many with large areas or courts before them. In the lanes, the high walls on each side, which are commonly white-washed, reflect strongly the heat of the sun. The streets are very irregular; and anciently were neither uniform nor handsome. They have water conveyed in channels from Mount Hymettus, and in the bazar or market-place is a large fountain. The Turks have several mosques and public baths. The Greeks have convents for men and women; with many churches, in which service is regularly performed; and, besides these, they have numerous oratories or chapels, some in ruins or consisting of bare walls, frequented only on the anniversaries of the saints to whom they are dedicated. A portrait of the owner on board is placed in them on that occasion, and removed when the solemnity of the day is over. Besides the more stable antiquities, of which an account will be given in the sequel, many detached pieces are found in the town, by the fountains, in the streets, the walls, the houses, and churches. Among these are fragments of sculpture; a marble chair or two, which probably belonged to the gymnasia, or theatres; a sun-dial at the catholicon or cathedral, inscribed with the name of the maker; and, at the archiepiscopal house close by, a very curious vessel of marble, used as a cistern to receive water, but once serving, it is likely, as a public standard or measure. Many columns occur; with some maimed statues; and pedestals, several with inscriptions, and almost buried in earth. A custom has prevailed, as at Chios, of fixing in the wall, over the gateways and doors of the houses, carved stones, most of which exhibit the funeral supper. In the courts of the houses lie many round stelæ, or pillars, once placed on the graves of the Athenians; and a great number are still to be seen applied to the same use in

the Turkish burying-grounds before the acropolis. These generally have concise inscriptions containing the name of the person, and of the town and tribe, to which the deceased belonged. Demetrius, the Phalerean, who endeavoured to restrain sepulchral luxury, enacted, that no person should have more than one; and that the height should not exceed three cubits. Another species, which resembles our modern head-stones, is sometimes adorned with sculpture, and has an epitaph in verse. We saw a few mutilated Hermæ. These were busts on long quadrangular bases, the heads frequently of brass, invented by the Athenians. At first they were made to represent only Hermes or Mercury, and designed as guardians of the sepulchres, in which they were lodged; but afterwards the houses, streets, and porticoes of Athens, were adorned with them, and rendered venerable by a multitude of portraits of illustrious men and women, of heroes and of gods: and, it is related, Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, erected them in the demi or borough-towns, and by the road side, inscribed with moral apophthegms in elegiac verse; thus making them vehicles of instruction.

The acropolis, asty, or citadel, was the city of Cecrops. It is now a fortress, with a thick irregular wall, standing on the brink of precipices, and inclosing a large area, about twice as long as broad. Some portions of the ancient wall may be discovered on the outside, particularly at the two extreme angles; and in many places it is patched with pieces of columns, and with marbles taken from the ruins. A considerable sum had been recently expended on the side next Hymettus, which was finished before we arrived. The scaffolding had been removed to the end toward Pentele, but money was wanting, and the workmen were withdrawn. The garri

son consists of a few Turks, who reside there with their families, and are called by the Greeks Castriani, or the soldiers of the castle. These hollow nightly from their station above the town, to approve their vigilance. Their houses overlook the city, plain, and gulf, but the situation is as airy as pleasant, and attended with so many inconveniencies, that those who are able, and have the option, prefer living below, when not on duty. The rock is lofty, abrupt and inaccessible, except the front, which is toward the Piræus; and on that quarter is a mountainous ridge, within cannon-shot. It is destitute of water fit for drinking, and supplies are daily carried up in earthern jars, on horses, and asses, from one of the conduits in the town.

The acropolis furnished a very ample field to the ancient virtuoso. It was filled with monuments of Athenian glory, and exhibited an amazing display of beauty, of opulence, and of art; each contending, as it were, for the superiority. It ap peared as one entire offering to the deity, surpassing in excellence, and astonishing in richness. Heliodorus, named Periegetes, the guide, had employed on it fifteen books. The curiosities of various kinds, with the pictures, statues, and pieces of sculpture, were so many and so remarkable, as to supply Polemo Periegetes with matter for four volumes; and Strabo affirms, that as many would be required in treating of other portions of Athens and of Attica. In particular, the number of statues was prodigious. Tiberius Nero, who was fond of images, plundered the acropolis, as well as Delphi and Olympia; yet Athens, and each of these places, had not fewer than three thousand remaining in the time of Pliny. Even Pausanius seems here to be distressed by the multiplicity of his subject. But this banquet, as it were, of

G

the senses has long been withdrawn; and is now become like the tale of a vision. The spectator views with concern the marble ruins intermixed with mean flat-roofed cottages, and extant amid rubbish the sad memorials of a nobler people, which, however, as visible from the sea, should have introduced modern Athens to more early notice. They who reported it was only a small village, must, it has been surmised, have beheld the acropolis through the wrong end of their telescopes.

When we consider the long series of years, which has elapsed, and the variety of fortune, which Athens has undergone, we may wonder that any portion of the old city has escaped, and that the site still furnishes an ample fund of curious entertainment. Atticus is represented by Cicero as receiving more pleasure from the recollection of the eminent men it had produced, than from the stately edifices and exquisite works of ancient art, with which it then abounded. The traveller need not be so refined to derive satisfaction even now from seeing Athens.

CHAP. IX.

Of Pericles-Of his buildings-Entrance of the acropolis-The propyléa-Story of the architect-The temple of victory, or right wing of the propyléa-The left wing-Present state of the propylea Of the temple-Ignorance of the Turks and Greeks Of the left wing-The propyléa when ruined—Inscription on a pedestal.

Ir was the fortune of Athens, while flourishing in glory, dominion, and revenue, to produce Pericles, a man as distin

guished by the vastness of his idea, as by the correctness of his taste, and as eloquent as splendid. His enemies declaiming against his temples and images, and comparing the city with its gilding and painting to a vain woman hung with jewels, he took occasion to shew, it was wisdom to convert the prosperity of a state, sufficiently prepared for war, into its perpetual ornament by public works, which excited every liberal art, moved every hand, and dispensed plenty to the labourer and artificer, to the mariner and merchant; the whole city being at once employed, maintained and beautified by itself. "Think ye," said he, "it is much I have expended?" Some answered very much. "Be mine then," he replied, "the whole burthen, and mine the honour of inscribing the edifices raised for you." But the multitude refused, and calling out, bade him take from the treasury and spare

not.

seer.

The architects employed by Pericles were possessed of consummate skill in their profession, and Phidias was his overThe artificers in the various branches were emulous to excel the materials by their workmanship. To grandeur of proportion were added inimitable form and grace. The vigour of one administration accomplished what appeared to require the united efforts of many; yet each fabric was as mature in perfection, as if it had been long in finishing. Plutarch affirms, that, in his time, the structures of Pericles alone demonstrated the relations of the ancient power, and wealth of Hellas not to be romantic. In their character was an excellence peculiar and unparalleled. Even then they retained all their original beauty. A certain freshness bloomed upon them, and preserved their faces uninjured; as if they possessed a never-fading spirit, and had a soul insensible to age.