His range
of literary authorities is immense.
of literary authorities is immense.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v19 - Oli to Phi
But, my dear Catalina,"
added she, suddenly turning back, and addressing her with great
earnestness," my dear friend, do try and persuade him to dis-
card his snuff-colored suit, will you? "
"I shall leave that to you, cousin; for my part, I mean to
endure it as a punishment for my bad behavior to the owner. "
But Catalina never had an opportunity of acting up to her heroic
determination.
## p. 11206 (#426) ##########################################
11206
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
SYBRANDT RECEIVES BACK HIS ESTATE-WITH AN INCUM-
BRANCE
From The Dutchman's Fireside. Copyright 1868, by William I. Paulding.
Published by Charles Scribner & Co.
[Colonel Sybrandt Westbrook, who loves Catalina and is loved by her in
return, has been thought to be dead, and reappears like a ghost upon the
scene. He has been disinherited by his uncle in Catalina's favor. There has
been a misunderstanding between the lovers, due to a miscarriage of letters. ]
W
THILE the reader has been traveling backwards, the pale
and gentle Catalina had been let into the secret of the
ghost story by her mother. At first she became paler
than ever, and could hardly support herself on her chair. Then
she turned red, and a rosy blush of hope and love beamed on
her cheek, where for many a day it had not beamed before. « I
will bestow it all on him again," thought she, and her full heart
relieved itself in a shower of silent tears.
That night a thousand floating dreams of the past and the
future flitted before her troubled mind, and as they reigned in
turn, gave birth to different purposes and determinations. But
the prevailing thought was, that her cousin had treated her un-
justly and unkindly, and that it became the dignity of her sex
to maintain a defensive stateliness, a cold civility, until he had
acknowledged his errors and begged forgiveness. She settled the
matter by deciding that when Sybrandt came the next day to
take his leave, she would deliver him a deed for the estate of
his uncle, which her father was to have prepared for her, insist
on his acceptance, and then bid him adieu for ever without a
sigh or a tear. In the morning she begged that when Sybrandt
came to call on her mother, she might be permitted to see him.
alone. Her request was acquiesced in, and she waited in trem-
bling anxiety his promised visit. He came soon after breakfast,
and Madam Vancour was struck with the improvement which a
military uniform, in place of a suit of Master Ten Broeck's snuff-
colored cloth, produced. After a somewhat painful and awkward
interview, Sybrandt forced himself to inquire after Catalina.
"She has had a long illness," said the mother, "and you will
scarcely know her. But she wishes to see you. "
"To see me? "
cried Sybrandt, almost starting out of his
skin.
## p. 11207 (#427) ##########################################
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
11207
"Ay-you- her old playmate, and cousin. Is that so very
extraordinary? " replied Madam, smiling. "She is in the next
room: go to her. "
"Go-go-to her," stammered our hero: "surely you cannot
>>
mean
"I mean just what I say. She is waiting to see you in the
next room. I hope you don't mean to keep her waiting much.
longer. " And Madam again smiled.
"What can this mean? " thought Sybrandt, while he crept
towards the door with about the eagerness that a man feels who
is on the point of being hanged.
"I shall tell Catalina how anxious you were to see her. "
"They must think I have no feeling-or they have none
themselves;" and the thought roused his native energies. He
strutted into the next room as if he was leading his regiment
to battle.
"Don't look so fierce, or you will frighten my daughter," said
Madam.
But Catalina was frightened almost out of her wits already.
She was too much taken up in rallying her own self-possession
to observe how Sybrandt looked when he walked. He had indeed
been some moments in the room before either could utter a sin-
gle word. At length their eyes met, and the excessive paleness
each observed in the countenance of the other went straight to
the hearts of both.
"Dear cousin," said Sybrandt, "how ill you look. ”
This was
rather what is called a left-handed compliment. But Catalina was
even with him, for she answered in his very words:-
"Dear cousin, how ill you look. "
Pride and affection were now struggling in the bosoms of the
two young people. Sybrandt found his courage, like that of Bob
Acres, "oozing out at the palms of his hands," in the shape of
a cold perspiration; but the pride of woman supported Catalina,
who rallied first, and spoke as follows, at first in a faltering tone,
but by degrees with modest firmness:-
"Colonel Westbrook," said she, "I wished to see you on a
subject which has occasioned me much pain the bequest of my
uncle. I cannot accept it. It was made when we all thought
you were no more. "
She uttered this last part of the sentence with a plaintiveness
that affected him deeply. "She feels for me," thought he; «< but
then she would not answer my letter. "
―――――
-
## p. 11208 (#428) ##########################################
11208
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
Catalina proceeded: "I should hate myself, could I think for
a moment of robbing you of what is yours-what I am sure
my uncle intended should be yours, until he thought you dead. "
And the same plaintive tones again thrilled through Sybrandt.
"But she would not answer my letter," thought he again.
"Sybrandt," continued she, "I sent for you with the full ap-
probation of my father and mother, to make over this property
to you, to whom it belongs. I am of age; and here is the con-
veyance. I beseech you, as you value my peace of mind, to
accept it with the frankness with which it is offered. »
"What, rob my cousin? No, Catalina: never. "
"I feared it," said Catalina with a sigh: "you do not respect
me enough to accept even justice at my hands. "
“It would be meanness - it would be degradation; and since
you charge me with a want of respect to you, I must be allowed
to say that I am too proud to accept anything, much less so
great a gift as this, from one who did not think the almost
death-bed contrition of a man who had discovered his error, and
was anxious to atone for it, worthy of her notice. "
"What-what do you mean? " exclaimed Catalina.
"The letter I sent you," replied he proudly. "I never meant
to complain or remonstrate; but you have forced me to justify
myself. "
"In the name of heaven, what letter? "
-
"That which I wrote you the moment I was sufficiently recov-
ered of my wounds-to say that I had had a full explanation
Colonel Gilfillan; to say that I had done you an injustice;
to confess my folly; to ask forgiveness; and—and to offer you
every atonement which love or honor could require. "
"And you wrote me such an one? " asked Catalina, gasping for
breath.
"I did: the messenger returned; he had seen you gay and
happy; and he brought a verbal message that my letter required
no answer. "
"And is this-is this the sole - the single cause of your sub-
sequent conduct? Answer me, Sybrandt, as you are a man of
honoris it? "
"It is. I cannot you know I never could-bear contempt
or scorn from man or woman. "
"What would you say, what would you do, if I assured you
solemnly I never saw that letter, or dreamed it was ever writ-
ten ? »
―――――
## p. 11209 (#429) ##########################################
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
11209
"I would say that I believed you as I would the white-robed
truth herself; and I would on my knees beg your forgiveness
for twice doubting you. "
"Then I do assure you, in the singleness of my heart, that I
never saw or knew aught of it. "
"And did - did Gilfillan speak the truth? " panted our hero.
She turned her inspiring eye full upon the youth, and sighed
forth in a whisper, "He did," while the crimson current revis-
ited her pale cheek, and made her snow-white bosom blush rosy
red.
"You are mine then, Catalina, at last," faltered Sybrandt, as
he released her yielding form from his arms.
"You will accept my uncle's bequest? " asked she, with one
of her long-absent smiles.
"Provided you add yourself, dearest girl. "
"You must take it with that incumbrance," said she; and he
sealed the instrument of conveyance upon her warm, willing lips.
"What can they have to talk about all this time, I wonder? »
cogitated the old lady, while she fidgeted about from her chair
towards the door, and from the door to her chair. As she could
distinguish the increasing animation of their voices, she fidgeted
still more; and there is no knowing what might have been the
consequence, if the lovers had not entered the room, looking so
happy that the old lady thought the very elixir of life was in
them both. The moment Sybrandt departed, Catalina explained
all to her mother. "Alas! " thought the good woman; "she will
never be a titled lady: yet who knows but Sybrandt may one
day go to England and be knighted? " This happy thought rec-
onciled her at once to the whole catastrophe, and she embraced
her daughter, sincerely wishing her joy at the removal of all her
perplexities.
## p. 11210 (#430) ##########################################
11210
C
PAUSANIAS
(SECOND CENTURY A. D. )
BY B. PERRIN
HIS name stands for no distinct and heroic personality like
that of the great Spartan victor at Platæa, but for a col-
lection of interesting items about the antiquities, history,
geography, mythology, and religions of ancient Greece. All these
items interest us; but they evidently interested the author of the
collection for special reasons. He had certain leanings towards
special classes of objects among the antiquities; towards special
phases and periods of history, mythology, or religion. He has there-
fore omitted many items which would have interested us far more
than many which he offers. His selection is often tantalizing or
aggravating. But he seems to have begun his work for himself
more than for others; and only after his selections and collections
were made, did he attempt to give his work a literary dress which
should appeal to lovers of literary form. His work is therefore, more
than works composed primarily and wholly for effect upon others,
an expression of himself. And this is fortunate, at least on this
account, that we know absolutely nothing of the author except
what may be inferred from his work.
He nowhere mentions his own name. He may have done so in an
introduction or a conclusion to the work, which, if they ever existed,
have been lost. But his book is cited by later writers as the work of
Pausanias; and they call it, what he never expressly calls it himself,
a Guide to Greece. ' He himself calls it rather a 'Commentary on
Greece. '
The beginning is abrupt, the close is even fragmentary; and he
has not fulfilled the desire which he expresses (i. 26) of "describing
the whole of Greece. " He has commented on the antiquities, history,
mythology, geography, and religious cults of Attica and Megara, the
Argolis (Corinthia), Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaia, Arcadia, Boeotia,
and Phocis. That is, he has started with Athens, and proceeded
through the Isthmus of Corinth and around the Peloponnesus, then
crossed the Corinthian gulf, and begun with the territories north of
Attica and Athens. What he would have included under his term
"Greece," and how much longer his collection was designed to be,
## p. 11211 (#431) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
II 2 II
cannot be inferred from him. His work breaks off abruptly with a
legend about the building of the temple of Esculapius at Naupactus.
