Mosaics of Grecian History | Page 9

this, the situation of
Attica marked it out in an eminent manner for a commercial country;
and it became distinguished beyond all the other states of Greece for its
extensive commercial relations, while its climate was deemed the most
favorable of all the regions of the civilized world for the physical and
intellectual development of man. It was called "a sunny land," and,

notwithstanding the infertility of its soil, it was full of picturesque
beauty. The poet BYRON, in his apostrophe to Greece, makes many
striking and beautiful allusions to the Attica of his own time:
Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild; Sweet are thy groves, and
verdant are thy fields, Thine olive ripe as when Minerva smiled, And
still its honeyed wealth Hymettus yields. There the blithe bee his
fragrant fortress builds, The freeborn wanderer of thy mountain air;
Apollo still thy long, long summer gilds, Still in his beam Mendeli's
marbles glare; Art, Glory, Freedom fail, but Nature still is fair.
10. Entering now upon the isthmus which leads into Southern Greece,
we find the little state of Corinth, with its famous city of the same name,
keeping guard over the narrow pass, with one foot on the Corinthian
Gulf and the other on the Saron'ic, thereby commanding both the Ionian
and Æge'an seas, controlling the commerce that passed between them,
and holding the keys of Peloponnesus. It was a mountainous and barren
region, with the exception of a small plain north-west of the city. Thus
situated, Corinth early became the seat of opulence and the arts, which
rendered her the ornament of Greece. On a lofty eminence overhanging
the city, forming a conspicuous object at a great distance, was her
famous citadel--so important as to be styled by Philip of Macedon "the
fetters of Greece." Rising abruptly nearly two thousand feet above the
surrounding plain, the hill itself, in its natural defences, is the strongest
mountain fortress in Europe.
The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock, Have left untouched her
hoary rock, The key-stone of a land which still, Though fallen, looks
proudly on that hill, The landmark to the double tide That purpling rolls
on either side, As if their waters chafed to meet, Yet pause and crouch
beneath her feet. --BYRON.
The ascent to the citadel, in the days of Corinthian glory, was lined on
both sides with temples and altars; but temples and altars are gone, and
citadel and city alike are now in ruins. Antip'ater of Sidon describes the
city as a scene of desolation after it had been conquered, plundered, and
its walls thrown down by the Romans, 146 B.C. Although the city was
partially rebuilt, the description is fully applicable to its present
condition. A modern traveller thus describes the site of the ancient city:
The hoarse wind sighs around the mouldering walls Of the vast theatre,
like the deep roar Of distant waves, or the tumultuous rush Of

multitudes: the lichen creeps along Each yawning crevice, and the
wild-flower hangs Its long festoons around each crumbling stone. The
window's arch and massive buttress glow With time's deep tints, whilst
cypress shadows wave On high, and spread a melancholy gloom. Silent
forever is the voice Of Tragedy and Eloquence. In climes Far distant,
and beneath a cloudy sky, The echo of their harps is heard; but all The
soul-subduing energy is fled. --HAYGARTH.
11. Adjoining the Corinthian territory on the west, and extending about
sixty-five miles along the southern coast of the Corinthian Gulf, was
Acha'ia, mountainous in the interior; but its coast region for the most
part was level, exposed to inundations, and without a single harbor of
any size. Hence the Achæ'ans were never famous for maritime
enterprise. Of the eleven Achæan cities that formed the celebrated
Achæan league, Pal'træ (now Patras') alone survives. Si'çy-on, on the
eastern border of Achaia, was at times an independent state.
12. South of Achaia was the central region of Arcadia, surrounded by a
ring of mountains, and completely encompassed by the other states of
the Peloponnesus. Next to Laconia it was the largest of the ancient
divisions of Greece, and the most picturesque and beautiful portion (not
unlike Switzerland in its mountain character), and without either
seaports or navigable rivers. It was inhabited by a people simple in
their habits and manners, noted for their fondness for music and
dancing, their hospitality, and pastoral customs. With the poets Arcadia
was a land of peace, of simple pleasures, and untroubled quiet; and it
was natural that the pipe-playing Pan should first appear here, where
musical shepherds led their flocks along the woody vales of impetuous
streams.
13. Ar'golis, east of Arcadia, was mostly a rocky peninsula lying
between the Saron'ic and Argol'ic gulfs. It was in great part a barren
region, with