74 THE CITY OF THE VIOLET CROWN. 



having commanded the Greeks in the War of Indepen- 

 dence retained the supremacy, and became the centre of 

 the nation. Athens had died for Greece : it had been 

 burnt by the Persians to the ground, and from those 

 glorious ashes arose the Athens of history — the City of 

 the Violet Crown. To Athens were summoned the 

 great artists : to Athens came every young man who 

 had talent and ambition : to Athens every Greek who 

 could afford it sent his boys to school. The Academy 

 was planted with wide-spreading plane trees and olive 

 groves, laid out in walks, with fountains, and sur- 

 rounded by a wall. A theatre was built entirely of 

 masts, which had been taken from the enemy. A 

 splendid harbour was constructed — a harbour which 

 was in itself a town. All that fancy could create, all 

 that money could command, was lavished upon the city 

 and its environs — the very milestones on the roads 

 were works of art. 



The Persians assisted the growth of Greece, not only 

 by those invasions which had favoured the union, 

 aroused the ardour, multiplied the desires, and ennobled 

 the ambition of the Greek people, but also by their 

 own conquests. Their failure in Europe and their 

 success in Asia were equally profitable to the Greeks. 

 Trade and travel were much facilitated by their exten- 

 sive rule. A Government postal service had been 

 established : royal couriers might be seen every day 

 galloping at full speed along the splendid roads which 

 united the provinces of the Punjaub and Afghanistan and 

 Bokhara on one side of the Euphrates, and of Asia 

 Minor, Syria, and Egypt on the other side of that river 

 with the imperial palaces at Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, and 

 Persepolis. Caravanserais were fitted up for the recep- 

 tion of travellers in lonely places where no other houses 



