Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/47

26 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. It may be said that notwithstanding these variations and uneven- nesses, the mode of expressing thought among the various sons of this race, at one time or another, went through the like changes. They were trees of the same species, bound to yield the same fruits. In truth, the colour and taste of these fruits ran some danger of being modified in the course of time by the trans- forming influence of the widely-different soils to which the trees were transplanted ; if too radical a change was happily prevented, or at any rate kept well within bounds, it was due to the close relations which were sedulously kept up between all the scattered sons of the same mother, the Greek men of Hellas, aye, even with those of the most distant cities. The peculiar configuration of the Asiatic and European peninsulas, whose coasts are all turned towards each other, and whose headlands stretch out like so many arms to meet others, helped not a little to bring about this desirable end. The mariner sailing from the eastern side of Greece to the Ionian coasts never for a single moment loses sight of land. Some few months ago, I left Athens one evening for the Dardanelles. Our night run was along the shores of Attica. The cape of Sunium was soon left behind us, and the first morning rays revealed the fact that we were already crossing the strait which parts Andros from Euboea, and presently that zone of the JEgean where islands become more rare, and as a consequence free spaces are more frequent and broader. I looked ahead : and watched, emerging from the waters;, first Psara, close to Chios, then Chios itself, and to its rear the sombre-looking cape of Mimas, which on the west fences in the Bay of Smyrna : we recognized the Asiatic coast. I turned round to cast, if possible, a parting look towards that Hellas whither I had journeyed after many years' absence. It had vanished ; but to the left was Skyros, its nearest neighbour, and right away beyond it, bathed in the white light of the young day, rose the snowy pyramid of Ocha, Euboea's highest peak. These prominent facts of geography were a direct challenge sent out to the dwellers of all those Asiatic and European coasts to engage them in adventure, inviting them to come and visit them. How was it possible to resist the temptation of pushing out to sea, to investi- gate and conquer all those lands whose distant peaks and head- lands dimly appeared on the horizon ? No danger was to be dreaded in launching a boat in quest of the unknown, even if