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RUINS OF ANCIENT CITIES.

Of chance or change, oh! let not man complain; Else shall he never, never, cease to wail; For from the imperial dome, to where the swain Rears his lone cottage in the silent dale, All feel the assault of fortune's fickle gale. Art, empire, earth itself, to change are doom'd; Earthquakes have raised to heaven the humble vale; And gulfs the mountains' mighty mass entomb'd; And where the Atlantic rolls wide continents have bloom'd.

BEATTIE.

This city stood on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, now called the Dardanelles, opposite to the city of Sestos, on the European side, the distance from each other being about two miles. Abydos was built by the Milesians, and became greatly celebrated from the circumstance that it was here that Xerxes built his bridge over the Hellespont;--also for the loves of Hero and Leander.

Philip, king of Macedon, laid siege to this city, and nothing of what is generally practised in the assaulting and defending of cities was omitted in the siege. No place, say the historians, was ever defended with greater obstinacy, which might be said at length, on the side of the besieged, to have risen to fury and brutality. Confiding in its own strength, they repulsed, with the greatest vigour, the approaches of the Macedonians. Finding, however, at last, that the outer wall of their city was sapped, and that the Macedonians carried their mines under the inner one, they sent deputies to Philip, offering to surrender the city on certain conditions, one of which was, that all the free citizens should retire whithersoever they pleased, with the clothes they then had on. These conditions were not approved by Philip, he therefore sent for answer, that the Abydonians had only to choose, whether they would surrender at discretion or continue to defend themselves gallantly as they had before done.

When the citizens heard this they assembled together, to consider what they should do in so great an emergency; and here we have to record, not in our own language but in that of others, for our pen would be unequal to the description, circumstances scarcely to be paralleled in all history! It is thus given by Rollin:--

They came to these resolutions; first, that the slaves should be set at liberty, to animate them to defend the city with the utmost vigour; secondly, that all the women should be shut up in the temple of Diana, and all the children with their nurses in the Gymnasium; that this being done, they then should bring into the great square all the gold and silver in the city, and carry all the rest of the valuable effects into the quadrireme of the Rhodians and the trireme of the Cyzicenians. This resolution having passed unanimously, another assembly was called, in which they chose fifty of the wisest and most ancient of the citizens, but who at the same time had vigour enough left to execute what should have been determined; and they were made to take an oath, in presence of all the inhabitants, that the instant they saw the enemy master of the inner wall they should kill the women and children, set fire to the galleys laden with their effects, and throw into the sea all the gold and silver which they had heaped together. Then, sending for their priests, they took an oath either to conquer or die, sword in hand; and after having sacrificed the victims, they obliged the priests and priestesses to pronounce before the altar the greatest curses on those who should break their oath. This being done, they left off countermining, and resolved, the instant the wall should fall, to fly to the breach and fight to the last. Accordingly, the inward wall tumbling, the besieged, true to the oath they had taken, fought in the breach with such unparalleled bravery, that though Philip had perpetually sustained with fresh soldiers those who had mounted to the assault, yet, when night separated the combatants, he was still doubtful with regard to the success of the siege. Such Abydonians as marched first to the breach, over the heaps of slain, fought with fury, and not only made use of their swords and javelins, but after their arms were broken to pieces or forced from their hands, they rushed furiously upon the Macedonians, knocked down some, broke the long spears of others, and with the pieces struck their faces and such parts of their bodies as were uncovered, till they made them entirely despair of the event. When night had put an end to the slaughter, the breach was quite covered with the dead bodies of the Abydonians, and those who had escaped were so prodigiously fatigued, and had received so many wounds, that they could scarce support themselves. Things being brought to this dreadful extremity, two of the principal citizens, unable to execute the dreadful resolution that had been taken, and which at that time displayed itself to their imaginations in all its horror, agreed that, to save their wives and children, they should send to Philip by day-break all their priests and priestesses, clothed in pontifical habits, to implore his mercy and open their gates to him. Accordingly the next morning the city, as had been agreed, was surrendered to Philip, during which the greatest part of the Abydonians, who survived, vented millions of imprecations against their fellow-citizens, and especially against the priests and priestesses, for delivering up to the enemy those whom they themselves had devoted to death with the most dreadful oaths. Philip marched into the city and seized, without the least opposition, all the rich effects which the Abydonians had heaped together in one place. But now he was greatly terrified with the spectacle he saw. Among these ill-fated citizens, whom despair had made furious and distracted, some were strangling their wives and children; and others cutting them with swords to pieces; some were running to murder them; some were plunging them into wells; whilst others were precipitating them from the tops of the houses; in a word, death appeared in a variety of horrors. Philip, pierced with grief, and seized with horror at the spectacle, stopped the soldiers who were greedy of plunder, and published a declaration, importing that he would allow three days to all, who were resolved to lay violent hands on themselves. He was in hopes that during this interval they would change their resolution, but they had made their choice before. They thought it would be degenerating from those, who had lost their lives in fighting for their country, should they survive them. The individuals of every family killed one another, and none escaped this murderous expedition but those whose hands were tied, or were otherwise kept from destroying themselves.

