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NO. XLVIII. – MAGNESIA

This city, situate on the Mæander, about fifteen miles S. E. of Ephesus, was founded by a colony from Magnesia in Thrace, united with the Cretans. It was one of the cities given to Themistocles by the king of Persia. The Turks call it "Guzel-Hisar," or the beautiful castle.

A great battle was fought here between the Romans and Antiochus, king of Syria. The forces of the former consisted of thirty thousand men; those of Antiochus to seventy thousand foot and twelve thousand horse. The Syrians lost fifty thousand foot and four thousand horse; and the Romans only three hundred foot and twenty-five horse. This disproportion of loss, however, is incredible.

Magnesia is rendered remarkable by the circumstance of its having been, as we have before stated, the place assigned by Artaxerxes for the residence of Themistocles. The whole revenues of the city, as well as those of Lampsacus and Myunte, were settled upon him³⁴². One of the cities was to furnish him with bread, another with wine, and a third with other provisions³⁴³.

The temple of Diana at Magnesia was constructed under the direction of Hermogenes, of whom Vitruvius speaks with great veneration.

"The situation of Magnesia," says Pococke, "is delightful; for it commands a view of the fine plain of the Mæander, which is broad towards the west. The view extends to the sea, and from the height I saw the Agathonisa islands, which are near Patmos. Mount Thorax to the north is covered with snow. What adds to the prospect, is a most beautiful inclosed country to the south and west, and the fields are planted with the fig and almond trees. The modern city, also, adds to the beauty of the view; which being large, and there being courts and gardens to the houses, improved by cypress and orange trees, and some of the streets planted with trees, it makes it appear like a city in a wood."

Chandler visited this place in 1774. According to him, Magnesia surrendered to the Romans immediately after the decisive battle between Scipio and Antiochus. It was a free city in the time of Tiberius. It was selected as a place of security, in 1303, by the Emperor Michael, who at length was compelled to escape from it in the night. In 1313 it ranked among the acquisitions of Sarkhan, afterwards sultan of Ionia. In 1443, Amurath II. selected it as a place of retreat, when he resigned his empire to his son Mahomet II.

There are signs of many great buildings all over the city; but they are ruined in such a manner, that, except two or three, it is difficult to judge of what nature they were. Pococke speaks, however, of there having been in his time very great ruins to the east, which appeared to be remains of some "magnificent large palace." On the north, too, he observed the ruins of a very grand temple, which he thinks must have belonged to that of Diana Leucophryne, the largest in Asia after the temples of Ephesus and Didymi; and though it yielded to that of Ephesus in its riches, yet it exceeded it in its proportions, and in the exquisiteness of its architecture.

In the Ionic temple³⁴⁴ at Magnesia, designed by that Hermogenes whose merits are highly extolled by Vitruvius, the general dimensions are the same as the dipteros; but having, in order to obtain free space under the flank porticoes, omitted the inner range of columns, he thereby established the pseudo-dipteros; but unless he continued the wooden beams of the roof over the increased space, this mode was impracticable, unless when the quarries afforded marble of very large dimensions.

A Persian writer says of this place: – "It is situated at the skirt of a mountain; and its running streams afford water of the utmost purity; and its air, even in winter, is more delightful than the breath of spring³⁴⁵."

XLIX. – MANTINEA

A city of the Peloponnesus, well known for a famous battle fought near it between the Lacedæmonians and Thebans. The Greeks had never fought among themselves with more numerous armies. The Lacedæmonians consisted of twenty thousand foot, and two thousand horse; the Thebans of thirty thousand foot, and three thousand horse.

The Theban general, Epaminondas, marched in the same order of battle in which he intended to fight, that he might not be obliged, when he came up with the enemy, to lose, in the disposition of his army, a time which cannot be too much saved in great enterprises³⁴⁶.

He did not march directly, and with his front to the enemy, but in a column upon the hills, with his left wing foremost, as if he did not intend to fight that day. When he was over against them at a quarter of a league's distance, he made his troops halt and lay down their arms, as if he designed to encamp there. The enemy in effect were deceived by that stand; and reckoning no longer upon a battle, they quitted their arms, dispersed themselves about the camp, and suffered that ardour to extinguish, which the near approach of a battle is wont to kindle in the hearts of the soldiers. Epaminondas, however, by suddenly wheeling his troops to the right, having changed his column into a line, and having drawn out the choicest troops, whom he had expressly posted in front upon his march, he made them double their files upon the front of his left wing, to add to its strength, and to put it into a condition to attack in a point the Lacedæmonian phalanx, which, by the movement he had made, faced it directly.