Various phrases of the author imply that he was a Lydian; but
whether Magnesia or Pergamum or still another city was his birth-
place or home, he does not clearly show. His work was prepared
slowly and published gradually. At least, the first book was issued
before the other nine; and he more than once feels moved to supple-
ment deficiencies in the first. The material which he gives us on
Elis is divided into two books. The charmed number of the Muses
is thus abandoned for no apparent reason. The other titles corre-
spond each with a book. This division into books may not be due
to Pausanias himself, but a younger contemporary cites his work in
the divisions which have come down to us. The work was prepared
between the years 140 and 180 A. D. , as internal evidence indirectly
shows. The author was therefore happy enough to see Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius on the imperial throne. He was
contemporary with Justin Martyr, Herodes Atticus, and Lucian. He
witnessed that last renascence of all that was good in the ancient
world, which characterizes the great age of the Antonines.
But no
word betrays his personal feelings or relations to the great figures
or events of his time. The guide-book has wholly absorbed the
guide.
Pausanias was by no means the first to write an antiquarian guide-
book. The titles of a large number of such works are known to us,
and sparse fragments of the works themselves have been embalmed
here and there in the citations of lexicographers or grammarians.
As the many religious sanctuaries of Greece increased in wealth and
ceremonial tradition, a class of local professional guides and scribes
grew up, intimately associated with the official registrars of the differ-
ent shrines and precinots, whose records are among our most valuable
primary sources for the history of the country. These local guides
took the visitor all about a sacred precinct, explaining the edifices,
monuments, and cults, just as modern cicerones do. The mass of
local information thus accumulated and imparted orally to visitors
was also reduced to book form for circulation and study. We know,
for instance, of a 'Guide to the Acropolis of Athens,' among many
similar works, by Polemon,-a learned antiquarian and geographer
of the second century B. C. There were likewise guides to Sparta,
Delphi, Olympia, Sicily, Macedonia, as well as to particular sanctua-
ries like the Heracleia of Thebes. This literature had increased to an
enormous mass in the time of Pausanias, owing largely to the inter-
est which the conquering Romans took in the treasures of the land
they plundered so freely, and also to the natural tendency to classify
and catalogue that which has ceased to reproduce and transmit itself
## p. 11212 (#432) ##########################################
11212
PAUSANIAS
by its inherent vitality. But all this literature of antiquarian infor-
mation has perished, except for fragments. The work of Pausanias
-the most comprehensive, but apparently by no means the best, of
which we hear is all that has come down to us; a compilation
instead of original material.
The author tried to condense many bodies of local antiquarian
lore into one comprehensive and yet compact work. He was evi-
dently burdened with excess of material, and often embarrassed in
his choice. He insists over and over again that he is selecting and
describing only what he deems most memorable. His work is there-
fore like the modern traveler's Handbook of Europe,' as compared
with special guides to Italy, France, Rome, Paris, or St. Peter's. But
it is noticeable that as he goes on with his work, he becomes less
and less able to resist the pressure of his material. The first book
reads in many places like a mere catalogue, and a partial one at
that. It is true that nowhere is the wealth of material so overwhelm-
ing. But in the later books-that containing the description of
Delphi, for instance- the author seems to give himself freer rein, as
though aware at last that he could not restrict himself within the
limits first set. It is true of Pausanias also, in yet greater degree
than of Herodotus and Thucydides, that as he advances with his
work, his workmanship improves. Both method and expression grow
better.
But it is not only the works of Greece which Pausanias purposed
to describe. The words of Greece, in explanation of those works, he
also plans to give; and the words even more fully than the works.
He mentions what he thinks most worthy of mention among mount-
ains, rivers, cities, countries, sanctuaries, and monuments. He adds
in the form of introductions or digressions whatever will help the
reader's understanding and appreciation, drawing his materials from
historical, geographical, mythological, artistic, or scientific lore. His
principle of arrangement is mechanical. It is at first purely topo-
graphical. He passes in his survey from one country of Greece to
the next adjoining; from the main or central city of that country in
radiating lines through the rest of the land; and in local descriptions
from one monument to another conveniently near. His phraseology
of transition from work to work would be unendurably monotonous
were it not for his illustrative digressions. But neither history,
geography, mythology, architecture, nor sculpture is treated in any
progressive or consecutive order of details. Evolution is lost sight
of in mere juxtaposition.
Pausanias did not write a systematic treatise, then, but a practical
aid to a traveler following a route laid down for him, to be used on
the spot, in the presence of monuments or ceremonies. He has been
## p. 11213 (#433) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11213
happily called a Bädeker, not a Burkhardt. Like Bädeker, he points
out what is most worth seeing; and supplies in convenient form the
current opinions or literary judgments about these sights. He eman-
cipated the traveler from local professional guides, as Bädeker does.
After the first book on Attica, and gradually as his work progressed,
he gained a sort of literary education, which shows itself in a tend-
ency to group into general introductions, at the beginning of the
great topographical divisions of his work, materials which at first he
was inclined to scatter amid the brief mention of monuments or
localities. That is, he gradually passes from the manner of a cata-
loguer or annalist to that of the ancient logographers, who grouped
about a certain city or country, however prominent, the collective
history of a people or of the known world. But Pausanias never
rises to the level of a philosophical, artistic, scientific historian, like
Polybius, Thucydides, or Herodotus. And he never achieves a good
style, although his style improves from beginning to end of his work.
His book seems to have given him all the education and literary
training he had.
Pausanias shows no special national sympathies like Herodotus, no
social predilections like Thucydides, no political antipathies like Xeno-
phon. In all these matters he is colorless. Even in religious matters
he reveals no partiality for the ceremonial or devotional growths
from Asiatic sources, as might be expected from his own origin.
Beyond a reverential fondness for the great Eleusinian worship and
doctrines, he declares no religious allegiance. Neither can he be
classed with any of the great schools of philosophy. He takes no
distinct attitude, as Plutarch and Polybius do, on the great questions
involved in the relations of the Roman Empire to subject Greece.
Compared with Plutarch, his elder by only a few years, or with
Lucian, his brilliant contemporary, he seems to be in the great world
but not of it. He shows no contact with any great tendency of the
age.
He is unaware of the existence of Christianity. He is a reli-
gious antiquary.
The kernel of his work, and of each division of it, as has been
said, is an enumeration of the notable "sights. " His language here
either expressly claims or at least implies personal visitation and
observation on his part,-"autopsy. " There is no good reason to
doubt the direct claims at least, though some of the phrases which
merely imply autopsy are doubtless literary mannerisms taken from
his sources. He must therefore have traveled over those nine great
divisions of Greece which he describes. But he evidently had trav-
eled farther and seen more. The greater part of Asia Minor, Syria,
Phoenicia, Palestine, Egypt, even the oasis of Zeus Ammon in the
desert of Sahara, Rome and her neighbor cities Puteoli and Capua, he
## p. 11214 (#434) ##########################################
11214
PAUSANIAS
speaks of having seen. That is, in preparing his work, he visited
the Greek part of the Roman Empire, and the great seat of that Em-
pire itself. But the notes of what he actually saw constitute really
the lesser half of his work. The greater part is taken up with the
manifold material which he laboriously collected, either orally, from
professional guides and local authorities, or from books.
His range
of literary authorities is immense. He must have had access to some
great library like that of Pergamum. He used the vast stores at his
command freely; and on the whole, considering the literary tenets
and practices of his age, intelligently and fairly. Whatever is in
Herodotus, Thucydides, or Xenophon, he presupposes as known to his
readers. What he takes from his endless array of later sources, he
does not credit to those sources, as modern literary ethics demand.
But the literary standards of his time, and the practice of his con-
temporaries and predecessors, not only tolerated but demanded a
large sacrifice of fidelity in the acknowledgment of borrowed ma-
terial: a sacrifice to the demands of literary form. And so it is that
the modern critical spirit is often offended at citations of authorities
at second hand, with no mention of the intermediate step; at lack of
citation when material is plainly borrowed; at vague phrases of ref-
erence to certain distinct sources; at citation only when exception is
taken to the words of his authority, but not when adjacent material
from the same authority is accepted and incorporated. But all these
sins can be laid at the door of his contemporaries and predecessors,
and above all at the door of his great model Herodotus.
For Pausanias evidently tried to clothe his dry and often tedious
compilation with the undying charm of Herodotus's manner. He did
not adopt the Ionic dialect in which his master wrote, but he bor-
rowed liberally his phraseology, and often affected his deliberate
suspense of judgment, or his naïve intimations of skepticism. But
for this elaborate literary artifice, we might think that Pausanias had
no ambition to be read and handed down as literature, but only to
prepare for his private use a memorandum of his travels, illustrated
by notes from his subsequent voluminous reading.
With all his faults. Pausanias is a precious witness for us of much
that has forever disappeared. Before the great era of excavations
came, Greek classical archæology was little more than a commentary
on Pausanias. The excavations at Athens, Olympia, and Delphi have
subjected him to severe tests; but he comes forth from them with
fresh claims to our confidence and respect.
Pausanias has not been fortunate in his English translations.
The version of Thomas Taylor (London, 1794, 3 vols. ) is now old-
fashioned without any of the charm which invests the old transla-
tions of Plutarch-and inaccurate. The version of A. R. Shilleto, in
## p. 11215 (#435) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11215
Bohn's Classical Library (London, 1886, 2 vols. ) is more inaccurate
still, but has the advantage of being written in a modern style. The
most convenient and accessible text of Pausanias is the Teubner
text-edition, edited by Schubart (Leipzig, 1875, 2 vols. ).