Nothing now remains of the ancient town, but a few insignificant ruins in the neighbourhood of the modern one.

The reservoir mentioned by Strabo, which was cased with stone, may be traced on the east side of the ancient town; and in the mountain, to the north-west, are some limestone quarries, and an inclined road leading to a narrow grotto, in an unfinished state, and without sculpture.

The Arabs, in searching for treasure, have heaped up piles of earth and rubbish; but there are no inhabitants.

The sterile country between Trapani and Alcamo may render the stranger better prepared to contemplate one of the finest of ancient monuments--all that remains of AEgesta, celebrated for the temple of the Erycinian Venus. This town, situated on a height at the base of Mount Eryx, was deserted and almost in ruins at so early a period as the time of Strabo.

All travellers, who have examined the temple, are unanimous in its commendation. "The effect it produced at a distance," says Mons. Simon, "increased as I approached. Such is the magic of its proportions, and the beauty of its forms, that, at whatever side it may be viewed, it is equally admirable. It has braved the influence of time--the edifice stands entire, columns, entablature, pediment--all except the cella and roof, which have disappeared. The columns, of the Ionic order, are about seven feet in diameter at the base, tapering towards the top, and only four diameters in height; but they form, with the front, a total height of fifty-eight feet. The dimensions of the interior are about one hundred and seventy-four feet by seventy-two."

This city was destroyed by Agathocles. At a subsequent time it was the residence of the tyrant AEmilius Censorinus, who offered rewards to such artists as were the most ingenious in the invention of instruments of torture!

"We seated ourselves on a fallen column," says Mr. Williams, "and could not but admire the scene before us: Attica, Peloponnesus, and the gulf of AEgina, with their many points of attraction, addressing both the eye and the mind! While we were enjoying the splendid view, two shepherds stepped from the ruins, and passing their crooks from their right hand to their left, pressed their hearts and foreheads, and kissed their hands in a manner than which nothing could be more graceful. Their eyes bespoke their curiosity to know what brought us there; and when we looked across the gulf, they both exclaimed, 'Athenae! Athenae!' as if we were desirous to know the name of the distant spot, that marked the site of Athens."

Servius Sulpitius mentions AEgina in a very agreeable manner to Cicero, who was then grieving for the loss of his daughter Tullia:--"Once," said he, "when I was in distress, I received a sensible alleviation of my sorrow from a circumstance, which, in the hope of its having the same influence upon you, I will take this opportunity of relating. I was returning from Asia; and as I was steering my course, I began to contemplate the surrounding country. Behind me was AEgina; Megara in the front; the Piraeus occupied my right hand, and Corinth my left. These cities, once flourishing, were now reduced to irretrievable ruin. 'Alas!' said I, somewhat indignantly, 'shall man presume to complain of the shortness and the ills of life, whose being in this world is necessarily short, when I see so many cities, at one view, totally destroyed?' This reflection, my friend, relieved my sorrow."

