Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia Part 30

[73] We do not include, in the enumeration of free states, the Swiss confederacy, nor flourishing Holland. Both date their liberties to much earlier times.

[74] _Norway in 1848 and 1849._ Longman and Co.

[75] La sua positura nel Mediterraneo la rende intermediara fra l'Africa e l'Europa; fra il porto di Marsiglia da una parte, quelli di Genova e Livorno dall'altra, e per conseguenza potrebbe proccaciarsi un conspicuo reddito dal cabottagio. Se si considera che la francia scarreggia di marina mercantile, relativemente alla sua potenza ed a suoi besogni, non sembrera per certo un sogno l'a.s.serire che la Sardegna si troverebbe a miglior portata di concorrere a soddisfare le sue bisogne di transporte, princ.i.p.almente per le coste d'Africa, dove la colonia francese va prendendo sempre maggiore sviluppo, e prenunzia un avvenire fecondo. Si la citta di Cagliari e le altre terre littorale possedessero una marina mercantile, quante fonti di richezza non troverebbe la Sardegna lungo le coste d'Italia, di Francia, di Spagna e d'Africa! Non si credono queste visioni o travidementi d'immagin.a.z.ione; che anzi non temiamo d'affirmare ch'essa potrebbe divenire, un giorno, _la piccola Inghilterra del Mediterraneo.-Memorie Politico-Economiche_, p. 134.

[76] A pa.s.sage in Aristotle's work "De Mirabilibus," (chap. 104.) has been supposed to refer to the Nuraghe. The words are these:-"It is said that in the island of Sardinia are edifices of the ancients, erected after the Greek manner, and many other beautiful buildings and _tholi_ (domes or cupolas) finished in excellent proportions." Again, Diodorus Siculus informs us (l. iv. c. 29, 30) that "after Iolaus had settled his colony in Sardinia, he sent for Daedalus out of Sicily and employed him in building many and great works which remain to this day." And in another place (l. v. c. 51) he reckons among these works "temples of the G.o.ds," of which, he repeats, "the remains exist even in these times."

These pa.s.sages, however, afford but slight grounds for considering that the Nuraghe were built by the Greeks, or even were temples of the G.o.ds.

The term T?????, used by Aristotle, may indeed describe a round building roofed with a dome, but the Nuraghe cannot be considered as corresponding to the Grecian idea of buildings that are "beautiful"-"finished in excellent proportions"-or fitting temples for the G.o.ds. Pausanias denies that Daedalus was sent for out of Sicily by Iolaus, and makes it an anachronism. See _Tyndale's Sardinia_, vol. i.

p. 116.

[77] Micah, iv. 8; and see 2 Kings, x. 12, xvii. 9, xviii. 8; and 2 Chron. xxvi. 10, &c.

[78] "_Apenas se diferenciaba el_ ARA de la TUMBA.

"_La graderia_ (del monumento sepolcrale) _se hallaba practicada en el costade occidental per donde se subia para_ ORAR, _o para_ SACRIFICAR."-Dupaix, vol. v. p. 243. 261.

[79] We borrow this description from Mr. Tyndale's work, as well as the ill.u.s.trations, not finding a sketch of a Sepoltura in our own portfolio.

[80] The learned Jesuit disconnects this migration from the expulsion of the Canaanitish tribes by the Israelites under Joshua, considering it to have occurred from one to two centuries before, when the giant tribes east of Jordan were subdued by the Moabites and Amorites, who succeeded to their possessions. Moses relates that "the Emims dwelt therein [that is, in Moab,] in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims." Of Ammon, Moses says:-"That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day."-_Deut._ ii. 10, 11, 20, 21.

[81]

??? ?a????s? G??a?ta? ?p????? ?? a?????s?

???e?a ??? ??e???t? ?a? a?at?? ???a????? ORPHEUS.

[82] Gen. vi. 1-4.

[83] These giant tribes were defeated by Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, in the same expedition in which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were put to the sword, and Lot, who dwelt in Sodom, was carried off, but afterwards rescued by Abraham. Numbers, xiv. 5. &c.

