Kitabı oku: «Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2)», sayfa 24

"Christians," says Mons. Chateaubriand, "will inquire, perhaps, what my feelings were on entering this holy place? I really cannot tell. So many reflections rushed at once into my mind, that I was unable to dwell upon any particular idea. I continued near half an hour upon my knees, in the little chamber of the Holy Sepulchre, with my eyes riveted upon the stone, from which I had not the power to turn them. One of the two monks, who accompanied me, remained prostrate on the marble by my side; while the other, with the Testament in his hand, read to me, by the light of the lamps, the passages relating to the sacred tomb. All I can say is, that when I beheld this triumphant sepulchre, I felt nothing but my own weakness; and that when my guide exclaimed, with St. Paul, 'O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?' I listened, as if Death was about to reply, that he was conquered, and enchained in this monument³³⁵."

NO. XLV. – LACEDÆMON, OR SPARTA

Leliæ, the first king of Laconia, began his reign about 1516 years before the Christian era. Tyndarus³³⁶, the ninth king of Lacedæmon, had, by Leda, Castor and Pollux, who were twins, besides Helena, and Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ. Having survived his son, he began to think of choosing a successor, by looking out for a husband for his daughter Helena. All the pretenders to this princess bound themselves by oath, to abide by, and entirely submit to, the choice which the lady herself should make, who determined in favour of Menelaus. She had not lived above three years with her husband, before she was carried off by Paris, son of Priam, king of the Trojans, which rape was the cause of the Trojan war. The Greeks took Troy after a siege of ten years, about the year of the world 2820, and 1184 before Christ.

Eighty years after the taking of this city, the Heraclidæ re-entered the Peloponnesus, and seized Lacedæmon; when two brothers, Eurysthenes and Procles, sons of Aristodemus, began to reign together, and from their time the sceptre always continued jointly in the hands of the descendants of those two families.

Many years after this, Lycurgus instituted that body of laws, which rendered both the legislature and the republic so famous in history: and since the constitution of Lycurgus seems to have been the true groundwork of our own, we insert some few particulars in respect to it; for the ruins of institutions are even more important subjects of contemplation than those of the walls in which they were engendered. The following account is taken from Rollin. We have not space, however, for the whole of his observations; we shall select, therefore, only the most important ones. Of all the institutions, made by Lycurgus, the most considerable was that of the senate; which, by tempering and balancing the too absolute power of the kings by an authority of equal weight and influence with theirs, became the principal support and preservation of the state. For whereas, before, it was ever unsteady, and tending one while to tyranny, by the violent proceedings of the kings; at other times towards democracy, by the excessive power of the people, the senate served as a kind of counterpoise to both; which kept the state in a due equilibrium, and preserved it in a firm and steady situation; the twenty-eight senators, of which it consisted, siding with the king, when the people were aiming at too much power; and, on the other hand, espousing the interests of the people whenever the kings attempted to carry their authority too far.

Lycurgus having thus tempered the government, those that came after him thought the power of the senate too absolute; and, therefore, as a check upon them, they devised the authority of the Ephori. These were five in number, and remained but one year in office. They were all chosen out of the people, and in that respect considerably resembled the tribunes of the people among the Romans. Their authority extended to the arresting and imprisoning the persons of their kings. This institution began in the reign of Theopompus, whose wife reproached him, that he would leave his children the regal authority in a worse condition than he had received it. "No!" said he, "on the contrary, I shall leave it them in a much better condition; as it will be more permanent and lasting." The Spartan government then was not purely monarchical. The nobility had a share in it, and the people were not excluded. Each part of this body politic, in proportion as it contributed to the public good, found in it their advantage.

The second institution of Lycurgus was the division of the lands, which he looked upon as absolutely necessary for establishing peace and good order in the commonwealth. The major part of the people were so poor, that they had not one inch of land of their own, whilst a small number of particular persons were possessed of all the lands and wealth of the country. In order to banish insolence, envy, fraud, luxury, and two other distempers of the state, still greater and more ancient than those, excessive poverty and excessive wealth, he persuaded the citizens to give up all their lands to the commonwealth, and to make a new division of them.

