. The Burton Holmes lectures;. 92 THE OLYMPIAN GAMES accustomed air of dignity and calm, and we who do notfollow in the train of the departing crowds become morekeenly conscious of the attraction of that magnet which forcenturies has drawn men to x\thens, that rock which is theeternal glory of Athens : the Acropolis. The old Greekssat upon that rock a crown of beauty. It is there to-day,magniticent in its mutilation. Greece was the earliest home of the beautiful, and herstructures and her statues are still the most beautiful ; nearerto perfection than any that have been reared or carved since.
. The Burton Holmes lectures;. 92 THE OLYMPIAN GAMES accustomed air of dignity and calm, and we who do notfollow in the train of the departing crowds become morekeenly conscious of the attraction of that magnet which forcenturies has drawn men to x\thens, that rock which is theeternal glory of Athens : the Acropolis. The old Greekssat upon that rock a crown of beauty. It is there to-day,magniticent in its mutilation. Greece was the earliest home of the beautiful, and herstructures and her statues are still the most beautiful ; nearerto perfection than any that have been reared or carved since. WHEKE THE AGES SII AS SPECTATORS THE OLYMPIAN GAMES 93 the Parthenon was new. It is difficult at first to beheve this,yet those whose Hves have been devoted to the study of thearts tell us that it is true ; that when in the minds eye theseruined monuments are reconstructed, when the fragments ofGreek statues have been imagined into an unbroken whole,they will rise before us in absolute perfection, defying modernart and architecture. At the base of the rock is the theaterof the wine god, Dionysos ; above looms the wall of theAcropolis, a wall suggestive of a fortress, for in fact theAcropolis was first a fortress then a sanctuary. To describe properly the various features of this height, totell of their significance, must be the task of one much betterversed in history and art than I. I shall but speak of a visitto the summit of the sacred hill, and say a word of the build-ings which helped to make the fame of Athens.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectvoyages, bookyear1901
