FROM THE HELLESPONT TO RHODES. ..Ill 
mountain was consecrated by the breath of inspiration.* While 
more ancient records lei! of an Alcaeus, a Sappho, and a Pitta- 
cus; of Ariou, and Terpander; with all the illustrious names 
of Lesbian bards and sages, poets and historians; Cicero and 
Vitruvius expatiate on the magnificence of its capital.f Such 
was the nourishing state of the Fine Arts in the city of Mity- 
Iene,J when Marcel}u : s, after the battle of Pharsalia, retired to 
end his days there in literary ease, that a modern traveller, af¬ 
ter the lapse of seventeen centuries, could behold nothing but 
proofs of the splendor to which they had attained.^ The me¬ 
dals of Lesbos are less known than of any other island in the 
Archipelago; because those which have l3een described as its 
ancient silver coinage, properly belong to Macedonia.|| Yet 
the island itself has never been fully examined in modern times ; 
probably from its being so completely in the possession of the 
Turks. Toumefart, who has given us the best account of it, 
with that industry and erudition which characterize his wri¬ 
tings, had little opportunity for its investigation. According 
to his own confession, he was for the most part confined to the 
shore at Petra lest the captain, with whom he had contract 
ed for a passage to Ccmstautinuple, should sail without him. 
