I.

CHAP. remarkable monument. Plutarch, Vitruvius, Pliny, Aulus Gellius, Stephanus, and the author of the Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem, all point Bromiscus. to its situation near BROMISCUS, in the VALLEY OF ARETHUSA'. There is some difference in the manner of spelling the name of the city;— some, as Thucydides, writing BROMISCUS; and later writers, as Stephanus, transposing the second and third letters of the word, and writing BORMISCUS. By Stephanus, BORMISCUS is mentioned as a town of Macedonia, where Euripides was lacerated by a kind of dogs, called, in the Macedonian tongue, ESTERICA. It would be curious to ascertain whether an etymology for this name exists in any appellation given to a peculiar breed of dogs among the northern nations of Europe. Stephanus adds, that from the wounds inflicted by the teeth of the

Of the Dogs

called Esterica.

(1) A Greek epigram of Dionysius asserts, that the poet died of old age, and, contradicting the statement made by other authors as to the cause of his death, thus mentions the situation of the sepulchre: Οὔ σε κυνῶν γένος εἶλ' Εὐριπίδη, οὔδε γυναικὸς

Οίστρος, τῆς σκοτίης Κύπριδος ἀλλότριον,
̓Αλλ ̓ ἀΐδης καὶ γῆρας ὑπέκβαλε· τῇ δ' Αρεθούση

Κεῖσαι, ἑταιρείῃ τίμιος ̓Αρχέλεω.

Dionysii Epigramm. lib. iii. Florileg. c. 25.

. (2) ΒΟΡΜΙΣΚΟΣ, χωρίον Μακεδονίας· ἐν ᾧ κυνοσπάρακτος γέγονεν Εὐριπίδης· οὓς κύνας τῇ πατρώα φωνῇ ΕΣΤΕΡΙΚΑΣ καλοῦσιν οἱ Μακεδόνες. Steph. Byzant. de Urb. &c. p. 174.

I.

Esterica, Euripides fell sick and died'. Thus it CHAP. does not appear that he was torn in pieces by those animals, as some have related; but that he lost his life in consequence of a disorder occasioned by his being bitten by a pack of enraged hounds. He might therefore have died of the disorder called hydrophobia. His sepulchre was constructed by order of Archelaus: it was at the confluence of two streams; Situation the water of the one being poisonous, according Sepulchre to Pliny; and the other so sweet and salutary, that travellers were wont to halt and take

of the

of EURI

PIDES.

(5) Ἐκ δὲ τῶν δηγμάτων ἀῤῥωστήσαντα αὐτὸν ἀποθανεῖν. Stephanus de Urbib. &c. p. 184. L. Bat. 1697.

(4) See the passage before cited from AULUS GELLIUS. The circumstance attending the death of Euripides is thus related by DIODORUS: Τίνες δὲ λέγουσι, παρ' ̓Αρχελάῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ Μακεδόνων κατὰ τὴν χώραν ἐξελθόντα, κυσὶ περιπεσεῖν καὶ διασπασθῆναι, κ. τ. λ. Diodor. Sicul. Biblioth, Hist. lib. xiii. cap. 103. vol. V. p. 432. Argentor. Ann. 7. VALERIUS MAXIMUS has also mentioned the manner of it: "Sed atrocius aliquanto Euripides finitus est. Ab Archelai enim regis cœnâ in Macedonia domum hospitalem repetens, canum morsibus laniatus obiit. Crudelitas fati tanto ingenio non debita!" Valerii Maximi, lib. ix. cap. 12. p. 455. ed. Delph. Paris, 1679. That authors, however, were not agreed as to the circumstances of his death, appears from PAUSANIAS, lib. i. and from SUIDAS in Evgirions. Vide Diogenian et Apostol. in Пgoμsgov xúves Fabricium Biblioth. Græc. lib. ii. cap. 18. vol. II. p. 235. Hamburg. 1796, &c.

(5) " In Macedonia, non procul Euripidis poëtæ sepulchro, duo rivi confluunt; alter saluberrimi potus, alter mortiferi.” · Plinii Hist. Nåt. lib. xxxi. cap. 2. tom. III. pp. 264, 265. L. Bat. 1655.

CHAP. their meals by its refreshing current.

1.

