best guide to the discovery of what St. Paul saw. By following his route through the city, we shall be treading in the steps of the Apostle himself, and shall behold those very objects which excited his indignation and compassion.

Taking, then, the position of the Peiraic gate as determined, or at least resigning the task of topographical enquiries, we enter the city, and with Pausanias as our guide, look round on the objects which were seen by the Apostle. At the very gateway we are met with proofs of the peculiar tendency of the Athenians to multiply their objects both of art and devotion.' Close by the building where the vestments were laid up which were used in the annual procession of their tutelary divinity Minerva, is an image of her rival Neptune, seated on horseback, and hurling his trident. We pass by a temple of Ceres, on the walls of which an archaic inscription informs us that the statues it contains were the work of Praxiteles. We go through the gate and immediately the eye is attracted by the sculptured forms of Minerva, Jupiter, and Apollo, of Mercury and the Muses, standing near a sanctuary of Bacchus. We are already in the midst of an animated scene, where temples, statues, and altars are on every side, and where the Athenians, fond of publicity and the open air, fond of hearing and telling what is curious and strange, are enjoying their climate and enquiring for news. A long street is before us, with a colonnade or cloister on either hand, like the covered arcades of Bologna or Turin. At the end of the street, by turning to the left, we might go through the whole Ceramicus," which leads by the tombs of eminent Athenians to the open inland country and the groves of the Academy. But we turn to the right into the Agora, which was the centre of a glorious public life, when the orators and statesmen, the poets and the artists of Greece, found there all the incentives of their noblest enthusiasm; and still continued to be the meeting-place of philosophy, of idleness, of conversation, and of business, when Athens could only be

few changes had taken place in the city, with the exception of the new buildings erected by Adrian.

1 Acts xvii. 23.

'This building is the Pompeium (Пoμπεiov). Paus. ii. 4. See Forchammer, p. 31. We have used the terms "Minerva, Neptune," &c., instead of the more accurate terms "Athene, Poseidon," &c., in accommodation to popular language. So before Ch. VI.), in the case of Jupiter and Mercury.

4 Αττικοῖς γράμμασιν. Paus.

5 Acts xvii. 21.

• Forchammer makes this comparison, p. 34. It is probable, however, that these covered walks were not formed with arches, but with pillars bearing horizontal entablatures. The position we have assigned to this street is in accordance with the plan of Forchammer, who places the wall and gate more remotely from the Agora than our English topographers.

7 This term, in its full extent, included not only the road between the city wall and the Academy, but the Agora itself. See Plan of Athens.

VOL. I.-23

proud of her recollections of the past. On the south side is the Pnyx, a sloping hill partially levelled into an open area for political assemblies; on the north side is the more craggy eminence of the Areopagus, before us, towards the east, is the Acropolis, towering high above the scene of which it is the glory and the crown. In the valley enclosed by these heights is the Agora, which must not be conceived of as a great "market," (Acts xvii. 17) like the bare spaces in many modern towns, where little attention has been paid to artistic decoration, but is rather to be compared to the beautiful squares of such Italian cities as Verona and Florence, where historical buildings have closed in the space within narrow limits, and sculpture has peopled it with impressive figures. Among the buildings of greatest interest are the porticoes or cloisters, which were decorated with paintings and statuary, like the Campo Santo at Pisa. We think we may be excused for multiplying these comparisons: for though they are avowedly imperfect, they are really more useful than any attempt at description could be, in enabling us to realize the aspect of ancient Athens. Two of the most important of these were the Portico of the King, and the Portico of the Jupiter of Freedom. On the roof of the former were statues of Theseus and the Day in the front of the latter was the divinity to whom it was dedicated, and within were allegorical paintings illustrating the rise of the Athenian democracy. One characteristic of the Agora was, that it was full of memorials of actual history. Among the plane trees planted by the hand of Cimon," were the statues of the great men of Athens-such as Solon the lawgiver, Conon the admiral, Demosthenes the orator." But among her historical men were her deified heroes, the representatives of her

5

8

1 It is remarkable that the Pnyx, the famous meeting-place of the political assemblies of Athens, is not mentioned by Pausanias. This may be because there were no longer any such assemblies, and therefore his attention was not called to it; or, perhaps, it is omitted because it was simply a level space, without any work of art to attract the notice of an antiquarian.

See this more fully described below.

3 See above, p. 346.

4 We adopt the view of Forchammer, which is now generally received, that the position of the Agora was always the same. The hypothesis of a new Agora to the north of the Areopagus, was first advanced by Meursius and has been adopted by Lenke.

5 In the plan, these two porticoes are placed side by side, after Kiepert. Leake places them to the N. W. of the Areopagus, in accordance with his theory concerning the new Agora. See below. The first of these porticoes was so called because the King Archon held his court there. Pausanias does not give the name of the second; but

It is inferred from comparing his description with other authors.

6 Paus. iii. 2.

7 Plut. Cim. Wordsw. p. 68.

8 Paus. xvi. 1. This was in front of the Stoa, Pocile, which will be mentioned

below.

Paus. iii. 1.

