.ClLIAN
STUDIES

'••/ gLiieiie/e Bpohs.

• YAiuE-^Knnraiasinnr-

1916

SICILIAN STUDIES

SICILIAN STUDIES

BY
ALEXANDER NELSON HOOD
/ 1 >
(DUKE OF BRONTE )

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.
(All rights reserved)

TO MY FRIEND
ROBERT HICHENS
d

First published in 7975

PREFACE
It has been suggested that a series of stories
and essays connected with life in Sicily might
be of interest. Hence the appearance of this
volume. Some of its contents have been
printed in another form in the Nineteenth
Century and Fortnightly Reviews, and the
Gentlewoman. I have to acknowledge my indebtedness
for much valuable information derived from
the works of Mr. Gilbert Murray, Sir Richard
Jebb, Mr. R. D. Archer - Hind ; as well as
to Mr. E. D. Morshead for his striking trans
lation of the " Oresteia " of ^Eschylus — the
" House of Atreus."

CONTENTS

PREFACE PROLOGUE — TO APOLLO
THE GREAT DISASTER .
SAN FILIPPO LEAVES HIS SHRINE
THE SPIRIT OF THE MAFIA
CHRISTMAS" UNBRIDLED FLOODS OF FIRE ''
VINTAGE
RAGUSA IN SICILY
THE NEW RELIGION
A SICILIAN MURDER
TO THE TOP OF ETNA
TWO BRIGANDS OF ETNA
SICILIAN WAYS .
SYRACUSE HONOURS ^ESCHYLUS
EPILOGUE — IN A GARDEN

59
19
49 67 99
"3143 155177 189
205 230 243 263 3*3

PROLOGUETO APOLLO

SICILIAN STUDIES

TO APOLLO
" Naxos was the first settlement of the Greeks in Sicily, and
they brought civilization to the island. On the shore where
they first landed a celebrated altar to Apollo Archagetes
was erected with a statue of the god, which stood there
for ages."
A LARGE crowd of swarthy men, with women
and children, were gathered on the steep sides
of Mount Toros, gazing intently out to sea.
The soothsayers — for these people, rude and
savage as they were, had belief in their gods,
and strove to read the mysteries that lay in
the womb of time — had foretold the happening
of strange things in the near future. F.rom
the holy places among the ravines of Toros
had come for some time past ominous warn
ings of a flight of birds from oversea — birds
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Sicilian Studies
with huge white wings — to alight on the shore
below, and drive before them the people to
their destruction.
Sceptics — they lived also in those days —
shook their heads and laughed scornfully at
the thought that men accustomed to do battle
with the wild beasts that roamed the mountains,
might fall a prey to birds of the air.
But to-day the sceptics were silent, and
gazed with the others, because, away on the
face of the amethyst waters, clearly defined
against the sky, were seen the very birds of
which the oracles had spoken. Disbelief
vanished, and troubled doubt arose as to what
could be that flight of monster -winged things
which imperceptibly drew nearer to the people.
The more brave among the crowd bethought
of arming to beat back the unknown enemy.
A show of force, said they, would suffice to
dismay the foe, and drive them to the far-off
regions whence they came.
On glided the white wings towards the spot
where the people stood. And from the bodies
12

To Apollo
of those strangely-shaped birds now spread
great feet which unceasingly beat the water in
long sweeping strokes.
Amazement and terror filled the multitude,
when out spoke Sicanion, a man whose face,
radiant with the pride and beauty of youth,
commanded the love and admiration of the
people as greatly as his sacred office of inter
preter of the signs that the gods vouchsafed.
" Men and matrons, youths and maidens,"
said he in a loud voice, heard by all in the
still air, " be not afraid. It is given me by
virtue of my office to know that the birds of
great size seen on the bosom of the deep are
not enemies, but forerunners of prosperity for
our beloved land of sun and beauty. And,"
continued he, with the radiancy that illuminates
the face of one who, by divine light, foresees
clearly the events of the future, " they bring
you a new life of love and learning, before
which the ignorance of the past must flee, as
ill-omened night-birds at the approach of day.
Receive them but in peace." 13

Sicilian Studies
But the people would not heed. " Arm !
arm ! " they cried, and hurried in crowds to the
shore. Sicanion, sad, followed, for he could not
tarry when others were foremost in the fight.
The great birds now took another form. The
white wings had disappeared, and in their stead
were seen the backs of many men bent sternly
to oars that surely and swiftly brought the
galleys to the land. And there, where the
black lava of the burning mountain had met
the sea in days gone by, did the ships touch
the strand.
The fight waxed furious. Helmet and
breastplate rang with the din of blows dealt
by the people with weapons better fitted to
the hewing of timber or digging the fields than
for the art of war. But who could withstand
the onslaught of the sons of Achilles, to whom
war was a pastime and conquest a right? The
people fell like pine-trees before a whirlwind
that spares not even the king of the forest in
its wrath. 14

To Apollo
The battle was over. The dead lay in masses
around, while those of the vanquished who had
survived the day were fleeing to the rocks in
deadly fear, for their opponents seemed more
than human in their valour and strength.
Then out spoke Theocles of Chalcis, leader
of the doughty band that the white sails
had brought from the Isles of Greece over
the sea.
" Brothers," said he, " now the fight is won
and the day is ours, here, at the foot of the
flaming mountain where Polyphemus has his
home, here, where all the year is summer-time,
and where the gods have showered countless
blessings with lavish hands, let us bow our
heads in gratitude and raise loud songs
of praise. To Apollo Archagetes, our Pro
tector, build we an altar of love and thanks
giving, on which fire shall always burn, for I
vow in the hearing of our legions to place a
statue of the god more beautiful than any seen
in Greece, that both may stand on these shores
as a tribute to the god and your renown. And
IS

Sicilian Studies
that the coming centuries may bear record of
you and your deeds, I name this place Naxos
after the home whence you came."
Theocles was silent, while loud shouts of
approval rent the air. Lifting his arms, with
hands outstretched to the heavens, and turning
his face toward the setting sun, which now
suffused all things with a glow of ruddy light,
he cried —
" O Apollo ! God of Light and Learning ;
thou beauteous one, in whose form is united
all that is most admirable ; thou whose
presence renders all things beautiful, look with
favour on us your servants, and this land
doubly blessed ! To thee we dedicate this new
Naxos, hard by the mighty slopes of yonder
abode of eternal thunder. Grant that thy god
like presence may ever dwell among us in the
sacred fire of Poesy, in the stirring notes of
Harmony, and in the mystic magic of Art !
And may thou guide us to, seek and know the
secret of all that is noble in the world, so that
here may rest for all time the soothing
16

To Apollo
sympathy of the Beautiful and the consolation
of the Divine ! "
As Theocles finished speaking the sun sank
behind Etaa, casting long translucent rays
across a roseate sky flecked with golden clouds.
And the rays fell slantways upon the Greeks
and upon the first stones of the altar, thus
sanctifying with gleams of the sun-god's holy
fire the regeneration of the land.
Sicanion, wounded to the death in the fore
front of the battle, raising his voice and
forgiving all things, blessed the words of
Theocles, for he knew that the great white
wings had surely brought the blessings of the
gods to the country that he loved so well.

i7

THE GREAT
DISASTER

THE GREAT DISASTER
"All in a moment overwhelmed and fallen." — Milton.
The recurring anniversary of that which has
been recognized as one of the greatest catas
trophes in history, recalls vividly, and with no
diminution of horror, that direful night pre
ceding the 28th of December and its following
weeks. Nor have recent visits to the scene
of the earthquake at Messina helped to miti
gate that feeling, since little has been done to
remove its traces and renew the city. Of
money there seemed once to be an abundance ;
offers from foreign contractors to clear the
debris and reconstruct the buildings have not
been wanting ; but either a spirit of misplaced
independence has scorned outside help, or the
usual bureaucratic dilatoriness and inadequacy
have prevailed. Thus the horrors and chief
21

Sicilian Studies
features of the calamity still linger ; and these
few observations, made on the spot at the time,
may prove of interest from a psychological
standpoint. If it be true that wine reveals truth, no less
does terror draw aside the veil of human con
ventionalism to show the true character of men
and women beneath. The greater the terror
the more evident are the signs betraying indi
vidual characteristics ; because insincerity
(which is also a distorted form of self -protec
tion) being laid aside, the real human being
stands out as Nature made him. At least,
so it appeared to me during the days which
succeeded the disaster which razed Messina and
Reggio to the ground and destroyed many
other towns and villages of Sicily and Calabria.
The events of the fateful night in the small
and well-known hill town of Sicily, where I
was at the time, may be briefly related thus.
At 5.20, when the morning was yet dark
except for the brilliancy of many stars in a
cloudless sky, and when the inhabitants were
22

The Great Disaster
sleeping after the Christmas merrymaking, a
violent upheaval of the earth, accompanied by
a dull rumbling, awoke me. That was followed
immediately by a convulsive shaking, which
made me realize what a rat must feel when
in the mouth of a terrier. I wondered how
long that shaking would last . The first thought
of those whd live in " earthquake countries "
is as to the duration and force of a shock, and
whether it be wiser to take refuge in the open
air. It seemed as if that trembling would
uever end. It lasted half a minute, though
the instruments in the Messina Observatory,
which were not destroyed, recorded thirty-five
seconds as the duration of the greatest shock.
Elsewhere in Sicily it was less. Then the roar
of many waters was heard. It was the advance
and receding of the seismic waves which added
devastation to that of the earthquake.
Shouts, wailings, imprecations, desperate
cries of terror and of appeal to the saints,
accompanied by the barking of dogs, came
from below and resounded from all quarters of
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Sicilian Studies
the town. The stUl night suddenly became
one of indescribable uproar. As if by magic
windows were illuminated as electric lights
were turned on by the awakened sleepers . The
clamour continued as shock succeeded shock.
People precipitated themselves from the houses
in costumes hastily improvised.
A cry of " San Pancrazio ! " was raised, and
a crowd of awe -stricken people hurried,
lanterns in hand, to the church of their
patron saint on the side of the hill outside
the town.
There, filling the church to overflowing, they
prostrated themselves before the image whose
help they had come to invoke. Humility and
penitence, tearful supplication and agonized
fear were marked on anxious faces dimly
illuminated by the few hastily lighted candles
on the altar. Outside in the arched court the
people also knelt, calling aloud for protection,
muttering audible prayers accompanied by
sobs. The east reddened with the dawn. The
24

The Great Disaster
earth shook at intervals. Later, more of the
population, headed by the town band, hurried
to the church. By common consent it was
agreed that the saint should be taken to the
town to assure greater protection by his
presence. It was then daylight.
Amid the clanging of bells, shouts of the
people, and solemn music, the large figure of
San Pancrazio was carried shoulder high by
many willing bearers from the sanctuary into
the ante -court, and thence up the steep path
to the arched gateway of the town.
The populace filled the streets ; the slight
balconies were perilously packed ; the band
played lustily ; and the huge procession,
gathering in numbers as it went, passed from
one end of the town to the other. It was a
moment of exhilaration which lasted but a
short time.
In the small space between two castellated
gateways, the image was lifted from the
shoulders of its supporters and placed on the
ground. The many who helped to carry
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Sicilian Studies
the heavy shrine wiped their foreheads, hot
with exertion.
The little piazza was crowded. Locomotion
was difficult. All elbowed their way towards
the saint, who, seated on his gilded throne
and clad in gorgeous vestments with a jewelled
mitre on his head and a crozier in his left hand,
while the right was raised in the act of blessing,
received homage from the faithful.
Now that the music and the shouts of
enthusiasm had ceased, the faces of the crowd
became again sad and full of concern. A
silence fell upon the multitude. The danger
had been so reoent and alarming that terror
resumed easy sway. Priests in biretta and
camicia ; aged women with faces scored with
lines ; old men supported on sticks ; women
and girls in bright-coloured dresses and gaudy
kerchiefs about their heads ; men, youths, and
boys with lighted tapers in their hands, formed
that remarkable crowd. All were pensive,
solemn, pale. They muttered prayers and
invocations, using their hands in supplication.
26

The Great Disaster
Many were in tears. It was a strangely im
pressive gathering, which had but one common
feeling — that of abject fear and apprehension.
Women crossed themselves. " Madonna mia,"
they said mechanically, calling upon the Virgin
and saints in turn. " Quando mai, quando
mai," queried an old man tearfully to himself,
shaking his head. He had never known so
awful an earth-shock, so great a terror, as
this. The calamity appeared to draw people
together. It was brotherhood of grief.
Companionship was essential ; solitude un
bearable. They communicated their woe by
expressive gestures, as is their wont, not by
words. Words were inadequate to convey the
depth of their despair. That silence of a
garrulous and laughter-loving people measured
the " deep mysterious fear " which pervaded
all minds. The strident voices of the women
were hushed. Ragged urchins were mute, and
Wandered aimlessly about, their tricks and their
games forgotten. Even the whining beggars
27

Sicilian Studies
omitted to ask for alms — the money collected
that day was to propitiate the saint, and not
for them. An undefined yet overpowering
sense of the dreadful was abroad ; it deepened
as the hours passed. Had they known the fate
which had befallen Messina and Calabria, with
the loss of kinsfolk and friends, cries of
lamentation would have broken that silence.
But the direful knowledge was yet to come.
The procession was re-formed. As the saint
was raised once more on the shoulders of his
half-hundred bearers, and wended his way to
his temporary abode in the mother -church,
patereroes roared, bells clanged, men cheered,
and the throng pushed forward eagerly to serve
as escort and guard of honour. The saint
entered the big church through the west door.
The building, in spite of danger from the con
tinuous shacks of earthquake, was crowded
from end to end. The congregation rose as
the procession went in. The sacred burden
was deposited before the high altar ablaze
with the light of many tapers. The organ
28

The Great Disaster
took up the music as the band ceased ; the
religious function began.
What has been related was the visible result
of the earthquake in men's minds. But it
seemed to me there was more of interest
beneath the surface. It is certain that all who
had had a share in the alarm of the morning
had undergone a change wrought by a shock
so sudden and severe. How had it affected
them? That was my thought when I looked
at the upturned faces of the congregation as
they listened rapturously to the discourse of
the gentle and intellectual young priest who
addressed the multitude from the pulpit.
How had it affected him? I can imagine
that pity was the foremost feeling in his mind
— pity for the sorely distressed and panic-
stricken souls about him, with gratitude for
a merciful escape from death which had been
so imminent.
But that was a theme scarcely touched upon
as he spoke. True to his calling and training,
he sought rather to impress upon the people
29

Sicilian Studies
the teaching of the Church and a proper
observance of its precepts. It was an address
to the poor and lowly. Pointing to the sacred
figure of the saint before the altar, he told
them in eloquent words that the disaster Was
a direct visitation of Heaven for their neglect.
There could be no doubt of it. The following
day was marked in the calendar as the name-
day, or festa, of the saint. No preparation
had been made to honour him. Though the
town was rich and prosperous, they had neg
lected him for many years. The preacher
blamed them for their laxity. He called upon
them to cease from their neglect ; from
swearing ; from lying ; from thieving, in
order to merit his protection. He ended
by proclaiming a solemn feast-day, to be held
later in these troublous times as a sure means
of securing the saint's favours, and propitiating
his wrath.
It was a moment well chosen for such a
theme. That it was not distasteful was
evidenced by the eagerness with1 which the
30

The Great Disaster
very poor, also, put their pence into the
collecting bags assiduously circulated through
out the church for the cost of the coming festa.
His words produced the effect intended by
the preacher. Assured of the protection of
the saint, the haggard look of apprehension,
that startled look in the eyes which I had
noticed earlier in the day, softened. Courage
returned as loud evvivas for the saint echoed
through the building at the preacher's call.
In times of disaster, the Southern Italians,
who may have been led astray from', or are
indifferent in regard to, religious observances,
become very devout. When the cholera
epidemic ravaged Sicily ; when Vesuvius was
in eruption more recently ; and now in this
much graver calamity, the churches were, as
they are now, crowded with worshippers,
returned once more to the fold in ecstasies
of devotion and contrition.
Later, when the church had emptied of all
but a very few, I noticed that one very old
woman remained at the side of the enthroned
3i

Sicilian Studies
saint. I watched her. She could have had
nothing to lose by the earthquake, because
she probably possessed nothing but the few
rags which covered her and the stick on which
she leant so heavily. But her tears and her
sobs, and the ardent kisses impressed on the
gilded slipper of the saint, might have indicated
dread for the loss of countless treasures. Was
she fearful that her beloved paese might be
destroyed? that the few suffering years which
remained might be denied her? Or was it the
fear of the unknown and the terrible which
assailed her? I imagine it was the last. But
whatever it was, she alone of the many wor
shippers of the morning remained in suppli
cation at the feet of him who from her
childhood she had learnt to believe was
her intercessor for protection and pleader
for divine favours in this world and the next.
Another attracted my attention, and she also
a woman. She sat motionless and speechless
on a seat. Her eyes, staring and expression
less like the unclosed eyes of a corpse, were
32

The Great Disaster
fixed on the face of the saint. Intense fear
had removed any visible sense of alarm and
almost all signs of life.
Fear, in fact, reigned supreme on all sides,
and increased as the greatness of the disaster
became known. It manifested itself in different
ways according to the individual. It generally
took some form of egoism. One man was
moved to tears at the sight of the universal
destruction at Messina. Yet his chief lamen
tation was a complaint that God had deprived
the land of that peace and well-being in which
he himself had so greatly delighted. Another,
and he a public functionary, refused to attend
to his duties because some remote property
of his had been slightly injured. So complete
was the demoralization, no work was done for
a week after the earthquake, although no
damage had been caused in the town itself.
The great violence of the shock of earthquake
alone had produced the panic.
Groups of idlers, talking in subdued tones,
paraded the streets. They had been there all
33 c

Sicilian Studies
day. They would be there all night. Few
would risk sleeping under a roof. Tales of
warning and premonition of the disaster were
many. Predictions of wise women were re
called. Dreams were related below the breath.
" The death -fires had danced at night " — the
ignis fatuus had been seen the evening before.
It had floated over the sea, where it hovered
in a long, serpent -Uke form of glowing vapour,
weird and unearthly. It had risen to the hills
until near the little cemetery of the town,
where, lingering a short time, it disappeared,
to be seen no more.1
Towards evening vague rumours concerning
the fate of Messina were in circulation. No
body could tell from what source they came.
The idea that the city of a hundred and sixty
thousand inhabitants had been destroyed, was
scouted. Men smiled and would not believe it.
It was the usual exaggeration of the vivid
Southern imagination.
1 This curious phenomenon, of electric origin, was seen by
a friend, who related the occurrence to me.
34

The Great Disaster
At nightfall, however, a man, dazed, terror-
stricken, and nearly naked, came. He had
run along the railway line, a distance of twenty
miles or more. He had fainted on the way for
want of food. He was shortly followed by
two others. They confirmed what the first-
comer had related : that Messina had been
entirely wiped out in half a minute's time ;
that the population was buried beneath the
fallen houses.
Until then men and women had thought
but of their own troubles : the panic of the
early morning and the great danger they had
run. Now the conversation in the streets
turned to the graver topic, and stupefied
wonder took the place of fear. From that
time " Death all eloquent " was the dread
master of eastern Sicily. " Messina non e
piu." It was first whispered in doubt and per
plexity. Then it was borne to all lands as
a message of woe unprecedented. " Messina
non e piu." Messina, " the Beautiful," exists
no longer. No words can paint in true colours
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Sicilian Studies
the hideousness of what she is, of the first
hours of trial through which she and her
people passed.
The poet l must have pictured some such
scene when life wrote : — An universal horror
Struck through my eyes, and chilled my very heart :
The cheerful day was everywhere shut out
With care, and left a more than midnight darkness
Such as might e'en be felt.
But not even the mightier pen of a Euripides
could describe adequately the hideous and
far-reaching torment of those who suffered by
those awful throes of Nature.
It is well to pass over, without further
comment, the episodes of heart-rending mental
anguish and bodily injury ; the sufferings from
thirst and hunger ; the isolation and abandon
ment of the first days ; the terror of continued
shocks ; the raging fires ; the nakedness ; the
hopeless searchings for missing relatives ; the
shrieks and lingering tortures of the thousands
1 Rowe. 36

The Great Disaster
beneath the fallen masonry, to whom help
never came.
" Messina non e piu." The long line of
stately palaces which looked upon the harbour
and the lilac mountains of Calabria are but
mounds of lime dust and broken stone, of
beams and broken tiles. Where a facade
stands, it stands in mockery to cover the
ruin within, because back and side and inner
walls lie in heaps to the level of first-floor
windows. The broad quay has sunk several
feet. Where boxes of fragrant fruits and
bales of silk and merchandise once were seen,
the sea leaps over stones displaced. Whole
streets have disappeared ; and should one wish
to seek where a friend had lived and now
has died, nothing remains to guide him to the
spot. Nature was capricious in her modes of
destruction. A solitary house remained erect
where all else had fallen. But its walls were
rent with broad fissures, widening with each
fresh movement of the earth, a make-believe
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Sicilian Studies
to beguile the onlooker. Here, the front
had fallen, leaving the building with rooms
exposed like a doll's house with open door.
The rooms were undisturbed and furnished,
as of old, with a breakfast -table laid in one ;
beds and furniture intact in others, with
mirrors on the walls, the doors ajar, through
which the occupants had endeavoured to
escape. There, slender and giant columns of
masonry stood upright, or leant against
opposite walls tilted over bodily. Below were
fragments of what the houses contained.
Pianos half buried, chairs, tables, curtains,
bedsteads, pictures, and broken mirrors ; and
it was sad and solemn to look upon the mat
tresses upon which some poor victims had met
their fate when sleeping peacefully. The
havoc was fearsome ; the destruction com
plete. Only the houses of two stories remained
as possible, if risky, habitations in the future.
Perhaps the most remarkable, and the most
pitiful, of the ruins to-day, are those of the
Duomo, orCathedral, which had stood so many
38

The Great Disaster
centuries, now to be overthrown. The monster
monoliths of granite with gilded capitals, which
once were the columns of Neptune's Temple
at Faro, lie half or wholly covered by the
painted woodwork and debris of the roof,
among which are fragments of marble tombs
and inlaid altars, golden figures of angels and
sculptured saints— a mountain of ruined
masonry many feet high and open to the sky.
The beautifully carved pulpit has been hurled
to the ground, together with the pillar which
supported it, with the mosaic and frescoes,
with the arches and cornices, which made
the Duomo so rich a treasure-house of art.
One thing alone remains of the ancient glory
—the colossal figure of Christ in mosaic in
the dome of the apse at the east end. It is
still there, with serene countenance and hand
uplifted in the act of blessing, as for five hun
dred years or more it has remained, gazing
on the passing generations of worshippers.
The calmness of that majestic, life-like figure
was, and still is, startling. I turned from it
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Sicilian Studies
resentfully. " How can a blessing rest on such
awful destruction as this ? " I exclaimed in
voluntarily. Then it was suggested by a friend
that that benediction might reach beyond the
church, beyond the fallen walls of the ruined
city, a message of peace and consolation in
the hour of need to souls in anguish of mind
and body; and I was glad that the apse had
not been destroyed.
Not only did the earth claim its many
victims. The sea also added its terrors to
the calamity. In a manner it was more far-
reaching in its destruction, for where the
earthquake sought and destroyed the living
only, the seismic waves swept over the
English cemetery, razing its walls to the
ground, demolishing the tombs and marble
monuments of the dead.
To the villages of the Messina littoral the
sea brought, perhaps, greater ruin than the
earth. A wall of water, in some places ten
feet, in others thirty feet high, rushed inland
with terrific force, and devastated groves and
40

The Great Disaster
gardens, roads and houses. Crowds on the
quays and shores were swept away and
drowned. Lemon -trees and big bushes of
cactus -pear were torn up by the roots and
scattered in dire confusion. Boats on the
beach were lifted and carried a distance of
two hundred yards, scattered in the fields and
streets, or jammed in the narrow doorways
through which the receding waters rushed.
Houses were either washed away or fell in a
pile of masonry . If many victims were carried
out to sea, others remained beneath the stones .
The lamentation of the surviving villagers, for
many days out of reach of succour, was piteous
and heart-rending. One woman, who had lost
her only son, had recovered a portion of his
clothes from the ruins of her small house.
These she handled fondly, or put them about
her shoulders, laughing and weeping alter
nately. When laughter accompanies tears the
lowest depth of mental suffering has been
reached. A few steps from her a man sat on the pile
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Sicilian Studies
of stones and dust which had been his home.
Beside himself with grief, he addressed the
heap of rubbish : " If the sea has not got them,
they are here, here beneath my feet," he said.
He referred to his wife and three children
who had disappeared. Another incident is
related. A man, who had escaped with other
members of his family, returned hurriedly to
look for a missing child. The bed on which the
infant had slept was there, though the back
wall of the house had fallen. In place of
the child he found a live fish where the infant
had been lying. Nature was grotesque as well
as cruel .
The immediate and almost universal effect
that the earthquake had on those who escaped
death was of stupefaction, almost of mental
paralysis. They were stunned. Their power
of judication of the catastrophe was suspended.
Lamentation was infrequently heard except
when caused by physical suffering. Tears
were rarely seen. Men recounted how they
had lost wife, mother, brothers, sisters, chil-
42

The Great Disaster
dren, and all their possessions, with no appa
rent concern. They told their tales of woe as
if they themselves had been disinterested spec
tators of another's loss . Some even spoke with
a smile on their lips. Any one who does not
know the Sicilian and his remarkable regard
for family ties, might have been inclined to
attribute that composure to callousness. He
would have been wrong. For the time being,
the minds of the people had been mercifully
deadened. They had not realized. Therein
Nature had shown tardy pity.
In one of my visits to the stricken villages
I offered a seat in the motor-car to an official.
He had gone out from Messina in search of
lost relatives. He told me he had escaped
miraculously from his falling house, by which
his wife had been buried and killed and his
daughter horribly mutilated. He could get
no news of his son at school at Reggio ; he
was certain he too was dead. But no sign of
sorrow, nor even of mental disturbance, was
apparent as he spoke. Beyond a strange per-
43

Sicilian Studies
functoriness in his actions during the hour or
more he was with me (he willingly lent a
hand to extricating the car from the sand of
the seashore on which it had been driven in
the hope of reaching Messina, the road being
impassable owing to fallen walls), I saw no
sign of the despair which would follow later.
Another man told me, with eagerness and
satisfaction, how he had escaped after three
days of imprisonment below the ruins of the
house where others of his family had met
their death. He had had nothing to eat;
he had no recollection of the passing of
time. Indeed, when rescued he thought he
had been buried a few hours only. He had
scraped at the debris with his bleeding fingers
until he had groped near enough to the sur
face to make his cries heard. He, too, uttered
no complaint, no lamentation. Seemingly it
had been to him an adventure which was not
altogether unpleasant. Such examples of im
passibility were without end. Yet in the eyes
of those who lived through that dreadful
period a dazed look of horror and consterna-
44

The Great Disaster
tion lingered as silent witness of the terror
which was theirs.
It is difficult to account for the almost
complete, if temporary, absence of the emo
tion usual on occasions of calamity in people
who are naturally easily roused. A Sicilian
is not infrequently moved to tears, and by
little provocation. A small contretemps is apt
to upset the even tenor of his easygoing
existence. The trivial illness of a relative, the
unexplained absence of a friend, will fill him
with apprehension and arouse plaintive com
ment ; but when he was the sufferer by one
of the gravest calamities in the history of the
world, he was placid, calm, and resigned.
This is interesting psychologically. That
coldness is largely due to the inability of
the human brain to appreciate events at their
true value. Perception had been dulled by
the awful suddenness, as well as by the stun
ning severity of the blow. There was also
the association or sharing with others, en
gendering a sense of companionship in mis
fortune, which forbids one individual to exalt
45

Sicilian Studies
his sorrow over that of others. As suffering
is measured by comparison, so is grief kept
within bounds in the presence of other grief.
Thus the appeal for commiseration which a
stricken heart makes on ordinary occasions
becomes futile ; self-restraint follows as a
matter of course, and resignation is its out
ward manifestation.
But though this may be so in great measure,
the onlooker could not fail to attribute some
of that same remarkable resignation to a more
lofty cause. Many examples of a noble hero
ism, passive as well as active, were noticed.
And though Sicily, with her proximity to the
East, has not escaped the influence of the
Oriental philosophy of " Che sara sara,"
which is the native's constant solace in
moments of adversity (" Come vuole Dio," is
often his final resume of a distasteful matter),
the fibre of true men and the courage of
martyrs were not wanting in those days of
bitter trial.
The cities and towns of Sicily (those of
Italy were not behind, in the work of charity)
46

