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from a manuscript, then two hundred years old, and was as follows:

The part remaining.

IMP. CAESART. AELIVS

AVG. PIVS COS. III TRIB. POT. II. P. P. AQVA EDVCTVM IN NOVIS

CONSVMMAVIT

The part supplied.

HADRIANVS ANTONINVS

ATHENIS COEPTVM ADIVO HADRIANO PATRESVO

DEDICAVITQ.

The state of this ruin was the same in 1676 as now. It stands beneath the mountain of St. George, anciently, it is supposed, Anchesmus; and is about a mile from the gate of Hadrian. The The space between, where once was new Athens, is now ploughed and sowed.

On the left hand, returning from the aqueduct, is the bed of the Ilissus; and, higher up, the junction of it and of the Eridanus. The water of this river was so bad, that the cattle would scarcely drink of it. The Ilissus is now, as it ever was, an occasional torrent. In summer it is quite dry. During our residence at Athens, I several times visited the bed, after snow had fallen on the mountains, or heavy rain, hoping to see it filled to the margin, and rushing along with majestic violence; but never found even the surface covered; the water lodging in the rocky cavities, and trickling from one to another.

And here it may be remarked, that the poets who cele

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brate the Ilissus as a stream laving the fields, cool, lucid, and the like, have both conceived and conveyed a false idea of this renowned water-course. They may bestow a willow fringe on its naked banks, amber waves on the muddy Mæander, and hanging woods on the bare steep of Delphi, if they please; but the foundation in nature will be wanting; nor indeed is it easy for a descriptive writer, when he exceeds the sphere of his own observation, to avoid falling into local absurdities and untruths.

Going on by the bed of the Ilissus, as before, toward the town, you come to a ruinous bridge of three arches, the stones massive, and without cement. A piece of ordinary wall, standing on it, is part of a monastery, which was abandoned after the Turks took Athens. The ingenious Frenchman,* who, in a view of this spot, has exhibited the bridge standing in a full stream, may justly plead, that the same liberties have been indulged to the painter as to the poet.

CHAP. XVI.

The stadium-Rebuilt by Atticus Herodes-Present state-A temple by the Ilissus-Once the Eleusinium-The lesser mysteries-Temple of Diana the huntress-The fountain Callirhoe or Enneacrunus-Scene of a dialogue of PlatoChanged.

THE bridge over the bed of the Ilissus, mentioned in the preceding chapter, is opposite to the stadium, called the panathenæan, from a solemn festival of all the Athenians, at which the games were held there. By uniting the two banks

* See Le Roy.

it made the crossing easy, and prevented any inconvenience if a flood happened. The rewards of victory, in the gymnic exercises performed in the stadium, were a crown of olive, and a jar of most precious oil, the produce of holy trees, called Moriæ. These were twelve in number, immediate descendants from the original olive of Minerva Polias, planted in the academy, and, on account of their sanctity untouched by the Lacedæmonians, when they invaded Attica. In it private merit was imblazoned by public gratitude, the herald proclaiming the honorary decrees of the people, with the names of the persons presented with statues and golden crowns; and it was regarded as a glorious recompense to be distinguished and applauded in this assembly. The emperor Hadrian presided, when at Athens, and furnished a thousand wild beasts to be hunted for their diversion. The stadium was one of the works of Lycurgus, and the ground-plat a torrent-bed, which he smoothed.

The stadium of Lycurgus was much decayed, when Atticus Herodes, pleased with a crown, which had been conferred on him, and with his reception at the panathenæa, rose up and, addressing the company, promised the Athenians to provide for them, and for the Greeks who should repair to the next solemnity, and for those who should contend at it, a new stadium of white marble. This was completed in four years, chiefly from the quarries on Mount Pentele, and is extolled as without a rival, and as unequalled by any theatre. "What indeed," says Pausanias, "is not alike pleasing to those, who have heard of it, but is a wonder to those who have seen it, is the stadium of Herodes the Athenian. One may guess at the magnitude from hence. It is a mountain beginning at a distance beyond the Ilissus, of a lunar form, reaching to the

river-bank, straight and double." The author, it seems, would` insinuate, that the magnificence of Herodes was a topic not very agreeable. By the will of his father the people were entitled to a large bequest; but among his papers were found vouchers for sums borrowed to a great amount. Herodes had balanced the old debt with the legacy. This had raised a clamour; many murmuring, as defrauded of their due; and these affirmed, it was indeed a panathenæan stadium, for that all the Athenians paid for it. On one side was a temple of Fortune with a statue of ivory.

When the panathenæa, with the other spectacles ceased, the stadium became as useless, as the odéum or theatre, and was treated in like manner. The mountain, on which quarries were exhausted, has been totally stripped of its marble covering. The seats were continued in rows very high up, on the side next the sea; the slopes favouring such a disposition. At the two extremities by the Ilissus is some stone-work. The area, which produces grain, has been exactly measured, and found to be six hundred and thirty English feet long. On the left hand, going up it, near the top, is a subterraneous passage through the mountain, once under the seats. This was a private way, by which the president of the games, the magistrates, and priests entered to take their places, after the spectators were met; and by which, it has been surmised, those who contended, and were unsuccessful, made their retreat. Such avenues were not uncommon in the stadiums of Greece.

Going on from the stadium, without crossing the Ilissus, you have a solitary church on the left hand at a distance, and before you a temple of white marble seated on the rock, by the side of the river. This has been transformed, as well as the parthenon and the temple of Theseus, into a church,

named St. Mary on the Rock. It was abandoned by the Greeks, as desecrated, after the Romish mass had been celebrated in it, in 1672, by order of the marquis de Nointell. On the wall, next Hymettus, are lines of one or two small sun-dials, and in the vaulted roof is the trunk of a little female statue. Some traces remain of figures, and of architectural ornaments painted in the inside. An exact view of this temple is given in The Ruins of Athens, to which valuable work the reader is here referred. The fabric has sustained some damage since, the exterior column next to the Ilissus, in the front, being ruined, and the capital lying on the rock much maimed. The substruction of the opposite end is so impaired, that it is likely a farther downfall will soon ensue ; when the materials will be removed, as wanted, and the site in a few years become hardly distinguishable.

The ancients preferred particular situations for the temples of certain deities. A place, without the city, which men had no occasion to approach, but at set times, and to sacrifice, was commonly chosen for Ceres; she requiring, that it should be kept pure by chaste religion, and sanctity of manners. The temple before described has stood on such a spot, and, it is believed, was the famous Eleusinium belonging to Ceres and Proserpine, before which was a statue of Triptolemus, mentioned by Pausanias, who then enters on a detail of his story, but, as he asserts, was prevented from proceeding in it, and in his account of the temple, by a dream; and therefore passes on to topics, of which he was at liberty to treat without reserve. This place was regarded by the people with the same reverence as the parthenon and Theséum.

The lesser mysteries, which belonged to Proserpine, were solemnized, yearly, in the month Anthesterion or February,

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