10 Paus. viii. 4.

mythology-Hercules and Theseus,

5

8

and all the series of the Eponymi on their elevated platform, from whom the tribes were named, and whom an ancient custom connected with the passing of every successive law And among the deified heroes were memorials of the older divinities,Mercuries, which gave their name to the street in which they were placed, statues dedicated to Apollo, as patron of the city, and her deliverer from plague, and, in the centre of all, the Altar of the Twelve Gods, which was to Athens what the Golden Milestone was to Rome. If we look up to the Areopagus, we see the temple of that deity from whom the eminence had received the name of " Mars' Hill;" and we are aware that the sanctuary of the Furies is only hidden by the projecting ridge beyond the stone steps and the seats of the judges. If we look forward to the Acropolis, we behold there, closing the long perspective, a series of little sanctuaries on the very ledges of the rock, shrines of Bacchus and Esculapius, Venus, Earth, and Ceres, 10 ending with the lovely form of that Temple of Unwinged Victory " which glittered by the entrance of the Propylæa above the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Thus, every god in Olympus found a place in the Agora. But the religiousness of the Athenians went even further. For every public place and building was likewise a sanctuary. The Record House was a temple

11

1 The legends of these two heroes were frequently combined in works of art. See Wordsworth's Greece. Their statues in the Agora are mentioned by Pausanias, viii. 5. * Paus. viii.

2

See what Leake says on this street, p. 253. We adopt Kiepert's arrangement.

Apollo Patrous. His temple was called Pythium. In this building the naval car, used in the Panathenaic procession, was laid up after its festal voyages, to be exhibited to travellers; "as the Ducal barge of Venice, the Bucentoro, in which the Doge solemnized the annual marriage with the sea, is now preserved for the same purpose in the Venetian arsenal." Wordsworth, p. 189.

Apollo Alexicacus, who was believed to have made the plague to cease in the Peloponnesian war.

See Wordsworth, p. 169. This is one of the objects not mentioned by Pausanias. It was near the statue of Demosthenes.

* See the plan.

8 Acts xvii. 22.

The sanctuary was in a deep cleft in the front of the Areopagus, facing the Acropolis. See below.

10 For the position of these temples, see Leake, Section VII., on the fourth part of the route of Pausanias.

"The history of this temple is very curious. In 1676 it was found entire by Spon. and Wheler. Subsequent travellers found that it had disappeared. In 1835 the various portions were discovered in an excavation, with the exception of two, which are in the British Museum. It is now entirely restored. The original structure belongs to the period of the close of the Persian wars.

"For their position, see Pausanias. These statues were removed by Xerxes; and Alexander, when at Babylon, gave an order for their restoration. Images of Brutus and Cassius were at one time erected near them (Dio C. xlvii. 20), but probably they were removed by Augustus.

of the Mother of the Gods. The Council-House held statues of Apollo and Jupiter, with an altar of Vesta. The Theatre at the base of the Acropolis, into which the Athenians crowded to hear the words of their great tragedians, was consecrated to Bacchus. The Pnyx, near which we entered, on whose elevated platform they listened in breathless atten tion to their orators, was dedicated to Jupiter on High, with whose name those of the Nymphs of the Demus were gracefully associated. And, as if the imagination of the Attic mind knew no bounds in this direction, abstractions were deified and publicly honoured. Altars were erected to Fame, to Modesty, to Energy, to Persuasion, and to Pity." This last altar is mentioned by Pausanias among "those objects in the Agora which are not understood by all men: for," he adds, "the Athenians alone of all the Greeks give divine honour to Pity." It is needless to show how the enumeration which we have made (and which is no more than a selection from what is described by Pausanias) throws light on the words of St. Luke and St. Paul; and especially how the groping after the abstract and invisible, implied in the altars alluded to last, illustrates the inscription "To the Unknown God," which was used by Apostolic wisdom to point the way to the highest truth.

What is true of Agora is still more emphatically true of the Acropolis, for the spirit which rested over Athens was concentrated here. The feeling of the Athenians with regard to the Acropolis was well, though fancifully, expressed by the rhetorician who said that it was the middle space of five concentric circles of a shield, whereof the outer four were Athens, Attica, Greece, and the world. The platform of the Acropolis was a museum of art, of history, and of religion. The whole was

1 The MATрov. See the plan.

one vast

* The Bovλεvrýptov. See the plan.

3 Its position may be seen on the plan, on the south side of the Acropolis.

4 See the inscription in Boeckh. This is attributed to the elevated position of the Pnyx as seen from the Agora. Wordsworth's Athens and Attica, p. 72.

5 See the restored inscription in Wordsworth (p. 70):-HIEPON NYMPAIE ΔΗΜΟΣΙΑΙΣ.

It is doubtful in what part of Athens the altars of Fame, Modesty, and Energy (Aidovs kaì Þýμns кaì 'Opμñs) were placed. Eschines alludes to the altar of Fame. The altar of Persuasion (IIɛ0) was on the ascent of the Acropolis. There were many other memorials of the same kind in Athens. Cicero speaks of a temple or altar to Contumelia and Impudentia. De Leg. ii. 11. In the temple of Minerva Polias, in the Acropolis, was an altar of Oblivion. Plut. Sympos. 9.

7 Ελέου βωμὸς, ᾧ μάλιστα θεῶν, ἐς ἀνθρώπινον βίον καὶ μεταβολὰς πραγμάτων ὅτι ὠφέλιμος, μόνοι τιμὲς Ἑλλήνων νέμουσιν ̓Αθηναίοι. xvii. 1. He adds that this altar was not so much due to their human sympathy as to their peculiar piety towards the gods, and he confirms this opinion by proceeding to mention the altars of Fame, Modesty, and Energy.

8 Ωσπερ γὰρ ἐπ ̓ ἀσπίδος κύκλων εἰς ἀλλήλους ἐμβεβηκότων, πέμπτως εἰς ὀμφαλὸν πληροῖ διὰ πάντων ὁ κάλλιστος· εἴπερ ἡ μὲν Ἑλλὰς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς πάσης γῆς· ἡ δὲ Αττικὴ τῆς Ἑλλάδος· τῆς δὲ χώρας ἡ πόλις· τῆς δ ̓ αὖ πόλεως ἡ ὁμώνυμος. Aristid Panath. i. 99