Chapter 12

It is, no doubt, very gratifying, in these ages of assurance, to witness so unequivocal a display of genuine modesty; and we confess that we ought not to have laughed so heartily as we did at thislaudable expression of it in our guests: but it certainly did appear to us somewhat ridiculous to see men, with long beards, who had each of them two or three wives, so completely discomfited at the sight of a rosy-faced girl. At the same time, we must allow that we have also our prejudices; and it is probable, that the appearance of a young Arab damsel, with her veiled face and naked legs and feet, in the midst of a party of Englishmen, might occasion no trifling confusion; scarcely less, perhaps, than that which was occasioned by the display of the fair face and neck above mentioned. It was some time before our worthy Arab friends recovered from the serious shock which their modesty had sustained; but as modesty (for what reason we will not pretend to determine) is by no means an unconquerable feeling, we prevailed upon the blushing Shekhs, when the first impression had subsided, to take a second look at the picture; declaring, that there was nothing in so innocent a display at which the most correct of true believers need be shocked. We will not venture to say that they were quite of our opinion; but it is certain that their curiosity (at least we suppose it to have been that) very soon got the better of their scruples; and we even think, that some of them might actually have been persuaded to trust themselves in those sinful regions where a pretty face and figure may be looked at and admired without any very serious breach of decorum. As for Shekh Mahommed, he had so far recovered himself as to put the object of his former confusion into his pocket, though merely to show it (as he said) to his wives; and was hardy enough to keep it three or four days, before he returned it to its owner.

With respect to the Arab women, we will venture to say (though we do not think that modesty is their predominant quality) that no consideration could induce them to dress themselves in the manner which caused such astonishment to our acquaintance: and they would certainly not believe that the ladies of Europe, to whom such costume is familiar, would object to appear in the presence of the other sex without their shoes and stockings. As for dancing with men, and taking them by the hand, it would be looked upon as the last stage of effrontery and indelicacy; yet their own familiar dance is at the same time of such a nature that no modest women of Europe could look at it. It would be a curious experiment in natural history to see which of the ladies would require most persuasion; the Arab to appear in public without any veil, or the Englishwoman without shoes and stockings. There can be no question which of the two is most civilized; yet, we own, we cannot see that it is at all more indecent to appear in public with the legs and feet uncovered, than it is to expose the face, arms, and neck; or that it is really more modest to cover the face than to leave it in its natural state. Of the two, we should certainly think it more modest to cover the face than the feet; yet we know that the practice of going without a veil is adopted by the most refined nations of the globe, and that the habit of wearing it is by no means inconsistent with levity and want of proper feeling.

To return to our description of the town; we have already stated, that Bengazi may be considered as occupying the site of the Berenice of the Ptolemies, and of the Hesperis of earlier times; but veryfew remains now appear above ground to interest the sculptor, the architect, or the antiquary. Berenice has, in fact, disappeared from the beautiful plain on which it stood, and a miserable, dirty, Arab town has reared itself on its ruins, or rather on the soil which covers its ruins, for all its interest is now under ground.

The erection of Bengazi on the site of the ancient town, rather than the effects of time, or of hostile violence, appears to have been chiefly the cause of the total disappearance of the latter; for the stones of which the buildings were originally composed being too large for the purposes of the Arabs, are broken up into small pieces before they are used in modern structures, and generally before they are removed from the places in which they are dug up. Many a noble frieze and cornice, and many a well-proportioned capital has been crushed under the hammer of these barbarians; so that, even were there not a single house in Bengazi which has not been composed of ancient materials, yet there is nothing of architecture in any of them at present to fix, and scarcely to arrest, the attention. We were ourselves just too late to save from the hammer several portions of a large and well-executed Ionic entablature, which a worthy Arab Shekh had caused to be excavated and brought into his court-yard, to form part of a house which he was building without the town, and which was carefully beat to pieces by his servants and slaves before it was bedded in the mud which received it. Very extensive remains of building are still found about Bengazi, at the depth of a foot or two from the surface of the plain; and whenever a house is intended to be erected, the projector of it has nothing more to do, in order to obtainmaterials for building it, than to send a few men to excavate in the neighbourhood, and with them a camel, or two or three asses, to transport what is dug up to the spot which has been fixed upon for the house. If the fragments which are found should prove too large for removal (which is generally the case) they are broken into smaller pieces, without the least hesitation or concern, till they are reduced to a convenient size for loading, and are afterwards broken again into still smaller pieces, as occasion may require, on the place where the house is built. Many valuable remains of antiquity must have disappeared in this way, but it is probable, at the same time, that many still exist to reward the expense of excavation; and we have little doubt, that statues and inscriptions, numerous fragments of architecture, and good collections of coins and gems, might still be obtained within the distance of half a mile round Bengazi. On the beach to the northward and to the north-eastward of the town, where a bank of twenty and thirty feet (more or less) is formed of the rubbish of one of the ancient cities, coins and gems are continually washed down in rainy weather; and the inhabitants of Bengazi repair in crowds to the beach, after storms, and sift the earth which falls away from the cliff, disposing of whatever they may find to the few Europeans of the place[15].

When we reflect that Berenice flourished under Justinian, and thatits walls underwent a thorough repair in the reign of that Emperor, it will be thought somewhat singular, that both the town and its walls should have disappeared so completely as they have done. We have already mentioned the disappearance of the city, and it may here be observed, that scarcely a vestige of its walls now remains above the surface of the plain, and that it would not be possible to decide its precise limits, without a great deal of previous excavation. It is probable, however, that Berenice did not extend beyond the actual limits of Bengazi; for the salt-water lake to the southward of the town would prevent its going farther in that direction, and the ground to the eastward is in most parts so low as to be frequently overflowed by the sea, which oozes through the sand heaped upon the beach in that direction.

From the circumstance of the water in Bengazi being brackish, it is probable that the ancient town was furnished with an aqueduct from some springs of sweet water, about half a mile distant from it to the eastward; and the existence of remains of ancient reservoirs, or cisterns, with troughs, constructed of stone, leading into them, still observable on the beach where the coins and gems are collected, would seem, in some degree, to favour this supposition[16].

On first discovering the quarries from which the city of Berenice, and probably that of Hesperis also, have been constructed, we flattered ourselves that we should have found them full of excavated tombs, which are usually formed in similar situations, when thequarries are not far from the town: but two or three chambers only appeared, which did not seem to us to have been intended for places of burial, and the tombs of both cities must be looked for in the plain, under the soil or the sand which now conceals them[17].

The trees and shrubs which are growing in the quarries we allude to, and have rooted themselves, at the same time, in the sides of the rocks which they are formed in, give these places a very wild and picturesque appearance, not unworthy of the pencil of Salvator; and, had not our time been fully occupied in research, when the weather allowed us to ramble, we should have been glad to have made some sketches of them. The caper plant is found there in great abundance, and spreads itself, like ivy, over the steep sides of the rocks, hanging down in the most luxuriant and beautiful clusters.

