Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-05
RELIC OF GOLDEN AGE.
Ruirs of Old corinth. Splendid and
Wealthy City Of Ancient Greece.

f1St. OiQ COrlntn was tne most
sp endid, luxurious and wealthy and
IL the same time the most frivolous
ID wicked of all the cities of Greece
was a commercial metropolis, tho
{ hicago of that period, a center anC
focus of financial affairs and il stoot
Upon a plateau about six miles from
the sea upon the side of the mountail
= called Acro-Corinth, looking dow
upon narrow and beautiful inlet
of blue water, between two ranges o.
mountains. The Gulf of Corinth is
often compared to the fjords of No
way, but its surroundings are mi &
and modest beside their rugged grand
eur. 1t bears a closer resemblance
to the Bosporus and TO the famous in
land Sea OF Japan.
The roads which leads from the rail-
way station at New Corinth to the
ruins of the Old is exceptionally good
for Greece. 1t rises with an almost
imperceptible grade and draws grad
ually toward group of seven majes-
tic columns. the earliest and purest
examples of the Doric school of arch
l.. itecture eXtant. and one of the oldest
and most precious monuments of the
art, scholarship and religion of ancient
Greece. They are deeply futed
monoliths, 231a feet high feet and
inches in diameter at the base and
feet and inuhes at the top, with
projecting capitals and heavy entab
lature, and, Notwithstanding their
hoary antiquity, the grain of the mar
BILE is still very fine They were once
gilded or covered with enamel. Five
of them are nearly perfect, The 9th
er two have been broken and the
pieces are now held together by iron
bands. All have been gnawed more
or less by the tooth of time and show
curious wounds, which look as if they
had been cut with a chisel These
&, pillars are ali thar remain of the por-
tico of the famous Temple of Minerva,
the ideal OF Doric and architecture.
the noblest, simplest and most natural
of all the schools.
Unconscious of their artistic and
archaeological advantages, the Gre
clan peasants continue to plow the
adjacent fields, and the day that we
rode through, groups of women with
tucked-up skirts were breaking the
earth with heavy hoes and heaping
it around the roots of the currant
bushes. Fields of winter wheat were
vivid with tender shoots of green. and
a fodder plant that resembles alfalfa
was growing bravely on the other side
of the formidable fences that were
built with stones stolen from the ruins
of the old metropolis. Here and
there is an old-fashioned thrashing
Uopr almost ae venerable nil.
lars of the temple, a circle thirty or
forty feet in diameter, paved with
smooth stones upon which, after the
harvest. the grain is separated from
the stalk by driving hoofed cattle over
it. This reminds me that in his
Epistle to the Corinthians Paul re
called to them that pious injunction
in Deuteronomy, Thou shalt not muz-
zle the OK when he treadeth out the
corn but he might have appealed
to them also in behalf OF the blind
folded donkeys that patiently follow
the treadmills to fill the reservoirs so
that the plants may live when the
earth is dry.
Women were washing at the irri-
cation reservoirs and spreading the
garments out upon the grass and cob
bic stones to dry, and little children
We're amusing themselves with the
same simple games that absorb the
attention OF childhood in America.
Before reaching the site of the old
city we passed a crossroads where
"A herd of young Corinthians was rush
ing out of an unpainted adobe school
house, and nearly all We're clothed in
tunics made of blue and white check
ed gingham, the favorite pattern for
aprons among New England house
wives 1t was the MONDAY recess,
and, Notwithstanding the traditional
eagerness for intellectual culture, it is
evident that the schoolboys of Greece
feel more amiable when coming away
from the schoolhouse than when they
are following their noses in the other
direction. They were playing pranks
Upon one another, and we stopped
the carriage to see the result of an
amateur wrestling match. In the ad
joining lot was a boy about IL years
old clad in a similar tunic, herding
a drove of pigs. He looked as if he
felt his humiliating situation, and we
silently extended our sympathy to
him. | felt like reminding the young
ster for his encouragement and con
ISOLATION that one of the noblest and
the greatest of the popes was pig
driver when he was a boy, and that
also was the occupation OF Pizarro,
the conquistadore of Peru, before he
entered the army.
Where this schoolhouse stands was
once a suburb of Corinth, known as
= Kraneian, which. about 2,300 years
ago, was the abode of an old crank
named Diogenes. perhaps not the first.
and | am certain not the last, of the
cynics. He was born and brought up
sn the town of Pontus, where his
father was money changer. and the
old man, being deficient in the moral
of the modern Greeks, was detected
in the adulteration of coin. He died
in prison, and the disgrace seems to
have soured the life of his son, who
wandered about telling people what
fools they were to waste their time
in enjoyment and, to practice what