Syracuse

“ The town of Syracuse looks as I could imagine the cities of the Bible would have looked, when one sees it from the mouth of the Anapo at the opposite side of the great port on a July noon. Not a film of smoke rises from the low flat roofs of the mellow white-and-yellow houses, which, in their turn, seem to be crouching down within the shadow of the city walls. ”

“ But to those who first see Syracuse in the month of March—the heart of the Sicilian spring—it must appear pre-eminently as one vast unbounded garden. The appeal of architecture and history pales before this vast glory of the loosened soil. The walls and towers will remain—but this transient beauty must be caught upon the wing. And so from the flowered slopes of Euryalus we passed to the richer profusion of the gardens that adjoin the town. ”

“ The rocky site of Syracuse is in many parts perforated with tombs; the roads are literally honey-combed with them. There is a street excavated in the limestone rock which on either side is full of cells, and it may indeed be said of Syracuse that it is a great burying-ground. The oranges, vines, and figs of Syracuse are still flourishing, and the earth yet yields its hundred fold; but its glory is departed, and the traveller looks in vain for satisfactory vestiges of that mighty city.
There are many other interesting remains of antiquity in Sicily, but I must hasten to a conclusion. ”

“ From its very beginning the benignant gods smiled upon Syracuse, and it prospered so rapidly that within seventy years it was founding colonies of its own. Under the tyrant Gelon, son-in-law of the great and good Theron of Akragas, and later practically co-ruler with him of all Greek Sicily, the era of Hellenic supremacy began, with Syracuse in the van of progress. Indeed, Syracuse was of such paramount importance that sometimes its history is mistaken for the history of Sicily. Tyrants good and bad rose and fell; democracy overthrew tyranny, and tyranny overthrew democracy. ”

“ When by valour and skill he had taken Syracuse, that most beautiful city, which was not only strongly fortified by art, but was protected also by its natural advantages—by the character of the ground about it, and by the sea—he not only allowed it to remain without any diminution of its strength, but he left it so highly adorned, as to be at the same time a monument of his victory, of his clemency, and of his moderation; when men saw both what he had subdued, and whom he had spared, and what he had left behind him. ”

“ No man can say that there was ever a time during which we enjoyed liberty when we were not at peace with you. Now, at all events, no sooner have we become our own masters through the death of the oppressors of Syracuse than we come to you to give up our arms, to surrender ourselves, our city and its fortifications, to accept any condition which you may lay upon us. To you, Marcellus, the gods have vouchsafed the glory of capturing the noblest and fairest of Grecian cities. Whatever memorable achievement we have wrought by sea or land enhances the splendour of your triumph. ”

“ The gardens around Syracuse are famous above all others, because of the striking manner in which they contrast with the naked rocks surrounding them. The most delightful amongst them is the Intagliatella, or Latomia de’ Greci, which occupies an old quarry where Greek slaves dressed the stones used in erecting the palaces of Syracuse. The vegetation there is most luxuriant; the trunks of the trees rise above masses of shrubs, their branches are covered with creeping plants, flowers and ripening fruit cover the paths, and birds without number sing in the foliage. ”

“ Four men, well protected by wooden blinds, occupied the top of each ladder, ready to attack the defenders of the walls while their comrades hastened up the ladder to their aid.
There was only one thing on which the consuls had not counted, and that was that Syracuse possessed the greatest artificer of ancient times. They had to fight not Syracuse alone but Syracuse and Archimedes; and they found the latter their most formidable foe. In short, the skill of this one man did more to baffle the Romans than the strength and courage of all the garrison. ”

“ Going farther back, every boy who has read his Greek and Roman history knows how Syracuse was in ancient days one of the great war harbours of the Mediterranean.
It was the arsenal where fleets fitted out, and the depot where they brought back their booties of valuables and slaves after their victorious raids. ”

“ Syracuse had two capacious harbours separated from one another by the island of Ortygia. The greatest harbour was about 5000 paces in circumference, and its entrance 500 paces wide. The people of Syracuse were very opulent and powerful, and though subject to tyrants, they were masters of vast possessions and dependent states. The city of Syracuse was well built, its houses were stately and magnificent; and it has been said, that it produced the best and most excellent of men when they were virtuous, but the most wicked and depraved when addicted to vicious pursuits. ”

“ Syracuse may grow into a greater and mightier city than her parent; but that Corinth is the parent is a thought that never dies out from any Syracusan heart. Yet the child is free and independent, free and independent from its beginning. Corinth makes not the slightest claim to authority31 or superiority over Syracuse; but she is ever ready to step in when any need on the part of Syracuse calls for her help; she steps in as bound to something which to her is dearer and more recked of than the most cherished among allies who are not her children. ”

“ Great city of Syracuse, precinct of warrior Ares, of iron-armed men and steeds the nursing-place divine, to thee I come [1] , bearing from my bright Thebes this song, the tidings of earth-shaking racing of the four-horse car, wherein hath Hieron with his goodly chariot overcome, and decked with far-seen splendour of crowns Ortygia the dwelling-place of Artemis of the river, her by whose help he tamed with soothing hand his colts of spangled rein. ”

“ From 343 to 337 he was supreme at Syracuse, with the hearty good will of the citizens. The younger Dionysius had been allowed to retire to Corinth; his island fortress was destroyed and replaced by a court of justice. Syracuse rose again out of her desolation— grass, it is said, grew in her streets—and, with an influx of a multitude of new colonists from Greece and from towns of Sicily and Italy, once more became a prosperous city. ”

“ To all this our citizens have quietly submitted; and yet there are those, who are clamoring it over the country, that we of Syracuse, are not a law-abiding people. Some who dwell with us have joined in this cry. Shame upon them, and upon all who are circulating the scandal. The citizens of Syracuse will ever abide by law—they only trample upon tyrany. ”

