 
 witness a Pyrrhic dance. This performance consists of every 
 one's joining hands in a circle, and making first a step to the 
 right and then a step to the left, varied by an occasional 
 lurch inwards towards the centre ; sometimes the performers 
 all squat down upon the floor, and sometimes take three or 
 four steps consecutively in the same direction, so that by the 
 end of half an hour the circle is nearly completed : all this 
 to a kind of dirge, consisting of howls and grunts in various 
 proportions — which sounds, indeed, subsequently proved to be 
 the foundation of all Greek music. During the whole time a 
 sort of dish-cloth was passed from one " dancer " to another, 
 and \ve learnt afterwards that they call unto each other, saying, 
 " I have left my black handkerchief in your back-yard ; tell me, 
 have you seen it ? " — whence the song receives its name of 
 Mavpo 'Afxirexovo, or Black Scarf. No amount of " glasses 
 round " availed to alter the proceedings, or to impart the 
 slightest liveliness thereto ; neither could any of these gallant 
 palikaris be induced to favour us with a Klephtic ballad. The 
 word imlihari, it may be observed, meaning literally " boy," 
 but practically " warrior," is applied to all who wear the
 
 CORFU TO ATHENS. 25 
 
 national costume — much as in Ireland we hear of the " boys," 
 or in England of " sportsmen," in the widest and most slangy 
 sense of that term. 
 
 A fresh episode relieves the monotony of the Pyrrhic dance, Arrival of 
 
 • 1 f> 1 A 1 rrn • • • t^^® mail. 
 
 m the shape oi the arrival oi the Athens post. Ihis institu- 
 tion, called TO TaxvSpofjielov, " the quick - runner," presumably 
 because it takes twenty- four hours to accomplish the fifty 
 miles, proved of liigh interest, as bringing newspapers con- 
 taining a notice of the sudden dissolution of the British Par- 
 liament. Loud and vehement were the hopes expressed 
 that the iniquitous Lord Beaconsfield had reached the term 
 of his power. 
 
 At length, at 8.30 a light appears moving slowly up the Revival 
 bay, and turns out to belong to the gunboat Syra, kindly sent 
 to make up for the shortcomings of the Company, who would 
 have left us there indefinitely, so far as they themselves were 
 concerned. An enormous crowd goes on board, and instantly 
 curls up and goes to sleep — a little awkward at first, seeing 
 that at every step the deck seems to move and growl beneatli 
 one's feet. On going for our rugs, we find a countryman 
 comfortably wrapped up in each. The captain is all civility, 
 and puts his berth at our disposal — an offer which, in con- 
 sideration of the crowded state of the cabins, we decline with 
 thanks. Deck is by far the best place, whence we watch 
 the glass-like, phosphorescent sea, and the outlines of capes and 
 islands dimly looming in the starlight. The contrast with 
 last night is incredible ; but the sudden rise aud fall of
 
 26 CORFU TO ATHENS. 
 
 Mediterraueau storms have been too well portrayed by 
 ancient poets to bear description here. 
 Pii-ceus. •• The Pirreus at 1.30 a.m., and an invasion of rascality render- 
 
 ing almost impossible the preservation of property. Everything 
 is at length got into a boat, excepting one valise, which, being 
 nearly new, had been carried off, as it afterwards turned out, 
 by a young Corfiote, who left in its place an antiquated article 
 of his own, bursting at every seam, and filled with refuse 
 clothing. A fruitless search of nearly an hour did not sweeten 
 our feelings towards the author of this mistake, who next 
 morning put the matter into the hands of the police, and 
 having heard through their means where the sufferers resided, 
 coolly sent round a request that they would " restore " his 
 property, retaining theirs meanwhile as a hostage, and adding 
 no single word of apology. In fact, we learnt subsequently 
 to deem ourselves fortunate to have escaped being arrested on 
 a charge of theft. 
 
 The traveller, on reaching Pirreus, should put himseK in 
 charge of one of the regular hotel guides who meet all the 
 steamers, and whose function it is to see strangers safely 
 landed and deposited at their destination. At length, at 2.30 
 we are packed into a fly with one of these not too fragrant 
 gentry, the luggage occupying the whole exterior, and so leave 
 Habits of the quay. Immense is the indignation at an almost immediate 
 Greek .lelius. j^^^^^ .^^ ^^^^^^, ^^ ,, change horses," which, for a distance of five 
 
 miles, seems somewhat unreasonable to famished and weary 
 men. Put tlie guide cxjtlains that after this operation we shall
 
 CORFU TO ATHENS. 27 
 
 go " so fast, oh so fast ! " so we submit, and move off' along the 
 road through the frosty night-air. We start from meditation at 
 another stoppage — this time to " water the horses," apparently 
 an inevitable interlude during any drive, however short. But 
 British patience has been tried once too often, and the driver 
 is sternly told that if he gets down, his carriage will find its 
 way to Athens without him. Seeing that his customers are 
 not in a mood to be trifled with, he sullenly remounts the 
 box and goes on. The Hotel d'Angleterre is reached at 3.15 
 A.M., where, in spite of preparatory telegrams, there is only 
 one room ready for the accommodation of two travellers, with 
 one sleepy menial in attendance, who neither has food pre- 
 pared, nor sees his way to getting any. This unexpected 
 announcement produces so energetic a flow of language as to 
 induce him to think better of it; after which exhausted nature 
 sinks into oblivion.
 
 28 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 Hotels. nriHE peculiar character of tlie Athenian hotels did not become 
 
 J- fully apparent until next day. They are in many re- 
 spects excellent, but are calculated to secure the comfort of res- 
 idents rather than that of tourists. The numbers of the latter 
 are so small comparatively, as to reduce them to a position of 
 insignificance. The bulk of the inhabitants are Greeks — for 
 private houses are still few and expensive ; so that most of 
 those whom politics, pleasure, or other business call to the 
 capital, prefer to live en pension at the large hotels. Dep- 
 uties with their families, young married people addicted to 
 society, merchants from every country in Europe, form the 
 principal clientdc, and offer a varied subject-matter for the 
 stranger's observation. Very few of these have private sit- 
 ting-rooms, and still fewer feed except at tlie stated meal- 
 times ; so that, when the crowd became great, and two per- 
 sons were sleeping on the billiard-table, and the ladies' saloon 
 had been converted into an extra dining-room, it followed
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 29 
 
 that down-stairs accommodation was very limited — an annoy- 
 ance greatly aggravated on wet or snowy days, when no native 
 dreamt of going out, and the fumes of tobacco in the un venti- 
 lated apartments became unbearable to two or three English 
 ladies who happened to be staying there. The smokers, on 
 being informed of this and requested to leave one apartment 
 untobaccoed, were polite but incredulous, declaring that no 
 ladies really minded smoke, but only thought it the right 
 thing to pretend to do so. These considerations explained 
 the strange difficulty originally experienced in obtaining any 
 attention during the small hours of the morning, and taught 
 us that Athens hotels, though passable enough to those w^ho 
 conform to their ordinary times and habits, are in their 
 arrangements singularly inelastic. 
 
 Such reflections are but a mean inauguration to a sojourn First impros^ 
 in the capital of ancient art and learning ; yet, although they 
 perforce thrust themselves into prominence, nowhere else are 
 they so easily dispelled. Athens is one of the very few places 
 whose first appearance produces no sense of disappointment. 
 Not growing gradually familiar like Eome, but bursting in 
 upon us like a long-forgotten friend, it needs but the first 
 glimpse to be, as it were, indelibly photographed in tlie mind. 
 The new town is providentially built to the north and east of 
 the more famous quarters of the ancient city, so that the 
 imagination has little to undo ; it need merely reconstruct, 
 and that on a site possessing extraordinarily prominent natu- 
 ral features.
 
 30 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 Arch of After crossing the Square of the Constitution, whicli contains 
 
 all the best hotels, such as the Grande Bretagne and the 
 Angleterre, and leaving it on its southern side, a pleasant 
 boulevard leads to the Arch of Adrian and the Temple of 
 Olympian Zeus. The former edifice needs but few remarks : 
 it is a strange, heterogeneous erection of two tiers some fifty- 
 feet high, bearing an inscription that " on one side, the south- 
 east, lies Adrian's town ; on the other, the ancient town, that 
 
 Temple of of Theseus." On the former stands the remains of the costly 
 jmi.ian temple that Adrian had the credit of completing. The original 
 numl)er of columns appears to have been twenty-two by ten, 
 which, counting a double row on either side, and a triple row 
 on either face, gives the enormous total of 124. Of these, 
 only fourteen are standing, — thirteen all together and still sup- 
 porting their architrave ; the other is picturesquely isolated, 
 while a fifteenth lies complete upon the ground, but with 
 its druitis shaken into confusion by the fall. The remainder 
 have been broken up for building material, or burnt into lime 
 by an appreciative population. The stupendous size of the 
 building may be inferred from Pausanias' statement that it 
 had a circumference of four stadia,^ or nearly half a mile. 
 But deeply as we regret the loss of so striking an evidence of 
 Eoman magnificence, we may yet feel thankful that it is upon 
 this gorgeous, composite, over-decorated building that destruc- 
 
 ^ These measurements would include the platform upon which the building 
 stood. Pausanias states that the irtpi^oKos was "full of statues," so that it 
 ])crhai)s extended a greater distance than usual beyond the peristj-lc.
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 31 
 
 tion has fallen, rather than upon such genuine models of 
 Greek art as the Parthenon and Theseum. The Coliseum 
 alone, were all other such vestiges swept away, would give 
 ample testimony to the grandeur of Imperial Eome ; but had 
 the Athenian temples of the fifth century disappeared, the 
 modern world could scarcely realise what Greek architecture 
 was under its most favourable conditions. 
 
 Hard by the columns of Olympian Zeus winds the now The Ilissus. 
 dried-up channel of the lUssus,^ beside whose murmuring 
 waters, under the waving plane-trees, Socrates loved to sit and 
 talk. Here, too, legend narrates that the maiden Orithyia 
 was at play when Boreas, the North-Wind god, carried her off 
 to share his home, and for her sake loved Athens so dearly 
 that he shattered the Persian ships at Salamis, and saved 
 the city from slavery. But stream and plane - trees are 
 alike vanished ; and the sceptical modern concurs in the 
 Platonic rationalisation of the myth — viz., that a blast of 
 extra violence carried the hapless virgin over a neighbour- 
 ing crag, an explanation which the gusts of Boreas caused 
 us readily to accept, and indeed very nearly to illustrate in 
 our own unhappy persons. Here, too, is the poetic fountain 
 of Callirrlioe, a sort of cave in the river-bed, whence a little Callinhoe. 
 jet still oozes up ; but the feelings were sorely tried on 
 finding it in possession of half-a-dozen old women busily 
 engaged in washing their dirty linen. It may be here re- 
 marked, that Greek women are perpetually washing without 
 
 1 Pans. i. xix. Plato, PhKilrus, 229, 230.
 
 32 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 producing the smallest visible effect upon any thing or person 
 whatever. 
 
 The Stadium. A little higher up the Ilissus' bed, on the farther side from 
 the city, is the Stadium, cut out in a natural hollow between 
 two hills. Its square end rests upon the river - bank ; at 
 the other or semicircular extremity is a curious tunnel cut 
 through the hill to the east. Some scholiast sagely suggests 
 that its object was to enable the beaten competitors to retire 
 without facing popular derision. The whole of this vast 
 hollow was lined with white marble by Herodes Atticus ^ — 
 a work that, as Pausanias informs us, almost exhausted the 
 quarries of Pentelicus. 
 
 The Acropolis. The Ilissus and its banks invite no long delay. The beauty 
 has departed, and the traveller gladly turns to that rock whose 
 sacred glories time cannot efface. In the Acropolis is summed 
 up all that is most noble in Greek art. Dilapidated indeed it 
 is, but not through natural causes ; and there are few more 
 maddening thoughts than those inspired by the knowledge 
 that two centuries ago the Parthenon and Erechtheum were 
 almost perfect, and have been shattered not during the dark- 
 ness of the middle ages, but in tlie full light of modern 
 times. Yet even in decay it is passing wonderful, an ample 
 repayment fi)r liardships undergone in journeying to Athens. 
 By passing beneath tlie southern cliff, the entrance is reached 
 without a preliminary transit through the squalid hovels 
 that skirt the rock on the side of the modern town. The 
 
 ' Paus. i. .\ix.
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 33 
 
 road winds up between gigantic aloes to a wooden gate that 
 opens after some prolonged knocking. A path brings us out 
 into the open space between the ancient entry and the 
 Propyliea. 
 
 In front of the right flank of the latter, -poised on a pro- Temple of 
 jecting rock, stands the beautiful little temple of the Wingless ' ^ ^ "^^^^^ 
 Victory. This hij'oic shrine (about 27 feet by 18) has had 
 a curious history. The Turks, when besieged by Morosini, 
 desiring to erect a battery on its site, entirely demolished it, 
 and its memory almost died away ; but the Greek Government 
 stumbled upon the fragments, and finding them complete, was 
 able to re-erect the building, so that it now has the honour of 
 being the only perfect specimen of an Ionic temple. The 
 orientation corresponds with that of no other edifice on the 
 Acropolis, — one proof among many of the value attached by 
 Greek architects to the effect of studied irregularity. The 
 winglessness of the goddess was understood as a token that 
 she would never more fly away from Athens. Our chatty 
 guide Pausanias ■"■ informs us that " on the right of the 
 Propylsea is the shrine of Victory without "Wings. From 
 thence the sea is visible ; and there, as the story goes, iEgeus 
 flung himself down and perished." This was on the occasion 
 of Theseus, his son's return from Crete. An agreement had 
 been made that, in the event of his triumph, the vessel that 
 bore him home should carry white sails. But the loss of 
 
 ^ Pans. i. xxii. 5 : 'Evrfi/dev r] daKaaaa iffri (tvi/otttos- koX rai/rj; l>i\pas ^Aiyivs 
 favThv, i)s XfyovaiP, ereXei^TTjcrej'. 
 
 C
 
 34 ATHEXS oF THE FAST. 
 
 Ariadne had rendered her lover oblivious of other considera- 
 tions, and the black sails, witli wliich the good ship had 
 sailed forth on her dismal mission, remained unchanged. The 
 wretched father, taking this for a sign that his son had fallen 
 a prey to the voracious Minotaur, made away witli liiuiself, a 
 victim to filial negligence. There is some doubt whether 
 Pausanias means that the old man flung himself down from 
 the rock on which the little temple stands, or only into the 
 sea at the point visible from that rock. The text rather 
 inclines to the former interpretation : the derivation of the 
 name ^gean Sea from this catastrophe points to the latter. 
 The Propyl£ca. "We now find ourselves upon the steps leading to the 
 Propylffia, a magnificent staircase of white marble some 75 
 feet in width. From the ancient gateway up to the spot 
 where we stand, the steps seem to have run continuously 
 along the entire breadth. From thence, up to the Propyla^a, 
 they are broken in the centre by a hollow roadway, a steep 
 incline paved with roughened slabs of marble, not unlike the 
 " Salite " so common in Genoa. It appears that animals 
 entered from the side, like the modern visitor, and therefore 
 only required to mount about one-half of the staircase ; and 
 it was for their accommodation that tlie roadway was made. 
 Tlie Propylsea have been fully described in many architectural 
 writings. Suffice it to say, that the idea inspiring their erec- 
 tion was no less grand tlian its execution. Tlie whole sacred 
 platform of the Acropolis having become one vast temple, tliat 
 vast temple was to have an entrance like any single shrine.
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 35 
 
 So, under the Periclean administration, Mnesicles carried out a 
 work of equal simplicity and grandeur, of which Pausanias 
 merely says that in its beauty and in the size of its stones it 
 surpassed all buildings up to his time. It stood, like so many 
 other Greek monuments, until little more than two hundred 
 years ago. A flash of lightning blew up the powder-magazine 
 that had been estabhshed within it ; yet even this shock was 
 stoutly resisted by the' massive masonry, and little beyond 
 the roof perished at the moment. But the hand of destruc- 
 tion having thus obtained a grip, has continued its work down 
 to very recent times. Of the six Doric columns of the front- 
 age, only two retain their capitals : the six Ionic columns 
 lining the vestibule are entirely overthrown — a matter for the 
 deepest regret, since large specimens of that order are ex- 
 tremely rare. The walls of the vestibule are still standing : 
 there are five doorways at the back, corresponding with the 
 intervals between the six Doric columns of either front. 
 Those of the inner facade are nearly perfect, and two retain a 
 piece of architrave. All round is a confused mass of ddhris 
 — capitals, drums, and blocks of the entablature, many being 
 monoliths of over 20 feet in length. Gomg back to the outer 
 front, we find it flanked by three projecting columns on either 
 hand : these are Doric, and smaller than their neighbours ; 
 only those on the left side remain. They form a portico to a 
 chamber of considerable size, once the picture-gallery of the 
 Acropolis, and stored with the masterpieces of the Hellenic 
 pencil. It is now choked with fragments discovered on the
 
 36 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 Acropolis, heaped together in the promiscuous style charac- 
 teristic of Greek museums. 
 
 The ruins of the Propyla3a now form a sufficiently har- 
 monious whole since the removal of the hideous Venetian 
 tower on the ricjht-hand side. One blot still remains in the 
 shape of a pedestal formerly supporting a colossal statue of 
 Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. This pedestal, whereon his 
 name is still legible, is some ?>0 feet high, and consequently 
 out of all proportion to its surroundings. When surmounted 
 by tlie figure, it must have sadly dwarfed the Propylcea. 
 But no one would venture to suggest tlie removal of any 
 monument of the Augustan age, so we can only try and 
 think it away when mentally restoring that glorious entry. 
 The Par- Passing within the hallowed precincts and over the ruined 
 
 basements of Artemis Brauronia and Athene Ergane, the 
 visitor moves straight upon the west front of the Parthenon. 
 Tlie pediment at this end was covered with sculptures 
 depicting the contest between Athene and Poseidon ; but 
 Venetian cannon has destroyed all except two figures said to 
 represent Cecrops seated, with his daughter kneeling at his 
 feet. The corresponding group at the eastern end set forth 
 the birtli of the goddess : it has suffered even more heavily 
 from the explosion of 1687, and two horses, now in the 
 British Museum, are the only extant specimens of this grand 
 work, wrought probably by no less a hand than that of 
 Phidias himself. Tlie metopes of either side represented the 
 fight of the Centaurs and Lapithu' : those that survived the
 
 Jll 
 
 \:( L
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 37 
 
 explosion are in the British Museum, as is also the famous 
 frieze of the cella containing the Panathenaic procession. Of The frieze, 
 course, Englishmen have the vandalism of Lord Elgin cast in 
 their teeth, and are asked if they are not ashamed of retaining 
 in the fogs of Bloomsbury that which is the rightful property 
 of a rising and patriotic people. But Greece's treatment of 
 such antiquities as she still possesses is scarcely so enlightened 
 as to induce civilised nations to surrender priceless treasures 
 to her tender mercies. Lord Elgin's spoliation, pace Lord 
 Byi'on, though rudely and unskilfully carried out, has yet 
 been the means of preserving that little which had escaped 
 the ravages of gunpowder and round-shot, of Turkish engineers 
 and Hellenic patriots ; and even if those remnants seem 
 slightly incongruous in their smoky London domicile, they 
 are at any rate accessible to lovers of art as they could never 
 have been in their original home. The ruined, time-stained 
 temple loses nothing by their absence, and it is absurd to 
 speak of their removal as though they had been torn freshly 
 coloured from the perfect shrine. They were spared the 
 horrors of the war of independence, and our only regret 
 need be the ignorant and barbarous fashion in which their 
 displacement was effected. The English Government has 
 tried to make some amends for its alleged injustice by pre- 
 senting very handsome casts of all the Elgin marbles to 
 the museum of the Acropolis ; but it is not the way of the 
 natives to acknowledge these little courtesies. 
 
 Of the building as it now stands, it may suffice to say that
 
 38 
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 Colouring of 
 
 sculpture. 
 
 The Ercch- 
 thcuiii. 
 
 it has been cut in two by the blowing up of tlie Turkish 
 powder-magazine in 1687, whereby the east or principal front 
 has suffered far more severely than the other. The division 
 of the cella into two chambers of unequal length is still trace- 
 alile ; and towards the back of the outer, or vdo<s proper, is 
 discernible the base whereon stood Phidias' splendid gold and 
 ivory statue of the goddess. The western and smaller apart- 
 ment formed the oma-OoSo/xo?, wherein the public treasury was 
 established. Beautiful the ruin looks from every point of 
 view, and for the architect would provide months of study. 
 
 This is not an occasion to enter into the vexed question of 
 how far colour was employed upon ancient statues and build- 
 ings : the supposed traces discovered in the Parthenon seem 
 due not to man but to nature, which has dyed the marble 
 with a deep orange ; but any one who has seen the palace 
 and other new marble buildings M'ill hesitate to allow that so 
 artistic a race could have endured the dazzling effect of stones 
 fresh quarried on Pentelicus. The eye positively aches in the 
 marble-paved streets of to-day ; and if allowance be made for 
 the difference between the Attic atmosphere and our own, 
 there can hardly be a doubt, even irrespectively of historical 
 corroboration, that colour was in most cases largely employed, 
 alike to relieve the sight and to set off tlie elaborate details 
 of statuary whose lofty position precluded any but a com- 
 paratively distant inspection. 
 
 Opposite the Parthenon, on the northern brow of tlie rock, 
 stands tlie more curious and scarcely less interesting " Erech-
 
 ATHENS UF THE PAST. 39 
 
 theiim," a block of buildings comprising at least two temples, 
 and once containing all that was mystic and ancient among 
 the sacred things of Athens. The original and prehistoric 
 Erechtheum was, with the older Parthenon, utterly destroyed 
 by the Persians ; but the sacred olive-tree ^ that grew therein 
 is said to have sprouted up from its charred and blackened 
 stump two cubits' length in a single day. Over this tree was 
 built the shrine of Athene Polias, — " guardian of the city," — 
 in which, or at least under the roof of which, were three altars, 
 sacred to Poseidon, to the hero Butus, and to Hephaestus. 
 On the first of these, sacrifice was also made to Erechtheus ; 
 and this was the only share in the rites allotted to the 
 original builder. AYitliin was also a well of salt water, said 
 to have gushed forth at a blow from Poseidon's trident, when 
 the sea-god was contending with Athene for the lordship of 
 the country. There, too, was the lamp of Callimachus, which, 
 though burning night and day, required to be replenished with 
 oil but once a-year ; and there was the image of Athene that 
 fell from heaven, and an archaic wooden statue of the god 
 Hermes. Adjoining the temple or temples just mentioned is 
 the Pandroseum, sacred to the nymph Pandrose, who alone of 
 her sisters had the gift of reticence. The others made reve- 
 lations seriously compromising the reputation of the virgin 
 goddess, and suffered the just penalty of their indiscretion. 
 The one faithful found received eternal honours side by side 
 with her grateful protectress. 
 
 1 Herod, viii. 55.
 
 40 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 
 
 The different levels of these buildings and their irregular 
 shape prove them to have been built to cover ground contain- 
 ing more than one traditionally hallowed spot. The eastern 
 portico consisted of six Ionic columns, five of which — still 
 standing — constitute the finest extant specimens of the order. 
 The northern, likewise Ionic, has perished, and gave access to 
 the Pandroseum. In the soutliern, the place of columns is 
 taken by the six celebrated female figures known as Carya- 
 tides, usually held to represent the maidens of Caryes — a 
 Medising town of the Peloponnese, whose inhabitants were 
 reduced to slavery Ijy their indignant neighbours after the 
 defeat of the Persian invasion — but more probably merely 
 typical of the sacred maidens employed in the worship of 
 the goddess. 
 
 Half-way between the Erechtheum and the Propylasa is a 
 platform, or rather a square flat portion of the rock itself, 
 whereon once stood the most conspicuous object in that vast 
 shrine of art. This was the statue of Athene Promachos, The 
 Defender, cast in bronze by Phidias, and towering far above 
 every surrounding building. There stood the goddess with 
 spear and aegis, keeping watch and ward over the home of her 
 choice, and her lance's point and helmet's crest were the first 
 objects that flashed back the sun's rays as they appeared above 
 the ridge of Hymettus. 
 
 One glance round shows that even now the glory lias not 
 all departed ; for nature at least may yet be seen in lier old 
 magnificence. To the north is tlie Parnes range, blended
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 41 
 
 with Cithferon, over which gleam the white summits of Par- 
 nassus. Pentelicus towers ou tlie north-east, and Hymettus 
 to the south-east, showing every shrub on their rugged sides ; 
 for ten miles or so seem as nothing through the liquid Attic 
 air. To the west is the sea, with Salamis and ^^ina, once 
 Athens' eyesore ; and beyond rise the mountains of the Pelo- 
 ponnese. At our feet is the modern city, with the tall rock 
 of Lycabettus frowning over the royal palace ; and farther on 
 is the vast olive-grove that covers much of the Attic plain, 
 with its trees of unknown antiquity. The white steam of the 
 Piraeus railway alone breaks its repose, and shows that life is 
 not quite extinct in a district once studded with the country 
 houses of Athenian citizens. 
 
 The outer aspect of the Acropolis is hardly less instructive Walls of the 
 than the interior, and a close study of its walls might afford '^^ ^''' 
 matter for a long archaeological treatise. Faint traces are 
 still discernible of the old Pelasgic walls — i.e., constructions of 
 tolerably well-fitted polygonal blocks. Their demolition by 
 Xerxes rendered necessary a total refortification ; and they 
 must not be confused with the " Pelasgic " wall, the name 
 given to that built by Themistocles on the northern face, 
 because overlooking the region called to TreXao-ytKov, or Quarter 
 of the Pelasgi, — apparently assigned in prehistoric times to 
 those puzzling aborigines. In spite of many subsequent 
 alterations, its surface still shows us drums of columns and 
 fragments of ancient entablature, proving the liaste with 
 which the rebuilding was conducted out of the materials
 
 42 
 
 ATHEXS OF THE PAST. 
 
 The OiU'Uiii. 
 
 Portico of 
 Eumenes. 
 
 Theatre of 
 Dionysus. 
 
 readiest to hand. Fragments of masonry of every epoch 
 occur in all parts of the circumvallation. The western wall 
 bears the name of Valerian, the southern that of Cimon. 
 
 Prom the base of the last we can scramble down into the 
 two great theatres and their connecting arcade. The Odeum 
 of Herodes Atticus, built under the Antonines, is not of high 
 interest to the student of Hellenic architecture, except in sa 
 far as the preservation of tlie walls of the " scena " throws light 
 upon the conditions of the ancient drama generally. Between 
 the Odeum and the Theatre of Bacchus stretches the long 
 portico of Eumenes, erected by that potentate and Attalus, 
 of whicli there are some twenty-eight arches remaining. 
 
 The Dionysic theatre calls up a liost of associations, for we 
 are on the very spot that witnessed the birth of the ancient 
 drama, — at any rate, of that drama as we know it. Here 
 ^schylus and Sophocles competed for the tragic crown, and 
 here Aristophanes and Menander produced their unri^'alled 
 situations of broad burlesque or light comedy. I\Iost of tlie 
 decorations date from the time of Adrian ; but since the old 
 traditions were then a living poNver, we may rest assured that 
 all the original arrangements were carefully reproduced. In the 
 lowest tier are fifty marble seats in almost perfect preservation, 
 each inscribed with tlie name of the official for whose use it 
 was intended. In the centre sat tlie priest of Dionysus Eleu- 
 therius, the god to wliom the theatre was dedicated. On his 
 right sat the priest of Zeus, " guardian of the town ; " and on 
 his left the Exegetes, or interpreter of the sacred laws. All
 
 ATHENS OF THE FAST. 43 
 
 round the semicircle the stalls extend, and even in the second 
 and third rows inscriptions show that the places were all " re- 
 served." A sight of this most interesting spot disposes of 
 some of the nonsense instilled into the youthful mind, — such 
 as that the actor, in appealing to sun, sky, and sea, would 
 actually point to each object in succession ; for although the 
 two first would undoubtedly be available in an unroofed place, 
 yet the third was as certainly out of his ken, unless he could 
 turn his back upon the audience and see through a block of 
 building and two or three small hills. 
 
 Apart from the Acropolis and its slopes, Athens boasts but Temple of 
 
 TllGSGUS 
 
 a single ancient building of first-rate importance. This is 
 the celebrated but probably misnamed Temple of Theseus. 
 Descending from the citadel and rounding the Areopagus, we 
 approach this beautiful shrine, and are surprised to find how 
 very small it is, its length being considerably less than one-half 
 that of the Parthenon. This result is due to the exquisite 
 harmony of its proportions, backed by an excellent situation. 
 Still untouched by the encroachments of the modern town, it 
 occupies a position of complete isolation ; and, as first seen by 
 the traveller entering Athens along the Pirteus road, it stands 
 out undwarfed by contrast with any neighbouring object. An 
 example of the most graceful fifth-century Doric, it is also the 
 most perfectly preserved Greek temple in the world. Nothing 
 is wanting but the sculptures and roof, and the latter has been 
 restored in recent times. The east front appears to have 
 portrayed some of the labours of Hercules, and the west
 
 44 
 
 ATHEXS OF THE PAST. 
 
 Tower of the 
 Winds. 
 
 Arch of 
 Athene 
 Archegetis. 
 
 Stoa of 
 A'lrian. 
 
 front and sides the exploits of Theseus ; but whether the two 
 friends received joint-worship within these walls, or whether 
 — as is more probable — the original edifice was erected by 
 Theseus in honour of Hercules, and consequently called the 
 Theseum, is a matter hardly worth the research bestowed upon 
 it. The analogy of the Erechtheum seems to point to the 
 second conclusion. 
 
 Other antiquities are the Tower of the "Winds, an octagonal 
 marble building of about 100 a.d. It stands under the north 
 escarpment of the Acropolis, from whence apparently was 
 drawn the water to work the clepsydra or water-clock, traces of 
 which are still discernible in the foi-ni of channels cut in the 
 pavement. The place was evidently a sort of Greenwich 
 Observatory, where variations of wind and temperature were 
 duly registered, and the correct time was ascertainable. But 
 the many loafers who assisted at our inspection proved no 
 better qualified than the most pedantic of scholars to explain 
 its principles and mode of working. 
 
 Close by is an isolated archway, vulgarly called the Gate of 
 the Agora : but in the first place, the ancient Agora was not 
 in this quarter ; and in the second, an inscription proves it to 
 liave been raised by Julius and Augustus in honour of Athene 
 Archegetis. 
 
 Not far off is a colonnade supported by seven Corintliian 
 columns, the remnant of an enormous cloister, enclosing a 
 quadrangular gymnasium with its accessory buildings. It is 
 now degraded into forming part of the wall of the cavalry
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 45 
 
 barrack - square ; while on the other side is the market, a 
 singularly mal-odorous oriental bazaar. All tliis part of the 
 town consists of mean, densely packed houses, with irregular 
 mud-paved streets ; but fortunately, no other interesting part 
 of the ancient city underlies any modern site. Wedged into 
 the backyards of some of these hovels are remains of the 
 Portico of Attains, chiefly in the form of unrecognisable Portico of 
 fragments of masonry. The inhabitants are duly impressed 
 with a vague sense of their enormous antiquarian value, and, 
 having jDointed out some most uninteresting Eoman inscrip- 
 tion, hopefully expect a considerable haksheesh. 
 
 Of little more interest than these last is the conspicuous Tomb of 
 ruin perched upon a height near the Acropolis, and known as " opappos. 
 the tomb of Philopappos, the Syrian. Enough is left to tes- 
 tify to the strangely composite character of its concave fa9ade. 
 
 Very different is the unpretentious little Choregic monu- Choregic mon- 
 ment of Lysicrates on the opposite side of the Acropolis. Its ^ . 
 
 Lysicrates. 
 
 date, 355 B.C., at once commands attention; moreover, there 
 is no other extant specimen of the kind. Well-informed per- 
 sons will pardon a word of explanation. The x'^PVy^^> or fwi'- 
 nishing a chorus in the annual dramatic competitions, was one 
 of the various " public services " that the Athenians delighted 
 to impose upon their wealthier fellow-citizens. The chorcr/us 
 was practically manager, — in so far, that is, as he was respon- 
 sible for the 7)iisc en schie and appointments generally. With 
 several poets contendiDg for the tragic or comic crown, a 
 healthy spirit of emulation arose also between the respective
 
 4fi ATIIEXS (IF THE PAST. 
 
 choregi, which spirit was fostered by the award of a bronze 
 tripod to the manager who had given the* most universal satis- 
 faction by his magnificence and good taste. Upon this little 
 marble rotonda, with its Corinthian columns and highly decor- 
 ated frieze, Lysicrates, proud of his victory, elevated the prize 
 tripod. 
 
 The above is an imperfect description of the ancient buihl- 
 ings of Athens ; but, as a catalogue, it is tolerably exhaustive. 
 To many tlieir fewness is startling, and the disappointment is 
 not diminished on learning that this small number is about 
 equal to that of all others in the entire Hellenic kingdom. 
 But the worth of such objects admits not of a numerical stan- 
 dard ; and although a Cook's tourist might " do " Athens in a 
 single day, and despise it proportionately, it is certain tliat 
 weeks would not exhaust its capabilities for a lover of Greek 
 art or literature. Neither do her ancient monuments con- 
 stitute more than a small part of the pleasure of a visit to 
 Greece. In spots where no stone is left standing on another, 
 the traveller often feels that he is on holy ground, and satisfies 
 long-felt cravings by gazing on the scenes of mighty events 
 and the sites of famous cities. Such is the sensation evoked 
 by a walk down to Pineus, or an ascent of the Museum 
 Hill, the Areopagus, or the I'nyx. True it is that the little 
 platform on the last, witli its six clean-cut steps, may or may 
 not be the genuine bcma, or oratorical tribune; but none tlie 
 less it is certain tliat within a few yards of that spot, if not 
 actually upon it, stood Pericles, or Demosthenes, or Cleon,
 
 ATHENS OF THE PAST. 47 
 
 uttering words upon which turned events of vital importance 
 to the then civilised world. Now as this approximate cer- 
 tainty is attainable in most places, it follows that those whom 
 it suffices will throughout the country iind oljjects of real 
 interest. But as on the one hand the sight-seer pure and 
 simple is warned off, so on the other the over-minute inquirer 
 is recommended to join the ranks of the archaeologists, and 
 devote not a few weeks, but the remainder of his natural 
 life, to the laudable if futile attempt of identifying the dis- 
 crepant and discovering the non-existent.
 
