Homer' compares the old counsellors of Priam to cicadas. It is doubtful whether the simile is meant to illustrate the childish treble' or the garrulity of age. Theocritus, I suppose, meant to be civil when he said, 'You sing better than 'a TT:" but a modern performer would think the compliment rather equivocal. Ariosto' describes the cicala as deafening earth, sea, and heaven with its tiresome noise: The TT tophanes :1 "Sol la cicala col noioso metro Fra i densi rami del fronzuto stelo, Le valli, e i monti assorda, e 'l mare, e 'l cielo." sings only one or two months in the year, according to Aris The tettinx sings a month or two Upon the branches; but th' Athenians sing In courts of justice all their life.——————— It was eat before meals to stimulate the appetite.* The groves of the Academy were the favourite haunts of the TT in Plato's time.' 1. 476. Here with his stole, &c.] Some of this description of the costume of an ancient philosopher is taken from Ephippus, who, however, as well as Lucian,' ridicules the appearance of the sages of the Academy. Alciphron gives a lively picture of the appearance of the philosophers of the different sects, at a banquet. 1. 483. How all Creation.] See Plat. in Tim. T. iii. p. 53, edit. Serrani, 7 Hom. Il. iii. 1. 151. ? Orlando Furioso, C. viii. St. 20. 2 Athenæus, 1. iv. c. 10. ✦ Athenæus, 1. xi. c. 120. Epist. 1. iii. ep. 55. Theoc. Eid. i. 1. 147. I Arist. Aves, 1. 39. Timon. quoted by Diog. Laert. b. iii. c. 9. 5 Lucian. Timon. t. i. p. 170. Ed. Hemst. 1. 485. The bounds of virtue.] Plat. Meno, T. ii. p. 70, &c. In this dialogue of Plato the enquiry is, whether virtue is innate, or whether it can be taught, or acquired by exercise. 1. 489. From earth to immortality.] See the sublime dialogue of Plato, entitled Phædon, i. p.57 1. 492. Lycæum.] The school near Athens where Aristotle taught. The 'Lyceum (says Pausanias') has its name from Lycius, the son of Pandion. 'It was formerly, and indeed is still, believed that there was a temple of 'Apollo, from whence the god is called Lycius.' Lucian says, that it was sacred to the Lycian Apollo, and adorned with a statue of the God, leaning on a pillar, and holding in his left hand a bow, whilst his right was bent over his head, as if he was resting from labour. The Lyceum was also a place for military exercise: 1. 493. Cynosarges.] The school of the Cynics, at the head of which was Antisthenes.' 2 1. 513. Ilissus flows no more.] The Ilissus is now a dry gravelly bed; but it was described to me as rolling along a considerable stream after the storms of winter. This account agrees with what Strabo says of it; and Chateaubriand observes, that water is always found at a very small depth below the surface. It was never very deep, for Socrates and his companion, in Plato,3 talk of walking through it barefoot. The plane trees which formerly adorned its banks, and in the shade of which Socrates conversed with his disciples," 9 Aristoph. Pax. 1. 354. 3 Plato Phædrus. 7 Paus. 1. i. c. 19. Paus. 1. i. c. 19. Luc. de Gymnasiis, S. 7. 2 Strabo, ix. p. 581. + Ib. S have disappeared. The temples too of Ceres and Diana Agrotera, which were formerly situated near it, are destroyed; but their position is marked by the Greek churches and chapels which have been erected on their foundations. In general we may remark that the Greek churches occupy the site of the ancient temples, the early Christians having adopted this as the most effectual manner, in their opinions, of purifying the ground from Pagan pollution. 1.523. Yonder columns.] On the N. side of the Ilissus, and to the S. E. ' of the Acropolis, appear the columns of Adrian, the majestic ruins of the temple of Jupiter Olympius. They consist of sixteen pillars and an imper'fect angle of the peribolus, or outer wall, strengthened with buttresses to the 'S. E., and another fragment of the peribolus to the N. W., which is built ' into the modern walls of the town. The pillars are of the Corinthian order, 'fluted, and about sixty feet in height: thirteen of them stand together in 'three rows, the other three are at a short distance. The thirteen pillars still 'support their architraves. It is impossible to behold these beautiful columns 'without the highest admiration. They convey a magnificent idea of what 'Grecian architecture could effect; and even now in their ruinous state ex 'cite an impression that can be felt but not described. They stand about a furlong from the foot of the Acropolis and near the gate of Adrian.' Journal. Travellers are not agreed in the name which should be given to these pillars. Wheler calls them the palace of Adrian, but the authority of Stuart,' who assigns strong reasons for calling them the temple of Jupiter Olympius, is more to be relied upon. That they are of the age of Adrian is, I believe, universally allowed. Pausanias' describes a whole district in this quarter filled with buildings erected by that Emperor. 