Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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