CHAP. H.

Surgery and Medicine in · Greece.

who should find him, and take him safe to Signor Lusieri at Athens'. The next morning, our Consul Strani, and Captain Lacy, set out for Athens. Soon afterwards, we had a singular opportunity of judging of the state of medicine State of and surgery in this part of Greece, by the example which our host afforded. To the business of an apothecary he joined every other branch of the medical and surgical professions. A wealthy Turk, followed by his pipe-bearer. and a train of other attendants, entered the yard, and made application to our Esculapius for relief from an excruciating pain in one of his teeth. A bargain was instantly set on foot between him and the Greek; and upon promise of instant relief, a sum of money was paid. The Turk was then told, that the only hope of relief would be afforded by the extraction of the tooth. To this the patient assented; with great calmness and fortitude. Being seated upon.

a log of wood, in the open air, the operator thrust into his mouth a most terrific instrument, and presently out flew two of the soundest teeth in his head. It was a job not to be mended by apology; so, with matchless presence of mind, the Greek began to cross himself, telling his patient to call again the next day if the pain should return, as there was still an ugly-looking tooth remaining, which perhaps would prove troublesome, but it might be removed

in

(1) He was afterwards discovered, by an Albanian, upon the side of a mountain half-way between Thebes and Athens; and being taken to Signor Lusieri, was by him forwarded to us, in a vessel bound to Constantinople.

CHAP. II.

Antiquities of
Thebes.

in a twinkling. When his patient had quitted the premises, finding that we were disposed to rally him a little upon his dexterity, he made no secret of what had happened, but produced the two teeth, without even a speck upon either of them; saying, the Turk had asked for a sight of what he had lost, but was easily persuaded that some hungry turkeys, which had strolled into the yard and were making a great noise, had gobbled all that he desired to see.So much for his skill in this particular branch of his calling! As a physician, he entertained very high ideas of the efficacy of pills made of yellow silk and live spiders, in the cure of a quotidian, tertian, or quartan. However, as Englishmen, we had little reason to ridicule the Greeks for such superstitions with regard to the cure of an ague; since there is no part of Europe where the nostrums recommended as remedies for that disorder are so barbarous, as among the middle, and sometimes among the higher classes of society in our own country.

The antiquities of Thebes principally claimed our attention. In coming from the gate into the town, near a public fountain, there is an antient buttress or bastion, where, upon a large block of stone, we found one of those affecting inscriptions, of which two were given in the account of the island of Cos'; commemorating, as public benefits, the examples of women, who had rendered themselves illustrious by their virtues.

ΗΒΟΥΛΗ

(1) See p. 324 of the last Section of Part II. of these Travels. Broxb. 1814.

Η ΒΟΥΛΗΚΑΙΟΔΗΜΟΣ. . . .

ΘΕΟΓΕΙΤΟΝΟΣΠΕΜ ... ..

. . ΟΥ. ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ ΑΡΕΤΗΣ ΚΑΙ

ΣΩΦΡΟΣΥΝΗΣ ΕΝΕΚΕΝ

It sets forth, that "THE SENATE AND THE PEOPLE (honour) THE DAUGHTER OF THEOGITON, THE WIFE" of some person whose name is partly lost,

AND MODESTY."

66

ON ACCOUNT OF HER VIRTUE

And upon the opposite side of the street we found another, recording the grateful tribute of a citizen to Domitian, son of Vespasian, and brother of Titus, both of whom might have visited Thebes, for their father accompanied Nero into Greece. Whatsoever contributes towards the history of Vespasian's family, may be deemed worth preserving. Having risen from the humble station of a farrier, to that of a Roman sovereign, he was the first of the Emperors who was succeeded by his son upon the throne. It states, that "ARISTIDES, WITH HIS CHILDREN, AT HIS OWN EXPENSE, (honours) DOMITIAN, A SON OF THE

AUGUSTUS VESPASIAN:"

EMPEROR CÆSAR

ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑΝΟΝ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΑ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤ

ΟΡΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΥΟΥ

ΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝΟΥ,ΥΤΟΝ

ΑΡΙΣΤΙΔΗΣΣΥΝΤΟΙΣΤΕΚΝΟΙΣ

..ΑΙΚΩ ΚΑΙ ΑΡΙΣΤΊΔΗΕΚΤΩΝ ΔΙΩΝ

In the age of Alexander, there was at Thebes a painter of the name of Aristides, by some believed the inventor of encaustic painting; but this is disputed by Pliny', who, in

(2) Vid. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxv. c. 11. tom. III. p. 444. L. Bat. 1635.

his

CHAP. II.

