tounding effect-in a few moments changing the quiet of unconcern into terror and despair-is described by the orator in a passage which for ages has been cited for its graphic beauty. It was addressed to the people.

"It was evening when a messenger came and announced to the prytanes that Elatea was taken. Then some of them, rising up instantly in the midst of their supper,* drove out those that occupied booths in the market-place, and set fire to the sheds; and others sent for the generals, and called for the trumpeter; and the city was full of uproar. On the morrow, as soon as day dawned, the prytanes summoned the Senate to the council-chamber, while you proceeded to the place of public assembly, and, before the Senate had deliberated and framed its decree, all the people had taken their seats above. Afterward, when the Senate came in, and the prytanes announced what had been reported to them, and introduced the messenger, and he had spoken, the herald asked, 'Who wishes to harangue ?' But no one came forward. And while the herald asked repeatedly, none the more did any one rise, though all the generals and all the orators were present, and the common voice of the country called upon whoever was capable of it to give counsel for its deliverance; although, if it had been necessary for those who desired the salvation of the city to come forward, all of you would have risen and mounted the platform."†

It was at this juncture that Demosthenes arose to encourage the dispirited people, and advised the fitting out of that expedition which was brought to so disastrous a termination at the Battle of Charonea.

Having satisfied our curiosity, we returned to the village of Drachmani, and thence pursued our way toward Pundonitza, crossing Mount Cnemis near a hill of remarkable turret-like form, called Fontana. On reaching the top of the ridge, it became evident, from the absence of fresh tracks on the road, that our baggage-train and J., who accompanied it, though

* The prytanes were a committee of fifty members of the council, who presided in the assemblies of the people, and supped every day at the public expense in the prytaneum.

Demosthenes de Coronâ, p. 284.

A PAPAS AT PUNDONITZA.

253

they started before us, had not passed that way. Some peasants whom we met also confirmed our surmises by saying that they had met no travelers. In such a predicament, we concluded to leave Nicholas in the pass until nightfall, while H. and I rode on alone to Pundonitza. The path, it is true, was not very distinct at all times, and it led through a district overgrown with bushes and trees; but, by following the general direction given to us, we descended the ridge in safety, and in a couple of hours found our way to the village.

Our first inquiry on arriving was for the Papas, or parish priest, at whose house we had been told we should find a welcome, and the best quarters. On either score we found no reason to complain. The priest seemed to welcome us with unfeigned cordiality, and was overjoyed on finding out who had sent us to his house, and that we could keep up a conversation with him in his own language. He introduced us to his papadia (for he was a married man), and as it was late in the afternoon, and we might well be hungry, insisted on setting before us his own simple fare-bread and cheese. We were particularly pleased with the manners and spirit of this poor and illiterate priest, who forcibly reminded me of Papa Trechas, whom all who have read Coray's introduction to Homer's Iliad will remember. In politics his views were liberal, free from the Russian tendencies that render the influence of the clergy so baneful to the country's welfare; while his religion seemed heartfelt, for the most part devoid of bigotry, and very evangelical.

The cool evening air tempted us to spend our leisure moments in strolling to the ruined fort, a short distance off. The village stands upon an extended plateau, on the very edge of the principal declivity of Mount Cnemis, which, on the east, falls abruptly toward the sea, but toward the north overlooks the plain of Lamia and Thessaly. Just at the commencement of the descent stood the ruined Turkish or Frank castle, to whose picturesque ruins we directed our steps, in order to gain the best glimpse of the country beyond. The hillock on which it stands must have been fortified even in the most remote antiquity, so important, in a military point of view, is the situation. Accordingly, we found some remnants of true Hellenic

walls, which can be distinguished from all subsequent additions or repairs by the large and regular blocks of which they are composed, and the entire absence of mortar in the seams. Pundonitza was more prominent, however, in the Middle Ages than either before or afterward, and became the seat of a Marquis, who ruled over a large Frank territory, comprising a great part of ancient Locris and Phocis.* But of the Frank period nothing remains beyond a ruined chapel and a cistern or two of large size.

We had nearly given up all hope of seeing our companions before the next morning, when, between eight and nine o'clock, they drove into the court. Nicholas had succeeded in meeting them, and thus relieved us from the disagreeable necessity of losing another day at this place.

