. The near East; Dalmatia, Greece and Constantinople. tandon the Acropolis. All Athens lies beneath you, pale, almost white,with hints of mauve and yellow, gray and brown,with its dominating palace, its tiny Byzantinechurches, its tiled and flat roofs, its solitary cypress-trees and gardens. Lycabettus stands out, small,but bold, almost defiant. Beyond, and on every side,stretches the calm plain of Attica. That windingriver of dust marks the Via Sacra, along which thegreat processions used to pass to Eleusis by the wa-ter. There are the dark groves of Academe, a placeof rest in a bare land. Th
. The near East; Dalmatia, Greece and Constantinople. tandon the Acropolis. All Athens lies beneath you, pale, almost white,with hints of mauve and yellow, gray and brown,with its dominating palace, its tiny Byzantinechurches, its tiled and flat roofs, its solitary cypress-trees and gardens. Lycabettus stands out, small,but bold, almost defiant. Beyond, and on every side,stretches the calm plain of Attica. That windingriver of dust marks the Via Sacra, along which thegreat processions used to pass to Eleusis by the wa-ter. There are the dark groves of Academe, a placeof rest in a bare land. The marble quarries gleamwhite on the long flanks of Mount Pentelicus, andthe great range of Parnes leads on to ^ you are the Hill of the Nymphs, with its obser-vatory; the rocky plateau from which the apostlePaul spoke of Christ to the doubting Athenians; thenew plantation at the foot of Philopappos whichsurrounds the so-called Prison of Hymettus, gray and patient, stretches 64 THE TEMPLE OF THE OLYMPIAN ZEUS AT ATHENS. IN AND NEAR ATHENS toward the sea—toward the shining Saronic Gulfand the bay of Phalerum. And there, beyond Pha-lerum, are the Piraeus and Salamis. Mount Eliasrules over the midmost isle of ^gina. Beneath theheight of Sunium, where the Temple of Poseidonstill lifts blanched columns above the passing mari-ners who have no care for the sea-gods glory, liesthe islet of Gaidaronisi, and the mountains of Meg-ara and of Argolis lie like dreaming shadows in thesunlight. Very pure, very perfect, is this great here seems purged of all excesses, and evennature in certain places can look almost theatrical,though never in Greece. The sea shines with gold,is decked with marvelous purple, glimmers afar withsilver, fades into the color of shadow. The shapes ofthe mountains are as serene as the shapes of Greekstatues. Though bare, these mountains are notsavage, are not desolate or sad. Nor is there hereany suggestion of that oppressi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidneareastdalm, bookyear1913