The island of AEgina lies between Attica and Argolis, eighteen miles distant from the coast of Athens and fourteen from Epidaurus. It does not exceed nine miles in its greatest length, nor six miles in its greatest breadth; its interior is rough and mountainous, and the valleys, though they are made to bear corn, cotton, olive, and fruit trees, are stony and narrow. Notwithstanding this, in ancient days, through the blessings of commerce, this spot in the seas of Greece was the residence of a numerous and most thriving population, who created upon it such works as are still the admiration of the civilised world, though they are now in ruins; the place, however, of those who built them, is scantily occupied by an impoverished and degraded race of men.

The people of AEgina were the first who coined money to be subservient to the uses of life, agreeably to the advice of Phidon, who considered that a maritime commerce would best be promoted, where exchange and accommodation became easy and familiar between the vendor and purchaser.

The place, too, had the advantage of security; an important point in the earlier ages of Greece, when piracy was a common and honourable profession. It lay deep within a gulf; nature had made access to its shores difficult, by nearly encircling them with rocks and sand-banks; and its industrious population added artificial defences. Its port also was commodious, and well protected against the attacks of man. Here, therefore, the goods procured, far and near, by the enterprising inhabitants, could be lodged without fear of pillage, and the Greeks would resort hither as to a general mart, where whatever they wanted might be purchased. Wealth would thus flow into the island, and its inhabitants, with their exquisite feeling for all that was beautiful, would employ their wealth in cultivating the fine arts, and in covering their barren rocks with grand and graceful edifices; and this was shown by the ancient inhabitants of AEgina having had the honour of introducing a style in sculpture superior to all that preceded, though inferior to the ultimate perfection of the Athenian school.

AEgina was, originally, subject to kings; but it afterwards adopted the republican form of government. It was at length reduced by the Athenians, and continued subject to them, till, at the end of the Macedonian war, it was declared free by the Romans. In the reign of Vespasian, however, it underwent the same fortune as the other states of Greece.

A.D. 1536, it was subdued by the Turks, after an obstinate resistance; the capital was plundered and burned; and, after a great slaughter of the inhabitants, the rest were carried into slavery--not an unworthy fate, had it occurred in ancient times, for a people, who were possessed of 420,000 slaves!

The most celebrated of its edifices was the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius. "This temple," says Colonel Leake, "was erected upon a large paved platform, and must, when complete, have been one of the most remarkable examples in Greece of the majesty and beauty of its sacred edifices, as well as of the admirable taste with which the Greeks enhanced those qualities by an attention to local situation and surrounding scenery. It is not only in itself one of the finest specimens of Grecian architecture, but is the more curious as being, in all probability, the most ancient example of the Doric order in Greece, with the exception of the columns at Corinth." This temple is far from any habitation, and is surrounded with shrubs and small pine-trees. No ruin in Greece is more rich in the picturesque, as every point of view has some peculiar charm:--"When I was at AEgina," says Mr. Dodwell, "the interior of the temple was covered with large blocks of stone, and overgrown with bushes. This circumstance produced a sort of confusion, which, while it intermingled the trees and the architecture, made a great addition to the picturesque effect of the interesting scene. The place has since been cleared, the stones have been taken away, and the trees cut down to facilitate the removal of the statues which were found among the ruins. Though these changes may have made some deduction from the pleasure with which the painter would have viewed the spot, yet they have added greatly to the gratification of the classical traveller, by whom all the architectural details may now be readily examined and accurately discriminated."