B. Pierin
THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS AND ITS TEMPLES
T
THE Acropolis there is only one approach: it allows of no
other, being everywhere precipitous and walled off. The
vestibules have a roof of white marble, and even now are
remarkable for both their beauty and size. As to the statues of
the horsemen, I cannot say with precision whether they are the
sons of Xenophon, or merely put there for decoration. On the
right of the vestibules is the shrine of Wingless Victory. From
it the sea is visible; and there Ægeus drowned himself, as they
say. For the ship which took his sons to Crete had black sails,
but Theseus told his father (for he knew there was some peril
in attacking the Minotaur) that he would have white sails if he
should sail back a conqueror. But he forgot this promise in his
loss of Ariadne. And Ægeus, seeing the ship with black sails,
thinking his son was dead, threw himself in and was drowned.
And the Athenians have a hero-chapel to his memory. And on
the left of the vestibules is a building with paintings; and among
those that time has not destroyed are Diomedes and Odysseus,-
the one taking away Philoctetes's bow in Lemnos, the other tak-
ing the Palladium from Ilium. Among other paintings here is
Ægisthus being slain by Orestes; and Pylades slaying the sons
of Nauplius that came to Ægisthus's aid. And Polyxena about
to have her throat cut near the tomb of Achilles. Homer did
well not to mention this savage act.
·
·
And there is a small stone such as a little man can sit on, on
which they say Silenus rested, when Dionysus came to the land.
Silenus is the name they give to all old Satyrs. About the
Satyrs I have conversed with many, wishing to know all about
them. And Euphemus, a Carian, told me that sailing once on
a time to Italy he was driven out of his course by the winds,
and carried to a distant sea, where people no longer sail. And
he said that here were many desert islands, some inhabited by
## p. 11216 (#436) ##########################################
11216
PAUSANIAS
wild men and at these islands the sailors did not like to land, as
they had landed there before and had experience of the natives;
but they were obliged on that occasion. These islands he said.
were called by the sailors Satyr-islands; the dwellers in them
were red-haired, and had tails at their loins not much smaller
than horses.
And as regards the temple which they call the Parthenon, as
you enter it everything portrayed on the gables relates to the
birth of Athene, and behind is depicted the contest between
Poseidon and Athene for the soil of Attica. And this work of
art is in ivory and gold. In the middle of her helmet is an
image of the Sphinx,-about whom I shall give an account when
I come to Boeotia,- and on each side of the helmet are griffins
worked. These griffins, says Aristus the Proconnesian, in his
poems, fought with the Arimaspians beyond the Issedones for the
gold of the soil which the griffins guarded. And the Arimaspians
were all one-eyed men from their birth; and the griffins were
beasts like lions, with wings and mouth like an eagle.
Let so
much suffice for these griffins. But the statue of Athene is full
length, with a tunic reaching to her feet; and on her breast is
the head of Medusa worked in ivory, and in one hand she has a
Victory four cubits high, in the other hand a spear, and at her
feet a shield; and near the spear a dragon which perhaps is
Erichthonius. And on the base of the statue is a representation
of the birth of Pandora,- the first woman, according to Hesiod
and other poets; for before her there was no race of women.
Here too I remember to have seen the only statue here of the
Emperor Adrian; and at the entrance one of Iphicrates, the cel
ebrated Athenian general.
And outside the temple is a brazen Apollo said to be by
Phidias; and they call it Apollo, Averter of Locusts, because
when the locusts destroyed the land the god said he would drive
them out of the country. And they know that he did So, but
they don't say how. I myself know of locusts having been thrice.
destroyed on Mount Sipylus, but not in the same way; for some
were driven away by a violent wind that fell on them, and others
by a strong blight that came on them after showers, and others
were frozen to death by a sudden frost. All this came under
my own notice.
There is also a building called the Erechtheum, and in the
vestibule is an altar of Supreme Zeus, where they offer no living
## p. 11217 (#437) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11217
sacrifice, but cakes without the usual libation of wine.
And as
you enter there are three altars: one to Poseidon (on which they
also sacrifice to Erechtheus according to the oracle), one to the
hero Butes, and the third to Hephæstus. And on the walls are
paintings of the family of Butes. The building is a double one;
and inside there is sea-water in a well. And this is no great
marvel; for even those who live in inland parts have such wells,
-as notably the Aphrodisienses in Caria. But this well is
represented as having a roar as of the sea when the south wind
blows. And in the rock is the figure of a trident. And this is
said to have been Poseidon's proof in regard to the territory
Athene disputed with him.
Sacred to Athene is all the rest of Athens, and similarly all
Attica; for although they worship different gods in different
townships, none the less do they honor Athene generally. And
the most sacred of all is the statue of Athene in what is now
called the Acropolis, but was then called the Polis (city) which
was universally worshiped many years before the various town-
ships formed one city; and the rumor about it is that it fell from
heaven. As to this I shall not give an opinion, whether it was
so or not. And Callimachus made a golden lamp for the goddess.
And when they fill this lamp with oil it lasts for a whole year,
although it burns continually night and day. And the wick is of
a particular kind of cotton flax, the only kind indestructible by
fire. And above the lamp is a palm-tree of brass reaching to the
roof and carrying off the smoke. And Callimachus, the maker of
this lamp, although he comes behind the first artificers, yet was
remarkable for ingenuity, and was the first who perforated stone,
and got the name of Art-Critic, whether his own appellation or
given him by others.
In the temple of Athene Polias is a Hermes of wood (said to
be a votive offering of Cecrops), almost hidden by myrtle leaves.
And of the antique votive offerings worthy of record, is a folding.
chair, the work of Dædalus, and spoils taken from the Persians,—
as a coat of mail of Masistius, who commanded the cavalry at
Platæa, and a scimitar said to have belonged to Mardonius.
Masistius we know was killed by the Athenian cavalry: but as
Mardonius fought against the Lacedæmonians and was killed by
a Spartan, they could not have got it at first hand; nor is it
likely that the Lacedæmonians would have allowed the Atheni-
ans to carry off such a trophy. And about the olive they have
XIX-702
## p. 11218 (#438) ##########################################
11218
PAUSANIAS
nothing else to tell but that the goddess used it as a proof of
her right to the country, when it was contested by Poseidon. And
they record also that this olive was burnt when the Persians set
fire to Athens; but though burnt, it grew the same day two
cubits. And next to the temple of Athene is the temple of Pan-
drosus; who was the only one of the three sisters who didn't
peep into the forbidden chest. Now the things I most marveled
at are not universally known. I will therefore write of them as
they occur to me. Two maidens live not far from the temple of
Athene Polias, and the Athenians call them the "carriers of the
holy things"; for a certain time they live with the goddess, but
when her festival comes they act in the following way, by
night: Putting upon their heads what the priestess of Athene
gives them to carry (neither she nor they know what these things
are), these maidens descend, by a natural underground passage,
from an inclosure in the city sacred to Aphrodite of the Gardens.
In the sanctuary below they deposit what they carry, and bring
back something else closely wrapped up. And these maidens they
henceforth dismiss, and other two they elect instead of them for
the Acropolis.
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA
M
ANY various wonders may one see, or hear of, in Greece:
but the Eleusinian mysteries and Olympian games seem to
exhibit more than anything else the Divine purpose. And
the sacred grove of Zeus they have from old time called Altis,
slightly changing the Greek word for grove: it is indeed called
Altis also by Pindar, in the ode he composed for a victor at
Olympia. And the temple and statue of Zeus were built out of
the spoils of Pisa, which the people of Elis razed to the ground,
after quelling the revolt of Pisa, and some of the neighboring
towns that revolted with Pisa. And that the statue of Zeus was
the work of Phidias is shown by the inscription written at the
base of it:
-:
>>>>
"Phidias the Athenian, the son of Charmides, made me.
The temple is a Doric building, and outside it is a colonnade.
And the temple is built of stone of the district. Its height up to
the gable is 68 feet, its breadth 95 feet, and its length 230 feet.
And its architect was Libon, a native of Elis. And the tiles on
## p. 11219 (#439) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11219
the roof are not of baked earth; but Pentelican marble, to imi-
tate tiles. They say such roofs are the invention of a man of
Naxos called Byzes, who made statues at Naxos with the inscrip-
tion:
"Euergus of Naxos made me, the son of Byzes, and descended
from Leto, the first who made tiles of stone. "
This Byzes was a contemporary of Alyattes the Lydian, and
Astyages (the son of Cyaxares), the king of Persia. And there
is a golden vase at each end of the roof, and a golden Victory
in the middle of the gable. And underneath the Victory is a
golden shield hung up as a votive offering, with the Gorgon
Medusa worked on it. The inscription on the shield states who
hung it up, and the reason why they did so. For this is what
it says:
"This temple's golden shield is a votive offering from the
Lacedæmonians at Tanagra and their allies, a gift from the Ar-
gives, the Athenians, and the Ionians, a tithe offering for success.
in war. "
-:
The battle I mentioned in my account of Attica, when I
described the tombs at Athens. And in the same temple at
Olympia, above the zone that runs round the pillars on the out-
side, are 21 golden shields, the offering of Mummius the Roman
general, after he had beaten the Achæans and taken Corinth,
and expelled the Dorians from Corinth. And on the gables in
bas-relief is the chariot race between Pelops and Enomaus; and
both chariots in motion. And in the middle of the gable is a
statue of Zeus; and on the right hand of Zeus is nomaus with
a helmet on his head; and beside him his wife Sterope, one of
the daughters of Atlas. And Myrtilus, who was the charioteer
of Enomaus, is seated behind the four horses. And next to
him are two men whose names are not recorded, but they are
doubtless Enomaus's grooms, whose duty was to take care of
the horses. And at the end of the gable is a delineation of the
river Cladeus, next to the Alpheus held most in honor of all
the rivers of Elis. And on the left of the statue of Zeus are
Pelops and Hippodamia, and the charioteer of Pelops, and the
horses, and two men who were Pelops's grooms. And where
the gable tapers fine there is the Alpheus delineated. And
Pelops's charioteer was, according to the tradition of the Trozen-
ians, Sphærus; but the custodian at Olympia said that his name.
