FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO ATHENS.
A Stormy Day on Marmora—Sunrise on Mount Olympus—Brusa, the Ancient Capital of Turkey—Ancient Troy—Homeric Heroes—Agamemnon’s Fleet—The Wooden Horse—Paul’s Vision at Troas—Athens—A Lesson in Greek—The Acropolis—The Parthenon—Modern Athens—Temple of Jupiter—The Prison of Socrates—The Platform of Demosthenes—Mars Hill and Paul’s Sermon—Influence of the Ancients.
THE clouds are low thick and heavy, and the rain is falling fast; but the time of our departure has arrived, we must start. In one hour after we set foot on deck, our gallant ship is gracefully gliding over the smooth waters of the Sea of Marmora. Constantinople, the city of Constantine the Great, soon fades from our view, and we are again “rocked in the cradle of the deep.”
The night brings welcome rest. I am up with the morning. About sunrise we pass Mount Olympus, in Asia Minor, at the foot of which is the city of Brusa, the ancient capital of Turkey. We now enter the Hellespont, and pass close to ancient Troy, the city of Priam. Here, too, are the tombs of Ajax, Hector and Achilles. On our left, is the bay where Agamemnon’s fleet once lay at anchor. There, also, is the island of Tenedos, where the treacherous Greeks concealed themselves when they pretended to abandon the siege of Troy. The ghost of Virgil’s wooden horse now rises up before me, and I quote to a Greek naval officer, standing by my side, this sentence from the Latin poet: “Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.”
MODERN ATHENS.