In speaking of the steep rocks in which these quarries are formed, we must state, that they do not rise above the surface of the plain, but are sunk down, perpendicularly, to a considerable depth, so as not to be visible till they are closely approached. Besides the quarries here mentioned, some very singular pits or chasms, of natural formation, are found in the neighbourhood of Bengazi: they consist of a level surface of excellent soil, of several hundred feet in extent, inclosed within steep, and for the most part perpendicular, sides of solid rock, rising sometimes to a height of sixty or seventy feet, or more, before they reach the level of the plain in which they are situated.The soil at the bottom of these chasms appears to have been washed down from the plain above by the heavy winter rains, and is frequently cultivated by the Arabs; so that a person, in walking over the country where they exist, comes suddenly upon a beautiful orchard or garden, blooming in secret, and in the greatest luxuriance, at a considerable depth beneath his feet, and defended on all sides by walls of solid rocks, so as to be at first sight apparently inaccessible. The effect of these secluded little spots, protected, as it were, from the intrusion of mankind by the steepness and the depth of the barriers which inclose them, is singular and pleasing in the extreme: they reminded us of some of those secluded retreats which we read of in fairy legends and tales, and we could almost fancy ourselves, as we looked down upon them, in the situation of some of those favoured knights and princes, the heroes of our earlier days, who have been permitted to wander over the boundaries of reality into regions shut out from the rest of mankind.

It was impossible to walk round the edge of these precipices, looking everywhere for some part less abrupt than the rest, by which we might descend into the gardens beneath, without calling to mind the description given by Scylax of the far-famed garden of the Hesperides.

This celebrated retreat is stated by Scylax to have been an inclosed spot of about one-fifth of a British mile[18]across, each way, filled withthickly-planted fruit-trees of various kinds, andinaccessibleon all sides. It was situated (on the authority of the same writer) at six hundred and twenty stadia (or fifty geographical miles) from thePort of Barce; and this distance agrees precisely with that of the places here alluded to from Ptolemeta, the port intended by Scylax, as will be seen by a reference to the chart. The testimony of Pliny is also very decided in fixing the site of the Hesperides in the neighbourhood of Berenice. “Not far” (he says) “from the city” (Berenice is here meant) “is the river Lethon, and the sacred grove where the gardens of the Hesperides are said to be situated[19].” Ptolemy also may be supposed to intend the same position, when he informs us, that the garden was to the westward of the people of Barca; or, what is the same thing, that the Barcitæ were to the eastward of the garden of Hesperides[20].

The name, indeed, itself of Hesperides would induce us to place the Garden, so called, in the vicinity of Bengazi; for the Hesperides were the early inhabitants of that part of the Cyrenaica, and Hesperis, as we have already stated, was the ancient name of the city of Berenice, on the site of which Bengazi is built,[21]and which was probably so called by the Greeks, from the circumstance of its being the most western city of the district.

It has been supposed by Gosselin[22]and others, that those celebrated gardens of early times (for they are frequently mentioned in the plural) were nothing more than some of those Oases, or verdant islands, “which reared their heads amid the sandy desert;” and, in the absence of positive local information, the conjecture was sufficiently reasonable.

The accounts which have come down to us of thedesert of Barca, from the pens of the Arab Historians, would lead us to suppose that the country so called (which included not only the territory in question, with the whole of the Pentapolis and Cyrenaica, but also the whole tract of coast between Tripoly and Alexandria) was little more than a barren tract of sand, scarcely capable of cultivation. Under such an impression, we can readily imagine that modern writers might be easily deceived; and when it was necessary to fix the site of groves and gardens in the country so erroneously described, we may certainly justify them in looking for such places in the only parts of a sandy desert where luxuriant vegetation is found, the Oases, or verdant islands alluded to. “Objects here presented themselves” (says the learned and ingenious Author of the Discoveries and Travels in Africa, in speaking of the western coast of that country, where the Hesperides have by some writers been placed) “which acted powerfully on the exalted and poetical imaginations of the ancients. They were particularly struck by those Oases, or verdant islands, which reared their heads amid the sandy desert. Hence,doubtless, were drawn those brilliant pictures of the Hesperian gardens, the Fortunate Islands, the Islands of the Blest, which are painted in such glowing colours, and form the gayest part of ancient mythology. The precise position of these celebrated spots has been a subject of eager and doubtful inquiry. The chief difficulty is, that there are different points of the continent in which they seem to be fixed with almost equal precision. In fact, it seems clearly shewn, by some learned writers[23], that this variety of position is referrible, not to any precise geographicaldata, but to the operation of certain secret propensities that are deeply lodged in the human breast.”

“There arises involuntarily in the heart of man a longing after forms of being, fairer and happier than any presented by the world before him—bright scenes which he seeks and never finds, in the circuit of real existence. But imagination easily creates them in that dim boundary which separates the known from the unknown world. In the first discoverers of any such region, novelty usually produces an exalted state of the imagination and passions; under the influence of which every object is painted in higher colours than those of nature. Nor does the illusion cease, when a fuller examination proves that, in the place thus assigned, no such beings or objects exist. The human heart, while it remains possible, still clings to its fond chimeras: it quickly transfers them to the yet unknown region beyond; and, when driven from thence, discovers still another more remote in which they can take refuge.Thus we find these fairy spots successively retreating before the progress of discovery; yet finding still, in the farthest advance which ancient knowledge ever made, some remoter extremity to which they can fly.”

“The first position of the Hesperian gardens” (continues our author) “appears to have been at the western extremity of Libya, then the farthest boundary, upon that side, of ancient knowledge. The spectacle which it often presented, a circuit of blooming verdure amid the desert, was calculated to make a powerful impression on Grecian fancy, and to suggest the idea of quite a terrestrial paradise. It excited also the image of islands, which ever after adhered to these visionary creations. As the first spot became frequented, it was soon stripped of its fabled beauty. So pleasing an idea, however, was not to be easily relinquished. Another place was quickly found for it; and every traveller, as he discovered a new portion of that fertile and beautiful coast, fondly imagined that he had at length arrived at the long-sought-for Islands of the Blest. At length, when the continent had been sought in vain, they were transferred to the ocean beyond, which the original idea of islands rendered an easy step. Those of the Canaries having never been passed, nor even fully explored, continued always to be the Fortunate Islands, not from any peculiar felicity of soil and climate, but merely because distance and imperfect knowledge left full scope to poetical fancy[24]. Hence we find Horace painting their felicity in the most glowing colours, andviewing them as a refuge still left for mortals, from that troubled and imperfect enjoyment which they were doomed to experience in every other portion of the globe.” (Murray’s Account of Africa, vol. i. chap. 1.)

Nothing is more just than the picture of human nature here presented to us by the intelligent writer just quoted; and it must be confessed that the position of the Hesperian gardens has been fixed by different authors in so many parts of the coast of Africa, that we may scarcely hope to reconcile statements so opposite.

The legends connected with these celebrated places are at the same time so wild and extravagant, as well as so discordant with each other, that we might often be tempted to consider the gardens themselves as fabulous and imaginary spots, existing only in the creative brain of the poet and the mythologist, and nowhere to be found in reality.

We should not, however, say, from our view of the subject, that “the variety of position” assigned to the gardens of the Hesperides “is referrible to no precise geographicaldata:” the details which we have already quoted from Scylax are too minute to be wholly rejected; and the position of the gardens, as laid down by Ptolemy and Pliny, coincides with that assigned to them by Scylax.