He expected to decide the victory by that body of chosen troops which he commanded in person, and which he had formed in a column to attack the enemy in a point like a galley, says Xenophon. He assured himself, that if he could penetrate the Lacedæmonian phalanx, in which the enemy's principal force consisted, he should not find it difficult to rout the rest of their army, by charging upon the right and left.

After having disposed his whole army in this manner, he moved on to charge the enemy with the whole weight of his column. They were strangely surprised when they saw Epaminondas advance towards them in this order, and resumed their arms, bridled their horses, and made all the haste they could to their ranks.

Whilst Epaminondas marched against the enemy, the cavalry that covered his flank on the left, the best at that time in Greece, entirely composed of Thebans and Thessalians, had orders to attack the enemy's horse. The Theban general, whom nothing escaped, had artfully bestowed bowmen, slingers and dartmen, in the intervals of his horse, in order to begin the disorder of the enemy's cavalry, by a previous discharge of a shower of arrows, stones, and javelins, upon them. The other army had neglected to take the same precaution, and had made another fault, not less considerable, in giving as much depth to the squadrons as if they had been a phalanx. By this means their horse were incapable of supporting long the charge of the Thebans. After having made several ineffectual attacks with great loss, they were obliged to retire behind their infantry.

In the mean time, Epaminondas, with his body of foot, had charged the Lacedæmonian phalanx. The troops fought on both sides with incredible ardour; both the Thebans and Lacedæmonians being resolved to perish rather than yield the glory of arms to their rivals. They began by fighting with the spear; and those first arms being soon broken in the fury of the combat, they charged each other sword in hand. The resistance was equally obstinate, and the slaughter very great on both sides.

The furious slaughter on both sides having continued a great while without the victory's inclining to either, Epaminondas, to force it to declare for him, thought it his duty to make an extraordinary effort in person, without regard to the danger of his own life. He formed, therefore, a troop of the bravest and most determined about him, and putting himself at the head of them, he made a vigorous charge upon the enemy, where the battle was most warm, and wounded the general of the Lacedæmonians with the first javelin he threw. His troop, by his example, having wounded or killed all that stood in their way, broke and penetrated the phalanx. The gross of the Theban troops, animated by their general's example and success, drove back the enemy upon his right and left, and made a great slaughter of them. But some troops of the Spartans, perceiving that Epaminondas abandoned himself too much to his ardour, suddenly rallied, and returning to the fight, charged him with a shower of javelins. Whilst he kept off part of those darts, shunned some of them, fenced off others, and was fighting with the most heroic valour, to assure the victory to his army, a Spartan, named Callicrates, gave him a mortal wound with a javelin in the breast across his cuirass. The wood of the javelin being broken off, and the iron head continuing in the wound, the torment was insupportable, and he fell immediately. The battle began around him with new fury; the one side using their utmost endeavours to take him alive, and the other to save him. The Thebans gained their point at last, and carried him off, after having put the enemy to flight.

Epaminondas was carried into the camp. The surgeons, after having examined the wound, declared that he would expire as soon as the head of the dart was drawn out of it. Those words gave all that were present the utmost sorrow and affliction, who were inconsolable on seeing so great a man about to die, and to die without issue. For him, the only concern he expressed, was about his arms, and the success of the battle. When they showed him his shield, and assured him that the Thebans had gained the victory; turning towards his friends with a calm and serene air; "Do not regard," said he, "this day as the end of my life, but as the beginning of my happiness, and the completion of my glory. I leave Thebes triumphant, proud Sparta humbled, and Greece delivered from the yoke of servitude. For the rest, I do not reckon that I die without issue; Leuctra and Mantinea are two illustrious daughters, that will not fail to keep my name alive, and to transmit it to posterity." Having spoken to this effect, he drew the head of the javelin out of his wound, and expired.