On the morrow, we commenced at an early hour to descend from our high position into the lower part of Locris. The eye could not weary of contemplating this extended prospect. The quiet Maliac Bay, or Gulf of Lamia, shut in by the island of Euboea on the right, occupied the central portion. To the left was the fertile plain of Lamia, watered by the Sperchius, and beyond rose the high mountain range of Othrys, the northern boundary of modern Greece, We were approaching Thermopyla, a couple of hours or more distant from Pundonitza. First, we saw on our left, between the high and precipitous hills above Thermopyla and the higher Mount Callidromus, the pass-rough and difficult, it is true, but yet practicable-disclosed to Xerxes' army by the treachery and avarice of a neighboring peasant, Epialtes. Through it Hydarnes was sent, with a detachment of the Persian force, to turn the position of the Lacedæmonians, for whom nothing now remained but death or instant retreat. Descending farther, we passed a rivulet or two, one of which was doubtless the fountain where the Spartans were discovered by the Persian spies adorning their hair previous to the contest. Here, too, was the supposed tumulus of the Greeks, over which were inscribed those world-renowned lines:

"Go, stranger, tell the Spartans, here,

Obedient to their laws, we lie."

*Buchon, La Grèce Continentale et la Morée, p. 285.

PASS OF THERMOPYLE.

255

Near this famous spot are yet seen the foundations of the first part of a great northern wall, built in a subsequent age, and stretching from this point to the shore of the Gulf of Corinth, beyond Delphi. The builders doubtless hoped, by this permanent construction, to preclude the possibility of any future barbarian inroads; but their posterity received a lesson, often taught, but rarely learned, except by bitter experience, that neither walls nor fortresses, be they ever so strong, are of much avail when they cease to be defended by the courage and intrepidity of patriots and freemen.

We reached Thermopyla at length, and found the spot very different from our preconceived notions. But this disappointment was greatly owing to the changes which nature herself has effected. Thermopyla is no longer the narrow pass where a few hundred brave Spartans could for days hold at bay the hundreds of thousands of the enemy. A wide strip of land now stretches three miles to the sea, where, as Herodotus tells us, the space between the mountain and the sea was once narrow, and there was but a single road.* In spring and winter a great part of this is rendered impassable by the *Herodotus, 7, 200.

marshy character of the soil; but in midsummer an army might march through any part of it. This is the result of the long-continued action of the Sperchius and other smaller streams, whose waters are surcharged with alluvial matter, sand, and mud, which they deposit at their mouths. Thus, it is not only a well-ascertained fact that the plain of Lamia has extended itself very considerably toward the east and the island of Euboea, but the same process is seen strikingly in present operation. The Sperchius, or rather each of its two mouths, has formed for itself a long and curved tongue of land, jutting out like a pier, through which it flows into the sea. Two such moles on opposite sides of the Maliac Gulf have stretched far toward each other, and may, in the course of centuries, unite and inclose a salt lake, which may some day be drained. It will be readily imagined that such a process, continued for a series of years, owing to the shifting of the beds of the rivers, would produce a remarkable change in the physical aspect of the country.

Here, then, it was that Leonidas, with his gallant band, met the overwhelming forces of the Persian king, and perished in the unsuccessful conflict. Here, too, the Roman legions were opposed by a less resolute people. And, last of all, the modern Greeks showed almost equal heroism in the defence of the pass, when the operations of nature, during long ages, had combined with the inventions of modern art to render ineffectual all valor and resolution. What has given to the spot such importance, both in ancient and in modern times, is the fact that the only road from the north, on the eastern side of the peninsula, must enter Greece at this point.

Next to the battle-scene itself, that which interested me most was the celebrated hot spring, from which the neighborhood derived its name of "Thermopyla," or the "Warm Gates." There are, indeed, two springs; but the most remarkable, by far, is that which rises in the very midst of the ancient pass. Beyond a couple of small salt ponds we reached a plain composed of a white calcareous deposit, formed by the water flowing from the spring. Even twigs remaining a short time immersed in it, are incrusted as with stone; but it is brittle, and cracks to pieces when handled. As we