NO. XXXIX. – TROJA, AND OTHER CITIES OF THE TROAS
“It has been asserted,” says Sir William Gell, “and confidently maintained, that there does not exist the smallest vestige of the ancient city of Priam; and it is not the only capital concerning which the same erroneous idea has prevailed. The ‘etiam periere ruinæ’ of Virgil282 seems to have been the foundation of this opinion; and it is not wonderful, that it should maintain its ground until the truth was investigated, when we recollect that the ignorance of travellers for a long time countenanced the idea, that not the smallest trace of the great and powerful Babylon remained, though destroyed at a period when the credibility of history is universally admitted. The existence, however, of the ruins of Babylon is now perfectly established. If the situation of the most magnificent capital of the four great monarchies of the world could have so long escaped the researches of modern inquirers, it will be granted that the vestiges of a city, comparatively inconsiderable, the capital but of a small territory, and destroyed in a very remote age, might be easily overlooked.”
Diodorus Siculus relates, that the Samothracians were accustomed to say, that the Pontic sea had once been a vast pool of standing water, which, swollen by rivers running into it, first overflowed to the Cyanæ, two rocks of the Thracian Bosphorus; and afterwards, forcing a way and flooding the champaign country, formed the sea, called the Hellespont.
The Samothracians, also, related that Dardanus passed over from their island, the place of his birth, in a boat to the continent of Asia, and settled in the Troia. Here this enterprising person, forming a community, built a city, from him called Dardania, situated on a small eminence near Mount Ida, and the promontory of Sigæum, at the distance of about four miles from the sea-shore.
This Dardanus is said to have espoused Asia, called also Arisba and Batia, daughter of Teucer, king of Teucria. He was succeeded by Ericthonius, his son, who is celebrated in the Iliad for having possessed three thousand horses; and for his being, moreover, the richest of men. We ought to have first stated, however, that Dardanus was accompanied by his nephew Corybas, who introduced the worship of Cybele; that he himself taught his subjects to worship Minerva; and that he gave them two statues of that goddess, one of which is well known by the name of Palladium.
Ericthonius died 1374 B. C. after a reign of seventy-five years. He had one son, named Tros; and Tros had three sons, of whom Ilus was his successor. His barrow is mentioned in the Iliad, as still remaining in the plain before the city. He married Eurydice, the daughter of Adrastus, by whom he had Laomedon, the father of Priam. He greatly embellished the city of Dardanus, which from him was called Ilium; as from his father it had been called Troja.
Ilus was succeeded by his son, Laomedon. This prince surrounded the city with walls; in which he is fabulously stated to have been assisted by two deities. For an account of this, the reader, if he please, may consult Homer, Virgil, Ovid, and other ancient poets. Not long after he had built the walls, they are said to have been thrown down by Hercules, the streets made desolate, and Laomedon slain.
Priamus, one of the most unfortunate as well as one of the most celebrated of princes, succeeded his father. The city, in his time, had recovered the damage it had sustained, and became famous for its wealth; more especially in brass and gold. Homer, too, celebrates it for its walls and buildings. It was situate on a rising ground amid morasses, which were formed by the waters which, at certain seasons of the year, descended in torrents from Mount Ida. The language, as well as the religion, of this city was the same as those appertaining to Greece; and the dominions of the king comprised the whole of the country lying within the isle of Lesbos, Phrygia, and the Hellespont.
The reign of Priam is celebrated for the war, which took place between the Trojans and Greeks. This was made a subject of the finest poem that ever honoured civilised society; but as the history of the transaction differs, when treated by the poets, we, as plain matter-of-fact persons, adopt that which has been given us by Herodotus. We must, however, first of all remark, that some, and most especially Monsieur Pascal, have treated the whole as a mere fable. “Homer,” say they, “wrote a romance: no one can believe that Troy and Agamemnon had any existence, any more than the golden apple. He had no intention to write a history. He merely intended to amuse and delight us.” And here we may advantageously give place to several particular observations of that accomplished traveller, Sir William Gell: – “In approaching the Troas,” says he, “each bay, mountain, and promontory, presented something new to the eye, and excited the most agreeable reflections in the mind; so that, in a few days, I found myself in possession of a number of observations and drawings, taken in a part of the world concerning which, although much has been written, there still exists a great deficiency of those materials, which might enable a reader to form a satisfactory opinion, without encountering the difficulties of a tedious voyage. I thought that such information would gratify men of literature and inquiry. I was confident that delineations and descriptions of a fertile plain, watered by abundant and perennial streams, affording almost impregnable positions, and so situated as to command one of the most important passes of the world, must be interesting, not to say valuable, to politicians and statesmen. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that I was not without the hope of convincing others, as I had been myself convinced, that the history, as related by Homer, is confirmed by the fullest testimony, which a perfect correspondence between the present face of the country and the description of the poet can possibly give to it.”
