[Footnote: The Behaviour Of The Normans Was Wholly Different
From That Of The Arabs, Immediately On Their Occupation Of The Country
They Razed To The Ground Thousands Of Arab Temples And Sanctuaries.
Of
several hundred in Palermo alone, not a single one was left standing.]
Nor were they tempted to destroy these monuments for decorative
purposes, since they possessed no palaces on the mainland like the
Palermitan Cuba or Zisa; and that sheer love of destructive-ness with
which they have been credited certainly spared the marbles of Paestum
which lay within a short distance of their strongholds, Agropoli and
Cetara. No. What earthquakes had left intact of these classic relics was
niched by the Christians, who ransacked every corner of Italy for
such treasures to adorn their own temples in Pisa, Rome and Venice -
displaying small veneration for antiquity, but considerable taste.
In Calabria, for instance, the twenty granite pillars of the
cathedral of Gerace were drawn from the ruins of old Locri; those of
Melito came from the ancient Hipponium (Monteleone). So Paestum, after
the Saracens, became a regular quarry for the Lombards and the rich
citizens of Amalfi when they built their cathedral; and above all, for
the shrewdly pious Robert Guiscard. Altogether, these Normans, dreaming
through the solstitial heats in pleasaunces like Ravello, developed a
nice taste in the matter of marbles, and were not particular where they
came from, so long as they came from somewhere. The antiquities remained
intact, at least, which was better than the subsequent system of Colonna
and Frangipani, who burnt them into lime.
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