Chapter XII: Part 12

At Heliopolis, there remains only a solitary sphinx and an obelisk, to mark the site of the city of the sun, where Moses, Herodotus, and Plato, are said to have been instructed in the learning of the Egyptians; whose learning and arts brought even Greece for a pupil, and whose empire, says Bossuet, in regard to Egypt in general, had a character distinct from any other.

"This kingdom (says Rollin) bestowed its noblest labours and finest arts on the improving of mankind; and Greece was so sensible of this, that its most illustrious men,--as Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, even its great legislators, Lycurgus and Solon, with many more,--travelled into Egypt to complete their studies, and draw from that fountain whatever was most rare and valuable in every kind of learning. God himself has given this kingdom a glorious testimony, when, praising Moses, he says of him, that 'he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.' Such was the desire for encouraging the growth of scientific pursuits, that the discoverers of any useful invention received rewards suitable to their skill and labour. They studied natural history, geometry, and astronomy, and what is worthy of remark, they were so far masters of the latter science, as to be aware of the period required for the earth's annual revolutions, and fixed the year at 365 days 6 hours--a period which remained unaltered till the very recent change of the style. They likewise studied and improved the science of physic, in which they attained a certain proficiency. The persevering ingenuity and industry of the Egyptians are attested by the remains of their great works of art, which could not well be surpassed in modern times; and although their working classes were doomed to engage in the occupations of their fathers, and no others, as is still the custom in India, society might thereby be hampered, but the practice of handicrafts would be certainly improved. The Egyptians were also the first people who were acquainted with the process of communicating information by means of writing, or engraving on stone and metal; and were, consequently, the first who formed books and collected libraries. These repositories of learning they guarded with scrupulous care, and the titles they bore, naturally inspired a desire to enter them. They were called the "Office for the Diseases of the Soul," and that very justly; because the soul was there cured of ignorance, which, it will be allowed, is the source of many of the maladies of our mental faculties[261]."

NO. XL.--HERCULANEUM.

"It is characteristic of the noblest natures and the finest imaginations," says an elegant writer[262], "to love to explore the vestiges of antiquity, and to dwell in times that are no more. The first is the domain of the imaginative affections alone; we can carry none of our baser passions with us thither. The antiquary is often spoken of as being of a peculiar construction of intellect, which makes him think and feel differently from other people. But, in truth, the spirit of antiquarianism is one of the most universal of human tendencies. There is, perhaps, scarcely any person, for example, not utterly stupid or sophisticated, who would not feel a strange thrill come over him in the wonderful scenes these volumes describe. Looking round upon the long ruined city, who would not, for the moment, utterly forget the seventeen centuries that had revolved since Herculaneum and Pompeii were part and parcel of the world, moving to and fro along its streets! It would not be deemed a mere fever of curiosity that would occupy the mind,--an impatience to pry into every hole and corner of a scene at once so old and so new. Besides all that, there would be a sense of the actual presence of those past times, almost like the illusion of a dream. There is, in fact, perhaps no spot of interest on the globe, which would be found to strike so deep an impression into so many minds."

Herculaneum is an ancient city of Italy, situated in the Bay of Naples, and supposed to have been founded by Hercules, or in honour of him, 1250 years before the Christian era.[263] "This city," says Strabo, "and its next neighbour, Pompeii, on the river Sarnus, were originally held by the Osci, then by the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians, then by the Samnites, who, in their turn, took possession of it, and retained it ever after."

The adjacent country[264] was distinguished in all ages for its romantic loveliness and beauty. The whole coast, as far as Naples, was studded with villas, and Vesuvius, whose fires had been long quiescent, was itself covered with them. Villages were also scattered along the shores, and the scene presented the appearance of one vast city, cut into a number of sections by the luxuriant vegetation of the paradise in which it was embosomed.

The following epigram of Martial gives an animated view of the scene, previous to the dreadful catastrophe, which so blasted this fair page of Nature's book:--

Here verdant vines o'erspread Vesuvius' sides;
The generous grape here pour'd her purple tides.
This Bacchus loved beyond his native scene;
Here dancing satyrs joy'd to trip the green.
Far more than Sparta this in Venus' grace;
And great Alcides once renown'd the place;
Now flaming embers spread dire waste around,
And gods regret that gods can so confound.

The scene of luxurious beauty[265] and tranquillity above described was doomed to cease, and the subterranean fire which had been from time immemorial extinct in this quarter, again resumed its former channel of escape. The long period of rest, which had preceded this event, seems to have augmented the energies of the volcano, and prepared it for the terrible explosion. The first intimation of this was the occurrence of an earthquake, in the year 63 after Christ, which threw down a considerable portion of Pompeii, and also did great damage to Herculaneum. In the year following, another severe shock was felt, which extended to Naples, where the Roman emperor Nero was at the time exhibiting as a vocalist. The building in which he performed was destroyed, but unfortunately the musician had left it. These presages of the approaching catastrophe were frequently repeated, until, in A.D. 79 (Aug. 24), they ended in the great eruption. Fortunately we are in possession of a narrative of the awful scene, by an eye-witness;--Pliny the younger, who was at the time at Misenum, with the Roman fleet, commanded by his uncle, Pliny the elder. The latter, in order to obtain a nearer view of the phenomena, ventured too far, and was suffocated by the vapours. His nephew remained at Misenum, and describes the appalling spectacle in a very lively manner.

