lar power is revealed, we may say that
the four or five volumes of verse, which he has published during the
last ten years raise him beyond comparison not only above all poets of
Modern Greece but above all poets of contemporary Europe. Though he is
not the most famous--owing to his overshadowing modesty and to the
language he writes, which is little read beyond the borders of
Hellenism--_he is incontestably the greatest_. The breadth of his views
on the world and on humanity, on the history and soul of his race, in
short, on all problems that agitate modern thought, places him in the
first rank among those who have had the gift to clothe the philosophic
idea in the sumptuous mantle of poetry. On the other hand, the vigor and
richness of his imagination, the penetrating warmth of his feeling, the
exquisite perfection of his art, and his gifted style manifest in him a
poetic temperament of an exceptional fulness that was bound to give
birth to great masterpieces."

II
LIFE INFLUENCES

PATRAS

Kostes Palamas was born in Patras sixty years ago. Patras is one of the
most ancient towns in Greece, known even in mythical times as Aroe, the
seat of King Eumelus, "rich in flocks." It became especially prominent
after the reign of Augustus as a centre of commerce and industry. Its
factories of silk were renowned in Byzantine times, and its commanding
position attracted the Crusaders and the Venetians as a military base
for the conquest of the Peloponnesus. The citadel walls that crown the
hill, on the slopes of which the modern city descends amphitheatrically
into the sea, are remnants of Venetian fortifications. In the history of
Modern Greece, it is a hallowed spot; for it was here that on April 4,
1821, the standard of the War of Liberation was first raised before a
band of warriors kneeling before the altar of Hagia Laura, while
Germanos, the archbishop of the city, prayed for the success of their
arms. The view which the city commands over the sapphire spaces of the
Corinthian Gulf and the purple shadows of the mountains rising from its
waters in all directions are superb, and the sunsets, that evening after
evening revel in colors there, are among the most magnificent in Greece.
A beauty worthy of life dwells over the vine-clad hills, while the
mountain kings that rise about are hoary with age and fame. The eye
wanders from the purple-laden cliffs of Kylene to the opal mantles of
the sea and from the peaks of Parnassu