“ There is little that is up-to-date about Syracuse. To a great extent it lives in medieval seclusion and its people are simple, genial folk so wholly out of touch with the world that whatever is essential for comfort or convenience is proper in public. ”

“ This point is the largest place between Albany and Syracuse, and is as handsome a city as sits on the banks of the Mohawk. The Black River Railroad joins the main line of the New York Central here, and it is also the location of the State Lunatic Asylum.
Rome comes next in order, in importance and population, and is the last place of any note on the road to Syracuse. It is a stirring little city of about ten or eleven thousand inhabitants, and at least some of its citizens have mastered the art of advertising, if one may judge from the pamphlets which flood the arriving and departing trains. ”

“ Although a quarter of a century has scarcely passed since Syracuse was a village of mean huts, * it has a history connected with European civilization more than two hundred years old. At Salina, now a portion of the city of Syracuse, where the principal salt-wells are, the French, under the Sieur Dupuys, an officer of the garrison at Quebec, made a settlement as early as 1655. The Onondaga tribe then had their villages in the valley, a few miles from Syracuse, and a good understanding prevailed between them and the new-comers. ”

“ Some nations have rendered their names illustrious, though their virtues and valour had but a very confined sphere to move in; while other commonwealths and monarchies have subdued worlds, and roamed over whole continents in search of glory and power. Syracuse must be numbered in the former class, and amongst the most distinguished of that class. In public and private wealth, magnificence of buildings, military renown, and excellence in all arts and sciences, it ranks higher than most nations of antiquity. The great names recorded in its annals still command our veneration ”

“ Opposite the city hall, a magnificent structure, the "Marguerite" was made fast to repose after a fifty-five miles' course that day.
Syracuse, situated in the heart of New York State, has been appropriately named the "Central City." Its wonderful growth for the past twenty years entitles it to rank amongst the foremost cities of the East. It has a population of nearly 100,000, and is one of the leading manufacturing towns of the country. For a long period Syracuse practically controlled the salt product of the United States ”

“ Notable first of all are the shifting scenes, for the action moves rapidly from Syracuse, to Miletus, to Caria, to Babylon, to the sea, to Tyre, to the island of Aradus and then at last back to Syracuse after the full circle of adventures. The contrast between the free Greek city of Syracuse and the oriental kingdoms is constantly emphasized, but it is the love of adventure for adventure’s sake that spices the narrative. ”

“ At Syracuse they have a constitutional coffee-house, which will admit also respectable persons engaged in commerce, and others who cannot prove their membership of any noble family. These were established under English influence in several Sicilian cities, and I spent some pleasant evenings in this at Syracuse. The favourite game is draughts, in which, without any increase of the number of squares, the king has the power which we give to him at Polish draughts. ”

“ Handsome buildings have sprung up on all sides, each one adding to the sightliness of the place; and on the surrounding hills wealthy residents have built their charming homes. The University of Syracuse, a Methodist institution, built upon one of these hills in 1870, looks down invitingly upon the knowledge-seekers of the city, and with the State Armory, [153] that stands in the park near Onondaga Creek, would furnish a brilliant equipment for some modern Minerva, were she to visit this interesting namesake of Sicilian Syracuse. ”

“ The struggle between the tyrants and the Roman general in which Syracuse was the prize of victory had resulted in the utter destruction of a most famous and beautiful city, the granary and treasury of the Roman people. The commonwealth had frequently experienced its generosity, especially in the present Punic war, and the City had been embellished by its munificent gifts. If Hiero, that loyal supporter of the power of Rome, could rise from the dead, with what face would any one dare to show him either Rome or Syracuse? ”

“ As you make their humble station in life a reproach to others, you do not yourselves belong to the lowest class in Syracuse, and yet who amongst you promised to open your gates and admit my armed force into your city? ”

“ But rich as the whole of Sicily may be in classical associations, two places, Syracuse and Girgenti, are pre-eminent for the power of bringing the Greek past forcibly before us. Their interest is of two very different kinds. Girgenti still displays the splendour of temples placed upon a rocky cornice between sea and olive-groves. Syracuse has nothing to show but the scene of world-important actions. ”

“ Many are the walks outside the town, and none are without beauty or interest, for, the neighbourhood of Syracuse excepted, we can think of no place in Italy wherein one is brought so closely into touch with the classical past. Nature has long clothed the [pg 302] ruined area of the ancient city with her kindly drapery of foliage and flowers, so that the crumbling masses of tawny brick that we come across in our rambles are all swathed in garlands of clematis, myrtle, honey-suckle and coronella. ”

“ The way in which Sicily was wasted under this tyrant, and afterwards, was so frightful, that one cannot understand, how tillage and population could have continued in such a country; and especially how Syracuse could have been one of the greatest cities in the world. His wars, on the whole, were marked by awful calamities; their renown for having been brilliant cannot be gainsayed: the peace which he made at last with the Carthaginians was fair enough. ”

“ With these and the above-mentioned sentiments I passed over to Syracuse; perhaps through an accident of fortune; at least it seems that by the planning of some superior being a beginning was laid of the doings, that have lately taken place relating to Dion and of those too relating to Syracuse, and, there is a fear, to still more persons, if you do not yield to me, when giving advice a second time. How then do I assert that my journey to Sicily was the beginning of all the then doings? ”

“ Could you, my dear Sir William, have believed, after what General Acton and the Marquis De Gallo had said, in our various conversations relative to this island, that nothing had been sent by the governor of Syracuse—secretly, was the word used to us—or openly, to this island! and I am further assured, that the governor of Syracuse never had any orders sent him, to supply the smallest article. I beg your excellency will state this, in confidence, to General Acton. I shall most assuredly tell it the king. ”