COR 



215 



COR 



tration. The Genoese returned, and were again repul- 

 sed. A more formidable enemy now appeared in the 

 Turks, who, under the famous Barbarossa, had before 

 • unsuccessfully invaded the island. In the beginning 

 of Uie 1 8th century, a powerful army, aided by a large 

 train of artillery, invested the capital ; but after a brave 

 defence by Count Sculembourg, the ommander, they 

 were forced to retire with the loss of 1 .3,000 men and 

 64 pieces of cannon. The Venetian government shew- 

 ed their gratitude to this officer, by erecting a white 

 marble statue of him, with an appropriate inscription, 

 during his life ; an honour which few have enjoyed. 



Some time after the French began to disturb the 

 tranquillity of Europe, they made themselves masters of 

 Corfu, towards the latter end of the last century, and 

 were allowed to retain it by the treaty of Campo For- 

 mio in 1797. The fifth article of that treaty declares, 

 that " his majesty the Emperor, King of Hungary and 

 Bohemia, consents that the French republic shall pos- 

 sess in full sovereignty the Venetian islands of the Le- 

 vant, viz. Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura, Ce- 

 rigo, and other islands their dependencies ; as well as 

 Butrinto, L'Arta, Vonissa, and in general all the former 

 Venetian establishments in Albania, situated lower than 

 the Gulf of Lodrino." 



Corfu has ever since been the theatre of warfare : it 

 was taken by the Russians, and then by the French, 

 in whose possession it still remains. Not long ago, 

 a convoy with provisions destined for supplying the 

 garrison, was captured or dispersed by some British 

 ships of war. See Marmora htoria di Corfu. Quirini 

 Primordia Corcyrce. Spon et Wheler Voyage, torn. i. 

 Olivier Voyage, torn. iii. Scrofani Voyages, torn. i. iii. (c) 



CORIANDRUM, a genus of plants'of the class Pen- 

 tandria, and order Digynia. See Botany, p. 16.5. 



CORI ARIA, a genus of plants of the class Dioecia, 

 and order Decandria. See Botany, p. 337. 



CORINTH, was a small dynasty of Greece, bounded 

 on the east by the gulf of Saron ; on the south, by the 

 kingdom of Argos ; on the west, by Sicyon ; and on the 

 north, by the isthmus and bay of Corinth, the latter of 

 which is now called the Golfo de Lepanto. The ca- 

 pital of this territory, which bore the same name 

 with the territory itself, was situated about the mid- 

 dle of the isthmus, at about the distance of sixty 

 stadia from the sea on either side. It is said to have 

 been founded by Sisyphus, the son of iEolus ; but, 

 at first, it was denominated Ephyre, an appellation 

 which the ancient annalists derive from a lady of 

 that name, who was the daughter either of Oceanus 

 and Tethys, or of Epimetheus and Myrmex. Corin- 

 thus, who, by different authors, is said to be the son 

 of Jupiter, or of Marathon, or of Pelops, afterwards 

 rebuilt and adorned the city, and from him it received 

 the name by which it is chiefly known in ancient his- 

 tory, and has descended to our day. The only other 

 cities of any magnitude, in this country, were Cen- 

 chrea, situated on the bay of Saron ; and Lecheum, on 

 that of Corinth ; and as these possessed excellent har- 

 bours, at no great distance from the capital, and having 

 an easy access both to the Mgean and Ionian seas, 

 they became the greatest emporiums of trade of any 

 places in Greece. As the whole region was mountain- 

 ous and rather barren, the inhabitants were not much 

 addicted to agriculture ; but from their local situation, 

 they possessed singular advantages for commerce, which 

 they carried on to a great extent. The natural conse- 

 quences of an extensive., commerce were wealth and 



luxury : fostered in this manner, the city rose in mag- Corintk. 

 nitude and grandeur ; and the elegant and magnificent y m m v —' 

 temples, palaces, theatres, and other public buildings, 

 adorned with statues, columns, capitals, and bases, not 

 only rendered it the pride of its inhabitants, and the 

 admiration of strangers, but gave rise to that order of 

 architecture which still bears its name. Besides the ci- 

 tadel, built upon a mountain, which overlooked the 

 city, called Acrocorinthium, the works of art which 

 chiefly displayed the opulence and taste of this people, 

 were, the grottos, raised over the fountain Pyrene, sa« 

 cred to the muses, and constructed of white marble. 

 The theatre and stadium, built of the same materials, 

 and decorated in the most magnificent manner. The 

 temple of Neptune, containing the chariots of that god, 

 and of Amphitrite, drawn by horses covered over with 

 gold, and adorned with ivory hoofs. The avenue which 

 led to this edifice, decorated on the one side with the 

 statues of those who had been victorious at the Isth- 

 mian games, and on the other with rows of tall pine 

 trees. Though the arts of architecture and of sculp- 

 ture were carried to a great height, yet, in a city a- 

 bounding with trade and luxury, the sciences did not 

 take a deep root, nor were they enabled to attain maturity. 

 Even the art of war, which their situation, command- 

 ing both seas, and separating, by the isthmus, the one 

 half of Greece from the other, gave them great advan- 

 tages for prosecuting, was never resorted to for pur- 

 poses of ambition, but only for defence ; and it was 

 their wealth more than their valour that gave them any 

 influence amongst their neighbours. But though their 

 genius was not warlike, yet they cultivated peace, not 

 from indolence or pusillanimity, but from a wise esti- 

 mate of the blessings which it confers ; and hence 

 they knew to value and to defend their liberty and in- 

 dependence, which they never yielded either to inter- 

 nal despotism, or to external force ; and from amongst 

 them arose some of the foremost candidates for military 

 renown, who not only defended their own territories, 

 but were courted by the neighbouring states to lead 

 then- armies to fame and victory. We are sorry to add, 

 that their religion, which was a species of the most li- 

 centious idolatry, cherished, instead of checking, the 

 appetites and passions of its votaries ; and that the 

 statute which enjoined the temple of Venus to con- 

 tain a thousand prostitutes, was not the most disgrace- 

 ful of their civil and religious institutions. 



The exploits of Sisyphus, which have descended to 

 our day, like those of all the heroes whom we meet 

 amidst the mists of antiquity, are few and insulated. 

 After laying the foundations of Corinth, his life was 

 disgraced by rapacity and debauchery, which however 

 were not so much the vices of the man as of the age. 

 Prompted, at last, by the ambition of extending the 

 boundaries of his dominions, he invaded the territories 

 of Attica, and fell by the hand of Theseus who then 

 governed that kingdom Nor did the vengeance of hea- 

 ven pursue him in this world only. On account of 

 his crimes, if we believe the fabulous muse of Greece^ 

 Sisyphus is doomed, in hell, to roll a large stone to the 

 top of a mountain, which, when it has reached the sum- 

 mit, bounds backward with accelerated impetuosity, 

 and again invites him to renew his hopeless labour. 



He was succeeded by Gkucus, his son, by Merope the 

 daughter of Atlas. This prince, whom Euripides 

 calls Creon, received, and hospitably entertained Jason 

 and his wife Medea, when expelled from Thessaly by 

 Acastus ; but when he gave his daughter Glauce m 