This scheme, as extraordinary as it was, was immediately executed. Lycurgus divided the lands of Laconia into thirty thousand parts, which he distributed among an equal number of citizens. It is said that, some years after, as Lycurgus was returning from a long journey, and passing through the lands of Laconia, in the time of harvest, and observing, as he went along, the perfect equality of the reaped corn, he turned towards those who were with him, and said smilingly, "Does not Laconia look like the possession of several brothers, who have just been dividing their inheritance among them?"

After having divided their immoveables, he undertook likewise to make the same equal division of all their moveable goods and chattels, that he might utterly banish all manner of equality from among them. But perceiving that this would go against the grain, if he went openly about it, he endeavoured to effect it by sapping the very foundations of avarice. For first he cried down all gold and silver money, and ordained that no other should be current than that of iron; which he made so very heavy, and fixed at so low a rate, that a cart and two oxen were necessary to carry home a sum of ten minas (about 20l.), and a whole chamber to keep it in.

Being desirous to make a yet more effectual war upon luxury, and utterly to extirpate the love of riches, Lycurgus made a third regulation, which was that of public meals. That he might entirely suppress all the magnificence and extravagance of expensive tables, he ordained, that all the citizens should eat together of the same common victuals, which the law prescribed, and expressly forbade all private eating at their own houses. The tables consisted of about fifteen persons each; where none could be admitted but with the consent of the whole company. Each person furnished, every month, a bushel of flour, eight measures of wine, five pounds of cheese, two and a half pounds of figs, and a small sum of money for preparing and cooking the food. The very children ate at these public tables, and were carried thither as to a school of wisdom and temperance. Nay, they were sure to see nothing but what tended to their instruction and entertainment. The conversation was often enlivened with ingenious and sprightly raillery, but never intermingled with any thing vulgar or shocking; and if their jesting seemed to make any person uneasy, they never proceeded any farther. Here their children were likewise trained up, and accustomed to great secrecy; as soon as a young man came into the dining-room, the oldest of the company used to say to him, pointing to the door, "Nothing spoken here must ever go out there."

Lycurgus looked upon the education of youth as the greatest and most important object of a legislator's care. His grand principle was, that children belonged more to the state than to their parents; and, therefore, he would not have them brought up according to their humours and fancies; he would have the state intrusted with the general care of their education, in order to have them formed upon correct and uniform principles, which might inspire them betimes with the love of virtue and of their country.

The most usual occupation of the Lacedæmonians was hunting, and other bodily exercises. They were forbidden to exercise any mechanic art: the Elotæ, a sort of slaves, tilled their land for them; for which they were paid a certain revenue by way of wages. Lycurgus would have his citizens enjoy a great deal of leisure: they had common halls, where the people used to meet to converse together; and though their discourses chiefly turned upon grave and serious topics, yet they seasoned them with a mixture of wit and facetious humour, both agreeable and instructive. They passed little of their time alone; being accustomed to live like bees, always together, always about their chiefs and leaders. The love of their country and of the public good was their predominant passion; and they did not imagine they belonged to themselves but to their country.

The end Lycurgus proposed was the public happiness: convinced that the happiness of a city, like that of a private person, depends upon virtue, and upon being well within himself. He regulated Lacedæmon so as it might always suffice to its own happiness, and act upon principles of wisdom and equity. From thence arose that universal esteem of the neighbouring people, and even of strangers, for the Lacedæmonians, who asked them neither money, ships, nor troops; but only that they should lend them a Lacedæmonian to command their armies; and when they had obtained their request, they paid him certain obedience, with every kind of honour and respect.

