being dedicated to the Virgin Mary we being willing to bestow the first fruits of our curiosity upon it went in and found it very handsom and richly adorned by the care of the Lady Governness As soon as we were come forth of the Panagia I perswaded our Companions to look about them more seriously for it was thereabouts that the Grotto was which among the Ancients was so Famous for the adventures betwixt Apollo and Creusa Daughter of a King of Athens which Grotto was afterwards by the Athenians turned into a Temple and dedicated to Apollo and Pan And thanks to the hardness of the Rock there is the most entire relique of all the Monuments remaining of the Old Athens and of this Grotto Euripides makes mention in two or three of his Tragedies The hollow Rock that is near it was called Macrae Petrae and it was admired by some of us more verst in Warlike Affairs than the rest that the Christian Corsaires among their many Designs and Enterprizes upon the Turks never thought of making use of that hole as of a Mine half made to their hands for blowing up the Castle which in their judgment ten or twelve Barrels of Powder would easily and effectually have done but this was only whispered among our selves for the Turks are very shy in those points and we had our Janizaries always at our heels It is most certain that about eighteen months since a Greek of the Island of Candia who had lived long in Athens came privately to Daniel Justiniani Commissary and Treasurer-General for the Venetian Fleet and proposed to him the pillaging of Athens which being an open Town would have been no hard matter and for the Castle he would have taken that by the hole I mentioned before to effect this the Candiot desired only eight hundred Men and three or four Field-Pieces more for terrour than execution with ten barrels of Powder for springing the Mine It is said that at first Justiniani rejected his proposition upon the score that the Plague was in Athens and he was fearful the Troops which he imployed in that Enterprize should bring the Sickness into the Venetian Fleet But afterwards having considered it better he Communicated with Francisco Cornaro and Zorz Foscarini two Noble Venetians that served in Candy and all three of them resolved to have broke it to General Morosini and the Proveditor Cornaro but in the very nick the Venetians having the better against the Turks in a Sea-fight upon the Coast of Candia changed their minds and took other measures For my own part when I heard of this design I concluded it rejected upon account of difficult execution for the Guards in the Pyrgo or Watch-Tower in Porto-Lione are too diligent to have been surprized or to have failed giving timely Alarm to the Athenians though dispersed up and down in the Country by reason of the Plague Besides the distance betwixt Athens and Porto-Lione where their descent must have been made would have given the Athenians leasure to have got into a body and endangered the retreat of the Venetians though they had come in a body of four thousand men and as to the blowing up the Castle by that hole in the Grotto I thought it unpracticable in respect of the height of the Rock which is of such a nature that the breach cannot be favourable for let the Rock fall which way it will it will fall into the Mine and leave such heaps of rubbish as will require another Mine to remove which is not to be done without more time than is consistent with those sudden attempts in a word the Venetians durst not venture upon it From the Panagia we passed on towards the Castle and nothing could be more remarkable than the way by which we went It was made of the ruines of the old Lyceum the Famous School where Aristotle taught his Philosophy It is now level and very pleasant but nothing to be seen of the old Palaestra where their Champions wrestled Upon this flat it is that in time of War their new raised men are exercised and prepared for the Field Upon certain dayes in the year the Athenians dine publickly upon it where they have no want of water being supplyed by the ruines of an old Aquaeduct We fell into mighty Topographical disputes about the place where formerly stood that Famous Fountain called Panopis whose waters have been since diverted That Fountain was called also Diocharis as being not far from a Gate of the City of that Name There are some wooden Pipes to be seen but nothing so big as has been mentioned by very credible Authors The Trees which have been planted are so shady and delightful that it is become the common walk of the Town and is therefore called Peripatus and questionless it was the convenience of that which invited Aristotle gave him opportunity of teaching his Disciples as he was walking and the name of Peripateticks to his Followers To dilate upon their Doctrine would be superfluous seeing it is at this day the great Theme of our Schools I shall only say that their great study is to understand the proprieties of Nature and the force of second causes Their Morality is pleasant affirming that to arrive at the Summum Bonum and make our lives happy in this World our Virtue must be beholding to the advantages and commodities of our Bodies Corporis commodis compleri vitam beatam putant As to passions they are so far from eradicating them that they believe them necessary Theophrastus upon the flight of Aristotle taught in the same School and had above two thousand Scholars