That the Trojan war absolutely took place is, however, not so much to be believed on poetical authority, as it is upon that of history. Not only Herodotus and Thucydides have left records of it, but all the biographers of Alexander. The testimony of Thucydides is remarkable: – “The power of the Greeks gradually advancing, they were enabled, in process of time, to undertake the Trojan expedition. It is further my opinion, that the assemblage of that armament, by Agamemnon, was not owing so much to the attendance of the suitors of Helen, in pursuance of the oath they had sworn to Tyndarus, as to his own superior power.” “To these enlargements of power Agamemnon succeeding, and being also superior to the rest of his countrymen in naval strength, he was enabled, in my opinion, to form that expedition more from awe than favour. It is plain that he equipped out the largest number of ships himself, besides those he lent to the Arcadians. We ought not, therefore, to be incredulous, nor so much to regard the appearance of cities as their power, and of course to conclude the armament against Troy to have been greater than ever was known before, but inferior to those of our age; and whatever credit be given to the poetry of Homer in this respect, who no doubt as a poet hath set it off with all possible enlargement, yet even, according to his account, it appears inferior.” “On their first landing, they got the better in fight. The proof is, that they could not otherwise have fortified their camp with a wall. Neither does it appear that they exerted all their strength at once; numbers being detached for supplies of provisions, to till the Chersonesus, and to forage at large. Thus, divided as they were, the Trojans were the better able to make a ten years’ resistance, being equal in force to those who were at any time left to carry on the siege.”
Herodotus treats it, also, as a matter of actual history: and as the first portion of his work affords a very curious and beautiful example of ancient manners, we shall abbreviate the version, rendered by Mr. Beloe. Paris, having carried off Helen from Sparta, was returning home (to Troy); but meeting with contrary winds in the Ægean, he was driven into the Egyptian Sea. As the winds continued unfavourable, he proceeded to Egypt, and was driven to the Canopian mouth of the Nile, and to Tarichea. In that situation, continues Herodotus, was a temple of Hercules, “which still remains.” To this temple, should any slave fly for refuge, no one was permitted to molest him. The servants of Paris, aware of this privilege, fled thither from their master. There they propagated many accusations against him; and, amongst other disclosures, they published the wrong that Paris had done to Menelaus. Hearing this, Thonis, the governor of the district, despatched a messenger to Proteus, king of Memphis. “There is arrived here a Trojan, who has perpetrated an atrocious crime in Greece. He has seduced the wife of his host, and carried her away, with a great quantity of treasure. Adverse winds have forced him hither. Shall I suffer him to depart without molestation? or shall I seize his person and property?” In answer to this Proteus desired, that the malefactor should be sent to him. Receiving this command, Thonis seized Paris, and detained his vessels, with Helen and all his wealth. Being taken before Proteus, and asked who he was and whence he came, Paris gave a true account of his family and country, and whence he had last sailed. But when Proteus inquired concerning Helen, who she was, and how he got possession of her, he faltered. His servants, however, proved the particulars of his guilt. On this, Proteus addressed him after the following manner: “If I did not esteem it a very heinous crime to put any stranger to death, whom unfavourable winds have driven to my coast, I would, most assuredly, thou most abandoned man, avenge that Greek whose hospitality thou hast so treacherously violated. Thou hast not subdued his wife, but having violently taken her away, still criminally detainest her; and as if this were not enough, thou hast robbed and plundered him. But as I can by no means prevail upon myself to put a stranger to death, I shall suffer you to depart; in regard to the woman and her wealth, I shall detain both.”