Inscriptions.

State of

Painting in

the age of

Alexander.

CHAP. II.

his valuable account of this artist, has made us acquainted with two very curious facts. The first is, that picturecleaners did as much mischief in his time as they do now'. The second, that it is an error to suppose that the Greek painters, who generally represented the human countenance by a single outline in profile upon the terra-cotta vases, were not as well acquainted with the art of delineating the passions as the best of our modern artists. Take, for example, the interesting anecdote which Pliny has afforded, among others, of the dying mother lying wounded and bleeding among the victims in the sacking of a city, whose infant was represented as creeping to reach her breast, while in her countenance were pictured all the emotions of tenderness and fear, lest her child, wanting the milk, should suck the blood of its parent; a picture upon this account so highly valued, that Alexander caused it to be removed to Pella, the place of his nativity. Above four hundred years had elapsed from the death of this celebrated painter, when Vespasian visited Greece; but as professions and names continued in the same family in that country, and were often transmitted together to succeeding generations,

his

(1) Tragœdum et puerum, in Apollinis: cujus tabulæ gratia interiit pictoris. inscitia, cui tergendam eam mandaverat M. Junius Prætor sub die ludorum Apollinarium." Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxv. c. 11. tom. III. p. 439.

(2) "ARISTIDES Thebanus: is omnium primùm animum, pinxit, et sensus omnes expressit, quos vocant Græci ETHE: item per turbationes: durior paulò in coloribus. Hujus pictura est, oppido capto ad matris morientis e vulnere mammam adrepens infans intelligiturque sentire mater, et timere ne emortuo lacte sanguinem infans lambat: quam tabulam Alexander Magnus transtulerat Pellam in patriam suam." Plin. ibid. c. 10. p. 438.

his son might have found in Thebes a painter to represent his father's battles, who thus commemorates his gratitude for the patronage conferred upon him. It happened at a time when it was particularly the practice of the Romans to employ Grecian artists in such representations: and the graphic' illustrations of those conquests which Titus himself had achieved were not long afterwards exhibited in Rome, where they remain at this day.

CHAP. II.

of Thebes.

A very correct topography of antient Thebes might be composed from the traces still discernible. The situation of its seven gates might be ascertained: and as a beginning Seven Gates of this part of the work, it will be evident that the entrance, near to which these inscriptions were found, was that called, from the fountain we have mentioned, "the Crenæan Gate.” The city was demolished, it is true, above two thousand years ago, when Alexander invaded Greece: but since its restoration by Cassander, very little was done to it, which could possibly alter the appearance of its dykes and ramparts: upon these, time has little influence; and their situation and form serve to point out the position of the gates. Thebes was almost a deserted village in the age of Strabo':

but

(3) Pausanias calls the representations of things, by means of sculpture, in bassorelievo, ΓΡΑΦΑΙ.

(4) Θηβαίοις δὲ ἐν τῷ περιβόλῳ τοῦ ἀρχαίου τείχους ἑπτὰ ἀριθμὸν ἦσαν Túλai, K.T.λ. Pausania Bootica, c. 8. p. 727. ed. Kuhnii.

(5) Πύλας δὲ Κρηναίας, τὰς δὲ Ὑψίστας ἐπὶ λόγῳ τοιῷδε ὀνομάζουσι. Ibid. p. 728.

(6) Vid. Diodor. Sic. libro xix. in Epitome Rerum Thebanarum, tom. II. p. 697. edit. 1604.

(7) Ovôi kúμns džioλóyou тónov aLove. Strabon. Geog. lib. ix. p. 585. ed. Oxon.