some piers remaining not far from the place where travellers. cross. A gap in the mountains beyond the river, visible from Athens, separates Ægaleos on the left hand from Parnes on the right. The entrance on the road through it was termed the Mystic. About mid-way to Eleusis in the mountain is a monastery called Daphne. Farther on is a heap of ruins, and part of a wall, of the masonry termed the Incertum; the remnants of a temple of Venus, and of a wall of rough stones in the front, mentioned by Pausanias as worth seeing. The rock on the right hand is cut down perpendicularly, with grooves as for the reception of tablets, and perhaps was that called Poecilon. At the foot lies a marble fragment or two; we supposed, of an alcove. On the way to that temple was anciently one of Apollo, in which was placed a statue of Ceres, of Proserpine, and of Minerva. Riding on to the end of the gap, you have the sea, the Thrasian plain, and Eleusis in view. The monastery of Daphne is a mean and barbarous edifice, inclosed within a high wall. Before the gate is a well of excellent water. The church is large and lofty, and reputed the most ancient in Attica. The inside of the dome is adorned with a figure of Christ in Mosaic, much injured In one of the chapels is a marble sarcophagus. The Turks are frequent and unwelcome visitants in their way to and from the Morea. The corsairs formerly infested it from the sea, and it was almost deserted. I found there a priest with a monk or two. It probably occupies the site of the temple of Apollo. Some standing columns are immured in a wall by the church; and in the court is a long stone with a Latin inscription, which records the consecration of something, it is likely, of the temple, by the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, when Eusebius was procurator of the province of Achaia. Arcadius commanded that the temples should be destroyed, and the bridges, high-ways, aquæducts, and city-walls be repaired with their materials; but spared some, to be converted into churches, at the request of bishops and eminent persons. "One Pausanias from the temple of Venus proceeds to the currents called Rhiti. These were streams of salt water. may believe," says he, "that they flow from the Euripus of Chalcis, falling from the land into the lower sea." They were sacred to Ceres and Proserpine, and the priests only had the privilege of fishing. Beyond the Rhiti was a tract called the kingdom of Crocon; with the monument of Eumolpus; of Hippothoon, from whom one of the tribes was named; and of Zarex, who was said to have been instructed in music by Apollo. Pausanias then mentions the Eleusinian Cephissus. This river was more violent than the former. By it Theseus slew Procrustes; and, as they related, Pluto descended into hell with Proserpine A flood happening while the emperor Hadrian was at Athens, he ordered the building of a bridge for passengers. Wheler came to the sea-side in less than half an hour from the monastery, and to a small salt lake running into the bay by a little stream. A town, perhaps Thria, had stood on a hill to the north of it. Soon after he passed another little *In the year of Christ, 399. + At Thria was a temple of Venus Phile erected by the flatterers of king Demetrius in honour of his mother, whose name was Phile. The place was called Philæum. stream. He travelled over a plain, seven or eight miles long westward, and three or four broad from the sea northward. It was then, in the month of February, beautified with anemonies. The causey was paved with large stones. Along it were many ruins of churches or temples; one with a pannel of wall standing, of a greyish stone. The two streams were the Rhiti, but he has called the latter, the Cephissus. The water was confined, when I saw it, by a low wall, intended to make a head sufficient to turn a mill. The Cephissus, it is probable, was an occasional torrent from the mountains. Pococke did not observe any river in the way to Eleusis. In the plain beyond the Rhiti, an hour from the village, is a small heap of ruins, probably of one of the sepulchres seen by Pausanias, on which a church has been erected; some traces remaining. A long piece of marble, fixed as a side jamb for the door-way of the latter edifice, is inscribed in large characters, and informs us, that the lofty monument belonged to an hierophant exceedingly renowned for his wisdom; who, by his intrepidity, had preserved the mystic rites from hostile violence; an exploit, for which he had been honoured with a crown by the people. The hierophants were greatly revered, and styled divine, and god-like. A way led from Eleusis into Boeotia and the Platæis, or territory of Platæ. The Lacedæmonians, in the Peloponnesian war, made an incursion into Attica from this quarter, at the season of the harvest. They endeavoured to reduce Oenoe on the confines, marched to Eleusis, laid waste the Thriasian plain, defeated a party of horsemen near the Rhiti, and proceeded, with Ægaleos on their right hand, through Cecropia as far as Acharnæ, the most considerable town of Attica, and distant only sixty stadia, or seven miles and a half, from Athens, which it supplied with charcoal. The city-gate toward it was called the Acharnensian. After tarrying there they destroyed some towns between Parnes and Brilessus, and passing by Oropus re-entered Bootia. The same enemy distressed Athens by fortifying, and keeping a garrison in Deceleia. The pomp of Iacchus was then transported to Eleusis by sea, with many omissions in the ceremony; but, one year, Alcibiades resolved to conduct it by land. He communicated his design to the Eumolpida and heralds, placed spies on the eminences, surrounded the priests, the mystæ, and mystagogues with soldiers, and conveyed them along the sacred way with silence and regularity; exhibiting a religious spectacle singularly striking and solemn. It is remarkable, that the celebration of the mysteries was only once interrupted, during the very long period of their existence. Alexander the Great took Thebes on the sixth day, and the Athenians then desisted, that their acclamations to Iacchus might not re-echo to the cries of the captives. CHAP. XLII. Extinction of the Eleusinian mysteries-Of Eleusis--Of the mystic temple, &c.-Other remains-Road to Megara. A PRINCIPAL ingredient in the character of the Athenians was piety in the extreme. This, as it disposed themreadily to admit the knowledge of any unknown god, so it preserved them, in general, unalienated from old opinions, and rigid observers of established ceremonials. Though St. Paul had preached, and an Areopagite been converted, the perfume of incense ascended, as before, to the idol; the victim was offered; the procession made; and the public attention engaged in fulfilling the ritual of Ceres and Proserpine, Minerva, and Bacchus, and the like divinities. Eleusis still maintained an extensive reputation, and appeared the common property of all nations; so many pilgrims, from various and remote parts of the world, continued to visit it at the season of the mysteries. The sectaries increasing, the old formulary, "Begone ye profane," was changed; and the herald proclaimed, "If any Atheist, or Christian, or Epicuréan is come a spy on the orgies, let him instantly retire; but let those who believe be initiated, with good fortune." The Christians, while the emperor Hadrian resided at Athens, were persecuted; and Quadratus, a disciple of the apostles, and the third bishop, presented to him an apology for their profession. At length a law, prohibiting nocturnal rites, was published by Valentinian ;* but Prætextatus, whom Julian had constituted governor of Achaia, prevailed on him to revoke it, urging that the lives of the Greeks would be rendered utterly insupportable, if he deprived them of this most holy and comprehensive festival. Its extinction was reserved for a foreign foe; and the fatal æra now approached. Alaric, with his host, rushed suddenly through the strait of Thermopylæ, and a general ruin of universal Greece accompanied the catastrophe of Ceres and Eleusis. Eleusis, on the overthrow of its goddess, and the cessation of its gainful traffic, probably became soon an obscure place, without character or riches. For some ages, however, it was not entirely forsaken, as is evident from the vast consumption of the ancient materials, and from the present remains. The * In the year of Christ, 364. |