was Cilla. The carvings on the gables in front are by Pæonius
## p. 11220 (#440) ##########################################
II 220
PAUSANIAS
of Mende in Thracia; those behind by Alcamenes, a contem-
porary of Phidias and second only to him as statuary. And on
the gables is a representation of the fight between the Lapithæ
and the Centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous. Pirithous is in
the centre, and on one side of him is Eurytion trying to carry
off Pirithous's wife, and Cæneus coming to the rescue, and
on the other side Theseus laying about among the Centaurs
with his battle-axe; and one Centaur is carrying off a maiden,
another a blooming boy. Alcamenes has engraved this story, I
imagine, because he learnt from the lines of Homer that Piri-
thous was the son of Zeus, and knew that Theseus was fourth in
descent from Pelops. There are also in bas-relief at Olympia
most of the Labors of Hercules. Above the doors of the temple
is the hunting of the Erymanthian boar, and Hercules taking
the mares of Diomede the Thracian, and robbing Geryon of
his oxen in the island of Erytheia, and supporting the load of
Atlas, and clearing the land of Elis of its dung. And above the
chamber behind the doors he is robbing the Amazon of her belt;
and there is the stag, and the Cretan Minotaur, and the Stym-
phalian birds, and the hydra, and the Nemean lion. And as you
enter the brazen doors on the right in front of the pillar is
Iphitus being crowned by his wife Ecechiria, as the inscription
in verse states. And there are pillars inside the temple, and
porticoes above, and an approach by them to the image of Zeus.
There is also a winding staircase to the roof.
The image of the god is in gold and ivory, seated on a
throne. And a crown is on his head imitating the foliage of the
olive-tree. In his right hand he holds a Victory in ivory and
gold, with a tiara and crown on his head; and in his left hand
a sceptre adorned with all manner of precious stones, and the
bird seated on the sceptre is an eagle. The robes and sandals
of the god are also of gold; and on his robes are imitations of
flowers, especially of lilies. And the throne is richly adorned
with gold and precious stones, and with ebony and ivory. And
there are imitations of animals painted on it, and models worked
on it.
There are four Victories like dancers, one at each foot
of the throne, and two also at the instep of each foot; and at
each of the front feet are Theban boys carried off by Sphinxes,
and below the Sphinxes, Apollo and Artemis shooting down the
children of Niobe. And between the feet of the throne are four
divisions formed by straight lines drawn from each of the four
## p. 11221 (#441) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
II221
-
feet.
In the division nearest the entrance there are seven mod-
els, the eighth has vanished no one knows where or how. And
they are imitations of ancient contests, for in the days of Phidias
the contests for boys were not yet established.
And the figure
Pantarces, who
This Pantarces
with its head muffled up in a scarf is, they say,
was a native of Elis and the darling of Phidias.
won the wrestling-prize for boys in the 86th Olympiad. And in
the remaining divisions is the band of Hercules fighting against
the Amazons. The number on each side is 29, and Theseus is
on the side of Hercules. And the throne is supported not only
by the four feet, but also by four pillars between the feet. But
one cannot get under the throne, as one can at Amyclæ, and pass
inside; for at Olympia there are panels like walls that keep one
off. Of these panels the one opposite the doors of the temple is
painted sky-blue only, but the others contain paintings by Panæ-
nus. Among them is Atlas bearing up Earth and Heaven, and
Hercules standing by willing to relieve him of his load; and
Theseus and Pirithous, and Greece, and Salamis with the figure-
head of a ship in her hand, and the contest of Hercules with the
Nemean lion, and Ajax's unknightly violation of Cassandra, and
Hippodamia, the daughter of Enomaus, with her mother; and
Prometheus still chained to the rock, and Hercules gazing at him.
For the tradition is that Hercules slew the eagle that was ever
tormenting Prometheus on Mount Caucasus, and released Prome-
theus from his chains. The last paintings are Penthesilea dying
and Achilles supporting her, and two Hesperides carrying the
apples of which they are fabled to have been the keepers. This
Panænus was the brother of Phidias; and at Athens in the
Painted Stoa he has painted the action at Marathon. At the top
of the throne, Phidias has represented above the head of Zeus
the three Graces and three Seasons. For these too, as we learn
from the poets, were daughters of Zeus. Homer in the Iliad has
represented the Seasons as having the care of Heaven, as a kind
of guards of a royal palace. And the base under the feet of
Zeus (what is called in Attic @pavior) has golden lions engraved
on it, and the battle between Theseus and the Amazons,-the
first famous exploit of the Athenians beyond their own borders.
And on the platform that supports the throne there are various
ornaments round Zeus, and gilt carving,- the Sun seated in his
chariot, and Zeus and Hera; and near is Grace. Hermes is
close to her, and Vesta close to Hermes. And next to Vesta is
## p. 11222 (#442) ##########################################
11222
PAUSANIAS
Eros receiving Aphrodite, who is just rising from the sea and
being crowned by Persuasion. And Apollo and Artemis, Athene
and Hercules, are standing by, and at the end of the platform
Amphitrite and Poseidon, and Selene apparently urging on her
horse. And some say it is a mule and not a horse that the god-
dess is riding upon; and there is a silly tale about this mule.
I know that the size of the Olympian Zeus both in height
and breadth has been stated; but I cannot bestow praise on the
measurers, for their recorded measurement comes far short of
what any one would infer from looking at the statue. They make
the god also to have testified to the art of Phidias. For they
say that when the statue was finished, Phidias prayed him to sig-
nify if the work was to his mind; and immediately Zeus struck
with lightning that part of the pavement where in our day there
is a brazen urn with a lid.
And all the pavement in front of the statue is not of white
but of black stone. And a border of Parian marble runs round
this black stone, as a preservative against spilled oil. For oil is
good for the statue at Olympia, as it prevents the ivory being
harmed by the dampness of the grove. But in the Acropolis at
Athens, in regard to the statue of Athene called the Maiden, it is
not oil but water that is advantageously employed to the ivory;
for as the citadel is dry by reason of its great height, the statue
being made of ivory needs to be sprinkled with water freely.
And when I was at Epidaurus, and inquired why they use neither
water nor oil to the statue of Esculapius, the sacristans of the
temple informed me that the statue of the god and its throne
are over a well.
## p. 11223 (#443) ##########################################
11223
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK
(1785-1866)
HIS preface to Cole's edition of Peacock's works, Lord
Houghton describes the author of 'Headlong Hall' and
'Nightmare Abbey' as a man who belonged in all his
tastes, sentiments, and aspects of life, to the eighteenth century.
This characterization of Peacock is to a degree justifiable. In his
indifference to the mysteries of existence, in his common-sense spirit,
in his delicate epicureanism, in his love of ancient and well-established
institutions of government and society, he exhibits the temper of the
age of Pope. Yet he is thoroughly modern in his exquisite humor,
in his skill in pricking the South Sea bubbles devised by the indi-
vidual or by humanity at large, in his sense of proportion, in his fine
carelessness. He may not have belonged to the enthusiastic, tem-
pestuous, striving age which produced Byron and Shelley in the world
of letters, and led to the Oxford Revival in the domain of religion;
but he may be classed with end-of-the-century pagans as properly as
with those of the preceding century.
Ben Jonson has been spoken of as the prototype of Peacock,
because he dealt in "humors. " The points of resemblance between
the Elizabethan dramatist and the satirist of English life three hun-
dred years later, are not few. The characters of Peacock's novels,
like the persons of Jonson's dramas, are less human beings than
abstractions of certain intellectual eccentricities. Although Lady
Clarinda of Crotchet Castle' and the Rev. Dr. Opimian of 'Gryll
Grange' are warm, lifelike creations, the majority of their associates
are shadowy mouthpieces, through which Peacock directs the shafts
of his inimitable irony against the clergy, against the universities,
against the politicians, against the innovationists, against the whim-
sies of his contemporaries of every creed and party.
His satirical temper, his fashion of ridiculing everything but good
dinners and a country life, his insight into the foibles of his time,
were manifest in his first novel, 'Headlong Hall. ' Squire Headlong,
a hunter and a lover of old wines, has been seized with a violent
passion to be thought a philosopher and a man of taste: so he sets
off to Oxford to inquire for other varieties of the same genera,—
namely, men of taste and philosophy; but being assured by a learned
professor that there were no such things in the university, he pursues
## p. 11224 (#444) ##########################################
11224
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK
his search in London, where he makes the acquaintance of Mr. Fos-
ter the perfectibilian, Mr. Escot the deteriorationist, Mr. Jenkinson
the statu-quo-ite, and the Rev. Dr. Gaster, who has gained fame by
a learned dissertation on the art of stuffing a turkey. These four
worthies spend Christmas at Headlong Hall, where each discourses in
season and out of season on his particular conception of the universe.
In Dr. Gaster, Peacock satirizes the English clergy; but he makes
amends for his fun at their expense by drawing the charming Dr.
Folliott in Crotchet Castle,' and Dr. Opimian in 'Gryll Grange. '
These are clergymen of the old school, Tories, whose knowledge of
Greek is only equaled by their knowledge of fish-sauces and old
Madeira. Peacock was too much of an epicurean and Grecian him-
self not to recognize and pay tribute to such merits.
