Part 11 (1/2)
The port was full of so had put in to wait for a change of wind, and a crowd of Turks belonging to these vessels were lounging about on the shore
The toas then in ruins, having been burned to the ground by a Russian squadron in the year 1807
Next , Byron, with a party of officers, left the shi+p to visit the ruins of Alexandria Troas, and landed at an open port, about six or seven miles to the south of where the Salsette was at anchor The spot near to where they diseranite; for the ruins of Alexandria have long supplied the fortresses of the Dardanelles with these gigantic y woods, hich the country is covered, and the first vestiges of antiquity which attracted their attention were two large granite sarcophagi; a little beyond they found two or three fragranite pillars, one of theth, and at least five in diameter
Near these they saw arches of brick-work, and on the east of theiven the name of the palace of Priam, but which are, in fact, the ruins of ancient baths An earthquake in the course of the preceding winter had thron large portions of them, and the internal divisions of the edifice were, in consequence, choked with huge masses of mural wrecks and ap, and found themselves in the midst of enormous ruins, enclosed on two sides by walls, raised on arches, and by piles of ponderous fragments The fallen blocks were of vast dimensions, and showed that no cereat antiquity In the nificence stood several lofty portals and arches, pedestals of gigantic columns and broken steps and marble cornices, heaped in desolate confusion
From these baths the distance to the sea is between two and three entle declivity covered with looods, and partially interspersed with spots of cultivated ground On this slope the ancient city of Alexandria Troas was built On the north-west, part of the walls, to the extent of a mile, may yet be traced; the remains of a theatre are also still to be seen on the side of the hill fronting the sea, co a view of Tenedos, Le been conducted by the guide, whoht with them from Tenedos, to the principal antiquities of Alexandria Troas, the visitors returned to the frigate, which iot under way On the 14th of April she came to anchor about a ean pro which ample opportunity was afforded to inspect the plain of Troy, that scene of heroism, which, for three thousand years, has attracted the attention and interested the feelings and fancy of the civilized world
Whether Lord Byron entertained any doubt of Ho existed, is not very clear It is probable, from the little he says on the subject, that he took no interest in the question For although no traveller could enter with more sensibility into the local associations of celebrated places, he yet never seemed to care much about the visible features of antiquity, and was always e in reflections than to puzzle his learning with dates or dimensions His ruminations on the Troad, in Don Juan, afford an instance of this, and are conceived in the very spirit of Childe Harold
And so great nalory's but an airy lust, Too often in its fury overco all Who would, as 'twere, identify their dust Fro all, Leaves nothing till the coe I've stood upon Achilles' tomb, And heard Troy doubted--tienerations of the dead Are swept away, and toe is fled, And buried, sinks beneath its offspring's doolean'd froloom, Which once named myriads, nameless, lie beneath, And lose their own in universal death?
No task of curiosity can indeed be less satisfactory that the exauides, not content with leading the traveller to the spot, often atte his attention to circumstances which they suppose to be evidence that verifies their traditions
Thus, on the Trojan plain, several objects are still shohich are described as the self-sa- trees, and the touides may be credited But they were seen with incredulous eyes by the poet; even the toarded by him with equal scepticis, and tinted with soreen and village-cotted hill is Flanked by the hellespont, and by the sea, Entomb'd the bravest of the brave, Achilles-- They say so Bryant says the contrary
And farther doard tall and towering still is The tumulus, of whom Heaven knows it may be, Patroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus,-- All heroes, who, if living still, would slay us
High barroithout marble or a name, A vast untill'd and mountain-skirted plain, And Ida in the distance still the same, And old Scamander, if 'tis he, remain; The situation seeht again With ease But where I sought for Ilion's walls The quiet sheep feeds, and the tortoise crawls
Troops of untended horses; here and there Some little hamlets, with new names uncouth, Some shepherds unlike Paris, led to stare A moment at the European youth, Whos bear; A Turk with beads in hand and pipe in ion, Are what I found there, but the devil a Phrygian
It was during the time that the Salsette lay off Cape Janissary that Lord Byron first undertook to swi crossed from the castle of Chanak-Kalessi, in a boathalf a mile above the castle of Chelit-Bauri, where, with an officer of the frigate who accoan their enterprise, emulous of the renown of Leander At first they swaara Point than the Dardanelles, but notwithstanding their skill and efforts they le with {156} the current, they then turned and ith the strea to cross It was not until they had been half an hour in the water, and found themselves in the middle of the strait, about a mile and a half below the castles, that they consented to be taken into the boat, which had followed them
By that time the coldness of the water had so benumbed their limbs that they were unable to stand, and were otherwise much exhausted
The second attempt was made on the 3rd of May, when the weather armer They entered the water at the distance of a mile and a-half above Chelit-Bauri, near a point of land on the western bank of the Bay of Maito, and swa a ti down the current close to the shi+p, which was then anchored at the Dardanelles, and in passing her steered for the bay behind the castle, which they soon succeeded in reaching, and landed about a mile and a-half below the shi+p Lord Byron has recorded that he found the current very strong and the water cold; that soe fish passed hih a little chilled he was not fatigued, and performed the feat without much difficulty, but not with impunity, for by the verses in which he coue
WRITTEN AFTER SWIMMING FROM SESTOS TO ABYDOS
If in the htly wont (What maid will not the tale remember) To cross thy stream, broad hellespont,
If when the wintry te loath, And thus of old thy current pour'd, Fair Venus! how I pity both
For eniallimbs I faintly stretch, And think I've done a feat to-day
But since he crossed the rapid tide, According to the doubtful story, To woo, and--Lord knohat beside, And swalory,
'Twere hard to say who fared the best; Sad ue you; He lost his labour, I ue