There were a multitude of other regulations, some of which were, doubtless, of a very imperfect tendency; but it is certain that the declension of Sparta began with the violation of Lycurgus's laws. No sooner had the ambition of reigning over all Greece inspired them with the design of having naval armies and foreign troops, and that money was necessary for the support of those forces, than Lacedæmon, forgetting her ancient maxims, saw herself reduced to have recourse to the Barbarians, which, till then, she had detested, and basely to betray her court to the kings of Persia, whom she had formerly vanquished with so much glory; and that only to draw from them some aids of money and troops against their own brethren; that is to say, against people born and settled in Greece, like themselves. Thus had they the imprudence and misfortune to recal, with gold and silver, all the vices and crimes which the iron money had banished; and to prepare the way to the changes which ensued, and were the causes of their ruin. And this infinitely exalts the wisdom of Lycurgus, in having foreseen at such a distance what might strike at the happiness of his citizens, and provided salutary remedies against it in the form of government he established at Lacedæmon.

Ancient Sparta is thus described by Polybius: – "It is of a circular form, and forty-eight stadia in circumference, situated in a plain, but containing some rough places and eminences. The Eurotas flows to the east, and the copiousness of its waters renders it too deep to be forded during the greater part of the year. The hills, on which the Menelaion is situated, are on the south-east of the city, on the opposite side of the river. They are rugged, difficult of ascent, and throw their shadows over the space which is between the city and the Eurotas. The river flows close to the foot of the hills, which are not above a stadium and a half from the city." Its former condition is thus described by Anacharsis: – "The houses at Lacedæmon are small, and without ornament. Halls and porticos have been erected, to which the citizens resort to converse together, or transact business. On the south side of the city is the hippodromus, or course for foot and horse races; and at a little distance from that, the platanistas, or place of exercise for youth, shaded by beautiful plane-trees, and inclosed by the Eurotas on one side, a small river which falls into it, and a canal, by which they communicate, on the other. It is entered by two bridges, on one of which is the statue of Hercules, or 'All-subduing Force;' and on the other that of Lycurgus, or 'All-regulating Law.'"

In what condition is this celebrated city at present? "Passing over the Eurotas," says Mr. Dodwell, "we viewed the first remains of the Lacedæmonian capital, now called Palaio-Kastro, consisting of uncertain traces and heaps of large stones, tossed about in a sort of promiscuous wreck. In a few minutes we reached the theatre, which is of large dimensions. The Koilon is excavated in the hill, which rose nearly in the middle of the city, and which served as an Acropolis. The theatre appears of Roman construction, and the walls of the proscenium are principally of brick. The white marble, of which, Pausanias says, it was composed, has disappeared. Near the theatre are the remains of a Roman brick tower. Sparta was originally without walls, and Lycurgus prohibited their erection. Justin asserts that the Spartans first surrounded their capital with walls, when Cassander entered the Peloponnesus; according to Livy, they were built by the tyrant; and Plutarch says they were destroyed by Philopœmen. Pausanias asserts, that the walls were constructed with precipitate haste, when Demetrius and Pyrrhus besieged Sparta. They were afterwards strongly fortified by the tyrant Nabis, and destroyed by the Achæans, by whom, it appears, they were afterwards rebuilt.

A fine sepulchral chamber, of a square form, regularly constructed with large blocks, is situated nearly opposite the theatre, and a short distance from it. It has been opened, and the interior is found to be composed of brick-work. Many other ruins are dispersed in this direction, some of which are of Roman origin. They appear to have suffered more from sudden violence than from gradual decay; and have, no doubt, been torn to pieces to supply materials for the modern town of Misithra. Several inscriptions have also been found. From all this, it will appear, that Chateaubriand is not quite correct, when he asserts, that "Sparta is occupied by the single hut of a goat-herd, whose wealth consists in the crop, that grows upon the graves of Agis and Agesilaus."³³⁷

NO. XLVI. – LAODICEA

This city was long an inconsiderable place; but it increased towards the age of Augustus. The fertility of the soil, and the good fortune of some of its citizens, raised it to greatness. Several persons bequeathed large sums to it; amongst whom may be particularly mentioned, Hiero, Zeno the rhetorician, and Polemo his son. The first bequeathed it no less than 2000 talents.

