Full text of "Taormina"

llllltm 1 M ' I 1:1 ill »" ; "* . .' r .5- Darnell JUuittraitg Eithrarg Stljaca, JNeui $nrk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 The date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and give to the librarian. HOME USE RULES All Books subject to Recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow books for home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be re- turned within the four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. V Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. Volumes of periodicals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for - the benefit of other persons. Books of special value '*** and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. ■ .in, Readers are asked toco- port all cases of — " ■*• marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. DG 975.f22B43 niVerSi,V Ubrary Taormina 3 1924 028 379 133 olin r^> K '< Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028379133 TAORMINA Other Books by Dr. Bell: Words of the Wood (Poems) (Small, Maynard $• Co., Boston) Art-Talks with Ranger The Evolution and The Philosophy of Painting, Ancient and Modern (Q. P. Putnam's Sons, New York) The Worth of Words The Changing Values of English Speech The Religion of Beauty (Hinds, Noble $ Eldredge, New York) BADA VECCIA TAORMINA BY RALCY HUSTED BELL How many, once lauded in song, are given over to the forgotten ; and how many who sung their praises are clean gone long ago. — Marcus Aurelius. HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE, Publishers 30 Irving Place New York City w *»„--" >1 -• »1 A Uioi^ Copyright, 1916 by Hinds, Noble & Eldredge CONTENTS PAGE Taormina xi Note xvii Avant-Propos xxiii Origin — Early Inhabitants ..... 1 Etna . ,., . . ,.. ...... . 21 Language . . .. . „ ; . > . 31 Ancient Ruins 43 Famous Taorminians 61 Ancient Products 69 Taormina of To-day 75 A Little Story of History Mingled with Tradition . ,., ...... 97 TO THE ONE AT WHOSE SUGGESTION TAORMINA WAS WRITTEN TAORMINA With warmest grays on roof and wall The town is rich in winey tone — The very hill-tops, one and all, Seem made of semiprecious stone. The paths that climb and ways that fall 'Tween olive trees and lemon groves At morn and eve are musical With goatherds piping to their droves. Fair Etna waves her plume of pearl Against an opalescent blue, In the shining robes of a sinless girl, Necklaced with jewels of frozen dew. Upon the middle of the day The light falls golden from the sky ; While 'neath the arches shadows play With purple dreams as moments fly. XI Taormina In every crannied wall there grows, Framed with softened tints of old, Some fairy flower, some vagrant rose, 'Mid splash of green or leaves of gold. Sheltering walls hide terrace-plots, Where modest gardens dream and hold The dews of eve in flower-pots, On ruined shafts of classic mould — Little gardens half aswoon With their own loveliness, and smiles That fall like rain from ardent noon, And drip like rain from fluted tiles. And creeping streets like ribbon-bands, Crinkled, and crawling up and down From castled crests and bold headlands To winding courses through the town. And smiling ruins greet the eye With vibrant tones of glory fled — Where Beauty's tattered garlands lie Still coronal upon her head. Slow-crumbling tower and broken walls Close-clinging where the cliffs are steep ; Xll Taormina And where the silvery moonlight falls And while the liquid shadows sleep. And far below, blue waters lave The very shores Greek fathers saw When unto all the world they gave The glories of their art and law. And this is Taormina — this The spot by Attic poets trod, And made immortal by the kiss Of Beauty — which to me is God. Xlll PREFATORY NOTE NOTE If anything may be said to be acci- dental in this world of law and general disorder, Taormina, surely, may lay claim to the term. In February, 1913, a certain artist and I boarded steamer for Italy. Our purpose was to paint, and to finish a book on Art which we had undertaken to- gether; but, besides a change of scene, our leading desire was for a period of repose, which is ever the delusion of travel. We planned to stay six weeks or so on the Island of Sicily. Mr. Artist was then to return to his studio at home. I was to venture the different whirlpools of strife raging in the Levant. We landed at Messina about the mid- dle of March, and went directly to Taor- mina. A few days after our arrival I was stricken with an illness which nearly proved fatal. Consequently our literary xvii Note work together was interrupted. Mr. Artist painted for the most part alone. I was cared for at my villa — "Riposo" — by the Franciscan Nuns under the direc- tion of Dr. Salvatore Cacciola Cartella — who was indeed both brother and doctor; and several other very pleasant persons ministered graciously to my every need and more. It was during my convalescence that the beauty of Taormina so appealed to me that I felt impelled to make some sketches; and its charm penetrated so deeply into my being that I could not help writing about it. As I grew stronger, I went about gathering such antiques as I could lay hands on — among others, some fine Greek and Roman signets of engraved stone. Such, briefly, is the accidental genesis of Taormina. In the spelling of proper names, I have not thought it advisable to follow a fixed rule. Those names most generally known xviii Note in the Latin spelling are given in the Latin. The same method was applied to those of Sicilian, Greek and English spell- ing. It only remains for me to acknowledge my indebtedness for much general and no little specific information to Sister Mary of the Sanctuary, Mother Superior in the Taorminian Convent of Franciscan Nuns, affectionately known as the "White Sisters" on account of their dress. I have had the opportunity of consulting a rare old MS. lent to me by Sister Mary. I take this opportunity to thank her. I will add that this tender and cultured woman has probably done more for the poor of Taormina during the past six or seven years, than any other one person ever did. Her nuns are truly good angels to the wee waifs of poverty, and as well to all victims of misfortune within their reach and power to help. Whom the children love all men may trust. xix AVANT-PROPOS AVANT-PROPOS What is the destiny of a soul, of a town, of a star? What is the birth of a babe, the death of an old man, the light of a sun gone out? Is destiny a force or an effect; and birth, is it a development of which death is the measure, full and struck off even with the brim? We know not. There was a time when Fate was terri- bly in earnest shaping the awful destiny of this town ; and, strange as it may seem, that was the period of its bloom — the springtime of its beauty. One may well inquire of the gods : "Does the Soul only flower on nights of storm?" In those far-off days, on those stormy nights, Fate sat on the hills and ruled un- questioned. To-day we should impu- dently interrogate the gods; but their seats are empty as very soon all thrones shall be. We challenge the tombs with- out raising a single ghost. We read the XXlll Avant-Propos stars differently now than did their former underlings. And we seem to have for- gotten what once we knew : how strong is the dead hand of sorrow on the throat of the living joy. That, maybe, is what we mean by "the icy hand of destiny." Sorrows aplenty have visited this City on the Hill. But were they sorrows of the Soul, or only a physical sadness? Whence came they; and to what abyss have they led? We only know that where were upheavals of passion, now yawns merely a chasm which reveals noth- ing of to-morrow. To-day, the tragedies of yesterday are but the indirect memories of a dream. The currents of love and hatred have done their best and worst for Taormina. Storm and flood are past — we have not sounded their beginning nor fathomed their end. The present is too full of "the pain of living" to perceive the renaissance of sentiment that shall reclothe these Sicilian hills with glory. XXIV ORIGIN EARLY INHABITANTS TAORMINA Origin Early Inhabitants Far back in the mists of legend — be- yond the range of history — Taormina shimmers in the glow of song colored with fable. The settlement smiles to us through distortive days of the far past. Then as she emerges into the clearer light of recorded time, we are able to see her peculiar beauty. Her garments, it is true, have been torn by irreverent hands, and splashed with in- nocent blood. She has been sunburned and star-kissed, rain-beaten and wind- blown for ages. Yet time, that ruins all things, has only softened some of her harder colors into most alluring tints. So ancient is this town, or so immediate 1 Origin our scale of perception, that we are used to speak of its beauty as immortal. Nor is this figure of speech far wrong. For if there be immortality of individual beauty, we may thus speak justly of some- thing that since prehistoric times has taken root in the "eternal hills" — some- thing that has blossomed down the ages as effectively as sun and rain have kissed Sicilian slopes into rare harmonies of color. To know precisely how old Taormina is would be interesting; and to know some- thing definite of its primitive inhabitants would enlarge our scope of history; but such cold knowledge could serve no high purpose in this sunny land. The irides- cent glamor of invention, in all such in- stances, is as useful as fact, so long as we regard it merely as the halo of imagina- tion, and not as the pure light of truth. The origin of this city has been made en- chanting by fables of the Greek poets ; and 2 Early Inhabitants the Latin singers have enveloped its prim- itive inhabitants with the beauty of mys- tery. Romance rifles the past of its cold tones and disagreeable grays. The lyric impulse riots in color and dotes on throw- ing shafts of gold and showers of purple over the left shoulder of time. If it were not so, then human consciousness would be merely a white island flying through a black sea. Time ruins all things and beautifies all things and recreates all things. Time is the real Artist. Purposeless he works — aimlessly he demolishes — and without de- sign he creates. And yet, I am not so sure of the lack of design in anything. However, proportionately as time with- draws a subject from our present needs and immediate sympathies, the subject be- comes beautified in our sight. It is not essential to the sense of beauty that we should trace anything back to its source; indeed, it might be fatal to that Origin feeling to make the attempt. The j oyous contemplation of a forest stream is not ordinarily intensified by seeking its source. It might be pleasant to follow it upstream, but quite likely it would prove to be a painful and wearisome task before one reached the head. So it is with the acts of life. The enveloping mystery of their source is often merciful, and it usually adds a charm. A fine city and a beauti- ful woman! I wonder if it is always well to scrutinize their past — and is it ever polite ? The origin of Taormina is incidental. Her founders are dim, decorative figures in romantic history. To try to put them into a real world would be as stupid as im- possible. It is of no more human impor- tance, for instance, whether Charybdis was stolen by Jupiter near this town, than whether George Washington in his youth threw a silver coin across the Potomac. Even more, it matters not now whether 4 Early Inhabitants either were real persons in the flesh, since both have become unreal — ideal — per- sonages in tradition. Through the mists of imagination — through the fogs of fame — no personage ever retains his true character very long. No matter how steadily it looms, it is sure to change face with a sort of periodic rhythm which seems to be one of the governing laws of fame. Thus all those leisurely mortals, who are given to the reading of Silenus, will find as much pleasure in his verses as though Jupiter loved with human passion, and Charybdis lived the actual life of a flesh- and-curve woman. "Quanti dall' alte taorminesi roccie Miran nel sottostante mar Caribdi, Che, col fiero ingo j are di uno aperto Vortice, assorbe le sbattute navi ; Tostamente dai marini abissi Altissime le vibra in sino agli astri." How many from the huge rocks of Taormina Look down in the sea at Caribdi, 5 Origin Who, with a