Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-04-15
TN CLASSICAL DIRT.
WILL CARLETON's VISIT 10 THE TOWN OF
ARCHINBDES.
The Resting Plass Of the Great Philosopher In
k1gwu-0scl,tiOn Anors hsn-Areisnt
Gri.k ThsaTs-Ths CaaenbS
Especial Correspondence
SYRACUSE, SICILY, March, 1885

-
from a million inhabitants. 1t is now .
dirty little town with nothing but its Past
TO recommend it.
Bat it is Archimedes' city, and the large
Drained old philosopher left enough glory
to light up the spot forever. As / look
over the fields of sod and rubbish that
we're once the crowded wards OF Syracuse,
I would give a great deal to be told 'for
certain" where he lived, where that coarse
Ignorant soldier killed him before he could
finish his problem II hope he went on with
it in the next world, and where the clsy
casket of such a mind was finally laid b..
l look of on the sea and know that some
uhere there he burned..tbe enemies ships |
with his mammoth sun glass, and lifted
them into dry-dock with fearfully iDge-
NOUS engines; but the exact location re-
fuses to be known. Or course, l could
hire a guide for two francs to show me the
precise plsce; and the same man would at
more or less reasonable rates obtain aloca-
ton for any event / chose to mention. A
square hole in a rock was pointed out to
me as the great nisthcnatician's tomb; but
I know Of no just cause or reason why an
other square hole in some other rock may
not he pointed out as the same thing
There is nothing by which to identify
the remains 10 remains TO identify, and,
in fact, little to depend upon anyhow.
This is also the city of Damon and Pyth-
iss-those two more than bosom friends OF
ancient history. Who has not read about
the latter's going Tor rather stayiDe) bail
for his friend. Damon, while he went and
saw his sister married? And Dlmon's sud
den and opportune arrival, jast "a they
were about to take OF Pythias' hesd? And
the circumstance of D;onysius being SO
impressed With their 5rotherly affection
that he asked them to make him the third
member of the combinations?
l Judge that the ferveut and elusive
friendship Of Ioan for msn has not died out
here entirely, for l saw the clerk Of our
hotel greet several Of his male acquaint
ances with kisses. This fashion Of mascu-
line OSCILLATION is quite oftea met with in
Southern Europe, and looks very odd, not
to say disgusting. TO people from the colder
climates 81 have several male friends
that I thiak a great deal Of" said a fine
old American gentleman to me, "but
don't know that l would care to kiss any
Of 'em, and | am sure none of 'em ever
offered TO ipflict the operation on me-" 1t
is happily not fashionable in our country,
either North or South; although I believe
the Duukards still follow out the biblical
Injunction to greet one another with a
holy kiss.'
In the northern part Of the old town is
still pointed out a cave said to be one Of
the famous and infsmcus) ear prisons OF
Dionysius. 1t is a large gloomy cavity in
q rock, and the roof tlopes up TO a small
opening, at which every sound can be
heard from within. Here the tyrant il said
to have stood, listening 10 such sounds OF
rage or agony as his prisoners might make;
and l hope he heard a great deal Of truth
about himself.
Near by tbs "~pvison," and, IN fact al.
most over it, is the famous Greek outdoor
theatre, with semi-circnlar seats cut and
hewn out of the sold rock. This being one
of the few buildings that the destructive
natu. e man Of conid not pull down, is still
quite perfect, and gives us a good picture
OF that peoples idsa Of a place Of amuse-
ment.
There are here between forty or fifty rows
of seats, well preserved, and beautiful in
their curved outlines. Here also are the
memory footsteps OF brsin-workers who
have outlived a great many centuries,
Here Eschylus sat and saw his plays per-
formed, and Pindar listened 10 the singing
Of bis odes. We ars on The very ground
| ,-h.ra thav lil - - = rather Tho yavu alOp.S
But the performance is finished, aud the
audience has gone ~home-weat home more
than two hou'snd years ago.. There lie
nobody here to-day but n guide who has
charge of sll the old city for 1urlongs
around, and q CreciGn face vaIlet Of a boy
who wants TO cell me some counterfeit
ancient coins.
Outside the theatre all is solitude and
desolation, except in one place, where half
a dozen old women are washing wheat in
q running stream-the same 10 be ground
by a horse mill on the spot and made into
observation-disclosures of dough. c"But
you haf 7at word 'macaroni' in one OF your
national lyrics, l beleet, anyhow, as little
as you like it," said a bright Italian young
lady the other evening"
These women are standing in the cold
water bare. legged, aad working patiently
for q few cents per day. The oldest one,
a poor, withered old lady Of seventy, gives
me a handful Of the golden grain, with
courteous gestures worthy a princess. The
few sou that l bestow upon her are more
than her whole days salary; and the other
old ladies pursue me with ehrill voices till
I am out Of sight.
The catacombs Of Syracuse have been
praised as superior in construction to al
most any other in the world; but cata-
combs, in the main, make rather a dull
show, and prodnce but a mild, dreary sort
, Of sensation. They are merely shelves
hewn within the rocss, in which dead PEG
pie long ago were laid 10 rest, and fIom
which they have all been torn. There il
no way to be sure that any dead body will
: be unmoles:ed for macy years. Even Of
all the powerful Roman emperors, there IL
only one whose resting-piace the world
pretends to know.
We come back to the little island upon
which stands modern Syraeuse"-if a
town can be called modern which has
, scarcely q building in il lees than centuries
old. Our gloomy little hotel-"the bet
ia Syracuse"-looks gloomier md dirtier
than ever. The streets are as damp and
) Wholesome AZ if they were 30 many long
narrow c~isterps. THE fountain Of Are.
thuss," a small pond of water enclosed by
/ O dish-l;ke wall apd inhabited ny curly.
feathered geese and swaps, looks more
aquatic and less interesting even than be.
: fore.
We meet upon the borjes Of this CLASH
cal mud-bole q travelling acquaintance who
is drabbled, tired, moist, and very enthu-
siastic. He has for tine past week been
rushing about the vast open upon which
~ancier. Syracuse was built. He has fought
over all the battles, rebuilt all the temples
and ~repopulatei the old city, with hi.
, strong and prolific imagination. he has
] had a good guide, and has never been lef,
{ in doubt one moment a. &c any locality