Since it is our good fortune to have readers sufficiently1 intelligent to encourage us to write a book in which romance is relegated2 to the second place, we shall doubtless be permitted to detail not only the modern, but also the ancient history of the places which we visit with our heroes. There is much charm for the poet, the historian, even the dreamer, in treading upon soil composed of the ashes of past generations; and nowhere more than in the region we are now treading do we find traces of those great historical catastrophes3 which, becoming less substantial and fainter in outline as the years roll past, finally disappear like ruins and the spectres of ruins amid the ever-thickening shadows of the past.
This is true of the city which we have just left, throbbing4 with shrieks5 of anguish6, overflowing7 with carnage and blood, with its walls battered8 to pieces and its houses in flames. The rapid movement of our narrative9, and our desire to enter modern Jaffa with our young conqueror10, have hitherto prevented us from telling you what manner of place was the Jaffa of olden days.
Jaffa in Hebrew signifies beauty. Joppa in Ph?nician means height.
[Pg 589]
Jaffa is to the eastern gulf11 of the Mediterranean12 what Jiddah is to the Red Sea. It is the city of pilgrims. Every Christian13 pilgrim on his way to visit the tomb of Christ takes in Jaffa on the road. Every Mussulman hadji who goes to Mecca to visit the Prophet's tomb takes in Jiddah on his way.
When we read the great works of to-day on Egypt—works in which the most learned men of the day have united their efforts—we are astonished to find so few of these luminous14 points which, placed in the dark night of the past, illuminate15 and attract the traveller like beacons16.
We are about to attempt what they have neglected to do.
The author who assigns to Jaffa (the Joppa of the Ph?nicians) the most ancient place in history is Pomponius Mela, who affirms that it was built before the deluge17.
Est Joppe ante diluvium condita.
And Joppa must have built before the deluge, since the historian Josephus, in his "Antiquities," says, with Berosius and Nicolas of Damascus, not exactly that the Ark was built at Joppa—for that would be in contradiction with the Bible—but that it stopped there. They assure us that in their time fragments of it were still shown to incredulous travellers, and that they used as a remedy, which was efficacious in all cases as a universal panacea18, the dust of the tar19 which was used to coat the Ark.
It was at Joppa, if we may believe Pliny, that Andromeda was chained to the rocks, to be devoured20 by the sea-monster; there she was delivered by Perseus, mounted on the Chimera21 and armed with the head of Medusa, which turned the beholder22 into stone.
Pliny affirms that during the reign23 of Adrian the holes through which Andromeda's chain had been passed were still visible; and Saint Jerome—a witness who cannot be accused of partiality—declares that he saw them.
The skeleton of the sea-monster, forty feet long, was thought by some of the people of Joppa to be that of the divinity Ceto. The water of the fountain in which Perseus[Pg 590] bathed after killing24 the monster was ever afterward25 tinged26 with his blood. Pausanias tells us so, and declares that he saw the rose-tinged water with his own eyes. Ceto, a goddess of whom Pliny speaks (colitur fabulosa Ceto), and who is called Derceto by historians, was the name which tradition gave to the unknown mother of Semiramis.
Diodorus relates the pretty fable27 of the unknown mother with the quaint28 charm which makes poetry of this fable without robbing it of its sensuousness29.
"There is," he says, "in Syria a city called Ascalon, overlooking a deep lake in which fish abound30, and near it is a temple dedicated31 to the celebrated32 goddess whom the Syrians call Derceto.
"She has a head and a face like a woman's; all the rest of the body is that of a fish. The learned men of the nation say that Venus, having been offended by Derceto, inspired her with a passion for a young priest as intense as that which she had awakened33 in Phedrus and Sappho. Derceto had a daughter by him; but she repented34 so bitterly of her fault that she caused the youth to disappear, abandoned the infant in a desert place full of rocks, and threw herself into the lake, where her body was transformed into that of a siren. For this reason the Syrians worship the fish as gods, and abstain35 from eating them.
"But the little girl was saved and fed by doves, who came in great numbers and made their nests among the rocks where she had been left to die.
"A shepherd found her and brought her up with as much care as if she had been his own daughter, and named her Semiramis, or 'the daughter of the doves.'"
If we may believe Diodorus, it is to this daughter of the doves, the haughty36 Semiramis, the wife and murderess of Ninus, who fortified37 Babylon and laid out those magnificent gardens, the envy and the admiration38 of the ancient world, that the Orientals owe the splendid costume which they wear to this day. When she had reached the height of her power, having conquered Egyptian Arabia, a part[Pg 591] of Ethiopia, Libya, and all Asia as far as the Indus, she felt the need of inventing a costume for her travels which should be at once convenient and elegant, in which she could not only perform the ordinary duties of life, but also ride horseback and fight. This costume was adopted by all the people whom she conquered.
"She was so beautiful," says Valerius Maximus, "that one day when an insurrection broke out in her capital, just as she was at her toilet, she had only to show herself, half naked and with her hair unbound, to restore order."