In ancient times Laodicea collected a very considerable revenue from its flocks of sheep, celebrated for the fineness of their wool. "Under the reign of the Cæsars," says an elegant writer, "the proper Asia alone contained five hundred populous cities, enriched with all the gifts of nature, and adorned with all the refinements of art. Eleven cities of Asia had once disputed the honour of dedicating a temple to Tiberius, and their respective merits were examined by the senate. Four of them were immediately rejected, as unequal to the burthen; and among these was Laodicea, whose splendour is still displayed in its ruins, and had received, a little before the contest, a legacy of above 400,000l. by the testament of a generous citizen. If such was the poverty of Laodicea, what must have been the wealth of those cities whose pretensions were admitted?"

It was first called Ramitha; but being, in process of time, greatly embellished by Seleucus Nicator, he took advantage of his benefaction, and called it Laodicea in honour of his mother. Cæsar afterwards named it Juliopolis. It was in process of time included in the empire of Saladin, conquered by Sultan Selim, and not long after nearly destroyed by an earthquake.

It was rebuilt by a Turkish Aga. "It is thus a curiosity in its way," says a French Geography, "being indebted for its revival to a race of people who usually confine their exertions to the work of destruction."

The ruins of this city have been described by several travellers. We shall select the details left by Dr. Chandler and Mr. Kinneir. The first ruin, says the former, is the remains of an amphitheatre, of an oblong form, the area of which is about one thousand feet in extent, with many seats remaining. At the west end is a wide vaulted passage, about one hundred and forty feet long, designed for the horses and chariots; near it is an arch, with an inscription on the mouldings, in large Greek characters, "To the Emperor Titus Cæsar Augustus Vespasian, seven times consul, son of the Emperor, the God, Vespasian; and to the people," &c.

By another ruin is a pedestal, with an inscription: "The senate and people have honoured Tatia, daughter of Nicostratus, son of Pericles, a new heroine, both on account of the magistracy and ministries and public works of her father, and on account of her great uncle, Nicostratus, who lately, besides his other benefactions, was priest of the city, and changed the stadium into an amphitheatre."

On the north side of the amphitheatre is the ruin of an ample edifice. In consists of many piers, and arches of stone, with pedestals and marble fragments. On the west side lies a large stone with an inscription: The city "has exalted Ased, a man of sanctity and piety, recorder for life; on account of the services he has performed to his country."

There are remains also of an Odeum. The seats remain in the side of the hill. The whole was of marble. The proscenium lies a confused heap of ruins. Sculpture had been lavished upon it, and the style savoured less of Grecian taste than of Roman magnificence.

Beyond the Odeum are seen some marble arches, of, it is supposed, a gymnasium. Westward are three other marble arches, crossing a dry valley, as a bridge. There are also traces of the city walls, with broken columns and pieces of marble. Within, the whole surface is filled with pedestals and columns.

According to Mr. Kinneir, the greatest ornament is a triumphal arched structure, of a square plan, between thirty and forty feet in height, and encircled near the top with a handsome entablature. The arches, four in number, are in the Roman style of architecture, supposed to have been erected in honour of Cæsar, the patron of the city; or Germanicus, who died at Daphne, and was greatly beloved by the Syrians. The corners are adorned with handsome pilasters of the Corinthian order, and one of its fronts exhibits a basso-relievo with martial instruments; hence another traveller is inclined to suppose that it formed part of a temple dedicated to Mars. At no great distance from this, stands a mosque, evidently built from the ruins of another ancient edifice, of which several columns of a portico still stand; and amidst rocks and crags along the sea-shore may be observed a prodigious number of small catacombs, Dr. Shaw mentions several rows of porphyry and granite pillars.

We cannot close this account without citing what has been recently said of the inhabitants and environs of this city: – "The environs of Ledikea having many olive grounds, gardens, little country retreats, and places of pleasure, the inhabitants are all fond of rural recreation; and those who cannot find time for a longer excursion, seat themselves along the sides of the public roads, both in the morning and in the evening, to enjoy the freshness of the air, and, as they themselves say, to lengthen out their days by delight³³⁸."

NO. XLVII. – LEUCTRA

This city (in Bœotia) is famous for having been the scene of a great battle between the Thebans and the Lacedæmonians, July 8, B. C. 371.