 48 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 ARETUEN to modern Athens soon dissipates tliese asso- 
 ciations : the hotels with their European life, the shop 
 windows, the be-trousered inhabitants, stifle the imagination 
 Tlic mocleru witli their incongruity. The amiable and conversational gentle- 
 
 Atlieuian. r.ii-i 
 
 man whom you find beside you at dinner, though generally 
 eloquent on the subject of his glorious " ancestors," proves 
 upon interrogation to know absolutely nothing about them. 
 While roundly professing to understand the " ancient tongue," 
 he usually fails ignominiously when put to the test. Much 
 harmless amusement may be obtained by getting some gentle- 
 man or lady to read a little classical poetry, which being Ijy 
 them pronounced solely according to accent, loses all approxi- 
 mation to metre, and becomes a mass of false quantities sufllci- 
 ently monstrous to bring any offending schoolboy into prompt 
 and sharp contact with the birch. No amount of explanation 
 would make tliem see the absurdity of this performance. In 
 jjoint of fact, education, though widely diffused, is usually of
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 49 
 
 the strictly " modern " or " commerical " type, and no race 
 can be more absolutely averse from what they would con- 
 sider the folly of acquiring unprofitable learning. Emi- 
 nently shrewd and practical, the modern Greek scorns all 
 sentiment except patriotism. It is true that the desire to 
 serve his country sometimes stops short when it becomes a 
 question of risking life and property in her behalf ; but in 
 a disinterested eagerness to guide her destinies and pocket 
 her salaries, there is an absolute unanimity. A strange dis- 
 like of manual labour, amounting almost to a mania, com- 
 bined witli the restless mental activity that characterises the 
 entire nation, is at the root of nearly all that is evil in the 
 Hellenic kingdom. 
 
 Politics engross the existence of the modern Athenian Greek politics 
 much as they did those of the ancient, but without any longer 
 leaving him some superfluous energy to expend upon art or 
 literature. The manners and customs of honourable members 
 for provincial constituencies may be studied with much profit 
 in the large hotels, where they generally spend the session 
 with their families ; and even a superficial observer discovers 
 that the profession of politics is not adopted by a very high 
 class of persons. Some men there are, like M. Tricoupis, who, 
 born in the best society of their own country, and brought up 
 among the best of other countries, are nevertheless willing to 
 devote their life to tiie public service ; and innocent natives 
 relate with astonishment how that gentleman, when he hap- 
 pens to be prime minister, does not allow the free and inde- 
 
 D
 
 50 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 pendent electors to be driven out to vote for liim at the point 
 of the bayonet. But most persons of high culture and pri- 
 vate means, like the Phanariots, or ancient nobility, prefer 
 a dignified seclusion, or else devote their energies to the 
 acquisition of wealth, generally in foreign lands. Political 
 morality seems ever to have been divorced from democracies, 
 except in countries like our own, where good traditions have 
 been so deeply rooted as to survive for a time the rise of 
 democratic institutions. Judging from the example of a 
 great and civilised empire like the United States, we can 
 hardly wonder if a little semi- barbarous country be given 
 over to corruption in pul)lic life, if many deputies are of 
 low origin and habits, and if the best men often decline 
 to contaminate themselves with politics. 
 The Boulc. The following facts as to the BovXt/ or Chamber may be 
 
 thought worth recording. It consists of 204^ members (a 
 number equivalent to 4000 or 5000 in the United Kingdom), 
 all receiving payment for their services. These gentlemen 
 are divided into two parties, headed respectively by M. 
 Tricoupis and M. Coumoundouros, between whose policies it 
 is naively confessed that there is no difference of principle ; 
 so each member attaches himself to that side from which he 
 has most to expect. But there are always some waverers 
 declining unqualified allegiance to either leader, and at any 
 moment open to conviction. Tliese honourable members form 
 
 ^ These figures do not include the deputies from the newly acquired provinces : 
 the constitutional arrangements for tliese districts are still under discussion.
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 51 
 
 a third party, under a chief of their own, and voting com- 
 pactly, can at any moment insure the overthrow of a ministry. 
 Consequently, during the nineteen years that have elapsed 
 since the drawing up of the present constitution, there have 
 taken place more than fifty changes of ministry! 
 
 Of course we came in for a crisis, and its progress was Ministerial 
 interesting if not edifying. There seemed no particular 
 occasion for it, except a general idea that the Coumoundour- 
 ists had been in long enough. For some days the BovXrj or 
 Chamber was the scene of intense excitement. From the 
 seclusion of the foreign minister's box could be obtained a 
 characteristic view of this rather handsome apartment. The 
 benches round the two tall pillars that support the roof were 
 black with deputies, except where here and there the white 
 petticoat of some fine old country member added variety to 
 the parterre. The galleries round three sides were crammed 
 with an unsavoury rabble, who took the deepest interest in 
 the proceedings. The faces of all were visible, except that of 
 the orator ; but as his excited words must have been almost 
 unintelligible to our unpractised ear, it did not much signify. 
 Yet in spite of the gravity of the situation, the House, which 
 meets after luncheon, never once adjourned later than 6.30, 
 the hour whereat the claims of dinner begin to make them- 
 selves felt. 
 
 The vote of confidence ended in the defeat of the Coumoun- 
 dourists by a majority of one, which ]\I. Tricoupis cleverly 
 increased by a threat of dissolution in the event of not being
 
 52 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 substantially supported on the next occasion. This manceuvre 
 settled the scruples of many waverers, and the incoming Gov- 
 ernment retained office till October 2 2d — a rather unusually 
 long period of seven months. 
 
 Conversation ^yith Greeks would in any case have turned 
 on politics ; but these events, and the simultaneous approach 
 of our own general election, seemed to drive all other thoughts 
 from their heads. The enormities of Lord Beaconsfield, and 
 tliu hard-heartedness of Europe generally ; the virtues of Mr 
 Gladstone, and the unspeakableness of the Turk, — formed the 
 main themes of their eloquence. Always anxious to make 
 proselytes to Philhellenic views, they are peculiarly prone to 
 " try it on " with Englishmen, whose influence on the affairs 
 of Europe they, as a commercial people, are perhaps disposed 
 to overrate. Thus they make friends very readily up to a 
 certain point ; but an intimate acquaintance with natures so 
 secretive and so different from our own, is in most cases 
 Hospitality, hardly possible. Moreover, hospitality is not one of their 
 weaknesses when it takes any more expensive form than coffee 
 and cigarettes, a refection which all Hellenes of any degree 
 are ready at all hours to press upon strangers. But English- 
 men as a race hardly grow familiar over afternoon calls and 
 Rabat Lakhoum, and their intercourse with natives is apt to 
 stop short of friendship. 
 
 In consequence of this national peculiarity, social festivities 
 are almost confined to the palace and foreign ministries. 
 Nevertheless tliere are a few private liouses that entertain
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 53 
 
 freely; and their efforts, from being so sparingly imitated, 
 deserve the higher appreciation. By the middle of March 
 levies and Court gaieties were over, in anticipation of the 
 near approach of Lent ; but there was just time to see a single 
 ball on the last night of carnival. The hospitable lady of Carnival 
 the house had given her friends leave to bring any one they 
 chose, and as masks might be worn, no names were an- 
 nounced. There was a considerable crowd, for the most 
 part masked, anxious to display their wit, particularly upon 
 strangers, which generally took the form of addressing us in 
 broken English, any further point being either non-existent or 
 so fine as to baffle detection. The proceedings were amusing 
 enough ; dancing took place in a kind of inner hall on a 
 good floor, to the strains of an enthusiastic but slightly erratic 
 band. Square dances were the really important thing, and 
 the British habit of vaguely walking through a quadrille 
 rather scandalised the company. Bound dances were inter- 
 minably long, but then everybody took a turn with everybody 
 else's partner in the most promiscuous manner. On one side 
 was a handsome drawing-room ; on the other a dining-room and 
 two smaller apartments — the latter dedicated to the goddess 
 Nicotine, whose worship some of the ladies appeared to con- 
 sider by no means objectionable. One little trait amused us : 
 we were informed that various people had come uninvited 
 under cover of their masks, who, not wishing to make the 
 hostess's acquaintance or to be known to have been present, 
 would be certain to vanish as soon as the moment came for
 
 54 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 uncovei'iiig their faces. Consequently, at about one o'clock 
 there took place a regular stampede of these delicate-minded 
 persons, leaving the hostess's set in possession of the field. 
 Female But, shade of Byron, what disappointment to gaze upon 
 
 ^^^ ^' the maids of Athens unmasked ! How many a tender illu- 
 
 sion, nursed carefully for the last two hours, was dispelled all 
 in a moment ! The prevailing but erroneous belief in the 
 beauty of Greek women must be founded on his lordship's 
 little poem/ and dates from Turkish times, when the fair sex 
 lived in an almost oriental seclusion, and w^ere assumed by a 
 false analogy to resemble the men, among whom a high stan- 
 dard of good looks undoubtedly prevails. This discovery, 
 though painful, ceases, after a little reflection, to be startling. 
 In the first place, the male, and not the female ideal, was 
 anciently the type of Greek beauty. The Apollo Belvedere, 
 the Faun or the Hermes of Olympia, are surely nearer to 
 perfection than any extant statues of goddesses, always perhaps 
 excepting the Aphrodite of Melos. Any one acquainted with 
 Greek literature, more especially with the writings of the 
 philosophers, will readily assent to this position. Moreover, a 
 strong intermixture of Slavonic and other elements has ren- 
 dered this disproportion between the sexes greater ; and it is 
 a remarkable fact that in islands like Melos, or in inaccessible 
 spots on the mainland — wherever, in short, a purer strain of 
 Hellenic blood has been maintained — there is invariably an 
 advance in the comeliness of the women. Finally, centuries 
 
 ' Ziiri fj.ov (Ttlj ayairw.
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 55 
 
 of hopeless degradation must have tended to produce heredi- 
 tary ugliness in the weaker sex. Putting aside the European 
 life of the capital, which only commenced fifty years ago, and 
 affects an inappreciably small proportion of the population, 
 we may boldly assert that women have scarcely risen above 
 the level of beasts of burden. In all the country districts 
 the men lounge away the livelong day, while their wives 
 hew wood, draw water, and till the fields. Thus a stunted 
 figure, a toil-worn expression, and a tanned complexion, are 
 the general characteristics of Greek womanhood ; and it would 
 take centuries, even if the country had been civilised and the 
 relations of the sexes readjusted on European principles, before 
 an average standard of female good looks could be attained. 
 
 But to return to our ball, which in spite of these considera- 
 tions grew very merry, and was graced by a few lovely faces. 
 At supper the hostess's health was drunk with three times 
 three ; and then followed the Pyrrhic dance, which has rather 
 a depressing effect upon the spirits of a stranger. A cotillon Cotillon. 
 ensued, in which it was perhaps somewhat rash to embark, as 
 there was thenceforth no opportunity for retiring : indeed the 
 hospitable doors were locked in order to prevent the possi- 
 bility of so ungallant a proceeding. At length, at 5.30 the 
 entertainment terminated ; but the fun was by no means all 
 over, for then began an exciting but futile search for our hats, 
 whose English make had excited the admiration of some 
 native gentlemen. There was therefore nothing for it but to 
 sally forth in the head-gear by them discarded, of which it
 
 56 ATHEXS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 may suffice to say, that nothing short of sheer necessity could 
 have induced us to touch it even through the medium of a 
 very long pole. The next delight was the discovery that our 
 Jehu, being, like all his countrymen, an independent-minded 
 man, and misliking the cold, had disregarded his engagement 
 to fetch us away ; so that there was no alternative but to 
 slide back in our pumps over the frozen snow. This cheerful 
 mode of progress under the rising morn was less rigidly 
 straight than it might liave been, owing both to the unsteady- 
 ing nature of ice as a substance to walk upon, and to the 
 frequent attacks of ferocious dogs, who, springing up unexpec- 
 tedly upon low garden- walls, make violent attempts to seize 
 the ears of passers-by. Our involuntary deviations from 
 the direct course were no doubt erroneously, though not un- 
 naturally, attributed to vinous excess. 
 Climate. xhe mention of snow in the middle of March may possibly 
 
 occasion some little surprise ; but there it was, ■ three good 
 inches hard frozen, in the streets of Athens. A passage in 
 ' Childe Harold ' ^ informs us that such a thing never happens ; 
 but Mr W. S. Gilbert having taught us the latitude necessary 
 for interpreting that adverb, we accepted the oft-repeated 
 assurances of the natives to mean tliat snow " liardly ever " 
 lies there, and blessed our misfortune in coming in for one of 
 the extremely rare exceptions. 
 
 In point of fact, the foulness of no climate can surpass the 
 horrors sometimes provided by that of Athens. Snow does not 
 
 ^ Canto ii. stanza 85.
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 57 
 
 remain for long, but it will return again and again. After a 
 still day of cloudless beauty and warmth, the traveller awakes 
 to find a white world ; the flakes continue falling all that 
 day ; on the next the streets are impassable in the thaw ; on 
 the third it rains from morning to night ; the fourth is clear 
 and bright, but with a north wind, in contrast to which any 
 English March breezes are as balmy zephyrs — a wind that 
 drives whole dust-bins into the eyes round every corner, that 
 cuts into the very marrow, and against which it is often im- 
 possible to keep one's feet. For the next month it was the 
 same story in all parts of Greece — an occasional glorious day, 
 followed by several of rain, wind, and hail, proving the fatal 
 mistake of attempting to travel too early in that country. 
 Knowledge only comes with experience, and the one thing need- Best season 
 ful in contemplating such a tour is to abandon the fiction that °^ ^^^^ "^^' 
 the Hellenic kingdom has any pretensions to be called civilised. 
 Let the pilgrim wait for warm weather, say in May or June, 
 and make the same preparations as though he were about to 
 go through Arabia or Central Africa. Particularly let him 
 sleep under canvas : he will be free from the extortionate 
 demands, the insufferable intrusions, and the insect companions 
 of the rural householder. He will also be able to stop where 
 and when he pleases. Under the ordinary system he must 
 reach his destination or pass the night al fresco ; but since 
 it is a favourite pleasantry on the part of the inhabitants 
 to understate distances and misdirect him as to his route, it 
 follows that he may not arrive till hours later than he in-
 
 58 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 tended ; and then, having no time to look about him, must 
 settle down in the first draughty hovel tliat may ofTer itself. 
 Life in Modern Athens is too well known outwardly to need much 
 
 description. Steamers of various lines touch at the Piraeus : 
 Anglo-Indians contrive a short visit either going out or coming 
 home, and the ubiquitous Mr Cook allows his little flock a 
 day or two to get througli the antiquities. It is just this 
 familiarity with the capital that gives rise to the ordinary 
 misconceptions concerning Greece. In Athens, Patras, and 
 Syra, there are life and progress : travellers see no more than 
 these towns, and return impressed with the conviction that 
 the Hellenic kingdom is advancing with rapid strides. Let 
 them go a few miles up country before pronouncing an 
 opinion. 
 
 At any rate, Athenian life is comfortable enough, even if 
 it lack the element of wild excitement. Curious as are the 
 hours and cuisine of private houses, the most fastidious Euro- 
 pean can put up with the hotels. He will find every official 
 only too ready to show him anything : indeed this obliging 
 class of persons seem to imagine tliat a foreigner's sole 
 object in going so far is to study the institutions of to-day; 
 and an antiquarian's hardly concealed indifference is to them 
 totally unintelligible. For a time this communicativeness is 
 amusing rather than otherwise, and existence is very tolerable ; 
 then tliere is developed a feeling of monotony, due to a lack 
 of special occupation rather than to any want of agreeable 
 companionship. A Court, a corjjs diplomatique, a legislative
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 59 
 
 body, and naval officers of all nations, form a society re- 
 sembling on a small scale that of a Western capital. But the 
 ordinary distractions of Western life are wanting. Native art 
 would seem to be non-existent ; native music is almost con- 
 fined to the military bands ; native literature does not rise 
 above the level of journalism ; native drama there is none, 
 except a few open - air performances in the summer. No 
 wonder that King George likes to visit his great relations 
 in other countries, when all his home amusements depend 
 entirely upon himself. There is one permanent theatre, to 
 which he occasionally imports foreign troupes. One of these 
 " European companies " had been advertised for some days 
 previous to our arrival, and every one was looking forward 
 to the opera ; but when the evening in question came, there 
 were no performers, and, what was more, they never arrived 
 at all : whether frightened by the gales, or engulfed in the 
 blue waters of the Mediterranean, or permanently incapacitated 
 through sea-sickness, must remain to all time a mystery. His 
 Majesty's chief solace appears to consist in his private skating- 
 rink, and in shooting on the one or two islands which are his 
 own property. 
 
 If Eoyalty be thus threatened with boredom, tlie life of the 
 subject can hardly be expected to be very rolKcking. To sit 
 outside the cafSs in the Square of the Constitution and listen 
 to the strains of the band, or to drive and walk along the dusty 
 Patissia road, are the most ordinary forms of amusement. In 
 summer, expeditions to Pirseus and Phalerum, with a view to
 
 60 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 a very occasional bathe, are added to this round of delights. 
 Some gentlemen display the soundness of their views as to 
 morality and political economy by advocating the establish- 
 ment of gaming-tables at the Pirreus, with a hope of cutting 
 out Monte Carlo, and bestowing upon their own port a noble 
 pre-eminence as a gathering-point for universal blackguardism. 
 Gambling The gambling instinct is unfortunately ineradicable from 
 
 propensi es. ^^^^ Greek nature. Even in the smallest towns, groups are to 
 be seen playing the whole day long at " casino " or some other 
 improving pastime. The technical meaning of " Un Grec " 
 sufficiently indicates the reputation of the nation "vvith re- 
 ference to games of skill, — apparently rather a tender point, 
 seeing that a French gentleman of immense powers of leger- 
 demain utterly refused to show off his card-tricks before his 
 Hellenic friends, for fear of being thought to allude to the 
 national weakness, in which case a challenge must have in- 
 evitably ensued. Another instructive example is furnished by 
 an Englishman who, being desirous of learning the language, 
 made arrangements for entering en pension into a respectable 
 native family. The staple evening's amusement consisted of 
 penny loto, wherein parents and children all took part ; but 
 the stranger was soon requested always to read out the nuni- 
 l)ers — because, as was subsequently explained, if that duty 
 was intrusted to any member of the family, it was found by 
 experience that that person invariably won. 
 
 Active exercise is not more favourably regarded by the 
 \\\)\)GT classes tlian by the lower : indeed opportunities for its
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 61 
 
 indulgence cannot but be scanty where there is no country- 
 house life, and where the absence of means of communication 
 confines educated persons to the towns. Some English resi- 
 dents established an asphalt lawn-tennis court on a bit of 
 unoccupied building-ground, but the citizens never took kindly 
 to the game ; and on the accession to power of a Eussophil 
 ministry it was shut up, on the x^lea that it was required for 
 military purposes. 
 
 The modern buildings require but a few words. The glare Modem 
 of the white marble is so strong as to take away all pleasure ^^" *■ ^°^^' 
 from a close inspection ; but from the top of Lycabettus — the 
 Arthur's Seat of Athens — an agreeable view can be obtained. 
 Close under it lies Stadium Street, with the Boule (or Cham- 
 ber), Post-Office, and British Legation. In the next boule- 
 vard is the smart-looking university, the centre of education 
 for more than a thousand students, at once the pride and 
 curse of the country. At the end of these streets is the 
 Palace, with its handsome gardens, generally open to the 
 public, but exceptionally closed against us on a snowy day, 
 on the ground that his Majesty was at that moment em- 
 ployed in shooting woodcock therein. Beyond is another 
 boulevard, with the English and Russian churches, and, in 
 front of the Palace, the Square of the Constitution, with the 
 large hotels, and with Hermes Street running out of it right 
 away to the railway station. Full in the middle of this street 
 stands the funny little church of Capnicaria — a many-domed 
 Byzantine edifice, and, like all the old churches of Athens,
 
 62 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 extremely small. At any rate, it is quaint and interesting, 
 and contrasts pleasantly with the modern cathedral, a large 
 pink building, wherein a touch of lloman architecture is 
 incongruously blended with Byzantine. 
 Museums. There still remain to be mentioned the Museums, contain- 
 
 ing much botli of beauty and of interest. But that disinte- 
 grating tendency which prevented united action among the 
 ancient Hellenes, is strongly rooted in the nature of their 
 successors. It is in consequence of this antipathy to central- 
 isation that every little deme insists upon starting its own 
 " museum ; " so that works of art are often relegated to some 
 windowless wooden hovel, in spots unvisited by civilised man. 
 
 Similarly, there are in Athens several of these institutions, 
 although one moderate-sized building would easily comprise 
 the contents of all. Nor is the visitor annoyed merely by 
 having to move from place to place in studying objects of the 
 same class ; for he soon finds that each museum is only open 
 on one or two days in the week, and that between stated 
 hours. The reason was admitted to be, that a single attendant 
 lias to look after all six, and consequently only one is acces- 
 sible at a time. 
 
 Three of the " museums " are conducted on a charmingly 
 simple plan. Anything picked up in the neighbourhood is 
 thrown in anyhow, without record of where or when it was 
 found ; so that fragments of the same piece of sculpture may 
 be lying in the four corners of the room, without the slightest 
 prospect of ever being reunited. To an ordinary stranger.
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 63 
 
 necessarily making rather a hurried inspection, tliis arrange- 
 ment affords more amusement than instruction. These re- 
 marks apply to the Temple of Theseus, which contains a cap- Theseum. 
 ital set of casts of its own frieze — taken from the original in 
 the British Museum — and a hopeless confusion of unlabelled 
 odds and ends. They are also true of the two establishments on 
 the Acropolis, — one in the pinacotheca on the left of the Pro- 
 pylsea, and the other in a wooden shed to the east of the 
 Parthenon. Here, again, nothing is intelligible except the 
 casts of the Elgin marbles presented by our Government. 
 
 Somewhat better kept are the other three. There is the 
 Varvakion in Athene Street, containing some excellent mir- The Var- 
 rors, gold bracelets, and pottery. It was founded in accord- 
 ance with the will of a certain M. BapjSaKi, one of those 
 wealthy foreign Greeks who have done so much for the capital 
 of their race. 
 
 The National Museum is worth a protracted visit : there are National 
 good busts and vases ; but most interesting are the reliefs, 
 either tombstones or representations of OUo-ol (religious pro- 
 cessions). Here also is the celebrated " Macedonian " soldier, 
 now ignominiously laid upon his back. The funeral monu- 
 ments are remarkable for beauty and simplicity. The motive 
 is generally the same : the dead person is depicted as about 
 to depart on a far journey, and is taking leave of sorrowing 
 friends. The laudatory paragraphs and sesquipedalian epithets 
 of some of our tombstones are here unknown. The following 
 are specimens taken at random : A woman is seated ; a figure,
 
 64 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 
 
 apparently that of a younger woman, is stooping to touch her 
 sandal — she is probably preparing her for her long, long 
 voyage : the only inscription is, " Ameinocleia, daughter of 
 Andromenes." ^ Again, a comely matron sits taking some- 
 thing from a casket presented to her by a handmaiden ; a 
 child at her feet is holding a bird upon her knee : we read, 
 " In this spot earth covers Archestratie, the good and prudent, 
 most deeply lamented by her husband." ^ Or a young woman 
 supports a little girl upon her knees, of whom it is said, 
 " Here lies Polyxene, who has left a legacy of sorrow to hus- 
 band, mother, and father." ^ Still more simple is another slab, 
 on which four figures are represented, three bidding farewell to 
 the fourth : there is no legend, except, " Damasistrate weeps 
 for . . . " ^ (the dead person's name being obliterated). 
 Dr Schlie- But by far the most interesting collection at the present 
 
 moment is that of T)r Schliemann, which contains, besides 
 
 tion. 
 
 other things, the whole of the great excavator's discoveries 
 at Mycenae, save the so-called corpse of Agamemnon, which 
 would not bear transportation. English critics had laid such 
 stress upon the rudeness of most of these articles, that we 
 were agreeably surprised at tlie elaborate workmanship of 
 many of the gold instruments. Some of the signet-rings and 
 
 ^ 'AfifivoKXfla AvSpofjifvovs 6vya.TT}p. 
 - "EvdaSe tV ayaO'flv Kal <Tw(ppova yai' (Ka\v\l/(v 
 Tiiv 'Apx^^'^pi^T'^V dfSpi TrodeivoTUTTiv. 
 
 "* TlfvOoS KOVptSicp T€ ir({(T€( KOt /J-TITpl KiTToicra 
 
 Kal iroTpl T(p <pvcravTi YloKv^fi/T] (vOaSf Kurai. 
 , ■• AafiaffiffTpdrr) yoS ....
 
 ATHENS OF TO-DAY. 65 
 
 cups can hardly belong to a prehistoric age, although we 
 may readily assign to it the ox-headed idols and funeral para- 
 phernalia. The latter consist of masks, enormous crowns, and 
 circular plates sewn on to the robes in which the departed 
 hero was buried. All are of gold beaten thin and much orna- 
 mented. A rude representation of a butterfly is the ordinary 
 emblem upon the plates ; and a Christian's fancy may be 
 pardoned for tracing, even erroneously, in that symbol a 
 strange foreshadowing of his own great doctrine of resurrection 
 to a better life. 
 
 Not less remarkable than his museum is Dr Schliemann 
 himself, who, having married a Greek lady, intends to settle 
 down in Athens, where he is building himself a fine new 
 house, called most appropriately Troy Hall. It is a large 
 Italian-looking building, surmounted by statues of gods and 
 heroes ; but as it was not yet fit for habitation, we found the 
 famous discoverer in a little house behind it. Always cour- 
 teous, he insisted upon an interview in spite of extreme pres- 
 sure of work : it was very annoying to learn that this cause 
 alone was to deprive us of the really great privilege of explor- 
 ing Athens in his company. But ten hours a-day of literary 
 labour leave little time for recreation, and he was just then em- 
 ployed upon the proof-sheets of his great work, ' The City of 
 Priam,' which he had chosen to write in English ; but as it was 
 being simultaneously translated by other persons into French 
 and German, and proofs were constantly arriving in all three 
 languages, the task of correction was anything but light. 
 
 E
 
 66 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 A' 
 
 NY expedition necessitating a night out had better not be 
 attempted without a regular guide and equipment ; and 
 as nearly all points of interest lie to the west of Athens, they 
 should if possible be brought within the set tour which the 
 Sunium. traveller may propose to himself. Cape Colonna or Sunium 
 
 affords one splendid exception, with its Temple of Athene, ever 
 dear to the ancient Athenian — yearned for in absence, hailed 
 witli rapture on the homeward voyage as the first object that 
 spoke of his native land.^ Two or three days must be devoted 
 to this visit, unless a trip by steamer chance to offer itself; 
 but in any case, tlie time spent will not be regretted. 
 
 There are, however, various excursions to be comfortably 
 accomplished in a single day, — notaldy those to Marathon, 
 
 ' .Sn],li. Ajux, 1217 :— 
 
 ytvolfiav 'Iv' v\a,ev iirecTTi iruvTov 
 irp6fi\7]fi aXiKKuffTov, 8.Kpai> 
 iiirb TrAo/ca 'Zovviov, 
 
 TttS Upas UTTUIS 
 
 Trpoffeiirui/xtf 'Aflacay.
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 67 
 
 Eleusis, Pliyle, and the summits of Hymettns or Penteliciis. 
 One of the latter is on all accounts to be recommended, as 
 giving a true idea of the configuration of Attica. Accordingly, Asceut of 
 one fine morning, a party consisting of two Englishmen and a 
 Greek gentleman and lady, might have been observed driving 
 out beneath the crags of Lycabettus, en route for PenteHcus. 
 In saying " might have been," we could with perfect truth 
 have added that they certainly were observed, for the Greek 
 possesses that unwearied curiosity about other people's affairs 
 apparently common to all astute but incurably idle races ; 
 hence the extraordinary freemasonry by which, just as in 
 Ireland, the population is informed beforehand of tlie approach 
 of strangers, and seems to know instinctively all about them 
 and their previous movements. But Attica was just then 
 pronounced clear of brigands, so the friendly interest of the 
 natives gave no cause for alarm. At first there is some culti- 
 vation and a few villas, habitable enough at the present 
 moment, but liable to an irruption of Klephts in troubled 
 times, such as 1862 and 1863, when peaceable persons were 
 carried off from the Acropolis itself. 
 
 For an hour the caniage rolls along the plain, the cultiva- 
 tion of which is distinctly capable of improvement, seeing that 
 it very often consists in letting the soil alone. The sown 
 patches never have any kind of fence, so that the flocks and 
 herds often have a grand time of it amono- the wheat. Then 
 comes the village of Khalandri,-^ birthplace of Pericles, where 
 
 ^ Anciently Cholargos.
 
 68 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 the driver insists upon watering his horses and inspiriting 
 himself. The tenderness of Greek drivers for tlieir cattle is 
 largely developed, and they can never pass a pot-house without 
 alighting. The dearness and slowness of Greek vehicles come 
 rather as a shock to those who have just left southern Italy, 
 where the cattle, if inferior, are also cheap, and contrive to 
 get through tlieir work with reasonable rapidity. That the 
 Hellenic horses really fare better than their Italian brethren 
 is at least an open question. 
 
 Soon afterwards the ascent begins ; and the scenery grows 
 more and more lovely, the road winding along richly wooded 
 ravines and murmuring streams — very rare luxuries in " thin- 
 Convent of soiled " Attica. The road ends at the convent of Mendeli, 
 standing on a fresh grass-plot beneath the shade of mighty 
 poplars, between a huge scaur on one hand and the first 
 gentle slopes of Pentelicus on the other. The abbot and 
 council have unfortunately gone down to Athens for the day, 
 and no notice of our arrival has been sent ; hence the junior 
 brethren and acolytes are by no means too cordial, and, after 
 the manner of orientals, adopt an attitude of non possumus. 
 However, they are induced to let us have a room to lunch 
 in, pending the preparation of which we visit the monastery 
 chapel — a rude whitewashed building, covered with the most 
 astounding frescoes, representing unheard - of saints of the 
 Eastern Church undergoing equally unheard-of tortures. 
 
 It is now a question of procuring a guide up the mountain ; 
 but Theophanes, the stranger's servant, has a sudden access of
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 69 
 
 soreness in the feet, which only the offer of many drachmae is 
 successful in curing. After passing some pine-woods the climb 
 begins, at first up a salita paved with the whitest marble. 
 But this relic of Athenian greatness becomes hidden by cUhris 
 as we approach the region of the quarries. Marble every- 
 where, till the eye is numbed with picking out a path among 
 the glittering lumps. 
 
 The first halt is at the famous grotto near the old quarries, 
 a vast chamber beneath an overhanging cliff. Its insidious 
 coolness invites the pilgrim to rest from his labours and slake 
 his thirst with the lime-water filtering through the countless 
 stalactites. At the entrance is a grotesque little chapel, more 
 curious than awe-inspiring. Then away to the top through 
 deepening snow, an utter desolation save for a few dwarf firs 
 and a pair of eagles circling overhead. Below us lies the Plain of 
 semicircular plain of Marathon, spread out like a map. There 
 is the spot where the Persian forces landed ; there the marsh 
 where their cavalry fell into confusion ; there the slopes 
 whence the Athenians charged headlong upon their line. 
 Across the narrow strip of deep-blue water shine the snowy 
 peaks of Eubcea, and far away the strait goes winding up to 
 Chalcis, while over the smooth ^gean the gleaming Cyclades 
 rise point beyond point and fade into the hazy distance. 
 The foreground on this side is wild and uninhabited, in 
 harmony with the precipitous character of the mountain ; and 
 the spectator ceases to wonder how brigands could maintain 
 themselves in a territory so small as Attica. On the other
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 side, rnrnnssus and the Peloponnesian mountains form a noble 
 background to the vast Attic pLain, now appearing a dead flat, 
 save where a tiny swell, as of a w^avelet on a summer sea, 
 marks the range of Lycabettus. 
 Monks. An hour brings us down to fmd the hospitable old abbot 
 
 returnedoand much annoyed at not having known beforehand 
 of our coming. A vague report also floats up that the father 
 of one of our companions has been appointed Minister of lie- 
 ligion and Public Instruction in the newly formed Government. 
 It turns out subsequently to be untrue, although there was 
 no antecedent improbability that a flne old Greek gentleman, 
 one of the few survivors of tlie war of independence, speaking 
 none but his native tongue, and wearing none but his native 
 dress, wlio had sat for Attica ever since there had been a 
 representative assembly, should be selected for a place in the 
 Cabinet. At any rate, this rumour has the effect of increasing, 
 if possible, the kindly demonstrations of our entertainers, who 
 do all in their power to make up for the former backwardness 
 of their subordinates. We find that the largest, and therefore 
 most elderly rooster, has been sacrified in our absence, and 
 is even now browning on the spit ; while bread, cheese, wine, 
 and aromatic mountain -honey are spread out in the guest- 
 chamljer. But the prospect of dining in Atliens is more 
 agreeable, and we have to make ready for departure — wliicli 
 is only permitted on our consenting to take away with us all 
 these delicacies, inchiding the bird, which, it being Lent, is 
 of no possible use to the brethren. The following day an
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 71 
 
 attempt upon his carcass was duly made, out of affection for 
 our simple old host, but had to be abandoned as hopeless. 
 
 And now the time has come for leaving the city of Athens rieparations 
 and entering upon less beaten tracks. Of course some souvenirs 
 are hunted for ; but to those intending to visit Athens we 
 say emphatically, " Buy nothing." There is not an •original 
 industry in the place. A hand-loom institution for destitute 
 women j)roduces some coarse imitations of oriental fabrics, but 
 had better only be patronised on charitable grounds. There 
 are also genuine Turkish stuffs to be purchased in the town, 
 but probably no cheaper than in London. Finally, beware of Sale of 
 antiquities : everybody has some to dispose of, but unfortu- 
 nately every one is well aware of their value, or, if ignorant, 
 only asks the more ridiculous prices. We were much amused 
 at one little incident. Our dragoman one day brought up a 
 tolerably well-preserved cameo, saying that its owner wanted 
 to know whether we should like to purchase it. The price 
 was asked, and 2000 francs named. This produced a roar of 
 laughter, and the ring was sent down-stairs with thanks. 
 Subsequently the dragoman informed us that the owner had 
 possessed this work of art for fifteen years, during which 
 time he had offered it to every Englishman who had passed 
 through Athens, without abating a drachma of his demands. 
 Verily we began to believe the legend of the Sibylline books. 
 
 In Hermes Street is a pretentious institution called " The 
 Minerva," devoted to the sale of antiquities and photographs. 
 The former, we were informed by connoisseurs, are mostly
 
 72 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 genuine, but 50 per cent dearer than in London or Paris. 
 But still greater astonishment resulted from an inspection, by 
 invitation, of the splendid private collection of the Archaeo- 
 logical Professor in the University. After most courteously 
 displaying his treasures, he let fall some remark that caused 
 considerable surprise and led to certain questions, which elicited 
 the fact that every object had its price — about 20 per cent 
 higher than at the Minerva. We sighed and thought of 
 Athens, like Jugurtha of Piome, as " a place where all things 
 are for sale : the city itself, if it could find a purchaser." 
 Dragomans. But now for our final arrangements, a task of much time 
 
 and trouble. The choice of a dragoman is about the most 
 important and delicate preliminary ; but in this case circum- 
 stances solved the difficulty. So rare have travellers become, 
 that the entire Hellenic kingdom only boasts four " first- 
 class" guides. Of these one is an apparently unexceptionable 
 Corfiote, but he was engaged by some " dons " who had had 
 ■ the forethought to secure his services several weeks previously. 
 The second was the hero of the Marathon tragedy ; and as 
 he had had the misfortune to fall among thieves on two other 
 previous occasions, his claims were soon dismissed. Then came 
 a young man who had only just set up in the business, so that 
 his inexperience was considered a drawback. Finally, there 
 was a Maltee of some standing, to whose tender mercies Fate 
 thus committed us. 
 