[84] Numb. xiii. 33.; Deut. iii. 11., ix. 2.; Josh. xv. 14.

[85] 1 Sam. xvii. 4; 2 Sam. xxi. 16-22.

[86]

. . . . . "Summo c.u.m monte videmus Ipsum, inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem, _Pastorem_ Polyphemum, et littora nota petentem.

Trunca manum pinus regit, et vestigia firmat.

Lanigerae comitantur oves; . . . .

. . . . de collo fistula pendet." _aen._ iii. 653, &c.

[87] Polypheme's clan are thus described;-

"Nam, qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro Lanigeras claudit pecudes, atque ubera pressat, Centum alii curva haec habitant ad littora vulgo Infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant." _aen._ iii. 641.

[88] Father Bresciani has collected all the authorities for the existence of giant races, with great diligence, in the course of his remarks on the Sarde Sepolture. Vol. i. p. 89, &c.

[89] De Physicis, iv. 3.

[90] Gen. iv. 21, 22.

[91] A general idea seems to have prevailed in early times of the prodigious muscular strength possessed by the men of an age still earlier. Thus Turnus, the warlike chief of the Rutuli, is represented in the aeneid as lifting and hurling at the Trojan an immense boundary stone which would defy the united efforts of _twelve such men as the earth produced in those days_ to lift on their shoulders.

"Saxum antiquum, ingens, campo quod forte jacebat, Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.

Vix illud lecti bis s.e.x cervice subirent, Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus." _aen._ xii. 897.

[92] Gen. xi. 4.

[93] See before, p. 394.

[94] _Ordericus Vitalis_, vol. i. p. 113. (Bohn's Antiq. Library.)

[95] Ib. vol. i. pp. 130, 338; ii. 149.

[96] _Circonscrizione amministrativa delle provincie di Terra Ferma e della Sardegna_.-Torino, Stamperia Reale, 1850.

[97] Atia, the daughter of M. Atius Balbus, by Julia, sister of Julius Caesar, was the mother of Octavius Augustus.-_Suetonius._

[98] Cohen, in his _Description des Medailles Consulaires_ recently published (Paris, 1857), notices a bronze medal of the same type, of which he says:-"Cette medaille etait frappee par les habitans de la Sardaigne, sous le regne d'Auguste, et pour gagner ses bonnes graces ils y placerent le portrait de son aeul en meme tems que celui du fondateur de leur patrie." The cabinet of the British Museum contains a specimen of this bronze medal, "de fabrique tres-barbare," to use Cohen's description. He does not appear to be aware of the existence of the silver coin, which is of a far better style.

[99] Captain Smyth states that in 1798 upwards of 2000 Moors suddenly disembarked on the beach of Malfatano from six Tunisian vessels; when the town was surrounded and taken. Brutality and pillage in all their hideous forms visited every house; and 850 men, women, and children were driven into slavery. The unhappy captives remained at Tunis; and, from the embarra.s.sments of the Sardinian Government, were not ransomed until the year 1805. In 1815 the Tunisians, recollecting the rich booty they had before obtained, reappeared off the port, but finding the garrison well prepared to give them a warm reception, they sheered off.-_Sketch of Sardinia_, p. 300.

[100] Among the other emblems of divinity we find the heads of dogs, cats, apes, and birds, and also rude figures of the boats of Isis, establishing a connection between the Egyptian and Phnician mythologies. Some exhibit astronomical and astrological symbols. Other images appear to be carrying cakes, a part of the offering made to Astarte, to which Jeremiah alludes:-"The women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven."-Chap. vii. 18.

[101] The concern is incorporated under the name of "The Mediterranean Telegraph Company," but the terms "Sardinian" or "Sardo-French" Company are adopted, as more distinctly indicating the nature of its origin and designs.

[102] _L'Istmo di Suez, e la Stazione Telegrafico-Electrica di Cagliari; Ragiamento del T. G. Alberto Della Marmora. Torino, 1856._