The Great Disaster
opened their doors to their suffering fellow-
countrymen with a generosity that was as
large-hearted as it was spontaneous. Catania
alone received twenty thousand refugees ;
housed them, and cared for them, though at
a cost of great self-sacrifice. All, from the
richest to the poorest, vied with one another
to clothe, feed, and comfort them. Orphans
were adopted or otherwise provided for. In
this work Sicilians have led the way pre-emi
nently ; for it must be remembered that the
presence in their midst of so many indigent
persons constituted a serious sociological
problem, in which the vital interests of
the charitable themselves were involved.
Employment was by no means plentiful.
Trade was bad. Commerce was almost at a
standstill. Therefore the flooding of the
labour market at such a moment was attended
with serious complications and fears.
" Death all eloquent " reigned in that island
of sweet-scented groves and luscious fruits,
where many have found repose for mind and
body amid flowers and genial sunshine. Yet
47

Sicilian Studies
it has been always a land of joyful resur
rection, whose return to life has been sung
from time immemorial in its poetry and its
legends. True to tradition, Messina and its
villages, with Reggio and the Calabrian towns
beyond the narrow streak of sparkling sea,
are rising again. The Sicilian's love for his
birthplace took him back as soon as he could
return. The cities are being rebuilt with the
courage and determination which are his own.
Here, again, the Oriental belief in fate is seen
— " Che sara sara." If another earthquake is
to come, come it will, no matter where man
may dwell !
But those who were present ; those who
suffered when the sullen anger of the " death -
ful earth " wrought " universal horror " ; those
who have looked " on the dreadful thing " and
lived ; can never in brighter days be quite
as they were before, nor entirely free from the
remembrance of that sense of littleness before
a greater Presence, which was perhaps the first,
as it is the abiding, feeling following in the
train of the overwhelming disaster.
48 '

SAN FILIPPO
LEAVES HIS SHRINE

49

SAN FILIPPO LEAVES HIS SHRINE
For many weeks in spring rain had been
looked for in the lower lands around Etna.
The peasants had prayed for it, not only with
the hope of reaping the usual harvest in due
course, but to enable them to sow spring seeds
which might help them should the fields
ploughed in winter fail — as they seemed likely
to fail — to furnish the year's supply. Prayers
to patron saints, votive offerings of wax
candles, shrines garlanded with flowers, statues
bedecked with finery, pious trust, tearful com
plainings — all had been so far of no avail to
bring rain, for the tramontano , or north wind,
had waged continuous war with the moisture -
bearing winds of the south, and chased away
the heavy banks of cloud as they rose from
the sea or settled on Etna's summit. In
5i

Sicilian Studies
Sicily, a good shower at spring-time is as
gold ; and a steady downpour means happi
ness and abundance for the poor and comfort
to the rich ; they bring on the growing crops
of grain for the one, and for the other defer
the scorching time of summer when springs
run dry and all things living are parched and
weary with heat and dust.
So the Festa of San Filippo Neri at Calata-
biano was anxiously anticipated this spring,
for every one knows, who knows anything of
the good deeds of the holy saints who protect
the poor of Etna's slopes, that San Filippo
has much to say about harvests of all kinds
on the day which is particularly dedicated to
himself. And this is what they know. The
saint is pleased to visit his people once a year,
and for that purpose leaves his home in the
church at the summit of the mountain behind
the town. It is the saint himself, of course,
though to suit his own convenience he takes
the form of a majestic image sitting in a chair
of state. On his descent to the madre chiesa,
52

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
or parish church, the abundance or scarcity
of harvests depend. The journey must be
rapid, without mishap, and the progress digni
fied, if San Filippo's protection for the coming
crops be secured. Around Calatabiano that
means a great deal. Not only the harvest of
hay and corn has to be garnered, but crops of
many kinds gathered well-nigh' all the year.
The golden fruit of the orange and lemon -
trees is picked and packed in the winter
months, giving abundant work to women and
boys, who climb among the dark foliage to clip
the fruit from the branches and tenderly hand it
tcvthose Who wait for it below ; for not a bruise
nor mark must mar the shining surface of
lemon and orange if the fruit is to bear the
journey to distant lands, where much of it is
sent. Artichokes and cool lettuces, peas and
other vegetables, delicacies for the tables of
the North, follow quickly. Then earlier fruits,
such as mountain strawberry and yellow loquot,
fall to the hand in rapid succession, while the
almond, already formed in its velvet -green husk
53

Sicilian Studies
from' the undulating waves of white and pink
blossom, which had covered hills and valleys
as with fallen snow some few months pre
viously, are picked and sent away. The sickle
lays low the beans and hay, and soon after
wards is seen in the rippling fields of yellow
corn. A short respite comes to the workers
— except where the ripened almonds and maize
with the hazel nuts of the upper lands are
secured — before the grapes are carried to the
winepress by gangs of brown-skinned people,
their heads turbaned in kerchiefs of every hue
known to mortal eye, accompanied by sound
of bagpipe and tambourine. The Indian fig,
or prickly pear (in spring-time with its golden-
cup flowers fringing the oval -shaped leaves),
growing in Eastern profusion in hedges or
among the rocks of lava, next yields its salmon-
coloured fruit. And lastly the olive, to give
the oil to make man of that cheerful counte
nance of which we read. So San Filippo has
all his work prepared for him. It is but natural
that the people should anxiously await this
54

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
festa, and learn whether plenty, with peace
of mind withal, or scarcity, with consequent
anxiety, shall be their lot for the next twelve
months. It was to be present at this festa that we
drove down " the long ranges of the hills " of
Etaa. A more beautiful drive it would be
difficult to find. Our road was that of Himil-
con, when, two thousand odd years ago, after
the destruction of Messana, finding a lava
stream opposing his march to Syracuse, he
took a circuitous route to reach his destina
tion. He followed the course of the Alcantara
River, which runs through a narrow valley
formed by high mountains covered at their base
with orange-trees, with hazel and chestnut
groves on their precipitous sides. A town or
two perched on the summits of apparently
inaccessible rocks, cling desperately over the
contributory torrents which join the principal
streams. Beautiful ravines are bright with
young foliage, and with flowers of all colours,
from the pink oleander growing in large
55

Sicilian Studies
masses, and patches of yellow broom, to the
hedges of double scarlet geranium. Crown
ing all —
Etna beyond in the broad glare
Of the hot noon, without a shade,
Slope behind slope, up to the peak, lies bare ;
The peak, round which the white clouds play,1
which dominates the scene and forms the
distant background of many a beautiful
picture. Lower down, the dried-up country
speaks to the drought of the season, and we
arrive at Calatabiano, hot, and in a cloud of
dust, which covers all things in a powdering
of white.
The town is in holiday garb. Triumphal
arches span the principal street ; flags flutter,
and paper lanterns swing from every window.
Far up on the mountain, where nestles the
home of San Filippo among the almond-trees
and prickly pears, patereroes roar in his
honour. The ways are full of countryfolk who
have flocked from the mountain hamlets, and
1 M. Arnold. 56

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
the sea has sent its contribution from the fish
ing villages near. Daphnis find's his counter
part in the bright, slim youths of the pastures,
who have left their flocks and herds to take
care of themselves to-day ; and our two old
friends,1 Asphalion and his comrade, might be
said to have wandered from their wattled cabin
on the shore, their poverty and their dreams,
to join in the fun. Booths for the sale of
roasted beans and nuts — to mtinch these from
morn till eve is part of the mixed ritual of the
festa — driving a roaring trade ; and roaring it
is indeed, for the shouts of the vendors crying
their goods deafen the bystanders as much as
the clanging of the bells and the firing of the
miniature cannon. Butchers' shops are hung
with joints of meat to be cooked in improvised
ovens on the hillside : to eat these in honour of
San Filippo is also part of the programme, as
well as the broaching and quaffing of many
a cask of ruby-coloured wine. A good trade
in roughly carved and gaudily painted images
1 Theocritus, Idyll XXI.
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Sicilian Studies
of the saint is carried on ; and thrifty souls,
combining business with pleasure, bargain for
the hay-prongs and straw hats that are offered
for sale. Stalls showing goods of less peaceful
intent are not absent : there are trays of those
clasp-knives of long blade so dear to the
Sicilian for defence or offence — knives with
out which no man goes, and which frequently
send his enemy to the grave and himself to the
galleys .
The saint is soon to leave his shrine and
visit his people who have selected him as
their special pleader to Heaven, and we, with
the others, await his coming impatiently.
The spot where we stand is on the side of
a valley opening to a dark blue sea. The path
way runs up the valley at a sharp incline ;
diverging to the right, it leads to a spur of
the hill at a still more striking gradient. It
is very stony and the surface very uneven. All
along the path, dotted about in countless
groups on the sides of the ravine, everywhere,
in fact, where protruding rocks give foothold
58

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
or secure resting-place, are many hundreds of
peasants, the women in petticoats of many
bright colours, with bodices of another colour,
and handkerchiefs of yet another colour still
tied under the chin, fresh, new, and striking,
as befits a festal day in May. Here a bevy of
them sit in a row in a tribune-like terrace,
exchanging laughing remarks with passers-by ;
there, groups of three or four lounge in grace
ful attitudes characteristic of the race. The
men — generally apart from the women, for
much of Eastern life still holds in Sicily — are
there in multi-coloured cravats and slouched
hats, more quiet than the womenfolk. Some of
the older wear cloth breeches and gaiters, with
linen showing at the knee-joint, moccasins
on their feet, on their heads the Phrygian
cap, the fashion of twenty centuries ago. Men
so attired are few, however, for the tendency
of the age here, as elsewhere, is to be up to date
in dress as in other things, and the picturesque
costumes of the past are fast disappearing.
It is a laughing crowd, full of the enjoyment
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Sicilian Studies
of doing nothing at a time of day when the
later breezes had succeeded the burning heat
of the sun.
Patereroes and shouts on the heights
announce that the saint has left his shrine,
and the procession, preceded by a crowd of
shouting boys and men, appears high up on
the brow. " Viva San Filippo ! " bursts from
hundreds of throats. All eyes are turned to
the path above, and anxious inquiries are made
as to the manner in which the saint is descend
ing. Shouts are redoubled when it is seen
that his progress is sure and rapid. Under a
canopy of carved and gilded wood, supported
on five massive columns, the saint sits in state.
He is clothed in dalmatica and chasuble
of white silk heavily embroidered in gold ; a
silver crown is on his head, and his right hand
is raised in the act of blessing. In his left
hand he holds a silver missal. The saint and
canopy are of immense weight, and are carried
in the centre of two long poles raised on the
shoulders of many men at each of the four
60

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
ends. Thus is his progress made, though in
the eyes of the faithful neither the pples
nor the stalwart shoulders are deemed to
have anything to do with his descent,
for is he not known to come of his own
free will to visit his beloved people of the
town? The supreme moment of the year has now
come to the inhabitants of Calatabiano. To
the farmer with his rent to pay; to the small
proprietor, who remembers his visits to the
inexorable tax-gatherer every two months ; to
the husbandman, tilling the small plot of
ground to which) hfe and his family look for
subsistence ; to those who pray for favours
unvouchsafed, such as the maiden longing for
a suitable mate, the gambler in quest of the
winning numbers of the lottery, and the devout
looking for the manifestation of Heaven : the
coming of the saint is equally an omen of
good or evil for all of them. No general of
old ever consulted the oracles before a battle
with more anxious thought than possesses these
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Sicilian Studies
simple people to-day, as they gaze upon the
face of the saint as he draws near them — a
black face : and why not black, since we know
that Our Lady and Child of Einsiedeln and
many another holy image are black also ? And
is not the saint's name Neri, which may perhaps
account for the choice of the wood when the
saint Was sculptured by hands immortal or
otherwise, as the case may be? No matter
what the colour of his face, however, since
the look of it is so benign and his goodness so
great. Thus, at least, thinks a poor woman
with a baby at her breast and trouble in her
heart (if looks be index to the mind) who
stands on the opposite side of the way. As
the gilded burden swings round the corner of
the path at breakneck speed, amid frantic
cheers of onlookers and louder cries of the
bearers, who find' the weight terribly heavy
and dangerous on the precipitous and rocky
path, that woman's face is a mirror of the
human sentiments of anxiety and then of joy,
since all is going so smoothly and so well.
62

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
This coming of the saint means much to her;
she cries aloud in her contentment.
But alas for mortal hopes I A false step,
a foot placed on a rolling stoine, a stumble, and
the foremost bearers of the holy image on
one side are on the ground. Consternation
is extreme, and dismay finds expression in
agonized cries for aid and protection. For
a moment the danger is great ; saint and
canopy incline dangerously and are in imminent
peril of capsizing. A hundred pairs of hands
come to the rescue ; all is quickly righted ; the
saint is restored to his position on the shoulders
of the faithful. But to the woman whose
welfare depended on the favourable descent
of San Filippo, the catastrophe is dire, and,
sobbing and disconsolate, she betakes herself
to her home. Nor do the others fail to show
their alarm1. Old men shake their heads and
think the event fully confirms their predictions
of evil times ; the younger discuss the occur
rence, and, after their kind, hope for the best
though fearing the worst. The zest of the
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Sicilian Studies
festa appears to have departed as we wend
our way to the town ; but not half an hour
elapses before the spirits of the people revive
and we find the streets as full of animation as
before. Great satisfaction is derived from a
large balloon in the form of San Filippo seated
in his chair with his legs dangling comically
in the air, which, successfully launched, quickly
rises and is carried by the wind towards the
shrine above — an incident to be regarded with
satisfaction as a sign of the continued benevo
lence of the saint.
On entering the church, we find the saint
safely housed therein, seated in state under the
canopy before the high altar, brilliantly lighted
with candles, receiving the adoration of the
people. Men and women flock to him, and, on
tiptoe, touch the hem of his garment with their
fingers, which they reverently kiss. Children
are held up to do likewise. But by far the
most remarkable event of the day is reached
when the saint, being removed to a place of
honour on the high altar itself, among the
64

San Filippo Leaves His Shrine
burning candles (where he is to remain for
two days before returning to his church on
the hill), the ceremony of exorcising the evil
spirit of a woman commences. The unfor
tunate is solemnly conducted in procession to
the canopy and installed in the seat vacated
by the saint. Here she remains until the full
ritual of invocation and prayer with admonition
by book, bell, and candle, accompanied by
incense and the sprinkling of holy water is
gone through. The result attending the cere
mony is not known. This, however, can be
vouched for : the Evil One did not fly away
through the window left open for the purpose,
nor disappear in the form of a noxious reptile,
as happened, we were told, on a similar
occasion in a neighbouring church.
Fireworks, music and dancing, eating,
drinking and singing follow long into the night
and early morning. But for all that we do
not wait, as dusk is at hand, and Calatabiano
offers no good lodging for the night. So we
drive once more over the plain of Alcantara,
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Sicilian Studies
passing the desolate site of Greek Naxos on its
promontory of black lava, through the long
straggling street of Giardini, against which lap
the blue waters of the sea in unceasing rhythm.
And as we climb towards beautiful Taormina,
Etna, losing the purple tints of sunset, is
sharing with the waves the silver light of the
moon.

66

THE SPIRIT
OF THE "MAFIA"

THE SPIRIT OF THE "MAFIA"
Although the national life of Italy has ad
vanced by leaps and bounds, and each decade
adds to its social well-being, some remarks on
the scourge of the Mafia — what it was, and
what its declining influence still is — may be
read with interest.
If, as the American writer says, " No
artist's work is so high, so noble, so enduring,
so important for all time as the making of
character in a child," the development of a
nation must be a topic even more absorbing
to the student of mankind. Thus it may fairly
be asked, Is Italy recovering the importance
of its past and becoming one of the great
nations of the future?
By greatness is not meant the possession of
a large army and fleet to give momentary
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Sicilian Studies
importance in the direction of the world's
affairs, but rather the endurance of a strong
race founded on irresistibility of intent and
moral backbone, with manliness to assert and
maintain itself in its various undertakings
and expansion .
It is a difficult question to answer. So large
a subject offers many sides for consideration,
necessitating special study and knowledge of
the many peoples forming united Italy. It
is scarcely within the limits of a chapter that
the matter can be properly discussed.
But in the Italy of to-day a growing force
has been arrayed against the progress of the
country, ; one that still merits the attention of
its well-wishers. This force comes from the
south, and is best described as the Spirit of
the Mafia.
In the welding together of the principalities
and powers which resulted in the present
Kingdom of Italy, it is doubtful whether Victor
Emmanuel and the rest of that noble band
of patriots rightly estimated the materials with
70

The Spirit of the Mafia
which they intended to raise their fabric when
once the grand idea of a united country had
passed its fevered stage. They may not have
altogether rightly gauged the true worth of
the enthusiasm which then surrounded them,
nor considered how much it was to be relied
on in the future when the difficulties and
sacrifices of union had become apparent. No
matter. It was a heroic task they manfully
carried out. To their successors have fallen
the less grateful duty of consolidating the work,
of raising the country to the height of sup
porting the penalties and removing the
obstacles which, after half a century of life,
attach to it stUl.
If the difference of race between the
northern and the southern inhabitants be
not so accentuated in Italy as between Austria
and Hungary, nevertheless a great difference
exists. This is shown by the modified respect
with which the northerners speak of the
southerners, and the manner in which the latter,
especially the Sicilians, refer to the rest of
7i

Sicilian Studies
their compatriots. In Sicily those who live
on the farther side of the Straits of Messina
are classed together as continentali — a term
equally applicable to a Russian or a Dane as
to a Tuscan or a Piedmontese. The people
in the north are more advanced in civilization.
The Lombard farmer is as a prince compared
with his Calabrese brotheri ; a Tuscan peasant
may rightly look with pity upon his Sicilian
counterpart. The cultivation and refinement of the upper
and middle classes of the north offer no less '
a field for comparison. Southern Italians have
much to learn before being on a social equality
with the rest of their country. This knowledge,
felt but not admitted, which rankles in their
minds, creating a certain discontent, is not
unconnected with the title of this chapter.
The flow of civilization from upper Italy has
met the opposing current of southern semi-
mediaevalism ; the clear course of the one has
been contaminated by the turbid stream of the
other. The meeting of the waters is at Rome.
72

The Spirit of the Mafia
The Mafia is found throughout the whole
of Sicily, although the provinces of Messina,
Catania, and Syracuse are less affected. In
Palermo, Trapani, and Girgenti it is seen at
its worst. " In the Conca d'Oro (Palermo),"
writes Senatore Villari, " the peasants are well-
to-do, but they are Mafiosi, and commit a vast
number of crimes. I would not believe it at
first, as it seemed to be in contradiction to
the rules of political economy and social
science ; but I saw it in a thousand ways,
and in a thousand ways was it proved to me."
The changes wrought by new political
influences offer freer field for the development
of the 'Mafia. It was rife in the Bourbon times,
according to a lurid account of the state of
the island written by Del Caretto to the King
of Naples in 1836. But in those days the
strong hand of despotism held the evil in check.
It has been left to modern sentimental legisla
tion, which dresses up licence in the garb of
liberty, to foster and favour the Spirit of the
Mafia under the mask of freedom.
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Sicilian Studies
" La Mafia " is no elaborate secret society
with its written code of laws and solemn initia
tion into its mysteries. It has probably no
list of members sworn to obey the orders of
a chief, with periodical meetings of its
followers in remote hiding-places to decree
vengeance on its enemies. It is better defined
as a sentiment of opposition to social and
moral obligations, to legal restraint : in short,
an extended conspiracy against the community
on the part of individuals to oppose their will
arbitrarily and violently on others.
It may not be so virulent a form of social
disorder as the Neapolitan Camorra, but its
essence is illicit intriguing for the sake of per
sonal gain ; or, as has been aptly written, " the
aim of the Association is plunder and the sanc
tion on whidh it relies is still death."
The best that can be said of the Mafia is
that it is the feeling which prompts a man to
look exclusively after his own interests and
profit, sacrificing those of others unscrupulously
and unrelentingly in so doing.
74

The Spirit of the Mafia
The workings of the organization are without
limit, unseen, frequently unknown, unaccount
able, but always present. Its work is to
be traced in blackmailing as well as in
brigandage, in falsifying electoral lists in
order to extend the franchise to its followers,
in rendering assistance to robbers in agricul
tural districts as well as to thieves in town.
Overseers and caretakers in the country, who
take the place of the ever-absent landlord, have
a tacit understanding, and thus form a compact
body which the police are powerless to combat.
Mafiosi are to be found also among smugglers
and small proprietors. In the city they are
seen nearly everywhere ; they are well dressed
and friendly with the moneyed classes,
although without visible means of livelihood.
Many of them congregate in the ante-chambers
of the prefectures, of senators and deputies,
of those who occupy positions of power and
profit. They are to be met with in theatres,
where they applaud those who pay them and
hiss those who do not pay : in fact, at every
75

Sicilian Studies
public resort where mischief can be done and
profit made.
One of the principal and most lucrative
occupations of Mafiosi is cattle -stealing, which
is carried on largely. The members of the
Mafia endeavour to obtain command of public
funds as well as the money of charitable
institutions, which they employ for their own
purposes. The administration of justice offers
opportunity for their machinations, and un
just sentences are often the result of their
intriguing .
Mafiosi will not bid against their fellows
at public auction ; they combine to keep
intending purchasers away by threats in order
to acquire property at a low figure. They may
count infallibly on assistance when called to
account for their evil deeds. False witnesses
are brought by the score ; an alibi ably con
cocted, sometimes at great expense and labour,
is pleaded and proved. Large sum's are freely
spent in hush money, documents are subtracted,
and a trial results in acquittal. 76

The Spirit of the Mafia
The knowledge that a man is a ''Mafioso is
sufficient to free him1 from the attack of
an enemy; the latter knows the means of
defence of which the former can dispose, and
fears to run the risk of being shot from behind
a wall, a favourite argument of the Mafiosi
when discussing the question of right and
wrong. One of the principal safeguards of the Mafia
is the conspiracy of silence, called Omerta.
When a murder be committed by a Mafioso,
the friends of the victim and murderer alike,
even if unknown to each other, are at enmity,
are united by one idea — that of saving the
assassin from the rigour of the law. They
will not speak. They say to themselves, " The
dead is gone, we must help the living ; " not
from charitable motives, but because they will
not side with the law.
The Mafioso, relying upon no force but his
own, suffers an injury ; but he rarely applies
to the law for redress. To him justice comes
by personal effort. He may be wounded in
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Sicilian Studies
a fight, or attempt at murder. He does not
speak, nor apparently see, nor feel. He is
taken to the hospital and listens with seeming
impassiveness to the doctor's verdict saying he
has only a short time to live ; but he does not
give the name of his aggressor. " Si moru
mi voricu ; si campu t'allampu ! " (" If I die,
they'll bury me,; if I live, I'll strike you
dead ! ") is his thought ; although in mest
cases the legacy of vengeance, sometimes even
by wUl, is left to relations.
Omertd is also the art of lying raised to a
science for the purpose of putting the police
off the track of criminals. But this sublimation
of mendacity is not confined to the Mafioso
alone ; many classes are involved in it. Those
who are called as witnesses in law-courts fre
quently lie because others lie ; or it is their
habitual practice; or they wish to put the
authorities on the wrong track for the devilry
of the thing ; or, again, through fear. In
such cases the upper classes lie through a false
sense of generosity, to avoid recrimination and
78

The Spirit of the Mafia
retaliation ; and it is curious to note in connec
tion with this, that there appears to be little
shame in so doing.
But, on the other hand, it is to be remarked
to those who would see the beam in the Sicilian
brother's eye, that sucb mendacity, however
reprehensible it may be, is not to be Wondered
at so greatly when it be considered that telling
the truth in court is often followed by a knife
in the ribs or a bullet in the bead. A poor
woman, deprived of her only son by the
assassin's blade, who refuses to give evidence
for fear of not acting up to the traditions of
her race and in terror of the consequences,
is not so much to blame ,as is the state of a
country aUowing so great a depth of degrada
tion, or an administration of the law failing
to hold her harmless! for assisting it.
Many crimes are openly committed without
the Government being aware of the authors.
" Every one knows where they are, who they
are, what they do, and what likely to do, except
the authorities themselves, for there is no one
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to denounce them, nor bear witness against
them. If by chance the Government, by great
exertion and trouble, succeeds in obtaining
traces of the author of a crime, the case
fails when brought into court because wit
nesses deny what they have stated before, and
even the accuser retracts his indictment." So
wrote Signori Franchetti and Sonnino a quarter
of a century ago, and conditions have not
greatly altered in places where the Mafia is
found. Count Codronchi, who was High Com
missioner in Sicily, spoke thus of the Mafia :
" It exercises its influence on all in Sicily ;
all fear it ; and in order to secure their
property and persons, people are compelled to
have recourse to miserable expedients. Thus
head Mafiosi are frequently employed as
guards and caretakers ; and if any difficulty
or disturbance occur among the workmen,
their presence is sufficient to check it at once.
I will give an example. In a great city of
Sicily, the civic dues gave a return much below
80

The Spirit of the Mafia
the right amount, owing to smuggling. The
Mafiosi were charged to see to it, with the
result that the right amount was secured. The
Mafia," continued the same authority, " is
most powerful and deep-rooted in the island ;
its power knows no obstacles, not even at
the hands of the Government. Read the
description of the bravi in the ' Promessi
Sposi,' and you will have a slight idea of the
Mafia." As given by a Police Commissary, a
description of the state of an inland town near
Palermo, residence of a Member of Parliament
and of another man, who were arrested, one on
the charge of complicity in, and the other as
being the perpetrator of the murder of a well-
known public functionary in 1893, may be
quoted as an instructive example of the
nefarious doings of the Mafia. " On taking
up my appointment," he said, " I found in
the town a state of affairs rendered horrible
by the doings of the worst kind of Mafiosi
that Sicily can produce. There was, in fact,

Sicilian Studies
a band of ruffians who held supreme rule over
all men and all matters in the place. My
predecessor told me that he had collected
evidence of the existence of an association of
malefactors, among whom were members of
the town council. I arrested many of the
suspected individuals, including the town coun
cillors . I did my duty ; but I also drew upon
me the abuse of all the Mafiosi, who did not
fail to threaten me. To master the Mafia
it was riecessary to dissolve the council, and
I sent in a report of the antecedents of its
members, forming a long list of accusations
of fraud, robbery with violence, thefts, etc.,
which had been made against them. An
influential friend protected them, and the
ultimate result of my work was only the
suspension of the council's secretary."
No less remarkable was the admission of
General Mirri, afterwards Minister for War,
who was in command in Sicily in 1894.
" The Mafia is composed of a swarm of
ruffians, who dishonour a beautiful island, who
82

The Spirit of the Mafia
suck its life-blood, and debase it at the expense
of the honest inhabitants.
Mafiosi have means of communication of
their own, as thieves have in London. These,
though differing in some ways from the
ordinary prison slang, are chiefly used to
enable members to converse freely when in
prison. The jargon is distinguished more by
the pronunciation than by any extended
vocabulary. Founded on the Palmeritan dia
lect, itself an exaggeration of the Neapolitan, it
is recognized by a hoarse guttural enunciation,
which has spread wherever Mafiosi are found
in numbers. It finds expression also in new
meanings to certain words. For example may
be quoted: " sir i nat a" (serenata — an even
ing's entertainment), meaning " a drawing
of knives"; "augfai" (aghi = needles),
" knives " ; " mulettu " (muletto = a small
mule), " a long knife " ; " cantare " (= to
sing), " to betray " ; " ballare " (= to dance),
" to fight " ; " sarvatevi fi cuteddu " (con-
servaie il coltello = keep the knife sheathed),
83

Sicilian Studies
" discuss the matter calmly " ; " abbajare "
(=to bark), "to betray"; "a siritina non
e serena " (la sera non e tranquilla = the
night is disturbed), " there is something
amiss " ; " u capillanu e d'invitati " (// cap-
pellano e tra gVinvitati = the priest is among
the guests), " blood is to be spilt since the
confessor has been bidden " ; " u statau " (lo
s pense = he blew out the candle), " he killed
him." There is also the alphabet, or cypher, of the
Mafia, which is as follows, viz. : —
a b c d e f g h i f m
7- -5- % 9 '# # m h . j cu
v o i •— < c> co -». >ul a — go
By this Mafiosi communicate with those under
arrest, not so much as a means of defence or
of escaping punishment, as to denounce, or
give warning of, half-hearted1 or untrust-
84

The Spirit of the Mafia
worthy associates who may be met with in
prison .
The word Mafia in its present interpreta
tion is of recent birth. It was formerly used
to define the bearing of a pert, or, in the
language of schoolboys, a cocky, individual,
just as Camorra, denoting the powerful
Neapolitan criminal association, was formerly
restricted to describe the plotting that goes on
inside Neapolitan prison walls. To seek for
the origin of "La Mafia," is to go back to
the farther periods of tbe history of Sicily, for
it springs from the natural temperament of
the people, which has been formed by their
many vicissitudes and strivings. The Sicani,
or Siculi, were swallowed up by the Greeks,
the Carthaginians, and the Romans; and they
in their turn were succeeded by the Arabs,
the Saracens, and the Normans. Then the
Teuton, the French, the Spanish, and even the
British, came upon the scene, so that the
Sicilian of to-day — since his home has ever
been a bone of contention, and in consequence
85