 Let no traveller imagine that he can dispense with such an 
 encumbrance. Even should he be able to converse fluently
 
 s=^ 
 
 EXGUESIONS FROM ATHENS. 73 
 
 with the natives, he would find existence unbearable had he 
 to make all his bargains directly with them. Indeed he would 
 probably emerge from the interior starved, plundered, and de- 
 voured. In the first place, he must take his own bed or 
 sleep upon the floor ; in the second, he requires a cook and a 
 portable kitchen ; lastly, he must carry many of his own pro- 
 visions along with him, for native victuals are a sorry support 
 under the fatigues of travel in the interior. Moreover, several 
 beasts of burden are necessary for himself and his luggage, so 
 that the addition of a few extra men and animals scarcely 
 adds to the unwieldiness of his cavalcade. 
 
 The dragoman contracts to find food, lodging, and transport Travelling 
 
 necessaries, 
 for a fixed amount — usually ±.2 per head per diem. This 
 
 does not include such extras as baksheesh to drivers, guides, or 
 soldiers, carriage-hire where there are roads, or bottled wine. 
 The latter is worthy of mention, because the wine of the 
 country is invariably full of resin, and tastes like pitch ; so 
 that most Europeans regard it as the traditional writer of 
 the prize poem on Nebuchadnezzar represents the Babylon- 
 ish monarch as regarding his provender — namely, with the 
 feeling that 
 
 " It may be wholesome, but it isn't good." 
 
 Any attempt to defray current expenses in person, paying the 
 dragoman for his services only, will be invariably found to end 
 in a loss. The best course is to agree to any sum that may 
 be demanded beforehand, and to decline all subsequent bar-
 
 74 EXCURSIOXS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 gaining, since money transactions with the natives are enough 
 to bring most persons to an early grave. 
 
 The next thing is to settle approximately one's route. 
 Hrigainlagc. This must largely depend upon the condition of brigandage at 
 the moment. Its fluctuations will generally have been com- 
 municated to the British Minister, whose advice must in all 
 cases be sought and acted upon. He is certain not to err 
 upon the side of rashness, so that liis assent to a proposed 
 journey brings with it a comforting sense of security. Those 
 persons who travelled before the accession of Mr Gladstone's 
 Government, and the resulting disturbances in Eastern Europe, 
 are to be accounted extremely fortunate, since Greece was 
 probably more quiet at that time than it is likely to be for 
 many years, now that 60,000 armed men have been or are 
 about to be disbanded. 
 
 In the spring of 1880 a large tract of country was open 
 to travellers. The frontier was of course utterly insecure, so 
 that Thermopyhe was out of the question ; and the recent 
 capture of Colonel Synge, an officer of the Turkish gen- 
 darmerie, carried off from his own house by tlie notorious 
 Niko, formed an effective commentary on official assurances 
 as to this point. Moreover, in the previous November the 
 Hellenic Government had notified formally to Lord Salisbury 
 that there were brigand chiefs in Acarnania and ^tolia who 
 might make arrangements for the cai)ture of English sports- 
 men and tourists, in which event King George's Government 
 declined to be answerable for any ransom that they might
 
 EXGUESIONS FROM ATHENS. 75 
 
 exact. However, unless shooting be the object in view, it is 
 no serious deprivation to have to leave these districts un- 
 vi sited. 
 
 The British Minister being informed of the route selected, 
 will procure a circular letter addressed to all nomarchs, 
 eparclis, and demarchs, commanding them to " offer due hos- 
 pitality and assistance to A. B. and C. D., British subjects," 
 &c., &c. Tlie aforesaid A. B. and C, D. are, however, advised 
 to place more reliance on their own dragoman, and on the per- 
 suasive power of his drachmae, than on all the local officials of 
 the kingdom put together. 
 
 The Government next insists upon telegraphing to each 
 place which it is proposed to visit, acquainting the municipal 
 authorities with the fact — a somewhat supererogatory proceed- 
 ing, and extremely useful to the Klephts if a stray gang or 
 two should chance to have escaped the watchful eye of tlie 
 gendarmerie. However, all* these preliminaries must be taken 
 in good part, as proofs of the extreme care and courtesy of the 
 Government, who, being well aware that the interior is not a 
 bed of roses, and that its dangers are considerable, are really 
 anxious to avoid the indelible stio-ma of another such catas- 
 trophe as the Marathon massacre in 1870. The fact that 
 two quiet Englishmen are about to set out on a journey up- 
 country would hardly seem to be one of very great interest ; 
 but so rare comparatively is this event, such publicity does it 
 acquire from the authorities, and so insatiable is the curiosity 
 of the population, that the traveller, much to his disgust, finds
 
 ^y 
 
 76 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 
 
 liimself a cause of general excitement. Tlie fact that two 
 other parties happened to be starting almost simultaneously, 
 tended in our case greatly to increase this feeling. 
 
 It being advisable to use carriages wherever practicable, we 
 determined to begin our ramble with a driving excursion into 
 Euboea, so as to break gently the transition from the comforts 
 of Athens to the hardships of the interior. In this we were 
 to be accompanied by our Greek friends, to whom it seemed 
 advisable to show something of their own country; for, strange 
 as it may appear, cultivated Hellenes possessing an inti- 
 mate acquaintance with France, Italy, and England, generally 
 know nothing of Greece, there being little inducement, even if 
 there were greater facilities, to go beyond the suburbs of the 
 principal towns. 
 
 The first thing was to secure a good roomy carriage : but 
 in Greece no one knows anything ; consequently, even at tlie 
 establishment whence the mails start, complete ignorance is 
 professed of time or distance. All estimate as to cost is 
 refused ; and finally, when pressed, the foreman vows that he 
 does not even know how often in the week the post starts for 
 or comes in from Chalcis. The purpose of this manoeuvre is 
 to gain time for arranging his proposed extortion, for in the 
 afternoon he calls at the hotel with exorbitant proposals. 
 These are at first declined, and various drivers are spoken to 
 in the streets : but they liave all discovered the purpose for 
 which they are wanted ; and so perfect is the freemasonry of
 
 EXCURSIONS FROM ATHENS. 77 
 
 the fraternity, that every man demands the same identical 
 sum as our first friend. 
 
 But there is still one sacred duty to be performed : a Acropolis by 
 moonlight farewell of the Acropolis must be taken. So at a "^"^^ ^^ '* 
 late hour a jovial international party passes up the winding 
 ascent, and rouses from his first sleep the ancient guardian of 
 the gate. But the threshold once passed, frivolity dies away 
 before the solemn weirdness of the hour and place. A full 
 Southern moon brings out into the sharpest relief every angle 
 of the entablatures, every fluting of the columns ; while the 
 impenetrable blackness of the shadows imparts to the Parth- 
 enon a sense of indefinite vastness. Not a sound breaks the 
 stillness of the night : it is a moment to impress the most 
 light-minded with a feeling of vague awe, to overwhelm the 
 thoughtful with a flood of mighty memories. But all things 
 have an end, and we pass out in silence. We may never 
 again stand upon that glorious height, but its form will remain 
 engraven on the soul with a vividness which no other scene 
 can approach.
 
 78 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DRH'ING TOUIt : THEBES AND CIIALCIS. 
 
 SLEEP banishes these reflections, and still more the im- 
 mediate necessity for getting off in the morning. Our 
 excellent friends are, up to the last moment, in some doubt 
 about going ; but a fine morning and the sight of a carriage 
 with four horses determines them to make the effort. So at 
 about ten "we trot away, and jniU up near the Church of Holy 
 Street of Trinity in order to examine the tombs. These ran for some 
 
 distance beside the Sacred "Way, so called because along it 
 passed the Theoria or Procession to celebrate the mysteries at 
 Eleusis. Some of the best reliefs have been covered with 
 wirework — a very necessary precaution in Greece for anti- 
 quities not otherwise protected. One of the best monuments 
 represents a horseman overthrowing a hoplite, or heavy-armed 
 foot-soldier ; and another is very peculiar, depicting four per- 
 sons seated at the festal board taking leave of a fifth, wlio has 
 one foot on the land and another in a boat, evidently tliat of 
 the "grim ferryman" Charon — no doubt a memorial of some
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CHALCIS. 
 
 one cut suddenly oft' in the full tide of youth and pleasure. 
 There are also plain stones with the names of whole families 
 inscribed upon them, the same name usually recurrino- in al- 
 ternate generations, except where a break indicates the decease 
 of an eldest son without male issue. 
 
 Thence away through the great olive-grove, leaving on our 
 right the Colonus or hillock where blind old CEdipus ^ sat him 
 
 ^ Soph. (Ed. Col., 16 and 668. The latter reference is to the celebrated chorus 
 descriptive of the beauties of the Colonus — that chorus which its author is said to 
 have quoted in old age as convincing proof of his sanity. The place is now 
 sadly changed. The following is a rough rendering of the first strophe : — 
 " To the bravest spot in our land, the home 
 Of goodliest steeds, thou, stranger, art come : 
 To Colonus the white, 
 Where the sweet bird of night 
 Doth warble most oft 'neath her leafy dome, — 
 She that loveth to cower 
 In the god's pathless bower 
 'Mid the ivy dark with its numberless fruit. 
 Where the sun's rays scorch not and storms are mute, 
 Ever haunted by Bacchus, of revellers first. 
 With the maidens divine who his infancy nursed. 
 And here, where dews of heaven downpour, 
 
 Blooms all day long in clusters fair 
 Narcissus, Avith whose flowers of yore 
 Great goddesses entwined their hair ; 
 Here gleams the crocus with its golden rays. 
 Nor fails Cephissus in the wandering maze 
 Of his streams fertilising, 
 But their founts ever rising 
 With limpid wave 
 This country lave, 
 And run the whole day o'er its swelling plains. 
 Nor the band of the Muses this spot disdains, 
 For they hither repair 
 To dance, with the fair 
 Aphrodite, Queen of the golden reins."
 
 80 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 
 
 down before imploring the hospitality and protection of the 
 Athenian people — a " place full of bay -trees, olives, and 
 vines, wherein many nightingales sweetly sang." Then 
 Daplini. ou to Daplini, tlie highest point of tlie pass connecting 
 
 together the Attic and Thriasian plains. The horses are 
 pronounced thirsty, so we examine a little ruined Byzantine 
 church and a neighbouring monastery with the quaintest 
 of cloisters or cliapels. Then down the descent between 
 Mounts Icarus and Corydallus, past the site of the temple 
 of the rustic love goddess Aphrodite Phile, where numerous 
 little niches in the smooth scarped rock attest the assiduity of 
 her worship among the simple maidens of the district ; and 
 forward to the seashore, along which our road runs as far as 
 Eleusis. 
 
 On the right are the Eheitoi lakes, separated from the sea 
 only by a narrow strip of land ; but though their water is 
 salt, they are fed by springs of their own. This puzzled the 
 ancients, who, knowing of no other salt-water current except 
 the Euripus,^ sagely suggested that they were fed from it. 
 These meres were sacred to Demeter and her daughter Per- 
 sephone, and the fish contained in them were reserved for 
 the exclusive use of their priests. 
 
 "We are now in the Eleusinian territory, and enter upon 
 the Thriasian plain, sheltered from the four winds of heaven, 
 but no longer dedicated to the corn goddess, for it lies deso- 
 late under the curse of indolence and barbarism. Through 
 
 ' Pans. i. 38, 1.
 
 IL.Ji I hi Hi ;,al'«H'' '^li 

 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 81 
 
 the midst flows the Cephissus — not the stream of that name 
 which we crossed two hours ago, but its Eleusinian namesake. 
 Fancy two Ouses or Dees only ten miles apart ! These details 
 are interesting as marking the isolation of each plain or valley 
 of ancient Hellas — a consideration never to be lost sioht of in 
 reading and interpreting its history. 
 
 After passing some Eoman ruins, the relics of Adrian's Eleusis. 
 munificence, we enter the squalid village now occupying the 
 site of the sacred city of Attica. Its past, like its physical 
 aspect, seems capable of but a vague reconstruction. Ancient 
 authors usually refrain from even hinting at the nature of its 
 mysteries ; and great must have been their reputed sanctity, 
 when we find Eoman emperors eagerly undergoing the cere- 
 mony of initiation, and writers ^ of the empire declaring 
 themselves forbidden in their dreams so much as to describe 
 the interior of the sacred enclosure. The conquest of Eleusis 
 by Erechtheus, and its union with Athens on terms of semi- 
 independence, belong to the epoch of legend. The annual 
 processions along the Sacred Way, with their strange medley 
 of ribaldry and reverence, extend over the whole period of 
 history. Arguing from analogy and fragmentary allusions in 
 Greek authors, we may infer that the doctrines taught were 
 moral truths based on and extracted from the grosser legends 
 of the popular mythology, thus approaching the Christian con- 
 ception of " religion " — a notion almost wholly wanting in the 
 public cult of the ancients. The powers worshipped were 
 
 1 Paus. i. 38, 6. 
 F
 
 82 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CHALCIS. 
 
 Demeter, " Mother Earth," and her daughter Persephone, Queen 
 of the nether world ; so that it is doing no violence to prob- 
 ability to assume that the initiated gained moral strength for 
 their life here, with good hope for that beyond the grave. 
 
 At the present day a collection of wretched hovels stands 
 over the buried remains of all this greatness. Some sites, 
 such as those of tlie two Propyloea, have undergone attempts 
 at clearance, and can be traced with an approach to accuracy. 
 The greater Propyla^a were said to be an exact imitation of 
 those of the Parthenon, a statement to which there is nothing 
 antagonistic in the forms of the surrounding fragments. Small 
 subterranean chambers have also been discovered ; but the 
 position of the great temple of Demeter cannot be determined 
 with precision. It is vaguely discernible from the enormous 
 marble masses that peer up through the soil between every 
 hut and cabin. 
 
 In a little khani a frugal meal is ordered, consisting of 
 hard-boUed eggs, salt cheese of the consistency of a deal- 
 board, and the resined wine of the country ; but we are told, 
 for our consolation, that as it is Lent, we ought to think our- 
 selves lucky in getting even so much as this. 
 
 Tlie population of " Lefsina " turns out to be almost purely 
 Albanian, a settlement left behind during one of the Slav 
 immigrations into the Morea ; consequently, its language is as 
 a rule wholly unintelligible to our Greek friends. The latter 
 try to make the landlord believe tliat their companions are 
 two Turkish Beys ; but that gentleman, after expectorating, to
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 83 
 
 express his disgust at the mention of the Moslem, declines 
 to accept the statement, and hazards an opinion that the 
 strangers are " Lords " — i. e.. Englishmen. It may here be 
 remarked parenthetically that the Greeks divide the entire 
 human race, neither exhaustively nor scientifically, into 
 Hellenes, Lords, Europeans, and Turks. 
 
 From the Acropolis, between which rock and the shore the Xerxes' seat, 
 village stands, there is a good view of " sea-girt Salamis " and 
 the " rocky brow " on the mainland where Xerxes is said to 
 have sat. The exact spot pointed out by the public is the hol- 
 low between two tall peaks some mile or more away. Gigantic 
 indeed must have been the monarch's proportions if they in 
 any degree fitted this huge arm-chair of nature's upholstering, 
 and well would he have deserved his title of " Great King." 
 
 Less than half an hour brings us to the village of Mandra, 
 where, in spite of their long rest, the horses again develop a 
 thirst. The only fact of interest elicited by our halt is, that 
 this considerable population possesses neither stream nor well 
 of its own, but fetches all its water from Eleusis. After this 
 point the road lies between tall and densely wooded hills, and 
 curls up and down by bold zigzags, affording from its higher 
 points farewell glimpses of Hymettus and PenteKcus. Drought 
 again seizes our steeds at Mazi, near the ancient Q^noe ; and 
 having stretched our legs upon a plain carpeted with anem- 
 ones of the most gorgeous colour, we proceed thence to the 
 Khani of Kasa. In front rises the wall of Cithaeron, and this 
 spot is the key of the pass. Soldiers are therefore stationed
 
 84 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CHALCIS. 
 
 here to keep an eye upon the movements of the hardy 
 Eleutherte. " mountaineers ; " just as in former times the garrison of Eleu- 
 therx held the pass equally against tlie Klephts and the 
 organised forces of Boeotia. The modern buildings stand at 
 tlie foot of the old acropolis, whose fortifications are at tirst 
 hardly discernible, so well do they harmonise with the rock 
 out of which they were hewn. A climb to the top at once 
 reveals the entire enceinte. The northern wall is almost 
 entire, its beautifully fitted stones presenting a surface as 
 smooth and clean-cut as though it had been erected yester- 
 day. Along this side are five towers in a state of good 
 preservation, and clear remains of three others, admirably 
 illustrating Greek military architecture. In each case the 
 line of the wall turns outwards at right angles, resumes its 
 original direction, and then turns inwards, so that three sides 
 of a square jut out, and assailants are exposed to a flanking 
 fire at any point which they may select for attack. The 
 excellence and practical indestructibility of Hellenic buildings 
 are well illustrated by the present state of this old border 
 fortress, which appears scarcely to have altered since I'au- 
 sanias visited it. He speaks of the alliance of Eleutherae with 
 Athens as the result not of conquest, but of a desire on the 
 part of the Eleutherians for the Athenian citizenship, and of 
 their enmity towards the Thebans, and then describes the 
 remains as follows : " Part of the city wall was still standing, 
 and there were some ruins of houses." ^ 
 
 > Pans. i. .3S, 9.
 
 liiiiiHiiimimi
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CHALGIS. 85 
 
 Towards sunset we depart up the pass, winding between 
 precipices at almost incredible gradients, with endless effort 
 on the part of the four steeds. The snow lies deep in places, 
 and the stillness is complete, except for the brawling of the 
 infant Cephissus leaping down from its source high up the 
 mountain-side. ISTo wonder that this region became the scene 
 of so many legendary events — such as the exposure and bring- 
 ing up of OEdipus, or the abandonment of Zethus and Amphion, 
 the twin children of Antiope, with their equally marvellous 
 preservation from death. 
 
 When the summit is reached there is just light enough to 
 distinguish the wide Bceotian plain below, with its distant 
 background of towering mountains — a land cut off by nature's 
 strongest barriers from that just left behind, and presenting 
 differences in climate, population, and physical conformation, 
 so strongly emphasised by the writers of antiquity. An even 
 steeper spiral descent leads down from the summit, and twi- 
 light has vanished with Southern abruptness, when slowly 
 above the highest peak of Cithseron rises the full orb of the 
 moon, whose rays, flashed back from the surrounding snows, 
 again reveal the panorama beneath. 
 
 Cold and fatigue make the sight of Thebes very grateful as Thebes, 
 the carriage drives up the quaint main street, with its double 
 rows of wooden shops, each and all seemingly stocked with 
 the red " Eussia " leather slippers, the manufacture of which 
 constitutes almost the only native industry of Greece. Before 
 the horses have fairly pulled up at the door of the chief
 
 86 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 
 
 apothecary of the town, tlie road is blocked by a mob of 
 aborigines crowding about the vehicle, and thrusting in their 
 heads nniiid the corner of the hood behind. The first experi- 
 ences of Greek intrusiveness are very trying to the educated 
 mind ; Init by degrees the struggle for privacy is given up 
 in despair, and the miserable traveller learns to dispense 
 with solitude, except when the claims of decency are abso- 
 lutely imperative. 
 Homeric Qui host, apprised beforehand of our arrival, receives us 
 
 hospitalitj-. 
 
 With the utmost cordiality, but most wisely has as yet made 
 no preparations for dinner, journeys in his country not admit- 
 ting of any accurate calculation as to their duration. The 
 living-rooms are above the shop, and are reached by an outer 
 staircase in the back-yard, and consist of a drawing-room, 
 dining-room, and two or three bedrooms. Our entertainment 
 generally was Homeric, being hearty, bountiful, and simple, 
 and many details reminded us of the recejitions of chance 
 guests as described in the ' Odyssey.' One difference was 
 at once apparent : in the heroic ages the stranger was usually 
 conducted to the bath as a preliminary to the banquet ; but 
 here, while tlie feast was preparing, no idea of water seemed 
 to enter any one's head, until tlie guests were reluctantly 
 obliged to give a hint themselves, and the family basin was 
 produced. Then followed a grateful repast of soup, lamb, 
 chicken, and rice, with the best home-made wine, the natural 
 good qualities of which were utterly marred by a strong taint 
 of the inevitable resin.
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CHALCIS. 87 
 
 The host and hostess can only speak their own language, 
 but theii' daughter, who has been to school, talks French, and 
 plays some familiar valses on her piano — an instrument which, 
 in such a place, she is not unnaturally proud of possessing. 
 At last we separate for the night, our married friends occu- 
 pying the host's bedroom, the family very good-naturedly 
 crowding into the other, and we having a shake-down on two 
 ottomans in the dining-room, skilfully prepared by the hand- 
 maidens of the establishment. 
 
 The washing difficulty recurs in the morning — since, even Impediments 
 after directing an abigail's wondering attention to our india- ^^ ^ ^^" ™^^'** 
 rubber baths, we can only prevail upon her to bring up water 
 by about a pint at a time. The Greek day is always opened 
 by a cup of coffee and a sweetmeat — the breakfast - hour 
 depending upon the pleasure of the guest, since it would be 
 uncourteous on the host's part to suggest any particular time 
 to him ; but ignorance of this custom may, as in the present 
 case, cause considerable inconvenience — to those at least who 
 are not accustomed to pass the first four hours of the day 
 fasting. 
 
 Thebes offers no temptation for unnecessary delay. An 
 ugly, miserable, modern town of some 3000 inhabitants 
 represents the city of Pindar and Epaminondas. When 
 Alexander rased it to the ground, sparing only the house of 
 the great poet, its death-knell had sounded, and it rose again 
 under Cassander only as the ghost of its former self. Pau- 
 sanias has little to say of the place, beyond alluding to some
 
 88 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 
 
 of the more famous of its legends, and pointing out their 
 traditional sites. To-day there is scarcely a building that is 
 not absolutely modern : some foundations of Hellenic walls, a 
 Eoman aqueduct from which drips the sparkling mountain- 
 water, and a picturesque Venetian tower at the northern end 
 of the town, comprise all that savours of an older date. 
 
 But yet there is a real interest in treading the ground once 
 covered by the great seven-gated city of myth and history, 
 and in realising the conditions under which it flourished. 
 Apart from sea or mountains, it was essentially a lowland 
 city, drawing its wealth from the rich well - watered soil 
 around, and maintaining a constant hegemony over the sur- 
 rounding States, forcibly bound together in the so-called 
 Boeotian league. But Thebes, though lying low, covers ground 
 sufficiently broken to give an acropolis — a condition seemingly 
 essential to the foundation of every Hellenic city. This 
 elevation, the ancient Cadmeia, is occupied by the centre of 
 the modern town. In the hollow to the left flows a stream 
 supposed to be the Dircean fount. Another rising ground to 
 the south is said to be the Ismenian hill, and in the burying- 
 place of the little church on its summit springs forth the 
 famed water of Ismene. The plain is surrounded by grand 
 mountains : on one side the whole length of Citha?ron, now 
 known as Elateia, or the Mount of Pines ; on another, Heli- 
 con ; beyond it the twin peaks of Parnassus ; while on the 
 north, where the mainland presents somewhat milder natural 
 features, the view is bounded by the snowy ridges of Euboea.
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CE ALOIS . 89 
 
 A departure is effected after breakfast at about 2 p.m., past Thebes to 
 the twelve fountains of Ismene, now converted, like all the * "^' 
 poetic waters of Greece, to the purposes of an ordiaary laun- 
 dry. The road lies over low ground, once passing fertile, but 
 now guiltless of cultivation ; then rises the side of Lykovouni, 
 or Hill of Wolves. From the top another fresh panorama 
 bursts upon the traveller. A steep descent appears to lead 
 down to two great lakes separated by a promontory, whereon 
 stand the minarets and white houses of Chalcis, overhunji 
 by the whiter peaks of Eubcea, now gleaming under the 
 western sun. 
 
 After a rapid descent and passage beneath the massive Chalcis. 
 gateway of the Venetian fort, the carriage rattles over the 
 drawbridge of the Euripus. The Straits here contract to a 
 width of 30 feet, affording no less wonder to the modern 
 than to the ancient world. Through this narrow neck the 
 sea comes tearing at the rate of ten miles an hour. Wait 
 patiently, and you will observe a diminution in its rapidity, 
 which slackens until there ensues a perfect calm. Then the 
 drawbridge is raised to permit the passage of vessels. After 
 a few minutes the water begins to heave, and then to flow, 
 but in the direction opposite to its previous course ; and soon 
 it is rushing along as quickly as before. About fourteen of 
 these changes take place every day. 
 
 But before lionisation, comes provision for those vulgar wants An awkward 
 that so fatally hamper the intellectual improvement of human 
 nature. Here, as at Thebes, our letter of introduction has
 
 90 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CEALCIS. 
 
 been given wholly in the dark. Some knowledge, indeed, of 
 a man's wealth may be obtained from the tax-gatherer ; but his 
 character and mode of life are often wrapped in obscurity, so 
 slender is the communication between capital and provinces. 
 At Thebes we had been most fortunately directed, but equal 
 cood-luck did not attend us in Chalcis. A letter and telegram 
 had been sent to a citizen known to be possessed of large 
 means ; so we are considerably astonished at having great diffi- 
 culty in finding the way to his abode, and still more at being 
 eventually guided up a squalid slum to the door of a small 
 cottage. A modest knock fails to reveal the presence of any 
 inmate except a large and ferocious cur, who dashes forth and 
 almost annihilates an unfortunate little terrier belonging to 
 our friends. Still, having no other references in the place, our 
 only course is to face this Cerberus, and after depositing our 
 effects, to await the owner's return. Some special messengers 
 succeed in drawing that gentleman away from his favourite 
 khani, and in due course he appears — a magnificently built, 
 elderly person, clad in the national costume. His politeness 
 knows no bounds : " he had notice of our coming, but could 
 not send to put us off, not knowing where to direct a telegram. 
 The house, as we see, consists of two rooms and a back- 
 kitchen ; but unfortunately, his wife has locked up her cham- 
 ber and gone off with the key, so that there is only one apart- 
 ment available, which he will gladly share with our party." 
 It being obviously impossible for four gentlemen and a lady 
 to dine and sleep in a single room, and no suggestion being
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CRALCIS. 91 
 
 made of refreshments of any kind, for which nature is loudly 
 crying out, we depart in search of other accommodation. 
 
 Our companions are almost speechless with indignation 
 and annoyance at the difficulty into which they have been 
 the innocent cause of our falling, and for the moment are 
 scarcely capable of suggesting a course of action. Our first 
 proceeding is to call at the prettily placed house of a hos- 
 pitable Englishman, whose scientific tastes lead him to reside 
 in Chalcis in order to watch the phenomena of the Euripus' 
 current, and whose observations are likely to prove of great 
 value to the advancement of navigation. This gentleman is 
 unfortunately absent for the night at his country \)\ace, 
 so our next step is to call upon the nomarch with our 
 circular letter. That official is " not at home," — a misfortune 
 which frequently occurs when a stranger has occasion to 
 appeal to the local authorities. We are rather more fortunate 
 with the demarch ; but he offers no very definite suggestion, 
 except the inn, which is said to possess sleeping-apartments. 
 We enter a room full of carousing natives, its floors and tables 
 slippery with spilt oil and wine dregs, strongly scented with 
 garlic and ancient fish. Great as is our wonder that such 
 should be the condition of the chief hotel in a garrison town, 
 it is surpassed by that of our Greek friends, wlio, like many 
 of the better sort among their compatriots, know little of the 
 barbarism of their country. 
 
 While we are in this condition of blank hopelessness, there Unlooked-for 
 enters excitedly a good-looking young officer, whom rumour ^"'^^*'^^-
 
 92 DFIVIXG TOUR: THEBES AND GH ALOIS. 
 
 lias informed that a lady of liis acquaintance from Athens, with 
 her husband and two Englishmen, is wandering shelterless 
 about the streets of Chalcis. Very soon the aspect of affairs 
 changes : we are at once removed from the filth of the hhani 
 to a clean little pastry-cook's shop. The general in command 
 of the garrison, who also knows our companions, enters to pay 
 his respects, and declares, in concert with our gallant young 
 deliverer, that if no fitting shelter is obtainable he will resign 
 his quarters in the castle. Luckily, however, there is no oc- 
 casion for this sacrifice ; a hospitable gentleman takes us all 
 into his house, furnishing ample accommodation and every 
 reasonable luxury. 
 
 A sunny morning raises Chalcis greatly in our good opinion. 
 The windows look out on to the chief piazza, full of life, and 
 picturesque witli dark cypresses and white minarets. To the 
 right is a sort of public garden stretching down to the sea, 
 where the band plays and the citizens congregate. As we sit 
 warming ourselves in the balcony, cheery voices hail us, and 
 are found to proceed from our good-natured helpers of last 
 night, who have called to inquire after our health. Chalcis 
 at all times maintains a large garrison, some 2000 or 3000 
 men, including a considerable force of artillery. This arm 
 corresponds to our Household Brigade in being socially more 
 highly esteemed than other branches of the service ; and as 
 the number of gentlemen is proportionately much smaller in 
 Greece than in England, it ajjpcars to include nearly all the
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 93 
 
 young officers known in Athenian society. Great is the con- 
 trast between their smart uniform and appearance and the 
 coarse ill-fitting garb and mien of the average infantry officer. 
 
 It is arranged tliat we shall row to Eretria to see the Futile attempt 
 remains of that once celebrated rival of Chalcis. Preparations, ° ^^'^*^ ^ 
 
 Eretria. 
 we subsequently learnt, M'cre made on the most elaborate scale. 
 
 The commandant despatched by land a company of troops to 
 get ready a sumptuous repast against our arrival, and chartered 
 a boat at the hour when the w"ind is fair. There is, however, 
 engrained in the Hellenic nature a casual happy-go-lucky 
 habit of mind, from which even the most highly educated are 
 not exempt : indeed it would not be for their happiness that 
 they should be otherwise constituted, for in that case their 
 life would be unbearable, owing to the impossibility of inspir- 
 ing the middle and lower orders w^ith the faintest sense of 
 time or method. Thus, in the present case, no one thought of 
 telling us that in the Euripus the wind sets steadily every 
 morning from the north till noon, then usually drops, and 
 after about an hour blows from the south. Xot knowing this, 
 we start at 12.30 in a dead calm, which soon turns to a head- 
 wind. Under such conditions progress is slow ; but even so, 
 Eretria might have been reached eventually — only, having 
 received no hint of the commandant's kind arrangements for 
 our reception, and fearing our friends' endurance might not 
 be proof against so long a fast and so long an expedition, we 
 determine to give it up and return on foot, while they run
 
 94 nniVIXG TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 
 
 back under a favourable breeze. The boatmen utterly decline 
 to put us ashore, roundly asserting that there is no place 
 for landing, till a display of firmness in the shape of sticks 
 and revolvers quickens their perceptive faculties, and enables 
 us to set foot on terra firina. 
 Triumphal A single soldier, sent witli us for the sake of appearances, 
 
 insists upon accompanying us in our walk, and will listen to 
 no arguments to the contrary. So we go off at a round pace, 
 under a hot afternoon sun, to the intense discomfiture of this 
 unfortunate son of Mars, whose heavy military greatcoat and 
 rifle, kept religiously at the shoulder, soon make his counte- 
 nance wellnigh as red and shining as the day-star itself. The 
 track follows the coast for some distance, and then turns 
 inward through really well - cultivated land, — olive - groves 
 agreeably diversified with oaks and figs. Of all parts of 
 Greece, with the exception of the Ionian islands, Eubcea is 
 probably the most enjoyable. Absence of historic interest is 
 amply compensated for by its fertility, the splendour - of its 
 mountain scenery, the glorious forests, so uncommon in other 
 districts, and the comparatively peaceful character of its 
 inhabitants. Here alone have any considerable number of 
 French or Englishmen successfully settled upon and worked 
 Hellenic soil — the presence of these proprietors being undoubt- 
 edly a cause as well as an effect of the prosperity of the 
 island. 
 
 Shortly before reaching Chalcis we pass the sort of niinia-
 
 DRIVING TOUR: THEBES AND CH ALOIS. 95 
 
 ture Aldershot where our escort's battalion is quartered, and 
 consequently are spared the ordeal of marching into town 
 with military honours, as he leaves us at this point, his com- 
 rades indulging in unseemly merriment at his exhausted and 
 woe-begone aspect.
 
 96 THROUGH BiEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA. ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 IX tlie morning we receive a visit from one of the other 
 parties that had started simultaneously with ourselves : 
 it consists of an Englishman, an Austrian, and a Belgian. 
 The pleasure of meeting European acquaintances under such 
 circumstances is simply indescribable. But the time has 
 come to say farewell to Eubcea ; so, with genuine regret, we 
 drive back to Thebes, where our suite is to assemble, and 
 where we are to part company with our friends, who take the 
 carriage back to Athens. After arranging with the dragoman 
 to have the proper horses ready, with a view to starting 
 immediately, it is a most unpleasant surprise to find him 
 lounging all alone in a pot-house, without a sign of visible 
 preparation. It does indeed require time to gauge the subtle 
 workings of the oriental intellect ; but in this case the motive 
 is apparent, since if he can induce us not to travel at all 
 on that afternoon, he, being paid a fixed daily sum, will be in 
 pocket to the extent of the liorse-hire. He accordingly begins
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 to point out the advantages of spending the night in Thebes. 
 We reply that the hour being now 1.30, and the distance to 
 Platsea being a short three hours' walk, we most certainly 
 intend to reach that place before nightfall. 
 
 Such gentle pressure induces him, after considerable delay, 
 to secure the necessary beasts. There are six in all, members 
 of the equine species, each reminding one of that Pickwickian Greek horses. 
 cab-horse whose feebleness was too great to admit of his ever 
 being removed from the shafts. British pride revolts from 
 such a mode of locomotion, and we start on foot to cross the 
 Boeotian plain. Looking round after a while, we observe two 
 of the drivers quietly riding our steeds, who, on being remon- 
 strated with, remark that the beasts are theirs, and if we don't 
 choose to ride them, they will. We, however, take a different 
 view of the rights and obligations attendant on the relation of 
 lessor and lessee, and enforce that view by a bacular demon- 
 stration ; so that the unhappy jades obtain a brief respite. 
 
 The track runs over level ground, cultivated in patches, 
 elsewhere covered with herbage interspersed with asphodel, 
 "grass of Parnassus," and other products of a marshy soil. 
 Indeed it becomes so swampy that we are obliged to mount 
 our steeds. Now this style of riding is both trying and 
 peculiar. The saddle is made of wood, and stands about 
 two feet high ; so the rider's grip is a good deal above the 
 back of his animal. There is no bridle; and the stirrups 
 being fastened on by string, are generally of irregular length, 
 and apt to come off unexpectedly. The beasts are unaccus- 
 
 G
 
 98 
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 The Asopus. 
 
 Platea. 
 
 Comforts of a 
 farmhouse. 
 
 tomed to go except in Indian file, eacli laying its nose affec- 
 tionately against the tail of the one in front. Should one try 
 to bring one's steed up level with another, the result is merely 
 a change in their relative positions — the hinder moving to 
 the front, and the other dropping to the rear. 
 
