4822. 
_ My céceroni wishing, he sai, te shew 
me what he had not shewn to other 
Atravellers, pointed out two pillars still 
‘standing of the temple of Diana, for- 
merly the finest of Syracuse ; J did not 
take the dimensions of the two chapi- 
ters which exist in the larder of a pri- 
vate house, they are enormous and 
wery similar. I was assured, that 
notched as I saw them in the remain- 
der of the wall, they might be taken 
for the rock itself, and that the master 
of the house, wishing to make a reser- 
voir for water, on digging them, was 
quite surprised to find the joint_of the 
shaft. : 
The present city of Syracuse possesses 
nothing curious, if we except by all 
means its fortifications, which, joined 
to its excellent situation, renders it a 
-very strong fortified town. At one side 
of the city is the great port, which isa 
mile broad at its mouth, and five or 
six in circumference. It was on the 
opposite bank that the fameus battle 
took place between the Syracusans and 
the Athenians, commanded by Nicias 
and Demosthenes; en ‘the other-side is 
the small -port where Archimedes 
burned the Roman gallies, carried 
them away and broke them on the 
rock: the place is still shown where 
these machines were found. Near to 
the city is a marble pillar, nearly 
twelve feet in circumference, and the 
pedestals dug out with some others, 
at equally proper distances; it is the 
site of the ancjent forum of Neapolis, 
for the city of Syracuse was composed 
of four others: viz. 
Ortygia, in the peninsula. 
Neapolis, at the bottom of the hill, and 
uear the great port. 
Tica, on the hill. 
Acradina, at the bottom of the hill, and 
near the small port. 
According to Strabo it comprised a 
fifth, viz. Epipoloe. 
The whole, it is said, were twenty- 
one miles in circumference, and con- 
tained 1,500,000. inhabitants. We 
coasted along that part of Neapolis 
which looks to the sea, and entered 
Tica, constantly walking on a sharp 
rock. I saw some remains of tombs, 
but none possessed any remarkable 
form. The traces of ancient streets 
fixed my atteution; they were neither 
wide, nor straight, nor well cut. It 
appeared to me, during the whole 
of my jowney, that even at Rome, with 
the exception of the consular routes, 
ox those necessary for the march of the 
MontuLy Mac. No. 364. 
Letters from the South of Taly. 
33 
armies, the ancients neglected this 
interesting part. I theu went towards 
the ancient fort which commands the 
four cities, and followed an aqueduct 
dug in the rock, which is two feet wide 
and nearly five in height. 
Those heaps of vast cubic stones over 
which we walked, are the remains of 
walls; they were seven or eight feet 
wide, and built without cement, like 
those of Peestum. ; 
In fine. we entered the interior of 
the grand fort of Syracuse. This vast 
subterraneous place, which communi- 
cates with Ortygia, was dug by Denis; 
it isofa fine construction, and cavalry 
four a-breast may easily pass through 
it. 
The fortress is a long, square build- 
ing, terminating on one side by four 
enormous massive stones, nine feet in 
width, fifteen in length, and twenty 
in height ; they leave between them a 
space of eight feet, from which the war- 
like machines, the balistas, &c. were 
discharged. I was surprised to see the 
whole of the apertures directed in the 
same way, which seemed to prove, by 
the distance of the walls from the fort, 
that the projectiles went much further 
than-we could ‘imagine. By carefully 
carrying away the rubbish which fill 
the intervening places, perhaps some 
remains might be found of the ma- 
chines of Archimedes. 
Being seated on the fort, and regard- 
ing the sea, [had on my right the large 
port, Ortygia, and the small port ; and 
on my left a port where the fleet of Mar- 
cellus lay at anchor at the time of the 
siege. 
On the slope of the hill, about two 
or three hundred paces from the fort, 
isa great wall which Denis constructed 
in forty days; a work which will sur- 
prise us at first, unless we consider that 
there were no difficulty in the trans- 
port, the matter being found on the 
soil itself. On turning round I per- 
ceived Mount Hybla-major, famous 
for its honey ; it supplies the waters of 
the city; and Mount Hybla-minor, © 
smaller, but nearer to the eye. In the 
time of Augustus the town of Hybla had. 
already been destroyed ; it was founded 
by the Doriens. 1 was afterward con- 
dueted towards a rock, the form of 
which seemed to indicate an ancient 
fort. I found there some men working 
at a kind of telegraph ; they showed me 
a very curious excavation: viz. a real 
bottle dug into the rock ; its neck was 
almost three feet in width, but I fear 
F not 