After a few observations in respect to Homer’s knowing, and yet neglecting, the true history, in order to make his poem the more interesting, the historian goes on to relate, that being desirous of knowing whether all that the Greeks relate concerning Troy had any foundation in truth, he inquired of the priests of Egypt; and that they informed him, that, after the loss of Helen, the Greeks assembled in great numbers at Teucris, to assist Menelaus, whence they despatched ambassadors to Troy, whom Menelaus himself accompanied. On arriving at that city, they made a formal demand of Helen, and the wealth Paris had taken away; and also a general satisfaction for the injuries received. In answer to this, the Trojans replied, and persisted in the truth of their assertion, that neither the person nor the wealth of Helen was in their city or territory; but that both were in Egypt; and that they esteemed it hard, that they should be made responsible for what King Proteus possessed. The Greeks, however, believing themselves to be deluded, laid siege to Troy, and, after ten years, took it.
When they had done so, they were surprised and chagrined to find, that Helen was not in the captured town. On learning this, Menelaus himself was despatched into Egypt, where, being introduced to Proteus, he was honourably received, and Helen was restored to him with all his treasures. This is related by Herodotus as the true history283.
With such testimony it is rather curious, that so many writers, – respectable ones too, – should have not only doubted the war, but even the existence of the town against which it was directed. “We do not know,” says Sir John Hobhouse, “that Strabo had not himself been in the Troad; but we are sure that no one could speak more to the purpose than Demetrius, who was a native of Tcepsis, a town not far from Ilium, and who wrote thirty books on sixty lines of Homer’s catalogue. From this authority we know, that not a vestige was left of the ancient city. Neither Julius Cæsar, nor Demetrius, nor Strabo, had any doubt of the former existence of the city of Priam; and the orator Lycurgus, quoted by the latter author, at the same time that he declared the total desolation, and as it were death of Troy, to be known to all the world, spoke of its destruction as equally notorious.”
In what manner the city was actually taken is nowhere upon record; for as to the story of the wooden horse, it is so absurd, that the judgment even of Virgil may be arraigned in respect to it. That it was burned, however, is scarcely to be denied; and that it was destroyed is not to be doubted. The event occurred in the year coinciding with that of 1184 before the Christian era. “The name of Priam,” says a judicious writer, “will therefore ever be memorable, on account of the war which happened in his reign – a war famous to this day for the many princes of great prowess and renown concerned in it, the battles fought, the length of the sieges, the destruction of the city, and the endless colonies planted in divers parts of the world by the conquered as well as by the conquerors.”
When the Greeks had destroyed the city, they sailed back to their own country. They made no attempt to appropriate the land to their own use or authority. They were, doubtless, not only wearied, but exhausted, by the conquest. The whole plot of Virgil is supposed to be no other than a fable; for Homer signifies that Æneas not only remained in the country, but that he succeeded to the sceptre of the Trojans.
From this period the history of the country is exceedingly obscure. Whether Æneas did succeed or not, certain it is that this and the adjacent countries were laid open, at no great distance of time from the destruction of Troy, an easy and tempting prey to adventurers, Greek as well as Barbarian. Among these, the best known are the Æolian colonists, who are supposed to have put a final period not only to the unfortunate city, but to the name of its people.
The Troia was next invaded by the Ionians and Lydians; then there was a war between the Æolians and Athenians about Sigéum284 and Achilléum285. This war was of considerable duration. Several melancholy circumstances are there related, as arising out of the possession of the Troia by Darius. Xerxes, too, visited it during his expedition into Greece, and the Persians lay one night encamped beneath Mount Ida. A considerable number of them were destroyed by thunder and lightning; and on their coming to the Scamander, that river was found to possess no water; a circumstance far from being unusual in a mountainous country. On his arrival at this river, Xerxes, having a wish to see the Pergamus of Priam, went thither; and, having listened to the accounts which were given to him in respect to it, he sacrificed a thousand oxen to the Ilian Minerva.