 About half-way between Thebes and Plata^a the Asopus is 
 crossed, probably at the spot where the Greek and Persian 
 armies lay facing each other, until Pausanias, harassed by the 
 missiles and cavalry of the enemy, was forced to fall back 
 upon a stronger position under tlie walls of the town itself. 
 At dusk we cross the Oeroe at the scene of the actual battle, 
 and enter the hamlet of Kokla, or " Bones," — a significant name 
 for a place around which, according to Herodotus, a quarter of 
 a million men fell like sheep in a single day. 
 
 This is the first night of roughing it. We are taken to tlie 
 dwelling of the chief man of the village, a gentleman who 
 combines the functions of priest and publican. The ground- 
 floor consists of the Jchani, wherein are numerous rustics 
 smoking and drinking. The upper storey, reached by an 
 external staircase, is divided into two compartments. The 
 outer one is hired for our use — the inner being devoted to the 
 making ready of our dinner, and the accommodation for the 
 night of the landlord and his family, our own cook and drago- 
 man, the policeman and tax-collector, as well as a few chance 
 friends of either sex. The preparation of the outer room is 
 conducted under the inspection of a large and interested audi- 
 ence, wlio also very kindly stop to " see the animals fed." At
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. m 
 
 length a mild suggestion of retiring for the night effects with 
 some difficulty a clearance. His Eeverence has a narrow 
 escape from death ; for we are roused at about 2 a.m. by a 
 figure groping for something at our bed-heads in the exact 
 spot where the watches have been deposited. It appears that 
 he wants an extra blanket : he was very near getting a bullet 
 instead. The clergy of the Greek Church are certainly a Greek clergy. 
 simple-minded class. This specimen, for instance, had no 
 idea that he was committing a solecism. In the same way he 
 had caused a mixture of annoyance and amusement by hover- 
 ing round the table during the whole of dinner-time, pulling 
 about such little objects of personal adornment as we hap- 
 pened to have about us, asking the price of articles of apparel, 
 and wonderingly learning the end and purpose of that useful 
 instrument the cork-screw, which, together with bottled wine, 
 was wholly foreign to the range of his experience. From 
 about 4 A.]\r. onwards, a continuous stream of persons passes 
 from within to the outer air, and vice versd, so that further 
 sleep becomes an impossibility. The room is cleared with 
 some difficulty, and our guide mounts guard at the staircase 
 door ; but this is no protection against invasion from inside, 
 and one old lady makes a determined attempt to assist at our 
 ablutions, from which no persuasion short of the forcible and 
 accurate projection of shooting-boots will induce lier to desist. 
 It is now requested that the premises may be thrown open so 
 soon as decency will permit, the populace having begun to 
 grow impatient. First there enters an individual, who pauses
 
 1(X) THROUGH BCEOTIA OX PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 PlatiTJa. 
 
 and solemnly announces, " I am the village schoolmaster." 
 Despair makes men cunning ; so we do but smile feebly. He 
 then says, " Can you speak the ancient tongue ? " but obtains 
 no more satisfactory answer. AVaiting the completion of our 
 toilet, he follows us to the ruins of the old town, and there 
 delivers his third and last address. " Can you speak the 
 modern tongue?" After this fiual rebuff the man of letters 
 withdraws, to our great relief, seeing that there is none too 
 much time to spare for an inspection of this most interesting 
 neighbourhood. 
 Battlefield of One look round suffices to explain the history of Plattea, — 
 that noble little State which alone of all the Greeks shared 
 with Athens the danger and glory of Marathon, which clung 
 with touching fidelity to its old ally, and twice underwent 
 utter destruction, owing to the insatiable enmity of its neigh- 
 bour Thebes. Immediately behind lies the gigantic length 
 of Cithseron, isolating the town from external aid, and render- 
 ing almost inevitable, as one would be disposed to imagine, 
 that absorption into the Boeotian league so strenuously and 
 successfully resisted. 
 
 The low rocky acropolis, together with two distinct lines 
 of wall, can still be recognised ; but they are not older tlian 
 the rebuilding under Philip and Alexander, and consequently 
 of no crreat interest. But all around is the scene of that 
 tremendous battle which decided for ever the predominance 
 of Europe over Asia. Close by are the two sources of tlie 
 Oeroe, enclosing the so-called "island," where tlie Hellenic
 
 liliillliililllilli!"""'' i; 
 
 
 
 iu:iiii[iii!;i!!;iii'i'ii!iiiiiiii!;iiii!ii!i!''r!i;'ii'i!ii''iii'..v'ii;ii!"'iuiiiii:iiii'
 
 THROUGH BOEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 101 
 
 army awaited the attack of the Persians and their allies. 
 Farther on extends the plain, broken by those low rolling 
 hills so nearly disastrous to the G^reek arms, by hiding from 
 each other the respective movements of the Spartans and 
 Athenians. Then comes the stream of the Asopus, and just 
 beyond it the site of Mardonius' camp, to which his dis- 
 comfited forces retired, only to suffer wholesale slaughter 
 under the superior weapons and less cumbrous tactics of 
 their triumphant foes. 
 
 Some time afterwards, the cavalcade gets under way. It 
 soon becomes apparent that no orders will be carried out ^ 
 
 except under personal superintendence, the drivers seeming 
 utterly regardless of the dragoman's authority ; so that if 
 the traveller leaves his suite with orders to load up imme- 
 diately, he will probably find on his return that the horses are 
 still in the shed, with their attendants reclining comfortably 
 beside them. 
 
 The track westward passes over the battle-field of Leuctra, Leuctra. 
 a piece of low ground at the foot of a grassy slope, where took 
 place the most important land-engagement ever fought between 
 Greek and Greek, less on account of the size of the contend- 
 ing forces or their respective losses — for about 1000 Lace- 
 demonians and 47 Thebans were all that fell on the field — 
 than of the political results which tlie extraordinary genius 
 of the victorious general, Epaminondas, was able to found 
 upon it. 
 
 A ride of about three hours from riata3a brings us to
 
 102 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 Eremo - Kastri, or " Deserted Fort," the modern name of 
 Thespise. Thespiai, now a considerable village. The constant victim 
 
 of Theban jealousy, this town survived its persecutor, and in 
 Roman times shared with Tanagra the honour of being the 
 only important city in Boeotia. Famous as the birthplace of 
 Phryne, it was devoted to- the worship of the God of Love. 
 To-day there is but small incitement to this cult, to judge 
 from the specimens of modern Thespian ladies that came 
 beneath our observation. 
 
 The village is not ungraceful, but contains no ruins. A 
 ^ pretty church, standing amid dwarf hollies on a solitary 
 eminence, is supposed to cover the site of one of the principal 
 temples. Two or three good bas-reliefs are built into its walls. 
 After luncheon, discussed in presence of an admiring crowd, 
 a start is effected for Livadia. The guide having arranged to 
 Tlie Valley of take a roundabout road through the Muses' valley, now declares 
 tliat there is no possibility of accomplishing this ddtour, which 
 lias to be reluctantly abandoned. Such are the pleasing 
 uncertainties of this kind of travel. Nevertheless the dis- 
 appointment is somewhat mitigated by an excellent bird's-eye 
 view of this still lovely region. Helicon is the true mountain 
 of the Muses, Parnassus being but a comparatively modern 
 pretender, and deriving its sanctity, not from Greek but from 
 Latin poetry : and surely the wide smiling dale now open 
 before us is a far fitter abode for the patronesses of art, song, 
 and science, than the frowning precipices and narrow ravines 
 round Delphi.
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA UN FAGK-SAUDLES. 103 
 
 The sight of the famous valley touches many a chord. 
 Statue and altar have vanished ; a few oaks represent the 
 sacred grove ; the limits of the sanctuary are unknown ; the 
 fountains Hippocrene and Aganippe can only be conjecturally 
 identified. But the feelings are not harrowed by signs of 
 wanton destruction. No building ever adorned the glade : the 
 whole was one great temple, dedicated to the Sacred Nine. 
 The roof that covered their images was some overhanging rock, 
 or spreading tree, or the blue canopy of heaven itself. Scat- 
 tered about, they stood side by side with statues of the old 
 poets, Thamyris, Arion, Linus, Orpheus, Hesiod ; or of gods 
 more especially devoted to song, Hermes, inventor of the 
 lyre, Dionysus, and Apollo. This was the chosen abode of 
 peace and rustic happiness. Straight from the Boeotian plain, 
 tlie great battle - ground of ancient Hellas, we pass to the 
 home of Hesiod and the scenes of that farming life which his 
 song depicts. The aspect of the place appears to justify the 
 tradition that here trees grew greener, flowers brighter, and 
 fruits sweeter, than elsewhere, and that no poisonous plant 
 or snake was to be found herein. In solitude it lies now, as 
 then, save that the people of Thespise no longer assemble 
 there with song and dance to keep the feast of the Muses 
 or Love-god. 
 
 And now begins experience of mountain travel. Tlie track Mountain 
 grows rocky ; and although smooth and easy in comparison °* 
 with subsequent routes, is sufficiently alarming to the unin- 
 itiated. A European requires some time to get over the feel-
 
 U)4 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 iug of helplessness produced by riding across slabs of bare rock 
 on a beast of whose sides he has no grasp, and over wliose 
 mouth he has no control. Add to this the nut yet subdued 
 sense of ignominy inherent in the whole performance, and it 
 will be intelligible that we prefer our own legs to tlie shaky- 
 looking support of our Theban screws. But the way is 
 broken more than once by water — a most unusual obstacle in 
 Greece, — streams too large to negotiate on foot, that come 
 roaring down from Helicon ; so there is nothing for it but to 
 remount and trust to the firmness and sagacity of the beasts — 
 which, considering their condition and probable age, are mar- 
 vellous. Meanwhile both guide and cook sit impassive, like 
 pachas on a divan : no descent however precipitous, no stream 
 however deep its banks, will tempt them to leave the " high- 
 throned " saddle, as Homer would doubtless have called it, had 
 riding been invented in his day. They have learnt to prefer 
 the risk of an occasional smash to the certainty of tiring 
 themselves by walking. But a penalty is sometimes paid for 
 this persistent assertion of their dignity, as we learnt when 
 our guide confided to us that he had given up carrying a 
 watch after the destruction in rapid succession of two such 
 instruments, caused by collapses of this nature. 
 
 The pathway farther on joins the highroad from Thebes 
 
 to Livadia, and the rate of locomotion slightly improves. On 
 
 the right is a vast stretch of level ground, sliding impercep- 
 
 Lake Coi.;ii.s. tibly into tlie marshy borders of Lake Copais. Into this 
 
 great swamp all the waters from the surrounding mountains
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 105 
 
 find their way, but have no outlet beyond the celebrated 
 " Katavothra." These are very far from sufficient to drain so 
 wide an area, and consequently leave most of the work to 
 evaporation. An enterprising nation might earn vast wealth 
 by assisting nature ; but in a country where the most fertile 
 soil is often left unfilled, it is out of place to e>xpect such 
 undertakings. So Lake Copais remains much as it always 
 was, — an expanse of water in winter and bog in summer, 
 producing nothing but wild - fowl — often indeed in such 
 numbers, that a friend, speaking of snipe, declared that it 
 soon ceased to be worth while to shoot them. 
 
 These sporting reminiscences are further stimulated by an 
 appropriate but steady downpour, which continues for three 
 hours. The consequent state of the road combines with the 
 badness of the horses to make it impossible to reach the short 
 cut over the hills before nightfall, and a couple of hours are 
 added to an interminable journey. These unexpected little 
 pleasures ought to be enjoyed philosophically, but time is 
 needful to get the mind into so desirable a state. Mean- 
 while the drivers keep up their flagging spirits by bursts of 
 song, whose plaintive discords add a touch of melancholy to 
 the situation. An attempt to extract some Klephtic ballads 
 fails utterly, the honest fellows repudiating with scorn any 
 knowledge of what might be held to connect them with the 
 rovers of the hills ; so we have to be content with spontane- 
 ous ebullitions, which take the form of a Tupper-like Pro- 
 verbial Philosophy — as for instance, " When Zeus rains from
 
 106 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 heaven, 'tis well to have an umbrella for the head ; " and 
 other equally incontrovertible, and, under the circumstances, 
 impressive truths. 
 
 At about 9.15 the draggled procession enters Livadia, and 
 halts at the foot of a precipitous alley, only practicable for 
 foot-passengers. While ascending, we hear below the thud oi" 
 coat and bag and rug, as the attendants cut the luggage from 
 the horses' backs, and suffer it to drop in tlie rich deep mud 
 of the street. A house, dirty and squalid beyond description, 
 receives us for the night ; and it is well to check all recollec- 
 tion of the next two hours, spent damply in a grimy apart- 
 ment devoid of furniture, pending the preparation of food. 
 At any rate, it was not a passage-room, and so far an improve- 
 men upon last night's accommodation. 
 
 A fine morning casts much of these disagreeables into 
 Livadia. oblivion. There are few places like Livadia. The main 
 
 street runs up tlie river-side, and not only with its many 
 shops illustrates Exchange — a very well-understood branch of 
 political economy throughout these regions — but also with its 
 cotton mills affords an example of Production. Tor there are 
 no less than six wheels turned by the swift stream of the 
 Hercyne, employed in working up the cotton grown on the 
 plain below. On clearing the town a magnificent scene 
 rewards the traveller. The brawling torrent debouches from 
 between sheer walls of limestone, through which it has been 
 winding for nearly a mile, and is at tliis spot spanned by the 
 highest of the picturesque old bridges that at intervals through
 
 LiVADIA.
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 107 
 
 the length of the town unite its banks. On a towering- heio-ht 
 to the left is the old Frankish castle, which, like the dark gorge 
 above, is in strange contrast with the picturesque life below. 
 The hum of perpetual talk rises up from the shops in the 
 main street, and blends with the whizzing of the mill-wheels ; 
 while gaily dressed groups of citizens sit ever at the pot- 
 house doors, playing the noble game of " casino," and striv- 
 ing to win a few drachmae with all that keenness for 
 which encounters between Greek and Greek "have been lono; 
 proverbial. 
 
 A stiff climb up the right-hand scaur has the beneficial 
 effect of choking off the little vulgar boys who pertinaciously 
 dog a stranger's steps, and of opening up a grand panorama. 
 Descending from the snow and pines of Helicon, two streams 
 join at the head of the gorge, rushing down upon the little 
 town, and then meander gently through the rich alluvial flats 
 below, irrigating the productive but scanty cotton-fields. On 
 each side of the water the town rises picturesquely up the 
 steep hillsides, separated by a deep ravine from the eminence 
 whereon the castle stands. Above the gorge complete soli- 
 tude reigns, broken only by the hissing sounds of reptile life, 
 which the noontide heat has awakened after yesterday's rain. 
 
 The historic fame of this town is small. The traditional 
 founder, Lebadus, is said to have removed the population of 
 a mountain city, called Midea, down to this less secure site at 
 the foot of the hills. This confidence was justified by the 
 result ; and Lebadia flourished quietly, apparently untouched
 
 108 THROUGH BOEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 by tlie troubles that desolated otlier cities of Bteotia, This 
 immunity is probably due to the qnasi sacred character im- 
 parted to the place by the famous oracle of Trophonius. 
 Oracle of The topographical allusions of Pausanias cannot be satis- 
 
 lop oim . fr^Q^orily harmonised with the present details of the spot ; but 
 its general aspect is eminently suited to a home of religious 
 mystery. Legend attributes the name of the river to the 
 maid Hercyne, who, while playing with Persephone in the 
 glen, suffered to escape a goose which she held in her arms. 
 The bird flew into a cave and hid beneath a stone, whence on 
 its discovery the stream gushed forth. Of Trophonius ^ him- 
 self even tradition is almost silent. His sacred grove was 
 just above the town, and contained various temples and 
 statues : the oracle itself was, according to Pansanius, " higher 
 up the mountain." The ceremonies to be observed in con- 
 sulting it were as follows : The inquirer lived for a fixed 
 time in a building sacred to Good Luck and Fortune, and 
 was fed on meat from the sacrifices which he had to 
 provide during that period, purifying himself daily in the 
 waves of the Hercyne. A soothsayer inspected the entrails 
 of each victim, and from them pronounced upon the disposi- 
 tion indicated by Trophonius towards his suppliant. A ram 
 was offered up the night before the visit to the shrine, and 
 favourable symptoms on this occasion were an absolute neces- 
 
 ^ Trophonius was reputed son of Erginus, king of Onlionionus ; but liis wor- 
 sliipjicrs believed Apollo to have been responsible for liis existence. He is said 
 to have built the temple of Delphi. His cult survived that of his divine father.
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 109 
 
 sity. Then at last, after a final bath in the river, the inquirer 
 was taken to the two founts of Oblivion and Memory, and 
 drank of both, that he might forget his former life and 
 remember the truths about to be revealed to him. He was 
 then permitted to gaze upon a sacred statue,^ visible only to 
 votaries, and, after due prayer, was arrayed in a linen tunic, 
 girt round with bands, and shod with the shoes of the country: 
 he then proceeded to the shrine. The description of the latter 
 is rather hard of interpretation ; but apparently the only 
 access was by an opening at some distance from the ground, 
 requiring a ladder to reach it. Provided with honied cakes,^ 
 and lying down upon the floor, the inquirer inserted his feet 
 into a hole of the narrow dimensions of two spans in length 
 by one in breadth, and thrust them down till his knees 
 reached the opening. Then suddenly his whole body is 
 drawn through, " as a mighty rapid river whirls a man out of 
 sight." The subsequent • revelations are of course hidden from 
 vulgar knowledge. On their conclusion the unfortunate was 
 shot up, feet foremost, through the opening. It is pretty 
 clear, judging by the dimensions of the hole, that stout per- 
 sons could hardly have gone through the ceremony. The 
 inquirer, while still in a state of high mental excitation (and 
 
 1 Called an "image of Dfedalus." To that mythical artist were ascribed 
 various antique statues of a prehistoric epoch, which were regarded with pecu- 
 liar reverence. They were generally, if not always, of wood. "The image 
 which fell down from Jupiter," Acts xix. 35, was probably of this description. 
 
 2 These cakes are incidentally mentioned by Aristophanes writing more than 
 five hundred years earlier, as used in consulting Trophonius. — Nubes, 508.
 
 no THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. 
 
 certainly the manner of his exit was calculated to produce a 
 determination of blood to the head), was placed upon the seat 
 of Memory, hard by the shrine : there he was asked all he 
 had seen and heard below, the priests writing down tlie 
 account he gave. Afterwards he was removed back to the 
 house of Fortune and Good Luck, and tended carefully until 
 the recovery of his senses. 
 
 Sucli is the somewhat grotesque account of Pausanias,^ 
 founded upon personal experience. The consulting of the 
 oracle appears to have involved an initiation into some species 
 of mysteries, so that wholesome teaching resulted from the 
 visit, notwithstanding priestly avarice and imposture. It is a 
 hopeless task to identify the cave of Trophonius or the seat 
 of Memory. A small natural recess, artificially enlarged, is 
 pointed out as the house of Good Luck ; in that case the 
 votary's accommodation must have been rather confined. The 
 founts of Oblivion and Memory are also shown on the left 
 and right of the river respectively. Attempts to reconcile 
 ancient writers' statements with existing phenomena are 
 seldom satisfactory. At Livadia the general conditions can 
 well afford to dispense with minute attention to details. 
 
 The next move is to Chteronea, reached by a climb over 
 high ground. In the very centre of this bleak table-land a 
 hailstorm comes on, tlie heat of an English summer having 
 changed suddenly to bitter cold. Shelter there is none ; so 
 the whole cavalcade turns its back upon the attack, and sits 
 ' Tans. ix. 39, 5.
 
 THROUGH BCEOTIA ON PACK-SADDLES. Ill 
 
 placidly through the shower, in spite of its stones, which, big 
 as marbles, make themselves felt most uncomfortably. 
 
 After this little incident we descend into what may be 
 described as the western estuary of the Boeotian plain. Here 
 was fought the great battle of Chseronea, which, by establish- Chffironea. 
 ing Macedonian ascendancy in Greece, was destined to shake 
 the whole civilised world. Close by the track are the frag- 
 ments of the great stone lion erected to the memory of the The lion. 
 Thebans who fell on that fatal day. Intact it remained until 
 the present century, when, during the war of independence, 
 a brigand chief, called Odysseus, blew it up to see what was 
 inside it. 
 
 Chseronea is now a small hamlet at the foot of the acrop- 
 olis : in the hillside is cut the theatre, remarkable for describ- 
 ing an unusually small segment, probably not more than one 
 quarter of a circle. There is an arch or two of an aqueduct 
 beyond the village, and hard by excavations were going on : 
 nothing had as yet been brought to light except one or two 
 basements and sarcophagi. This spot is to be recommended 
 for a last resting-place before climbing into the Alpine regions 
 beyond ; for though small, it boasts a large clean room 
 wherein to encamp with something like comfort. It was 
 used by the Archaeological Society of Greece, and long har- 
 boured Dr Schliemann; moreover, it possesses the inestim- 
 able advantage of belonging to a bachelor, who, although 
 personally to be avoided, at least keeps his establishment 
 free from strong-lunged cliildren and inquisitive females.
 
 112 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 
 
 CHAPTER Viri. 
 
 THE rHOCIAX ALPS. 
 
 A' 
 
 LL efforts to secure a start at daybreak prove unavailing. 
 Our Thebans (a word most appropriately pronounced 
 " Tlievans " by the natives) act upon the sound principle of 
 doing nothing till they are obliged ; so, although told to be 
 round at 7 for the baggage, they fail to appear, and are long 
 afterwards discovered lying in profound meditation iu an out- 
 house. Meanwhile many-tongued Eumour announces that a 
 party of " six lords and twenty-five soldiers " are expected here 
 to-night, and that the advanced-guard is already in occupation 
 of the place. We conclude that these are our three friends, 
 English, Austrian, and Belgian, whom we last saw at Chalcis, 
 multiplied by fame, and all set down as our compatriots. 
 The " advanced-guard " hereupon turns out and corroborates 
 A modern our conjecture. It consists of one man, who thinks he will 
 "^ '*^* accompany us to Arakhova. He is an agreeable youth, 
 
 named Leonidas — a good specimen of the Greek soldier. His 
 language is far more intelligil)le tlian that of most persons in
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 113 
 
 his rank of life, having, together with his manners, undoubt- 
 edly acquired a polish during his military career. Like all 
 his compatriots, he takes a peculiar interest in our attire, but 
 more especially in our weapons. " Will you show me your 
 revolvers ? here's mine," he observes, and at once puts into 
 our hand his " revolver " — a single-barrelled muzzle-loadino; 
 pistol, with a bore of perhaps an inch in diameter. We 
 accordingly tell him a few rather startling fictions as to the 
 range and accuracy of our own little " shooting - irons," all 
 of which he accepts without question. Presently a vulture 
 comes sailing over and alights on a rock about 200 yards 
 away. We suggest giving him a shot with Leonidas's rifle ; 
 but so unwarranted an expenditure of Government ammuni- 
 tion would entail serious consequences upon that man of war, 
 who, however, expresses his willingness to employ for that 
 noble purpose the " revolver," it being his own private pro- 
 perty. He at once proceeds to walk towards the bird, 
 which, after he has gone about twenty yards, flaps majestically 
 away. Leonidas returns in no wise disconcerted at this 
 unexpected result. 
 
 On the right of the track rises the huge acropolis of 
 Daulis ; and as opinions are divided upon the advisability Daulis. 
 of visiting it, we determine to separate, the soldier under- 
 taking to guide one of us round by that village. In spite 
 of a regular waterspout and a very stiff climb, the place 
 was well worth the ditour. The hill is isolated, and almost 
 sheer on every side, while the flat summit is large enough 
 
 H
 
 114 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 
 
 to have sheltered the entire population of tlie ancient town, 
 together with their flocks and herds. Daulis, scarcely known 
 in history, but famous in legend for the crime and tragic 
 punishment of Tereus its king, affords another instance of 
 those little -known cities on whose sites survive traces of 
 strength and greatness utterly wanting in Thebes, Argos, or 
 other famous localities. 
 
 On descending, it is found that Leonidas has had the good 
 sense to put the horse under cover. He leads the way to 
 the priest's house, an old gentleman as genial and ignorant as 
 the rest of his class. His offers of hospitality are unbounded, 
 and he asks news of the outer world with a childlike curi- 
 osity and simplicity. He has not seen an Englishman for 
 two years, and is of course complimentry about our nation. 
 Drenched to the skin, and separated by miles from head- 
 quarters, we have no alternative but to push on, after swallow- 
 ing a cup of hot coffee. At the last house in the village 
 Leonidas stops and magnanimously insists upon " standing " a 
 glass of raJci. 
 
 We then ascend the high ground right under Parnassus. 
 The " road " consists of bare rock, now running with a liquid 
 compared to which pea-soup might seem transparent. Pro- 
 gress is slow — even the most highly trained beast being in- 
 capable of going up and down stairs at any great pace. The 
 distance from Daulis to our meeting -place was estimated 
 at an hour and a half; but the expiration of that period 
 finds us advanced less than lialf-way, so it seems best to
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 115 
 
 push on afoot. The mist is dense and cheerless ; but when 
 the clouds roll momentarily away, there are fine glimpses of 
 tall mountain-sides, and sometimes of both seas together — 
 the Gulf of Corinth and the Straits of Eubcea, — a pretty 
 good indication of the height now attained by the track. 
 At a certain point this branches off in two directions. It 
 is the famous rpt'oSo?, where join the roads from Daulis, The rrxio-ry; 
 Ambrysos, and Delphi, and where Laius ^ met his death at 
 the hand of Oedipus, his unconscious son. The old gentleman 
 was driving at the time, and his chariot filled up the road- 
 way ; his attendants thrust Qidipus from the track, and hence 
 the unhappy quarrel. It would be a strange vehicle that 
 could pass that way to-day, or indeed get there at all. 
 
 A long convoy of mules appears at this point, and the 
 looks of the drivers suggest the prudence of not imitating 
 OEdipus in falling out with them single-handed. But our 
 demeanour is so singularly unaggressive that nothing un- 
 pleasant occurs, and the route turns up a magnificent valley, 
 shut in between the towering walls of Parnassus and Xero- 
 Vouni, the Dry Mount — a name which there is little in the 
 circumstances of the moment to suggest. Two men are here- 
 abouts overtaken, who turn out to belong to our suite. They 
 had been sent back to Chieronea for the unfortunate cook's 
 greatcoat, he having been early reminded by the rain of 
 having forgotten it. But the trouble was wasted, our host 
 of the previous night denying all knowledge thereof. 
 
 1 Sophocles, (Ed. Tyr. 798.
 
 116 THE rilOCIAX ALPS. 
 
 At length is reached the little Jchani of Ximeno, a solitary 
 farmhouse where the rest of the party are installed at luncheon, 
 very grateful after an eiglit hours' fast. Lounging about are 
 a quantity of ruffianly -looking fellows, ugly customers to meet 
 alone on a dark night, mostly of great strength and stature, 
 and armed to the teeth with knives and antiquated firearms. 
 These gentry profess to be shepherds, but give very little 
 attention to their flocks, whose bells are heard far away in the 
 mountain-hollows where they wander at tlieir own discretion. 
 Aiakhova. Another hour and a half brings us to Arakhova, a small 
 
 town, literally on this occasion in the clouds. It stands on 
 the almost perpendicular side of Parnassus, at an elevation 
 of about 4000 feet, and well deserves its ancient name of 
 'Avefiopeia, the " Mountain City of the Winds." It is famous 
 for the excellence of its wine and the beauty of its damsels ; 
 but we had no opportunity of judging of either, the one being 
 concealed in resin, and the other not happening to be on view 
 at that particular moment. A visit to the demarch with 
 the circular letters soon draws forth that functionary, who 
 sends to procure us lodgings, and then takes us into his 
 A village con- office. Hither come crowding all the elders of the people, 
 '"''^'^* who sit around and gaze and listen. All are habited in 
 
 the picturesque national dress except the demarch, who draws 
 attention to the dignity of his functions by a frock-coat and 
 high hat. The conversation is conducted in French, and 
 then interpreted for the public benefit ; and as we have not 
 owned to understanding Greek, the result is rather amusing.
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 117 
 
 For instance, after some talk about European politics, and 
 much abuse (in Greek) of the monster Lord Beaconsfield, we 
 turn to the engrossing topic of the general election. 
 
 Demarch. "Of course the Government has every chance of 
 obtaining a majority, having power to coerce local officials and 
 individual electors ? " 
 
 Englishmen. " On the contrary, there is always a strong 
 tendency to vote against a Ministry ; so that, other things 
 being equal, the Opposition has the best chance. In any case, 
 force neither is nor can be employed." 
 
 JEldcrs of the People (in chorus, after interpretation of the 
 ansioer). " Absurd ! Impossible ! The lords are abusing our 
 credulity." 
 
 And the answer has to be repeated twice before they can 
 credit any Government with so ludicrous a neglect of its 
 opportunities. 
 
 Demarch {prompted hy an elder). " Why does not your 
 Cabinet force the Porte to fulfil its pledges and surrender 
 Thessaly and Epirus to Greece, thereby freeing those lands 
 from the darkness of Turkish oppression, and unfolding to 
 them the glorious light of Hellenic liberty ? " 
 
 Englishmen (mildly). " Eemember that the Porte never 
 pledged itself to make these concessions ; also, that England 
 is only one out of six Great Powers, and cannot single-handed 
 control the action of Europe." 
 
 Chorus of strong ejaculations expressive of speechless 
 indication.
 
 118 THE PHOGIAN ALPS. 
 
 Dcmarch {chaivjing suhjcct). " What do you wish to see in 
 this neighbourhood ? " 
 
 Englishmen. " Delphi, the Corycian cave, and, if possible, 
 to make the ascent of Parnassus." 
 
 Dcmarch. " That is out of the question ; the snow is six 
 feet deep." 
 
 An Elder (his voice rising above the general murmur). " Be- 
 sides, it's fearfully cold up there." 
 
 Dcmarch {contemptuously to the interrupter). " You fool ! as 
 though any Englishman minded that. They're used to no- 
 thing else." 
 
 The interview over, we scramble up and down the pre- 
 cipitous streets, and then adjourn to the lodging discovered 
 An uxorious for US Ijy the authorities. Mine host is distinctly of a comic 
 
 husband. 
 
 turn, and apologises for his wife s absence on the ground that 
 slie is out working in the fields : this, he remarks with many 
 chuckles, is what he always makes her do. After dinner, it 
 is discovered that all the bedding has been drenched during 
 the day's rain, and no kind of attempt made to dry it. 
 Doubting the assertion that there is no fire fit for the purpose, 
 we make our way to the kitchen, and not only have our pains 
 for our trouble, but also inspire the master of the house with 
 tlie idea of accompanying us back to our room, where he sits 
 down and makes himself at home, and enters into a long and 
 familiar conversation. There is, perhaps, no more astounding 
 aspect of the national character than the way in which a 
 householder, liaving extorted a fancy price for a night's use
 
 THE FHUCIAN ALPS. 119 
 
 of a single room, devoid of carpet or furniture, will play the 
 genial host, invade his " guests " at all hours, insist upon 
 hobnobbing with them, and finally, on their departure, clamor- 
 ously demand a haksJieesh, and expect to be warmly thanked 
 for his "hospitality." Our present host made us register a 
 pious vow never again, on any similar occasion, to let out 
 that we understood the language of the country. He pro- 
 duced two complimentary letters, written to him by an 
 English clergyman who had once stayed in his house, and 
 proceeded to read them out with much emphasis and ap- 
 propriate action. Towards the conclusion, perceiving his 
 audience disposed to slumber — which, towards midnight, was 
 hardly, under the circumstances, unnatural — he remarked, " I 
 fear I bore you," and not being contradicted, left the aforesaid 
 audience to their damp couches. 
 
 A feeling of indisposition next morning proves the inad- 
 visability of walking all day upon an insufficient allowance of 
 food and sleep, as well as the desirability of dry beds when 
 practicable. Our dragoman accounts for the phenomenon dif- 
 ferently. " Ah, gentlemen ! " he remarks, with feeling, " what 
 can you expect if you will use those nasty cold baths in the 
 morning ? " At breakfast there takes place an irruption of the 
 Theban drivers, who, with their beasts, have been sent to the 
 right-about so soon as an opportunity of procuring fresh ani- 
 mals presented itself They insist upon shaking hands warmly 
 all round two or three times over. It subsequently appears 
 that this is a strong hint that a baksheesh would be agreeable ;
 
 120 THE PHOGIAN ALPS. 
 
 but, considering their conduct and the circumstances of their 
 dismissal, the hint is not taken. 
 
 Mounted on mules — a vast improvement upon the horses 
 — we scramble up the jagged rocks. Thick rainy clouds liide 
 the prospect. Eounding the summit of the rha3driades rocks, 
 the crags that overhang Delphi, we come upon a natural 
 basin, a little plain once the property of the temple, and 
 even now looking strangely fertile in the midst of those 
 stony solitudes. In the centre is a tiny lake, from which 
 a stream flows into the rocks and vanishes, to reappear, 
 according to common belief, as the Castalian fount. At one 
 end of the plain rises a great conical hill, containing the 
 Tlie Coryciaii Corycian grot. Tliis cave, pronounced by Pausanias to be 
 
 CilVC, 
 
 the largest in tlie world, is well worth the trouble of a visit *, 
 which, in spite of the old traveller's assertion that the grotto 
 can be reached by a " horse, or mule, or active man," can now 
 most certainly be accomplished only by the biped. An ascent 
 of about twenty minutes, hand-over-hand, will bring one to 
 the mouth in a state of considerable exhaustion. Pausanias' 
 statement that it can be inspected without a torch is almost 
 true of the first chamber ; for though 100 yards in length, it is 
 so high and wide througliout, that the light from the entrance 
 penetrates almost to the back. The visitor, however, will 
 probably rue any attempt to test the truth of Pausanias' 
 suggestion, considering the uneven lie of the floor, slippery 
 with constant drippings, and alibrding effectual stumbling- 
 blocks in tlie shape of huge masses of stalagmite. As in
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 121 
 
 all limestone caves that have not been expressly protected, 
 the smaller and more f^raceful stalactite formations have lono- 
 ago been broken away, and nothing remains but the huge 
 lumps that probably were already stout enough to resist the 
 destructive efforts of the aboriginal inhabitants of the district. 
 
 At the end of this great hall the floor and roof seem 
 to meet ; but there is just room to pass between them up a 
 jagged and slippery incline into the second chamber, some 
 thirty yards in length. We are accompanied by our mule- 
 teers and a chance shepherd or two — most villanous-looking 
 gentry, who suggest the advisability of our waking the echoes 
 with a few shots from our revolvers. The effect is certainly 
 good, the sound rolling round the hollows of the lofty ceiling, 
 and coming back with increased volume. They are so anxious 
 for a repetition of the performance that it strikes us as not 
 altogether prudent, considering the scene and the company, 
 to empty all the chambers of our weapons, and thereby effec- 
 tively to disarm ourselves. 
 
 After luncheon beside a tarn just under the cave, the word 
 is given to march for Delphi, and the train moves off through 
 some miles of pine -forest. Very charming is this glimpse 
 of Greek wooded scenery, accentuating the irreparable loss 
 sustained by the greater part of the country in the destruc- 
 tion of the timber. "Water becomes at once more plentiful — 
 an invariable rule where the trees have been preserved — and 
 lends an extra charm to scenery almost unrivalled, the sea be- 
 ing added to the ordinary components of an alpine landscape.
 
