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Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6) by Thomas Moore

T >> Thomas Moore >> Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6)




"Some have asserted that, in the comparison of places now
existing with the descriptions of Homer, we ought not to
expect coincidence in minute details; yet it seems only by
these that the kingdom of Ulysses, or any other, can be
identified, as, if such as idea be admitted, every small and
rocky island in the Ionian Sea, containing a good port, might,
with equal plausibility, assume the appellation of Ithaca.

"The Venetian geographers have in a great degree contributed
to raise those doubts which have existed on the identity of
the modern with the ancient Ithaca, by giving, in their
charts, the name of Val di Compare to the island. That name
is, however, totally unknown in the country, where the isle is
invariably called Ithaca by the upper ranks, and Theaki by the
vulgar. The Venetians have equally corrupted the name of
almost every place in Greece; yet, as the natives of Epactos
or Naupactos never heard of Lepanto, those of Zacynthos of
Zante, or the Athenians of Settines, it would be as unfair to
rob Ithaca of its name, on such authority, as it would be to
assert that no such island existed, because no tolerable
representation of its form can be found in the Venetian
surveys.

"The rare medals of the Island, of which three are represented
in the title-page, might be adduced as a proof that the name
of Ithaca was not lost during the reigns of the Roman
emperors. They have the head of Ulysses, recognised by the
pileum, or pointed cap, while the reverse of one presents the
figure of a cock, the emblem of his vigilance, with the legend
[Greek: ITHAKON]. A few of these medals are preserved in the
cabinets of the curious, and one also, with the cock, found in
the island, is in the possession of Signor Zavo, of Bathi. The
uppermost coin is in the collection of Dr. Hunter; the
second is copied from Newman, and the third is the property of
R.P. Knight, Esq.

"Several inscriptions, which will be hereafter produced, will
tend to the confirmation of the idea that Ithaca was inhabited
about the time when the Romans were masters of Greece; yet
there is every reason to believe that few, if any, of the
present proprietors of the soil are descended from ancestors
who had long resided successively in the island. Even those
who lived, at the time of Ulysses, in Ithaca, seem to have
been on the point of emigrating to Argos, and no chief
remained, after the second in descent from that hero, worthy
of being recorded in history. It appears that the isle has
been twice colonised from Cephalonia in modern times, and I
was informed that a grant had been made by the Venetians,
entitling each settler in Ithaca to as much land as his
circumstances would enable him to cultivate."

Mr. Gell then proceeds to invalidate the authority of previous
writers on the subject of Ithaca. Sir George Wheeler and M. le
Chevalier fall under his severe animadversion; and, indeed, according
to his account, neither of these gentlemen had visited the island,
and the description of the latter is "absolutely too absurd for
refutation." In another place, he speaks of M. le C. "disgracing a
work of such merit by the introduction of such fabrications;" again,
of the inaccuracy of the author's maps; and, lastly, of his inserting
an island at the southern entry of the Channel between Cephalonia and
Ithaca, which has no existence. This observation very nearly
approaches to the use of that monosyllable which Gibbon[1], without
expressing it, so adroitly applied to some assertion of his
antagonist, Mr. Davies. In truth, our traveller's words are rather
bitter towards his brother tourist: but we must conclude that their
justice warrants their severity.

[Footnote 1: See his Vindication of the 15th and 16th chapters of the
_Decline and Fall_, &c.]

In the second chapter, the author describes his landing in Ithaca,
and arrival at the rock Korax and the fountain Arethusa, as he
designates it with sufficient positiveness.--This rock, now known by
the name of Korax, or Koraka Petra, he contends to be the same with
that which Homer mentions as contiguous to the habitation of Eumaeus,
the faithful swine-herd of Ulysses.--We shall take the liberty of
adding to our extracts from Mr. Gell some of the passages in Homer to
which he _refers_ only, conceiving this to be the fairest method of
exhibiting the strength or the weakness of his argument. "Ulysses,"
he observes, "came to the extremity of the isle to visit Eumusae, and
that extremity was the most southern; for Telemachus, coming from
Pylos, touched at the first south-eastern part of Ithaca with the
same intention."

[Greek: Kai tote de r' Odusea kakos pothen egage daimon
Agrou ep' eschatien, hothi domata naie subotes;
Enth' elthen philos uios Odusseos theioio,
Ek Pulou emathoenios ion sun nei melaine;
Odussei O.

