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Appropriate enough amid this vast silence to turn one's thoughts to the Saracens, who are so largely answerable for the ages of desolation that have passed by the Ionian Sea. Then on for Taranto, where we arrived in the afternoon. Meaning to stay for a week or two I sought a pleasant room in a well-situated hotel, and I found one with a good view of town and harbour.
My peace is gone; my days in Taranto are numbered. Loath to depart, I linger by the beach of the Ionian Sea beyond the new town.
Thence it is a day and a half to Taranto, which is under the government of Calabria, the inhabitants of which are Greek . It is a large city, and contains about 300 Jews, some of them men of learning, and at their head are R. Meir, R. Nathan, and R. Israel. From Taranto it is a day's journey to Brindisi, which is on the sea coast. About ten Jews, who are dyers, reside here.
The battle took place at a point near the sea-shore, in the vicinity of Basantello, not far from Taranto, and at first went to the advantage of the imperial forces. They attacked the Greeks with great impetuosity, and, after a stubborn defence, broke through their ranks, and forced them into a retreat, which was orderly conducted. It was now mid-day.
He deplored that Taranto possessed no museum. New accessions to its store are continually pouring in; so they lately discovered, in a tomb, a Hellenistic statuette of Eros and Aphrodite, 30 centimetres high, terra-cotta work of the third century. The goddess stands, half-timidly, while Eros alights in airy fashion on her shoulders and fans her with his wings an exquisite little thing.
Changed it was, insisted the waiter; it had happened a few days ago, and they had only heard of it at the hotel this very morning. Angry and uncomfortable, I got my clothes on, and drove to the station, where I found that a sudden change in the time-table, without any regard for persons relying upon the official guide, was taken as a matter of course. In chilly darkness I bade farewell to Taranto.
But Trimalchio turning to us with a pleasanter look, asked if the wine pleased us, "If not," said he, "I'll have it changed, and if it does, let me see it by your drinking: I thank the gods I do not buy it, but have everything that may get an appetite growing on my own grounds without the city, which no man that I know but my self has; and yet it has been taken for Tarracino and Taranto.
As it was my wish to see the whole of that coast, I had the choice of beginning my expedition either at the northern or the southern end; for several reasons I decided to make straight for Taranto. The train started about seven o'clock in the morning. I rose at six in chill darkness, the discomfort of my room seeming worse than ever at this featureless hour.
They were not driver and beast, but comrades in labour. It reposed the mind to look upon them. Walking onward in the same direction, one approaches a great wall, with gateway sentry-guarded; it is the new Arsenal, the pride of Taranto, and the source of its prosperity. On special as well as on general grounds, I have a grudge against this mass of ugly masonry.
In this part of Italy, as well as at Taranto and other parts of old "Calabria," the invaders had an easy task before them, at first. In 873, on their return from Salerno, they poured into Calabria, and by 884 already held several towns, such as Tropea and Amantea, but were driven out temporarily.
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