18

DEPARTURE FROM CONSTANTINOple.

As we sailed out of the Byzantine harbour, the sun was gilding with his parting rays the domes and minarets of Stambol, and shedding his rich hues over the smooth surface of the Bosphorus, which reflected back the lovely image of its unrivalled queen sitting upon her seven hills. Each spot we passed, each minaret that vanished from the sight, was fraught with a charm for the eye and a painful association for the mind; for, like a bed of roses giving lair to a serpent, this city, so rich in the beauties of nature and of art, is the seat of physical and moral disease; of plague and Mohammedanism.

While our course was yet running parallel to the wall of Constantinople on the one side, and to the successors of Chrysopolis and Chalcedon on the other, to the south-east and south were the gulfs of Ismid and Mondania, carrying the salt waters of Marmora to the sites of Nicomedia and Nice; this, the ancient metropolis of Bithynia, celebrated for its ecclesiastical councils; that, full of interest as the spot which witnessed the death of Constantine the Great. In front, the Prince's Islands formed a foreground, behind which appeared the shores of Asia, crowned by Olympus, who rears above the town of Broussa his

SEA OF MARMORA.

19

venerable head white with the snows of many winters.

The ancient Prusa, which stood on the site of Broussa, was founded by Prusias the protector of Hannibal. After many vicissitudes it was rebuilt by Mohammed II, and became the usual residence of the early sultans, till Amurath removed the seat of government to Adrianople. Here Dioclesian declared his abdication of the purple, according to Gibbon; but others think that this event occurred at Nicomedia. The present city contains a population of sixty thousand, and the mosques are said to exceed three hundred in number: it carries on a considerable trade in silks, carpets, stuffs, and velvets, and is one of the most prosperous places in Asia Minor.

The Sea of Marmora, anciently called the Propontis from its position in front of the Pontus Euxinus, derives its modern appellation from the marble quarries on the island in its centre. It now divides Anatolia from the country called Roumelia, a name by which the Turks specially designate maritime Thrace, although they apply it likewise to the whole continent of Europe.

On the coast of Roumelia are several places of historical interest. The first of these is Sili

20

REMARKABLE FULFILMENT

vria, which Strabo says was originally named Selyus, from its founder, but that the Thracians adding the termination bria, signifying a city, called it Selybria. The only remains of antiquity still existing are thirty or forty arches of a bridge, some fragments of an old wall, and part of a Roman road extending thence to Constantinople, formed of a stone resembling basalt and marked by tumuli placed on each side at regular distances, like those near Taraspol in Bessarabia.

Beyond this, is Erekli, the site of the ancient Heraclea, in olden times called Perinthus, where coins, inscriptions, and fragments of a palace of Vespasian are still found. Not quite half a league further, is Rodosto, described by Herodotus as Bisanthe. It is now a large Greek town with few antiquities except the tumuli in its neighbourhood.

On the Mysian shore, opposite Rodosto, the Granicus, now reduced to an inconsiderable torrent called Ousvola, enters the Propontis. On its banks the great tragedy was acted which consigned to the Macedonian warrior the vast empire of the Medes and Persians, when Alexander the Great overcame Darius, who was encamped there with six hundred thousand troops, and thus fulfilled the prophecy which, more

than two hundred years before, had been the subject of the inspired pen of Daniel.*.

The two towns of Gallipoli and Lamsaki, the ancient Callipolis and Lampsacus, guard the entrance to the Hellespont on the side of the Propontis. The latter was destroyed by

* Daniel viii. 5-7. "The he-goat (Alexander of Macedon) came from the west, and he came to the ram that had two horns (Darius king of the double empire of Media and Persia), and ran unto him in the fury of his power, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." Nearly all commentators are agreed as to the application of this prophecy to the events here referred to. There is a peculiar aptitude in the prophetic symbols "a ram," and a "he-goat," as designating Persia and Macedonia. Elam, which is the Hebrew for a ram, is the Chaldaic name for Persia; and the kings of that country used to wear a ram's head, made of gold and adorned with precious stones, instead of a diadem. The other symbol is equally applicable. About two hundred and fifty years before Daniel's time, the Macedonians were called Ægeadæ, or the goats' people, from aiyès, goats; because Caranus, their first leader, was commanded by an oracle to follow the goats in his search of a spot wherein to establish his colony: again, the city of Egea was the usual burial-place of the Macedonian kings: and lastly, Alexander's son by Roxana was named Alexander Ægus, or the son of the goat. So completely was the symbol of a goat identified with the Macedonians that some of Alexander's successors are represented in their coins with goats' horns. See Bp. Newton on the Prophecies.

22

CLASSICAL RECOLLECTIONS.

Alexander on account of its obscenities.

The

modern town stands at the foot of some low hills still covered with vineyards, as was the case when Xerxes made a present of them to Themistocles. It possesses an aerolite several tons in weight, which is one of the largest known in the world.

The strait of the Dardanelles is about sixty miles in length, and varies from two to four in breadth. Here the waters flow between chains of hills, dividing the two principal quarters of the world, and carrying with them to the reflecting mind a train of interesting associations. Thucydides, Herodotus, and Xenophon, all give details of great exploits of which the Hellespont was the scene. Here the Athenians conquered the Spartans; there they were in turn defeated and lost their liberty; and lower down, the armies of Xerxes and of Alexander crossed the sea, the waves of which were arrogantly commanded to obey the Asiatic despot. The blood of Persians, Greeks, Venetians, and Mohammedans has already stained its waters, which may perhaps, ere long, be again the scene of fatal conflict between rival and contending powers.

A little more than half-way down the strait, the promontories of Sestos and Abydos project