It was at length reduced by the Athenians, and continued subject to them, till, at the end of the Macedonian war, it was declared free by the Romans. In the reign of Vespasian, however, it experienced the same fortune as the other states of Greece.

In 1536 it was subdued by the Turks, after an obstinate resistance, the capital plundered and burned, and, after great slaughter, the surviving inhabitants were carried into slavery.

The site of the ancient city has long been forsaken. Instead of the temples mentioned by Pausanias, there are thirteen lonely churches, all very mean, with two Doric columns supporting their architrave. These stand by the seaside towards the low cape; and, it has been supposed, are the remains of a temple of Venus, which was situated near the port principally frequented. The theatre, which is recorded as having been greatly worth seeing, resembled that of the Epidaurians both in size and workmanship. It was not far from the private port, the stadium, which, like that at Priene, was constructed with only one side, being joined to it behind, each edifice sustaining and propping the other. The most celebrated of its buildings was the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius. "This temple," says Colonel Leake, was erected upon a large paved platform, and must, when complete, have been one of the most remarkable examples in Greece of the majesty and beauty of its sacred edifices, as well as of the admirable taste with which the Greeks enhanced those qualities by an attention to local situation and surrounding scenery. It is not only in itself one of the finest specimens of Grecian architecture, but is the more curious as being, in all probability, the most ancient example of the Doric order in Greece, with the exception of the columns at Corinth." This temple is far from any habitation, and is surrounded with shrubs and small pine-trees. No ruin in Greece is more rich in the picturesque, as eve

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ry point of view has some peculiar charm. "When I was at Ægina," says Mr. Dodwell, "the interior of the temple was covered with large blocks of stone, and overgrown with bushes. This circumstance produced a sort of confusion, which, while it intermingled the trees and the architecture, made a great addition to the picturesque effect of the interesting scene. The place has since been cleared, the stones have been taken away, and the trees cut down, to facilitate the removal of the statues which were found among the ruins. Though these changes may have made some deduction from the pleasure with which the painter would have viewed the spot, they have added greatly to the gratification of the classical traveller, by whom all the architectural details may now be readily examined and accurately discriminated."

This ruin Dr. Chandler considers as scarcely to be paralleled in its claim to remote antiquity. Its situation on a lonely mountain, at a distance from the sea, has preserved it from total demolition amid the changes and accidents of numerous centuries.

Lusieri classes the architecture of the temple of the Panhellenian Jupiter at Ægina with that of Pæstum in Lucanio: "In their buildings," says he, "the Doric order attained a pre-eminence which it never passed; not a stone has been there placed without some evident and important design; every part of the structure bespeaks its own essential utility. Of such a nature were works in architecture, when the whole aim of the architect was to unite grandeur with utility; the former being founded on the latter. All then was truth, strength, and sublimity."

In 1811, several statues of Parian marble were discovered here, the rivals of which in style are said nowhere to be found. They were excavated from the two extremities of the temple below the tympana, from which they had fallen at some unknown period. Mr. Dodwell has given the following account of

them: "I shall not attempt," says he, "a minute description of these precious remains of the Æginetic school; the discovery of which, in its importance, has not been surpassed by any of the kind in modern times. They are supposed by some to represent the principal heroes of the Iliad contending with the Trojans for the body of Patroclus. Minerva, armed

with her helmet, is the principal figure; and, from its superior size, is conjectured to have stood in the centre of the tympanum, below which it was found. The other figures are combatants in various costumes and attitudes; their shields are circular, and their helmets crowned with the lophos. The bodies of some are naked, while others are covered with armour or leather; their attitudes are judiciously adapted to the four tympana, and the places which they occupied. They were evidently made prior to the introduction of the beautiful ideal in Grecian sculpture. The muscles and the veins, which are anatomically correct, exhibit the soft flexibility of life, and every motion of the body is in scientific harmony with that of nature. The limbs are strong, though not Herculean, and elegant without effeminacy; no preposterous muscular protuberance, no unnatural feminine delicacy offends the eye. They are noble without being harsh or rigid, and are composed with Doric severity mingled with the airy grace of youthful forms; the perfection of the finish is quite wonderful, every part being in a style worthy of the most beautiful cameo. The extremities of the hands and feet merit more particular admiration. Indeed, the ancients thought that elegant fingers and nails were essential ingredients in the composition of the beautiful. The most extraordinary circumstance, however, in these statues, is the want of expression and sameness of countenance which are to be observed in all the heads. This approximation to identity is certainly not fortuitous; for the artists, who were able to throw so much varied beauty into the forms

of the bodies, were, no doubt, fully able to infuse a similar diversity of expression into the features. Their talent was probably confined to one style of countenance by some religious prejudice. Perhaps some ancient and much venerated statue served as a model, from which it might not have been consistent with the feeling of reverence, or with the state of opinion, to deviate. The formation and posture of the bodies afforded a greater scope and a wider field for the talent of the sculptor; for, while the Doric severity of the early Æginetic school is evidently diffused through the whole, a correctness of muscular knowledge, and a strict adherence to natural beauty, are conspicuously blended in every statue. An unmeaning and inanimate smile is prevalent in all the faces; every one of the heroes, who is mortally wounded, is supporting himself in the most beautiful attitude, and smiling upon death! In short, the conquerors and the conquered, the dying and dead, have all one expression, or, rather, none at all. The high finish of the hair is particularly worthy of notice. Some in curls, which hang down in short ringlets, is of lead, and still remains. The helmets

were ornamented with metallic accessories, and the offensive weapons were probably of bronze; but they have not been found. All the figures have been painted; the colour is still visible, though nearly effaced. The colour on the ægis of Minerva is very distinguishable; but the white marble, of which the statues are composed, has assumed a yellow dye from the soil in which they were buried."

Dr. Clarke says that Lusieri found here both medals and vases in such numbers, that he was under the necessity of dismissing the peasants who amassed them, without purchasing more than half that were brought to him, though offered for a very trifling consideration, and of very high antiquity.

AGRIGENTUM.

THE Citadel of Agrigentum, in Sicily, was situated on Mount Agragas, and the city in the vale below, forming a magnificent spectacle at a distance. It was founded by a native of Rhodes, according to Polybius; but by a colony from Ionia, according to Strabo, about one hundred and eighty years after the founding of Syracuse. Thucydides, however, says that it was founded by a colony from Gela. The government was at first monarchical, afterward democratical.

Phalaris, so well known for his superior talents and his tyranny, usurped the sovereignty; and some time afterward it came under the sway of the Carthaginians. In its most flourishing condition it is said to have contained not less than two hundred thousand inhabitants, who submitted, without resistance, to the greater power of the Syracusans.

Some idea of the wealth of this city may be conceived from what is related by Diodorus Siculus of one of its citizens. When Exenetes, who had been declared victor in the Olympic games, entered the city in triumph, it was in a magnificent chariot, attended by three hundred more, all drawn by white horses. Their habits were adorned with gold and silver, and nothing could be more splendid than their appearance. Gellias, the most wealthy citizen of the place, had several apartments for the reception and entertainment of guests. Servants waited by his order at the gates of the city, to invite all strangers to lodge at their master's house, whither they conducted them. A violent storm having obliged one hundred horsemen to take shelter there, Gellias entertained them all, and supplied them immediately with a change of clothes, of which he had always a great quantity in his wardrobe.