His most biting satire is directed rather against the chimeras of
contemporary poets and philosophers. Although he was a true friend
of Shelley, he caricatures him, in a kindly enough spirit, in the hero
of Nightmare Abbey,' young Sycthrop, who is in love with two
women at once. Byron is held up to ridicule as Mr. Cypress, and
Coleridge as Mr.
added she, suddenly turning back, and addressing her with great
earnestness," my dear friend, do try and persuade him to dis-
card his snuff-colored suit, will you? "
"I shall leave that to you, cousin; for my part, I mean to
endure it as a punishment for my bad behavior to the owner. "
But Catalina never had an opportunity of acting up to her heroic
determination.
## p. 11206 (#426) ##########################################
11206
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
SYBRANDT RECEIVES BACK HIS ESTATE-WITH AN INCUM-
BRANCE
From The Dutchman's Fireside. Copyright 1868, by William I. Paulding.
Published by Charles Scribner & Co.
[Colonel Sybrandt Westbrook, who loves Catalina and is loved by her in
return, has been thought to be dead, and reappears like a ghost upon the
scene. He has been disinherited by his uncle in Catalina's favor. There has
been a misunderstanding between the lovers, due to a miscarriage of letters. ]
W
THILE the reader has been traveling backwards, the pale
and gentle Catalina had been let into the secret of the
ghost story by her mother. At first she became paler
than ever, and could hardly support herself on her chair. Then
she turned red, and a rosy blush of hope and love beamed on
her cheek, where for many a day it had not beamed before. « I
will bestow it all on him again," thought she, and her full heart
relieved itself in a shower of silent tears.
That night a thousand floating dreams of the past and the
future flitted before her troubled mind, and as they reigned in
turn, gave birth to different purposes and determinations. But
the prevailing thought was, that her cousin had treated her un-
justly and unkindly, and that it became the dignity of her sex
to maintain a defensive stateliness, a cold civility, until he had
acknowledged his errors and begged forgiveness. She settled the
matter by deciding that when Sybrandt came the next day to
take his leave, she would deliver him a deed for the estate of
his uncle, which her father was to have prepared for her, insist
on his acceptance, and then bid him adieu for ever without a
sigh or a tear. In the morning she begged that when Sybrandt
came to call on her mother, she might be permitted to see him.
alone. Her request was acquiesced in, and she waited in trem-
bling anxiety his promised visit. He came soon after breakfast,
and Madam Vancour was struck with the improvement which a
military uniform, in place of a suit of Master Ten Broeck's snuff-
colored cloth, produced. After a somewhat painful and awkward
interview, Sybrandt forced himself to inquire after Catalina.
"She has had a long illness," said the mother, "and you will
scarcely know her. But she wishes to see you. "
"To see me? "
cried Sybrandt, almost starting out of his
skin.
## p. 11207 (#427) ##########################################
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
11207
"Ay-you- her old playmate, and cousin. Is that so very
extraordinary? " replied Madam, smiling. "She is in the next
room: go to her. "
"Go-go-to her," stammered our hero: "surely you cannot
>>
mean
"I mean just what I say. She is waiting to see you in the
next room. I hope you don't mean to keep her waiting much.
longer. " And Madam again smiled.
"What can this mean? " thought Sybrandt, while he crept
towards the door with about the eagerness that a man feels who
is on the point of being hanged.
"I shall tell Catalina how anxious you were to see her. "
"They must think I have no feeling-or they have none
themselves;" and the thought roused his native energies. He
strutted into the next room as if he was leading his regiment
to battle.
"Don't look so fierce, or you will frighten my daughter," said
Madam.
But Catalina was frightened almost out of her wits already.
She was too much taken up in rallying her own self-possession
to observe how Sybrandt looked when he walked. He had indeed
been some moments in the room before either could utter a sin-
gle word. At length their eyes met, and the excessive paleness
each observed in the countenance of the other went straight to
the hearts of both.
"Dear cousin," said Sybrandt, "how ill you look. ”
This was
rather what is called a left-handed compliment. But Catalina was
even with him, for she answered in his very words:-
"Dear cousin, how ill you look. "
Pride and affection were now struggling in the bosoms of the
two young people. Sybrandt found his courage, like that of Bob
Acres, "oozing out at the palms of his hands," in the shape of
a cold perspiration; but the pride of woman supported Catalina,
who rallied first, and spoke as follows, at first in a faltering tone,
but by degrees with modest firmness:-
"Colonel Westbrook," said she, "I wished to see you on a
subject which has occasioned me much pain the bequest of my
uncle. I cannot accept it. It was made when we all thought
you were no more. "
She uttered this last part of the sentence with a plaintiveness
that affected him deeply. "She feels for me," thought he; «< but
then she would not answer my letter. "
―――――
-
## p. 11208 (#428) ##########################################
11208
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
Catalina proceeded: "I should hate myself, could I think for
a moment of robbing you of what is yours-what I am sure
my uncle intended should be yours, until he thought you dead. "
And the same plaintive tones again thrilled through Sybrandt.
"But she would not answer my letter," thought he again.
"Sybrandt," continued she, "I sent for you with the full ap-
probation of my father and mother, to make over this property
to you, to whom it belongs. I am of age; and here is the con-
veyance. I beseech you, as you value my peace of mind, to
accept it with the frankness with which it is offered. »
"What, rob my cousin? No, Catalina: never. "
"I feared it," said Catalina with a sigh: "you do not respect
me enough to accept even justice at my hands. "
“It would be meanness - it would be degradation; and since
you charge me with a want of respect to you, I must be allowed
to say that I am too proud to accept anything, much less so
great a gift as this, from one who did not think the almost
death-bed contrition of a man who had discovered his error, and
was anxious to atone for it, worthy of her notice. "
"What-what do you mean? " exclaimed Catalina.
"The letter I sent you," replied he proudly. "I never meant
to complain or remonstrate; but you have forced me to justify
myself. "
"In the name of heaven, what letter? "
-
"That which I wrote you the moment I was sufficiently recov-
ered of my wounds-to say that I had had a full explanation
Colonel Gilfillan; to say that I had done you an injustice;
to confess my folly; to ask forgiveness; and—and to offer you
every atonement which love or honor could require. "
"And you wrote me such an one? " asked Catalina, gasping for
breath.
"I did: the messenger returned; he had seen you gay and
happy; and he brought a verbal message that my letter required
no answer. "
"And is this-is this the sole - the single cause of your sub-
sequent conduct? Answer me, Sybrandt, as you are a man of
honoris it? "
"It is. I cannot you know I never could-bear contempt
or scorn from man or woman. "
"What would you say, what would you do, if I assured you
solemnly I never saw that letter, or dreamed it was ever writ-
ten ? »
―――――
## p. 11209 (#429) ##########################################
JAMES KIRKE PAULDING
11209
"I would say that I believed you as I would the white-robed
truth herself; and I would on my knees beg your forgiveness
for twice doubting you. "
"Then I do assure you, in the singleness of my heart, that I
never saw or knew aught of it. "
"And did - did Gilfillan speak the truth? " panted our hero.
She turned her inspiring eye full upon the youth, and sighed
forth in a whisper, "He did," while the crimson current revis-
ited her pale cheek, and made her snow-white bosom blush rosy
red.
"You are mine then, Catalina, at last," faltered Sybrandt, as
he released her yielding form from his arms.
"You will accept my uncle's bequest? " asked she, with one
of her long-absent smiles.
"Provided you add yourself, dearest girl. "
"You must take it with that incumbrance," said she; and he
sealed the instrument of conveyance upon her warm, willing lips.
"What can they have to talk about all this time, I wonder? »
cogitated the old lady, while she fidgeted about from her chair
towards the door, and from the door to her chair. As she could
distinguish the increasing animation of their voices, she fidgeted
still more; and there is no knowing what might have been the
consequence, if the lovers had not entered the room, looking so
happy that the old lady thought the very elixir of life was in
them both. The moment Sybrandt departed, Catalina explained
all to her mother. "Alas! " thought the good woman; "she will
never be a titled lady: yet who knows but Sybrandt may one
day go to England and be knighted? " This happy thought rec-
onciled her at once to the whole catastrophe, and she embraced
her daughter, sincerely wishing her joy at the removal of all her
perplexities.
## p. 11210 (#430) ##########################################
11210
C
PAUSANIAS
(SECOND CENTURY A. D. )
BY B. PERRIN
HIS name stands for no distinct and heroic personality like
that of the great Spartan victor at Platæa, but for a col-
lection of interesting items about the antiquities, history,
geography, mythology, and religions of ancient Greece. All these
items interest us; but they evidently interested the author of the
collection for special reasons. He had certain leanings towards
special classes of objects among the antiquities; towards special
phases and periods of history, mythology, or religion. He has there-
fore omitted many items which would have interested us far more
than many which he offers. His selection is often tantalizing or
aggravating. But he seems to have begun his work for himself
more than for others; and only after his selections and collections
were made, did he attempt to give his work a literary dress which
should appeal to lovers of literary form. His work is therefore, more
than works composed primarily and wholly for effect upon others,
an expression of himself. And this is fortunate, at least on this
account, that we know absolutely nothing of the author except
what may be inferred from his work.
He nowhere mentions his own name. He may have done so in an
introduction or a conclusion to the work, which, if they ever existed,
have been lost. But his book is cited by later writers as the work of
Pausanias; and they call it, what he never expressly calls it himself,
a Guide to Greece. ' He himself calls it rather a 'Commentary on
Greece. '
The beginning is abrupt, the close is even fragmentary; and he
has not fulfilled the desire which he expresses (i. 26) of "describing
the whole of Greece. " He has commented on the antiquities, history,
mythology, geography, and religious cults of Attica and Megara, the
Argolis (Corinthia), Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaia, Arcadia, Boeotia,
and Phocis. That is, he has started with Athens, and proceeded
through the Isthmus of Corinth and around the Peloponnesus, then
crossed the Corinthian gulf, and begun with the territories north of
Attica and Athens. What he would have included under his term
"Greece," and how much longer his collection was designed to be,
## p. 11211 (#431) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
II 2 II
cannot be inferred from him. His work breaks off abruptly with a
legend about the building of the temple of Esculapius at Naupactus.