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

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

In 1811, several statues of Parian marble were discovered by two English gentlemen and two Germans, the rivals in the style of which are said nowhere to be found. They were excavated from the two extremities of the temple below the tympana, from which they had fallen at some unknown period. Mr. Dodwell has given the following account of them:--"I shall not attempt," says he, "a minute description of these precious remains of the AEginetic school; the discovery of which, in its importance, has not been surpassed by any of the kind in modern times. They are supposed by some to represent the principal heroes of the Iliad contending with the Trojans for the body of Patroclus. Minerva, armed with her helmet, is the principal figure; and from its superior size, is conjectured to have stood in the centre of the tympanum, below which it was found. The other figures are combatants in various costumes and attitudes; their shields are circular, and their helmets crowned with the lophos. The bodies of some are naked, while others are covered with armour or leather; their attitudes are judiciously adapted to the four tympana, and the places which they occupied. They were evidently made prior to the introduction of the beautiful ideal in Grecian sculpture. The muscles and the veins, which are anatomically correct, exhibit the soft flexibility of life, and every motion of the body is in scientific harmony with that of nature. The limbs are strong, though not Herculean, and elegant without effeminacy; no preposterous muscular protuberance, no unnatural feminine delicacy offends the eye. They are noble without being harsh or rigid, and are composed with Doric severity mingled with the airy grace of youthful forms; the perfection of the finish is quite wonderful; every part being in a style worthy of the most beautiful cameo. The extremities of the hands and feet merit more particular admiration. Indeed, the ancients thought that elegant fingers and nails were essential ingredients in the composition of the beautiful. The most extraordinary circumstance, however, in these statues, is the want of expression, and the sameness of countenance, which is to be observed in all the heads. This approximation to identity is certainly not fortuitous; for the artists, who were able to throw so much varied beauty into the forms of the bodies, were, no doubt, fully able to infuse a similar diversity of expression into the features. Their talent was probably confined to one style of countenance by some religious prejudice. Perhaps some ancient and much venerated statue served as a model, from which it might not have been consistent with the feeling of reverence, or with the state of opinion, to deviate. The formation and posture of the bodies afforded a greater scope and a wider field for the talent of the sculptor; for while the Doric severity of the early AEginetic school is evidently diffused through the whole, yet a correctness of muscular knowledge; and a strict adherence to natural beauty, are conspicuously blended in every statue. An unmeaning and inanimate smile is prevalent in all the faces; every one of the heroes, who is mortally wounded, is supporting himself in the most beautiful attitude, and smiling upon death! In short, the conquerors and the conquered, the dying and dead, have all one expression, or rather none at all. The high finish of the hair is particularly worthy of notice. Some in curls, which hang down in short ringlets, are of lead, and still remain. The helmets were ornamented with metallic accessories, and the offensive weapons were probably of bronze; but they have not been found. All the figures have been painted; the colour is still visible, though nearly effaced. The colour on the aegis of Minerva is very distinguishable; but the white marble, of which the statues are composed, has assumed a yellow dye from the soil in which they were buried."

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

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

Phalaris, so well known for his superior talent and tyranny, usurped the sovereignty, which for some time afterwards was under the sway of the Carthaginians. In its most flourishing condition, it is said to have contained not less than two hundred thousand persons, who submitted, without resistance, to the superior authority of the Syracusans.

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

Though this gives us some notion of his wealth, there is another description still more indicative of his humanity. He entertained the people with spectacles and feasts; and, during a famine, prevented the citizens from dying with hunger; he gave portions to poor maidens also, and rescued the unfortunate from want and despair. He had houses built in the city and the country, purposely for the accommodation of strangers, whom he usually dismissed with handsome presents. Five hundred shipwrecked citizens of Gela, applying to him, were bountifully relieved; and every man supplied with a cloak and a coat out of his wardrobe.