Autar epen proten akten Ithakes aphikeai,
Nea men es polin otrunai kai panlas hetairous;
Autos de protisa suboten eisaphikesthai,
k.t.l. Odussei O.]

These citations, we think, appear to justify the author in his
attempt to identify the situation of his rock and fountain with the
place of those mentioned by Homer. But let us now follow him in the
closer description of the scene.--After some account of the subjects
in the plate affixed, Mr. Gell remarks: "It is impossible to visit
this sequestered spot without being struck with the recollection of
the Fount of Arethusa and the Rock Korax, which the poet mentions in
the same line, adding, that there the swine eat the _sweet_[1]
acorns, and drank the black water."

[Footnote 1: "_Sweet_ acorns." Does Mr. Gell translate from the
Latin? To avoid similar cause of mistake, [Greek: menoeikea] should
not be rendered _suavem_ but _gratam_, as Barnes has given it.]

[Greek: Deeis ton ge suessi paremenon; ai de nemontai
Par Korakos petre, epi te krene Arethouse,
Esthousai balanon menoeikea, kai melan hudor
Pinousai; Odussei N.]

"Having passed some time at the fountain, taken a drawing, and made
the necessary observations on the situation of the place, we
proceeded to an examination of the precipice, climbing over the
terraces above the source, among shady fig-trees, which, however, did
not prevent us from feeling the powerful effects of the mid-day sun.
After a short but fatiguing ascent, we arrived at the rock, which
extends in a vast perpendicular semicircle, beautifully fringed with
trees, facing to the southeast. Under the crag we found two caves of
inconsiderable extent, the entrance of one of which, not difficult of
access, is seen in the view of the fount. They are still the resort
of sheep and goats, and in one of them are small natural receptacles
for the water, covered by a stalagmitic incrustation.

"These caves, being at the extremity of the curve formed by the
precipice, open toward the south, and present us with another
accompaniment of the fount of Arethusa, mentioned by the poet, who
informs us that the swineherd Eumaeus left his guests in the house,
whilst he, putting on a thick garment, went to sleep near the herd,
under the hollow of the rock, which sheltered him from the northern
blast. Now we know that the herd fed near the fount; for Minerva
tells Ulysses that he is to go first to Eumaeus, whom he should find
with the swine, near the rock Korax and the fount of Arethusa. As the
swine then fed at the fountain, so it is necessary that a cavern
should be found in its vicinity; and this seems to coincide, in
distance and situation, with that of the poem. Near the fount also
was the fold or stathmos of Eumaeus; for the goddess informs Ulysses
that he should find his faithful servant at or above the fount.

"Now the hero meets the swineherd close to the fold, which was
consequently very near that source. At the top of the rock, and just
above the spot where the waterfall shoots down the precipice, is at
this day a stagni or pastoral dwelling, which the herdsmen of Ithaca
still inhabit, on account of the water necessary for their cattle.
One of these people walked on the verge of the precipice at the time
of our visit to the place, and seemed so anxious to know how we had
been conveyed to the spot, that his enquiries reminded us of a
question probably not uncommon in the days of Homer, who more than
once represents the Ithacences demanding of strangers what ship had
brought them to the island, it being evident they could not come on
foot. He told us that there was, on the summit where he stood, a
small cistern of water, and a kalybea, or shepherd's hut. There are
also vestiges of ancient habitations, and the place is now called
Amarathia.

"Convenience, as well as safety, seems to have pointed out the lofty
situation of Amarathia as a fit place for the residence of the
herdsmen of this part of the island from the earliest ages. A small
source of water is a treasure in these climates; and if the
inhabitants of Ithaca now select a rugged and elevated spot, to
secure them from the robbers of the Echinades, it is to be
recollected that the Taphian pirates were not less formidable, even
in the days of Ulysses, and that a residence in a solitary part of
the island, far from the fortress, and close to a celebrated
fountain, must at all times have been dangerous, without some such
security as the rocks of Korax. Indeed, there can be no doubt that
the house of Eumaeus was on the top of the precipice; for Ulysses, in
order to evince the truth of his story to the swineherd, desires to
be thrown from the summit if his narration does not prove correct.

"Near the bottom of the precipice is a curious natural gallery, about
seven feet high, which is expressed in the plate. It may be fairly
presumed, from the very remarkable coincidence between this place and
the Homeric account, that this was the scene designated by the poet
as the fountain of Arethusa, and the residence of Eumaeus; and,
perhaps, it would be impossible to find another spot which bears, at
this day, so strong a resemblance to a poetic description composed at
a period so very remote. There is no other fountain in this part of
the island, nor any rock which bears the slightest resemblance to the
Korax of Homer.

