pillaged and cheated by the Turks, and they in return think it fair to plunder ' and cheat strangers whom they have in their power. They certainly take every opportunity of practising imposition, and generally ask for their wares ' double or treble the price which they are willing to take.' Journal. 1. 232. He apes the Archon's state.] The title of Archon still exists at 'Athens. Three Greeks are elected by the people, and invested with the 'office. They have the management of the public affairs of the Greeks, and 'provide the money, corn, &c. demanded by the Turks. They are always to 'be found in a house near that of the Vaivode, and give audience to any one 'who applies. They can be elected twice, but not a third time. A Firman 'from the Porte is necessary for their election. Formerly they were chosen frequently, but the present men have been 'Agxolas, as they call them, for ten years. They are distinguished by a high black fur cap." Journal. 1. 234. Curled locks.] The Greeks wear their hair long, and flowing behind, but closely shaved off the forehead and temples. They are, in Homer's phrase, odev xoμowles, and their appearance in this particular answers to Pindar's description: Ουδε κομαν πλοκάμοι Αλλ' άπαν νωτον καταίθυσε σον 3 Unshorn and unconfin'd, Their ringlets wanton'd on the wind, And down the back descending flow'd. This is a relic of an ancient custom, which was originally introduced to prevent the enemy from seizing his antagonist by the hair in battle. This usage was continued in the times of chivalry for the same purpose.* Great importance was anciently attached to the hair. In the Mosaic " ritual, shaving the head was a sign of separation from the world. The The noble families (says Gibbon) cannot trace their pedigree above 300 years; but their principal members are distinguished by a grave demeanour, a fur cap, and the lofty appellation of Archon. V. ii. p. 356. 2 Hom. Il. 4 St. Palaye, Mémoires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie, I. p. 290. 3 Pind. Pyth. iv. l. 145. 5 Numbers, c. vi. v. 18. 5 6 Greeks, when they made a solemn vow, shaved the head till its accomplishment was effected. After the loss of Thyre the Argives cut their hair and bound themselves by a solemn oath not to let it grow again, till they had regained possession of that place. The Lacedæmonians, on the contrary, who before that time had not encouraged the growth of their hair, suffered it to grow in consequence of their victory. The Spartans' paid ever afterwards great attention to their hair, particularly before they went to battle; and Lycurgus' ordered the warriors to encourage its growth, that their appearance in battle might be more terrible to the enemy. Civilis, after the destruction of the Roman legions, cut off his hair, which till that time, owing to his vow (barbaro voto, as Tacitus' calls it) he had nourished. Some of the German tribes never cut their beard or hair till they had slain an enemy, being accustomed (in the expressive language of Tacitus') ut primum adoleverint, crinem barbamque summittere, nec nisi hoste caso exuere votivum obligatumque virtuti oris habitum. Slaves were forbidden by the Greeks to wear their hair long. 3 The Greek word xoμaw,' which signifies to be proud,' is taken from wearing the hair long. 1.242. The feast is spread.] There are several peculiarities in the feasts of the Greeks, which recal to one's mind the manners of the ancients. The preparatory ceremony of washing the hands is universal. This custom is familiar to every reader of Homer. Aristophanes says: 3 Aristoph. Plutus, 1. 170. Aristoph. Aves. 1. 463. Philoxenus ap. Athen. xv. c. 33. In some parts of Africa, the custom of presenting water to wash the hands is practised with this improvement, that the attendant drinks it after it has been used, as an additional mark of respect. I have mentioned above the appearance of the cook at the banquet, as a relic of old manners. The reclining posture, which is now very general, is also of undoubted antiquity. Aristophanes includes it in the directions which he gives to a guest: τα Γοναλ εκλεινε, και Γυμναςικως Ὑδρον χύλασον σεαυτον εν τοις ςρωμασιν. Stretch out your knees-your oil-anointed limbs The couch Athenæus describes three sorts of seats that were used: the govos, the κλισμος, and the δίφρος, of which the κλισμος was intended for a reclining posture, and given as a mark of distinction: the diggos was allotted to those of inferior rank. The couches held three, four, or seven.' The same author' attributes the change from the sitting to the reclining posture, (which was beginning to be general in his time) to the encrease of luxury and effeminacy. 