Travels and Discoveries in the Levant/Volume 1/Letter V
V.
Mytilene, June 20, 1852.
Shortly after my arrival, I had a vist from one of the greatest personages in Mytilene—the Greek archbishop of that ilk. The island is divided into two archbishoprics—Mytilene and Molivo (Methymna). The archbishop of Mytilene, at this moment, happens to be a very good specimen of the Greek hierarchy. He has a long flowing beard, such as Rembrandt would have studied in painting a Jewish rabbi. His manners are dignified and courteous. He brought with him to my house several attendant priests: one of them was his painter, or ζωγράϕος, whose vocation it is to paint pictures of the Virgin (called by the Greeks Panagia) and of the Saints. This gentleman was not quite so courteous as his chief. Seeing a few scraps of marble lying about my room, "Are you come," said he, in an angry tone, "like another Curzon, to rob us of our antiquities?"
He had read a Greek translation of Mr. Curzon's book on the Eastern Monasteries, and the idea seemed to possess his mind that every Englishman who came to the East was a Curzon in disguise. The Archbishop, perhaps from policy, gave no sign of such hostile sentiments.
Among the Greeks an archbishop still retains the old Byzantine title Δεσπότης, or the "Master;" and shortly after my visit, a case came before me officially, which showed me how great is the influence exercised by the Greek hierarchy over their flocks. An Ionian, who had been beaten and maltreated by some of the inhabitants of his village, sued them before the Mejlis, but could not get any of the Mytileniotes to come forward as witnesses; Ionians being here regarded almost as foreign settlers. He applied to me as his consul for redress, and at his suggestion I represented the case to my new friend the Archbishop, making an appeal to his sense of justice. He at once promised to excommimicate the whole village, if the required evidence was not forthcoming, and sent me an ἀϕοριστικόν, or mandate, full of the heartiest imprecations I ever read, which operated briskly, producing two live witnesses in the course of twelve hours. How like the manners of the Middle Ages. A Greek would rather commit any kind of atrocity than incur the terrors of excommunication. His conscience is made of the same stuff as that of a 12th century baron or a modern Italian brigand.
The other day, the Archbishop officiated at the baptism of Mr. Werry's child, according to the Greek rite. The ceremony, which took place in my predecessor's house, was very long, and some of the audience evidently thought it very tedious. The Archbishop was attired in roljes, of which the gorgeous fashion has evidently been preserved unchanged from the Middle Ages, and of which the embroidery, stiff with gold, seemed like a reflection from the bygone splendour of the old Byzantine empire. He had six attendant priests, with picturesque long beards. Everybody present held in their hand an attenuated wax taper, four feet long, and lighted, though the ceremony took place in the day. The child, after a great number of prayers had been read, was stripped, anointed with oil, and totally immersed in water, to its great discomposure and the amusement of the spectators, who consisted of all the corps vice-consulaire of Mytilene, male and female, and who talked and laughed irreverently the whole time. The font was made of very common- looking tin. After the immersion, the bambino was marked all over with a metallic instrument intended to represent a seal; then dressed, and placed in the arms of the godfather, who, for fear of accidents, held the child in a scarf suspended round his neck. Then the godfather marched all round the font with him several times, the Archbishop all the time exorcising the evil spirits that might be supposed to harbour designs against the unconscious little squaller. This perambulation round the font reminded me of the old pagan ceremony called Amphidromia, in which, seven days after birth, a child was carried in its cradle swiftly round a blazing altar by torchlight. The resemblance between the two ceremonies may, however, only be accidental.
On returning the Archbishop's visit I saw, in the courtyard of his house, the celebrated marble chair which is engraved in Pococke's Travels.31 It is very richly sculptured. The back is curved. Two seated gryphons with outspread wings form the arms of the chair. The seat rests on four lions' legs; on each side below the gryphons is a tripod round which a serpent is coiled. In the front of the chair, under the seat, is the inscription,—
ΠΟΤΑΜΩΝΟΣ
ΤΩ ΛΕΣΒΩΝΑΚΤΟΣ
ΠΡΟΕΔΡΙΑ
"The place of honour of Potamon, son of Lesbonax."
