628 Chateaubriand's Travels in Greeccy PalestinCy Sic. 
confounds Sparta and Misltra. lie also 
believed that notliiiig was letf of Athens, 
but a castle and a few cottages; 7iunc 
caSuI(E tantum supe?'sunt quadam. 
Martin Crusius, professor of Greek 
and Latin at the Universit_y of Tubingen, 
towards the conclusion of the sixteenth 
century, made diligent enquiries concern- 
ing the state of the Peloponnese and 
Attica. His eigi)t books, intituled, 
Turco Gracia, give an account of Greece 
from the year 1444, to the time in which 
he wrote. The first book contains the 
political, and the second the ecclesias¬ 
tical, history of that interesting country. 
The six others are composed of letters 
sent to different persons by modern 
Greeks. Two of these letters, contain¬ 
ing some particulars relative to Athens, 
deserve to be known. The first is ad¬ 
dressed in 1575, by Theodore Zygo- 
jnalas, who styles himself Prothonotary 
of the great Church of Constantinople, 
to the learned Martin Crusius, profes¬ 
sor of Greek and Latin literature at the 
University of Tubingen, and very dear in 
Jesus Christ.” 
“ Being a native of Nauplia, a town of 
the Poloponnesc, not far from Athens, 
I have often been at that city, I have 
examined w'ith care the objects which it 
contains, the Areopagus, the Old 
Academy, the Lyceum of Aristotle, 
lastly, the Pantheon, This edifice is 
the most lofty, and surpasses all the 
others in beauty. The exterior all round 
exhibits in sculpture the history of the 
Greeks and of the gods. Over the prin¬ 
cipal entrance in particular, you observe 
horses which appear absolutely alive, so 
that you may fancy you hear-,them neigh. 
They are said to be the work of Praxi¬ 
teles ; the soul and genius of the man 
have been transferred to the ston-e. 
There are in this place several other 
things worthy of notice. I say nothing 
of the opposite hill on which grow all 
kinds of herbs useful in medicine; a hill 
which I call the gardeti of Adonis. 
Neither do I say any thing concerning 
the serenity of the air* the excellence of 
the w'ater, and other advantages enjoyed 
by Athens; whence it happens that its 
inhabitants, now fallen into barbarism, 
still retain some remembrance of what 
they have been. They may be known by 
the purity of their language: like syrens, 
they xharm all who hear them, by the 
variety of their accents.—But why need 
I say more of Athens? The animal in¬ 
deed has perished, but the skin remains." 
The second letter, written to Crusius, 
by Simeon Cabasilas, a native of Acar- 
5 
nania, furnishes some additions to the 
information given by the Prothunotory. 
“ Athens v»'as formerly composed of 
three parts, all equally populous. At 
present, the first part, situated on an 
eminence, contains the citadel, and a 
temple dedicated to the unknown God; 
and is inhabited by Turks, Between 
this and the third is situated the second 
part, where the Christians live together. 
After this second part comes the thiid, 
over which is the following inscription; 
THIS IS ATHENS, 
THE ANCIENT CITY OF THESEUS. 
In this last portion is seen a palace, 
covered w-ith large marbles, and sup¬ 
ported by pillars. Here you still find 
inhabited houses. Tiie whole city may 
be six or seven miles in circumference, 
and contains about twelve thousand in¬ 
habitants.” 
Four important things are to be re¬ 
marked in this description. 1. Tfie 
Parthenon had been dedicated by tlie 
Christians to the unknown God, men¬ 
tioned by St. Paul. Spun unseasonably 
cavils with Guillet on the subject of this 
dedication : Deshayes has mentioned it 
in his Travels. 2. The temple of Jupiter 
Oiympius, (the palace covered with mar¬ 
ble) or at least great part of it was stand¬ 
ing in the time of Cabasiias: no other 
traveller has seen any thing of it but tl.e 
ruins. 3. Athens was then divided in 
the same manner as it is still; but it con¬ 
tained twelve thousand inhabitants, and 
has now no more than eight thousand. 
Some inhabited houses were then to be 
seen near the temple of Jupiter Oiym¬ 
pius; that part of the city is now de¬ 
serted. 4. Lastly, the gate with the 
inscription; This is Athens, the ancient 
citi/ of Theseus, has stood till our times. 
On the other side of this gate, next to 
Hadriannpolis, or Athena nova we read: 
THIS IS THE CITY OF ADRIAN, 
AND NOT THE CITY OF THESEUS. 
D’Anville, in commenting upon Des» 
hayes, has conferred celebrity on his 
work relative to Jerusalem j but it is not 
generally knowm iliat Deshayes is the 
first modern traveller who has given uji 
any account of Greece, properly so 
called: his embassy to Palestine has 
eclipsed his journey to Athens. He 
visited that city between tlie years 1621 
anti 1630. The lovers of antiquity will 
not be displeased to find here the ori¬ 
ginal passage of the first Travels to 
Athens, for that apueilatiou catmot be 
given to the letters of Zygomalas and 
Cabasiias. 
“ From Megara to Athens 1% but ft 
shQ|l 
