36 EXECUTION AT PALERMO. and hands were cut off with a sharp knife, enclosed in an iron case, and suspended over the great door of the prison. Curiosity being now satisfied, we left the multitude to enjoy the remainder of this bloody spectacle, and returned to our lodging. Terrible as this punishment may appear, it is, in fact, much more lenient towards the criminal than the plan pursued in our own country, and much more efficacious in the impressive warning which it conveys to others. The reader will be astonished to learn that the two felons thus executed had been capitally condemned, the one eleven and the other fifteen years before, for commission of the most horrid crimes and foulest murders that ever stained the human character;-he will observe also, with surprise, what an extraordinary inversion of right and wrong the case presents: justice was, in this single instance, twice defrauded of her due: the malefactors escaped punishment for the faults to which their lives were really forfeit, and were illegally executed for an offence to which the punishment of death is not annexed. CHAPTER II. Journey to Syracuse-Excavations in the Rock at Lentini-Eastern Coast of Sicily-Arrival at Syracuse-Gates shut-Sleep on the Edge of the Great Harbour-Appearance of the same-Pass the fortified Isthmus— Quarrels of the Sicilians-Small Harbour-Hotel of the Leon d'oro— History of our Host- Visit to Arethusa—Account of Arethusa and Alpheus-Castello di Maniace-Transportation of Santa Lucia's Corpse, &c. to Constantinople-Infamous Conduct of a Marquess Geraci-Ancient Granaries, Walls, Towers, and Strength of Ortygia -Circuit of the Ramparts-Author attacked by Fever-Convalescence, and Visit to the celebrated Antiquary D. Giuseppe Capodieci-Public Library of Syracuse-Monument of Hierocles-National Musæum, Torso of Venus, Statues of Esculapius, Apollo, &c. Head of Jupiter Eleutherius, Marble Sarcophagi, Greek Paintings, epitaphial Inscriptions, Monument of Perpenna; Terra-cotta Vases; Handle of a Vase inscribed with the Name of Agathocles; Character of that PrinceReturn to the Leon d'oro-Sail in the Great Harbour-Promontory of Plemmyrium-Piazza, or great Square of Syracuse - Cathedral— Temple of Minerva―its Conversion into a Christian Church-Temple of Diana-Baths of Daphne-Fortifications of the Isthmus—Fortress of Dionysius I.-Palace of Hiero-Roman Prætorium-Saracenic Fort, "Il Castello di Mahrietto-Compendious History of Syracuse. FROM Castro Giovanni we directed our course towards Syracuse, through Palagonia and Lentini. Near this latter place, amidst the ruins of ancient Leontium, we observed a great number of excavations in chasms of the rock, similar to those with which Castro Giovanni abounds; they bear every appearance of having been 38 ARRIVAL AT SYRACUSE. formed for human habitations, and are generally attributed to the Saracens, numerous tribes of whom, during the reigns of the Norman dynasty, kept possession of strong fastnesses in the interior of the island*, where, bidding defiance to the weak disorderly police of those times, they subsisted by a regular system of depredation upon the property of their conquerors. From Lentini we descended towards the coast, by a circuitous route, through scenery romantically beautiful, and valleys rivalling the poetical descriptions of Tempe or Arcadia; nearer to the sea we found the hills covered from their summits down to the edge of the shore with flowering myrtles, rhododendrons, and a variety of aromatic shrubs; amidst the olive trees which are thinly scattered about the country, the cicale, a species of grasshopper, made the air resound with their shrill and piercing notes, illustrating with great accuracy those expressions of the Bucolic poets, relative to this insect. Having had a very fatiguing ride of thirteen hours from Palagonia, under a burning sunt, we arrived at the gates of Syracuse, after the shades of night had descended on its plains: unfortunately the barriers were shut, and the plague, which was at this time raging in Malta, rendered the guards inflexible to * Under the reign of William the Bad, says an elegant writer, "Les Sarrasins, cantonnés dans les montagnes, occupoient encore la plus grande partie de l'interieur de l'île; ils n'obéissoient qu'à des chefs de leur nation, & la soumission de ceux-ci au roi étoit plus que douteuse." Sismondi, Vol. II. p. 263.-It is not impossible, however, that the excavations alluded to here and in other parts of the island, may have been the work of the ancient Greek inhabitants. + "Rumpunt arbusta cicada." Virg. Τοὶ δὲ ποτὶ σκιεραις ὀροδαμνίσιν ἀιθαλίωνες Theocrit. This latter expression of the Sicilian is particularly appropriate: the cries are fatiguingly unceasing. In Greece I was in like manner struck with the remarkable similarity of sound in the croaking of frogs to that combination of words by which Aristophanes endeavours to represent it. The following is a statement of the highest and lowest degrees at which the thermometer stood in Sicily during the three years preceding our arrival. The scale is that of Reaumur, which is generally used by foreigners. 