"You ask me the particulars of my uncle's death," says he, in a letter to Tacitus, "in order to transmit it, you say, with all its circumstances, to posterity. I thank you for your intention. Undoubtedly the eternal remembrance of a calamity, by which my uncle perished with nations, promised immortality to his name; undoubtedly his works also flattered him with the same. But a line of Tacitus ensures it. Happy the man to whom the gods have granted to perform things worthy of being written, or to write what is worthy of being read. Happier still is he who at once obtains from them both these favours. Such was my uncle's good fortune. I willingly therefore obey your orders, which I should have solicited. My uncle was at Misenum, where he commanded the fleet. On the 23d of August, at one in the afternoon, as he was on his bed, employed in studying, after having, according to his custom, slept a moment in the sun and drunk a glass of cold water, my mother went up into his chamber. She informed him that a cloud of an extraordinary shape and magnitude was rising in the heavens. My uncle got up and examined the prodigy; but without being able to distinguish, on account of the distance, that this cloud proceeded from Vesuvius. It resembled a large pine-tree: it had its top and its branches. It appeared sometimes white, sometimes black, and at intervals of various colours, according as it was more or less loaded with stones or cinders.

"My uncle was astonished; he thought such a phenomenon worthy of a nearer examination. He ordered a galley to be immediately made ready, and invited me to follow him; but I rather chose to stay at home and continue my studies. My uncle therefore departed alone.

"In the interim I continued at my studies. I went to the bath; I lay down, but I could not sleep. The earthquake, which for several days had repeatedly shaken all the small towns, and even cities in the neighbourhood, was increasing every moment. I rose to go and awake my mother, and met her hastily entering my apartment to awaken me.

"We descended into the court, and sat down there. Not to lose time, I sent for my Livy. I read, meditated, and made extracts, as I would have done in my chamber. Was this firmness, or was it imprudence? I know not now; but I was then very young![266] At the same instant one of my uncle's friends, just arrived from Spain, came to visit him. He reproached my mother with her security, and me with my audacity. The houses, however, were shaking in so violent a manner, that we resolved to quit Misenum. The people followed us in consternation.

"As soon as we had got out of the town we stopped. Here we found new prodigies and new terrors. The shore, which was continually extending itself, and covered with fishes left dry on it, was heaving every moment, and repelling to a great distance the enraged sea which fell back upon itself; whilst before us, from the limits of the horizon, advanced a black cloud, loaded with dull fires, which were incessantly rending it, and darting forth large flashes of lightning. The cloud descended and enveloped all the sea, it was impossible any longer to discern either the isle of Caprea, or the promontory of Misenum. 'Save yourself, my dear son,' cried my mother; 'save yourself; it is your duty; for you can, and you are young: but as for me, bulky as I am, and enfeebled with years, provided I am not the cause of thy death, I die contented.'--'Mother, there is no safety for me but with you.'--I took my mother by the hand, and drew her along.--'O my son,' said she in tears, 'I delay thy flight.'

"Already the ashes began to fall; I turned my head; a thick cloud was rushing precipitately towards us.--'Mother,' said I, 'let us quit the high road; the crowd will stifle us in that darkness which is pursuing us.' Scarcely had we left the high road before it was night, the blackest night. Then nothing was to be heard but the lamentations of women, the groans of children, and the cries of men. We could distinguish, through the confused sobs and the various accents of grief, the words, _my father!_--_my son!_--_my wife!_--there was no knowing each other but by the voice. One was lamenting his destiny; another the fate of his relations: some were imploring the gods; others denying their existence; many were invoking death to defend them from death. Some said that they were now about to be buried with the world, in that concluding night which was to be eternal:--and amidst all this, what dreadful reports! Fear exaggerated and believed everything.

"In the mean time a glimmering penetrated the darkness; this was the conflagration which was approaching; but it stopped and extinguished; the night grew more intensely dark, and the shower of cinders and stones more thick and heavy. We were obliged to rise from time to time to shake our clothes. Shall I say it? Not a single complaint escaped me. I consoled myself, amid the fears of death, with the reflection that the world was about to expire with me.

"At length this thick and black vapour gradually vanished. The day revived, and even the sun appeared, but dull and yellowish, such as he usually shows himself in an eclipse. What a spectacle now offered itself to our yet troubled and uncertain eyes! The whole country was buried beneath the ashes, as in winter under the snow. The road was no longer to be discerned. We sought for Misenum, and again found it; we returned and took possession; for we had in some measure abandoned it. Soon after, we received news of my uncle. Alas! we had but too good reason to be uneasy for him.

"I have told you, that, after quitting Misenum, he went on board a galley. He directed his course towards Retina, and the other towns which were threatened. Every one was flying from it; he however entered it, and, amidst the general confusion, remarked all the phenomena, and dictated as he observed. But already a cloud of burning ashes beat down on his galley; already were stones falling all around, and the shore covered with large pieces of the mountain. My uncle hesitated whether he should return from whence he came, or put out to sea. _Fortune favours courage_ (exclaimed he), _let us turn towards Pomponianus_. Pomponianus was at Stabiæ. My uncle found him all trembling: embraced and encouraged him, and to comfort him by his security, asked for a bath, then sat down to table and supped cheerfully; or, at least, which does not show less fortitude, with all the appearance of cheerfulness.

"In the mean time Vesuvius was taking fire on every side, amid the thick darkness. 'It is the villages which have been abandoned that are burning,' said my uncle to the crowd about him, to endeavour to quiet them. He then went to bed, and fell asleep. He was in the profoundest sleep, when the court of the house began to fill with cinders; and all the passages were nearly closed up. They run to him; and were obliged to awaken him. He rises, joins Pomponianus, and deliberates with him and his attendants what is best to be done, whether it would be safest to remain in the house or fly into the country. They chose the latter measure.

"They departed instantly therefore from the town, and the only precaution they could take was to cover their heads with pillows. The day was reviving everywhere else; but there it continued night; horrible night! the fire from the cloud alone enlightened it. My uncle wished to gain the shore, notwithstanding the sea was still tremendous. He descended, drank some water, had a sheet spread, and lay down on it. On a sudden, violent flames, preceded by a sulphureous odour, shot forth with a prodigious brightness, and made every one take to flight. My uncle, supported by two slaves, arose; but suddenly, suffocated by the vapour, he fell[267],--and Pliny was no more[268]."

