264 ATHENS. 
CHAP, taste, and very hostile to their prejudices. One 
of the peculiar privileges of the Areopagitte 
seems to have been set at defiance by the zeal 
of St. Paul upon this occasion ; namely, that of 
inflicting extreme and exemplary punishment 
upon any person who should slight the celebra- 
tion of the holy mysteries, or blaspheme the 
Gods of Greece. We ascended to the summit, 
by means' of steps cut in the natural stone, 
which is of breccia. The sublime scene here 
exhibited is so striking, that a brief descrip- 
tion of it may prove how truly it offers to 
us a commentary upon the Apostle's words, 
as they were delivered upon the spot. He 
stood upon the top of the rock, and beneath 
the canopy of heaven 1 . Before him there was 
spread a glorious prospect of mountains, islands, 
seas, and skies : behind him towered the lofty 
(l) The Senate of the Areopagus assembled sometimes in t\ie Royal 
Portico; (vid. Demosth. inAristog. p. 831.) but its most ordinary place 
of meeting was on an eminence at a small distance from the Citadel, 
(Herodot. lib. viii. c. 52.) called "Ajw a.yti' Here a space was 
levelled for this Court, by planing the summit of the rock ; and the 
steps which conducted to it were similarly carved out of the solid 
stone. In this respect it somewhat resembled Pnyx. The origin of 
this Court may be traced back to the time of Cecrops (ft/armor. Oxon. 
Epoch. 3.) The Areopagus had no roof; but it was occasionally de- 
fended from the weather by a temporary shed. (Jul. Poll. lib. viii. 
c. 10. Vitruv. lib. ii. c. 1.) 