Many interesting occurrences are related of Troia during the first and second Peloponnesian wars. An adventure of Æschines, the famous orator of Athens, it may not be unamusing to relate. Dr. Chandler has given an abstract of the epistle, in which the orator relates it. It is this: – “After leaving Athens, the author says, that he arrived at Ilium, where he had intended to stay until he should have gone through all the verses in the ‘Iliad,’ on the very spot to which they severally had reference, but was prevented by the misconduct of his fellow-traveller, a young rake, named Cymon. It was the custom, he tells us, for the maidens who were betrothed, to repair on a certain day to bathe in the Scamander; among them was at this time a damsel of illustrious family, called Callirhoe. Æschines, with their relations and the multitude, was a spectator of as much of the ceremony as was allowed to be seen, at a due distance; but Cymon, who had conceived a bad design against this lady, personated the River-God, and wearing a crown of reeds, lay concealed in the thicket, until she, as was usual, invoked Scamander to receive the offer which she made of herself to him. He then leaped forth, saying, ‘I, Scamander, willingly accept of Callirhoe;’ and with many promises of kindness, imposed on and abused her simplicity and credulity. Four days after this ceremony, a public festival was held in honour of Venus, when the females, whose nuptials had been recently celebrated, appeared in the procession. Æschines was again a spectator, and Cymon with him; so when Callirhoe respectfully bowed her head as she passed by, and, casting her eyes on her nurse, said, ‘that is the God Scamander,’ a discovery followed. The two companions got to their lodging and quarrelled, a crowd gathered about the gate of the house, and Æschines with difficulty made his escape by the back-door to a place of security.”
The reader is requested to observe that on the destruction of old Ilium, another town or rather village was erected; and that this village was called New Ilium. This was the place visited by Alexander. It had only one temple. This temple Alexander visited. He viewed also all the antiquities which remained. He poured libations on the altar of Jupiter Hercéus to Priam, and prayed that the vengeance which the gods had taken of the son of Achilles, for having slain that unfortunate father and king, might not descend upon him, whose descendant he was. One of the Ilians offered him a lyre, which he said was the lyre of Paris; but Alexander refused, saying, “I set but little value on the lyre of Paris; but it would give me great pleasure to see that of Achilles, to which he sang the glorious actions of the brave;” alluding to a passage in the ninth book of the Iliad:
“Amused, at case, the god-like man they found,
Pleased with the solemn harp’s harmonious sound:
With this he soothes his angry soul, and sings
The immortal deeds of heroes and of kings.”
He then desired to be shown the tombs of the heroes.
Quintus Curtius says, that when Alexander arrived at Illium, Menetius the governor crowned him with a crown of gold; and that Chares the Athenian did the same, – coming from Sigeum for that purpose. “Alexander was at length,” says Mr. Mitford, “amidst the scenes, sacred in his eyes, in which were performed the wondrous deeds that Homer, his favourite poet, had immortalised. He was treading on the ground which Achilles, the hero that was the object of his emulation and envy, fought, and conquered, and fell. Thoughts, emotions, and wishes, of the most ardent kind, doubtless swelled his heart and fired his brain.” On the site of Troy there stood only a village. The temple of Minerva, however, still existed, and thither he proceeded. It contained some consecrated suits of armour, which were said to have been preserved there ever since the Trojan war. One of these he took away to be borne before him on solemn occasions, and in battle; and in the place of it he dedicated his own. He performed rites and made offerings at the tombs of the heroes; especially those of Achilles and Ajax Telamon. He adorned the tumulus of Achilles, whom he regarded as his ancestor, with the choicest flowers that could be collected in the neighbourhood, anointed the pillar on it with delicious perfumes, and, with his companions, ran naked, as the custom was, round its base. He also wept on reflecting, that he had, as yet, done little to make men associate his name with so great a hero as Achilles, – thinking that hero beyond all others happy, not only in having so excellent a friend as Patroclus when living; but inasmuch that he had so noble a poet as Homer to celebrate him when dead. “What a number of writers of his actions,” says Cicero, in his defence of Archias, “is Alexander reported to have had in his retinue; and yet, when he stood near the tumulus of Achilles at Sigeum he exclaimed, ‘O fortunate youth! to have found a Homer to be the herald of thy valour!’” Nor did he ever forget the emotions felt in that, to him, sacred place. When, therefore, he had conquered the Persians at the Granicus, he is said to have adorned the temple with offerings, ordered Curators to repair the buildings, and raised Ilium to the rank of a city. He also declared it free from tribute; and when he had entirely conquered Persia, he wrote a letter to the inhabitants, promising to raise their town to importance, to render their temple famous, and to hold the sacred games there. In his memorandum-book, also, appeared after his death, a resolution to erect a temple to Minerva, which should be in splendour and magnificence, not unequal to any other then existing in any place. All this was prevented by his death.
After that occurrence, Ilium was chiefly indebted to Lysimachus. He enlarged its temple, encircled the town with walls to the extent of five miles, and collected into it the inhabitants of the old cities about it, which had gone to decay. Games also were subsequently instituted. He also patronised Alexandria Troas.