1810. Greatest heat, August 6 1812. Greatest heat, August 31 23.04 7 24 9 23.06 8 APPEARANCE OF THE GREAT HARBOUR. rays 39 entreaties or to bribes: in this dilemma we made a virtue of necessity, and retiring to a heap of straw upon the shore, soon lost all sense of our vexations in the oblivion of sleep. The earliest of the morning sun roused us to the contemplation of the most charming scene imaginable. The great harbour lay expanded before us like a spacious mirror, reflecting in its crystal surface the modern city of Syracuse with all its towers and fortifications, reduced now to the little Island of Ortygia, the cradle of its infancy: our eyes followed with delight its grand circular boundary adorned with the beauties of nature, surrounded with the vestiges of antiquity, and rich in scenes of historic interest, till they rested upon a bluff point, opposite the island at its entrance: this spot is the ancient promontory of Plemmyrium, where the unfortunate Athenians saw every hope of ill-directed ambition blasted in the destruction of their fleet. At the very head of the port stood the famous temple of Jupiter, surrounded by a suburb and fortifications, and called the Olympiæum: two broken columns still mark its site, faint memorials of ancient splendour, like the footsteps of a traveller upon the desert. Our baggage being replaced upon the mules, we again advanced to the outer gate of the citadel, and having delivered up our passports to the most cautious examination, we received permission to enter: a considerable time, however, elapsed before we could force our way through the immense crowd of Sicilian peasants who had been waiting for ingress and egress ever since the dawn of day: their impetuosity and irascibility of temper, thwarted not more by the active exertions of contending parties, than by the inflexible obstinacy of their mules and asses, occasioned a scene of indescribable confusion, in which the twolegged brutes had evidently the advantage over the quadrupeds in point of noise, though the latter exerted their lungs with might and main under the inspiring influence of the cudgel, As we passed over the strongly fortified isthmus, with its batteries and bastions, trenches and portcullisses, we had the great harbour on our right hand, and on 40 HOTEL OF THE LEON D'ORO. our left the small one, anciently distinguished by the epithet Marmoreus,' from the marble edifices with which it was surrounded, or Laccius,' from the Greek word λáxxos, signifying a cistern. The bottom of this harbour is said by Fazzello to have been paved with large square stones, under which an aqueduct, formed of the same materials, conveyed a copious source of water to different parts of the island: the mouth was defended by two noble towers, raised for its defence by the celebrated Agathocles, and inscribed with his name † : the great Dionysius furnished it with an excellent arsenal or dock, capable of containing sixty triremes, shut in by gates which permitted only one vessel at a time to pass. We crossed the water over deep trenches no less than five times before we arrived at the interior lines of fortification, which having passed, we were soon housed in a very comfortable inn, called the Leon d'oro, near the edge of the great harbour, over which it commands a delightful prospect, bounded by the crags of Epipola and the range of Hyblæan mountains. We found our host of the golden Lion an obliging well-informed man, and a great sportsman, who owed his residence and occupation at Syracuse to his favourite diversion: Catania was his native city, from which he had been banished for shooting, not into a covey of partridges, since no game-laws are established in Sicily, but into one of those sacerdotal seminaries with which this country abounds: the consequential little urchins who are there trained up in the mysteries, rather than the doctrines, of their profession, frequently walk out in long rows decked with strait-cut coats and cocked hats, under the care of a spiritual director, who is not over diligent in restraining that insolence and scurrility of language in which they are very apt to indulge. They had often attacked Don Luigi with impunity, but unfortunately meeting him one day when he was irritated from bad success in his sport, pure * The expression, however, of Florus is obscure, and there seems as much reason to suppose he means the great harbour as the small one, by the words "portus ille Marmoreus.” + Diod. Sic. xvi. 553. |