Below is a footstool, ornamented in front with an arabesque, representing a Triton with two tails.
This marble chair is probably from an ancient theatre, where Potamon must have sat in the front row, among the civil and religious dignitaries of Mytilene, each of whom probably had his appointed place marked by an inscription on his seat.33 Lesbonax, the father of Potamon, was a sophist and rheto- rician, who lived in the time of Augustus, and whose head the Mytilenæans put on their copper coins, with the inscription, "Lesbouax, the new hero." His son Potamon was, like his father, a sophist, and resided at Rome, where he gained the favour of the Emperor Tiberius, who, on the return of Potamon to his native coimtry, is said to have furnished him with a passport in this form:—"If any one dare to injure Potamon, the son of Lesbonax, let him consider whether he will be strong enough to wage war with Me."[34]
Soon after seeing this chair I happened to be passing by an unfinished house just as the workmen had fixed a marble in the side of a window. Seeing that it had a Greek inscription, I stopped to examine it, and found that it was a dedication in honour of the same Potamon whose chair I had seen at the Arch- bishop's house. I ascertained from my dragoman that the house belonged to an Ionian, who was so obliging as to present the marble to me for the British Museum, on my providing him with another in its place.
Shortly after this I discovered another inscription in which the name of Potamon is associated with that of two other benefactors of Mytilene— Pompey and Theophanes.
The dedication to Pompey comes first; he is styled benefactor, saviour, and founder of Mytilene; the name of Theophanes follows, who is called saviour, benefactor, and second founder; and the third name is that of Potamon, followed by the same titles as those bestowed on Pompey. Theophanes was the intimate friend of Pompey, and wrote a history of his expeditions; and it was through his influence that the great Eoman was induced to restore their liberties to the MytHenseans. In gratitude for these services they put his head on their copper coins with the inscription, "The Divine Theophanes." The taste for hero-worship under the Roman empire "was not peculiar to the Mytilenajans. Rome was full of Greeks like Potamon and Theophanes, who made it their business to cultivate the friendship of the reigning emperor and so to advance their own interests and those of their native country. Such men in the dedications made to them by a grateful country are styled or friends of Cæsar.34
In modern days every pasha residing in the provinces employs an agent at Constantinople to look after his interests with the Porte, and many of the Greeks resident at Rome during the Empire were probably in like manner retained by their respective states to plead in their behalf in all cases where the maintenance or extension of their privileges was concerned.
Yesterday I went to the Greek school to attend the first day of the annual examination of the boys, which takes place in the presence of the Archbishop. The school is a large, well-ventilated building, with an excellent head master, who gives me a lesson in modern Greek every day. The masters at Mytilene have been of late years rather distinguished scholars; they are natives of the island who have finished their education at Athens. M. Lælios, the predecessor of the present head master, was educated at a German university, with the sons of Chevalier Bunsen, and exchanged his situation at Mytilene for a better post at Smyrna. The proceedings this morning opened with a long discourse on the merits of ancient literature by the master, well written and clearly delivered. Then were called forth the two senior scholars of the first class, one of whom read a poem of his own composition on Lesbos, in the vile rhyme in which the modern Greeks have shackled and imprisoned their language. There is something to me revolting in Greek rhyme,—not even a Romaic Dante could reconcile me to it.
After the poem, the same boy was ordered to take up a Plato, and construe the beginning of one of the dialogues, first giving an abridged history of the life of Plato, which he did viva voce, very clearly and methodically. He then translated a page into modern Greek. I confess that it gave me a shudder, to hear the mellifluous sentences of the divine philosopher tortured and distended and diluted, so as to suit the modern idiom; but the experiment was interesting as a means of comparing the two languages, and must be very valuable for the boys, because the style of Plato is a perfect model for simplicity, clearness, and strength. Modern Greek is excessively prolix, and its structure clumsy; and thus, in translating from the ancient, much of the condensed energy is necessarily lost.