 122 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 
 
 The savagery of nature in these highlands seems impressed 
 upon all things, inanimate or living ; and even the dogs have 
 increased in ferocity, like the human inhabitants. The canine 
 Skirmish with species in Greece has always largely exhibited this trait. 
 Hereditary experience has stamped upon the mental structure 
 of the race a firm, and in the main accurate conviction, that 
 the intentions of strangers are evil. Trained, therefore, to 
 constant watchfulness against fierce beasts and fiercer men, 
 the Hellenic sheep-dog affords an element of danger by no 
 means unworthy of precaution. But one thing has' always, 
 from the days of Homer ^ up till now, checked his impetuosity, 
 — he cannot abide a stone, and luckily these missiles are plen- 
 tiful in most parts of Greece. Should there be none to hand, 
 the pilgrim must take his choice between shooting his assail- 
 ants or being rent in pieces ; and the difference between these 
 alternatives is less than might have been expected, seeing that 
 the first course will certainly expose him to violence, and 
 perhaps death, at the bands of the owners, who thoroughly 
 enjoy witnessing the prowess of their 2^fot<^[/^s, make no at- 
 tempt to call them off, and resent any unavoidable injury 
 
 » Horn. Oa. xiv. 29 :— 
 
 'E^uirivTjs 5' '05i;cr^o 'Sot' Kvvfs v\aK6fj.u3poi. 
 oi fxeu KfKKrjyovTfs ^irtSpafiov • airap 'OSiVaeus 
 e^«TO Kiphoawri • ffKrJTnpov 5e ol (Kirefff x^^P^^- 
 (vOa fifv f irapa ffraOfK^ a.fiKf\ioi' iraOev &Kyos' 
 aWa avfiiln7)s SiKa irocrl Kpanrvo7ai (xfTacnruiv 
 i(riTVT' iva. irpSdvpov ffKvros St ol iicirfaf xf'fx^j. 
 Tous fiiv SfioKXriaas fffCfi/ Kvvas &\\vBis 6.Wri 
 ■KvKvfjaiv XtddSiffcrtv ' 6 5« irpoaininv IkvaKJa.
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 123 
 
 inflicted upon them in self-defence as keenly as though it 
 were personal to themselves. But up in Parnassus canine 
 assaults become an exciting sport, as constituting about the 
 only circumstance under which a human being is justified in 
 indulging in the unspeakable delight of heaving stones with 
 all his might at a living mark. So at every attack we 
 jumped from our mules in order to engage the enemy. Am- 
 munition there was plenty, and a very rapid fire was often 
 necessary. At times he got within ten yards, but never 
 succeeded in closing. He would also display considerable 
 strategical powers : having vented his wrath upon some of 
 the missiles, he would feign defeat, and retire en masse with 
 his tail between his legs, only to spring out in disagreeable 
 proximity from some boulders farther on. 
 
 At last begins the almost endless zigzag that leads down to 
 Delphi, over slippery rock the whole way. The guide and Delphi. 
 cook still stick to their mules, until one of them rolls over 
 unpleasantly close to the precipice, when they follow our 
 example and condescend to walk. At sunset we pass through 
 the dirty little hamlet of Kastri, built upon the very founda- 
 tions of the great temple of the Pythian Apollo, to the priest's 
 house beyond, once a monastery, standing in an olive-grove on 
 the left of the Castalian stream. Man has done his utmost 
 to efface this world-renowned centre of religion, which for a 
 thousand years retained its hold upon the belief or super- 
 stition of humanity. But nature defies his efforts, and her 
 works are still complete, to fill the beholder with awe and
 
 124 THE PITOCIAN ALPS. 
 
 reverence. Tlie town stood, like tlie " cavea " of an ancient 
 theatre, in the form of a semicircle on the mountain-side. 
 Many terraces in abrupt succession supply the analogy of 
 tiers of seats. At the bottom, as it were in the " orchestra," 
 winds the bed of the Pleistos, now called the Dry Iliver, 
 and opposite rises the long wall of Kirphis, answering to the 
 "scena" or background of the stage. Straight above the 
 town, or rather overhanging it, are the huge Pha^driades rocks, 
 split in twain by a narrow cleft. Ignorant writers and poets 
 have often confused them with the twin summits of Parnassus. 
 Delphi being on the Parnassus range, it was of course justifi- 
 able to transfer some of its attributes and sanctity to the 
 whole mountain. But the two great culminating points are 
 miles behind the town, and completely hidden until the 
 Pha^driades have been surmounted. A glance at these preci- 
 pices explains the alleged miraculous delivery of the shrine 
 both from Persian and Celtic desecration. On each occasion 
 huf^e masses of rock are said to have detached themselves 
 
 O 
 
 and fallen upon the impious barbarian hosts, amid earth- 
 quake and thunder and the appearance of the native heroes, 
 reawakened from the dead to defend their much-loved and 
 sacred home. 
 
 A minute examination on the following day adds but little 
 
 to the awe and interest excited by the first general view. 
 
 Castalian There is the Castalian fount springing forth in tlie fissure 
 
 between the two rocks. A landslip five years ago choked the 
 
 source, which is not yet clear of debris. The quadrangular 
 
 fount.
 
 THE PHOGIAN ALPS. 125 
 
 stone basin wherein the water was collected is, however, again 
 cleaned out. The natural rock behind it has been scarped, 
 and sundry little niches cut to contain votive offerings. Tliis 
 holy stream, employed in all the ritual of the sanctuary, is 
 now extraordinarily scanty. Perhaps it was never much 
 more abundant, and merely offers a striking instance of the 
 Greek capacity for surrounding trivial things with a halo 
 of beauty and good taste : perhaps, like the Pleistos, it 
 shrank before the dread voice that drove Apollo " with hollow 
 shriek " from " the steep of Delphos " and his old prophetic 
 shrine. 
 
 Leaving this now, alas ! not too limpid stream, we inspect 
 the other remains, consisting of little more than the founda- 
 tions of old buildings, which on that steep declivity were 
 obliged to be unusually massive. Unlike most of the walls 
 that the traveller is daily called upon to visit, there is one at 
 Delphi which is really interesting. It appears to have formed 
 part of the substructions of the temple, and dates from a 
 remote antiquity. It may be called " Pelasgic," because com- 
 posed of polygonal blocks ; but unlike other Pelasgic construc- 
 tions of the more cultivated period, their lines are not straight, 
 but sinuous beyond conception. Yet, in spite of this extreme 
 irregularity, each stone fits into its neighbour with perfect 
 accuracy, and retains its place without cement or fastening 
 of any kind. Subsequently the outer surface was smoothed, 
 and is now a mass of inscriptions relating to every kind inscriptions. 
 of business of which the temple was the centre — such as
 
 12fi 
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 
 
 Arrival of re- 
 inforcements. 
 
 Phoeian 
 manuers. 
 
 the liberation of slaves, appointments of consuls in foreign 
 towns, grants to the use of the sanctuary, and numerous 
 other subjects. 
 
 About this time our three friends, whom we have been 
 preceding all the way, ride into Kastri, and join their forces 
 to ours. Eumour seems as usual to have lied — at least none 
 of the reported twenty-five soldiers have accompanied them on 
 the way ; but we have seen quite enough men at intervals 
 along the road to prove tliat the Government thought it ad- 
 visable to keep a sharp watch over our safety in this wild 
 region. 
 
 Having started later on for the sea, we dismount on the 
 other side of the village to inspect some tombs cut in the 
 rock, as well as the stadium, the scene of the famous Pythian 
 games. This lies above the road, and commands a far more 
 extensive prospect than the town. On going down to rejoin 
 our animals, we find that the men have moved on some dis- 
 tance, and have taken advantage of our short absence to 
 " lose " one of our greatcoats — a serious matter at this uncer- 
 tain season. One of them is sent back to look for it, and of 
 course never rejoins the party : he only forfeits some twelve 
 drachma} for two days' hire of his beast, and gets in exchange 
 a, to him, most valuable garment. Although rid of one 
 ruffiau, our troubles with these gentry are by no means over. 
 They give signs of open insubordination. For instance, their 
 advance during our visit to the stadium was in direct contra- 
 vention of orders ; and tliis disobedience was meant to serve as
 
 THE PEOCIAN ALPS. 127 
 
 a protest against delay, it being their object to deposit us at 
 the sea and get back before sunset. During the almost pre- 
 cipitous descent upon Crissa, there is an approach to mutiny. 
 On one of the saddle-bows hangs a large revolver : its size 
 has on all occasions made it an object of envy to the natives. 
 One of the drivers suddenly whips it off and pockets it. The 
 rider cannot talk Greek, but is heard from behind expos- 
 tulating in very choice English. We ride up and find the 
 driver feigning not to understand his meaning : even when 
 this has been interpreted to him, it requires a display of the 
 stick to make him give up his prize. He apologises on the 
 plea that the steepness of the track put the instrument in 
 danger of falling off — an undoubtedly true position ; but then 
 it would have run a much greater risk of being lost if once 
 transferred to his custody. About ten minutes afterwards 
 his predictions are verified, and the pistol actually drops off, 
 when he again seizes it, and again condescends to relinquish it 
 only upon the application of some very personal arguments. 
 After detecting and frustrating a third attempt, the owner 
 fastens the weapon to his person, and so escapes further 
 trouble. 
 
 Enlivened by these little incidents the descent goes on 
 steadily (except when a refractory mule stops to do a little 
 kicking, and thereby disorganises the whole cavalcade), right 
 through the village of Krysso, the ancient Crissa (not to be 
 confused with Cirrha, the seaport of Delphi), down upon the 
 fertile Cirrhean plain. The whole was formerly claimed as
 
 128 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 
 
 sacred by the Delphic priests, and was apparently unculti- 
 vated even by them. The sacrilegious conduct of the 
 Locri of Amphissa in venturing to utilise a part of this 
 waste land, caused their condemnation by the Amphictyonic 
 council and the outbreak of the Sacred AVar, Through the 
 olive-groves that now cover its surface we trot on to La 
 La Scala di Scala di Salona, thankful to exchange perpendicular rock for 
 
 Salona. , , , 
 
 level ground. 
 
 At this little port, some two miles from Cirrha, we establish 
 ourselves, to wait the steamer that touches here between 
 Patras and Corinth. Dining peaceably up in the balcony of 
 a khani, we had a good opportunity of watching the manners 
 of a Greek maritime population. Like their inland brethren, 
 they appeared to have nothing to do but talk and pilfer. 
 Kleptomania. This last tendency was illustrated at the cost of the drago- 
 man, who came up to announce with many winnings, that 
 after spreading out his towels to dry in the large room below, 
 he had gone to the door to give some instructions to the cook, 
 and in that instant his possessions had been appropriated. 
 There must have been several witnesses of the theft, but every 
 person in tlie place denied knowledge of it ; for in point of 
 universal sympathy with crime, the Hellenic population is 
 not far behind the Irish. These little transfers of property 
 are effected with a truly marvellous rapidity. For example, 
 on leaving the kliani to go on board, one of the party re- 
 collected, before proceeding fifty yards, that his walking-stick 
 was left up in the verandah. He returned at once for it,
 
 THE PHOCIAN ALPS. 129 
 
 only to find that in tliose few minutes tlie inmates had ran- 
 sacked the scene of our repast and secured it. 
 
 About half-way between the shore and the steamer the Further traits 
 boatmen suddenly lie to on their oars and demand a hakshresh *^, °*^^^" 
 
 ciiaracter. 
 
 rather peremptorily. We reply that all charges are settled by 
 our respective dragomans, who have preceded us on board 
 to make arrangements. They retort that dragomans are an 
 evil race, given to underpaying those whom they employ. 
 Seeing that an agreement has been already concluded, this 
 contention seems rather beside the mark. On our con- 
 sequently declining to consider the question before reach- 
 ing the vessel, they at once begin to put the boat's head 
 about, with a view to returning to land. An altercation 
 with six armed rascals on the sea is certainly to be avoided, 
 but firmness is necessary : a significant touch of our holsters 
 produces a magical effect, the transit completes itself without 
 further interruption, and we bid adieu to the gallant Phocians 
 with little regret, feeling that, if their forefathers resembled 
 them, no praise can be too high for Philip's severe punish- 
 ment of their offences. 
 
 The boat is of course overcrowded, like all Greek steamers ; 
 but our guide has beaten the other one by a head, and secured 
 the two last berths. The rest of the party have to be content 
 to share the saloon sofas with crowds of natives, who beguiled 
 the night-watches by conversing till daybreak. One of them 
 also had a fit. So our friends were not in the best of 
 humours in the morning. Nevertheless their sufferings were 
 
 I
 
 130 THE nWCIAX A LPS. 
 
 valuable as giving birth to a theory likely to be of use to 
 comparative ethnologists — namely, that the unproductiveness 
 of the Greeks is clue to their addiction to talk, which exhausts 
 all the forces of the system. Undoubtedly, in the power of 
 continuous exposition they could give " long odds and a 
 beating " to French, Italians, or any other of the more 
 loquacious races.
 
 THE ARGULID. 131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE AEGOLID. 
 
 TO land at six on a drizzling morning, and subsequently to 
 wait two hours for food, are bad auspices under wliicli to 
 begin a tour of the Peloponnese. Corinth is a brand-new^ 
 town about a mile and a half from the old site, and Ijeing a 
 seaport, appears to grow rapidly. At nine we leave our com- 
 panions and start with a cavalcade of the same size as in 
 northern Greece. The men are of quite a different stamp, 
 with none of that cut-throat aspect which so disagreeably im- 
 presses the stranger in Phocis. One of the steeds possesses 
 what they call an " English " saddle, of wdiicli the owner is 
 extremely proud. It is true that its shape would evoke com- 
 ment in Leicestershire or The Eow, and its appointments 
 are rather incomplete, the stirrup-leathers being represented 
 by ropes of uneven lengths, and breakmg on one side or the 
 other at least six times a-day ; Ijut in spite of these drawbacks, 
 the apparatus admits of a seat upon the horse's back and a
 
 132 THE ABOOLIIK 
 
 grip of his sides, ■vvliich, after liavinii- so long hestrode a towel- 
 horse, is indeed a luxury. 
 
 Corinth. Of Coriiitli, the centre of Greek luxury and refinement, the 
 
 second home of art, architecture, and commerce, there re- 
 mains nothing but the amphitheatre, now a mere hollow 
 clothed with corn and weeds, and seven columns of an 
 unknown temple. Their extreme squatness refers them to 
 an early date : they are even more massive than those of 
 Posidonium at Piustum,^ being scarcely four diameters in 
 height, and with capitals larger than those of the great Italian 
 temple. Each shaft consists of only two drums ; indeed the 
 lower of these monoliths reaches to three-quarters of the total 
 height, so that the effect, on close inspection, is somewhat 
 
 Acrocoviii- peculiar. But at Corinth, as elsewhere, nature does much 
 to make up for the decay of human handiwork ; and the 
 marvellous Acrocorinth frowns grandly above the desolate 
 plain. A winding path on the west enables horses to mount 
 to the outside of the fortifications, a very great convenience 
 to the jaded tourist. 
 
 Passing through the gateway, he enters a perfect wilderness 
 of building, Hellenic, Frank, Venetian, Turk, each occupant 
 having left his mark upon this unicpie fortress. A whole 
 town is there, witli cliurches, mos(jues, towers, walls, and 
 battlements. There is no living creature within this vast 
 solitude : it is a very city of the dead, peopled, if at all, only 
 by the shades of those who successively had dominion therein. 
 
 ' See frontispiece.
 
 wm 
 
 mm "«'*'■''"'' 
 
 
 
 >^^:M^^ 
 
 kiilliilililllllilillilll ll :^ll^^llll^lil^llWiiilllllH 
 
 f^^ 1
 
 THE AKGULIL). ■ 133 
 
 There is still one relic of antiquity — the fountain of Pirene, Fountain of 
 and its presence on this isolated height is certainly remark- ^^^°^' 
 able. Here legend states that Bellerophon caught Pegasus 
 while unsuspectingly quenching his thirst. The spring was, 
 of course, assigned to a miraculous origin. Zeus had carried 
 off the daughter of the river-god Asopus, and Sisyphus, who 
 had seen the rape, unwisely let out to the disconsolate father 
 that he knew whither the maid was gone ; but judging it 
 prudent not to meddle with the affairs of the king of heaven, 
 he declined to mention names. Much importuned by Asopus, 
 he consented to make a revelation, on the apparently impos- 
 sible condition that water should spring forth on the summit 
 of Acrocorinth. These terms were at once fulfilled, and Sisy- 
 phus reluctantly disclosed the nymph's fate ; which indiscre- 
 tion, as every one knows, he expiated by immediate death, 
 and a subsequent sentence of evermore rolling a huge rock up 
 the side of a Tartarean hill. 
 
 To reach Mycenae, there is a track due south through the 
 root of the great promontory of the Argolid. It passes 
 between Acrocorinth and an almost equally high stronghold 
 called Pentephouka, and still crowned by a large Turkish ruin. 
 Then it strikes for some miles over steep rocky ground 
 looking very dismal in the unceasing downpour of rain. At 
 length it enters upon a small plain broken by low hills and 
 intersected by streams, where the soil becomes sandy and fit 
 for riding. In a sort of dale hard by, a single wall marks the 
 site where Cleonte once stood. Earthquake has laid low more Cleona.
 
 134 THE ARGOLID. 
 
 than one modern village on this spot, but after each disaster 
 fresh houses have risen. This hamlet contains a house with a 
 " guest chamber," a long, low apartment, ventilated copiously 
 through the tiled roof, but actually containing two settees by 
 way of furniture. While engaged in settling down, the guide 
 remarks cheerfully that two Germans are coming there for the 
 night. Observing that we receive the announcement with 
 little show of interest, he goes on to ask which end of the room 
 we should like to occupy ; and then it flashes across us that 
 the landlord, having already let the place once over for the 
 night, intends to do a sort of Box-and-Cox business, and 
 secure double rent. Considering, however, that there are 
 other houses in the place, we firmly but respectfully decline 
 to be intruded upon by two perfect strangers, who, as we 
 subsequently learned, had no difficulty in procuring accommo- 
 dation elsewhere. 
 Nemea. Next morning, a slight deviation from the road to Argos 
 
 brings us to Xemea, a very pretty spot. To celebrate the 
 triumph of Heracles over the dreaded lion, a festival was 
 instituted which took rank among the four great pan-Hellenic 
 assemblies. Xo town grew up at this place ; it was simply 
 a hicron containing a sacred gi-ove, temple, and stadium. 
 The whole stood in a little smiling valley, watered by a 
 winding brook, enjoying perpetual solitude, except when gay 
 multitudes from Cleome assembled to witness the prowess 
 of the athletes and to celebrate the victories of Heracles — 
 in plain language, those coiKiuests of human skill over nut-
 
 THE ARGOLID. 135 
 
 ural evil by which alone man's life has been rendered endur- 
 able. 
 
 The racecourse is remarkably wide for its length, cut right 
 into the hill. Nothing . can be stronger than the contrast 
 between this stadium and that other at Delphi where we 
 so lately stood. There the surroundings are snowy peaks, 
 sheer precipices, pine-forests, and sea ; here, all are gentle as 
 in an English landscape — a narrow prospect of low grassy 
 hills bounding a fertile plain covered with grass, corn, and 
 aromatic shrubs. 
 
 Of the temple, three pillars are erect and a small part of the 
 cella walls. These columns exhibit Doric architecture at its 
 lightest, as those of Corinth show it at its heaviest develop- 
 ment. So graceful are they as to suggest an Ionic edifice, and 
 it is almost a surprise to discover on a nearer approach the 
 simple, unornamented capitals. 
 
 Following the course of a considerable stream, we pursue 
 our way along the remains of what Pausanias calls the Tp-qri] 
 oSo's, or "road full of holes," and describes as practicable for 
 carriages : it is still as uneven as can be, but would barely be 
 passable for a wheelbarrow. After a couple of hours, Myceme Mycenae. 
 appears on the left of the track. The subject of this ever- 
 famous ruin is too vast to be more than touched upon here. 
 Attempts to harmonise the discrepant versions of the many 
 legends attaching to the mighty house of Atreus, fail as 
 utterly to give a satisfactory explanation of the Mycenean 
 remains as do judgments based solely upon those remains
 
 136 THE ARGOLID. 
 
 witliout reference to tradition. The town itself, so conspicu- 
 ous in Homeric story, was destroyed by Argos, certainly not 
 later than the middle of the fifth century B.C., in consequence, 
 it is supposed, of the jealousy of that powerful neighbour, 
 whose mean desertion of the national cause during the Persian 
 war was emphasised by the fact that eighty Myceneans joined 
 the forces under Leonidas at Thermopyla3. But though not 
 destroyed till after the Persian war, it had for practical pur- 
 poses disappeared before the dawn of history, since the Dorian 
 inhabitants of Argos, irreconcilably hostile to the older race 
 which still lived on so near them, had long since reduced 
 their city to insignificance. The great stronghold of the line 
 of Pelops thus became a desert, and has altered little for 2000 
 years. 
 
 The citadel occupies an isolated rock on the edge of the 
 
 mountains — a position of immense strength, commanding 
 
 alike the plain and the passes. Across a little valley is a 
 
 long low hill, the first rise from the level ground, and in 
 
 Treasury of this are the famous " treasuries." This name they have 
 
 Atreus. 
 
 always borne, and must consequently be 40 designated ; only 
 it is highly doubtful whether they were not built for tombs 
 rather than for treasure-houses. Tradition may well be par- 
 doned if it has here committed an error. The great wealth of 
 the Pelopid kings is everywhere insisted upon in epic and in 
 drama, and seems to have been the source of that superiority 
 over contemporary chieftains which is so constantly attributed 
 to this mysterious house of foreign, probably non-Hellenic,
 
 THE ARGOLID. 137 
 
 origin. When, then, in later ages, men saw on the sj^ot sub- 
 terranean chambers of massive strength, it was not unnatural 
 to hold that they had been used to store this wealth away. 
 But the fact that they are outside the citadel, at once 
 throws serious doubts over this belief. Unfortunately, no 
 recorded excavations have helped to solve the question by 
 bringing to light either treasure or human remains. But be 
 they treasuries or tombs, these buildings will remain one of 
 the wonders of the world. Two out of four have fallen to 
 pieces ; about half of a third is left ; the fourth is complete. 
 The form is that of a huge beehive built within the hill — the 
 entrance by a way excavated in the hillside. The material 
 employed consists of huge stones rising above each other in 
 gradually diminishing concentric circles, cut smooth after 
 being put in place, small stones being forced into the aper- 
 ture thus created in front between each layer ; so that there is 
 a lining of extraordinary evenness. The dome is purely self- 
 supporting, without clamps or cement, and, besides its own 
 enormous weight, has to bear the pressure of the earth above. 
 The workmanship and size of the blocks have been often 
 described. The lintel alone is 26 feet long by 20 thick, and 
 is calculated to weigh over 150 tons. A generation capable 
 of executing work at once so stupendous and so elaborate, may 
 have been prehistoric, but was certainly not barbaric. The 
 topmost stone, a sort of cover to the whole, has been removed, 
 and from the summit of the hill one can look down into the 
 darkness below. Unlike the ordinary vault, this structure was
 
 138 THE AliGOLll). 
 
 in no way dependent upon its coping, and remains just as 
 livni without it. A small bonfire may be lit with great effect, 
 and reveals a chamber opening out of the main building, where 
 traces are still visible of the futile explorations of some pre- 
 Schliemannic German archajologist who had not that great 
 man's nose for smelling out antiquities. 
 The Acropolis. From these strange buildings a few steps lead to the 
 foot of the Acropolis, with its massive walls and famous lion- 
 gate. The lifelike attitude of these rampant beasts argues 
 much civilisation in the unknown race that carved and set 
 them up. A similar ornament appears to have once stood 
 over the lintel of the "treasury," where there is now an 
 empty triangular space. The architecture is both " Cyclopean " 
 ' and " Pelasgic." The first term is applied to rough blocks 
 put loosely together, with their interstices filled by smaller 
 stones ; the latter to blocks of various polygonal shapes, but 
 cut so as to fit into each other with more or less accuracy. 
 The Pelasgic part of the Mycenean walls presents a perfectly 
 smooth surface, and has no crannies to be filled up. Both 
 the lion-gate and the other at the north are approached by a 
 narrow alley, in order to expose assailants to a cross-fire at 
 close quarters from the defenders. These alleys are lined 
 with stones even more nearly approaching the " Hellenic " or 
 Greek architecture proper ; for they are tetragonal and closely 
 fitted, but not always rectangular. Thus in one set of forti- 
 fications traditionally rcfeiTed to a single date, and in any 
 case of extreme antiquity, are specimens of the three great

 
 THE ARGOLW. 139 
 
 periods into wliicli all buildings on Greek soil have generally 
 
 been divided. The excellent workmanship of the " treasury," Dr Schlie- 
 
 the lions, and some parts of the wall, find a parallel in many "^^"" ^ ^^' 
 
 cavations. 
 
 of the articles discovered by Dr Schliemann within the citadel. 
 The cunning thus displayed gives much food for reflexion : it 
 belongs to an age which we were once taught to regard as 
 barbarous in that country ; it has nothing in common with 
 the development of Hellenic art and architecture ; the cus- 
 toms illustrated by the excavations do not even accord with 
 Homeric life and habits. Thus this wondrous Argolid, centre 
 of power and wealth in the Homeric legend, seems to be the 
 grave of an older and pre-Hellenic civilisation. The lions, 
 for instance, are far more lifelike than the stiff archaic sculp- 
 tures of later date which immediately preceded the emanci- 
 pation and perfection of Greek plastic art : the human figures 
 with heads of animals point to a religious spirit very different 
 from that revealed in Greek literature, with its invariable 
 tendency to humanise its deities : the accessories of a great 
 funeral, as revealed in these tombs, are in strange contrast 
 with the rites so minutely described in the Homeric poems. 
 These considerations do not disprove the identity of Dr Schlie- 
 mann's relics with the characters known in legend as Aga- 
 memnon and Cassandra ; but they do prove, if we admit 
 this supposition, that the conditions of life had radically 
 changed in the interval between the age of this great chief- 
 tain and that at which the early rhax^sodists sang. These 
 last, being devoid of the " historic sense," would naturally
 
 140 THE ARGOLID. 
 
 attribute to the men of old time the habits obtaining in their 
 own clays. 
 Identification "We arrive, therefore, at the comfortable conclusion that 
 the date and ownership of iJr Schliemann's treasure are 
 
 covered re- ^ 
 
 mains. matters vague and indeterminate, and that much speculation 
 
 on the matter is but lost labour. Nothing proves this more 
 abundantly than the great excavator's ponderous volume on 
 Mycenffi : his claims as a scholar or archaeologist are far from 
 commensurate with his claims as a discoverer ; and the book 
 illustrates almost ludicrously the perplexity induced by the 
 various aspects of the question. That Agamemnon, with his 
 mistress and companions, were all interred within the Acropolis 
 at Mycense, was apparently the belief of Pausanias, who says ^ 
 that Agamemnon and his comrades murdered with him are 
 certainly buried at JMycente, although there is some douljt 
 about the tomb commonly assigned to Cassandra. Then he 
 proceeds : " Clytemnestra and ^gisthus were buried a little w\ay 
 from the wall, but were deemed unworthy to rest inside, where 
 Agamemnon and those murdered with him were lying." Now 
 there has been no mention of a city wall — only of the cele- 
 brated wall of the Acropolis ; so we are justified in assuming 
 that Pausanias believed the remains of the murdered king 
 to repose within the citadel. Undoubtedly this passage sug- 
 'jested to Dr Schliemann the institution of his successful 
 search, and we have little beyond it to guide us. The Greek 
 dramatists seem uncertain whether to place the scene of Aga- 
 
 1 I'aus. ii. 16, 3.
 
 THE ARGOLID. 141 
 
 rnemnon's death and sepulture at Argos or Mycenae. The 
 destruction of the latter city caused them to merge it men- 
 tally in the former ; but the name Argos is used of the dis- 
 trict as well as of the town, so that we have an additional 
 difficulty in determining at which place the scene is laid. In 
 the " Agamemnon " of J^schylus, the " Electra " of Sophocles, 
 and the " Electra " of Euripides, the topographical notices are 
 too vague to enable us to decide. Tlie Homeric account dis- 
 tinctly places the murder in neither town. In the Odyssey,^ 
 Menelaus, brother of the murdered king, tells his young guest 
 Telemachus how the foul deed was accomplished. Agamemnon, 
 sailing back from Troy, was driven southward off Caj)e St 
 Elmo, and eventually landed, not close at home, but at some 
 distant part of the Argolid — " the land's end, where erst dwelt 
 Thyestes, but now ^gisthus, Thyestes' son." Here the 
 treacherous cousin had kept unceasing watch for the king's 
 return. His plans were laid : lie invited his unsuspecting 
 kinsman to his house, and slew him at the board, " like an 
 ox in the stall." This perpetration of the murder in an 
 out-of-the-way place, in ^gisthus' own home, gives it a 
 different aspect from tlie version followed by the tragedians ; 
 but knowing that great honours were paid hy the guilty pair 
 to the outraged shades of their victims, it is natural for us 
 to suppose that they were buried with much pomp and 
 circumstance in the capital. The charred human skeletons 
 discovered so recently, hardly recall to us the " gigantic frame 
 
 1 Horn. Oa. iv. 517.
 
 142 THE ARGOLin. 
 
 of the King of Men, or the fairy form of Cassandra." lUit at 
 any rate, Dr Schlieniann has exhumed some powerful cliief 
 of olden time, laid to rest amid his wives and retainers, and 
 decked out with golden ornaments amid possessions which he 
 cherished while yet alive. 
 
 The excavations have scarcely altered the aspect of the 
 place. Just within the lion-gate is a nearly circular space 
 containing six empty tombs, surrounded by a narrow passage 
 formed by a double row of upright flagstones. All the 
 precious contents have luckily been removed to Athens, 
 except a single ghastly object kept in a cottage hard ])y. 
 It is a half -burnt mass in which a close inspection reveals 
 the shape of human bones, and the outlines of a human face 
 more than mummy-like in its hideousness : the teeth alone 
 are clear and distinct. It is incapable of removal or exposure 
 to the air ; so here it remains under glass, and nut even the 
 guardian calls it the corpse of Agamemnon. 
 Argos. An hour and a half over the plain brings us to the S(pialid 
 
 little town of Argos. The wind has dropped, and we realise 
 the charms of a Greek spring sunset, such as early training 
 has taught us to expect. The effect is very sootliing to frames 
 exhausted by exposure to incessant gales and rain. Up the 
 dirty street we pass, followed l»y an increasing concourse. A 
 halt is called in front of a fislnuonger's shop, tlirougli whicli 
 we proceed into a fold-yard beyond — thus for once cheating 
 native curiosity. Nevertheless a few loiterers are always 
 waiting outside at whatsoever liour of tlie day or niglit we
 
 THE ARGOLID. 143 
 
 may chance to emerge, and a cry of " Lords " at once collects 
 a little crowd. It is very gratifying to be a public character, 
 but a retiring nature sometimes feels overwhelmed with the 
 honour. 
 
 An encampment is soon accomplished in the bare back- News from 
 room, and to help to while away the bad hour or two which ^°'"°' 
 invariably precede dinner, we send out for a newspaper. An 
 Athens journal of some antiquity is procured, wherein a single 
 cold-blooded telegram curtly announces that out of 278 seats 
 the Eadicals have gained about 32, and that even the Con- 
 servative press has accepted a change of Ministry. Such an 
 announcement is startling in a degree hardly appreciable by 
 those whose minds have been gradually prepared for the 
 result through the events of each successive day. The blow 
 is embittered by the ill-suppressed exultation of the noble 
 Hellenes, who fancy that their chance has now indeed come. 
 
 Upon tempers thus sweetened, there fell an immediate, and a dragoman's 
 consequently hardly less acute annoyance. Our guileless ° 
 
 Maltee, in demanding fresh supplies, gives occasion to go 
 into accounts, whence we discover that he is treating one 
 of the horses and men, wine, and a few other little trifles, as 
 extras, in spite of the accurate agreement in which all these 
 incidental expenses were included. ISTot feeling in the humour 
 to submit to extortion, we decline absolutely to concede his 
 claims ; whereupon he hints darkly at leaving us to get away 
 as best we can. Now cooks, beds, and kitchens do not 
 grow on every tree of the Morea, and we begin to recollect
 
 144 THE ARGOLID. 
 
 that no amount of legal right on our side would compensate 
 us for the fearful inconvenience of being left to find our own 
 way out of the mess ; so we control our rising choler, and 
 determine to ride into Nauplia, and see if we can there dis- 
 cover any substitute. 
 
 Accordingly, keeping dark our fell purpose, we next day 
 select the three most fiery of our horses, and leaving behind 
 ;Mr Dragoman, who thoroughly appreciates the holiday, start 
 under the protection of the most agreeable of our staff, a 
 The Argive youtli named Anastasius. The plain on this side of Argos is 
 1' '*'"• ygj.j different from the portion we had traversed on the pre- 
 
 ceding evening. It is unlike most parts of Greece, for the 
 soil is not only fertile but cultivated ; and all along the 
 excellent road leading to Nauplia are corn-fields, vineyards, 
 tobacco -plantations, and orange -orchards, showing what in- 
 dustry might make of Greece if any such virtue could be 
 roused in the breast of the average inhabitant. "Walled 
 gardens, with respectable houses attached, occur not un- 
 frequently, and altogether this little bit of country recalls 
 southern Italy rather than Greece. The illusion is further 
 increased by the unusual quantity of vehicles upon the road 
 plying to and fro between the two towns, this being a great 
 feast-day at Nauplia. 
 
 An untimely downfall of rain makes us leave Tiryns for 
 
 Nauplia. the return journey and push on to tlie port. Nauplia is a 
 
 pretty town overhung by the great Palamedes rock. It was 
 
 jirovisionally the ca])ital of the country for some years after
 
 T 111
 
 THE ARGOLID. 145 
 
 the war of independence, and exhibits attempts at civilisa- 
 tion, such as pavement in the streets and glass in the shop- 
 windows. But as a proof of the backwardness of even so 
 highly favoured a place as this, we may mention that un- 
 resined wine was obtainable only at one shop, where a single 
 kind of bottled native liquor was to be procured : we never 
 afterwards enjoyed even this modicum of luck. The eparch 
 of Pyrgos subsequently explained to us that his countrymen 
 so greatly preferred the flavour of turpentine to that of the 
 grape, as to render any importation of the decent Greek vin- 
 tages absolutely unremunerative. 
 
 After duly visiting the little harbour and handsome old 
 gateway of the town, which once more made us wonder how 
 the " sons of the Hellenes " would ever have got on but for 
 the Venetian occupation, we bethink us of the main purpose 
 of our visit, and turn about to look for advice and information. 
 In spite of the festival, the population has retired indoors to 
 avoid the rain. We at length elicit the fact that there is no 
 English vice-consul in Nauplia, but are du-ected to the abode 
 of the protector of Italian commerce — an independent foreign 
 opinion being our main object. Unfortunately, he turns out 
 to have gone to Mycenae, in order to receive there witli due 
 honour the friends from whom we parted at Corinth ; but a 
 gentleman inhabiting a flat in the same house politely asks 
 us to walk up-stairs. He proves to be a money-lender, and 
 talks excellent English, but understands with some difficulty 
 the nature of our requirements, having probably never been 
 
 K
 
 146 
 
 THE ARGOLID. 
 
