belongs to man. The Rev. J. C. Eustace remarks, when describing his visit to Pæstum :-" Obscurity hangs over, not the origin only, but the general history of the city, though it has left such magnificent monuments of its existence. The mere outlines have been sketched perhaps with accuracy; the details are probably obliterated for ever. According to the learned Mazzochi, Pæstum was founded by a colony of Dorenses or Dorians, from Dora, a city of Phoenicia, the parent of that race and name, whether established in Greece or in Italy. It was first called Posetan or Postan, which in Phoenician signifies Neptune, to whom it was dedicated. It was afterwards invaded, and its primitive inhabitants expelled by the Sybarites. This event perhaps took place about five hundred years before the Christian era. Under its new masters Pæstum assumed the Greek appellation Posidonia, of the same import as its Phoenician name, because a place of great opulence and magnitude, and is supposed by Mazzochi to have extended from the present ruin southward to the hill on which stands the little town still called, from its ancient destination, Agropoli. The Lucanians afterwards expelled the Sybarites, and checked the prosperity of Posidonia, which was in its turn deserted, and left to moulder away imperceptibly; vestiges of it are still visible over all the plain of Spinazzo or Saracino. The original city then recovered its first name, and not long after was taken, and at length colonized by the Romans. "From this period Pæstum is mentioned almost solely by the poets, who, from Virgil to Claudian, seem all to expatiate with delight amid its gardens, and grace their composition with the bloom, the sweetness, and the fertility of its roses. But, unfortunately, the flowery retreats, "The eternal sweets of Pæstum's rosy bowers," seem to have had few charms in the eyes of the Saracens, and if possible, still fewer in those of the Normans; who, each in their turn, plundered Pæstum, and at length compelled its remaining inhabitants to abandon their ancient seat, and to take shelter in the mountains. To them Capaccio, Vecchio and Novo, are supposed to owe their origin; these towns are situate on the hills: the latter is the residence of the bishop and chapter of Pæstum. "It will naturally be asked, to which of the nations that were successively in possession of Pæstum, the edifices which still subsist are to be ascribed: not to the Romans, who never seem to have adopted the genuine Doric style; the Sybarites are said to have occupied the neighbouring plain; the Dorians therefore appear to have the fairest claim to these majestic and everlasting monuments. But at what period were they erected? To judge from their form we must conclude that they are the oldest specimens of Grecian architecture now in existence. In beholding them, and contemplating their solidity, bordering upon heaviness, we are tempted to consider them as an intermediate link between the Egyptian and Grecian manner, and the first attempt to pass from the immense masses of the former to the graceful proportions of the latter. In fact, the temples of Pæstum, Agrigentum, and Athens, seem instances of the commencement, the improvement, and the perfection of the Doric order." The temples of Pæstum are three in number, differing considerably in size and number of pillars, but otherwise exhibiting the unvarying features of a Greek temple. But besides these, there are numerous remains of other structures; the traces of a theatre, the substructures of large public buildings, and a complete line of circumvallation still traceable. The ancient walls of this desolate city remain from five to twelve feet high; formed of solid blocks of stone, and with towers at intervals. Even the archway of one of the gates stands entire. whole is overgrown with brambles and nettles. But the two dwellings are still maintained within the area of the walls, as if to tell more strikingly by the contrast, of the desolation which has swept over the once populous and magnificent city. Such is Pæstum; such also is Cyrene; such are the colonies founded by ancient Greece in other lands; while Greece herself, though restored by diplomacy to a nominal independence, still strikingly contrasts with the era of her glory and magnificence, when one little state of southern Europe gave birth to learning, arts, philosophy, which have furnished the elements of teaching for all future times and nations. This very influence of her learning, however, renders her ruined monuments less valuable as historical data, though still studied with undiminished interest and reverence for the canons of art. In the buried palaces of Nineveh, and the ruined temples of Yucatan, we find evidences of civilization, mechanical ingenuity, and artistic skill, such as give us an entirely new view of their ancient builders. But no such evidence is needed to convince us that the Dorians and Athenians had attained to a civilization, compared to which most living nations merit the barbarian title which they bestowed on contemporaries. CHAPTER II. POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM. Let us turn the prow, And in the track of him who went to die, Traverse this valley of waters, landing where A waking dream awaits us. At a step 用 Two thousand years roll backward, and we stand, Like those so long within that awful place, On the plain which surrounds the base of Vesuvius, and occupies the space between it and the sea, the geologist, as well as the antiquary, discovers many remarkable traces of former changes. Of the towns which once occupied the ancient Campania, history has preserved sufficient records to furnish us with no unsatisfactory picture of their state while yet occupied by a busy populace, and sharing in the social and political changes of the Roman peninsula. Far more remarkable historic records, however, have rendered them objects of peculiar interest to future ages. Pompeii and Herculaneum, after being engulphed for so many centuries beneath the lava and ashes of Vesuvius, have been brought to light again, and partially explored, revealing to us the inner social life of Roman citizens contemporary with Pliny, such as no written history could furnish. The situation of Vesuvius is still remarkable; and its surrounding Campania has attractions which counterbalance all the dangers of the fiery mountain, and still, as of old, attract a busy populace to occupy the fertile, but treacherous plains. A modern traveller remarks of the site: "It is so advantageous, that the scene which it unfolds to the eye probably surpasses that displayed from any other eminence. That scene is Naples, with its bay, its islands, and its bordering promontories; the whole of that delicious region justly denominated the Campania Felice (happy Campania), with its numberless towns and townlike villages. It loses itself in the immensity of the sea on one side, and on the other is bordered by the Apennines, forming a semicircular frame of various tints and bold outline. I own I do not admire views taken from very elevated points: they, indeed, give a very good geographical idea of a country; but they destroy all the illusions of rural beauty, reduce hills and vales to the same level, and confound all the graceful swells and hollows of an undulated surface, into general flatuess and uniformity.” The first recorded eruption of Mount Vesuvius, is that which occurred in the reign of Titus, and overwhelmed the cities which are now being restored to light. This remarkable eruption is graphically described by the younger Pliny, in two epistles addressed by him to Tacitus, the historian. It would appear that, previous to this occurrence, the pent-up fires gave no external indications of their destructive power. Vesuvius had then presented only such features as are still familiar to us in many extinct volcanoes; and though its hollow caverns and rugged rocks were not unnoted even then, as affording indications of the work of fire, no traditions of the Roman occupants of Pompeii preserved any distinct tradition of the crater of Vesuvius having ever formed an aperture through which the central fires escaped to pour destruction over the neighbouring plains. Yet there are abundant traces apparent, of many remarkable geological changes having taken place on the whole surrounding |