Various phrases of the author imply that he was a Lydian; but
whether Magnesia or Pergamum or still another city was his birth-
place or home, he does not clearly show. His work was prepared
slowly and published gradually. At least, the first book was issued
before the other nine; and he more than once feels moved to supple-
ment deficiencies in the first. The material which he gives us on
Elis is divided into two books. The charmed number of the Muses
is thus abandoned for no apparent reason. The other titles corre-
spond each with a book. This division into books may not be due
to Pausanias himself, but a younger contemporary cites his work in
the divisions which have come down to us. The work was prepared
between the years 140 and 180 A. D. , as internal evidence indirectly
shows. The author was therefore happy enough to see Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius on the imperial throne. He was
contemporary with Justin Martyr, Herodes Atticus, and Lucian. He
witnessed that last renascence of all that was good in the ancient
world, which characterizes the great age of the Antonines.
But no
word betrays his personal feelings or relations to the great figures
or events of his time. The guide-book has wholly absorbed the
guide.
Pausanias was by no means the first to write an antiquarian guide-
book. The titles of a large number of such works are known to us,
and sparse fragments of the works themselves have been embalmed
here and there in the citations of lexicographers or grammarians.
As the many religious sanctuaries of Greece increased in wealth and
ceremonial tradition, a class of local professional guides and scribes
grew up, intimately associated with the official registrars of the differ-
ent shrines and precinots, whose records are among our most valuable
primary sources for the history of the country. These local guides
took the visitor all about a sacred precinct, explaining the edifices,
monuments, and cults, just as modern cicerones do. The mass of
local information thus accumulated and imparted orally to visitors
was also reduced to book form for circulation and study. We know,
for instance, of a 'Guide to the Acropolis of Athens,' among many
similar works, by Polemon,-a learned antiquarian and geographer
of the second century B. C. There were likewise guides to Sparta,
Delphi, Olympia, Sicily, Macedonia, as well as to particular sanctua-
ries like the Heracleia of Thebes. This literature had increased to an
enormous mass in the time of Pausanias, owing largely to the inter-
est which the conquering Romans took in the treasures of the land
they plundered so freely, and also to the natural tendency to classify
and catalogue that which has ceased to reproduce and transmit itself
## p. 11212 (#432) ##########################################
11212
PAUSANIAS
by its inherent vitality. But all this literature of antiquarian infor-
mation has perished, except for fragments. The work of Pausanias
-the most comprehensive, but apparently by no means the best, of
which we hear is all that has come down to us; a compilation
instead of original material.
The author tried to condense many bodies of local antiquarian
lore into one comprehensive and yet compact work. He was evi-
dently burdened with excess of material, and often embarrassed in
his choice. He insists over and over again that he is selecting and
describing only what he deems most memorable. His work is there-
fore like the modern traveler's Handbook of Europe,' as compared
with special guides to Italy, France, Rome, Paris, or St. Peter's. But
it is noticeable that as he goes on with his work, he becomes less
and less able to resist the pressure of his material. The first book
reads in many places like a mere catalogue, and a partial one at
that. It is true that nowhere is the wealth of material so overwhelm-
ing. But in the later books-that containing the description of
Delphi, for instance- the author seems to give himself freer rein, as
though aware at last that he could not restrict himself within the
limits first set. It is true of Pausanias also, in yet greater degree
than of Herodotus and Thucydides, that as he advances with his
work, his workmanship improves. Both method and expression grow
better.
But it is not only the works of Greece which Pausanias purposed
to describe. The words of Greece, in explanation of those works, he
also plans to give; and the words even more fully than the works.
He mentions what he thinks most worthy of mention among mount-
ains, rivers, cities, countries, sanctuaries, and monuments. He adds
in the form of introductions or digressions whatever will help the
reader's understanding and appreciation, drawing his materials from
historical, geographical, mythological, artistic, or scientific lore. His
principle of arrangement is mechanical. It is at first purely topo-
graphical. He passes in his survey from one country of Greece to
the next adjoining; from the main or central city of that country in
radiating lines through the rest of the land; and in local descriptions
from one monument to another conveniently near. His phraseology
of transition from work to work would be unendurably monotonous
were it not for his illustrative digressions. But neither history,
geography, mythology, architecture, nor sculpture is treated in any
progressive or consecutive order of details. Evolution is lost sight
of in mere juxtaposition.
Pausanias did not write a systematic treatise, then, but a practical
aid to a traveler following a route laid down for him, to be used on
the spot, in the presence of monuments or ceremonies. He has been
## p. 11213 (#433) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11213
happily called a Bädeker, not a Burkhardt. Like Bädeker, he points
out what is most worth seeing; and supplies in convenient form the
current opinions or literary judgments about these sights. He eman-
cipated the traveler from local professional guides, as Bädeker does.
After the first book on Attica, and gradually as his work progressed,
he gained a sort of literary education, which shows itself in a tend-
ency to group into general introductions, at the beginning of the
great topographical divisions of his work, materials which at first he
was inclined to scatter amid the brief mention of monuments or
localities. That is, he gradually passes from the manner of a cata-
loguer or annalist to that of the ancient logographers, who grouped
about a certain city or country, however prominent, the collective
history of a people or of the known world. But Pausanias never
rises to the level of a philosophical, artistic, scientific historian, like
Polybius, Thucydides, or Herodotus. And he never achieves a good
style, although his style improves from beginning to end of his work.
His book seems to have given him all the education and literary
training he had.
Pausanias shows no special national sympathies like Herodotus, no
social predilections like Thucydides, no political antipathies like Xeno-
phon. In all these matters he is colorless. Even in religious matters
he reveals no partiality for the ceremonial or devotional growths
from Asiatic sources, as might be expected from his own origin.
Beyond a reverential fondness for the great Eleusinian worship and
doctrines, he declares no religious allegiance. Neither can he be
classed with any of the great schools of philosophy. He takes no
distinct attitude, as Plutarch and Polybius do, on the great questions
involved in the relations of the Roman Empire to subject Greece.
Compared with Plutarch, his elder by only a few years, or with
Lucian, his brilliant contemporary, he seems to be in the great world
but not of it. He shows no contact with any great tendency of the
age.
He is unaware of the existence of Christianity. He is a reli-
gious antiquary.
The kernel of his work, and of each division of it, as has been
said, is an enumeration of the notable "sights. " His language here
either expressly claims or at least implies personal visitation and
observation on his part,-"autopsy. " There is no good reason to
doubt the direct claims at least, though some of the phrases which
merely imply autopsy are doubtless literary mannerisms taken from
his sources. He must therefore have traveled over those nine great
divisions of Greece which he describes. But he evidently had trav-
eled farther and seen more. The greater part of Asia Minor, Syria,
Phoenicia, Palestine, Egypt, even the oasis of Zeus Ammon in the
desert of Sahara, Rome and her neighbor cities Puteoli and Capua, he
## p. 11214 (#434) ##########################################
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PAUSANIAS
speaks of having seen. That is, in preparing his work, he visited
the Greek part of the Roman Empire, and the great seat of that Em-
pire itself. But the notes of what he actually saw constitute really
the lesser half of his work. The greater part is taken up with the
manifold material which he laboriously collected, either orally, from
professional guides and local authorities, or from books.
His range
of literary authorities is immense. He must have had access to some
great library like that of Pergamum. He used the vast stores at his
command freely; and on the whole, considering the literary tenets
and practices of his age, intelligently and fairly. Whatever is in
Herodotus, Thucydides, or Xenophon, he presupposes as known to his
readers. What he takes from his endless array of later sources, he
does not credit to those sources, as modern literary ethics demand.
But the literary standards of his time, and the practice of his con-
temporaries and predecessors, not only tolerated but demanded a
large sacrifice of fidelity in the acknowledgment of borrowed ma-
terial: a sacrifice to the demands of literary form. And so it is that
the modern critical spirit is often offended at citations of authorities
at second hand, with no mention of the intermediate step; at lack of
citation when material is plainly borrowed; at vague phrases of ref-
erence to certain distinct sources; at citation only when exception is
taken to the words of his authority, but not when adjacent material
from the same authority is accepted and incorporated. But all these
sins can be laid at the door of his contemporaries and predecessors,
and above all at the door of his great model Herodotus.
For Pausanias evidently tried to clothe his dry and often tedious
compilation with the undying charm of Herodotus's manner. He did
not adopt the Ionic dialect in which his master wrote, but he bor-
rowed liberally his phraseology, and often affected his deliberate
suspense of judgment, or his naïve intimations of skepticism. But
for this elaborate literary artifice, we might think that Pausanias had
no ambition to be read and handed down as literature, but only to
prepare for his private use a memorandum of his travels, illustrated
by notes from his subsequent voluminous reading.
With all his faults. Pausanias is a precious witness for us of much
that has forever disappeared. Before the great era of excavations
came, Greek classical archæology was little more than a commentary
on Pausanias. The excavations at Athens, Olympia, and Delphi have
subjected him to severe tests; but he comes forth from them with
fresh claims to our confidence and respect.
Pausanias has not been fortunate in his English translations.
The version of Thomas Taylor (London, 1794, 3 vols. ) is now old-
fashioned without any of the charm which invests the old transla-
tions of Plutarch-and inaccurate. The version of A. R. Shilleto, in
## p. 11215 (#435) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11215
Bohn's Classical Library (London, 1886, 2 vols. ) is more inaccurate
still, but has the advantage of being written in a modern style. The
most convenient and accessible text of Pausanias is the Teubner
text-edition, edited by Schubart (Leipzig, 1875, 2 vols. ).
