DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0403
TEMPLE OF SUNIUM.
385
the almost immeasurable Persian Empire, and looked
on the little Attica at one's feet!
So ended our Grecian excursions, for the rest of our
stay was unpleasantly occupied by illness, and all the
other expeditions we had planned we were compelled to
give up ; the hot, dry climate had by this time so
seriously affected both ourselves and our servants, that
we were glad to leave the beautiful country, in spite
of the deep interest and delight we had in all the
memorials of ancient Greece, and the great pleasure
which the kindness we met with at Athens afforded us.
We left the city reluctantly enough, in a suffocating
scirocco to go on board the " Neva " (one of the finest
steamers of the Messageries Imperiales); and the
last object we saw in Grreece was the Doric Temple of
Sunium, dedicated to Minerva as the Providence of
all Athenians, which stands on the very brow of a dizzy
cliff, whence the Grecian exile, or mariner, snatched the
last blessing of the goddess of virtue and wisdom, whose
sweet and strong lesson she bore away in his heart to
other lands, where, whatever happened to his body his
heart was still Greek — and whence, on returning, he
received his first bright welcome back to the country of
his birth, his love for which aroused all that was noblest
and highest in his soul. Twelve fluted columns* still
stand, riveting the eye by their lonely, desolate beauty :
to us they appeared in singular loveliness, for the white
marble was glowing in the sunset as we glided beneath
the cliff, and in another moment, the young moon
appeared just above the columns, like Dian's kiss
resting there: and long after all else around us had
sunk into dark masses, they shone out in silvery splen-
* Whence the modern name of Cape Colonna.
VOL. II. C C
385
the almost immeasurable Persian Empire, and looked
on the little Attica at one's feet!
So ended our Grecian excursions, for the rest of our
stay was unpleasantly occupied by illness, and all the
other expeditions we had planned we were compelled to
give up ; the hot, dry climate had by this time so
seriously affected both ourselves and our servants, that
we were glad to leave the beautiful country, in spite
of the deep interest and delight we had in all the
memorials of ancient Greece, and the great pleasure
which the kindness we met with at Athens afforded us.
We left the city reluctantly enough, in a suffocating
scirocco to go on board the " Neva " (one of the finest
steamers of the Messageries Imperiales); and the
last object we saw in Grreece was the Doric Temple of
Sunium, dedicated to Minerva as the Providence of
all Athenians, which stands on the very brow of a dizzy
cliff, whence the Grecian exile, or mariner, snatched the
last blessing of the goddess of virtue and wisdom, whose
sweet and strong lesson she bore away in his heart to
other lands, where, whatever happened to his body his
heart was still Greek — and whence, on returning, he
received his first bright welcome back to the country of
his birth, his love for which aroused all that was noblest
and highest in his soul. Twelve fluted columns* still
stand, riveting the eye by their lonely, desolate beauty :
to us they appeared in singular loveliness, for the white
marble was glowing in the sunset as we glided beneath
the cliff, and in another moment, the young moon
appeared just above the columns, like Dian's kiss
resting there: and long after all else around us had
sunk into dark masses, they shone out in silvery splen-
* Whence the modern name of Cape Colonna.
VOL. II. C C