tremendous engulfing of an open Whirlpool, absorbs the tossed ships ; Soon after from the abyss of the sea Hurls them very high, as far as the stars. Second Punic War, Bk. IV. The same applies to Ovid's lines. Ceres is forever seeking the lost Proser- pine — still "sighing from town to town beginning with Taormina." The be- reaved mother has taken up her being in the changeless world of Keats' Grecian Urn. In that world she will ever mourn the gloomy Pluto's boldness whilst her radiant daughter was so innocently pluck- ing flowers. Ceaselessly she makes her rounds, visiting "Great Imera and horrid Solina, Agrigento and steep Taormina," according to Fasti, in Bk. IV. All these fancies are as good as facts. Indeed, they are facts of a kind in a world which we all know very well. As too much imitation kills the art of a pictorial Early Inhabitants landscape, so also may it mutilate the charm of letters. And so, while the origin of Taormina is of no consequence to those who visit the place for its beauty, or to ruminate over ruins which have historic interest, it may be well, nevertheless, to correct some er- rors which have been widely copied by those who have written on the subject. Even the well known M. le Cte. De For- bin, who published his Souvenirs de La Sidle in 1823, was in some instances no more accurate in his data than compli- mentary in his remarks on Taormina. Beginning on page 191, he says: "Taormine, Taur omentum, fut batie sur le penchant du mont Taurus par Andromaque, pere de Timee Phistorien; elle fut peuplee de ceux des habitans de Naxos qui purent echapper lorsque Denys le tyran fit detruire leur ville. Agathocle s'en rendit maitre; Auguste y fonda une colonie romaine. Brulee en 893 par les Sarrasins, elle fut detruite en 968 par ordre du calife Al-Moez. Les restes de sa splendeur 7 Origin s'evanouirent ; a peine y compte-t-on aujour- d'hui quatre mille habitans. Taormine est, comme toutes les petites villes de la Sicile, sale, mal pav£e, avec des rues si etroites, que deux personnes peuvent a peine y passer de front. Cette ville a tou jours ete un point militaire im- portant; aussi trouve-t-on a chaque pas des ruines grecques, des murs romains, des tours sarrasines: les opuntia, les ronces, le lierre, se sont empares de ces vains travaux; des pins et des palmiers regnent sur ces decombres, et pyra- mident au-dessus d'eux avec une grace inimita- ble (a). "Une inscription taillee sur la corniche d'une maison construite dans le style florentin et la plus apparente de Taormine peut faire croire qu'elle fut habitee par Jean d'Aragon, apres que son armee eut ete defaite par les Fran9ais. "On trouve aussi dans une eglise situee sur la place de Taormine plusieurs inscriptions grecques ; entre autres, celle-ci : "0JAM02 TON TAIPOMENITAN OAYMIIIN OAT Mm 01 M El TON NIK A 2 'ANT A TIT 61 A KEAHTI TEAEIOL a (a) On montre a Taormine un mur que l'on dit avoir appartenu a une naumachie, et une 8 Early Inhabitants citerne dans le genre de la piscina mirabile. Tout cela est fort degrade. D'ailleurs, encore une fois, a quoi bon une naumachie et des com- bats sur l'eau dans un petit espace, chez un peuple qui habite le rivage de la mer?" Taormina, Tauromenium, was built on the slope of Mount Taurus by Andromache, father of Timeo, the historian ; it was settled by those of the inhabitants of Naxos who were able to escape when Dionysius, the tyrant, destroyed their city. Agothocle conquered it. Augus- tus founded there a Roman colony. Burned in 893 by the Saracens, it was destroyed in 968 by order of the Calif Al-Moez. The remains of its splendor vanished; to-day scarcely four thousand inhabitants are left. Taormina is, like all the little cities of Sicily, dirty, badly paved, with streets so narrow that two persons can hardly walk abreast. This city has always been an important military post, hence one finds at each step Greek ruins, Roman walls, and Saracen towers: the apuntia,* brambles and ivy, have taken possession of these useless works ; pines and palm trees reign on these rem- nants and pyramid above them with inimitable grace (a). An inscription cut on the cornice * The apuntian growths, prickly pear. 9 Origin of a house constructed in the Florentine style and which is the most conspicuous in Taormina leads one to believe that it was inhabited by John of Aragon after his army had been de- feated by the French. There are also to be found in a church situ- ated on the public square in Taormina various Greek inscriptions ; among which, is the follow- ing: The People Of Tauromenion (crown) Olympis Mestos, Son Of Olympis, Who Was Victor In The Pythian Games With a Running Horse of Full Age.* (a) There is shown at Taormina a wall which is said to have belonged to a place for naval battles, and a cistern in the style of the miracu- lous pool. All that is very much dilapidated. Besides, once more, what would be the object of having a place for naval combats and for hav- ing combats on water in a little place, among a people inhabiting the sea-shore? Many authors besides De Forbin have fallen, one after another, into error as to * This inscription with its translation may be found in Vol. XIV of the Inscriptiones Grcecce, No. 434, p. 114. 10 Early Inhabitants Taormina's origin. Nothing, indeed, per- petuates mistakes better than books. One copies another with absurd fidelity and blind confidence. The maker of one book seems to believe that the maker of another was as careful of his data as he is careless of his. Tommasso Fazzello was one of the earli- est authors to state that Taormina was founded by the Greek refugees when Naxos was destroyed by the tyrant Dionysius, the Younger. Perhaps he was the first author of any note to make this mistake. Antiquarian students know, however, from the study of ruins, and otherwise, that Taormina was already old when that massacre occurred. And be- sides, according to Diodorus: "While these things were taking place, An- dromache of Taormina, father of the great historian Timeo, assembled the remaining ex- iles of Nasso and received them on Mount Tauro, which is over Nasso. After having 11 Origin been there some time, the place of their dwell- ing was called Taormina." Now the exiles, who swelled the town and felt the value of security, built new walls around it, and called it Taormina. But greatly preceding this event, "The Siculi had inhabited this mountain (of Tauro) in great numbers, yet without any chosen chief, long before Dionysius gave them the territory of Nasso." Diodorus, Hist. Bk. IV. The Siculi, Thucydides tells us, came over-sea in ships, settled the island, and called it Sicilia. The advent of these new-comers must have been about three hundred years before the settlement of Naxos, and about eighty years before the Trojan War. The same author, in his account of the war made on Naxos by Messina and Syracuse, says: "The Siculi mountaineers came down in great numbers to offer help to Nasso." (Hist. Bk. IV.) 12 Early Inhabitants The ancient Greek geographer, Scila Cariandeo, carefully traced the Peloritan- ian coast, and in his fine description of it speaks both of Naxos and Taormina: "Messina with a harbor, and then Taor- mina, Nasso, Catania, and so forth." Authors, in common with lower ani- mals, differ in opinion. Some declare that Taormina was founded by the Sicani, who changed the ancient name of the island from Trinacria to Sicania. Dio- dorus says (Com. Lib. Bk. V) : "We owe much to Timeo, the historian of Taormina, for unmasking the ignorance of Fi- listo, in showing the Sicanians to have been na- tives of our Island and not strangers." W. C. Taylor, LL.D., M.R.A.S., of Trinity College, cites Taormina as among "the most remarkable cities on the east- ern coast of Sicily" in ancient times. In his chronological discussion of its early in- habitants, he proceeds to say: 13 Origin "The Cyclopians and Laestrigons are said to have been the first inhabitants of Sicily. It is impossible to trace their origin; we only know that their settlements were in the vicinity of Mount ^Etna. Their inhumanity toward strangers, and the flames of iEtna, were the source of many popular fables and poetic fic- tions. It was said that the Cyclops were gi- ants ; that they had but one eye, placed in the centre of their forehead; that they fed on hu- man flesh ; and that they were employed by Vul- can to forge the thunderbolts of Jove. "Next in antiquity were the Sicanians, prob- ably an Italian horde driven southward by the pressure of the Pelasgi, though many ancient writers assert that they came from Spain. They finally settled in the western part of the island, and were said to have joined the Trojan exiles in building Eryx and Egesta. "After the Sicani had been for some ages ex- clusive masters of the island, the Siculi, an ancient people of Ausonia, crossed the strait; and having defeated the Sicanians in a sanguin- ary engagement, confined them in a narrow ter- ritory, and changed the name of the island from Sicania to Sicily. Some centuries after this revolution, Greek colonies began to settle on the Sicilian coast; . . ." 14 Early Inhabitants Perhaps no one can say at this time whence came the earliest settlers of this region of the island now known as Sicily. It is easier to believe that they came by sea than by descent from the Cyclops, as some say. It is not probable that the island was first settled by the Pelasgic tribes, who were not great travelers, and, therefore, were poor colonizers. It is al- most certain, also, that there were many colonies on the island before the Hellenic migrations. At all events, in very ancient times an unknown people inhabited the eastern part of Sicily. And it is probable that, terri- fied by Etna's erratic bursts of anger, and harassed by invaders who were gaining the mastery over them, they left their early homes and went over to build anew on the western and southern shores. This opinion is encouraged by both Thucydides and Diodorus. In the words of the last named author: 15 Origin "The ancient Sicanians inhabited small cities on the tops of mountains, well provided with precipitous cliffs, to protect them from the as- saults of thieves." (Bk. V. Com. Lib.) Passing now to modern times, Fran- cesco Scorso, a noted Jesuit antiquary, says : "There remains now little of the great city of Taormina, devastated as it has been, by Saracen invasions ; indeed the same may be said of it as of the Eternal City : 'You go looking for Rome in Rome.' And so it really is. One looks for ancient Taormina in Taormina. This city that formerly had a circumference of five miles, measures now only two miles around. By examining the ruins, we found that the city once extended from the Gate of the Saracens, near the arch of Mola, to the convent of San Francisco di Paola ; from the convent of the Friar Preachers to that of Santo Agostino ; and from here to the plain of San Leone, beyond the monastery of the Franciscans Observants, to the place called by the peasants, 'Guardiola'." Thus, whatever the origin of Taormina — by whomsoever founded and whenever 16 Early Inhabitants — regardless of the ravages of time and war, and notwithstanding the filth of de- generate days into which it has fallen, the town is, nevertheless, one of the beauty- spots of this warty earth. In the lan- gauge of a great painter: "I have no quarrel with anyone who says, this is the most beautiful place in all the world" 17 ETNA ETNA Without Etna, Taormina would lose half its charm. Indeed, Sicily would not be Sicily if shorn of her majestic cone. From the earliest times Etna has attracted the interest of the world to the eastern shore of Sicily. No other volcano has ever received greater attention of poets, historians, and students of science. As an object of pure scenery it is equalled in some respects, but unrivaled in others. In its mythologic, historic, and poetic associa- tions it towers above all other peaks of earth. It has so grown into the mind of man, that it has become a part of his litera- ture and an inspiration to his pictorial art. It is so transmuted into his romantic con- ceptions, that its concrete value is second- ary to its abstract worth. The name Etna came from a Greek 21 Etna word meaning to bum. The mountain was celebrated by the poet Hesiod, and even by earlier authors known to us. During the Saracen occupancy from 827 to 1090 it was called Gribel Uttamat, or the mountain of fire. A corruption of this name still lingers in the mind of rural Sicily as Mongibello, which is composed of the Italian monte and the Arabic gibel. In the days of mythology, Etna was the prison of the giant Typhon (Enceladus). Flame was his breath and thunder was his groan. When he turned from side to side the whole island quaked. Silius Italicus wrote : Its lofty summits, wondrous to be told, Display bright flames amid the ice and cold ; Above, its rocks, with flames incessant glow, Though bound in icy fetters far below ; The peak is claimed by winter as its throne, While glowing ashes o'er its snows are shown. Some of the ancient poets located the forge of Vulcan in the fiery bowels of Etna Etna. Here also, as Virgil tells us, was the abode of the dreaded Cyclopean giants who had rebelled against Jupiter. The port capacious, and secure from wind, Is to the foot of thundering Etna joined. By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high ; By turns hot embers from her entrails fly, And flakes of mountain-flames that lick the sky. Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown, And shivered by their force come piecemeal down. Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow, Fed from the fiery springs that burn below. Enceladus, they say, transfixed by Jove, With blasted limbs came trembling from above ; And when he fell, the avenging father drew This flaming hill, and on his body threw ; As often as he turns his weary sides, He shakes the solid isle, and smoke the heavens hides. Pindar in his Pythian Ode as early as 474 B.C. says: "Typhon is fast bound by a pillar of the sky, even by snowy Etna, nursing the whole year's length her dazzling snow. Whereout pure 23 Etna springs of unapproachable fire are vomited from the inmost depth ; in the daytime the lava streams pour forth a lurid rush of smoke, but in the darkness a red rolling flame sweepeth rocks with uproar to the wide deep sea." Eschylus also refers to this same "mighty Typhon." In the writings of Thucydides is mentioned some of the early eruptions of the mountain. Among the names of the many ancient authors who have paid tribute to Etna may be cited those of Theocritus, Ovid, Livy, Seneca, Lucan, Petronius, Dion Cassius, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Lucilius Jr., and scores of others less well known and of smaller importance. In one way and another these early men, especially the poets, invested Etna with supernatural attributes. Demiurgic di- vinities, mighty demons and fair goddesses clustered around this mighty cone. High revelry was there. Human passions en- larged to terrible proportions by the im- 24 Etna agination hung like a necklace around this enchanted peak. Ominous threats and portentous bolts were hurled from its core of living fire. There were always dissenters among men. Another class of early writers chal- lenged the supernatural characters of this god-like mountain, and treated its phe- nomena as purely natural. They drove away the demi-gods and in their places peopled the cone with the less pictorial figments of natural fact. But the poetic myths clung with tenacity to this grim mountain. Lucilius, Jr. 5 wrote a poem of six hundred and forty Latin hexameters which he called Etna. Superb fiction was slow to give way. Demeter, with torch in hand, wandered over the slopes of Etna for centuries seeking the lost Persephone. Acis and Galatea were loath to leave their native hearth-fire. For ages the hand- some shepherd's blood gushed from under the rock that crushed him, and flowed 25 Etna down the eastern slope into the sea. His blood was changed to water, and the stream to this day is called Fiume di Jaci. Polyphemus and the Cyclops could not easily be disposed of by the processes of natural law. In more modern times such men as Dante, Petrarch and Cardinal Bembo paid their respects to Etna. Fazzello climbed it in 1541 and described it in his work De Rebus Siculis. Fifty years later Antonio Filoteo, who was born be- neath its plumed peak, published a book in Venice on the topography, history and eruptions of Etna. Slowly the gods disappeared before the advance of science. Since then countless works have treated Etna and its phenom- ena. It has been mapped, measured, and studied. It has been described in letters and sung in verse ; it has been painted and etched until its fame is secure as that of the 26 Etna newer Pliocene period that gave it birth from the lowly depths of ocean. Sir John Herschell in 1826 found its height to be 10,872% feet. But like that of a flame its height was not reared to be constant. It varies with its eruptions as its crests fall back into the cauldron of its crater. Older than Vesuvius, Etna towers as a sentinel over the shores of the Ionian sea. Beneath her plume have passed the navies of the world, both old and young. Mer- chant ship and fighting galley, corsair and swift cruiser, pleasure yacht and freighter, passenger steamer and monstrous dread- nought have crawled beneath her shadow like little insects of the sea. Battles have surged against her slopes; strange peoples have scratched her dark sides and deep valleys, and she has given them to eat. Cities and settlements have called her soil sacred because it was their 27 Etna mother-land. They have come like blos- soming flowers and they have fled like spirits of the flesh leaving only their bones behind. She has watched over the destiny of man as a mother over her encradled babe. But her attitude has been one of contempt toward the little ways of men. Her real concern has been with the glories of sunset, and the serenity of dawn. The stars have been her sisters; the solemn night and the hard light of day have been and will continue for ages to be her in- scrutable thoughts. 28 LANGUAGE LANGUAGE In the early days there was no common language spoken over the Island of Sicily. Not only did language differ in the differ- ent cities, but it changed from time to time in the same city. This is well shown in Taormina whose inhabitants spoke at dif- ferent periods barbarian dialects, Doric idiom, Oscan, Latin, Greek, corrupt Greek and Sicilian. The Sicilians spoke a barbarian dialect until Sicily was conquered by the Greeks. Then, according to Diodorus, "the cities situated by the sea were built by the Greeks. The Siculi with their commerce took on also Hellenistic manners and language even to the changing of their names." And naturally when the refugees of Naxos went to Taormina to live under the 31 Language protection of Prince Andromache they took their tongue with them. And nat- urally also the Taorminians persisted in their native speech. Both exiles and na- tives, however, to some extent spoke each other's language, with the result that the speech of one gradually corrupted that of the other. So far as Taormina is con- cerned, this state of mixed linguistics con- tinued until Dionysius supplanted the res- idents with a Greek colony of his mer- cenary soldiers. Following this infamy, the geographer Scila Cariandeo and other authorities, classed Taormina with the Greek cities of Sicily: "Ecco Imera e la prossima Taormina Che si mostrano greche Calcidesi." Here is Imera and nearby Taormina That show that they are Greek of Chalcis. As the Greek colonies spread over Sicily the various Greek idioms took root until the Hellenic tongue became gen- 32 Language eral. This is very well shown in the writ- ings of different authors. Empedocles of Agrigentum, for instance, used the Ionic ; Ibico of Messina wrote in the Eolic; Tecrito of Syracuse, the Doric; while Diodorus of Agyrium made use of the common Greek. Oddly enough, the na- tive Sicilians scorned the polished Attic idiom, while taking very kindly to the others less perfect and not so elegant. Plautus refers to this phenomenon in the Mencenie : "Sebbene un cotal tema pur Grecizzi, Non tiene no dell' Attico elegante, Ma pinttosto del Siculo risuona." Although this theme has something of Greek, It certainly hasn't anything of the elegant At- tic But rather it sounds like Sicilian. The Oscan tongue, of which compara- tively little is known, was spoken by the very early, if not the earliest, inhabitants 33 Language of Taormina. Some of the very oldest monuments show that the Sanniti used Oscan, at least, in their inscriptions. Assio in The Carthaginian War, first book; and Festus in his Observations On The Latin Tongue, lead us to infer that Oscan was the language of the earliest in- habitants of Sicily. Oscan, originally Opscus — softened by the Greeks to Opicus and by the Latins to Oscus — was, according to Livy, spoken by the Samnites and Campanians. It is known to have had a literature, and at one time it was an important language. It resembled the Latin much more closely than any of the other Italian dialects, so called. Taormina, being situated virtu- ally on the frontier between Hellenic and Phoenician civilization, felt at an early date the pressure of Semitic influence. This pressure soon modified the native speech and left traces both in blood and language which have survived the surging 34 Language influx of Ionian and other influences ; some of these may be found to-day among the inhabitants. The Ionian tongue was sym- pathetic with the Oscan; being midway be- tween the Greek and Latin, it was readily superimposed on the Oscan. During the reign of Augustus Caesar it seems to have been as easy to change the language of a country as its artificial boundary-lines. In the case of Taormina it was simply done. Augustus followed the example of Dionysius: merely drove out the dwellers and peopled their homes with a Roman colony. This was a com- mon method of that epoch ; and in this in- stance it marked the rise and signalled the dominance of Latin which held sway until the decline of the Roman colony. As the Sicilians slowly drifted back to Taormina from neighboring villages, di- luting the Roman population, they also corrupted the Roman tongue. Greek was gradually revived, and thenceforward 35 Language both tongues were spoken in Taormina; but there was also a third which is inti- mated by St. Pancrazio's admonition to the common people, who evidently spoke neither Greek nor Latin. He addressed them, according to his translator, Sirin- ondo, in these words: "If you would learn either Greek or Latin, we should be able to make you Christians more easily." Slowly, as Greek power and influence grew, the Greek tongue became more and more general. Latin was retained how- ever in the "Sacred Liturgy" through the influence of the Pope's missionaries, sent from Rome to fan the dying embers of the faith. Then along came the great iconoclast, Leone Isaurico, who overthrew the Roman Patriarchate, and put the province of Sicily under that of Constan- tinople. Thereafter, Greek may be said to have been the language of the island; for it was used not only in civil affairs but in the rites of the Church as well. 36 Language Thus so strongly and deeply rooted had the Greek tongue become in the mouths of the Sicilians that it easily survived the Saracen invasions. For we find Telofane Cerameo, who was archbishop of Taor- mina at the decline of the Mussulman power, addressing his subjects in Greek homilies. But the Greek of Taormina, as of other Sicilian cities, became greatly corrupted through its long intercourse with tongue of Saracen, Goth and Vandal — each of which had left its taint. Then came the Norman rule, and the inevitable effect of Norman speech. And so from the mixture of Oscan, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Vandal, Arabic, Norman, &c, arose the present supple Sicilian language. This language devel- oped a construction of its own. It shows marked individual powers which are cap- able of a high order of expression, in which beauty is not lacking; and of a sufficient 37 Language number of organic traits to entitle it to be justly called a mother tongue. ORIGIN OF THE NAME TAORMINA The ancient name of the town is lost. Pliny speaks of Naxos as the original name of Tauromenium ; his error was ow- ing to the proximity of the two settle- ments, and to the fact that the exiles of the former were received bv the latter. The name may be traced back through many contortions to that of the mountain on which the city rests. During historic times it has been variously spelled: Tauromenium, Tauromenio, Taurominio, Travirmenio, Taurimenia, Tauromenon (Ovid), Tauromenone, Tauromenon (Ci- cero: "I could send the letters to Ca- tania, Tauromenon and Syracuse more conveniently if the interpreter had writ- ten the names of the persons approved." Letter to Atticus, Bk. XVI.), Tabermin (Arabic), Tavermin (Roger of York), 38 Language Taur omeno ( B onfiglio ) , Ta vermina, Tavermena, &c., &c. There is a popular legend to the effect that a couple of lovers named Tauro and Menea combined their names into one which they gave to the town, calling it Tauromenea. The truthfulness of the legend is so improbable, however, that no one above a peasant in credulity ever con- siders it. There is very much more proba- bility in the theory of Gregario Cerameo, one-time archbishop of Taormina, who says: "Taormina was so called from the two words Tauro, meaning bull, and mansione which signi- fies abode; because the refugees of Nasso here made their abode. Therefore they named the city on Mount Tauro where they abode Taor- mina." Mansione, however is from the Latin, and it has been questioned whether Greek refugees would have chosen a Latin word as part of the name which they gave to 39 Language their adopted city. Yet, as Plutarch tells us in his Life of Numa Pompilius, "In those times Greek words were more mixed with the Latin than at present." And it is altogether probable that the process of mixing often included the integral parts of new words. The same phenomenon is frequently encountered in the word-coin- age of to-day, especially among the un- learned. As to the origin of Tauro, as applied to the mountain, Maurolico says that from a distance the two elevations, on one of which is the fortress of Mola and on the other the Castle of Taormina, resemble the horns of a bull; hence, etc. Between the horns lie the remains of a tower once known as Malvicino, which was built by Matteo Palizzo during the reign of Louis, King of Sicily. So much for the name in its beginning and end. 40 ANCIENT RUINS ANCIENT RUINS The circumference of Taormina has shrunken, as Father Scorso has said, and her great monuments have fallen into de- cay. The old colossal structures which symbolized her power and made her fam- ous among the cities of the world have dis- appeared and left scarcely a trace. The vicissitudes of more than twenty-four cen- turies have ground these gorgeous monu- ments into impalpable dust. Yet on this dust fame has thrown a light of glory which has not quite gone out. The eye of man may still gaze on some of her crum- bled walls and broken works, that even now dazzle the imagination. From Fazzello we learn that it was dur- ing the time of Prince Andromache that the most stately monuments were built. 43 Ancient Ruins "Liberty being restored to Sicily in the days of Andromache and Timoleonte the cities be- came more populous and rich with public and private edifices, such as: temples sacred to the gods, courts of justice, pyramids, towers, thea- tres and other monuments of the most perfect workmanship." (Fazzello, Dec. 2. Bk. IV.) One of the oldest and most imposing remains is the theatre, described after this fashion by Antonio Martines, an erudite Sicilian author: "In the eastern part of the city, where so many relics of antiquity have been discovered, there has been lately excavated a large theatre of brickwork, also two cisterns of vast subter- ranean vaults ; of these one is still intact, sup- ported by eight square columns. The cistern measures one hundred and fifty feet in length and thirty-six feet in breadth and thirty feet in height." In his Introduction to the Homilies of Teofane Ceramiti, Archbishop of Taor- mina, Scorso holds forth in this wise : "Fellow Citizens: We have here not only the ruins but even the standing remains of your 44 o < CO W « H <J W W 3 O 6 o w o w W H O m Ancient Ruins pristine grandeur. The buildings which seem to rival those of Rome itself are: a theatre of spacious dimensions, several aqueducts ; a gym- nasium where a Greek epigraph denotes the names of the presidents and victorious athletes ; and family sepulchres as handsome as they are numerous. Now these edifices are of such ele- gance and splendor as to proclaim Taormina to have been a city of circumference, magnifi- cence and population unusually great and illus- trious. 55 The ruins of this theatre he above the town hundreds of feet over the sea. Nothing in Italy, and perhaps nothing in the whole world, surpasses in beauty the view from this place. Over there are the Calabrian shores; below are the blue waters of the Ionian sea, once plowed by the keels of Greece and dotted with the sails of Phoenicia; in front, the shining peak of Etna waves a pearly plume; nearer lies the valley of the Alcantara; over there rise the mountains of Castig- lione; hardby are high hills and rocky 4.7 Ancient Ruins peaks, each hallowed by some legend. On the other side of the town and high above it frowns S. Maria della Rocca, otherwise called the Castle of Taormina; and still higher rise the ruins of Mola; and above Mola towers the Monte Venere or Vener- ella. The dwindling peak of Lapa drops down to the northward ; and near it are the famous marble quarries of Zirreto. The theatre was built by the Greeks, re- paired and modified by the Romans, and ravished of its marble ornaments by the Duca di S. Stefano, who used them in decorating his palace. The auditorium is semi-circular in form, hewn in the rock and walled up on two sides with Roman masonry. "The theatre," says the Ency- clopaedia Britannica, "is next to that at Aspendus (Pamphylia), the best-pre- served in existence." The "Castle," formerly the Acropolis, perched on rocks one thousand and three hundred feet above the sea, has played an 48 Ancient Ruins important part in the drama of Taormina's history. "It commands a view of the site of Naxos, the earliest (?) Greek colony in Sicily, founded by Theocles in B.C. 735. Naxos is now occu- pied by a lemon-plantation, situated between the influx of the Alcantara and the bay on which Giardini lies. The altar of Apollo Ar- chagetes, the tutelary god of the colonists, on which the ambassadors of the Sicilian Greeks were wont to offer sacrifices before starting for the Hellenic festal assemblies, stood between the river and Taormina. Naxos was subjugated by Hiero I of Syracuse in 476, but soon re- gained its liberty and espoused the cause of Athens, whose general Nicias wintered in the town in 415-14. It was destroyed by Diony- sius in 403." Baedeker. On the slope rising from the town is the Badia Vecchia, the beautiful ruins of a fine Gothic structure surrounded by al- mond trees and overgrown with flowering vines. In the Corso toward the Catania gate is the Gothic Palazzo S. Stefano. Just outside the town to the left going 49 Ancient Ruins toward the Messina gate is a Norman arch. Along the road to the right de- scending to Giardini are some Roman tombs ; and farther along the same road is the one-time church of SS. Pietro e Paolo. "Near the Porta Francese are the rock tombs of pre-Hellenic origin." Castle Mola, a fortress town, is remark- able for the natural advantages of its situ- ation, and for its great antiquity. Ac- cording to Scorso: "There is no doubt that this fortress is one of the first built in Sicily." Taormina, lying far below it on the rocks of Pelora, has had recourse to its sheltering walls and forbidding pre- cipices through all her serious troubles of the early centuries. When the Saracens had vanquished Sicily, Mola alone re- mained free. And when Frederic II had taken Taormina, her treasures were safe in the keep of Mola. Finally, when Mola fell into the hands of the Spaniards it was only after a long siege, and when water 50 CASTLE MOLA Ancient Ruins failed him, that Count Bulgari was forced to surrender. The Tower Tauromenio rises from the center of the town where its clock sounds the hours. It is a mediaeval monument not especially interesting although its his- tory has been stirring. During the last French invasion it was partly destroyed but promptly restored with public funds when peace was resumed. The inscrip- tion on its door commemorates the fact : "D.O.M. Carlo II, Hisp. Rege, Gallorum Damnis Communi Aere Refectis, Assistente D. Antonino Bela y Serrano Societatis Militae Hispanae Duce Turrim Hanc Cives Ob Temporis Distributionem Erexerunt Juratis Nicolao Papale, Heronimo Consentino et Joseph Archidiacono Et Paolo Romano ; Anno Incarnationis MDCLXXIX." 53 Ancient Ruins D.O.M. (Deo Optimo Maximo) To God, very good, very great. Under the reign of Charles II, King of Spain, After having repaired with public funds The damage caused by the French, with The assistance of Don Antonino Bela y Serrano, Commander of the military company of Spain, The citizens erected this tower For the division of time, While the sworn officers were Nicolao Papale, Heronimo Consentino, the archdeacon Joseph and Paola Romano ; In the year of Christ 1679. Some of Taormina's ruins hark back to the Siculi ; but the most of them are re- minders of the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome. It is evident that the ancient Taormin- ians were a luxury-loving people much given to the embellishing and the beauti- fying of their city. The Saracen inva- sions, however, used up their resources and imposed such grim tasks that esthetic con- o4 PORTA DEL PALAZZO CORVAJA Ancient Ruins siderations were neglected by them, and for the most part have been allowed by their successors to sleep in peace ever since. There is not an atom of dust amidst these ruins that does not bear some trace of intimate human association — not an atom unstained with blood or unwashed with tears — not an atom untouched by laughter or unmoved by hope — every one is reminiscent and every one prophetic. And that is the reason why Taormina's decay is vibrant with a living interest. '57 FAMOUS TAORMINIANS FAMOUS TAORMINIANS Certain spots of earth seem especially fated to bring forth great souls. This has been noted for centuries, and the phenom- enon has been commented on by fool and philosopher. The theories of the one have been about as convincing as those of the other. There is of course a reason for every- thing; the only trouble is to find it. Ow- ing to insufficient data the science of geni- ology — whereby genius may be produced at will — has not progressed very far. There are certain conditions so favorable however to the birth of intellect, that they are obvious to plain commonsense. Wholesome environment and liberal nur- ture are conducive to health of body and mind. Yet the factors of illustrious being seem not all contained in nurture and 61 Famous Taorminians nature, to use a pregnant phrase. Genius seems to require something else ; and that something is possibly the intermingling of blood from widely different sources. There may be some exotic stimulus — some strange verve — that is necessary to precipitate from innocent protoplasm the unusual intellect. At all events, Taormina has mothered a goodly number of great men. Cicero said: "The citizens of Taormina are as entirely free from contention and ill-will as are the great men who come from there." Andromache was a Prince of Taor- mina ; he seems also to have been a prince of men. He was renowned for his pa- triotism and many other splendid traits. Diodorus praised him ; and he was widely honored by his contemporaries. He loved liberty, and did much to make his fellows free, as we are told by Plutarch and others. He helped to beautify his city, and was 62 Famous Taorminians all in all an illustrious example of civic conscience. He was the father of Timea, who was the mother of Timeofante, the philosopher. Timeo, the son of Andromache, was a celebrated historian justly eulogized by Polibeo, Strabo, Plutarch and others. Both Syracuse and Palermo have claimed his nativity, but Strabo, Plutarch, Diodo- rus and other reputable authors state un- equivocally that he was born in Taormina. "In this city he lived, foreign to all ambition of power and glory; devoting his time from early youth to his literary studies. In his old age Agathocles entered the city with an army and Timeo was obliged to escape to Athens to avoid the vengeance of the tyrant (who had been made to feel his pen). There he completed his admirable history and ended his life at the advanced age of ninety-six years." Plutarch. Only a few scattered fragments of his works remain of the great volume turned out during his long and active career. 