"The stathmos of the good Eumaeus appears to have been little
different, either in use or construction, from the stagni and kalybea
of the present day. The poet expressly mentions that other herdsmen
drove their flocks into the city at sunset,--a custom which still
prevails throughout Greece during the winter, and that was the season
in which Ulysses visited Eumaeus. Yet Homer accounts for this
deviation from the prevailing custom, by observing that he had
retired from the city to avoid the suitors of Penelope. These
trifling occurrences afford a strong presumption that the Ithaca of
Homer was something more than the creature of his own fancy, as some
have supposed it; for though the grand outline of a fable may be
easily imagined, yet the consistent adaptation of minute incidents to
a long and elaborate falsehood is a task of the most arduous and
complicated nature."

After this long extract, by which we have endeavoured to do justice
to Mr. Gell's argument, we cannot allow room for any farther
quotations of such extent; and we must offer a brief and imperfect
analysis of the remainder of the work.

In the third chapter, the traveller arrives at the capital, and in
the fourth, he describes it in an agreeable manner. We select his
account of the mode of celebrating a Christian festival in the Greek
church:--

"We were present at the celebration of the feast of the
Ascension, when the citizens appeared in their gayest dresses,
and saluted each other in the streets with demonstrations of
pleasure. As we sate at breakfast in the house of Zignor Zavo,
we were suddenly roused by the discharge of a gun, succeeded
by a tremendous crash of pottery, which fell on the tiles,
steps, and pavements, in every direction. The bells of the
numerous churches commenced a most discordant jingle; colours
were hoisted on every mast in the port, and a general shout of
joy announced some great event. Our host informed us that the
feast of the Ascension was annually commemorated in this
manner at Bathi, the populace exclaiming [Greek: anese o
Chrisos, alethinos o Theos,] Christ is risen, the true God."

In another passage, he continues this account as follows:--"In the
evening of the festival, the inhabitants danced before their houses;
and at one we saw the figure which is said to have been first used by
the youths and virgins of Delos, at the happy return of Theseus from
the expedition of the Cretan Labyrinth. It has now lost much of that
intricacy which was supposed to allude to the windings of the
habitation of the Minotaur," &c. &c. This is rather too much for even
the inflexible gravity of our censorial muscles. When the author
talks, with all the _reality_ (if we may use the expression) of a
Lempriere, on the stories of the fabulous ages, we cannot refrain
from indulging a momentary smile; nor can we seriously accompany him
in the learned architectural detail by which he endeavours to give
us, from the Odyssey, the ground-plot of the house of Ulysses.--of
which he actually offers a plan in drawing! "showing how the
description of the house of Ulysses in the Odyssey may be supposed to
correspond with the foundations yet visible on the hill of
Aito!"--Oh, Foote! Foote! why are you lost to such inviting subjects
for your ludicrous pencil!--In his account of this celebrated
mansion, Mr. Gell says, one side of the court seems to have been
occupied by the Thalamos, or sleeping apartments of the men, &c. &c.;
and, in confirmation of this hypothesis, he refers to the 10th
Odyssey, line 340. On examining his reference, we read,

[Greek: Es thalamon t ienai, kai ses epibemenai eunes.]

where Ulysses records an invitation which he received from Circe to
take a part of her bed. How this illustrates the above conjecture, we
are at a loss to divine: but we suppose that some numerical error has
occurred in the reference, as we have detected a trifling mistake or
two of the same nature.

Mr. G. labours hard to identify the cave of Dexia near Bathi (the
capital of the island), with the grotto of the Nymphs described in
the 13th Odyssey. We are disposed to grant that he has succeeded: but
we cannot here enter into the proofs by which he supports his
opinion; and we can only extract one of the concluding sentences of
the chapter, which appears to us candid and judicious:--

"Whatever opinion may be formed as to the identity of the cave
of Dexia with the grotto of the Nymphs, it is fair to state,
that Strabo positively asserts that no such cave as that
described by Homer existed in his time, and that geographer
thought it better to assign a physical change, rather than
ignorance in Homer, to account for a difference which he
imagined to exist between the Ithaca of his time and that of
the poet. But Strabo, who was an uncommonly accurate observer
with respect to countries surveyed by himself, appears to have
been wretchedly misled by his informers on many occasions.