Sicilian Studies
a battlefield of the world, may be said to be
the child of all nations.
Professor Giorgio Arcoleo thus describes the
Sicilian character in his able monograph on
Sicily : —
" In nations, as in individuals, there are
always some prominent and permanent traits,
and in the Sicilian I see the worship of brute
force, the spirit of domination in ideas, in
human affections and in life generally, with
the glorification of self ; also pessimism, and
the instinct to generalize according to the
limitations of the individual and to distort
things of daily life as private fancy may dictate .
I discern the desire to' rebel and to induce
others to do so, and an inability of association
for a given good purpose. In addition, there
is a tendency towards melancholy, self-isola
tion, and over-susceptibility. . . . The wor
ship of brute force is derived from his
surroundings, that is to say, from nature, and
from the legends and history of his country.
He is impelled thereto by the fiery outbursts
86

The Spirit of the Mafia
of his volcano, by the earthquake which
swallows up towns and cities, by the burning
sky of bronze that withholds rain for twelve
months consecutively, by the endless rolling
expanse of his cultivated lands. He is in
fluenced by the African scirocco, which stifles
breath, action, and even the power of thought ;
by the rapid and exuberant growth of vege
tation, and by the deep and inexhaustible
mines. That worship of the monstrous is also
induced when he thinks of the forging of Jove's
thunderbolts, of the Cyclops and giants who
were his forefathers, of the murderous Scylla
and Charybdis, of the eternal fecundity of the
earth as symbolized by Ceres, and of the violence
of the elements as described by ^Folus. . . .
Servitude, invasion, and strife have deprived
the Sicilian of stability of character ; feudalism
has penetrated into all grades of society, and
even into home life. From all this have arisen
disquiet, discontent, conspiracy, with revenge
carried to extremes in moments of triumph.
Thence springs a disproportionate sense of his
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Sicilian Studies
own importance, which sometimes becomes
grotesque." , i
The Mafia is " bred in the bone," Signor
Villari says ; it lends itself to the Sicilian
temperament, as it allows him to assert his
overweening individualism, which is one of
his principal characteristics. The saying of
Massimo d' Azeglio, that there is " some instinct
of civil war in the heart of every Italian," may
be supplemented by the statement that con
spiracy and intrigue are condoned by the
many. Even when a man does not join the
secret societies of oaths, bloodshed and mid
night meetings, he will not disdain to secure
advantage by " binding himself with others
whose combined operations often perplex a
Government." Secret societies have flourished in Italy from
ancient times. The Roman Senate had to fight
them, and by them it was frequently baffled.
Roman citizens formed clubs and associations,
which the Curia found it hard to oppose. And
in mediseval times, the guilds and companies
88

The Spirit of the Mafia
were directed to protect the interests of their
members against the common laws.
The reason of the prevalence of the Mafia
may be sought in a variety of causes. Its
principal one is the latent corruption. People
are convinced that justice is for the powerful.
They have no faith in the law, which they
regard as their natural enemy. " La furca e
per lu poviru, la guistizea pri lu fissu " (The
gallows for the poor man ; the law courts for
the fool) is one of their pithy sayings. The
hope of litigants is centred on favouritism and
intrigue, and herein lies the influence of the
Mafia, and the despicable power of some in
authority, who traffic in the unsavoury barter
ing of their country's justice. It is not that
money always passes between the parties ; but
there is invariably the quid pro quo, and
nothing is given to him who does not pay.
Signor Colajanni, an outspoken Socialist
deputy, has much to say on this subject in
his instructive work, " II Regno della Mafia."
He writes : — 89

Sicilian Studies
" In Sicily we have arrived at this point —
the most honest and scrupulous people invoke
the protection and intervention of deputies in
their affairs, because they are sincerely con
vinced that their adversaries will call in the
assistance of influential persons to their pre
judice. There is no belief in the fair conduct
of public matters ; nor, above all, in the
impartiality and honesty of the judges and
their decisions ; all is subordinate, and all is
settled by the influence of the member of
parliament. Thus, in general, and I defy my
colleagues to controvert the statement, the
prestige of a deputy does not depend on his
intellectual qualities, his rectitude of conduct,
or his patriotism, but on the influence — I use
that word in preference to the less polite term
of Mafia — which he brings to bear."
" Some deputies always vote for the Govern
ment, no matter what it may be," reports
Signor Villari, " and the Government concedes
them whatever they may choose to ask."
In the misery and ignorance of the masses,
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The Spirit of the Mafia
the Mafia finds a ready soil adapted to its
growth. Though the condition of the peasant
has been frequently written of — and that his
condition is miserable if we compare him to
his fellows in other countries, or set up for
him a special standard of happiness and com
fort, according to our own lights, may be true
— yet his wants are so few, his knowledge of
the amenities of life so scanty, and he is more
over so favoured by the splendid climate and
wonderful fertility of the soil, that, if the
overpowering weight of taxation were modified
and justice secured to him, he would be both
law-abiding and prosperous. As things are,
he is a slave to whom liberty is a sham1 and
prosperity a farce. Before the bureaucratic
tyrants to be found in every town, and before
the Mafia, unless he belong to it himself, he
has to bow to the ground and put up with the
injustice that may be meted out to him. The
depredatory deeds of the barons of the Middle
Ages are as common in Sicily as ever tbey
were, only they are done by other and lower
9i

Sicilian Studies
hands and fill other and baser pockets. What
was claimed by the strong hand of might then,
is now secured by the subtle means of intrigue
and venality. In fact, the state of the south
is scarcely prepared for liberal legislation,
because the men who exercise the power are
unfit for the authority with which they find
themselves invested, and the majority of the
people are unprepared to reap the benefit of
a freedom which in consequence degenerates
into licence.
Innumerable are the examples of the opera
tions of the Mafia that also might be quoted.
At a notable trial at Milan and Bologna " the
miserable tale was told in court of police
officials in fear of, or in apparent league with,
the Mafia, openly impeding the course of justice
by the suppression of evidence, with their
colleagues either guiltily acquiescent or im
potent to prevent it ; of professional men and
others of high social position figuring as
cowardly withholders of facts to which they
had previously sworn ; of mendacious asser -
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The Spirit of the Mafia
tions only corrected on threat of arrest ; of
grown-up men driven to tears for terror of
the consequences of telling the truth ; of wit
nesses openly approached and threatened in
the ante -rooms of the court itself ; of the
betrayal of private and confidential official
reports ; of important documents abstracted
from the volume of the process ; of a captain
and non-commissioned officers of that part of
the army responsible for the maintenance of
public order being admonished and threatened
with imprisonment by the Court for contra
dictory evidence and grave omission of duty."
One false witness is reported to have said :
" To-day I go to prison, or I shall be killed by
the Mafia ; the truth I will not tell . I prefer
prison to death."
Signor De Felice quotes the following tales :
" There was at Palermoi a well-known and
dangerous scoundrel, and head of the Mafia.
The quaestor sent for him and offered him
a post in the police, which was refused. ' I
give you a week to reflect ; choose between
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Sicilian Studies
my offer and penal servitude,' said the official.
But the man selected another way out of the
difficulty. He waited for the official and
stabbed him in the principal square of the
city. A horse was stolen from a certain baron.
By help of the Mafia, a noted brigand (who
was being actively sought for by the military
at the time) was brought to his house.
' Baron,' said he, ' if the mare be alive, you
shall have it : if not, I promise you you shall
have its skin.' The owner had to be content
with the skin. Application to the Mafia for
restitution of stolen property is more efficacious
than going to the police."
Signor Tajani related that at another town
six of the most disreputable Mafiosi were made
respectively commander of the rural police,
head of the urban guards, and captains in the
National Guards ; and nearly all the crimes
which happened in the neighbourhood were
perpetrated with their permission or know
ledge. One day a police magistrate received
a noted Mafioso with marked deference . After
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The Spirit of the Mafia
his visitor had gone, he said, " See to what
degradation I am reduced ! That man de
serves the handcuffs, and I would willingly
take him off to prison myself."
The real remedy for the curse of the Mafia
lies in a rigid administration of justice. If
judges and other law officials of all grades
were held severely responsible for the per
formance of their duty and inexorably
punished When failing to do it, the principal
field of operation and illicit enterprise of the
Mafiosi would no longer exist. Italy does not
suffer from want of laws ; on the contrary, it
has too many already. Men of sufficient
courage to be honest, and of sufficient honesty
to be courageous, are wanted. The air is full
of wrong-doing, generated by weak measures
to repress it, and by the connivance, tacit or
otherwise, which it finds on all sides. It
would be well to bring home to magistrates
and police officials the fact that they are not,
and cannot be, above the laws.
Much might be done if the well-to-do
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classes, who have a greater stake in the
prosperity of the country, would combine to
impel public sentiment in the right direction.
Much might be expected from the intelligent
and generously-minded youths of Italy in
patriotic league to uphold the institutions of
their land, and rescue them from the hands of
adventurers who are playing sad havoc with
them. Crime could be sensibly diminished
by causing all to be punished, if accessory,
either before or after the fact of an illegal
action, for it would deal an irreparable blow
at that same Omertd, or conspiracy of silence,
which now defeats justice at every turn. There
should be severest punishment for peculation,
that the taxes might reach the Exchequer
intact ; and the Government should look care
fully to the choice of its representatives
whom it sends to Sicily, as indeed should the
Sicilians themselves to those whom they send
to represent them at Rome.
It has been said that all Sicily is a hotbed
of the Mafia, and that its inhabitants are all
more or less in league with it. Nothing could
96

The Spirit of the Mafia
be a greater libel on the Sicilian character.
If the Mafia has been permitted to obtain a
great ascendancy, it is largely owing to the
inveterate habit of southerners to avoid re
sponsibility and take things easily. Carried
away by the events of to-day, a Sicilian too
readily dismisses from his mind the importance
and the logical outcome of what has happened
yesterday. These faults, combined with a lack
of moral backbone and want of solidarity in
co-operating for the public weal, notably help
in the development of that which must be
called the crime of the Mafia, since it is truly
sucking the life-blood and suffocating the
growth of the people.
Sicilians have many of the qualities requisite
for the formation of a strong race. They
possess energy, fortitude, extraordinary in
telligence, with patience, and long-suffering.
They are, moreover, warm-hearted, industrious,
frugal, with polished manners, and sober.
There are among them1, as among the magis
trates, men of the highest principles and
attainments^ who recognize and deplore the
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Sicilian Studies
state of the country; but they are powerless
to combat it successfully for want of union.
Sicilians, as has been rightly said, are athirst
for justice, and would be the first to hail it
joyfully if it came to them'.
It is an anomaly that a land second to none
in beauty, and a soil inferior to no other in
fertility, with its genial climate and blue skies
all making for prosperity and happiness, should
yet be the home of crime. There need be
little hesitation in repeating that if the adminis
tration of the law were to be confided to men
of undoubted integrity and courage ; if, in fact,
latent corruption and intrigue were inexorably
dealt with, the island would advance by leaps
and bounds, and the Mafia would die a natural
death, not only to the advancement of Sicily,
but to that of the Kingdom of Italy generally.
Thus the noble work of Victor Emmanuel,
Cavour, Manin, and other great patriots of a
redeemed Italy, would be strengthened ; and
the country would continue its sure course of
progress and enlightenment upon which it has
embarked, without undue let or hindrance.
98

CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS
Not with yule-log and mistletoe, nor with
boar's head and mincemeat, is Christmas cele
brated in Sicily. Neither are frost and snow
companions of the season which calls for
merrymaking and rejoicing. If warmth and
good cheer be provided, as indeed they are
provided, the one takes a more natural and
the other a more homely form.
Christmas Day has its important place
among feste of the holiday -loving Sicilian.
Whether its origin was a wish to celebrate the
Nativity only, or whether, conjointly also, it
be a successor of the Saturnalia of a remoter
period, it is hardly worth while to consider
here. It is sufficient to note in passing that
the descendants of the Romans rejoice to -day
at the same time of year, and, in some
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manner, with similarity in their way of re
joicing. In the interchange of gifts and
closing of schools ; in the kindling of fires
and lighting of candles ; in gambling and
feasting, together with relaxation in the dis
tinctions of social standing and general merry
making, the doings of ancient Rome at the
end of the year find more marked repetition
in modern Sicily than elsewhere in Chris
tendom. The season is one of family reunion and
social gathering, of exchange of compliments.
Members of families travel long distances to
meet at the Christmas dinner. Here are dishes
which especially mark the season. Fried eels
are generally found on the bills of fare of
those who can afford the luxury ; no house
is without its dish of home-made macaroni ;
and the large tarts of candied fruits and cream,
called cassate, take the place of the English
plum puddings.
On Christmas Eve the countryside is de
populated ; people flock to the towns. In
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Christmas
many, homes, as in the churches, are seen
minute representations of the holy stable of
Bethlehem, called presepii, and before them'
perform the ceremellarj, or players on the
melodious Sicilian bagpipe. These musicians
—and many are skilled players — also parade
the streets, filling the air with melodies (a
favourite one is that from which Handel took
the theme of his Pastoral Symphony in the
" Messiah ") that the hillsides and huts of the
shepherds have known from remote ages.
Toward midnight the churches are filled with
expectant worshippers awaiting " the birth of
the Bambino." If the priests, with the dis
regard of punctuality which is a feature of
Sicilian life, keep their congregation waiting
for the mass, time is beguiled by admiring
the festal arrangement of the high altar with
its hundreds of wax candles, gifts of the faith
ful, as well as by devotional exercises. Here
is then heard from the organ in various forms
and modulations that beautiful old-time music
of a southern Christmas, the Pastorale, or Song
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of the Shepherds, of which, for its alluring
melody, the listener never wearies, despite its
continuous repetitions .
kWhen mass is over— and it is not a short
ceremony— the image of the Infant Christ is
reverently taken from its place on the altar,
consigned to the hands of the officiating priest,
and by him carried in procession, first round
the building, and then under a baldacchino
to the streets, where, accompanied by the con
gregation, and by those who have waited
patiently by the fires lighted in the open
squares, many of the men carrying torches,
it makes solemn procession amid respectful
crowds from church to church. Bells ring,
mortarette are fired, rockets are sent up. And
when the Bambino has been seen, and His
birth vouched for, good wishes pass from
mouth to mouth ; and, as in the East, the hope
is here expressed that every one may live to
see a " thousand of such days."
A blue sky, a soft breeze, and a genial
warmth are the usual features of the Sicilian
104

Christmas
Christmas. To the simple-minded folk a day
of sunlit beauty seems fitted to the joy of
thanksgiving which they, in their homely
realism, believe to have counterpart in the
heaven above them. " A most serene day for
the Bambino to amuse Himself in Paradise ! "
exclaimed a poor countrywoman in all rever
ence. She believed that the Child-God of the
shrines, nursed on the Madonna's lap, was
enjoying the sunshine of the day as she also
was enjoying it.
The superstitions of a people to whom their
religion is yet but half -explained, not under-
Stood, and therefore wholly a mystery, are cer
tainly not wanting. But instances of a stead
fast faith and confidence in a higher destiny
are seen among the poorest, and might put
to shame others better educated and profess
ing to lead a better life than these poor
peasants. What could be more significant of
that faith than to see the country folk at the
end of a hard day's toil, without the tolling
of bell or bidding of priest, assemble nightly
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during the novena, or the nine days before
Christmas, to pray for blessings they have most
at heart, or to give thanks for those received.
It was a notable scene one evening after
dusk to look upon such a group of contadini.
In a large Gothic church among the mountains
a handful of men and women were kneeling
before an altar decked with evergreens, rose
mary, and oranges. They were of the very
poorest. The interior of the church was
almost in darkness. The east end alone was
dimly lighted from the altar by a few tapers
before the picture of Santa Maria di Maniace.
This far-famed portrait of the Virgin Mother
had been brought nine centuries ago from far-
off Byzantium. For it the good Queen Mar
garet, assured of the sanctity of its origin,
had caused a smaller chapel of the castle
stronghold of that intrepid warrior, George
Maniaces, to be replaced by the larger church.
And for the greater honouring of the picture,
painted as a work of love and . adoration by
the hand of the holy artist, St. Luke— as aU
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Christmas
the countryside knows with pride and satis
faction—the Queen of Sicily placed monks in
charge to guard and daily pray to their pre
cious portrait of the Queen of Heaven. The
monks have departed long since. But the
picture, greatly venerated for the miracles it
has wrought, remains, and with the serene face
of the Madonna, which looked down on her
suppliants from its richly gilded background
and frame, was the object to which all eyes
were directed, all hearts uplifted.
The nearer lofty columns ; the remoter
arches stretching grey arms of masonry until
lost in the gloom of the timbered roof ; the
long shadows of the worshippers on wall and
floor ; the old-time music in the minor key
(perhaps the only innate note of sadness in
the Sicilian character) ; the voices of the men
and women in melodious and sustained chords,
made of this act of devotion a scene both
impressive and attractive.
As the chant rose and fell in the pathetic
litany of the Virgin, the question irresistibly
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suggested itself : Was this religious fervour,
a seeking for the guiding hand of truth? Or
was it but a superstitious fear of evil to come
from its omission, for all that it seemed primi
tive and sincere, a step onward, and possibly
upward? The answer came when at the con
clusion of the litany two young men rose from
the others, and, advancing towards the picture
of the Madonna, clasped hands in silence while
looking steadfastly into each other's eyes.
A short time previously, at nightfall, news
had come from the mountains that a man had
been stabbed by a companion in dispute. A
doctor was not to be procured, or at soonest
not until the following day, because none was
nearer than in the town many miles away ;
and it was unlikely, besides, that he should
leave his comfortable home to attend a poor
unknown peasant, especially when to travel on
the bad roads of a mountainous country in
bad weather seemed to offer so valid an excuse
for his absence. But to others not so remote
the call for help was different . Little time was
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Christmas
lost in collecting things likely to be useful
to the wounded man, not forgetting also the
author of the mischief, on whose account a
pair of handcuffs was added to the lint, band
ages, and other remedies hastily thrust into a
bag. On arriving at the place of the affray it was
at once known that the assailant had escaped
to the forests for greater safety. There was
nothing to divert attention from the sufferer.
To those unacquainted with the life of rural
Sicily, a detailed description of the manner
in which the peasants, and even the well-to-
do farmers, live, would be unintelligible.
What wonder, then, that the wounded youth
was found in a miserable hut of four bare
walls, windowless, and with a low roof through
which the smoke of a scanty open fire found
its usual exit !
Expelling the brown-faced peasants, who
crowded round the rough bed with the awe
struck look men have when waiting in un
certainty for bad news, the wound was dressed
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as well as could be. Because the injury ap
peared to be of a serious nature, it was thought
right to take from the mouth of the sufferer
an account of the affair.
The scene here presented Was one in which
the Dutch painters would have delighted. In
a corner of the hut, where the smoke-blackened
walls and rafters were dimly visible in the
flickering light of the fire and a small oil
lamp, lay the peasant lad on a mattress sup
ported by boards. Around were several rural
guards in uniform, their weapons flashing fit
fully, one stooping, lamp in hand, to give light
to him who wrote, while another supported
the head of the sufferer on his arm. Some
poultry were huddled in a corner of the mud
floor. At the half -open door was the grey
head of the young fellow's father, now re
assured by cheering words, but with anxiety
still in his eyes. Beyond him in the darkness
without were swarthy faces. A kitten played
with a bandage fallen to the floor.
The wounded lad spoke with difficulty and
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Christmas
with reluctance ; no Sicilian will willingly
accuse an assailant, reserving to himself the
right to strike and avenge an injury. But
this much was elicited : An argument, a dis
pute, then heated words, between him, Nino
by name, and a companion, Salvatore, followed
by a swift stab with a knife, and a wound
perilously near a vital spot. The tale is a
common one in Sicily.
But prompt aid served to avert evil con-
quences to the wounded body ; and the later
intervention of friends in the name of the
Madonna to patch up the quarrel, which
otherwise would have had further conse
quences .
And thus on Christmas Eve Nino was seen
standing before the picture of Santa Maria
di Maniace, his hand clasped in that of Salva
tore, vowing before the Holy Mother that he
bore no malice in his heart, as, Salvatore, claim
ing forgiveness, swore renewed devotion to
his friend. No words were spoken. The
Madonna could not exact from such proud
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youths more than this tacit act of complete
reconciliation .
The tapers on the altar were extinguished.
The worshippers left the church and dispersed
to their homes, Nino and Salvatore arm in arm.

112

"UNBRIDLED FLOODS
OF FIRE"

113

H

"UNBRIDLED FLOODS OF FIRE
Sicily has been sorely tried latterly by Nature,
which usually treats her with tender care . Her
orange and lemon groves, her oliveyards and
vineyards, her cotton and rice-fields, with
superabundant crops of cereals and vegetables,
her orchards, and her wealth of wild flowers,
speak of Nature's beneficence throughout the
year. But times come when its benevolence
turns to anger and it scourges where before
it had blessed, and that which is usually
gathered in abundance it destroys in rage and
fury. It seems but yesterday that such evil days
came to the eastern coast of Sicily. Torren
tial floods, which carried away houses and
lands, causing sides of mountains to slide into
the valleys, were followed shortly by the ever-
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memorable earthquake at Messina and Calabria
and tidal wave which killed uncounted thou
sands of people and destroyed within half a
minute cities, towns, and villages as if they
had been habitations built of sand. Fire has
been added to those terrors of water and earth ;
and this, perhaps, is more to be dreaded than
either of the other two, since it is more horrible
and insistent, the terror of it more enduring.
Until the early morning of March 23,
1 9 10, that vast southern slope of Etna which
stretches from the wooded zone to the shore
of the Ionian Sea, was smiling and pros
perous, with full promise of abundant har
vests. Young leaves of shining green were
on the vines ; beans were in flower, filling
the air with fragrance ; cherry and apple -trees
were bursting into blossom to rival the white
flowers which had but recently fallen from the
almond -trees. Peasants— men, women, and
children— were at work in the fields, hoeing
the young corn or digging the vineyards,
laughing and singing as is their wont during
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
their labour. The sun shone brilliantly from
a blue sky. All was peace. There was
nothing to denote the coming catastrophe to
those fertile lands.
The change came as a thunderclap to turn
promise into disappointment, profit into loss,
and happiness and content into woeful appre
hension and dismay. The earth shook
violently, thirty shocks succeeding one
another rapidly ; and then " the Mountain "
burst forth'. " La Montagna si scass6 ! " was
the universal cry of alarm.1 Yes, the Mountain
had broken out ; high on its slopes, it is true,
but at different points, with a roar that could
be heard, and immense columns of vapour and
ashes which could be seen at a distance of
many miles .
Knowledge that a volcano is in a state of
eruption is, of course, a cause of serious alarm
to all who dwell in its vicinity until the out
burst be located. Then apprehension is more
1 Etna is called "la Montagna " by those who live on it ; it
is scarcely known by any other name.
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or less centred ; although, be it remarked,
when craters have opened on one side other
mouths frequently appear in other places.
Etna, indeed, has been often in eruption at
different points at the same time.
The scene of this outbreak is about three
thousand feet below the summit of the moun
tain, westward of the so-called Montagnuola,
that great spur or shoulder of Etna which
adds so greatly to its grandeur of form. The
craters, some eight or ten in number, which
lie almost in a straight Une, are in that region
which has been more volcanically active
latterly. Though all the craters emit vapour,
one only has ejected lava. This has been
named Monte Ricc6, in fit recognition of the
services to science of the well-known vol-
canologist, the Director of the Observatories
of Catania and Etna.
The outbreak was not accompanied by the
electric storms which frequently herald an
eruption. For some years past the dense
masses of vapour and ashes pouring from the
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
Great Crater at short intervals denoted unusual
activity. But minor eruptions which have
occurred within the last few years had led
to the hope that a great outburst might not
be feared. The showers of ashes and scoriae
did little damage, as they fell on the regione
deserta, or the uncultivated zone. Destruc
tion came from the streams of lava only.
These, ejected from one mouth and flowing
several miles through stony wastes, entered
first the regione selvosa, or wooded slopes,
descending to the regione coltivata, where the
vineyards producing the celebrated wines of
the Bosco are situated. Here the devastation
was great, the damage very grave.
The day we visited the scene of the eruption
was the thirteenth since its commencement.
Our road from Nicolosi, the oft -threatened town
which stands two thousand feet above the sea,
whence we rode on mules, lay through a desert
of loose black sand, where a few spare vines
and fewer trees eked out a difficult existence.
Then, leaving on our right the white shrine
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with its inscription over the portal, " Diva?
Agatha? Servatrici," which records the grati
tude of the inhabitants for the miracle per
formed by the image of St. Agatha, the virgin
martyr of Catania, in preserving the town from
destruction, we stumbled over a horrible track
of black stones on the lava stream of 1886.
Up that track the mules laboured for two or
three hours, passing the lava of 1892 to yet
another expanse of sand.
But no longer was this a desert. The result
of a very ancient eruption, the dibris of the
mountain had become soil of a rich brown
colour ; and innumerable cherry and apple-
trees, with chestnut groves, flourished thereon
exceedingly. Young crops of barley and rye
made the ground green below them1. Birds
sang merrily among the branches. It was a
little world of pink blossom and budding
leaves among towering cliffs and extinct
craters. It was an oasis in the midst of
a forbidding desert of black cragk and frown
ing mountains— a place typical of the joy of
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« Unbridled Floods of Fire "
living, but where death and annihilation were
very near at hand. As an enthusiastic traveller
wrote many years ago : " No language can do
justice to the fertility, scenery, and luxuriant
verdure of this tract, whose bosom, heated by
subterranean fires, and situated in the most
favourable climate upon earth, teems with every
flower and tree that can delight the eye and
every fruit that can gratify the palate ; fields
covered with golden grain or the purple vine ;
villages and convents embosomed in thick
groves of chestnuts or oriental planes ; mossy
fountains and transparent streams ; ex
hausted craters covered with a verdant
canopy of foliage, invite the traveller to these
enchanted scenes."
The smell of sulphur and gases was carried
on the wind, and soon were heard the rumble
and rattle of falling stones and rocks. We
came suddenly upon the head of the lava
stream, which had flowed from the crater some
ten miles away, four thousand feet above.
During a few preceding days of diminished
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volcanic activity the molten stone had become
more solid and its movements more sluggish.
It was consequently grey on the surface. But
as the sides were opened by almost incessant
explosions within, the red-hot interior was
visible. Large rocks, shattered by the heat
below, fell down the slopes in fiery fragments.
From a spot immediately in front of the ad
vancing mass we looked into the red fissures
and warmed ourselves in the glow which came
from them.
Our course was by the side of the stream
of lava, the progress of which became more
rapid as we mounted. Lava destroys by
direct downward course, and, more, by lateral
expansion. The latter is caused by the
molten stone which, arrested higher up, has
cooled lower down. This causes it to rise
in height and to form steep slopes on which
fiery rocks and scoriae roll from top to bottom,
burning and burying trees and crops and what
ever they find below. Minor streams, also,
detach themselves on ground favourable and
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire n
frequently unite again, filling up the inter
vening spaces. This occurred before our eyes.
The usual road had been between the big flow
of lava and the advancing head of a smaller
current. Had we kept to the path to venture
through the apparently safe opening, we should
have been entrapped, and destruction would
have been inevitable, because, if the two
courses had joined, as join they did very
shortly, no foot could have trodden the surface
in the effort to escape from the advancing fire.
Late in the afternoon we reached the Casa
Cantoniera, a hut of two rooms and a stable
built by the Italian Alpine Club at an
elevation of 7,500 feet above sea-level. Here
we dismounted to leave our mules and walk
towards the crater, some four hundred yards
distant, a conical hill with a depressed
summit. The side towards us was split
almost to the base. Through that we looked,
to see a devil's punch-bowl of molten stone,
a turmoil of flame and masses of lurid vapour
with a river of fire running from it. The
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wind blew the vapour towards us, and it was
difficult to approach. We reached, however,
a spot within two hundred yards of the
mouth. There the guide refused to accom
pany us farther, pointing to rocks and stones
ejected that morning.
We returned to the Casa Cantoniera, and,
seated on the rocks in full view of the
crater, waited for the night to come. A
scanty meal in the hut followed. On going
out of the building, we found the scene had
changed as if by magic. The day through
out had been one of spring, with' a cloud
less sky. The sunset was a pervading glory of
crimson, of gold and orange in the West, with
fainter tints of similar colouring above. The
dense masses of vapour which poured from'
the crater were of a lurid grey, but, when
risen to the brink, borrowed the colours of
sunset and took a brilliant cherry hue. These
rolled away on the wind in fantastic curves
and shapes. When the brighter tints had
faded, the sky became of a brilliant translucent
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
blue faintly tinged with olive -green, forming
a background of marvellous contrast with the
lurid vapour, such as no pen could adequately
describe nor brush depict.
Then wonder succeeded wonder.
When the dusk had come — and it came
rapidly — the west, the dome above us, and
fhe mists eastward, were of flame-colour. The
principal crater was the centre of interest.
The incessant uproar which came from it was
like the discharge of small guns. A deeper
rumbling as of big cannon came from the
other craters occasionally seen on the higher
ridge, and from the ground below.
We climbed to the spot where we had been
in the afternoon, although the sulphurous
fumes and gases were now almost unbearable.
We looked upon an immense fountain of flame
darting flashing tongues amid red smoke, and
casting volcanic bombs to a great height,
which fell either into the crater again or to
the earth about us. The world of living flame
within the cone was of dazzling brilliance, and
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as bright was also the river of red-hot lava
which flowed from the base of the rent . This
cataract of viscous and incandescent stone
flowed at an angle of about thirty degrees at
the rate of ten to fifteen miles an hour. It
was nearly forty yards wide, and was confined
by a cliff of lava on either side. We stood on
the edge of the cliff fifteen feet above and
within ten yards of the edge of the stream.
But for the keen wind the heat and gases
would have suffocated us. Again, it would
be difficult to convey the impression made by
that lurid, silent, rapid current of red-hot
molten stone. Its smooth, snake-like move
ment, its awful glare, its scorching heat, its
irresistible force, its inexhaustible quantity — it
had been flowing thus for a fortnight — were
photographed on the mind, but the scene
baffles description.
Farther down the valley, flooded by the
molten stone, this river of fire assumed another
aspect . Some of the rocks carried on its surface
had lost their glow, and their surface had
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
darkened. Seen from afar, this caused the
stream to appear as a lurid serpent of immense
size, spotted on its back, whose head was lost in
the distance, whose tail had not yet emerged
from its lair. At places the breadth of the
stream was greater, and far away much of
the incandescence had paled. But it was all
of fire ; and we knew that if its skin was
partially blackened by exposure to the air,
there was the living furnace below. In fact,
the scene was an orgie of flame and consuming
heat, around, above, and below — one given
over to the god of fire who therein reigned
supremely. It was awe-inspiring, terrifying,
horrible ; in which was felt the utter nothing
ness of man, powerless before its consuming
forces, powerless to withstand, powerless even
to comprehend.
As we turned away from that semblance of
Hades, we followed the river of flame, to see
many variations of destruction. At one spot
was perhaps as strange a sight as any we had
witnessed. On passing in the morning we had
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noticed a small conical hill — an extinct crater
— at whose base the lava flowed. Now the
stream had been dammed and piled itself
behind, to pour in cascades of fire from
the summit to the base ; and not in one, but
in three separate falls which formed two
arches of perfect but different shapes standing
in a sea of flame. Thence the sinuous fiery
serpent again glided rapidly far down the
valley, where, cooling somewhat, the surface
resembled an immensely long town with streets
and houses brilliantly illuminated. Red-hot
masses of rock continually rolled down the
slopes, setting fire to: vegetation, and the
current of molten stone silently yet relentlessly
sent out small branches to surround fruit and
chestnut -trees, which, quivering and crackling
for a moment, burst into flame, to topple over
with a crash.
Long after leaving the lava stream, the path
way was illumined by the brilliant brightness
of the new, crater and the triple cascade of
fire. 128

" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
When compared with the great outbursts of
former years, this now written of does not
rank highly. Some of the others may be re
called. Though the earliest are older than
the glacial period in central and northern
Europe, the first to be recorded happened
probably in the seventh century B.C. This
was followed by another in the time of Pytha
goras ; and by that in 476 B.C., mentioned by
^Eschylus and Thucydides and referred lo by
Pindar in his Pythian Ode, when he wrote of
" snowy Etna, the pillar of Heaven, the nurse
of sharp eternal snow, whereout pure springs
of unapproachable fire are vomited from the
inmost depths : in the day time the lava
streams pour forth a lurid rush of smoke, but
in the darkness a red rolling flame sweepeth
rocks with uproar to the wide deep sea."
In 396 B.C. a torrent of lava ran down the
eastern side a distance of twenty -four miles
to the sea, which it entered with a breadth
of two miles, forcing Hamilcar, the Car
thaginian, on his way to Syracuse from
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Sicilian Studies
Messana, to march his troops round by the
back of the mountain. In 126 B.C. Etna
poured forth streams of lava, and " the sea
by Lipara boiled furiously, several ships being
burnt by subterranean fires, and a quantity
of dead fish were cast upon the shore, which
being devoured by the inhabitants, caused a
fatal epidemic." Four years after, Catania
was grievously menaced, and would have been
utterly destroyed had not the lava, when almost
within the city walls, turned at right angles
and flowed into the sea. Two eruptions
during the civil war between Julius Caasar and
Pompey were believed to portend the death
of the latter ; and six years later, when
Octavianus and Sextus Pompeius were com
peting for power, the mountain burst forth
with such terrible fury that the eastern slope
was devastated and rendered uninhabitable.
The Emperor Caligula was frightened from
Messana by an outbreak ; and another eruption
occurred in the second year after the capture
of Jerusalem by Titus. In the reign of the
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
Emperor Decius (a.d. 254), Etna broke out
again with loud bellowings, vomiting a torrent
of lava which menaced Catania once more.
" It was on this occasion that the efficacy of
St. Agatha's veil — a feature in subsequent
eruptions — was first tested. The terrified
citizens rushed to the tomb of the saint, who
had been martyred but the year before, and
seizing the veil which covered it, took it to
the burning torrent, whose course was arrested
on the instant."
Charlemagne seems to have been vastly
alarmed by an eruption in 812.
One of the most disastrous convulsions in
history occurred during the reign of William
the Good, in 1189. "On the vigil of the
feast of St. Agatha, the cathedral of Catania
being crowded with people, on a sudden there
occurred a most violent earthquake which
shook all Sicily to its centre. Catania in an
instant was one heap of ruins; not a house
was left standing, and no less than fifteen
thousand people were buried beneath the ruins.
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Many towns were thrown to the ground. At
Messina, the sea, after retiring a long way
from the shore, rushed back with violence
upon the city. The cone of Etna was shaken
down. New springs gushed out in many
places, and old ones disappeared."
Yet another is recorded in 1329, when with
a crash like thunder the lava burst forth,
while red-hot rocks were hurled into the sea.
New craters opened, vomiting lava and other
burning matter. The cone of the mountain
was overshadowed by immense columns of
black smoke, illumined from time to time by
vivid coruscations ; showers of ashes and sand
obscured the air and covered the whole sur
face of the country, so that the cattle and
birds perished for want of food, and these
ashes and sand were carried to Malta, a
distance of 130 miles.
Reference to the long history of Etna's
eruptions, of which there is a record of over
eighty, may be closed by the following extract
from the account of that terrible one in 1669,
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
as related by Sir Charles Lyell. " It began
by the obscuration of the day, like an eclipse
of the sun, followed by a furious whirlwind
and earthquakes. The people of Nicolosi
could not keep their legs, and everything
around them seemed to be heaving and roll
ing like ships in a rough sea. A fissure
twelve miles long opened! in the mountain
side. Then six other mouths opened in a
direct line with the fissure, vomiting columns
of smoke and sand to the height of 1,200 feet,
accompanied by subterranean roars and terrible
thunders which could be heard at a distance
of forty miles, and such convulsions of the
earth that Catania, twelve miles off, was totter
ing to its fall. At the close of the day another
and still larger mouth opened a mile below
the others, which to the same phenomena
added the ejection of red-hot stones to an
enormous height, and of sand and ashes in
prodigious quantities, which covered tbe
country to a distance of sixty miles. From
this mouth gushed a stream of lava, which
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soon spread out to the width of two miles ;
and in its descent encountered the wooded
cone of Montpilieri, which it encircled with
flames ; then, turning westward, it next day
reached Belpasso, a town of eight thousand
inhabitants, which in a short time was entirely
submerged in a sea of fire. That same even
ing seven fresh mouths opened round the large
one, vomiting smoke and red-hot stones with
terrific roars ; and in three days they united
with the original mouth to form one vast
crater, a horrible chasm some 2,500 feet in
circuit. The torrent advancing with a front
of two miles, had overwhelmed a good portion
of the town of Mascalucia. The same day the
great mouth cast up ashes, sand and scoriae in
such quantities as to form an enormous double
conical mound, now known as the Monti Rossi,
and to cover the houses in the neighbourhood
to a depth of six feet. Fresh violent earth
quakes shook down the great cone into the
crater, so as to lower considerably the height
of the mountain. The lava had separated into
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
three separate streams. One destroyed the
village of San Pietro; another that of Cam-
porotondo ; the third, which ultimately attained
the width of four miles, devastated the land
of Mascalucia, destroyed San Giovanni di
Galermo, and proceeded towards the town of
Misterbianco, which it encircled in its fiery
arms and utterly destroyed. After over
whelming fourteen towns and villages, it
turned towards Catania, and, reaching Al-
banelli, hardly two miles from the city, it
lifted up and transported to a considerable dis
tance an argillaceous hill covered with corn
fields, then an entire vineyard, which floated
for some time on its burning bosom. At
length it reached the walls of the city. Meet
ing this obstacle, the lava flood accumulated
tUl it rose to the top of the rampart, which
was sixty feet in height, and then tumbled
over in a cascade of fire, overwhelming part
of the city with the ruins of the ancient
Naumachia and Circus. The wall was not
here overthrown : in another part, however,
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the lava entered the city through a breach
and threatened the city with destruction. It
reached the sea, which it entered in a stream
two miles wide, till it formed a promontory
more than half a mile in advance of the
original shore. Then began a contest between
the water and the fire. The lava, cooled at
its base by contact with water, presented a
perpendicular wall of forty feet high. As the
fiery torrent, rolling onward in a viscous mass,
reached the adverse element, the water began
to boil furiously, while clouds of steam rose
with a horrible whistling sound to obscure
the sun, and then fell again in a salt
shower." ¦
It is not a matter for wonder, therefore,
if with a history so direful, those who live on
the Mountain's slopes are in great dread when
it is in an angry mood. To the terror of the
seen and the known is added the fear of the
unknown. Etna has been the parent of myth and
legend from the earUest days of mankind.
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
Perhaps no mountain in the world has pro
voked the wonder, the admiration, the dread,
the superstitious awe that Etna has inspired.
Its majestic height of nearly eleven thousand
feet ; its base washed by the blue waves of
the Ionian Sea ; its summit crowned by a
diadem of snow ; its vast slopes covered
with tropical vegetation and with spreading
orchards and forests, to end with the for
bidding black desert of rock and scoriae —
That dreary plain, forlorn and wild,
The seat of desolation, void of light,
Save what the glimmering of these livid flames
Cast pale and dreadful :
all these appeal strongly to the imagination,
to a sense of the wonderful, to the lover of
beauty. Etaa, indeed, lives more than any
other mountain. Fondly regarded by those
finding an easy existence on its slopes, ever
beloved of the poet and the painter, the
Mountain presents a being full of love and
activity. The untiring and inexhaustible fer-
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tility of the soil, whereon a dormant state of
Nature is unknown, coupled with its secret
and mysterious inner life, Etna has a subtle
existence and attraction that obtain, perhaps,
in no other region of the earth. Hated, too,
and dreaded, Etna is not only a fond
" Mother," but a much-feared tyrant, whose
moods are variable and whose temper is un
reliable. Etna has been known to be quiescent
for long periods. The historian Filoteo re
cords his descent into the crater in 1583, after
eighty years of tranquillity, when he found it
" shaped like a funnel, and at the bottom a
hole hardly as large as a man's head, which
emitted a sulphurous vapour, very damp " ;
though when we visited the crater three
hundred years later, we found it to be a huge
abyss about four miles in circumferenoe, very
deep, and in great activity.
The terror of the inhabitants of the Mountain
which we witnessed, is no new thing. It dates
from times much more remote than to-day.
If the moving sense was that of fear for the
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
safety of the individual and his property, it
had its origin in the superstitious dread of
days when Etna was the mysterious realm of
Aidoneus, the involuntary home of Persephone,
the workshop of Vulcan and the Cyclops, and
the prison of that Enkelados, the Typhon,
" whose groans are the roars of the volcano,
and his efforts to free himself the earthquakes
which make the earth tremble." Local legend
and tradition, which formerly were religious
beliefs, still have their power in the complex
nature of the dwellers on Etna, and still enter
into the atmosphere of their lives. They
account largely for the innumerable myths
and superstitions met with, now in one garb
and now in another, by a student of the
manners and customs of a very interesting
people. Despite modem tendency to unbelief, or
agnosticism, ancient ideas and creeds are
reverted to. Dormant superstitions, whether
of mediaeval or earlier origin, start into life
and vigour in times of panic such as those
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Sicilian Studies
which we witnessed. Power of the priesthood
is resumed. Propitiation to ancient gods finds
its counterpart in the votive offering's to the
saints. Humility and contrition take the place
of indifference and scepticism, as in early
days. This explains partly why during the eruption
churches were crowded at all hours by men,
women, and children ; why fervent discourses
from pulpits were eagerly listened to ; why
long processions of many people, headed by
priests in their robes carrying sacred relics
amid the smoke of many tapers, wound their
way up the stony slopes of the mountain to
oppose the advance of the lava.
We saw people in tearful supplication, in
agonies of fear, in stoical indifference (in the
Sicilian character is met sometimes a philo
sophical stoicism contrasting favourably with
the usual abandonment to transports of grief
or fear, for which the admixture of Eastern
blood in 'Sicilian veins may possibly account) ;
people, also, in contrite submission to the in-
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" Unbridled Floods of Fire "
evitable, or in protest and solemn objurgation
against a pitiless fate. Many watched the
slow but certain destruction of their homes by
the advancing lava. In some places the ruin
was awaited by an entire family, amid the
wailing of the women. In others, men, assisted
by their neighbours, removed their possessions,
doors, windows, and even tiles of the houses
in extreme haste. Here the stream rose behind
a staunch wall, to surmount it and pour its
cascade upon the roof, which burst into flame.
There the current silently surrounded a house
to engulf it, absorbing the tottering walls in
its burning embrace. Men and women were
seen carrying aged relatives, or mattresses and
the scanty possessions which go to compose
the furniture of a Sicilian home. Those were
scenes to make the heart ache.
Not less terrible in its destruction than
magnificent as a spectacle, was this eruption
of mighty Etna — that Mountain of Moun
tains called famoso, immense, terribile — that
" Mother " of smiling lands, that " Nurse of
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Sicilian Studies
sharp eternal snow," that home of ever-living
fire, which dominates the lives of Sicilians like
a god, and as a god dispenses both favours
and vengeance with a lavish hand.

142

VINTAGE

VINTAGE
As the summer sun loses some of its tropical
heat, and the nights of perpetual starlight
become less oppressive, the grapes on the vines
swell and turn from green to purple, or to
colour of gold. The careful husbandman now
strips the leaves from their stems, to let in
upon the fruit those warm rays of the sun
which are to have so important a share in
bringing the bunches to full maturity.
So with human beings . Who may deny that
they of southern countries have more sunshine
in their natures than those of northern lands ?
It is needless to dwell upon the fact that the
sun -god expands and sweetens human life,
giving warmth to the body, adding geniality
to the soul. Should some heart -frozen dweller
in northern lands refuse to concede so much,
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Sicilian Studies
at least he will agree that Bacchus must go
hand in hand with Apollo if ever the acrid
grape of the chilly months be changed to the
luscious juice of that fruit which the son of
Semele brought from the gods for the benefit
of mankind.
Small wonder, then, that writers of old,
more impressed by the potentiality of the
beautiful than we, should endow vine and
vintage with the praise and poetry we know
so well. It is a theme of great attraction —
one in which the more responsive of Nature's
bounties seem to combine in producing a whole
of simplicity and beauty. The long, cloud
less days now tempered with soft breezes, are
welcomed by man and beast alike as respite
from the suffocating heat of summer. Vege
tation, scorched and parched, revives after the
forced idleness of many months. Birds, driven
to cooler altitudes, return. Happy faces,
merry voices, and busy fingers, all the happier
and all the merrier because abundant is the
pay, and all the more busy because the work
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Vintage
admits of no delay, meet in the vineyards,
making the countryside resound with laughter
and merriment. Music, too, is not wanting;
and dancing often finishes a day, only to be
matched by the one following for light-hearted
gaiety and joy. If such be not a proper theme
for a poet's pen, where is one more fitting to
be found ?
Let us stroll to the plantations on a bright
October morning, taking our stand on a mount
rising from the vineyards, its sides covered
with vines. A plain stretches on all sides to
the bases of mountains and hills. These are
of various shapes, and of different heights ;
one capped by crags of grey limestone boldly
defined, another covered from foot to summit
with forests of oak and beech. The sea of
green at our feet is of many tints, and ripples
in the sunshine when a passing breeze ruffles
its surface. The first quietness of the scene
is disturbed by a throng of women and boys
returning from their trip to the winepress, to
fill again the large wicker baskets which they
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Sicilian Studies
poise so cleverly on their heads. We are sur
rounded by the laughing, chattering crew, the
members of which exchange salutations with
us, and we watch them as they deftly cut the
hanging fruit from the parent stem.
The elder women are not good-looking.
The work which has been their lot from
earliest childhood, has stamped their faces
with an unlovely look of toil. But the girls,
with their large dark eyes, and the boys with
their roguish looks, are attractive enough. Nor
can much be said of the cleanliness of their
attire, for without exception untidiness and
dirt are the most noticeable feature in the dress
of every one. But, notwithstanding, the smil
ing faces, the daring combination of colour in
the kerchiefs tied turban fashion about the
head, dotted jewel -like among the green
foliage, the varied costumes proclaiming the
different towns from which the people come,
the purple fruit hanging in great clusters, the
bronze and ruby shades of those leaves already
speaking of autumn and decay ; all these
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Vintage
dominated by deep blue sky, and warmed by
radiant sunshine, are the same which moved
the ancients to poetry and do not fail to make
due impression upon us to-day.
As the bagpipe, heading the procession,
gives a sign for each worker to shoulder his
load of fruit and fall into line, we will also
go with the servants of Bacchus to his temple,
the winepress, where various mysteries are
carried on. The piper is blowing his most
cheerful measure as we join in the rear of the
procession, and, had we not northern blood
in our veins, we might be tempted to emulate
the tripping steps of the younger votaries of
the Wine God, who, out of very lightness of
heart, dance their several paces to the more
measured tread of their soberer and older
companions .
At the winepress basket after basket is
handed in, and when their contents have been
passed through sieves to detach the berries
from the stalks, the grapes are under the feet
of the must-dyed treaders. The juice soon
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rushes from the tramp of many feet ; these
for the sake of cleanliness being encased in
leather mocassins. The juice thus expressed
runs into large vats, and when all has been
well trodden from the grapes, juice and pulp
wUl ferment together for a period determined
by the judgment of the wine-maker.
It is now that the must, or wine in embryo,
takes its lighter or darker hue, because the
longer or shorter time it remains with the
skins, the deeper or lighter is the colour. It
is incorrect to suppose that white wine must
come from white grapes ; although it is true
that pure red wine can only be produced from
purple grapes. White wine can be made from
these same grapes, inasmuch as all grape juice
is white. Colouring is obtained from the
skins ; and the longer the latter be allowed
to ferment with the juice, the darker will be
the eventual colour of the wine. From the
vats in the winepress the must is transferred
to the cask, where it finds its conversion into
wine, followed by a clearing, racking, and
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Vintage
maturing. But these are operations carried
out long after the last bunch of grapes has
been picked from the vineyard.
As we are dividing our attention between
the bare - legged pistatori tramping in
cessantly to snatches of wild chorus and the
music of concertina and tambourine, and the
many mules loading the wine -stained pigskins
in the yard, we are attracted by a sight
common enough in olden days, but now a relic
of the past. Formerly, when Fra Serafino and
his many brown-robed brethren with their rope
girdles came riding down on sleek mules to
the winepress, to receive as their due the
barrel of wine that every devout Christian set
aside for the Madonna and the Saints, the
dishevelled women and girls, the wine -stained
men, and the impudent boys bowed the knee
and asked a blessing of the holy friars. But
to-day the frate, the last of his race, arrives
on foot, leading a donkey as thin and decrepit
as himself, and, unnoticed by the crowd, whines
in a humble voice a petition for a modicum
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of the must, which he craves as an act of
charity. It is a sign of the times. The monk
himself seems to have recognized that the
drones have been expelled from our busy
twentieth-century hive ; and, if perchance they
will not amend their ways and join the bees
in work, they must be content to accept the
sorry portion of those Who live in idleness and
want. The friar departs with his barrel full.
As with cunning twinkle of the eye he offers
thanks on behalf of the Madonna, his smile
of gratitude seems to denote that not every
where does he receive the small contribution
which he carries off to his solitary cell.
The lengthening shadows on the hills tell
that evening is approaching, and the dew
puts an end to grape gathering. The vintagers
have made their last journey for the day. We
suppose them to be tired with their many trips
to and from the vineyards. But such is not
the case. The piper seems to have forgotten
that he has been playing all day long ; the
men in the winepress that they have worked
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Vintage
as any criminal on a treadmill ; the women
and boys that the baskets on their heads have
been filled with anything heavier than air.
Preparations are made for the dance, and
accordion and tambourine are pressed into the
service so that there may be no flagging in
the music.
Young and old join in the dance ; every
one vies with his companions in a variety of
steps, for which no names have been invented,
but which seldom faU to be graceful and
pleasing. That old woman in a ragged stuff
petticoat and bodice laced over a camicia,
which once was white, with two long plaits of
hair down the back, and a yellow kerchief
about her head, might have taken lessons
from the great Taglioni herself for all the
grace and stateliness of her movements. Her
vis-a-vis is a laughing youth stained to his
thighs in grape juice ; and the bow he gives
her before turning to meet another partner,
would not disgrace a palace.
The fun waxes greater, the music louder.
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Sicilian Studies
The glances become warmer, the gestures
more alluring. Those who do not dance
stand around beating hands in rhythm with
the tune, inciting the dancers to greater efforts
with their cries. All become intoxicated with
the movement and joy of the dance. It is
a renewal of the Bacchanalia, the feast of the
Wine God ; and for the moment thoughts
wander irresistibly far away to tbe journeyings
of Bacchus and his triumphs, to Silenus — his
preceptor, and the Bacchantes — his com
panions ; to Ariadne — to the days when the
ancient world surrendered itself unreservedly
to do him honour.
The moon is shining brightly as we leave
those light-hearted Sicilian children (they
seem never to grow old nor show signs of
age except in their weather-worn faces) still
dancing under the stars ; and we hear the
lilt of the dance music floating toward us
on the night air as we retrace our steps
homeward.

iS4

RAGUSA IN SICILY

RAGUSA IN SICILY

Probably few people who are driven over the
smoother streets of London or Paris know that
much of the asphalt with Which those streets
are paved comes from the classical land of
Sicily, dug from the mountain of Ragusa, a
town in the south of that island.
The origin of the town itself is lost in
remote antiquity. Identified with the Heraian
Hybla of the ancient Greeks (the latter name,
according to Freeman, is to be traced to the
goddess Hybla of the nether world, worshipped
by the Sikels, and who may be compared to
the Greek Persephone), and founded, no
doubt, by the Sikels, since the neighbourhood
offers traces of their presence in the rock-
hewn caves and wells, the town seems to have
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Sicilian Studies
continued to be Sikel rather than Greek after
the latter nation was firmly established in the
island. It was a seat of worship of the
goddess Hybla also, though it is not to be
confounded with the other two towns having
that name, the Galeatic Hybla (now Paterno)
on the slopes of Mount Etna, and the original
home of her veneration ; nor with the Greater
Hybla, over against Megara of Sicily, famous
in old days, as now, for its honey.
This Heraian Hybla does not appear to
have taken a great part in history, though
in B.C. 491 Hippokrates, the ambitious and
treacherous tyrant of Gela, made war against
it, and indeed met his death when undertaking
its siege. Probably Hybla was not then con
quered, as it joined with other towns shortly
afterwards to assist the " one great Sikel
leader," Ducetius, in his ambitious scheme to
erect a Sikel kingdom in Sicily in opposition
to the Greek domination. It is not known
if Hybla lost its freedom owing to the defeat
and banishment of that remarkable man, or
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Ragusa in Sicily
whether it regained its liberty with other towns
later on. If its history be scanty, it proves
that its ways were mainly peaceable ; and it
is owing to this that Hybla was spared the
fate of its friend and neighbour, Kamarina,
which suffered so severely for its warlike
propensities .
Hybla received the men of Kamarina when
they fled before the avenging Greeks of Syra
cuse ; after which it sinks into the darkness
of the ages, to reappear under its modern
name of Ragusa. It is hard to trace the
origin of the change of name. The first men
tion of it is to be found in the account of the
Saracenic conquest, A.D. 848, when the town
was besieged. In 867 Ragusa was again in
vested, and came near to destruction. It was
feudalized after the Norman Conquest, and
was bestowed on Geoffrey, son of Count
Roger de Hauteville, the intrepid founder
of the Royal Norman House of Sicily. It
became Crown property, but afterwards passed
into the possession of the Chiaramonte family,
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who styled themselves Counts of Modica and
Lords of Ragusa. These, falling under the
displeasure of King Martin, were dispossessed,
and in turn Ragusa became the property of
the Cabrera and Henriquez families, when it
again reverted to the Crown. It is stated that
the Royal House of Stuart enjoyed, and
possibly still retains, the above-mentioned
titles ; but it does not seem to have derived
any revenues from the place.
Ragusa has an unique position on the
summit of a grey calcareous mountain some
1,500 feet above the level of the sea. Its
houses cling desperately to the sides qf the
mountain. , Its situation is at once striking
and very beautiful. It is composed of two
towns joined, with separate civic administra
tions. " Italia una Ragusa due," is a jeering
remark made by the rest of Sicily to this
divided community. Though Ragusa In
feriore is claimed to be the older of the two,
it is difficult to believe that Hybla Heraia of
the Sikels did not occupy part of the site of
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Ragusa in Sicily
Ragusa Superiore, for the acropolis of the
ancient city was certainly at the highest point
of the mountain in accordance with custom,
and not where it would have been easily domi
nated from another site, as in the lower town.
This is a vexed question among many others
in Ragusa. For several centuries feuds be
tween the two have existed, dating from a
divergence of opinion as to the rival merits
of St. George, the patron saint of the lower,
and of St. John, the patron saint of the upper
town. Such rivalry was by no means re
stricted to amicable discussion. The folk of
the upper town were wont to enforce argu
ments of their own superiority and that of
their patron on their more lowly neighbours
by the rolling and hurling of stones and rocks,
which, owing to the roofs of the latter being
on a level with the doorsteps of the former,
carried weight in the discussion. The others,
in answer to the insults to them and their
patron saint, replied with the still more cutting
argument of knives and firearms.
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Both towns have a modern aspect. The
walls of ancient date and ruins of turrets are
still seen, to speak of the fortress city of old
times, when might was right and the strong
hand only could hold that which was its due.
In the lower town the ruined church of St.
George has a fine Norman Gothic doorway,
with deep mouldings and rich carvings. To
day the upper town, though less aristocratic
—Ragusa boasts of noble families — is more
populous and prosperous than the other.
This is shown by wider and better paved
streets, and houses of more pretentious taste,
especially those leading to the piazza before
the spacious Church of St. John.
Below, far down, runs the little river, the
Hyrminos of ancient times, the Irmeno of to
day, fringed by its many mills, all with foam
ing cascades falling over revolving wheels, or
bubbling streams issuing from arched foun
dations. Countless ravines and minor valleys
contribute collected waters in the rainy season ;
but now, in spring-time, the river is placid
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Ragusa in Sicily
and clear, and the fisherman on the bank is
undisturbed in his quest for the much-prized
trout, as he leisurely throws his line on the
breeze and places his fly on likely pools.
Sides of the valfeys are terraced by count
less walls of stone, to hold back the earth
for vines and olive-trees, almond and carob -
trees — terraces of verdure of brilliant hue.
The land is rich, and water is never wanting
except in the hottest days of summer. There
pink almond blossom contrasts strikingly with
a sky of densest blue ; here a patch of flax
in flower — a turquoise jewel set in russet
brown, the colour of the earth— meets the eye.
Grey rocks of limestone rise precipitously from
the valley, their faces honeycombed by caves
(which the living inhabit even now) and by
tombs long since rifled in search of that hidden
treasure of which the folk of both Ragusas
have talked and dreamt for centuries and
never found .
The road, cunningly contrived and ably
hewn, zigzags in lazy gradients, or bends in
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graceful curves to the arched bridge giving
access to the upper town. Great tufts of
euphorbia, cactus, and aloes spring from
crevices. The shimmering silver leaves of the
olive, and brighter foliage of fruit-trees, pro
trude from among the yellow lichen-covered
stones, or hang in giddy poise over precipices,
giving ever -varying tones of green, and vying
with the brighter tints of moss and grass in
vivid contrast to each other. At the highest
point of rock rises a wooden cross, to be re
placed by one of iron when time and subscrip
tions of the devout permit this simple memorial
to give way before a more worthy monument,
to remind men of the Anno Santo just now
brought to a close. Around are quarries,
worked for many a year, as a tablet in one of
them testifies, relating how it was placed there
in the Anno Lagrimoso, or the sorrowful year
—the year of the plague, 1368.
Certainly Ragusa is a place to be visited.
If a traveller take his stand one fine spring
evening on some prominent rock or miniature
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Ragusa in Sicily
piazza, he will witness a scene which cannot
but linger long and pleasantly in his memory.
The sun is sinking, streaking the western
horizon with purple, gold, and crimson ; and
so bright with glory is the sky that the eyes
turn with relief to the haze of ruddy violet
which hangs about the farther valleys. The
plain and the grey rocks of the mountains
repeat the violet hue. In the distance the sea
is molten fire. Below, along the principal
pathways leading upward to the town, con
verging from farmhouse and sheepfold, a
stream of country folk with herds of cattle
or flocks of sheep wend their way homeward,
accompanied by donkeys laden with nodding
sheaves of grass or loads of wood, the spoils
of the day's work on the hillsides. The
mountains are cut and intersected with lanes
hedged by blossoming plants leading to house,
chapel, or shrine. Immediately below is a
chaos of sloping roofs, domes, and campaniti,
bathed in the light which softens the straight
lines and glaring whites of modern buildings.
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The keynote of colour is a golden purple,
effulgent, rich, enchanting ; and it wants no
great stretch of imagination to suppose that
Nature in her varying moods has willed to
night that all the land should lay aside its
work-a-day appearance, and for her especial
pleasure put on a garb of translucent
splendour .
Or let a wanderer be standing here during
the last three days of carnival, when the merry
doings in the towns are calling the peasants
from homestead and hamlet, from hut and
mill. A long line of country people may be
descried, accompanied by mules, donkeys, and
dogs. The men are dressed in rude home
spuns ; the women, in brighter skirts and
coloured kerchiefs, make up for the sombre
clothing of the sterner sex. Our wanderer
may see an old fellow in a rusty cloak with a
hole which shows that it, like its owner, has
known better days ; or a joyous band of
good-looking youths dancing hand in hand
up the steep pathway, casting bold glances at
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Ragusa in Sicily
the maidens who follow their mothers with
demure countenances but roguish eyes, ready
with repartee or peal of laughter to meet joke
with joke, to increase the merriment of the
moment. Many of the younger folk are gar
landed with almond blossom, irises, or bunches
of yellow broom ; and even the donkeys and
dogs are decked with flowers and feathers,
so that they too may add to the gaiety of the
scene. Songs and laughter, jests and greet
ings, fill the air. An atmosphere of en
joyment and content is abroad, a sense of
fellowship in rejoicing ; and the onlooker
must be of a singularly cold temperament if
his heart yield not to its influence and the
charm of the sunshine and blue sky above
him. Above all may be seen the vast pile
of Etna ; her heights dominating those of
Ragusa, distant though they be ; and " the
pillar of heaven " lies there, white and
massive, a silent witness of all things near
and far.