Agrigentum was first taken by the Carthaginians. It was strongly fortified. It was situated, as were Hymera and Selinuntum, on that coast of Sicily which faces Africa. Accordingly, Hannibal, imagining that it was impregnable except on one side, turned his whole force that way. He threw up banks and terraces as high as the walls; and made use, on this occasion, of the rubbish and fragments of the tombs standing round the city, which he had demolished for that purpose. Soon after, the plague infected the army, and swept away a great number of the soldiers. The Carthaginians interpreted this disaster as a punishment inflicted by the gods, who revenged in this manner the injuries done to the dead, whose ghosts many fancied they had seen stalking before them in the night. No more tombs were therefore demolished; prayers were ordered to be made according to the practice of Carthage; a child was sacrificed to Saturn, in compliance with a most inhumanly superstitious custom; and many victims were thrown into the sea in honour of Neptune.

The besieged, who at first had gained several advantages, were at last so pressed by famine, that all hopes of relief seeming desperate, they resolved to abandon the city. The following night was fixed on for this purpose. The reader will naturally imagine to himself the grief with which these miserable people must be seized, on their being forced to leave their houses, rich possessions, and their country; but life was still dearer to them than all these. Never was a more melancholy spectacle seen. To omit the rest, a crowd of women, bathed in tears, were seen dragging after them their helpless infants, in order to secure them from the brutal fury of the victor. But the most grievous circumstance was the necessity they were under of leaving behind them the aged and sick, who were unable either to fly or to make the least resistance. The unhappy exiles arrived at Gela, which was the nearest city in their way, and there received all the comforts they could expect in the deplorable condition to which they were reduced.

In the meantime Imilcon entered the city, and murdered all who were found in it. The plunder was immensely rich, and such as might be expected from one of the most opulent cities of Sicily, which contained two hundred thousand inhabitants, and had never been besieged, nor, consequently, plundered before. A numberless multitude of pictures, vases, and statues of all kinds, were found here, the citizens having an exquisite taste for the polite arts. Among other curiosities, was the famous bull of Phalaris, which was sent to Carthage.

At a subsequent period the Romans attacked this city, then in possession of the Carthaginians; took it, and the chief persons of Agrigentum were, by the consul's order, first scourged with rods, and then beheaded. The common people were made slaves, and sold to the best bidder. After this, Agrigentum is seldom mentioned in history; nor is it easy to ascertain the precise time in which the old city was destroyed, and the new one was built. It was crushed in the general fall of the Greek state, and its unfortunate inhabitants, expelled by the Saracens, took refuge among the black and inaccessible rocks of Girgenti.

In ancient times, this city was greatly celebrated for the hospitality and luxurious mode of living, adopted by its inhabitants. On one side of the city there was a large artificial lake, about a quarter of a league in circumference, dug out of the solid rock by the Carthaginian captives, and to which the water was conveyed from the hills. It was thirty feet deep; great quantities of fish were kept in this reservoir for the public feasts; and swans and other fowls were kept upon it for the amusement of the citizens; and the depth of its waters secured the city from the sudden assault of an enemy. It is now dry, and converted into a garden.

It is, nevertheless, a curious fact, that though the whole space within the walls of the ancient city abounds with traces of antiquity, there are no ruins which can be supposed to have belonged to places of public entertainment. Yet the Agrigentines were remarkably fond of shows and dramatic amusements; and their connexion with the Romans must have introduced among them the savage games of the circus. Theatres and amphitheatres seem peculiarly calculated to resist the outrages of time; yet not a vestige of these are to be seen on the site of Agrigentum. They appear, however, to have been quite alive to the pleasures to be derived from sculpture and painting.

