The Nevada Democrat., 1858-09-15
Bayard Taylor In the Valley of the EurOtas.
SPARTA AS 1T Is.


! Leondari where we passed the night, is on
the frontier of Sparta. but still in Arcadia Al
! pheus, from his glacier cold on Taygetus, rush
/ es down the hills in search of his Dorian Are
| thusa. Here is still the rural paradise OF an
eient Greece, with its pure air, its sweet waters
its seclusion and peace-but, alas, the people!
We overlooked long tracts of oak forests
nothing but oak-some ancient trunks gnared
aud hoary with thousand years. and younger
woods covering the gently rounded knolls. The
morning was divinely clear and brilliant, but
cold, with a thin sheet of ice on standing water
In an hour aud half, after threading scatter
ing groves, of oak and lex, we passed low
barconnecting Tavgetus with Man@lus on the
north, and this as l rightly guessed, was the
water shed between the Alpheus aud EurOtas-
the boundary of Sparta. In the splendor OF the
day every feature of the landscape had its clear
est form and its richest cooring, and from the
beds of daisy and cOrcus at our feet, to the
snowy pyramids of Taygetus, high above us,
everything spoke of life and OF spring. There
is village called Lonknike, in n very wild po-
sition. bigG up under the very crest Of the
mountain, which supplies the Morea with ply
scians The boys are even sent to France and
Germany to complies their studies. during
the day we met with num5ers of peaSahts. driV
ing asses laden with bundles of young mulberry
and olive trees; from the nurseries ct Sparta
a
ment in the amount of new ground bronghs
under cultivation.
AS we approached Sparta, the road descend
ed to the banks of the Eurotas. Traces of the
ancient walls which restrained the river, still
remain in places, but in his shifting course he
has swept the most Of them away and spread his
gravelly depusites freely over the bottoms in
closed between the spurs Of the hills. The
clumps of poplar. willow and sycamore which
lined the stream aud the thickets of blackberry
mast:c. lies aud arbatus through which our road
wound. gave the scenery charming, Wild and
rural aspect The hillS-depUSls of alluvlum
left by the pre- Adamite floods took the most
remarkable forms, showing regular terraces.
cones. pyramids and bastinns, us they fell oil
toward the river. Toward evening we saw at
II dstalca the white houses OF ancient Sparta.
aud presently some ndcaljuns OF the ancient
city. AT first. the remains VI terraces aud rani-
parts then tue unmi-takabe Hellenic walls
and Il, the superb PLAN of the EIrUtas burSt up
o rs, stretching ~ garden H. beauty 10 The
toOt Of tne abrupt nill-. over which lowered the
sul.Iogchcd suows Of TaygetuS we saw, close
on uur ri .At. almost ,hc uulv relic of the lost
uges-thc thcatpr Il dag across field of
Vb-at which cNt"udrd al over the scene of
tie S9a ian gymHasuc cNh bit oar; we ihen
s1od upOa lie proceHium AID contemplated
I'll, s, SleHt ru0s. and the broad beautiful land
not 80 crowded with striking points, not 90
splendid in associations as tbat Of Athens. bnt
larger, grander, richer ia coloring. The plain,
watcrcd by the unfailng Eurotas, is covered
with luXnriant vegetation, and opens its fruit
ful lap to the noonday sun. In warm counties
water is the great fertilizer, and no part of
Greece is 50 well supplied in this respect as
Sputa
Beside the theatcr, the only remains are some
masses ef Roman brickwork. and the massive
substructOns Of II small temple which the ma
tives call the tomb Of LeOlidas. ! walked over
the shapeless rubbish which covers the five hills
without a single feeling Of regret Tlere were
great & 5htcrs before AgamennOn. and there are
as brave men as Leodidas to day. As for the
race Of military savages whom Lycargus-the
mau Of ice and iron-cducatcd here. who would
wish to restore them? The one virtue of the
Spartans- bravery-is always exaggerated, be-
cause it is their ouly noble trait They were
coarse cruel treacherous and dishonest, and
while they acted in two or three instances, as a
! shield to Greece, they dealt the perfdous stabs
through which she persisted at last. In art lit
erature. science and philosophy, we owe nothing
TO Sparta. She has beqneathed to us only a
few personal examples Of splendid patriotism,
and code which, God be thanked, can never
be put in practice again.