If this visitation affected Misenum in so terrible a manner, what must have been the situation of the unfortunate inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum, so near its focus? The emperor Titus here found an opportunity for the exercise of his humanity. He hastened to the scene of affliction, appointed curatores[269], persons of consular dignity, to set up the ruined buildings, and take charge of the effects. He personally encouraged the desponding, and alleviated the misery of the sufferers; whilst a calamity of an equally melancholy description recalled him to Rome; where a most destructive fire, laying waste nearly half the city, and raging three days without interruption, was succeeded by a pestilence, which for some time carried off ten thousand persons every day!

Herculaneum and Pompeii rose again from their ruins in the reign of Titus; and they still existed with some remains of splendour under Hadrian[270]. The beautiful characters of the inscription, traced out on the base of the equestrian statue of Marcus Nonius Balbus, son of Marcus, are an evident proof of its existence at that period. They were found under the reign of the Antonines. In the geographical monument, known under the name of Peutinger's chart, which is of a date posterior to the reign of Constantine, that is to say in the commencement of the 4th century, Herculaneum and Pompeii were still standing, and then inhabited; but in the Itinerary, improperly ascribed to Antoninus, neither of these two cities is noticed; from which it may be conjectured, that their entire ruin must have taken place in the interval between the time when Peutinger's chart was constructed, and that when the above Itinerary was composed.

The eruption, which took place in 471, occasioned the most dreadful ravages. It is very probable that the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii disappeared at that period, and that no more traces of them were left.

It appears, by the observation of Sir W. Hamilton[271], that the matter, which covers the ancient town of Herculaneum, is not the produce of one eruption only; but there are evident marks that the matter of six eruptions has taken its course over that which lie immediately above the town; and which was the cause of its destruction. These strata are either of lava or burnt matter, with veins of good soil between them. The stratum of erupted matter that immediately covers the town, and with which the theatre and most of the houses were filled, is not of that sort of vitrified matter, called lava, but of a sort of soft stone composed of pumice, ashes, and burnt matter. It is exactly of the same nature with what is called the Naples stone. The Italians call it tufa; and it is in general use for building.

HERCULANEUM was covered with lava; Pompeii with pumice stone; yet the houses of the latter were built of lava; the product of former eruptions.

All memorials of the devoted cities were lost[272]; and discussions, over the places they had once occupied, were excited only by some obscure passages in the classical authors. Six successive eruptions contributed to lay them still deeper under the surface. But after that period had elapsed, a peasant digging a well beside his cottage in 1711, obtained some fragments of coloured marble, which attracted attention. Regular excavations were made, under the superintendence of Stendardo, an architect of Naples; and a statue of Hercules, of Greek workmanship, and also a mutilated one of Cleopatra, were drawn from what proved to be a temple in the centre of the ancient Herculaneum.

It may be well conceived with what interest the intelligence was received, that a Roman city had been discovered, which, safely entombed under-ground, had thus escaped the barbarian Goths and Vandals, who ravaged Italy, or the sacrilegious hands of modern pillagers.

The remains of several public buildings have been discovered[273], which have possibly suffered from subsequent convulsions. Among these are two temples; one of them one hundred and fifty feet by sixty, in which was found a statue of Jupiter. A more extensive edifice stood opposite to them; forming a rectangle of two hundred and twenty-eight feet by one hundred and thirty-two, supposed to have been appropriated for the courts of justice. The arches of a portico surrounding it were supported by columns; within, it was paved with marble; the walls were painted in fresco; and bronze statues stood between forty columns under the roof. A theatre was found nearly entire; very little had been displaced; and we see in it one of the best specimens extant of the architecture of the ancients. The greatest diameter of the theatre is two hundred and thirty-four feet, whence it is computed, that it could contain ten thousand persons, which proves the great population of the city.

This theatre was rich in antiquities[274], independent of the ornamental part. Statues, occupying niches, represented the Muses; scenic masks were imitated on the entablatures; and inscriptions were engraven on different places. Analogous to the last were several large alphabetical Roman characters in bronze; and a number of smaller size, which had probably been connected in some conspicuous situation. A metallic car was found, with four bronze horses attached to it, nearly of the natural size; but all in such a state of decay, that only one, and the spokes of the wheels, also in metal, could be preserved. A beautiful white marble statue of Venus, only eighteen inches high, in the same attitude as the famous Venus de Medicis, was recovered; and either here, or in the immediate vicinity, was found a colossal bronze statue of Vespasian, filled with lead, which twelve men were unable to move.

Besides many objects entire, there were numerous fragments of others, extremely interesting; which had been originally impaired, or were injured by attempts to remove them.

When we reflect, that sixteen hundred years have elapsed since the destruction of this city[275], an interval which has been marked by numerous revolutions, both in the political and mental state of Europe, a high degree of interest must be experienced in contemplating the venerable remains, recovered from the subterraneous city of Herculaneum. Pliny, the younger, in his letters, brings the Romans, their occupations, manners, and customs, before us. He pictures in feeling terms the death of his uncle, who perished in the same eruption as the city we now describe; and that event is brought to our immediate notice by those very things which it was the means of preserving. Among these we see the various articles which administered to the necessities and the pleasures of the inhabitants, the emblems of their religious sentiments, and the very manners and customs of domestic life.

These curiosities consist not only of statues, busts, altars, inscriptions, and other ornamental appendages of Grecian opulence and luxury; but also comprehend an entire assortment of the domestic, musical, and surgical instruments; tripods of elegant form and exquisite execution; lamps in endless variety; vases and basins of noble dimensions; chandeliers of the most beautiful shapes, looking-glasses of polished metal; coloured glass, so hard, clear, and well stained, as to appear like emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones; a kitchen completely fitted up with copper pans lined with silver, kettles, cisterns for heating water, and every utensil necessary for culinary purposes; also specimens of various sorts of combustibles, retaining their form though burnt to a cinder. By an inscription, too, we learn that Herculaneum contained no less than nine hundred houses of entertainment, such as we call taverns. Articles of glass, artificial gems, vases, tripods, candelabra, lamps, urns, dice, and dice-boxes; various articles of dress and ornaments; surgical instruments, weights and measures, carpenters' and masons' tools; but no musical instruments except the sistrum, cymbals, and flutes of bone and ivory.