63 Famous Taorminians Taking the words of Suidas for whatever they may be worth : "He composed eight books of Italian and Si- cilian History; a Compendium of Rhetorical Rules and the Olimpianica or Chronological Facts ; also a History of the War between the Romans and King Pirro." He is said to have been quick-tempered, inclined to vitriolic speech and unusually severe in his condemnations. For this reason he was nicknamed Epitimeo, or the Blamer. He was very revengeful toward Agathocles, for which he may well be for- given. Filea was a famous mechanic — and much more. He built a "royal ship" for king Gerone, which according to Ateneo, contained timber exactly equal to that re- quired for "three three-oared galleys." He was not only a fine mechanic, but a practical carpenter dexterous in the use of tools ; a fine mathematician and the in- ventor of mathematical instruments, un- 64 Famous Taorminians happily lost to us; a good architect and altogether a very remarkable man who accomplished many noteworthy feats in his day. Cajo Numitorio and Marcus Publio Cozio are mentioned by Cicero as distin- guished noblemen of the suburbs of Taor- mina. Cozio is said to have been the fore- most scientific horticulturist of his day. Of those distinguished in the Gymna- sium whose names, among others, have come down to us in ancient inscriptions may be mentioned: Frisio, Sosio, Calli- maco, Cenio, Aristarchus, Eristene, De- metrio, Agatarco, Filodemo and Apollo- dorus (of Athens) . These old warriors — for they were that if anything — are now mere fighting shadows such as I saw last night on a cinematograph screen. They come into view out of nothing and into nothing they return. Perhaps they are as real now as they ever were. The forces of which they 6 K Famous Taorminians were the symbols still exist, although other symbols have taken their places on the screen — just as we, too, shall pass and other signs shall stand in our stead and move where we have moved. 66 ANCIENT PRODUCTS ANCIENT PRODUCTS The Taorminian grape was renowned in antiquity — so much so, that its wine was even preferred over Julius Caesar's famous marmertine at Rome. "Eugenia" the grape was called and its blood proved to be, as its name indicates, really of good family. This grape, it is said, grew no- where else so well as in the fields of Taor- mina, with the one exception mentioned by Pliny in Bk. XIV, Chap. 2, which was in Albano, Italy. On the ancient Taorminian medals was represented a bunch of grapes hanging over the lyre of Apollo. This suggested not only a good word for the excellence of their wine, but led one to infer that when it was taken in the right quantity, it so warmed the cockles of the heart that music 69 Ancient Products flowered, as it were, from the lips. But this marvelous grape was allowed to per- ish utterly, and good native wine has long been only a tradition. During the fifth and sixth centuries a rare sugar cane grew in the flat country below the city. Tradition says, that the exterior of this cane was rough and knotty, but that its pulp was dripping with a sweet and fragrant juice, which when slightly cooked resembled honey in flavor and con- sistency; and when properly boiled down it produced an excellent, granulated sugar. Some time in the latter part of the sixth century, foreign importations so discour- aged the Taorminian farmer that he per- mitted both cane and vine to die. Of all the ancient marble quarries, Taormina's were the most celebrated. Cluverio speaks of these marbles as rare and handsome; and Fazzello says they were the finest in the world, adding: 70 Ancient Products "Gerone, King of Syracuse, having built a great ship, with royal magnificence, ordered a throne and a bath to be made of the marble of Taormina." The fish markets of Taormina were highly esteemed in ancient times. The fish sold there must have been very good, since they inspired the poet Giovenale to sing of them : "Quand a termine viene il desinare, Al padron si appresenti il dolce mullo Che a noi reca la Corsica, e Taormina ; Perche nel nostro mar la crudel gola Pria menomollo, e poi tuttc il destrusse." When the dinner is nearly over, Bring to the master the sweet mullet, Which comes to us from Corsica and Taormina ; For in our sea our cruel gluttony First made it rare and then destroyed it all. J uv en alis. The Taorminian mullets, now called "triglie," were evidently considered a great delicacy in the old days. But the 71 Ancient Products red mullet of those empire times have been supplanted in these by the cardfish, now seined during the whole summer season in Taorminian waters. 72 TAORMINA OF TO-DAY H Q O « o h-l PL, TAORMINA OF TO-DAY Ordinarily the least part of a city is its shell. Houses and streets have their own interest and their own beauty — their own peculiar significance and ugliness. But the life of a city is the stuff of which its charm is made. Taormina is an ex- ception. The soul of this city is as mo- notonous as the drab of its numerous cats, the coats of which have taken on the warm gray tones of the low tile-roofs which they infest. So far as life is concerned, the city is moribund. So far as soul is con- cerned, it has been a corpse for centuries. But its site of great distances — its soft coloring — its streets hushed at noonday as by some weird enchantment — its lean- ing walls in flower — its secluded gardens — its terraces — its lemon and almond groves — its crystal air : crystal and flame 75 Taormina of To-day at noon — opal and pearl at either edge of day — its castled crests, and crumbling ruins — these things are Taormina of to- day — yet they seem more truly of yester- day and forever. The life of Taormina is its ghosts. The soul of Taormina is its departed glory. But the charm of Taormina is its shell; and the shell is not dead, but gay as a danc- ing-girl in quaint, old costume. The walls of Taormina are marvels of beauty; they have proportion which falls in with the hills and sloping distances; they have color which suggests a precious quality, and speaks of the billowing years which have broken over them and left traces upon them; they have flowers which burst in flame from every cranny; and they seem to irradiate something that we are accustomed to see only in the sweet faces of some very old persons. More- over, these walls have a character that I have seen nowhere else in masonry. They 76 Taormina of To-day bring to my mind the idea of great shelter- ing arms stretched out lovingly — the idea of protection combined with tenderness; and again, the idea of ferocious, repellent power, as that of a savage mother under sudden attack. They crawl along pre- cipitous heights with a seeming cunning and caution born of bitter experience. They exhale pride where they rise up boldly — almost arrogantly. They sym- bolize watchfulness, as if looking off across the sea and scanning with sleepless eyes the dim Calabrian shores. They seem like materialized dreams; and again, like personified memory; and they suspire of a peace which is seen in the sprawling form of the feline mother basking in the sun, secure and alone with her kittens. These walls run into beetling hills and disappear; they seem as enduring as the great cliffs which support them and the mountains which rise above them ; they combine lines, masses, colors, lights and shades which 77 Taormina of To-day language cannot describe and which art cannot paint; they are the material of which temples and palaces are built; they have the air of the sanctuary on their sur- face, and the repose of the tomb in their decay; they abound with esthetic sugges- tion; they are wrapped in a mellow love- liness — have moods of dreamy repose; and artlessly they create an art that is al- together marvelous. The streets of Taormina bathed in the fiery gold of noon, or filled with shadows on either side of noon, or veiled with the diaphanous tints of evening, or suffused with the moonlight of midnight, fill my soul with the peculiar pleasure which one feels when for the first time in the presence of some matchless work of art. It is true now, as DeForbin observed nearly a hundred years ago, that the pav- ing is bad, and the side-streets reek with filth; the houses are falling to decay; the architecture is neither wonderful nor 78 STRADA DEL PESCATORI Taormina of To-day unique; their roof -tiling is a warm gray- brown; their lines, proportions and colors are not especially remarkable, and the carvings here and there are little better than mediocre — and yet the streets are enchanted. Walking in them one instinc- tively listens for echoes of the past, and half expects to encounter ghosts at the next corner. One thinks of martial sounds: of reed and drum and tramp of feet; and imagines waving plumes, a forest of spears, tragic encounters and all kinds of dramatic situations. Love-scenes one looks for — in the piazza — by the fountain — in the garden of St. Dominico — at the theatre on the hill — and on the jutting places above Giaradini and the sea. There is an imponderable presence in the streets : the presence of multitudes whose bodies have been blown dust and flower- ing plants for centuries. Those who associate the beauty of streets with stately mansions, newly f ash- 81 Taormina of To-day ioned fa9ades, freshly finished doors, shin- ing metal-work, plate-glass windows and faultless pavement, will find Taormina shabby, dirty and squatty. But those who have something besides mere matter-of- fact eyes to see with — those who are at home when illusion knocks at the door of the soul — those who can feel the subtle spirit of the seasons' change — will look upon these streets with delight, and will behold palaces of gray marble and jade, and red gold with trimmings of deep ame- thyst and pale yellow amber. The ruins of Taormina speak to one ac- cording to one's soul — one's experience — one's dreams and visions. Perhaps that is the reason why they tell a differ- ent tale to every one. To me they speak wholly of the past. They do not seem to be of the present at all, but rather mere softened, historic projections, tinted with legend, and massed more by fancy than in fact. They are dim islands in a sea of m A TYPICAL SIDE STREET Taormina of To-day glory, faintly seen through the mists of time. They are populous with ghosts, and musical with subdued echo-voices. They have no place in the hard light of day — they seem at home only in the light of the moon. I cannot look upon them in a clear, raw light ; they cry for "some beau- tiful haze of the soul" — some veil of mys- tery deeper than that of time, and golden as the spirit of pure romance. The environs of Taormina are best seen in the warmth of spring. Then the hills are enchanted and the blue of the sea is deep. The cactus turns into goblin-faces — the valleys are thronged with fairies, and the deep gorges with demons. Then the flowers are joyous in every fibre of their placid, passive beings; the winding roads seem velvet-soft — the rugged peaks less hard and sharp against the sky. All is a phantasmagoria of light and shade, of warmth and color, of repose and serene delight. Nothing is real — not 85 Taormina of To-day even the wind — there is no nonsense of pride — of personal possession — no delu- sion of personal ownership — no weight of corporeal being — no chains of the flesh — no bondage of the Great Busy World, All is impersonal well-being with a sense of universal loveliness and light- ness, such as dreams are made of when their gauzy wings are spread one moment before they take their flight. Then the grass ripples along the road-side under the touch of invisible fingers; the vines seem content in the sheltered nooks among the rocks; the terraces are sleepy under the kisses of the sun and the saline breath of the sea. Off in the distance the foamy shore-line curves in and out playing hide- and-seek with spume of wave and sprite of land ; farther away the high hills sink and the hard peaks fade in an aerial sea of pearl and purple and the thinnest of fleecy mist. And sparkling Etna seems the home and habitation of the gods. 86 Taormina of To-day Many a night, from a rose-embowered balcony, I have looked off over Naxos, and beyond — along miles and miles of sea and shore. There I have watched the twinkling lights of Sicilian settlements when something in the air — something in VILLA RIPOSO the distances — something in the odors