The first appearance of the silphium in the Cyrenaica is said by Pliny (on the authority of Greek writers) to have been occasioned by a sudden and heavy fall of rain, resembling pitch, which completely drenched the ground in the neighbourhood of the Hesperian Gardens and of the eastern confines of the Greater Syrtis. This miraculous shower is said to have occurred seven years before the building of the city of Cyrene; which was erected (says Pliny) in the year of Rome 143. He adds, also, on the authority of Theophrastus, (the author to whom he chiefly alludes in quoting Greek authorities above,) that the silphium extended itself over a space of four thousand stadia, and that its nature was wild and unadapted to cultivation, retiring towards the desert whenever it was too much attended to. We have already observed that great care was taken by the ancients to preserve the silphium from the sheep and cattle, the former of which were remarkably fond of it: when allowed to be eaten, it first acted medicinally upon the animals, and afterwards fattened them exceedingly; giving at the same time an excellent flavour to the flesh. Whenever they were ill, it either speedily restored them, or else destroyed them altogether; but the first of these effects was most usual. It is probable, however, that it only agreed with those animals which were accustomed to it; at least the plant now observable in the Cyrenaica, which answers to the description of the silphium, is very frequently productive of fatal effects to the animals (particularly the camels) who eat of it, not being accustomed to the soil. One of the reasons advanced by the son of Shekh Hadood, Abou-Buckra, for putting a high price upon his camels at Merge (on the occasion already before the reader) was that they were going into the country where the silphium was found, which, he said, was very dangerous for them to eat; and the camels which were sent to us from Bengazi, when we were about to leave Grenna, were kept muzzled during the whole time of their stay in those parts where the plant was known to be produced.
With regard to the effects of the silphium upon bipeds, (we mean those of the human race,) a few extracts from Pliny will fully suffice to convince us that it does not yield in omnipotence even to the famed balm of Gilead; or to that well known specific, and sovereign remedy for all complaints, distinguished by the humble title of Eau de Cologne. Certes, (observes this author, in concluding the remarks which we have quoted below upon the wonderful efficacy of his specific,) “if I should take in hand to particularize of the vertues that laser hath, being mingled with other matter in confections, I should never make an end;” and the reader will probably be somewhat of his opinion, before he has waded through half the wondrous qualities attributed to the omnipotent silphium. We give them in the good old English version of Holland[18].
We may add that the silphium was offered by the people of Cyrene to their first king, Battus, whom they deified, as the most valuable production of their country; and we have already observed that a representation of the plant is found on the reverse of their coins.
The resemblance of this representation to the plant which we found in the Cyrenaica is most conspicuous when the plant is young; and before the flower has quite opened, or the stem has attained its greatest height[19].
A little to the north-west of Margàd the road branches off in two directions towards Cyrene. The lower road, or that which is to the northward of the other, is the proper and ancient road; and traces of building are every where discernible in passing along this route, as we were able to ascertain in our return from Cyrene, which will hereafter be described. The southern road, however, is that which Abou-Bukra selected in escorting us from Merge to Grenna; and we afterwards learnt that he had done so in consequence of the feud which he had upon his hands, (already alluded to above,) which rendered it unsafe for him to travel along the road most usually frequented. We had passed the remains of some strongly built forts in our route from Margàd to Cyrene, and after ascending the high ground to the northward of Wady Bo̅o̅kasaishe̅e̅ta we came in sight of the numerous, we might almost say innumerable, tombs which encumber the outskirts of the town. It is well known that the burial-places of the ancients were usually without the walls of their cities; and we find the tombs of Cyrene, (like those of Pompeii and other places,) ranged along the sides of the roads by which the town is approached, and occupying, at the same time, the greater part of the space intervening between one road and another[20]. When we reflect that the inhabitants of this celebrated city have laid their mortal remains on the soil which surrounded it for more than twenty-four centuries, we shall not be surprised at the multitude of tombs which are everywhere scattered over its neighbourhood. They are all of stone, either constructed on the surface, or excavated in the rocky soil of the district; and as most of them have been defaced, or laid in ruins, (for there is not one of them which has not been opened,) the wreck of material with which the soil is encumbered may be more easily imagined than described. The road, when we had descended into the plain of Cyrene, continued to wind through the tombs and sarcophagi, and along the edges of the quarries in which the subterranean tombs have been excavated, for more than a mile and a half; we observed that it was occasionally cut through the rocky soil, and that marks of chariot wheels were still very evident in many parts of its stony surface.
These approaches to the town, for there are several of them, as will be seen by the plan, have the appearance of ruined and deserted streets; the tombs ranged on each side of them supplying the places of houses. The solemnity, we can scarcely say the gloom, of this effect is, however, enlivened by the variety of style which characterises the architecture, as well as by the difference in the plans and sizes of the tombs, and in the degrees of labour and finish bestowed upon them. The earlier tombs may be distinguished by their simplicity and good taste, the later by a more ornamented and a more vitiated style. A similar difference of style may be observed in the busts and statues, which are scattered about among the tombs; some of which have the Greek and some the Roman cast of countenance and costume, portrayed in the several manners peculiar to each nation, according to the age of the performance.
We were at first induced to stop at every object of importance which presented itself in our passage through these regions of the dead; but we soon found that such delays, however agreeable, would make it night before we reached the city itself if we continued to indulge in them as our inclination prompted; and we bade our conductor (the chaous from Bengazi) lead on to that part of it which he himself considered to be most worthy of particular attention. The taste of the African displayed itself on this occasion precisely in the manner which we had expected it would do; and after passing for some little distance along the edge of a ravine where we perceived the remains of an aqueduct, he descended by a gentle slope into a level spot of ground, overspread with remains of building, till we found ourselves at the foot of a perpendicular cliff and heard the grateful sound of running water. Nothing further was necessary to rouse the drooping energies of our horses, fatigued with the day’s journey, and parched with thirst from the heat of the weather; they sprang forward instinctively, without the stimulus of whip or spur, and plunging up to their knees in the cool clear stream drank deep of the fountain of Cyrene.
We are by no means indifferent to the beauties of antiquity,—nay we often imagine ourselves to be among their most ardent admirers; but we confess, to our shame, that, on this occasion, we followed the example of the poor beasts who carried us, and, springing from our saddles, took a copious draught of the fountain before we turned to pay our homage to the shrine from which it flowed[21].
FOOTNOTES:
[1]The flowers of the Cyrenaica are stated by Athenæus to have been famous for the odours which they emitted; and we learn from the same author that a most excellent oil, or ointment of roses, was made at Cyrene in the time of Berenice (the great Berenice, as the author here terms her, who was probably the daughter of Magas). Both Arsinoë and Berenice are said by Athenæus to have been great patronesses of fragrant oils and ointments at Alexandria; and we may believe with probability, that the Rigges and Gatties of Cyrene were equally encouraged by the royal protection. The roses which we saw had however no smell, (probably from want of attention,) although the woodbine and other plants were remarkably fragrant. Athenæus’s words are: ηκμασε δε και τα εν Αλεξανδρεια, δια πλουτον, και δια την Αρσινοης και Βερενικης σπουδην, εγινετο δε και εν Κυρηνη ροδινον χρηστοτατον, καθ᾽ ον χρονον εζη Βερενικη ἡ μεγαλη.—(Deipnosoph. Lib. xv. c. 12.)