Of A Sudden The Dense Foliage Was Cleft; There Opened A Broad Alley
Between Drooping Boughs, And In The Deep Hollow, Bordered With Sand
And Stones, A Flood Rolled Eastward.
This river is now called Sinno;
it was the ancient Sins, whereon stood the city of the same name.
In
the seventh century before Christ, Sins was lauded as the richest
city in the world; for luxury it outrivalled Sybaris.
I had recently been reading Lenormant's description of the costumes
of Magna Graecia prior to the Persian wars. Sins, a colony from
Ionia, still kept its Oriental style of dress. Picture a man in a
long, close-clinging tunic which descended to his feet, either of
fine linen, starched and pleated, or of wool, falling foldless,
enriched with embroidery and adorned with bands of gay-coloured
geometric patterns; over this a wrap (one may say) of thick wool,
tight round the bust and leaving the right arm uncovered, or else a
more ample garment, elaborately decorated like the long tunic.
Complete the picture with a head ornately dressed, on the brow a
fringe of ringlets; the long hair behind held together by gold wire
spirally wound; above, a crowning fillet, with a jewel set in the
front; the beard cut to a point, and the upper lip shaven. You
behold the citizen of these Hellenic colonies in their stately
prime.
Somewhere in that enchanted forest, where the wild vine trails from
tree to tree, where birds and creatures of the marshy solitude haunt
their ancient home, lie buried the stones of Sins.
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