A Tour Up the Straits, from Gibraltar to Constantinople / With the Leading Events in the Present War Between the Austrians, Russians, and the Turks, to the Commencement of the Year 1789

by Captain David Sutherland

CHAPTER. XIX.

TO CAPTAIN SMITH.

Athens, February 3d, 1789.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Athens still contains near ten thousand inhabitants, and has lately been enclosed by a wall, to defend it from the irruptions of the Albanians, who are ever ripe for a revolt, and have several times plundered the town. The neighbourhood abounds with olive trees, and the French have established a small factory for the culture of them. The ancient citadel is always kept in a state of defence; and, being situated on the flat surface of an unassailable rock, it is only to be subdued by famine, or a bombardment. But what most renders it an object of curiosity, is, its containing the superb Temple of Minerva, the most celebrated work of the illustrious Pericles. But, alas! of this magnificent pile, only enough is left to give us a faint idea of its former grandeur, and to make us lament the unhappy fate of so sublime an edifice. The columns which supported the south side, and part of the front, are still standing, with some elegant metopes, which represent the exploits of the different heroes of Athens, and the battle of the Amazons: but these are every year falling down, from a violent shock the remains of the temple received, about a century ago, from the Venetians, who, in bombarding the citadel, blew up a powder magazine within it.

From these ruins of fallen greatness, it is a pleasant relief to turn our eyes to the Temple of Theseus, which, being converted into a Greek church, is still perfect. Here the sympathetic soul enjoys the generous glow of admiration, in contemplating a monument of gratitude to a departed hero, and the satisfaction of seeing, that the ravages of more than two thousand years have not been able to affect the work of a grateful people in honor of a patriotic Prince: so may we hope, that, to the last day, it will remain a living proof of the generosity of the one, and of the merit of the other.

Theseus was the great grandson of Cecrops, and, like him, corrected the wandering manner in which his people lived, and formed them into civil societies; whence he is justly called the second founder of Athens.

In the preceding narration, I took no notice of the exploits of this Prince, because they are stories we have been accustomed to hear from our cradles, and, although founded on truth, are generally classed among those of the fabulous kind. For the same reason, I passed over the death of his successor, Mnestheus, at the siege of Troy, as well the expedition for the Golden Fleece, and the other events in which Athens was concerned previous to the invasion of the Persians.

The temple is an elegant edifice, supported by a beautiful colonnade, on a similar plan to the largest at Pestum. It was erected in the administration of Cimon, who, having discovered the bones of Theseus in the island of Shyros, where he was killed by a fall from a precipice, restored them to his native city. The metopes on the front, and part of the sides, are ornamented with basso relievo, representing the battle of the Centaurs. These, you may recollect, were nothing more than the cavalry of Thessaly, where the men were so perfect in the management of their horses, that, when mounted, they were supposed to be part of the same animal.

The east gateway, which was also erected to Theseus, remains tolerably perfect. It was repaired by Adrian, who added an inscription, importing that Athens was now become his city; and, indeed, by his liberality, he in some measure made amends for the depredations the Romans committed upon her ornaments, and earned the title of one of her founders. It was this Emperor who raised that superb pile the Pantheon, dedicated to all the Gods; which, by its grandeur, elegance and beauty, justly merited that exalted title. Out of an hundred and twenty columns, each eighteen feet in circumference, only nine are standing. They are of the finest marble, with very rich Corinthian capitals. Those of Theseus and Minerva are Doric.

The monument vulgarly called the Lanthorn of Demosthenes, being inhabited by a French Monk, and the octagonal Temple of the Winds, by a Turkish Dervise, are still entire. The former is light and elegant; the latter has nothing but its antiquity to recommend it; for the figures which represent the different winds, are so indifferently executed, that, were not their names inscribed below them, it would be impossible to know their qualities.

Some triumphal columns, and other monuments, are still left in tolerable preservation, besides a considerable part of the Theatre of Bacchus, and many other fragments and ruins, which I am less particular in describing, because we have taken exact plans of all of them.

The channel of the Ilyssus, whose banks were formerly so famous, is dry, even at this rainy season; and I have several times walked in its bed, as well as in the olive groves where Plato delivered his lectures. I have also been as far as the plains of Marathon, to pay my oblations at the shrine of Miltiades--an interesting scene to a Soldier, and of which my military friends may expect an exact description.

THE BATTLE OF MARATHON,
MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
TO
THE RIGHT HONORABLE
GENERAL ELIOTT,
LORD HEATHFIELD.

This celebrated field is about twelve miles in circumference, and a day's march from Athens. It is washed by the sea on the east, and surrounded by mountains on every other side, except the south-east corner, where the flat is continued a short space along the shore, and afterwards terminated by hills. The part where this slip joins the grand plain, has a large morass in its center, which extends pretty close to the hills on one side, and near the water's edge on the other.

There are two roads from the plains to Athens; the one by the morass, the other through the town of Marathon, which lies at the foot of the hills, nearly opposite the center of the plains.

Miltiades' army, in point of numbers, was not equal to one tenth of the Persians; but he knew that by waiting for them under the walls of Athens, he should abandon the country to their ravages, and submit to see them receive their convoys, and gather provisions unmolested; and possibly even subject himself to a famine. He therefore determined, at all events, to keep from between the enemy and the capital, and wait for an opportunity of attacking them to advantage. And this Fortune soon gave him. The Persians having reached the plains of Marathon, accompanied by their fleet, pursued the road nearest the sea. Their van had already ascended the heights, their main body filled the flat beneath, and their rear was passing the narrow space on the sides of the morass. Historians tell us, that Miltiades drew his whole strength into his wings, and particularly his right, leaving his center almost open. But as they have not been sufficiently minute in describing the scene of this memorable action, I could not thoroughly perceive the excellence of his disposition, until I beheld the field of battle.

The morass supplied the place of troops in his center. The space on the left was but narrow, consequently his greatest exertions were required on his right. This the General thoroughly understood, and at the moment the Persians were in the situation I have just described, he rushed from the town of Marathon, and by his admirable disposition, brought his whole force to act on the enemy's rear.

The Persians, encumbered and confined, and scarce able to use their arms, were instantly thrown into confusion, and hewn down in immense numbers. The main body faced about, and advanced to the assistance of the rear. The van, confident of victory from their numbers, descended from the heights to pursue their success. The whole crowded together in the narrow passes, making a general, confused attempt to break into the plain: but the Athenians constantly out-fronting them, and the immense numbers of the enemy only serving to incommode themselves, and to create confusion, they were slain as fast as they advanced. At length those in front, unable to withstand the terrible carnage that raged around them, attempted to fly; but being prevented from retreating by those behind them, who not having seen the slaughter, still pushed forward, they precipitately threw themselves into the morass.

Victory now declared for the Athenians, who, pursuing their advantage, fell with such violence on the disordered ranks of the enemy, that to escape their fury, their nearest opponents were compelled to turn, and in despair, forced their way through their own friends. A general rout immediately ensued, and the exertions of the Athenians encreasing with their success, they drove the enemy headlong before them. Near thirty thousand Persians fell by the sword. Numbers perished in the morass, and the rest, in confusion and dismay, escaped to their ships.

These, my Lord, are my ideas of the principles on which Miltiades acted, and what I have conceived to have been the plan of the battle, from seeing the plains on which it was fought. I am, however, aware that one of the causes to which I attribute the success of the Greeks--their out-fronting the enemy--was a less advantage in those days, than it has become since the invention of musketry and artillery. But although the Grecians made their grand exertions by close action, yet it is to be presumed, from the hilly, irregular country in which this army was generally to act, that it was not without a considerable corps of slingers and bowmen, who, in the disposition I have given, might act to the greatest advantage upon the enemy's flank.

It is needless to say that the Persians, by forming en potence along the sides of the morass, might have brought as many men into action as the Greeks; they were too much confused by the sudden attack, bordering on a surprise, to execute this manœuvre, and most likely their troops with missive weapons were not in this part of their army.

The most plausible objection to my plan is, that had the Persians, instead of engaging and crowding themselves in the situation Miltiades attacked them, made a retreating fight, till they passed the narrow flat, and secured the heights, it was then in their power, had Miltiades persisted in the attack, completely to surround him, by making part of the troop on the heights, in front, deploy along the eminence, and then descend in his rear, whilst the rest of the army, now advantageously posted on the heights, would probably have prevented his forcing their front.

This is, doubtless, what a good General would have done. But when the Generals are equal, how can men be expected to beat ten times their number? Miltiades was in one of those situations, where inaction is as fatal as a defeat; and it was his duty to seize every opportunity, in which it was in Fortune's power to favor his designs. He acted on these principles, and was crowned with the success his courage deserved.

At first the Athenians thought no praises they could bestow, equal to the merit of Miltiades; but in my letter from Paros, I mentioned the cruel persecution he afterwards suffered. But the death of this great man having disarmed the malice of his enemies, they soon became sensible of their shameful ingratitude; and as some atonement to the manes of their departed hero, they erected a monument to his memory on the plains where he gained his glory.

Of this sacred tomb, only the base remains. I picked up a chip of marble that had fallen from it, and was instantly impressed with the idea of having this honored relick set, with a suitable device, in some of the metal from the Battering Ships, destroyed before Gibraltar, and thus to commemorate and unite the greatest victory of Greece, with the most glorious achievement of Britain.