CHAPTER II.

THE PELOPONNESUS.

Province of ARGOLIS continued-Present condition of Corinth-Apostolical labors and Christian church in Corinth-Acrocorinthus, and the prospect from thence-Sicyon-Propensity of the Greeks to multiply churches-Ride to the Nemean plain-Customs on Easter Sunday-Isthmus of CorinthAmerican colony-Cenchrea-Isthmian town and wall-Hermione-Cranidi -Plain of Troezen-Commence our principal tour in the PeloponnesusEpidaurus--Grove of Esculapius-Ligurion-Plain of Argos-NauplionTiryns-Mycenae-The harvest season-Argos-Funeral and marriage processions-Fountain of Erasinus-Marsh of Lerna-Cross mount Parthenium into the province of ARCADIA.

CORINTH is situated on the verge of a plain somewhat elevated, and at a little distance from the southern extremity of the gulf bearing its name. Its situation enabled it to avail itself of the commerce of the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs, and of the Ægean and Adriatic seas, and anciently it was the mart both of Europe and Asia. Being the most commercial and richest, it became the most dissolute, of the Grecian cities. Upon this celebrated city the cup of cursing has long since been wrung out to its very dregs. Captured, plundered and devastated, successively, by Roman, Goth, Hun, and Turk, it was reduced, before the revolution, to about 1,000 Greek and 300 Turkish houses. The Bey of Corinth, however, extended his jurisdiction over 163 villages. During the revolution, lying as it did in the highway of both Turk and Greek on entering or leaving the Morea, and being the seat of a civil broil, it was pillaged and wasted by every party, and we found it a more perfect desolation than almost any other modern city in Greece. The extensive palace of Kamil Bey, with its fountains, baths and gardens, was level with the ground. The Kebla, or sacred side of one of its (a) Turner.

ANCIENT CHURCH OF CORINTH.

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three mosques, was all that remained of them, and the bullet-holes with which that was filled, showed in what abomination the religion of the Moslem is held by the Greek. Of six churches, the walls of one only were entire, and with the strictest truth may it be said, that not one private dwelling escaped destruction. The streets were obstructed by ruins, or rank weeds.

Amid this desolation, and just in front of the windows of our apartment, are the ancient pillars already mentioned. The antiquarian cannot trace their history, and they are supposed to have stood for at least twentyfive centuries.b They are seven in number, and each is a single block of stone covered with stucco, and black with age. About thirty minutes northeasterly from the city are the remains of an ancient amphitheatre, cut through the breccia crust. Round the

circumference, in caves worn beneath the rock, live about a dozen families-victims of penury and war, but now pensioners on American charity dispensed from the neighboring village of Hexamilia. One hundred and fifty or two hundred families seek a shelter among the ruins of the city.

Corinth, and its port Cenchrea, are the only places in the Peloponnesus mentioned in the Scriptures as having been visited by an apostle. To Corinth Paul made two visits. Here the Lord Jesus in a vision encouraged him to remain, and fearlessly preach the Gospel with assurance of success; here he labored nearly two years, and collected a church in which he seems to have felt an unusual interest; here, too, under the hospitable roof of Gaius, he composed the epistle

(b) Leake's Travels in the Morea.

(c) Paul expresses the hope, that in his next visit to the Corinthians, he might "preach the Gospel in the regions beyond them," 2 Cor. x, 16; implying, that, in his first visit, he went no farther westward than their city. This first visit was prolonged a year and a half. His second continued only three months; and considering how much he probably found to "set in order" in the Corinthian church, how much preaching and conversation he would find necessary, and also the important instructions for disciples abroad which we know he here committed to writing, it may be doubted whether he then penetrated any farther into the peninsula.

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PROSPECT FROM THE ACROCORINTHUS.

to the Romans. In both of his visits he had the assistance of Timothy. Apollos came to Corinth while these eminent missionaries were absent in other fields. Titus was at Corinth when Paul's first epistle arrived, or soon after; perhaps it was sent by him; at any rate he witnessed its good effects, and reported them to the apostle. What a distinguished ministry did Corinth then enjoy. The word of God makes honorable mention of some of the members of its church; and the church at large, although censured on account of certain irregularities, is on the whole commended highly by the apostle. It was enriched with all utterance and knowledge, so that it fell behind other churches in respect to no gift. It is true not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble were called into it; for God had seen fit to choose the unlearned, the weak, and the poor, that the wise and mighty and noble might be confounded, and "that no flesh should glory in his presence;" but he had shown what he could make of such by his new-creating grace, imparting to them "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption." Happy citizens of ancient Corinth! washed from the deep pollutions of their city, and fitted for mansions in the New Jerusalem, they have now their eternal home remote from the desolating storms and revolutions of this lower world.