In this Lycaeum was also kept the Court of the Polemark who is the third of the nine Archontes The first of the Archontes by way of excellence was called Archonte the second King of the Sacrifices the third Polemarque and the six others promiscuously by the name of The smothetes This Tribunal in the Lycaeum was principally for strangers for in time of War the Polemarque was Captain-General of all the Forces of that Common-wealth and in time of Peace he was Judge in all Causes and Controversies betwixt Strangers and the Inhabitants of that Town Not far from this Tribunal stood a Statue of Heros Lycus or Lycius the Son of Pandion which Statue represented a Wolf and by every Tribunal in the City there was a Statue of the same Figure About sixty yards from thence upon aâ— Eminence as Herodotus observes are to be seen the ruines of the Areopagus that Renowned and Majestick Court whose Members are never mentioned in History but with great Veneration for their transcendent Integrity and Justice It was denominated Areopagus from Ares a Name which the Greeks had given to Mars and the first Cause that was ever heard in it was an Impeachment against him for having slain one of the Sons of Neptune Perhaps you may remember how those Pagans are reproached with it by Lactantius Vos homicidam Martem consecrastis
one of the Famous Poet Menander the other of Euripides About the midway betwixt Athens and Pyraeum there was a great Well set round very handsomâ—y with Olive Trees which rendered it very pleasant We took this Well for the Fountain that was formerly by a certain Chappel Consecrated to Socrates for in those days Temples were Dedicated to Illustrious Men as well as to the Gods The descents and incursions of the Christian Corsaires is the cause that there are no Country-houses above a League from Porto-Lione but beyond that distance towards Athens there are many little House set about very beautifully with Vines anâ— Olive Trees and behind them each has iâ— Garden full of Oranges Citrons and Pomâ—granats they have plenty of Fountains anâ— Water-works most of their Gardens beinâ— furnished with Engines to break and dâ—sperse the waters as it comes out of thâ— Pipes and the Engines are generallâ— wrought by a Horse The Athenians aâ— present call a Country-house Spititon Châ—rion and a Garden Perinoles We could scarce see the Town before wâ— were in it because it stands upon a littlâ— Eminence behind the Castle which beinâ— just in our face hindered the prospect there of We alighted at a house taken up foâ— us not far from a Church which they caâ— Agios Jannis or the Church of St. John And now being arrived at Athens whicâ— was the main object of our Voyage yoâ— would have just cause to be offendeâ— should I neglect an opportunity that offenâ— it self so freely for your entertainment anâ— not endeavour to give you the most faithfull and succinct description both of heâ— passed fortune and present condition seeing that what has been said hitherto seemâ— but preliminary and as it were to prepare â—he way for the knowledge of that I do â—ot question but in other Authors you may find a considerable part of what I have â—resented to you here It would be strange â—n speaking of the place where Athens stood formerly I should write of nothing but what was new of a Town so universally famous and reputed the Mother of Arts and â—he Theatre of Valour and Policy The happy times in which this City flouâ—ished were so fertile in wonders and we â—ave had so few Ages since that have proâ—uced such Eminent Men that I do not doubt your excuse if I give you a partiâ—ular specification of those memorable years â—hat remain still Sacred by so great and so glorious Events But not to interrupt or â—ivert my Discourse you will find in the Margin of these Memoires the number of Years reduced from the Epoche of the Olymâ—iads to our own by which you will disâ—ern the time passed betwixt such an acciâ—ent and the time present Of all the Ancient Cities in Greece none â—as preserved its name with better success â—han this City of Athens Our Geographers have thought good to alter it and â—all it Setines The Greek and Turkish Inhabitants and the Neighbours about call â—t Atine I will not trouble you with the differeâ—â— names it bore before the Goddess Minerâ—â— whom the Greeks called Athena gave â— her name in despite of the jealousie and oâ—â— position of Neptune who would have givâ—â— it his own It is most certain the Inhabâ—tants of old called it by way of Excellenâ— Asti or the City And the Romans â—â— the same Spirit of Ostentation designed tâ—â— same The year of its Foundation was nâ—ver yet known In the time of Cecrops tâ—â— first of Her seventeen Kings whâ— Reign began 3226. years since â— was but a Burrough though hâ—noured with the Residence of its King aâ— the Title of Metropolis in that Countreâ—â— so that Athens was built above eight huâ—dred years before the City of Rome Theseus their Tenth King observing tâ—â— People to be affected with Countrey livâ—â— and by the means being dispersed up aâ—â— down at a distance one from the other aâ—â— consequently exposed to the irruptious â— their Nighbours he incorporatâ—â— the wealthiest of them into a Citâ—â— and by that Union gained to hiâ—self the Title of Founder of Athens Thâ— City and Country was a long time Gâ—verned by Kings but with a limited Aâ—thority nevertheless the people in loâ—â— with