the castle at
last was taken by bribery. In this contest there were several acts
performed not unworthy of the better days of Greece.

[Ali Pasha assumed the government of Janina in 1788, but it was not till
December 12, 1803, that the Suliotes, who were betrayed by their
leaders, Botzaris and Koutsonika and others, finally
surrendered.--Finlay's _History of Greece_, 1877, vi. 45-50.]

20.

Monastic Zitza! etc.
Stanza xlviii. line 1.

The convent and village of Zitza are four hours' journey from Joannina,
or Yanina, the capital of the Pachalick. In the valley the river Kalamas
(once the Acheron) flows, and, not far from Zitza, forms a fine
cataract. The situation is perhaps the finest in Greece, though the
approach to Delvinachi and parts of Acarnania and AEtolia may contest the
palm. Delphi, Parnassus, and, in Attica, even Cape Colonna and Port
Raphti, are very inferior; as also every scene in Ionia, or the Troad: I
am almost inclined to add the approach to Constantinople; but, from the
different features of the last, a comparison can hardly be made.

21.

Here dwells the caloyer.
Stanza xlix. line 6.

The Greek monks are so called.

[_Caloyer_ is derived from the late Greek [Greek: kalo/geros], "good in
old age," through the Italian _caloieso_. Hence the accent on the last
syllable.--_N. Eng. Dict._]

22.

Nature's volcanic Amphitheatre.
Stanza li. line 2.

The Chimariot mountains appear to have been volcanic.

[By "Chimaera's Alps" Byron probably meant the Ceraunian Mountains, which
are "woody to the top, but disclose some wide chasms of red rock"
(_Travels in Albania_, i. 73) to the north of Jannina,--not the
Acroceraunian (Chimariot) Mountains, which run from north to south-west
along the coast of Mysia. "The walls of rock (which do not appear to be
volcanic) rise in tiers on every side, like the seats and walls of an
amphitheatre" (H. F. Tozer). The near distance may have suggested an
amphitheatre; but he is speaking of the panorama which enlarged on his
view, and uses the word not graphically, but metaphorically, of the
entire "circle of the hills."]

23.

Behold black Acheron!