DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4023#0060
14
TRAVELS IN EGYPT
they saw every thing that palled into the port I. Some rocks, that jut out, fur-
nished a charming situation ; and natural grottos, that those rocks had made,
gave the opportunity of forming there, with the assistance of the chissel, real
places of pleasure. In effed, we find entire apartments made in this man-
ner ; and benches, contrived in the rock, afford seats where you may be secured
from the wet: and where you may bathe in the water of the sea, which occupies
all the bottom of the grotto. On the outside, they had little harbours, at which
they arrived in boats, that were there sheltered from all sorts of winds. If
they would enjoy the view of the port, they easily found upon the rock, with-
out the grotto, some place that was shaded from the heat of the sun. All
these agreeable retreats, which are in great number, have however no other or-
nament. The places, where the chissel has passed, are smooth 5 but the rest
has the natural (hape of the rock.
At thirty or forty paces from the border of the sea, and opposite the point
of the peninsula, which forms the port, we find a subterraneous monument,
to which they commonly give the name of a temple. The only entrance is by a
little opening, upon the descent of the eminence which makes the boundary
of the port'on that side. We entered it lighted by flambeaux, and we
were obliged to walk stooping in a very low passage, which, at the end of
twenty paces, introduced us into a hall, pretty large and square. The top is a
smooth cieling, and the four sides and the bottom are full os sand, as well as of
the excrements of bats, and other animals, that retreat thither.
W e are not yet, properly speaking, arrived at the temple. As soon as
SonTf£ we have passed another alley, we meet with something more beautiful. We
terrain. , rnllt.erra;n 0f a round figure, the top of which is cut in form of an
Plate IinQ a louicnoui e r . .
XIII. orch • it has four gates, one opposite to another, iiach or which is adorned
with an architrave, acornish, and a pediment with a crescent on the top.
One of these o-ates serves for an entrance; the others form each a kind of niche,
much lower than the souterrain, and which contains only a chest, saved out of
the rock in hollowing it, and sufficiently large to contain a dead body.
1 As Homer travelled into Egypt, it is highly him into the true meaning, by having given an
hble that he took the idea of Proteus's cave account of Proteus, which he copied from
ftomthese retirements in rocks, which he saw •,_ and Homer ;
that all his images were drawn from natural views. Ipsa ego ^ medios cum Sol accenderit »stus,
„ o „ ,_ '/ • < •„* p,r"„«* Cum sitiunt herbae, et pecori jam gratior umbra est,
"H^c i ^ yr: »£?vov -^^«. In fecreta senis duca'm, Ji fcL ab undis
Tn(A& *? 4 **o* «« yi$m »to& »«f*i«'M, Se recipit • Qurne. lib. iv. ver. 401.
Tlvoi? "To Zscpugoio, futhatvvi £P§ix) x*A»4>9«s» " 1 »
•Ek i' i*fl«» w.u«3 vVi cit'iosi yA«(p«s.r«v. . Est ft*™* "V'»
r OMea, lib. iv. ver. 400. Exest latere In moniis, quo.plunma vento
JV _ Cogitur, inque sinus scindit sesc unda reduttos.
Infead of which Mr. Pope represents Proteus as B n ver. 418.
bajking on the shore. ft j w;]1 myself condua thee on thy way,
« When thro' the zone of heav'n the mounted Sun cc When next the southing Sun inssames the day :
" Hath journey'd half, and half remains to run, <4 when the d herbage thirds for dews in vain,
" The seer, while Zephyrs curl the swelhng deep, n And sheep jn {hades> avoid the parching plain.
