GREEK  VIGNETTES.  85

hubbub  of  Greek  republics.  All  around  purpling
and  crimsoning  mountains; — the  blush  of  Lyca-
bettus,  the  violet  of  Hymettus,  the  gleam  of  the
sea  at  Phalerum,  and  the  glamour  of  Parnes  and
^galeos  in  the  distance.  High  up  loomed  this
immortal  eminence,  symbol  of  intellectual  and
aesthetic  eminence,  and  an  undying  relic  of  the
unattainable  past.  When  I  got  to  the  hotel,
bathed,  and  went  out  in  the  twilight  among  the
glorious  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius,
I  could  not  help  a  feeling  of  strangeness  and  awe
at  the  surrounding  desolation.  The  noble  Corin-
thian colurns  of  this  temple,  the  hoary  and  time-
stained  arch  of  Hadrian,  the  beautiful  ridge  of
flowering  Hymettus  on  the  east,  and  the  Parthe-
non faintly  flushed  by  the  setting  sun,  made  truly
a  hive  of  busy  recollections.  And  then  the
strange  Greeks  one  saw.  There  was  a  kilted,
blue-waistcoated  Albanian  talking  to  a  Greek
priest  in  black  gown  and  steeple-crowned  hat ;
white-buskined  peasants  driving  donkeys  and
armed  with  revolvers ;  Greek  soldiers  in  red
jackets  and  blue  trousers;  Greek  school-boys
fresh  from  their  Xenophon  and  Thucydides ;
groups  of  Athenian  ladies  among  the  columns,
in  European  panier  and  chapeau;  many-colored
strangers  from  all  parts  of  the  East  and  West,  —
all  these  standing  or  walking  in  striking  tableau
among  the  ruins  on  the  road.
86  GREEK  VIGNETTES.