We have shewn, at the same time, that the nature of the ground in the neighbourhood of Berenice (or Bengazi) is consistent with the account of Scylax; and that places like those which he has so minutely described are actually to be found in the territory where he has laid down the gardens. This singular formation, so far aswe have seen, is also peculiar to the country in question; and we know of no other part of the coast of northern Africa where the same peculiarities of soil are observable. We do not mean to point out anyoneof these subterranean gardens as that which is described in the passage above quoted from Scylax; for we know of no one which will correspond in point of extent to the garden which this author has mentioned: all those which we saw were considerably less than the fifth of a mile in diameter (the measurement given by Scylax); and the places of this nature which would best agree with the dimensions in question, are now filled with water sufficiently fresh to be drinkable, and take the form of romantic little lakes.

Scarcely any two of the gardens we met with were, however, of the same depth or extent; and we have no reason to conclude that because we saw none which were large enough to be fixed upon for the garden of the Hesperides, as it is described in the statement of Scylax, there is therefore no place of the dimensions required among those which escaped our notice—particularly as the singular formation we allude to continues to the foot of the Cyrenaic chain, which is fourteen miles distant, in the nearest part, from Bengazi. When we consider that the places in question are all of them sunk below the surface of the soil, and that the face of the country in which they are found is overspread with brushwood, and nowhere perfectly level, it will not be thought extraordinary if some of them should have escaped us in a diligent and frequently-repeated search. At any rate, under the circumstances whichare already before the reader, it will not be thought a visionary or hastily formed assumption, if we say that the position of these celebrated spots, “long the subject of eager and doubtful inquiry,” may be laid down with some probability in the neighbourhood of the town of Bengazi. The remarkable peculiarities of this part of northern Africa correspond (in our opinion) sufficiently well with the authorities already quoted, to authorize the conclusion we have drawn from an inspection of the place; and to induce us to place the gardens of the Hesperides in some one, or more, of the places described, rather than in any of the Oases of the desert, as suggested by Monsieur Gosselin and others[25]. It seems probable that there were more than one garden of this name; but they could scarcely have been all of them so large as that mentioned by Scylax; and the greater number of those which we were able to discover were considerably smaller in all their dimensions, as we have already stated above.

It has been mentioned that some of the chasms above described have assumed the form of lakes; the sides of which are perpendicular, like those of the gardens, and the water in most of them appears to be very deep. In some of these lakes the water rises nearly to the edge of the precipice which incloses them, and in others is as much as twenty feet below it. They are no doubt much fuller afterthe rainy season than at other times of the year, and the water is then sweeter than ordinary. Besides these, there are also several subterranean caves in the neighbourhood of Bengazi. One of these, at the depth of about eighty feet from the surface of the plain, contains a large body of fresh water, which is said to run very far into the bowels of the earth, or rather of the rock which overshadows it. On descending into this cave, we found that it widened out into a spacious chamber, the sides of which had evidently been, in many places, shaped with the chisel, and rose perpendicularly to a considerable height. Our progress was soon stopped, as we were advancing into the cave, by the body of water we have mentioned; which, notwithstanding the lights we procured, was scarcely visible through the thick gloom which surrounded us. We found the water shallow at the edge, but it soon became gradually too deep to be practicable; we were also unable to discover any end to it, and a stone thrown as far as we could send it, fell into the water without striking. We had, however, seen enough to excite our curiosity very strongly, and we determined to return, at some early opportunity, with a boat and a good store of torches, intending to go as far along this subterranean stream as the height of the rock would allow us.

On mentioning our visit and our intentions to Bey Halil, he informed us that he had himself paid a visit to the place, in company with a chaous of his suite; and that he had carried with him a small boat in which he embarked with the chaous, and proceeded a considerable distance. They became, at length, afraid of not finding their way back, and put about to return as they came, having found (as he said) on sounding, that the depth of the water was in someparts as much as thirty feet. This account naturally made us more anxious than ever to put our intentions in execution; but no boat could then be found in the harbour sufficiently small for our purpose, and we were obliged to defer our subterranean voyage; determining, however, that if we could not find a portable boat on our return from Cyrene, we would contrive to put together some pieces of timber, and prosecute our researches on a raft, after the example of Sindbad the sailor.

But, alas! who can say that to-morrow is his own?—and who is there who makes the most of to-day? If we had constructed our raft before we moved farther eastward, instead of waiting for the chance of a boat when we came back, we should in all probability have been able to ascertain the extent of this mysterious river. As it was, we were obliged, by circumstances which we could neither control nor foresee, to leave the coast of Africa before we had completed our researches in the city and neighbourhood of Cyrene; and the short time which we had at our command on returning to Bengazi was insufficient (under the pressure of other occupations) for accomplishing this object of our wishes.

The disappointment here alluded to was only one among many others which we experienced, in consequence of our hasty and unexpected return; but it was one which we regretted more, perhaps, than it deserved; for mystery will always add a charm to inquiry, which further investigation might probably remove, but which will continue to preserve its powers of fascination while the uncertainty remains which created it.

We are too well acquainted with the talent of amplification sogenerally possessed by Turks and Arabs of all classes, to rely implicitly upon the truth of every part of the above-mentioned narrative related to us by the Bey of Bengazi: there is, however, no reason, of which we are aware, connected with the nature of the place, which militates against its probability; and we submit it accordingly, as we received it, to our readers, in the absence of more decided information.

We have already wandered into the regions of fable in speaking of the Gardens of the Hesperides; and before we retrace our steps, we must be permitted to linger for a while on the borders of the mysterious, hidden stream above-mentioned.

The Lethe, or Lathon, (for it is no less a stream to which we are going to call the attention of our readers,) is laid down by geographers in the neighbourhood of the gardens, and close to the city of the Hesperides.

Strabo makes the Lathon flow into the harbour of the Hesperides, and Ptolemy also lays down the same river between Berenice and Arsinoe; Pliny describes the Lathon as situated in the neighbourhood of Berenice, and Scylax places a river (which he calls Ecceus, Εκκειος) in a similar situation. The river Lethe is supposed to have lost itself underground, and to re-appear (like the Niger) in another place[26]; and the point to which we would call the attention of thereader is—whether the subterranean stream above-mentioned, which certainly may be said to lose itself underground, be the source of the Lethe, or Lathon, in question? and whether a small spring, which runs into the lake near the town of Bengazi, may be supposed to be the re-appearance of the same river, in the place so decidedly assigned to it by Strabo—the port of the Hesperides, or, which is the same, of Berenice.

The circumstance of finding a subterranean stream in this neighbourhood, between the mountains and the lake which joins the Harbour of Bengazi, would certainly appear to favour the conclusion, that the course of the stream was towards the lake, that is to say, from the higher ground to the lower. And although the mere discovery of a small stream of fresh water emptying itself into the lake here alluded to, does not by any means tend to confirm the existence of a communication between it and the subterranean stream in question; yet there is no proof (at least, not that we are aware of) that one of these is not connected with the other. At the same time we may add, that if it were really ascertained that no connexion existed between the two, such a circumstance would not be considered as proving that the ancients did not suppose that they communicated. It was believed by the Greeks (or, at any rate, it was asserted by them) that the Alpheus communicated with the fountain of Arethusa, and that anything thrown into the former at Elis would re-appear on the waters of the latter in Sicily.