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II
But asphalt — the Asphaltos of Aristotle and
the somewhat less clear definition of Pliny,
Bitumen — calls for attention. The name
asphalt is derived from the so-called Lacus
Asphaltites, or Dead Sea, where the mineral
was found in ancient times. " It is regarded
as the ultimate result of a series of changes
which takes place under certain conditions in
organized matter, producing naphtha, petro
leum, mineral tar, and asphalt. These sub
stances are said to> merge into one another by
insensible degrees." Such is the learned, if
somewhat vague cause assigned for the
existence of asphalt.
Asphalt deposits are found throughout the
world. In Trinidad there is a bituminous lake
which has a deposit of asphalt. " It is inter
sected with rivulets of water, and at one or
two spots on the surface of the lake may be
seen an emission of semi-fluid tar." The
ancients used to associate such places with the
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Ragusa in Sicily
infernal regions. Asphalt in its more valuable
condition is a Umestone impregnated with
bituminous matter. It is found notably at
Vai de Travers, in the canton of Neufchatel,
and at Ragusa. The deposit in Switzerland
was discovered by Eirinus, a physician of
Greece, in 1 7 1 2, who recommended the
material as being " peculiarly suitable for
covering all kinds of constructions, to pro
tect wood and stone against decay, worms, and
the ravages of time, rendering them almost
indestructible even when exposed to wind,
wet, and extreme variations of temperature."
Asphaltic mortar was used in the building of
Babylon, and asphalt itself was employed by
the Egyptians in embalming the bodies of
their dead.
The existence of asphalt at Ragusa was
probably known to the Greeks, even if they,
made no use of it, for a neighbouring district
where it is found is called Mafita, which is
probably a corruption of the Greek word for
bitumen. It is not recorded if the Romans
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worked the mines ; so the commercial impor
tance of the mineral deposits probably dates
from recent times. Swiss savants in the
pay of the King of Naples applied for mining
rights in 1838, and later on French engineers
made a similar demand. But the plans of
both had to be abandoned owing to the
arduous conditions imposed by the Government
— a policy suicidal to the industrial interests
of the country and from which Italian states
men have not been able to separate themselves
up to the present day. It was left to English
enterprise to develop a work which is yearly
growing in importance.
The mineral at Ragusa is found impreg
nated in the rocks lying at different depths
below the surface. At places it crops up in
the form of a light-coloured grey stone of
calcareous formation ; but that is of inferior
quality, possessing about 3 per cent, of bitu
men, and has at present little or no commercial
value. The more valuable deposits, which
appear inexhaustible, are found below that
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Ragusa in Sicily
stratum in layers of varying thicknesses, and
the lower they are found, the richer in per
centage of the mineral is the stone. Little is
seen on the surface to indicate the presence
of anything of value immediately below.
Indeed, it comes as a surprise that ex
ceptionally barren and rain-washed hill-tops,
mostly of grey rock and scanty patches of
poor soil, should be of great value to the
capitalist. The mines of the Societe Generale des
Asphaltes de France — an English Company
registered under a French name — are the
largest of a group of five at Ragusa. In
some places the mineral has been dug from
the top, or a scalane — that is, in layers, or
steps, four or five feet high. Here long
galleries are excavated in the sides of the
ravines, allowing the richer rock to be reached
more quickly. Leaving immense piles of
poorer stone (many thousands of tons await
the day when science may discover a value
for them), the visitor descends through an arch
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Sicilian Studies
into a large excavation of rock, measuring
about a hundred yards long and fifty wide,
surrounded by perpendicular walls fifty feet
high, and open to the sky. Here on one side
are men and boys hewing from surface to base,
and in steps, as mentioned, with picks, wedges,
and sledge-hammers. On another side are
the entrances to the galleries, from which
issue the sound of blasting and the rumble
of trolleys bearing material from the bowels
of the earth. There are no cages or lifts,
as in other mines.
The galleries are of vast height and breadth,
with a gentle slope towards the entrance ; they
are, therefore, dry and well ventilated. These
immense rock-hewn caverns seem appropriate
enough in this land, sacred to deities of the
nether world. Imagination is not heavily
taxed to recall the story of Persephone, the
rumbling wheels of the golden chariot and
" immortal horses " of Aidoneus, Persephone
in his arms, as the " King of the great nation
of the dead " bears away the unwilling maiden
172

Ragusa in Sicily
from the flowers of neighbouring Henna and
her playmates to his realms below. Nor,
indeed, should we be surprised to meet the
blue-hooded Demeter, " veiling her beauty
under a worn countenance, having blazing
torches in her hands, seeking Persephone over
land and sea," and resting not for the weari
ness of her mind and quest. A veritable son
of Hephaestus we do surely see in his cave of
blackened stone, with anvil, forge, and fire,
sparks flying before the breathing of his
beUows and the force of his mighty strokes,
the presiding genius of iron and steel of the
mine. This is a picture in harmony with
the spot, for all is dark and sombre here,
and the air is charged with sulphurous fumes.
The man is a model of youthful comeliness
and strength as he stands at his forge, with
hand resting on the massive sledge while he
waits for the iron to heat anew, a stone table
for his food and a rocky seat for his repose
on the one side, a pile of tools and rusted
iron on the other. We are tempted to believe
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Sicilian Studies
that we have followed Dis to Hades, and are
assisting at the forging of Zeus' thunderbolts,
or the shield of Herakles.
But to return to the asphalt. At the end
of the long galleries, which are intersected at
intervals by others, gangs of eight to ten men
work by the aid of lamps which cast a fitful
and lurid light on the rugged sides and vaults.
From crevices ooze small streams of black
viscous liquid, which is the pure bitumen ex
pressed by the weight of rocks. The smell,
as has been said, is very pungent and
prevalent ; but the absence of mud and all
dirt is remarkable ; for bitumen has cleansing
properties which remove both. The quarried
stone, when brought in trolleys to the mouth
of the mine, is carefully looked over by a long
line of men and boys, who know at a glance
the value of each block ; it is sorted and
packed in carts, to be sent to Syracuse
or the little roadstead of Mazzarelli for
shipment .
The most valuable samples have a uniform1
i74

Ragusa in Sicily
colour of dark grey or brown, and they must
be smooth in grain. Such asphalt is used for
paving streets and for chemical purposes. The
inferior qualities serve for many building pur
poses, according to the hardness of the stone ;
that of greater resistance to the influence of
the weather being a stone in which clay is not
found. Asphalt stone is impervious to damp.
Slabs are readily cut by hand-saws, especially
when the blocks have been heated at a fire.
The stone has a beautiful grain, which, when
polished with ordinary wood varnish, takes the
appearance of a fine brown marble. These
slabs are now replacing marble as tops of
chests of drawers and other furniture ; and
more ordinary articles, such as tanks, paving
tiles, and mullions, are readily and cheaply
constructed from them. The export of asphalt
from Ragusa is steadily increasing.
The mines employ a vast number of men
and boys who are fairly paid, and who
seem well-to-do and healthy. Indeed, asphalt
mining is a salubrious occupation. It is stated
i75

Sicilian Studies
that no one employed in the mines was attacked
by cholera during its various visitations, and
no one suffers from malaria, which is prevalent
in the neighbourhood in the summer-time.

176

THE NEW
RELIGION

*77 M

THE NEW RELIGION
The prevalence of Socialism in northern
Italy, where comparative wealth and prosperity
are found, over Socialism in the central or
southern parts, where there is less prosperity,
merits some notice from those who are in
terested in Italian politics, or in the march
of Socialism generally. In England the con
trary holds, for there the greater the riches
and the more educated the masses, so much
the more faithful to existing institutions are
the people. The reason of this difference, as
far as Italy is concerned, is neither complex
nor difficult to find. It is the natural and
logical outcome of events that have happened
in the last fifty years.
The realization of the grand ideal of an
United Italy, which was mainly the child of
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Sicilian Studies
the north, where it was nurtured and reared
with its noble aspirations, its hopes, its in
domitable fixity of purpose, and its sacrifices
of blood and treasure, has been retarded by
the incomplete achievement of national hopes,
thereby engendering disillusion and discontent.
Taking account of the Italian temperament,
disappointment is both reasonable and inevit
able. The north of Italy, intelligent, strenuous,
hard-working, as well as prosperous, resents
the inefficiency of the public service and has
little confidence therein. It sees that there
is something wrong with the system, and with
the hot-headedness peculiar to the race, is not
averse from the idea of a change, in the hope
of yet realizing the ideal of half a century
ago. A restlessness caused by disappointment
is the principal reason of Socialism in the
north. In the south of Italy the old feudal spirit
so far has been strong enough to resist the
advance of Socialism. It is true that feudalism
has been abolished for many years, long before
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The New Religion
the so-called liberation of Italy took place.
But after centuries of subjection and sub
mission of its people to various dominations
and to the priesthood, notably in Calabria and
Sicily, the old feeling of attachment to their
superiors still remains to withstand subversive
teachings of democrats. For how long they
will resist the seductive arguments in favour
of a socialistic millennium poured into their
ears incessantly by industrious agitators, is not
a difficult question to answer.
Discontent does and necessarily must exist
in the south. Southern Italy resents the heavy
taxation ; it grumbles that it is misunderstood
and is less favoured at Rome than the north ;
its vanity is hurt by the ill -concealed con
tempt shown for it by its northern compatriots,
so that here, too, Socialism has found a likely
and, perhaps, surer field for development . The
south took its fair share of the struggle for
Italian unity, and the failure of its ideal to
materialize must weigh on men's minds.
I have laid stress on the disappointment
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Sicilian Studies
consequent on the tardy realization of the
golden dream to which the hope of an United
Italy gave rise. The sentimental side of any
question concerning Italians must be con
sidered when dealing with it . No other reason
than sentimentalism can be accepted for the
extraordinary and somewhat extravagant solici
tude shown in Italy over the language question
in Malta. Though that matter cannot have
any real value to them1, nor is there any real
sympathy between the Italians and Maltese,
yet the controversy was so strongly taken up
by the former, that Mr. Chamberlain's tolera
tion of it some years ago was hailed with joy
on all sides, and he was exalted to a position
in Italy which he had scarcely enjoyed among
other foreign nations.
The true source of discontent in both the
north and south is the unsatisfactory manner
in which the administration of justice is con
ducted. It is not too much to say that by
the lack of complete honesty and fair play
among all grades of the community men are
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The New Religion
driven to despair and the future welfare of
the country is threatened. The curse of un
reliability lies upon the land like a cloud
charged with electricity, threatening the
present, obscuring the future, and likely to
burst at any moment. There are courts of
justice which are fields of intrigue, w'here in
fluential persons are permitted to manipulate
the law for private ends, and complaisant
judges weakly concede what is demanded of
them either through fear or in the hope of
favours in return. In parts of Italy, especially
in the south, people have lost necessary faith
in the impartiality of the law ; and frequently
the most that honest folk can hope for is that
their adversaries may lack the means or power
to use illicit influence in their law-suits. It
would be wrong to assert that there are no
honest judges. But not all have the courage
to oppose a tampering with the course of
justice, either through fear or lack of public
spirit. One reason of this corruption is to be
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Sicilian Studies
attributed to the miserable stipends paid to
men called to decide matters of great pecuniary
importance. Those have to maintain for them
selves and families a position in society which
national pride exacts ; yet their salaries are
lower than that of a responsible clerk in an
English commercial house. Temptation is
therefore much increased. The administration
of the law is too lax : until this be remedied
so long will national discontent, never
stationary, but always growing in gravity and
intensity, be a menace. Much might be
written of the corruption that prevails in other
branches of public service, of the incessant
intriguing to obtain employment or advantage.
But it is useless to dwell on this subject, for
when the persons who are responsible for en
forcing the laws are unscrupulous, it is easy
to presume that lower officials follow in their
footsteps .
It is in no mood of captious criticism' that
stress is laid on this curse of dishonesty, for
even a cursory study of Italian life shows this
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The New Religion
to be a great and real danger threatening the
future. Little can be hoped for a nation com
posed of many peoples differing in character
and even yet imperfectly welded together,
which has not the common bond of faith in
the future — a faith which must necessarily and
primarily be founded on justice and equity.
With this faith established in the minds of
Italians there is little to prevent the race that
has known how to struggle bravely and
succeed manfully from becoming strong and
prosperous .
Italian Socialists have been more astute than
other political parties. They have recognized
the desire for a purer atmosphere, and though
they are scarcely more straightforward than
their fellows, they have made anti -corruption
one of their election cries. In so doing they
have enlisted sympathy even if they have
excited derision. It is the strongest cry that
they could raise ; it is a pity that it be left
to them.
Socialistic propaganda has received much
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Sicilian Studies
encouragement ; but it is hoped and credibly
supposed that the large anti-socialistic
majority may be aroused from its lethargy
to save the country from a leap in the
dark. The same misfortune holds in Italy
as in France : the upper classes mostly abstain
from active participation in political matters
on account of the unwholesome atmosphere
that surrounds politics. But it may be hoped
that in the moment of peril the pure breath
of true Italian life may remove the danger
of upheaval and restore the calm of honest
endeavour and social advance.
It is said that the army, though subjected
to revolutionary endeavours, is free from
socialistic taint. It will be an unfortunate
moment when the House of Savoy can no
longer rely on its faithful soldiers.
Owing to the custom of looking kindly upon
strikes and encouraging campaigns against
capital, Socialists have got out of hand', and
there are difficult and grave questions to be
settled in consequence of that weak and
1 86

The New Religion
wavering policy. Strong and fearless men are
needed at the helm ; or at least a great
awakening on the part of patriots to fight
the danger and avert the evil — an evil all the
greater since it masquerades in the name of
liberty.

187

A SICILIAN
MURDER

A SICILIAN MURDER
A murder more or less in an island that
numbers so many in a year, may not be held
of great account. Yet the dastardly deed that
deprived the estimable Commendatore Notar-
bartolo of his life and the country of his
services, near Palermo some years ago, is
likely to be remembered for all time in the
chronicles of crime. The atrocity of the deed
was great, the mystery attaching and the im
punity which followed it for seven years,
greater. But more remarkable still were the
revelations in regard to the suppression of
proof in order to protect the supposed perpe
trators, which came to light before the Court
of Assizes at Milan.
Signor Notarbartolo was a man of fifty-
eight years when he met his death, and from
191

Sicilian Studies
the age of twenty-five had served his country
in her battles, first in the Piedmontese army,
then under Garibaldi in the war of liberation,
and finally in the Italian army, frorb which
he retired as captain. In the troublous times
of 1866 he gave further proof of his patriotism,
and subsequently filled impprtant posts in the
management of local affairs, assuming that of
Syndic of Palermo until 1876, when Signor
Minghetti selected him to restore the fallen
fortunes of the Bank of Sicily, one of the
most important financial houses of Italy. In
those different and difficult posts Signor
Notarbartolo acquired the esteem and affec
tion of his countrymen, and there was prob
ably no one in Sicily more respected and
revered than he. At the Bank of Sicily
his fearlessness and uprightness were of
great value ; but those very virtues were the
cause of his death. The Bank had fallen
from its high position, and strict measures
were necessary to repair the evil. It was duly
freed from its parasites and its fortunes re-
192

A Sicilian Murder
stored ; but by plotting and undue influence
its enemies again got the upiper hand, and
Signor Notarbartolo retired. A Government
inspection was ordered to report upon new
irregularities, and it was then that Signor
Notarbartolo was again indicated as the new
Director. It was therefore in the interest of
some to prevent his reappointment.
Signor Notarbartolo used to visit a property
belonging to him in the neighbourhood of
Termini, and set out for it by rail on the last
day of January. He slept that night at his
place, and the following afternoon started to
return by train, in an empty compartment
into which he was shown. At a junction he
was joined in the carriage by an unknown
individual, and the train soon after entered a
long tunnel. When it subsequently arrived at
Palermo the carriage was empty. Some of
the family were awaiting Signor Notarbartolo,
and great anxiety was felt at his non-appear
ance, as his life had been already threatened,
and he had also been captured and held to
193 n

Sicilian Studies
ransom by brigands some years previously.
Telegrams were dispatched down the line, and
an answer came that the body of a man had
been found by the side of the railroad on the
brink of a torrent, with twenty-seven wounds
inflicted by a knife.
Signor Notarbartolo had been the victim of
a barbarous murder, and the assassin had
thrown the body from the train when crossing
the torrent, in the hope that the water would
carry it out to sea and remove all trace of it.
The compartment was visited, and though but
a short time had elapsed, it was evident that
means had been taken to remove signs of the
deed, as the stains on the floor had been
washed and attempts made to put the carriage
in order.
So far the story is one of a crime artfully
contrived and executed, but not offering any
specially sensational features, except the
sudden disappearance of a well-known man.
The cumbrous machine of the Italian criminal
law was put into motion, and subsequent pro-
194

A Sicilian Murder
ceedings were full of interest as showing the
great amount of corruption that had crept into
its administration, the incapacity and weakness
of those responsible for its application, and,
above all, the great power of the Mafia to
defeat the ends of justice. Arrests were made
at the time — arrests always are made in Italy,
for that serves to quiet public clamour — and at
different intervals. But the case against the
accused persons was so carelessly prepared,
and so artfully combated by those interested
in suppressing the truth, by the mysterious
disappearance and falsification of documents,
that they were liberated. Public opinion at
once had asserted that the responsible authors
of the murder were others than those arrested,
and names were freely mentioned. Facts were
forthcoming, which, if carefully followed up,
would probably have brought all the guilty
parties to justice. It was stated that a station-
master had seen and recognized the mysterious
individual who had entered Signor Notar-
bartolo's compartment before the murder ;
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Sicilian Studies
that a passenger had seen a body thrown from
a compartment, out of which a man, wearing
a cap resembling those worn by the railway
people, subsequently looked ; that the same
passenger remarked the occurrence to one of
the officials, who affected to ignore the matter ;
that two suspicious -looking individuals were
seen to leave the train and make their way
across country, and that these two were known
to have gone to an inn in the vicinity and
changed their clothes on the night of the
murder ; that both the mysterious passenger
and the owners of the inn were notorious
members of the Mafia and of evil repute ;
that a perquisition by the police was made
at the inn, where were found underclothing
and a towel stained with blood ; and that these
articles (which disappeared afterwards) were
sequestrated by the police.
It also transpired that threats against Signor
Notarbartolo had been uttered by a certain
person interested in his disappearance, at
whose house was given a feast shortly after
196

A Sicilian Murder
the murder to the members of the Mafia, to
celebrate a certain event. Yet these significant
facts led to nothing definite, and the crime
seemed likely to be numbered among the many
that remain a mystery and unpunished to this
day. Fortunately for the hope of the ultimate
triumph of justice, the son of Signor Notar
bartolo, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, had
sworn to bring the murderers of his father
to account, and for seven years he worked
patiently, despite the all-powerful yet silent
machinations of the Mafia to thwart him. It
was mainly owing to his untiring efforts that
two attendants on the train in which the murder
took place were brought to trial at Milan, the
case having been removed to that place from
Palermo for prudential reasons.
The unfolding of the story before the judge,
as elicited by the able cross-questioning of
Lieutenant Notarbartolo 's counsel, with the
subsequent arrest of a third party who was
said to be the mysterious individual of the
197

Sicilian Studies
train, was breathlessly followed by the Italian
public as each day added detail to the story
of crime.
When a crime is committed in Italy and
denounced to the authorities, an " instruction "
is opened by a magistrate. Witnesses are
called in camera, and their depositions taken
down in writing. The case is subsequently
brought into court and sustained by the Public
Prosecutor on behalf of the law. The offended
parties are represented by counsel, and of
course the accused is similarly defended.
The depositions of witnesses taken imme
diately after the denunciation of the crime are
of great importance, as the truth is more often
stated then than after a lapse of time before
the trial takes place, which allows witnesses
to be suborned or threatened. Peasants and
police officers, military and professional men,
high officials, and even Ministers of State, men
of social rank and convicts, were among those
called to give evidence at the trial, and a
more conflicting and contradictory lot of testi-
198

A Sicilian Murder
mony it has probably never been the duty of
any court of justice in any land to listen to.
It is thus that the influence of the Mafia steps
in to protect its friends by intimidating the
cowardly and controverting the truthful witness
by false testimony. So far the trial had really
been a fight of the Mafia against the law, con
tested point by point with great persistence,
though for some inexplicable reason the
weight of the contest had been allowed to
rest on the shoulders of Signor Notarbartolo's
counsel rather than on those of the Public
Prosecutor. The miserable tale was told in
court of police officials in fear of, or in appa
rent league with, the Mafia, and openly im
peding the course of justice by the suppression
of evidence, with their colleagues either guiltily
acquiescent or impotent to prevent ; of pro
fessional men and others of high position
figuring as cowardly withholders of facts to
which they had previously sworn ; of men
dacious assertions only corrected on threat of
arrest ; of grown men driven to tears for
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Sicilian Studies
fear of the consequence of telling the truth ;
of witnesses openly approached and threatened
in the very ante-rooms of the court ; of the
betrayal of private and confidential official
reports ; of important documents removed
from the volume of the process itself ; of a
captain and non-commissioned officers of that
part of the army entrusted with the mainten
ance of public order being threatened with
punishment and admonished for contradictory
evidence and grave omission of duty. Part
of the evidence of General Mini, Minister of
War, and at one time High Commissioner in
Sicily, may be selected from1 the mass of
evidence which was offered during the thirty-
three days' trial : —
" On going to Sicily," he said, " I occupied
myself at once with the dastardly murder of
Signor Notarbartolo, whom I had known in
the army. I was aware of his strong and
loyal character, which was proof against any
thing. I keenly deplored that his murderers
should go unpunished, and I was convinced
200

A Sicilian Murder
that the cause of the crime must be sought
for in the enmity entertained for him among
some administrators of the Bank of Sicily,
involved in certain irregular practices about
which much was said when he was Director.
He had been adroitly removed from his post
by the machinations of the Mafia, which in
cluded anonymous letters, articles in the reptile
press, and pressure brought to bear by people
of influence on others, such as deputies,
senators, magistrates, who, though not mem
bers of the Mafia themselves, are not outside
its influence. Notarbartolo had strenuously
opposed certain operations, wherefore it was
necessary to get rid of him, in order that the
Mafia might have access to the Bank. In
Sicily, when the Mafia wishes to be rid of any
one, it frequently begins by attacking his
character by anonymous communications and
libeUous articles in blackmailing newspapers.
That makes the public say that the accused
person is corrupt ; calumny runs its natural
course until some personage takes the matter
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Sicilian Studies
up, writes to the Government, and the thing
is done. And so it happened with Notar
bartolo, who was forced to retire. Further
irregularities then commenced at the Bank,
and inquiry was ordered, and it was reported
that Notarbartolo would be recalled. Hence
the grave anxiety of the guilty parties, and
it was necessary to get rid of Notarbartolo.
At this juncture the crime was committed, but
not in the usual manner of a Sicilian murder,
which is generally by a shot from behind a
hedge. This crime was studied and carefully
prepared, which caused me to think that men
both clever and powerful had contrived it. It
was probably the work of an intelligent and
vindictive man, belonging to the council of
the Bank, connected and having direct com
munication with the Mafia. In the prepara
tion of the ' instruction ' of the case," added
General Mini, " there was the greatest want
of energy, negligence and culpability, and it
is certain that the official responsible for its
compilation was in great haste to close it,
202

A Sicilian Murder
setting at liberty those who had been arrested.
I received many threatening letters."
Count Cadronchi, who was also High Com
missioner in Sicily, confirmed General Mirri's
deposition in many particulars, especially in
regard to the cause and probable authors of
the crime. Police magistrates and officials
repeated the same. But it was Signor
Leopoldo Notarbartolo, the son, who openly
accused a deputy as being the instigator. " I
was convinced," he said, " that the murder
was ardently desired, owing to my father's
conduct at the Bank of Sicily, whicb he saved
from the effect of innumerable intrigues. He
fought them and he frustrated them, arousing
that great hatred which was the cause of his
assassination. I centred all my suspicions on
that man, who, besides nourishing the greatest
hatred for my father, has in him1 all the
capacity for crime."
" But why has not he then been arrested? "
asked counsel for the defence, after this long
denunciation, lasting over three hours.
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Sicilian Studies
" They have feared to do so," came the
fearless answer.
In consequence of these revelations the
Chamber of Deputies hastily authorized the
arrest of its member, in a manner which pre
cluded possibility of escape, and he was duly
sentenced .
The real issue was not the minor one of
bringing the murderers of Signor Notarbartolo
to punishment, but the greater of showing
whether the Mafia had more power than the
lawr of the land, and whether right was to
be continually overridden by oppression, and
justice to go down before corruption and
intrigue. For this was no exceptional case of
wrongdoing, except for its publicity ; it has
had its frequent counterpart in everyday life in
Sicily, in a major or minor degree.
Justice vindicated, the blood of a good and,
according to the period, a great man, was not
spilt in vain.

