DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34827#0232
216 Az/b q/*AAzZZZZAAzz7^ A^b/ZZZZVAZZP. CH. XV.
^ The distant view of Sunium was still finer than the near.
The columns were still conspicuous. They and the mountain
they stood on were in deep shade, while Macronisi behind and
over them was a bluish grey. The wind had now fallen so much
that we were almost becalmed, and some hours passed before
we got round the point that shutout Sunium. We then floated
on the Saronic Gulf, and enjoyed the contemplation of the
scenes by which we were surrounded. A long succession of in-
teresting localities has in some measure deadened the sensibility
which I at first had for classical situations ; but here there was
scarcely an object that did not recall associations equal to all
that I had experienced before, from Ajax, Theseus, and Hercules,
to Themistocles, Socrates, and Demosthenes, even down to
Horace, and Virgil, and Cicero. Everything that is interesting
in ancient times came crowding on one's mind. These feelings
were still more heightened in the evening, when, on being asked
to look through the telescope at some buildings ten or twelve
miles off, I was electrified with the sight of the Parthenon. It
was quite unexpected, for some time before it happened we
were boarded by a Greek sloop of war, and told that we could
not go to Athens unless we first went to Poros, where the
president Capo d'lstria now is, to obtain his permission/ We
reluctantly obeyed, and had given up all thoughts of seeing
Athens, when it was thus unexpectedly presented to our view.
The columns of the Parthenon, the shading of the Hill of the
Acropolis, some other buildings close at hand, and the monument
of Philoppapus at some distance on the left, were quite distinctly
seen. The Greek sloop was small, full of men who did not
look very smart, and seemingly carried no cannon. Though
the repulse from Athens was a great disappointment, there is
so much pleasure in transitions from one interesting object to
another, that I rather felt, in spirits with the thoughts of seeing
Capo d'lstria and Mauro Cordato, and as my quarantine will
* Poros was at this time the seat of government, to the head of which
Count Capo d'lstria was elected in June 1827. The centre of the insurrection,
as of the government, was shifted from time to time, and assemblies were held
at Argos and Trcezene, besides Poros.
^ The distant view of Sunium was still finer than the near.
The columns were still conspicuous. They and the mountain
they stood on were in deep shade, while Macronisi behind and
over them was a bluish grey. The wind had now fallen so much
that we were almost becalmed, and some hours passed before
we got round the point that shutout Sunium. We then floated
on the Saronic Gulf, and enjoyed the contemplation of the
scenes by which we were surrounded. A long succession of in-
teresting localities has in some measure deadened the sensibility
which I at first had for classical situations ; but here there was
scarcely an object that did not recall associations equal to all
that I had experienced before, from Ajax, Theseus, and Hercules,
to Themistocles, Socrates, and Demosthenes, even down to
Horace, and Virgil, and Cicero. Everything that is interesting
in ancient times came crowding on one's mind. These feelings
were still more heightened in the evening, when, on being asked
to look through the telescope at some buildings ten or twelve
miles off, I was electrified with the sight of the Parthenon. It
was quite unexpected, for some time before it happened we
were boarded by a Greek sloop of war, and told that we could
not go to Athens unless we first went to Poros, where the
president Capo d'lstria now is, to obtain his permission/ We
reluctantly obeyed, and had given up all thoughts of seeing
Athens, when it was thus unexpectedly presented to our view.
The columns of the Parthenon, the shading of the Hill of the
Acropolis, some other buildings close at hand, and the monument
of Philoppapus at some distance on the left, were quite distinctly
seen. The Greek sloop was small, full of men who did not
look very smart, and seemingly carried no cannon. Though
the repulse from Athens was a great disappointment, there is
so much pleasure in transitions from one interesting object to
another, that I rather felt, in spirits with the thoughts of seeing
Capo d'lstria and Mauro Cordato, and as my quarantine will
* Poros was at this time the seat of government, to the head of which
Count Capo d'lstria was elected in June 1827. The centre of the insurrection,
as of the government, was shifted from time to time, and assemblies were held
at Argos and Trcezene, besides Poros.