1. 535. Nor from their holy rites e'er turn aside.] I have frequently been struck with the earnestness and apparent abstraction from all earthly thoughts with which a Mussulman performs his devotions. In places most unfavourable for religious meditation, by the side of a public road, or in the throng of a multitude, the pious Mahometan spreads his mat, repeats his prayers, and performs the prescribed prostrations, with as much zeal and attention as if he • Antiquities of Athens, V. iii. p. 11. 5. Paus. 1. i. 7 Paus. 1. i. c. 18. were in the stillness of a mosque, or the solitude of a desert. M. Guys' made an experiment on the quantity of attention which a Mussulman at his prayers possesses. Je revenois (he says) un jour en compagnie et à cheval du village de Belgrade. Un Turc faisoit sa prière sur le bord du chemin, et je le considerois attentivement. On m'assura que si j'approchois de lui, il ne leveroit seulement pas les yeux pour me regarder. J'étois jeune, et nouvellement arrivé en Turquie, je ne pûs croire ce qu'on me disoit. Je m'éloignai pour arriver au galop sur l'homme en prière: il étoit immobile: je tournai autour de lui, il sembloit ne pas m'appercevoir, et continuoit de se lever et de se remettre à genoux sans lever les yeux. Enfin j'appuyai presque sur lui la tête de mon cheval; mais il ne daigna pas se détourner pour me dire la moindre injure, ou me faire aucune signe. Ainsi j'aurois perdu la gageure, si j'avais parié que j'interromprois sa prière. The wooden spear.] The military game of throwing the Djeryd is much practised by the Turks. The combatants, mounted on horseback, pursue and retire in turn at full speed: the pursuer bears in his uplifted hand a wooden spear, which he every instant threatens to launch at his adversary; the pursued bends low on his horse's neck, and looks back at his enemy in order that he may avoid the meditated blow. Xenophon describes a military game very similar to the Djeryd. Αγαθη ασκησις (he says) και ην δυο ιππό]αι συντιθεμένω ὁ μεν φευδη επι τε ίππε πανίοια χωρια, και το δόρυ εις τεπισθεν μεταβαλλομενος ὑποχωρῃ ὁ δὲ διωκη, εσφαιρωμένα τε εχων ακον Τια, και δορυ ώσαυτως πεπραἷμα]ευμενον· και όπε μεν αν εις ακονλιον αφικνηται, ακοντίζη τον φευ Γούλα τοις σφαιρώζοις· όπε δ' αν εις δοραίος πληίην παιη τον αλισκομενον. "It is a very good exercise for two horsemen to engage in a mock fight in "the following manner. Let the one pursued ride across the country over every obstacle, and retreat, casting his spear backward; and let the pursuer carry in his hand blunted darts and a spear formed in the same manner; and when he comes within distance for throwing the weapon let him "aim at his flying adversary with the blunted darts; and when he overtakes "him, strike him with his spear." 8 Vovage Littéraire de la Grèce, i. p. 415 9 Xenoph. de Re Equest. c. viii. s. 10. 1. 544. The Turkish dames.] The Turkish women claim an exemption 'from their confinement on one day only in the week, when they visit their ' relations, and are seen going in companies to the baths, or sitting in the 'burying grounds on the graves of their friends, their children, husbands, or ' parents."1 1. 546. Sad Electra or Andromache.] There to labour at the loom For a task-mistress, and with many a sigh, 1. 549. Triumphal gate.] Gate of Adrian. 1. 550. Of Tripods sacred street -] 'At the S. E. corner of the rock of the Acropo'lis are two columns of different sizes. From the battlements of the citadel ' we observed that their summits are triangular: on them tripods were placed. They were erected by the victors in the musical contests of the Odeum. They were situated in the street called the Street of the Tripods, the exact 'direction of which is ascertained by these two columns, and by a small cir'cular building of beautiful workmanship called the Choragic Monument of 'Lysicrates. Journal. The ceremonies of the consecration of the tripod are represented in an ancient bas-relief. See Galérie Mythologique, par Millin, T. i. p. 17, Chandler. 2 Eurip. Elect. 1. 54. 'Hom. Il. vi. 1. 456. |