their Liberty abolished Monarchy and in the place of their Kings Created their Archontes whose Power was almost equivalent with the power of the Doges or Dukes of Venice thirteen of them were perpetual and succeeded one another and seven had their Authority limited to Ten Years After these the Sovereign Power was put into the hands of Nine Magistrates the first with the Title of Archonte the second of King Their Dignity lasted but a Year yet these latter Archontes were so considerable that the Athenians reckoned their Years and distinguished their times from the Order of their Creation In process of time Draco gave them those Famous Laws that were said to have been written in blood by reason of their excessive rigour But twenty four years after they were abolished by Solon who supplyed them with Laws much more genâ—le and humane The Laws of Solon Established a Popuâ—ar Government till Pisistrates usurped the Soveraignty of Athens and having left it â—o his Two Sons Hipparchus and Hippias â—he first was slain by Harmodius and Aristogiton with the assistance of a fair Athenian called Leena to whom they had made great Courtship This Leena being taken into Custody by the Tyrants Guards and threatned the torture unless she discovered her Accomplices she chose rather to bite out her tongue than suffer it to betray heâ— Gallants And this Heroick action of Leena's hapned the same year that Lucretia was the cause that Tarquiâ— was banished out of Rome Liberty being restored to the Athenianâ— three years after by the flight of Hippiaâ— he called in the Persians who lost the Famous Battel of Marathon Ten years after they returned with intention to Sacâ— the City of Athens but in a few months time they were defeated again in a Sea-fight at Salamis After the Victory at Salamis the Republick of Athens was in its highest elevation It s greatest Captains its greateâ— Philosophers and its most Ingenious Artists were living in that time and neveâ— was any City so fertile in Illustrious Men Pericles was the person by whose Conducâ— it arrived at that Grandeur But the Lacedemonians growing jealouâ— of their greatness made War upon the Athenians and after several ingagements Lysander the Lacedemonian General havinâ— rather surprized than vanquished them in â— Sea-fight came afterwards to besiege thâ— City of Athens and forcing it to surrender upon very hard Conditions he established in it the thirty Tyrants â—o famous in History After four Years Servitude Thrasibulus â— Citizen of that City slew the â—hirty Tyrants drove out the Lacedemonian Garrison and by degrees â—onquered the Lacedemonians partly by â—he Arms of his own Country-men and â—artly by exciting the Thebans under the Command of Epaminondas Not long after this City was forced to â—ontend with the whole strength of a puissant
it and conspired with certain of his Accomplices like himself to gain her by force They have a certain Feast like our Easter which they call Bairam Coutzong at which time having more freedom of debaucherie than ordinary they resolved to put their designs in practice and accordingly entred by force into the young Athenians house who was at home along with no body but her Mother who was a Widow In apprehension of their violence they both of them cry'd out as soon as they saw them but no body came into their rescue for besides that during the liberty of the Bairam the Christians do generally keep themselves close their house was in a by-place and somewhat out of the way The resistance and refractoriness of this young Damoisel inraged them to such a degree that finding their importunity unsuccessful they fell to blows and gave her seven or eight stabs with a poinard that which was most admirable in the passage was that still as they stab'd she presented her face as if she had been desirous to be wounded there to ruine that part which had caused such extravagant passion in those Brutes They left her for dead and 't is reported that the only thing that recovered her was the joy she conceived to find her self disfigured beyond any such influence for the future But the Assassines were glad to fly and never appeared since for complaint was made to the Keslar-Agasi who would without all doubt have punished them severely Since this accident in â—ll the Families of Athens both Turk and Christian no discourse is held among the â—oung Maidens but up comes this story â—nd the good women have no better lesson â—o each their Daughters than to imitate â—his Damoisel nor better memorial for â—hem than to show them the scars of her face When we were in Athens the poor Girle was living in the Isle of Engia If the Christian Religion was not sufficient to move these Athenian Damoisels to Chastity the fear of punishment would do it effectually Those who are defective that way are condemned to be sold for slaves and upon conviction 't is not easie to escape 'T is the Cadi's interest to see that Law strictly executed for the profit is his and upon the least accusation he causes them to be inspected by the Midwives Not but there are wayes of evading it and a thousand artifices are found out to prevent their slavery sometimes the Confessor intercedes and suggesting the danger of their turning Mahumetans abates the rigour of their Laws and conceals the dishonour of their Families In a word in all Greece manifest immodesty is no where so severely punished as in Athens The Virgins in