IX.

CHAP. extended to the Penëus from the Convent of St. Demetrius, at the distance of two leagues, through the middle of which flowed no river whatsoever and afterwards "a valley, two miles wide'." It is difficult to believe that a scholar, such as Pococke was, could have been ignorant of the descriptions which antient authors have left of this celebrated station. It appears from Polybius that TEMPE was the only passage from the Lower Macedonia into Thessaly; but the description given of it by Livy is so scrupulously exact, and withal so characteristic of the scenery, that it is impossible to mistake it. Even the particular fortification where we found the inscription now given, is mentioned by him; for he says, "it was garrisoned in

Value of Livy's observations.

2

(1) “On the twenty-second we came into a valley about two leagues long, and two miles broad, &c. It is much to be doubted whether these were not the fields of Tempe." (Ibid.) What author has ever described Tempe as containing fields?

(2) Polybii Hist. lib. xvii.

(3) "Sunt enim Tempe saltus, etiamsi non bello fiat infestus, transitu difficilis: nam præter angustias per quinque millia, quá exiguum jumento onusto iter est, rupes utrinque ita abscissæ sunt, ut despici vix sine vertigine quâdam simul oculorum animique possit: terret et sonitus et altitudo per mediam vallem fluentis Penëi amnis." Livii Hist. lib. xliv. c. 6. tom. III. p. 684. Paris, 1738.

(4) "Hic locus, tam suâpte naturâ infestus, per quatuor distantia loca præsidiis regis fuit insessus: unum in primo aditu ad Gonnum erat:

alterum

IX.

in four places: one at Gonnus in the mouth of CHAP. the defile; a second at Condylos, an impregnable fortress; a third near Lapathus, at a place called Charax; and a fourth in the very military way itself, in the middle of the strait," where the road was so narrow, that there was hardly room enough to admit the passage of a single beast of burden, and "where ten men with ease would be able to defend the pass." As for the descriptions given of TEMPE by Pliny and by Pliny and Ælian, they agree as to the geographical features of the place, but do not possess, altogether, the force, and fidelity, and copious brevity of Livy. Of the two, as that of Pliny is the most concise, "if we subjoin what he has said, it will be sufficient': no future traveller will then be at any loss to reconcile the appearance of this defile

Elian.

alterum Condylon castello inexpugnabili: tertium circa Lapathunta, quam Characa appellant: quartum, viæ IPSI, quá et media et angustissima vallis est, impositum; quam vel decem armatis tueri facile est." Ibid.

(5) "Et ante cunctos claritate Penëus, ortus juxta Gomphos; interque Ossam et Olympum nemorosa convalle defluens quingentis stadiis, dimidio ejus spatio navigabilis. In eo cursu Tempe vocantur v. mill. pass. longitudine, et fermè sesquijugeri latitudine, ultra visum hominis attollentibus se dexterâ lævâque leniter convexis jugis, intus suâ luce viridante allabitur Penëus, viridis calculo, amœnus circa ripas gramine, canorus avium concentu." Plinii Hist. Nat. lib. iv. c. 8. tom. I. p. 212. L. Bat. 1635.

CHAP. with all that the antient poets', historians, and geographers, have said of TEMPE.

IX.

Undis jura dabat, Nymphisque colentibus undas."

Ovid. Met. lib. i. ver. 568. tom. II. p. 69. Amst. 1797. ed. Burmanni.

VALE OF TEMPE, TO THESSALONICA. Elian-Laurel of Tempe - Banditti-Length of the Pass-Appearance upon leaving the Defile-Heracléa -Turkish Funeral - Height of Olympus- Mount Athos-Kallidia-Malathria-Mauro-Nero and Pellica rivers-Inscriptions-Baphyrus-Antient Geography of Pieria uncertain-Tomb of Orpheus-Pimpléa-Observations of Livy-Situation of Dium-Katarina-View of Olympus Palæo-Castro-Cleanly Cottages of the Albanians-Greeks compared with Albanians-Women -Shepherds' Dogs in body-clothes-Mountain barrier of Thessaly-Inscriptions between Katarina and KitrosCountry still called Macedonia-Mountains to the north of Salonica-Kitros-Pydna-Tomb of the Macedonians -Transactions at Pydna-Leuterochori-MethoneLebâno-Alorus - Inge Mauro ferry - Maurosmack

ferry

ferry-Axius, or Vardar river-Pella-Nature of the country celebrated for Alexander's Nativity-News of the Plague-Tekâle-Geography of Macedonia-Egæ

importance of ascertaining its position — Arrival at Thessalonica.

CHAP. IN the rocks above us, we observed several

X.

Elian.

cavernous apertures; and some of them seemed to have been made by art. Elian mentions places of the same kind, as being natural recesses'. At a great height over the defile, eagles, reduced to the size of hawks, "were sailing with supreme dominion." Below, in the chasm, the sides of the river were covered with plants, some of which, even in this season (December), were in flower. All the lower part of the rocks was covered with Vallonia and dwarf oaks, and evergreen trees and shrubs; thick laurels hanging quite over the military way. Enormous plane-trees, which have flourished here for centuries, extend their branches over the Penëus, and their large roots into the Laurel of torrent. It was with the laurel of Tempe that the victors in the Pythia were crowned. The inhabitants of Delphi came every ninth year to

ТЕМРЕ.

(1) Οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνης χειρὸς ἔργα, ἀλλὰ φύσεως αὐτόματα, κ. τ. λ. Eliani Varia Historiæ, lib. iii. cap. 1. tom. I. p. 193. ed. Gronov.

(2) Ibid.