Mina’s reputation was greatly raised by the ability with which he extricated himself from so many dangers, and the loss which he so frequently inflicted upon the enemy; but these persevering efforts of the French had the desired effect of rendering it impossible for him to undertake any enterprise which might tend to the relief ♦SUCHET, T. 2. 20. TARRAGONA.♦ of Figueras, or, by disturbing Suchet in Aragon, operate in aid of Tarragona. That city, one of the most remarkable in Spain for its monuments of antiquity, and for the historical circumstances connected with it, stands about the distance of a musket-shot from the sea shore, on a steep and rocky ♦ESPAÑA SAGRADA, T. 24. P. 69.♦ eminence, where (in the words of Florez) it commands and enjoys a free air, a clear sky, and its own fertile plain. Its foundation being in an age beyond the reach of history, has been variously ascribed to Tubal, Hercules, Teucer, Remus, a king of Egypt, and a colony of Phocæans, by fablers who sought in their inventions to gratify that allowable and useful pride which citizens learn to take in the place of their birth and abode ... or to accredit their own theories, or to support some baseless etymology of its name. This alone is certain, that it was a considerable place before ♦YCART. GRANDEZAS DE TARRAGONA, 65.♦ the Romans and Carthaginians contended for the dominion of Spain; and the remains of its more ♦LABORDE VOYAGE PITTORESQUE. INTROD. P. 31.♦ ancient walls, which excited the wonder of antiquaries in the sixteenth century, excite in the present age their sagacity, their conjectures, and their doubts; for, though resembling those which are called Cyclopean in magnitude and solidity, they differ from them in construction. The Scipios so greatly enlarged and embellished it, as almost to be considered its refounders; and on the division of the Peninsula under the Romans, it gave name to that province which had before been called Citerior Spain. Augustus, according to fond Spaniards, issued from Tarragona his ever memorable decree that all the world should be taxed: here it was that the palm was said to have grown upon his altar during his life; and the year after his death the inhabitants sent deputies to Rome, soliciting permission to erect a temple to him as a god: ... a fragment of that altar, a single stone of that temple, and a few medals, are now the only remains of their vile and impious adulation. When Galba was declared ♦SUETONIUS.♦ emperor, the crown of gold for his inauguration was taken from the temple of Jupiter in this city. The Egyptian Isis was worshipped here, and the African goddess Cœlestis: and when the Romish church had corrupted Christianity with the polytheism and idolatry of Pagan Rome, changing the names, but retaining the superstition, the craft, and the sin, it was then inferred that Santiago _must_ have sanctified Tarragona by his presence, it being certain that he was at Zaragoza when our Lady descended there with the