Fragments of columns of various coloured marble and beautiful mosaic pavements were also found disseminated among the ruins; and numerous sacrificial implements, such as pateræ, tripods, cups, and vases, were recovered in excellent preservation, and even some of the knives with which the victims are conjectured to have been slaughtered.

The ancient pictures of Herculaneum[276] are of the utmost interest; not only from the freshness and colour, but from the nature of the subjects they represent. All are executed in fresco; they are exclusively on the walls, and generally on a black or red ground. Some are of animated beings large as life; but the majority are in miniature. Every different subject of antiquity is depicted here; deities, human figures, animals, landscapes, foreign and domestic, and a variety of grotesque beings; sports and pastimes, theatrical performances, sacrifices, all enter the catalogue.

In regard to the statues found[277], some are colossal, some of the natural size, and some in miniature; and the materials of their formation are either clay, marble, or bronze. They represent all different objects, divinities, heroes, or distinguished persons; and in the same substances, especially bronze, there are the figures of many animals.

It is not probable that the best paintings of ancient Greece and Italy[278] were deposited in Herculaneum or Pompeii, which were towns of the second order, and unlikely to possess the master-pieces of the chief artists, which were usually destined to adorn the more celebrated temples or the palaces of kings and emperors. Their best statues are correct in their proportions, and elegant in their forms; but their paintings are not correct in their proportions, and are, comparatively, inelegant in their forms.

A few rare medals also have been found among these ruins, the most curious of which is a gold medallion of Augustus, struck in Sicily in the fifteenth year of his reign.

Nor must we omit one of the greatest curiosities, preserved at Portici[279]. This consists of a cement of cinders, which in one of the eruptions of Vesuvius surprised a woman, and totally enveloped her. This cement, compressed and hardened by time around her body, has become a complete mould of it, and in the pieces here preserved, we see a perfect impression of the different parts to which it adhered. One represents half a bosom, which is of exquisite beauty; another a shoulder, a third a portion of her shape, and all concur in revealing to us that this woman was young; that she was tall and well made, and even that she had escaped in her chemise, for some of the linen was still adhering to the ashes.

Though the city was destroyed[280] in the manner we have related, remarkably few skeletons have been found, though many were discovered in the streets of Pompeii; but one appears under the threshold of a door with a bag of money in his hand, as if in the attitude of escaping, leaving its impression in the surrounding volcanic matter.

These and other valuable antiquities are preserved in the museum at Portici, which occupies the site of ancient Herculaneum, and in the Museo Borbonico at Naples. For details in respect to which, we must refer to the numerous books that have described them.

One of the most interesting departments of this unique collection is that of the Papyri, or MSS., discovered in the excavation of Herculaneum. The ancients did not bind their books (which, of course, were all MSS.) like us, but rolled them up in scrolls. When those of Herculaneum were discovered, they presented, as they still do, the appearance of burnt bricks, or cylindrical pieces of charcoal, which they had acquired from the action of the heat contained in the lava, that buried the whole city. They seemed quite solid to the eye and touch; yet an ingenious monk discovered a process of detaching leaf from leaf, and unrolling them, by which they could be read without much difficulty. It is, nevertheless, to be regretted, that so little success has followed the labours of those who have attempted to unrol them. Some portions, however, have been unrolled, and the titles of about 400 of the least injured have been read. They are, for the most part, of little importance; but all entirely new, and chiefly relating to music, rhetoric, and cookery. The obliterations and corrections are numerous, so that there is a probability of their being original manuscripts. There are two volumes of Epicurus "on Virtue," and the rest are, for the most part, productions of the same school of writers. Only a very few are written in Latin, almost all being in Greek. All were found in the library of one individual, and in a quarter of the town where there was the least probability of finding anything of the kind.

The following is a list of the most important works that have been discovered:--

1. Philodemus, on the Influence of Music on the Human Constitution.
2. Epicurus upon Nature.
3. Philomedes on Rhetoric.
4. Id. on the Vices.
5. Id. on the Affinities of the Vices and the Virtues.
6. Id. on the Poets.
7. Id. some Philosophical Fragments.
8. Id. on Providence.
9. Democritus, some Geometrical Fragments.
10. Philostratus on Unreasonable Contempt.
11. Carnisirus on Friendship.
12. Cotothes on Plato's Dialogue of Isis.
13. Chrysippus on Providence.

We shall give the reader a specimen, in a fragment of a poem on the Actian war, copied from a manuscript taken from Herculaneum; supposed to be written by C. Rabirius:--

COL. I.

... XIM......... AEL .. TIA· ...........
.. CESAR . FA .. AR . HAR . IAM. ..... G ...
.. RT.·HIS·ILLE .. NATO . CVM ..... ELIAPOR ..
QVEM IVVENES; gRANdAeVOS·ERAT·pEr cVNcTA seguntus[281]
BELLA·FIDE·DEXTRAQVE POtENS·RERVMQuE·PER·Vsum
CALLIDVS·ADSIDVus traCTANDO·IN MVNERE martis
IMMINET oPSESSIS ITALuS·IAM·TVRRIBVS alTIS·
Adsiliens muriS·NEC·DEFVit IMPETVS·ILLIS.

COL. II.

funeraque adCEDVNT·PATRiis deforMIA·TerRIS
et foedA Illa mAGIS·QVAM·Si NOS geSTA LATEReNT
CVM cuPERet potIVS·PELVSIA mOENIA·CAESAR
_vix_ ERAT·IMperIIS·ANIMOs COHlberE SVorVM;
QuID·cAPITIS Iam caPTA IACENt QVAE praemia belli?
SVBRVITIS·fERro meA·MOENIA QVONdAM·ERat hoSTlS.
HAEC·MIHI·CVM·domin A·PLEBES QVOQVE nunc sibi VICTRIX
VINDICAT hanc faMVLAM ROMANA POTEntia taNDEM.

