Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/293

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EPILOGUE. 271 are other ignoramuses who have written about the Greeks, and it is quite annoying to meet people who dispute with you on the strength of Baedecker-Murray authority. But there are more dangerous people than Baedecker and Murray and the every-day tourist who write about Greece. It is that class to which the professor belongs whose letter is quoted in the chapter on pronunciation. He says : " I have a less high view of the modern Greeks and their language than I had before my recent residence in Athens of eight months. There is absolutely no modern literature worthy of the name." This professor is indeed a man of profound learning, a great Greek scholar, who has written important works on the Greek language ; but he is like some other old gentle- men — in the medical profession, for instance. Our learned professor in the chapter on pro- nunciation says : " I have a less high view of the modern Greeks." Athens possesses monuments of art superior to any others to be found anywhere in the whole world. The monuments in Athens date from the most brilliant epoch of the classical period. Every one has heard of the incomparably won- derful climate and magnificent scenery of Athens