B. Pierin
THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS AND ITS TEMPLES
T
THE Acropolis there is only one approach: it allows of no
other, being everywhere precipitous and walled off. The
vestibules have a roof of white marble, and even now are
remarkable for both their beauty and size. As to the statues of
the horsemen, I cannot say with precision whether they are the
sons of Xenophon, or merely put there for decoration. On the
right of the vestibules is the shrine of Wingless Victory. From
it the sea is visible; and there Ægeus drowned himself, as they
say. For the ship which took his sons to Crete had black sails,
but Theseus told his father (for he knew there was some peril
in attacking the Minotaur) that he would have white sails if he
should sail back a conqueror. But he forgot this promise in his
loss of Ariadne. And Ægeus, seeing the ship with black sails,
thinking his son was dead, threw himself in and was drowned.
And the Athenians have a hero-chapel to his memory. And on
the left of the vestibules is a building with paintings; and among
those that time has not destroyed are Diomedes and Odysseus,-
the one taking away Philoctetes's bow in Lemnos, the other tak-
ing the Palladium from Ilium. Among other paintings here is
Ægisthus being slain by Orestes; and Pylades slaying the sons
of Nauplius that came to Ægisthus's aid. And Polyxena about
to have her throat cut near the tomb of Achilles. Homer did
well not to mention this savage act.
·
·
And there is a small stone such as a little man can sit on, on
which they say Silenus rested, when Dionysus came to the land.
Silenus is the name they give to all old Satyrs. About the
Satyrs I have conversed with many, wishing to know all about
them. And Euphemus, a Carian, told me that sailing once on
a time to Italy he was driven out of his course by the winds,
and carried to a distant sea, where people no longer sail. And
he said that here were many desert islands, some inhabited by
## p. 11216 (#436) ##########################################
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PAUSANIAS
wild men and at these islands the sailors did not like to land, as
they had landed there before and had experience of the natives;
but they were obliged on that occasion. These islands he said.
were called by the sailors Satyr-islands; the dwellers in them
were red-haired, and had tails at their loins not much smaller
than horses.
And as regards the temple which they call the Parthenon, as
you enter it everything portrayed on the gables relates to the
birth of Athene, and behind is depicted the contest between
Poseidon and Athene for the soil of Attica. And this work of
art is in ivory and gold. In the middle of her helmet is an
image of the Sphinx,-about whom I shall give an account when
I come to Boeotia,- and on each side of the helmet are griffins
worked. These griffins, says Aristus the Proconnesian, in his
poems, fought with the Arimaspians beyond the Issedones for the
gold of the soil which the griffins guarded. And the Arimaspians
were all one-eyed men from their birth; and the griffins were
beasts like lions, with wings and mouth like an eagle.
Let so
much suffice for these griffins. But the statue of Athene is full
length, with a tunic reaching to her feet; and on her breast is
the head of Medusa worked in ivory, and in one hand she has a
Victory four cubits high, in the other hand a spear, and at her
feet a shield; and near the spear a dragon which perhaps is
Erichthonius. And on the base of the statue is a representation
of the birth of Pandora,- the first woman, according to Hesiod
and other poets; for before her there was no race of women.
Here too I remember to have seen the only statue here of the
Emperor Adrian; and at the entrance one of Iphicrates, the cel
ebrated Athenian general.
And outside the temple is a brazen Apollo said to be by
Phidias; and they call it Apollo, Averter of Locusts, because
when the locusts destroyed the land the god said he would drive
them out of the country. And they know that he did So, but
they don't say how. I myself know of locusts having been thrice.
destroyed on Mount Sipylus, but not in the same way; for some
were driven away by a violent wind that fell on them, and others
by a strong blight that came on them after showers, and others
were frozen to death by a sudden frost. All this came under
my own notice.
There is also a building called the Erechtheum, and in the
vestibule is an altar of Supreme Zeus, where they offer no living
## p. 11217 (#437) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11217
sacrifice, but cakes without the usual libation of wine.
And as
you enter there are three altars: one to Poseidon (on which they
also sacrifice to Erechtheus according to the oracle), one to the
hero Butes, and the third to Hephæstus. And on the walls are
paintings of the family of Butes. The building is a double one;
and inside there is sea-water in a well. And this is no great
marvel; for even those who live in inland parts have such wells,
-as notably the Aphrodisienses in Caria. But this well is
represented as having a roar as of the sea when the south wind
blows. And in the rock is the figure of a trident. And this is
said to have been Poseidon's proof in regard to the territory
Athene disputed with him.
Sacred to Athene is all the rest of Athens, and similarly all
Attica; for although they worship different gods in different
townships, none the less do they honor Athene generally. And
the most sacred of all is the statue of Athene in what is now
called the Acropolis, but was then called the Polis (city) which
was universally worshiped many years before the various town-
ships formed one city; and the rumor about it is that it fell from
heaven. As to this I shall not give an opinion, whether it was
so or not. And Callimachus made a golden lamp for the goddess.
And when they fill this lamp with oil it lasts for a whole year,
although it burns continually night and day. And the wick is of
a particular kind of cotton flax, the only kind indestructible by
fire. And above the lamp is a palm-tree of brass reaching to the
roof and carrying off the smoke. And Callimachus, the maker of
this lamp, although he comes behind the first artificers, yet was
remarkable for ingenuity, and was the first who perforated stone,
and got the name of Art-Critic, whether his own appellation or
given him by others.
In the temple of Athene Polias is a Hermes of wood (said to
be a votive offering of Cecrops), almost hidden by myrtle leaves.
And of the antique votive offerings worthy of record, is a folding.
chair, the work of Dædalus, and spoils taken from the Persians,—
as a coat of mail of Masistius, who commanded the cavalry at
Platæa, and a scimitar said to have belonged to Mardonius.
Masistius we know was killed by the Athenian cavalry: but as
Mardonius fought against the Lacedæmonians and was killed by
a Spartan, they could not have got it at first hand; nor is it
likely that the Lacedæmonians would have allowed the Atheni-
ans to carry off such a trophy. And about the olive they have
XIX-702
## p. 11218 (#438) ##########################################
11218
PAUSANIAS
nothing else to tell but that the goddess used it as a proof of
her right to the country, when it was contested by Poseidon. And
they record also that this olive was burnt when the Persians set
fire to Athens; but though burnt, it grew the same day two
cubits. And next to the temple of Athene is the temple of Pan-
drosus; who was the only one of the three sisters who didn't
peep into the forbidden chest. Now the things I most marveled
at are not universally known. I will therefore write of them as
they occur to me. Two maidens live not far from the temple of
Athene Polias, and the Athenians call them the "carriers of the
holy things"; for a certain time they live with the goddess, but
when her festival comes they act in the following way, by
night: Putting upon their heads what the priestess of Athene
gives them to carry (neither she nor they know what these things
are), these maidens descend, by a natural underground passage,
from an inclosure in the city sacred to Aphrodite of the Gardens.
In the sanctuary below they deposit what they carry, and bring
back something else closely wrapped up. And these maidens they
henceforth dismiss, and other two they elect instead of them for
the Acropolis.
THE TEMPLE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA
M
ANY various wonders may one see, or hear of, in Greece:
but the Eleusinian mysteries and Olympian games seem to
exhibit more than anything else the Divine purpose. And
the sacred grove of Zeus they have from old time called Altis,
slightly changing the Greek word for grove: it is indeed called
Altis also by Pindar, in the ode he composed for a victor at
Olympia. And the temple and statue of Zeus were built out of
the spoils of Pisa, which the people of Elis razed to the ground,
after quelling the revolt of Pisa, and some of the neighboring
towns that revolted with Pisa. And that the statue of Zeus was
the work of Phidias is shown by the inscription written at the
base of it:
-:
>>>>
"Phidias the Athenian, the son of Charmides, made me.
The temple is a Doric building, and outside it is a colonnade.
And the temple is built of stone of the district. Its height up to
the gable is 68 feet, its breadth 95 feet, and its length 230 feet.
And its architect was Libon, a native of Elis. And the tiles on
## p. 11219 (#439) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
11219
the roof are not of baked earth; but Pentelican marble, to imi-
tate tiles. They say such roofs are the invention of a man of
Naxos called Byzes, who made statues at Naxos with the inscrip-
tion:
"Euergus of Naxos made me, the son of Byzes, and descended
from Leto, the first who made tiles of stone. "
This Byzes was a contemporary of Alyattes the Lydian, and
Astyages (the son of Cyaxares), the king of Persia. And there
is a golden vase at each end of the roof, and a golden Victory
in the middle of the gable. And underneath the Victory is a
golden shield hung up as a votive offering, with the Gorgon
Medusa worked on it. The inscription on the shield states who
hung it up, and the reason why they did so. For this is what
it says:
"This temple's golden shield is a votive offering from the
Lacedæmonians at Tanagra and their allies, a gift from the Ar-
gives, the Athenians, and the Ionians, a tithe offering for success.
in war. "
-:
The battle I mentioned in my account of Attica, when I
described the tombs at Athens. And in the same temple at
Olympia, above the zone that runs round the pillars on the out-
side, are 21 golden shields, the offering of Mummius the Roman
general, after he had beaten the Achæans and taken Corinth,
and expelled the Dorians from Corinth. And on the gables in
bas-relief is the chariot race between Pelops and Enomaus; and
both chariots in motion. And in the middle of the gable is a
statue of Zeus; and on the right hand of Zeus is nomaus with
a helmet on his head; and beside him his wife Sterope, one of
the daughters of Atlas. And Myrtilus, who was the charioteer
of Enomaus, is seated behind the four horses. And next to
him are two men whose names are not recorded, but they are
doubtless Enomaus's grooms, whose duty was to take care of
the horses. And at the end of the gable is a delineation of the
river Cladeus, next to the Alpheus held most in honor of all
the rivers of Elis. And on the left of the statue of Zeus are
Pelops and Hippodamia, and the charioteer of Pelops, and the
horses, and two men who were Pelops's grooms. And where
the gable tapers fine there is the Alpheus delineated. And
Pelops's charioteer was, according to the tradition of the Trozen-
ians, Sphærus; but the custodian at Olympia said that his name.