Other instances might be mentioned of similar extravagancies, which are considered by the moderns as poetical inventions, andnever received as historical facts. The disappearance of the Lathon, and its subsequent rise, might have been equally a poetical fiction; but when we find, in the country in which it was placed, a large body of water which actually loses itself, we are naturally led to believe one part of the assertion, and to seek to identify the actual subterranean stream with that which is said to have existed. On a reference to the authority of geographers and historians, we find a river called Lathon laid down very clearly in the place where this body of water is found, and we remark that the name which they apply to the river signifieshiddenorconcealed. So far there is a probability that the Lathon of the ancients and the subterranean stream in the neighbourhood of Bengazi may be one and the same river.

Again, we are told, on the authority of Strabo, that the Lathon discharged itself into the Harbour of the Hesperides; and we find a small spring actually running into the lake which is connected with the harbour in question; and which might, from the position of the subterranean spring between it and the mountains to the southward of it, have received at least a portion of the waters, which lose themselves in a place where the level is higher. When we find that the Lathon (or hidden stream) of Bengazi isdirectlybetween the mountains and the harbour, it becomes the more probable that such a communication may have existed; and whether the little spring which runs into the lake be a continuation of the Lathon or not, there appears to be quite sufficient reason for believing that the ancients might have imagined it was. If we consider how triflingare the existing remains of the Ilissus, the Simois, the Scamander, and other rivers, to which we have been in the habit of attaching importance, we must not be surprised to find a celebrated stream dwindled down into a very insignificant one. The changes which a lapse of nearly two thousand years may be supposed to have occasioned on the northern coast of Africa, are fully sufficient to have reduced the river Lathon to the spring which now flows into the Lake of Bengazi.

The lake itself is salt, and in the summer is nearly dry; while the small stream in question takes its rise within a few yards of the lake, and running along a channel of inconsiderable breadth, bordered with reeds and rushes, might be mistaken by a common observer for an inroad of the lake into the sandy soil which bounds it.

On tasting it, however, we found its waters to be fresh, and the current which is formed by its passage into the lake is very evident on the slightest examination.

If we may suppose this little stream to be all that now remains of the celebrated River of Oblivion, we shall be enabled to throw light upon a passage in Strabo which has hitherto been the subject of much discussion.

It has been questioned by commentators, whether Strabo intended to make the river Lathon discharge itself into thelake, or into theportof the Hesperides; and the near resemblance which the words λιμην (limen) and λιμνη (limne), the former of which means a port, and the latter a lake, do certainly bear to each other, will allow of their being confounded in transcribing, by the mere transposition of asingle letter[27]. Without reference to the authority of the most approved manuscripts, we may observe, on that only of local inspection, that either of these words would be correct. It has already been stated that the Harbour of Bengazi communicates with a salt-water lake, and it is probable that in Strabo’s time the vessels of the ancients might have passed from one into the other. The harbour and the lake might in that event be considered without any impropriety as the same. It is into this lake that the small stream discharges itself which we have alluded to above, and if we can suppose it to be the remains of the Lathon, the statement of Strabo may be considered as confirmed by the actual appearance of the place. If, however, we are disposed to be sceptical on this point, we must give up the river altogether, or, at least, we must give up the re-appearance of it in the lake and in the Harbour of Hesperis, or Berenice; for no other spring, that we are aware of, flows either into one or the other. It is probable that λιμην was the word used by Strabo, and it seems also probable that he intended to imply, that the harbour and the lake he calls Tritonis, on which stood the temple of Venus, were the same; at least, in reading the whole of the passage together, we can scarcely divest ourselves of this idea[28].

It may be, however, that the nature of the place, rather than the construction of the passage in question, has in fact suggested this reading to us: for on the borders of the lake, which still communicates with the Harbour of Bengazi, is a spot of rising ground, nearly insulated in winter, on which are the remains of ancient building; and which, at the time when the harbour was deeper, and the lake itself practicable for vessels[29], must have been (occasionally, at least) completely surrounded with water. Here then might have stood the temple of Venus mentioned in the passage above, and the introduction of the word μαλιστα by Strabo (taken in the sense ofmostly, orgenerally), in speaking of the island in question, would seem to confirm this position.

Berenice (he tells us) is placed on the Point of Pseudopenias, near a certain lake called Tritonis, in which there ismostlyan island (εν ἡ μαλιστα νησιον εστι), with a temple upon it dedicated to Venus. We may remark, in support of this supposition, that it is probable, from the position of the rising ground alluded to, that it was not at all times surrounded by water; and that it was only in the winter season, or at times when the sea advanced farther than ordinary, that it was completely an island.

We may suppose, in receiving this island as the one mentioned by Strabo, that the circumstance just stated was alluded to by the geographer, when he informs us that there wasusuallyan island in the lake; but we do not mean to insist upon this reading of the passage in question, and will confess, that it would probably never havesuggested itself to us had we never visited Bengazi; it must therefore be left to the discretion of our readers, to adopt it or not, as it may seem to deserve, on a reference to the local peculiarities we have mentioned.

With regard to the name of Tritonis, bestowed upon the lake in this passage, it is difficult to say whether the lake which Strabo mentions was actually called by that name; or whether the geographer has confounded it with the Tritonis Palus (the Lake Lowdeah of Shaw), situated in the Lesser Syrtis, and which also contained an island, according to Herodotus.

But whatever may have been the proper name of the lake at Berenice which we seek to identify with the Tritonis of Strabo, it appears to us to answer remarkably well to the lake of that name which he mentions. We will therefore suggest, that the Tritonis in question and the lake which now communicates with the Harbour of Bengazi, are one and the same lake: that it was originally deep enough to admit the vessels of the ancients, and to have formed occasionally the island containing the temple of Venus, on the spot of rising ground already pointed out, where remains of ancient building are still observable: that a small spring of fresh water runs into the same lake which may possibly be the remains of the Lathon of Strabo, at its point of re-appearance and communication with the Harbour of the Hesperides; and that the subterranean stream in the cavern between the lake and the mountains, which we have mentioned above, may also be the source of this river. When we add, that the gardens upon which we have remarked, are probably some of those called the Gardensof the Hesperides, we have pointed out all that now occurs to us of any interest in the neighbourhood of the town of Bengazi; and we submit these suggestions to the judgment of others better qualified than ourselves to decide the points in question.

