XX
THE WAY UP TO THE ACROPOLIS
THE fragment of the steps that is left shows how imposing the whole must have been. In making this lithograph I could not help noting—though I did not put them in—the endless races that mounted; and although the costume of each group changed, and often the nationality and language, there was almost always someone amongst them who could read the ancient Greek of the tablets built into the wall; and always the whole party seemed to under-stand it. But the modern Greek is, I imagine, the greatest reader in the world—at any rate of newspapers.
XXI
DOWN FROM THE ACROPOLIS
BETWEEN Athens, the pavement of the Temple of Nike, and the roof of the Temple of Theseus, there is a great gulf fixed, and this gives an amazing idea of height and depth; and beyond, stretching to the mountains, with the feeling of the sea beyond that, is the sacred way. It is the way to Eleusis and the Sea. From the road, as it mounts the distant hills, the way leads straight to the Acropolis, which grows more and more impressive and imposing as you approach, till modern Athens hides it.