Mantinea is also famous for another great battle, viz., that between Philopœmen and Machanidas, tyrant of Sparta³⁴⁷. The time for beginning the battle approaching and the enemy in view, Philopœmen, flying up and down the ranks of the infantry, encouraged his men in few but very strong expressions. Most of them were even not heard; but he was so dear to his soldiers, and they reposed such confidence in him, that they wanted no exhortations to fight with incredible ardour. In a kind of transport they animated their general, and pressed him to lead them on to battle.

Machanidas marched his infantry in a kind of column, as if he intended to begin the battle by charging the right wing; but when he was advanced to a proper distance, he on a sudden made his infantry wheel about, in order that it might extend to his right, and make a front equal to the left of the Achæans; and, to cover it, he caused all the chariots laden with catapults to advance forward. Philopœmen plainly saw that his intention was to break his infantry, by overwhelming it with darts and stones: however, he did not give him time for it. The first charge was very furious. The light-armed soldiers advancing a little after to sustain them, in a moment the foreign troops were universally engaged on both sides; and, as in this attack they fought man to man, the battle was a long time doubtful. At last the foreigners in the tyrant's army had the advantage; their numbers and dexterity, acquired by experience, giving them the superiority. The Illyrians and cuirassiers, who sustained the foreign soldiers in Philopœmen's army, could not withstand so furious a charge. They were entirely broken, and fled with the utmost precipitation towards Mantinea, about a mile from the field of battle.

Philopœmen seemed now lost to all hopes. "On this occasion," says Polybius, "appeared the truth of a maxim, which cannot reasonably be contested, That the events of war are generally successful or unfortunate, only in proportion to the skill or ignorance of the generals who command in them. Philopœmen, so far from desponding at the ill success of the first charge, or being in confusion, was solely intent upon taking advantage of the errors which the enemy might commit." Accordingly, they were guilty of a great one. Machanidas, after the left wing was routed, instead of improving that advantage, by charging in front that instant with his infantry the centre of that of the enemies, and taking it at the same time in flank with his victorious wing, and thereby terminating the whole affair, suffers himself, like a young man, to be hurried away by the fire and impetuosity of his soldiers, and pursues, without order or discipline, those who were flying.

Philopœmen, who had retired to his infantry in the centre, takes the first cohorts, commands them to wheel to the left, and at their head marches and seizes the post which Machanidas had abandoned. By this movement he divided the centre of the enemies' infantry from his right wing. He then commanded these cohorts to stay in the post they had just seized, till further orders; and at the same time directed a Megalapolitan to rally all the Illyrians, cuirassiers, and foreigners, who, without quitting their ranks, and flying as the rest had done, had drawn off, to avoid the fury of the conqueror; and with these forces to post himself on the flank of the infantry in his centre, to check the enemy in their return from the pursuit.

This Megalapolitan was named Polyinus; but not the historian, as many writers have imagined.

The Lacedæmonian infantry, elated with the first success of their wing, without waiting for the signal, advanced with their pikes lowered towards the Achæans, as far as the brink of the ditch. This was the decisive point of time for which Philopœmen had long waited, and thereupon he ordered the charge to be sounded. His troops levelling their pikes, fell with dreadful shouts on the Lacedemonians. These, who at their descending into the ditch, had broken their ranks, no sooner saw the enemy above them, but immediately fled.

To complete the glory of this action, the business now was to prevent the tyrant from escaping the conqueror. This was Philopœmen's only object. Machanidas, on his return, perceived that his army fled; when, being sensible of his error, he endeavoured, but in vain, to force his way through the Achæans. His troops, perceiving that the enemy were masters of the bridge which lay over the ditch, were quite dispirited, and endeavoured to save themselves as well as they could. Machanidas himself, finding it impossible to pass the bridge, hurried along the side of the ditch, in order to find a place for getting over it. Philopœmen knew him by his purple mantle, and the trappings of his horse: so he passed the ditch, in order to stop the tyrant. The latter having found a part of the ditch which might easily be crossed, clapped spurs to his horse, and sprang forward in order to leap over. That very instant Philopœmen threw his javelin at him, which laid him dead in the ditch. The tyrant's head being struck off, and carried from rank to rank, gave new courage to the victorious Achæans. They pursued the fugitives with incredible ardour as far as Tegea, entered the city with them, and, being now masters of the field, the very next day they encamped on the banks of the Eurotas. The Achæans did not lose many men in this battle, but the Lacedemonians lost four thousand, without including the prisoners, who were still more numerous. The baggage and arms were also taken by the Achæans.

