The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844: Volume 23, Number 3Various
Philosophy
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844: Volume 23, Number 3
Various
Periodicals
temple of Jupiter, which once contained a statue of that god, wearing a
robe of gold; but Dionysius the tyrant stripped it off, saying 'it was too
cold for winter and too hot for summer.' Among the seats of a noble
theatre now stands a mill, that is supplied with water diverted from an
ancient aqueduct close by: a strange metamorphosis indeed! This aqueduct
conveys the water thirty miles. It may have been of Greek construction
originally, but that part of it which I have seen is evidently Saracenic.
The rocky site of Syracuse is in many parts perforated with tombs; the
roads are literally honey-combed with them. There is a street excavated in
the limestone rock which on either side is full of cells, and it may
indeed be said of Syracuse that it is a great burying-ground. The oranges,
vines, and figs of Syracuse are still flourishing, and the earth yet
yields its hundred fold; but its glory is departed, and the traveller
looks in vain for satisfactory vestiges of that mighty city.
There are many other interesting remains of antiquity in Sicily, but I
must hasten to a conclusion. I trust the reader will have found the
subject of this article interesting, although treated briefly and
imperfectly. The traveller is unworthy of his privilege, and forgetful of
duty if he extracts not from the scenes described some moral lesson or
religious truth. The reader has accompanied me in imagination through
classic Sicily. He has seen the lonely temple of Segeste, standing among
the mountains like a widowed thing, mourning in silence the departed.
Where is the multitude that once thronged around its walls? Mount Erix
still battles with the clouds, as in the days of Agathocles. He has
clambered with me among the prostrate columns of Selinunte: _once_, from
beneath those massive porticoes, the Selinuntine, in the pride of his
heart, looked upon the crowded port and distant mountains as we look on
the Hudson, with its white sails and swift steamers, and the neighboring
hills. Where and what are they? The distant mountains stand, but the great
works which he erected to be a living honor to his name and country, are
perished forever. He has lingered with me among the ruins of the splendid
Agrigentum. Its numerous temples are dilapidated, or crumbling on the
earth; its walls, once its vaunted strength, are strewed in shattered
fragments on the steeps around. The dust of its multitudes serves to
fertilize the soil of its ancient site! But the stream still flows which
gave its name to the city, and the hills around yet produce the oil, the
wine, and the grain. We have sojourned for a time among the melancholy
vestiges of Syracuse; the scene of battles far more bloody than this land
has ever known. The army which the Athenians, inflated with pride and
presumption, sent against Syracuse, was here defeated. In yonder
land-locked bay the Athenian fleet, the mightiest that republic had ever
sent forth, and which they believed _invincible_, was destroyed. And the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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