n n iR B f lH B B
192 T R A V E L S i n G R E E C E .
mountain was very bad. He then travelled about an hour in
a plain, and arrived at Megara. The diftance o f this place from
Eleufis in the Antonine Itinerary is thirteen'miles. f
C H A P . XLIII.
Proceed to Megara — O f the port and town Ni/aa— O f Megara
— fb e fo n e -— An infcription — Dread o f Corfairs —- O f the
Megan's*— Our lodging, & c. \
W E were prevented from tarrying at Elpufis Jbfjb-e arrival
o f certain Agas or rich Turks,'in their way from Corinth to
Athens. Lombardi, who knew them, haftened to the bower,
and appeared full of joy j kneeling before them," fawning, and
killing their beards. His tone changed as fooh as he was out of
their prefence, and he poured forth execratjons on them very
liberally. We proceeded flowly as before,' toward Megara; and,
landing to dine, afcended the ridge by the Tea, behind which is
a confiderable valley, part o f the plain of Eleufis. We ap*
proached the port, and, the wind not permitting us to turn the
point. of a final! rocky promontory once called Minoa, went
alhore, and after fome ftay crofled it on.foot; .leaving men to
convey the boats round into the bay. Megara,; like Athens,
was fituated at a diftance from the fea.
T he port o f Megara was called Nifaea from Nifus fon of
Pandion the fecond, who obtained the Megari|Tpj:,Mypj^||ioni
when thé kingdom of Athens was divided into four lots by his
father. He founded the town, which was eighteen ftadiajf
two miles and a quarter from the city, but united with it, as
the Piraeus with Athens, by long walls. It had a temple of
Ceres. ‘ ‘ The roof, fays Paufanias, may. be fuppofed tó bavé
“ fallen through age.” The fite is now covered with rubbiih,
among which are {landing fome ruinous churches. The place
has
j g f t A V jE L 'S 1 *t G R E E C E. m
has been - named from theca Dodeca Eccleft^is fh e fmelve
Churches, but the n umber is reduced to feven. The racropolis
ea: citadel, »called tadfo ¥ ifea , was on a rode by the fea-fide,
Stimp pieces ©f tthe w all remain, and >a modern fortrefs has been
created m it;j and alfo on a «foffer rock near it. An iflet before
Mkfea-was sow green. It is>one of five, which, as Strabo relates,,
oeeunreddui Tailing from that port toward Attica, There Minos
ftationed the Cretan Heet in his war wd-th «blbb-s-
W e had a hat walk totthe wllagp-nf which xCoqfifts
o f /low mean 'cottage g, tpleafantly fituated «on ,the hope ofja brow
or eminence ‘indented.in the middle. -»On each fide o f this vale
was an aerapalis or citadel j one named Cafia, the .other from
Alcathous, (the builder i©f«,the wall'* 5^‘hey|ielated»-.that h e was
affifted by Apollo,..who iaid «his harp >4ia hm e , which,
as -Paufenias *eftifiea>,if ftruek W^h a pebble returned a mufical
found, .An angle *of the w all ©f .pne-citadel is feen b y -a wind-
axridl. mafonry.is ofithe Tpecies calkd feipfatum. In
jthe cify-wall »was not entirely tdenaoliftied, bn-t/comprehended
the t m fiammits, on twhioh are fome »churches, with ,a portion
rif abe plain .toward stbe Touth- . The jwholps‘ifile*‘'^oapb! the
«trllkj .was innw green with .corn andtmorkQdhyvmany iheqps o f
ftpnea, th eeo llieM nubbifhof buildings. -,,-A few iflfcriptions are
fh©nd, {wiih jpfideftalS jfixed in the walls m 4t fowtsfegd a ,and<alfo
Jfome maimed or mutilated ftariwss. iQnpjofiteTofiPtSf relates-,to
Actions H erodes., and .is - on a pedeftal Whfeh flipported a ftatue
ereifted *0. ihiip, when rponful % 0by -ithe icovwJGiloand * people o f
iSfegara, dn upturn fbr ihis hsnefasfttoas -and good w ill toward
rthe uity. in cthe «plain behind thefumraits, on .one,of .which
•was a itemple o f iMinerva, its a large ihafin o f water, . with ifeat-
tered fragmfAt? ,of marble, the-remains«of ©hath or.-of a fountain,
which is recorded as., in the city and remarkable fordts
fize and ornaments, and for ‘the-nmriber o f -its columns., The
Spring was named from 'the InedljNympfes: called a Sithttkles;
1 In the.yaar-of Chrift, 143.
C c The