The conquerors, struck with admiration at the conduct of their general, to whom the victory was entirely owing, erected a brazen statue to him in the same attitude in which he had killed the tyrant; which statue they afterwards placed in the temple of Apollo at Delphos.

Mantinea³⁴⁸ was richly decorated with public edifices. It had eight temples, besides a theatre, a stadium, and hippodrome, and several other monuments; many of which are enumerated by Pausanias.

Some imperfect remains of the theatre are still visible; the walls of which resemble those round the town. But none of the sites of the temples or of the other structures can be identified; and everything, except the walls which enclose the city, is in a state of total dilapidation.

These walls were composed of unbaked bricks, which resisted, even better than stone, the impulse of warlike engines; but were not proof against the effects of water. For one of the kings of Sparta, forming a ditch round the town, and carrying the river Ophis to flow into it, dissolved the fabric of the walls. They enclose a circle, in which the city stood. They are fortified with towers, most of which are square; others are of circular forms. The whole exhibits an interesting and very perfect example of Grecian fortification. There were eight gates; not one of which, however, retains its lintel. The walls are surrounded by a fosse, which is still supplied by the Ophis³⁴⁹.

NO. L. – MARATHON

Marathon, which was originally one of the four cities, founded by an Attic king, who gave it his name, is now little better than a village. The plain in which it is situated is, says Mr. Dodwell, "one of the prettiest spots in Attica, and is enriched with many kinds of fruit-trees: particularly walnuts, figs, pomegranates, pears, and cherries. On our arrival, the fine country girls, with attractive looks and smiling faces, brought us baskets of fruit. Some of them appeared unwilling to accept our money in return; and the spontaneous civility and good-humour of the inhabitants soon convinced us that we were in Attica, where they are more courteous to strangers than in other parts of Greece."

This city was but a small one, indeed it was often called a village; yet a deathless interest is attached to it; for just beside it was fought the battle between the Persians and the Athenians, which is, even at this day, more known and respected than any other recorded in history. We shall, therefore, give an abstract of the account of the battle, as it is stated in Rollin, and then show in what condition the city is at the present time.

Miltiades, like an able captain, endeavoured, by the advantage of the ground, to gain what he wanted in strength and number. He drew up his army at the foot of a mountain, that the enemy should not be able to surround him, or charge him in the rear. On the two sides of his army he caused large trees to be cut and thrown down, in order to cover his flanks, and render the Persian cavalry useless. Datis, their commander, was sensible that the place was not advantageous for him: but, relying upon the number of his troops, which was infinitely superior to that of the Athenians, he determined to engage. The Athenians did not wait for the enemy's charging them. As soon as the signal for battle was given, they ran against the enemy with all the fury imaginable. The Persians looked upon this first step of the Athenians as a piece of madness, considering their army was so small, and utterly destitute both of cavalry and archers; but they were quickly undeceived. Herodotus observes, that "this was the first time the Grecians began an engagement by running in this manner." The battle was fierce and obstinate. Miltiades had made the wings of his army exceedingly strong, but had left the main body more weak, and not deep; the reason of which seems manifest enough. Having but ten thousand men to oppose to such a numerous army, it was impossible for him either to make a large front, or to give an equal depth to his battalion. He was therefore obliged to take his choice; and he imagined that he could gain the victory in no other way than by the efforts he should make with his two wings, in order to break and disperse those of the Persians; not doubting, but when his wings were once victorious, they should be able to attack the enemy's main body in flank, and complete the victory without much difficulty.³⁵⁰ The Persians then attacked the main body of the Grecian army, and made their greatest effort particularly upon their front. This was led by Aristides and Themistocles, who supported it a long time with an intrepid courage and bravery, but were at length obliged to give ground. At that very instant came up their two victorious wings, which had dispersed those of the enemy, and put them to flight. Nothing could be more seasonable for the main body of the Grecian army, which began to be broken, being quite borne down by the number of the Persians. The scale was quickly turned, and the barbarians were entirely routed. They all betook themselves to their heels and fled; not towards their camp, but to their ships, that they might escape. The Athenians pursued them thither, and set their ships on fire. They took, also, seven of their ships. They had not above two hundred men killed on their side in this engagement; whereas, on the side of the Persians, above six thousand were slain, without reckoning those who fell into the sea, as they endeavoured to escape, or those that were consumed with the ships set on fire. Immediately after the battle, an Athenian soldier, still reeking with the blood of the enemy, quitted the army, and ran to Athens to carry his fellow-citizens the happy news of the victory. When he arrived at the magistrate's house, he only uttered two or three words: – "Rejoice, rejoice, the victory is ours!" and fell down dead at their feet.

