We propose to notice the more important towns, according to the order of the provinces just recited; and, following this order, we take first Mysia and its chief town, CYZICUS (the _Esquize_ of mediæval times), which was situated on the neck of a peninsula running out into the Sea of Marmora. Mr. Hamilton describes its position as “a sandy isthmus, having near its southern end many large blocks of stone,” not, improbably, the remains of Strabo’s “bridge.” Many ancient monuments may still be traced among its present cherry-orchards, attesting its original magnitude and magnificence, most of the relics now visible being Roman, and its destruction having, no doubt, been mainly due to the great earthquakes in the reign of Tiberius and Aurelius, which ruined and depopulated so many other of the fairest towns of Asia Minor.[1] Footnote 1: Tacitus, speaking of A.D. 17, the 4th of Tiberius, says:—“Eodem anno duodecim celebres Asiæ urbes collapsæ nocturno motu terræ” (Annal. ii. c. 47): and Cicero speaks of Cyzicus as “urbem Asiæ celeberrimam nobisque amicissimam.” Compare also Apoll. Rhod. i. 936-941, 983-987; Valer. Max. ii. 630; Ovid. Trist. i. 9. Mr. Hamilton, indeed, noting the loose and rubbly character of its buildings, doubts the architectural fame of the city; but it is probable that what we now see was once cased with marble, as much fine marble is found in the adjacent hills. Some, too, of its buildings are of a granite easily disintegrable. Any how, it would seem to be a place where well-conducted excavations might bring to light many curious relics of the past. Cyzicus was classed by Anaximenes of Lampsacus among the colonies of Miletus, but was not of importance till the close of the Peloponnesian war, when, by the discreditable peace of Antalcidas, it was surrendered to the Persians, its ultimate prosperity being in great measure due to its position, as a natural entrepôt, between the Black Sea and the Ægean. In Roman times it was, according to Strabo, a “Libera civitas,” and, with the exception of Nicomedia and Nicæa, the most important city in that part of Asia Minor. In the days of Caracalla it had become a “Metropolis,” and, still later, was an Episcopal see.