of the night — in the breezes of the sea — in the white wraith of the winding surf; some subtle spirit of the hills — some voice of bird or low murmur of almond leaves — something, I know not what! wrapped me in a mood palpitating with 87 Taormina of To-day beauty and alive with old romance. I cannot describe the mood, nor would I thus profane it if I could; but it brought to my soul a nameless joy : I felt the amor- ous ripples of long bygone days break over me in endless numbers; all the shadows were peopled with lovers, and the leaves all whispered their vows; and I knew a presence: a spirit of the past so real that my soul was clothed with the fresh gar- ments of a new faith ; and I saw that what we call past, present and future are mere relative terms for a cycle of conscious be- ing. I understood for the first time how closely related to our being was this death- less and dateless Trinity of phases danc- ing before us forever in a circle. I saw the Phoenician merchant ships sailing like shadows on a sunless sea ; I heard the songs of the sailors ; I saw the Greek galleys of War crawling along like ominous shades under oars bent by straining arms and ghostly backs rhythmically bowed and 83 Taormina of To-day sprung; and I heard faint echoes of fa- mous conflicts, and knew at last how tran- sient all glory must be except that which bursts like flame from loving deeds. As for the residents of Taormina, I should not call them times bien nees. THE DANCERS There are exceptions, of course. But the old passionate stock has died out with the sugar cane and the grape, leaving only- salacious dregs; the blood has become so dilute with exotic sordidness, so feeble through waste, so acrid by disease and cor- 89 Taormina of To-day rupt by want and cruel by woe, that its divine color has faded and its strength departed from it. The fact that present-day Taorminians are not very much worse than they are is a hopeful sign. Their ruins tell us through what terrible culminations of barbaric splendor these folk have passed. For many centuries their civilization was founded on the crimes of conquest, cruel- ties of massacre and slavery. Temples and palaces sprang up amongst them, and decayed; art and science they knew and the wonders of civilization were theirs. To-day what remains? Beautifully col- ored dust of ruins shimmering in the sun, and beside it pools of shadowy gloom. These are the sad memories called history. And it is well. For if human beings were capable of inheriting the good effects of civilization, they would also be capable of inheriting the evil consequences of barbar- ism. As the records of mankind show a 90 Taormina of To-day vast preponderance of cruelty over kind- ness, the race, long ages since, must have degenerated into worse than wild beasts. It will take millions of years yet for the training incidental to civilization so to in- terweave itself with the innate aptitudes of selection, that it can share evenly with them in the production of qualities which may be inherited. Until then, progress will have to rub along patiently as it has in the past. As for Taormina's waifs from other shores — the exiles, ticket-of -leave men and immigrants — the least said of them the more merciful. Among the new- comers one encounters traveling salesmen who have repented and wandering literary men who have not — outcast "nobles" basking in the only rehabilitation possible to them which is in the poor, ignorant pea- sant's doffed cap — encottaged wealth strangely reticent of its nativity — villas which resound with midnight debauchery 91 Taormina of To-day — monkey-faced old "ladies of title" whose fathers worked at the forge or in the carpenter shop — and escaped lunatics, only mildly mad, whose chief delusion is that they can paint and draw, but who succeed better with their "receptions" for THE DONKEY CART gossip and "bridge." These are indeed a pathetic lot — the usual exceptions, c'est bien entendu! for they have wandered far from the Soul's gardens, and have planted others of ugliness amidst material ruin where they seem to find a sympathy for their own spiritual loss. 92 Taormina of To-day Night has come upon Taormina — Night, the Mother of Shadows! Dark- ness has kissed away the glory from her brow so completely that the historian can now see nothing clearly. Only the poet may behold that city as it was. For what is left except rock, ruin and a few tracings in the dust that the winds of the centuries have not swept entirely away ? And yet when the last of these are gone, and successive ages shall have moulded new forms out of the same old cosmic dust, the same invisible actors shall repeat to the last detail all the heavy tragedy and happy comedy that broke in billows over this stage so well builded on the rock. These groups of sensations have all the possibili- ties of those associated energies which work magic with soil and sun and dew. Night has come and Day shall not break on Taormina's shores again. But all that it was shall be again and again — all that it was — yet never again the same. 93 A LITTLE STORY OF HISTORY THE FOUNTAIN A LITTLE STORY OF HISTORY MINGLED WITH TRADITION When the Sanniti were scourged with pestilence and sore with the anger of the gods, Stenio Mattio, their Prince, had a dream. In the dream the great Apollo spake to him saying: "O Prince, if thou wouldst save thy people from the just but terrible anger of the gods thou shalt sac- rifice unto me all the first-born in the land." The sacrifice was made, and the plague ceased. For twenty years following this inscru- table act of divine clemency the Prince felt that he was hand-in-glove with the gods; that is to say, he had the true princely feel- ing. And he congratulated his people on having such a Lord as himself to rule over them. He was spiritually exhilarated and 97 History and Tradition serious in his prayers, although a trifle careless in private conduct, as many an- other devout person has been since his day. Then suddenly and without warning the pestilence re-appeared more terrible than before. This time the Prince did not wait for a dream, for he loved to rule over his people, and was disconcerted at the renewed wrath of the gods, wondering what he had done to merit such chastise- ment. Therefore he went directly to con- sult Apollo, and humbly asked what it was all about, just as meek Christians do to- day when they seek spiritual light from the good Lord Christ. And Apollo an- swered him saying: "This evil that has fallen upon thee and thy people shall cease not nor abate until all those first- born who escaped slaughter two decades ago shall be banished from the land which the gods have given unto thee." The Prince took his cue in the proper 98 History and Tradition spirit, and became very active. He played his part so well, that hundreds and hundreds of victims of some unknown but vicarious sin were rounded up as a dazed herd and sent off to sea, whither they knew not. And they suffered the usual hard- ships of the innocent who atone for the sins of the guilty. And after sailing many days they passed the straits of Messina, and were guided to the shores of Taormina where they landed and pro- ceeded to make themselves at home in that hospitable community. This took place in such an ancient day that the very year is unknown; but it was long before the City on the Hill was called Taormina. For it was only after the fall of Naxos in 470 B.C. that this name was given to the settlement on Mount Tauro. But whenever it was, there was a contemporaneous people, later called Messinians, who had become tired of war and were about to abandon their country. 99 History and Tradition About this time it occurred to them to seek the aid of the noble Taorminians, as they were afterward called. For even in that day these people were obliging in all ways, but at the same time prudent, as behooves the willing as well as the wise. There- fore they answered the prayer of the Mes- sinians saying: "It is true, we are a brave race and would gladly go to your assistance, for our hearts are kind and our shields are polished ; but being less experi- enced in war than some visitors who are so- journing with us, we cheerfully send them in our stead and faith, and with full con- fidence not only in their prowess at arms, but in their grace of knowing how to die bravely in battle, even although the cause of which be no concern of theirs." And so the Sanniti were sent over to the Messinians, and they fought like brave men and won many victories. And when the war was over and the battle-drum was still, the Messinians invited what was left 100 History and Tradition of their allies to remain with them en famille, as it were. This indeed they did, and at so doing called themselves Mar- mertini in honor of their great god, Ma- mers, who led them out of the wilderness of peace and out of the confusion of battle with their standards aloft. From this extremely probable incident, of which there are many versions, several historians have sagely written in their records, that Taormina sent a military col- ony to the city of Messina. The truth- fulness of this narrative must rest with Alsio and Sextus Pompey {Carthaginian War, Bk. J). It is not recorded that they died with clear consciences; but I hope they did. # # # Now these ancient times were noted for the spirit of reciprocity which obtained be- tween neighboring cities. If the popula- tion of one was too small, it merely drew 101 History and Tradition on its neighbor for a colony. If on the other hand, its population was unwieldy, it sent a colony to a smaller town. Those were neighborly days. Taormina having sent the Sanniti to Messina to help her in an hour of need, Messina in turn sent a colony to Taormina — not that Taormina needed more mouths to feed; no, not that! but merely as a friendly act — a matter of courtesy. This is probably what Strabo had in mind when he wrote of the exchange of colonies among Sicilian cities. He said: "Ca- tania received a colony from Naxos and Taormina from Messina." * * * Taormina has honored herself in many ways, not alone in showing honor to her visitors. It is really true that she both sent to and received colonies from other towns. Besides colonies, however, she has received with open arms many dis- 102 Pythagoras tinguished individuals, even as she has sent forth her great sons. In our own times has she not entertained such glowing lights as Robert Hichens, Thomas Nelson Page and others? Yes indeed she has! and their fame has spread over the mountains to Mola and beyond, even unto the heights of Monte Venerella. But greater than these modern, and therefore effete notables, all rolled up together into a tiny- ball, was one Pythagoras, Philosopher. PYTHAGORAS This great man toured the island at a time when the yoke of tyranny was heavy on the necks of the people. He is said to have taught Taormina, among other cities, the art of free government. For this he was royally entertained by the Taormin- iand. ( Maleo. ) And he not only taught free-government to the citizens, but free- love to "a fair lute-player." His success in this was quite as brilliant as in the 103 History and Tradition realms of pure philosophy and ice-cold reason. There has always been, it seems, something in the air of Taormina that for- ever whispers love into the ears of its visi- tors. And it was the same in the days of Pythagoras as it is to-day. The influence of this wonderful man's career, which nearly crossed the sixth cen- tury B.C., was profoundly felt in the cul- tured cities of Sicily. His modification of the Eastern doctrine of Metempsy- chosis, and his advanced views which sensi- bly embraced woman's rights as merely human rights, were popular in Taormina. And it is probable that he demonstrated to his pupils there his famous theorem: the square of the hypothenuse of a right- angled triangle equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. EMPEDOCLES But Taormina has always been a guest- city to beauty-lovers of the world and to 10* Empedocles philosophers ancient and modern. About the middle of the fifth century B.C. a very- vain man from the Doric city of Acragas (later called Girgenti) used often to visit Taormina and discourse to his friends and neighbors in a very entertaining fashion. His views were extremely "modern," and he succeeded admirably in carrying off the signs of the charlatan