when rome had a c?sar and a cicero, and a cassius with a brutus, athens dictated the arts and sciences for her. though she cannot claim the originality of them, she can the perfection of beautifying. the conquest of alexander the great, in egypt, among the africans, was considered the greatest triumph of conquest ever made by man, because it enabled the warlike people of greece, to adorn their triumphs with the spoils of the vanquished. egypt was a higher sphere of artistical science than any other nation on the earth. this will naturally convey an idea to the world that the black man was the first skillful animal on the earth, because homer describes the egyptians as men with wooly hair, thick lips, flat feet, and black, and we have no better authority than homer. we know not the exact epoch of his time, but we know it was before any other authentic chronicler, save the sacred book of moses, by the fact that he voyaged on the nile before the pyramids were built, which we can trace three thousand years.
on the 29th of may, 1852, as the sun was going down the blue arch of the western sky, i reached the top of mars hill, in athens, and seated myself in the seat where st. paul rested from his display of power over a bigoted people, when he said, “i perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.”
when st. paul stood on mars hill, athens was a voluptuous city to look at. there was the white marble temple of apollo, jupiter, minerva, juno and mars, besides temples to the sun and moon, and one to the “unknown god,” all of which were reared up in the most conspicuous reigns of those gods over the minds of all the inhabitants of athens in a limited degree. as i descended mars hill, i turned to the right and entered the temple of bacchus, who is described in the classical dictionary thus: “son of jupiter and semele, and god of wine and drunkards, nourished till a proper time of birth in his fathers thigh, after the death of his mother, whom jupiter, at her request, visited in all his majesty. semele, who was a mortal and unable to bear the presence of a god, was consumed to ashes.” an old man was in the temple to keep people from breaking pieces off from the beautiful temple’s treasure, which was the tomb of bacchus, with the god carved on the sides, drinking his delight. i did not know what god’s temple this was, and enquired of the old man, he could not speak any european language, but was quite successful in conveying the information i wanted; he took an old gourd and scooped some water up from the bottom of a bucket, and drank it with great hilarity, at the same time pointing to bacchus, as if he would say, “he drank!” i said, “you mean to say this is the temple of bacchus, the god of wine and drunkards, do you?” he bowed towards his toes and then stood erect, and tried to make me understand that the rest of the tombs there were gods and goddesses, of which apollo loved either sexually or valorously. there were no windows to the temple, the only inlet was the door, but though the door was shut, it was as light inside as one would wish. the marble was transparent, and when the sun shone upon its roof or walls, it forced its light through in a determined way.
as i left this veritable tomb and sepulchre of the great god of wine and drunkards, my guide pointed to an aperture from the heart of a hill, and said, that entrance goes to the cave where socrates was poisoned. we then went up the most imposing ruins of athens, the acropolis. the temples there looked down upon the rest of the temples of athens, like jupiter would at the feast of gods, it was higher and more stupendous than all. there was the seats of solid blocks of white marble of the twelve judges. they were all in a row, and only one broke. they were solid blocks with scooping apertures, for a man to place his rotundity in comfortable quarters. round about the ruins were balls and cannon, grape, and several bursted shells, but one half of this tremendous mass of splendid ruins stood upright, as when it first took its stand among the wonders of the world, as a temple of wisdom. this temple makes it impossible for us to pronounce ourselves the “light of all ages.”
the great god of this temple was the ammon of the africans, the belus of the babylonians and the ossiris of the egyptians; from him, mankind receives his blessings, and their blessings of miseries, and he is looked upon as one acquainted with everything, past, present and future. saturn was jupiter’s father, and conspired against his son and in consequence was banished from his kingdom. now jupiter became ruler of the universe and sole master of the empire of the world, and divided with his brothers, reserving for himself the kingdom of heaven, and giving the empires of the sea to neptune, and that of the infernal regions to pluto. the sea moved at his wrath, and hell burned his opposers, and he looked down from heaven at the commotion of his wrath till the men on earth considered their welfare only secured by worshipping his smile. athens and all her superstition is gone now, and the godly man now laughs at the folly of the wisdom that all talent of old times craved for. on mars hill where st. paul thundered the decrees of god against gods, though nothing to designate the spot, there the christian of to-day would rather stake his salvation than from the most sacred abode of jupiter and juno. but there is still weak minds in athens, for as i descend i see on the side of a hill that celebrated stone where females used to come from all parts of italy as well as greece to slide down on it, as a true avoidance of barrenness. this stone is as slick as a piece of soap, so slick a lizzard could not run down it. for nearly three thousand years two and three thousand women per day have slid down it in a sitting posture. the guide books call it the “substitute rock for female barrenness.” many a bruise has this rock given in receiving its polish. hundreds of boys and young men are here at present, sliding down it for fun.