204

TO THE TOP
OF ETNA

TO THE TOP OF ETNA
I HAD been eight years a resident in Sicily,
living indeed on the slopes of the mountain,
and had never been to the top of Etna.
Such a thing was an anomaly. I resolved
to make the ascent. I was told that it was
not the season for such an excursion ; that
I should die from cold ; that the weather
would be unpropitious ; that I would see
nothing of the scenery that only compen
sated for the fatigue. But, notwithstanding,
I had made up my mind to go, and the
Mountain— we in Sicily always call Etaa " the
Mountain " — being free of clouds at sunset of
a late September day, which is an indication
that the following twenty -four hours will be
fine, a start was made from Catania as the
numerous bells of the city were ringing at
noon. 207

Sicilian Studies
Our party consisted of four persons, my
brother V., a friend E., myself, and a guide
from the hotel, Giuseppe by name. This guide
had packed the carriage to take us as far as
Nicolosi with wraps, pillows, provisions, fuel,
and other necessaries for the ascent. These
included a large lantern painted bright red,
to which Giuseppe gave great attention,
proudly informing us that once it had been
in use on board an English man-of-war.
The thermometer marked 80 in the
shade, and the sun beat fiercely during our
drive over the dusty, lava-constructed roads,
making the heat anything but pleasant to us
in the thick clothes put on before leaving.
The drive through olive and orange groves
was picturesque, and every few paces that we
mounted gave a finer view of the fair plain
of Catania, the city, the classic river Simeto,
and the blue mountains in the distance above
Syracuse. Passing through several small towns and
villages, we reached Nicolosi, and alighted at
208

To the Top of Etna
the so-called Hotel dell' Etna, an edifice con
sisting of two small rooms with three beds in
each, and a passage leading to a dirty kitchen
at the back.
Nicolosi was then a small village of one
street flanked by low houses buUt of black
lava and scoriae ; the population in the noon
day heat appeared to consist chiefly of gaunt
lean pigs. It has scarcely any history except
that of destruction, for Etna has dealt very
harshly with this poor place.
Here the road ended, and the carriage was
exchanged for mules. If Giuseppe had been
anxious for our welfare before, here his
solicitude knew no bounds. " Loro Eccetlenze
were to eat." (Their Excellencies — it is the
Sicilian way of addressing superiors — had
already resolved on that, having tasted nothing
for six hours.) "They were to rest con
tentedly until the mules were ready." " They
were to leave everything to him and all would
go right," said he, with many other suggestions
as kindly prompted as they were difficult to act
upon. 209 o

Sicilian Studies
Time was passing, and I posted myself at
the door to check that incessant flow< of talk
which every Sicilian of the lower order prefers
to action. The scene was laughable. Five
mules in a row were being saddled, four for
our party, one for the second guide, Antonino,
learned in the paths of the mountain, who
was also to accompany us. Bustle, confusion,
screaming and laughing, mingled with hard
words when a mule, aware of the journey
before it, refused to be saddled with its load ;
Giuseppe in an ecstasy of importance, running
hither and thither, ordering here, scolding
there, and rewarding with a cuff an officious
youth who wished to relieve him of the precious
lantern which he held tightly in his hand. I
believe Giuseppe valued that lantern more than
his life.
At length Giuseppe with a bow announced
that everything was ready for the start. We
mounted the mules, and oh 1 what hard
saddles had been requisitioned for our use 1
"There are no better," explained Giuseppe.
210

To r the Top of Etna
Again this excellent guide proved himself a
man of resource, by disposing thereon the
blankets which were to cover us at night, and
in such a manner as to lessen considerably
the uncomfortable shape and hardness of the
saddles. "We defiled slowly along the street,
disturbing contented pigs that were lying half-
buried in the sand. Antonino, called by his
familiars Nino, a stalwart mountaineer, who
before our arrival had been engaged in
vintaging the grapes in his little vineyard,
led the procession. Giuseppe was behind, still
wrangling wdth the youth about the safety of
the lantern. So much had been said about
the lantern, that we began to look upon it as a
public treasure, only to be surrendered with life.
Before reaching Nicolosi we had left fertility
behind, the orange groves giving way to
stunted rye, olive-trees to an undergrowth
of broom and patches of rough grass ; apd
soon signs of cultivation became more rare.
Then we reached a region which the volcano
had claimed for its own. Masses of black
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and lichen-covered rocks rose from beds of
scoriae and sand. Here were a few plants
of cactus, or prickly pear, forerunners of re
turning cultivation in this lava-stricken land.
These added by striking contrast more
desolation to the scene.
We had not yet finished with vegetation,
however, for the Wooded Region lay before
us ; and we were told that the lava underfoot
was but a stream that broke out of the
mountain in 1537. We had passed the
twin cones of Monti Rossi of dark red lava,
monuments of that direful eruption in the
middle of the seventeenth century, which
overwhelmed Catania, twelve miles distant,
destroying Nicolosi and other surrounding
towns and villages. Before us on either side
were innumerable extinct craters, each with its
name, each with a story of death and
destruction .
The big crater and higher parts of the
Mountain towered above us, their immense
black outlines clearly defined against a sky
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To the Top of Etna
of deepest blue. After two hours we reached
the Chestnut Zone, or Wooded Region, and
speedily forgot the desolation of the last few
miles. We might have been in an English
forest. Chestnut and oak-trees stood thickly
around. The ground was covered with green
bracken, where the husbandman had not
cleared it for his crop of corn. Birds suing
gaily ; insect life was busy ; — such a bright
spot seemed unbelievable amid a scene of
dire destruction such as that througb which
we had just passed. What might be its lot
in the future? In a day, in a moment, it
might be swept away by the hidden fires of
the terrible Mountain .
In the higher part of the forest we reached
the Casa del Bosco, a hut inhabited by guards
of the woods of a Spanish nobleman who owns
the land. There we dismounted to rest the
mules, and I inquired about this landowner
and whether he often came to see his property.
" No, Excellency," was the reply; " the signor
was here once to visit his estate, which is very
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extensive, but the weather being bad, he left
immediately, and we have not seen him since."
We were soon again on our saddles, and
acknowledging the kindly salutations of the
men, we faced what was to' prove the
most fatiguing part of the ascent. We bade
farewell to the trees and the birds . Vegetation
was represented solely by a few bushes of
genesta etnea, a species of broom peculiar to
the locality, and shabby tufts of grass. Soon
not even a stick was to be seen. The pathway
was of loose, black sand, into which the mules'
feet sank, and the animals began to show
signs of exhaustion. Around were nothing
but black sandy slopes, dark rocks, gloomy
ravines, and countless cones of varied colour.
In front rose the Montagnuola, a spur of the
mountain almost as high as Etna itself ; and
far away, standing out from the background
of the crater, could be seen the Casa Inglese,
a little white house with a tower in the middle
of it, towards which our steps were directed.
The sun disappeared behind the mountains
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To the Top of Etna
of the plain, and with its departure the atmo
sphere chilled and the wind arose. Clouds
also gathered on the heights above.
Before reaching the Casa del Bosco we had
overtaken two other travellers making the
same excursion as ourselves, an English lady
and her French husband. The latter was clad
in the lightest of alpaca clothing, with canvas
shoes on his feet, which attracted the attention
of Nino and his companions as particularly
adapted to insure to the wearer the greatest
amount of bodily discomfort on sucb an
occasion as this. We had been cheerfully
exchanging ideas on the scenery, which could
not fail to be appreciated by any lover of
nature. Giuseppe in the rear, with Nino in
the front, kept us amused with songs and
jokes bandied between them. But as night
succeeded dusk, and the wind increased, our
spirits fell with the thermometer, which could
not have been far from freezing point, and
conversation flagged. Giuseppe had collapsed
and looked an inert mass on the back of his
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mule ; Nino, accustomed to the road and to
the cold, alone preserved his good humour.
The moon gave us the best of her young
light, but clouds of vapour constantly hid her
welcome face, and we continued our course,
trusting more to the sagacity of the mules
to carry us aright than to the reins we held
in our hand's. On we went and up we toiled
by the sides of dangerous precipices and over
rugged lava rocks ; ploughing through drifts
of sand, stumbling over deserts of stone. The
cold had become intense. I tried to warm
myself by walking, but after a few minutes on
foot I was glad to remount my mule, pre
ferring the cold to the laborious climbing,
which the rarefication of the air rendered still
more difficult.
We put on all the clothing we had brought,
even removing the blankets from the saddles
for that purpose. But the chill blast pene
trated those coverings like a knife, and hands
and feet were numbed.
All was sUent except for the roaring of
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To the Top of Etna
the wind and the groans and ejaculations of
the Frenchman in his thin clothing and canvas
shoes. Every few minutes seemed an hour.
I was drowsy with the cold, and half asleep,
notwithstanding the friendly hint from Nino
that it would be safer to keep my eyes open
to the perils of the ascent, when I was aroused
from torpor by loud cries of " Pietro ! Pietro ! "
yelled in a manner such as only a Sicilian can
yell. What had happened ? Had Nino gone mad ?
Or had Giuseppe lost his lantern and was
appealing to a patron saint for succour? No.
It was the key of the stable at the Casa Inglese
that was wanted, an individual by the name
of Pietro being the custodian of that article.
Pietro was also the guardian of the stores of
frozen snow preserved in crevices for the use
of the island in the hot summer months. He
had his habitation in those parts, Nino told
me, and had spent the greater part of his
life there. What manner of man could he
be, this old man of the mountain, content to
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pass his existence in that lonely region, I
asked myself, relapsing into my former torpid
state, as we jolted onward without receiving
other answer to our cries than weird echoes
from the surrounding rocks.
As we drew up behind a sheltering shoulder
of the mountain to wind the mules, Nino
informed me tbat we had another half-hour's
ride. Despite our sundry warnings, the
Frenchman had fallen far behind and was
exercising his lungs in shouting lamentations
to his wife, who was with us ; lamentations so
oft repeated, that neither she or we paid great
attention to them. Our animals were now
completely exhausted, stopping to breathe
every few steps. The wind had become more
intolerable and the cold more intense, when,
issuing from a hollow, Nino cried triumphantly,
" Ecco, la Casa Inglese ! " and before us was
the house which for six long hours — they had
appeared twelve at least — we had been toiling
to reach. To dismount was difficult, bodies
and limbs were stiff from the sitting posture
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To the Top of Etna
of the long ride, and our heads dizzy from the
rarefied state of the air.
Having entered the casa, Giuseppe pressed
forward, lantern in hand, to give light to the
signori. He attempted to light the lamp, but
alas ! nothing would induce the wick to ignite ;
match after match was expended in vain ;
either the oil was congealed or the wick was
not trimmed, and the effort was without
avail. Poor Giuseppe ! He had been looking
forward to that moment to confound his
enemies, the detractors of his lantern. Even
his politeness could not disguise his mortifi
cation when I took from my pocket a little
raUway lamp which ignited easily and gave
us a cheerful light.
Supper was laid on the table, and water to
make soup and coffee boiling over a spirit
lamp, when the Frenchman appeared with a
pale face, gabbling unintelligible English at
a pace that was painful to listen to . We learnt
with difficulty that there was cause for his
excitement ; that a tragic event threatened to
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Sicilian Studies
close our day. He had left his guide, a sickly,
ill -fed youth, lying on the ground in a fainting
condition and overcome by exhaustion, half a
mile down the side of the mountain. A rescue
party was organized, of which a flask of brandy
was not the least important item, and in a
short time the lad was brought in. "Ten
minutes later, though," said charitable Nino
to him, " and you would have been with the
saints in Paradise." I believe he spoke the
truth — not about the happy eventual destina
tion of the young fellow, about which I could
not, of course, form an opinion, but touching
his removal from this sphere.
We found the Casa Inglese, or English
House, to be a hut of three rooms, the central
one giving access to two others. It received
its name because it had been constructed at
the expense of officers in the English army
of occupation in 1 8 1 1 . To this house has
been added lately by the Italian Government
an observatory of some pretension, and part
of it was the tower we had seen from below.
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To the Top of Etna
During supper Giuseppe had prepared beds
on broad wooden shelves around the walls,
and with the help of straw, pillows, and
blankets, brought with us, we were fairly
comfortable. Muffled in our wraps, we sought
repose, E. on one shelf, V. and I on a second,
the Frenchman and his wife on another. The
room had a fireplace, but the chimney had
been omitted in the calculations of the builder,
for on kindling the fuel smoke poured out
into the room in such quantities that it sent
us to the door with streaming eyes and
gasping breath. Refusing the offer of a
charcoal brazier from Giuseppe, we went
fireless to rest.
V. and E. were soon fast asleep and snoring
loudly, despite the cold, which numbed my
feet and hands. I was wakeful, and for some
time entertained by the curtain lecture ad
ministered by the Frenchman to his wife for
having abandoned him to the terrors of that
cheerless night on the mountain -side. But
the text must have been an old one, or the
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sermon tedious, for long before the gentle
man's tongue had ceased the lady was evi
dently in the land of dreams.
At four o'clock I heard the guides moving
in the next room. Giuseppe entered with his
lantern, which by vast coaxing he had at
length lighted. He again forgot his polite
ness, and, failing to ask the morning bene
diction customary in Sicily, commenced a
long account of the miseries be had undergone
the last few hours. " I've been dead all night
long," said he, with native effusiveness, " and
it is owing to the charcoal brazier which your
Excellency rightly refused to have in your
room, but which, in spite of your advice, Nino
and his companion insisted on retaining in
ours." And indeed the good man looked a
pitiable object, though not perhaps as might
have been expected in a man who had passed
a night as he described.
We were soon marshalled for the ascent of
the crater. The English lady, notwithstanding
the entreaties, the commands, the tearful
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To the Top of Etna
prayers of her husband to remain behind,
solely, I believe, to give him an opportunity of
doing the same, pluckily formed one of the
party. Giuseppe, quite a wreck, begged to be
excused from accompanying us, and handed
to Nino his lantern (which now burned
brightly, as if to vindicate its own and its
owner's reputation), with solemn injunctions
to guard it as he would his life.
Neither the cold nor the wind had
diminished. A dim twilight, with a faint
glow of red, was seen in the east. We
traversed a hundred yards of rough lava
with imminent risk to neck and limb before
reaching the base of the crater.
" You wish us to go up the side of this
wall ? " I asked1 Nino, with dismay, pointing
to the black mountain in front of us. " Yes,"
was the answer, and we resigned ourselves
to the circumstances with as much calmness
as we could command.
.We struggled and toiled up that height,
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wading through ashes half-way to the knees,
jumping from rock to rock, sliding on greasy
mud or slipping on smooth stone. Our lungs
were filled with sulphur smoke which rose
from the ground ; our eyes were blinded with
dust, and cut by the wind which impeded our
progress. Every few minutes we stopped to
take breath. V. suffered from giddiness and
sickness ; we had to attach him to Nino by
a rope ; E . had violent pains in the head ;
I, except in my breathing, did not suffer from
the altitude and the rarefied state of the
atmosphere .
The Frenchman and his wife had suc
cumbed to fatigue in a few minutes after
commencing the ascent of the cone. We saw
them below, sitting on a rock, in imminent
danger of destruction from the stones which,
despite our precautions, were detached in our
upward progress. The lantern, too, discarded
since the twilight had given place to dawn,
was lying on the side of the crater in so
perilous a position that old Giuseppe, wreck
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To the Top of Etna
of a man as he was, had he known it, would
have rushed in hot haste to save it.
With relief we gained the summit.
The east claimed our first attention. Creep
ing behind a sheltering rock, seated on the
warm ashes, we waited for the sunrise. We
had not long to wait. Clouds that had
gathered on the horizon took a rosy hue and
gradually deepened. The sun rose, banked
in clouds of crimson and gold. The rays first
struck the summit of the cone. In a few
seconds a warm tint was communicated to the
rest of the crater, to the black slopes of the
mountain, lighting the many peaks on its pre
cipitous sides and defining the deep shadows
of the ravines. Then the glow spread to the
green belt of trees of the Chestnut Zone, to
the orange groves and vineyards, to the plain
of Catania, to the dark sea beyond.
The scene was of wonderful beauty.
Immediately around, desolation and ruin the
most complete. Beyond, a panorama of sur
passing charm— Sicily, eleven thousand feet
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Sicilian Studies
below. Beneath us the indented line of coast
stretching westward with Augusta, Syracuse,
and Cape Passaro ; Catania in its false
security, and apparently so near that a stone
could be dropped into its streets ; the plain ;
the Simeto ; the Lentini Lake, bounded by
the mountains of Syracuse ; countless valleys
and torrents ; towns and villages ; woods and
groves, overshadowed by innumerable ranges
of hills and pointed mountains, raised one
above the other almost perpendicularly by a
peculiar power of refraction ; all bathed in
exquisite blue and lilac tints of marvellous
clearness, all reduced to miniature size— these
were the chief features of the picture. But
imagination must fall short of a true concep
tion of its beauty, words must necessarily fail
to give an adequate idea of its vastness.
Our attention was then turned to the crater,
and we gazed into it from the highest peak.
Blinded, however, by smoke and dust, and
warned by the guide that the spot was
dangerous, we retreated to a less exposed and
safer place, where a drift of frozen snow was
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To the Top ot Etna
lying. From there we saw the vast abyss,
with its shelving sides encrusted with salts of
sulphur and ammonia, of colours varying from
bright orange and yellow to white and reddish
brown, vomiting clouds of vapour which, when
they appeared at the brink of the cone, bor
rowed hues from the sun as they were carried
away through the clear air. There were
moments when this outflow of vapour ceased,
and we could gaze into the farther depths,
but gaze as we would, or change our position
as we liked, curious eyes were ever arrested
by some projecting crag that shut the fiery
secrets from our view and left curiosity un
satisfied. The crater, four miles in circum
ference, was surrounded by a thin wall of rock
rising perpendicularly from the inside.
The descent of the cone was as easy as
the ascent had been wearisome. Planting our
heels in the ash on our downward course, we
reached the base at a breakneck speed in a
quarter of an hour.
Giuseppe's lantern was not forgotten ;
marvellous to relate, it had escaped the
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stones, and was not reduced to fragments as
we had expected.
On reaching the Casa Inglese breakfast
awaited us . The Frenchman was pathetic ;
he was continuously complaining in his cease
less flow of broken English over the destruc
tion of his canvas shoes.
" Serve him right for coming up> here in
such clothing," remarked Nino.
His wife was eager to explain that she had
wished to ascend the cone with us, adding,
with spiteful glances at her husband, that she
had not been allowed to leave him. How
those two people, with that broken English
as the only medium of conversation (for the
lady was a true Briton, and disdained all
knowledge of other language than her own),
with their manifest unsuitability to each other,
could have married, was a puzzle that we
could not solve.
After breakfast we started to see the Torre
del Filosofo and the Vai del Bove. Crossing
a desert of reddish-brown sand and ash, we
came to a ruined cairn of masonry, which
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To the Top of Etna
Nino pointed out as the Torre, but on attempt
ing further explanation he broke down in his
history. This erection derives its name from
Empedocles of Agrigentum, the famed aspi
rant to godly rank who, it is said, frequented
the spot ; but it is more probably the ruins
of a temple, or of a building erected in the
time of the Emperor Hadrian, as the fragments
denote work of that period.
A little further, and we were above the
celebrated Vai del Bove, another marvel of
volcanic creation. We stood on the brink of
a precipice four thousand feet high. Below
was a chasm four miles wide and more than
double that length, shut in by black cliffs.
On its floor, at unequal distances, were
scattered cones of past eruptions. Innumer
able streams of lava wound through the
waste of ashes and rocks, which were piled
in reckless confusion. Not a vestige of
green, not a sign of life. It was a scene
the unique desolation and awful solitude of
which oppressed and fascinated at the same
moment. We were silent, and even the
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Sicilian Studies
garrulity of the Frenchman was checked by
the solemnity of the scene.
Passing over the Piano del Lago, called so
because water formed from winter snows
formerly was here, we looked into the
cisterna, a natural depression in the soil
1 20 feet deep, and constantly increasing in
depth — a curiosity to some, perhaps, but not of
great interest to us who had come fresh from
the crater. Lower down we joined the mules
that Giuseppe had laden with our belongings.
Arriving at Nicolosi, we said farewell to
good-tempered Nino and our fellow-travellers,
and reached Catania as the first drops of a
heavy downpour which terminated the tropical
Sicilian summer, came splashing down on the
pavements .
That evening, passing to my bedroom1, I
saw Giuseppe at work cleaning his lantern.
" Does your Excellency regret your excur
sion?" he asked. "Certainly not," replied
I, " for I hope some day to repeat it."
"Buon riposo," said he.. " Altrettanto," I
rejoined, as I shut my door.
230

TWO BRIGANDS
OF ETNA

TWO BRIGANDS OF ETNA
" Finalmente " was the word on many lips
when news of the death of Placido Botta and
Angelo Scarpa, the brigands, was carried
through the country. " At last ! " it was said,
with a sigh of relief. Vengeance had tarried
a long time, but it had come. Things
human move slowly in Sicily ; things official
move slower still. But retribution surely
comes in some shape or form in the end,
and Botta and Scarpa met their doom within
two days on the slopes of Etna.
Sicily and Sardinia— those two jewels in
the crown of Italy— have always had an un
enviable reputation on account of brigandage.
They have scarcely yet outlived that reputa
tion. Although the deeply contrived acts of
organized brigandage of old are rarely met
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with now, it would be difficult to state that
that form of crime has been eradicated ; nor
will it be until the people show a fixed deter
mination to help the authorities in its extinc
tion. However, the ordinary, traveller runs
no risk if he have the wisdom to keep his
movements a secret, and so give no oppor
tunity to evil-disposed persons to arrange for
his capture and- detention, since a sequestro,
as it is called, is not a thing of the moment,
but a deed to be thought out beforehand and
carefully organized, because many people
have a hand in it.
What is generally, the beginning of a band
of brigands ? A thrust of a knife or a shot
of a gun in anger or revenge, and the
aggressor leaves his victim dead, betaking
himself to the hills to avoid the consequences
of his crime. He is soon joined by others in
the same predicament as himself, and they
begin depredations together. Other crimes
follow, for brigands have prestige to keep up,
like finer folk, and unless they be held in fear
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Two Brigands of Etna
they do not obtain what is necessary for their
subsistence. They often become desperate and
very daring.
Brigands appear suddenly, like mushroom's
after a shower of rain ; no one knows exactly
where and how. They are here to-day and
there to-morrow. One day they are united to
do some foul deed ; another they are peace
fully following some ordinary occupation, if
not too hardly pressed by the police. Many
are well armed with repeating rifles, and are
equally well mounted. And they pass from
place to place like the wind. Few of the
peasant class will betray them if they happen
to be seen on their rapid journeys. The
peasants fear them, but have not the courage
to oppose them ; they are content to sacrifice
their belongings to appease their unwelcome
visitors, in the hope of saving their lives . There
are also an undercurrent of sympathy for evil-
doing and a dislike to be thought to be allied
with the authorities ; the result pf the state
of semi - civilization in which the country
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Sicilian Studies
people live. But the backbone of brigandage
in Sicily, and the great difficulties the police
have to face, are to be found in that lament
able want of grit to openly protect themselves,
and the conspiracy of silence which the
Sicilian contadini show in most of their
doings in life .
That is the reason why Botta and Scarpa
had been so long at large. Despite the fear
inspired by their names, there was nothing
in the lives of the two men to raise them
to the picturesque heights of the brigands of
romance, or even of comic opera. They were
nothing but evil-looking specimens of the
criminal class, whose deeds more than sur
passed the evil of their looks.
Scarpa was a young man of twenty-three,
the brother of a noted brigand undergoing a
term of thirty years' imprisonment. Botta
was some years older. Both were born at a
town on Mount Etna better known for the
ferocity of the inhabitants than for anything
else. Scarpa took to the open country;
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Two Brigands of Etna
joined a band of outlaws to avenge himself
the better on those who had assisted in hand
ing his brother over to justice. His san
guinary nature soon asserted itself in an
encounter with the Carabinieri. This was
followed by the cold-blooded murder of an
overseer, into whose body he fired seven
bullets in the presence of peasants too terri
fied to offer resistance. Crime followed crime
in quick succession, and the country was in a
state of alarm at the audacity of the com
panions in murder, who bad become in
separable. So great was the awe which they
inspired, that they went one day into a field
where many men were working, and selecting
one, named Carmelo, against whom' they had
no grudge, they took him up to a rocky
eminence, where all might see the tragedy,
and riddled the man with bullets. The deed
accomplished, the murderers called out, " Go,
tell the magistrate that Scarpa and Botta
have killed Carmelo." It was done out of
pure brutality, in order to terrorize the neigh
bourhood. 237

Sicilian Studies
The next victim was a Carabiniere, who,
separated from his companion in attem'pting
to find a lost path on the mountain, came on
the brigands unawares, and was immediately
shot dead. But the most bloodthirsty of all
the deeds done by these human monsters was
the murder of a well-to-do farmer whom
they had captured. He had incurred their
displeasure by refusing their blackmailing
demands, and was suspected of working for
their arrest. Unable to obtain the sum of
twelve thousand lire demanded for a ransom
—two thousand was offered and taken — the
farmer was put to death. " We shall gouge
out your eyes that have recognized us, and
cut out your tongue that has spoken of us,"
said they ; and they put their threat into
execution, finally disembowelling the body
and throwing it into a river.
It may seem strange that such ruffians
should have been at large, defying the law
for more than three years. But to the diffi
culties already, mentioned, which the police
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Two Brigands of Etna
have to overcome, should be added those
caused by large tracts of uninhabited country
and the facilities for hiding afforded by the
slopes of Etna. Fissures and caves of great
size exist under the lava, and a man may
sometimes disappear suddenly from sight
and be seen no more. A single individual
from behind the rocks is able to check the
usual patrol of two or four of the public
force should he have a repeating rifle, as
nearly all brigands have. The first and
foremost cause of the mischief, however, is
the present penal code, from which capital
punishment is excluded, and which is both
contemptibly weak in its provisions and fre
quently miserably administered. This, joined
with a silly sentimentality that has a sneaking
fondness for evildoers, which pervades some
classes of the community, and a want of
moral fibre to put down lawlessness at all
costs, leave a beautiful island under a heavy
curse .
The two brigands of whom I write met
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Sicilian Studies
their end thus. Information came to the head
of the detective force that they were in hiding
at a certain spot on Etna. That official called
his men and went in search. The party
passed a house where some women laughed
at them, and scoffingly wished them1 success
in their undertaking. The house was that of
Scarpa, and the women were his mother and
sisters. " Those who laugh to-day may weep
to-morrow," was the detective's calm remark
as he and his men went their way. They
found Botta alone. He fired on them. The
shots failed to take effect, and the police
returned the fire. Botta received a bullet
through the head that killed him instantly.
At some distance a man was seen coming
out of a cave. It was Scarpa. He made
good his escape, only to fall a victim two
days later. The saying that good comes from
thieves falling out was once more verified on
this occasion. It seems that the younger
brigand was enamoured of a low-class woman
of his native place, and, in fact, was in the
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Two Brigands of Etna
midst of love passages when surprised by
the Carabinieri who compassed his death.
Botta, a woman-hater, distrustful of the sex,
who had always remonstrated against the
amorous disposition of his companion, pro
tested emphatically against his conduct, fore
seeing ruin to both ; and he finally put into
execution his threat of separation, and with
drew into a neighbouring cave. Thus it was
that Botta was found alone and became an
easy prey to the police.
The end of Scarpa was more tragic. Fly
ing in hot haste over the lava streams, with
the black crater of the mountain soaring many
thousand feet above him, he went to one of
his old haunts, where food and shelter were
to be had— a shepherd's hut at the foot of
one of the many extinct cones of the volcano.
He knew it well, and the descendant of
Daphnis who tended the flocks had always
been a character too docile to be anything but
friendly. But he counted without due reckon
ing. The shepherd, now exasperated by the
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Sicilian Studies
constant demands for food and ravages on his
flock, and probably hoping for the reward
which all the world knew was placed on the
brigand's head, resolved on his destruction.
Setting his unwelcome guest to skin a rabbit
for his dinner— an operation requiring some
attention, as he knew— the shepherd, advancing
stealthily from behind, severed the bent head
of the brigand from his body with a strong,
quick blow of an axe.
The body was taken to the cemetery, where
it was visited by hundreds. Among the
onlookers were the weeping womenfolk of
Scarpa's family who had jeered at' the detec
tive officer and the task which he had set
himself to do two days before.
" The weeping has come sooner than I
anticipated," said the official to a companion
as he left the cemetery, followed by the
sullen glances and sobs of the dead brigand's
family.