Athens are generally handsom witty and vindicative you may judge what they were formerly by the single example of Thais who followed Alexander the Great in his Expedition into Persia Being with that Monarch one day when he was in a good humour she proposed to him to burn the Palace-Royal at Persepolis and was so plain as to profess a desire of putting fire to it her self that the world might say that the very Damoisels which attended in his Conquests in Persia had revenged the burning at Athens when of old it was set on fire by Xerxes and her beauty and eloquence so far recommended her ambition that she was gratified in her motion and the Palace set on fire that very night Our curiosity carried us from thence out of the Castle to the Southward betwixt the Phalerum and the Porto-Lione where was anciently the old City of Athens called by way of excellence Asti or the City the foundation of which according to the testimony of Pliny began there The two Brothers Euryalus and Hyperbius were the first who built houses there before which time they were lodged in Grottos still to be seen at the foot of the Castle The quarters of Lymnae Coepi Diomea Cynosarges and Alopece are still on that side and were all we saw that Walk We returned by the Temple of Jupiter and keeping still by the foot of the Castle we passed behind the house where the Jesuites had formerly their retreat and on our right hand we saw the remains of a building at present called To Palati tou Themistocles or Themistocles his Palace Among the Ancients there was nothing could give Authority to the Modern Appellation for by them it was called the Palace of the five hundred which was the number of Select Men chosen every year by the Ten Tribes of Attica each Tribe naming fifty who alternatively and according to the rank of their several Tribes had the supreme management of affairs for five and thirty dayes together and their Court being held in the place called Prytane gave the name of Prytanes to the said fifty Senators Cajetan Drogoman to the Consul Giraud had his Lodgings in this Palace of Themistocles A little beyond it we saw the Temple of Neptune a very admirable Structure Of the three Temples Dedicated anciently to that God we could meet nothing that could assure us whether this was the Elates the Cynades or Asphalius It is at present a Greek Church govern'd by the Caloger Damaskinos whose house being hard by and upon the brow of a Rock is the highest in the whole City 'T is reported that many rare Manuscripts are kept in that house Near the Temple of Neptune there is a Fountain of the same name whose waters are turned for the benefit of the Castle From thence we came into the Vicus Ceramicus where we saw on our right hand the place where formerly stood the Leocorion or Monument of Leos who having sacrificed his Daughters for the safety of the publick deserved well to have a Tomb in the City Facing about to the left we saw the ruines of a magnificent Building called the Kings Portico that is to say the Portico of the King of the Sacrifices or the second of the Archontes The Portico of Jupiter Elutherion was behind it and Eudancon or the Tomb of Heros Eudanos was hard by which Eudanos was sirnamed Angelos the Son of Neptune Thence towards the Castle we observed the Metroon or Chapel of the Mother of the Gods in which place died Lycurgus the Son of Lycophron as famous in Athens as the Legislator Lycurgus was in Sparta The Barathron or Orygma that famous dungeon into which their criminals were tumbled was behind that Metroon at the foot of a steep Rock in the Castle and near the Barathron was the Tribunal called Parabysthus in which only small Causes were tryed and that Court consisted of eleven Judges The nearness of this Court to the Barathron which was an ignominious place was the occasion that some Authors have said that the Parabysthus stood in a vile and abominable place At small distance from the Kings Portico we saw the Bucoleon or Court where the King of the Sacrifices had his Tribunal Not far from that we saw the ruines of a small Chapel called Agios Dionysios where
Mass is said constantly upon Saint Denis his day To restore that Chapel one would have need not only of Money but good interest at the Port where they suffer Christians to repair their Churches they will not suffer them to rebuild them when they are down This Chapel joyns to the Archbishops Palace which they pretend was the Palace of Saint Denis The place is very pleasant and is the lodgings of the Archbishop and five Calogers that make up his whole Family They shew us a Well there which among the Christians is in great Veneration because as their tradition tells them Saint Paul was a prisoner in it and rescued by the Authority of Saint Denis Not far from the ruines of the Prytaneum we saw the Court where the fifty Senators Assembled who had the Administration of the Publick Affairs The perpetual Fire was kept there The Laws of Solon were there in deposito and such illustrious men as had done any signal service for their Country were maintained there and their Posterity at the Publick Charge On the right hand towards the Temple of Theseus there was a Grove dedicated to the Heroina Aglaura daughter to King Cecrops and behind the Grove was a field Consecrated to Famine the field was called Limoupedion Formerly the Gate called Hiera stood at the end of this field Hiera is as much as