ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ATHENS. 



489 



Unfortunately, however, for the credit of Plutarch*, on whose 

 authority so much reliance is placed, the rise of the ground on this 

 side of the Acropolis, towards the spot where this gate stood, points 

 out very clearly the impossibility of the occurrence which he 

 mentions. 



This alone would lead us to suspect that the Dipylon had been 

 substituted by mistake for some other gate which lay more to the 

 south; and there is a story told by the same writer in his Moralia, 

 which countenances this supposition. He is treating of the following 

 question, — Which have the most natural sagacity, land or water 

 animals? " When Pericles," says he, " built the Hecatompedon in the 

 Acropolis of Athens, it so fell out, that the stones were to be fetched, 

 every day, the distance of many stadia ; and a number of carriages 

 were made use of for that purpose. Among the rest of the mules 

 that laboured hard in this employment, there was one that, although 

 dismissed on account of age, would still go down to the Ceramicus, 

 and meeting the carts that brought the stones, would be always in 

 their company, running by their sides, as it were by way of en- 



grew on it, and some paces farther west we saw a number of gardens and vineyards which 

 contained fruit-trees of a more exuberant growth than in any other part of the plain. 

 These gardens, in fact, chiefly supply the market of Athens with fruit and vegetables, and 

 they are distinguished by their superior verdure from several distant points of view. This 

 is attributed to the moisture of the soil here, from which cause the air is said to be very un- 

 wholesome in the summer months. The air of the Academy is recorded to have been of 

 this description, and Plato on that account was advised to remove from it." 



* The passage is given by Meursius : — ' Autos is 2u Wctg to peTugv t>jc TLetpouxris ttuAijc xai 



TTjg ' Irpaj xoncarxx^ictc xct\ <ruvo[ta.\6voi; o wepi t»jv ayopav po'voc s-xkayz TravTa tov iyto; 



tov AiavAou Ksj«|x=ixo'v. The gate, 'lego, or Sacred, was probably no other than the gate 

 Dipylon (see a subsequent part of this enquiry). If some word, toov Hf iWfor instance, could 

 be substituted in the room of Tspar, referring to the gates, called Hplxi by the Etymolog., 

 and probably near the Pireean, there would be little difficulty in the passage of Plutarch. 

 The fall of the ground here would have permitted the blood to have flowed in this direc- 

 tion, supposing the fact stated by Plutarch to have literally happened, and not to have 

 been an exaggeration. The slight alteration also of rmv Suo nuXoov (referring to the two 

 gates just mentioned), for tou A(7tuAou, would contribute to establish the writer's con- 

 sistency. 



3 R 