" Bajks on the breezy Jhore, in grateful sseep, (l Then wlll 1 lead thee to h\s fecret (eat; ,
« His oozy limbs." Book iv. ver. 539. cc Whgn weary wkh his toil, and scorch d with heat, £
Which gross error in Mr. Pope is the more to « The wayward seer frequents his ^j» J
be wondered at, since Virgil might have led
H IS
TRAVELS IN EGYPT
they saw every thing that palled into the port I. Some rocks, that jut out, fur-
nished a charming situation ; and natural grottos, that those rocks had made,
gave the opportunity of forming there, with the assistance of the chissel, real
places of pleasure. In effed, we find entire apartments made in this man-
ner ; and benches, contrived in the rock, afford seats where you may be secured
from the wet: and where you may bathe in the water of the sea, which occupies
all the bottom of the grotto. On the outside, they had little harbours, at which
they arrived in boats, that were there sheltered from all sorts of winds. If
they would enjoy the view of the port, they easily found upon the rock, with-
out the grotto, some place that was shaded from the heat of the sun. All
these agreeable retreats, which are in great number, have however no other or-
nament. The places, where the chissel has passed, are smooth 5 but the rest
has the natural (hape of the rock.
At thirty or forty paces from the border of the sea, and opposite the point
of the peninsula, which forms the port, we find a subterraneous monument,
to which they commonly give the name of a temple. The only entrance is by a
little opening, upon the descent of the eminence which makes the boundary
of the port'on that side. We entered it lighted by flambeaux, and we
were obliged to walk stooping in a very low passage, which, at the end of
twenty paces, introduced us into a hall, pretty large and square. The top is a
smooth cieling, and the four sides and the bottom are full os sand, as well as of
the excrements of bats, and other animals, that retreat thither.
W e are not yet, properly speaking, arrived at the temple. As soon as
SonTf£ we have passed another alley, we meet with something more beautiful. We
terrain. , rnllt.erra;n 0f a round figure, the top of which is cut in form of an
Plate IinQ a louicnoui e r . .
XIII. orch • it has four gates, one opposite to another, iiach or which is adorned
with an architrave, acornish, and a pediment with a crescent on the top.
One of these o-ates serves for an entrance; the others form each a kind of niche,
much lower than the souterrain, and which contains only a chest, saved out of
the rock in hollowing it, and sufficiently large to contain a dead body.
1 As Homer travelled into Egypt, it is highly him into the true meaning, by having given an
hble that he took the idea of Proteus's cave account of Proteus, which he copied from
ftomthese retirements in rocks, which he saw •,_ and Homer ;
that all his images were drawn from natural views. Ipsa ego ^ medios cum Sol accenderit »stus,
„ o „ ,_ '/ • < •„* p,r"„«* Cum sitiunt herbae, et pecori jam gratior umbra est,
"H^c i ^ yr: »£?vov -^^«. In fecreta senis duca'm, Ji fcL ab undis
Tn(A& *? 4 **o* «« yi$m »to& »«f*i«'M, Se recipit • Qurne. lib. iv. ver. 401.
Tlvoi? "To Zscpugoio, futhatvvi £P§ix) x*A»4>9«s» " 1 »
•Ek i' i*fl«» w.u«3 vVi cit'iosi yA«(p«s.r«v. . Est ft*™* "V'»
r OMea, lib. iv. ver. 400. Exest latere In moniis, quo.plunma vento
JV _ Cogitur, inque sinus scindit sesc unda reduttos.
Infead of which Mr. Pope represents Proteus as B n ver. 418.
bajking on the shore. ft j w;]1 myself condua thee on thy way,
« When thro' the zone of heav'n the mounted Sun cc When next the southing Sun inssames the day :
" Hath journey'd half, and half remains to run, <4 when the d herbage thirds for dews in vain,
" The seer, while Zephyrs curl the swelhng deep, n And sheep jn {hades> avoid the parching plain.
" Bajks on the breezy Jhore, in grateful sseep, (l Then wlll 1 lead thee to h\s fecret (eat; ,
« His oozy limbs." Book iv. ver. 539. cc Whgn weary wkh his toil, and scorch d with heat, £
Which gross error in Mr. Pope is the more to « The wayward seer frequents his ^j» J
be wondered at, since Virgil might have led
H IS