onalistic" faction. Against them the
bitterest invectives were cast. The University students and, with them,
masses of people who joined without understanding the issue, paraded
uncontrollable through the streets of Athens, broke down the
establishment of the _Akropolis_, in which Pallis' vulgate version
appeared, and demanded in all earnestness of the Metropolitan that he
should renew the medieval measure of excommunication against all
followers of the "Hairy Ones."

Fortunately, the head of the Greek Church in Athens saved the
Institution which he represented from an indelible shame by resisting
the popular cries to the end. But the rioters became so violent that
arms had to be used against them, resulting in the death of eight
students and the wounding of about sixty others. This was utilized by
politicians opposing the government: fiery speeches denouncing the
measures adopted were heard in Parliament; the victims were eulogized as
great martyrs of a sacred cause; and popular feeling ran so high that
the Cabinet had to resign and the Metropolitan was forced to abdicate
and die an exile in a monastery on the Island of Salamis. It was then
that I first imbibed hatred against the "Hairy Ones" and Palamas.

About two years later, I had entered the University of Athens when
another riot was started by the students after another fiery speech
delivered by our puristic hero, Professor Mistriotes, against the
performance of Aeschylus' _Oresteia_ at the Royal Theatre in a popular
translation made by Mr. Soteriades and considered too vulgar for
puristic ears. This time, too, the riot was quelled, but not until one
innocent passer-by had been killed. I am ashamed to confess that on that
occasion I was actually among the rioters. It was the day after the riot
that I first saw Palamas himself. He was standing before one of the side
entrances to the University building when my companion showed him to me
with a hateful sneer:

"Look at him!"

"Who is it?"

"The worst of them all, Palamas!"

I paused for a moment to have a full view of this notorious criminal.
Rather short and compact in frame, he stood with eyes directed towards
the sunlight streaming on the marble covered ground of the yard. He held
a cane with both his hands and seemed to be thinking. Once or twice he
glanced at the wall as if he were reading something, but again he turned
towards the sunlight with an expression of sorrow on his face. There was
nothing co