In an excavation, made in one of the tumuli, some years ago, were found a number of busts; – of Socrates, Lucius Verus, and Marcus Aurelius, with another of an unknown person, sculptured with great care, and happily finished.

The unknown bust is supposed to be that of Herodes Atticus, a native of this city, and greatly distinguished. His history is exceedingly curious. We take it from Sir George Wheler.

"He flourished about the time of the emperors Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. His grandfather Hipparchus, or as Suidas has it, Plutarchus, was well to pass in the world, but having been accused of some tyrannical practices, used towards the people, the emperor confiscated all his estates; so that his son, Atticus, father of this Herod; lived afterwards in Athens in a mean condition; until, having found a great hidden treasure in his own house, near the theatre, he became on a sudden very rich. He was not more fortunate in lending it, than prudent in getting it confirmed on himself; for well knowing, should it come to be discovered, he should be obliged to give an account of it to the emperor, he wrote thus: – 'My liege, I have found a treasure in my house; what do you command that I should do with it?' The emperor answered him, 'That he should make use of what he had found.' But Atticus, yet fearing that he might be in danger of some trouble, when the greatness of the treasure should come to be known, wrote a second time to the emperor, professing ingenuously, that the treasure he had written to him about was too great a possession for him, and exceeded the capacity of a private man. But the emperor answered him again with the same generosity, 'Abuse, also, if thou wilt, the riches thou hast so accidentally come by; for they are thine.' By this means, Atticus became again extremely rich and powerful, having married a wife also that was very rich, whence it came to pass that his son and heir Herodes far surpassed his father both in wealth and magnificence, and became the founder of many stately edifices in sundry parts of Greece; and, dying, left by his will ten crowns to every citizen of Athens. Neither did he partake less of virtue and merit than he did of fortune; being very learned, and so eloquent, that he was called the tongue of Athens; having been the disciple of the famous Phavorinus. Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, emperors of his time, made it their glory that they had been his auditors. His entire name was Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes; as I prove by an inscription that is at Athens, in the house of Signor Nicoli Limbonia." – Thus far, Sir George Wheler. Chandler goes on to observe, that Herodes Atticus directed his freed-men to bury him at Marathon; where he died, at the age of seventy-six. But the Ephebi, or young men of Athens, transported his body on their shoulders to the city, a multitude meeting the bier, and weeping like children for the loss of a parent.

The antiquities of this plain resolve themselves into the tomb of the Athenians, the monument of Miltiades, and the tomb of the Platæans. Dr. Clarke found also many interesting relics, for an account of which we must refer to his Travels, in order that we may find space for some beautiful remarks, with which he closes his very agreeable account. "If there be a spot upon earth, pre-eminently calculated to awaken the solemn sentiments, which such a view of nature is fitted to make upon all men, it may surely be found in the plain of Marathon; where, amidst the wreck of generations, and the graves of ancient heroes, we elevate our thoughts towards Him, 'in whose sight a thousand years are but as yesterday;' where the stillness of Nature, harmonizing with the calm solitude of that illustrious region, which once was a scene of the most agitated passions, enables us, by the past, to determine of the future. In those moments, indeed, we may be said to live for ages; – a single instant, by the multitude of impressions it conveys, seems to anticipate for us a sense of that eternity 'when time shall be no more;' when the fitful dream of human existence, with all its turbulent illusions, shall be dispelled; and the last sun having set, in the last of the world, a brighter dawn than ever gladdened the universe, shall renovate the dominions of darkness and of death."³⁵¹