242

SICILIAN
WAYS

SICILIAN WAYS
Various and curious are the manners and
customs of Ragusa and its vicinity. The
people are well-behaved and religious in the
sense of observing the outward forms of re
ligion. " Silenzio nella Casa di Dio " were
appropriate words in large letters seen on
entering the principal church of the upper
town ; and the precept appeared as seemly in
theory as it was doubtless necessary in the
chattering land of Sicily. But far from the
prescribed " Silence in the House of God,"
a din discordant as of a parrot-house in a
zoological garden prevailed. The holy build
ing was given up to the infant school of many
classes, each collected before various side
altars to say lessons of repetition of any but
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Much polite ceremonial holds in daily life
among the lower orders (the upper classes
considerably overdo it), and in no way is it
better demonstrated than by the studied cour
tesy with which different grades of society
address one another, and in the way that
distinctive titles are bestowed. For example,
Massaru, contracted into Massa\ belongs to
the peasants who are well-to-do, to overseers,
or to those who have any one under them.
Zia, or Zu, belongs of a right to labourers ;
and Curatulu is the distinctive appellation of
all kinds of herdsmen. The term Gnura, or
Gna (abbreviation of Signora), is given to
wives of farmers or artisans, and to those
known to possess means of their own, or who
hold positions of trust ; while Zia, or Za,
belongs to the better class of labourers' wives.
Women of lower grade have no special desig
nation, but their names are changed or con
tracted to the diminutive in sign of respect
or affection : from Giuseppina to Pippuzza or
Peppina, from Francesca to Ciccuzza or Ciccia,
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Sicilian Ways
from Antonina to Nina. Peasants address
strangers as Compari or Commari, thus
politely putting them on terms of equality
with themselves ; and a man who is godfather
to a child becomes " compare " to the parents
—a relationship which in some parts of Sicily
is accounted almost equal to that of brother.
Of late years the dignity of Don and Donna,
which in old times was enjoyed only by chil
dren of the sovereign or of dukes and princes
by right, is bestowed indiscriminately on folk
of humbler origin.
There are various picturesque forms of
salutation, such as " Biniricitu " (Benedicite)
from the younger to the older, to which the
reply is " Santu " or " Vi saluto," or " Salute
vi vogghiu " (I wish you health). When a
peasant meets a stranger from a distant
village, he says in passing, " Gesu e Maria,"
to which the invariable answer is " San
Giuseppe v'accompagni " (May St. Joseph be
your guide!). In taking leave, people say
" Cuvirnativi " (Take care of yourself), and
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Sicilian Studies
the rejoinder is " Raccumannatami u Sign uri "
(Commend me to the Lord). Before knocking
at a door the person mutters " Ddorazia "
(Deo gratias), and the owner from within
answers " Trasiti cui siti " (Enter freely, who
ever you are). The good manners of the
humblest Sicilian peasant are noteworthy, and
might serve not only as examples for our
own lower classes, but also to some of the
younger persons of both sexes who frequent
the drawing-rooms of so-called Society.
Another custom' observed in the neighbour
hood takes place on the Vigil of the Purifica
tion of the Virgin, when peasant women of
Chiaramonte go to a mountain above the
town to bathe their hands and faces in dew.
As soon as dawn breaks they are seen on
their way to the mountain, solemnly reciting
the Rosary of the Madonna and chanting in
chorus ; and, again, each one for herself, a
special hymn of praise in honour of the Virgin
and of the spotless purity of the dew, which
alone may be compared to her. After the
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Sicilian Ways
hymn is finished, the women kneel and bury
their hands in grass and flowers wet with dew,
making the sign of the cross first on their
foreheads and then on their breasts and lips,
reciting meanwhile the Ave in subdued and
prayerful monotone.
Possibly none are so superstitious as the
Sicilians. The MaVocchio, or Evil Eye, is a
living terror as well as a power ; and fairies
and gnomes, monsters and evil spirits, dreams
and prognostications, enter largely into their
lives. Dreams, especially those of a Monday
or Tuesday, are held to be divine revelations,
for, say the people, God lifts a corner of the,
veil that hides the future, giving man time
and opportunity whereby to avoid misfortune,
or prepare with Christian resignation tq face
what that future may have in store. To dream
of white grapes means tears ; of black grapes,
fecundity ; of black figs, souls in purgatory
who loudly call for prayers to help them ; of
white figs, misfortune ; of a black dog visiting
a house, a sign of a special providence or
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good luck ; of a white dog, theft or loss .
Here the ancient superstition still holds, for
black is regarded as a lucky colour and white
as unlucky, which is contrary to the belief
of modern times . Pears presage castigation ;
wheat, torment ; raw meat, approaching death ;
intestines or roasted meat, a violent death. A
hen and chickens in one's dream signify
treasure trove ; a visit from a priest good
fortune, and so on.
The people of Ragusa are known for their
kindness to animals— an admirable trait that
might well be imitated throughout Italy and
Sicily. The proverb, " Meglio prestare la
moglie che l'asino " (Better lend your wife
than your donkey) finds apt illustration in the
following tale :—
A peasant woman, seeing her donkey very
ill, went in search of the blacksmith, v/ho is
frequently the only veterinary surgeon avail
able. The latter, however, said that nothing
but a miracle could save the beast. Seized
with the hope of preserving its precious life,
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Sicilian Ways
the woman hastened to the church, and before
the altar of St. Erasmus, the special pro
tector of asses in the Sicilian hierarchy of
Heaven, in a passionate flow of words and
tears vowed the following vow, which has
been put into Sicilian verse thus :
Aiu un fanciullinu ed un bbarduinu sulu.
Lassatimi lu sceccu ca nu campa
E pighiattvi scanciu la fighiulu,
Ca ppi tri ggiorni v'addumu na lampa.1
The relations of the Sicilians to their patron
saints are peculiar. A friend has related that,
being somewhat shocked at seeing a woman
in a church not only vilifying and shaking
her fist at, but also spitting in the face of a
statue of a saint, remonstrated on her be
haviour with a priest standing near. " Oh,"
said the priest, " don't think too much of
that ; after all is said, the poor woman is
right. She has prayed night and day for
1 I have only a son and a donkey : leave me the donkey
which brings me bread ; take in exchange my son ; for this
favour I vow a candle to you for three days.
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her son who is ill, and has also vowed many
gifts to the saint, without result. She is not
to blame."
Again, many an image of the patron saint
of a town has been locked up in a dark
cupboard in dire disgrace, or carried through
the streets tied on a donkey's back with his
face to the tail, to be pelted with refuse and
mud because prayers for rain or other favours
have remained ungranted. The Sicilians are
practical in their ideas, and look for the quid
pro quo, though they are not always as ready
to give it when gratitude or politeness demand
it from them.
The people possess a sense of satirical
humour, and they do not spare their neigh
bours, especially those who live in adjoining
towns. Personal remarks, though often offen
sive and coarse, are full of facetious wit ; in
the last respect resembling those of the Irish,
with whom these people have points in
common. For example, the women of Pala-
gonia are called canaries because, being
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Sicilian Ways
victims of malaria, their faces are yellow.
The epithet of " burners of men " still attaches
to the inhabitants of Militello because, much
to the indignation of the rest of Sicily, they
wisely burned the corpses of those who died
of the plague. An old chronicle says that
the people of a certain town were called
carpusi (thieves), a name still retained because
they are " not very honest " ; and the same
people go by the name of sharks because they
have large heads. Men of Buccheri are nick
named " empty saddle-bags," because they
are very poor.
The last day of Carnival is the great day
of the year in the family, circle. No master
refuses leave of absence to his servant, who,
if unmarried, journeys many miles to dine
under the paternal roof. Grouped around
the table, the family is gathered, and when
the benediction of Heaven has been invoked
by the father for himself and his kneeling wife
and children, the meal of macaroni and savoury
dishes of meat and vegetables is commenced
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Sicilian Studies
solemnly and eaten in plenty and peace.
Carnival is a time when old customs dating
back many centuries are scrupulously ob
served. The last three days before Lent,
chiefly given up to feasting, dancing, and
merrymaking, are called sdirruminica, sdirri-
luni, sdirrimarti (sdirri is a corruption of
the French dernier, and is a relic of the
Angevin occupation). To these days belong
the following proverbs in Sicilian dialect :
" On the last Sunday make friends with nuns,
since they prepare tasty dishes ; " " On the
last Monday, oranges in plenty ; " " On the
last Tuesday, to those who want give secretly,
i.e. not to offend their feelings." And for
the sdirrisira, or the last evening of all, you
must dine with your own people, no matter
where you may be at Christmas or Easter :
Natale e Pasqua ecu tu vuoi,
La sdirrisira falla con li tuoi.
There are also other days of Carnival
observed here, such as the Giovedi grasso,
254

Sicilian Ways
and its two preceding Thursdays, which have
their special denominations, one being il giomo
dello Zuppiddu, which is derived from Silenus,
who was supposed to be zoppo, or lame, on
which day a distribution of macaroni is made
to the poor. On Giovedi grosso (otherwise
di lu lardaloru, because a special dish of bacon
and vegetables of the name is eaten on that
day), many a family quarrel finds a peaceful
solution, because it is thought that the merits
of that savoury dish is not fully appreciated
by those partaking of it if ill-will or bitter
ness of feeling exist among them. Such
quarrels are of frequent occurrence in a
family, owing to conflicting interests, wliich
arise as follows : When a peasant girl is of
marriageable age, she must carry a dowry to
her husband, otherwise she has little hope of
leaving the paternal roof. Besides her modest
trousseau, the parents usually promise eight
or ten pounds wherewith to buy a house,
generally a miserable hut ; of this only a
small sum is paid down, the remainder is
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declared due in various instalments every
Christmas -time. As, however, the family
pig is frequently security for the dowry (as
it is for the rent in Ireland), and as that
important member of the household may
happen to, and frequently does, die before
its appointed time, or is surreptitiously dis
posed of to meet more urgent wants, all
hopes of the dowry vanish and family
dissensions begin. Then the indignant son-
in-law takes matters into his own hands and
his wife by the shoulders, and shows her the
door, saying she can return when her dowry
be paid. The no less outraged father seizes
upon this insult to his house as a valid excuse
for non-payment, and prefers to receive his
daughter until fortune smiles upon his affairs
once more.
Again, when a son is married (around
Ragusa the sons receive dowries, which is not
generally the case ,in Sicily), the father fre
quently assigns as a marriage portion one foot
of a mule or horse, that is to say, a fourth
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Sicilian Ways
part in the ownership or value of the animal.
Unfortunately, it often happens that another
foot has been already given away to an elder
brother, the other two remaining the property
of the parent, or for further disposal to a third
son of matrimonial intent. So the delicate
question of how one animal is to be a source
of income to three individuals arises (always
understanding that the quadruped is neither
a Derby winner nor a favourite steeplechaser,
but a miserable beast of burden at best), and
is hard to solve. Small wonder that differences
of opinion on the subject should lead to a
state of domestic friction, playing havoc with
paternal love and filial affection. However,
the succulent dish of lu lardaloru alluded to
above, has magnetic power to draw the dis
cordant famUy together, for it would be
considered a scandalous breach of good
manners on the part of a son or son-in-law
to disregard the father's invitation and not let
bygones be bygones in the savoury fumes of
the favourite stew. Thus difficulties are dis-
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Sicilian Studies
cussed and promises renewed with a geniality
engendered by a full stomach ; and the vexed
question of the mule's foot is frequently com
promised with the substitution of a gift of
linen, and the defaulting pig is compensated
by some other homely present.
But Carnival does not consist only of family
gatherings and f eastings. Practical jokes,
jesting, mummery and licence, enter largely
into the celebration of the season. Formerly
gorgeous processions, like those in the Corso
at Rome, were tbe favourite displays of the
gentry, and large sums were expended on
them. But these have ceased, as they have
also ceased in the capital. Small mercy is
shown to unpopular persons, and those who
are known for any special failing or idiosyn
crasy are not spared. A1 priest had often
complained that the Pope had overlooked his
merits, and disregarded his many virtues.
One day he received a, telegram from Rome,
saying he had been nominated to a neighbour
ing bishopric, and he began to make costly
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Sicilian Ways

preparations for betaking himself to his see,
assuming all the airs and dignity of a prelate.
But with the sackcloth and ashes of the first
day of Lent came the disillusion, intended and
arranged by the Carnival masqueraders, and
their victim soon learnt that the Pope was
still unmindful of his great merits and
promotion as far off as ever.
Marriages between old people, or those of
very different ages, seem always to have
excited the ire of the lower classes of these
parts ; and woe betide the unhappy couple
if they happen to select Christmas -time for the
change from single blessedness to connubial
bliss. An old man of Chiaramonte fell in
love with1 and married a young woman
privately, in the hope of escaping notice.
But alas for his hopes ! On the evening of
the wedding-day a crowd collected, and,
making a hole in the door of the one-roomed
house, thrust in bundles of lighted straw
which filled it with smoke. But, though the
loving pair were well-nigh choked, they re-
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fused to open to their enemies. Whereupon
the crowd, seeing that their fun was likely to
be baffled, broke down the door and carried
off Philemon and Baucis in triumph. The
unfortunate bride and bridegroom were tied
to ladders, hoisted on the shoulders of men
and boys, and escorted through the town.
The night was a dark one, but the darkness
was soon overcome by a hundred torches, and
an extraordinary sight it was. The procession
was preceded by men improvising music from
horns, tambourines, petroleum cans, and
whistles ; wherever it passed;, doors and
windows were thrown open, and there was a
perpetual chorus of songs and shouting,
accompanied by every sort of missile that
came to hand, some not of the most delicate
description. The mob had its own way
because it was s Carnival -time ; and the
authorities joined in the revelry.
Such proceedings are only possible at this
particular season of the year, however, for at
other times, though ready for any amusement
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Sicilian Ways

and keenly alive to any fun that may be going
on around them, in which they love to par
ticipate, the people are orderly and well-
behaved, and there is an absence of horse
play and rough treatment of strangers which
one would like to notice in other countries.
Warm-hearted and affectionate the Sicilian
lower classes certainly are. They have many
and deep-seated faults, which will probably
take long years to remedy, owing to the
oppression of centuries, ignorance, and striv
ing against exacting and ever-changing masters
from time immemorial. But there is much
to encourage a hopeful view of their future,
and the belief that they may some day be
worthy, in all senses of the word, of the
beautiful land of sun and warmth of which
they are the proud possessors, may stUl be
indulged in by their many well-wishers.

261

SYRACUSEHONOURS
iESCHYLUS

SYRACUSE HONOURS ^SCHYLUS
Modern Syracuse, knowing as little of
^Eschylus as the rest of the world, because
scanty is the knowledge of his life that
history imparts, has nevertheless busied itself
in honouring the " Father of Greek Tragic
Drama." But Syracuse, more than another
town of to-day, has a right to honour him.
It was this city, and its sister Gela, that
received him when the citizens of his native
Athens had driven him to foreign shores.
They treated him as an honoured guest, and
combined to give him sumptuous burial.
Syracuse, indeed, claimed him as its own
then ; and to-day his memory is one it
delights to honour.
Those who know Italy cannot have failed
to notice the pride of the people in the history
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Sicilian Studies
of its greatness. Patriotism with them is not
a feeble expression of opinion, or a dormant
sentiment, but a living force to inspire and
stimulate ; to restrain within just limits those
who threaten disaster to their country by
inept theories in the hope of place and
profit. Their deeper love of country was not
born from the grandeur of Imperial Rome, as
some might think ; but from a remoter past,
when the finer instincts and perception of men
were awakened by noble achievements of hero,
poet, and sculptor.
The memory of those achievements is vividly
present with Italians now. The recollection is
as much part of their life as of their history.
Those who would understand the Italians must
take account of that love of and pride in the
past. Syracuse having had a prominent part in
the making of history, is imbued with the
national sentiment. It still glories in the
remembrance of its famous days. Here
Gelon, after his victory at Himera, initiated
266

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
the golden era of Greek supremacy in Sicily ;
here his brother Hiero reared that city which
evoked Cicero's unstinted admiration, receiv
ing at his court the great poets of the age, of
whom ^Eschylus was one. Here, also, Nicias,
the intrepid besieger, was finally defeated and
brought prisoner from Asinarus, thus antici
pating the fall of Athens ; and from here the
first Dionysius carried the limits of Syracusan
territory triumphantly to the greater part of
Sicily and to Magna Graecia. Here, too, the
second Hiero rescued the land from conflict
to restore prosperity and peace ; and, later,
the city became a cradle of Christianity and,
at one time, the seat of the Byzantine Empire.
With the exception of its capital, no town
of the Roman Empire has played so important
a part in the world's story. So it is right
that Syracuse should celebrate the past, and
in reviving old memories, recall the famous
days of Greek culture and the share it has
had in promoting it. To Cavaliere Mario
Gargallo and his indefatigable companions be
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Sicilian Studies
attributed all praise, not only for the hard
work voluntarily undertaken, but also for
having initiated this celebration in honour of
the past.
Padua, Venice, Vicenza, Trieste, MUan, and
Rome have recently witnessed performances
of the works of Euripides and Aristophanes.
Now Syracuse has wished to follow their
example. It has produced " Agamemnon,"
first of that Trilogy " The Oresteia," which
has been described as the " highest achieve
ment, not only of TEschylus, but probably
of all Greek Drama."
As has been said, little is known of the life
of ^Eschylus ; but this much is related. Born
in 525 B.C, his father was Euphorion, an
Athenian, from the deme of Eleusis. His
home was, therefore, not only the seat of the
solemn mysteries of the " Great Mother,"
Demeter, but also of the cult of Dionysus.
The ceremonials of the latter may have
influenced the impressionable mind of the
young poet, inasmuch as Drama was evolved
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Syracuse Honours ^schylus
by him from the Dithyramb, a hymn about
divine or heroic persons, and especially
connected with the worship of Dionysus.
The creation of Drama from the Dithyramb,
which Aristotle with certainty attributes to
^Eschylus, may be recalled. Dithyrambs,
first mentioned by Archilochus 670 B.C.,
were sung at Corinth by a chorus of fifty
persons. Such choruses, representing Satyrs,
attendants of the " wandering god," were
features of the Dionysia at Athens. Thespis
of Icaria, in Attica, introduced the first
innovation. He wrote a dithyrambic chorus
of Satyrs of which he appointed a leader,
who held dialogue with another person, not
with the chorus only, as before. That person
was called " upocrites," or explainer (which
became afterwards the word for actor : hence
hypocrite, or simulator). Comment and
narrative were thus introduced ; but as yet
there was no Drama. To Thespis succeeded
Phrynichus, famed " for the simple sweet
ness of his lyrics," described by Aristophanes
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as " native wood-notes wild," as if the birds
had taught him their song. He extended the
Satyr chorus. ^Eschylus took the third and
most important step. He introduced a second
actor, thus giving greater importance to
dialogue, diminishing that of the chorus. A
story could now be told in action. Drama
was created. The dictum of Aristotle on this
subject may be accepted as conclusive, because,
writing at Athens about 330 B.C., he had at
his command the literature of the time and
records of performances of the plays.
/Eschylus is also credited with having first
clothed actors in dresses suitable to the char
acters represented.
He devoted himself in early, life to
poetry. But the time in which he lived was
warlike. Tragedy might be suggested, it is
true, but the voice of a poet would be lost
in the clamour of war.
^Eschylus was known as a poet when
twenty-five years old. At the age of thirty-
five he laid aside the pen for the sword,
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Syracuse Honours jEschylus
at a call to arms in defence of his country
against the Persians. He was one of the
proud victors on the plains of Marathon.
Again he fought at Salamis ; and, later, at
Plataea. At those battles he acquired the
deeper knowledge of the sufferings of mankind
which were to find so noble an expression in
his tragedies. Thus on the stage he was able
to impart to the presentation of incidents con
nected with the Athenian wars of independence
a simplicity and nobleness which experience
alone could give.
He gained his first laurels as a poet
484 B.C., having been defeated eighteen years
before by a man many years his junior,
Sophocles of Colonos, who then gained the
earUest of his victories. The position of
TEschylus as poet in Athens seems to have
been paramount from that date.
The following year he secured the prize
with " The Seven Against Thebes." His
last victory was obtained in 458 for " The
Oresteia." 271

Sicilian Studies
Favourite though he was, and greatly as
his work was acclaimed at Athens, difficul
ties arose which induced ^Eschylus to leave
his native land for Sicily. Various causes
have been assigned, more or less vaguely,
for this self-imposed banishment. Whether
it was the invitation of Hiero, the enlightened
ruler of Syracuse, who aspired to make his
people lovers of the highest form of art by
a close study of our poet's tragedies ; whether
TEschylus, disappointed once more in obtain
ing a prize that was offered for poetry in
honour of the heroes of Marathon, which fell
not to him but to Simonides ; or to a disagree
ment with his fellow-countrymen, wbo declared
that their women and children had been
frightened with disastrous consequences by
the stirring performance of his " Eumenides " ;
or whether, again, because the poet had been
attacked for the freedom of thought openly
expressed in his works, which varied from the
accepted forms of belief— is matter for con
jecture. 272

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
It is sufficient to note here that ^Eschylus
was adopted by the Syracusans as their own,
Macrobius going so far as to call him " a true
Sicilian." It is said that either to please his
hosts, or from intimate association, he intro
duced Sicilian idioms into his verse.
To gratify his patron, Hiero, on the occa
sion of the foundation of the city first named
^Etna (afterwards Katane-), upon which the
Syracusan ruler greatly prided himself,
^Eschylus wrote " The Women of ^Etna,"
first performed at Syracuse. It is likely, also,
that " The Persians," the play which was an
echo of Salamis, that " great national record
of combined poetry and patriotism1, as it was
also the first account of a great piece of his
tory by a great poet, who had himself helped
to make the history, rendering it, perhaps,
unique in literature," had also there its first
public representation. How long he remained
in Sicily at that time is doubtful ; but cer
tainly for three or four years. When he
returned to Athens, it is related, some of his
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Sicilian Studies
tragedies provoked so great an animosity that
he was brought to trial for impiety, or for
divulging sacred mysteries. He was saved by
his brother, who enforced a strong pleading
on his behalf by uncovering before the judges
his arm, the hand of which had been cut off
at Salamis.
He returned to Sicily after the death of
Hiero, and resided at Gela, where he died in
456 B.C., in the sixty -ninth year of his
age. The alleged manner of his death may be
recalled, not as a matter of history, but as
an indication of the love of the Greeks to
attribute miraculous deaths to their famous
men. yEschylus was asleep in the fields about
Gela when an eagle soared into the air with
a tortoise in its claws. The bird, seeing the
bald head of the poet shining below in the
sun, mistook it for a rock, and dropped the
tortoise to break its shell. The tortoise fell
on the poet's head and killed him. The
origin of the fable, perhaps, is not difficult
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
to trace. It has been suggested that the bird
of Zeus, the eagle, carrying heavenward a
shell of a tortoise, might be the sign of
apotheosis of a poet, inasmuch as lyres were
partly constructed from tortoiseshell . Such
would be an indication of immortality. Pos
sibly Sicilian humour was not altogether
absent when the tale was repeated by the
poet's unfriendly critics. The rock, the bald
head, and the fall of the tortoise, may have
been added by them to the story.
Legend was also attached to the youthful
days of iEschylus. It was maintained that
Dionysius appeared to him in a vineyard at
Eleusis with a command to dedicate himself
to tragedy. Legend also clung to the manner
of his death. It was an inevitable outcome
of the godlike qualities attributed to him by
his friends. The oracle that had foretold a
sudden death also may have prompted the
picturesque fable of the eagle and its
prey. The people of Gela, guarding his bones
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Sicilian Studies
jealously, erected a monument to the poet,
inscribing thereon lines written by himself :—
^Eschylus, Euphorion's son, an Athenian, lies here
Asleep, the fertile soil of Gela covering him.
The fields of Marathon bear witness to his valour
Which the long-haired Mede encountered.
An unusual honour was paid to his memory
at Athens, a special law being passed for the
performance of his plays after death.
A bronze statue of him1 was erected in the
theatre of Lycurgus in that city.
Though so little is known of the life of
^Eschylus, much has been written about his
works. Fragments, of which 451 are said
to exist, seem to prove that seventy-eight—
some say ninety — dramas were composed by
him. Of these dramas only seven remain
intact : " The Suppliant Women," " Pro
metheus Bound," " The Persians," " The
Seven Against Thebes," and the Trilogy re
ferred to, " The Oresteia," in which are
included " The Agamemnon," " The Liba
tion Bearers," and " The Furies."
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Trilogies, which were three tragedies,
chiefly connected in subject, forming, as
it were, three chapters of one story (followed
by a Satyr play which completed a Tetralogy),
were well suited to the vivid imagination of
^Eschylus, " who loved to express character
by great strokes of action and to trace a
gradual Nemesis to some goal of divine
reconciliation." The only complete Trilogy that rem'ains,
" The Oresteia," surpasses any other effort of
the poet. It has been described as possess
ing " all the splendour of language and the
lyrical magic of the early plays, the old, the
almost superhuman grandeur of outline, while
it is as sharp and deep in character and draw
ing, as keenly dramatic as the finest work of
Sophocles." l
Of " Prometheus Bound " the same critic
says " the subject is Titanic, but it has pro
duced in the hands of ^Eschylus and of
Shelley two of the greatest of mankind's
1 Gilbert Murray.
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dramatic poems." Another writer1 calls it
" an immortal masterpiece of creative imagi
nation." .Eschylus' first play, " The Suppliant
Women," has been likened to " one of those
archaic statues which stand with limbs stiff
and countenance smiling and strong ... a
most quaint and beautiful work."
" The Seven Against Thebes " was a third
in another Trilogy, and gives an account of
the Theban siege. It was greatly admired by
antiquity. Aristophanes calls it " a play full
of Ares that made every one who saw it fierce
with the wish to be a fiery foe."
Of " The Furies " it has already been said
that its vivid scenes and terrors put to too
great a strain the nerves of the women and
children of Athens.
A comparison between the known works of
that supreme constellation in the Greek poetic
firmament, the immortal Triad, ^Eschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides, who were famed
1 R. D. Archer-Hind. 278

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
above others for its development, is of inte
rest in connection with the Greek Drama.
What ^Eschylus originated in the development
of Tragedy, Sophocles and Euripides amplified.
Sophocles, according to Plato, spoke of his
own style as " having passed through three
successive phases. In the first he had
imitated the majesty, the pomp of ^Eschylus.
The second was marked by incisiveness of
style. The third by the diction most ex
pressive of character, fittest to make the
persons of drama seem real. . . . ^Eschylus
was a great creator, Sophocles pre-eminently
a great artist, who invests the conception of
the popular religion with a higher spiritual
and intellectual meaning. There is power
joined to purity of taste, self-restraint, and
a sure instinct of symmetry." '
Euripides, who was sixteen years younger
than Sophocles, began his career at the age
of twenty-five, a year after ^Eschylus died.
" His genius was at discord with the form
1 Richard Jebb.
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in which he worked. He found the primary
condition of tragedy fixed ; he had the heroic
legends for material to work upon. , . .
^Eschylus and Sophocles had felt, each in his
own way, that the treatment must be ideal,
that a certain nobleness must be preserved to
the persons of the heroic saga. Euripides
broke this convention by often making his
persons the exponents of modern subtleties,
sometimes of his own thoughts, sometimes by
realism in the treatment of the myth. He
brought in new elements of romance and
melodrama. Certain thoughts on religion,
conduct, and society pervade his Work. His
human pathos has a universal appeal. He is,
as Aristotle says, " the most moving of poets."
In language he is an excellent artist, who can
veil his art. He was the idol of later
antiquity ; and is the favourite of countless
modern readers, who care less for the ideal
drama of ^Eschylus and Sophocles." l
This is a brief story of the Greek Drama
1 Richard Jebb.
280

Syracuse Honours ^Eschylus
from the days of '^Eschylus to those of
Euripides. During that period of about a
century it underwent a change which, except
for the scenic decoration on the stage, has
scarcely been seen between then and now.
Among those who were honoured at
Syracuse, either in person or in their work,
Epicharmus must be remembered. If
^Eschylus was the Father of Greek Tragedy,
Greek Comedy may claim parentage from
Epicharmus. Plato called him " the Prince
of Comedy." However much he may have
been influenced by Aristoxenus of Selinus, the
comic poet who lived shortly before him',
the younger was certainly the greater man.
Though not probably a Sicilian by birth, he
lived with his father Elotales at Megara
from the early age of three, between 550 and
460 B.C. Thence he went to Syracuse, where,
it is said, a play written by him was given
when he was but six years old.
Sicily was a fruitful field for the develop
ment of comedy, owing to the character of
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the inhabitants. The SicUians possessed then,
as they possess now, the reputation of being
sharp-witted, of a lively temperament, loqua
cious, also, and facetious even in adversity.
In short, they were Greeks, who, transplanted
to a soil much superior to their own in rich
ness, developed more rapidly the gifts with
which Nature had endowed them. Even in
their religious choruses and observances they
introduced facetious remarks. They were
fond of dancing. It is stated that Andros
of Katane- introduced the dance while accom
panying himself on the tibia. Dancing,
together with the art of cooking, has survived
from Greek days as chief of Sicilian accom
plishments. The reputation of Epicharmus
was enhanced by being a philosopher and a
pupil of Pythagoras. It is said he wrote
thirty-six comedies, of which only fragments
remain. What is known of his work, which
deals largely with mythological subjects, gives
lively descriptions of life in Sicily at his time.
Nor is the list of renowned poets and
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Syracuse Honours ^schylus
others whom Syracuse honoured ended with
the above. Pindar of Thebes, Simonides of
Cos, and his nephew Bacchylides, besides its
own distinguished sons, Sophron, whose com
positions, it is said, were read with rapture
by Plato, and Theocritus, the inventor of yet
another form of poetry, the idyllic pastoral
singer of all time, were hailed with respect
and held in reverence by the people, who
gloried in their talents and their fame. Plato
was three times at Syracuse. Xenophanes,
founder of the Eleatic School, followers of
Zeno, the sturdy philosopher, died there.
Empedocles walked the streets of the city,
coming from neighbouring Acragas ; while
Archimedes, Hicetas, and Lydas were born
there .
To return to i/Eschylus. His features have
come down to posterity in marble, possibly
reproduced from his bronze statue which stood
in the theatre built by Lycurgus. The bust
presents the poet in advanced middle age, the
head bare, the chin thickly bearded, a nose
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delicately shaped, a firm mouth, brows sloping
to the nose over deeply inset eyes. The face
bespeaks a resolution that does not mar a
singularly placid beauty. Notwithstanding, it
is said that when he composed his countenance
betrayed the greatest ferocity.
If little be known of the details of his life,
much of his nature may be gathered from
his writings. It is certain that first and fore
most he prided himself on being a " Warrior
of Marathon." That has been seen in the
epitaph written by himself. Therein he makes
no mention of his transcendent merits as a
poet. He meekly calls his work " crumbs
from the great Homeric table." He wishes
the fields of Marathon alone to speak to his
fame. It may be that he, as a deep thinker,
was aware of the superiority of action to a
passive life ; that heroic deeds must always
count before words ; that the whole world of
literature is as nothing compared with the
physical achievements of a hero. Or it may
be, again, that the joy of a Patriot, who has
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striven successfully for his country on the
field of battle, makes all other worldly exploits
of little consequence.
His writings show a profound veneration for
justice, a certainty of retribution for crime,
as well as a belief in the transmission of evil.
He denies that the Divine Power is a jealous
God— that the Deity delights in troubling
mankind .
yEschylus was no polytheist. He did not
share the religious opinions of his day. In
anguish he cried, " I am alone in my thought."
Seeking consolation, he substitutes a sublime
doctrine of justice. He was no rationalist,
no agnostic to question supernatural forces.
In short, ^Eschylus stood at a stage " where
it still seems possible to reconcile the main
scheme of traditional theology with morality
and reason. The man ' who prays to Zeus,
whoe'er he be,' who avows ' there is no
power I can find, though I sink my plummet
through all being, except only Zeus, if I
would, in very truth, cast off this aimless
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burden of my heart,' is a long way from Pin
daric polytheism'. He tries more definitely to
grope his way to Zeus as a Spirit of Reason,
as opposed to the blind Titan forms of
Hesiodic legend." >
" His style is reflective, in a way, suggesting
a deeply brooding mind, tinged with mysticism,
grappling with dark problems of life and fate."
He welcomed moral nobleness . He resented
the drift towards wrong and selfish folly which
he saw around him. In his love of liberty
is found that spirit recorded by Herodotus,
which " had made Athens rise from a common
place Ionian state to be tbe model and leader
of Hellas."
Such was the hero chosen by the Syracusans
to receive special honour by the revival of
one of his most famous tragedies with all the
solemnity and artistic care that man can
bestow. The place selected is that Theatre where
countless thousands have listened to the great
1 Gilbert Murray.
"286