Some time after the Troia was invaded by Philip, last king of Macedon, because Attalus, who had assumed the title of King of Pergamum, had given himself out as an ally of the Romans. At a subsequent period, the Gauls marched into Ilium; but soon after deserted it, because part of it was not defended by a wall.
When Antiochus, commonly called the Great, invaded Europe, he went to Ilium, in order to sacrifice to Minerva. The year after, the Roman admiral, Caius Livius, performed the same ceremony; which having done he gave audience in the kindest manner to ambassadors from the neighbouring places, which had surrendered to the Romans.
Ilium, when Scipio arrived there, (B. C. 190) was what we should now call a village-city: and so says Demetrius of Scepsis; who, going thither about that time, saw it so poor and neglected a place, that most of the houses had no roofs on them. Such is the account given by Strabo. The Romans, however, were proud of acknowledging the Ilians as their progenitors. “An insatiable desire,” says Dr. Chandler, “to contemplate the household gods of their ancestors, the places of their nativity, the temples and images, which they had frequented or worshipped, possessed the Romans; while the Ilians were delighted that their posterity (in the line of Æneas) already conquerors of the West and Africa, laid claim to Asia as the kingdom of their forefathers.”
The Romans embellished the city, and conferred many privileges upon it, on the ground that Ilium was the parent of Rome. “The Romans,” says Justin, “entering into Asia, came to Troy, where there was great rejoicing between the Trojans and the Romans; the Trojans declaring how Æneas came from them, and the Romans vaunting themselves to be descended from them: and there was as great a rejoicement between both parties, as there is wont to be at the meeting of parents and children after a long absence.”
We now pass to the period when Julius Cæsar, after the battle of Pharsalia, pursuing his rival, landed in the Troia, “full of admiration of the ancient renown of the place, and desirous to behold the spot from which he derived his origin;” for Cæsar insisted that his family was of the true Ænean race. The Ilians had sided with Pompey, and bore no great affection to Cæsar; “although,” says Lucan,
“The tales of Troy proud Cæsar’s lineage grace,
With great Æneas and the Julian race.”
Notwithstanding this, Cæsar forgave their offences against him, and enlarged their territory, confirmed their liberties, and granted them even additional privileges. Not only this; Suetonius relates, that it was currently reported, that he had contemplated the design of removing the seat of empire to Ilium, or Alexandria, and leaving Rome to be governed by lieutenants. Whether Cæsar really entertained such an idea is not certain; but it is quite certain that Augustus entertained a similar project; and perhaps he had actually put it in practice, had not Horace written an ode to dissuade him from it; and his councillors urgently followed the poet’s example, by the counsel they gave him.
During the reign of Tiberius, Ilium was visited by Germanicus. This visit is recorded by Tacitus. “On his return from the Euxine, he intended to visit Samothrace286, famous for its rites and mysteries; but the wind springing up from the north, he was obliged to bear away from the coast. He viewed the ruins of Troy, and the remains of antiquity in that part of the world; renowned for so many turns of fortune, the theatre of illustrious actions, and the origin of the Roman people287.”
When the Romans were delivered from the flattery that pursued the Julian line, of their being sprung from Troy, Ilium began to fall to decay; and in the time of Pliny the Elder, who flourished in the reign of Vespasian, many cities had perished. These are enumerated by him, and thence by Dr. Chandler: – “There has been Achilleum, a town near the tomb of Achilles, built by the Mitylenians, and afterwards by the Athenians. There has been Æantium, too, built by the Rhodians, near where Ajax was buried. Palæscepsis, Gergithos, Neandros, and Colone, had perished. Dardanus is still a small town. There had been a Larissa and a Chrysa. The Sminthean temple and Hamaxitus remained.” He mentions Troas Alexandria, a Roman colony; but this city, too, was on the decline; and as, in another place, he says, “very many mice came forth at Troas, insomuch that now they have driven the inhabitants away from thence.”