 Natural liis- 
 tory of the 
 Greek horse. 
 
 into the interior or given a thought as to how such expeditions 
 are carried out. Anything like a guide, with the necessary 
 appliances, he pronounces to be an unknown animal at Nauplia ; 
 so, after a further interchange of civilities, we take our leave. 
 
 Outside we come in for a quaint, but to ourselves unpleas- 
 ing, spectacle. The band of the garrison is bearing down upon 
 us, lustily playing the Greek national anthem. Anastasius is 
 standing outside holding the three horses, who hitherto have 
 occasioned little difficulty. But the excruciating sound of this 
 strans:e martial music arouses all tlie fire dormant within 
 their breasts, and the whole lot commence a sort of Pyrrhic 
 dance, dragging round and round the unhappy youth, who 
 manfully hangs on to the end of the reins and halters. Our 
 amusement gives place to disgust when, before we have time 
 to intervene, rugs and greatcoats fly off in various directions 
 and fall in the oozy street amid the crash of broken wine- 
 bottles. However, order is soon restored, and we ride out 
 towards Argos. 
 
 On the way, we draw out Anastasius, who himself owns 
 two of the horses, and knows all about the third. The two 
 with halters are respectively 23 and 20 years of age, while 
 the spirited animal with the " English " saddle is a mere colt 
 of 15: "but then," says the proud owner, "liis heart is 
 young," "We think once more of the Pickwickian cab-horse, 
 and assume that this longevity is due to the humane system 
 of morally never unharnessing these animals. Our temporary 
 leader lias been all along very proud of his position of con-
 
 THE ARGOLID. 14" 
 
 fidence, and is deeply pained at havino- been degraded before 
 the military and burgesses of Nauplia. Like the rest of 
 our Peloponnesian employes, he is a vast improvement on the 
 northern Greeks, of whose surly impudence he, for one, has 
 no trace. He gives us a good deal of information, and fully 
 understands that we eat meat because the Lent of the Western 
 Churches is already past ; but he evidently has serious doubts 
 whether the members of those religious bodies can be classed 
 as Christians. JMoreover, he volunteers some songs ; but after 
 hearing one or two, we earnestly beg him not to injure his 
 voice by continuing. 
 
 Close to the roadside, about half-wa}^ round the bay, are Thyns. 
 the eternal walls of Tiryns, that other miglity remnant of the 
 heroic age in the Argolid. Like Mycenre, it fell a prey to the 
 Argives, who forcibly removed the inhabitants into their own 
 city, and left it a desert. Euder and more massive than 
 Mycente, it answers well to the current belief that it was 
 " piled by the hands of giants for godlike kings of old." It 
 represents Cyclopean architecture in excelsis. Blocks so huge 
 that, says Pausanias,-^ " a yoke of mules could not move the 
 very smallest of them," are piled up some 40 feet in lieight 
 and 50 in thickness, a breadth of 7 or 8 being in places 
 observable. The whole structure rests upon a low hill rising 
 like an island from tlie plain, and looks strangely weird and 
 out of place amid the surrounding cultivation. At the 
 entrance, on the side towards Nauplia, are two galleries 
 
 1 Pau^. ii. 2.5, 8.
 
 148 THE ARGOLID. 
 
 within the thickness of the wall, one at least a hundred feet 
 long. Whether these were used for purposes of ambuscade to 
 conceal the men told off to defend the gate, or simply as 
 armouries for the garrison, is a matter of the merest conjec- 
 ture. Their shape and construction are very peculiar, and 
 there is no egress at the farther end. 
 
 Such are the walls of Tiryns, to the Greek or Roman mind 
 hardly less marvellous than the pyramids of Egypt. The inte- 
 rior has been raised by the accumulations of ages almost to the 
 level of their top, and affords a pleasing solitude where the 
 unlovely modern life around is quite shut out, and the eye 
 rests only on a luxuriant growth of spring flowers, enlivened 
 by the loving gambols of two hoopoes, and where the mind 
 can speculate undisturbed upon the unknown people, at once 
 so rude and so skilful, who laid these fragments in their place 
 in the " midst of Aroos " — that fertile sea- washed region where 
 Perseus, Heracles, Danaus, Pelops, and the " king of men " 
 held sway. 
 
 But it is time to get back to Argos, so as to explore that im- 
 portant city. Unfortunately, this work is very light, owing 
 to the various destructions wrought upon the place. There is 
 Theatre of the large theatre, where about 6 tiers of seats are discernible ; 
 " ' another small theatre near it, and a large castle on the high 
 
 liill behind, with Pelasgic foundations, proving it to occupy the 
 summit of the ancient Acropolis. Inside the town a large 
 barrack is the most remarkable building, situated in a sort of 
 piazza. It is more pretentious than the otlier small towns
 
 THE ARGOLID. 149 
 
 of Greece, which are usually nothing but big villages — mere 
 collections of cottages and farm-houses; but wherever the 
 Venetians have been, there is invariably some improvement 
 upon this state of things. In one respect, however, we failed 
 to appreciate the admixture of Italian blood flowing in the 
 veins of the Argive population : the rising generation of this 
 place are most incurably addicted to begging, and cling to the 
 stranger with a pertinacity equal to that of young lazzaroni. 
 Elsewhere in Greece there is no mendicancy, force or fraud 
 being popularly regarded as nobler and more successful modes 
 of acquiring the property of other people. 
 
 But we had occasion to bless Argos for something besides Entomological 
 
 . studies. 
 
 its beggars. Hitherto, never having stayed more than one 
 night in the same village, we had escaped the attacks of 
 domestic insects. But here on the second evening they dis- 
 covered us, and issued from their hiding-places in considerable 
 force. We did not complain — the landlord would have been 
 incapable of entering into the cause of our annoyance — but 
 we " swore an oath and kept it," with a mind as " equal " as 
 the circumstances permitted, never again to remain anywhere 
 for two consecutive days till we should have reached civilised 
 latitudes. 
 
 In the morning we found our guide, philosopher, and friend 
 in a very humble frame of mind, subdued by our firm attitude 
 of the day before. So, with much inward thankfulness, we 
 consented to finish our proposed tour on the original terms, 
 promising him a liberal present if he gave satisfaction
 
 150 THE AliGOLID. 
 
 throughout. Ilis weak points thenceforth became doubly 
 prominent. Through northern Greece and tlie Argolid we 
 had followed a line with which he was familiar. "We now 
 proposed to give up visiting Laconia and Messenia, in 
 order to traverse the Peloponnese by way of central Arcadia, 
 fondly hoping to realise the pastoral descriptions of the Italian 
 poets. Our dragoman, however, had never crossed except 
 by way of Sparta, and either could not or would not admit 
 the possibility of adopting the route suggested. Maps and 
 guide-books declared that Tripolitza might be reached in a 
 long day's journey from Argos ; but he had never done it, 
 and was not going to begin at his time of life — that was the 
 sort of argument employed. At last he consented to consult 
 native opinion, and returned with the startling information 
 that Tsipiana was the point to make for, as being within a 
 few hours of Megalopolis. In vain we pointed out that 
 Tripolitza was in a straight Hne between these two places, 
 and that consequently his proposal involved a needless 
 detour : he decHned to look at maps or books, which, as he 
 could not read, could scarcely have made him much the wiser, 
 and roundly reasserted the facts just furnished to him. Hav- 
 ing long ceased to be surprised at anything, and knowing two 
 sides of a triangle to be the direction usually followed in this 
 country in order to get along tire base, we gave way and 
 departed for Tsipiana.
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 151 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 THE road out of the Argive plain is up a gentle slope, bril- 
 liant with anemones and purple irids, and dotted with 
 picturesque shrubs. Then the track runs along a deep river- 
 bed, where more than one broken Turkish bridge testifies to 
 the " fecklessness " of the powers that be. The mid-day halt 
 is by the water-side, where the bank widens out into a little 
 plateau of the greenest turf sprinkled with wild olive-trees 
 — one of those deep-soiled hollows so common in the lime- 
 stone hills of England ; but in this misused land no labour 
 calls forth the fertility of such spots, and the bells of a flock 
 sounding faintly from the mountains alone give signs of habi- 
 tation. The post-prandial meditation is perturbed by one of 
 the baggage -horses, who suddenly takes it into his head to 
 roll upon the sward, crushing with an ill-omened sound the 
 dressing-bags and valises upon his back. The flattening of 
 our only paint-box, and consequent intermixture of its colours, 
 is not the least irritating result of his light-heartedness.
 
 152 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 For a long two hours we climb almost perpendicular rocks, 
 the guide with his steed coming down on the brink of a 
 yawning gulf ; but not yet will he deign to walk. Just 
 before the top of the pass the track utterly vanishes. In our 
 A hopeful perplexity we are met by a little boy driving a flock of goats, 
 o-* o^e. j^ spite of his tender years he declines to direct us except 
 for a pecuniary consideration, and a display of the stick is 
 necessary to induce him to alter his determination. A 
 scramble through cloud and snow brings us over the ridge, 
 whence far below us lie the plains of Arcadia clad in 
 sunlight. 
 
 The descent is painful beyond description. Even the 
 dragoman and the cook prefer trusting to their own legs, 
 and the beasts are let go and allowed to find their own 
 way down. We move gingerly along the rocky side of a 
 sort of estuary of the table-land below, in shape like the 
 " combes " of our southern coast. At the entrance lies 
 Tsipiana. Tsipiana, our destination, and on the towering summit on the 
 
 left is a monastery, whence the brethren have a glorious 
 prospect of the doings of the village at their feet. 
 
 Sending the men to make arrangements for tlie night, we 
 sally forth to explore this little-known spot. Though visited 
 under a mistake, it repaid us for the trouble. There is 
 nothing to see in the way of antiquities, but geologically as 
 well as historically it illustrates the condition of Happy 
 Arcadia. The identity of its remains, consisting of a gate- 
 way and walls on the citadel, has never been satisfac-
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 153 
 
 torily established. Perhaps it was formerly Melangia ; 
 but this uncertainty is only typical of that region, at 
 the best of times little known and less civilised. Some 
 occult centrifugal force prevented union or co - operation 
 between the communities occupying this great table-land, 
 and even Epaminondas's grand idea of gathering together 
 their power in a common centre obtained but a qualified suc- 
 cess. Thus the very names of these towns have perished, 
 except a few, like Tegea and Mantinea, while none of them 
 played a great part in history. The inhabitants were pro- 
 verbial for want of culture, and so was the greater part of 
 the district. The Greek poets never speak of Arcadia as 
 the acme of picturesque beauty, the chosen home of faun 
 and nymph and satyr. Such attributes originate with the 
 Italian poets, and not even amongst the earliest of these. 
 Neither did Greek pastoral poetry spring up amid the 
 rustic swains of this country, as many persons suppose. 
 Flat swampy plains, and low, rolling, treeless hills, do not 
 evoke spontaneous bursts of song ; nor does an ungrateful 
 soil produce that more quiet sense of thankfulness for nature's 
 bounties, which in rich though unpicturesque lands some- 
 times finds an utterance in verse. 
 
 The plain wherein Tsipiana stands illustrates well the un- The " Barren 
 
 Plain. " 
 
 fortunate conditions here alluded to. Just as we have seen a 
 great part of the Bceotian lowlands to be a hopeless swamp, so do 
 similar causes mar the fertility of this country, and the ancient 
 name of EleStov 'Apyov, or " Lazy Plain," is well deserved. Al-
 
 154 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 most shut in by tall mountains, it receives torrents of rain- 
 water from every side, and is drained insufficiently by a single 
 stream whose only outlet is a magnificent katavothron. This 
 phenomenon, so common in the Greek mountains, has its best 
 illustration here. The acropolis forms a projecting spur of rock 
 against which the torrent charges ; an opening in the side 
 receives it, and it vanishes into the bowels of the earth, only 
 to reappear, as Pausanias believed, in the bed of the sea off a 
 place called Dine in the Argolid. Within this cave were a 
 considerable number of natives grinding corn at three small 
 mills erected in the current. IMighty was their astonish- 
 ment to see a European stranger suddenly appear at the 
 entrance, while across him there flashed the thought how 
 easily a push could send a man to destruction and oblivion 
 down that boiling tide. 
 
 Eeturning to the village, we are directed to our lodging — 
 a low dirty loft, rendered rather too airy by the displacement 
 of some tiles in the roof. We think the demarch might 
 have guided us to rather better quarters ; but it appears that 
 that functionary was " not at home " when the guide called 
 upon him, so the latter promptly contracted for the first 
 kennel offered. A stone floor does not make the di-aughts 
 any warmer, neither are we specially gratified to perceive that 
 the family and suite are to pass the night on the other side of 
 Another soci- a thin wooden partition. In come the host and his father 
 (who, like Laertes in the ' Odyssey,' has made over the king- 
 dom to his son), and show themselves very sociable, insisting
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 155 
 
 upon pledging us in our own wine, and upon our pledging them 
 in theirs ; which arrangement proved rather one-sided, as we 
 could not swallow theirs, while they both could and did make 
 serious inroads into our little store. We are asked lots of 
 questions, but decline to understand them, so the conversa- 
 tion goes on in the following strain : — 
 
 Host " How much did the lords pay for their revolvers, 
 their boots, their watches ? " 
 
 Dragoman. " Gentlemen, he begs you to be so very kind as 
 to inform him of the value of these articles." 
 
 Englislimen. " The revolvers are worth 2000 francs apiece, 
 on account of their exquisite workmanship and extraordinary 
 power; the boots cost 500, and the watches 20 francs." 
 {Then, observing that the good gentleman has got hold of our 
 cartridges, and is preparing to appropriate some :) " Tell him 
 that these cartridges are capable of going off at any moment 
 if carelessly handled, and would blow the roof off." 
 
 Host {dragoman having interpreted) hurriedly drops his plun- 
 der, and asks — " Are they lovers of freedom ? " {Greek for 
 " Liberals "). 
 
 Englishmen. " Tell him that freedom is dear to the heart of 
 every Englishman, whether or no he belong to the political 
 party styled Liberal, and that," &c., &c. 
 
 Dragoman {succinctly). " No." Disgust of host. 
 • Englishman {perceiving that he has ijiched up one of the 
 ivatches and is attempting to wind it up with the corkscrew). 
 "Tell him to put that watch down, or I'll," &c., &c.
 
 156 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 Dragoman. " The gentleman begs you to be so extremely 
 good as to give up his watch, because, though very much 
 obliged for your kind intentions, he has already wound it 
 up." 
 
 ITost. " Do they know Pausanias ? " 
 
 Englishmen {not ivishing to oivn to a knoivledgc even of ancient 
 Greek). " Who is he ? A friend of yours ? " 
 
 Host. " Ancient writer." 
 
 Englishmen. " What did he write about ? " 
 
 Host doesn't know. Conversation flags. 
 
 Englishmen {to start a nctv topic). " Ask him what sort of a 
 fellow the demarch is." 
 
 Host {immediately tqjon interpretation). " Oh, such a beast ! " 
 
 Englishmen burst out laugliing before interpretation. Host 
 stares. 
 
 Dragoman {solemnly). " He says he does not love him as a 
 brother." 
 
 This sort of thing lasts for ab"out two hours, after which 
 our entertainer seems anxious to put us to bed, and tries to 
 blow out the candles. As we have, of course, not undressed, 
 we mildly object : but he seems to think it discourteous to 
 leave us before the lights are out ; so, plucking up courage, 
 we say " good-night " in Greek, very pointedly. At about the 
 sixth repetition, he takes the hint, and leaves us to the gentle 
 slumber into which we soon sink, lulled by the excited argu- 
 ments of the domestic circle in the adjoining apartment. 
 
 Next morning, during the course of our toilette, we are
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 157 
 
 visited by the members of tiie family, male and female, bring- 
 ing coins and bronzes from the village antiquary. This un- The village 
 official functionary is an appendage to every hamlet, and ^^^^^^^^S^^*- 
 apparently buys up on speculation anything that may be 
 discovered in the neighbourhood. He knows nothing of the 
 relative values of his wares ; but assuming that purchasers 
 will cheat him all they can, he asks some ludicrously high 
 price for everything alike. None but professed numismato- 
 logists need look at these things, unless the traveller care to 
 amuse himself by getting " a rise " out of the archtieologist by 
 bidding a drachma for the whole lot, or making some other 
 sarcastic offer. Indeed the country has been pretty well 
 cleared of anything of value, and it would be the merest 
 chance if the whole stock-in-trade were not composed of 
 rubbish. 
 
 Our leader now announces that it is possible to reach Contradictory 
 Andritsena that night, passing through an unknown place 
 called Vedina. Now not only is the latter undiscoverable, but 
 the whole distance looks about a two days' journey, to judge 
 by our usual rate of progress. Still, supposing the natives to 
 know best, we sally forth and emerge from the village, when, 
 to our disgust, six soldiers come up and declare that they 
 have strict orders to accompany us. The demarch, whom 
 universal testimony declared to have been in his house all the 
 time, has now found it convenient to be " at home : " to have 
 directed us to lodgings would have caused him trouble ; but 
 to despatch an escort gives him none, and enhances his
 
 158 HA pry ARCADIA. 
 
 own dignity, while relieving liini of all responsibility on our 
 account. 
 
 In vain we assure the men that we can dispense with their 
 services : their orders are peremptory to convoy us across the 
 Alpheus. They also observe that our proposed route is im- 
 practicable, and that our only way to Andritsena is through 
 Tripolitza, as we had maintained at Argos. Hereupon ensues 
 an impassioned discussion, in which soldiers, natives, guide, 
 and drivers partake — gesticulating, swearing, and all talking at 
 once. As this state of things shows no signs of terminating, 
 we break up the little groups of disputants with our sticks, 
 and peremptorily order the march to begin. Debouching 
 through the narrow neck wliicli joins the great plain to the 
 " Lazy," and lea^ing to our right the low walls of Mantinea, 
 we made our way over the ground whereon Epaminondas met 
 his death in the moment of victory. The soil being soft and 
 level, the occasion seemed favourable for impro^^ng upon our 
 ordinary rate of progress, which, on the average, might be 
 estimated at two miles an hour ; so we urged our steeds into 
 Drawbacks of a sort of amble, and overtook the advanced-guard, who at 
 an escor . ^^^^ began to ruu in order to retain the lead. The sight of 
 
 the poor fellows poundiug along at the double, burdened witli 
 their rifles and greatcoats, was grotesque in the extreme. At 
 last, in sheer pity, we pulled up, and pointed out the needless- 
 ness of their exertions ; but they answered that they had 
 received strict injunctions to precede us. Now it was exactly 
 this obedience tliat we were anxious to discourage, l)ecause the
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 159 
 
 wind was blowing full in our teeth, and made us painfully 
 aware of much garlic moving before us ; so that there was no 
 chance of escaping the infliction except by ourselves getting 
 in front of the nuisance. After long persuasion, we induced 
 them to join their comrades in the rear, undertaking the 
 full responsibility for any evils that might in consequence 
 befall us. 
 
 At noon Tripolitza was entered — the most modern of towns. Tripolitza. 
 Founded a century ago, it l^ecame the Turkish capital of the 
 Peloponnese, but was utterly destroyed during the "war of 
 independence — hence its extreme newness. We had origin- 
 ally intended to rest there for the previous night, and ruefully 
 contrasted its comfortable-looking houses with the den that 
 had sheltered us at Tsipiana. This was but an everyday 
 example of what the stranger may expect to suffer from the 
 ignorance and mendacity of the rustics, who, uninformed of 
 the existence of places within a day's ride of their homes, 
 concoct mythical statements as to routes and distances, less 
 perhaps from a love of practical joking than from a dislike of 
 not seeming to know better than other people. The populace 
 of Tripolitza, apprised of our arrival, and expecting us last 
 night, appeared to have been on the look-out ever since — 
 at least, they were all assembled in the central square, — a 
 fine-looking set of men, every one of whom was wearing the 
 national dress, except the military and tlie demarch, who was 
 clad in frock-coat and "go-to-meeting" hat — the official 
 uniform of his kind.
 
 ino HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 He expresses deep regret at not having had the honour of 
 entertaining iis on the previous night, a sentiment wherein we 
 fully participate. Neither can we stop for coffee and conver- 
 sation (the Hellenic substitute for " tea and talk "), owing to 
 tlie distance between this place and Megalopolis, which we 
 are bound to reach to-night. So, with many polite speeches, 
 we pass down the streets and out of the town, accompanied 
 by the civil and military authorities, as well as the bulk of 
 the citizens. At the outskirts there is a solemn leave-taking, 
 and we shake hands with the demarch, tlie prefect of police, 
 their respective myrmidons, and most of the principal burghers. 
 After advancing some yards, we look back, and perceive the 
 guide going through the same ceremony, evidently much to 
 his satisfaction. 
 Airadian The next few hours unfold all the hideousness of central 
 
 .UK scape. Arcadia. True that on the north Mount Cyllene and other 
 snow-capped peaks give a far distance which leaves nothing to 
 be desired, and that the same may be said of Taygetus on the 
 south : but unless the day be unusually clear, they are in- 
 visible ; and in any case, there is no pleasing object in the 
 foreground or middle distance on which the eye can rest. 
 Clouds of dust on the road, marshy flats on either hand, shape- 
 less hills without vegetation, no signs of life but the endless 
 chorus of countless frogs ; such is the central Arcadia of 
 to-day — a bleak, unlovely table-land. 
 
 Leaving to the left the sites of Tegea and Pallanteum, 
 and crossing the low ground, the road follows a long, steep
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 161 
 
 ascent, whose summit commands the wide undulating plain 
 of Megalopolis. The bottom takes a considerable time to 
 reach by means of a well-engineered and winding road. It is 
 hardly needful to say that this is a Turkish work, and looks 
 as if it had never been repaired since the expulsion of the 
 Ottoman : yet so good is its construction, that it can still be 
 used after half a century of neglect. During the descent we 
 overtake cook and baggage, whom we fondly imagined to be 
 an hour in advance. The whole party is looking helplessly at 
 one of the horses, who has been seized with a rolling fit on the 
 verge of the precipice, and although he has escaped destruc- 
 tion, has succeeded in squashing the luggage and bursting the 
 bonds til at secured it to his person. After some delay the 
 mischief is repaired, and we pursue our way with the pleasing 
 assurance that the satisfaction of hunger must be indefinitely 
 postponed. 
 
 We providentially get down before the night has fully set Megalopolis. 
 in, and soon traverse the level country dividing the hills from 
 the town. The cook's failure to make good use of his start 
 imposes upon us the disagreeable necessity of seeking quarters 
 in the dark. The demarch, of course, is " not at home," but a 
 bystander points out the prefect of police in tlie street. He 
 is immediately captured, and in self-defence guides us to tlie 
 eparch's house. This official is young and a bachelor : he cour- The Epar- 
 teously takes us in, and we establish ourselves in the office, as 
 bein^ the only room large enough for the purpose. We then 
 invite him to dinner, the invariable practice under such circum- 
 
 L
 
 102 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 stances. He appreciates the unresined wine, but grows neither 
 inquisitive nor communicative under its influence. The infor- 
 mation that we are not " lovers of freedom " exhausts his interest 
 in European politics ; wliile his care for national affairs is con- 
 fined to the acquittal of the late war-minister on a charge of 
 peculation, — a result due, as he informs us, not to any lack of 
 evidence against the accused, but to the reluctance of both 
 parties to investigate these little matters. He expounds the 
 nature of his office. The eparchy is a subdivision of the 
 " nome," and both nomarchs and eparchs are appointed by the 
 Government. He is therefore superior to the demarch — a 
 mere local functionary elected in each " deme," or commune 
 — a fact which he is not backward in impressing on (nir 
 minds. 
 
 Megalopolis was different from the usual Hellenic city both 
 in position and constitution. Founded in the fourth century 
 B.C., when the art of fortification was thoroughly understood, 
 it had no need of an acropolis, and stood well away from the 
 hills, a very • city of the plain." Its liuge circumference of 
 about six miles contrasted strangely with the strait precincts 
 of the ordinary town : indeed it was even larger than that of 
 Sparta, who possessed no walls, boasting that her natural 
 position and the valour of lier citizens w^ ere all the fortification 
 she required. This vast area was never fully peopled, and 
 recalls Babylon or Nineveh, with their wide intramural 
 corn-fields and pleasaunces, rather than anytliing Greek. 
 Neither was Megalopolis the seat of a new sovereignty, inde-
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 163 
 
 pendent of the Arcadian communities : it was the centre of a 
 federation into which these cities, to the number of forty, were 
 induced to enter. To Epaminondas was due this conception 
 and its execution. After breaking the power of Sparta on the 
 field of Leuctra, he saw that the only method of permanently 
 suppressing that great enemy of Thebes was the establishment 
 of a rival power in the central Peloponnese. The " Great 
 City " sprang up in three years, and received contingents of 
 colonists from every place in the neighbourhood, except the 
 more powerful Tegea and Mantinea ; but these towns, though 
 not included in the list, favoured the project by furnishing six 
 out of the twelve cekists, or founders. The ideal of the great 
 Theban was perhaps not fully attained ; for many of the 
 inhabitants, obeying the indomitable tendencies of their race, 
 drifted gradually back to their old homes. Nevertheless the 
 newly established council and assembly continued to regulate 
 the affairs of the union, and Megalopolis retained strength 
 not only to resist successfully all the attacks of the Lacedae- 
 monians, but also to prove a perpetual thorn in their side. 
 Surprised at night and in time of truce by Cleomenes, tyrant 
 of Sparta, it was burnt to the ground, a century and a half after 
 its foundation. Eebuilt immediately, it rapidly and peace- 
 fully decayed, so that in Strabo's time it is humorously de- 
 scribed as a " great desert ; " and Pausanius compares it with 
 Thebes or Nineveh, as a melancholy instance of vanished 
 greatness. 
 
 Flat as are the immediate surroundings, there is something
 
 1(54 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 very taking in tlu' situation. Fertile fields clothe the hanks 
 of tlie Helisson, the river tliat ran through the centre of the 
 town : and its westward course proves us to have crossed the 
 watershed, and to be now in a land which finds drainage 
 into the Ionian sea. The difference between to-day's scenery 
 and that of yesterday is wonderful ; it is a change from 
 sterility and swamp to fruitfulness and running water. By 
 
 The theatre, the river-side is the theatre, the largest in all Greece. Little 
 of the masonry is visible ; but grass, shrubs, and dwarf oaks 
 turn the huge mass into a very pretty dingle, sloping g6ntly 
 down to the clear current beneath. 
 
 Crossing the Alpheus below its junction with the Helisson 
 we wandered for three hours down its western bank, with 
 Mount Lycajus on our left hand. At Karyticna begins the 
 true Arcadia — the land of crag and wood and torrent, home 
 
 Karytreiia. of I'an and the Dryads. Karytiena occupies the site of the 
 ancient Brenthe, but possesses no Hellenic remains. It lies 
 over the face and summit of a beetling crag ; one side is 
 separated by a deep gorge from another rock whereon stands 
 a grand old Frankish tower, and the other overhangs the 
 bed of the roaring Alpheus. This is that old-world dis- 
 trict^ believed by the inhabitants to be the cradle of the 
 human race. On Lycjeus they asserted that Zeus was reared, 
 and there stood his altar, where Lycaon its founder offered 
 human sacrifice, and forthwith became a wolf (Xukos). Here 
 
 ^ Paus. viii. 1, 2, states that Pclasgus was born tliere. Tliis is equivalent 
 to claiming Arcadia as the birtlii)lacc of the aborif^iual inliabitiuits of all Greece.
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 165 
 
 too were celebrated the Lyca?an games — the oldest that had a 
 human origin — and here was the great temple of Pan. It is 
 the country of the golden age, wherein gods walked with 
 men as friends long before the growth of w^ealtli and pride 
 and wrong caused these manifestations to cease from off the 
 earth. Such indeed is no more than the popular belief of 
 every civilised and self-conscious age ; although unhappily 
 Science tends to prove it groundless by showing primitive 
 man to have been in reality but a very wretched and unlov- 
 able creature. Nevertheless, in such a region, amid nature's 
 beauties, unmarred by man's presence, it is permissible, if 
 anywhere, to indulge in these day-dreams and look regret- 
 fully back on an imaginary past. 
 
 At an hour's distance from Karytsena the path strikes due Woodland 
 westward, leaving the Alpheus valley, and plunging into the 
 forests that cover the heights on that side. The scenery is 
 now exactly suited to the genius of pastoral poetry — not very 
 grand, but wild and varied. Glimpses of the river in its deep 
 wooded bed, and of Mount Lycteus clothed in oak and ilex, 
 make charming pictures in their frames of green boughs : 
 masses of dense thunder-cloud hang about, imparting effects 
 of light and shade such as one usually associates with Scot- 
 land. Both colouring and form seem to carry us far away 
 from Greece ; and the presence of vegetation, with a con- 
 sequently plentiful supply of water, helps the illusion by 
 reminding us of the burns and becks of our own land. The 
 trees are mainly oaks, but of three or four distinct kinds ; and
 
 166 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 the open glades are filled witli ailnitus, myrtle, eytisus, and 
 other sweet-smelling shrubs. 
 
 Oi)stiuctioii. Progress is necessarily slow, the road being formed of 
 
 bare rock, and following the picturesque though scarcely con- 
 venient windings of the mountains. Once, in the open, we 
 encountered a peasant with a long train of pack-beasts. A 
 dead-lock appeared imminent, as there was no possibility of 
 passing, and neither party seemed anxious to retreat : more- 
 over, a sudden disagreement between one of our horses and one 
 of the enemy's mules promised to land both those animals 
 several hundred feet below the level whereon they then stood. 
 Luckily, our escort came forward, and having succeeded in 
 convincing the obstructionist that he was in the wrong, 
 assisted him to retire backwards with his train into a 
 spot sufiiciently wide to admit of our passing. The mules of 
 course displayed some obstinacy, and were only driven back 
 at the point of the bayonet ; but as the nature of the ground 
 forced them to draw off with their faces to the enemy, no 
 harm resulted from their recalcitrations to any one except 
 themselves. 
 
 Distances are always understated, so of course the esti- 
 mated four hours from Karyta-na had not even brought us 
 
 Aiulritseiiii. in sight of Andritscua. But just as grave doubts were arising 
 as to its existence, it burst upon us round a liill-corner. Its 
 builder, like tliose of Arakhova and Karytana, seems to have 
 chosen an inclination of 45° for his site, in order to exhibit 
 his skill in setting up houses warranted not to slide into the
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 1G7 
 
 abyss below. Though apparently so close to the place when 
 we first beheld it, there was a lot of work to do before 
 reaching it — a long circuit of the valley to be accomplished, 
 including a break-neck descent and a lung-exhausting climb. 
 An even greater peculiarity than the steepness of its streets 
 is their extreme narrowness, the roofs often approaching to 
 within three feet of each other. Thus there is a notable 
 absence both of sweetness and light. No one is sanguine 
 enough to expect the former quality in a Greek town, but he 
 may reasonably hope to find the latter. 
 
 Our house of entertainment was unusually clean, and Unwonted 
 actually contained some furniture of a rather curious and 
 lumbering description ; but the smallness of the apartment 
 compelled us to stack it outside in the balcony, in order to 
 make room for our beds. Luckily, it did not rain. Insects 
 were shy — also a matter for congratulation. 
 
 In the morning Messrs Cook and Co. depart for Tsakha, a 
 little hamlet at three hours' distance, where we propose to 
 spend the night after visiting Bassa?, which lies on the other Bassse. 
 or southern side of Andritsena. The ride is picturesque in the 
 extreme, but most difficult. At first the track winds along the 
 sides of precipitous ravines, and eventually disappears in sheer 
 rock, so that the ascent has to be finished on foot. Of this 
 nature is the access to the famous temple, whether one start 
 from Andritsena or Phigalia ; and to its situation we may 
 attribute its preservation — for while no other building in the 
 Morea has more than a few columns standing, we find here a
 
 168 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 specimen of the best period of Greek architecture nearly exter- 
 Teniple of nally complete. Tliis noble monument speaks to us with pcr- 
 haps greater eloquence than any other in the world. It is not 
 the handiwork of the citizens of Athens, Thebes, or Argos : it 
 does not bear witness to the wealth and power of any leading 
 State, but of an almost unknown Arcadian town. So the splen- 
 dour of Delphi or the luxury of Corinth are now most forcibly 
 realised from a comparison with this temple, erected by the 
 insignificant people of Pliigalia as a thank-offering * when the 
 
 1 Pans. viii. 41, 5. This is stated to be the same plague that ravaged Athens 
 during the Peloponnesian war. Now Thucydides in his immortal description of 
 its nature and effects expressly asserts that "it did not attack the Peloponnese 
 in any degree worth mentioning." Yet that accurate historian would hardly 
 have omitted to mention the fact if any town had suffered so gi-catly as to 
 signalise the cessation of the pestilence by such a monument. Are we, then, to 
 sujipose the sufferings of Pliigalia too slight to deserve mention ? or to doubt the 
 accuracy of Pausanias's belief ? The latter's words are : ' ' The name of Apollo ' the 
 Helper ' is due to the help given on the occasion of a pestilence ; in like manner 
 as he received the surname ' Averter of Evil ' at Athens for having turned away 
 the plague from that city also. My inference is based on the probability in- 
 dicated by these double surnames, and on the fact that Ictinus, the architect of 
 the temple at Pliigalia, who lived in the age of Pericles, also constructed the 
 temple at Athens called the Parthenon." Thus the negative evidence of the 
 contemporary Thucydides is at least as strong as the conjecture of a writer 
 nearly 600 years later. 
 
 Another explanation is suggested by the words of the former historian. In 
 his account of the plague, after stating how it reminded the Athenians of the 
 ancient oracle — 
 
 ".\ Dorian war shall come, and plague therewith " — 
 
 he proceeds to say, "Those who had heard it, also calletl to mind the answer 
 given to the Laceda-moiiians, when they asked the god whether they ought to 
 go to war, that ' if they fouglit with might and main, victory should be theirs, 
 and that he himself would help them.'" Now might not the help rendered to 
 the Peloponnesian arms by the pestilence be what Pliigalia wished to celebrate, 
 and not its own deliverance therefrom ? This suggestion appears less impossible
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 169 
 
 plague was stayed among them ; and some idea of the re- 
 sources of ancient Greece may be derived from remembering 
 that it was in the midst of a universal and embittered war 
 that this little-known community found means to carry out 
 so great a work. 
 
 The names of Basste and Phigalia hardly occur in ancient 
 literature. Pausanias briefly mentions the building as the 
 finest of Peloponnesian temples after that of Tegea, and 
 further informs us of the occasion of its construction, and that 
 it was created by the genius of Ictiuus, the architect of the 
 Parthenon. Therefore, but for the accident of its preservation, 
 the fact that this building, or even the city of Phigalia itself, 
 ever existed, would be unknown save to a few curious anti- 
 quarians. Fortunately, the shrine of Apollo the Helper still 
 stands, the most characteristic monument of that Hellenic 
 civilisation whereof art was an essential quality, not merely 
 an accident or appendage. 
 
