its dwellers boast of their city as the "Violet-crowned" (Iostephanos).


8. 360 B.C.--The Year of the Visit to Athens.--This city let us
visit in the days of its greatest outward glory. We may select the
year 360 B.C. At that time Athens had recovered from the ravages
of the Peloponnesian War, while the Macedonian peril had not as
yet become menacing. The great public buildings were nearly all
completed. No signs of material decadence were visible, and if
Athens no longer possessed the wide naval empire of the days of
Pericles, her fleets and her armies were still formidable. The
harbors were full of commerce; the philosophers were teaching their
pupils in the groves and porticoes; the democratic constitution was
entirely intact. With intelligent vision we will enter the city
and look about us.





Chapter II. The First Sights in Athens.




9. The Morning Crowds bound for Athens.--It is very early in the
morning. The sun has just pushed above the long ridge of Hymettus,
sending a slanting red bar of light across the Attic plain, and
touching the opposite slopes of Aegaleos with livid fire. Already,
however, life is stirring outside the city. Long since, little