Evening star., 1928-03-11


IA wise what a dark and stag
" nant world this would be
Ill confess TO a sentimental
lifelong dream Of my own:
I've dreamed or swimming the most
dramatic river in the world--the HellcS-
pont Lord Byron once wrote that he
would rather have SWIM the Helles-
pont than written all his poetry. So
would i!
To me the Hellespont was not just a
narrow strait Of cold blue water. dis
charging the Black Sea and the Sea of
Marmora into the Aegean. Far more
than that; it was tremendous symbol
"A symbol Of au6acity, of challenge. Of
epic poetry. and heroic adventure
Through this same HelleSpont. Jason,
In his immortal ship. the Argo. sailed
In guest Of the Golden Fleece. For 10
wears. from ll94 10 1884 BIC. the
fleets Of the Greeks were beached at its
entrance. while their armies. led by
Agamemnon. Achilles and Ulysses.
thundered at the lofty walls Of Troy.
il was across this stream that Leander
nightly swan to keep his clandestine
t-ysts with Hero. In the very wake Of
Ieander, in one of the most spectacular
military exploits III history. King
-evXeS Of Persia. the mightieSt ruler of
his time. crossed from Asia to Europe
with a colossal army for the invasion
Of Greece.
Here in the following century Alex
srder the Great ferried his Macedon-
lans from Europe 10 Asia - begin his
conquest Of the world. Back once
more III the fourteenth century rolled
the tide Of Invasion from east to west:
this time the Turkish conouests that
we're to turn the Hellespont from that
Cay 70 this into Saracenic property
making all the eastern Mediterranean
q Turkish lake. Since 1900 Russia has
fought periodic wars for the possession
OF this storied channel.
And now the shores Of this same
EeleSpont are dotted with the wrecks
Of sunken allied battle reets and
strewn with the graves of a hundred
thousand French and English soldiers.
whose blood was SQuandered in rivers
IN the desperate attempt in 1915 to
plant the allied flags over the rocks
where Hero Joined her drowned ro-
mantle lover in dim antiquity, Indeed.
ones spirits surge 10 read the amazing
record of this fateful stream and realize
how repeatedly it has shaped the des-
tiny of the world.
This. then. is the Hellespont and
the scene where my dream came true.
rev WaleT-COuEScS can DOdSt OF nav
irg seen the rise and fall of as many
stately cities on its banks as can the
Eellespont. OF these the two most
familiar 10 us Though they have long
since crurlbled into duStb are SestoS
and Abydos: the former on the Euro
pean side OF the narroweSt part OF the
Eel2espont; the latter almost opposite
or the Asian. some three miles away.
And why are these two cities. from
among the scores of their cotempo-
raries. alone favored with immortality?
Is il because of their great military
conquests. or their celebrated soldiers
or their marble temples? No none of
these. They are immortal because a
youth-an undistinguished. undescribed
youth Of Abydos, named Leander-trag-
3caily loved an equally undistinguished
maid Of Sestos named Hero; and leg
ends Of love refuse 10 die.
One loved fiercely in legendary
Greece. Hero. priestess Of a temple
though she was, and consequently SEN
fenced 10 loveless life, was no less
human than her lay-sisters.
And so they met in secret. Jeander
and she. high on the Sestos cliffs. Dis
covering this. the head priest. In
rage, seized the unfortunate girl, after
Leander's departure, and dragged her
up 10 the top OF tower, where the
vretcfed maiden was left in solitary
imprisonment.
Strange and desperate things are