was Cilla. The carvings on the gables in front are by Pæonius
## p. 11220 (#440) ##########################################
II 220
PAUSANIAS
of Mende in Thracia; those behind by Alcamenes, a contem-
porary of Phidias and second only to him as statuary. And on
the gables is a representation of the fight between the Lapithæ
and the Centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous. Pirithous is in
the centre, and on one side of him is Eurytion trying to carry
off Pirithous's wife, and Cæneus coming to the rescue, and
on the other side Theseus laying about among the Centaurs
with his battle-axe; and one Centaur is carrying off a maiden,
another a blooming boy. Alcamenes has engraved this story, I
imagine, because he learnt from the lines of Homer that Piri-
thous was the son of Zeus, and knew that Theseus was fourth in
descent from Pelops. There are also in bas-relief at Olympia
most of the Labors of Hercules. Above the doors of the temple
is the hunting of the Erymanthian boar, and Hercules taking
the mares of Diomede the Thracian, and robbing Geryon of
his oxen in the island of Erytheia, and supporting the load of
Atlas, and clearing the land of Elis of its dung. And above the
chamber behind the doors he is robbing the Amazon of her belt;
and there is the stag, and the Cretan Minotaur, and the Stym-
phalian birds, and the hydra, and the Nemean lion. And as you
enter the brazen doors on the right in front of the pillar is
Iphitus being crowned by his wife Ecechiria, as the inscription
in verse states. And there are pillars inside the temple, and
porticoes above, and an approach by them to the image of Zeus.
There is also a winding staircase to the roof.
The image of the god is in gold and ivory, seated on a
throne. And a crown is on his head imitating the foliage of the
olive-tree. In his right hand he holds a Victory in ivory and
gold, with a tiara and crown on his head; and in his left hand
a sceptre adorned with all manner of precious stones, and the
bird seated on the sceptre is an eagle. The robes and sandals
of the god are also of gold; and on his robes are imitations of
flowers, especially of lilies. And the throne is richly adorned
with gold and precious stones, and with ebony and ivory. And
there are imitations of animals painted on it, and models worked
on it.
There are four Victories like dancers, one at each foot
of the throne, and two also at the instep of each foot; and at
each of the front feet are Theban boys carried off by Sphinxes,
and below the Sphinxes, Apollo and Artemis shooting down the
children of Niobe. And between the feet of the throne are four
divisions formed by straight lines drawn from each of the four
## p. 11221 (#441) ##########################################
PAUSANIAS
II221
-
feet.
In the division nearest the entrance there are seven mod-
els, the eighth has vanished no one knows where or how. And
they are imitations of ancient contests, for in the days of Phidias
the contests for boys were not yet established.
And the figure
Pantarces, who
This Pantarces
with its head muffled up in a scarf is, they say,
was a native of Elis and the darling of Phidias.
won the wrestling-prize for boys in the 86th Olympiad. And in
the remaining divisions is the band of Hercules fighting against
the Amazons. The number on each side is 29, and Theseus is
on the side of Hercules. And the throne is supported not only
by the four feet, but also by four pillars between the feet. But
one cannot get under the throne, as one can at Amyclæ, and pass
inside; for at Olympia there are panels like walls that keep one
off. Of these panels the one opposite the doors of the temple is
painted sky-blue only, but the others contain paintings by Panæ-
nus. Among them is Atlas bearing up Earth and Heaven, and
Hercules standing by willing to relieve him of his load; and
Theseus and Pirithous, and Greece, and Salamis with the figure-
head of a ship in her hand, and the contest of Hercules with the
Nemean lion, and Ajax's unknightly violation of Cassandra, and
Hippodamia, the daughter of Enomaus, with her mother; and
Prometheus still chained to the rock, and Hercules gazing at him.
For the tradition is that Hercules slew the eagle that was ever
tormenting Prometheus on Mount Caucasus, and released Prome-
theus from his chains. The last paintings are Penthesilea dying
and Achilles supporting her, and two Hesperides carrying the
apples of which they are fabled to have been the keepers. This
Panænus was the brother of Phidias; and at Athens in the
Painted Stoa he has painted the action at Marathon. At the top
of the throne, Phidias has represented above the head of Zeus
the three Graces and three Seasons. For these too, as we learn
from the poets, were daughters of Zeus. Homer in the Iliad has
represented the Seasons as having the care of Heaven, as a kind
of guards of a royal palace. And the base under the feet of
Zeus (what is called in Attic @pavior) has golden lions engraved
on it, and the battle between Theseus and the Amazons,-the
first famous exploit of the Athenians beyond their own borders.
And on the platform that supports the throne there are various
ornaments round Zeus, and gilt carving,- the Sun seated in his
chariot, and Zeus and Hera; and near is Grace. Hermes is
close to her, and Vesta close to Hermes. And next to Vesta is
## p. 11222 (#442) ##########################################
11222
PAUSANIAS
Eros receiving Aphrodite, who is just rising from the sea and
being crowned by Persuasion. And Apollo and Artemis, Athene
and Hercules, are standing by, and at the end of the platform
Amphitrite and Poseidon, and Selene apparently urging on her
horse. And some say it is a mule and not a horse that the god-
dess is riding upon; and there is a silly tale about this mule.
I know that the size of the Olympian Zeus both in height
and breadth has been stated; but I cannot bestow praise on the
measurers, for their recorded measurement comes far short of
what any one would infer from looking at the statue. They make
the god also to have testified to the art of Phidias. For they
say that when the statue was finished, Phidias prayed him to sig-
nify if the work was to his mind; and immediately Zeus struck
with lightning that part of the pavement where in our day there
is a brazen urn with a lid.
And all the pavement in front of the statue is not of white
but of black stone. And a border of Parian marble runs round
this black stone, as a preservative against spilled oil. For oil is
good for the statue at Olympia, as it prevents the ivory being
harmed by the dampness of the grove. But in the Acropolis at
Athens, in regard to the statue of Athene called the Maiden, it is
not oil but water that is advantageously employed to the ivory;
for as the citadel is dry by reason of its great height, the statue
being made of ivory needs to be sprinkled with water freely.
And when I was at Epidaurus, and inquired why they use neither
water nor oil to the statue of Esculapius, the sacristans of the
temple informed me that the statue of the god and its throne
are over a well.
## p. 11223 (#443) ##########################################
11223
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK
(1785-1866)
HIS preface to Cole's edition of Peacock's works, Lord
Houghton describes the author of 'Headlong Hall' and
'Nightmare Abbey' as a man who belonged in all his
tastes, sentiments, and aspects of life, to the eighteenth century.
This characterization of Peacock is to a degree justifiable. In his
indifference to the mysteries of existence, in his common-sense spirit,
in his delicate epicureanism, in his love of ancient and well-established
institutions of government and society, he exhibits the temper of the
age of Pope. Yet he is thoroughly modern in his exquisite humor,
in his skill in pricking the South Sea bubbles devised by the indi-
vidual or by humanity at large, in his sense of proportion, in his fine
carelessness. He may not have belonged to the enthusiastic, tem-
pestuous, striving age which produced Byron and Shelley in the world
of letters, and led to the Oxford Revival in the domain of religion;
but he may be classed with end-of-the-century pagans as properly as
with those of the preceding century.
Ben Jonson has been spoken of as the prototype of Peacock,
because he dealt in "humors. " The points of resemblance between
the Elizabethan dramatist and the satirist of English life three hun-
dred years later, are not few. The characters of Peacock's novels,
like the persons of Jonson's dramas, are less human beings than
abstractions of certain intellectual eccentricities. Although Lady
Clarinda of Crotchet Castle' and the Rev. Dr. Opimian of 'Gryll
Grange' are warm, lifelike creations, the majority of their associates
are shadowy mouthpieces, through which Peacock directs the shafts
of his inimitable irony against the clergy, against the universities,
against the politicians, against the innovationists, against the whim-
sies of his contemporaries of every creed and party.
His satirical temper, his fashion of ridiculing everything but good
dinners and a country life, his insight into the foibles of his time,
were manifest in his first novel, 'Headlong Hall. ' Squire Headlong,
a hunter and a lover of old wines, has been seized with a violent
passion to be thought a philosopher and a man of taste: so he sets
off to Oxford to inquire for other varieties of the same genera,—
namely, men of taste and philosophy; but being assured by a learned
professor that there were no such things in the university, he pursues
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THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK
his search in London, where he makes the acquaintance of Mr. Fos-
ter the perfectibilian, Mr. Escot the deteriorationist, Mr. Jenkinson
the statu-quo-ite, and the Rev. Dr. Gaster, who has gained fame by
a learned dissertation on the art of stuffing a turkey. These four
worthies spend Christmas at Headlong Hall, where each discourses in
season and out of season on his particular conception of the universe.
In Dr. Gaster, Peacock satirizes the English clergy; but he makes
amends for his fun at their expense by drawing the charming Dr.
Folliott in Crotchet Castle,' and Dr. Opimian in 'Gryll Grange. '
These are clergymen of the old school, Tories, whose knowledge of
Greek is only equaled by their knowledge of fish-sauces and old
Madeira. Peacock was too much of an epicurean and Grecian him-
self not to recognize and pay tribute to such merits.
His most biting satire is directed rather against the chimeras of
contemporary poets and philosophers. Although he was a true friend
of Shelley, he caricatures him, in a kindly enough spirit, in the hero
of Nightmare Abbey,' young Sycthrop, who is in love with two
women at once. Byron is held up to ridicule as Mr. Cypress, and
Coleridge as Mr.
