that feafon to their houfes in the country. T h e famous comic
poet Menander was of this place. Atticus Herodes, after his
enemies accufed him to the emperor Marcus Aurelius as
guilty o f oppreffion, refided here and at Marathon j the youth
in general following him for the benefit. of his inftrudtion.
Among his pupils was Paufanias o f Csefarea, the author, Jt has
been affirmed, of the defcription of Greece.
Atticus Herodes had three favourites, whofe lofs he lamented,
as i f they had been his children. He placed ftatues of them in
the drefs of hunters, in the fields and woods, by the fountains,
and beneath the plane-trees; adding execrations, jf any perfon
flxould ever prefume to mutilate or remove them. One o f the
herm$ or Mercuries was found in a ruinous church at.Cephifia,
and is among the marbles given by Mr. Dawkins to the univer-
fity of Oxford. This reprefented Pollux, but the head is wanting.
It is infcribed with an affectionate addtefs to him ; after
which the pofleffpr of the fpot is required, as he refpedts the
gods and heroes, to proteCt from violation and to preferve clean
and entire, the images and their bafes ; and if he failed, fevpre
vengeance is imprecated, on him, that the earth might prove
barren, to him,, the $£% npt navigable, and that perdition might
overtake both him and his offspring ; but if ^e^complied, that
every bleffing might await him and his pofterity, Another
ftone with a like formulary, was feen there- by Mr. Wood;
and a third near Marathon.
W e difmounted about funfet at a place almoft deferted, called
Stamati; and after fupper lay down to Deep beneath a fpread-
ing vine before the cottage of an Albanian. Early in the,
morning, I proceeded, with a guide, to examine an inferip-
tion of which a peafant had given me information i '.'quitting
the fir ait road to Marathon, between which place and Athens
was once a town named Pallene. We foon entered between
two mountains, Pentele ranging' on our right j and on. the
left, one of Diacria the region extending acrofs from mount
Fames
T R A.V E .L 6 m G R E E C E . 161
Fames to Brauron, Tarrying to water pur horfes near fome
houics/Ç%as prefentei by an Albanian with a handful of
w h i t e n s ; ffeih gathered; We péneftatèd into a^lonely recefs^
âhd came to f W fu in e â t t à c h ^ f Dibn|lius panding oil
the of’ a 'br^thobdihent
fiÖÉbfy ^bfairibâ bÿ *thfëh? pérft>h| haöiqd '^ | |a s , Xapthiplni^
and* Xanthides. The infeription fsƒ dn a long ^ttpne’’lying
near.
T he two ffioûhtàihsWé divided 'by ^ ^ jls fS f? ^ f j t i^
courfe, the bed o f a rivef or torrent antiehtiy ^ ^ e d ’ErafibUj
The. track is bn the mafgin,' rug^èd* £nd! rrâWbW*, flîafded
oleander, flowering ffirubs, and evergreens* A tree had fallen
^ b f s , bu tj^ e h^ednndcr it, ^ e n t e r e d f a plain^f Marathon
at the corner next to Athejis ? Pentele continuing in the
famé direction toward the fffy which, With ^ lofty barrow net
far from the flipre, Was now in view* The WRtercóurfe, after
winding"iSore' aTew' Albaiflancottage$; interfeCft part o f the
pliin and then cqafes. .This village is corruptly called Vronpa..
The old name was Brauron. Here we procured, not without
difficulty“, J a live fowl, which was boiled for breakfaft, and fome,
eggs, to he fried in oil. We .eat under an .cffivU-rtree, then
laden with pale yellow flowers. A firong breeze horn the fea
fcatteced the Moom, and incommoded us, hut the fpot afforded
no ffielter more eligible.
Brauron was noted for a temple .of Diana, in which -was
an antie©)t image of .the goddefs. Iphigenra, the daughter, e f
Agamemnon, was faid to have left there the idol, which <&e
conveyed fr.dm Scythia Taurica. That had been carded to Safa
by Xerxes, and given by Seleucus to the Laodicd&ns tif Sy-ria,^
wim .continued in poffeflion o f it in the f in e o f Paufaniaj|.
Beyond the waterconrfe is a lange harrow > and by it, tegy-ard
Pentele, are three fmaller $ with one, a little out of the line,
-which had been opened for a furnace <or hmes-kiln. T®e
cenotaph of Iphigenia is probably among them. t Boitie «ones
J8 MP y : m m 'lie