COL. III.

fas et ALeXANDRO thAlaMOS iNtRaRE DEoRVM
DIco ETIAM·dOLVISSE·DEAM vIDISSe triuMphoS
AcTIACOS·CVM.cAVSa fORES Tu MaxIMA beLLI
PARS·ETIAM·IMperII·QVAE·FEMINA·TanTA·? VIrORuM
QVAE·SERIEs ANTIQVA fVIT·? NI GLORIA·MENDAX
MVLTA vetuStATIS·NIMIO·ConcEDAT·HONORI.

COL. IV.

.................... EN .................
SAEPE·Ego QVAE·VEteRIS CVraE·seRMoNIBVs angor
QVA fuGITVr lux, erro: TameN NVNC·QVAErere caVSAS,
EX·SiGVasque mORaS·VITAE·LIBET·EST·.MIHI·CONIuNX;
partHos quI·POSSET phARIIS·SVBIVNGERE REGnIS·
QVI SPreVIT·NOStraEQVE·MORI·PRO·NOMINE·GENTIS·
Hic iGItur pARTIS aniMVM DIDVctuS IN oMnIS
qVID·VELIT·INCERTVM·EST·TERriS qVIBVS·, AVT·
QVIBVS·VNDIS

COL. V.

delectVMQue foruM Quo noXIA TVRBA COiRET,
PRAEBERETQVE·SVAE·SPECTACVLA·TRisTIA·MORTIS.
QVALIS·AD INSTANTIS·ACIES CVM TELA·PAraNTVR
SIGNA·TVBAE·CLASSESQVE·SIMVL·TERRESTRibus ARMIS;
EST·FACIES·EA·VISA·LOCI·CV.M·SAEVA·COIRENt
INSTRVMENTA·NECIS varIO·CONGESTA·PARATV·
VNDiQVE·SIC·ILLVC·caMPo DEFORME·COactVM
OMNE·VAGABATVR·LETI·GENVS·OMNE·TIMORIS·

COL. VI.

hic cAdit absumtus fERRO·TumeT·IlLE·VENeno,
aVT·PEndenTe suIS·CERVICIBVS·ASPIDE·MOLLEM
LABITur iN SOMNVM·TRAHITVRQVE·LIBIDINE·MORTIS·
PERCulit adFLATV·BReVIS·HVNC·SINE·MORSIBVS·ANguis
voLNERE·SEV·TeNVI·PARS·INLiTA·PARVA·VenENI·
OCIus INTEREMiT·LAQVEIS·PArS·COGItVR·ARTIS·
INtERSAEPTAM·ANIMAM·PRESSIS·EFFVNDERE·VENIS·
ImMERSISQVE fretO·CLAVSERVNT·GVTTVRA·FAVCES·
hAS·INTeR·StRAGES·SOLIO·DESCENDIT·eT·INTER

COL. VII.

A ............ LIA .. NO ................
SIC·ILLI·INTteR·Se mISERO·serMoNe fRVVNTVR·
HAEC·REGINA·GERIT·: PROCVL·HAnc OccultA·VIDEBAT·
ATROPOS·INRIDeNs inteR·DIVERSA·vagenteM
CONSILIA·INTErITVs, QVAM·iAM sua fatA MANeRENT
TER·FVERAT·REVOCATA·diES·CVM·PArte senATVS·
ET·PATRIAE·cOMItANTE·SVAE·CVM·MILite CAESAR·
GENTIS·ALEXANdrI·CupiENs AD·moEnia VENIT·
SIGNAQVE·CONSTITVIT·SIC·OMNis terROR IN·ARTVM.

COL. VIII.

obtereRE·adnisi PORtarVm clAVSTRa pEr VRBEM·,
OPSIDIONE·TAMEN·NeC·CORPORA·MOENIBVS·ArceNT·
CASTRAQVE·PRO·MVRIS·ATQVE·ARMA·PEDESTRIA·PONVNT·
HOS INTER COETVS·ALISQVE·AD·BELLA·PARATVS·
VTRAQUE·SOLLEMNIS·ITERVM·REVOCAVERAT·ORBES·
CONSILIIS·NOX·APTA·DVCVM·LVX·APTIOR·ARMIS.

NO. XXXVIII.--HIERAPOLIS.

This was a town in Syria, near the Euphrates, deriving its name from the number of its temples[283]. It abounded in hot springs; and those gave origin to the following fable: "The shepherd poet relates, after mentioning a case in Phrygia, sacred to the nymphs, that near these springs Luna had once descended from the sky to Endymion, while he was sleeping by the herds; that marks of their bed were then extant under the oaks; and in the thickets around it the milk of cows had been spilt, which man still beheld with admiration (for such was the appearance if you saw it afar off); but that from thence flowed clear and warm water, which in a little time concreted round the channel, and formed a stone pavement."

The deity most worshipped in ancient times in this city, and indeed throughout all Phoenicia, was the goddess Astarte, called in Scripture the Queen of Heaven and the goddess of the Sidonians.

Dr. Chandler and his friend Mr. Revett ascended to the ruins, which are in a flat, passing by sepulchres with inscriptions, and entering from the east. They had soon the theatre on the right hand; and opposite to it, near the margin of the cliff, are the remains of an ancient structure, once perhaps baths, or as was conjectured, a gymnasium; the huge vaults of the roof striking horror as they rode underneath. Beyond is the mean ruin of a modern fortress; and farther on are massive walls of edifices, several of them leaning from their perpendicular, the stones disjointed, and seeming every moment ready to fall--the effects and evidences of repeated earthquakes.