The Temple of Juno was adorned by one of the most famous pictures of antiquity; which is celebrated by many of the ancient writers. Zeuxis was determined to excel any thing that had gone before him, and to form a model of human perfection. To this end, he prevailed on all the finest women of Agrigentum, who were ambitious of the honour, to appear naked before him. Of these he chose five for his models; and moulding all the perfections of these beauties into one, he composed the picture of the goddess. This was ever looked upon as his masterpiece; but was, unfortunately, burnt when the Carthaginians took Agrigentum. At that period, many of the citizens retired into this temple, as to a place of safety; but as soon as they found the gates attacked by the enemy, they agreed to set fire to it, and chose rather to perish in the flames, than submit to the power of the conqueror. In the Temple of Hercules, there was another picture by Zeuxis. Hercules was represented, in his cradle, killing the two serpents; Alcmena and Amphitrion, having just entered the apartment, were painted with every mark of terror and astonishment. Pliny says, the painter looked upon this piece as invaluable; and, therefore, could never be prevailed upon to put a price upon it; but gave it as a present to the people of Agrigentum, to be placed in the temple of Hercules.

The temples, also, were very magnificent. That of AEsculapius, two columns and two pilasters of which now support the end of a farm-house, was not less celebrated for a statue of Apollo. It was taken from them by the Carthaginians, at the same time that the Temple of Juno was burnt. It was carried off by the conquerors, and continued the greatest ornament of Carthage for many years; but was, at last, restored by Scipio, at the final destruction of the city. Some of the Sicilians allege, but it is supposed without ground, that this statue was afterward carried to Rome, and still remains there, the wonder of all ages; and known to the whole world, under the name of the Apollo Belvidere.

Diodorus Siculus extols the beauty of the columns which supported the building; the admirable structure of the porticos, and the exquisite taste with which the bas-reliefs and paintings were executed; but he adds, that the stately edifice was never finished. Cicero, against Verres, speaks of the statues he carried away. Mr. Swinburne says, that it has remaining not one stone upon another; and that it is barely possible, with the liberal aid of conjecture, to discover the traces of its plan and dimensions. He adds, however, that St. Peter's at Rome exceeds this celebrated temple more than doubly in every dimension; being two hundred and fifteen feet higher, three hundred and thirty-four longer, and four hundred and thirty-three wider.

Added to these, there is now remaining a monument of Tero, king of Agrigentum, one of the first of the Sicilian tyrants. The great antiquity of this monument may be gathered from this; that Tero is not only mentioned by Diodorus, Polybius, and the more modern of the ancient historians, but likewise by Herodotus, and Pindar, who dedicates two of his Olympic Odes to him; so that this monument must be much more than two thousand years old. It is a kind of pyramid, the most durable of forms; and is surrounded by aged olive-trees, which cast a wild, irregular shade over the ruin.

All these mighty ruins of Agrigentum, and the whole mountain on which it stands, says Mr. Brydone, is composed of an immense concretion of seashells, run together, and cemented by a kind of sand, or gravel, and now become as hard, and perhaps more durable, than even marble itself. This stone is white before it has been exposed to the air; but in the temples and other ruins it is become "set," of a very dark brown. These shells are found on the very summit of the mountain, which is at least fourteen or fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea.

The celebrated Empedocles was a native of this city; one of the finest spirits that ever adorned the earth. His saying, in regard to his fellow-citizens, is well known;--viz., that they squandered their money so excessively every day, that they seemed to expect it could never be exhausted; and that they built with such solidity and magnificence, as if they thought they should live for ever.

That it existed, is also attested by the ruins that now remain. Its ancient characteristics are thus described by Dionysius:--it was so built, with regard to its mountain and lake, that it occupied a space between them, each serving like a wall of defence to the city.

There is a tradition, that the palaces of the kings of Alba stood on a rock; and so near to the edge of the precipice, that when the impiety of one of its monarchs provoked Jupiter to strike it with his lightning, a part of the mass was precipitated into the lake, carrying the impious king along with the ruins of his habitation. This tradition is apparently confirmed by a singular feature in a part of the remains of this city; for, directly under the rock of the citadel, toward the lake, and where the palace, both for security and prospect, would have been placed, is a cavern, fifty feet in depth, and more than one hundred in width; a part of the roof of which has evidently fallen in, and some of the blocks still remain on the spot.

