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lated to me at Athens. The grave Turk cites the woman of Nonoï, for so the tract is called, to check arrogance, and enforce the wisdom of a devout and humble disposition. I regretted afterwards my inattention to it on the spot; for I was assured that the craggy rocks afford, at a certain point of view, the similitude of sheep and goats within an inclosure or fold.

The road from Athens, descending toward Marathon, is rough and narrow. By the side at the foot of the hill is a tall tower; and below, a rivulet called Catakephalari. In the stream were vestiges of ancient building, probably of the fonts or places, where the women washed linen. We passed by them to a shallow river, which we crossed in view of Marathon. Our guide led us up the stream to a small arched cave, near the brow of the rock above the current, used perhaps by shepherds, while their flocks are browzing or drinking below. This place not corresponding with the description in Pausanias, I re-mounted, intending to inquire at Marathon. On the way we came to a mill, in which six or seven Albanians were sitting in a circle on the floor at dinner. One of them declared the grotto was near, and that on some occasion he had been in it. We tarried while they dispatched their homely fare, of which they invited me to partake, and then returned with five of them to the rivulet; and, quitting our horses, ascended the mountain-side, which is steep, with the tower on our left hand.

The cave has two mouths distant only a few feet from each other. The rock before them is flat and smooth; and, above them, is cut down perpendicularly. The entrances are low and narrow. That opposite to the left hand is least commodious. By this, two of the savages with a light, creeping on

their belleys, got in, not without difficulty, the aperture barely admitting the body. I followed, and soon arrived in a chamber, where I could stand on my feet. The roof and sides were incrusted with spar. We proceeded into similar chambers, in one of which was water; often stooping and creeping; my conductors with their pistols cocked, fearing some lurking wolf or wild beast. I made my egress at the avenue intended for mortals, or that most easy; very dirty, but pleased with what I had seen, as well as glad to revisit day, and to regain a purer atmosphere, with freedom of respiration; the moist air confined within being saturated, as it were, with the smoke of our wax tapers, and cedar torches. We dismissed the Alba

nians, and proceeded to Marath on

The reader will recollect the account we have given of the god Pan, and his prowess at the battle of Marathon. It is likely, the mountain owed its name and the cave to his supposed merit in that transaction. He became a favourite deity, and, it seems, was provided with a habitation near the spot, where he had acquired so much renown. But now Pan with his terrors is forgotten. His goat-stand is possessed by an ideal woman; and the old fable concerning it, whatever it wa, is supplanted by a modern fiction, ingenious as capable of moral application. Both tales, it may be remarked, have been engrafted on the same stock; and each, as in the metamorphosis of Niobe, has appealed to the judgment of the eye, and reclined in some measure for support on the evidence of appearances, which exist.

CHAP. XXXVII.

Ascend Mount Pentele-The quarries, chapels, &c.-The monastery of Pentele-Return to Athens-Numerous churches, &c.

I LFFT the goat-stand by Brauron early in the morning, followed by the good wishes of my rustic host, and began to ascend Pentele; chusing to cross the mountain, rather than return to Athens by the way which we came. The track, as we advanced, became so rough and steep, and so full of hazard from precipices, that I had frequent occasion to be displeased with this preference. At length, however, we attained nearly to the summit, and alighted to refresh on a green spot by a spring.

Descending on the opposite side, we discovered a caloyer, or monk, tending his flock, and were directed by him to the quarries, which lay out of the beaten track, on a root of the mountain. The upper quarry is open to the sky, with the rock cut down perpendicularly; the lower is remarkable for vast humid caverns. In these the wide roof extends awfully over head, and is adorned with hollow pendant tubes, like icicles, each having a drop of clear water quivering at the end, and by its fall about to add to the spars growing up beneath. Within the entrance, on the right hand, a small transparent petrifying stream trickles down the side of the rock; spreading with many curious ramifications, as if congealed by frost; and forming bowls and basins, from which

it overflows. A well is sunk deep in the mountain, with a narrow way down to the water, which is exceedingly cold. We saw chippings of marble; and were shewn at Athens a chrystal found in this quarry.

The marble of Pentelè was esteemed both by the statuary and architect. Athens owed many of its splendid edifices to the vicinity of that mountain and of Hymettus, where also is a quarry in view from the town. After its decline, the ruins furnished plenty of materials for such buildings as were wanted. The lower quarry has, within the mouth, some ruined chapels, the walls painted with the portraits of saints. Without it, high up, is a small square building or room, with a window, projecting from the steep side of the rock, which has been cut down perpendicularly, except a narrow ridge resembling a buttress. This is covered with thick and ancient ivy, and terminates some feet below, leaving the place inaccessible without a ladder, which, it is likely, was placed there and occasionally removed. I should suppose it the cell of some hermit, but it seems to have been planned and erected, when the quarry was worked. It was designed perhaps for a centinel, to look out and regulate by signals the approach of the men and teams, employed in conveying marble to the city.

We descended, by a very bad track, to the monastery of Pentele, a large and ordinary edifice, with the church in the middle of the quadrangle. The monks here were summoned to prayers by a tune, which is played on a piece of iron hoop suspended. They are numerous, but were now dispersed, having each his particular province or occupation. I was courteously received by the few, who were resident; and enjoyed there the luxury of shade under some trees by a clear stream, with good wine, water, and. provisions. My

carpet was spread in the area of the quadrangle, near a gate-way, under which we slept at night. I inquired for the manuscripts, which were shewn to Sir George Wheler in 1676, but found no person who had knowledge of them. The monastery is one of the most capital in Greece, and enjoys a considerable revenue from bees, sheep, goats, and cattle, arable land, vineyards, and olive-trees. The protection of the Porte is purchased yearly, as the custom is, and at a price not inferior to its ability.

The next evening we descended from Pentelè into the plain, and passed by Callandri, a village among olive-trees, to Angele-kipos, or Angele-gardens. This place is frequented in summer by the Greeks of Athens, who have their houses situated in a wood of olives, of cypresses, and of orange and lemon-trees, with vineyards intermixed. The old name was Angele; and, it is related,* the people of Pallene would not intermarry with the inhabitants, because of some treachery, which they had experienced in the time of Theseus. We rode on, leaving the road to port Raphti on our left; and, keeping the range of Anchesmus on our right, came near a monastery called Hagios Asomatos, standing among olivetrees, not far from the junction of the two rivers, the Eridanus and Ilissus. The place, where water is collected to be conveyed in channels to the town, is at no great distance. From the monastery of Pentelè to Athens is reckoned a journey of two hours.

The old Athenians sanctified even their mountains. Minerva had a statue at Pentelè; Jupiter, on Anchesmus, which is mentioned as not a large mountain; and also on

* Wheler, p. 450.

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