It appears to have been from Berenice, the daughter of Magas, who was married to Ptolemy Philadelphus, that the city of Hesperis changed its ancient name into that which afterwards distinguished it[30]. But the name of Berenicidæ, which seems to have been conferred upon the inhabitants of this part of the Cyrenaica, was not by any means generally adopted; for we find that these people continued notwithstanding to be called by their former appellation of Hesperides. It is, however, somewhat singular that Pomponius Mela, who flourished towards the middle of the first century, and nearly a hundred years after the extinction of the dynasty of the Lagides, should have mentioned this city under its ancient name of Hesperis only; while he gives its Ptolemaic name, Arsinoe, to Teuchira, and distinguishes the port of Barca by its appellation of Ptolemais[31]. Yet the name of Berenice continued to be used by other writers long after the age of Mela; and Pliny, who flourished nearly at the same time with this geographer, mentions the city of the Hesperides by that title. It is probable that a name of such poetical celebrity as that which gave place to Berenice was not easily laid aside by the lovers of literature; and we find that Ptolemy thoughtit necessary, an hundred years after Mela, to add, when he speaks of the city of Berenice, that it was the same with that of Hesperis, or, as he writes it, Hesperides[32]; from which we may infer that the ancient name of the place still continued to be better known than the modern one. But alas for the glories of Hesperis and Berenice! both names have passed away from the scene of their renown; and the present inhabitants of the miserable dirty village, (for we can scarcely call it a town,) which has reared itself on the ruins of these cities, have no idea that Bengazi did not always occupy the place which it has usurped on the soil of the Hesperides[33].

The Arab who now gathers his corn, or his fruit, in some one, perhaps, of those gardens so celebrated in the annals of antiquity, dreams of nothing whatever connected with it beyond the profits which he hopes from its produce. He knows nothing of the stream or the properties of the Lethe; and the powerful influence of the River of Oblivion seems to have been so often, and so successfully exerted, as to have drowned at length even the recollection of itself[34].

FOOTNOTES:[1]On these terraces barley and grass are frequently seen growing, and goats feeding very contentedly.[2]This idea is so strongly rooted in Mahometans of all classes and descriptions, as to have called forth the animadversions of writers of their own persuasion. We find the following remarks on the subject, in the Account of Egypt by Abd-Allatif, which we give in the French version of Silvestre de Lacy.“Quand il ont aperçu des monumens d’une grandeur colossale, l’aspect de ces monumens leur a inspiré la terreur; ils se sont fait des idées sottes et fausses de la nature de ces restes de l’antiquité. Comme toutes les pensées de ces gens là n’étoient occupées que de l’objet unique de leurs vœux, et de la seule chose qui eût des charmes pour leurs cœurs, je veux dire de l’or et de l’argent, ils ont éprouvé ce qu’un poëte a dit d’un buveur:”“Tout ce qu’il aperçoit lui paroît un gobelet; quand il voit quelqu’un, il croit toujours voir celui qui verse à boire.”“Ainsi tout ce qui paroissoit désigner quelque chose été, à leurs yeux, le signal d’un trésor caché: ils n’ont pas pu voir une ouverture pratiquée dans une montagne sans s’imaginer que c’étoit un chemin qui conduisoit à quelque riche dépôt; une statue colossale a été pour eux le gardien de l’argent déposé à ses pieds, et le vengeur implacable de toute entreprise formée contre la sûreté de ce dépôt. Ils ont donc eu recours à toutes sortes d’artifices pour détruire ces statues et les dégrader; ils en ont mutilé les figures, comme des gens qui espéroient par-là atteindre leur but, et qui craignoient, en les attaquant ouvertement, de s’attirer leur propre ruine: ne doutant point que ce ne fussent autant de coffres forts remplis de sommes immenses; ils se sont aussi enfoncés dans les fentes des montagnes, semblable aux voleurs qui pénètrent dans les maisons par toute autre voie que par les portes, et qui saisissent avidement une occasion inconnue à tout autre qu’ à eux.”—(Rél. d’Egypte, p. 197.)In this passage it clearly appears how much credulity and superstition was mixed up with the idea in question; and these exist in conjunction with it, to the present day, among the various Arab tribes of Asia and Africa, and in a great degree among the Turks.[3]As the Dúbbah had sworn that neither himself nor his people knew anything of the articles which we had lost, we never got them back again; although one of his own party afterwards confessed that they had stolen all that was missing. Shekh Mahommed did not hesitate to take a false oath—but he had too great a value for what he thought his character, to confess that he had deliberately perjured himself. At Malta we heard that a heavy fine of sheep and camels had been levied upon him by the Bashaw, for his disgraceful behaviour and wilful disobedience of his Highness’s most positive orders.[4]The Shekh el Belad Mahommed was nearly related to Shekh Belcazi, from whom we had received so much civility at Mesurata—he had two brothers also in Bengazi, both of whom were shekhs and merchants.[5]Signor Della Cella has mentioned five thousand as the number of inhabitants in Bengazi; but this statement appears to be overrated, as well as that of the number of Jews residing in the town, which, he tells us, amounts to half the population.[6]“This fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome continued, on the part of the Jews, from the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius.”—(Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 384.)“In Cyrene the Jews massacred two hundred and twenty thousand Greeks; in Cyprus two hundred and forty thousand; in Egypt a very great multitude.”—(See Dion Cassius, as cited by Gibbon.)[7]Among the most conspicuous of these was Hassan Larkoum, to whom we had brought a letter of recommendation from the ex-minister at Tripoly, Mahommed D’Ghies, and who treated us with the greatest civility and attention.[8]It was curious to observe the singular mixture of feeling displayed by some of the crew of our vessel—after deliberately inflicting the most cruel treatment on some unfortunate, groaning animal, we often heard a man exclaim, when he had finished his task, “Poverino! so ben che tu patisci!” and he would then hurry on to inflict the same cruelties on some other wretched object of his care.[9]Previously to these measures, the town was constantly subject to the attacks of the neighbouring tribes of marauding Arabs, who, as occasion offered, made incursions into it without ceremony, and retired with their plunder into the interior. The garrison and citizens opposed them as well as they could, and many a desperate skirmish frequently ensued; but as Bengazi is unprovided with walls, it was difficult to prevent a surprise, and the people lived in continual fear. Mahommed Bey began by building a round fort on the sandy tract to the eastward of the town, and then collecting his forces, carried the war into their territory, and after making severe examples of the most refractory, succeeded in reducing the Bedouins to subjection.[10]About the same time some high poles had been erected by our party, on the sand hills to the eastward of the town, as objects from which to take angles for the survey; and these were now considered to have been placed there as signals to regulate the motions of the enemy’s fleet.[11]The Arab term for all who profess Christianity.[12]Tibeebis the common Arab term for a doctor.[13]Several quarts of water were taken from this poor man, who, when he left our house, was scarcely distinguishable as the same person who had entered it, having diminished so much in size after the operation. He was, in fact, materially relieved, and continued to improve daily in health; till one day, after washing his shirt, he put it on, as the quickest way of drying it, a custom not uncommon among the Arabs, and caught so bad a cold in consequence, that all the doctor’s exertions were afterwards unable to save him.[14]Yusuf and Zuleika are the Mahometan names of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.[15]An excellent collection of these remains of Grecian art has been recently sold for a considerable sum[a], by a relation of the Vice-Consul of Bengazi, who had not been many years resident there.[a]Six thousand dollars, as we were informed.[16]These would however serve equally for the reception of rain water, which falls in abundance at Bengazi during the winter.[17]In one of these quarries a large portion of the rock, shaped into a quadrangular form, has been insulated from the rest to serve the purpose of a tomb, after the manner of those at Ptolemeta.[18]Two stadia is the length and breadth given by Scylax, which, taken as themeanGrecian stades of Major Rennell, of about ten to a British mile, would give the measurement here stated.[19]Nec procul ante oppidum fluvius Lethon, lucus sacer, ubi Hesperidum Horti memorantur.—(Nat. Hist., lib. v. c. 5.) Again, in the same book, Berenice—quondam vocata Hesperidum, &c.[20]Βαρκιται απο αναταλων του κηπου των Ἑσπεριδων.[21]Βερενικη ἡ και Ἑσπεριδες.—(Ptol. Geogr.): and as Stephanus describes it, in the singular, Ἑσπερις, πολις Λιβυης, ἡ νον Βερονὶκη.[22]Geographie Ancienne; Murray’s account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, &c.[23]Gosselin and Malte Brun.[24]Strabo, 1.—Plutarch in Sertorio—Horat. 4. od. 8. v. 27. Epod. 16. Pliny 6—6. C. 31-2.[25]Signor Della Cella has supposed that the passage of Scylax refers to theelevatedparts of the Cyrenaica, and places his gardens of Hesperides in the mountains; but we think that a review of the passage in question, combined with the local information which we have been able to collect on the subject, will authorize us to doubt this position.[26]Here Lethe’s streams, from secret springs below,Rise to the light; here heavily, and slow,The silent, dull, forgetful waters flow.(Rowe’s Lucan, book ix. p. 209.)Lucan places his Lethe and Hesperian Gardens in the neighbourhood of the Lake Tritonis, in the Lesser Syrtis; but the western part of the Cyrenaica is the most approved position for both. See also Solinus on this point.[27]Εστι δε και λιμην Ἑσπεριδων, και ποταμος εμβαλλει Λαθων. (Lib. 17. p. 836.)Some of the Commentators read λιμνη Ἑσπεριδων, and Cellarius says on this subject—“Est et de exitu fluminis dubitatio, in quod se infundat, in mare an in lacum. Straboni est λιμην Ἑσπεριδων, in quem Lathon effluit. Vetus autem interpres iterum dissentit, et quasi λιμνη legerit,lacusvertitHesperidum. Videant (he adds) quibus vel regionem cognoscendi, vel inspiciendi antiquos codices, facultas est.” (Lib. iv. c. ii.)[28]Εστι δε ακρα λεγομενη Ψευδοπενιας, εφ᾽ ης ἡ Βερενικη την θησιν εχει, παρα λιμνην τινα Τριτωνιδα, εν ἡ μαλιστα νησιον εστι, και ιερον Αφροδιτης εν αυτω· εστι δε και λιμην Εσπεριδων, και ποταμος εμβαλλει Λαθων.[29]We have already assumed, upon reasonable grounds, that this was probably the case in earlier times.[30]Βερενικιδαι απο Βερενικες της Μαγας θυγατερος, γυναικος δε και Πτολεμαιου, ωνομαθησαν Βερενικιδαι ὁι δημοται. (Steph. Byzant. v.)[31]Urbes Hesperia, Apollonia, Ptolemais, Arsinoe, atque (unde terris nomen est) ipsa Cyrene. (De Situ Orbis, Lib. i. c. 8.)[32]Βερενικη, ἡ και Ἑσπεριδες.[33]The name of Berenice is mentioned by Edrisi as remaining in his time in this part of Africa; but we never could find any traces of the name, though we often inquired for it of the Arabs of the country, as well as of the inhabitants of Bengazi.[34]The changes which time may be supposed to effect in the character and appearance of a country, are well expressed in the following little fable of Kazwini, translated from the Arabic by Silvestre de Sacy.“I passed by a very large and populous city, and inquired of one of its inhabitants by whom it was founded. Oh, replied the man, this is a very ancient city! we have no idea how long it may have been in existence; and our ancestors were on this point as ignorant as ourselves. In visiting the same place five hundred years afterwards, I could not perceive a single trace of the city; and asked of a countryman, whom I saw cutting clover, where it stood, and how long it had been destroyed. What nonsense are you asking me? said the person whom I addressed: these lands have never been any otherwise than you see them. Why, returned I, was there not formerly here a magnificent and populous city?—We have never seen one, replied the man, and our fathers have never mentioned to us anything of the kind.”“Five hundred years afterwards, as I passed by the spot, I found that the sea had covered it; and, perceiving on the beach a party of fishermen, I asked them how long it had been overflowed.”“It is strange, answered they, that a person of your appearance should ask us such a question as this; for the place has been at all times exactly as it is now. What, said I, was there not at one time dry land in the spot where the sea is at present?—Certainly not, that we know of, answered the fishermen, and we never heard our fathers speak of any such circumstance.”“Again, I passed by the place, after a similar lapse of time,—the sea had disappeared—and I inquired of a man whom I met at what period this change had taken place. He made me the same answer as the others had done before—and, at length, on returning once more to the place, after the lapse of another five hundred years, I found that it was occupied by a flourishing city, more populous, and more rich in magnificent buildings, than that which I had formerly seen! When I inquired of its inhabitants concerning its origin, I was told that it lost itself in the darkness of antiquity! We have not the least idea, they said, when it was founded, and our forefathers knew no more of its origin than ourselves!”—(Chréstomathie Arabe, vol. iii. p. 419.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1]On these terraces barley and grass are frequently seen growing, and goats feeding very contentedly.