sacred and it was called so because it was the way to Eleusis by which they passed in their famous Procession belonging to the mysteries of Ceres â—n this place they had erected a fair Statue of Anthemocritus for whom they had also set up a Tomb by the Gate Dipylon Without the Port Hiera was anciently a large â—eubourg whose ruines are still visible It was called Hiera Siki or the Holy Figâ—â—â—e and the way to Eleusis was called Hiâ—ra Odos The Port Dipylon lies Eastward of the Hiera and betwixt them is another called the Ceramick Postern not far from whence is a place called Oenos where they sold their Wine which gave it its denomination for in Athens most of their chief streets are called from the principal Commodities that â—re sold there That space of the old Town that lies betwixt Dipylon and the Ceramick Postern was called Oeon or the Desert because though it butted upon the Ceramicus yet no part of the great affluence of people that passed there could be seen The Famous Temple of Anaceon was not far off which was Consecrated to Castor and Pollux by the name of Dioscâ—res Formerly Slaves were sold in it and when Pisistrates disarmed the Athenians he cause'd them to assemble in that place Westward of the Porte Hiera was the Pyraeum and the part of the Town betwixâ— them was called Heptachalcon throughâ— which Sylla came when he surprized Athens We contented our selves to view all thiâ— from a little Hill near the Arch-Bishop'â— Palace without troubling our selves to go to them that day we thought of nothing but running from one place to another aâ— if we had intended that way to have tyreâ— our curiosity besides people are quickly satisfied where nothing but ruines are to be seen Advancing from thence towards the ancient Gate called Pyraeum we saw severaâ— Portico's that of Attalus where the Râ—mans erected a particular Court and calleâ— it by their own name The Portico of Trecon called by Aristophanes Alphiton Stâ—â—â— because they sold Meal in it In it there was an excellent Picture of Helen drawn by â—euxis The Chapel of Heros Chalodos of which Plutarch speaks in the life of Theseus was not far off and by it a house where we saw several Statues of Potters Earth and among the rest the Statue of Amphictyon King Athens We saw likewise where stood the house of Polytion remarkable for the libertinisme of Alcibiedes when he prophaned the Mysteries of Ceres with the young Debauchees of the Town In process of time this house was turned into a Temple and dedicated to Bacchus Not far off was a Gymnasium of Mercuries with a Porticoe and Market-place of the same name and because nothing of Antiquity ought at least in my fancy to be lost and the least observation is to be recorded in that case it is not amiss to let you know that near the Portico there are to be seen the ruines of a large Courèon or Barbars Shop of which Lysias makes mention Behind this Portico is the Garden of Melanthus the Philosopher in which Garden the Orator Lycurgus was buried a little beyond we saw Statues representing a Combate betwixt Neptune and the Giant Polybot Not far from the Port du Pyraeum we saw a Temple considerable only for some certain Statues of Praxitiles his work from thence we went to the Pompeon which is the place where they deposite all the Implements and Utensils belonging to their publick solemnities Beyond that Gate there is a Tomb adorned with the Statue of a Horsman by Praxitiles own hand The old Pyraeum Gate was twice Musquet shot from where the new one stands now From thence we turned towards the Castle following a Path on the right hand that led us towards the ruines of the Temple of Jupiter Olympicus Titus Livius has very elegantly expressed its magnificence in these Templum unum in terris inchoatum pro magnitudine Dei The only Temple in the world begun with proportion to the Grandeur of a God But it was not finished in his days for the greatness of the design kept it unfinished for above seven hundred years though several Kings contributed largely to have it finished the Emperour Adrian perfected it at last at the expence of more than nine Millions It s circumference was about half a mile and in its whole extent scarce a place but was embellished with some excellent Statue more valuable for the curiosity of the work than for the Gold or Ivory which had been prodigally lavished upon them There was also to be seen the Temple of Saturn and Rhea the Grove of Olympia and a Ditch that has been famous ever since Ducalion's Flood for it is from tradition believed that the waters of that deluge were carried off through that and they fancy it the more credible because there is Ducalion's Tomb hard by There is also the house of Morychia and another of Charmidas who was a man of a most prodigious memory Southward of this Temple stood another dedicated to Apollo and called Delphinion it was also a Court that took cognizance of and judged finally in Causes where Murder was evidently committed and confessed but justified to have been done according to Law The old Port of Eugeus was hard by and his Palace not far off A little lower was the Quarter called Coepi or the Gardens where there was to be seen a Statue of Venus of Alcamenes his making in the opinion of Phidias the choicest of his work and esteemed rather a Miracle than a Master-piece There was likewise a Temple dedicated to Venus Vrania and by it another to Euclaea another to