A Stormy Day on Marmora—Sunrise on Mount Olympus—Brusa, the Ancient Capital of Turkey—Ancient Troy—Homeric Heroes—Agamemnon’s Fleet—The Wooden Horse—Paul’s Vision at Troas—Athens—A Lesson in Greek—The Acropolis—The Parthenon—Modern Athens—Temple of Jupiter—The Prison of Socrates—The Platform of Demosthenes—Mars Hill and Paul’s Sermon—Influence of the Ancients. THE clouds are low thick and heavy, and the rain is falling fast; but the time of our departure has arrived, we must start. In one hour after we set foot on deck, our gallant ship is gracefully gliding over the smooth waters of the Sea of Marmora. Constantinople, the city of Constantine the Great, soon fades from our view, and we are again “rocked in the cradle of the deep.” The night brings welcome rest. I am up with the morning. About sunrise we pass Mount Olympus, in Asia Minor, at the foot of which is the city of Brusa, the ancient capital of Turkey. We now enter the Hellespont, and pass close to ancient Troy, the city of Priam. Here, too, are the tombs of Ajax, Hector and Achilles. On our left, is the bay where Agamemnon’s fleet once lay at anchor. There, also, is the island of Tenedos, where the treacherous Greeks concealed themselves when they pretended to abandon the siege of Troy. The ghost of Virgil’s wooden horse now rises up before me, and I quote to a Greek naval officer, standing by my side, this sentence from the Latin poet: “Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.” [Illustration: MODERN ATHENS.] It was here that a vision appeared unto Paul by night. “There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, ‘Come over into Macedonia and help us.’ Therefore loosing from Troas (Troy), we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi.” Then followed the imprisonment, earthquake, etc. (Acts XVI). We are sailing close along the coast of Macedonia, but Philippi is not visible. We have a delightful day on the Archipelago, and about eight o’clock on the second morning we land at Piraeus. Here we take train, and twenty minutes later we are in Athens. Here the newsboys crowd around with Greek papers to sell. The bootblacks speak Greek, hotel porters speak Greek, the streets are named in Greek—everything is Greek. I am in a new world, and the trouble is that the Greek of to-day is so very different from that used by the classic writers, that my knowledge of the language helps me but little. [Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS.] Breakfast being over, I start out to “do the city.” Where do I go? I care little for the present museums and art galleries, and still less for King George, his Palace and the Royal Park. I came here not to see modern Athens, but that city “On the Aegean shore, Built nobly; pure the air and light the soil, Athens, the eye of Greece, the mother of arts And eloquence.” [Illustration: THE PARTHENON OF THE ACROPOLIS.]