In a recess of the mountain, on the right side, is the area of a stadium. Then again sepulchres succeed; some nearly buried in the mountain side, and one, a square building, with an inscription with large letters.

The theatre appears to have been a very large and sumptuous structure: part of the front is still standing. In the heap, which lies in confusion, are many sculptures, well executed in basso-relievo, with pieces of architecture inscribed, but disjoined, or so incumbered with massive marbles, that no information could be gathered from them. The character is large and bold, with ligatures. The marble seats are still unremoved. The numerous ranges are divided by a low semicircular wall, near the midway, with inscriptions, on one of which Apollo Archegetes (or the Leader) is requested to be propitious. In another compartment, mention is made of the city by its name; and a third is an encomium, in verse. "Hail, golden city, Hierapolis, the spot to be preferred before any in wide Asia; revered for the rills of the nymphs; adorned with splendour." In some of the inscriptions the people are styled "the most splendid," and the senate "the most powerful."

Hierapolis was not so magnificent as Laodicea; but still it was a splendid place; and, like its neighbour city, is now almost "an utter desolation[284]."

NO. XLII.--ISFAHAN.

"_In the territory of Istakhar is a great building, with statues carved in stone; and there, also, are inscriptions and paintings. It was said that this was a temple of Solomon, to whom be peace! and that it was built by the Dives, or Demons: similar edifices are in Syria, and Baalbeck, and in Egypt._"--EBN HAWKEL; OUSELEY.

The origin of Isfahan is not to be traced with any certainty. It is, however, for the most part, supposed to have arisen from the ruins of Hecatompylos,[285] the capital of Parthia. This city was the royal residence of Arsaces, and it was situated at the springs of the Araxes. Whatever may have been the origin of this city, it is universally admitted that the situation of it, topographically, and centrically with regard to the empire, is admirably adapted for a royal residence and capital[286]. It stands on the river Zeinderood; and has been celebrated as a city of consequence from the time in which it was first noted in history[287]; and that is, we believe, at the period in which it was taken possession of by Ardisheer, who, soon after, was proclaimed king of Persia; and was considered by his countrymen as the restorer of that great empire, which had been created by Cyrus and lost by Darius.

This prince was so great a sovereign, that it gives pleasure to note some of his sayings:--"When a king is just, his subjects must love him, and continue obedient: but the worst of all sovereigns is he whom the wealthy, and not the wicked, fear." "There can be no power without an army; no army without money; no money without agriculture; no agriculture without justice." "A furious lion is better than an unjust king: but an unjust king is not so bad as a long and unjust war." "Never forget," said he, on his death-bed, to his son, "that, as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and of your country. Consider the altar and throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other. A sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies. Religion may exist without a state; but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by holy laws that a political association can alone be bound. You should be to your people an example of piety and of virtue, but without pride or ostentation." After a few similar lessons, he concluded in the following manner:--"Remember, my son, that it is the prosperity or adversity of the ruler, which forms the happiness or misery of his subjects; and that the fate of the nation depends upon the conduct of the individual who fills the throne. The world is exposed to constant vicissitudes: learn, therefore, to meet the frowns of Fortune with courage and fortitude, and to receive her smiles with moderation and wisdom. To sum up all:--May your administration be such as to bring, at a future day, the blessings of those whom God has confided to our paternal care, upon both your memory and mine."

A.D. 1387, Isfahan surrendered to Timour. The moment he pitched his camp before it, it yielded. Satisfied with this ready submission, Timour commanded that the town should be spared, but that a heavy contribution should be levied on the inhabitants. This had been almost entirely collected, when a young blacksmith, one under age, beat a small drum for his amusement. A number of citizens, mistaking this for an alarm, assembled, and became so irritated from a communication to each other of the distress they suffered, that they began an attack upon those whom they considered the immediate cause of their misery; and, before morning, nearly 3000 of the Tartars, who had been quartered in the city, were slain. The rage of Timour, when he heard of this, exceeded all bounds. He would therefore listen to no terms of capitulation. He doomed Isfahan to be an example to all other cities. The unfortunate inhabitants knew what they had to expect, and made all the resistance they could; but in vain. The walls were carried by storm; and the cruel victor did not merely permit pillage and slaughter, but commanded that every soldier should bring him a certain number of heads. Some of those, more humane than their master, purchased the number allotted, rather than become the executioners of unresisting men. It was found impossible to compute all the slain; but an account was taken of 70,000 heads, which were heaped in pyramids that were raised in monuments of this horrid revenge.[288]

Isfahan attained its highest pitch and magnitude in the time of Shah Abbas. It became the great emporium of the Asiatic world; and during his reign nearly a million of people animated its streets, and the equally flourishing peasantry of more than 1400 villages in its neighbourhood, supplied by their labour the markets of this abundant population.[289] Industry, diligence, activity, and negotiations, were seen and heard everywhere. The caravans even were crowded with merchants, and the shops with the merchandise of Europe and Asia; while the court of the great Shah was the resort of ambassadors from the proudest kingdoms, not only of the East but of the West. Travellers thronged thither from every part, not only on affairs of business, but to behold the splendour of the place.

In fact, it owes most of the glory it now possesses to Shah Abbas, who, after the conquest of Lar and Ormus, charmed with its situation, made it the capital of his empire between 1620 and 1628; for the fertility of the soil, the mildness of the seasons, and the fine temperature of the air, conspire, it is said, to make Isfahan one of the most delightful cities in the world. The waters of its two rivers, also, are so sweet, pleasant, and wholesome, as to be almost beyond comparison.

The splendours of Isfahan are described by Pietro Della Velle[290] and Chardin.[291] What they were would occupy too large a space; but we may judge of the extent and nature of the public works by the causeway[292] this prince formed across the whole of Mazenderen, so as to render that difficult country passable for armies and travellers at all seasons of the year. He threw bridges over almost all the rivers of Persia. He studied, we are told, beyond all former sovereigns, the general welfare and improvement of his kingdom. He fixed on the city of Ispahan as the capital of his dominions; and its population was more than doubled during his reign. Its principal mosque, the noble palace of Chehel-Setoon, the beautiful avenues and porticoes called Châr Bagh, and several of the finest palaces in the city and suburbs, were all built by this prince.