After the Plato came Homer, preceded in like manner by an oral biography. The modern pronunciation, which corresponds with the accents, is fatal to the ancient metre; all the quantities are utterly set at naught. The Greeks feel this, notwithstanding their claim to have preserved the tradition of the ancient pronunciation, which appears to be a very doubtful pretension. The want of accordance be- tween ancient quantity and accent is, doubtless, owing to the fact that classical poetry was not composed to be read, but to be chanted, with the accompaniment of music. After Homer came a somewhat elementary examination in moral and physical philosophy, and after that mathematics. The pupil stood by the side of an immense slate, on which he drew the geometrical figures, and then went through the problem.
This part of the examination being rather dry, I got somewhat sleepy, and the Archbishop, who had never before beheld a Gibus hat, amused himself with moving the springs of mine backwards and forwards. This invention astonished the venerable old gentleman very much. The sight of the large slate with the diagram upon it, in Greek letters, with the explanation all written in the Greek language, reminded me of the schools of antiquity, where mathematics were probably taught in this practical way, by making the pupil draw the geometrical fiofure on a slate. The examination of the school concluded with the young ladies, who construed St. Chrysostom with great success, and gave biographies of several celebrated characters in antiquity. The tone of delivery was somewhat drawling and nasal, and their French atrocious as that of "the school of Stratford atte Bowe." At Athens French is better taught. At an examination at Dr. Hill's school there, I heard two young ladies recite a dialogue from Moliere in a very creditable manner. I was so much pleased with the manner of education in the school at Mytilene, that by way of encouragement I offered a prize of books, to the amount of five dollars, for the best essay to be written in modern Greek on some subject connected with the ancient history of Lesbos, such as Pittacus. This offer was civilly declined.
It is a pleasant surprise to find something to praise in the character of the Mytileniotes, and it must be confessed that they have shown great zeal and intelligence in promoting education by the establishment of schools all over the island. These schools are supported by local rates levied on the several communities. In the town of Mytilene itself, some years ago, a large sum was expended by the inhabitants for the purpose of giving an European education to two young men, on the understanding that they were to return to Mytilene, and give their acquired knowledge for the benefit of the island. One of these was educated for the medical profession, the other as a school- master. The young doctor unfortunately died; and the young schoolmaster, in consequence of a misunderstanding between him and the community, left Mytilene, and settled at Smyrna; but the attempt to introduce European culture, though a failure, is honourable to the Mytileniotes; the more so, as they devoted a sum of money at the same time to the purchase of a set of instruments and machines for the teaching of natural philosophy, and for the formation of a library of scientific and classical works. The classical library I frequently have occasion to refer to, and am surprised to find how large a number of modern works on archæology, philology, and history it contains. Besides the Gymnasium, there are also in the town of Mytilene three primary schools,—one for boys and two for girls.
The natives of this island are thought to show a special aptitude for learning, and a large proportion of the bishops in the Greek church are Mytileniotes. They are lively and quick, and have much curiosity on first coming in contact with new phenomena; when they see me copying an inscription, they are curious to know the meaning and the date; but I do not find them disposed to follow up an inquiry when real labour is required. Yesterday I went out attended by a bare-legged urchin, who ran by the side of my mule. I asked him whether he could read or write. "No," he said with a sigh; "I am ἀγράμματος;" and then, after a little deliberation, came out an aphorism worthy of Pittacus himself:—
"Ὁποῖος δὲν ἔχει γράμματα, δὲν ἔχει μάτια."
"He who cannot read, has no eyes."
So, too, thought the ancient Mytilenæans; for it is recorded of them that they punished their revolted allies by forbidding them to teach their children reading or music, esteeming this prohibition as the greatest of penalties.35
Near the school is the church of St. Therapia, where is an interesting Greek inscription which has been pubhshed in Bockh's Corpus.[38] It relates to the restoration of some political exiles to Mytilene, which took place by command of Alexander the Great, shortly before his death. The Mytilenasans had made an alliance vntli him after the battle of the Granicus, but had afterwards been compelled by the generals of Darius to receive a Persian garrison, which was finally driven out by Hegelochos, B.C. 332.