A Nation's influence is not dependent on its size. Its glory is not measured by square miles. Greece is the smallest of all European countries, being not larger than the State of Massachusetts. Yet, in the light of what a few Athenians accomplished in the days of Phidias, China's four hundred millions seem like shadows cast by moving clouds. China compared to Athens! The enlightened world could better lose the entire continent of Asia from its history than that little area. Better fifty years of Athens than a cycle of Cathay. In the historic catalogue of earth's great cities Athens stands alone. The debt which civilization owes her is incalculable. For centuries Athens was the school of Rome, and through Rome's conquests she became the teacher of the world. If most of her art treasures had not been torn from her, first to embellish Rome, and subsequently to enrich the various museums of the world, Athens would now be visited by thousands instead of hundreds. But even in her desolation Athens repays a pilgrimage. Were absolutely nothing of her glory left, it would still remain a privilege merely to stand amid the scenes where human intellect reached a height which our material progress has not equaled. They err who say that Greece is dead. She cannot die. The Language of Demosthenes is still extant. Not only are its accents heard within the shadow of the Parthenon; it is so interwoven with our own, that we unconsciously make use of its old words, as one walks on a pavement of mosaic, unmindful whence its pieces came. The Greek Religion lives in every statue of the gods, in every classical allusion, in every myth which poets weave into the garland of their song. What could a sculptor do without the gods and heroes of old Greek mythology? Hellenic Architecture lives in every reproduction of Doric column or Corinthian capital. The Art of the Acropolis remains the standard for all time. The History of Greece still gives to us as models of heroic patriotism, Thermopylae and Mara- thon. Even her ideas live, - the thoughts of Phidias in marble; of Plato in philosophy; of Socrates in morals; of Euripides and Sophocles in tragedy.

Athene.

Old And New.

What, then, if it be true that Greece has greatly changed in twenty centuries? The influence of ancient Greece comes down the ages to us like the light from a fixed star. The star itself may have gone out in darkness years ago; but waves of brilliancy which left it previous to its destruction are traveling toward us still, and fall in silvery pulsations on our earth to-day. The best way to approach the shores of Greece is over the classic Mediterranean and AEgean seas. Around these oceans gather more thrilling and inspiring associations than cluster about any others on the globe. Upon no equal area of the earth's surface have so many mighty events happened or deeds been enacted as around these inland seas. Every keel that now cleaves their waters traverses the scene of some maritime struggle or adventure of ancient times, or glides by shores forever hallowed to the scholar and historian by the memories of the genius and grandeur that have passed away. To sail on Grecian waters is to float through history. The seas of other countries gleam with phosphorescence; hers sparkle with the scintillations of a deathless fame. The very islands they caress have been the cradles of fable, poesy and history. From each has sprung a temple, a statue, a poem, or at least a myth, which still exists to furnish joy and inspiration to the world.

View Of Mars Hill From The Acropolis.

It is with the liveliest anticipations of pleasure that one who is inspired by these memories, arrives at the port of Athens, which still retains its ancient title, - The Piraeus. Its appearance is not especially attractive, and yet I gazed upon it with profound emotion. Still are its waves as blue as when Athenian vessels rode at anchor here, or swept hence to the island of Salamis to aid in the destruction of the Persian fleet and cause the mad flight of the terror-stricken Xerxes. Around them History and Poetry have woven an immortal charm, for in their limpid depths have been reflected the forms of almost every famous Greek and Roman of antiquity.