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The waves, on our arrival near the promontory, broke gently, with a hollow murmur, at the foot of the rock beneath the temple. At the entrance of the shining gulf was a little fleet of Hydriote vessels, eight in number, coming out with white triangular sails. We anchored within the cape in the port of Sunium, near three hours before mid-day; and, landing, ascended to the ruin. Meanwhile our sailors, except

two or three who accompanied us, stripped to their drawers to bathe, all of them swimming and diving remarkably well; some running about on the sharp rocks with naked feet, as if void of feeling; and some examining the bottom of the clear water for the echinus or sea-chesnut, a species of shell-fish common on this coast, and now in perfection, the moon being nearly at the full.

Sunium was one of the demi or borough towns of Attica, belonging to the tribe named Attalis. It was fortified by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war,* as a secure port for vessels with provisions. The site, which has been long deserted, is overrun with bushes of mastic, low cedars, and evergreens. The wall may be traced, running along the brow from near the temple, which it inclosed, down to the port. The masonry was of the species termed Pseudisodomum. The steep precipices and hanging rocks were a sufficient defence toward the mouth of the gulf. Some other fragments of solid wall remain, but nearly level with the ground. At the edge, near the port, the rock is shelving, and resembles the cinder of a coal. There is a round well, and farther off, at the mountain-foot, was a pond, the water fresh, but hard and of a dark colour.

* 4th Olymp. 91. Before Ch. 411.

The temple of Minerva Sunias was of white marble, and probably erected, in the same happy period, with the great temple of Minerva, called the Parthenon, in the acropolis at Athens, or in the time of Pericles, it having like proportions, though far inferior in magnitude. The order is doric, and it appears to have been a fabric of exquisite beauty. It had six columns in front. Nine columns were standing on the south-west side in the year 1676, and five on the opposite, with two antæ or pilasters at the south end, and part of the pronaos. The number is now twelve, besides two in front and one of the antæ; the other lying in a heap, having been recently thrown down, as we were informed, by the famous Jaffier Bey, then captain of a Turkish galeote, to get at the metal uniting the stones. The ruin of the pronaos is much diminished. The columns next to the sea are scaled and damaged, owing to their aspect. We searched diligently for inscriptions, but without success, except finding on the wall of the temple many modern names, with the following memorial in Greek, cut in rude and barbarous characters, but with some labour: Onesimus remembered his sister Chreste. The old name Sunium is disused, and the cape distinguished by its columns, Capo Colonni.

The Hydriote fleet, which had sailed out of the gulf when we arrived, returned on the following day, laden with corn from Cea, purchased for a Venetian armed ship, captain Alexander, who was then come to an anchor within the cape. This being a contraband cargo, was to be delivered clandestinely, and we were informed the boats had given to the commander of a Turkish cruiser, which appeared in the offing, the sum of fifteen piasters each for his permission to fulfil

C

Sunium was reckoned

their contract, without molestation.

three hundred and thirty stadia, or forty-one miles and three quarters from the Piræus,* or port of Athens.

CHAP. III.

Of the island Egina-We sail by the island of PatroclusOur mariners-We arrive at Egina-View from M. Panhellenius--Story of acus-Temple of Jupiter-We set sail for the city of Ægina.

THE gulf included within the two promontories, Sunium and Scyllæum, contains several islands, of which Ægina is the principal. This island was surrounded by Attica, the Megaris or territory of Megara, and the Peloponnesus; each distant about one hundred stadia, or twelve miles and a half. In circumference it was reckoned one hundred and eighty stadia, or twenty-two miles and a half. It was washed, on the east and south, by the Myrtoan and Cretan seas. called Eyina or Egina; the g soft and the i short. "What occasion is there," exclaims Strabo, "to mention, that this is one of the islands, which have been excessively renowned; since it was the country of Macus; it has enjoyed naval dominion, and has disputed with Athens the prize of superior glory, in the famous battle with the Persian fleet off Salamis."

It is now

The distant hills continued hazy; but the wind being fair, we embarked on the second evening after our landing at Su

* Strabo. In Pliny forty-two miles.

nium, and setting sail passed very near to a small island called Gaitharonesi "Asses Island," a naked rock, except a few bunches of thyme; not even a shrub growing on it; the clefts inhabited by wild pigeons. It once bore the name of Patroclus, by whom it was fortified with a wall and fosse. He was sent, with some Egyptians triremes, to assist the Athenians against Antigonus, son of Demetrius. Sailing on, we had on our right hand the mountain Laurium, formerly noted for silver mines. The coast of Attica was bare, and of a parched aspect.

We had now sea-room and a prosperous gale. The genius of the Greek nation prevailed, and was displayed in the festivity of our mariners. One of the crew played on the violin, and on the lyre: the latter, an ordinary instrument with three strings, differing from the kitara, which has two and a much longer handle. The captain, though a bulky man, excelled, with two of his boys, in dancing. We had been frequently amused by these adepts. It mattered not whether the vessel was still in port, or rolling, as now, on the waves. They exerted an extraordinary degree of activity, and preserved their footing, for which a very small space on the deck sufficed, with wonderful dexterity. Their common dance, which was performed by one couple, consisted chiefly in advancing and retiring, expanding the arms, snapping the fingers, and changing places; with feats, some ludicrous, and, to our apprehension, indecent.

The sun sat very beautifully, illuminating the mountaintops, and was succeeded by a bright moon in a blue sky. We had a pleasant breeze, and the land in view sailing, as it were, on a wide river. A smart gale following a short calm, and driving us along at a great rate, in the morning by sun-rise

we had reached Egina, and were entering a bay; the mountain Panhellenius, covered with trees, sloping before us, and a temple on its summit, near an hour distant from the shore, appearing as in a wood. The water being shallow, a sailor leaped overboard, carrying a rope to be fastened, as usual, to some stone or crag by the sea-side.

We set out for the temple, which was dedicated to Jupiter Panhellenius, on foot, with a servant and some of the crew bearing our umbrellas and other necessaries. One of the sailors had on a pair of sandals made of goat-skin, the hairy side outward. The ascent was steep, rough, and stony, between bushes of mastic, young cedars, and fir-trees, which scented the air very agreeably. Some tracts were quite bare. On the eminence our toil was rewarded by an extensive view of the Attic and Peloponnesian coasts, the remoter mountains inland, and the summits in the Ægean Sea; the bright surface, which intervened, being studded as it were with islands; many lying round Egina, toward the continent; and one, called anciently Belbina, stretching out toward the mouth of the gulf. We saw distinctly the acropolis of Athens, seated on a hill near the middle of a plain, and encompassed with mountains, except toward the sea; a portion of its territory, covered with dusky olive-groves, looking black, as if under a dark cloud.

The name Panhellenius was probably given to this mountain from the temple, for which only it was noted. That fabric, as the Eginetans affirmed, was erected by Eacus, the renowned ancestor of the illustrious family of Æacidæ. He was reputed the son of Ægina, the daughter of Asopus by Jupiter, who transported her into this island, then uninhabited, and called Oenone. To omit the fabulous account of its popula

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