The two armies were very unequal in number³³⁹. That of the Lacedæmonians consisted of twenty-four thousand foot, and sixteen hundred horse. The Thebans had only six thousand foot, and four hundred horse; but all of them choice troops, animated by their experience of the war, and determined to conquer or die. The Lacedæmonian cavalry, composed of men picked up by chance, without valour, and ill disciplined, was as much inferior to their enemies in courage as superior in number. The infantry could not be depended on, except the Lacedæmonians; their allies having engaged in the war with reluctance, because they did not approve the motive of it, and were besides dissatisfied with the Lacedæmonians.

Upon the day of battle, the two armies drew up on a plain. Cleombrotus was upon the right, consisting of Lacedæmonians, on whom he confided most. To take the advantage which his superiority of horse gave him in an open country, he posted them in the front of the Lacedæmonians. Archidamus, Agesilaus' son, was at the head of the allies, who formed the left wing.

The action began by the cavalry. As that of the Thebans were better mounted, and braver troops than the Lacedæmonian horse, the latter were not long before they were broke, and driven upon the infantry, which they put into some confusion. Epaminondas following his horse close, marched swiftly up to Cleombrotus, and fell upon his phalanx with all the weight of his heavy battalion. The latter, to make a diversion, detached a body of troops with orders to take Epaminondas in flank, and to surround him. Pelopidas, upon the sight of that movement, advanced with incredible speed and boldness at the head of the second battalion to prevent the enemy's design, and flanked Cleombrotus himself, who, by that sudden and unexpected attack, was put into disorder. The battle was very rude and obstinate; and whilst Cleombrotus could act, the victory continued in suspense, and declared for neither party. When he fell dead with his wounds, the Thebans, to complete the victory, and the Lacedæmonians, to avoid the shame of abandoning the body of their king, redoubled their efforts, and a great slaughter ensued on both sides. The Spartans fought with so much fury about the body, that at length they gained their point, and carried it off. Animated by so glorious an advantage, they prepared to return to the charge, which would perhaps have proved successful, had the allies seconded their ardour. But the left wing, seeing the Lacedæmonian phalanx had been broke, and believing all lost, especially when they heard that the king was dead, took to flight, and drew off the rest of the army along with them. Epaminondas followed them vigorously, and killed a great number in the pursuit. The Thebans remained masters of the field of battle, erected a trophy, and permitted the enemy to bury their dead.

The Lacedæmonians had never received such a blow. The most bloody defeats till then had scarce ever cost them more than four or five hundred of their citizens. They had been seen, however, animated, or rather violently incensed against several hundred of their citizens, who had suffered themselves to be shut up in the little island of Sphacteria. Here they lost four thousand men, of whom one thousand were Lacedæmonians, and four hundred Spartans, out of seven hundred who were in the battle. The Thebans had only three hundred men killed; among whom were few of their citizens.

The city of Sparta celebrated at that time the gymnastic games, and was full of strangers, whom curiosity had brought thither. When the couriers arrived from Leuctra with the terrible news of their defeat, the Ephori, though perfectly sensible of all the consequences, and that the Spartan empire had received a mortal wound, would not permit the representations of the theatre to be suspended, nor any changes in the celebration of the festival. They sent to every family the names of their relations who were killed, and stayed in the theatre to see that the dances and games were continued without interruption to the end.

The next day in the morning, the loss of each family being known, the fathers and relations of those who had died in the battle, met in the public place, and saluted and embraced each other with great joy and serenity in their looks; whilst the others kept themselves close in their houses; or, if necessity obliged them to go abroad, it was with a sadness and dejection of aspect, which sensibly expressed their profound anguish and affliction. That difference was still more remarkable in the women. Grief, silence, tears, distinguished those who expected the return of their sons; but such as had lost their sons were seen hurrying to the temples, to thank the gods, and congratulating each other upon their glory and good fortune³⁴⁰.

All that remains of this city, so celebrated and so universally known by the battle just described, and in which the Lacedæmonians forfeited for ever the empire of Greece, after possessing it for three centuries, are a few remains near the village of Parapongi, and a few blocks of stone³⁴¹.