Ruins of Ancient Cities (Vol. 1 of 2). Charles Bucke
to have one fate and tomb with them.
At35 a subsequent period, the inhabitants of Argos despatched ambassadors to Pyrrhus and Antigonus to entreat them to withdraw their troops, and not reduce their city into subjection to either of them, but to allow it to continue in a state of friendship with both. Antigonus readily consented, and sent his son as a hostage to the Argives. Pyrrhus, also, promised to retire; but as he offered no security for the fulfilment of his word, they began to suspect his sincerity; and, indeed, with sufficient reason: for as soon as night appeared, he advanced to the walls, and having found a door left open by Aristæus, he had time to force his Gauls into the city; and so seize it without being perceived. But when he would have introduced his elephants, he found the gates too low; which obliged him to cause the towers to be taken down from their backs, and replaced there when those animals had entered the city. All this could not be effected amidst the darkness without much trouble, noise, and confusion, which caused them to be discovered. The Argives, when they beheld the enemy in the city, fled to the citadel, and to those places that were most advantageous in their defence, and sent a deputation to Antigonus, to press his speedy advance to their assistance. He accordingly marched that moment, and caused his son, with the other officers, to enter the city at the head of his best troops. In this very juncture of time, King Areus also arrived at Argos, with a thousand Cretans, and as many Spartans as were capable of coming. These troops, when they had all joined each other, charged the Gauls with the utmost fury, and put them into disorder. Pyrrhus hastened, on his part, to sustain them; but the darkness and confusion was then so great, that it was impossible for him to be either obeyed or heard. When day appeared, he was not a little surprised to see the citadel full of enemies; and as he then imagined all was lost, he thought of nothing but a timely retreat. But as he had some apprehension with respect to the city gates, which were much too narrow, he sent orders to his son, Helenus, whom he had left without with the greatest part of the army, to demolish part of the wall, that his troops might have a free passage out of the city. The person to whom Pyrrhus gave this order in great haste, having misunderstood his meaning, delivered a quite contrary message; in consequence of which, Helenus drew out his best infantry, with all the elephants he had left, and then advanced into the city to assist his father, who was preparing to retire, the moment the other entered the place.
Pyrrhus, as long as the place afforded him a sufficient extent of ground, appeared with a resolute mien, and frequently faced about and repulsed those who pursued him; but when he found himself engaged in a narrow street, which ended at the gate, the confusion, which already was very great, became infinitely increased by the arrival of the troops his son brought to his assistance. He frequently called aloud to them to withdraw, in order to clear the streets, but in vain; for as it was impossible for his voice to be heard, they still continued to advance; and to complete the calamity in which they were involved, one of the largest elephants sank down in the middle of the gate, and filled the whole extent in such a manner, that the troops could neither advance nor retire. The confusion occasioned by this accident became then inextricable.
Pyrrhus observing the disorder of his men, who broke forward and were driven back, took off the glittering crest, which distinguished his helmet, and caused him to be known, and then, confiding in the goodness of his horse, he sprang into the throng of his enemies who pursued him; and while he was fighting with an air of desperation, one of the adverse party advanced up to him, and pierced his cuirass with a javelin. The wound, however, was neither great nor dangerous, and Pyrrhus immediately turned upon the man from whom he had received it, and who happened to be only a private soldier, the son of a poor woman at Argos: the mother beholding the contest from the top of a house, where she stood with several other women. The moment she saw her son engaged with Pyrrhus, she almost lost her senses, and chilled with horror at the danger to which she beheld him exposed. Amidst the impressions of her agony, she caught up a large tile, and threw it down upon Pyrrhus. The mass fell directly upon his head, and his helmet being too weak to ward off the blow, his hands dropped the reins, and he sank down from his horse without being observed. But he was soon discovered by a soldier, who put an end to his life, by cutting off his head.
