312 



GREECE. 



unwilling to lose the corner on which he must otherwise have 

 heaped the loose stones gathered from the rest of the field, had 

 raised them in pyramids on these masses. In Judea the' same 

 causes might have led to the same economy of soil ; and perhaps 

 the prophet Micah alludes to some similar appearance in the vine- 

 yards of his own country, when he says, i. 6., " I will make Samaria 

 as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard," or to take 

 the expression of the Vulgate, " I will make Samaria as a heap of 

 stones, when a vineyard is planted." 



Aracova is famous for the quality of its wines. I had tasted some 

 of the grapes the night before ; they had been preserved during 

 the winter, by filling the jar in which the bunches were placed, with 

 wine. They were black, thinly scattered on the stalk, and of no par- 

 ticular flavour. The vineyards were soon passed, and the ascent 

 became more and more steep, until, in an hour's time from Aracova, 

 I was surprised by entering on a wide plain of considerable extent, 

 and under cultivation, where I expected to see nothing but rocks and 

 snow. High above this wide level the ridges of Parnassus rose on 

 the north and east, covered with snow and hid in clouds. The plain 

 before me could not be less than four or five miles across ; a large 

 dull looking village was placed in the middle of it ; a lake, 

 with banks most beautifully broken, was on my left. Not having 

 seen the other side of Parnassus, I have no means of judging as to the 

 advantages of the ridge above Tithorea, which Herodotus mentions 

 as the retreat of the Phocians during the Persian invasion. This 

 plain seems peculiarly fitted for the same purpose. The ground 

 would have afforded pasture for their cattle - , and some proportion of 

 food for themselves, and the ascent to it was so steep and narrow, 

 that it must have been defended by a very few men. The happy 

 situation of Greece protected it from the successive inroads of bar- 

 barous nations, which in Asia so repeatedly swept every thing before 

 them, and checked the progress of civilization. Against the Scy- 

 thian tribes, the iEgsean sea, and even the Hellespont, was a sufficient 

 rampart, and by a fortunate chance, the emigrations from the north- 