"That Strabo had never visited this country is evident, not
only from his inaccurate account of it, but from his citation
of Appollodorus and Scepsius, whose relations are in direct
opposition to each other on the subject of Ithaca, as will be
demonstrated on a future opportunity."

We must, however, observe that "demonstration" is a strong term.--In
his description of the Leucadian Promontory (of which we have a
pleasing representation in the plate), the author remarks that it is
"celebrated for the _leap_ of Sappho, and the _death_ of Artemisia."
From this variety in the expression, a reader would hardly conceive
that both the ladies perished in the same manner: in fact, the
sentence is as proper as it would be to talk of the decapitation of
Russell, and the death of Sidney. The view from this promontory
includes the island of Corfu; and the name suggests to Mr. Gell the
following note, which, though rather irrelevant, is of a curious
nature, and we therefore conclude our citations by transcribing it:--

"It has been generally supposed that Corfu, or Corcyra, was
the Phaeacia of Homer; but Sir Henry Englefield thinks the
position of that island inconsistent with the voyage of
Ulysses as described in the Odyssey. That gentleman has also
observed a number of such remarkable coincidences between the
courts of Alcinous and Solomon, that they may be thought
curious and interesting. Homer was familiar with the names of
Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt; and, as he lived about the time of
Solomon, it would not have been extraordinary if he had
introduced some account of the magnificence of that prince
into his poem. As Solomon was famous for wisdom, so the name
of Alcinous signifies strength of knowledge; as the gardens of
Solomon were celebrated, so are those of Alcinous (Od.
7.112.); as the kingdom of Solomon was distinguished by twelve
tribes under twelve princes (1 Kings, ch. 4.), so that of
Alcinous (Od. 8. 390.) was ruled by an equal number; as the
throne of Solomon was supported by lions of gold (1 Kings, ch.
10.), so that of Alcinous was placed on dogs of silver and
gold (Od, 7. 91.); as the fleets of Solomon were famous, so
were those of Alcinous. It is perhaps worthy of remark, that
Neptune sate on the mountains of the SOLYMI, as he returned
from AEthiopia to AEgae, while he raised the tempest which threw
Ulysses on the coast of Phaeacia; and that the Solymi of
Pamphylia are very considerably distant from the route.--The
suspicious character, also, which Nausicaa attributes to her
countryman agrees precisely with that which the Greeks and
Romans gave of the Jews."

The seventh chapter contains a description of the Monastery of
Kathara, and several adjacent places. The eighth, among other
curiosities, fixes on an imaginary site for the Farm of Laertes: but
this is the agony of conjecture indeed!--and the ninth chapter
mentions another Monastery, and a rock still called the School of
Homer. Some sepulchral inscriptions of a very simple nature are
included.--The tenth and last chapter brings us round to the Port of
Schoenus, near Bathi; after we have completed, seemingly in a very
minute and accurate manner, the tour of the island.

We can certainly recommend a perusal of this volume to every lover of
classical scene and story. If we may indulge the pleasing belief that
Homer sang of a real kingdom, and that Ulysses governed it, though we
discern many feeble links in Mr. Gell's chain of evidence, we are on
the whole induced to fancy that this is the Ithaca of the bard and of
the monarch. At all events, Mr. Gell has enabled every future
traveller to form a clearer judgment on the question than he could
have established without such a "Vade-mecum to Ithaca," or a "Have
with you, to the House of Ulysses," as the present. With Homer in his
pocket, and Gell on his sumpter-horse or mule, the Odyssean tourist
may now make a very classical and delightful excursion; and we doubt
not that the advantages accruing to the Ithacences, from the
increased number of travellers who will visit them in consequence of
Mr. Gell's account of their country, will induce them to confer on
that gentleman any heraldic honours which they may have to bestow,
should he ever look in upon them again.--_Baron Bathi _ would be a
pretty title:--

"_Hoc_ Ithacus _velit, et magno mercentur Atridae_."--Virgil.

For ourselves, we confess that all our old Grecian feelings would be
alive on approaching the fountain of Melainudros, where, as the
tradition runs, or as the priests relate, Homer was restored to
sight.