There is another circumstance related of Argos, which it gives us great pleasure in remarking. When Solon was at the court of Crœsus, the king asked him – "Who, of all those he had seen, was the next in felicity to Tellus." Solon answered, 'Cleobis and Biton of Argos, two brothers, who had left behind them a perfect pattern of fraternal affection, and of the respect due from children to their parents. Upon a solemn festival, when their mother, a priestess of Juno, was to go to the temple, the oxen that were to draw her not being ready, the two sons put themselves to the yoke, and drew their mother's chariot thither, which was above five miles distant. All the mothers of the place, ravished with admiration, congratulated the priestess on the piety of her sons. She, in the transports of her joy and thankfulness, earnestly entreated the goddess to reward her children with the best thing that Heaven can give to man. Her prayers were heard. When the sacrifice was over, her two sons fell asleep in the very temple, and there died in a soft and peaceful slumber. In honour of their piety, the people of Argos consecrated statues to them in the temple of Delphos.
"If Athens," says Dr. Clarke, "by arts, by military talents, and by costly solemnities, became one of the eyes of Greece, there was in the humanity of Argos, and in the good feeling displayed by its inhabitants, a distinction which comes nearer to the heart. Something characteristic of the people may be observed even in a name given to one of their divinities; for they worshipped a 'God of Meekness.' It may be said, perhaps, of the Argive character, that it was less splendid than the Athenian, and less rigid than the Lacedæmonian; but it was less artificial, and the contrast it exhibited, when opposed to the infamous profligacy of Corinth, where the manners of the people, corrupted by wealth and luxury, were further vitiated by the great influx of foreigners, rendered Argos, in the days of her prosperity, one of the most enviable cities of Greece. The stranger, who visited Athens, might, indeed, regard, with an eager curiosity, the innumerable trophies every where suspended of victors in her splendid games; might admire her extensive porticoes crowded with philosophers; might gaze with wonder at the productions of her artists; might revere her magnificent temples: but feelings more affecting were drawn forth in beholding the numerous monuments of the Argives, destined to perpetuate the memory of individuals who had rendered themselves illustrious by their virtues."
Argos was taken, A. D. 1397, by Bajazet. It was then totally deserted, and its walls destroyed. It was rebuilt by the Venetians, from whom, in 1463, it was taken by the Turks; and after being retaken by the Venetians, it was again recovered by the Turks in the same year.
"But where is Argos?" inquires La Martine; "a vast naked plain, intersected with marshes extending in a circular form at the bottom of the gulf. It is bounded on every side by chains of grey mountains; at the end of the plain, about two leagues inland, we perceive a mound, with some fortified walls on its summit, and which protects, by its shade, a small town in ruins – this is Argos. Close by is the tomb of Agamemnon."
The antiquities of Argos, once so numerous, may now be comprised within a very short list. Those seen by Pausanias were the temples of Apollo, of Fortuna, of Jupiter, and of Minerva; sepulchres and cenotaphs; a theatre, a forum, a gymnasium, a stadium, a subterranean edifice, &c., formed of earth.
Of these now remaining36, are the ruins of the theatre37, which was a remarkable structure, having been entirely an excavation in the rock, and having the appearance of three theatres instead of one. Opposite to this are the remains of a large edifice, built entirely of tiles. Above the theatre are those of the Hieron of Venus, within whose temple was a statue of the poetess Telesilla, who, at the head of a band of heroines, repulsed from the walls the enemies of her country, when it was attacked by the Lacedæmonians. She was represented, says Pausanias, standing upon a pillar, with the books of her poetry scattered at her feet, in the act of regarding her helmet, which she was about to put upon her head.
On the sides and lower part of the modern fortress are still seen the remains of Cyclopian architecture, as ancient as the citadel of Tiryns, and built in the same style38.
"This structure," says Dr. Clarke, "is mentioned by Pausanias
Rollin.
Clarke.
The devastations of time and war have effaced the old city. The stranger in vain inquires for vestiges of its numerous edifices, the theatre, the gymnasium, the temples, and the monuments it once boasted, contending even with Athens in antiquity and in favours conferred by the gods. – Chandler.
See Tiryns.