Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-12

I "
practice speaking. 1t was there. ac
cording to the legend. that he picked
up pebbles and put them under his
ongue to prevent him from stammer
ing. Near by are two tombs hewn
in the living rock. accessible at low
tide but often submerged by the sea
one of them is believed to be the
tomb of Themistocles. one of the
greatest men of ancient Greece. who
persuaded his fellow citizens to de
vote the proceeds of the silver mine
OF Laurin to the construction of a
naval fleet, which made Athens pre-
eminent upon the sea for several cen
turies afterward.
Across the bay is the island of Sal
amis. the scene of one of the most
famous sea battles in all history. when
Xerxes, the King of Persia, witness
ed the destruction of his fleet of one
thousand vessels from rocky pro-
montory which projects into the bay.
The point is called the throne of
Xerxes.' The poet Aeschlus com
manded a squadron of the Greek fleet
and distinguished himself in the bat
tie. Eight years later in March. 472,
his tragedy, based upon 1t was per-
formed in the theater of Dionysius
at Athens.
The field of Marathon. where the
great battle with the Persians was
fought in 400 B. c.. is about twenty
| five miles from Athens. and is mark
ed by monument. The pass of
| Thermopylae. known to every school
boy, where Leonidas and three hun
dred Spartans held the whole Persian
army at bay is in the northern part
of Greece and we shall not be able
to visit it because there are no means
of communication. Nor can we visit
the Oracle of Delphi for the same rea
son, for it takes several days on horse
back to make the journey. The
French school of archaeology is now
engaged in making excavations there
and has been rewarded by many in
terestiug discoveries. 1t has dis
closed the larger part of the Temple
of Apollo. which is one of the best pre-
served examples of the ancient archi-
lecture of Greece. The hot springs,
which enabled the priests of Delphi to
bamboozle the people. are still in
working order. but nowadays are used
to cure the physical instead of the
mental ailments of the Greeks Mod
eTn investigation has disclosed the
methods practiced by the managers
of this oracle. and it is singular that
so wise and shrewd people should
bn, bt,
Coming down to modern times,
shrine of history in which all lovers
of liberty should feel an interest is the
little town of Mesolongion, in the
western part of the kingdom, where
during the revolution against the
turks in 1928 Marco Bozzaris gained
Immortality. He is buried under an
insignificant monument near mill
tary hospital. and near by is tomb
containing the heart of Lord Bryon,
who died here. His body was con-
veyed to England. A monument was
erected to Bryon at Meslongion in
1881, and beautiful group in marble
representing him protecting a beau
tiful female, symbolizing Greece, from
ferocious barbarian signifying Turk
ey, has recently been placed in one
of the parks of Athens.
The connection of Lord Byron with
the emancipation of Greece was more
sentimental than otherwise. 1t is
true that during the war for liberty
he offered his services to the Greek
patriots and brought them several
thousand dollars of his own money
which was sadly needed by the revo-
lutionary leaders. He loaned ga 1000
toward the equipment of Greek feet
and assisted the patriots to borrow
money in London, where he did much
to awaken sympathy for the gallant
struggle they were making against
the Turks.
He enlisted "a company of adventur-
ers and drilled them at Mesolongion
for several months, but they made
endless trouble, and he was finally
compelled to pay them large sums of
money and send them away. 1t was
motley gang of desperadoes, COM
posed of Englishmen. Scotsmen, Irish
men, Americans, Swedes, Norwegians,
Germans, Swiss, Belgarians, Danes,
Italians, Frenchmen, Servians, Bulgar-
ians and representatives of every 9th
er race and nation who were attracted
to him by popular rumors that he
had large sums of money to expend
in the cause of Grecian liberty. But
his plans were impraticable. 1t was
case of poetic genius and not mill
tary skill but Byron died hero. 1t
redeemed his reputation, however, and
there is no doubt that during the few
weeks preceding his death he lived
upon a sixpence a day, as his bio
graphers claim, for he had stripped
himself of every farthing and had for
feited all claims upon his friends in
behalf of the Greek cause. His
name will always be cherished by the
Greeks.
"The Maid of Athens" to whom
Byron addressed the charming love
song with which we are all familiar,
is said to have been Miss Theresa
Maori, daughter of the English vice
consul. with whom he fell desperate
ly in love while he was guest of her
father during his first visit to Greece
in 1909. He was just 81 years old
and and was still unknown to fame,
having published only his first volume