We pass over passages in the works of Lucian and Philostratus; since no confidence in respect to the real condition of Ilium can be placed in them. The extravagances of Caracalla are upon more respectable record. Terrified by several dreams he had had, Caracalla voyaged to Pergamum, to inquire of the god Æsculapius in what manner he could be relieved from them; from that city he passed to Ilium. “At Ilium,” says Chandler, on the authority of Herodian, “Caracalla was seized with a passion to imitate Achilles, as he had before done Alexander the Great. He wanted a Patroclus, whose funeral he might solemnize; when, during his stay there, Festus, his remembrancer and favourite freedman, died of a distemper; but so opportunely, that others said he was taken off by poison for the purpose. Caracalla ordered, after the example of Achilles, a large pile of wood to be collected. The body was carried forth from the city, and placed on it in the middle. He slew a variety of animals as victims. He set fire to the pile; and, holding a phial in his hand, and pouring a libation, as Achilles had done, invoked the winds to come and consume it. His seeking, for he was nearly bald, a lock of hair to throw into the flames, excited laughter; but the little which he had he cut off. He is said to have continued the farce, by allotting prizes for games; and to have concluded it, by imagining that he had taken Troy, and distributing money among his soldiers on the occasion.”
In the age of Gallienus, and in that subsequent, Ilium and the Troas were twice ravaged by the Goths.
The project of Constantine the Great is now to be referred to. It is thus related by Sozomenus, translated by Mr. Dalzell: – “Having taken possession of the plain, which lies before Ilium, near the Hellespont, beyond the tomb of Ajax, where the Greeks, at the time that they were engaged in the expedition against Troy, are said to have had a station for their ships and tents, he there traced the outline and ground-plot of a city; and he constructed gates in a conspicuous place; which still at this day are seen at sea by those who sail along the west. While he was employed in this undertaking, God appeared to him by night, and warned him to go in quest of another place.” The Deity, also, is said to have conducted him to Byzantium, and commanded him to establish his residence there, to enlarge the town into a city, and to call it by his own name.
From this period, little is related of Ilium, or the Troas, commanding any peculiar interest, till the period when both became possessed by another, and, till then, an unknown people. It is related in the annals of this new and strange people, that Soliman, son of Orchan, taking an airing on horseback, in the country, lately conquered, came to some fine ruins of edifices, which had remained there from the time of the destruction of Troy, and which he beheld with wonder. After viewing these ruins, he was observed to remain musing and silent. On being asked the reason, he answered that he was considering how the sea between them and the opposite coast could be crossed, without the knowledge of the Christians. Two of his retinue offered to pass over privately at the strait, which is described as a Greek mile wide. A fleet was provided, they landed before day-break, and lay concealed among vines; until, a Greek coming by, they seized, and returned with him to the emperor; who gave orders that their captive should be kindly treated; and, on his undertaking to serve as a guide to the castle erected by Justinian, above Sestos, caused trees to be cut down, and a large raft to be constructed; on which, with about four-score men, Soliman crossed the strait; and arriving, under colour of night, at the fortress, found, without the entrance – such was the supine negligence and security of the Greeks, – a dunghill as high as the wall. His soldiers mounted over it, and easily got possession of the place; the people, a few exempted, being engaged abroad in the harvest-work. Thus did the Turks obtain their first footing in Europe, (A. D. 1357.)
“If we reflect,” says Dr. Chandler; to whose pages not only ourselves, but all the encyclopedias have been so largely indebted on all articles relating to the Troas; “if we reflect on the ravages, committed on the borders of the Hellespont, and on the destruction of the cities there, we shall not be surprised, that the coasts are desolate, and that the interior country of the Troas, returned nearly to its more ancient state, is occupied almost entirely by villages, herdsmen, and shepherds; who are no longer distinguished by the appellation of Ilians, Dardanians, Cebrenians, and so on; but as Greeks and Turks, or Turcomans, slaves, the masters and their dependants. The ancient places, which we have noticed, and of which few remain, or have possessed any consequence under the Turks, have all of them, especially those by the sea-side, been ransacked and plundered of their materials, for a long series of years. Constantinople has been adorned or enlarged from their stores, as well under the Roman and the Greek as the Mahometan emperors. Towns and villages, which have risen in their vicinity, public baths, mosques, castles, and other edifices, have been constructed from their relics; and the Turkish burying-grounds, which are often very extensive, are commonly rich in broken pillars and marble fragments, once belonging to them. The Troia had been left in ruins; and was a desert, in the time of Strabo. Since, in many instances, the very ruins have perished: but the desert remains; and, as then, still affords much, and that no vulgar matter for a writer.”