[2]This idea is so strongly rooted in Mahometans of all classes and descriptions, as to have called forth the animadversions of writers of their own persuasion. We find the following remarks on the subject, in the Account of Egypt by Abd-Allatif, which we give in the French version of Silvestre de Lacy.“Quand il ont aperçu des monumens d’une grandeur colossale, l’aspect de ces monumens leur a inspiré la terreur; ils se sont fait des idées sottes et fausses de la nature de ces restes de l’antiquité. Comme toutes les pensées de ces gens là n’étoient occupées que de l’objet unique de leurs vœux, et de la seule chose qui eût des charmes pour leurs cœurs, je veux dire de l’or et de l’argent, ils ont éprouvé ce qu’un poëte a dit d’un buveur:”“Tout ce qu’il aperçoit lui paroît un gobelet; quand il voit quelqu’un, il croit toujours voir celui qui verse à boire.”“Ainsi tout ce qui paroissoit désigner quelque chose été, à leurs yeux, le signal d’un trésor caché: ils n’ont pas pu voir une ouverture pratiquée dans une montagne sans s’imaginer que c’étoit un chemin qui conduisoit à quelque riche dépôt; une statue colossale a été pour eux le gardien de l’argent déposé à ses pieds, et le vengeur implacable de toute entreprise formée contre la sûreté de ce dépôt. Ils ont donc eu recours à toutes sortes d’artifices pour détruire ces statues et les dégrader; ils en ont mutilé les figures, comme des gens qui espéroient par-là atteindre leur but, et qui craignoient, en les attaquant ouvertement, de s’attirer leur propre ruine: ne doutant point que ce ne fussent autant de coffres forts remplis de sommes immenses; ils se sont aussi enfoncés dans les fentes des montagnes, semblable aux voleurs qui pénètrent dans les maisons par toute autre voie que par les portes, et qui saisissent avidement une occasion inconnue à tout autre qu’ à eux.”—(Rél. d’Egypte, p. 197.)In this passage it clearly appears how much credulity and superstition was mixed up with the idea in question; and these exist in conjunction with it, to the present day, among the various Arab tribes of Asia and Africa, and in a great degree among the Turks.