with the symbols of the sage. He was honored by the populace and greatly beloved by his Taorminian pupils whom he used to meet in a little grove which stood on the edge of town overlooking Naxos. And it may have been that there in the sight of Etna and the sea he first uttered: "No wise man would imagine that mortals had no existence before their birth, and will have none after their dissolution." The man who said that was the spiritual ancestor of the Belgian "Blue Bird" man. This was Empedocles, pupil of Parmenides, whose 105 History and Tradition "philosophy," in the words of A. W. Benn, B.A., "has left a permanent stamp on language which the discoveries of modern chemistry have not been able to efface." {Early Greek Philoso- phy.) Another great name associated with this city is that of Gorgias of Leontini. It is believed that he taught rhetoric and soph- ism in Taormina, and that he visited the town frequently. PROTAGORAS Protagoras, born 480 B.C., the first and greatest of the Sophists, was lost at sea in his seventieth year on a voyage from Athens to Taormina. He had just been expelled from Athens as a pernicious agnostic because he began a book in these words: "As to the gods, I do not know whether they exist or not. Life is too short for such difficult enquiries." And 106 "The Faliride" the flames that burned his book left one of the smuttiest marks ever made on the records of Greek civilization. * * * As becomes a liberty-loving people, the ancient Taorminians were ever ready to help the oppressed. "the faliride" And so when Faliride was tyrannizing over the Agrigentini, the Taorminians joined forces with the Catanians to help liberate the Agrigentini, and — were promptly vanquished and subjugated. In vain did Taormina offer large sums to ransom her citizens made prisoners by Faliride. But the tyrant was adamant and answered the request with only a cool society stare, which was then as it is now utterly disconcerting. A very interesting account of all this is contained in the letters known as "The 107 History and Tradition Faliride," written long after the event by- some unknown author. Suidas is inclined to give them credence, for as he says: " There is nothing in them strange or im- possible, and much that is probable." * * * Taormina was ever eager, despite any defeat, to espouse war in the name of jus- tice. On this rock her character rested as firmly as her walls on the Mountain of Taurus. Consequently when the strife broke out between Syracuse and Lentini that disrupted the peace of all Sicily, Taormina could not remain inactive. At this time Lentini sought aid from all the Greek cities to which it was in one way and another related. Naxos, the largest, was first to respond, but being un- protected it was captured by the enemy. Then it was that the Siculi of Mount Taurus, lately freed from the oppression of Faliride, descended like furies to fight 108 Dionysius for Naxos. A bloody battle followed in which more than a thousand were slain; and when the day was done the Syracusan army was fleeing in fearsome rout. * * DIONYSIUS Dionysius of Syracuse, also called the Younger, is generally accredited with be- ing a most iniquitous tyrant. He seemed to delight not only in torturing his ene- mies, but in tormenting his subjects as well. His favorite practices were to exile or to put to death those who displeased him. In other words, he had all the traits of a Simon Pure royal gentleman. So dreaded and offensive had he become, that several Greek cities in Sicily arose against him. Among these were Naxos and Catania, which being situated nearest his domains, he decided to punish first. He was a wily as well as a wicked man; and before risking battle bribed one Procle 109 History and Tradition with gold and promises of protection to become a traitor to his town in facilitating the entrance of its enemy's troops. Un- fortunately rogues succeed where honest men fail. Having gained possession of Naxos by this means, Dionysius turned the city over to be sacked by his soldiers (403 B.C.), with orders to respect nothing save the person and property of the traitor and those who sought protection under him. At this time Andromache ruled the Siculi, and he opened the doors of his city to all the citizens of Naxos who had been able to escape. Immediately the city on the hill was enlarged ; new walls were built, some of which stand until this day. And the city on Mount Taurus, as Diodorus Siculus says in the XVI Book of his His- tory, was given the name of Taormina. * # # no A Conspiracy A CONSPIRACY Sicily, weakened by violent changes and continually disturbed by fearful agita- tions, had become prey to the personal ambitions of unworthy men. Treachery was rampant, and security seemed entirely of the past. This was a period propitious for the hatching of plots and the rise to power of unscrupulous persons of wholly selfish purposes. At this juncture of time and events, Dionysius, Iceta Leongio and Annone, Prefect of Carthage, conspired together to bend and shape the destiny of Sicily to their own desires and personal profit. But Andromache, the far-seeing patriot of Taormina, matched his wits and measured his will successfully with theirs. Accordingly, he made a compact with the Corinthians. An army was raised and put under the command of General Timo- leonte, who was noted for his bravery and 111 History and Tradition sagacity. These forces arrived with des- patch in ships at the harbor of Reggio; and regardless of the protest of the Car- thaginian ambassadors against the land- ing of armed forces in Sicily, Timoleonte with a knowing sort of smile proceeded across the strait to Taormina where he was received joyously by Andromache and the entire populace. The Carthaginians sent new ambassa- dors to the Corinthians in Taormina, but without effect on the predetermined course of the commanding General. Meanwhile the city of Aderno marched its forces around the northern slope of Etna to join those of Timoleonte and Andromache; its army was opposed en route by five thousand soldiers under the leadership of Iceta. Timoleonte however with a detachment of two thousand made a brilliant dash, formed a juncture with his ally, and signally defeated the enemy. In this battle three hundred were left dead 112 Agathocles the Handsome on the field ; six hundred were taken pris- oners, and the rest escaped in flight; and if Longevity Metchnikoff had lived in that day, the majority of them would still be running. Thus ended in failure the schemes of the three conspirators ; and for a long time the victory of Timoleonte had a quieting and salutary effect on the whole island of Sicily. * * * AGATHOCLES THE HANDSOME During a period of twenty years or more after the death of Timoleonte peace and prosperity flirted with liberty in the land of Sicily. I say flirted because there was neither betrothal nor marriage. Pernicious agitators arose in various parts of the island to disturb its equanimity. And then a master-scamp with a brilliant mind, in the handsome person of Aga- thocles, by the force of his evil genius, suc- 113 History and Tradition ceeded in making himself over-lord of Syracuse. Murder, perjury and cunning were the sharp tools of his nimble brain; and no known forms of violence were neglected as means to his vicious ends. Many cities bent under his sway; but Taormina and Messina remained obdurate and defiant. Other methods failing to reduce their pride, he resorted to a Machiavellian policy, and feigned friendship. To these advances Taormina yielded in true Sicilian innocence. At an opportune moment, he cast all semblance of honor to the winds, massacred over six hundred of the lead- ing citizens who, mistrusting, had opposed him. Thus he obtained by the basest of means what he could not win by honest warfare. Now were the Taorminians securely fet- tered. The servitude was sore indeed to a people of their spirit. Timeo, the histo- rian, and many other noble citizens went 114 Agaihocles the Handsome into exile rather than submit to such ghastly humiliation. Melancholy days fell upon the City of the Mount as a pall dropped by the hands of Fate. * * * Fortunately in this world, death and rain fall alike on the just and the unjust. Agathocles went the way of all immortals ; and after his death three men arose claim- ing the right to rule over the city. These were Tindarione, the legitimate Prince of Taormina, and the two would-be usurpers Finzia Agrigente and Icta of Syracuse. While the strife was on between the three contestants, a.nd when general dis- sension was at flood-tide, the Carthagin- ians began war on the cities of the coast, hoping to conquer all Sicily. Many cities did fall into the hands of the invaders; and the most optimistic Sicilians were over-shadowed with gloom. At this dark hour Pirro, King of Epiro, 115 History and Tradition son-in-law of the late Agathocles, an- swered the call of Sicily, and joined his forces with those of Tindarione. The combined armies moved on Catania. Tindarione, commanding the advance di- vision, gave battle to the Carthaginians whom he defeated in every engagement and whom he compelled to sue for peace. His brilliant victories rendered him popu- lar at home and famous abroad. He was now to all purposes the king of Sicily, and retained his power and acclaim until he failed in the siege of Lilibeo, when he lost both. Such is the instability of glory founded on the force of arms. It is as a house builded on shifting sands. * * * THE FIRST PUNIC WAR Rapid action was the key-note of his- tory-making in those early days. Along came the First Punic War. The changes in Sicily were swift and continuous, espe- 116 The First Punic War cially after the departure of King Pirro for his own country. The armies of Sicily had become divided. The spirit of civic homogeneity had fled, and the policy of co-operation between cities gave way to the powers of jealous intrigue and envious contention. Several cities offered their support to Gerone of Syracuse; others to the Carthaginians. Some went over to Messina, and many dedicated themselves to the fortunes of Rome. There remained a few cities however that were still jealous of their liberty, and great enough of civic conscience to scorn all thought of a pro- tectorate. But these were relatively weak, and in a hopeless minority; there was no neighborly response to their noble sentiment eloquently expressed. And so they held aloof awaiting the time with haughty resignation when they must in- evitably fall into the hands of the victors, whoever they might be. Messina alone seemed made of sterner 117 History and Tradition stuff . She was militant, and she became threatening. She, too, aspired to become mistress of Sicily. With fervor she fell first upon Taormina, and captured it. In quick succession neighboring cities were subdued. An unbroken series of victories encouraged her to fall into a Napoleonic malady, i. e., to feel in accord with Fate. Then she attacked Catania, but with an eye on Syracuse. This was suspected by Prince Gerone who struck her advancing forces suddenly and with unexpected fury. He defeated them successively in several severe battles, and then before they could recover made a forced march on Messina, and laid siege to the town. The now thoroughly demoralized Mes- sinians appealed to the Carthaginians for assistance. Hannibal, who was in the vicinity of Lipari, at once set sail for the beleaguered city, but for some reason as mysterious as it was unexpected, he changed his plans and attacked his Messin- 118 The First Punic War ian allies. This spread terror among the Messinians, and in their extremity they sent ambassadors to Rome praying for protection. This swift turn of front astonished even the stolidest of the Romans. Would it be honorable to their arms, they asked themselves, to help a people so fickle and of such feeble courage? Their sense of 4 'honor" to their arms, however, was easily offset by the advantages to be gained in the acquisition of a city so favorably situ- ated as Messina. It was the key perhaps to all Sicily. In any event, it was ex- tremely advisable, for military reasons, to check the advance of Carthaginian power in that island. This being clear to the Romans, Consul Appius Claudius was sent to oppose Han- nibal and Gerone. Within two days after he had entered the port of Messina, he had scattered the Syracusan and