 The situation is not intrinsically more admirable tlian that 
 of other Greek buildings ; it only seems so owing to the 
 absence of modern life — that most obtrusive and disagreeable 
 accessory. As we surmount a lofty crest, the " columns " — 
 for so the natives call the temple — appear quite unexpectedly 
 before us, and very striking is the scene. We stand upon the 
 
 if we call to mind that ApoUo sends plagues as well as removes them, and that 
 his thus smiting Athens is expressly characterised as "help" to Sparta and her 
 allies. Did he not make the same answer to the prayer of Chryses, his outraged 
 priest, and aid him in the recovery of his daugliter by plagiiing the Achaean host 
 before Troy ?
 
 170 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 northern ridge of the hollow whence is derived the name of 
 Bacra-ai (" The Glens "), as well as that of the mountain KotvXiov 
 (" The Cup "). The edge drops down to the south, disclosing the 
 heights of Lyc£eus ; while to the west it rises into a small 
 peak, once graced with a shrine of Aphrodite. In the bottom 
 of the hollow, out of sight of human habitation, stands the 
 temple, set about with gnarled old oaks and Titanic rocks. 
 The whole region exhibits the perfection of Arcadian land- 
 scape. The view from tlie ridge is bounded only by the 
 distant wall of Taygetus. Yet this vast and varied panorama, 
 in spite of its wilduess and solitude, suggests nothing but 
 peace, warmth, and plenty ; and instantly the imagination is 
 absorbed with undisturbed pictures of that far-away rustic life 
 on which history is so silent, when flocks and herds ranged 
 these hills and dales in company with the stag and wild boar 
 — when man, simple but not barbarous, shared these groves 
 and streams with creatures of his own imagination, with gods 
 and nymphs and satyrs — or when, from their craggy home 
 below, by the sounding falls of the Neda, long trains of 
 Phigalian citizens toiled up the steep ascent to offer sacrifice 
 and praise to Apollo the Healer, the Averter of Evils, who had 
 helped them in their sorest need. 
 
 The edifice itself offers several architectural peculiarities. 
 It is a peripteral hexastyle of the Doric order, with fifteen 
 columns on each side. The material is a very close-grained 
 blue-grey stone, quarried on the spot. Of the thirty-eight 
 exterior columns, only three have fallen, and upon the greater
 
 i!!l!iiiiiiiilllllllllililifllll!l!ii!!l!!iir 
 
 illillilllllllilliiill 
 
 
 
 :t '"im 
 
 m 
 
 iiilSiiiiii^^
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 171 
 
 part of their length the architrave is still lying. Thus the 
 outer shell is nearly complete ; but this well - preserved 
 appearance is deceptive, the condition of the interior not 
 answering to that of the peristyle. The walls of the building 
 are nowhere more than three or four feet in heifrht : neither 
 does any one of the interior pillars retain its capital. The 
 orientation differs from the otherwise invariable custom, the 
 vestibules facing north and south, instead of east and west. 
 Moreover, there is no platform of any kind, so the columns 
 spring straight from their kindred rock ; and thus, no doubt 
 intentionally, is heightened the sense of abruptness produced 
 in the spectator by the sudden appearance of a temple in 
 that lonely spot. The cella also presents a unique con- 
 struction, being lined on each side with five engaged columns 
 of the Ionic order, which form a series of small recesses, 
 resembling the side-chapels of a Eoman Catholic church. 
 
 None of the frieze remains in its place, but, mixed up with 
 the debris of cornice and walls, it strews the ground, waiting 
 till skill and money shall be found to restore the scattered 
 fragments to their place. Nothing is absent except the 
 metopes of the frieze within the cella, which repose safely in 
 the British Museum ; and the reconstruction of the temple of 
 Nike Apteros at Athens proves the possibility of carrying out 
 the scheme. But trouble and expense are requisite ; so it is 
 scarcely to the native authorities that we can look for its 
 inauguration, although the Hellenic Government does pride 
 itself upon its care for ancient relics, and although we did
 
 172 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 actually find a solitary workman busily employed in knocking 
 a hole in one of the standing columns. Therefore, unless some 
 foreign Power undertake the task, as Germany has undertaken 
 the excavations at Olympia, we have small hope of seeing the 
 temple at Bassre resume its original appearance. 
 
 We manage to return to Andritsena in an hour and forty 
 minutes, improving considerably upon our previous time. This 
 is accomplished by sending on the horses before the conclusion 
 of our mid-day meal, — a practice much to be recommended 
 when the road is downhill, since the extreme steadiness of the 
 animals under these circumstances by no means atones for 
 their slowness ; and the combination of these two qualities cer- 
 tainly does not here bear out the proverb about " winning tlie 
 Sufferings of race." At Andritsena there is some attempt to delay us while 
 a change of soldiers is effected; and certainly the unfortunates 
 who insisted upon taking part in the expedition to Bassai 
 look fairly exhausted with its fatigues. We constantly on 
 such occasions exercised our minds with wonderinc: whether 
 the Greek soldier ever, under any circumstances, laid aside 
 his greatcoat, for we never had autoptic evidence of his doing 
 so. Inasmuch as even a matter so triflincf as a chancre of 
 escort seemed fenced aljout willi multifarious formalities, we 
 peremptorily declined to await the arrival of our new de- 
 fenders ; and flinging a drink-offering to the others, we rode 
 off, but were afterwards distressed to find one of them toilinu 
 in our wake, not daring, apparently, to leave us altogether 
 unprotected. 
 
 the troops.
 
 HAPPY ARCADIA. 173 
 
 The road ran downhill, along paths shaded by beautiful 
 evergreens, making us long for au extension of our very slen- 
 der stock of botanical knowledge. The effect was often that 
 of passing through the wilder grounds of a country-house at 
 home ; and after coming in sight of the Alpheus valley, where 
 the river, now swollen to considerable proportions, meanders 
 between many-coloured banks of enormous depth, we felt that 
 Greece is worth visiting for its natural beauty alone, and sadly 
 reflected that, but for man's wantonness and indolence, the 
 whole of its now arid surface might resemble Western Arcadia. 
 
 At the pretty little hamlet of Tsakha, we are taken into a Tsakha. 
 house, newly built indeed, but scarcely furnished with all 
 the latest improvements ; for although the inevitable two 
 rooms possess separate doors, they are separated only by a 
 bamboo screen. Eemembering this fact next morning, and 
 feeling here that curious eyes were about our path, and 
 about our bed, and spying out all our ways, through the in- 
 terstices of the partition, we summon the guide, and charge 
 him with horrid threats to keep guard within and protect us 
 from unhallowed observation. But that wily individual, al- 
 ways fearful of offending the natives, and supposing that we 
 should be none the wiser if our orders were disobeyed, quietly 
 steps out to breathe the air, and leaves the family to its own 
 devices. Accordingly, during the first splashings in the cold 
 hill-water, one of us is aware of several eyes eagerly peering 
 between the bamboos. A howl of execration, accompanied 
 with a volley of missiles, momentarily clears the coast, and
 
 174 HAPPY ARCADIA. 
 
 produces the reappearance of our faithless attendant, trying 
 his best to look as if he had not left the other room ; wliere- 
 upon he is given to understand in forcible language that 
 there is a virtue called decency, unintelligible possibly to 
 himself, but prized by the English mind, which we do not 
 intend to have outraged with impunity : so for the next 
 twenty minutes Mr Dragoman is kept patrolling up and 
 down behind the partition, pondering, we hope, over tlie 
 moral instruction just imparted.
 
 OLYMPIA. 175 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 OLYMPIA. 
 
 LEAENING that there is a ford below us known only 
 to the men of Tsakha, we determine to shorten our 
 journey by availing ourselves of it. Mine host agrees to 
 act as guide, and takes us straight down to the river, 
 through shrubberies even more variegated than those above 
 the village. The passage demands minute local knowledge. Fording the 
 and is threefold, crossing the Karyttena or main stream ^'^^ 
 of the Alpheus, and its tributaries the Phonia and Dunia 
 just above their junction. After that" point the river be- 
 comes unfordable. As it is, the water reaches the top of 
 the girths, and a very serpentine course has to be taken to 
 avoid the numerous holes in the bottom. Having all got 
 over the first branch, with the exception of the military, who 
 seem very loath to face the water, we are quietly proceeding 
 over the narrow tongue of land dividing the two streams, 
 when the guide pauses and is heard arguing earnestly with 
 our dragoman. The upshot appears to be, that the former.
 
 176 OLYMI'IA. 
 
 Native ras- altliougli he Las contracted to pilot us over for five draclima?, 
 now finds he cannot do it for less than ten ; otherwise he 
 will be under the painful necessity of leaving us stuck fast be- 
 tween the Karyta^na and the Phonia. Such is our dragoman's 
 terror of the Greeks, that instead of asserting his rights, he 
 begins abjectly to bargain and haggle with the rascal, until we 
 discover the cause of the discussion, and promptly terminate 
 it by promising to shoot the latter on the spot if he does not 
 instantly proceed. We are at once taken safely across. Then 
 the guide having received his five francs, promptly begs a 
 baksheesh, probably supposing us ignorant of the full extent 
 of his iniquities, interpretation having been employed through- 
 out the recent transactions. Of course we decline, and on re- 
 ceiving that answer he gives vent to much spleen, addressing 
 many impolite remarks to the leader of our forces. " Descend- 
 ant of an abandoned great-grandmother," says he, " it is you 
 who are dissuading the lords from giving lahsheesh!' This 
 accusation our man indignantly repudiates, and tells him 
 " he's another ; " whereupon the other gentleman calls him 
 an " accursed liar," and vows to murder him next time he 
 comes this way. 
 
 The exchange of these little mutual compliments is inter- 
 rupted by a message from the soldiers, brought over by the 
 liindmost driver, and requesting us to release them in writing. 
 Their orders were to conduct us across the Alpheus : so, 
 although they can see us safely on the other side, they are 
 bound to wade over and back again unless we certify that we
 
 OLYMPIA. 177 
 
 do not require it. This course seems to us slightly unneces- 
 sary ; but knowing the unyielding nature of foreign ideas as 
 to discipline, we concoct a splendid testimonial, setting forth 
 that we have crossed the Alpheus in perfect security, and have 
 been efficiently guarded by the A^aliant heroes to whose hands 
 we consign these presents, and that they are discharged on 
 the southern bank of the river at our own special desire. 
 
 The third river is at some little distance from the other Dispersion of 
 two, and though smaller, is scarcely less difficult to negotiate, . '^ ^'''^'^'" ^' 
 owing to the immense depth of its banks. The party dis- 
 perses in order to seek a descent ; and by the time a prac- 
 ticable spot is discovered, two of the drivers have disappeared, 
 so that much ingenuity is required to get the baggage-horses 
 down, and still more to induce them to take to the water. 
 Indeed the sagacious anmials, accustomed to move only in 
 Indian file — a mode of procedure rendered impossible by the 
 break-neck character of the bank — and deprived of their 
 drivers, turn absolutely unamenable, and either remain dog- 
 gedly on the height above, or wander aimlessly up and down 
 the current. The faithful Anastasius performs prodigies of 
 activity to get them back into the right way. At last they 
 are all collected on the farther side, where we find our truants 
 comfortably sitting down just out of sight, and declaring tliat 
 they had lost us, and thought it best to wait there till we 
 had got across. Eighteous indignation overflows, and we tell 
 the dragoman to impart to them our sentiments, which is 
 done something as follows : — 
 
 M
 
 178 OLYMPIA. 
 
 Travellers. " Ask them what the tliey mean by 
 
 sneaking over like that, and leaving their brutes to run wild 
 about the country." 
 
 Dmr/oman. " The gentlemen beg to be informed why you 
 forgot your unreasonables." (N'.B. — For some occult reason 
 the modern Greek calls his horse to aXoyov, the " unreasoning 
 one " — i.e., the " brute " ^;«r cxcdkncc.) 
 
 Drivers excitedly explain that the " unreasonables " ran 
 away from them (which is about as true as to say that a 
 railway station ran away from a train). 
 
 Travellers. " Just say we've a good mind to break these 
 sticks over their backs, and to fine them lialf their pay, and 
 that if they do anything of the kind again, we certainly shall." 
 
 Dragoman. " The gentlemen are not pleased with your con- 
 duct, and will be less pleased each time that you repeat it." 
 
 Finding it hopeless to try to communicate our true sen- 
 timents through such a medium, we lay aside our habitual 
 reserve and address a few observations to the men directly. 
 Valley of the After this episode, we proceed pleasantly onwards down tlie 
 P leus. ^.^|_^^ bank of the river, over low sandy hills covered with veg- 
 
 etation of every size and colour — dark pines blending with 
 the light green of the shrubs, and set off here and there by a 
 Judas-tree in the deep pink of its full bloom. Even the rain 
 and mist fail to destroy the soft beauty of this valley, so un- 
 like the majestic but arid glories of the north and east. 
 Olyiiipia. At al)Out five o'clock, rounding a turn in the road, we sud- 
 
 denly found ourselves in the rear of a considerable assem-
 
 OLYMPIA. 179 
 
 blage, consisting of the entire population of Olympia, headed 
 by their eparch. Our arrival lost some of its dignity, owing 
 to that gentleman's very reasonable expectation that we should 
 choose the lower road, which was considerably shorter than 
 the one we had taken, and also offered the great advantage of 
 passing the water by a bridge. But then the guide had never 
 been over it, and was therefore wholly incapable of realising 
 its existence ; and our landlord at Tsakha was of course un- 
 likely to mention it when he saw his chance of leading us 
 over the ford, and thereby extorting a profit. The eparch 
 had therefore sent troops to the bridge to bring us up in state, 
 and was looking out for us in quite another direction. He 
 was a little disappointed, but still had the satisfaction of 
 leading us in triumph round the base of Mount Kronion 
 into the " Altis," or sacred precincts, where the excavations 
 were going on. 
 
 Arrived in this wondrous spot, where the liberality and 
 disinterested enthusiasm of a foreign Government had just 
 reopened a closed book and restored to light the long-hidden 
 headquarters of the most peculiar and characteristic institu- 
 tion of Hellenic life, we naturally desire to dispense with 
 formality, and at once establish a rough acquaintance with 
 the newly uncovered ruins. But the eparch and Co. cour- 
 teously insist upon accompanying ns in our wanderings, and 
 "prove an insuperable obstacle to our using guide-books, and 
 otherwise prosecuting researches on our own account, wliile 
 they turn out to be splendidly ignorant even of the names of
 
 180 OLYMPIA. 
 
 the various buildings. The best-iu formed of the party points 
 out the temple of Zeus Olynipius — he is quite sure about 
 that, but further he has not troubled to inquire. As it is 
 Sunday, the Clermans are all absent and the museum closed. 
 So after satisfying ourselves as to the relative position of the 
 principal edifices, we retire to the little hamlet high \\\^ on a 
 neighbouring hill, where a small kliani has a room to let of 
 the very snuggest dimensions, and enlivened half the night 
 by the conversation and songs of the carousers in the shop 
 below. 
 The excava- Next moming we visit the excavations, now going merrily 
 
 on after the Sunday's rest. The workmen are Greeks, but 
 superintended by German foremen. The gentleman in charge 
 of the museum and works does us the honours most courte- 
 ously and efficiently : his thorough anti(|uarian knowledge, 
 and the admirable method with which each article is num- 
 bered and ticketed so soon as discovered, make the lionisation 
 a pleasure rather than a duty. All this is a vast improve- 
 ment upon the haphazard, superficial manner in which the 
 Greek Government conducts its researches ; and very pleasant 
 is the discovery of this oasis of education after many days' 
 journey through a desert of barbarism and ignorance — even 
 greater than the pleasure wherewith we originally laid aside 
 the trammels of European life and entered upon our pil- 
 grimage. With an excellent plan of the works to refer to,' 
 and the assistance of the German sccvant, we easily make out 
 tlie various parts of the Altis. It unfortunately happens
 
 
 ;iiill;''3lfiil!'ii'!i;ili !Jli |'!'l!!:'1IB:::i:!!ia:ll! :!. . i . g^.5 MW»
 
 OLYMPIA. 181 
 
 that the contract between the two Governments terminates 
 this year (1881), and there is much fear that the operations 
 may come to an untimely end ; hut even at the worst, a great 
 undertaking will have been satisfactorily carried out, the 
 principal buildings having been uncovered, and with them 
 objects of art sufficient to add very materially to our exist- 
 ino' knowlediie. 
 
 The Olympic games were at once the oldest and the most The Olympic 
 important of these eminently Greek assemblies — the one tie '^ 
 that, along with community of speech and community of re- 
 ligion, bound together the Hellenic race, so incapable in poli- 
 tical matters of union and co-operation. While the other 
 periodic festivals, however ancient, claimed only a human 
 origin, the Olympia boasted an initiation at the hands of 
 Kronos, the father of the gods. But their exact source is 
 obscured by various legends ; and the first official Olympiad, 
 whence the Hellenes dated their years, as Christians from 
 the birth of Christ, Eomans from the founding of the city, or 
 Mahometans from the Hegira, only goes back to the respect- 
 able antiquity of 776 B.C. But long before that date the 
 Alpheus' banks were the scene of athletic competitions ; and 
 confused tales relate how gods and demigods instituted or took 
 part in such contests. 
 
 The place is called the " colony of Lydian Pelops," and the Their origin. 
 first Olympic ode of Pindar narrates how that hero, beloved of 
 Poseidon, and carried off in childhood to the house of Zeus, 
 was sent down to earth again " in the flower of his age, when
 
 182 OLYMPIA. 
 
 the down first covered and darkened his chin," and how he 
 resolved to win to wife Hippodamia, daughter of Gi^noniaus, 
 tlie risan king ; how by the foaming sea he prayed to the 
 " loud-thundering lord of the mighty trident " to give him 
 victory in the chariot-race with her sire, on which condition 
 alone could his suit be successful ; liow, knowing that thirteen 
 suitors had already failed in the trial, and suffered death as 
 the penalty, he pronounced that doom better than a long 
 inglorious old age ; how the God of ocean heard his prayer, 
 and gave him a golden chariot and steeds of immortal race, 
 whereby " he overcame the might of CEnomaus, and won the 
 maiden for his bride." ^ " And now by Alpheus' stream he 
 sliares in glorious funeral-rites, laid in a tomb whereuuto all 
 men resort, beside an altar highly honoured of strangers. And 
 the fame of Pelops shines afar in the races of the Olympic 
 feasts, where the prize of swiftness is contested and pre- 
 eminence of strength with mighty toil." 
 
 Besides the Asiatic kings who ruled the land from Argos 
 to Pisa and gave it its name — " island of Pelops " — Heracles 
 is intimately associated with the Olympia." Pindar in another 
 ode speaks of the " contest founded by the mighty Heracles 
 beside the ancient tomb of Pelops," after he had conquered 
 the country and destroyed the Epei, with their lawless and 
 bloodthirsty chief. Tlien " Zeus' valiant son, collecting in 
 Pisa all his host and booty, measured out a parcel of ground 
 to be sacred to his great father ; and having built a fence 
 ' l'iii.l. 01. i. lit;. •■; riii.l. 01. X. 30.
 
 OLYMPIA. 183 
 
 about the Altis, he marked it out in a clear treeless space, 
 and made the plain all round a place of feasting, and hon- 
 oured Alpheus' flood, along with the twelve supreme gods. 
 And the hill he called after Kronos' name ; for before, when 
 (Enomaus reigned, the snow-crowned hill was nameless." 
 
 " But no trees grew in the glades of Zeus-born Pelops ; and Legend of the 
 without them, the plot was felt to suffer from the sun's burning 
 rays." ^ So after the first celebration, " his heart stirred him to 
 travel once more to the Istrian country," whither he had 
 before gone to fetch the golden-horned doe — a land " beyond 
 the cold blast of the ISTorth Wind," full of marvellous trees, 
 some of which he now longed to plant around the race- 
 course. So he journeyed again to that hyperborean land, and 
 begged of the gentle people there dwelling an olive-shoot, to 
 give shade to the sacred enclosure, and crowns for the victors. 
 
 How highly esteemed was this simple meed, may be judged 
 by a glance a,t any one of those magnificent odes of victory 
 which have survived to our time. The conqueror, whether 
 he be a Sicilian monarch in the four-horsed chariot-race, or a 
 humble youth in the boys' wrestling-match, is treated as having 
 reached the summit of earthly distinction : the lustre of his 
 success is reflected upon his native town, and his righteous 
 exultation is only to be checked by the ever-present fear lest 
 too much prosperity unaccompanied by due humility shall 
 call down a " Nemesis " from the jealous gods. 
 
 Tradition preserves the names of the victors in that first 
 
 1 rhul. 01. iii. -20.
 
 184 ULYMFIA. 
 
 The various Contest : foot-race, wrestling, boxing, chariot-race, hurling the 
 lonipe 1 ions. jg^^,gjj^ ^^^ ^j^g discus, being all mentioned.^ But the poet is 
 really describing the scenes of his own day in speaking of all 
 these competitions, and how at their conclusion, " far into the 
 evening gleamed the lovely light of the broad moon, and the 
 whole sanctuary resounded with joyful songs, after the fashion 
 wherein victory is celebrated." In primitive ages there was 
 but one contest, the foot - race ; and since the victory of 
 Corcebus in 776 B.C., a full record was kept of successful names. 
 Fresh " events " were constantly added, up to the institution 
 of a ixincratiuTii for boys in 300 B.C., — the same year in 
 which the original number of Hellanodikae, or chief judges of 
 the games, was finally restored. Thus at last there must have 
 been much to see, and the festival was strangely altered from 
 the primeval simplicity of Coroebus's day. Besides the ori- 
 ginal foot - race, there was the diaulos, or race " there and 
 back " — two lengths of the stadium instead of one ; the 
 pentatlilum, or combination of running, leaping, boxing, wrest- 
 ling, and javelin - throwing, all of which the same in- 
 dividual had to win in order to be proclaimed victor; the 
 boxing-match ; four-horsed chariot-race ; pancratium, or com- 
 bination of boxing and wrestling ; combination of running 
 and wrestling ; boys' boxing-match ; race of soldiers in heavy 
 armour ; single-horse race ; pair-horse race ; races of four, two, 
 and single colts, and the imncratiiim for boys. 
 
 As the meeting increased in variety and importance, so 
 
 » I'iii.l. 01. .\. 1-6.
 
 OLYMPIA. 185 
 
 did the material aspect of the Altis and its surroundings. 
 Within the sacred precincts sprang up temples, statues, and 
 altars, till the mere catalogue appals the reader. Gods and 
 heroes, victors in the games, kings and Eoman emperors, 
 peopled in effigy that splendid enclosure. Altars to all the 
 deities under their various attributes smoked with countless 
 sacrifices. Shrines of every shape and size exemplified the 
 noblest products of art. Even without the Altis were altars 
 and temples — as on the top of Kronion, where offering was 
 made to the sire of Zeus. Around, too, were gymnasia, baths, 
 treasure-houses, the town-hall of the Eleans, quarters for the 
 officials, and lodgings for the vast mass of general spectators, 
 who thronged thither every four years from Africa, from Asia, 
 from Italy, from the islands, and all parts of continental 
 Greece itself. But not only at the Olympiads was the place 
 frequented ; there would at all times be a constant stream of 
 %vorshippers to the various shrines and to the oracle of Zeus, 
 of athletes training in the gymnasium, of Elean councillors 
 and of tourists anxious to visit this great centre of religion 
 and art. 
 
 Pillaged by Eoman and Byzantine, pagan and Christian, the 
 place became a desert, and the floods of Alpheus bursting the 
 unrepaired dikes, overwhelmed its ruins. But the German 
 Government has laboriously laid bare the site, and archaeology 
 has reaped benefits even greater than were anticipated. Be- 
 ginning at tlie temple of Zeus — the only building that before 
 the commencement of this undertakino- could be with cer-
 
 186 OLYMPIA. 
 
 Zeus. 
 
 tainty ideutified — the works have extended over the greater 
 The Altis. part of the Altis. This enclosure was bounded on the west 
 by the river Cladeus, on the nortli by Mount Kronion, on the 
 east by a low hill, and on the south by the Al[)heus, embank- 
 ments being employed on this side to supplement the fence 
 that elsewhere marked off the hallowed ground. The proces- 
 sions entered by the great gate on the bank of the Cladeus ; 
 hard by was the sacred olive-tree whence the victors' crowns 
 were cut. Passing by the gymnasion and lieroon of Pelops, 
 Temiile of we find the whole basement of the principal temple clear and 
 7„n "^' ^" complete, paved with tiles of white marble, according to the 
 description of Pausanias.^ It was built by Libon, a native 
 architect: its height to the cornice was 62 feet, the breadth 
 95, and the length 230; so that for size it ranked amongst 
 the greatest of Hellenic buildings. Indeed it was regarded as 
 a worthy rival of the Parthenon ; although the pumice-stone 
 of tlie district, of wliich it is constructed, in our eyes contrasts 
 unfavourably witli the more magnificent material .of the chef 
 cVceuvre of the Acropolis. The columns are all overthrow^n, 
 yet we are able, from the numerous drums that lie about, to 
 reconstruct the building in exact accord with the account of 
 Pausanias. Moreover, his accurate record of the sculptures 
 on either front permits us to explain and identify the frag- 
 ments brought to light at this spot. The eastern pediment 
 was the work of Pceonius, a Thracian, representing the pre- 
 parations for tliat primeval cliariot-race between Pelops and 
 
 ' Tans. V. 10, 2.
 
 ULYMPIA. 187 
 
 Q^nomaus. Zeus occupies the middle place ; on Lis right are 
 (Enomaus, Myrtilus, his charioteer, and four horses ; ou his 
 left Hippodamia and I'elops, also with his driver and horses. 
 At the respective ends are the river - gods Cladeus and 
 Alpheus, in accordance with the Greek custom of typifying 
 scenery by a personification of the chief natural olijects of 
 the neighbourhood. The western pediment, attributed to 
 Alcamenes, illustrated the famous broil between the Lapithse 
 and Centaurs. Pirithous is the central figure, with Caineus 
 and Theseus, resisting the assaults of his half-human guests, 
 who are in the act of canying off the youths and maidens of 
 the Lapithae. Considerable portions of both subjects are now 
 to be seen at Olympia : they are in extremely high relief, 
 scarcely seeming a part of the slabs to which they belong. 
 The workmanship of the opisthodome group fully raises 
 Alcamenes to the rank assigned to him by Pausanias, — " the 
 second sculptor of his age." The almost perfect figure of a 
 wife of one of the Lapithse, on whose person are discernible 
 the now mutilated hands of a sacrilegious Centaur, is as good 
 a bit, both in design and execution, as one could wish to see. 
 The metopes, illustrating the labours of Heracles, were dis- 
 covered at an earlier time, and transferred to the Louvre at 
 Paris. 
 
 To the north is the curiously shaped lieroon, or shrine. The Pelopiou. 
 of Pelops, who at Olympia was honoured as highly above all 
 other heroes as was Zeus above all other gods. The build- 
 ing occupied a temenos, or sacred plot, planted with trees.
 
 188 OLYMl'IA. 
 
 running parallel to half the length of the great temple, and 
 consecrated by Heracles to the shade of his great ancestor. 
 The body of that king had a curious history. An oracle 
 having foretold that Troy could only be captured after bring- 
 ing to the spot the bow of Heracles and the bones of Pelops, 
 the Achiuan host sent to Leranos to procure the first, and to 
 I'isa for the second. Both arrived, and in due course the 
 city was taken. Among the many perils encompassing the 
 returning Greeks was a storm oft' the Euboean coast, which 
 sunk the vessel that bore the precious corpse. Years after- 
 wards an Eretrian fisherman drew up a skeleton of more than 
 himian size, and, ignorant of its sacred nature, gave it burial 
 in the sand, till he could find opportunity to visit Delphi and 
 ask the import of his discovery. There, by a fortunate coin- 
 cidence, were present Elean envoys seeking some cure for a sore 
 jiestilence then ravaging their land. The oracle revealed that 
 the bones were those of Pelops, and bade the finder restore 
 them to the Eleans, which he accordingly did : the plague 
 ceased, and he and his descendants for ever were appointed 
 guardians of the skeleton. Much sacrifice was offered to 
 Pelops' shade, with many curious observances — black rams 
 being the only victims, and the wood of the wliite poplar the 
 only fuel. Those, too, who had tasted of these victims, were 
 not allowed without due purification to enter the house of 
 Zeus — in order, presumably, to mark the great gulf fixed, even 
 in Hellenic mythology, between the denizens of hell below 
 and heaven above.
 
 OLYMPIA. 189 
 
 Beyond this building is the temple of Hera, a Doric edifice The Herseam. 
 by an unknown architect. As dedicated to the queen of 
 heaven, it boasted the same supremacy in female as did the 
 temple of Zeus in male worship. Its affairs were managed by 
 a board of sixteen women, who every four years wove the jjcplus 
 or sacred cloak, and superintended the maidens' races. The 
 distance was five-sixths of the ordinary course; and there 
 were three contests, for competitors of various ages. That of 
 the eldest virgins, who ran last, is not indicated ; ]3ut probably 
 each determined for herself the proper time of life at which 
 to give up athletics, just as the analogous question of ball- 
 going is in our time left to the circumstances and discretion 
 of the young lady herself. 
 
 These sports were referred back to an origin as remote as 
 the masculine, their institution being assigned to Hippodamia, 
 in celebration of her marriage. The profane gaze of man was 
 doubtless sternly excluded from the performance, just as 
 during the regular Olympic festival it was death for any 
 woman to be discovered within the railing of the Altis. 
 
 Midway between the Heneum and shrine of Pelops stood Altar of Olym- 
 tlie great Altar of Olympian Zeus, now entirely gone, for the 
 excellent reason that it was wholly composed of the ashes of 
 animals offered in sacrifice. These charred remains were 
 kneaded into clay with water from the Alpheus, and of blocks 
 thus formed was built an altar 22 feet in height, standing 
 on a circular base (■n-poOva-is) 120 feet in circumference. 
 
 To the right of the Herreum is the Exedra, a crescent- Tlie Exedra.
 
 U)o OLYMPIA. 
 
 covciies. 
 
 shaped building, wliere men sat and talked ; and beyond it tlie 
 Metroum, a large Doric temple sacred to the mother of the 
 gods. Going back towards the great gate, we find a circular 
 erection called the Philippeum, or shrine of Philip of Macedon, 
 a brick edifice once surrounded with columns, built to cele- 
 brate the subjugation of free Hellas in the battle of Cha?ronea. 
 There lay Philip himself, his father Amyntas, and Alexander 
 his son. 
 Art .Us- Of the innumerable altars, statues, and works of art tliat 
 
 once crowded these slirines, comparatively few have survived, 
 at least so as to be capable of identification. Foreign spoilers 
 carried away everytliing that l)y tlie value of its material 
 offered temptation to their greed — such as the Phidian statue 
 of Zeus, wrought in gold and ivory, accounted one of the seven 
 wonders of tlie world. Amongst the more famous discoveries 
 is the base of the great Altar of Victory, recognised beyond all 
 doubt by the draped effigy of the goddess dug up at its side. 
 Her face is unfortunately wanting ; but in spite of this dis- 
 figurement, the grace of her figure, and the lifelike poise of 
 the limbs spread out in flight, coml)ine to create one of 
 the first specimens of plastic art. Still more famous is the 
 beautiful Hermes, the undoubted product of no less a chisel 
 than that of Praxiteles himself, if we may judge from the 
 spot where it was discovered. Already numerous casts have 
 familiarised Europe with the almost faultless head and bust ; 
 and the identification has lately been rendered all l)ut certain 
 tlirough tlie discovery of the miniature figure of the infant
 
 OLYMPIA. 191 
 
 Dionysus, which the larger figure is known to have supported 
 on its arm. On the west of the Altis is tlie gymnasium, with 
 its polished floor and remains of graceful colonnades ; and near 
 it a picturesque ruined church built out of fragments of the 
 wrought masonry, with which the neighbourhood abounded. 
 To the south the council-house has been laid bare, and to the 
 east the baths ; while further north on the same side is the 
 entrance to the stadium, spanned by a bridge. The race- 
 course itself has still to be cleared, as well as the hippodrome. 
 If this is ever accomplished, the Altis will be practically 
 uncovered. The works might even with advantage be ex- 
 tended beyond those limits, for we know that all round were 
 lodging-houses and other kinds of buildings, which, even if 
 architecturally uninteresting, might contain many olijects of 
 value. 
 
 All portable discoveries are at once removed to two little The museums, 
 sheds close by, styled grandiloquently the Museums. The 
 Greek Government has driven a hard bargain with the Ger- 
 man, stipulating that everything is to be left in the country, 
 except in the case of undoubted duplicates, when the less 
 perfect specimen may be taken away. But a further difficulty 
 arises in consequence of the absurd obstinacy of the " deme " 
 of Olympia in asserting its municipal rights, and declining 
 to let anything be removed from the spot ; so that all these 
 marbles and bronzes, instead of being studied at Berlin or 
 even at Athens, waste their sweetness on literally desert air, 
 and can only be known to the general public through the
 
 192 OLYMPIA. 
 
 medium of casts and photographs : since a collection of ten 
 cottages, containing one spare room between them, which is 
 all the place can boast, can hardly be considered accommo- 
 dation sufficient for any great number of archaeologists. 
 
 About 12,000 bronzes have been dug up, of apparently 
 the most diverse dates. Among the best are a dedicatory 
 discus, the offering of some grateful champion, in excellent 
 preservation ; and two beautiful reliefs, worn very thin, but 
 skilfully iixed upon plaster, the one representing Heracles 
 shooting, the other a series of designs, including eagles, 
 gryphons, Heracles, and the Asiatic Artemis. In the sculp- 
 ture-shed, it must be owned that there is a great deal of 
 very second-rate work, a large proportion consisting of the 
 statues of Romans, and falling below rather than above 
 mediocrity. But tlie Hermes, Victory, and pedimental decora- 
 tions amply repay all the trouble of a visit. There are also 
 some excellent fragments, and a very perfect statue of a Eoman 
 lady. 
 
 The above is but an extremely rough sketch of the great 
 work just accomplished by an enlightened foreign Power on 
 Hellenic soil. The richness of the vein here struck gives 
 good hope that similar enterprises might be elsewhere under- 
 taken with great, though probably not equal, success. 
 
 The troubles that have passed over tliis unhappy land, 
 added to the worthlessness of its inhabitants, have destroyed 
 the outward traces of its old civilisation. But thougli its
 
 OLYMPIA. 193 
 
 temples cannot rise again from their graves, it has been 
 proved possible to bring to light their bones, and find out 
 how they stood and looked when the wretched \dllages, that 
 are now their only tombstones, were flourishing cities, fore- 
 most in the race of culture throuohout the world.
 