“Quand il ont aperçu des monumens d’une grandeur colossale, l’aspect de ces monumens leur a inspiré la terreur; ils se sont fait des idées sottes et fausses de la nature de ces restes de l’antiquité. Comme toutes les pensées de ces gens là n’étoient occupées que de l’objet unique de leurs vœux, et de la seule chose qui eût des charmes pour leurs cœurs, je veux dire de l’or et de l’argent, ils ont éprouvé ce qu’un poëte a dit d’un buveur:”

“Tout ce qu’il aperçoit lui paroît un gobelet; quand il voit quelqu’un, il croit toujours voir celui qui verse à boire.”

“Ainsi tout ce qui paroissoit désigner quelque chose été, à leurs yeux, le signal d’un trésor caché: ils n’ont pas pu voir une ouverture pratiquée dans une montagne sans s’imaginer que c’étoit un chemin qui conduisoit à quelque riche dépôt; une statue colossale a été pour eux le gardien de l’argent déposé à ses pieds, et le vengeur implacable de toute entreprise formée contre la sûreté de ce dépôt. Ils ont donc eu recours à toutes sortes d’artifices pour détruire ces statues et les dégrader; ils en ont mutilé les figures, comme des gens qui espéroient par-là atteindre leur but, et qui craignoient, en les attaquant ouvertement, de s’attirer leur propre ruine: ne doutant point que ce ne fussent autant de coffres forts remplis de sommes immenses; ils se sont aussi enfoncés dans les fentes des montagnes, semblable aux voleurs qui pénètrent dans les maisons par toute autre voie que par les portes, et qui saisissent avidement une occasion inconnue à tout autre qu’ à eux.”—(Rél. d’Egypte, p. 197.)

In this passage it clearly appears how much credulity and superstition was mixed up with the idea in question; and these exist in conjunction with it, to the present day, among the various Arab tribes of Asia and Africa, and in a great degree among the Turks.

[3]As the Dúbbah had sworn that neither himself nor his people knew anything of the articles which we had lost, we never got them back again; although one of his own party afterwards confessed that they had stolen all that was missing. Shekh Mahommed did not hesitate to take a false oath—but he had too great a value for what he thought his character, to confess that he had deliberately perjured himself. At Malta we heard that a heavy fine of sheep and camels had been levied upon him by the Bashaw, for his disgraceful behaviour and wilful disobedience of his Highness’s most positive orders.

[4]The Shekh el Belad Mahommed was nearly related to Shekh Belcazi, from whom we had received so much civility at Mesurata—he had two brothers also in Bengazi, both of whom were shekhs and merchants.

[5]Signor Della Cella has mentioned five thousand as the number of inhabitants in Bengazi; but this statement appears to be overrated, as well as that of the number of Jews residing in the town, which, he tells us, amounts to half the population.

[6]“This fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome continued, on the part of the Jews, from the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius.”—(Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 384.)“In Cyrene the Jews massacred two hundred and twenty thousand Greeks; in Cyprus two hundred and forty thousand; in Egypt a very great multitude.”—(See Dion Cassius, as cited by Gibbon.)

[6]“This fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome continued, on the part of the Jews, from the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius.”—(Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 384.)

“In Cyrene the Jews massacred two hundred and twenty thousand Greeks; in Cyprus two hundred and forty thousand; in Egypt a very great multitude.”—(See Dion Cassius, as cited by Gibbon.)

[7]Among the most conspicuous of these was Hassan Larkoum, to whom we had brought a letter of recommendation from the ex-minister at Tripoly, Mahommed D’Ghies, and who treated us with the greatest civility and attention.

[8]It was curious to observe the singular mixture of feeling displayed by some of the crew of our vessel—after deliberately inflicting the most cruel treatment on some unfortunate, groaning animal, we often heard a man exclaim, when he had finished his task, “Poverino! so ben che tu patisci!” and he would then hurry on to inflict the same cruelties on some other wretched object of his care.

[9]Previously to these measures, the town was constantly subject to the attacks of the neighbouring tribes of marauding Arabs, who, as occasion offered, made incursions into it without ceremony, and retired with their plunder into the interior. The garrison and citizens opposed them as well as they could, and many a desperate skirmish frequently ensued; but as Bengazi is unprovided with walls, it was difficult to prevent a surprise, and the people lived in continual fear. Mahommed Bey began by building a round fort on the sandy tract to the eastward of the town, and then collecting his forces, carried the war into their territory, and after making severe examples of the most refractory, succeeded in reducing the Bedouins to subjection.

[10]About the same time some high poles had been erected by our party, on the sand hills to the eastward of the town, as objects from which to take angles for the survey; and these were now considered to have been placed there as signals to regulate the motions of the enemy’s fleet.

[11]The Arab term for all who profess Christianity.

[12]Tibeebis the common Arab term for a doctor.

[13]Several quarts of water were taken from this poor man, who, when he left our house, was scarcely distinguishable as the same person who had entered it, having diminished so much in size after the operation. He was, in fact, materially relieved, and continued to improve daily in health; till one day, after washing his shirt, he put it on, as the quickest way of drying it, a custom not uncommon among the Arabs, and caught so bad a cold in consequence, that all the doctor’s exertions were afterwards unable to save him.

[14]Yusuf and Zuleika are the Mahometan names of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife.

[15]An excellent collection of these remains of Grecian art has been recently sold for a considerable sum[a], by a relation of the Vice-Consul of Bengazi, who had not been many years resident there.

[a]Six thousand dollars, as we were informed.

[16]These would however serve equally for the reception of rain water, which falls in abundance at Bengazi during the winter.

[17]In one of these quarries a large portion of the rock, shaped into a quadrangular form, has been insulated from the rest to serve the purpose of a tomb, after the manner of those at Ptolemeta.

[18]Two stadia is the length and breadth given by Scylax, which, taken as themeanGrecian stades of Major Rennell, of about ten to a British mile, would give the measurement here stated.

[19]Nec procul ante oppidum fluvius Lethon, lucus sacer, ubi Hesperidum Horti memorantur.—(Nat. Hist., lib. v. c. 5.) Again, in the same book, Berenice—quondam vocata Hesperidum, &c.

[20]Βαρκιται απο αναταλων του κηπου των Ἑσπεριδων.

[21]Βερενικη ἡ και Ἑσπεριδες.—(Ptol. Geogr.): and as Stephanus describes it, in the singular, Ἑσπερις, πολις Λιβυης, ἡ νον Βερονὶκη.

[22]Geographie Ancienne; Murray’s account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, &c.

[23]Gosselin and Malte Brun.

[24]Strabo, 1.—Plutarch in Sertorio—Horat. 4. od. 8. v. 27. Epod. 16. Pliny 6—6. C. 31-2.