Car- thaginian forces, made prisoners of many, 119 History and Tradition and taken much rich booty for which he had a hawk's sharp eye as well as for beauty. The news of this victory whetted the appetite of Rome for the whole island. And it was this already prodigious gluttony that finally killed Rome, and re- duced her merely to a habitation of the Popes. In about twelve months Marcus Va- lerius was sent with heavy forces to Sicily. The moral suasion of his presence at the head of a powerful army inclined Taor- mina to discretion rather than to valor. Thereupon she proposed a real modern entente cordiale, such as we read about to- day in our newspapers, which was wholly agreeable to Valerius. Catania together with several other cities, which really de- sired to league with Gerone and the Car- thaginians, were now forced by circum- stance into diplomatic alliance with Rome. Thus we see that the wonders of 120 The First Punic War "statesmanship" were already at that time in full swing. "Fifty-two cities now freely offered them- selves to the Romans. Appius Claudius con- quered the Africans and Gerone, King of Sicily. The following year Marcus Valerius and Cajo Ottacilio being Consuls, Taormina, Catania and fifty other cities were received into their friend- ship." Entropio. Gerone's position was steadily becoming more precarious. He was statesman enough to see that the safest course for him to take was that which soonest led to peace with Rome. This policy which was promptly put into effect, so strengthened his position that he could indulge some- what in the pleasant pastime of taking revenge on his enemies. Besides, for his services to Rome, seven cities were re- turned to him, Taormina among the rest, which once had been subject to his rule. Taormina and the Syracusan Principal- ity through their faithfulness to Rome now 121 History and Tradition enjoyed a period of peace, while the other provinces and cities of Sicily were dis- turbed by war. But finally, when Roman arms vanquished those of Carthage at the battle of Egadi, Sicily threw off the Afri- can yoke and donned the purple of pros- perity, putting on the fine linen of peace under the enlightened rule of Rome. And Taormina won in due time the dis- tinction of being one of three Sicilian cities with privileges of a "civitas foederata." * * * THE SECOND PUNIC WAR Sicily's new era of joyful peace soon came to an end with the advent of the Sec- ond Punic War. This was shorter and more terrible than the first. Still Taor- mina and her sister cities, subject to Gerone, were secure, and had been rela- tively tranquil during the long reign of this Prince whose fealty to Rome, once 122 The Second Punic War given, was never questioned. At his death, however, he was succeeded by his nephew Geronnio, a boy of fifteen — both stripling and weakling — who proceeded at once under misguidance to break both faith and ties with the Romans, and to court favor with Hannibal. This resulted disastrously. But Taormina remained true to Rome and thereby not only main- tained her honor, but raised her hand against a second curse of Carthaginian misrule. Thus saith the poet Silio Italico : ". e queri che dal soggiorno Di Taormina scorgono Caribdi, Che nei vortici suvi sorbendo ingoia Itravolti navigli, ch' indi a poco Dall' inno fondo ricaccia alle stelle." and those who from the town Of Taormina perceive Caribdi, Who in her whirlpools draws and swallows Tossed ships, which after a while From the deep bottom she throws up to the stars. 123 History and Tradition Under this beneficent alliance Taormina gained greater freedom than she had at- tained under Gerone during the First Punic War. For Taormina, like Mes- sina, had now become a confederate city, rich in revenues, with a constitution of its own making, and sub j ect only to military, not to a monetary tribute. This happy state of affairs seemed to arouse the envy and greed of the rapacious Verres, then Praetor in Sicily, who im- posed unjust taxation on Taormina while lessening that of Messina. This violation of treaty and outrage of justice angered the Taorminians to such a pitch that they overthrew the statue of the Roman magis- trate. Cicero in his "Verrine" refers to this incident lightly, and goes on to say that the statue was mutilated merely to show contempt for the perjurer, while its base was unharmed, to intimate that peace could be renewed. One is not surprised 124 Uprising of the Serfs to observe how subtle was the reasoning of this eloquent pleader. * * * UPRISING OF THE SERFS The Third Punic War settled Car- thage ; that is to say, disrupted her power and destroyed her hope. Sicily feared Africa no more. Peace and material abundance blessed the upper classes. But affairs were not so rosy for the serfs. They were a numerous lot of human be- ings who had become tired — weary of thankless toil and oppression — tired of producing wealth for lazy snobs called lords. Therefore they arose in the pro- test called rebellion. Their demands were frightfully unreasonable to those ac- customed to rule — to live off the unpaid labor of others. They wished to suppress servitude — to do away with landed es- tates and proprietorship in human flesh; 125 History and Tradition they asked for equal rights and equal op- portunities for all who were willing to work. And when we think of those times — of encastled dungeons — of paid tor- turers — of hired murderers — of reli- gious maniacs — all countenanced by "divine" authority, with all their forces directed against the natural freedom of speech, thought and act, we can realize how audacious seemed the aspirations of these poor slaves. But they still believed in Kings — an absurdity so great that it might almost be called superhuman as- ininity. Accordingly they elected the Syrian "wizard" Eunus their king, after- ward called Antiochus. This new king has rather a poor reputa- tion in history. But then most history is written by the "upper classes" — those who believe in caste. This accounts for much of its biliousness — its strabismus, moral obliquity and fatty wit. I confess that history is little better when written 126 Uprising of the Serfs by the "lower classes," although they seem to be adepts at making it. But no matter about that. The new king was decent enough to be consistent. He did not forget that his power came from the Serfs -- — the people. He was loyal to his "subjects" — mindful of his obligations — and therefore not very friendly toward the "lords." "Cun- ning" and "audacious" he was no doubt, in that he was superior to the general run of stupid folk called kings. If it is true that he was "capable of any crime," he merely showed that he had royal qualifica- tions. If he was "implacable against the lords," he displayed firmness and common sense. At all events, he was no jester when he set out to change things in Sicily ; and he nearly succeeded. During the two years from 134 to 132 B.C. he invaded sev- eral cities with an army of forty thousand poorly equipped infantry. Of course he could not do this without raising some dust 127 History and Tradition to settle on the washings of the nobles. His soldiers trampled fastidiously cropped lawns, and were no more polite to women than the soldiery of kings by "divine right." He attacked Taormina with admirable determination and judgment, it seems, be- cause, despite Roman arms and the city's wonderful natural fortifications, he took the town as easily as though General Quinto Fabrio were asleep. After tak- ing it he was diligent in defending his position. Consul Rupilius who came to "chastise the insolent slaves" remained to starve them into submission, which task he also found to be fraught with some difficulty and delay. For Diodorus says in part, that when the besieged had exhausted all their provisions, they first kissed and then dined upon their women and children. When these supplies ran short, the men ate one another rather than be eaten by 128 Uprising of the Serfs the enemy. If one must furnish a steak from his own loins, it is better to feed a friend with it than a foe. The reasoning was good and the sentiment commendable even if stern and a trifle shocking to us of a later day. Neither this nor any other extreme mis- ery could compel them to lay down their arms and submit to the savagery of the Roman army outside their walls. But they encouraged one another with blood- curdling vows to accept a hundred deaths fighting for liberty, rather than one at the hands of the Romans. This heroism perhaps was never sur- passed by human beings at any time in the sad history of the race. And when the city did fall it was through the infamy of a traitor, and not through any lack of courage or self-sacrifice on the part of the noblest race of serfs that ever dared to raise their heads as men. # # # 129 History and Tradition Marc Antony, Octavius and Lepidus had divided the Roman Empire among themselves much as our own financial magnates "cut a melon." Sextus Pom- pey was not pleased with nothing as his share of the graft. So he put himself at the head of an army and made common cause with Brutus and Cassius, whose in- spirations came from a higher source. The combined forces conquered Sar- dinia and blockaded the coast cities of Sicily. The usual terrors of war were visited upon the Sicilians who, like the Irishman in the stoiy, had almost become used to hanging. Massacre and pillage were common daily occurrences. Misery stalked on land and piracy infested the sea. Rome awoke to the state of affairs and sent Octavius against Pompey. A hard- fought naval battle took place below Taormina, and Octavius won. There- upon he demanded the surrender of Taor- 130 Naval Battles mina. The Taorminians, ignorant of Pompey's defeat, declined the invitation of the ambassadors, whereupon Octavius attacked their city with such fury and grim menace that messengers were sent to Messina imploring Pompey for aid. He responded by setting sail at once with a second fleet as strong as the first, and with it engaged the unsuspecting enemy in the harbor of Taormina. The fortunes of battle were favorable to him, for he not only captured many ships, but obliged Octavius to seek personal refuge on the continent. Very soon however it was Octavius' turn to do the unexpected. He surprised Pompey in the waters of Lipari and Milazzo, and with a new navy engaged him in battle for the third time. Number three brought luck to Octavius. Pompey lost several ships, and many of his men were made prisoners. Thus vanquished, he sailed for Africa. Taormina had been 131 History and Tradition one of his chief strongholds. Octavius now turned his wrath upon the Taormin- ians, whom he exiled; and in their stead he planted a Roman colony. Pliny in his History names the places to which these poor exiles were sent. * * * THE SARACEN INVASION The invasion of Sicily by the Saracens came about through a romance. One might say, it began in comedy and passed into fifty years of tragedy. Just how the love of Eufemio for the beautiful Omonizza precipitated Saracen wrath upon the heads of Sicilian Christians is a fascinating story ; but it is one that would lead us far afield from Taormina. Suffice it to say, that the scimitar and flame became active all over the island. Only two cities resisted them to any pur- pose: Taormina and Syracuse. But after ten months' courageous resistance 132 The Saracen Invasion and dogged onslaught, Syracuse gave way and succumbed to the symbol of the crescent. The cross on "Mount Tauro" stood twenty-one years longer. Eighteen years after the fall of Syra- cuse, in the reign of Leon VI, the Sara- cens laid siege to Taormina in dead ear- nest. For three years it was carried on; and for three years the sign of the cross was a symbol of unshaken courage. The assaults failed. The besieged found means of obtaining provisions, and, oc- casionally, of small reinforcements of fighting-men. At last Craft was pitted against Courage, and nearly won. Craft is serpentine and wise in all the ways of infamous cunning; while Courage stands in the open with buckler and shield of faith and honor, scorning all other save manly methods of battle. Craft then had bribed the Greek guards to admit the foe. All the plans had been skilfully laid, and the enemy was already 133 History and Tradition advancing when the Rev. Gregorio Cerameo, the vigilant pastor and beloved shepherd of his mou