In 1721 there was a great rebellion. A celebrated traveller, who was on the spot, assures us, that the inhabitants of one of the suburbs (Julfa, an Armenian colony), not many years before, amounted to thirty thousand souls. He says, that some of the streets were broad and handsome, and planted with trees, with canals, and fountains in the middle; others narrow and crooked, and arched at top; others again, though extremely narrow, as well as turning and winding many ways, were of an incredible length, and resembled so many labyrinths; that at a small distance from the town there were public walks adorned with plane-trees on either hand, and ways paved with stones, fountains and cisterns: that there were one hundred caravanserais for the use of merchants and travellers, many of which were built by the kings and prime nobility of Persia. He goes on to state, that there was a castle in the eastern part of the town, which the citizens looked upon as impregnable, in which the public money and most of the military stores were kept: but that, notwithstanding the number of baths and caravanserais were almost innumerable, there was not one public hospital. All this was in the suburb of Julfa only. In what condition is that suburb now?

A.D. 1722, Mahmoud, chief of the Afghans, invaded Persia, and laid siege to Isfahan. He was at first repulsed and compelled to fall back; in consequence of which he made overtures. These the citizens unfortunately rejected. Mahmoud, in consequence, determined on laying waste the whole of the neighbouring country. Now the districts surrounding Ispahan were, perhaps, the most fruitful in the world, and art had done her utmost to assist nature in adorning this delightful country. This fairest of regions was doomed by Mahmoud to complete ruin! The task occupied his army more than a month; but the lapse of nearly a century has not repaired what their barbarity effected in that period; and the fragments of broken canals, sterile fields, and mounds of ruins, still mark the road with which they laboured in the work of destruction.

A famine ensued in consequence of this, and the inhabitants of Isfahan were reduced to despair. The flesh of horses, camels, and mules, became so dear[293], that none but the king, some of the nobles, and the wealthiest citizens, could afford to purchase. Though the Persians abhor dogs as unclean, they ate greedily of them, as well as of other forbidden animals. When these supplies were exhausted, they fed not only upon the leaves and bark of trees, but on leather, which they softened by boiling; and when this was exhausted too, they began to devour human flesh. Men, we are told, with their eyes sunk, their countenances livid, and their bodies feeble and emaciated with hunger, were seen in crowds, endeavouring to protract a wretched existence by cutting pieces from the bodies of those who had just expired. In many instances the citizens slew each other, and parents murdered their children to furnish the horrid meal. Some, more virtuous, poisoned themselves and families, that they might escape the guilt of preserving life by such means. The streets, the squares, and even the royal gardens, were covered with carcases; and the river Zainderand, which flowed through the city, became so corrupted by dead bodies[294], that it was hardly possible to drink of its waters[295]. Overpowered with his misfortunes, Shah Husseyn abdicated his throne in favour of his persecutor.

These events are related in Bucke's Harmonies of Nature, thus:--During the reign of Shah Husseyn, Isfahan was besieged by Mahmoud, chief of the Afghans; when the besieged, having consumed their horses, mules, camels, the leaves and bark of trees, and even cloth and leather, finished,--so great was the famine,--with not only eating their neighbours and fellow-citizens, but their very babes. During this siege more human beings were devoured than was ever known in a siege before. Mahmoud having at length listened to terms of capitulation, Husseyn clad himself in mourning; and with the Wali of Arabia, and other officers of his court, proceeded to the camp of his adversary, and resigned the empire. The Afghan chief, in receiving his resignation, exclaimed, "Such is the instability of all human grandeur! God disposes of empires, as he pleases, and takes them from one to give to another!" This occurred in the year 1716.

Mahmoud was now king of Persia. But, some time after, fearing a revolt of the people of Isfahan, he invited all the nobles of the city to a feast, and the moment they arrived, a signal was given, and they were all massacred. Their amount was three thousand! not so many as one escaped. Their bodies were exposed in the streets, that the inhabitants might behold and tremble. But an equal tragedy was yet to be performed. He had taken three thousand of the late king's guards into his pay. These men he directed to be peculiarly well treated; and, as a mark of favour, he commanded that a dinner should be dressed for them in one of the squares of the palace. The men came; sat down; and the moment they had done so, a party of the tyrant's troops fell upon them, and not a single soul was allowed to escape!

This, however, was not the close of things, but the beginning. A general order was now issued, to put every Persian to death, who had in any way served the former government. The massacre lasted 15 days! Those who survived were made to leave the city, with the sole exception of a small number of male youths, whom the tyrant proposed to train in the habits and usages of his own nation.

Nor does this terminate the history of his atrocities. He soon after massacred all the males of the royal family. These victims he caused to be assembled in one of the courts of the palace; when attended by two or three favourites, he commenced, with his own sabre, the horrid massacre. Thirty-nine princes of the blood were murdered on this dreadful occasion. The day of punishment, however, was at hand. He soon after died in a state of horrific insanity! His body was buried in a royal sepulchre; but when Nadir Shah afterwards took Isfahan, he caused it to be taken from the sepulchre and abandoned to the fury of the populace; and the place where he had been interred was converted into a common sewer to receive the filth of the city. This was in the year 1727.

Isfahan never recovered these dreadful events. Mr. Hanway tells us, that in the time he visited it, a Persian merchant assured him, that in all Isfahan there were not more than five thousand inhabited houses. It has been, since, several times taken and retaken by tyrants and revolters. It was last taken by Aga Mohamed Khan (A.D. 1785); who dismantled the walls.