6 Tripods were anciently used at meals. Επειδή δε εισήλθον επι το δείπνον . . . . . . το δείπνον ην καθημενοις κυκλῳ· επεί]α δε τρίποδες εισηνεχθησαν πασιν. But when they arrived, supper was brought in and ranged in a circle; and then a tripod was placed before each of the guests.' In the 14th plate of the Antiquities of Herculaneum, is the representation of a family meal. A tripod is introduced with cups, &c. upon it. It does not, however, much resemble the modern form. A tripod of the size now used through Greece is represented on a bas-relief in the British Museum. See Galérie Mythologique, par Millin, p. 45, N. 199. Though these low tables were called tripods, they had four feet, as we learn from Epicharmus.* Α. Τι δε ταδ' εςι; Β. Δηλαδη τριπες. Α. Τι μαν εν ; εκ εχει τείτορας πόδας, εκ εςι τρίπες, αλλ' οιμαι τέραπες. Β. Εςι δονομ' αυτῳ τρίπες. Α. Τετορας δε μαν έχει πόδας. Β. Οιδιπες τοινυν πολ' εσσι, αινιἷμαία τοι τυ νοεις. Arist. Vespæ. 1. 1212. 9 Athen. ii. c. 32. 1 Xenoph. Anab. Lib. vii. c. 3. s. 21. 2 Epicharm. ap. Athen. ii. c. 32. сс 'A. What's this? B. A tripod to be sure. A. What has it not four 'feet? I should call it a quadruped, not a tripod. B. Its name however 'is 'Tripod.' A. But it has four feet. B. You an Edipus! and unable C to solve this riddle!' The small table which the Greeks at present use for their meals answers exactly to this description. It has four feet, and upon it is placed a large metal dish, sometimes of the same size, sometimes larger than the table itself. This custom is, I think, hinted at by Athenæus.3 The chief person at table makes a sort of libation to the guests. Before he drinks the first glass of wine, he says, Eis fear (to your health). If it is the festival of any saint, he invokes his favour. He then says, May God pardon our forefathers.' 'May our days end happily.' This custom of pledging is continued from remote times.* The Greeks seldom, and the Turks never, admit the women to eat at table with them. The ancient Greeks vehemently declaimed against the usage of a common meal." 6 Corn. Nepos, after observing that the Roman women were admitted to take their meals with the men, adds: Quod multo fit aliter in Græciâ, nam neque in convivium adhibetur nisi propinquorum; neque sedet nisi in interiore parte ædium quæ gynocitis appellatur. At some of the dinners to which I was invited in Athens, we had both singing and dancing after the repast. The songs were exactly such as an admirer of antiquity would wish for. They were the responsive strains, the Exo, described by Athenæus.' One of the party sung a verse, another replied, and the whole company joined in chorus. Euripides,' in some beautiful lines, reprehends the custom of singing at feasts. Aristophanes' seems to ridicule it, but it was a general custom. 5 Hesiod. Op. et Dies. 1. 703. 8 Eurip. Medea. 1. 190. 9 Aristoph. Nubes. 1. 1357. Ameipsias ap. Athen. xi. c. 25. See also Xen. Sympos. c. iii. s. 1. O breathe that strain again And whilst I quaff the purple bowl, Then take the cup and drain it low, "Man wants but little here below" But love and wine to cheer his drooping soul. Dancers were anciently introduced as the common sequel of a feast,' and the fondness for this amusement has not diminished amongst the modern Greeks. 1. 247. The strain begins.] An ingenious writer (but who is occasionally very fanciful), M. Guys, in his Voyage Littéraire de la Grèce, talks in 'raptures of the beauty and expression of the modern Greek and Turkish 'music. What I have heard of it has left a very different impression. The songs, as far as I can speak from experience, are extremely simple; the melody of some not unpleasing, but the manner of performing them (as ' each singer sings the same notes, and strains his voice to the loudest pitch) 'intolerable. Their instrumental music is very rude. A pipe of one and 'sometimes of two reeds, a violin, and a drum, an instrument played with a bow like a violin, but in form something resembling a lyre, a sort of bagpipe made of the skin of a sheep and a goat, are the only musical instru6 ments which I have seen in the hands of the Greeks. 'The Greek music, rude as it is, is divine harmony compared with the sounds produced by the united efforts of an orchestra of Turks. It is impossible to conceive a more horrid din than what proceeds from those whom they are pleased to call musicians. It is worse than the discord of a band 'where each plays a different tune, in a different key. The drum is their 'favourite instrument, and they perform upon it with a success proportionate ' to their admiration. In the largest Turkish band which I have seen, in the palace of Ali Pasha, there were eleven drums of different sizes, and only 'four wind instruments. The instrument which appeared to take the lead in this discordancy, was something like a hautboy in shape, the notes which 'issued from it very much resembled those of a child's trumpet, with the 'disadvantage of being much louder. With this band, and without any 6 • Homer, and Eurip. Heraclid. 1. 892. Xenoph. Sympos. c. ii. s. 1. |