We now come to the "Grecian Patterson," or "Cary," which Mr. Gell has
begun to publish; and really he has carried the epic rule of
concealing the person of the author to as great a length as either of
the above-mentioned heroes of itinerary writ. We hear nothing of his
"hair-breadth 'scapes" by sea or land; and we do not even know, for
the greater part of his journey through Argolis, whether he relates
what he has seen or what he has heard. Prom other parts of the book,
we find the former to be the case: but, though there have been
tourists and "strangers" in other countries, who have kindly
permitted their readers to learn rather too much of their sweet
selves, yet it is possible to carry delicacy, or cautious silence, or
whatever it may be called, to the contrary extreme. We think that Mr.
Gell has fallen into this error, so opposite to that of his numerous
brethren. It is offensive, indeed, to be told what a man has eaten
for dinner, or how pathetic he was on certain occasions; but we like
to know that there is a being yet living who describes the scenes to
which he introduces us; and that it is not a mere translation from
Strabo or Pausanias which we are reading, or a commentary on those
authors. This reflection leads us to the concluding remark in Mr.
Gell's preface (by much the most interesting part of his book) to his
Itinerary of Greece, in which he thus expresses himself:--

"The confusion of the modern with the ancient names of places
in this volume is absolutely unavoidable; they are, however,
mentioned in such a manner, that the reader will soon be
accustomed to the indiscriminate use of them. The necessity of
applying the ancient appellations to the different routes,
will be evident from the total ignorance of the public on the
subject of the modern names, which, having never appeared in
print, are only known to the few individuals who have visited
the country.

"What could appear less intelligible to the reader, or less
useful to the traveller, than a route from Chione and Zaracca
to Kutchukmadi, from thence to Krabata to Schoenochorio, and
by the mills of Peali, while every one is in some degree
acquainted with the names of Stymphalus, Nemea, Mycenae,
Lyrceia, Lerna, and Tegea?"

Although this may be very true inasmuch as it relates to the reader,
yet to the traveller we must observe, in opposition to Mr. Gell, that
nothing can be less useful than the designation of his route
according to the ancient names. We might as well, and with as much
chance of arriving at the place of our destination, talk to a
Hounslow post-boy about making haste to _Augusta_, as apply to our
Turkish guide in modern Greece for a direction to Stymphalus, Nemea,
Mycenae, &c. &c. This is neither more nor less than classical
affectation; and it renders Mr. Gell's book of much more confined use
than it would otherwise have been:--but we have some other and more
important remarks to make on his general directions to Grecian
tourists; and we beg leave to assure our readers that they are
derived from travellers who have lately visited Greece. In the first
place, Mr. Gell is absolutely incautious enough to recommend an
interference on the part of English travellers with the Minister at
the Porte, in behalf of the Greeks. "The folly of such neglect (page
16. preface,) in many instances, where the emancipation of a district
might often be obtained by the present of a snuff-box or a watch, at
Constantinople, _and without the smallest danger of exciting the
jealousy of such a court as that of Turkey,_ will be acknowledged
when we are no longer able to rectify the error." We have every
reason to believe, on the contrary, that the folly of half a dozen
travellers, taking this advice, might bring us into a war. "Never
interfere with any thing of the kind," is a much sounder and more
political suggestion to all English travellers in Greece.

Mr. Gell apologises for the introduction of "his panoramic designs,"
as he calls them, on the score of the great difficulty of giving any
tolerable idea of the face of a country in writing, and the ease with
which a very accurate knowledge of it may be acquired by maps and
panoramic designs. We are informed that this is not the case with
many of these designs. The small scale of the single map we have
already censured; and we have hinted that some of the drawings are
not remarkable for correct resemblance of their originals. The two
nearer views of the Gate of the Lions at Mycenae are indeed good
likenesses of their subject, and the first of them is unusually well
executed; but the general view of Mycenae is not more than tolerable
in any respect; and the prospect of Larissa, &c. is barely equal to
the former. The view _from_ this last place is also indifferent; and
we are positively assured that there are no windows at Nauplia which
look like a box of dominos,--the idea suggested by Mr. Gell's plate.
We must not, however, be too severe on these picturesque bagatelles,
which, probably, were very hasty sketches; and the circumstances of
weather, &c. may have occasioned some difference in the appearance of
the same objects to different spectators. We shall therefore return
to Mr. Gell's preface; endeavouring to set him right in his
directions to travellers, where we think that he is erroneous, and
adding what appears to have been omitted. In his first sentence, he
makes an assertion which is by no means correct. He says, "_We_ are
at present as ignorant of Greece, as of the interior of Africa."
Surely not quite so ignorant; or several of our Grecian _Mungo Parks_
have travelled in vain, and some very sumptuous works have been
published to no purpose! As we proceed, we find the author observing
that "Athens is _now_ the most polished city of Greece," when we
believe it to be the most barbarous, even to a proverb--

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