 104 PVRGO!^ AXD ZAXTE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1' Y i; G S A X D Z A N T E. 
 
 WE left Olympia in sorrow and an open carriage, for there 
 is a tolerable road from the sea up to this point, 
 though no farther. Here, therefore, as in the Argive plain, 
 improved cultivation is the manifest result. Magnificent 
 oranges, as large as melons, were not the least agreeable of 
 the products of a roadside farm, abounding also in raisins and 
 tigs. Only the lemon crop, usually no less excellent, had all 
 perished from the fearful cold of the past winter. Strange 
 indeed was the idea of frost and snow amid those fields teem- 
 ing with life and ricli with the promise of harvest. The huge 
 green lizard darting across the road, the waving corn already 
 in the ear, tlie reawakened snake basking in the sunshine, the 
 tender vine-leaves newly opened — all spoke of warmth and 
 light and fruitfulness. Alas tliat sucli expectations should 
 be too often falsified, and tliat a Greek spring .should be no 
 less treacherous than our own, liable at any moment to be
 
 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 195 
 
 swept by a wave of winter as sudden and destructive as the 
 storms of the surrounding seas ! 
 
 The little town of Pyrgos (The Fort) is eminently modern Pyrgos, 
 and uninteresting, and consequently one of the most flourish- 
 ing in Greece. Hellenic progressiveness was here illustrated 
 by the discovery that the whole place, although a considerable 
 emporium, did not contain a single bottle of unresined wine. 
 A visit to the eparch entailed coffee and palaver — a trial 
 demanding considerable fortitude, owing to the forcible manner 
 in which the worthy gentleman's house recalled the immediate 
 neighbourhood of the Cloaca Maxima. Subsequently learning 
 our desire to purchase a few Greek knives and fezzes, the pre- Shopping iu 
 feet of police volunteered to accompany us in our quest. The 
 population flocked to assist at the negotiations, which were 
 therefore conducted under the gaze of a vast procession that 
 gravitated up and down the main street according to each change 
 in the centre of attraction. The method of transacting business 
 was simple in the extreme. The tradesman would observe, 
 " These silk tassels are worth 1 2 drachmae apiece." The pre- 
 fect would say, with decision, " Give him 8," and would then 
 order hun to put up as many as might be required, the other 
 complying without the smallest hesitation or show of annoy- 
 ance. Among the crowd was an interesting sjDecimen — a 
 native who talked the most idiomatic nautical English, ami 
 insisted upon airing this accomplishment before his admiring 
 countrymen. His catechism at last became rather too inquisi- 
 torial, and showed liim to possess some knowledge of English
 
 190 PYRGOS AXT> ZAXTE. 
 
 life, since lie refused to accept our now stereotyped statement 
 that we li\cd in London, and declaring that English gentlemen 
 always had homes in the country, demanded detailed accounts 
 of the climate, products, and physical characteristics of those 
 counties to which we happened respectively to belong. 
 Katak(..lo. A sliort drive brings the homeward-bound tourist from 
 
 Pyrgos to its little port Katakolo, standing at the extremity 
 of a promontory of the same name. A few boats and houses 
 compose the entire town and shipping : a steamer is a very rare 
 occurrence at this benighted spot. On our arrival we found 
 a north-west gale blowing steadily, so tliat for tlie present 
 there was no chance of proceeding on our way to Zante ; but 
 having forty hours in wliich to catch the Austrian Lloyd's boat 
 at that island, we experienced no uneasiness at the delay. 
 During dinner in one of the bare rooms of the inn, our drivers 
 requested a farewell interview. They seemed genuinely sorry 
 to leave us, and had, on the whole, behaved well throughout 
 our travels in the Peloponnese. The contrast was striking 
 between these men and the northern Greeks. According to 
 their lights they were civil and obliging, and unfeignedly 
 thankful for kindness ; whereas politeness, activity, or grati- 
 tude seemed absolutely non-existent amongst the correspond- 
 ing class in Phocis and Boeotia. 
 
 Next morning the wind continued contrary, and a visit to 
 our caicque proved l)y no means reassuring. Tlie skipper 
 gave voluble accounts of the rapid runs he had made to 
 Zante — in three hours with a fair wind, and so on ; also
 
 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 107 
 
 expatiating upon the beauties of his boat — to our eyes a 
 very ordinary specimen of its own highly incommodious class ; 
 until we were at length compelled to explain that no former 
 triumphs of navigation would console us for our enforced 
 delay at the present moment. 
 
 The interest of Katakolo was soon exhausted. The un- 
 carpeted, unpapered walls of the khani did not tend to raise 
 our spirits. The caicqucs bore too strong a family likeness 
 to each other to admit of long inspection. Moreover, in spite 
 of its smallness, the place was as unsavoury as any other town 
 of that country. So the day was spent among the cytisus 
 upon the bleak cliffs above the town, watching with longing 
 eyes the misty outline of Zante across the foaming sea. Bed- 
 time arrived without a change of weather, but strict orders 
 were given for an immediate start in the event of one of those 
 sudden variations so common in that fickle region. At about 
 3 A.M., when exhaustion had at length produced a temporary 
 oblivion of the exquisite discomfort of the native bedsteads, 
 information arrived that the wind had shifted round to the 
 east. Hastening down to the beach, we rowed alongside our Pleasures of 
 plunging caicque ; but some delay occurred in waiting for an 
 extra passenger, out of whom the skipper, having already let 
 his boat to us at an extortionate rate, desired to make another 
 lionest penny. At last this gentleman arrived, a native of 
 venerable age, whom severe ophthalmia was taking to Zante 
 in order to consult an oculist of high repute in that island. 
 Disliking fresh air, he requested to be placed under hatches.
 
 108 PYRGOS AX J) ZANTE. 
 
 ami was consequently stowed away in the fore-cabin — a space 
 of about two cubic yards capacity — where he remained snugly 
 fastened down during the succeeding eight hours. 
 
 After rounding Katakolo Point with many tacks and much 
 waste of time, we drove merrily westward over a sea still 
 running high after the recent gale. A good spell of sleep 
 ensued, under the comfortable belief that our future course 
 was all plain sailing. Awakening, as too often happens, 
 brought disillusion. The wind had fallen after two-thirds of 
 the distance were passed, and our little craft lay off the 
 island, tossing furiously but unprogressively. The hour of 
 the steamer's arrival was now past, and we concluded that 
 she had already touched and gone on ; wlien, to our great 
 joy, she appeared on the southern horizon, e\adently, like 
 ourselves, belated by the storm. Hope revived, only to fade 
 away as our helplessness became revealed. Too small to 
 carry a boat, but too large to be itself propelled by oars, the 
 caicque is nicely calculated to combine and aggravate all the 
 worst features of sea - travelling. The steamer crossed our 
 bows within a quarter of a mile. Flags were waved from our 
 mast-head and guns fired as signals of distress, but without 
 obtaining the slightest recognition from the officer on her 
 bridge, and she ran placidly on to her anchorage under the 
 tijwn. Even then a breath of wind might have saved us, but 
 none came to our aid, and in another hour or so we had the 
 satisfaction of seeing her slip from her moorings and glide 
 gracefully away to the north.
 
 PYKGOS AND ZANTE. 190 
 
 The boat had by this time drifted under IMoiint Scopes, a 
 tall ridge running round the southern part of the great bay, of 
 which the farther side is fringed by the long straggling town 
 and the castle-hill behind it. A light breeze sprang up, and 
 took us gently across the beautiful expanse of water. The 
 view is closed by the background of hills ; but their slopes, 
 clad with verdure, the clear white houses, and the busy har- 
 bour, make up in brightness and variety for anything that the 
 picture may lack in extent. We proceed on shore in not the 
 best of humours, having learnt that at least five days must 
 elapse before the arrival of another boat, which feeling of 
 annoyance our easy-going skipper seems quite unable to under- 
 stand. We afterwards heard from friends who made the 
 same dismal passage a few days later, that this gentleman 
 boasted loudly of having taken us across in three hours — 
 eight being the time really occupied — and that their incredulity 
 was amply justified by their subsequent sufferings during an 
 agonising passage of fourteen. 
 
 The cleanness and civilisation of Zante soon reconciled us Zaute. 
 to our enforced delay. The " National Hotel," in the Place of 
 the Poet, did indeed seem luxurious after recent experiences ; 
 and its accommodation, like that of Corfu, serves to illustrate 
 the tenacity of English habits and influence. Everything was 
 done to mitigate the lot of the castaways, to whom, like to St 
 l*aul, the " foreign people showed no little kindness." While 
 the much-needed luncheon was still under discussion, came a 
 messenger with baskets full of roses and strawberries — a gift
 
 200 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 
 
 from the oldest inliabitant of the place. This gentleman is 
 well known to all who have touched at the island. At his 
 present age of almost a century, he is one of those few survivors 
 that recall the old order of things. An Englishman, he retains 
 the keenest interest in the afiairs of his native country, and 
 criticises passing events with all the clearness of youth. Yet 
 Zante has been his home ever since he acted as banker to 
 Lord Byron in that island. Married to a native lady of large 
 fortune, he spends the evening of his days in the land of his 
 adoption, and does all in his power to promote the comfort of 
 passing travellers. He at once placed at our disposal his 
 villas, to the number of five, in various parts of the island 
 — an ofier which proved invaluable in that soft do-nothing 
 climate. 
 
 For invalids, Zante is even better than Corfu. It lacks the 
 fine scenery and facilities for sport afforded by the latter, but 
 it can boast a still warmer and more equable climate, and still 
 greater quiet and seclusion. Corfu is a small country, Zante 
 a large garden. Mounting the castle-hill, the spectator over- 
 looks the great central plain of the island, enclosed between 
 ]\Iount Scopos and the ridge whereon he stands on the south, 
 and a line of lower hills to the nortli. The space between is 
 covered with vineyards and corn-fields, olive-groves and orange- 
 trees, and thickly studded with the tiniest villas. Every 
 Zantiote has his country-house, whereunto he betakes himself 
 during the sunniicr months, and leads a life of voluptuous 
 idleness, watching the ingathering of his various crops fnmi
 
 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 201 
 
 beneath the shade of his own vine and fig-tree. Hence the 
 extraordinary number of these detached cottages, so different 
 from the town itself, or the villages which nestle upon the 
 sides of the farther range of hills. This semi-urban, semi- 
 rural existence is the life ^^ar excellence of the Ionian isles ; 
 and readers of Homer will at once recall his description of the 
 little farm in Ithaca, where Ulysses finds his aged father with- 
 drawn from the bustle of the city, and where is fovight the 
 final fight between his little band of faithful followers and the 
 angry relatives of the slaughtered chiefs.-^ 
 
 The castle-hill offers another sad example of recent desola- 
 tion. The Venetian waUs, and the English buildings within, 
 tell the modern history of the spot. The barracks are still in 
 good repair, but empty, except that a few rooms have been 
 converted into barns : not a tile or coat of paint has been 
 added since our garrison marched out seventeen years ago. 
 No single soul dwells within the circumvallation ; grass has 
 sprung up between the closely fitting stones of the racquet- 
 court, till the whole has become a tangled mass of weeds ; guns 
 of various epochs, stuck upright in the ground, are wearing 
 out an inglorious existence as gate-posts ; and the St Mark's 
 Lion does not look more a thing of the past than the still 
 fresh English legends on the doors and walls. Picturesque as 
 is the castle-hill, it yields the palm to Akroteri (the Pronion- Akroteii. 
 tory), the northern spur of its own ridge. Here, amid the 
 olive-woods, are all the prettiest villas of the island, peeping 
 1 Od. xxiv. 204, kc.
 
 202 PYRGOS AXI> ZAXTE. 
 
 (Hit tlinniuli masses of flowers. The farthest point is occupied 
 hv a house and garden of our hospitable friend — the show- 
 place of Zante. Everything is on a small scale, but so skil- 
 fully arranged as to produce no sense of confinement. There 
 are terraces and arbours in a perfect wilderness of roses, 
 verbenas, and scented geraniums ; while oranges and straw- 
 berries can be had for the plucking. The outlook is seaward, 
 towards the mouutaiiis of Cephalonia and the mainland. 
 Anent this charming little domain we heard an instructive 
 tale from a resident compatriot, illustrating how superficial is 
 usually the knowledge of Greece possessed by her most ardent 
 admirers. A certain historical writer, who during the Bul- 
 garian agitation of 1876 sought notoriety by his uncompro- 
 mising denunciations of Turkey, saw fit to visit the Hel- 
 lenic kingdom shortly after. He seems to have confined 
 himself to inspecting Athens and the principal ports, where- 
 unto a grateful Government conveyed him in its own vessels. 
 On his homeward way he touched at Zante, and interest was 
 at once made to secure him a semi-triumphal reception at 
 Akroteri. But the owner is said to have flatly declined to go 
 out of his way to do honour to anti-English Englishmen, and 
 neither went to receive him at his villa nor sent him thither 
 in his carriage. On the other hand, he had no desire to be 
 uncourteous or shut his })lace against any visitor anxious to 
 see it. So the })roeession came oil", l)ut in a somewhat un- 
 dignified manner, and its failure appears to have sharpened the 
 always rather acrid humour of the guest. He consequently.
 
 ^^!^^ » 
 
 liillll 
 
 lllil{lllWlil!!!li!l;ll!i{:ill!l!l 
 
 liillll irNii.li 
 
 I 

 
 PYEGOS AND ZANTE. 203 
 
 on returning to the town, indulged the populace with a homily 
 of extra ferocity, spoken in what he conceived to be Greek ; 
 although our informant was asked by an intelligent bystander 
 whether " the gentleman was talking French or English." At 
 any rate, he is understood to have concluded with a power- 
 ful peroration contrastmg the glorious liberty of autonomous 
 Greece with the ignoble slavery of down-trodden England. 
 " You are heroes, and the sons of heroes, and you govern your- 
 selves ; we Englishmen are governed by a wretched Jew." 
 After which patriotic observation he went on board his gun- 
 boat and departed for Corfu, doubtless well satisfied that 
 he knew Greece thoroughly, and possibly leaving behind a 
 sense of astonishment in the minds of the natives of that 
 country. 
 
 At Zante there is providentially little that it is indispens- MouutScopos. 
 able to see. On the other hand, every nook and corner offers a 
 charm of its own. Even the soaring spirit of the confirmed 
 mountaineer has to content itself with a climb of 1300 feet 
 up to the convent on Mount Scopos, the higliest point in the 
 island. The less energetic will learn with satisfaction that 
 the entire ascent can be made on horseback, and will do w^ell 
 to avail themselves of that knowledge. The convent is pic- 
 turesque, and the view an extension of that obtainable from 
 the castle - hill. Mount Scopos was anciently known as 
 Mount Elatos, or Pine Hill, illustrating the epithet " thickly 
 wooded," which Homer connects inseparably with Zante. The 
 fir-trees have disappeared long since, and all other natural
 
 wells. 
 
 204 PYRGOS A XL) ZANTE. 
 
 wood ; but tlie olives, figs, and oranges still justify the 
 Homeric adjective. 
 The pitch- But liowever aimless the traveller's wanderings, he has at 
 
 least one sacred duty to perform — that is, to visit the pitch- 
 wells, the one considerable lion of the place. These cele- 
 brated phenomena can be comfortably inspected in a short 
 day's excursion from the town. The road runs for about nine 
 miles, as far as Lithakia, across the great central plain. At 
 that point we found another villa of our English friend — like 
 all his others, ready seemingly at any moment for the accommo- 
 dation of guests, and well stocked with fresh fruit, and native 
 wine made on the estate. This excellent liquor is quite un- 
 like the Zante wine usually sold in Greece or exported to 
 England, which is much too sweet and heady to find favour 
 with our countrymen. In the present case the sugar had been 
 extracted, with the effect of producing a most excellent drink 
 — the white resembling old natural sherry, and the red a very 
 soft Burgundy. 
 
 A rough walk of one hour brought us to the little plain on 
 the southern coast where the wells are situated, hard by the 
 sea. They are two in nuinljer, Init one is considerably larger 
 than the other. An iridescent film covers water of the most 
 transparent clearness. At a depth of about a foot is the pitch, 
 its surface swollen by great bubbles that slowly grow and burst, 
 sending up a murky li([ui(l to join the film above. Between the 
 two wells is a hole sunk some time ago in order to obtain petro- 
 leum ; l)ut the yield did not suffice to pay expenses, and the
 
 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 205 
 
 works were abandoned. A light dropped into this cavity soon 
 blazed up and produced a bonfire lasting some ten minutes, 
 after which time the flames burnt themselves out. These 
 pitch-springs are described by Herodotus/ in whose time they 
 must have been larger and more important than in our own. 
 He asserts them to have been several in number, of which the 
 largest was 70 feet every way, with two fathoms of water 
 above the bitumen — dimensions very greatly exceeding those 
 of to-day. Moreover, he declares the sea to have been four 
 stades, or nearly half a mile, distant ; it is certainly much 
 nearer now. But these discrepancies may be disregarded if 
 we consider that twenty-three centuries have passed since 
 Herodotus wrote, and that Zante has undergone numerous and 
 repeated shocks of earthquake in the interval. 
 
 The old historian also describes how the pitch was collected 
 by thrusting green boughs down into it and then suffering the 
 substance to drip off into vessels placed round the margin. 
 A similar plan might easily be adopted at present. But the 
 quality of this substance must have sadly deteriorated ; for 
 whereas Herodotus asserts it to have been more highly esteemed 
 than any other Grecian pitch, not excepting the famous pro- 
 duct of Pieria, it is now worthless, except for caulking the 
 outsides of vessels, and even then can only be used after ad- 
 mixture with a certain proportion of vegetable pitch. But his 
 most curious assertion concerning these wells is to the effect 
 that substances thrown into them always reappear after a 
 
 1 Herod, iv. 195.
 
 200 I'YRGOS AND ZANTE. 
 
 certain time in the sea. Although we failed to discover this 
 belief among existing Zantiote traditions, we learnt that there 
 is, off the other side of the island, a spot in the sea where a 
 similar substance may be seen bubbling up from the bottom of 
 the water. The presence of such a phenomenon goes far to 
 corroborate the accuracy of the " father of history." 
 
 After walking round the little bay of Kieri, in which 
 natural harbour a small schooner was at tliat moment lying, 
 we returned by another route to Lithakia, and tlience drove 
 back to town, finding there some friends just arrived from the 
 mainland. They seemed to have suffered unspeakable things 
 at the hands of officious officialism. At Argos, for instance, 
 instead of having quarters privately secured l)y their drago- 
 man, they listened to the siren voice of politeness, and con- 
 sented to be lodged in the barracks. There they had cause to 
 remember sundry of the plagues of Egypt, and afforded a 
 cheap gratification to the curiosity of the rank and file of the 
 garrison, while all the time feeling that these enjoyments were 
 causing no slight inconvenience to the gallant officers who had 
 turned out of their quarters on their account. 
 Dove-shoot- A single incident disturbed the even tenor of our life in 
 
 this home of idleness. This was no less a matter than tlie 
 arrival of a ihglit of doves on their way northward from 
 Africa. Every one promptly quitted his work to pursue so 
 choice a quarry. The sport perhaps is hardly great, tlie 
 method adopted being to stand in !niil)us]i behind an olive-tree 
 till one of the iunocent birds perclies witliiu range of the 
 
 111''.
 
 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 207 
 
 deadly flint-lock. Under these circumstances the olive-groves 
 rapidly grew too hot to hold us ; and our artist, after being 
 driven from one post of vantage to another, abandoned his 
 purpose, and ignominiously sought the shelter of garden-walls. 
 To make matters worse, the birds in spring are old and in bad 
 condition, so that they offered no gastronomic consolations for 
 these perils. In autumn, during their southward passage, the 
 young doves, then full-fed on ripe grapes, are esteemed, and 
 doubtless rightly, a great delicacy. But to the Greek mind 
 all feathered fowls are fair game, irrespective of times and 
 seasons, and it is not unusual to see creatures so beautiful as 
 hoopoes and golden aureoles ruthlessly exposed for sale in the 
 market-place. 
 
 At length the arrival was announced of a steamer for Corfu 
 — of course, at some abnormal hour. The ill-humour resulting 
 from broken slumbers was not improved by the aspect of the 
 vessel. She was even filthier and more crowded than the Close packinf 
 other Greek boats whereof we had had experience. The 
 saloon literally did not give room to stow away our hand- 
 baggage, which was trampled under foot by the mob on deck, 
 until the advent of a smart shower caused it to be pitched 
 unceremoniously into the hold. At the same moment there 
 took place a rush below, and we had to choose between soak- 
 ing or suffocation. There was meanwhile a swell sufficiently 
 heavy to prostrate the weaker vessels among the passengers ; 
 added to all which, we suffered under the steward's old witti- 
 cism of announcing dinner for a certain hour in the even-
 
 208 PYliGOS AND ZAXTE. 
 
 ing, and subsequently altering it to the middle of the after- 
 noon. 
 
 The voyage being by day, enabled us to get a glimpse of 
 those Ionian islands which on the outward passage we had 
 
 Ithaca. passed in the night. The rocky, barren Ithaca is just such 
 
 as readers of the ' Odyssey ' would imagine ; and he must be 
 indeed a sceptic who would refuse to accept this spot as the 
 home of Ulysses. Of course, many of the Homeric notices are 
 at variance with the actual facts, particularly the well-known 
 account that it " lies far beyond all other lands in the deep ; " ^ 
 but against such arguments we have to set universal and un- 
 broken tradition, as well as the consideration how admirably 
 the general configuration of Thiaki corresponds to legendary 
 description. The modern population is indeed ready to prove 
 too much, not only identifying Mount Anogi with " Neritus of 
 the waving foliage," and St Stephen's cave with the grotto 
 of the nymphs, wherein the slumbering hero was laid by his 
 Phaeacian escort, but also pointing out to the more credulous 
 the palace of Odysseus and the garden of Laertes. 
 
 Paxos. About three hours from Corfu is the charming island of 
 
 Paxos, with the neighl)ouring rock called Anti-Paxos. His- 
 tory says little of their past ; but tradition asserts that ofif this 
 peaceful coast, on the night of Christ's nativity, some mariners 
 heard strange wailings, and a voice of loud lament that bade 
 them go and say " the great god Pan was dead." 
 
 Corfu. As the boat nears Corfu, some one points out the unusual 
 
 ' X\avviTipTii.Tr) fir oAi Kurai.
 
 PYKGOS AND ZANTE. 209 
 
 difficulty likely to be experienced in obtaining shelter. The 
 whole of this enormous crowd must necessarily pass the night 
 in the town, there being no means of proceeding until the 
 following morning. It is consequently determined to tell off 
 an advanced-party, with orders to row instantly ashore, and 
 at any hazard secure rooms for ourselves and some friends 
 who happen to be on board. The precaution proved most 
 necessary, the hotels being already crowded with visitors — 
 many, indeed, departing by the three boats that started next 
 day, but none the less standing for that night between the 
 new arrivals and their much-coveted repose. It was a heart- 
 rending spectacle to see these unfortunates arrive one by one, 
 vainly seeking hospitality. But Corfiote habits are accom- 
 modating, and the enterprising management of the St George 
 Hotel succeeded eventually in procuring some sort of asylum 
 for all applicants. 
 
 Daylight showed us Corfu as charming as before, with its 
 cloudless gky, its verdure, and its light sea-breezes. Many 
 friends were passing through, or breaking up their camp after 
 a prolonged residence. We select the Italian steamer (Florio Italian 
 
 steamers, 
 line) for Brindisi, and find her clean, but sadly overloaded 
 
 with passengers. The only vacant sleeping-places are imme- 
 diately above the screw, a position not well calculated to 
 promote slumber. Indeed two English acquaintances betook 
 themselves in disgust to the second-class berths, and having 
 thrust their heads through the port-holes to avoid the atmo- 
 sphere within, spent a pleasant night in this remarkable posi- 
 
 o
 
 210 PYRGOS AND ZANTE. 
 
 tion. The result hardly justified their adventurous enterprise, 
 for they did not leave those berths unaccompanied, and were 
 obliged, after landing, to enter upon a course of entomological 
 research, which only finished with our arrival at Naples. 
 
 At daybreak we reach Brindisi, and anchor ten yards off 
 the quay, in the interests of the boatmen, who could extort 
 nothing if we were moored alongside. But we have said 
 farewell to Greece, and do not propose to enter upon a theme 
 so trite as Italian experiences. Warmly thanking those who 
 may have had the patience to accompany us through our 
 rambles, and humbly lioping that our unvarnished tale may 
 prove not altogether useless should they hereafter feel impelled 
 to visit the " land of lost gods and godlike men," we bid them 
 also adieu, having, like Horace, reached 
 
 " Brundisium longi« finem chartaeque viopque."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 JIEAXS OF REACHIXG AND SEEING GREECE. 
 
 The form of the foregoing narrative has precluded more than a 
 passing reference to the important question of routes into Greece, 
 and locomotion after arrival in that country. The intending trav- 
 eller will probably be struck by the comparative inaccessibility of 
 Athens ; for while a journey of fifty hours brings him from London 
 to Eome, he requires the best part of a week to arrive at the Pirasus, 
 This is the time occupied by the mail ; so that at present there 
 are no means of improving upon it, however skilfully the journey 
 be varied. 
 
 Presuming, therefore, a desire to adopt one of the more direct 
 routes, we find the following alternatives : Firstly, to embark at 
 Marseilles, whence the IMessageries Maritimes steamers start weekly 
 for the Piraeus, accomplishing the distance in five days. This plan 
 has the advantage of simplicity, and the boats are well found and 
 comfortable ; but it presents the, to many people, serious drawback 
 of a rather long sea- voyage. Jfevertheless, for aU but hopelessly bad 
 sailors, it possesses the strongest recommendations. In any case, 
 Athens cannot be reached without spending at least sixty-five hours 
 at sea, before the end of which period most people "find their sea- 
 legs " in ordinary weather. Thus all the discomforts of constantly 
 changing trains and vessels are avoided, without as a rule entailing 
 any additional sufi'ering upon the passenger. 
 
 Secondly, the traveller may proceed to Xaples, and there catch the 
 vessels of the same line. Tlie Messagcries packets always touch at,
 
 212 APPENDIX. 
 
 ami othei-s start from, tliat port — the latter being a consideration by 
 no means to be overlooked by those who have regard for the position 
 of their berths and other preliminaries of a journey by sea. The 
 passage occupies three days, which, added to the sixty-four hours 
 necessary for reaching Naples by land, gives a trifling superiority over 
 the first route ; while those who are not pressed for time will ap- 
 preciate the advantages of passing through Florence, Rome, Naples, 
 and Messina, and Avill probably avail themselves of this favourable 
 opportunity for visiting the Hellenic remains of PiBstum, Giurgcnti, 
 and Taormina, so invaluable to a student of Greek architecture. 
 
 Thirdly, follows the course described in the above pages — that of 
 entering Greece by Brindisi and Corfu. Its superficial attractions 
 are considerable : a single night suffices to laud us in Hellenic terri- 
 tory, and we cross in the very fair vessels of the Austrian Lloyd or 
 Florio Companies. But once arrived, Ave have oidy a choice of evUs. 
 The boat that brought us proceeds on the following day, but does not 
 touch at the Piraeus : passengers are dropped at Syra (about forty- 
 two hours from Corfu), where, after waiting a whole day, they are 
 picked up by another steamer and landed at their destination in 
 some ten hours more, or after a total of nearly three days. To crown 
 this shocking waste of time, there is a pleasing uncertainty as to the 
 movements of the so-called " corresponding " steamer, which on very 
 slight provocation will fail to put in an appearance. By discarding 
 this plan, we reduce ourselves to travelling up the Gulf of Corinth in 
 a Greek packet. This involves a delay of some days at Corfu. The 
 distance between Corfu and Athens is accomplished nominally in 
 forty-four hours ; but the possible gain of time is a poor set-ott' 
 against the certainty of discomfort on board, coupled with the likeli- 
 hood of not being met at Kalamaki — a serious risk when it is re- 
 membered that that desolate spot is devoid of the very humblest 
 accommodation. ^loreover, native steamers should be employed as 
 sparingly as possible. Therefore, until the establishment of some new 
 and imjjroved through communication, it is advisal)le not to approach 
 Athens by way of the Isthmus. If, then, we are to choose between 
 a straight passage from INIarseilles or Naples, and an almost equally 
 long series of short runs from Brindisi, involving changes of vessel
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 213 
 
 and other inconveniences, there will be a large balance of material 
 advantage on the side of the former course. 
 
 The folloAving table exhibits the comparative lengths of the four 
 journeys just described. Only the time actually occupied on the rail- 
 way and the steamer can be given, because the arrangements of the 
 local services are subject to constant alteration, and the intervals of 
 waiting at Corfu and Syra vary accordingly. K"ot the least among the 
 advantages of the two direct routes [i.e., from Marseilles or N'aples 
 to the Piraeus), are freedom from any such uncertainty, and absence 
 of delay at the port of embarkation, owing to the direct connection 
 between the Messageries Maritimes and the through expresses. 
 
 N.B.—The time is calculated from London. 
 
 Route. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Total hours. 
 
 Railroad. 
 
 Steamboat. 
 
 1. Via Marseilles, 
 
 2. ,, Naples, .... 
 
 3. ,, Brindisi and Syra, . 
 
 4. ,, Brindisi and the Gulf of 
 
 Corintli, 
 
 27 
 64 
 63 
 
 63 
 
 120 
 
 72 
 
 *65 
 
 +57 
 
 147 
 136 
 128 
 
 120 
 
 * Not including the time spent at Corfu and Syra : boats are changed at the 
 latter place. 
 
 + Not including the time spent at Corfu and Loutraki : boats are changed at 
 both places. 
 
 But there is an even stronger reason in favour of entering Greece 
 on its eastern side. It is an old remark that the Italian and Hellenic 
 peninsulas stand back to back. To the west of the one Ke its natural 
 gateways, just as in the case of the other they lie to the east. History 
 and legend attest roughly the truth of this observation. ^Eneas is 
 forbidden to land on the shores of the Ionian gulf ; neither was it 
 over the short sea passage that the earhest Greek colonists found 
 their way to that greater Greece which they established in southern 
 Italy. The political connection of Greece with Eome gave to Brin- 
 disi and Durazzo only an artificial importance, destined to vanish after
 
 214 APPENDIX. 
 
 the division of tlic empire, and prove the futility of acting against 
 the indications of nature. If he follow these, the traveller passes 
 straight from the famous remains of Hellenic civilisation in the west 
 to the even more famous remains of its centre and capital, from all 
 that is fairest in one peninsula to all that is fairest in the other. 
 The Ionian Islands are charming, but there is something in their 
 semi-Italian character intellectually unsatisfactory to those eager after 
 Greece and her true associations : a restless impulse to push forward 
 will preclude suclx persons from enjoying them as they deserve. But 
 in the case of the homeward bound these objections do not apply. 
 Satiated with sight-seeing, and somewhat tired Avith much journey- 
 ing, one is then able to appreciate to the full their varied scenery, 
 unrivalled climate, and teeming fertility. Their half-Eastern peculi- 
 arities make a gentle break in the return to Western life, curiously 
 combined with a strong homelike feeling called up by the many 
 remaining traces of the English occupation. 
 
 There are also practical considerations strongly in favour of 
 proceeding directly to Athens. In no other town can the neces- 
 saries for a protracted tour be so well obtained. Dragomans are 
 indeed to be procured in Corfu ; but there is a smaller assortment 
 to select from, and there is no choice of men and beasts. More- 
 over, a short sojourn in the capital gives some insight into that strange 
 psychological phenomenon, the Hellenic character, and enables those 
 who know Greek to catch the accent, Avhicli is the main obstacle to 
 understanding the modern language. These two accjuisitions will be 
 found most useful in the interior, as without them the traveller is 
 absolutely at the mercy of his guide. 
 
 Persons desirous of seeing the country aie practically reduced to 
 one of two alternative modes of travelling — either by land in the 
 manner described in the preceding pages, or by sea in their own 
 yacht. It is true that native steamers touch at all the little ports ; 
 but Athens and Patras are the only towns on the mainland possessed 
 of habitable inns, and Patras is not within easy reach of any place of 
 special interest. Now as the other towns afford no kind of shelter, 
 and as the boats only remain long enough to land and take in pas- 
 sengers, it fi,)lluw,s tliat this method of locomotion is unavailable.
 
 APPENDIX. 215 
 
 But those who possess a yacht can visit a majority of the most in- 
 teresting spots without being obliged to sleep on shore. Olympia, 
 for instance, may be reached by carriage from Katakolo in about four 
 hours and a half. Tiryns is within thirty minutes of Nauplia, and 
 the remainder of the road to Argos can be traversed in about forty- 
 five more — Mycenae lying at an hour and a half's distance beyond. 
 Delphi is accessible from the Scala di Salona in a ride of two and a 
 half hours ; while from Chalcis to Thebes is a drive of about the 
 same duration. Of course, certain exj)editions involve an absence of 
 two or three nights from the sea, and therefore all the paraphernalia 
 of land-travelling are required : among such are trips to Livadia, 
 Sparta, and Bassse ; but then, if these have to be abandoned, there 
 is ample compensation in the power of visiting the islands in com- 
 fort — no easy matter without some sort of private vessel. 
 
 But as the majority of mankind have not this luxury at command, 
 they must either give up the islands, or make what shift they can 
 with the vile local steamers or viler sailing-vessels, and content them- 
 selves with traversing the mainland on beast-back in the regulation 
 manner. To those about to embark upon a pilgrimage of this latter 
 description, it is earnestly hoped that some hints may have been 
 conveyed in the preceding pages. As before remarked, a life under 
 canvas will greatly conduce to health and comfort, and the country 
 will be seen to much greater advantage in the summer than at any 
 other time. Should it be unfortunately necessary to make the tour 
 earlier in the year, and therefore impossible to sleep in tents, then the 
 following precautions are recommended : — 
 
 1. Whenever practicable, to send forward the baggage and kitchen 
 to the village where it is intended to pass the night. The benefit of 
 finding quarters prepared and food ready is almost indescribable. 
 Long days in that exciting air are followed by considerable exhaus- 
 tion, which is increased by the sudden fall in the temperature after 
 sunset ; so that the appetite can easily be overstayed — a not incon- 
 siderable evil in that treacherous climate, which it requires the whole 
 strength of the system to resist. 
 
 2. On no account to submit to being put up in a passage room, 
 slumber under these circumstances being an impossibility.
 
 216 APPENDIX. 
 
 3. Invariably to sleep in flannel. The stimulating properties 
 of the air produce feverislmess resulting in profuse perspiration dur- 
 ing the night; and the dangers of the consequent susceptibility 
 to chill are largely increased by the innumerable draughts that 
 permeate the walls and roofs of all Greek cottages. 
 
 4. To change quarters daily if practicable. AVhere a longer stay 
 is necessary, select a house with as little woodwork about it as possible. 
 But no precautions, short of the employment of mosquito -curtains, 
 can guarantee immunity from insect marauders. 
 
 5. Always to have a revolver ready to hand. Of course weapons 
 are useless in an encounter with brigands, wlio, like Irishmen, never 
 attack except from a position of vantage, and with a numerical superi- 
 ority over their victims of at least ten to one ; but the sight of an 
 English-made pistol will overawe the cupidity of many an amateur 
 robber, and act as a wholesome check upon the natural insolence of 
 the population. 
 
 6. In all cases to allow more time than that estimated by the 
 guide for packing up, settling down for the night, making a ih'tour, or 
 getting from place to place. 
 
 7. Never to bargain personally with the natives ; and — 
 
 8. Never to believe any of their statements. 
 
 TFiE END. 
 
 PRINTF.D KY WILLIAM BLAC KWOOD AND SON3
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
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