One clear morning, while at Corinth, we ascended the isolated mountain on the southwest, shooting a thousand feet above the city, and crowned by the citadel called the Acrocorinthus. We wished to enjoy the view from its summit. Entering the citadel on the west side, where the mountain is least precipitous, we passed three successive gates and a ruined villageround to the Pyrene spring-then to the highest point, where, from the foundations of an ancient temple, we had one of the finest prospects in the world. Regarding only the mere natural scenery, the mountains, plains, seas, and islands, there is a charm, which no man gifted with reason and taste can fail to per

ceive, or can perceive without admiration. But how many pages of interesting recollections, historical and classical, does a single glance here call up to the mind of the scholar. Every object seems a volume;-the isthmus of Corinth, with its games, and wall, and the numerous armies and barbaric hordes that have crossed it the Saronic gulf, and Egina, and "unconquered Salamis" the Athenian acropolis, like a speck at the foot of mount Hymettus-the mountains of Attica, and others great in song, round to the long and lofty ridge of which Parnassus is a part-the site, and plain, and gulf of Corinth-the road to Nemea, to Mycenæ, to Argos, now seldom trod-and the mountains of Arcadia and Achaia, with Cyllene towering in snowy majesty above them all! One needs time, when on such a post of observation, to gaze long at single objects, and to reflect upon the several classes of great events with which they stand associated."

Both the Acrocorinthus, and the city beneath, are abundantly supplied with water; and this is one of the reasons why Corinth will be likely to rise again into importance among Grecian cities, if it does not become the very first. Neither Argos nor Athens abound in water. We counted fifteen villages on the plain, all in a ruinous condition. Flocks of sheep and droves of horses were seen here and there amid the luxuriant pastures. But there were no vineyards; and we ascertained that both the currant and wine, for which Corinth has been so famed, are the productions, one of the Achaian shore, the other of the plain of St. George.

On the 24th of April we crossed the plain to Basilicon, a distance of three hours, passing through a grove of about 50,000 olive trees not far from Corinth. The ancient Sicyon occupied a small, elevated plain, overlooking the one we had crossed, and backed by a low hill, in the face of which is still to be seen the sta

(d) Athens bore S. 85 E.; south point of Salamis, S. 78 E.; east peak of Geranium, N. 70 E.; west peak, N. 45 E.; Helicon, N. 40 E.; Parnassus, N. 4 E.; Cyllene, N. 72 W.; Hymettus, S. 83 E.

dium and a spacious theatre. The plain itself covers numerous foundations, just breaking through the soil, and presenting a most fertile field for the imagination of classic enthusiasts, who, from a few scattered stones, can new-create and describe all the beauties of the ancient edifices to which they are supposed to have belonged. Sicyon was one of the most ancient seats of Grecian power, celebrated as a school of the arts and for its sumptuous and tasteful monuments. Ascending to the top of the theatre, and sitting down on the highest seat commanding a view of the prostrate city and of a wide range of interesting objects, I could not help being solemnly impressed by the contrast here exhibited between divine and human works. The creations of human ingenuity and taste had all gone to utter decay, and nearly all had sunk into oblivion, while the works of God, all around the great natural amphitheatre, shone with undiminished glory.e

The present village contains about fifty families, and though partly destroyed, is in better preservation than any we had yet seen. Its principal church seems to have remained untouched. Around this edifice, it being the Friday before Easter Sunday, a considerable number of peasants were collected, and four priests were sitting before the door. The oldest of these, who said he had been a traveller and had seen Jerusalem, took me round (my companion being elsewhere employed) to point out the churches of the place, of which he affirmed there were thirty. Most of them are mere walls, and some only fragments of walls. We had previously seen, in the Ionian Islands, the strong propensity of the Greeks to multiply churches, when unrestrained by the civil power. In some of those islands, while the priests are more numerous than is desirable, the churches are three times as numerous

(e) Acrocorinthus, S. 45 E.; Geranium, S. 83 E.; Cytheron, N. 80 E.; Helicon, N. 68 E.; Parnassus, N. 7 E.; Cyllene, S. 87 E..