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
plays of antiquity from earliest times — a place
alive with memories. Around are the same
rocks, which echoed the sonorous words of
tragedy, the quips and fancies of comedy.
Here was Greek Drama cradled and cherished.
Here tears were shed and laughter pealed as
the lines of ^Eschylus and Sophocles, of
Sophron and Epicharmus were poured into
eager ears. Here rang out the words of
Euripides, the plaint of the Trojan women,
the beauty of which so moved their Syracusan
conquerors that the Athenian prisoners, slowly
starving to death, gained tardy deliverance
from bondage in the fateful quarries.1
Begun some time in the days of Hiero, who
reigned from 478 to 467 B.C., and perhaps on
the site of an older structure, this wonderful
Theatre was designed by Myrilla ; but it could
not have been finished until many years later.
The first mention of it was in 406. Hollowed
in the rock, it had sixty rows of seats, rising
one above the other in gentle slope. It seated
1 "Tales of Old Sicily."
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some twenty -four thousand spectators. The
seats were divided into nine sections, each with
its title of dedication : to Olympian Zeus and
Herakles among the gods ; to Hiero ; to
Philistis his wife, whose name may yet be read
engraven on the stone ; to Nereis, daughter
of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wife of Gelon,
the son of Hiero. The eleven lower rows of
seats were covered with white marble.
Of the Greek stage, here as elsewhere, little
is either seen or known. It has been destroyed
beyond power to reconstruct. And little is
known of the architectural adornments.
Probably a Corinthian portico stood in the
upper part ; and probably, some day, may
be brought to light the site of the Mouseion,
or House of the Dramatic Artists, which surely
stood hard by. But in and about the Theatre
mystery lurks ; and conjecture only can avail
to lift a portion of its veil.
The Greek Theatre in the oldest times had
the simplest of beginnings ; the growth of it
was slow. The choric dances in honour of
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
Dionysus, forerunners of the drama, were held
in the open air at any convenient spot,
generally in or near his sacred precincts.
When an actor was introduced, he mounted
on a table, or a cart, to be visible to the
surrounding spectators over the heads of
the Chorus. To that succeeded a low plat
form or stage. There was also a booth
used as a dressing and property room at
the back. The site chosen would be pre
ferably on the side of a hill, so that the
spectators could see and hear. " Such were
the essential parts of a Greek theatre at all
periods, though they received later a permanent
and elaborate architectural form."
The first structures were of wood, probably
temporary. It is related that when ^Eschylus
and others were competing at Athens in
499 B.C., the wooden structure gave way.
The most celebrated plays we know were first
given in temporary or unfinished theatres.
Stone-built theatres in a completed state were
seen much later. 289 T

Sicilian Studies
Although no remains of tbe early Greek
stage arrangements exist anywhere, in all the
theatres alike there was an oblong building,
the sk6n6, at least two stories high, in front of
which was a platform carried by a row of
columns, called the proskenion, usually about
twelve feet high and ten feet broad. The top
of the platform was approached by three doors
leading through the walls of the skdne* ; it
was also accessible at each end by a ramp, or
by steps.
Later a permanent building was erected at
the back of the sk6ne, before which the action
of the play took place. This served for the
scenery of every play. Although Sophocles
is said to> have been the first to employ the
art of the scene-painter, in his. time, and for
very long after, the painted scenery on canvas
known to-day did not exist. That for which
Agatharchus was famed was probably a kind
of architectural perspective, which gave way
to: solid architecture later. Much conjecture,
argument and disagreement have arisen in
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
regard to the scenic arrangements of the stage
in Greek times. But there were "movable
platforms, a sort of crane for hoisting persons
representing the deities and others into the
air ; also a high platform for the appearance
of the gods."
The Theatre at Syracuse became a stone
quarry in the Middle Ages ; the stones of the
stage were taken to construct the fortifications
of the modern town. In Roman times, to
witness the agony of men and animals dying
in the arena was preferred to the brave deeds
extolled by the poets — the Theatre was for
saken for the Amphitheatre. The former was
therefore abandoned, became a place of
sepulchres and mural tablets — the spot which
had seen so much fine tragedy, was the home
of the dead, of flocks and herds, overgrown
with weeds, a cascade of water flowing from
ancient conduits and modern mill-wheels, with
peasants profaning the seat of the Muses
where a cultivated people had hung breathless
on the inspired words of immortal poets.
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In our own time, men mindful of its history,
proud of its associations, rescued the Theatre
from its squalor, though they could not restore
its altars, its marbles, and its statues. Perhaps
it has gained in romance what it had lost in
splendour. If no longer is seen Apollo's
temple with its sacred precincts dominating
the circling seats ; if no longer stand's below
the altar of Dionysus round which the dancers
rendered vocal homage to the god ; if gone
are the mighty temples of the Great Mother
and her Daughter, of Herakles, seen once in
the green plain hard by ; yet Nature, by
resuming her sway, has made compensation ;
and what is left is fair to look upon. Indeed,
no drop scene so fair as this can ever have
graced a playhouse, save those perhaps of
Grecian build. Beyond the seats hewn in the
grey rock, worn and scored, and beyond the
broken stones of the stage, the eye wanders
far, to rest on lemon groves, dotted with
specks of yellow fruit growing to the borders
of the bay; on Syracuse of to-day, the
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
Ortygia of the past, where yet Athene's shrine
dominates the town. It rests on the shining
surface of the Harbour — once tinged with
blood of sister lands, blue now as the colour
of the sky — whose floor is strewn with spoil
of Grecian galleys.. Thence the eye wanders
to the site of old Polichna, where two columns
stand erect, sole vestiges of the mighty fane
of Zeus wliich efven Athenian greed refused
to rob. Westward the eye still wanders to
the plain where Cyane and Anapus flow gently
to the bay; and further still to blue -grey
mountains that fringe the sea against a sunset
sky. Such is the curtain rung down by Nature
on scenes evoked by men past and gone . And
who can say the peaceful beauty of the spot
may not rival the glory of long ago?
A solemn loneliness has held until recently.
To-day all is changed for the honouring of
^Eschylus. The same are the grey rocks, the
distant hills, the plain, the bay ; but now the
palace of Agamemnon rises on the right — a
low, castellated structure with little ornament.
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In front is a portico on piers and columns,
which stands at the head of a flight of steps.
At the side is a square tower, where heralds
passed their watchful nights " under the starry
conclave of the midnight sky," looking for the
flare of fires to give them notice of the fall of
Troy. Before the palace is a courtyard of
irregular shape, closed on the opposite side
by a wall of stone with heavy parapet and
frieze of archaic design, pierced in the centre
by the gateway of Lions. The altar of
Dionysus — true symbol of Greek drama —
stands where it stood more than two thousand
years ago. Other altars, two beside the
entrance of the palace, are seen around, their
fires alight to witness to the feigined piety of
the House of Atreus.
Now history is repeated. Once more are
the seats of the Theatre filled with spectators.
Once again the audience hangs on spoken
words. Now, as then, the actors' doings are
of secondary import, the stirring lines, the
tragic fate of the King, the deceit of his
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
Queen, the misery of the captive prophetess,
are what stirs the multitude to' enthusiasm.
Happy is the choice of " The Agamemnon."
No tragedy of ^Eschylus shows better the
sublime force of the poet's greatness, especi
ally in the speech of Clytemnestra when
she welcomes the King, her husband; in the
marvellous art of the episode of Cassandra,
wherein " close inspection will show ^Eschylus
at the very highest point of inspiration " ; in
the Choric odes, described as " the poet's pro-
foundest musings on the moral and religious
and historical problems presented by the
story." '
The translation of the play into Italian
by Professor Ettore Romagnoli — "poet,
dramatist, musician, critic, philologist, and
archaeologist," as a friendly scribe calls him —
has been in good hands. Difficult though it
has been to preserve the grandiose, almost
titanic Greek verse in the suave language of
Italy, and mor^ difficult still to do full
1 E. D. A. Morshead.
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Sicilian Studies
justice in blank verse to the original words,
the attempt has served its purpose. Signor
Romagnoli's many studies in Hellenistic
writings and music have rendered him pecu
liarly suited to the task. He is evidently no
pedant, which is a happy thing. He considers
that the classics " should be approached with
the love of an artist, of a disciple, rather than
from the critical standpoint of a philologist."
But this rendering fell short of expectation,
especially in the more dramatic parts, where
a closer adherence to the signification of the
solemn lines of the original text would have
given more satisfaction and imparted a
greater solemnity to the performance. Signor
Romagnoli's knowledge has been, however, of
great service. Both in the music which he has
composed, the costumes which he has designed
from Greek vases, in the scenery, and in the
" properties," he has adhered to Greek tradi
tions. If some details of the performance have
differed from the latter, it has been indispens
able. It was not possible to present to a
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
twentieth -century audience a play as acted
when written twenty -three centuries ago.
The changes made have been demanded by
present requirements to redeem the revival
from an imputation of childishness and in
completeness. As music accompanied earliest dramatic
performances, it was right that it should
be also heard in conjunction with the play
at Syracuse. It was no easy matter, as
little knowledge remains of the music per
formed on such occasions ; but Signor
Romagnoli has supplied the want.
The Greeks, it will be remembered, re
garded music as important to education.
Plato and Aristotle advocated the musical
education of youth. Music was closely allied
with Poetry . The art was then in its infancy ;
it consisted first of vocal effort with minor
instrumental accompaniment. "No trace
exists of instrumental music apart from the
vocal. Greek music was developed from the
hymns addressed to a deity by a priest, or
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a band of worshippers : the instruments, at
first a mere adjunct, ultimately attained a
separate artistic existence, but never rivalled
in importance the human voice." :
The voice was therefore regarded as the
chief method of conveying musical sound.
The latter was subservient to the words,
only intended to emphasize their meaning,
make them more convincing. This was in
accordance with the sound principle of
Greek art : the presentation and augmenta
tion of to Ka\6V = the beautiful ideal.
Music, as a science, if it had its origin
in the illustration of, or emphasizing poetry,
certainly owes its development to being its
companion. The Greek choruses, with music
as a subsidiary, or enhancer of effect, are
an example.
It would seem that this notable fact has
been lost sight of to-day, to the detriment
of vocal music. The inane words, allied
with operatic music of the last century,
1 R. D. Archer-Hind. 298

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
which have often little or no importance,
is a proof. Such small account, indeed, is
taken of words set to music, that their
-authors' names seldom appear in programmes.
Words of songs, also, are mutilated, or pro
nounced so indistinctly by singers, that an
audience knows not even in what language
they may be — and probably does not care.
That good vocal music must find conception,
if not inspiration, in the words, is not con
sidered. The Greeks — true artists — demanded
otherwise. The proper rendering of the word
— and the signification of the word — were .their
conception of this form of Art.
It is interesting to note, also, that Greek
music was first either in unison or octaves.
Other parts were added by instruments
accompanying the voices with a kind of
simple counterpoint : instruments then took
more than one part. Aristotle states that
the melody was always below the accompani
ment. Greek instruments were restricted in
number. The aulos, with the tone of a
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clarinet, " was regarded as1 a particularly
exciting instrument, rivalling the human voice
in its effect." The kithara had about seven
strings, and was played by the fingers, or a
plectrum. The salpix was an instrument
restricted to soldiers. The syrinx was a row
of reeds fastened by wax, used by the shep
herds and known to us as the pipes of Pan.
Those were the principal instruments used by
the Greeks.
Professor Romagnoli, wbo has also composed
music for the revivals of the plays of Euripides
and Aristophanes, has partly modelled his
present composition on Greek themes con
tained in those few fragments of hymns
recently found in Delphos. It is marked
by solemn themes exclusively accompanied
by reed instruments and harps — always digni
fied, always subdued. The most striking were
a short symphony, heralding the news of the
fall of Troy at the beginning, and the funeral
dirge at the end of the play, when the body of
Agamemnon was carried out to burial. The
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
one or two choruses interpolated and sung by
the crowd were scarcely heard to advantage.
Of the performance of the play much must be
said in unstinted praise, especially of the acting
and diction of the principal characters. Once
more the remarkable acoustic properties of a
Greek Theatre were demonstrated. Not a
syllable was lost, despite the difficulties of
speaking in so large a space in the open
air. From the opening to the final speech
not a word escaped the large audience of
seven or eight thousand persons.
The grim lesson that ^Eschylus imparts in
the " Oresteia," that retribution assuredly
follows crime ; that evil engenders evil and
is frequently transmitted from generation to
generation, was listened to with rapt attention
by those thousands of people.
The hum of casual conversation was in
stantly stilled by the first words of the
play, when the Watchman on his tower,
weary with waiting for the signal flame,
bewails his long watches of the night, his
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Sicilian Studies
sorrow for the woe that broods over the
palace below, because " not by honour guided
as of old."
A chant accompanied by harps is heard.
Maidens emerge from the palace to tend the
fires on the altars. In procession come from
right and left the Chorus, old men " in grey
honoured eld, feeble of frame," to range them
selves twelve on either side of Dionysus' altar.
They apostrophize Queen Clytemnestra, seen
under the portico of the palace. They speak
of the curse which lies upon the house of
Atreus, describing in intense pathos the mur
derous sacrifice of Iphigenia ; and their own
decrepitude, which kept them from' sharing the
glory of the fall of Troy.
Clytemnestra relates triumphantly to them'
how, to the Atrides' roof, " the lord of fire
sent forth his sign ; and on, and ever on,
beacon to beacon spread the courier flame "'
—a vivid tale of that flying fire, from peak
1 The translation here adopted is taken from " The House
of Atreus," by E. D. A. Morshead. 302

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
to peak, reflected on sea and sky, the token
of victory so long awaited, so ardently desired.
Action now takes the place of rumour, con
jecture gives way to facts. An Ar'give Herald
from the walls of Troy appears, to tell of
losses as well as conquest — loss of the bravest
and best beloved, sufferings from gaping
wounds and the bitter cold1, " when birds lay
stark and stiff, so stern was Ida's snow."
Clytemnestra interrupts the Herald's story
to begin her own studied tale of deceit,
feigning joy at her lord's return. But the
omniscient Chorus warn tbe credulous mes
senger " to learn by clear interpreters her
specious word," not to rely on it. The after
noon sun is shining brightly from1 a deep blue
sky as loud cries of welcome break from the
crowd of Argives now gathered about the
palace. Agamemnon, passing through the
Gateway of Lions, appears in his two -horsed
chariot. He refers with dignified mien to his
successful exploits, his gratitude to the gods
for their protection, his pleasure at the wel-
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Sicilian Studies
come he has received. Then the " mighty
Atridan, admiral of the famous thousand-
masted fleet," the conqueror of Troy, descends
from his chariot, saying : " To my palace,
and the shrines of home, I will pass in, and
greet you, first and fair, ye gods, who bade
me forth and home again " — that home
wherein he is now to find the death which
the chances of war had spared him before
the walls of Troy.
Clytemnestra greets him1 with fair words,
but with hatred and fear in her heart. Now
is nigh the moment for the revenge long
nurtured because Agamemnon slew their
daughter in sacrifice to propitiate the gods,
who had denied a favourable wind to the
fleet about to set forth for the siege of Troy.
Now is come the time to secure the guilty
love of ^gisthus in undisturbed possession.
The greeting is unique in tragic drama for
its tale of " effusive insincerity and ominous
words of double meaning." "If I slept," she
falsely tells the King, " each sound — the tiny
3°4

Syracuse Honours iEschylus
humming of a gnat, roused me again and
again from fitful dreams wherein I felt thee
smitten, saw thee slain."
Agamemnon turns his thoughts to the cap
tive Cassandra—" she, the prize and flower of
all we won, . . . gift of the army to its chief
and lord," whom' he has brought with him
in his chariot. Clytemnestra contemptuously
bids her pass into the palace, telling her
" 'Tis a fair chance to serve within a home
of ancient wealth and power." But seeing
that Cassandra makes no response, she com
mends her to the Chorus. " See ye to her;
unseemly 'tis for me, unheeded thus, to cast
away my words."
To be in readiness for the crime now at
hand, she enters the palace, where Agamemnon
has preceded her.
The great scene of the tragedy, in which
Cassandra bemoans her fate, follows. Her
words ring out " alternately wild with' the
actual inspiration of prophecy, piteous with
the sense of weakness, of the inevitable doom
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Sicilian Studies
awaiting her "—the worst of dooms, which is
to " know much and yet avail nothing." Her
wail is " sometimes one long sigh, sometimes
a voice broken with thick sobs " : " Woe,
woe for me ! " Again the agony : " Dread
pain that sees the future all too well."
" Sometimes strong and queenly with pride
and scorn " : "I too will pass, and like them
dare to die ! " " Sometimes frantic with hys
terical terror " : " The cup of agony whereof
I chant, foams with a draught for me!"
Lastly " grave with the pathos of confronted
death." Her confused brain visions the
murder of herself and of Agamemnon; she
sees, as in a dream, yet clearly, the awful
tragedies that brood over the borne of the
Atrides— the spectres of Thyestes' children, and
the eventual fate of Clytemnestra, killed by
her son to avenge his father's death.
The great climax of that remarkable scene
comes when, on the threshold of the palace,
where death awaits her, she, imbued with the
deep sense of prophecy, starts back aghast,
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Syracuse Honours JEschylus
crying aloud, " The house fumes with stench
and spilth of blood. 'Tis rank as charnel -
scent from open graves." Then she passes to
her fate.
Agamemnon's agonized cry of death : " O
I am sped-ia deep, a mortal blow I " now
comes from the palace, and Clytemnestra's
crime is consummated. As she emerges from
the door, a bloodstained battle-axe in hand,
she renews her vindication to the Chorus,
who, horror-stricken, load her with reproaches
for her crime, for her savage exultation at
her deeds of blood. She avows all without
dismay. " I stand with foot set firm upon a
finished thing. At each wound he cried aloud ;
then, as in death relaxed each limb, he sank to
earth ; and as he lay once more I smote him
with the last third blow."
To the protest of the Chorus : " Woman,
what deadly birth1, what venomed essence of
earth or dark distilment of the wave, to thee
such passion gave ? " she answers proudly,
" Praise or blame even as ye list— I reck not
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Sicilian Studies
of your word's." She taunts them with their
former silence when they " had no voice of
old to launch such doom on him1, my husband,
when he held as light my daughter's life as
that of sheep and goat— yea, slew in sacrifice
his child and mine." " Storm out your
threats," she continues menacingly ; " yet
knowing this forsooth ,. . .it shall be yours
to learn by chastisement a late humility."
Cassandra's death claims her wrathful and
jealous notice : " She, as a dying swan, sang
her last dirge, and lies, as erst she lay, close
to Agamemnon's side."
'^Egisthus, at once avenger of a past crime,
guilty lover of the present, appears to hail
the " dawn of the day of rightful vengeance,"
exulting to see slain his king, son of him who
wronged his father, him whom he himself has
betrayed. He relates how Agamemnon's
father, Atreus, bid his brother Thyestes to
a feast, and " with zeal that was not love he
feigned to hold in loyal joy a day of festal
cheer, and set before him flesh that was his
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
children once." He further goads the Chorus
to fury and threats of vengeance, by glory
ing in the share he has had in the murder of
Agamemnon, until Clytemnestra intervenes to
calm their fury. " Enough, my champion, we
will smite no mOre," she says. " Already
have we reaped enough the harvest -field of
guilt : enough of wrong and murder : let no
other blood be spilt." Then she addresses
the Chorus : " Peace, old men ! and pass away,
lest ill valour meet our vengeance. Enough
of toils and troubles — be the end, if ever, now."
The tragedy, as is well known, closes with
the threat of retribution to come, voiced by
the old men, as they slowly and falteringly,
turn to follow the corpse of Agamemnon as
it emerges from the palace on the way to
burial, amid the sobs of the populace.
As the last echoes of the funeral dirge
quaver on the evening air, the sun goes down
in glory behind the mountains of the plain,
and the tragedy of ^Eschylus is ended.
Of the actors nothing but praise can be
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written. The igreat dramatic talent of the
Italians, which is a natural gift, found in the
stirring lines of the play ample scope for
demonstration. Both in action and diction the
result was admirable. It was a lesson in
histrionic art. Whether in the haughty salu
tation and lofty bearing of the King, or in
the deceit and tragic defiance of the Queen,
or again in the callous indifference of
^Egisthus, parts excellently played by Gualtiero
Tumiati, Teresa Mariani, and Giulio Tempesti,
artistic realization was secured and anticipa
tion satisfied. Perhaps a higher excellence
still was reached by Giosue Borsi in the
character of the Herald ; and especially by
Elisa Berta Mari as Cassandra, whose render
ing of the doomed prophetess of evil carried
with it much of the awful significance with
which ^Eschylus has supremely endowed the
part. Nor should the fine fulfilment of the
important duties of Chorus be omitted from
this meed of praise ; because careful intelli
gence on their part added its notable share to
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Syracuse Honours iEschylus
a performance which must always remain in
the recollection of those who witnessed it as
remarkable and very impressive.
The revival of this Greek Tragedy at Syra
cuse must not be regarded as an ordinary per
formance of a play to serve as a pastime, or
for the sake of profit. The object of those
who have promoted it was above and beyond
that. It has been a spontaneous act of
homage, not only to the genius of a great
Poet in whom the Syracusans see one of their
own kin, but a tribute of respect, almost of
veneration, for the first principle and aim of
Art — the inculcation of beauty in thought and
expression of which in its deeper interpretation
.^Eschylus was so eminent an exponent.
The love of Italians for the ideal and the
comely, which has come down to them from
the ages and is with them as an innate senti
ment, has here found expression and affirma
tion not only as a source of present artistic
enjoyment, but also as an indication of the
hope that the influence of great achievements
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like that of ^Eschylus may reach once again
far afield to inspire, and inspiring, create.
Such was the moving spirit, underlying other'
reasons of less moment, which has roused so
great an interest about this revival, and has
brought so many people from afar to witness
the performance . No other reason can account
for the rapt attention which followed' all the
phases of the play, the enthusiasm which
attended its initial stages, the applause which
greeted its conclusion.
Apart from the satisfaction of a legitimate
curiosity aroused at witnessing a performance
on the spot where it had been enacted more
than two thousand years ago, apart from' the
pleasure derived from an artistic presentation,
a deeper feeling of admiration has remained,
the source of which may be traced to the
recognition that something vital, fundamental,
and essential not only to Art but to humanity,
still lives in the word's of the great Poets of
Greece which neither the lapse of time has
altered, nor changed conditions of life
modified. 312

EPILOGUEIN A GARDEN
(La Bonaventura)

IN A GARDEN
(La Bonaventurd)
Sad, distraught with thoughts too heavy for his
soul, desponding, seeking rest, his native land
he left. Proud, resentful, throbbing with the
pain that comes when brightness of a life is
gone, protesting against a fate that seemed
too hard to bear. Mindful of nought but
selfish grief that blinded him to all save that.
A cynic— not by nature, but warped by ease
and comfort of a life that lived not except for
the enjoyment of the hour. Young, yet old in
certain ways . A scoffer, too, at things divine :
not because he knew, nor thought, for know
ledge never scoffs at noble things, but from
unwillingness to 'grasp that which was beyond
his ken. An idler, if you will, yet not an
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Sicilian Studies
evil man, nor wont to damage others so that
he might gain. . . .
Wearily his steps went wandering amid
some shaded paths, where palms and plants
of southern clime grow on shores lapped by
waters of a lake. There, in gorgeous colour,
the Indian canna flowers midst dark repose
of coleas leaves, raising spiked splendour
from' the earth, and red hybiscus' turns its
blushes to the sun. The shy and pale convol
vulus awaits the dusk for life ; ' cane-brakes,
murm'ring in the breeze, speak of Grecian
lovers in that sun-bless'd isle where Etna's
fires burn brightly. Cypress rising darkly
'gainst the azure of the sky, like tap'ring
spires. And flowers of every hue : begonia,
creeping rose on pergola so trained to give
the shade that's bless'd in summer's thirsting
hours ; hydrangea, oleander— pink flower of
fever's choice— and, cast among the cedars on
the yielding sward, an amphora to hold the
fruit of vines empurpling in the sun.
1 Ipomxa grandiftora, which opens at night.
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In a Garden
Save for hum of winged things among the
flowers, and rustling of the leaves ; save, too,
for laughter of a stream, which, bubbling from
the clefts of Crocione's scored face, tumbled
to the ripples of the lake in merriment sub
dued, silence lay heavily on all things live or
dead. A sense of pity filled his heart that he alone
of mortals could not grasp the secret of so
much loveliness.
He slept.
Then a peace for years unknown came as
plenty to a starving land. He dreamt, as
children dream of loving words and fond
caress, of noble deeds and happiness. He
felt once more the hand that soothed him in
the agony of mind whicb disillusion leaves
when boyhood learns the ways of man— his
mother's hand, now cold in death; the kiss
which gave him faith and hope and prayer in
days gone by. He heard again her voice,.
And lo ! a Maiden, fair as sunrise on snowy
peaks, to his startled sense appeared.
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Sicilian Studies
" Tell me," he said at length, " what won
drous place is this where all things seem to
show the love of one for whom all beauty
lives ? "
She smiled and cried : " The Garden of
Good Fortune, man, so called because the joy
of life may here be found by him who truly
seeks to find in Nature's gifts the love of
God, content, and peace, rather than, toiling,
look for them in wayworn paths of life, where
most things beautiful are lost or missed."
" But can it be," he asked, " that happiness
is found, or heaven served, by silent adora
tion thus, absorbed, inert— a selfish life at
best, which knows not others' woes, and
cares not, so long as soul be steeped in
ecstasy ?, "
" Nay ! nay 1 " quoth she ; " such lesson is
not learned here, but precept nobler far than
that ; humble, 'tis true, yet in obedience to
the Master's word. See how each plant doth
add ungrudgingly its share to His great work
on earth, each fulfils its duty, each duly bears
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In a Garden
its part, joining in silent praise for the great
gift of life."
She paused.
The voices of the dead came nigh to him
who slept : not now the voice alone of her
he loved and mourned, though that above the
rest soared high in prayerful melody for him
in pain.
The Maiden spoke again : " Say, too, are
things of beauty, raising men's thoughts from
sordid hopes to higher realm's, of no account
in His great scheme of love and joy? May
not tbe scent that fills the air do His work of
love in bringing back some scene, or friend,
long lost to mind; or tender thought evoke
for whom we grieve? Even with the perfume
of a flower may we live again sweet moments
of the past, and gladly dream of dear ones
gone. Learn. AU save mankind its duty
knows and does. All save mankind leaves its
work well done. Hence man this place the
Garden of Good Fortune calls, for each herein
may teach himself the lesson taught by minor
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Sicilian Studies
things whicb they themselves have learnt so
well — of doing, humbly striving. Mortals may
scarce do more."
She lightly touched his forehead with her
lips. It was the Touch of Nature that makes
all men kin.
He woke and prayed.

DNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON