Vraunon is seated at the edge of the plain, on the roots of Pentelicus. The village of Marathon is at a little distance up a valley which opens into the plain. Near Vraunon we are shewn two tumuli, which have been imagined to contain the bones of the Athenians and Platæans who fell in the conflict, but they are so nearly obliterated, that I should have passed them without notice, had they not been particularly pointed out to me. At some distance to the south, a much larger, and very conspicuous tumulus is assigned to the Persians, but Pausanias does not seem to have been aware of its existence. In our next day’s excursion, we thought we could distinguish traces of other tumuli, considerably more to the eastward, as well as some foundations of buildings, which might merit investigation.
There is a deep ravine behind Vraunon, which exposes beds of white Pentelic marble, and of the veined marble of the portico at Athens. The Styrax officinalis added to the beauty of the scene by its profusion of flowers. On the 26th, we rode over to Rhamnus, now called Hebræocastro. The first part of the way lies across the plain of Marathon, and by the edge of the marsh, great part of which is now dry, but it bears marks of being occasionally overflowed. Afterwards we passed by the vestiges of an ancient temple, and began to ascend the hills, over ground covered with cistus (Cistus Monspeliensis); and afterwards through beautiful forest scenery shaded with the Vallonia oak (Quercus Esculus).[[35]]
The situation of the temples at Rhamnus again called forth our warmest admiration, and in scenes of such surpassing beauty one is generally disposed to think the last best. The immediate neighbourhood is wild and desolate, broken with rocks, and covered with brushwood; and the finely varied lines of the island of Eubœa, with its cultivation, its olive-grounds, woods, rugged hills, and snowy mountains, were spread before us, beyond a sea of the deepest blue, and illuminated from a sky, which, though brilliant, exhibited a proportional intensity of colour. There were two temples almost touching each other, but not parallel, and very little is standing of either: one is very ancient, of Cyclopean masonry; it is supposed to have been lined with wood, and some of the nails of this lining have been found: the other is of the finest period of Grecian art, built, as we are told by Pausanias, by Alcamenes, a pupil of Phidias; but for a description I shall refer you to the work of the Dilettanti Society.[[36]] Fragments of very fine sculpture lie about in great profusion, and I could not but regret that the missionaries of that society had not employed themselves in collecting and arranging them, instead of, as they are accused of doing, breaking some which were more perfect. The town of Rhamnus was about a mile from these temples, on an insulated hill close by the shore; there are considerable remains of the walls, and within the inclosure, a marble chair, and some other fragments.
We returned by the road we came to Vraunon, and slept in the same convent, intending on the 27th to visit the quarries of Pentelicus, but I had for some time past been troubled with indisposition, and a gathering in the knee during this excursion had been exceedingly painful. It was highly inflamed by the exertion of going to Rhamnus, and my courage failed at the prospect of a still more painful effort. I therefore took the shortest road to Athens, with Capt. T., who very kindly accompanied me, while Messrs. B. and S. rode round by the village of Marathon. Our route lay across some of the lower branches of Pentelicus, following a steep and rugged road, among bushes of Arbutus Unedo and A. Andrachne, with sometimes woods of pine, or groves of Vallonia oak. We passed through the village of Kephisia, near the sources of the Cephissus, an elevated situation, but well watered by little rills collected from Pentelicus, and surrounded by olive-grounds and vineyards, and gardens filled with almond, quince, and fig-trees. We were detained at the gate of Athens, on account of increasing reports of the plague at Negropont and Thebes, and could not obtain admittance without the interference of our consul.
The plague is a curious disease, and the regulations adopted in different places to prevent it, are still more so. At Negropont, (a corruption of Evripo, which is the real modern name) about sixty miles from Athens, it has existed more than a twelvemonth, and as it is the residence of the pashaw, whose jurisdiction extends over Athens, the communication is direct, and very frequent. At first there was a vaivode at Athens who was willing to take some precautions: I know not what they were, but they must have been very trifling. When the present vaivode came, the Greeks applied to him to authorize similar measures; he replied, that if they presumed to set a guard at the gate, he would order him to be shot; and that if any man shut up his shop in consequence of reports about the plague, he should be immediately bastinadoed. In the course of this spring the disorder spread to some villages near Thebes, and the European consuls at Athens made an application to the pashaw of Negropont, who authorized them to station a guard at each entrance into the town. This was accordingly done: two of the gates less used were nailed up, and the earth heaped against them, for the double purpose of keeping them closed, and of preventing any unlucky wight from creeping beneath them; but in one place a large hole in the city walls, through which a short man might walk upright, was left unnoticed; and there were several mounds of earth against them, by means of which a person might get over with little difficulty. In this state of things, a French gentleman from Salonica arrived at Athens, having slept in his way at Thebes. He was stopped at the gate, and sent for the French consul to obtain admittance; but after a short time, being tired of waiting, put spurs to his horse, and galloped into the city, in spite of the opposition of the guard. I dined in company with him the very same day, and he assured us that the plague was undoubtedly in Thebes. The hole in the wall was then stopped up, the mounds of earth dug away, and a guard established on the frontier, of which our landlord was a member. Within two days, a messenger from Negropont threatened to shoot the guard, and entered in spite of it. Meanwhile reports increased; it was said that the plague had reached Megara and Eleusis, and a letter from Thebes was shewn, by authority of the vaivode, stating that eighty persons had there died of it in the course of a month. Athens is principally supplied with corn from that neighbourhood, and we were told afterwards, that the vaivode having a considerable quantity on his hands, encouraged these reports, in order to enhance his price, and had even falsified the letter, by changing eight to eighty. Soon after this I left Athens with a bill of health, which procured me admission at Egina; but when at Corinth, I heard of many persons, and amongst others, the French consul general, having been stopped at the port of Cenchrea, and not permitted to come to Corinth, although they had clean bills of health from Athens. We had very minute accounts of the plague from Athens itself, and the old physician was exceedingly angry with me for doubting them, but before I left Corinth, he produced us documents which proved the former statements to have been false.
The plague has diverted my narration from its regular course, but I now return to the order of events. A difference in the mode of computing Easter between the Greek and Roman churches, made it arrive very early this year in Italy, and very late here, not indeed till the 28th of April. On that day the Greeks and Albanians, drest in their best clothes, assemble with music and dancing at the temple of Theseus. The Greeks here dress generally in dark colours, but the Albanians prefer lively hues, and the petticoat of the men is always white, but with a coloured border. The scene was gay and splendid, and the more interesting, as it probably conveyed a picture of ancient times, and is perhaps the offspring of some pagan festival; it was however, over at noon; and the parties dispersed to their homes.
On leaving us at Marathon, Capt. M. very kindly gave an invitation to Sharp and myself to meet him at Hydra, when he would take us to Malta.
Various circumstances induced Mr. Sharp to avail himself of this opportunity, and he left me on the 3rd of May. On the next day Mr. B. set off for the Argolis, whither I promised to follow him as soon as the swelling on my knee would permit me to move. It had always been part of my plan to visit at least, Eleusis, Megara, Thebes, and other places within a short journey of Athens; if not to make a longer tour on the Greek continent, as soon as the spring was a little advanced; but the increasing reports of the plague have made me change my determination. It is not that I feel myself in much personal danger, but the continual precautions, and the necessity of performing a sort of quarantine at every town, would have made travelling exceedingly unpleasant.
LETTER LI.
FROM ATHENS TO MALTA.
Lazaretto at Malta, 6th June, 1818.