i see, seated about fifty feet away from it, the tennessee negro i described at constantinople, frank parish. a scotchwoman is seated beside him, and seems to be proud of him as a beaux. she is a lady’s maid that came here yesterday from the sublime porte with her mistress and frank. the scotch lady insisted on frank taking a slide with the young men, but for frank it was no joke, as he was an extraordinary large man. but frank, being as full of conspicuousness as any other man, it only required a little coaxing to get him started; at last he seated himself for a slide, but he did not much like to let go lest there would be a crash up. he anchored himself to the top and hesitated some, paused and looked like a fool. an irish servant that was with the same family as the scotchwoman, encouraged frank, by saying, “be a marn,” frank said, “if i am not a man there is none about here,” just to fill up the pause of suspense; but while frank was looking and studying, the irishman loosened his hands, and he went down like a colossus; seeing that he had broke no bones, he got up with a smile and felt himself all over to see if he was safe and sound. the irishman said, “how did it feel my marn?” frank pronounced it the most pleasant sensation he ever experienced. “then ye never dreamed that ye were married,” said the irishman. frank said he had, but had forgot it. the scotchwoman wished to know if that was a pleasant dream; the irishman said, “it was the most pleasant dream a marn could have, and the most unpleasant was to find it a lie.”
starting from the “female substitute for barrenness,” we met a man with a telescope, and we all wanted to take a fair view of athens. the irishman borrowed it from the man and took the first squint. he pointed to a fine house towards the kings palace, and there he looked alone. when i obtained it i looked there too, and saw a beautiful grecian maid combing her long black hair; gazing at her until she finished, i got a most ungentlemanly view of a lady, from which, in all due respect to her, i had to refrain, and took another direction in search of fair views. we went down the hill, and as we moved along the grecian ladies’ and gentlemen’s walks, i, though mixed up in a crowd of different people, was determined to hear frank talk to this scotchwoman. he was telling her of his business, which was still going on in nashville, tennessee, and of how many improvements he intended to make in his bath house and barber shop, when he returned, with things that he had already bought in paris. she believed it all, and frank was in his glory. i noticed their actions particularly, and was upon the eve of hearing their loveliest words, when she stopped as if it was a great sacrifice to her to give up his company. they lingered some time, as they would fain go on, but as she was going to her mistress’ hotel, and frank to his, they must part. frank was well versed for the occasion, in byron. he took her by the hand and looked her in the face affectionately, and said with emotion,
“maid of athens, ere we part,
give, oh give me back my heart.”
as frank was going to my hotel i thought it well to make his acquaintance; he said he saw me at constantinople, but as i was an american, he did not deem it necessary to make my acquaintance, as i knew that he was a mere barber from tennessee. he also told me he had been married several times, and was now engaged at home. the day after this, i was outside of athens at what is called “the amusement grounds” of athens, for the people repair there every evening to hear the national band play. this band comes from bavaria, where greece got her present king. king otho is the son of the king of bavaria. here the king rides out every evening, and here frank took another liberty with royalty. as the king and his wife rode up to the band, his horses stopped just at frank’s elbow, and frank walked to the carriage and offered his red hand to the king, and it was, through courtesy, accepted. athens is to-day a small town, and the king lives here. the whole population of greece is not quite a million. our slaves would make four kingdoms as powerful in population as greece. oh, when will we be the “freest government in the world?” we looked from the acropolis down upon a village, but in old times we looked upon a town. “ah! greece, they love thee least who owe thee most.” the women are still pretty, and what is like a grecian nose? come, pilgrim, and see athens in the days when it is not even a shadow of its former greatness, and ask yourself if power constitutes stability. yes, go upon the acropolis and gaze downward to the top of mars’ hill, and look at the council stand of st. paul; raise your eyes and turn them eastward, and if your imagination is as good as your sight, you will see the sea that in old times was covered over with the fleet of alexander the great. further off from the shore, in the year of our lord 1191, richard i. of england, the lion-hearted, crusaded along with men, women, children, cattle and dogs, to put down infidelity on the sacred plains of palestine, where abraham, isaac and jacob walked as types of moral light for the salvation of mankind. now, as you stand there on the acropolis, as cecrops himself has stood, be not disgusted at what you see below, of the so much written of towns, for though now you see athens, it is true you do not see herself, but “athens a sepulchre.”
