The Library Magazine Volume 5 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. Excerpt: ...row of houses along the shore betokened Megara, that troublesome neighbor and stubborn foe, whom Athens found a very thorn in her side. It is easy to see, when the scene is before you, how it was that this little State so long held possession of Salamis, which lies along the shore not much further from Megnra (han from the Piraius. And we must remember, too that in those early dnys before Solon's eloquent appeal had shamed his countrymen intosei/.ing the island, the Piraeus was not bound to Athens by the tie with Which the genius of Themistocles afterwards united the city and the port. So that in fact, Salamis was nearer to Megra than to Vthens. ' But now right in front of us the sun catches some white buildings on the shore which must belong to the Piraeus, and as we look inland a low conical height strikes the eye. It is too peaked to bo the Acropolis. It is Mount Lycabettus. Before long, however, another elevation can be made out a little way to the right--an oblong mound, of a deep orange-brown, and with a remarkably level surface. And there, surely, are buildings upon it An earnest gaze leaves at last no doubt in our minds that this mere speck in the landscape, but faintly visible agaiust the background of hills, is in truth that.which we have longed all our lives to see, the rock which seems to sum up in itself the supremest effort that art has achieved in the world--the Acropolis of Athens Every moment we are drawing nearer to the shore, and the objects upon it become more distinct. One by one the buildings upon the Acropolis fall into their true relations, and the shattered wreck of the Parthenon stands out by itself. The main outline of the picture being thus stamped upon our minds, we must wait for a closer inspection to show us...