This town was built by the Moors, who gave it the name it bears; which, in the Moorish language, signifies a bridge; and this bridge shows that the original city belonged to the Romans in the time of Trajan; for on one of the arches is this inscription:--

Formerly there were four pieces of marble, fixed in the walls of the bridge; in each of which there was an inscription, containing the names of the several towns and districts, that contributed towards the expense of making it. Three of these marbles are lost; but the fourth remains, and bears the following inscription:--

Of the several capitals of Egypt in successive ages, Thebes, or Diospolis, was the most ancient. Next was Memphis; itself a city of the most remote antiquity. Babylon seems to have been only the capital of a part, retained by the Persians, after Cambyses had subdued Egypt; and was, by all accounts, founded by the Persians. Alexandria succeeded Memphis, and remained the chief city, till the Saracens founded Misr-el-Kahira.

Alexander, in his way to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, observed, opposite to the island of Pharos, a spot which he thought extremely well adapted for the building of a city. He, therefore, set about drawing the plan of one; in doing which he particularly marked out the several places where temples and squares should be erected. The general execution he committed to the architect who had rebuilt the temple of Diana at Ephesus . This city he called Alexandria, after his own name; and being situated with the Mediterranean on one side, and one of the branches of the Nile on the other, it soon drew all the commerce, both of the east and west. It still remains, and is situate about four days' journey from Cairo. The merchandises were unloaded at Portus Muris, a town on the western coast of the Red Sea; whence they were brought upon camels to a town of Thebais, called Copt, and conveyed down the Nile to Alexandria, whither merchants from all parts resorted.

The trade of the East has at all times enriched those who carried it on. Solomon received from one commercial voyage, no less a sum than three millions two hundred and forty thousand pounds. Tyre afterwards had the trade. When the Ptolemies, however, had built Berenice, and other ports on the western side of the Red Sea, and fixed their chief mart at Alexandria, that city became the most flourishing of all the cities in the world. "There," says Prideaux, "it continued for many centuries after; and all the traffic which the western parts of the world from that time had with Persia, India, Arabia, and the eastern coasts of Arabia, was wholly carried on through the Red Sea, and the mouth of the Nile, till a way was discovered of sailing to those parts by the Cape of Good Hope."

Alexander was buried in the city he had built; and as the sarcophagus in which he was placed has now become an object of great curiosity, by having been taken from the French, at Alexandria, where it was found in the mosque of St. Athanasius, and placed in the British Museum, we shall give an account of his funeral; for never had any monarch one so magnificent!