Its present condition is thus described by Sir Robert Ker Porter:--"The streets are everywhere in ruin; the bazaars silent and abandoned; the caravanserais are equally forsaken; its thousand villages hardly now counting two hundred; its palaces solitary and forlorn; and the nocturnal laugh and song, which used to echo from every part of the gardens, succeeded by the yells of jackals and shouts of famishing dogs."

Sir Robert afterwards gives an account of the ruins. From one end of the city to the other, under avenues old and new, through the gardens, and round their delightful "paradises," of shade and fountain, he hardly saw a single creature moving. If, says he, "Isfahan continues fifty years so totally abandoned of its sovereign's notice as it is now, Isfahan will become a total ruin, amidst the saddest of wildernesses."

The name of this city is said to have been Sepahan, which it received from the Persian kings, in consequence of its having been the general place of rendezvous for their armies. "This famous city," says Mr. Kinneir[296], "has been so minutely described, even when at the height of its glory, by many travellers, and particularly by Chardin, that it will only be necessary to state the changes that have taken place since the period in which he wrote. The wall, which then surrounded the city, was entirely destroyed by the Afghans, who have left many striking marks of their savage and barbarous habits in every part of the kingdom. The suburb of Julfa has been reduced from twelve thousand to six hundred families; most of the others have shared the same fate; and a person may ride ten miles amidst the ruins of this immense capital. The spacious houses and palaces, which opened to the Royal Avenue, are almost all destroyed. The first view, however," continues Mr. Kinneir, "which the traveller has, on coming from Shirauz, of this great metropolis, is from an eminence, about five miles from the city, when it bursts at once upon his sight, and is, perhaps, one of the grandest prospects in the universe. Its ruinous condition is not observable at a distance; all defects being hid by high trees and lofty buildings; and palaces, colleges, mosques, minarets, and shady groves, are the only objects that meet the eye."

The bazaars, constructed by Shah Abbas, which were covered in with vaults, and lighted by numerous domes, are of prodigious extent, and proclaim the former magnificence of the city. They extend considerably more than a mile.

The palaces of the king are enclosed in a fort of lofty walls, which have a circumference of three miles. The palace of the Chehel Sitoon, or "forty pillars," is situated in the middle of an immense square, which is intersected by various canals, and planted in different directions with the beautiful chenar tree. The palace was built by Shah Abbas. Under the great room are summer apartments, excavated in the ground, which, in their season, must be delightful retreats. They are also wainscoted, and paved with marble slabs; and water is introduced by cascades, which fall from the ground floor, and refresh the whole range. The Ali Capi gate forms the entrance. This gate, once the scene of the magnificence of the Seffi family, the threshold of which was ever revered as sacred, is now deserted, and only now and then a solitary individual is seen to pass negligently through. The remains of that splendour, so minutely and exactly described by Chardin, are still to be traced; the fine marble remains, and the grandeur and elevation of the dome, are still undemolished.[297] At the Ala Capi gate of the old palaces, which is described as one of the most perfect pieces of brick-work to be found in Persia, used to sit Shah Abbas, and thence review his cavalry, galloping and skirmishing, or witnessed the combats of wild animals[298]. In former times this view from the spot was undoubtedly splendid; but, at present, with the exception of the palaces in the gardens, the whole mass below is one mouldering succession of ruinous houses, mosques, and shapeless structures, which had formerly been the mansions of the nobility, broken by groups or lines of various tall trees, which once made part of the gardens of the houses now in ruins. The freshness of all the buildings is said to be particularly striking to an European, or the inhabitants of any comparatively humid country, in which the atmosphere cherishes a vegetation of mosses, lichens, and other cryptogamous plants, which we particularly associate in our minds with the spectacle of decay.

Sir W. Ouseley says, "I explored the ruins of villages, scattered over the plain in all directions near our camp; and some must have been considerable in size and respectability from the handsome houses which they contained. Although pillaged and depopulated by the Afghans almost a century ago, many of their chambers yet remain, with vaults and staircases but little injured; yet no human being is ever seen within their walls, except some traveller, who wonders at finding himself alone in places, which might be easily rendered habitable, situate not above a mile from the walls of a great metropolis. It must be confessed, that these ruins, composed of sun-dried brick and mud, appear, like many edifices in Persia, to much greater advantage on paper than in reality."

Morier, in his second journey into Persia, says:--"The great city of Isfahan, which Chardin has described, is twenty-four miles in circumference, were it to be weeded (if the expression may be used) of its ruins, would now dwindle to a quarter that circumference. One might suppose that God's curse had extended over part of this city, as it did over Babylon. Houses, bazaars, mosques, palaces, whole streets, are to be seen in total abandonment; and I have rode for miles among its ruins without meeting with any living creature, except, perhaps, a jackal peeping over a wall, or a fox running to its hole.

"In a large tract of ruins," Mr. Morier goes on to observe, "where houses, in different stages of decay, were to be seen, now and then an inhabited house may be discovered, the owner of which may be assimilated to Job's forlorn man, '_dwelling in desolate cities, and which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps_[299].' Such a remark as this must have arisen from scenery similar to those which parts of Isfahan present; and unless the particular feeling of melancholy which they inspire has been felt, no words can convey any idea of it[300]."

NO. XLIII.--ITALICA.

This city (in Spain) is supposed to have been founded by the Phoenicians, who give it the name of Hispalis. It was afterwards colonized by the wounded soldiers of Scipio. It was then called Julia, and at last, after a variety of corruptions, Sebilla or Sevilla, la Viega.

The Romans embellished it with many magnificent edifices, but of which scarcely any vestige now remains.

In regard to the new city, the Gothic kings for some time made it their residence; but it was taken by storm soon after the victory obtained at Xeres, over the Gothic king Rodrigo. It at last fell before Ferdinand III., after a year's siege; and three hundred thousand Moors were compelled to quit the place; notwithstanding which it became the most magnificent city in all Spain, a little after the discovery of America; all the valuable commodities of the West Indies being carried thither.