CHAP. L.

SAIL UP THE HARBOUR OF TROZEN

- -LAND ON THE PENIN

SULA OF METHANA-THE BAY, OR LAKE OF TROZEN

THE RUINS

THE ACROPOLIS- -THE WATER-OF DAMALA

-A PROVERBIAL SAYING.

AFTER waiting some time for a favourable wind, we left the monastery, in the morning, and crossed to the opposite shore of the Morea. We landed on a spot called Palæochorio, or Old Town, and found there part of an ordinary mosaic pavement, a piece or two of marble, some mean ruins, and a solitary church. About noon the wind, as was expected, became fair, setting into the canal. We passed by the town of Poro, and opened the strait between the island and the peninsula of Methana, through which we had entered. We now sailed on, with the main land on our left, up a bay, once named Pogon, or the Beard. It is sheltered by Calaurea on the east, and was the harbour of Trozen, in which a squadron of the Grecian fleet assembled before the battle of Salamis.

Trozen was fifteen stadia, or almost two miles, from the sea. A town named Damalá, or Thamalá, is now near the site. We purposed going to this place, but found the water so shallow at the top of the bay, that we could not approach the shore. We moored at some distance to a rock by a point of the peninsula. On this spot a small fortress had been erected. We could trace the two side walls running up from the sea, with two round towers at the angles, inland. These remnants are thick, and of the masonry styled incertum. From an eminence, not far off, a column as it were of smoke ascended,

which we were told was dust from winnowed corn; the peasants throwing up the grain and chaff together to be separated and cleansed by the wind. We could procure no animals to convey us to Damalá before the morning, so we lay down to sleep among the bushes. The air was filled with noisome vapours from the dirty stagnant bay and its putrefying weeds. Swarms of gnats buzzed about, and preyed on us incessantly. Frogs croaked. Dogs barked, and the shepherds on the mountains hallooed to encourage them to attack the wild beasts, which approached their charge.

Saron, one of the early kings of Trozen, founded a temple of Diana by this sea. The water was there so shallow and muddy that it was called the Phobæan lake. He was addicted to the chase, and following a doe, which swam out into the deep, was drowned. His body was thrown ashore by the grove, and buried within the enclosure of the temple; and from him the lake was named the Saronian. The fens at this season were dry, or much contracted by the power of the sun. In the morning we crossed over to that shore, and riding through a flat marshy tract covered with tall rushes, arrived at Damalá in about an hour. We were then informed, that the ruins for which we inquired were a quarter of an hour farther on; and we continued our journey.

Trozen was once no ignoble city. It had been called Posidonia, from Neptune. They related, that this deity and Minerva had contended for their country, and, by command of Jupiter, possessed it jointly; the reason why their money was stamped with her head and a trident. Trozen and Pittheus

were sons of Pelops. Pittheus gave to the city the name of his brother, whom he succeeded; but the people were called from him Pittheidæ. He was the maternal grandfather of Theseus. The place was shewn, where this hero was born; with the rock under which Egeus deposited his sword and slippers on the way to Hermione. In the agora, or market-place, was a temple of Diana, where, it was said, Hercules came up from hell with Cerberus. Behind was the monument of Pittheus; and not far off, a temple of the Muses, with an ancient altar, on which the Trozenians sacrificed to them and to Sleep; affirming, that of all the deities this was the most friendly to the Muses. The temple of Apollo founded by Pittheus exceeded in age any temple known to Pausanias. The temple of Minerva at Phocæa and that of Apollo Pythius at Samos were by far more modern. The stoa, or portico, of the market-place was adorned with statues, representing some of the Athenian matrons and their children, who were sent to this city for safety before the battle of Salamis. Near the theatre was a temple of Diana erected by Hippolytus. This hero had a sacred portion with a temple and image, and was honoured with yearly sacrifices. The priesthood was for life, and it was the custom for virgins before their nuptials to cut off one of the tresses of their hair, and to carry it as an offering to the temple. Within the enclosure was a temple of Apollo, dedicated by Diomed on his escape from the storm which happened on his return from Troy. Against the enclosure was part of the stadium of Hippolytus, as it was called; and above, a temple of Venus the Spectator, where Phædra beheld him at his exer

cises. A myrtle, which grew there, produced leaves full of holes, as they asserted, from the time of her distraction, when she perforated the foliage with the clasp of her hair. Her tomb was not far from the barrow of Hippolytus, which was near the myrtle, but not acknowledged by the Trozenians. They denied that he was dragged by horses and killed; supposing him to have been changed into the constellation called the Charioteer. The temple of Neptune was without the city-wall. They styled him plant-salter, because, in his anger, he had permitted the sea-water to penetrate to the roots and seeds, rendering the land barren. They claimed the god Orus as a native, and, if any people, were given to embellish their city with local stories. Its territory included the peninsula of Methana, and the promontory Scyllæum. A road between the mountains led to Hermione, which city was distant about eighty stadia, or ten miles, from Scyllæum. Our mariners called it Castri, and had been employed in transporting materials from it to the monastery building at Hydre.

The ruins of Trozen are mostly in the plain at the foot of a lofty range of mountains crossing from the Saronian lake, or bay, to the gulf of Epidauria. The site, with the whole isthmus, is overrun with bushes, but some spots produce corn and cotton. Many rills of water descend from the mountains, and are conducted and distributed as the crops and soil require. The scattered churches are numerous, and occupy, it is likely, the places of the temples. In several are inscribed pedestals. The vestiges, with pieces of wall and remnants of brick buildings, spread to a considerable extent; the space disposed in terraces, the areas clear, with rubbish lying along