63S Chuteauhrland *s Travels 
Tears came into my eyes when I fixed 
them on this miserable hnt, erected on 
the forsaken site of one of the most re¬ 
nowned cities of the universe, now the 
only object that marks the spot where 
Sparta flourished, tire solitary habitation 
of a goat-herd, whose whole wealth con¬ 
sists in the grass that grows upon the 
grat'es of Agis and of Leonidas. 
Without waiting to see or to hear any 
thing more, I hastily descended from the 
castle, in spite of the calls of my guides, 
who ’Wanted to show me modern ruins, 
and tell me stories of agas, and pachas, 
and cadis, and waywodes. 
I deternjined, not to lie down, to em¬ 
ploy the night in taking notes, to pro¬ 
ceed the next day to the ruins of Sparta, 
and then continue my journey without 
returning to Misitra. 
We proceeded for an hour along a 
road running direct south-west, when, at 
break of day, I perceived some ruins and 
a long wall of antique construction: my 
heart began to palpitate. The janissary 
turning towards me pointed with his 
whip to a whitish cottage on the right, 
and exclaimed, with a look of satisfaction, 
“ Palaeochori V’ I made towards the 
principal ruin, which I perceived upon an 
eminence. On turning this eminence by 
the north-west for the purpY)se of ascend¬ 
ing it, I was suddenly struck with the 
sight of a vast ruin of semicircular form, 
which I instantly recognised as an ancient 
theatre. I am not able to describe the 
confused feelings which overpowered me. 
The hill at the foot of which I stood, was 
consequently the hill of tlie citadel of 
Sparta, since the theatre w^as contiguous 
to the citadel; the ruin which I belield 
upon that hill was of course the temple 
of Minerva Chaicimcos, since that tem¬ 
ple was in the citadel, and the fragments 
of the long w^ail which I had passed 
lower dov/n must have formed part of tlie 
quarter of the Cynosuri, since that quar¬ 
ter was to the north of the city. Sparta 
was then before me, and its theatre, to 
which my good fortune conducted me on 
my first arrival, gave me immediately 
the positions of all the quarters and edi¬ 
fices. 1 alighted, and ran all the way up 
the hill of the citadel. 
Just as I reached the top, the sun \vas 
rising behind the hills of Menelaion. 
What a magnificent spectacle ! but how 
melancholy ! The solitary stream of the 
Kurotas running beneath the remains of 
the bridge Babyx; ruins on every side, 
and not a creature to be seen among 
/ihfcin. X stood motionless, in a kind of 
in Egypty Talesiint^ Uc, 
stupor, at the contemplation of tli's 
scene, A mixture of admiration and 
grief, checked tlie current of nvyj^tboughls, 
and fixed me to the spot; profound si¬ 
lence reigned around me. Determined, 
at least, to make echo speak in a spot 
where the human voice is no longer 
heard, I shouted with all rny* mights 
“ Leonidas! Leonidas!’^ No ruin re¬ 
peated this great name, and Sparta her-, 
self seemed to have forgotten her hero. 
Wlien my agitation had subsided, I 
began to study the ruins around me. Tlie 
summit of the hill was a platform en. 
compassed, especially to the north-west, 
by thick walls. I went twice round it, 
and counted one thousand five hundred 
and sixty, and one thousand five hundred 
and sixty-six ordinary paces; or nearly 
seven hundred and eighty geometrical 
paces ; but it should be remarked, that 
in this circuit I comprehend the whole 
summit of the hill, including the curve 
formed by the excavation of the theatre 
in this hill. It was this theatre that 
ieroi examined. 
Some ruins partly buried in the ground, 
and partly rising above the surface, indi¬ 
cate, nearly in the centre of this plat¬ 
form, the foundations of the temple of 
Minerva Chalcioscos, where Pausanias in 
vain sought refuge and lost his life. A 
sort of flight of steps, seventy feet wide, 
and of.An extremely gentle descent, leads 
from the south-side of the hill down to 
the plain. This was perhaps the way 
that conducted to the citadel, which was 
not a place of any great strength till tlie 
time of the tyrants of Lacedaemon. 
At the commencement of these steps, 
and above the theatre, I saw a small 
edifice of a circular form, three-fourths 
destroyed : the nitches within it seem 
equally well ailapted for the reception of 
statues or of uru'^. Is it a tomb ? Is it 
the temple of the armed Venus? The 
latter must have stood nearly on tliis spot 
and belonged to the quarter of the 
Egides, Caesar, who boasted of being 
descended from Venus, had the figure 
of the armed Venus engraved on his 
ring ; it was in fact, the two-fold em- 
bleui of the weakness and glory of that 
great man. 
If the reader wm'II place himself with 
me upon the hill of the citadel, be will 
.then have a view of the following ob¬ 
jects around him : 
To the east, that is, towards the Euro- 
tas, a hill, of an oblong form and levelled 
at the top, as if for the purpose of a 
raoe-course or hipprodome. Two other 
4 hills, 