This is more fully stated by Vitruvius, from whom Pliny borrowed his account'. Ammianus Marcellinus minutely describes its situation in the Valley of Arethusa. Other authors, as Plutarch', describe it (wegì 'Agélvσav) near to ARETHUSA; which may be reconciled to the preceding statement of its situation at BROMISCus; for Wesseling affirms, that the two places were near to each other*. If we had been allowed leisure for the inquiry, we should not have despaired of finding a monument, described as to its situation under circumstances of such precision; especially as it may have been observed by

(1) "Non minus in Macedonia, quo loci sepultus est EURIPIDES, dextrå ac sinistra monumenti, advenientes duo rivi concurrunt in unum accumbentes viatores pransitare solent, propter aquæ bonitatem; ad rivum autem, qui est in alterâ parte monumenti, nemo accedit, quod mortiferam aquam dicitur habere." Vitruvius de Architect. lib. viii. c. 3.

p. 163. Amst. 1649.

(2) "Ex angulo tamen orientali Macedonicis jungitur collimitiis per arctas præcipitesque vias, quæ cognominantur ACONTISMA: cui proxima ARETHUSA CONVALLIS et STATIO, in quâ visitur EURIPIDIS SEPULCHRUM tragœdiarum sublimitate conspicui, et STAGIRA, ubi ARISTOTELEM et Tullius ait, fundentem aureum flumen, accepimus natum.” Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxvii. cap. 4. p. 527. ed. Gronov. L. Bat. 1693. (3) Καὶ ταφέντι τῆς Μακεδονίας περὶ ̓Αρέθουσαν. Plut. in Numa, tom. I. p. 59. Lutet. Paris. 1624.

(1) “Vicinæ. Arethusa et Børmiscus seu Bromiscus fuerunt.” Wesseling ii Animadv. in Itin. Hierosolymit. p. 605. Amst. 1735.

CHAP

travellers so late as the thirteenth century': but in
its present condition, Macedonia is not a country -
where researches may be carried on which
require any deviation from the main route;
even if the object be ever so nigh at hand. We
congratulated ourselves upon being barely able-
to obtain, unmolested, a sight of this illustrious
region; and to make a sketch of its appearance,
that others may be gratified by a representation,
of the country where EURIPIDES passed his
latter days. The principal object, in this view,
is the very LAKE whose borders were the
favourite haunts of the Tragedian, when he
encountered the catastrophe that gave to ARE-
THUSA'S VALE the honour of his grave.

But

in order to make the reader more fully comprehend the nature of this VALLEY, and of the country, it is necessary to continue the narrative of our journey.

In two hours after leaving Clissele, having entered the VALLEY with the mountains upon our left, and the lake upon our right, we came

I.

(5) "IBI POSITUS EST EVRIPIDES POETA." Hierosolymitanum, p. 604. ed. Wesseling. Amst. 1735.

Itinerarium

Wesseling

says, that the Itinerary from Burdigala to Jerusalem was written before the year 1300.

CHAP.

I.

Trana

to the Greater Beshek, called Trana Beshek, rather a village than a town, standing by the Beshek. side of the water, commanding a beautiful prospect. After passing this place, we collected a few rare plants, and one in full flower which was quite new to us. The geological phænomena were also interesting: the mountains were of granite, very high, but covered from their bases to their summits with olivetrees. There were also Vallonia oaks of great size, and enormous plane-trees. We observed also masses of a rare mineral aggregate, which may be considered as diallage porphyry', being the Bianco the same substance that is called "bianco é nero”

Natural

Deposit of

è nero Por

phyry.

by Italian lapidaries. This kind of rock is
mentioned by Ferber, in his "Travels through
Italy;" and its great beauty is the subject of
an allusion, when he is describing a kind of
marble found near the harbour of Porto Ferrajo,
in the Tuscan territory; but it had never before
been observed in its natural state. It consists
of oblong crystals of opake white feldspar, imbed-
ded in the dark diallage of Haüy3.
An opake

(1) Every substance containing imbedded crystals of feldspar being

now called porphyry.

(2) See Ferber's Travels, p. 217. Lond. 1776.

(3) Ibid. p. 267.

(4) Traité de Minéralogie, tom. III. p. 89. Paris, 1801.