"The Syrian goddess who was worshipped at Hierapolis," he says, "was Venus. An egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates; the fishes brought it to the bank, where it was hatched by a dove. Venus issued from it, and became the goddess of the Syrians, while Jupiter, at her request, placed the fishes in the sky; and she in gratitude40 harnessed her nurses to her chariot."
The famous temple of Dagon, where the statue of the god was found overturned before the Ark with both hands broken, was situated41 in the city of Azoth, between Joppa and Ascalon.
Read the Bible, that great treasure-house of history and poetry, and you will see that the cedars42 of Lebanon, brought for the building of the Temple of Solomon, came from the gates of Joppa. You will see that the prophet Jonah came to the gates of Joppa to embark43 for Tarsus when he was flying from the face of the Lord.
Then, passing from the Bible to Josephus, whose writings may be called the continuation of it, you will see that Judas Maccabeus, to avenge44 his two hundred brethren who had been treacherously45 slain46 by the inhabitants, came with sword and firebrand and set fire to the ships anchored in the port, and put to death with the sword all who had escaped the fire.
We read in the Acts of the Apostles as follows:
[Pg 592]
There was at Joppa a certain disciple47 named Tabitha, which by interpretation48 is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did.
And it came to pass in those days that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed they laid her in an upper chamber49.
And for as much as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples50 had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.
Then Peter arose and went to them, when he was come, they brought him to the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats which Dorcas had made when she was with them.
But Peter put them all forth51, and kneeled down and prayed; and turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, arise!" And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
And he gave her his hand and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows he presented her alive.
And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord.
And it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner.
It was there that the servants of the centurion52 Cornelius found him when they came to beg him to go to Cesarea. It was in Simon's house that he had the vision bidding him carry the Gospel to the Gentiles.
At the time of the rising of the Jews against Rome, Sextus besieged53 Joppa, took it by storm and burned it. Eight thousand of the inhabitants perished; but it was soon rebuilt. As the new city was constantly sending forth pirates, who infested54 the coasts of Syria and made expeditions as far as Greece and even Egypt, the Emperor Vespasian took it again, razed55 it to the ground from the first to the last house, and built a fortress56 on its site.
But in his Jewish wars, Josephus relates that a new city soon sprang up at the foot of the fortress of Vespasian, which became the seat of a bishopric, or rather of a bishop57, from the reign of Constantine, A.D. 330, until the invasion of the Arabs in 636. This bishopric was established during[Pg 593] the First Crusade, and made subject to the metropolitan58 See of Cesarea. Finally it was converted into a county, and embellished59 and fortified by Baldwin I., Emperor of Constantinople.
Saint Louis also came to Joppa; and Joinville, his ingenuous60 historian, tells of the sojourn61 which he made with the Comte de Japhe, as the good chevalier Frenchifies the name.
This Comte de Japhe, who was Gautier de Brienne, did his best to clean and whitewash62 the city, which was in such a deplorable state that Saint Louis was ashamed of it, and took it upon himself to build its walls and beautify its churches. Saint Louis received the news of his mother's death while there.
"When the sainted king," writes Joinville, "saw the archbishop of Tyre and his confessor entering his apartments with expressions of sorrow, he asked them to go with him to his chapel63, which was his refuge from all the ills of the world.
"Then when he had heard the fatal news, he fell upon his knees, and with clasped hands he exclaimed, weeping: 'I thank thee, O God, that thou didst lend my mother to me, while it seemed best to thee, and for that, in thy good pleasure, thou hast taken her again to thee. It is true that I loved her above all other creatures, and she deserved it; but since thou hast taken her from me, may thy holy name be blessed for evermore.'"
The works erected64 by Saint Louis were destroyed in 1268 by the Pasha of Egypt, Bibas, who levelled the citadel65 to the ground, and sent the wood and precious marbles of it which it was composed to Cairo to build his mosque66.
Finally, when Monconys visited Palestine, he found at Jaffa only a castle and three caves hollowed out of a rock. We have told of its condition when Bonaparte entered it, and in what state he left it.
We shall return once more to this town, which to Bonaparte was neither Jaffa the Beautiful, nor Jaffa the Lofty, but Jaffa the Fatal.
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1
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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catastrophes
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| n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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13
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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illuminate
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| vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释 | |
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beacons
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| 灯塔( beacon的名词复数 )； 烽火； 指路明灯； 无线电台或发射台 | |
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deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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panacea
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| n.万灵药；治百病的灵药 | |
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tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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20
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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chimera
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| n.神话怪物；梦幻 | |
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beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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29
sensuousness
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| n.知觉 | |
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30
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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31
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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32
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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33
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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34
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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36
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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37
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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38
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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40
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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41
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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42
cedars
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| 雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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43
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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44
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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45
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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46
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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47
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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48
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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49
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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50
disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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51
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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52
centurion
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| n.古罗马的百人队长 | |
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53
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
infested
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| adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于 | |
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55
razed
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| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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57
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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59
embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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60
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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61
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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62
whitewash
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| v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰 | |
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63
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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64
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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65
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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66
mosque
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| n.清真寺 | |
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