Alexander died at Babylon. Aridaeus, having been deputed by all the governors and grandees of the kingdom, to take upon himself the care of his obsequies, had employed two years in preparing every thing that could render it the most august funeral that had ever been seen. When all things were ready for the celebration of this mournful ceremonial, orders were given for the procession to begin. This was preceded by a great number of pioneers and other workmen, whose office was to make all the ways practicable, through which the procession was to pass. As soon as these were levelled, the magnificent chariot, the invention and design of which raised as much admiration as the immense riches that glittered all over it, set out from Babylon. The body of the chariot rested upon two alxetrees, that were inserted into four wheels, made after the Persian manner; the naves and spokes of which were covered with gold, and the rounds plated over with iron. The extremities of the axletrees were made of gold, representing the mouths of lions biting a dart. The chariot had four draught-poles, to each of which were harnessed four sets of mules, each set consisting of four of those animals; so that this chariot was drawn by sixty-four mules. The strongest of those creatures, and the largest, were chosen on this occasion. They were adorned with crowns of gold, and collars enriched with precious stones and golden bells. On this chariot was erected a pavilion of entire gold, twelve feet wide, and eighteen in length, supported by columns of the Ionic order, embellished with the leaves of acanthus. The inside was adorned with a blaze of jewels, disposed in the form of shells. The circumference was beautified with a fringe of golden net-work; the threads that composed the texture were an inch in thickness, and to those were fastened large bells, whose sound was heard to a great distance. The external decorations were disposed into four relievos. The first represented Alexander seated in a military chariot, with a splendid sceptre in his hand, and surrounded, on one side, with a troop of Macedonians in arms; and on the other, with an equal number of Persians, armed in their manner. These were preceded by the king's equerries. In the second were seen elephants completely harnessed, with a band of Indians seated on the fore part of their bodies; and on the hinder, another band of Macedonians, armed as in the day of battle. The third exhibited to the view several squadrons of horse ranged in military array. The fourth represented ships preparing for a battle. At the entrance into the pavilion were golden lions, that seemed to guard the passage. The four corners were adorned with statues of gold, representing victories, with trophies of arms in their hands. Under the pavilion was placed a throne of gold of a square form, adorned with the heads of animals, whose necks were encompassed with golden circles a foot and a half in breadth; to these were hung crowns that glittered with the liveliest colours, and such as were carried in procession at the celebration of sacred solemnities. At the foot of the throne was placed the coffin of Alexander, formed of beaten gold, and half filled with aromatic spices and perfumes, as well to exhale an agreeable odour, as for the preservation of the corpse. A pall of purple, wrought with gold, covered the coffin. Between this and the throne the arms of that monarch were disposed in the manner he wore them while living. The outside of the pavilion was likewise covered with purple, flowered with gold. The top ended in a very large crown of the same metal, which seemed to be a composition of olive-branches. The rays of the sun which darted on this diadem, in conjunction with the motion of the chariot, caused it to emit a kind of rays like those of lightning. It may easily be imagined, that, in so long a procession, the motion of a chariot, loaded like this, would be liable to great inconveniences. In order, therefore, that the pavilion, with all its appendages, might, when the chariot moved in any uneven ways, constantly continue in the same situation, notwithstanding the inequality of the ground, and the shocks that would frequently be unavoidable, a cylinder was raised from the middle of each axle-tree, to support the pavilion; by which expedient the whole machine was preserved steady. The chariot was followed by the royal guards, all in arms, and magnificently arrayed. The multitude of spectators of this solemnity is hardly credible; but they were drawn together as well by their veneration for the memory of Alexander, as by the magnificence of this funeral pomp, which had never been equalled in the world. There was a current prediction, that the place where Alexander should be interred, would be rendered the most happy and flourishing part of the whole earth. The governors contested with each other, for the disposal of a body that was to be attended with such a glorious prerogative. The affection, Perdiccas entertained for his country, made him desirous that the corpse should be conveyed to AEge, in Macedonia, where the remains of its kings were usually deposited. Other places were likewise proposed, but the preference was given to Egypt. Ptolemy, who had such extraordinary and recent obligations to the king of Macedonia, was determined to signalise his gratitude on this occasion. He accordingly set out with a numerous guard of his best troops, in order to meet the procession, and advanced as far as Syria. When he had joined the attendants on the funeral, he prevented them from interring the corpse in the temple of Jupiter Ammon, as they had proposed. It was therefore deposited, first, in the city of Memphis, and from thence was conveyed to Alexandria. Ptolemy raised a magnificent temple to the memory of this monarch, and rendered him all the honours which were usually paid to demi-gods and heroes by Pagan antiquity.

Freinshemius, in his supplement to Livy, relates, after Leo the African, that the tomb of Alexander the Great was still to be seen in his time, and that it was reverenced by the Mohammedans, as the monument, not only of an illustrious king, but of a great prophet. The ancient city, together with its suburbs, was about seven leagues in length; and Diodorus informs us that the number of its inhabitants amounted to above 300,000, consisting only of the citizens and freemen; but that, reckoning the slaves and foreigners, they were allowed, at a moderate computation, to be upwards of a million. These vast numbers of people were enticed to settle here by the convenient situation of the place for commerce; since, besides the advantage of a communication to the eastern countries by the canal cut out of the Nile into the Red Sea, it had two very spacious and commodious ports, capable of containing the shipping of all the then trading nations in the world.

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