[25]Signor Della Cella has supposed that the passage of Scylax refers to theelevatedparts of the Cyrenaica, and places his gardens of Hesperides in the mountains; but we think that a review of the passage in question, combined with the local information which we have been able to collect on the subject, will authorize us to doubt this position.

[26]Here Lethe’s streams, from secret springs below,Rise to the light; here heavily, and slow,The silent, dull, forgetful waters flow.(Rowe’s Lucan, book ix. p. 209.)Lucan places his Lethe and Hesperian Gardens in the neighbourhood of the Lake Tritonis, in the Lesser Syrtis; but the western part of the Cyrenaica is the most approved position for both. See also Solinus on this point.

[26]

Here Lethe’s streams, from secret springs below,Rise to the light; here heavily, and slow,The silent, dull, forgetful waters flow.(Rowe’s Lucan, book ix. p. 209.)

Here Lethe’s streams, from secret springs below,

Rise to the light; here heavily, and slow,

The silent, dull, forgetful waters flow.

(Rowe’s Lucan, book ix. p. 209.)

Lucan places his Lethe and Hesperian Gardens in the neighbourhood of the Lake Tritonis, in the Lesser Syrtis; but the western part of the Cyrenaica is the most approved position for both. See also Solinus on this point.

[27]Εστι δε και λιμην Ἑσπεριδων, και ποταμος εμβαλλει Λαθων. (Lib. 17. p. 836.)Some of the Commentators read λιμνη Ἑσπεριδων, and Cellarius says on this subject—“Est et de exitu fluminis dubitatio, in quod se infundat, in mare an in lacum. Straboni est λιμην Ἑσπεριδων, in quem Lathon effluit. Vetus autem interpres iterum dissentit, et quasi λιμνη legerit,lacusvertitHesperidum. Videant (he adds) quibus vel regionem cognoscendi, vel inspiciendi antiquos codices, facultas est.” (Lib. iv. c. ii.)

[27]Εστι δε και λιμην Ἑσπεριδων, και ποταμος εμβαλλει Λαθων. (Lib. 17. p. 836.)

Some of the Commentators read λιμνη Ἑσπεριδων, and Cellarius says on this subject—“Est et de exitu fluminis dubitatio, in quod se infundat, in mare an in lacum. Straboni est λιμην Ἑσπεριδων, in quem Lathon effluit. Vetus autem interpres iterum dissentit, et quasi λιμνη legerit,lacusvertitHesperidum. Videant (he adds) quibus vel regionem cognoscendi, vel inspiciendi antiquos codices, facultas est.” (Lib. iv. c. ii.)

[28]Εστι δε ακρα λεγομενη Ψευδοπενιας, εφ᾽ ης ἡ Βερενικη την θησιν εχει, παρα λιμνην τινα Τριτωνιδα, εν ἡ μαλιστα νησιον εστι, και ιερον Αφροδιτης εν αυτω· εστι δε και λιμην Εσπεριδων, και ποταμος εμβαλλει Λαθων.

[29]We have already assumed, upon reasonable grounds, that this was probably the case in earlier times.

[30]Βερενικιδαι απο Βερενικες της Μαγας θυγατερος, γυναικος δε και Πτολεμαιου, ωνομαθησαν Βερενικιδαι ὁι δημοται. (Steph. Byzant. v.)

[31]Urbes Hesperia, Apollonia, Ptolemais, Arsinoe, atque (unde terris nomen est) ipsa Cyrene. (De Situ Orbis, Lib. i. c. 8.)

[32]Βερενικη, ἡ και Ἑσπεριδες.

[33]The name of Berenice is mentioned by Edrisi as remaining in his time in this part of Africa; but we never could find any traces of the name, though we often inquired for it of the Arabs of the country, as well as of the inhabitants of Bengazi.

[34]The changes which time may be supposed to effect in the character and appearance of a country, are well expressed in the following little fable of Kazwini, translated from the Arabic by Silvestre de Sacy.“I passed by a very large and populous city, and inquired of one of its inhabitants by whom it was founded. Oh, replied the man, this is a very ancient city! we have no idea how long it may have been in existence; and our ancestors were on this point as ignorant as ourselves. In visiting the same place five hundred years afterwards, I could not perceive a single trace of the city; and asked of a countryman, whom I saw cutting clover, where it stood, and how long it had been destroyed. What nonsense are you asking me? said the person whom I addressed: these lands have never been any otherwise than you see them. Why, returned I, was there not formerly here a magnificent and populous city?—We have never seen one, replied the man, and our fathers have never mentioned to us anything of the kind.”“Five hundred years afterwards, as I passed by the spot, I found that the sea had covered it; and, perceiving on the beach a party of fishermen, I asked them how long it had been overflowed.”“It is strange, answered they, that a person of your appearance should ask us such a question as this; for the place has been at all times exactly as it is now. What, said I, was there not at one time dry land in the spot where the sea is at present?—Certainly not, that we know of, answered the fishermen, and we never heard our fathers speak of any such circumstance.”“Again, I passed by the place, after a similar lapse of time,—the sea had disappeared—and I inquired of a man whom I met at what period this change had taken place. He made me the same answer as the others had done before—and, at length, on returning once more to the place, after the lapse of another five hundred years, I found that it was occupied by a flourishing city, more populous, and more rich in magnificent buildings, than that which I had formerly seen! When I inquired of its inhabitants concerning its origin, I was told that it lost itself in the darkness of antiquity! We have not the least idea, they said, when it was founded, and our forefathers knew no more of its origin than ourselves!”—(Chréstomathie Arabe, vol. iii. p. 419.)

“I passed by a very large and populous city, and inquired of one of its inhabitants by whom it was founded. Oh, replied the man, this is a very ancient city! we have no idea how long it may have been in existence; and our ancestors were on this point as ignorant as ourselves. In visiting the same place five hundred years afterwards, I could not perceive a single trace of the city; and asked of a countryman, whom I saw cutting clover, where it stood, and how long it had been destroyed. What nonsense are you asking me? said the person whom I addressed: these lands have never been any otherwise than you see them. Why, returned I, was there not formerly here a magnificent and populous city?—We have never seen one, replied the man, and our fathers have never mentioned to us anything of the kind.”

“Five hundred years afterwards, as I passed by the spot, I found that the sea had covered it; and, perceiving on the beach a party of fishermen, I asked them how long it had been overflowed.”

“It is strange, answered they, that a person of your appearance should ask us such a question as this; for the place has been at all times exactly as it is now. What, said I, was there not at one time dry land in the spot where the sea is at present?—Certainly not, that we know of, answered the fishermen, and we never heard our fathers speak of any such circumstance.”

“Again, I passed by the place, after a similar lapse of time,—the sea had disappeared—and I inquired of a man whom I met at what period this change had taken place. He made me the same answer as the others had done before—and, at length, on returning once more to the place, after the lapse of another five hundred years, I found that it was occupied by a flourishing city, more populous, and more rich in magnificent buildings, than that which I had formerly seen! When I inquired of its inhabitants concerning its origin, I was told that it lost itself in the darkness of antiquity! We have not the least idea, they said, when it was founded, and our forefathers knew no more of its origin than ourselves!”—(Chréstomathie Arabe, vol. iii. p. 419.)

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