Bishop Lucifer, Wanting Stones For His Palace, Had To
Go As Far As The Cape Colonna; Then, As Now, No Block Of Croton
Remained.
Nearly two hundred years before Christ the place was
forsaken.
Rome colonized it anew, and it recovered an obscure life
as a place of embarkation for Greece, its houses occupying only the
rock of the ancient citadel. Were there at that date any remnants of
the great Greek city? - still great only two centuries before. Did
all go to the building of Roman dwellings and temples and walls,
which since have crumbled or been buried?
We are told that the river AEsarus flowed through the heart of the
city at its prime. I looked over the plain, and yonder, towards the
distant railway station, I descried a green track, the course of the
all but stagnant and wholly pestilential stream, still called Esaro.
Near its marshy mouth are wide orange orchards. Could one but see in
vision the harbour, the streets, the vast encompassing wall! From
the eminence where I stood, how many a friend and foe of Croton has
looked down upon its shining ways, peopled with strength and beauty
and wisdom! Here Pythagoras may have walked, glancing afar at the
Lacinian sanctuary, then new built.
Lenormant is eloquent on the orange groves of Cotrone. In order to
visit them, permission was necessary, and presently I made my way to
the town hall, to speak with the Sindaco (Mayor) and request his aid
in this matter.
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