Town Visions Are Soon Left Behind; It Is Very Quiet Here Under The Hot,
Starlit Heavens; Nothing Speaks Of Man Save The Lighthouse Flashing In
Ghostly Activity - No, It Is A Fixed Light - On The Distant Cape Of The
Column.
And nothing breaks the stillness save the rhythmic breathing of
the waves, and a solitary cricket that has yet to finish his daily task
of instrumental music, far away, in some warm crevice of the hills.
A suave odour rises up from the narrow patch of olives, and figs loaded
with fruit, and ripening vines, that skirts the path by the beach. The
fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender
grape give a good smell.
And so I plough my way through the sand, in the darkness, encompassed by
tepid exhalations of earth and sea. Another spirit has fallen upon me - a
spirit of biblical calm. Here, then, stood the rejoicing city that
dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside
me: how is she become a desolation! It is indeed hard to realize that a
town thronged with citizens covered all this area. Yet so it is. Every
footstep is a memory. Along this very track walked the sumptuous ladies
of Croton on their way to deposit their vain jewels before the goddess
Hera, at the bidding of Pythagoras. On this spot, maybe, stood that
public hall which was specially built for the delivery of his lectures.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 468 of 488
Words from 125853 to 126102
of 131203
