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CATANIA. 



Catania, ing from Italy, then a Grecian colony, from which 

 T"""' they had been expelled. From them Sicily derived 

 the name it still retains. Having established them- 

 selves in possession of Catina, they enacted whole- 

 some laws, under which it prospered, until Gero the 

 first of Syracuse, growing envious of their prosperity, 

 and confident in his own power, attacked the city, 

 which he soon sacked. He removed the inhabitants 

 to Leontium, now Leontini, and supplied their pla- 

 ces with new settlers from the Peloponnesus. So am- 

 bitious was Gero of the reputation of founding cities, 

 that he attempted to abolish the name of Catina, call- 

 ing that place Etna, and himself a citizen of Etna. 

 His death, which happened in the first year of the 

 79th Olympiad, afforded a favourable opportunity, 

 which the Sicilians eagerly availed themselves of, to 

 drive the Grecian intruders from their territory. Af- 

 ter succeeding in their enterprise, they entreated their 

 countryman Carondas to quit the asylum to which 

 he had fled, in Italy, on the conquest of Catina by 

 Gero, and to return to his native city, to assist them 

 in framing laws for their government ; and the result 

 evinced the wisdom of the measure, for Catina again 

 prospered. It next fell a prey to the Carthaginians, 

 who proved themselves the greatest scourge it had 

 hitherto experienced. In the 93d Olympiad, Dio- 

 nysius, tyrant of Syracuse, obtained possession of 

 Catina, through the perfidy of Archilaus, the prefect 

 of the place. The tyrant plundered the city, and 

 laid it desolate ; he sold the inhabitants for slaves, 

 and gave their lands to others. 



The Roman yoke was the next which this ill-fated 

 city was destined to feel. While Sicily was a pro- 

 vince of the empire, it flourished ; but on the de- 

 cline of that power, it fell a prey to the Saracens : 

 and from the period of their expulsion by Roger the 

 Norman invader, it shared the chequered fortune of 

 the island, until its settlement by treaty upon the se- 

 cond branch of the royal family of Spain, now the 

 only branch of the once powerful house of Bourbon, 

 from whose hands the sceptre has not been wrested. 



Catania was laid in ruins by an earthquake in 

 the year 1693 ; and upon the situation which it oc- 

 cupied, the present city was built, the lava serving at 

 the same time for a foundation as well as a quarry, 

 from which stone was dug for its construction. 



Situated upon a declivity, and a level at its base, 

 the aspect of Catania is magnificent and imposing, 

 from the number of public buildings, the width and 

 regularity of the streets, and the size of many of the 

 dwellings of individuals. There are upwards of fifty 

 religious edifices of different descriptions, including 

 churches, convents, and monasteries. The cathedral, 

 dedicated to St Agatha, was founded in the year 

 1094, and richly endowed by Roger the Norman ; 

 but it has often suffered dilapidation from earth- 

 quakes, and its appearance is said to be greatly alter- 

 ed from the repairs it has received. 



The Benedictine convent of St Nicholas, which 

 occupies a large space in the higher part of the town j 

 is a spacious mass of building, capable of accommo- 

 dating more than twice the number of its inmates. 

 The size and splendour of the convent bespeak the 

 opulence of their order. Nobility of birth is an in- 

 dispensible requisite, exacted by the rule of the con- 

 vent from thooe who are candidates for a share of its 

 comforts. It is not easy to reconcile this with the 



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profession of a religion, the essential doctrine of which Catania- 

 is humility. In the church of the convent there is ^^-^v"" 

 an exquisite organ, which has been rated inferior on- 

 ly to the celebrated instrument in Antwerp. The 

 museum, occupying one wing of the convent, con- 

 tains many valuable curiosities, the most interesting, 

 of which have bei-n found in Sicily and Italy. As it 

 is within the convent, men only are admitted ; but 

 they are readily admitted at suitable hours. 



The church, though very splendid, is decorated 

 with paintings of little merit, representing chiefly, 

 miracles. In one, St Benedict is seen flying through 

 the air, without the uncanonized appendage of wings, 

 holding in his hand a youth suspended by the hair. 

 The writer of this article was told by one of the 

 brothers, that the boy was a Christian captive, who, 

 lamenting the loss of his religion, prayed fervently 

 to the saint, while discharging the office of cup- 

 bearer to the sultan. Benedict propitiously heard his 

 pious importunities, and quick as lightning descend- 

 ing through the dome of the apartment, seized the 

 boy by his flowing locks, flew off with him, and 

 landed him in safety in his father's house, in as short 

 a time as any magician in the Arabian Nights could 

 have done, leaving the Grand Turk in astonishment 

 to lament his rapti Ganymedis honores. 



In the Sanctum Sanctorum of this church a most 

 precious relic is shewn, which a heretic observer might 

 readily mistake for a rusty fragment of a ten-penny 

 nail ; but the miraculous power with which this piece 

 of rusty iron is endowed, irrefragably proved it to be 

 no other than one of the identical nails that pierced 

 our Saviour at the crucifixion. When a stream of 

 molten lava, some years ago, threatened destruction 

 to the convent, the relic was brought from its depo- 

 sit, and held up in menace to the demon of the lava, 

 which accordingly was immediately turned from its 

 impious course. 



One of the breasts of Saint Agatha, the patroness 

 of Catania, is preserved to this day, from the time that 

 she suffered martyrdom in defence of her faith and 

 her honour, at the early age of fourteen ; from the 

 shrivelled remains of her, we are entitled to suppose 

 that she was full grown. Many other sacred morsels 

 of saints of both sexes, which, though equally well au- 

 thenticated, we shall not enumerate, oanctify tliis place. 



Narrow streets with lofty houses, has very often been 

 reprobated as an error in the construction of towns 

 in warm climates ; the modern Catania, however, 

 shews that the greatest possible inconvenience results 

 from the streets being made very wide, and the hou- 

 ses low. They are so spacious, that the buildings 

 scarcely afford any shade, consequently the heat and 

 glare of light produced by the direct rays of the sun,> 

 together with the reflection from the lava, of which 

 both the street and buildings are formed, are intoler- 

 able. 



The palaces of the nobility are begun upon so 

 magnificent a scale, that few of them are finished. In 

 making this remark, we are forcibly struck with the 

 uniformity of national character, apparent in some 

 circumstances, notwithstanding the changes that have 

 taken place in the government and laws of a country. 

 Plato said, that when a Sicilian sits down to supper, 

 he eats as if he never were to eat again ; when he 

 builds a house, he builds as if he never were to die. 

 Had the philosopher lived in the present times, every 



